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Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in Johnston, New York. Her father was Daniel Cady and her mother was Margaret Livingston Cady. She had three siblings named Eleazar, Harriot, and Margaret.
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Elizabeth Cady met her husband, Henry B. Stanton, when visiting her abolitionist cousin Gerrit Smith. Henry B. Stanton was a senior, attractive individual, who was involved in politics and social reform. Elizabeth Cady’s father was not supportive about this relationship; however, she disobeyed her father and married Henry B. Stanton in 1840.
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In 1840, short after their marriage, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Henry B. Stanton traveled to London to attend the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention. At this convention, Stanton met Lucretia Mott, a leading female abolitionist, and was greatly inspired. Soon after, Stanton began studying Anglo-American women’s traditions.
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In 1848, Stanton, Mott, Martha Coffin Wright, Mary Ann M'Clintock, and Jane Hunt organized the first woman's rights convention, and they included the rights to women's suffrage, or voting, in the resolutions. After, Stanton co-authored the Declaration of Sentiments which listed eighteen grievances about women’s rights.
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Stanton met Susan B. Anthony in 1851. They formed the National Women’s Loyal League in support of the constitutional abolishment of slavery. In 1869, they formed the National Woman's Suffrage Association which eventually led to the 19th amendment.
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In 1866, Stanton was the first woman to run for Congress. She knew women were not granted the right to vote, but there was no law preventing them from running for a seat in Congress. She went on to receive a total of 24 votes, the first ever cast for a female politician.
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In 1869, Stanton and Anthony founded the National Woman's Suffrage Association. As president of this association, Stanton composed and edited their journal, The Revolution. Stanton eventually became one of the most well known women’s rights activists in the country.
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In the 1870s Stanton associated herself with Victoria Woodhull to advocate divorce law liberalization. Stanton also advocated for reproductive self- determination and greater sexual freedom for women. Because of her great persistence, Stanton became a leading speaker in women’s rights.
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Stanton, Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage wrote three volumes of History of Woman Suffrage from 1881 to 1885. They documented the growing support and sustainment of women's suffrage. Stanton also published the Woman's Bible from 1895 to 1898, in which she wrote about women's relation to religion.
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In 1887, Helen Gardener convinced Stanton to donate her brain to Cornell University to preserve and study. This intrigued her because there were claims that men were naturally smarter than women, Stanton and Gardener wanted to disprove these claims. However, when Stanton died in 1902, her children refused to honor the donation.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton passed away in New York due to congestive heart failure. She had seven children named Harriot Stanton Blatch, Theodore Stanton, Daniel Cady Stanton, Gerrit Smith Stanton, Henry Brewster Stanton Jr., Robert Livingston Stanton,and Margaret Livingston Stanton Lawrence.
