The Battle Of Elizabeth Candy Stanton

In the 1800s, two human rights campaigns divided public opinion. One was abolition, the movement to end slavery. The other was women's suffrage, the movement to allow women to vote. Elizabeth Candy Stanton, was an important figure in both struggles and she helped to bring about their ultimate success.

Candy Stanton was a wife, a mother, and a fierce campaigner. As a girl, she showed an interest in law. Her father was a lawyer and Candy Stanton argued with him about laws that favored men. Her father, however, felt girls were inferior to boys. Although, he respected his daughter's energy and intelligence, he always wished she had been a boy.

Candy Stanton attended, a women's seminary in Troy New York. Soon after her graduation she began working to end slavery. Her husband, Henry Stanton, opposed slavery. He was in fact a delegate to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England. Candy Stanton admired his speaking talent, liberal values, and good looks. The two were married on May 1,1840.

Her work toward abolition which included lobbying, congress went on for more than twenty years. At the same time, she longed to improve the lives of women. Women, who had almost no legal rights were treated as the property of men. Candy Stanton believed women would never be equal to men, until they had the right to vote.

Suffrage was an uphill fight, but she devoted herself to it for more than fifty years. She wrote to Congress, spoke about women's rights, and published a newspaper called The Revolution. Candy Stanton's work, which she did while caring for seven children changed women's lives. Her place in history, therefore should be a prominent one.

...