Anyone who thinks Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a stuffy old Victorian suffragist need only look at the twinkle in her eye in many photographs and her no-nonsense expression. Any lingering doubts will be removed when you read her own letters and diary excerpts in this book. At her marriage in 1840, she asked that the "promise to obey" be removed from the wedding vows. "I obstinately refused to obey one with whom I supposed I was entering into an equal relation." She refused to be addressed as Mrs. Henry B. Stanton, asserting that women were individuals in their own right. Her marriage lasted 47 years. The world has seen few more committed activists capable of spending a lifetime working for such varied issues as abolition and women's rights, and being at the forefront of leading those movements. Formally educated, Stanton took a very broad and modern view of women's rights. The right to vote was central but she saw clearly how the law favored men over women in many spheres. She advocated for women's divorce rights, parental and custody rights, the right to own property, employment and income rights, and birth control. Stanton thought women should have control over their sexual relationships and childbearing. She was also a supporter of the Temperance Movement. Early on she displayed wit and determination. As a youngster, she wrote: "I was wondering why it was that everything we like to do is a sin, and that everything we dislike is commanded by God or someone on earth. I am so tired of that everlasting no! no! no! At school, at home, everywhere it is 'no.’ Even at church all the commandments begin 'Thou shalt not.' I suppose God will say 'no' to all we like in the next world, just as you do here." Her daughter Margaret described Stanton as "cheerful, sunny, and indulgent" One of her most cherished and enduring relationships was her 50-year friendship with Susan B. Anthony. Together they worked for women's suffrage and other rights. Stanton wrote, "No power in heaven, hell or earth can separate us, for our hearts are eternally wedded together." Stanton died in 1902, 18 years before women got the right to vote. Here in her own words, "ELIZABETH CADY STANTON As Revealed in Her Letters Diary and Reminiscences" is available for the first time as a well-formatted, affordable e-book. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE or download a sample.

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1922. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, BAS-RELIEF, BY PAUL W. BARTLETT, 1887 Basingstoke, March 6. I gave up the day to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, which is said to offer a good picture of Russian life. I do not like it very much, as all the women are disappointed and unhappy; and well they may be, as they are made to look to men, and not to themselves, for their chief joy. Basingstoke, March 75. Here, just now, the main subjects of debate are the Queen's Jubilee and the Irish Question. All over the country, ladies have formed societies to collect funds to build a monument to Prince Albert for the Queen. As Her Majesty is worth, I am told, some 10,000,000 pounds, one would think she might build this monument herself, if she really wants another. Every little village even is divided into districts, and different ladies go the rounds begging pennies of servants and the laboring classes. One of them came here a few days ago and asked of the maid who opened the door to see the servants. So they assembled, and she then solicited a penny from each one of them. Doing justice to her Irish subjects and giving the half of her worldly possessions to the poor and suffering would be a more fitting way to erect a monument to her dead consort. In this world of plenty, every being has a right to food, clothes, a decent shelter, and at least the rudiments of an education. There is something "rotten in Denmark" when one-tenth of the human family, booted and spurred, rides the masses to destruction. I detest the words royalty and nobility and all the ideas and institutions based on them, Basingstoke, April 6. These April days have come in bright and beautiful. The crocuses, white, yellow, and purple, have pushed up their heads all over the grounds, looking so gay and giving promise of speedy spring...

In this subtly crafted biography, the historian Lori D. Ginzberg narrates the life of a woman of great charm, enormous appetite, and extraordinary intellectual gifts who turned the limitations placed on women like herself into a universal philosophy of equal rights.