June 18, 1873: Susan B. Anthony is fined for voting in the 1872 presidential election

Wednesday 18 June 2008

After her arrest for voting the previous year, civil-rights proponent Susan B. Anthony was sentenced to pay a $100 fine June 18, 1873, for casting a vote in the 1872 presidential election in Rochester, N.Y. She had pleaded not guilty to her first arrest, contesting that the 14th Amendment provided her the right to vote, but Supreme Court Justice Ward Hunt ruled that she had broken the law and wrote the final ruling before the case had even begun.