The Trial Of Susan B Anthony

Susan B Anthony played a crucial role in the women’s right movement by introducing women’s suffrage in the United States. On November 18, 1972 Anthony was arrested in Rochester, New York for voting two weeks earlier in the presidential election. Anthony’s trial took place months later on June 17 and 18 of 1973. During her trial Anthony argued that the 14th Amendment, which gave every U.S Citizen the right to vote, did not specify gender. She used her platform during the trial to fight for women’s right in the U.S. Still she was found guilty for unlawful voting. She was sentenced to a fine of one hundred dollars, which she never did pay as an act of defiance. Many newspapers reported on the trial, one of which was the New York Times. The times reported the case very objectively, focusing on details from the trial. From the information included it seemed the times supported Anthony’s argument. The outlet did not include
Unlike the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, the Sun did not seem to support Anthony’s case nor her call for women to receive equal political and civil rights. The Sun relays the opinions of Judge Hunt, who was the judge in Anthony’s case. Hunt spoke on the original intent of the constitution and of the Fourteenth Amendment. The judge affirmed that the constitution was not meant to infringe upon state rights and states may place any provisions upon voting which they deem necessary. Hunt stated that the Fourteenth Amendment “was designed only to give colored men the right white men already enjoyed” and that Anthony’s assumption was “foolish”. Today Susan B Anthony is known as many things, but “foolish” is not one of them. Just this past March, The New York Times wrote a story on the push to place Anthony on the twenty dollar bill. Susan B Anthony is known as a brilliant icon for women 's right and for how she dedicated her life to the movement for women’s