Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Address to the New York Legislature(1854)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s education, unorthodox for a woman of that era, is apparent in her writing. Her articles and speeches are full of classical and biblical references and demonstrate her knowledge of history. In turn, Stanton’s early conversations with her father and his law clerks are apparent in the logical development of her arguments. She backs up her positions with engaging examples and uses wit and down-to-earth common sense to capture her audience. This background is apparent in her Address to the New York Legislature, which Stanton delivered on February 14, 1854, to the New York State Woman’s Rights Convention. In it, she asks for the vote for women and, in fact, for the opportunity for women to exercise all the other rights of citizenship.