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The town of Orange, New Jersey sent Lucy Stone a tax bill in 1857. She replied with a note that began:
"Enclosed I return my tax bill, without paying it. My reason for doing so is that women suffer taxation, and yet have no representation...
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"Enclosed I return my tax bill, without paying it. My reason for doing so is that women suffer taxation, and yet have no representation...
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"...which is not only unjust to one-half the adult population, but is contrary to our theory of government."
She promised that when women had equal suffrage, “Then shall we cheerfully pay our taxes—not till then.”
The town responded by entering Stone’s house in January 1858
She promised that when women had equal suffrage, “Then shall we cheerfully pay our taxes—not till then.”
The town responded by entering Stone’s house in January 1858
and seizing household goods to satisfy her debt. They took a table and chairs, and engraved portraits of two of the most famous abolitionists in the US, William Lloyd Garrison and Salmon P. Chase.
Perhaps these
made in 1855 by Leopold Grozelier. Via @SmithsonianNPG
Perhaps these
made in 1855 by Leopold Grozelier. Via @SmithsonianNPG
According to Linda Kerber, Stone’s friend Thomas Wentworth Higginson teased her: “The selection of these portraits will be so melodramatic for your biography that I suspect you of having bribed the sheriff to seize them.”
#suffrage100
#suffrage100
