Throughout our nation's history, women have never achieved truly equal rights. Not so long ago, women didn't even have the right to vote. Women even had to fight for equality in education and the right to property. From 1848 to 1920, when they finally won the right to vote, women formed groups to protest, primarily for the right to vote. One of these women was Susan B. Anthony. At first, she focused more on the abolition of slavery and temperance, but she began to become aware of the difficulties women faced in their daily lives. Growing up in a politically and socially active family, receiving much support from friends and family, and becoming increasingly convinced that with the right to vote, women would be taken seriously, Susan B. Anthony was inspired to devote more efforts to the cause of women. suffrage.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Susan B. Anthony grew up in a Quaker family of eight. She had five brothers and sisters, there were three other girls and two boys. Susan B. Anthony was the second oldest. His father, Daniel Reed, owned a cotton farm. The family was abolitionist, so Daniel tried not to buy cotton from slave owners. He made a deal with Judge John McLean to open a store, but the judge backed out at the last minute because Daniel decided to make the store a temperance store (a store that does not sell alcohol) and McLean thought the store wouldn't get any. customers. Daniel Anthony was against alcohol because he thought it was important to the women's rights movement. This would prevent many women from being abused by their drunken husbands. Daniel was not willing to sacrifice his values ​​to make money. Perhaps this is why he was not the most successful businessman. He stood firm for what he believed in. For example, when Susan B. Anthony's teacher refused to teach her and her sister Guelma long division because of their gender, Daniel became so angry that he started a home school in his house, abandoning part of the residence of their home. After an economic depression, the family went bankrupt, forcing the family to sell everything. Daniel Anthony's brother-in-law, Uncle Reed, purchased some of the family's most valuable possessions and bought them a house in Hardscrabble, New York, now known as Center Falls, NY. Susan B. Anthony was greatly influenced by her abolitionist/temperate family. She decided to join the American Anti-Slavery Society. She spent a lot of time and effort organizing meetings and giving speeches. She supported and requested the 13th Amendment. The 13th Amendment was brought in to abolish slavery. Since Susan B. Anthony grew up in a Quaker family, she grew up believing that alcohol was a sin. She joined the Daughters of Temperance. The Daughters of Temperance were a group of women who drew attention to the effects of drunkenness and alcohol. She gave her first public speech in 1848 at a Daughters of Temperance dinner. In 1849 she was elected president of the Rochester branch. She went everywhere trying to raise money for the cause. One day, at a Sons of Temperance meeting, he was denied the opportunity to speak. She was told that the sisters were there to “listen and learn.” Later, Anthony, with the help of a friend, started a petition to limit the sale of alcohol ina state. The petition has collected more than 28,000 signatures. However, this request was refused by the State Legislature as most of the signatures were either signed by women or children. Anthony decided that women needed the right to vote to be taken seriously by Congress and politicians. Susan B. Anthony received much encouragement and support for protesting what she believed. Her parents gave her the confidence to continue, even if people didn't. They didn't agree or even retaliate, and in fact, most of the time when she protested, people disagreed with her or protested. In response to her efforts, angry crowds met her in the streets, threats and bad eggs were thrown at her. People even dragged a mannequin made to look like him, dragged it into the street and burned it. Despite all this, she continued to fight for what she believed in. She first became interested in social activism as a teenager. She collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17. She also participated in numerous anti-slavery conventions and meetings. In fact, it was at an anti-slavery convention that Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Elizabeth would one day become one of Anthony's best friends and work partners. Stanton was actually the one who inspired Anthony to fight for women's rights. Stanton was one of the people who helped organize the Seneca Falls Convention, the first-ever women's rights convention. Stanton, however, had a husband and seven children. She had to balance her time between her family life and her speaking engagements. Anthony, however, never married. Many people called her an “old maid,” which is what a woman was called who wanted to remain single and not have a family or children. Anthony knew that traditionally, when you're married, you have no control over anything. From her point of view, all control lies with the husband. Even if you are able to earn money, you must give it to your husband. To Anthony, it sounded no better than slavery. “I never felt like I could give up my life of freedom to become a man's housekeeper. When I was young, if a girl married poverty, she became a chore; if she married wealth, she became a doll. If I had married at twenty-one, I would have either been a chore or a doll for fifty-five years. » Anthony had rivals, but she had great support from friends and family. Lucy Anthony, Anthony's mother, was considered a very shy but supportive mother. Anthony and his sisters worried that their mother was overworked, so the four of them were always eager to help with cooking, baking, sewing, cleaning, and laundry. Anthony described her as a loving and caring mother. She also said that Lucy communicated very little. She gave birth to eight children. However, one of her children was stillborn and another died at the age of two from scarlet fever. Lucy had always supported the socialist work of her husband Daniel. She had also supported Anthony's work, although it was unusual for a mother at that time to accept her daughter's decision not to marry. Lucy was undoubtedly a major supporting voice. She helped, not by helping to give speeches or providing ideas and suggestions, but she was a confident and supportive voice when Anthony faced opposition. After the Civil War, voting rights for different skin colors and races became an idea. Anthony was shocked when the idea of ​​a newamendment was proposed to Congress. The amendment was intended to give every American citizen the right to vote. The problem was that, for the first time, they defined “citizen” as a man. For the first time, the constitution had been designed to intentionally exclude women. This made Anthony angry because they had combined a very good idea with a bad idea. The amendment would include voting rights for all citizens, regardless of race and skin color, but no voting rights for women. Some abolitionists declared that it was "the Negro's hour" and that women were being selfish in trying to gain the right to vote for themselves. “The African race as a whole is not composed entirely of males! » said Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Both Stanton and Anthony decided to oppose the amendment until a change occurred allowing both women and men to have full suffrage. Susan B. Anthony never stopped protesting. She even voted once. On a cold day in early November 1872, in Rochester, New York, Anthony burst into a barbershop, which was also the booth where people could vote. She surprised poll officials when she and fifteen other women asked to be registered and they all voted. A few days later, the police showed up at his door to arrest him. She was accused of voting illegally. Of the sixteen women, only their leader, Susan B. Anthony, was tried. Judge Ward Hunt was known to be against women's suffrage. He surprised Anthony and his lawyer by not allowing Anthony to let her take the witness stand to argue his case. The judge pulled out a prepared statement that he had in his possession since the trial began. “The 14th Amendment does not give a woman any right to vote, and Miss Anthony’s vote was in violation of the law,” he said. The lawyer protested, saying that in a criminal case, the jury must decide whether the accused is guilty or innocent. The judge didn't listen. He ordered the court clerk to record a guilty verdict, even though the jury had not voted. There was an uproar in court. Not everyone present was in favor of women's rights, but all agreed that Anthony had not received a fair trial. The next day, the judge was about to sentence Anthony when he asked him an unusual question: "Judge Hunt — (ordering the accused to stand): 'Has the prisoner anything to say why the sentence should not be pronounced? » Miss Anthony — “Yes, Your Honor, I have a lot to say; for in your ordered guilty verdict you have trampled underfoot every vital principle of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights are all equally ignored. Deprived of the fundamental privilege of citizenship, I am degraded from the status of citizen to that of subject; and not only myself individually, but my whole sex, are, in your Honor's verdict, doomed to political subjection under this so-called form of government. “The court orders the prisoner to sit down, he will not allow another word!” Then Judge Hunt said: “The sentence of the court is that you pay a fine of $100 and costs of prosecution. » “May it please your honor,” replied Anthony. “I will never pay a dollar of your unfair penalty. And I will continue earnestly and persistently to exhort all women... that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. » The judge could have arrested her until she paid the fine, but he knew she would be transferred to a higher court where she could have a fair trial, and in.