How Did Susan B Anthony Impact Society

Susan B Anthony is not just a lady whose face was put on a coin. She was a courageous woman felt strongly about social reform, especially woman’s rights, temperance and abolishing slavery. She spent her whole life helping others and fighting for her beliefs. Her ideals consumed her personal life, but had long lasting effects on society, even after her death. Susan Brownell Anthony was born February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts, the second child of Daniel and Lucy Read Anthony. Her father owned a cotton mill, was very religious and believed that serving God included helping other people. Daniel and Lucy shared their Quaker values with their seven children by encouraging their children to be active in caring for others. In 1826 the

Temperance was an attempt to outlaw the sale of alcohol. Both men and women were involved in the movement, but the main reason women were concerned with temperance was because men made the decisions for the household and when drinking influenced those decisions wives had no control over the results. She was introduced to Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Amelia Bloomer in 1851. When Susan was elected to be a delegate at the 1852 State Temperance Convention, the chairman would not allow her to speak, saying that women delegates were only there to learn. She and several other women left the convention and created their own organization called the Women's State Temperance Society. Her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton was made President and Susan was the State Agent. In 1853 the World's Temperance Convention in New York City was held up for three days while they discussed weather women would be allowed to speak. This along with conservatives in their own temperance organization led Susan to realize that until women were allowed to speak at conventions, they would not have a say in changes. After this, she focused he activities on women's workplace and voting rights, and working on

She then decided to make a statement and voted in the Presidential election illegally. She was arrested and fined $100. She never paid the fine by the way. Then in the 1890s, she for co-education while on the Rochester State Industrial School’s board of Trustees. Susan raised $50,000 to get women into the University of Rochester, even using her own life insurance money. The University then allowed women to enroll in 1900. In 1877, she got 10,000 signatures on petitions from 26 states requesting women be allowed to vote and presented them to congress. They laughed at her. Between 1869 and 1906 she asked every Congress for a suffrage amendment, but none of them passed it. In 1887, the two women’s suffrage groups joined to make the National American Women’s Suffrage Association. Susan became president in 1892. In 1900, Susan retired as president from