the Oneida County History center
Utica’s Ward Hunt and his Clash with Susan B. Anthony By Lou Parrotta
Susan B. Anthony was arrested on November 18, 1872 for voting
City of Utica Historian & History Center Volunteer
The City of Utica has had many prominent politicians and connections to key events in American history throughout its nearly 200-year existence. A fine example of this occurred in the late 1800s during the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Former Utican and sitting United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ward Hunt clashed with, arguably, the face of the women’s right to vote effort, Susan B. Anthony in 1873. Hunt was also a former mayor, state assemblyman, and Commissioner of Appeals in New York State. Ward Hunt was a close ally of powerful United States Senator Roscoe Conkling, a fellow Utican, and without question, the leader of the Republican Party in New York State. Senator Conkling was also a close friend and confidant of President Ulysses S. Grant. Associate Justice Samuel Nelson resigned his seat in 1872, and Senator Conkling recommended Hunt to President Grant as a replacement. Grant concurred, nominated Hunt, and the United States Senate confirmed him to the bench on December 11, 1872. In that era of United States jurisprudence, Supreme Court Justices were required to “ride the circuit” to hear cases. Each Justice was assigned an area (circuit) in which to hear cases. It was on one of these circuit rides that Justice Hunt crossed paths with suffragist Susan B. Anthony. On November 1, 1872, in a barbershop in Rochester, New York, Anthony and her three sisters demanded to be allowed to register to vote under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution that guaranteed citizenship and the rights afforded to such citizens, and through an article of the New York
Utica Republican Ward Hunt crossed paths with Susan B. Anthony on his circuit ride
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