Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Throughout American History there have not been many true heroes that are like Abraham Lincoln but there are some who were very much like Lincoln with what they did. Lincoln was a true hero and led this country through one of its hardest times, the Civil War. Lincoln was a hero who sacrificed for his country no matter what happened to it. Lincoln was a hero who was brave, strong, a great leader, smart and stood up for what he believed in. He always listened to his enemies and brought the country together. There are a few who have been like him in these ways and one of these few was Elizabeth Cady Stanton who started the Women's Rights Movement. She held the first women's rights convention, 1848, and wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, the women's version of the Declaration of Independence. Young Elizabeth excelled in Greek, Latin, and Mathematics. She got the best education available for women at that time and when she married Henry Stanton the word "obey" was taken out of the ceremony at her insistence. She was also brave, strong, a great leader, smart, and stood up for what she believed in; she helped women get their rights.

When Elizabeth married Henry Stanton, an anti-slavery activist, their honeymoon was to go to the Anti-slavery Convention where she met the Quaker, Lucrecia Mott. At the convention Stanton and Mott both discovered that women were denied the right to speak at the convention and the women could only watch. This angered Elizabeth and Lucrecia and they decided to hold the first women's rights convention.

Elizabeth Stanton, Lucrecia Mott, and some other women organized the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention. There, Elizabeth read the Declaration of Sentiment and was seen as a very great speaker and writer. The Declaration said all the wrong that was being done to women: women had no voice in government, college was closed to women, husbands kept their property and wages, men had all the high paying jobs, and so on. Next Elizabeth read through a list of rights that she thought women should have. She had the audience vote yes and they all voted yes for each one except the right to vote! Even Mott thought this insane idea after being so supportive of her. When it looked like it would be voted "no", the abolitionist leader who was once a slave, Frederick Douglass, said that without the right to vote there was no freedom. In the end the vote was "yes".

When Elizabeth started the convention and wrote the Declaration of Sentiments it took a lot of bravery and intelligence because women were frowned upon in society. Women with intelligence and who were rebellious were not looked nicely upon. They were only expected to obey. Elizabeth was getting herself in some deep trouble when she started the movement. It also took bravery when others were not so sure about the right to vote, even her partner in the convention, Lucrecia Mott, thought the idea was absurd and her husband had left town. Even then Elizabeth stood strong and brave, insisting on the right to vote. In the end she got what she wanted.

Being the mother of seven, Elizabeth could not travel around until her children were older. At the Anti-slavery convention she met Susan B. Anthony who was also very radical about women suffrage and together they made the best team. Elizabeth was the writer and core of the group while Susan went out and read the speeches. In her arguments she would go back to the beginning of American History and would discuss the Declaration of Independence. She argued that women were not morally inferior but rather morally superior and should have rights in the political field. Elizabeth was the leading feminist philosopher and she wrote a controversial critique of women's treatment by religion, The Woman's Bible. When her children were old enough she was able to travel around as well.

Elizabeth's solution of becoming a team with Susan Anthony was very smart because they made an excellent team and they probably wouldn't have done so well without each other. Elizabeth was obviously very intelligent and she stood up for what she believed in because she wrote all those speeches and arguments. She had influenced my life because I am a female living in the modern world and I think without her starting the women's rights movement, then I would not have the equal rights that I have right now. In my life she has influenced me everywhere I go to be a strong woman and stand up for what I believe in. She was intelligent, which is one important aspect of being an American hero.

Elizabeth Stanton was a woman who stood up for what she believed in. She and Susan Anthony established the political weekly, The Revolution, and then also founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). Elizabeth was a strong activist in the women's rights movement but she was also very effective in winning property rights for married women, equal guardianship of children, and liberalized divorce laws so that women could leave marriages that were often abusive of the wife, the children, and the economic health of the family. She was doing a lot for women's rights without slacking, even though the press was saying a lot of bad things about her. They called the leaders of the movement "monsters" and thought the idea of women and men being equal was ridiculous. Newspapers were saying things like, "We respect a woman as a wife. She fills a place higher, more useful and far more appropriate than she could in any other capacity," or "A wife is everything. A woman is a nobody," only a few newspapers such as the New York Tribune and The Abolitionist papers supported women. All of this took a great deal of courage and strength from Elizabeth Stanton to take all the insults from people but she continued to stand up for what she believed in.

Of her many qualities, Elizabeth was also a strong leader and led the women's rights movement. The National Woman Suffrage Association was started by Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton. Another group, the American Woman Suffrage Association was a less radical group which was also active in the campaign for women's rights. By the 1880's it was pretty clear that it was not a good idea to have rival groups campaigning for the same thing. Eventually in 1890 the two groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association where Stanton was elected president. Elizabeth did a great job leading the Women's Rights Movement which proves her to be a strong leader.

In many ways Lincoln is much like Elizabeth. Elizabeth was brave when starting the movement and when leading women to victory. All that she did in the movement took bravery, especially when she was insulted and when people disagreed with her. Lincoln was also brave and the country wasn't very well off. This also made Lincoln and Elizabeth strong leaders. Lincoln stood up for what he believed in, such as being opposed to slavery even though many were against him. Lincoln also made his cabinet full of his enemies which many people would be opposed to or think he was insane. He was smart for doing this because he was able to hear both side of an idea and base the solution or outcome off of what he heard. Elizabeth was very smart to have been able to argue for women's rights and do so amazingly. She got women marriage rights and political rights.

Elizabeth Cody Stanton proved herself many times over to be a hero. Everything she did was for the good of the women she was fighting for. Even with seven children she found a way. She died in 1902, just twenty years short of seeing women get the right to vote. She was one of the true major forces in the drive for women's rights. Even after she died, there were still so many women fighting for the right to vote because she started it all with the first women's rights convention in 1848. In 1920 women finally got the right to vote. Elizabeth is a hero because she stood up for what she believed and made things happen. People should be like Elizabeth because she is a strong powerful person. She was ready to make a change in a situation she thought was wrong. People should fight for what they believe in and fight against injustice. What Elizabeth did, made her a brilliant American hero.