On Tuesday, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of 19th Amendment, President Trump announced that he will be posthumously pardoning Susan B. Anthony, the women’s suffragette arrested for voting in 1872 in violation of laws permitting only men to vote at the time in Rochester, New York.
“She was never pardoned,” Trump said, turning to speak directly to female leaders who had gathered behind him. “What took so long?”
“She was guilty for voting. And we are going to be signing a full and complete pardon. And I think that’s really fantastic,” Trump said. “She deserves it.” First Lady Melania Trump stood by Trump’s side as he signed the pardon.
“When women won the right to vote in 1920 after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, Anthony had been dead for over a decade. But her crucial contributions to the early days of the suffrage movement are hailed with paving the way for the expansion of the right to vote,” Politico reports.
Pro-life group named after Susan B. Antony, Susan B. Anthony List, wrote on Tiwtter, “Thank you President Trump for signing a pardon for our namesake, Susan B. Anthony, for the “crime” of voting. We’re honored to be named after Susan B. Anthony, a trailblazing #ProLife suffragist.”