SUSAN B. ANTHONY
ON WOMAN'S RIGHT TO THE SUFFRAGE*
(1873)
Bom in 1830, died in 1906; in early life a social reformer and advo- cate of the suffrage and other civil rights for women, with which she remained through life closely identified.
Friends and Fellow Citizens: — I stand be- fore you to-night under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any State to deny. * « * • The preamble of the Federal Constitution says ;
- ' We, the people of the United States, in order
to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
It was we, the people; not we, the white male
> Delivered in 1873 after she had been arrested, put on trial, and fined one hundred dollars for voting at the presidential election in 1872. She refused to pay the fine and never did pay it.
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