E C Stanton and the Enlightenment - Essay Example

E.C. Stanton and the Enlightenment The Enlightenment was a large-scale movement in thought beginning as early as the mid-1600s that dramatically changed the way people lived their lives to the present day. Some of the major concepts that led the Enlightenment were the concepts of rationalism, individualism, relativism and, relatively late in its development, romanticism. These ideas were expounded by numerous influential writers and philosophers such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The concepts they brought forward and kept within public discourse eventually led to such important documents as the United States’ Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In 1854, Elizabeth Stanton used many of these same concepts that freed Americans from British rule to try to free women from male rule in America during an address to the Legislature of the state of New York. Her speech was an attempt to get the legislators of New York to acknowledge the present condition of women within their society and to give these women the legal authority to gain the same protections of the law that were extended to men. In making this appeal, Stanton uses the enlightenment concepts of individualism, rationalism, relativism and even romanticism to convince the men of the legislature that women were as human and as intelligent as men but were trapped within a different world from that experienced by the men that forced them away from the more virtuous natural state they were intended to enjoy. One of the first enlightenment ideas Stanton employs toward her fight for greater legal rights for women is the idea that all people are valuable simply because they are people. The concept of individualism, perhaps best examined by John Locke and used as the basis for the Declaration of Independence, did not differentiate between male or female. Stanton used this concept to ask why, if this were the case, women continued to be restricted beyond the bounds of men. “We are persons; native, free-born citizens; property-holders, taxpayers; yet are we denied the exercise of our right to the elective franchise” (Stanton 45). Stanton’s argument rests on the idea that women participate in society at least as much as men do, proving that they are every bit as much a human being as the men and she dares them to disagree. “We are moral, virtuous, and intelligent, and in all respects quite equal to the proud white man himself, and yet by your laws we are classed with idiots, lunatics, and negroes; and though we do not feel honored by the placed assigned us, yet, in fact, our legal position is lower than that of either” (Stanton 45). Continuing with a list of the rights of idiots, lunatics and negroes over that of the woman, Stanton removes all arguments that might be brought forth against women should one agree with the basic Enlightenment concept of individualism. Another strong element of Enlightenment thought is the concept of rationalism. Rationalism refers primarily to the strong belief that human beings could discern the truth and improve human life by using their power of reason. This concept is laced throughout Stanton’s speech including that segment in which she attempts to illustrate the condition of women as compared to that of men. After having pointed out how women have been given the opportunity to inherit and hold land, she reasons out the ultimate conclusion of this decision. “The right to property implies the right to buy and sell, to will and bequeath, and herein is the dawning of a civil existence for woman, for now the ‘femme covert’ must have the right to make contracts” (Stanton 48) which then leads into holding social positions. By appealing to reason in this portion of her argument, Stanton makes it clear that men themselves have formed the definitions by which she is holding them accountable. This same reason is put to use in her discussion of the rights of the widow as compared to the widower. While the widow is only entitled to one-third of the landed estate and one-half of the personal property of her husband, the widower would have retained all. “How, I ask you, can that be called justice, which makes such a distinction as this between man and woman?” (Stanton 48). Rationalist thought leads the discussion, constantly sticking to the facts and illustrating how the law is flawed. Stanton employs the concept of relativism in making her case that women need to be included in the law-making and law-keeping process. Relativism acknowledges that people from different cultures, segments of society or beliefs nevertheless hold equal merit in the world. Using relativism, she argues that men are incapable of understanding the particular viewpoint of women. “The nobleman can not make just laws for the peasant; the slaveholder for the slave; neither can man make and execute just laws for woman, because in each case, the one in power fails to apply the immutable principles of right to any grade but his own” (Stanton 46). As further illustration that men cannot be trusted to treat women fairly, Stanton has only to point out how the best of women are treated to illustrate how women accused of committing criminal acts might be treated. “Having seen that man fails to do justice to woman in her best estate, to the virtuous, the noble, the true of our sex, should we trust to his tender mercies the weak, the ignorant, the morally insane?” (Stanton 46). While there is no guarantee, of course, that women will be more likely to treat the female criminal with more compassion or leniency than men, Stanton uses relativism to illustrate that the women, at least, would have a greater understanding of the female prisoners’ position and state of mind. To an extent, Stanton also uses the concepts of Romanticism to support her argument. This concept, promoted mostly by Rousseau and von Goethe, emphasized the importance of innate emotions and instincts as helping to bring society closer to a more virtuous natural state. Stanton moves into the romantic concept as she discusses the plight of women as concerns her children. “Nature has clearly made the mother the guardian of the child; but man, in his inordinate love of power, does continually set nature and nature’s laws at open defiance” (Stanton 49). There can be no argument regarding the preferences of nature as only the woman is capable of bearing the child and feeding the child in its earliest infancy. By calling attention to this fact, and then setting it immediately and drastically in contrast to the existing laws, Stanton illustrates how the law of man is interfering with the higher law of nature. This is made even clearer as she discusses the use to which several fathers had been known to apportion out their children regardless of the input of the mother. “By the abuse of this absolute power, he may bind his daughter to the owner of a brothel, and, by the degradation of his child, supply his daily wants: and such things, gentlemen, have been done in our very midst” (Stanton 49). Like her earlier statement, this dramatically illustrates the degree to which man’s law has interfered with nature’s law and pulls at those individuals who might take a more romantic approach regarding the natural relations of human beings. Throughout her speech, Stanton employs the major concepts of the Enlightenment to appeal to her audience of male legislators. Although she faced strong opposition, even the threat of being disowned by her own father as a result of this speech, Stanton remained firm in her reasoning and was able to convince others of her point of view. Through the concepts of individualism, she proved that women were as human as men in the eyes of God and the world. Using the concept of rationalism, Stanton was able to base her speech on the solid foundation of reason, illustrating those areas where reason has broken down and the laws are now creating pure irrationality in insisting that women be held to a different and inferior standard than men. The concepts of relativism perhaps helped her illustrate her point that men were not capable of fully understanding the inequalities or the reasons why women should object to them simply because they were not living under the same restrictions and requirements. Romanticism, which would not normally appear to be of any use in this argument, nevertheless emerges as a strong point because of the way she employs its precepts. Reminding the legislators of the undeniable natural identification of women as the preferred protector of children, she illustrates the unnatural conditions that have been placed on women and children as a result of men’s laws and the unnatural results that has engendered. Only by returning to a more natural state, the argument of romanticism, by providing women with the equal protections and rights of the law which is their due as suggested by the concept of individualism and is the direction the state is already heading, as proven using the concept of rationalism can women begin to make their issues and concerns, different from those of men as would be natural through the concept of relativism, known and thus bring society to a more perfect state for all individuals, male and female. Works Cited Stanton, Elizabeth. “Address to the Legislature of New York on Women’s Rights.” (February 14, 1854). Read More