Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an early leader of the woman's rights movement in the United States, writing the Declaration of Sentiments as a call to arms for female equality and helping to organize the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848. Stanton was born on November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York, to a prominent lawyer and a mother from a wealthy family. She was formally educated at the Johnstown Academy and Emma Willard's Troy Female Seminary in New York, which was unusual for a woman of her time. Her legal background from her father's law practice helped shape her understanding of gender inequity in the legal system, leading to her later activism. ## First-wave feminism In 1840, she married [[abolitionist]] Henry Brewster Stanton, omitting the word "obey" from her wedding vows. After her marriage, she was introduced to a wider network of reformers and activists, such as [[Lucretia Mott]], who would become her lifelong collaborator. In 1848, Stanton and Mott organized the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. At the convention, Stanton drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled after the [Declaration of Independence](https://doctorparadox.net/save-democracy/declaration-of-independence/) and called for equal rights for women, including the right to vote. These events [kicked off a movement](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/first-wave-feminism) that would later come to be known as first-wave [[feminism]]. ## Lifelong author and activist Stanton was also a prolific writer and speaker. She, along with [[Susan B. Anthony]] and Matilda Joslyn Gage, co-authored the first three volumes of "History of Woman Suffrage," an indispensable record of the women's [[suffrage]] movement from its beginnings through 1885. Stanton also served as president of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) from 1890 until 1892. In addition to suffrage, Stanton advocated for a broader range of women's rights, such as property rights, employment rights, divorce laws, and birth control. She was a controversial figure even within the women's movement due to her criticisms of religion's role in denying women's rights and her support for divorce rights. Stanton died on October 26, 1902, nearly two decades before women in the U.S. secured the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Nonetheless, her foundational work in the early women's rights movement laid the groundwork for this eventual victory and continues to inspire advocates for women's rights to this day.