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Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Lesson in Commitment

"Why should gender be so important? Why should it automatically dictate one's role in life?" (p. 210, #3) These were the principal questions that were the driving force behind the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Questions still remain. How did her life before her involvement in the Declaration of Seneca Falls affect the issues that comprised her contribution to the Declaration? Was her life profoundly affected by the release of the Declaration? Did she realize the impact that the Declaration would have on the lives of women even today?

"When she was still a very little girl, she became aware of the repressive elements in her life and refused to accept them quietly in obedience and humility.' Everything we do is a sinI am so tired of the everlasting no! no! (p. 57-58, #2) It was clear to her that her brother was more important than all of the girls put together. (p. 60, #2) These feelings were not unfounded. Quite the contrary. Her father was even known for such statements as: "Oh, my daughter, I wish you were a boy." (p. 60, #2)

Other restrictions of Elizabeth's early years included those on education. "When she was fifteen, Elizabeth graduated from Johnstown Academy. The boys who had been her classmates were going on to Union College at Schenectady. Elizabeth learned, to her angry chagrin, that she could not join them simply because she was a girl. (p. 62, #2) The more I thought on the present condition of women; the more I am oppressed by the reality of my degradation. The laws of our country, how unjust they are! Our customs, how vicious!...(p. 216, #3) Elizabeth Cady Stanton knew with unquestionable certainty that something must be done.

"When you're grown up, " her father once remarked, "you must talk to the legislatorsand if you can pursued them to pass new laws, the old ones will be a dead letter. (p. 61-62, #2) It wasn't until years after that statement had been made that Elizabeth would actually follow that advice.

In the year 1848, "sitting around a table in Waterloo, New York, Ms. Stanton and the other ladies drew upon announcement or call, for a "Woman's Rights Convention(p. 266, #2) This convention would lead to the ultimate testament of Stanton's true commitment to her father's advice of years before. Moreover, her personal setbacks are what inspired her to join in the cause of woman's rights, and are what is evident in several segments of the final document. Her solutions to the inequality of men and

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