For her, failure was impossible

Harry Scherer
Class of 2022

(8/2020) For the past century, our nation’s Constitution has been amended to prohibit federal and state governments from denying women the right to vote. This permanent addition to our founding document serves as a memorial of one of our most successful and courageous social reformers.

Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts in the winter of 1820. Raised in a conservative Quaker household, Anthony and her family contributed to the abolitionist movement and offered their home in Rochester, New York as a meeting place for anti-slavery activists like Frederick Douglass.

Early on in her life, she observed the precious fruits that can come from a solid education. In 1857, she called for the education of blacks and women at the New York State Teachers’ Convention. She relied on her formative education throughout her life to study the topics that were relevant to her activism; in 1881, for example, she published the first volume of the History of Woman Suffrage. Anthony always relied on history to better understand the present and to craft the content of history for the future.

Once the crusade for the abolition of slavery was technically accomplished, Anthony shifted her social focus to the issue of women’s rights. In 1863, she wrote "Appeal to the Women of the Republic" along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the friend with whom Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association. Six years later, she organized the first Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington, D.C. While dealing with seemingly constant legal struggles because of her activism, Anthony produced a template for petitions that were distributed throughout the 1870s and 1880s calling for universal suffrage.

The body of the petition read: "The right of suffrage in the United States shall be based on citizenship, and the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state on account of sex, or for any reason not equally applicable to all citizens of the United States. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." Under this bold statement, men signed their names on the left side of the document and women signed the right side. This was a method employed by Anthony to ensure that all members of her movement were assured of the support of both men and women for their noble effort. In addition, this method proved that at least some persons who were already legally eligible to vote were willing to publicize their support for universal suffrage.

In 1905, Anthony met with President Theodore Roosevelt about a universal suffrage amendment to the Constitution. She died a year later in her Rochester home and the amendment for which she fought was finally ratified in 1920.

Three attributes of Susan B. Anthony are worth noting. First, her zealous activism was not motivated by an interest in personal gain or the fulfillment of a radical ideology. On the contrary, Anthony was emboldened by her Christian recognition that every human person is made in the image and likeness of God and that any government policy that does not accept this identity works against individual creativity and should be altered. Anthony’s goals were clearly and peacefully offered; she sought structural refinement, not structural demolition. Unlike many activists that we encounter today, her social reform was brought to completion when she saw the accomplishment of her goals.

Secondly, her activism was consistent. A pro-life organization bears her name today because she understood that all human life is both a subject and object of love. About abortion, Anthony said, "sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them." Her respect and admiration of women and motherhood cannot be overstated; one political poster publicized during Anthony’s time said, "Women bring all Voters into the world…Let Women Vote." Susan B. Anthony had a great love for preborn children because she had a great love for the women who carried them. This intellectual consistency and devotion to truth certainly serves as a reason for her political success.

Thirdly, her social power was clarified through her rhetorical ability. On the year that she died, she delivered a speech at her 86th birthday celebration. During her remarks, she said, "There have been others also just as true and devoted to the cause — I wish I could name everyone — but with such women consecrating their lives, failure is impossible!" In what came to be known as the "failure is impossible" speech, Anthony encouraged women and men around the country to recognize their rights as human persons and as Americans. At the same time, she required a simultaneous responsibility that could not be avoided in light of her radical demands. As a pragmatic woman, she knew that the success of her movement would only come about through clear speech and transparent motives. In order to inspire this clarity and transparency, Anthony was as honest with her supporters as she could be. While she identified the obvious areas in which her nation was struggling and failing her citizens, she also demanded high standards for the women who would ultimately reach the political success that she viewed as ultimately inevitable. She knew that rights without responsibilities are meaningless clichés, unimportant statements that dare to be altered by a charismatic malefactor.

Anthony’s work was a refreshing response to Benjamin Franklin’s warning that America is "a republic, if you can keep it." Her love for America and her citizens motivated her to sacrifice her personal goals in light of potentially national growth. As a diligent reformer, she recognized that the successes of the country in which she was born must have proved that there was something in her nation for which to fight. She saw this battle as an unfortunate but necessary one and it is for her selfless and patriotic service that we should all be grateful.

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