Susan Brownell Anthony is considered as one of the most notable American women reformists during the 19th century era. She is remembered of her immense contribution in different fields such as nature, religion, time, universe, fate, humanity, and law. The paper will cover these fields in reference to Susan Anthony’s life beliefs and contributions.
Concerning nature, Susan expressed her beliefs on the nature of human beings. She was not well pleased by what was happening in the American society. She believed that sex is something natural and human beings should never be classified under their sex on different occasions (Herweck 102). She was much discouraged on how the women were discriminated against during her error. To her, discriminating women were actually similar to turning against nature. She also expressed her disappointment on the racial discrimination against the Native Americans. This is evidenced in her fight for gender equality. She and her pal, Elizabeth Stanton formed a national suffrage organization whose aim was to gain women’s suffrage. She was also against the slavery in the United States. She became the leader of the anti-women slavery in the United States (Todd 98). Due to this, she was rejected and humiliated by many who saw her as a joker. She was threatened and faced several hostile mobs. This, according to her, was another aspect of nature in human. She believed that no one could receive or would receive support from everyone for whatever she or he does (Lutz74).
Susan Anthony believed that the then American law was not a law of equality but a law of discrimination that gave priorities to people of the opposite gender. According to her view, law should be gender blind; otherwise, it did not deserve the term. She opposed the idea of the law not allowing women to vote in the presidential elections (Todd 110). Her speech after the election was made to convince her fellow reformists on their natural right to elect their desired leader. She says that making sex a qualification in the election means passing or implementing a law halfway. This results in the automatic disfranchisement of the entire half population, in America.
Susan was brought up as a Quaker. However, this lifestyle did not please her, therefore, she decided to join the Daughters of Temperance. This was a group of women whose role was to draw women’s attention on the effect of drunkenness on families and society, as general. She also campaigned for stronger liquor law to reduce the consumption of the drug among people, especially women, in society. In conclusion, she was a rebel to her parents’ religion and upheld her own beliefs, which she believed, were right, health, and social wise. She became the leader of the group and came up with new agendas such as fighting for the female education in the United States (Todd 103).
She believes that the universe is a free space for anyone to move. She is against any form of confinement by the so-called political leaders or the ‘justice implementers’. The universe is also a place where every person has a right to communicate his or her own views based on certain ideas. It is a place where right is supposed to be practiced, not compiled, read and remain unimplemented or unpracticed. She came up with dress reform for women. The dress was a bloomer costume. Cutting of the hair was also identification for the reformists.
Based on her struggle until her death, Susan Anthony can be described as somebody who knew the value of time since her birth in February 1820. She had known her desired role; she wanted to reform the American society on gender and racial based discriminations. At age 16, she had joined the anti-slavery group among women. She collected two boxes containing the petitions that opposed slavery among the US women (Lutz 50). This was in response to the gag rule that prohibited such petitions in the house of Representatives. She went ahead and printed the women’s rights weekly journal known as The Revolution that was printed in New York, at age 48. The main aim or goal of this revolution was to promote women’s and African-Americans rights to suffrage. It also discussed other issues such as more liberal divorce laws, the position of the churchwomen issues and equal compensation for equal rights.
Her belief on humanity is admirable, so to speak. This is portrayed on her struggle towards the betterment of human conditions in the US. Her struggle to terminate slavery among women and African-Americans is one outstanding illustration in this case. Her struggle to revolutionize the American constitution is evidenced on her speech after her release from prison. She had been jailed due to failure to obey the then constitution prohibited women from voting in presidential elections, in the US (Monsell 65). She reminded her listeners on how the Fourteenth Amendment of the American constitution had been violated. This was meant to incite them and make them think about their rights as outlined in the constitution and relate them to the methods applied by the top government officials and other political leaders to implement them. She wanted them to know about their rights. Due to this, she came up with education for women. She called for women to be admitted in the universities for various professions such as teaching and other courses that were done by the opposite gender. She fought for equality in the education sector regardless of age, race, and gender. Her main reason for this was to make certain that the oppressed members in the American society got enlightened about their rights (Monsell 65).
Susan Anthony can be classified as a hero among and women saviour in the American society and the world at large.