Elizabeth Stanton essays

Elizabeth Stanton essays For ages societies have been divided, placing women in one role and men in another, never to be switched or combined. We can see today in our own society that this is not necessarily the most effective system. At one point in our history, the U.S. did not treat men and women as equals, and it was not until an intense rebellion that basic rights such as to hold property, earn wages, and the right to vote, were granted equally to women as they had been for men. Women were restricted to a life of obedience first to their fathers, then later to their husbands. Elizabeth Stanton was one of the countrys most influential forces in the womens civil rights movement; without her contribution women today might never have come so close to escaping their role as second class citizens. Elizabeth Stantons fight for women-hood began when she left home and married Henry Stanton, an anti-slavery activist. This couple would spend their lives together fighting for the equal rights of all people. After the wedding, from which the word obey was omitted, the Stantons went to London to spend their honeymoon at the Great Worlds Anti-Slavery Convention. Upon seeing that the women in attendance were not seated at the convention, Stanton was convinced of the need for a reform in womens rights. One of Stantons first and most effective moves towards womens rights was the drafting of the Declaration of Sentiments read at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. This document, using the model of the US Declaration of Independence, demanded that women rights as citizens be both acknowledged and respected by society. Though not immediately accepted, the declaration did serve to make womens rights a conceivable objective. This was the beginning of many feminist movements to come. Another significant act for womens rights ...