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Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony was arrested on the 18th of November 1872 for voting in a presidential election, an act that was illegal for women at the time. She was not merely a participant in a protest but the architect of a legal strategy designed to challenge the Constitution itself. The trial that followed in the federal circuit court became a national spectacle, yet the outcome was predetermined by Justice Ward Hunt, a man who had never served as a trial judge before. He directed the jury to deliver a guilty verdict, effectively stripping Anthony of her right to speak to the court before sentencing. When the judge asked if she had anything to say, she delivered a speech that historians now call the most famous in the history of the agitation for woman suffrage. She declared that her natural rights, civil rights, political rights, and judicial rights were all ignored by the government. When sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars, she refused to pay a dollar of the unjust penalty, and she never did. The authorities declined to take further action, leaving her conviction as a symbolic victory that galvanized the movement rather than a legal defeat.
In 1851, Susan B. Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman who would become her lifelong friend and co-worker in social reform activities. Their partnership was the engine of the women's rights movement, combining Stanton's intellectual brilliance with Anthony's organizational genius. Stanton provided the ideas, rhetoric, and strategy, while Anthony delivered the speeches, circulated petitions, and rented the halls. Stanton's husband once remarked that Susan stirred the puddings, Elizabeth stirred up Susan, and then Susan stirred up the world. They worked so closely that one biographer estimated Stanton spent more time with Anthony than with any other adult, including her own husband. When Stanton was homebound with seven children, Anthony assisted by supervising the children while Stanton wrote, becoming almost another mother to Mrs. Stanton's children. This collaboration allowed them to perfect a strategy that made the New York State movement the most sophisticated in the country by 1854. Their relationship was not without its complexities, as their interests diverged somewhat in later years, but they remained close friends until Stanton's death.
In 1868, Anthony and Stanton began publishing a weekly newspaper called The Revolution, with the motto Men, their rights and nothing more: women, their rights and nothing less. The paper focused primarily on women's rights, especially suffrage, but also covered politics, the labor movement, and finance. Anthony managed the business aspects while Stanton co-edited with Parker Pillsbury, an abolitionist and supporter of women's rights. Initial funding was provided by George Francis Train, a wealthy businessman who supported women's rights but alienated many activists with his political and racial views. Train's financial support eventually disappeared entirely, and after twenty-nine months, mounting debts forced Anthony to transfer the paper to Laura Curtis Bullard. The paper published its last issue less than two years later, but it gave Anthony and Stanton a means for expressing their views during the developing split within the women's movement. This period also saw an attempted alliance with the National Labor Union, which collapsed when Anthony voiced approval of an employer-sponsored training program that would teach women skills to replace striking printers. The alliance ended with Anthony being unseated from the NLU Congress, but she did accomplish more in her work with the joint campaign to win a pardon for Hester Vaughn, a domestic worker

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Common questions

When was Susan B. Anthony arrested for voting?

Susan B. Anthony was arrested on the 18th of November 1872 for voting in a presidential election. This act was illegal for women at the time and led to a federal circuit court trial.

Who did Susan B. Anthony meet in 1851 to start their lifelong partnership?

Susan B. Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1851. Stanton became her lifelong friend and co-worker who provided ideas and strategy while Anthony handled organization and speeches.

What was the name of the newspaper Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton published in 1868?

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton published a weekly newspaper called The Revolution in 1868. The paper focused on women's rights and suffrage until financial difficulties forced its closure in 1870.

Which organization did Susan B. Anthony help form in 1869 after the split in the women's movement?

Susan B. Anthony helped form the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. This organization focused on winning suffrage at the national level and later merged with the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1890.

When was the Susan B. Anthony Amendment ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment?

The Susan B. Anthony Amendment was ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. This occurred twenty years after Susan B. Anthony's death.

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found guilty of infanticide. The split in the women's movement became formal in 1869 when Anthony, Stanton, and others formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, while Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and others formed the competing American Woman Suffrage Association. The immediate cause for the split was the proposed Fifteenth Amendment, which Anthony campaigned against because it enfranchised black men while excluding all women. The NWSA was politically independent and focused on winning suffrage at the national level, while the AWSA pursued a state-by-state strategy and aimed for close ties with the Republican Party. The rivalry was so bitter that a merger proved to be impossible for twenty years. However, the AWSA began to decline in strength during the 1880s, and in 1890, the two organizations merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Anthony became its effective leader, and when Stanton retired from her post in 1892, Anthony became NAWSA's president. This merger was a pivotal moment that consolidated the movement's resources and set the stage for the final push for the Nineteenth Amendment. After the split, Anthony dedicated herself fully to the organization and to women's suffrage, using her lecture fees to fund the organizations rather than drawing a salary. She traveled extensively, giving as many as 75
to 100 speeches per year, often under appalling conditions. Once she gave a speech from the top of a billiard table, and on another occasion her train was snowbound for days, and she survived on crackers and dried fish. Her lectures brought new recruits into the movement who strengthened suffrage organizations at the local, state, and national levels. In 1878, Anthony and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote, introduced by Senator Aaron A. Sargent. It later became known colloquially as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. It was eventually ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, twenty years after her death. Anthony also worked internationally for women's rights, playing a key role in creating the International Council of Women, which is still active, and helping to bring about the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Susan B. Anthony was arrested on the 18th of November 1872 for voting in a presidential election, an act that was illegal for women at the time. She was not merely a participant in a protest but the architect of a legal strategy designed to challenge the Constitution itself. The trial that followed in the federal circuit court became a national spectacle, yet the outcome was predetermined by Justice Ward Hunt, a man who had never served as a trial judge before. He directed the jury to deliver a guilty verdict, effectively stripping Anthony of her right to speak to the court before sentencing. When the judge asked if she had anything to say, she delivered a speech that historians now call the most famous in the history of the agitation for woman suffrage. She declared that her natural rights, civil rights, political rights, and judicial rights were all ignored by the government. When sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars, she refused to pay a dollar of the unjust penalty, and she never did. The authorities declined to take further action, leaving her conviction as a symbolic victory that galvanized the movement rather than a legal defeat.
In 1851, Susan B. Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman who would become her lifelong friend and co-worker in social reform activities. Their partnership was the engine of the women's rights movement, combining Stanton's intellectual brilliance with Anthony's organizational genius. Stanton provided the ideas, rhetoric, and strategy, while Anthony delivered the speeches, circulated petitions, and rented the halls. Stanton's husband once remarked that Susan stirred the puddings, Elizabeth stirred up Susan, and then Susan stirred up the world. They worked so closely that one biographer estimated Stanton spent more time with Anthony than with any other adult, including her own husband. When Stanton was homebound with seven children, Anthony assisted by supervising the children while Stanton wrote, becoming almost another mother to Mrs. Stanton's children. This collaboration allowed them to perfect a strategy that made the New York State movement the most sophisticated in the country by 1854. Their relationship was not without its complexities, as their interests diverged somewhat in later years, but they remained close friends until Stanton's death.
In 1868, Anthony and Stanton began publishing a weekly newspaper called The Revolution, with the motto Men, their rights and nothing more: women, their rights and nothing less. The paper focused primarily on women's rights, especially suffrage, but also covered politics, the labor movement, and finance. Anthony managed the business aspects while Stanton co-edited with Parker Pillsbury, an abolitionist and supporter of women's rights. Initial funding was provided by George Francis Train, a wealthy businessman who supported women's rights but alienated many activists with his political and racial views. Train's financial support eventually disappeared entirely, and after twenty-nine months, mounting debts forced Anthony to transfer the paper to Laura Curtis Bullard. The paper published its last issue less than two years later, but it gave Anthony and Stanton a means for expressing their views during the developing split within the women's movement. This period also saw an attempted alliance with the National Labor Union, which collapsed when Anthony voiced approval of an employer-sponsored training program that would teach women skills to replace striking printers.
The alliance ended with Anthony being unseated from the NLU Congress, but she did accomplish more in her work with the joint campaign to win a pardon for Hester Vaughn, a domestic worker found guilty of infanticide. The split in the women's movement became formal in 1869 when Anthony, Stanton, and others formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, while Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and others formed the competing American Woman Suffrage Association. The immediate cause for the split was the proposed Fifteenth Amendment, which Anthony campaigned against because it enfranchised black men while excluding all women. The NWSA was politically independent and focused on winning suffrage at the national level, while the AWSA pursued a state-by-state strategy and aimed for close ties with the Republican Party. The rivalry was so bitter that a merger proved to be impossible for twenty years. However, the AWSA began to decline in strength during the 1880s, and in 1890, the two organizations merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Anthony became its effective leader, and when Stanton retired from her post in 1892, Anthony became NAWSA's president. This merger was a pivotal moment that consolidated the movement's resources and set the stage for the final push for the Nineteenth Amendment. After the split, Anthony dedicated herself fully to the organization and to women's suffrage, using her lecture fees to fund the organizations rather than drawing a salary.
She traveled extensively, giving as many as 75 to 100 speeches per year, often under appalling conditions. Once she gave a speech from the top of a billiard table, and on another occasion her train was snowbound for days, and she survived on crackers and dried fish. Her lectures brought new recruits into the movement who strengthened suffrage organizations at the local, state, and national levels. In 1878, Anthony and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote, introduced by Senator Aaron A. Sargent. It later became known colloquially as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. It was eventually ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, twenty years after her death. Anthony also worked internationally for women's rights, playing a key role in creating the International Council of Women, which is still active, and helping to bring about the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Suffragists from Massachusetts
Underground Railroad people
American founders
American women founders
American women human rights activists
National Woman Suffrage Association activists
New York (state) Republicans
Progressive Era in the United States
Suffragists from New York (state)
Temperance activists from New York (state)