Story of the Fourth of July co-conspirators

Do you know the story of the five co-conspirators who crashed a national Fourth of July centennial celebration?If not, you aren’t alone.

Picture the scene: July 4, 1876. Philadelphia, PA. A national celebration with visitors from all over the world.
The platform’s filled with dignitaries, but the co-conspirators waited until after the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

At this very moment Susan B. Anthony was ready to make a move along with Matilda Joslyn Gage, Sara Andrews Spencer, Lillie Devereau Blake, and Phoebe W. Couzins.

Anthony marched up to the platform filled with centennial officials. She formally presented the Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States, an update on the declaration from back in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York.

THE MESSAGE: that the nation must not turn its back on the Unfinished American Revolution by denying women equality and the right to vote.

After delivering the proclamation, Anthony and others distributed copies to the crowd and left the centennial hall. THE RESULT: Pandemonium. General Howley, chairman, shouted for order to be restored.

THE OUTCOME: Suffrage activists held their own independence celebration in Philadelphia.

AUDIO ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED on July 4, 1876 at the Fourth of July national centennial, as told by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her memoir, Eighty Years and More. Read by Amelia Bowen for Suffrage Wagon News Channel.

NOW, LET’S FIRE UP THE BARBEQUE GRILL in 2015 and have some fun!
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