United States v. Susan B.
Anthony (1873)
Analysis
Should the 14th and 15th amendments have been interpreted as granting American women the right to vote?
Why or why not?
Historical Context - Part 1: Read the quote in the box below. In the space below the box, explain what you think the author is
saying about women in America in the 1880’s.
“In marriage she has been a serf [farmer tied to the land of a richer lord or noble - makes little to no money]; as
a mother she has been robbed of her children; in public instruction [education] she has been ignored; in labor
she has been a menial [inferior], and then inadequately compensated; civilly she has been a minor, and
politically she has had no existence. She has been the equal of man only when punishment and the payment of
taxes, were in question” - Mary A. Livermore, What shall we do with our Daughters? (Boston, 1883) pp. 10 - 16.
The author is saying women in America in the 1880s existed as less than citizens of the U.S, without the same rights and
privileges men have yet the same conditions to bear with
Historical Context - Part 2: Read the excerpt of the 14th Amendment (1868) and 15th Amendment (1870) in the box below.
14th Amendment:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
[shorten] the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
15th Amendment:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Primary Source Document: US. vs. Susan B. Anthony (1873) - Excerpt of Susan B. Anthony’s statement before the court
“Yes, your honor, I have many things to say; for in your ordered verdict of guilty, you have trampled underfoot every vital principle of our
government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights, are all alike ignored. Robbed of the fundamental
privilege of citizenship, I am degraded from the status of a citizen to that of a subject; and not only myself individually, but all of my
fellow women, are doomed to political subjection under this, so-called, form of government. Your denial of my citizen's right to vote, is
the denial of my right of consent as one of the governed, the denial of my right of representation as one of the taxed... but by forms of
law all made by men, interpreted by men, administered by men, in favor of men, and against women; and hence, your honor's ordered
verdict of guilty; against a United States citizen for the exercise of "that citizen's right to vote," simply because that citizen was a woman
and not a man...”
Primary Source Document Analysis
1) What are TWO arguments Susan B. Anthony makes in her statements before the court as to why women should be allowed to vote?
Susan B. Anthony argues saying that her natural rights, to be protected by the Constitution are left ignored and her right to vote and
representation is also denied.
2) How could Susan B. Anthony use the 14th amendment to support her argument that women had the legal right to vote?
Anthony could use the 14th amendment to support her argument as it states all people born within the U.S, have by birth the rights of a
citizen of the U.S, which includes the right to vote, women born in the U.S should be classified as citizens and have the same right to vote.
Primary Source Document: US. vs. Susan B. Anthony (1873) - Excerpts of Henry Selden’s argument before the court
“...The 14th and 15th Amendments guarantee Anthony a constitutional and lawful right to vote. The amendments define U.S. citizenship and prohibit
states from abridging [shorten] the civil rights and privileges of citizens, and recognize that a right to vote was among those civil rights and
privileges….The fourteenth amendment imposes new restrictions on the states with regard to political rights. States can no longer ban U.S. citizens
from voting. Under the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment, Ms. Anthony is a citizen of the United States, and New York State is barred from
abridging her rights. Among these rights is her right to vote. In this day and age, States retained their right to regulate voting, but the Reconstruction
amendments as they have been most recently written, take away state's right to exclude a class of citizens from voting...Historically, the term
“citizen” was defined as someone with the right to vote for public officials. The Fifteenth Amendment acknowledged this definition in its opening
phrase: The right of citizens of the United States to vote…If the same act had been done by her brother under the same circumstances, the act
would have been not only innocent, but honorable and admirable; but having been done by a woman it is said to be a crime. The crime therefore
consists not in the act done, but in the simple fact that the person doing it was a woman and not a man, I believe this is the first instance in which a
woman has been arraigned in a criminal court, merely on account of her sex....”
Primary Source Document Analysis
1) Why does Henry Selden believe that Susan B. Anthony is innocent? Cite textual evidence from the trial excerpts included to support your
claim.
Henry Selden believes that Susan B. Anthony is innocent as he states “Ms. Anthony is a citizen of the United States, and New York State is
barred from abridging her rights. Among these rights is her right to vote.”, Selden did not believe Anthony had broken the law as she was
only acting on her rights as a U.S citizen.
2) How does Henry Selden use the 14th and 15th amendments to construct his argument that Susan B. Anthony (and therefore all American
women) have the right to vote?
Selden uses the 14th and 15th amendments stating that as Anthony was lawfully born within the U.S, so she is afforded the same privileges a
citizen is afforded, including the right to vote.
