Susan B. Anthony, Defendant

Testing the "New Departure" strategy, numerous women attempted to vote in 1872, notably Susan B. Anthony in New York and Virginia Minor in Missouri—bringing national attention to a grassroots campaign started four years earlier when 200 women descended on the polls in Vineland, New Jersey, and countless others elsewhere. As intended, Anthony was arrested and stood trial. The judge discharged the jury, summarily found her guilty, levied a $100 fine, and then mistakenly asked if she had anything to say—all recorded and later published in book form.