Susan Brownell Anthony (February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was a prominent American ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted action by government and private organizations and individuals and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights The term women's rights refers to freedoms and entitlements of women and girls of all ages. These rights may or may not be institutionalized, ignored or suppressed by law, local custom, and behavior in a particular society. These liberties are grouped together and differentiated from broader notions of human rights because they often differ from movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States Lydia Chapin (February 2, 1712 – November 9, 1778) was a forerunner of women's suffrage in Colonial America. She was the first woman legally allowed to vote in colonial America. After the death of her wealthy husband and elder son left the family without an adult heir, she was granted this right by the town meeting of Uxbridge, Massachusetts in 1. She traveled the United States, and Europe Europe is one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and, and gave 75 to 100 speeches every year on women's rights for 45 years.

Contents

Early life

Susan B. Anthony's birthplace

Susan B. Anthony was born and raised in West Grove, near Adams, Massachusetts Adams is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 8,809 at the 2000 census. She was the second oldest of seven children—Guelma Penn (1818–1873), Hannah Lapham (1821–1877), Daniel Read (1824–1904), Mary Stafford (1827–1907), Eliza Tefft (1832–1834), and Jacob Merritt (1834–1900)—born to Daniel Anthony (1794–1862) and Lucy Read (1793–1880). One brother, publisher Daniel Read Anthony, would become active in the anti-slavery movement in Kansas Historically, the area was home to large numbers of nomadic Native Americans who hunted bison. It was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-, while a sister, Mary Stafford Anthony, became a teacher and a woman's rights activist. Anthony remained close to her sisters throughout her life.

Anthony's father Daniel was a cotton manufacturer and abolitionist, a stern but open-minded man who was born into the Quaker Some branches of the Religious Society of Friends are known to the general public today for testifying to their religious beliefs by refusing to participate in wars, and by social action, for instance on behalf of the environment and equal rights for all. In the past they were known for wearing particular clothing ; by using outdated modes of religion.[1] He did not allow toys or amusements into the household, claiming that they would distract the soul from the "inner light Inner Light is a concept which many Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends, use to express their conscience, faith and beliefs. Each Quaker has a different idea of what they mean by "inner light", and this also varies internationally between Yearly Meetings, but the idea is often taken to refer to God's presence within a." Her mother Lucy was a student in Daniel's school; the two fell in love and agreed to marry in 1817, but Lucy was less sure about marrying into the Society of Friends The roots of this movement lie in 17th century Christian English dissenters, but the movement has since branched out into many independent national and regional organizations, often called Yearly Meetings, which have a variety of names, beliefs and practices. It is therefore difficult to accurately describe the beliefs and practices of the (Quakers). She attended the Rochester women’s rights convention held in August 1848, two weeks after the historic Seneca Falls Convention The Seneca Falls Convention was an early and influential women's rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19–20, 1848. It was organized by local New York women upon the occasion of a visit by Boston-based Lucretia Mott, a Quaker famous for her speaking ability; a highly unusual skill for an American woman of that time. The local, and signed the Rochester convention’s Declaration of Sentiments. Lucy and Daniel Anthony enforced self-discipline, principled convictions, and belief in one's own self-worth Self-esteem is a term used in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame. A person's self-esteem may be reflected in their behaviour, such as in assertiveness, shyness, confidence or caution. Self-esteem can apply.

Susan was a precocious child, having learned to read and write at age three.[2] In 1826, when she was six years old, the Anthony family moved from Massachusetts Massachusetts has been significant throughout American history. Plymouth was the second permanent English settlement in North America. Many of Massachusetts's towns were founded by colonists from England in the 1620s and 1630s. The Merrimack Valley has been, since 1650, a center of creativity through the poetic word. America's first published poet to Battenville, New York. Susan was sent to attend a local district school, where a teacher refused to teach her long division In arithmetic, long division is the standard procedure suitable for dividing simple or complex multidigit numbers. It breaks down a division problem into a series of easier steps. As in all division problems, one number, called the dividend, is divided by another, called the divisor, producing a result called the quotient. It enables computations because of her gender. Upon learning of the weak education she was receiving, her father promptly had her placed in a group home school Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school. Although prior to the introduction of compulsory school attendance laws, most childhood education occurred within the family or community, homeschooling in the modern, where he taught Susan himself. Mary Perkins, another teacher there, conveyed a progressive image of womanhood to Anthony, further fostering her growing belief in women's equality.

In 1837, Anthony was sent to Deborah Moulson's Female Seminary, a Quaker Some branches of the Religious Society of Friends are known to the general public today for testifying to their religious beliefs by refusing to participate in wars, and by social action, for instance on behalf of the environment and equal rights for all. In the past they were known for wearing particular clothing ; by using outdated modes of boarding school A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," that is, food and lodging. Some boarding schools also have day students who are students that live off-campus with in Philadelphia Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-most-populous city in the United States. She was not happy at Moulson's, but she did not have to stay there long. She was forced to end her formal studies because her family, like many others, was financially ruined during the Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a panic in the United States built on a speculative fever. The bubble burst on May 10, 1837 in New York City, when every bank stopped payment in specie . The Panic was followed by a five-year depression, with the failure of banks and record high unemployment levels. Their losses were so great that they attempted to sell everything in an auction, even their most personal belongings, which were saved at the last minute when Susan's uncle, Joshua Read, stepped up and bid for them in order to restore them to the family.

In 1839, the family moved to Hardscrabble, New York, in the wake of the panic and economic depression that followed. That same year, Anthony left home to teach and to help pay off her father's debts. She taught first at Eunice Kenyon's Friends' Seminary, and then at the Canajoharie Academy in 1846, where she rose to become headmistress of the Female Department. Anthony's first occupation inspired her to fight for wages equivalent to those of male teachers, since men earned roughly four times more than women for the same duties.

In 1849, at age 29, Anthony quit teaching and moved to the family farm in Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, behind the New York City metropolitan area. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City. It is the county. She began to take part in conventions and gatherings related to the temperance movement A temperance movement is a social movement against the use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence, or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation. In Rochester, she attended the local Unitarian Church and began to distance herself from the Quakers, in part because she had frequently witnessed instances of hypocritical behavior such as the use of alcohol In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl functional group (-O amongst Quaker preachers Some believe a preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined. Preaching is not limited to religious views, but it extends to moral and social world-views as well. Preachers are common throughout most cultures. They can take the. As she got older, Anthony continued to move further away from organized religion A religion is any systematic approach to living that involves beliefs about one's origins, one's place in the world, or a responsibility to live and act in the world in particular ways. Religion is often equated with faith and belief in a higher power or truth, but it is more commonly defined in religious studies as the patterns that express that in general, and she was later chastised by various Christian Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy (which parted ways with Catholicism in 1054 A.D.) and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th religious groups for displaying irreligious Irreligion is an absence of, indifference towards, and/or hostility towards religion. Depending on the context, it may be understood as referring to atheism, nontheism, agnosticism, ignosticism, antireligion, skepticism, freethought, antitheism or secular humanism.[citation needed] Irreligious people may have convictions equal in depth to those of tendencies.

In her youth, Anthony was very self-conscious Self-consciousness is an acute sense of self-awareness. It is a preoccupation with oneself, as opposed to the philosophical state of self-awareness, which is the awareness that one exists as an individual being; although some writers use both terms interchangeably or synonymously. An unpleasant feeling of self-consciousness may occur when one of her looks and speaking abilities. She long resisted public speaking for fear she would not be sufficiently eloquent. Despite these insecurities, she became a renowned public presence, eventually helping to lead the women's movement.

Early social activism

Susan B. Anthony at age 28

Universal manhood suffrage, by establishing an aristocracy of sex, imposes upon the women of this nation a more absolute and cruel despotism than monarchy; in that, woman finds a political master in her father, husband, brother, son. The aristocracies of the old world are based upon birth, wealth, refinement, education, nobility, brave deeds of chivalry; in this nation, on sex alone; exalting brute force above moral power, vice above virtue, ignorance above education, and the son above the mother who bore him.

National Woman Suffrage Association.[3]

In the era before the American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast, Anthony took a prominent role in the New York anti-slavery Slavery in the United States was a form of unfree labor which existed as a legal institution on American soil before the founding of the United States in 1776, and remained a legal feature of American society until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. It had its origins with the first English and temperance movements. In 1836 Year 1836 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar), at age 16, Susan collected two boxes of petitions opposing slavery, in response to the gag rule A gag rule is a rule that limits or forbids the raising, consideration or discussion of a particular topic by members of a legislative or decision-making body. Such rules are often criticized because they abridge freedom of speech, which is normally given extremely high value when exercised by members of legislative or decision-making bodies . On prohibiting such petitions in the House of Representatives.[4] In 1849, at age 29, she became secretary for the Daughters of Temperance, which gave her a forum to speak out against alcohol abuse, and served as the beginning of Anthony's movement towards the public limelight.

In late 1850, Anthony read a detailed account in the New York Tribune The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States. In 1924 it was merged with the New York Herald to form the New York Herald Tribune, which ceased publication in 1967 of the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city had a population of 182,596, making it the estimated second largest city in New England.a[›] It is the county seat of Worcester County. Worcester is located approximately 40 miles west of Boston, and marks the western periphery of the. In the article, Horace Greeley Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, and a politician. His New York Tribune was America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s and "established Greeley's reputation as the greatest editor of his day." Greeley used it to promote the Whig and Republican wrote an especially admiring description of the final speech, one given by Lucy Stone Lucy Stone was a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist, and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1839, Stone was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for women's rights and against slavery at a time when women were discouraged and prevented from public speaking. Stone was the. Stone's words catalyzed Anthony to devote her life to women's rights The term women's rights refers to freedoms and entitlements of women and girls of all ages. These rights may or may not be institutionalized, ignored or suppressed by law, local custom, and behavior in a particular society. These liberties are grouped together and differentiated from broader notions of human rights because they often differ from.[5] In the summer of 1852, Anthony met both Greeley and Stone in Seneca Falls.[6]

In 1851, on a street in Seneca Falls, Anthony was introduced to Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the first women's rights convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized woman's rights and woman's suffrage movements in the by a mutual acquaintance, as well as fellow feminist Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and/or women's liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women's rights and interests. Nancy Amelia Bloomer Amelia Jenks Bloomer was an American women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associated with it because of her early and strong advocacy. Anthony joined with Stanton in organizing the first women's state temperance society in America after being refused admission to a previous convention on account of her sex, in 1851. Stanton remained a close friend and colleague of Anthony's for the remainder of their lives, but Stanton longed for a broader, more radical women's rights platform. Together, the two women traversed the United States giving speeches and attempting to persuade the government that society should treat men and women equally.

Anthony was invited to speak at the third annual National Women's Rights Convention held in Syracuse, New York Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2000 census, the city population was 147,306, and its metropolitan area had a population of 732,117. It is the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over a million inhabitants in September 1852. She and Matilda Joslyn Gage Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage was a suffragist, a Native American activist, an abolitionist, a freethinker, and a prolific author, who was "born with a hatred of oppression"[citation needed] both made their first public speeches for women's rights at the convention.[7] Anthony began to gain notice as a powerful public advocate of women's rights and as a new and stirring voice for change. Anthony participated in every subsequent annual National Women's Rights Convention, and served as convention president in 1858.

In 1856, Anthony further attempted to unify the African-American Predominantly Protestant ; some Roman Catholics. Minorities practice Islam and other religions and women's rights movements when, recruited by abolitionist Abby Kelley Foster Abby Kelley Foster was an American abolitionist and radical social reformer active from the 1830s to 1870s. She became a fundraiser, lecturer and committee organizer for the influential American Anti-Slavery Society, where she worked closely with William Garrison and other radicals. She married fellow abolitionist and lecturer Stephen Symonds,[8] she became an agent for William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the radical abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States. Garrison was also a's American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of the society and often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was another freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had 1,350 local chapters with around 250,000 members of New York. Speaking at the Ninth National Women’s Rights Convention on May 12, 1859, Anthony asked "Where, under our Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal, does the Saxon man get his power to deprive all women and Negroes of their inalienable rights?"

The Revolution

On January 1, 1868, Anthony first published a weekly journal entitled The Revolution The Revolution was a weekly women's rights newspaper published between January 8, 1868 and 1972. It was the official publication of the National Woman Suffrage Association which was formed by feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. This newspaper was edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Parker Pillsbury and initially funded by George. Printed in New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over global commerce, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. As host of the, its motto was: "The true republic—men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less." Anthony worked as the publisher and business manager, while Elizabeth Cady Stanton acted as editor. The main thrust of The Revolution was to promote women’s and African-Americans’ right to suffrage, but it also discussed issues of equal pay for equal work, more liberal divorce laws and the church’s position on women’s issues. The journal was backed by independently wealthy George Francis Train, who provided $600 in starting funds. His financial support ceased by May 1869, and the paper began to operate in debt. Anthony insisted on expensive, high-quality printing equipment, and she paid women workers the high wages she thought they deserved. She banned any advertisements for alcohol- and morphine-laden patent medicines Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The phrase is somewhat misleading because for the most part these products were trademarked, not patented . In ancient times, such medicine was called nostrum remedium ("our remedy" in Latin). The name patent medicine has; all such medicines were abhorrent to her. However, revenue from non-patent-medicine advertisements was too low to cover costs.[9]

In June 1870, Laura Curtis Bullard, a Brooklyn Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area. It is also the western most County on Long Island-based writer whose parents became wealthy from selling a popular morphine-containing patent medicine called "Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup", bought The Revolution for one dollar, with Anthony assuming its $10,000 debt, an amount equal to $171,000 in current value. Anthony used her lecture fees to repay the debt, completing the task in six years. Under Bullard, the journal adopted a literary orientation and accepted patent medicine ads, but it folded in February 1872.[10]

American Equal Rights Association

In 1869, long-time friends Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony found themselves, for the first time, on opposing sides of a debate. The American Equal Rights Association (AERA), which had originally fought for both blacks’ and women’s right to suffrage, voted to support the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, granting suffrage to black men, but not women. Anthony questioned why women should support this amendment when black men were not continuing to show support for women’s voting rights. Partially as a result of the decision by the AERA, Anthony soon thereafter devoted herself almost exclusively to the agitation for women's rights.

Susan B. Anthony, ca 1900

On November 18, 1872, Anthony was arrested by a U.S. Deputy Marshal for voting illegally in the 1872 Presidential Election two weeks earlier. She had written to Stanton on the night of the election that she had "positively voted the Republican ticket—straight...". She was tried and convicted seven months later, despite the stirring and eloquent presentation of her arguments that the recently adopted Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" the privileges of citizenship, and which contained no gender qualification, gave women the constitutional right to vote in federal elections. Her trial took place at the Ontario County courthouse in Canandaigua, New York. The sentence was a fine, but not imprisonment; and true to her word in court, she never paid the penalty for the rest of her life. The trial gave Anthony the opportunity to spread her arguments to a wider audience than ever before.[11]

Anthony toured Europe in 1883 and visited many charitable organizations. She wrote of a poor mother she saw in Killarney that had "six ragged, dirty children" to say that "the evidences were that 'God' was about to add a No. 7 to her flock. What a dreadful creature their God must be to keep sending hungry mouths while he withholds the bread to fill them!"[12]

In 1893, she joined with Helen Barrett Montgomery in forming a chapter of the Woman’s Educational and Industrial Union (WEIU)[13] in Rochester. In 1898, she also worked with Montgomery to raise funds to open opportunities for women students to study at University of Rochester.

National suffrage organizations

In 1869, Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman's Suffrage Association (NWSA), an organization dedicated to gaining women's suffrage. Anthony was vice-president-at-large of the NWSA from the date of its organization until 1892, when she became president.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (sitting) with Anthony

In the early years of the NWSA, Anthony made many attempts to unite women in the labor movement with the suffragist cause, but with little success. She and Stanton were delegates at the 1868 convention of the National Labor Union. However, Anthony inadvertently alienated the labor movement not only because suffrage was seen as a concern for middle-class rather than working-class women, but because she openly encouraged women to achieve economic independence by entering the printing trades, where male workers were on strike at the time. Anthony was later expelled from the National Labor Union over this controversy.

In 1890, Anthony orchestrated the merger of the NWSA with the more moderate American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), creating the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Prior to the controversial merge, Anthony had created a special NWSA executive committee to vote on whether they should merge with the AWSA, despite the fact that using a committee instead of an all-member vote went against the NWSA constitution. Motions to make it possible for members to vote by mail were strenuously opposed by Anthony and her adherents, and the committee was stacked with members who favored the merger. (Two members who voted against the merger were asked to resign).

Anthony's pursuit of alliances with moderate suffragists created long-lasting tension between herself and more radical suffragists like Stanton. Stanton openly criticized Anthony's stance, writing that Anthony and AWSA leader Lucy Stone "see suffrage only. They do not see woman's religious and social bondage."[14] Anthony responded to Stanton: "We number over ten thousand women and each one has opinions ... and we can only hold them together to work for the ballot by letting alone their whims and prejudices on other subjects!"[15]

The creation of the NAWSA effectively marginalized the more radical elements within the women's movement, including Stanton. Anthony pushed for Stanton to be voted in as the first NAWSA president, and stood by her as Stanton was belittled by the large factions of less-radical members within the new organization.

In collaboration with Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Ida Husted Harper, Anthony published The History of Woman Suffrage (4 vols., New York, 1884–1887). Anthony also befriended Josephine Brawley Hughes, an advocate of women's rights and Prohibition in Arizona, and Carrie Chapman Catt, whom Anthony endorsed for the presidency of the NAWSA when Anthony formally retired in 1900.

Later personal life, death

After retiring in 1900, Anthony remained in Rochester, where she died of heart disease and pneumonia in her house at 17 Madison Street on March 13, 1906.[16] She was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery. Following her death, the New York State Senate passed a resolution remembering her "unceasing labor, undaunted courage and unselfish devotion to many philanthropic purposes and to the cause of equal political rights for women."[17]

Legacy

A 1936 U.S. commemorative stamp honoring Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony, who died 14 years before passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, was honored as the first real (non-allegorical) American woman on circulating U.S. coinage with her appearance on the Susan B. Anthony dollar. The coin, approximately the size of a U.S. quarter, was minted for only four years, 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1999. Anthony dollars were minted for circulation at the Philadelphia and Denver mints for all four years, and at the San Francisco mint for the first three production years. She was featured on a 3¢ U.S. commemorative stamp in 1936 and a 50¢ Liberty Issue regular issue stamp on August 25, 1955.

A Susan B. Anthony dollar coin

Anthony's birthplace in Adams was purchased in August 2006 by Carol Crossed, founder of the New York chapter of Democrats for Life of America, affiliated with Feminists for Life.[18] Anthony's childhood home in Battenville, New York, was placed on the New York State Historic Register in 2006, and the National Historic Register in 2007.[19]

Susan B. Anthony House in 1967

The Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and was operated as a museum.[20]

The American composer Virgil Thomson and poet Gertrude Stein wrote an opera, The Mother of Us All, that abstractly explores Anthony's life and mission. Along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, she is commemorated in The Woman Movement, a sculpture by Adelaide Johnson, unveiled in 1921 at the United States Capitol.

Dispute over abortion

Beginning in 1989,[21] a dispute arose regarding Anthony's position on abortion, and the debate continues today. Pro-life activists use Anthony's image and words to promote their cause, but academic history experts[21] who have reviewed her private letters and published texts say that she mostly worked to win women the vote, that she was reticent to discuss sexual topics, and that her thoughts on abortion laws were never expressed.[22] Some of these academic scholars believe that the words used by pro-life organizations have been taken out of context or incorrectly attributed.[22][23] However, the pro-life groups have had an effect: because of the recasting of her as vital to the topic, American students today "routinely assume Anthony opposed abortion".[23]

Anthony image and quoted text, used by Feminists for Life to portray her as "anti-choice"

The organization Susan B. Anthony List, which supports female pro-life politicians, writes that Anthony was "an outspoken critic of abortion",[24] and a similar group, Feminists for Life (FFL), makes extensive use of her words and images in their work.[22] A letter that Anthony wrote to Frances Willard in 1889 has been presented by both the SBA List and FFL to indicate her stance on abortion: "Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so that their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them."[25][26][27] SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser adds that these words "speak for themselves".[26] However, in 1998, Mary Krane Derr, FFL's foremost historian, determined the context of Anthony's words to be unrelated to abortion; instead, she was referring to her victory in overturning a law which extended past death a father's absolute control of his children, through the means of his last will, resulting in a baby's fate determined by the father's legal estate if it was born after his death; the newborn could be "willed away" from its mother.[27]

Derr says that Anthony's "comments relating to abortion are few", but describes "Social Purity", an anti-alcohol, anti-prostitution and pro-suffrage speech given repeatedly by Anthony in the 1870s, as one that is "more explicit".[28] After naming alcohol abuse as a major social evil and estimating that there are 600,000 American men who are drunkards, Anthony describes in her speech how liquor traffic extends "deep and wide into the financial structure of the government" and that it must be fought with "one earnest, energetic, persistent force."[29] She continues:

The prosecutions on our courts for breach of promise, divorce, adultery, bigamy, seduction, rape; the newspaper reports every day of every year of scandals and outrages, of wife murders and paramour shooting, of abortions and infanticides, are perpetual reminders of men's incapacity to cope successfully with this monster evil of society.[29]

Historian and journalist Marvin Olasky writes that the social purity movement began in the late 1860s with British feminist Josephine Butler working to improve the welfare of prostitutes; the American feminist version of the movement intended to abolish prostitution, and Anthony sided with this cause in 1872.[30] Estelle B. Freedman, Professor of History and a founder of the Program in Feminist Studies at Stanford University, writes that Anthony's "Social Purity" speech "linked drunkenness to the sexual abuse of women" and that women's occupational and wage discrimination, leading desperately poor women to prostitution, was described by her as depending "on the denial of equal suffrage".[31]

Of primary importance to Anthony was the granting to woman the right to control her own body.[21] She saw this as an essential element for the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, using abstinence as the method. Pro-life activists claim that Anthony wrote a letter published in The Revolution in 1869 called "Marriage and Maternity"; in it the writer discusses the subject of abortion, arguing that instead of merely attempting to pass a law against abortion, the root cause must also be addressed: man's unthinking gratification of his sexual urges upon woman.[32] The writer remonstrates against abortion, saying "guilty? Yes, no matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh! thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime."[32] Anthony researchers and authors Ann D. Gordon and Lynn Sherr dispute Anthony's authorship, writing, "the bits of information circulating on the Web always cite 'Marriage and Maternity', an article in a newspaper owned ... by Susan B. Anthony. In it, the writer ... signs it simply, 'A'. Although no data exist that Anthony wrote it, or ever used that shorthand for herself, she is imagined to be its author."[33] Derr concedes that she could be wrong about the article's authorship, but says that Anthony, as the publisher of the journal, "most likely agreed with the author's position".[21] Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and columnist Stacy Schiff points out that the proponents of Anthony as an abortion rights foe generally fail to mention that the letter writer "argues against an anti-abortion law ... [the] author did not believe legislation would resolve the issue of unwanted pregnancy."[18]

Allison Stevens, the Washington bureau chief at Women's eNews, wrote that pro-choice activists are outraged that the memory of Anthony "is being appropriated by a community led by the very people Anthony battled during her lifetime: social conservatives."[23] Nora Bredes, the director of the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's Leadership at the University of Rochester in New York and a Democratic politician who supports abortion rights,[34] said in 2006 that she wished to "reclaim Anthony's legacy".[23] Anthony's journal, The Revolution, never advocated abortion or birth control, but certainly pushed for woman's right to control her own body "as an autonomous and self-directing human being".[35] Gordon stated in February 2010, "we can't say what her stance on abortion would be, but we can say for sure that she'd be against the government regulating a woman's body. She spoke out about that issue quite clearly."[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ Harper, Ida Husted (1899). The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony: including public addresses, her own letters and many from her contemporaries during fifty years. Vol. 1. Indianapolis & Kansas City: The Bowen-Merrill Company. pp. 21–22 (n62–63 in electronic page field). http://www.archive.org/details/lifeandworksusa00unkngoog. Retrieved 22 January 2010. Full text at Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Harper (1899) Vol.1, pp.13–14.
  3. ^ Quoted in The History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 3, ch. 27, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage (1886).
  4. ^ Miller, 314
  5. ^ Hays, Elinor Rice. Morning Star: A Biography of Lucy Stone 1818–1893. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961, p. 88. ISBN 0347937567
  6. ^ Harper (1899), Vol.1, p.64.
  7. ^ Blackwell, Alice Stone. Lucy Stone: Pioneer of Woman's Rights. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 2001, p. 101. ISBN 0-8139-1990-8
  8. ^ Stanton, 1997, pp. 26–27.
  9. ^ Streitmatter, Rodger (2001). Voices of revolution: the dissident press in America. Columbia University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0231122497.
  10. ^ Streitmatter, 2001, p. 52
  11. ^ Linder, Douglas: "The Trial of Susan B. Anthony for Illegal Voting," University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/trials14.htm
  12. ^ Harper, Ida Husted (1898). The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony. Vol. 2. Indianapolis: Hollenbeck Press. p. 574 (n91 in electronic field). http://www.archive.org/details/lifeandworksusa01harpgoog. Retrieved 22 January 2010. Full text at Internet Archive.
  13. ^ "Western New York Suffragists - Women Educational and Industrial Union". Rochester Regional Library Council. 2000. http://www.winningthevote.org/weiu.html. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
  14. ^ Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, and Carol Farley Kessler (1985) The Story of Avis, p. xv. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813510996
  15. ^ Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, and Susan Brownell Anthony. Edited by Ellen Carol DuBois. The Elizabeth Cady Stanton – Susan B. Anthony reader: correspondence, writings, speeches, pp. 282–283. Northeastern University Press, 1992. ISBN 1555531431
  16. ^ "Miss Susan B. Anthony Died This Morning". New York Times. March 13, 1906. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0215.html. Retrieved 2009-02-19. "Miss Susan B. Anthony died at 12:40 o'clock this morning. The end came peacefully."
  17. ^ Harper, Ida Husted (1908). The life and work of Susan B. Anthony. Vol. 3. Indianapolis: The Hollenbeck Press. p. 1446 (n397 in electronic page field). http://www.archive.org/details/lifeandworksusa02harpgoog. Retrieved 22 January 2010. Full text at Internet Archive.
  18. ^ a b Schiff, Stacy (2006-10-13). "Desperately Seeking Susan". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/opinion/13schiff.html. Retrieved July 7, 2010. "That two-story house, a rich but undistinguished piece of real estate perched on a desolate stretch of highway, was sold at auction in August. It belongs now to Carol Crossed, the founder of the New York State chapter of Feminists for Life. Ms. Crossed made the acquisition on behalf of the national anti-abortion organization, which will manage and care for the house."
  19. ^ "New women's museum at home of Susan B. Anthony". History News Network. 2007-02-13. http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/35375.html. "Freddie Mac Bank has donated the childhood home of Susan B. Anthony to New York State Parks Department for $1."
  20. ^ "Susan B. Anthony House". http://www.susanbanthonyhouse.org/. "1966 - The Susan B. Anthony house is designated a National Historic Landmark"
  21. ^ a b c d e Crossed, Carol; Sally Winn (2010). "On the Anti-Choice Movements Disinformation Campaign:". Susan B Anthony Museum. http://susanbanthonymuseum.com/userPage_5_History.htm. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  22. ^ a b c Clark-Flory, Tracy (October 6, 2006). "Susan B. Anthony, against abortion?". Salon.com (Salon Media Group). http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2006/10/06/anthony.
  23. ^ a b c d Stevens, Allison (2006-10-06). "Susan B. Anthony's Abortion Position Spurs Scuffle". Women's eNews. http://www.womensenews.org/story/abortion/061006/susan-b-anthonys-abortion-position-spurs-scuffle. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  24. ^ "SBA List Mission: Advancing, Mobilizing and Representing Pro-Life Women". Susan B. Anthony List. 2008. http://www.sba-list.org/site/c.ddJBKJNsFqG/b.4137931/k.8764/SBA_List_Mission_Advancing_Mobilizing_and_Representing_ProLife_Women.htm. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
  25. ^ Woman's Christian Temperance Union, President (1907). "President's annual address". National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. 37th. http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/viewtext/2580740?op=t&n=3. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  26. ^ a b Dannenfelser, Marjorie (May 21, 2010). "Susan B. Anthony: Pro-life feminist". The Washington Post. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/05/susan_b_anthony_pro-life_feminist.html.
  27. ^ a b Derr, Mary Krane (Spring 1998). "herstory Worth Repeating". The American Feminist (Feminists For Life) 5 (1): 19. http://www.feministsforlife.org/taf/1998/spring/Spring98.pdf.
  28. ^ Clark, Cat (Spring 2007). "The Truth About Susan B. Anthony: Did One of America's First Feminists Oppose Abortion?". The American Feminist (Feminists For Life): 2. http://www.feministsforlife.org/taf/2007/spring-2007.pdf.
  29. ^ a b Anthony, Susan B. "Social Purity". Public Broadcasting Service, April 3, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  30. ^ Olasky, Marvin N. (1992). Abortion rites: a social history of abortion in America. Good News Publishers. p. 127. ISBN 0891076875. http://books.google.com/books?id=hN09DXN35g4C&pg=PA127.
  31. ^ Freedman, Estelle B. (2007). The essential feminist reader. Modern Library Paperbacks Series. Random House. p. 85. ISBN 0812974603. http://books.google.com/books?id=P1Sfbvn92r8C&pg=PA85.
  32. ^ a b "Marriage and Maternity". The Revolution. Susan B. Anthony. July 8, 1869. http://www.prolifequakers.org/susanb.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  33. ^ Gordon, Ann; Sherr, Lynn (May 18, 2010). "Sarah Palin is no Susan B. Anthony". The Washington Post. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/05/sarah_palin_is_no_susan_b_anthony.html. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
  34. ^ Barry, Dan (November 1, 1996). "In L.I. Contest, Incumbent Charges 'Catholic Bashing' by Challenger". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/01/nyregion/in-li-contest-incumbent-charges-catholic-bashing-by-challenger.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
  35. ^ Russo, Ann; Kramarae, Cheris (2001). "Hester Vaughanism". The radical women's press of the 1850s (reprint from 1990 ed.). Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 0415256879. http://books.google.com/books?id=gbaaj-S0h3sC&pg=PA74.

Further reading

External links

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Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony dollar · Susan B. Anthony House · Susan B. Anthony Day · Women's suffrage in the United States · Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution · Rochester, New York · Adams, Massachusetts
Persondata
NAME Anthony, Susan B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anthony, Susan Brownell
SHORT DESCRIPTION American women's rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH Adams, Massachusetts, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1906
PLACE OF DEATH Rochester, New York, U.S.

Categories: American skeptics | American temperance activists | American suffragists | American Quakers | American Unitarians | People from Rochester, New York | People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts | 1820 births | 1906 deaths | American abolitionists | Baldwin, Evarts, Hoar & Sherman family | Burials at Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester | American feminists

 

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