Henry Brewster Stanton (June 27, 1805 – January 14, 1887) was an American
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
,
social reformer
A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...
,
attorney,
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and politician. His writing was published in the ''
New York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
,'' the ''
New York Sun,'' and
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...
's ''Anti-Slavery Standard'' and ''
The Liberator''.
[ He was elected to the ]New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate.
Partisan compo ...
in 1850 and 1851. His wife, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
, was a world renowned leading figure of the early women's rights movement
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
.
Early life
Stanton was born on June 27, 1805, in Preston, Connecticut
Preston is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,788 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of Long Society, Preston City, and Poquetanuck.
History
In 1686, Thomas Parke, Thomas Tracy, and s ...
, the son of Joseph Stanton and Susan M. Brewster. His father manufactured woolen goods and traded with the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater ...
. He remembered his first desires for racial justice dated from his childhood, as he listened to a slave sing:
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 '' he_song_of_Miantonomi.html" ;"title="Miantonomi.html" ;"title="he song of Miantonomi">he song of Miantonomi">Miantonomi.html" ;"title="he song of Miantonomi">he song of Miantonomi'. 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.
Career
Stanton became well known as an 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. It was owned by Thurlow Weed and was then promoting the presidential candidacy of Henry Clay
Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...
. He began to make political speeches.[ Stanton also wrote for the '']New York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
,'' when Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressman from New York, ...
was editor, and then for the '' New York Sun'' until his death. He contributed to William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...
's ''Anti-Slavery Standard'' and '' The Liberator''.[
He began studying at the ]Oneida Institute
The Oneida Institute was a short-lived (1827–1843) but highly influential school that was a national leader in the emerging abolitionist movement. It was the most radical school in the country, the first at which black men were just as welcom ...
, but was part of a group of 24 who left in 1832 for Cincinnati, Ohio, there to study theology at Lane Seminary
Lane Seminary, sometimes called Cincinnati Lane Seminary, and later renamed Lane Theological Seminary, was a Presbyterian theological college that operated from 1829 to 1932 in Walnut Hills, Ohio, today a neighborhood in Cincinnati. Its campus ...
. However, Stanton chose to start working in the abolitionist movement before completing his studies. After his marriage, Stanton studied law under his father-in-law Daniel Cady
Daniel Cady (April 29, 1773 – October 31, 1859 in Johnstown, Fulton County, New York) was a prominent American lawyer, politician and judge in upstate New York. While perhaps better known today as the father of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Judge C ...
in Johnstown, New York
Johnstown is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County in the U.S. state of New York. The city was named after its founder, Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Province of New York and a major general during the S ...
. After passing the bar, he became a patent attorney
A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and op ...
in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
, . 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 is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 8,942 at the 2020 census.
The Town of Seneca Falls contains the former village also called Seneca Falls. The town is east of Geneva, New York, in the north ...
, in 1847, where they resided in a house which Daniel Cady purchased for them. 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
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery int ...
(1848) and the Republican Party in 1856. He was elected as a member of the New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate.
Partisan compo ...
(25th D.) in 1850 and 1851.
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. His wife reported that he was occasionally asked to speak on a random topic for the amusement of the audience.
After attending the first World Anti-Slavery Convention
The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The exclus ...
in London in 1840, Stanton spent several months on an anti-slavery European speaking tour, touring 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
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
. When Henry died unexpectedly of pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
in 1887, Elizabeth was in London speaking on behalf of voting rights for women.
Abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
provided Stanton's son, Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...
, 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 is a county in the Finger Lakes region of the State of New York. The county is along Lake Ontario's southern shore. At the 2020 census, Monroe County's population was 759,443, an increase since the 2010 census. Its county seat ...
, for three years. He was secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this society ...
from 1835 to 1840. Stanton was appointed Deputy Collector of the Port of New York
The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import duties on foreign goods that entered the United States by ship at ...
in 1861 and held the position until 1863.
Stanton's publications included many pamphlets on social issues. He wrote 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.
Personal life
His wife, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
, cousin of Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was a leading American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candida ...
, became very much involved in progressive social issues. She worked for temperance, the abolition of slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
and universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
. The couple was married on May 1, 1840, and 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.[The Anti-Slavery Society Convention]
, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon
Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactles ...
, National Portrait Gallery. accessed 19 July 2008 Together, they were the parents of seven children:
* Daniel Cady Stanton (1842-1891)
* Henry Brewster Stanton, Jr. (1844-1903)
* Gerrit Smith Stanton (1845-1927)
* Theodore Weld Stanton (1851-1925)
* Margaret Livingston Stanton Lawrence (1852-1938)
* Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch
Harriot Eaton Blatch ( Stanton; January 20, 1856–November 20, 1940) was an American writer and suffragist. She was the daughter of pioneering women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Biography
Harriot Eaton Stanton was born, the sixth ...
(1856-1940),
* Robert Livingston Stanton (1859-1920).
Stanton died from pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
on January 14, 1887, election night, while it was pouring rain in New York City.
References
Further reading
* Banner, Lois W. ''Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Radical for Women's Rights'', Addison-Wesley Publishers, 1997.
* Griffith, Elisabeth. ''In Her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton'', Oxford University Press, Great Britain, 1985.
*
External links
Brief biography
Extended biography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanton, Henry
1805 births
1887 deaths
People from Preston, Connecticut
19th-century philosophers
American abolitionists
New York (state) Free Soilers
American temperance activists
American social reformers
Republican Party New York (state) state senators
Oneida Institute alumni
Lane Theological Seminary alumni
Lane Rebels
Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state)