#4
09.
(1) Today we take it for granted that women have as much right to vote as men have. Women may keep what they earn. Whether married or single, they may own property. It is taken for granted that a woman may go to college and work any business or profession she may choose. But these rights, enjoyed by the women of today, were secured through the valiant effort of many fighters for women's freedom, and first of all by the great Susan B. Anthony.
(2) About a hundred years ago American women could earn money, but they were not allowed to own it. If a woman was married and went to work, every penny she earned became the property of her husband. He was considered complete master of the household. His wife was considered a nitwit unable to think clearly, and therefore the law mercifully protected her by appointing a guardiamーa male guardian, of courseーover any property she was lucky enough to possess.
(3) Women like Susan Anthony were furious at this injustice. Susan saw no reason why women should be treated that way.
(4) On Election Day in 1872, fifteen women including Susan gathered at a store. front. "I've come here to vote for the President of the United States," she said. He will be my President as well as yours. We the women who bear the children who will defend this country. We are women who make your homes, who cook your meals, who rear your sons and daughters. We women are citizens this country just as much as you are, and we insist on voting for the man who is to be our leader."
(5) Her words orang out with the clearness of a bell, and they struck to the heart. And then, in silence and dignity, Susan strode up to the ballot box and dropped into it the paper bearing her vote. Each of the other fourteen women did the same.
(5) On that important day in 1872, Susan B. Anthony and her faithful followers symbolically cast their first ballots for the President of the United States. She was America's greatest champion of women's rights.