Susan B. Anthony

     For a very long time women were not given the right to vote and were treated like second class citizens.  Many women decided that it was going to change.  Susan B. Anthony was one of the leading women that tried to get the right to vote.  She wanted to be a full citizen.  She devoted most all of her life to making a stand for the women of America.   Her efforts are cherished and were the path that lead to equal rights for women.

     Susan B. Anthony and some other women wanted the right to vote.  The 15th Amendment said, "the right of the citizens of the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."  Susan B. Anthony wanted the Amendment to say "race, color, sex, or..."  Later the 15th Amendment was passed without including sex.  That made Susan wonder who was a citizen, and if women were actually citizens.  Later Susan decided to ask her friend, who had been a judge, if she was a citizen, and if if she could vote.  Her friend thought the answer was yes.

     Later on Susan went with 15 other women to try and vote even though it was illegal.  The news of their determination was spread throughout the whole country, and the women were called lawbreakers.  A few days afterword a police came and brought Susan B. Anthony to court along with the 15 other women.  While in court she brought up "We the people," and said that it doesn't mean We the male citizens.  Her speeches moved a lot of people.  Later she was found guilty because the judge was a foe of women's rights.  Susan was not put in jail.  Susan devoted the rest of her life to trying to earn equal rights for women.

     Susan's courage made a path for other women to get the right to vote.  Her efforts did not win women the right to vote everywhere, but 4 states granted women the right to vote.  14 years after Susan's death, the 19th Amendment was passed and women were granted the right to vote.

     Women fought so hard to be treated like full citizens.  Their determination to vote payed off in the end.  Without the road that Susan B. Anthony paved, the 19th Amendment might not have been passed, and women might not have been able to vote.