She was the second American woman to receive a PhD in philosophy, after May Gorslin Preston Slosson (1858–1943), and taught full-time at a university.

In 1889, Kies received her master's and in 1891, with a thesis on The Ethical Principle and Its Application in State Relations, she earned her PhD.

She spent the academic year 1892–93 in Leipzig and Zurich, until she took the position of high school director in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and finally taught philosophy at Butler University in Indiana from 1896 to 1899.

The second book was essentially a new version of the first, but with some important additions about school, family, jurisdiction and the role of the church in society.

She felt they should only have voting rights in areas that they believe directly affect them (e.g. education, public health and labor law).