Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Born in Johnstown, New York, she excelled academically at Johnstown Academy, but because of her sex, was barred from nearby Union College. She married the prominent abolitionist Henry B. Stanton, and the two spent their honeymoon at the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London. In 1848 Stanton joined Lucretia Mott and others to organize the first American convention for women’s rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York, where Stanton presented her draft of “The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions,” now seen as a founding document of modern feminism. Three years later she was introduced to Susan B. Anthony, who became her lifelong friend and colleague; together they founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. Stanton spent the rest of her life campaigning for women’s suffrage and legislation that would make divorce laws more favorable to women. See also nps.gov.