Susan B. Anthony Defies Law: Votes for Women's Rights
Susan B. Anthony walked into a barbershop serving as a polling station in Rochester, New York, on November 5, 1872, and cast a ballot in the presidential election. She had convinced the election inspectors to register her two weeks earlier by arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of citizenship implied the right to vote. She was arrested on November 18. At trial, the judge directed the jury to find her guilty and imposed a $100 fine. Anthony refused to pay, and the judge declined to imprison her, denying her the appeal that could have brought the case to the Supreme Court. She spent the remaining 34 years of her life campaigning for a constitutional amendment. The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, fourteen years after her death. It is commonly known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment.
November 5, 1872
154 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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