LETTER: Autograph letter signed.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. Autograph letter signed, “Elizabeth Cady Stanton,” to Rose Cleveland, May 24, 1886; two leaves, rectos only; with ECS printed envelope.
Stanton writes to First Lady, Rose E. Cleveland, sister of President Cleveland, to explain a misunderstanding between the two women. In part.
My dear Miss Cleveland, As there has been some question among the gentleman of the press as to the correspondence between us, I would say that my open letter was evidently published at an importune moment...Whatever undeserved criticisms your private correspondents saw fit to make, a careful perusal of my letter will show that it was written from an entirely different standpoint: that of sincere respect for our life of usefulness, as a teacher, speaker, essayist & author...I write you because I had always heard that you did not adopt the vulgar fashions of the day...& as you are a ready & piquant writer, my hope was to call out from your pen in some future volume that you might publish a well digested essay on this question...I feel that the present lady of the White House possess a larger share of intelligence, literary ability...& modesty than any (Mrs. Hayes accepted)...your influence in the future as in the past will be used for the duration of our sex...”
Rose Cleveland (1846-1918) was the First Lady of the United States for two years, 1885 and 1886, during the first administration of her brother, President Grover Cleveland. As a bluestocking intellectual, she had been criticized for not conforming to the expectations of First Lady, both in dress and social behavior. President Cleveland married Frances Folsom in 1886 enabling Rose to pursue teaching and writing.
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