Susan Anthony: Guilty of Unlawfully Voting

With her opinion letters in hand, Susan and thirteen other women - including her sister Mary - convinced officials to register them. All that remained was to cast the ballots.

On November 5, 1872, Susan Brownell Anthony did just that. For the first time in her life - citing the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution as her authority - she voted.

Although Horace Greeley had captured a significant percentage of the popular vote, he lost the election by a wide margin. The electoral votes were Grant's. One month later Horace Greeley was dead in a sanitarium.

For three days after his death people filled the streets of New York City as they waited to pay respects. More people attended Greeley's funeral than attended the funeral of President Lincoln. For three weeks, after the election, Susan Anthony must have thought her vote counted. But on Thanksgiving Day, 1872, she learned otherwise.