1873 Trial Reaction: Susan B. Anthony

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Susan. B Anthony’s 1873 Trial Reaction Many groups of people have experienced some form of dissent. African Americans had a long fought for equality and it still continues today. Once the Europeans came to North America, Indians faced an uphill movement of saving their culture from extinction. While these groups and many more were striving for change, an often overlooked group was women. As time progressed, more people were getting involved with helping women achieve equal rights in America. One of the most famous activists for women in the 19th century was Susan B. Anthony. Anthony made her voice heard when a woman’s opinion wasn’t valued. One of her most famous actions for attaining rights for women occurred in 1872. Anthony and 14 other …show more content…

Directly from the article, it stated,
There are those who severely criticize the conduct of the judge, but such do not understand the case. The judge is required to decide all cases of law, and the jury all cases of fact. In this event it was announced that a case of fact would be raised. Therefore a jury was empanelled. It transpired, however, that no question of fact was raided, and the jury in consequence became superfluous, except as the mere medium through which the law questions inhering in the judge were confirmed. Thus it is easily understood why the judge directed a verdict of guilty (Susan B. Anthony’s Trial-A Case of States Rights).
The quote is affirming that since Anthony and her lawyers did not present a case of fact to the court, the jury did not have to collaborate to get a verdict. Thus, since it was a case of law, the judge had the right to intervene and tell the jury what to choose. Anthony was not given the opportunity for her trial to be heard by the jury and as mentioned earlier, it was all men in the jury. Furthermore, she was not allowed to testify during her case (Susan B Anthony). By the judge behaving like he did and people defending his actions, it proves that women during this time were not respected. Media has a major impact on society and by articles being published like the one from Pomeroy’s Democrat, it can be understood why women struggled to get people to see their vison of

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