The Trial of Susan B. Anthony

I grew up in Holcomb, NY in Ontario County.  On paydays my family made our weekly trip to Canandaigua to get groceries and other necessary items.  Before the bypass was built, the road into Canandaigua went straight to the Ontario County Courthouse.  I was familiar with the historic yellow  edifice, but as a child I had no idea the heinous injustice perpetrated within its walls.  I have long known that it was the site of the Susan B. Anthony trial, but until I read the book "The Trial of Susan B.  Anthony"  which contained the transcript of the trial, I didn't realize just how far reaching the injustice was. 

Susan and thirteen other women cast their ballots on Nov. 5, 1872 for several positions including that of Congressman.  Three election officials, who were also arrested and convicted, approved and accepted their ballots.  The women in no way tried to disguise the fact that they were women.   With the advice of her  attorney, Judge Selden, Anthony believed that the 14th amendment to the Constitution gave her the right to vote.  On June 17th and 18th, 1873 she was tried, convicted, and fined $100 because she exercised what she believed to be her right to the elective franchise.  But the atrocity doesn't end there.  If that wasn't bad enough, the very justice system that was supposed to protect her failed. 

At that time period the states were charged with determining who could vote and who could not, as long as they didn't violate the Constitution.  That is why until the 19th amendment was passed the decision to grant women the right to vote was determined by the different states.  This trial, however, was held in a Federal Court by a Federal judge.  Breach of justice #1:  she was tried in a Federal Court for a disputable State infraction.

Twenty jurors were selected, all of them men.  Certainly not a jury of her peers.  However, the 2nd real breach of justice here is that the judge, Ward Hunt, would not let the jury deliberate or speak and instead directed the jury to find Ms. Anthony guilty.  In fact, the judge's decision was made and written prior to the trial, breach of justice #3. 

Breach of justice #4 occurred when Anthony's attorney filed an appeal.  Who did the appeal go to?  You guessed it, Judge Hunt, the same closed minded person who convicted her.  The appeal was denied. 

Anthony was fined $100, the equivalent of about $2000 today.  She refused to pay it, and it is still being carried on the books.  One newspaper editorial summed it up succinctly when he wrote, "If it is a mere question of who has got the best of it, Miss Anthony is still ahead; she has voted and the American Constitution has survived the shock.  Fining her one hundred dollars does not rub out the fact that fourteen women voted, and went home, and the world jogged on as before.⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾County Post, Washington Co., N.Y., June 27, 1873, in HWS 2:944.

Trial of Susan B. Anthony, with an Introduction by Lynn Sherr.  Trial of Susan B. Anthony