President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will pardon Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the movement that gave women the right to vote, who was a...
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will pardon Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the movement that gave women the right to vote, who was arrested for voting in 1872 at a time when only men were allowed to do so.
'Later today, I will be signing a full and complete pardon for Susan B Anthony. She was never pardoned,' he said at a White House ceremony celebrating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. It´s also known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment.
'She got a bargain for a lot of other women, and she didn't put her name on the list. So she was never pardoned for voting,' Trump said.
President Donald Trump said he will pardon Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the women´s suffrage movement, who was arrested for voting in 1872
Susan B. Anthony, who was president of the Woman Suffrage Association and campaigned for women to have the right to vote
The grave of women's suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony is covered with 'I Voted' stickers during the 2016 election; she is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York
The president had teased on Monday he would pardon someone 'very, very important' the following day but would not say who it was - other than to rule out former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Edward Snowden.
His move comes as voting rights have become a central issue in the 2020 election.
Delays in mail delivery led the U.S. Postal Service to warn all 50 states that some mail-in ballots may not arrive in time to be counted. Democrats have voiced concerns about voter disenfranchisement while President Trump has criticized mail-in voting as leading to election fraud despite numerous studies that state that is not the case.
Trump's pardon also comes as Republicans have expressed concern the party is losing support of women voters, citing the low marks women gave President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and race relations.
Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, in 1872 and convicted in a widely publicized trial of voting when only men were allowed that right. She refused to pay the $100 fine but authorities declined to take further action.
She is long known for her work in the women's rights movement but she also supported the anti-alcohol temperance movement and fought for the freedom of slaves.
Her name has been co-oped by conservatives for the Susan B. Anthony foundation, a group that supports pro-life lawmakers.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of Susan B. Anthony List, was at Tuesday's event at the White House.
But there is dispute among scholars and historians at to Anthony's position on abortion and it's difficult to ascertain it given it was a not a huge public issue during her time as a political activist.
In 1869, Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association as part of their battle to secure a woman's right to vote.
Anthony gave as many as 100 speeches a year and traveled to numerous states to push for an amendment to be added to the constitution.
She died on March 13, 1906, before the 19th amendment was ratified.
The 19th Amendment states that 'The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.'
Congress passed it in 1919, and the amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920.
In honor of her work, the U.S. Treasury Department put Anthony's portrait on dollar coins in 1979, making her the first woman to be so honored.
First lady Melania Trump joined President Trump at the celebration; she wore a white suit in honor of the suffragettea
In this September 1916 file photo, demonstrators hold a rally for women's suffrage in New York. The Seneca Falls convention in 1848 is widely viewed as the launch of the women's suffrage movement, yet women didn't gain the right to vote until ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920
People lined up to visit Anthony's grave on Election Day 2016
But visiting Anthony´s grave site in Rochester on Election Day has become a popular ritual in recent years.
Thousands turned out in 2016 for the presidential match-up between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Clinton paid tribute to Anthony on Tuesday.
'The ratification of the 19th Amendment was both an enormous victory & an incomplete one,' she wrote on Twitter. '100 years on, I'm thinking of my mom, who was born the day of its passage in Congress. If she were still with us, she'd urge us to keep going—'lifting as we climb.''
In 2016 and 2018, voters showed up by the dozens to put their 'I Voted' stickers on her headstone.
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