Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an abolitionist and a feminist. Her main issues with American society were that, women needed to be included in society, slaves needed to be free, and there needed to be universal suffrage for all. Her first cousin, Gerrit Smith introduced her to the Anti-Slavery movement. When she married her husband, they were actively involved in the abolitionist movement. She confronted religious questions and women's individualism. In order to improve American life, Stanton took action. She dined with lawyers, judges, and legislators who debated legal reform and the property rights of married women. She initiated the need for a women’s rights convention. In 1848, at Seneca Falls, she held the first women’s rights convention. At the convention, the women demanded that they had rights to the elective franchise. The women created a Declaration of Sentiments, and resolutions arguing that there needed to be an end to women’s taxation without representation. There was a second convention in Rochester a few weeks later. There was also a modest petition campaign for women's suffrage in late 1848. Stanton wrote many advocacy letters, speeches, and novels. She wrote in order to illustrate that men were undermining the proper sphere of womankind, and they needed to call order upon it. Stanton made sure to address people directly; she knew how to work crowds to be in favor of her ideas. Stanton had much success in getting people on her side. However, politically and legally, there was little done to improve the lives of slaves and women. Petitions for property rights and suffrage spread throughout several states. These became a commonplace for many women’s rights advocates. Additionally, the letters and speeches were posted in the press. Stanton was an interesting historical figure in the way that she carried herself, and went about reforming society. She argued that neither men, nor women, could govern well alone; society