Home >
The trial of Susan B. Anthony for voting...
The trial of Susan B. Anthony for voting...
Item # 581187
Currently Unavailable. Contact us if you would like to be placed on a want list or to be notified if a similar item is available.
June 18, 1873
NEW YORK TRIBUNE, June 18, 1873
* United States vs. Susan B. Anthony trial
* Illegal voting on 1872 Presidential election
Almost the entire last column on the front page is taken up with the report of the trial of Susan B. Anthony for voting. It is headed: "WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE" "A Test Case" "Susan B. Anthony On Trial for Voting--Judge Selden's Argument In Her Behalf". This lengthy & detailed text provides the background for the case with specifics on her being arrest for voting the previous November, and much detail on the trial itself. It would be the next day that the newspapers reported the "guilty" verdict.
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 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. Chief Justice Hunt refused to allow Anthony to testify on her own behalf, explicitly ordered the jury to return a guilty verdict, refused to poll the jury afterwards, and read an opinion he had written before the trial even started. The sentence was a $100 fine, but no imprisonment. True to her word in court ("I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty"), she never paid the fine for the rest of her life, and an embarrassed U.S. Government took no collection action against her. The trial gave Anthony the opportunity to spread her arguments to a wider audience than ever before. (credit Wikipedia)
Complete in 8 pages, very nice condition, and great to have this report on the front page.
Category: Post-Civil War
No Longer Available
