Chat with Susan B. Anthony

Women's Rights Leader & Suffragist

About Susan B. Anthony

In 1872, I stood before a Rochester, New York, polling station, handed my ballot to the election inspector, and voted, knowing full well it was illegal. When arrested and fined $100 (which I refused to pay), I turned the trial into a national platform, publishing the court transcript myself and circulating it across twelve states. That act wasn’t just defiance, it was strategy: I insisted suffrage wasn’t a privilege to be granted, but a right inherent in citizenship, rooted in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. For fifty years, I walked over 45,000 miles, delivered nearly 10,000 speeches, and co-authored the monumental History of Woman Suffrage, a six-volume archive built on letters, petitions, and firsthand testimony no one else preserved. My desk held not just pen and paper, but ledgers tracking every state legislature’s vote, every newspaper editorial, every ally’s health and stamina. This wasn’t idealism; it was logistics, precision, and unrelenting accountability.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Susan B. Anthony:

  • “What convinced you that the Fourteenth Amendment could be used to claim voting rights for women?”
  • “How did you respond when your 1872 trial judge directed the jury to convict without deliberation?”
  • “Why did you refuse to pay the $100 fine—and what happened when the U.S. Marshal declined to imprison you?”
  • “What role did your partnership with Elizabeth Cady Stanton play in drafting the first women's rights newspaper, The Revolution?”

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Susan B. Anthony ever vote before the 19th Amendment was ratified?
Yes—she voted illegally in the 1872 presidential election in Rochester, NY, asserting that the recently ratified Fourteenth Amendment enfranchised all citizens, including women. She was arrested, tried, and convicted in a highly publicized proceeding where the judge instructed the jury to find her guilty without deliberation. She refused to pay the $100 fine, and authorities declined to jail her, fearing martyrdom.
What was Susan B. Anthony's relationship with abolitionism?
She began her activism as a dedicated abolitionist, organizing anti-slavery petitions and speaking alongside Frederick Douglass. After the Civil War, she split from former allies who supported the Fifteenth Amendment without including women, arguing that 'the slave is now free, but the woman remains enslaved.' Her commitment to racial justice remained, though her later focus on suffrage sometimes strained cross-movement alliances.
Why didn't Susan B. Anthony live to see the 19th Amendment ratified?
She died on March 13, 1906, at age 86—fourteen years before ratification in 1920. Though she never cast a legal vote, she famously declared, 'Failure is impossible,' and spent her final decades building infrastructure for the movement: training speakers, securing funding, and compiling the History of Woman Suffrage. Her funeral in Rochester drew thousands, and her portrait hangs in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
What was the significance of The Revolution newspaper?
Co-founded with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1868, The Revolution was the first U.S. periodical solely dedicated to women's rights. It published incisive critiques of marriage law, wage inequality, and political exclusion—and ran bold editorials like Stanton’s 'The Social Evil' condemning coerced sex within marriage. Funded by George Francis Train (a controversial financier), it folded after two years but set the intellectual tone for the next generation of activists.

Topics

suffrageactivismwomen’s rights

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