The National Susan B. Anthony Museum has issued a statement saying thanks but no thanks to President Donald Trump who pardoned the late suffragist leader this week for her 1872 conviction for voting, which was illegal for women to do then.
On Tuesday Trump pardoned Anthony during a ceremony at the White House, saying, “She was never pardoned! Did you know that she was never pardoned? What took so long?”
The museum issued a statement rejecting the pardon later the same day.
“Objection! Mr. President, Susan B. Anthony must decline your offer of a pardon,” wrote Deborah L. Hughes, who is executive director of the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester, N.Y.
Trump timed his exoneration to coincide with 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.
According to a report by National Public Radio, Anthony always maintained she did nothing wrong by casting a vote, and some historians argue that she would have rejected a pardon for that reason alone.
“Anthony wrote in her diary in 1873 that her trial for voting was ‘The greatest outrage History ever witnessed.’ She was not allowed to speak as a witness in her own defense, because she was a woman,” Hughes continued in her written statement. “At the conclusion of arguments, Judge Hunt dismissed the jury and pronounced her guilty. She was outraged to be denied a trial by jury. She proclaimed, ‘I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.’ To pay would have been to validate the proceedings. To pardon Susan B. Anthony does the same.”
Susan B. Anthony’s 200th birthday was celebrated earlier this year on Feb. 15.
She died in 1906.
A bill to distinguish her birthday as a national holiday entered Congress in 2011. Currently, the states that recognize Susan B. Anthony Day are Wisconsin, Florida, West Virginia, California and New York.
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.
A day before signing the order, Trump teased reporters Monday night during a Midwest campaign swing that he was going to pardon “very, very important” the next day.
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