Suffragist of the Month: Lucy Burns (1879–1966)

English Lessons
Studying in England, Burns joined the British movement for women’s suffrage and adopted the militant tactics of Emmeline Pankhurst. Arrested several times, she met Alice Paul in a London jail. They decided to bring bolder British tactics to the United States (but not violence). In England, Burns’ activities included interrupting speeches by major political figures, throwing rocks through windows, and attempting to break into a meeting through the ceiling. One English magistrate described her as “setting an extremely bad example.”

Academic Ambitions
Lucy Burns was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father was a banker who supported her educational ambitions. She graduated from Vassar College and studied at Yale, the Universities of Berlin and Bonn, and Oxford University

The Woman’s Party
Returning to the United States, Burns and Paul served on the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association working for a national suffrage amendment. Seeking more autonomy they changed the name to the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage before founding the National Woman’s Party in 1916 to engage in bolder protest.

Losing Control
Colonists suspected that Governor Bernard had financial incentives to support customs seizures. (He received a commission on them.) As the crisis deepened he privately recommended restrictions on self-government for Massachusetts. He proposed direct appointment of the Council (the legislature's upper house) and removal of local judges who did not enforce the law. He also suspended the House of Representative several times and convened it in Cambridge to avoid the influence of Boston radicals.