se she believed that ultimately all people came into the world alone and left the world alone--and for this reason they had to be self-reliant. Yet, under current conditions, women were denied self-reliancy, so Stanton's main goal was to free up all institutions, particularly education for women. At the time, the only training women received was an elementary education, unless privileged, or training for factory jobs. This, said Stanton, did not provide women with the opportunity or training to "use all her faculties for her own safety and happiness." (Stanton, 1892). Personal happiness, according to Stanton, not only related to the Declaration of Independence, but also to the enjoyment of self-sufficiency. When a women could develop her mind, she would have "the resources thus provided under all circumstances to mitigate the solitude that at times must come to everyone...." (Stanton, 1892). Stanton was not interested in convincing men they should sympathize with woman's plight, she said that what was important was "fitting every human soul for independent action." (Stanton, 1892). What she asked for was also constitutional--"the complete development of every individual" for first, "his own benefit," and secondly "for the general good." (Stanton, 1892). She said that "women are already the equals of men in the whole realm of thought, in art, science, literature and government . . .," and their contributions had made them valuable to America. She said, "Such is the type of womanhood that an enlightened public sentiment welcomes today, and such the triumph of the facts of life over the false theories of the past." (Stanton, 1892). One of the most important iterations of the plight of women came from Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman's purpose was the opposite of Stanton's. She wanted to show women's struggle. She wanted to point out not only what she had experienced after leaving her husband, but also that her choices outside of that relat...
