Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Address to the New York Legislature (1854)
Confusion exists about whether or not Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Address to the New York Legislature was delivered to the legislature in person. It is agreed that Stanton’s speech was first given on February 14, 1854, to the New York State Woman’s Rights Convention, of which Stanton was president. According to several sources, a few days later Stanton gave the same speech in a packed Senate chamber of the New York State legislature, making it the first address by a woman to a legislative body. Some sources state that Stanton’s father threatened to disown her if she spoke to the lawmakers; other sources state that Judge Cady helped in formulating her arguments.
Whatever the truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Address to the New York Legislature is a masterpiece of logical argument, focusing on the fact that since laws deprived women of the right to control their own property and income, women were, as such, unable to define their own needs, a type of self-fulfilling prophecy....
