Elizabeth C. Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was both a leading activist for women's rights and a pioneering biblical scholar. Stanton was born in Johnstown, New York on November 12, 1815. The daughter of a judge (Daniel Cady), she took an early interest in laws that discriminated against women. Along with her husband, Harry Brewster Stanton, she also worked for abolition.

In 1848, Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized at Seneca Falls, NY, the first women's rights convention in the U.S. This convention eventually produced the first significant organizational resolution concerning women's suffrage. In that same year, Stanton circulated in New York petitions to give property rights to married women.

Beginning in 1850, Stanton worked closely with Susan B. Anthony on women's issues. Both women published the women's rights newspaper The Revolution (1868-70). Stanton Anthony and Matilda Gage were joint editors of the first three volumes of The History of Women's Suffrage (6 volumes 1881-1922).

In 1895, Stanton edited The Women's Bible. The work is virtually a book-by-book commentary on the Bible from a feminist viewpoint. It is the first significant combination of critical scholarship with a feminist perspective on the Bible. Stanton not only assembled the scholars to work on that commentary but also wrote much of it herself. The Women's Bible is still cited by modem scholars (e.g. Carol Meyers Discovering Eve [New York: Oxford 1987] 86) who acknowledge the pioneering nature of the work even when they disagree with particular interpretations.

Stanton died in New York City on October 26, 1902.

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Eliz C. Stanton
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