In my talk based on my book, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World, I included this timely quotation from a speech by ECS at a 1898 convention, marking the 50th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention:
“The pioneers have brought you through the wilderness in sight of the promised land; now, with active, aggressive, warfare, take possession . . . . Make a brave attack on every obstacle which stands in your way . . . The women in every State should watch their lawmakers, and any bill invidious to their interests should be promptly denounced, and with such vehemence and indignation as to agitate the whole community.” The second photo I’m standing in front of a slide in my presentation: The plaque is located on the side of Wesleyan, Chapel, site of the first convention. It reads: “On this spot stood/ the Wesleyan Chapel, where the first Woman’s Rights Convention/ in the World’s history was held./July 19 and 20, 1848/ Elizabeth Cady Stanton moved this Resolution,/ which was seconded by Frederick Douglass: ‘That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.'”
