Susan Anthony: Guilty of Unlawfully Voting

It was a presidential election year. The Civil War was over. Ulysses S. Grant, the war hero, was President. He wanted to get re-elected, but the election of 1872 wasn't so simple for Grant.

Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, was Grant's opponent. Greeley had lots of popular support. People liked his ideas. He was the one who popularized the phrase, "Go West, young man, Go West." His newspaper had always been against slavery. He seemed to be the choice for people who wanted to expand civil rights.

Susan B. Anthony, the famous advocate for women's rights, supported Greeley. Of course, the 19th Amendment - giving women the right to vote - wouldn't be law for nearly fifty years. So what difference did it make that Susan Anthony supported Greeley?

It made a significant difference to Anthony. She voted in the 1872 presidential election. Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day 1872, she was arrested for exercising her right - as an American citizen - to vote. She was 52 years old.

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.