Susan B. Anthony

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The _Revolution_ office became the rallying point for a
forward-looking group of women, many of whom contributed to the
hard-hitting liberal sheet. Elizabeth Tilton, the lovely dark-haired
young wife of the popular lecturer and editor of the _Independent_,
selected the poetry. Alice and Phoebe Cary gladly offered poems and a
novel; and when Susan was away, Phoebe Cary often helped Mrs. Stanton
get out the paper. Elizabeth Smith Miller gave money, encouragement,
and invaluable aid with her translations of interesting letters which
_The Revolution_ received from France and Germany. Laura Curtis
Bullard, the heir to the Dr. Winslow-Soothing-Syrup fortune, who
traveled widely in Europe, sent letters from abroad and took a lively
interest in the paper. Another new recruit was Lillie Devereux Blake,
who was gaining a reputation as a writer and who soon proved to be a
brilliant orator and an invaluable worker in the New York City
suffrage group. Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, unfailingly gave her support,
and her calm assurance strengthened Susan. The wealthy Paulina Wright
Davis of Providence, Rhode Island, who followed Parker Pillsbury as
editor, when he felt obliged to resign for financial reasons, gave the
paper generous financial backing.

[Illustration: Isabella Beecher Hooker]

It was Mrs. Davis who brought into the fold the half sister of Henry
Ward Beecher, Isabella Beecher Hooker, a queenly woman, one of the
elect of Hartford, Connecticut. Hoping to break down Mrs. Hooker's
prejudice against Susan and Mrs. Stanton, which had been built up by
New England suffragists, Mrs. Davis invited the three women to spend a
few days with her. After this visit, Mrs. Hooker wrote to a friend in
Boston, "I have studied Miss Anthony day and night for nearly a
week.... She is a woman of incorruptible integrity and the thought of
guile has no place in her heart. In unselfishness and benevolence she
has scarcely an equal, and her energy and executive ability are
bounded only by her physical power, which is something immense.
Sometimes she fails in judgment, according to the standards of
others, but in right intentions never, nor in faithfulness to her
friends.... After attending a two days' convention in Newport,
engineered by her in her own fashion, I am obliged to accept the most
favorable interpretation of her which prevails generally, rather than
that of Boston. Mrs. Stanton too is a magnificent woman.... I hand in
my allegiance to both as leaders and representatives of the great
movement."[239]

From then on, Mrs. Hooker did her best to reconcile the Boston and New
York factions, hoping to avert the formation of a second national
woman suffrage organization.

FOOTNOTES:

[232] _The Revolution_, II, Dec. 24, 1868, p. 385.

[233] George W. Julian, _Political Recollections_, 1840-1872 (Chicago,
1884), pp. 324-325.

[234] _The Revolution_, III, March 11, 1869, p. 148.

[235] The very proper Sorosis would not meet at the Women's Bureau
while it housed the radical _Revolution_, and as women showed so
little interest in her project, Mrs. Phelps gave it up after a year's
trial.

[236] _The Revolution_, III, May 20, 1869, pp. 305-307.

[237] _History of Woman Suffrage_, II, p. 392.

[238] Harper, _Anthony_, I, pp. 327-328.

[239] _Ibid._, p. 332.

A HOUSE DIVIDED

"I think we need two national associations for woman suffrage so that
those who do not oppose the Fifteenth Amendment, nor take the tone of
_The Revolution_ may yet have an organization with which they can work
in harmony."[240] So wrote Lucy Stone to many of her friends during
the summer of 1869, and some of these letters fell into Susan's hands.

"The radical abolitionists and the Republicans could never have worked
together but in separate organizations both did good service," Lucy
further explained. "There are just as distinctly two parties to the
woman movement.... Each organization will attract those who naturally
belong to it--and there will be harmonious work."

When the ground had been prepared by these letters, Lucy asked old
friends and new to sign a call to a woman suffrage convention, to be
held in Cleveland, Ohio, in November 1869, "to unite those who cannot
use the methods which Mrs. Stanton and Susan use...."[241]

Those feeling as she did eagerly signed the call, while others who
knew little about the controversy in the East added their names
because they were glad to take part in a convention sponsored by such
prominent men and women as Julia Ward Howe, George William Curtis,
Henry Ward Beecher, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and William Lloyd
Garrison. Still others who did not understand the insurmountable
differences in temperament and policy between the two groups hoped
that a new truly national organization would unite the two factions.
Even Mary Livermore, who had been active in the formation of the
National Woman Suffrage Association, was by this time responding to
overtures from the Boston group, writing William Lloyd Garrison, "I
have been repelled by some of the idiosyncrasies of our New York
friends, as have others. Their opposition to the Fifteenth Amendment,
the buffoonery of George F. Train, the loose utterances of the
_Revolution_ on the marriage and dress questions--and what is equally
potent hindrance to the cause, the fearful squandering of money at
the New York headquarters--all this has tended to keep me on my own
feet, apart from those to whom I was at first attracted.... I am glad
at the prospect of an association that will be truly national and
which promises so much of success and character."[242]

Neither Susan nor Mrs. Stanton received a notice of the Cleveland
convention, but Susan, scanning a copy of the call sent her by a
solicitous friend, was deeply disturbed when she saw the signatures of
Lydia Mott, Amelia Bloomer, Myra Bradwell, Gerrit Smith, and other
good friends.

The New York _World_, at once suspecting a feud, asked, "Where are
those well-known American names, Susan B. Anthony, Parker Pillsbury,
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton? It is clear that there is a division in
the ranks of the strong-minded and that an effort is being made to
ostracize _The Revolution_ which has so long upheld the cause of
Suffrage, through evil report and good...."[243]

The Rochester _Democrat_, loyal to Susan, put this question, "Can it
be possible that a National Woman's Suffrage Convention is called
without Susan's knowledge or consent?... A National Woman's Suffrage
Association without speeches from Susan B. Anthony and Mrs. Stanton
will be a new order of things. The idea seems absurd."[244]

To Susan it also seemed both absurd and unrealistic, for she
remembered how almost single-handed she had held together and built up
the woman suffrage movement during the years when her colleagues had
been busy with family duties. She was appalled at the prospect of a
division in the ranks at this time when she believed victory possible
through the action of a strong united front.

Confident that many who signed the call were ignorant of or blind to
the animus behind it, she did her best to bring the facts before them.
She put the blame for the rift entirely upon Lucy Stone, believing
that without Lucy's continual stirring up, past differences in policy
would soon have been forgotten. The antagonism between the two burned
fiercely at this time. Susan was determined to fight to the last ditch
for control of the movement, convinced that her policies and Mrs.
Stanton's were forward-looking, unafraid, and always put women first.

Susan now also had to face the humiliating possibility that she might
be forced to give up _The Revolution_. Not only was the operating
deficit piling up alarmingly, but there were persistent rumors of a
competitor, another woman suffrage paper to be edited by Lucy Stone
and Julia Ward Howe.

Susan had assumed full financial responsibility for _The Revolution_
because Mrs. Stanton and Parker Pillsbury, both with families to
consider, felt unable to share this burden. Mrs. Stanton had always
contributed her services and Parker Pillsbury had been sadly
underpaid, while Susan had drawn out for her salary only the most
meager sums for bare living expenses.

With a maximum of 3,000 subscribers, the paper could not hope to pay
its way even though she had secured a remarkably loyal group of
advertisers.[245] Reluctantly she raised the subscription price from
$2 to $3 a year. Her friends and family were generous with gifts and
loans, but these only met the pressing needs of the moment and in no
way solved the overall financial problem of the paper.

Appealing once again to her wealthy and generous Quaker cousin, Anson
Lapham, she wrote him in desperation, "My paper must not, shall not go
down. I am sure you believe in me, in my honesty of purpose, and also
in the grand work which _The Revolution_ seeks to do, and therefore
you will not allow me to ask you in vain to come to the rescue.
Yesterday's mail brought 43 subscribers from Illinois and 20 from
California. We only need time to win financial success. I know you
will save me from giving the world a chance to say, 'There is a
woman's rights failure; even the best of women can't manage business!'
If only I could die, and thereby fail honorably, I would say, 'Amen,'
but to live and fail--it would be too terrible to bear."[246] He came
to her aid as he always had in the past.

Susan's sister Mary not only lent her all her savings, but spent her
summer vacation in New York in 1869, working in _The Revolution_
office while Susan, busy with woman suffrage conventions in Newport,
Saratoga, Chicago, and Ohio, was building up good will and
subscriptions for her paper. Concerned for her welfare, Mary
repeatedly but unsuccessfully urged her to give up. Daniel added his
entreaties to Mary's, begging Susan not to go further into debt, but
to form a stock company if she were determined to continue her paper.
She considered his advice very seriously for he was a practical
businessman and yet appreciated what she was trying to do. For a time
the formation of a stock company seemed possible, for the project
appealed to three women of means, Paulina Wright Davis, Isabella
Beecher Hooker, and Laura Curtis Bullard, but it never materialized.

* * * * *

With the financial problem of _The Revolution_ still unsolved, Susan
decided to make her appearance at Lucy Stone's convention in
Cleveland, Ohio, on November 24, 1869. Not only did she want to see
with her own eyes and hear with her own ears all that went on, but she
was determined to walk the second mile with Lucy and her supporters,
or even to turn the other cheek, if need be, for the sake of her
beloved cause.

Seeing her in the audience, Judge Bradwell of Chicago moved that she
be invited to sit on the platform, but Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who
was presiding, replied that he thought this unnecessary as a special
invitation had already been extended to all desiring to identify
themselves with the movement. Judge Bradwell would not be put off, his
motion was carried, and as Susan walked up to the platform to join the
other notables, she was greeted with hearty applause. Sitting there
among her critics, she wondered what she could possibly say to
persuade them to forget their differences for the sake of the cause.
After listening to Lucy Stone plead for renewed work for woman
suffrage and for petitions for a Sixteenth Amendment, she
spontaneously rose to her feet and asked permission to speak. "I
hope," she began, "that the work of this association, if it be
organized, will be to go in strong array up to the Capitol at
Washington to demand a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The
question of the admission of women to the ballot would not then be
left to the mass of voters in every State, but would be submitted by
Congress to the several legislatures of the States for ratification,
and ... be decided by the most intelligent portion of the people. If
the question is left to the vote of the rank and file, it will be put
off for years.[247]

"So help me, Heaven!" she continued with emotion. "I care not what may
come out of this Convention, so that this great cause shall go
forward to its consummation! And though this Convention by its action
shall nullify the National Association of which I am a member, and
though it shall tread its heel upon _The Revolution_, to carry on
which I have struggled as never mortal woman or mortal man struggled
for any cause ... still, if you will do the work in Washington so that
this Amendment will be proposed, and will go with me to the several
Legislatures and _compel_ them to adopt it, I will thank God for this
Convention as long as I have the breath of life."

Loud and continuous applause greeted these earnest words. However,
instead of pledging themselves to work for a Sixteenth Amendment, the
newly formed American Woman Suffrage Association, blind to the
exceptional opportunity at this time for Congressional action on woman
suffrage, decided to concentrate on work in the states where suffrage
bills were pending. Instead of electing an outstanding woman as
president, they chose Henry Ward Beecher, boasting that this was proof
of their genuine belief in equal rights. Lucy Stone headed the
executive committee.

Divisions soon began developing among the suffragists in the field.
Many whose one thought previously had been the cause now spent time
weighing the differences between the two organizations and between
personalities, and antagonisms increased.

Hardest of all for Susan to bear was the definite announcement of a
rival paper, the _Woman's Journal_, to be issued in Boston in January
1870 under the editorship of Lucy Stone, Mary A. Livermore, and Julia
Ward Howe, with Henry Blackwell as business manager. Mary Livermore,
who previously had planned to merge her paper, the _Agitator_, with
_The Revolution_ now merged it with the _Woman's Journal_. Financed by
wealthy stockholders, all influential Republicans, the _Journal_,
Susan knew, would be spared the financial struggles of _The
Revolution_, but would be obliged to conform to Republican policy in
its support of woman's rights. Had not the _Woman's Journal_ been such
an obvious affront to the heroic efforts of _The Revolution_ and a
threat to its very existence, she could have rejoiced with Lucy over
one more paper carrying the message of woman suffrage.

More determined than ever to continue _The Revolution_, Susan
redoubled her efforts, announcing an imposing list of contributors
for 1870, including the British feminist, Lydia Becker, and as a
special attraction, a serial by Alice Cary. Through the efforts of
Mrs. Hooker, Harriet Beecher Stowe was persuaded to consider serving
as contributing editor provided the paper's name was changed to _The
True Republic_ or to some other name satisfactory to her.[248]

Having struggled against the odds for so long, Susan had no intention
of being stifled now by Mrs. Stowe's more conservative views, nor
would she give her crusading sheet an innocuous name. However, the
decision was taken out of her hands by _The Revolution's_ coverage of
the sensational McFarland-Richardson murder case, which so shocked
both Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Stowe that they gave up all thought of being
associated in a publishing venture with Susan or Mrs. Stanton.

The whole country was stirred in December 1869 by the fatal shooting
in the _Tribune_ office of the well-known journalist, Albert D.
Richardson, by Daniel McFarland, to whose divorced wife Richardson had
been attentive. When just before his death, Richardson was married to
the divorced Mrs. McFarland by Henry Ward Beecher with Horace Greeley
as a witness, the press was agog. So strong was the feeling against a
divorced woman that Henry Ward Beecher was severely condemned for
officiating at the marriage, and Mrs. Richardson was played up in the
press and in court as the villain, although her divorce had been
granted because of the brutality and instability of McFarland.

Indignant at the sophistry of the press and the general acceptance of
a double standard of morals, _The Revolution_ not only spoke out
fearlessly in defense of Mrs. Richardson but in an editorial by Mrs.
Stanton frankly analyzed the tragic human relations so obvious in the
case. With Susan's full approval, Mrs. Stanton wrote, "I rejoice over
every slave that escapes from a discordant marriage. With the
education and elevation of women we shall have a mighty sundering of
the unholy ties that hold men and women together who loathe and
despise each other...."[249] When the court acquitted McFarland,
giving him the custody of his twelve-year-old son, Susan called a
protest meeting which attracted an audience of two thousand.

Such words and such activities disturbed many who sympathized with
Mrs. Richardson but saw no reason for flaunting exultant approval of
divorce in a woman suffrage paper, and they turned to the _Woman's
Journal_ as more to their taste.

Susan, however, reading the first number of the _Woman's Journal_,
found its editorials lacking fire. She rebelled at Julia Ward Howe's
counsel, "to lay down all partisan warfare and organize a peaceful
Grand Army of the Republic of Women ... not ... as against men, but as
against all that is pernicious to men and women."[250] Susan's fight
had never been against men but against man-made laws that held women
in bondage. There had always been men willing to help her. Experience
had taught her that the struggle for woman's rights was no peaceful
academic debate, but real warfare which demanded political strategy,
self-sacrifice, and unremitting labor. She was prouder than ever of
her _Revolution_ and its liberal hard-hitting policy.

* * * * *

Convinced that the National Woman Suffrage Association must publicize
its existence and its value, Susan began the year 1870 with a
convention in Washington which even Senator Sumner praised as
exceeding in interest anything he had ever witnessed there. Its
striking demonstration of the vitality and intelligence of the
National Association was the best answer she could possibly have given
to the accusations and criticism aimed at her and her organization.

Jessie Benton Fremont, watching the delegates enter the dining room of
the Arlington Hotel, called Susan over to her table and said with a
twinkle in her eyes, "Now, tell me, Miss Anthony, have you hunted the
country over and picked out and brought to Washington a score of the
most beautiful women you could find?"[251]

They were a fine-looking and intelligent lot--Paulina Wright Davis,
Isabella Beecher Hooker, Josephine Griffin of the Freedman's Bureau,
Charlotte Wilbour, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Martha C. Wright, and Olympia
Brown; Phoebe Couzins and Virginia Minor from Missouri, Madam Anneke
from Wisconsin, and best of all to Susan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Their presence, their friendship and allegiance were a source of great
pride and joy. Elizabeth Stanton had come from St. Louis, interrupting
her successful lecture tour, when she much preferred to stay away from
all conventions. She had written Susan, "Of course, I stand by you to
the end. I would not see you crushed by rivals even if to prevent it
required my being cut into inch bits.... No power in heaven, hell or
earth can separate us, for our hearts are eternally wedded
together."[252]

Also at this convention to show his support of Susan and her program,
was her faithful friend of many years, the Rev. Samuel J. May of
Syracuse. Clara Barton, ill and unable to attend, sent a letter to be
read, an appeal to her soldier friends for woman suffrage.

Not only did the large and enthusiastic audiences show a growing
interest in votes for women, but two great victories for women in
1869, one in Great Britain and the other in the United States, brought
to the convention a feeling of confidence. Women taxpayers had been
granted the right to vote in municipal elections in England, Scotland,
and Wales, through the efforts of Jacob Bright. In the Territory of
Wyoming, during the first session of its legislature, women had been
granted the right to vote, to hold office, and serve on juries, and
married women had been given the right to their separate property and
their earnings. This progressive action by men of the West turned
Susan's thoughts hopefully to the western territories, and early in
1870 when the Territory of Utah enfranchised its women, she had
further cause for rejoicing.

To celebrate these victories for which her twenty years' work for
women had blazed the trail, some of her friends held a reception for
her in New York at the Women's Bureau on her fiftieth birthday. She
was amazed at the friendly attention her birthday received in the
press. "Susan's Half Century," read a headline in the _Herald_. The
_World_ called her the Moses of her sex. "A Brave Old Maid," commented
the _Sun_. But it was to the _Tribune_ that she turned with special
interest, always hoping for a word of approval from Horace Greeley and
finding at last this faint ray of praise: "Careful readers of the
_Tribune_ have probably succeeded in discovering that we have not
always been able to applaud the course of Miss Susan B. Anthony.
Indeed, we have often felt, and sometimes said that her methods were
as unwise as we thought her aims undesirable. But through these years
of disputation and struggling. Miss Anthony has thoroughly impressed
friends and enemies alike with the sincerity and earnestness of her
purpose...."[253]

To Anna E. Dickinson, far away lecturing, Susan confided, "Oh, Anna, I
am so glad of it all because it will teach the young girls that to be
true to principle--to live an idea, though an unpopular one--that to
live single--without any man's name--may be honorable."[254]

A few of Susan's younger colleagues still insisted that a merger of
the National and American Woman Suffrage Associations might be
possible. Again Theodore Tilton undertook the task of mediation and
Lucretia Mott, who had retired from active participation in the
woman's rights movement, tried to help work out a reconciliation.
Susan was skeptical but gave them her blessing. Representatives of the
American Association, however, again made it plain that they were
unwilling to work with Susan and Mrs. Stanton.[255]

By this time _The Revolution_ had become an overwhelming financial
burden. For some months Mrs. Stanton had been urging Susan to give it
up and turn to the lecture field, as she had done, to spread the
message of woman's rights. Susan hesitated, unwilling to give up _The
Revolution_ and not yet confident that she could hold the attention of
an audience for a whole evening. However, she found herself a great
success when pushed into several Lyceum lecture engagements in
Pennsylvania by Mrs. Stanton's sudden illness. "Miss Anthony evidently
lectures not for the purpose of receiving applause," commented the
Pittsburgh _Commercial_, "but for the purpose of making people
understand and be convinced. She takes her place on the stage in a
plain and unassuming manner and speaks extemporaneously and fluently,
too, reminding one of an old campaign speaker, who is accustomed to
talk simply for the purpose of converting his audience to his
political theories. She used plain English and plenty of it.... She
clearly evinced a quality that many politicians lack--sincerity."[256]

For each of these lectures on "Work, Wages, and the Ballot," she
received a fee of $75 and was able as well to get new subscribers for
_The Revolution_. She now saw the possibilities for herself and the
cause in a Lyceum tour, and when the Lyceum Bureau, pleased with her
reception in Pennsylvania wanted to book her for lectures in the West,
she accepted, calling Parker Pillsbury back to _The_ _Revolution_ to
take charge. All through Illinois she drew large audiences and her
fees increased to $95, $125, and $150. In two months she was able to
pay $1,300 of _The Revolution's_ debt.

When she returned to New York, she realized that she could not
continue to carry _The Revolution_ alone, in spite of increased
subscriptions. Its $10,000 debt weighed heavily upon her. Parker
Pillsbury's help could only be temporary; Mrs. Stanton's strenuous
lecture tour left her little time to give to the paper; and Susan's
own friends and family were unable to finance it further.

Fortunately the idea of editing a paper appealed strongly to the
wealthy Laura Curtis Bullard, who had the promise of editorial help
from Theodore Tilton. Susan now turned the paper over to them
completely, receiving nothing in return but shares of stock, while she
assumed the entire indebtedness.

Giving up the control of her beloved paper was one of the most
humiliating experiences and one of the deepest sorrows she ever faced.
_The Revolution_ had become to her the symbol of her crusade for
women. Overwhelmed by a sense of failure, she confided to her diary on
the date of the transfer, "It was like signing my own death warrant,"
and to a friend she wrote, "I feel a great, calm sadness like that of
a mother binding out a dear child that she could not support."[257]

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