Henry Stanton
Encyclopedia
Henry Brewster Stanton was a 19th century abolitionist and social reformer.
, Connecticut
, the son of Joseph Stanton and Susan M. Brewster. He remembered his first desires for racial justice dated from his childhood, listening to the song of Miantonomi, a murdered chief of the Narragansett tribe:
His wife, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
, cousin of Gerrit Smith
, was also very much involved in social issues, including temperance, the abolition of slavery
, women's rights
and universal suffrage
. The couple was married on May 1, 1840, and the family ultimately included seven children. Their wedding trip was spent in Europe where Henry B. Stanton was a delegate to the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London
that began on June 12, 1840.
Stanton was well known as a orator and writer, and used these skills as a journalist, attorney, and politician. In 1826, Stanton began writing for the Monroe Telegraph in Rochester
, New York
. He also wrote for the New York Tribune
, when Horace Greeley
was editor, and then for the New York Sun
until his death. In 1832, he went to Cincinnati
, Ohio
, to study theology at Lane Seminary, but chose to actively join the abolitionist movement before completing his course. After his marriage, Stanton studied law under his father-in-law Daniel Cady in Johnstown, New York, and, after his studies, became a patent attorney in Boston
, Massachusetts
, where both he and his wife were actively and prominently engaged in the anti-slavery movement.
Due chiefly to Stanton's ill health, the family moved to Seneca Falls, New York
in 1847, where they resided in a house purchased for them by Daniel Cady. In Seneca Falls, Stanton continued his work in reform, journalism and politics, often traveling, speaking and writing on behalf of abolition. While living in Seneca Falls, Stanton helped organize the Free Soil Party
(1848) and the Republican Party in 1856. He also served a term in the New York Senate (1850–51).
Stanton was widely recognized as a premier American orator on social issues, and he was a primary spokesman for the abolitionist movement prior to the American Civil War
. He was known for his skill in extemporaneous speaking, and his wife reported that he was occasionally asked to speak on a random topic for the amusement of the audience.
Following the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840, Stanton spent several months on an anti-slavery European speaking tour, touching most of the principal cities of England
, Scotland
, Ireland
and France
. Throughout their lives, Henry Stanton and Elizabeth Cady Stanton traveled widely, both jointly and separately, speaking and organizing for social causes that included temperance
, abolition
and women's rights
. When Henry died unexpectedly of pneumonia
in 1887, Elizabeth was in London
speaking on behalf of voting rights for women.
Abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass
provided Stanton's son, Theodore, this memory of the first time he heard Henry B. Stanton speak in public:
Politically and socially active throughout his life, Stanton served as Deputy County Clerk of Monroe County, New York
, for three years, and as secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society
from 1835 to 1840. Stanton was appointed Deputy Collector of the Custom House
, Port of New York in 1861 and held the position until 1863.
Stanton's publications included many pamphlets on social issues and the book length Sketches of Reforms and Reformers in Great Britain and Ireland (New York, 1849), an examination of British social conditions and activists. In addition, he was finishing the fourth edition of his autobiography Random Recollections (1885) at the time of his death from pneumonia on January 14, 1887 in New York City
.
Biography
Stanton was born in PrestonPreston, Connecticut
Preston is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,688 at the 2000 census. The town includes the villages of Long Society, Preston City, and Poquetanuck.-History:...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, the son of Joseph Stanton and Susan M. Brewster. He remembered his first desires for racial justice dated from his childhood, listening to the song of Miantonomi, a murdered chief of the Narragansett tribe:
In my childhood we had a Negro slave whose voice was attuned to the sweetest cadence. Many a time did she lull me to slumber by singing this touching lament. It sank deep into my breast, and moulded my advancing years. Before I reached manhood I resolved that I would become the champion of the oppressed colored races of my country.
His wife, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
, cousin of Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith was a leading United States social reformer, abolitionist, politician, and philanthropist...
, was also very much involved in social issues, including temperance, the abolition of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
and universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
. The couple was married on May 1, 1840, and the family ultimately included seven children. Their wedding trip was spent in Europe where Henry B. Stanton was a delegate to the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
that began on June 12, 1840.
Stanton was well known as a orator and writer, and used these skills as a journalist, attorney, and politician. In 1826, Stanton began writing for the Monroe Telegraph in Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He also wrote for the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, when Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
was editor, and then for the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
until his death. In 1832, he went to Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, to study theology at Lane Seminary, but chose to actively join the abolitionist movement before completing his course. After his marriage, Stanton studied law under his father-in-law Daniel Cady in Johnstown, New York, and, after his studies, became a patent attorney in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, where both he and his wife were actively and prominently engaged in the anti-slavery movement.
Due chiefly to Stanton's ill health, the family moved to Seneca Falls, New York
Seneca Falls (village), New York
Seneca Falls is a village in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 6,861 at the 2000 census. The village is in the Town of Seneca Falls, east of Geneva, New York. On March 16, 2010, village residents voted to dissolve the village, a move that would take effect at the end of 2011...
in 1847, where they resided in a house purchased for them by Daniel Cady. In Seneca Falls, Stanton continued his work in reform, journalism and politics, often traveling, speaking and writing on behalf of abolition. While living in Seneca Falls, Stanton helped organize the Free Soil Party
Free Soil Party
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. It was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State. The party leadership...
(1848) and the Republican Party in 1856. He also served a term in the New York Senate (1850–51).
Stanton was widely recognized as a premier American orator on social issues, and he was a primary spokesman for the abolitionist movement prior to the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He was known for his skill in extemporaneous speaking, and his wife reported that he was occasionally asked to speak on a random topic for the amusement of the audience.
Following the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840, Stanton spent several months on an anti-slavery European speaking tour, touching most of the principal cities of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Throughout their lives, Henry Stanton and Elizabeth Cady Stanton traveled widely, both jointly and separately, speaking and organizing for social causes that included temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
, abolition
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
. When Henry died unexpectedly of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in 1887, Elizabeth was in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
speaking on behalf of voting rights for women.
Abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
provided Stanton's son, Theodore, this memory of the first time he heard Henry B. Stanton speak in public:
When I was escaping from bondage I was received under the humble but hospitable roof of Nathan Johnson, an old colored man....Nathan Johnson also told me all about Henry B. Stanton's wonderful oratorical powers, and took me one evening to hear him denounce the slave system. It was one of the first abolition lectures I ever heard, and this circumstance, combined with the eloquence of the speaker, left an ineffaceable impression on my mind. Your father was then unquestionably the best orator in the anti-slavery movement. I listened to him on many other occasions, but this first one, when I was fresh from slavery, naturally touched me the most deeply.
Politically and socially active throughout his life, Stanton served as Deputy County Clerk of Monroe County, New York
Monroe County, New York
Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 744,344. It is named after James Monroe, fifth President of the United States of America. Its county seat is the city of Rochester....
, for three years, and as secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society
American Anti-Slavery Society
The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was another freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had...
from 1835 to 1840. Stanton was appointed Deputy Collector of the Custom House
Custom House
A custom house or customs house was a building housing the offices for the government officials who processed the paperwork for the import and export of goods into and out of a country. Customs officials also collected customs duty on imported goods....
, Port of New York in 1861 and held the position until 1863.
Stanton's publications included many pamphlets on social issues and the book length Sketches of Reforms and Reformers in Great Britain and Ireland (New York, 1849), an examination of British social conditions and activists. In addition, he was finishing the fourth edition of his autobiography Random Recollections (1885) at the time of his death from pneumonia on January 14, 1887 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Further reading
- Banner, Lois W. Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Radical for Women's Rights, Addison-Wesley Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0-673-39319-4
- Griffith, Elisabeth. In Her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Oxford University Press, Great Britain, 1985. ISBN 0-19-503729-4