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Kobi · 10-10-2012, 09:58 AM

What fascinates me when reviewing the history from different sources, is how the issues so prominent then, remain prominent even today. Even the dynamics and the ways in which they are manifested are very similar tho this might be more people being people related rather than issue related.

Stanton had a broader vision for what was necessary for women worldwide. Even in the 1800's, she was addressing domestic violence which was associated with the temperance movement back then, the inability of women to own or inheret property, in 1840 Stanton demanded the word Obey be stricken from her own marriage vows because she "obstinately refused to obey one with whom I supposed I was entering into an equal relation", she firmly believed that women should have command over their sexual relationships and childbearing i.e. women had the right to say NO to sex in marriage and had the right to birth control, she advocated advanced education as necessary for economic freedom, changes in divorce laws and circumstances under which divorce would be granted, parental rights and child custody etc.

Stanton was a life long abolitionist as well. She saw great similarities in the plight of women and of slaves. "The prejudice against color, of which we hear so much, is no stronger than that against sex. It is produced by the same cause, and manifested very much in the same way."

Her movement had an alliance with abolitionists, especially with Frederick Douglass, with both of them eloquently speaking to each others cause with what appeared to be incredible understanding of the issues involved, unique to each side, and an acceptance of and respect for one another.

Unfortunately, this alliance was severely challenged with the advent of 14th and 15th amendments. As is not unusual, rather than stick together to forge the advancement of both causes equally, they fragmented. This could be seen as a strategic difference of opinion which then deteriorated into what appears to be sexism running headlong into racism:

"After the American Civil War, both Stanton and Anthony broke with their abolitionist backgrounds and lobbied strongly against ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution, which granted African American men the right to vote.

Believing that African American men, by virtue of the Thirteenth Amendment, already had the legal protections, except for suffrage, offered to white male citizens and that so largely expanding the male franchise in the country would only increase the number of voters prepared to deny women the right to vote, both Stanton and Anthony were angry that the abolitionists, their former partners in working for both African American and women's rights, refused to demand that the language of the amendments be changed to include women.

Eventually, Stanton's oppositional rhetoric took on racial overtones. Arguing on behalf of female suffrage, Stanton posited that women voters of "wealth, education, and refinement" were needed to offset the effect of former slaves and immigrants whose "pauperism, ignorance, and degradation" might negatively affect the American political system. She declared it to be "a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see 'Sambo' walk into the kingdom [of civil rights] first."

Some scholars have argued that Stanton's emphasis on property ownership and education, opposition to black male suffrage, and desire to hold out for universal suffrage fragmented the civil rights movement by pitting African-American men against women and, together with Stanton's emphasis on "educated suffrage," in part established a basis for the literacy requirements that followed in the wake of the passage of the fifteenth amendment.

Stanton's position caused a significant rift between herself and many civil rights leaders, particularly Frederick Douglass, who believed that white women, already empowered by their connection to fathers, husbands, and brothers, at least vicariously had the vote.

According to Douglass, their treatment as slaves entitled the now liberated African-American men, who lacked women's indirect empowerment, to voting rights before women were granted the franchise. African-American women, he believed, would have the same degree of empowerment as white women once African-American men had the vote; hence, general female suffrage was, according to Douglass, of less concern than black male suffrage.

Disagreeing with Douglass, and despite the racist language she sometimes resorted to, Stanton firmly believed in a universal franchise that empowered blacks and whites, men and women. Speaking on behalf of black women, she stated that not allowing them to vote condemned African American freedwomen "to a triple bondage that man never knows," that of slavery, gender, and race. She was joined in this belief by Anthony, Olympia Brown, and most especially Frances Gage, who was the first suffragist to champion voting rights for freedwomen.

Believing that men should not be given the right to vote without women also being granted the franchise, Sojourner Truth, a former slave and feminist, affiliated herself with Stanton and Anthony's organization. Stanton, Anthony, and Truth were joined by Matilda Joslyn Gage, who later worked on The Woman's Bible with Stanton. Despite Stanton's position and the efforts of her and others to expand the Fifteenth Amendment to include voting rights for all women, this amendment also passed, as it was originally written, in 1870."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton

Women were not granted the right to vote for another 50 years.

Interesting stuff.

10-10-2012, 09:58 AM	#5
Kobi Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Biological female. Lesbian. Relationship Status: Happy Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Hanging out in the Atlantic. Posts: 9,234 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 9,840 Thanked 34,654 Times in 7,652 Posts Rep Power: 21474861	What fascinates me when reviewing the history from different sources, is how the issues so prominent then, remain prominent even today. Even the dynamics and the ways in which they are manifested are very similar tho this might be more people being people related rather than issue related. Stanton had a broader vision for what was necessary for women worldwide. Even in the 1800's, she was addressing domestic violence which was associated with the temperance movement back then, the inability of women to own or inheret property, in 1840 Stanton demanded the word Obey be stricken from her own marriage vows because she "obstinately refused to obey one with whom I supposed I was entering into an equal relation", she firmly believed that women should have command over their sexual relationships and childbearing i.e. women had the right to say NO to sex in marriage and had the right to birth control, she advocated advanced education as necessary for economic freedom, changes in divorce laws and circumstances under which divorce would be granted, parental rights and child custody etc. Stanton was a life long abolitionist as well. She saw great similarities in the plight of women and of slaves. "The prejudice against color, of which we hear so much, is no stronger than that against sex. It is produced by the same cause, and manifested very much in the same way." Her movement had an alliance with abolitionists, especially with Frederick Douglass, with both of them eloquently speaking to each others cause with what appeared to be incredible understanding of the issues involved, unique to each side, and an acceptance of and respect for one another. Unfortunately, this alliance was severely challenged with the advent of 14th and 15th amendments. As is not unusual, rather than stick together to forge the advancement of both causes equally, they fragmented. This could be seen as a strategic difference of opinion which then deteriorated into what appears to be sexism running headlong into racism: "After the American Civil War, both Stanton and Anthony broke with their abolitionist backgrounds and lobbied strongly against ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution, which granted African American men the right to vote. Believing that African American men, by virtue of the Thirteenth Amendment, already had the legal protections, except for suffrage, offered to white male citizens and that so largely expanding the male franchise in the country would only increase the number of voters prepared to deny women the right to vote, both Stanton and Anthony were angry that the abolitionists, their former partners in working for both African American and women's rights, refused to demand that the language of the amendments be changed to include women. Eventually, Stanton's oppositional rhetoric took on racial overtones. Arguing on behalf of female suffrage, Stanton posited that women voters of "wealth, education, and refinement" were needed to offset the effect of former slaves and immigrants whose "pauperism, ignorance, and degradation" might negatively affect the American political system. She declared it to be "a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see 'Sambo' walk into the kingdom [of civil rights] first." Some scholars have argued that Stanton's emphasis on property ownership and education, opposition to black male suffrage, and desire to hold out for universal suffrage fragmented the civil rights movement by pitting African-American men against women and, together with Stanton's emphasis on "educated suffrage," in part established a basis for the literacy requirements that followed in the wake of the passage of the fifteenth amendment. Stanton's position caused a significant rift between herself and many civil rights leaders, particularly Frederick Douglass, who believed that white women, already empowered by their connection to fathers, husbands, and brothers, at least vicariously had the vote. According to Douglass, their treatment as slaves entitled the now liberated African-American men, who lacked women's indirect empowerment, to voting rights before women were granted the franchise. African-American women, he believed, would have the same degree of empowerment as white women once African-American men had the vote; hence, general female suffrage was, according to Douglass, of less concern than black male suffrage. Disagreeing with Douglass, and despite the racist language she sometimes resorted to, Stanton firmly believed in a universal franchise that empowered blacks and whites, men and women. Speaking on behalf of black women, she stated that not allowing them to vote condemned African American freedwomen "to a triple bondage that man never knows," that of slavery, gender, and race. She was joined in this belief by Anthony, Olympia Brown, and most especially Frances Gage, who was the first suffragist to champion voting rights for freedwomen. Believing that men should not be given the right to vote without women also being granted the franchise, Sojourner Truth, a former slave and feminist, affiliated herself with Stanton and Anthony's organization. Stanton, Anthony, and Truth were joined by Matilda Joslyn Gage, who later worked on The Woman's Bible with Stanton. Despite Stanton's position and the efforts of her and others to expand the Fifteenth Amendment to include voting rights for all women, this amendment also passed, as it was originally written, in 1870." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton Women were not granted the right to vote for another 50 years. Interesting stuff.