Profile of the Day: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Today we remember American suffragist and abolitionist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who died on this day in 1902 at the age of 86. A leading figure of the American women’s rights movement, Stanton’s activism played a crucial role towards the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote.

Stanton was born on November 12, 1815 in Johnstown, New York to Daniel Cady, a prominent judge, and Margaret Livingston. Her maternal grandfather, James Livingston, served as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. In 1840, she married abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton. In a break with tradition, she chose to omit “obey” from her wedding vows.

In 1848, Stanton, along with Lucretia Mott, organized the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention of its kind to be held in the United States. She later met Susan B. Anthony in 1851, marking the beginning of a partnership that would become pivotal to the women’s suffrage movement and eventually help bring about the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Stanton died on October 26, 1902, 18 years before women were finally granted the right to vote.

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Image: Library of Congress