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Primary sourceDocumentcirca 1865

Petition for Universal Suffrage, circa 1865

Susan B. Anthony and others · circa 1865

A petition signed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and others addressed to Congress.

Stanton signed this petition to Congress, part of the organized campaign for suffrage.

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Scan of a printed and handwritten petition titled 'A Petition for Universal Suffrage,' addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives. Below the text is a two-column list of handwritten signatures under 'Names' and 'Residence,' including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, with places such as New York, Rochester, and Brooklyn.
Petition for Universal Suffrage, circa 1865.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed and handwritten petition titled "A Petition for Universal Suffrage," addressed to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, dated around 1865. It carries a list of handwritten signatures and places of residence, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Why it matters

Petitioning Congress was one of the main tools available to activists who could not vote. This document shows Stanton and Anthony, along with other reformers such as Lucy Stone, using petitions to press lawmakers directly, connecting the end of the Civil War era to a renewed push for suffrage.

Look closer

  • Why would activists who could not vote choose to petition Congress directly?
  • What do the listed names and residences tell you about who was involved in this campaign?
  • What does the combination of printed text and handwritten signatures tell you about how the petition was circulated and signed?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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