We are the only class in history that has been left to fight its battles alone, unaided by the ruling powers. White labor and the freed black men had their champions, but where are ours?

Stanton frames women—particularly those seeking political rights—as uniquely abandoned by established institutions. By contrasting women’s cause with “white labor” and formerly enslaved Black men, she argues that other reform movements could point to allies among “ruling powers” (politicians, parties, influential men), while women were expected to win enfranchisement without comparable champions. The rhetoric is meant to galvanize solidarity and urgency within the women’s rights movement, portraying it as a struggle against both legal exclusion and political expediency. At the same time, the comparison reveals the competitive, post–Civil War landscape of reform, when debates over whose rights should be prioritized could fracture alliances.