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The Dual Legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton

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The Dual Legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton The Dual Legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Cathy Hoult The School of Historical Studies University of Leicester 2007 UMI Number: U2241B8 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U224138 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Contents Abstract ii A cknowledgements Hi Preface iv Section One: Mothers of the Movement 1 Chapter One Historiography 2 Chapter Two Introduction 34 Chapter Three Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Mother of the Movement 63 and the Ideology Chapter Four Lucretia Mott: Midwife of the Movement 109 Chapter Five Susan B. Anthony: Sister and Aunt of the Movement 142 Section Two: Daughters of the Movement 182 Chapter Six Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Ideological Daughter 183 Chapter Seven Catharine Waugh McCulloch: Extended Family 211 and the next generation. Chapter Eight Carrie Chapman Catt: The Wayward Daughter 246 Chapter Nine Harriot Stanton Blatch: Stanton’s Daughter 278 Chapter Ten Conclusion 304 Bibliography 317 i Abstract Cathy Hoult: The Dual Legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton The purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of Elizabeth Cady Stanton on her peers and subsequent generations involved in the fight for equality for women. Stanton’s historical legacy has been obscured by her demand for the vote at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and as a result, scholars have failed to engage in a detailed discussion of her significance. This project argues that Stanton’s importance was twofold in nature, suggesting that the creation of the American women’s rights movement and the development of an ideological vision for the equality of women, are in fact two distinct aspects of Stanton’s legacy. As Stanton’s philosophy directed the first generation of women to seek a broad range of goals for equality, including the right to vote, the inherent separation that existed between the women’s rights movement and Stanton’s ideas was initially concealed. However, the eventual rejection by the woman suffrage movement of Stanton’s broad ideological platform in favour of the single issue of suffrage, illustrates the duality of her legacy. It is only by recognising and then by examining the two distinct areas of her legacy, her wide-ranging ideas for change, and the resulting women's rights movement, that Stanton’s influence can be analysed and appreciated. Stanton's impact is highlighted through a series of case studies of selected individuals who can be connected to Stanton. The early character studies provide the opportunity to delve into the formation of Stanton’s ideas and to briefly discuss the development of the women's rights movement. The later studies will expand on this base by tracing the process of transfer and evolution of Stanton's ideology, discussing the interaction between the organisation that she had established and her agenda for equality. A cknowledgements I am especially grateful to my advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Clapp, for the support and guidance that she has given me over the years. It has taken both of us much longer than we expected to reach this point. I would also like to acknowledge the British Association for American Studies, whose travel grant did so much to get me started. I am saddened that my father, John is not here to see the completion of my dissertation, but I thank my mother, Diane for her continued support during a very difficult time. My endless gratitude to my mother-in-law Liz must also be acknowledged, she was able to be on baby duty for months at a time while I was busy completing my dissertation without her this work may have never been completed. My final acknowledgements must go to my husband, Wes and daughter Abby, thank you for your love, patience and understanding. It has made the completion of my dissertation possible. Preface The purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of Elizabeth Cady Stanton on her peers and subsequent generations involved in the fight for equality for women. Stanton’s historical legacy has been obscured by her demand for the vote at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and as a result, scholars have failed to engage in a detailed discussion of her significance. This project will reveal that Stanton’s importance is twofold in nature, illuminating that the emergence of the American women’s rights movement and the development of her comprehensive ideological vision for the equality of women are two distinct aspects of her legacy. As Stanton’s philosophy directed the first generation of women to seek a broad range of goals for equality, including the right to vote, the inherent separation that existed between the women’s rights movement and Stanton’s ideas was initially concealed. However, as the subsequent generation of the women’s rights movement increasingly equated the ballot to equality, Stanton’s broad ideological platform was rejected in favour of a focus on the single issue of woman suffrage. It is only by recognising and then examining the two separate areas of her legacy, her wide- ranging agenda for change and the women’s rights movement, that Stanton’s influence can be analysed. In order to limit the size of this study this dissertation highlights Stanton’s impact through a series of case studies of select individuals who can be connected to Stanton. The early character studies provide the opportunity to delve into the formation of Stanton’s ideas and to briefly discuss the development of the women’s rights movement. The later studies will expand on this base by tracing the process of transfer and evolution of Stanton’s ideology, discussing the interaction between the organisation that she had established and her agenda for equality. In order to explore the development of Stanton’s legacy the date range of the thesis against which the case studies will be explored predates the 1848 conference concerning the rights of women held at Seneca Falls. Connecting the emergence of the women’s rights movement with the agreement between Stanton and Lucretia Mott that on their return to the United States, they would work together to organise a convention to discuss the rights of women, the London Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840 emerged as an ideal starting point for this project. At the ensuing 1848 Seneca Falls conference, Stanton urged her peers to fight for woman suffrage as a means of achieving equality. Representing the fruition of Stanton’s goal to enfranchise women, the achievement of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 provided a logical conclusion point to what otherwise would be an endless study of the battle for gender equality. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s legacy deserves to be expanded past her stipulation that the right to vote should be added to the Declaration of Sentiments in 1848. By not challenging this vision of her historical acclaim, contemporary scholars of women are failing to correct the mistakes of past historians that distort the value of women in relation to American history. If current historians continue the earlier trend of recognising suffrage history as the only form of women’s history or only study those women that are judged as being worthy of attention by male standards of history, women’s history will become stagnant and not reflective of the women it is supposed to represent.1 This thesis endeavours to challenge the past 1 Ann D. Gordon, Mari Jo Buhle and Nancy Schrom Dye, “The Problem of Women’s History,” in Liberating Women’s History: Theoretical and Critical Essays , ed. Bernice A. Carroll, (Chicago and London, 1976), p.75. The notion existed that political and economic affairs were the public domain V assumptions of Stanton’s importance to reveal the magnitude of her influence. However, it will also explain how the spread of Stanton’s legacy shaped her future historical treatment in connection to the women’s rights movement. One of the key considerations of this work is that it will add to the dearth of current scholarly works on Stanton and hopefully encourage other historians to re-examine key figures of the women’s rights movement to bring fresh insight into their impact.2 Two questions posed by Gerda Lemer in 2003 offered further encouragement to new scholars to re-visit key figures of the women’s rights movement as she asks “Is it really the case that the recent past is more important and significant for scholarly inquiry than the more distant past?” and “If women’s ... struggles of the past are no longer of interest to women’s history specialists, then how will we ground our 3 knowledge of present and future social struggles?.” The answer to both of these questions reflects a commitment to the need to continue to expand the scholarship on women’s history. After an examination of the historiographical context of women’s history, the thesis is divided into two sections. The first section, “Mothers of the Movement” examines the women’s rights movement and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s role in it; the second “the Daughters of the Movement” reflects on how Stanton’s legacy can be traced through subsequent generations of women.
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