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Today's Reading

INTRODUCTION

On July 4, 1876, celebrations of America's centennial were planned all across the country, with the grandest event taking place in Philadelphia. Thousands stood in the blistering sun to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence, but a small group of women gathered in America's birthplace had their own patriotic message to deliver.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other prominent suffragists from all over America had been denied the right to participate in the day's activities. Elizabeth had been told by the man in charge that the program was full, but the women insisted they must be heard and decided to storm the stage.

Outside Independence Hall, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, whose grandfather had proposed independence from England a century earlier, read from the original Declaration of Independence, which promised equal rights. When he finished, Susan and four other women rose from the audience and marched their way to the front of the platform, which was adorned in red, white, and blue for the holiday.

The crowd was caught off guard and, remarkably, Susan encountered no resistance, only the stunned, pale face of the presiding officer, Senator Thomas W. Ferry. She handed him their pamphlet, titled "Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States," which he begrudgingly accepted, thus making it an official part of the day's proceedings. It was a groundbreaking four-page list of grievances that equated women's oppression with the treatment of the colonies under King George III.


We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.
—SUSAN B. ANTHONY


The group of women caused such a stir that men in the audience stood on their seats to see what was happening. As the women quickly exited the stage, they handed extra copies of their manifesto to men who eagerly reached for the documents.

The women had created their own fireworks—too much for General Joseph R. Hawley, who shouted, "Order! Order!" As head of the U.S. Centennial Commission, Hawley was the man who had denied Elizabeth's request for the women to participate. "We are crowded for time," he had written in a letter. Those words had come back to haunt him.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), and her colleagues had hoped to use the occasion to highlight the hypocrisy of celebrating independence while half the population were still denied their right to vote. "We thought it would be fitting for us to read our Declaration of Rights immediately after that of the Fathers was read, as an impeachment of them and their male descendants for their injustice and oppression," Elizabeth later recounted.

The six NWSA members who had stormed the stage then moved to the front of Independence Hall for the next dramatic moment of the day. In her memoir, Elizabeth described the scene:

Here, under the shadow of Washington's statue, [behind] them the old bell that proclaimed, "liberty to all the land and all the inhabitants thereof," they took their places, and to a listening, applauding crowd, Miss Anthony read the Women's Declaration.

Susan B. Anthony's remarks began, "While the nation is buoyant with patriotism, and all hearts are attuned to praise, it is with sorrow we come to strike the one discordant note, on this one-hundredth anniversary of our country's birth."

Standing in the sweltering noon heat, wearing a heavy Victorian petticoat, Susan reminded the crowd that women had no right to vote, no marriage rights, no real legal protections, and were subject to taxation without representation.

"We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever."

Our daughters forever.

This courageous call for universal suffrage, delivered on the centennial celebration of the Fourth of July, helped inspire the struggle that would culminate in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment more than four decades later. It was a profound American moment that helped ensure we all now have the right to vote.

* * *

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We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America | Online Book Clubs Skip to main content

Today's Reading

INTRODUCTION

On July 4, 1876, celebrations of America's centennial were planned all across the country, with the grandest event taking place in Philadelphia. Thousands stood in the blistering sun to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence, but a small group of women gathered in America's birthplace had their own patriotic message to deliver.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other prominent suffragists from all over America had been denied the right to participate in the day's activities. Elizabeth had been told by the man in charge that the program was full, but the women insisted they must be heard and decided to storm the stage.

Outside Independence Hall, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, whose grandfather had proposed independence from England a century earlier, read from the original Declaration of Independence, which promised equal rights. When he finished, Susan and four other women rose from the audience and marched their way to the front of the platform, which was adorned in red, white, and blue for the holiday.

The crowd was caught off guard and, remarkably, Susan encountered no resistance, only the stunned, pale face of the presiding officer, Senator Thomas W. Ferry. She handed him their pamphlet, titled "Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States," which he begrudgingly accepted, thus making it an official part of the day's proceedings. It was a groundbreaking four-page list of grievances that equated women's oppression with the treatment of the colonies under King George III.


We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.
—SUSAN B. ANTHONY


The group of women caused such a stir that men in the audience stood on their seats to see what was happening. As the women quickly exited the stage, they handed extra copies of their manifesto to men who eagerly reached for the documents.

The women had created their own fireworks—too much for General Joseph R. Hawley, who shouted, "Order! Order!" As head of the U.S. Centennial Commission, Hawley was the man who had denied Elizabeth's request for the women to participate. "We are crowded for time," he had written in a letter. Those words had come back to haunt him.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), and her colleagues had hoped to use the occasion to highlight the hypocrisy of celebrating independence while half the population were still denied their right to vote. "We thought it would be fitting for us to read our Declaration of Rights immediately after that of the Fathers was read, as an impeachment of them and their male descendants for their injustice and oppression," Elizabeth later recounted.

The six NWSA members who had stormed the stage then moved to the front of Independence Hall for the next dramatic moment of the day. In her memoir, Elizabeth described the scene:

Here, under the shadow of Washington's statue, [behind] them the old bell that proclaimed, "liberty to all the land and all the inhabitants thereof," they took their places, and to a listening, applauding crowd, Miss Anthony read the Women's Declaration.

Susan B. Anthony's remarks began, "While the nation is buoyant with patriotism, and all hearts are attuned to praise, it is with sorrow we come to strike the one discordant note, on this one-hundredth anniversary of our country's birth."

Standing in the sweltering noon heat, wearing a heavy Victorian petticoat, Susan reminded the crowd that women had no right to vote, no marriage rights, no real legal protections, and were subject to taxation without representation.

"We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever."

Our daughters forever.

This courageous call for universal suffrage, delivered on the centennial celebration of the Fourth of July, helped inspire the struggle that would culminate in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment more than four decades later. It was a profound American moment that helped ensure we all now have the right to vote.

* * *

What our readers think...