Address to the Legislature of New York
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists
A speech Stanton prepared for the New York State women's rights convention of February 1854 and presented to the state legislature with a petition of thousands of signatures. Taking the standing of woman as citizen, as wife, as widow and as mother in turn, she shows that women are taxed and tried without representation, that on marriage a wife loses her property, her earnings, her name and the custody of her children, and that widows are left dependent. She argues from the Declaration of Independence and the common law and demands the vote and legal equality. New York reformed its married women's property law in 1860.
We recommendThe Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony ReaderNortheastern University Press, 1992Ellen Carol DuBois's selection of the essential speeches and writings, with historical notes.
As an Amazon Associate, The Great Books earns from qualifying purchases. Bookshop.org links also support this site. How this works.
- Written
- 1854
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 25 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
Why it's on the list
Taking the standing of woman as citizen, as wife, as widow and as mother in turn gives Stanton's argument genuinely comprehensive structural force, demonstrating legal disadvantage compounds across every major social role a woman might occupy rather than remaining confined to a single isolated grievance easily dismissed as exceptional. Her specific catalogue, that marriage strips a wife of her property, her earnings, her name and the custody of her children, documents coverture's actual legal machinery with precise, damning concreteness rather than leaving injustice as abstract grievance. Arguing from the Declaration of Independence and common law simultaneously grounds her demand in both America's founding revolutionary principles and accumulated technical legal tradition, refusing to let reformers dismiss her claims as merely sentimental. Presenting this address directly to the legislature with a petition bearing thousands of signatures converted individual argument into demonstrated organized pressure, and the legislature's actual 1860 reform of married women's property law gives it documented consequence.
Key themes
- Women and men
- Taking the standing of woman as citizen, as wife, as widow and as mother in turn gives Stanton's argument genuinely comprehensive structural force, demonstrating legal disadvantage compounds across every major social role a woman might occupy.
- Justice
- Her specific catalogue, that marriage strips a wife of her property, her earnings, her name and the custody of her children, documents coverture's actual legal machinery with precise, damning concreteness rather than leaving injustice as abstract grievance.
- Liberty and rights
- Arguing from the Declaration of Independence and common law simultaneously grounds her demand in both America's own founding revolutionary principles and in accumulated technical legal tradition, refusing dismissal as merely sentimental appeal.
- Society and the state
- Presenting this address directly to the New York state legislature with a petition bearing thousands of signatures converted individual argument into demonstrated organized political pressure, and the 1860 property law reform gives it documented consequence.
Which edition to read
Our pick
The Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Reader
Northeastern University Press, 1992
Ellen Carol DuBois's selection of the essential speeches and writings, with historical notes.
Amazon: the Northeastern University Press edition, opens in a new tabBookshop.org: the Northeastern University Press edition, opens in a new tab
Overview
About twenty-five pages, a speech Elizabeth Cady Stanton prepared for the New York State women’s rights convention of February 1854 and presented to the state legislature with a petition of thousands of signatures. Taking the standing of woman as citizen, as wife, as widow and as mother in turn, she shows that women are taxed and tried without representation.
She argues that on marriage a wife loses her property, her earnings, her name and the custody of her children, and that widows are left dependent. She argues from the Declaration of Independence and the common law and demands the vote and legal equality. New York reformed its married women’s property law in 1860.
What happens
Woman as citizen. Stanton begins by examining woman’s standing as citizen, showing that women are taxed and tried without representation, a direct violation of principles Americans otherwise considered foundational to legitimate government.
Woman as wife. Stanton examines woman’s standing as wife, documenting how marriage strips a wife of her property, her earnings and her own name, converting legal personhood into her husband’s possession.
Woman as mother. Stanton addresses woman’s standing as mother, showing how marriage law denies wives custody of their own children, a particularly severe consequence of coverture’s comprehensive legal disadvantage.
Woman as widow. Stanton examines woman’s standing as widow, demonstrating how widows are left dependent, denied the legal and economic security marriage law should have provided them.
Arguing from the Declaration and common law. Stanton grounds her demand in both the Declaration of Independence’s revolutionary principles and the accumulated technical tradition of common law, refusing to let her claims be dismissed as merely sentimental.
Demanding the vote and legal equality. Stanton concludes by demanding the vote and legal equality, presenting these demands alongside a petition of thousands of signatures directly to the New York state legislature.
How to read it
Read Stanton’s decision to take the standing of woman as citizen, as wife, as widow and as mother in turn as giving her argument genuinely comprehensive structural force, demonstrating legal disadvantage compounds across every major social role.
Pay close attention to her specific catalogue, that marriage strips a wife of her property, her earnings, her name and the custody of her children; this documents coverture’s actual legal machinery with precise, damning concreteness.
Notice how arguing from the Declaration of Independence and common law simultaneously grounds her demand in both America’s founding revolutionary principles and accumulated technical legal tradition, refusing dismissal as merely sentimental appeal.
Consider how presenting this address directly to the legislature with a petition bearing thousands of signatures converted individual argument into demonstrated organized political pressure, and the 1860 property law reform gives it documented consequence.
Read this address alongside Wollstonecraft’s own Vindication of the Rights of Woman to compare how two writers, separated by more than six decades, each constructed arguments for women’s legal and civic equality within their own distinct historical contexts.
Questions it raises
- Does Stanton’s structural approach, examining woman’s standing across citizen, wife, mother and widow, successfully demonstrate systemic legal disadvantage, or might this comprehensive catalogue have proven less persuasive to contemporary legislators than a more narrowly focused argument?
- How persuasive is grounding the demand for women’s rights simultaneously in the Declaration of Independence and common law? Does combining revolutionary principle with technical legal argument strengthen the case, or does it risk appealing incompletely to either audience?
- What does the specific catalogue of marital property loss, earnings, name and child custody, accomplish that more general claims about inequality could not? Does this concrete documentation make coverture’s injustice more vivid and harder to dismiss?
- How should a reader weigh this address’s documented legislative success, New York’s 1860 property law reform, against the considerably longer timeline before women achieved full legal equality and suffrage? Does this partial victory suggest the address’s genuine but limited immediate impact?
- Given that Stanton presented this address with a petition of thousands of signatures, what does this combination of individual rhetorical argument and organized collective pressure suggest about effective strategies for achieving legal and political reform?
- What does this address’s continued relevance to discussions of legal equality and women’s rights suggest about the durability of Stanton’s specific arguments? Do her catalogued grievances still illuminate comparable contemporary concerns about legal and economic equality?
Highlights
Taking the standing of woman as citizen, as wife, as widow and as mother in turn, Stanton shows that women are taxed and tried without representation, and that on marriage a wife loses her property, her earnings, her name and the custody of her children.
Paraphrase of the address's comprehensive structural argument, legal disadvantage documented across every major social role a woman occupies.
She argues from the Declaration of Independence and the common law and demands the vote and legal equality, grounding her demand in both America's own founding revolutionary principles and in the accumulated technical legal tradition.
Paraphrase of the address's dual rhetorical and legal strategy, combining revolutionary principle with technical legal argument.
Stanton presented this address to the New York State legislature with a petition of thousands of signatures, and New York reformed its married women's property law in 1860, giving this specific speech documented legislative consequence beyond rhetorical achievement.
Paraphrase of the address's concrete historical impact, organized political pressure producing actual legislative change.