By inspiring ourselves with the National Constitution centers congressional mission, we are the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information about the u. S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis. Beautiful, thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. It just lifts the spirits and prepares us for the learning ahead. We are so grateful and honored that you have come to the National ConstitutionCenter Tonight and grateful to cspan for covering this important discussion about womens suffrage and elizabeth stantons role in it. Cspan friends, during these anxious times, as many people are avoiding leaving the home in large public gatherings, its so urgently important to engage in Lifelong Learning and that is why watching cspan is so important. Please, also, and friends here as well, use the National Constitution centers virtual online resources to learn about the constitution. We have this spectacular new program called classroom exchanges that unites classrooms across the country for live discussions about the constitution moderated by judges and master teachers with classes around the country as you look for ways to continue your or from even from home schools, go to constitution center. Com, check out the interactive constitution, pick up provisions of the constitution you dont know about and let the learning continue. We are going to begin tonights discussion, which is devoted to lori ginsburgs wonderful book, by discussing this exciting new exhibit at the National Constitution center that will open on june 10. Its called the 19th amendment, women win the vote. It is about the history of the 19th amendment and how women won the vote. Joining me to describe it and discuss it is my wonderful colleague, elena, who heads the exhibits department here. I just wanted to have a brief conversation with her about what she and her great team are trying to achieve in the exhibit and the story they are trying to tell, both to excite all of you about the exhibit and to set up the great discussion to follow. Elena, first of all, welcome. Thank you for being here. Thanks to you and your team for the amazing job you have done. At seneca falls in 1848, Elizabeth Cady stanton and other great advocates of womens equality passed the declaration of sentiments, which said, among other things, that we hold these truths to be selfevident that all men and women are created equal. They were using the declaration of independence as a model but trying to extend it to include womens equality. What were the authors of the declaration of sentiments trying to achieve and why did they gather in seneca falls to write it . Elena Elizabeth Cady stanton was the primary author and it is amazing to look at the document itself. We will be featuring a copy in the upcoming exhibit. We wanted to not only feature the artifact, but feature the inspiration that came from the declaration. You can read the different grievances that she wrote against men instead of the king. We have featured those in the exhibit. Interesting in general, in the time, the use of the declaration of independence in argument for womens suffrage, i have been culling for a lot of quotes with speeches, congressional debates, reading on how women were fighting for the right to vote. They are frequently going back to those founding ideals in the declaration and saying no taxation without representation. They are very central arguments were they say wait a minute, we were kind of left out from the founding era and we are going to rewrite that and say that all men and women are created equale created equal. Thehe relation between coloration and constitution is central to the exhibit. You have done a wonderful job telling the story about the civil war and reconstruction and the promise of declaration being extended to the africanamericans. And how lincoln pledged he never had an idea politically but did not come from the declaration. A poignant fissure between africanamericans and advocates for womens suffrage. It started off the precivil war era. The passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, the last of which extended the right to vote to africanamerican men but not women, the movement split. Tell us about that. It is a significant story that we started in our civil war and reconstruction. Theontinue that story into 13th amendment gallery where you can see the roots of these arguments and how there was unification after the civil war toward a common cause. That being slavery. We get to the 14th amendment. The very critical word mail is instituted into the constitution for the first time. This upsets many white women in particular who are fighting for their suffrage. They ultimately end up starting the split over the 14th amendment and the 15th amendment, which guaranteed Voting Rights for africanamerican men that come up with that final break, there were women like stanton who were going to explicitly push for womens suffrage first. Not allow africanamericans to get the vote before them. Thatee a lot of the racism started to creep into the movement and really become at the forefront of the debates. And end up continuing. It will be interesting to hear what laurie has to say on this topic because it is central to the narrative, how to address the racism. She as a historian and me as a developer have different ways of approaching that narrative and helping visitors understand the story. And her through books and talks and lectures, she is able to show that narrative. I want to make sure we have that conversation about our different approaches and make sure to tell the truth narrative of the story. Is great of you to consult Lori Ginsberg in crafting the script. Was so central. It showed the framers of the 14th of mimic did not expect the amendment would grant the right to vote. That made it harder for womens suffrage is advocates to argue as they did in the 1870s and 80s that the 14th amendment should be expended extended to women. He rejected their claim as did the Supreme Court. Of thend important part exhibit. You tell the story of how the right to vote was one statebystate in the 70s and 80s 1870s and 1880s. Describe that battle. Give us a sense of how it began in the founding era. It picked up in the 1870s and 1880s. Why . By that point, particularly in western territories, they wanted to encourage women to come to their borders. They started granting the right to vote. It was a practical reason to attract more people and then they will be able to apply for statehood. 1869 with wyoming is the first. There were a lot of great illustrations from the time that show progress sweeping from the west toward the east. When you start having some people pushing for just the constitutional minutes. It would be a 16th amendment, that would be the next in line after the 15th. You have a lot of people pushing against the state level for change. Ultimately there will be national change. This propels the story into the 20th century, where we look at the continuing. We get toward the end where there were a final few years where it gets dramatic and you are seeing a lot more of the photography that you are familiar with. The picketing in front of the white house. All of, processions, these public things happening. Toldwide, you have this push ultimately grant women the right to vote and really fulfill a true democracy. Partat leads to the final of the exhibit where you tell the dramatic story about how president wilson changes his position on the 19th amendment and states are ratifying it and it all comes down to a dramatic story in tennessee. Give us a sense of what happened. Burns was planning on voting no on ratification. Neededs the final state for it to become part of the constitution. He received a letter from his mother who says you really should vote yes on this ratification. What did he do . He ends up switching his bow at the last minute. Nobody expected it. It pushes it over the edge. Ultimately tennessee ratified. It took one final vote to add it to the u. S. Constitution. Amazing. Makeows how one vote can all of the difference. It turned out bird five proposed an amendment that would have illuminated the electoral college. It passed the house with bipartisan support of president nixon, ford, george h to be bush and failed by three or four votes in the senate because of a filibuster. Can turnional politics on one or two decisions. What do you what are you most excited about displaying in the exhibit . There are so many great artifacts that you have. At the end of the exhibit, we are actually going to be featuring pennsylvanias ratification copy of the 19 amendment. Those of you from pennsylvania, it is kind of cool. Featuring women in various ways trying to get the right to vote and convince other people they should have that right. See a lot of posters, different buttons with pants on them or rolling pens. A lot of visual cues there. One of my personal favorites, a ballot box. That from the reconstruction era where some women were able to vote. This one i believe is from utah. There is a county printed on it. I tried to track down where exactly that is. Utah allowed them to vote early on. It actually has printed on it balance. Those are some of the highlights. I am grateful to you and your team for doing a superb job in creating this exhibit. I cant wait to share it with all of you on june 10. Please join me in thanking elena. We are honored to hear from americas leading biographer of Elizabeth Cady stanton, cory ginsberg. Lori ginsberg. Colleague, alana or work. Welcoming lanain and lori. [applause] good evening. Thank you. I will continue the conversation with you and lori. Thank you for being here to discuss your book on stanton. Thank you for being a member of the National Constitution center and thank you for everyone for your support. Your support makes it possible. Welcome. I just want to start by asking you about stanton and her life. I will introduce you more by telling you about your background. You are a pressure of history in world studies at Pennsylvania State university and you have written several books on womens a study ofluding womens origins in antebellum new york. Right . Onouncing it cady . Elsethink everyone pronounces it katie and i dont know why. You talk about her family and her relationship with her father, which i found interesting and detailed in your book. It is a pleasure to come to the constitution center. Elizabeth cady stanton is someone who i have always argued with. I wrote a number of books in womens history. She is a fascinating character. Charismatic, bossy, elitist. Brilliant. She is quite amazing. I think that people who study u. S. Womens history cannot help but grapple with her in some ways. I believe that for all of her flaws there is no one like her in the 19th century. She was born in 1815 in johnstown, new york, her father was a judge and her mother was a descendent of a revolutionary war hero. They were quite conservative. Wealthy, property owning, slaveowning. People often forget that that was still the case in upstate new york. Much of the north. Traditional, as stanton remembered it, on matters of gender. The famous story that she told was that when she was 11, her last brother died, she crawled into her fathers lap seeking to give and receive comfort and he put his arm around her and said my daughter, i wish you were a boy. Everybody groans at that, and the sting of the remark is certainly something many women feel. But its not actually an irrational comment for a father of a brilliant daughter who recognized her life was going to be quite limited by the time and place in which she lived. There were not very many options for a wealthy young woman born in 1915. She got the best education she could for girls, but she was always resentful that she didnt get to go to college with the boys after handily beating them in all subjects in grade school. She took that resentment with her in making a life that was devoted to challenging all the many ways, and you will hear this said many times tonight, not really suffrage, although many ways she felt womens lives were restricted and spirits crushed by virtue of being girls. Lana its interesting that her father was very much opposed to suffrage and she rebelled against that throughout her life. You hint that this may have been part of her motivation behind the work that she did. One thing that he did do was, being conscious of the laws that regulated women, he put a lot of property in her name because he was maybe distrustful of husbands and the ways they would treat their wives as property. I thought that was interesting. Lori in 1848, april, the married womans property act passed in new york, giving married women the right to own and inherit property. It was fathers like judge cady who supported this because they wanted their inherited wealth not to go to sonsinlaw. Not necessarily profligate ones, but just unknown quantities. Elizabeth cady stantons husband, Henry Brewster stanton, although he became a lawyer and was in the state senate for a while, he was not well off or a suitable beau when they met. Elizabeths father was clear that he was going to leave property separately for her. Including the house they owned. Only for her. For a conservative family to have their lively, brilliant 25yearold daughter fall in love with a 35yearold abolitionist lecturer, that was not the choice. At first the father forbade the marriage. They got married and went on their honeymoon, they went to the World Antislavery Convention in london. Lana a very momentous event in her life, her first time out of the country, interacting with british women, very advanced in the tactics that they were using of suffrage over the u. K. , that was a powerful experience for her. Lori i think that she was mostly impressed with the american women that she met there. She met with a bunch of the Antislavery Society women who were elected by their local chapters of the Antislavery Society as delegates to london, but when they got to the convention, the british quakers who were much more conservative on matters of gender, much more mainstream in british life, they barred the women from participating and put them behind the bar, which outraged the young Elizabeth Cady stanton to no end and outraged others, too. William lloyd garrison among others sat behind the bar with them and refused to participate because of the exclusion of groups. For stanton, she described it as a political turning point in her life, meeting Lucretia Mont and these other women who had for years already in the 1840s been already struggling about these issues. Lana you and jeff were just talking about the exhibit. We were talking about preseneca falls. Just as important to the movement, the main focus of the exhibit drops you in at 1848 at the convention. So, you know, whats the approach to telling the story of, you know, stanton, her work prior to seneca falls and incorporating the work of the Antislavery Movement and the importance of that to suffrage . Elena is interesting when you go to start an exhibit, you have a limited space. You have to make never an infinite amount of space. You have to make important decisions at the getgo. Where will we start in time . Where will we end in time . Its not always clearcut. We decided to go with 1848. That doesnt mean that we dont acknowledge whats happening before. Historical events occurring before that, what was voting like at the founding is really important. We include the story of new jersey, their first state constitution allowed some women to vote, particularly if they held property. Primarily widows. Its that early point where you understand where we are in time. What do i need to know for when we get to 1848, what was life like for women . We tread the ground from the original constitution being written through 1848, reaching a peak in 1848 where we tell the story of stanton and we feature a lot of other women and men who were fighting for womens suffrage. You will be able to meet some of these women and men in an interactive element in the exhibit where we will feature bios for each of these individuals. Stanton is one of them. You will get a little bit of her background and her influential role. Its interesting for a writing exhibit. Theres only so much you can include. If you envision for any one person, there must be about 50 words, which is about three sentences. It can be a Herculean Task just to get it down to that important nugget information. Its always interesting to think of how like lori is able to write a whole book on one person and i have maybe two or three spots in the exhibit if we are talking about the declaration of sentiment or stanton in particular. Lori i would say that although this book is about one person, i have written books about large groups of people, historians writing one book, we are always in conversation with each other. Its important to note that we disagree with each other. Sitting at large tables, there are archivists doing different kinds of work. We are always in conversation about some of the same question. Where do we start and end of the story . What is the framework, what is the interpretation . The main difference to me is not so much between what we do as it is the temporal focus or the topical focus as the ways that we interpret stuff. For me, there is no Womens Suffrage Movement in 1840. There isnt really one until after the civil war. These people are abolitionists. Each person at the Seneca Falls Convention had heard of womens rights before because they were all involved in the Antislavery Movement in one way or another. Its not just the antislavery provides context for womens suffrage and rights, though it does do that, but it was the audience, the constituency, that school of abolitionism that launched their thinking and their careers in different ways for different activists, of course. Its important to keep in mind, and it is very hard to do this, very hard to understand how radical this all was. I have some tricks i do with students about this, but it is hard to understand that when the Seneca Falls Convention demanded numerous, as you pointed out, a range of rights for women, the vote among them, when people demanded an end to slavery, it seems so obvious to us that we couldnt imagine how outrageous they