"When Clowns Make Laws for Queens, 1880 to 1887 is the fourth of six planned volumes of The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The entire collection documents the friendship and accomplishments of two of America's most important social and political reformers.
At the opening of the fourth volume, suffragists hoped to speed passage of a sixteenth amendment to the Constitution through the creation of Select Committees on Woman Suffrage in Congress. Congress did not vote on the amendment until January 1887. Then, in a matter of a week, suffragists were dealt two major blows: the Senate defeated the amendment and the Senate and House reached agreement on the Edmunds-Tucker Act, disenfranchising all women in the Territory of Utah.
As evidenced in this volume's selection of letters, articles, speeches, and diary entries, these were years of frustration. Suffragists not only lost federal and state campaigns for partial and full voting rights, but also endured an invigorated opposition. In spite of these challenges, Stanton and Anthony continued to pursue their life's work. In 1880 both women retired from lecturing to devote attention to their monumental History of Woman Suffrage. They also opened a new transatlantic dialogue about woman's rights during a trip to Europe in 1883.
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"In this rich and important collection, Ann Gordon applies a scholar's integrity, a woman's sensitivity, and a personal curiosity to the works that define these cherished foremothers. Thanks to her extraordinary work, we now have a full and accessible record for future readers and writers of our history."

"This volume, masterfully edited by Ann D. Gordon, lays bare some of the most dramaticÙand most painfulÙyears in the struggle for woman rights. It also brings to vivid life two of the most important Americans of the nineteenth century. No one seriously interested in our common history should be without it."

"This is one of the great historical projects of our generation. Long after current narratives, biographies, and monographs have faded into the realm of the 'old-fashioned,' the forthright voices of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony will still ring clear. Ann Gordon and the insightful editors guide us through the politics and society in which these remarkable leaders flourished. These volumes are a compelling read, and indispensable to an understanding of modern democracy."

"I would encourage everyone interested in nineteenth-century politics to buy these books. The materials selected for inclusion-letters, diary entries, speeches, articles-provide a window on the debates that were crucial to the formation of American political culture before, during, and after the Civil War. Presented chronologically, introduced with editorial headings, and superbly annotated, each document stands on its own, and together they tell many stories."