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Historians say a pardon validates his alleged crime, against his will.
President Donald Trump faced mounting pressure on Wednesday to reverse his posthumous pardon to Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the women’s suffrage movement, as a number of Democrats and historians have argued that a Presidential pardon undermines Anthony’s wishes.
Anthony did not believe he had committed a crime by simply voting.
“It was brought up a week ago, and I was so surprised it had never been done before,” Trump said of a forgiveness for Anthony on Tuesday at a White House event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. “What took so long?”
Anthony has been charged with voting illegally – as a woman – in the 1872 presidential election in her hometown of Rochester, New York. She was ultimately tried by an all-male jury – which the judge ordered to find her guilty – and was fined $ 100, which she refused to pay.
“It will be my job this evening to prove to you that by voting in this way, I have not only committed no crime, but, on the contrary, I have simply exercised my right as a citizen, guaranteed to myself and to all citizens of the United States by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny, ”asserted Anthony in a speech at the time.
As Fox News animates Sean Hannity and others have criticized calls to quash Trump’s pardon, some experts say it is necessary to protect his legacy.
Deborah Hughes, president and CEO of the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester – whose organization was not notified in advance of the pardon – told ABC News on Wednesday that Anthony was quite familiar with the forgiveness process and “absolutely wouldn’t. wanted it for herself.”
“Anthony was very clear. She felt she had the right to vote as a citizen. She felt the trial was the biggest miscarriage of justice, as her lawyers did, and to forgive is validate the trial, ”said Hughes.
Historian Ann Gordon, former professor at Rutgers University and editor of “The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony,” expressed her disapproval of the forgiveness on Twitter and asked what action Trump could take the day after Women’s Equality Day on August. 26.
Elected officials are calling on Trump to reverse the pardon because, as Gordon argues, it is beyond Anthony’s wishes.
At a press conference outside the Susan B. Anthony Museum and Home on Tuesday, New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul underscored this notion, saying Anthony was “not guilty of anything.”
“I was deeply disturbed to learn that Trump went ahead and treated her like a criminal,” Hochul said. “She was proud of her arrest to draw attention to the cause of women’s rights and never paid her a fine. Let her rest in peace.”
After Hochul, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren agreed Anthony would not have wanted pardon and called on Trump to reverse his action.
Even Trump later on Tuesday appeared to admit that Anthony may not have wanted a pardon, noting that she had obtained pardons for the election inspectors who had helped her, but not herself.
“I actually asked the other day and they were talking about Susan B. Anthony, and she did it for other people and she didn’t want her included. She wasn’t included in forgiveness from many years ago, ”Trump said in Arizona. “It has been very, very popular.”
At least one House Democrat called out Trump for the token gesture that seemed to target, at least in part, female voters he plans to appear ahead of the election – as polls show people currently prefer the former deputy. President Joe Biden.
“Pathetic,” Representative Jackie Speier, D-California, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “Trump forgives a woman who has been deceased for over 100 years to show his commitment to women. Suburban women are not stupid. We are all insulted.”
Honor Anthony
Although Hughes agreed that Trump should consider rescinding the pardon, she said a better way to honor Anthony was to fight voter suppression and pass the Voting Rights Act.
“We would be much more interested in using this moment – or for the President to use this moment – to talk about voting rights and how people are still denied access to the ballot,” Hughes said. “Rather than putting our energy into asking the president to reverse his action, what if we instead called attention to voter suppression across the United States? That would probably be a better way to honor Anthony’s legacy. ”
She said it was “ironically ironic” that Anthony’s forgiveness comes amid Trump’s relentless, unproven claims of widespread fraud if there is a universal mail ballot in the November election. .
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