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Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was a leading lady in the movement for woman suffrage, the right to vote. After voting illegally in the presidential election of 1872 she was fined for $100 at her trial. She said "Not a penny shall go to this unjust claim". The fine was never paid. Anthony later went on to help found the National Women's Suffrage Association (NWSA) -
Illegal Voting
Susan B. Anthony and other women decided to test the limits of the 14th amendment, which declared that states denying their male citizens the right to vote would lose congressional representation when they attempted to vote at least 150 times in ten states and the District of Columbia. The Surpreme Court ruled in 1875 that women were citizens but citizenship did not give them the right to vote. -
Carry Nation and the WCTU
Some reformers wanted immigrants and poor city dwellers to improve themselves by changing their behavior. A program called Prohibition banned alcoholic beverages to help do this. Prohibitionist groups thought that alcohol was interffering with American values. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) leaded the movement for prohibition. Many immigrants were upset about prohibition because they looked to saloons for other things besides alcohol, like cashing checks and getting meals. -
NAWSA Formed
The NAWSA was the National American Woman Suffrage Association which was formerly the NWSA and another women's suffrage group. Prominent leaders included Lucy Stone, and Julia Ward Howe, the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." -
Chapman Catt and the new NAWSA tattics
Carrie Catt was Susan B. Anthony's successor as president of the NAWSA. She had went to New York and started New York's Women's Suffrage Party then came back to the NAWSA. She then focused on painstaking organization; close ties between local, state, and national workers; establishing a wide base of support; cautious lobbying; and gracious, ladylike behavior. -
Ninetenth Amendment
All the women's hard work paid off, eventually in 1919 the 19th Amendment was passed which allowed woman to vote.
