Historical Context: Women in the Nineteenth Century
The Victorian woman was expected to be the “Angel in the House.” This term, which originated from a poem by English poet Coventry Patmore, referred to all the so-called “womanly” qualities that women were expected to possess. Victorian society believed in a dichotomy where man possessed higher and stronger qualities, such as intellect, strength, aggression, and logic, while women were said to naturally possess more “pure” qualities, such as patience, kindness, tranquility, and self-sacrifice. Being forced to conform to expectations that were almost impossible to fulfill, a Victorian woman was expected to literally be an “angel”—the only angel—in the household. She was expected to uphold the morality and purity of not only her own household, but of society in general as well. Men, on the other hand, considered the “baser” sex, were not subjected to such expectations.

The Destructive Male
by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (excerpt)

I urge a sixteenth amendment, because “manhood suffrage,” or a man's government, is civil, religious, and social disorganization. The male element is a destructive force, stern, selfish, aggrandizing, loving war, violence, conquest, acquisition, breeding in the material and moral world alike discord, disorder, disease, and death. See what a record of blood and cruelty the pages of history reveal! Through what slavery, slaughter, and sacrifice, through what inquisitions and imprisonments, pains and persecutions, black codes and gloomy creeds, the soul of humanity has struggled for the centuries, while mercy has veiled her face and all hearts have been dead alike to love and hope!

The male element has held high carnival thus far; it has fairly run riot from the beginning, overpowering the feminine element everywhere, crushing out all the diviner qualities in human nature, until we know but little of true manhood and womanhood, of the latter comparatively nothing, for it has scarce been recognized as a power until within the last century.

Select the correct answer.
Based on the historical context information, how does Elizabeth Cady Stanton use the popular view of women to argue for women’s rights?
A.
She states that women have the same masculine qualities that men have and therefore are fit to vote.
B.
She states that without women’s influence, the baser qualities of men will destroy society.
C.
She states that men and women must adopt the other gender’s qualities and learn from one another.
D.
She states that women should throw off their feminine qualities and adopt masculine ones to gain rights.