How Susan upstaged the Declaration of Independence

Susan B. Anthony upstaged the reading of the Declaration of Independence when the U.S. celebrated its centennial in 1876. Her brother, Daniel Read Anthony, helped her accomplish this dramatic act that set Philadelphia buzzing.

Long before plans were finalized for the U.S. Centennial in July 1876, suffragists requested permission to present a women’s Declaration of Rights at the celebration. First, they were stonewalled. After they asked repeatedly, they received a blatant refusal. Indignant, they devised another way to receive recognition for women’s achievements. Here’s what they did.

Preparing to upstage the Declaration

In May, the National Woman Suffrage Association established Centennial Headquarters in Philadelphia. That began their preparations by drafting and printing thousands of copies of a handsomely embossed document called the “Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States.”

Susan’s brother Daniel, who owned a newspaper in Leavenworth, Kansas, obtained for her a press pass. That allowed her to observe the proceedings but not contribute her ideas, a fate common to many early reformers. Thus, she and four friends received a close-up view of the Fourth of July proceedings from among foreign dignitaries on the stage. Just after the reading of the nation’s Declaration of Independence, Susan and her cohort startled presider Vice-President Thomas Ferry by rising and presenting him with their own Declaration.

The moment before Susan B. Anthony upstaged the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1876. (Library of Congress)

A new declaration

As Ferry watched, dumbfounded, Susan read the document aloud to “a listening, applauding crowd.” Then the women descended the stage and began distributing their documents into the eager hands of the audience, eventually proceeding to an empty platform nearby. There, they again scattered many printed copies. An hour later, they convened their own gathering where an expectant audience waited to thank them for what they had just done.

Other sources document the presence of Daniel and Annie Anthony at the centennial celebration that July. Can you imagine them holding their breaths as they watched Susan’s daring act? And how they must have cheered the onlookers’ enthusiastic reception of her revolutionary document!

Daniel’s donation of the press pass to Susan may have cost him some approval from fellow journalists. However, he seldom deviated from what he deemed to be right. In this trait, he and Susan were of the same mind. Thus, his small act of support that July helped to insert the “Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States” into the official record of our national Centennial celebration.

Sources:

Today in Feminist History: Suffragists Protest on Independence Day – Ms. Magazine (msmagazine.com)

Kathleen Barry, Susan B. Anthony, a Biography. New York: New York University Press, 1988 p. 269

Jeanne Gehret, Susan B. Anthony and Justice for All, Suffrage Centennial Edition 2017. Fairport, NY: Verbal Images Press, 2017. Contains a beautiful illustration of this event.

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