Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Solitude of Self” (1892)
Many consider Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Solitude of Self” to be Stanton’s best work, as did Stanton herself. “Solitude of Self” was delivered three times in Washington, D.C. First, the speech was sent in written form, on January 18, 1892, to the congressional Committee of the Judiciary. That afternoon Stanton delivered the address at the National American Woman Suffrage Association convention, as retiring president of the organization. On January 20 she personally gave the speech to the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage. “Solitude of Self” proclaims the principles and values underlying the struggle for woman’s rights. She states the main theme of the speech as “the individuality of each human soul.” She demands equal rights for all individuals, proclaiming that each person must have the tools of survival for his or her voyage through life.
Stanton, driving force behind the first women’s rights convention, did not live to see the fruition of her labors. The...
