In the 2016 presidential election, 83.8 million women voted (“Gender Differences...). Yet, this number could have been zero if it were not for a determined group of women with a strong leader. The leader’s name was Susan Brownell Anthony, who was an American women’s rights activist. Although Susan B. Anthony’s decision to illegally vote in the 1872 presidential election was bold and perilous, her actions inspired the long journey ahead in the fight for women’s suffrage.
To begin, Susan Brownell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Her parents, Daniel Anthony and Lucy Read, were both Quakers. Ira Peck, author of “Susan B. Anthony Dares to Vote!” explains their beliefs by stating, “Quaker women were allowed to speak …show more content…
Anthony’s family had always been politically active. Many of her family members worked in the abolitionist and temperance movement (History.com Staff). At a temperance movement convention, Anthony was denied being able to speak because she was a woman. After this, she felt empowered to join an all women temperance group, the Daughters of Temperance (Peck). Additionally, Anthony followed in her family's footsteps by becoming an abolitionist. In 1868, Congressional debates took place over the 15th Amendment. For 20 years prior, women worked tirelessly to give black people the right to vote. With this, they assumed they would also be included in the amendment. At first, abolitionists were in favor of including both blacks and women, but their opinions quickly changed. Greg Timmons explains one abolitionists thoughts in the article, “HerStory: The Women Behind the 19th Amendment” by saying, “In an unexpected turnaround, Frederick Douglass made an impassioned plea to the American Equal Rights Association convention to let the black man go first, turning the effort away from franchising women.” As a result women were left both frustrated and devastated after devoting so much time and effort into it. The …show more content…
In 1878, Anthony and Stanton organized an amendment, known at the time as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Also, they created the International Council of Women. Coming from nine different countries, eighty speakers and forty-nine delegates gathered together to form this organization in 1888, which is still active today (Anirudh). In 1904, Anthony was asked to be the honorary president and first member of the newly created International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Knowing her time was coming to an end, she presented her final speech at a convention. She expressed, “I am here for a little time only, and the my place will be filled… The fight must not cease. You must see that it does not stop. Failure is impossible,” (Peck). A month later later on March 13, 1906, Susan B. Anthony passed away. At the time, only four states had allowed women to vote. Two day before her death, Anthony stated, “I have been striving for over 60 years for a little bit of justice… and yet I must die without obtaining it. Oh, it seems so cruel,” (Peck). After fighting her whole life for women's suffrage, Anthony passed away without achieving her goal. Finally, in 1919, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate voted to approve the 19th Amendment. The bill went to the states, needing the approval of three for the of the state legislatures. In 1920, which was one hundred years after
To begin, Susan Brownell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Her parents, Daniel Anthony and Lucy Read, were both Quakers. Ira Peck, author of “Susan B. Anthony Dares to Vote!” explains their beliefs by stating, “Quaker women were allowed to speak …show more content…
Anthony’s family had always been politically active. Many of her family members worked in the abolitionist and temperance movement (History.com Staff). At a temperance movement convention, Anthony was denied being able to speak because she was a woman. After this, she felt empowered to join an all women temperance group, the Daughters of Temperance (Peck). Additionally, Anthony followed in her family's footsteps by becoming an abolitionist. In 1868, Congressional debates took place over the 15th Amendment. For 20 years prior, women worked tirelessly to give black people the right to vote. With this, they assumed they would also be included in the amendment. At first, abolitionists were in favor of including both blacks and women, but their opinions quickly changed. Greg Timmons explains one abolitionists thoughts in the article, “HerStory: The Women Behind the 19th Amendment” by saying, “In an unexpected turnaround, Frederick Douglass made an impassioned plea to the American Equal Rights Association convention to let the black man go first, turning the effort away from franchising women.” As a result women were left both frustrated and devastated after devoting so much time and effort into it. The …show more content…
In 1878, Anthony and Stanton organized an amendment, known at the time as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Also, they created the International Council of Women. Coming from nine different countries, eighty speakers and forty-nine delegates gathered together to form this organization in 1888, which is still active today (Anirudh). In 1904, Anthony was asked to be the honorary president and first member of the newly created International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Knowing her time was coming to an end, she presented her final speech at a convention. She expressed, “I am here for a little time only, and the my place will be filled… The fight must not cease. You must see that it does not stop. Failure is impossible,” (Peck). A month later later on March 13, 1906, Susan B. Anthony passed away. At the time, only four states had allowed women to vote. Two day before her death, Anthony stated, “I have been striving for over 60 years for a little bit of justice… and yet I must die without obtaining it. Oh, it seems so cruel,” (Peck). After fighting her whole life for women's suffrage, Anthony passed away without achieving her goal. Finally, in 1919, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate voted to approve the 19th Amendment. The bill went to the states, needing the approval of three for the of the state legislatures. In 1920, which was one hundred years after