The Woman Who Dared to Vote - (Landmark Law Cases & American Society) by N E H Hull

About the Book

The first book-length account of the most important trial in the history of the movement to secure the vote for women. Provides a concise and readable guide to the origins, proceedings, and significance of the controversial trial of Susan B. Anthony.

Book Synopsis

Just as the polls opened on November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony arrived and filled out her "ticket" for the various candidates. But before it could be placed in the ballot box, a poll watcher objected, claiming her action violated the laws of New York and the state constitution. Anthony vehemently protested that as a citizen of the United States and the state of New York she was entitled to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment. The poll watchers gave in and allowed Anthony to deposit her ballots. Anthony was arrested, charged with a federal crime, and tried in court.

Primarily represented within document collections and broader accounts of the fight for woman suffrage, Anthony's controversial trial--as a landmark narrative in the annals of American law--remains a relatively neglected subject. N. E. H. Hull provides the first book-length engagement with the legal dimensions of that narrative and in the process illuminates the laws, politics, and personalities at the heart of the trial and its outcome.

Hull summarizes the woman suffrage movement in the post-Civil War era, reveals its betrayal by former allies in the abolitionist movement, and describes its fall into disarray. She then chronicles Anthony's vote, arrest, and preliminary hearings, as well as the legal and public relations maneuvering in the run-up to the trial. She captures the drama created by Anthony, her attorneys, the politically ambitious prosecutor, and presiding judge--and Supreme Court justice--Ward Hunt, who argued emphatically against Anthony's interpretation of the Reconstruction Amendments as the source of her voting rights. She then tracks further relevant developments in the trial's aftermath--including Minor v. Happersett, another key case for the voting rights of women--and follows the major players through the eventual passage of the Nineteenth (or "Susan B. Anthony") Amendment.

Hull's concise and readable guide reveals a story of courage and despair, of sisterhood and rivalry, of high purpose and low politics. It also underscores for all of us how Anthony's act of civil disobedience remains essential to our understanding of both constitutional and women's history--and why it all matters.

Review Quotes

"A truly refreshing, invigorating, and spirited story! Hull's close legal study of the charges against Anthony breaks new ground and significantly enlarges our understanding of her trial, its degeneration into a theater of the absurd, and its setback for U.S. women's rights and recognition as citizens. A must read for students of women's history and law alike."--Kathleen Barry, author of Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist

"Anthony's trial comes to life in this readable and absorbing account. Hull provides not just new information, but context and setting as well. . . . A significant contribution."--Jean H. Baker, author of Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists

"This rich, readable recounting brings the trial and its principals to life. Serious general readers and specialists in law, American history, and women's rights will appreciate its depth and readability as well as the author's skill in illuminating both historic setting and contemporary impact." --Library Journal

"This wonderful book contextualizes Anthony's trial within the broader battle for female franchise. It begins before the Civil War with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, organizing for women's rights. Hull discusses the personalities involved in the female franchise and how it was connected to the temperance movement, abolition, and the battle over the Fifteenth Amendment granting former slaves the right to vote. . . . While the trial is described here as a sham, it was significant in the eventual success in securing a right to vote. Excellent for collections on women's, New York, and American history and law. Highly recommended."--Choice

"Hull brings to life the cast of characters, from the befuddled male poll workers to the imperious Supreme Court Justice Ward Hunt (who presided at the trial) to the passionate and committed Anthony. . . . [The book] takes an episode often dismissed as a footnote in the larger history of the women's suffrage movement and places it center stage. . . . It will have broad appeal to readers who are interested in the intersection of women, suffrage, and the law in the late nineteenth-century United States."--Kansas History