Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Reminiscences

In 1881, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage published the first volume of History of Woman Suffrage, covering the years 1848-1861. One of the best sources for inside information on the early years of the woman suffrage movement in the United States, it was written by the three editors as well as other suffrage workers.

While the 800+ pages of this volume are not available online, nor are the other volumes, occasional copies of the work can be found in used bookstores and many libraries possess copies, often in their rare book collection.

I've reproduced on this site one chapter of the original work, both as interesting reading and as a resource for students, teachers and researchers.  (You'll find two versions: one divided into 9 parts, for easier reading online, and another with the original pagination and placement of notes, for those who need to cite the work for research purposes.)

And what an amazing chapter this one is!  Signed by "E.C.S." (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, of course), it includes

• The recollection of Elizabeth Cady Stanton of her first meeting with Susan B. Anthony, who did not attend the 1848 Seneca Falls gathering but became an active suffragist shortly after.
• The assessment of Elizabeth Cady Stanton of her long friendship with Susan B. Anthony, including how two such different women managed to not only be fast friends but working partners. 
  • "We were at once fast friends, in thought and sympathy we were one, and in the division of labor we exactly complemented each other. In writing we did better work together than either could alone. While she is slow and analytical in composition, I am rapid and synthetic. I am the better writer, she the better critic. She supplied the facts and statistics, I the philosophy and rhetoric, and together we have made arguments that have stood unshaken by the storms of thirty long years: arguments that no man has answered. Our speeches may be considered the united product of our two brains." (Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
• Some charming references to challenges faced by Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a mother, including stories of some of her children setting another afloat in the river and her assessment of one child's challenge:
  • "It is pleasant to remember that he never seriously injured any of his victims, and only once came near shooting himself with a pistol. The ball went through his hand; happily a brass button prevented it from penetrating his heart."
• References to "Aunt Susan's" help with the children while Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony collaborated on reform efforts: 
  • "we took turns on the domestic watch-towers, directing amusements, settling disputes, protecting the weak against the strong, and trying to secure equal rights to all to the home as well as the nation."
• Stories of how Elizabeth Cady Stanton responded to criticism, from men and from women.
• Some background on Matilda Joslyn Gage - her education, family and an anecdote about her own "one upmanship" of a critic of women's rights.
• An outline of the attempt at dress reform called "The Bloomer Costume," and why Elizabeth Cady Stanton abandoned the experiment after two years.

The often-droll humor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, her devotion to and love of her children and her friend Susan B. Anthony, the commitment of Elizabeth Cady Stanton to the cause of women's rights are all as alive today as they were 120 years ago when she published these "reminiscences."  I invite you to enjoy this brief extract from a long, detailed and historically-important book.