An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting, at the Presidential Election in Nov., 1872, and on the Trial of Beverly W. Jones, Edwin T. Marsh, and William B. Hall, the Inspectors of Election by Whom Her Vote Was Received.

In November 1872, Susan B. Anthony walked into a polling station in Rochester, New York, and cast a ballot for Ulysses S. Grant. She knew it was illegal. She did it anyway. This is the complete transcript of her trial, and the subsequent trials of the election inspectors who accepted her vote, capturing a watershed moment when one woman forced the nation to confront what it meant to be a citizen. Anthony argued brilliantly that the newly ratified Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed citizenship and equal protection, implicitly granted her the right to vote. The prosecution countered that the law was the law, regardless of intent or constitutional interpretation. The judge notably refused to let the jury deliberate, directing a guilty verdict instead. Beyond the legal maneuvering, this transcript preserves Anthony's defiant courtroom speech, the testimony of election officials, and the raw texture of a society wrestling with the question of who belongs in a democracy. For anyone interested in how rights are won, not granted, this document remains electrifying.