The Political Thought of Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Women's Rights and the American Political Traditions

by Sue Davis

2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was not only one of the most important leaders of the nineteenth century women s rights movement but was also the movement s principal philosopher. Her ideas both drew from and challenged the conventions that so severely constrained women s choices and excluded them from public life.

In The Political Thought of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sue Davis argues that Cady Stanton s work reflects the rich tapestry of American political culture in the second half of the nineteenth century and that she deserves recognition as a major figure in the history of political ideas. Davis reveals the way that Cady Stanton s work drew from different political traditions ranging from liberalism, republicanism, inegalitarian ascriptivism, and radicalism. Cady Stanton s arguments for women s rights combined approaches that in contemporary feminist theory are perceived to involve conflicting strategies and visions. Nevertheless, her ideas had a major impact on the development of the varieties of feminism in the twentieth century.

Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, The Political Thought of Elizabeth Cady Stanton draws on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources and promises to fill a gap in the literature on the history of political ideas in the United States as well as women s history and feminist theory."

309 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Sue Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread most of this book trying to put together a chapter for a collection on American ideas