WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will pardon Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, who was arrested for voting in 1872 in violation of laws permitting only men to vote.
Anthony is best known for her role in the movement to secure voting rights for women, but she was also a strong anti-slavery advocate urging emancipation. She was a publisher, author and toured the nation with speaking engagements.
Trump said he would sign “a full and complete pardon” later Tuesday, the 100-year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which ensured women the right to vote. It’s also known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment.
FILE – In this September 1916 file photo, demonstrators hold a rally for women’s suffrage in New York. The Seneca Falls convention in 1848 is widely viewed as the launch of the women’s suffrage movement, yet women didn’t gain the right to vote until ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. (AP Photo/File) 
In this circa 1911 photo made available by the Library of Congress, men look at materials posted in the window of the National Anti-Suffrage Association headquarters in the United States. (Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress via AP) 
In this circa 1913 photo made available by the Library of Congress, demonstrators march in a women’s suffrage parade near the Capitol building in Washington. A horse and cart pulls a sign which reads, “We demand an amendment to the constitution of the United States enfranchising the women of this country.” (Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress via AP)
Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action.
The 19th Amendment states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Congress passed it in 1919, and the amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920.
Visiting Anthony’s grave site in Rochester on Election Day has become a popular ritual in recent years. In 2018, voters showed up by the dozens to put their “I Voted” stickers on her headstone.