01/31/2026
“To guide our own craft, we must be captain, pilot, engineer; with chart and compass to stand at the wheel; to match the wind and waves and know when to take in the sail, and to read the signs in the firmament over all. It matters not whether the solitary voyager is man or woman.” - Elizabeth Cady Stanton
As January draws to a close, we reflect back on one of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s most well-known speeches “Solitude of Self.” Stanton delivered the speech in January of 1892 before the Committee of the Judiciary of the United States Congress. Instead of reviewing all the arguments for women’s right to vote again, Stanton instead focused on “the individuality of each human soul.”
Stanton argued that each individual is on their own journey in life and in order for them to be successful, everyone must have access to all the necessary tools to plot their own path. Those tools included everything from access to education to property rights to the right to vote. She said, “Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another.”
Check out the full speech here: https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/solitude-of-self.htm
Visit our Park to learn more about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other Convention organizers. Our winter hours are Friday and Saturday from 10am-4pm.
(Image: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, National Portrait Gallery.)
