LETTER: ALS to M.F. Sweeting.
Anthony, Susan B. Autograph letter signed, “Susan B. Anthony,” to M. F. Sweeting, September 25, 1856; one leaf, two pages; with an additional autograph mock-up for a broadside laid-in, 5” x 8.”
In this early letter Anthony responds to an invitation from the Wayne County teachers to present a lecture on “Educating the Sexes Together.” She writes, in part:
I thank you and the Wayne County teachers for your kind invitation & shall be happy to read my address on “Educating the Sexes Together” before your Institute...You say nothing of means for defraying expenses or remuneration. I therefore make the following proposition. That there be an admission fee at the door of 12½ cts. & after paying incidental expenses the proceds [sic] be mine. I would suggest that you get some handbills printed & have them posted in the village as early as Saturday & also have some sent to the little villages in the vicinity of Lyons. More might also be given through your churches on Sunday...Enclosed is a form of handbill which you have liberty to make any alterations you deem proper. Yours for Equal Education to All, Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), woman suffrage leader, devoted her life to the cause of women's rights. She was certain that the only practical course of action to follow was to secure the vote for women—all else would follow after that. Following the Seneca Falls meeting in 1848, the cause of woman suffrage attracted a growing number of women. Anthony, a Quaker abolitionist, was one such woman. She attended her first woman suffrage convention in Worcester in 1852 and was immediately elected secretary. She quickly became a leader in the women's movement, speaking and writing on behalf of abolition and women's rights as well. In 1863, when the Civil War put aside the woman suffrage question, Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the "Women's Loyal National League". The group sought to end the Civil War through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery. The group attracted some 5,000 members, many of whom were women suffragists. They collected some 400,000 signatures for submission to President Lincoln and Congress, and in 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was passed. The women disbanded the "Loyal National League", but they used their valuable experience in organizational planning and public speaking in the cause of woman suffrage.
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