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i 


H  I  STO  RY 


OP 


WOMAN   SUFFRAGE 


EDITED   BT 


ELIZABETH    CADY    STANTON, 

SUSAN   B.  ANTHONY,   AND 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE. 


ILLUSTRATED   WITH   STEEL  ENGRAVINGS. 


THREE    VOLUMES. 


VOL.  III. 
1876-1885. 


'WOMEN  ARE  CITIZENS  OF  THE  VNITED  STATES,  ENTITLED  TO  ALL  THE  RIGHTS,  PRIVILEGES  AMD 
IMMUNITIES  GUARANTEED  TO  CITIZENS  BY  THE  NATIONAL  CONSTITUTION." 


SUSAN    B.    ANTHONY. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. :     CHARLES  MANN. 

LONDON  :    25  HENRIETTA  STREET,  COVENT  GARDEN. 

PARIS  :    G.  FISCHBACHER,  33  RVE  DE  SEINE. 

1887. 


Charles  Mann,  Printer, 

Rochester,  >•• 


PREFACE. 

\ 

THE  labors  of  those  who  have  edited  these  volumes  are 
not  only  finished  as  far  as  this  work  extends,  but  if  three- 
score  years  and  ten  be  the  usual  limit  of  human  life,  all 
our  earthly  endeavors  must  end  in  the  near  future.  After 
faithfully  collecting  material  for  several  years,  and  making  the 
best  selections  our  judgment  has  dictated,  we  are  painfully 
conscious  of  many  imperfections  the  critical  reader  will 
perceive.  But  since  stereotype  plates  will  not  reflect  our 
growing  sense  of  perfection,  the  lavish  praise  of  friends  as 
to  the  merits  of  these  pages  will  have  its  antidote  in  the 
defects  we  ourselves  discover.  We  may  however  without 
egotism  express  the  belief  that  this  volume  will  prove 
specially  interesting  in  having  a  large  number  of  contributors 
from  England,  France,  Canada  and  the  United  States,  giving 
personal  experiences  and  the  progress  of  legislation  in  their 
respective  localities. 

Into  younger  hands  we  must  soon  resign  our  work;  but 
as  long  as  health  and  vigor  remain,  we  hope  to  publish  a 
pamphlet  report  at  the  close  of  each  congressional  term, 
containing  whatever  may  be  accomplished  by  State  and 
National  legislation,  which  can  be  readily  bound  in  volumes 
similar  to  these,  thus  keeping  a  full  record  of  the  prolonged 
battle  until  the  final  victory  shall  be  achieved.  To  what 
extent  these  publications  may  be  multiplied  depends  on 
when  the  day  of  woman's  emancipation  shall  dawn. 

For  the  completion  of  this  work  we  are  indebted  to 
Eliza  Jackson  Eddy,  the  worthy  daughter  of  that  noble 


iv  Preface. 

philanthropist,  Francis  Jackson.  He  and  Charles  F.  Hovey 
are  the  only  men  who  have  ever  left  a  generous  bequest 
to  the  woman  suffrage  movement.  To  Mrs.  Eddy,  who 
bequeathed  to  our  cause  two-thirds  of  her  large  fortune, 
belong  all  honor  and  praise  as  the  first  woman  who  has 
given  alike  her  sympathy  and  her  wealth  to  this  momentous 
and  far-reaching  reform.  This  heralds  a  turn  in  the  tide  of 
benevolence,  when,  instead  of  building  churches  and  monu- 
ments to  great  men,  and  endowing  colleges  for  boys,  women 
will  make  the  education  and  enfranchisement  of  their  own 
sex  the  chief  object  of  their  lives. 

The  three  volumes  now  completed  we  leave  as  a  precious 
heritage  to  coming  generations ;  precious,  because  they  so 
clearly  illustrate — in  her  ability  to  reason,  her  deeds  of 
heroism  and  her  sublime  self-sacrifice — that  woman  pre- 
eminently possesses  the  three  essential  elements  of  sovereignty 
as  defined  by  Blackstone :  ''wisdom,  goodness  and  power." 
This  has  been  to  us  a  work  of  love,  written  without 
recompense  and  given  without  price  to  a  large  circle  of 
friends.  A  thousand  copies  have  thus  far  been  distributed 
among  our  coadjutors  in  the  old  world  and  the  new.  An- 
other thousand  have  found  an  honored  place  in  the  leading 
libraries,  colleges  and  universities  of  Europe  and  America, 
from  which  we  have  received  numerous  testimonies  of  their 
Value  as  a  standard  work  of  reference  for  those  who  are 
investigating  this  question.  Extracts  from  these  pages  are 
being  translated  into  every  living  language,  and,  like  so 
many  missionaries,  are  bearing  the  glad  gospel  of  woman's 
emancipation  to  all  civilized  nations. 

Since  the  inauguration  of  this  reform,  propositions  to  ex- 
tend the  right  of  suffrage  to  women  have  been  submitted 
to  the  popular  vote  in  Kansas,  Michigan,  Colorado,  Ne- 
braska and  Oregon,  and  lost  by  large  majorities  in  all ; 
while,  by  a  simple  act  of  legislature,  Wyoming,  Utah 
and  Washington  territories  have  enfranchised  their  women 
without  going  through  the  slow  process  of  a  constitutional 


Preface.  v 

amendment.  In  New  York,  the  State  that  has  led  this 
movement,  and  in  which  there  has  been  a  more  continued 
agitation  than  in  any  other,  we  are  now  pressing  on  the 
legislature  the  consideration  that  it  has  the  same  power  to 
extend  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women  that  it  has  so  often 
exercised  in  enfranchising  different  classes  of  men. 

Eminent  publicists  have  long  conceded  this  power  to  State 
legislatures  as  well  as  to  congress,  declaring  that  women  as 
citizens  of  the  United  States  have  the  right  to  vote,  and 
that  a  simple  enabling  act  is  all  that  is  needed.  The  con- 
stitutionality of  such  an  act  was  never  questioned  until  the 
legislative  power  was  invoked  for  the  enfranchisement  of 
women.  We  who  have  studied  our  republican  institutions 
and  understand  the  limits  of  the  executive,  judicial  and 
legislative  branches  of  the  government,  are  aware  that  the 
legislature,  directly  representing  the  people,  is  the  primary 
source  of  power,  above  all  courts  and  constitutions.  Re- 
search into  the  early  history  of  this  country  shows  that  in 
line  with  English  precedent,  women  did  vote  in  the  old 
colonial  days  and  in  the  original  thirteen  States  of  the 
Union.  Hence  we  are  fully  awake  to  the  fact  that  our 
struggle  is  not  for  the  attainment  of  a  new  right,  but  for 
the  restitution  of  one  our  fore-mothers  possessed  and  ex- 
ercised. 

All  thoughtful  readers  must  close  these  volumes  with  a 
deeper  sense  of  the  superior  dignity,  self-reliance  and  inde- 
pendence that  belong  by  nature  to  woman,  enabling  her  to 
rise  above  such  multifarious  persecutions  as  she  has  en- 
countered, and  with  persistent  self-assertion  to  maintain  her 
rights.  In  the  history  of  the  race  there  has  been  no 
struggle  for  liberty  like  this.  Whenever  the  interest  of  the 
ruling  classes  has  induced  them  to  confer  new  rights  on 
a  subject  class,  it  has  been  done  with  no  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  latter.  Neither  the  American  slave  nor  the 
English  laborer  demanded  the  right  of  suffrage.  It  was 
given  in  both  cases  to  strengthen  the  liberal  party.  The 


vi  Preface. 

philanthropy  of  the  few  may  have  entered  into  those  re- 
forms, but  political  expediency  carried  both  measures. 
Women,  on  the  contrary,  have  fought  their  own  battles ; 
and  in  their  rebellion  against  existing  conditions  have  in- 
augurated the  most  fundamental  revolution  the  world  has 
ever  witnessed.  The  magnitude  and  multiplicity  of  the 
changes  involved  make  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  success 
seem  almost  insurmountable. 

The  narrow  self-interest  of  all  classes  is  opposed  to  the 
sovereignty  of  woman.  The  rulers  in  the  State  are  not 
willing  to  share  their  power  with  a  class  equal  if  not 
superior  to  themselves,  over  which  they  could  never  hope 
for  absolute  control,  and  whose  methods  of  government 
might  in  many  respects  differ  from  their  own.  The  an- 
nointed  leaders  in  the  Church  are  equally  hostile  to  free- 
dom for  a  sex  supposed  for  wise  purposes  to  have  been 
subordinated  by  divine  decree.  The  capitalist  in  the  world 
of  work  holds  the  key  to  the  trades  and  professions,  and 
undermines  the  power  of  labor  unions  in  their  struggles 
for  shorter  hours  and  fairer  wages,  by  substituting  the  cheap 
labor  of  a  disfranchised  class,  that  cannot  organize  its  forces, 
thus  making  wife  and  sister  rivals  of  husband  and  brother 
in  the  industries,  to  the  detriment  of  both  classes.  Of  the 
autocrat  in  the  home,  John  Stuart  Mill  has  well  said : 
"No  ordinary  man  is  willing  to  find  at  his  own  fireside  an 
equal  in  the  person  he  calls  wife."  Thus  society  is  based 
on  this  fourfold  bondage  of  woman,  making  liberty  and 
equality  for  her  antagonistic  to  every  organized  institution- 
Where,  then,  can  we  rest  the  lever  with  which  to  lift  one- 
half  of  humanity  from  these  depths  of  degradation  but  on 
"that  columbiad  of  our  political  life — the  ballot — which 
makes  every  citizen  who  holds  it  a  full-armed  monitor"? 


LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


VOL.  III. 


PHCEBE  W.   COUZINS Frontispiece. 

MARILLA  M.  RICHER page  112 

FRANCES  E.  WILLARD 129 

JANE  H.  SPOFFORD 192 

HARRIET  H.  ROBINSON 273 

PHEBE  A.  HANAFORD 337 

ARMENIA  S.  WHITE 369 

LILLIE  DEVEREUX  BLAKE 417 

RACHEL   G.  FOSTER 465 

CORNELIA  C.  HUSSEY 481 

MAY  WRIGHT  SEWALL 545 

ELIZABETH   BOYNTON   HARBERT 592 

SARAH  BURGER  STEARNS 656 

MARIETTA  M.  BONES 672 

CLARA  BEWICK  COLBY 689 

HELEN    M.  COUGAR 704 

LAURA  DEFORCE  GORDON 753 

ABIGAIL  SCOTT  DUNIWAY 769 

CAROLINE  E.   MERRICK 801 

MARY   B.  CLAY 817 

MENTIA  TAYLOR 833 

PRISCILLA  BRIGHT  MCLAREN. 864 

GEORGE  SAND 896 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE  CENTENNIAL   YEAR — 1876. 

The  Dawn  of  the  New  Century — Washington  Convention — Congressional  Hear- 
ing— Woman's  Protest — May  Anniversary — Centennial  Parlors  in  Philadelphia 
— Letters  and  Delegates  to  Presidential  Conventions — 50,000  Documents  sent 
out — The  Centennial  Autograph  Book — The  Fourth  of  July — Independence 
Square — Susan  B.  Anthony  reads  the  Declaration  of  Rights — Convention  in 
Dr.  Furness'  Church,  Lucretia  Mott,  Presiding — The  Hutchinson  Family, 
John  and  Asa — The  Twenty-eighth  Anniversary,  July  19,  Edward  M.  Davis, 
Presiding — Letters,  Ernestine  L.  Rose,  Clarina  I.  H.  Nichols — The  Ballot- 
Box — Retrospect— The  Woman's  Pavilion I 

CHAPTER     XXVIII. 

NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS,   HEARINGS   AND   REPORTS. 
1877-1878-1879. 

Renewed  Appeal  for  a  Sixteenth  Amendment — Mrs.  Gage  Petitions  for  a  Re- 
moval of  Political  Disabilities — Ninth  Washington  Convention,  1877 — Jane 
Grey  Swisshelm — Letters,  Robert  Purvis,  Wendell  Phillips,  Francis  E.  Abbott 
— 10,000  Petitions  Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  by 
Special  Request  of  the  Chairman,  Hon.  O  P.  Morton,  of  Indiana — May  An- 
niversary in  New  York — Tenth  Washington  Convention,  1878 — Frances  E.\ 
Willard  and  30,000  Temperance  Women  Petition  Congress — 40,000  Petition) 
for  a  Sixteenth  Amendment — Hearing  before  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and 
Elections — Madam  Dahlgren's  Protest — Mrs.  Hooker's  Hearing  on  Washing- 
ton's Birthday — Mary  Clemmer's  Letter  to  Senator  Wadleigh — His  Adverse 
Report — Thirtieth  Anniversary,  Unitarian  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  July  19, 
1878 — The  Last  Convention  Attended  by  Lucretia  Mott — Letters,  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips — Church  Resolution  Criticised  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Strong — International  Women's  Congress  in  Paris — Washington  Convention, 
1879 — Favorable  Minority  Report  by  Senator  Hoar — U.  S.  Supreme  Court 
Opened  to  Women — May  Anniversary  at  St.  Louis — Address  of  Welcome  by 
Phoebe  Couzins — Women  in  Council  Alone — Letter  from  Josephine  Butler,  of 
England — Mrs.  Stanton's  Letter  to  The  National  Citizen  and  Ballot-Box  .  57 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

CONGRESSIONAL  REPORTS  AND   CONVENTIONS. 
I88o-l88l. 

Why  we  Hold  Conventions  in  Washington — Lincoln  Hall  Demonstration — Sixty- 
six  Thousand  Appeals — Petitions  Presented  in  Congress — Hon.  T.  W.  Ferry  of 


x.  Contents. 

Michigan  in  the  Senate — Hon.  Geo.  B.  Loiing  of  Massachusetts  in  the  House 
— Hon.  J.  J.  Davis  of  North  Carolina  Objected — Twelfth  Washington  Con- 
vention— Hearings  before  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  both  Houses,  1880 — 
May  Anniversary  at  Indianapolis — Series  of  Western  Conventions — Presidential 
Nominating  Conventions — Delegates  and  Addresses  to  each — Mass-Meeting 
at  Chicago — Washington  Convention,  1881 — Memorial  Service  to  Lucretia 
Mott — Mrs.  Stanton's  Eulogy — Discussion  in  the  Senate  on  a  Standing  Com- 
mittee— Senator  McDonald  of  Indiana  Champions  the  Measure — May  Anni- 
versary in  Boston — Conventions  in  the  chief  cities  of  New  England  .  .  .  150 

CHAPTER     XXX. 

CONGRESSIONAL   DEBATES   AND   CONVENTIONS. 
1882-1883. 

Prolonged  Discussions  in  the  Senate  on  a  Special  Committee  to  Look  After  the 
Rights  of  Women,  Messrs.  Bayard,  Morgan  and  Vest  in  Opposition — Mr. 
Hoar  Champions  the  Measure  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Reed  in  the  House — Wash- 
ington Convention — Representative  Orth  and  Senator  Saunders  on  the  Woman 
Suffrage  Platform — Hearings  Before  Select  Committees  of  Senate  and  House 
—  Reception  Given  by  Mrs.  Spofford  at  the  Riggs  House — Philadelphia  Con- 
vention— Mrs.  Hannah  Whitehall  Smith's  Dinner — Congratulations  from  the 
Central  Committee  of  Great  Britain — Majority  and  Minority  Reports  in  the 
Senate — E.  G.  Lapham,  J.  Z.  George — Nebraska  Campaign — Conventions 
in  Omaha — Joint  Resolution  Introduced  by  Hon.  John  D.  White  of  Ken- 
tucky, Referred  to  the  Select  Committee — Washington  Convention,  January 
24,  25,  26,  1883 — Majority  Report  in  the  House.  ....  .  198 

CHAPTER     XXXI. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  Woman's  Hour — Lydia  Maria  Child  Petitions  Congress — First  New  England 
Convention — The  New  England,  American  and  Massachusetts  Associations — 
Woman's  Journal — Bishop  Gilbert  Haven — The  Centennial  Tea-Party — 
County  Societies — Concord  Convention — Thirtieth  Anniversary  of  the  Wor- 
cester Convention — School  Suffrage  Association — Legislative  Hearing — First 
Petitions — The  Remonstrants  Appear — Women  in  Politics — Campaign  of  1872 
— Great  Meeting  in  Tremont  Temple — Women  at  the  Polls — Provisions  of 
Former  State  Constitutions — Petitions,  1853 — School-Committee  Suffrage, 
1879 — Women  Threatened  with  Arrest — Changes  in  the  Laws — Woman  Now 
Owns  her  own  Clothing — Harvard  Annex — Woman  in  the  Professions — Sam- 
uel E.  Sewall  and  William  I.  Bowditch — Supreme-Court  Decisions — Sarah  E. 
Wall — Francis  Jackson — Julia  Ward  Howe — Mary  E.  Stevens — Lucia  M. 
Peabody — Lelia  Josephine  Robinson — Eliza  (Jackson)  Eddy's  Will  .  .  .  265 

CHAPTER     XXXII. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Prudence  Crandall — Eloquent  Reformers — Petitions  for  Suffrage — The  Com- 
mittee's Report — Frances  Ellen  Burr — Isabella  Beecher  Hooker's  Reminis- 
cences— Anna  Dickinson  in  the  Republican  Campaign — State  Society  Formed 
October  28,  29,  1869 — Enthusiastic  Convention  in  Hartford — Governor  Mar- 
shall Jewell — He  recommends  More  Liberal  Laws  for  Women — Society 
Formed  in  New  Haven,  1871 — Governor  Hubbard's  Inaugural,  1877 — Samuel 


Contents.  xL 

Bowles  of  the  Springfield  Republican — Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford,  Chaplain, 
1870— John  Hooker,  Esq.,  Champions  the  Suffrage  Movement — The  Smith 
Sisters — Mary  Hall — Chief-Justice  Park — Frances  Ellen  Burr — Hartford  Equal 
Rights  Club 316 

CHAPTER     XXXIII. 

RHODE    ISLAND. 

Senator  Anthony  in  North  American  Review — Convention  in  Providence— State 
Association  organized,  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  President — Report  of  Elizabeth 
B.  Chase — Women  on  School  Boards — Women's  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Penal 
and  Correctional  Institutions — Dr.  Win.  F.  Channing — Miss  Ida  Lewis — 
Letter  of  Frederick  A.  Hinckley — Last  Words  of  Senator  Anthony  .  .  .  339 

CHAPTER      XXXIV. 

MAINE. 
• 

Women  on  School  Committees — Elvira  C.  Thorndyke — First  Suffrage  Society 
organized,  1868,  Rockland — Portland  Meeting,  1870 — John  Neal — Judge 
Goddard — Colby  University  Open  to  Girls,  August  12,  1871 — Mrs.  Clara 
Hapgood  Nash  Admitted  to  the  Bar,  October  26,  1872 — Tax- Payers  Protest 
— Ann  F.  Greeley,  1872 — March,  1872,  Bill  for  Woman  Suffrage  Lost  in  the 
House,  Passed  in  the  Senate  by  Seven  Votes — Miss  Frank  Charles,  Register 
of  Deeds — Judge  Reddington — Mr.  Randall's  Motion — Moral  Eminence  of 
Maine — Convention  in  Granite  Hall,  Augusta,  January,  1873,  Hon.  Joshua 
Nye,  President — Delia  A.  Curtis — Opinions  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  Regard 
to  Women  Holding  Offices — Governor  Dingley's  Message,  1875 — Convention, 
Representatives  Hall,  Portland,  Judge  Kingsbury,  President,  Feb.  12,  '76 — 
The  two  Snow  Families — Hon.  T.  B.  Reed 351 

CHAPTER     XXXV. 

NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

Nathaniel  P.  Rogers — Parker  Pillsbury — Galen  Foster — The  Ilutchinson  Family 
— First  Organized  Action,  1868 — Concord  Convention — William  Lloyd  Gar- 
rison's Letter — Rev.  S.  L.  Blake  Opposed — Rev.  Mr.  Sanborn  in  Favor — 
Concord  Monitor — Armenia  S.  White — A  Bill  to  Protect  the  Rights  of  Mar- 
ried Men — Minority  and  Majority  Reports — Women  too  Ignorant  to  Vote — 
Republican  State  Convention — Women  on  School  Committees,  1870 — Vot- 
ing at  School  District  Meetings,  1878 — Mrs.  White's  Address — Mrs.  Ricker  on 
Prison  Reform — Judicial  Decision  in  Regard  to  Married  Women,  1882 — Let- 
ter from  Senator  Blair 367 

CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

VERMONT. 

Clarina  Howard  Nichols— Council  of  Censors — Amending  the  Constitution— St. 
Andrew's  Letter — Mr.  Reed's  Report — Convention  Called — H.  B.  Blackwell 
on  the  Vermont  Watchman — Mary  A.  Livermore  in  the  IVoman  s  Journal — 
Sarah  A.  Gibbs'  Reply  to  Rev.  Mr.  Holmes— School  Suffrage,  1880  .  .  .  383 


xii.  Contents. 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

NEW     YORK  —  1860-1885. 

Saratoga  Convention,  July  13,  14,  1869 — State  Society  Formed,  Martha  C. 
Wright,  President — The  devolution  Established,  1068 — Educational  Move- 
ment— New  York  City  Society,  1870,  Charlotte  B.  \Vilbour,  President — Presi- 
dential Campaign,  1872 — Hearings  at  Albany,  1873 — Constitutional  Commis- 
sion— An  Effort  to  Open  Columbia  College,  President  Barnard  in  Favor — 
Centennial  Celebration,  1876 — School  Officers — Senator  Emerson  of  Monroe, 
1877 — Governor  Robinson's  Veto — School  Suffrage,  1880— Governor  Cornell 
Recommended  it  in  his  Message — Stewart's  Home  for  Working  Women 
— Women  as  Police — An  Act  to  Prohibit  Disfranchisement — Attorney- 
General  Russell's  Adverse  Opinion — The  Power  of  the  Legislature  to  Extend 
Suffrage — Great  Demonstration  in  Chickering  Hall,  March  7,  1884 — Hearing 
at  Albany,  1885 — Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Mrs.  Rogers,  Mrs.  Howell,  Gov. 
Hoyt  of  Wyoming 395 


CHAPTER    XX*XVIII. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Carrie  Burnham— The  Canon  and  Civil  Law  the  Source  of  Woman's  Degradation 
— Women  Sold  with  Cattle  in  1768 — Women  Arrested  in  Pittsburg — Mrs.  Mc- 
Manus — Opposition  to  Women  in  Colleges  and  Hospitals;  John  W.  Forney 
Vindicates  their  Rights — Ann  Preston — Women  in  Dentistry — James  Truman's 
Letter — Swarthmore  College — Suffrage  Association  Formed  in  1866,  in  Phila- 
delphia— John  K.  Wildman's  Letter — Judge  William  S.  Pierce — The  Citizens' 
Suffrage  Association,  333  Walnut  Street,  Edward  M.  Davis,  President — Pe- 
titions to  the  Legislature — Constitutional  Convention,  1873 — Bishop  Simpson, 
Mary  Grew,  Sarah  C.  Hallowell,  Matilda  Hindman,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Address 
the  Convention — Messrs.  Broomall  and  Campbell  Debate  with  the  Opposition 
— Amendment  Making  Women  Eligible  to  School  Offices — Two  Women  Elected 
to  Philadelphia  School  Board,  1874 — The  Wages  of  Married  Women  Protected 
— J.  Edgar  Thomson's  Will — Literary  Women  as  Editors — The  Rev.  Knox 
Little — Anne  E.  McDowell — Women  as  Physicians  in  Insane  Asylums — The 
Fourteenth  Amendment  Resolution,  iSSi — Ex-Gov.  Hoyt's  Lecture  on  Wy- 
oming   


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

NEW    JERSEY. 

Women  Voted  in  the  Early  Days — Deprived  of  the  Right  by  Legislative  Enact- 
ment in  1807 — Women  Demand  the  Restoration  of  Their  Rights  in  1868 — At 
the  Polls  in  Vineland  and  Roseville  Park — Lucy  Stone  Agitates  the  Question 
— State  Suffrage  Society  Organized  in  1867 — Conventions — A  Memorial  to  the 
Legislature — Mary  F.  Davis — Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford — Political  Science 
Club — Mrs.  Cornelia  C.  Hussey — Orange  Club,  1870 — Mrs.  Devereux  Blake 
gives  the  Oration,  July  4,  1884 — Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell's  Letter — The 
Laws  of  New  Jersey  in  Regard  to  Property  and  Divorce — Constitutional  Com- 
mission, 1873 — Trial  of  Rev.  Isaac  M.  See — Women  Preaching  in  his  Pulpit 
— The  Case  Appealed — Mis.  Jones,  Jailoress — Legislative  Hearings  .  .  476 


Contents.  xiii. 

CHAPTER     XL. 

OHIO. 

The  First  Soldiers'  Aid  Society — Mrs.  Mendenhall — Cincinnati  Equal  Rights  As- 
sociation, 1868 — Homeopathic  Medical  College  and  Hospital — Hon.  J.  M. 
Ashley — State  Society,  1869 — Murat  Halstead's  Letter — Dayton  Convention, 
1870 — Women  Protest  Against  Enfranchisement — Sarah  Knowles  Bolton — 
Statistics  on  Coeducation  by  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson — Woman's  Crusade, 
1874 — Miriam  M.  Cole — Ladies'  Health  Association — Professor  Curtis — Hos- 
pital for  Women  and  Children,  1879 — Letter  from  J.  D.  Buck,  M.  D. — 
March,  1881,  Degrees  Conferred  on  Wromen — Toledo  Association,  1869 — 
Sarah  Langdon  Williams — The  Sunday  Journal — The  Ballot-Box — Constitu- 
tional Convention — Judge  Waite — Amendment  Making  Women  Eligible  to 
Office — Mr.  Voris,  Chairman  Special  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage — State 
Convention,  1873 — Rev.  Robert  McCune — Centennial  Celebration — Women 
Decline  to  Take  Part — Correspondence — Newbury  Association — Women 
Voting,  1871 — Sophia  Ober  Allen — Annual  Meeting,  Painesville,  1885 — State 
Society,  Mrs.  Frances  M.  Casement,  President — Adelbert  College  .  .  .  491 


CHAPTER    XLL 

MICHIGAN. 

Women's  Literary  Clubs  and  Libraries — Mrs.  Lucinda  H.  Stone — Classes  of  Girls 
in  Europe — Ernestine  L.  Rose — Legislative  Action,  1849-1885 — State  Woman 
Suffrage  Society,  1870— Annual  Conventions — Northwestern  Association — 
Wendell  Phillips'  Letter — Nannette  Gardner  votes — Catharine  A.  F.  Stebbins 
Refused — Legislative  Action — Amendments  Submitted — An  Active  Canvas  of 
the  State  by  Women — Election  Day — The  Amendment  Lost,  40,000  Men 
Voted  in  Favor — University  at  Ann  Arbor  Opened  to  Girls,  1869 — Kalamazoo 
Institute — J.  A.  B.  Stone— Miss  Madeline  Stockwell  and  Miss  Sarah  Burger 
Applied  for  Admission  to  the  University  in  1857 — Episcopal  Church  Bill — 
Local  Societies — Quincy — Lansing — St.  Johns — Manistee — Grand  Rapids— 
Sojourner  Truth — Laura  C.  Haviland — Sybil  Lawrence 513 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

INDIANA. 

The  First  WToman  Suffrage  Convention  After  the  War,  1869 — Amanda  M.  Way 
— Annual  Meetings,  1870-85,  in  the  Larger  Cities — Indianapolis  Equal  Suf- 
frage Society,  1878 — A  Course  of  Lectures — In  May,  iSSo,  National  Conven- 
tion in  Indianapolis — Zerelda  G.  Wallace — Social  Entertainment — Governor 
Albert  G.  Porter — Susan  B.  Anthony's  Birthday — Schuyler  Colfax — Legislative 
Hearings — Temperance  Wromen  of  Indiana — Helen  M.  Cougar — General  As- 
sembly— Delegates  to  Political  Conventions — Women  Address  Political  Meet- 
ings— Important  Changes  in  the  Laws  for  Women,  from  iSooto  1884 — Col- 
leges Open  to  \Vomen — Demia  Butler — Professors — Lawyers — Doctors — Min- 
isters— Miss  Catharine  Merrill — Miss  Elizabeth  Eaglestield — Rev.  Prudence 
Le  Clerc — Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas — Prominent  Men  and  Women — George  W. 
Julian — The  Journals — Gertrude  Garrison 533 


xiv.  Contents. 

CHAPTER    XLIII. 

ILLINOIS. 

Chicago  a  Great  Commercial  Centre — First  Woman  Suffrage  Agitation,  1855 — A. 
J.  Grover — Society  at  Earlville — Prudence  Crandall — Sanitary  Movement — 
Woman  in  Journalism — MyraBradwell — Excitement  in  Elmwood  Church,  1868 
— Mrs.  Huldah  Joy — Pulpit  Utterances — Convention,  1869,  Library  Hall, 
Chicago— Anna  Dickinson,  Robert  Laird  Collier  Debate — Manhood  Suffrage 
Denounced  by  Mrs.  Stan  ton  and  Miss  Anthony — Judge  Charles  B.  Waite  on 
the  Constitutional  Convention — Hearing  before  the  Legislature — Western  Suf- 
frage Convention,  Mrs.  Livermore,  President — Annual  Meeting  at  Blooming- 
ton — Women  Eligible  to  School  Offices — Evanston  College — Miss  Alta  Hulett 
Medical  Association — Dr.  Sarah  H  ackett  Stevenson— "  Woman's  Kingdom" 
in  the  Inter-Ocean — Mrs.  Harbert — Centennial  Celebration  at  Evanston — 
Temperance  Petition,  180,000— Frances  E.  Willard — Social  Science  Associa- 
tion— Art  Union — Jane  Graham  Jones  at  International  Congress  in  Paris — 
Moline  Association 559 

CHAPTER     XLIV. 

MISSOURI. 

Missouri  the  first  State  to  Open  Colleges  of  Law  and  Medicine  to  Woman — Lib- 
eral  Legislation — Harriet  Hosmer — Wayman  Crow — Dr.  Joseph  N.  McDowell 
— Works  of  Art — Women  in  the  War — Adeline  Couzins — Virginia  L.  Minor — 
Petitions — Woman  Suffrage  Association,  May  8,  1867 — First  Woman  Suffrage 
Convention,  Oct.  6,  1869 — Able  Resolutions  by  Francis  Minor — Action  Asked 
for  in  the  Methodist  Church — Constitutional  Convention — Mrs.  Hazard's  Re- 
port— National  Suffrage  Association,  1879 — Virginia  L.  Minor  Before  the 
Committee  on  Constitutional  Amendments — Mrs.  Minor  Tries  to  Vote — Her 
Case  in  the  Supreme  Court — Mrs.  Annie  R.  Irvine — "Oregon  Woman's 
Union " — Miss  Phoebe  Couzins  Graduates  From  the  Law  School,  1871 — 
Reception  by  Members  of  the  Bar — Speeches — Dr.  Walker — Judge  Krum — 
Hon.  Albert  Todd — Ex-Governor  E  O.  Stanard — Ex-Senator  Henderson — 
Judge  Reber— George  M.  Stewart — Mrs.  Minor — Miss  Couzins  .  .  .  594 

CHAPTER    XLV. 

IOWA. 

Beautiful  Scenery — Liberal  in  Politics  and  Reforms — Legislation  for  Women — 
No  Right  yet  to  Joint  Earnings — Early  Agitation — Frances  Dana  Gage,  1854 
— Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer  Lectures  in  Council  Bluffs,  1856— Mrs.  Martha  H. 
Brinkerhoff — Mrs.  Annie  Savery,  1868— County  Associations  Formed  in  1869 
— State  Society  Organized  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  1870,  Henry  O'Connor,  President 
— Mrs.  Cutler  Answers  Judge  Palmer — First  Annual  Meeting,  Des  Moines 
— Letter  from  Bishop  Simpson — The  State  Register  Complimentary — Mass- 
Meeting  at  the  Capitol — Mrs.  Savery  and  Mrs.  Harbert — Legislative  Action — 
Methodist  and  Universalist  Churches  Indorse  Woman  Suffrage — Republican 
Plank,  1874 — Governor  Carpenter's  Message,  1876 — Annual  Meeting,  1882, 
Many  Clergymen  Present — Five  Hundred  Editors  Interviewed — Miss  Hind- 
man  and  Mrs.  Campbell — Mrs.  Callanan  Interviews  Governor  Sherman,  1884 
— Lawyers — Governor  Kirkwood  Appoints  Women  to  Office — County  Super- 
intendents— Elizabeths.  Cook — Journalism — Literature— Medicine — Ministry 
— Inventions — President  of  a  National  Bank — The  Heroic  Kate  Shelly — Tem- 
perance— Improvement  in  the  Laws 6 12 


Contents.  xv. 

CHAPTER     XLVI. 

WISCONSIN. 

Progressive  Legislation — The  Rights  of  Married  Women — The  Constitution 
Shows  Four  Classes  Having  the  Right  to  Vote — Woman  Suffrage  Agitation — 
C.  L.  Sholes'  Minority  Report,  1856 — Judge  David  Noggle  and  J.  T.  Mills' 
Minority  Report,  1859 — State  Association  Formed,  1869 — Milwaukee  Conven- 
tion— Dr.  Laura  Ross — Hearing  Before  the  Legislature — Convention  in  Janes- 
ville,  1870 — State  University — Elizabeth  R.  Wentworth — Suffrage  Amend- 
ment, iSSo,  '81,  '82 — Rer.  Olympia  Brown,  Racine,  1877 — Madam  Anneke 
— Judge  Ryan — Three  Days'  Convention  at  Racine,  1883 — Eveleen  L.  Ma- 
son— Dr.  Sarah  Munro — Rev.  Dr.  Corwin — Lavinia  Godell,  Lawyer — Angie 
King — Kate  Kane .  638 

CHAPTER    XLVII. 

MINNESOTA. 

Girls  in  State  University — Sarah  Burger  Stearns — Harriet  E.  Bishop,  the  First 
Teacher  in  St.  Paul — Mary  J.  Colburn  Won  the  Prize — Mrs.  Jane  Grey  Swiss- 
helm,  St.  Cloud — Fourth  of  July  Oration,  1866 — First  Legislative  Hearing, 
1867 — Governor  Austin's  Veto — First  Society  at  Rochester — Kasson — Almira 
W.  Anthony— Mary  P.  Wheeler— Harriet  M.  White— The  W.  C.  T.  U.— 
Harriet  A.  Hobart — Literary  and  Art  Clubs — School  Suffrage,  1876 — Char- 
lotte O.  Van  Cleve  and  Mrs.  C.  S.  Winchell  Elected  to  School  Board— Mrs. 
Governor  Pillsbury — Temperance  Vote,  1877 — Property  Rights  of  Married 
Women — Women  as  Officers,  Teachers,  Editors,  Ministers,  Doctors,  Lawyers.  649 

CHAPTER     XLVIII. 

DAKOTA. 

Influences  of  Climate  and  Scenery — Legislative  Action,  1872 — Mrs.  Marietta 
Bones — In  February,  1879,  School  Suffrage  Granted  Women — Constitutional 
Convention,  1883 — Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  Addressed  a  Letter  to  the  Conven- 
tion and  an  Appeal  to  the  Women  of  the  State — Mrs.  Bones  Addressed  the 
Convention  in  Person — The  Effort  to  get  the  Word  "  Male  "  out  of  the  Con- 
stitution Failed — Legislature  of  1885 — Major  Pickler  Presents  the  Bill — Car- 
ried Through  Both  Houses — Governor  Pierce's  Veto — Major  Pickler's  Letter.  662 

CHAPTER     XLIX. 

NEBRASKA. 

Clara  Bewick  Colby — Nebraska  Came  into  the  Possession  of  the  United  States, 
1803 — The  Home  of  the  Dakotas — Organized  as  a  Territory,  1854 — Territorial 
Legislature — Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer  Addresses  the  House — Gen.  Wm.  Lari- 
mer, 1856 — A  Bill  to  Confer  Suffrage  on  Women — Passed  the  House — Lost 
in  the  Senate — Constitution  Harmonized  with  the  Fourteenth  Amendment — 
Admitted  as  a  State  March  I,  1867 — Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony  Lecture  in 
the  State,  1867 — Mrs.  Tracy  Cutler,  1870 — Mrs.  Esther  L.  Warner's  Letter — 
Constitutional  Convention,  1871 — Woman  Suffrage  Amendment  Submitted — 
Lost  by  12,676  against,  3.502  for — Prolonged  Discussion — Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 1875 — Grasshoppers  Devastate  the  Country — Inter-Ocean,  Mrs.  Har- 
bert — Omaha  Republican,  1876 — Woman's  Column  Edited  by  Mrs.  Harriet  S. 


xvi.  Contents. 

Brooks — "Woman's  Kingdom" — State  Society  Formed,  January  19,  1881, 
Mrs.  Brooks  President — Mrs.  Dinsmoor,  Mrs.  Colby,  Mrs.  Brooks,  before  the 
Legislature — Amendment  again  Submitted — Active  Canvass  of  the  State,  1882 
— First  Convention  of  the  State  Association — Charles  F.  Manderson — Unreli- 
able Politicians — An  Unfair  Count  of  Votes  for  Woman  Suffrage — Amendment 
Defeated — Conventions  in  Omaha — Notable  Women  in  the  State — Conven- 
tions—  Woman's  Tribune  Established  in  1883 670 

CHAPTER     L. 

KANSAS. 

Effect  of  the  Popular  Vote  on  Woman  Suffrage — Anna  C.  Wait — Hannah  Wilson 
— Miss  Kate  Stephens,  Professor  of  Greek  in  State  University — Lincoln 
Centre  Society,  1879 — The  Press — The  Lincoln  Beacon — Election,  1880 —  • 
Sarah  A.  Brown,  Democratic  Candidate — Fourth  of  July  Celebration — Women 
Voting  on  the  School  Question — State  Society,  1884 — Helen  M.  Cougar — 
Clara  Bewick  Colby — Bertha  H.  Ellsworth — Radical  Reform  Association — 
Mrs.  A.  G.  Lord — Prudence  Crandall — Clarina  Howard  Nichols — Laws — 
Women  in  the  Professions — Schools — Political  Parties — Petitions  to  the  Legis- 
lature— Col.  F.  G.  Adams'  Letter 696 

CHAPTER     LI. 

COLORADO. 

Great  American  Desert — Organized  as  a  Territory,  February  28,  1 860 — Gov. 
McCook's  Message  Recommending  Woman  Suffrage,  1870— Adverse  Legisla- 
tion— Hon.  Amos  Steck — Admitted  to  the  Union,  1876— Constitutional  Con- 
vention— Efforts  to  Strike  Out  the  \Vord  '"Male" — Convention  to  Discuss 
Woman  Suffrage — School  Suffrage  Accorded — State  Association  Formed, 
Alida  C.  Avery,  President — Proposition  for  Full  Suffrage  Submitted  to  the 
Popular  Vote — A  Vigorous  Campaign — Mrs.  Campbell  and  Mrs.  Patterson  of 
Denver — Opposition  by  the  Clergy — Their  Arguments  Ably  Answered — D.  M. 
Richards — The  Amendment  Lost — The  Rocky  Mountain  News  .  .  .  .712 

CHAPTER    LIT. 

WYOMING. 

The  Dawn  of  the  New  Day,  December,  1869 — The  Goal  Reached  in  England 
and  America — Territory  Organized,  May,  1869 — Legislative  Action — Bill  for 
Woman  Suffrage — William  H.  Bright — Gov.  Campbell  Signs  the  Bill — Ap- 
points Esther  Morris,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  March,  1870 — Women  on  the  Jury, 
Chief-Justice  Howe,  Presiding — J.  Wr.  Kingman,  Associate-Justice,  Addresses 
the  Jury — Women  Promptly  Take  Their  Places — Sunday  Laws  Enforced — 
Comments  of  the  Press — Judge  Howe's  Letter — Laramie  Sentinel — J.  H. 
Hayford — Women  Voting,  1870— Grandma  Swain  the  First  to  Cast  her  Ballot 
— Effort  to  Repeal  the  Law,  1871 — Gov.  Campbell's  Veto — Mr.  Corlett — 
Rapid  Growth  of  Public  Opinion  in  Favor  of  Woman  Suffrage  ....  726 

CHAPTER    LIII. 

CALIFORNIA. 

Liberal  Provisions  in  the  Constitution — Elizabeth  T.  Schenck — Eliza  W.  Farnham 
— Mrs.  Mills'  Seminary,  now  a  State  Institution — Jeannie  Carr,  State  Super- 


Contents.  xvii. 

intendent  of  Schools — First  Awakening — The  Revolution — Anna  Dickinson — 
Mrs.  Gordon  Addresses  the  Legislature,  1 868 — Mrs.  Pitts  Stevens  Edits  The 
Pioneer — First  Suffrage  Society  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  1869 — State  Convention, 
January  26,  1870,  Mrs.  Wallis,  President — State  Association  Formed,  Mrs. 
Haskell  of  Pctaluma,  President — Mrs.  Gordon  Nominated  for  Senator — In 
1871,  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  Visit  California — Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent 
Speaks  in  Favor  of  Suffrage  for  Women — Ellen  Clark  Sargent  Active  in  the 
Movement — Legislation  Making  Women  Eligible  to  Hold  School  Offices,  1873 
— July  10,  1873,  State  Society  Incorporated,  Sarah  Wallis,  President — Mrs. 
Clara  Foltz — A  Bill  Giving  Women  the  Right  to  Practice  Law— The  Bill 
Passed  and  Signed  by  the  Governor — Contest  Over  Admitting  Women  into 
the  Law  Department  of  the  University — Supreme  Court  Decision  Favorable — 
Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent  on  the  Constitution  and  Laws — Journalists  and  Printers 
Silk  Culture — Legislative  Appropriation — Mrs.  Knox  Goodrich  Celebrates 
July  4,  1876 — Imposing  Demonstration — Ladies  in  the  Procession  .  .  .  749 


CHAPTER    LIV. 

THE  PACIFIC   NORTHWEST. 

The  Long  Marches  Westward — Abigail  Scott  Duniway — Mary  Olney  Brown — 
The  First  Steps  in  Oregon — Col.  C.  A.  Reed — Judge  G.  W.  Lawson — 1870 — 
The  New  Northwest,  1871 — Campaign,  Mrs.  Duniway  and  Miss  Anthony — 
They  Address  the  Legislature  in  Washington  Territory — Hon.  Elwood  Evans 
— Suffrage  Societies  Organized  at  Olympia  and  Portland — Before  the  Oregon 
Legislature — Donation  Land  Act — Hon.  Samuel  Corwin's  Suffrage  Bill — Mar- 
ried Woman's  Sole  Traders'  Bill — Temperance  Alliance — Women  Rejected — 
Major  Williams  Fights  Their  Battles  and  Triumphs — Mrs.  H.  A.  Loughary — 
Progressive  Legislation,  1874 — Mob-Law  in  Jacksonville,  1879 — Dr.  Mary  A. 
Thompson — Constitutional  Convention,  1878 — Woman  Suffrage  Bill,  1880— 
Hon.  W.  C.  Fulton — Women  Enfranchised  in  Washington  Territory,  Nov. 
15,  1883 — Great  Rejoicing,  Bonfires,  Ratification  Meetings — Constitutional 
Amendment  Submitted  in  Oregon  and  Lost,  June,  1884 — Suffrage  by  Legis- 
lative Enactment  Lost — Fourth  of  July  Celebrated  at  Vancouvers — Benjamin 
and  Mary  Olney  Brown — Washington  Territory — Legislation  in  1867-68  Fav- 
orable to  Women — Mrs.  Brown  Attempts  to  Vote  and  is  Refused — Charlotte 
Olney  French — Women  Vote  at  Grand  Mound  and  Black  River  Precincts, 
1870 — Retrogressive  Legislation,  1871 — Abby  II.  Stuart  in  Land-Office — 
Hon.  William  II.  White — Idaho  and  Montana 767 


CHAPTER    LV. 

LOUISIANA — TEXAS — ARKANSAS — MISSISSIPPI. 

St.  Anna's  Asylum,  Managed  by  Women — Constitutional  Convention,  1879 — 
Women  Petition — Clara  Merrick  Guthrie — Petition  Referred  to  Committee  on 
Suffrage — A  Hearing  Granted — Mrs.  Keating — Mrs.  Saxon — Mrs.  Merrick — 
Col.  John  M.  Sandige — Efforts  of  the  Women  all  in  Vain — Action  in  1885 — 
Gov.  McEnery — The  Daily  Picayune — Women  as  Members  of  the  School 
Board — Physiology  in  the  Schools — Miss  Eliza  Rudolph — Mrs.  E.  J.  Nicholson 
— Judge  Merrick's  Digest  of  Laws — Texas — Arkansas — Mississippi — Sarah  A. 
Dorsey 


xviii.  Contents. 

CHAPTER    LV.    (CONTINUED). 

J.IMKKT     ()!••    * ol.rMllIA-   M  AKVLAND— -DELAWARE— KENTUCKY— TENNKS- 

SKK— VIRGINIA  —WEST     YII«;iNI.\— NORTH     CAROLINA— SOUTH 

CAROLINA — FLORIDA — ALABAMA — GEORGIA. 

Secretary  Chase — Women  in  tlie  ('•overnmcnt  Departments — Myrtilla  Miner — 
Mrs.  O'Connor's  Tribute — District  of  Columbia  Suffrage  Bill — The  Universal 
Franchise  Association,  1867 — 15111  for  a  Prohibitory  Law  Presented  by  Hon. 
S.  C.  Pomeroy,  1869 — A  Bill  for  Equal  Wages  for  the  Women  in  the  Depart- 
ments, Introduced  by  Hon.  S.  M.  Arnejl,  1870 — In  1871  Congress  Passed  the 
Organic  Act  for  the  District  Confining  the  Right  of  Suffrage  to  Males — In 
1875  it  Withdrew  all  Legislative  Power  from  the  People — Women  in  Law, 
Medicine,  Journalism  and  the  Charities — Dental  College  Opened  to  Women — 
Mary  A.  Stewart — The  Clay  Sisters — The  School  of  Pharmacy — Elizabeth 
Aveiy  Meriwether — Judge  Underwood — Mary  Bayard  Clarke — Dr.  Susan 
Dimock — Governor  Chamberlain — Coffee-Growing — Priscilla  Holmes  Drake — 
Alexander  II.  Stephens 808 


CHAPTER    LV.     (CONCLUDED). 

CANADA. 

Miss  Phelps  of  St.  Catharines — The  Revolt  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies — First  Par- 
liament— Property  Rights  of  Married  Women — School  Suffrage  Thirty  Years 
— Municipal  Suffrage,  1882,  1884 — Women  Voting  in  Toronto,  1886 — Mrs. 
Curzon — Dr.  Emily  II.  Stone — Woman's  Literary  Club  of  Toronto— Nova 
Scotia — New  Brunswick — Miss  Harriet  Stewart 831 

CHAPTER     LVI. 

GREAT   BRITAIN. 

Women  Send  Members  to  Parliament — Sidney  Smith,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  Richard 
Cobden — The  Ladies  of  Oldham — Jeremy  Bentham — Anne  Knight — Northern 
Reform  Society,  1858 — Mrs.  Matilda  Biggs — Unmarried  Women  and  Widows 
Petition  Parliament — Associations  Formed  in  London,  Manchester,  Edin- 
burgh, 1867 — John  Stuart  Mill  in  Parliament — Seventy-three  Votes  for  his  Bill 
— John  Bright's  Vote — Women  Register  and  Vote — Lord-Chief-Justice  of 
England  Declares  their  Constitutional  Right — The  Courts  Give  Adverse  De- 
cisions— Jacob  Bright  Secures  the  Municipal  Franchise — First  Public  Meeting 
— Division  on  Jacob  Bright's  Bill  to  Remove  Political  Disabilities — Mr.  Glad- 
stone's Speech — Work  of  1871-72 — Fourth  Vote  on  the  Suffrage  Bill — Jacob 
Bright  Fails  of  Reelection — Efforts  of  Mr.  Forsyth — Memorial  of  the  National 
Society — Some  Account  of  the  Workers — Vote  of  the  New  Parliament,  1875 — 
Organized  Opposition — Diminished  Adverse  Vote  of  1878 — Mr.  Courtney's 
Resolution — Letters — Great  Demonstrations  at  Manchester — London — Bristol 
— Nottingham — Birmingham — Sheffield — Glasgow — Victory  in  the  Isle  of  Man 
— Passage  of  the  Municipal  Franchise  Bill  for  Scotland — Mr.  Mason's  Resolu- 
tion— Reduction  of  Adverse  Majority  to  iG — Liberal  Conference  at  Leeds — 
Mr.  Woodall's  Amendment  to  Reform  Bill  of  1884 — Meeting  at  Edinburgh — 
Other  Meetings — Estimated  Number  of  Women  Householders — Circulars  to 
Members  of  Parliament — Debate  on  the  Amendment — Resolutions  of  the 
Society — Further  Debate — Defeat  of  the  Amendment — Meeting  at  St.  James 
Hall— Conclusion 833 


Contents.  xix. 

CHAPTER     LVII. 

CONTINENTAL   EUROPE. 

The  Woman  Question  in  the  Back-ground — In  France  the  Agitation  Dates  from 
the  Upheaval  of  1789 — International  Women's  Rights  Convention  in  Paris, 
1878 — Mile.  Ilubertine  Auclert  Leads  the  Demand  for  Suffrage — Agitation 
Began  in  Italy  with  the  Kingdom — Concepcion  Arenal  in  Spain — Coeducation 
in  Portugal — Germany:  Leipsic  and  Berlin — Austria  in  Advance  of  Germany 
Caroline  Svetla  of  Bohemia — Austria  Unsurpassed  in  Contradictions — Marriage 
Emancipates  from  Tutelage  in  Hungary — Dr.  Henrietta  Jacobs  of  Holland — 
Dr.  Isala  Van  Dicst  of  Belgium — In  Switzerland  the  Catholic  Cantons  Lag 
Behind — Marie  Gcegg,  the  Leader— Sweden  Stands  First — Universities  Open 
to  Women  in  Norway — Associations  in  Denmark — Liberality  of  Russia  toward 
Women — Poland— The  Orient — Turkey — Jewish  Wives — The  Greek  Woman 
in  Turkey — The  Greek  Woman  in  Greece — An  Unique  Episode — Woman's 
Rights  in  the  American  Sense  not  Known 895 


CHAPTER     LVIII. 

REMINISCENCES. 

BY  E.    C.    S 922 

Appendix 955 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 
THE   CENTENNIAL  YEAR— 1876. 

The  Dawn  of  the  New  Century — Washington  Convention — Congressional  Hearing  — 
Woman's  Protest — May  Anniversary — Centennial  Parlors  in  Philadelphia — Letters 
and  Delegates  to  Presidential  Conventions — 50,000  Documents  sent  out — The  Cen- 
tennial Autograph  Book — The  Fourth  of  July — Independence  Square — Susan  B. 
Anthony  reads  the  Declaration  of  Rights — Convention  in  Dr.  Furness'  Church, 
Lucretia  Mott,  Presiding — The  Hutchinson  Family,  John  and  Asa — The  Twenty- 
eighth  Anniversary,  July  19,  Edward  M.  Davis,  Presiding — Letters,  Ernestine 
L.  Rose,  Clarina  I.  H.  Nichols— The  Ballot-Box—  Retrospect— The  Woman's 
Pavilion. 

DURING  the  sessions  of  1871-72  congress  enacted  laws  pro- 
viding for  the  celebration  of  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of 
American  independence,  to  be  held  July  4,  1876,  in  Philadelphia, 
the  historic  city  from  whence  was  issued  the  famous  declaration 
of  1776. 

The  first  act  provided  for  the  appointment  by  the  president  of  a 
"Centennial  Commission,"  consisting  of  two  members  from  each 
State  and  territory  in  the  Union ;  the  second  incorporated  the 
Centennial  Board  of  Finance  and  provided  for  the  issue  of  stock 
to  the  amount  of  $10,000,000,  in  1,000,000  shares  of  $10  each.  It 
was  at  first  proposed  to  distribute  the  stock  among  the  peopft  of 
the  different  States  and  territories  according  to  the  ratio  of  their 
population,  but  subscriptions  were  afterward  received  without  re- 
gard to  States.  The  stockholders  organized  a  board  of  directors, 
April  i,  1873.  The  design  of  the  exhibition  was  to  make  it  a 
comprehensive  display  of  the  industrial,  intellectual  and  moral 
progress  of  the  nation  during  the  first  century  of  its  existence ; 
but  by  the  earnest  invitation  of  our  government  foreign  nations 
so  generally  participated  that  it  was  truly,  as  its  name  implied, 
an  "  International  and  World's  Exposition." 

The  centennial  year  opened  amid  the  wildest  rejoicing.  In 
honor  of  the  nation's  birthday  extensive  preparations  were  made 
for  the  great  event.  Crowds  of  people  eager  to  participate  in 
the  celebration,  everywhere  flocked  from  the  adjacent  country  to 


2  ///>Avr  of   Wonitui  Suffrage. 

the  nearest  village  or  city,  filling  the  streets  and  adding  to  the 
general  gala  look,  all  through  the  day  and  evening  of  December 
31,  1875.  From  early  gas-light  upon  every  side  the  blow- 
ing of  horns,  throwing  of  torpedos,  explosion  of  fire-crackers, 
gave  premonition  of  more  enthusiastic  exultation.  As  the  clock 
struck  twelve  every  house  suddenly  blossomed  with  red,  white 
and  blue;  public*and  private  buildings  burst  into  a  blaze  of  light 
that  rivaled  the  noon-day  sun,  while  screaming  whistles,  booming 
cannon,  pealing  bells,  joyous  music  and  brilliant  fire-works  made 
the  midnight  which  ushered  in  the  centennial  1876,  a  never-to- 
be-forgotten  hour. 

Portraits  of  the  presidents  from  Washington  and  Lincoln 
laurel-crowned,  to  Grant,  sword  in  hand,  met  the  eye  on  every 
side.  Stars  in  flames  of  fire  lighted  the  foreign  flags  of  welcome 
to  other  nations.  Every  window,  door  and  roof-top  was  filled 
with  gay  and  joyous  people.  Carriages  laden  with  men,  women 
and  children  in  holiday  attire  enthusiastically  waving  the  na- 
tional flag  and  singing  its  songs  of  freedom.  Battalions  of 
soldiers  marched  through  the  streets;  Roman  candles,  whizzing 
rockets,  and  gaily-colored  balloons  shot  upward,  filling  the  sky 
with  trails  of  fire  and  adding  to  the  brilliancy  of  the  scene,  while  all 
minor  sounds  were  drowned  in  the  martial  music.  Thus  did  the 
old  world  and  the  new  commemorate  the  birth  of  a  nation 
founded  on  the  principle  of  self-government. 

The  prolonged  preparations  for  the  centennial  celebration 
naturally  roused  the  women  of  the  nation  to  new  thought  as  to 
their  status  as  citizens  of  a  republic,  as  well  as  to  their  rightful 
sharAin  the  progress  of  the  centuiy.  The  oft-repeated  declara- 
tions of  the  fathers  had  a  deeper  significance  for  those  who 
realized  the  degradation  of  disfranchisement,  and  they  queried 
with  each  other  as  to  what  part,  with  becoming  self-respect,  they 
could  take  in  the  coming  festivities.*  Woman's  achievements 
in  art,  science  and  industry  would  necessarily  be  recognized  in 

•Some  suggested  that  the  women  in  their  various  towns  and  cities,  draped  in  black,  should  march 
in  solemn  procession,  bells  slowly  tolling,  bearing  banners  with  the  inscriptions  :  "  Taxation  without 
representation  is  tyranny.'.'  "  Xo  just  government  can  be  formed  without  the  consent  of  the  governed," 
"  They  who  have  no  voice  in  the  laws  and  rulers  are  in  a  condition  of  slavery." 

Others  sug^oted  that  instead  of  women  wearing  crape  during  the  centennial  glorification,  the  men 
should  sit  down  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  in  humiliation  of  spirit,  as  those  who  repented  in  olden  times 
were  wont  to  do.  The  best  centennial  celebration,  said  they,  for  the  men  of  the  United  States,  the 
one  to  cover  them  with  glory,  would  be  to  extend  to  the  women  of  the  nation  all  the  rights,  privileges 
and  immunities  that  they  themselves  enjoy. 

Others  proposed  that  women  should  monopolize  the  day,  have  their  own  celebrations,  read  their 
own  declarations  and  protests  demanding  justice,  liberty  and  equality.  The  latter  suggestion  was 
extensively  adopted,  and  the  Fourth  of  July,  1876,  was  remarkable  for  the  Urge  number  of  women 
»ho  were  "  the  orators  of  the  day  "  in  their  respective  localities. 


Washington   Convention,   1876.  3 

the  Exposition  ;  but  with  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  after  a  hundred 
years  of  education  in  a  republic,  she  asked  more  than  a  simple 
recognition  of  the  products  of  her  hand  and  brain  ;  with  her 
growing  intelligence,  virtue  and  patriotism,  she  demanded  the 
higher  ideal  of  womanhood  that  should  welcome  her  as  an  equal 
factor  in  government,  with  all  the  rights  and  honors  of  citizenship 
fully  accorded.  During  the  entire  century,  women  who  under- 
stood the  genius  of  free  institutions  had  ever  and  anon  made 
their  indignant  protests  in  both  public  and  private  before 
State  legislatures,  congressional  committees  and  statesmen  at 
their  own  firesides ;  and  now,  after  discussing  the  right  of  self- 
government  so  exhaustively  in  the  late  anti-slavery  conflict,  it 
seemed  to  them  that  the  time  had  come  to  make  some  applica- 
tion of  these  principles  to  the  women  of  the  nation.  Hence  it 
was  with  a  deeper  sense  of  injustice  than  ever  before  that  the 
National  Suffrage  Association  issued  the  call  for  the  annual 
Washington  Convention  of  1876: 

CALL  FOR  THE  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  WASHINGTON  CONVENTION. — The 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  will  hold  its  Eighth  Annual 
Convention  in  Tallmadge  Hall,  Washington,  D.  C.,  January  27,  28,  1876. 
In  this  one-hundredth  year  of  the  Republic,  the  women  of  the  United  States 
will  once  more  assemble  under  the  shadow  of  the  national  capitol  to  press 
their  claims  to  self-government. 

That  property  has  its  rights,  was  acknowledged  in  England  long  before 
the  revolutionary  war,  and  this  recognized  right  made  "  no  taxation 
without  representation  "  the  most  effective  battle-cry  of  that  period.  But 
the  question  of  property  representation  fades  from  view  beside  the  greater 
question  of  the  right  of  each  individual,  millionaire  or  pauper,  to  personal 
representation.  In  the  progress  of  the  war  our  fathers  grew  in  wisdom, 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  the  first  national  assertion  of 
the  right  of  individual  representation.  That  "governments  derive  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,"  thenceforward  became 
the  tvatchword  of  the  world.  Our  flag,  which  beckons  the  emigrant 
from  every  foreign  shore,  means  to  him  self-government. 

But  while  in  theory  our  government  recognizes  the  rights  of  all  people, 
in  practice  it  is  far  behind  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  na- 
tional constitution.  On  what  just  ground  is  discrimination  made  between 
men  and  women  ?  Why  should  women,  more  than  men,  be  governed 
without  their  own  consent?  Why  should  women,  more  than  men,  be  de- 
nied trial  by  a  jury  of  their  peers?  On  what  authority  are  women  taxed 
while  unrepresented  ?  By  what  right  do  men  declare  themselves  invested 
with  power  to  legislate  for  women?  For  the  discussion  of  these  vital 
questions  friends  are  invited  to  take  part  in  the  convention. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  President,  Fayetteville,  N.  Y. 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Ch'n  Ex.  Com.,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 


4  History  of    \\'owau  Suffrage. 

At  the  opening  session  of  this  convention  the  president,  Matilda 
Joslyn  Gage,  said  : 

I  would  remind  you,  fellow-citizens,  that  this  is  our  first  convention  in 
the  dawn  of  the  new  century.  In  1776  we  inaugurated  our  experiment  of 
self-government.  Unbelief  in  man's  capacity  to  govern  himself  was  freely 
expressed  by  every  European  monarchy  except  France.  When  John 
Adams  was  Minister  to  England,  the  newspapers  of  that  country  were  filled 
with  prophecies  that  the  new-born  republic  would  soon  gladly  return  to 
British  allegiance.  But  these  hundred  years  have  taught  them  the  worth 
of  liberty  ;  the  Declaration  of  Independence  has  become  the  alphabet  of 
nations;  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  South  America  and  the  isles  of  the  sea,  will 
unite  this  year  to  do  our  nation  honor.  Our  flag  is  everywhere  on  sea 
and  land.  It  has  searched  the  North  Pole,  explored  every  desert,  upheld 
religious  liberty  of  every  faith  and  protected  political  refugees  from  every 
nation,  but  it  has  not  yet  secured  equal  rights  to  women. 

This  year  is  to  be  one  of  general  discussion  upon  the  science  of  govern- 
ment;  its  origin,  its  powers,  its  history.  If  our  present  declaration  can- 
not be  so  interpreted  as  to  cover  the  rights  of  women,  we  must  issue  one 
that  will.  I  have  received  letters  from  many  of  the  Western  States  and 
from  this  District,  urging  us  to  prepare  a  woman's  declaration,  and  to 
celebrate  the  coming  Fourth  of  July  with  our  own  chosen  orators  and  in 
our  own  way.  I  notice  a  general  awakening  among  women  at  this  time. 
But  a  day  or  two  since  the  women  of  this  District  demanded  suffrage  for 
themselves  in  a  petition  of  25,000  names.  The  men  are  quiet  under  their 
enfranchisement,  making  no  attempt  for  their  rights — fit  slaves  of  a 
powerful  ring. 

The  following  protest  was  presented  by  Mrs.  Gage,  adopted  by 
the  convention,  printed  and  extensively  circulated  : 

To  the  Political  Sovereigns  of  the  United  States  in  Independence  Hall 
assembled  : 

We,  the  undersigned  women  of  the  United  States,  asserting  our  faith  in 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  in  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  proclaiming  it  as  the  best  form  of  government  in  fte 
world,  declare  ourselves  a  part  of  the  people  of  the  nation  unjustly 
deprived  of  the  guaranteed  and  reserved  rights  belonging  to  citizens  of 
the  United  States  ;  because  we  have  never  given  our  consent  to  this  gov- 
ernment ;  because  we  have  never  delegated  our  rights  to  others ;  because 
this  government  is  false  to  its  underlying  principles  ;  because  it  has  refused 
to  one-half  its  citizens  the  only  means  of  self-government — the  ballot; 
because  it  has  been  deaf  to  our  appeals,  our  petitions  and  our  prayers; 

Therefore,  in  presence  of  the  assembled  nations  of  all  the  world,  we  pro- 
test against  this  government  of  the  United  States  as  an  oligarchy  of  sex, 
and  not  a  true  republic ;  and  we  protest  against  calling  this  a  centennial 
celebration  of  the  independence  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 


Annual  Report  of  1876.  5 

Letters*  were  read  and  a  series  of  resolutions  were  discussed 
and  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  demand  for  woman  suffrage  is  but  the  next  step  in  the  great 
movement  which  began  with  Magna  Charta,  and  which  has  ever  since  tended  toward 
vesting  government  in  the  whole  body  of  the  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  demand  of  the  forty-fourth  congress,  in  order  that  it  may  ade- 
quately celebrate  the  centennial  year,  the  admission  to  the  polls  of  the  women  of  all 
the  territories,  and  a  submission  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  of  an  amend- 
ment securing  to  women  the  elective  franchise. 

Resolved,  That  the  enfranchisement  of  women  means  wiser  and  truer  wedlock, 
purer  and  happier  homes,  healthier  and  better  children,  and  strikes,  as  nothing  else 
does,  at  the  very  roots  of  pauperism  and  crime. 

Resolved,  That  if  Colorado  would  come  into  the  Union  in  a  befitting  manner  for 
the  celebration  of  the  centennial  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  she  should  give 
the  ballot  to  brothers  and  sisters,  husbands  and  wives,  and  thus  present  to  the  nation 
a  truly  free  State. 

Resolved,  That  the  right  of  suffrage  being  vested  in  the  women  of  Utah  by  their 
constitutional  and  lawful  enfranchisement,  and  by  six  years  of  use,  we  denounce  the 
proposition  about  to  be  again  presented  to  congress  for  the  disfranchisement  of  the 
women  in  that  territory,  as  an  outrage  on  the  freedom  of  thousands  of  legal  voters 
and  a  gross  innovation  of  vested  rights  ;  we  demand  the  abolition  of  the  system 
of  numbering  the  ballots,  in  order  that  the  women  may  be  thoroughly  free  to  vote 
as  they  choose,  without  supervision  or  dictation*,  and  that  the  chair  appoint  a  com- 
mittee of  three  persons,  with  power  to  add  to  their  number,  to  memorialize  congress, 
and  otherwise  to  watch  over  the  rights  of  the  women  of  Utah  in  this  regard  during  the 
next  twelve  months. 

BELVA  A.  LOCKWOOD  presented  the  annual  report :  The  question 
of  woman  suffrage  is  to  be  submitted  to  the  people  of  Iowa 
during  the  present  centennial  year,  if  this  legislature  ratines  the 
action  of  the  previous  one.  Colorado  has  not  embodied  the  word  "  male  " 
in  her  constitution,  and  a  vigorous  effort  is  being  made  to  introduce 
woman  suffrage  there.  In  Minnesota  women  are  allowed  to  vote  on 
school  questions  and  to  hold  office  by  a  recent  constitutional  amendment. 
In  Michigan,  in  1874,  the  vote  for  woman  suffrage  was  40,000,  about 
1,000  more  votes  than  were  polled  for  the  new  constitution.  The  Con- 
necticut legislature,  during  the  past  year  appointed  a  committee  to 
consider  and  report  the  expediency  of  making  women  eligible  to  the 
position  of  electors  for  president  and  vice-president.  The  committee 
made  a  unanimous  report  in  its  favor,  and  secured  for  its  passage  82  votes, 
while  101  votes  were  cast  against  it.  In  Massachusetts,  Governor  Rice, 
in  his  inaugural  address,  recommended  to  the  legislature  to  secure  to 
women  the  right  to  vote  for  presidential  electors.  An  address  to  the  legis- 
lature of  New  York  by  Mesdames  Gage,  Blake  and  Lozier  upon  this  ques- 
tion, was  favorably  received  and  extensively  quoted  by  the  press.  At  an 
agricultural  fair  in  Illinois  the  Hon.  James  R.  Doolittle  advocated  house- 
hold suffrage.  In  the  Senate  of  the  thirteenth  legislature  of  the  State  of 
Texas,  Senator  Dohoney,  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  made  a 
report  strongly  advocating  woman  suffrage;  and  in  1875,  when  a  mem- 

•Letters  were  read  from  the  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia  ;  William  J.  Fowler,  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.;  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  of  Connecticut,  and  Susan  B.  Anthony. 


6  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

her  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  he  advocated  the  same  doctrine, 
and  was  ably  assisted  by  Hon.  W.  Ci.  I..  Weaver.  The  governor  of  that 
State,  in  his  message,  recommended  that  women  school  teachers  should 
receive  equal  pay  for  equal  work.  The  word  "  malt-  "  dors  not  occur  in  the 
new  constitution.  In  the  territories  of  Wyoming  and  Utah,  woman 
suffrage  still  continues  after  five  years'  experiment,  and  we  have  not 
learned  that  households  have  been  broken  up  or  that  babies  have  ceased 
to  be  rocked. 

Women  physicians,  women  journalists  and  women  editors  have  come 
to  be  a  feature  of  our  institutions.  Laura  De  Force  Gordon,  a  member  of 
our  association,  is  editing  a  popular  daily — the  Leader — in  Sacramento, 
( ";il.  Women  are  now  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Kansas,  Illinois.  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  Missouri,  Utah,  Wyoming  and  the  District  of  Columbia.  They  are 
eligible  and  are  serving  as  school  superintendents  in  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
Illinois,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin.  Illinois  allows  them  to  be  notaries  public. 
As  postmasters  they  have  proved  competent,  and  one  woman,  Miss  Ada 
Sweet,  is  pension  agent  at  Chicago.  Julia  K.  Sutherland  has  been  ap- 
pointed commissioner  of  deeds  for  the  State  of  California.  In  England 
women  vote  on  the  same  terms  as  men  on  municipal,  parochial  and  educa- 
tional matters.  In  Holland,  Austria  and  Sweden,  women  vote  on  a 
property  qualification.  The  Peruvian  Minister  of  Justice  has  declared 
that  Peru  places  women  on  the  same  footing  as  men.  Thus  all  over  the 
world  is  the  idea  of  human  rights  taking  root  and  cropping  out  in  a 
healthful  rather  than  a  spasmodic  outgrowth. 

The  grand-daughter  of  Paley,  true  to  her  ancestral  blood,  has  excelled 
all  the  young  men  in  Cambridge  in  moral  science.  Julia  J.  Thomas, 
of  Cornell  University,  daughter  of  Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas,  of  Indiana,  in  the 
recent  inter-collegiate  contest,  took  the  first  prize  of  $300,  over  eight  male 
competitors,  in  Greek.  The  recent  decision  in  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  of  Minor  vs.  Happersett,  will  have  as  much  force  in  suppressing 
the  individuality  and  self-assertion  of  women  as  had  the  opinion  of  Judge 
Taney,  in  the  Dred-Scott  case,  in  suppressing  the  emancipation  of 
slavery.  The  day  has  come  when  precedents  are  made  rather  than  blindly 
followed.  The  refusal  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Philadelphia  to  allow 
Carrie  S.  Burnham  to  practice  law,  because  there  was  no  precedent,  was  a 
weak  evasion  of  common  law  and  common  sense.  One  hundred  years  ago 
there  was  no  precedent  for  a  man  practicing  law  in  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  yet  we  have  not  learned  that  there  was  any  difficulty  in  estab- 
lishing a  precedent.  I  do  not  now  remember  any  precedent  for  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  yet  during  a 
century  it  has  not  been  overturned.  The  rebellion  of  the  South  had  no 
precedent,  and  yet,  if  I  remember,  there  was  an  issue  joined,  and  the 
United  States  found  that  she  had  jurisdiction  of  the  case. 

The  admission  of  women  to  Cornell  University ;  their  reception  on  equal 
footing  in  Syracuse  University,  receiving  in  both  equal  honorary  degrees  ; 
the  establishment  of  Wellesley  College,  with  full  professorships  and 
capable  women  to  fill  them  ;  the  agitation  of  the  question  in  Washington 
of  the  establishment  of  a  university  for  women,  all  show  a  mental  awaken- 


Washington,  Convention,  1876.  7 

ing  in  the  popular  mind  not  hitherto  known.  A  new  era  is  opening  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  The  seed  sown  twenty-five  years  ago  by  Mrs.  Stan- 
ton  and  other  brave  women  is  bearing  fruit. 

SARA  ANDREWS  SPENCER  said  it  was  interesting  to  pair  off  the  objec- 
tions and  let  them  answer  each  other  like  paradoxes.  Women  will  be 
influenced  by  their  husbands  and  will  vote  for  bad  men  to  please  them. 
Women  have  too  much  influence  now,  and  if  we  give  them  any  more 
latitude  they  will  make  men  all  vote  their  way.  ( hving  to  the  composition 
and  structure  of  the  female  brain,  women  are  incapable  of  understanding 
political  affairs.  If  women  are  allowed  to  vote  they  will  crowd  all  the  men 
out  of  office,  and  men  will  be  obliged  to  stay  at  home  and  take  care  of  the 
children.  That  is,  owing  to  the  composition  and  structure  of  the  female 
brain,  women  are  so  exactly  adapted  to  political  affairs  that  men  wouldn't 
stand  any  chance  if  women  were  allowed  to  enter  into  competition  with 
them.  Women  don't  want  it.  Women  shouldn't  have  it,  for  they  don't 
know  how  to  use  it.  Grace  Greenwood  (who  was  one  of  the  seventy-two 
women  who  tried  to  vote)  said  men  were  like  the  stingy  boy  at  school  with 
a  cake.  "Now,"  said  he,  "all  you  that  don't  ask  for  it  don't  want  it,  and 
all  you  that  do  ask  for  it  sha'n't  have  it." 

Rev.  OLVMPIA  BROWN,  pastor  of  the  Universalist  church  in  Bridgeport, 
Conn.,  gave  her  views  on  the  rights  of  women  under  the  constitution, 
and  believed  that  they  were  entitled  to  the  ballot  as  an  inalienable  right. 
In  this  country,  under  existing  rulings  of  the  courts  as  to  the  meaning  of 
the  constitution,  no  one  appeared  likely  to  enjoy  the  ballot  for  all  time 
except  the  colored  men,  unless  the  clause,  "previous  condition  of  servi- 
tude," as  a  congressman  expressed  it,  referred  to  widows.  That  being 
true,  the  constitution  paid  a  premium  only  on  colored  men,  and  widows. 
If  the  constitution  did  not  guarantee  suffrage,  and  congress  did  not  be- 
stow it,  then  the  republic  was  of  no  account  and  its  boast  devoid  of 
significance  and  meaning.  Its  life  had  been  in  vain — dead  to  the  interests 
for  which  it  was  created.  She  wanted  congress  to  pass  a  sixteenth  amend- 
ment, declaring  all  its  citizens  enfranchised,  or  a  declaratory  act  setting 
forth  that  the  constitution  already  guaranteed  to  them  that  right. 

Hon.  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS  said  he  was  not  quite  in  accord  with  all  the 
sentiments  that  had  been  uttered  during  the. afternoon,  yet  he  was  willing 
that  the  largest  latitude  should  be  taken  by  the  advocates  of  the  cause. 
He  was  not  afraid  that  at  some  distant  period  the  blacks  of  the  South 
would  rise  and  disfranchise  the  whites.  While  he  was  not  willing  to  be 
addressed  as  the  ignorant,  besotted  creature  that  the  negro  is  sometimes 
called,  he  was  willing  to.  be  a  part  of  the  bridge  over  which  women  should 
march  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  rights. 

Miss  PHCEBE  COUZINS  of  St.  Louis  reviewed  in  an  able  manner  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  Virginia  L.  Minor. 

Mrs.  DEVEREUX  BLAKE  spoke  on  the  rights  and  duties  of  citizen- 
ship. She  cited  a  number  of  authorities,  including  a  recent  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  prove  that  women  are  citizens,  although  de- 
prived of  the  privileges  of  citizenship.  Taking  up  the  three  duties  of 
citizenship — paying  taxes,  serving  on  jury,  and  military  service — she  said 


8  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

woman  had  done  her  share  of  the  first  for  a  hundred  years;  that  the 
women  of  the  country  now  contributed,  directly  and  indirectly,  one-third 
of  its  revenues,  and  that  the  House  of  Representatives  had  just  robbed 
them  of  $500,000  to  pay  for  a  centennial  celebration  in  which  they  had  no 
part.  As  for  serving  on  jury,  they  did  not  claim  that  as  a  privilege,  as  it 
was  usually  regarded  as  a  most  disagreeable  duty;  but  they  did  claim  the 
right  of  women,  when  arraigned  in  court,  to  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  their 
peers,  which  was  not  accorded  when  the  jury  was  composed  wholly  of 
men.  Lastly,  as  to  serving  their  country  in  time  of  war,  it  was  a  fact  that 
women  had  actually  enlisted  and  fought  in  our  late  war,  until  their  sex 
was  discovered,  when  they  were  summarily  dismissed  without  being  paid 
for  their  services. 

Hon.  Aaron  A.  Sargent,  of  California,  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  Hon.  Samuel  S.  Cox,  of  New  York,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  presented  the  memorial  asking  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  women  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  as  follows: 

IN  THE  SENATE,  Tuesday,  January  25,  1876. 

Mr.  SARGENT:  1  present  a  memorial  asking  for  the  establishment  of  a 
government  in  the  District  of  Columbia  which  shall  secure  to  its  women 
the  right  to  vote.  This  petition  is  signed  by  many  eminent  ladies  of  the 
country:  Mrs.  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  President  of  the  National  Woman 
Suffrage  Association,  and  the  following  officers  of  that  society :  Lucretia 
Mott,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Henrietta  Payne  West- 
brook,  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Mathilde  F.  Wendt,  Ellen  Clark  Sargent; 
also  by  Mary  F.  Foster,  President  of  the  District  of  Columbia  Woman's 
Franchise  Association ;  Susan  A.  Edson,  M.  D.;  Mrs.  E.  D.  E.  N.  South- 
worth,  the  distinguished  authoress;  Mrs.  Dr.  Caroline  B.  Winslow;  Belva 
A.  Lockwood,  a  practicing  lawyer  in  this  District ;  Sara  Andrews  Spencer, 
and  Mrs.  A.  E.  Wood. 

These  intelligent  ladies  set  forth  their  petition  in  language  and  with 
facts  and  arguments  which  I  think  should  meet  the  ear  of  the  Senate, 
and  I  ask  that  it  be  read  by  the  secretary  in  order  that  their  desires  may 
be  known. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  Is  there  objection  ?    The  chair  hears  none, 
and  the  secretary  will  report  the  petition.     The  secretary  read  : 
To    the    Senate   and  House  of  Representatives   of  the    United   States   in    Congress 
assembled  : 

Whereas  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  SMtes  has  affirmed  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  the  cases  of  Spencer  vs.  The  Board  of 
Registration,  and  Webster  vs.  The  Judges  of  Election,  and  has  decided  that  "by  the 
operation  of  the  first  section  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  women  have  been  advanced  to  full  citizenship  and  clothed  with  the 
capacity  to  become  voters  ;  and  further,  that  this  first  section  of  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment does  not  execute  itself,  but  requires  the  supervision  of  legislative  power  in  the 
exercise  of  legislative  discretion  to  give  it  effect";  and  whereas  the  congress  of  the 
United  States  is  the  legislative  body  having  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  in  enfranchising  the  colored  men  and  refusing  to  enfranchise  women, 
white  or  colored,  made  an  unjust  discrimination  against  sex,  and  did  not  give  the  in- 


Centennial  Memorial  to    Congress,  9 

telligence  and  moral  power  of  the  citizens  of  said  District  a  fair  opportunity  for 
expression  at  the  polls  ;  and  whereas  woman  suffrage  is  not  an  experiment,  but  has 
had  a  fair  trial  in  Wyoming,  where  women  hold  office,  where  they  vote,  where  they 
have  the  most  orderly  society  of  any  of  the  territories,  where  the  experiment  is  ap- 
proved by  the  executive  officers  of  the  United  States,  by  their  courts,  by  their  press 
and  by  the  people  generally,  and  where  it  has  "  rescued  that  territory  from  a  state  of 
comparative  lawlessness  "  and  rendered  it  "one  of  the  most  orderly  in  the  Union"; 
and  whereas  upon  the  woman  suffrage  amendment  to  Senate  bill  number  44  of  the 
second  session  of  the  forty-third  congress,  votes  were  recorded  in  favor  of  woman 
suffrage  by  the  two  senators  from  Indiana,  the  two  from  Florida,  the  two  from 
Michigan,  the  two  from  Rhode  Island,  one  from  Kansas,  one  from  Louisiana,  one 
from  Massachusetts,  one  from  Minnesota,  one  from  Nebraska,  one  from  Nevada,  one 
from  Oregon,  one  from  South  Carolina,  one  from  Texas,  and  one  from  Wis- 
consin ;  and  whereas  a  fair  trial  of  equal  suffrage  for  men  and  women  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  congress,  would  demonstrate 
to  the  people  of  the  whole  country  that  justice  to  women  is  policy  for  men  ;  and 
whereas  the  women  of  the  United  States  are  governed  without  their  own  consent,  are 
denied  trial  by  a  jury  of  their  peers,  are  taxed  without  representation,  and  are  subject 
to  manifold  wrongs  resulting  from  unjust  and  arbitrary  exercise  of  power  over  an  un- 
represented class  ;  and  whereas  in  this  centennial  year  of  the  republic  the  spirit  of 
1776  is  breathing  its  influence  upon  the  people,  melting  away  prejudices  and  animosi- 
ties and  infusing  into  our  national  councils  a  finer  sense  of  justice  and  a  clearer 
perception  of  individual  rights  ;  therefore, 

We  pray  your  honorable  body  to  establish  a  government  for  the  District  of  Columbia 
which  shall  secure  to  its  women  the  right  to  vote. 

Mr.  SARGENT  :  Even  if  this  document  were  not  accompanied  by  the 
signatures  of  eminent  ladies  known  throughout  the  land  for  their  virtues, 
intelligence  and  high  character,  the  considerations  which  it  presents  would 
he  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the  senate.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  great 
movement  of  which  this  is  a  part  will  prevail.  It  is  working  its  progress 
day  by  day  throughout  the  country.  It  is  making  itself  felt  both  in  social 
and  political  life.  The  petitioners  here  well  say  that  there  has  been  a 
successful  experiment  of  the  exercise  of  female  suffrage  in  one  of  our  ter- 
ritories ;  that  a  territory  has  been  redeemed  from  lawlessness ;  that  the 
judges,  the  press,  the  people  generally  of  Wyoming  approve  the  results 
of  this  great  experiment.  I  know  of  no  better  place  than  the  capital  of  a 
nation  where  a  more  decisive  trial  can  be  made,  if  such  is  needed,  to 
establish  the  expediency  of  woman  suffrage.  As  to  its  justice,  who  shall 
deny  it?  I  ask,  for  the  purpose  of  due  consideration,  that  this  petition 
be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  so  that  in  pre- 
paring any  scheme  for  the  government  of  the  District  which  is  likely  to 
come  before  this  congress,  due  weight  may  be  given  to  the  considerations 
presented. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  petition  will  be  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  District  of  Columbia. 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  Friday,  March  31,  1876. 
Mr.  Cox :  Mr.  Speaker,  I  am  requested  to  present  a  memorial,  asking 
for  a  form  of  government  in  the  District  of  Columbia  which  shall  secure 
to  its  women  the  right  to  vote  ;  and  I  ask  the  grace  and  favor  to  have  this 
memorial  printed  in  the  Record. 


io  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Mr.  BANKS:  Mr.  Speaker,  1  beg  the  privilege  of  saying  a  few  words  in 
f;ivnr  of  the  request  made  by  the  gentleman  from  New  York  who  presents 
this  memorial.  It  is  a  hundred  years  this  day  since  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts,  wrote  to  her  husband,  John  Adams,  then  a  member  of 
the  continental  convention,  entreating  him  to  give  to  women  the  power 
to  protect  their  own  rights  and  predicting  a  general  revolution  if  justice 
was  denied  them.  Mrs.  Adams  was  one  of  the  noblest  women  of  that 
period,  distinguished  by  heroism  and  patriotism  never  surpassed  in  any 
age.  She  was  wife  of  the  second  and  mother  of  the  sixth  president  of  the 
United  States,  and  her  beneficent  influence  was  felt  in  political  as  well  as 
in  social  circles.  It  was  perhaps  the  first  demand  for  the  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  her  sex  made  in  this  country,  and  is  one  of  the  centennial 
incidents  that  should  be  remembered.  It  came  from  a  good  quarter.  This 
memorial  represents  half  a  million  of  American  women.  They  ask  for  the 
organization  of  a  government  in  the  District  of  Columbia  that  will  recog- 
nize their  political  rights.  I  voted  some  years  ago  to  give  women  the 
right  to  vote  in  this  District,  and  recalling  the  course  of  its  government  I 
think  it  would  have  done  no  harm  if  they  had  enjoyed  political  rights. 

Mr.  KASSON  :  I  suggest  that  the  memorial  be  printed  without  the 
names. 

Mr.  Cox :  There  are  no  names  appended  except  those  of  the  officers  of 
the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association ;  and  I  hope  they  will  be 
printed  with  the  memorial. 

Mr.  HENDEE:  I  trust  the  gentleman  will  allow  this  petition  to  be  re- 
ferred to  the  committee  of  which  I  am  a  member :  the  Committee  for  the 
District  of  Columbia.  There  being  no  objection,  the  memorial  was  read 
and  referred  to  the  Committee  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  ordered 
to  be  printed  in  the  Record. 

At  the  close  of  the  convention  a  hearing  was  granted  to  the 
ladies  before  the  committees  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives on  the  District  of  Columbia. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  of  New  York,  said:  Mr.  Chairman  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  Committee :  On  behalf  of  the  National  Association,  which 
has  its  officers  in  every  State  and  territory  of  the  Union,  and  which 
numbers  many  thousands  of  members,  and  on  behalf  of  the  Woman's 
Franchise  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  we  appear  before  you, 
asking  that  the  right  of  suffrage  be  secured'  equally  to  the  men  and 
women  of  this  District.  Art.  I,  sec.  8,  clauses  17,  18  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  reads: 

Congress  shall  have  power  to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever 
nvcr  Mich  district  as  may  become  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United  States,  *  * 
*  *  *  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into 
execution  the  foregoing  powers. 

Congress  is  therefore  constitutionally  the  special  guardian  of  the  rights 
of  the  people  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  possesses  peculiar  rights, 
peculiar  duties,  peculiar  powers  in  regard  to  this  District.  At  the  present 
time  the  men  and  women  are  alike  disfranchised.  Our  memorial  asks 
that  in  forming  a  new  government  they  may  be  alike  enfranchised.  It  is 


Mrs.    Gage  before  the   Committee.  1 1 

often  sarid  as  an  argument  against  granting  suffrage  to  women  that  they 
do  not  wish  to  vote  ;  do  not  ask  for  the  ballot.  This  association,  number- 
ing thousands  in  the  United  States,  through  its  representatives,  now  asks 
you,  in  this  memorial,  for  suffrage  in  this  District.  Petitions  from  every 
State  in  the  Union  have  been  sent  to  your  honorable  body.  One  of  these, 
signed  by  thirty-five  thousand  women,  was  sent  to  congress  in  one  large 
roll ;  but  what  is  the  value  of  a  petition  signed  by  even  a  million  of  an 
unrepresented  class? 

The  city  papers  of  the  national  capital,  once  bitterly  opposed  to  all 
effort  in  this  direction,  now  fully  recognize  the  dignity  of  the  demand, 
and  have  ceased  to  oppose  it.  One  of  these  said,  editorially,  to-day,  that 
the  vast  audiences  assembling  at  our  conventions,  the  large  majority 
being  women,  and  evidently  in  sympathy  with  the  movement,  were  proof 
of  the  great  interest  women  take  in  this  subject,  though  many  are  too 
timid  to  openly  make  the  demand.  The  woman's  temperance  movement 
began  two  years  ago  as  a  crusade  of  prayer  and  song,  and  the  women  en- 
gaged therein  have  now  resolved  themselves  into  a  national  organization, 
whose  second  convention,  held  in  October  last,  numbering  delegates  from 
twenty-two  States,  almost  unanimously  passed  a  resolution  demanding  the 
ballot  to  aid  them  in  their  temperance  work.  We  who  make  our  constant 
demand  for  suffrage,  knew  that  these  women  were  in  process  of  education, 
and  would  soon  be  forced  to  ask  for  the  key  to  all  reform. 

The  ballot  says  yes  or  no  to  all  questions.  Without  it  women  are  pro- 
hibited from  practically  expressing  their  opinions.  The  very  fact  that  the 
women  of  this  District  make  this  demand  of  you  more  urgently  than  men 
proves  that  they  desire  it  more  and  see  its  uses  better.  The  men  of  this 
District  who  quietly  remain  disfranchised  have  the  spirit  of  slaves,  and  if 
asking  for  the  ballot  is  any  proof  of  fitness  for  its  use,  then  the  women 
who  do  ask  for  it  here  prove  themselves  in  this  respect  superior  to  men, 
more  alive  to  the  interests  of  this  District,  and  better  fitted  to  administer 
the  government.  Women  who  are  not  interested  in  questions  of  reform 
would  soon  become  so  if  they  possessed  the  ballot.  They  are  now  in  the 
condition  we  were  when  we  heard  of  the  famine  in  Persia  two  years  ago. 
Our  sympathies  were  aroused  for  a  brief  while,  but  Persia  was  far  away,  we 
could  render  it  no  certain  aid,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  people  soon  passed 
from  our  minds. 

Our  approaching  centennial  celebration  is  to  commemorate  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  which  was  based  on  individual  rights.  For  ages 
it  was  a  question  where  the  governing  power  rightfully  belonged; 
patriarch,  priest,  and  monarch  each  claimed  it  by  divine  right.  Our 
country  declared  it  vested  in  the  individual.  Not  only  was  this  clearly 
stated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  but  the  same  ground  was 
maintained  in  the  secret  proceedings  upon  framing  the  constitution.  The 
old  confederation  was  abandoned  because  it  did  not  secure  the  indepen- 
dence and  safety  of  the  people.  It  has  recently  been  asked  in  congres- 
sional debates,  "  What  is  the  grand  idea  of  the  centennial  ?  "  The  answer 
was,  "It  is  the  illustration  in  spirit  and  truth  of  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  of  the  constitution." 


12  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

These  principles  are : 

First — The  natural  rights  of  each  individual. 

Second—  The  exact  equality  of  these  rights. 

Third—  That  rights  not  delegated  are  retained  by  the  individual. 

Fourth — That  no  person  shall  exercise  the  rights  of  others  without 
rirlr^tted  authority. 

Fifth — That  non-use  of  rights  does  not  destroy  them. 

Rights  did  not  come  new-born  into  the  world  with  the  revolution.  Our 
fathers  were  men  of  middle  age  before  they  understood  their  own  rights, 
hut  when  they  did  they  compelled  the  recognition  of  the  world,  and  now 
the  nations  of  the  earth  are  this  year  invited  to  join  you  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  these  principles  of  free  government. 

We  have  special  reasons  for  asking  you  to  secure  suffrage  to  the  women 
of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Woman  Suffrage  has  been  tried  in  Wyo- 
ming, and  ample  testimony  of  its  beneficial  results  has  been  furnished,  but 
it  is  a  far  distant  territory,  and  those  not  especially  interested  will  not 
examine  the  evidence.  It  has  been  tried  in  Utah,  but  with  great  opposi- 
tion on  account  of  the  peculiar  religious  belief  and  customs  of  the  people. 
But  the  District  of  Columbia  is  directly  under  the  eye  of  congress.  It  is 
the  capital  of  the  nation,  and  three-fifths  of  the  property  of  the  District 
belongs  to  the  United  States.  The  people  of  the  whole  country  would 
therefore  be  interested  in  observing  the  practical  workings  of  this  system 
on  national  soil.  With  7,316  more  women  than  men  in  this  District,  we 
call  your  special  attention  to  the  inconsistency  and  injustice  of  granting 
suffrage  to  a  minority  and  withholding  it  from  a  majority,  as  you  have 
done  in  the  past.  If  the  District  is  your  special  ward,  then  women,  being 
in  the  majority  here,  have  peculiar  claims  upon  you  for  a  consideration 
of  their  rights.  The  freedom  of  this  country  is  only  half  won.  The  wo- 
men of  to-day  have  less  freedom  than  our  fathers  of  the  revolution,  for 
they  were  permitted  local  self-government,  while  women  have  no  share 
in  local,  State,  or  general  government. 

Our  memorial  calls  your  attention  to  the  Pembina  debate  in  1874.  when 
senators  from  eighteen  States  recognized  the  right  of  self-government  as 
inhering  in  women.  One  senator  said  :  "  I  believe  women  never  will 
enjoy  equality  with  men  in  taking  care  of  themselves  until  they  have  the 
right  to  vote."  Another.  "  that  the  question  was  being  considered  by  a 
large  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States."  When  the  discussion 
was  concluded  and  the  vote  taken,  twentj'-two  senators  recorded  their 
votes  for  woman  suffrage  in  that  distant  territory.  During  the  debate 
several  senators  publicly  declared  their  intention  of  voting  for  woman 
suffrage  in  the  District  of  Columbia  whenever  the  opportunity  was  pre- 
sented. These  senators  recognize  the  fact  that  the  ballot  is  not  only  a 
right,  but  that  it  is  opportunity  for  woman  ;  that  it  is  the  one  means  of 
helping  her  to  help  herself.  In  asking  you  to  secure  the  ballot  to  the 
women  of  the  District  we  do  not  ask  you  to  create  a  right.  That  is  be- 
yond your  power.  We  ask  you  to  protect  them  in  the  exercise  of  a  right. 

Mrs.  SARA  ANDREWS  SPENCER,  Secretary  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
Woman's  Franchise  Association,  said :  For  no  legal  or  political  right  I 


Mrs.   Spencer   before  tke  Committee.  13 

have  ever  claimed  in  the  District  of  Columbia  do  I  ask  a  stronger,  clearer 
charter  than  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  as  it  stood1  before  the  fourteenth  amendment  had  entered  the 
minds  of  men.  A  judicial  decision,  rendered  by  nine  men,  upon  the  rights 
of  ten  millions  of  women  of  this  republic,  need  not,  does  not,  change  the 
convictions  of  one  woman  in  regard  to  her  own  heaven-endowed  rights, 
duties,  and  responsibilities. 

We  have  resorted  to  all  the  measures  dictated  by  those  who  rule  over 
us  for  securing  the  freedom  to  exercise  rights  which  are  sacredly  our  own, 
rights  which  are  ours  by  Divine  inheritance,  and  which  men  can  neither 
confer  nor  take  away.  We  are  not  only  daughters  of  our  Father  in  heaven, 
and  joint  heirs  with  you  there  ;  but  we  are  daughters  of  this  republic,  and 
joint  heirs  with  you  here.  Every  act  of  legislation  which  has  been  placed 
as  a  bar  in  our  way  as  citizens  has  been  an  act  of  injustice,  and  every  ex- 
pedient to  which  we  have  resorted  for  securing  recognition  of  citizenship 
has  been  with  protest  against  the  existence  of  these  acts  of  unauthorized 
power. 

When  any  man  expresses  doubt  to  me  as  to- the  use  that  I  or  any  other 
woman  might  make  of  the  ballot  if  we  had  it,  my  answer  is,  What  is  that 
to  you  ?  If  you  have  for  years  defrauded  me  of  my  rightful  inheritance, 
and  then,  as  a  stroke  of  policy,  or  from  late  conviction,  concluded  to  re- 
store to  me  my  own  domain,  must  I  ask  you  whether  I  may  make  of  it  a 
garden  of  flowers,  or  a  field  of  wheat,  or  a  pasture  for  kine?  If  I  choose 
I  may  counsel  with  you.  If  experience  has  given  you  wisdom,  even  of  this 
world,  in  managing  your  property  and  mine,  I  should  be  wise  to  learn  from 
you.  But  injustice  is  not  wont  to  yield  wisdom ;  grapes  do  not  grow  of 
thorns,  nor  figs  of  thistles. 

Born  of  the  unjust  and  cruel  subjection  of  woman  to  man,  we  have  in 
these  United  States  a  harvest  of  116,000  paupers,  36,000 criminals,  and  such 
a  mighty  host  of  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  idiotic,  insane,  feeble-minded,  and 
children  with  tendencies  to  crime,  as  almost  to  lead  one  to  hope  for  the 
extinction  of  the  human  race  rather  than  for  its  perpetuation  after  its  own 
kind.  The  wisdom  of  man  licenses  the  dram-shop,  and  then  rears  station- 
houses,  jails,  and  gibbets  to  provide  for  the  victims.  In  this  District  we 
have  135  teachers  of  public  schools  and  238  police  officers,  and  the  last 
report  shows  that  public  safety  demands  a  police  force  of  900.  We  have 
31,671  children  of  school  age;  31,671  reasons  why  I  want  to  vote.  We 
have  here  7,000  more  children  of  school  age  than  there  are  seats  in  all  the 
public  schools,  and  from  the  swarm  of  poor,  ignorant,  and  vagrant  child- 
ren, the  lists  of  criminals  and  paupers  are  constantly  supplied.  To  pro- 
vide for  these  evils  there  is  an  annual  expenditure  of  $350,000,  not  includ- 
ing expenses  of  courts,  while  for  education  the  annual  expenditure  is 
$280,000. 

Will  you  say  that  the  wives  and  the  mothers,  the  house  and  homekeepers 
of  this  small  territory,  have  no  interest  in  all  these  things  ?  If  dram-shops 
are  licensed  and  brothels  protected,  are  not  our  sons,  our  brothers,  tempted 
and  ruined,  our  daughters  lured  from  their  homes,  and  lost  to  earth  and 
heaven  ?  Long  and  patiently  women  have  borne  wrongs  too  deep  to  be 


14  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

put  into  words  ;  wrongs  for  which  men  have  provided  no  redress  and  have 
found  no  remedy.  When  five  years  ago,  with  our  social  atmosphere 
poisoned  with  vices  which  as  women  we  had  no  power  to  remove,  men  in 
authority  began  a  series  of  attempts  to  fasten  upon  us  by  law  the  huge 
typical  vice  of  all  the  ages — the  social  evil — in  a  form  so  degrading  to  all 
womanhood  that  no  man,  though  he  were  the  prince  of  profligates,  would 
submit  to  its  regulations  for  a  day ;  then  we  cried  out  so  that  the  world 
heard  us.  We  know  the  plague  is  only  stayed  for  a  brief  while.  The  hy- 
dra-headed monster  every  now  and  then  lifts  a  new  front,  and  must  be 
smitten  again.  Four  times  in  four  successive  years  a  little  company  of 
women  of  the  District  have  appeared  before  committees  and  compelled 
the  discussion  and  defeat  of  bills  designed  to  fasten  these  measures  upon 
the  community  under  the  guise  of  security  for  public  health  and  morality. 
The  last  annual  report  of  the  board  of  health  speaks  tenderly  of  the  need 
of  protecting  vicious  men  by  these  regulations,  and  says  : 

The  legalization  of  houses  of  ill-fame  for  so  humane  a  purpose,  startling  as  it  may 
be  to  the  moral  sense,  has  many  powerful  advocates  among  the  thoughtful,  wise,  and 
philanthropic  of  communities. 

The  report  quotes  approvingly  Dr.  Gross,  of  Philadelphia,  who  says  in 
behalf  of  laws  to  license  the  social  evil : 

The  prejudices  which  surround  the  subject  must  be  swept  away,  and  men  must 
march  to  the  front  and  discharge  their  duty,  however  much  they  may  be  reproached 
and  abused  by  the  ignorant  and  foolish. 

Aside  from  the  higher  ground  of  our  inherent  right  to  self-government, 
we  declare  here  and  now  that  the  women  of  this  District  are  not  safe  with- 
out the  ballot.  Our  firesides,  our  liberties  are  in  constant  peril,  while  men 
who  have  no  concern  for  our  welfare  may  legislate  against  our  dearest 
interests.  If  we  would  inaugurate  any  measure  of  protection  for  our  own 
sex,  we  are  bound  hand  and  foot  by  man.  The  law  is  his,  the  treasury  is 
his,  the  power  is  his,  and  he  need  not  even  hear  our  cry,  except  at  his 
good  will  and  pleasure. 

If  man  had  legislated  justly  and  wisely  for  the  interests  of  this  District, 
if  its  financial  condition  was  sound,  its  social  and  moral  atmosphere  pure, 
and  all  was  well,  there  would  be  some  show  of  reason  in  your  refusing  to 
hazard  a  new  experiment,  even  though  we  could  demonstrate  it  to  be 
founded  upon  eternal  justice.  But  the  history  of  the  successive  forms  of 
government  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is  a  history  of  failures.  So  will 
it  continue  to  be  until  you  adopt  a  plan  founded  upon  truly  republican 
principles.  When,  a  few  years  ago,  you  put  the  ballot  into  the  hands  of 
the  swarming  masses  of  freedmen  who  had  gathered  here  with  the  igno- 
rance and  vices  of  slaves,  and  refused  to  enfranchise  women,  white  or 
colored,  you  gave  this  District  no  fair  trial  of  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment. You  did  not  even  protect  the  interests  of  the  colored  race.  You 
admitted  that  the  colored  man  was  not  really  free  until  he  held  the  ballot 
in  his  hand,  and  therefore  you  enfranchised  him  and  left  the  woman  twice 
his  slave.  I  know  colored  women  in  Washington  far  the  superiors,  intel- 
lectually and  morally,  of  the  masses  of  men,  who  declare  that  they  now  en- 
dure wrongs  and  abuses  unknown  in  slavery. 


Senators  Frclinghuysen  and  Howe.  15 

There  is  not  an  interest  in  this  District  that  is  not  as  vital  to  me  as  to 
any  man  in  Washington — that  is  not  more  vital  to  me  than  it  can  be  to 
any  member  of  this  honorable  body.  As  a  citizen,  seeking  the  welfare  of 
this  community,  as  a  wife  and  mother  desiring  the  safety  of  my  children, 
which  of  you  can  claim  a  deeper  interest  than  I  in  questions  of  markets, 
taxes,  finance,  banks,  railroads,  highways,  the  public  debt  and  interest 
thereon,  boards  of  health,  sanitary  and  police  regulations,  station-houses 
(wherein  I  find  many  a  wreck  of  womanhood,  ruined  in  her  youth  and 
beauty),  schools,  asylums,  and  charities  ?  Why  deny  me  a  voice  in  any  or 
all  of  these  ?  Do  you  doubt  that  I  would  use  the  ballot  in  the  interests  of 
order,  retrenchment,  and  reform  ?  Do  you  deny  a  right  of  mine,  which 
you  will  admit  I  know  how  to  prize,  because  there  are  women  who  do  not 
appreciate  its  value,  do  not  demand  it,  possibly  might  not  (any  better  than 
men)  know  how  to  use  it  ?  What  a  mockery  of  justice  !  What  a  flagrant 
violation  of  individual  rights !  I  would  cry  out  against  it  if  no  other 
woman  in  the  land  felt  the  wrong.  But  among  the  10,000,000  of  mothers 
of  14,000,000  of  children  in  this  country,  vast  numbers  of  thoughtful,  phil- 
anthropic, and  pure  women  have  come  to  see  this  truth,  and  desire  to  ex- 
press their  mother  love  and  home  love  at  the  ballot-box  ! 

Frederick  Douglass  once  said  :  "  Whole  nations  have  been  bathed  in 
blood  to  establish  the  simplest  possible  propositions.  For  instance,  that 
a  man's  head  is  his  head  ;  his  body  is  his  body  ;  his  feet  are  his  feet,  and  if  he 
chooses  to  run  away  with  them  it  is  nobody's  business  "  ;  and  all  honor  to 
him,  he  added,  "  Now,  these  propositions  have  been  established  for  the 
colored  man.  Why  does  not  man  establish  them  for  woman,  his  wife,  his 
mother?" 

Determined  to  surround  the  colored  man  with  every  possible  guarantee 
of  protection  in  the  possesion  of  his  freedom,  congress  stopped  the  wheels 
of  legislation,  and  made  the  whole  country  wait,  while  day  after  day  and 
night  after  night  his  friends  fought  inch  by  inch  the  ground  for  the  civil 
rights  bill.  During  that  debate  Senator  Frelinghuysen  said  : 

When  I  took  the  oath  as  senator,  I  took  the  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which  declares  equality  for  all  :  and  in  advocating  this  bill  I  am  doing 
my  sworn  duty  in  endeavoring  to  secure  equal  rights  for  every  citixen  of  the  United 
Slates. 

But  where  slept  his  "sworn  duty"  when  he  recorded  his  vote  in  the 
Senate  against  woman  suffrage  ?  With  marvelous  inconsistency,  as  a 
reason  for  opposing  woman  suffrage,  during  the  Pembina  debate,  May  27, 
1874,  Senator  Merrimon  said  of  the  relation  of  women  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States: 

They  have  sustained  it  under  all  circumstances  with  their  love,  their  hands,  and 
their  hearts  ;  with  their  smiles  and  their  tears  they  have  educated  their  children  to  live 
fur  it,  and  to  die  for  it. 

Therefore  the  honorable  gentleman  denies  them  the  right  to  vote. 

Upon  the  civil  rights  bill,  Senator  Howe  said  : 

I  do  not  know  but  what  the  passage  of  this  bill  will  break  up  the  common  school-,. 
I  admit  that  I  have  some  fear  on  that  point.  Kvery  step  of  this  terrible  march  has 
been  met  with  a  threat ;  but  let  justice  be  done  although  the  commoo  schools  and  the 
heavens  do  full. 


1 6  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  reply  to  the  point  made  by  Mr.  Stockton  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  not  accept  this  bill,  Mr.  Howe  said  : 

I  would  not  turn  back  if  I  knew  that  of  the  forty  million  people  of  the  United  States 
not  one  million  would  sustain  it.  If  this  generation  does  not  accept  it  there  is  a  gen- 
eration to  come  that  will  accept  it.  What  does  this  provide  ?  Not  that  the  black 
man  should  be  helped  on  his  way  ;  not  at  all  ;  but  only  that,  as  he  staggers  along,  he 
shall  not  be  retarded,  shall  not  be  tripped  up  and  made  to  fall. 

Brave  and  tender  words  these  for  our  black  brother ;  but  see  how  prone 
men  are  to  invert  truth,  justice,  and  mercy  in  dealing  with  women.  During 
the  Pembina  debate,  Senator  Merrimon  said  : 

I  know  there  are  a  few  women  in  the  country  who  complain  ;  but  those  who  com- 
plain, compared  with  those  who  do  not  complain,  are  as  one  to  a  million. 

As  a  literal  fact,  the  women  who  have  complained,  have  petitioned,  sued, 
reasoned,  plead,  have  knocked  at  the  doors  of  your  legislatures  and  courts, 
are  as  one  to  fifty  in  this  country,  as  we  who  watch  the  record  know;  and 
even  that  is  a  small  proportion  of  those  who  would,  but  dare  not ;  who  are 
bound  hand  and  foot,  and  will  be  bound  until  you  make  them  free.  But 
if  no  others  feel  the  wrong  but  those  who  have  dared  to  complain  ;  if  the 
poor,  the  ignorant,  the  betrayed,  the  ruined  do  not  understand  the  ques- 
tion, and  the  well-fed  and  comfortable  "  have  all  the  rights  they  want,"  do 
you  give  that  for  answer  to  our  just  demand  ?  What  do  we  ask  ?  Not 
that  poor  woman  "  shall  be  helped  on  her  way  " — not  at  all ;  but  only  that, 
"  as  she  staggers  along,  she  shall  not  be  retarded,  shall  not  be  tripped  up, 
shall  not  be  made  to  fall." 

And  here  on  this  national  soil,  lor  the  women  of  this  District  of  Colum- 
bia— your  peculiar  wards — I  ask  you  to  try  the  experiment  of  exact,  even- 
handed  justice  ;  to  give  us  a  voice  in  the  laws  under  which  we  must  live, 
by  which  we  are  tried,  judged  and  condemned.  I  ask  it  for  myself,  that  I 
may  the  better  help  other  women.  I  ask  it  for  other  women,  that  they 
may  the  better  help  themselves.  As  you  hope  for  justice  and  mercy  in 
your  hour  of  need,  may  you  hear  and  answer. 

Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  of  Connecticut ;  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  of 
Washington  ;  and  Phoebe  Couzins,  of  St.  Louis,  also  addressed  the 
committees :  enforcing  their  arguments  with  wit,  humor,  pathos 
and  eloquence. 

On  her  way  home  from  Washington,  Mrs.  Gage  stopped  in  Phil- 
adelphia to  secure  rooms  for  the  National  Association  during  the 
centennial  summer,  and  decided  upon  Carpenter  Hall,  in  case  it 
could  be  obtained.  This  hall  belongs  to  the  Carpenter  Company 
of  Philadelphia,  perhaps  the  oldest  existing  association  of  that 
city,  it  having  maintained  an  uninterrupted  organization  from  the 
year  1724,  about  forty  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  colo- 
nial government  by  William  Penn,  and  was  much  in  use  during  the 
early  days  of  the  revolution.  The  doors  of  the  State  House, 


Application  for  Carpenter  HalL  1 7 

where  the  continental  congress  intended  to  meet,  were  found 
closed  against  it ;  but  the  Carpenter  Company,  numbering  many 
eminent  patriots,  offered  its  hall  for  their  use;  and  here  met  the 
first  continental  congress,  Septembers,  1774.  John  Adams,  de- 
scribing its  opening  ceremonies,  said  : 

Here  was  a  scene  worthy  of  the  painter's  art.  Washington  was  kneeling 
there,  and  Randolph,  Rutledge,  Lee  and  Jay  ;  and  by  their  side  there  stood, 
bowed  in  reverence,  the  Puritan  patriots  of  New  England,  who  at  that 
moment  had  reason  to  believe  that  an  armed  soldiery  was  wasting  their 
humble  households.  It  was  believed  that  Boston  had  been  bombarded 
and  destroyed.*  They  prayed  fervently  for  America,  for  the  congress,  for 
the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  especially  for  the  town  of  Boston. 
Who  can  realize  the  emotions  with  which  in  that  hour  of  danger  they 
turned  imploringly  to  heaven  for  Divine  interposition.  It  was  enough  to 
melt  a  heart  of  stone.  I  saw  the  tears  gush  into  the  eyes  of  old,  gray,  pa- 
cific Quakers  of  Philadelphia. 

The  action  of  this  congress,  which  sat  but  seven  weeks,  was 
momentous  in  the  history  of  the  world.  "  From  the  moment  of 
their  first  debate,"  said  De  Tocqueville,  "  Europe  was  moved." 
The  convention  which  in  1781  framed  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  also  met  in  Carpenter  Hall  in  secret  session  for 
four  months  before  agreeing  upon  its  provisions.  This  hall 
seemed  the  most  appropriate  place  for  establishing  the  centen-. 
nial  rooms  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  but  the 
effort  to  obtain  it  proved  unavailing  f  as  will  be  seen  by  the  follow- 
ing- correspondence : 

To  the  President  and  Officers  of  the  Carpenter  Company  of  Philadelphia  : 

The  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  will  hold  its  headquarters  in  Philadel- 
phia the  centennial  season  of  1876,  and  desires  to  secure  your  historic  hall  for  that 
purpose.  We  know  your  habit  aud  custom  of  denying  its  use  to  all  societies,  yet  we 
make  our  request  because  our  objects  are  in  accord  with  the  principles  which  ema- 
nated from  within  its  walls  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  we  shall  use  it  in  carrying  out 
those  principles  of  liberty  and  equality  upon  which  our  government  is  based. 

We  design  to  advertise  our  headquarters  to  the  world,  and  old  Carpenter  Hall,  if 
used  by  us,  would  become  more  widely  celebrated  as  the  birth-place  of  liberty.  Our 
work  in  it  would  cause  it  to  be  more  than  ever  held  in  reverence  by  future  ages,  and 
pilgrimages  by  men  and  women  would  be  made  to  it  as  to  another  Mecca  shrine. 

We  propose  to  place  a  person  in  charge,  with  pamphlets,  speeches,  tracts,  etc.,  and 
to  hold  public  meetings  for  the  enunciation  of  our    principles  and  the  furtherance  of 
.  our  demands.     Hoping  you  will  grant  this  request, 

I  am  respectfully  yours,  MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE, 

President  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 


*  News  of  the  cannonade  of  Boston  had  been  received  the  day  previous. 

t  Though  thus  discourteously  refused  to  an  association  to  secure  equality  of  rights  for  women,  it 
was  subsequently  rented  to  "  The  liueriuitiunul  Peace  Association." 

2 


1 8  History  of    W'onictn  Suffrage. 

Two  months  afterward,  the  following  reply  was  received : 

HAM.,  CARPENTER  COURT,  322  Chestnut  St.,  ) 
PHILADELPHIA,  April  24,  1876.  ) 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  President  of  the  }\\<man  Suffrage  Association  : 

Your  communication  asking  permission  to  occupy  Carpenter  Hall  for  your  conven- 
tion was  duly  received,  and  presented  to  the  company  at  a  stated  meeting  held  the 
i6th  instant,  when  on  motion  it  was  unanimously  resolved  to  postpone  the  subject  in- 
definitely. 

[Extract  of  minutes].  GEORGE  WATSON,  Secretary. 

It  was  a  matter  of  no  moment  to  those  men  that  women  were 
soon  to  assemble  in  Philadelphia,  whose  love  of  liberty  was  as 
deep,  whose  patriotism  was  as  pure  as  that  of  the  fathers  who 
met  within  its  walls  in  1774,  and  whose  deliberations  had  given 
that  hall  its  historic  interest. 

In  the  midst  of  these  preparations  the  usual  May  anniversary 
was  held  : 

CALL  FOR  THE  MAY  ANNIVERSARY,  1876. — The  National  Woman  Suffrage  Asso- 
ciation will  hold  its  Ninth  Annual  Convention  in  Masonic  Hall,  New  York,  corner  of 
Sixth  avenue  and  Twenty-third  street,  May  10,  n,  1876. 

This  convention  occuring  in  the  centennial  year  of  the  republic,  will  be  a  most  im- 
portant one.  The  underlying  principles  of  government  will  this  year  be  discussed  as 
never  before  ;  both  foreigners  and  citizens  will  query  as  to  how  closely  this  country 
has  lived  up  to  its  own  principles.  The  long-debated  question  as  to  the  source  of  the 
governing  power  was  answered  a  century  ago  by  the  famous  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence which  shook  to  the  foundation  all  recognized  power  and  proclaimed  the  right  of 
the  individual  as  above  all  forms  of  government  ;  but  while  thus  declaring  itself,  it 
has  held  the  women  of  the  nation  accountable  to  laws  they  have  had  no  share  in 
making,  and  taught  as  their«one  duty,  that  doctrine  of  tyrants,  unquestioning  obedi- 
ence. Liberty  to-day  is,  therefore,  but  the  heritage  of  one-half  the  people,  and  the 
centennial  will  be  but  the  celebration  of  the  independence  of  one-half  the  nation.  The 
men  alone  of  this  country  live  in  a  republic,  the  women  enter  the  second  hundred 
years  of  national  life  as  political  slaves. 

That  no  structure  is  stronger  than  its  weakest  point  is  a  law  of  mechanics  that  will 
apply  equally  to  government.  In  so  far  as  this  government  has  denied  justice  to 
woman,  it  is  weak,  and  preparing  for  its  own  downfall.  All  the  insurrections,  rebel- 
lions, and  martyrdoms  of  history  have  grown  out  of  the  desire  for  liberty,  and  in 
woman's  heart  this  desire  is  as  strong  as  in  man's.  At  every  vital  time  in  the  nation's 
life,  men  and  women  have  worked  together  ;  everywhere  has  woman  stood  by  the  side 
of  father,  brother,  husband,  son,  in  defense  of  liberty  ;  without  her  aid  the  republic 
could  never  have  been  established  ;  and  yet  woinen  are  still  suffering  under  all  the 
oppressions  complained  of  in  1776  ;  which  can  only  be  remedied  by  securing  impartial 
suffrage  to  all  citirens  without  distinction  of  sex. 

All  persons  who  believe  republican  principles  should  be  carried  out  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  are  invited  to  be  present  at  the  May  convention. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  President. 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,   Chairman  Executive  Committee. 

This  May  anniversary,  commencing  on  the  same  day  with  the 
opening  of  the  centennial  exhibition,  was  marked  with  more  than 
usual  earnestness.  As  popular  thought  naturally  turned  with 
increasing  interest  at  such  an  hour  to  the  underlying  principles 


May  Anniversary  in  New  York,  1876.  [9 

of  government,  woman's  demand  for  political  equality  received  a 
new  impulse.  The  famous  Smith  sisters,  of  Glastonbury,  Con- 
necticut, attended  this  convention,  and  were  most  cordially 
welcomed.  The  officers*  for  the  centennial  year  were  chosen 
and  a  campaignf  and  congressional;}:  committee  appointed  to  take 
charge  of  affairs  at  Philadelphia  and  Washington.  The  resolu- 
tions show  the  general  drift  of  the  discussions  :§ 

WHEREAS,  The  right  of  self-government  inheres  in  the  individual  before  govern- 
ments are  founded,  constitutions  framed,  or  courts  created  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  Governments  exist  to  protect  the  people  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
natural  rights,  and  when  any  government  becomes  destructive  of  this  end,  it  is  the 
right  of  the  people  to  resist  and  abolish  it  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  women  of  the  United  States,  for  one  hundred  years,  have  been 
denied  the  exercise  of  their  natural  right  of  self-government  and  self-protection; 
therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  natural  right  and  most  sacred  duty  of  the  women  of  these 
United  States  to  rebel  against  the  injustice,  usurpation  and  tyranny  of  our  present 
government. 

WHEREAS,  The  men  of  1776  rebelled  against  a  government  which  did  not  claim  to 
be  of  the  people,  but,  on  the  contrary,  upheld  the  "divine  right  of  kings";  and 

WHEREAS,  The  women  of  this  nation  to-day,  under  a  government  which  claims  to 
be  based  upon  individual  rights,  to  be  "  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,"  in  an  infinitely  greater  degree  are  suffering  all  the  wrongs  which  led  to  the 
war  of  the  revolution  ;  and 


*President— Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Tenafly,  New  Jersey. 

I' ice-Presidents — Lucretia  Mott,  Pa.;  Ernestine  L.  Rose,  England  ;  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  R.  I.; 
Clarina  I.  H.  Nichols,  Cal.;  Amelia  Bloomer,  Iowa;  Mathilde  Franceska  Anneke,  Wis.;  Virginia  L. 
Minor,  Mo.;  Catharine  A.  F.  Stebbins,  Mich.;  Julia  and  Abby  Smith,  Conn.;  Abby  P.  Ela,  N.  H.; 
Mrs.  W.  H.  H.  Murray,  Mass.;  Ann  T.  Greely,  Me.;  Eliza  D.  Stewart,  Ohio  ;  Mary  Hamilton  Wil- 
liams, Ind.;  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  111.;  Sarah  Burger  Stearns,  Minn.;  Ada  W.  Lucas,  Neb.- 
Helen  E.  Starrett,  Kan.;  Ann  L.  Quinby,  Ky  ;  Elizabeth  Avery  Meriwether,  Tenn.;  Mrs.  L.  C.  Locke, 
Texas;  Emily  P.  Collins,  La.;  Mary  J.  Spaulding,  Ga.;  Mrs.  P.  Holmes  Drake,  Ala.;  Flora  M, 
Wright,  Fla.;  Frances  Annie  Pillsbury,  S.  C.;  Cynthia  Anthony, N.  C.;  Carrie  F,  Putnam,  Va.;  Anna 
Ella  Carroll,  Md.;  Abigail  Scott  Duniway,  Oregon  ;  Hannah  H.  Clapp,  Nevada  ;  Dr.  Alida  C.  Avery, 
Col.;  Mary  Olney  Brown,  Wash.  Ter.;  Esther  A.  Morris,  Wyoming  Ter.;  Annie  Godbe,  Utah. 

Advisory  Committee — Sarah  Pugh,  Pa.;  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Conn.;  Charlotte  B.  Wilbour, 
N.  V.;  Mary  J.  Channing,  R.  I.;  Elizabeth  B.  Schenck,  Cal.;  Judith  Ellen  Foster,  Jowa;  Lavinia 
Goodell,  Wis.;  Annie  R.  Irvine,  Mo.;  Marian  Bliss,  Mich.;  Mary  B.  Moses,  N.  H.;  Sarah  A.  Vibbart, 
Mass.;  Lucy  A.  Snowe,  Me.;  Marilla  M.  Ricker,  N.  H.;  Mary  Madden,  Ohio;  Emma  Molloy,  Ind.; 
Cynthia  A.  Leonard,  III.;  Mrs.  Dr.  Stewart,  Minn.;  Julia  Brown  Bemis,  Neb.;  Mrs.  N.  H.  Cramer, 
Tenn.;  Mrs.  W.  V.  Tunstall.  Tex.;  Mrs.  A.  Millspaugh,  La.;  Hannah  M.  Rogers,  Fla.;  Sally  Holly, 
Va. ;  Sallie  W.  Hardcastle,  Md.;  Mary  P.  Sautelle,  Oregon  ;  Mary  F.  Shields,  Col.;  Amelia  (lidding-,. 
Wash.  Ter.;  Amalia  B.  Post,  Wyoming  Ter. 

Corresponding  Secretaries — Susan  B.  Anthony,  Rochester,  N.  Y. ;  Laura  Curtis  Bullard,  New 
York  ;  Jane  Graham  Jones,  Chicago,  111. 

Recording  Secretary — Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  New  York. 

Treasure* — Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Executii't  Comiiiitt,-f—  Matilda  Joslyu  Gage,  Fayetteville,  N.  Y.;  Clemence  S.  Lozier,  M.  D., 
Eli/abeth  B.  Phelps,  Mathilde  F.  Wendt,  Phebe  H.  Jones,  New  York;  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Con- 
necticut ;  Sarah  R.  L.  Williams,  Ohio ;  M.Adeline  Thomson,  Pennsylvania;  Henrietta  Payne  West- 
brook,  Pennsylvania;  Nancy  R.  Allen,  Iowa. 

-t/^6  Campaign  Com mittee— Susan  B.  Anthony,  N.  Y.;  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  N.  Y.;  Phoebe  W. 
Couzins,  Mo.;  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Conn.;  Jane  Graham  Jones,  111.;  Abigail  Scott  J'uniway, 
Oregon  ;  Laura  De  Force  Gordon,  Cal.;  Annie  C.  Savery,  Iowa. 

^Resident  Congressional  Committee — Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  Ruth  Carr 
Denison,  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Mrs.  E.  D.  E.  N.  Southw->rlh. 

$Among  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussions  were  Dr  Clemence  Lozier,  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
Helen  M.  Sim-urn,  Sarah  Goodyear,  Helen  M.  Cook,  Abby  and  Julia  Smith,  Sara  Andrews  Spencer, 
Miss  Charlotte  Ray,  Lillie  Devereux  Blake  and  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage. 


2O  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

WHEREAS,  The  oppression  is  all  the  more  keenly  felt  because  our  masters,  instead 
of  dwelling  in  a  foreign  land,  are  our  husbands,  our  fathers,  our  brothers  and  our 
sons  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  women  of  this  nation,  in  1876,  have  greater  cause  for  discontent, 
rebellion  and  revolution,  than  the  men  of  1776. 

Resolved,  That  with  Abigail  Adams,  in  1776,  we  believe  that  "the  passion  for 
liberty  cannot  be  strong  in  the  breasts  of  those  who  are  accustomed  to  deprive  their 
fellow-creatures  of  liberty";  that,  as  Abigail  Adams  predicted,  "  We  are  determined 
to  foment  a  rebellion,  and  will  not  hold  ourselves  bound  by  laws  in  which  we  have  no 
voice  or  representation." 

WHEREAS,  We  believe  in  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  believe  a  true  republic  is  the  best  form  of 
government  in  the  world  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  This  government  is  false  to  its  underlying  principles  in  denying  to 
women  the  only  means  of  self-government,  the  ballot ;  and 

WHEREAS,  One-half  of  the  citizens  of  this  nation,  after  a  century  of  boasted  liberty, 
are  still  political  slaves  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  protest  against  calling  the  present  centennial  celebration  a  cele- 
bration of  the  independence  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  we  meet  in  our  respective  towns  and  districts  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1876,  and  declare  ourselves  no  longer  bound  to  obey  laws  in  whose  making  we  have 
had  no  voice,  and,  in  presence  of  the  assembled  nations  of  the  world  gathered  on  this 
soil  to  celebrate  our  nation's  centennial,  demand  justice  for  the  women  of  this  land. 

WHEREAS,  The  men  of  this  nation  have  established  for  men  of  all  nations,  races 
and  color,  on  this  soil,  at  the  cost  of  countless  lives,  the  proposition  (in  the  language 
of  Frederick  Douglass)  "  that  a  man's  head  is  his  head,  his  body  is  his  body,  his  feet 
are  his  feet  ";  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  justice,  equity  and  chivalry  demand  that  man  at  once  establish  for 
his  wife  and  mother  the  corresponding  proposition,  that  a  woman's  head  is  her  head, 
her  body  is  her  body,  her  feet  are  her  feet,  and  that  all  ownership  and  mastery  over 
her  person,  property,  conscience,  and  liberty  of  speech  and  action,  are  in  violation  of 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 

Resolved,  That  we  rejoice  in  the  resistance  of  Julia  and  Abby  Smith,  Abby  Kelly 
Foster,  Sarah  E.  Wall  and  many  more  resolute  women  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
to  taxation  without  representation. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  are  hereby 
tendered  to  Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent,  of  California,  for  his  earnest  words  in  behalf  of 
woman  suffrage  on  the  floor  of  the  United  States  Senate,  Jan.  25,  1876  ;  and  to  Hon. 
N.  P.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts,  for  his  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  centennial  woman 
suffrage  memorial  in  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives,  March  31,  1876. 

Resolved,  That  the  repeated  attempts  to  license  the  social  evil  are  a  practical  con- 
fession of  the  weakness,  profligacy  and  general  unfitness  of  men  to  legislate  for  women, 
and  should  be  regarded  with  alarm  as  a  proof  that  their  firesides  and  liberties  are  in 
constant  peril  while  men  alone  make  and  execute  the  laws  of  this  country. 

WHEREAS,  There  are  7,000  more  women  than  men  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
no  form  of  government  for  said  District  has  allowed  women  any  voice  in  making  the 
laws  under  which  they  live  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  in  this  centennial  year  the  congress  of  the  United  States  having  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  over  that  territory  should  establish  a  truly  republican  form  of 
government  by  granting  equal  suffrage  to  the  men  and  women  of  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

Immediately  at  the  close  of  the  May  convention  Mrs.  Gage 
again  went  to  Philadelphia  to  complete  the  arrangements  in 
regard  to  the  centennial  headquarters.  Large  and  convenient 


Centennial  Headquarters.  21 

rooms  were  soon  found  upon  Arch  street,  terms  agreed  upon  and 
a  lease  drawn,  when  it  transpired  that  a  husband's  consent  and 
signature  must  be  obtained,  although  the  property  was  owned 
by  a  woman,  as  by  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania  a  married  woman's 
property  is  under  her  husband's  control.  Although  arrangements 
for  this  room  had  been  made  with  the  real  owner,  the  terms  being 
perfectly  satisfactory  to  her,  the  husband  refused  his  ratification, 
tearing  up  the  lease,  with  abuse  of  the  women  who  claimed  con- 
trol of  their  own  property,  and  a  general  defiance  of  all  women 
who  dared  work  for  the  enfranchisement  of  their  sex.  Thus 
again  were  women  refused  rooms  in  Philadelphia  in  which  to 
enter  their  protest  against  the  tyranny  of  this  republic,  and  for 
the  same  reason — they  were  slaves.  Had  the  patriots  of  the 
revolutionary  period  asked  rooms  of  King  George,  in  which  to 
foster  their  treason  to  his  government,  the  refusal  could  have 
been  no  more  positive  than  in  these  cases. 

The  quarters  finally  obtained  were  very  desirable  ;  fine  large 
parlors  on  the  first  floor,  on  Chestnut  street,  at  the  fashionable 
west  end,  directly  opposite  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion. The  other  members  of  the  committee  being  married  ladies, 
Miss  Anthony,  as  a  feme  sole,  was  alone  held  capable  of  making 
a  contract,  and  was  therefore  obliged  to  assume  the  pecuniary 
responsibility  of  the  rooms.  Thus  it  is  ever  the  married  women 
who  are  more  especially  classed  with  lunatics,  idiots  and  crimi- 
nals, and  held  incapable  of  managing  their  own  business.  It  has 
always  been  part  of  the  code  of  slavery,  that  the  slave  had  no 
right  to  property ;  all  his  earnings  and  gifts  belonging  by  law, 
to  the  master.  Married  women  come  under  this  same  civil  code. 
The  following  letter  was  extensively  circulated  and  published  in 
all  the  leading  journals  : 

NATIONAL  WOMAN  SUFFRAGE  PARLORS,  ) 

1,431  Chestnut  Street,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA.  ( 

The  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  has  established  its  cen- 
tennial headquarters  in  Philadelphia,  at  1,431  Chestnut  street.  The  par- 
lors, in  charge  of  the  officers  of  the  association,  are  devoted  to  the  special 
work  of  the  year,  pertaining  to  the  centennial  celebration  and  the  political 
party  conventions;  also  to  calls,  receptions,  conversazioni,  etc.  On  the 
table  a  centennial  autograph  book  receives  the  names  of  visitors.  Friends 
at  a  distance,  both  men  and  women,  who  cannot  call,  are  invited  to  send 
their  names,  with  date  and  residence,  accompanied  by  a  short  expressive 
sentiment  and  a  contribution  toward  expenses.  In  the  rooms  are  books, 
papers,  reports  and  decisions,  speeches,  tracts,  and  photographs  of  dis- 
tinguished women;  also  mottoes  and  pictures  expressive  of  woman's 


22  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

condition.  In  addition  to  the  parlor  gatherings,  meetings  and  conventions 
will  be  held  during  the  season  in  various  halls  and  churches  throughout 
the  city. 

On  July  Fourth,  while  the  men  of  this  nation  and  the  world  are  rejoic- 
ing that  "All  men  are  free  and  equal  "  in  the  United  States,  a  declaration 
of  rights  for  women  will  be  issued  from  these  headquarters,  and  a  protest 
against  calling  this  centennial  a  celebration  of  the  independence  of  the 
people,  while  one-half  are  still  political  slaves. 

Let  the  women  of  the  whole  land,  on  that  day,  in  meetings,  in,  parlors, 
in  kitchens,  wherever  they  may  be,  unite  with  us  in  this  declaration  and 
protest.  And,  immediately  thereafter,  send  full  reports,  in  manuscript  or 
print,  of  their  resolutions,  speeches  and  action,  for  record  in  our  centen- 
nial book,  that  the  world  may  see  that  the  women  of  1876  know  and  feel 
their  political  degradation  no  less  than  did  the  men  of  1776. 

The  first  woman's  rights  convention  the  world  ever  knew,  called  by 
Lucretia  Mott  and  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  met  at  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y., 
July  19,  20,  1848.  In  commemoration  of  the  twenty-eighth  anniversary  of 
that  event,  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  will  hold  in  — 
hall,  Philadelphia,  July  19,  20,  of  the  present  year,  a  grand  mass  conven- 
tion, in  which  eminent  reformers  from  the  new  and  old  world  will  take 
part.  Friends  are  especially  invited  to  be  present  on  this  historic  occa- 
sion. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

From  these  headquarters  numberless  documents  were  issued 
during  the  month  of  June.  As  the  presidential  nominating  con- 
ventions  were  soon  to  meet,  letters  were  addressed  to  both  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  parties,  urging  them  to  recognize 
the  political  rights  of  women  in  their  platforms.  Thousands  of 
copies  of  these  letters  were  scattered  throughout  the  nation  : 

71?  the  President  and  Members  of  the  National  Republican  Convention,  Cin- 
cinnati, O.,  June  14,  1876. 

GENTLEMEN  :  The  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  asks  you  to 
place  in  your  platform  the  following  plank  : 

Resolved,  That  the  right  to  the  use  of  the  ballot  inheres  in  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  we  pledge  ourselves  to  secure  the  exercise  of  this  right  to  all  citi- 
zens, irrespective  of  sex. 

In  asking  the  insertion  of  this  plank,  we  propose  no  change  of  funda- 
mental principles.  Our  question  is  as  old  as  the  nation.  Our  government 
was  framed  on  the  political  basis  of  the  consent  of  the  governed.  And 
from  July  4,  1776,  until  the  present  year,  1876,  the  nation  has  constantly 
advanced  toward  a  fuller  practice  of  our  fundamental  theory,  that  the  gov- 
erned are  the  source  of  all  power.  Your  nominating  convention,  occur- 
ring in  this  centennial  year  of  the  republic,  presents  a  good  opportunity 
for  the  complete  recognition  of  these  first  principles.  Our  government 
has  not  yet  answered  the  end  for  which  it  was  framed,  while  one-half  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  deprived  of  the  right  of  self-government. 


National  Republican    Convention,   1876.  23 

Before  the  Revolution,  Great  Britain  claimed  the  right  to  legislate  for  the 
colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever;  the  men  of  this  nation  now  as  unjustly 
claim  the  right  to  legislate  for  women  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

The  call  for  your  nominating  convention  invites  the  cooperation  of 
"  all  voters  who  desire  to  inaugurate  and  enforce  the  rights  of  every  citi- 
zen, including  the  full  and  free  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage."  Women 
are  citizens;  declared  to  be  by  the  highest  legislative  and  judicial  author- 
ities ;  but  they  are  citizens  deprived  of  "  the  full  and  free  exercise  of  the 
right  of  suffrage."  Your  platform  of  1872  declared  "the  Republican  party 
mindful  of  its  obligations  to  the  loyal  women  of  the  nation  for  their  noble 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom."  Devotion  to  freedom  is  no  new  thing 
for  the  women  of  this  nation.  From  the  earliest  history  of  our  country, 
woman  has  shown  herself  as  patriotic  as  man  in  every  great  emergency  in 
the  nation's  life.  From  the  Revolution  to  the  present  hour,  woman  has 
stood  by  the  side  of  father,  husband,  son  and  brother  in  defense  of  liberty. 
The  heroic  and  self-sacrificing  deeds  of  the  women  of  this  republic,  both 
in  peace  and  war,  must  not  be  forgotten.  Together  men  and  women  have 
made  this  country  what  it  is.  And  to-day,  in  this  one-hundredth  year  of 
our  existence,  the  women — as  members  of  the  nation — as  citizens  of  the 
United  States — ask  national  recognition  of  their  right  of  suffrage. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  struck  a  blow  at  every  existent  form 
of  government,  by  declaring  the  individual  the  source  of  all  power.  Upon 
this  one  newly  proclaimed  truth  our  nation  arose.  But  if  States  may 
deny  suffrage  to  any  class  of  citizens,  or  confer  it  at  will  upon  any  class — 
as  according  to  the  Minor-Happersett  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court — 
a  decision  rendered  under  the  auspices  of  the  Republican  party  against 
suffrage  as  a  constituent  element  of  United  States  citizenship — we  then 
possess  no  true  national  life.  If  States  can  deny  suffrage  to  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  then  States  possess  more  power  than  the  United 
States,  and  are  more  truly  national  in  the  character  of  their  governments. 
National  supremacy  does  not  chiefly  mean  power  "to  levy  war,  conclude 
peace;  contract  alliances,  establish  commerce";  it  means  national  protec- 
tion and  security  in  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  self-government,  which 
comes  alone,  by  and  through  the  use  of  the  ballot. 

Even  granting  the  premise  of  the  Supreme-Court  decision  that  "  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  does  not  confer  suffrage  on  any  one  "; 
our  national  life  does  not  date  from  that  instrument.  The  constitution  is 
not  the  original  declaration  of  rights.  It  was  not  framed  until  eleven  years 
after  our  existence  as  a  nation,  nor  fully  ratified  until  nearly  fourteen  years 
after  the  commencement  of  our  national  life.  This  centennial  celebration 
of  our  nation's  birth  does  not  date  from  the  constitution,  but  from  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  The  declared  purpose  of  the  civil  war  was 
the  settlement  of  the  question  of  supremacy  between  the  States  and  the 
United  States.  The  documents  sent  out  by  the  Republican  party  in  this 
present  campaign,  warn  the  people  that  the  Democrats  intend  another 
battle  for  State  sovereignty,  to  be  fought  this  year  at  the  ballot-box. 

The  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  calls  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  Republican  party  has  itself  reopened  this  battle,  and  now 


24  History  of  M'onian  Suffrage. 

holds  the  anomalous  position  of  having  settled  the  question  of  State 
sovereignty  in  the  case  of  black  men.  and  again  opened  it,  through  the 
Minor-Happi-rsett  decision,  not  only  in  the  case  of  women  citizens,  hut 
also  in  the  case  of  men  citizens,  for  all  other  causes  save  those  specified 
in  the  fifteenth  amendment.  Your  party  has  yet  one  opportunity  to  re- 
trieve its  position.  The  political  power  of  this  country  has  always  shown 
itself  superior  to  the  judicial  power — the  latter  ever  shaping  and  hasing 
its  decisions  on  the  policy  of  the  dominant  party.  A  pledge,  therefore, 
by  your  convention  to  secure  national  protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  per- 
•  ••[tiality  of  rights,  civil  and  political,  to  all  citizens,  will  so  define  the 
policy  of  the  Republican  party  as  to  open  the  way  to  a  full  and  final  ad- 
justment of  this  question  on  the  basis  of  United  States  supremacy. 

Aside  from  the  higher  motive  of  justice,  we  suggest  your  adoption  of 
this  principle  of  equal  rights  to  women,  as  a  means  of  securing  your  own 
future  existence.  The  party  of  reform  in  this  country  is  the  party  that 
lives.  The  party  that  ceases  to  represent  the  vital  principles  of  truth  and 
justice  dies.  It  you  would  save  the  life  of  the  Republican  party  you  should 
now  take  broad  national  ground  on  this  question  of  suffrage. 

By  this  act  you  will  do  most  to  promote  the  general  welfare,  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  to  yourselves  and  your  posterity,  and  establish  on  this 
continent  a  genuine  republic  that  shall  know  no  class,  caste,  race,  or  sex 
— where  all  the  people  are  citizens,  and  all  citizens  are  equal  before  the 
law. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 
SUSAN  R  ANTHONY,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Centennial  Headquarters,  1,431  Chestnut  street,  Philadelphia,  June  10,  1876. 

To  the  President  and  Members  of  the  National  Democratic  Convention  as- 
sembled at  St.  Louis,  June  27,  1876 : 

GF.N TI.K.MKN  :  In  reading  the  call  for  your  convention,  the  National 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  was  gratified  to  find  that  your  invitation 
was  not  limited  to  voters,  but  cordially  extended  to  all  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  We  accordingly  send  delegates  from  our  association,  ask- 
ing for  them  a  voice  in  your  proceedings,  and  also  a  plank  in  your  plat- 
form declaring  the  political  rights  of  women. 

Women  are  the  only  class  of  citizens  still  wholly  unrepresented  in  the 
government,  and  yet  we  possess  every  qualification  requisite  for  voters 
in  the  several  States.  Women  possess  property  and  education  ;  we  take 
out  naturalization  papers  and  passports;  we  preempt  lands,  pay  taxes, 
and  suffer  for  our  own  violation  of  the  laws.  Wre  are  neither  idiots,  luna- 
tics, nor  criminals ;  and,  according  to  your  State  constitutions,  lack  but 
one  qualification  for  voters,  namely,  sex,  which  is  an  insurmountable 
qualification,  and  therefore  equivalent  to  a  bill  of  attainder  against  one- 
half  the  people;  a  power  no  State  nor  congress  can  legally  exercise, 
being  forbidden  in  article  i,  sections  9,  10,  of  our  constitution.  Our 
rulers  may  have  the  right  to  regulate  the  suffrage,  but  they  can  not 
abolish  it  altogether  for  any  class  of  citizens,  as  has  been  done  in  the 
case  of  the  women  of  this  republic,  without  a  direct  violation  of  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land. 


National  Democratic  Convention,  1876.  25 

As  you  hold  the  constitution  of  the  fathers  to  be  a  sacred  legacy  to  us 
and  our  children  forever,  we  ask  you  to  so  interpret  that  Magna.  Clnirta 
of  human  rights  as  to  secure  justice  and  equality  to  all  United  States 
citizens  irrespective  of  sex.  We  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  viola- 
tion of  the  essential  principle  of  self-government  in  the  disfranchisement 
of  the  women  of  the  several  States,  and  we  appeal  to  you,  not  only  be- 
cause as  a  minority  you  are  in  a  position  to  consider  principles,  but  be- 
cause you  were  the  party  first  to  extend  suffrage  by  removing  the  prop- 
erty qualification  from  all  white  men,  and  thus  making  the  political  status 
of  the  richest  and  poorest  citizen  the  same.  That  act  of  justice  to  the 
laboring  masses  insured  your  power,  with  but  few  interruptions,  until  the 
war. 

When  the  District  of  Columbia  suffrage  bill  was  under  discussion  in 
1866,  it  was  a  Democratic  senator  (Mr.  Cowan,  of  Pennsylvania)  who  pro- 
posed an  amendment  to  strike  out  the  word  "  male,"  and  thus  extend  the 
right  of  suffrage  to  the  women,  as  well  as  the  black  men  of  the  District. 
That  amendment  gave  us  a  splendid  discussion  on  woman  suffrage  that 
lasted  three  days  in  the.Senate  of  the  United  States.  It  was  a  Demo- 
cratic legislature  that  secured  the  right  of  suffrage  to  the  women  of 
Wyoming,  and  we  now  ask  you  in  national  convention  to  pledge  the 
Democratic  party  to  extend  this  act  of  justice  to  the  women  throughout 
the  nation,  and  thus  call  to  your  side  a  new  political  force  that  will  restore 
and  perpetuate  your  power  for  years  to  come. 

The  Republican  party  gave  us  a  plank  in  their  platform  in  1872,  pledg- 
ing themselves  to  a  "respectful  consideration  "  of  our  demands.  But  by 
their  constitutional  interpretations,  legislative  enactments,  and  judicial 
decisions,  so  far  from  redeeming  their  pledge,  they  have  buried  our  peti- 
tions and  appeals  under  laws  in  direct  opposition  to  their  high-sounding 
promises  and  professions.  And  now  (1876)  they  give  us  another  plank  in 
their  platform,  approving  the  "substantial  advance  made  toward  the 
establishment  of  equal  rights  for  women  ";  cunningly  reminding  us  that 
the  privileges  and  immunities  we  now  enjoy  are  all  due  to  Republican 
legislation — although,  under  a  Republican  dynasty,  inspectors  of  election 
have  been  arrested  and  imprisoned  for  taking  the  votes  of  women ; 
temperance  women  arrested  and  imprisoned  for  praying  in  the  streets; 
houses,  lands,  bonds,  and  stock  of  women  seized  and  sold  for  their  refusal 
to  pay  unjust  taxation — and,  more  than  all,  we  have  this  singular  spectacle : 
a  Republican  woman,  who  had  spoken  for  the  Republican  party  through- 
out the  last  presidential  campaign,  arrested  by  Republican  officers  for 
voting  the  Republican  ticket,  denied  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  by  a  Re- 
publican judge,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars 
and  costs  of  prosecution  ;  and  all  this  for  asserting  at  the  polls  the  most 
sacred  of  all  the  rights  of  American  citizenship — the  right  of  suffrage — 
specifically  secured  by  recent  Republican  amendments  to  the  federal  con- 
stitution. 

Again,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  by  its  recent  decision 
in  the  Minor-Happersett  case,  has  stultified  its  own  interpretation  of 
constitutional  law.  A  negro,  by  virtue  of  his  United  States  citizenship,  is 


26  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

declared  under  recent  amendments  a  voter  in  every  State  in  the  Union  ; 
hut  when  a  woman,  hy  virtue  of  her  United  States  citizenship,  applies  to 
the  Supreme  Court  for  protection  in  the  exercise  of  this  same  right,  she 
is  remanded  to  the  State  by  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  nine  judges 
on  the  bench,  that  "  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  does  not  confer 
the  right  of  suffrage  upon  any  one." 

All  concessions  of  privileges  or  redress  of  grievances  are  but  mockery  for 
any  class  that  has  no  voice  in  the  laws  and  lawmakers.  Hence  we  de- 
mand the  ballot — that  scepter  of  power — in  our  own  hands,  as  the  only 
sure  protection  for  our  rights  of  person  and  property  under  all  conditions. 
If  the  few  may  grant  or  withhold  rights  at  their  own  pleasure,  the  many 
cannot  be  said  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  self-government.  Jefferson  said, 
"The  God  who  gave  us  life  gave  us  liberty  at  the  same  time.  The  hand 
of  force  may  destroy,  but  cannot  disjoin  them."  While  the  first  and 
highest  motive  we  would  urge  on  you  is  the  recognition  in  all  your  action 
of  the  great  principles  of  justice  and  equality  that  underlie  our  form  of 
government,  it  is  not  unworthy  to  remind  you  that  the  party  that  takes 
this  onward  step  will  reap  its  just  reward. 

Had  you  heeded  our  appeals  made  to  you  in  Tammany  Hall,  New  York, 
in  1868,  and  again  in  Baltimore,  in  1872,  your  party  might  now  have  been 
in  power,  as  you  would  have  had,  what  neither  party  can  boast  to-day,  a 
live  issue  on  which  to  rouse  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  Reform  is 
the  watchword  of  the  hour;  but  how  can  we  hope  for  honor  and  honesty 
in  either  party  in  minor  matters,  so  long  as  both  consent  to  rob  one-half 
the  people — their  own  mothers,  sisters,  wives  and  daughters — of  their  most 
sacred  rights?  As  a  party  you  defended  the  right  of  self-government  in 
Louisiana  ably  and  eloquently  during  the  last  session  of  congress.  Are 
the  rights  of  women  in  all  the  Southern  States,  whose  slaves  are  now 
their  rulers,  less  sacred  than  those  of  the  men  of  Louisiana?  "The  whole 
art  of  government,"  says  Jefferson,  "consists  in  being  honest." 

It  needs  but  little  observation  to  see  that  the  tide  of  progress,  in  all 
countries,  is  setting  toward  the  emancipation  and  enfranchisement  of 
women  ;  and  this  step  in  civilization  is  to  be  taken  in  our  day  and  genera- 
tion. Whether  the  Democratic  party  will  take  the  initiative  in  this  re- 
form, and  reap  the  glory  of  crowning  fifteen  million  women  with  the 
rights  of  American  citizenship,  and  thereby  vindicate  our  theory  of  self- 
government,  is  the  momentous  question  we  ask  you  to  decide  in  this 
eventful  hour,  as  we  round  out  the  first  century  of  our  national  life. 

ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON,  President. 
MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 
SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Centennial  Headquarters,  1,431  Chestnut  street,  Philadelphia,  June  20,  1876. 

In  addition  to  these  letters  delegates  were  sent  to  both  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  conventions.  Sara  Andrews  Spencer 
and  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert  were  present  at  the  Republican 
convention  at  Cincinnati ;  both  addressed  the  committee  on 
platform  and  resolutions,  and  Mrs.  Spencer,  on  motion  of  Hon. 


A  New  Declaration  of  Independence.  27 

George  F.  Hoar,  was  permitted  to  address  the  convention.  Mrs. 
Virginia  L.  Minor  and  Miss  Phoebe  W.  Couzins  were  the  dele- 
gates to  the  Democratic  convention  at  St.  Louis,  and  the  latter 
addressed  that  vast  assembly.* 

For  a  long  time  there  had  been  a  growing  demand  for  a 
woman's  declaration  to  be  issued  on  July  Fourth,  1876.  "  Let 
us  then  protest  against  the  falsehood  of  the  nation  ";  "If  the  old 
Declaration  does  not  include  women,  let  us  have  one  that  will  "; 
"  Let  our  rulers  be  arraigned  ";  *'  A  declaration  of  independence 
for  women  must  be  issued  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1876,"  were 
demands  that  came  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  officers 
of  the  association  had  long  had  such  action  in  view,  having,  at 
the  Washington  convention,  early  in  1875,  announced  their  in- 
tention of  working  in  Philadelphia  during  the  centennial  season, 
and  were  strengthened  in  their  determination  by  the  hearty  in- 
dorsement they  received.  At  the  May  convention  in  New  York, 
Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  in  her  opening  speech,  announced  that  a 
declaration  of  independence  for  women  would  be  issued  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1876.  In  response  to  this  general  feeling,  the 
officers  of  the  National  Association  prepared  a  declaration  of 
rights  of  the  women  of  the  United  States,  and  articles  of  im- 
peachment against  the  government. 

Application  was  made  by  the  secretary,  Miss  Anthony,  to 
General  Hawley,  president  of  the  centennial  commission,  for 
seats  for  fifty  officers  of  the  association.  General  Hawley  replied 
that  "  only  officials  were  invited  " — that  even  his  own  wife  had 
no  place — that  merely  representatives  and  officers  of  the  govern- 
ment had  seats  assigned  them.  "  Then  "  said  she,  "  as  women 
have  no  share  in  the  government,  they  are  to  have  no  seats  on 
the  platform,"  to  which  General  Hawley  assented  ;  adding,  how- 
ever, that  Mrs.  Gillespie,  of  the  woman's  centennial  commission, 
had  fifty  seats  placed  at  her  disposal,  thus  showing  it  to  be  in  his 
power  to  grant  places  to  women  whenever  he  so  chose  to  do. 
Miss  Anthony  said  :  "  I  ask  seats  for  the  officers  of  the  National 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  ;  we  represent  one-half  the  people, 
and  why  should  we  be  denied  all  part  in  this  centennial  celebra- 
tion?" Miss  Anthony,  however,  secured  a  reporter's  ticket  by 
virtue  of  representing  her  brother's  paper,  The  Leavemvorth 


*  Letters  were  written  to  these  conventions  from  different  States.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon,  New 
Orleans,  \..\.\  Klizabeth  A.  Meriwether,  Memphis,  Tcnn.;  Mrs.  Margaret  V.  Longley,  Cincinnati, 
i ).,  all  making  eloquent  appeals  for  some  consideration  of  the  political  rights  of  women. 


28  7/y.vAvr  of  U'n>ii(7!i  Suffrage. 

Times,  and,  ultimately,  cards  of  invitation  were  sent  to  four 
others,*  representing  the  20,000,000  disfranchised  citizens  of  the 
nation. 

Mrs.  Stanton,  as  president  of  the  association,  wrote  General 
Hauler,  asking  the  opportunity  to  present  the  woman's  protest 
and  bill  of  rights  at  the  close  of  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Just  its  simple  presentation  and  nothing  more. 
She  wrote  : 

We  do  not  ask  to  read  our  declaration,  only  to  present  it  to  the  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  that  it  may  become  an  historical  part  of  the 
proceedings. 

Mrs.  Spencer,  bearer  of  this  letter,  in  presenting  it  to  General 
I  lawley,  said  : 

The  women  of  the  United  States  make  a  slight  request  on  the  occasion 
of  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  birth  of  the  nation  ;  we  only  ask  that 
we  may  silently  present  our  declaration  of  rights. 

General  HAWI.KY  replied:  It  seems  a  very  slight  request,  but  our  pro- 
gramme is  published,  our  speakers  engaged,  our  arrangements  for  the  day 
decided  upon,  and  we  can  not  make  even  so  slight  a  change  as  that  you 
ask. 

Mrs.  SPK.XCKR  replied  :  We  are  aware  that  your  programme  is  published, 
your  speakers  engaged,  your  entire  arrangements  decided  upon,  without 
consulting  with  the  women  of  the  United  States;  for  that  very  reason  we 
desire  to  enter  our  protest.  We  are  aware  that  this  government  has  been 
conducted  for  one  hundred  years  without  consulting  the  women  of  the 
United  States  ;  for  this  reason  \ve  desire  to  enter  our  protest. 

General  HAWI.KY  replied  :  Undoubtedly  we  have  not  lived  up  to  our  own 
original  Declaration  of  Independence  in  many  respects.  I  express  no 
opinion  upon  your  question.  It  is  a  proper  subject  of  discussion  at  the 
Cincinnati  convention,  at  the  St.  Louis  convention,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  State  legislatures,  in  the  courts,  wherever  you  can 
obtain  a  hearing.  But  to-morrow  we  propose  to  celebrate  what  we  have 
done  the  last  hundred  years;  not  what  we  have  failed  to  do.  We  have 
much  to  do  in  the  future.  I  understand  the  full  significance  of  your  very 
slight  request.  If  granted,  it  would  be  the  event  of  the  day — the  topic  of 
discussion  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others.  I  am  sorry  to  refuse  so  slight  a 
demand;  we  cannot  grant  it. 

General  Haw  ley  also  addressed  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Stanton: 

DKAK  M  \n\\i:  I  regret  to  say  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  make  any 
change  in  our  programme,  or  make  any  addition  to  it  at  this  late  hour. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

Jos.  R.  HAWI.KY,  President  I'.  N.  C.  C. 

As  General  Grant  was  not  to  attend  the  celebration,  the  acting 
vice-president,  Thomas  \Y.  Ferry,  representing  the  government, 


*  Mrs.  Mott,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Mrs.  Gage,  and  Mrs.  Spencer. 


Gen.  Haw  ley  says  "  No  "  to  Mrs.  Stan  ton.  29 

was  to  officiate  in  his  place,  and  he,  too,  was  addressed  by  note, 
and  courteously  requested  to  make  time  for  the  reception  of 
this  declaration.  As  Mr.  Ferry  was  a  well-known  sympathizer 
with  the  demands  of  woman  for  political  rights,  it  was  pre- 
sumable that  he  would  render  his  aid.  Yet  he  was  forgetful  that 
in  his  position  that  day  he  represented,  not  the  exposition,  but 
the  government  of  a  hundred  years,  and  he  too  refused  ;  thus  this 
simple  request  of  woman  for  a  half  moment's  recognition  on  the 
nation's  centennial  birthday  was  denied  by  all  in  authority.* 

While  the  women  of  the  nation  were  thus  absolutely  forbidden 
the  right  of  public  protest,  lavish  preparations  were  made  for  the 
reception  and  entertainment  of  foreign  potentates  and  the  myr- 
midons of  monarchial  institutions.  Dom  Pedro,  emperor  of 
Brazil,  a  representative  of  that  form  of  government  against  which 
the  United  States  is  a  perpetual  defiance  and  protest,  was  wel- 
comed with  fulsome  adulation,  and  given  a  seat  of  honor  near 
the  officers  of  the  day;  Prince  Oscar  of  Sweden,  a  stripling  of 
sixteen,  on  whose  shoulder  rests  the  promise  of  a  future  king- 
ship, was  seated  near.  Count  Rochambeau  of  France,  the 
Japanese  commissioners,  high  officials  from  Russia  and  Prussia, 
from  Austria,  Spain,  England,  Turkey,  representing  the  bar- 
barism and  semi-civilization  of  the  day,  found  no  difficulty  in 
securing  recognition  and  places  of  honor  upon  that  platform, 
where  representative  womanhood  was  denied. 

Though  refused  by  their  own  countrymen  a  place  and  part  in 
the  centennial  celebration,  the  women  who  had  taken  this 
presentation  in  hand  were  not  to  be  conquered.  They  had  re- 
spectfully asked  for  recognition ;  now  that  it  had  been  denied, 
they  determined  to  seize  upon  the  moment  when  the  reading  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  closed,  to  proclaim  to  the  world 
the  tyranny  and  injustice  of  the  nation  toward  one-half  its 
people.  Five  officers  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion, with  that  heroic  spirit  which  has  ever  animated  lovers  of 
liberty  in  resistance  to  tyranny,  determiried,  whatever  the  result, 
to  present  the  woman's  declaration  of  rights  at  the  chosen  hour. 
They  would  not,  they  dared  not  sacrifice  the  golden  opportunity 

*  On  the  receipt  of  these  letters  a  prolonged  council  was  held  by  the  officers  of  the  association  at  their 
headquarters,  as  to  what  action  they  should  take  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  Mrs.  Mott  and  Mrs.  Stanton 
decided  for  themselves  that  after  these  rebuffs  they  would  not  even  sit  on  the  platform,  but  at  the 
appointed  time  go  to  the  church  they  had  engaged  for  a  meeting,  and  open  their  convention.  Others 
more  brave  and  determined  insisted  that  women  had  an  equal  right  to  the  glory  of  the  day  and  the 
freedom  of  the  platform,  and  decided  to  take  the  risk  of  a  public  insult  in  order  to  present  the 
woman's  declaration  and  thus  make  it  an  historic  document. — [E.  C.  S. 


3<D  History  of  11  'ouian  Suffrage. 

to  which  they  had  so  long  looked  forward ;  their  work  was  not 
for  themselves  alone,  nor  for  the  present  generation,  but  for  all 
women  of  all  time.  The  hopes  of  posterity  were  in  their  hands 
and  they  determined  to  place  on  record  for  the  daughters  of 
1976,  the  fact  that  their  mothers  of  1876  had  asserted  their 
equality  of  rights,  and  impeached  the  government  of  that  day 
for  its  injustice  toward  woman.  Thus,  in  taking  a  grander  step 
toward  freedom  than  ever  before,  they  would  leave  one  bright 
remembrance  for  the  women  of  the  next  centennial. 

That  historic  Fourth  of  July  dawned  at  last,  one  of  the  most 
oppressive  days  of  that  terribly  heated  season.  Susan  K. 
Anthony,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  Lillie 
Devereux  Blake  and  Phoebe  W.  Couzins  made  their  way  through 
the  crowds  under  the  broiling  sun  to  Independence  Square, 
carrying  the  Woman's  Declaration  of  Rights.  This  declaration 
had  been  handsomely  engrossed  by  one  of  their  number,  and 
signed  by  the  oldest  and  most  prominent  advocates  of  woman's 
enfranchisement.  Their  tickets  of  admission  proved  open 
sesame  through  the  military  and  all  other  barriers,  and  a  few 
moments  before  the  opening  of  the  ceremonies,  these  women 
found  themselves  within  the  precincts  from  which  most  of  their 
sex  were  excluded. 

The  declaration  of  1776  was  read  by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  of 
Virginia,  about  whose  family  clusters  so  much  of  historic  fame. 
The  close  of  his  reading  was  deemed  the  appropriate  moment  for 
the  presentation  of  the  woman's  declaration.  Not  quite  sure 
how  their  approach  might  be  met — not  quite  certain  if  at  this 
final  moment  they  would  be  permitted  to  reach  the  presiding 
officer — those  ladies  arose  and  made  their  way  down  the  aisle. 
The  bustle  of  preparation  for  the  Brazilian  hymn  covered  their 
advance.  The  foreign  guests,  the  military  and  civil  officers  who 
filled  the  space  directly  in  front  of  the  speaker's  stand,  cour- 
teously made  way,  while  Miss  Anthony  in  fitting  words  presented 
the  declaration.  Mr.  Ferry's  face  paled,  as  bowing  low,  with  no 
word,  he  received  the  declaration,  which  thus  became  part  of  the 
day's  proceedings  ;  the  ladies  turned,  scattering  printed  copies,  as 
they  deliberately  walked  down  the  platform.  On  every  side  eager 
hands  were  stretched  ;  men  stood  on  seats  and  asked  for  them, 
while  General  Hawley,  thus  defied  and  beaten  in  his  audacious 
denial  to  women  the  right  to  present  their  declaration,  shouted, 
"  Order,  order!" 


Declaration  of  Rights  for   Woman.  31 

Passing  out,  these  ladies  made  their  way  to  a  platform  erected 
for  the  musicians  in  front  of  Independence  Hall.  Here  on  this 
old  historic  ground,  under  the  shadow  of  Washington's  statue, 
back  of  them  the  old  bell  that  proclaimed  "  liberty  to  all  the  land, 
and  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,"  they  took  their  places,  and  to  a 
listening,  applauding  crowd,  Miss  Anthony  read*  the  Declaration 
of  Rights  for  Women  by  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion, July  4,  1876: 

While  the  nation  is  buoyant  with  patriotism,  and  all  hearts  are  attuned 
to  praise,  it  is  with  sorrow  we  come  to  strike  the  one  discordant  note,  on 
this  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  our  country's  birth.  When  subjects  of 
kings,  emperors,  and  czars,  from  the  old  world  join  in  our  national  jubilee, 
shall  the  women  of  the  republic  refuse  to  lay  their  hands  with  benedic- 
tions on  the  nation's  head  ?  Surveying  America's  exposition,  surpassing 
in  magnificence  those  of  London,  Paris,  and  Vienna,  shall  we  not  rejoice 
at  the  success  of  the  youngest  rival  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  May 
not  our  hearts,  in  unison  with  all,  swell  with  pride  at  our  great  achieve- 
ments as  a  people ;  our  free  speech,  free  press,  free  schools,  free  church, 
and  the  rapid  progress  we  have  made  in  material  wealth,  trade,  commerce 
and  the  inventive  arts  ?  And  we  do  rejoice  in  the  success,  thus  far,  of  our 
experiment  of  self-government.  Our  faith  is  firm  and  unwavering  in  the 
broad  principles  of  human  rights  proclaimed  in  1776,  not  only  as  abstract 
truths,  but  as  the  corner  stones  of  a  republic.  Yet  we  cannot  forget,  even 
in  this  glad  hour,  that  while  all  men  of  every  race,  and  clime,  and  condi- 
tion, have  been  invested  with  the  full  rights  of  citizenship  under  our  hos- 
pitable flag,  all  women  still  suffer  the  degradation  of  disfranchisement. 

The  history  of  our  country  the  past  hundred  years  has  been  a  series  of, 
assumptions  and  usurpations  of  power  over  woman,  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  principles  of  just  government,  acknowledged  by  the  United  States 
us  its  foundation,  which  are  : 

First — The  natural  rights  of  each  individual. 

Second — The  equality  of  these  rights. 

Third — That  rights  not  delegated  are  retained  by  the  individual. 

Fourth — That  no  person  can  exercise  the  rights  of  others  without  dele- 
gated authority. 

Fifth — That  the  non-use  of  rights  does  not  destroy  them. 

And  for  the  violation  of  these  fundamental  principles  of  our  govern- 
ment, we  arraign  our  rulers  on  this  Fourth  day  of  July,  1876, — and  these 
are  our  articles  of  impeachment : 

Bills  of  attainder  have  been  passed  by  the  introduction  of  the  word  "  male"  into 
all  the  State  constitutions,  denying  to  women  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  thereby  mak- 

*  During  the  reading  of  the  declaration  to  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  Mrs.  Gage  stood  be- 
side Miss  Anthony,  and  held  an  umbrella  over  her  head,  to  shelter  her  friend  from  the  intense  heat  of 
the  noonday  sun  ;  and  thus  in  the  same  hour,  on  opposite  sides  of  old  Independence  Hall,  did  the 
men  and  women  express  their  opinions  on  the  great  principles  proclaimed  on  the  natal  day  of  the  re- 
public. The  declaration  was  handsomely  framed  and  now  hangs  in  the  vice-president's  room  in  the 
capitol  at  Washington. 


32  History  of    Woman  Suffrage. 

ing  sex  a  crime — an  exercise  of  power  clearly  forbidden  in  article  I,  sections  9,  10, 
of  the  United  States  constitution. 

The  -writ  of  habeas  coipus,  the  only  protection  against  lettres  de  cachet  and  all  forms 
of  unjust  imprisonment,  which  the  constitution  declares  "  shall  not  be  suspended,  ex- 
cept when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  demands  it,"  is  held  in- 
operative in  every  State  of  the  Union,  in  case  of  a  married  woman  against  her  hus- 
band— the  marital  rights  of  the  husband  being  in  all  ca-.es  primary,  and  the  rights  of 
the  wife  secondary. 

The  rijiit  of  trial  by  a  jury  of  ones  peers  was  so  jealously  guarded  that  States 
refused  to  ratify  the  original  constitution  until  it  was  guaranteed  by  the  sixth 
amendment.  Ami  yet  the  women  of  this  nation  have  never  been  allowed  a  jury  of 
their  peers — being  tried  in  all  cases  by  men,  native  and  foreign,  educated  and  igno- 
rant, virtuous  and  vicious.  Young  girls  have  been  arraigned  in  our  courts  for  the 
crime  of  infanticide  ;  tried,  convicted,  hanged — victims,  perchance,  of  judge,  jurors, 
advocates — while  no  woman's  voice  could  be  heard  in  their  defense.  And  not  only 
are  women  denied  a  jury  of  their  peers,  but  in  some  cases,  jury  trial  altogether.  Dur- 
ing the  war,  a  woman  was  tried  and  hanged  by  military  law,  in  defiance  of  the  fifth 
amendment,  which  specifically  declares  :  '*  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a 
capital  or  otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand 
jury,  except  in  cases  ....  of  persons  in  actual  service  in  time  of  war."  During 
the  Li. -a  presidential  campaign,  a  woman,  arrested  for  voting,  was  denied  the  protec- 
tion of  a  jury,  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  a  fine  and  costs  of  prosecution,  by 
the  absolute  power  of  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Taxation  without  representation,  the  immediate  cause  of  the  rebellion  of  the  colo- 
nies against  Great  Hritain,  is  one  of  the  grievous  wrongs  the  women  of  this  country 
have  .suffered  during  the  century.  Deploring  war,  with  all  the  demoralization  that 
follows  in  its  train,  we  have  been  taxed  to  support  standing  armies,  with  their  waste 
of  life  and  wealth.  Believing  in  temperance,  we  have  been  taxed  to  support  the  vice, 
crime  and  pauperism  of  the  liquor  traffic.  While  we  suffer  its  wrongs  and  abuses  in- 
finitely more  than  man,  we  have  no  power  to  protect  our  sons  against  this  giant  evil. 
During  the  temperance  crusade,  mothers  were  arrested,  fined,  imprisoned,  for  even 
praying  and  singing  in  the  streets,  while  men  blockade  the  sidewalks  with  impunity, 
even  on  Sunday,  with  their  military  parades  and  political  processions.  Believing  in 
honesty,  we  are  taxed  to  support  a  dangerous  army  of  civilians,  buying  and  selling  the 
offices  of  government  and  sacrificing  the  best  interests  of  the  people.  And,  moreover, 
we  are  taxed  to  support  the  very  legislators  and  judges  who  make  laws,  and  render  decis- 
ions adverse  to  woman.  And  for  refusing  to  pay  such  unjust  taxation,  the  houses, 
lands,  bonds,  and  stock  of  women  have  been  seized  and  sold  within  the  present  year, 
thus  proving  Lord  Coke's  assertion,  that  "  The  very  act  of  taxing  a  man's  property 
without  his  consent  is,  in  effect,  disfranchising  him  of  every  civil  right." 

Unequal  codes  for  men  and  women.  Held  by  law  a  perpetual  minor,  deemed  in- 
capable of  self-protection,  even  in  the  industries  of  the  world,  woman  is  denied  equal- 
ity of  rights.  The  fact  of  sex,  not  the  quantity  or  quality  of  work,  in  most  cases,  de- 
cides the  pay  and  position  ;  and  because  of  this  injustice  thousands  of  fatherless  girls 
are  compelled  to  choose  between  a  life  of  shame  and  starvation.  Laws  catering  to 
man's  vices  have  created  two  codes  of  morals  in  which  penalties  are  graded  according 
to  the  political  status  of  the  offender.  Under  such  laws,  women  are  fined  and  im- 
prisoned if  found  alone  in  the  streets,  or  in  public  places  of  resort,  at  certain  hours. 
Under  the  pretense  of  regulating  public  morals,  police  officers  seizing  the  occupants 
of  disreputable  houses,  march  the  women  in  platoons  to  prison,  while  the  men,  part- 
ners in  their  guilt,  go  free.  While  making  a  show  of  virtue  in  forbidding  the  impor- 
tation of  Chinese  women  on  the  Pacific  coast  for  immoral  purposes,  our  rulers,  in  many 
States,  and  even  under  the  shadow  of  the  national  capitol,  are  now  proposing  to  legal- 
ize the  sale  of  American  womanhood  for  the  same  vile  purposes. 

Special  legislation  for  woman  ha*  placed  us  in  a  most  anomalous  position.  Women 
invested  with  the  rights  of  citi/ens  in  one  section — voters,  jurors,  office-holders — cross- 


Our  Articles  of  Impeachment.  33 

ing  an  imaginary  line,  are  subjects  in  the  next.  In  some  States,  a  married  woman 
may  hold  property  and  transact  business  in  her  own  name  ;  in  others,  her  earnings  be- 
long to  her  husband.  In  some  States,  a  woman  may  testify  against  her  husband,  sue 
and  be  sued  in  the  courts  ;  in  others,  she  has  no  redress  in  case  of  damage  to  person, 
property,  or  character.  In  case  of  divorce  on  account  of  adultery  in  the  husband,  the 
innocent  wife  is  held  to  possess  no  right  to  children  or  property,  unless  by  special  de- 
cree of  the  court.  But  in  no  State  of  the  Union  has  the  wife  the  right  to  her  own 
person,  or  to  any  part  of  the  joint  earnings  of  the  co-partnership  during  the  life  of  her 
husband.  In  some  States  women  may  enter  the  law  schools  and  practice  in  the  courts  ; 
in  others  they  are  forbidden.  In  some  universities  girls  enjoy  equal  educational  ad- 
vantages with  boys,  while  many  of  the  proudest  institutions  in  the  land  deny  them 
admittance,  though  the  sons  of  China,  Japan  and  Africa  are  welcomed  there.  But  the 
privileges  already  granted  in  the  several  States  are  by  no  means  secure.  The  right  of 
suffrage  once  exercised  by  women  in  certain  States  and  territories  has  been  denied  by 
subsequent  legislation.  A  bill  is  now  pending  in  congress  to  disfranchise  the  women 
of  Utah,  thus  interfering  to  deprive  United  States  citizens  of  the  same  rights  which 
the  Supreme  Court  has  declared  the  national  government  powerless  to  protect  any- 
where. Laws  passed  after  years  of  untiring  effort,  guaranteeing  married  women  cer- 
tain rights  of  property,  and  mothers  the  custody  of  their  children,  have  been  repealed 
in  States  where  we  supposed  all  was  safe.  Thus  have  our  most  sacred  rights  been 
made  the  football  of  legislative  caprice,  proving  that  a  power  which  grants  as  a  privi- 
lege what  by  nature  is  a  right,  may  withhold  the  same  as  a  penalty  when  deeming  it 
necessary  for  its  own  perpetuation. 

Representation  of  "woman  has  had  no  place  in  the  nation's  thought.  Since  the  in- 
corporation of  the  thirteen  original  States,  twenty-four  have  been  admitted  to  the 
Union,  not  one  of  which  has  recognized  woman's  right  of  self-government.  On  this 
birthday  of  our  national  liberties,  July  Fourth,  1876,  Colorado,  like  all  her  elder  sisters, 
comes  into  the  Union  with  the  invidious  word  "  male  "  in  her  constitution. 

Universal  manhood  suffrage,  by  establishing  an  aristocracy  of  sex,  imposes  upon 
the  women  of  this  nation  a  more  absolute  and  cruel  depotism  than  monarchy  ;  in  that, 
woman  finds  a  political  master  in  her  father,  husband,  brother,  son.  The  aristocracies 
of  the  old  world  are  based  upon  birth,  wealth,  refinement,  education,  nobility,  brave 
deeds  of  chivalry  ;  in  this  nation,  on  sex  alone  ;  exalting  brute  force  above  moral 
power,  vice  above  virtue,  ignorance  above  education,  and  the  son  above  the  mother 
who  bore  him. 

The  judiciary  above  the  nation  has  proved  itself  out  the  echo  of  the  party  in  power, 
by  upholding  and  enforcing  laws  that  are  opposed  to  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  con- 
stitution. When  the  slave  power  was  dominant,  the  Supreme  Court  decided  that  a 
black  man  was  not  a  citizen,  because  he  had  not  the  right  to  vote  ;  and  when  the 
constitution  was  so  amended  as  to  make  all  persons  citizens,  the  same  high  tribunal 
decided  that  a  woman,  though  a  citizen,  had  not  the  right  to  vote.  Such  vacillating 
interpretations  of  constitutional  law  unsettle  our  faith  ih  judicial  authority,  and  under- 
mine the  liberties  of  the  whole  people. 

These  articles  of  impeachment  against  our  rulers  we  now  submit  to  the 
impartial  judgment  of  the  people.  To  all  these  wrongs  and  oppressions 
woman  has  not  submitted  in  silence  and  resignation.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  century,  when  Abigail  Adams,  the  wife  of  one  president  and  mother 
of  another,  said,  "  We  will  not  hold  ourselves  bound  to  obey  laws  in  which 
we  have  no  voice  or  representation,"  until  mnv,  woman's  discontent  has 
been  steadily  increasing,  culminating  nearly  thirty  years  ago  in  a  simul- 
taneous movement  among  the  women  of  the  nation,  demanding  the  right 
of  suffrage.  In  making  our  just  demands,  a  higher  motive  than  the  pride 
of  sex  inspires  us ;  we  feel  that  national  safety  and  stability  depend  on 
3 


34  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

the  complete  recognition  of  the  broad  principles  of  our  government. 
Woman's  degraded,  helpless  position  is  the  weak  point  in  our  institutions 
to-day;  a  disturbing  force  everywhere,  severing  family  ties,  filling  our 
asylums  with  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  blind  ;  our  prisons  with  criminals, 
our  cities  with  drunkenness  and  prostitution  ;  our  homes  with  disease  and 
death.  It  was  the  boast  of  the  founders  of  the  republic,  that  the  rights 
for  which  they  contended  were  the  rights  of  human  nature.  If  these 
rights  are  ignored  in  the  case  of  one-half  the  people,  the  nation  is  surely 
preparing  for  its  downfall.  Governments  try  themselves.  The  recogni- 
tion of  a  governing  and  a  governed  class  is  incompatible  with  the  first 
principles  of  freedom.  Woman  has  not  been  a  heedless  spectator  of  the 
events  of  this  century,  nor  a  dull  listener  to  the  grand  arguments  for  the 
equal  rights  of  humanity.  From  the  earliest  history  of  our  country 
woman  has  shown  equal  devotion  with  man  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  and 
has  stood  firmly  by  his  side  in  its  defense.  Together,  they  have  made  this 
country  what  it  is.  Woman's  wealth,  thought  and  labor  have  cemented 
the  stones  of  every  monument  man  has  reared  to  liberty. 

And  now,  at  the  close  of  a  hundred  years,  as  the  hour-hand  of  the  great 
clock  that  marks  the  centuries  points  to  1876,  we  declare  our  faith  in  the 
principles  of  self-government;  our  full  equality  with  man  in  natural 
rights;  that  woman  was  made  first  for  her  own  happiness,  with  the 
absolute  right  to  herself — to  all  the  opportunities  and  advantages  life 
affords  for  her  complete  development ;  and  we  deny  that  dogma  of  the 
centuries,  incorporated  in  the  codes  of  all  nations — that  woman  was  made 
for  man — her  best  interests,  in  all  cases,  to  be  sacrificed  lo  his  will.  We 
ask  of  our  rulers,  at  this  hour,  no  special  favors,  no  special  privileges,  no 
special  legislation.  We  ask  justice,  we  ask  equality,  we  ask  that  all  the 
civil  and  political  rights  that  belong  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  be 
guaranteed  to  us  and  our  daughters  forever.* 

The  declaration  was  warmly  applauded  at  many  points,  and 
after  scattering  another  large  number  of  printed  copies,  the 
delegation  hastened  to  the  convention  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion. A  meeting  had  been  appointed  for  twelve,  in  the  old 
historic  First  Unitarian  church,  where  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Furness 
preached  for  fifty  years,  but  whose  pulpit  was  then  filled  by 
Joseph  May,  a  son  of  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May.  To  this  place  the 
ladies  made  their  way  to  find  the  church  crowded  with  an 
expectant  audience,  which  greeted  them  with  thanks  for  what 
they  had  just  done  ;  the  first  act  of  this  historic  day  taking  place 
on  the  old  centennial  platform  in  Independence  Square,  the  last 


*  This  document  was  signed  by  Lucretia  Mott,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Paulina  Wright  Davis. 
Ernestine  L.  Rose,  Clarina  I.  H.  Nichols,  Mary  Ann  McClintock,  Mathilde  Franceske  Anneke. 
Sarah  Pugh,  Amy  Post,  Catharine  A.  F.  Stebbins,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage, 
Clemence  S.  Lozier,  Olympia  Brown,  Mathilde  F.  Wendt,  Adleline  Thomson,  Ellen  Clark  Sargent, 
Virginia  L.  Minor,  Catherine  V.  Waite,  Elizabeth  B.  Schenck,  Phoebe  \V.  Couzins,  Elizabeth  Boynton 
Harbert,  Laura  De  Force  Gordon,  Sara  Andrews  Spencer.  Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  Jane  Graham 
Jones,  Abigail  Scott  Duniway,  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Sarah  L.  Williams, 
Abby  P.  Ela. 


Meeting  in  Dr.   Fumes  s*   Church.  35 

in  a  church  so  long  devoted  to  equality  and  justice.  The 
venerable  Lucretia  Mott,  then  in  her  eighty-fourth  year,  pre^ 
sided.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  read  the  Declaration  of  Rights. 
Its  reception  by  the  listening  audience  proclaimed  its  need  and 
its  justice.  The  reading  was  followed  by  speeches  upon  the 
various  points  of  the  declaration. 

Belva  A.  Lockwood  took  up  the  judiciary,  showing  the  way 
that  body  lends  itself  to  party  politics.  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  spoke 
upon  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  showing  what  a  mockery  to  married 
women  was  that  constitutional  guarantee.  Lucretia  Mott  re- 
viewed the  progress  of  the  reform  from  the  first  convention. 
Sara  Andrews  Spencer  illustrated  the  evils  arising  from  two 
codes  of  morality.  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake  spoke  upon  trial  by 
jury;  Susan  B.  Anthony  upon  taxation  without  representation, 
illustrating  her  remarks  by  incidents  of  unjust  taxation  of  women 
during  the  present  year.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  spoke  upon 
the  aristocracy  of  sex,  and  the  evils  arising  from  manhood  suf- 
frage. Judge  Esther  Morris,  of  Wyoming,  said  a  few  words 
in  regard  to  suffrage  in  that  territory.  Mrs.  Margaret  Parker, 
president  of  the  woman  suffrage  club  of  Dundee,  Scotland, 
and  of  the  newly-formed  Christian  Woman's  International  Tem- 
perance Union,  said  she  had  seen  nothing  like  this  in  Great  Britain 
— it  was  worth  the  journey  across  the  Atlantic.  Mr.  J.  H. 
Raper,  of  Manchester,  England,  characterized  it  as  the  historic 
meeting  of  the  day,  and  said  the  patriot  of  a  hundred  years  hence 
would  seek  for  every  incident  connected  with  it,  and  the  next 
centennial  would  be  adorned  by  the  portraits  of  the  women  who 
sat  upon  that  platform. 

The  Hutchinsons,  themselves  of  historic  fame,  were  present. 
They  were  in  their  happiest  vein,  interspersing  the  speeches  with 
appropriate  and  felicitous  songs.  Lucretia  Mott  did  not  confine 
herself  to  a  single  speech,  but,  in  Quaker  style,  whenever  the 
spirit  moved  made  many  happy  points.  When  she  first  arose  to 
speak,  a  call  came  from  the  audience  for  her  to  ascend  the  pulpit 
in  order  that  she  might  be  seen.  As  she  complied  with  this  re- 
quest, ascending  the  long  winding  staircase  into  the  old-fashioned 
octagon  pulpit,  she  said,  "  I  am  somewhat  like  Zaccheus  of  old 
who  climbed  the  sycamore  tree  his  Lord  to  see  ;  I  climb  this 
pulpit,  not  because  I  am  of  lofty  mind,  but  because  I  am  short 
of  stature  that  you  may  see  me."  As  her  sweet  and  placid 
countenance  appeared  above  the  pulpit,  the  Hutchinsons,  by 


36  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

happy  inspiration,  burst  into  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee."  The 
effect  was  marvelous  ;  the  audience  at  once  arose,  and  spontane- 
ously joined  in  the  hymn. 

Phoebe  W.  Couzins,  with  great  pathos,  referred  to  woman's 
work  in  the  war,  and  the  parade  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public the  preceding  evening  ;  she  said  : 

In  such  an  hour  as  this,  with  my  soul  stirred  to  its  deepest  depths,  I 
feel  unequal  to  the  task  of  uttering  words  befitting  the  occasion,  and  to 
follow  the  dear  saint  who  has  just  spoken  ;  how  can  I  ?  I  am  but  a  beginner, 
and  to-day  I  feel  that  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  these  dear  women  who  have 
borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  this  contest,  and  to  learn  of  them  is  the 
attitude  I  should  assume.  It  is  not  the  time  for  argument  or  rhetoric.  It 
is  the  time  for  introspection  and  prayer.  We  have  come  from  Inde- 
pendence Square,  where  the  nation  is  celebrating  its  centennial  birthday  of 
a  masculine  freedom.  You  have  just  heard  from  Mrs.  Stanton  the  read- 
ing of  Woman's  Declaration  of  Rights ;  that  document  has  already 
been  presented  in  engrossed  form,  tied  with  the  symbolic  red,  white  and 
blue,  to  the  presiding  officer  of  the  day,  Senator  Thomas  W.  Ferry,  on 
their  platform  in  yonder  square;  and  the  John  Hampden  of  our  cause, 
the  immortal  Susan  B.  Anthony,  rendered  it  historic,  by  reading  it 
from  the  steps  of  Independence  Hall,  to  an  immense  audience  there 
gathered,  that  could  not  gain  access  to  the  square  or  platform.  [Great 
applause.]  I  cannot  express  to  you  in  fitting  language  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  which  stirred  me  as  I  sat  on  the  platform,  awaiting  the  presenta- 
tion of  that  document. 

We  were  about  to  commit  an  overt  act.  Gen.  Hawley,  president  of  the 
centennial  commission  and  manager  of  the  programme,  had  peremptorily 
forbidden  its  presentation.  Yet  in  the  face  of  this — in  the  face  of  the  as- 
sembled nation  and  representatives  from  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe,  a 
handful  of  women  actuated  by  the  same  high  principles  as  our  fathers,  stir- 
red by  the  same  desire  for  freedom,  moved  by  the  same  impulse  for  liberty, 
were  to  again  proclaim  the  right  of  self-government;  were  again  to  im- 
peach the  spirit  of  King  George  manifested  in  our  rulers,  and  declare  that 
taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny,  that  the  divine  right  of  one- 
half  of  the  people  to  rule  the  other  half  is  also  despotism.  As  I  followed 
the  reading  of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  and  marked  the  wild  enthusiasm  of  its 
reception,  and  remembered  that  at  its  close,  a  document,  as  noble,  as  di- 
vine, as  grand,  as  historic  as  that,  was  to  be  presented  in  silence  ;  an  act. 
as  heroic,  as  worthy,  as  sublime,  was  to  be  performed  in  the  face  of  the 
contemptuous  amazement  of  the  assembled  world,  I  trembled  with  sup- 
pressed emotion.  When  Susan  Anthony  arose,  with  a  look  of  intense 
pain,  yet  heroic  determination  in  her  face,  I  silently  committed  her  to  the 
Great  Father  who  see'th  not  in  part,  to  strengthen  and  comfort  her  heroic 
heart,  and  then  she  was  lost  to  view  in  the  sudden  uprising  caused  by  the 
burst  of  applause  instituted  by  General  Hawley  in  behalf  of  the  Brazilian 
emperor.  And  thus  at  the  close  of  the  reading  of  a  document  which  re- 
pudiated kings  and  declared  the  right  of  even-  person  to  life,  to  liberty 


Miss  Cousins'  Eloquent  Appeal.  37 

and  the  pursuit  of  individual  happiness,  the  American  people,  applauding 
a  crowned  monarch,  received  in  silence  the  immortal  document  and  pro- 
test of  its  discrowned  queens  ! 

Shall  I  recount  the  emotion  that  swayed  me,  as  I  thought  of  all  that 
woman  had  done  to  build  up  this  country ;  to  sustain  its  unity,  to  perpet- 
uate its  principles ;  of  its  self-denying  and  heroic  Pilgrim  and  revolution- 
ary mothers ;  of  the  work  of  woman  in  the  anti-slavery  cause  ;  the  agony 
and  death  of  her  travail  in  its  second  birth  for  freedom;  sustaining  the 
nation  by  prayers,  by  self-sacrificing  contributions,  by  patriotic  endeavors, 
by  encouraging  words  ;  and,  reviewing  the  programme,  and  all  the  atten- 
dant pageants,  remembered  that  in  these  grand  centennial  celebrations, 
when  the  nation  rounded  out  its  first  century,  not  a  tribute,  not  a  recogni- 
tion in  any  shape,  form  or  manner  was  paid  to  woman ;  that  upon  the 
platform,  as  honored  guests,  sat  those  who  had  been  false  in  the  hour  of 
our  country's  peril ;  that  upon  this  historic  soil,  stood  the  now  freeman, 
once  a  slave,  whose  liberty  and  life  were  given  him  at  the  hands  of  woman  ; 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  far  off  isles  of  the  sea,  India,  Asia,  Africa,  Eu- 
rope, were  gladly  welcomed  as  free  citizens,  while  woman,  a  suppliant  beg- 
gar, pleaded  of  one  man,  invested  with  autocratic  power,  for  the  simple 
boon  of  presenting  a  protest  in  silence,  against  her  degradation,  and  was 
dented ! 

I  stood  yesterday  on  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Chestnut  streets,  watch- 
ing the  march  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  As  the  torn  and  tat- 
tered battle  flags  came  by,  all  the  terrors  of  that  war  tragedy  suddenly 
rushed  over  me,  and  I  sat  down  and  wept.  Looking  again,  I  saw  the  car  of 
wounded  soldiers ;  as  in  thought  I  was  suddenly  transported  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi  I  felt  the  air  full  of  the  horrors  of  the  battle  of  Shiloh, 
and  saw  two  young  girls  waiting  the  landing  of  a  steamer  that  had 
been  dispatched  to  succor  the  wounded  on  that  terrible  field.  They 
were  watching  for  "mother" — who  for  the  first  time  had  left  her  home 
charge,  and  hushing  her  own  heart's  pleadings,  heard  only  her  coun- 
try's call,  and  gone  down  to  that  field  of  carnage  to  tenderly  care  for  the 
soldier.  As  they  boarded  the  steamer,  what  a  sight  met  their  eyes  !  Maimed, 
bleeding,  dying  soldiers  by  the  hundreds,  were  on  cots  on  deck,  on 
boxes  filled  with  amputated  limbs,  and  the  dead  were  awaiting  the  last 
sad  rites.  Like  ministering  angels  walked  two  women,  their  mother  and 
the  now  sainted  Margaret  Breckenridge  of  Kentucky,  amid  these  rows  of 
sufferers,  with  strong  nerve  and  steady  arm,  comforting  the  soldier  boy, 
so  far  from  friends  and  home  ;  binding  up  the  ghastly  wound,  bathing  the 
feverish  brow,  smoothing  the  dying  pillow,  and  with  tender  mother's 
prayer  and  tear,  closing  the  eyes  of  the  dead.  The  first  revelation  of  war; 
how  it  burned  our  youthful  brain  !  How  it  moved  us  to  divine  compas- 
sion, how  it  stirred  us  to  even  give  up  our  mother  to  the  work  for  years, 
as  we  heard  the  piteous  pleading, "  Don't  leave  us,  mother  " — "  Oh,  mother, 
we  can  never  forget."  But  alas  they  did  forget !  This  scene  repeated  again, 
and  again,  during  that  long  conflict,  with  hundreds  of  women  offering  a 
like  service  in  camp  and  floating  hospital,  leaving  sweet  homes,  without 
money,  price  or  thought  of  emolument,  going  to  these  battle-fields  and 


38  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

tenderly  nursing  the  army  of  the  republic  to  life  again ;  while  back  of 
them  were  tens  of  thousands  .other  women  of  the  great  sanitary  army, 
who,  in  self-sacrifice  at  home,  were  sending  lint,  bandages,  clothing, 
delicacies  of  food  and  raiment  of  all  kinds,  by  car-load  and  ship-load, 
to  comfort  and  ameliorate  the  sufferings  of  the  grand  army  of  the  repub- 
lic, and  yet  as  I  watched  its  march  in  this  centennial  year,  its  gala  day — 
not  a  tribute  marked  its  gratitude  to  her  who  had  proved  its  savior  and 
friend,  in  the  hour  of  peril. 

Again,  came  the  colored  man  in  rank  and  file — and  in  thought  I  saw  the 
fifteenth-amendment  jubilee,  which  proclaimed  his  emancipation.  As  ban- 
ner after  banner  passed  me,  with  the  name  of  Garrison,  of  Phillips,  of 
Douglass,  I  looked  in  vain  for  the  name  of  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  whose 
one  book,  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  " — did  more  to  arouse  the  whole  world  to 
the  horrors  of  slavery,  than  did  the  words  or  works  of  any  ten  men.  I 
searched  for  a  tribute  to  Lucretia  Mott  and  other  women  of  that  conflict, 
but  none  appeared.  And  so  to-day,  standing  here  with  heart  and  brain 
convulsed  with  all  these  memories  and  scenes,  can  you  wonder  that  we 
are  stirred  to  profoundest  depths,  as  we  review  the  base  ingratitude  of  this 
nation  to  its  women  ?  It  has  taxed  its  women,  and  asked  the  women,  in 
whose  veins  flows  the  blood  of  their  Pilgrim  and  Revolutionary  mothers,  to 
assist  by  money,  individual  effort  and  presence,  to  make  it  a  year  of  jubi- 
lee for  the  proclamation  of  a  ransomed  male  nationality.  Zenobia,  in 
gilded  chains  it  may  be,  but  chains  nevertheless,  marches  through  the 
streets  of  Philadelphia  to-day,  an  appendage  of  the  chariot  wheels  which 
proclaim  the  coming  of  her  king,  her  lord,  her  master,  whether  he  be  white 
or  black,  native  or  foreign-born,  virtuous  or  vile,  lettered  or  unlettered. 
As  the  state-house  bell,  with  its  inscription,  "  Proclaim  liberty — through- 
out the  land,  unto  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,"  pealed  forth  its  jubilant  re- 
iteration,— the  daughters  of  Jefferson,  of  Hancock,  of  Adams,  and  Patrick 
Henry,  who  have  been  politically  outlawed  and  ostracized  by  their  own 
countrymen,  here  had  no  liberty  proclaimed  for  them  ;  they  are  not  inhab- 
itants, only  sojourners  in  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  as  the  slaves  in 
meek  subjection  to  the  will  of  the  master  placed  the  crown  of  sovereignty 
on  the  alien  from  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  she  is  asked  to  sing  in  dulcet  strains  : 
"The  king  is  dead — long  live  the  king  !" 

And  thus  to-day  we  round  out  the  first  century  of  a  professed  repub- 
lic,— with  woman  figuratively  representing  freedom — and  yet  all  free, 
save  woman. 

For  five  long  hours  of  that  hot  mid-summer's  day,  that  crowded 
audience  listened  earnestly  to  woman's  demand  for  equality  of 
rights  before  the  law.  When  the  convention  at  last  adjourned, 
the  Hutchinsons  singing,  "A  Hundred  Years  Hence,"*  it  was 

*  One  hundred  years  hence,  what  a  change  will  be  made, 
In  politics,  morals,  religion  and  trade, 
In  statesmen  who  wrangle  or  ride  on  the  fence, 
These  things  will  be  altered  a  hundred  years  hence. 

Our  laws  then  will  be  uncompulsory  rules, 
Our  prisons  converted  to  national  schools. 


A  Hundred  Years  Hence.  39 

slowly  and  reluctantly  that  the  great  audience  left  the  house. 
Judged  by  its  immediate  influence,  it  was  a  wonderful  meeting. 
No  elaborate  preparations  had  been  made,  for  not  until  late  on 
Friday  evening  had  it  been  decided  upon,  hoping  still,  as  we  did, 
for  a  recognition  in  the  general  celebration  on  Independence 
Square.  Speakers  were  not  prepared,  hardly  a  moment  of  thought 
had  been  given  as  to  what  should  be  said,  but  words  fitting  for 
the  hour  came  to  lips  rendered  eloquent  by  the  pressure  of  in- 
tense emotion. 

Day  after  day  visitors  to  the  woman  suffrage  parlors  referred 
to  this  meeting  in  glowing  terms.  Ladies  from  distant  States, 
in  Philadelphia  to  visit  the  exposition,  said  that  meeting  was 
worth  the  whole  expense  of  the  journey.  Young  women  with 
all  the  attractions  of  the  day  and  the  exposition  enticing  them, 
yet  said,  "  The  best  of  all  I  have  seen  in  Philadelphia  was  that 
meeting."  Women  to  whom  a  dollar  was  of  great  value,  said, 
"  As  much  as  I  need  money,  I  would  not  have  missed  that  meeting 
for  a  hundred  dollars  ";  while  in  the  midst  of  conversation  visitors 
would  burst  forth,  "  Was  there  ever  such  a  meeting  as  that  in 
Dr.  Furness' church?"  and  thus  was  Woman's  Declaration  of 
Rights  joyously  received. 

The  day  was  also  celebrated  by  women  in  convocations  of  their 
own  all. over  the  country.* 


The  pleasure  of  sinning  'tis  all  a  pretense, 

And  the  people  will  find  it  so,  a  hundred  years  kence. 

Lying,  cheating  and  fraud  will  be  laid  on  the  shelf, 

Men  will  neither  get  drunk,  nor  be  bound  up  in  self, 

But  all  live  together,  good  neighbors  and  friends. 

Just  as  Christian  folks  ought  to,  a  hundred  years  /tenet, 

Then  woman,  man's  partner,  man's  equal  shall  stand. 

While  beauty  and  harmony  govern  the  land, 

To  think  for  oneself  will  be  no  offense, 

The  world  will  be  thinking  a  hundred  years  hence. 

Oppression  and  war  will  be  heard  of  no  more, 

Nor  the  blood  of  a  slave  leave  his  print  on  our  shore, 

Conventions  will  then  be  a  useless  expense, 

For  we'll  all  go  free-sujfrage  a  hundred  years  kence. 

Instead  of  speech-making  to  satisfy  wrong, 

All  will  join  the  glad  chorus  to  sing  Freedom's  song ; 

And  if  the  Millenium  is  not  a  pretense. 

We'll  all  be  good  brothers  a  hundred  years  hence. 

This  song  was  written  in  1852,  at  Cleveland.  Ohio,  by  Frances-Dana  Gage,  expressly  for  John  W. 
Hutchinson.  Several  of  the  friends  were  staying  with  Mrs.  Caroline  M.  Severance,  on  their  way  to 
the  Akron  convention,  where  it  was  first  sung. 

*Protests  and  declarations  were  read  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  in  F.van*ton,  111.;  Sarah 
1,.  knox,  California  ;  Mrs.  Rosa  L.  Segur,  Toledo,  Ohio  ;  Mrs.  Mary  Olney  Brown,  Olympia.  Wash- 
ington territory  ;  Mrs.  Henrietta  Paine  Westbrook,  New  York  city.  In  Maquokcta.  Iowa,  Mrs.  Nancy 
K.  Allen  read  the  declaration  at  the  regular  county  celebration.  Madam  Anneke,  Wis,;  Elizabeth 
Avery  Meriwether,  Tenn.;  Lucinda  B.  Chandler,  N.  J.;  Jane  K.  Telker,  Iowa;  S.  P.  Abeel,  D.  C.; 
Mrs.  J,  A.  Johns.  Oregon;  Elizabeth  Lisle  Saxon,  La.;  Mr>.  EUio  Stewart,  K.in.;  and  many  other* 
impossible  lo  name,  sent  in  protests  and  declarations. 


40  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  centennial  parlors  was  an  im- 
mense autograph  book,  in  which  the  names  of  friends  to  the 
movement  were  registered  by  the  thousands,  some  penned  on 
that  historic  day  and  sent  from  the  old  world  and  the  new,  and 
others  written  on  the  spot  during  these  eventful  months.  From 
the  tidings  of  all  these  enthusiastic  assemblies  and  immense 
number  of  letters*  received  in  Philadelphia,  unitedly  demanding 
an  extension  of  their  rights,  it  was  evident  that  the  thinking 
women  of  the  nation  were  hopefully  waiting  in  the  dawn  of  the 
new  century  for  greater  liberties  to  themselves. 

From  "  Aunt  Lottie's  Centennial  Letters  to  her  Nieces  and 
Nephews,"  we  give  the  one  describing  this  occasion  : 

MY  DEARS  :  I  suppose  I  had  best  tell  you  in  this  letter  about  the  Fourth 
of  July  celebration  at  the  centennial  city — at  least  that  portion  of  it  that 
I  know  about,  and  which  I  would  not  have  missed  for  the  exhibition  itself, 
and  which  I  would  not  have  you  miss  for  all  the  rest  of  my  letters.  I  can- 
not expect  you  to  be  as  much  interested  in  it  as  was  I,  but  it  is  time  you 
were  becoming  interested  in  the  subject ;  and,  if  you  live  a  half  century 
from  this  time  (in  less  than  that,  I  hope,)  you  will  see  that  what  lam 
about  to  relate  was,  as  General  Hawley  admitted  it  would  be,  "the  event 
of  the  occasion." 

At  the  commencement  of  the  exhibition,  Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony  and 
Mrs.  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  came  to  Philadelphia  and  procured  the  parlors 
of  1,431  Chestnut  street  for  the  accommodation  of  the  National  Woman 
Suffrage  Association.  These  rooms  were  open  to  the  friends  of  the  asso- 
ciation, and  public  receptions  were  held  and  well  attended  every  Tuesday 
and  Friday  evening.  During  these  months  these  two  ladies — assisted  the 
latter  part  of  the  time  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton — were  engaged  in 
preparing  a  history  of  the  suffrage  movement  and  a  declaration  of  rights 
to  be  presented  at  the  great  centennial  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1876.  This  document  is  in  form  like  the  first  declaration  of  a  hundred 
years  ago,  handsomely  engrossed  by  Mrs.  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  of  Wash- 
ington— a  lady  delegate  to  the  Cincinnati  Republican  convention,  June  12. 

The  celebration  was  held  in  Independence  Square,  just  back  of  the  old 
state-house  where  the  first  declaration  was  signed.  There  was  a  great 
crowd  of  people  collected  ;  a  poem  was  read  by  Bayard  Taylor  and  a  speech 
delivered  by  William  M.  Evarts.  But  I  knew  it  was  useless  to  go  there 
expecting  to  hear  any  portion  of  either;  so  I  waited  until  twelve  o'clock 
and  then  rode  down  in  the  cars  to  Dr.  Furness'  church,  corner  of  Broad 
and  Locust  streets,  where  these  ladies  were  to  hold  their  meeting.  The 
church  was  full,  and  the  exercises  were  opened  by  Mrs.  Mott — the  vener- 
able and  venerated  president— a  Quaker  lady  of  slight  form,  attired  in  a 
plain,  light-silk  gown,  white  muslin  neckerchief  and  cap,  after  that  ex- 
quisitely neat  and  quaint  fashion.  Then  the  Hutchinsons  sang  a  hymn, 

*  See  Appendix. 


Aunt  Lottie s  Letter  to  her.  Nieces.  41 

in  which  all  were  requested  to  join.  Afterward  Mrs.  Stanton  came  to  the 
front  of  the  pulpit,  the  house  was  hushed  to  a  reverential  stillness,  and  I 
never  yet  heard  anything  so  solemn  and  impressive  as  her  reading  of  the 
Declaration  of  Rights  of  the  Women  of  the  United  States. 

A  printed  copy  had  been  given  me  the  day  before,  when  between  the 
sessions  of  the  New  England  American  Association  in  the  Academy  of 
Music,  where  were  Lucy  Stone,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Rev.  Antoinette  Brown 
Blackwell,  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill  and  other  pleasant-faced,  sweet-voiced 
ladies,  I  had  called  at  the  rooms  on  Chestnut  street  and  folded  declarations 
for  half  an  hour  with  Mrs.  Stanton,  which  they  were  distributing  by  post 
and  in  every  way  all  over  the  land.  When  I  read  it  at  home  that  night 
1  realized  its  importance,  but  as  the  next  day  (the  Fourth)  was  excessively 
warm,  I  very  nearly  gave  up  going,  and  then  1  should  have  missed  the 
impressiveness  of  her  reading.  When  she  first  commenced,  her  voice 
seemed  choked  with  emotion.  She  must  have  realized  what  she  was 
doing,  as  we  all  knew  it  was  the  grandest  thing  that  had  been  done  in  a 
hundred  years.  Thrill  after  thrill  went  through  my  veins,  and  the  whole 
scene  formed  a  picture  that  will  yet  be  the  subject  of  artists'  pencils  and 
poets'  pens.  I  should  have  been  contented  to  have  had  the  meeting 
closed  then  with  that  best  song  of  the  Hutchinsons  upon  the  progress 
of  reform,  where  the  young  gentleman  was  so  much  applauded 
for  his  solo,  "WThen  Women  Shall  be  Free."  Still  we  were  all  in- 
terested in  Mrs.  Spencer's  account  of  her  interview  with  General  Hawley, 
and  his  refusal  to  permit  the  silent  handing-in  of  the  declaration,  which, 
after  her  persistence,  assuring  him  "  it  would  not  take  three  minutes,"  he 
was  obliged  to  confess  was  because  he  was  "very  well  aware  it  would  be 
the  event  of  the  occasion."  "  Immediately,"  said  Mrs.  Spencer,  "you  can- 
not imagine  what  an  inspiration  we  all  had  to  do  it ;  for,"  added  the  slight, 
fair-haired,  fluent  lady,  in  a  humorous  manner  that  called  forth  laughter 
and  applause,  "  I  never  yet  was  forbidden  by  a  man  to  do  a  thing,  but  that 
I  resolved  to  do  it." 

We  were  also  pleased  to  hear  from  that  earnest  woman,  Susan  R. 
Anthony,  inspired  by  the  immutable  abstract  truths  of  justice  and  equity. 
Reports  say  that  she  has  the  air  of  a  Catholic  devotee.  She  said  that  in 
defiance  of  "  the  powers  that  be  "  she  took  a  place  on  that  platform 
in  Independence  square,  and  at  the  proper  time  delivered  the  en- 
grossed copy  of  the  declaration  to  the  lion.  T.  W.  Ferry,  who  received 
it  with  a  courteous  bow;  and.  afterward  on  the  steps  of  Independ- 
ence Hall  she  read  it  to  an  assembled  multitude.  She  had  done  her 
centennial  day's  work  for  all  time;  and  small  wonder  that  mind  and 
body  craved  rest  after  such  tension.  She  is  yet  under  a  hundred  dollars 
fine  for  voting  at  Rochester,  and  although  from  her  lectures  the  last  six 
years  she  has  paid  $10,000  indebtedness  on  77te  Revolution,  she  said  she 
never  would  have  paid  that  fine  had  she  been  imprisoned  till  now. 

Mrs.  Lucretia  Mott,  whom  the  younger  Hutchinson  *  assisted  into  the 
pulpit — a  beautiful  sight  to  see  cultured  youth  supporting  refined  old 
age— stated  that  she  went  up  there,  "  not  because  she  was  higher-minded 


*  Henry  Hutchin.son,  the  son  of  John. 


42  ffisfory  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

than  the  rest,  but  so  that  her  enfeebled  voice  might  be  better  heard."  The 
dear  old  soul  is  so  much  stronger  than  her  body,  that  it  would  seem  that 
she  must  have  greatly  overtasked  herself;  though  an  inspired  soul  has 
wonderful  recuperative  forces  at  command  for  the  temple  it  inhabits.  A 
goodly  number  of  gentlemen  were  present  at  this  meeting  and  that  of  the 
day  before — three  or  four  of  them  making  short  speeches.  A  Mr.  Raper 
of  England,  strongly  interested  in  the  temperance  and  woman  suffrage 
cause,  told  us  that  in  his  country  "all  women  tax-payers  voted  for  guar- 
dians of  the  poor,  upon  all  educational  matters,  and  also  upon  all  municipal 
affairs.  In  that  respect  she  was  in  advance  of  this  professed  republic.  In 
England  there  is  an  hereditary  aristocracy,  here,  an  aristocracy  of  sex  ";  or, 
as  the  spirited  Lillie  Devereux  Blake  who  was  present  once  amusingly 
termed  it,  of  "the  bifurcated  garment."  And  now  perhaps  some  ma- 
terially-minded person  will  ask,  "What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it? 
You  can't  fight ! "  forgetting  that  we  are  now  fighting  the  greatest  of  all 
battles,  and  that  the  weapons  of  woman's  warfare,  like  her  nature  at  its 
best  development,  are  moral  and  spiritual.  LEWISE  OLIVER. 

Philadelphia,  July  13,  1876. 

The  press  of  the  country  commented  extensively  upon  the 
action  of  the  women  : 

At  noon  to-day,  in  the  First  Unitarian  church,  corner  Tenth  and  South,  the 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  will  present  the  Woman's  Declaration  of  Rights. 
The  association  will  hold  a  convention  at  the  same  time  and  place,  at  which  Lucretia 
Mott  is  announced  to  preside,  and  several  ladies  to  make  speeches.  Most  of  the 
ladies  are  known  as  women  of  ability  and  earnest  apostles  of  the  creed  they  have 
espoused  for  the  political  enfranchisement  of  women.  Their  declaration  of  right>, 
we  do  not  doubt,  will  be  strongly  enforced.  These  ladies,  or  some  of  them,  have 
been  assigned  places  upon  the  platform  at  the  grand  celebration  ceremonies  to  take 
place  in  Independence  Square  to-day  ;  and  they  have  requested  leave  to  present  their 
declaration  of  rights  in  form  on  that  occasion.  They  do  not  ask  to  have  it  read, 
we  believe,  but  simply  that  the  statement  of  their  case  shall  go  on  file  with  the  general 
archives  of  the  day,  so  that  the  women  of  1976  may  see  that  their  predecessors  of  1876 
did  not  let  the  centennial  year  of  independence  pass  without  protest. — [Philadelphia 
Ledger,  July  4. 

There  was  yet  another  incident  of  the  Fourth,  in  Independence  Square.  Im- 
mediately after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  been  read  by  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  and  while  the  strains  of  the  "Greeting  from  Brazil  "  were  rising  upon  the  air, 
two  ladies  pushed  their  way  vigorously  through  the  crowd  and  appeared  upon  the 
speaker's  platform.  They  were  Susan  B.  Anthony  and  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage. 
Hustling  generals  aside,  elbowing  governors,  and  almost  upsetting  Dom  Pedro  in 
their  charge,  they  reached  Vice-President  Ferry,  and  handed  him  a  scroll  about  three 
feet  long,  tied  with  ribbons  of  various  colors.  He  was  seen  to  bow  and  look  be- 
wildered ;  but  they  had  retreated  in  the  same  vigorous  manner  before  the  explanation 
was  whispered  about.  It  appears  that  they  demanded  a  change  of  programme  for  the 
sake  of  reading  their  address  ;  but  "if  so,  this  was  probably  a  mere  form  intended  for 
future  effect.  More  than  six  months  ago  some  of  the  advocates  of  female  suffrage 
began  in  this  city  their  crusade  against  celebrating  the  centennial  anniversary  of  a  na- 
tion wherein  women  are  not  permitted  to  vote.  The  demand  of  Miss  Anthony  and 
Mrs.  Gage  to  be  allowed  to  take  part  in  a  commemoration  which  many  of  their  asso- 
ciates discouraged  and  denounced,  would  have  been  a  cool  proceeding  had  it  been 
made  in  advance.  Made,  as  it  was,  through  a  very  discourteous  interruption,  it  pre- 


Comments  of  the  Press,   1876.  43 

figures  new  forms  of  violence  and  disregard  of  order  which  may  accompany  the  par- 
ticipation of  women  in  active  partisan  politics. — [New  York  Tribune. 

The  letter  of  a  correspondent,  printed  in  another  column,  describing  the  presenta- 
tion of  a  woman's  bill  of  rights,  in  Independence  Square  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
will  interest  all  readers,  whether  or  not  they  think  with  the  coriespondent,  that 
this  little  affair  was  the  most  important  of  the  day's  proceedings.  We  have  not  a 
doubt  that  the  persons  who  were  concerned  in  the  affair  enjoyed  it  heartily.  Those 
of  them  who  made  speeches  naturally  regarded  their  eloquence  as  a  thing  to  stir  the 
nation.  All  persons  who  make  speeches  do.  The  day  was  a  warm  one,  and  imagina- 
tion, like  the  fire-cracker,  was  on  ffire.  In  the  heat  of  the  occasion,  of  course,  the 
women  who  want  to  vote  and  who  desire  the  protection  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
against  the  tyranny  of  actual  or  possible  husbands,  felt  that  they  were  making  great 
folios  of  history  ;  but  the  sagacity  of  the  press  agents  and  reporters  was  not  at  fault. 
The  gatherers  of  news  know  very  well  what  they  are  about  ;  and  when  they  decided 
to  omit  this  part  of  the  proceedings  from  their  reports,  they  simply  obeyed  that  in- 
stinct upon  which  their  livelihood  depends — the  instinct,  namely,  to  write  only  of 
matters  in  which  the  public  is  interested. 

The  good  women  who  wrote  and  published  this  declaration,  fancying  that  they 
were  throwing  a  boombshell  into  the  gathered  crowds  of  American  (male)  citizens, 
are  very  much  in  earnest,  doubtless,  and  are  entitled — we  have  platform  authority  fur 
saying  it —  to  "  respectful  consideration  ";  but  their  movement  scarcely  rises,  as  yet 
at  least,  to  the  dignity  of  a  great  historical  event.  There  is  a  prevailing  indifference 
to  their  cause  which  is  against  it.  The  public  is  not  aroused  to  a  fever  heat  of  in- 
dignation over  the  wrongs  which  women  are  everywhere  suffering  at  the  hands  of 
the  tyrants  called  husbands.  The  popular  mind  is  not  yet  awake  to  the  fact  that  men 
usually  imprison  their  wives  in  back  parlors  and  maltreat  them  shamefully.  The 
witnesses,  wives  to  wit,  refuse  to  bear  testimony  to  this  effect,  and  the  public  placidly 
accepts  appearance  for  reality  and  believes  that  the  gentlewomen  who  ride  about  in 
their  carriages  or  haunt  the  shops  of  our  cities  in  gay  apparel  are  reasonably  well  con- 
tented with  their  lot  in  life.  In  a  word,  it  is  not  hostility  so  much  as  calm  indifference 
with  which  the  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  have  to  contend,  and  unluckily  for  them 
the  indifference  is  very  largely  feminine. — [New  York  Evening  Post. 

There  is  something  awful  in  the  thought  that  should  the  woman  suffragists  be  con- 
tinually refused  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation  they  might  at  last  in  a  fit  of  despe- 
ration, do  what  our  fathers  did,  and  frame  a  declaration  of  independence,  No,  2.  Just 
think  of  an  army  of  crinolines  willing  to  take  arms  against  the  tyrant  man,  and  sacri- 
fice their  lives,  if  need  be,  to  carry  out  their  principles  !  It  is  easier  to  ridicule  the 
woman  suffrage  movement  than  to  answer  the  arguments  advanced  by  some  of  the  leading 
advocates  of  that  question.  It  is  only  the  innate  mildness  of  the  position  of  women  in 
general  that  has  prevented  a  revolution  on  this  same  subject  long  ago.  One  hundred 
thousand  such  fire-eaters  as  Susan  B.  Anthony  or  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  in  the  land, 
could  raise  a  rumpus  which  would  cause  the  late  unpleasantness  to  pale  into  insignifi- 
cance. Armed  and  equipped,  what  a  sight  would  be  presented  by  an  army  of  strong- 
minded  women  !  There  would  be  no  considering  the  question  of  whether  the  cavalry 
should  ride  side-saddle,  or  a  la  clothes-pin.  Such  detail  would  be  of  too  small  importance 
to  receive  the  slightest  attention  ;  the  more  vital  questions  would  be,  "  How  can  we 
slaughter  the  most  men  ?"  "  How  can  we  soonest  convince  the  demons  that  we  have 
rights  which  must  be  respected?"  The  fact  is,  that  if  these  down-trodden  women 
would  take  a  firm  stand  in  any  thing  like  respectable  numbers,  and  assert  their  claims 
to  suffrage  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  they  would  be  allowed  everything  they  asked 
for.  There  is  not  a  man  in  the  land  who  would  dare  to  take  up  arms  against  a  woman. 
Such  a  dernier  resort  on  the  part  of  the  women  would  be  truly  laughable,  but  the  mat- 
ter would  cease  to  be  a  joke,  if  General  Susan  B.  Anthony,  in  command  of  a  bloomer 
regiment,  should  march  into  the  halls  of  congress,  armed  cap-a-pie,  and  demand  the 
passage  of  a  law  in  behalf  of  woman  suffrage,  or  the  alternative  of  the  general  clean- 


44  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ing  out  of  (he  whole  body.  There  is  no  immediate  prospect  of  such  an  event,  but 
"hell  hath  no  furies  like  a  woman  scorned."  Long  and  loud  have  been  the  appeals  of 
the  fair  sex  for  recognition  at  the  ballot-box.  With  that  faithful  zeal  so  truly  charac- 
teristic of  her  sex,  she  has  each  time,  for  many  years  in  the  history  of  this  country, 
presented  herself  before  the  curious  gaze  of  our  national  conventions,  asking,  with  no 
little  stress  of  argument,  for  a  woman's  plank  in  the  platforms.  If  she  has  been  heard 
at  all  in  the  framed  resolutions  of  the  parties,  the  feeling  prevailing  in  the  conventions 
has  been  rather  to  pacify  and  put  her  off,  than  to  grant  her  request  through  motives  of 
political  policy.  If  perseverance  is  to  be  awarded,  the  agitators  of  the  woman  ques- 
tion will  yet  carry  off  the  prize  they  seek.  Death  alone  can  silence  such  women  as 
Susan  B.  Anthony  and  Cady  Stanton,  and  their  teachings  will  live  after  them  and 
unite  others  of  their  sex  into  strong  bands  of  sisterhood  in  a  common  cause.  It  is  safe 
to  say,  if  events  march  on  in  the  same  direction  they  have  since  the  calling  of  the  first 
National  Woman's  Convention,  another  centennial  will  see  woman  in  the  halls  of 
legislation  throughout  the  land,  and  so  far  as  we  are  concerned  we  have  no  objection, 
so  long  as  she  behaves  herself. — [St.  Louis  Dispatch,  July  13. 

It  is  a  curious  anomaly  that  the  movement  for  national  woman  suffrage  in  our  coun- 
try is  most  obstructed  by  women,  and  that  even  where  Jhemen  have  doubts,  their  natu- 
ral admiration  for  the  gentler  sex  almost  converts  them  into  champions.  Certain  it  is 
that  the  Declaration  of  Rights  of  the  Women  of  the  United  .States  that  the  National 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  presented  to  the  vice-president,  Mr.  Ferry,  while  he  was 
surrounded  by  foreign  princes  and  potentates  and  by  the  governors  of  most  of  the 
States  of  the  union,  faced  at  the  same  time  by  a  countless  mass  of  American  and  for- 
eign visitors — certain  it  is,  we  repeat,  that  when  this  altogether  unique  paper  was  pre- 
sented by  Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony  and  her  sisters,  it  became  a  record  in  the  minds  and 
memory  of  all  who  witnessed  the  strange  proceeding.  And  it  is  a  very  well  written 
statement,  and  no  doubt  one  hundred  years  hence  it  will  be  read  with  an  interest  not 
less  ecstatic  than  the  enthusiasm  of  its  present  pioneers  ;  for,  in  the  interval,  these  ad- 
vanced women  may  have  won  for  their  withholding  sisters  the  entire  list  of  male  pre- 
rogatives. What  adds  to  the  force  of  the  present  woman  suffrage  party  is  the  dignity, 
intelligence  and  purity  of  its  participants.  The  venerable  Lucretia  Mott ;  the  honest, 
straightforward  Susan  B.  Anthony  ;  the  cultivated  Ellen  Clark  Sargent  (wife  of  the  Cali- 
fornia senator);  the  beloved  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton.  and  indeed  all  the  names  at- 
tached to  the  declaration  command  our  respect.  Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  points 
of  the  declaration  itself,  with  all  our  sincere  admiration  of  these  gentlewomen,  in- 
creased by  the  knowledge  even-where  that  they  are  ardent  republicans,  we  fear  that 
their  weakness,  to  employ  a  paradox,  consists  in  their  strength,  or,  in  other  words, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  induce  even  the  most  benevolent  and  sympathetic  observer  to  be- 
lieve that  they  are  really  as  much  persecuted  and  oppressed  as  they  claim  to  be.  When 
the  colored  man  demanded  his  rights  they  were  given  to  him  because  these  rights  in 
republican  constitutions  were  regarded  as  inherent,  and  also  because  he  had  reciprocal 
duties  to  discharge,  and  heavy  burdens  to  carry,  and  when  the  Southern  confederate 
demanded  restitution  of  his  rights,  he  rested  his  claim  upon  the  double  ba>is  that  he 
had  earned  forgiveness  by  his  bravery,  and  that  political  disfranchisement  did  not  be- 
long to  a  republican  example.  Fortunately  or  unfortunately,  it  is  very  different  with 
the  ladies  ;  and  so  when  they  come  forward  insisting  upon  rights  heretofore  accorded 
to  men  alone,  they  must  encounter  all  the  differences  created  by  the  delicacy  of  their 
own  sisters  and  the  reverence  and  love  of  the  men,  and  the  hard  fact  that  these  two 
influences  have  made  it  heretofore  impossible  for  women  to  descend  to  the  arena  of 
politics.  Having  said  this  much,  we  present  a  few  of  the  cardinal  points  of  the 
woman's  declaration  of  rights  laid  before  the  august  memorial  centennial  celebration 
last  Tuesday,  July  4,  1876. — [Philadelphia  Press,  July  15. 

On  July  19,  the  Citizens' Suffrage  Association,  of  Philadelphia, 
joined  with  the  National  Association  in  commemorating  the  first 


Twenty-eighth  Anniversary   Celebration.  45 

woman's  rights  convention  called  by  Lucretia  Mott  and  Elizabeth 
Cady  Stanton.at  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.,  July  19,  1848 — thus  celebra- 
ting the  twenty-eighth  anniversary  of  that  historic  event.  The 
meeting  was  presided  over  by  Edward  M.  Davis,  president  of  the 
association,  son-in-law  of  Lucretia  Mott,  and  one  of  the  most 
untiring  workers  in  the  cause.  The  venerable  Lucretia  Mott 
addressed  the  meeting,  and  Miss  Anthony  read  letters  from  sev- 
eral of  the  earliest  and  most  valued  pioneers  of  the  movement : 

TENAFLY,  New  Jersey,  July  19,  1876. 

LUCRETIA  MOTT — Esteemed  Friend :  It  is  twenty-eight  years  ago  to-day 
since  the  first  woman's  rights  convention  ever  held  assembled  in  the  Wes- 
leyan  chapel  at  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.  Could  we  have  foreseen,  when  we 
called  that  convention,  the  ridicule,  persecution,  and  misrepresentation 
that  the  demand  for  woman's  political,  religious  and  social  equality  would 
involve  ;  the  long,  weary  years  of  waiting  and  hoping  without  success  ;  I 
fear  we  should  not  have  had  the  courage  and  conscience  to  begin  such  a 
protracted  struggle,  nor  the  faith  and  hope  to  continue  the  work.  Fortu- 
nately for  all  reforms,  the  leaders,  not  seeing  the  obstacles  which  block 
the  way,  start  with  the  hope  of  a  speedy  success.  Our  demands  at  the  first 
seemed  so  rational  that  I  thought  the  mere  statement  of  woman's  wrongs 
would  bring  immediate  redress.  I  thought  an  appeal  to  the  reason  and 
conscience  of  men  against  the  unjust  and  unequal  laws  for  women  that 
disgraced  our  statute  books,  must  settle  the  question.  But  I  soon  found, 
while  no  attempt  was  made  to  answer  our  arguments,  that  an  opposition, 
bitter,  malignant,  and  persevering,  rooted  in  custom  and  prejudice,  grew 
stronger  with  every  new  demand  made,  with  every  new  privilege  granted. 

How  well  I  remember  that  July  day  when  the  leading  ladies  and  gentle- 
men of  the  busy  town  crowded  into  the  little  church  ;  lawyers  loaded  with 
books,  to  expound  to  us  the  laws;  ladies  with  their  essays,  and  we  who 
had  called  the  convention,  with  our  declaration  of  rights,  speeches,  and 
resolutions.  With  what  dignity  James  Mott,  your  sainted  husband,  tall 
and  stately,  in  Quaker  costume,  presided  over  our  novel  proceedings. 
And  your  noble  sister,  Martha  C.  Wright,  was  there.  Her  wit  and  wisdom 
contributed  much  to  the  interest  of  our  proceedings,  and  her  counsel  in  a 
large  measure  to  what  success  we  claimed  for  our  first  convention.  While 
so  many  of  those  early  friends  fell  off  through  indifference,  fear  of  ridicule 
and  growing  conservatism,  she  remained  through  these  long  years  of  trial 
steadfast  to  the  close  of  a  brave,  true  life.  She  has  been  present  at  nearly 
every  convention,  with  her  encouraging  words  and  generous  contributions, 
and  being  well  versed  in  Cushing's  Manual,  has  been  one  of  our  chief  pre- 
siding officers.  And  my  heart  is  filled  with  gratitude,  even  at  this  late  day, 
as  I  recall  the  earnestness  and  eloquence  with  which  Frederick  Douglass 
advocated  our  cause,  though  at  that  time  he  had  no  rights  himself  that  any 
white  man  was  bound  to  respect.  I  marvel  now,  that  in  our  inexperience 
the  interest  was  so  well  sustained  through  two  entire  days,  and  that  when 
the  meeting  adjourned  everybody  signed  the  declaration  and  went  home 
feeling  that  a  new  era  had  dawned  for  woman.  What  had  been  done  and 


46  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

said  seemed  so  preeminently  wise  and  proper  that  none  of  us  thought  of 
being  ridiculed,  ostracised,  or  suspected  of  evil.  But  what  was  our  sur- 
prise and  chagrin  to  find  ourselves,  in  a  few  days,  the  target  for  the  press 
of  the  nation  ;  the  New  York  Tribune  being  our  only  strong  arm  of  de- 
fense. 

Looking  over  these  twenty-eight  years,  I  feel  that  what  we  have 
achieved,  as  yet,  bears  no  proportion  to  what  we  have  suffered  in  the 
daily  humiliation  of  spirit  from  the  cruel  distinctions  based  on  sex. 
Though  our  State  laws  have  been  essentially  changed,  and  positions  in 
the  schools,  professions,  and  world  of  work  secured  to  woman,  unthought 
of  thirty  years  ago,  yet  the  undercurrent  of  popular  thought,  as  seen  in 
our  social  habits,  theological  dogmas,  and  political  theories,  still  reflects 
the  same  customs,  creeds,  and  codes  that  degrade  women  in  the  effete 
civilizations  of  the  old  world.  Educated  in  the  best  schools  to  logical 
reasoning,  trained  to  liberal  thought  in  politics,  religion  and  social  ethics 
under  republican  institutions,  American  women  cannot  brook  the  dis- 
criminations in  regard  to  sex  that  were  patiently  accepted  by  the  ignorant 
in  barbarous  ages  as  divine  law.  And  yet  subjects  of  emperors  in  the  old 
world,  with  their  narrow  ideas  of  individual  rights,  their  contempt  of  all 
womankind,  come  here  to  teach  the  mothers  of  this  republic  their  true 
work  and  sphere.  Such  men  as  Carl  Schurz,  breathing  for  the  first  time 
the  free  air  of  our  free  land,  object  to  what  we  consider  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  women,  fitting  them  for  the  trades  and  professions,  for  the  sciences 
and  arts,  and  self-complacently  point  Lucretia  Mott,  Maria  Mitchell, 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  to  their  appropriate  sphere, 
as  housekeepers  with  a  string  of  keys,  like  Madam  Bismark,  dangling 
around  their  waists. 

The  Rev.  J.  G.  Holland,  the  Tupper  of  our  American  literature,  thanks 
his  Creator  that  woman  has  no  specialty.  She  was  called  into  being  for 
man's  happiness  and  interest — his  helpmeet — to  wait  and  watch  his 
movements,  to  second  his  endeavors,  to  fight  the  hard  battle  of  life 
behind  him  whose  brain  may  be  dizzy  with  excess,  whose  limbs  may 
be  paralyzed,  or  if  sound  in  body,  may  be  without  aim  or  ambition, 
without  plans  or  projects,  destitute  of  executive  ability  or  good  judg- 
ment in  the  business  affairs  of  life.  And  such  sentimentalists,  after 
demoralizing  women  with  their  twaddle,  discourage  our  demand  for 
the  right  of  suffrage  by  pointing  us  to  the  fact  that  the  majority  of 
women  are  indifferent  to  this  movement  in  their  behalf.  SuppoSfe  they 
are;  have  not  the  masses  of  all  oppressed  classes  been  apathetic  and  in- 
different until  partial  success  crowned  the  enthusiasm  of  the  few?  Carl 
Schurz  would  not  have  been  exiled  from  his  native  land  could  he  have 
roused  the  majority  of  his  countrymen  to  the  same  love  of  liberty  which 
burned  in  his  own  soul.  Were  his  dreams  of  freedom  less  real  because 
the  stolid  masses  were  not  awake  to  their  significance?  Shall  a  soul 
that  accepts  martyrdom  for  a  principle  be  told  he  is  sacrificing  himself  to 
a  shadow  because  the  multitude  can  neither  see  nor  appreciate  the  idea? 

I  do  not  feel  like  rejoicing  over  any  privileges  already  granted  to  my 
sex,  until  all  our  rights  are  conceded  and  secured  and  the  principle  of 


Letter  of  Catharine  A.  F.  Stebbins.  47 

equality  recognized  and  proclaimed,  for  every  step  that  brings  us  to  a 
more  equal  plane  with  man  but  makes  us  more  keenly  feel  the  loss  of 
those  rights  we  are  still  denied — more  susceptible  to  the  insults  of  his 
assumptions  and  usurpations  of  power.  As  I  sum  up  the  indignities 
toward  women,  as  illustrated  by  recent  judicial  decisions — denied  the 
right  to  vote,  denied  the  right  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court,  denied 
jury  trial — I  feel  the  degradation  of  sex  more  bitterly  than  I  did  on  that 
July  19,  1848,  and  never  more  than  in  listening  to  your  speech  in 
Philadelphia  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  our  nation's  centennial  birthday,  re- 
membering that  neither  years  nor  wisdom,  brave  words  nor  noble  deeds, 
could  secure  political  honor  or  call  forth  national  homage  for  women. 
Let  it  be  remembered  by  our  daughters  in  future  generations  that 
Lucretia  Mott,  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  her  age,  asked  permission,  as 
the  representative  woman  of  this  great  movement  for  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  her  sex,  to  present  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  our  national 
liberties,  Woman's  Declaration  of  Rights,  and  was  refused  !  This  was  the 
"  respectful  consideration  "  vouchsafed  American  women  at  the  close  of 
the  first  century  of  our  national  life. 

May  we  now  safely  prophesy  justice,  liberty,  equality  for  our  daughters 
ere  another  centennial  birthday  shall  dawn  upon  us  ! 

Sincerely  yours,  ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON. 

DETROIT,  July  17,  1876. 

To  Lucretia  Mott,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Mary  Ann  McClintock  and 
daughters,  Amy  Post,  and  all  associated  with  them  and  myself  in  the 
first  Woman's  Rights  Convention,  held  in  Seneca  Falls,  N.  V.,  July 
19,  1848,  as  well  as  to  our  later  and  present  associates,  Greeting  : 

Not  able  to  be  with  you  in  your  celebration  of  the  nineteenth,  I  will  yet 
give  evidence  that  I  prize  your  remembrance  of  our  first  assemblage  and 
of  our  earliest  work.  That  is,  and  will  ever  be.  as  the  present  is  a 
memorable  year;  and  may  this  be  memorable  too  for  the  same  reason,  a 
brave  step  in  advance  for  human  freedom.  I  would  that  it  could  be  a 
conclusive  step  in  legislation  for  the  political  freedom  of  the  women  of 
the  nation.  For  it  is  only  in  harmony  with  reason  and  experience  to  pre- 
dict that  the  men  as  well  as  the  women  of  the  near  future  will  rejoice  if 
this  centennial  year  is  thus  marked  and  glorified  by  so  grand  a  deed. 

We  may  well  congratulate  each  other  and  have  satisfaction  in  knowing 
that  we  have  changed  the  public  sentiment  and  the  laws  of  many  States 
by  our  advocacy  and  labors.  We  also  know  that  while  helping  the 
growth  of  our  own  souls,  we  have  set  many  women  thinking  and  reading 
on  this  vital  question,  who  in  turn  have  discussed  it  in  private  and  public, 
and  thus  inspired  others.  So  that  at  this  present  time  few  who 
have  examined  can  deny  our  claim.  But  we  are  grateful  to  remember 
many  women  who  needed  no  arguments,  whose  clear  insight  and  reason 
pronounced  in  the  outset  that  a  woman's  soul  was  as  well  worth  saving 
as  a  man's;  that  her  independence  and  free  choice  are  as  necessary  and 
as  valuable  to  the  public  virtue  and  welfare;  who  saw  and  still  see  in 
both,  equal  children  of  a  Father  who  loves  and  protects  all. 


48  History  of    Woman  Suffrage. 

Men  do  not  need  to  be  convinced  of  the  righteousness  of  entire  free- 
dom for  us;  they  have  long  been  convinced  of  its  justice;  they  confess 
that  it  is  only  expediency  which  makes  them  withhold  that  which  they 
profess  is  precious  to  them.  We  await  only  an  awakened  conscience  and 
an  enlarged  statesmanship. 

I  bid  you  and  the  women  of  the  republic  God-speed,  and  close  in  the 
language  of  one  who  went  before  us,  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  who  did  so 
much  in  a  thoughtless  age  to  bring  both  men  and  women  back  to  virtue 
and  religion.  She  says:  "Contending  for  the  rights  of  woman,  my  main 
argument  is  built  on  this  simple  principle,  that  if  she  be  not  prepared  by 
education  to  become  the  companion  of  man,  she  will  stop  the  progress  of 
knowledge  and  virtue;  for  truth  must  be  common  to  all  or  it  will  be  in- 
efficacious with  respect  to  its  influence  in  general  practice.  And  how  can 
unman  be  expected  to  cooperate  unless  she  know  why  she  ought  to  be 
virtuous ;  unless  freedom  strengthen  her  reason  till  she  comprehends 
her  duty  and  sees  in  what  manner  it  is  connected  with  her  real  good?  If 
children  are  to  be  educated  to  understand  the  true  principle  of  patriotism, 
their  mother  must  be  a  patriot;  and  the  love  of  mankind  from  which  an 
orderly  train  of  virtues  spring,  can  only  be  produced  by  considering  the 
moral  and  civil  interests  of  mankind ;  but  the  education  and  situation  of 
woman  at  present  shuts  her  out  from  such  investigations." 

With  the  greatest  possible  interest  in  your  celebration  and  delibera- 
tions, and  assuring  you  that  I  shall  be  with  you  in  thought  and  spirit,  I 
am  most  earnestly  and  cordially  yours, 

CATHARINE  A.  F.  STEBBINS. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.,  June  27,  1876. 

MY  DEAR  SUSAN  ANTHONY  :  I  thank  thee  most  deeply  for  the  assurance 
of  a  welcome  to  your  deliberative  councils  in  our  country's  centennial  year, 
to  reannounce  our  oft-repeated  protest  against  bondage  to  tyrant  law. 
Most  holy  cause  !  Woman's  equality,  why  so  long  denied  ?  .  .  .  .  I  was 
ready  at  the  first  tap  of  the  drum  that  sounded  from  that  hub  of  our 
country,  Seneca  Falls,  in  1848,  calling  for  an  assembly  of  men  and  women 
to  set  forth  and  remonstrate  against  the  legal  usurpation  of  our  rights.  .  .  . 
1  cannot  think  of  anything  that  would  give  me  as  much  pleasure  as  to  be 
able  to  meet  with  you  at  this  time.  I  am  exceedingly  glad  that  you 
appreciate  the  blessings  of  frequent  visits  and  wise  counsel  from  our  be- 
loved and  venerated  pioneer,  Lucretia  Mott.  I  hope  her  health  and 
strength  will  enable  her  to  see  and  enjoy  the  triumphant  victory  of  this 
work,  and  I  wish  you  all  the  blessings  of  happiness  that  belong  to  all 
good  workers,  and  my  love  to  them  all  as  if  named.  AMY  POST. 

POMO,  Mendocino  Co.,  California,  June  26,  1876. 

July  4,  1776,  our  revolutionary  fathers — in  convention  assembled — de- 
clared their  independence  of  the  mother  country;  solemnly  asserted 
the  divine  right  of  self-government  and  its  relation  to  constituted  au- 
thority. With  liberty  their  shibboleth,  the  colonies  triumphed  in  their 
long  and  fierce  struggle  with  the  mother  country,  and  established  an  in- 
dependent government.  They  adopted  a  "  bill  of  rights  "  embodying  their 
ideal  of  a  free  government. 


Mrs.   C.  I.  H.  Nichols    Centennial  Protest.  49 

With  singular  inconsistency  almost  their  first  act,  while  it  secured  to 
one-half  the  people  of  the  body  politic  the  right  to  tax  and  govern  them- 
selves, subjected  the  other  half  to  the  very  oppression  which  had  cul- 
minated in  the  rebellion  of  the  colonies,  "taxation  without  representa- 
tion," and  the  inflictions  of  an  authority  to  which  they  had  not  given  their 
consent.  The  constitutional  provision  which  enfranchised  the  male  popu- 
lation of  the  new  State  and  secured  to  it  self-governing  rights,  disfran- 
chised its  women,  and  eventuated  in  a  tyrannical  use  of  power,  which, 
exercised  by  husbands,  fathers,  and  brothers,  is  infinitely  more  intolerable 
than  the  despotic  acts  of  a  foreign  ruler. 

As  if  left  ignobly  to  illustrate  the  truths  of  their  noble  declarations,  no 
sooner  did  the  enfranchised  class  enter  upon  the  exercise  of  their  usurped 
powers  than  they  proceeded  to  alienate  from  the  mothers  of  humanity 
rights  declared  to  be  inseparable  from  humanity  itself!  Had  they  thrust 
the  British  yoke  from  the  necks  of  their  wives  and  daughters  as  in- 
dignantly as  they  thrust  it  from  their  own,  the  legal  subjection  of  the 
women  of  to-day  would  not  stand  out  as  it  now  does — the  reproach 
of  our  republican  government.  As  if  sons  did  not  follow  the  condition  of 
the  mothers — as  if  daughters  had  no  claim  to  the  birthright  of  the 
fathers — they  established  for  disfranchised  woman  a  "  dead  line,"  by  re- 
taining the  English  common  law  of  marriage,  which,  unlike  that  of  less 
liberal  European  governments,  converts  the  marriage  altar  into  an  execu- 
tioner's block  and  recognizes  woman  as  a  wife  only  when  so  denuded  of 
personal  rights  that  in  legal  phrase  she  is  said  to  be — "dead  in  law  "  ! 

More  considerate  in  the  matter  of  forms  than  the  highwayman  who 
kills  that  he  may  rob  the  unresisting  dead,  our  gallant  fathers  executed 
women  who  must  need  cross  the  line  of  human  happiness — legally  ;  and 
administered  their  estate ;  and  decreed  the  disposition  of  their  defunct 
personalities  in  legislative  halls;  only  omitting  to  provide  for  the  matri- 
monial crypt  the  fitting  epitaph  :  "  Here  lies  the  relict  of  American  free- 
dom— taxed  to  pauperism,  loved  to  death  !  " 

With  all  the  modification  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  our  English 
law  of  marriage  still  invests  the  husband  with  a  sovereignty  almost  de- 
spotic over  his  wife.  It  secures  to  him  her  personal  service  and  savings, 
and  the  control  and  custody  of  her  person  as  against  herself.  Having  thus 
reduced  the  wife  to  a  dead  pauper  owing  service  to  her  husband,  our 
shrewd  forefathers,  to  secure  the  bond,  confiscated  her  natural  obliga- 
tions as  a  child  and  a  mother.  Whether  married  or  single,  only  inability 
excuses  a  son  from  the  legal  support  of  indigent  and.  infirm  parents. 
The  married  daughter,  in  the  discharge  of  her  wifely  duties,  may  tenderly 
care  and  toil  for  her  husband's  infirm  parents,  or  his  children  and  grand- 
children by  a  prior  marriage,  while  her  own  parents,  or  children  by  a 
prior  marriage — legally  divested  of  any  claim  on  her  or  the  husband  who 
absorbs  her  personal  services  and  earnings — are  sent  to  the  poor-house, 
or  pine  in  bitter  privation  ;  except  with  consent  of  her  husband,  she  can 
give  neither  her  personal  care  nor  the  avails  of  her  industry,  for  their 
benefit.  So,  to  be  a  wife,  woman  ceases,  in  law,  to  be  anything  else — 
yields  up  the  ghost  of  a  legal  existence  !  That  she  escapes  the  extreme 
4 


50  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

penalty  of  her  legal  bonds  in  any  case  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  majority 
of  men,  married  or  single,  are  notably  better  than  their  laws. 

Our  fathers  taught  the  quality  and  initiated  the  form  of  free  govern- 
ment. But  it  was  left  to  their  posterity  to  learn  from  the  discipline  of 
experience,  that  truths,  old  as  the  eternities,  are  forever  revealing  new 
phases  to  render  possible  more  perfect  interpretations  ;  and  to  accumulate 
unanswerable  reasons  for  their  extended  application.  That  the  sorest 
trials  and  most  appreciable  failures  of  the  government  our  fathers  be- 
queathed to  us,  have  been  the  direct  and  inevitable  results  of  their 
departures  from  the  principles  they  enunciated,  is  so  patent  to  all 
Christendom,  that  free  government  itself  has  won  from  our  mistakes 
material  to  revolutionize  the  world — lessons  that  compel  depotisms  to 
change  their  base  and  constitutional  monarchies  to  make  broader  the 
phylacteries  of  popular  rights. 

Is  it  not  meet  then,  that  on  this  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  American 
independence  the  daughters  of  revolutionary  sires  should  appeal  to  the 
sons  to  fulfill  what  the  fathers  promised  but  failed  to  perform — should 
appeal  to  them  as  the  constituted  executors  of  the  father's  will,  to  give 
full  practical  effect  to  the  self-evident  truths,  that  "taxation  without 
representation  is  tyranny  " — that  "governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed  "?  With  an  evident  common  interest 
in  all  the  affairs  of  which  government  properly  or  improperly  takes 
cognizance,  we  claim  enfranchisement  on  the  broad  ground  of  human 
right,  having  proved  the  justice  of  our  claim  by  the  injustice  which  has 
resulted  to  us  and  ours  through  our  disfranchisement. 

We  ask  enfranchisement  in  the  abiding  faith  that  with  our  cooperative 
efforts  free  government  would  attain  to  higher  averages  of  intelligence 
and  virtue;  with  an  innate  conviction,  that  the  sequestration  of  rights  in 
the  homes  of  the  republic  makes  them  baneful  nurseries  of  the  monopo- 
lies, rings,  and  fraudulent  practices  that  are  threatening  the  national 
integrity ;  and  that  so  long  as  the  fathers  sequester  the  rights  of  the 
mothers  and  train  their  sons  to  exercise,  and  the  daughters  to  submit 
to  the  exactions  of  usurped  powers,  our  government  offices  will  be  dens 
of  thieves  and  the  national  honor  trail  in  the  dust ;  and  honest  men  come 
out  from  the  fiery  ordeals  of  faithful  service,  denuded  of  the  confidence 
and  respect  justly  their  due.  Give  us  liberty.  We  are  mothers,  wives, 
and  daughters  of  freemen.  C.  I.  H.  NICHOLS. 

LONDON,  Eng.,  July  4,  1876. 

MY  DEAR  SUSAN  :  I  sincerely  thank  you  for  your  kind  letter.  Many 
times  I  have  thought  of  writing  to  you,  but  I  knew  your  time  was  too 
much  taken  up  with  the  good  cause  to  have  any  to  spare  for  private 
correspondence.  Occasionally  I  am  pleased  to  see  a  good  account  of  you 
and  your  doings  in  the  Boston  Investigator.  Oh,  how  I  wish  I  could  be 
with  you  on  this  more  than  ordinarily  interesting  and  important  occasion; 
or  that  I  could  at  least  send  my  sentiments  and  views  on  human  rights, 
which  I  have  advocated  for  over  forty  years,  to  the  convention. 

This  being  the  centenary  day  of  the  proclamation  of  American  in- 
dependence, I  must  write  a  few  lines,  if  but  to  let  the  friends  know  that 


Letter  of  Ernestine  L.   Rose,   1876.  5 1 

though  absent  in  body  I  am  with  you  in  the  cause  for  which,  in  common 
with  you,  I  have  labored  so  long,  and  I  hope  not  labored  in  vain. 

The  glorious  day  upon  which  human  equality  was  first  proclaimed 
ought  to  be  commemorated,  not  only  every  hundred  years,  or  every  year, 
but  it  ought  to  be  constantly  held  before  the  public  mind  until  its  grand 
principles  are  carried  into  practice.  The  declaration  that  "All  men 
[which  means  all  human  beings  irrespective  of  sex]  have  an  equal  right  to 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  is  enough  for  woman  as  for 
man.  We  need  no  other;  but  we  must  reassert  in  1876  what  1776  so 
gloriously  proclaimed,  and  call  upon  the  law-makers  and  the  law-breakers 
to  carry  that  declaration  to  its  logical  consistency  by  giving  woman  the 
right  of  representation  in  the  government  which  she  helps  to  maintain  ; 
a  voice  in  the  laws  by  which  she  is  governed,  and  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  society  can  bestow,  the  same  as  to  man,  or  disprove  its 
validity.  We  need  no  other  declaration.  All  we  ask  is  to  have  the  laws 
based  on  the  same  foundation  upon  which  that  declaration  rests,  viz.: 
upon  equal  justice,  and  not  upon  sex.  Whenever  the  rights  of  man  are 
claimed,  moral  consistency  points  to  the  equal  rights  of  woman. 

I  hope  these  few  lines  will  fill  a  little  space  in  the  convention  at  Phila- 
delphia, where  my  voice  has  so  often  been  raised  in  behalf  of  the  principles 
of  humanity.  I  am  glad  to  see  my  name  among  the  vice-presidents  of 
the  National  Association.  Keep  a  warm  place  for  me  with  the  American 
people.  I  hope  some  day  to  be  there  yet.  Give  my  love  to  Mrs.  Mott 
and  Sarah  Pugh.  With  kind  regards  from  Mr.  Rose, 

Yours  affectionately,  ERNESTINE  L.  ROSE. 

A  new  paper,  The  Ballot-Box,  was  started  in  the  centennial 
year  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  owned  and  published  by  Mrs.  Sarah 
Langdon  Williams.  The  following  editorial  on  the  natal  day  of 
the  republic  is  from  her  pen  : 

THE  RETROSPECT. — Since  our  last  issue  the  great  centennial  anniversary 
of  American  independence  has  come  and  gone ;  it  has  been  greeted  with  re- 
joicing throughout  the  land  ;  its  events  have  passed  into  history.  The  day  in 
which  the  great  principles  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
were  announced  by  the  revolutionary  fathers  to  the  world  has  been  cele- 
brated through  all  this  vast  heritage,  with  pomp  and  popular  glorification, 
and  the  nation's  finest  orators  have  signalized  the  event  in  "  thoughts  that 
breathe  and  words  that  burn."  Everywhere  has  the  country  been  arrayed 
in  its  holiday  attire — the  gay  insignia  which,  old  as  the  century,  puts  on 
fresh  youth  and  brilliancy  each  time  its  colors  are  unfurled.  The  successes 
which  the  country  has  achieved  have  been  portrayed  with  glowing  elo- 
quence, the  people's  sovereignty  has  been  the  theme  of  congratulation 
and  the  glorious  principles  of  freedom  and  equal  rights  have  been  enthu- 
siastically proclaimed.  In  the  magnificent  oration  of  Mr.  Evarts  de- 
livered in  Independence  Square,  the  spot  made  sacred  by  the  signing  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  which  announced  that  "Governments 
derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,"  these  words 
occur : 


52  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  chief  concern  in  this  regard,  to  us  and  the  rest  of  the  world  is,  whether  the 
proud  trust,  the  profound  radicalism,  the  wide  benevolence  which  spoke  in  the 
declaration  and  were  infused  into  the  constitution  at  the  first,  have  been  in  good-faith 
adhered  to  by  the  people,  and  whether  now  the  living  principles  supply  the  living 
forces  which  sustain  and  direct  government  and  society.  He  who  doubts  needs  but 
to  look  around  to  find  all  things  full  of  the  original  spirit  and  testifying  to  its  wisdom 
and  strength. 

Yet  that  very  day  in  that  very  city  was  a  large  assemblage  of  women 
convened  to  protest  against  the  gross  wrongs  of  their  sex — the  repre- 
sentatives of  twenty  millions  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  composing 
one-half  of  the  population  being  governed  without  their  consent  by  the 
other  half,  who,  by  virtue  of  their  superior  strength,  held  the  reins  of 
power  and  tyrannically  denied  them  all  representation.  At  that  very 
meeting  at  which  that  polished  falsehood  was  uttered  had  the  women, 
but  shortly  before,  been  denied  the  privilege  of  silently  presenting  their 
declaration  of  rights.  More  forcibly  is  this  mortifying  disregard  of  the  claims 
of  women  thrust  in  their  faces  from  the  fact  that,  amid  all  this  magnificent 
triumph  with  which  the  growth  of  the  century  was  commemorated,  amid 
the  protestations  of  platforms  all  over  the  country  of  the  grand  success 
of  the  principle  of  equal  rights  for  all,  the  possibility  of  the  future  accord- 
ing equal  rights  to  women  as  well  as  to  men  was,  with  the  exception  of 
one  or  two  praiseworthy  instances,  as  far  as  reports  have  reached  us, 
utterly  ignored.  The  women  have  no  country — their  rights  are  disre- 
garded, their  appeals  ignored,  their  protests  scorned,  they  are  treated  as 
children  who  do  not  comprehend  their  own  wants,  and  as  slaves  whose 
crowning  duty  is  obedience. 

Whether,  on  this  great  day  of  national  triumph  and  national  aspiration, 
the  possibilities  of  a  better  future  for  women  were  forgotten ;  whether, 
from  carelessness,  willfulness,  or  wickedness,  their  grand  services  and 
weary  struggles  in  the  past  and  hopes  and  aspirations  for  the  future 
were  left  entirely  out  of  the  account,  certain  it  is  that  our  orators  were 
too  much  absorbed  in  the  good  done  by  men  and  for  men,  to  once  recur  to 
the  valuable  aid,  self-denying  patriotism  and  lofty  virtues  of  the  nation's 
unrepresented  women.  There  were  a  few  exceptions :  Col.  Wm.  M. 
Ferry,  of  Ottawa  county,  Michigan,  in  his  historical  address  delivered  in 
that  county,  July  Fourth,  took  pains  to  make  favorable  mention  of  the 
daughter  of  one  of  the  pioneers,  as  follows : 

Louisa  Constant,  or  "  Lisette,"  as  she  was  called,  became  her  father's  clerk  when 
twelve  years  old,  and  was  as  well  known  for  wonderful  faculties  for  business  as  she 
was  for  her  personal  attractions.  In  1828,  when  Lisette  was  seventeen  years  old,  her 
father  died.  She  closed  up  his  business  with  the  British  Company,  engaged  with  the 
American  Fur  Company,  at  Mackinaw,  receiving  from  them  a  large  supply  of 
merchandise,  and  for  six  years  conducted  the  most  successful  trading  establishment 
in  the  northwest. 

Think  of  it,  ye  who  disparage  the  ability  of  woman  !  This  little  tribute 
we  record  with  gratification.  Colonel  Ferry  remembered  woman.  Henry 
Ward  Beecher,  in  his  oration,  delivered  at  Peekskill,  is  reported  to  have 
said: 

And  now  there  is  but  one  step  more — there  is  but  one  step  more.  We  permit  the 
lame,  the  halt  and  the  blind  to  go  to  the  ballot-box  ;  we  permit  the  foreigner  and  the 


Retrospect  of  "  The  Ballot-Box"  53 

black  man,  the  slave  and  the  freeman,  to  partake  of  the  suffrage  ;  there  is  but  one 
thing  left  out,  and  that  is  the  mother  that  taught  us,  and  the  wife  that  is  thought 
worthy  to  walk  side  by  side  with  us.  It  is  woman  that  is  put  lower  than  the  slave, 
lower  than  the  ignorant  foreigner.  She  is  put  among  the  paupers  whom  the  law 
won't  allow  to  vote  ;  among  the  insane  whom  the  law  won't  allow  to  vote.  But  the 
days  are  numbered  in  which  this  can  take  place,  and  she  too  will  vote. 

But  these  words  are  followed  by  others  somewhat  problematical,  at 
least  in  the  respect  rendered  to  women  : 

As  in  a  hundred  years  suffrage  has  extended  its  bounds  till  it  now  includes  the 
whole  population,  in  another  hundred  years  everything  will  vote,  unless  it  be  the 
power  of  the  loom,  and  the  locomotive,  and  the  watch,  and  I  sometimes  think,  look- 
ing at  these  machines  and  their  performances,  that  they  too  ought  to  vote. 

But  Mr.  Evarts  approached  the  close  of  his  oration  with  these  words — 
and  may  they  not  be  prophetic — may  not  the  orator  have  spoken  with  a 
deeper  meaning  than  he  knew? 

With  these  proud  possessions  of  the  past,  with  powers  matured,  with  principles  set- 
tled, with  habits  formed,  the  nation  passes  as  it  were  from  preparatory  growth  to  re- 
sponsible development  of  character  and  the  steady  performance  of  duty.  What 
labors  await  it,  what  trials  shall  attend  it,  what  triumphs  for  human  nature,  what 
glory  for  itself,  are  prepared  for  this  people  in  the  coming  century,  we  may  not 
assume  to  foretell. 

Whether  the  wise  (?)  legislators  see  it  or  not — whether  the  under- 
current that  is  beating  to  the  shore  speaks  with  an  utterance  that  is  com- 
prehensible to  their  heavy  apprehensions  or  not,  the  coming  century  has 
in  preparation  for  the  country  a  truer  humanity,  a  better  justice  of  which 
the  protest  and  declaration  of  the  fathers  pouring  its  vital  current  down 
through  the  departed  century,  and  surging  on  into  the  future,  is,  to  the 
seeing  eye,  the  sure  forerunner,  the  seed-time,  of  which  the  approaching 
harvest  will  bring  a  better  fruition  for  women — and  they  who  scoff  now 
will  be  compelled  to  rejoice  hereafter.  But  as  Mr.  Evarts  remarked  in  his 
allusions  to  future  centennials  : 

By  the  mere  circumstance  of  this  periodicity  our  generation  will  be  in  the  minds,  in 
the  hearts,  on  the  lips  of  our  countrymen  at  the  next  centennial  commemoration  in 
comparison  with  their  own  character  and  condition  and  with  the  great  founders  of  the 
nation.  What  shall  they  say  of  us  ?  How  shall  they  estimate  the  part  we  bear  in 
the  unbroken  line  of  the  nation's  progress?  And  so  on,  in  the  long  reach  of  time, 
forever  and  forever,  our  place  in  the  secular  roll  of  the  ages  must  always  bring  us  into 
observation  and  criticism. 

Shall  it  then  be  recorded  of  us  that  the  demand  and  the  protest  of  the 
women  were  not  made  in  vain  ?  Shall  it  be  told  to  future  generations  that 
the  cry  for  justice,  the  effort  to  sunder  the  shackles  with  which  woman 
has  been  oppressed  from  the  dim  ages  ot  the  past,  was  heeded?  Or,  shall 
it  be  told  of  us,  in  the  beginning  of  this  second  centennial,  that  justice 
has  been  ignored,  that  only  liberty  to  men  entered  at  this  stage  of 
progress,  into  the  American  idea  of  self-government?  Freedom  to  men 
and  women  alike  is  but  a  question  of  time — is  America  now  equal  to  the 
great  occasion  ?  Has  her  development  expanded  to  that  degree  where 
her  legislators  can  say  in  very  truth,  as  of  the  colored  man,  "Let  the 
oppressed  go  free  "  ? 


54  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  woman's  pavilion  upon  the  centennial  grounds  was  an  af- 
ter-thought, as  theologians  claim  woman  herself  to  have  been.* 
The  women  of  the  country  after  having  contributed  nearly  $100,- 
ooo  to  the  centennial  stock,  found  there  had  been  no  provision 
made  for  the  separate  exhibition  of  their  work.  The  centennial 
board,  Mrs.  Gillespie,  president,  then  decided  to  raise  funds  for  the 
erection  of  a  separate  building  to  be  known  as  the  Woman's  Pa- 
vilion. It  covered  an  acre  of  ground  and  was  erected  at  an  ex- 
pense of  $30,000,  a  small  sum  in  comparison  with  the  money 
which  had  been  raised  by  women  and  expended  on  the  other 
buildings,  not  to  speak  of  State  and  national  appropriations 
which  the  taxes  levied  on  them  had  largely  helped  to  swell. 

The  pavilion  was  no  true  exhibit  of  woman's  work.  First,  few 
women  are  as  yet  owners  of  business  which  their  industry  largely 
makes  remunerative.  Cotton  factories  in  which  thousands  of 
women  work,  are  owned  by  men.  The  shoe  business,  in  some 
branches  of  which  women  are  doing  more  than  half,  is  under  the 
ownership  of  men.  Rich  embroideries  from  India,  rugs  of  down}' 
softness  from  Turkey,  the  muslin  of  Dacca,  anciently  known  as 
"  The  Woven  Wind,"  the  pottery  and  majolica  ware  of  P. 
Pipsen's  widow,  the  cartridges  and  envelopes  of  Uncle  Sam. 
Waltham  watches  whose  finest  mechanical  work  is  done  by 
women,  and  ten  thousand  other  industries  found  no  place  in 
the  pavilion.  Said  United  States  Commissioner  Meeker, t  of 
Colorado,  "  Woman's  work  comprises  three-fourths  of  the  exposi- 
tion ;  it  is  scattered  through  every  building;  take  it  away  and 
there  would  be  no  exposition." 

But  this  pavilion  rendered  one  good  service  to  woman  in  show- 
ing her  capabilities  as  an  engineer.  The  boiler  which  furnished  the 
force  for  running  its  work  was  under  the  management  of  a  young 
Canadian  girl,  Miss  Alison,  who  from  a  child  loved  machinery, 
spending  much  time  in  the  large  saw  and  grist  mills  of  her  father, 
run  by  engines  of  two-  and  three-hundred  horse-power,  which  she 
sometimes  managed  for  amusement.  When  her  name  was  pro- 
posed for  running  the  pavilion  machinery  it  brought  much  oppo- 
sition. It  was  said  the  committee  would  some  day  find  the  pa- 
vilion blown  to  atoms  ;  that  the  woman  engineer  would  spend 
her  time  reading  novels,  instead  of  watching  the  steam  gauge  ; 


*  A  German  legend  says,  God  first  made  a  mouse,  but  seeing  he  had  made  a  mistake  he  made  the 
cat  as  an  afterthought,  therefore  if  woman  is  God's  afterthought,  man  must  be  a  mistake. 

t  Afterwards  killed  by  the  Indians  in  Colorado. 


The   Woman  s  Pavilion.  55 

that  the  idea  was  impracticable  and  should  not  be  thought  of.  But 
Miss  Alison  soon  proved  her  own  capabilities  and  the  falseness  of 
these  prophecies  by  taking  her  place  in  the  engine-room  and 
managing  its  workings  with  the  ease  that  a  child  spins  a  top.  Six 
power  looms  on  which  women  wove  carpets,  webbing,  silks, 
etc.,  were  run  by  this  engine.  At  a  later  period  the  printing  of 
The  New  Century  for  Women,  a  paper  published  by  the  centen- 
nial commission  in  the  woman's  building,  was  also  done  by  its 
means.  Miss  Alison  declared  the  work  to  be  more  cleanly,  more 
pleasant,  and  infinitely  less  fatiguing  than  cooking  over  a  kitchen 
stove.  "  Since  I  have  been  compelled  to  earn  my  own  liveli- 
hood," she  said,  "  I  have  never  been  engaged  in  work  I  liked  so 
well.  Teaching  school  is  much  harder,  and  one  is  not  paid  as 
well."  She  expressed  confidence  in  her  ability  to  manage  the 
engine  of  an  ocean  steamer,  and  said  there  were  thousands  of 
small  engines  in  use  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  no  rea- 
son existed  why  women  should  not  be  employed  to  manage  them 
— following  the  profession  of  engineer  as  a  regular  business — an 
engine  requiring  far  less  attention  than  is  given  by  a  nurse-maid 
or  mother  to  a  child. 

But  to  have  made  the  woman's  pavilion  grandly  historic,  upon 
its  walls  should  have  been  hung  the  yearly  protest  of  Harriet  K. 
Hunt  against  taxation  without  representation  ;  the  legal  papers 
served  upon  the  Smith  sisters  when  their  Alderny  cows  were  seized 
and  sold  for  their  refusal  to  pay  taxes  while  unrepresented  ;  the 
papers  held  by  the  city  of  Worcester  for  the  forced  sale  of  the 
house  and  lands  of  Abby  Kelly  Foster,  the  veteran  abolitionist, 
because  she  refused  to  pay  taxes,  giving  the  same  reason  our  an- 
cestors gave  when  they  resisted  taxation  ;  a  model  of  Bunker 
Hill  monument,  its  foundation  laid  by  Lafayette  in  1825,  but 
which  remained  unfinished  nearly  twenty  years  until  the  fa- 
mous French  danseuse  Fanny  Ellsler,  gave  the  proceeds  of  an  ex- 
hibition for  that  purpose.  With  these  should  have  been  exhi- 
bited framed  copies  of  all  the  laws  bearing  unjustly  upon  woman — 
those  which  rob  her  of  her  name,  her  earnings,  her  property,  her 
children,  her  person ;  also,  the  legal  papers  in  the  case  of  Susan 
B.  Anthony,  who  was  tried  and  fined  for  seeking  to  give  consent 
to  the  laws  which  governed  her  ;  and  the  decision  of  Mr.  Justice 
Miller  (Chief-Justice  Chase  dissenting)  in  the  case  of  Myra  Brad- 
well,  denying  national  protection  for  woman's  civil  rights ;  and 
the  later  decision  of  Chief-Justice  Waite  of  the  Supreme  Court 


56  Historv  of  ]]rowciii  Suffrage. 

against  Virginia  L.  Minor,  denying  to  women  national  protection 
for  their  political  rights,  decisions  in  favor  of  state-rights  which 
imperil  the  liberties  not  only  of  all  women,  but  of  every  white 
man  in  the  nation. 

Woman's  most  fitting  contributions  to  the  centennial  exposi- 
tion would  have  been  these  protests,  laws  and  decisions  which  show 
her  political  slavery.  But  all  this  was  left  for  fooms  outside  of 
the  centennial  grounds,  upon  Chestnut  street,  where  the  National 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  hoisted  its  flag,  made  its  protests, 
and  wrote  the  Declaration  of  Rights  of  the  Women  of  the  United 
States. 

To  many  thoughtful  people  it  seemed  captious  and  unreasonable 
for  women  to  complain  of  injustice  in  this  free  land,  amidst  such 
universal  rejoicings.  When  the  majority  of  women  are  seemingly 
happy,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  discontent  of  the  minority 
is  the  result  of  their  unfortunate  individual  idiosyncrasies,  and 
not  of  adverse  influences  in  their  established  conditions. 

But  the  history  of  the  world  shows  that  the  vast  majority  in 
every  generation  passively  accept  the  conditions  into  which  they 
are  born,  while  those  who  demand  larger  liberties  are  ever  a  small, 
ostracised  minority  whose  claims  are  ridiculed  and  ignored.  From 
our  stand-point  wre  honor  the  Chinese  women  who  claim  the  right 
to  their  feet  and  powers  of  locomotion,  the  Hindoo  widows  who 
refuse  to  ascend  the  funeral  pyre  of  their  husbands,  the  Turkish 
women  who  throw  off  their  masks  and  veils  and  leave  the  harem, 
the  Mormon  women  who  abjure  their  faith  and  demand  mono- 
gamic  relations;  why  not  equally  honor  the  intelligent  minority 
of  American  women  who  protest  against  the  artificial  dis- 
abilities by  which  their  freedom  is  limited  and  their  develop- 
ment arrested  ?  That  only  a  few  under  any  circumstances  pro- 
test against  the  injustice  of  long  established  laws  and  customs 
does  not  disprove  the  fact  of  the  oppressions,  while  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  many,  if  real,  only  proves  their  apathy  and  deeper 
degradation.  That  a  majority  of  the  women  of  the  United  States 
accept  without  protest  the  disabilities  that  grow  out  of  their 
disfranchisement,  is  simply  an  evidence  of  their  ignorance  and 
cowardice,  while  the  minority  who  demand  a  higher  political 
status  clearly  prove  their  superior  intelligence  and  wisdom. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

NATIONAL    CONVENTIONS,    HEARINGS    AND    REPORTS. 

1877-1878-1879. 

Renewed  Appeal  for  a  Sixteenth  Amendment — Mrs.  Gage  Petitions  for  Removal  of 
Political  Disabilities — Ninth  Washington  Convention,  1877 — Jane  Grey  Swisshelm 
— Letters,  Robert  Purvis,  Wendell  Phillips,  Francis  E.  Abbott — 10,000  Petitions 
Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  by  Special  Request  of  the 
Chairman,  Hon.  O.  P.  Morton,  of  Indiana — May  Anniversary  in  New  York — Tenth 
Washington  Convention,  1878 — Frances  E.  Willard  and  30,000  Temperance 
Women  Petition  Congress — 40,000  Petition  for  a  Sixteenth  Amendment — Hearing 
before  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections — Madam  Dahlgren's  Protest — 
Mrs.  Hooker's  Hearing  on  Washington's  Birthday — Mary  Clemmer's  Letter  to 
Senator  Wadleigh — His  Adverse  Report — Favorable  Minority  Report  by  Senator 
Hoar — Thirtieth  Anniversary,  Unitarian  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  July  19, 
1878 — The  Last  Convention  Attended  by  Lucretia  Mott — Letters,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips — Church  Resolution  Criticised  by  Rev.  Dr.  Strong — 
International  Women's  Congress  in  Paris — Washington  Convention,  1879 — U.  S. 
Supreme  Court  Opened  to  Women — May  Anniversary  at  St.  Louis — Address  of  Wel- 
come by  Phoebe  Couzins — Women  in  Council  Alone — Letter  from  Josephine  But- 
ler, of  England — Mrs.  Stanton's  Letter  to  The  National  Citizen  and  Ballot-Box. 

WITH  the  close  of  the  centennial  year  the  new  departure  under 
the  fourteenth  amendment  ended.  Though  defeated  at  the  polls, 
in  the  courts,  in  the  national  celebration,  in  securing  a  plank  in 
the  platforms  of  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties,  and  in 
our  own  conventions — so  far  as  the  few  were  able  to  rouse  the 
many  to  simultaneous  action — nevertheless  a  wide-spread  agita- 
tion had  been  secured  by  the  presentation  of  this  phase  of  the 
question. 

Although  the  unanswerable  arguments  of  statesmen  and  law- 
yers in  the  halls  of  congress  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  had  alike  proved  unavailing  in  establishing  the  civil  and 
political  rights  of  women  on  a  national  basis,  their  efforts  had  not 
been  in  vain.  The  trials  had  brought  the  question  before  a  new 
order  of  minds,  and  secured  able  constitutional  arguments  which 
were  reviewed  in  many  law  journals.  The  equally  able  congres- 
sional debates,  reported  verbatim,  read  by  a  large  constituency 
in  every  State  of  the  Union,  did  an  educational  work  on  the 


^8  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

question  of  woman's  enfranchisement  that  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated. 

But  when  the  final  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case 
of  Virginia  L.  Minor  made  all  agitation  in  that  direction  hopeless, 
the  National  Association  returned  to  its  former  policy,  demand- 
ing a  sixteenth  amendment.  The  women  generally  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  if  in  truth  there  was  no  protection  for  them  in 
the  original  constitution  nor  the  late  amendments,  the  time  had 
come  for  some  clearly-defined  recognition  of  their  citizenship  by 
a  sixteenth  amendment. 

The  following  appeal  and  petition  were  extensively  circulated  : 

To  the   Women  of  the  United  States: 

Having  celebrated  our  centennial  birthday  with  a  national  jubilee,  let  us 
now  dedicate  the  dawn  of  the  second  century  to  securing  justice  to  women. 
For  this  purpose  we  ask  you  to  circulate  a  petition  to  congress,  just  issued 
by  the  National  Association,  asking  an  amendment  to  the  United  States 
Constitution,  that  shall  prohibit  the  several  States  from  disfranchising 
citizens  on  account  of  sex.  We  have  already  sent  this  petition  through- 
out the  country  for  the  signatures  of  those  men  and  women  who  believe 
in  the  citizen's  right  to  vote. 

To  see  how  large  a  petition  each  State  rolls  up,  and  to  do  the  work  as 
expeditiously  as  possible,  it  is  necessary  that  some  person  in  each  county 
should  take  the  matter  in  charge,  urging  upon  all,  thoroughness  and  haste. 
*  *  *  The  petitions  should  be  returned  before  January  16,  17,  1877, 
when  we  shall  hold  our  Eighth  Annual  Convention  at  the  capital,  and 
ask  a  hearing  before  congress. 

Having  petitioned  our  law-makers,  State  and  national,  for  years,  many 
from  weariness  have  vowed  to  appeal  no  more  ;  for  our  petitions,  say  they, 
by  the  tens  of  thousands,  are  piled  up  in  the  national  archives,  unheeded 
and  ignored.  Yet  it  is  possible  to  roll  up  such  a  mammoth  petition,  borne 
into  congress  on  the  shoulders  of  stalwart  men,  that  we  can  no  longer  be 
neglected  or  forgotten.  Statesmen  and  politicians  alike  are  conquered 
by  majorities.  We  urge  the  women  of  this  country  to  make  now  the  same 
united  effort  for  their  own  rights  that  they  did  for  the  slaves  at  the  South 
when  the  thirteenth  amendment  was  pending.  Then  a  petition  of  over 
300,000  was  rolled  up  by  the  leaders  of  the  suffrage  movement,  and  pre- 
sented in  the  Senate  by  the  Hon.  Charles  Sumner.  But  the  statesmen 
who  welcomed  woman's  untiring  efforts  to  secure  the  black  man's  freedom, 
frowned  down  the  same  demands  when  made  for  herself.  Is  not  liberty  as 
sweet  to  her  as  to  him  ?  Are  not  the  political  disabilities  of  sex  as  grievous 
as  those  of  color?  Is  not  a  civil-rights  bill  that  shall  open  to  woman  the 
college  doors,  the  trades  and  professions — that  shall  secure  her  personal 
and  property  rights,  as  necessary  for  her  protection  as  for  that  of  the 
colored  man  ?  And  yet  the  highest  judicial  authorities  have  decided  that 
the  spirit  and  letter  of  our  national  constitution  are  not  broad  enough  to 
protect  woman  in  her  political  rights ;  and  for  the  redress  of  her  wrongs 


Sixteenth  Amendment  Again.  59 

they  remand  her  to  the  State.  If  our  Magna  Charta  of  human  rights  can 
be  thus  narrowed  by  judicial  interpretations  in  favor  of  class  legislation, 
then  must  we  demand  an  amendment  that,  in  clear,  unmistakable  language, 
shall  declare  the  equality  of  all  citizens  before  the  law. 

Women  are  citizens,  first  of  the  United  States,  and  second  of  the  State 
wherein  they  reside;  hence,  if  robbed  by  State  authorities  of  any  right 
founded  in  nature  or  secured  by  law,  they  have  the  same  right  to  national 
protection  against  the  State,  as  against  the  infringements  of  any  foreign 
power.  If  the  United  States  government  can  punish  a  woman  for  voting 
in  one  State,  why  has  it  not  the  same  power  to  protect  her  in  the  exercise 
of  that  right  in  every  State?  The  constitution  declares  it  the  duty  of 
congress  to  guarantee  to  every  State  a  republican  form  of  government,  to 
every  citizen,  equality  of  rights.  This  is  not  done  in  States  where  women, 
thoroughly  qualified,  are  denied  admission  into  colleges  which  their  prop- 
erty is  taxed  to  build  and  endow ;  where  they  are  denied  the  right  to 
practice  law  and  are  thus  debarred  from  one  of  the  most  lucrative  profes- 
sions ;  where  they  are  denied  a  voice  in  the  government,  and  thus,  while 
suffering  all  the  ills  that  grow  out  of  the  giant  evils  of  intemperance,  pros- 
titution, war,  heavy  taxation  and  political  corruption,  stand  powerless  to 
effect  any  reform.  Prayers,  tears,  psalm-singing  and  expostulation  are 
light  in  the  balance  compared  with  that  power  at  the  ballot-box  that  coins 
opinions  into  law.  If  women  who  are  laboring  for  peace,  temperance, 
social  purity  and  the  rights  of  labor,  would  take  the  speediest  way  to 
accomplish  what  they  propose,  let  them  demand  the  ballot  in  their  own 
hands,  that  they  may  have  a  direct  power  in  the  government.  Thus  only 
can  they  improve  the  conditions  of  the  outside  world  and  purify  the  home. 
As  political  equality  is  the  door  to  civil,  religious  and  social  liberty,  here 
must  our  work  begin. 

Constituting,  as  we  do,  one-halt  the  people,  bearing  the  burdens  of  one- 
half  the  national  debt,  equally  responsible  with  man  for  the  education, 
religion  and  morals  of  the  rising  generation,  let  us  with  united  voice  send 
forth  a  protest  against  the  present  political  status  of  woman,  that  shall 
echo  and  reecho  through'the  land.  In  view  of  the  numbers  and  character 
of  those  making  the  demand,  this  should  be  the  largest  petition  ever  yet 
rolled  up  in  the  old  world  or  the  new;  a  petition  that  shall  settle  forever 
the  popular  objection  that  "women  do  not  want  to  vote." 

ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON,  President. 
MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 
SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

'[\-najly,  N.  J.,  November  10,  1876. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  Congress  assembled : 

The  undersigned  citizens  of  the   United  States,   residents  of  the  State  of , 

earnestly  pray  your  honorable  bodies  to  adopt  measures  for  so  amending  the  constitu- 
tion as  to  prohibit  the  several  States  from  disfranchising  United  States  citizens  on  ac- 
count of  sex. 

In  addition  to  the  general  petition  asking  for  a  sixteenth 
amendment,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  this  year  (1877)  sent  an  individ- 
ual petition,  similar  in  form  to  those  offered  by  disfranchised 


60  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

male  citizens,  asking  to  be  relieved  from  her  political  disabilities. 
This  petition  was  presented  by  Hon.  Elias  W.  Leavenworth,  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  member  from  the  thirty-third  New 
York  congressional  district.  It  read  as  follows  : 

To    the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of    the   United    States    in    Congress 

assembled  : 

Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  a  native  born  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  wherein  she  resides,  most  earnestly  petitions  your  honorable  body  for  the 
removal  of  her  political  disabilities  and  that  she  may  be  declared  invested  with  full 
power  to  exercise  her  right  of  self  government  at  the  ballot-box,  all  State  constitutions 
or  statute  laws  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  above  petition  was  presented  January  24;  and  the  follow- 
ing bill  introduced  February  5  : 

AN  ACT  to  relieve  the  political  disabilities  of  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage: 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  congress  assembled,  that  all  political  disabilities  heretofore  existing  in  re- 
ference to  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  of  Fayetteville,  Onondaga  county,  State  of  New  York, 
be  removed  and  she  be  declared  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  clothed  with  all  the 
political  rights  and  powers  of  citizenship,  namely :  the  right  to  vote  and  to  hold  office 
to  the  same  extent  and  in  the  same  degree  that  male  citizens  enjoy  these  rights.  This 
act  to  take  effect  immediately. 

The  following  year  a  large  number  of  similar  petitions  were  sent 
from  different  parts  of  the  country,  the  National  Association  dis- 
tributing printed  forms  to  its  members  in  the  various  States.  The 
power  of  congress  to  thus  enfranchise  women  upon  their  individ- 
ual petitions  is  as  undoubted  as  the  power  to  grant  individual 
amnesty,  to  remove  the  political  disabilities  of  men  disfran- 
chised for  crime  against  United  States  laws,  or  to  clothe  foreign- 
ers, honorably  discharged  from  the  army,  with  the  ballot. 

The  first  convention  *  after  the  all-engrossing  events  of  the  cen- 
tennial celebration  assembled  in  Lincoln  Hall,  Washington,  Jan- 
uary 1 6,  with  a  good  array  of  speakers,  Mrs.  Stanton  presiding. 
After  an  inspiring  song  by  the  Hutchinsons  and  reports  from  the 


*  The  annual  convention  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  will  be  held  in  Lincoln  Hall, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  January  16,  17,  1877. 

As  by  repeated  judicial  decisions,  woman's  right  to  vote  under  the  fourteenth  amendment  has  been 
denied,  we  must  now  unitedly  demand  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  United  States  Constitution,  that 
shall  secure  this  right  to  the  women  of  the  nation.  In  certain  States  and  territories  where  women  had 
already  voted,  they  have  been  denied  the  right  by  legislative  action.  Hence  it  must  be  clear  to  every 
thinking  mind  that  this  fundamental  right  of  citizenship  must  not  be  left  to  the  ignorant  majorities  in 
the  several  States;  for  unless  it  is  secured  everywhere,  it  is  safe  nowhere. 

We  urge  all  suffrage  associations  and  friends  of  woman's  enfranchisement  throughout  the  country  to 
send  delegates  to  this  convention,  freighted  with  mammoth  petitions  for  a  sixteenth  amendment.     Let 
all  other  proposed  amendments  be  held  in  abeyance  to  the  sacred  rights  of  the  women  of  this  nation. 
The  most  reverent  recognition  of  God  in  the  constitution  would  be  justice  and  equality  for  woman. 
On  behalf  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association, 

ELIZABETH  CAUY  STANTON,  President. 
MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Chairman  Ex.  Committee. 
SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Corresponding  Secretary. 
Tenajly^  N.  /.,  November  10,  1876. 


Jane  Grey  Swiss  helm,  1877.  61 

various  States,  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  chairman  of  the  congress- 
ional committee,  gave  some  encouraging  facts  in  regard  to  the 
large  number  of  petitions  being  presented  to  congress  daily,  and 
read  many  interesting  letters  from  those  who  had  been  active 
in  their  circulation.  Over  10,000  were  presented  during  this  last 
session  of  the  forty-fourth  congress.  At  the  special  request  of 
the  chairman,  Senator  Morton  of  Indiana,  they  were  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  ;  heretofore  they  had 
always  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  in 
both  Senate  and  House.  A  list  of  committees*  was  reported  by 
Mrs.  Gage  which  was  adopted.  Mrs.  Swisshelm  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  introduced.  She  said  : 

In  1846  she  inherited  an  estate  from  her  parents,  and  then  she 
learned  the  injustice  of  the  husband  holding  the  wife's  property.  In  1848, 
however,  she  got  a  law  passed  giving  equal  rights  to  both  men  and  women, 
and  everybody  decried  her  for  the  injury  she  had  done  to  all  homes  by 
thus  throwing  the  apple  of  discord  into  families.  So  in  Pennsylvania 
women  now  hold  property  absolutely,  and  can  sell  without  the  consent  of 
the  husband.  But  actually  no  woman  is  free.  As  in  the  days  of  slavery  the 
master  owned  the  services,  not  the  body  of  his  slaves,  so  it  is  with  the 
wife.  The  husband  owns  the  services  and  all  that  can  be  earned  by  his 
wife.  It  is  quite  possible,  as  things  now  stand,  to  legislate  a  woman  out 
of  her  home,  and  yet  she  cooks,  and  bakes,  and  works,  and  saves,  but  it 
all  belongs  to  the  man,  and  if  she  dies  the  second  wife  gets  it  all,  for  she 
always  manages  him.  The  extravagance  of  dress  is  due  alone  to-day  to 
the  fact  that  from  what  woman  saves  in  her  own  expenses  and  those  of  her 
house  she  gets  no  benefit  at  all,  nor  do  her  children,  for  it  goes  to  the 
second  wife,  who,  perhaps,  turns  the  children  out  of  doors. 

The  resolutions  called  out  a  prolonged  discussion,  especially 
the  one  on  compulsory  education,  and  that  finally  passed  with  a 
few  dissenting  voices : 

WHEREAS  one-half  of  the  citizens  of  the  republic  being  disfranchised  are  everywhere 
subjects  of  legislative  caprice,  and  may  be  anywhere  robbed  of  their  most  sacred 
rights  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  submit  a  prop- 
osition for  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national  constitution  prohibiting  the  several 
States  from  disfranchising  citizens  on  account  of  sex. 

WHEREAS  a  monarchial  government  lives  only  through  the  ignorance  of  the  masses, 
and  a  republican  government  can  live  only  through  the  intelligence  of  the  people; 
therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  submit  to  the  State  legislatures  proposi- 
tions to  so  amend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  to  make  education  compul- 
sory, and  to  make  intelligence  a  qualification  for  citizenship  and  suffrage  in  the  United 


*  Committees :  Finance — Sara  A.  Spencer,  Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  Lillie  Devereux  Blake.  Resolu- 
tions— Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Susan  B.  Anthony.  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Edward  M.  Davis,  C.  B.  Purvis, 
M.  D.,  Jane  G.  Swisshelm.  Business — John  Hutchinson.  Mary  F.  Foster,  Rosina  M.  Parnell,  Mary 
A.  S.  Carey,  Ellen  H.  Sheldon,  S.  J.  Messer,  Susan  A.  Edson,  M.  D. 


62  History  of    Woman  Suffrage. 

States  ;  said  amendments  to  take  effect  January  i,  1880,  when  all  citizens  of  legal  age, 
without  distinction  of  sex,  who  can  read  and  write  the  English  language,  may  be  ad- 
mitted to  citizenship. 

WHEREAS  a  century  of  experience  has  proven  that  the  safety  and  stability  of  free 
institutions  and  the  protection  of  all  United  States  citizens  in  the  exercise  of  their  in- 
alienable rights  and  the  proper  expression  of  the  will  of  the  whole  people,  are  not 
guaranteed  by  the  present  form  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  several  States  to  call  a  national  convention  to 
revise  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which,  notwithstanding  its  fifteen 
amendments,  does  not  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility,  promote  the  gen- 
eral welfare,  nor  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  us  and  to  our  posterity. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  women  of  this  nation  are  due  to  the  Rev. 
Isaac  M.  See,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Newark,  for  his  noble  stand  in  behalf  of  woman's 
right  to  preach. 

Resolved,  That  the  action  of  the  Presbytery  of  Newark  in  condemning  the  Rev.  I. 
M.  See  for  his  liberal  course  is  an  indication  of  the  tyranny  of  the  clergy  over  the  con- 
sciences of  women,  and  a  determination  to  fetter  the  spirit  of  freedom. 

Among  the  many  letters  to  the  convention  we  give  the  follow- 
ing: 

BOSTON,   i6th  January,  1877. 

DEAR  FRIEND  :  These  lines  will  not  reach  you  in  time  to  be  of  use.  I  am  sorry. 
But  absence  and  cares  must  apologize  for  me.  I  think  you  are  on  the  right  track — the 
best  method  to  agitate  the  question  ;  and  I  am  with  you.  I  mean  always  to  help 
everywhere  and  every  one.  WENDELL  PHILLIPS. 

Miss  ANTHONY. 

MANCHESTER,  Eng.,  Januarys,  1877. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  write  a  word  of  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement,  on  the  occasion  of  your  Ninth  Annual  Convention  of  the 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

Beyond  wishing  you  a  successful  gathering,  I  will  say  nothing  about  the  movement 
in  the  United  States.  Women  of  either  country  can  do  nothing  directly  in  promoting 
the  movement  in  the  other  ;  and  if  they  attempt  to  do  so,  there  is  danger  that  they 
may  hinder  and  embarrass  those  who  are  bearing  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day.  The 
only  way  in  which  mutual  help  can  be  given  is  through  the  women  of  each  nation  work- 
ing to  gain  ground  in  their  own  country.  Then,  every  step  so  gained,  every  actual  ad- 
vance of  the  boundaries  of  civil  and  political  rights  for  women  is  a  gain,  not  only  to  the 
country  which  has  secured  it,  but  to  the  cause  of  human  freedom  all  over  the  world. 

This  year  marks  the  decennial  of  the  movement  in  the  United  Kingdom.  In  the 
current  number  of  our  journal,  there  is  a  sketch  of  the  political  history  of  the  move- 
ment here,  which  I  commend  to  the  attention  of  your  convention,  and  which  I  need 
not  repeat.  The  record  will  be  seen  to  be  one  of  great  and  rapid  advance  in  the  polit- 
ical rights  of  women,  but  there  has  been  an  equally  marked  change  in  other  directions  ; 
women's  interests  in  education,  and  women's  questions  generally,  are  treated  now  with 
much  more  respectful  consideration  than  they  were  ten  years  ago.  We  are  gratified 
in  believing  that  much  of  this  consideration  is  due  to  the  attention  roused  by  our  ener- 
getic and  persistent  demand  for  the  suffrage,  and  in  believing  that  infinitely  greater 
benefits  of  the  same  kind  will  accrue  when  women  shall  be  in  possession  of  the  fran- 
chise. Beyond  the  material  gains  in  legislation,  we  find  a  general  improvement  in 
the  tone  of  feeling  and  thought  toward  women — an  approach,  indeed,  to  the  senti- 
ment recently  expressed  by  Victor  Hugo,  that  as  man  was  the  problem  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  woman  is  the  problem  of  the  nineteenth  century.  May  our  efforts 
to  solve  this  problem  lead  to  a  happy  issue.  Yours  truly, 

LYDIA  E.  BECKER. 


Letters  to    Washington  Convention,  1877.  63 

BOSTON,  Mass.,  January  10,  1877. 

DEAR  MRS.  STANTON  :  It  is  with  some  little  pain,  I  confess,  that  I  accept  your 
veiy  courteous  invitation  to  write  a  letter  for  your  Washington  convention  on  the  igth 
instant ;  for  what  I  must  say,  if  I  say  anything  at  all,  is  what  I  know  will  be  very  unac- 
ceptable— I  fear  very  displeasing — to  the  majority  of  those  to  whom  you  will  read  it. 
If  you  conclude  that  my  letter  will  obstruct,  and  not  facilitate  the  advancement  of  the 
cause  you  have  so  faithfully  labored  for  these  many  years,  you  have  my  most  cheerful 
consent  to  deliver  it  over  to  that  general  asylum  of  profitless  productions — the  waste- 
basket. 

Running  this  risk,  however,  I  have  this  brief  message  to  send  to  those  who  now  meet 
on  behalf  of  woman's  full  recognition  as  politically  the  equal  of  man,  namely  :  that 
every  woman  suffragist  who  upholds  Christianity,  tears  down  with  one  hand  what  she 
seeks  to  build  up  with  the  other — that  the  Bible  sanctions  the  slavery  principle  itself, 
and  applies  it  to  woman  as  the  divinely  ordained  subordinate  of  man — and  that  by 
making  herself  the  great  support  and  mainstay  of  instituted  Christianity,  woman  rivets 
the  chain  of  superstition  on  her  own  soul  and  on  man's  soul  alike,  and  justifies  him  in 
obeying  this  religion  by  keeping  her  in  subjection  to  himself.  If  Christianity  and  the 
Bible  are  true,  woman  is  man's  servant,  and  ought  to  be.  The  Bible  gave  to  negro- 
slavery  its  most  terrible  power — that  of  summoning  the  consciences  of  the  Christians 
to  its  defense  ;  and  the  Bible  gives  to  woman-slavery  the  same  terrible  power.  So 
plain  is  this  to  me  that  I  take  it  as  a  mere  matter  of  course,  when  all  the  eloquence  of 
the  woman-suffrage  platform  fails  to  arouse  the  Christian  women  of  this  country  to  a 
proper  assertion  of  their  rights.  What  else  could  one  expect?  Women  will  remain 
contented  subjects  and  subordinates  just  so  long  as  they  remain  devoted  believers  in 
Christianity  ;  and  no  amount  of  argument,  or  appeal,  or  agitation  can  change  this  fact. 
If  you  cannot  educate  women  as  a  whole  out  of  Christianity,  you  cannot  educate  them 
as  a  whole  into  the  demand  for  equal  rights. 

The  reason  of  this  is  short :  Christianity  teaches  the  rights  of  God,  not  the  rights  of 
man  or  woman.  You  may  search  the  Bible  from  Genesis  to  Revelations,  and  not 
find  one  clear,  strong,  bold  affirmation  of  human  rights  as  such  ;  yet  it  is  on  hu- 
man rights  as  such— on  the  equality  of  all  individuals,  man  or  woman,  with  respect  to 
natural  rights — that  the  demand  for  woman  suffrage  must  ultimately  rest.  I  know  I 
stand  nearly  alone  in  this,  but  I  believe  from  my  soul  that  the  woman  movement  is 
fundamentally  anti-Christian,  and  can  find  no  deep  justification  but  in  the  ideas,  the 
spirit,  and  the  faith  of  free  religion.  Until  women  come  to  see  this  too,  and  to  give 
their  united  influence  to  this  latter  faith,  political  power  in  their  hands  would  destroy 
even  that  measure  of  liberty  which  free-thinkers  of  both  sexes  have  painfully  estab- 
lished by  the  sacrifices  of  many  generations.  Yet  I  should  vote  for  woman  suffrage 
all  the  same,  because  it  is  woman's  right.  Yours  very  cordially, 

FRANCIS  E.  ABBOT. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  January  16,  1877. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS  :  I  thank  you  for  your  generous  recognition  of  me  as  an  humble 
co-worker  in  the  cause  of  equal  rights,  and  regret  deeply  my  inability  to  be  present  at 
this  anniversary  of  your  association.  I  tender  to  you,  however,  my  hearty  congratula- 
tions on  the  marked  progress  of  our  cause.  Wherever  I  have  been,  and  with  whomso- 
ever I  have  talked,  making  equal  rights  invariably  the  subject,  I  find  no  opposing  feel- 
ing to  the  simple  and  just  demands  we  make  for  our  cause.  The  chief  difficulty  in  the 
way  is  the  indifference  of  the  people  ;  they  need  an  awakening.  Some  Stephen  S. 
Foster  or  Anna  Dickinson  should  come  forward,  and  with  their  thunder  and  lightning, 
arouse  the  people  from  their  deadly  apathy.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  are  to  have 
with  you  our  valued  friend,  E.  M.  Davis,  of  Philadelphia.  We  are  indebted  to  him 
more  than  all  besides  for  whatever  of  life  is  found  in  the  movement  in  Pennsylvania. 
He  has  spared  neither  time,  money,  nor  personal  efforts.  Hoping  you  will  have 
abundant  success,  I  am,  dear  friends,  with  you  and  the  cause  for  which  you  have  so 
nobly  labored,  a  humble  and  sincere  worker.  ROBERT  PURVIS. 


64  History  of    W'oDinn  Suffrage. 

OAKLAND,  Cal.,  January  9,   1877-. 
To  the  National  Suffrage  Convention,  Washington,  D.  C.  : 

Our  incorporated  State  society  has  deputed  Mrs.  Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  the  wife 
of  Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent,  our  fearless  champion  in  the  United  States  Senate,  to  repre- 
sent the  women  of  California  in  your  National  Convention,  and  with  one  so  faithful 
and  earnest,  we  know  our  cause  will  be  well  represented  ;  but  there  are  many  among 
us  who  would  gladly  have  journeyed  to  Washington  to  participate  in  your  councils. 
Many  and  radical  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  past  year  favorable  to  our  sex,  not 
the  least  of  which  was  the  nomination  and  election  of  several  women  to  the  office  of 
county  superintendent  of  common  schools,  by  both  the  Democratic  and  Republican 
parties,  in  which,  however,  the  Democrats  led.  Important  changes  in  the  civil  code 
favorable  to  the  control  of  property  by  married  women,  have  been  made  by  the  legis- 
latures during  the  last  four  years,  through  the  untiring  efforts  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Wallis,  Mrs. 
Knox  and  Mrs.  Watson,  of  Santa  Clara  county.  In  our  schools  and  colleges,  in  every 
avenue  of  industry,  and  in  the  general  liberalization  of  public  opinion  there  has  been 
marked  improvement.  Yours  very  truly, 

LAURA   DE  FORCE  GORDON, 

Pres.  California  W.  S.  S.  (Incorporated). 

Mrs.  Stanton's  letter  to  The  Ballot-Box  briefly  sums  up  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  convention  : 

TEXAFLY,  N.  J.,  January  24,  1877. 

DEAR  EDITOR:  If  the  little  Ballot-Box  is  not  already  stuffed  to  repletion 
with  reports  from  Washington,  I  crave  a  little  space  to  tell  your  readers 
that  the  convention  was  in  all  points  successful.  Lincoln  Hall,  which 
seats  about  fifteen  hundred  people,  was  crowded  every  session.  The 
speaking  was  good,  order  reigned,  no  heart-burnings  behind  the  scenes, 
and  the  press  vouchsafed  "  respectful  consideration." 

The  resolutions  you  will  find  more  interesting  and  suggestive  than  that 
kind  of  literature  usually  is,  and  I  ask  especial  attention  to  the  one  for  a 
national  convention  to  revise  the  constitution,  which,  with  all  its  amend- 
ments, is  like  a  kite  with  a  tail  of  infinite  length  still  to  be  lengthened. 
It  is  evident  a  century  of  experience  has  so  liberalized  the  minds  of  the 
American  people,  that  they  have  outgrown  the  constitution  adapted  to 
the  men  of  1776.  It  is  a  monarchial  document  with  republican  ideas 
engrafted  in  it,  full  of  compromises  between  antagonistic  principles.  An 
American  statesman  remarked  that  "The  civil  war  was  fought  to  expound 
the  constitution  on  the  question"  of  slavery."  Expensive  expounding! 
Instead  of  further  amending  and  expounding,  the  real  work  at  the  dawn 
of  our  second  century  is  to  make  a  new  one.  Again,  I  ask  the  attention 
of  our  women  to  the  educational  resolution.  After  much  thought  it  seems 
to  me  we  should  have  education  compulsory  in  every  State  of  the  Union, 
and  make  it  the  basis  of  suffrage,  a  national  law,  requiring  that  those  who 
vote  after  1880  must  be  able  to  read  and  write  the  English  language.  This 
would  prevent  ignorant  foreigners  voting  in  six  months  after  landing  on 
our  shores,  and  stimulate  our  native  population  to  higher  intelligence.  It 
would  dignify  and  purify  the  ballot-box  and  add  safety  and  stability  to  our 
free  institutions.  Mrs.  Jane  Grey  Swisshelm,  who  had  just  returned  from 
Europe,  attended  the  convention,  and  spoke  on  this  subject. 

Belva.  A.  Lockwood,  who  had  recently  been  denied  admission  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  LTnited  States,  although  a  lawyer  in  good  practice 


Mrs.  Stantoris  Letter  to  "The  Ballot-Box"         65 

for  three  years  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District,  made  a  very  scathing 
speech,  reviewing  the  decision  of  the  Court.  It  may  seem  to  your  dis- 
franchised readers  quite  presumptuous  for  one  of  their  number  to  make 
those  nine  wise  men  on  the  bench,  constituting  the  highest  judicial  au- 
thority in  the  United  States,  subjects  for  ridicule  before  an  audience  of 
the  sovereign  people ;  but,  when  they  learn  the  decision  in  Mrs.  Lock- 
wood's  case,  they  will  be  reassured  as  to  woman's  capacity  to  cope  with 
their  wisdom.  '"To  arrive  at  the  same  conclusion  with  these  judges,  it  is 
not  necessary,"  said  Mrs.  Lockwood,  "to  understand  constitutional  law, 
nor  the  history  of  English  jurisprudence,  nor  the  inductive  or  deductive 
modes  of  reasoning,  as  no  such  profound  learning  or  processes  of  thought 
were  involved  in  that  decision,  which  was  simply  this  :  'There  is  no  prece- 
dent for  admitting  a  woman  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  hence  Mrs.  Lockwood's  application  cannot  be  considered.'" 

On  this  point  Mrs.  Lockwood  showed  that  it  was  the  glory  of  each 
generation  to  make  its  own  precedents.  As  there  was  none  for  Eve  in  the 
garden  of  Eden,  she  argued  there  need  be  none  for  her  daughters  on  en- 
tering the  college,  the  church,  or  the  courts.  Blackstone — of  whose 
.  works  she  inferred  the  judges  were  ignorant — gives  several  precedents 
for  women  in  the  English  courts.  As  Mrs.  Lockwood — tall,  well- 
proportioned,  with  dark  hair  and  eyes,  regular  features,  in  velvet  dress 
and  train,  with  becoming  indignation  at  such  injustice — marched  up 
and  down  the  platform  and  rounded  out  her  glowing  periods,  she  might 
have  fairly  represented  the  Italian  Portia  at  the  bar  of  Venice.  No  more 
effective  speech  was  ever  made  on  our  platform. 

Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  whose  speeches  are  always  replete  with  historical 
research,  reviewed  the  action  of  the  Republican  party  toward  woman  from 
the  introduction  of  the  word  "  male  "  into  the  fourteenth  amendment  of  the 
constitution  down  to  the  celebration  of  our  national  birthday  in  Philadel- 
phia, when  the  declaration  of  the  mothers  was  received  in  contemptuous 
silence,  while  Dom  Pedro  and  other  foreign  dignitaries  looked  calmly  on. 
Mrs.  Gage  makes  as  dark  a  chapter  for  the  Republicans  as  Mrs.  Lockwood 
for  the  judiciary,  or  Mrs.  Blake  for  the  church.  Mrs.  B.  had  been  an  atten- 
tive listener  during  the  trial  of  the  Rev.  Isaac  See  before  the  presbytery  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  hence  she  felt  moved  to  give  the  convention  a  chapter  of 
ecclesiastical  history,  showing  the  struggles  through  which  the  church 
was  passing  with  the  irrepressible  woman  in  the  pulpit.  Mrs.  Blake's 
biblical  interpretations  and  expositions  proved  conclusively  that  Scott's 
and  Clark's  commentaries  would  at  no  distant  day  be  superceded  by  stan- 
dard works  from  woman's  standpoint.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
women  ever  can  have  fair  play  as  long  as  men  only  write  and  interpret 
the  Scriptures  and  make  and  expound  the  laws.  Why  would  it  not  be  a 
good  idea  for  women  to  leave  these  conservative  gentlemen  alone  in  the 
churches?  How  sombre  they  would  look  with  the  flowers,  feathers, 
bright  ribbons  and  shawls  all  gone — black  coats  only  kneeling  and  stand- 
ing— and  with  the  deep-toned  organ  swelling  up,  the  solemn  bass  voice 
heard  only  in  awful  solitude;  not  one  soprano  note  to  rise  above  the  low, 
dull  wail  to  fill  the  arched  roof  with  triumphant  melody !  One  such  ex- 
5 


66  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

perimcnt  from  Maine  to  California  would  bring  these  bigoted  presbyteries 
to  their  senses. 

Miss  Phoebe  Couzins,  too,  was  at  the  convention,  and  gave  her  new 
lecture,  "A  Woman  without  a  Country,"  in  which  she  shows  all  that 
woman  has  done — from  fitting  out  ships  for  Columbus,  to  sharing  the  toils 
of  the  great  exposition — without  a  place  of  honor  in  the  republic  for  the 
living,  or  a  statue  to  the  memory  of  the  dead.  Hon.  A.  G.  Riddle  and 
Francis  Miller  spoke  ably  and  eloquently  as  usual ;  the  former  on  the  six- 
teenth amendment  and  the  presidential  aspect,  modestly  suggesting  that 
if  twenty  million  women  had  voted,  they  might  have  been  able  to  find  out 
for  whom  the  majority  had  cast  their  ballots.  Mr.  Miller  recommended 
State  action,  advising  us  to  concentrate  our  forces  in  Colorado  as  a  shorter 
way  to  success  than  constitutional  amendments. 

His  speech  aroused  Susan  B.  Anthony  to  the  boiling  point ;  for,  if  there 
is  anything  that  exasperates  her,  it  is  to  be  remanded,  as  she  says,  to  John 
Morrissey's  constituency  for  her  rights.  She  contends  that  if  the  United 
States  authority  could  punish  her  for  voting  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
it  has  the  same  power  to  protect  her  there  in  the  exercise  of  that 
right.  Moreover,  she  said,  we  have  two  wings  to  our  movement.  The 
American  Association  is  trying  the  popular-vote  method.  The  National 
Association  is  trying  the  constitutional  method,  which  has  emancipated 
and  enfranchised  the  African  and  secured  to  that  race  all  their  civil  rights. 
To-day  by  this  method  they  are  in  the  courts,  the  colleges,  and  the  halls 
of  legislation  in  every  State  in  the  Union,  while  we  have  puttered  with 
State  rights  for  thirty  years  without  a  foothold  anywhere,  except  in  the 
territories,  and  it  is  now  proposed  to  rob  the  women  of  their  rights  in 
those  localities.  As  the  two  methods  do  not  conflict,  and  what  is  done  in 
the  several  States  tells  on  the  nation,  and  what  is  done  by  congress  reacts 
again  on  the  States,  it  must  be  a  good  thing  to  keep  up  both  kinds  of 
agitation. 

In  the  middle  of  November  the  National  Association  sent  out  thousands 
of  petitions  and  appeals  for  the  sixteenth  amendment,  which  were  pub- 
lished and  commented  on  extensively  by  the  press  in  every  State  in  the 
Union.  Early  in  January  they  began  to  pour  into  Washington  at  the  rate 
of  a  thousand  a  day,  coming  from  twenty-six  different  States.  It  does  not 
require  much  wisdom  to  see  that  when  these  petitions  were  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  respresentatives  of  their  States,  a  great  educational  work 
was  accomplished  at  Washington,  and  public  sentiment  there  has  its 
legitimate  effect  throughout  the  country,  as  well  as  that  already  ac- 
complished in  the  rural  districts  by  the  slower  process  of  circulating  and 
signing  the  petitions.  The  present  uncertain  position  of  men  and  parties, 
has  made  politicians  more  ready  to  listen  to  the  demands  of  their  constit- 
uents, and  never  has  woman  suffrage  been  treated  with  more  courtesy  in 
Washington. 

To  Sara  Andrews  Spencer  we  are  indebted,  for  the  great  labor  of  re- 
ceiving, assorting,  counting,  rolling-up  and  planning  the  presentation  of 
the  petitions.  It  was  by  a  well  considered  coup  d'etat  that,  with  her  brave 
coadjutors,  she  appeared  on  the  floor  of  the  House  at  the  moment  of  ad- 


Comments  of  the  Press,  /c?//.  67 

journment,  and  there,  without  circumlocution,  gave  each  member  a  peti- 
tion from  his  own  State.  Even  Miss  Anthony,  always  calm  in  the  hour  of 
danger,  on  finding  herself  suddenly  whisked  into  those  sacred  enclosures, 
amid  a  crowd  of  stalwart  men,  spittoons,  and  scrap-baskets,  when  brought 
•vis-a-vis  with  our  champion,  Mr.  Hoar,  hastily  apologized  for  the  intru- 
sion, to  which  the  honorable  gentleman  promptly  replied,  "  I  hope,  Madam, 
yet  to  see  you  on  this  floor,  in  your  own  right,  and  in  business  hours 
loo."  Then  and  there  the  work  of  the  next  day  was  agreed  on,  the  mem- 
bers gladly  accepting  the  petitions.  As  you  have  already  seen,  Mr.  Hoar 
made  the  motion  for  the  special  order,  which  was  carried  and  the  petitions 
presented.  Your  readers  will  be  glad  to  know,  that  Mr.  Hoar  has  just 
been  chosen,  by  Massachusetts,  as  her  next  senator — that  gives  us  another 
champion  in  the  Senate.  As  there  are  many  petitions  still  in  circulation, 
urge  your  readers  to  keep  sending  them  until  the  close  of  the  session,  as 
Ave  want  to  know  how  many  women  are  in  earnest  on  this  question.  It 
is  constantly  said,  "  Women  do  not  want  to  vote."  Ten  thousand  told 
our  representatives  at  Washington  in  a  single  day  that  they  did  !  What 
answer  ?  Yours  sincerely,  ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON. 

The  press  commented  as  follows : 

SIXTEENTH  AMENDMENT. — The  woman  suffragists,  who  had  a  benefit  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  on  Friday,  when  their  petitions  were  presented,  transferred  their 
affections  to  the  Senate  on  Saturday  to  witness  the  presentation  of  a  large  number  of 
petitions  in  that  body.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  whether  the  results  desired  by  the 
women  will  follow  this  concerted  action,  but  it  is  certain  that  they  have  their  forces 
better  organized  this  year  than  they  ever  had  before,  and  they  have  gone  to  work  on 
a  more  systematic  plan. — [National  Republican, 

SIXTEENTH  AMENDMENT  IN  THE  SENATE — THE  TEN  THOUSAND  PETITIONERS 
TIOYALLY  TREATED. — That  women  will,  by  voting,  lose  nothing  of  man's  courteous, 
chivalric  attention  and  respect  is  admirably  proven  by  the  manner  in  which  both 
houses  of  congress,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  anxious  and  perplexing  presidential  con- 
flict in  our  history,  received  their  appeals  from  twenty-three  States  for  a  sixteenth 
amendment  protecting  the  rights  of  women. 

In  both  houses,  by  unanimous  consent,  the  petitions  were  presented  and  read  in 
open  session.  The  speaker  of  the  House  gallantly  prepared  the  way  yesterday,  and 
the  most  prominent  senators  to-day  improved  the  occasion  by  impressing  upon  the 
Senate  the  importance  of  the  question.  Mr.  Sargent  reminded  the  senators  that  there 
Avere  forty  thousand  more  votes  for  woman  suffrage  in  Michigan  than  for  the  new 
State  constitution,  and  Mr.  Davves  said,  upon  presenting  the  petition  from  Massachu- 
setts, that  the  question  was  attracting  the  attention  of  both  political  parties  in  that 
State,  and  he  commended  it  to  the  early  and  earnest  consideration  of  the  Senate.  Mr. 
Cockrell  of  Missouri,  merrily  declared  that  his  petitioners  were  the  most  beautiful 
and  accomplished  daughters  of  the  State,  which  of  course  he  felt  compelled  to  do  when 
Miss  Couzins'  bright  eyes  were  watching  the  proceedings  from  the  gallery.  Mr.  Cam- 
eron of  Pennsylvania,  suggested  that  it  would  have  been  better  to  put  them  all  to- 
gether and  not  consume  the  time  of  the  Senate  with  so  many  presentations. 

The  officers  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  held  a  caucus  after  the 
adjouannent  of  the  Senate,  and  decided  to  thank  Mr.  Cameron  for  his  suggestion,  and 
while  they  had  no  anxiety  lest  senators  should  consume  too  much  time  attending  to 
the  interests  of  women  whom  they  claim  to  represent,  and  might  reasonably  anticipate 
that  ten  millions  of  disfranchised  citizens  would  trouble  them  considerably  with  peti- 
tions while  this  injustice  continued,  yet  they  would  promptly  adopt  the  senator's  coun- 
sel and  roll  up  such  a  mammoth  petition  as  the  Senate  had  not  yet  seen  from  the  thou- 


68  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sands  of  women  who  had  no  opportunity  to  sign  these.  Accordingly  they  immediately 
prepared  the  announcement  for  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage  to  send  on  their  names 
to  the  chairman  of  the  congressional  committee.  They  naturally  feel  greatly  encour- 
aged by  the  evident  interest  of  both  parties  in  the  proposed  sixteenth  amendment,  and 
will  work  with  renewed  strength  to  secure  the  cobperation  of  the  women  of  the  coun- 
try.— [  Washington  Star. 

The  time  has  evidently  arrived  when  demands  for  a  recognition  of  the  personal, 
civil  and  political  rights  of  one-half — unquestionably  the  better  half — of  the  people 
cannot  be  laughed  down  or  sneered  down,  and  recent  indications  are  that  they  cannot 
much  longer  be  voted  down.  It  was  quite  clear  on  Friday  and  Saturday,  when  peti- 
tions from  the  best  citizens  of  twenty-three  States  were  presented  in  House  and  Sen- 
ate, that  the  leaders  of  the  two  political  parties  vied  with  each  other  in  doing  honor 
to  the  grave  subject  proposed  for  their  consideration.  The  speaker  of  the  House  set 
a  commendable  example  of  courtesy  to  women  by  proposing  that  the  petitions  be  de- 
livered in  open  House,  to  which  there  was  no  objection.  The  early  advocates  of  equal 
rights  for  women — Hoar,  Kelley,  Banks,  Kasson,  Lawrence,  and  Lapham — were,  if 
possible,  surpassed  in  courtesy  by  those  who  are  not  committed,  but  are  beginning  to 
see  that  a  finer  element  in  the  body  politic  would  clear  the  vision,  purify  the  atmos- 
phere and  help  to  settle  many  vexed  questions  on  the  basis  of  exact  and  equal  justice. 

In  the  Senate  the  unprecedented  courtesy  was  extended  to  women  of  half  an  hour's 
time  on  the  floor  for  the  presentation  of  petitions,  exactly  alike  in  form,  from  twenty- 
one  States,  and  while  this  kind  of  business  this  session  has  usually  been  transacted  with 
an  attendance  of  from  seven  to  ten  senators,  it  was  observed  that  only  two  out  of  twenty- 
three  senators  who  had  sixteenth  amendment  petitions  to  present  were  out  of  their 
seats.  Senator  Sargent  said  the  presence  of  women  at  the  polls  would  purify  elec- 
tions and  give  us  a  better  class  of  public  officials,  and  the  State  would  thus  be  greatly 
benefited.  The  subject  was  receiving  serious  consideration  in  this  country  and  in 
England.  Senator  Dawes,  in  presenting  the  petition  from  Massachusetts,  said  the  sub- 
ject was  commanding  the  attention  of  both  political  parties  in  his  own  State. 

The  officers  of  the  National  Association,  who  had  been  able  to  give  only  a  few  days' 
time  to  securing  the  cooperation  of  the  women  of  the  several  States  in  their  present 
effort,  held  a  caucus  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  and  decided  to  immediately 
issue  a  new  appeal  for  a  mammoth  petition,  which  would  even  more  decidedly  impress 
the  two  houses  with  the  importance  of  protecting  the  rights  of  women  by  a  constitu- 
tional amendment.  Considering  the  many  long  days  and  weeks  consumed  in  both 
houses  in  discussing  the  political  rights  of  the  colored  male  citizens,  there  is  an  ob- 
vious propriety  in  giving  full  and  fair  consideration  to  the  protection  of  the  rights  of 
wives,  mothers  and  daughters. — [T/if  National  Rfpublican,  January  22,  1877. 

The  National  Association  held  its  anniversary  in  Masonic  Tem- 
ple, New  York,  May  24,  1877.  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  vice- 
president  for  Connecticut,  called  the  meeting  to  order  and  invited 
Rev.  Olympia  Brown  to  lead  in  prayer.  Mrs.  Gage  made  the  an- 
nual report  of  the  executive  committee.  Dr.  Clemence  S.  Lozier 
of  New  York  was  elected  president  for  the  coming  year.  Pledges 
were  made  to  roll  up  petitions  with  renewed  energy ;  and  resolu- 
tions were  duly  discussed  *  and  adopted  : 

WHEREAS,  Such  minor  matters  as  declaring  peace  and  war,  the  coining  of  money, 
the  imposition  of  tariff,  and  the  control  of  the  postal  service,  are  forbidde^  the  re- 
spective States  ;  and  whereas,  upon  the  framing  of  the  constitution,  it  was  wisely  held 


*  The  speaker*  at  this  May  anniversary  were  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake,  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Clara 
Neyman,  Helen  Cooke,  Helen  M.  Slocum,  Mrs.  Hooker,  Mrs.  Gage  and  Acting-Governor  Lee  of 
Wyoming  territory. 


Resolutions  of  Jlfay,   1877.  69 

that  these  property  rights  would  be  unsafe  under  the  control  of  thirteen  varying  delib- 
erative bodies  ;  and  whereas,  by  a  curious  anomaly,  power  over  suffrage,  the  basis  and 
corner-stone  of  the  nation,  is  held  to  be  under  control  of  the  respective  States  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  the  experience  of  a  century  has  shown  that  the  personal  right  of  self- 
government  inhering  in  each  individual,  is  wholly  insecure  under  the  control  of  thirty- 
eight  varying  deliberative  bodies  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  the  right  of  self-government  by  the  use  of  the  ballot  inheres  in  the  citi- 
zen of  the  United  States  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  immediate  and  most  important  duty  of  the  government  to  se- 
cure this  right  on  a  national  basis  to  all  citizens,  independent  of  sex. 

Resolved,  That  the  right  of  suffrage  underlies  all  other  rights,  and  that  in  working 
to  secure  it  women  are  doing  the  best  temperance,  moral  reform,  educational,  and  re- 
ligious work  of  the  age. 

Resolved,  That  we  solemnly  protest  against  the  recent  memorial  to  congress,  from 
Utah,  asking  the  disfranchisement  of  the  women  of  that  territory,  and  that  we  ask  of 
congress  that  this  request,  made  in  violation  of  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  be  not 
granted. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  are  hereby 
tendered  to  the  late  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Ran- 
dall, Pa.;  and  to  Representatives  Banks,  Mass.;  Blair,  N.  H.;  Bland,  Mo.;  Brown, 
Kan.;  Cox,  N.  Y. ;  Eames,  R.  I.;  Fenn,  Col.;  Hale,  Me.;  Hamilton,  N.  J.;  Hen- 
dee,  Vt.;  Hoar,  Mass.;  Holman,  Ind. ;  Jones,  N.  H.;  Kasson,  Iowa;  Kelley,  Pa. 
Knott,  Ky. ;  Lane,  Oregon;  Lapham,  N.  Y. ;  Lawrence,  O.;  Luttrel,  Cal.;  Lynde, 
Wis. ;  McCrary,  Iowa;  Morgan,  Mo. ;  O'Neill,  Pa.;  Springer,  111.;  Strait,  Minn.; 
Waldron,  Mich.;  Warren,  Conn.;  Wm.  B.  Williams,  Mich.;  and  Senators  Allison, 
Iowa;  Bogy,  Mo.;  Burnside,  R.  I.  (for  Conn,  and  R.  I.);  Cameron,  Pa.;  Came- 
ron, Wis.;  Chaffee,  Col.;  Christiancy,  Mich.;  Cockrell,  Mo.;  Conkling,  N.  Y. ; 
Cragin,  N.  H.;  Dawes,  Mass.;  Dorsey,  Ark.  (a  petition  from  Me.);  Edmunds,  Vt. ; 
Frelinghuysen,  N.  J.;  Hamlin,  Me.;  Kernan,  N.  Y. ;  McCreery,  Ky. ;  Mitchell, 
Oregon;  Morrill,  Vt.;  Morton,  Ind.;  Oglesby,  111. ;  Sargent,  Cal.;  Sherman,  Ohio; 
Spencer,  Ala.  (a  petition  from  the  District);  Thurman,  Ohio  (a  petition  from  Kansas); 
\Vadleigh,  N.  H.;  Wallace,  Pa.;  Windom,  Minn.;  Wright,  Iowa,  for  represent- 
ing the  women  of  the  United  States  in  the  presentation  of  the  sixteenth  amendment 
petitions  from  ten  thousand  citizens,  in  open  House  and  Senate,  at  the  last  session  of 
congress. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  recognize  with  gratitude  the  opening  of  many  new  avenues 
of  labor  and  usefulness  to  women,  and  the  amelioration  of  their  condition  before  the 
law  in  many  States,  we  still  declare  there  can  be  no  fair  play  for  women  in  the  world  of 
business  until  they  stand  on  the  same  plane  of  citizenship  with  their  masculine  com- 
petitors. 

Resolved,  That  in  entering  the  professions  and  other  departments  of  business  here- 
tofore occupied  largely  by  men,  the  women  of  to-day  should  desire  to  accept  the  same 
conditions  and  tests  of  excellence  with  their  brothers,  and  should  demand  the  same 
standard  for  men  and  women  in  business,  art,  education,  and  morals. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  association  are  hereby  tendered  to  the  lion.  Geo. 
F.  Hoar  of  Massachusetts,  for  rising  in  his  place  in  the  Cincinnati  presidential  con- 
vention, and  asking  in  behalf  of  the  disfranchised  women  of  the  United  States  that 
the  convention  grant  a  hearing  to  Mrs.  Spencer,  of  Washington,  the  accredited  dele- 
gate of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

Great  unanimity  was  reached  in  these  sentiments  and  the 
enthusiasm  manifested  gave  promise  of  earnest  labor  and  more 
hopeful  results.  It  was  felt  that  there  was  reason  to  thank  God 
and  take  courage. 


70  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  day  before  the  opening  of  the  Tenth  Washington  Conven- 
tion a  caucus  was  held  in  the  ladies'  reception-room  *  in  the  Senate 
wing  of  the  capitol.  A  roll-call  of  the  delegates  developed  the 
fact  that  every  State  in  the  Union  would  be  represented  by 
women  now  here  and  en  route,  or  by  letter.  Mrs.  Spencer  said  she 
had  made  a  request  in  the  proper  quarter,  that  the  delegates 
should  be  allowed  to  go  on  the  floor  when  the  Senate  was 
actually  in  session,  and  present  their  case  to  the  senators.  She 
had  been  met  with  the  statement  that  such  a  proceeding  was 
without  precedent.  Mrs.  Hooker  suggested  that  inasmuch  as 
there  was  a  precedent  for  such  a  course  in  the  House,  the  dele- 
gates should  meet  the  following  Thursday  to  canvass  for  votes  in 
the  House  of  Representatives.  Another  delegate  recalled  the 
fact  that  Mrs.  General  Sherman  and  Mrs.  Admiral  Dahlgren  had 
been  admitted  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate  while  it  was  in  ses- 
sion, to  canvass  for  votes  against  woman  suffrage. 

This  agitation  resulted  in  a  resolution  introduced  by  Hon.  A. 
A.  Sargent,  January  10: 

WHEREAS,  Thousands  of  women  of  the  United  States  have  petitioned  congress  for 
an  amendment  to  the  constitution  allowing  women  the  right  of  suffrage  ;  and  whereas, 
many  of  the  representative  women  of  the  country  favoring  such  amendment  are  present 
in  the  city  and  have  requested  to  be  heard  before  the  Senate  in  advocacy  of  said 
amendment, 

Resolved,  That  at  a  session  of  the.  Senate,  to  be  held  on ,  said  representative 

women,  or  such  of  them  as  may  be  designated  for  that  purpose,  may  be  heard  before 
the  Senate;  but  for  one  hour  only. 

Mr.  EDMUNDS  demanded  the  regular  order. 

Mr.  SARGENT  advocated  the  resolution,  and  urged  immediate  action,  as 
delay  would  detain  the  women  in  the  city  at  considerable  expense  to  them. 
He  thought  the  question  not  so  intricate  that  senators  require  time  for 
consideration  whether  or  not  the  women  should  be  heard. 

Mr.  EDMUNDS  said  there  was  a  rule  of  long  standing  that  forbids  any 
person  appearing  before  the  Senate.  There  was  much  to  be  said  in  favor 
of  the  petitions,  but  it  was  against  the  logic  of  the  resolution  that  the 
petitioners  required  more  than  was  accorded  any  others.  He,  therefore, 
insisted  on  his  demand  for  the  regular  order. 

Mr.  SARGENT  gave  notice  that  he  would  call  up  his  resolution  to- 
morrow, and  reminded  the  senators  that  no  rule  was  so  sacred  that  it 
could  not  be  set  aside  by  unanimous  consent. 

On  the  next  day  there  was  a  lively  discussion,  Senators  Ed- 
munds, Thurman  and  Conkling  insisting  there  was  no  precedent ; 
Mr.  Sargent,  assisted  by  Senators  Burnside,  Anthony  and  Dawes, 


*  This  reception-room,  a  great  convenience  to  the  ladies  visiting  the    capitol,  has  since  been  re- 
moved ;  and  a  small,  dark,  inaccessible  room  on  the  basement  floor  set  aside  for  their  use. 


Denied  in  both  Senate  and  Hoiise.  71 

reminding  them  of  several  occasions  when  the  Senate  had  ex- 
tended  similar  courtesies.  The  resolution  was  voted  down — 31 
to  13.* 

Hon.  Wm.  D.  Kelly,  of  Pennsylvania,  performed  like  service  in 
the  House  : 

Mr.  KELLY  asked  leave  to  offer  a  resolution,  reciting  that  petitions 
were  about  to  be  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives  from  citizens 
of  thirty-five  States  of  the  Union,  asking  for  the  adoption  of  an  amend- 
ment to  the  constitution  to  prohibit  the  disfranchisement  of  any  citizen 
of  any  State ;  and  that  there  be  a  session  of  the  House  on  Saturday, 
January  12,  at  which  time  the  advocates  of  the  constitutional  amendment 
may  be  heard  at  the  bar.  These  petitions  ask  the  House  to  originate 
a  movement  which  it  cannot  consumate,  but  which  it  can  only  sub- 
mit to  the  States  for  their  action.  The  resolution  only  asks  that  the 
House  will  hear  a  limited  number  of  the  advocates  of  this  amendment, 
who  are  now  in  the  city,  and  on  a  day  when  there  is  not  likely  to  be  a 
session  for  business.  They  only  ask  the  privilege  of  stating  the  grounds 
of  their  belief  why  the  constitution  should  be  amended  in  the  direction 
they  indicate.  Many  of  these  ladies  who  petition  are  tax-payers,  and  they 
believe  their  rights  have  been  infringed  upon. 

Mr.  CRITTENDEN  of  Missouri,  objected,  and  the  resolution  was  not 
entertained. 

This  refusal  to  women  pleading  for  their  own  freedom  was 
the  more  noticeable,  as  not  only  had  Mesdames  Sherman  and 
Dahlgren  been  heard  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate  in  opposition, 
but  the  floor  of  the  House  was  shortly  after  granted  to  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell,  M.  P.,  that  he  might  plead  the  cause  of  oppressed 
Ireland.  The  Washington  Union  of  January  11,  1878,  largely 
sustained  by  federal  patronage,  commented  as  follows : 

To  allow  the  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  to  plead  their  cause  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate,  as  proposed  yesterday  by  Mr.  Sargent,  would  be  a  de- 
cided innovation  upon  the  established  usages  of  parliamentary  bodies. 
If  the  privilege  were  granted  in  this  case  it  would  next  be  claimed  by  the 
friends  and  the  enemies  of  the  silver  bill,  by  the  supporters  and  opponents 
of  resumption,  by  hard  money  men  and  soft  money  men,  by  protectionists 
and  free-traders,  by  labor-reformers,  prohibitionists  and  the  Lord  knows 
whom  besides.  In  fact,  the  admission  of  the  ladies  to  speak  on  the  floor 
of  the  Senate  would  be  the  beginning  of  lively  times  in  that  body. 

The  convention  was  held  in  Lincoln  Hall,  January,  8,  9,  1878. 
The  house  was  filled  to  overflowing  at  the  first  session.  A  large 

*  Yeas — Anthony,  Bruce,  Burnside,  Cameron  of  Wis.,  Dawes,  Ferry,  Hoar,  Matthews,  Mitchell, 
Rollins,  Sargent,  Saunders,  Teller — 13. 

,V<M'.r — Bailey,  Bayard,  Beck,  Booth,  Butler,  Christiancy,  Cockrell,  Coke,  Conkling,  Davis  of 
W.  Va.,  Eaton,  Edmunds,  Eustis,  Grover,  Hamlin,  Harris,  Hereford,  Hill.  Howe,  Kernan,  Kirkwood, 
Lamar,  McDonald,  McMillan,  McPherson,  Morgan,  Plumb,  Randolph,  Saulsbury,  Thurman,  Wad* 
leigh — 31. 


>j2  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

number  of  representative  women  occupied  the  platform.*  In 
opening  the  meeting  the  president,  Dr.  Clemence  Lozier,  gave  a 
resume  of  the  progress  of  the  cause.  Mrs.  Stanton  made  an 
argument  on  "  National  Protection  for  National  Citizens."f  Mrs. 
Lockwood  presented  the  following  resolutions,  which  called  out 
an  amusing  debate  on  the  "man  idea" — that  he  can  best  repre- 
sent the  home,  the  church,  the  State,  the  industries,  etc.,  etc.: 

Resolved,  That  the  president  of  this  convention  appoint  a  committee  to  select  three 
intelligent  women  who  shall  be  paid  commissioners  to  the  Paris  exposition  ;  and  also 
six  other  women  who  shall  be  volunteer  commissioners  to  said  exposition  to  represent 
the  industries  of  American  women. 

Resolved,  That  to  further  this  object  the  committee  be  instructed  to  confer  with  the 
President,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  Commissioner  McCormick. 

A  committee  was  appointed:}:  and  at  once  repaired  to  the 
white-house,  where  they  were  pleasantly  received  by  President 
Hayes.  After  learning  the  object  of  their  visit,  the  president 
named  the  different  classes  of  industries  for  which  no  commis- 
sioners had  been  appointed,  asked  the  ladies  to  nominate  their 
candidates,  and  assured  them  he  would  favor  a  representation 
by  women. 

Miss  JULIA  SMITH  of  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  the  veteran  defender  of  the 
maxim  of  our  fathers,  "no  taxation  without  representation,"  narrated  the 
experience  of  herself  and  her  sister  Abby  with  the  tax-gatherers.  They 
attended  the  town-meeting  and  protested  against  unjust  taxation,  but 
finally  their  cows  went  into  the  treasury  to  satisfy  the  tax-collector. 

ELIZABETH  BOYNTON  HARBERT  of  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  spoke  on 
the  temperance  work  being  done  in  Chicago,  in  connection  with  the  ad- 
vocacy of  the  sixteenth  amendment. 

LILLIE  DEVEREUX  BLAKE  reviewed  the  work  in  New  York  in  getting 
the  bill  through  the  legislature  to  appoint  women  on  school  boards, 
which  was  finally  vetoed  by  Governor  Robinson. 

Dr.  MARY  THOMPSON  of  Oregon,  and  Mrs.  CROMWELL  of  Arkansas, 
gave  interesting  reports  from  their  States,  relating  many  laughable  en- 
counters with  the  opposition. 

ROBERT  PURVIS  of  Philadelphia,  read  a  letter  from  the  suffragists  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  which  congratulations  were  extended  to  the  convention. 

MARY  A.  S.  CAREY,  a  worthy  representative  of  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, the  first  colored  woman  that  ever  edited  a  newspaper  in  the  United 
States,  and  who  had  been  a  worker  in  the  cause  for  twenty  years,  ex- 

*  Grace  Greenwood,  Clara  Barton,  Abby  Hutchinson  Patton,  Mrs.  Juan  Lewis,  Mrs.  Morgan  of 
Mississippi,  Dr.  Mary  A.  Thompson  of  Oregon,  Manila  M.  Ricker,  Julia  E.  Smith,  Rev.  Olympia 
Brown,  Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Lockwood,  Mrs.  Spencer,  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Dr.  Lozier  and  others. 

t  This  argument  was  subsequently  given  before  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  and  will 
be  found  on  page  80. 

$  The  members  of  the  committee  were  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Mary  A.  Thomp- 
son, M.  D.,  Marilla  M.  Ricker,  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert. 


Tenth    Washington   Convention,  1878,  73 

pressed  her  views  on  the  question,  and  said  the  colored  women  would 
support  whatever  party  would  allow  them  their  rights,  be  it  Republican 
or  Democratic. 

Rev.  OLYMPIA  BROWN  believed  that  a  proper  interpretation  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  did  confer  suffrage  on  women.  But 
men  don't  so  understand  it,  and  as  a  consequence  when  Mahomet  would 
not  come  to  the  mountain  the  mountain  must  go  to  Mahomet.  She  said 
the  day  was  coming,  and  rapidly,  too,  when  women  would  be  given  suf- 
frage. There  were  very  few  now  who  did  not  acknowledge  the  justice 
of  it. 

ISABELLA  BEECHER  HOOKER  gave  her  idea  on  "A  Reconstructed 
Police,"  showing  how  she  would  rule  a  police  force  if  in  her  control. 
Commencing  with  the  location  of  the  office,  she  proceeded  with  her  list  of 
feminine  and  masculine  officers,  the  chief  being  herself.  She  would  have 
a  superintendent  as  aid,  with  coordinate  powers,  and,  besides  the  police 
force  proper,  which  she  would  form  of  men  and  women  in  equal  propor- 
tions; she  would  have  matrons  in  charge  of  all  station-houses.  Her 
treatment  of  vagrants  would  be  to  wash,  feed,  and  clothe  them,  make 
them  stitch,  wash  and  iron,  take  their  history  down  for  future  refer- 
ence, and  finally  turn  them  out  as  skilled  laborers.  The  care  of  vagrant 
children  would  form  an  item  in  her  system. 

Mrs.  LAWRENCE  of  Massachusetts,  said  the  country  is  in  danger, 
and  like  other  republics,  unless  taken  care  of,  will  perish  by  its  own  vices. 
She  said  twelve  hundred  thousand  men  and  women  of  this  country 
now  stand  with  nothing  to  do,  because  their  legislators  of  wealth  were 
working  not  for  the  many,  but  the  few,  drunkenness  and  vice  being 
superinduced  by  such  a  state  of  things.  She  insisted  that  women  were 
to  blame  for  much  of  the  evil  of  the  world — for  bringing  into  life  children 
who  grow  up  in  vice  from  their  inborn  tendencies. 

Dr.  CAROLINE  B.  WINSLOW  of  Washington,  referred  to  the  speech  of 
Mrs.  Lawrence,  saying  she  hoped  God  would  bless  her  for  having  the 
courage  to  speak  as  she  did.  There  is  no  greater  reform  than  for  man  and 
woman  to  be  true  to  the  marital  relations. 

BELVA  A.  LOCKWOOD  said  the  only  way  for  women  to  get  their  rights 
is  to  take  them.  If  necessary  let  there  be  a  domestic  insurrection. 
Let  young  women  refuse  to  marry,  and  married  women  refuse  to  sew  on 
buttons,  cook,  and  rock  the  cradle  until  their  liege-lords  acknowledge  the 
rights  they  are  entitled  to.  There  were  more  ways  than  one  to  conquer 
a  man ;  and  women,  like  the  strikers  in  the  railroad  riots,  should  carry 
their  demands  all  along  the  line.  She  dwelt  at  length  upon  the  refusal  of 
the  courts  in  allowing  Lavinia  Dundore  to  become  a  constable,  and  asked 
why  she  should  not  be  appointed. 

The  Rev.  OLYMPIA  BROWN  said  that  if  they  wanted  wisdom  and  pros- 
perity in  the  nation,  health  and  happiness  in  the  home,  they  must  give 
woman  the  power  to  purify  hei  surroundings ;  the  right  to  make  the  out- 
side world  fit  for  her  children  to  live  in.  Who  are  more  interested  than 
mothers  in  the  sanitary  condition  of  our  schools  and  streets,  and  in  the 
moral  atmosphere  of  our  towns  and  cities? 


74  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

Marshal  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS  said  his  reluctance  to  come  forward 
was  not  due  to  any  lack  of  interest  in  the  subject  under  discussion.  For 
thirty  years  he  had  believed  in  human  rights  to  all  men  and  women. 
Nothing  that  has  ever  been  proposed  involved  such  vital  interests  as  the 
subject  which  now  invites  attention.  When  the  negro  was  freed  the 
question  was  asked  if  he  was  capable  of  voting  intelligently.  It  was  an- 
swered in  this  way  :  that  if  a  sober  negro  knows  as  much  as  a  drunken 
white  man  he  is  capable  of  exercising  the  elective  franchise. 

LAVINIA  C.  DUNDORE,  introdued  as  the  lady  who  had  made  application 
for  an  appointment  as  a  constable  and  been  refused,  made  a  pithy  address, 
in  which  she  alluded  to  her  recent  disappointment. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE  spoke  of  the  influence  of  the  church  on 
woman's  liberties,  and  then  referred  to  a  large  number  of  law  books — 
ancient  and  modern,  ecclesiastical  and  lay — in  which  the  liberties  of 
woman  were  more  or  less  abridged ;  the  equality  of  sexes  which  obtained 
in  Rome  before  the  Christian  era,  and  the  gradual  discriminatian  in  favor 
of  men  which  crept  in  with  the  growth  of  the  church. 

Mrs.  DEVEREUX  BLAKE  said  there  is  no  aspect  of  this  question  that 
strikes  us  so  forcibly  as  the  total  ignoring  of  women  by  public  men. 
However  polite  they  may  be  in  private  life,  when  they  come  to  public 
affairs  they  seem  to  forget  that  women  exist.  The  men  who  framed  the 
last  amendment  to  the  constitution  seemed  to  have  wholly  forgotten 
that  women  existed  or  had  rights Huxley  said  in  reply  to  an  in- 
quiry is  to  woman  suffrage,  "  Of  course  I'm  in  favor  of  it.  Does  it  be- 
come us  to  lay  additional  burdens  on  those  who  are  already  over- 
weighted ?  "  It  is  always  the  little  men  who  oppose  us  ;  the  big-hearted 
men  help  us  along.  All  in  this  audience  are  of  the  broad-shouldered 
type,  and  I  hope  all  will  go  out  prepared  to  advocate  our  principles.  In 
reply  to  the  objection  that  women  do  not  need  the  right  to  vote  because 
men  represent  them  so  well,  she  asked  if  any  man  in  the  audience  ever 
asked  his  wife  how  he  should  vote,  and  told  him  to  stand  up  if  there  was 
such  a  one.  [Here  a  young  man  in  the  back  part  of  the  hall  stood  up 
amidst  loud  applause.] 

The  various  resolutions  were  discussed  at  great  length  and 
adopted,  though  much  difference  of  opinion  was  expressed  on 
the  last,  which  demands  that  intelligence  shall  be  made  the  basis 
of  suffrage : 

Resolved^  That  the  National  Constitution  should  be  so  amended  as  to  secure  to 
United  States  citizens  at  home  the  same  protection  for  their  individual  rights  against 
State  tyranny,  as  is  now  guaranteed  everywhere  against  foreign  aggressions. 

Resolved,  That  the  civil  and  political  rights  of  the  educated  tax-paying  women  of 
this  nation  should  take  precedence  of  all  propositions  and  debates  in  the  present 
congress  as  to  the  future  status  of  the  Chinese  and  Indians  under  the  flag  of  the  United 
States. 

\VHEREAS,  The  essential  elements  of  justice  are  already  recognized  in  the  constitu- 
tion ;  and,  whereas,  our  fathers  proposed  to  establish  a  purely  secular  government  in 
which  all  forms  of  religion  should  be  equally  protected,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  preeminently  unjust  to  tax  the  property  of  widows  and  spinsters 
to  its  full  value,  while  the  clergy  are  made  a  privileged  class  by  exempting  from  taxa- 


Senator  Sargent's  Joint  Resolution.  75 

tion  $1,500  of  their  property  in  some  States,  while  in  all  States  parsonages  and  other 
church  property,  amounting  to  millions  of  dollars,  are  exempted,  which,  if  fairly 
taxed,  would  greatly  lighten  the  national  debt,  and  thereby  the  burdens  of  the  labor- 
ing masses. 

Resolved,  That  thus  to  exempt  one  class  of  citizens,  one  kind  of  property,  from 
taxation,  at  the  expense  of  all  others,  is  a  great  national  evil,  in  a  moral  as  well  as  a 
financial  point  of  view.  It  is  an  assumption  that  the  church  is  a  more  important  in- 
stitution than  the  family  ;  that  the  influence  of  the  clergy  is  of  more  vital  consequence 
in  the  progress  of  civilization  than  that  of  the  women  of  this  republic  ;  from  which  we 
emphatically  dissent. 

Resolved,  That  universal  education  is  the  true  basis  of  universal  suffrage  ;  hence  the 
several  States  should  so  amend  their  constitutions  as  to  make  education  compulsory, 
and,  as  a  stimulus  to  the  rising  generation,  declare  that  after  1885  all  who  exercise  the 
right  of  suffrage  must  be  able  to  read  and  write  the  English  language.  For,  while  the 
national  government  should  secure  the  equal  right  of  suffrage  to  all  citizens,  the  State 
should  regulate  its  exercise  by  proper  attainable  qualifications. 

On  January  10,  1878,  our  champion  in  the  Senate,  Hon.  A.  A. 
Sargent,  of  California,  by  unanimous  consent,  presented  the  fol- 
lowing joint  resolution,  which  was  read  twice  and  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections: 

JOINT  RESOLUTION  proposing  an  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Slates. — 
Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America 
in  congress  assembled,  two-thirds  of  each  House  concurring  therein,  That  the  fol- 
lowing article  be  proposed  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  as  an  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which,  when  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the 
said  legislatures,  shall  be  valid  as  part  of  the  said  constitution,  namely  : 

ARTICLE  16,  SEC.  I. — The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be 
denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on  account  of  sex. 

SEC.  2. — Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appropriate  legis- 
lation. 

The  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  granted  hearings 
to  the  National  Association  on  January  n,  12,  when  the  dele- 
gates,* representing  the  several  States,  made  their  respective 
arguments  and  appeals.  Clemence  S.  Lozier,  M.  D.,  president  of 
the  association,  first  addressed  the  committee  and  read  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  a  recent  letter  from  Victor  Hugo : 

Our  ill-balanced  society  seems  as  if  it  would  take  from  woman  all  that  nature  had 
endowed  her  with.  In  our  codes  there  is  something  to  recast.  It  is  what  I  call  the 
woman-law.  Man  has  had  his  law  ;  he  has  made  it  for  himself.  Woman  has  only 
the  law  of  man.  She  by  this  law  is  civilly  a  minor  and  morally  a  slave.  Her  educa- 
tion is  embued  with  this  twofold  character  of  inferiority.  Hence  many  sufferings  to 
her  which  man  must  justly  share.  There  must  be  reform  here,  and  it  will  be  to  the 
benefit  of  civilization,  truth,  and  light. 


*  At  this  hearing  the  speakers  were  Clemence  S.  Lo/ier,  M.  D.,  New  York  ;  Julia  E.  Smith,  Con- 
necticut :  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  New  Jersey  ;  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  Illinois  ;  Matilda  Joslyn 
Gage,  New  York ;  Priscilla  Rand  Lawrence,  Massachusetts  ;  Rev,  Olympia  Brown,  Connecticut ;  Mary 
A.  Thompson,  M.  D.,  Oregon  ;  Mary  Powers  Filley,  New  Hampshire;  Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  New 
York  ;  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  District  of  Columbia  ;  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Connecticut ;  Mary  A, 
Stewart.  Delaware. 


76  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  concluding,  Dr.  Lozier  said  :  I  have  now  the  honor  to  introduce  Miss 
Julia  E.  Smith,  of  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  who  will  speak  to  you  concerning 
the  resistance  of  her  sister  and  herself  to  the  payment  of  taxes  in  her  na- 
tive town,  on  the  ground  that  they  are  unrepresented  in  all  town  meetings, 
and  therefore  have  no  voice  in  the  expenditure  of  the  taxes  which  they 
are  compelled  to  pay. 

Miss  SMITH  said  :  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee — This  is  the  first  time  in  my1 
life  that  I  have  trod  these  halls,  and  what  has  brought  me  here  ?  I  say, 
oppression — oppression  of  women  by  men.  Under  the  law  they  have 
taken  from  us  $2,000  worth  of  meadow-land,  and  sold  it  for  taxes  of  less 
than  $50,  and  we  were  obliged  to  redeem  it,  for  we  could  not  lose  the  most 
valuable  part  of  our  farm.  They  have  come  into  our  house  and  said, 
"  You  must  pay  so  much  ;  we  must  execute  the  laws  ";  and  we  are  not  al- 
lowed to  have  a  voice  in  the  matter,  or  to  modify  laws  that  are  odious. 

I  have  come  to  Washington,  as  men  cannot  address  you  for  us.  We 
have  no  power  at  all ;  we  are  totally  defenseless.  [Miss  Smith  then  read 
two  short  letters  written  by  her  sister  Abby  to  the  Springfield  Republican^ 
These  tell  our  brief  story,  and  may  I  not  ask,  gentlemen,  that  they  shall 
so  plead  with  you  that  you  will  report  to  the  Senate  unanimously  in  favor 
of  the  sixteenth  amendment,  which  we  ask  in  order  that  the  women  of 
these  United  States  who  shall  come  after  us  may  be  saved  the  desecration 
of  their  homes  which  we  have  suffered,  and  our  country  may  be  relieved 
from  the  disgrace  of  refusing  representation  to  that  half  of  its  people 
that  men  call  the  better  half,  because  it  includes  their  wives  and  daugh- 
ters and  mothers? 

ELIZABETH  BOYNTON  HARBERT,  vice-president  for  Illinois :  Gentlemen  of 
the  Committee — We  recognize  your  duty  as  men  intrusted  with  the  control 
and  guidance  of  the  government  to  carefully  weigh  every  phase  of  this 
momentous  question.  Has  the  time  arrived  when  it  will  be  safe  and  ex- 
pedient to  make  a  practical  application  of  tnese  great  principles  of  our 
government  to  one-half  of  the  governed,  one-half  of  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  ?  The  favorite  argument  of  the  opposition  has  been  that 
women  are  represented  by  men,  hence  have  no  cause  for  complaint.  Any 
careful  student  of  the  progress  of  liberty  must  admit  that  the  only  possi- 
ble method  for  securing  justice  to  the  represented  is  for  their  representa- 
tives to  be  made  entirely  responsible  to  their  constituents,  and  promptly 
removable  by  them.  We  are  only  secure  in  delegating  power  when  we 
can  dictate  its  use,  limit  the  same,  or  revoke  it.  How  many  of  your  hon- 
orable committee  would  vote  to  make  the  presidency  an  office  for  life, 
said  office  to  descend  to  the  heirs  in  a  male  line  forever,  with  no  reserved 
power  of  impeachment?  Yet  you  would  be  more  fairly  represented  than 
are  American  women,  since  they  have  never  elected  their  representatives. 
So  far  as  women  are  concerned  you  are  self-constituted  rulers.  We  can- 
not hope  for  complete  representation  while  we  are  powerless  to  recall, 
impeach,  or  punish  our  representatives.  We  meet  with  a  case  in  point  in 
the  history  of  Virginia.  Bancroft  gives  us  the  following  quotation  from 
the  official  records : 


Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections.  77 

The  freedom  of  elections  was  further  impaired  by  "  frequent  false  returns,"  made 
by  the  sheriffs.  Against  these  the  people  had  no  sufficient  redress,  for  the  sheriffs 
were  responsible  neither  to  them  nor  to  officers  of  their  appointment.  And  how 
could  a  more  pregnant  cause  of  discontent  exist  in  a  country  where  the  elective  fran- 
chise was  cherished  as  the  dearest  civil  privilege? — If  land  is  to  be  taxed,  none  but 
landholders  should  elect  the  legislature. — The  other  freemen,  who  are  the  more  in 
number,  may  refuse  to  be  bound  by  those  laws  in  which  they  have  no  representation, 
and  we  are  so  well  acquainted  with  the  temper  of  the  people  that  we  have  reason  to 
believe  they  had  rather  pay  their  taxes  than  lose  that  privilege. 

Would  those  statesmen  have  dared  to  tax  those  landholders  and  yet 
deny  them  the  privilege  of  choosing  their  representatives?  And  if,  for- 
sooth, they  had,  would  not  each  one  of  you  have  declared  such  act  uncon- 
stitutional and  unjust  ?  We  are  the  daughters  of  those  liberty-loving 
patriots.  Their  blood  flows  in  our  veins,  and  in  view  of  the  recognized 
physiological  fact  that  special  characteristics  are  transmitted  from  fathers 
to  daughters,  do  you  wonder  that  we  tax-paying,  American-born  citizens 
of  these  United  States  are  here  to  protest  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  jus- 
tice ?  We  recognize,  however,  that  you  are  not  responsible  for  the  present 
political  condition  of  women,  and  that  the  question  confronting  you,  as 
statesmen  called  to  administer  justice  under  existing  conditions,  is,  "  What 
are  the  capacities  of  this  great  class  for  self-government?"  You  have 
cautiously  summoned  us  to  adduce  proof  that  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of 
women  would  prove  a  help,  not  a  hindrance;  would  bring  wings,  not 
weights. 

First,  then,  we  ask  you  in  the  significant  name  of  history  to  read  the 
record  of  woman  as  a  ruler  from  the  time  when  Deborah  judged  Israel, 
and  the  land  had  rest  and  peace  forty  years,  even  down  to  this  present 
when  Victoria  Regina,  the  Empress  Queen,  rules  her  vast  kingdom  so 
ably  that  we  sometimes  hear  American  men  talk  about  a  return  "  to  the 
good  old  ways  of  limited  monarchy,"  with  woman  for  a  ruler.  John  Stuart 
Mill,  after  studious  research,  testifies  as  follows : 

When  to  queens  and  emperors  we  add  regents  and  viceroys  of  provinces,  the  list  of 
women  who  have  been  eminent  rulers  of  mankind  swells  to  a  great  length.  The  fact 
is  so  undeniable  that  some  one  long  ago  tried  to  retort  the  argument  by  saying  that 
queens  are  better  than  kings,  because  under  kings  women  govern,  but  under  queens, 
men.  Especially  is  her  wonderful  talent  for  governing  evinced  in  Asia.  If  a  Hindoo 
principality  is  strongly,  vigilantly,  and  economically  governed  ;  if  order  is  preserved 
without  oppression  ;  if  cultivation  is  extending,  and  the  people  prosperous,  in  three 
cases  out  of  four  that  principality  is  under  a  woman's  rule.  This  fact,  to  me  an  en- 
tirely unexpected  one,  I  have  collected  from  a  long  official  knowledge  of  Hindoo  gov- 
ernments. There  are  many  such  instances  ;  for  though  by  Hindoo  institutions  a 
woman  cannot  reign,  she  is  the  legal  regent  of  a  kingdom  during  the  minority  of  the 
heir — and  minorities  are  frequent,  the  lives  of  the  male  rulers  being  so  often  prema- 
turely terminated  through  thc'ir  inactivity  and  excesses.  When  we  consider  that  these 
princesses  have  never  been  seen  in  public,  have  never  conversed  with  any  man  not  of 
their  own  family,  except  from  behind  a  curtain  ;  that  they  do  not  read,  and  if  they  did, 
there  is  no  book  in  their  languages  which  can  give  them  the  smallest  instruction  on 
political  affairs,  the  example  they  afford  of  the  natural  capacity  of  women  for  govern- 
ment is  very  striking. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  does  it  not  appear  that  if  there  is  any  one  distinct- 
ively feminine  characteristic,  it  is  the  mother-instinct  for  government? 


78  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

But  now  with  clearer  vision  we  reread  the  record  of  the  past.  True,  we 
find  no  Raphael  or  Beethoven,  no  Phidias  or  Michael  Angelo  among 
women.  No  woman  has  painted  the  greatest  picture,  carved  the  finest 
statue,  composed  the  noblest  oratorio  or  opera.  Not  many  women's  names 
appear  after  Joan  of  Arc's  in  the  long  list  of  warriors;  but,  as  a  ruler, 
woman  stands  to-day  the  peer  of  man. 

While  man  has  rendered  such  royal  service  in  the  realm  of  art,  woman 
has  not  been  idle.  Infinite  wisdom  has  intrusted  to  her  the  living,  breath- 
ing marble  or  canvas,  and  with  smiles  and  tears,  prayers  and  songs  has 
she  patiently  wrought  developing  the  latent  possibilities  of  the  divine 
Christ-child,  the  infant  Washington,  the  baby  Lincoln.  Ah  !  since  God 
and  men  have  intrusted  to  woman  the  weightiest  responsibility  known  to 
earth,  the  development  and  education  of  the  human  soul,  need  you  fear  to 
intrust  her  with  citizenship?  Is  the  ballot  more  precious  than  the  soul  of 
your  child  ?  If  it  is  safe  in  the  home,  in  the  school-room,  the  Sunday- 
school,  to  place  in  woman's  hands  the  education  of  your  children,  is  it  not 
safe  to  allow  that  mother  to  express  her  choice  in  regard  to  which  one  of 
these  sons,  her  boys  whom  she  has  taught  and  nursed,  shall  make  laws  for 
her  guidance  ? 

Just  here,  in  imagination,  is  heard  the  question,  "  How  much  help  could 
we  expect  from  women  on  financial  questions  ?  We  accept  the  masculine 
idea  of  woman's  mathematical  deficiencies.  We  have  had  slight  oppor- 
tunity for  discovering  the  best  proportions  of  a  silver  dollar,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  family  specimens  have  been  zealously  guarded  by  the  male 
members  ;  and  yet,  we  may  have  some  latent  possibilities  in  that  direc- 
tion, since  already  the  "brethren"  in  our  debt-burdened  churches  wail 
out  from  the  depths  of  masculine  indebtedness  and  interest-tables,  "  Out 
sisters,  we  pray  you  come  over  and  help  us ! "  And,  in  view  of  the  fact  of 
the  present  condition  of  finances,  in  view  of  the  fact  of  the  enormous  taxes 
you  impose  upon  us,  can  you  look  us  calmly  in  the  face  and  assert  that  mat- 
ters might,  would,  should,  or  could  have  been  worse,  even  though  Julia 
Ward  Howe,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  or  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  had  voted  on 
the  silver  bill  ? 

A  moment  since  I  referred  to  the  great  responsibilities  of  motherhood, 
and  doubtless  your  mental  comment  was,  "  Yes,  that  is  woman's  peculiar 
sphere  ;  there  she  should  be  content  to  remain."  It  is  our  sphere — beauti- 
ful, glorious,  almost  infinite  in  its  possibilities.  We  accept  the  work  ;  we 
only  ask  for  opportunity  to  perform  it.  The  sphere  has  enlarged,  that  is 
all.  There  has  been  a  new  revelation.  That  historic  "first  gun"  pro- 
claimed a  wonderful  message  to  the  daughters  of  America  ;  for,  when  the 
smoke  of  the  cannonading  had  lifted,  the  entire  horizon  of  woman  was 
broadened,  illuminated,  glorified.  On  that  April  morn,  when  a  nation  of 
citizens  suddenly  sprang  into  an  army  of  warriors,  with  a  patriotism  as  in- 
tense, a  consecration  as  true,  American  women  quietly  assumed  their  va- 
cated places  and  became  citizens.  New  boundaries  were  defined.  A  Mary 
Somerville  or  Maria  Mitchell  seized  the  telescope  and  alone  with  God  and 
the  stars,  cast  a  new  horoscope  for  woman.  And  the  new  truth,  electrify- 
ing, glorifying  American  womanhood  to-day,  is  the  discovery  that  the 


I 

Mrs.  Harbert  at  Hearing,  1878.  79 

State  is  but  the  larger  family,  the  nation  the  old  homestead,  and  that  in 
this  national  home  there  is  a  room  and  a  corner  and  a  duty  for  "  mother." 
A  duty  recognized  by  such  a  statesman  as  John  Adams,  who  wrote  to  his 
wife  in  regard  to  her  mother : 

Your  mother  had  a  clear  and  penetrating  understanding  and  a  profound  judgment, 
as  well  as  an  honest,  a  friendly  and  charitable  heart.  There  is  one  thing,  however, 
which  you  will  forgive  me  if  I  hint  to  you.  Let  me  ask  you  rather  if  you  are  not  of 
my  opinion.  Were  not  her  talents  and  virtues  too  much  confined  to  private,  social 
and  domestic  life?  My  opinion  of  the  duties  of  religion  and  morality  comprehends  a 
very  extensive  connection  with  society  at  large  and  the  great  interests  of  the  public. 
Does  not  natural  morality  and,  much  more,  Christian  benevolence  make  it  our  indis- 
pensable duty  to  endeavor  to  serve  our  fellow-creatures  to  the  utmost  of  our  power  in 
promoting  and  supporting  those  great  political  systems  and  general  regulations  upon 
which  the  happiness  of  multitudes  depends?  The  benevolence,  charity,  capacity  and 
industry  which  exerted  in  private  life  would  make  a  family,  a  parish  or  a  town  happy, 
employed  upon  a  larger  scale  and  in  support  of  the  great  principles  of  virtue  and  free- 
dom of  political  regulations,  might  secure  whole  nations  and  generations  from  misery, 
want  and  contempt. 

Intense  domestic  life  is  selfish.  The  home  evidently  needs  fathers  as 
much  as  mothers.  Tender,  wise  fatherhood  is  beautiful  as  motherhood, 
but  there  are  orphaned  children  to  be  cared  for.  These  duties  to  the 
State  and  nation  as  mothers,  true  to  the  highest  needs  of  our  children,  we 
dare  not  ignore  ;  and  the  nation  cannot  much  longer  afford  to  have  us 
ignore  them. 

As  statesmen,  walking  on  the  shore  piled  high  with  the  "  drift-wood  of 
kings,"  the  wrecks  of  nations  and  governments,  you  have  discovered  the 
one  word  emblazoned  as  an  epitaph  on  each  and  every  one,  "  Luxury, 
luxury,  luxury!"  You  have  hitherto  placed  a  premium  upon  woman's 
idleness,  helplessness,  dependence.  The  children  of  most  of  our  fashion- 
able women  are  being  educated  by  foreign  nurses.  How  can  you  expect 
them  to  develop  into  patriotic  American  statesmen?  For  the  sake  of 
country  I  plead — for  the  sake  of  a  responsible,  exalted  womanhood  ;  for 
the  sake  of  a  purer  womanhood ;  for  home  and  truth,  and  native  land.  As 
a  daughter,  with  holiest,  tenderest,  most  grateful  memories  clinging  to  the 
almost  sacred  name  of  father;  as  a  wife,  receiving  constant  encourage- 
ment, support,  and  cooperation  from  one  who  has  revealed  to  her  the  gen- 
uine nobility  of  true  manhood;  as  a  mother,  whose  heart  still  thrills  at 
the  first  greeting  from  her  little  son  ;  and  as  a  sister,  watching  with 
intense  interest  the  entrance  of  a  brother  into  the  great  world  of  work,  I 
could  not  be  half  so  loyal  to  woman's  cause  were  it  not  a  synonym  for 
the  equal  rights  of  humanity — a  diviner  justice  for  all  ! 

With  one  practical  question  I  rest  my  case.  The  world  objected  to 
woman's  entrance  into  literature,  the  pulpit,  the  lyceum,  the  college, 
the  school.  What  has  she  wrought?  Our  wisest  thinkers  and  his- 
torians assert  that  literature  has  been  purified.  Poets  and  judges  at 
international  collegiate  contests  award  to  woman's  thought  the  highest 
prize.  Miss  Lucia  Peabody  received  upon  the  occasion  of  her  second 
election  to  the  Boston  school  board  the  highest  vote  ever  polled  for 
any  candidate.  Since  woman  has  proved  faithfui  over  a  few  things,  need 
you  fear  to  summon  her  to  your  side  to  assist  you  :n  executing  the  will  of 


8o  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  nation  ?  And  now,  yielding  to  none  in  intense  love  of  womanhood ; 
standing  here  beneath  the  very  dome  of  the  national  capitol  overshad- 
owed by  the  old  flag  ;  with  the  blood  of  the  revolutionary  patriots  cours- 
ing through  my  veins  ;  as  a  native-born,  tax-paying  American  citizen,  I 
ask  equality  before  the  law. 

ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON  said:  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee:  In  ap- 
pearing before  you  to  ask  for  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  United  States 
Constitution,  permit  me  to  say  that  with  the  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  we 
believe  that  our  constitution,  fairly  interpreted,  already  secures  to  the 
humblest  individual  all  the  rights,  privileges  and  immunities  of  American 
citizens.  But  as  statesmen  differ  in  their  interpretations  of  constitutional 
law  as  widely  as  they  differ  in  their  organizations,  the  rights  of  every  class 
of  citizens  must  be  clearly  denned  in  concise,  unmistakable  language.  All 
the  great  principles  of  liberty  declared  by  the  fathers  gave  no  protection 
to  the  black  man  of  the  republic  for  a  century,  and  when,  with  higher 
light  and  knowledge  his  emancipation  and  enfranchisement  were  pro- 
claimed, it  was  said  that  the  great  truths  set  forth  in  the  prolonged  de- 
bates of  thirty  years  on  the  individual  rights  of  the  black  man,  culminat- 
ing in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  to  the  constitution,  had 
no  significance  for  woman.  Hence  we  ask  that  this  anomalous  class  of 
beings,  not  recognized  by  the  supreme  powers  as  either  "  persons  "  or 
"citizens  "  may  be  defined  and  their  rights  declared  in  the  constitution. 

In  the  adjustment  of  the  question  of  suffrage  now  before  the  people  of 
this  country  for  settlement,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  the 
organic  law  of  the  land  should  be  so  framed  and  construed  as  to  work 
injustice  to  none,  but  secure  as  far  as  possible  perfect  political  equality 
among  all  classes  of  citizens.  In  determining  your  right  and  power  to 
legislate  on  this  question,  consider  what  has  been  done  already. 

As  the  national  constitution  declares  that  "all  persons  born  or  natur- 
alized in  the  United  States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside,"  it  is 
evident :  First — That  the  immunities  and  privileges  of  American  citizen- 
ship, however  defined,  are  national  in  character,  and  paramount  to  all 
State  authority.  Second — That  while  the  constitution  leaves  the  qualifica- 
tion of  electors  to  the  several  States,  it  nowhere  gives  them  the  right  to 
deprive  any  citizen  of  the  elective  franchise  ;  the  State  may  regulate  but 
not  abolish  the  right  of  suffrage  for  any  class.  Third—  As  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  expressly  declares  that  no  State  shall  make  or 
enforce  any  law  that  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  those  provisions  of  the  several  State  constitutions 
that  exclude  citizens  from  the  franchise  on  account  of  sex,  alike  violate  the 
spirit  and  letter  of  the  Federal  constitution.  Fourth — As  the  question  of 
naturalization  is  expressly  withheld  from  the  States,  and  as  the  States 
would  clearly  have  no  right  to  deprive  of  the  franchise  naturalized  citi- 
zens, among  whom  women  are  expressly  included,  still  more  clearly  have 
they  no  right  to  deprive  native-born  women-citizens  of  the  right. 

Let  me  give  you  a  few  extracts  from  the  national  constitution  upon 
which  these  propositions  are  based : 


A  Bill  of  Attainder.  81 

Preamble  :  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defense 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  constitution. 

This  is  declared  to  be  a  government  "  of  the  people."  All  power,  it  is 
said,  centers  in  the  people.  Our  State  constitutions  also  open  with  the 
words,  "  We,  the  people."  Does  any  one  pretend  to  say  that  men  alone 
constitute  races  and  peoples?  When  we  say  parents,  do  we  not  mean 
mothers  as  well  as  fathers?  When  we  say  children,  do  we  not  mean  girls 
as  well  as  boys  ?  When  we  say  people,  do  we  not  mean  women  as  well  as 
men?  When  the  race  shall  spring,  Minerva-like,  from  the  brains  of  their 
fathers,  it  will  .be  time  enough  thus  to  ignore  the  fact  that  one-half  the 
human  family  are  women.  Individual  rights,  individual  conscience  and 
judgment  are  our  great  American  ideas,  the  fundamental  principles  of 
our  political  and  religious  faith.  Men  may  as  well  attempt  to  do  our  repent- 
ing, confessing,  and  believing,  as  our  voting — as  well  represent  us  at  the 
throne  of  grace  as  at  the  ballot-box. 

ARTICLE  i,  SEC.  9. — No  bill  of  attainder,  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed  ;  no 
title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  Uuited  States. 

SEC.  10. — No  State  shall  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  im- 
pairing the  obligation  of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

Notwithstanding  these  provisions  of  the  constitution,  bills  of  attainder 
have  been  passed  by  the  introduction  of  the  word  "  male  "  into  all  the 
State  constitutions  denying  to  woman  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  thereby 
making  sex  a  crime.  A  citizen  disfranchised  in  a  republic  is  a  citizen  at- 
tainted. When  we  place  in  the  hands  of  one  class  of  citizens  the  right  to 
make,  interpret  and  execute  the  law  for  another  class  wholly  unrepre- 
sented in  the  government,  we  have  made  an  order  of  nobility. 

ARTICLE  4,  SEC.  2. — The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges 
and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States. 

The  elective  franchise  is  one  of  the  privileges  secured  by  this  section 
approved  in  Dunham  vs,  Lamphere  (3  Gray  Mass.  Rep.,  276),  and  Bennett 
vs.  Boggs  (Baldwin's  Rep.,  p.  72,  Circuit  Court  U.  S.). 

ARTICLE  4,  SEC.  4. — The  United  States  shall  gurantee  to  every  State  in  the  Union 
a  republican  form  of  government. 

How  can  that  form  of  government  be  called  republican  in  which  one- 
half  the  people  are  forever  deprived  of  all  participation  in  its  affairs? 

ARTICLE  6. — This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be 
made  in  pursuance  thereof,  ....  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  ;  and  the  judges 
in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any 
State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

ARTICLE  14,  SEC.  I. — All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States No  State  shall 

make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  enfranchisement  of  woman,  suffrage  is  now 
claimed  by  one  class  of  thinkers  as  a  privilege  based  upon  citizenship  and 
secured  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  by  lexicographers  as 

6 


82  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

well  as  by  the  constitution  itself,  the  definition  of  citizen  includes 
women  as  well  as  men.  No  State  can  rightfully  deprive  a  woman-citizen 
of  the  United  States  of  any  fundamental  right  which  is  hers  in  common 
with  all  other  citizens.  The  States  have  the  right  to  regulate,  but  not  to 
prohibit  the  elective  franchise  to  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Thus 
the  States  may  determine  the  qualifications  of  electors.  They  may  re- 
quire the  elector  to  be  of  a  certain  age — to  have  had  a  fixed  residence — to 
be  of  sane  mind  and  unconvicted  of  crime, — because  these  are  qualifica- 
tions or  conditions  that  all  citizens,  sooner  or  later,  may  attain.  But  to  go 
beyond  this,  and  say  to  one-half  the  citizens  of  the  State,  notwithstanding 
you  possess  all  of  these  qualifications,  you  shall  never  vote,  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  despotism.  It  is  a  bill  of  attainder  of  the  most  odious  character. 

A  further  investigation  of  the  subject  will  show  that  the  constitutions  of 
all  the  States,  with  the  exception  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  read  sub- 
stantially alike.  "  White  male  citizens  "  shall  be  entitled  to  vote,  and  this 
is  supposed  to  exclude  all  other  citizens.  There  is  no  direct  exclusion 
except  in  the  two  States  above  named.  Now  the  error  lies  in  supposing 
that  an  enabling  clause  is  necessary  at  all.  The  right  of  the  people  of  a 
State  to  participate  in  a  government  of  their  own  creation  requires  no 
enabling  clause,  neither  can  it  be  taken  from  them  by  implication.  To 
hold  otherwise  would  be  to  interpolate  in  the  constitution  a  prohibition 
that  does  not  exist. 

In  framing  a  constitution,  the  people  are  assembled  in  their  sovereign 
capacity,  and  being  possessed  of  all  rights  and  powers,  what  is  not  sur- 
rendered is  retained.  Nothing  short  of  a  direct  prohibition  can  work  a 
deprivation  of  rights  that  are  fundamental.  In  the  language  of  John  Jay 
to  the  people  of  New  York,  urging  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  :  "  Silence  and  blank  paper  neither  give  nor  take  away  any- 
thing." And  Alexander  Hamilton  says  (Federalist,  No.  83) : 

Every  man  of  discernment  must  at  once  perceive  the  wide  difference  between 
silence  and  abolition.  The  mode  and  manner  in  which  the  people  shall  take  part  in 
the  government  of  their  creation  may  be  prescribed  by  the  constitution,  but  the  right 
itself  is  antecedent  to  all  constitutions.  It  is  inalienable,  and  can  neither  be  bought 
nor  sold  nor  given  away. 

But  even  if  it  should  be  held  that  this  view  is  untenable,  and  that 
women  are  disfranchised  by  the  several  State  constitutions,  directly  or  by 
implication,  then  I  say  that  such  prohibitions  are  clearly  in  conflict  with 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  yield  thereto. 

Another  class  of  thinkers,  equally  interested  in  woman's  enfranchise- 
ment, maintain  that  there  is,  as  yet,  no  power  in  the  United  States  Con- 
stitution to  protect  the  rights  of  all  United  States  citizens,  in  all  latitudes 
and  longitudes,  and  in  all  conditions  whatever.  When  the  constitution 
was  adopted,  the  fathers  thought  they  had  secured  national  unity.  This 
was  the  opinion  of  Southern  as  well  as  Northern  statesmen.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  the  question  of  State  rights  was  then  forever  settled.  Hon. 
Charles  Sumner,  speaking  on  this  point  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
March  7,  1866,  said  the  object  of  the  constitution  was  to  ordain,  under  the 
authority  of  the  people,  a  national  government  possessing  unity  and 


We,  the  People.  83 

power.  The  confederation  had  been  merely  an  agreement  "  between  the 
States,"  styled,  '-a  league  of  firm  friendship."  Found  to  be  feeble  and 
inoperative  through  the  pretension  of  State  rights,  it  gave  way  to  the 
constitution  which,  instead  of  a  "league,"  created  a  "union,"  in  the  name 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  Beginning  with  these  inspiring  and 
enacting  words,  "  We,  the  people,"  it  was  popular  and  national.  Here  was 
no  concession  to  State  rights,  but  a  recognitio/i  of  the  power  of  the  peo- 
ple, from  whom  the  constitution  proceeded.  The  States  are  acknowl- 
edged ;  but  they  are  all  treated  as  component  parts  of  the  Union  in  which 
they  are  absorbed  under  the  constitution,  which  is  the  supreme  law. 
There  is  but  one  sovereignty,  and  that  is  the  sovereignty  of  the  United 
States.  On  this  very  account  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  was  op- 
posed by  Patrick  Henry  and  George  Mason.  The  first  exclaimed,  "That 
this  is  a  consolidated  government  is  demonstrably  clear;  the  question 
turns  on  that  poor  little  thing,  'We,  the  people,'  instead  of  the  States." 
The  second  exclaimed,  "Whether  the  constitution  is  good  or  bad,  it  is  a 
national  government,  and  no  longer  a  confederation."  But  against  this 
powerful  opposition  the  constitution  was  adopted  in  the  name  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States.  Throughout  the  discussions,  State  rights  was 
treated  with  little  favor.  Madison  said:  "The  States  are  only  political 
societies,  and  never  possessed  the  right  of  sovereignty."  Gerry  said : 
"The  States  have  only  corporate  rights."  Wilson,  the  philanthropic 
member  from  Pennsylvania,  afterward  a  learned  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  and  author  of  the  "  Lectures  on  Law,"  said  : 
"  Will  a  regard  to  State  rights  justify  the  sacrifice  of  the  rights  of  men  ? 
If  we  proceed  on  any  other  foundation  than  the  last,  our  building  will 
neither  be  solid  nor  lasting." 

Those  of  us  who  understand  the  dignity,  power  and  protection  of  the 
ballot,  have  steadily  petioned  congress  for  the  last  ten  years  to  secure  to 
the  women  of  the  republic  the  exercise  of  their  right  to  the  elective 
franchise.  We  began  by  asking  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national 
constitution.  March  15,  1869,  the  Hon.  George  W.  Julian  submitted  a 
joint  resolution  to  congress,  to  enfranchise  the  women  of  the  republic,  by 
proposing  a  sixteenth  amendment : 

ARTICLE  16. — The  right  of  suffrage  in  the  United  States  shall  be  based  on  citizen- 
ship, and  shall  be  regulated  by  Congress,  and  all  citizens  of  the  United  States,  whether 
native  or  naturalized,  shall  enjoy  this  right  equally,  without  any  distinction  or  dis- 
crimination whatever  founded  on  sex. 

While  the  discussion  was  pending  for  the  emancipation  and  enfran- 
chisement of  the  slaves  of  the  South,  and  popular  thought  led  back  to 
the  consideration  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  government,  it 
was  clearly  seen  that  all  the  arguments  for  the  civil  and  political  rights 
of  the  African  race  applied  to  women  also.  Seeing  this,  some  Republicans 
stood  ready  to  carry  these  principles  to  their  logical  results.  Democrats, 
too,  saw  the  drift  of  the  argument,  and  though  not  in  favor  of  extending 
suffrage  to  either  black  mer*,  or  women,  yet,  to  embarrass  Republican 
legislation,  it  was  said,  they  proposed  amendments  for  woman  suffrage  to 
all  bills  brought  forward  for  enfranchising  the  negroes. 


84  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

And  thus,  during  the  passage  of  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
amendments,  and  the  District  suffrage  bill,  the  question  of  woman  suf- 
frage was  often  and  ably  discussed  in  the  Senate  and  House,  and  received 
both  Republican  and  Democratic  votes  in  its  favor.  Many  able  lawyers  and 
judges  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  women  as  well  as  Africans  were  en- 
franchised by  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  Amendments.  Accordingly,  we 
abandoned,  for  the  time  being,  our  demand  for  a  sixteenth  amendment, 
and  pleaded  our  right  of  suffrage,  as  already  secured  by  the  fourteenth 
amendment — the  argument  lying  in  a  nut-shell,  For  if,  as  therein  as- 
serted, all  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States  are  citizens  of 
the  United  States;  and  if  a  citizen,  according  to  the  best  authorities,  is 
one  possessed  of  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship,  namely,  the 
right  to  make  laws  and  choose  lawmakers,  women,  being  persons,  must 
be  citizens,  and  therefore  entitled  to  the  rights  of  citizenship,  the  chief  of 
which  is  the  right  to  vote. 

Accordingly,  women  tested  their  right,  registered  and  voted — the  in- 
spectors of  election  accepting  the  argument,  for  which  inspectors  and 
women  alike  were  arrested,  tried  and  punished ;  the  courts  deciding  that 
although  by  the  fourteenth  amendment  they  were  citizens,  still,  citizen- 
ship did  not  carry  with  it  the  right  to  vote.  But  granting  the  premise  of 
the  Supreme  Court  decision,  "that  the  constitution  does  not  confer  suf- 
frage on  any  one,"  then  it  inhered  with  the  citizen  before  the  constitution 
was  framed.  Our  national  life  does  not  date  from  that  instrument.  The 
constitution  is  not  the  original  declaration  of  rights.  It  was  not  framed 
until  eleven  years  after  our  existence  as  a  nation,  nor  fully  ratified  until 
nearly  fourteen  years  after  the  inauguration  of  our  national  independence. 

But  however  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  constitution  may  be  interpreted 
by  the  people,  the  judiciary  of  the  nation  has  uniformly  proved  itself  the 
echo  of  the  party  in  power.  When  the  slave  power  was  dominant  the 
Supreme  Court  decided  that  a  black  man  was  not  a  citizen,  because  he  had 
not  the  right  to  vote ;  and  when  the  constitution  was  so  amended  as  to 
make  all  persons  citizens,  the  same  high  tribunal  decided  that  a  woman, 
though  a  citizen,  had  not  the  right  to  vote.  An  African,  by  virtue  of  his 
United  States  citizenship,  is  declared,  under  recent  amendments,  a  voter 
in  every  State  of  the  Union  ;  but  when  a  woman,  by  virtue  of  her  United 
States  citizenship,  applies  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  protection  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  this  same  right,  she  is  remanded  to' the  State,  by  the  unanimous 
decision  of  the  nine  judges  on  the  bench,  that  "the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  does  not  confer  the  right  of  suffrage  upon  any  one."  Such 
vacillating  interpretations  of  constitutional  law  must  unsettle  our  faith  in 
judicial  authority,  and  undermine  the  liberties  of  the  whole  people.  See- 
ing by  these  decisions  of  the  courts  that  the  theory  of  our  government, 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  recent  constitutional  amendments, 
have  no  significance  for  woman,  that  all  the  grand  principles  of  equality 
are  glittering  generalities  for  her,  we  must  fall  back  once  more  to  our 
former  demand  of  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  federal  constitution,  that, 
in  clear,  unmistakable  language,  shall  declare  the  status  of  woman  in  this 
republic. 


National  Protection.  85 

The  Declaration  ot  Independence  struck  a  blow  at  every  existent  form 
of  government  by  making  the  individual  the  source  of  all  power.  This  is 
the  sun,  and  the  one  central  truth  around  which  all  genuine  republics 
must  keep  their  course  or  perish.  National  supremacy  means  something 
more  than  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish 
commerce.  It  means  national  protection  and  security  in  the  exercise  of 
the  right  of  self-government,  which  comes  alone  by  and  through  the  use 
of  the  ballot.  Women  are  the  only  class  of  citizens  still  wholly  unrepre- 
sented in  the  government,  and  yet  we  possess  every  requisite  qualifica- 
tion for  voters  in  the  United  States.  Women  possess  property  and  edu- 
cation ;  we  take  out  naturalization-papers  and  passports  and  register 
ships.  We  preempt  lands,  pay  taxes  (women  sometimes  work  out  the 
road-tax  with  their  own  hands)  and  suffer  for  our  own  violation  of  laws. 
We  are  neither  idiots,  lunatics,  nor  criminals,  and  according  to  our  State 
constitution  lack  but  one  qualification  for  voters,  namely,  sex,  which  is  an 
insurmountable  qualification,  and  therefore  equivalent  to  a  bill  of  attain- 
der against  one-half  the  people,  a  power  neither  the  States  nor  the  United 
States  can  legally  exercise,  being  forbidden  in  article  i,  sections  9,  10,  of  the 
constitution.  Our  rulers  have  the  right  to  regulate  the  suffrage,  but  they 
cannot  abolish  it  for  any  class  of  citizens,  as  has  been  done  in  the  case  of 
the  women  of  this  republic,  without  a  direct  violation  of  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  land.  All  concessions  of  privileges  or  redress  of  grievances  are 
mockery  for  any  class  that  have  no  voice  in  the  laws,  and  law-makers ; 
hence  we  demand  the  ballot,  that  scepter  of  power  in  our  own  hands,  as 
the  only  sure  protection  for  our  rights  of  person  and  property  under  all 
conditions.  If  the  few  may  grant  and  withhold  rights  at  their  pleasure, 
the  many  cannot  be  said  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  self-government. 

William  H.  Seward  said  in  his  great  speech  on  "  Freedom  and  Union," 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  February  29,  1860: 

Mankind  have  a  natural  right,  a  natural  instinct,  and  a  natural  capacity  for  self- 
government  ;  and  when,  as  here,  they  are  sufficiently  ripened  by  culture,  they  will  and 
must  have  self-government,  and  no  other. 

Jefferson  said : 

The  God  who  gave  us  life,  gave  us  liberty  at  the  same  time  ;  the  hand  of  freedom 
may  destroy,  but  cannot  disjoin  them. 

Few  people  comprehend  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  principle  we  are 
advocating  to-day,  and  how  closely  it  is  allied  to  everything  vital  in  our 
system  of  government.  Our  personal  grievances,  such  as  being  robbed 
of  property  and  children  by  unjust  husbands ;  denied  admission  into  the 
colleges,  the  trades  and  professions ;  compelled  to  wcxrk  at  starving 
prices,  by  no  means  round  out  this  whole  question.  In  asking  for  a 
sixteenth  amendment  to  the  United  States  Constitution,  and  the  pmtci  - 
tion  of  congress  against  the  injustice  of  State  law,  we  are  fighting  the 
same  battle  as  Jefferson  and  Hamilton  fought  in  1776,  as  Calhoun  and 
Clay  in  1828,  as  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Jefferson  Davis  in  1860,  namely, 
the  limit  of  State  rights  and  federal  power.  The  enfranchisement  of 
woman  involves  the  same  vital  principle  of  our  government  that  is  divid- 
ing and  distracting  the  two  great  political  parties  at  this  hour. 


86  ffistory  of   ]Vo)iiau   Suffrage. 

There  is  nothing  a  foreigner  coming  hen:  finds  it  so  difficult  to  under- 
stand as  the  wheel  within  a  wheel  in  our  national  and  State  governments, 
and  the  possibility  of  carrying  them  on  without  friction  ;  and  this  is  the 
difficulty  and  danger  we  are  fast  finding  out.  The  recent  amendments  are 
steps  in  the  right  direction  toward  national  unity,  securing  equal  rights  to 
all  citizens,  in  every  latitude  and  longitude.  But  our  congressional  de- 
bates, judicial  decisions,  and  the  utterances  of  campaign  orators,  continu- 
ally tailing  back  to  the  old  ground,  are  bundles  of  contradictions  on  this 
vital  question.  Inasmuch  as  we  are,  first,  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  second,  of  the  State  wherein  we  reside,  the  primal  rights  of  all  citizens 
should  be  regulated  by  the  national  government,  and  complete  equality  in 
civil  and  political  rights  everywhere  secured.  When  women  are  denied 
the  right  to  enter  institutions  of  learning,  and  practice  in  the  professions, 
unjust  discriminations  made  against  sex  even  more  degrading  and  humil- 
iating than  were  ever  made  against  color,  surely  woman,  too,  should  be 
protected  by  a  civil-rights  bill  and  a  sixteenth  amendment  that  should 
make  her  political  status  equal  with  all  other  citizens  of  the  republic. 

The  right  of  suffrage,  like  the  currency  of  the  post-office  department, 
demands  national  regulation.  We  can  all  remember  the  losses  sustained 
by  citizens  in  traveling  from  one  State  to  another  under  the  old  system  of 
State  banks.  We  can  imagine  the  confusion  if  each  State  regulated  its 
post-offices,  and  the  transit  of  the  mails  across  its  borders.  The  benefits  we 
find  in  uniformity  and  unity  in  these  great  interests  would  pervade  all 
others  where  equal  conditions  were  secured.  Some  citizens  are  asking 
for  a  national  bankrupt  law,  that  a  person  released  from  his  debts  in  one 
State  may  be  free  in  every  other.  Some  are  for  a  religious  freedom  amend- 
ment that  shall  forever  separate  church  and  State  ;  forbidding  a  religious 
test  as  a  condition  of  suffrage  or  a  qualification  for  office  ;  forbidding  the 
reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools  and  the  exempting  of  church  property 
and  sectarian  institutions  of  learning  or  charity  from  taxation.  Some  are 
demanding  a  national  marriage  law,  that  a  man  legally  married  in  one  State 
may  not  be  a  bigamist  in  another.  Some  are  asking  a  national  prohibi- 
tory law,  that  a  reformed  drunkard  who  is  shielded  from  temptation  in 
one  State  may  not  be  environed  with  dangers  in  another.  And  thus  many 
individual  interests  point  to  a  growing  feeling  among  the  people  in  favor 
of  homogeneous  legislation.  As  several  of  the  States  are  beginning  to 
legislate  on  the  woman  suffrage  question,  it  is  of  vital  moment  that  there 
should  be  some  national  action. 

As  the  laws  now  are,  a  woman  who  can  vote,  hold  office,  be  tried  by  a 
jury  of  her  own  peers — yea,  and  sit  on  the  bench  as  justice  of  the  peace 
in  the  territory  of  Wyoming,  may  be  reduced  to  a  political  pariah  in  the 
State  of  New  York.  A  woman  who  can  vote  and  hold  office  on  the  school 
board,  and  act  as  county  superintendent  in  Kansas  and  Minnesota,  is  de- 
nied these  rights  in  passing  into  Pennsylvania.  A  woman  who  can  be  a 
member  of  the  school  board  in  Maine,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  California, 
loses  all  these  privileges  in  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  and  Delaware. 
When  representatives  from  the  territories  are  sent  to  congress  by  the 


A  Fourfold  Compromise.  87 

votes  of  women,  it  is  time  to  have  some  national  recognition  of  this 
class  of  citizens. 

This  demand  of  national  protection  for  national  citizens  is  fated  to  grow 
stronger  every  day.  The  government  of  the  United  States,  as  the  consti- 
tution is  now  interpreted,  is  powerless  to  give  a  just  equivalent  for  the  su- 
preme allegiance  it  claims.  One  sound  democratic  principle  fully  recog- 
nized and  carried  to  its  logical  results  in  our  government,  declaring  all 
citizens  equal  before  the  law,  would  soon  chase  away  the  metaphysical 
mists  and  fogs  that  cloud  our  political  views  in  so  many  directions.  When 
congress  is  asked  to  put  the  name  of  God  in  the  constitution,  and  thereby 
pledge  the  nation  to  some  theological  faith  in  which  some  United  States 
citizens  may  not  believe  and  thus  subject  a  certain  class  to  political  ostra- 
cism and  social  persecution,  it  is  asked  not  to  protect  but  to  oppress  the 
citizens  of  the  several  States  in  their  most  sacred  rights — to  think,  reason, 
and  decide  all  questions  of  religion  and  conscience  for  themselves,  without 
fear  or  favor  from  the  government.  Popular  sentiment  and  church  per- 
secution is  all  that  an  advanced  thinker  in  science  and  religion  should  be 
called  on  to  combat.  The  State  should  rather  throw  its  shield  of  protec- 
tion around  those  uttering  liberal,  progressive  ideas  ;  for  the  nation  has 
the  same  interest  in  every  new  thought  as  it  has  in  the  invention  of  new 
machinery  to  lighten  labor,  in  the  discovery  of  wells  of  oil,  or  mines  of 
coal,  copper,  iron,  silver  or  gold.  As  in  the  laboratory  of  nature  new 
forms  of  beauty  are  forever  revealing  themselves,  so  in  the  world  of 
thought  a  higher  outlook  gives  a  clearer  vision  of  the  heights  man  in 
freedom  shall  yet  attain.  The  day  is  past  for  persecuting  the  philosophers 
of  the  physical  sciences.  But  what  a  holocaust  of  martyrs  bigotry  is  still 
making  of  those  bearing  the  richest  treasures  of  thought,  in  religion  and 
social  ethics,  in  their  efforts  to  roll  off  the  mountains  of  superstition  that 
have  so  long  darkened  the  human  mind  ! 

The  numerous  demands  by  the  people  for  national  protection  in  many 
rights  not  specified  in  the  constitution,  prove  that  the  people  have  out- 
grown the  compact  that  satisfied  the  fathers,  and  the  more  it  is  expounded 
and  understood  the  more  clearly  its  monarchical  features  can  be  traced  to 
its  English  origin.  And  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that,  with  no  chart  or 
compass  for  a  republic,  our  fathers,  with  all  their  educational  prejudices  in 
favor  of  the  mother  country,  with  her  literature  and  systems  of  jurispru- 
dence, should  have  also  adopted  her  ideas  of  government,  and  in  drawing 
up  their  national  compact  engrafted  the  new  republic  on  the  old  constitu- 
tional monarchy,  a  union  whose  incompatibility  has  involved  their  sons 
in  continued  discussion  as  to  the  true  meaning  of  the  instrument.  A  re- 
cent writer  says : 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  the  result  of  a  fourfold  compromise:  First 
— Of  unity  with  individual  interests  ;  of  national  sovereignty  with  the  so-called  sov- 
ereignty of  Stales;  Second — Of  the  republic  with  monarchy;  Third — Of  freedom  with 
slavery;  J-'ourtli — Of  democracy  with  aristocracy. 

It  is  founded,  therefore,  on  the  fourfold  combination  of  principles  per- 
fectly incompatible  and  eternally  excluding  each  other;  founded  for  the 
purpose  of  equally  preserving  these  principles  in  spite  of  their  incompati- 


88  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

bility,  and  of  carrying  out  their  practical  results — in  other  words,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  an  impossible  thing  possible.  And  a  century  of  dis- 
cussion has  not  yet  made  the  constitution  understood.  It  has  no  settled 
interpretation.  Being  a  series  of  compromises,  it  can  be  expounded  in 
favor  of  many  directly  opposite  principles, 

A  distinguished  American  statesman  remarked  that  the  war  of  the  rebel- 
lion was  waged  "  to  expound  the  constitution."  It  is  a  pertinent  question 
now,  shall  all  other  contradictory  principles  be  retained  in  the  constitu- 
tion until  they,  too,  are  expounded  by  civil  war?  On  what  theory  is  it 
less  dangerous  to  defraud  twenty  million  women  of  their  inalienable  rights 
than  four  million  negroes  ?  Is  not  the  same  principle  involved  in  both 
cases?  We  ask  congress  to  pass  a  sixteenth  amendment,  not  only  for 
woman's  protection,  but  for  the  safety  of  the  nation.  Our  people  are  filled 
with  unrest  to-day  because  there  is  no  fair  understanding  of  the  basis  of 
individual  rights,  nor  the  legitimate  power  of  the  national  government. 
The  Republican  party  took  the  ground  during  the  war  that  congress  had 
the  right  to  establish  a  national  currency  in  every  State  ;  that  it  had  the 
right  to  emancipate  and  enfranchise  the  slaves  ;  to  change  their  political 
status  in  one-half  the  States  of  the  union  ;  to  pass  a  civil  rights  bill,  secur- 
ing to  the  freedman  a  place  in  the  schools,  colleges,  trades,  professions, 
hotels,  and  all  public  conveyances  for  travel.  And  they  maintained 
their  right  to  do  all  these  as  the  best  measures  for  peace,  though  compel- 
led by  war. 

And  now,  when  congress  is  asked  to  extend  the  same  protection  to  the 
women  of  the  nation,  we  are  told  they  have  not  the  power,  and  we  are 
remanded  to  the  States.  They  say  the  emancipation  of  the  slave  was  a 
war  measure,  a  military  necessity  ;  that  his  enfranchisement  was  a  politi- 
cal necessity.  We  might  with  propriety  ask  if  the  present  condition  of 
the  nation,  with  its  political  outlook,  its  election  frauds  daily  reported,  the 
corrupt  action  of  men  in  official  position,  governors,  judges,  and  boards  of 
canvassers,  has  not  brought  us  to  a  moral  necessity  where  some  new  ele- 
ment is  needed  in  government.  But,  alas  !  when  women  appeal  to  con- 
gress for  the  protection  of  their  natural  rights  of  person  and  property, 
they  send  us  for  redress  to  the  courts,  and  the  courts  remand  us  to  the 
States.  You  did  not  trust  the  Southern  freedman  to  the  arbitrary  will  of 
courts  and  States  !  Why  send  your  mothers,  wives  and  daughters  to  the 
unwashed,  unlettered,  unthinking  masses  that  carry  popular  elections? 

We  are  told  by  one  class  of  philosophers  that  the  growing  tendency  to 
increase  national  power  and  authority  is  leading  to  a  dangerous  centrali- 
xation  ;  that  the  safety  of  the  republic  rests  in  local  self-government. 
Says  the  editor  of  the  Boston  Index : 

What  i-.  local  self-government  ?  Briefly,  that  without  any  interference  from  without, 
every  citizen  should  manage  his  own  personal  affairs  in  his  own  way,  according  to  his 
o\vn  pleasure;  lliat  every  town  should  manage  its  own  town  affairs  in  the  same  manner 
and  under  the  same  restriction;  every  county  its  own  county  affairs,  every  State  its  own 
State  affairs.  But  the  independent  exercise  of  this  autonomy,  by  personal  and  corpo- 
r:iic  individuals,  has  one  fundamental  condition,  viz.:  the  maintenance  of  all  these  in- 
dividualites  intact,  each  in  its  own  sphere  of  action,  with  its  rights  uninfringed  and  its 
freedom  uncurtailed  in  that  sphere,  yet  each  also  preserving  its  just  relation  to  all  the 


What  is   Centralization  9  89 

rest  in  an  all  comprehensive  social  organization.  Every  citizen  would  thus  stand,  as 
it  were,  in  the  center  of  several  concentric  and  enlarging  circles  of  relationship  to  his 
kind;  he  would  have  duties  and  rights  in  each  relation,  not  only  as  an  individual  but 
also  as  a  member  of  town,  county,  State  and  national  organization.  His  local  self- 
government  will  be  at  his  highest  possible  point  of  realization,  when  in  each  of  these 
relations  his  individual  duties  are  discharged  and  his  rights  maintained. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  is  centralization  ? 

It  is  such  a  disorganization  of  this  well-balanced,  harmonious  and  natural  system  as 
shall  result  in  the  absorption  of  all  substantial  power  by  a  central  authority,  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  autonomy  of  the  various  individualities  above  mentioned;  such  as  was 
produced,  for  instance,  when  the  municipia  of  the  Roman  empire  lost  their  corporate 
independence  and  melted  into  the  vast  imperial  despotism  which  prepared  the  way  for 
the  collapse  of  society  under  the  blows  of  Northern  barbarism.  Such  a  centralization 
must  inevitably  be  produced  by  decay  of  that  stubborn  stickling  for  rights,  out  of 
which  local  self-government  has  always  grown.  That  is,  if  individual  rights  in  the 
citizen,  the  town,  the  county,  the  State,  shall  not  be  vindicated  as  beyond  all  price, 
and  defended  with  the  utmost  jealousy,  at  whatever  cost,  the  spirit  of  liberty  must 
have  already  died  out,  and  the  dreary  process  of  centralization  be  already  far  ad- 
vanced. It  will  thus  be  evident  that  the  preservation  of  individual  rights 
is  the  only  possible  preventative  of  centralization,  and  that  free  society  has 
no  interest  to  be  compared  for  an  instant  in  importance  with  that  of  preserving 
these  individual  rights.  No  nation  is  free  in  which  this  is  not  the  paramount  concern. 
Woe  to  America  when  her  sons  and  her  daughters  begin  to  sneer  at  rights  !  Just  so 
long  as  the  citizens  are  protected  individually  in  their  rights,  the  towns  and  counties 
and  States  cannot  be  stripped;  but  if  the  former  lose  all  love  for  their  own  liberties  as 
equal  units  of  society,  the  latter  will  become  the  empty  shells  of  creatures  long  per- 
ished. The  nation  as  such,  therefore,  if  it  would  be  itself  free  and  non-centralized, 
must  find  its  own  supreme  interest  in  the  protection  of  its  individual  citizens  in  the 
fullest  possible  enjoyment  of  their  equal  rights  and  liberties. 

As  this  question  of  woman's  enfranchisement  is  one  of  national  safety, 
we  ask  you  to  remember  that  we  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and,  as 
such,  claim  the  protection  of  the  national  flag  in  the  exercise  of  our 
national  rights,  in  every  latitude  and  longitude,  on  sea,  land,  at  home  as 
well  as  abroad;  against  the  tyranny  of  States,  as  well  as  against  foreign 
aggressions.  Local  authorities  may  regulate  the  exercise  of  these  rights  ; 
they  may  settle  all  minor  questions  of  property,  but  the  inalienable  per- 
sonal rights  of  citizenship  should  be  declared  by  the  constitution,  inter- 
preted by  the  Supreme  Court,  protected  by  congress  and  enforced  by  the 
arm  of  the  executive.  It  is  nonsense  to  talk  of  State  rights  until  the 
graver  question  of  personal  liberties  is  first  understood  and  adjusted. 
President  Hayes,  in  reply  to  an  address  of  welcome  at  Charlottesville,  Va., 
September  25,  1877,  said  : 

Equality  under  the  laws  for  all  citizens  is  the  corner-stone  of  the  structure  of  the 
restored  harmony  from  which  the  ancient  friendship  is  to  rise.  In  this  pathway  I  am 
going,  tbe  pathway  where  your  illustrious  men  led — your  Jefferson,  your  Madison, 
your  Monroe,  your  Washington. 

If,  in  this  statement,  President  Hayes  is  thoroughly  sincere,  then  he  will 
not  hesitate  to  approve  emphatically  the  principle  of  national  protection 
lor  national  citizens.  He  will  see  that  the  protection  of  all  the  national 
citizens  in  all  their  rights,  civil,  political,  and  religious — not  by  the  mus- 
kets of  United  States  troops,  but  by  the  peaceable  authority  of  United 


90  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

States  courts — is  not  a  principle  that  applies  to  a  single  section  of  the 
country,  but  to  all  sections  alike ;  he  will  see  that  the  incorporation  of 
such  a  principle  in  the  constitution  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  measure  of 
force  imposed  upon  the  vanquished,  since  it  would  be  law  alike  to  the 
vanquished  and  the  victor.  In  short,  he  will  see  that  there  is  no  other 
sufficient  guarantee  of  that  equality  of  all  citizens,  which  he  well  declares 
to  be  the  "corner-stone  of  the  structure  of  restored  harmony."  The  Bos- 
ton Journal  of  July  19,  said  : 

There  are  cases  where  it  seems  as  if  the  constitution  should  empower  the  federal 
government  to  step  in  and  protect  the  citizen  in  the  State,  when  the  local  authorities 
are  in  league  with  the  assassins;  but,  as  it  now  reads,  no  such  provision  exists. 

That  the  constitution  does  not  make  such  provision  is  not  the  fault  of 
the  president ;  it  must  be  attributed  to  the  leading  Republicans  who  had  it 
in  their  power  once  to  change  the  constitution  so  as  to  give  the  most  am- 
ple powers  to  the  general  government.  When  Attorney-General  Devens 
was  charged  last  May  with  negligence  in  not  prosecuting  the  parties  ac- 
cused of  the  Mountain  Meadow  massacre,  his  defense  was,  that  this  hor- 
rible crime  was  not  against  the  United  States,  but  against  the  territory  of 
Utah.  Yet,  it  was  a  great  company  of  industrious,  honest,  unoffending 
United  States  citizens  who  were  foully  and  brutally  murdered  in  cold 
blood.  When  Chief-Justice  Waite  gave  his  charge  to  the  jury  in  the  El- 
lentown  conspiracy  cases,  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  June  i,  1877,  he  said  : 

That  a  number  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  have  been  killed,  there  can  be  no 
question;  but  that  is  not  enough  to  enable  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  in- 
terfere for  their  protection.  Under  the  constitution  that  duty  belongs  to  the  State 
alone.  But  when  an  unlawful  combination  is  made  to  interfere  with  any  of  the  rights 
of  natural  citizenship  secured  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  by  the  national  constitu- 
tion, then  an  offense  is  committed  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is  not 
only  the  right  but  the  absolute  duty  of  the  national  government  to  interfere  and  afford 
the  citizens  that  protection  which  ever)'  good  government  is  bound  to  give. 

General  Hawley,  in  an  address  before  a  college  last  spring,  said : 

Why,  it  is  asked,  does  our  government  permit  outrages  in  a  State  which  it  would 
exert  all  its  authority  to  redress,  even  at  the  risk  of  war,  if  they  were  perpetrated  un- 
der a  foreign  government  ?  Are  the  rights  of  American  citizens  more  sacred  on  the 
soil  of  Great  Britain  or  France  than  on  the  soil  of  one  of  our  own  States  ?  Not  at  all. 
But  the  government  of  the  Uuited  States  is  clothed  with  power  to  act  with  imperial 
sovereignty  in  the  one  case,  while  in  the  other  its  authority  is  limited  to  the  degree  of 
utter  impotency,  in  certain  circumstances.  The  State  sovereignty  excludes  the  Fede- 
ral over  most  matters  of  dealing  between  man  and  man,  and  if  the  State  laws  are 
properly  enforced  there  is  not  likely  to  be  any  ground  of  complaint,  but  if  they  are 
not,  the  federal  government,  if  not  specially  called  on  according  to  the  terms  of  the 
constitution,  is  helpless.  Citizen  A.  B.,  grievously  wronged,  beaten,  robbed,  lynched 
within  a  hair's  breadth  of  death,  may  apply  in  vain  to  any  and  all  prosecuting  officers 
of  the  State.  The  forms  of  law  that  might  give  him  redress  are  all  there  ;  the  prose- 
cuting officers,  judges,  and  sheriffs,  that  might  act,  are  there  ;  but,  under  an  oppress- 
ive and  tyranical  public  sentiment,  they  refuse  to  move.  In  such  an  exigency  the 
government  of  the  United  States  can  do  no  more  than  the  government  of  any  neigh- 
boring State  ;  that  is,  unless  the  State  concerned  calls  for  aid,  or  unless  the  offense 
rises  to  the  dignity  of  insurrection  or  rebellion.  The  reason  is,  that  the  framers  of 
our  govennental  system  left  to  the  several  States  the  sole  guardianship  of  the  per- 
sonal and  relative  private  rights  of  the  people. 


/  Greatly  Fear  this  Policy.  91 

Such  is  the  imperfect  development  of  our  own  nationality  in  this  re- 
spect that  we  have  really  no  right  as  yet  to  call  ourselves  a  nation  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word,  nor  shall  we  have  while  this  state  of  things  con- 
tinues. Thousands  have  begun  to  feel  this  keenly,  of  which  a  few  illus- 
trations may  suffice.  A  communication  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  June 
9,  signed  "  Merchant,"  said  : 

Before  getting  into  a  quarrel  and  perhaps  war  with  Mexico  about  the  treatment  of 
our  flag  and  citizens,  would  it  not  be  as  well,  think  you,  for  the  government  to  try 
and  make  the  flag  a  protection  to  the  citizens  on  our  own  soil  ? 

That  is  what  it  has  never  been  since  the  foundation  of  our  government 
in  a  large  portion  of  our  common  country.  The  kind  of  government  the 
people  of  this  country  expect  and  intend  to  have — State  rights  or  no 
State  rights,  no  matter  how  much  blood  and  treasure  it  may  cost — is  a 
government  to  protect  the  humblest  citizen  in  the  exercise  of  all  his 
rights. 

When  the  rebellion  of  the  South  against  the  government  began,  one 
of  the  most  noted  secessionists  of  Baltimore  asked  one  of  the -regular 
army  officers  what  the  government  expected  to  gain  by  making  war  on 
the  South.  "  Well,"  the  officer  replied,  laying  his  hand  on  the  cannon  by 
which  he  was  standing,  "we  intend  to  use  these  until  it  is  as  safe  for  a 
Northern  man  to  express  his  political  opinions  in  the  South,  as  it  is  for  a 
Southern  man  to  express  his  in  the  North."  Senator  Blaine,  at  a  banquet 
in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  July  2,  declared  that  a  "government  which  did  not  offer 
protection  to  every  citizen  in  every  State  had  no  right  to  demand  allegi- 
ance." Ex-Senator  Wade,  of  Ohio,  in  a  letter  to  the  Washington  National 
Republican  of  July  16,  said  of  the  president's  policy  : 

I  greatly  fear  this  policy,  under  cover  of  what  is  called  local  self-government,  is  but 
an  ignominious  surrender  of  the  principles  of  nationality  for  which  our  armies 
fought  and  for  which  thousands  upon  thousands  of  our  brave  men  died,  and  without 
which  the  war  was  a  failure  and  our  boasted  government  a  myth. 

Behind  the  slavery  of  the  colored  race  was  the  principle  of  State  rights. 
Their  emancipation  and  enfranchisement  were  important,  not  only  as  a 
vindication  of  our  great  republican  idea  of  individual  rights,  but  as  tin- 
first  blow  in  favor  of  national  unity — of  a  consistent,  homogeneous  gov- 
ernment. As  all  our  difficulties,  State  and  national,  are  finally  referred  to 
the  constitution,  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  that  instrument  should  not 
be  susceptible  of  a  different  interpretation  from  every  possible  standpoint. 
It  is  folly  to  spend  another  century  in  expounding  the  equivocal  language 
of  the  constitution.  If  under  that  instrument,  supposed  to  be  the  Magna 
Charta  of  American  liberties,  all  United  States  citizens  do  not  stand  equal 
before  the  law,  it  should  without  further  delay  be  so  amended  as  in  plain. 
unmistakable  language  to  declare  what  are  the  rights,  privileges,  and  im- 
munities that  belong  to  citizens  of  a  republic. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  people  of  to-day  should  be  governed  by  the 
laws  and  constitutions  of  men  long  since  dead  and  buried.  Surely  those 
who  understand  the  vital  issues  of  this  hour  are  better  able  to  legislate  for 
the  living  present  than  those  who  governed  a  hundred  years  ago.  If  the 
nineteenth  century  is  to  be  governed  by  the  opinions  of  the  eighteenth, 


92  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

and  the  twentieth  by  the  nineteenth,  the  world  will  always  be  governed 
by  dead  men 

The  cry  of  centralization  could  have  little  significance  if  the  constitu- 
tion were  so  amended  as  to  protect  all  United  States  citizens  in  their  in- 
alienable rights.  That  national  supremacy  that  holds  individual  freedom 
and  equality  more  sacred  than  State  rights  and  secures  representation  to 
all  classes  of  people,  is  a  very  different  form  of  centralization  from  that  in 
which  all  the  forces  of  society  are  centered  in  a  single  arm.  But  the  recog- 
nition of  the  principle  of  national  supremacy,  as  declared  in  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  amendments,  has  been  practically  nullified  and  the  results  of 
the  war  surrendered,  by  remanding  woman  to  the  States  for  the  protec- 
tion of  her  civil  and  political  rights.  The  Supreme  Court  decisions  and 
the  congressional  reports  on  this  point  are  in  direct  conflict  with  the  idea 
of  national  unity,  and  the  principle  of  States  rights  involved  in  this  dis- 
cussion must  in  time  remand  all  United  States  citizens  alike  to  State  au- 
thority for  the  protection  of  those  rights  declared  to  inhere  in  the  people 
at  the  foundation  of  the  government. 

You  may  listen  to  our  demands,  gentlemen,  with  dull  ears,  and  smile  in- 
credulously at  the  idea  of  danger  to  our  institutions  from  continued  viola- 
tion of  the  civil  and  political  rights  of  women,  but  the  question  of  what 
citizens  shall  enjoy  the  rights  of  suffrage  involves  our  national  existence; 
for,  if  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  humblest  citizen  may  be  invaded 
with  impunity,  laws  interpreted  on  the  side  of  injustice,  judicial  decisions 
based  not  on  reason,  sound  argument,  nor  the  spirit  and  letter  of  our 
declarations  and  theories  of  government,  but  on  the  customs  of  society 
and  what  dead  men  are  supposed  to  have  thought,  not  what  they  said — 
what  will  the  rights  of  the  ruling  powers  even  be  in  the  future  with  a  peo- 
ple educated  into  such  modes  of  thought  and  action  ?  The  treatment  of 
every  individual  in  a  community — in  our  courts,  prisons,  asylums,  of  every 
class  of  petitioners  before  congress — strengthens  or  undermines  the  foun- 
dations of  that  temple  of  liberty  whose  corner-stones  were  laid  one 
century  ago  with  bleeding  hands  and  anxious  hearts,  with  the  hardships, 
privations,  and  sacrifices  of  a  seven  years'  war.  He  who  is  able  from  the 
conflicts  of  the  present  to  forecast  the  future  events,  cannot  but  con- 
template with  anxiety  the  fate  of  this  republic,  unless  our  constitution  be 
at  once  subjected  to  a  thorough  emendation,  making  it  more  compre- 
hensively democratic. 

A  review  of  the  history  of  our  nation  during  the  century  will  show  the 
American  people  that  all  the  obstacles  that  have  impeded  their  political, 
moral  and  material  progress  from  the  dominion  of  slavery  down  to  the 
present  epidemic  of  political  corruptions,  are  directly  and  indirectly  trace- 
able to  the  federal  constitution  as  their  source  and  support.  Hence  the 
necessity  of  prompt  and  appropriate  amendments.  Nothing  that  is  in- 
correct in  principle  can  ever  be  productive  of  beneficial  results,  and  no 
custom  or  authority  is  able  to  alter  or  overrule  this  inviolate  law  of  de- 
velopment. The  catch-phrases  of  politicians,  such  as  "organic  develop- 
ment," "the  logic  of  events,"  and  "things  will  regulate  themselves,"  have 
deceived  the  thoughtless  long  enough.  There  is  just  one  road  to  safety, 


No   Title  so  Proud  as  American  Citizen.  93 

and  that  is  to  understand  the  law  governing  the  situation  and  to  bring  the 
nation  in  line  with  it.  Grave  political  problems  are  solved  in  two  ways — 
by  a  wise  forethought,  and  reformation  ;  or  by  general  dissatisfaction,  re- 
sistance, and  revolution. 

In  closing,  let  me  remind  you,  gentlemen,  that  woman  has  not  been  a 
heedless  spectator  of  all  the  great  events  of  the  century,  nor  a  dull 
listener  to  the  grand  debates  on  human  freedom  and  equality.  She  has 
learned  the  lesson  of  self-sacrifice,  self-discipline,  and  self-government  in 
the  same  school  with  the  heroes  of  American  liberty.* 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  of  New  York,  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
association,  said :  Mr,  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee — You 
have  heard  the  general  argument  for  woman  from  Mrs.  Stanton,  but  there 
are  women  here  from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and  each  one  feels  that  she 
must  say  a  word  to  show  how  united  we  stand.  It  is  because  we  have  re- 
spect for  law  that  we  come  before  you  to-day.  We  recognize  the  fact 
that  in  good  law  lies  the  security  of  all  our  rights,  but  as  woman  has  been 
denied  the  constructive  rights  of  the  declaration  and  constitution,  she  is 
obliged  to  ask  for  a  direct  recognition  in  the  adoption  of  a  sixteenth 
amendment. 

The  first  principle  of  liberty  is  division  of  power.  In  the  country  of  the 
czar  or  the  sultan  there  is  no  liberty  of  thought  or  action.  In  limited 
monarchies  power  is  somewhat  divided,  and  we  find  larger  liberty  and  a 
broader  civilization.  Coming  to  the  United  States  we  find  a  still  greater 
division  of  power,  a  still  more  extended  liberty — civil,  religious,  political. 
No  nation  in  the  world  is  as  respected  as  our  own  ;  no  title  so  proud  as 
that  of  American  citizen ;  it  carries  with  it  abroad  a  protection  as  large 
as  did  that  of  Rome  two  thousand  years  ago.  But  as  proud  as  is  this 
name  of  American  citizen,  it  brings  with  it  only  shame  and  humiliation 
to  one-half  of  the  nation.  Woman  has  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter.  The 
pride  of  citizenship  is  not  for  her,  for  woman  is  still  a  political  slave. 
While  the  form  of  our  government  seems  to  include  the  whole  people, 
one-half  of  them  are  denied  a  right  to  participate  in  its  benefits,  are  de- 
nied the  right  of  self-government.  Woman  equally  with  man  has  natural 
rights  ;  woman  equally  with  man  is  a  responsible  being. 

It  is  said  women  are  not  fit  for  freedom.  Well,  then,  secure  us  freedom 
and  make  us  fit  for  it.  Macaulay  said  many  politicians  of  his  time  were  in 
the  habit  of  laying  it  down  as  a  self-evident  proposition  that  no  people 
were  fit  to  be  free  till  thc^  were  in  a  condition  to  use  their  freedom  ; 


*  In  the  whole  course  of  our  struggle  for  equal  rights  I  never  felt  more  exasperated  than  on  this 
occasion,  standing  before  a  committee  of  men  many  years  my  juniors,  all  comfortably  seated  in  arm- 
chairs, I  pleading  for  rights  they  all  enjoyed  though  in  no  respect  my  superiors,  denied  me  on  the  shal- 
low grounds  of  sex.  But  this  humiliation  I  had  often  felt  before.  The  peculiarly  aggravating  feature 
of  the  present  occasion  was  the  studied  inattention  and  contempt  of  the  chairman,  Senator  Wadleigh  of 
New  Hampshire.  Having  prepared  my  argument  with  care,  I  naturally  desired  the  attention  of  every 
member  of  the  committee,  all  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  Senator  Wadleigh,  I  seemingly  had.  He 
however  took  special  pains  to  show  that  he  did  not  intend  to  listen.  He  alternately  looked  over  some 
manuscripts  and  newspapers  before  him,  then  jumped  up  to  open  or  close  a  door  or  window.  He 
stretched,  yawned,  gazed  at  the  ceiling,  cut  his  nails,  sharpened  his  pencil,  changing  his  occupation  and 
position  every  two  minutes,  effectually  preventing  the  establishment  of  the  faintest  magnetic  current  be- 
tween the  speakers  and  the  committee.  It  was  with  difficulty  I  restrained  the  impulse  more  than  once 
to  hurl  my  manuscript  at  his  head. — [£.  C.  S. 


94  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

"but,"  said  Macaulay,  "this  maxim  is  worthy  of  the  fool  in  the  old  story, 
who  resolved  not  to  go  into  the  water  till  he  had  learned  to  swim.  If 
men  [or  women]  are  to  wait  for  liberty  till  they  become  good  and  wise  in 
slavery,  they  may  indeed  wait  forever." 

There  has  been  much  talk  about  precedent.  Many  women  in  this 
country  vote  upon  school  questions,  and  in  England  at  all  municipal  elec- 
tions. I  wish  to  call  your  attention  a  little  further  back,  to  the  time  that 
the  Saxons  first  established  free  government  in  England.  Women,  as 
well  as  men,  took  part  in  the  Witenagemote,  the  great  national  council  of 
our  Saxon  ancestors  in  England.  When  Whightred,  king  of  Kent,  in  the 
seventh  century,  assembled  the  national  legislature  at  Baghamstead  to 
enact  a  new  code  of  laws,  the  queen,  abbesses,  and  many  ladies  of  quality 
signed  the  decrees.  Also,  at  Beaconsfield,  the  abbesses  took  part  in  the 
council.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  IIL  four  women  took  seats  in  parlia- 
ment, and  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  ten  ladies  were  called  to  parliament 
and  helped  to  govern  Great  Britain.  Also,  in  1252,  Henry  left  his  Queen 
Elinor  as  keeper  of  the  great  seal,  or  lord  chancellor,  while  he  went 
abroad.  She  sat  in  the  Aula  Regia,  the  highest  court  of  the  kingdom, 
holding  the  highest  judicial  power  in  great  Britain.  Not  only  among  our 
forefathers  in  Britain  do  we  find  that  women  took  part  in  government, 
but,  going  back  to  the  Roman  Empire,  we  find  the  Emperor  Heliogabalus 
introducing  his  mother  into  the  senate,  and  giving  her  a  seat  near  the 
consuls.  He  also  established  a  senate  of  women,  which  met  on  the  Collis 
Quirinalis.  When  Aurelian  was  emperor  he  favored  the  representation 
of  women,  and  determined  to  revive  this  senate,  which  in  lapse  of  time 
had  fallen  to  decay.  Plutarch  mentions  that  women  sat  and  deliberated 
in  councils,  and  on  questions  of  peace  and  war.  Hence  we  have  prece- 
dents extending  very  far  back  into  history. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  women  do  not  desire  freedom.  But  I  tell  you 
the  desire  for  freedom  lives  in  every  heart.  It  may  be  hidden  as  the  water 
of  the  never-freezing,  rapid-flowing  river  Neva  is  hidden.  In  the  winter 
the  ice  from  Lake  Lagoda  floats  down  till  it  is  met  by  the  ice  setting  up 
from  the  sea,  when  they  unite  and  .form  a  compact  mass  over  it.  Men 
stand  upon  it,  sledges  run  over  it,  splendid  palaces  are  built  upon  it ;  but 
beneath  all  the  Neva  still  rapidly  flows,  itself  unfrozen.  The  presence  of 
these  women  before  you  shows  their  desire  for  freedom.  They  have  come 
from  the  North,  from  the  South,  from  the  East,  from  the  WTest,  and  from 
the  far  Pacific  slope,  demanding  freedom  for  themselves  and  for  all  women. 

Our  demands  are  often  met  by  the  most  intolerable  tyranny.  The 
Albany  Law  Journal,  one  of  the  most  influential  legal  journals  of  the 
great  State  of  New  York,  had  the  assurance  a  few  years  ago  to  tell  Miss 
Anthony  and  myself  if  we  were  not  suited  with  "  our  laws "  we  could 
leave  the  country.  What  laws  did  they  mean  ?  Men's  laws.  If  we  were 
not  suited  with  these  men's  laws,  made  by  them  to  protect  themselves, 
we  could  leave  the  country.  We  were  advised  to  expatriate  ourselves,  to 
banish  ourselves.  But.  we  shall  not  do  it,  It  is  our  country,  and  we 
shall  stay  here  and  change  the  laws.  We  shall  secure  their  amendment, 
so  that  under  them  there  shall  be  exact  and  permanent  political  equality 


"/<?"  Deposited  his    Vote.  95 

between  men  and  women.  Change  is  not  only  a  law  of  life ;  it  is  an 
essential  proof  of  the  existence  of  life.  This  country  has  attained  its 
greatness  by  ever  enlarging  the  bounds  of  freedom. 

1^  our  hearts  we  feel  that  there  is  a  word  sweeter  than  mother,  home, 
or  heaven.  That  word  is  LIBERTY.  We  ask  it  of  you  now.  We  say  to 
you,  secure  to  us  this  liberty — the  same  liberty  you  have  yourselves.  In 
doing  this  you  will  not  render  yourselves  poor,  but  will  make  us  rich  in- 
deed. 

Mrs.  STEWART  of  Delaware,  in  illustrating  the  folly  of  adverse  argu- 
ments based  on  woman's  ignorance  of  political  affairs,  gave  an  amusing 
account  of  her  colored  man  servant  the  first  time  he  vot^d.  He  had  been 
full  of  bright  anticipations  of  the  coming  election  day,  aad  when  it  dawned 
at  last,  he  asked  if  he  could  be  spared  from  his  work  an  hour  or  so,  to 
vote.  "Certainly,  Jo,"  said  she,  "by  all  means;  go  to  the  polls  and  do 
your  duty  as  a  citizen."  Elated  with  his  new-found  dignity,  Jo  ran  down 
the  road,  and  with  a  light  heart  and  shining  face  deposited  his  vote.  On 
his  return  Mrs.  Stewart  questioned  him  as  to  his  success  at  the  polls. 
"Well,"  said  he,  "  first  one  man  nabbed  me  and  gave  me  the  tickets  he 
said  I  ought  to  vote,  and  then  another  man  did  the  same.'  I  said  yes  to 
both  and  put  the  tickets  in  my  pocket.  I  had  no  use  for  those  Republican 
or  Democratic  bits  of  paper."  "  Well,  Jo,"  said  Mrs.  Stewart,  what  did 
you  do  ?  "  "  Why  I  took  that  piece  of  paper  that  I  paid  $2.50  for  and  put 
it  in  the  box.  I  knew  that  was  worth  something."  "Alas!  Jo,"  said  his 
mistress,  "you  voted  your  tax  receipt,  so  your  first  vote  has  counted 
nothing."  Do  you  think,  gentlemen,  said  Mrs.  Stewart,  that  such  women 
as  attend  our  conventions,  and  speak  from'  our  platform,  could  make  so 
ludicrous  a  blunder?  I  think  not. 

The  Rev.  OLVMPIA  BROWN,  a  delegate  from  Connecticut,  addressed  the 
committee  as  follows  :  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee — I  would  not  intrude 
upon  your  time  and  exhaust  your  patience  by  any  further  hearing  upon 
this  subject  if  it  were  not  that  men  are  continually  saying  to  us  that  we 
do  not  want  the  ballot ;  that  it  is  only  a  handful  of  women  that  have  ever 
asked  for  it ;  and  I  think  by  our  coming  up  from  these  different  States, 
from  Delaware,  from  Oregon,  from  Missouri,  from  Connecticut,  from 
New  Hampshire,  and  giving  our  testimony,  we  shall  convince  you  that  it 
is  not  a  few  merely,  but  that  it  is  a  general  demand  from  the  women  in 
all  the  different  States  of  the  Union  ;  and  if  we  come  here  with  stammer- 
ing tongues,  causing  you  to  laugh  by  the  very  absurdity  of  the  manner  in 
which  we  advocate  our  opinions,  it  will  only  convince  you  that  it  is  not  a 
few  "gifted  "  women,  but  the  rank  and  file  of  the  women  of  our  country 
unaccustomed  to  such  proceedings  as  these,  who  come  here  to  tell  you 
that  we  all  desire  the  right  of  suffrage.  Nor  shall  our  mistakes  and  in- 
ability to  advocate  our  cause  in  an  effective  manner  be  an  argument 
against  us,  because  it  is  not  the  province  of  voters  to  conduct  meetings  in 
Washington.  It  is  rather  their  province  to  stay  at  home  and  quietly  read 
the  proceeding  of  members  of  congress,  and  if  they  find  these  proceed- 
ings correct,  to  vote  to  return  them  another  year.  So  that  our  very  mis- 
takes shall  argue  for  us  and  not  against  us. 


96  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  the  ages  past  the  right  of  citizenship  meant  the  right  to  enjoy  or 
possess  or  attain  all  those  civil  and  political  rights  that  are  enjoyed  by  any 
other  citizen.  But  here  we  have  a  class  who  can  bear  the  burdens  and 
punishments  of  citizens,  but  cannot  enjoy  their  privileges  and  rigtits. 
But  even  the  meanest  may  petition,  and  so  we  come  with  our  thousands 
of  petitions,  asking  you  to  protect  us  against  the  unjust  discriminations 
imposed  by  State  laws.  Nor  do  we  find  that  there  is  any  conflict  between 
the  duties  of  the  national  government  and  the  functions  of  the  State. 
The  United  States  government  has  to  do  with  general  interests,  but  every- 
thing that  is  special,  has  to  do  with  sectional  interests,  belongs  to  the 
State.  Said  Charles  Sumner  : 

The  State  exercisef  its  proper  functions  when  it  makes  local  laws,  promotes  local 
charities,  and  by  its  local  knowledge  brings  the  guardianship  of  government  to  the 
homes  of  its  citizens  ;  but  the  State  transcends  its  proper  functions  when  in  any  man- 
ner it  interferes  with  those  equal  rights  recorded  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  State  is  local,  the  United  States  is  universal.  And,  says  Charles 
Sumner,  "  What  can  be  more  universal  than  the  rights  of  man  ?  "  I 
would  add,  "  What  can  be  more  universal  than  the  rights  of  woman  ?  "  ex- 
tending further  than  the  rights  of  man,  because  woman  is  the  heaven-ap- 
pointed guardian  of  the  home ;  because  woman  by  her  influence  and  in 
her  office  as  an  educator  makes  the  character  of  man  ;  because  women  are 
to  be  found  wherever  men  are  to  be  found,  as  their  mothers  bringing 
them  into  the  world,  watching  them,  teaching  them,  guiding  them  into 
manhood.  Wherever  there  is  a  home,  wherever  there  is  a  human  inter- 
est, there  is  to  be  felt  the  interest  of  women,  and  so  this  cause  is  the  most 
universal  of  any  cause  uader  the  sun  ;  and,  therefore,  it  has  a  claim  upon 
the  general  government.  Therefore  we  come  petitioning  that  you  will 
protect  us  in  our  rights,  by  aiding  us  in  the  passage  of  the  sixteenth 
amendment,  which  will  make  the  constitution  plain  in  our  favor,  or  by 
such  actions  as  will  enable  us  to  cast  our  ballots  at  the  polls  without  be- 
ing interfered  with  by  State  authorities.  And  we  hope  you  will  do  this  at 
no  distant  day.  1  hope  you  will  not  send  my  sister,  the  honorable  lady 
froTi  Delaware,  to  the  boy,  Jo,  to  ask  him  to  define  her  position  in  the  re- 
public. I  hope  you  will  not  bid  any  of  these  women  at  home  to  ask 
ignorant  men  whether  they  may  be  allowed  to  discharge  their  obligations 
as  citizens  in  the  matter  of  suffrage.  I  hope  you  will  not  put  your  wives 
and  mothers  in  the  power  of  men  who  have  never  given  a  half  hour's  con- 
sideration to  the  subject  of  government,  and  who  are  wholly  unfit  to 
exercise  their  judgment  as  to  whether  women  should  have  the  right  of 
suffrage. 

I  will  not  insult. your  common  sense  by  bringing  up  the  old  arguments 
as  to  whether  we  have  the  right  to  vote.  I  believe  every  man  of  you 
knows  we  have  that  right — that  our  right  to  vote  is  based  upon  the  same 
authority  as  yours.  I  believe  every  man  understands  that,  according  to 
the  declaration  and  the  constitution,  women  should  be  allowed  to  exercise 
the  right  of  suffrage,  and  therefore  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  do  more 
than  bear  my  testimony  from  the  State  of  Connecticut,  and  tell  you  that 
the  women  from  the  rank  and  file,  the  law-abiding  women,  desire  the 


Senator  Hoar  s  Resolution.  07 

ballot ;  not  only  that  they  desire  it,  but  they  mean  to  have  it.  And  to 
accomplish  this  result  I  need  not  remind  you  that  they  will  work  year  in 
and  year  out,  that  they  will  besiege  members  of  congress  everywhere,  and 
that  they  will  come  here  year  after  year  asking  you  to  protect  them  in 
their  rights  and  to  see  that  justice  is  done  in  the  republic.  Therefore,  for 
your  own  peace,  we  hope  you  will  not  keep  us  waiting  a  long  time.  The 
fact  that  some  States  have  made,  temporarily,  some  good  laws,  does  not 
weaken  our  demand  upon  you  for  the  protection  which  the  ballot 
gives  to  every  citizen.  Our  interests  are  still  uncared  for,  and  we  do  not 
wish  to  be  thus  sent  from  pillar  to  post  to  get  our  rights.  We  wish  to 
take  our  stand  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  as  we  have  been  declared 
to  be  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  we  wish  to  be  protected  in  the  rights  of 
citizenship.  We  hope  the  day  is  at  hand  when  our  prayers  will  be  heard 
by  you.  Let  us  have  at  an  early  day  in  the  Congressional  Record,  a  report 
of  the  proceedings  of  this  committee,  and  the  action  of  the  Senate  in 
favor  of  woman's  right  to  vote. 

Brief  remarks  were  also  made  by  Mrs.  Lawrence  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Mary  A.  Thompson,  M.  D.,  of  Oregon,  Mary  Powers 
Filley  of  New  Hampshire,  Mrs.  Blake  of  New  York,  Mrs. 
Hooker  of  Connecticut,  and  Sara  Andrews  Spencer  of  Wash- 
ington. 

At  the  close  of  these  two  day's  hearings  before  the  Committee 
on  Privileges  and  Elections,*  Senator  Hoar  of  Massachusetts, 
offered,  and  the  committee  adopted  the  following  complimentary 
resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  arguments  upon  the  very  important  questions  dis- 
cussed before  the  committee  have  been  presented  with  propriety,  dig- 
nity and  ability,  and  that  the  committee  will  consider  the  same  on 
Tuesday  next,  at  10  A.  M. 

The  Washington  Evening  Star  of  January  11,  1876,  said : 

The  woman  suffrage  question  will  be  a  great  political  issue  some  day. 
A  movement  in  the  direction  of  alleged  rights  by  a  body  of  American  citi- 
zens cannot  be  forever  checked,  even  though  its  progress  may  for  many 
years  be  very  gradual.  Now  that  the  advocates  of  suffrage  for  woman 
have  become  convinced  that  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
amendments  are  not  sufficiently  explicit  to  make  woman's  right  to  vote 
unquestioned,  and  that  a  sixteenth  amendment  is  necessary  to  effect 
the  practical  exercise  of  the  right,  the  millennial  period  that  they  look  for 
is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  indefinitely  postponed,  for  constitutional 
amendments  are  not  passed  in  a  day.  But  there  are  so  many  sound  argu- 
ments to  be  advanced  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  that  it  cannot  fail  in 
time  to  be  weighed  as  a  matter  of  policy,  after  it  shall  have  been  over- 


*  The  first  hearing  was  held  in  the  committee  room,  but  that  not  being  large  enough  to  accommo- 
date the  crowds  that  wished  to  hear  the  arguments,  the  use  of  the  Senate  reception  room  was  granted  for 
the  second,  which  although  very  much  larger,  was  packed,  with  the  corridors  leading  to  it,  long  be- 
fore the  committee  took  their  places. 


98  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

whelmingly  conceded  as  a  matter  of  right.  And  it  is  noticeable  that  the 
arguments  of  the  opponents  are  coming  more  and  more  to  be  based  on 
expediency,  and  hardly  attempt  to  answer  the  claim  that  as  American 
citizens  women  are  entitled  to  the  right.  If  the  whole  body  of  American 
women  desired  the  practical  exercise  of  this  right,  it  is  hard  to  see  what 
valid  opposition  to  their  claims  could  be  made.  All  this  however  does 
not  amend  the  constitution.  Woman  suffrage  must  become  a  matter  of 
policy  for  a  political  party  before  it  can  be  realized.  Congress  does  not 
pass  revolutionary  measures  on  abstract  considerations  of  right.  This 
question  is  of  a  nature  to  become  a  living  political  issue  after  it  has  been 
sufficiently  ridiculed. 

On  Saturday  evening,  January  12,  a  reception  was  given  to  the 
delegates  to  the  convention  by  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens  of 
Georgia,  at  the  National  Hotel.  The  suite  of  rooms  so  long  oc- 
cupied by  this  liberal  representative  of  the  South,  was  thus 
opened  to  unwonted  guests — women  asking  for  the  same  rights 
gained  at  the  point  of  the  sword  by  his  former  slaves !  Seated 
in  his  wheel-chair,  from  which  he  had  so  often  been  carried  by  a 
faithful  attendant  to  his  place  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
he  cordially  welcomed  the  ladies  as  they  gathered  about  him, 
assuring  them  of  his  interest  in  this  question  and  promising  his  aid. 

For  the  first  time  Miss  Julia  Smith  of  anti-tax  fame,  of  Glas- 
tonbury,  Connecticut,  was  present  at  a  Washington  convention. 
She  was  the  recipient  of  much  social  attention.  A  reception 
was  tendered  her  by  Mrs.  Spofford  of  the  Riggs  House,  giving 
people  an  opportunity  to  meet  this  heroic  woman  of  eighty-three, 
who,  with  her  younger  sister  Abby,  had  year  after  year  suffered 
the  sale  of  their  fine  Jersey  cows  and  beautiful  meadow  lands, 
rather  than  pay  taxes  while  unrepresented.  Many  women,  notable 
in  art,  science  and  literature,  and  men  high  in  political  station 
were  present  on  this  occasion.  All  crowded  about  Miss  Smith, 
as,  supported  by  Mrs.  Hooker,  in  response  to  a  call  for  a  speech, 
particularly  in  regard  to  the  Gladstonbury  cows,  as  famous  as 
herself,  she  said  : 

There  are  but  two  of  our  cows  left  at  present,  Taxey  and  Votey.  It 
is  something  a  little  peculiar  that  Taxey  is  very  obtrusive ;  why,  I  can 
scarcely  step  out  of  doors  without  being  confronted  by  her,  while 
Votey  is  quiet  and  shy,  but  she  is  growing  more  docile  and  domesticated 
every  day,  and  it  is  my  opinion  that  in  a  very  short  time,  wherever  you 
find  Taxey  there  Votey  will  be  also. 

At  the  close  of  Miss  Smith's  remarks,  Abby  Hutchinson  Patton 
sang  "  Auld  Lang  Syne  "  in  a  very  effective  manner ;  one  or  two 
readings  followed,  a  few  modern  ballads  were  sung,  and  thus 


Anti-Woman  Suffrage.  99 

closed  the  first  of  the  many  delightful  receptions  given  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Spofford  to  the  officers  and  members  of  the  National 
Association. 

Mrs.  Hooker  spent  several  weeks  at  the  Riggs  House,  holding 
frequent  woman  suffrage  conversazioni  in 'its  elegant  parlors; 
also  speaking  upon  the  question  at  receptions  given  in  her  honor 
by  the  wives  of  members  of  congress,  or  residents  of  Washington.* 

During  the  week  of  the  convention,  public  attention  was  called 
to  a  scarcely  known  Anti-Woman  Suffrage  Society,  formed  in 
1871,  of  which  Mrs.  General  Sherman,  Mrs.  Admiral  Dahlgren 
and  Mrs.  Almira  Lincoln  Phelpswere  officers,  by  the  publication 
of  an  undelivered  letter  from  Mrs.  Phelps  to  Mrs.  Hooker: 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Post : 

The  following  was  written  nearly  seven  years  since,  but  was  never  sent 
to  Mrs.  Hooker.  The  letter  chanced  to  appear  among  old  papers,  and  as 
there  is  a  meeting  of  women  suffragists,  with  Mrs.  Hooker  present,  and, 
moreover,  as  they  have  mentioned  the  names  of  Mrs.  Dahlgren  and  Mrs. 
General  Sherman,  opposers,  1  am  willing  to  bear  my  share  of  the  opposi- 
tion, as  I  acted  as  corresponding  secretary  to  the  Anti-Suffrage  Society, 
which  was  formed  under  the  auspices  of  these  ladies. 

Mrs.  DAHLGREN. 


*  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holt,  of  1,339  L  street,  entertained  their  friends  and  a  numerous  company  of  dis- 
tinguished guests  on  Friday  evening,  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Beecher  Hooker.  She  delivered  one  of  her 
ablest  speeches  on  the  woman  suffrage  question.  She  was  listened  to  with  breathless  silence  by 
eminent  men  and  women,  who  confessed,  at  the  termination  of  her  speech,  that  they  were 
''almost  persuaded"  to  join  her  ranks — the  highest  tribute  to  her  eloquent  defense  of  her  position- 
Mrs.  Hooker's  intellect  is  not  her  only  charm.  Her  beautiful  face  and  attractive  manners  all  help  to 
make  converts.  Mrs.  Julia  N.  Holmes,  the  poet,  one  of  the  most  admired  ladies  present,  and  Mrs. 
Southworth,  the  novelist,  wore  black  velvet  and  diamonds.  Mrs.  Hodson  Burnett,  that  ''  Lass  o' 
Lowrie,"  in  colored  and  rose  silk  with  princess  scarf,  looked  charmingly.  Mrs.  Senator  Sargent, 
Mrs.  Charles  Nordhoff  and  her  friends,  the  elegant  Miss  Thurman,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Miss  Joseph,  a 
brilliant  brunette  with  scarlet  roses  and  jet  ornaments,  of  Washington,  were  much  observed.  Mrs.  Dr. 
Wallace,  of  the  New  York  Herald,  wore  cuir  colored  gros-grain  with  guipure  lace  trimmings,  flowers 
and  diamonds.  Miss  Coyle  was  richly  attired.  Mrs.  Ingersoll,  wife  of  the  exceptional  orator,  was  the 
center  of  observation  with  Mrs.  Hooker;  she  wore  black  velvet,  roses,  and  diamonds — has  a  noble 
presence  and  Grecian  face.  General  Forney,  of  Alabama,  Hon.  John  F.  Wait,  M.  C.,  Captain  Dutton 
and  Colonel  Mallory,  of  U.  S.  Army,  Judge  Tabor  (Fourth  Auditor),  Dr.  Cowes,  Col.  Ingersol,  Mrs- 
Hoffman,  of  New  York,  a  prominent  lady  of  the  Woman's  Congress,  lately  assembled  in  this  city,  wore 
a  distinguished  toilette.  Mrs.  Spofford,  of  the  Riggs  House,  was  among  the  most  noticeable  ladies 
present,  elegant  and  delightful  in  style  and  manner.  Dr.  Josephs  and  Col.  G.  W.  Rice,  of  Boston, 
were  of  the  most  conspicious  gentlemen  present,  who  retired  much  edified  with  the  entertainment  of 
the  evening.  H.  LOUISE  GATES. 

Society  was  divided  Saturday  evening  between  the  literary  club  which  met  at  Willard's  under  the 
auspices  of  Mrs.  Morrell,  and  the  reception  given  at  the  residence  of  Senator  Rollins,  on  Capitol  Hill,  to 
Mri.  1'eecher  Hooker,  who  spoke  on  the  question  of  woman  suffrage.  It  was  said  of  Theodore  Parker, 
if  all  his  hearers  stood  on  the  same  lofty  plane  that  he  did,  his  theology  would  be  all  right  for  them, 
and  so  in  this  matter  of  woman's  rights.  If  all  the  advocates  were  as  cultivated,  refined,  and  convinc- 
ing as  Mrs.  Hooker,  one  might  almost  be  tempted  to  surrender.  She  certainly  possesses  that  rare 
magnetic  influence  which  seems  to  say,  "  Lend  me  your  ears  and  1  shall  take  your  heart."  Among  her 
listeners  we  noticed  Mrs.  Joseph  Ames,  Grace  Greenwood,  Senator  and  Mrs.  Rollins,  Senator  and  Mrs. 
Wadleigh,  Miss  Rollins,  Mrs.  Solomon  Bundy,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Holmes,  Mrs.  Brainerd,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  I), in- 
little.  Dr.  Patton  and  son,  Prof.  Thomas  Taylor,  Miss  Robena  Taylor,  Mrs.  Spofford,  of  the  Riggs 
House,  Prof.  G.  B.  Stebbins,  Mrs.  Captain  Platt,,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holt.— [Washington  fast. 


IOO  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

EUTAW  PLACE,  BALTIMORE,  January,  30,  1871. 
To  Mrs.  Beecher  Hooker: 

DEAR  MADAM — Hoping  you  will  receive  kindly  what  I  am  about  to  write,  I  will 
proceed  without  apologies.  I  have  confidence  in  your  nobleness  of  soul,  and  that  you 
know  enough  of  me  to  believe  in  my  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  woman.  I  can 
scarcely  realize  that  you  are  giving  your  name  and  influence  to  a  cause,  which,  with 
some  good  but,  as  I  think,  misguided  women,  numbers  among  its  advocates  others  with 
loose  morals.  *  *  *  We  are,  my  dear  madam,  as  I  suppose,  related  through  our 
common  ancester  Thomas  Hooker.  *  *  *  Your  husband,  I  believe,  stands  in  the 
same  relation  to  that  good  and  noble  man.  Perhaps  he  may  think  with  you  on  this 
woman  suffrage  question,  but  it  does  seem  to  me  that  a  wife  honoring  her  husband 
would  not  wish  to  join  in  such  a  crusade  as  is  now  going  on  to  put  woman  on  an  equality 
with  the  rabble  at  the  "hustings."  If  we  could  with  propriety  petition  the  Almighty  to 
change  the  condition  of  the  sexes  and  let  men  take  a  turn  in  bearing  childien  and  in 
suffering  the  physical  ailments  peculiar  to  women,  which  render  them  unfit  for  certain 
positions  and  business,  why,  in  this  case,  if  we  really  wish  to  be  men,  and  thought  God 
would  change  the  established  order,  we  might  make  our  petition  ;  but  why  ask  con- 
gress to  make  us  men  ?  Circumstances  drew  me  from  the  quiet  of  domestic  life  while 
I  was  yet  ycung ;  but  success  in  labors  which  involved  publicity,  and  which  may 
have  been  of  advantage  to  society,  was  never  considered  as  an  equivalent  to  my  own 
heart  for  the  loss  of  such  retirement.  In  the  name  of  my  sainted  sister,  Emma 
Willard,  and  of  my  friend  Lydia  Sigourney,  and  I  think  I  might  say  in  the  name 
of  the  women  of  the  past  generation,  who  have  been  prominent  as  writers  and  ed- 
ucators (the  exception  may  be  made  of  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  Frances  Wright,  and 
a  few  licentious  French  writers)  in  our  own  country  and  in  Europe,  let  me  urge  the 
high-souled  and  honorable  of  our  sex  to  turn  their  energies  into  that  channel  which 
will  enable  them  to  act  for  the  true  interests  of  their  sex.  Yours  respectfully, 

ALMIRA  LINCOLN  PHELPS. 

To  which  Mrs.  Hooker,  through  The  Post,  replied  : 

WASHINGTON,  January  15,  1878. 

Mrs.  DAHLGREN — Dear  Madam :  Permit  me  to  thank  you  for  the  op- 
portunity to  exonerate  myself  and  the  women  of  the  suffrage  move- 
ment all  over  the  United  States  from  the  charge  of  favoring  immorality 
in  any  form.  I  did  not  know  before  that  Mrs.  Phelps,  whom  I  have  al- 
ways held  in  highest  esteem  as  an  educator  and  as  one  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced thinkers  of  her  day,  had  so  misconceived  the  drift  of  our  move- 
ment ;  and  you  will  pardon  me,  dear  madam,  for  saying  that  it  is  hardly 
possible  that  Mrs.  Sherman  and  yourself,  in  your  opposition  to  it,  can 
have  been  influenced  by  any  apprehension  that  the  women  suffragists  of 
the  United  States  would,  if  entrusted  with  legislative  power,  proceed  to 
use  it  for  the  desecration  of  their  own  sex,  and  the  pollution  of  the  souls 
of  their  husbands,  brothers  and  sons.  But  having  been  publicly  accused 
through  your  instrumentality  of  sympathy  with  the  licentious  practices 
of  men,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  send  you  a  dozen  copies  of  a  little  book 
entitled,  "  Womanhood ;  its  Sanctities  and  Fidelities,"  which  I  published 
in  1874  for  the  specific  purpose  of  bringing  to  the  notice  of  American 
women  the  wonderful  work  being  done  across  the  water  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  "  State  Patronage  of  Vice."  *  *  *  It  is  with  a  deep  sense 
of  gratitude  to  God  that  I  am  able  to  say  that,  according  to  my  knowledge 
and  belief,  every  woman  in  our  movement,  whether  officer  or  private,  is 
in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  this  little  book.  I  know  of  no  inharmony 


Opposition  of  Mrs.  Dahlgren.  101 

here,  however  we  may  differ  upon  minor  points  of  expediency  as  to  the 
best  methods  of  working  for  the  political  advancement  of  woman.  And 
further,  it  is  the  deep  conviction  of  us  all  that  the  chief  stumbling-block 
in  the  way  of  our  obtaining  the  use  of  the  ballot,  is  the  apprehension 
among  men  of  low  degree  that  they  will  surely  be  limited  in  their  base 
and  brutal  and  sensual  indulgencies  when  women  are  armed  with  equal 
political  power. 

As  to  my  husband,  to  whose  ancestry  Mrs.  Phelps  so  kindly  alludes, 
permit  me  to  say  that  he  is  not  only  descended  from  Thomas  Hooker,  the 
beloved  first  pastor  of  the  old  Centre  Church  in  Hartford,  and  founder  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut,  but  further  back  his  lineage  takes  root  in  one  of 
England's  most  honored  names,  Richard  Hooker,  surnamed  "The  Judi- 
cious ";  and  I  have  been  accustomed  to  say  that,  however  it  may  be  as  to 
learning  and  position,  the  characteristic  of  judiciousness  has  not  departed 
from  the  American  stock.  I  will  only  add  that  Mr.  Hooker  is  treasurer- 
of  our  State  suffrage  association,  and  has  spoken  on  the  platform  with  me 
as  president,  whenever  his  professional  duties  would  permit,  and  that  he 
is  th«  author  of  a  tract  on  "  The  Bible  and  Woman  Suffrage."  Our  society 
has  printed  several  thousand  copies  of  this  tract,  and  the  London  National 
Women's  Suffrage  Society  has  reprinted  it  with  words  of  high  commenda- 
tion for  distribution  in  Great  Britain.  f  *  *  *  And  now,  dear  madam, 
thanking  you  once  more  for  this  most  unexpected  and  most  grateful 
opportunity  for  correcting  misapprehensions  that  others  may  have  enter- 
tained as  well  as  Mrs.  Phelps  in  regard  to  the  design  and  tendencies  of 
our  movement,  may  I  not  ask  that  you  will  kindly  read  and  consider  the 
papers  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  send  you,  and  hand  them  to  your  co- 
workers  at  your  convenience  ? 

That  we  all,  as  women  who  love  our  country  and  our  kind,  may  be  led 
to  honor  each  other  in  our  personal  relations,  while  we  work  each  in  her 
respective  way  for  that  higher  order  of  manhood  and  womanhood  that 
alone  can  exalt  our  nation  to  the  ideal  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the 
early  republic,  and  preserve  us  an  honored  place  among  the  peoples  of 
the  earth,  is  the  prayer  of  Yours  sincerely, 

ISABELLA  BEECHER  HOOKER. 

Evidently  left  without  even  the  name  of  Mrs.  Sherman  or  the 
Anti-Suffrage  Society  to  sustain  her,  Mrs.  Dahlgren  memorialized 
the  Senate  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  against  the 
submission  of  the  sixteenth  amendment: 
To  the  Honorable  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections : 

GENTLEMEN — Allow  me,  in  courtesy,  as  a  petitioner,  to  present  one  or 
two  considerations  regarding  a  sixteenth  amendment,  by  which  it  is  pro- 
posed to  confer  the  right  of  suffrage  upon  the  women  of  the  United 
States.  I  ask  this  favor  also  in  the  interests  of  the  masses  of  silent 
women,  whose  silence  does  not  give  consent,  but  who,  in  most  modest 
earnestness,  deprecate  having  the  political  life  forced  upon  them. 

This  grave  question  is  not  one  of  simple  expediency  or  the  reverse;  it 
might  properly  be  held,  were  this  the  case,  as  a  legitimate  subject  for  agi- 


IO2  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

tation.  Our  reasons  of  dissent  to  this  dangerous  inroad  upon  all  prece- 
dent, lie  deeper  and  strike  higher.  They  are  based  upon  that  which  in  all 
Christian  nations  must  be  recognized  as  the  higher  law,  the  funda- 
mental law  upon  which  Christian  society  in  its  very  construction  must 
rest;  and  that  law,  as  defined  by  the  Almighty,  is  immutable.  Through  it 
the  women  of  this  Christian  land,  as  mothers,  wives,  sisters,  daughters, 
have  distinct  duties  to  perform  of  the  most  complex  order,  yet  of  the  very 
highest  and  most  sacred  nature. 

If  in  addition  to  all  these  responsibilities,  others,  appertaining  to  the 
domain  assigned  to  men,  are  allotted  to  us,  we  shall  be  made  the  victims 
of  an  oppression  not  intended  by  a  kind  and  wise  Providence,  and  from 
which  the  refining  influences  of  Christian  civilization  have  emancipated 
us.  We  have  but  to  look  at  the  condition  of  our  Indian  sister,  upon 
whose  bended  back  the  heavy  pack  is  laid  by  her  lord  and  master ;  who 
treads  in  subjection  the  beaten  pathway  of  equal  rights,  and  compare  her 
situation  with  our  own,  to  thank  the  God  of  Christian  nations  who  has 
placed  us  above  that  plane,  where  right  is  might,  and  might  is  tyranny. 
We  cannot  without  prayer  and  protest  see  our  cherished  privileges  en- 
dangered, and  have  granted  us  only  in  exchange  the  so-called  equal  rights. 
We  need  more,  and  we  claim,  through  our  physical  weakness  and  your 
coiirtesy  as  Christian  gentlemen,  that  protection  which  we  need  for  the 
proper  discharge  of  those  sacred  and  inalienable  functions  and  rights  con- 
ferred upon  us  by  God.  To  these  the  vote,  which  is  not  a  natural  right 
(otherwise  why  not  confer  it  upon  idiots,  lunatics,  and  adult  boys)  would 
be  adverse. 

When  women  ask  for  a  distinct  political  life,  a  separate  vote,  they  for- 
get or  they  willfully  ignore  the  higher  law,  whose  logic  may  be  thus  con- 
densed :  Marriage  is  a  sacred  unity.  The  family,  through  it,  is  the  foun- 
dation of  the  State.  Each  family  is  represented  by  its  head,  just  as  the 
State  ultimately  finds'  the  same  unity,  through  a  series  of  representations. 
Out  of  this  come  peace,  concord,  proper  representation,  and  adjustment 
— union. 

The  new  doctrine,  which  is  illusive,  may  be  thus  defined  :  Marriage  is  a 
mere  compact,  and  means  diversity.  Each  family,  therefore,  must  have  a 
separate  individual  representation,  out  of  which  arises  diversity  or  division, 
and  discord  is  the  corner-stone  of  the  State. 

Gentlemen,  we  cannot  displace  the  corner-stone  without  destruction  to 
the  edifice  itself !  The  subject  is  so  vast,  has  so  many  side  issues,  that  a 
volume  might  as  readily  be  laid  before  your  honorable  committee  as 
these  few  words  hastily  written  with  an  aching  woman's  heart.  Personally, 
if  any  woman  in  this  vast  land  has  a  grievance  by  not  having  a  vote,  I 
may  claim  that  grievance  to  be  mine.  With  father,  brother,  husband,  son, 
taken  away  by  death,  I  stand  utterly  alone,  with  minor  children  to  edu- 
cate and  considerable  property,  interests  to  guard.  But  I  would  deem  it 
unpatriotic  to  ask  for  a  general  law  which  must  prove  disastrous  to  my 
country,  in  order  to  meet  that  exceptional  position  in  which,  by  the  ador- 
able will  of  God,  I  am  placed.  I  prefer,  indeed,  to  trust  to  that  moral  in- 
fluence over  men  which  intelligence  never  fails  to  exercise,  and  which  is 


Before  the  Judiciary  Committee.  103 

really  more  potent  in  the  management  of  business  affairs  than  the  direct 
vote.  In  this  I  am  doubtless  as  old-fashioned  as  were  our  grandmothers, 
who  assisted  to  mold  this  vast  republic.  They  knew  that  the  greatest 
good  for  the  greatest  number  was  the  only  safe  legislative  law,  and  that 
to  it  all  exceptional  cases  must  submit. 

Gentlemen,  in  conclusion,  a  sophism  in  legislation  is  not  a  mere  ab- 
straction ;  it  must  speedily  bear  fruit  in  material  results  of  the  most  dis- 
astrous nature,  and  I  implore  your  honorable  committee,  in  behalf  of  our 
common  country,  not  to  open  a  Pandora's  box  byway  of  experiment  from 
whence  so  much  evil  must  issue,  and  which  once  opened  may  never  again 
be  closed.  Very  respectfully, 

MADELEINE  VINTON  DAHLGREN. 

Mrs.  Dahlgren  was  ably  reviewed  by  Virginia  L.  Minor  of 
St.  Louis,  and  the  Toledo  Woman  Suffrage  Association.  Mrs. 
Minor  said  : 

In  assuming  to  speak  for  the  "silent  masses"  of  women,  Mrs.  Dahlgren 
declares  that  silence  does  not  give  consent ;  very  inconsequently  forget- 
ting, that  if  it  does  not  on  one  side  of  the  question,  it  may  not  on  the 
other,  and  that  she  may  no  more  represent  them  than  do  we. 

The  Toledo  society,  through  its  president  Mrs.  Rose  L.  Segur, 
said : 

We  agree  with  you  that  this  grave  question  is  not  one  of  expediency. 
It  is  simply  one  of  right  and  justice,  and  therefore  a  most  legitimate  sub- 
ject for  agitation.  As  a  moral  force  woman  must  have  a  voice  in  the 
government,  or  partial  and  unjust  legislation  is  the  result  from  which 
arise  the  evils  consequent  upon  a  government  based  upon  the  enslave- 
ment of  half  its  citizens. 

To  this  Mrs.  Dahlgren  replied  briefly,  charging  the  ladies  with 
incapacity  to  comprehend  her. 

The  week  following  the  convention  a  hearing  was  granted  by 
the  House  Judiciary  Committee  to  Dr.  Mary  Walker  of  Wash- 
ington, Mary  A.  Tillotson  of  New  Jersey  and  Mrs.  N.  Cromwell 
of  Arkansas,  urging  a  report  in  favor  of  woman's  enfranchisement. 
On  January  28,  the  House  sub-committee  on  territories  granted 
a  hearing  to  Dr.  Mary  Walker  and  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  in  op- 
position to  the  bill  proposing  the  disfranchisement  of  the  women 
of  Utah  as  a  means  of  suppressing  polygamy. 

On  January  30  the  House  Judiciary  Committee  granted  Mrs. 
Hooker  a  hearing.  Of  the  eleven  members  of  the  committee 
nearly  all  were  present.*  The  room  and  all  the  corridors  leading 
to  it  were  crowded  with  men  and  women  eager  to  hear  Mrs. 


*  The  members  of  the  committee  present  were  Hon.  Proctor  Knott  (the  chairman),  General  Benjamin 
F.  Butler,  Messrs.  Lyncle,  Fryc,  Conger,  Lapham,  Culberson,  McMahon.  Among  the  ladies  were  Me* 
d.iincs  Knott,  Conger,  Lyndc,  Frye. 


IO4  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Hooker's  speech.  At  the  close  of  the  two  hours  occupied  in  its 
delivery,  Chairman  Knott  thanked  her  in  the  name  of  the  com- 
mittee for  her  able  argument. 

Immediately  after  this  hearing  Mr.  Frye  of  Maine,  in  present- 
ing in  the  House  of  Representatives  the  petitions  of  30,000 
persons  asking  the  right  of  women  to  vote  upon  the  question  of 
temperance,  referred  in  a  very  complimentary  manner  to  Mrs. 
Hooker's  argument,  to  which  he  had  just  listened.  Upon  this 
prayer  a  hearing  was  granted  to  the  president  and  ex-president 
of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  Frances  E.  Willard 
and  Annie  E.  Wittenmyer. 

Hon.  George  F.  Hoar  of  Massachusetts,  February  4,  presented 
in  the  Senate  the  120  petitions  with  their  6,261  signatures,  which, 
by  special  request  of  its  officers,  had  been  returned  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  American  Association,  in  Boston.  In  her  appeal 
to  the  friends  to  circulate  the  petitions,  both  State  and  national, 
Lucy  Stone,  chairman  of  its  executive  committee,  said : 

The  American  Suffrage  Association  has  always  recommended  petitions 
to  congress  for  a  sixteenth  amendment.  But  it  recognizes  the  far  greater 
importance  of  petitioning  the  State  legislatures.  First — Because  suffrage 
is  a  subject  referred  by  the  constitution  to  the  voters  of  each  State. 
Secottd — Because  we  cannot  expect  a  congress  composed  solely  of  repre- 
sentatives of  States  which  deny  suffrage  to  women,  to  submit  an  amend- 
ment which  their  own  States  have  not  yet  approved.  Just  so  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  secure  the  submission  of  negro  suffrage  by  a 
congress  composed  solely  of  representatives  from  States  which  restricted 
suffrage  to  white  men.  While  therefore  we  advise  our  friends  to  circulate 
both  petitions  together  for  signature,  we  urge  them  to  give  special  promi- 
nence to  those  which  apply  to  their  own  State  legislatures,  and  to  see  that 
these  are  presented  and  urged  by  competent  speakers  next  winter. 

By  request  of  a  large  number  of  the  senators,*  the  Committee 
on  Privileges  and  Elections  granted  a  special  hearing  to  Mrs. 
Hooker  on  Washington's  birthday — February  22,  1878.  It  being 
understood  that  the  wives  of  the  senators  were  bringing  all  the 
forces  of  fashionable  society  to  bear  in  aid  of  Mrs.  Dahlgren's 
protest  against  the  pending  sixteenth  amendment,  the  officers  of 
the  National  Association  issued  cards  of  invitation  asking  their 
presence  at  this  hearing.  We  copy  from  the  Washington  Post  : 

*  Mrs.  Hooker  has  won,  just  as  we  predicted  she  would.  Senators  Howe,  Ferry,  Coke,  Randolph, 
Jones,  Elaine,  Beck,  Booth,  Allison,  Wallace,  Eaton.  Johnston,  Burnside,  Saulsbury,  Mcrrimon,  and 
Presiding-officer  Wheeler,  together  with  nineteen  other  senators,  have  formally  invited  her  to  address 
the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  on  February  22,  an  invitation  which  she  has  enthusiasti- 
cally accepted.  Nobody  but  congressmen  will  be  admitted  to  hear  the  distinguished  advocate  of 
woman  suffrage. — [Washington  Post, 


Mrs.  Hooker  Before  the  Senate  Committee.       105 

The  conflicting  rumors  as  to  who  would  be  admitted  to  hear  Mrs. 
Hooker's  argument  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elec- 
tions, led  to  the  assembling  of  large  numbers  of  women  in  various  places 
about  the  capitol  yesterday  morning.  At  1 1  o'clock  the  doors  were 
opened  and  the  committee-room  at  once  filled.*  Mrs.  Hooker,  with  the 
fervor  and  eloquence  of  her  family,  reviewed  all  the  popular  arguments 
against  woman  suffrage.  She  said  she  once  believed  that  twenty  years 
was  little  time  enough  for  a  foreigner  to  live  in  this  country  before  he 
could  cast  a  ballot.  She  understands  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  better 
now.  If  disf  ranchisement  meant  annihilation,  there  might  be  safety  in  dis- 
franchising the  poor,  the  ignorant,  the  vicious.  But  it  does  not.  It  means 
danger  to  everything  we  hold  dear. 

The  corner-stone  of  this  republic  is  God's  own  doctrine  of  liberty  and 
responsibility.  Liberty  is  the  steam,  responsibility  the  brakes,  and  elec- 
tion-day, the  safety-valve.  The  foreigner  comes  to  this  country  expect- 
ing to  find  it  a  paradise.  He  finds,  indeed,  a  ladder  reaching  to  the  skies, 
but  resting  upon  the  earth,  and  he  is  at  the  bottom  round.  But  on  one 
day  in  the  year  he  is  as  good  as  the  richest  man  in  the  land.  He  can 
make  the  banker  stand  in  the  line  behind  him  until  he  votes,  and  if  he 
has  wrongs  he  learns  how  to  right  them.  If  he  has  mistaken  ideas  of 
liberty,  he  is  instructed  what  freedom  means. 

Wire-pulling  politicians  may  well  fear  to  have  women  enfranchised. 
There  are  too  many  of  them,  and  they  have  had  too  much  experience  in 
looking  after  the  details  of  their  households  to  be  easily  duped  by  the 
tricks  of  politicians.  You  can't  keep  women  away  from  primary  meet- 
ings as  you  do  intelligent  men.  Women  know  that  every  corner 
in  the  house  must  be  inspected  if  the  house  is  to  be  clean,  Fathers 
and  brothers  want  women  to  vote  so  that  they  can  have  a  decent  place 
for  a  primary  meeting,  a  decent  place  to  vote  in  and  a  decent  man  to 
vote  for. 

The  Indian  question  would  have  been  peacefully  and  righteously  settled 
long  ago  without  any  standing  army,  if  Lucretia  Mott  could  have  led  in 
the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  the  millions  spent  in  fighting  the  Indians 
might  have  been  used  in  kindergartens  for  the  poor,  to  some  last- 
ing benefit.  Down  with  the  army,  down  with  appropriation  bills  to 
repair  the  consequences  of  wrong-doing,  when  women  vote.  Millions 
more  of  women  would  ask  for  this  if  it  were  not  for  the  cruelty  and  abuse 
men  have  heaped  upon  the  advocates  of  woman  suffrage.  Men  have 
made  it  a  terrible  martyrdom  for  women  even  to  ask  for  their  rights,  and 
then  say  to  us,  "  convert  the  women."  No,  no,  men  have  put  up  the  bars. 
They  must  take  them  down.  Mrs.  Hooker  reviewed  the  Chinese  ques- 


*  Among  those  present  were  Mrs.  Senator  Beck,  Mrs.  Stanley  Matthews,  Mrs.  Sargent,  Mrs.  Spofford, 
Mrs.  Holmes,  Mrs.  Snead,  Mrs.  Baldwin,  Miss  Blodgett  of  New  York  ;  Mrs.  Baldwin,  Mrs.  Spencer,  Mrs. 
Juan  Lewis  of  Philadelphia;  Mrs.  Morgan  of  Mississippi,  Mrs.  Brooks,  Mrs  Olcott,  Mrs.  Bartlett,  Miss 
Sweet,  Mrs.  Myers,  Mrs.  Gibson,  Miss  Jenners,  Mrs.  Levison,  Mrs.  Hereford,  Mrs.  Folsom,  Mrs. 
Mitchell,  Mrs.  l.yndc,  Mrs.  Kldridge,  Miss  Snowe,  Mrs.  Curtis,  Mrs.  Hutchinson  Patton,Mrs.  Boucher 
and  many  others.  Of  the  committee  and  Senate'  there  were  Senators  Wadleigh,  Cameron  of  Wis- 
consin ;  Merrimon.  Mitchell,  Hoar,  Vice-president  Wheeler,  Senators  Jones,  Bruce,  Beck  and  others. 
Several  representatives  and  their  wives  also  were  there,  and  seemed  deeply  interested. — [Washington 
Post. 


IO6  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

tion,  the  labor  question,  the  subjects  of  compulsory  education,  reformation, 
police  regulations,  the  social  evil,  and  many  other  topics  upon  which  men 
vainly  attempt  to  legislate  without  the  loving  wisdom  of  mothers,  sisters 
and  daughters.  The  senators  most  interested  in  the  argument  were  ob- 
served to  be  those  previously  most  unfriendly  to  woman  suffrage. 

It  was  during  this  winter  that  Marilla  M.  Ricker  of  New 
Hampshire,  then  studying  criminal  law  in  Washington  and  al- 
ready having  quite  an  extensive  practice,  applied  to  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  District  of  Columbia  for  an  appointment  as  notary 
public.  The  question  of  the  eligibility  of  woman  to  the  office 
was  referred  to  the  district-attorney,  Hon.  Albert  G.  Riddle, 
formerly  a  member  of  congress  from  Ohio,  and  at  that  time  one 
of  the  most  prominent  criminal  and  civil  lawyers  before  the  bar. 
Mr.  Riddle's  reply  was  an  able  and  exhaustive  argument,  clearly 
showing  there  was  no  law  to  prevent  women  from  holding  the 
office.  But  notwithstanding  this  opinion  from  their  own  attor- 
ney, the  commissioners  rejected  Mrs.  Ricker's  application.* 

Bills  to  prohibit  the  Supreme  Court  from  denying  the  admis- 
sion of  lawyers  on  the  ground  of  sex  had  been  introduced  at  each 
session  of  congress  during  the  past  four  years.  The  House  bill 
No.  i, 077,  entitled  "A  bill  to  relieve  certain  disabilities  of  women," 
was  this  year  championed  by  Hon.  John  M.  Glover  of  Missouri, 
and  passed  by  a  vote  of  169  ayes  to  87  nays.  In  the  Senate, 
Hon.  George  F.  Edmunds  of  Vermont,  chairman  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee  reported  adversely.  While  the  question  was  pend- 
ing, Mrs.  Lockwood  addressed  a  brief  to  the  Senate,  ably  refut- 
ing the  assertion  of  the  Court  that  it  was  contrary  to  English 
precedent : 

To  the  Honorable,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : 

The  provisions  of  this  bill  are  so  stringent,  that  to  the  ordinary  mind  it 
would  seem  that  the  conditions  are  hard  enough  for  the  applicant  to 
have  well  earned  the  honor  of  the  preferment,  without  making  sex  a  dis- 
ability. The  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  constitution  declares  that : 

All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  No 
State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Nor  shall  any  State  deprive  any  person  of  life, 
liberty  or  property  without  due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  juris- 
diction the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 

*  Mrs.  Riclcer  makes  a  specialty  of  looking  after  the  occupants  of  the  jail — so  freely  is  her  purse 
opened  to  the  poor  and  unfortunate  that  she  is  known  as  the  prisoners'  friend.  Many  an  alleged 
criminal  owes  the  dawning  of  a  new  life,  and  the  determination  to  make  it  a  worthy  one,  to  the  efforts 
of  this  noble  woman.  And  Mrs.  Ricker's  special  object  in  seeking  this  office  was  that  prisoners 
might  make  depositions  before  her  and  thus  be  saved  the  expense  of  employing  notaries  from  the  city. 


Mrs.  Lockwood's  Brief.  107 

To  deny  the  right  asked  in  this  bill  would  be  to  deny  to  women  citizens 
the  rights  guaranteed  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  to  be  self-evi- 
dent and  inalienable,  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness";  a  denial 
of  one  of  the  fundamental  rights  of  a  portion  of  the  citizens  of  the  com- 
monwealth to  acquire  property  in  the  most  honorable  profession  of  the 
law,  thereby  perpetuating  an  invidious  distinction  between  male  and 
female  citizens  equally  amenable  to  the  law,  and  having  an  equal  interest 
in  all  of  the  institutions  created  and  perpetuated  by  this  government. 
The  articles  of  confederation  declare  that : 

The  free  inhabitants  of  each  of  these  States — paupers  and  fugitives  from  justice 
excepted — shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  free  citizens  in  the 
several  States. 

Article  4  of  the  constitution  says  : 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the  public  acts,  records,  and 
judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  State. 

Illinois,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  North  Carolina,  Wyoming,  Utah, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia  admit  women  to  the  bar.  What  then? 
Shall  the  second  coordinate  branch  of  the  government,  the  judiciary,  re- 
fuse to  grant  what  it  will  not  permit  the  States  to  deny,  the  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens,  and  say  to  women-attorneys  when  they  have  fol- 
lowed their  cases  through  the  State  courts  to  that  tribunal  beyond  which 
there  is  no  appeal,  "You  cannot  come  in  here  we  are  too  holy,"  or  in  the 
words  of  the  learned  chancellor  declare  that : 

By  the  uniform  practice  of  the  court  from  its  organization  to  the  present  time,  and 
by  a  fair  construction  of  its  rules,  none  but  men  are  admitted  to  practice  before  it  as  at- 
torneys and  counselors.  This  is  in  accordance  with  immemorial  usage  in  England,  and 
the  law  and  practice  in  all  the  States  until  within  a  recent  period,  and  the  court  does 
not  feel  called  upon  to  make  a  change  until  such  a  change  is  required  by  statute,  or  a 
more  extended  practice  in  the  highest  courts  of  the  States. 

With  all  due  respect  for  this  opinion,  we  beg  leave  to  quote  the  rule  for 
admission  to  the  bar  of  that  court  as  laid  down  in  the  rule  book  : 

RULE  No.  2. — Attorneys  :  It  shall  be  requisite  to  the  admission  of  attorneys  or 
counselors  to  practice  in  this  court,  that  they  shall  have  been  such  for  three  years  past 
in  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  States  to  which  they  respectively  belong,  and  that  their 
private  and  professional  character  shall  appear  to  be  fair. 

There  is  nothing  in  this  rule  or  in  the  oath  which  follows  it,  either  ex- 
press or  implied,  which  confines  the  membership  of  the  bar  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  to  the  male  sex.  Had  any  such  term  been  in- 
cluded therein  it  would  virtually  be  nullified  by  the  first  paragraph  of  the 
United  States  Revised  Statutes,  ratified  by  the  forty-third  congress.  June 
20,  1875,  in  which  occur  the  following  words  : 

In  determining  the  meaning  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  or  of  any  act  or  resolution  of 
congress  passed  subsequent  to  February  25,  1871,  words  importing  the  singular  num- 
l>i-r  may  extend  and  be  applied  to  several  persons  or  things;  words  importing  the 
masculine  gender  may  be  applied  to  females,  etc.,  etc. 

Now,  as  to  "  immemorial  usage  in  England."  The  executive  branch  of 
that  government  has  been  vested  in  an  honored  and  honorable  woman  for 
the  past  forty  years.  Is  it  to  be  supposed  if  this  distinguished  lady 


io8 


History  of    Woman  Suffrage. 


or  any  one  of  her  accomplished  daughters  should  ask  to  be  heard  at 
the  bar  of  the  Court  of  the  Queen's  Bench,  the  practice  of  which  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  has  set  up  as  its  model,  that  she  would  be 
refused  ? 

Blackstone  recounts  that  Ann,  Countess  of  Pembroke,  held  the  office 
of  sheriff  of  Westmoreland  and  exercised  its  duties  in  person.  At  the  assi- 
zes at  Appleby  she  sat  with  the  judges  on  the  bench.  (See  Coke  on  Lit., 
p.  326.)  The  Scotch  sheriff  is  properly  a  judge,  and  by  the  statute  20, 
Geo.,  1 1,  c.  43,  he  must  be  a  lawyer  of  three  years  standing. 

Eleanor,  Queen  of  Henry  III.  of  England,  in  the  year  1253,  was  appointed 
lady-keeper  of  the  great  seal,  or  the  supreme  chancellor  of  England,  and 
sat  in  the  Aula  Rcgia,  or  King's  Court.  She  in  turn  appointed  Kilkenny, 
arch-deacon  of  Coventry,  as  the  sealer  of  writs  and  common-law  instru- 
ments, but  the  more  important  matters  she  executed  in  person. 

Queen  Elizabeth  held  the  great  seal  at  three  several  times  during  her  re- 
markable reign.  After  the  death  of  Lord-keeper  Bacon  she  presided  for 
two  months  in  the  Aula  Regia. 

It  is  claimed  that  "  admission  to  the  bar  constitutes  an  office."  Even' 
woman  postmaster,  pension  agent  and  notary  public  throughout  the  land 
is  a  bonded  officer  of  the  government.  The  Western  States  have  elected 
women  as  school  superintendents  and  appointed  them  as  enrolling  and 
engrossing  clerks  in  their  several  legislatures,  and  as  State  librarians.  Of 
what  use  are  our  seminaries  and  colleges  for  women  if  after  they  have 
passed  through  the  curriculum  of  the  schools  there  is  for  them  no  prefer- 
ment, and  no  emolument ;  no  application  of  the  knowledge  of  the  arts  and 
sciences  acquired,  and  no  recognition  of  the  excellence  attained? 

But  this  country,  now  in  the  second  year  of  the  second  century  of  her 
history,  is  no  longer  in  her  leading  strings,  that  she  should  look  to  Mother 
England  for  a  precedent  to  do  justice  to  the  daughters  of  the  land.  She 
had  to  make  a  precedent  when  the  first  male  lawyer  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  Ah!  this  country  is  one  that 
has  not  hesitated  when  the  necessity  has  arisen  to  make  precedents  and 
write  them  in  blood.  There  was  no  precedent  for  this  free  republican 
government  and  the  war  of  the  rebellion  ;  no  precedent  for  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  slave  ;  no  precedent  for  the  labor  strikes  of  last  summer.  The 
more  extended  practice,  and  the  more  extended  public  opinion  referred  to 
by  the  learned  chancellor  have  already  been  accomplished.  Ah!  that  very 
opinion,  telegraphed  throughout  the  land  by  the  associated  press,  brought 
back  the  response  of  the  people  as  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  asking  you 
for  that  special  act  now  so  nearly  consummated,  which  shall  open  this 
professional  door  to  women. 

BI.I.VA  A.  LOCK  WOOD,  Attorney  and  Solicitor. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  March  7,  1878. 

Mrs.  Lockwood's  bill,  with  Senator  Edmond's  adverse  report, 
was  reached  on  the  Senate  calendar  April  22,  1878,  and  provoked 
a  spirited  discussion.  Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent,  made  a  gallant  fight 
in  favor  of  the  bill,  introducing  the  following  amendment : 


Mrs.  Lockwood's  Bill  in  the  Senate.  109 

No  person  shall  be  excluded  from  practicing  as  an  attorney  and  counselor  at  law  in 
any  court  of  the  United  States  on  account  of  sex. 

Mr.  SARGENT  :  Mr.  President,  the  best  evidence  that  members  of  the 
legal  profession  have  no  jealousy  against  the  admission  of  women  to  the 
bar  who  have  the  proper  learning,  is  shown  by  this  document  which  I 
hold  in  my  hand,  signed  by  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  lawyers  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  embracing  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  ranks  of  that 
profession.  That  there  is  no  jealousy  or  consideration  of  impropriety  on 
the  part  of  the  various  States  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  legislatures  of 
many  of  the  States  have  recently  admitted  women  to  the  bar ;  and  my 
own  State,  California,  has  passed  such  a  law  within  the  last  week  or  two  ; 
Illinois  has  done  the  same  thing;  so  have  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri 
and  North  Carolina ;  and  Wyoming,  Utah  and  the  District  of  Columbia 
among  the  territories  have  also  done  it.  There  is  no  reason  in  principle 
why  women  should  not  be  admitted  to  this  profession  or  the  profession 
of  medicine,  provided  they  have  the  learning  to  enable  them  to  be  useful 
in  those  professions,  and  useful  to  themselves.  Where  is  the  propriety  in 
opening  our  colleges,  our  higher  institutions  of  learning,  or  any  institu- 
tions of  learning,  to  women,  and  then  when  they  have  acquired  in  the  race 
with  men  the  cultivation  for  higher  employment,  to  shut  them  out  ? 
There  certainly  is  none.  We  should  either  restrict  the  laws  allowing  the 
liberal  education  of  women,  or,  we  should  allow  them  to  exercise  the  talents 
which  are  cultivated  at  the  public  expense  in  such  departments  of  enter- 
prise and  knowledge  as  will  be  useful  to  society  and  will  enable  them  to 
gain  a  living.  The  tendency  is  in  this  direction.  I  believe  the  time  has 
passed  to  consider  it  a  ridiculous  thing  for  women  to  appear  upon  the 
lecture  platform  or  in  the  pulpit,  for  women  to  attend  to  the  treatment  of 
diseases  as  physicians  and  nurses,  to  engage  in  any  literary  employment, 
or  appear  at  the  bar.  Some  excellent  women  in  the  United  -States  are 
now  practicing  at  the  bar,  acceptably  received  before  courts  and  juries; 
and  when  they  have  conducted  their  cases  to  a  successful  issue  or  an  un- 
successful one  in  any  court  below,  why  should  the  United  States  courts  to 
which  an  appeal  may  be  taken  and  where  their  adversaries  of  the  male  sex 
may  follow  the  case  up,  why  should  these  courts  be  closed  to  these 
women  ?  *  *  * 

Mr.  GARLAND:  I  should  like  to  ask  the  senator  from  California  if  the 
courts  of  the  United  States  cannot  admit  them  upon  their  own  motion 
anyhow  ? 

Mr.  SARGENT  :  I  think  there  is  nothing  in  the  law  prohibiting  it,  but  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  recently  in  passing  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  the  admission  of  a  certain  lady,  said  that  until  some  legislation 
took  place  they  did  not  like  to  depart  from  the  precedent  set  in  England, 
or  until  there  was  more  general  practice  among  the  States.  The  learned 
chief-justice,  perhaps,  did  not  sufficiently  reflect  when  he  stated  that  there 
were  no  English  precedents.  The  fact  is  that  Elizabeth  herself  sat  in  the 
Aula  Regia  and  administered  the  law,  and  in  both  Scotland  and  England 
women  have  fulfilled  the  function  of  judges.  The  instances  are  not 
numerous  but  they  are  well  established  in  history.  I  myself  have  had  my 


i  10  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

attention  called  to  the  fact  that  in  the  various  States  the  women  are  now 
admitted  by  special  legislation  to  the  bar.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any- 
thing in  the  law,  properly  considered,  that  would  debar  a  woman  from 
coming  into  this  profession.  I  think  the  Supreme  Court  should  not  have 
required  further  legislation,  but  it  seems  to  have  done  so,  and  that  makes 
the  necessity  for  the  amendment  which  I  have  now  offered. 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  in  reporting  this  -bill  back  from  the 
Judiciary  Committee  said  that  the  bill  as  it  passed  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives gave  privileges  to  women  which  men  did  not  enjoy; 
that  is  to  say,  the  Supreme  Court  can  by  a  change  of  rule  require 
further  qualification  of  men,  whereas  in  regard  to  women,  if  this  pro- 
vision were  put  into  the  statute,  the  Supreme  Court  could  not  rule 
them  out  even  though  it  may  be*  necessary  in  its  judgment  to  get  a 
higher  standard  of  qualifications  than  its  present  rules  prescribe.  Al- 
though I  observe  that  my  time  is  up,  I  ask  indulgence  for  a  moment  or 
two  longer.  As  this  is  a  question  of  some  interest  and  women  cannot  ap- 
pear here  to  speak  for  themselves,  I  hope  I  may  be  allowed  to  speak  for 
them  a  moment.  Now,  there  is  something  in  the  objection  stated  by  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary — that  is  to  say,  the  bill  would 
take  the  rule  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  put  it  in  the  statute  and  apply  it 
to  women,  thereby  conferring  exceptional  privileges  ;  but  that  is  not  my 
intention  at  all,  and  therefore  I  have  proposed  that  women  shall  not  be 
excluded  from  practicing  law,  if  they  are  otherwise  qualified,  on  account 
of  sex,  and  that  is  the  provision  which  I  want  to  send  back  to  the  Judiciary 
Committee. 

Mr.  GARLAND  :  I  wish  to  ask  one  question  of  the  senator  from  Cali- 
fornia. Suppose  the  court  should  exclude  women,  but  not  on  account  of 
sex,  then  what  is  their  remedy? 

Mr.  SARGENT  :  I  do  not  see  any  pretense  that  the  court  could  exclude 
them  on  except  on  account  of  sex. 

Mr.  GARLAND  :  If  I  recollect  the  rule  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  regard 
to  the  admission  of  practitioners  (and  I  had  to  appear  there  twice  to  pre- 
sent my  claim  before  I  could  curry  on  my  profession  in  that  court),  1  do 
not  think  any  legislation  is  necessary  to  aid  them  by  giving  them  any 
more  access  to  that  court  than  they  have  at  present  under  the  rules  of  the 
Supreme  Court. 

Mr.  SARGENT:  I  believe  if  the  laws  now  existing  were  properly  con- 
strued (of  course  I  speak  with  all  deference  to  the  Supreme  Court,  but  I 
express  the  opinion)  they  would  be  admitted,  but  unfortunately  the 
court  does  not  take  that  view  of  it,  and  it  will  wait  for  legislation. 
I  purpose  that  the  legislation  shall  follow.  If  there  is  anything  in  prin- 
ciple why  this  privilege  should  not  be  granted  to  women  who  are 
otherwise  qualified,  then  let  the  bill  be  defeated  on  that  ground ;  but  I 
say  there  is  no  difference  in  principle  whatever,  not  the  slightest.  There 
is  no  reason  because  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  is  a  woman  that  she 
should  be  deprived  of  her  rights  as  a  citizen,  and  these  are  rights  of  a  citi- 
zen. She  has  the  same  right  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness 
and  employment,  commensurate  with  her  capacities,  as  a  man  has  ;  and, 


Mary  Clemmers  Letter.  \  \  \ 

as  to  the  question  of  capacity,  the  history  of  the  world  shows  from  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  Queen  Isabella  down  to  Madame  Dudevant  and  Mrs.  Stowe, 
that  capacity  is  not  a  question  of  sex. 

Mr.  McDONALD  :  I  have  simply  to  say,  Mr.  President,  that  a  number  of 
States  and  territories  have  authorized  the  admission  of  women  to  the 
legal  profession,  and  they  have  become  members  of  the  bar  of  the  highest 
courts  of  judicature.  It  may  very  frequently  occur,  and  has  in  some  in- 
stances I  believe  really  occurred,  that  cases  in  which  they  have  been  thus 
employed  have  been  brought  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
To  have  the  door  closed  against  them  when  the  cause  is  brought  here,  not 
by  them,  or  when  in  the  prosecution  of  the  suits  of  their  clients  they  find 
it  necessary  to  come  here,  seems  to  me  entirely  unjust.  I  therefore  favor 
the  bill  with  the  amendment.  The  proposed  amendment  is  perhaps  better 
because  it  does  away  with  any  tendency  to  discrimination  in  regard  to  the 
admissibility  of  women  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER:  The  senator  from  California  moves  that  the 
bill  be  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on  Judiciary. 

Mr.  SARGENT  :  I  have  the  promise  of  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
that  the  bill  will  soon  be  reported  back,  and  therefore  I  am  willing  that  it 
go  to  the  committee,  and  I  make  the  motion  that  it  be  recommitted.  [The 
motion  was  agreed  to.] 

Mr.  SARGENT  :  I  ask  that  the  amendment  which  I  propose  be  printed. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER:  The  order  to  print  will  be  made. 

Mary  Clemmer,  the  gifted  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Independent,  learning  that  Senator  Wadleigh  was  about  to  re- 
port adversely  upon  the  sixteenth  amendment,  wrote  the  follow- 
ing private  letter,  which,  as  a  record  of  her  own  sentiments  on 
the  question,  she  gave  to  Miss  Anthony  for  publication  in  this 
history : 

Hon.  BAINBRIDGE  WADLEIGH — Dear  Sir :  The  more  I  think  of  it  the 
more  I  regret  that,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elec- 
tions, you  regard  with  less  favor  the  enfranchisement  of  women  than  did 
your  distinguished  predecessor,  Senator  Morton.  At  this  moment,  when 
your  committee  is  discussing  that  subject,  I  sigh  for  the  large  outlook, 
the  just  mind,  the  unselfish  decision  of  that  great  legislator.  You  were 
his  friend,  you  respected  his  intellect,  you  believed  in  his  integrity,  you 
sit  in  his  seat.  You  are  to  prepare  the  report  that  he  would  prepare  were 
he  still  upon  the  earth.  May  I  ask  you  to  bring  to  that  labor  as  fair 
a  spirit,  as  unprejudiced  an  outlook,  as  just  a  decision  as  he  would  have 
done?  ,- 

I  ask  this  not  as  a  partisan  of  woman's  rights,  but  as  a  lover  of  the 
human  race.  In  this  faint  dawn  of  woman's  day,  I  discern  not  woman's 
development  of  freedom  merely,  but  the  promise  of  that  higher,  finer, 
purer  civilization  which  is  to  redeem  the  world,  the  lack  of  which  makes 
men  tyrants  and  women  slaves.  You  cannot  be  unconscious  of  the  fact 
that  a  new  race  of  women  is  born  into  the  world,  who,  while  they  lack  no 
womanly  attribute,  are  the  peers  of  any  man  in  intellect  and  aspiration. 


1 1  2  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

It  will  be  impossible  long  to  deny  to  such  women  that  equality  before  the 
law  granted  to  the  lowest  creature  that  crawls,  if  he  happens  to  be  a 
man  ;  denied  to  the  highest  creature  that  asks  it,  if  she  happens  to  be  a 
woman. 

On  what  authority,  save  that  of  the  gross  regality  of  physical  strength, 
do  you  deny  to  a  thoughtful,  educated,  tax-paying  person  the  common 
rights  of  citizenship  because  she  is  a  woman  ?  I  am  a  property-owner, 
the  head  of  a  household.  By  what  right  do  you  assume  to  define  and 
curtail  for  me  my  prerogatives  as  a  citizen,  while  as  a  tax-payer  you  make 
not  the  slightest  distinction  between  me  and  a  man  ?  Leave  to  my  own 
perception  what  is  proper  for  me  as  a  lady,  to  my  own  discretion  what  is 
wise  for  me  as  a  wo-nan,  to  my  own  conscience  what  is  my  duty  to  my 
race  and  to  my  God.  Leave  to  unerring  nature  to  protect  the  subtle 
boundaries  which  define  the  distinctive  life  and  action  of  the  sexes,  while 
you  as  a  legislator  do  everything  in  your  power  to  secure  to  every  creature 
of  God  an  equal  chance  to  make  the  best  and  most  of  himself. 

If  American  men  could  say  as  Huxley  says,  "  I  scorn  to  lay  a  single 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  those  whom  nature  from  the  beginning  has  so 
heavily  burdened,"  the  sexes  would  cease  to  war,  men  and  women  would 
reign  together,  the  equal  companions,  friends,  helpers,  and  lovers  that 
nature  intended  they  should  be.  But  what  is  love,  tenderness,  protec- 
tion, even,  unless  rooted  in  justice?  Tyranny  and  servitude,  that  is  all. 
Brute  supremacy,  spiritual  slavery.  By  what  authority  do  you  say  that 
the  country  is  not  prepared  for  a  more  enlightened  franchise,  for  political 
equality,  if  six  women  citizens,  earnest,  eloquent,  long-suffering,  come  to 
you  and  demand  both  ?  No  words  can  express  my  regret  if  to  the  minority 
report  I  see  appended  only  the  honored  name  of  George  F.  Hoar  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. Your  friend,  MARY  CLEMMER. 

In   response   to  all  these   arguments,  appeals  and   petitions, 
Senator  Wadleigh,  from  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elec- 
tions, presented  the  following  adverse  report,  June  14,  1878: 
The  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections,  to  whom  -was  referred  the  Resolu- 
tion (S.  Res.  12)  proposing  an  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  certain  Petitions  for  and  Remonstrances  against  the  same, 
make  the  following  Report  : 

This  proposed  amendment  forbids  the  United  States,  or  any  State  to 
deny  or  abridge  the  right  to  vote  on  account  of  sex.  If  adopted,  it  will 
make  several  millions  of  female  voters,  totally  inexperienced  in  political 
affairs,  quite  generally  dependent  upon  the  other  sex,  all  incapable  of 
performing  military  duty  and  without  the  power  to  enforce  the  laws  which 
their  numerical  strength  may  enable  them  to  make,  and  comparatively 
very  few  of  whom  wish  to  assume  the  irksome  and  responsible  political 
duties  which  this  measure  thrusts  upon  them.  An  experiment  so  novel, 
a  change  so  great,  should  only  be  made  slowly  and  in  response  to  a  gen- 
eral public  demand,  of  the  existence  of  which  there  is  no  evidence  before 
your  committee. 


114  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

bill  in  1874,  Senator  Morton  made  an  earnest  speech  in  favor  of 
woman's  enfranchisement.  In  his  premature  death  our  cause 
lost  one  of  its  bravest  champions. 

Senator  Wadleigh's  report  called  forth  severe  criticism  ;  notably 
from  the  New  Northwest  of  Oregon,  the  Woman's  Journal  of 
Boston,  the  Inter-Ocean  of  Chicago,  the  Evening  Telegram  and 
the  National  Citizen  of  New  York.  We  quote  from  the  latter : 

The  report  is  not  a  statesman-like  answer  based  upon  fundamental 
principles,  but  a  mere  politician's  dodge — a  species  of  dust-throwing  quite 
in  vogue  in  Washington.  "  Several  millions  of  voters  totally  inexperienced 
in  political  affairs  "!  They  would  have  about  as  much  experience  as  the 
fathers  in  1776,  as  the  negroes  in  1870,  as  the  Irish,  English,  Italians,  Nor- 
wegians, Danes,  French,  Germans,  Portuguese,  Scotch,  Russians,  Turks, 
Mexicans,  Hungarians,  Swedes  and  Indians,  who  form  a  good  part  of  the 
voting  population  of  this  country.  Did  Mr.  Wadleigh  never  hear  of 
Agnes  C.  Jencks — the  woman  who  has  stirred  up  politics  to  its  deepest 
depth  ;  who  has  shaken  the  seat  of  President  Hayes;  who  has  set  in  mo- 
tion the  whole  machinery  of  government,  and  who,  when  brought  to  the 
witness  stand  has  for  hours  successfully  baffled  such  wily  politicians  as 
Ben  Butler  and  McMahon  ; — a  woman  who  thwarts  alike  Republican  and 
Democrat,  and  at  her  own  will  puts  the  brakes  on  all  this  turmoil  of  her 
own  raising?  Does  Senator  Wadleigh  know  nothing  of  that  woman's 
"experience  in  politics  '  ? 

"  Quite  dependent  upon  the  other  sex."  It  used  to  be  said  the  negroes 
were  "  quite  dependent "  upon  their  masters,  that  it  would  really  be 
an  abuse  of  the  poor  things  to  set  them  free,  but  when  free  and  control- 
ing  the  results  of  their  own  labor,  it  was  found  the  masters  had  been  the 
ones  "quite  dependent,"  and  thousands  of  them  who  before  the  war 
rolled  in  luxury,  have  since  been  in  the  depths  of  poverty — some  of  them 
even  dependent  upon  the  bounty  of  their  former  slaves.  When  men 
cease  to  rob  women  of  their  earnings  they  will  find  them  generally,  as 
thousands  now  are,  capable  of  self-care.* 

"  Military  duty."  When  women  hold  the  ballot  there  will  not  be  quite 
as  much  military  duty  to  be  done.  They  will  then  have  a  voice  and  a 
vote  in  the  matter,  and  the  men  will  no  longer  be  able  to  throw  the 
country  into  a  war  to  gratify  spite  or  ambition,  tearing  from  woman's 
arms  her  nearest  and  dearest.  All  men  do  not  like  "military  duty." 
"The  key  to  that  horrible  enigma,  German  socialism,  is  antagonism  to 


*  THE  SELFISH  RATS — A  FABLE  BY  LILLIE  DEVEREUX  BLAKE. — Once  some  gray  old  rats  built  a  ship 
of  Stale  to  save  themselves  from  drowning.  It  carried  them  safely  for  awhile  until  they  grew  eager 
for  more  passengers,  and  so  took  on  board  all  manner  of  rats  that  had  run  away  from  all  sorts  of 
places— Irish  rats  and  German  rats,  and  French  rats,  and  even  black  rats  and  dirty  sewer  rats. 

Now  there  were  many  lady  mice  who  had  followed  the  rats,  and  the  rats  therefore  thought  them 
very  nice,  but  in  spite  of  that  would  not  let  them  have  any  place  on  the  ship,  so  that  they  were  forced 
to  cling  to  a  few  planks  and  were  every  now  and  then  overwhelmed  by  the  waves.  But  when  the  mice 
begged  to  be  taken  on  board  saying.  '  Save  us  also,  we  beg  you  '  "  The  rats  only  replied,  "  We  are  too 
crowded  already  ;  we  love  you  very  much,  and  we  know  you  are  very  uncomfortable,  but  it  is  not  ex- 
pedient to  make  room  for  you."  So  the  rats  sailed  on  safely  and  saw  the  poor  little  mice  buffeted 
about  without  doing  the  least  thing  to  save  them. 

floral ':  Woe  to  the  weaker. 


Comments  of  the  "National  Citizen"  115 

the  military  system,"  and  nations  are  shaken  with  fear  because  of  it.  But 
when  there  is  necessity  for  military  duty,  women  will  be  found  in  line. 
The  person  who  planned  the  Tennessee  campaign,  in  which  the  Northern 
armies  secured  their  first  victories,  was  a  woman,  Anna  Ella  Carroll. 
Gen.  Grant  acted  upon  her  plan,  and  was  successful.  She  was  en- 
dorsed by  President  Lincoln,  Seward,  Stanton,  Wade,  Scott,  and  all  the 
nation's  leaders  in  its  hour  of  peril,  and  yet  congress  has  not  granted  her 
the  pension  which  for  ten  years  her  friends  have  demanded.  Mr.  Wad- 
leigh  holds  his  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate  to-day,  because  of  the 
"  military  duty  "  done  by  this  woman. 

"About  30,000  names,"  to  petitions.  There  have  been  70,000  sent 
in  during  the  present  session  of  congress,  for  a  sixteenth  amendment, 
besides  hundreds  of  individual  petitions  from  women  asking  for  the  re- 
moval of  their  own  political  disabilities.  Men  in  this  country  are  occa- 
sionally disfranchised  for  crime,  and  sometimes  pray  for  the  removal  of 
their  political  disabilities.  Nine  such  disfranchised  men  had  the  right  of 
voting  restored  to  them  during  the  last  session  of  congress.  But  not  a 
single  one  of  the  five  hundred  women  who  individually  asked  to  have 
their  political  disabilities  removed,  was  even  so  much  as  noticed  by  an  ad- 
verse report,  Mr.  Wadleigh  knows  it  would  make  no  difference  if  300,000 
women  petitioned.  But  whether  women  ask  for  the  ballot  or  not  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  question.  Self-government  is  the  natural  right 
of  every  individual,  and  because  woman  possesses  this  natural  right,  she 
should  be  secured  in  its  exercise. 

Mr.  Wadleigh  says,  "  nor  can  woman  justly  complain  of  any  partiality  in 
the  administration  of  justice."  Let  us  examine  :  A  few  years  ago  a  mar- 
ried man  in  Washington,  in  official  position,  forced  a  confession  from  his 
wife  at  the  mouth  of  a  pistol,  and  shot  his  rival  dead.  Upon  trial  he  was 
triumphantly  acquitted  and  afterwards  sent  abroad  as  foreign  minister. 
A  few  months  ago  a  married  woman  in  Georgia,  who  had  been  taunted 
by  her  rival  with  boasts  of  having  gained  her  husband's  love,  found 
this  rival  dancing  with  him.  She  drew  a  knife  and  killed  the  woman  on 
the  spot.  She  was  tried,  convicted,  and,  although  nursing  one  infant, 
and  again  about  to  become  a  mother,  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged  by  the 
neck  till  she  was  'dead,  dead,  dead.'  There  is  Mr.  Wadleigh's  equal  ad- 
ministration of  justice  between  man  and  woman  !  There  is  "  the  sympathy 
of  judges  and  juries."  There  is  the  "extent  which  would  warrant  loud  com- 
plaint on  the  part  of  their  adversaries  of  the  sterner  sex."  And  this  woman 
escaped  the  gallows  not  because  of "  the  sympathy  of  the  judge  "  or  "jury," 
but  because  her  own  sex  took  the  matter  up,  and  from  every  part  of  the 
country  sent  petitions  by  the  hundreds  to  Governor  Colquitt  of  Georgia, 
asking  her  pardon.  That  pardon  came  in  the  shape  of  ten  years'  imprison- 
ment ; — ten  years  in  a  cell  for  a  woman,  the  mother  of  a  nursing  and  an 
unborn  infant,  while  for  General  Sickles  the  mission  to  Madrid  with 
high  honors  and  a  fat  salary. 

Messrs.  Wadleigh  of  New  Hampshire,  McMillan  of  Minnesota,  Ingalls 
of  Kansas,  Saulsbury  of  Delaware,  Merrimon  of  North  Carolina  and  Hill 
of  Georgia,  all  senators  of  the  United  States,  are  the  committee  that  re- 


116  History  of    Woman  Suffrage. 

port  it  "  inexpedient"  to  secure  equal  rights  to  the  women  of  the  United 
States.  But  we  are  not  discouraged ;  we  are  not  disheartened ;  all 
the  Wadleighs  in  the  Senate,  all  the  committees  of  both  Houses, 
the  whole  congress  of  the  United  States  against  us,  would  not 
lessen  our  faith,  nor  our  efforts.  We  know  we  are  right ;  we  know 
we  shall  be  successful;  we  know  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when  this 
government  and  the  world  will  acknowledge  the  exact  and  permanent 
political  equality  of  man  and  woman,  and  we  know  that  until  that  hour 
comes  woman  will  be  oppressed,  degraded  ;  a  slave,  without  a  single  right 
that  man  feels  himself  bound  to  respect.  Work  then,  women,  for  your 
own  freedom.  Let  the  early  morning  see  you  busy,  and  dusky  evening 
find  you  planning  how  you  may  become  FREE. 

But  the  most  severe  judgment  upon  Mr  Wadleigh's  action 
came  from  his  own  constituents,  who,  at  the  close  of  the  forty- 
fifth  congress  excused  his  further  presence  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  sending  in  his  stead  the  Hon  Henry  W.  Blair,  a  valiant 
champion  of  national  protection  for  national  citizens.* 

In  April,  1878,  Mrs.  Williams  transferred  the  Ballot-Box  to 
Mrs.  Gage,  who  removed  it  to  Syracuse,  New  York,  and  changed 
its  name  to  the  National  Citizen.  In  her  prospectus  Mrs.  Gage 
said  : 

The  National  Citizen  will  advocate  the  principle  that  suffrage  is  the  citi- 
zen's right,  and  should  be  protected  by  national  law,  and  that,  while  States 
may  regulate  the  suffrage,  they  should  have  no  power  to  abolish  it.  Its 
especial  object  will  be  to  secure  national  protection  to  women  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  their  right  to  vote ;  it  will  oppose  class  legislation  of  whatever 
form.  It  will  support  no  political  party  until  one  arises  which  is  based 
upon  the  exact  equality  of  man  and  woman. 

As  the  first  step  towards  becoming  well  is  to  know  you  are  ill,  one 
of  the  principal  aims  of  the  National  Citizen  will  be  to  make  those  women 
discontented  who  are  now  content ;  to  waken  them  to  self-respect  and  a 
desire  to  use  the  talents  they  possess ;  to  educate  their  consciences 
aright ;  to  quicken  their  sense  of  duty ;  to  destroy  morbid  beliefs,  and 
fit  them  for  their  high  responsibilities  as  citizens  of  a  republic.  The 
National  Citizen  has  no  faith  in  that  old  theory  that  "  a  woman  once  lost 
is  lost  forever,"  neither  does  it  believe  in  the  assertion  that  "a  woman 
who  sins,  sinks  to  depths  of  wickedness  lo\ver  than  man  can  reach." 
On  the  contrary  it  believes  there  is  a  future  for  the  most  abandoned,  if 
only  the  kindly  hand  of  love  and  sympathy  be  extended  to  rescue  them 
from  the  degradation  into  which  they  have  fallen.  The  National  Citizen 
will  endeavor  to  keep  its  readers  informed  of  the  progress  of  women  in 
foreign  countries,  and  will,  as  far  as  possible,  revolutionize  this  country, 
striving  to  make  it  live  up  to  its  own  fundamental  principles  and  become 
in  reality  what  it  is  but  in  name — a  genuine  republic. 


*  Senator  Blair  has  just  been  elected  (June,  1885)  to  a  second  term,  thus  insuring  his  services  to  our 
cause  in  the  Senate  for  another  six  years. 


Thirtieth  Anniversary.  117 

Instead  of  holding  its  usual  May  anniversary  in  New  York 
city,  the  National  Association  decided  to  meet  in  Rochester  to 
celebrate  the  close  of  the  third  decade  of  organized  agitation  in 
the  United  States,  and  issued  the  following  call : 

The  National  Association  will  hold  a  convention  in  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
July  19,  1878.  This  will  be  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the  first  woman's 
rights  convention,  held  July  19,  1848,  in  the  Wesleyan  church  at  Seneca 
Falls,  N.  Y.,  and  adjourned  to  meet,  August  2,  in  Rochester.  Some  who 
took  part  in  that  convention  have  passed  away,  but  many  others,  including 
both  Mrs.  Mott  and  Mrs.  Stanton,  are  still  living.  This  convention  will 
take  the  place  of  the  usual  May  anniversary,  and  will  be  largely  devoted 
to  reminiscences.  Friends  are  cordially  invited  to  be  present. 

CLEMENCE  S.  LOZIER,  M.  D.,  President. 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 

The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Unitarian  church  on  Fitzhugh 
street,  occupied  by  the  same  society  that  had  opened  its  doors 
in  1848  ;  and  Amy  Post,  one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the  first  con- 
vention, still  living  in  Rochester  and  in  her  seventy-seventh  year, 
assisted  in  the  arrangements.  Rochester,  known  as  "  The  Flower 
City,"  contributed  of  its  beauty  to  the  adornment  of  the  church. 
It  was  crowded  at  the  first  session.  Representatives  from  a  large 
number  of  States  were  present,*  and  there  was  a  pleasant  inter- 
change of  greetings  between  those  whose  homes  were  far  apart, 
but  who  were  friends  and  co-workers  in  this  great  reform.  The 
reunion  was  more  like  the  meeting  of  near  and  dear  relatives 
than  of  strangers  whose  only  bond  was  work  in  a  common  cause. 
Such  are  the  compensations  which  help  to  sustain  reformers  while 
they  battle  ignorance  and  prejudice  in  order  to  secure  justice.  In 
the  absence  of  the  president,  Dr.  Clemence  S.  Lozier,  Mrs.  Stan- 
ton  took  the  chair  and  said : 

We  are  here  to  celebrate  the  third  decade  of  woman's  struggle  in  this 
country  for  liberty.  Thirty  years  have  passed  since  many  of  us  now 


*  DELEGATES  TO  THE  THIRTIETH  ANNIVERSARY. — Alabama,  Priscilla  Holmes  Drake ;  California, 
Ellen  Clark  Sargent;  District  of  Columbia,  Frederick  Douglass,  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Sara  Andrews 
Spencer,  Caroline  K.  Winslow,  M.  D.;  Indiana,  Margaret  C.  Conklin,  Mary  B.  Naylor,  May  Wright 
Thompson  ;  Massachusetts,  Harriet  H.  Robinson,  Harriette  R.  Shattuck  ;  Maryland,  Lavinia  C.  Dun- 
dore ;  Michigan,  Catherine  A.  F.  Stcbbins,  Frances  Titus,  Sojourner  Truth;  Missouri,  Phoebe  W. 
Couzins  ;  New  Hampshire,  Parker  Pillsbmy  ;  North  Carolina,  Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith  ;  New  Jersey. 
Kluabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Sarah  M.  Hum  ;  New  York,  Albany  county ,  Arethusa  L.  Forbes  ;  Dutches** 
Helen  M.  Loder;  Lewis,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Wilcox  ;  Madison,  Helen  Raymond  Jarvis ;  Monroe,  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  Amy  Post,  Sarah  H.  Willis,  Mary  H.  Hallowell,  Mary  S.  Anthony,  l.e.vi.i  C.  Smith  and 
many  others  ;  Orleans,  Mrs.  Plumb,  Mrs.  Clark  ;  Onondaga,  Lucy  N.  Coleman,  Dr.  Amelia  F.  Ray- 
mond, Matilda  Joslyn  Gage;  Ontario^  Elizabeth  C.  Atwcll,  Catherine  H.  Sands,  Elizabeth  Smith 
Miller,  Helen  M.  Pitts  ;  Queens,  Mary  A.  Pell ;  Wayne,  Sarah  K.  Rathbone,  Rebecca  B.  Thomas; 
ll'yomittf,  Charlotte  A.  Cleveland  ;  Gencstt,  the  Misses  Morton  ;  A'ew  York,  Clemence  S.  Lozier,  M. 
D.,  Helen  M.  Slocum,  Sara  A.  Barret,  M.  D.,  Hamilton  Wilcox  ;  Ohio,  Mrs.  Ellen  Sully  Fray ;  Penn- 
sylvania, Lucretia  Mott,  Sarah  Pugh,  Adeline  Thomson,  Maria  C.  Arter,  M.  D.,  Mrs.  Watson  ;  South 
Carolina,  Martha  Schofield  ;  Wisconsin,  Mrs.  C.  L.  Morgan. 


ii8  History  of  Woma,n  Suffrage. 

present  met  in  this  place  to  discuss  the  true  position  of  woman  as 
a  citizen  of  a  republic.  The  reports  of  our  first  conventions  show  that 
those  who  inaugurated  this  movement  understood  the  significance  of  the 
term  "citizens."  At  the  very  start  we  claimed  full  equality  with  man. 
Our  meetings  were  hastily  called  and  somewhat  crudely  conducted; 
but  we  intuitively  recognized  the  fact  that  we  were  defrauded  of  our 
natural  rights,  conceded  in  the  national  constitution.  And  thus  the 
greatest  movement  of  the  century  was  inaugurated.  I  say  greatest,  be- 
cause through  the  elevation  of  woman  all  humanity  is  lifted  to  a  higher 
plane.  To  contrast  our  position  thirty  years  ago,  under  the  old  com- 
mon law  of  England,  with  that  we  occupy  under  the  advanced  legisla- 
tion of  to-day,  is  enough  to  assure  us  that  we  have  passed  the  boundary 
line — from  slavery  to  freedom.  We  already  see  the  mile-stones  of  a  new 
civilization  on  every  highway. 

Look  at  the  department  of  education,  the  doors  of  many  colleges  and 
universities  thrown  wide  open  to  women  ;  girls  contending  for,  yea,  and 
winning  prizes  over  their  brothers.  In  the  working  world  they  are 
rapidly  filling  places  and  climbing  heights  unknown  to  them  before, 
realizing,  in  fact,  the  dreams,  the  hopes,  the  prophesies  of  the  inspired 
women  of  by-gone  centuries.  In  many  departments  of  learning  woman 
stands  the  peer  of  man,  and  when  by  higher  education  and  profitable  labor 
she  becomes  self-reliant  and  independent,  then  she  must  and  wiJl  be  free. 
The  moment  an  individual  or  a  class  is  strong  enough  to  stand  alone, 
bondage  is  impossible.  Jefferson  Davis,  in  a  recent  speech,  says :  "  A 
Caesar  could  not  subject  a  people  fit  to  be  free,  nor  could  a  Brutus  save 
them  if  they  were  fit  for  subjugation." 

Looking  back  over  the  past  thirty  years,  how  long  ago  seems  that  July 
morning  when  we  gathered  round  the  altar  in  the  old  Wesleyan  church 
in  Seneca  Falls  !  It  taxes  and  wearies  the  memory  to  think  of  all  the  con- 
ventions we  have  held,  the  legislatures  we  have  besieged,  the  petitions 
and  tracts  we  have  circulated,  the  speeches,  the  calls,  the  resolutions  we 
have  penned,  the  never-ending  debates  we  have  kept  up  in  public  and 
private,  and  yet  to  each  and  all  our  theme  is  as  fresh  and  absorbing  as  it 
was  the  day  we  started.  Calm,  benignant,  subdued  as  we  look  on  this 
platform,  if  any  man  should  dare  to  rise  in  our  presence  and  controvert  a 
single  position  we  have  taken,  there  is  not  a  woman  here  that  would  not 
in  an  instant,  with  flushed  face  and  flashing  eye,  bristle  all  over  with  sharp, 
pointed  arguments  that  would  soon  annihilate  the  most  skilled  logician, 
the  most  profound  philosopher. 

To  those  of  you  on  this  platform  who  for  these  thirty  years  have  been 
the  steadfast  representatives  of  woman's  cause,  my  friends  and  co-laborers, 
let  me  say  our  work  has  not  been  in  vain.  True,  we  have  not  yet  secured 
the  suffrage,  but  we  have  aroused  public  thought  to  the  many  disabilities 
of  our  sex,  and  our  countrywomen  to  higher  self-respect  and  worthier 
ambition,  and  in  this  struggle  for  justice  we  have  deepened  and  broadened 
our  own  lives  and  extended  the  horizon  of  our  vision.  Ridiculed,  perse- 
cuted, ostracised,  we  have  learned  to  place  a  just  estimate  on  popular 
opinion,  and  to  feel  a  just  confidence  in  ourselves.  As  the  representatives 


Mrs.   Stantoris   Address.  119 

of  principles  which  it  was  necessary  to  explain  and  defend,  we  have  been 
compelled  to  study  constitutions  and  laws,  and  in  thus  seeking  to  redress 
the  wrongs  and  vindicate  the  rights  of  the  many,  we  have  secured  a  higher 
development  for  ourselves.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  full  fruition  of  these 
years  of  seed-sowing  shall  yet  be  realized,  though  it  may  not  be  by  those 
who  have  led  in  the  reform,  for  many  of  our  number  have  already  fallen 
asleep.  Another  decade  and  not  one  of  us  may  be  here,  but  we  have 
smoothed  the  rough  paths  for  those  who  come  after  us.  The  lives  of 
multitudes  will  be  gladdened  by  the  sacrifices  we  have  made,  and  the 
truths  we  have  uttered  can  never  die. 

Standing  near  the  gateway  of  the  unknown  land  and  looking  back 
through  the  vista  of  the  past,  memory  recalls  many  duties  in  life's  varied 
relations  we  would  had  been  better  done.  The  past  to  all  of  us  is  filled 
with  regrets.  We  can  recall,  perchance,  social  ambitions  disappointed, 
fond  hopes  wrecked,  ideals  in  wealth,  power,  position,  unattained — much 
that  would  be  considered  success  in  life  unrealized.  But  Lthink  we  should 
all  agree  that  the  time,  the  thought,  the  energy  we  have  devoted  to  the 
freedom  of  our  countrywomen,  that  the  past,  in  so  far  as  our  lives  have 
represented  this  great  movement,  brings  us  only  unalloyed  satisfaction. 
The  rights  already  obtained,  the  full  promise  of  the  rising  generation  of 
women  more  than  repay  us  for  the  hopes  so  long  deferred,  the  rights  yet 
denied,  the  humiliation  of  spirit  we  still  suffer. 

And  for  those  of  you  who  have  been  mere  spectators  of  the  long,  hard 
battle  we  have  fought,  and  are  still  fighting,  I  have  a  word.  Whatever 
your  attitude  has  been,  whether  as  cold,  indifferent  observers — whether 
you  have  hurled  at  us  the  shafts  of  ridicule  or  of  denunciation,  we  ask 
you  now  to  lay  aside  your  old  educational  prejudices  and  give  this  ques- 
tion your  earnest  consideration,  substituting  reason  for  ridicule,  sympathy 
for  sneers.  I  urge  the  young  women  especially  to  prepare  themselves  to 
take  up  the  work  so  soon  to  fall  from  our  hands.  You  have  had  oppor- 
tunities for  education  such  as  we  had  not.  You  hold  to-day  the  vantage- 
ground  we  have  won  by  argument.  Show  now  your  gratitude  to  us  by 
making  the  uttermost  of  yourselves,  and  by  your  earnest,  exalted  lives 
secure  to  those  who  come  after  you  a  higher  outlook,  a  broader  culture, 
a  larger  freedom  than  have  yet  been  vouchsafed  to  woman  in  our  own 
happy  land. 

Congratulatory  letters*  and  telegrams  were  received  from  all 
portions  of  the  United  States  and  from  the  old  world.  Space 


*  Kroin  Wendell  Phillips,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Lucy  Stone,  Caroline  H.  Dall,  Bo-ton  ;  Hon.  A. 
A.  Sargent,  Washington  ;  Clara  Barton,  Mathilde  F.  Wendt,  Abby  Hutchinson  Patton,  Aaron  M. 
Powell,  Father  Benson,  Margaret  Holley,  Mary  L.  Booth,  Sarah  Hallock,  Priscilla  R.  Lawrence,  Lillie 
Devcreux  Blnke,  New  York  ;  Samuel  May,  Klixabeth  Powell  Bond,  John  W.  Hutchinson,  Lucinda  B. 
Chandler,  Sarah  K.  Wall,  Massachusetts;  Caroline  M.  Spear,  Robert  Purvis,  Edward  M.  Davis  Phil- 
adelphia; Isabella  Beucher  Hooker,  Julia  E.  Smith,  Lavinia  Goodell,  Connecticut  ;  Lucy  A  Snowe, 
AnnT.  Greeley,  Maine  ;  Caroline  F.  Barr,  Bessie  liisbee  Hunt,  Mary  A.  Powers  Filley,New  Hampsnire  ; 
Catherine  Cornell  Knowles,  Rhode  Island  ;  Antoinette  Brown  Blackwell,  New  Jersey  ;  Annie  Laura 
Quinby,  Joseph  B.  Quinby,  Sarah  R.  L.  Williams,  Rosa  L.  Segur,  Ohio;  Sarah  C.  Owen,  Michigan; 
Laura  Ross  Wolcott,  M.  D.,  Mary  King,  Angie  King,  Wisconsin  ;  Frances  E.  Williard,  Clara  Lyons 
Peters,  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  Illinois;  Rachel  Lockwood  Child,  Janet  Strong,  Nancy  R.  Allen, 
Amelia  Bloomer,  Iowa  ;  Sarah  Burger  Stearns,  Hattte  M.  White,  Minnesota  ;  Mary  F.  Thomas.  M.  D., 
Emma  Molloy,  Indiana;  Matilda  Hindman,  Sarah  L.  Miller,  Pennsylvania;  Anna  K.  Irvine,  Virginia 


1 20  History  of    ll'onnw  Suffrage. 

admits  the  publication  of  but  a  few,  yet  all  breathed  the  same 
hopeful  spirit  and  confidence  in  future  success.  Abigail  Bush, 
who  presided  over  the  first  Rochester  convention,  said : 

No  one  knows  what  I  passed  through  upon  that  occasion.  I  was 
born  and  baptized  in  the  old  Scotch  Presbyterian  church.  At  that 
time  its  sacred  teachings  were,  "  if  a  woman  would  know  anything  let  her 
ask  her  husband  at  home."  I  well  remember  the  inci- 

dents of  that  meeting  and  the  thoughts  awakened  by  it.  * 

Say  to  your  convention  my  full  heart  is  with  them  in  all  their  delibera- 
tions and  counsels,  and  I  trust  great  good  to  women  will  come  of  their 
efforts. 

Ernestine  L.  Rose,  a  native  of  Poland,  and,  next  to  Frances 
Wright,  the  earliest  advocate  of  woman's  enfranchisement  in 
America,  wrote  from  England  : 

How  I  should  like  to  be  with  you  at  the  anniversary — it  reminds  me  of 
the  delightful  convention  we  had  at  Rochester,  long,  long  ago — and  speak 
of  the  wonderful  change  that  has  taken  place  in  regard  to  woman.  Com- 
pare her  present  position  in  society  with  the  one  she  occupied  forty  years 
ago,  when  I  undertook  to  emancipate  her  from  not  only  barbarous  laws, 
but  from  what  was  even  worse,  a  barbarous  public  opinion.  No  one 
can  appreciate  the  wonderful  change  in  the  social  and  moral  condition  of 
woman,  except  by  looking  back  and  comparing  the  past  with  the  present. 

*  *  *  Say  to  the  friends,  Go  on,  go  on,  halt  not  and  rest  not.  Re- 
member that  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty "  and  of  right. 
Much  has  been  achieved ;  but  the  main,  the  vital  thing,  has  yet  to  come. 
The  suffrage  is  the  magic  key  to  the  statute — the  insignia  of  citizenship 
in  a  republic. 

Caroline  Ashurst  Biggs,  editor  of  the  Englishwoman's  Review, 
London,  wrote  : 

I  have  read  with  great  interest  in  the  National  Citizen  and  the  Woman's 
Journal 'the  announcement  of  the  forthcoming  convention  in  Rochester. 
*  *  *  I  cannot  refrain  from  sending  you  a  cordial  English  congratula- 
tion upon  the  great  advance  in  the  social  and  legal  position  of  women  in 
America,  which  has  been  the  result  of  your  labor.  The  next  few 
years  will  see  still  greater  progress.  As  soon  as  the  suffrage  is 
granted  to  women,  a  concession  which  will  not  be  many  years  in  com- 
ing either  in  England  or  America,  every  one  of  our  questions  will  ad- 
vance with  double  force,  and  meanwhile  our  efforts  in  that  direction 
are  simultaneously  helping  forward  other  social,  legal,  educational  and 


L.  Minor,  Missouri  :  Elizabeth  H.  Duvall,  Kentucky;  Mrs.  G.  W.  Church.  Tennessee;  Mrs.  Augusta 
Williams,  Elsie  Stuart,  Kansas;  Ada  W.  Lucas,  Nebraska  ;  Emeline  B.  Wells.  Annie  Godbe,  Utah  ; 
Mary  F.  Shields,  Alida  C.  Avery,  M.  D.,  Colorado  ;  Harriet  Loushary,  Mrs.  L.  F.  Proebstel,  Mrs.  Co- 
burn,  Abigail  Scott  Duniway,  Oregon  ;  Clarina  I.  H.  Nichols,  Elizabeth  B.  Schenck,  Sarah  J.  WallU, 
Abigail  Bush,  Laura  de  Force  Gordon,  California  ;  Mrs.  A.  H.  H.  Stuart,  Washington  Territory  ;  Helen 
M.  Martin,  Arkansas  ;  Helen  R.  Holmes,  District  of  Columbia  ;  Caroline  V.  Putnam,  Virginia  ;  Eliza- 
beth Avcry  Meriwether,  Tennessee;  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon,  Louisiana;  Martha  Goodwin  Tunstall, 
Texas  ;  Priscilla  Holmes  Drake,  Buell  D.  M'Clung,  Alabama,  Ellen  Sully  Fray,  Ontario;  Theodore 
Stanton,  France ;  Ernestine  L.  Rose,  Caroline  Ashurst  Biggs,  Lydia  E.  Becker,  England. 


Letters  of  Congratulation.  1 2  I 

moral  reforms.  Our  organization  in  England  does  not  date  back  so  far 
as  yours.  There  were  only  a  few  isolated  thinkers  when  Mrs.  John 
Stuart  Mill  wrote  her  essay  on  the  enfranchisement  of  women  in  1851. 
For  twenty  years,  however,  it  has  progressed  with  few  drawbacks.  In 
some  particulars  the  English  laws  in  respect  of  women  are  in  advance  of 
yours,  but  the  connection  between  England  and  America  is  so  close  that 
a  gain  to  one  is  a  gain  to  the  other. 

Lydia  E.  Becker,  editor  of  the  Women  s  Suffrage  Journal,  Man- 
chester, England,  wrote : 

*  *  *  I  beg  to  offer  to  the  venerable  pioneers  of  the  movement, 
more  especially  to  Lucretia  Mott,  a  tribute  of  respectful  admiration  and 
gratitude  for  the  services  they  have  rendered  in  the  cause  of  enfranchise- 
ment. *  *  *  As  regards  the  United  kingdom,  the  movement  in  a  prac- 
tical form  is  but  twelve  years  old,  and  in  that  period,  although  we 
have  not  obtained  the  parliamentary  franchise,  we  have  seen  it  sup- 
ported by  at  least  one-third  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  our  claim 
admitted  as  one  which  must  be  dealt  with  in  future  measures  of  parlia- 
mentary reform.  We  have  obtained  the  municipal  franchise  and  the  school- 
board  franchise.  Women  have  secured  the  right  to  enter  the  medical 
profession  and  to  take  degrees  in  the  University  of  London,  besides  con- 
siderable amendment  of  the  law  regarding  married  women,  though  much 
remains  to  be  done. 

Senator  Sargent,  since  minister  to  Berlin,  wrote  : 

I  regret  that  the  necessity  to  proceed  at  once  to  California  will  deprive 
me  of  the  pleasure  of  attending  your  convention  of  July  19,  the  anni- 
versary of  the  spirited  declaration  of  rights  put  forth  thirty  years  ago  by 
some  of  the  noblest  and  most  enlightened  women  of  America.  Women's 
rights  have  made  vast  strides  since  that  day,  in  juster  legislation,  in 
widened  spheres  of  employment,  and  in  the  gradual  but  certain  recognition 
by  large  numbers  of  citizens  of  the  justice  and  policy  of  extending  the  elec- 
tive franchise  to  women.  It  is  now  very  generally  conceded  that  the  time 
is  rapidly  approaching  when  women  will  vote.  The  friends  of  the  move- 
ment have  faith  in  the  result;  its  enemies  grudgingly  admit  it.  Courage 
and  work  will  hasten  the  day.  The  worst  difficulties  have  already  been 
overcome.  The  movement  has  passed  the  stage  of  ridicule,  and  even 
that  of  abuse,  and  has  entered  that  of  intelligent  discussion,  its  worst  ad- 
versaries treating  it  with  respect.  You  are  so  familiar  with  all  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  this  great  reform  that  I  will  not  attempt  to  state  them ; 
but  I  wish  to  say  that  as  an  observer  of  public  events,  it  is  my  deliberate 
judgment  that  your  triumph  is  near  at  hand.  There  are  vastly  more  men 
and  women  in  the  United  States  now  who  believe  that  women  should 
li.ivt:  the  right  to  vote  than  there  were  in  1848  who  believed  the  slave 
should  be  freed.  This  is  a  government  of  opinions  and  the  growing 
opinion  will  be  irresistible.  Respectfully  yours,  A.  A.  SARGF.N  i . 

The  following  letters  from  the  great  leaders  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement  were  gratefully  received.  As  Mr.  Garrison  soon  after 


J  22 


/  f  is  lory  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


finished  his  eventful  life,  this  proved  to  be  his  last  message  to 
our  association  : 

BOSTON,  June  30,  1878. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY — Your  urgent  and  welcome  letter,  inviting 
me  to  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the  woman's  rights  movement  at 
Rochester,  came  yesterday.  Most  earnestly  do  I  wish  I  could  be  present 
to  help  mark  this  epoch  in  our  movement,  and  join  in  congratulating  the 
friends  on  the  marvelous  results  of  their  labors.  No  reform  has  gathered 
more  devoted  and  self-sacrificing  friends.  No  one  has  had  lives  more 
generously  given  to  its  service ;  and  you  who  have  borne  such  heavy 
burdens  may  well  rejoice  in  the  large  harvest ;  for  no  reform  has,  I  think, 
had  such  rapid  success.  You  who  remember  the  indifference  which 
almost  discouraged  us  in  1848,  and  who  have  so  bravely  faced  ungenerous 
opposition  and  insult  since,  must  look  back  on  the  result  with  unmixed 
astonishment  and  delight.  Temperance,  and  finance — which  is  but  another 
name  for  the  labor  movement — and  woman's  rights,  are  three  radical 
questions  which  overtop  all  others  in  value  and  importance.  Woman's 
claim  tor  the  ballot-box  has  had  a  much  wider  influence  than  merely  to 
protect  woman.  Universal  suffrage  is  itself  in  danger.  Scholars  dread  it: 
social  science  and  journalists  attack  it.  The  discussion  of  woman's  claim 
has  done  much  to  reveal  this  danger,  and  rally  patriotic  and  thoughtful 
men  in  defense.  In  many  ways  the  agitation  has  educated  the  people. 
Its  success  shows  that  the  masses  are  sound  and  healthy;  and  if  we  gain, 
in  the  coming  fifteen  years,  half  as  much  as  we  have  in  the  last  thirty, 
woman  will  hold  spear  and  shield  in  her  own  hands.  If  I  might  presume 
to  advise,  1  should  say  close  up  the  ranks  and  write  on  our  flag  only 
one  claim — the  ballot.  Everything  helps  us,  and  if  we  are  united,  suc- 
cess cannot  long  be  delayed.  Very  cordially  yours, 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS. 

BOSTON,  July  1 6,  1878. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND — The  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the  first  woman's 
rights  convention  ever  held  with  special  reference  to  demanding  the  elec- 
tive franchise  irrespective  of  sex.  well  deserves  to  be  commemorated  in 
the  manner  set  forth  in  the  call  for  the  same,  at  Rochester,  on  the  igth 
instant.  As  a  substitute  for  my  personal  attendance,  I  can  only  send  a 
brief  but  warm  congratulatory  epistle  on  the  cheering  progress  which  the 
movement  has  made  within  the  period  named.  For  how  widely  different 
are  the  circumstances  under  which  that  convention  was  held,  and  those 
which  attend  the  celebration  of  its  third  decade!  Then,  the  assertion 
of  civil  and  political  equality,  alike  for  men  and  women,  excited  wide- 
spread disgust  and  astonishment,  as  though  it  were  a  proposition  to  re- 
peal the  laws  of  nature,  and  literally  to  "  turn  the  world  upside  down  "; 
and  it  was  ridiculed  and  caricatured  as  little  short  of  lunacy.  Now,  it  is  a 
subject  of  increasing  interest  and  grave  consideration,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific,  and  what  at  first  appeared  to  be  so  foolish  in  pretension 
is  admitted  by  all  reflecting  and  candid  minds  to  be  deserving  of  the  most 
respectful  treatment.  Then,  its  avowed  friends,  were  indeed  "  few  and  far 


Mr.    Garrisons  Letter.  121 

\J 

between,"  even  among  those  disfranchised  as  the  penalty  of  their  woman- 
hood. Now,  they  can  be  counted  by  tens  of  thousands,  and  their  num- 
ber is  augmenting — foremost  in  intelligence,  in  weight  of  character, 
in  strength  of  understanding,  in  manly  and  womanly  development,  and  in 
all  that  goes  to  make  up  enlightened  citizenship.  Then,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, women  were  everywhere  remanded  to  poverty  and  servile  depen- 
dence, being  precluded  from  following  those  avocations  and  engaging  in 
those  pursuits  which  make  competency  and  independence  not  a  difficult 
achievement.  Now,  there  is  scarcely  any  situation  or  profession,  in  the 
arrangements  of  society,  to  which  they  may  not  and  do  not  aspire,  and  in 
which  many  of  them  are  not  usefully  engaged  ;  whether  in  new  and  varied 
industrial  employment,  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  the  highest  range  of 
literature,  in  philosophic  and  mathematical  investigations,  in  the  profes- 
sions of  law,  medicine,  and  divinity,  in  high  scholarship,  in  educational 
training  and  supervision,  in  rhetoric  and  oratory,  in  the  lyceum,  or  in 
discharging  the  official  duties  connected  with  the  various  departments  of 
the  State  and  national  governments. 

Almost  all  barriers  are  down  except  that  which  prevents  women 
from  going  to  the  polls  to  help  decide  who  shall  be  the  law-makers  and 
what  shall  be  the  laws,  so  that  the  general  welfare  may  be  impartially  con- 
sulted, and  the  blessings  of  freedom  and  equal  rights  be  enjoyed  by  all. 
That  barrier,  too,  must  give  way  wherever  erected,  as  sure  as  time  outlasts 
and  baffles  every  device  of  wrong-doing,  and  truth  is  stronger  than  false- 
hood, and  the  law  of  eternal  justice  is  as  reliable  as  the  law  of  gravitation. 
Yes !  the  grand  fundamental  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  independence 
shall  yet  be  reduced  to  practice  in  our  land — that  the  human  race  are 
created  free  and  equal ;  that  government  derives  its  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed,  and  that  taxation  without  representation  is 
tyranny.  And  I  confidently  predict  that  this  will  be  witnessed  before  the 
expiration  of  another  decade. 

Yours,  to  abate  nothing  of  heart  or  hope, 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

Mrs.  Mott  never  seemed  more  hopeful  for  the  triumph  of  our 
principles  than  on  this  occasion.  She  expressed  great  satisfac- 
tion in  the  number  of  young  women  who  for  the  first  time  that 
day  graced  our  platform.*  Though  in  her  eighty-sixth  year,  her 
enthusiasm  in  the  cause  for  which  she  had  so  long  labored  seemed 
still  unabated,  and  her  eye  sparkled  with  humor  as  of  yore  while 
giving  some  amusing  reminiscences  of  encounters  with  opponents 
in  the  early  days.  Always  apt  in  biblical  quotations  she  had 
proved  herself  a  worthy  antagonist  of  the  clergy  on  our  platform. 
She  had  slain  many  Abimelechs  with  short  texts  of  Scripture, 

*  While  May  Wright  Thompson  was  speaking  she  turned  to  Mrs.  Stanton  and  said.  "How 
thankful  I  am  for  these  bright  young  women  now  ready  to  fill  our  soon-to-be  vacant  places.  I  want  to 
shake  hands  with  them  all  before  I  go,  and  give  them  a  few  words  of  encouragement.  I  do  hope  they 
will  not  be  spoiled  with  too  much  praise." 


i  24  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

whose  defeat  was  the  more  humiliating  because  received  at  the 
hand  of  a  woman.  As  she  recounted  in  her  happiest  vein  the 
triumphs  of  her  coadjutors  she  was  received  with  the  heartiest 
manifestations  of  delight  by  her  auditors.  She  took  a  lively  in- 
terest in  the  discussion  of  the  resolutions  that  had  been  presented 
by  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage : 

Resolved,  That  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people  is  yet 
to  be  realized;  for  that  which  is  formed,  administered  and  controlled  only  by  men,  is 
practically  nothing  more  than  an  enlarged  oligarchy,  whose  assumptions  of  natural  su- 
periority and  of  the  right  to  rule  are  as  baseless  as  those  enforced  by  the  aristocratic 
powers  of  the  old  world. 

Resolved,  That  in  celebrating  our  third  decade  we  have  reason  to  congratulate  our- 
selves on  the  marked  change  in  woman's  position — in  her  enlarged  opportunities  for 
education  and  labor,  her  greater  freedom  under  improved  social  customs  and  civil 
laws,  and  the  promise  of  her  speedy  enfranchisement  in  the  minor  political  rights  she 
has  already  secured. 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Congress  *  called  in  Paris,  July  20,  to  discuss  the 
rights  of  woman — the  eminent  Victor  Hugo,  its  presiding  officer — is  one  of  the  most 
encouraging  events  of  the  century,  in  that  statesmen  and  scholars  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  amid  the  excitement  of  the  French  Exposition,  propose  to  give  five  days  to 
deliberations  upon  this  question. 

Resolved,  That  the  majority  report  of  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Privileges 
and  Elections,  Senator  Wadleigh  ot  New  Hampshire,  against  a  sixteenth  amendment 
to  secure  the  political  rights  of  woman  in  its  weakness,  shows  the  strength  of  our  re- 
form. 

Resolved,  That  the  national  effort  to  force  citizenship  on  the  Indians,  the  decision 
of  Judge  Sawyer  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  California  against  the  naturali- 
zation of  the  Chinese,  and  the  refusal  of  congress  to  secure  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
women,  are  class  legislation,  dangerous  to  the  stability  of  our  institutions. 

WHEREAS.  Woman's  rights  and  duties  in  all  matters  of  legislation  are  the  same  as 
those  of  man, 

Resolved,  That  the  problems  of  labor,  finance,  suffrage,  international  rights,  in- 
ternal improvements,  and  other  great  questions,  can  never  be  satisfactorily  adjusted 
without  the  enlightened  thought  of  womanr  and  her  voice  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

Resolved,  That  the  question  of  capital  and  labor  is  one  of  special  interest  to  us. 
Man,  standing  to  woman  in  the  position  of  capitalist,  has  robbed  her  through  the  ages 
of  the  results  of  her  toil.  No  just  settlement  of  this  question  can  be  attained  until 
the  right  of  woman  to  the  proceeds  of  her  labor  in  the  family  and  elsewhere  is  recog- 
nized, and  she  is  welcomed  into  every  industry  on  the  basis  of  equal  pay  for  equal 
work. 

Resolved,  That  as  the  first  duty  of  every  individual  is  self-development,  the  lessons  of 
self-sacrifice  and  obedience  taught  woman  by  the  Christian  church  have  been  fatal,  not 
only  to  her  own  vital  interests,  but  through  her,  to  those  of  the  race. 

Resolved,  That  the  great  principle  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  the  right  of  in- 
div'dual  conscience  and  judgment  heretofore  exercised  by  man  alone,  should  now  be 
claimed  by  woman;  that,  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture,  she  should  be  guided  by 
her  own  reason,  and  not  by  the  authority  of  the  church. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  through  the  perversion  of  the  religious  element  in  woman — 
playing  upon  her  hopes  and  fears  of  the  future,  holding  this  life  with  all  its  high  duties 
in  abeyance  to  that  which  is  to  come — that  she  and  the  children  she  has  trained  have 
been  so  completely  subjugated  by  priestcraft  and  superstition. 

*  For  account  of  this  International  Congress,  see  chapter  on  Continental  Europe  in  this  volume. 


Farewell  to  Lucretia  Mott.  125 

This  was  the  last  convention  ever  attended  by  Lucretia  Mott. 
Her  family  had  specially  requested  that  she  should  not  be 
urged  to  go ;  but  on  seeing  the  call,  she  quietly  announced 
her  intention  to  be  at  the  meeting,  and,  with  the  ever  faithful 
Sarah  Pugh  as  her  companion,  she  made  the  journey  from  Phila- 
delphia in  the  intense  heat  of  those  July  days.  Mrs.  Mott  was 
the  guest  of  her  husband's  nephew,  Dr.  E.  M.  Moore,  who,  fear- 
ing that  his  aunt  would  be  utterly  exhausted,  called  for  her  while 
she  was  in  the  midst  of  her  closing  remarks.  As  she  descended 
the  platform,  she  continued  speaking  while  she  slowly  moved 
down  the  aisle,  shaking  hands  upon  either  side.  The  audience 
simultaneously  rose,  and  on  behalf  of  all,  Frederick  Douglass 
ejaculated,  "  Good-by,  dear  Lucretia!" 

The  last  three  resolutions  called  out  a  prolonged  discussion  * 
not  only  in  the  convention  but  from  the  pulpit  and  press  of  the 
State. 

One  amusing  encounter  in  the  course  of  the  debate  is  worthy 
of  note.  Perhaps  it'was  due  to  the  intense  heat  that  Mr.  Douglass, 
usually  clear  on  questions  of  principle,  was  misled  into  opposing 
the  resolutions.  He  spoke  with  great  feeling  and  religious  senti- 
ment of  the  beautiful  Christian  doctrine  of  self-sacrifice.  When 
he  finished,  Mrs.  Lucy  Coleman,  always  keen  in  pricking  bubbles, 
arose  and  said  :  "  Well,  Mr.  Douglass,  all  you  say  may  be  true; 
but  allow  me  to  ask  you  why  you  did  not  remain  a  slave  in  Mary- 
land, and  sacrifice  yourself,  like  a  Christian,  to  your  master,  instead 
of  running  off  to  Canada  to  secure  your  liberty,  like  a  man  ?  We 
shall  judge  your  faith,  Frederick,  by  your  deeds." 

An  immense  audience  assembled  at  Corinthian  Hall  in  the 
evening  to  listen  to  the  closing  speeches  f  of  the  convention. 
Mrs.  Robinson  of  Boston  gave  an  exhaustive  review  of  the 
work  in  Massachusetts,  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Shattuck,  gave 
many  amusing  experiences  as  her  father's  \  clerk  in  the  legislature 
of  that  State. 

The  resolutions  provoked  many  attacks  from  the  clergy  through- 
out the  State,  led  by  Rev.  A.  H.  Strong,  D.  D.,  president  of  the 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary  in  Rochester,  Of  his  sermon  the 
National  Citizen  said : 


*  Mrs.  Mott,  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Mrs.  Coleman,  Mr.  Wilcox,  Mrs.  Slocum,  Mrs.  Dundore, 
Mrs.  Stcbbins,  Mrs.  Sands,  Mrs.  Amy  Post,  and  Mrs.  Klizabeth  Oakes-Smith,  who  having  resided  in 
North  Carolina  had  not  been  on  our  platform  for  many  years,  were  among  the  speakers. 

t  By  Miss  Couzins,  Mr.  Douglass,  Mrs.  Spencer. 

$  Mr.  Robinson,  as  "  Warrington,"  was  will  known  as  one  of  the  best  writers  on  the  Springfield 
Rtpublican. 


126  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

None  too  soon  have  we  issued  our  resolutions,  proclaiming  woman's 
right  to  self-development — to  interpret  Scripture  for  herself,  to  use  her 
own  faculties.  In  speaking  of  what  Christianity  has  done  for  woman, 
Dr.  Strong  stultifies  his  own  assertions  by  referring  to  Switzerland  and 
Germany  "  where  you  may  see  any  day  hundreds  of  women  wheeling  earth 
for  railroad  embankments."  Does  he  not  remember  that  Switzerland  and 
Germany  are  Christian  countries  and  that  it  is  part  of  their  civilization 
that  while  women  do  this  work,  some  man  takes  the  pay  and  puts  it  in  his 
own  pocket  quite  in  heathen  fashion  ?  The  reverend  doctor  in  the  usual 
style  of  opposition  to  woman — which  is  to  quote  something  or  other  hav- 
ing no  bearing  upon  the  question — refers  to  Cornelia's  "  jewels,"  forgetting 
to  say  that  Cornelia  delivered  public  lectures  upon  philosophy  in  Rome, 
and  that  Cicero  paid  the  very  highest  tribute  to  her  learning  and  genius. 

Dr.  Strong  advocates  the  old  theory  that  woman  and  man  are  not  two 
classes  standing  upon  the  same  level,  but  that  the  two  are  one — that  one 
on  the  time-worn  theory  of  common  law,  the  husband ;  and  talks  of 
the  "dignity  and  delicacy  of  woman"  being  due  to  the  fact  of  her  not 
having  been  in  public  life,  and  that  this  "dignity  and  delicacy"  would  all 
evaporate  if  once  she  were  allowed  to  vote,  which  reminds  one  of  the 
story  of  Baron  Munchausen's  horn,  into  which  a  certain  coach-driver 
blew  all  manner  of  wicked  tunes.  The  weather  being  very  cold,  these 
tunes  remained  frozen  in  the  horn.  When  hung  by  the  fire,  the  horn  be- 
gan to  thaw  out,  and  these  wicked  tunes  came  pealing  forth  to  the  great 
amazement  of  the  by-standers.  The  reverend  gentlemen  seems  to  think 
women  are  full  of  frozen  wickedness,  which  if  they  enter  public  life  will 
be  thawed  out  to  the  utter  demolition  of  their  "  dignity  and  delicacy  "  and 
the  disgust  of  society.  He  deems  it  "too  hazardous"  to  allow  women  to 
vote.  "  Bad  women  would  vote."  Well,  what  of  it  ?  Have  they  not 
equal  right  with  bad  men,  to  self-government  ?  Bad  is  a  relative  term.  It 
strikes  us  that  the  very  reverend  Dr.  Strong  is  a  "  bad  "  man — a  man  who 
does  not  understand  true  Christianity — who  is  not  just — who  would 
strike  those  who  are  down — who  would  keep  woman  in  slavery — who 
quotes  the  Bible  as  his  authority :  thus  fettering  woman's  conscience, 
binding  her  will,  and  playing  upon  her  hopes  and  fears  to  keep  her  in  sub- 
jection. 

From  Augustine,  down,  theologians  have  tried  to  compel  people  to  ac- 
cept their  special  interpretation  of  the  Scripture,  and  the  tortures  of 
the  inquisition,  the  rack,  the  thumb-screw,  the  stake,  the  persecutions  of 
witchcraft,  the  whipping  of  naked  women  through  the  streets  of  Boston, 
banishment,  trials  for  heresy,  the  halter  about  Garrison's  neck,  Lovejoy's 
death,  the  branding  of  Captain  Walker,  shouts  of  infidel  and  atheist,  have 
all  been  for  this  purpose. 

We  know  the  ignorance  that  exists  upon  these  points.  Few  have  yet 
begun  to  comprehend  the  influence  that  ecclesiasticism  has  had  upon  law. 
Wharton,  a  recognized  authority  upon  criminal  law,  issued  his  seventh 
edition  before  he  ascertained  the  vast  bearing  canon  law  had  had  upon 
the  civil  code,  and  we  advise  readers  to  consult  the  array  of  authorities, 
English,  Latin,  German,  to  which  he,  in  his  preface,  refers.  We  hope  to 


Editorial  of  "The  Index."  127 

arouse  attention  and  compel  investigation  of  this  subject  by  lawyers  and 
theologians  as  well  as  by  women  themselves. 

Francis  £.  Abbot,  editor  of  TJie  Index,  the  organ  of  the  Free 
Religious  Association,  spoke  grandly  in  favor  of  the  resolutions. 
He  said : 

These  resolutions  we  have  read  with  astonishment,  admiration  and  de- 
light. We  should  not  have  believed  it  possible  that  the  convention  could 
have  been  induced  to  adopt  them.  They  will  make  forever  memorable  in 
the  history  of  the  organized  woman  movement,  this  thirtieth  anniversary 
of  its  birth.  They  put  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  in  an 
inconceivably  higher  and  nobler  position  than  that  occupied  by  any 
similar  society.  They  go  to  the  very  root  of  the  matter.  They  are  a  bold, 
dignified,  and  magnificent  utterance.  We  congratulate  the  convention  on 
a  record  so  splendid  in  the  eyes  of  all  true  liberals.  From  this  day  forth 
the  whole  woman  movement  must  obey  the  inspiration  of  a  higher  courage 
and  a  grander  spirit  than  have  been  known  to  its  past.  Opposition  must 
be  encountered,  tenfold  more  bitter  than  was  ever  yet  experienced.  But 
truth  is  on  the  side  of  these  brave  women ;  the  ringing  words  they  have 
spoken  at  Rochester  will  thrill  many  a  doubting  heart  and  be  echoed  far 
down  the  long  avenue  of  the  years. 

During  the  same  week  of  the  Rochester  convention,  the  Paris 
International  Congress  opened  it  sessions,  sending  us  a  telegram 
of  greeting  to  which  we  responded  with  two  hundred  and  fifty 
francs  as  a  tangible  evidence  of  our  best  wishes.  The  two  re- 
markable features  of  that  congress  were  the  promise  of  so  dis- 
tinguished a  man  as  Victor  Hugo  to  preside  over  its  delibera- 
tions, though  at  last  prevented  by  illness ;  and  the  fact  that  the 
Italian  government  sent  Mile.  Mozzoni  as  an  official  delegate  to 
the  congress  to  study  the  civil  position  of  woman  in  various 
countries,  in  order  that  an  ameliorating  change  of  its  code,  in 
respect  to  woman,  could  be  wisely  made. 

The  newspapers  of  the  French  capital  in  general  treated  the 
congress  with  respect.  The  Rappel,  Victor  Hugo's  organ,  spoke 
of  it  in  a  most  complimentary  manner.  Theodore  Stanton,  in  a 
letter  to  the  National  Citizen,  said  : 

In  one  important  respect  this  congress  differed  entirely  from  an  Ameri- 
can convention  of  like  character — it  made  no  demand  for  suffrage. 
The  word  was  never  mentioned  except  by  the  American  delegates.  In 
contmental  Europe  the  idea  of  demanding  for  woman  a  share  in  the  gov- 
ernment, is  never  considered.  This  is  the  more  remarkable  in  France,  as 
this  claim  was  made  at  the  time  of  the  revolution.  But  every  imaginable 
side  of  the  question  was  discussed,  except  the  side  that  comprehends  all 
the  others.  To  an  American,  therefore,  European  woman's  rights  is 
rather  tame;  it  is  like  the  play  of  Hamlet  with  Hamlet  left  out.  But 


128  History  of   }]7oman  Suffrage. 

Europe  is  moving,  and  the  next  international  congress  will,  undoubtedly, 
give  more  attention  to  suffrage  and  less  to  hygiene. 

The  Eleventh  Washington  Convention  was  held  January  9,  10, 
1879.  The  resolutions  give  an  idea  of  the  status  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  the  -wide  range  of  discussion  covered  by  the  speakers:* 

Resolved,  That  the  forty-fifth  congress,  in  ignoring  the  individual  petitions  of  more 
than  three  hundred  women  of  high  social  standing  and  culture,  asking  for  the  removal 
of  their  political  disabilities,  while  promptly  enacting  special  legislation  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  political  disabilities  of  every  man  who  petitioned,  furnishes  an  illustration 
of  the  indifference  of  this  congress  to  the  rights  of  citizens  deprived  of  political  power. 

WHEREAS,  Senator  Elaine  says,  it  is  the  very  essence  of  tyranny  to  count  any  citi- 
zens in  the  basis  of  representation  who  are  denied  a  voice  in  their  laws  and  a  choice  in 
their  rulers;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  counting  women  in  the  basis  of  representation,  while  denying  them 
the  right  of  suffrage,  is  compelling  them  to  swell  the  number  of  their  tyrants  and  is 
an  unwarrantable  usurpation  of  power  over  one-half  the  citizens  of  this  republic. 

WHEREAS,  In  President  Hayes'  last  message,  he  makes  a  truly  paternal  review  of 
the  interests  of  this  republic,  both  great  and  small,  from  the  army,  the  navy,  and  our 
foreign  relations,  to  the  ten  little  Indians  in  Hampton,  Va. ,  our  timber  on  the  western 
mountains,  and  the  switches  of  the  Washington  railroads;  from  the  Paris  Exposition, 
the  postal  service,  the  abundant  harvests,  and  the  possible  bull-dozing  of  some  colored 
men  in  various  southern  districts,  to  cruelty  to  live  animals,  and  the  crowded  condition 
of  the  mummies,  dead  ducks  and  fishes  in  the  Smithsonian  Institute — yet  forgets  to 
mention  twenty  million  women  robbed  of  their  social,  civil  and  political  rights;  there- 
fore, 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  from  this  convention  to  wait  upon 
the  president  and  remind  him  of  the  existence  of  one-half  of  the  American  people 
whom  he  has  accidentally  overlooked,  and  of  whom  it  would  be  wise  for  him  to  make 
some  mention  in  his  future  messages. 

WHEREAS,  All  of  the  vital  principles  involved  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth constitutional  amendments  have  been  denied  in  their  application  to  women  by 
courts,  legislatures  and  political  parties;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  logical  that  these  amendments  should  fail  to  protect  even  the 
male  African  for  whom  said  courts,  legislatures  and  parties  declare  they  were  expressly 
designed  and  enacted. 

Resolved,  That  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  denying 
Belva  A.  Lockwood  admission  to  its  bar,  while  she  was  entitled  under  the  law  and 
under  its  rules  to  that  right,  violated  their  oath  of  office. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  Judiciary  Committee,  Mr.  Edmonds  chairman,  in  its  report 
on  the  bill  to  allow  women  to  practice  law  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  in  which 
it  declares  that  "further  legislation  is  not  necessary,"  evaded  the  plain  question  at 
issue  before  it  in  a  manner  unworthy  of  judges  learned  in  the  honorable  profession  of 
the  law,  and  thereby  sanctioned  an  injustice  to  the  women  of  the  whole  country. 

WHEREAS,  The  general  government  has  refused  to  exercise  federal  power  to  protect 
women  in  their  right  to  vote  in  the  various  Slates  and  territories;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  should  forbear  to  exercise  federal  power  to  disfranchise  the  women 
of  Utah,  who  have  had  a  more  just  and  liberal  spirit  shown  them  by  Mormon  men  than 
Gentile  women  in  the  States  have  yet  perceived  in  their  rulers. 


*  Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  California  ;  Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith,  North  Carolina  ;  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton, 
New  Jersey  ;  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake,  Mrs.  Joslyn  Gage,  Helen  M.  Slocum,  Helen  Cooke,  Susan  H.  An- 
thony, New  York;  Julia  Brown  Dunham,  Iowa;  Marilla  M.  Ricker,  New  Hampshire;  Lavinia  C. 
Dundore,  Maryland  ;  Robert  Purvis,  Julia  and  Rachel  Foster,  Pennsylvania  ;  Emeline  B.  Wells,  Zina 
Young  Williams,  Utah;  Ellen  H.  Sheldon,  Dr.  Caroline  Winslow,  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  Belva  A. 
Lockwood,  Frederick  Douglass,  Julia  A.  Wilbur,  Dr.  Cora  M.  Bland,  Washington. 


130  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

tion  of  the  bill  pending  under  different  headings  in  both  houses. 
The  president  asked  them  to  set  forth  the  facts  in  writing,  that 
he  might  carefully  weigh  so  important  a  matter.  A  memorial 
was  also  presented  to  congress  by  these  ladies,  closing  thus: 

We  further  pray  that  in  any  future  legislation  concerning  the  marriage 
relation  in  any  territory  under  your  jurisdiction  you  will  consider  the 
rights  and  the  consciences  of  the  women  to  be  affected  by  such  legisla- 
tion, and  that  you  will  consider  the  permanent  care  and  welfare  of  children 
as  the  sure  foundation  of  the  State. 

And  your  petitioners  will  ever  pray.  .  EMMELINE  B.  WELLS. 

ZINA  YOUNG  WILLIAMS. 

Mr.  Cannon  of  Utah  moved  that  the  memorial  be  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  with  leave  to  report  at  any  time. 
It  was  so  referred.  The  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  Senate 
brought  in  a  bill  legitimatizing  the  offspring  of  plural  marriages 
to  a  certain  date ;  also  authorizing  the  president  to  grant  amnesty 
for  past  offenses  against  the  law  of  1862. 

The  Congressional  Record  of  January  24,  under  the  head  of 
petitions  and  memorials,  said  : 

The  vice-president,  Mr.  Wheeler  of  New  York,  presented  the  petition  of 
Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  and  Susan  B.  Anthony,  offi- 
cers of  the  National  Association,  praying  for  the  passage  of  Senate  joint 
resolution  No.  12,  providing  for  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  protecting  the  rights  of  women,  and  also  that  the  House 
Judiciary  Committee  be  relieved  from  the  further  consideration  of  a  simi- 
lar resolution. 

Mr.  FERRY — If  there  be  no  objection  I  ask  that  the  petition  be  read  at 
length. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT — The  Chair  hears  no  objection,  and  it  will  be  re- 
ported by  the  secretary. 

The  petition  was  read  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and 
Elections,  as  follows : 

To   the   Senate   and  House  of  Representatives   of  the    United  States,   in    Congress 
assembled: 

\\  HEREAS,  More  than  40,000  men  and  women,  citizens  of  thirty-five  States  and 
five  territories,  have  petitioned  the  forty-fifth  congress  asking  for  an  amendment 
to  the  federal  constitution  prohibiting  the  several  States  from  disfranchising  United 
States  citizens  on  account  of  sex;  and 

WHEREAS,  A  resolution  providing  for  such  constitutional  amendment  is  upon  the 
calendar  (Senate  resolution  No.  12,  second  session  forty-fifth  congress),  and  a  similar 
resolution  is  pending  upon  a  tie  vote  in  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  women  of  the  United  States  constitute  one-half  of  the  people  of 
this  republic  and  have  an  inalienable  right  to  an  equal  voice  with  men  in  the  nation's 
councils;  and 

WHEREAS,  Women  being  denied  the  right  to  have  their  opinions  counted  at  the 
ballot-box,  are  compelled  to  hold  all  other  rights  subject  to  the  favors  and  caprices 
of  men;  and 


Minority  Report.  131 

WHEREAS,  In  answer  to  the  appeals  of  so  large  a  number  of  honorable  petitioners, 
it  is  courteous  that  the  forty-fifth  congress  should  express  its  opinion  upon  this  grave 
question  of  human  rights;  therefore, 

We  pray  your  honorable  body  to  take  from  the  calendar  and  pass  Senate  reso- 
lution No.  12,  providing  for  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  protecting  the  rights 
of  women;  and 

We  further  pray  you  to  relieve  the  House  Judiciary  Committee  from  the  further 
consideration  of  the  woman  suffrage  resolution  brought  to  a  tie  vote  in  that  committee, 
February  5,  1878,  that  it  may  be  submitted  to  the  House  of  Representatives  for  im- 
mediate action. 

And  your  petitioners  will  ever  pray. 

ELIZABETH  CADY  ST ANTON,  President. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 

At  the  opening  of  the  last  session  of  the  forty-fifth  congress 
most  earnest  appeals  (copies  of  which  were  sent  to  every  mem- 
ber of  congress)  came  from  all  directions  for  the  presentation 
of  a  minority  report  from  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elec- 
tions The  response  from  our  representatives  was  prompt  and 
most  encouraging.  The  first  favorable  report  our  question  had 
ever  received  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  was  presented 
by  the  Hon.  George  F.  Hoar,  February  I,  1879: 

The  undersigned,  a  minority  of  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections,  to 
whom  were  referred  the  resolution  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution prohibiting  discrimination  in  the  right  of  suffrage  on  account  of 
sex,  and  certain  petitions  in  aid  of  the  same,  submit  the  following  mi- 
nority report : 

The  undersigned  dissent  from  the  report  of  the  majority  of  the  com- 
mittee. The  demand  for  the  extension  of  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women 
is  not  new.  It  has  been  supported  by  many  persons  in  this  country,  in 
England  and  on  the  continent,  famous  in  public  life,  in  literature  and  in 
philosophy.  But  no  single  argument  of  its  advocates  seems  to  us  to 
carry  so  great  a  persuasive  force  as  the  difficulty  which  its  ablest  oppo- 
nents encounter  in  making  a  plausible  statement  of  their  objections.  We 
trust  we  do  not  fail  in  deference  to  our  esteemed  associates  on  the  com- 
mittee when  we  avow  our  opinion  that  their  report  is  no  exception  to  this 
rule. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States  have  founded 
their  political  institutions  upon  the  principle  that  all  men  have  an  equal 
right  to  a  share  in  the  government.  The  doctrine  is  expressed  in  various 
forms.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  asserts  that  "  all  men  are 
created  equal  "  and  that  "governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed."  The  Virginia  bill  of  rights,  the  work  of  Jeffer- 
son and  George  Mason,  affirms  that  "  no  man  or  set  of  men  are  entitled 
to  exclusive  or  separate  emoluments  or  privileges  from  the  rest  of  the 
community  but  in  consideration  of  public  services."  The  Massachusetts 
bill  of  rights,  the  work  of  John  Adams,  besides  reaffirming  these  axioms, 
declares  that  "all  the  inhabitants  of  this  commonwealth,  having  such 


132  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

qualifications  as  they  shall  establish  by  their  frame  of  government,  have 
an  equal  right  to  elect  officers,  and  to  be  elected  for  public  employment." 
These  principles,  after  full  and  profound  discussion  by  a  generation  of 
statesmen  whose  authority  upon  these  subjects  is  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  that  ever  lived,  have  been  accepted  by  substantially  the  whole 
American  people  as  the  dictates  alike  of  practical  wisdom  and  of  natural 
justice.  The  experience  of  a  hundred  years  has  strengthened  their  hold 
upon  the  popular  conviction.  Our  fathers  failed  in  three  particulars  to  carry 
these  principles  to  their  logical  result.  They  required  a  property  quali- 
fication for  the  right  to  vote  and  to  hold  office.  They  kept  the  negro  in 
slavery.  They  excluded  women  from  a  share  in  the  government.  The 
first  two  of  these  inconsistencies  have  been  remedied.  The  property 
test  no  longer  exists.  The  fifteenth  amendment  provides  that  race,  color, 
or  previous  servitude  shall  no  longer  be  a  disqualification.  There  are 
certain  qualifications  of  age,  of  residence,  and,  in  some  instances  of  educa- 
tion, demanded ;  but  these  are  such  as  all  sane  men  may  easily  attain. 

This  report  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  or  vindicate  the  correctness  of 
this  theory.  In  so  far  as  the  opponents  of  woman  suffrage  are  driven  to 
deny  it,  for  the  purpose  of  an  argument  addressed  to  the  American 
people,  they  are  driven  to  confess  that  they  are  in  the  wrong.  This  peo- 
ple are  committed  to  the  doctrine  of  universal  suffrage  by  their  constitu- 
tions, their  history  and  their  opinions.  They  must  stand  by  it  or  fall  by 
it.  The  poorest,  humblest,  feeblest  of  sane  men  has  the  ballot  in  his 
hand,  and  no  other  man  can  show  a  better  title  to  it.  Those  things 
wherein  men  are  unequal — intelligence,  ability,  integrity,  experience,  title 
to  public  confidence  by  reason  of  previous  public  service — have  their 
natural  and  legitimate  influence  under  a  government  wherein  each  man's 
vote  is  counted,  to  quite  as  great  a  degree  as  under  any  other  form  of 
government  that  ever  existed. 

We  believe  that  the  principle  of  universal  suffrage  stands  to-day 
stronger  than  ever  in  the  judgment  of  mankind.  Some  eminent  and  ac- 
complished scholars,  alarmed  by  the  corruption  and  recklessness  mani- 
fested in  our  great  cities,  deceived  by  exaggerated  representations 
of  the  misgovernment  of  the  Southern  States  by  a  race  just  emerging 
from  slavery,  disgusted  by  the  extent  to  which  great  numbers  of  our  fel- 
low-citizens have  gone  astray  in  the  metaphysical  subtleties  of  financial 
discussion,  have  uttered  their  eloquent  warnings  of  the  danger  of  the  fail- 
ure of  universal  suffrage.  Such  utterances  from  such  sources  have  been 
frequent.  They  were  never  more  abundant  than  in  the  early  part  ot  the 
present  century.  They  are,  when  made  in  a  serious  and  patriotic  spirit,  to 
be  received  with  the  gratitude  due  to  that  greatest  of  public  benefactors 
• — he  who  points  out  to  the  people  their  dangers  and  their  faults. 

But  popular  suffrage  is  to  be  tried  not  by  comparison  with  ideal  stan- 
dards of  excellence,  but  by  comparison  with  other  forms  of  government. 
We  are  willing  to  submit  our  century  of  it  to  this  test.  The  crimes  that 
have  stained  our  history  have  come  chiefly  from  its  denial,  not  from  its 
establishment.  The  misgovernment  and  corruption  of  our  great  cities 
have  been  largely  due  to  men  whose  birth  and  training  have  been  under 


Minority  Report.  133 

other  systems.  The  abuses  attributed  by  political  hostility  to  negro 
governments  at  the  South — governments  from  which  the  intelligence  and 
education  of  the  State  held  themselves  sulkily  aloof — do  not  equal  those 
which  existed  under  the  English  or  French  aristocracy  within  the  memory 
of  living  men.  There  have  been  crimes,  blunders,  corruptions,  follies  in 
the  history  of  our  republic.  Aristides  has  been  banished  from  public  em- 
ployment, while  Cleon  has  been  followed  by  admiring  throngs.  But  few 
of  these  things  have  been  due  to  the  extension  of  the  suffrage.  Strike  out 
of  our  history  the  crimes  of  slavery,  strike  out  the  crimes,  unparalleled 
for  ferocity  and  brutality,  committed  by  an  oligarchy  in  its  attempt  to 
overthrow  universal  suffrage,  and  we  may  safely  challenge  for  our  na- 
tional and  State  governments  comparison  with  monarchy  or  aristocracy 
in  their  best  and^purest  periods. 

Either  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  bills  of 
rights  are  true,  or  government  must  rest  on  no  principle  of  right  whatever, 
but  its  powers  may  be  lawfully  taken  by  force  and  held  by  force  by  any 
person  or  class  who  have  strength  to  do  it,  and  who  persuade  themselves 
that  their  rule  is  for  the  public  interest.  Either  these  doctrines  are  true, 
or  you  can  give  no  reason  for  your  own  possession  of  the  suffrage  except 
that  you  have  got  it.  If  this  doctrine  be  sound,  it  follows  that  no  class  of 
persons  can  rightfully  be  excluded  from  their  equal  share  in  the  govern- 
ment, unless  they  can  be  proved  to  lack  some  quality  essential  to  the 
proper  exercise  of  political  power. 

A  person  who  votes  helps,  first,  to  determine  the  measures  of  govern- 
ment ;  second,  to  elect  persons  to  be  intrusted  with  public  administration. 
He  should  therefore  possess,  first,  an  honest  desire  for  the  public  welfare ; 
second,  sufficient  intelligence  to  determine  what  measure  or  policy  is 
best ;  third,  the  capacity  to  judge  of  the  character  of  persons  proposed 
for  office ;  and,  fourth,  freedom  from  undue  influence,  so  that  the  vote  he 
casts  is  his  own,  and  not  another's.  That  person  or  class  casting  his  or 
their  own  vote,  with  an  honest  desire  for  the  public  welfare,  and  with  suf- 
ficient intelligence  to  judge  what  measure  is  advisable  and  what  person 
may  be  trusted,  fulfill  every  condition  that  the  State  can  rightfully  impose. 

We  are  not  now  dealing  with  the  considerations  which  should  affect  the 
admission  of  citizens  of  other  countries  to  acquire- the  right  to  take  part 
in  our  government.  All  nations  claim  the  right  to  impose  restrictions  on 
the  admission  of  foreigners  trained  in  attachment  to  other  countries  or 
forms  of  rule,  and  to  indifference  to  their  own,  whatever  they  deem  the 
safety  of  the  State  requires.  We  take  it  for  granted  that  no  person  will 
deny  that  the  women  of  America  are  inspired  with  a  love  of  country  equal 
to  that  which  animates  their  brothers  and  sons.  A  capacity  to  judge  of 
character,  so  sure  and  rapid  as  to  be  termed  intuitive,  is  an  especial  attri- 
bute of  woman.  One  of  the  greatest  orators  of  modern  times  has  de- 
clared : 

I  concede  away  nothing  which  I  ought  to  assert  for  our  sex  when  I  say  that  the  col- 
lective womanhood  of  a  people  like  our  own  seizes  with  matchless  facility  and  cer- 
tainty on  the  moral  and  personal  peculiarities  and  character  of  marked  and  conspicu- 
ous men,  and  that  we  may  very  wisely  address  ourselves  to  such  a  body  to  learn  if  a 


134  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

competitor  for  the  highest  honors  has  revealed  that  truly  noble  nature  that  entitled  him 
to  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  a  nation. 

We  believe  that  in  that  determining  of  public  policies  by  the  collective 
judgment  of  the  State  which  constitutes  self-government,  the  contribu- 
tion of  woman  will  be  of  great  importance  and  value.  To  all  questions 
into  the  determination  of  which  considerations  of  justice  or  injustice  en- 
ter, she  will  bring  a  more  refined  moral  sense  than  that  of  man.  The 
most  important  public  function  of  the  State  is  the  provision  for  the  edu- 
cation of  youths.  In  those  States  in  which  the  public  school  system  has 
reached  its  highest  excellence,  more  than  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  teachers 
are  women.  Certainly  the  vote  of  the  women  of  the  State  should  be 
counted  in  determining  the  policy  that  shall  regulate  the  school  system 
which  they  are  called  to  administer. 

It  is  seldom  that  particular  measures  of  government  are  decided  by  di- 
rect popular  vote.  They  are  more  often  discussed  before  the  people  after 
they  have  taken  effect,  when  the  party  responsible  for  them  is  called  to 
account.  The  great  measures  which  go  to  make  up  the  history  of  nations 
are  determined  not  by  the  voters,  but  by  their  rulers,  whether  those 
rulers  be  hereditary  or  elected.  The  plans  of  great  campaigns  are  con- 
ceived by  men  of  great  military  genius  and  executed  by  great  generals. 
Great  systems  of  finance  come  from  the  brain  of  statesmen  who  have 
made  finance  a  special  study.  The  mass  of  the  voters  decide  to  which 
party  they  will  intrust  power.  They  do  not  determine  particulars.  But 
they  give  to  parties  their  general  tone  and  direction,  and  hold  them  to 
their  accountability.  We  believe  that  woman  will  give  to  the  political 
parties  of  the  country  a  moral  temperament  which  will  have  a  most  bene- 
ficent and  ennobling  effect  on  politics. 

Woman,  also,  is  specially  fitted  for  the  performance  of  that  function  of 
legislative  and  executive  government  which,  with  the  growth  of  civiliza- 
tion, becomes  yearly  more  and  more  important — the  wise  and  practical 
economic  adjustment  of  the  details  of  public  expenditures.  It  may  be 
considered  that  it  would  not  be  for  the  public  interest  to  clothe  with  the 
suffrage  any  class  of  persons  who  are  so  dependent  that  they  will,  as  a 
general  rule,  be  governed  by  others  in  its  exercise.  But  we  do  not  ad- 
mit that  this  is  true  of  women.  We  see  no  reason  to  believe  that  women 
will  not  be  as  likely  to  retain  their  independence  of  political  judgment,  as 
they  now  retain  their  independence  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  questions 
which  divide  religious  sects  from  one  another.  These  questions  deeply 
excite  the  feelings  of  mankind,  yet  experience  shows  that  the  influence 
of  the  wife  is  at  least  as  great  as  that  of  the  husband  in  determining  the 
religious  opinion  of  the  household.  The  natural  influence  exerted  by 
members  of  the  same  familv  upon  each  other  would  doubtless  operate  to 
bring  about  similarity  of  opinion  on  political  questions  as  on  others.  So 
far  as  this  tends  to  increase  the  influence  of  the  family  in  the  State,  as 
compared  with  that  of  unmarried  men,  we  deem  it  an  advantage.  Upon 
all  questions  which  touch  public  morals,  public  education,  all  which  con- 
cern the  interest  of  the  household,  such  a  united  exertion  of  political  in- 
fluence cannot  be  otherwise  than  beneficial. 


Minority  Report.  135 

Our  conclusion,  then,  is  that  the  American  people  must  extend  the 
right  of  suffrage  to  woman  or  abandon  the  idea  that  suffrage  is  a  birth- 
right. The  claim  that  universal  suffrage  will  work  mischief  in  practice  is 
simply  a  claim  that  justice  will  work  mischief  in  practice.  Many  honest 
and  excellent  persons,  while  admitting  the  force  of  the  arguments  above 
stated,  fear  that  taking  part  in  politics  will  destroy  those  feminine  traits 
which  are  the  charm  of  woman,  and  are  the  chief  comfort  and  delight  of 
the  household.  If  we  thought  so  we  should  agree  with  the  majority  of 
the  committee  in  withholding  assent  to  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners.  This 
fear  is  the  result  of  treating  the  abuses  of  the  political  function  as  essential 
to  its  exercise.  The  study  of  political  questions,  the  forming  an  estimate  of 
the  character  of  public  men  or  public  measures,  the  casting  a  vote,  which  is 
•the  result  of  that  study  and  estimate,  certainly  have  in  themselves  nothing 
to  degrade  the  most  delicate  and  refined  nature.  The  violence,  the  fraud, 
the  crime,  the  chicanery,  which,  so  far  as  they  have  attended  masculine 
struggles  for  political  power,  tend  to  prove,  if  they  prove  anything,  the 
unfitness  of  men  for  the  suffrage,  are  not  the  result  of  the  act  of  voting, 
but  are  the  expressions  of  course,  criminal  and  evil  natures,  excited  by 
the  desire  for  victory.  The  admission  to  the  polls  of  delicate  and  tender 
women  would,  without  injury  to  them,  tend  to  refine  and  elevate  the 
politics  in  which  they  took  a  part.  When,  in  former  times,  women  were 
excluded  from  social  banquets,  such  assemblies  were  scenes  of  ribaldry 
and  excess.  The  presence  of  women  has  substituted  for  them  the  festival 
of  the  Christian  home. 

The  majority  of  the  committee  state  the  following  as  their  reasons  for 
the  conclusion  to  which  they  come : 

First — If  the  petitioners'  prayer  be  granted  it  will  make  several  millions  of  female 
voters. 

Second — These  voters  will  be  inexperienced  in  public  affairs. 

Third — They  are  quite  generally  dependent  on  the  other  sex. 

Fotirth — They  are  incapable  of  military  duty. 

Fifth — They  are  without  the  power  to  enforce  the  laws  which  their  numerical 
strength  may  enable  them  to  make. 

Sixth — Very  few  of  them  wish  to  assume  the  irksome  and  responsible  duties  which 
this  measure  thrusts  upon  them. 

Seventh — Such  a  change  should  only  be  made  slowly  and  in  obedience  to  a  general 
public  demand. 

Eighth — There  are  but  thirty  thousand  petitioners. 

Ninth — It  would  be  unjust  to  impose  "the  heavy  burden  of  governing,  which  so 
many  men  seek  to  evade,  on  the  great  mass  of  women  who  do  not  wish  for  it,  to 
gratify  the  few  who  do." 

Tenth — Women  now  have  the  sympathy  of  judges  and  juries  "  to  an  extent  which 
would  warrant  loud  complaint  on  the  part  of  their  adversaries  of  the  sterner  sex." 

Eleventh — Such  a  change  should  be  made,  if  at  all,  by  the  States.  Three-fourths 
of  the  States  should  not  force  it  on  the  others.  In  any  State  in  which  "any  con- 
siderable part  of  the  women  wish  for  the  right  to  vote,  it  will  be  granted  without  the  in- 
tervention of  congress." 

The  first  objection  of  the  committee  is  to  the  large  increase  of  the 
number  of  the  voting  population.  We  believe  on  the  other  hand,  that  to 
double  the  numbers  of  the  constituent  body,  and  to  compose  onc-lrilf 


136  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

that  body  of  women,  would  tend  to  elevate  the  standard  of  the  represen- 
tative both  for  ability  and  manly  character.  Macaulay  in  one  of  his 
speeches  on  the  Reform  bill  refers  to  the  quality  of  the  men  who  had  for 
half  a  century  been  members  for  the  five  most  numerous  constituencies 
in  England — Westminster,  Southwark,  Liverpool,  Bristol  and  Norwich. 
Among  them  were  Burke,  Fox,  Sheridan,  Romilly,  Windham,  Tierney, 
Canning,  Huskisson.  Eight  of  the  nine  greatest  men  who  had  sat  in 
parliament  for  forty  years  sat  for  the  five  largest  represented  towns.  To 
increase  trie  numbers  of  constituencies  diminishes  the  opportunity  for  cor- 
ruption. Size  is  itself  a  conservative  force  in  a  republic.  As  a  permanent 
general  rule  the  people  will  desire  their  own  best  interest.  Disturbing 
forces,  evil  and  selfish  passions,  personal  ambitions,  are  neccessarily  re- 
stricted in  their  operation.  The  larger  the  field  of  operation,  the  more 
likely  are  such  influences  to  neutralize  each  other. 

The  objection  of  inexperience  in  public  affairs  applies,  of  course,  alike 
to  every  voter  when  he  first  votes.  If  it  be  valid,  it  would  have  prevented 
any  extension  of  the  suffrage,  and  would  exclude  from  the  franchise  a 
very  large  number  of  masculine  voters  of  all  ages. 

That  women  are  quite  generally  dependent  on  the  other  sex  is  true. 
So  it  is  true  that  men  are  quite  generally  dependent  on  the  other  sex.  It 
is  impossible  so  to  measure  this  dependence  as  to  declare  that  man  is 
more  dependent  on  woman  or  woman  upon  man.  It  is  by  no  means  true 
that  the  dependence  of  either  on  the  other  affects  the  right  to  the  suffrage. 

Capacity  for  military  duty  has  no  connection  with  capacity  for  suffrage. 
The  former  is  wholly  physical.  It  will  scarcely  be  proposed  to  disfran- 
chise men  who  are  unfit  to  be  soldiers  by  reason  of  age  or  bodily  infirmity. 
The  suggestion  that  the  country  may  be  plunged  into  wars  by  a  majority 
of  women  who  are  secure  from  military  dangers  is  not  founded  in  experi- 
ence. Men  of  the  military  profession,  and  men  of  the  military  age  are 
commonly  quite  as  eager  for  war  as  non-combatants,  and  will  hereafter  be 
quite  as  indifferent  to  its  risks  and  hardships  as  their  mothers  and  wives. 

The  argument  that  women  are  without  the  power  to  enforce  the  laws 
which  their  numerical  strength  may  enable  them  to  make,  proceeds  from 
the  supposition  that  it  is  probable  that  all  the  women  will  range  them- 
selves upon  one  side  in  politics  and  all  the  men  on  the  other.  Such  sup- 
position flatly  contradicts  the  other  arguments  drawn  from  the  depend- 
ence of  women  and  from  their  alleged  unwillingness  to  assume  political 
burdens.  So  men  over  fifty  years  of  age  are  without  the  power  to  enforce 
obedience  to  laws  against  which  the  remainder  of  the  voters  forcibly 
rebel.  It  is  not  physical  power  alone,  but  power  aided  by  the  respect  for 
law  of  the  people,  on  which  laws  depend  for  their  enforcement. 

The  sixth,  eighth  and  ninth  reasons  of  the  committee  are  the  same 
proposition  differently  stated.  It  is  that  a  share  in  the  government  of 
Ihe  country  is  a  burden,  and  one  which,  in  the  judgment  of  a  majority  of 
Ihe  women  of  the  country,  they  ought  not  to  be  required  to  assume.  If 
any  citizen  deem  the  exercise  of  this  franchise  a  burden  and  not  a  privi- 
lege, such  person  is  under  no  constraint  to  exercise  it.  But  if  it  be  a 
birthright,  then  it  is  obvious  that  no  other  power  than  that  of  the  indi- 


Minority  Report. 


137 


vidual  concerned  can  rightfully  restrain  its  exercise.  The  committee  con- 
cede that  women  ought  to  be  clothed  with  the  ballot  in  any  State  where 
any  considerable  part  of  the  women  desire  it.  This  is  a  pretty  serious 
confession.  On  the  vital,  fundamental  question  whether  the  institutions 
of  this  country  shall  be  so  far  changed  that  the  number  of  persons  in  it 
who  take  a  part  in  the  government  shall  be  doubled,  the  judgment  of 
women  is  to  be  and  ought  to  be  decisive.  If  woman  may  fitly  determine 
this  question,  for  what  question  of  public  policy  is  she  unfit  ?  What  ques- 
tion of  equal  importance  will  ever  be  submitted  to  her  decision  ?  What 
has  become  of  the  argument  that  women  are  unfit  to  vote  because  they 
are  dependent  on  men,  or  because  they  are  unfit  for  military  duty,  or  be- 
cause they  are  inexperienced,  or  because  they  are  without  power  to  en- 
force obedience  to  their  laws  ? 

The  next  argument  is  that  by  the  present  arrangement  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  is  so  far  perverted  that  one-half  the  citizens  of  the  country 
have  an  advantage  from  the  sympathies  of  juries  and  judges  which  "  would 
warrant  loud  complaint"  on  the  part  of  the  other  half.  If  this  be  true,  it 
is  doubtless  due  to  an  instinctive  feeling  on  the  part  of  juries  and  judges 
that  existing  laws  and  institutions  are  unjust  to  women,  or  to  the  fact  that 
juries  composed  wholly  of  men  are  led  to  do  injustice  by  their  suscepti- 
bility to  the  attractions  of  women.  But  certainly  it  is  a  grave  defect  in 
any  system  of  government  that  it  does  not  administer  justice  impartially, 
and  the  existence  of  such  a  defect  is  a  strong  reason  for  preferring  an 
arrangement  which  would  remove  the  feeling  that  women  do  not  have 
fair  play,  or  for  so  composing  juries  that,  drar/n  from  both  sexes,  they 
would  be  impartial  between  the  two. 

The  final  objection  of  the  committee  is  that  "  such  a  change  should  be 
made,  if  at  all,  by  the  States.  Three-fourths  of  the  States  should  not 
force  it  upon  the  others.  Whenever  any  considerable  part  of  the  women 
in  any  State  wish  for  the  right  to  vote,  it  will  be  granted  without  the  in- 
tervention of  congress."  Who  can  doubt  that  when  two-thirds  of  con- 
gress and  three-fourths  of  the  States  have  voted  for  the  change,  a  con- 
siderable number  of  women  in  the  other  States  will  be  found  to  desire  it, 
so  that,  according  to  the  committee's  own  belief,  it  can  never  be  forced 
by  a  majority  on  unwilling  communities?  The  prevention  of  unjust  dis- 
crimination by  States  against  large  classes  of  people  in  respect  to  suffrage 
is  even  admitted  to  be  a  matter  of  national  concern  and  an  important 
function  of  the  national  constitution  and  laws.  It  is  the  duty  of  congress 
to  propose  amendments  to  the  constitution  whenever  two-thirds  of  both 
houses  deem  them  necessary.  Certainly  an  amendment  will  be  deemed 
necessary,  if  it  can  be  shown  to  be  required  by  the  principles  on  which 
the  constitution  is  based,  and  to  remove  an  unjust  disfranchisement  from 
one-half  the  citizens  of  the  country.  The  constitutional  evidence  of  gen- 
eral public  demand  is  to  be  found  not  in  petitions,  but  in  the  assent  of 
three-fourths  of  the  States  through  their  legislatures  or  conventions. 

The  lessons  of  experience  favor  the  conclusion  that  woman  is  fit  for  a 
share  in  government.  It  may  be  true  that  in  certain  departments  of  in- 
tellectual effort  the  greatest  achievements  of  women  have  as  yet  never 


138 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


equaled  the  greatest  achievements  of  men.  But  it  is  equally  tiue  that  in 
those  same  departments  women  have  exhibited  an  intellectual  ability  very 
far  beyond  that  of  the  average  of  men  and  very  far  beyond  that  of  most 
men  who  have  shown  very  great  political  capacity.  But  let  the  comparison 
be  made  in  regard  to  the  very  thing  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  Of  men 
who  have  swayed  chief  executive  power,  a  very  considerable  proportion 
have  attained  it  by  usurpation  or  by  election,  processes  which  imply  ex- 
traordinary capacity  on  their  part  as  compared  with  other  men.  The 
women  who  have  held  such  power  have  come  to  it  as  sovereigns  by  in- 
heritance, or  as  regents  by  the  accident  of  bearing  a  particular  relation  to 
the  lawful  sovereign  when  he  was  under  some  incapacity.  Yet  it  is  an 
undisputed  fact  that  the  number  of  able  and  successful  female  sovereigns 
bears  a  vastly  greater  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  such  sovereigns, 
than  does  the  number  of  able  and  successful  male  sovereigns  to  the  whole 
number  of  men  who  have  reigned.  An  able,  energetic,  virtuous  king  or 
emperor  is  the  exception  and  not  the  rule  in  the  history  of  modern 
Europe.  With  hardly  an  exception  the  female  sovereigns  or  regents  have 
been  wise  and  popular.  Mr.  Mill,  who  makes  this  point,  says : 

We  know  how  small  a  number  of  reigning  queens  history  presents  in  comparison 
with  that  of  kings.  Of  this  small  number  a  far  larger  proportion  have  shown  talents 
for  rule,  though  many  of  them  have  occupied  the  throne  in  difficult  periods.  '\Yhen 
to  queens  and  empresses  we  add  regents  and  viceroys  of  provinces,  the  list  of  women 

who  have  been  eminent  rulers  of  mankind  swells  to  a  great  length 

Especially  is  this  true  if  we  take  into  consideration  Asia  as  well  as  Europe.  If  a 
Hindoo  principality  is  strongly,  vigilantly  and  economically  governed;  if  order  is 
preserved  without  oppressicn;  if  cultivation  is  extending  and  the  people  prosperous, 
in  three  cases  out  of  four  that  principality  is  under  a  woman's  rule.  This  fact,  to  me 
an  entirely  unexpected  one,  I  have  collected  from  a  long  official  knowledge  of  Hindoo 
governments. 

Certainly  history  gives  no  warning  that  should  deter  the  American 
people  from  carrying  out  the  principles  upon  which  their  government 
rests  to  this  most  just  and  legitimate  conclusion.  Those  persons  who 
think  that  free  government  has  anywhere  failed,  can  only  claim  that 
this  tends  to  prove,  not  the  failure  of  universal  suffrage,  but  the  failure  of 
masculine  suffrage.  Like  failure  has  attended  the  operation  of  ever}' 
other  great  human  institution,  the  family,  the  school,  the  church,  when- 
ever woman  has  not  been  permitted  to  contribute  to  it  her  full  share. 
As  to  the  best  example  of  the  perfect  family,  the  perfect  school,  the  per- 
fect church,  the  love,  the  purity,  the  truth  of  woman  are  essential,  so  they 
are  equally  essential  to  the  perfect  example  of  the  self-governing  State. 

GEO.  F.  HOAR, 
JOHN  II.  MITCHELL, 
ANGUS  CAMERON. 

Thousands  of  copies  of  this  report  were  published  and  franked 
to  every  part  of  the  country.  On  February  7,  just  one  week  after 
the  presentation  of  the  able  minority  report,  the  bill  allowing 
women  to  practice  before  the  Supreme  Court  passed  the  Senate  * 


*  At  its  final  action,  the  bill  was  called  up  by  Hon.  J.  E.  McDonald  of  Indiana.     After  some  discus- 
sion it  was  passed  without  amendment — 40  to  20.     Yeas — Allison,  Anthony,   Barnum,  Beck,  Elaine, 


Mr.  Hoars  Speech.  139 

and  received  the  signature  of  President  Hayes.  Senators  Mc- 
Donald, Hoar  and  Sargent  made  the  principal  speeches.  We 
give  Mr.  Hoar's  speech  in  full  because  of  its  terse  and  vigorous 
presentation  of  the  fact  that  congress  is  a  body  superior  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Hoar  said : 

Mr.  President — I  understand  the  brief  statement  which  was  made,  I 
think,  during  this  last  session  by  the  majority  of  the  Judiciary  Committee 
in  support  of  their  opposition  to  this  bill,  did  n$>t  disclose  that  the  majority 
of  that  committee  were  opposed  to  permitting  women  to  engage  in  the 
practice  of  law  or  to  be  admitted  to  practice  it  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  but  the  point  they  made,  was  that  the  legislation  of  the 
United  States  left  to  the  Supreme  Court  the  power  of  determining  by  rule 
who  should  be  admitted  to  practice  before  that  tribunal,  and  that  we 
ought  not  by  legislation  to  undertake  to  interfere  with  its  rules.  Now, 
with  the  greatest  respect  for  that  tribunal,  I  conceive  that  the  law-making 
and  not  the  law-expounding  power  in  this  government  ought  to  determine 
the  question  what  class  of  citizens  shall  be  clothed  with  the  office  of  the 
advocate.  I  believe  that  leaving  to  the  Supreme  Court  by  rule  to  deter- 
mine the  qualifications  or  disqualifications  of  attorneys  and  counselors  in 
that  court  is  an  exception  to  the  nearly  uniform  policy  of  the  States  of 
the  Union.  Would  it  be  tolerated  if  the  Supreme  Court  undertook  by 
rule  to  establish  any  other  disqualification,  any  of  those  disqualifications 
which  have  existed  in  regard  to  holding  any  other  office  in  the  country? 
Suppose  the  court  were  of  the  opinion  we  had  been  too  fast  in  relieving 
persons  who  took  part  in  the  late  rebellion  from  their  disabilities,  and 
that  it  would  not  admit  persons  who  had  so  taken  part  to  practice  be- 
fore the  Supreme  Court;  is  there  any  doubt  that  congress  would  at  once 
interfere  ?  Suppose  the  Supreme  Court  were  of  opinion  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  had  erred  in  the  amendment  which  had  removed  the 
disqualification  from  colored  persons  and  declined  to  admit  such  persons 
to  practice  in  that  court ;  is  there  any  doubt  that  congress  would  interfere 
and  would  deem  ita  fit  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  the  law-making  power? 

Now,  Mr.  President,  this  bill  is  not  a  bill  merely  to  admit  women  to  the 
privilege  of  engaging  in  a  particular  profession ;  it  is  a  bill  to  secure  to 
the  citizen  of  the  United  States  the  right  to  select  his  counsel,  and  that  is 
all.  At  present  a  case  is  tried  and  decided  in  the  State  courts  of  any 
State  of  this  Union  which  may  be  removed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  courts  of  the  State,  women  are  permitted  to  prac- 
tice as  advocates,  and  a  woman  has  been  the  advocate  under  whose  direc- 
tion and  care  and  advocacy  the  case  has  been  won  in  the  court  below. 
Is  it  tolerable  that  the  counsel  who  has  attended  the  case  from  its  com- 
mencement to  its  successful  termination  in  the  highest  court  of  the  State 

Booth,  Burnside,  Cameron  (Pennsylvania),  Cameron  (Wisconsin),  Dawes,  Dorsey,  Ferry,  Garland, 
Gordon,  Hamlin,  Hoar,  Howe,  Ingalls,  Jones  (Florida),  Jones  (Nevada),  Kellogg,  Kirkwood,  Mc- 
Creery,  McDonald,  McMillan,  McPherson,  Matthews,  Mitchell,  Oglesby,  Ransom,  Rollins,  Sargent, 
Teller,  Voorhees,  Waclleigh,  Windom,  Withers.  A'ays—  Baily,  Chaffee,  Coke,  Davis  (Illlnoi:.),  1  >.^  i- 
(West  Virginia),  Eaton,  Edmunds,  Eustis,  Grover,  Harris,  Hereford,  Hill,  Kern. in,  Maxcy,  Merrimon, 
in,  Randolph,  Saulsbury,  Wallace,  White. 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

should  not  be  permitted  to  attend  upon  and  defend  the  rights  of  that 
client  when  the  case  is  transferred  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  ?  Everybody  knows,  at  least  every  lawyer  of  experience  knows,  the 
impossibility  of  transferring  with  justice  to  the  interests  of  a  client,  a 
cause  from  one  counsel  to  another.  A  suit  is  instituted  under  the  advice 
of  a  counsel  on  a  certain  theory,  a  certain  remedy  is  selected,  a  certain 
theory  of  the  cause  is  the  one  on  which  it  is  staked.  Now  that  must  be 
attended  to  and  defended  by  the  counsel  under  whose  advice  the  suit  has 
taken  its  shape ;  the  pleadings  have  been  shaped  in  the  courts  below. 

Under  the  present  system,  a  citizen  of  any  State  in  the  Union  having 
selected  a  counsel  of  good  moral  character  who  has  practiced  three  years, 
who  possesses  all-sufficient  professional  and  personal  qualifications,  and 
having  had  a  cause  brought  to  a  successful  result  in  the  State  court,  is 
denied  by  the  present  existing  and  unjust  rule  having  counsel  of  his 
choice  argue  the  cause  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

The  greatest  master  of  human  manners,  who  read  the  human  heart  and 
who  understood  better  than  any  man  who  ever  lived  the  varieties  of 
human  character,  when  he  desired  to  solve  just  what  had  puzzled  the 
lawyers  and  doctors,  placed  a  woman  upon  the  judgment  seat ;  and  yet, 
under  the  present  existing  law,  if  Portia  herself  were  alive,  she  could  not 
defend  the  opinion  she  had  given,  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

The  press  commented  favorably  upon  this  new  point  gained 
for  women.  We  give  a  few  extracts  : 

The  senators  who  voted  to-day  against  the  bill  "  to  relieve  certain  legal  disabilities 
of  women  "  are  marked  men  and  have  reason  to  fear  the  result  of  their  action. — [Tele- 
graph to  the  New  York  Tribune,  February  7. 

The  women  get  into  the  Supreme  Court  in  spite  of  the  determination  of  the  justices. 
They  gained  a  decided  advantage  to-day  in  the  passage  by  the  Senate  of  a  bill  provid- 
ing that  any  woman  who  shall  have  been  a  member  of  the  highest  court  in  any  State 
or  territory,  or  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  for  three  years,  may 
be  admitted  to  the  Supreme  Court.  The  bill  was  called  up  by  Senator  McDonald,  in 
antagonism  to  Mr.  Edmunds'  amendment  to  the  constitution  which  was  the  pending 
order.  Mr.  Edmunds  objected  to  the  consideration  of  the  bill  and  voted  against  it. 
There  was  not  much  discussion,  the  main  speeches  being  by  Mr.  Sargent  and  Mr. 
Hoar. — [Special  dispatch  to  the  New  York  World,  February  7. 

A  WOMAN'S  RIGHTS  VICTORY  IN  THE  SENATE. — The  Lockwood  bill,  giving 
women  authority  to  practice  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  passed 
the  Senate  yesterday  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one,  and  now  it  only  requires  the  approval  of 
Mr.  Hayes  to  become  a  law.  The  powerful  effect  of  persistent  and  industrious  lobby- 
ing is  manifested  in  the  success  of  this  bill.  When  it  was  first  introduced,  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  one-fourth  the  members  of  congress  would  have  voted  for  it.  Some  of  the  strong- 
minded  women,  who  were  interested  in  the  bill,  stuck  to  it,  held  the  fort  from  day  to 
day,  and  talked  members  and  senators  into  believing  it  a  just  measure.  Senator  Mc- 
Donald gave  Mr.  Edmunds  a  rebuff  yesterday  that  he  will  not  soon  forget.  The  latter 
attempted  to  administer  a  rebuke  to  the  Indiana  senator  for  calling  up  a  bill  during 
the  absence  of  the  senator  who  had  reported  it.  Mr.  McDonald  retorted  that  he  knew 
the  objection  of  the  senator  from  Vermont  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  the 
bill  and  not,  as  pretended,  to  give  an  absent  senator  opportunity  to  speak  upon  it. — 
[Washington  Post,  February  8. 


Press  Comments. 


141 


The  credit  for  this  victory  belongs  to  Mrs.  Belva  Lockwood,  of  this  city,  who,  hav- 
ing been  refused  admission  to  the  bar  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  appealed 
to  congress,  and  by  dint  of  hard  work  has  finally  succeeded  in  having  her  bill  passed 
by  both  houses.  She  called  on  Mrs.  Hayes  last  evening,  who  complimented  her  upon 
her  achievement,  and  informed  her  that  she  had  sent  a  bouquet  to  Senator  Hoar,  in 
token  of  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  bill. — [Washington  Star,  February  8. 

The  bill  was  carried  through  merely  by  the  energetic  advocacy  of  Senators  Mc- 
Donald, Sargent  and  Hoar,  whose  oratorical  efforts  were  reenforced  by  the  presence  of 
Mrs.  Lockwood.  After  the  struggle  was  over,  all  the  senators  who  advocated  the  bill 
were  made  the  recipients  of  bouquets,  while  the  three  senators  whose  names  we  have 
given  received  large  baskets  of  flowers.  This  is  a  pleasing  omen  of  that  purification 
of  legal  business  which  it  is  hoped  will  flow  from  the  introduction  of  women  to  the 
courts.  It  was  not  flowers  that  used  to  be  distributed  at  Washington  and  Albany  in 
the  old  corrupt  times,  among  legislators,  in  testimony  of  gratitude  for  their  votes.  Let 
us  hope  that  venal  legislation  at  Washington  will  be  extirpated  by  the  rise  of  this 
beautiful  custom. — [New  York  Nation. 

It  was  noticeable  that  all  the  presidential  candidates  dodged  the  issue  except  Senator 
Blaine,  who  voted  for  the  bill. — [Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

How  humiliated  poor  old  Judge  Magruder  must  feel,  since  the  congress  of  the 
United  States  paid  the  woman  whom  he  forbade  to  open  her  mouth  in  his  august  pres- 
ence, in  his  little  court,  so  much  consideration  as  to  pass  an  act  opening  to  her  the 
doors  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  All  honor  to  the  brave  woman, 
who  by  her  own  unaided  efforts  thus  achieved  honor,  fortune  and  fame — the  just 
rewards  of  her  own  true  worth. — [Havre  Republican,  Havre  de  Grace,  Maryland. 

ENTER  PORTIA. — An  act  of  congress  was  not  necessary  to  authorize  women  to  be 
lawyers,  if  their  legal  acquirements  fitted  them  for  that  vocation;  nor  was  it  neces- 
sary to  state,  as  an  expression  of  opinion  by  the  national  legislature,  that  some  women 
are  so  fully  qualified  for  the  legal  profession  that  no  barriers  should  be  permitted  to 
stand  in  their  way.  It  was  needed  simply  as  a  key  whereby  the  hitherto  locked  door 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  may  he  opened  if  a  woman  lawyer,  with 
the  usual  credentials,  should  knock  thereon.  That  is  all;  and  there  is  no  new  question 
opened  for  profitless  debate.  The  ability  of  some  women  to  be  lawyers  is  like  the 
ability  of  others  to  make  bread — it  rests  upon  the  facts.  There  is  no  room  for  elaborate 
argument  to  prove  either  their  fitness  or  unfitness  for  legal  studies,  so  long  as  in  Mis- 
souri, Wisconsin,  Michigan,  the  District  of  Columbia,  Iowa  and  North  Carolina  there 
are  women  in  more  or  less  successful  practice  and  repute.  *  *  *  No- 
where are  these  great  attributes  of  civilization  and  regulated  liberty — law,  con- 
servatism, justice,  equity  and  mercy  in  the  administration  of  human  affairs  put  in 
broader  light  or  truer,  than  they  are  by  the  words  that  Shakespeare  puts  in  the  mouth 
of  this  woman  jurist. — \JPublic  Ledger,  Philadelphia,  February  12. 

When  congress  recently  passed  a  law  allowing  women  to  practice  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  it  was  not  a  subject  of  any  special  or  eager  comment.  A  woman  who  is  a  law- 
yer sent  flowers  to  the  desks  of  the  members  who  voted  for  the  bill,  and  before  they 
had  faded,  comment  was  at  an  end.  The  home  was  still  safe  and  the  country  was  not 
in  peril.  It  was  one  of  the  questions  which  had  settled  itself  and  was  a  foregone  con- 
clusion. *  *  *  United  States  Senator  Edmunds  of  Vermont,  has  'fallen  into  dis- 
favor with  the  ladies  for  voting  against  the  above  bill. — [From  John  W.  Forney's 
Progress,  February  22. 

On  March  3,  by  motion  of  Hon.  A.  G.  Riddle,  Mrs.  Lockwood 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,* 


*  Conspicuous  in  the  large  and  distinguished  audience  present  were  Senator  M'Donald,  Attorney- 
general  Williams,  Hon.  Jeremiah  .Wilson,  Judge  Shellabargcr,  Hon.  George  W.  Julian,  who  with 
many  others  extended  hearty  congratulations  to  Mrs.  Lockwood. 


142  History  of    Woman  Suffrage. 

taking  the  official  oath  and  receiving  the  classic  sheep-skin  ;  and 
the  following  week  she  was  admitted  to  practice  before  the  Court 
of  Claims.  The  forty-sixth  congress  contained  an  unusually 
large  proportion  of  new  representatives,  fresh  from  the  people, 
ready  for  the  discussion  of  new  issues,  and  manifesting  a  chival- 
ric  spirit  toward  the  consideration  of  woman's  claims  as  a  citizen. 
On  Tuesday,  April  29,  the  following  resolution  was  submitted 
to  the  Committee  on  Rules  in  the  House  of  Representatives : 

Resolved,  That  a  select  committee  of  nine  members  be  appointed  by  the  speaker,  to 
be  called  a  Committee  on  the  Rights  of  Women,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  consider 
and  report  upon  all  petitions,  memorials,  resolutions  and  bills  that  may  be  presented 
in  the  House  relating  to  the  rights  of  women. 

Admitting  the  justice  of  a  fair  consideration  of  a  question  in- 
volving every  human  right  of  one-half  of  the  population  of  this 
country,  Alex.  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia,  James  A.  Garfield  of 
Ohio,  Wm.  P.  Frye  of  Maine,  immediately  declared  themselves 
in  favor  of  the  appointment  of  said  committee,  and  Speaker 
Randall,  the  chairman,  ordered  it  reported  to  the  House.  A 
similar  resolution  was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  before  the  ad- 
journment of  the  special  session.  This  showed  a  clearer  percep- 
tion of  the  magnitude  of  the  question,  and  the  need  of  its  early 
and  earnest  consideration,  than  at  any  time  during  the  previous 
thirty  years  of  argument,  heroic  struggle  and  sacrifice  on  the 
altar  of  woman's  freedom. 

The  anniversary  of  1879  was  ne^  m  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  May 
7,  8,  9.  Mrs.  Virginia  L.  Minor  and  Miss  Phoebe  W.  Couzins 
made  all  possible  arrangements  for  the  success  of  the  meeting 
and  the  comfort  of  the  delegates.*  Mrs.  Minor  briefly  stated  the 
object  of  the  convention  and  announced  that,  as  the  president  of 
the  association  had  not  arrived,  Mrs.  Joslyn  Gage  would  take  the 
chair.  Miss  Couzins  gave  the  address  of  welcome  : 
Mrs.  President  and  Members  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  : 

It  becomes  my  pleasant  duty  to  welcome  you  to  the  hospitalities  of  my 
native  city.  To  extend  to  you  who  for  the  first  time  meet  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, a  greeting — not  only  in  behalf  of  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage,  but 

*  //  'as/iington,  D.  C. — Sara  A.  Spencer.  Illinois — Clara  Lyon  Peters,  Watseka  ;  Mrs.  G.  P.  Graham 
Martha  L.  Mathews,  Amanda  E.  and  Matilda  S.  Frazer,  Aledo  ;  Hannah  J.  Coffee,  Abby  B.  Trego 
Orion  ;  Mrs.  Senator  Hanna,  Fairfield  ;  Sarah  F.  Nourse,  Moline;  Mrs.  E.  P.  Reynolds,  Rock  Island 
Cynthia  Leonard,  Chicago.  Missouri — Virginia  L.  Minor,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Peoquine,  Mrs.  P.  W.  Thomas 
Eliza  J.  Patrick,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Dan,  Eliza  A.  Robbins  Phoebe  W.  Couzins,  Alex.  Robbins,  St.  Louis 
James  L.  Allen,  Oregon  ;  Mi-;  A.  J.  Sparks,  Warrensbtirg.  Wisconsin— Rev.  Olympia  Brown 
Racine.  Nc~u  York — Susan  B.  Anthony  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Mary  R.  Pell,  Florence  Pell.  Indiana 
— Helen  Austin,  Richmond  ;  May  Wright  Thompson,  Amy  E.  Dunn,  Gertrude  Garrison,  Mary  E 
Haggart,  Indianapolis.  Tennessee — Elizabeth  A  very  Meriwether,  Minor  Lee  Meriwether,  Memphis 
Kentucky — Mary  B.  Clay,  Richmond.  Louisiana — i.mily  P.  Collins,  Ponchatoula.  Ohio — Eva  L 
Pinney,  South  Newbury.  Pennsylvania — Mrs.  L.  P.  Danforth,  Julia  and  Rachel  Foster.  Philadelphia 


Miss  Couzins1  Address  of  Welcome.  143 

for  those  of  our  citizens  who,  while  not  in  full  sympathy  with  your  views, 
have  a  desire  to  hear  you  in  deliberative  council  and  to  cordially  tender 
you  tne  same  courtesies  offered  other  conventions  which  have  chosen  St. 
Louis  as  their  place  of  annual  gathering. 

And  I  am  the  more  happy  to  do  this  because  of  the  opportunity  it  af- 
fords me  to  disabuse  your  minds  of  certain  impressions  which  have  gone 
abroad  concerning  our  slowness  of  action  in  the  line  of  advanced  ideas. 
Certainly  in  some  phases  of  that  reformation  to  which  you  and  your  co- 
laborers  have  pledged  your  lives,  your  fortunes — the  cause  of  woman — 
St.  Louis  is  the  leader. 

When,  eighteen  or  twenty  years  since,  Harriet  Hosmer  desired  to  study 
anatomy,  to  perfect  herself  in  her  art,  not  a  college  in  New  England  would 
open  its  doors  to  her;  she  traveled  West,  and  through  the  generous 
patronage  of  Wayman  Crow  of  this  city,  she  became  a  pupil  of  the  dean 
of  the  St.  Louis  Medical  college. 

When  other  cities  had  refused  equality  of  wages  and  position,  St.  Louis 
placed  Miss  Brackett  at  the  head  of  our  normal  school,  giving  her — a 
heretofore  exclusively  male  prerogative — the  highest  wages,  added  to  the 
highest  educational  rank. 

And  here  in  St.  Louis  began  the  advance  march  which  has  finally 
broken  down  the  walls  of  the  highest  judicial  fortress,  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Washington  University,  in  response  to  my  request, 
unhesitatingly  opened  its  doors,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
America,  woman  was  accorded  the  right  to  a  legal  course  of  training  with 
man,  and,  at  its  close,  after  successful  examination,  I  was  freely  accorded 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  !  A  city  or  a  State  that  could  perpetrate 
the  anomaly  of  a  female  bachelor,  is  certainly  not  far  behind  the  radicalism 
of  the  age. 

Again,  as  I  turn  to  its  record  on  suffrage,  I  find  as  early  as  1866  the 
Hon.  B.  Gratz  Brown  of  Missouri  made  a  glowing  speech  for  woman's 
enfranchisement,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  on  Mr.  Cowan's  motion  to 
strike  out  "male"  from  the  District  of  Columbia  suffrage  bill,  which  re- 
sulted in  an  organization  in  1867,  through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Virginia  L. 
Minor,  its  first  president.  And  again,  I  remember  when  that  hydra-headed 
evil  arose  in  our  midst,  degrading  all  women  and  violating  all  the  sweet 
and  sacred  sanctities  of  life — a  blow  at  our  homes  and  a  lasting  stigma  on 
our  civilization — the  people  of  this  community,  led  by  the  chancellor  of 
Washington  Universiy,  at  the  ballot-box  but  recently  laid  that  monster 
away  in  a  tomb,  never,  I  trust,  to  be  resurrected. 

And  now,  Mrs.  President,  let  me  add,  in  words  which  but  faintly  express 
the  emotion  of  my  heart,  the  gratitude  we  feel  towards  the  noble  women 
who  have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day.  They  who  have  been 
ridiculed,  villified,  maligned,  but  through  it  all  maintained  an  unswerving 
allegiance  to  truth.  In  the  name  of  all  true  womanhood  I  welcome  this 
association  in  our  midst  as  worthy  of  the  highest  honor. 

We  have  lived  to  see  the  enlargement  of  woman's  thought  in  all  direc- 
tions. From  our  laboratories,  libraries,  observatories,  schools  of  medicine 
and  law,  universities  of  science,  art  and  literature,  she  is  advancing  to  the 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

examination  of  the  problems  of  life,  with  an  eye  single  only  to  *he  glory  of 
truth.  Like  the  Spartan  of  old  she  has  thrown  her  spear  into  the  thickest 
of  the  fray,  and  will  fight  gloriously  in  the  midst  thereof  till  she  regains 
her  own.  No  specious  sophistry  or  vain  delusion — no  time-honored  tra- 
dition or  untenable  doctrine  can  evade  her  searching  investigation. 

Mrs.  Gage  responded  to  this  address  in  a  few  earnest,  appro- 
priate words. 

Of  the  many  letters*  read  in  the  convention  none  was  received 
with  greater  joy  than  the  few  lines,  written  with  trembling  hand, 
from  Lucretia  Mott,  then  in  the  eighty-seventh  year  of  her  age : 

ROADSIDE,  Fourth  Month,  26,  1879. 

MY  DEAR  SUSAN  ANTHONY — It  would  need  no  urgent  appeal  to  draw 
me  to  St.  Louis  had  I  the  strength  for  the  journey.  You  will  have  no 
need  of  my  worn-out  powers.  Our  cause  itself  has  become  sufficiently 
attractive.  Edward  M.  Davis  has  a  joint  letter  on  hand  for  my  signature, 
so  this  is  enough,  with  my  mite  toward  expenses.  And  to  all  assembled 
in  St.  Louis  best  wishes  for — yes,  full  faith  in  your  success.  I  have  signed 
Edward's  letter,  so  it  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  say, 

LUCRETIA  MOTT. 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  this  convention  was  an  afternoon 
session  of  ladies  alone,  prompted  by  an  attempt  to  reenact  a  law 
for  the  license  of  prostitution,  which  had  been  enforced  in  St. 
Louis  a  few  years  before  and  repealed  through  the  united  efforts 
of  the  best  men  and  women  of  the  city.  Mrs.  Joslyn  Gage  opened 
the  meeting  by  reading  extracts  from  the  Woman's  Declaration  of 
Rights  presented  at  the  centennial  celebration,  and  drew  especial 
attention  to  the  clause  referring  to  two  separate  codes  of  morals 
for  men  and  women,  arising  from  woman's  inferior  political  posi- 
tion : 

There  are  two  points  which  may  be  considered  open  for  discussion  dur- 
ing the  afternoon — one,  the  fact  that  there  are  existing  in  all  forms  of 
society,  barbaric,  semi-civilized,  civilized  or  enlightened,  two  separate 


111.;  oeo.  m.  jacKson,  jonn  rinn,  A  rracucai  woman,  ai.  i^ouis  ;  maria  narKner,  mrs.  j.  i>iarun, 
Kate  B.  Ross,  111.;  Emma  Molloy,  Ind.;  Maria  J.  Johnston,  Mo.;  Zenas  Brockett,  N.  Y.;  Kate  N. 
Doggett,  president  of  the  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Women  ;  Rebecca  N.  Hazard,  president 


Josephine  E.  Butlers  Letter.  145 

codes  of  morals;  the  strict  code  to  which  women  are  held  accountable, 
and  the  lax  code  which  governs  the  conduct  of  men. 

The  other  question  which  can  very  properly  be  discussed  at  the  present 
time  is,  "Why  in  this  country,  and  in  all  civilized  nations,  do  one-half  of 
the  population  die  under  five  years  of  age,  and  in  some  countries  a  very 
large  proportion  under  one  year?  " 

A  letter  was  read  from  Mrs.  Josephine  E.  Butler.  As  the  ex- 
periment of  licensing  prostitution  had  been  extensively  tried  in 
England,  and  she  had  watched  the  effects  of  the  system  not  only 
in  her  own  country  but  on  the  continent,  her  opinions  on  this 
question  are  worthy  of  consideration  : 
To  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Suffrage  Association  in  St.  Louis  : 

DEAR  FRIENDS — As  I  am  unable  to  be  present  at  your  convention  on 
May  7,  8,  9,  and  as  you  ask  for  a  communication  from  me,  I  gladly  write 
you  on  some  of  the  later  phases  of  our  struggle  against  legalized  prostitu- 
tion. A  brave  battle  has  been  fought  in  St.  Louis  against  that  iniquity, 
and  we  have  regarded  it  with  sympathy  and  admiration  ;  but  you  are  not 
yet  safe  against  the  devices  of  those  who  uphold  this  white  slavery,  nor 
are  we  safe,  although  we  know  that  in  the  end  we  shall  be  conquerors. 
You  tell  me  that  "England  is  held  up  as  an  example  of  the  beneficial 
working  of  the  legalizing  of  vice."  England  holds  a  peculiar  position  in  re- 
gard to  the  question.  She  was  the  last  to  adopt  this  system  of  slavery  and 
she  adopted  it  in  that  thorough  manner  which  characterizes  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race.  In  no  other  country  has  prostitution  been  regulated  by  law. 
It  has  been  understood  by  the  Latin  races,  even  when  morally  enervated, 
that  the  law  could  not  without  risk  of  losing  its  majesty  violate  justice. 
In  England  alone  the  regulations  are  law.  Their  promoters,  by  their 
hardihood  in  asking  parliament  to  decree  injustice,  have  brought  on  un- 
consciously to  themselves,  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  whole  system. 
The  Englishman  is  a  powerful  agent  for  evil  as  for  good.  In  the  best 
times  of  our  history  my  countrymen  possessed  preeminently  vigorous 
minds  in  vigorous  bodies.  But  when  the  animal  nature  has  outgrown  the 
moral,  the  appetites  burst  their  proper  restraints,  and  man  has  no  other 
notion  of  enjoyment  save  bodily  pleasure ;  he  passes  by  a  quick  and  easy 
transition  into  a  powerful  brute.  And  this  is  what  the  upper-class  English- 
man has  to  a  deplorable  extent  become.  There  is  no  creature  in  the  world 
so  ready  as  he  to  domineer,  to  enslave,  to  destroy.  But  together  with 
this  development  towards  evil,  there  has  been  in  our  country  a  counter 
development.  Moral  faith  is  still  strong  among  us.  There  are  powerful 
women,  as  well  as  strong,  pure,  and  self-governed  men,  of  the  real  old 
Anglo-Saxon  type.  It  was  in  England  then,  which  adopted  last  the 
hideous  slavery,  that  there  arose  first  a  strong  national  protest  in  oppo- 
sition. English  people  rose  up  against  the  wicked  law  before  it  had  been 
in  operation  three  months.  English  men  and  women  determined  to  carry 
abolition  not  at  home  only,  but  abroad,  and  they  promptly  carried  their 
standard  to  every  country  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  In  all  these  coun- 
tries men  and  women  came  forward  at  the  first  appeal,  and  said,  "We  are 
IO 


146  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ready,  we  only  waited  for  you,  Anglo-Saxons,  to  take  the  lead ;  we  have 
groaned  under  the  oppression,  but  there  was  not  force  enough  among  us 
to  take  the  initiative  step." 

We  have  recently  had  a  visit  from  Monsieur  Aimi  Humbert  of  Switzer- 
land, our  able  general  secretary  for  the  continent.  Much  encouragement 
w;is  derived  from  the  reports  which  reached  us  from  France,  Holland, 
Denmark,  Sweden  and  even  Spain,  where  a  noble  lady,  Donna  Concepcion 
Arenal  of  Madrid,  and  several  gentlemen  have  warmly  espoused  our  cause. 
The  progress  is  truly  encouraging;  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  partisans  of  this  legislation  have  recently  been  smitten  with  a 
kind  of  rage  for  extending  the  system  everywhere,  and  are  on  the  watch 
to  introduce  it  wherever  we  are  off  our  guard.  In  almost  all  British 
colonies  they  are  very  busy.  At  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  where  the  Cape 
parliament  had  repealed  the  law,  the  governor,  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  has  been 
induced  by  certain  specialists  and  immoral  men,  to  reintroduce  it.  But 
since  he  could  not  count  on  the  parliament  at  Cape  Town  for  doing  this, 
he  has  relntroduced  the  miserable  system  by  means  of  a  proclamation  or 
edict,  without  the  sanction  and  probably,  to  a  great  extent,  without  the 
knowledge  of  parliament.  The  same  game  is  being  played  in  other  colo- 
nies. These  facts  seem  to  point  to  a  more  decided  and  bitter  struggle  on 
the  question  than  we  have  yet  seen.  An  engergetic  member  of  our  ex- 
ecutive committee,  M.  Pierson  of  Zetten,  in  Holland,  says : 

I  look  upon  legalized  prostitution  as  the  system  in  which  the  immorality  of  our  age 
is  crystalized,  and  that  in  attacking  it  we  attack  in  reality  the  great  enemies  which  are 
hiding  themselves  behind  its  ramparts.  But  if  we  do  not  soon  overthrow  these  ramparts 
we  must  not  think  our  work  is  fruitless.  A  great  work  is  already  achieved  ;  sin  is  once 
more  called  sin  instead  of  necessary  evil,  and  the  true  standard  of  morality — equal  for 
men  and  women,  for  rich  and  poor — is  once  more  raised  in  the  face  of  all  the  nations. 

This  legalization  of  vice  which  recognized  the  "  necessity  "  of  impurity 
for  man  and  the  institution  of  slavery  for  woman,  is  the  most  open  denial 
which  modern  times  have  seen  of  the  principle  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
individual  human  being.  It  is  the  embodiment  of  socialism  in  its  worst 
form.  An  English  high-class  journal  confessed  this,  when  it  dared  to  de- 
mand that  women  who  are  unchaste  shall  henceforth  be  dealt  with  "  not 
as  human  beings,  but  as  foul  sewers,"  or  some  such  "  material  nuisance  " 
without  souls,  without  rights  and  without  responsibilities.  When  the  lead- 
ers of  public  opinion  in  a  country  have  arrived  at  such  a  point  of  com- 
bined depotism  as  to  recommend  such  a  manner  of  dealing  with  human 
beings,  there  is  no  crime  which  that  countn^  may  not  legalize.  Were  it 
possible  to  secure  the  absolute  physical  health  of  a  whole  province,  or  an 
entire  continent  by  the  destruction  of  one,  only  one  poor  and  sinful 
woman,  woe  to  that  nation  which  should  dare,  by  that  single  act  of  de- 
struction, to  purchase  this  advantage  to  the  many!  It  will  do  it  at  its 
peril. 

We  entreat  our  friends  in  America  to  renew  their  alliance  with  us 
in  the  sacred  conflict.  Union  will  be  strength.  The  women  of  England 
are  beginning  to  understand  their  responsibilities.  Like  yourselves,  we 
are  laboring  to  obtain  the  suffrage.  The  wrong  which  has  fallen  upon  us 
in  this  legalizing  of  vice  has  taught  us  the  need  of  power  in  legislation. 


Tribute  to  Miss  Anthony.  147 

Meanwhile,  the  crusade  against  immorality  is  educating  women  for  the 
right  use  of  suffrage  when  they  obtain  it.  The  two  movements  must  go 
hand  in  hand. 

Altogether  this  was  an  impressive  occasion  in  which  women 
met  heart  to  heart  in  discussing  the  deepest  humiliations  of  their 
sex.  After  eloquent  speeches  by  Mrs.  Meriwether,  Mrs.  Spencer, 
Mrs.  Leonard,  Mrs.  Thompson  and  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  the 
audience  slowly  dispersed. 

The  closing  scenes  of  the  evening  were  artistic  and  interesting. 
The  platform  was  tastefully  decked  with  flags  and  flowers,  and 
the  immense  audience  that  had  assembled  at  an  early  hour — 
hundreds  unable  to  gain  admission — made  this  the  crowning  ses- 
sion of  the  convention.  Miss  Couzins  announced  the  receipt  of 
an  invitation  from  Mr.  John  Wahl,  inviting  the  convention  to 
visit  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  "  with  assurances  of  high  regard." 
The  announcement  was  heard  with  considerable  merriment  by 
those  who  remembered  her  criticisms  on  Mr.  Wahl  for  his 
failure  to  deliver  the  address  of  welcome  at  the  opening  of  the 
convention.  She  also  announced  the  receipt  of  an  invitation  from 
Secretary  Kalb  to  visit  the  fair-grounds,  and  moved  that  the 
convention  first  visit  the  Exchange  and  then  proceed  to  the  fair- 
grounds in  carriages,  the  members  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange, 
of  course  paying  the  bill.  The  motion  was  carried  amidst  applause. 
An  invitation  was  also  received  from  Dr.  Eliot,  chancellor  of 
"Washington  University,  to  attend  the  art  lecture  of  Miss  Schoon- 
maker  at  the  Mary  Institute,  Monday  evening.  In  a  letter  to 
the  editor  of  the  National  Citizen,  Mrs.  Stanton  thus  describes 
the  incident  of  the  evening: 

The  delegates  from  the  different  States,  through  May  Wright  Thomp- 
son of  Indianapolis,  presented  Miss  Anthony  with  two  baskets  of  ex- 
quisite flowers.  She  referred  in  the  most  happy  way  to  Miss  Anthony's 
untiring  devotion  to  all  the  unpopular  reforms  through  years  of  pitiless 
persecution,  and  thanked  her  in  behalf  of  the  young  womanhood  of  the 
nation,  that  their  path  had  been  made  smoother  by  her  brave  life.  Miss 
Anthony  was  so  overcome  with  the  delicate  compliments  and  the  fragrant 
flowers  at  her  feet,  that  for  a  few  moments  she  could  find  no  words  to  ex- 
press her  appreciation  of  the  unexpected  acknowledgement  of  what  all 
American  women  owe  her.  As  she  stood  before  that  hushed  audience, 
her  silence  was  more  eloquent  than  words,  for  her  emotion  was  shared 
by  all.  With  an  effort  she  at  last  said  : 

Friends,  I  have  no  words  to  express  my  gratitude  for  this  marked  attention.  I  have 
so  long  been  the  target  for  criticism  and  ridicule,  I  am  so  unused  to  praise,  that  I 
stand  before  you  surprised  and  disarmed.  If  any  one  had  come  to  this  platform  and 


148  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

abused  all  womankind,  called  me  hard  names,  ridiculed  our  arguments  or  denied  the 
justice  of  our  demands,  I  could  with  readiness  and  confidence  have  rushed  to  the  de- 
fence, hut  I  cannot  make  any  apropriate  reply  for  this  offering  of  eloquent  words  and 
flowers,  and  I  shall  not  attempt  it. 

Being  advertised  as  the  speaker  of  the  evening,  she  at  once  began  her 
address,  and  as  she  stood  there  and  made  an  argument  worthy  a  senator 
of  the  United  States,  I  recalled  the  infinite  patience  with  which,  for  up- 
wards of  thirty  years,  she  had  labored  for  temperance,  anti-slavery  and 
woman  suffrage,  with  a  faithfulness  worthy  the  martyrs  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Christian  church,  and  said  to  myself,  verily  the  world  now  as  ever 
crucifies  its  saviors. 

Thanks  to  the  untiring  industry  of  Mrs.  Minor  and  Miss  Couzins,  the 
convention  was  in  every  way  a  success,  morally,  financially,  in  crowded 
audiences,  and  in  the  fair,  respectful  and  complimentary  tone  of  the  press. 
Looking  over  the  proceedings  and  resolutions,  the  thought  struck  me 
that  the  National  Association  is  the  only  organization  that  has  steadily 
maintained  the  doctrine  of  federal  power  against  State  rights.  The  great 
truths  set  forth  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  of  United 
States  supremacy,  so  clearly  seen  by  us,  seem  to  be  vague  and  dim  to  our 
leading  statesmen  and  lawyers  if  we  may  judge  by  their  speeches  and  de- 
cisions. Your  superb  speech  on  State  rights  should  be  published  in  tract 
form  and  scattered  over  this  entire  nation.  How  can  we  ever  have  a 
homogeneous  government  so  long  as  universal  principles  are  bounded 
by  State  lines. 

The  delegates  remaining  in  the  city  went  on  'Change  in  a  body 
at  12  o'clock  Saturday,  on  invitation  of  the  president,  John  Wahl. 
They  were  -courteously  received  and  speeches  were  made  by 
Mesdames  Couzins,  Stanton,  Anthony,  Meriwether  and  Thomp- 
son. Mrs.  Meriwether's  speech  was  immediately  telegraphed  in 
full  to  Memphis.  All  wore  badges  of  silk  on  which  in  gold  letters 
appeared  "  N.  W.  S.  A.,  May  10,  1879,  Merchants'  Exchange." 
From  the  Exchange  the  ladies  proceeded  in  carriages  to  the  fair- 
grounds, and  Zoological  Gardens  where  they  took  refreshments. 

On  Saturday  evening  Miss  Couzins  gave  a  delightful  reception. 
Her  parlors  were  crowded  until  a  late  hour,  where  the  friends  of 
woman  suffrage  had  an  opportunity  to  use  their  influence  socially 
in  converting  many  distinguished  guests.  On  Sunday  night 
Mrs.  Stanton  was  invited  by  the  Rev.  Ross  C.  Houghton  to 
occupy  his  pulpit  in  the  Union  Methodist  church,  the  largest 
in  the  city  of  that  denomination.  She  preached  from  the  text 
in  Genesis  i.,  27,  28.  The  sermon  was  published  in  the  St. 
Louis  Globe  the  next  morning.*  Mrs.  Thompson  was  also  in- 


*  Though  an  extra  edition  was  struck  off  not  a  paper  was  to  be  had  by  10  o'clock  in  the  morning 
Gov.  Stannard  and  other  prominent  members  of  the  suffrage  association  bought  and  mailed  ever/ 
copy  they  could  obtain. 


Results.  149 

vited  to  occupy   a   Presbyterian   pulpit,  but   imperative   duties 
compelled  her  to  leave  the  city. 

The  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  convention  in  woman's  en- 
franchisement was  encouraging  to  those  who  had  so  long  and 
earnestly  labored  in  this  cause.*  This  was  indeed  a  week  of 
profitable  work.  With  arguments  and  appeals  to  man's  reason 
and  sense  of  justice  on  the  platform,  to  his  religious  emotions 
and  conscience  in  the  pulpit,  to  his  honor  and  courtesy  in  the  par- 
lor, all  the  varied  influences  of  public  and  private  life  were- 
exerted  with  marked  effect ;  while  the  press  on  the  wings  of  the 
wind  carried  the  glad  tidings  of  a  new  gospel  for  woman  to  every 
town  and  hamlet  in  the  State. 


*  On  the  Tuesday  following  the  convention  a  large  number  of  St.  Louis  people  met  and  formed  a 
woman  suffrage  society,  auxiliary  to  the  National.  Miss  Anthony  who  had  remained  over,  called  the 
meeting  to  order  ;  Mrs.  E.  C.  Johnson  made  an  effective  speech  ;  Mrs.  Minor  was  chosen  president. 
Over  fifty  persons  enrolled  as  members.  The  second  meeting  held  a  fortnight  after,  was  also  crowded  • 
twenty-fi  /e  new  members  were  obtained. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

CONGRESSIONAL   REPORTS  AND   CONVENTIONS. 

1880-1881. 

Why  we  Hold  Conventions  in  Washington — Lincoln  Hall  Demonstration — Sixty-six 
Thousand  Appeals — Petitions  Presented  in  Congress — Hon.  T.  W.  Ferry  of 
Michigan  in  the  Senate — Hon.  George  B.  Loring  of  Massachusetts  in  the  House — 
Hon.  J.  J.  Davis  of  North  Carolina  Objected — Twelfth  Washington  Convention — 
Hearings  before  the  Judiciary  Committees  of  both  Houses — 1880— May  Anni- 
versary at  Indianapolis — Series  of  Western  Conventions — Presidential  Nominating 
Conventions — Delegates  and  Addresses  to  each — Mass-meeting  at  Chicago — Wash- 
ington Convention,  iSSi — Memorial  Service  to  Lucretia  Mott — Mrs.  Stanton's 
Eulogy — Discussion  in  the  Senate  on  a  Standing  Committee — Senator  McDonald 
of  Indiana  Championed  the  Measure — May  Anniversary  in  Boston — Conventions 
in  the  Chief  Cities  of  New  England. 

THE  custom  of  holding  conventions  at  the  seat  of  government 
in  mid-winter  has  many  advantages.  Congress  is  then  in  session, 
the  Supreme  Court  sitting,  and  society,  that  mystic,  headless, 
power,  at  the  height  of  its  glory.  Being  the  season  for  official 
receptions,  where  one  meets  foreign  diplomats  from  every  civilized 
nation,  it  is  the  time  chosen  by  strangers  to  visit  our  beautiful 
capital.  Washington  is  the  modern  Rome  to  which  all  roads 
lead,  the  bright  cynosure  of  all  eyes,  and  is  alike  the  hope  and 
fear  of  worn-out  politicians  and  aspiring  pilgrims.  From  this 
great  center  varied  influences  radiate  to  the  vast  circumference 
of  our  land.  Supreme-court  decisions,  congressional  debates, 
presidential  messages  and  popular  opinions  on  all  questions  of 
fashion,  etiquette  and  reform  are  heralded  far  and  near,  awaken- 
ing new  thought  in  every  State  in  our  nation  and,  through  their 
representatives,  in  the  aristocracies  of  the  old  world.  Hence  to 
hold  a  suffrage  convention  in  Washington  is  to  speak  to  the 
women  of  every  civilized  nation. 

The  Twelfth  Annual  Convention  of  the  National  Association 
assembled  in  Lincoln  Hall,  January  21,  1880.  Many  distin- 
guished ladies  and  gentlemen  occupied  the  platform,  which  was 
tastefully  decorated  with  flags  and  flowers,  and  around  the  walls 


Twelfth    Washington  Convention.  151 

hung  familiar  mottoes,*  significant  of  the  demands  of  the  hour. 
On  taking  the  chair  Susan  B.  Anthony  made  some  appropriate 
remarks  as  to  the  importance  of  the  work  of  the  association  dur- 
ing the  presidential  campaign.  Mrs.  Spencer  called  the  roll,  and 
delegates  f  from  sixteen  States  responded. 

Mrs.  Gage  read  the  call : 

The  National  Association  will  hold  its  twelfth  annual  convention  in 
Lincoln  Hall,  Washington,  D.  C.,  January  21,  22,  1880. 

The  question  as  to  whether  we  are  a  nation,  or  simply  a  confederacy  of 
States,  that  has  agitated  the  country  from  the  inauguration  of  the  govern- 
ment, was  supposed  to  have  been  settled  by  the  war  and  confirmed  by 
the  amendments,  making  United  States  citizenship  and  suffrage  practi- 
cally synonymous.  Not,  however,  having  been  pressed  to  its  logical  re- 
sults, the  question  as  to  the  limits  of  State  rights  and  national  power  is 
still  under  discussion,  and  is  the  fundamental  principle  that  now  divides 
the  great  national  parties.  As  the  final  settlement  of  this  principle  in- 
volves the  enfranchisement  of  woman,  our  question  is  one  of  national 
politics,  and  the  real  issue  of  the  hour.  If  it  is  the  duty  of  the  general 
government  to  protect  the  freedmen  of  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana  in 
the  exercise  of  their  rights  as  United  States  citizens,  the  government 
owes  the  same  protection  to  the  women  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York. 
This  year  will  again  witness  an  exciting  presidental  election,  and  this 
question  of  momentous  importance  to  woman  will  be  the  issue  then 
presented.  Upon  its  final  decision  depends  not  only  woman's  speedy  en- 
franchisement, but  the  existence  of  the  republic. 

A  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national  constitution,  prohibiting  the 
States  from  disfranchising  United  States  citizens  on  the  ground  of  sex, 
will  be  urged  upon  the  forty-sixth  congress  by  petitions,  arguments  and 
appeals.  The  earnest,  intelligent  and  far-seeing  women  of  every  State 
should  assemble  at  the  coming  convention,  and  show  by  their  wise  coun- 
sels that  they  are  worthy  to  be  citizens  of  a  free  republic.  All  asso- 

*  "  True  labor  reform ;   the  ballot  for  woman,  the  unpaid  laborer  of  the  whole  earth." 
"  Man's  work  is  from  sun  to  sun, 
But  woman's  work  is  never  done." 

"Taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny.  Woman  is  taxed  to  support  pauperism  and  crime, 
and  is  compelled  to  feed  and  clothe  the  law-makers  who  oppress  her." 

"Women  are  voting  on  education,  the  bulwark  of  the  republic,  in  Kansas,  Michigan,  Minnesota, 
Colorado,  Oregon,  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts." 

"  Women  are  voting  on  all  questions  in  Wyoming  and  Utah.  The  vote  of  women  transformed 
Wyoming  from  barbarism  to  civilization." 

''  The  financial  problem  for  woman  :  equal  pay  for  equal  work,  and  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar." 

"  When  a  woman  Will,  she  WILL,  and  you  may  depend  on  it,  she  WILL  vote." 

t  California,  Jane  B.Archibald;  Connecticut,  Julia  E.  Smith  (Parker),  E.  C.  Champion;  Dela- 
ware, Mary  A.  Stuart;  District  of  Columbia,  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  Jane  H.  Spofford,  Ellen  H. 
Sheldon,  Sara  J.  Messer,  Amanda  M.  Best,  Belva  A.  Lockwood.  Mary  A.  S.  Carey,  Rosina  M.  Par- 
nell,  Mary  L.  Woostcr,  Helen  Rand  Tindall,  Lura  McNall  Orme ;  Illinois,  Miss  Jessie  Waite, 
daughter  of  Caroline  V.  and  Judge  Waite;  Indiana,  Zerelda  G.  Wallace,  Emma  Mont  McRae ; 
Flora  M.  Hardin  ;  Iowa,  Nancy  R.  Allen;  Kansas,  Delia  Ross;  Louisiana,  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon, 
Maine,  Sophronia  C.  Snow;  Maryland,  Lavinia  Dundore  ;  Michigan,  Catherine  A.  F.  Stebbins: 
Missouri,  Phcebe  W.  Couzins ;  Neiu  Hampshire,  Marilla  M.  Ricker ;  Neiv  Jersey,  Lucinda  B. 
Chandler;  New  York,  Susan  B.  Anthony.  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  Dr.  A.  W. 
Lozier,  Jennie  de  M.  Lozier,  M.  D.,  Helen  M.  Slocum  ;  Pennsylvania,  Rachel  G.  Foster,  Julia  T.. 
Foster  ;  South  Carolina,  Mary  R.  Pell. 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ciations  in  the  United  States  which  believe  it  is  the  duty  of  congress  to 
submit  an  amendment  protecting  woman  in  the  exercise  of  the  right  of 
suffrage,  are  cordially  invited  to  send  delegates.  Those  who  cannot  at- 
tend the  convention,  are  urged  to  address  letters  to  their  representa- 
tives in  congress,  asking  them  to  give  as  careful  attention  to  the  pro- 
posed amendment  and  to  the  petitions  and  arguments  urged  in  its  behalf, 
as  though  the  rights  of  men,  only,  were  involved.  A  delegate  from  each 
section  of  the  country  will  be  heard  before  the  committees  of  the  House 
and  Senate,  to  whom  our  petitions  will  be  referred.* 

Mrs.  Spencer  presented  a  series  of  resolutions  which  were  ably 
discussed  by  the  speakers  and  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  we  are  a  nation  and  not  a  mere  confederacy,  and  that  the  right  of 
citizens  of  the  United  States  to  self-government  through  the  ballot  should  be  guaran- 
teed by  the  national  constitution  and  protected  everywhere  under  the  national  flag. 

Resolved,  That  while  States  may  have  the  right  to  regulate  the  time,  place  and  man- 
ner of  elections,  and  the  qualifications  of  voters  upon  terms  equally  applicable  to  all 
citizens,  they  should  be  forbidden  under  heavy  penalties  to  deprive  any  citizen  of  the 
right  to  self-government  on  account  of  sex. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  forty-sixth  congress  to  immediately  submit  to  the 
several  States  the  amendment  to  the  national  constitution  recently  proposed  by  Senator 
Ferry  and  Representative  Loring,  and  approved  by  the  National  Suffrage  Association. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to  pass  immediately 
the  resolution  recommended  by  the  Committee  on  Rules  directing  the  speaker  to  ap- 
point a  committee  on  the  rights  of  women. 

Resolved,  That  the  giant  labor  reform  of  this  age  lies  in  securing  to  woman,  the 
great  unpaid  and  unrecognized  laborer  and  producer  of  the  whole  earth,  the  fruits  of 
her  toil. 

Resolved,  That  the  theory  of  a  masculine  head  to  rule  the  family,  the  church,  or  the 
State,  is  contrary  to  republican  principles,  and  the  fruitful  source  of  rebellion  and  cor- 
ruption. 

Resolved,  That  the  assumption  of  the  clergy,  that  woman  has  no  right  to  participate 
in  the  ministry  and  offices  of  the  church  is  unauthorized  theocratic  tyranny,  placing  a 
masculine  mediator  between  woman  and  her  God,  which  finds  no  authority  in  reason, 
and  should  be  resisted  by  all  women  as  an  odious  form  of  religious  persecution. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  congress  of  the  United  States  to  provide  a  re- 
form school  for  girls  and  a  home  for  the  children  whom  no  man  owns  or  protects,  and 
who  are  left  to  die  upon  the  streets  of  the  nation's  capital,  or  to  grow  up  in  ignorance, 
vice  and  crime. 

Hesolved,  That  since  man  has  everywhere  committed  to  woman  the  custody  and 
/ownership  of  the  child  born  out  of  wedlock,  and  has  required  it  to  bear  its  mother's 
name,  he  should  recognize  woman's  right  as  a  mother  to  the  custody  of  the  child  born 
in  marriage,  and  permit  it  to  bear  her  name! 

Resolved,  That  the  National  Association  will  send  a  delegate  and  an  alternate  to 
•each  presidential  nominating  convention  to  demand  the  rights  of  woman,  and  to  sub- 
mit to  each  party  the  following  plank  for  presidential  platform  :  Resolved,  That  the 
-right  to  use  the  ballot  inheres  in  the  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  we  pledge  our- 
selves to  secure  protection  in  the  exercise  of  this  right  to  all  citizens  irrespective  of  sex. 

Resolved,  That  one-half  of  the  number  of  the  supervisors  of  the  tenth  census,  and 
one-half  of  the  collectors  of  said  census,  should  be  educated,  intelligent  women,  who 
can  be  safely  entrusted  to  enumerate  women  and  children,  their  occupations,  ages, 

*  Signed  by  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Chairman  Executive  Committee:  Susan  B.  Anthony,  I'ice-fres- 
ident-at-iarge;  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  Corresponding  Secretary ;  Jane  H.  Spofford,  Treasurer. 


Anna  Ella  Carroll,  of  Maryland.  153 

diseases  and  deaths,  and  who  would  not  be  likely  to  overlook  ten  millions  of  house- 
keepers. 

Resolved,  That  Ulysses  S.  Grant  won  his  first  victories  through  the  military  plans 
and  rare  genius  of  a  woman,  Anna  Ella  Carroll,  of  Maryland,  and  while  he  has  been 
rewarded  with  the  presidential  office  through  two  terms,  and  a  royal  voyage  around  the 
world,  crowned  with  glory  and  honor,  Miss  Carroll  has  for  fifteen  years  been  suffer- 
ing in  poverty  unrecognized  and  unrewarded. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  association  are  hereby  tendered  to  Governor  Chas. 
B.  Andrews,  of  Connecticut,  for  remembering  in  each  annual  message  to  ask  for  justice 
to  women. 

The  comments  of  the  press*  were  very  complimentary,  and 
their  daily  reports  of  the  convention  full  and  fair.  Among  the 
many  letters f  to  the  convention,  the  following  from  a  Southern 
lady  is  both  novel  and  amusing: 

MEMPHIS,  Term.,  December  11,  1889. 

DEAR  MRS.  SPENCER:  You  want  petitions.  Well  I  have  two  which  I 
got  up  some  time  ago,  but  did  not  send  on  because  I  thought  the  names 
too  few  to  count  much.  The  one  is  of  white  women  130  in  number.  The 
other  contains  no  names  of  black  women.  This  last  is  a  curiosity,  and 
was  gotten  up  under  the  following  circumstances : 

Some  ladies  were  dining  with  me  and  we  each  promised  to  get  what 
names  we  could  to  petitions  for  woman  suffrage.  My  servant  who  waited 


*  This  week  has  been  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  the  women,  who  as  temperance  leaders,  female 
suffragists  and  general  reformers,  have  become  a  power  in  the  land  which  can  no  longer  be  ridiculed  or 
ignored.  Yesterday  Lincoln  Hall  was  packed  to  its  utmost  capacity  with  such  an  audience  as  no  other 
entertainment  or  amusement  has  ever  before  gathered  in  this  city.  Women  of  refinement  and  cultiva- 
tion, of  thought  and  purpose,  women  of  standing  and  position  in  society,  mothers  of  families,  wives  of 
clergymen,  were  there  by  the  hundreds,  to  listen  to  the  words  of  wisdom  and  eloquence  that  fell 
from  the  lips  of  that  assembly,  the  most  carefully  organized,  thoroughly  governed,  harmoniously  acting 
association  in  this  great  country.  Members  of  congress,  professors  of  colleges,  judges  and  gentlemen  of 
leisure,  sat  or  stood  in  admiration  of  the  progress  of  the  women,  who  are  so  earnestly  striving  to  regen- 
erate our  beloved  republic,  over  which  the  shadow  of  anarchy  and  dissolution  is  hovering  with  outspread 
wings.  These  women  are  no  longer  trembling  suppliants,  feeling  their  way  cautiously  and  feebly  amid 
an  overpowering  mass  of  obstructions  ;  they  are  now  strong  in  their  might,  in  their  unity,  and  in  the 
righteousness  of  their  cause.  Men  will  do  wisely  if  they  attract  this  power  instead  of  repelling  it;  if 
they  permit  women  to  work  in  concert  with  them,  instead  of  compelling  them  to  be  arrayed  against 
them.  The  fate  of  Governor  Robinson  and  Senator  Ecelstine  of  New  York,  indicates  what  they  can 
do,  and  what  they  will  do,  if  obliged  to  assume  the  attitude  of  aggressors.  Congress  has  heard  no  such 
eloquence  upon  its  floors  this  week  as  we  have  listened  to  from  the  lips  of  these  noble  women. — [Wash- 
ington correspondent  of  the  Portland  (Me.)  Transcript,  Jan.  23,  1880. 

These  conventions  occur  yearly  and  although  the  ladies  have  fought  long  and  hard,  and  seem  to  have 
not  yet  reached  a  positive  assurance  of  success,  still  they  continue  to  force  the  fight  with  greater  earn- 
estness and  redoubled  energy,  and  their  meetings  are  conducted  with  much  wisdom  and  decided  spirit* 
Thcra  is  one  thing  to  the  credit  of  these  ladies  which  cannot  be  said  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  that  is, 
their  conventions  are  models  of  good  order  and  parliamentary  eloquence,  and  they  put  their  work 
through  in  a  graceful,  business-like  manner. — [Washington  Critic,  Jan.  21.  1880. 

The  announcement  that  the  public  session  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Convention  would  begin 
at  one  o'clock  yesterday  afternoon  at  Lincoln  Hall  sufficed  to  attract  a  most  brilliant  audience,  composed 
principally  of  ladies,  occupying  every  seat  and  thronging  the  aisles.  The  inconvenience  of  re- 
maining standing  was  patiently  endured  by  hundreds  who  seemed  loth  to  leave  while  the  convention 
was  in  progress. — [Washington  National  Republican,  Jan.  22,  1880. 

The  session  of  the  Woman  Suffrage  Convention  in  Washington  this  week  has  developed  the  fact 
that  these  strong-minded  women  are  making  progress.  The  convention  itself  was  composed  of  women 
of  marked  ability,  and  its  proceedings  were  marked  by  dignity  and  decorum.  The  very  best  citizens  of 
the  city  attended  the  meetings. — [Washington  correspondent  Syracuse  Daily  Standard. 

t  Letters  were  read  from  Mary  Powers  Filley,  N.  H.;  Martha  G.  Tunstall,  Texas  ;  M.  A.  Darling, 
Mich.;  May  Wright  Thompson,  Ind.;  Sarah  Burger  "Stearns,  Minn.;  Miss  Martin,  111.;  W.  G. 
Myers,  O.;  Annie  L.  Quinby,  Ky.;  Zina  Young  Williams,  Utah;  Barbara  J.  Thompson.  Neb.;  Mir* 
L.  Sturgis,  Me.;  Orra  Langhorne,  Va.;  Emily  P.  Collins,  La,;  Charles  P.  Wellman,  esq.,  Ga. 


154  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

on  table  was  a  coal-black  woman.  She  became  interested  and  after  the 
ladies  went  away  asked  me  to  explain  the  matter  to  her,  which  I  did.  She 
then  said  if  I  would  give  her  a  paper  she  could  get  a  thousand  names 
among  the  black  women,  that  many  of  them  felt  that  they  were  as  much 
slaves  to  their  husbands  as  ever  they  had  been  to  their  white  masters.  I 
gave  her  a  petition,  and  said  to  her,  "Tell  the  women  this  is  to  have  a  law 
passed  that  will  not  allow  the  men  to  whip  their  -wives,  and  will  put 
down  drinking  saloons."  "  Every  black  woman  will  go  for  that  law!" 
She  took  the  paper  and  procured  these  no  signatures  against  the 
strong  opposition  of  black  men  who  in  some  cases  threatened  to  whip' 
their  wives  if  they  signed.  At  length  the  opposition  was  so  great  my 
servant  had  not  courage  to  face  it.  She  feared  some  bodily  harm  would  be 
done  her  by  the  black  men.  You  can  see  this  is  a  genuine  negro  petition 
from  the  odd  way  the  names  are  written,  sometimes  the  capital  letter  in 
the  middle  of  the  name,  sometimes  at  the  end. 

Yours,  ELIZABETH  AVERY  MERIWETHER. 

In  response  to  66,000  documents  containing  appeals  to  women, 
issued  by  the  National  Association,  250  petitions,  signed  by  over 
12,000,  arrived  in  Washington  in  time  for  presentation  to  congress 
before  the  assembling  of  the  convention,  and  were  read  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate,  with  the  leading  names,  January  14,  16,  20,  21, 
by  forty-seven  senators. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  this  courtesy  (reading  peti- 
tions and  names),  requires  unanimous  consent,  and  one  man,  Hon. 
J.  J.  Davis  of  North  Carolina,  who  had  no  petition  from  the  wo- 
men of  his  State,  objected.  Sixty-five  representatives  presented 
the  petitions  at  the  clerk's  desk,  under  the  rule,  January  14,  15, 
16.  In  answer  to  these  appeals  to  both  Houses,  on  Monday, 
January  19,  Hon.  T.  W.  Ferry,  of  Michigan,  introduced  in  the 
Senate  a  joint  resolution  for  a  sixteenth  amendment,  which  with 
all  the  petitions  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary. 
Tuesday,  January  20,  Hon.  George  B.  Loring,  of  Massachusetts, 
introduced  the  same  resolution  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  it  was  referred,  with  all  the  petitions,  to  the  Committee  on 
the  Judiciary.  There  were  also  during  this  congress  presented 
over  300  petitions  from  law-abiding,  tax-paying  women,  praying 
for  the  removal  of  their  political  disabilities. 

On  Friday  and  Saturday,  January  23,  24,  these  committees 
granted  hearings  of  two  hours  each  to  delegates  from  ten  States 
who  had  been  in  attendance  at  the  convention.  Thoughtful  at- 
tention was  given  to  arguments  upon  every  phase  of  the  question, 
and  senators  and  representatives  expressed  a  strong  determina- 
tion to  bring  the  subject  fairly  before  the  people. 


Argument  Before  the  Senate  Committee.          155 

The  committees  especially  requested  that  only  the  delegates 
should  be  present,  wishing,  as  they  said,  to  give  their  sole  atten- 
tion to  the  arguments  undisturbed  by  the  crowds  who  usually 
seek  admittance.  Even  the  press  was  shut  out.  These  private 
sessions  with  most  of  the  members  present,  and  the  close  atten- 
tion they  gave  to  each  speaker,  were  strong  proof  of  the  growth 
of  our  reform,  as  but  a  few  years  before  representatives  sought 
excuses  for  absence  on  all  such  occasions. 

THE  COMMITTEE  ON  THE  JUDICIARY,  U.  S.  SENATE,  ) 
Friday,  Jan.  23,  1880.  \ 

The  committee  assembled  at  half-past  10  o'clock  A.  M.  Present,  Mr. 
Thurman,  chairman,  Mr.  McDonald,  Mr.  Bayard,  Mr.  Davis  of  Illinois,  Mr. 
Edmunds. 

The  CHAIRMAN  :  Several  members  of  the  committee  are  unable  to  be 
here.  Mr.  Lamar  is  detained  at  his  home  in  Mississippi  by  sickness  ;  Mr. 
Carpenter  is  confined  to  his  room  by  sickness  ;  Mr.  Conkling  has  been  un- 
well ;  I  do  not  know  how  he  is  this  morning  ;  and  Mr.  Garland  is  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Territories,  which  has  a  meeting  this  morning 
that  he  could  not  fail  to  attend.  I  do  not  think  we  are  likely  to  have  any 
more  members  of  the  committee  than  are  here  now,  and  we  will  hear  you, 
ladies. 

Mrs.  ZERELDA  G.  WALLACE  of  Indiana  said:  Mr.  Chairman,  and.Gen- 
tlemen  of  the  Committee :  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  there  is  not 
an  effect  without  a  cause.  Therefore  it  would  be  well  for  the  statesmen 
of  this  nation  to  ask  themselves  the  question,  What  has  brought  the 
women  from  all  parts  of  this  nation  to  the  capital  at  this  time  ?  WThat  has 
been  the  strong  motive  that  has  taken  us  away  from  the  quiet  and  com- 
fort of  our  own  homes  and  brought  us  before  you  to-day  ?  As  an  answer 
to  that  question  I  will  read  an  extract  from  a  speech  made  by  one  of  In- 
diana's statesmen.  He  found  out  by  experience  and  gave  us  the  benefit 
of  it: 

You  can  go  to  meetings  ;  you  can  vote  resolutions  ;  you  can  attend  great  demonstra- 
tions in  the  street  ;  but,  after  all,  the  only  occasion  where  the  American  citizen 
expresses  his  acts,  his  opinions,  and  his  power  is  at  the  ballot-box  ;  and  that  little  ballot 
that  he  drops  in  there  is  the  written  sentiment  of  the  times,  and  it  is  the  power  that  he 
has  as  a  citizen  of  this  great  republic. 

That  is  the  reason  why  we  are  here  ;  the  reason  why  we  want  to  vote. 
We  are  not  seditious  women,  clamoring  for  any  peculiar  rights;  it  is 
not  the  woman  question  that  brings  us  before  you  to-day ;  it  is  the 
human  question  underlying  this  movement.  We  love  and  appreciate  our 
country;  we  value  its  institutions.  We  realize  that  we  owe  great  obliga- 
tions to  the  men  of  this  nation  for  what  they  have  done.  To  their 
strength  we  owe  the  subjugation  of  all  the  material  forces  of  the  uni- 
verse which  give  us  comfort  and  luxury  in  our  homes.  To  their  brains 
\veo\vethemachinerythat  gives  us  leisure  for  intellectual  culture  and 
achievement.  To  their  education  we  owe  the  opening  of  our  colleges 
and  the  establishment  of  our  public  schools,  which  give  us  these  great 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

and  glorious  privileges.  This  movement  is  the  legitimate  result  of  this 
development,  and  of  the  suffering  that  woman  has  undergone  in  the 
ages  past. 

A  short  time  ago  I  went  before  the  legislature  of  Indiana  with  a  petition 
signed  by  25,000  of  the  best  women  in  the  State.  I  appeal  to  the 
memory  of  Judge  McDonald  to  substantiate  the  truth  of  what  I  say. 
Judge  McDonald  knows  that  I  am  a  home-loving,  law-abiding,  tax-paying 
woman  of  Indiana,  and  have  been  for  fifty  years.  When  I  went  before 
our  legislature  and  found  that  one  hundred  of  the  vilest  men  in  our  State, 
merely  by  the  possession  of  the  ballot,  had  more  influence  with  our  law- 
makers than  the  wives  and  mothers  it  was  a  startling  revelation. 

You  must  admit  that  in  popular  government  the  ballot  is  the  most 
potent  means  for  all  moral  and  social  reforms.  As  members  of  society, 
we  are  deeply  interested  in  all  the  social  problems  with  which  you  have 
grappled  so  long  unsuccessfully.  We  do  not  intend  to  depreciate  your 
efforts,  but  you  have  attempted  to  do  an  impossible  thing;  to  represent 
the  whole  by  one-half,  and  because  we  are  the  other  half  we  ask  you  to 
recognize  our  rights  as  citizens  of  this  republic. 

JULIA  SMITH  PARKER  of  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  said:  Gentlemen:  You 
may  be  surprised  to  see  a  woman  of  over  four-score  years  appear  before 
you  at  this  time.  She  came  into  the  world  and  reached  years  of  discre- 
tion before  any  person  in  this  room  was  born.  She  now  comes  before 
you  to  plead  that  she  can  vote  and  have  all  the  privileges  that  men  have. 
She  has  suffered  so  much  individually  that  she  thought  when  she  was 
young  she  had  no  right  to  speak  before  the  men  ;  but  still  she  had  courage 
to  get  an  education  equal  to  that  of  any  man  at  the  college,  and  she  had 
to  suffer  a  great  deal  on  that  account.  She  went  to  New  Haven  to  school, 
and  it  was  noised  around  that  she  had  studied  the  languages.  It  was 
such  an  astonishing  thing  for  girls  at  that  time  to  have  the  advantages  of 
education,  that  I  had  actually  to  go  to  cotillon  parties  to  let  people  see 
that  I  had  common  sense.  [Laughter.] 

She  has  had  to  pay  $200  a  year  in  taxes  without  knowing  what  becomes 
of  it.  She  does  not  know  but  that  it  goes  to  support  grog-shops.  She 
knows  nothing  about  it.  She  has  had  to  suffer  her  cows  to  be  sold  at 
the  sign-post  six  times.  She  suffered  her  meadow  land,  worth  $2,000,  to 
be  sold  for  a  tax  less  than  $50.  If  she  could  vote  as  the  men  do  she  would 
not  have  suffered  this  insult ;  and  so  much  would  not  have  been  said 
against  her  as  has  been  said  if  men  did  not  have  the  whole  power.  I  was 
told  that  they  had  the  power  to  take  anything  that  I  owned  if  I  would  not 
exert  myself  to  pay  the  money.  I  felt  that  I  ought  to  have  some  little 
voice  in  determining  what  should  be  done  with  what  I  paid.  I  felt  that 
I  ought  to  own  my  own  property ;  that  it  ought  not  to  be  in  these 
men's  hands ;  and  I  now  come  to  plead  that  I  may  have  the  same  privi- 
leges before  the  law  that  men  have.  I  have  seen  what  a  difference 
there  is,  when  I  have  had  my  cows  sold,  by  having  a  voter  to  take  my 
part. 

I  have  come  from  an  obscure  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut, 
where  I  was  born.  I  was  brought  up  on  a  farm.  I  never  had  an  idea  that 


Elizabeth  L.  Saxons  Speech.  157 

I  should  come  all  the  way  to  Washington  to  speak  before  those  who 
had  not  come  into  existence  when  I  was  born.  Now,  I  plead  that  there 
may  be  a  sixteenth  amendment,  and  that  women  may  be  allowed  the  pri- 
vilege of  owning  their  own  property.  I  have  suffered  so  much  myself  that 
I  felt  it  might  have  some  effect  to  plead  before  this  honorable  committee. 
I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  hearing  me  so  kindly. 

ELIZABETH  L.  SAXON  of  Louisiana,  said :  Gentlemen :  I  feel  that  after 
Mrs.  Wallace's  plea  there  is  no  necessity  for  me  to  say  anything.  I  come 
from  the  extreme  South,  she  from  the  West.  People  have  asked  me  why 
I  came.  I  care  nothing  for  suffrage  merely  to  stand  beside  men,  or  rush 
to  the  polls,  or  to  take  any  privilege  outside  of  my  home,  only,  as  Mrs. 
Wallace  says,  for  humanity.  I  never  realized  the  importance  of  this 
cause,  until  we  were  beaten  back  on  every  side  in  the  work  of  reform. 
If  we  attempted  to  put  women  in  charge  of  prisons,  believing  that  wher- 
ever woman  sins  and  suffers  women  should  be  there  to  teach,  help  and 
guide,  every  place  was  in  the  hands  of  men.  If  we  made  an  effort  to  get, 
women  on  the  school-boards  we  were  combated  and  could  do  nothing. 

In  the  State  of  Texas,  I  had  a  niece  living  whose  father  was  an  inmate 
of  a  lunatic  asylum.  She  exerted  as  wide  an  influence  as  any  woman  in 
that  State  ;  I  allude  to  Miss  Mollie  Moore,  who  was  the  ward  of  Mr.  Gush- 
ing. I  give  this  illustration  as  a  reason  why  Southern  women  are  taking 
part  in  this  movement.  Mr.  Wallace  had  charge  of  that  lunatic  asylum 
for  years.  He  was  a  good,  honorable,  able  man.  Every  one  was  endeared 
to  him  ;  the  State  appreciated  him  as  superintendent  of  this  asylum. 
When  a  political  change  was  made  and  Gov.  Robinson  came  in,  Dr. 
Wallace  was  ousted  for  political  purposes.  It  almost  broke  the  hearts 
of  some  of  the  women  who  had  sons,  daughters  or  husbands  there. 
They  determined  at  once  to  try  and  have  him  reinstated.  It  was  im- 
possible, he  was  out,  and  what  could  they  do  ? 

A  gentleman  said  to  me  a  few  days  ago,  "These  women  ought  to  marry." 
I  am  married  ;  I  am  a  mother ;  and  in  our  home  the  sons  and  brothers  are 
all  standing  like  a  wall  of  steel  at  my  back.  I  have  cast  aside  the  preju- 
dices of  the  past.  They  lie  like  rotted  hulks  behind  me. 

After  the  fever  of  1878,  when  our  constitutional  convention  was  about 
to  convene,  I  suppressed  the  agony  and  grief  of  my  own  heart  (for  one  of 
my  children  had  died)  and  took  part  in  the  suffrage  movement  in  Louisiana 
with  the  wife  of  Chief-Justice  Merrick*  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Dorsey,  and  Mrs. 
Harriet  Keating  of  New  York,  the  niece  of  Dr.  Lozier.  These  three 
ladies  aided  me  faithfully  and  ably.  I  went  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Wiltz, 
and  asked  him  if  he  would  present  or  consider  a  petition  which  I  wished 
to  bring  before  the  convention.  He  read  the  petition.  One  clause  of  our 
State  law  is  that  no  woman  can  sign  a  will.  Some  ladies  donated  property 
to  an  asylum.  They  wrote  the  will  and  signed  it  themselves,  and  it  was 
null  and  void,  because  they  were  women.  That  clause,  perhaps,  will  be 
wiped  out.  Many  gentlemen  signed  the  petition  on  that  account.  Gov- 
ernor Wiltz,  then  lieutenant-governor,  told  me  he  would  present  the  peti- 
tion. He  was  elected  president  of  the  convention.  I  presented  my 
first  petition,  signed  by  the  best  names  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and 


158  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

in  the  State.  I  had  the  names  of  seven  of  the  most  prominent  physi- 
cians. Three  prominent  ministers  signed  it  for  moral  purposes  alone. 
When  Mrs.  Dorsey  was  on  her  dying  bed  the  last  time  she  ever  signed 
her  name  was  to  a  letter  to  go  before  that  convention.  Mrs.  Merrick  and 
myself  addressed  the  convention.  We  made  the  petition  then  that  we 
make  here ;  that  we,  the  mothers  of  the  land,  should  not  be  barred  on 
every  side  in  the  cause  of  reform.  I  pledged  my  father  on  his  dying 
bed  that  I  would  never  cease  work  until  woman  stood  with  man  equal 
before  the  law. 

I  beg  of  you,  gentlemen,  to  consider  this  question  seriously.  We  stand 
precisely  in  the  position  of  the  colonies  when  they  plead,  and,  in  the  words 
of  Patrick  Henry,  were  "  spurned  with  contempt  from  the  foot  of  the 
throne."  We  have  been  jeered  and  laughed  at ;  but  the  question  has 
passed  out  of  the  region  of  ridicule.  This  clamor  for  woman  suffrage,  for 
woman's  rights,  for  equal  representation,  is  extending  all  over  the  land. 

I  plead  because  my  work  has  been  combated  in  the  cause  of  reform 
everywhere  that  I  have  tried  to  accomplish  anything.  The  children  that 
fill  the  houses  of  prostitution  are  not  of  foreign  blood  and  race.  They 
come  from  sweet  American  homes,  and  for  every  woman  that  went  down 
some  mother's  heart  broke.  I  plead  by  the  power  of  the  ballot  to  be 
allowed  to  help  reform  women  and  benefit  mankind. 

MARY  A.  STEWART  of  Delaware  said  :  The  negroes  are  a  race  inferior, 
you  must  admit,  to  your  daughters,  and  yet  that  race  has  the  ballot,  and 
why?  It  is  said  they  earned  it  and  paid  for  it  with  their  blood.  Whose 
blood  paid  for  yours  ?  The  blood  of  your  forefathers  and  our  fore- 
fathers. Does  a  man  earn  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  lie  down 
and  die,  saying,  "  It  «is  all  my  boys'"?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  He  dies 
saying,  "  Let  my  children,  be  they  cripples,  be  they  idiots,  be  they 
boys,  or  be  they  girls,  inherit  all  my  property  alike."  Then  let  us 
inherit  the  sweet  boon  of  the  ballot  alike.  When  our  fathers  were 
driving  the  great  ship  of  State  we  were  willing  to  sail  as  deck  or  cabin 
passengers,  just  as  we  felt  disposed  ;  we  had  nothing  to  say ;  but  to-day 
the  boys  are  about  to  run  the  ship  aground,  and  it  is  high  time  that  the 
mothers  should  be  asking,  "  What  do  you  mean  to  do  ?"  In  our  own  little 
State  the  laws  have  been  very  much  modified  in  regard  to  women.  My 
father  was  the  first  man  to  blot  out  the  old  English  law  allowing  the  eldest 
son  the  right  of  inheritance  to  the  real-estate.  He  took  the  first  step,  and 
like  all  those  who  take  first  steps  in  reform  he  received  a  mountain  of 
curses  from  the  oldest  male  heirs. 

Since  1868  I  have,  by  my  own  individual  efforts,  by  the  use  of  hard- 
earned  money,  gone  to  our  legislature  time  after  time  and  have  had  this 
law  and  that  law  passed  for  the  benefit  of  women ;  and  the  same  little 
ship  of  State  has  sailed  on.  To-day  our  men  are  just  as  well  satisfied  with 
the  laws  in  force  in  our  State  for  the  benefit  of  women  as  they  were  years 
ago.  A  woman  now  has  a  right  to  make  a  will.  She  can  hold  bonds  and 
mortgages  of  her  own.  She  has  a  right  to  her  own  property.  She  cannot 
sell  it  though,  if  it  is  real-estate,  simply  because  the  moment  she  marries, 
her  husband  has  his  right  of  courtesy.  The  woman  does  not  grumble  at 


Arguments  Before  the  Senate  Committee.         159 

that ;  but  still  when  he  dies  owning  real-estate,  she  gets  only  the  rental 
value  of  one-third,  which  is- called  the  widow's  dower.  Now  I  think  the 
man  ought  to  have  the  rental  value  of  one-third  of  the  woman's  maiden 
property  or  real-estate,  and  it  ought  to  be  called  the  widower's  dower. 
It  would  be  just  as  fair  for  one  as  for  the  other.  All  that  I  want  is 
equality. 

The  women  of  our  State,  as  I  said  before,  are  taxed  without  representa- 
tion. The  tax-gatherer  comes  every  year  and  demands  taxes.  For 
twenty  years  I  have  paid  tax  under  protest,  and  if  I  live  twenty  ydars 
longer  I  shall  pay  it  under  prote§t  every  time.  The  tax-gatherer  came  to 
my  place  not  long  since.  "Well,"  said  I,  "good  morning,  sir."  Said  he, 
•"  Good  morning."  He  smiled  and  said,  "  I  have  come  bothering  you." 
Said  I,  "  I  know  your  face  well.  You  have  come  to  get  a  right  nice  little 
woman's  tongue-lashing."  Said  he,  "  I  suppose  so,  but  if  you  will  just  pay 
your  tax  I  will  leave."  I  paid  the  tax,  "  But,"  said  I,  "  remember  I  pay  it 
under  protest,  and  if  I  ever  pay  another  tax  I  intend  to  have  the  protest 
•written  and  make  the  tax-gatherer  sign  it  before  I  pay  the  tax,  and  if  he 
will  not  sign  that  protest  then  I  shall  not  pay,  and  there  will  be  a  fight  at 
once,"  Said  he,  "  Why  do  you  keep  all  the  time  protesting  against  paying 
this  small  tax  ?"  Said  I,  "  Why  do  you  pay  your  tax  ?"  "  Well,"  said  he, 
"  I  would  not  pay  it  if  I  did  not  vote."  Said  I,  "  That  is  the  very  reason 
why  I  do  not  want  to  pay  it.  I  cannot  vote."  Who  stay  at  home  from 
the  election  ?  The  women,  and  the  black  and  white  men  who  have  been 
to  the  whipping-post.  Nice  company  to  put  your  wives  and  daugh- 
ters in. 

It  is  said  that  the  women  do  not  want  to  vote.  Every  woman  sitting 
here  wants  to  vote,  and  must  we  be  debarred  the  privilege  of  voting  be- 
cause some  luxurious  woman,  rolling  around  in  her  carriage  in  her  little 
downy  nest  that  some  good,  benevolent  man  has  provided  for  her,  does 
not  want  to  vote  ?  There  was  a  society  that  existed  up  m  the  State  of 
New  York  called  the  Covenanters  that  never  voted.  Were  all  you  men 
disfranchised  because  that  class  or  sect  up  in  New  York  would  not  vote  ? 
Did  you  all  pay  your  taxes  and  stay  at  home  and  refrain  from  voting  be- 
cause the  Covenanters  did  not  vote?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  You  went  to  the 
election  and  told  them  to  stay  at  home  if  they  wanted  to,  but  that  you,  as 
citizens,  were  going  to  take  care  of  yourselves.  That  was  right.  We,  as 
citizens,  want  to  take  care  of  ourselves. 

One  more  thought,  and  I  will  be  through.  The  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
amendments,  in  my  opinion,  and  in  the  opinion  of  a  great  many  smart 
men  in  the  country,  and  smart  women,  too,  give  the  right  to  women  to 
vote  without  any  "  if  s  "  or  "  and's  "  about  it,  and  the  United  States  protects 
us  in  it ;  but  there  are  a  few  who  construe  the  law  to  suit  themselves,  and 
say  that  those  amendments  do  not  mean  that,  because  the  congress  which 
passed  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  had  no  such  intention. 
Well,  if  that  congress  overlooked  us,  let  the  wiser  congress  of  to-day  take 
the  eighth  chapter  and  the  fourth  verse  of  the  Psalms,  which  says, 
"What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him?"  and  amend  it  by  adding, 
"What  is  woman,  that  they  never  thought  of  her?" 


160  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

NANCY  R.  ALLEN  of  Iowa  said :  Mr.  Chairman,  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee:  I  am  a  representative  of  a  large  class  of  women  of 
Iowa,  who  are  heavy  taxpayers.  There  is  now  a  petition  being  cir- 
culated throughout  our  State,  to  be  presented  to  the  legislature,  praying 
that  women  be  exempted  from  taxation  until  they  have  some  voice  in  the 
management  of  the  affairs  of  the  State.  You  may  ask,  "  Do  not  your 
husbands  protect  you?  Are  not  all  the  men  protecting  you?"  We 
answer  that  our  husbands  are  grand,  noble  men,  who  are  willing  to  do  all 
they  can  for  us,  but  there  are  many  who  have  no  husbands  and  who  own 
a  great  deal  of  property  in  the  State  of  Iowa.  Particularly  in  great  moral 
reforms  the  women  there  feel  the  need  of  the  ballot.  By  presenting  long 
petitions  to  the  legislature  they  have  succeeded  in  having  better  temper- 
ance laws  enacted,  but  the  men  have  failed  to  elect  the  officials  who  will 
enforce  those  laws.  Consequently  they  have  become  as  dead  letters  upon 
the  statute  books. 

To  refer  again  to  taxes.  I  have  a  .list  showing  that  in  my  city  three 
women  pay  more  taxes  than  all  the  city  officials  together.  They  are  good 
temperance  women.  Our  city  council  is  composed  almost  entirely  of 
saloon-keepers,  brewers  and  men  who  patronize  them.  There  are  some 
good  men,  but  they  are  in  the  minority,  and  the  voices  of  these  women 
are  but  little  regarded.  All  these  officials  are  paid,  and  we  have  to  help 
support  them.  As  Sumner  said,  "  Equality  of  rights  is  the  first  of  rights." 
If  we  can  only  be  equal  with  man  under  the  law,  it  is  all  that  we  ask.  We 
do  not  propose  to  relinquish  our  domestic  life,  but  we  do  ask  that  we 
may  be  represented. 

Remarks  were  also  made  by  Mrs.  Chandler,  Mrs.  Archibald  and 
Mrs.  Spencer.  The  time  having  expired,  the  committee  voted 
to  give  another  hour  to  Miss  Anthony  to  state  the  reasons  why 
we  ask  congress  to  submit  a  proposition  to  the  several  legisla- 
tures for  a  sixteenth  amendment,  instead  of  asking  the  States  to 
submit  the  question  to  the  popular  vote  of  their  electors.*  When 
Miss  Anthony  had  finished,  the  chairman,  Senator  Thurman  of 
Ohio,  said: 

I  have  to  say,  ladies,  that  you  will  admit  that  we  have  listened  to  you 
with  great  attention,  and  I  can  certainly  say,  with  great  interest;  your 
appeals  will  be  duly  and  earnestly  considered  by  the  committee. 

Mrs.  WALLACE:  I  wish  to  make  just  one  remark  in  reference  to  what 
Senator  Thurman  said  as  to  the  popular  vote  being  against  woman  suf- 
frage. The  popular  vote  is  against  it,  but  not  the  popular  voice.  Owing 
to  the  temperance  agitation  in  the  last  six  years,  the  growth  of  the  suf- 
frage sentiment  among  the  wives  and  mothers  of  this  nation  has  largely 
increased. 


*  Judge  Edmunds  meeting  Miss  Anthony  afterwards,  complimented  her  on  having  made  an  argu- 
ment instead  of  what  is  usually  given  before  committees,  platform  oratory.  He  said  her  logic  was 
sound,  her  points  unanswerable.  Nor  were  the  delegates  familiar  with  that  line  of  argument  less  im- 
pressed by  it,  given  as  it  was  without  notes  and  amid  many  interruptions.  It  was  one  of  those  occasions 
rarely  reached,  in  which  the  speaker  showed  the  full  height  to  which  she  was  capable  of  rising.  We 
have  not  space  for  the  whole  argument,  and  the  train  of  reasoning  is  too  close  to  be  broken. — [M.  J.  G. 


Arguments  Before  the  House  Committee.         161 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Jan.  24,  1880. 

The  CHAIRMAN  pro  tern.  (Mr.  HARRIS  of  Virginia) :  The  order  of  busi- 
ness for  the  present  session  of  the  committee  is  the  delivery  of  arguments 
by  delegates  of  the  Woman  Suffrage  Convention  now  holding  its  sessions 
in  Washington.  I  am  informed  that  the  delegates  are  in  attendance 
upon  the  committee.  We  will  be  pleased  to  hear  them.  A  list  of  the 
names  of  the  ladies  proposing  to  speak,  with  a  memorandum  of  the  limit 
of  time  allotted  to  each,  has  been  handed  to  me  for  my  guidance ;  and,  in 
the  absence  of  the  chairman  [Mr.  Knott]  it  will  be  my  duty  to  confine 
the  speakers  to  the  riurnber  of  minutes  apportioned  to  them  respectively 
upon  the  paper  before  me.  As  an  additional  consideration  for  adhering 
to  the  regulation,  I  will  mention  that  members  of  the  committee  have  in- 
formed me  that,  having  made  engagements  to  be  at  the  departments  and 
elsewhere  on  business  appointments,  they  will  be  compelled  to  leave  the 
committee-room  upon  the  expiration  of  the  time  assigned.  The  first  name 
upon  the  list  is  that  of  Mrs.  Emma  Mont.  McRae  of  Indiana,  to  whom 
five  minutes  are  allowed. 

Mrs.  McRAE  said:  Mr.  Chairman,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee: In  Indiana  the  cause  of  woman  has  made  marked  advancement. 
At  the  same  time  we  realize  that  we  need  the  right  to  vote  in  order  that 
we  may  have  protection.  We  need  the  ballot  because  through  the 
medium  of  its  power  alone  we  can  hope  to  wield  that  influence  in  the 
making  of  laws  affecting  our  own  and  our  children's  interests. 

Some  recent  occurences  in  Indiana,  one  in  particular  in  the  section  of 
the  State  from  which  I  come,  have  impressed  us  more  sensibly  than  ever 
before  with  the  necessity  of  this  right.  The  particular  incident  to  which  I 
refer  was  this:  In  the  town  of  Muncie,  where  I  reside,  a  young  girl, 
who  for  the  past  five  years  had  been  employed  as  a  clerk  in  the  post- 
office,  and  upon  whom  a  widowed  mother  was  dependent  for  support, 
was  told  on  the  first  of  January  that  she  was  no  longer  needed  in  the 
office.  She  had  filled  her  place  well ;  no  complaint  had  been  made 
against  her.  She  very  modestly  asked  the  postmaster  the  cause  of  her 
discharge,  and  he  replied :  "  We  have  a  man  who  has  done  work  for 
the  party  and  we  must  give  that  man  a  place  ;  I  haven't  room  for  both  of 
you."  Now,  there  you  have  at  once  the  reason  why  we  want  the  ballot; 
we  want  to  be  able  to  do  something  for  the  party  in  a  substantial  way,  so 
that  men  may  not  tell  us  they  have  no  room  for  us  because  we  do  noth- 
ing for  the  party.  When  they  have  the  ballot  women  will  work  for  "the 
party"  as  a  means  of  enabling  them  to  hold  places  in  which  they  may 
get  bread  for  their  mothers  and  for  their  children  if  necessity  requires. 

Miss  JESSIE  T.  WAITE  of  Illinois  said  :  Mr.  Chairman,  and  Gentlemen  of 
the  Jitdiciary  Committee :  In  the  State  of  Illinois  we  have  attained  to  al- 
most every  right  except  that  of  the  ballot.  We  have  been  admitted  to 
all  the  schools  and  colleges ;  we  have  become  accustomed  to  parliament- 
ary usages  ;  to  voting  in  literary  societies  and  in  all  matters  connected  with 
the  interests  of  the  colleges  and  schools ;  we  are  considered  members  in 
good  standing  of  the  associations,  and,  in  some  cases,  the  young  ladies  in 
the  institutes  have  been  told  they  hold  the  balance  of  power.  The  same 
II 


1 62  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

reason  for  woman  suffrage  that  has  been  given  by  the  delegate  from  Indi- 
ana [Mrs.  McRae]  holds  good  with  reference  to  the  State  of  Illinois. 
Women  must  have  the  ballot  that  they  may  have  protection  in  getting 
bread  for  themselves  and  their  families,  by  giving  to  the  party  that  looks 
for  their  support  some  substantial  evidence  of  their  strength.  Experi- 
ence has  demonstrated,  especially  in  the  temperance  movement,  how 
fruitless  are  all  their  efforts  while  the  ballot  is  withheld  from  their  hands. 
They  have  prayed ;  they  have  petitioned;  they  have  talked;  they  have 
lectured;  they  have  done  all  they  could  do,  except  to  vote ;  and  yet  all 
avails  them  nothing.  Miss  Frances  Williard  presented  to  the  legisla- 
ture of  Illinois  a  petition  of  such  length  that  it  would  have  reached 
around  this  room.  It  contained  over  180,000  signatures.  The  purpose  of 
the  petition  was  to  have  the  legislature  give  the  women  of  the  State  the 
right  to  vote  upon  the  question  of  license  or  no  license  in  their  respec- 
tive districts. 

In  some  of  the  counties  of  our  State  we  have  ladies  as  superinten- 
dents of  schools  and  professors  in  colleges.  One  of  the  professors  in  the 
Industrial  University  at  Champaign  is  a  lady.  Throughout  the  State  you 
may  find  ladies  who  excel  in  every  branch  of  study  and  in  every  trade. 
It  was  a  lady  who  took  the  prize  at  "  the  Exposition  "  for  the  most  beauti- 
ful piece  of  cabinet-work.  This  is  said  to  have  been  a  marvel  of  beauty 
and  extraordinary  as  a  specimen  of  fine  art.  She  was  a  foreigner ;  a  Scan- 
dinavian, I  believe.  Another  lady  is  a  teacher  of  wood-carving  We  have 
physicians,  and  there  are  two  attorneys,  Perry  and  Martin,  now  practicing 
in  the  city  of  Chicago.  Representatives  of  our  sex  are  also  to  be  found 
among  real-estate  agents  and  journalists,  while,  in  one  or  two  instances 
as  preachers  they  have  been  recognized  in  the  churches. 

CATHERINE  A.  STEBBINS  of  Michigan  said :  "  Better  fifty  years  of 
Europe  than  a  cycle  of  Cathay ! "  So  said  the  poet ;  and  I  say,  Better  a 
week  with  these  inspired  women  in  conference  than  years  of  an  indif- 
ferent, conventional  society !  Their  presence  has  been  a  blessing  to  the 
people  of  this  District,  and  will  prove  in  the  future  a  blessing  to  our  gov- 
ernment. These  women  from  all  sections  of  our  country,  with  a  moral 
.and  spiritual  enthusiasm  which  seeks  to  lift  the  burdens  of  our  government, 
come  to  you,  telling  of  the  obstacles  that  have  beset  their  path.  They 
have  tried  to  heal  the  stricken  in  vice  and  ignorance;  to  save  our  land 
from  disintegration.  One  has  sought  to  reform  the  drunkard,  to  save 
the  moderate  drinker,  to  convert  the  liquor-seller;  another,  to  shelter  the 
homeless;  another,  to  lift  and  save  the  abandoned  woman.  "Aban- 
doned ?  "  once  asked  a  prophet-like  man  of  our  time,  who  added,  "  There 
never  was  an  abandoned  woman  without  an  abandoned  man  !  "  Aban- 
doned of  whom?  let  us  ask.  Surely  not  by  the  merciful  Father.  No; 
neither  man  nor  woman  is  ever  abandoned  by  him,  and  he  sends  his  in- 
struments in  the  persons  of  some  of  these  great-hearted  women,  to  appeal 
to  you  to  restore  their  God-given  freedom  of  action,  that  "the  least  of 
these  "  may  be  remembered. 

But  in  our  councils  no  one  has  dwelt  upon  one  of  the  great  evils  of  our 
civilization,  the  scourge  of  war;  though  it  has  been  said  that  women  will 


Argument  of  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake.  163 

fight.  It  is  true  there  are  instances  in  which  they  have  considered  it  a 
duty ;  there  were  such  in  the  rebellion.  But  the  majority  of  women  would 
not  declare  war,  would  not  enlist  soldiers  and  would  not  vote  supplies 
and  equipments,  because  many  of  the  most  thoughtful  believe  there  is  a 
better  way,  and  that  women  can  bring  a  moral  power  to  bear  that  shall 
make  war  needless. 

Let  us  take  one  picture  representative  of  the  general  features  of  the 
war — we  say  nothing  of  our  convictions  in  regard  to  the  conflict.  Ulys- 
ses S.  Grant  or  Anna  Ella  Carroll  makes  plans  and  maps  for  the  campaign  ; 
McClellan  and  Meade  are  commanded  to  collect  the  columbiads,  muskets 
and  ammunition,  and  move  their  men  to  the  attack.  At  the  same  time 
the  saintly  Clara  Barton  collects  her  cordials,  medicines  and  delicacies,  her 
lint  and  bandages,  and,  putting  them  in  the  ambulance  assigned,  joins  the 
same  moving  train.  McClellan's  men  meet  the  enemy,  and  men — 
brothers — on  both  sides  fall  by  the  death-dealing  missiles.  Miss  Barton 
and  her  aids  bear  off  the  sufferers,  staunch  their  bleeding  wounds,  soothe 
the  reeling  brain,  bandage  the  crippled  limbs,  pour  in  the  oil  and  wine, 
and  make  as  easy  as  may  be  the  soldier's  bed.  What  a  solemn  and  heart- 
rending farce  is  here  enacted !  And  yet  in  our  present  development 
men  and  women  seek  to  reconcile  it  with  the  requirements  of  religion 
and  the  necessities  of  our  conflicting  lives.  So  few  recognize  the  abso- 
lute truth  ! 

Mrs.  DEVEREUX  BLAKE  said  :  Mr.  Chairman,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Com- 
mittee:  I  come  here  with  your  own  laws  in  my  hands — and  the  volume  is 
quite  a  heavy  one,  too — to  ask  you  whether  women  are  citizens  of  this 
nation  ?  I  find  in  this  book,  under  the  heading  of  the  chapter  on  "Citi- 
zenship," the  following : 

Sec.  1,992.  All  persons  born  in  the  United  States  and  not  subject  to  any  foreign 
power,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  are  declared  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

I  suppose  you  will  admit  that  women  are,  in  the  language  of  the  sec- 
tion, "persons,"  and  that  we  cannot  reasonably  be  included  in  the  class 
spoken  of  as  "  Indians  not  taxed."  Therefore  I  claim  that  we  are  "citi- 
zens." The  same  chapter  also  contains  the  following  : 

Sec.  1,994.  Any  woman  who  is  now  or  may  hereafter  be  married  to  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  might  herself  be  lawfully  naturalized,  shall  be  deemed  a 
citizen. 

Under  this  section  also  we  are  citizens.  I  am  myself,  as  indeed  are 
most  of  the  ladies  present,  married  to  a  citizen  of  the  United  States;  so 
that  we  are  citizens  under  this  count  if  we  were  not  citizens  before. 
Then,  further,  in  the  legislation  known  as  "The  Civil  Rights  Bill,"  I  find 
this  language : 

All  persons  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  shall  have  the  same  right, 
in  every  State  and  territory,  to  make  and  enforce  contracts,  to  sue,  be  parties,  give 
evidence,  and  to  the  full  and  equal  benefit  of  all  laws  and  proceedings  for  the  security 
of  persons  and  property  as  is  enjoyed  by  white  citizens,  and  shall  be  subject  to  like 
punishments,  pains,  penalties,  etc. 

One  would  think  the  logical  conclusion  from  that  which  I  have  last 
read  would  be  that  all  citizens  are  entitled  to  equal  protection  everywhere. 


164  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

It  appears  to  mean  that.  Then  I  turn  to  another  piece  of  legislation— 
that  which  is  known  as  "  The  Enforcement  Act  "—one  which  some  of  you, 
gentlemen,  did  not  like  very  much  when  it  was  enacted — and  there  I  find 
another  declaration  on  the  same  question.  The  act  is  entitled  "An  Act 
to  Enforce  the  Right  of  Citizens  of  the  United  States  to  Vote  In  the 
Several  States  of  this  Union,  and  for  other  purposes."  The  right  of  "  citi- 
zens "  to  vote  appears  to  be  conceded  by  this  act.  In  the  second  section 
it  says : 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  such  person  and  officer  to  give  to  all  citizens  of  the 
United  States  the  same  and  equal  opportunity  to  perform  such  prerequisite,  and  to  be- 
come qualified  to  vote,  without  distinction  of  race,  color  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude. 

I  ask  you,  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  as  lawyers,  whether  you  do  not 
think  that,  after  we  have  been  declared  to  be  citizens,  we  have  the  right 
to  claim  the  protection  of  this  enforcement  act?  When  you  gentlemen 
from  the  North  rise  in  your  places  in  the  halls  of  congress  and  make 
these  walls  ring  with  your  eloquence,  you  are  prone  to  talk  a  great  deal 
about  the  right  of  every  United  States  citizen  to  the  ballot,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  protecting  every  such  citizen  in  its  exercise.  What  do  you  mean 
by  it  ? 

It  occurs  to  me  here  to  call  your  attention  to  a  matter  of  recent  occur- 
rence, As  you  know,  there  has  been  a  little  unpleasantness  in  Maine — a 
State  which  is  not  without  a  representative  among  the  members  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee — and  certain  gentlemen  there,  especially  Mr.  Elaine, 
have  been  greatly  exercised  in  their  minds  because,  as  they  allege,  the 
people  of  Maine  have  not  been  permitted  to  express  their  will  at  the  polls. 
Why,  gentlemen,  I  assert  that  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Maine  have 
never  been  permitted  to  express  their  will  at  the  polls.  A  majority  of  the 
people  of  Maine  are  women,  and  from  the  foundation  of  this  government 
have  never  exercised  any  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  citizens.  Mr.  Elaine 
made  a  speech  a  day  or  two  ago  in  Augusta.  He  began  by  reciting  the 
condition  of  affairs,  owing  to  the  effort,  as  he  states,  "to  substitute  a  false 
count  for  an  honest  ballot,"  and  congratulated  his  audience  upon  the  in- 
strumentalities by  which  they  had  triumphed — 

Without  firing  a  gun,  without  shedding  a  drop  of  blood,  without  striking  a  single 
blow,  without  one  disorderly  assemblage.  The  people  have  regained  their  own  right 
through  the  might  and  majesty  of  their  own  laws. 

He  goes  on  in  this  vein  to  speak  of  those  whom  he  calls  "the  people  of 
Maine."  WTell,  gentlemen,  I  do  not  think  you  will  deny  that  women  are 
people.  It  appears  to  me  that  what  Mr.  Elaine  said  in  that  connection  was 
nonsense,  unless  indeed  he  forgot  that  there  were  any  others  than  men 
among  the  people  of  the  State  of  Maine.  I  don't  suppose  that  you,  gen- 
tlemen, are  often  so  forgetful.  Mr.  Elaine  said  fuither: 

The  Republicans  of  Maine  and  throughout  the  land  felt  that  they  were  not  merely 
fighting  the  battle  of  a  single  year,  but  for  all  the  future  of  the  State;  not  merely 
fighting  the  battle  of  our  own  State  alone,  but  for  all  the  States  that  are  attempting 
the  great  problem  of  State  government  throughout  the  world.  The  corruption  or 
destruction  of  the  ballot  is  a  crime  against  free  government,  and  when  successful  is  a 
subversion  of  free  government. 


Argument  of  Mrs.  Blake. 


165 


Does  that  mean  the  ballot  for  men  only  or  the  ballot  for  the  people,  men 
and  women  too  ?  If  it  is  to  be  received  as  meaning  anything,  it  ought  to 
mean  not  for  one  sex  alone,  but  for  both.  Mr.  Lincoln  declared,  in  one.of 
his  noblest  utterances,  that  no  man  was  good  enough  to  govern  another 
man  without  that  man's  consent.  Of  course  he  meant  it  in  its  broadest 
terms ;  he  meant  that  no  man  or  woman  was  good  enough  to  govern  an- 
other man  or  woman  without  that  other  man's  or  woman's  consent. 

Mr.  Elaine,  on  another  occasion,  in  connection  with  the  same  subject- 
matter,  had  much^to  say  of  the  enormity  of  the  oppression  practiced  by 
his  political  opponents  in  depriving  the  town  of  Portland  of  the  right  of 
representation  in  view  of  its  paying  such  heavy  taxes  as  it  does  pay.  He 
expressed  the  greatq|t  indignation  at  the  attempt,  forgetting  utterly  that 
great  body  of  women  who  pay  taxes  but  are  deprived  of  the  right  of  rep- 
resentation. In  this  connection  it  may  be  pertinent  for  me  to  express  the 
hope,  by  way  of  a  suggestion,  that  hereafter,  when  making  your  speeches, 
you  will  not  use  the  term  "citizens"  in  a  broad  sense,  unless  you  mean 
to  include  women  as  well  as  men,  and  that  when  you  do  not  mean  to 
include  women  you  will  speak  of  male  citizens  as  a  separate  class, 
because  the  term,  in  its  general  application,  is  illogical  and  its  meaning 
obscure  if  not  self-contradictory. 

President  Hayes  was  so  pleased  with  one  of  the  sentences  in  his  mes- 
sage of  a  year  ago  that  in  his  message  of  this  year  he  has  reiterated  it. 
It  reads  thus : 

That  no  temporary  or  administrative  interests  of  government  will  ever  displace  the 
zeal  of  our  people  in  defense  of  the  primary  rights  of  citizenship,  and  that  the  power 
of  public  opinion  will  override  all  political  prejudices  and  all  sectional  and  State 
attachments  in  demanding  that  all  over  our  wide  territory  the  name  and  character  of 
citizen  of  the  United  States  shall  mean  one  and  the  same  thing  and  carry  with  them 
unchallenged  security  and  respect. 

Let  me  suggest  what  he  ought  to  have  said  unless  he  intended  to  in- 
clude women,  although  I  am  afraid  that  Mr.  Hayes,  when  he  wrote  this, 
forgot  that  there  were  women  in  the  United  States,  notwithstanding  that 
his  excellent  wife,  perhaps,  stood  by  his  side.  He  ought  to  have  said : 

An  act  having  been  passed  to  enforce  the  rights  of  male  citizens  to  vote,  the  true 
vigor  of  half  the  population  is  thus  expressed,  and  no  interests  of  government  will 
ever  displace  the  zeal  of  half  of  our  people  in  defense  of  the  primary  rights  of  our 
male  citizens.  The  prosperity  of  the  States  depends  upon  the  protection  afforded  to  our 
male  citizens;  and  the  name  and  character  of  male  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall 
mean  one  and  the  same  thing  and  carry  with  them  unchallenged  security  and  respect. 

If  Mr.  Hayes  had  thus  expressed  himself,  he  would  have  made  a  per- 
fectly logical  and  clear  statement.  Gentlemen,  I  hope  that  hereafter, 
when  speaking  or  voting  in  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
you  will  bear  this  in  mind  and  will  remember  that  women  are  citizens  as 
well  as  men,  and  that  they  claim  the  same  rights. 

This  question  of  woman  suffrage  cannot  much  longer  be  ignored.  In 
the  State  from  which  I  come,  although  we  have  not  a  right  to  vote,  we  are 
confident  that  the  influence  which  women  brought  to  bear  in  determining 
the  result  of  the  election  last  fall  had  something  to  do  with  sending  into 
retirement  a  Democratic  governor  who  was  opposed  to  our  reform,  and 


1 66  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

electing  a  Republican  who  was  in  favor  of  it.  Recollect,  gentlemen,  that 
the  expenditure  of  time  and  money  which  has  been  made  in  this  cause 
will  not  be  without  its  effect.  The  time  is  coming  when  the  demand  of 
an*  immense  number  of  the  women  of  this  country  cannot  be  ignored. 
When  you  see  these  representatives  coming  from  all  the  States  of  the 
Union  to  ask  for  this  right,  can  you  doubt  that,  some  day,  they  will  suc- 
ceed in  their  mission  ?  We  do  not  stand  before  you  to  plead  as  beggars ; 
we  ask  for  that  which  is  our  right.  We  ask  it  as  due  to  the  memory  of 
our  ancestors,  who  fought  for  the  freedom  of  this  country  just  as  bravely 
as  did  yours.  We  ask  it  on  many  considerations.  Wrhy,  gentlemen,  the 
very  furniture  here,  the  carpet  on  this  floor,  was  paid  for  with  our  money. 
We  are  taxed  equally  with  the  men  to  defray  the  expenses  of  this  con- 
gress, and  we  have  a  right  equally  with  them  to  parraipate  in  the  govern- 
ment. 

In  closing,  I  have  only  to  ask,  is  there  no  man  here  present  who  ap- 
preciates the  emergencies  of  this  hour?  Is  there  no  one  among  you  who 
will  rise  on  the  floor  of  congress  as  the  champion  of  this  unrepresented 
half  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  ?  The  time  is  not  far  distant  when 
we  shall  have  our  liberties,  and  the  politician  who  can  now  understand 
the  importance  of  our  cause,  the  statesman  who  can  now  see,  and  will 
now  appreciate  the  justice  of  it,  that  man,  if  true  to  himself,  will  write  his 
name  high  on  the  scroll  of  fame  beside  those  of  the  men  who  have  been 
the  saviors  of  the  country.  Gentlemen  I  entreat  you  not  to  let  this  hear- 
ing go  by  without  giving  due  weight  to  all  that  we  have  said.  You  can 
no  more  stay  the  onward  current  of  this  reform  than  you  can  fight  against 
the  stars  in  their  courses. 

Mr.  WILLITS  of  Michigan  :  Mr.  Chairman  :  I  would  like  to  make  a  sug- 
gestion here.  The  regulation  amendment,  as  it  has  heretofore  been  sub- 
mitted, provided  that  the  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote 
should  not  be  abridged  on  account  of  sex.  I  notice  that  the  amendment 
which  the  ladies  here  now  propose  has  prefixed  to  it  this  phrase  :  "The 
right  of  suffrage  in  the  United  States  shall  be  based  on  citizenship."  I  call 
attention  to  this  because  I  would  like  to  have  them  explain  as  fully  as 
they  may  why  they  incorporate  the  phrase,  "shall  be  based  on  citizen- 
ship." Is  the  meaning  this,  that  all  citizens  shall  have  the  right  to  vote, 
or  simply  that  citizenship  shall  be  the  basis  of  suffrage  ?  The  words,  "  or 
for  any  reason  not  applicable  to  all  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  also 
seem  to  require  explanation.  The  proposition  in  the  form  in  which  it  is 
now  submitted,  I  understand,  covers  a  little  more  than  has  been  covered 
by  the  amendment  submitted  in  previous  years. 

SARA  A.  SPENCER  of  Washington,  D.  C.:  If  the  committee  will  permit 
me,  I  will  say  that  the  amendment  in  its  present  form  is  the  concentrated 
wish  of  the  women  of  the  United  States.  The  women  of  the  country  sent 
to  congress  petitions  asking  for  three  different  forms  of  constitutional 
amendment,  and  when  preparing  the  one  now  before  the  committee  these 
three  were  concentrated  in  the  one  now  before  you  (identical  with  that 
of  the  resolution  offered  in  the  House  by  Hon.  George  B.  Loring  and  by 
Hon.  T.  W.  Ferry  in  the  Senate),  omitting,  at  the  request  of  each  of  the 


Matilda  Joslyn   Gages  Argument.  167 

three  classes  of  petitioners,  all  phrases  which,  were  regarded  by  any  of 
them  as  objectionable.  The  amendment  as  now  presented  is  therefore 
the  combined  wish  of  the  women  of  the  country,  viz.,  that  citizenship  in 
the  United  States  shall  mean  suffrage,  and  that  no  one  shall  be  deprived 
of  the  right  to  vote  for  reasons  not  equally  applicable  to  all  citizens. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE  said  :  It  is  necessary  to  refer  to  a  remarkable 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  case  of  Virginia  L.  Minor,  claiming 
the  right  to  vote  under  the  fourteenth  amendment,  was  argued  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  October  term,  1874;  decision  ren- 
dered adversely  by  Chief-Justice  Wr.ite,  March,  1875,  upon  the  ground  that 
"the  United  States  had  no  voters  in  the  States  of  its  own  creation." 
This  was  a  most  amazing  decision  to  emanate  from  the  highest  judicial 
authority  of  the  nation,  and  is  but  another  proof  how  fully  that  body  is 
under  the  influence  of  the  dominant  political  party. 

Contrary  to  this  decision,  I  unhesitatingly  affirm  that  the  United  States 
has  possessed  voters  in  States  of  its  own  creation  from  the  very  date  of 
the  constitution.  In  Article  I,  Sec.  2,  the  constitution  provides  that 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of  members  chosen  every  second 
year  by  the  people  of  the  several  States,  and  the  electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the 
qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  legisla- 
ture. 

The  persons  so  designated  are  voters  under  State  laws ;  but  by  this 
section  of  the  national  constitution  they  are  made  United  States  voters. 
It  is  directed  under  what  conditions  of  State  qualification  they  may  cast 
votes  in  their  respective  States  for  members  of  the  lower  house  of  con- 
gress. The  constitution  here  created  a  class  of  United  States  voters  by 
adoption  of  an  already  voting  class.  Did  but  this  single  instance  exist,  it 
would  be  sufficient  to  nullify  Chief-Justice  Waite's  decision,  as  Article  VI, 
Sec.  2,  declares 

The  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be  made  in  pursu- 
ance thereof  *  *  *  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 

This  supreme  law  at  its  very  inception  created  a  class  of  United  States 
voters.  If  in  the  Minor  case  alone,  the  premises  of  the  Supreme  Court 
and  Chief-Justice  Waite  were  wrong,  the  decision  possesses  no  legal 
value;  but  in  addition  to  this  class,  the  United  States,  by  special  laws  and 
amendments  has  from  time  to  time  created  other  classes  of  United  States 
voters. 

Under  the  naturalization  laws  citizenship  is  recognized  as  the  basis  of 
suffrage.  No  State  can  admit  a  foreigner  to  the  right  of  the  ballot,  even 
under  United  States  laws,  unless  he  is  already  a  citizen,  or  has  formally 
declared  his  intention  of  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  The 
creation  of  the  right  here  is  national  ;  its  regulation,  local. 

Men  who  commit  crimes  against  the  civil  laws  of  the  United  States  for- 
feit their  rights  of  citizenship.  State  law  cannot  re-habilitate  them,  but 
within  the  last  five  years  2,500  such  men  have  been  pardoned  by  congres- 
sional enactment,  and  thus  again  been  made  voters  in  States  by  United 
States  law.  Is  it  not  strange  that  with  a  knowledge  of  these  facts  before 
him  Chief-Justice  Waite  could  base  his  decision  against  the  right  of  a. 


1 68  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

woman  to  the  ballot,  on  the  ground  that  the  United  States  had  no  voters 
in  the  States  of  its  own  creation  ? 

Criminals  against  the  military  law  of  the  United  States,  who  receive 
pardon,  are  still  anolher  class  of  voters  thus  created.  A  very  large  body 
of  men,  several  hundred  thousand,  forfeited  their  rights  of  citizenship, 
their  ballot,  by  participation  in  the  rebellion ;  they  were  political  crim- 
inals. When  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed  they  again  secured  the 
ballot.  They  had  been  deprived  of  the  suffrage  by  United  States  law 
and  it  was  restored  to  them  by  the  same  law. 

It  may  be  replied  that  the  rebellious  States  had  been  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  territories,  over  whose  suffrage  the  general  government  had 
control.  But  let  me  ask  why,  then,  a  large  class  of  men  remained  dis- 
franchised after  these  States  again  took  up  local  government  ?  A  large 
class  of  men  were  especially  exempted  from  general  amnesty  and  for  the 
restoration  of  their  political  rights  were  obliged  to  individually  petition 
congress  for  the  removal  of  their  political  disabilities,  and  these  men 
then  became  "voters  in  States,"  by  action  of  the  United  States.  Here, 
again,  the  United  States  recognized  citizenship  and  suffrage  as  synony- 
mous. If  the  United  States  has  no  voters  of  its  own  creation  in  the 
States,  what  are  these  men  ?  A  few,  the  leaders  in  the  rebellion,  are  yet 
disfranchised,  and  no  State  has  power  to  change  this  condition.  Only  the 
United  States  can  again  make  them  voters  in  States. 

Under  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  the  colored  men  of  the 
South,  who  never  had  possessed  the  ballot,  and  those  colored  men  of  the 
North  over  whom  some  special  disqualification  hung,  were  alike  made 
voters  by  United  States  law.  It  required  no  action  of  Delaware,  Indiana, 
New  York,  or  any  of  those  States  in  which  the  colored  man  was  not  upon 
voting  equality  with  the  white  men,  to  change  their  constitutions  or 
statutes  in  order  to  do  away  with  such  disqualifications.  The  fourteenth 
amendment  created  another  class  of  United  States  voters  in  States,  to  the 
number  of  a  million  or  more.  The  fourteenth  amendment,  and  the  act  of 
congress  to  enforce  it,  were  at  once  recognized  to  be  superior  to  State 
law— abrogating  and  repealing  State  constitutions  and  State  laws  contra- 
dictory to  its  provisions. 

By  an  act  of  congress  March  3,  and  a  presidential  proclamation  of  March 
11,  1865,  all  deserters  who  failed  to  report  themselves  to  a  provost  mar- 
shall  within  sixty  days,  forfeited-their  rights  of  citizenship  as  an  additional 
penalty  for  the  crime  of  desertion,  thus  losing  their  ballot  without  possi- 
bility of  its  restoration  except  by  an  act  of  congress.  Whenever  this  may 
be  done  collectively  or  individually,  these  men  will  become  State  voters 
by  and  through  the  United  States  law. 

As  proving  the  sophistry  used  by  legal  minds  in  order  to  hide  from 
themselves  and  the  world  the  fact  that  the  United  States  has  power  over 
the  ballot  in  States,  mention  may  be  made  of  a  case  which,  in  1866,  came 
before  Justice  Strong,  then  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, but  since  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  For 
sophistical  reasoning  it  is  a  curiosity  in  legal  decisions.  One  point  made 
by  Judge  Strong  was,  that  congress  may  deprive  a  citizen  of  the  oppor- 


Matilda  Joslyn  Gages  Argument.  169 

tunity  to  enjoy  a  right  belonging  to  him  as  a  citizen  of  a  State  even  the 
right  of  voting,  but  cannot  deprive  him  of  the  right  itself.  This  is  on  a 
par  with  saying  that  congress  may  deprive  a  citizen  of  the  opportunity  to 
enjoy  a  right  belonging  to  him  as  an  individual,  even  the  right  of  life,  but 
cannot  deprive  him  of  life  itself. 

A  still  more  remarkable  class  of  United  States  voters  than  any  yet  men- 
tioned, exists.  Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war  congress  enacted  a  law 
that  foreigners  having  served  in  the  civil  war  and  been  honorably  dis- 
charged from  the  army,  should  be  allowed  to  vote.  And  this,  too,  without 
the  announcement  of  their  intention  of  becoming  citizens  of  the  repub- 
lic. A  class  of  United  States  voters  were  thus  created  out  of  a  class  of 
non-citizens. 

I  have  mentioned  eight  classes  of  United  States  voters,  and  yet 
not  one  of  the  States  has  been  deprived  of  the  powers  necessary  to 
local  self-government.  To  States  belong  all  matters  of  strictly  local  in- 
terest, such  as  the  incorporation  of  towns  and  cities,  the  settlement  of 
county  and  other  boundaries ;  laws  of  marriage,  divorce,  protection  of 
life  and  property,  etc.  It  has  been  said,  the  ordaining  and  establish- 
ment of  a  constitution  for  the  government  of  a  State  is  always  the  act  of 
a  State  in  its  highest  sovereign  capacity,  but  if  any  question  as  to  nation- 
ality ever  existed,  it  was  settled  by  the  war.  Even  State  constitutions 
were  found  unable  to  stand  when  in  conflict  with  a  law  of  the  United 
States  or  an  amendment  to  its  constitution.  All  are  bound  by  the  author- 
ity of  the  nation. 

This  theory  of  State  sovereignty  must  have  a  word.  When  the  Union 
was  formed  several  of  the  States  did  not  even  frame  a  constitution.  It 
was  in  1818  that  Connecticut  adopted  her  first  State  constitution.  Rhode 
Island  had  no  constitution  until  1842.  Prior  to  these  years  the  govern- 
ment of  these  States  was  administered  under  the  authority  of  royal  char- 
ters brought  out  from  England. 

Where  was  their  State  sovereignty?  The  rights  even  of  suffrage  enjoyed 
by  citizens  of  these  States  during  these  respective  periods  of  forty-two  and 
sixty-six  years,  were  either  secured  them  by  monarchial  England  or  republi- 
can United  States.  If  by  the  latter  all  voters  in  these  two  States  during  these 
years  were  United  States  voters.  It  is  a  historical  fact  that  no  State  save 
Texas  was  ever  for  an  hour  sovereign  or  independent.  The  experience 
of  the  country  proves  there  is  but  one  real  sovereignty.  It  has  been  said, 
with  truth, 

There  is  but  one  sovereign  State  on  the  American  continent  known  to  interna- 
tional or  constitutional  law,  and  that  is  the  republic  itself.  This  forms  the  United 
States  and  should  be  so  called. 

I  ask  for  a  sixteenth  amendment  because  this  republic  is  a  nation  and 
not  a  confederacy  of  States.  I  ask  it  because  the  United  States  not  only 
possesses  inherent  power  to  protect  its  citizens  but  also  because  of  its 
national  duty  to  secure  to  all  its  citizens  the  exercise  of  their  rights  of 
self-government.  I  ask  it  because  having  created  classes  of  voters  in 
numberless  instances,  it  is  most  flagrant  injustice  to  deny  this  protection 
to  woman.  I  ask  it  because  the  Nation  and  not  the  State  is  supreme. 


170  History  of  IVoman   Suffrage. 

PHCEBE  W.  COUZINS  of  Missouri,  to  whom  had  been  assigned  the  next 
thirty  minutes,  said  :  Jlfr.  Chairman,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee :  I  am  invited  to  speak  of  the  dangers  which  beset  us  at  this  hour 
in  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  Mrs.  Minor's 
case,  which  not  only  stultifies  its  previous  interpretation  of  the  recent 
constitutional  amendments  and  makes  them  a  dead  letter,  but  will  rank, 
in  the  coming  ages,  in  the  history  of  the  judiciary,  with  the  Dred  Scott 
decision.  The  law,  as  explained  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  was  an  infamous 
one,  which  trampled  upon  the  most  solemn  rights  of  the  loyal  citizens  of 
the  government,  and  declared  the  constitution  to  mean  anything  or  noth- 
ing, as  the  case  might  be.  Yet  the  decision  in  that  case  had  a  saving 
clause,  for  it  was  not  the  unanimous  voice  of  a  Democratic  judiciary. 
Dissenting  opinions  were  robly  uttered  from  the  bench.  In  the  more 
recent  case,  under  the  rule  of  a  Republican  judiciary  created  by  a  party 
professing  to  be  one  of  justice,  the  rights  of  one-half  of  the  people  were 
deliberately  abrogated  without  a  dissenting  voice.  This  violation  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  our  government  called  forth  no  protest.  In  all 
of  the  decisions  against  woman  in  the  Republican  court,  there  has  not 
been  found  one  Lord  Mansfield,  who,  rising  to  the  supreme  height  of  an 
unbiased  judgment,  would  give  the  immortal  decree  that  shall  crown  with 
regal  dignity  the  mother  of  the  race  :  "  I  care  not  for  the  dictates  of  judges, 
however  eminent,  if  they  be  contrary  to  principle.  If  the  parties  will  have 
judgment,  let  justice  be  done,  though  the  heavens  fall." 

The  Dred  Scott  decision  declared  as  the  law  of  citizenship,  "to  be  a  citi- 
zen is  to  have  actual  possession  and  enjoyment,  or  the  perfect  right  to 
the  acquisition  and  enjoyment  of  an  entire  equality  of  privileges,  civil  and 
political."  But  the  slave-power  was  then  dominant  and  the  court  decided 
that  a  black  man  was  not  a  citizen  because  he  had  not  the  right  to  vote. 
But  when  the  constitution  was  so  amended  as  to  make  "all  persons  born 
or  naturalized  in  the  United  States  citizens  thereof,"  a  negro,  by  virtue  of 
his  United  States  citizenship,  was  declared,  under  the  amendments,  a 
voter  in  every  State  in  the  Union.  And  the  Supreme  Court  reaffirmed 
this  right  in  the  celebrated  slaughter-house  cases  (16  Wallace,  71).  It 
said,  "  The  negro,  having  by  the  fourteenth  amendment,  been  declared  to 
be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  is  thus  made  a  voter  in  ever  State  in  the 
Union." 

But  when  the  loyal  women  of  Missouri,  apprehending  that  "all  persons 
beneath  the  flag  were  rHade  citizens  and  voters  by  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment," through  Mrs.  Minor,  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  protection 
in  the  exercise  of  that  same  right,  this  high  tribunal,  reversing  all  its  for- 
mer decisions,  proclaims  State  sovereignty  superior  to  national  authority. 
This  it  does  in  this  strange  language  :  "  Being  born  in  the  United  States, 
a  woman  is  a  person  and  therefore  a  citizen  " — we  are  much  obliged  to 
them  for  that  definition  of  our  identity  as  persons — "  but  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States  does  not  confer  the  right  of  suffrage  upon  any  one." 
And  then,  in  the  face  of  its  previous  decisions,  the  court  declared  :  "The 
United  States  has  no  voters  in  the  States  of  its  own  creation  ".  that  ths 
elective  officers  of  the  United  States  are  all  elected,  directly  or  indirectly, 


Phoebe    IV.    Cousins'  Argiiment.  171 

by  State  voters.  It  remands  woman  to  the  States  for  her  protection,  thus 
giving  to  the  State  the  supreme  authority  and  overthrowing  the  entire  re- 
sults of  the  war,  which  was  fought  to  maintain  national  supremacy  over 
any  and  all  subjects  in  which  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  are  involved. 

No  supreme  allegiance,  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  can  be  claimed  for 
or  by  a  government,  if  it  has  no  citizens  of  its  own  creation,  and  consti- 
tutional amendments  cannot  confer  authority  over  matters  which  have 
no  existence  in  the  constitution.  Thus,  our  supreme  law-givers  hold 
themselves  up  for  obloquy  and  ridicule  in  their  interpretation  of  the  most 
solemn  rights  of  loyal  citizens,  and  make  our  constitutional  law  to  mean 
anything  or  nothing  as  the  case  may  be.  You  will  see,  gentlemen,  that 
the  very  point  which  the  South  contended  for  as  the  true  one  is  here  ac- 
knowledged to  be  the  true  one  by  the  Supreme  Court — that  of  State 
rights  superior  to  national  authority.  The  whole  of  the  recent  contest 
hinged  upon  this.  The  appeal  to  arms  and  the  constitutional  amendments 
were  to  establish  the  subordination  of  the  State  to  national  supremacy,  to 
maintain  the  national  authority  over  any  and  all  subjects  in  which  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  were  involved  ; 
but  this  decision  in  Mrs.  Minor's  case  completely  nullifies  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  government,  and  gives  the  States  more  than  has  hitherto 
been  claimed  for  them  by  the  advocates  of  State  rights.  The  subject  of 
the  franchise  is  thus  wholly  withdrawn  from  federal  supervision  and  con- 
trol. If  "  the  United  States  has  no  citizens  of  its  own  creation,"  of  course 
no  supreme  allegiance  can  be  claimed  over  the  various  citizens  of  the 
States. 

The  constitutional  amendments  cannot  confer  authority  over  a  matter 
which  has  no  existence  in  the  constitution.  If  it  has  no  voters,  it  can 
have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  elections  and  voting  in  the  States ; 
yet  the  United  States  invaded  the  State  of  New  York,  sent  its  officers 
there  to  try,  convict,  and  sentence  Miss  Anthony  for  exercising  a  right  in 
her  own  State  which  they  declared  the  United  States  had  no  jurisdiction 
over.  They  send  United  States  troops  into  the  South  to  protect  the 
negro  in  his  right  to  vote,  and  then  declare  they  have  no  jurisdiction  over 
his  voting.  Then,  mark  the  grave  results  which  may  and  can  follow  this 
derision  and  legislation.  I  do  not  imagine  that  the  Supreme  Court,  in  its 
cowardly  dodging  of  woman's  right  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which 
citizenship  involves,  designed  to  completely  abrogate  the  principles  es- 
tablished by  the  recent  contest,  or  to  nullify  the  ensuing  legislation  on 
the  subject.  But  it  certainly  has  done  all  this;  for  it  must  logically  fol- 
low that  if  the  United  States  has  no  citizens,  it  cannot  legislate  upon  the 
rights  of  citizens,  andthe  recent  amendments  are  devoid  of  authority.  It 
has  well  been  suggested  by  Mr.  Minor,  in  his  criticism  of  the  decision, 
that  if  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  elected  by  State 
voters,  as  the  Supreme  Court  has  declared,  there  is  no  reason  why 
States  may  not  refuse  to  elect  them  as  in  1860,  and  thus  deprive  congress 
of  its  power.  And  if  a  sufficient  number  could  be  united  to  recall  at  their 
pleasure  these  representatives,  what  authority  has  the  federal  govern- 


172  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ment,  under  this  decision,  for  coercing  them  into  subjection  or  refusing 
them  a  separation,  if  all  these  voters  in  the  States  desired  an  independent 
existence?  None  whatever.  Mr.  Garfield,  in  the  House,  in  his  speech 
last  March,  calls  attention  to  this  subject,  but  does  not  allude  to  the  fact 
that  the  Supreme  Court  has  already  opened  the  door.  He  says  : 

There  are  several  ways  in  which  our  government  maybe  annihilated  without  the  fir- 
ing of  a  gun.  For  example,  suppose  the  people  of  the  United  States  should  say,  we 
will  elect  no  representatives  to  congress.  Of  course  this  is  a  violent  supposition  ;  but 
suppose  that  they  do  not.  Is  there  any  remedy?  Does  our  constitution  provide  any 
remedy  whatever  ?  In  two  years  there  would  be  no  House  of  Representatives ;  of 
course,  no  support  of  the  government  and  no  government.  Suppose,  again,  the  States 
should  say,  through  their  legislatures,  we  will  elect  no  senators.  Such  abstention 
alone  would  absolutely  destroy  this  government ;  and  our  system  provides  no  process 
of  compulsion  to  prevent  it.  Again,  suppose  the  two  houses  were  to  assemble  in  their 
usual  order,  and  a  majority  of  one  in  this  body  or  in  the  Senate  should  firmly  band 
themselves  together  and  say,  we  will  vote  to  adjourn  the  moment  the  hour  of  meeting 
arrives,  and  continue  so  to  vote  at  every  session  during  our  two  years  of  existence — the 
government  would  perish,  and  there  is  no  provision  of  the  constitution  to  prevent  it. 

The  States  may  inform  their  representatives  that  they  can  do  this  ;  and, 
under  this  position,  they  have  the  power  and  the  right  so  to  do. 

Gentlemen,  we  are  now  on  the  verge  of  one  of  the  most  important 
presidential  campaigns.  The  party  in  power  holds  its  reins  by  a  very 
uncertain  tenure.  If  the  decision  shall  favor  the  one  which  has  been 
on  the  anxious  bench  for  lo  !  these  twenty  years,  and  in  probation  until 
hope  has  well-nigh  departed,  what  may  be  its  action  if  invested  again 
with  the  control  of  the  destinies  of  this  nation  ?  The  next  party  in 
power  may  inquire,  and  answer,  by  what  right  and  how  far  the  Southern 
States  are  bound  by  the  legislation  in  which  they  had  no  part  or  consent. 
And  if  the  Supreme  Court  of  a  Republican  judiciary  now  declares,  after 
the  war,  after  the  constitutional  amendments,  that  federal  suffrage  does 
not  exist  and  never  had  an  existence  in  the  constitution,  it  follows  that 
the  South  has  the  right  to  regulate  and  control  all  of  the  questions  aris- 
ing upon  suffrage  in  the  several  States  without  any  interference  on  the 
part  of  an  authority  which  declares  it  has  no  jurisdiction.  An  able 
writer  has  said : 

All  injustice  at  last  works  out  a  loss.  The  great  ledger  of  nations  does  not  report  a 
good  balance  for  injustice.  It  has  always  met  fearful  losses.  The  irrepealable  law  of 
justice  will,  sooner  or  later,  grind  a  nation  to  powder  if  it  fail  to  establish  that 
equilibrium  of  allegiance  and  protection  which  is  the  essential  end  of  all  government. 
Woe  to  that  nation  which  thinks  lightly  of  the  duties  it  owes  to  its  citizens  and  imagines 
that  governments  are  not  bound  by  moral  laws. 

It  was  the  tax  on  tea — woman's  drink  prerogative — which  precipitated 
the  rebellion  of  1776.  Tq  allay  the  irritation  of  ^the  colonies,  all  taxes 
were  rescinded  save  that  on  tea,  which  was  left  to  indicate  King  George's 
dominion.  But  our  revolutionary  fathers  and  mothers  said,  "No;  the 
tax  is  paltry,  but  the  principle  is  great ";  and  Eve,  as  usual,  pointed  the 
moral  for  Adam's  benefit.  A  most  suggestive  picture,  one  which  aroused 
the  intensest  patriotism  of  the  colonies,  was  that  of  a  woman  pinioned  by 
her  arms  to  the  ground  by  a  British  peer,  with  a  British  red-coat  holding 
her  with  one  hand  and  with  the  other  forcibly  thrusting  down  her 


P/icebe    W.    Couzins    Argument.  173 

throat  the  contents  of  a  tea-pot,  which  she  heroically  spewed  back  in  his 
face ;  while  the  figure  of  Justice,  in  the  distance,  wept  over  this  pros- 
trate Liberty.  Now,  gentlemen,  we  might  well  adopt  a  similar  repre- 
sentation. Here  is  Miss  Smith  of  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  whose  cows  have 
been  sold  every  year  by  the  government,  contending  for  the  same  princi- 
ple as  our  forefathers — that  of  resistance  to  taxation  without  represen- 
tation. We  might  have  a  picture  of  a  cow,  with  an  American  tax-col- 
lector at  the  horns,  a  foreign-born  assessor  at  the  heels,  forcibly  selling 
the  birthright  of  an  American  citizen,  while  Julia  and  Abby  Smith,  in 
the  background,  with  veiled  faces,  weep  over  the  degeneracy  of  Repub- 
lican leadership. 

But  there  are  those  in  authority  in  the  government  who  do  not  believe 
in  this  decision  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  The  attorney- 
general,  in  his  instructions  to  the  United  States  marshals  and  their  depu- 
ties or  assistants  in  the  Southern  States,  when  speaking  of  the  counte- 
nance and  support  of  all  good  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  the 
respective  districts  of  the  marshals,  remarks: 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  it  is  upon  such  countenance  and  support  that  the 
United  States  mainly  rely  in  their  endeavor  to  enforce  the  right  to  vote  which  they 
have  given  or  have  secured. 

You  notice  the  phraseology.     Again,  he  says  : 

The  laws  of  the  United  States  are  supreme,  and  so,  consequently,  is  the  action  of 
officials  of  the  United  States  in  enforcing  them. 

Secretary  Sherman  said  in  his  speech  at  Steubenville,  July  6: 

The  negroes  are  free  and  are  citizens  and  voters.  That,  at  least,  is  a  part  of  the 
constitution  and  cannot  be  changed. 

And  President  Hayes  in  his  two  last  messages,  as  Mrs.  Blake  recited  to 
you,  has  declared  that — 

United  States  citizenship  shall  mean  one  and  the  same  thing  and  carry  with  it  all 
over  our  wide  territory  unchallenged  security  and  respect. 

And  that  is  what  we  ask  for  women. 

In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  I  say  to  you  that  a  sense  of  justice  is  the 
sovereign  power  of  the  human  mind,  the  most  unyielding  of  any;  it  re- 
wards with  a  higher  sanction,  it  punishes  with  a  deeper  agony  than  any 
earthly  tribunal.  It  never  slumbers,  never  dies.  It  constantly  utters 
and  demands  justice  by  the  eternal  rule  of  right,  truth  and  equity.  And 
on  these  eternal  foundation-stones  we  stand. 

Crowning  the  dome  of  this  great  building  there  stands  the  majestic 
figure  of  a  woman  representing  Liberty.  It  was  no  idealistic  thought  or 
accident  of  vision  which  gave  us  Liberty  prefigured  by  a  woman.  It  is 
the  great  soul  of  the  universe  pointing  the  final  revelation  yet  to  come 
to  humanity,  the  prophecy  of  the  ages — the  last  to  be  first.* 

When  the  proposition  to  print  these  speeches  came  before  the 
House  a  prolonged  debate  against  it  showed  the  readiness  of  the 
opposition  to  avail  themselves  of  every  legal  technicality  to  de- 


*  Speeches  were  also  made  by  Mrs.  Saxon,  Mrs.  Spencer  and  Miss  Anthony. 


174  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

prive  women  of  equal  rights  and  privileges.  But  the  measure 
finally  passed  and  the  documents  were  printed.  To  the  Hon. 
Elbridge  G.  Lapham  of  New  York  we  were  largely  indebted  for 
the  success  of  this  measure. 

The  Washington  Republican  of  February  6,  1880,  describes  a 
novel  event  that  took  place  at  that  time : 

In  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  on  Monday,  on  motion  of 
Mrs.  Belva  Lockwood,  Samuel  R.  Lowry  of  Alabama  was  admitted  to 
practice.  Mr.  Lowry  is  president  of  the  Huntsville,  Ala.,  industrial  school, 
and  a  gentleman  of  high  attainments.  It  was  quite  fitting  that  the  first 
woman  admitted  to  practice  before  this  court  should  move  the  admission 
of  the  first  Southern  colored  man.  Both  will  doubtless  make  good  records 
as  representatives  of  their  respective  classes.  This  scene  was  character- 
ized by  George  W.  Julian  as  one  of  the  most  impressive  he  ever  wit- 
nessed— a  fitting  subject  for  an  historical  painting. 

In  1880,  women  were  for  the  first  time  appointed  census 
enumerators.  Gen.  Francis  Walker,  head  of  that  department, 
said  there  was  no  legal  obstacle  to  the  appointment  of  women 
as  enumerators,  and  he  would  gladly  confirm  the  nomination 
of  suitable  candidates.  Very  different  was  the  action  of  the 
head  of  the  post-office  department,  who  refused,  on  the  ground  of 
sex,  the  application  of  500  women  for  appointment  as  letter- 
carriers. 

In  view  of  the  important  work  to  be  done  in  a  presidential 
campaign,  the  National  Association  decided  to  issue  an  appeal  to 
the  women  of  the  country  to  appoint  delegates  from  each  State 
and  territory,  and  prepare  an  address  to  each  of  the  presidential 
nominating  conventions.  In  Washington  a  move  was  made 
for  an  act  of  incorporation  in  order  that  the  Association  might 
legally  receive  bequests.  Tracts  containing  a  general  statement 
of  the  status  of  the  movement  were  mailed  to  all  members  of 
congress  and  officers  of  the  government. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  Rules,  Mr.  Randall,  a  Demo- 
cratic member  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Garfield,  a  Republican 
mdmber  of  Ohio,  reminded  Mr.  Frye  of  Maine  that  he  had  been 
instructed  by  that  committee,  nearly  a  year  before,  to  present  to 
the  House  a  resolution  on  the  rights  of  women.  The  Congressional 
Record'oi  March  27  contains  the  following: 

Mr.  FKVF.  :  I  am  instructed  by  the  Committee  on  Rules  to  report  a 
resolution  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  special  committee  on  the 
political  rights  of  women,  and  to  move  that  it  be  placed  on  the  House 
calendar. 

Mr.  COXGKR:     Let  it  be  read. 


Mass  Meetings.  175 

The  clerk  read  the  resolution  as  follows : 

Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  That  the  speaker  appoint  a  special  commit- 
tee of  nine  members,  to  whom  shall  be  referred  all  memorials,  petitions,  bills  and 
resolutions  relating  to  the  rights  of  the  women  of  the  United  States,  with  power  to 
hear  the  same  and  report  thereon  by  bill  or  otherwise.  The  resolution  was  referred  to 
the  House  calendar. 

This  was  a  proof  of  the  advancing  status  of  our  question  that 
both  Republican  and  Democratic  leaders  regarded  the  "rights of 
•women  "  worthy  the  consideration  of  a  special  committee. 

In  the  spring  of  1880,  the  National  Association  held  a  series  of 
mass  meetings  in  the  States  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and 
Michigan,  commencing  with  the  May  anniversary  in  Indianapolis, 
at  which  sixteen  States  were  represented.*  The  convention  was 
held  in  Park  Theatre,  Miss  Anthony  presiding.  The  arrange- 
ments devolved  chiefly  on  Mrs.  May  Wright  Thompson,  who  dis- 
charged her  responsibilities  in  a  most  praiseworthy  manner, 
providing  entertainment  for  the  speakers,  and  paying  all  the 
expenses  from  the  treasury  of  the  local  association.  A  series  of 
resolutions  was  presented,  discussed  by  a  large  number  of 
the  delegates,  and  adopted. 

In  accordance  with  the  plan  decided  upon  in  Washington  of 
attending  all  the  nominating  conventions,  the  next  meeting  was 
held  in  Chicago,  beginning  on  the  same  day  with  the  Republican 
convention.  Farwell  Hall  was  filled  at  an  early  hour ;  Miss 
Anthony  in  the  chair.  A  large  number  of  delegates  f  were  present 


'  *  Alabama,  Mrs.  P.  Holmes  Drake,  Huntsville.  Connecticut,  Elizabeth  C.  Champion,  Bridgeport. 
District  of  Columbia,  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Eveleen  L.  Mason,  Jerusha  G.  Joy,  Ellen  H.  Sheldon, 
Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  Jane  H.  Spofford.  Illinois,  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  vice-president  of 
the  National  Association  and  editor  of  the  "Woman's  Kingdom"  in  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  Evan- 
stoD  ;  Dr.  Ann  M.  Porter,  Danville.  Indiana,  Mary  E.  Haggart,  vice-president  ;  Martha  Grimes, 
.Zerelda  G.  Wallace,  May  Wright  Thompson,  A.  P.  Stanton,  Indianapolis;  Salome  McCain,  Frances 
Joslin,  Crawfordsville ;  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar,  editor  of  the  "  Bric-a-brac  department  "  of  the  Lafay- 
ette Courier,  Lafayette;  Thomas  Atkinson,  Oxford;  Mrs.  Dr.  Rogers,  Greencaslle ;  Florence  M. 
Hardin,  Pendelton.  Joti'a,  Mrs.  J.  C.  M'Kinney,  Mrs.  Weiser,  Decorah.  Kentucky,  Mary  B. 
Clay,  Richmond  ;  Mrs.  Carr.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Housh,  Louisville.  Louisiana,  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon,  New 
Orleans.  Maryland,  Mary  A.  Butler,  Baltimore.  Michigan,  Catherine  A.  F.  Stebbins,  Detroit. 
Missouri,  Mrs.  Virginia  L.  Minor,  Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Patrick,  Mrs.  Annie  T.  Anderson,  Mrs.  Caroline 
Johnson  Todd,  Mrs.  Endie  J.  Polk,  Miss  Phoebe  Couzins,  Miss  M.  A.  Baumgarten,  Miss  Emma  Neave, 
Miss  F.liza  B.  Bucklev,  St.  Louis;  Mrs.  Frances  Montgomery,  Oregon.  JWro  Hamfshire,  Parker 
Pillsbury,  Concord.  New  Jersey,  Lucinda  B.  Chandler.  New  York,  Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Gage,  Miss 
Anthony.  Ohio,  Mrs.  Amanda  B.  Merrian,  Mrs.  Cordelia  A.  Plimpton,  Cincinnati;  Sophia  L.  O. 
Allen,  Eva  L.  Pinney,  South  Newbury  ;  Mrs.  N.  L.  Braffet,  New  Paris.  Pennsylvania,  Rachel  Fos- 
ter, Julia  T.  Foster,  Philadelphia.  South  Carolina,  Mary  R.  Pell,  Cowden  P.  O. 

+  Colorado,  Florence  M.  Haynes,  Greeley.  Connecticut,  Elizabeth  C.  Champion,  Bridgeport.  Dfi- 
trict  ef  Columbia,  IJelva  A.  Lockwood,  Sara  Andrews  Spencer,  Jane  H.  Spofford,  Ellen  H.  Sheldon, 
•  n  L.  Mason,  Jerusha  G.  Joy,  Helen  Rand  Tindall,  Amanda  M.  Best,  Washington.  Illinois, 
Kit.  alirth  Boynton  Harbert,  Sarah  Hackett  Slephenson,  Kate  Newell  Doggett,  Catherine  V.  Waite, 
Kli/aljcth  J.  Loomis,  Alma  Van  Winkle,  Chicago;  Dr.  Ann  Porter,  Danville  ;  Mrs.  F.  Lillebridge, 
Rockford ;  Ann  L.  Barnett,  Lock  port  ;  Mrs.  F.  A.  Ross,  Mrs.  I.  R.  Lewison,  Mansfield ;  Amanda 
Smith,  Prophctstown.  Indiana,  Helen  M.  Cougar,  Lafayette;  Dr.  Rachel  B.  Swain,  Gertrude  Garri- 
son, Indianapolis.  7<>7crt,  Nancy  R.  Allen,  Maquoketa  ;  Jane  C.  M'Kinney,  Mrs.  Weiser.  Decorah ; 
Virginia  Cornish,  Hamburg;  Ellen  J.  Foster,  Clinton;  Clara  F.  Harkness,  Humboldt.  Kansas, 


176 


History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


from  every  part  of  the  Union,  among  whom  were  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  advocates  of  woman  suffrage.  Mrs.  Harbert 
gave  an  eloquent  address  of  welcome. 

Committees  were  appointed  to  visit  the  delegates  from  the 
different  States  to  the  Republican  convention,  to  secure  seats  for 
the  members  of  the  National  Association,  and  to  ask  that  a  plank 
recommending  a  sixteenth  amendment  be  incorporated  in  the 
platform  adopted  by  the  Republican  party.  The  proprietor  of 
the  Palmer  House  gave  the  usff  of  a  large  parlor  to  the  Asso- 
ciation for  business  meetings  and  the  reception  of  Republican 
delegates,  many  of  whom  were  in  favor  of  a  woman's  plank  in 
their  platform,  and  of  giving  the  ladies  seats  in  the  convention. 
Strenuous  efforts  had  been  made  to  this  end.  One  hundred  and 
eighteen  senators  and  representatives  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
chairman  of  the  National  Republican  committee — Don  Cameron 
— asking  that  seventy-six  seats  should  be  given  in  the  convention 
to  the  representatives  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion. It  would  naturally  be  deemed  that  a  request,  proceeding 
from  such  a  source,  would  be  heeded.  The  men  who  made  it  were 
holding  the  highest  positions  in  the  body  politic  ;  but  the  party 
managers  presumed  to  disregard  this  request,  and  also  the  vote 
of  the  committee.  The  question  of  furnishing  seats  for  our  dele- 
gates was  brought  up  before  the  close  of  their  deliberations  by 
Mr.  Finnell,  of  Kentucky,  who  said  : 

A  committee  of  women  have  been  here  and  they  ask  for  seventy-six 
seats  in  this  convention.  I  move  that  they  be  furnished. 

Mr.  Cary  of  Wyoming,  made  some  remarks  showing  that 
woman  suffrage  in  his  territory  had  been  to  the  advantage  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  seconded  the  motion  of  Mr.  Finnell, 
which  was  adopted.  The  following  resolution  of  the  Arkansas 
delegation  to  the  National  Republican  convention  was  read  and 
received  with  enthusiasm : 


Amanda  B.  Way,  Elizabeth  M'Kinney,  Kenneth.  Kentucky*  Mary  B.  Clay,  Sallie  Clay  Bennett, 
Richmond.  Louisiana*  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon,  New  Orleans.  Maryland*  Mary  A.  Butler,  Baltimore. 
Massachusetts*  Addie  N.  Ayres,  Boston.  Minnesota,  A.  H.  Street,  Albert  Lee.  Michigan*  Cath- 
erine A.  F.  Stebbins,  Detroit;  Eliza  Burt  Gamble,  Miss  Mattie  Smedly,  East  Saginaw  ;  P.  Engle 
Travis,  Hartford  ;  Dr.  Elizabeth  Miller,  South  Frankford.  Missouri,  Virginia  L.  Minor,  Phoebe  W. 
Couzins,  Annie  T.  Anderson,  Caroline  J.  Todd,  St.  Louis  ;  Dr.  Augusta  Smith,  Springfield.  A>7f 
Hampshire*  Parker  Pillsbury,  Concord.  Nebraska*  Harriet  S.  Brooks,  Omaha ;  Dr.  Amy  R.  Post. 
Hastings,  ffeiv Jersey*  Margaret  H.  Ravenhill.  Nevt  I'ork*  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Rochester;  Ma- 
tilda Joslyn  Gage,  Fayetteville  ;  Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  New  York  city.  Ohio*  Eva  L.  Pinney,  South 
Newbury  ;  Julia  B.  Cole.  Oregon*  Mrs.  A.  J.  Duniway  (as  substitute),  Portland.  Pennsylvania, 
Rachel  Foster,  Julia  T.  Foster,  Lucinda  B.  Chandler,  Philadelphia;  Cornelia  H.  Scarborough,  New 
Hope.  South  Carolina,  Mary  R.  Pell,  Cowden  P.  O.  Tennessee*  Elizabeth  Avery  Meriwether, 
Memphis.  Wisconsin,  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Racine;  Almedia  B.  Gray,  Schofield  Mills.  Wyoming 
Territory,  Amelia  B.  Post. 


Memorial  to  the  Republican  Party.  177 

Resolved,  That  we  pledge  ourselves  to  secure  to  women  the  exercise  of  their 
right  to  vote. 

It  is  here  to  be  noted  that  not  only  were  the  Arkansas  delega- 
tion of  Republicans  favorable  to  the  recognition  of  woman  suffrage 
in  the  platform  of  that  party,  but  that  the  Southern  delegates 
were  largely  united  in  that  demand.  Mr.  New  told  the  ladies 
that  the  Grant  men  had  voted  as  a  unit  in  favor  of  the  women, 
while  the  Elaine  and  Sherman  men  unanimously  voted  against 
them. 

But  the  ladies,  well  knowing  the  uncertainty  of  politicians, 
were  soon  upon  the  way  to  the  committee-room,  to  secure  posi- 
tive assurance  from  the  lips  of  the  chairman  himself — Don  Cam- 
eron of  Pennsylvania — that  such  tickets  should  be  forthcoming, 
when  they  were  stopped  by  a  messenger  hurrying  after  them  to 
announce  the  presence  of  the  secretary  of  the  committee,  Hon. 
John  New,  at  their  headquarters,  in  the  grand  parlor  of  the  Pal- 
mer House,  with  a  communication  in  regard  to  the  tickets.  He 
said  the  seventy-six  seats  voted  by  the  committee  had  been 
reduced  to  ten  by  its  chairman,  and  these  ten  were  not  offered  to 
the  Association  in  its  official  capacity,  but  as  complimentary  or 
"  guest  tickets,"  for  a  seat  on  the  platform  back  of  the  presiding 
officers. 

The  Committee  on  Resolutions,  popularly  known  as  the  plat- 
form committee,  held  a  meeting  in  the  Palmer  House,  June  2,  to 
which  Belva  A.  Lockwood  obtained  admission.  On  motion  of 
Mr.  Fredley  of  Indiana,  Mrs.  Lockwood  was  given  permission  to 
present  the  memorial  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion to  the  Republican  party. 
To  Uie  Republican  Party  in  Convention  assembled,  Chicago,  June  2, 1880  : 

Seventy-six  delegates  from  local,  State  and  National  suffrage  associa- 
tions, representing  every  section  of  the  United  States,  are  here  to-day  to 
ask  you  to  place  the  following  plank  in  your  platform  : 

Resolved,  That  we  pledge  ourselves  to  secure  to  women  the  exercise  of  their  right 
to  vote. 

We  ask  you  to  pledge  yourselves  to  protect  the  rights  of  one-half  of  the 
American  people,  and  to  thus  carry  your  own  principles  to  their  logical 
results.  The  thirteenth  amendment  of  1865,  abolishing  slavery,  the  four- 
teenth of  1867,  defining  citizenship,  and  the  fifteenth  of  1870,  securing 
United  States  citizens  in  their  right  to  vote,  and  your  prolonged  and  pow- 
erful debates  on  all  the  great  issues  involved  in  our  civil  conflict,  stand  as 
enduring  monuments  to  the  honor  of  the  Republican  party.  Impelled  by 
the  ever  growing  demand  among  women  for  a  voice  in  the  laws  they  are 
required  to  obey,  for  their  rightful  share  in  the  government  of  this  re- 
12 


i  78  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

public,  various  State  legislatures  have  conceded  partial  suffrage.  But  the 
great  duty  remains  of  securing  to  woman  her  right  to  have  her  opinions 
on  all  questions  counted  at  the  ballot-box. 

You  cannot  live  on  the  noble  words  and  deeds  of  those  who  inaugurated 
the  Republican  party.  You  should  vie  with  those  men  in  great  achieve- 
ments. Progress  is  the  law  of  national  life.  You  must  have  a  new,  vital 
issue  to  rouse  once  more  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  Our  question  of 
human  rights  answers  this  demand.  The  two  great  political  parties  are 
alike  divided  upon  finance,  free-trade,  labor  reform  and  general  questions 
of  political  economy.  The  essential  point  in  which  you  differ  from  the 
Democratic  party  is  national  supremacy,  and  it  is  on  this  very  issue  we 
make  our  demand,  and  ask  that  our  rights  as  United  States  citizens  be 
secured  by  an  amendment  to  the  national  constitution.  To  carry  this 
measure  is  not  only  your  privilege  but  your  duty.  Your  pledge  to  enfran- 
chise ten  millions  of  women  will  rouse  an  enthusiasm  which  must  count 
in  the  coming  closely  contested  election.  But  above  expediency  is  right, 
and  to  do  justice  is  ever  the  highest  political  wisdom. 

The  committee  then  adjourned  to  meet  at  the  Sherman-house 
club  room,  where  they  reassembled  at  8  o'clock.  Soon  after 
the  calling  to  order  of  our  own  convention  in  Farwell  Hall,  word 
came  that  a  hearing  had  been  accorded  before  the  platform  com- 
mittee. This  proved  to  be  a  sub-committee.  Ten  minutes  were 
given  Miss  Anthony  to  plead  the  cause  of  10,000,000 — yes,  20,- 
000,000  citizens  of  this  republic  (?),  while,  watch  in  hand,  Mr. 
Pierrepont  sat  to  strike  the  gavel  when  this  time  expired.  Ten 
minutes  ! !  Twice  has*  the  great  Republican  party,  in  the  plenti- 
tude  of  its  power,  allowed  woman  ten  minutes  to  plead  her  cause 
before  it.  Ten  minutes  twice  in  the  past  eight  years,  while  all 
the  remainder  of  the  time  it  has  been  fighting  for  power  and 
place  and  continued  life,  heedless  of  the  wrongs  and  injustice  it 
was  constantly  perpetrating  towards  one-half  the  people.  Ten 
minutes!  What  a  period  in  the  history  of  time.  Small  hope 
remained  of  a  committee,  with  such  a  chairman,  introducing  a 
plank  for  woman  suffrage. 

The  whole  Arkansas  delegation  had  expressed  itself  in  favor ; 
most  of  the  Kentucky  delegation  were  known  to  be  so,  while 
New  York  not  only  had  friends  to  woman  suffrage  among  its 
number,  but  even  an  officer  of  the  State  association  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Republican  convention.  These  men  were  called  upon, 
a  form  of  plank  placed  in  their  hands  and  they  were  asked  to  offer 
it  as  an  amendment  when  the  committee  reported,  but  that  plan 
was  blocked  by  a  motion  that  ail  resolutions  should  be  referred 
to  the  committee  for  action. 


Chicago  Historical  Society.  179 

Senator  Farr  of  Michigan,  a  colored  man,  was  the  only  member 
of  the  platform  committee  who  suggested  the  insertion  of  a 
-woman  suffrage  plank,  the  Michigan  delegation  to  a  man,  favor- 
ing such  action.  The  delegates  were  ready  in  case  opportunity 
offered,  to  present  the  address  to  the  convention.  But  no  such 
moment  arrived. 

The  mass  convention  had  been  called  for  June  2,  but  the  crowds 
in  the  city  gave  promise  of  such  extended  interest  that  Farwell 
Hall  was  engaged  for  June  I,  and  before  the  second  day's  pro- 
ceedings closed,  funds  were  voluntarily  raised  by  the  audience  to 
continue  the  meeting  the  third  day.  So  vast  was  the  number  of 
letters  and  postals  addressed  to  the  convention  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  from  women  who  desired  to  vote,  that  the  whole 
time  of  each  session  could*  have  been  spent  in  reading  them — 
one  day's  mail  alone  bringing  letters  and  postals  from  twenty- 
three  States  and  three  territories.  Some  of  these  letters  con- 
tained hundreds  of  names,  others  represented  town,  county,  and 
State  societies.  Many  were  addressed  to  the  different  nominat- 
ing conventions,  Republican,  Greenback,  Democratic,  while  the 
reasons  given  for  desiring  to  vote,  ranged  from  the  simple  de- 
mand, through  all  the  scale  of  reasons  connected  with  good  gov- 
ernment and  morality.  So  highly  important  a  contribution  to 
history  did  the  Chicago  Historical  Society*  deem  these  expres- 
sions of  woman's  desire  to  vote,  that  it  made  a  formal  request  to 
be  put  in  possession  of  all  letters  and  postals,  with  a  promise 
that  they  should  be  carefully  guarded  in  a  fire-proof  safe. 


*  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  ROOMS,  140-42  DEARBORN  AVE.,  CHICAGO,  May  ig,  1880. 
Mrs.  E.  C.  Stanton,  President  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  fjb  West  Lake  street  : 

Dear  Madam  :  I  write  you  in  behalf  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  and  with  the  hope  that  you 
will  obligingly  secure  for  and  present  to  this  society  a  full  manuscript  record  of  the  mass-meeting  to 
be  held  in  Farwell  Hall  in  this  city,  June  2,  1880,  duly  signed  by  its  officers.  We  hope  too  you  will  do 
the  society  the  great  favor  to  deposit  in  its  archives  all  the  letters  and  postals  which  you  igay 
receive  in  response  to  your  invitations  to  attend  that  meeting. 

This  meeting  may  be  an  important  one  and  long  to  be  remembered.  It  is  hard  to  measure  the  possi- 
bilities of  1880.  I  hope  this  meeting  will  mark  an  epoch  in  American  history  equal  to  the  convention 
held  in  Independence  Hall  in  1776.  How  valuable  would  be  the  attested  manuscript  record  of  that  con- 
vention and  the  correspondence  connected  therewith  !  The  records  of  the  Farwell-hall  meeting  may  be 
<qually  valuable  one  hundred  years  hence.  Please  let  the  records  be  kept  in  the  city  in  which  the  con- 
vention or  mass-meeting  is  held. 

I  am  a  Republican.  I  hope  the  party  to  which  I  belong  will  be  consistent.  On  the  highest  stripe  of 
its  banner  is  inscribed  "  Freedom  and  Equal  Rights."  I  hope  the  party  will  not  be  so  inconsistent 
as  to  refuse  to  the  "  better  half"  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  rights  enjoyed  by  the  liberated 
slaves  at  the  South. 

The  leaders  should  not  be  content  to  suffer  it  to  be  so,  but  should  work  with  a  will  to  make  it  so.  I 
have  but  little  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  the  man  who  will  shout  himself  hoarse  about  "shot  guns" 
and  "  intimidation  "  at  the  South,  when  ridicule  and  sneers  come  from  his  "  shot  gun  "pointed  at  those 
who  advocate  the  doctrine  that  our  mothers,  wives  and  sisters  are  as  well  qualified  to  vote  and  hold 
official  position  as  the  average  Senegambian  of  Mississippi. 

We  should  be  glad  to  have  you  and  your  friends  call  at  these  rooms,  which  are  open  and  free  for  all. 
Very  Respectfully,  A.    D.   HACER,  Librarian. 


180  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

After  the  eloquent  speeches*  of  the  closing  session,  Miss  Alice 
S.  Mitchell  sang  Julia  Ward  Howe's  "  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Repub- 
lic," Mrs.  Harbert  playing  the  accompaniment,  and  the  immense 
audience  of  3,000  people  joining  in  the  chorus.  This  convention 
held  three  sessions  each  day,  and  at  all  except  the  last  an  admis- 
sion fee  was  charged,  and  yet  the  hall  was  densely  crowded 
throughout.  For  enthusiasm,  nothing  ever  surpassed  these  meet- 
ings in  the  history  of  the  suffrage  movement.  A  platform  and 
resolution  were  adopted  as  the  voice  of  the  convention. 

The  special  object  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  is  to  secure  national 
protection  for  women  in  the  exercise  of  their  right  of  suffrage.  It  recognizes  the  fact 
that  our  government  was  formed  on  the  political  basis  of  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
and  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  struck  a  blow  at  every  existing  form  by  de- 
claring the  individual  to  be  the  source  of  all  power.  The  members  of  this  association, 
outside  of  our  great  question,  have  diverse  political  affiliations,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
gaining  this  great  right  to  the  ballot,  its  members  hold  their  party  predilections  in 
abeyance;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  in  this  year  of  presidential  nominations  and  political  campaigns,  we 
announce  our  determination  to  support  no  party  by  whatever  name  called,  unless  such 
party  shall,  in  its  platform,  first  emphatically  endorse  our  demand  for  a  recognition  of 
the  exact  and  permanent  political  equality  of  all  citizens. 

A  delegation  f  went  to  the  Greenback  convention  and  pre- 
sented the  following  memorial : 

When  a  new  political  party  is  formed  it  should  be  based  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  justice  to  all  classes  hitherto  unrecognized.  The  finance  ques- 
tion, as  broad  as  it  is,  does  not  reach  down  to  the  deepest  wrong  in  the 
nation.  Beneath  this  question  lies  that  of  the  denial  of  the  right  of  self- 
government  to  one-half  the  people.  It  is  impossible  to  secure  the 
property  rights  of  the  people  without  first  recognizing  their  personal 
rights.  More  than  any  class  of  men,  woman  represents  the  great  unpaid 
laborer  of  the  world — a  slave,  who,  as  wife  and  daughter,  absolutely  works 
for  her  board  and  clothes.  The  question  of  finance  deeply  interests 


*  By  Mrs.  Saxon  of  New  Orleans,  La.;  Mrs.  Meriwether  of  Memphis,  Mrs.  Sallie  Clay  Bennett, 
daughter  of  Cassius  M.  Clay  of  Richmond  Ky.;  and  others.  Mrs.  Bennett  related  a  little  home  inci- 
dent. She  said  :  A  few  days  ago  she  was  in  her  front  yard  planting  with  her  own  hands  some  roses, 
wRen  "  our  ex-governor,"  passing  by,  exclaimed  :  "  Mrs.  Bennett,  I  admire  that  in  you  ;  whatever  one 
wants  well  done  he  must  do  himself."  She  immediately  answered  :  "  That  is  true  Governor,  and  that 
is  why  we  women  suffragists  have  determined  to  do  our  own  voting  hereafter."  She  then  informed  him 
that  she  wanted  to  speak  to  him  on  that  great  question.  He  was  rather  anxious  to  avoid  the  argument, 
and  expressed  his  surprise  and  "  was  sorry  to  see  a  woman  like  her,  surrounded  by  so  many  blessings, 
with  a  kind  husband,  numerous  friends  and  loving  children,  advocating  woman  suffrage !  She  ought 
to  be  contented  with  these.  She  was  not  like  Miss  Anthony — "  "  Stop,  Governor,"  I  exclaimed, 
"  Don't  think  of  comparing  me  to  that  lady,  for  I  feel  that  I  am  not  worthy  to  touch  the  hem  of  her 
garments."  She  was,  she  said,  indeed  the  mother  of  five  dear  children,  but  she  [Miss  Anthony]  is  the 
mother  of  a  nation  of  women.  She  thought  the  women  feared  God  rather  than  man,  and  it  was  only 
this  which  encouraged  them  to  speak  on  this  subject,  so  dear  to  their  hearts,  in  public.  One  lady  gave 
as  a  reason  why  she  wanted  to  vote,  that  it  was  because  "  the  men  did  not  want  them  to,"  which  evoked 
considerable  merriment.  This  induced  the  chair  to  remind  the  audience  of  Napoleon's  rule :  "Go, 
see  what  your  enemy  does  not  want  you  to  do  and  do  it."  Of  the  audience  the  Inter-Ocean  said; 
"  The  speakers  of  all  the  sessions  were  listened  to  with  rapt  attention  by  the  audience,  and  the 
points  made  were  heartily  applauded.  It  would  be  difficult  to  gather  so  large  an  audience  of  our  sex 
whose  appearance  would  be  more  suggestive  of  refinement  and  intelligence." 

t  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs.  Chandler,  Mrs.  Spencer  and  Mrs.  Haggart. 


At  the  Democratic  Convention.  181 

woman,  but  her  opinions  upon  it  are  valueless  while  deprived  of  the 
right  of  enforcing-  them  at  the  ballot  box.  You  are  here  in  conven- 
tion assembled,  not  alone  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  president,  but 
also  to  promulgate  your  platform  of  principles  to  the  world.  Now  is  your 
golden  opportunity.  The  Republican  party  presents  no  vital  issue  to  the 
country;  its  platform  is  a  repetition  of  the  platitudes  of  the  past  twenty 
years.  It  has  ceased  to  be  a  party  of  principles.  It  lives  on  the  past. 
The  deeds  of  dead  men  hold  it  together.  Its  disregard  of  principles  has 
thrown  opportunity  into  your  hands.  Will  you  make  yourselves  the 
party  of  the  future  ?  Will  you  recognize  woman's  right  of  self-govern- 
ment ?  Will  you  make  woman  suffrage  an  underlying  principle  in  your 
platform  ?  If  you  will  make  these  pledges,  the  National  Association  will 
work  for  the  triumph  of  your  party  in  the  approaching  closely  con- 
tested campaign. 

The  ladies  were  accorded  hearings  by  several  delegations  pre- 
vious to  the  assembling  of  the  convention.  A  resolution  com- 
mittee of  one  from  each  State  was  appointed,  and  each  mem- 
ber allowed  two  minutes  to  present  either  by  speech  or  writ- 
ing such  principles  as  it  requested  incorporated  in  the  platform. 
Lucinda  B.  Chandler,  being  a  Greenbacker  on  principle,  was  a 
regularly  elected  delegate  and  by  courtesy  was  added  to  a  sub- 
committee on  resolutions.  The  one  prepared  by  the  National 
Association  was  placed  in  her  hands,  but,  as  she  was  forbidden  to 
speak  upon  it,  her  support  could  only  be  given  by  vote,  and  a 
meaningless  substitute  took  its  place.  The  courtesy  of  placing 
Mrs.  Chandler  upon  the  committee  was  like  much  of  man's 
boasted  chivalry  to  woman,  a  seeming  favor  at  the  expense  of 
right. 

After  trying  in  vain  for  recognition  as  a  political  factor  from 
the  Republican  and  Greenback  nominating  conventions  the  dele- 
gates went  to  Cincinnati.* 

Committees  were  at  once  appointed  to  visit  the  different  dele- 
gations. Women  were  better  treated  by  the  Democrats  at  Cin- 
cinnati than  by  the  Republicans  at  Chicago.  A  committee- 
room  in  Music  Hall  was  at  once  placed  at  their  disposal,  placards 
pointing  to  their  headquarters  were  printed  by  the  local  commit- 
tee at  its  own  expense,  and  sixteen  seats  given  to  the  ladies  upon 
the  floor  of  the  house,  just  back  of  the  regular  delegates.  A 
hearingf  before  the  platform  committee  was  granted  with  no  limit 
as  to  time.  At  the  close  a  delegate  approached  the  table,  saying, 
i 

*  Twenty  delegates  from  eleven  different  States,  who  had  been  in  attendance  at  Chicago,  went  to 
Cincinnati. 

t  Before  which  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs.  Meriwether,  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Spencer  and  Mrs.  Blake  spoke. 


1 82  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

"  I  favor  giving  woman  a  plank,"  "  So  do  I,"  replied  Mr.  Watter- 
son,  chairman  of  the  committee.  Many  delegates  in  conversa- 
tion, favored  the  recognition  of  woman's  political  rights,  and  a 
large  number  of  the  platform  committee  favored  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  following  plank  : 

That  the  Democratic  part}1,  recognizing  the  rapid  growth  of  the  woman 
suffrage  question,  suggests  a  consideration  of  this  important  subject  by  the 
people  in  anticipation  of  the  time,  near  at  hand,  when  it  must  become  a 
political  issue. 

But  although  the  platform  committee  sat  until  2  A.  M.,  no  such 
result  was  reached,  in  consequence,  it  was  said,  of  the  objection 
of  the  extreme  Southern  element  which  feared  the  political 
recognition  of  negro  women  of  the  South. 

The  delegations  from  Maine,  Kansas  and  New  York  were  favor- 
able, and  offered  the  Association  the  use  of  their  committee-rooms 
at  the  Burnett  House  and  the  Grand  Hotel  whenever  desired. 
Mayor  Prince  of  Boston  not  only  offered  a  committee-room  but 
secured  seats  for  the  delegates  on  the  floor  of  the  house.  Mr. 
Henry  Watterson,  of  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal,  as  chairman 
of  the  Platform  Committee,  extended  every  courtesy  within  his 
power.  Mayor  Harrison  of  Chicago  did  his  best  to  secure  to  the 
delegates  a  hearing  before  the  convention.  He  offered  to  escort 
Miss  Anthony  to  the  platform  that  she  might  at  least  present  the 
address.  "  You  may  be  prevented,"  suggested  one.  "  I'd  like  to 
see  them  do  it,"  he  replied.  "  Have  I  not  just  brought  about  a 
reconciliation  between  Tammany  and  the  rest  of  New  York?" 
Taking  Miss  Anthony  upon  his  arm  and  telling  her  not  to  flinch, 
he  made  his  way  to  the  platform,  when  the  chairman,  Hon. 
Wade  Hampton  of  South  Carolina,  politely  offered  her  a  seat, 
and  ordered  the  clerk  to  read  the  address: 

To  the  Democratic  Party  in  Nominating  Convention  Assembled,  Cincinnati, 
June  22,  1880: 

On  behalf  of  the  women  of  the  country  we  appear  before  you,  asking 
the  recognition  of  woman's  political  rights  as  one-half  the  people.  We 
ask  no  special  privileges,  no  special  legislation.  We  simply  ask  that 
you  live  up  to  the  principles  enunciated  by  the  Democratic  party 
from  the  time  of  Jefferson.  By  what  principle  of  democracy  do  men  as- 
sume to  legislate  for  women?  Women  are  part  of  the  people  ;  your  very 
name  signifies  government  by  the  people.  When  you  deny  political 
rights  to  women  you  are  false  to  your  own  principles. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  recognized  human  rights  as  its 
basis.  Constitutions  should  also  be  general  in  character.  But  in  oppo- 
sition to  this  principle  the  party  in  power  for  the  last  twenty  years  has 


At  the  Prohibition  Convention.  183 

perverted  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  the  introduction  of  the 
word  "male  "  three  times,  thereby  limiting  the  application  of  its  guaran- 
tees to  a  special  class.  It  should  be  your  pride  and  your  duty  to  restore 
the  constitution  to  its  original  basis  by  the  adoption  of  a  sixteenth  amend- 
ment, securing  to  women  the  right  of  suffrage ;  and  thus  establish  the 
equality  of  all  United  States  citizens  before  the  law. 

Not  for  the  first  time  do  we  make  of  you  these  demands.  At  your  nom- 
inating convention  in  New  York,  in  1868,  Susan  B.  Anthony  appeared 
before  you,  asking  recognition  of  woman's  inherent  natural  rights.  At 
your  convention  of  1872,  in  Baltimore,  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker  and  Susan 
B.  Anthony  made  a  similar  appeal.  In  1876,  at  St.  Louis,  Phoebe  W. 
Couzins  and  Virginia  L.  Minor  presented  our  claims.  Now,  in  1880, 
our  delegates  are  present  here  from  the  Middle  States,  from  the  West 
and  from  the  South.  The  women  of  the  South  are  rapidly  uniting 
in  their  demand  for  political  recognition,  as  they  have  been  the  most 
deeply  humiliated  by  a  recognition  of  the  political  rights  of  their  former 
slaves. 

To  secure  to  20,000,000  of  women  the  rights  of  citizenship  is  to  base  your 
party  on  the  eternal  principles  of  justice;  it  is  to  make  yourselves  the 
party  of  the  future;  it  is  to  do  away  with  a  more  extended  slavery  than 
that  of  4,000,000  of  blacks  ;  it  is  to  secure  political  freedom  to  half  the  na- 
tion ;  it  is  to  establish  on  this  continent  the  democratic  theory  of  the 
equal  rights  of  the  people. 

In  furtherance  of  this  demand  we  ask  you  to  adopt  the  following 
resolution  :  , 

WHEREAS,  Believing  in  the  self-evident  truth  that  all  persons  are  created  with  cer- 
tain inalienable  rights,  and  that  for  the  protection  of  these  rights  governments  are  in- 
stituted, deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  pledges  itself  to  use  all  its  powers  to  secure  to 
the  women  of  the  nation  protection  in  the  exercise  of  their  right  of  suffrage. 

On  behalf  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 

That  the  women  however,  in  the  campaign  of  1880,  received 
the  best  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  National  Prohibition  party 
is  shown  by  the  following  invitation  received  at  the  Bloomington 
convention  : 
To  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  of  the  United  States  : 

The  woman  suffragists  are  respectfully  invited  to  meet  with  and  parti- 
cipate in  the  proceedings  of  the  National  Prohibition  Convention  to  be 
held  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  June,  1880. 

JAMES  BLACK,  Chairman  of  National  Committee. 

Per  J.  W.  HAGGARD. 

A  letter  was  received  from  Mr.  Black  urging  the  acceptance  of 
the  invitation.  Accordingly  Miss  Phoebe  Couzins  was  sent  as 
a  delegate  from  the  association.  The  Prohibition  party  in  its 
eleventh  plank  said : 


1 84  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

We  also  demand  that  women  having  privileges  as  citizens  in  other  respects, 
shall  be  clothed  with  the  ballot  for  their  own  protection,  and  as  a  rightful  means 
for  a  proper  settlement  of  the  liquor  question. 

After  attending  all  these  nominating  conventions,  some  of  the 
delegates  *  went  to  Wisconsin  where  the  State  and  National  Asso- 
ciations held  a  joint  convention,  in  the  Opera  House  at  Milwaukee, 
June  4,  5.  Madam  Anneke  gave  the  address  of  welcome.f 
Fresh  from  the  exciting  scenes  of  the  presidential  conventions, 
the  speakers  were  unusually  earnest  and  aggressive.  The  resolu- 
tions discussed  at  the  Indianapolis  convention  were  considered 
and  adopted.  Carl  Doerflinger  read  a  greeting  in  behalf  of  the 
German  Radicals  of  the  city.  Letters  were  read  from  prominent 
persons,  expressing  their  interest  in  the  movement.  \  Dr.  Laura 
Ross  Wolcott  made  all  the  arrangements  and  contributed  largely 
to  the  expenses  of  the  convention.  The  roll  of  delegates  shows 
that  the  State,  at  least,  was  well  represented.  § 

Thus  through  the  terrible  heat  of  June  this  band  of  earnest 
women  held  successive  conventions  in  Bloomington,  111.,  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich.,  Lafayette  and  Terre  Haute,  Ind.  They  were  most 
hospitably  entertained,  and  immense  audiences  greeted  them  at 
every  point.  Mrs.  Cordelia  Briggs  took  the  entire  responsibility 
of  the  social  and  financial  interests  of  the, convention  at  Grand 
Rapids,  which  continued  for  three  days  with  increasing  enthusi- 
asm to  the  close.  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar  made  the  arrangements 
for  Lafayette  which  were  in  every  way  successful. 

After  the  holding  of  these  conventions,  delegations  from  the 
National  Association  called  on  the  nominees  of  the  two  great 
parties  to  ascertain  their  opinions  and  proposed  action,  if  any,  on 
the  question  of  woman  suffrage.  Mrs.  Blake,  and  other  ladies 
representing  the  New  York  city  society,  called  on  General  Han- 
cock at  his  residence  and  were  most  courteously  received.  In 

*  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Meriwether,  Mrs.  Saxon,  Miss.  Couzins,  Rev.  Olympia 
.Brown,  Misses  Rachel  and  Julia  Foster. 

t  This  was  the  last  time  this  noble  German  woman  honored  our  platform,  as  her  eventful  life  closed 
31  few  years  after. 

\  Among  others,  from  Assemblyman  Lord,  State-Superintendent-of-Public-Instruction  Whitford,  J. 
M.  Ij'mgham  and  Superintendent  MacAlister. 

jj  The  delegates  were  Olympia  Brown,  Racine:  L.  C.  Gait,  M.  M.  Frazier,  .Ifukiv onngo ;  E.  A. 
Brown,  Berlin;  E.  M.  Cooley,  Eureka  ;  E.  L.  Woolcott,  Ripon  ;  O.  M.  Patton,  M.  D.,  Appleton; 
H.  Suhm,  E.  Hohgrave,  Sauk  City;  M.  W.  Mabbs,  C.  M.  Stowers,  Manitowoc ;  S.  C.  Guernsey, 
Janesville  ;  H.  T.  Patchin,  A'ew  London  ;  Jennie  Pomeroy,  Grand  Rapids  ;  Mrs.  H.  W.  Rice,  Oco- 
nomou'oc  ;  Amy  Winship,  Racine;  Almedia  B.  Gray,  Matilda  Graves,  Jessie  Gray,  Scholfield  . Milts ; 
Mrs.  Mary  Collins,  Muhwonago  :  Mrs.  Jere  Witter,  Grand Rapids ;  Mrs.  Lucina  E.  De Wolff,  White- 
water. The  Milwaukee  delegates  were:  Dr.  Laura  R.  Wolcott,  Mme.  Mathilde  Franceske  Anneke, 
Mrs.  A.  M.  Bolds.  Mrs.  A.  Flagge,  Agnes  B.  Campbell,  Mary  A.  Rhienart,  Matilda  Pietsch,  N.  J. 
Comstock.  Sarah  R.  Munro,  M.  D.,  Juliet  H.  Severance,  M.  D.,  Mrs.  Emily  Firega,  Carl  Doerflinger. 
Maximillian  Grossman  and  Carl  Herman  Boppe. 


Correspondence  with.  Presidential  Candidates.      185 

the  course  of  a  long  conversation  in  which  it  was  evident  that  he 
had  given  some  thought  to  the  question,  he  said  he  would  not 
veto  a  District  of  Columbia  Woman  Suffrage  bill,  provided  such 
a  bill  should  pass  congress,  thereby  putting  himself  upon  better 
record  than  Horace  Greely  the  year  of  his  candidacy,  who  not 
only  expressed  himself  as  opposed  to  woman  suffrage,  but  also 
declared  that,  if  elected,  he  would  veto  such  a  bill  provided  it 
passed  congress. 

Miss  Anthony  visited  James  A.  Garfield  at  his  home  in  Mentor, 
Ohio.  He  was  very  cordial,  and  listened  with  respect  to  her  pre- 
sentation of  the  question.  Although  from  time  to  time  in  con- 
gress he  had  uniformly  voted  with  our  friends,  yet  he  expressed 
/  serious  doubts  as  to  the  wisdom  of  pressing  this  measure  during 
the  pending  presidential  campaign. 

As  it  was  deemed  desirable  to  get  some  expression  on  paper 
from  the  candidates,  the  following  letter,  written  on  official  paper, 
was  addressed  to  the  Republican  and  Democratic  nominees : 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.,  August  17,  1880. 

Hon.  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD:  Dear  Sir:  As  vice-president-at-large  of 
the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  I  am  instructed  to  ask  you,  if, 
in  the  event  of  your  election,  you,  as  President  of  the  United  States,  would 
recommend  to  congress,  in  your  message  to  that  body,  the  submission  to 
the  several  legislatures  of  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national  consti- 
tution, prohibiting  the  disfranchisement  of  United  States  citizens  on 
account  of  sex.  What  we  wish  to  ascertain  is  whether  you,  as  president, 
would  use  your  official  influence  to  secure  to  the  women  of  the  several 
States  a  national  guarantee  of  their  right  to  a  voice  in  the  government  on 
the  same  terms  with  men.  Neither  platform  makes  any  pledge  to  secure 
political  equality  to  women — hence  we  are  waiting  and  hoping  that  one 
candidate  or  the  other,  or  both,  will  declare  favorably,  and  thereby  make 
it  possible  for  women,  with  self-respect,  to  work  for  the  success  of  one  or 
the  other  or  both  nominees.  Hoping  for  a  prompt  and  explicit  statement, 
1  am,  sir,  very  respectfully  yours,  SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY. 

To  this  General  Hancock  vouchsafed  no  reply,  while  General 
Garfield  responded  as  follows : 

MENTOR,  O.,  August  25,  1880. 

Dear  Miss  ANTHONY  :  Your  letter  of  the  i7th  inst.  came  duly  to  hand. 
I  take  the  liberty  of  asking  your  personal  advice  before  I  answer  your 
official  letter.  I  assume  that  all  the  traditions  and  impulses  of  your  life 
lead  you  to  believe  that  the  Republican  party  has  been  and  is  more  nearly 
in  the  line  of  liberty  than  its  antagonist  the  Democratic  party  ;  and  I  know 
you  desire  to  advance  the  cause  of  woman.  Now,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  Republican  convention  has  not  discussed  your  question,  do  you  not 
think  it  would  be  a  violation  of  the  trust  they  have  reposed  in  me,  to 


1 86  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

speak,  "  as  their  nominee  " — and  add  to  the  present  contest  an  issue  that 
they  have  not  authorized  ?  Again,  if  I  answer  your  question  on  the 
ground  of  my  own  private  opinion,  I  shall  be  compelled  to  say,  that  while 
I  am  open  to  the  freest  discussion  and  fairest  consideration  of  your  ques- 
tion, I  have  not  yet  reached  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  best  for 
woman  and  for  the  country  that  she  should  have  the  suffrage.  I  may 
reach  it ;  but  whatever  time  may  do  to  me,  that  fruit  is  not  yet  ripe  on  my 
tree.  I  ask  you,  therefore,  for  the  sake  of  your  own  question,  do  you 
think  it  wise  to  pick  my  apples  now?  Please  answer  me  in  the  frankness 
of  personal  friendship.  With  kind  regards,  I  am  very  truly  yours, 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 
Miss  SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.,  September  9,  1880. 

Hon.  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD:  Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  25th  ult.  has 
waited  all  these  days  that  I  might  consider  and  carefully  reply. 

First.  The  Republican  party  did  run  well  for  a  season  in  the  "  line  of 
liberty";  but  since  1870,  its  congressional  enactments,  majority  reports, 
Supreme  Court  decisions,  and  now  its  presidential  platform,  show  a  retro- 
grade movement — not  only  for  women,  but  for  colored  men — limiting  the 
power  of  the  national  government  in  the  protection  of  United  States  citi- 
zens against  the  injustice  of  the  States,  until  what  we  gained  by  the 
sword  is  lost  by  political  surrenders.  And  we  need  nothing  but  a  Demo- 
cratic administration  to  demonstrate  to  all  Israel  and  the  sun  the  fact,  the 
sad  fact,  that  all  ts  lost  by  the  Republican  party,  and  not  to  be  lost  by  the 
Democratic  party.  I  mean,  of  course,  the  one  vital  point  of  national 
supremacy  in  the  protection  of  United  States  citizens  in  the  enjoyment  of 
their  right  to  vote,  and  the  punishment  of  States  or  individuals  thereof, 
for  depriving  citizens  of  the  exercise  of  that  right.  The  first  and  fatal 
mistake  was  in  ceding  to  the  States  the  right  to  "abridge  or  deny  "  the 
suffrage  to  foreign-born  men  in  Rhode  Island,  and  all  women  throughout 
the  nation,  in  direct  violation  of  the  principle  of  national  supremacy. 
And  from  that  time,  inch  by  inch,  point  by  point  has  been  surrendered, 
until  it  is  only  in  name  that  the  Republican  party  is  the  party  of  national 
supremacy.  Grant  did  not  protect  the  negro's  ballot  in  1876 — Hayes  can- 
not in  1880 — nor  could  Garfield  in  1884 — for  the  "sceptre  has  departed 
from  Judah." 

Second.  For  the  candidate  of  a  party  to  add  to  the  discussions  of  the 
contest  an  issue  unauthorized  or  unnoted  in  its  platform,  when  that  issue 
was  one  vital  to  its  very  life,  would,  it  seems  to  me,  be  the  grandest  act 
imaginable.  And,  for  doing  that  very  thing,  with  regard  to  the  protection 
of  the  negroes  of  the  South,  you  are  to-day  receiving  more  praise  from 
the  best  men  of  the  party,  than  for  any  and  all  of  your  utterances  inside 
the  line  of  the  platform.  And  I  know,  if  you  had  in  your  letter  of  accept- 
ance, or  in  your  New  York  speech,  declared  yourself  in  favor  of  "  perfect 
equality  of  rights  for  women,  civil  and  political, "you  would  have  touched 
an  electric  spark  that  would  have  fired  the  heart  of  the  women  of  the 
entire  nation,  and  made  the  triumph  of  the  Republican  party  more  grand 
and  glorious  than  any  it  has  ever  seen. 


Memorial  of  Lucretia  Mott.  187 

Third.  As  to  picking  fruit  before  it  is  ripe  !  Allow  me  to  remind  you 
that  very  much  fruit  is  never  picked  ;  some  gets  nipped  in  the  blossom ; 
some  gets  worm-eaten  and  falls  to  the  ground ;  some  rots  on  the  trees 
before  it  ripens  ;  some,  too  slow  in  ripening,  gets  bitten  by  the  early  frosts 
of  autumn  ;  while  some  rich,  rare,  ripe  apples  hang  unpicked,  frozen  and 
worthless  on  the  leafless  trees  of  winter!  Really.  Mr.  Garfield,  if,  after 
passing  through  the  war  of  the  rebellion  and  sixteen  years  in  congress  ; — 
if,  after  seeing,  and  hearing,  and  repeating,  that  no  class  ever  got  justice 
and  equality  of  chances  from  any  government  except  it  had  the  power — 
the  ballot — to  clutch  them  for  itself; — if,  after  all  your  opportunities  for 
growth  and  development,  you  cannot  yet  see  the  truth  of  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  individual  self-government; — if  you  have  only  reached  the  idea 
of  class-government,  and  that,  too,  of  the  most  hateful  and  cruel  form — 
bounded  by  sex — there  must  ,be  some  radical  defect  in  the  ethics  of  the 
party  of  which  you  are  the  chosen  leader. 

No  matter  which  party  administers  the  government,  women  will  con- 
tinue to  get  only  subordinate  positions  and  half-pay,  not  because  of  the 
party's  or  the  president's  lack  of  chivalric  regard  for  woman,  but  because, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  it  is  impossible  for  any  government  to  protect 
a  disfranchised  class  in  equality  of  chances.  Women,  to  get  justice,  must 
have  political  freedom.  But  pardon  this  long  trespass  upon  your  time 
and  patience,  and  please  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  not  for  the  many  good 
things  the  Republican  party  and  its  nominee  have  done  in  extending  the 
area  of  liberty,  that  I  criticise  them,  but  because  they  have  failed  to  place 
the  women  of  the  nation  on  the  plane  of  political  equality  with  men.  I  do 
not  ask  you  to  go  beyond  your  convictions,  but  I  do  most  earnestly  beg 
you  to  look  at  this  question  from  the  stand-point  of  woman — alone, 
without  father,  brother,  husband,  son — battling  for  bread  !  It  is  to  help 
the  millions  of  these  unfortunate  ones  that  I  plead  for  the  ballot  in  the 
hands  of  all  women.  With  great  respect  for  your  frank  and  candid  talk 
with  one  of  the  disfranchised,  I  am  very  sincerely  yours, 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY. 

As  Mr.  Garfield  was  the  only  presidential  nominee  of  either  of 
the  great  parties  who  deigned  a  reply  to  the  National  Associa- 
tion, we  have  given  his  letter  an  honored  place  in  our  history, 
and  desire  to  pay  this  tribute  to  his  memory,  that  while  not  fully 
endorsing  our  claims  for  political  equality  he  earnestly  advocated 
for  woman  all  possible  advantages  of  education,  equal  rights  in 
the  trades  and  professions,  and  equal  laws  for  the  protection  of 
her  civil  rights. 

The  Thirteenth  Annual  Washington  Convention  assembled  in 
Lincoln  Hall,  January  18,  1881.  The  first  session  was  devoted  to 
memorial  services  in  honor  of  Lucretia  Mott.  A  programme* 

*  i.  Silent  Invocation.  2.  Music.  3.  Eulogy,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanlon.  4.  Tributes,  Frederick 
Douglass,  Susan  H.  Anthony.  5.  Music.  6.  Tributes,  Robert  Purvis,  May  Wright  Sew. ill,  Phcebe 
W.  Couzins.  7.  Closing  Hymn — "  Nearer ,  my  GW,  to  T/tee." 


1 88  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

for  the  occasion  was  extensively  circulated,  and  the  response  in 
character  and  numbers  was  such  an  audience  as  had  seldom  be- 
fore crowded  that  hall.  The  spacious  auditorium  was  brilliant 
with  sunlight  and  the  gay  dresses,  red  shawls  and  flowers  of 
the  ladies  of  the  fashionable  classes.  Mrs.  Hayes  with  several 
of  her  guests  from  the  White  House  occupied  front  seats. 
The  stage  was  crowded  with  members  of  the  association,  Mrs. 
Mott's  personal  friends  and  wives  of  members  of  congress.  The 
decorations  which  had  seldom  been  surpassed  in  point  of  beauty 
and  tastefulness.  of  arrangement,  formed  a  fitting  setting  for  this 
notable  assemblage  of  women.  The  background  was  a  mass  of 
colors,  formed  by  the  graceful  draping  of  national  flags,  here  and 
there  a  streamer  of  old  gold  with  heavy  fringe  to  give  variety, 
while  in  the  center  was  a  national  shield  surmounted  by  two  flags. 
On  each  side  flags  draped  and  festooned,  falling  at  the  front  of 
the  stage  with  the  folds  of  the  rich  maroon  curtains.  Graceful 
ferns  and  foliage  plants  had  been  arranged,  while  on  a  table  stood 
a  large  harp  formed  of  beautiful  red  and  white  flowers.*  At  the 
other  end  was  a  stand  of  hot-house  flowers,  while  in  the  center, 
resting  on  a  background  of  maroon  drapery,  was  a  large  crayon 
picture  of  Lucretia  Mott.  Above  the  picture  a  snow-white  dove 
held  in  its  beak  sprays  of  smilax,  trailing  down  on  either  side,  and 
below  was  a  sheaf  of  ripened  wheat,  typical  of  the  life  that  had 
ended.  The  occasion  which  had  brought  the  ladies  together,  the 
placid  features  of  that  kind  and  well-remembered  face,  had  a 
solemnizing  effect  upon  all,  and  quietly  the  vast  audience  passed 
into  the  hall.  The  late-comers  finding  all  the  seats  occupied 
stood  in  the  rear  and  sat  in  the  aisles. 

Presently  Miss  Couzins,  stepping  to  the  front  of  the  stage  said 
gently,  "  In  accordance  with  the  custom  of  Mrs.  Mott  and  the 
time-honored  practice  of  the  Quakers,  I  ask  you  to  unite  in  an 
invocation  to  the  Spirit."  She  bowed  her  head.  The  audience 
followed  her  example.  For  several  minutes  the  solemn  stillness 
of  devotion  pervaded  the  hall.  When  Miss  Couzins  had  taken 
her  seat  the  quartette  choir  of  St.  Augustine's  church  (colored) 
which  was  seated  on  the  platform,  sang  sweetly  an  appropriate 
selection,  after  which  Mrs.  Stanton  delivered  the  eulogy,f  holding 


a.l 
Th 

sylvania. 
t  The  eulogy  will  be  found  in  Volume  I.,  page  407. 


Memorial  of  Lucretia  Mott.  189 

the  rapt  attention  of  her  audience  over  an  hour.  At  the  close 
Frederick  Douglass  said  : 

He  had  listened  with  interest  to  the  fine  analysis  of  the  life  and  services 
of  Lucretia  Mott.  He  was  almost  unwilling  to  have  his  voice  heard  after 
what  had  been  said.  He  was  there  to  show  by  his  presence  his  profound 
respect  and  earnest  love  for  Lucretia  Mott.  He  recognized  none  whose 
services  in  behalf  of  his  race  were  equal  to  hers.  Her  silence  even  in 
that  cause  was  more  than  the  speech  of  others.  He  had  no  words  for  this 
occasion. 

Robert  Purvis  at  the  request  of  a  number  of  colored  citizens  of 
Washington,  presented  a  beautiful  floral  harp  to  Mr.  Davis,  the 
son-in-law  of  Lucretia  Mott,  the  only  representative  of  her  family 
present.  He  paid  a  tender  tribute  to  the  noble  woman  whose 
life-long  friendship  he  had  enjoyed.  Mr.  Davis  having  a  seat  on 
the  platform,  received  the  gift  with  evident  emotion,  and  return- 
ing thanks,  he  said : 

He  would  follow  the  example  of  Mrs.  Mott  who  seldom  kept  a  gift  long, 
and  present  these  rare  flowers  to  Mrs.  Spofford,  the  treasurer  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. 

Miss  ANTHONY  said  :  The  highest  tribute  she  could  pay,  was,  that  dur- 
ing the  past  thirty  years  she  had  always  felt  sure  she  was  right  when  she 
had  the  approval  of  Lucretia  Mott.  Next  to  that  of  her  own  conscience 
she  most  valued  the  approval  of  her  sainted  friend.  And  it  was  now  a 
great  satisfaction  that  in  all  the  differences  of  opinion  as  to  principles 
and  methods  in  our  movement,  Mrs.  Mott  had  stood  firmly  with  the  Na- 
tional Association,  of  which  she  was  to  the  day  of  her  death  the  honored 
and  revered  vice-president. 

Mrs.  Sewall,  after  speaking  of  the  many  admirable  qualities  of 
Mrs.  Mott,  said: 

In   looking   around   this   magnificent  audience  I  cannot   help   asking 
myself  the  question,  Where  are  the  young  girls?    They  should  be  here.. 
It  is  the  birthright  of  every  girl  to  know  the  life  and  deeds  of  every  noble 
woman.     I  think  Lucretia  Mott  was  as  much  above  the  average  woman 
as  Abraham  Lincoln  above  the  average  man. 

Miss  Couzins  closed  with  a  few  graceful  words.  She  expressed 
her  pleasure  in  meeting  so  magnificent  an  audience,  and  thought 
the  whole  occasion  was  a  beautiful  tribute  to  one  of  America's 
best  and  noblest  women.  She  hoped  the  mothers  present  would 
carry  away  the  impressions  they  had  received  and  teach  their 
daughters  to  hold  the  name  of  Lucretia  Mott  ever  in  grateful 
remembrance.  The  choir  sang  "  Nearer,  My  God,  to  Thee." 
The  entire  audience  arose  and  joined  in  the  singing,  after  which 
they  slowly  dispersed,  feeling  that  it  had  indeed  been  a  penta- 
costal  occasibn. 


190  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

An  able  paper  from  Alexander  Dumas,  on  "Woman  Suffrage 
as  a  means  of  Moral  Improvement  and  Prevention  of  Crime,"* 
was  translated  for  this  meeting  by  Thomas  Mott,  the  only  son  of 
James  and  Lucretia  Mott.  This  convention  continued  two  days, 
with  the  usual  number  of  able  speakers.f  It  was  announced  at 
the  last  session  that  an  effort  would  be  made  by  Senator  Mc- 
Donald, next  day,  to  call  up  a  resolution  providing  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  standing  committee  for  women  ;  accordingly  the 
ladies'  gallery  in  the  Senate  was  well  filled  with  delegates. 

From  the  Congressional  Record,  January  20,  1881  : 

Mr.  McDoNALD :  On  February  16,  1880,  I  submitted  a  resolution  pro- 
viding for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  nine  senators,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  receive,  consider  and  report  upon  all  petitions,  memorials, 
resolutions  and  bills  relating  to  the  rights  of  women  of  the  United  States, 
said  committee  to  be  called  "Committee  on  the  Rights  of  Women."  It 
is  on  the  calendar,  and  I  ask  for  its  present  consideration. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT  (Mr.  Wheeler  of  New  York) :  The  senator  from 
Indiana  calls  up  for  consideration  a  resolution  on  the  calendar,  which  will 
be  reported. 

The  chief  clerk  read  the  resolution,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  nine  senators  be  appointed  by  the  Senate,  whose 
duty  it  shall  be  to  receive,  consider  and  report  upon  all  petitions,  memorials,  resolu- 
tions and  bills  relating  to  the  rights  of  women  of  the  United  States,  said  committee  to 
be  called  the  Committee  on  the  Rights  of  Women. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT  :  The  question  is,  Will  the  Senate  agree  to  the 
resolution  ? 

Mr.  MCDONALD  :  Mr.  President,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  time  has  arrived 
when  the  rights  of  the  class  of  citizens  named  in  the  resolution  should 
have  some  hearing  in  the  national  legislature.  We  have  standing  com- 
mittees upon  almost  every  other  subject,  but  none  to  which  this  class  of 
citizens  can  resort.  When  their  memorials  come  in  they  are  sometimes 
sent  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  sometimes  to  the  Committee  on 
Privileges  and  Elections,  and  sometimes  to  other  committees.  The  con- 
sequence is  that  they  pass  around  from  committee  to  committee  and  never 
receive  any  consideration.  In  the  organization  and  growth  of  the  Senate 
a  number  of  standing  committees  have  been  from  time  to  time  created 
and  continued  from  congress  to  congress,  until  many  of  them  have  but 
very  little  duty  now  to  perform.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  very  appropriate 
to  consider  this  question  now,  and  provide  some  place  in  the  capitol, 
some  room  of  the  Senate,  some  branch  of  the  government,  where  this 
class  of  applicants  can  have  a  full  and  fair  hearing,  and  have  such  meas- 
ures as  may  be  desired  to  secure  to  them  such  rights  brought  fairly  and 


*  See  National  Citizen  of  February,  1881. 

t  Edward  M.  Davis.  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Marilla  M.  R:cker,  Rachel  and  Julia  Foster,  Frederick 
Douglass,  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Robert  Purvis,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton.  This  was  the  first  time  that 
Mrs.  Martha  M'Clellan  Brown,  Miss  Jessie  Waite,  Mrs.  May  Wright  Sewall  and  Mrs.  Thornton 
Charles  were  on  our  Washington  platform.  The  latter  read  a  poem  on  woman's  sphere. 


Committee  on  the  Rights  of  Women.  191 

properly  before  the  country.  I  hope  there  will  be  no  opposition  to  the 
resolution  but  that  it  will  be  adopted  by  unanimous  consent. 

Mr.  CONKLING  :  Does  the  senator  from  Indiana  wish  to  raise  a  perma- 
nent committee  on  this  subject  to  take  its  place  and  remain  on  the  list  of 
permanent  committees? 

Mr.  McDONALD  :  That  is  precisely  what  I  propose  to  do. 

Mr.  CONKLING  •  Mr.  President,  I  was  in  hopes  that  the  honorable  sen- 
ator from  Indiana,  knowing  how  sincere  and  earnest  he  is  in  this  regard, 
intended  that  an  end  should  be  made  soon  of  this  subject ;  that  the  prayer 
of  these  petitioners  should  be  granted  and  the  whole  right  established ; 
but  now  it  seems  that  he  wishes  to  create  a  perpetual  committee,  so  that 
it  is  to  go  on  interminably,  from  which  I  infer  that  he  intends  that  never 
shall  these  prayers  be  granted.  I  suggest  to  the  senator  from  Indiana 
that,  if  he  be  in  earnest,  if  he  wishes  to  crown  with  success  this  great  and 
beneficent  movement,  he  should  raise  a  special  committee,  which  com- 
mittee would  understand  that  it  was  to  achieve  and  conclude  its  purpose, 
and  this  presently,  and  not  postpone  indefinitely  in  the  vast  forever  the 
realization  of  this  hope.  I  trust,  therefore,  that  the  senator  from  Indi- 
ana will  make  this  a  special  committee,  and  will  let  that  special  committee 
understand  that  before  the  sun  goes  down  on  the  last  day  of  this  session 
it  is  to  take  final,  serious,  intelligent  action,  for  which  it  is  to  be  respons- 
ible, whether  that  action  be  one  way  or  the  other.* 

Mr.  McDONALD :  The  senator  from  New  York  misapprehends  one  pur- 
pose of  this  committee.  I  certainly  have  no  desire  that  the  rights  of  this 
class  of  our  citizens  should  be  deferred  to  that  far-distant  future  to  which 
he  has  made  reference,  nor  would  this  committee  so  place  them.  If  it  be 
authorized  by  the  Senate,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  committee  to  receive 
all  petitions,  memorials,  resolutions  and  bills  relating  to  the  rights  of 
women,  not  merely  presented  now  but  those  presented  at  any  future 
time.  It  is  simply  to  provide  a  place  where  one-half  the  people  of  the 
United  States  may  have  a  tribunal  in  this  body  before  which  they  can 
have  their  cases  considered.  I  apprehend  that  these  rights  are  never  to 
be  ended.  I  do  not  suppose  that  the  time  will  ever  come  in  the  history 
of  the  human  race  when  there  will  not  be  rights  of  women  to  be  con- 
sidered and  passed  upon.  Therefore,  to  make  this  merely  a  special  com- 
mittee would  not  accomplish  the  purpose  I  had  in  view.  While  it  would 
of  course  give  a  committee  that  would  receive  and  hear  such  petitions  as 
are  now  presented  and  consider  such  bills  as  should  now  be  brought  for- 
ward, it  would  be  better  to  have  a  committee  from  term  to  term,  where 
these  same  plaints  could  be  heard,  the  same  petitions  presented,  the  same 
bills  considered,  and  where  new  rights,  whatever  they  might  be,  can  be  dis- 

*  A  standing  committee  is  a  permanent  one  about  which  no  question  can  be  raised  in  any  congress. 
A  special  committee  is  a  transient  one  to  be  decided  upon  at  the  opening  of  each  congress  ;  hence  may 
be  at  any  time  voted  out  of  existence.  No  one  understood  this  better  than  New  York's  Stala-art  sena- 
tor, and  his  plausible  manner  of  killing  the  measure  deceived  the  very  elect.  Enough  senators  were 
pledged  to  have  carried  Mr.  McDonald's  motion  had  it  been  properly  understood,  but  they,  as  well 
as  some  of  the  ladies  in  the  gallery,  were  entirely  misled  by  Mr.  Conkling's  seeming  earnest  in- 
tention to  hasten  the  demands  of  the  women  by  a  short-lived  committee,  and  while  those  in  the  gallery 
applauded,  those  on  the  floor  defeated  the  measure  they  intended  to  carry. 


192  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

cussed  and  acted  upon.  Therefore  I  cannot  accept  the  suggestion  of  the 
senator  from  New  York  to  make  this  a  special  committee. 

Mr.  DAVIS  of  West  Virginia:  I  think  it  a  bad  idea  to  raise  an  extra 
committee.  I  move  that  the  resolution  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Rules,  I  think  it  ought  to  go  there.  That  is  where  the  rules  generally 
require  all  such  resolutions  to  be  referred. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT  :  The  question  is  on  the  motion  of  the  senator 
from  Virginia,  that  the  resolution  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Rules. 

Which  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  26  yeas  to  23  nays.* 

Amid  all  the  pleasure  of  political  excitement  the  social  ameni- 
ties were  not  forgotten.  A  brilliant  reception  f  and  supper 
were  given  to  the  delegates  by  Mrs.  Spofford  at  the  Riggs  House. 
During  the  evening  Mrs.  Stanton  presented  the  beautiful  life-size 
photograph  of  Lucretia  Mott  which  had  adorned  the  platform  at 
the  convention,  to  Howard  University,  and  read  the  following 
letter  from  Edward  M.  Davis: 

Mrs.  ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON — Dear  Madam :  As  afi  expression  ot 
my  gratitude  to  the  colored  people  of  the  District  for  their  beautiful  floral 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  my  dear  mother,  I  desire  in  the  name  of  her 
children  to  present  to  Howard  University  the  photograph  of  Lucretia 
Mott  which  adorned  the  platform  during  the  convention.  It  is  a  fitting 
gift  to  an  institution  that  so  well  illustrates  her  principles  in  opening  its 
doors  to  all  youth  without  regard  to  sex  or  color.  With  sincere  regret 
that  I  cannot  be  present  this  evening  at  the  reception,  I  am  gratefully 
yours,  EDWARD  M.  DAVIS. 

In  receiving  the  beautiful  gift,  Dr.  Patton,  president  of  the 
institution,  made  a  graceful  response. 

In  the  spring  of  1881,  the  National  Association  held  a  series  of 
conventions  through  New  England,  beginning  with  the  May 
anniversary  in  Boston,  of  which  we  give  the  following  description 
f^om  the  Hartford  Courant  : 

Among  the  many  anniversaries  in  Boston  the  last  week  in  May,  one  of 
the  most  enthusiastic  was  that  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion, held  in  Tremont  Temple.  The  weather  was  cool  and  fair  and  the 
audience  fine  throughout,  and  never  was  there  a  better  array  of  speakers 
at  one  time  on  any  platform.  The  number  of  thoughtful,  cultured  young 
women  appearing  in  these  conventions,  is  one  of  the  hopeful  features  for 


*  }'eas — Messrs.  Beck,  Booth,  Brown,  Coke.  Davis  (W.  Va.),  Eaton,  Edmunds,  Farley,  Garland, 
Groome,  Hill  (Ga.),  Harris,  Ingalls,  Reman.  Lamar,  Morgan,  Morrill,  Pendlcton,  Platt,  Pugh,  Ransom, 
Saul>bury,  Slater,  Vance,  Vest  and  Withers — 26. 

Nays — Messrs.  Anthony,  Blair,  Burnside,  Butler,  Call,  Cameron  (Pa.),  Cameron  (Wis.),  Conkling, 
Dawes,  Ferry,  Hoar,  Johnston,  Jonas,  Kellogg,  Logan,  McDonald,  McMillan,  McPherson,  Rollins, 
Saunders,  Teller,  Williams  and  Windom — 23. 

t  Of  this  reception  the  National  Republican  said  :  The  attractions  presented  by  the  fair  seekers  of 
the  ballot  were  so  much  superior  to  tho«e  of  the  dancing  reception  going  on  in  the  parlors  above,  that 
it  was  almost  impossible  to  form  a  set  of  the  lanciers  until  after  the  gathering  in  the  lower  parlors  had 
entirely  dispersed. 


Boston  May  Anniversary.  193 

the  success  of  this  movement.  The  selection  of  speakers  for  this  occasion 
had  been  made  at  the  Washington  convention  in  January,  and  different 
topics  assigned  to  each  that  the  same  phases  of  the  question  might  not  be 
treated  over  and  over  again. 

Mrs.  Harriet  Hansom  Robinson  (wife  of  "  Warrington,"  so  long  the 
able  correspondent  of  the  Springfield  Republican),  who  with  her  daughter 
made  the  arrangements  for  our  reception,  gave  the  address  of  welcome,  to 
which  the  president,  Mrs.  Stanton,  replied.  Rev.  Frederic  Hinckley  of 
Providence,  spoke  on  "  Unity  of  Principle  in  Variety  of  Method,"  and 
showed  that  while  differing  on  minor  points  the  various  woman  suffrage 
associations  were  all  working  to  one  grand  end.  Anna  Garlin  Spencer 
made  a  few  remarks  on  "The  Character  of  Reformers."  Rev.  Olympia 
Brown  gave  an  exceptionally  brilliant  speech  a  full  hour  in  length  on 
"  Universal  Suffrage  ";  Harriette  Robinson  Shattuck's  theme  was  "  Believ- 
ing and  Doing  ";  Lillie  Devereux  Blake's,  "  Demand  for  Liberty  " ;  Matilda 
Joslyn  Gage's,  "Centralization";  Belva  A.  Lockwood's,  "Woman  and 
the  Law".  Mary  F.  Eastman  followed  showing  that  woman's  path 
was  blocked  at  every  turn,  in  the  professions  as  well  as  the  trades  and  the 
whole  world  of  work  ;  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker  gave  an  able  argument 
on  the  "Constitutional  Right  of  Women  to  Vote";  Martha  McLellan 
Brown  spoke  equally  well  on  the  "  Ethics  of  Sex  "  ;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Avery 
Meriwether  of  Tennessee,  gave  a  most  amusing  commentary  on  the 
spirit  of  the  old  common  law,  cuffing  Blackstone  and  Coke  with  merciless 
sarcasm.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon  of  Louisiana  spoke  with  great  effect  on 
"Woman's  Intellectual  Powers  as  Developed  by  the  Ballot."  These  two 
Southern  ladies  are  alike  able,  witty  and  pathetic  in  their  appeals  for  justice 
to  woman.  Mrs.  May  Wright  Sewall's  essay  on  "Domestic  Legislation," 
showing  how  large  a  share  of  the  bills  passed  every  year  directly  effect 
home  life,  was  very  suggestive  to  those  who  in  answer  to  our  demand  for 
political  power,  say  "  Woman's  sphere  is  home,"  as  if  the  home  were 
beyond  the  control  and  influence  of  the  State.  Beside  all  these  thoroughly 
prepared  addresses,  Susan  B  Anthony,  Dr.  Clemence  Lozier,  Dr.  Caroline 
Winslow,  ex-Secretary  Lee  of  Wyoming,  spoke  briefly  on  various  points 
suggested  by  the  several  speakers. 

The  white-haired  and  venerable  philosopher,  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  was 
very  cordially  received,  after  being  presented  in  complimentary  terms  by 
the  president.  Mr.  Alcott  paid  a  glowing  tribute  to  the  intellectual  worth 
of  woman,  spoke  of  the  divinity  of  her  character,  and  termed  her  the 
inspiration  font  from  which  his  own  philosophical  ideas  had  been  drawn. 
Not  until  the  women  of  our  nation  have  been  granted  every  privilege 
would  the  liberty  of  our  republic  be  assured.*  The  well-known  Francis 


*  Miss  Anthony  was  presented  with  a  beautiful  basket  of  flowers  from  Mrs.  Mary  Hamilton  Wil- 
liams of  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  and  returned  her  thanks.  Another  interesting  incident  during  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  convention  was  the  presentation  of  an  exquisite  gold  cross  from  the  "Philadelphia 
Citizens'  Suffrage  Association,"  to  Miss  Anthony.  Mrs.  Sewall  of  Indianapolis,  in  a  speech  so  tender 
and  loving  as  to  bring  tears  to  many  eyes,  conveyed  to  her  the  message  and  the  gift.  Miss  Anthony'* 
acceptance  was  equally  happy  and  impressive.  As  during  the  last  thirty  years  the  press  of  the  country 
has  made  Susan  B.  Anthony  a  target  for  more  ridicule  and  abuse  than  any  other  woman  on  the  suffrage 
platform,  it  is  worth  noting  that  all  who  know  her  now  vie  with  each  other  in  demonstrations  of  love 
and  honor. — [E.  C.  S. 

13 


*94  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

W.  Bird  of  Walpole,  who  has  long  wielded  in  the  politics  of  the  Bay  State, 
the  same  power  Thurlow  Weed  did  for  forty  years  in  New  York,  being 
invited  to  the  platform,  expressed  his  entire  sympathy  with  the  demand 
for  suffrage,  notwithstanding  the  common  opinion  held  by  the  leading 
men  of  Massachusetts,  that  the  women  themselves  did  not  ask  it.  He 
recommended  State  rather  than  national  action. 

Rev.  Ada  C.  Bowles  of  Cambridge,  and  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  of  Racine, 
opened  the^arious  sessions  with  prayer — striking  evidence  of  the 
growing  self-assertion  of  the  sex,  and  the  rapid  progress  of  events  towards 
the  full  recognition  of  the  fact  that  woman's  hour  has  come. 
Touching  deeper  and  tenderer  chords  in  the  human  soul  than  words 
could  reach,  the  inspiring  strains  of  the  celebrated  organist,  Mr. 
Ryder,  rose  ever  and  anon,  now  soft  and  plaintive,  now  full  and  command- 
ing, mingled  in  stirring  harmony  with  prayer  and  speech.  And  as  loving 
friends  had  covered  the  platform  with  rare  and  fragrant  flowers,  the 
aesthetic  taste  of  the  most  fastidious  artist  might  have  found  abundant 
gratification  in  the  grouping  and  whole  effect  of  the  assemblage  in  that 
grand  temple.  Thus  through  six  prolonged  sessions  the  interest  was  not 
only  kept  up  but  intensified  from  day  to  day. 

The  National  Association  was  received  right  royally  in  Boston.  On 
•arriving  they  found  invitations  waiting  to  visit  Governor  Long  at  the 
.'State  House,  Mayor  Prince  at  the  City  Hall,  the  great  establishment  of 
Jordan,  Marsh  &  Co.,  and  the  Reformatory  Prison  for  Women  at  Sher- 
born.  Invitations  to  take  part  were  extended  to  woman  suffrage  speakers 
in  many  of  the  conventions  of  that  anniversary  week.  Among  those 
who  spoke  from  other  platforms,  were  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Ellen  H. 
-Sheldon,  Caroline  B.  Winslow,  M.  D.,  editor  of  The  Alpha,  and  Rev. 
Olympia  Brown.  The  president  of  the  association,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady 
Stanton,  received  many  invitations  to  speak  at  various  points,  but  had 
time  only  for  the  "  Moral  Education,"  "  Heredity,"  and  "  Free  Religious  " 
associations.  Her  engagement  at  Parker  Memorial  Hall,  prevented  her 
from  accepting  the  governor's  invitation,  but  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker 
and  Susan  B  Anthony  led  the  way  to  the  State  house  and  introduced  the 
delegates  from  the  East,  the  West,  the  North  and  the  South,  to  the  hon- 
ored executive  head  of  the  State,  who  had  declared  himself,  publicly,  in 
favor  of  woman  suffrage.  The  ceremony  of  hand-shaking  over,  and  some 
hundred  women  being  ranged  in  a  double  circle  about  the  desk,  Mrs. 
Hooker  stepped  forward,  saying : 

Speak  a  word  to  us,  Governor  Long,  we  need  help.  Stand  here,  please,  face  to 
face  with  these  earnest  women  and  tell  us  where  help  is  to  come  from. 

The  Governor  responded,  and  then  introduced  his  secretary,  who  con- 
ducted the  ladies  through  the  building. 

Mrs.  HOOKER  said:  Permit  me,  sir,  to  thank  you  for  this  unlooked-for  and 
unusual  courtesy  in  the  name  of  our  president  who  should  be  here  to  speak  for  herself 
and  for  us,  and  in  the  name  of  these  loyal  women  who  ask  only  that  the  right  of  the 
people  to  govern  themselves  shall  be  maintained.  In  this  great  courtesy  extended  us 
by  good  old  Massachusetts  as  citizens  of  this  republic  unitedly  protesting  against  being 
taxed  without  representation,  and  governed  without  our  consent,  we  see  the  beginning 
of  the  end — the  end  of  our  wearisome  warfare — a  warfare  which  though  bloodless,  has 


Reception  at  the  State-house,  195 

cost  more  than  blood,  by  as  much  as  soul-suffering  exceeds  that  of  mere  flesh.  I  see  as 
•did  Stephen  of  old,  a  celestial  form  close  to  that  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  her  name  is 
Liberty — always  a  woman — and  she  bids  us  go  on — go  on — even  unto  the  end. 

Miss  Anthony  standing  close  to  the  governor,  said  in  low,  pathetic 
iones : 

Yes,  we  are  tired.  Sir,  we  are  weary  with  our  work.  For  forty  years  some  of  us 
have  carried  this  burden,  and  now,  if  we  might  lay  it  down  at  the  feet  of  honorable 
unen,  such  as  you,  how  happy  we  should  be. 

The  next  day  Mayor  Prince,  though  suffering  from  a  late  severe  attack 
of  rheumatism,  cordially  welcomed  the  delegates  in  his  room  at  the  City 
Hall,  and  chatting  familiarly  with  those  who  had  been  at  the  Cincinnati 
-convention  and  witnessed  his  great  courtesy,  some  one  remarked  that 
from  that  time  Miss  Anthony  had  proclaimed  him  the  prince  among 
men,  and  Mrs.  Stanton  immediately  suggested  that  if  the  party  with  which 
he  was  identified  were  wise  in  their  day  and  generation  they  would  accept 
his  leadership,  even  to  the  acknowledgement  of  the  full  citizenship  of  this 
republic,  and  thus  secure  not  only  their  gratitude  but  their  enthusiastic 
support  in  the  next  presidential  election.  Having  compassion  upon  his 
Honor  because  of  his  manifest  physical  disability,  the  ladies  soon  with- 
drew and  went  directly  to  the  house  of  Jordan,  Marsh  &  Co.,  where  were 
assembled  in  a  large  hall  at  the  top  of  the  building  such  a  crowd  of  hand- 
some, happy,  young  girls  as  one  seldom  sees  in  this  work-a-day  world; 
that  well-known  Boston  firm  within  the  last  six  months  having  fitted 
up  a  large  recreation  room  for  the  use  of  their  employes  at  the  noon 
hour.  Half  a  hundred  girls  were  merrily  dancing  to  the  music  of  a  piano, 
but  ceased  in  order  to  listen  to  words  of  cheer  from  Mrs.  Lockwood,  Mrs. 
Hooker  and  Mrs.  Sewall.  At  the  close  of  their  remarks  Mr.  Jordan 
brought  forward  a  reluctant  young  girl  who  could  give  us,  if  she  would,  a 
-charming  recitation  from  "That  Lass  o'  Lowrie's,"  in  return  for  our  kind- 
ness in  coming  to  them.  And  after  saying  in  a  whisper  to  one  who  kindly 
urged  compliance  to  this  unexpected  call,  that  this  had  been  such  a  busy 
-day  she  feared  her  dress  was  not  all  right,  her  face  became  unconscious 
of  self  in  a  moment,  and  with  true  dramatic  instinct,  she  gave  page  after 
page  of  that  wonderful  story  of  the  descent  into  the  mine  and  the  recog- 
nition there  of  one  whom  she  loved,  precisely  as  you  would  desire  to  hear 
it  were  the  scene  put  upon  the  stage  with  all  the  accessories  of  scenery 
and  companion  actors. 

From  Jordan,  Marsh  £  Co.'s  a  large  delegation  proceeded  to  visit  the 
Reformatory  Prison  at  Sherborn  which  was  established  three  or  four 
years  ago.  The  board  of  directors,  consisting  of  three  women  and  two 
men,  has  charge  of  all  the  prisons  of  the  State.  Mrs.  Johnson,  one  of  the 
•directors,  a  noble,  benevolent  woman,  interested  in  the  great  charities  of 
Boston,  was  designated  by  Governor  Long — through  whose  desire  the 
-Association  visited  the  prison — to  do  the  honors  and  accompany  the 
jparty  from  Boston.  The  officers,  matron  and  physician  of  the  Sher- 
born prison,  are  all  women.  Dr.  Mosher,  the  superintendent,  formerly 
the  physician,  is  a  fair,  noble-looking  woman  about  thirty-five  years  of 
age.  She  has  her  own  separate  house  connected  with  the  building. 


196  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  present  physician,  a  delicate,  cultured  woman,  with  sympathy  for 
her  suffering  charges,  is  a  recent  graduate  of  Ann  Arbor. 

The  entire  work  is  done  by  the  women  sent  there  for  restraint,  and  the 
prison  is  nearly  self-supporting ;  it  is  expected  that  within  another 
year  it  will  be  entirely  so.  Laundry  work  is  done  for  the  city  of  Boston, 
shirts  are  manufactured,  mittens  knit,  etc.  The  manufacturing  ma- 
chinery will  be  increased  the  coming  year.  The  graded  system  of  reward 
has  been  found  successful  in  the  development  of  better  traits.  It  has 
four  divisions,  and  through  it  the  inmates  are  enabled  to  work  up  by 
good  behavior  toward  more  pleasant  surroundings,  better  clothes  and 
food  and  greater  liberty.  From  the  last  grade  they  reach  the  freedom 
of  being  bound  out;  of  seventy-eight  thus  bound  during  the  past  year 
but  seven  were  returned.  The  whole  prison,  chapel,  school-room,  din- 
ing-room, etc.,  possesses  a  sweet,  clean,  pure  atmosphere.  The  rooms 
are  light,  well-ventilated,  vines  trailir.g  in  the  windows  from  which 
glimpses  of  green  trees  and  blue  sky  can  be  seen. 

Added  to  all  the  other  courtesies,  there  came  the  invitation  to  a  few  of 
the  representatives  of  the  movement  i;o  dine  with  the  Bird  Club  at  the 
Parker  House,  in  the  same  cozy  room  where  these  astute  politicians  have 
held  their  councils  for  so  many  years,  and  whose  walls  have  echoed 
to  the  brave  words  of  many  of  New  England's  greatest  sons.  The  only 
woman  who  had  ever  been  thus  honored  before  was  Mrs.  Stanton,  who, 
"escorted  by  Warrington,"  dined  with  these  honorable  gentlemen  in  1871. 
On  this  occasion  Susan  B.  Anthony  and  Harriet  H.  Robinson  accompanied 
her.  Around  the  table  sat  several  well-known  reformers  and  distin- 
guished members  of  the  press  and  bar.  There  was  Elizur  Wright  whose 
name  is  a  household  word  in  many  homes  as  translator  of  La  Fon- 
taine's fables  for  the  children.  Beside  him  sat  the  well-known  Parker 
Pillsbury  and  his  nephew,  a  promising  young  lawyer  in  Boston.  At  one 
end  of  the  table  sat  Mr.  Bird  with  Mrs.  Stanton  on  his  right  and  Miss 
Anthony  on  his  left.  At  the  other  end  sat  Frank  Sanborn  with  Mrs. 
Robinson  (wife  of  "  Warrington  ")  on  his  right.  On  either  side  sat  Judge 
Adam  Thayer  of  Worcester,  Charles  Field,  Williard  Phillips  of  Salem, 
Colonel  Henry  Walker  of  Boston,  Mr.  Ernst  of  the  Boston  Advertiser, 
and  Judge  Henry  Fox  of  Taunton.  The  condition  of  Russia  and  the 
Conkling  imbroglio  in  New  York  ;  the  new  version  of  the  Testament  and 
the  reason  why  German  Liberals,  transplanted  to  this  soil,  immediately 
become  conservative  and  exclusive,  were  all  considered.  Carl  Schurz, 
with  his  narrow  ideas  of  woman's  sphere  and  education,  was  mentioned 
by  way  of  example.  In  reply  to  the  question  how  the  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion felt  in  regard  to  Conkling's  reelection.  Mrs.  Robinson  said : 

That  the  leaders,  who  are  students  of  politics  were  unitedly  against  him.  Their 
only  hope  is  in  the  destruction  of  the  Republican  party,  which  is  too  old  and  corrupt 
to  take  up  any  new  reform. 

Frank  Sanborn,  fresh  from  the  perusal  of  the  New  Testament,  asked 
if  women  could  find  any  special  consolation  in  the  Revised  Version 
regarding  everlasting  punishment.  Mrs.  Stanton  replied: 


Reception  at  Mrs,    Tudor  s. 


197 


Certainly,  as  we  are  supposed  to  have  brought  "original  sin"  into  the  world  with 
its  fearful  forebodings  of  eternal  punishment,  any  modification  of  Hades  in  fact  or 
name,  for  the  men  of  the  race,  the  innocent  victims  of  our  disobedience,  fills  us  with 
satisfaction. 

From  the  club  the  ladies  hastened  to  the  beautiful  residence  of  Mrs. 
Fenno  Tudor,  fronting  Boston  Common,  where  hundreds  of  friends  had 
already  gathered  to  do  honor  to  the  noble  woman  so  ready  to  identify 
herself  with  the  unpopular  reforms  of  her  day.  Among  the  many  beau- 
tiful works  of  art,  a  chief  attraction  was  the  picture  of  the  grand-mother 
of  Parnell,  the  Irish  agitator,  by  Gilbert  Stuart.  The  house  was  fragrant 
with  flowers,  and  the  unassuming  manners  of  Mrs,  Tudor,  as  she  moved 
about  among  her  guests,  reflected  the  glory  of  our  American  institutions 
in  giving  the  world  a  generation  of  common-sense  women  who  do  not 
plume  themselves  on  any  adventitous  circumstances  of  wealth  or  position, 
but  bow  in  respect  to  morality  and  intelligence  wherever  they  find  it. 
At  the  close  of  the  evening  Mrs.  Stanton  presented  Mrs.  Tudor  with  the 
"  History  of  Woman  Suffrage  "  which  she  received  with  evident  pleasure 
and  returned  her  sincere  thanks. 

At  the  close  of  the  anniversary  week  in  Boston,  successful 
meetings  were  held  in  various  cities,*  beginning  at  Providence, 
where  Dr.  Wm.  F.  Channing  made  the  arrangements.  These 
conventions  were  the  first  that  the  National  Association  ever 
held  in  the  New  England  States,  presenting  the  national  pian 
of  woman's  enfranchisement  through  a  sixteenth  amendment 
to  the  United  States  Constitution. 


*  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. — First  Light  Infantry  Hall,  May  30,  31.  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Hinckley  gave 
the  address  of  welcome. 

PORTLAND,  Me.— City  Hall,  June  2,  3.  Rev.  Dr.  McKeown  of  the  M.  E.  Church  made  the  address 
of  welcome.  Letter  read  from  Dr.  Henry  C.  Garrish.  Among  the  speakers  were  Charlotte  Thomas, 
A.  J.  Grover. 

DOVER,  N.  H. — Belknap  Street  Church,  June  3,  4.  Marilla  M.  Ricker  took  the  responsibility  of 
this  meeting. 

CONCORD,  N.  H. — White's  Opera  House,  June  4,  5.  Speakers  entertained  by  Mrs.  Armenia  Smith 
White.  Olympia  Brown  and  Miss  Anthony  spoke  before  the  legislature  in  Representatives  Hall — 
nearly  all  the  members  present — the  latter  returned  on  Sunday  and  spoke  on  temperance  and  woman 
suffrage  at  the  Opera  House  in  the  afternoon,  Universalist  church  in  the  evening. 

KEENE,  N.  H. —  Liberty,  Hall,  June  9,  10.  Prayer  offered  by  Rev.  Mr.  Eakins.  Mayor  Russell 
presided  and  gave  the  address  of  welcome. 

HARTFOKD,  Ct. — Unity  Hall.  June  13,  14.  Mrs.  Hooker  presiding  ;  Frances  Ellen  Burr,  Emily  P. 
Collins,  Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford,  Caroline  Gilkey  Rogers,  Mary  A.  Pell  taking  part  in  the  meetings. 

NEW  HAVEN,  Ct. — Athaeneum,  June  15,  16.  Joseph  and  Abby  Sheldon,  Catherine  Comstock  and 
others  entertained  the  visitors  and  speakers. 

The  speakers  who  made  the  entire  New  England  tour  were  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs. 
Saxon,  Mrs.  Merlwether,  the  Misses  Foster  and  Miss  Anthony.  The  arrangements  for  all  these  con- 
ventions were  made  by  Rachel  Foster  of  Philadelphia. 


CHAPTER     XXX. 

CONGRESSIONAL     DEBATES    AND    CONVENTIONS. 
1882-1883. 

Prolonged  Discussions  in  the  Senate  on  a  Special  Committee  to  Look  After  the  Rights 
of  Women,  Messrs.  Bayard,  Morgan  and  Vest  in  Opposition — Mr.  Hoar  Cham- 
pions the  Measure  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Reed  in  the  House — Washington  Conven- 
tion— Representative  Orth  and  Senator  Saunders  on  the  Woman  Suffrage  Platform. 
— Hearings  Before  Select  Committees  of  Senate  and  House — Reception  Given  by- 
Mrs.  Spofford  at  the  Riggs  House — Philadelphia  Convention — Mrs.  Hannah 
Whitehall  Smith's  Dinner — Congratulations  from  the  Central  Committee  of  Great 
Britain — Majority  and  Minority  Reports  in  the  Senate — Nebraska  Campaign — Con- 
ventions in  Omaha — Joint  Resolution  Introduced  by  Hon.  John  D.  White  of 
Kentucky,  Referred  to  the  Select  Committee — Washington  Convention,  January 
24,  25,  26,  1883 — Majority  Report  in  the  House. 

ALTHOUGH  the  effort  to  secure  a  standing  committee  on  the 
political  rights  of  women  was  defeated  in  the  forty-sixth  congress, 
by  New  York's  Stalwart  Senator,  Roscoe  Conkling,  motions  were 
made  early  in  the  first  session  of  the  forty-seventh  congress,  by 
Hon.  George  F.  Hoar  in  the  Senate,  and  Hon.  John  D.  White  in 
the  House,  for  a  special  committee  to  look  after  the  interests  of 
women.*  It  passed  by  a  vote  of  115  to  84  in  the  House,  and  by 
35  to  23  in  the  Senate.  On  December  13,  1881,  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Rules  reported  the  following  resolution  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  special  committee  on  woman  suffrage: 

Resolved,  That  a  select  committee  of  seven  senators  be  appointed  by  the  Chair,  to» 
whom  shall  be  referred  all  petitions,  bills  and  resolves  providing  for  the  extension  of 
suffrage  to  women  or  the  removal  of  their  legal  disabilities. 

DECEMBER   14, 

Mr.  HOAR:  I  move  to  take  up  the  resolution  reported  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Rules  yesterday,  for  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  on 
the  subject  of  woman  suffrage. 

Mr.  VEST:  Mr.  President,  I  am  constrained  to  object  to  the  passage  of 
this  resolution,  and  I  do  it  with  considerable  reluctance.  At  present  we 

*  During  the  autumn  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Jones,  Miss  Snow  and  Miss  Couzins,  spending  some  weeks 
in  Washington,  asked  for  an  audience  with  President  Chester  A.  Arthur,  and  urged  him  to  recom- 
mend in  his  first  message  to  congress  the  appointment  of  a  standing  committee  and  the  submission  of  a 
sixteenth  amendment. 


Debate  on  a  Select  Committee.  199 

have  thirty  standing  committees  of  the  Senate ;    four  joint   and  seven 
special  committees,  in  addition  to  the  one  now  proposed. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  Chair  will  inform  the  senator  from 
Missouri  that  a  majority  of  the  Senate  has  to  decide  whether  the  resolu- 
tion shall  be  considered. 

Mr.  VEST  :  I  understood  the  Chair  to  state  that  it  was  before  the  Senate. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  It  is  before  the  Senate  if  there  be  no  ob- 
jection. The  Chair  thought  the  senator  made  objection  to  its  considera- 
tion. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  It  went  over  under  the  rule  yesterday  and  comes  up  now. 

Mr.  EDMUNDS  :  It  is  the  regular  order  now. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  Certainly.  The  Chair  thought  the  sen- 
ator from  Missouri  objected  to  its  consideration. 

Mr.  VEST  :  No,  sir. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  resolution  is  before  the  Senate  and 
open  to  debate. 

Mr.  VEST  :  I  have  had  the  honor  for  a  few  years  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  and  my  colleagues  on  that 
committee  will  bear  witness  with  me  to  the  trouble  and  annoyance  which 
at  every  session  have  arisen  in  regard  to  giving  accommodations  to  the 
special  committees.  Two  sessions  ago  there  was  a  conflict  between  the 
Senate  and  House  in  regard  to  furnishing  committee-rooms  for  three 
special  committees,  and  it  is  only  upon  the  doctrine  of  pedis  possessto  that 
the  Senate  to-day  holds  three  committee-rooms  in  the  capitol,  the  House 
still  laying  claim  as  a  matter  of  law,  through  their  Committee  on  Public 
Buildings  and  Grounds,  for  the  possession  of  these  rooms.  At  the  special 
session,  on  account  of  the  exigencies  in  regard  to  rooms,  we  were  com- 
pelled to  take  the  retiring-room  assigned  near  the  gallery  to  the  ladies, 
and  cut  it  into  two  rooms,  to  accommodate  select  committees. 

At  this  session  we  have  created  two  special  committees  more,  and  I 
should  like  to  make  the  inquiry  when  and  where  this  manufacture  ol 
special  committees  is  to  cease  ?  As  soon  as  any  subject  becomes  one  of 
comment  in  the  newspapers,  or,  respectfully  I  say  it,  a  hobby  with  certain 
zealous  partisans  throughout  the  country,  application  is  made  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  and  a  special  committee  is  to  be  appointed. 
For  this  reason,  and  for  the  simple  reason  that  a  stop  must  be  had  some- 
where to  the  raising  of  special  committees,  I  oppose  the  proposition  now 
before  the  Senate. 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  will  be  entirely  ingenuous  and  give  another  rea- 
son. This  is  simply  a  step  toward  the  recognition  of  woman  suffrage,  and 
I  am  opposed  to  it  upon  principle  in  its  inception.  In  my  judgment  it 
has  nothing  but  mischief  in  it  to  the  institutions  and  to  the  society  of 
this  whole  country.  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  that 
subject  to-day,  but  it  will  be  proper  for  me  to  make  this  statement,  and  I 
make  it  intending  no  reflection  upon  the  zealous  ladies  who  have  en- 
gaged for  the  past  ten  years  in  manufacturing  a  public  sentiment  upon 
this  question.  I  received  to-day  a  letter  from  a  distinguished  lady  in  my 


2OO 


s 

History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


own  State,  for  whom  I  have  personally  the  greatest  admiration  and  re- 
spect, calling  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  I  propose  to  deny  justice  to 
the  women  of  the  country.  Mr.  President,  I  deny  it.  It  is  because  I  be- 
lieve that  the  conservative  influence  of  society  in  the  United  States  rests 
with  the  women  of  the  country  that  I  propose  not  to  degrade  the  wife 
and  mother  to  the  ward  politician,  the  justice  of  the  peace,  or  the  notary 
public.  It  is  because  I  believe  honestly  that  all  the  best  influences  for 
the  conservation  of  society  rest  upon  the  women  of  the  country  in  their 
proper  sphere  that  I  shall  oppose  this  and  every  other  step  now  and 
henceforth  as  violating,  as  I  believe,  one  of  the  great  essential  fundamental 
laws  of  nature  and  of  society. 

Mr.  President,  the  revenges  of  nature  are  sure  and  unerring,  and  these 
revenges  are  just  as  certain  in  political  matters  and  in  social  matters  as 
in  the  physical  world.  Now  and  here  I  desire  to  record  once  for  all  my 
conviction  that  in  this  movement  to  take  the  women  of  the  country  out 
of  their  proper  sphere  of  social  influence,  that  great  and  glorious  sphere 
in  which  nature  and  nature's  God  have  placed  them,  and  rush  them  into 
the  political  arena,  the  attempt  is  made  to  put  them  where  they  were 
never  intended  to  be ;  and  I  now  and  here  record  my  opposition  to  it. 
This  may  seem  to  be  but  a  small  matter,  but  as  this  letter  shows,  and  I 
reveal  no  private  confidence,  it  recognizes  the  first  great  step  in  this 
reform,  as  its  advocates  are  pleased  to  term  it.  My  practice  and  convic- 
tion as  a  public  man  is  to  fight  every  wrong  wherever  I  believe  it  to 
exist.  I  am  opposed  to  this  movement.  I  am  opposed  to  it  upon  prin- 
ciple, upon  conviction,  and  I  shall  call  for  the  yeas  and  nays  in  order  to 
record  my  vote  against  it. 

DECEMBER  15. 

The  Senate  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  resolution  reported  from 
the  Committee  on  Rules  by  Mr.  Hoar  on  the  I3th  inst. 

Mr.  VEST  :  Mr.  President,  I  disclaim  any  intention  again  to  incite  or  excite 
any  general  discussion  in  regard  to  woman  suffrage.  The  senator  from 
Massachusetts  [Mr.  Hoar],  for  whom  I  have  very  great  regard,  was  yester- 
day pleased  to  observe  that  the  State  governments  furnished  by  the  sen- 
ator from  Missouri  and  other  senators  in  the  past  had  been  no  argument 
in  favor  of  manhood  suffrage.  Mr.  President,  I  have  been  under  the  im- 
pression that  the  American  people  to-day  are  the  best  governed,  the  best 
clothed,  the  best  fed,  the  best  housed,  the  happiest  people  upon  the  face 
of  the  globe,  and  that,  too,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they  have  been 
under  the  domination  of  the  Republican  party  for  twenty  long  )-ears.  I 
have  also  been  under  the  impression  that  the  institutions  of  the  States 
and  of  the  United  States  are  an  improvement  upon  all  governmental  theo- 
ries and  schemes  hitherto  known  to  mortal  man  ;  but  we  are  to  learn  to- 
day from  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  that  this  government  and  the 
State  governments  have  been  failures,  and  that  woman  suffrage  must  be 
introduced  in  order  to  purify  the  political  atmosphere  and  elevate  the 
suffrage. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  Will  the  senator  allow  me  to  interrupt  him  for  a  moment? 

Mr.  VEST:  Of  course. 


Mr.    Vest's  Remarks. 


201 


Mr.  HOAR:  I  desire  to  disclaim  the  meaning  which  the  honorable  sen- 
ator seems  to  have  put  upon  my  words.  I  agree  with  him  that  the  Ameri- 
can governments  have  been  the  best  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  but  it  is 
because  of  their  adoption  of  that  principle  of  equality  more  than  any  other 
government,  the  logical  effect  of  which  will  compel  them  to  yield  the 
right  prayed  for  to  women,  that  they  are  the  best.  But  still  best  as  they 
are,  I  said,  and  mean  to  say,  that  the  business  of  governing  mankind  has 
been  the  one  business  on  the  face  of  the  earth  which  has  been  done  most 
clumsily,  which  has  been,  even  where  most  excellent,  full  of  mistakes,  ex- 
pense, injustice,  and  wrong-doing.  What  I  said  was  that  I  did  not  think 
the  persons  to  whom  that  privileged  function  had  been  committed  so  far 
were  entitled  to  claim  any  special  superiority  for  the  masculine  intellect 
in  the  results  which  it  had  achieved. 

Mr.  VEST  :  To  say  that  the  governments,  State  and  national,  now  in 
existence  upon  this  continent  are  imperfect  is  but  to  announce  the  truism 
that  everything  made  by  man  is  necessarily  imperfect.  But  I  stand  here 
to  declare  to-day  that  the  governments  of  the  States,  and  the  national 
government,  in  theory,  although  failing  sometimes  in  practice,  are  a 
standing  monument  to  the  genius  and  intellect  of  the  men  who  created 
them.  But  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  was  pleased  to  say  further, 
that  woman  suffrage  should  obtain  in  this  country  in  the  interest  of  edu- 
cation. I  permit  not  that  senator  to  go  further  than  myself  in  the  line  of 
universal  public  education.  I  have  declared,  over  and  over  again,  in 
every  county  in  my  State  for  the  past  ten  years,  that  universal  education 
should  accompany  universal  suffrage,  that  the  school-house  should  crown 
every  mound  in  prairie  and  forest,  that  it  was  the  temple  of  liberty  and 
the  altar  of  law  and  order. 

I  well  remember  that  I  was  thrilled  with  the  eloquence  of  the  distin- 
guished senator  from  Massachusetts  at  the  last  session  of  the  last  con- 
gress, when,  upon  a  bill  to  provide  for  general  education  by  a  donation  of 
the  public  lands,  he  so  pathetically  and  justly  described  the  mass 
of  dark  ignorance  and  illiteracy  projected  upon  the  people  of  the 
South  under  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party,  and  the  senator  then 
stood  here  and  said  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts  extended  the  public 
lands  to  relieve  the  people  of  the  South  from  this  monstrous  burden. 
What  does  the  senator  propose  to  do  to-day?  He  proposes  with  one 
stroke  of  the  pen  to  double,  and  more  than  double,  the  illiterate  suffrage 
of  the  United  States.  The  senator  says  that  one-half  the  people  of  the 
United  States  are  represented  in  this  measure  of  woman  suffrage.  I  deny 
it,  sir.  If  the  senator  means  that  the  women  of  America,  comprising  one- 
half  of  the  population,  are  interested  in  this  measure,  I  deny  it  most  em- 
phatically and  most  peremptorily.  Not  one-tenth  of  them  want  it.  Not 
one-tenth  of  the  mothers  and  sisters  and  Christian  women  of  this  land 
want  to  be  turned  into  polititians  or  to  meddle  in  a  sphere  to  which  God 
and  nature  have  not  assigned  them. 

Sir,  there  are  some  ladies — and  I  do  not  intend  to  term  them  anything 
but  ladies — who  are  zealously  engaged  in  this  cause,  and  they  have  flooded 
this  hall  with  petitions,  and  have  called  their  women's  rights  conventions 


2O2 


History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


all  over  the  land.  I  assail  not  their  motives,  but  I  deny  that  they  repre- 
sent the  women  of  the  United  States.  I  say  that  if  woman  suffrage  ob- 
tains, the  worst  class  of  the  women  of  the  country  will  rush  to  the  polls  and 
the  best  class  will  remain  away  by  a  large  majority.  That  is  my  deliberate 
judgment  and  firm  conviction.  But,  Mr.  President,  a  word  in  regard  to 
the  committees.  I  desire  no  general  discussion  upon  woman  suffrage, 
and  simply  alluded  in  passing  to  what  had  been  said  by  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  hour  of  one  o'clock  has  arrived,  and 
the  morning  hour  is  closed. 

DECEMBER  16. 

Mr.  JONES  of  Florida  :  I  desire  to  call  up  a  resolution  now  lying  on  the 
table,  which  I  introduced  on  the  I4th  instant,  calling  for  information 
from  the  Secretary  of  War  touching  a  ship-canal  across  the  peninsula 
of  Florida. 

Mr.  HOAR:  Mr.  President — 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  senator  from  Florida  asks  leave  to 
call  up  a  resolution  submitted  by  him. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  My  resolution  was  before  the  Senate  yesterday,  and  comes 
up  in  order.  I  hope  we  shall  vote  on  it. 

Mr.  JONES  of  Florida  :  I  will  only  say  that  my  resolution  was  laid  over 
temporarily  on  the  objection  of  the  senator  from  Vermont  [Mr.  Edmunds], 
which  he  will  not  insist  upon. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  Allow  me  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Chair  to  the  fact ;  it  is 
not  the  question  of  a  resolution  which  has  not  been  taken  up.  The  reso- 
lution reported  by  me  from  the  Committee  on  Rules  was  taken  up,  and 
was  under  discussion  when  the  senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Vest]  was 
taken  from  the  floor  by  the  expiration  of  the  morning  hour,  in  the  midst 
of  his  remarks.  Certainly  his  right  to  conclude  his  remarks  takes  prec- 
edence of  other  business  under  the  usual  practice  of  the  Senate. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  Chair  thought  the  senator  from  Mis- 
souri had  ended  his  remarks,  or  he  would  not  have  interposed  when 
he  did. 

Mr.  HOAR:  No,  sir. 

Mr.  JONES  of  Florida:  My  resolution  involves  no  debate.  It  is  merely 
a  resolution  of  inquiry. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  The  other  will  be  disposed  of,  I  hope,  in  a  few  moments. 

Mr.  JONES  of  Florida  :  The  resolution  to  which  I  refer  went  over  infor- 
mally on  the  objection  of  the  senator  from  Vermont,  and  I  think  he  has 
no  objection  now. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  The  other  will  be  disposed  of  in  a  moment,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  vote  on  it. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  Chair  lays  before  the  Senate  the  reso- 
lution of  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Hoar]. 

The  Senate  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  resolution  reported  from 
the  Committee  on  Rules  by  Mr.  Hoar  on  the  I3th  instant. 

The  PRESIDENT /r0  tempore  :  The  Chair  would  state  to  the  senator  from 
Missouri  [Mr.  Vest]  that  the  Chair  supposed  yesterday  that  he  had  fin- 


Facetious  Proposal  of  Mr.    Vest.  203 

ished  his  remarks,  or  the  Chair  would  not  have  stopped  him  at  that  mo- 
ment. The  question  is  on  agreeing  to  the  resolution,  on  which  the  senator 
from  Missouri  [Mr.  Vest]  is  entitled  to  the  floor. 

Mr.  VEST:  Mr.  President,  1  was  on  the  eve  of  finishing  my  remarks 
yesterday  when  the  morning  hour  expired,  and  I  do  not  now  wish  to 
detain  the  Senate.  1  was  about  to  say  at  that  time  that  the  Senate  now 
has  forty-one  committees,  with  a  small  army  of  messengers  and  clerks, 
one-half  of  whom,  without  exaggeration,  are  literally  without  employment. 
I  shall  not  pretend  to  specify  the  committees  of  this  body  which  have  not 
one  single  bill,  resolution,  or  proposition  of  any  soft  pending  before  them, 
and  have  not  had  for  months.  I  am  very  well  aware  that  if  I  should  name 
one  of  them,  Liberty  would  lie  bleeding  in  the  streets  at  once,  and  that 
committee  would  become  the  most  important  on  the  list  of  committees  of 
the  Senate.  I  shall  not  venture  to  do  that.  I  am  informed  by  the  Ser- 
geant-at-arms  that  if  this  resolution  is  adopted  he  must  have  six  addi- 
tional messengers  to  be  added  to  that  body  of  ornamental  employes  who 
now  stand  or  sit  at  the  doors  of  the  respective  committee-rooms.  I  have 
heard  that  this  committee  is  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a  committee  to  a 
senator  in  this  body.  I  have  heard  the  statement  made,  but  I  cannot  be- 
lieve if,  and  I  am  very  certain  that  no  senator  will  undertake  to  champion 
the  resolution  upon  any  such  ground. 

The  senator  from  Massachusetts  was  pleased  to  say  that  the  Committee 
on  the  Judiciary  had  so  many  important  questions  pending  before  it,  that 
the  subject  of  woman  suffrage  should  not  be  added  to  them.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Territories  is  open  to  any  complaint  or  suggestion  by  the  ladies 
who  advocate  woman  suffrage,  in  regard  to  this  subject  in  the  territories; 
and  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  to  which  this  subject  should 
go  most  appropriately,  as  affecting  the  suffrage,  has  not  now  before  it,  as 
I  am  informed,  one  single  bill,  resolution,  or  proposition  of  any  sort  what- 
ever. That  committee  is  also  open  to  inquiry  upon  this  subject. 

But,  Mr.  President,  out  of  all  committees  without  business,  and  habitu- 
ally without  business,  in  this  body,  there  is  one  that  beyond  any  question 
could  take  jurisdiction  of  this  matter  and  do  it  ample  justice.  I  refer  to 
that  most  respectable  and  antique  institution,  the  Committee  on  Revolu- 
tionary Claims.  For  thirty  years  it  has  been  without  business.  For  thirty 
long  years  the  placid  surface  of  that  parliamentary  sea  has  been  without 
one  single  ripple.  If  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  desires  a  tribunal 
for  calm  judicial  equilibrium  and  examination,  a  tribunal  far  from  the 
"  madding  crowd's  ignoble  strife,"  a  tribunal  eminently  respectable, 
dignified  and  unique,  why  not  send  this  question  to  the  Committee  on 
Revolutionary  Claims  ?  When  I  name  the  personnel  oi  that  committee  it 
will  be  evident  that  any  consideration  on  any  subject  touching  the  female 
sex  would  receive  not  only  deliberate  but  immediate  attention,  for  the 
second  member  upon  that  committee  is  my  distinguished  friend  from 
Florida  [Mr.  Jones],  and  who  can  doubt  that  he  would  give  his  undivided 
attention  to  the  subject?  [Laughter.]  It  is  eminently  proper  that  this 
subject  should  go  to  that  committee  because  if  there  is  any  revolutionary 
claim  in  this  country  it  is  that  of  woman  suffrage.  [Laughter.]  It  revo- 


204 


Tistory  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


lutionizes  society;  it  revolutionizes  religion;  it  revolutionizes  the  con- 
stitution and  laws;  and  it  revolutionizes  the  opinions  of  those  so 
old-fashioned  among  us  as  to  believe  that  the  legitimate  and  proper 
sphere  of  woman  is  the  family  circle  as  wife  and  mother  and  not  as  poli- 
tician and  voter — those  of  us  who  are  proud  to  believe  that — 

A  woman's  noblest  station  is  retreat ; 
Her  fairest  virtues  fly  from  public  sight ; 
Domestic  worth — that  shuns  too  strong  a  light. 

Before  that  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims  why  could  not  this 
most  revolutionary  of*all  claims  receive  immediate  and  ample  attention? 
More  than  that,  as  I  said  before,  if  there  is  any  tribunal  that  could  give 
undivided  time  and  dignified  attention,  is  it  not  this  committee  ?  If  there 
is  one  peaceful  haven  of  rest,  never  disturbed  by  any  profane  bill  or  reso- 
lution of  any  sort,  it  is  the  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims.  It  is,  in 
parliamentary  life,  described  by  that  ecstatic  verse  in  Watts'  hymn  : 

There  shall  I  bathe  my  wearied  soul 

In  seas  of  endless  rest, 
And  not  one  wave  of  trouble  roll 

Across  my  peaceful  breast. 

For  thirty  years  there  has  been  no  excitement  in  that  committee,  and 
it  needs  to-day,  in  Western  phrase,  some  "  stirring-up."  By  all  natural 
laws  stagnation  breeds  disease  and  death ;  and  what  could  stir  up  this 
most  venerable  and  respectable  institution  more  than  an  application  of 
the  strong-minded,  with  short  hair  and  shorter  skirts,  invading  its  dignified 
realm  and  elucidating  all  the  excellences  of  female  suffrage?  Moreover, 
if  these  ladies  could  ever  succeed,  in  the  providence  of  God,  in  obtaining 
a  report  from  that  committee,  it  would  end  this  question  forever;  for  the 
public  at  large  and  myself  included,  in  view  of  that  miracle  of  female 
blandishment  and  female  influence,  would  surrender  at  once,  and  female 
suffrage  would  become  constitutional  and  lawful.  Sir,  I  insist  upon  it 
that  in  deference  to  this  committee,  in  deference  to  the  fact  that  it  needs 
this  sort  of  regimen  and  medicine,  this  whole  subject  should  be  so  re- 
ferred. [Laughter.] 

Mr.  MORRILL:  Mr.  President,  I  do  not  desire  to  say  anything  as  to  the 
merits  of  the  resolution,  but  I  understand  the  sole  purpose  of  raising  this 
committee  is  to  have  a  committee-room.  So  far  as  I  know,  there  are 
some  five  or  six  committees  now  which  are  destitute  of  rooms,  and  it  would 
be  impossible  for  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds  to 
assign  any  room  to  this  committee — the  object  which  I  understand  is 
at  the  foundation  of  the  introduction  of  the  proposition  ;  that  is  to  say.  to 
give  these  ladies  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  some  appropriate  com- 
mittee-room on  the  questions  which  they  wish  to  agitate  and  submit. 

Mr.  HOAR:  They  would  find  room  in  some  other  committee-room. 
They  could  have  the  room  of  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections, 
if  there  were  no  other  place. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  question  is  on  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution  reported  by  the  senator  from  Massachusetts. 


Discussion  of  Amendments.  205 

Mr.  HARRIS  :  Did  not  the  senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Vest]  offer  an 
amendment? 

Mr.  GARLAND  :  As  I  understand,  he  moved  to  refer  the  subject  to  the 
Committee  on  Revolutionar)'  Claims. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  Does  the  Chair  understand  that  the  sen- 
ator from  Missouri  has  offered  an  amendment? 

Mr.  VEST:  Yes,  sir;  I  move  to  refer  the  matter  to  the  Committee  on 
Revolutionary  Claims. 

Mr.  CONGER:  Let  the  resolution  be  reported. 

The  acting  secretary  read  the  resolution. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  senator  from  Missouri  offers  an 
amendment,  that  the  subject  be  referred  to  the  standing  Committee  on 
Revolutionary  Claims.  The  question  is  on  the  amendment  of  the  senator 
from  Missouri.  [Putting  the  question.]  The  noes  appear  to  have  it. 

Mr.  FARLEY  called  for  the  yeas  and  nays,  and  they  were  ordered  and 
taken. 

Mr.  BLAIR  [after  having  voted  in  the  negative] :  I  have  voted  inadver- 
tently. I  am  paired  with  the  senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Pugh].  Were 
he  present  he  would  have  voted  "yea,"  as  I  have  voted  "  nay."  I  with- 
draw my  vote. 

Mr.  WINDOM  :  I  am  paired  with  the  senator  from  West  Virginia  [Mr. 
Davis],  but  as  I  understand  he  would  vote  "nay"  on  this  question,  I  vote 
"nay." 

Mr.  INGALLS  :  I  am  paired  with  the  senator  from  Mississippi  [Mr.  Lamar]. 

The  result  was  announced — yeas  22,  nays  31.  So  the  motion  was  not 
agreed  to. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  question  recurs  on  the  adoption  of 
the  resolution. 

Mr.  BAYARD  :  Is  it  in  order  for  me  to  move  the  reference  of  the  subject 
to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary? 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore  :  It  is  in  order  to  move  to  refer  the  resolu- 
tion to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  the  Chair  understands. 

Mr.  BAYARD:  Then  I  make  a  motion  that  the  resolution  be  sent  to  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  I  would  state  that  I  voted  with  some  regret 
and  hesitancy  upon  the  motion  of  the  senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Vest] 
to  refer  this  matter  to  the  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims.  My 
regret  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  I  do  not  wish  even  to  seem  to  treat  a 
subject  of  this  character  in  a  spirit  of  levity,  or  to  indicate  the  slightest 
disrespect  by  such  a  reference,  to  those  whose  opinions  upon  this  subject 
differ  essentially  from  my  own.  I  cast  the  vote  because  I  considered  it 
would  be  taking  the  subject  virtually  away  from  the  consideration  of  con- 
gress at  its  present  session.  I  do,  however,  hold  that  there  is  no  necessity 
for  the  creation  of  a  special  committee  to  attend  to  this  subject.  The 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary  has  within  the  last  few  years,  upon  many 
occasions,  attempted  to  deal  with  it.  Since  you,  sir,  and  I  have  been 
members  of  that  committee — 

Mr.  HOAR:  Mr.  President — 


206  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  Will  the  senator  from  Delaware  yield  to 
the  senator  from  Massachusetts? 

Mr.  BAYARD  :  I  will,  if  he  thinks  it  necessary  to  interrupt  me. 

Mr.  HOAR:  I  desire  to  ask  the  senator,  if  he  is  willing,  having  been 
lately  a  member  of  the  committee  to  which  he  refers,  whether  it  is  not 
the  rule  of  that  committee  to  allow  no  hearings  to  individual  petitioners, 
a  rule  which  is  departed  from  only  in  very  rare  and  peculiar  cases? 

Mr.  BAYARD  :  I  will  reply  to  the  honorable  senator  that  the  occasion 
which  arose  to  my  mind  and  caused  me  to  remember  the  action  of  that 
committee  was  the  audience  given  by  it  to  a  very  large  delegation  of 
woman  suffragists,  to  wit,  the  representatives  of  a  convention  theld  in  this 
city,  who  to  the  number,  I  think,  of  twenty-five,  came  into  the  committee- 
room  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  were  heard,  as  I  remember, 
for  more  than  one  day,  or  certainly  had  more  than  one  hearing,  before 
that  committee,  of  which  you,  sir,  and  I  were  members. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  If  the  senator  will  pardon  me,  however,  he  has  not  answered 
my  question.  I  asked  the  senator  not  whether  on  one  particular  occasion 
they  gave  a  hearing  on  this  subject,  but  whether  it  is  not  the  rule  of  that 
committee,  occasioned  by  the  necessity  of  its  business,  from  which  it  de- 
parts only  in  very  rare  cases,  not  to  give  hearings  ? 

Mr.  BAYARD:  I  cannot  answer  whether  a  rule  so  defined  as  that  sug- 
gested by  the  honorable  senator  from  Massachusetts  exists  in  that 
committee.  It  is  my  impression,  however,  that  cases  are  frequently,  by 
order  of  that  committee,  argued  before  it.  We  have  had  very  elaborate 
and  able  arguments  upon  subjects  connected  with  the  Pacific  railroads,  I 
remember  ;  and  we  have  had  arguments  upon  various  subjects.  It  is  con- 
stantly our  pleasure  to  hear  members  of  the  Senate  upon  a  variety  of 
questions  before  that  committee.  It  may  be  only  a  proof  that  women's 
rights  are  not  unrecognized  nor  their  influence  unfelt  when  I  state  the  fact 
that  if  there  be  such  a  rule  as  is  suggested  by  the  honorable  senator  from 
Massachusetts  of  excluding  persons  from  the  audience  of  that  committee, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  application  of  the  ladies  a  hearing  was  granted,  and 
they  came  in  force, — not  only  force  in  numbers,  but  force  in  the  character 
and  intelligence  of  those  who  appeared  before  the  committee.  They  were 
listened  to  with  great  respect,  but  their  views  were  not  concurred  in  by 
the  committee  as  it  was  then  composed.  We  were  all  entertained  by  the 
bright  wit,  the  clever  and,  in  my  judgment,  in  many  respects,  the  just  sar- 
casm of  our  honorable  friend  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Vest],  but  my  habit  is 
not  to  consider  public  measures  in  a  jocular  light ;  it  is  not  to  consider  a 
question  of  this  kind  in  a  jocular  light.  Whatever  may  be  the  merits  or 
demerits  of  this  proposition,  whatever  may  be  the  reasons  for  or  against  it, 
no  man  can  doubt  that  it  will  strike  at  the  very  roots  of  the  present  organi- 
zation of  society,  and  that  its  consequences  will  be  most  profound  and  far- 
reaching  should  the  advocates  of  the  measure  proposed  prevail. 

Therefore  it  is  that  I  think  this  subject  should  not  be  considered  sepa- 
rately ;  it  should  not  have  a  special  committee — either  of  advocates  or  op- 
ponents arranged  for  its  consideration  ;  but  it  should  go  where  proposed 
amendments  to  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land  have  always  been  sent  for 


Discussion  of  Amendments.  207 

consideration, — to  that  committee  to  which  judicial  questions,  questions 
of  a  constitutional  nature,  have  always  in  the  history  of  this  government 
been  committed.  There  is  no  need,  there  is  no  justice,  there  is  no  wisdom 
in  attempting  to  separate  the  fate  of  this  question,  which  affects  society  so 
profoundly  and  generally,  from  the  other  questions  that  affect  society.  It 
cannot  be  made  a  specialty ;  it  ought  not  to  be.  You  cannot  tear  this 
question  from  the  great  contest  of  human  passions,  affections,  and  interests 
which  surround  it,  and  treat  it  as  a  th  ing  by  itself.  It  has  many  sides  from 
which  it  may  be  viewed,  some  that  are  not  proper  or  fitting  for  this  forum, 
and  a  discussion  now  in  public.  There  are  the  claims  of  religion  itself  to 
be  considered  in  connection  with  this  case.  Civil  rights,  social  rights, 
political  rights,  religious  rights,  all  are  bound  up  in  the  consideration  of  a 
measure  like  this.  In  its  consideration  you  cannot  safely  attempt  to  seg- 
regate this  question  and  leave  it  untouched  and  uninfluenced  by  all  those 
other  questions  by  which  it  is  surrounded  and  in  the  consideration  of  which 
it  is  bound  to  be  connected  and  concerned.  Therefore,  without  going 
further,  prematurely,  into  a  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  proposition  itself 
or  its  desirability,  I  say  that  it  should  take  the  usual  course  which  the 
practice  and  laws  of  this  body  have  given  to  grave  public  questions.  Let 
it  go  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  let  them,  under  their  sense  of 
duty,  deal  with  it  according  to  its  gravity  and  importance,  and  if  it  be  here 
returned  let  it  be  passed  upon  by  the  grave  deliberations  of  the  Senate 
itself.  I  hope  the  special  committee  proposed  will  not  be  raised,  and  I  trust 
the  Senate  will  concur  with  me  in  thinking  that  the  subject  should  be  sent 
to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary. 

Mr.  LOGAN  rose. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :    The  morning  hour  has  expired. 

Mr.  LOGAN  :     I  want  to  say  just  one  word. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :     It  requires  unanimous  consent. 

Mr.  LOGAN  :  I  do  not  wish  to  make  a  speech  ;  I  merely  desire  to  say  a 
word  in  response  to  what  the  senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard]  has  said 
in  relation  to  the  reference  to  the  Judiciary  Committee. 

Mr.  HARRIS  :  I  ask  unanimous  consent  that  the  senator  from  Illinois 
may  proceed. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore  :  There  being  no  objection  unanimous  con- 
sent will  be  presumed  to  have  been  given  for  the  senator  from  Illinois  to 
make  his  explanation. 

Mr.  LOGAN  :  This  question  having  been  once  before  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee, and  it  being  a  request  by  many  ladies,  who  are  citizens  of  the  United 
States  just  as  we  are,  that  they  should  have  a  special  committee  of  the 
Senate  before  which  they  can  be  heard,  I  deem  it  proper  and  right,  without 
any  committal  whatever  in  reference  to  my  own  views,  that  they  should 
have  that  committee.  It  is  nothing  but  fair,  just,  and  right  that  they 
should  have  a  committee  organized  as  nearly  as  can  be  in  the  Senate  in 
favor  of  the  views  they  desire  to  present,  It  is  treating  them  only  as  other 
citi/ens  would  desire  to  be  treated  before  a  body  of  this  character.  I  am, 
therefore,  opposed  to  the  reference  of  the  proposition  to  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  and  I  hope  the  Senate  will  give  these  ladies  a  special  committee 


208  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

where  they  can  be  heard,  and  that  that  committee  may  be  so  organized  as 
that  it  will  be  as  favorable  to  their  views  as  possible,  so  that  they  may  have 
a  fair  hearing.  That  is  all  I  desire  to  say. 

Mr.  MORRILL:  I  hope  this  subject  will  be  concluded  this  morning, 
otherwise  it  is  to  come  up  constantly  and  monopolize  all  the  time  of  the 
morning  hour.  I  do  not  think  it  will  require  many  minutes  more  to  dis- 
pose of  it  now. 

The  PRESIDENT^™  lempore :  The  Chair  will  entertain  a  motion  on  that 
subject. 

Mr.  MORRILL:  I  move  to  set  aside  other  business  until  this  resolution 
shall  be  disposed  of.  If  it  should  continue  any  length  of  time  of  course  I 
would  withdraw  the  suggestion. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore  :    The  senator  from  Vermont 

Mr.  VOORHEES:  Mr.  President,  I  feel  constrained  to  call  for  the  regular 
order. 

DECEMBER  19.  1881. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:    Are  there  further  " concurrent  or  other 
resolutions  "  ? 

Mr.  HOAR:  I  call  up  the  resolution  in  regard  to  woman  suffrage,  re- 
ported by  me  from  the  Committee  on  Rules. 

Mr.  JONES  of  Florida :  I  ask  for  information  how  long  the  morning  hour 
is  to  extend  ? 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  regular  business  of  the  morning  hour 
is  closed.  The  morning  hour,  however,  will  not  expire  until  twenty  min- 
utes past  one.  The  senator  from  Massachusetts  asks  to  have  taken  up 
the  resolution  reported  by  him  from  the  Committee  on  Rules. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  I  hope  we  may  have  a  vote  on  the  resolution  this  morning. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  question  is  on  the  amendment  pro- 
posed by  the  senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard],  that  the  subject  be 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary. 

Mr.  HOAR:  It  is  not  intended  by  the  resolution  to  commit  the  Senate 
or  any  senator  in  the  slightest  degree  to  any  opinion  upon  the  question 
of  woman  suffrage,  but  it  is  merely  the  question  of  a  convenient  mode  of 
hearing.  I  hope  we  shall  be  allowed  to  have  a  vote  on  the  resolution. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  Is  the  Senate  ready  for  the  question  on 
the  motion  of  the  senator  from  Delaware  ? 

Mr.  BAYARD  and  Mr.  FARLEY  called  for  the  yeas  and  nays,  and  they 
were  ordered.  , 

Mr.  BECK  :  Mr.  President,  I  have  received  a  number  of  communications 
from  very  respectable  ladies  in  my  own  State  upon  this  important  ques- 
tion ;  but  I  am  unable  to  comply  with  their  request  and  support  the 
female  suffrage  which  they  advocate.  I  shall  vote  for  the  reference  to 
the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  in  order  that  there  may  be  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  question.  I  wholly  disagree  with  the  suggestion  of 
the  senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Logan],  that  a  committee  ought  to  be  ap- 
pointed as  favorable  to  the  views  of  these  ladies  as  possible.  I  desire  a 
committee  that  will  have  no  views,  for  or  against  them,  except  what  is 
best  for  the  public  good.  Such  a  committee  I  understand  the  Committee 
on  the  Judiciary  to  be. 


Discussion  of  Amendments.  209 

I  desire  to  say  only  in  a  word  that  the  difficulty  I  have  and  the  question 
I  desire  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to  report  upon  is,  the  effect  of  this 
question  upon  suffrage.  By  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  there  can  be  no  discrimination  made  in  regard  to 
voting  on  account  of  race,  color  or  previous  condition.  Intelligence  is 
properly  regarded  as  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  fair  suffrage. 
We  have  been  compelled  in  the  last  ten  years  to  allow  all  the  colored 
men  of  the  South  to  become  voters.  There  is  a  mass  of  ignorance  there 
to  be  absorbed  that  will  take  years  and  years  of  care  in  order  to  bring 
that  class  up  to  the  standard  of  intelligent  voters.  The  several  States  are 
addressing  themselves  to  that  task  as  earnestly  as  possible.  Now  it  is 
proposed  that  all  the  women  of  the  country  shall  vote ;  that  all  the 
colored  women  of  the  South,  who  are  as  much  more  ignorant  than  the 
colored  men  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine,  shall  vote.  Not  one  perhaps  in 
a  hundred  of  them  can  read  or  write.  The  colored  men  have  had  the 
advantages  of  communication  with  other  men  in  a  variety  of  forms. 
Many  of  them  have  considerable  intelligence;  but  the  colored  women 
have  not  had  equal  chances.  Take  them  from  their  wash-tubs  and  their 
household  work  and  they  are  absolutely  ignorant  of  the  new  duties  of 
voting  citizens.  The  intelligent  ladies  of  the  North  and  the  West  and 
the  South  cannot  vote  without  extending  that  privilege  to  that  class  of 
ignorant  colored  people.  I  doubt  whether  any  man  will  say  that  it  is  safe 
for  the  republic  now,  when  we  are  going  through  the  problem  we  are 
obliged  to  solve,  to  fling  in  this  additional  mass  of  ignorance  upon  the 
suffrage  of  the  country.  Why,  sir,  a  rich  corporation  or  a  body  of  men 
of  wealth  could  buy  them  up  for  fifty  cents  apiece,  and  they  would  vote 
without  knowing  what  they  were  doing  for  the  side  that  paid  most.  Yet 
we  are  asked  to  confer  suffrage  upon  them,  and  to  have  a  committee 
appointed  as  favorable  to  that  view  as  possible,  so  as  to  get  a  favorable 
report  upon  it ! 

1  want  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to  tell  the  congress  and  the 
country  whether  they  think  it  is  good  policy  now  to  confer  suffrage  on 
all  the  colored  women  of  the  South,  ignorant  as  they  are  known  to  be, 
and  thus  add  to  the  ignorance  that  we  are  now  struggling  with,  and 
whether  the  republic  can  be  sustained  upon  such  a  basis  as  that.  For 
that  reason,  and  because  I  want  that  information  from  an  unbiased  com- 
mittee, because  I  know  that  suffrage  has  been  degraded  sufficiently 
already,  and  because  it  would  be  degraded  infinitely  more  if  a  report  favor- 
able to  this  extension  of  suffrage  should  be  adopted  and  passed  through 
congress,  I  am  opposed  to  this  movement.  No  matter  if  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  respectable  ladies  who  are  competent  to  vote  and  desire  it  to  be 
done,  because  of  the  very  fact  that  they  cannot  be  allowed  this  privilege 
without  giving  all  the  mass  of  ignorant  colored  women  in  the  country 
the  right  to  vote,  thus  bringing  in  a  mass  of  ignorance  that  would  crush 
and  degrade  the  suffrage  of  this  country  almost  beyond  conception,  I 
shall  vote  to  refer  the  subject  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and  I  shall 
await  their  report  with  a  good  deal  of  anxiety. 

Mr.  MORGAN:  Mr.  President — 
14 


2io  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  morning  hour  has  expired,  and  the 
unfinished  business  is  before  the  Senate. 

DECEMBER  20,  1881. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  I  now  call  up  the  resolution  for  appointing  a  special  com- 
mittee on  woman  suffrage. 

The  PRESIDENT  fro  tempore:  The  morning  hour  having  expired,  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts  calls  up  the  resolution  which  was  under  con- 
sideration yesterday. 

Mr.  INGALLS  :     What  is  the  regular  order  ? 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  There  is  no  regular  unfinished  business. 
The  senator  from  Florida  [Mr.  Call]  gave  notice  yesterday  that  he  would 
ask  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate  to-day  to  consider  the  subject  of  home- 
stead rights. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  I  hope  this  matter  may  be  disposed  of.  It  is  very  unpleas- 
ant to  me  to  stand  before  the  Senate  in  this  way,  taking  up  its  time  with 
this  matter  in  a  five  minutes'  debate  every  day  in  succession  for  an  un- 
limited period  of  time.  It  is  a  matter  which  every  senator  understands. 
.It  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  merits  of  the  woman  suffrage  question 
at  all.  It  is  a  mere  desire  on  the  part  of  these  people  to  have  a  particular 
form  of  hearing,  which  seems  to  me  the  most  convenient  for  the  Senate, 
rand  I  hope  the  Senate  will  be  willing  to  vote  on  the  resolution  and  let  it 
pass. 

Mr.  MORGAN  :  I  have  no  objection  to  proceeding  to  the  consideration 
•of  the  resolution,  but  1  desire  to  address  the  Senate  upon  it. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  I  think  I  must  ask  now  as  a  favor  of  the  senator  from  Ala- 
bama that  he  let  the  resolution  be  disposed  of  promptly. 

The  PRESIDENT^*?  tempore :  The  senator  from  Alabama  states  that  he 
has  no  objection  to  the  present  consideration  of  the  resolution,  but  he  asks 
leave  to  make  some  remarks  upon  it.  The  Chair  hearing  no  objection  to 
the  consideration  of  the  resolution,  it  is  before  the  Senate. 

Mr.  FARLEY  :     I  object  to  the  consideration  of  the  resolution. 

Mr.  HOAR  :     I  move  to  take  it  up. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  senator  from  Massachusetts  calls  it 
up  as  a  matter  of  right.  If  a  majority  of  the  Senate  agree  to  take  up  the 
resolution  it  is  before  the  Senate,  and  the  Chair  will  put  the  question.  The 
question  is  on  agreeing  to  the  motion  of  the  senator  from  Massachusetts 
to  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  resolution.  [The  motion  was  agreed 
to;  and  the  Senate  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  resolution  reported 
from  the  Committee  on  Rules  by  Mr.  Hoar  on  the  i3th  instant,  which  was 
read.] 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  pending  question  is  on  the  motion  of 
the  senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard]  to  refer  the  subject  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Judiciary,  on  which  the  yeas  and  nays  have  been  ordered. 

Mr.  MORGAN  :  Mr.  President,  I  stand  in  a  different  relation  to  this  ques- 
tion from  that  of  the  senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Beck],  who  said  yester- 
day that  he  had  received  a  number  of  communications  from  very  respect- 
able ladies  in  his  own  State  upon  this  very  important  subject,  and  yet  felt 
constrained  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  deny  the  action  which  they  solicited  at 


A    Voice  from  Alabama.  211 

the  hands  of  congress.  I  am  not  informed  that  any  woman  from  Alabama 
has  ever  sent  a  petition  to  the  Senate,  or  to  either  house,  upon  this  matter. 
Indeed,  it  is  my  impression  that  no  petitions  or  letters  have  ever  been 
addressed  by  any  lady  in  the  State  of  Alabama  to  either  house  of  congress 
upon  this  question.  It  may  be  that  that  peculiar  type  of  civilization  which 
drives  women  from  their  homes  to  the  ballot-box  to  seek  redress  and  pro- 
tection against  their  husbands  has  never  yet  reached  the  State  of  Alabama, 
and  I  shall  not  be  disagreeably  disappointed  if  it  should  never  come  upon 
our  people,  for  they  have  lived  in  harmony  and  in  prosperity  now  for 
many  years.  Besides  the  relief  which  the  State  has  seen  proper  to  give 
to  married  women  in  respect  of  their  separate  estates,  we  have  not  thought 
it  wise  or  politic  in  any  sense  to  go  further  and  undertake  to  make  a  line 
of  demarkation  between  the  husband  and  wife  as  politicians.  On  the  con- 
trary, according  to  our  estimate  of  a  proper  civilization,  we  look  to  the 
family  relation  as  being  the  true  foundation  of  our  republican  institutions. 
Strike  out  the  family  relation,  disband  the  family,  destroy  the  proper  au- 
thority of  the  person  at  the  head  of  the  family,  either  the  wife  or  the  hus- 
band, and  you  take  from  popular  government  all  legitimate  foundation. 

The  measure  which  is  now  brought  before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
Is  but  the  initial  measure  of  a  series  which  has  been  urged  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  States  and  territories,  and  upon  the  attention  of  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  in  various  forms  to  draw  a  line  of  political  demarkation 
through  a  man's  household,  through  his  fireside,  and  to  open  to  the  intru- 
sion of  politics  and  politicians  that  sacred  circle  of  the  family  where  no 
man  should  be  permitted  to  intrude  without  the  consent  of  both  the  heads 
of  the  family.  What  picture  could  be  more  disagreeable  or  more  disgust- 
ing than  to  have  a  pot-house  politician  introduce  himself  into  a  gentle- 
man's family,  with  his  wife  seated  at  one  side  of  the  fireplace  and  himself 
at  the  other,  and  this  man  coming  between  to  urge  arguments  why  the 
wife  should  oppose  the  policy  that  the  husband  advocates,  or  that  the  hus- 
band should  oppose  the  policy  that  the  wife  advocates? 

If  this  measure  means  anything  it  is  a  proposition  that  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  shall  first  vote  to  carry  into  effect  this  unjust  and  improper 
intrusion  into  the  home  circle.  Suppose  this  resolution  to  raise  a  select 
committee  should  be  passed:  that  committee  will  have  its  hands  full  and 
its  ears  full  of  petitions  and  applications  and  speeches  from  strong-minded 
women,  and  of  course  it  must  make  some  report  to  the  Senate ;  and  we 
shall  have  this  subject  introduced  in  here  as  one  that  requires  a  peculiar 
application  of  the  powers  of  the  Senate  for  its  digestion  and  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  bills  and  measures  founded  upon  it.  At  the  next  session 
of  congress  this  select  committee  will  become  a  standing  committee  of 
the  Senate,  and  then  we  shall  have  that  which  appears  to  be  the  most  po- 
tential and  at  the  same  time  the  most  dangerous  element  in  politics  to-day, 
agitation,  agitation,  agitation.  It  seems  that  the  legislators  of  the  United 
States  Government  are  not  to  be  allowed  to  pass  in  quiet  judgment  upon 
measures  of  this  character,  but  like  many  other  things  which  are  address- 
ing themselves  to  the  attention  of  the  people  on  this  side  of  the  water  and 
the  other,  they  must  all  be  moved  against  the  Senate  and  against  the  House 


212  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

by  agitation.  You  raise  your  committee  and  allow  the  agitators  to  come 
before  them,  yea,  more  than  that,  you  invite  them  to  come ;  and  what  is 
the  result?  The  Congress  of  the  United  States  will  for  the  next  ten  or 
perhaps  twenty  years  be  continually  assailed  for  special  and  peculiar  legis- 
lation in  favor  of  the  women  of  the  land. 

I  do  not  understand  that  a  woman  in  this  country  has  any  more  right  to 
a  select  committee  than  a  man  has.  It  would  be  just  as  rational  and  as 
proper  in  every  legislative  and  parliamentary  sense  to  have  a  select  com- 
mittee for  the  consideration  of  the  rights  of  men  as  to  have  a  committee 
for  the  consideration  of  the  rights  of  women.  I  object,  sir,  to  this  dissev- 
erance between  the  sexes,  and  I  object  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
giving  its  sanction  in  advance  or  in  any  way  to  this  character  of  legislation. 
It  is  a  false  principle,  and  it  will  work  evil,  and  only  evil,  in  this  country. 

What  jurisdiction  do  you  expect  to  exercise  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  for  the  benefit  of  the  women  in  respect  of  suffrage  or  in  respect  of 
separate  estates  ?  Where  are  the  boundaries  of  your  jurisdiction  ?  You 
find  them  in  the  territories  and  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  If  you  expect 
to  proceed  into  the  States  you  must  have  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  amended  so  as  to  put  our  wives  and  our  daughters  upon  the  footing 
of  those  who  are  provided  for  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments. 
Your  jurisdiction  is  limited  to  the  territories  and  to  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia. 

Inasmuch  as  this  measure,  I  understand,  has  been  made  a  party  measure 
by  the  decree  of  a  caucus,  I  propose  to  make  some  little  inquiry  into  the 
past  legislation  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  under  Republican 
rule  in  respect  of  the  extension  of  the  right  of  suffrage  to  certain  classes 
of  people  in  this  country.  I  will  take  up  first  the  territories. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  result  of  woman  suffrage  in  some  of  the 
territories.  The  territorial  legislature  of  Utah  has  gone  forward  and  con- 
ferred the  right  of  suffrage  upon  women.  The  population  in  the  last 
decade  has  reached  from  64,000, 1  believe,  to  about  150,000.  The  territorial 
legislature  of  Utah  conferred  upon  the  females  of  that  territory  the  right 
of  suffrage,  and  how  have  they  exercised  that  right  ?  Sir,  I  am  ashamed 
to  say  it,  but  it  is  known  to  the  world  that  the  power  of  Mormonism  and 
polygamy  in  Utah  territory  is  sustained  by  female  suffrage.  You  can- 
not get  rid  of  those  laws.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  legislative  power 
of  Utah  territory  is  Mormon  and  polygamous.  If  female  suffrage  is 
to  be  incorporated  into  the  laws  of  our  country  with  a  view  to  the  ameli- 
oration of  our  morals  or  our  political  sentiments,  we  stand  aghast  at  the 
spectacle  of  what  has  been  wrought  by  its  exercise  in  the  territory  of 
Utah.  There  stands  a  power  supporting  the  crime  of  polygamy  through 
what  they  call  a  divine  inspiration,  or  teaching  from  God,  and  all  the 
power  of  the  judges  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  has  been  unavailing  to  break  it  down.  Who  have  upheld 
it  ?  Those  who  in  the  family  circle  represent  one  husband  to  fifteen  women. 
A  continual  accumulation  of  the  power  of  the  church  and  of  polygamy 
is  going  on,  and  when  the  Gentiles,  as  they  are  called,  enter  that  territory 
with  the  view  of  breaking  it  up  they  are  confronted  by  the  women,  who 


Mr.  Morgan  Proceeds.  213 

are  allowed  to  vote,  and  from  whom  we  should  naturally  expect  a  better  and 
a  higher  morality  in  reference  to  subjects  of  the  kind.  But  this  only 
shows  the  power  of  man  over  woman.  It  only  shows  how  through  her 
tender  affections,  her  delicate  sensibilities,  and  her  confiding  spirit  she  can 
be  made  the  very  slave  and  bond-servant  of  man,  and  can  scarcely  ever 
be  made  an  independent  participant  in  the  stronger  exercise  of  the 
powers  which  God  seems  to  have  intrusted  to  him.  Never  was  there  a 
picture  more  disgusting  or  more  condemnatory  of  the  extension  of  the 
franchise  to  women  as  contradistinguished  from  men  than  is  presented  in 
the  territory  of  Utah  to-day. 

Where  is  the  necessity  of  raising  the  number  of  voters  in  the  United 
States  from  10,000,000  to  20,000,000?  That  would  be  the  direct  effect  of 
conferring  suffrage  upon  the  •women,  for  they  are  at  least  one-half,  if  not 
a  little  more  than  one-half,  of  the  entire  population  of  the  country  above 
the  age  of  twenty-one.  We  have  now  masses  of  voters  so  enormous  in 
numbers  as  that  it  seems  to  be  almost  beyond  the  power  of  the  law  to 
execute  the  purposes  of  the  elective  franchise  with  justice,  with  propriety, 
and  without  crime.  How  much  would  these  difficulties  and  these  intrinsic 
troubles  be  increased  if  we  should  raise  the  number  of  voters  from  10,- 
000,000  to  20,000,000  in  the  United  States?  That  would  be  the  direct  and 
immediate  effect  of  conferring  the  franchise  upon  the  women.  What 
would  be  the  next  effect  of  such  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  ?  It  was 
described  by  my  friend  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Vest]  and  by  other  senators 
•who  have  spoken  upon  this  subject.  The  effect  would  be  to  drive  the 
ladies  of  the  land,  as  they  are  termed,  the  well-bred  and  well-educated 
women,  the  women  of  nice  sensibilities,  within  their  home  circle,  there  to 
remain,  while  the  ruder  of  that  sex  would  thrust  themselves  out  on  the 
hustings  and  at  the  ballot-box,  and  fight  their  way  to  the  polls  through 
negroes  and  others  who  are  not  the  best  of  company  even  at  the  polls,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  disgrace  of  association  with  them.  You  would  paralyze 
one-third  at  least  of  the  women  of  this  land  by  the  very  vulgarity  of  the 
overture  made  to  them  that  they  should  go  struggling  to  the  polls  in 
order  to  vote  in  common  with  the  herd  of  men.  They  would  not  under- 
take it.  The  most  intelligent  and  trustworthy  part  of  the  suffrage  thus 
placed  upon  the  land  would  never  be  available,  while  that  which  was  not 
worthy  of  respect  either  for  its  character  or  for  its  information  would  take 
the  matter  in  hand  and  move  along  in  the  circle  of  politicians  to  cast  their 
suffrages  at  the  ballot-box. 

As  the  States  to  be  formed  out  of  the  territories  are  admitted  into  the 
Union,  they  will  come  stamped  with  the  characteristics  which  the  legis- 
latures of  the  territories  have  imprinted  upon  them  ;  and  if  after  due  con- 
sideration in  those  territories  the  men  who  have  the  regulation  of  public 
affairs  should  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  best  to  have  woman 
suffrage,  then  we  can  allow  them,  under  existing  laws,  to  go  on  and  per- 
fect their  systems  and  apply  for  admission  into  the  Union  with  them  as 
they  may  choose  to  adopt  them  and  to  shape  them.  The  law  upon  that 
subject  as  it  exists  is  liberal  enough,  for  it  gives  to  the  legislatures  the 
right  to  regulate  the  qualifications  of  suffrage.  It  leaves  it  to  each  local 


2I4 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


community,  wherever  it  may  be  throughout  the  territories  of  the  United 
States,  to  determine  for  itself  what  it  may  prefer  to  have. 

Is  it  the  object  in  the  raising  of  this  committeee  only  that  it  shall  have 
so  many  speeches  made,  so  much  talk  about  it,  or  is  it  to  be  the  object  of 
the  committee  to  have  legislation  brought  here  ?  If  you  bring  legislation 
here,  what  will  you  bring?  An  amendment  to  the  constitution  like  the 
fourteenth  amendment,  or  else  some  provision  obligatory  upon  the  ter- 
ritories by  which  female  suffrage  shall  be  allowed  there,  whether  the 
people  want  it  or  whether  they  do  not?  For  my  part,  before  this  session 
of  congress  ends  I  intend  to  introduce  a  bill  to  repeal  woman  suffrage  in 
the  territory  of  Utah,  knowing  and  believing  that  that  will  be  the 'most 
effectual  remedy  for  the  extirpation  of  polygamy  in  that  unfortunate  ter- 
ritory. If  you  choose  to  repeal  the  laws  of  any  territory  conferring  the 
right  of  suffrage  upon  women  you  have  the  power  in  congress  to  do  it ;  but 
there  are  no  measures  introduced  here  and  none  advocated  in  that  direc- 
tion. The  whole  drift  of  this  movement  is  in  the  other  direction.  This 
committee  is  sought  to  be  raised  either  for  the  accommodation  of  some 
senator  who  wants  a  chairmanship  and  a  clerk,  or  it  is  sought  to  be  raised 
for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  a  raid  on  the  laws  and  traditions  of  this 
country,  which  I  think  would  end  in  our  total  demoralization,  I  therefore 
oppose  this  measure  in  the  beginning,  and  I  expect  to  oppose  it  as  far  as 
it  may  go. 

Now  let  us  notice  for  a  moment  the  case  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
There  are  some  senators  here  who  have  given  themselves  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  in  the  advocacy  of  the  right  of  suffrage  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  especially  of  the  colored  people.  They  put  themselves  to  great 
trouble,  and  doubtless  at  some  expense  of  feeling,  to  worry  and  beset  and 
harry  gentlemen  who  come  from  certain  States  of  this  Union,  in  reference 
to  the  votes  of  the  negroes :  and  yet  these  very  gentlemen  have  been 
either  in  this  House  or  in  the  other  when  the  Republican  party  has  had  a 
two-thirds  majority  of  both  branches  and  has  deliberately  taken  from  the 
people  of  the  District  of  Columbia  the  right  to  elect  any  officer  from  a 
constable  to  a  mayor,  all  because  when  the  experiment  was  tried  here  it 
was  found  that  the  negroes  were  a  little  too  strong.  There  was  too  much 
African  suffrage  in  the  ballot-box,  and  they  must  get  rid  of  it,  and  to  get 
rid  of  it  on  terms  of  equality  they  have  disfranchised  every  man  in  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

I  shall  have  more  faith  in  the  sincerity  of  the  declarations  of  .gentlemen 
of  their  desire  to  have  the  women  vote  when  I  see  that  they  have  made 
some  step  toward  the  restoration  of  the  right  of  suffrage  to  the  people  of 
the  District  of  Columbia.  While  they  let  this  blot  remain  upon  our  law, 
while  they  allow  this  damning  conviction  to  stand,  they  may  stare  us  in 
the  face  and  accuse  us  continually  of  a  want  of  candor  and  sincerity  on 
this  subject,  but  they  will  address  their  arguments  to  me  in  vain,  even  as 
coming  from  men  who  have  an  infatuation  upon  the  subject.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve a  word  of  it,  Mr.  President. 

I  cannot  be  convinced  against  these  facts  that  this  new  movement  in 
favor  of  female  suffrage  means  anything  more  than  to  add  another  patch 


Vote  on  Mr.  Bayard's  Motion.  215 

to  the  worn-out  garment  of  Republicanism,  which  they  patched  with  Ma- 
honeism  in  Virginia,  with  repudiation  elsewhere,  and  which  they  now  seek 
to  patch  further  by  putting  on  the  delicate  little  silk  covering  of  woman 
suffrage.  I  do  not  believe  that  this  movement  has  its  root  and  branch  in 
any  sincere  desire  to  give  to  the  women  of  this  land  the  right  of  suffrage. 
I  think  it  is  a  mere  party  movement  with  a  view  of  attempting  to  draw  into 
the  reach  of  the  Republican  party  some  little  support  from  the  sympathy 
and  interest  they  suppose  the  ladies  will  take  in  their  cause  if  they  should 
advocate  it  here.  No  bill,  perhaps,  is  expected  to  be  reported.  The  com- 
mittee will  sit  and  listen  and  profess  to  be  charmed  and  enlightened  and 
instructed  by  what  may  be  said,  and  then  the  subject  will  be  passed  by 
without  any  actual  effort  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill. 

Introduce  your  bills  and  let  them  go  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  where 
the  rights  of  men  are  to  be  considered  as  well  as  the  rights  of  women.  If 
this  subject  is  of  that  pressing  national  importance  which  senators  seem 
to  think  it  is,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
will  fail  to  give  it  profound  and  early  attention.  When  you  bring  a  select 
committee  forward  under  the  circumstances  under  which  this  is  to  be 
raised,  you  must  not  expect  us  to  give  credit  generally  to  the  idea  that 
the  real  purpose  is  to  advance  the  cause  of  woman  suffrage,  but  rather 
that  the  real  purpose  is  to  advance  the  cause  of  political  domination  in  this 
country.  I  can  see  no  reason  for  the  raising  of  this  select  committee,  un- 
less it  be  to  furnish  some  senator,  as  I  have  remarked,  with  a  clerk  and 
messenger.  If  that  were  the  avowed  reason  or  could  even  be  intimated,  I 
think  I  should  be  disposed  to  yield  that  courtesy  to  the  senator,  whoever 
he  might  be  ;  but  I  cannot  do  it  under  the  false  pretext  that  the  real  ob- 
ject is  to  bring  forward  measures  here  for  the  introduction  of  woman 
suffrage  into  the  District  of  Columbia,  where  we  have  no  suffrage,  or 
into  the  territories,  where  they  have  all  the  suffrage  that  the  territorial 
legislatures  see  proper  to  give  them.  I  therefore  shall  oppose  the  reso- 
lution. 

Mr.  BAYARD  :  I  move  the  that  Senate  proceed  to  the  consideration  of 
executive  business.  [The  motion  was  agreed  to.] 

JANUARY  9,  1882. 

Mr.  HOAR  :  I  now  ask  for  the  consideration  of  the  resolution  relating 
to  a  select  committee  on  woman  suffrage. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tcmpore :  There  being  ten  minutes  left  of  the  morn- 
ing hour,  the  senator  Irom  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Hoar]  asks  for  the  consid- 
eration of  the  resolution  relating  to  woman  suffrage.  The  pending  ques- 
tion is  on  the  motion  of  the  senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard]  to  refer 
the  subject-matter  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  on  which  the  yeas; 
and  nays  have  been  ordered. 

The  principal  legislative  clerk  proceeded  to  call  the  roll. 

Mr.  BUTLER  (when  Mr.  Pugh's  name  was  called) :  I  was  requested' 
by  the  senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Pugh]  to  announce  his  pair  with  the; 
senator  from  New  York  [Mr.  Miller]. 

The  roll-call  was  concluded. 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Mr.  TELLER  :  On  this  question  I  am  paired  with  the  senator  from  Ala- 
bama [Mr.  Morgan].  If  the  senator  from  Alabama  were  present,  I  should 
vote  "  nay." 

Mr.  McPHERSON  (after  having  voted  in  the  affirmative) :  I  rise  to  ask 
the  privilege  of  withdrawing  my  vote.  I  am  paired  with  my  colleague 
[Mr.  Sewell]  on  all  political  questions,  and  this  seems  to  have  taken  a  po- 
litical shape. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  senator  from  New  Jersey  withdraws 
his  vote. 

The  result  was  announced — yeas  27,  nays  31.  So  the  motion  was  not 
agreed  to. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore:  The  question  recurs  on  the  adoption  of 
the  resolution. 

Mr.  EDMUNDS  :  Let  it  be  read  for  information.  The  secretary  read  the 
resolution, 

Mr.  EDMUNDS:  "Shall"  ought  to  be  stricken  out  and  "may"  inserted, 
because  the  Senate  ought  always  to  have  the  power  to  refer  any  particular 
measure  as  it  pleases. 

Mr.  HOAR  :     I  have  no  objection  to  that  modification. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  senator  from  Massachusetts  accepts 
the  suggestion  of  the  senator  from  Vermont,  and  the  word  "  may"  will  be 
substituted  for  "shall." 

Mr.  HILL  of  Georgia:  I  wish  to  say  that  I  have  opposed  all  resolu- 
tions, whether  originating  on  the  other  side  of  the  chamber  or  on  this 
side,  appointing  special  committees.  They  are  all  wrong.  They  are  not 
founded,  in  my  judgment,  on  a  correct  principle.  There  is  no  necessity 
to  raise  a  select  committee  for  this  business.  The  standing  committees  of 
the  Senate  are  ample  to  do  everything  that  it  is  proposed  the  select  com- 
mittee asked  for  shall  do.  The  only  result  of  appointing  more  special 
committees  is  to  have  just  that  many  more  clerks,  just  that  much  more 
expense,  just  that  many  more  committee-rooms.  This  is  not  the  first  time 
I  have  opposed  the  raising  of  a  select  committee. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  morning  hour  has  expired,  and  it  re- 
quires unanimous  consent  for  the  senator  from  Georgia  to  proceed  with 
his  remarks. 

JANUARY  21,  1882. 

Mr.  HOAR:  I  move  that  the  Senate  proceed  with  the  consideration  of 
the  resolution. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :    If  there  is  no  objection,  unanimous  con- 
sent will  be  assumed, 
jjjjr.  FARLEY  and  others:    I  object. 

Mr,.  HOAR  :  I  move  that  the  Senate  proceed  with  the  consideration  of 
the  resolution. 

Mr.  SHERMAN  :  Let  it  be  proceeded  with  informally,  subject  to  the  call 
for  other  business. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  question  is  on  the  motion  of  the  sen- 
ator from  Massachusetts.  [Putting  the  question.]  The  Chair  is  uncertain 
from  the  sound  and  will  ask  for  a  division. 


Mr.  Hill's  Speech.     .  217 

The  motion  was  agreed  to ;  there  being  on  a  division — ayes  32,  noes  20. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  resolution  is  before  the  Senate  and 
the  senator  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Hill]  has  the  floor. 

Mr.  HILL  of  Georgia :  Mr.  President,  I  do  not  intend  to  say  one  word 
on  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage.  I  shall  not  get  into  that  discussion 
which  was  alluded  to  by  the  senator  from  Massachusetts.  The  senator 
will  remember,  if  he  refreshes  his  recollection,  that  when  my  late  col- 
league, now  no  longer  a  senator,  made  a  motion  for  the  appointment  of  a 
select  committe  in  relation  to  the  inter-oceanic  canal,  I  opposed  it  dis- 
tinctly, though  it  came  from  my  colleague,  upon  the  ground  that  the 
appointment  of  select  committees  ought  to  stop,  that  it  was  wrong;  and 
I  oppose  this  resolution  for  the  same  reason.  I  voted  against  a  resolution 
to  raise  a  select  committee  offered  by  a  senator  on  this  side  of  the  cham- 
ber at  the  present  session,  and  I  have  voted  against  all  resolutions  of  that 
character. 

No  senator,  in  my  judgment,  will  rise  in  his  place  in  the  Senate  and  say 
that  it  is  necessary  to  appoint  a  special  committee  to  consider  the  matters 
referred  to  in  the  resolution.  It  is  true  I  am  a  member  of  the  committee, 
and  perhaps  ought  not  to  refer  to  it,  but  we  have  a  standing  committee, 
of  which  the  distinguished  senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Hoar]  is 
chairman,  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections,  that,  I  take  occa- 
sion to  say,  is  a  very  proper  committee  for  this  matter  to  go  to  ;  and  that 
committee  has  almost  nothing  on  earth  to  do.  There  is  but  one  single 
subject-matter  now  before  it,  and  I  believe  there  will  be  scarcely  another 
question  before  that  committee  at  this  session.  There  is  not  a  contested 
election  ;  there  is  not  a  dispute  about  anybody's  seat ;  and  yet  it  is  a  Com- 
mittee on  Privileges  and  Elections.  What  is  the  reason  for  going  on 
continually  and  appointing  these  select  committees,  when  there  are  stand- 
ing committees  here,  properly  organized  to  consider  the  very  question 
specified  by  the  resolution,  with  nothing  to  do  ? 

Now,  I  am  going  to  say  one  other  thing.  I  do  not  pretend  that  the 
purpose  I  am  now  about  to  state  is  the  purpose  of  the  senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts. I  have  no  reflections  to  make  as  to  what  this  resolution  is 
intended  for,  but  we  do  know  that  there  is  an  idea  abroad  that  select  com- 
mittees are  generally  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  giving  somebody  a 
chairmanship,  that  somebody  may  have  a  clerk.  That  is  not  the  case  here, 
I  dare  say.  I  do  not  mean  to  intimate  that  it  is  the  case  here,  but  it  ought 
to  be  put  a  stop  to  ;  it  is  all  wrong.  I  think,  though,  that  there  ought  to 
be  a  resolution  passed  by  this  body  giving  every  senator  who  has  not  a 
committee  a  clerk.  Everybody  knows  that  every  chairman  of  a  committee 
has  a  clerk  in  the  clerk  of  that  committee.  The  other  senators,  at  least 
in  my  opinion,  ought  each  to  have  a  clerk.  I  would  vote  for  such  a  reso- 
lution. I  believe  it  would  be  right,  and  I  believe  the  country  would  ap- 
prove it.  Every  senator  knows  that  he  has  more  business  to  attend  to 
here  than  he  can  possibly  perform.  Why,  sir,  if  I  were  to  attend  to  all 
the  business  in  the  departments  and  otherwise  that  my  constituents  ask 
me  to  perform,  I  could  not  discharge  half  my  duties  in  this  chamber;  and 
every  senator,  I  dare  say,  has  the  same  experience.  It  is  to  the  public 


218  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

interest,  therefore,  in  my  judgment,  that  every  senator  should  have  a 
clerk.  I  am  unable  to  employ  a  clerk  from  my  own  funds ;  many  other 
senators  are  more  fortunately  situated  ;  but  still  I  must  do  that  or  move 
the  appointment  of  a  special  committee  for  the  purpose  in  an  indirect  way 
of  getting  a  clerk.  It  is  not  right. 

It  has  been  said  that  if  senators  each  have  a  clerk,  for  instance,  a  clerk 
at  $100  a  month  salary  during  the  session,  which  would  be  a  very  small 
matter,  the  members  of  the  other  House  would  each  want  a  clerk.  It  does 
not  follow.  There  is  a  vast  difference.  A  member  of  the  other  House 
represents  a  narrow  district,  a  single  district ;  a  senator  represents  a  whole 
State.  Take  the  State  of  New  York.  There  are  thirty-three  representa- 
tives in  the  House  from  the  State  of  New  York ;  there  are  but  two  sena- 
tors here  from  that  State.  Those  two  senators  in  all  likelihood  have  as 
much  business  to  perform  here  for  their  constituents  as  the  thirty-three 
members  of  the  House.  There  is,  therefere,  an  eminent  reason  why  a 
senator  should  have  a  clerk  and  why  a  member  of  the  House  should  not. 

I  cannot  vote  for  the  appointment  of  select  committees  unless  you  raise 
a  select  committee  for  every  senator  in  the  body  so  as  to  give  him  a  clerk. 
You  have  appointed  select  committees  for  this  business  and  for  that.  It 
gives  a  few  men  an  advantage  when  the  business  of  the  country  does  not 
require  it,  whereas  if  you  appointed  a  clerk  for  each  senator,  with  a  nominal 
salary  of  $100  per  month  during  the  session,  it  would  enable  every  senator 
to  do  his  work  more  efficiently  both  here  and  for  his  constituents ;  it 
would  put  all  the  senators  on  a  just  equality;  it  would  be  in  furtherance 
of  the  public  interest ;  and  it  would  avoid  what  I  consider  (with  all  due 
deference  and  not  meaning  to  be  offensive)  the  unseemly  habit  of  con- 
stantly moving  the  appointment  of  select  committees  in  this  body.  This 
is  all  I  have  to  say.  I  vote  against  the  resolution  simply  because  I  am 
opposed  to  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  for  this  or  any  other 
purpose  that  I  can  now  think  of. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  The  question  is  on  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution. 

Mr.  VEST  called  for  the  yeas  and  nays,  and  they  were  ordered,  and  the 
principal  legislative  clerk  proceeded  to  call  the  roll. 

Mr.  JONES  of  Florida  (when  his  name  was  called)  :  I  propose  to  vote 
for  this  resolution,  but  at  the  same  time  I  do  not  regard  my  vote  as  in 
any  way  committing  myself  on  the  subject  of  female  suffrage.  If  they 
think  an  investigation  of  this  subject  should  be  had  in  this  way,  I  for  one 
am  willing  to  have  it.  I  vote  "yea." 

Mr.  TELLER,  (when  his  name  was  called) :  On  this  question  I  am  paired 
with  the  senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Morgan];  otherwise  I  should  vote 
"yea." 

The  roll-call  having  been  concluded,  the  result  was  announced — yeas 
35,  nays  23 ;  so  .the  resolution  was  agreed  to.* 


*  Yeas — Aldrich,  Allison,  Anthony,  Blair,  Cameron  of  Pa.,  Cameron  of  Wis.,  Conger,  Davis  of  111., 
Dawes,  Edmunds,  Ferry,  Frye,  Harrison,  Hawley,  Hill  of  Col.,  Hoar,  Jones  of  Fla.,  Jones  of  Nev., 
Kellogg,  Lapham,  Logan,  McDill,  McMillan,  Miller  of  Cal.,  Mitchell,  Merrill,  Platt,  Plumb,  Ransom, 
Rollins,  Saunders,  Sawyer,  Sewell,  Sherman,  Windom — 35. 


House  Resolution  on  Select  Committee.  219 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  December  20,  1881. 
Mr.  WHITE  of  Kentucky ;    I  ask  consent  to  offer  for  consideration  at 
this  time  the  resolution  which  I  send  to  the  clerk's  desk. 
The  clerk  read  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  a  select  committee  of  seven  members  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives be  appointed  by  the  Speaker,  to  whom  shall  be  referred  all  petitions,  bills  and 
resolves  providing  for  the  extension  of  suffrage  to  women,  or  for  the  removal  of  legal 
disabilities. 

Mr.  MILLS  of  Texas :  I  object. 

Mr.  KELLEY  of  Pennsylvania:  A  similar  resolution  has  already  been  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Rules. 

The  SPEAKER  (Mr.  Keifer  of  Ohio):  Objection  being  made  to  its  con- 
sideration at  this  time,  the  resolution  will  be  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Rules. 

The  resolution  was  referred  accordingly. 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  February  25,  1882. 

Mr.  REED  of  Maine  :  I  rise  to  make  a  privileged  report.  The  Committee 
on  Rules,  to  whom  were  referred  sundry  resolutions  relating  to  the  sub- 
ject, have  instructed  me  to  report  the  resolution  which  I  send  to  the  desk. 

The  clerk  read  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  a  select  committee  of  nine  members  be  appointed,  to  whom  shall  be 
referred  all  petitions,  bills  and  resolves  asking  for  the  extension  of  suffrage  to  women 
or  the  removal  of  their  legal  disabilities. 

The  SPEAKER:  The  question  is  on  the  adoption  of  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Rules. 

Mr.  HOLMAN  of  Indiana :  I  ask  that  the  latter  portion  of  the  resolution 
be  again  read.  It  was  not  heard  in  this  part  of  the  house. 

The  resolution  was  again  read. 

Mr.  TOWNSHEND  of  Illinois :  I  rise  to  make  a  parliamentary  inquiry. 

The  SPEAKER:  The  gentleman  will  state  it. 

Mr.  TOWNSHEND  :  My  inquiry  is  whether  that  resolution  should  not  go 
to  the  House  calendar. 

The  SPEAKER  :  It  is  a  privileged  report  under  the  rules  of  the  House 
from  the  Committee  on  Rules.  The  question  is  on  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution. 

Mr.  McMiLLiN  of  Tennessee  :  I  make  the  point  of  order  that  it  must  lie 
over  for  one  day. 

The  SPEAKER:  It  is  the  report  of  a  committee  privileged  under  the 
rules. 

Mr.  McMiLLiN  :  The  committtee  are  privileged  to  report,  but  under  the 
rule  the  report  has  to  lie  over  a  day. 


Nays—  Bayard,  Beck,  Brown,  Butler,  Camden,  Cockrell,  Coke,  Davis  of  W.  Va.,  Fair,  Farley,  Gaiv 
land,  Hampton,  Hill  of  Ga.,  Jackson,  Jonas,  McPherson,  Maxey,  Saulsbury,  Slater,  Vance,  Vest, 
Walker,  \Villiams — 23. 

Absent — Call.  George,  Gorman,  Groome,  Grover,  Hale,  Harris,  Ingalls.  Johnston.  1  .tni.ir,  Mahone, 
Miller  of  N.  Y.,  Morgan,  Pendleton,  Pugh,  Teller.  Van  Wyck,  Voorhees— 18. 

The  members  of  the  committee  were  Senators  Lapham  of  New  York,  Anthony  of  Rhode  Island, 
Blair  of  New  Hampshire,  Jackson  of  Tennessee,  George  of  Mississippi,  Ferry  of  Michigan  and  Fair 
of  Nevada. 


220  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  SPEAKER:  The  gentleman  from  Tennessee  will  oblige  the  Chair  by 
directing  his  attention  to  any  rule  which  requires  such  a  report  to  lie  over 
one  day.  It  changes  no  standing  rule  or  order  of  the  House. 

Mr.  McMlLLiN  :  It  does,  by  making  a  change  in  the  number  and  nature 
of  the  committees.  All  measures  of  a  particular  class,  the  resolution 
states,  must  be  referred  to  the  proposed  committee,  whereas  heretofore 
they  have  been  referred  to  a  different  committee.  Therefore  the  resolu- 
tion changes  the  rules  of  the  House. 

The  SPEAKER:  The  Chair  is  of  opinion  the  resolution  does  not  rescind 
or  change  any  standing  rule  of  the  House.  The  question  is  on  the  adop- 
tion of  the  resolution. 

Mr.  SPRINGER:  Mr.  Speaker,  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Chair 
to  the  fact  that  this  does  distinctly  change  one  of  the  standing  rules  of 
the  House.  One  of  the  standing  rules  is — 

The  SPEAKER:  The  Chair  has  passed  on  that  question,  and  no  appeal 
has  been  taken  from  his  decision. 

Mr.  SPRINGER:  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Chair  to  Rule  10, 
which  specifically  provides  for  the  appointment  of  the  full  number  of 
committees  this  House  is  to  have,  and  this  is  not  one  of  them. 

The  SPEAKER:  Not  one  of  the  standing  committees,  but  a  select  com- 
mittee. 

Mr.  SPRINGER  :  That  rule  provides  there  shall  be  a  certain  number  of 
committees,  the  names  of  which  are  therein  given. 

Mr.  REED  :  I  sincerely  hope  this  will  not  be  made  a  matter  of  technical 
discussion  or  debate.  It  is  a  matter  upon  which  members  of  this  House 
must  have  opinions  which  they  can  express  by  voting,  in  a  very  short 
time,  without  taking  up  the  attention  of  the  House  beyond  what  is  really 
necessary  for  a  bare  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  question. 

Mr.  McMlLLiN  :    Will  the  gentleman  permit  me  to  ask  him  a  question  ? 

Mr.  REED  :  Certainly. 

Mr.  McMlLLiN  :  Would  you  not,  as  a  parliamentarian,  concede  that  this 
does  change  the  existing  rules  of  the  House? 

Mr.  REED  :  By  no  manner  of  means,  especially  when  the  accomplished 
Speaker  has  decided  the  other  way,  and  no  gentleman  has  taken  an  ap- 
peal from  his  decision.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  McMlLLiN :  Then  you  have  no  opinion  beyond  his  decision  ? 

The  SPEAKER:  The  Chair  will  state  to  the  gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr. 
Springer]  that  this  resolution  does  not  change  any  of  the  standing  com- 
mittees of  the  House  which  are  provided  for  in  Rule  10. 

Mr.  SPRINGER:  It  provides  for  a  new  committee. 

The  SPEAKER  :  It  provides  for  a  select  committee.  The  subject  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Rules  by  order  of  the  House,  and  this  is  a 
report  on  the  resolution  so  referred. 

Mr.  SPRINGER  :  The  rule  provides  that  no  standing  rule  or  order  of  the 
House  shall  be  rescinded  or  changed  without  one  day's  notice. 

The  SPEAKER  :  The  Chair  would  decide  that  this  does  not  propose  any 
change  or  rescinding  of  any  standing  rule  of  the  House. 


Vote  on  tke  Resolution.  221 

Mr.  SPRINGER  :  Does  the  Chair  hold  that  the  making  of  a  new  rule  is 
not  a  change  of  the  existing  rules  ? 

The  SPEAKER  :  The  Chair  does  not  decide  anything  of  the  kind. 

Mr.  SPRINGER  :   What  does  the  Chair  decide  ? 

The  SPEAKER:  The  Chair  does  not  undertake  to  decide  any  such  ques- 
tion, for  it  is  not  now  presented. 

Mr.  SPRINGER:  Is  this  not  a  new  rule? 

The  SPEAKER  :  It  is  not. 

Mr.  SPRINGER:  It  is  not? 

The  SPEAKER:  It  is  a  provision  for  a  select  committee. 

Mr.  SPRINGER:  Can  you  have  a  committee  without  a  rule  of  the  House 
providing  for  it? 

The  SPEAKER  :  The  question  is  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  re- 
ported from  the  Committee  on  Rules. 

Mr.  ATKINS  :  On  that  question  I  call  for  the  yeas  and  nays. 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered. 

The  question  was  taken  and  there  were — yeas  115,  nays  84,  not  voting 
93  ;  so  the  resolution  was  carried.* 

Mr.  REED  moved  to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which  the  resolution  was 
adopted ;  and  also  moved  that  the  motion  to  reconsider  be  laid  on  the 
table.  The  latter  motion  was  agreed  to. 

On  Monday,  March  13,  1882,  the  Chair  announced  the  appointment  of 
the  following  gentlemen  as  the  Select  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage 
authorized  by  the  House :  Mr.  Camp  of  New  York,  Mr.  White  of  Ken- 
tucky, Mr.  Sherwin  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Stone  of  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Hepburn 
of  Iowa,  Mr.  Springer  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Vance  of  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Mul- 
drow  of  Mississippi  and  Mr.  Stockslager  of  Indiana. 

The  Annual  Washington  Convention  was  held  in  Lincoln  Hall 
as  usual,  January  18,  19,  20,  1882.  The  afternoon  before  the 
convention,  at  an  executive  session  held  at  the  Riggs  House, 


*  Yeas — Aldrich,  Anderson,  Bayne.  Beach,  Belford,  Bingham,  Black,  Bliss,  Brewer.  Briggs,  Browne, 
Brumm,  Buck,  Burrows,  Julius  C.,  Butterworth,  Calkins,  Camp,  Campbell,  Candler,  Cannon,  Carpen- 
ter, Caswell,  Converse,  Crapo,  Davis,  George  R.,  Dawes,  Deering,  De  Motte,  Dezendorf,  Dinglcy, 
Dwight,  Farwell,  Sewall  S.,  Finley,  Flower,  Geddes,  Grout,  Hardenburgh,  Harris,  Henry,  S.,  Husel- 
tine,  Haskell,  Hawk,  Hazelton,  Hcilman,  Henderson,  Hepburn,  Hill,  Hiscock,  Horr,  Houk,  Hubbell, 
Humphrey,  Hutchinson,  Jacobs,  Jadwin,  Jones,  Phineas.  Kasson,  Kelley,  Ladd,  Lord,  Marsh,  Mason, 
McClure,  McCoid,  McCook,  McKinley,  Miles,  Miller,  Moulton,  Murch,  Nolan,  Norcross,  O'Neill,  Orth, 
Page,  Parker,  Paul,  Payson,  Poole.  Pierce,  Pettibone,  Pound,  Prescott,  Ranncy,  Ray,  Reed,  Rice. 
Theron  M.,  Richardson,  D.  P.,  Ritchie,  Robeson,  Robinson,  Geo.  D.,  Robinson,  James  S.,  Ryan, 
Scranton,  Shallenberger,  Sherwin,  Skinner,  Smith,  A.  Herr,  Smith,  Dietrich  C.,  Spaulding,  Spooner, 
Steele,  Stephens,  Stone,  Strait,  Taylor,  Updegraff,  J.  T.,  Updegraff,  Thomas,  Valentine,  Van  Arm. mi, 
Walker,  Watson,  West,  White,  Williams,  Chas.  G.,  Willits— 115. 

Nays — Aiken,  Atkins,  Berry,  Blackburn,  Bland,  Blount,  Bragg,  Buchanan,  Buckner,  Cabell,  Cald- 
well,  Cassiday,  Chapman,  Clark,  Clements,  Cobb,  Colerick,  Cox,  William  R.,  Covington,  Cravens, 
Culbcrson,  Curtin,  Deuster,  Dibrcll,  Dowd,  Evins,  Forney,  Frost,  Fulkerson,  Garrison,  Guenther, 
Gunter,  Hammond,  N.  J.,  Hatch,  Herbert,  Hewitt,  G.  W.  Hope,  Holman,  House,  Jones,  George  W., 
Jones,  James  K.,  Joyce,  Kenna,  Klotz,  Knott,  Latham,  Leedom.  Manning,  Martin,  Matson,  McMillin, 
Mills,  Money,  Morrison,  Mutchler,  Gates,  Phister,  Reagan,  Rosecrans,  Ross,  Schackleford,  Shelley, 
Simonton,  Singleton,  Jas.  W.,  Singleton,  Otho  R.,  Sparks,  Speer,  Springer,  Stockslager,  Thompson, 
P.  B..  Thompson,  Wm.  G.,  Tillman,  Tucker,  Turner,  Henry  G.,  Turner,  Oscar,  Upson,  Vance,  War» 
ner,  Whittihore,  Williams,  Thomas,  Willis,  Wilson,  Wise,  George  D.,  Young— 84. 


222  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

forty  delegates  were  present  from  fourteen  different  States.* 
Among  these  were  five  from  Massachusetts,  and  for  the  first 
time  that  State  was  represented  on  the  platform  of  the  National 
Association.  Mrs.  Stanton  gave  the  opening  address,  and  made 
some  amusing  criticisms  on  a  recent  debate  on  Senator  H'oar's 
proposition  for  a  special  committee  on  the  rights  and  disabilities 
of  women.  Such  a  committee  had  been  under  debate  for  several 
years  and  it  was  during  this  convention  that  the  bill  passed  the 
Senate. 

Invitations  to  attend  the  convention  were  sent  to  all  the 
members  of  congress,  and  many  were  present  during  the  various 
sessions.  Miss  Ellen  H.  Sheldon,  secretary,  read  the  minutes  of 
the  last  convention,  and,  instead  of  the  usual  dry  skeleton  of  facts, 
she  gave  a  glowing  description  of  that  eventful  occasion.  Clara 

B.  Colby  gave  an  interesting  narration  of  the  progress  of  woman 
suffrage  in  Nebraska,  and  of  the  efforts  being  made  to  carry  the 
proposition  pending  before  the  people,  to  strike  the  word  "  male  " 
from  the  constitution  in  the  coming  November  election. 

Rev.  Frederick  A.  Hinckley  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  spoke  upon 
"  Our  Demand  in  the  Light  of  Evolution."  He  said  : 

It  is  about  a  century  since  our  forefathers  declared  that  "governments 
derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,"  and 
about  a  half  century  since  woman  began  to  see  that  she  ought  to  be 
included  in  this  declaration.  At  present  the  expressions  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  are  a  "glittering  generality,"  for  only  one-half  of  the 
people  "consent."  Modern  science  has  demonstrated  the  truth  of  evolu- 
tion— like  causes  produce  like  results — and  this  is  seen  in  the  progress  of 
government  and  of  woman.  From  the  time  when  physical  force  ruled, 
up  to  the  present,  when  ostensibly  in  the  United  States  every  person  is  his 
own  ruler,  there  have  been  many  steps.  The  importance  of  the  masses 
has  steadily  taken  the  place  of  the  importance  of  individuals.  At  first  the 
idea  was  "You  shall  obey  because  I  say  so";  then,  "You  shall  obey  be- 
cause I  am  your  superior,  and  will  protect  you";  now  it  is  '•  Everyone 
shall  be  his  own  protector."  But  we  do  not  live  up  to  this  idea  while  only 
one-half  instead  of  the  whole  of  "  everyone  "  is  his  own  protector.  The 
phases  of  woman's  advancement  are  fitly  described  by  the  four  words — 
slave,  subject,  inferior,  dependent ;  and  no  step  in  this  advance  has  been 

*  Connecticut,  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Frances  Ellen  Burr.  Colorado,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  G.  Campbell, 
District  of  Columbia,  Ellen  H.  Sheldon,  Jane  H.  Spofford,  Dr.  Caroline  B.  Winslow,  Ellen  M. 
O'Conner,  Eliza  Titus  Ward,  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Mrs.  H.  L.  Shephard,  Martha  Johnson.  Indiana, 
Helen  M.  Gongar,  May  Wright  Sewall,  Laura  Kregelo,  Alexiana  S.  Maxwell.  Maine,  Sophronia 

C.  Snow.     Massachusetts,  Mrs.  Harriet  H.  Robinson,  Harriette  R.  Shattuck,  Laura  E.  Brooks,  Mary 
R.  Brown,  Emma  F.  Clary.     Nebraska,  Clara  B.  Colby.     New  Jersey,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Mrs.  Chandler. 
A'/w   York,  Mrs.  Caroline  Gilkey  Rogers,  Mrs.   Blake,   Mrs.   Gage,  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.   Helen  M. 
Loder.     Pennsylvania,  Mrs.  McClellan  Brown,  Rachel  G.  Foster,    Emma  C.  Rhodes.   Rhode  Island^ 
Rev.   Frederick  A  Hinckley,  Mrs.  Burgess.     Wisconsin,  Miss  Eliza  Wilson  and  Mrs.  Painter. 


Speech  of  Phoebe   W.   Couzins.  223 

accomplished  without  a  hard  struggle.  The  logic  of  evolution  in  govern- 
ment points  to  universal  suffrage.  The  same  logic  points  to  unqualified 
individual  freedom  for  woman. 

Mrs.  Blake  in  reporting  from  her  State  said  : 

Governor  Cornell  was  the  first  New  York  Governor  to  mention  woman 
in  an  inaugural  address,  and  the  bill  allowing  women  to  vote  in  school 
elections  was  passed  the  same  winter.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  opposi- 
tion in  different  parts  of  the  State  to  the  voting  of  women.  In  some 
country  districts  where  the  polls  are  in  the  school-houses,  certain  men 
went  early  and  locked  the  doors,  filled  the  room  with  smoke  and  even  put 
tobacco  on  the  stoves  to  make  it  as  disagreeable  for  the  women  as  possi- 
ble. More  respectable  men  had  to  ventilate  and  clean  the  rooms  to  make 
them  decent  for  either  man  or  woman.  From  this  lowest  class  of  oppo- 
nents up  to  those  who  say  :  "  My  dear,  you'd  better  not  make  yourself  con- 
spicuous ! "  the  spirit  is  the  same.  Believing  that  under  our  constitution 
women  are  already  entitled  to  the  ballot,  we  do  not  ask  for  a  constitu- 
tional amendment,  but  for  a  bill  extending  the  suffrage  at  once. 

Mrs.  COLBY  in  contrast  to  this  stated  that  in  Nebraska  the  greatest 
courtesy  had  always  been  shown  to  women  who  voted  at  school  elections 
There  is  only  one  organized  effort  against  woman  suffrage,  and  that  is 
made  by  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty  ! "  "  O,  Consistency,  thou  art  a  jewel !  " 

The  following  resolution  introduced  into  the  Senate,  January 
II,  by  Mr.  Morgan  of  Alabama,  was  finally  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Woman  Suffrage.  This  was  the  first  subject  brought 
before  them  for  action. 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  on  "  The  extension  of  suffrage  to  women,  or  the  re- 
moval of  their  disabilities,"  be  directed  to  examine  into  the  state  of  the  law  regulating 
the  ri<;ht  of  suffrage  in  the  territory  of  Utah,  and  report  a  bill  to  set  aside  and  annul 
any  law  or  laws  enacted  by  the  legislature  of  said  territory  conferring  upon  women 
the  right  of  suffrage. 

Miss  Couzins  made  an  admirable  speech  on  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

Resolved,  That  Senator  Morgan's  bill  to  deprive  the  women  of  Utah  of  the  right  of 
suffrage  because  of  the  social  institutions  and  religious  faith  originated  and  maintained 
by  the  men  of  the  territory,^  a  travesty  on  common  justice.  While  the  wife  has  not 
absolute  possession  of  even  one  husband,  and  the  husband  has  many  wives,  surely  the 
men  and  not  the  women,  if  either,  should  be  deprived  of  the  suffrage. 

Miss  COUZINS  said :  The  task  of  dealing  fairly  and  justly  with  this  ter- 
ritorial complication  should  never  be  committed  to  the  blundering  legis- 
lation of  man  alone.  His  success  as  a  legislator  and  executive  for  woman 
in  the  past  does  not  inspire  a  confidence  that  in  this  most  serious  problem 
he  will  be  any  the  less  an  unbiased  judge  and  law-giver.  This  government 
of  men  permitted  the  establishment  of  a  religious  colony,  so  called,  whose 
basis  of  faith  was  the  complete  humiliation  of  women  ;  recognized  the 
system  by  appointing  its  chief,  Brigham  Young,  governor  of  the  territory, 
under  whose  fostering  care  polygamy  grew  to  its  present  proportions. 


224  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

That  woman  has  not  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  religious  despotism  can  be 
readily  appreciated  when  we  recognize  the  fact  that  man,  from  time  imme- 
morial, has  played  upon  her  religious  faith  to  exalt  his  own  attributes  and 
degrade  hers  ;  that  through  this  teaching  her  abiding  belief  in  his  superior 
capacity  to  interpret  scriptural  truths  for  her  has  been  the  means  of  sacri- 
ficing her  power  of  mind,  her  tender  affections,  her  delicate  sensibilities, 
on  the  altar  of  his  base  selfishness  throughout  the  ages.  Orthodoxy 
recognizes  no  "  inspiration  "  for  woman  to-day.  She  is  not  "  called  "  save 
to  serve  man.  Under  its  teaching  her  thought  has  been  padlocked  in  the 
name  of  Divinity,  and  her  lips  sealed  in  sacrilegious  pretense  of  au- 
thority from  heaven ;  and  nothing  so  clearly  bespeaks  the  degenerating 
influence  of  the  ages  of  this  masculine  teaching  as  the  absolute  faith 
manifested  by  the  women  of  Utah  in  this  ipse  dixit  of  man's  religious  doc- 
trine. Their  emancipation  must  necessarily  be  slow. 

The  paternal  government  allowed  polygamy  to  be  planted,  take  root, 
and  grow  in  a  wilderness  where  the  attraction  of  nobler  minds  and  freer 
thoughts  was  not  known.  The  victims  came  from  the  political  despotisms 
of  the  old  world  to  be  shackled  in  a  land  of  freedom  with  a  still 
darker  despotism,  and  under  the  aegis  of  the  American  flag  they  have 
borne  children  as  a  religious  duty  they  owed  to  God  and  man  ;  and  surely 
it  can  not  be  expected,  even  with  that  grand  emancipator  from  king  and 
priestcraft  rule,  the  ballot,  that  at  once  they  will  vote  themselves  outcast 
and  their  children  illegitimate. 

It  took  the  white  men  of  this  nation  one  hundred  years  to  put  away 
that  relic  of  barbarism,  slavery ;  the  removal  of  the  twin  relic  will  come 
through  liberty  for  woman,  higher  education  for  children,  and  the  incom- 
ing tide  of  Gentile  immigration.  The  fitting  act  of  justice  is  not  disfran- 
chisement  of  woman,  as  Senator  Morgan  proposes,  and  the  reenactment 
of  that  old  Adamic  cry:  "The  woman  whom  thou  gavcst,"  but  the  dis- 
franchisement  of  man,  who  is  the  only  polygamist,  and  the  stepping  down 
and  out  of  the  sex  as  a  legislator  under  whose  fostering  care  this  evil  has 
grown.  Retire  to  your  sylvan  groves  and  academic  shades,  gentlemen,  as 
Mrs.  Stanton  suggests,  and  let  the  Deborahs,  the  Huldahs,  and  the  Vashtis 
come  to  the  front,  and  let  us  see  what  we  can  do  toward  the  remedy  of 
your  wretched  legislation.  But  suffrage  for  women  in  Utah  has  accom- 
plished great  good.  I  spent  one  week  there  in  close  observation. 
Outside  of  their  religious  convictions,  the  wo^ien  are  emphatic  in  con- 
demnation of  wrong.  Their  votes  banished  the  liquor  saloon.  I  saw  no 
drunkenness  anywhere;  the  poison  of  tobacco  smoke  is  not  allowed  to 
vitiate  the  air  of  heaven,  either  on  the  streets  or  in  public  assemblies. 
Their  court-room  was  a  model  of  neatness  and  good  order.  Plants  were 
in  the  windows  and  handsome  carpets  graced  the  floor.  During  my  stay, 
the  daughter  of  a  Mormon,  the  then  advocate-general  of  the  territory,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  by  Chief-Justice  McKean  of  the  United  States  Court, 
who,  in  fitting  and  beautiful  language,  welcomed  her  to  the  profession  as 
a  woman  whose  knowledge  of  the  law  fitted  her  to  be  the  peer  of  any 
man  in  his  court.  She  told  me  that  she  detested  polygamy,  but  felt  that 
she  could  render  greater  service  to  the  emancipation  of  her  sex  inside  of 


A  Large  Senator  and  a  Live  Representative,       225 

Utah  than  out.  At  midnight  I  wandered,  with  one  of  my  own  sex,  about 
the  streets  to  test  the  assertion  that  it  was  as  safe  for  women  then  as  at 
mid-day.  No  bacchanalian  shout  rent  the  air;  no  man  was  seen  reeling 
in  maudlin  imbecility  to  his  home.  No  guardians  put  in  an  appearance, 
save  the  stars  above  our  heads ;  no  sound  awoke  the  stillness  but  the  purl- 
ing of  the  mountain  brooks  which  washed  the  streets  in  cleanliness  and 
beauty.  What  other  city  on  this  continent  can  present  such  a  showing  ? 
With  murder  for  man  and  rapine  for  woman  where  man  alone  is  maker 
and  guardian  of  the  laws,  it  behooves  him  to  pause  ere  he  launches  in- 
vectives at  the  one  result  of  woman's  votes. 

Mrs.  Gougar,  on  our  Washington  platform  for  the  first  time, 
delighted  the  audience  with  her  readiness  and  wit.  She  has  a 
good  voice,  fine  presence,  and  speaks  fluently,  without  notes. 

She  spoke  of  the  reformatory  prison  for  women  in  her  State,  and  said 
that  the  statistics  showed  that  eighty-two  per  cent,  of  the  women  con- 
fined there  were  sent  out  reformed.  Speaking  of  the  gallantry  of  men, 
she  cited  a  case  of  a  man  who  came  to  an  Indiana  lawyer  and  desired  him 
to  make  a  will.  The  following  conversation  ensued  :  "  I  want  you  to 
make  this  will  so  that  my  wife  will  have  $400  a  year;  that's  enough 
for  any  woman."  "Is  she  the  only  wife  you  ever  had?"  "Yes." 
"  How  long  have  you  been  married  ?  "  "  Forty-two  years."  "  How 
many  children  have  you  had?"  "Eleven."  "Did  you  have  all  your 
property  before  marriage?"  "No;  didn't  have  a  cent;  I've  earned 
it  all."  "  Has  your  wife  helped  you  in  any  way  to  earn  it?  "  "Why,  yes, 
I  suppose  she  has  ;  but  then  I  want  to  fix  my  will  so  she  can  only  have 
$400  a  year;  it's  enough."  "Well,  sir,  you  will  have  to  move  out  of  the 
State  of  Indiana  then,  for  the  law  provides  for  the  wife  better  than  that, 
and  you  will  have  to  get  another  lawyer."  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this 
lawyer  is  a  staunch  champion  of  woman  suffrage,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  know 
that  there  are  more  such  men  being  educated  by  this  agitation. 

Mrs.  Maxwell  gave  a  fine  recitation  of  "  The  Dying  Soldier,"  at 
one  of  the  evening  sessions.  It  was  evident  by  the  sparkling  eyes 
of  the  Indiana  delegation  that  the  ladies  had  in  reserve  some  pleas- 
ant surprise  for  the  convention,  which  at  last  revealed  itself  in 
the  person  of  Judge  Orth,  a  live  member  of  congress  from  In- 
diana, who  stood  up  like  a  man  and  avowed  his  belief  in  woman 
suffrage.  His  words  were  few  but  to  the  point,  and  his  hearers 
all  knew  exactly  where  he  stood  on  the  question. 

The  next  evening  the  Nebraska  delegation,  determining  not  to 
be  outdone,  captured  one  of  their  United  States  senators  and  tri- 
umphantly brought  him  on  the  platform.  It  was  a  point  gained 
to  have  a  congressman  publicly  give  in  his  adhesion  to  the  ques- 
tion, but  how  much  greater  the  achievement  to  appear  in  the 
convention  with  a  United  States  senator.  It  was  a  proud 
15 


226  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

moment  for  Mrs.  Colby  when  Senator  Saunders,  a  large  man  of 
fine  proportions,  stepped  to  the  front.  But  alas !  her  triumph 
over  the  Indiana  ladies  was  short  indeed,  for  while  the  senator 
surpassed  the  representative  in  size  and  official  honors,  he  fell  far 
below  him  in  the  logic  of  his  statements  and  the  earnestness  of 
his  principles.  In  fact  the  audience  and  the  platform  were  in 
doubt  at  the  close  of  his  remarks  as  to  his  true  position  on  the 
question.  Mrs.  May  Wright  Sewall,  who  followed  him,  sparkled 
with  the  satisfaction  she  expressed  in  paying  most  glowing 
tributes  to  the  men  of  Indiana  and  their  State  institutions.  She 
said: 

The  principal  objection  to  woman  suffrage  has  always  been  that  it  will 
take  women  from  their  homes  and  destroy  all  home  life.  She  showed 
that  there  is  not  an  interest  of  home  which  is  not  represented  in  the 
State,  and  that  the  subordination  of  the  State  to  the  family  has  kept  pace 
with  the  subordination  of  physical  to  spiritual  force.  Woman  has  an  in- 
terest in  everything  which  affects  the  State,  and  only  lacks  the  legitimate 
instrument  of  these  interests — the  ballot — with  which  to  enforce  them. 
Life  regulates  legislation.  Domestic  life  is  woman's  sphere,  but  a  sphere 
of  much  larger  dimensions  than  has  ever  yet  been  accorded  it,  these 
dimensions  reaching  out  and  controlling  the  functions  of  the  State.  The 
ballot  is  not  a  political  or  a  military,  but  a  domestic  necessity. 

Mrs.  Harriette  R.  Shattuck  spoke  on  the  golden  rule,  asking 
men  to  put  themselves  in  the  place  of  disfranchised  women,  and 
then  legislate  for  them  as  they  would  be  legislated  for.  Mrs. 
Robinson  gave  a  resume  of  the  legal,  political  and  educational 
position  of  women  in  Massachusetts.  Mrs.  Hooker  showed  that 
political  equality  would  dignify  woman  in  home  life,  give  added 
weight  to  her  opinions  on  all  questions,  and  command  new 
respect  for  her  from  all  classes  of  men.  Mrs.  Colby  gave  an  in- 
teresting address  on  "  The  Social  Evolution  of  Woman  "  : 

She  traced  the  history  of  woman  from  the  time  when  she  was  bought 
and  sold,  up  to  the  present.  She  said  that  the  first  believer  in  woman's 
rights  was  the  one  who  first  proposed  that  women  should  be  allowed  to 
eat  with  their  husbands.  This  once  granted,  everything  else  has  followed 
of  necessity,  and  the  ballot  will  be  the  crowning  right.  Once  women 
were  not  allowed  to  sing  soprano  because  it  was  the  "governing  part." 
From  these  and  many  like  indignities  woman  has  gradually  evolved  until 
she  now  stands  on  an  equality  with  man  in  many  social  rights. 

Martha  McClellan  Brown  read  an  able  essay  on  "  The  Power  of 
the  Veto."  She  is  a  woman  of  fine  presence,  pleasing  manners 
and  a  well  trained  voice  that  can  fill  any  hall.  Her  address  was 
one  of  the  best  in  the  convention  and  all  felt  that  in  her  we  had 


Hearing  Before  the  Senate  Committee.  227 

a  valuable  acquisition  to  our  Association.     Mrs.  Gage  gave  an  able 
address  on  "  The  Moral  Force  of  Woman  Suffrage." 

During  the  first  day  of  the  convention  a  request,  signed  by  the 
officers  of  the  association,  was  sent  to  the  Special  Committee  on 
Woman  Suffrage  in  the  Senate,  asking  for  a  hearing  on  the  six- 
teenth amendment  to  the  constitution.  The  hearing  was  granted 
on  Friday  morning,  January  20,  1882.  A  distinguished  speaker  in 
England  having  advised  the  friends  of  suffrage  there  to  employ 
young  and  attractive  women  to  advocate  the  measure,  as  the 
speediest  means  of  success,  Miss  Anthony  took  the  hint  in  making 
the  selection  for  the  first  hearing  before  the  committee  of  those 
who  had  never  been  heard  before,*  of  whom  some  were  young, 
and  all  attractive  as  speakers.  Miss  Anthony  said  that  she  would 
introduce  some  new  speakers  to  the  committee,  in  order  to  dis- 
prove the  allegation  that  "  it  was  always  the  same  old  set."  The 
committee  listened  to  them  with  undivided  attention  throughout, 
and  at  the  conclusion  of  the  hearing  the  following  resolution, 
offered  by  Senator  George  of  Mississippi,  was  adopted  unani- 
mously: 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  are  under  obligations  to  the  representatives  of  the 
•women  of  the  United  States  for  their  attendance  this  morning,  and  for  the  able  and 
instructive  addresses  which  have  been  made,  and  that  the  committee  assure  them  that 
they  will  give  to  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage  the  careful  and  impartial  consideration 
which  its  grave  importance  demands. 

In  describing  the  occasion  for  the  Boston  Transcript,  Mrs. 
Shattuck  said : 

As  we  stood  in  the  committee-room  and  presented  our  plea  for  freedom, 
we  felt  that  at  last  we  had  obtained  a  fair  hearing,  whatever  its  result 
might  be.  And  the  most  encouraging  sign  of  the  impression  made  by 
our  words  was  the  change  in  the  faces  of  some  of  the  members  of  the 
committee  as  the  speaking  went  on.  At  first  there  was  a  look  of  indiffer- 
ence and  scorn — merely  toleration ;  this  gradually  changed  to  interest 
mingled  with  surprise;  finally,  as  Miss  Anthony  closed  with  one  of  her 
most  eloquent  appeals,  all  the  faces  showed  a  decided  and  almost  eager 
interest  in  what  we  had  to  say.  Senator  George,  who  certainly  looked 
more  unpropitious  than  any  other  one,  assured  the  ladies  that  he  would 
give  to  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage  that  careful  and  impartial  considera- 
tion which  its  grave  importance  demands.  This,  from  one  who  heralded 
his  entrance  by  inquiring  of  Miss  Anthony,  in  stentorian  tones,  if  she 
"wanted  to  go  to  war,"  was,  to  say  the  least,  a  concession.  The  speakers 
were  closely  questioned  by  some  members  of  the  committee,  who  after- 
wards told  us  "  that  they  had  never  heard  a  speech  on  the  subject  before 

*  Short  speeches  were  made  by  Mrs.  Robinson  and  Mrs.  Shattuck  of  Massachusetts.  Mrs.  Sewall 
and  Mrs.  Cougar  of  Indiana,  Mrs.  Saxon  of  Louisiana,  Mrs.  Colby  of  Nebraska. 


228  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

and  were  surprised  to  find  so  much  in  the  demand,  and  to  see  such  ability 
as  was  manifested  by  the  women  before  them." 

The  committee  having  expressed  a  wish  to  hear  others  on  the 
subject,  appointed  the  next  morning  at  10  o'clock.*  Mrs.  Stan- 
ton,  being  introduced  by  the  chairman,  said : 

Gentlemen,  when  the  news  of  the  appointment  of  this  committee 
was  flashed  over  the  wires,  you  cannot  imagine  the  satisfaction  that 
thrilled  the  hearts  of  your  countrywomen.  After  fourteen  years  of 
constant  petitioning,  we  are  grateful  for  even  this  slight  recognition 
at  last.  I  never  before  felt  such  an  interest  in  any  congressional  commit- 
tee, and  I  have  no  doubt  that  all  who  are  interested  in  this  reform,  share 
in  my  feelings.  Fortunately  your  names  make  a  great  couplet  in  rhyme, 

Lapham,  Anthony  and  Blair, 
Jackson,  George,  Ferry  and  Fair. 

which  will  enable  us  to  remember  them  always.     This  I  discovered  in  writ- 
ing your  names  in  this  volume,  which  allow  me  to  present  you. 

The  gentlemen  rising  in  turn  received  with  a  gracious  bow 
"The  History  of  Woman  Suffrage"  which,  Mrs.  Stanton  told 
them,  would  furnish  all  the  arguments  they  needed  to  defend  their 
clients  against  the  ignorance  and  prejudice  of  the  world.  Mr. 
George  of  Mississippi  asked  why  this  agitation  was  confined  to 
Northern  women  ;  ke  had  never  heard  the  ladies  of  the  South  ex- 
press the  wish  to  vote.  Mrs.  Stanton  referred  him  to  those 
to  whom  the  volume  before  him  was  dedicated.  "  There,"  said 
she,  "  you  will  find  the  names  of  two  ladies  from  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  families  in  South  Carolina,  who  came  North 
over  forty  years  ago,  and  set  this  ball  for  woman's  freedom  in 
motion.  But  for  those  noble  women,  Sarah  and  Angelina  Grimke, 
we  might  not  stand  here  to-day  pleading  for  justice  and  equality." 
As  the  speakers  had  requested  the  committee  to  ask  questions, 
they  were  frequently  interrupted.  All  urged  the  importance  of  a 
national  protection,  preferring  congressional  action,  to  submit- 
ting the  proposition  to  the  popular  vote  of  the  several  States.  On 
this  point  Mr.  Jackson  of  Tennessee  asked  many  pertinent  ques- 
tions. Mrs.  Shattuck,  writing  of  this  occasion  to  the  Boston 
Transcript,  said  : 

One  of  the  speakers  eloquently  testified  to  the  interest  of  many  Southern 
women  in  this  subject,  and  urged  the  Southern  members  of  the  com- 
mittee not  to  declare  that  the  women  of  the  South  do  not  want  the  ballot 
until  they  have  investigated  the  matter.  After  the  hearing  three  Southern 


*  When  Mrs.  Stanton,  Mrs.  Gage  and  Mrs.  Blake  of  New  York,  Mrs.  Hooker  of  Connecticut  and 
Mrs.  Saxon  of  Louisiana,  and  Mrs.  Sewall,  by  special  request  of  the  chairman,  again  addressed  the 
committee. 


Convention  at  Philadelphia.  229 

ladies,  wives  of  congressmen,  thanked  her  for  what  she  had  said.  The 
member  from  Mississippi  showed  a  great  deal  of  interest  and  really  became 
quite  waked  up  before  the  session  ended.  But,  when  we  look  at  it  in  one 
light,  there  is  something  exceedingly  humiliating  in  the  thought  that 
women  representing  the  best  intellect  and  the  highest  morality  of  our 
country,  should  come  here  in  their  grand  old  age  and  ask  men  for  that 
which  is  theirs  by  right.  Is  it  not  time  that  this  aristocracy  of  sex  should 
be  overthrown  ?  Several  of  the  senators  were  so  moved  by  the  speeches 
that  they  personally  expressed  their  thanks,  and  one  who  has  long  been 
friendly,  said  the  speeches  were  far  above  the  average  committee-hear- 
ings on  any  subject.  We  might  well  have  replied  that  the  reason  is  be- 
cause all  the  speakers  feel  what  they  say  and  know  that  the  question  is 
one  of  vital  importance. 

In  securing  these  hearings  before  this  special  committee  of  the  Senate 
the  friends  feel  they  have  reached  a  milestone  in  the  progress  of  their 
reform.  To  secure  the  attention  for  four  hours  of  seven  representative 
men  of  the  United  States,  must  have  more  effect  than  would  a  hundred 
times  that  amount  of  time  and  labor  expended  upon  their  constituents. 
If  one  of  these  senators,  for  instance,  shou.ld  become  convinced  of  the 
justice  of  woman's  claim  to  the  ballot,  his  constituency  would  begin  to 
look  upon  that  question  with  respect,  whereas  it  would  take  years  to  bring 
that  same  constituency  up  to  the  position  where  they  could  elect  such  a 
representative.  To  convince  the  representatives  is  to  sound  the  keynote, 
and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  these  hearings  before  the  Senate  committee 
are  of  such  paramount  importance  to  the  suffrage  cause. 

At  the  close  of  the  hearing  Mrs.  Robinson  presented  each  member  of 
the  committee  with  her  little  volume,  "  Massachusetts  in  the  Woman  Suf- 
frage Movement." 

January  23  the  House  Committee  on  Rules*  gave  a  hear- 
ing to  Mrs.  Jane  Graham  Jones  of  Chicago,  Mrs.  May  Wright 
Sewall  and  Miss  Anthony.  During  this  congress  the  question  of 
admitting  the  territory  of  Dakota  as  a  State  was  discussed  in 
the  Senate.  Our  committee  stood  ready  to  oppose  it  unless 
the  word  "  male  "  were  stricken  from  the  proposed  constitution. 

Immediately  after  this  most  of  the  speakers  wentf  to  Philadel- 
phia where  Rachel  Foster  had  made  arrangements  for  a  two- 
days  convention.  Rev.  Charles  G.  Ames  gave  the  address  of 
welcome. 

He  told  of  his  conversion  to  woman  suffrage  from  the  time  when  he  be- 
lieved women  and  men  were  ordained  to  be  unequal,  just  as  in  nature  the 
mountain  is  different  from  the  valley — he  looking  down  at  her,  she  gazing 
up  at  him — until  the  time  when  he  began  to  see  that  women  are  not  of 
necessity  the  valleys,  nor  men  of  necessity  the  mountains  ;  and  so  on,  until 

*  Mr.  1'lackburn,  Mr.  Robeson,  and  Mr.  Reed  were  present. 

t  Mrs.  Saxon,  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs.  Sewall,  Mrs.  McClellan  Brown,  Mrs.  Colby,  Miss  Couiins,  Miss  An- 
thony, Edward  M.  Davis,  Robert  Purvis,  Mrs.  Shattuck,  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Hinckley,  Mrs.  Robinson. 


230  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

now  he  believes  women  entitled  to  stand  on  an  equal  plane  with  men, 
socially  and  politically. 

The  President,  Mrs.  Stanton,  responded.  Hannah  Whitehall 
Smith  of  Germantown,  prominent  in  the  temperance  movement, 
spoke  of  the  hardship  of  farmers'  wives,  and  asked  : 

If  that  condition  was  not  one  of  slavery  which  obliged  a  woman  to  rise 
early  and  cook  the  family  breakfast  while  her  husband  lay  in  bed ;  to 
work  all  day  long,  and  then  in  the  evening,  while  he  smoked  his  pipe  or 
enjoyed  himself  at  the  corner  grocery,  to  mend  and  patch  his  old  clothes. 
But  she  thought  the  position  of  woman  was  changing  for  the  better.  Even 
among  the  Indians  a  better  feeling  is  beginning  to  prevail.  It  is  Indian 
etiquette  for  the  man  to  kill  the  deer  or  bear,  and  leave  it  on  the  spot 
where  it  is  struck  down  for  the  woman  to  carry  home.  She  must  drag 
it  over  the  ground  or  carry  it  on  her  back  as  best  she  may,  while  he 
quietly  awaits  her  coming  in  the  family  wigwam.  A  certain  Indian,  after 
observing  that  white  folks  did  differently  by  their  women,  once  resolved 
to  follow  their  example.  But  such  was  the  force  of  public  opinion  that, 
when  it  was  discovered  that  he  brought  home  his  own  game,  both  he  and 
his  wife  were  murdered.  This  shows  what  fearful  results  prejudice  may 
bring  about ;  and  the  only  difference  between  the  prejudice  which  ruled 
his  tribe  in  regard  to  woman  and  that  which  rules  white  American  men 
to-day,  is  a  difference  in  degree,  dependent  upon  the  difference  in  enlight- 
enment. The  principle  is  the  same.  The  result  would  be  the  same  were 
each  equally  ignorant. 

The  familiar  faces  of  Edward  M.  Davis,  Mary  Grew,  Adeline 
Thompson,  Sarah  Pugh,  Anna  McDowell  and  two  of  Lucretia 
Mott's  noble  daughters,  gladdened  many  a  heart  during  the  vari- 
ous sessions  of  the  convention.  Beautiful  tributes  were  paid  to 
Mrs.  Mott  by  several  of  the  speakers.  The  Philadelphia  conven- 
tion was  supplemented  by  a  most  delightful  social  gathering, 
without  mention  of  which  a  report  of  the  occasion  would  be  in- 
complete : 

Like  many  historical  events,  this  was  entirely  unpremeditated,  no  one 
who  participated  in  its  pleasures  had  any  forewarning,  aside  from  an  in- 
formal invitation  to  lunch  with  Mrs.  Hannah  Whitehall  Smith  and  her  gen- 
erous husband,  both  earnest  friends  of  temperance  and  important  allies  of 
the  woman  suffrage  movement.  Mrs.  Smith  met  the  guests  at  the 
station  in  Philadelphia,  tickets  in  hand,  marshaling  them  to  their  respective 
seats  in  the  cars  as  if  born  to  command,  and  on  arriving  at  Germantown, 
transferred  them  to  carriages  in  waiting,  with  the  promptness  of  a  railroad 
official.  Without  noise  or  confusion  one  and  all  crossed  the  threshold  of 
her  well-ordered  mansion,  and  with  other  invited  guests  were  soon  seated 
in  the  spacious  parlor,  talking  in  groups  here  and  there.  "Ah  !  "  said  Mrs. 
Smith  on  entering,  "  this  will  never  do,  think  of  all  the  good  things  that  will 
be  lost  in  these  side  talks.  My  plan  is  to  have  a  general  conversation,  a 
kind  of  love-feast,  each  telling  her  experience.  It  would  be  pleasant  to 


First  Favorable  Majority  Report.  231 

know  how  each  has  reached  the  same  platform,  through  the  tangled 
labyrinths  of  human  life."  Soon  all  was  silence  and  one  after  another 
related  the  special  incidents  in  childhood,  girlhood  and  mature  years  that 
had  turned  her  thoughts  to  the  consideration  of  woman's  position.  The 
stories  were  as  varied  as  they  were  pathetic  and  amusing,  and  were  listened 
to  amidst  smiles  and  tears  with  the  deepest  interest.  And  when  all  *  had 
finished  the  tender  revelations  of  the  hopes  and  fears,  the  struggles  and  tri- 
umphs through  which  each  soul  had  passed,  these  sacred  memories  seemed 
to  bind  us  anew  together  in  a  friendship  that  we  hope  may  never  end.  A 
sumptuous  lunch  followed,  and  amid  much  gaiety  and  laughter  the  guests 
dispersed,  giving  the  hospitable  host  and  hostess  a  warm  farewell — a  day 
to  be  remembered  by  all  of  us. 

Our  Senate  committee,  through  its  chairman,  Hon.  Elbridge 
G.  Lapham,  very  soon  reported  in  favor  of  the  submission  of  a 
sixteenth  amendment.  We  had  had  a  favorable  minority  report 
in  the  House  in  1871  and  in  the  Senate  in  1879 — Dut  t^8  was  t^e 
first  favorable  majority  report  we  had  ever  had  in  either  house : 

IN  THE  SENATE,  MONDAY,  June  5,  1882. 

Mr.  LAPHAM:  I  am  instructed  by  the  Select  Committee  on  Woman 
Suffrage,  to  whom  was  referred  the  joint  resolution  (S.  R.  No.  60)  propos- 
ing an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  to  report  it 
with  a  favorable  recommendation,  without  amendment,  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  Senate.  This  is  a  majority  report,  and  the  minority  desire  the 
opportunity  to  present  their  report  also,  and  have  printed  the  reasons 
which  they  give  for  dissenting.  As  this  is  a  question  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary importance,  I  should  like  to  have  1,000  extra  copies  of  the  report 
printed  for  the  use  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  GEORGE:  I  present  the  views  of  the  minority  of  the  committee, 
consisting  of  the  senator  from  Tennessee  [Mr.  Jackson],  the  senator  from 
Nevada  [Mr.  Fair],  and  myself. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore :  It  is  moved  that  1,000  extra  copies  of  the 
report  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  ANTHONY  :  The  motion  should  go  by  the  statute  to  the  Committee 
on  Printing. 

Mr.  LAPHAM  :  I  will  present  it  in  the  form  of  a  resolution  for  reference 
to  the  Committee  on  Printing. 

The  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Printing,  as  follows-. 

Resolved,  That  1,000  additional  copies  of  the  report  and  views  of  the  minority  on 
Senate  Joint  Resolution  No.  60  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the  Select  Committee  on 
Woman  Suffrage. 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  June  5,  1882,  Mr.  Lapham, 
from  the  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage,  submitted  the  follow- 
ing report : 


*  Those  present  were  Mesdames  Spofford,  Stanton,  Robinson,  Shattuck,  Sewall  and  Saxon;  IVffsses 
Thompson,  Anthony,  Couzins  and  Foster.  Many  pleasant  ladies  from  the  Society  of  Friends  were 
there  also  and  contributed  to  the  dignity  and  interest  of  the  occasion. 


232  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  Select  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage,  to  whom  was  referred  Senate 
Resolution  No.  60,  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  to  secure  the  right  of  suffrage  to  all  citizens  without  regard  to  sex, 
having  considered  the  same,  respectfully  report  : 

The  gravity  and  importance  of  the  proposed  amendment  must  be  ob- 
vious to  all  who  have  given  the  subject  the  consideration  it  demands. 

A  very  brief  history  of  the  origin  of  this  movement  in  the  United  States 
and  of  the  progress  made  in  the  cause  of  female  suffrage  will  not  be  out 
of  place  at  this  time.  A  World's  Anti-slavery  Convention  was  held  in 
London  on  June  12,  1840,  to  which  delegates  from  all  the  organized  socie- 
ties were  invited.  Several  of  the  American  societies  sent  women  as 
delegates.  Their  credentials  were  presented,  and  an  able  and  exhaustive 
discussion  was  had  by  many  of  the  leading  men  of  America  and  Great 
Britain  upon  the  question  of  their  being  admitted  to  seats  in  the  conven- 
tion. They  were  allowed  no  part  in  the  discussion.  They  were  denied 
seats  as  delegates,  and,  by  reason  of  that  denial,  it  was  determined  to  hold 
conventions  after  their  return  to  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of 
asserting  and  advocating  their  rights  as  citizens,  and  especially  the  right 
of  suffrage.  Prior  to  this,  and  as  early  as  the  year  1836,  a  proposal  had 
been  made  in  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  confer  upon 
married  women  their  separate  rights  of  property.  The  subject  was  under 
consideration  and  agitation  during  the  eventful  period  which  preceded 
the  constitutional  convention  of  New  York  in  the  year  1846,  and  the 
radical  changes  made  in  the  fundamental  law  in  that  year.  In  1848  the 
first  act  "  For  the  More  Effectual  Protection  of  the  Property  of  Married 
Women  "  was  passed  by  the  legislature  of  New  York  and  became  a  law. 
It  passed  by  a  vote  of  93  to  9  in  the  Assembly  and  23  to  i  in  the  Senate. 
It  was  subsequently  amended  so  as  to  authorize  women  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness on  their  own  account  and  to  receive  their  own  earnings.  This 
legislation  was  the  outgrowth  of  a  bill  prepared  several  years  before 
under  the  direction  of  the  Hon.  John  Savage,  chief-justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  of  the  Hon.  John  C.  Spencer,  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the 
State,  one  of  the  revisers  of  the  statutes  of  New  York,  and  afterward  a 
cabinet  officer.  Laws  granting  separate  rights  of  property  and  the  right 
to  transact  business,  similar  to  those  adopted  in  New  York,  have  been 
enacted  in  many,  if  not  in  most  of  the  States,  and  may  now  be  regarded 
as  the  settled  policy  of  American  legislation  on  the  subject. 

After  the  enactment  of  the  first  law  in  New  York,  as  before  stated,  and 
in  the  month  of  July,  1848,  the  first  convention  demanding  suffrage  'for 
women  was  held  at  Seneca  Falls  in  said  State.  The  same  persons  who 
had  been  excluded  from  the  World's  Convention  in  London  were  promi- 
nent and  instrumental  in  calling  the  meeting  and  in  framing  the  declara- 
tion of  sentiments  adopted  by  it,  which,  after  reciting  the  unjust  limita- 
tions and  wrongs  to  which  women  are  subjected,  closed  in  these  words : 

Now,  in  view  of  this  entire  disfranchisement  of  one-half  of  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try and  their  social  and  religious  degradation;  in  view  of  the  unjust  laws  above  men- 
tioned, and  because  women  do  feel  themselves  aggrieved,  oppressed  and  fraudulently 
^deprived  of  their  most  sacred  rights,  we  insist  that  they  have  immediate  admission  to 


Some  Celebrated  Sympathizers.  233 

all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  belong  to  them  as  citizens  of  the  United  States.  In 
entering  upon  the  great  work  before  us  we  anticipate  no  small  amount  of  misconcep- 
tion, misrepresentation  and  ridicule;  but  we  shall  use  every  instrumentality  within  our 
power  to  effect  our  object.  We  shall  employ  agents,  circulate  tracts,  petition  the  State 
and  national  legislatures,  and  endeavor  to  enlist  the  pulpit  and  the  press  in  our  behalf. 
We  hope  this  convention  will  be  followed  by  a  series  of  conventions  embracing  every 
part  of  the  country. 

The  meeting  also  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions,  one  of  which  was  in 
the  following  words : 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  women  of  this  country  to  secure  to  themselves 
their  sacred  right  to  the  elective  franchise. 

This  declaration  was  signed  by  seventy  of  the  women  of  Western  New 
York,  among  whom  was  one  or  more  of  those  who  addressed  your  com- 
mittee on  the  subject  of  the  pending  amendment,  and  there  were  present, 
participating  in  and  approving  of  the  movement,  a  large  number  of  prom- 
inent men,  among  whom  were  Elisha  Foote,  a  lawyer  of  distinction,  and 
since  that  time  Commissioner  of  Patents,  and  the  Hon.  Jacob  Chamber- 
lain, who  afterwards  represented  his  district  in  the  other  House.  From 
the  movement  thus  inaugurated,  conventions  have  been  held  from  that 
time  to  the  present  in  the  principal  villages,  cities  and  capitals  of  the 
various  States,  as  well  as  the  capital  of  the  nation. 

The  First  National  Convention  upon  the  subject  was  held  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  in  October,  1850,  and  had  the  support  and  encouragement  of  many 
leading  men  of  the  republic,  among  whom  we  name  the  following  :  Gcrrit 
Smith,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  John  G.  Whittier,  A. 
Bronson  Alcott,  Samuel  J.  May,  Theodore  Parker,  William  Lloyd  Garri- 
son, Wendell  Phillips,  Elizur  Wright,  William  J.  Elder,  Stephen  S.  Foster, 
Horace  Greeley,  Oliver  Johnson,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Horace  Mann. 
The  Fourth  National  Convention  was  held  at  the  city  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  October,  1853.  The  Rev.  Asa  Mahan,  president  of  Obcrlin 
College,  and  Hon.  Joshua  R.  Giddings  were  there.  Horace  Greeley  and 
William  Henry  Channing  addressed  letters  to  the  convention.  The  letter 
of  Mr.  Channing  stated  the  proposition  to  be  that — 

The  right  of  suffrage  be  granted  to  the  people,  universally,  without  distinction  of 
sex;  and  that  the  age  for  attaining  legal  and  political  majority  be  made  the  same  for 
women  as  for  men. 

In  1857,  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  chief-justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  then  governor  of  Ohio,  recommended  to  the  legislature 
a  constitutional  amendment  on  the  subject,  and  a  select  committee  of  the 
Senate  made  an  elaborate  report,  concluding  with  a  resolution  in  the  fol- 
lowing words:  • 

Resolved,  That  the  Judiciary  Committee  be  instructed  to  report  to  the  Senate  a  bill 
to  submit  to  the  qualified  electors,  at  the  next  general  election  for  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives, an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  whereby  the  elective  franchise  shall  be 
extended  to  the  citizens  of  Ohio  without  distinction  of  sex. 

During  the  same  year  a  similar  report  was  made  in  the  legislature  of 
Wisconsin.  From  the  report  on  the  subject  we  quote  the  following  : 

We  believe  that  political  equalit) ,  by  leading  the  thoughts  and  purposes  of  men 
and  women  into  the  same  channel,  will  more  completely  carry  out  the  designs  of 


234 "  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

nature.  Woman  will  be  possessed  of  a  positive  power,  and  hollow  compliments  will 
be  exchanged  for  well-grounded  respect  when  we  see  her  nobly  discharging  her  part 
in  the  great  intellectual  and  moral  struggles  of  the  age  that  wait  their  solution  by  a 
direct  appeal  to  the  ballot-box.  Woman's  power  is  at  present  poetical  and  unsub- 
stantial ;  let  it  be  practical  and  real.  There  is  no  reality  in  any  power  that  cannot  be 
coined  in  votes. 

The  effect  of  these  discussions  and  efforts  has  been  the  gradual  advance- 
ment of  public  sentiment  towards  conceding  the  right  of  suffrage  without 
distinction  of  sex.  In  the  territories  of  Wyoming  and  Utah,  full  suf- 
frage has  already  been  given.  In  regard  to  the  exercise  of  the  right  in  the 
territory  of  Wyoming,  the  present  governor  of  that  territory,  Hon.  John 
W.  Hoyt,  in  an  address  delivered  in  Philadelphia,  April  3,  1882,  in  answer 
to  a  question  as  to  the  operation  of  the  law,  said  : 

First  of  all,  the  experience  of  Wyoming  has  shown  that  the  only  actual  trial  of 
woman  suffrage  hitherto  made — a  trial  made  in  a  new  country  where  the  conditions 
were  not  exceptionably  favorable — has  produced  none  but  the  most  desirable 
results.  And  surely  none  will  deny  that  in  such  a  matter  a  single  ounce  of 
experience  is  worth  a  ton  of  conjecture.  But  since  it  may  be  claimed  that  the  sole 
experiment  of  Wyoming  does  not  afford  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  general  expediency, 
let  us  see  whether  reason  will  not  furnish  a  like  answer.  The  great  majority  of 
women  in  this  country  already  possess  sufficient  intelligence  to  enable  them  to  vote 
judiciously  on  nearly  all  questions  of  a  local  nature.  I  think  this  will  be  conceded. 
Secondly,  with  their  superior  quickness  of  perception,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  when 
stimulated  by  a  demand  for  a  knowledge  of  political  principles — such  a  demand  as  a 
sense  of  the  responsibility  of  the  voter  would  create — they  would  not  be  slow  in  rising 
to  at  least  the  rather  low  level  at  present  occupied  by  the  average  masculine  voter.  So 
that,  viewing  the  subject  from  an  intellectual  stand-point  merely,  such  fears  as  at  first 
spring  up,  drop  away,  one  by  one,  and  disappear.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a 
very  large  proportion  of  questions  to  be  settled  by  the  ballot,  both  those  of  principle 
and  such  as  refer  to  candidates,  have  in  them  a  moral  element  which  is  vital.  And 
here  we  are  safer  with  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  woman  ;.for  her  keener  insight  and 
truer  moral  sense  will  more  certainly  guide  her  aright — and  not  her  alone,  but  also,  by 
reflex  action,  all  whose  minds  are  open  to  the  influence  of  her  example.  The  weight 
of  this  answer  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  In  my  judgment,  this  moral  consideration 
far  more  than  offsets  all  the  objections  that  can  be  based  on  any  assumed  lack  of  an 
intellectual  appreciation  of  the  few  questions  almost  wholly  commercial  and  econom- 
ical. Last  of  all,  a  majority  of  questions  to  be  voted  on  touch  the  interests  of  woman 
as  they  do  those  of  man.  It  is  upon  her  finer  sensibilities,  her  purer  instincts,  and  her 
maternal  nature  that  the  results  of  immorality  and  vice  in  every  form  fall  with  more 
crushing  weight. 

A  criticism  has  been  made  upon  the  exercise  of  this  right  by  the  women 
of  Utah  that  the  plural  wives  in  that  territory  are  under  the  control  of 
their  polygamous  husbands.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  an  undoubted  fact 
that  there  is  probably  no  city  of  equal  size  on  this  continent  where  there 
is  less  disturbance  of  the  peace,  or  where  the  citizen  is  more  secure  in  his 
person  or  property,  either  by  day  or  night,  than  in  the  city  of  Salt  Lake. 
A  qualified  right  of  suffrage  has  also  been  given  to  women  in  Oregon, 
Colorado,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Mas- 
sachusetts, Michigan,  Kentucky,  and  New  York.  Of  the  operation  of  the 
law  in  the  last-named  State,  Governor  Cornell  in  a  message  to  the 
legislature  on  May  12,  said: 


Reasons  for  a  Sixteenth  Amendment.  235 

The  recent  law,  1882,  making  women  eligible  as  school  trustees,  has  produced  admir- 
able results,  not  only  in  securing  the  election  of  many  of  them  as  trustees  of  schools,  but 
especially  in  elevating  the  qualifications  of  men  proposed  as  candidates  for  school- 
boards,  and  also  in  stimulating  greater  interest  in  the  management  of  schools  generally. 
The  effect  of  these  new  experiences  is  to  widen  (.he  influence  and  usefulness  of  women. 

So  well  satisfied  are  the  representatives  in  the  legislature  of  that  State 
with  these  results  that  the  assembly,  by  a  large  majority,  recently  passed 
to  a  third  reading  an  act  giving  the  full  right  of  suffrage  to  women,  the 
passage  of  which  has  been  arrested  in  the  Senate  by  an  opinion  of  the 
attorney-general  that  a  constitutional  amendment  is  necessary  to  accom- 
plish the  object.  In  England  women  are  allowed  to  vote  at  all  municipal 
elections,  and  hold  the  office  of  guardian  of  the  poor.  In  four  States, 
Nebraska,  Indiana,  Oregon,  and  Iowa,  propositions  have  passed  their 
legislatures  and  are  now  pending,  conferring  the  right  of  suffrage  upon 
women. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  efforts,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  best  informed 
men  and  women,  who  have  devoted  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  to  the 
consideration  and  discussion  of  the  subject,  that  an  amendment  to  the 
federal  constitution,  analogous  to  the  fifteenth  amendment  of  that  instru- 
ment, is  the  most  safe,  direct,  and  expeditious  mode  of  settling  the  ques- 
tion. It  is  the  question  of  the  enfranchisement  of  half  the  race  now  denied 
the  right,  and  that,  too,  the  most  favored  half  in  the  estimation  of  those 
who  deny  the  right.  Petitions,  from  time  to  time,  signed  by  many 
thousands,  have  been  presented  to  congress,  and  there  are  now  upon  our 
files  seventy-five  petitions  representing  eighteen  different  States.  Two 
years  ago  treble  the  number  of  petitions,  representing  over  twenty-five 
States,  were  presented. 

If  congress  should  adopt  the  pending  resolution,  the  question  would  go 
before  the  intelligent  bodies  who  are  chosen  to  represent  the  people  in 
the  legislatures  of  the  various  States,  and  would  receive  a  more  enlightened 
and  careful  consideration  than  if  submitted  to  the  masses  of  the  male 
population,  with  all  their  prejudices,  in  the  form  of  an  amendment  to  the 
constitutions  of  the  several  States.  Besides,  such  an  amendment,  if 
adopted,  would  secure  that  uniformity  in  the  exercise  of  the  right  which 
could  not  be  expected  by  action  from  the  several  States.  We  think  the 
time  has  arrived  for  the  submission  of  such  an  amendment  to  the  legis- 
latures of  the  States.  We  know  the  prejudices  which  the  movement  for 
suffrage  to  all  without  regard  to  sex,  had  to  encounter  from  the  very 
outset,  prejudices  which  still  exist  in  the  minds  of  many.  The  period  for 
employing  the  weapons  of  ridicule  and  enmity  has  not  yet  passed.  Now, 
as  in  the  beginning,  we  hear  appeals  to  prejudice  and  the  baser  passions 
of  men.  The  anathema,  "  woe  betide  the  hand  that  plucks  the  wizard  beard 
of  hoary  error,"  is  yet  employed  to  deter  men  from  acting  upon  their  con- 
victions as  to  what  ought  to  be  done  with  reference  to  this  great  ques- 
tion. To  those  who  are  inclined  to  cast  ridicule  upon  the  movement,  we 
quote  the  answer  made  while  one  of  the  early  conventions  was  in  session 
in  the  State  of  New  York  : 

A  collection  of  women  arguing  for  political  rights  and  for  the  privileges  usually  con- 
ceded only  to  the  other  sex  is  one  of  the  easiest  things  in  the  world  to  make  fun 


236  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

of.  There  is  no  end  to  the  smart  speeches  and  the  witty  remarks  that  may  be  made 
on  the  subject.  But  when  we  seriously  attempt  to  show  that  a  woman  who  pays  taxes 
ought  not  to  have  a  voice  in  the  manner  in  which  the  taxes  are  expended,  that  a  woman 
whose  property  and  liberty  and  person  are  controlled  by  the  laws  should  have  no 
voice  in  framing  those  laws,  it  is  not  so  easy.  If  •women  are  fit  to  rule  in  a  mon- 
archy, it  is  difficult  to  say  why  they  are  not  qualified  to  vote  in  a  republic ;  nor  can 
there  be  greater  indelicacy  in  a  woman  going  to  the  ballot-box  than  there  is  in  a 
woman  opening  a  legislature  or  issuing  orders  to  an  army. 

To  all  who  are  more  serious  in  their  opposition  to  the  movement,  we 
would  remind  them  of  the  words  of  a  few  distinguished  men  : — 

I  go  for  all  sharing  the  privileges  of  the  government  who  assist  in  bearing  its  bur- 
dens, by  no  means  excluding  women. — [ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

I  believe  that  the  vices  in  our  large  cities  will  never  be  conquered  until  the  ballot 
is  put  into  the  hands  of  women. — [Bishop  SIMPSON. 

I  do  not  think  our  politics  will  be  what  it  ought  to  be  till  women  are  legislators 
and  voters. — [Rev.  JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE. 

Women  have  quite  as  much  interest  in  good  government  as  men,  and  I  have  never 
heard  or  read  of  any  satisfactory  reason  for  excluding  them  from  the  ballot-box;  I  have 
no  more  doubt  of  their  ameliorating  influence  upon  politics  than  I  have  of  the  influ- 
ence they  exert  everywhere  else. — [GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

In  view  of  the  terrible  corruption  of  our  politics,  people  ask,  can  we  maintain  uni- 
versal suffrage?  I  say  no,  not  without  women.  The  only  bear-gardens  in  our  com- 
munity are  the  town-meeting  and  the  caucus.  Why  is  this  ?  Because  these  are  the  only 
places  at  which  women  are  not  present. — [Bishop  GILBERT  HAVEN. 

I  repeat  my  conviction  of  the  right  of  woman  suffrage.  Because  suffrage  is  a  right 
and  not  a  grace,  it  should  be  extended  to  women  who  bear  their  share  of  the  public 
cost,  and  who  have  the  same  interest  that  I  have  in  the  selection  of  officials  and  the 
making  of  laws  which  affect  their  lives,  their  property,  and  their  happiness. — [Gov- 
ernor LONG  of  Massachusetts. 

However  much  the  giving  of  political  power  to  woman  may  disagree  with  our  notions 
of  propriety,  we  conclude  that,  being  required  by  that  first  prerequisite  to  greater  hap- 
piness, the  law  of  equal  freedom,  such  a  concession  is  unquestionably  right  and 
good. — [HERBERT  SPENCER. 

In  the  administration  of  a  State  neither  a  woman  as  a  woman,  nor  a  man  as  a  man 
has  any  special  functions,  but  the  gifts  are  equally  diffused  in  both  sexes.  The  same 
opportunity  for  self-development  which  makes  man  a  good  guardian  will  make  woman 
a  good  guardian,  for  their  original  nature  is  the  same. — [PLATO. 

It  has  become  a  custom,  almost  universal,  to  invite  and  to  welcome  the 
presence  of  women  at  political  assemblages,  to  listen  to  discussions  upon 
the  topics  involved  in  the  canvass.  Their  presence  has  done  much  toward 
the  elevation,  refinement,  and  freedom  from  insincerity  and  hypocrisy,  of 
such  discussions.  Why  would  not  the  same  results  be  wrought  out  by 
their  presence  at  the  ballot-box  ?  Wherever  the  right  has  been  exercised 
by  law,  both  in  England  and  this  country,  such  has  been  its  effect  in  the 
conduct  of  elections. 

The  framers  of  our  system  of  government  embodied  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  the  statement  that  to  secure  the  rights  which  are  therein 
declared  to  be  inalienable  and  in  respect  to  which  all  men  are  created 
equal,  "  governments  are  instituted  among  men  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  The  system  of  representative  govern- 
ment they  inaugurated  can  only  be  maintained  and  perpetuated  by  allow- 


Recommendation  of  the  Committee.  237 

ing  all  citizens  to  give  that  consent  through  the  medium  of  the  ballot-box 
— the  only  mode  in  which  the  "  consent  of  the  governed  "  can  be  obtained. 
To  deny  to  one-half  of  the  citizens  of  the  republic  all  participation  in 
framing  the  laws  by  which  they  are  to  be  governed,  simply  on  account  of 
their  sex,  is  political  despotism  to  those  who  are  excluded,  and  "taxation 
without  representation  "  to  such  of  them  as  have  property  liable  to  taxa- 
tion. Their  investiture  with  separate  estates  leads,  logically  and  necessa- 
rily, to  their  right  to  the  ballot  as  the  only  means  afforded  them  for  the 
protection  of  their  property,  as  it  is  the  only  means  of  their  full  protec- 
tion in  the  enjoyment  of  the  immeasurably  greater  right  to  life  and  liberty. 
To  be  governed  without  such  consent  is  clear  denial  of  a  right  declared 
to  be  inalienable. 

It  is  said  that  the  majority  of  women  do  not  desire  and  would  not  exer- 
cise the  right,  if  acknowledged.  The  assertion  rests  in  conjecture.  In 
ordinary  elections  multitudes  of  men  do  not  exercise  the  right.  It  is  only 
in  extraordinary  cases,  and  when  their  interests  and  patriotism  are  ap- 
pealed to,  that  male  voters  are  with  unanimity  found  at  the  polls.  It 
would  doubtless  be  the  same  with  women.  In  the  exceptional  instances 
in  which  the  exercise  of  the  right  has  been  permitted,  they  have  engaged 
with  zeal  in  every  important  canvass.  Even  if  the  statement  were  founded 
in  fact,  it  furnishes  no  argument  in  favor  of  excluding  women  from  the 
exercise  of  the  franchise.  //  is  the  denial  of  the  right  of  which  they  com- 
plain. There  are  multitudes  of  men  whose  vote  can  be  purchased  at  an 
election  for  the  smallest  and  most  trifling  consideration.  Yet  all  such 
would  spurn  with  scorn  and  unutterable  contempt  a  proposition  to  pur- 
chase their  right  to  vote,  and  no  consideration  would  be  deemed  an  equiva- 
lent for  such  a  surrender.  Women  are  more  sensitive  upon  this  question 
than  men,  and  so  long  as  this  right,  deemed  by  them  to  be  sacred,  is  de- 
nied, so  long  the  agitation  which  has  marked  the  progress  of  this  contest 
thus  far  will  be  continued. 

Entertaining  these  views,  your  committee  report  back  the  proposed 
resolution  without  amendment  for  the  consideration  of  the  Senate,  and 
recommend  its  passage.  E.  G.  LAPHAM, 

T.  M.  FERRY, 
H.  W.  BLAIR. 

The  constitution  is  wisely  conservative  in  the  provision  for  its  own 
amendment.  It  is  eminently  proper  that  whenever  a  large  nunber  of  the 
people  have  indicated  a  desire  for  an  amendment,  the  judgment  of  the 
amending  power  should  be  consulted.  In  view  of  the  extensive  agitation 
of  the  question  of  woman  suffrage,  and  the  numerous  and  respectable 
petitions  that  have  been  presented  to  congress  in  its  support,  I  unite  with 
the  committee  in  recommending  that  the  proposed  amendment  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  States.  H.  B.  ANTHONY. 

June  5,  1882,  Mr.  George,  from  the  Committee  on  Woman  Suf- 
frage, submitted  the  following  views  of  the  minority : 

The  undersigned  are  unable  to  concur  in  the  report  of  the  majority 
recommending  the  adoption  of  the  joint  resolution  proposing  an  amend- 


238  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  for  reasons  which  they  will 
now  proceed  to  state. 

We  do  not  base  our  dissent  upon  any  ground  having  relation  to  the  ex- 
pediency or  inexpediency  of  vesting  in  women  the  right  to  vote.  Hence 
we  shall  not  discuss  the  very  grave  and  important  social  and  political 
questions  which  have  arisen  from  the  agitation  to  admit  to  equal  political 
rights  the  women  of  our  country,  and  to  impose  on  them  the  burden  of 
discharging,  equally  with  men,  political  and  public  duties.  Whether  so 
radical  a  change  in  our  political  and  social  system  would  advance  the  hap- 
piness and  welfare  of  the  American  people,  considered  as  a  whole,  without 
distinction  of  sex,  is  a  question  on  which  there  is  a  marked  disagreement 
among  the  most  enlightened  and  thoughtful  of  both  sexes.  Its  solution 
involves  considerations  so  intimately  pertaining  to  all  the  relations  of  so- 
cial and  private  life — the  family  circle — the  status  of  women  as  wives, 
mothers,  daughters,  and  companions,  to  the  functions  in  private  and  pub- 
lic life  which  they  ought  to  perform,  and  their  ability  and  willingness  to 
perform  them — the  harmony  and  stability  of  marriage,  and  the  division  of 
the  labors  and  cares  of  that  union — that  we  are  convinced  that  the  proper 
and  safe  discussion  and  weighing  of  them  would  be  best  secured  by  delib- 
erations in  the  separate  communities  which  have  so  deep  an  interest  in 
the  rightful  solution  of  this  grave  question.  Great  organic  changes  in 
government,  especially  when  they  involve,  as  this  proposed  change  does, 
a  revolution  in  the  modes  of  life,  long-standing  habits,  and  the  most 
sacred  domestic  relations  of  the  people,  should  result  only  upon  the  de- 
mand of  the  people,  who  are  to  be  affected  by  them.  Such  changes  should 
originate  with,  and  be  molded  and  guided  in  their  operation  and  extent 
by,  the  people  themselves.  They  should  neither  precede  their  demand 
for  them,  nor  be  delayed  in  opposition  to  their  clearly  expressed  wishes. 
Their  happiness,  their  welfare,  their  advancement,  are  the  sole  objects  of 
the  institution  of  government ;  of  these  they  are  not  only  the  best,  but 
they  are  the  exclusive  judges.  They  have  commissioned  us  to  exercise 
for  their  good  the  great  powers  which  they  have  intrusted  to  us  by  their 
letter  of  attorney,  the  constitution  ;  not  to  assume  to  ourselves  a  superior 
wisdom,  or  usurp  a  guardianship  over  them,  dictating  reforms  not  de- 
manded by  them,  and  attempting  to  grasp  power  not  granted. 

The  organization  of  our  political  institutions  is  such  that  the  great  mass 
of  the  powers  of  government,  the  proper  exercise  of  which  so  deeply 
concerns  the  welfare  of  the  people,  is  left  to  the  States.  In  that  deposi- 
tory the  will  of  the  people  is  most  certainly  ascertained,  and  the  exercise 
of  power  is  more  directly  under  their  guidance.  Our  free  institutions  have 
had  their  great  development  and  owe  their  stability  more  to  causes  con- 
nected with  the  direct  exercise  of  the  power  of  the  people  in  local  self- 
government  than  to  all  other  causes  combined.  Recent  events,  though 
tending  strongly  to  centralization,  have  not  destroyed  in  the  public  mind 
the  inestimable  value  of  local  self-government.  Among  the  powers  which 
have  hitherto  been  esteemed  as  most  essential  to  the  public  welfare  is  the 
power  of  the  States  to  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own 
way ;  and  among  those  institutions  none  has  been  preserved  by  the 


Views  of  the  Minority.  239 

States  with  greater  jealousy  than  their  absolute  control  over 'marriage 
and  the  relation  between  the  sexes. 

Another  power  of  the  States,  deemed  by  the  people  when  they  assented 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  most  essential  to  the  public  wel- 
fare, was  the  right  of  each  State  to  determine  the  qualifications  of  electors. 
Wherever  the  federal  constitution  speaks  of  elections  for  a  federal  office, 
it  adopts  the  qualifications  for  electors  prescribed  by  the  State  in  which 
the  election  is  to  be  held. 

Nor  has  this  fundamental  rule  been  departed  from  in  the  fifteenth 
amendment.  That  impairs  it  only  to  the  extent  that  race,  color,  or  pre- 
vious condition  of  servitude  shall  not  be  made  a  ground  of  exclusion  from 
the  right  of  suffrage.  In  all  else  that  pertains  to  the  qualifications  of 
electors  the  absolute  will  of  the  State  prevails.  This  amendment  was  in- 
serted from  considerations  which  pertain  to  no  other  part  of  the  question 
of  suffrage.  The  negro  race  had  been  recently  emancipated  ;  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  antagonism  between  them  and  their  old  masters  and  the 
prejudice  of  race  would  be  such  as  to  obstruct  the  equal  enjoyment  of  the 
rights  of  freedom  conferred  by  the  national  forces,  and  would  prevent  the 
white  race  of  the  South  from  admitting  the  negro  race,  however  deserving 
it  might  be,  to  equal  political  privileges.  And,  moreover,  it  was  deemed 
by  the  North  a  point  of  honor  that,  having  conferred  freedom  on  the 
negro,  he  should  be  provided  with  the  right  of  suffrage. 

None  of  these  considerations  applies  in  the  present  case.  It  is  not  pre- 
tended that  any  such  antagonism  or  prejudice  exists  between  the  sexes. 
It  is  not  pretended  that  women  have  been  redeemed  from  an  intolerable 
slavery  by  the  power  of  the  government.  It  is  not  pretended  that  the 
sex  in  whose  hands  is  the  political  power  of  the  States  is  unwilling,  from 
any  cause,  to  do  full  justice  to  the  other ;  for  it  is  conceded  that  if  the 
proposed  amendment  should  be  adopted,  its  incorporation  into  the  con- 
stitution must  result  from  the  voluntary  action  of  that  sex  in  which  is 
vested  this  political  power.  No  good  reason  has  been  given  why  the 
congress  of  the  United  States  should  force  or  even  hasten  the  States  into 
such  action,  and  no  such  reason  can  be  given  without  a  reversal  of  the 
theories  on  which  our  free  institutions  are  based. 

The  history  given  by  the  majority,  of  the  legislation  of  the  several 
States  in  relation  to  the  rights  of  persons  and  property  of  married  women 
showing  as  it  does  a  steady  advance  in  the  abolition  of  their  common-law 
disabilities,  conclusively  demonstrates  that  this  question  may  be  safely 
left  for  solution  where  it  now  is  and  has  always  hitherto  belonged.  The 
public  mind  is  now  being  agitated  in  many  of  the  States  as  to  the  rights 
of  women,  not  only  as  to  suffrage,  but  as  to  their  engaging  in  the  various 
employments  from  which  they  have  hitherto  been  excluded.  This  ex- 
clusion from  certain  employments  has  not  been  the  result  of  municipal 
but  of  social  laws — the  strongest  of  all  human  regulations.  As  these 
social  laws  have  been  modified,  so  the  sphere  of  woman's  activities  and 
usefulness  has  been  enlarged.  These  social  laws  are  in  the  main  the 
groundwork  of  the  exclusion  of  women  from  the  right  of  suffrage.  In 
the  establishment  of  these  laws,  as  in  their  modification,  women  then" 


240  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

selves  h»ive  even  a  greater  influence  than  men.  Their  disability  to  vote 
is,  therefore,  self-imposed ;  when  they  shall  will  otherwise,  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  disability  will  no  longer  exist.  If  in  the  future  it 
shall  be  found  that  these  laws  deny  a  right  to  women  the  enjoyment  of 
which  they  desire,  and  for  the  exercise  of  which  they  are  qualified,  it  can- 
not be  doubted  that  they  will  give  way.  If,  on  the  contrary,  neither  of 
these  shall  be  discovered,  it  will  happen  that  the  exclusion  of  suffrage  will 
not  be  considered  as  a  denial  of  a  right,  but  as  an  exemption  granted  to 
women  from  cares  and  burdens  which  a  tender  and  affectionate  regard  for 
womanhood  refuses  to  cast  on  them. 

We  are  convinced,  therefore,  that  the  best  mode  of  disposing  of  the 
question  is  to  leave  its  solution  to  that  power  most  amenable  to  the  in- 
fluences and  usages  of  society  in  which  women  have  so  large  and  so 
potential  a  share,  confident  that  at  no  distant  day  a  right  result  will  be 
reached  in  each  State  which  will  be  satisfactory  to  both  sexes  and  per- 
fectly consistent  with  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  people.  Certainly 
this  must  be  so  if  the  people  themselves,  the  source  and  foundation  of  all 
power,  are  capable  of  self-government. 

At  two  of  its  meetings  the  committee  listened  with  great  pleasure  to 
several  eminent  ladies  who  appeared  before  it  as  advocates  of  the  pro- 
posed amendment.  At  none  of  the  meetings  of  the  committee,  including 
that  at  which  the  members  voted  on  the  proposed  amendment,  was  there 
any  discussion  of  this  important  subject ;  none  was  asked  for  or  desired 
by  any  member  of  the  committee,  and  the  vote  was  taken.  The  reports 
of  the  majority  and  of  the  minority  of  the  committee  are  therefore  to  be 
construed  only  as  the  individual  opinions  of  the  members  who  respec- 
tively concur  in  them.  They  are  in  no  sense  to  be  treated  as  the  judg- 
ment of  a  deliberative  body  charged  with  the  examination  of  this  important 
subject. 

The  foregoing  leads  us  to  but  one  recommendation  :  that  the  committee 
should  be  discharged  from  the  further  consideration  of  the  subject,  that 
the  resolution  raising  it  be  rescinded,  and  that  the  proposed  amendment 
be  rejected.  J.  Z.  GEORGE, 

HOWELL  E.  JACKSON, 
JAMES  G.  FAIR. 

In  a  letter  from  Miss  Caroline  Biggs  to  the  president  of  the 
National  Association  the  following  congratulations  came  from 
the  friends  of  suffrage  in  England : 

CENTRAL  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  NATIONAL  SOCIETY  FOR  ) 
WOMAN  SUFFRAGE,  64  Berners  Street,  LONDON,  W.      \ 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  on  May  18,  1882,  the  follow- 
ing resolution  was  proposed  by  Mrs.  Lucas,  seconded  by  Miss  Jane  Cobden, 
and  passed  unanimously : 

Resolved,  That  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  National  Society  for  Woman  Suf- 
frage have  heard  with  hearty  satisfaction  that  a  select  committee  of  the  United  States 
Senate  in  Washington  has  passed  by  a  majority  of  votes  the  recommendation  to  adopt 
a  constitutional  amendment  in  favor  of  women's  suffrage.  They  feel  that  the  cause 
of  woman  is  one  in  all  countries,  and  they  offer  their  most  cordial  congratulations  to 


National  Association  Meeting.  241 

the  women  of  America  on  the  important  step  which  has  just  been  gained,  and  their 
warmest  good-wishes  for  a  speedy  success  in  obtaining  a  measure  which  will  guaran- 
tee justice  and  equal  rights  to  half  the  population  of  a  sister  country. 

Nebraska  now  became  the  center  of  interest,  as  a  constitutional 
amendment  to  secure  the  right  of  suffrage  to  woman  was  sub- 
mitted to  be  voted  upon  in  the  November  election.  As  the 
submission  of  such  a  proposition  makes  an  important  crisis  in 
the  history  of  a  State,  as  well  as  in  the  suffrage  movement,  the 
notes  of  preparation  were  as  varied  as  multitudinous  throughout 
the  nation,  rousing  all  to  renewed  earnestness  in  the  work. 
Both  the  American  and  National  associations  decided  to  hold 
their  annual  conventions  in  Omaha,  the  chief  city  of  the 
State,  and  to  support  as  many  speakers*  as  possible  through  the 
campaign,  that  meetings  might  be  held  and  tracts  distributed  in 
every  county  of  the  State,  an  Herculean  undertaking,  as  Nebraska 
comprises  230,000  inhabitants  scattered  over  an  area  of  76,000 
square  miles,  divided  into  sixty-six  counties  ;  and  yet  this  is  what 
the  friends  of  the  measure  proposed  to  do.  The  American 
Association  f  held  its  convention  September  12,  13,  14.  The 
National  \  continued  three  days,  September  27,  28,  29. 

The  Opera  House,  in  which  the  National  Association  held  its 
meeting,  was  completely  filled  during  all  the  sessions.  The  ad- 
dress of  welcome  was  given  by  Hon.  A.  J.  Poppleton,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  lawyers  in  that  State.  He  said : 

I  deem  it  no  light  compliment  that,  in  the  face  of  an  explicit  declaration 
that  I  am  not  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage,  I  have  been  asked  to  make,  on 
behalf  of  the  people  of  Omaha  and  the  State,  an  address  of  welcome  to 
the  many  distinguished  men  and  women  whom  this  occasion  has  brought 
together.  Doubtless  the  consideration  shown  me  is  a  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  I  have  been  a  life-long  advocate  of  the  advancement  of  women 
through  the  agencies  of  equality  in  education,  equality  in  employment, 
equality  in  wages.^quality  in  property-rights  and  personal  liberty,  in 
short,  a  fair,  open,  W|ual  field  in  the  struggle  for  life.  That  I  cannot  go 
beyond  this  and  embrace  equal  suffrage,  is  due  rather  to  long  adherence 

*  The  speakers  in  ihe  American  convention  were  Lucy  Stone,  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  Margaret  W. 
Campbell,  Mary  E.  Haggart,  Judge  Kingman  and  Governor  Hoyt  of  Wyoming,  Hannah  Tracy  Cutler, 
Mary  B.  Clay,  Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas,  Rebecca  N.  Hazzard,  Ada  M.  Bittenbender,  Mrs.  O.  C.  Dins- 
more,  Matilda-Hindman,  Rev.  W.  E.  Copeland,  Erasmus  M.  Correll. 

The  speakers  at  the  National  convention  were  Virginia  L.  Minor,  Phoebe  Couzins,  Mrs.  Saxon,  Mrs. 
Bloomer,  Mrs.  McKinney,  Mrs.  Shattuck,  Mrs.  Neyman,  Mrs.  Colby,  Mrs.  Sewall,  Mrs.  Mason,  Mrs. 
Brooks,  Mrs.  Blake,  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Dinsmore,  Miss  Hindman,  Mrs.  Cougar,  Mr.  Correll  and 
Mrs.  Harbert.  Many  of  those  from  both  associations  took  part  in  the  canvass.  Miss  Rachel  G.  Foster 
went  out  in  the  spring  and  made  all  the  arrangements  for  the  work  of  the  National.  She  studied  the 
geography  of  the  State,  and  the  railroads,  and  mapped  out  all  the  meetings  for  its  twelve  speakers. 

t  For  full  reports  of  the  American  convention  see  the  Woman's  Journal,  edited  by  Lucy  Stone  and 
published  in  Boston. 

$  For  reports  of  the  National  see  Our  Herald,  edited  by  Helen  M.  Cougar  and  published  in 
Lafayette,  Ind.  The  daily  papers  of  Omaha  had  full  reports,  the  most  fair  by  the  Republican,  edited 
by  Mr.  Brooks. 

16 


242  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

to  the  political  philosophy  of  Edmund  Burke  than  any  lack  of  conviction 
of  the  absolute  equality  of  men  and  women  in  natural  rights. 

In  the  winter  of  1852-3,  when  a  student  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  V.,  while 
the  spot  on  which  we  now  stand  was  Indian  country  as  yet  untouched  by 
the  formative  power  of  national  legislation,  I  listened  to  Miss  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  Miss  Antoinette  Brown  and  others  in  the  advocacy  of  the  rights 
of  women.  It  seems  a  strange  fortune  that  brings  now,  nearly  thirty  years 
after,  one  of  those  speakers,  crowned  with  a  national  reputation,  into  a 
State  carved  out  of  that  Indian  country  and  containing  60,000  people,  in 
advocacy  of  equal  suffrage  for  her  sex.  This  single  fact  proclaims  in 
thunder  tones  the  bravery,  the  fidelity,  the  devotion  of  these  pioneers  of 
reform,  and  challenges  for  them  the  sympathy,  respect,  esteem  and  ad- 
miration of  every  good  man  and  woman  in  America. 

The  thirty  years  commencing  about  1850  have  been  prolific  of  moment- 
ous changes.  It  is  the  era  of  the  sewing  machine,  of  the  domestication  of 
steam  and  electricity,  the  overthrow  of  the  great  rebellion,  the  destruction 
of  slavery,  the  consolidation  of  the  German  empire,  the  fall  of  the  second 
Napoleon,  the  birth  of  the  French  republic,  the  incorporation  of  India 
into  the  British  empire,  and  the  revolution  of  commerce  by  the  Pacific 
railways  and  the  Suez  canal.  Great  changes  have  likewise  taken  place  in 
the  structure  of  our  own  State  and  national  legislation,  the  most  conspic- 
uous and  pronounced  result  being  the  centralization  of  power  in  the  fed- 
eral government.  It  has  been  preeminently  a  period  of  amelioration,  a 
long  stride  in  the  direction  of  tolerance  of  opinion,  belief,  speech  and 
creed.  Hospitals,  asylums,  schools,  colleges  and  the  manifold  agencies  of 
an  advanced  Christian  civilization  for  alleviating  the  average  lot  of  hu- 
manity, have  grown  and  multiplied  beyond  the  experience  of  former  times, 
and  men  like  Matthew  Vassar,  George  Peabody  and  John  Hopkins  have 
hastened  to  consecrate  the  abundant  fruits  of  honorable  lives  to  the  ex- 
altation and  advancement  of  the  race. 

But  in  no  direction  have  greater  changes  occurred  in  this  country  than 
in  the  condition  of  woman  in  respect  to  employment,  wages,  personal  and 
property  rights.  In  all  heathen  countries  at  this  hour  the  mass  of  women 
are  slaves  or  worse,  wholly  deprived  of  civil  right£  In  most  Christian 
countries  their  legal  status  is  one  of  absolute  subordination  in  person  and 
property  to  men.  In  this  republic  alone  have  we  attained  an  altitude 
where  some  small  measure  of  justice  is  meted  out  to  women  by  the  laws. 
In  1850  a  fair  measure  of  her  rights  was  the  grim  edict  of  the  common  law 
holding  her  in  guardianship  prior  to  marriage,  and  upon  marriage  making 
her  and  all  her  possessions  practically  the  property  of  her  husband,  while 
a  cruel,  unreasonable  and  vicious  public  opinion  excluded  her  from  all 
except  menial  and  ill-paid  service.  One  by  one  and  year  by  year  these 
barriers  have  given  way,  until  in  many  States  her  property  and  personal 
rights  enjoy  the  complete  shelter  of  the  law.  Now  more  than  half  the 
occupations  and  employments  of  this  age  of  industrial  activity  and  prog- 
ress are  thronged  with  the  faithful,  efficient  and  contented  labor  of  women. 

The  law  has  broken  forever  the  thraldom  of  an  odious  and  hopeless 
marriage  by  reasonable  laws  for  divorce  for  just  cause,  given  her  the  cus- 


Address  of  Hon.  A.  J.  Popple  ton.  243 

tody  of  her  children,  vested  her  with  the  absolute  power  of  disposition 
and  control  over  her  property,  inherited  or  acquired,  freed  it  from  the 
claims  of  her  husband's  creditors,  and  clothed  her  with  ample  legal  reme- 
dies even  against  her  husband.  Perhaps  Nebraska  alone  of  all  the  States, 
by  its  court  of  last  resort,  has  upheld  the  power  of  the  wife  to  make  con- 
tracts with  her  husband  and  enforce  them  against  him  in  her  own  name 
by  the  appropriate  legal  remedies.  This  surely  is  progress.  Beyond  this 
there  lies  but  one  field  to  win  or  fortress  to  reduce.  Then  surely  the  worn 
soldier  in  the  long  campaign  crowned  with  the  garlands  of  victory  may 
rest  from  the  battle. 

Not  many  years  ago,  coming  from  Wisconsin,  I  think,  a  girl  presented 
herself  in  the  Illinois  courts  for  admission  to  the  bar,  and  after  a  rigid  and 
unsparing  examination  she  was  admitted  with  public  compliment.  She 
took  an  office  in  the  great  city  of  Chicago  and  in  the  short  remnant  of  an 
uncertain  life  so  wrought  in  her  profession  as  to  attain  an  average  profes- 
sional income,  and  win  the  undivided  respect  and  esteem  of  her  profes- 
sional associates.  And  when  from  a  far  country,  whither  she  had  gone  in 
hope  to  escape  a  fell  disease,  her  lifeless  corpse  was  brought  back  for  sep- 
ulture, many  of  the  foremost  lawyers  of  Chicago  gathered  about  her  bier 
and  bore  emphatic  testimony  to  her  virtues  as  a  woman  and  her  attain- 
ments as  a  lawyer.  To  me  no  greater  work  has  been  done  by  any  Ameri- 
can woman.  When  Alta  Hulett  unobtrusively,  silently  but  indomitably 
pressed  her  way  to  the  front  of  the  legal  profession,  and  established  her- 
self there,  she  vindicated  the  right  of  her  sex  to  contend  for  the  highest 
prizes  of  life,  and  left  her  countrywomen  a  legacy  which  will  ultimately 
blazon  her  name  imperishably  in  the  history  of  the  advancement  of  women ; 
and  every  American  woman  who,  like  her,  goes  to  the  front  of  any  hon- 
orable occupation,  employment  or  profession,  and  stays  there,  becomes 
her  coadjutor  in  work  and  a  sharer  in  her  reward, 

Laden  with  the  trophies  of  thirty  years  of  conflict,  of  progress,  of  meas- 
urable success,  the  vice-president  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Asso- 
ciation and  her  associates  present  themselves  to  Nebraska  and  ask  a 
hearing  upon  the  final  issue,  "  Shall  this  work  be  crowned  by  granting  to 
women  in  this  State  ttyp  highest  privilege  of  the  citizen — suffrage  ?  "  On 
behalf  of  the  people  of  a  State  whose  legislature  has  granted  everything 
else  to  women — whose  devotion  to  free  speech,  untrammeled  discussion 
and  an  independent  press  has  been  conspicuous  in  its  constitutional  and 
legislative  history — I  welcome  them  to  this  city  an'd  State,  and  bespeak 
for  them  a  patient,  candid,  respectful,  appreciative  hearing. 

Miss  Anthony  replied  briefly  to  Mr.  Poppleton's  eloquent  ad- 
dress and  returned  the  thanks  of  the  convention  for  the  courtesy 
with  which  its  members  had  been  received  by  the  citizens  of 
Omaha.*  She  then  read  a  letter  from  the  president  of  the  con- 
vention : 


*  Their  many  courtesies  are  welt  summed  up  by  Miss  Foster  in  a  letter  to  Our  Herald : — DEAR 
HERALD  :  As  your  readers  will  know  from  the  report  of  the  executive  meetings,  it  was  decided  to 
have  a  headquarters  for  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  speakers  at  Omaha.  When  your 
editor  left,  the  arrangements  had  not  been  completed  for  office-room  and  furnishings.  It  is  finally  de- 


244  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

TOULOUSE,  France,  September  i,  1882. 
To  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  in  Convention  assembled: 

DEAR  FRIENDS  :  People  never  appreciate  the  magnitude  and  impor- 
tance on  any  step  in  progress,  at  the  time  it  is  taken,  nor  the  full  moral 
worth  of  the  characters  who  inspire  it,  hence  it  will  be  in  line  with  the  whole 
history  of  reform  from  the  beginning  if  woman's  enfranchisement  in 
Nebraska  should  in  many  minds  seem  puerile  and  premature,  and  its  ad- 
vocates fanatical  and  unreasonable.  Nevertheless  the  proposition  speaks 
for  itself.  A  constitutional  amendment  to  crown  one-half  of  the  people 
of  a  great  State  with  all  their  civil  and  political  rights,  is  the  most  vital 
question  the  citizens  of  Nebraska  have  ever  been  called  on  to  consider; 
and  the  fact  cannot  be  gainsaid  that  some  of  the  purest  and  ablest  women 
America  can  boast,  are  now  in  the  State  advocating  the  measure. 

For  the  last  two  months  I  have  been  assisting  my  son  in  the  compila- 
tion of  a  work  soon  to  be  published  in  America,  under  the  title,  "The 
Woman  Question  in  Europe,"  to  which  distinguished  women  in  different 
nations  have  each  contributed  a  sketch  of  the  progress  made  in  their  con- 
dition. One  interesting  and  significant  fact  as  shown  in  this  work,  is,  that 
in  the  very  years  we  began  to  agitate  the  question  of  equal  rights,  there 
was  a  simultaneous  movement  by  women  for  various  privileges,  indus- 
trial, social,  educational,  civil  and  political,  throughout  the  civilized  world. 
And  this  without  the  slightest  concert  of  action,  or  knowledge  of  each 
other's  existence,  showing  that  the  time  had  come  in  the  natural  evolu- 
tion of  the  species,  in  the  order  of  human  development,  for  woman  to 


cided  that  I,  as  secretary  of  the  National  Woman's  Suffrage  Association,  remain  in  charge  of  this 
Omaha  office,  with  Mrs.  C.  B.  Colby  as  my  associate,  while  Mrs.  Bittenbender  has  charge  of  the  head- 
quarters at  Lincoln,  and  manages  the  American  and  State  speakers,  these  two  officers  of  the  campaign 
committee  being  in  constant  consultation. 

I  cannot  too  strongly  express  the  gratitude  which  our  committee,  and  especially  our  National 
Woman's  Suffrage  Association,  owes  to  the  kind  firm  of  Kitchen  Brothers,  proprietors  of  the  Paxton 
Hotel.  During  our  late  convention  their  attention  has  been  unremitting,  and  they  now  crown  it  by 
giving  us,  rent  free,  a  large,  well-lighted  office  to  be  occupied  until  election  as  the  Omaha  headquarters 
of  our  campaign  committee.  I  was  somewhat  puzzled  about  the  suitable  furnishings  for  the  room,  but 
Mr.  Kitchen  told  me  he  would  attend  to  that  himself,  and  through  his  kindness  it  will  be  made  very 
comfortable  for  us  to  occupy  for  the  next  five  weeks. 

Messrs.  Dewey  and  Stone  of  this  city,  large  dealers  in  furniture,  have  given  the  use  of  a  handsome 
and  convenient  desk  which  will  enable  us  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos.  So  you  can  imagine  us,  sur- 
rounded by  all  convenient  appliances,  hard  at  work  in  our  new  quarters  a  good  part  of  every  day  for 
this  last  month  before  election.  We  can  certainly  not  complain  that  we  are  not  made  welcome  to  the 
best  the  city  affords  by  these  kind  citizens  of  Omaha.  Why,  we  even  had  a  special  engine  and  car  given 
us  by  the  accommodating  manager  of  the  Burlington  &  Missouri  railroad  to  run  one  of  our  speakers  from 
Omaha  to  Lincoln  to  enable  her  to  attend  a  meeting  which  would  otherwise  have  lacked  a  speaker. 
Mr.  Montmorency,  on  behalf  of  the  Burlington  &  Missouri  railroad,  extended  this  courtesy  (and  in  our 
need  at  that  hour  it  was  highly  appreciated)  to  us  because  of  the  work  in  which  we  are  engaged.  As 
all  know  ere  this,  both  this  road  and  the  Union  Pacific  have  given  to  our  speakers  and  delegates  gen- 
erous reductions  over  all  their  lines  in  this  State. 

Mayor  Boyd,  owner  of  the  Opera  House,  has  also  done  his  share  to  aid  us  toward  success,  in  his 
great  reduction  of  ordinary  rates  to  us  while  we  occupy  his  handsome  building  with  our  suffrage  mass 
meetings.  We  have  the  Opera  House  now  secured  for  October 4,  13,  19,  a6,  Novembers  and  6,  on  which 
dates  larpe  meetings  will  be  addressed  by  some  of  our  principal  speakers.  The  first  date  is  to  be  filled 
by  Miss  Phoebe  Couzins,  on  "  The  Woman  Without  a  Country.'' 

The  full  report  of  our  proceedings  at  the  Omaha  and  Lincoln  conventions,  with  the  newspaper  com- 
ments upon  the  size  and  character  of  the  audiences  there  assembled,  as  well  as  the  courtesies  which  I 
have  just  mentioned,  will  convince  our  readers  that  we  are  seemingly  welcome  guests  here  in  Nebraska, 
and  I  may  say  especially  in  Omaha.  I  will  keep  the  Htrald  posted  from  week  to  week  upon  campaign 
committee  work.  Yours  for  success,  RACHEL  G.  FOSTER. 

Headquarters  of  Suffrage  Campaign  Committee,  Paxton  House,  Omaha,  October  a,  1882. 


Mrs.  Stantoris  Letter.  245 

assert  her  rights,  and  to  demand  the  recognition  of  the  feminine  element 
in  all  the  vital  interests  of  life. 

To  battle  against  a  palpable  fact  in  philosophy  and  the  accumulated 
facts  in  achievement  that  can  be  seen  on  all  sides  in  woman's  work  for 
the  last  forty  years,  from  slavery  to  equality,  is  as  vain  as  to  fight  against 
the  law  of  gravitation.  We  shall  as  surely  reach  the  goal  we  purposed 
when  we  started,  as  that  the  rich  prairies  of  Nebraska  will  ere  long  feed 
and  educate  millions  of  brave  men  and  women,  gathered  from  every  na- 
tion on  the  globe.  Every  consideration  for  the  improvement  of  your 
home  life,  for  the  morality  of  your  towns  and  cities,  for  the  elevation  of 
your  schools  and  colleges,  and  the  loftiest  motives  of  patriotism  should 
move  you,  men  of  Nebraska,  to  vote  for  this  amendment.  Gallon  in  his 
great  work  on  Heredity  says: 

We  are  in  crying  want  of  a  greater  fund  of  ability  in  all  stations  of  life,  for  neither 
the  classes  of  statesmen,  philosophers,  artisans  nor  laborers,  are  up  to  the  modern 
complexity  of  their  several  professions.  An  extended  civilization  like  ours  comprises 
more  interests  than  the  ordinary  statesmen  or  philosophers  of  our  race  are  capable  of 
dealing  with,  and  it  exacts  more  intelligent  work  than  our  ordinary  artisans  and 
laborers,  are  capable  of  performing.  Our  race  is  overweighted,  and  appears  likely  to 
be  dragged  into  degeneracy  by  demands  that  exceed  its  powers.  If  its  average  ability 
were  raised  a  grade  or  two,  a  new  class  of  statesmen  would  conduct  our.  complex 
affairs  at  home  and  abroad,  as  easily  as  our  best  business  men  now  do  their  own  pri- 
vate trades  and  professions.  The  needs  of  centralization,  communication,  and  culture, 
call  for  more  brains  and  mental  stamina,  than  the  average  of  our  race  possesses. 

Does  it  need  a  prophet  to  tell  us  where  to  begin  this  work  ?  Does  not 
the  physical  and  intellectual  condition  of  the  women  of  a  nation  decide 
the  capacity  and  power  of  its  men?  If  we  would  give  our  sons  the  help 
and  inspiration  of  woman's  thought  and  interest  in  the  complex  questions 
of  our  present  civilization,  we  must  first  give  her  the  power  that  political 
responsibility  secures.  With  the  ballot  in  her  own  right  hand,  she  would 
feel  a  new  sense  of  dignity,  and  command  among  men  a  respect  they  have 
never  felt  before. 

Nebraska  has  now  the  opportunity  of  making  this  grand  experiment  of 
securing  justice,  liberty,  equality,  for  the  first  time  in  the  world's  history, 
to  woman,  through  her  education  and  enfranchisement,  of  lifting  man  to 
that  higher  plane  of  thought  where  he  may  be  able  wisely  to  meet  all  the 
emergencies  of  the  period  in  which  he  is  called  on  to  act.  Let  every 
man  in  Nebraska  now  so  do  his  duty,  that,  when  the  sun  goes  down  on 
the  eighth  of  November,  the  glad  news  may  be  sent  round  the  world  that 
at  last  one  State  in  the  American  republic  has  fully  accorded  the  sacred 
right  of  self-government  to  all  her  citizens,  black  and  white,  men  and 
women.  With  sincere  hope  for  this  victory, 

Cordially  yours,  ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON. 

Many  interesting  letters  were  received  from  friends  at  home 
and  abroad,  of  which  we  give  a  few.  The  following  is  from  our 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  at  the  German  Court: 

BERLIN,  September  9,  1882. 

Miss  ANTHONY  :  Esteemed  Friend:  At  this  great  distance  I  can  only 
sympathize  with  the  earnest  effort  to  be  made  this  fall  to  secure  poli- 


246  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

tical  recognition  for  women  in  Nebraska.  I  am  glad  that  the  prospect 
is  so  good  and  that  Nebraska,  which  gave  a  name,  with  Kansas,  to  the 
first  successful  resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  slavery,  is  the  arena 
where  the  battle  is  to  be  fought  under  such  promise  of  a  just  result.  By 
recognizing  the  right  of  its  women  to  an  equal  share  in  all  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  life,  Nebraska  will  honor  itself  while  securing  for 
all  time  wholesome  laws  and  administration. 

I  believe  society  would  more  benefit  itself  than  grant  a  favor  to  women 
by  extending  the  suffrage  to  them.  All  the  interests  of  women  are  pro- 
moted by  a  government  that  shall  guard  the  family  circle,  re'strain  excess, 
promote  education,  shield  the  young  from  temptation.  While  the  true 
interests  of  men  lie  in  the  same  direction,  women  more  generally  appreciate 
these  facts  and  illustrate  in  their  lives  a  desire  for  their  attainment.  Could 
we  bring  to  the  ballot-box  the  great  fund  of  virtue,  intelligence  and  good 
intention  stored  up  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  our  wives  and  sisters,  how 
great  the  reinforcement  would  be  for  all  that  is  noble,  patriotic  and  pure 
in  public  life  !  Who  should  fear  the  result  who  desires  the  public  welfare  ? 
From  the  stand-point  of  better  principles  applied  to  the  direction  of  public 
affairs  and  the  best  individuals  in  office,  the  argument  seems  impregnable. 

It  is  getting  late  to  resist  this  measure  on  the  ground  that  the  character 
of  women  themselves  would  be  lowered  by  contact  with  politics.  That 
objection  is  identical  with  the  motive  which  causes  the  Turk  to  shut  up 
his  women  in  a  harem  and  closely  veil  them  in  public.  He  fears  their 
delicacy  will  be  tarnished  if  they  speak  to  any  man  but  their  proprietor. 
So  prejudice  feared  woman  would  be  unsexed  if  she  had  equal  educa- 
tion with  man.  The  professions  were  closed  to  women  for  the  same 
consideration.  Women  have  vindicated  their  ability  to  endure  the 
education  and  engage  in  the  dreaded  pursuits,  yet  society  is  not 
dissolved,  and  these  fearful  imaginings  have  proved  idle  dreams.  As 
every  advance  made  by  woman  since  the  days  when  it  was  a  mooted 
law-point  how  large  could  be  the  stick  with  which  her  husband  could 
punish  her,  down  to  the  day  when  congress  opened  to  her  the  bar  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  has  been  accompanied  by  Constantly 
refuted  assertions  that  she  and  society  were  about  to  be  ruined.  I  think 
we  can  safely  trust  to  her  good  sense,  virtue  and  delicacy  to  preserve  for 
us  the  loved  and  venerated  object  we  have  always  known,  even  if  society 
shall  yield  the  still  further  measure  of  complete  enfranchisement,  and  thus 
add  to  her  social  dignity,  duties  and  responsibilities. 

No  class  has  ever  been  degraded  by  the  ballot.  All  have  rather  been 
elevated  by  it.  We  cannot  rationally  anticipate  less  desirable  personal 
consequences  to  those  whose  tendencies  are  naturally  good,  than  to  those 
on  whom  the  ballot  has  been  conferred  belonging  to  a  lower  plane  of 
being.  But  these  considerations  go  only  to  show  the  policy  of  granting 
suffrage  to  women.  From  the  stand-point  of  justice  the  argument  is  more 
pressing.  If  woman  asks  for  the  ballot  shall  man  deny  it?  By  what 
right  ?  Certainly  not  by  the  right  of  a  majority ;  for  women  are  at  least 
as  numerous.  Certainly  not  by  any  right  derived  from  nature  ;  for  our 
common  mother  has  set  no  brand  on  woman.  If  one  woman  shall  ask 


Appeal  of  Miss  Harriot  Stanton. 


247 


for  a  voice  in  the  regulation  of  society  of  which  she  is  at  least  one-half, 
who  shall  say  her  nay?  If  any  woman  shall  ask  it,  who  shall  deny  it  be- 
cause another  woman  does  not  ask  it  ?  There  are  many  men  who  do  not 
value  their  citizenship  ;  shall  other  men  therefore  be  deprived  of  the  bal- 
lot ?  Suppose  many  women  would  not  avail  themselves  of  such  a  func- 
tion, are  those  with  higher,  or  other  views,  to  be  therefore  kept  in 
tutelage  ? 

I  trust  you  may  succeed  in  this  work  in  Nebraska.  It  is  of  supreme 
importance  to  the  cause.  The  example  of  Nebraska  would  soon  be  fol- 
lowed by  other  States.  The  current  of  such  a  reform  knows  no  retiring 
ebb.  The  suffrage  once  acquired  will  never  be  relinquished  ;  first,  be- 
cause it  will  recommend  itself,  as  it  has  in  Wyoming,  by  its  results; 
second,  because  the  women  will  jealously  guard  their  rights,  and  defend 
them  with  their  ballots.  Wishing  I  could  do  more  than  send  you  good 
wishes  for  the  cause,*  I  am,  respectfully  yours,  A.  A.  SARGENT. 

The  following  letter  is  from  a  daughter  of  Elizabeth  Cady 
Stanton  (a  graduate  of  Vassar  College,  and  classmate  of  Miss 
Elizabeth  Poppleton),  who  two  years  before,  on  the  eve  of  her 
departure  for  Europe,  gave  her  eloquent  address  on  Edmund 

Burke  in  that  city : 

TOULOUSE,  France,  September  3,  1882. 
To  the  Voters  of  my  Generation  in  Nebraska  : 

It  is  not  my  desire  to  present  to  you  any  argument,  but  only  to  give 
you  an  episode  in  my  own  life.  I  desire  to  lay  before  you  a  fact,  not  a 
fiction  ;  a  reality,  not  a  supposition  ;  an  experience  not  a  theory. 

I  was  born  in  a  free  republic  and  in  my  veins  runs  very  rebellious  blood. 
An  ancestor  of  my  father  was  one  of  those  intrepid  men  who  left  the 
shores  of  old  England  and  sailed  forth  to  establish  on  a  distant  continent 
the  grandest  republic  that  has  ever  yet  been  known.  That,  you  see,  is 
not  good  blood  to  submit  to  injustice.  And  on  my  mother's  side  we  find 
a  sturdy  old  Puritan  from  whom  our  stock  is  traced,  fleeing  from  England 
because  of  the  faith  that  was  in  him,  and  joining  his  rebellious  life  to  one 
of  that  honest  Holland  nation  which  had  defied  so  nobly  the  oppressions 
of  the  Catholic  church  and  Spanish  inquisition.  As  if  this  were  not  suf- 
ficiently independent  blood  to  pass  on  to  other  generations,  my  own  father 
became  an  abolitionist,  and  step  by  step  fought  his  belief  to  victor}',  and 
my  mother  early  gave  her  efforts  to  the  elevation  of  woman.  It  is  all  this, 
together  with  my  living  in  the  freest  land  on  the  globe  and  in  a  century 
rife  with  discussions  of  all  principles  of  government,  that  has  made  me  in 
every  fiber  a  believer  in  republican  institutions. 

Having  been  reared  in  a  large  family  of  boys  where  we  enjoyed  equal 
freedom,  and  having  received  the  same  collegiate  education  as  my 
brothers,  it  is  not  until  lately  that  I  have  felt  the  crime  of  my  woman- 
hood. I  have  dwelt  thus  upon  the  antecedents  and  influences  of  my  life 
in  order  to  ask  you  one  question  :  Do  you  not  think  I  can  appreciate  the 
real  meaning,  the  true  sacredness  of  a  republic  ?  Do  you  not  believe  I  feel 

*  A  private  letter  was  received  from  Mrs.    Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  enclosing  a  check  for  $50. 


248  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  duties  it  demands  of  its  citizens  ?  But  I  want  you  to  hold  your  reply 
in  abeyance,  till  I  give  you  one  bit  more  of  history. 

A  ship  at  sea  crossing  on  the  Atlantic  between  Europe  and  America. 
Of  two  persons  on  this  vessel  I  wish  to  speak  to  you.  Of  one  I  have  al- 
ready told  you  much  ;  I  need  but  add  that  my  two  years  spent  in  Europe,* 
previous  to  my  return  to  America  for  a  few  months  last  winter,  had  not 
made  me  less  American,  less  a  lover  of  republicanism.  And  now  this  ship, 
baffling  the  February  storm,  was  sweeping  nearer  the  land  where  the 
people  reign.  My  heart  beat  high  as  I  thought  it  was  in  my  native  country 
where  women  were  free,  more  honored  than  in  any  nation  in  the  world. 
As  I  stood  on  the  deck,  the  strong  sea-wind  blowing  wildly  about  me,  and 
the  ocean  bearing  on  its  heart-wave  mountains,  visions  of  the  grandeur 
of  the  nation  lying  off  beyond  the  western  horizon,  rose  before  me.  And 
it  was  a  proud  heart  that  cried — "  My  Country  !  " 

And  the  other  person  I  want  to  speak  of?  It  is  a  man,  a  German,  com- 
ing to  the  United  States  to  escape  military  service  in  Prussia.  He  came 
in  the  steerage  ;  was  poor  and  ignorant.  He  could  speak  no  English,  not 
one  word  of  your  language  and  mine.  His  fellows  were  all  Irish,  so  I 
offered  to  be  an  interpreter  for  him.  I  visited  the  steerage  quarters,  and 
returned  with  a  heavy  heart.  Such  brutal  faces  as  I  saw !  Ignorance, 
cruelty,  subserviency,  were  everywhere  depicted.  Herds  of  human  beings 
that  I  feared,  they  looked  so  dull  and  brutal.  The  full  meaning  of  a  terri- 
ble truth  rushed  upon  me.  Soon  these  men  would  be  my  sovereigns — I 
their  subject! 

I  had  just  spent  a  year  in  that  German's  native  land,  and  I  remembered 
that  I  had  seen  their  women  doing  the  work  of  men  in  the  fields,  husbands 
returning  from  their  day's  labor  empty-handed,  and  their  wives  toiling  on 
behind  bent  under  heavy  burdens,  and  as  I  thought  on  this,  our  ship  bore 
him  and  me  towards  the  land  that  glories  in  having  given  birth  to  Lucretia 
Mott.  In  the  country  where  he  had  been  reared,  I  had  seen  women  har- 
nessed with  beasts  of  burden,  dragging  laden  wagons,  and  yet  our  vessel 
carried  him  and  me  at  each  moment  towards  a  safe  harbor,  in  a  land  that 
pays  homage  to  the  memory  of  Margaret  Fuller.  Our  ship  sailed  on, 
taking  him  from  a  land  where  he  had  been  taught  to  worship  royalty, 
whatever  its  worth  or  crime  ;  where  he  had  paid  cringing  submission  to 
an  arbitrary  rule  of  police  ;  where  he  had  been  surrounded  by  the  degrad- 
ing effects  of  the  mightiest  military  system  on  the  globe.  The  ship  plowed 
on  and  on  through  the  waves,  bringing  him  to  a  republic,  not  one  prin- 
ciple of  which  he  comprehended. 

And  now  we  sail  up  New  York  bay.  The  day  is  bright,  and  a  softening 
haze  hangs  over  all.  Surely  this  is  some  vision-land.  Yes,  it  is  indeed  a 
yision-land,  for  it  has  never  known  the  presence  of  a  royal  line;  against 
jits  oppressors  it  fought  in  no  mean  rebellious  spirit,  but  rose  in  revolution 
-with  its  motto,  "Governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 
tof  the  governed,"  written  on  its  'brow  to  be  known  of  all  men.  And  I 

*  Miss  Stanton,  having  studied  astronomy  with  Professor  Maria  Mitchell,  went  to  Europe  to  talce  a 
degree  in  Mathematics  from  the  College  of  France  ;  but  before  completing  her  course,  she  shared  the 
fate  of  too  many  of  our  American  girls  ;  she  expatriated  herself  by  marrying  a  foreigner. 


Letters  from  England.  249 

think  as  we  slowly  sail  up  the  bay  on  our  vessel,  Does  that  deadened 
soul  respond  to  what  lies  before  him  ?  Does  there  in  his  heart  rise  the 
prayer,  Oh,  God  !  make  me  true  to  the  duties  about  to  be  laid  upon  me  ; 
make  me  worthy  of  being  free?  Yes,  then,  for  the  first  time  I  felt  the 
full  depth  of  the  indignity  offered  to  my  womanhood.  I  felt  my  enthusi- 
asm for  America  wavering — love  of  country  dead.  My  country  ! — I  have 
no  country. 

Young  men  of  Nebraska,  I  ask  you  to  free  your  minds  from  prejudice, 
to  be  just  towards  the  demands  of  another  human  soul,  to  be  frank,  to  be 
wholly  truthful,  and  answer  my  demand  :  Why  should  I  not  be  a  citizen 
of  this  republic  ?  In  replying,  read  between  the  lines  of  my  tedious  story 
and  bear  in  mind  the  words  of  Voltaire  :  "  Who  would  dare  change  a  law 
that  time  has  consecrated  ?  Is  there  anything  more  respectable  than  an 
ancient  abuse  !  Reason  is  more  ancient,  replied  Zadig." 

Respectfully,  HARRIOT  STANTON. 

MANCHESTER  NATIONAL  SOCIETY  FOR  WOMAN  SUFFRAGE,  ) 
MANCHESTER,  England,  September  5,  1882.  \ 

DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  WTill  you  accept  a  word  of  cheer  and  God-speed 
from  your  sisters  in  England  in  your  crusade  for  the  emancipation  of 
woman  in  Nebraska?  You  carry  with  you  the  hopes  and  sympathetic 
wishes  of  all  on  this  side  of  the  water.  If  you  win,  as  I  trust  you  may, 
your  victory  will  have  a  distinct  influence  on  the  future  of  our  parlia- 
mentary campaign,  which  we  hope  to  begin  in  early  spring  in  England. 
In  the  name  of  English  women  I  would  appeal  to  the  men  of  Nebraska  to 
assent  to  the  great  act  of  justice  to  women  which  is  proposed  to  them 
by  their  elected  representatives,  and  by  so  doing  to  aid  in  the  enfran- 
chisement of  women  all  over  the  world. 

Yours  faithfully,  LYDIA  E.  BECKER. 

LONDON,  September  i,  1882. 

DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  Having  heard  that  the  next  convention  of  the 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  will  meet  at  Omaha  this  month,  I 
cannot  refrain  from  sending  a  few  lines  to  assure  our  friends  who  are 
working  so  steadfastly  in  America  for  the  same  sacred  cause  as  our  own, 
of  our  loving  sympathy  and  good-wishes  for  success  in  the  coming 
struggle.  The  eyes  and  hearts  of  hundreds  of  women  are,  like  my  own, 
turned  to  Nebraska,  where  so  momentous  an  issue  is  to  be  decided  two 
months  hence.  The  news  of  their  vote,  if  rightly  given,  will  "echo  round 
the  world  "  like  the  first  shot  fired  at  Concord.  It  will  be  the  expression 
of  their  determination  to  establish  their  freedom  by  giving  freedom  to 
others,  and  their  example  will  be  followed  by  Indiana  and  Oregon,  and 
soon  by  the  other  States  of  the  Union  and  by  England.  Everything 
points  with  us  to  a  speedy  triumph  of  the  principle  of  equal  justice  for 
woman.  Next  November,  about  the  time  when  Nebraska  will  be  voting 
for  equal  suffrage,  the  women  in  Scotland  will  be  voting  for  the  first  time 
in  their  municipal  elections.  The  session  of  1882  will  be  memorable  in 
future  for  having  passed  the  act  which  gives  a  married  woman  the  right 
to  hold  her  own  property,  make  contracts,  sue  and  be  sued,  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  she  were  a  single  woman.  It  is  nearly  thirty  years  since  we 


250  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

first  began  our  efforts  in  this  matter,  and  each  succeeding  step  has  been 
won  very  slowly  and  with  great  difficulty  through  the  efforts  of  those  who 
are  working  to  obtain  the  .suffrage.  Mr.  Gladstone  still  expresses  the 
hope  that  next  session  will  place  the  franchise  on  a  "fair"  basis,  meaning 
thereby  the  same  right  of  voting  for  counties  as  for  boroughs.  We 
maintain  that  the  franchise  can  never  be  said  to  be  on  a  fair  basis  while 
women  are  debarred  from  the  right  of  voting.  Our  progress  and  your 
progress  will  keep  even  pace  together,  for  if  women  are  free  in  America 
no  long  time  can  elapse  before  they  are  free  here.  We  can  but  offer  you 
our  sympathy  and  we  beg  this  favor  of  you,  that  as  soon  as  you  have  the 
returns  of  the  vote  ascertained,  you  will  telegraph  the  news  to  us,  that 
our  English  societies  may  keep  the  day  of  rejoicing  heart  in  heart  with 
the  American  National  Association. 

With  cordial  sympathy  in  all  your  efforts,  I  am,  faithfully  yours, 

CAROLINE  ASHURST  BIGGS. 

To  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  in   Convention  assembled,  at 

Omaha,  Nebraska,  September  26,  27,  28 : 

DEAR  FRIENDS  :  The  most  pressing  work  before  the  National  Woman 
Suffrage  Convention,  is  bringing  all  its  forces  to  bear  upon  congress  for 
the  submission  of  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national  constitution, 
which  shall  prohibit  States  from  disfranchising  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  ground  of  sex,  or  for  any  cause  not  equally  applicable  to 
all  citizens.  While  we  of  the  National  are  glad  to  see  an  amendment  to 
a  State  constitution  proposed,  securing  suffrage  to  woman,  as  is  the 
case  in  Nebraska  this  fall,  we  must  not  be  led  by  it  to  forget  or  neglect 
our  legitimate  work,  an  amendment  to  the  national  constitution,  which 
will  secure  suffrage  at  one  and  the  same  moment  to  the  women  of  each 
State.  While  all  action  of  any  kind  and  everywhere  is  good  because  it  is 
educational,  the  only  real,  legitimate  work  of  the  National  Woman  Suf- 
frage Association,  is  upon  congress.  Never  have  our  prospects  been 
brighter  than  to-day.  A  select  committee  on  woman  suffrage  having  been 
appointed  in  both  houses  during  the  last  session  of  congress,  and  a  resolu- 
tion introduced  in  the  Senate,  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  to  secure  the  right  of  suffrage  to  all  citizens 
irrespective  of  sex,  having  been  referred  to  this  select  committee  and 
receiving  a  favorable  majority  report  thereon,  we  have  every  reason  to 
expect  the  submission  of  such  an  amendment  at  the  next  session  of 
congress. 

The  work  then,  most  necessary,  is  with  each  representative  and  senator; 
and  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  should  be  induced  to  pass  reso- 
lutions requesting  the  senators  and  representatives  from  each  State  to  give 
voice  and  vote  in  favor  of  the  submission  of  such  an  amendment.  This 
work  is  vitally  important  for  the  coming  winter,  and  none  the  less  so,  even 
should  Nebraska  vote  aye  November  7,  upon  the  woman  suffrage  amend- 
ment to  its  own  constitution.  In  view  of  the  probability  of  the  submis- 
sion of  a  sixteenth  amendment  at  the  coming  session  of  congress,  I  offer 
the  following  resolution,  which  I  consider  one  of  the  most  important  of 
the  series  I  have  been  asked  to  prepare  for  adoption  by  the  convention  : 


Closing  Scenes.  251 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every  woman  to  work  with  the  legislature  of  her 
own  State,  to  secure  from  it  the  passage  of  a  joint  resolution  requesting  its  senators 
and  representatives  in  congress  to  use  voice  and  vote  in  favor  of  the  submission  of  an 
amendment  to  the  national  constitution  which  shall  prohibit  States  from  disfranchis- 
ing citizens  on  the  ground  of  sex. 

I  hope  the  above  resolution  will  be  unanimously  adopted,  and  that  each 
woman  will  strive  to  carry  its  provisions  into  effect  as  a  religious  duty. 
With  my  best  wishes  for  a,  grand  and  successful  convention,  and  the 
hope  that  Nebraska  will  set  itself  right  before  the  world  by  the  adoption 
of  the  woman  suffrage  amendment  this  fall,  I  am, 

Very  truly  yours,        MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE.* 

The  Republican  in  describing  the  closing  scenes  of  the  conven- 
tion, said  : 

Fully  2,500  people  assembled  last  evening  to  listen  to  the  closing  pro- 
ceedings of  the  convention.  The  stage,  which  was  beautifully  furnished 
and  upholstered,  was  completely  occupied  by  the  ladies  of  the  Associa- 
tion ;  and  as  they  all  were  in  full  dress,  in  preparation  for  the  reception 
at  the  Paxton  Hotel,  the  sight  was  a  brilliant  one.  As  respects  the  audi- 
ence, not  only  the  seats,  but  the  lobbies  were  crowded,  and  hundreds  upon 
hundreds  were  turned  away.  Manager  Boyd  remarked  as  we  passed  in, 
"You  will  see  to-night  the  most  magnificent  gathering  that  has  ever  been 
in  the  Opera  House,"  and  such  truly  it  was — the  intellect,  fashion  and 
refinement  of  the  city.  Addresses  were  given  by  M'me  Neyman,  whose 
earnest  and  eloquent  words  were  breathlessly  heard  ;  Mrs.  Minor  of  St. 
Louis,  whose  utterances  were  serious  and  weighty;  and  Miss  Phoebe 
Couzins,  who  touched  the  springs  of  sentiment,  sympathy,  pathos  and 
humor  by  turns.  After  answering  two  or  three  objections  that  had  not 
been  fully  touched  upon,  Miss  Couzins  fairly  carried  away  the  house, 
when  she  said  in  conclusion,  "Miss  Anthony  and  myself,  and  another  who 
has  addressed  you  are  the  only  spinsters  in  the  movement.  We,  indeed, 
expect  to  marry,  but  we  don't  want  our  husbands  to  marry  slaves  [great 
merriment];  we  are  waiting  for  our  enfranchisement.  And  now,  if  you 
want  Miss  Anthony  and  myself  to  move  into  your  State — "  this  hit,  with 
all  it  implied,  set  the  audience  into  a  convulsion  of  cheers  and 
laughter  which  was  quite  prolonged ;  and  after  the  merriment  had 
subsided,  Miss  Couzins  completed  her  sentence  by  saying,  "  We  are  under 
sailing  orders  to  receive  proposals  !  "  whereupon  the  applause  broke  out 
afresh.  "  However,"  she  added,  seeing  Miss  Anthony  shake  her  head,  "it 
takes  a  very  superior  woman  to  be  an  old  maid,  and  on  this  principle  I 
think  Miss  Anthony  will  stick  to  her  colors."  Miss  Couzins  quoted  Haw- 
thorne as  speaking  through  "  Zenobia  "  : 

"  It  is  my  belief,  yea,  my  prophecy,  that  when  my  sex  shall  have  attained  its  freedom 
there  will  be  ten  eloquent  women  where  there  is  now  one  eloquent  man,"  and  in- 
stanced this  convention  as  an  illustration  of  what  might  be  expected. 


*  Letters  were  also  received  from  Rebecca  Moore,  England;  Mrs.  2.  G.  Wallace,  Indianapolis; 
Frederick  Dou^hiss,  Washington,  D.  C.;  Theodore  Staiuon,  Paris,  France;  Sarah  Knox  Goodrich, 
Clarina  Howard  Nichols,  California,  and  many  others. 


252  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Miss  Couzins  was  followed  by  Mrs.  Saxon,  Mrs.  Neyman  and 
Miss  Hindman.  The  resolutions,*  which  were  presented  by  Mrs. 
Sewall,  among  their  personal  commendations  expressed  the  ap- 
preciation of  the  Association  for  the  services  rendered  by  Mrs. 
Clara  Bewick  Colby,  in  making  preparations  for  the  convention. 
Mrs.  Colby  in  making  her  acknowledgments  said  : 

There  was  another  to  whom  the  Association  owed  much  for  the  work 
done  which  has  made  possible  the  brilliant  success  of  the  convention — 
one  to  whom,  while  across  the  water  their  thoughts  and  hearts  had  often 
turned  ;  and  she  was  sure  that  all  present  would  gladly  join  in  extending 
a  welcome  to  the  late  president,  and  now  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  State  association,  Mrs.  Harriet  S.  Brooks. 

Mrs.  Brooks  came  forward  amid  applause,  and  said : 

That  at  this  late  hour  while  a  speech  might  be  silvern,  silence  was 
golden  ;  and  she  would  say  no  more  than,  on  behalf  of  all  the  members 
and  officers  of  the  State  association,  and  the  friends  of  the  cause  in  Omaha, 
to  tender  their  most  grateful  thanks  to  the  National  Association  for  "the 
feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  soul  "  with  which  they  have  been  favored 
during  the  last  three  days. 

At  the  close  of  the  convention  the  spacious  parlors  of  the 
Paxton  House  were  crowded.  Over  a  thousand  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen passed  through,  shaking  hands  with  the  delegates  and 
congratulating  them  on  the  great  success  of  the  convention. 

Another  enthusiastic  meeting  was  held  at  Lincoln,  the  capital 
of  the  State,  and  radiating  from  this  point  in  all  directions  these 
missionaries  of  the  new  gospel  of  woman's  equality  traversed  the 
entire  State,  scattering  tracts  and  holding  meetings  in  churches, 
school-houses  and  the  open  air,  and  thus  the  agitation  was 


*  WHEREAS,  The  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  has  labored  unremittingly  to  secure  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  in  the  congress  of  the  United  States  to  receive  and  consider  the  petitions  of 
women  and  whereas,  this  Association  realizes  the  importance  of  such  a  committee, 

Resolved^  That  the  thanks  of  this  Association  are  due  and  are  hereby  tendered  to  congress  for  the 
appointment  at  its  last  session  of  a  Select  Woman  Suffrage  Committee  in  each  house. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Association  are  hereby  tendered  to  Senators  Lapham,  Ferry,  Blair 
and  Anthony,  of  the  Select  Committee,  for  their  able  majority  report. 

Resolved^  That  it  is  the  paramount  duty  of  congress  at  its  next  session  to  submit  a  sixteenth  amend- 
ment to  the  constitution  which  shall  secure  the  enfranchisement  of  the  women  of  the  republic. 

Resolved,  That  the  recent  action  of  King  Christian  of  Denmark,  in  conferring  the  right  of  municipal 
suffrage  upon  the  women  in  Iceland,  and  the  similar  enlargement  of  woman's  political  freedom  in  Scot- 
land, India  and  Russia,  are  all  encouraging  evidences  of  the  progress  of  self-government  even  in  mon- 
archical countries.  And  farther,  that  while  the  possession  of  these  privileges  by  our  foreign  sisters  is  an 
occasion  of  rejoicing  to  us,  it  still  but  emphasizes  the  inconsistency  of  a  republic  which  refuses  political 
recognition  to  one-half  of  its  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  the  especial  thanks  of  the  officers  and  delegates  of  this  convention  are  due  and  are 
hereby  most  cordially  tendered  to  Mrs.  Clara  Bewick  Colby,  for  the  exceptionally  efficient  manner  in 
which  she  has  discharged  the  onerous  duties  which  devolved  upon  her  in  making  all  preparations  for 
this  convention  and  for  the  grand  success  which  her  efforts  have  secured. 

Resolved,  That  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  on  the  occasion  of  this,  its  fourteenth 
annual  convention,  does,  in  the  absence  of  its  honored  president,  desire  to  send  greeting  to  Elizabeth 
Cady  Stanton,  and  to  express  to  her  the  sympathetic  admiration  with  which  the  members  of  this  body 
have  followed  her  in  her  reception  in  a  foreign  land. 


Nebraska    Campaign. 


253 


kept  up  until  the  day  of  election.  As  it  was  the  season  for 
agricultural  fairs,  the  people  were  more  easily  drawn  together, 
and  the  ladies  readily  availed  themselves,  as  they  had  opportunity, 
of  these  great  gatherings.  Two  notable  debates  were  held  in 
Omaha  in  answer  to  the  many  challenges  sent  by  the  opposition. 
Miss  Couzins,  the  first  to  enter  the  arena,  was  obliged  to  help  her 
antagonist  in  his  scriptural  quotations,  while  Miss  Anthony  was 
compelled  to  supply  hers  with  well-known  statistics.  It  was 
evident  that  neither  of  the  gentlemen  had  sharpened  his 
weapons  for  the  encounter. 

To  look  over  the  list  of  counties  visited  and  the  immense  dis- 
tances traveled  in  public  and  private  conveyances,  enables  one  in  a 
measure  ^to  appreciate  the  physical  fatigue  these  ladies  endured. 
In  reading  of  their  earnest  speeches,  debates,  conversations  at 
every  fireside  and  dinner-table,  in  every  car  and  carriage  as  they 
journeyed  by  the  way  or  waited  at  the  station,  their  untiring  per- 
severance must  command  the  unqualified  admiration  of  those 
who  know  what  a  political  campaign  involves.  During  those  six 
weeks  of  intense  excitement  they  were  alike  hopeful  and  anxious 
as  to  the  result.  At  last  the  day  dawned  when  the  momentous 
question  of  the  enfranchisement  of  75,000  women  was  to  be 
decided.  Every  train  brought  some  of  the  speakers  to  their 
headquarters  in  Omaha,  with  cheering  news  from  the  different 
localities  they  had  canvassed.  And  now  one  last  effort  must  be 
made,  they  must  see  what  can  be  done  at  the  polls.  Some  of  the 
ladies  went  in  carriages  to  each  of  the  polling  booths  and  made 
earnest  appeals  to  those  who  were  to  vote  for  or  against  the 
woman's  amendment.  Others  stood  dispensing  refreshments  and 
the  tickets  they  wished  to  see  voted,  all  day  long.  And  while 
the  men  sipped  their  coffee  and  ate  their  viands  with  evident 
relish,  the  women  appealed  to  their  sense  of  justice,  to  their  love 
of  liberty  and  republican  institutions.  Vain  would  be  the  attempt 
to  describe  the  patient  waiting,  the  fond  hopes,  the  bright  visions 
of  coming  freedom,  that  had  nerved  these  brave  women  to  these 
untiring  labors,  or  to  shadow  in  colors  dark  enough  the  fears,  the 
anxieties,  the  disappointments,  all  centered  in  that  November 
election.  A  fitting  subject  for  an  historical  picture  was  that  group 
of  intensely  earnest  women  gathered  there,  as  the  last  rays  of  the 
setting  sun  warned  them  that  whether  for  weal  or  for  woe  the 
decisive  hour  had  come ;  no  word  of  theirs  could  turn  defeat  to 
victory. 


254  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  hours  of  anxious  waiting  were  not  long,  the  verdict  soon 
came  flashing  on  every  wire,  from  the  north,  the  south, 
the  west :  "  No  !"  "  No  !"  "  No  !"  The  mothers,  wives 
and  daughters  of  Nebraska  must  still  wear  the  yoke  of  slavery ; 
they  who  endured  with  man  the  hardships  of  the  early  days  and 
bravely  met  the  dangers  of  a  pioneer  life,  they  who  have  reared 
two  generations  of  boys  and  taught  them  the  elements  of  all  they 
know,  who  have  stood  foremost  in  all  good  works  of  charity  and 
reform,  who  appreciate  the  genius  of  free  institutions,  native- 
born  American  citizens,  are  still  to  be  governed  by  the  ignorant, 
vicious  classes  from  the  old  world.  What  a  verdict  was  this  for 
one  of  the  youngest  States  in  the  American  republic  irt  the  nine- 
teenth century! 

But  these  heroic  women  did  not  sit  down  in  sackcloth  and 
ashes  to  weep  over  the  cruel  verdict.  Anticipating  victory,  they 
had  engaged  the  Opera  House  to  hold  their  jubilee  if  the  women 
of  Nebraska  were  enfranchised  ;  or,  if  the  returns  brought  them 
no  cause  for  rejoicing,  they  would  at  least  exalt  the  educational 
•vpork  that  had  been  done  in  the  State,  and  dedicate  themselves 
anew  to  this  struggle  for  liberty.  They  had  survived  three  de- 
feats, in  Kansas,  Michigan,  Colorado,  and  tasted  the  bitterness  of 
repeated  disappointments,  and  another  could  not  crush  them. 
When  the  hour  arrived,  an  immense  audience  welcomed  them  in 
the  Opera  House,  and  from  this  new  baptism  of  sorrow  they  spoke 
more  eloquently  than  ever  before.  In  their  calm,  determined 
manner  they  seemed  to  say  with  Milton's  hero  : 

"All  is  not  lost :  the  unconquerable  will  is  ours." 

A  report  of  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Washington  Convention, 
Jan.  23,  24,  25,  1883,  was  written  by  Miss  Jessie  Waiteof  Chicago, 
and  published  in  the  Washington  Chronicle,  from  which  we  give 
the  following  extracts : 

The  proceedings  of  the  Association  were  inaugurated  at  Lincoln  Hall 
Monday  evening  by  a  novel  lecture,  entitled  "Zekle's  Wife,"  by  Mrs. 
Amy  Talbot  Dunn  of  Indianapolis.  The  personality  of  Mrs.  Dunn  is  so 
entirely  lost  in  that  of  Zekle's  wife  that  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  the  old 
lady  of  so  many  and  so  varied  experiences  is  a  happy  young  wife.  As  a 
character  sketch  Mrs.  Dunn's  "Zekle's  Wife  "  stands  on  an  equality  with 
Denman  Thompson's  "Joshua  WThitcomb  "  and  with  Joe  Jefferson's  "  Rip 
Van  Winkle."  To  sustain  a  conception  so  foreign  to  the  natural  charac- 
teristics of  the  actor  without  once  allowing  the  interest  of  the  audience  to 
flag,  requires  originality  of  thought,  independence  of  idea,  and  genius  for 
action.  Mrs.  Dunn,  herself  the  author  of  her  sketch,  possesses  to  a  re- 


Fifteenth  Annual  Washington   Convention.        255 

markable  degree  the  power  to  impress  upon  her  audience  the  feeling  that 
the  old  lady  from  "Kaintuck  "  is  before  them,  not  only  to  say  things  for 
their  amusement,  but  also  to  impress  upon  them  those  great  truths  which 
have  presented  themselves  to  her  mind  during  the  fifty  years  of  her  mar- 
ried life.  "Zekle's  Wife"  is  a  keen,  shrewd,  warm-hearted,  lovable  old 
woman,  without  education  or  culture,  yet  with  an  innate  sense  of  refine- 
ment and  a  touching  undercurrent  of  desire  "  not  to  be  too  hard  on  Zekle." 
As  she  tells  her  story,  which  she  informs  us  is  a  true  one  from  real  life, 
she  engages  the  attention  and  wins  the  sympathy  of  all  her  hearers,  and 
frequent  bursts  of  applause  evidence  the  satisfaction  of  the  audience. 

The  convention  proper  opened  on  Tuesday  morning  with  the  appoint- 
ment of  various  committees,*  and  reports  t  from  the  different  States  filled 
up  most  of  the  time  during  the  day.  May  Wright  Sewall  said : 

Women  must  learn  that  power  gives  power  ;  that  intelligence  alone  can  appreciate 
or  be  influenced  by  intelligence  ;  that  justice  alone  is  moved  by  appeals  based  oh  jus- 
tice. More  than  anything  in  the  course  of  suffrage  labor  does  the  Nebraska  campaign 
justify  the  primary  method  of  this  National  Association.  We  have  a  right  to  expect 
that  each  legislature  will  be  composed  of  the  picked  men  of  the  State.  We  have  a 
right  to  believe  that  as  the  intelligence,  wisdom  and  justice  of  the  picked  men  of  the 
nation  are  superior  to  the  same  qualities  in  the  mass  of  men,  so  is  the  fitness  of  national 
and  State  legislators  to  consider  the  demands  for  the  ballot. 

Mrs.  Mills  of  Washington  sang,  as  a  solo,  "  Barbara  Fritchie,"  in  excel- 
lent style.  Mrs.  Caroline  Hallowell  Miller  (wife  of  Francis  Miller,  esq., 
late  assistant  attorney  for  the  District  of  Columbia)  spoke  with  the 
greatest  ease  and  most  remarkable  command  of  language.  She  is  in 
every  sense  a  strong  woman.  She  said  that,  born  and  reared  as  she  was 
in  a  Virginia  town  noted  for  its  intense  conservatism,  where  she  had  seen 
a  woman  stripped  to  the  waist  and  brutally  beaten  by  order  of  the  law 
(her  skin  happened  to  be  of  a  dark  color)  whose  only  crime  was  that  of 
alleged  impertinence,  and  that  impertinence  provoked  by  improper  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  a  young  man ;  that,  reared  in  such  a  cradle  as  this, 
still,  through  the  blessing  of  a  good  home,  she  had  learned  to  deeply 
appreciate  the  noble  efforts  of  women  who  dared  to  tread  new  paths,  to 
break  their  own  way  through  the  dense  forest  of  prejudice  and  ignorance. 
Man  cannot  represent  woman.  If  woman  breaks  any  law  of  man,  of  na- 
ture, or  of  God,  she  alone  must  suffer  the  penalty.  "This  fact  seems  to 
me,"  said  Mrs.  Miller,  "to  settle  the  whole  question." 

Miss  Anthony  read  the  following  letter  from  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
who,  she  said,  had  the  honor  of  being  an  advocate  of  this  cause,  in  addi- 
tion to  being  governor  of  Massachusetts  : 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Jan.  23,  1883. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  I  received  your  kind  note  asking  me  to  attend  the 
National  Convention  of  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage  at  Washington,  for  which 
courtesy  I  am  obliged.  My  engagements,  which  have  taken  me  out  of  the  common- 
wealth, cover  all,  and  more  than  all,  of  my  time,  and  I  find  I  am  to  hurry  back,  leav- 


*  Committee  on  Resolutions,  composed  of  Lillic  Devereux  Blake  of  New  York  city,  Virginia  L.  Mi- 
nor of  St.  Louis,  Harriet  R.  Shattuck  of  Boston,  May  Wright  Sewall  of  Indianapolis,  and  Ellen  H. 
Sheldon  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

t  Mrs.  Spofford,  the  treasurer,  reported  that  $5,000  were  spent  in  Nebraska  in  the  endeavor  to  carry 
the  amendment  in  that  State. 


256  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ing  some  of  them  undisposed  of.     It  will  therefore  be  impossible  for  me  to  attend  the 
convention. 

As  I  have  already  declared  my  conviction  that  the  fourteenth  amendment  fully 
covers  the  right  of  all  persons  to  vote,  and  as  I  assume  that  the  women  of  the  country 
are  persons,  and  very  important  persons  to  its  happiness  and  prosperity,  I  never  have 
been  able  to  see  any  reason  why  women  do  not  come  within  its  provisions.  I  think 
such  will  be  the  decision  of  the  court,  perhaps  quite  as  early  as  you  may  be  able  to  get 
through  congress  and  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  another  amendment.  But 
both  lines  of  action  may  well  be  followed,  as  they  do  not  conflict  with  each  other. 
This  course  was  taken  in  the  case  of  the  fifteenth  amendment,  which  was  supposed  to 
be  necessary  to  cover  the  case  of  the  negro,  although  many  of  the  friends  of  the  colored 
man  looked  coldly  upon  that  amendment,  because  it  seemed  to  be  an  admission  that 
the  fourteenth  amendment  was  not  sufficient.  Therefore  I  can  without  inconsistency, 
I  think,  bid  you  ' '  God  speed  "  in  your  agitation  for  the  sixteenth  amendment.  It  will 
have  the  effect  to  enlighten  the  public  mind  as  to  the  scope  of  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment. I  am  very  truly,  your  friend  and  servant,  BE.NJ.  F.  BUTLER. 

Mrs.  Blake  presented  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  were  laid  on  the 
table  for  consideration : 

WHEREAS,  In  larger  numbers  than  ever  before  the  women  of  the  United  States  are 
demanding  the  repeal  of  arbitrary  restrictions  which  now  debar  them  from  the  use  of 
the  ballot ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  recent  defeat  in  Nebraska  of  a  constitutional  amendment,  giving 
the  women  of  the  State  the  right  to  vote,  proves  that  failure  is  the  natural  result  of  an 
appeal  to  the  masses  on  a  question  which  is  best  understood  and  approved  by  the  more 
intelligent  citizens;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  call  upon  this  congress  to  pass,  without  delay,  the  sixteenth 
amendment  to  the  federal  constitution  now  pending  in  the  Senate. 

Resolved,  That  all  competitive  examinations  for  places  in  the  civil  service  of  the 
United  States  should  be  open  on  equal  terms  to  citizens  of  both  sexes,  and  that  any  so- 
called  civil  service  reform  that  does  not  correct  the  existing  unjust  discrimination 
against  women  employe's,  and  grade  all  salaries  on  merit  and  not  sex,  is  a  dishonest 
pretense  at  reform. 

WHEREAS,  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  declares  that  no  State  shall  be 
admitted  to  the  Union  unless  it  have  a  republican  form  of  government;  and  whereas, 
no  true  republic  can  exist  unless  all  the  inhabitants  are  given  equal  civil  and  political 
rights;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  earnestly  protest  against  the  admission  of  Dakota  as  a  State,  un- 
less the  right  of  suffrage  is  secured  on  equal  terms  to  all  her  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  the  women  of  these  United  States  have  not  deserved  the  infliction 
of  this  punishment  of  disfranchisement,  and  do  most  earnestly  demand  that  they  be 
relieved  from  the  cruelties  it  imposes  upon  them. 

WHEREAS,  During  the  war  hundreds  of  women  throughout  our  land  entered  the 
service  of  the  nation  as  hospital  nurses;  and 

WHEREAS,  Many  of  these  women  were  disabled  by  wounds  and  by  disease,  while 
many  were  reduced  to  permanent  invalidism  by  the  hardships  they  endured;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  these  women  should  be  placed  on  the  pension  list  and  rewarded  for 
their  services. 

After  the  reading  of  the  resolutions  an  animated  discussion  followed, 
Miss  Anthony  showing  in  scathing  terms  the  injustice  of  the  employment 
of  women  to  do  equal  work  with  men  at  half  the  salaries,  in  the  depart- 
ments at  Washington  and  elsewhere.  An  additional  resolution  was 
adopted  declaring  that  paying  Dr.  Susan  A.  Edson  for  her  services  as 
attendant  physician  to  President  Garfield,  $1,000  less  than  was  paid  for 


Discussion  of  the  Resolutions.  257 

an  equivalent  service  rendered  by  Dr.  Boynton,  a  more  recent  graduate  of 
tjie  same  college  from  which  she  received  her  diploma,  is  an  unjust  dis- 
crimination on  account  of  sex. 

Mrs.  SEWALL  said  men  in  the  departments  were  given  extra  leave  of  absence  each 
year  to  go  home  to  vote,  and  suggested  that  women  be  given  (until  the  time  comes  for 
them  to  vote)  extra  leave  to  meditate  upon  the  ballot. 

Miss  ANTHONY  said  she  had  addressed  a  letter  to  each  secretary  asking  that  such 
women  as  desired  be  given  permission  to  attend  the  meetings  of  this  convention  with- 
out loss  of  time  to  them.  She  had  received  but  one  answer,  which  was  from  Secretary 
Folger,  who  wrote:  "  The  condition  of  the  public  business  prevents  us  from  acceding 
to  your  request. " 

Mrs.  HARRIETTE  R.  SHATTUCK'of  Boston  said:  Tired  as  some  of  the  audience  must 
be  of  hearing  the  same  old  argument  in  favor  of  the  ballot  for  women  repeated  from 
year  to  year,  they  could  not  possibly  be  more  tired  than  the  friends  of  the  cause  were 
of  hearing  the  same  old  objections  repeated"  from  year  to  year.  While  the  forty-year- 
old  objections  are  raised  the  forty-year-old  rejoinders  must  be  given.  We  must  con- 
tinue to  agitate  until  we  force  people  to  listen.  It  is  like  the  ringing  of  a  bell.  At 
first  no  one  notices  it;  in  a  little  while,  a  few  will  listen;  finally,  the  perpetual  ding- 
dong,  ding-dong,  will  force  itself  to  be  heard  by  every  one.  The  oldest  of  all  the  old 
arguments  is  that  of  right  and  justice,  and  the  tune  which  my  little  bell  shall  ring  is 
merely  this  :  "  It  is  right!"  This  cry  of  woman  for  liberty  and  equality  increases 
every  day,  and  it  is  a  cry  that  must  some  day  be  heard  and  responded  to. 

Mrs.  Virginia  L.  Minor  of  St.  Louis  was  then  introduced  as  the  woman 
who  stands  to  this  cause  in  the  same  relation  that  Dred  Scott  had  stood 
to  the  Republican  party.  Miss  Couzins  said  that  in  introducing  Mrs. 
Minor  she  wanted  to  say  one  word  about  the  work  Mrs.  Minor  had  done 
for  the  soldiers,  during  the  sanitary  fair  and  all  through  the  war.  She  had 
canned  fruit,  refusing  the  money  offered  in  payment,  returning  it  all  to  be 
used  for  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  [applause].  Mrs.  Minor  spoke  in 
a  calm,  deliberate  manner,  with  perfect  conviction  in  the  truth  of  her 
statements  and  with  a  winning  sweetness  of  expression  that  indicated  the 
highest  sensibilities  of  a  refined  nature.  She  showed  that  women  voted 
in  the  early  days  of  the  country,  and  that  undoubtedly  it  was  the  inten- 
tion of  the  framers  of  the  constitution  that  they  should  do  so.  This  right 
had  been  taken  away  when  the  constitution  was  amended  and  the  word 
"  male  "  inserted.  What  is  now  desired  is  simply  restoration  of  that  which 
had  been  taken  away.  She  believed  that  this  restoration  was  made,  un- 
wittingly, by  the  addition  of  the  fourteenth  amendment,  which,  without 
doubt,  makes  women  citizens.  It  is  men  who  have  abused  the  republican 
institution  of  suffrage  ;  it  is  women  who  desire  to  restore  it  to  its  proper 
exercise.  Miss  Anthony  read  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Wallace,  the  wife  of  one 

of  the  former  governors  of  Indiana  : 

INDIANAPOLIS,  Ind. ,  January  21,  1883. 

DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  When  in  the  call  I  read  that  for  fourteen  consecutive  years 
the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  had  held  a  convention  in  Washington,  I 
was  oppressed  by  two  thoughts  :  First,  how  hard  it  is  to  overcome  prejudice  and 
ignorance  when  they  have  been  fortified  by  the  usages  and  customs  of  ages;  and  sec- 
ondly, the  sublime  faith,  courage  and  perseverance  of  the  advocates  of  woman's  en- 
franchisement, and  their  confidence  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  justice.  After  all,  by 
what  are  governments  organized  and  maintained?  By  brute  force  alone?  Despot- 
isms may  be,  but  republics  never.  What  are  the  qualifications  for  the  ballot  ?  The 
power  to  fight  ?  Are  they  not  rather  intelligence,  virtue,  truth  and  patriotism  ?  I  scarce 

17 


258  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

think  the  most  obstinate  and  egotistical  of  our  opponents  will  assert- that  men  possess 
a  monopoly  of  these  virtues,  or  even  a  moiety  of  them.  As  to  their  fighting  capacities, 
of  which  we  hear  so  much,  I  think  they  would  have  cut  a  sorry  figure  in  the  wars 
which  they  have  been  compelled  to  wage  in  order  to  establish  and  maintain  this  gov- 
ernment, if  they  had  not  had  the  sympathy  and  cooperation  of  woman.  I  entirely 
agree  with  you  that,  while  agitation  in  the  States  is  necessary  as  a  means  of  education, 
a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national  constitution  is  the  quickest,  surest  and  least 
laborious  way  to  secure  the  success  of  this  great  work  for  human  liberty.  Any  legis- 
lature of  Indiana  in  the  last  six  years  would  have  ratified  such  an  amendment.  With 
highest  regards  for  yourself  and  the  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  the  convention,  I 
remain,  Yours,  etc.,  ZERELDA  G.  WALLACE. 

After  several  other  speakers,*  Madame  Clara  Neyman  of  New  York 
city,  delivered  what  was,  without  question,  one  of  the  best  addresses  of 
the  convention.  She  spoke  with  a  slightly  German  accent,  which  only 
served  to  enhance  the  interest  and  hold  the  attention  of  the  audience. 
Her  eloquence  and  argument  could  not  fail  to  convince  all  of  her  earnest 
purpose.  After  showing  the  philosophy  of  reform  movements,  and  every 
step  of  progress,  she  said  : 

Woman's  enfranchisement  will  be  wrought  out  by  peaceful  means.  We  shall  use 
no  fire-arms,  no  torpedoes,  no  heavy  guns  to  gain  our  freedom.  No  precious  human 
lives  will  be  sacrificed;  no  tears  will  be  shed  to  establish  our  right.  We  shall  capture 
the  fortresses  of  prejudice  and  injustice  by  the  force  of  our  arguments;  we  shall  send 
shell  after  shell  into  these  strongholds  until  their  defective  reasoning  gives  way  to  vic- 
torious truth.  "Inability  to  bear  arms,"  says  Herbert  gpencer,  "was  the  reason 
given  in  feudal  times  for  excluding  woman  from  succession,"  and  to-day  her  position 
is  lowest  where  the  military  spirit  prevails.  A  sad  illustration  of  this  is  my  own  coun- 
try. Being  a  born  German,  and  in  feeling,  kindred,  and  patriotism  attached  to  the 
country  of  my  birth  and  childhood,  it  is  hard  for  me  to  make  such  a  confession.  But 
the  truth  must  be  told,  even  if  it  hurts.  It  has  been  observed  by  those  who  travel  in 
Europe,  that  Germany,  which  has  the  finest  and  best  universities,  which  stands  highest 
in  scholarship,  nevertheless  tolerates,  nay,  enforces  the  subjection  of  woman.  The 
freedom  of  a  country  stands  in  direct  relation  to  the  position  of  its  women.  America, 
which  has  proclaimed  the  freedom  of  man,  has  developed  pari  passu  a  finer  woman- 
hood, and  has  done  more  for  us  than  any  other  nation  in  existence.  A  new  type  of 
manhood  has  been  reared  on  American  soil — a  type  which  Tennyson  describes  in  his 
Princess: 

Man  shall  be  more  of  woman,  she  of  man  ; 

He  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  moral  height, 

Nor  lose  the  thews  that  wrestle  with  the  world  ; 

She,  mental  breadth,  nor  fail  in  childward  care, 

Nor  lose  the  childlike  in  the  larger  mind  ; 

Till  at  the  last  they  set  them  each  to  each. 

Like  perfect  music  unto  noble  words. 

Then  comes  the  statelier  Eden  back  to  man  ; 

Then  springs  the  crowning  race  of  human  kind. 

At  the  evening  session  the  time  was  divided  between  Lillie  Devereux 
Blake  and  Phcebe  W.  Couzins.  Mrs.  Blake  spoke  on  the  question,  "  Is  it 
a  Crime  to  be  a  Woman  ?  " 

She  showed  in  a  clear,  logical  manner  that  wherever  a  woman  was  apprehended  for 
crime  the  discrimination  against  her  was  not  because  of  the  crime  she  had  committed, 
but  because  the  crime  was  committed  by  a  woman.  Every  woman  in  this  country  is 
treated  by  the  law  as  if  she  were  to  blame  for  being  a  woman.  In  New  York  an  hon- 


*  Short  speeches  were  made  by  Mrs.   Rogers,  Mrs.  Lockwood,  Mrs.   McKinney,  Mrs.  Lodcr  and 
others. 


Brief  Addresses.  259 


orable  married  woman  has  no  right  to  her  children.  A  man  may  beat  his  wife  all  he 
pleases;  but  if  he  beats  another  man  the  law  immediately  interferes,  showing  that  the 
woman  is  not  protected  simply  because  she  is  so  indiscreet  as  to  be  a  -woman.  If  it  is 
not  a  crime  to  be  a  woman,  why  are  women  subjected  to  unequal  payment  with  men 
for  the  same  service  ?  Why  are  they  forced  at  times  to  don  men's  clothes  in  order  to 
obtain  employment  that  will  keep  them  from  starvation  ? 

Miss  COUZINS  said  that  the  American-born  woman  was  "a  woman  without  a 
country";  but  before  she  had  closed  she  had  proved  that  this  country  belonged  ex- 
clusively to  the  women.  It  was  a  woman,  Queen  Isabella,  that  enabled  a  man  to  dis- 
cover this  country,  and  in  the  old  flag  the  initials  were  "I"  and  "F,"  representing 
Isabella  and  Ferdinand,  showing  that  it  was  acknowledged  that  the  woman's  initial 
was  the  more  important  in  this  matter  and  to  be  first  considered.  It  was  a  woman, 
Mary  Chilton,  that  first  landed  on  Plymouth  rock.  It  was  a  woman,  Betsy  Ross, 
that  designed  our  beautiful  flag,  the  original  eagle  on  our  silver  dollar,  and  the 
seal  of  the  United  States  without  which  no  money  is  legal.  All  the  way  down  in  our 
national  history  woman  has  been  hand  in  hand  with  man,  has  assisted,  supported  and 
encouraged  him,  and  now  there  are  women  ready  to  help  reform  the  life  of  the  body 
politic,  and  side  by  side  with  man  work  to  purify,  refine  and  ennoble  the  world.  Miss 
Couzins  seemed  Inspired  by  her  own  thoughts  and  carried  the  audience  along  with  her 
in  her  flights  of  eloquence. 

Being  asked  to  make  a  few  closing  remarks,  Mrs.  May  Wright  Sewall 
said : 

Difficult,  indeed,  is  the  task  of  closing  a  three  days'  convention;  vain  is  the  hope  to 
do  it  with  fitting  words  which  shall  not  be  mere  repetitions  of  what  has  been  said  on 
this  platform.  The  truth  which  bases  this  claim  lies  in  a  nut-shell,  and  the  shell  seems 
hard  to  be  cracked.  It  is  unfair,  when  comparing  the  ability  of  men  and  women,  to 
compare  the  average  woman  to  the  exceptional  man,  but  this  is  what  man  always  does. 
If,  perchance,  he  admits  not  only  the  equality  but  the  superiority  of  woman,  he  tells 
her  she  must  not  vote  because  she  is  so  nearly  an  angel,  so  much  better  than  he  is,  and 
this,  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  every  angel  represented  or  revealed  has  been  shown  in 
the  form  of  a  handsome  young  man.  If  any  class  then  must  abstain  from  meddling  in 
politics  on  account  of  relation  to  the  angels,  it  is  the  men !  But  she  informed 
the  gentlemen  she  had  no  fears  for  them  on  that  ground,  for  their  relationship  was  not 
near  enough  to  cause  any  serious  inconvenience.  Speaking  of  the  objections  to  women 
undertaking  grave  or  deep  studies,  that  woman  lacks  the  logical  faculty,  that  she  has 
only  intuition,  nerve-force,  etc.,  Mrs.  Sewall  said:  It  is  true  of  every  woman  who  has 
done  the  worthiest  work  in  science,  literature,  or  reform,  from  Diotima,  the  teacher  of 
Socrates,  to  Margaret  Fuller,  the  pupil  of  Channing  and  the  peer  of  Emerson,  that 
ignoring  the  methods  of  nerves  and  instincts,  she  has  placed  herself  squarely  on  the 
basis  of  observation,  investigation  and  reason.  Men  will  admit  that  these  women 
had  strength  and  logic,  but  say  they  are  exceptional  women.  So  are  Gladstone, 
Bismarck,  Gambetta,  Lincoln  and  Garfield  exceptional  men.  She  mentioned 
Miss  Anthony's  proposed  trip  to  Europe,  and  said  that  she  had  not  had  a  holiday  for 
thirty  years. 

Miss  ANTHONY  said  she  wished  to  call  attention  to  the  report  of  the  Special  Com- 
mittee of  the  Senate,  which  distinctly  stated  that  the  question  had  had  "  general  agita- 
tion," and  that  the  petitions  at  different  times  presented  were  both  "numerous  and 
respectable."  This  was  sufficient  answer,  coming  from  such  high  authority,  that 
of  Senator  Anthony,  to  all  the  insinuations  and  unjust  remarks  about  the  petitions  pre- 
sented to  congress,  and  with  regard  to  the  assertion  that  women  themselves  did  not 
want  the  ballot.  She  expressed  her  obligations  to  the  press,  and  mentioned  that  the 
Sunday  Chronicle  had  announced  its  intention  of  giving  much  valuable  space  to  the 
proceedings,  and  that  when  she  had  learned  this,  she  had  ordered  1,000  copies,  which 
she  would  send  to  the  address  of  any  friend  in  the  audience  free  of  charge. 


260  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

The  "  Star  Spangled  Banner"  was  then  sung,  Miss  Couzins  and  Mrs.  Shat- 
tuck  singing  the  solos,  Mr.  Wilson  of  the  Foundry  M.  E.  Church,  leading  the 
audience  in  the  chorus,  the  whole  producing  a  fine  effect.  Miss  Anthony  said 
the  audience  could  see  how  much  better  it  was  to  have  a  man  to  help,  even 
in  singing.  This  brought  down  the  house. 

In  closing  this  report,  a  word  may  be  said  of  the  persons  most 
conspicuous  in  it.  This  year  several  remarkable  additions  have  been 
made  to  our  number,  and  it  is  of  these  especially  that  we  would  speak. 
Mrs.  Minor  of  St.  Louis,  in  her  manner  has  all  the  gentleness  and  sweet- 
ness of  the  high-born  Southern  lady ;  her  personal  appearance  is  very 
pleasant,  her  hair  a  light  chestnut,  untouched  with  gray  ;  her  face  has  lost 
the  color  of  youth,  but  her  eyes  have  still  their  fire,  toned  down  by  the 
sorrow  they  have  seen.  Madame  Neyman  is  also  new  to  the  Washing- 
ton platform.  She  is  a  piquant  little  German  lady,  with  vivacious  manner, 
most  agreeable  accent,  and  looked  in  her  closely-fitting  black-velvet  dress 
as  if  she  might  have  just  stepped  out  of  a  painting.  In  direct  contrast  is 
Mrs.  Miller  of  Maryland — a  large,  dark-haired  matron,  past  middle  age,  but 
newly  born  in  her  enthusiasm  for  the  cause.  She  is  a  worker  as  well  as 
a  talker,  and  is  a  decided  acquisition  to  the  ranks.  The  other  novice  in 
the  work  is  Mrs.  Amy  Dunn,  who  has  taken  such  a  novel  way  to  render 
assistance.  Mrs.  Dunn  is  tall  and  slender,  with  dark  hair  and  eyes.  She 
is  a  shrewd  observer,  does  not  talk  much  socially,  but  when  she  says  any- 
thing it  is  to  the  point.  Her  character  sketch,  "Zekle's  Wife,"  will  be  a 
stepping-stone  to  many  a  woman  on  her  way  to  the  suffrage  platform. 

Two  women  who  have  done  and  are  doing  a  great  work  in  this  city,  and 
who  are  not  among  the  public  speakers,  are  Mrs.  Spofford,  the  treasurer, 
wife  of  the  proprietor  of  the  Riggs  House,  and  Miss  Ellen  H.  Sheldon, 
secretary  of  the  Association.  To  these  ladies  is  due  much  of  the  success 
of  the  convention.  Mrs.  Sheldon  is  of  diminutive  stature,  with  gray  hair, 
and  Mrs.  Spofford  is  of  large  and  queenly  figure,  with  white  hair.  Her 
magnificent  presence  is  always  remarked  at  the  meetings. 

The  following  were  among  the  letters  read  at  this. convention  : 

10  DUCHESS  STREET,  PORTLAND  PLACE,  LONDON,  Eng.,  Jan.  12. 

DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  To  you  and  our  friends  in  convention  assembled,  I  send 
greeting  from  the  old  world.  It  needs  but  little  imagination  to  bring  Lincoln  Hall, 
the  usual  fine  audiences,  and  the  well-known  faces  on  the  platform,  before  my  mind, 
so  familiar  have  fifteen  years  of  these  conventions  in  \Vashington  made  such  scenes 
to  me.  How  many  times,  as  I  have  sat  in  your  midst  and  listened  to  the  grand 
speeches  of  my  noble  coadjutors,  I  have  wondered  how  much  longer  we  should  be 
called  upon  to  rehearse  the  oft-repeated  arguments  in  favor  of  equal  rights  to  all. 
Surely  the  grand  declarations  of  statesmen  at  every  period  in  our  history  should  make 
the  principle  of  equality  so  self-evident  as  to  end  at  once  all  class  legislation. 

It  is  now  over  half  a  century  since  Frances  Wright  with  eloquent  words  first  asserted 
the  political  rights  of  women  in  our  republic;  and  from  that  day  to  this,  inspired 
apostles  in  an  unbroken  line  of  succession  have  proclaimed  the  new  gospel  of  the 
motherhood  of  God  and  of  humanity.  We  have  plead  our  case  in  conventions  of  the 
people,  in  halls  of  legislation,  before  committees  ot  congress,  and  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  our  arguments  still  remain  unanswered.  History 
shows  no  record  of  a  fact  like  this,  where  so  large  a  class  of  virtuous,  educated,  native- 
born  citizens  have  been  subjugated  by  the  national  government  to  foreign  domination. 


Letters.  261 

While  our  American  statesmen  scorn  the  thought  that  even  the  most  gifted  son  of  a 
monarch,  an  emperor  or  a  czar  should  ever  occupy  the  proud  position  of  a  president 
of  these  United  States,  and  by  constitutional  provision  deny  to  all  foreigners  this  high 
privilege,  they  yet  allow  the  very  riff-raff  of  the  old  world  to  make  laws  for  the 
proudest  women  of  the  republic,  to  make  the  moral  code  for  the  daughters  of  our 
people,  to  sit  in  judgment  on  all  our  domestic  relations. 

England  has  taken  two  grand  steps  within  the  last  year  in  extending  the  municipal 
suffrage  to  the  woman  of  Scotland  and  in  passing  the  Married  Woman's  Property 
bill.  They  are  holding  meetings  all  over  the  country  now  in  favor  of  parliamentary 
suffrage.  Statistics  show  that  women  generally  exercise  the  rights  already  accorded. 
They  have  recently  passed  through  a  very  heated  election  for  members  of  the  school- 
board  in  various  localities.  Miss  Lydia  Becker  was  elected  in  Manchester,  and  Miss 
Eva  Mttller  in  one  of  the  districts  of  London,  and  several  other  women  in  different 
cities. 

A  little  incident  will  show  you  how  naturally  the  political  equality  of  woman  is  com- 
ing about  in  Queen  Victoria's  dominions.  I  was  invited  to  dine  at  Barn  Elms,  a  beau- 
tiful estate  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  a  spot  full  of  classic  associations,  the  residence 
of  Mr.  Charles  McLaren,  a  member  of  parliament.  Opposite  me  at  dinner  sat  a 
bright  young  girl  tastefully  attired  ;  on  my  right  the  gentleman  to  whom  she  was  en- 
gaged; at  the  head  of  the  table  a  sparkling  matron  of  twenty-five,  one  of  the  most 
popular  speakers  here  on  the  woman  suffrage  platform.  The  dinner-table  talk  was 
such  as  might  be  heard  in  any  cultivated  circle — art,  literature,  amusements,  passing 
events,  etc.,  etc. — and  when  the  repast  was  finished,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  full  din- 
ner dress,  went  off  to  attend  an  important  school-board  meeting,  our  host  to  preside  and 
the  young  lady  opposite  me  to  make  the  speech  of  the  evening,  and  all  done  in  as 
matter-of-fact  a  way  as  if  the  party  were  going  to  the  opera.  Members  of  parliament 
and  lord-mayors  preside  and  speak  at  all  their  public  meetings  and  help  in  every  way 
to  carry  on  the  movement,  giving  money  most  liberally;  and  yet  how  seldom  any  of 
our  senators  or  congressmen  will  even  speak  at  our  meetings,  to  say  nothing  of  send- 
ing iis  a  check  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  dollars.  I  trust  that  we  shall  accomplish  enough 
this  year  to  place  the  women  of  republican  America  at  least  on  an  even  platform  with 
monarchical  England.  With  sincere  wishes  for  the  success  of  the  convention,  cordially 
yours,  ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON. 

LONDON,  January  10,  1883. 

DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  I  was  very  glad  indeed  to  receive  notice  of  your  mid-win- 
ter conference  in  time  to  send  you  a  few  words  about  the  progress  of  our  work  in 
England.  I  believe  our  disappointment  at  the  result  of  the  vote  in  Nebraska  must 
have  been  greater  than  yours,  as,  being  on  the  spot,  you  saw-the  difficulties  to  be  sur- 
mounted. I  had  so  hoped  that  the  men  of  a  free  new  State  would  prove  themselves 
juster  and  wiser  than  the  men  of  our  older  civilizations,  whose  prejudice  and  pre- 
cedents are  such  formidable  barriers.  But  we  cannot,  judging  from  a  distance,  look 
upon  the  work  of  the  campaign  as  thrown  away.  Twenty-five  thousand  votes  in  favor 
of  woman  suffrage  in  the  face  of  such  enormous  odds  is  really  a  victory,  and  the  legis- 
latures of  these  States  are  deeply  pledged  to  ratify  the  constitutional  amendment,  if 
passed  by  congress.  We  look  forward  hopefully  to  the  discussion  in  congress.  The 
majority  report  of  the  Senate  cannot  fail  to  secure  attention,  and  I  hope  your  present 
convention  will  bring  together  national  forces  that  will  greatly  influence  the  debate. 

CAROLINE  A.  BIGGS. 

51  RUE  DE  VARENNE,  PARIS,  January  15,  1883. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  Perhaps  a  brief  account  of  what  has  been  done  with 
the  two  packages  of  "  The  History  of  Woman  Suffrage  "  which  you  sent  me  for  dis- 
tribution in  Europe  may  prove  interesting  to  the  convention.  In  the  first  place,  sets 
in  sheep  have  been  deposited  already,  or  will  have  been  before  spring,  in  all  the  great 
continental  libraries  from  Russia  to  France,  and  from  Denmark  to  Turkey.  In  the 
second  place,  copies  in  cloth  have  been  presented  to  reformers,  publicists,  editors,  etc, 


262  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

in  every  country  of  the  old  world.  This  generous  distribution  of  a  costly  work  has 
already  begun  to  produce  an  effect.  Besides  a  large  number  of  private  letters  from 
all  parts  of  Europe  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  volumes  and  bestowing  on  their 
contents  the  highest  praise,  the  History  has  been  reviewed  in  numerous  reform,  edu- 
cational and  socialistic  periodicals  and  newspapers  in  almost  every  modern  European 
tongue.  Nor  is  this  all.  Every  week  a  new  pamphlet  or  book  is  sent  me,  or  comes 
under  my  notice,  in  which  this  History  is  cited,  sometimes  at  great  length,  and  is  pro- 
nounced to  be  the  authority  on  the  American  women's  movement.  I  have  carefully 
kept  all  these  letters,  newspaper  notices,  etc.,  and  at  the  proper  time  I  hope  to  prepare 
a  little  pamphlet  for  your  publisher  on  European  opinion  concerning  your  great  work. 

Very  truly  yours,  THEODORE  STANTON. 

51  RUE  DE  VARENNE,  PARIS,  January  15,  1883. 

DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  My  husband  has  just  read  me  a  letter  he  has  written  you 
concerning  the  enthusiastic  reception  your  big  History  has  had  among  liberal  people 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  he  did  not  inform  you  that  he  should  send  the  Ameri- 
can public  next  spring  a  similar  though  much  smaller  work,  entitled  "The  Woman 
Question  in  Europe."  The  Putnamsof  New  York  are  now  busy  on  the  volume.  You. 
in  the  new  world  have  little  idea  how  the  leaders  of  the  women's  movement  here  watch 
everything  you  do  in  the  United  States.  The  great  fact  which  my  husband's  volume 
will  teach  you  in  America  is  the  important  and  direct  influence  your  movement  is 
having  on  the  younger,  less  developed,  but  growing  revolution  in  favor  of  our  sex,  now 
in  progress  in  every  country  of  the  old  world.  While  assisting  in  the  preparation  of 
the  manuscript  for  this  book  this  fact  has  been  thrust  upon  my  notice  at  every  instant, 
and  never  before  did  I  fully  realize  the  grand  role  the  United  States  is  acting  in  this 
nineteenth  century,  for,  rest  assured,  the  moment  European  women  are  emancipated 
monarchy  gives  way  to  the  republic  everywhere. 

Most  sincerely  yours,  MARGUERITTE  BERRY  STANTON. 

134  PENNSYLVANIA  AVENUE,  S.  E.,  January  25,  1883. 

DEAR  SUSAN  ANTHONY  :  I  believe  that  this  is  the  only  week  of  the  whole  winter 
when  I  could  not  come  to  you  nor  attend  your  convention,  much  as  I  wish  to  do  so. 
It  has  been  an  exceptional  week  to  me  in  the  way  of  work  and  engagements,  full  of 
both  as  I  always  am.  I  could  not  call  on  you  last  Monday,  as  I  was  in  my  own 
crowded  parlors  from  I  till  10  o'clock  at  night.  I  tell  you  this  that  you  may  know 
that  I  did  not  of  my  own  accord  stay  away  from  you.  I  have  not  had  a  moment  to 
write  you  a  coherent  letter,  such  as  I  would  be  willing  you  should  read.  But  I  hare 
saved  the  best  reports  of  the  convention,  and  it  shall  have  a  good  notice  in  the  Inde- 
pendent of  week  after  next.  It  shall  have  only  praise.  Of  course  I  could  write  a 
brighter,  more  characteristic  notice  could  I  myself  have  attended.  Should  you  stay 
over  next  Sunday  I  can  see  you  yet;  but  if  not,  remember  I  think  of  you  always  with 
the  warmest  interest,  and  meet  you  always  with  unchanged  affection. 

Ever  your  friend,  MARY  CLEMMER. 

May  God  bless  and  keep  you,  I  ever  pray.* 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  THURSDAY,  March  r,  1883. 
Mr.  WHITE,  by  unanimous  consent,  from  the  Special  Committee  on 
Woman  Suffrage,  reported  back  the  joint  resolution  (H.  Res.,  255)  pro- 
posing an  amendment  to  the  constitution  ,  which  was  referred  to  the 
House  calendar,  and,  with  the  accompanying  report,  ordered  to  be 
printed. 

*  This  was  the  last  word  from  this  dear  friend  to  one  of  our  number.  I  met  her  afterward  as  Mrs. 
Hudson  with  her  husband  in  London.  We  dined  together  one  evening  at  the  pleasant  home  of  Mon- 
cure  D.  Conway.  She  was  as  full  as  ever  of  plans  for  future  usefulness  and  enjoyment.  From  Eng- 
land she  went  for  a  short  trip  on  the  continent.  In  parting  I  little  thought  she  would  so  soon  finish 
her  work  on  earth.  E.  C.  S. 


Report  of  Select  Committee.  263 

Mr.  SPRINGER:  As  a  member  of  that  committee  I  have  not  seen  the 
report,  and  do  not  know  whether  it  meets  with  my  concurrence.* 

Mr.  WHITE:  I  ask  by  unanimous  consent  that  the  minority  may  have 
leave  to  submit  their  views,  to  be  printed  with  the  majority  report. 

The  SPEAKER  :  The  Chair  hears  no  objection. 

MR.  WHITE,  from  the  Select  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage,  submitted 
the  following : 

The  Select  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage,  to  whom  was  referred  House  Resolution 
No.  2jJ,  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  secure 
the  right  of  suffrage  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  withont  regard  to  sex,  having 
considered  the  same,  respectfullv  report : 

In  attempting  to  comprehend  the  vast  results  that  could  and  would  be  attained  by 
the  adoption,  of  the  proposed  article  to  the  constitution,  a  few  considerations  are  pre- 
sented that  are  claimed  by  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage  to  be  worthy  of  the  most 
serious  attention,  among  which  are  the  following  : 

I.  There  are  vast  interests  in  property  vested  in  women,  which  property  is  affected 
by   taxation   and  legislation,  without   the   owners  having  voice  or  representation  in 
regard  to  it.     The  adoption  of  the  proposed  amendment  would  remove  a  manifest 
injustice. 

II.  Consider  the  unjust  discriminations  made  against  women  in  industrial  and  edu- 
cational pursuits,  and  against  those  who  are  compelled  to  earn  a  livelihood  by  work  of 
hand  or  brain.     By  conferring  upon  such  the  right  of  suffrage,  their  condition,  it  is 
claimed,  would  be  greatly  improved  by  the  enlargement  of  their  influence. 

III.  The  questions  of  social  and  family  relations  are  of  equal  importance  to  and 
affect  as  many  women  as  men.     Giving  to  women  a  voice  in  the  enactment  of  laws 
pertaining  to  divorce  and  the  custody  of  children  and  division  of  property  would  be 
merely  recognizing  an  undeniable  right. 

IV.  Municipal  regulations  in  regard  to  houses  of  prostitution,  of  gambling,  of  retail 
liquor  traffic,  and  of  all  other  abominations  of  modern  society,  might  be  shaped  very 
differently  and  more  perfectly  were  women  allowed  the  ballot. 

V.  If  women  had  a  voice  in  legislation,  the  momentous  question  of  peace  and  war, 
which  may  act  with  such  fearful  intensity  upon  women,  might  be  settled  with  less 
bloodshed. 

VI.  Finally,  there  is  no  condition,  status  in  life,  of  rich  or  poor;  no  question,  moral 
or  political;  no  interest,  present  or  future;  no  ties,  foreign  or  domestic;  no  issues,  local 
or  national;  no  phase  of  human  life,  in  which  the  mother  is  not  equally  interested  with 
the  father,  the  daughter  with  the  son,  the  sister  with  the  brother.     Therefore  the  one 
should  have  equal  voice  with  the  other  in  molding  the  destiny  of  this  nation. 

Believing  these  consider.-. '.ions  to  be  so  important  as  to  challenge  the  attention  of  all 
patriotic  citizens,  and  that  the  people  have  a  right  to  be  heard  in  the  only  authoritative 
manner  recognized  by  the  constitution,  we  report  the  accompanying  resolution  with  a 
favorable  recommendation  in  order  that  the  people,  through  the  legislatures  of  their 
respective  States,  may  express  their  views: 

JOINT  RESOLUTION  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States: 
Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  congress  assembled,  (two-thirds  of  each  House  concurring  therein),  That 
the  following  article  be  proposed  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  as  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which,  when  ratified  by  three-fourths 
of  the  said  legislatures,  shall  be  valid  as  part  of  said  constitution,  namely : 


*  Mr.  Springer  had  never  been  present  at  a  single  meeting  of  the  committee,  though  always  officially 
notified.  Neither  did  Mr.  Muldrow  of  Mississippi  ever  honor  the  committee  with  his  presence.  How- 
ever, Mr  Stockslager  of  Indiana  and  Mr.  Vance  of  North  Carolina  were  always  in  their  places,  and  the 
latter,  we  thought,  almost  persuaded  to  consider  with  favor  the  claims  of  women  to  political  equality. 


264  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

SECTION  I.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be  denied  or 
abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on  account  of  sex. 

SEC.  2.  The  congress  shall  have  power,  by  appropriate  legislation,  to  enforce  the 
provisions  of  this  article. 

Thus  closed  the  forty-seventh  congress,  and  although  with  so 
little  promise  of  any  substantial  good  for  women,  yet  this  slight 
recognition  in  legislation  was  encouraging  to  those  who  had  so 
long  appealed  in  vain  for  the  attention  of  their  representatives. 
A  committee  to  even  consider  the  wrongs  of  woman  was  more 
than  had  ever  been  secured  before,  and  one  to  propose  some 
measures  of  justice,  sustained  by  the  votes  of  a  few  statesmen 
awake  to  the  degradation  of  disfranchisement,  gave  some  faint 
hope  of  more  generous  action  in  the  near  future.  The  tone  of 
the  debates*  in  these  later  years  even,  on  the  nature  and  rights 
of  women,  is  'wholly  unworthy  the  present  type  of  developed 
womanhood  and  the  age  in  which  we  live. 


*  Reports  of  congressional  action  and  the  conventions  of  1884-81;  have  been  already  published  in 
pamphlet  form,  and  we  shall  print  the  reports  hereafter  once  in  two  years,  corresponding  with  the  terms 
of  congress.  Our  plan  is  to  bind  these  together  once  in  six  years,  making  volumes  of  the  size  of  those 
already  published.  These  pamphlets,  as  well  as  the  complete  History  in  three  volumes,  are  for  sale  at 
the  publishing  house  of  Charles  Mann,  8  Elm  Park,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 


CHAPTER     XXXI. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

BY    HARRIET    H.    ROBINSON. 

The  Woman's  Hour — Lydia  Maria.  Child  Petitions  Congress — First  New  England 
Convention — The  New  England,  American  and  Massachusetts  Associations — 
Woman's  Journal — Bishop  Gilbert  Haven — The  Centennial  Tea-party — County 
Societies — Concord  Convention — Thirtieth  Anniversary  of  the  Worcester  Conven- 
tion— School  Suffrage  Association — Legislative  Hearing — First  Petitions — The  Re- 
monstrants Appear — Women  in  Politics — Campaign  of  1872 — Great  Meeting  in 
Tremont  Temple — Women  at  the  Polls — Provisions  of  Former  State  Constitutions 
— Petitions,  1853 — School-Committee  Suffrage,  1879 — Women  Threatened  with 
Arrest — Changes  in  the  Laws — Woman  Now  Owns  her  own  Clothing — Harvard 
Annex — Woman  in  the  Professions — Samuel  E.  Sewall  and  William  I.  Bowditch — 
Supreme-Court  Decisions — Sarah  E.  Wall — Francis  Jackson — Julia  Ward  Howe — 
Mary  E.  Stevens — Lucia  M.  Peabody — Lelia  Josephine  Robinson — Eliza  (Jackson) 
Eddy's  Will. 

FROM  1860  to  1866  there  is  no  record  to  be  found  of  any 
public  meeting  on  the  subject  of  woman's  rights,  in  Massa- 
chusetts.* During  these  years  the  war  of  the  rebellion  had  been 
fought.  Pending  the  great  struggle  the  majority  of  the  leaders, 
who  were  also  anti-slavery,  had  thought  it  to  be  the  wiser  policy 
for  the  women  to  give  way  for  a  time,  in  order  that  all  the  work- 
ing energy  might  be  given  to  the  slave.  "  It  is  not  the  woman's 
but  the  negro's  hour  ";  "  After  the  slave — then  the  woman,"  said 
Wendell  Phillips  in  his  stirring  speeches,  at  this  date.  "  Keep 
quiet,  work  for  us,"  said  other  of  the  anti-slavery  leaders  to  the 
women.  "  Wait !  help  us  to  abolish  slavery,  and  then  we  will 
work  for  you."  And  the  women,  who  had  the  welfare  of  the 
country  as  much  at  heart  as  the  men,  kept  quiet ;  worked  in 
hospital  and  field  ;  sacrificed  sons  and  husbands ;  did  what  is 
always  woman's  part  in  wars  between  man  and  man — and  waited. 
If  anything  can  make  the  women  of  the  State  regret  that  they 
were  silent  as  to  their  own  claims  for  six  eventful  years  that  the 
freedom  of  the  black  man  might  be  secured,  it  is  the  fact  that 

*  For  details  of  early  history  see  vol.  I.,  chap.  viii.     See  also  "  Massachusetts  in  the  Woman  Suffrage 
Movement,"  Roberts  Bros.,  Boston. 


266 


History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


now  in  1885  his  vote  is  ever  adverse  to  women's  enfranchisement. 
When  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  United  States  Constitu- 
tion was  proposed,  in  which  the  negro's  liberty  and  his  right  to 
the  ballot  were  to  be  established,  an  effort  was  made  to  secure  in 
it  some  recognition  of  the  rights  of  woman.  Massachusetts  sent 
a  petition,  headed  with  the  name  of  Lydia  Maria  Child,  against 
the  introduction  of  the  word  "  male  "  in  the  proposed  amend- 
ment. When  this  petition  was  offered  to  the  greatest  of  America's 
emancipation  leaders,  for  presentation  to  congress,  he  received 
and  presented  it  under  protest.  He  thought  the  woman  question 
should  not  be  forced  at  such  a  time,  and  the  only  answer  from 
congress  this  "woman-intruding"  petition  received  was  found  in 
the  fourteenth  amendment  itself,  in  which  the  word  "  male,"  with 
unnecessary  iteration,  was  repeated,  so  that  there  might  be  no 
mistake  in  future  concerning  woman's  rights,  under  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.* 

The  war  was  over.  The  rights  of  the  black  man,  for  whom  the 
women  had  worked  and  waited,  were  secured,  but  under  the  new 
amendment,  by  which  his  race  had  been  made  free,  the  white 
women  of  the  United  States  were  more  securely  held  in  political 
slavery.  It  was  time,  indeed,  to  hold  conventions  and  agitate 
anew  the  question  of  woman's  rights.  The  lesson  of  the  war  had 
been  well  learned.  Women  had  been  taught  to  understand  poli- 
tics, the  "  science  of  government,"  and  to  take  an  interest  in 
public  events ;  and  some  who  before  the  war  had  not  thought 
upon  the  matter,  began  to  ask  themselves  why  thousands  of 
ignorant  men  should  be  made  voters  and  they,  or  their  sex,  still 
kept  in  bondage  under  the  law. 

In  1866,  May  31,  the  first  meeting  of  the  American  Equal 
Rights  Association  was  held  at  the  Meionaon  in  Boston. f  In 
1868  the  call  for  a  New  England  convention  was  issued  and  the 
meeting  was  held  November  18,  19,  at  Horticultural  Hall,  Boston. 
James  Freeman  Clarke  presided.  In  this  convention  sat  many 
of  the  distinguished  men  and  women  of  the  New  England  States,;}; 

*  As  an  original  question,  no  friend  of  woman  suffrage  can  deny  that  it  was  a  mean  thing  to  put  the 
word  "male"  into  the  fourteenth  amendment.  It  was,  doubtless,  wise  to  adopt  that  amendment.  It 
was  an  extension  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  so  far  in  the  line  of  .'American  progress,  yet  it  was  also  an 
implied  denial  of  the  suffrage  to  women. — [Warrington  in  the  Springfield  Republican. 

t  See  Vol.  II.,  page  178. 

\  John  Neal  came  from  Maine;  Nathaniel  and  Armenia  White  from  New  Hampshire;  Isabella 
Hooker  from  Connecticut  ;  Thomas  W.  Higginson  from  Rhode  Island  ;  and  John  G.  Whittier,  Samuel 
May,  jr.,  Gilbert  Haven,  John  T.  Sargent,  Frank  W.  Bird,  Wendell  Phillips,  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
William  S.  Robinson,  Stephen  and  Abby  Kclley  Foster,  with  a  host  of  others,  from  Massachusetts. 
Lucy  Stone  and  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  who  then  lived  in  New  Jersey,  were  also  among  the  speakers. 


New  England  Convention.  267 

old-time  advocates,  together  with  newer  converts  to  the  doctrine, 
who  then  became  identified  with  the  cause  of  equal  rights  irre- 
spective of  sex.  This  convention  was  called  by  the  Rev.  Olympia 
Brown.*  The  hall  was  crowded  with  eager  listeners  anxious  to 
hear  what  would  be  said  on  a  subject  thought  to  be  ridiculous  by 
a  large  majority  of  people  in  the  community.  Some  of  the 
teachers  of  Boston  sent  a  letter  to  the  convention,  signed  with 
their  names,  expressing  their  interest  as  women.  Henry  Wilson 
avowed  his  belief  in  the  equal  rights  of  woman,  but  thought  the 
time  had  not  yet  come  for  such  a  consummation,  and  said  that, 
for  this  reason,  he  had  voted  against  the  question  in  the  United 
States  Senate ;  "  though,"  he  continued,  "  I  was  afterwards 
ashamed  of  having  so  voted."  Like  another  celebrated  Mas- 
sachusetts politician,  he  believed  in  the  principle  of  the  thing, 
but  was  "  agin  its  enforcement."  At  this  date  the  popular  in- 
terest heretofore  given  to  the  anti-slavery  question  was  trans- 
fe'rred  to  the  woman  suffrage  movement. 

The  New  England  Woman  Suffrage  Association  was  formed  at 
this  convention.  Julia  Ward  Howe  was  elected  its  president,  and 
made  her  first  address  on  the  subject  of  woman's  equality  with 
man.  On  its  executive  board  were  many  representative  names 
from  the  six  New  England  States,  f  By  the  formation  of  this 
society,  a  great  impetus  was  given  to  the  suffrage  cause  in  New 
England.  It  held  conventions  and  mass-meetings,  printed  tracts 


*  In  giving  an  account  of  her  efforts  in  this  direction  she  says :  "  After  my  return  from  Kansas  in 
1867,  I  felt  that  we  ought  to  do  something  for  the  cause  in  Massachusetts.  There  was  at  that  time  no 
organization  in  the  State,  and  there  had  been  no  revival  of  the  subject  in  the  minds  of  the  people  since 
the  war,  which  had  swallowed  up  every  other  interest.  In  the  spring  of  1868,  I  wrote  to  Abby  Kclley 
Foster,  telling  her  my  wish  to  have  something  done  in  our  own  State,  and  she  advised  me  to  call  to- 
gether a  few  persons  known  to  be  in  favor  of  suffrage,  some  day  during  anniversary  week,  in  some 
parlor  in  Boston.  I  corresponded  with  Adin  Ballou,  E.  D.  Draper,  and  others,  on  the  subject,  and 
talked  the  matter  over  with  Prof.  T.  T.  Leonard,  teacher  of  elocution,  who  oficrcd  his  hall  for  a  place 
of  meeting.  I  wrote  a  notice  inviting  all  persons  interested  in  woman  suffrage  to  come  to  Mr.  Leonard's 
hall,  on  a  certain  day  and  hour.  At  the  time  appointed  the  hall  was  full  of  pe«.ple.  I  opened  the 
meeting,  and  stated  why  I  had  called  it ;  others  took  up  the  theme,  and  we  had  a  lively  meeting.  All 
agreed  that  something  should  be  done,  and  a  committee  of  seven  was  appointed  to  call  a  convention  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  a  woman  suffrage  association.  Caroline  M.  Severance,  Stephen  S.  Foster, 
Sarah  Southwick  and  myself,  were  of  this  committee.  We  held  a  number  of  meetings  and  finally  de- 
cided to  call  a  convention  early  in  the  autumn  of  1868.  This  convention  was  held  in  Horticultural  Hall, 
and  the  result  was  the  organization  of  the  New  England  Woman  Suffrage  Association." 

t  President^  Julia  Ward  Howe ;  Vice-presidents,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Boston ;  Paulina  W. 
D.isis,  Providence,  R.  I.;  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Boston;  Sarah  Shaw  Russell,  Boston;  Neil  Dow, 
Me.;  Lucy  Goddard,  Boston;  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  Melrose  ;  Lidian  Emerson,  Concord  ;  John  Hooker, 
Isabella  Beccher  Hooker,  Hartford,  Ct.;  Harriot  K.  Hunt,  Boston;  James  Hutchinson,  jr.. 
West  Randolph,  Vt.;  Armenia  S.  White,  Concord,  N.  H.;  Louisa  M.  Alcott,  Concord  ;  L.  Maria  Child, 
Way  land;  John  Weiss,  Watertown.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Sara  Clark,  Boston.  Recording  Sec- 
retary, Charles  K.  Whipple,  Boston.  Treasurer,  }•'..  D.  Draper,  Boston.  Executh-e  Committee: 
Lucy  Stone,  Newark,  N.  J.;  T.  W.  Higginson,  Newport,  R.  I.;  Caroline  M.  Severance,  West  Newton  ; 
1  IMII.  i,  \V.  liird,  K;ist  Walpole  ;  Mary  E.  Sargent,  Boston  ;  Nathaniel  White,  Concord,  N.  H.;  Richard 
P.  Hallowell,  Boston  ;  Stephen  S.  Foster,  Worcester;  Sarah  H.  Southwick,  Grantville ;  Rowland  Con- 
nor, Boston  ;  B.  F.  Bowles,  Cambridge  ;  George  H.  Vibbert,  Rockport  ;  Olympia  Brown,  Wcymouth ; 
Samuel  May,  jr.,  Leicester;  Nina  Moore,  Hyde  Park. 


268  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

and  documents,  and  put  lecturers  in  the  field.  It  set  in  motion 
two  woman  suffrage  bazars,  and  organized  subscription  festivals, 
and  other  enterprises  to  raise  money  to  carry  on  the  work.  It 
projected  the  American,  and  Massachusetts  suffrage  associa- 
tions ;  it  urged  the  formation  of  local  and  county  suffrage 
societies,  and  set  up  the  Woman  s  Journal.  The  New  England 
Association  held  its  first  anniversary  in  May,  1869,  and  the  meet- 
ing was  even  more  successful  than  the  opening  one  of.  the  preced- 
ing year.  On  this  occasion  Mrs.  Livermore  spoke  in  Boston 
for  the  first  time,  and  many  new  friends  coming  forward  gave 
vigor  and  freshness  to  the  movement.*  Wendell  Philips,  Lucy 
Stone  and  Gilbert  Haven,  spoke  at  this  convention.  It  was  on 
this  occasion  that  the  "  good  Bishop,"  as  he  afterward  came  to 
be  called,  was  met  on  leaving  the  meeting  by  one  who  did  not 
know  his  opinion  on  the  subject.  This  person  expressed  surprise 
on  seeing  him  at  a  woman's  rights  meeting,  and  said  ;  "  What ! 
you  here?  "  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  am  here!  I  believe  in  this  reform. 
I  am  going  to  start  in  the  beginning,  and  ride  with  the  proces- 
sion." After  this,  not  until  his  earthly  journey  was  finished,  was 
his  place  in  "  the  procession  "  found  vacant.  Since  1869  the  New 
England  Association  has  held  its  annual  meeting  in  Boston  dur- 
ing anniversary  week,  in  May,  when  reports  from  various  States 
are  offered,  concerning  suffrage  work  done  during  the  year.  The 
American  Woman  Suffrage  Association  was  organized  in  1869 
Since  its  formation  it  has  held  its  annual  conventions  in  some  of 
the  chief  cities  of  the  several  States,  f  A  meeting  was  held  in 
Horticultural  Hall,  Boston,  January  28,  1870,  to  organize  the 
Massachusetts  Woman  Suffrage  Association.* 

*  Ednah  D.  Cheney,  Rev.  C.  A.  Bartol,  Rev.  F.  E.  Abbot,  Rev.  Phoebe  Hanafotd  and  Hon.  George 

F.  Hoar. 

t  For  report  of  American  Association  see  Vol.  II.,  p-ige  756. 

J  Lucy  Stone,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Stephen  S.  and  Abby  Kelley  Foster,  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Rev.  W.  H. 
Channing,  Rev.  J.  F.  Clarke,  Rev.  Gilbert  Haven,  Julia  Ward  Howe  and  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill  made 
eloquent  speeches. 

The  first  board  of  officers  of  the  Massachusetts  Woman  Suffrage  Association  was :  President,  Julia 
Ward  Howe.  Vice-pretidentt :  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Roxbury  ;  Anne  B.  Earle,  Worcester;  John 

G.  Whitticr,  Amesbury  ;  Lidian  Emerson.  Concord  ;    Hon.   Robert  C.   Pitman,  New  Bedford  ;    Mrs. 
Richmond  Kingman,  Cummington  ;  Rev.  R.  B.  Scratton,  Worcester  ;  Edna  D.  Cheney,  Jamaica  Plain  ; 
Hon.  Isaac  Ames,  Haverhill ;  Sarah  Shaw  Ames,  Boston  ;  J.  Ingersoll  Bowditch,  West  Roxbury;  Lydia 
Maria  Child,  Wayland  ;  Mary  Dewey,  Sheffield  ;  Hon.   George  F.   Hoar,   Worcester;    Sarah  Grimke, 
Hyde  Park;  Sarah  R.  Hathaway,  Boston ;  William   I.  Bowditch,   Boston;    Harriot  K.   Hunt,  M.  D.. 
Boston  ;  Hon.  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  Melrose;   A.   Bronson  Alcott,  Concord ;    Angelina  G.   Weld,  Hyde 
Park  ;  Hon.  Henry  Wilson,  Natick  ;  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Boston  ;  Charlotte  A.  Joy,  Mendon  ; 
Jacob  M.   Manning,   D.   D.,  Lucy  Sewall,  M.  D.,    Boston  ;  Rev.  Joseph   May,  Newburyport ;    Maria 
Zakrzewska,  M.  D.,  Roxbury  ;  Rev.  William  B.  Wright,  Boston  ;  Rev.  Jesse  H.  Jones,  Natick  ;    Phoebe 
A.  Hanaford,  Reading;  Seth  Hunt,  Northampton  :  Maria  S.  Porter,  Melrose.     Executive  Committee: 
Rev.  Rowland  Connor,  Boston  ;  Caroline  M.  Severance,  West  Newton  ;  Rev.  W.  H.  H.  Murray.  Boston  ; 
Gordon  M.  Fiske,  Palmer;  Sarah  A.  Vibbert,  Rock  port;  Rev.  Gilbert  Haven,  Maiden;  Caroline  Remond 


The  Massachusetts  Association.  269 

The  Massachusetts  Association  is  the  most  active  of  the  three 
societies  named.  Its  work  is  generally  local  though  it  has  sent 
help  to  Colorado,  Michigan,  and  other  Western  States.  It  has 
kept  petitions  in  circulation,  and  has  presented  petitions  and 
memorials  to  the  State  legislatures.  It  has  asked  for  hearings 
and  secured  able  speakers  for  them.  It  has  held  conventions, 
mass-meetings,  Fourth  of  July  celebrations.  It  has  helped  or- 
ganize local  Woman  suffrage  clubs  and  societies,  and  has  printed 
for  circulation  numerous  woman  suffrage  tracts.  The  amount  of 
work  done  by  its  lecturing  agents  can  be  seen  by  the  statement 
of  Margaret  W.  Campbell,  who  alone,  as  agent  of  the  American, 
the  New  England  and  the  Massachusetts  associations,  traveled  in 
twenty  different  States  and  two  territories,  organizing  and  speak- 
ing in  conventions.*  As  part  of  the  latest  work  of  this  society 
may  be  mentioned  its  efforts  to  present  before  the  women  of  the 
State,  in  clear  and  comprehensive  form,  an  explanation  of  the 
different  sections  of  the  new  law  "  allowing  women  to  vote  for 
school  committees."  As  soon  as  the  law  passed  the  legislature 
of  1879,  a  circular  of  instructions  to  women  was  carefully  prepared 
by  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  member  of  the  board 
of  the  Massachusetts  Association,  in  which  all  the  points  of  law 
in  relation  to  the  new  right  were  ably  presented.  Thousands  of 
copies  of  this  circular  were  sent  to  women  all  over  the  State. 

The  Centennial  Tea  Party  was  held  in  Boston,  December  15, 
1873,  in  response  to  the  following  call : 

The  women  of  New  England  who  believe  that  "taxation  without  repre- 
sentation is  tyranny,"  and  that  our  forefathers  were  justified  in  defying 
despotic  power  by  throwing  the  tea  into  Boston  harbor,  invite  the  men 
and  women  of  New  England  to  unite  with  them  in  celebrating  the  one- 
hundredth  anniversary  of  that  event  in  Fanueil  Hall.t 

Putman,  Salem  ;  Frank  B.  Sanborn,  Springfield  ;  Mercy  B.  Jackson,  M.  D.,  Boston  ;  Samuel  May,  jr., 
Leicester  ;  Margaret  W.  Campbell,  Springfield  ;  Rev.  C.  M.  Wines,  Brookline  ;  Mary  A.  Livermorc, 
Melro.-.e  ;  William  S.  Robinson,  Maiden  ;  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  Boston  ;  Lucy  Stone,  Boston  ;  S.  S. 
Foster,  Worcester ;  Mrs.  Wilcox,  Worcester  ;  Ada  R.  Bowles,  Cambridge.  Corresponding  Secretary, 
Nina  Moore,  Hyde  Park.  Recording  Secretary^  Charles  C.  Whipple,  Boston.  Treasurer^  E.  D. 
Draper,  Hopedale. 

*  Mary  V.  Eastman,  Ada  C.  Bowles,  Lorenza  Haynes,  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill,  Hulda  B.  I.oud, 
Matilda  Hindman  and  other  agents  in  the  lecture  field  have  also  done  a  great  deal  of  missionary 
work. 

t  The  committee  of  arrangements  were  Mrs.  Isaac  Ames,  Harriet  H.  Robinson,  Sarah  B.  Otis, 
Philip  Wheeler,  Jane  Tenney,  Mrs.  A.  A.  Fellows,  Mrs.  Jackson,  Miss  Talbot  and  Miss  Halsey. 

The  speakers  were :  Wendell  Phillips,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Frederick  Douglass,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill,  Margaret  W.  Campbell,  Mary  F.  Eastman,  Henry  B.  Blackwell, 
Lucy  Stone  and  others.  Julia  Ward  Howe  and  Mr.  C.  P.  Cranch,  read  original  poems.  Two  old-time 
tea-party  songs,  curiosities  in  their  line,  were  read.  One,  dated  Boston,  1773,  entitled  "  Lines  on 
Bohea  Tea,"  was  written  by  Susannah  Clarke,  great-aunt  of  W.  S.  Robinson  ;  the  other,  copied  from 
Thomas'  Boston  Journal,  of  December  2,  1773,  was  written  by  Mrs.  Ames,  a  tailorcs*. 


270  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Three  thousand  people  were  in  attendance,  and  it  was  alto- 
gether an  enthusiastic  occasion  and  one  long  to  be  remembered. 

The  record  of  conventions  and  meetings  held  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Association  by  no  means  includes  all  such  gatherings 
held  in  different  towns  and  cities  of  the  State.  The  county  and 
local  societies  have  done  a  vast  amount  of  work.  The  Hampden 
society  was  started  in  1868,  with  Eliphalet  Trask,  Frank  B.  San- 
born  and  Margaret  W.  Campbell  as  leading  officers.  This  was 
the  first  county  society  formed  in  the  State.  Julia  Ward  Howe, 
a  fresh  convert  of  the  recent  convention  went  to  Salem  to  lecture 
on  woman  suffrage,  and  the  Essex  county  society  was  formed 
with  Mrs.  Sarah  G.  Wilkins  and  Mrs.  Delight  R.  P.  Hewitt — the 
only  two  Salem  women  who  went  to  the  1850  convention  at 
Worcester — on  its  executive  board.  The  Middlesex  county 
society  followed,  planned  by  Ada  C.  Bowles  and  officered  by 
names  well  known  in  that  historic  old  county.  The  Hampshire 
and  Worcester  societies  brought  up  the  rear;  the  former  planned 
by  Seth  Hunt  of  Northampton.  Notable  conventions  were  held 
by  the  Middlesex  society  in  1876 — one  in  Maiden,  one  in  Melrose 
and  one  in  Concord,  organized  and  conducted  by  its  president, 
Harriet  H.  Robinson.  This  last  celebrated  town  had  never  be- 
fore been  so  favored.  These  meetings  were  conducted  something 
after  the  style  of  local  church  conferences.  They  were  well  adver- 
tised, and  many  people  came.  A  collation  was  provided  by  the 
ladies  of  each  town,  and  the  feast  of  reason  was  so  judiciously 
mingled  with  the  triumphs  of  cookery,  that  converts  to  the  cause 
were  never  so  easily  won.  Many  women  present  said  to  the 
president:  "I  never  before  heard  a  woman's  rights  speech.  If 
these  are  the  reasons  why  women  should  vote,  I  believe  in 
voting." 

The  Concord  convention  was  held  about  a  month  after  the 
great  centennial  celebration  of  April  19,  1875 — a  celebration  in 
which  no  woman  belonging  to  that  town  took  any  official  part. 
Nor  was  there  any  place  of  honor  found  for  the  more  distin- 
guished women  who  had  come  long  distances  to  share  in  the 
festivities.  Some  of  the  women  were  descendents  of  Governor 
John  Hancock,  Dr.  Samuel  Prescott,  Major  John  Buttrick,  Rev. 
William  Emerson  and  Lieutenant  Emerson  Cogswell.  Though 
no  seat  of  honor  in  the  big  tent  in  which  the  speeches  were  made 
was  given  to  the  women  of  to-day,  silent  memorials  of  those  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  events  of  one  hundred  years  ago,  had  found 


Lucy  Stones  Speech.  271 

a  conspicuous  place  there — the  scissors  that  cut  the  immortal 
cartridges  made  by  the  women  on  that  eventful  day,  and  the  an- 
cient flag  that  the  fingers  of  some  of  the  mothers  of  the  Revolu- 
tion had  made.  Though  the  Concord  women  were  not  permitted 
to  share  the  centennial  honors,  they  were  not  deprived  of  the 
privilege  of  paying  their  part  of  the  expenses  incident  to  the  oc- 
casion. To  meet  these,  an  increased  tax-rate  was  assessed  upon 
all  the  property  owners  in  the  town ;  and,  since  one-fifth  of  the 
town  tax  of  Concord  is  paid  by  women,  it  will  be  seen  what  was 
their  share  in  the  great  centennial  celebration  of  1876. 

The  knowledge  of  the  proceedings  at  Concord  added  new  zest 
to  the  spirit  of  the  three  conventions,  and  the  events  of  the  day 
were  used  by  the  speakers  to  point  the  moral  of  the  woman's 
rights  question.  Lucy  Stone  made  one  of  her  most  effective 
and  eloquent  speeches  upon  this  subject.  She  said : 

FELLOW  CITIZENS  (I  had  almost  said  fellow  subjects) :  What  we  need  is 
that  women  should  feel  their  mean  position  ;  when  that  happens,  they  will 
soon  make  an  effort  to  get  out  of  it.  Everything  is  possible  to  him  that 
wills.  All  that  is  needed  for  the  success  of  the  cause  of  woman  suffrage 
is  to  have  women  know  that  they  want  to  vote.  Concord  and  Lexington 
got  into  a  fight  about  the  centennial,  and  Concord  voted  $10,000  for  the 
celebration  in  order  to  eclipse  Lexington.  One-fifth  of  the  tax  of  Con- 
cord is  paid  by  the  women,  yet  not  one  of  these  women  dared  to  go  to  the 
town  hall  and  cast  her  vote  upon  that  subject.  This  is  exactly  the  same 
thing  which  took  place  one  hundred  years  ago — taxation  without  repre- 
sentation, against  which  the  men  of  Concord  then  rebelled.  If  I  were  an 
inhabitant  of  Concord,  I  would  let  my. house  be  sold  over  my  head  and 
my  clothes  off  my  back  and  be  hanged  by  the  neck  before  I  would  pay  a 
cent  of  it !  Men  of  Melrose,  Concord  and  Maiden,  why  persecute  us  ? 
Would  you  like  to  be  a  slave?  Would  you  like  to  be  disfranchised? 
Would  you  like  to  be  bound  to  respect  the  laws  which  you  cannot 
make?  There  are  15,000,000  of  women  whom  the  government  denies 
legal  rights. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  a  spot  upon  which  the  battle  for 
freedom  and  independence  was  first  begun  would  always  be  the 
vantage  ground  of  questions  relating  to  personal  liberty.  But 
such  is  not  the  fact.  Concord  was  never  an  anti-slavery  town, 
though  some  of  its  best  citizens  took  active  part  in  all  the  aboli- 
tion movements.  When  the  time  came  that  women  were  allowed 
to  vote  for  school  committees,  the  same  intolerant  spirit  which 
ignored  and  shut  them  out  of  the  centennial  celebration  was  again 
manifested  toward  them — not  only  by  the  leading  magnates,  but 
also  by  the  petty  officials  of  the  town.  Some  of  them  have  from 


272 


Tistory  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


the  first  shown  a  great  deal  of  ingenuity  in  inventing  ways  to  in- 
timidate and  mislead  the  women  voters. 

At  the  annual  convention  of  the  Massachusetts  Association,  in 
May,  1880,  the  following  resolution  was  passed: 

WHEREAS,  We  believe  in  keeping  the  land-marks  and  traditions  of  our  movement ; 
and 

WHEREAS,  It  will  be  thirty  years  next  October  since  the  first  woman's  rights  meet- 
ing was  held  in  the  State,  and  it  seems  fitting  that  there  should  be  some  celebration  of 
the  event;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  will  hold  a  woman  suffrage  jubilee  in  Worcester,  October  23 
and  24  next,  to  commemorate  the  anniversary  of  our  first  convention. 

A  committee*  of  arrangements  was  chosen,  and  the  meeting 
was  held.  There  were  present  many  whose  silver  hairs  told  of 
long  and  faithful  service.  The  oldest  ladies  there  were  Mrs. 
Lydia  Brown  of  Lynn,  Mrs.  Wilbour  of  Worcester,  and  Julia  E. 
Smith  Parker  of  Glastonbury,  Conn.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
first  day  there  was  an  informal  gathering  of  friends  in  the  ante- 
room of  Horticultural  Hall.  Old-time  memories  were  recalled 
by  those  who  had  not  seen  each  other  for  many  years,  and  the 
common  salutation  was  :  "  How  gray  you've  grown  !  "  Many  of 
them  had  indeed  grown  gray  in  the  service,  and  their  faces  were 
changed,  but  made  beautiful  by  a  life  devoted  to  a  noble  purpose. 
There  were  many  present  who  had  attended  the  convention  of 
thirty  years  ago — Abby  Kelley  Foster,  Lucy  Stone,  Antoinette 
Brown  Blackwell,  Paulina  Gerry,  Rev.  Samuel  May,  Rev.  W.  H. 
Channing,  Joseph  A.  Howland,  Adeline  H.  Howland,  Dr.  Martha 
H.  Mowry  and  many,  many  others.  It  was  very  pleasant  indeed 
to  hear  these  veterans  whose  clear  voices  have  spoken  out  so  long 
and  so  bravely  for  the  cause.  The  speaking  f  at  all  the  sessions 
was  excellent,  and  the  spirit  of  the  convention  was  very  reverent 
and  hopeful. 

The  tone  of  the  press  concerning  woman's  rights  meetings  had 
changed  greatly  since  thirty  years  before.  "Hen  conventions" 
had  gone  by,  and  a  woman's  meeting  was  now  called  by  its  proper 

*  Committee  of  Arrangements — Lucy  Stone,  Abby  Kelley  Foster,  Thomas  J.  Lothrop,  Timo- 
thy K.  Earle,  Sarah  E.  Wall,  Harriet  H.  Robinson  and  E.  H.  Church.  At  this  public  gathering, 
Athol,  Boston,  Haverhill,  Leicester,  Leominster,  Lowell,  Maiden,  Melrose,  Milford,  North  Brook- 
field,  Taunton,  and  many  other  Massachusetts  towns  were  well  represented. 

tThe  speakers  were  Lucy  Stone,  Rev.  W.  H.  Channing,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Mary  F.  Eastman, 
Kate  N.  Doggett,  Rev.  F.  A.  Hinckley,  Ednah  D.  Cheney,  T.  Wentworth  Higginson,  Isabella 
Beecher  Hooker,  Anna  Garlin  Spencer  and  Julia  E.  Parker.  Harriet  H.  Robinson  read  a  condensed 
history  of  Massachusetts  in  the  woman  suffrage  movement.  Interesting  letters  were  received  from 
Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps,  F.  W.  Bird,  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Margaret  W.  Campbell,  Mrs.  C.  I.  H.  Nichols 
and  Frances  D.  Gage.  Two  original  woman  suffrage  songs,  written  by  Anna  Q.  T.  Parsons  and  Caro- 
line A.  Mason,  were  sung  on  the  occasion. 


-  y 

i^i^y 


274  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Convention*  and  published  valuable  leaflets.f  It  has  rolled  up 
petitions  to  the  State  legislature  and  to  congress.  Its  most  valu- 
able work  has  been  the  canvass  made  in  certain  localities  in 
the  city  and  country  in  1884,  to  ascertain  the  number  of  women 
in  favor  of  suffrage,  the  number  opposed  and  the  number  indif- 
ferent. The  total  result  showed  that  there  were  405  in  favor,  44 
opposed,  166  indifferent,  160  refusing  to  sign,  39  not  seen;  that 
is,  over  nine  who  would  sign  themselves  in  favor  to  one  who 
would  sign  herself  opposed.  This  canvass  was  made  by  women 
who  gave  their  time  and  labor  to  this  arduous  work,  and  the 
results  were  duly  presented  to  the  legislature. 

In  1883  this  Association  petitioned  the  legislature  to  pass  a 
resolution  recommending  congress  to  submit  a  proposition  for  a 
sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national  constitution.  The  Senate 
Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage  granted  a  hearing  March  23,  and 
soon  after  presented  a  favorable  report ;  but  the  resolution,  when 
brought  to  a  vote,  was  lost  by  21  to  1 1.  This  was  the  first  time 
that  the  National  doctrine  of  congressional  action  was  ever  pre- 
sented or  voted  upon  in  the  Massachusetts  legislature.  A  second 
hearing:}:  was  granted  on  February  28,  1884,  before  the  Com- 
mittee on  Federal  Relations.  They  reported  leave  to  withdraw. 

The  associations  mentioned  are  not  the  only  ones  that  are  aid- 
ing the  suffrage  movement.  Its  friends  are  found  in  all  the 
women's  clubs,  temperance  associations,  missionary  movements, 
charitable  enterprises,  educational  and  industrial  unions  and 
church  committees.  These  agencies  form  a  network  of  motive 
power  which  is  gradually  carrying  the  reform  into  all  branches  of 
public  work. 

The  Woman  s  Journal  was  incorporated  in  1870  and  is  owned 
by  a  joint  stock  company,  shares  being  held  by  leading  members 
of  the  suffrage  associations  of  New  England.  Shortly  after  it 
was  projected,  the  Agitator,  then  published  in  Chicago  by  Mary 
A.  Livermore,  was  bought  by  the  New  England  Association  on 
•condition  that  she  should  "  come  to  Boston  for  one  year,  at  a 

*  Two  of  these,  Harriet  H.  Robinson  nnd  Harriette  R.  Shattuck,  spoke  at  the  first  hearing  before 
the  Senate  committee.  It  chanced  that  Mrs.  Robinson  was  the  first  woman  to  speak  before  this  Special 
Committee.  The  other  delegates  were :  Mary  R.  Brown,  Emma  F.  Clarry,  Louisa  E.  Brooks,  Mrs. 
G.  W.  Simonds,  Sarah  S.  Eddy,  Mr.  and  Mrs  D.  W.  Forbes,  Mary  H.  Semple,  Louisa  A.  Morrison  and 
Cora  B.  Smart. 

t  The  authors  and  compilers  of  these  leaflets  are  Harriette  R.  Shattuck,  Sara  A.  Underwood,  Han- 
nah M.  Todd  and  Mary  R.  Brown. 

t  The  speaker?  at  these  hearings  were  Harriette  R.  Shattuck,  Mary  R.  Brown,  Sidney  D.  Shattuck, 
Nancy  W.  Covell.  Ur.  Julia  C.  Smith,  Mr.  S.  C.  Fay,  Louisa  A.  Morrison,  Sara  A.  Underwood  and 
Harriet  H.  Robinson. 


Dolly   Chandler  and  Others.  275 

reasonable  compensation,  to  assist  the  cause  by  her  editorial  labor 
and  speaking  at  conventions."  Lucy  Stone  and  Henry  B.  Black- 
well,  invited  by  the  same  society  to  "  return  to  the  work  in 
Massachusetts,"  at  once  assumed  the  editorial  charge.  T.  W. 
Higginson,  Julia  Ward  Howe  and  W.  L.  Garrison  were  assistant 
editors.  "  Warrington,"  Kate  N.  Doggett,  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  F. 
B.  Sanborn,  and  many  other  good  writers,  lent  a  helping  hand  to 
the  new  enterprise.  The  Woman  s  Journal  has  been  of  great 
value  to  the  cause.  It  has  helped  individual  women  and  brought 
their  enterprises  into  public  notice.  It  has  opened  its  columns 
to  inexperienced  writers  and  advertised  young  speakers.  To  sus- 
tain the  paper  and  furnish  money  for  other  work,  two  mammoth 
bazars  or  fairs  were  held  in  Music  Hall  in  1870,  1871.  Nearly  all 
the  New  England  States  and  many  of  the  towns  in  Massachusetts 
were  represented  by  tables  in  these  bazars.  Donations  were  sent 
from  all  directions  and  the  women  worked,  as  they  generally  do 
in  a  cause  in  which  they  are  interested,  to  raise  money  to  furnish 
the  sinews  of  war.  The  newspapers  from  day  to  day  were  full  of 
descriptions  of  the  splendors  of  the  tables,  and  the  reporters  spoke 
well  of  the  women  who  had  taken  this  novel  method  to  carry  on 
their  movement.  People  who  had  never  heard  of  woman  suf- 
frage before  came  to  see  what  sort  of  women  were  those  who 

o 

thus  made  a  public  exhibition  of  their  zeal  in  this  cause.  In  re- 
mote places,  as  well  as  nearer  the  scene  of  action,  many  people 
who  had  never  thought  of  the  significance  of  the  woman's  rights 
movement,  began  to  consider  it  through  reading  the  reports  of 
the  woman  suffrage  bazar. 

Female  opponents  of  the  suffrage  movement  began  to  make 
a  stir  as  early  as  1868.  A  remonstrance  was  sent  into  the 
legislature,  from  two  hundred  women  of  Lancaster,  giving  the 
reasons  why  women  should  not  enjoy  the  exercise  of  the  elective 
franchise:  "It  would  diminish  the  purity,  the  dignity  and  the 
moral  influence  of  woman,  and  bring  into  the  family  circle  a  dan- 
gerous element  of  discord."  In  The  Revolution  of  August  5,  1869, 
Parker  Pillsbury  said  : 

Dolly  Chandler  and  the  hundred  and  ninety-four  other  women  who 
asked  the  Massachusetts  legislature  not  to  allow  the  right  of  suffrage, 
were  very  impudent  and  tyrannical,  too,  in  petitioning  for  any  but  them- 
selves. They  should  have  said  :  '•  We,  Dolly  Chandler  and  her  associates, 
to  the  number  of  a  hundred  and  ninety-five  in  all,  do  not  want  the  right 
of  suffrage ;  and  we  pray  your  honorable  bodies  to  so  decree  and  enact 
that  we  shall  never  have  it."  So  far  they  might  go.  But  when  they  under- 


History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

take  to  prevent  a  hundred  and  ninety-four  thousand  other  women  who 
do  want  the  ballot  and  who  have  an  acknowledged  right  to  it,  and  are 
laboring  for  it  day  and  night,  it  is  proper  to  ask,  What  business  have  Dolly 
Chandler  and  her  little  coterie  to  interpose  ?  Nobody  wants  them  to  vote 
unless  they  themselves  want  to.  They  can  stay  at  home  and  see  nobody 
but  the  assessor,  the  tax-gatherer  and  the  revenue  collector,  from  Christ- 
mas to  Christmas,  if  they  so  prefer.  Those  gentlemen  they  will  be  pretty 
likely  to  see,  annually  or  quarterly,  and  to  feel  their  power,  too,  if  they 
have  pockets  with  anything  in  them,  in  spite  of  all  petitions  to  the  legis- 
lature. 

It  did  not  occur  to  these  women  that  by  thus  remonstrating 
they  were  doing  just  what  they  were  protesting  against.  What 
is  a  vote?  An  expression  of  opinion  or  a  desire  as  to  govern- 
mental affairs,  in  the  shape  of  a  ballot.  The  "  aspiring  blood  of 
Lancaster"  should  have  mounted  higher  than  this,  since,  if  it 
really  was  the  opinion  of  these  remonstrants  that  woman  cannot 
vote  without  becoming  defiled,  they  should  have  kept  themselves 
out  of  the  legislature,  should  have  kept  their  hands  from  petition- 
ing and  their  thoughts  from  agitation  on  either  side  of  the 
subject.  Just  such  illogical  reasoning  on  the  woman  suffrage 
question  is  often  brought  forward  and  passes  for  the  profoundest 
wisdom  and  discreetest  delicacy!  The  same  arguments  are  used 
by  the  remonstrants  of  to-day,  who  are  now  fully  organized  and 
doing  very  efficient  political  work  in  opposing  further  political 
action  by  women.  In  their  carriages,  with  footman  and  driver, 
they  solicit  names  to  their  remonstrances.  As  a  Boston  news- 
paper says : 

The  anti-woman  suffrage  women  get  deeper  and  deeper  into  politics 
year  by  year  in  their  determination  to  keep  out  of  politics.  By  the  time 
they  triumph  they  will  be  the  most  accomplished  politicians  of  the  sex, 
and  unable  to  stop  writing  to  the  papers,  holding  meetings,  circulating 
remonstrances,  any  more  than  the  suffrage  sisterhood. 

These  persons,  men  and  women,  bring  their  whole  force  to 
bear  before  legislative  committees  at  woman  suffrage  hearings, 
and  use  arguments  that  might  have  been  excusable  forty  years 
ago.  However  this  is  merely  a  phase  of  the  general  movement 
and  will  work  for  good  in  the  end.  It  can  no  more  stop  the  prog- 
ress of  the  reform  than  it  can  stop  the  revolution  of  the  globe. 

Political  agitation  on  the  woman  suffrage  question  began  in 
Massachusetts  in  1870.  A  convention  to  discuss  the  feasibility  of 
forming  a  woman  suffrage  political  party  was  held  in  Boston,  at 
which  J ulia  Ward  HOWJ  presided,  and  Rev.  Augusta  Chapin  offered 


In  the  Republican  State  Convention.  277 

prayer.  The  question  of  a  separate  nomination  for  State  officers 
was  carefully  considered.*  Delegates  were  present  from  the  Labor 
Reform  and  Prohibition  parties,  and  strong  efforts  were  made 
by  them  to  induce  the  convention  to  nominate  Wendell  Phillips, 
who  had  already  accepted  the  nomination  of  those  two  parties,  as 
candidate  for  governor.  The  convention  at  one  time  seemed 
strongly  in  favor  of  this  action,  the  women  in  particular  thinking 
that  in  Mr.  Phillips  they  would  find  a  staunch  and  well  tried  leader. 
But  more  politic  counsels  prevailed,  and  it  was  finally  concluded 
to  postpone  a  separate  nomination  until  after  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  conventions  had  been  held.  A  State  central  com- 
mittee was  formed,  and  at  once  began  active  political  agitation. 
A  memorial  was  prepared  to  present  to  each  of  the  last-named 
conventions ;  and  the  candidates  on  the  State  tickets  of  the  four 
political  parties  were  questioned  by  letter  concerning  their  opin- 
ions on  the  right  of  the  women  to  the  ballot.  At  the  Republican 
State  convention  held  October  5,  1870,  the  question  was  fairly 
launched  into  politics,  by  the  admission,  for  the  first  time,  of  two 
women,  Lucy  Stone  and  Mary  A  Livermore,  as  regularly  accred- 
ited delegates.  Both  were  invited  to  speak,  and  the  following 
resolution  drawn  up  by  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  was  presented  by 
Charles  W.  Slack : 

Resolved,  That  the  Republican  party  of  Massachusetts  is  mindful  of  its  obligations 
to  the  loyal  women  of  America  for  their  patriotic  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty;  that 
we  rejoice  in  the  action  of  the  recent  legislature  in  making  women  eligible  as  officers 
of  the  State;  that  we  thank  Governor  Claflin  for  having  appointed  women  to  important 
political  trusts;  that  we  are  heartily  in  favor  of  the  enfranchisement  of  women,  and 
will  hail  the  day  when  the  educated,  intelligent  and  enlightened  conscience  of  the 
women  of  Massachusetts  has  direct  expression  at  the  ballot  box. 

This  resolution  was  presented  to  the  committee,  who  did  not 
agree  as  to  the  propriety  of  reporting  it  to  the  convention,  and 
they  instructed  their  chairman,  George  F.  Hoar,  to  state  the  fact 
and  refer  the  resolution  back  to  that  body  for  its  own  action.  A 
warm  debate  arose,  in  which  several  members  of  the  convention 
made  speeches  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  The  resolution 
was  finally  defeated,  1 37  voting  in  its  favor,  and  196  against  it. 
Although  lost,  the  large  vote  in  the  affirmative  was  thought  to 
mean  a  great  deal  as  a  guaranty  of  the  good  faith  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  the  women  were  willing  to  trust  to  its  promises. 
It  was  thought  then,  as  it  has  been  thought  since,  that  most  of  the 

*  The  speakers  were  Rev.  J.  T.  Sargent,  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Dr.  Mercy  B.  Jack- 
son, S.  S.  Foster,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Rev.  B.  F.  Bowles,  F.  B.  Sanborn,  W.  S.  Robinson,  Gilbert 
Haven  and  many  others. 


• 

278  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

friends  of  woman  suffrage  were  in  the  Republican  party,  and  that 
the  interests  of  the  cause  could  best  be  furthered  by  depending 
on  its  action.  The  women  were,  however,  mistaken,  and  have 
learned  to  look  upon  the  famous  resolution  in  its  true  light.  It 
is  now  known  as  the  coup  d'ftat  of  the  Worcester  convention  of 
1870,  which  really  had  more  votes  than  it  was  fairly  entitled  to. 
After  that, — "  forewarned,  forearmed,"  said  the  enemies  of  the 
enterprise,  and  woman  suffrage  resolutions  have  received  less 
votes  in  Republican  conventions. 

When  the  memorial  prepared  by  the  State  Central  Committee 
was  presented  to  the  Democratic  State  convention,  that  body,  in 
response,  passed  a  resolution  conceding  the  principle  of  women's 
right  to  suffrage,  but  at  the  same  time  declared  itself  against  its 
being  enforced,  or  put  into  practice.  To  finish  the  brief  record 
of  the  dealings  of  the  Democratic  party,  with  the  women  of  the 
State,  it  may  be  said  that  since  1870,  it  has  never  responded  to 
their  appeals,  nor  taken  any  action  of  importance  on  the  ques- 
tion. 

In  1871  a  resolution  endorsing  woman  suffrage  was  passed  in 
the  Republican  convention.  In  June,  1872,  the  national  conven- 
tion at  Philadelphia,  passed  the  following  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Republican  party  is  mindful  of  its  obligations  to  the  loyal  women 
of  America  for  their  noble  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom;  their  admission  to  wider 
fields  of  usefulness  is  viewed  with  satisfaction;  and  the  honest  demand  of  any  class  of 
citizens  for  additional  rights,  should  be  treated  with  respectful  consideration. 

The  Massachusetts  Republican  State  Convention,  following  this 
lead,  again  passed  a  woman  suffrage  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  we  heartily  approve  the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  woman  contained 
in  the  fourteenth  clause  of  the  national  Republican  platform;  that  the  Republican 
party  of  Massachusetts,  as  the  representative  of  liberty  and  progress,  is  in  favor  of 
extending  suffrage  to  all  American  citizens  irrespective  of  sex,  and  will  hail  the  day 
when  the  educated  intellect  and  enlightened  conscience  of  woman  shall  find  direct  ex- 
pression at  the  ballot-box. 

This  was  during  the  campaign  of  1872,  when  General  Grant's 
chance  of  reelection  was  thought  to  be  somewhat  uncertain,  and 
the  Republican  women  in  all  parts  of  the  country  were  called  on  to 
rally  to  his  support.  The  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association 
had  issued  "  an  appeal  to  the  women  of  America,"  asking  them  to 
cooperate  with  the  Republican  party  and  work  for  the  election 
of  its  candidates.  In  response  to  this  appeal  a  ratification  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Tremont  Temple,  in  Boston,  at  which  hundreds 
stayed  to  a  late  hour  listening  to  speeches  made  by  women  on 
the  political  questions  of  the  day.  An  address  was  issued  from 


Investment  in   the  Republican  Party.  279 

the  "Republican  women  of  Massachusetts  to  the  women  of 
America."  In  this  address  they  announced  their  faith  in  and 
willingness  to  "  trust  the  Republican  party  and  its  candidates,  as 
saying  what  they  mean  and  meaning  what  they  say,  and  in  view 
of  their  honorable  record  we  have  no  fear  of  betrayal  on  their 
part."  Mrs.  Livermore,  Lucy  Stone  and  Huldah  B.  Loud  took 
part  in  the  canvass,  and  agents  employed  by  the  Massachusetts 
Association  were  instructed  to  speak  for  the  Republican  party.* 
Women  writers  furnished  articles  for  the  newspapers  and  the 
Republican  women  did  as  much  effective  work  during  the  cam- 
paign as  if  each  one  had  been  a  "  man  and  a  voter."  They  did 
everything  but  vote.  All  this  agitation  was  a  benefit  to  the  Re- 
publican party,  but  not  to  woman  suffrage,  because  for  a  time  it 
arrayed  other  political  parties  against  the  movement  and  caused 
it  to  be  thought  merely  a  party  issue,  while  it  is  too  broad  a  ques- 
tion for  such  limitation. 

General  Grant  was  reflected  and  the  campaign  was  over. 
When  the  legislature  met  and  the  suffrage  question  came 
up  for  discussion,  that  body,  composed  in  large  majority  of  Re- 
publicans, showed  the  women  of  Massachusetts  the  difference 
between  "  saying  what  you  mean  and  meaning  what  you  say," 
the  Woman  Suffrage  bill  being  defeated  by  a  large  majority. 
The  women  learned  by  this  experience  that  nothing  is  to  be  ex- 
pected of  a  political  party  while  it  is  in  power.  To  close  the 
subject  of  suffrage  resolutions  in  the  platform  of  the  Republican 
party,  it  may  be  said  that  they  continued  to  be  put  in  and  seemed 
to  mean  something  until  after  1875,  when  they  became  only 
"  glittering  generalities,"  and  were  as  devoid  of  real  meaning  or 
intention  as  any  that  were  ever  passed  by  the  old  Whig  party  on 
the  subject  of  abolition.  Yet  from  1870  to  1874  the  Republican 
party  had  the  power  to  fulfill  its  promises  on  this  question.  Since 
then,  it  has  been  too  busy  trying  to  keep  breath  in  its  own  body 
to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  any  struggling  reform.  At  the  Re- 
publican convention,  held  in  Worcester  in  1880,  an  attempt  was 
made  by  Mr.  Blackwell  to  introduce  a  resolution  endorsing  the 

*  In  the  records  of  the  executive  meetings  of  this  Association  I  find  the  following  votes.  In  October, 
1871,  it  was  voted,  That  any  invitation  to  speak  at  Republican  meetings,  extended  to  our  agents  by 
Republican  committees  in  this  State,  be  accepted  by  them  until  the  coming  election,  their  usual  salaries 
being  paid  by  this  Association  ;  that  Miss  Loud  be  notified  by  Lucy  Stone  of  our  arrangement  in  regard 
to  Republican  meetings,  and  be  requested,  after  the  isth  instant,  to  hold  her  meetings  in  that  manner 
as  f.ir  us  practicable  ;  that  the  balance  of  expenses  of  the  woman's  meeting  held  at  Tremont  Temple 
be  paid  by  this  Association.  [This  was  a  political  meeting  held  by  the  Massachusetts  Woman  Suffrage.. 
Association  to  endorse  General  Grant  as  the  presidential  candidate  of  the  Republican  party.] 


280  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

right  conferred  upon  women  in'  the  law  allowing  them  to 
vote  for  school  committees,  passed  by  the  legislature  of  1879. 
This  resolution  was  rejected  by  the  committee,  and  when  offered 
in  convention  as  an  amendment,  it  was  voted  down  without  a 
single  voice,  except  that  of  the  mover,  being  raised  in  its  support. 
Yet  this  resolution  only  asked  a  Republican  convention  to  endorse 
an  existing  right,  conferred  on  the  women  of  the  State  by  a  Re- 
publican legislature  !  A  political  party  as  a  party  of  freedom  must 
be  very  far  spent  when  it  refuses  at  its  annual  convention  to 
endorse  an  act  passed  by  a  legislature  the  majority  of  whose 
members  are  representatives  elected  from  its  own  body.  Since 
that  time  the  Republican  party  has  entirely  ignored  the  claims 
of  woman.  In  1884,  at  its  annual  convention,  an  effort  was 
made,  as  usual,  by  Mr.  Blackwell,  to  introduce  a  resolution,  but 
without  success,  and  yet  some  of  the  best  of  our  leaders  advised 
the  women  to  "  stand  by  the  Republican  party."  * 

The  question  of  forming  a  woman  suffrage  political  party  had, 
since  1870,  been  often  discussed. f  In  1875  Thomas  J.  Lothrop 
proposed  the  formation  of  a  separate  organization.  But  it  was  not 
until  1876  that  any  real  effort  in  this  direction  was  made.  The 
Prohibitory  (or  Temperance)  party  sometimes  holds  the  balance  of 
political  power  in  Massachusetts,  and  many  of  the  members  of 
that  party  are  also  strong  advocates  of  suffrage.  The  feeling  had 
been  growing  for  several  years  that  if  forces  could  be  joined  with 
the  Prohibitionists  some  practical  result  in  politics  might  be 
reached,  and  though  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion  on  this 
subject,  many  were  willing  to  see  the  experiment  tried. 

The  Prohibitory  party  had  at  its  convention  in  1876  passed 
a  resolution  inviting  the  women  to  take  part  in  its  primary 
meetings,  with  an  equal  voice  and  vote  in  the  nomination  of  can- 
didates and  transaction  of  business.  After  long  and  anxious 
discussions,  the  Massachusetts  Woman  Suffrage  State  Central 
Committee,  in  whose  hands  all  political  action  rested,  determined 
to  accept  this  invitation.  A  woman  suffrage  political  convention 
was  held,  at  which  the  Prohibitory  candidates  were  endorsed  and 


*  The  National  Association  of  Massachusetts  at  its  executive  session,  August  23,  passed  the  following : 
Resolved,  That  while  we  respect  the  advice  of  our  leaders,  as  their  private  political  opinion,  we  deem 
:it  worse  than  useless  to  "stand  by  the  Republican  "  or  any  other  party  while  we  are  deprived  of  the 
.only  means  of  enforcing  a  political  opinion  ;  and  that  we  advise  all  associations  to  concentrate  their 
•efforts  upon  securing  the  ballot  to  women,  withholding  all  attempt  at  political  influence  until  they 
jxjssess  the  right  which  alone  can  make  their  influence  effective. 

t  At  the  executive  meeting  of  the  New  England  Association,  May,  1874,  ''  was  voted  that  a  circular 
",be  sent  to  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage,  requesting  them  to  meet  in  Boston,  May  25,  to  consider  the 
^expediency  of  calling  a  convention  to  form  a  political  party  for  woman  suffrage. 


Alliance  with  Prohibitionists. 


281 


a  joint  State  ticket  was  decided  on,  to  be  headed  "  Prohibition 
and  Equal  Rights."  These  tickets  were  sent  to  women  all 
over  the  State,  and  they  were  strongly  urged  to  go  to  the  polls 
and  distribute  them  on  election  day.  Lucy  Stone,  Mary  A. 
Livermore  and  other  leading  speakers  took  part  in  the  campaign, 
and  preparations  were  completed  by  which  it  was  expected  both 
parties  would  act  harmoniously  together.  Clubs  were  formed 
at  whose  headquarters  were  seen  men  and  women  gathered 
together  to  organize  for  political  work.  From  some  of  these 
headquarters  hung  transparencies  with  "Baker  and  Eddy  "on 
one  side,  and  "  Prohibition  and  Equal  Rights "  on  the  other. 
Caucuses  and  conventions  were  held  in  Chelsea,  Taunton,  Mai- 
den, Lynn,  Concord,  and  other  places.  A  Middlesex  county 
(first  district)  senatorial  convention  was  called  and  organized  by 
women,  and  its  proceedings  were  fully  reported  by  the  Boston 
newspapers.* 

The  nominations  made  at  these  caucuses  were  generally  unani- 
mous, and  it  seemed  at  the  time  as  if  the  two  wings  of  the 
so-called  "Baker  party"  would  work  harmoniously  together. 
But,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  the  Prohibitionists,  taking 
advantage  of  the  fact  that  the  voting  power  of  the  women  was 
over,  once  outside  the  caucus,  repudiated  the  nominations,  or  held 
other  caucuses  and  shut  the  doors  of  entrance  in  the  faces  of  the 
women  who  represented  either  the  suffrage  or  the  Prohibitory 
party.  This  was  the  case  invariably,  excepting  in  towns  where 
the  majority  of  the  voting  members  of  the  Prohibitory  party 
were  also  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage.  This  result  is  what  might 
have  been  expected.  Of  what  use  was  woman  in  the  ranks  of 
any  political  party,  with  no  vote  outside  the  caucus? 

After  being  thus  ignored  in  one  of  their  caucuses  in  Maiden, 
Middlesex  county,  the  suffragists  in  that  town  determined  to 
hold  another  caucus.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and  two 
"  straight "  candidates  were  nominated  as  town  representa- 
tives to  the  legislature.  A  "  Woman  Suffrage  ticket "  f  was 
thereupon  printed  to  offer  to  the  voters  on  election  day. 
The  next  question  was,  who  would  distribute  these  ballots 


*  The  call  for  this  convention  was  signed  by  Harriet  H.  Robinson,  Rev.  A.  D.  Sargent,  Rev.  G.  H. 
Vibbert,  William  Johnson,  Mrs.  T.  R.  Woodman,  Helen  Gale  and  Mrs.  M.  Slocum.  judge  Robert  C. 
Pitman  was  the  candidate  for  governor. 

t  This  "Woman  Suffrage  ticket,"  the  first  ever  offered  to  a  Massachusetts  voter,  received  41  vote* 
out  of  the  1,340  cast  in  all  by  the  voters  of  the  town,  a  larger  proportion  than  that  first  cast  by  the  old 
Liberty  party  in  Massachusetts,  which  began  with  only  307  votes  in  the  whole  State,  and  ended  in  the 
Free  Soil  and  Republican  parties. 


282  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

most  effectively  at  the  polls.  Some  men  thought  that  the 
women  themselves  should  go  and  present  in  person  the  names 
of  their  candidates.  At  first  the  women  who  had  carried  on  the 
campaign  shrank  from  this  last  test  of  their  faithfulness;  but, 
after  carefully  considering  the  matter,  they  concluded  that  it  was 
the  right  thing  to  do.  The  repugnance  felt  at  that  time,  at  the 
thought  of  "  women  going  to  the  polls"  can  hardly  be  appreciated 
to-day.  Since  they  have  begun  to  vote  in  Massachusetts  the 
terror  expressed  at  the  idea  of  such  a  proceeding  has  somewhat 
abated  ;  but  in  1876  it  was  thought  to  be  a  rash  act  for  a  woman 
to  appear  at  the  polls  in  company  with  men.  Some  attempt 
was  made  to  deter  them  from  their  purpose,  and  stories  of  pipes 
and  tobacco  and  probable  insults  were  told  ;  but  they  had  no 
terrors  for  women  who  knew  better  than  to  believe  that  their 
neighbors  would  be  turned  into  beasts  (like  the  man  in  the  fairy 
tale)  for  this  one  day  in  the  year.* 

It  was  a  sight  to  be  remembered,  to  behold  women  "crowned 
with  honor"  standing  at  the  polls  to  see  the  freed  slave  go  by 
and  vote,  and  the  newly-naturalized  fellow-citizen,  and  the  blind, 
the  paralytic,  the  boy  of  twenty-one  with  his  newly-fledged  vote, 
the  drunken  man  who  did  not  know  Hayes  from  Tilden,  and  the 
man  who  read  his  ballot  upside  down.  All  these  voted  for  the 
men  they  wanted  to  represent  them,  but  the  women,  being  neither 
colored,  nor  foreign,  nor  blind,  nor  paralytic,  nor  newly-fledged, 
nor  drunk,  nor  ignorant,  but  only  women,  could  not  vote  for  the 
men  they  wanted  to  represent  them.f 

The  women  learned  several  things  during  this  campaign  in 
Massachusetts.  One  was,  that  weak  parties  are  no  more  to  be 
trusted  than  strong  ones;  and  another,  that  men  grant  but  little 
until  the  ballot  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  those  who  make  the  de- 
mand. They  learned  also  how  political  caucuses  and  conventions 
are  managed.  The  resolution  passed  by  the  Prohibitionists  en- 
abled them  to  do  this.  So  th«  great  "  open  sesame  "  is  reached. 
It  is  but  fair  to  state  that  since  1876  the  Prohibitory  party  has 

*  Election  day  dawned  and  it  rained  hard,  but  the  women  braved  the  storm.  There  they  stood  from 
9  o'clock  A.  M.  till  a  quarter  of  5  p.  M.  and  distributed  votes,  only  leaving  their  positions  long  enough 
to  get  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  luncheon,  which  was  provided  at  the  headquarters.  They  distributed  1,700 
woman  suffrage  ballots  and  1,000  circulars  containing  arguments  on  the  rights  of  women.  They  were 
treated  with  unexceptionable  politeness  and  kindness  by  the  voters. 

t  The  first  time  women  went  to  the  polls  in  Massachusetts  was  in  1870,  when  forty-two  women  of 
Hyde  Park,  led  by  Angelina  Grimke  Weld  and  Sarah  Grimke,  deposited  their  ballots,  in  solemn  pro- 
test "  against  the  political  ostracism  of  women,  against  leaving  every  vital  interest  of  a  majority  of 
the  citizens  to  the  monopoly  of  a  male  minority."  It  is  hardly  needful  to  record  that  these  ballots 
were  not  counted. 


A  ncient  R  ights.  283 

treated  the  woman  suffrage  question  with  consideration.  In  its 
annual  convention  it  has  passed  resolutions  endorsing  woman's 
claims  to  political  equality,  and  has  set  the  example  to  other 
parties  of  admitting  women  as  delegates.  At  the  State  conven- 
tion in  1885  the  following  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  good 
majority : 

Resolved,  That  women  having  interests  to  be  promoted  and  rights  to  be  protected, 
and  having  ability  for  the  discharge  of  political  duties,  should  have  the  right  to- 
vote  and  to  be  voted  for,  as  is  accorded  to  man. 

In  the  early  history  of  Massachusetts,  when  the  new  colony 
was  governed  by  laws  set  down  in  the  Province  charter  (1691,. 
third  year  of  William  and  Mary)  women  were  not  excluded  from 
voting.  The  clause  in  the  charter  relating  to  this  matter  says : 

The  great  and  general  court  shall  consist  of  the  governor  and  council  (or  assistants 
for  the  time  being)  and  of  such  freeholders  as  shall  be  from  time  to  time  elected  or 
deputed  by  the  major  part  of  the  freeholders  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  respective 
towns  or  places,  who  shall  be  present  at  such  elections. 

In  the  original  constitution  (1780)  women  were  excluded  from 
voting  except  for  certain  State  officers.*  In  the  constitutional 
convention  of  1820,  the  word  "male"  was  first  put  into  the  con- 
stitution of  the  State,  in  an  amendment  to  define  the  qualifica- 
tions of  voters.  In  this  convention,,a  motion  was  made  at  three 
different  times,  during  the  passage  of  the  act,  to  strike  out  the 
intruding  word,  but  the  motion  was  voted  down.  Long  be- 
fore the  second  attempt  was  made  to  revise  the  constitution  of 
the  State,  large  numbers  of  women  began  to  demand  suffrage. 
Woman's  sphere  of  operations  and  enterprise  had  become  so 
widened,  that  they  felt  they  had  not  only  the  right,  but  also  an 
increasing  fitness  for  civil  life  and  government,  of  which  the  bal- 
lot is  but  the  sign  and  the  symbol. 

In  the  constitutional  convention  of  1853,  twelve  petitions  were 
presented,  from  over  2,000  adult  persons,  asking  for  the  recogni- 
tion of  woman's  right  to  the  ballot,  in  the  proposed  amendments 
to  the  constitution  of  the  State.  The  committee  reported  leave 
to  withdraw,  giving  as  their  reason  that  the  "consent  of  the  gov- 
erned "  was  shown  by  the  small  number  of  petitioners.  Hearings 
before  this  committee  were  granted.f  The  chairman  of  this 
committee,  in  presenting  the  report,  moved  that  all  debate  on 
the  subject  should  cease  in  thirty  minutes,  and  on  motion  of 


*  1'or  summary  of  voting  laws  relating  to  women  from  1691  to  1822,  see  "Massachusetts  in  the 
Woman  Suffrage  Movement,"  by  Harriet  H.  Robinson :  Roberts  Brothers,  Boston. 

t  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  Lucy  Stone,  Theodore  Parker,  WenJell  Phillips,  and  other 
speakers  of  ability,  presented  able  arguments  in  favor  of  giving  women  the  right  to  vote. 


284  History  of  Woman   Suffrage. 

Benjamin  F.  Butler  of  Lowell,  the  whole  report,  excepting  the 
last  clause,  was  stricken  out.  There  was  then  left  of  the  whole 
document  (including  more  than  two  closely-printed  pages  of  rea- 
soning) only  this:  "  It  is  inexpedient  for  this  convention  to  take 
any  action." 

Legislative  action  on  the  woman's  rights  question  began  in 
1849,  when  William  Lloyd  Garrison  presented  the  first  petition 
on  the  subject  to  the  State  legislature.  Following  him  was  one 
from  Jonathan  Drake  and  others,  "  for  a  peaceable  secession  of 
Massachusetts  from  the  Union."  Both  these  petitions  were  prob- 
ably considered  by  the  legislature  to  which  they  were  addressed 
as  of  equally  incendiary  character,  since  they  both  had  "  leave  to 
withdraw."  In  1851  an  order  was  introduced  asking  "whether 
any  legislation  was  necessary  concerning  the  wills  of  married 
women?"  In  1853  a  bill  was  enacted  "to  exempt  certain  prop- 
erty of  widows  and  unmarried  women  from  taxation."  In  the 
legislature  of  1856  the  first  great  and  important  act  relating  to 
the  property  rights  of  women  was  passed.  It  was  to  t'he  effect 
that  women  could  hold  all  property  earned  or  acquired  inde- 
pendently of  their  husbands.  This  act  was  amended  and  improved 
the  next  session. 

In  1857  a  hearing  was  held  before  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary  to  listen  to  arguments  in  favor  of  the  petition  of  Lucy 
Stone  and  others  for  equal  property  rights  for  women  and  for  the 
"right  of  suffrage."  Another  hearing  was  held  in  the  same  place 
in  February,  1858,  before  the  Joint  Special  Committee  on  the 
Qualifications  of  Voters.  A  second  hearing  on  the  right  of 
suffrage  for  women  was  held  the  following  week  before  the  same 
committee.  Thomas  W.  Higginson  made  an  address  and  Caro- 
line Healey  Dall  read  an  essay. 

In  1858,  Stephen  A.  Chase  of 'Salem,  from  the  same  Committee 
on  the  Qualifications  of  Voters,  made  a  long  report  on  the  peti- 
tions. This  report  closed  with  an  order  that  the  State  Board  of 
Education  make  inquiry  and  report  to  the  next  legislature 
"whether  it  is  not  practicable  and  expedient  to  provide  bylaw 
some  method  by  which  the  women  of  this  State  may  have  a  more 
active  part  in  the  control  and  management  of  the  schools." 
There  is  nothing  in  legislative  records  to  show  that  the  State 
Board  of  Education  reported  favorably  ;  but  from  the  above  state- 
ment it  appears  that  ten  years  before  Samuel  E.  Sewall's  petition 


Legislative  Action,  285 

on  the  subject,  a  movement  was  made  towards  making  women 
"  eligible  to  serve  as  members  of  school-committees." 

The  petitions  for  woman's  rights  were  usually  circulated  by 
women  going  from  house  to  house.  They  did  the  drudgery, 
endured  the  hardships  and  suffered  the  humiliations  attend- 
ant upon  the  early  history  of  our  cause ;  but  their  names  are 
forgotten,  and  others  reap  the  benefit  of  their  labors.  These 
women  were  so  modest  and  so  anxious  for  the  success  of  their 
petitions,  that  they  never  put  their  own  names  at  the  head  of 
the  list,  preferring  the  signature  of  some  leading  man,  so  that 
others  seeing  his  name,  might  be  induced  to  follow  his  example. 
Among  the  earliest  of  these  silent  workers  was  Mary  Upton 
Ferrin.  Her  petitions  were  for  a  change  in  the  laws  concerning 
the  property  rights  of  married  women,  and  for  the  political  and 
legal  rights  of  all  women.  In  1849  sne  prepared  a  memorial  to 
the  Massachusetts  legislature  in  which  are  embodied  many  of  the 
demands  for  woman's  equality  before  the  law,  which  have  so  often 
been  ms^e  to  that  body  since  that  time.* 

In  1861  the  legislature  debated  a  bill  to  allow  a  widow,  "if  she 
have  woodland  as  a  part  of  her  dower,  the  privilege  of  cutting 
wood  enough  for  one  fire."  This  bill  failed,  and  the  widow,  by 
law,  was  not  allowed  to  keep  herself  warm  with  fuel  from  her  own 
wood-lot.  In  1863  a  bill  providing  that  ''  a  wife  may  be  allowed 
to  be  a  witness  and  proceed  against  her  husband  for  desertion," 
was  reported  inexpedient,  and  a  bill  was  passed  to  prevent  women 
from  forming  copartnerships  in  business.  In  1865,  Gov.  John  A.' 
Andrew,  seeing  the  magnitude  of  the  approaching  woman  ques- 
tion, in  his  annual  message  to  the  legislature,  made  a  -memorable 
suggestion  : 

I  know  of  no  more  useful  object  to  which  the  commonwealth  can  lend 
its  aid,  than  that  of  a  movement,  adopted  in  a  practical  way,  to  open  the 
door  of  emigration  to  young  women  who  are  wanted  for  teachers  and  for 
every  appropriate,  as  well  as  domestic,  employment  in  the  remote  West, 
but  who  are  leading  anxious  and  aimless  lives  in  New  England. 

By  the  "  anxious  and  aimless  "  it  was  supposed  the  governor 
meant  the  widowed,  single  or  otherwise  unrepresented  portion  of 


*  This  memorial  was  printed  by  order  of  the  legislature  (Leg.  Doc.  Ho.  57)  and  is  called  "  Memorial 
of  the  Female  Signers  of  the  Several  Petitions  of  Henry  A.  Hardy  and  Others,"  presented  March  i, 
1849.  The  document  is  not  signed  ;md  Mrs.  Ferrin's  name  is  not  found  with  it  upon  the  records,  neither 
does  her  name  appear  in  the  journal  of  the  House  in  connection  with  any  of  the  petitions  and  addresses 
she  caused  to  be  presented  to  the  legislature  of  the  State.  But  for  the  loyal  friendship  of  the  few  who 
knew  of  her  work  and  were  willing  to  give  her  due  credit,  the  name  of  Mary  Upton  Ferrin  [see  Vol.  I.. 
page  208]  and  the  memory  of  her  labors  as  well  as  those  of  many  another  silent  worker,  would  have 
gone  into  the  "  great  darkness." 


286  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

the  citizens  of  the  State.  No  action  was  taken  by  the  legislature 
on  this  portion  of  the  governor's  message.  But  a  member  of 
the  Senate  actually  made  the  following  proposition  before  that 
body : 

That  the  "  anxious  and  aimless  women  "  of  the  State  should  assemble 
on  the  Common  on  a  certain  day  of  the  year  (to  be  hereafter  named),  and 
that  Western  men  who  wanted  wives,  should  be  invited  to  come  here  and 
select  them. 

Legislators  who  make  such  propositions,  do  not  foresee  that  the 
time  may  come,  when  perhaps  those  nearest  and  dearest  to  them, 
may  be  classed  among  the  superfluous  or  "anxious  and  aimless" 
women ! 

In  1865  bills  allowing  married  women  to  testify  in  suits  at  law 
where  their  husbands  are  parties,  and  permitting  them  to  hold 
trust  estates  were  rejected.  It  will  be  seen  that  though  all  this 
legislation  was  adverse  to  woman's  interest,  the  question  had 
forced  itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  members  of  both  House 
and  Senate.  In  1866  a  joint  committee  of  both  hous^  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider: 

If  any  additional  legislation  can  be  adopted,  whereby  the  means  of  ob- 
taining a  livelihood  by  the  women  of  this  commonwealth  may  be  in- 
creased and  a  more  equal  and  just  compensation  be  allowed  for  their  labor. 

In  1867,  Francis  W.  Bird  presented  the  petition  of  Mehitable 
Haskell  of  Gloucester  for  "an  amendment  to  the  constitution 
extending  suffrage  to  women."  In  1868  Mr.  King  of  Boston  pre- 
sented the  same  petition,  and  it  was  at  this  time,  and  in  answer 
thereto,  that  the  subject  first  entered  into  the  regular  orders  of 
the  day,  and  became  a  part  of  the  official  business  of  the  House 
of  Representatives.  Attempts  to  legislate  on  the  property  ques- 
tion were  continued  in  1868,  in  bills  "  to  further  protect  the  prop- 
erty of  married  women,"  "to  allow  married  women  to  contract 
for  necessaries,"  and  if  "divorced  from  bed  and  board,  to  allow 
them  to  dispose  of  their  own  property."  These  bills  were  all  de- 
feated. Annual  legislative  hearings  on  woman  suffrage  began  in 
1869.  These  were  first  secured  through  the  efforts  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  of  the  New  England  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion. Eight  thousand  women  had  petitioned  the  legislature  that 
suffrage  might  be  allowed  them  on  the  same  terms  as  men,  and 
in  answer,  two  hearings  were  held  in  the  green  room  at  the  State 
House.*  In  1870  a  joint  special  committee  on  woman  suffrage 


*  The  committee  was  addressed  by  Wendell  Phillips,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Lucy  Stone,  Rev.  James 
Freeman  Clarke  and  Hon.  George  F.  Hoar. 


Action  of  our  Governors.  287 

was  formed,  and  since  that  time  there  have  been  one  or  more 
annual  hearings  on  the  question.  To  what  extent  legislative 
sentiment  has  been  created  will  be  shown  later  in  the  improve- 
ment of  many  laws  with  regard  to  the  legal  status  of  woman. 

William  Claflin  was  the  first  governor  of  Massachusetts  to  pre- 
sent officially  to  the  voters  of  the  commonwealth  the  subject  of 
woman's  rights  as  a  citizen.  In  his  address  to  the  legislature  of 
1871,  he  strongly  recommended  a  change  in  the  laws  regarding 
suffrage  and  the  property  rights  of  woman.  His  attitude  toward 
this  reform  made  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  executive  depart- 
ment of  the  State.  Since  that  time  nearly  every  governor  of  the 
State  has,  in  his  annual  message,  recommended  the  subject  to  re- 
spectful consideration.  In  1879  Governor  Thomas  Talbot  pro- 
posed a  constitutional  amendment  which  should  secure  the  ballot 
to  women  on  the  same  terms  as  to  men.  In  response  to  this  por- 
tion of  the  governor's  message,  and  to  the  ninety-eight  petitions 
presented  on  the  subject,  a  general  suffrage  bill  passed  the  Senate 
by  a  two-thirds  majority,  and  an  act  to  "  give  women  the  right  to 
vote  for  members  of  school  committees,"  passed  both  branches  of 
the  legislature  and  became  a  law  of  the  State.*  Governor  John 
D.  Long,  in  his  inaugural  address  before  the  legislature  of  1880, 
expressed  his  opinion  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  perhaps  more 
decidedly  than  any  who  had  preceded  him  in  that  high  official 
position.  He  said : 

I  repeat  my  conviction  of  the  right  of  woman  suffrage.  If  the  common- 
wealth is  not  ready  to  give  it  in  full  by  a  constitutional  amendment,  I  ap- 
prove of  testing  it  in  municipal  elections. 

The  law  allowing  women  to  vote  for  school  committees  is  one 
of  the  last  results  of  the  legislative  agitations,  though  it  is  true 
that  the  petition,  the  answer  to  which  was  the  passage  of  this 
act,  did  not  emanate  from  any  suffrage  association.  It  was  the 
outcome  of  a  conference  on  the  subject,  held  in  the  parlors  of 
the  New  England  Women's  Club.f 

But  the  petitions  of  the  suffragists  had  always  been  for  general 
and  unrestricted  suffrage,  and  they  opposed  any  scheme  for  secur- 
ing the  ballot  on  a  class  or  a  restricted  basis,  holding  that  the 
true  ground  of  principle  is  equality  of  rights  with  man.  The 

*  Two  years  before  (1869),  while  sitting  as  visitor  in  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  I 
heard  the  whole  subject  of  woman's  rights  referred  to  the  (bogus)  committee  on  graveyards  ! 

t  Tt  was  perhaps  intended  to  serve  as  a  means  of  reinstating  Abby  W.  May  and  olher  women  who  had 
been  defeated  as  candidates  for  reelection  on  the  Boston  school-board.  The  names  of  Isa  E.  Gray, 
Mrs.  C.  B.  Richmond,  Elizabeth  P.  Peabody  and  John  M.  Forbes  led  the  lists  of  petitioners. 


288  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

practical  result,  so  far,of  voting  for  school  committees  has  justified 
this  position  ;  for,  as  shown  by  the  recent  elections,  the  women 
of  the  State  have  not  availed  themselves  to  any  extent  of  their 
new  right  to  vote,  and,  therefore,  the  measure  has  not  forwarded 
the  cause  of  general  suffrage.  In  fact,  the  school-committee 
question  is  not  a  vital  one  with  either  male  or  female  voters,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  get  up  any  enthusiasm  on  the  subject.  As  a 
test  question  upon  which  to  try  the  desire  of  the  women  of  the 
State  to  become  voters,  it  is  a  palpable  sham.  Our  Revolutionary 
fathers  would  not  have  fought,  bled  and  died  for  such  a  figment 
of  a  right  as  this  ;  and  their  daughters,  or  grand-daughters,  inherit 
the  same  spirit,  and  if  they  vote  at  all,  want  something  worth 
voting  for.  The  result  is,  that  the  voting  has  been  largely  done 
by  those  women  who  have  long  been  in  favor  of  suffrage,  and 
who  have  gone  to  the  polls  on  election  day  from  pure  principle 
and  a  sense  of  duty.* 

The  law  allowing  women  to  vote  for  school  committees  was 
very  elastic  and  capable  of  many  interpretations.  It  reminded 
one  of  the  old  school  exercise  in  transposing  the  famous  line  in 
Gray's  Elegy, 

"The  ploughman  homeward  plods  his  weary  way," 

which  has  been  found  to  be  capable  of  over  twenty  different 
transpositions.  The  collectors  and  registrars  in  some  towns  and 
cities  took  advantage  of  this  obscurity  of  expression,  and  inter- 
preted the  law  according  to  their  individual  opinion  on  the  woman 
suffrage  question.  In  places  where  these  officials  were  in  sympa- 
thy, a  broad  construction  was  put  upon  the  provisions  of  the  law, 
the  poll-tax  payers  were  allowed  to  vote  upon  the  payment  of 
one  dollar  (under  the  divided  tax  law  of  1879),  and  the  women 
voters  generally  were  given  all  necessary  information,  and  treated 
courteously  both  by  the  assessors  and  registrars  and  at  the  polls. 
In  places  where  leading  officials  were  opposed  to  women's 
voting,  the  case  was  far  different.  Without  regarding  the  clause 
in  the  law  which  said  that  a  woman  may  vote  upon  paying  either 
State  or  county  poll-tax,  such  officials  have  threatened  the  women 
with  arrest  when  they  refused  to  pay  both.  In  some  towns  they 
have  been  treated  with  great  indignity,  as  if  they  were  doing  an 
unlawful  act.  In  one  town  the  women  were  actually  required  to 
pay  a  poll-tax  the  second  year,  in  spite  of  the  clause  in  the  law 

*  At  the  first  annual  election  for  school  committees  in  cities  and  towns  in  1879-80,  about  5,000  women 
became  registered  voters. 


Taxation    Without  Representation.  289 

that  a  female  citizen  who  has  paid  a  State  or  county  tax  within 
two  years  shall  have  the  right  to  vote.  The  town  assessor,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  inform  the  women  on  this  point;  of  the  law  when 
asked  concerning  the  matter,  willfully  withheld  the  desired  in- 
formation, saying  he  "  did  not  know,"  though  he  afterwards  said 
that  he  did  know,  but  intended  to  let  the  women  "  find  out  for 
themselves."  This  assessor  forgot  that  the  women,  as  legal 
voters,  had  a  right  to  ask  for  this  information,  and  that  by 
virtue  of  his  official  position  he  was  legally  obliged  to  answer. 
In  another  town  two  ladies  who  were  property  tax-payers  were 
made  to  pay  the  two  dollars  poll-tax,  and  the  record  of  this  still 
stands  on  the  town  books.  Some  ladies  were  frightened  and 
paid  the  tax  under  protest ;  others  ran  the  risk.  Here  is  a  letter 

addressed  to  a  lady  83  years  of  age : 

MALDEN,  Dec.  2,  1879. 

HARRIET  HANSON  :  There  is  a  balance  of  ninety  cents  due  on  your  poll- 
tax  of  1879,  duly  assessed  upon  you.  Payment  of  the  same  is  hereby  de- 
manded, and  if  not  paid  within  fourteen  days  from  this  date,  with  twenty 
cents  for  the  summons,  the  collector  is  required  to  proceed  forthwith  to 
collect  the  same  in  manner  provided  by  law. 

THEODORE  N.  FOGUE,  Collector. 

Mrs.  Hanson  paid  no  attention  to  the  summons,  and  that  was 
the  end  of  it. 

In  iSSi,  under  the  amended  act  the  poll-tax  was  reduced  to 
fifty  cents,  and  the  property  tax-paying  women  (who  are  not  re- 
quired to  pay  a  poll-tax)  are  no  longer  obliged  to  make  a  return 
of  property  exempt  from  taxation,  as  was  required  under  the 
original  statute.  Though  some  of  the  disabilities  were  removed, 
yet  the  privileges  are  no  greater  ;  and  it  is  for  members  of  school- 
committees  and  for  nothing  else,  that  the  women  of  this  State  can 
vote.  This  is  hardly  worthy  to  be  called  "  school  suffrage " ! 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  better  test  than  that  of  school-com- 
mittee suffrage,  could  not  have  been  given  to  the  women  of  the 
State,  so  that  the  issue  of  what  under  the  circumstances  cannot 
be  called  a  fair  trial  of  their  desire  to  vote,  might  be  more  nearly 
what  the  friends  of  reform  had  desired. 

The  first  petition  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature,  asking  that 
women  might  be  allowed  to  serve  on  school-boards  was  presented 
in  1866  by  Samuel  E.  Sewall  of  Boston.  The  same  petition  was 
again  presented  in  1867.  About  this  time  Ashfield  and  Mon- 
roe, two  of  the  smallest  towns  in  the  State,  elected  women  as 
members  of  the  school  committee.  Worcester  and  Lynn  soon 
19 


290  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

followed  the  good  example,  and  in  1874,  Boston,  for  the  first  time, 
chose  six  women  to  serve  in  this  capacity.*  There  had  hitherto 
been  no  open  objection  to  this  innovation,  but  the  school  com- 
mittee of  Boston  not  liking  the  idea  of  women  co-workers,  de- 
clared them  ineligible  to  hold  such  office.  Miss  Peabody  applied 
to  the  Supreme  Court  for  its  opinion  upon  the  matter,  but  the 
judges  refused  to  answer,  and  dismissed  the  petition  on  the 
ground  that  the  school  committee  itself  had  power  to  decide 
the  question  of  the  qualifications  of  members  of  the  board. 
The  subject  was  brought  before  the  legislature  of  the  same  year, 
and  that  body,  almost  unanimously,  passed  "An  Act  to  Declare 
Women  Eligible  to  Serve  as  Members  of  School  Committees." 
Thus  the  women  members  were  reinstated.f" 

This  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  Mas- 
sachusetts to  answer  a  question  relating  to  woman's  rights  under 
the  law,  was  received  with  a  knowing  smile  by  those  who  remem- 
bered the  three  adverse  decisions  relating  to  women  which  had 
been  given  by  that  august  body.  The  first  of  these  was  on 
the  case  of  Sarah  E.  Wall  of  Worcester.  The  second  was  con- 
cerning a  clause  in  the  will  of  Francis  Jackson  of  Boston,  who 
left  $5,000  and  other  property  to  the  woman's  rights  cause. 
Its  third  adverse  decision  was  given  in  1871.  In  that  year, 
Julia  Ward  Howe  and  Mary  E.  Stevens  were  appointed  by 
Governor  Claflin  as  justices  of  the  peace.  Some  member  of 
the  governor's  council  having  doubted  whether  women  could 
legally  hold  the  office,  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  was 
asked  and  it  decided  substantially  that  because  women  were 
women,  or  because  women  were  not  men,  they  could  not  be  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  ;  and  the  appointment  was  not  confirmed. 

Changes  in  the  common  law  began  in  1845  with  reference  to 
the  wife's  right  to  hold  her  own  property.  In  1846  she  could 
legally  sign  a  receipt  for  money  earned  or  deposited  by  herself.^ 
Before  1855  a  woman  could  not  hold  her  own  property,  either 
earned  or  acquired  by  inheritance.  If  unmarried,  she  was  ob- 


*  Lucretia  P.  Hale,  Abby  W.  May,  Lucia  M.  Peabody,  Mary  J.  S.  Blake,  Kate  G.  Wells,  Lucretia 
Crocker. 

t  This  act,  so  brief  and  so  expressive,  is  worth)'  to  be  remembered.  1 1  simply  reads  :  "  lie  it  enacted, 
etc.,  as  Jollmvs  : 

SEC.  i.     No  person  shall  be  deemed  ineligible  to  serve  upon  a  school  committee  by  reason  of  sex. 

SEC.  2.     This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage.     (Approved June 30,  J&74.) 

By  force  of  habit,  the  legislature  said  not  a  word  in  the  law  about  -votnen.  There  are  now  (1885)  102 
women  members  of  school-boards  in  Massachusetts. 

$  See  "Women  under  the  law  of  Massachusetts,"  Henry  H.  Sprague.  Boston:  W.  B.Clarke  & 
Camith. 


Laws  Regarding  Married  Women.  291 

liged  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  a  trustee,  to  whose  will  she  was 
subject.  If  she  contemplated  marriage,  and  desired  to  call  her 
property  her  own,  she  was  forced  by  law  to  make  a  contract  with 
her  intended  husband,  by  which  she  gave  up  all  title  or  claim  to 
it.  A  woman,  either  married  or  unmarried,  could  hold  no  office 
of  trust  or  power.  She  was  not  a  person.  She  was  not  recog- 
nized as  a  citizen.  She  was  not  a  factor  in  the  human  family. 
She  was  not  a  unit;  but  a  zero,  a  nothing,  in  the  sum  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

To-day,  a  married  woman  can  hold  her  own  property,  if  it  is 
held  or  bought  in  her  own  name,  and  can  make  a  will  disposing 
of  it.  A  man  is  no  longer  the  sole  heir  of  his  wife's  property. 
A  married  woman  can  make  contracts,  enter  into  co-partner- 
ships, carry  on  business,  invest  her  own  earnings  for  her  own  use 
and  behoof, — and  she  is  also  responsible  for  her  own  debts.  She 
can  be  executor,  administrator,  guardian  or  trustee.  She  can 
testify  in  the  courts  for  or  against  her  husband.  She  can  release, 
transfer,  or  convey,  any  interest  she  may  have  in  real  estate,  sub- 
ject only  to  the  life  interest  which  the  husband  may  have  at  her 
death.  Thirty  years  ago,  when  the  woman's  rights  movement 
began,  the  status  of  a  married  woman  was  little  better  than  that 
of  a  domestic  servant.  By  the  English  common  law,  her  husband 
was  her  lord  and  master.  He  had  the  sole  custody  of  her  person, 
and  of  her  minor  children.  He  could  "punish  her  with  a  stick 
no  bigger  than  his  thumb,"  and  she  could  not  complain  against 
him.* 

The  common  law  of  this  State  held  man  and  wife  to  be  one  per- 
son,  but  that  person  was  the  husband.  He  could  by  will  deprive 
her  of  every  part  of  his  property,  and  also  of  what  had  been  her 
own  before  marriage.  He  was  the  owner  of  all  her  real  estate 
and  of  her  earnings.  The  wife  could  make  no  contract  and  no 
will,  nor,  without  her  husband's  consent,  dispose  of  the  legal  inter- 
est of  her  real  estate.  He  had  the  income  of  her  real  estate  till 
she  died,  and  if  they  ever  had  a  living  child  his  ownership  of  the 

*  The  authority  for  this  old  "thumb"  tradition,  that  "a  man  had  a  right  to  whip  his  wife  with  a 
stick  no  bigger  than  his  thumb,"  is  found  in  an  early  edition  of  1'hillips'  Evidence.  That  book  was 
authority  in  English  common  law  and  in  it  Phillips  is  quoted  as  saying,  that  according  to  the  law  of  his 
<lay  a  husband  "might  lawfully  chastise  his  wife  with  a  reasonable  weapon,  as  a  broomstick^'  adding, 
li"  ',  c  wr,  "  but  if  he  use  an  unreasonable  weapon,  such  as  an  inm  bar,  and  death  cn-uc,  it  would  be 
murder."— [Chambcrlin,  p.  818.]  Dut  the  real  "  thumb"  story  seems  to  have  originated  with  a  certan 
Jud^e  lUillcr  of  England,  who  lived  about  one  hundred  years  ago.  In  hi*  ruling  on  one  of  those  cases 
of  wife-beating,  now  so  common  in  our  police  courts,  he  said  that  a  man  had  a  right  to  punish  I. is  wife, 
"  with  a  stick  no  bigger  than  his  thumb."  That  was  his  opinion.  Shortly  after  this  some  ladies  sent 
tin:  judge  :\  letter  in  which  they  prayed  him  to  give  them  the  size  of  his  thumb  !  We  are  not  told 
whether  he  complied  with  their  request. 


292  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

real  estate  continued  to  his  death.  He  could  forbid  her  to  buy  a 
loaf  of  bread  or  a  pound  of  sugar,  or  contract  for  a  load  of  wood 
to  keep  the  family  warm.  She  did  not  own  a  rag  of  her  own 
clothing.  She  had  no  personal  rights,  and  could  hardly  call  her 
soul  her  own. 

Her  husband  could  steal  her  children,  rob  her  of  her  clothing, 
and  her  earnings,  neglect  to  support  the  family;  and  she  had  no 
legal  redress.  If  a  wife  earned  money  by  her  labor,  the  husband 
could  claim  the  pay  as  his  share  of  the  proceeds.  There  is  a 
clause  sometimes  found  in  old  wills,  to  the  effect  that  if  a  widow 
marry  again,  she  shall  forfeit  all  right  to  her  husband's  property. 
The  most  conservative  judge  in  the  commonwealth  would  now 
rule  that  a  widow  cannot  be  kept  from  her  fair  share  of 
the  property,  by  any  such  unjust  restriction.  In  a  husband's 
eyes  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  a  woman's  mission  was  ac- 
complished after  she  had  fyeen  his  wife  and  borne  his  children. 
What  more  could  be  desired  of  her,  he  argued,  but  a  corner  some- 
where in  which,  respectably  dressed  as  his  relict,  she  could  sit 
down  and  mourn  for  him,  for  the  rest  of  her  life.* 

The  law  no  longer  sanctions  such  a  will,  but  provides  that 
the  widow  shall  have  a  fair  share  of  all  personal  property.  If 
a  widow  permits  herself  to-day  to  be  defrauded  of  her  legal  rights 
in  the  division  of  property,  it  is  her  own  fault,  and  because  she 
does  not  study  and  understand  for  herself  the  general  statutes  of 
Massachusetts,  and  the  laws  concerning  the  rights  of  married 
women.  The  result  of  thirty  years  of  property  legislation  for 
women  is  well  stated  by  Mr.  Sewall  in  his  admirable  pamphlet,  in 
which  he  says,  "  the  last  thirty  years  have  done  more  to  improve 
the  law  for  married  women  than  the  four  hundred  preceding." 
The  legislature  has,  during  this  time,  enacted  laws  allowing 
women  to  vote  in  parishes  and  religious  societies,  declaring  that 
women  must  become  members  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
three  State  primary  and  reform  schools,  of  the  State  workhouse, 
of  the  State  almshouse  at  Tewksbury,  and  of  the  board  of  prison 
commissioners ;  also,  that  certain  officers  and  managers  of  the  re- 
formatory prison  for  women  at  Sherborn  "  shall  be  women." 
Without  legislation,  women  now  are  school  supervisors,  overseers 
of  the  poor,  trustees  of  public  libraries  and  members  of  the  State 


*  In  an  old  will,  made  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  a  husband  of  large  means  bequeathed  to  his 
"  dearly  beloved  wife  "  850  and  n  new  suit  of  clothes,  with  the  injunction  that  she  should  return  to  her 
original,  or  family  home.  And  with  this  small  sum,  as  her  share  of  his  property,  he  returned  her  to  her 
parents. 


Legislative  Ameliorations,  293 

Board  of  Education  and  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  Lunacy 
and  Charity.* 

These  great  changes  in  legislation  for  the  women  of  Massa- 
chusetts are  the  result  of  their  own  labors.  By  conventions  and 
documents  they  have  informed  the  people  and  enlightened 
public  sentiment.  By  continued  agitation  the  question  has 
been  kept  prominently  before  their  representatives  in  the  legis- 
lature. And,  though  so  much  has  been  gained,  they  are  still 
hard  at  work,  nor  will  they  rest  until,  woman's  equality  with 
man  before  the  law  is  firmly  established. 

Among  the  most  important  acts  passed  recently  is  one  of  1879, 
by  which  a  married  woman  is  the  owner  of  her  own  clothing 
to  the  value  of  $2,000,  although  the  act  granting  this  calls 
such  apparel  the  "gifts  of  her  husband,"  not  recognizing  the  fact 
that  most  married  women  earn  or  help  to  earn  their  own  clothes. 
A  law  was  passed,  in  1881,  to  "mitigate  the  evils  of  divorce." 
Two  important  acts  were  passed  by  the  legislature  of  1882,  one 
allowing  women  to  become  practising  attorneys,  and  the  other 
providing,  that  in  case  of  the  death  of  a  married  woman  intestate 
and  leaving  children,  one-half  only  of  her  personal  estate  shall  go  to 
her  husband,  instead  of  the  whole,  as  in  previous  years.  In  1883, 
a  wife  was  given  the  right  of  burial  in  any  lot  or  tomb  belonging 
to  her  husband.  In  1884,  the  only  measures  were  a  bill  providing 
for  the  appointment  of  women  on  the  board  of  State  lunatic  hos- 
pitals, and  another  providing  for  the  appointment  of  women  as- 
sistant physicians  in  the  same  hospitals,  and  an  act  giving  women 
the  power  to  dispose  of  their  separate  estates  by  will  or  deed. 
In  1885,  very  little  was  done  to  improve  the  legal  status  of 
women. 

When  any  vote  on  the  Suffrage  bill  is  taken,  it  is  enough 
to  make  the  women  who  sit  in  the  gallery  weep  to  hear  the 
"O's"  and  the  "  Mc's,"  almost  to  a  man,  thunder  forth  the 
emphatic  "  No  !  "/  and  to  think  that  these  men  (some  of  whom  a 
few  years  ago  were  walking  over  their  native  bogs,  with  hardly 
the  right  to  live  and  breathe)  should  vote  away  so  thoughtlessly 
the  rights  of  the  women  of  the  country  in  which  they  have  found 
a  shelter  and  a  home.  When  they  came  to  this  country,  poor, 

*  The  little  actual  gain  in  votes  since  1874,  in  favor  of  municipal  or  general  suffrage  for  women,  might 
cause  the  careless  observer  to  draw  the  inference  that  no  great  progress  had  -been  made  in  legisla- 
tive sentiment  during  all  these  years.  In  1870  the  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  Gen- 
eral Woman  Suffrage  Bill  was  133  to  68.  In  1885  the  bill  giving  municipal  suffrage  was  defeated  in 
the  House  by  a  vote  of  130  to  61.  But  this  is  not  a  true  index  of  the  progress  of  public  opinion. 


294 


History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


and  with  no  inheritance  but  the  "shillalah,"  the  ballot  was  freely 
given  to  them,  as  the  poor  man's  weapon  for  defence.  Why  can- 
not men,  who  have  been  political  serfs  in  their  own  country,  see 
the  incongruity  of  voting  against  the  enfranchisement  of  over 
one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  State  which  has  made  free  hu- 
man beings  of  them?  It  is  not  long  since  one  of  these  adopted 
citizens,  in  a  discussion,  said  : 

When  the  women  show  that  they  want  to  vote,  I  am  willing  to  give 
them  all  the  rights  they  want. 

Give !  I  thought.  Where  did  you  get  the  right  to  give  Mas- 
sachusetts women  the  right  to  vote?  You  did  not  inherit  it. 
In  what  consists  your  prerogative  over  the  women  whose  ances- 
tors fought  to  secure  the  very  right  of  suffrage  of  which  you  so 
glibly  talk,  and  which  neither  you,  nor  your  father  before  you, 
did  aught  to  establish  or  maintain  ? 

The  improvement  in  the  social  or  general  condition  of  woman 
has  been  even  greater  than  that  in  legislation.  Previous  to  1840, 
women  were  employed  only  as  teachers  of  summer  schools,  to 
"spell  the  men"  during  the  haying  season;  and  this  only  occa- 
sionally. They  held  no  responsible  position  in  any  public  school 
in  the  State.  To-day  there  are  eight  women  to  one  man  em- 
ployed in  all  grades  of  this  profession,  and  there  are  numerous 
instances  where  women  are  head-teachers  of  departments,  or 
principals  of  high,  normal  and  grammar  schools.  Previous  to 
1825,  girls  could  attend  only  the  primary  schools  of  Boston. 
Through  the  influence  of  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  the  first  high- 
school  for  girls  was  opened  in  that  city.  There  \vas  a  great  out- 
cry against  this  innovation  ;  and,  because  of  the  excitement  on 
the  subject,  and  the  great  number  of  girls  who  applied  for  admis- 
sion, the  scheme  was  abandoned.  The  public-school  system,  as 
it  is  now  called,  was  established  in  Boston  in  1789  ;  boys  were  ad- 
mitted the  whole  year  round  ;  girls,  from  April  to  October.  This  in- 
equality in  the  opportunities  for  education  roused  John  Pierpont's 
indignation,  and  moved  him  to  make  strenuous  efforts  to  secure 
justice  for  girls.  Now  there  are  6,246  schools,  seventy-two  aca- 
demies, six  normal  schools,  two  colleges,  Boston  University  and 
the  "Harvard  Annex"  all  open  to  girls.  In  the  town  of  Plym- 
outh, where  the  Pilgrim  fathers  and  mothers  first  landed,  when 
the  question  whether  girls  should  receive  any  public  instruc- 
tion first  came  up  in  town-meeting,  there  was  great  opposition 
to  it.  However,  the  majority  showed  a  liberal  spirit,  and  voted 


The  "Harvard  Annex" 


295 


to  give  the  girls  one  hour  of  instruction  daily.  This  was  in  1793. 
In  1853  a  normal  school  for  girls  was  established  in  Boston; 
in  1855  its  name  was  changed  to  the  Girls'  High  and  Normal 
School.  In  1878  the  Girls'  Latin  School  in  Boston  was  founded. 
The  establishment  of  this  successful  institution  was  the  result  of 
discussions  on  the  subject  first  brought  before  the  public  by 
ladies  of  Boston.  High  schools  in  almost  all  the  towns  and 
cities  of  the  State  have  long  been  established,  in  which  the 
boys  and  girls  are  educated  together.  In  1880  the  pupils 
in  the  high  and  normal  schools  of  Boston  were  about  2,000 
girls  to  1,000  boys.  In  1867  the  Lowell  Institute  and  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology  advertised  classes  free  to  both 
sexes  in  French,  mathematics  and  in  practical  science.*  Since 
that  time  Chauncy  Hail  School  and  Boston  University  have  been 
opened  to  women,  with  the  equal  privileges  of  male  students. 
It  might  be  explained  here  that  the  "  Harvard  Annex,"  or 
"  Private  Collegiate  Instruction  for  Women,"  is  not  an  organic 
part  of  the  University  itself.  Under  a  certain  arrangement,  a 
limited  number  of  young  women  are  allowed  a  few  of  the  privi- 
leges of  the  young  men.  They  are  also  permitted  to  use  all  the 
books  belonging  to  the  library  and  to  attend  many  of  the  lectures. 
No  college-building  is  appropriated  for  this  purpose,  but  recita- 
tion-rooms are  provided  in  private  houses.  A  witty  Cambridge 
lady  called  this  mythical  college  the  "Harvard  Annex";  the 
public  adopted  the  name,  and  many  people  suppose  that  there 
is  such  a  building.  From  the  last  annual  report  of  the  "  Private 
Collegiate  Instruction  for  Women,"  it  appears  that  in  1885  sixty- 
five  worrren  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  attending  this 
course  of  instruction. f  Three-fourths  of  this  number  are  Massa- 
chusetts girls.  Some  of  the  professors  say  that  the  average  of 
scholarship  there  is  higher  than  in  the  University.  Fifty  courses 
of  studies  are  open  to  women  students.  Miss  Brown  of  Concord,  a 
graduate  of  1884,  astonished  the  faculty  by  her  high  per  cent,  in 
the  classics.  Her  average  was  higher  than  that  reached  by  any 
young  man.  These  students  go  unattended  to  the  lectures 
and  to  the  library  of  the  college.  A  great  change  indeed, 

*  Mrs.  Ellen  M.  Richards  was  the  first  woman  who  entered. 

t  The  Harvard  Annex,  so  called,  began  its  seventh  year  with  sixty-five  young  ladies  enrolled  lor 
study.  'The  enrollment  for  the  proceeding  six  years  was  as  follows  :  First  year,  29  :  second,  47  ;  third 
40 ;  fourth,  39  ;  fifth,  49,  sixth,  55.  Some  of  the  students  come  from  distant  places,  but  a  majority  are 
from  the  Cambridge  and  neighboring  high-schools.  The  institution  occupies  this  year  for  ihc  first 
time  a  building  which  has  been  conveniently  arranged  for  its  purposes.  Thi  endowment  of  the  — 
ciation  which  manages  the  work  now  amounts  to  $85,000. 


296  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

since  the  time  when  women  began  to  attend  the  Lowell  In- 
stitute lectures!  Then  it  was  thought  almost  disgraceful  to  go 
to  a  public  meeting  without  male  protection,  and  they  went  with 
veiled  faces,  as  if  ashamed  to  be  seen  of  men.  The  "Annex  "  has 
some  advantages,  but  they  cannot  compare  with  Girton  and 
Newnham  of  Cambridge,  England. 

The  treasurer  of  the  "  Harvard  Annex  "  declares  the  great  need 
that  exists  for  funds  to  provide  a  suitable  building,  etc.,  for  the 
numerous  women  who  continue  to  apply  there  for  admission ; 
and  he  appeals  to  the  generosity  of  the  public  for  contributions 
of  money  to  be  used  for  this  purpose.  The  casual  observer  might 
suggest  that  those  women  who  will  hereafter  become  the  bene- 
factors of  this  university  should  remember  the  needs  of  their  own 
sex,  and  leave  their  donations  or  bequests  so  that  they  can  be 
used  for  the  benefit  of  the  "  Harvard  Annex,"  which  is  a  wholly 
private  enterprise,  conducted  by  the  University  instructors  and 
supervised  by  a  committee  of  ladies. 

Colleges  for  women  have  also  been  founded.  Wellesley  and 
Smith  have  long  been  doing  good  university  work.  Thirty  years 
ago  there  was  no  college  in  the  country,  except  Oberlin,  to 
which  wome,n  were  admitted.  To-day,  even  conservative  Harvard 
begins  to  melt  a  little  under  this  regenerating  influence,  and  in- 
vites women,  through  the  doors  of  its  "Annex,"  to  come, and 
enjoy  some  of  the  privileges  found  within  its  sacred  halls  of 
learning.  This  was  a  late  act  of  grace  from  a  college  whose  in- 
ception was  in  the  mind  of  a  woman  *  longing  for  a  better  oppor- 


*  This  lady  was  Lucy  Downing,  a  sister  of  the  first  governor  of  Massachusetts.  She  was  the  wife  of 
Emanuel  Downing,  a  lawyer  of  the  Inner  Temple,  a  friend  of  Governor  Winthrop  and  afterward  a 
man  of  mark  in  the  infant  colony.  In  a  letter  to  her  brother,  Lucy  Downing  expresses  the  desire  of 
herself  and  husband  to  come  to  New  England  with  their  children,  but  laments  that  if  they  do  come  her 
son  George  cannot  complete  his  studies.  She  says:  "  You  have  yet  noe  societies  nor  means  of  that 
kind  for  the  education  of  youths  in  learning.  It  would  make  me  goe  far  nimbler  to  New  England,  if 
God  should  call  me  to  it,  than  otherwise  I  should,  and  I  believe  a  colledge  would  put  noe  small  life  into 
the  plantation."  This  letter  was  written  early  in  1636,  and  in  October  of  the  same  year  the  General 
Court  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  agreed  to  give  .£400  towards  establishing  a  school  or  college  in  New- 
towne  (two  years  later  called  Cambridge).  Soon  afterwards  Rev.  John  Harvard  died  and  left  one-half 
of  his  estate  to  this  "infant  seminary,"  and  in  1638  it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court  that  the 
"  Colledge  to  be  built  at  Cambridge  shall  be  called  Harvard  Colledge." 

Early  in  1638  Lucy  Downing  and  her  husband  arrived  in  New  England,  and  the  name  of  George 
Downing  stands  second  on  the  list  of  the  first  class  of  Harvard  graduates  in  1642.  The  Down- 
ings  had  other  sons  who  do  not  seem  to  have  been  educated  at  Harvard,  and  daughters  who  were  put 
out  to  service.  The  son  for  whom  so  much  was  done  by  his  mother,  was  afterwards  known  as  Sir 
George  Downing,  and  he  became  rich  and  powerful  in  England.  Downing  street  in  London  is  named 
for  him.  In  afterlife  he  forgot  his  duty  to  his  mother,  who  so  naturally  looked  to  him  for  support; 
and  her  last  letter  written  from  England  after  her  husband  died,  when  she  was  old  and  feeble,  tells  a 
sad  story  cf  her  son's  avarice  and  meanness,  and  leaves  the  painful  impression  that  she  suffered  in  her 
old  age  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 

It  is  hard  to  estimate  how  much  influence  the  earnest  longing  of  this  one  woman  for  the  better  edu- 
tion  of  her  son,  had  in  the  founding  of  this  earliest  college  in  Massachusetts.  But  for  her  thinking 
and  speaking  at  the  right  time  the  enterprise  might  have  been  delayed  for  half  a  century.  It  is  to  be 


Woman 's  Self -Sacrifice.  297 

tunity  than  the  new  colony  could  give  to  educate  her  afterward 
ungrateful  son. 

The  number  of  young  men  educated  by  the  individual  efforts 
of  women  cannot  be  estimated.  T.  W.  Higginson,  in  the  Woman  s 
Journal,  says : 

The  late  President  Walker  once  told  me  that,  in  his  judgment,  one- 
quarter  of  the  young  men  in  Harvard  College  were  being  carried  through 
by  the  special  self-denial  and  sacrifices  of  women.  I  cannot  answer  for 
the  ratio,  but  I  can  testify  to  having  been  an  instance  of  this,  myself;  and 
to  having  known  a  never-ending  series  of  such  cases  of  self-devotion. 

Some  of  these  men,  educated  by  the  labor  and  self-sacrifice 
of  others,  look  down  upon  the  social  position  in  which  their 
women  friends  are  still  forced  to  remain.  The  result  to  the 
recipient  has  often  been  of  doubtful  value,  so  far  as  the  develop- 
ment of  the  affections  is  concerned.  Sometimes  the  great  obliga- 
tion has  been  forgotten.  Only  in  rare  instances,  to  either  party 
did  the  life-long  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  women  of  the  family 
become  of  permanent  and  spiritual  value  ! 

The  average  woman  of  forty  years  ago  was  very  humble  in  her 
notions  of  the  sphere  of  woman.  What  if  she  did  hunger  and 
thirst  after  knowledge?  She  could  do  nothing  with  it,  even  if 
she  could  get  it.  So  she  made  a  fetich  of  some  male  relative, 
and  gave  him  the  mental  food  for  which  she  herself  was  starv- 
ing, and  devoted  all  her  energies  towards  helping  him  to  become 
what  she  felt,  under  better  conditions,  she  herself  might  have 
been.  It  was  enough  in  those  early  days  to  be  the  mother  or 

deplored  that  Lucy  Downing  established  the  unwise  precedent  of  educating  one  member  of  the  family 
at  the  expense  of  the  rest  ;  an  example  followed  by  too  many  women  since  her  time.  Harvard  College 
itself  has  followed  it  as  well,  in  that  it  has  so  long  excluded  from  its  privileges  that  portion  of  the 
human  family  to  which  Lucy  Downing  belonged. 

Although  women  have  never  been  permitted  to  become  students  of  this  college,  or  of  any  of  the 
schools  connected  with  it,  yet  they  have  always  taken  a  great  interest  in  its  pecuniary  welfare,  and  the 
University  is  largely  indebted  to  the  generosity  of  women  for  its  endowment  and  support.  From  the 
records  of  Harvard  College,  it  appears  that  funds  have  been  contributed  by  167  women,  which  amount, 
in  the  aggregate,  to  $325,000.  Out  of  these  funds  a  proportion  of  the  university  scholarships  were 
founded,  and  at  least  one  of  its  professors'  chairs.  In  its  Divinity  school  alone  five  of  the  ten  scholar- 
ships bear  the  names  of  women.  Caroline  A.  Plummer  of  Salem  gave  $15,000  to  found  the  Plummer 
Professorship  of  Christian  Morals.  Sarah  Derby  bequeathed  $1,000  towards  founding  the  Hersey  Pro- 
fessorship of  Anatomy  and  Physic.  The  Holden  Chapel  was  built  with  money  given  for  that  purpose 


Saltonstall,  Joanna  Alford,  Mary  P.  Townsend,  Ann  Toppan,  Eliza  Farrar,  Ann  F.  Schaeffer,  I.cvina 
Hoar,  Rebecca  A.  Perkins,  Caroline  Merriam,  Sarah  Jackson,  Hannah  C.  Andrews,  Nancy  Kendall. 
Charlotte  Harris,  Mary  Osgood,  Lucy  Osgood,  Sarah  Winslow,  Julia  Bullock,  Marian  Hovey,  Ann.i 
Richmond,  Caroline  Richmond,  Clara  J.  Moore  and  Susan  Cabot. — [H.  H.  R. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  why  are  women  so  much  more  desirous  than  men  to  sec  their  children 
educated  ?  Because  it  is  a  right  that  has  been  denied  to  themselves.  To  them  education  inc. in-  lil>- 
erty,  wealth,  position,  power.  When  the  black  race  at  the  South  were  emancipated,  they  were  far 
more  eager  for  education  than  the  poor  whites,  and  for  the  same  reason. — [Eos. 


298  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sister  of  somebody.     Women  were  almost  as  abject  in  this  par- 
ticular as  the  Thracian  woman  of  old,  who  said: 

"I  am  not  of  the  noble  Grecian  race, 
I'm  poor  Abrotonon,  and  born  in  Thrace; 
Let  the  Greek  women  scorn  me.  if  they  please, 
I  was  the  mother  of  Themistocles." 

There  are  women  still  left  who  believe  their  husbands,  sons,  or 
male  friends  can  study,  read  and  vote  for  them.  They  are  like 
some  frugal  house-mothers,  who  think  their  is  no  need  of  a  din- 
ner if  the  good-man  of  the  family  is  not  coming  home  to  share 
it.  Just  as  if  the  man-half  of  the  human  family  can  "eat,  learn 
and  inwardly  digest,"  to  make  either  physical  or  mental  strength 
for  the  other  half ! 

Maria  Mitchell  of  Massachusetts  became  Professor  of  Astron- 
omy and  Mathematics  at  Vassar,  in  1866,  the  first  woman  in  the 
country  to  hold  such  a  position.  Since  that  time  women  have 
become  members  of  the  faculty  in  several  of  the  large  colleges 
in  the  country. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  commonwealth  women  practiced  mid- 
wifery, and  were  very  successful.  Mrs.  John  Eliot,  Anne  Hutch- 
inson,  Mrs.  Fuller  and  Sarah  Alcock  were  the  first  in  the  State. 
Janet  Alexander,  a  Scotchwoman,  was  a  well-trained  mid- 
wife.* She  lived  in  Boston,  and  was  always  recognized  as  a  good 
practitioner  in  her  line  by  the  leading  doctors  in  that  city.  Dr. 
John  C.  Warren  of  Boston  invited  this  lady  to  come  to  this 
country.  His  biography,  recently  published,  contains  a  short 
record  of  the  matter,  in  which  he  says'  "WTe  determined  to 
recommend  Mrs.  Alexander.  She  was  a  Scotchwoman,  regularly 
educated,  and  having  Dr.  Hamilton's  diploma."  Quite  a  storm 
was  raised  among  the  younger  physicians  of  Boston  by  this  at- 
tempted innovation,  because  they  thought  Dr.  Warren  was  trying 
to  deprive  them  of  profitable  practice.  But  Mrs.  Alexander, 
supported  by  Dr.  Warren,  and  perhaps  other  physicians,  con- 
tinued her  occupation  and  educated  her  daughter  in  the  same 
profession.  Dr.  Harriot  K.  Hunt  practiced  in  Boston  as  early  as 
1835.  She  sought  admission  to  the  Harvard  Medical  School, 
and  was  many  times  refused.  She  was  not  what  is  called  a  "reg- 
ular physician."  In  her  day  there  existed  no  schools  or  colleges 
for  the  medical  education  of  women,  but  she  studied  by  herself, 


*  Ruth  Barnaby,  aged  101  in  1875,  Elizabeth  Phillips  and  Hannah  Greemvay  were  also  members  of 
this  branch  of  the  profession.  The  last  was  midwife  tn  Mrs.  Judge  Sewall,  who  was  the  mother  of 
nineteen  children.  Judge  Samuel  E.  Sewall  mentions  this  fact  in  his  diary,  recently  published. 


Physicians  and  Nurses.  299 

and  acquired  some  knowledge  of  diseases  peculiar  to  women. 
Her  success  was  so  great  in  her  line  of  practice  that  she  proved 
the  need  existing  for  physicians  of  her  own  sex. 

Dr.  Hunt's  tussle  with  the  medical  faculty  will  long  be  remem- 
bered. She  was  the  first  woman  in  the  State  who  dared  assert 
her  right  to  recognition  in  this  profession.  For  this,  and  for  her 
persistent  efforts  to  secure  for  them  a  higher  education,  she  de- 
serves the  gratitude  of  every  woman  who  has  since  followed  her 
footsteps  into  a  profession  over  which  the  men  had  long  held  un- 
disputed control.  In  1853  the  degree  of  M.  D.  was  conferred  on 
her  by  the  Woman's  Medical  College  of  Pennsylvania.  The  first 
medical  college  for  women,  organized  by  Dr.  Samuel  Gregory  of 
Boston,  was  chartered  in  1856,  under  the  name  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Female  Medical  College,  and  in  1874,  by  an  act  of  the  legis- 
lature, united  with  the  Boston  University  School  of  Medicine. 
In  1868  it  had  graduated  seventy-two  women,  among  whom  were 
Dr.  Lucy  E.  Sewall  and  Dr.  Helen  Morton  (who  afterwards  went 
to  Paris  and  studied  obstetrics  at  Madame  Aillot's  Hospital  of 
Maternity)  and  Dr.  Mercy  B.  Jackson.*  There  are  now  205 
regular  practitioners  in  the  State. 

In  1863,  Dr.  Zakrzewska,  in  cooperation  with  Lucy  God- 
dard  and  Ednah  D.  Cheney,  established  the  New  England 
Hospital  for  Women  and  Children.  Its  avowed  objects  were: 
(i)  to  provide  women  the  medical  aid  of  competent  physicians  of 
their  own  sex;  (2)  to  assist  educated  women  in  the  practical 
study  of  medicine ;  (3)  to  train  nurses  for  the  care  of  the  sick. 
This  was  the  first  hospital  in  New  England  over  which  women 
have  had  entire  control,  both  as  physicians  and  surgeons.  Bos- 
ton University  is  open  to  both  sexes,  with  equal  studies,  duties 
and  privileges.  This  institution  was  incorporated  in  1869,  and 
includes,  among  other  schools  and  colleges,  schools  of  theology, 
law  and  medicine.  The  faculty  consists  of  many  distinguished 
men  and  women.  Boston  University  School  of  Medicine  (home- 
opathic) was  organized  in  1873.  Of  the  thirty-two  lecturers 
and  professors  who  constitute  the  faculty,  five  are  women.  In 
1884  the  three  highest  of  the  four  prizes  for  the  best  medical 
thesis  were  won  by  women.  Of  the  610  pupils  in  1884,  155  were 
women ;  sixty  of  these  were  in  the  school  of  medicine.  There 
are  women  in  all  departments,  except  agriculture  and  theology. 


*  Dr.  Jackson  had  a  large  practice  in  Boston,  and  filled  for  five  years  the  chair  of  professor  of  dis- 
eases of  children  in  the  1'oston  University  School  of  Medicine. 


300  History  of  Woman  Stiff  rage. 

They  do  not  study  theology  because  they  cannot  be  ordained  to 
preach  in  any  of  the  leading  churches. 

The  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  in  1884,  on  motion  of  Dr. 
Henry  I.  Bowditch,  voted  to  admit  women  to  membership.  Dr. 
Emma  L.  Call  and  Dr.  Harriet  L.  Harrington  were  the  first  two 
women  admitted.  January  II,  1882,  at  the  monthly  meeting  of 
Harvard  overseers,  the  question  of  admitting  women  to  the 
Medical  School  came  before  the  board.  An  individual  desiring 
to  contribute  a  fund  for  the  medical  education  of  women  in  Har- 
vard University  asked  the  president  and  fellows  whether  such  a 
fund  would  be  accepted  and  used  as  designed.  Majority  and 
minority  reports  were  submitted  by  the  committee  in  charge, 
and  after  a  long  discussion  it  was  voted,  1 1  to  6,  to  accept  the 
fund,  the  income  to  be  ultimately  used  for  the  medical  education 
of  women.  At  the  April  meeting,  the  Committee  on  the  Medi- 
cal Education  of  Women  presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  13  to  12  : 

That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  board,  it  is  not  advisable  for  the  University 
to  hold  out  any  encouragement  that  it  will  undertake  the  medical  educa- 
tion of  women. 

The  Harvard  Divinity  School  at  Cambridge  sometimes  admits 
women,  but  does  not  recognize  them  publicly,  nor  grant  them 
degrees  ;  but  there  are  other  theological  schools  in  the  State  where 
a  complete  preparation  for  the  ministerial  profession  can  be  ob- 
tained. The  attitude  of  the  churches  toward  women  has  changed 
greatly  within  thirty  years.  As  early  as  1869,  women  began  to 
serve  on  committees,  and  to  be  ordained  deaconesses  of  churches. 
They  also  hold  important  offices  connected  with  the  different 
church  organizations.  They  serve  on  the  boards  of  State  and 
national  religious  associations.  There  are  also  missionary  associa- 
tions, both  home  and  foreign,  and  Christian  unions,  all  officered 
and  managed  exclusively  by  women.  Even  the  treasurers  of 
these  large  bodies  are  women,  and  their  husbands  or  trustees  are 
no  longer  required  to  give  bonds  for  them.*  At  the  general  con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  word  "  male " 
was  stricken  from  the  discipline,  and  the  word  "  person  "  inserted 
in  its  place,  in  all  cases  save  those  that  concerned  the  ordination 
of  clergy. 


*  In  1840,  a  Massachusetts  woman  could  not  legally  be  treasurer  of  even  a  sewingsociety  without  hav- 
ing some  man  responsible  for  her.  In  1809,  it  was  necessary  that  the  subscriptions  of  a  married  woman 
for  a  newspaper  or  for  charities  should  be  in  the  name  of  her  husband. 


Ministers  and  Artists.  301 

Olympia  Brown  was  the  first  woman  settled  as  pastor  in  the 
State.  Her  parish  was  at  Weymouth  Landing.  In  1864  she 
petitioned  the  Massachusetts  legislature  "that 'marriages  per- 
formed by  a  woman  should  be  made  legal."  The  Committee  on 
the  Judiciary,  to  whom  the  matter  was  referred,  reported  that  no 
legislation  was  necessary,  as  marriages  solemnized  by  women  were 
already  legal.*  Thus  the  legislature  of  the  State  established  the 
precedent,  that  "he"  meant  "she"  under  the  law,  in  one  in- 
stance at  least.  Phebe  Hanaford,  Mary  H.  Graves  and  Lorenza 
Haynes  were  the  first  Massachusetts  women  to  be  ordained 
preachers  of  the  gospel.  Rev.  Lorenza  Haynes  has  been  chaplain 
of  the  Maine  House  of  Representatives. 

The  three  best-known  women  sculptors  in  this  country  were 
born  and  bred  in  Massachusetts.  They  are  Harriet  Hosmer, 
Margaret  Foley  and  Anne  Whitney.  Harriet  Hosmer  was  the 
first  to  free  herself  from  the  traditions  of  her  sex  and  follow  her 
profession  as  a  sculptor.  When  she  desired  to  fit  herself  for  her 
vocation  there  was  no  art  school  east  of  the  Mississippi  river 
where  she  could  study  anatomy,  or  find  suitable  models.  Mar- 
garet Foley,  who,  amid  the  hum  of  the  machinery  of  the  Lowell 
cotton  mills,  first  conceived  the  idea  of  chiseling  her  thought 
on  the  surface  of  a  "  smooth-lipped  shell,"  was  obliged  to  go  to 
Rome  in  order  to  get  the  necessary  instruction  in  cameo-cutting. 
There  her  genius  developed  so  much  that  she  began  to  model  in 
clay,  and  soon  became  a  successful  sculptor  in  marble.  Lucy 
Larcom,  in  her  "  Idyl  of  Work,"  says  of  Miss  Foley: 

"  That  broad-browed  delicate  girl  will  carve  at  Rome 
Faces  in  marble,  classic  as  her  own." 

One  of  her  finest  creations  is  "  The  Fountain,"  first  exhibited  in 
Horticultural  Hall  at  the  Centennial  Exposition  in  Philadelphia, 
1876.  A  free  art-school  was  opened  to  women  in  Boston  in  1867, 
and  Anne  Whitney  was  not  obliged  to  go  to  Rome  for  instruc- 
tion in  the  appliances  of  her  art.  Harriet  Hosmer  and  Margaret 
Foley  have  both  made  statues  which  adorn  the  public  buildings 
and  parks  of  their  native  country ;  and  Anne  Whitney's  statues  of 
Samuel  Adams  and  Harriet  Martineau  are  the  crowning  works  of 
her  genius. 


302  History  of  Woman  'Suffrage. 

No  great  work  has  yet  been  done  by  Massachusetts  women 
in  oil  painting;  but  in  water  colors,  and  in  decorative  art,  many 
have  excelled;  first  prizes  in  superiority  of  design  having  been 
taken  by  them  over  their  masculine  competitors.  Lizzie  B. 
Humphrey,  Jessie  Curtis,  Sarah  W.  Whitman  and  Fidelia 
Bridges,  take  high  rank  as  artists.  Helen  M.  Knowlton,  a 
pupil  of  William  M.  Hunt,  is  a  skillful  artist  in  charcoal  and  has 
produced  some  fine  pictures.  Women  form  a  large  proportion 
of  the  students  in  the  school  of  design  recently  opened  in  Boston. 
A  great  deal  of  the  ornamental  painting  now  so  fashionable  on 
cards  and  all  fancy  articles  is  done  by  the  deft  fingers  of  women. 
The  census  of  1880  reports  268  artists  and  1,270  musicians  and 
teachers  of  music. 

Of  woman  as  actress  and  public  singer,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
speak,  since  she  has  the  right  of  way  in  both  these  professions. 
Here,  fortunately,  the  supply  does  not  exceed  the  demand  ;  con- 
sequently she  has  her  full  share  of  rights,  and  what  is  better, 
equitable  pay  for  her  labor.  In  iSSo  there  were  ill  actresses. 
Charlotte  Cushman,  Clara  Louise  Kellogg  and  Annie  Louise  Cary 
were  born  in  Massachusetts. 

The  drama  speaks  too  feebly  on  the  right  side  of  the  woman 
question.  No  successful  modern  dramatist  has  made  this 
"humour"  of  the  times  the  subject  of  his  play.  An  effort  was 
made  in  1879,  by  the  executive  committee  of  the  New  England 
Association,  to  secure  a  woman  suffrage  play :  but  it  was  not 
successful,  and  there  is  yet  to  be  written  a  counteractive  to  that 
popular  burlesque,  "  The  Spirit  of  "76."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  stage  still  continues  to  ridicule  the  woman's  rights  movement 
and  its  leaders  ;  for,  as  Hamlet  says: 

"  The  play's  the  thing, 
Wherein  I'll  catch  the  conscience  of  the  king." 

In  1650,  when  Anne  Bradstreet  lived  and  wrote  her  verses,  a 
woman  author  was  almost  unknown  in  English  literature.  This 
lady  was  the  wife  of  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  because 
of  her  literary  tendencies  was  looked  upon  by  the  people  of  her 
time  as  a  marvel  of  womankind.  Her  contemporaries  called  her 
the  "  tenth  muse  lately  sprung  up  in  America,"  and  one  of  them, 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward,  was  inspired  to  write  an  address  to  her,  in 
which  he  declares  his  wonder  at  her  success  as  a  poet,  and  play- 
fully foretells  the  consequences  if  women  are  permitted  to  in- 
trude farther  into  the  domain  of  man.  The  closing  lines  express 


Woman  in  Journalism.  303 

so  well  the  conflicting  emotions  which  torment  the  minds  of  the 
opponents  of  the  woman  suffrage  movement,  that  I  venture  to 
quote  them  : 

"  Good  sooth,"  quoth  the  old  Don,  "  tell  ye  me  so? 
I  muse  whither  at  length  these  Girls  will  go. 
It  half  revives  my  chil,  frost-bitten  blood 
To  see  a  woman  once  do  aught  that's  good. 
And,  chode  by  Chaucer's  Boots  and  Homer's  Furrs, 
Let  men  look  to't  least  Women  wear  the  Spurrs." 

In  1818,  Hannah  Mather  Crocker,  grand-daughter  of  Cotton 
Mather,  published  a  book,  called  "  Observations  on  the  Rights  of 
Women."  In  speaking  of  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  Mrs.  Crocker 
says,  that  while  that  celebrated  woman  had  a  very  independent 
mind,  and  her  "  Rights  of  Woman  "  is  replete  with  fine  sentiments, 
yet,  she  continues,  patronizingly,  "  we  do  not  coincide  with  her 
respecting  the  total  independence  of  the  sex."  Mrs.  Crocker 
evidently  wanted  her  sex  to  be  not  too  independent,  but  just  in- 
dependent enough.* 

In  1841,  when  Lydia  Maria  Child  edited  the  Anti-Slavery 
Standard,  Margaret  Fuller  the  Dial,  and  Harriot  F.  Curtis  and 
Harriet  Farley  the  Lowell  Offering,  there  were  perhaps  in  New 
England  no  other  well-known  women  journalists  or  editors.  Cor- 
nelia Walter  of  the  Evening  Transcript  was  the  first  woman  jour- 
nalist in  Boston.  To-day,  women  are  editors  and  publishers  of 
newspapers  all  over  the  United  States ;  and  the  woman's  column 
is  a  .part  of  many  leading  newspapers.  Sallie  Joy  White  was  the 
first  regular  reporter  in  Boston.  She  began  on  the  Boston  Post,  a 
Democratic  newspaper,  in  1870.  Her  first  work  was  to  report  the 
proceedings  of  a  woman  suffrage  meeting.  She  is  now  on  the 
staff  of  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser.  Lilian  Whiting  is  on  the 
staff  of  the  Traveller,  and  most  of  the  other  Boston  newspapers 
have  women  among  their  editors  and  reporters.  Some  of  the 
best  magazine  writing  of  the  time  is  done  by  women ;  one  needs 
but  to  look  over  the  table  of  contents  of  the  leading  periodicals 
to  see  how  large  a  proportion  of  the  articles  is  written  by  them. 


*  This  little  book  is  worthy  of  mention,  from  the  fact  that  it  is  probably  the  first  publication  of  its 
kind  in  Massachusetts,  if  not  in  America.  The  whole  title  of  the  book  is,  "  Observations  on  the  Rights 
of  Women,  with  their  appropriate  duties  agreeable  to  Scripture,  reason  and  common  sense."  Mrs. 
Crocker,  in  her  introduction,  says;  "  The  wise  authojr  of  Nature  has  endowed  the  female  mind  with 
equal  powers  and  faculties,  and  given  them  the  same  right  of  judging  and  acting  for  themselves  as  he 
gave  tlio  male  sex."  She  further  argues  that,  "According  to  Scripture,  worn. -.11  w;  is  the  first  to  trans- 
gress ami  thus  forfeited  her  original  ri^ht  of  equality,  and  for  a  time  was  unilcr  the  yoke  of  bondage, 
till  the  birih  of  our  blessed  Savior,  when  she  was  restored  to  her  equality  with  n.an." 

This  is  a  very  line  beginning,  and  would  seem  to  savor  strongly  of  the  modern  woman's  rights  tioc- 
trincj  ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  author,  with  charming  inconsistency,  goes  on  to  say, — "We  shall  .strictly 
adhere  to  the  principle  of  the  impropriety  of  females  ever  trespassing  on  masculine  grounds,  as  it  is 
morally  incorrect,  and  physically  impossible." 


304  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Really,  the  sex  seems  to  have  taken  possession  of  what  Carlyle 
called  the  "  fourth  estate" — the  literary  profession,  and  they  jour- 
ney into  unexplored  regions  of  thought  to  give  the  omniverous 
modern  reader  something  new  to  feed  upon.  The  census  of  1880 
reports  445  women  as  authors  and  literary  persons. 

The  newspaper  itself,  that  great  engine  "whose  ambassadors 
are  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  whose  couriers  upon  every 
road,"  has  slowly  swung  round,  and  is  at  last  headed  in  the  right 
direction.  Reporters  for  the  daily  press  in  Massachusetts  no 
longer  write  in  a  spirit  of  flippancy  or  contempt,  and  there  is  not 
an  editor  in  the  State  of  any  account  who  would  permit  a  member 
of  his  staff  to  report  a  woman's  meeting  in  any  other  spirit  than 
that  of  courtesy.  Teachers  occupying  high  positions  and  presi- 
dents of  colleges  have  given  pronounced  opinions  in  favor  of  the 
reform.  Said  President  Hopkins  of  Williams  College,  in  1875  : 

I  would  at  this  point  correct  my  teaching  in  "The  Law  of  Love,"  to  the 
effect  that  home  is  peculiarly  the  sphere  of  woman,  and  civil  government 
that  of  man.  I  now  regard  the  home  as  the  joint  sphere  of  man  and 
woman,  and  the  sphere  of  civil  government  more  of  an  open  question  be- 
tween the  two. 

The  New  England  Women's  Club,  parent  *  of  the  modern 
clubs  and  associations  for  the  advancement  of  women,  has  been 
one  of  the  factors  in  the  woman's  rights  movement.  Its  members 
have,  in  their  work  and  in  their  lives,  illustrated  the  doctrine  of 
woman's  equality  with  man.  It  was  formed  in  February,  i868.f 

There  has  never  been,  from  time  immemorial,  much  difference 
of  opinion  concerning  woman's  right  to  do  a  good  share  in  the 
driidgery  of  the  world.  But  in  the  remunerative  employments, 
before  1850,  she  was  but  sparsely  represented.  In  1840,  when 


*  In  1836  there  was  a  small  woman's  club  of  Lowell  factory  operatives,  officered  and  managed  en-, 
tirely  by  women.  This  may  be  a  remote  first  cause  of  the  origin  of  the  New  England  Women's  Club, 
since  it  bears  the  same  relation  to  that  flourishing  institution,  thr.t  the  naiive  crab  does  to  the  grafted 
tree.  This  was  the  first  woman's  club  in  the  State,  if  not  in  the  whole  country. 

t  A  few  ladies  met  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Harriot  K.  Hunt  to  consider  a  plan  for  organization.  Its 
avowed  object  was"  to  supply  the  daily  increasing  need  of  a  great  central  resting  place,  for  the  comfort 
and  convenience  of  those  who  niay  wish  to  unite  with  us,  and  ultimately  become  a  center  for  united 
and  organized  social  thought  and  action."  Its  first  president  was  Caroline  M.  Severance.  On  the 
executive  board  were  the  names  of  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Ednah  D.  Cheney,  Lucy  Goddard,  Harriet  M  • 
Pitnam,  Jane  Alexander,  Abby  W.  May,  and  many  others  who  have  since  become  well  known.  This 
club  held  its  first  meetings  in  private  houses,  but  it  has  for  several  years  occupied  spacious  club  rooms  on 
Park  street  in  Boston.  Julia  Ward  Howe  is  its  president.  The  club  has  its  own  historian,  and  when  thi> 
official  gives  the  result  of  her  researches  to  the  public,  there  will  be  seen  how  many  projects  for  the 
elevation  of  women  and  the  improvement  of  social  life  have  had  their  inception  in  the  brains  of  those 
who  assemble  in  the  parlors  of  the  New  England  Woman's  Club.  In  1874,  it  projected  the  move- 
ment by  which  women  were  first  elected  on  the  school  committee  of  Uoston,  and  also  prepared  the 
petition  to  be  sent  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature  of  1879,  the  result  of  which  was  the  passage  cf  the 
law  allowing  women  to  vote  for  school  committees.  In  the  Vi'otnatC s  Journal  for  1883  will  be  found 
a  sketch  of  this  club. 


Women  in  the  Industries.  305 

Harriet  Martineau  visited  this  country,  she  found  to  her  surprise 
that  there  were  only  seven  vocations,  outside  home,  into  which 
the  women  of  the  United  States  had  entered.  These  were 
"  teaching,  needlework,  keeping  boarders,  weaving,  type-set- 
ting, and  folding  and  stitching  in  book-bindery."  In  contrast, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  that  in  Massachusetts  alone, 
woman's  ingenuity  is  now  employed  in  nearly  300  different 
branches  of  industry.  It  cannot  be  added  that  for  doing  the 
same  kind  and  amount  of  work  women  are  paid  men's  wages. 
The  census  does  not  include  the  services  of  the  mother  and 
daughter  among  the  paid  vocations,  though,  as  is  well  known,  in 
many  instances  they  do  all  the  housework  of  the  family.  They 
get  no  wages,  and  therefore  do  not  appear  among  the  "  useful 
classes."  They  are  not  earners,  but  savers  of  money.  A  money- 
saver  is  not  a  recognized  factor,  either  in  political  economy  or  in 
the  State  census.  The  mother,  daughter  or  wife  is  put  down 
in  its  pages  as  "keeping  house."  If  they  were  paid  for  their 
services  they  would  be  called  "  housekeepers,"  and  would  have 
their  place  among  the  paid  employments. 

Among  the  many  rights  woman  has  appropriated  to  herself 
must  be  included  the  "  patent  right."  The  charge  has  often  been 
made  that  women  never  invent  anything,  but  statistics  on  the 
subject  declare  that  in  1880  patents  for  their  own  inventions  were 
issued  to  eighty-seven  different  women  in  the  United  States.  A 
fair  proportion  of  these  were  from  Massachusetts. 

This  progress  in  the  various  departments  encountered  great 
opposition  from  certain  teachers  and  writers.  Dr.  Bushnell's 
"  Reform  Against  Nature,"  Dr.  Fulton's  talk  both  in  and  out  of 
the  pulpit,  served  to  show  the  weakness  of  that  side  of  the  ques- 
tion. Frances  Parkman,  Dr.  Holland,  Dr.  W.  H.  Hammond, 
Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  and  even  some  women  have  added  their  so- 
called  arguments  in  the  vain  attempt  to  keep  woman  as  they 
think  "  God  made  her." 

Much  the  stronger  writers  and  speakers  have  been  found  on 
the  right  side  of  this  question.  The  names  of  leading  speakers, 
such  as  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips  and  Theodore 
Parker,  have  already  been  mentioned.  Perhaps  the  most  sug- 
gestive articles  in  favor  of  the  reform  were  T.  W.  Higginson's 
"  Ought  Women  to  Learn  the  Alphabet,"  published  in  the  At- 
lantic Monthly  of  February,  1859,  anc*  Samuel  Bowies'  "The 
20 


306  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Woman  Question  and  Sex  in  Politics,"  published  at  a  later  date 
in  the  Springfield  Republican.  "  Warrington,"  in  his  letters  to 
the  same  newspaper,  from  1868  to  1876,  never  failed  to  present  a 
good  and  favorable  argument  on  some  phase  of  the  woman  ques- 
tion. Caroline  Healey  Ball's  lectures  before  1860,  and  her  book 
"The  College,  the  Market  and  the  Court,"  published  in  1868, 
were  seed-grain  sown  in  the  field  of  this  reform.  Samuel  E. 
Sewall's  able  digest  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  legal  condition  of 
married  women,  and  William  I.  Bowditch's  admirable  pamphlets,* 
have  done  incalculable  service. 

Of  women  in  the  civil  service,  there  are:  58  clerks,  266  em- 
ployed and  387  officials — total,  41 1 .  This  includes  postmasters  and 
clerks  in  bureaus.  In  1880,  General  F.  A.  Walker,  superintendent 
of  the  census,  instructed  the  supervisors  of  the  several  districts  to 
appoint  women  as  enumerators  when  practicable.  They  were 
accordingly  so  appointed  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States. 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  supervisor  of  the  district  of  Massachusetts 
was  in  favor  of  General  Walker's  instructions,  and  out  of  the  903 
enumerators  appointed  by  him,  thirty  were  women.  This  was  an 
exceedingly  large  proportion  compared  with  the  number  ap- 
pointed in  States  where  supervisors  were  not  in  favor  of  women 
.enumerators. 

Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Caroline  Healey  Ball,  the  American 
'Social  Science  Association,  formed  in  1865,  put  women  on  its 
board  of  officers,  as  did  the  Boston  Social  Science  Association, 
organized  the  same  year.  These  were  the  first  large  organizations 
in  the  country  to  admit  women  on  an  absolute  equality  with  men. 
The  result  of  this  action  vindicated  at  once  and  forever  woman's 
fitness  to  occupy  positions  of  honor  in  associations  that  man  had 
hitherto  claimed  for  himself  alone.  This  has  encouraged  women 
to  express  themselves  in  the  presence  of  the  wisest  men,  and 
enabled  them  to  present  to  the  public  the  woman  side  of  some 
great  questions.  Women  are  officers  as  well  as  members  of  many 
societies  originally  established  exclusively  for  men.  A  national 
society  for  political  education,  formed  in  1880,  of  which  women  are 
members,  has  at  least  one  woman  on  its  board  of  officers.  \Vhat 
would  have  been  thought  thirty  years  ago,  if  women  had  studied 
finance,  banks  and  banking,  money,  currency,  sociology  and  politi- 
cal science  ? 


*  "  Taxation  of  Women  in  Massachusetts  ";  "  Woman  Suffrage  a  Right,  not  a  Privilege,"  and  "  The 
Forgotten  Woman  in  Massachusetts." 


Admission  to  the  Bar.  307 

The  Summer  School  of  Philosophy  at  Concord  was  founded  in 
1879.*  A  majority  of  the  students  are  women,  as  was  not  the 
case  in  the  elder  schools  of  philosophy,  and  they  come  from  far 
and  near  to  spend  a  few  weeks  of  their  summer  vacation  in  the 
•enjoyment  of  this  halcyon  season  of  rest.  Day  after  day  they  sit 
patiently  on  the  aesthetic  benches  of  the  Hillside  chapel  and  bask 
in  the  calm  light  of  mild  philosophy.  Its  seed  was  sown  forty 
years  ago,  in  what  was  called  the  Transcendental  movement  in 
New  England.  The  Concord  school  finds  in  Mr.  Sanborn  its 
•executive  spirit,  without  which  it  could  no  more  have  come  into 
existence  at  this  time  than  its  first  seed  could  have  been  planted 
forty  years  ago,  without  the  conceptive  thought  of  Mr.  Emerson, 
Mr.  Alcott  arid  Margaret  Fuller. 

Boston  University  long  ago  offered  the  advantages  of  its  law- 
school  to  women,  but  they  do  not,  much  avail  themselves  of  this 
privilege.  Lelia  J.  Robinson,  in  March,  1881,  made  her  application 
for  admission  to  the  bar.  In  presenting  her  claim  before  the  court, 
April  23,  Mr.  Charles  R.  Train  admitted  that  it  was  a  novel  one  ; 
but  in  a  very  effective  manner  he  went  on  to  state  the  cogent 
reasons  why  a  woman  who  had  carefully  prepared  herself  for  the 
profession  of  the  law  should  be  permitted  to  practice  in  the  courts. 
At  the  close,  Chief-Justice  Gray  gave  the  opinion,  informally,  that 
the  laws,  as  they  now  exist,  preclude  woman  from  being  attorney- 
at-law ;  but  he  reserved  the  matter  for  the  consideration  of  the 
full  bench.  The  Supreme  Judicial  Court  rendered  an  adverse 
•decision.  Petitions  were  then  sent  to  the  legislature  of  1882,  and 
that  body  passed  an  actf  declaring  that,  "The  provisions  of  law 
relating  to  the  qualification  and  admission  to  practice  of  attorneys- 
at-law  shall  apply  to  women."  The  petition  of  Lelia  Josephine 
Robinson  to  the  Supreme  Court  was  as  follows: 

1.  The  best  administration  of  justice  may  be  most  safely  secured  by  allowing  the 
representation  of  all  classes  of  the  people  in  courts  of  justice. 

2.  To  allow  -women  to  practice  at  the  bar  as  attorneys  is  only  to  secure  to  the  people 
the  right  to  select  their  own  counsel.     It  is  to  give  the  women  of  Massachusetts  the 
•opportunity  of  consulting  members  of  their  own  sex  for  that  advice  and  Distance 
which  none  but  authorized  attorneys  and  counsellors  are  legally  qualified  to  give. 

3.  To  exclude  women  from  the  bar  would  be  to  do  an  injustice  to  the  community, 
in  preventing  free  and  wholesome  competition  of  existing  talent,  and  to  do  still  greater 
injustice  to  those  women  who  are  qualified  for  the  profession,  by  shutting  them  out 
from  an  honorable  and  remunerative  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood. 


*  Its  projectors  were  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Professor  W.  T.  Harris,  Frank  H. 
Sanborn,  Professor  Benjamin  Pierce,  Dr.  H.  K.  Jones,  Elizabeth  P.  Peabody  and  Ednah  D.  Cheney. 

t  This  act  is  almost  as  brief  as  ;x  certain  clause  in  one  of  the  election  laws  of  the  State  of  Texas, 
which  says  :  "  The  masculine  gender  shall  include  the  feminine  and  neuter.'' 


308  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

4.  To  exclude  women  from  the  bar  because  there  are  certain  departments  of  the 
profession  which  are  peculiarly  ill-adapted  to  their  sex  and  nature,  would  be  to  assume 
arbitrarily  that,  with  entire  lack  of  judgment  or  discretion,  modesty  or  policy,  they 
would  seek  or  accept  such  business;  and  to  close  to  them  those  avenues  of  the  profes- 
sion for  which  they  are  generally  admitted  to  be  eminently  well  adapted,  for  such  a 
reason,  and  upon  such  an  assumption,  would  be  so  grossly  unjust  that  no  argument 
can  be  based  on  such  an  impossible  contingency. 

Your  applicant,  having  faithfully  and  diligently  pursued  the  study  of  law  for  three 
years,  being  a  graduate  of  the  Boston  University  Law  School,  and  having  complied 
with  the  other  requirements  of  the  statute  and  the  rules  of  court  upon  the  subject,  re- 
spectfully prays  that  her  petition  for  examination,  which  was  duly  filed,  may  be  favor- 
ably considered,  and  that  it  be  included  in  the  general  notice  to  the  Board  of  Exam- 
iners of  Suffolk  county.  LELIA  JOSEPHINE  ROBINSON. 

The  opinion  given  by  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  main  point  at  issue,  is  as  follows : 

The  question  presented  by  this  petition  and  by  the  report  on  which  it  has  been  re- 
served for  our  determination,  is  whether,  under  the  laws  of  the  commonwealth,  an 
unmarried  woman  is  entitled  to  be  examined  for  admission  as  an  attorney  and  counsel- 
lor of  this  Court.  This  being  the  first  application  of  the  kind  in  Massachusetts,  the 
Court,  desirous  that  it  might  be  fully  argued,  informed  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Bar  Association  of  the  city  of  Boston  of  the  application,  and  has  received  elaborate 
briefs  from  the  petitioner  in  support  of  her  petition  and  from  two  gentlemen  of  the  bar 
as  amid  curitz  in  opposition  thereto.  The  statute  under  which  the  application  is  made 
is  as  follows:  "  A  citizen  of  this  State,  or  an  alien  who  has  made  the  primary  declara- 
tion of  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  is  an  inhabitant 
of  this  State,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  and  of  good  moral  character,  may,  on  the 
recommendation  of  an  attorney,  petition  the  Supreme  Judicial  or  Superior  Court  to  be 
examined  for  admission  as  an  attorney,  whereupon  the  Court  shall  assign  a  time  and 
place  for  the  examination,  and  if  satisfied  with  his  acquirements  and  qualifications  he 
shall  be  admitted."  St.  1876,  c.  107. 

The  word  "  citizen,"  when  used  in  its  most  common  and  most  comprehensive  sense, 
doubtless  includes  women ;  but  a  woman  is  not,  by  virtue  of  her  citizenship,  vested  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  by  the  constitution  of  the  commonwealth, 
with  any  absolute  right,  independent  of  legislation,  to  take  part  in  the  government, 
either  as  voter  or  as  an  officer,  or  to  be  admitted  to  practice  as  an  attorney.  Minor  vs. 
Happersett,  51  Wall.  162.  Bradwell  -vs.  Illinois,  16  Wall.  jjo.  The  rule  that 
"words  importing  the  masculine  gender  maybe  applied  to  females, "like  all  other  gen- 
eral rules  of  construction  of  statutes,  must  yield  when  such  construction  would  be 
either  "repugnant  to  the  context  of  the  same  statute,"  or  "  inconsistent  with  the  mani- 
fest intent  of  the  legislature."  Gen.  Sts.  c.  3,  §  7. 

The  only  statute  making  any  provisions  concerning  attorneys,  that  mentions  women, 
is  the  poor-debtor  act,  which,  after  enumerating  among  the  cases  in  which  an  arrest  of 
the  person  may  be  made  on  execution  in  an  action  of  contract,  that  in  which  "the 
debtor  i^attorney-at-law,"  who  has  unreasonably  neglected  to  pay  to  his  client  money 
collected,  enacts,  in  the  next  section  but  one,  "  that  no  woman  shall  be  arrested  on 
any  civil  process  except  for  tort."  Gen.  Sts.  c.  124,  §§  5,  7.  If  these  provisions  do 
not  imply  that  the  legislature  assumed  that  women  should  not  be  attorneys,  they  cer- 
tainly have  no  tendency  to  show  that  it  intended  that  they  should.  The  word  "  citi- 
zen," in  the  statute  under  which  this  application  is  made,  is  but  a  repetition  of  the 
word  originally  adopted  with  a  view  of  excluding  aliens,  before  the  statute  of  1852,  c. 
154,  allowed  those  aliens  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar  who  had  made  the  preliminary  dec- 
laration of  intention  to  become  citizens.  Rev.  Sts.,  c.  88,  §  19.  Gen.  Sts.,c.  121,  §  28. 

The  reenactment  of  the  act  relating  to  the  admission  of  attorneys  in  the  same  words 
without  more  so  far  as  relates  to  the  personal  qualifications  of  the  applicant,  since 


Supreme  Court  Decision.  309 


other  statutes  have  expressly  modified  the  legal  rights  and  capacity  of  women  in  other 
important  respects,  tends  rather  to  refute  than  to  advance  the  theory  that  the  legislature 
intended  that  these  words  should  comprehend  women.  No  inference  of  an  intention  of 
the  legislature  to  include  women  in  the  statutes  concerning  the  admission  of  attorneys 
can  be  drawn  from  the  mere  omission  of  the  word  "male."  The  only  statute  to  which 
we  have  referred,  in  which  that  word  is  inserted,  is  the  statute  concerning  the  qualifi- 
cations of  voters  in  town  affairs,  which,  following  the  language  of  the  article  of  the 
constitution  that  defines  the  qualifications  of  voters  for  governor,  lieutenant-governor, 
senators  and  representatives,  speaks  of  "  every  male  citizen  of  twenty-one  years  of 
age,"  etc.  Gen.  Sts.  c.  18,  §  19.  Const.  Mass.  Amendments,  art.  3.  Words  which 
taken  by  themselves  would  be  equally  applicable  to  women  and  to  men  are  constantly 
used  in  the  constitution  and  statutes,  in  speaking  of  offices  which  it  could  not  be  con- 
tended, in  the  present  state  of  law,  that  women  were  capable  of  holding. 

The  Courts  of  the  commonwealth  have  not  assumed  by  their  rules  to  admit  to  the 
bar  any  class  of  persons  not  within  the  apparent  intent  of  the  legislature  as  manifested 
in  the  statutes.  The  word  "persons,"  in  the  latest  rule  of  Court  upon  the  subject, 
was  the  word  used  in  the  rule  of  1810  and  in  the  statutes  of  1785  and  1836,  at  times 
when  no  one  contemplated  the  possibility  of  a  woman's  being  admitted  to  practice  as 
an  attorney.  121  Mass.  600.  6.  Mass.  382.  St.  1785,  c.  23.  Rev.  St.  c.  18,  20. 
Gen.  Sts.  c.  121,  §  29.  The  United  States  Court  of  Claims,  at  December  term,  1873, 
on  full  consideration,  denied  an  application  of  a  woman  to  be  admitted  to  practice 
as  an  attorney  upon  the  ground  "  that  under  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States  a  Court  is  without  power  to  grant  such  an  application,  and  that  a  woman  is 
without  legal  capacity  to  take  the  office  of  an  attorney."  Lock-wood's  Case,  g  Ct.  of 
Claims,  346,  jj6.  At  October  terms  1876  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
the  same  petitioner  applied  to  be  admitted  to  practice  as  an  attorney  and  counsellor  of 
that  Court,  and  her  application  was  denied. 

The  decision  has  not  been  officially  reported,  but  upon  the  record  of  the  Court,  of 
which  we  have  an  authentic  copy,  it  is  thus  stated:  "Upon  the  presentation  of  this 
application,  the  chief-justice  said  that  notice  of  this  application  having  been  previously 
brought  to  his  attention,  he  had  been  instructed  by  the  Court  to  announce  the  follow- 
ing decision  upon  it:  By  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Court  from  its  organization  to  the 
present  time,  and  by  the  fair  construction  of  its  rules,  none  but  men  are  permitted  to 
practice  before  it  as  attorneys  and  counsellors.  This  is  in  accordance  with  immemorial 
usages  in  England,  and  the  law  and  the  practice  in  all  the  States  until  within  a  recent 
period,  and  the  Court  does  not  feel  called  upon  to  make  a  change  until  such  change  is 
required  by  statute  or  a  more  extended  practice  in  the  highest  Courts  of  the  States." 
The  subsequent  act  of  congress  of  February  15,  1879,  enables  only  those  women  to  be 
admitted  to  practice  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  who  have  been 
for  three  years  members  of  the  bar  of  the  highest  Court  of  a  State  or  territory,  or  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  conclusion  that  women  cannot  be  admitted  to  the  bar  under  the  existing  statutes 
of  the  commonwealth  is  in  accordance  with  judgments  of  the  highest  Courts  of  the 
States  of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin.  BradiveWs  Case,  55  III. ,525.  Goodell's  Case,  39 
Wis. ,  232.  The  suggestion  in  the  brief  of  the  petitioner  that  women  have  been  admit- 
ted in  other  States  can  have  no  weight  here,  in  the  absence  of  all  evidence  that  (except 
under  clear  affirmative  words  in  a  statute)  they  have  ever  been  so  admitted  upon  de- 
liberate consideration  of  the  question  involved,  or  by  a  Court  whose  decisions  are 
authoritative. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  our  duty  is  limited  to  declaring  the  law  as  it  is, 
and  that  whether  any  change  in  that  law  would  be  wise  or  expedient  is  a  question  for 
the  legislative  and  not  for  the  judicial  department  of  the  government. 

Petition  dismissed.  MARCUS  MORTON,   Chief-Justice, 

[Signed:]        CHARLES  DEVENS,  \\III.IAME.ENDICOTT, 

WILLIAM  ALI.KN,  OTIS  P.  LOUD, 

CHARLES  ALLEN.  WALBRIDGE  A.  FIELD. 


310  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  three  preceding  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court 
of  Massachusetts  against  the  rights  of  the  women  of  the  common- 
wealth were  as  follows : 

The  first  decision  was  in  the  case  of  Sarah  E.  Wall  of  Worces- 
ter, who  had  refused  to  pay  her  taxes  under  the  following  protest : 

Believing  with  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence  that  taxation  and  repre- 
sentation are  inseparable ;  believing  that  the  constitution  of  the  State  furnishes  no 
authority  for  the  taxation  of  woman;  believing  also  that  the  constitution  of  the  higher 
law  of  God,  written  on  the  human  soul,  requires  us,  if  we  would  be  worthy  the  rich 
inheritance  of  the  past  and  true  to  ourselves  and  the  future,  to  yield  obedience  to  no 
statute  that  shall  tend  to  fetter  its  aspirations,  I  shall  henceforth  pay  no  taxes  until  the 
word  male  is  stricken  from  the  voting  clauses  of  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts. 

Worcester  Daily  Spy,  October  5,  1858.  SARAH  E.  WALL. 

Miss  Wall  was  prosecuted  by  the  city  collector,  and  she  carried 
her  case  before  the  Supreme  Court,  where  she  appeared  for  her- 
self, W.  A.  Williams  appearing  for  the  collector.  In  an  account 
of  this  matter  in  iSSi,  Miss  Wall  says:  "Although  it  was  in  1858 
that  my  resistance  to  taxation  commenced,  it  was  not  until  1863 
that  the  contest  terminated  and  the  decision  was  rendered.  I 
think  the  Supreme  Court  would  always  find  some  way  to  evade 
a  decision  on  this  question." 

Wheeler  vs.  Wall,  6  Allen,  558 :  By  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  c.  I,  §  I, 
article  4,  the  legislature  has  power  to  impose  taxes  upon  all  the  inhabitants  of  and  per- 
sons resident,  and  estates  lying  within  the  said  commonwealth.-  By  the  laws  passed 
by  the  legislature  in  pursuance  of  this  power  and  authority,  the  defendant  is  liable  to 
taxation,  although  she  is  not  qualified  to  vote  for  the  officers  by  whom  the  taxes  were 
assessed.  The  Court,  acting  under  the  constitution,  and  bound  to  support  it  and 
maintain  its  provisions  faithfully,  cannot  declare  null  and  void  a  statute  which  has 
been  passed  by  the  legislature,  in  pursuance  of  an  express  authority  conferred  by  the 
constitution. — [Opinion  by  the  chief-justice,  George  Tyler  Bigelow. 

The  second  decision  on  the  will  of  Francis  Jackson  is  copied 
verbatim  from  Allen  s  Reports : 

Jackson -vs.  Phillips  and  others,  14  Allen,  Jjy :  A  bequest  to  trustees,  to  be  ex- 
pended at  their  discretion,  *  *  *  *  "to  secure  the  passage  of  laws  granting 
whether  women,  married  or  unmarried,  the  right  to  vote,  to  hold  office,  to  hold,  man- 
age and  devise  property,  and  all  other  civil  rights  enjoyed  by  men,"  is  not  a  charity. 
Bill  in  equity  by  the  executor  of  the  'will  of  Francis  Jackson  of  Boston,  for  instruc- 
tions as  to  the  validity  and  effect  of  the  following  bequests  and  devises  : 

Art.  6th.  "  I  give  and  bequeath  to  Wendell  Phillips  of  said  Boston,  Lucy  Stone, 
formerly  of  Brookfield, 'Mass.,  now  the  wife  of  Henry  Blackwell  of  New  York,  and 
Susan  B.  Anthdny  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  their  successors  and  assigns,  $5,000,  not  for 
their  own  use,  but  in  trust,  nevertheless,  to  be  expended  by  them  without  any  respon- 
sibility to  any  one,  at  their  discretion,  in  such  sums,  at  such  times  and  in  such  places 
as  they  may  deem  fit,  to  secure  the  passage  of  laws  granting  women,  whether  married 
or  unmarried,  the  right  to  vote,  to  hold  office,  to  hold,  manage  and  devise  property, 
and  all  other  civil  rights  enjoyed  by  men;  and  for  the  preparation  and  circulation  of 
books,  the  delivery  of  lectures,  and  such  other  means  as  they  may  judge  best;  and  I 
hereby  constitute  them  a  board  of  trustees  for  that  intent  and  purpose,  with  power  to 
add  two  other  persons  to  said  board  if  they  deem  it  expedient.  And  I  hereby  appoint 


Women  and  Judicial  Offices.  311 

"Wendell  Phillips  president  and  treasurer,  and  Susan  B.  Anthony  secretary  of  said 
board.  I  direct  the  treasurer  of  said  board  not  to  loan  any  part  of  said  bequest,  but 
to  invest,  and,  if  need  be,  sell  and  reinvest  the  same  in  bank  or  railroad  shares,  at  his 
discretion.  I  further  authorize  and  request  said  board  of  trustees,  the  survivor  and 
survivors  of  them,  to  fill  any  and  all  vacancies  that  may  occur  from  time  to  time  by 
death  or  resignation  of  any  member  or  any  officer  of  said  board.  One  other  bequest, 
hereinafter  made,  will,  sooner  or  later,  revert  to  this  board  of  trustees.  My  desire  is 
that  they  may  become  a  permanent  organization,  until  the  rights  of  women  shall  be 
established  equal  with  those  of  men;  and  I  hope  and  trust  that  said  board  will  receive 
the  services  and  sympathy,  the  donations  and  bequests,  of  the  friends  of  human  rights- 
And  being  desirous  that  said  board  should  have  the  immediate  benefit  of  said  bequest, 
without  waiting  for  my  exit,  I  have  already  paid  it  in  advance  and  in  full  to  said  Phil- 
lips, the  treasurer  of  said  board,  whose  receipt  therefor  is  on  my  files." 

OPINION. — Gray,  J.  IV.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the  bequest  in  trust  to  be  expended 
"  to  secure  the  passage  of  laws  granting  women,  whether  married  or  unmarried,  the 
right  to  vote,  to  hold  office,  to  hold,  manage  and  devise  property,  and  all  other  civil 
rights  enjoyed  by  men,"  cannot  be  sustained  as  a  charity.  No  precedent  has  been 
cited  in  its  support.  This  bequest  differs  from  the  others,  in  aiming  directly  and  ex- 
clusively to  change  the  laws;  and  its  object  cannot  be  accomplished  without  changing 
the  constitution  also.  Whether  such  an  alteration  of  the  existing  laws  and  frame  of 
government  would  be  wise  and  desirable,  is  a  question  upon  which  we  cannot,  sitting 
in  a  judicial  capacity,  properly  express  any  opinion.  Our  duty  is  limited  to  expound- 
ing the  laws  as  they  stand.  And  those  laws  do  not  recognize  the  purpose  of  over- 
throwing or  changing  them,  in  whole  or  in  part,  as  a  charitable  use.  This  bequest, 
therefore,  not  being  for  a  charitable  purpose,  nor  for  the  benefit  of  any  particular  per- 
sons, and  being  unrestricted  in  point  of  time,  is  inoperative  and  void.  For  the  same 
reason,  the  gift  to  the  same  object,  of  one-third  of  the  residue  of  the  testator's  estate 
after  the  death  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Eddy,  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Bacon,  is  also 
invalid,  and  will  go  to  his  heirs-at-law  as  a  resulting  trust. 

Decision  third  was  on  the  right  of  women  to  hold  judicial 
offices.  To  quote  again  from  Allen  s  Reports  : 

On  June  8,  1871,  the  following  order  was  passed  by  the  governor  and  council,  and 
on  June  10  transmitted  to  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  who,  on  June 
29,  returned  the  reply  which  is  annexed.  Ordered,  That  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  be  requested  as  to  the  following  questions  :  First — Under  the  constitu- 
tion of  this  commonwealth,  can  a  woman,  if  duly  appointed  and  qualified  as  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  legally  perform  all  acts  appertaining  to  that  office  ?  Second — Under  the 
laws  of  this  commonwealth,  would  oaths  and  acknowledgments  of  deeds,  taken  before 
a  married  or  unmarried  woman  duly  appointed  and  qualified  as  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
be  legal  and  valid  ? 

OPINION. — By  the  constitution  of  the  commonwealth,  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace  is  a  judicial  office,  and  must  be  exercised  by  the  officer  in  person,  and  a  woman, 
whether  married  or  unmarried,  cannot  be  appointed  to  such  an  office.  The  law  of 
Massachusetts  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  the  whole  frame  and 
purport  of  the  instrument  itself,  and  the  universal  understanding  and  unbroken  practi- 
cal construction  for  the  greater  part  of  a  century  afterwards,  all  support  this  conclu- 
sion, and  are  inconsistent  with  any  other.  It  follows  that,  if  a  woman  should  be  for- 
mally appointed  and  commissioned  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  she  would  have  no  con- 
stitutional or  legal  authority  to  exercise  any  of  the  functions  appertaining  to  that  office. 
Each  of  the  questions  proposed  must,  therefore,  be  respectfully  answered  in  the  nega- 
tive. [Signed  :]  REUBEN  A.  CHAPMAN,  HORACE  GRAY,  JR., 

JOHN  WELLS,  JAMES  D.  COLT, 

SETH  AMES,  MARCUS  MORTON. 

Boston,  June  29,  1871. 


3 1  2  History  of  Woman  Siiffrage. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  clause  on  which  the  court  de- 
termined its  judgment  was  of  no  practical  consequence,  since 
the  money  devised  had  already  been  paid  to  Wendell  Phillips, 
who  had  disposed  of  it  as  the  bequest  required,  and  he  had  given 
his  receipt  to  the  testator  for  the  amount. 

Even  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  Massachusetts  has  begun 
to  understand  the  trend  of  the  woman's  rights  movement,  and 
has  rendered  its  first  favorable  decision,  in  the  famous  Eddy-will 
case.  Wendell  Phillips  told  me  that  he  drew  up  this  will,  and 
that  its  provisions  were  so  carefully  worded  that  even  the 
Supreme  Court  could  find  no  flaw  in  it.  It  is  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, and  Chandler  R.  Ransom  was  the  executor.  Eliza  F. 
Eddy  was  the  daughter  of  Francis  Jackson,  and  just  before  her 
death  in  1882,  desiring  to  help  the  suffrage  cause  and  thus  carry 
out  her  father's  intentions,  she  made  her  will  in  which  she  be- 
1  queathed  $40,000  for  this  purpose.  The  clause  relating  to  this 
bequest  is  as  follows  : 

Whatever  is  left,  after  paying  the  above  legacies,  I  direct  shall  be  divided 
into  equal  portions.  One  of  said  portions  I  leave  to  Susan  B.  Anthony 
of  Rochester.  N.  Y.;  and  the  other  portion  I  leave  to  Lucy  Stone,  wife  of 
Henry  B.  Blackwell,  as  her  own  absolute  separate  property,  free  from 
any  control  by  him.  I  request  said  Susan  and  Lucy  to  use  said  fund  thus 
given  to  further  what  is  called  the  "  Woman's  Rights'  Cause  ";  but  neither 
of  them  is  under  any  legal  responsibility  to  any  one  or  any  court  to  do  so. 

Her  will  was  filed  and  the  Probate  Court  declared  its  validity. 
This  decision  was  appealed  from  for  several  unimportant  reasons 
by  relatives  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  Francis  W.  and  Jerome  A.  Bacon, 
minors;  and  the  case  was  carried  to  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court. 
After  many  delays  it  was  finally  decided  in  favor  of  the  validity 
of  the  will,  March,  1885,  R.  M.  Morse,  jr.,  and  S.  J.  Elder  for  the 
plaintiff,  and  B.  F.  Butler  and  F.  L.  Washburn  for  the  defendants. 
The  court's  final  decision,  rendered  by  Hon.  Charles  Devens,  is 
as  follows : 

ALBERT  F.  BACON  and  others,  executors  and  others  vs.  CHANDLER  R. 

RANSOM,  executor,  and  others. 

Suffolk.  March  18,  19,  1885.  W.  ALLEN,  COLBURN  and  HOLMES,  Js.,  absent. 
After  a  bequest  in  trust  to  A.  and  B.,  to  be  by  them  expended  in  securing  the  pass- 
age of  la%vs  granting  women  the  right  to  vote,  had  been  decreed  void  as  not  being  a 
<charity,  a  daughter  of  the  testator  bequeathed  the  residue  pf  her  estate  (being  about 
^the  amount  she  had  received  from  her  father's  estate)  to  A.  and  B.  "as  their  absolute 
-property";  and  added:  "  I  request  said  A.  and  B.  to  use  said  fund  thus  given  to  fur- 
ther  what  is  called  the  Woman's  Rights  Cause.  But  neither  of  them  is  under  any 
.legal  responsibility  to  anyone  or  any  court  to  do  so."  Held,  that  the  bequest  was 
valid,  and  did  not  create  a  trust. 


Eliza  F.  Eddys    Will.  313 

Bill  in  equity  by  the  executors  of  the  will  of  Lizzie  F.  Bacon,  and  cer- 
tain legatees  thereunder,  against  the  executor  of  the  will  of  Eliza  F.  Eddy, 
Lucy  Stone,  wife  of  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  and  other  legatees 
thereunder,  and  the  attorney-general,  to  compel  the  executor  of  said 
Eddy's  will  to  pay  over  to  the  plaintiffs  the  residue  of  her  estate.  The 
bill  alleged  the  following  facts: 

Francis  Jackson,  the  father  of  said  Eliza  F.  Eddy,  died  in  1861,  leaving 
a  will,  by  the  sixth  article  of  which  he  gave  $5,000  to  Wendell  Phillips, 
Lucy  Stone  Blackwell  and  Susan  B.  Anthony,  in  trust,  "to  be  expended 
by  them  without  any  responsibility  to  any  one,  at  their  discretion,  in  such 
sums,  at  such  times,  and  in  such  places  as  they  may  deem  fit,  to  secure 
the  passage  of  laws  granting  women,  whether  married  or  unmarried,  the 
right  to  vote,  to  hold  office,  to  hold,  manage  and  devise  property,  and  all 
other  civil  rights  enjoyed  by  men ;  and  for  the  preparation  and  circula- 
tion of  books,  the  delivery  of  lectures,  and  such  other  means  as  they  may 
judge  best."  By  the  eighth  article  he  gave  one-third  of  the  residue  to  a 
trustee,  to  pay  the  income  to  his  daughter,  Eliza  F.  Eddy,  during  her  life, 
and  upon  her  death  one-half  of  the  income  to  the  trustees  and  on  the 
trusts  named  in  the  sixth  article,  and  the  other  half  to  Mrs.  Eddy's  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Lizzie  F.  Bacon,  during  her  life,  and,  on  the  death  of  Mrs.  Bacon, 
the  principal  to  the  trustees  and  on  the  trusts  named  in  the  sixth  article. 

It  was  held  by  this  court  that  these  bequests  were  not  a  charity  (see 
Jackson  vs.  Phillips,  14  Allen,  jjp). 

In  consequence  of  this  decision,  certain  agreements,  releases,  and  a  par- 
tition were  made,  by  which  one-third  of  the  residue  of  Mr.  Jackson's  es- 
tate became  the  property  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  subject  to  being  held  in  trust  for 
herself  for  life,  and  thereafter,  as  to  one-half,  for  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Ba- 
con, during  her  life.  Mrs.  Eddy  died  December  29,  iSSi,  leaving  a  will  by 
which  she  gave  absolute  legacies  to  the  amount  of  $24,500  to  various  per- 
sons therein  named.  This  disposed  of  all  her  estate  except  what  came  to 
her  from  her  father's  estate.  Her  will  then  provided  as  follows  : 

"  What  is  left,  after  paying  the  above  legacies,  I  direct  shall  be  divided 
into  two  equal  portions;  one  of  said  portions  I  leave  to  Miss  Susan  B. 
Anthony  of  Rochester,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  her  absolute  prop- 
erty, and  the  other  portion  I  leave  to  Lucy  Stone,  wife  of  H.  B.  Blackwell, 
as  her  own  absolute  and  separate  property,  free  from  any  control  of  him. 
1  request  said  Susan  and  Lucy  to  use  said  fund  thus  given  to  further  what 
is  called  the  woman's  rights  cause ;  but  neither  of  them  is  under  any 
legal  responsibility  to  any  one  or  any  court  to  do  so." 

The  will  further  alleged  that  this  residue  was  substantially  the  estate 
received  from  Francis  Jackson  ;  that  the  will  was  intended  by  the  testa- 
trix to  defeat  the  decision  of  this  court,  before  mentioned  ;  that  the  testa- 
trix had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  Lucy  Stone  or  Susan  B.  Anthony; 
that  said  gift  was  intended  as  a  gift  in  perpetuam  to  the  said  cause,  and 
was,  without  limit  of  time,  upon  trust  in  favor  of  said  cause  ;  and  that  said 
cause  was  not  a  charity  within  the  meaning  of  the  law,  and  was  null  and 
void. 


314  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  defendants  demurred  to  the  bill  for  want  of  equity.  The  case  was 
heard  by  C.  Allen,  J.,  on  the  bill  and  demurrer,  and  a  decree  was  entered 
sustaining  the  demurrer  and  dismissing  the  bill.  The  plaintiffs  appealed 
to  the  full  court. 

R.  M.  MORSE,  Jr.,  and  S.  J.  ELDER,  for  the  plaintiffs. 

B.  F.  BUTLER  and  F.  L.  WASHBURN,  for  the  defendants. 

Judge  CHARLES  DEVENS.  The  fact  that  the  respective  portions  of  the 
estate  bequeathed  by  Mrs.  Eddy  to  Mrs.  Stone  and  Miss  Anthony  were  in 
amount  equal  to  or  precisely  the  same  as  those  which  came  to  her  by  de- 
scent from  her  father,  Francis  Jackson,  is  not  of  importance  in  the  case 
at  bar.  It  had  been  held  in  Jackson  vs.  Phillips,  14.  Allen,  jjp,  that  a  cer- 
tain bequest  made  by  Mr.  Jackson  in  trust  was  not,  legally  speaking,  a 
public  charity,  and  that  it  could  not  therefore  pass  to  the  beneficiaries 
named  in  his  will.  The  property  which  he  thus  attempted  to  bequeath 
descended  therefore  to  his  legal  representatives,  of  whom  Mrs.  Eddy  was 
one.  She  received  it  with  the  same  right  to  deal  with  it  or  dispose  of  it 
in  her  lifetime,  or  by  will  at  her  decease,  that  she  had  in  any  other  estate 
which  was  her  lawful  property. 

The  bill  alleges  "that  said  will  was  intended  by  the  testatrix  to  defeat 
the  decision  of  the  court,  before  mentioned ;  that  the  testatrix  had  no 
personal  acquaintance  with  Lucy  Stone  or  Susan  B.  Anthony  ;  that  said 
gift  was  intended  as  a  gift  in  perpetuam  to  the  said  cause."  But  if  Mrs. 
Eddy  has  complied  with  the  rules  of  law  in  the  disposition  of  her  prop- 
erty, even  if  she  has  hoped  thereby  to  attain  the  same  object  as  that  de- 
sired by  her  father,  the  decision  referred  to  is  not  defeated,  but  is  recog- 
nized and  conformed  to ;  and,  whatever  her  intention  may  have  been,  her 
bequest  is  to  be  upheld. 

Her  gift  to  her  beneficiaries  is  absolute  in  terms.  They  may  do  what 
they  will  with  the  property  bequeathed  to  them,  as  they  may  with  any 
other  property  which  is  lawfully  their  own.  It  is  true  that  the  gift  is  ac- 
companied by  a  request  that  they  will  use  the  fund  bequeathed  "to  fur- 
ther what  is  called  the  woman's  rights  cause."  A  request  made  by  one 
who  has  the  right  to  direct  is  often,  perhaps  generally,  interpreted  as  a 
command.  For  this  reason,  recommendatory  or  precatory  words  used  in 
a  bequest  are  frequently  treated  as  an  express  direction.  Thus,  if  a  leg- 
acy were  given  to  A.,  with  a  request  that  out  of  the  sum  bequeathed  he 
would  pay  to  another  a  certain  sum,  or  a  portion  thereof,  it  might  well  be 
construed  as  a  legacy,  to  the  amount  named,  to  such  person.  The  ex- 
pression of  the  desire  of  the  testator  would  be  the  expression  of  his  will, 
and  the  words  in  form  recommendatory  would  be  held  to  be  mandatory 
and  imperative.  Where  such  words  are  used,  it  is  therefore  a  question  of 
the  fair  construction  to  be  attributed  to  them  (  Whipple  vs.  Adams,  t  Met., 
444  ;  Warner  vs.  Bates,  98  Mass.,  2jj. ;  Spooncr  vs.  Lovcjoy,  JoS  Mass.,  529)* 

But  the  testatrix  in  the  case  at  bar  has  left  nothing  to  construction. 
Apparently  aware  that  a  request,  where  she  had  a  right  to  direct,  might 
be  treated  as  a  command,  and  desirous  to  make  it  entirely  clear  that  no 
restraint  or  duty  in  any  legal  sense  was  imposed  upon  her  legatees,  and 
that  the  request  of  the  will  was  such  in  the  limited  sense  of  the  word 


Mrs.  Eddys  Example.  315 

only,  and  in  no  respect  mandatory,  she  adds  thereto,  referring  to  the  leg- 
atees, "  But  neither  of  them  is  under  any  legal  responsibility  to  any  one 
or  to  any  court  to  do  so."  Each  of  the  legatees  is  therefore  the  sole 
judge  of  whether  she  will  follow,  or  how  far  or  in  what  way  she  will  fol- 
low, the  suggestion  of  the  testatrix  in  the  disposition  of  the  estate  abso- 
lutely bequeathed  to  her.  It  is  a  matter  in  which  she  is  to  be  guided  only 
by  her  judgment  and  conscience,  and  no  trust  is  imposed  upon  the  prop- 
erty she  receives. 

As  no  trust  is  created,  it  would  be  superfluous  to  consider  whether,  if 
the  request  of  the  testatrix  were  treated  as  a  command,  one  would  then 
be  indicated  capable  of  enforcement  according  to  the  rules  of  law. 
Bill  dismissed.  [Signed :]         MARCUS  MORTON,  Chief -Justice, 

WALBRIDGE  ABNER  FIELD,        CHARLES  DEVENS, 
WILLIAM  ALLEN,  CHARLES  ALLEN, 

WALDO  COBURN,  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES,  Jr. 


From  these  decisions  our  daughters  should  learn  the  importance 
of  having  some  knowledge  of  law.  Had  not  Mrs.  Eddy  learned 
from  experience  in  her  father's  case  that  property  could  not  be 
left  in  trust  to  any  societies  except  those  called  religious  and 
charitable,  and  made  her  bequest  absolutely  to  persons,  the  gift 
of  $56,000  would  have  been  lost  to  the  woman  suffrage  move- 
ment. As  it  was,  nearly  $10,000  was  swallowed  up  in  litigation 
to  secure  what  the  donees  did  finally  obtain.  Considering  that 
Mrs.  Eddy  *  is  the  only  woman  who  has  ever  had  both  the  desire 
and  the  power  to  make  a  large  bequest  to  this  cause,  its  friends 
have  great  reason  to  rejoice  in  her  wisdom  as  well  as  her 
generosity. 

Civilization  would  have  been  immeasurably  farther  advanced 
than  it  now  is,  had  the  many  rich  women,  who  have  left  large 
bequests  to  churches,  and  colleges  for  boys,  concentrated  their 
wealth  and  influence  on  the  education,  elevation  and  enfranchise- 
ment of  their  own  sex.  We  trust  that  Mrs.  Eddy's  example  may 
not  be  lost  on  the  coming  generation  of  women. — [EDITORS. 


*  \\'e  deeply  regret  that  we  have  been  unable  to  procure  a  good  photograph  of  our  generous  bene- 
factor, as  it  was  our  intention  to  make  her  engraving  tin:  frontispiece  of  this  volume,  and  thus  give  the 
honored  place  to  her  through  whose  liberality  we  have  been  enabled  at  last  to  complete  this  work.  We 
aie  happy  to  state  that  Mrs.  Eddy's  will  was  not  contested  by  any  of  the  descendents  of  the  noble 
Krancis  Jackson,  but  by  Jerome  Bacon,  a  millionaire,  the  widower  of  her  eldest  daughter  who  sur- 
vived the  mother  but  one  week.  When  the  suit  was  entered  the  daughters  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  Sarah  and 
Amy,  her  only  surviving  children,  in  a  letter  to  the  executor  of  the  estate,  Hon.  C.  R.  Ransom,  said: 
"  We  hereby  consent  and  agree  that,  in  case  this  suit  now  pending  in  the  court  shall  be  decided  against 
the  claims  of  Lucy  Stone  and  Susan  B.  Anthony,  we  will  give  to  them  the  net  amount  of  any  sum  that 
as  heirs  may  be  awarded  to  us,  in  accordance  with  our  mother's  will." 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 
CONNECTICUT. 

Prudence  Crandall — Eloquent  Reformers — Petitions  for  Suffrage — The  Committee's 
Report — Frances  Ellen  Burr — Isabella  Beecher  Hooker's  Reminiscences — Anna 
Dickinson  in  the  Republican  Campaign — State  Society  Formed,  October  28,  29, 
1869 — Enthusiastic  Convention  in  Hartford — Governor  Marshall  Jewell — He 
Recommends  More  Liberal  Laws  for  Women — Society  Formed  in  New  Haven, 
1871 — Governor  Hubbard's  Inaugural,  1877 — Samuel  Bowles  of  the  Springfield 
Republican — Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford,  Chaplain,  1870 — John  Hooker,  esq.,  Cham- 
pions the  Suffrage  Movement. 

WHILE  Connecticut  has  always  been  celebrated  for  its  puri- 
tanical theology,  political  conservatism  and  rigid  social  customs, 
it  was  nevertheless  the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  hotly  con- 
tested of  the  anti-slavery  battles.  While  its  leading  clergymen 
and  statesmen  stoutly  maintained  the  letter  of  the  old  creeds 
and  constitutions,  the  Burleighs,  the  Mays,  and  the  Crandalls 
strove  to  illustrate  the  true  spirit  of  religion  and  republicanism  in 
their  daily  lives  by  "  remembering  those  that  were  in  bonds  as 
bound  with  them." 

The  example  of  one  glorious  woman  like  Prudence  Crandall,* 
who  suffered  shameful  persecutions  in  establishing  a  school  for 
colored  girls  at  Canterbury,  in  1833,  should  have  been  sufficient 
to  rouse  every  woman  in  Connecticut  to  some  thought  on  the 
basic  principles  of  the  government  and  religion  of  the  country. 
Yet  we  have  no  record  of  any  woman  in  that  State  publicly  sus- 
taining her  in  that  grand  enterprise,  though  no  doubt  her  hero- 
ism gave  fresh  inspiration  to  the  sermons  of  Samuel  J.  May,  then 
preaching  in  the  village  of  Brooklyn,  and  the  speeches  and  poems 
of  the  two  eloquent  reformers,  Charles  C.  and  William  H.  Burleigh. 
The  words  and  deeds  of  these  and  other  great  souls,  though  seem- 
ing to  slumber  for  many  years,  gave  birth  at  last  to  new  demands 
for  another  class  of  outraged  citizens.  Thus  liberty  is  ever  born 
of  the  hateful  spirit  of  persecution.  One  question  of  reform  settled 
forever  by  the  civil  war,  the  initiative  for  the  next  was  soon 


*  The  life  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Vo\.  I. :     The  Century  Company,  New  York. 


Minority  Report.  317 

taken.  In  The  Revolution  of  January  16,  1868,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing well-considered  report  on  woman's  enfranchisement, 
presented  by  a  minority  of  the  Committee  on  Constitutional 
Amendments  to  the  legislature  of  Connecticut  at  its  session  of 
1867: 

The  undersigned  members  of  the  committee  believe  that  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners 
ought  to  be  granted.  It  would  be  much  easier  for  us  to  reject  the  petition  and  silently 
to  acquiesce  in  the  opinions  of  the  majority  upon  the  subject  to  which  it  relates,  but 
our  attention  was  challenged  and  an  investigation  invited  by  the  bold  axioms  upon 
which  the  cause  of  suffrage  for  woman  was  claimed  to  rest,  and  the  more  we  have  ex- 
amined the  subject  the  more  convinced  we  have  become  that  the  logic  of  our  institu- 
tions requires  a  concession  of  that  right.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that  the  right  to  vote 
is  not  a  natural  right,  but  that  it  is  a  prvilege  which  some  have  acquired,  and  which 
may  be  granted  to  others  at  the  option  of  the  fortunate  holders.  But  they  fail  to  in- 
form us  how  the  possessors  first  acquired  the  privilege,  and  especially  how  they  acquired 
the  rightful  power  to  withhold  that  privilege  from  others,  according  to  caprice  or 
notions  of  expediency.  We  hold  this  doctrine  to  be  pernicious  in  tendency,  and  hos- 
tile to  the  spirit  of  a  republican  government;  and  we  believe  that  it  can  only  be  justi- 
fied by  the  same  arguments  that  are  used  to  justify  slavery  or  monarchy — for  it  is  an 
obvious  deduction  of  logic  that  if  one  thousand  persons  have  a  right  to  govern  another 
thousand  without  their  consent,  one  man  has  a  right  to  govern  all. 

Mr.  Lincoln  tersely  said,  "  If  slavery  is  not  wrong  nothing  is  wrong."  So  it  seems 
to  us  that  if  the  right  to  vote  is  not  a  natural  right,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  natural 
right  in  human  relations.  The  right  to  freedom  and  the  right  to  a  ballot  both  spring 
from  the  same  source.  The  right  to  vote  is  only  the  right  to  a  legitimate  use 
of  freedom.  It  is  plain  that  if  a  man  is  not  free  to  govern  himself,  and  to  have 
a  voice  in  the  taxation  of  his  own  property,  he  is  not  really  free  in  any  enlightened 
sense.  Even  Edward  I.  of  England  said,  "  It  is  a  most  equitable  rule  that  what  con- 
cerns all  should  be  approved  by  all."  This  must  rightfully  apply  to  women  the  same 
as  to  men.  And  Locke,  in  his  essay  on  civil  government,  said,  "  Nothing  is  more 
evident  than  that  creatures  of  the  same  species  and  rank,  promiscuously  born  to  the 
same  advantages  of  nature,  and  the  use  of  the  same  faculties,  should  also  be  equal, 
one  with  another,  without  subordination  or  subjection."  Talleyrand  said,  as  an 
argument  for  monarchy,  "  The  moment  we  reject  an  absolutely  universal  suffrage,  we 
admit  the  principle  of  aristocracy."  The  founders  of  this  nation  asserted  with  great 
emphasis  and  every  variety  of  repetition,  the  essential  equality  of  human  rights  as  a 
self-evident  truth.  The  war  of  the  Revolution  was  justified  by  the  maxim,  "  Taxation 
without  representation  is  tyranny  ";  and  all  republics  vindicate  their  existence  by  the 
claim  that  "  Governments  derive  their  just  power  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
Yet  woman,  in  Connecticut,  is  governed  without  her  consent,  and  taxed  without  repre- 
sentation. 

Lord  Camden,  one  of  England's  ablest  jurists,  long  ago  declared,  "  My  posi- 
tion is  this — taxation  and  representation  are  inseparable.  The  position  is  founded  in 
a  law  of  nature — nay  more,  it  is  itself  an  eternal  law  of  nature."  Our  forefathers  held 
to  this  principle,  and  fought  seven  years  to  establish  it.  They  maintained  their  favor- 
ite theory  of  government  against  immense  odds,  and  transmitted  to  their  posterity  the 
great  work  of  putting  it  logically  into  practice.  It  is  acknowledged  by  this  legislature 
that  "taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny,"  and  that  "  governments  derive  their 
just  power  from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  If  these  phrases  are  anything  more 
than  the  meaningless  utterances  of  demagogues,  anything  more  than  the  hypocritical 
apologies  of  rebellious  colonies  in  a  strait — then  we  submit  that  a  primd  facie  case  for 
woman's  right  to  vote  has  already  been  made  out.  To  declare  that  a  voice  in  the 
government  is  the  right  of  all,  and  then  give  it  to  less  than  half,  and  that  to  the  frac- 


318  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

tion  to  which  the  theorist  himself  happens  to  belong,  is  to  renounce  even  the  appear- 
ance of  principle. 

It  is  plain  to  your  committee  that  neither  the  State  nor  the  nation  can  have  peace  on 
this  suffrage  question  until  some  fair  standard  shall  be  adopted  which  is  not  based  on 
religion,  or  color,  or  sex,  or  any  accident  of  birth — a  test  which  shall  be  applicable  to 
every  adult  human  being.  In  a  republic  the  ballot  belongs  to  every  intelligent  adult 
person  who  is  innocent  of  crime.  There  is  an  obvious  and  sufficient  reason  for  exclud- 
ing minors,  state-prison  convicts,  imbeciles  and  insane  persons,  but  does  the  public 
safety  require  that  we  shall  place  the  women  of  Connecticut  with  infants,  criminals, 
idiots  and  lunatics  ?  Do  they  deserve  the  classification  ?  It  seems  to  your  committee 
that  to  enfranchise  woman — or  rather  to  cease  to  deprive  her  of  the  ballot,  which  5s  of 
right  hers,  would  be  reciprocally  beneficial.  We  believe  that  it  would  elevate  the 
character  of  our  office-holders;  that  it  would  purify  our  politics;  that  it  would  render  our 
laws  more  equitable;  that  it  would  give  to  woman  a  protection  against  half  the  perils 
which  now  beset  her;  that  it  would  put  into  her  hands  a  key  that  would  unlock  the 
door  of  every  respectable  occupation  and  profession;  that  it  would  insure  a  reconstruc- 
tion of  our  statute  laws  on  a  basis  of  justice,  so  that  a  woman  should  have  a  right  to 
her  own  children,  and  a  right  to  receive  and  enjoy  the  proceeds  of  her  own  labor. 
John  Neal  estimates-that  the  ballot  is  worth  fifty  cents  a  day  to  every  American  laborer, 
enabling  each  man  to  command  that  much  higher  wages.  Does  not  gentlemanly 
courtesy,  as  well  as  equal  justice,  require  that  that  weapon  of  defense  shall  be  given  to 
those  thousands  of  working  women  among  us  who  are  going  down  to  prostitution  through 
three  or  four  half-paid,  over-crowded  occupations? 

It  is  said  that  woman  is  now  represented  by  her  husband,  when  she  has  one  ;  but 
what  is  this  representation  worth  when  in  Connecticut,  two  years  ago,  all  of  the  mar- 
ried woman's  personal  property  became  absolutely  her  husband's,  including  even  her 
bridal  presents,  to  sell  or  give  away,  as  he  saw  fit — a  statute  which  still  prevails  in 
most  of  the  States  ?  What  is  that  representation  worth  when  even  now,  in  this  State, 
no  married  woman  has  the  right  to  the  use  of  her  own  property,  and  no  woman,  even 
a  widow,  is  the  natural  guardian  of  her  own  children?  Even  in  Connecticut,  under 
man's  representation,  a  widow  whose  husband  dies  without  a  will  is  regarded  by  law 
as  an  encumbrance  on  the  estate  which  she,  through  years  of  drudgery,  has  helped  to 
acquire.  She  can  inherit  none  of  the  houses  or  land,  but  has  merely  the  use  of  one- 
third,  while  the  balance  goes  to  his  relatives — rich,  perhaps,  and  persons  whom  she 
never  saw.  Does  not  this  suggest  reasons  why  woman  should  wish  to  represent 
herself? 

It  is  said  that  women  do  not  desire  the  ballot.  This  is  by  no  means  certain.  It  can 
be  ascertained  only  by  taking  a  vote.  It  is  not  proved  by  the  fact  that  they  have  not 
yet  generally  clamored  for  the  right,  nor  by  the  fact  that  some  protest  against  it.  In 
Persia,  it  is  a  law  of  society  that  virtuous  women  shall  appear  in  public  with  their  faces 
covered,  and  instead  of  murmuring  at  the  restraint,  they  are  universal  in  upholding  it, 
and  wonder  at  the  immodesty  and  effrontery  of  English  women  who  appear  upon  the 
streets  unveiled.  Custom  hardens  us  to  any  kind  of  degradation.  When  woman  was 
not  admitted  to  the  dinner-table  as  an  equal  with  man,  she  undoubtedly  thought  the 
exclusion  was  perfectly  proper,  and  quite  in  the  nature  of  things,  and  the  dinner-table 
became  vile  and  obscene.  When  she  was  forbidden  to  enter  the  church,  she  approved 
the  arrangement,  and  the  church  became  a  scene  of  hilarity  and  bacchanalian  revel. 
When  she  was  forbidden  to  take  part  in  literature,  she  thought  it  was  not  her  sphere, 
and  disdained  the  alphabet,  and  the  consequence  was  that  literature  became  unspeak- 
ably impure,  so  that  no  man  can  now  read  in  public  some  of  the  books  that  were  written 
before  woman  brought  chastity  and  refinement  into  letters.  The  Asiatics  are  proba- 
bly not  in  favor  of  political  liberty,  or  the  American  Indians  in  favor  of  civilization; 
but  that  does  not  prove  that  these  would  be  bad  for  them,  especially  if  thousands  of 
the  most  enlightened  did  desire  and  demand  the  change.  It  is  assumed  that  women 
are  not  in  favor  of  this  right;  how  can  this  be  better  ascertained  than  by  submitting 
to  them  the  question  to  vote  upon — "  yes  "  or  "  no." 


Frances  Ellen  Burr.  319 

If  this  legislature  shall  be  averse  to  trusting  woman  to  give  her  opinion  even  on  the 
question  of  her  own  enfranchisement,  we  recommend  that  an  amendment,  striking  the 
word  *'  male  "  from  the  State  constitution,  be  submitted  to  the  qualified  electors  of  the 
State.  Can  there  be  any  possible  danger  in  trusting  those  who  have  trusted  us  ?  They, 
not  we,  are  the  law-makers.  An  assembly  is  elected  only  because  it  would  be  incon- 
venient for  all  the  citizens  to  vote  upon  every  statute.  But  when  any  change  in  the 
fundamental  law  is  seriously  asked,  it  should  be  remitted  to  the  people  without  hesita- 
tion, especially  when  that  proposed  change  will  render  our  logic  consistent,  and  our 
institutions  harmonious;  when  it  will  enforce  the  democratic  doctrine  that,  in  society, 
every  human  being  has  a  right  to  do  anything  that  does  not  interfere  with  the  rights 
of  others,  and  when  it  will  establish  equality  in  place  of  partiality,  and  vindicate  the 
principle  of  All  Rights  for  All.  We  therefore  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  follow- 
ing resolution :  [Here  follows  a  resolution  submitting  to  the  people  an  amendment 
of  the  constitution  giving  women  the  right  to  vote  equally  with  men.] 

The  members  of  the  committee  who  signed  this  early  declara- 
tion in  favor  of  the  rights  of  women  should  be  remembered  with 
honor.  They  are  Henry  Ashley,  William  Steele  and  J.  D. 
Gallup,  jr.  The  resolution  recommended  received  93  votes  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  against  1 1 1  in  opposition.  So  strong 
an  expression  in  favor  of  it  at  that  time  is  a  noteworthy  fact  in 
the  history  of  the  cause. 

The  petitions  that  called  out  this  able  report  were  secured 
through  the  influence  of  Frances  Ellen  Burr,  who  may  be  said  to 
have  been  the  pioneer  of  woman  suffrage  in  Connecticut.  She 
had  made  several  attempts,  through  conversations  with  influen- 
tial friends,  to  organize  a  State  society  many  years  before.  From 
the  inauguration  of  the  State  association  until  the  present  time 
Miss  Burr  has  been  one  of  its  most  efficient  members,  and  has 
done  more  to  popularize  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  through- 
out the  State  than  any  other  person.  Her  accomplishments  as  a 
writer  and  speaker,  as  a  reporter  and  stenographer,  as  well  as  her 
connection  with  the  Hartford  Times  (a  journal  that  has  a  very 
large  circulation  in  the  State),  edited  by  her  brother,  have  quali- 
fied her  for  wide  and  efficient  influence.  Her  niece,  Mrs.  Ella 
Burr  McManus,  edits  a  column  in  that  paper,  under  the  head  of 
"Social  Notes."  She  is  also  an  advocate  of  suffrage  for  women, 
and  makes  telling  points,  from  week  to  week,  on  this  question. 
In  issuing  the  first  numbers  of  The  Revolution,  the  earliest  words 
of  good  cheer  came  from  Frances  Ellen  Burr.* 

The  general  rebellion  among  women  against  the  old  conditions 
of  society  and  the  popular  opinions  as  to  their  nature  and  des- 
tiny, has  been  organized  in  each  State  in  this  Union  by  the 

*  She  was  soon  followed  by  Mrs.  Midcllebrook  and  Mrs.  Lucy  R.  Elms,  with  warm  benedictions.  The 
latter  called  some  meetings  in  her  neighborhood  in  the  autumn  of  1868,  and  entertained  us  most  hos- 
pitably at  her  beautiful  home. 


320  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sudden  awakening  of  some  self-reliant  woman,  in  whose  soul  had 
long  slumbered  new  ideas  as  to  her  rights  and  duties,  growing 
out  of  personal  experiences  or  the  distant  echoes  of  onward  steps 
in  other  localities.  In  Connecticut  this  woman  was  Isabella 
Beechcr  Hooker,  who  had  scarcely  dared  to  think,  and  much  less 
to  give  shape  in  words,  to  the  thoughts  that,  like  unwelcome 
ghosts,  had  haunted  her  hours  of  solitude  from  year  to  year. 
Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning  describes  a  hero  as  one  who  does 
what  others  do  but  say  ;  who  says  what  others  do  but  think  ;  and 
thinks  what  others  do  but  dream.  The  successive  steps  by  which 
Mrs.  Hooker's  dreams  at  last  took  shape  in  thoughts,  words  and 
actions,  and  brought  her  to  the  woman  suffrage  platform,  are 
well  told  by  herself: 

My  mind  had  long  been  disturbed  with  the  tangled  problem  of  social 
life,  but  it  involved  so  many  momentous  questions  that  I  could  not  see 
where  to  begin  nor  what  to  do.  I  could  only  protest  in  my  heart,  and 
leave  the  whole  matter  for  God*  to  deal  with  in  his  wisdom.  Thus  mat- 
ters stood  until  the  year  1861,  when  Anna  Dickinson,  then  a  girl  of  nine- 
teen, came  to  Hartford  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  Republican  party,  par- 
ticularly on  its  hostility  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  dismay — I  know  not  Avhat  else  to  call  it — which  I  felt  at  the  announce- 
ment of  her  first  speech  in  one  of  our  public  halls,  lest  harm  should  come 
to  the  political  cause  that  enlisted  my  sympathies,  and  anxiety  about  the 
speaker,  who  would  have  to  encounter  so  much  adverse  criticism  in  our 
conservative  and  prejudiced  city.  It  was  certainly  a  most  startling  occur- 
rence, that  here  in  my  very  home,  where  there  had  been  hardly  a  lisp  in 
favor  of  the  rights  of  women,  this  girl  should  speak  on  political  subjects, 
and  that,  too,  upon  the  invitation  of  the  leaders  of  a  great  political  party. 
Here  was  a  stride,  not  a  mere  step ;  and  a  stride  almost  to  final  victory 
for  the  suppressed  rights  of  women. 

My  husband  and  I,  full  of  anxiety  and  apprehension,  but  full,  too,  of  de- 
termination to  stand  by  one  who  so  bravely  shook  off  her  trammels,  went 
to  hear  this  new  Joan  of  Arc,  and  in  a  few  minutes  after  she  began  we 
found  ourselves,  with  the  rest  of  the  large  audience,  entranced  by  her 
eloquence.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  we  went  with  many  others  to  be 
introduced  and  give  her  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  She  came  home 
with  us  for  the  night,  and  after  the  family  retired  she  and  I  communed 
together,  heart  to  heart,  as  mother  and  daughter,  and  from  this  sweet, 
grand  soul,  born  to  the  freedom  denied  to  all  women  except  those  known 
as  Quakers,  I  learned  to  trust  as  never  before  the  teachings  of  the  inner 
light,  and  to  know  whence  came  to  them  the  recognition  of  equal  rights 
with  their  brethren  in  the  public  assembly. 

It  was  she  who  brought  me  to  the  knowledge  of  Mrs.  John  Stuart  Mill, 
and  her  remarkable  paper  on  "The  Enfranchisement  of  Women,"  in  The 


*  Those  who  leave  the  tangled  problem  of  life  to  God  for  solution  find,  sooner  or  later,  that  God 
leaves  it  to  them  to  settle  in  their  own  way. — [E.  C.  S. 


Mrs.  Hookers  Reminiscences.  321 

Westminster  Review.  She  told  me,  too,  of  Susan  B.  Anthony,  a  fearless 
defender  of  true  liberty  and  woman's  right  of  public  speech  ;  but  I  allowed 
an  old  and  ignorant  prejudice  against  her  and  Mrs.  Stanton  to  remain 
until  the  year  1864,  when,  going  South  to  nurse  a  young  soldier  who  was 
wounded  in  the  war,  I  met  Mrs.  Caroline  Severance  from  Boston,  who 
was  residing  in  South  Carolina,  where  her  husband  was  in  the  service  of 
the  government,  who  confirmed  what  Miss  Dickinson  had  told  me  of  Miss 
Anthony,  and  unfolded  to  me  the  whole  philosophy  of  the  woman  suffrage 
movement. 

She  afterwards  invited  me  to  her  home  near  Boston,  where  I  joined  Mr. 
Garrison  and  others  in  issuing  a  call  for  a  convention,  which  I  attended, 
and  aided  in  the  formation  of  the  New  England  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion. At  this  meeting,  which  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe,  I  met  Paulina 
Wright  Davis,  whose  mere  presence  upon  the  platform,  with  her  beautiful 
white  hair  and  her  remarkable  dignity  and  elegance,  was  a  most  potent 
argument  in  favor  of  woman's  participation  in  public  affairs.  I  sought  an 
introduction  to  her,  and  confessing  my  prejudice  against  Mrs.  Stanton 
and  Miss  Anthony,  whom  I  had  never  yet  seen,  she  urged  me  to  meet 
them  as  guests  at  her  home  in  Providence  ;  and  a  few  weeks  later,  under 
the  grand  old  trees  of  her  husband's  almost  ducal  estate,  we  went  over 
the  whole  subject  of  man's  supremacy  and  woman's  subjection  that  had 
lain  so  many  years  a  burden  upon  my  heart,  and,  sitting  at  their  feet,  I 
said :  "  While  I  have  been  mourning  in  secret  over  the  degradation  of 
woman,  you  have  been  working,  through  opposition  and  obloquy,  to 
raise  her  to  self-respect  and  self-protection  through  enfranchisement, 
knowing  that  with  equal  political  rights  come  equal  social  and  industrial 
opportunities.  Henceforth,  I  will  at  least  share  your  work  and  your 
obloquy." 

In  September,  1869,  just  one  year  from  that  time,  after  spending  several 
weeks  in  correspondence  with  friends  all  over  the  State,  and  making  care- 
ful preliminary  arrangements,  I  issued  a  call  for  the  first  woman  suffrage 
convention  that  was  ever  held  in  Connecticut,  at  which  a  State  society 
was  formed.  To  my  surprise  and  satisfaction,  the  city  press  each  day  de- 
voted several  columns  to  reports  of  our  proceedings,  and  the  enthusiasm 
manifested  by  the  large  audiences  was  as  unexpected  as  it  was  gratifying. 
The  speakers  were  worthy  of  the  reception  given  them,  and  few  occasions 
have  gathered  upon  one  platform  so  notable  an  assemblage  of  men  and 
women.*  The  resolutions  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  discussions  were 
prepared  and  presented  by  Mr.  Hooker: 

Resolved,  That  there  is  no  consideration  whatever  that  makes  the  right  of  suffrage 
valuable  to  men,  or  that  makes  it  the  duty  or  the  interest  of  the  nation  to  concede  it 
to  men,  that  does  not  make  it  valuable  to  women,  and  the  duty  and  interest  of  the 
nation  to  concede  it  to  women. 

Resolved,  That  the  ballot  will  bring  to  woman  a  higher  education,  larger  industrial 
opportunities,  a  wider  field  for  thought  and  action,  a  sense  of  responsibility  in  her  re- 


*  Among  them  were  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  Dr.  Clemence  Lozier,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Julia  Ward 
Howe,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Celia  Burleigh,  Caroline  M.  Severance,  Rev. 
Olympia  lirown,  Frances  Ellen  Burr,  Charlotte  ]!.  Wilhour,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Henry  Ward 
Bcecher,  Nathaniel  I.  Burton,  John  Hooker,  the  Hutchinsons,  with  Sister  Abby  and  her  husband, 
Ludlow  Patton. 

21 


322  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

lations  to  the  public  welfare,  and,  in  place  of  mere  complaisance  and  flattery,  the 
higher  and  truer  respect  of  men. 

Resolved,  That  political  affairs,  involving  nearly  all  those  questions  that  relate  to  the 
welfare  of  the  nation  and  the  progress  of  society  towards  a  perfect  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, ought  to  interest  deeply  every  intelligent  mind  and  every  patriotic  heart;  and, 
while  women  love  their  country  and  the  cause  of  Christian  progress  no  less  than  men, 
they  ought  to  have  the  same  opportunity  with  men  to  exert  a  political  power  in  their 
behalf. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  alarming  prevalence  of  public  dishonesty  and  private  immor- 
ality, which  the  present  forces  on  the  side  of  public  and  private  virtue  are  proving 
wholly  unable  to  control,  it  is  our  firm  conviction  that  women,  educated  to  the  respon- 
sibilities of  a  participation  with  men  in  political  rights,  would  bring  to  the  aid  of  vir- 
tuous men  a  new  and  powerful  element  of  good,  which  cannot  be  spared,  and  for 
which  there  can  be  no  substitute. 

Resolved,  That  in  advocating  the  opening  to  woman  of  this  larger  sphere,  we  do  not 
undervalue  her  relations  as  a  wife  and  mother,  than  which  none  can  be  more  worthy 
of  a  true  woman's  love  and  pride;  but  it  is  only  by  a  full  development  of  her  faculties 
and  a  wide  range  for  her  thought  that  she  can  become  the  true  companion  of  an  intel- 
ligent husband,  and  the  wise  and  inspiring  educator  of  her  children;  while  mere  do- 
mestic life  furnishes  no  occupation  to  the  great  number  of  women  who  never  marry, 
and  a  very  inadequate  one  to  those  who,  at  middle  age,  with  large  experience  and  ripe 
wisdom,  find  their  children  grown  up  around  them  and  no  longer  needing  their  care. 

Resolved,  That  all  laws  which  recognize  a  superior  right  in  the  husband  to  the  chil- 
dren whom  the  wife  has  borne,  or  a  right  on  the  part  of  the  husband  to  the  property  of 
the  wife,  beyond  the  right  given  to  her  in  his  property,  and  all  laws  which  hold  that 
husband  and  wife  do  not  stand  in  all  respects  in  the  relation  of  equals,  ought  to  be 
abrogated,  and  the  perfect  equality  of  husband  and  wife  established. 

Resolved,  That  this  equality  of  position  and  rights  we  believe  to  have  been  intended 
by  the  Creator  as  the  ultimate  perfection  of  the  social  state,  when  he  said,  "Let  us 
make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness,  and  let  THEM  have  dominion";  and  to 
have  been  a  part  of  our  Savior's  plan  for  a  perfect  Christian  society,  in  which  an 
Apostle  says,  "  there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither  male  nor  female." 

The  Hartford  Courant,  in  its  description  of  the  convention,  said  : 

After  a  speech  by  Mr.  Garrison,  the  Hutchinsons  sang  some  of  the  religious  songs 
of  the  Southern  negroes  with  excellent  taste,  and  then,  led  by  them,  the  whole  audi- 
ence united  in  the  chorus;  and  as  the  melody  rose  strong  and  clear  a  pathos  fell  upon 
the  assembly  that  brought  tears  to  many  eyes.  The  tableau  upon  the  stage  was  strik- 
ing and  memorable.  Tliere  stood  the  family  of  singers,  with  the  same  cheerful,  hope- 
ful courage  in  their  uplifted  faces  with  which  for  twenty  years  they  have  sung  of  the 
good  time  almost  here,  of  every  reform;  there  stood  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  stern 
Puritan,  inflexible  apostle,  his  work  gloriously  done  in  one  reform,  lending  the  weight 
of  his  unwearied,  solid  intellect  to  that  which  he  believes  is  the  last  needed;  there 
was  Mrs.  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  a  Roman  matron  in  figure,  her  noble  head  covered 
with  clustering  ringlets  of  white,  courageous  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  unsullied 
devotion,  though  she  had  just  confessed  that  sometimes  she  was  almost  weary;  there 
was  Miss  Anthony,  unselfish,  patient,  wise  and  practical;  the  graceful  Mrs.  Julia  Ward 
Howe,  the  poet  of  the  movement;  the  tall  and  elegant  Mrs.  Celia  Burleigh,  the  be- 
nevolent Dr.  Clemence  Lozier;  Mrs.  Isabella  B.  Hooker,  with  spiritual  face  and  firm 
purpose,  just  taking  her  place  in  the  reform  that  has  long  had  her  heart  and  deep  con- 
viction, and  many  others  of  fine  presence  and  commanding  beauty — matrons,  with  gray 
hair  and  countenances  illuminated  with  lives  of  charity;  young  women,  flushed  with 
hope;  and  as  the  grand  Christian  song  went  on,  many  a  woman,  leaning  against  a  sup- 
porting pillar,  gave  way  to  the  tears  that  would  come,  tears  of  hope  deferred,  tears  of 
weary  longings,  tears  of  willing,  patient  devotion — e'en  though  it  be  a  cross  that 


Governor  Jewell's  Liberality.  323 

raiseth  me— and  then  the  benediction,  and  the  assembly  dispersed,  touched,  it  maybe, 
into  a  moment's  sympathy.  *  *  * 

At  the  closing  evening  session  the  opera  house  was  completely  filled  by  an  audience 
•whose  attendance  was  a  compliment.  *  *  *  The  chairman,  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton, 
said:  "  Has  not  this  convention  been  a  success?  I  say,  emphatically,  it  has.  We 
have  had  the  very  best  of  audiences  at  every  session,  and  we  have  provided  speakers 
as  good  as  the  audience.  We  have  not  given  you  even  one  poor  speech.  I  thank  the 
audience  and  the  speakers,  one  and  all.  I  feel  like  thanking  everybody,  myself  in- 
cluded, as  chairman.  In  Stewart's  store  in  New  York  they  told  me  1,500  persons 
•were  employed,  all  guided  by  one  brain  up-stairs,  and  that  one  brain  giving  the  store 
a  national  reputation.  This  convention  has  been  inspired  and  managed  by  one  per- 
son— Mrs.  Hooker  of  this  city."  After  speculating  as  to  the  possible  oratorical  power 
of  Mrs.  H.,  had  she  received  the  advantages  and  enjoyed  the  practice  of  her  brother, 
who  spoke  the  previous  evening,  he  said:  "But  of  course  Mrs.  Hooker  couldn't  vote, 
nor  be  a  member  of  the  legislature,  or  even  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Insufferable  non- 
sense! If  such  women  don't  vote  before  I  die — well,  like  Cough's  obstinate  deacon,  I 
won't  die  till  they  do." 

On  motion  of  Franklin  Chamberlin,  esq.,  the  thanks  of  the  convention  were  ten- 
dered to  Mrs.  Hooker  for  her  efforts.  At  her  request  the  chairman  said  that  she  was 
wholly  surprised  by  this  reference  to  herself.  She  would  only  say,  "  Thank  God  for 
our  success,"  to  which  the  chairman  added,  "Amen  and  Amen."  He  then  introduced 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  daughter  of  the  late  Judge  Cady  of  Albany,  wife  of  the 
Hon.  Henry  B.  Stanton  of  New  York,  and  editor  of  The  Revolution.  She  is  perhaps 
fifty*,  and  in  general  appearance  much  resembles  Mrs.  Davis.  She  is  apparently  in 
robust  health,  dresses  in  black,  with  just  enough  of  white  lace,  and,  with  her  gray  hair 
loosely  gathered,  and  her  strong,  symmetrical  and  refined  face  and  perfect  self-posses- 
sion, is  a  noble-looking  woman.  Her  address,  or  oration,  was  before  her,  but  she 
was  not  hampered  by  it.  Her  voice  is  clear,  her  gesticulation  simple,  and  her  general 
manner  not  surpassed  by  Wendell  Phillips.  Rough  notes  of  an  oration  so  finished 
can  only  indicate  the  main  drift  of  her  thoughts.  *  *  *  The  eloquent  peroration 
was  heard  in  profound  silence,  followed  by  enthusiastic  applause.  *  *  *  The 
chairman  read  the  constitution  and  offered  it  for  signatures,  and  the  officers  of  the 
•Connecticut  Woman  Suffrage  Association  were  chosen.* 

In  The  Revolution  of  November  u,  1869,  Mrs.  Stanton  giving  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  convention,  refers  to  the  liberality  of  the  governor,  Marshall 
Jewell,  and  the  genial  hospitalities  of  his  noble  wife  :t 

In  company  with  Mrs.  Howe  and  Miss  Anthony,  we  were  entertained  at  the  gov- 
ernor's mansion,  a  fine  brick  building  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  It  has  a  small  pond  on 
•one  side,  and  eight  acres  of  land,  laid  out  in  gardens,  walks  and  lawns,  with  extensive 
greenhouses  and  graperies.  The  house  is  spacious,  elegantly  and  tastefully  furnished, 
with  all  the  comforts  and  luxuries  that  wealth  can  command.  With  a  conservatory, 
library,  pictures,  statuary,  beautiful  (strong-minded)  wife  and  charming  daughters, 
the  noble  governor  is  in  duty  bound  to  remain  the  happy,  genial,  handsome  man  he  is 
to-day.  Though  the  governor,  owing  to  his  pressing  executive  duties,  did  not  honor 
our  convention  with  his  presence,  we  feel  assured,  in  reading  over  his  last  able  mes- 
sage, that  he  feels  a  deep  interest  in  the  education  and  elevation  of  women.  In  >pc;ik- 
ing  of  their  school  system,  he  calls  attention  to  the  low  wages  of  female  teachers,  and 


*  J'resident)  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton,  Hartford.  Vice-presidents^  Brigadier-general  B.  S.  Roberts,  U.  S. 
A.,  New  Haven;  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  Hartford  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Cummings,  Middletown  ; 
Rev.  William  L.  Gage,  Hartford  ;  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Bridgeport.  Secretary^  Miss  Frances  Kllen 
Burr.  Extcutivt Ctmmitteti  Mrs.  Isabella  B.  Hooker,  Mrs.  Lucy  Elmes,  Derby;  Mrs.  J.  G.  Parsons 
.and  MLss  Emily  Manning,  M.  D.,  Hartford.  Treasurer,  John  Hooker. 

t  On  her  departure  for  St.  Petersburg,  where  her  husband  was  minister  plenipotentiaryi  Mrs.  Jewell 
left  a  check  of  $200  for  the  State  society.  She  was  an  honored  officer  of  the  National  Suffrage  Axsocia- 
lion  until  the  time  of  her  death,  in  1883. 


324  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

the  injustice  of  excluding  girls  from  t^ie  scientific  schools  and  polytechnic  institutions 
in  the  State.  He  says : 

I  would  especially  call  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  importance  of  furnish- 
ing to  women  such  educational  facilities  as  will  better  fit  them  for  the  industrial  pur- 
suits which  the  true  progress  of  the  times  is  opening  to  them. 

On  the  rights  of  married  women,  he  says  : 

While  our  laws  with  regard  to  married  women  have  been  amended  from  time  to  time 
for  several  years  past,  so  as  to  secure  to  them  in  a  more  ample  manner  their  property, 
held  before  or  acquired  after  marriage,  yet  we  are  still  considerably  behind  many  of 
our  sister  States,  and  even  conservative  England,  «in  our  legislation  on  the  subject. 
I  would  recommend  to  your  favorable  consideration  such  an  amendment  of  our  laws 
as  will  secure  to  a  married  woman  all  her  property,  with  the  full  control  of  it  during  her 
married  life,  and  free  from  liability  for  any  debts,  except  those  contracted  by  herself 
or  for  which  she  has  voluntarily  made  herself  responsible,  with  the  same  right  on  the 
part  of  the  husband  to  an  interest  in  her  property,  on  his  surviving  her,  that  she  now 
has,  or  that  it  may  be  best  to  give  her,  in  his. 

On  the  subject  of  divorce  the  governor  says  : 

I  recommend  a  revision  of  our  laws  with  regard  to  divorce.  According  to  the  report 
of  the  State  librarian  there  were  in  the  State  last  year  4,734  marriages  and  478  divorces. 
Discontented  people  come  here  from  other  States,  to  take  advantage  of  what  is  called 
our  liberal  legislation,  to  obtain  divorces  which  would  be  denied  them  at  home.  As 
the  sacredness  of  the  marriage  relation  lies  at  the  foundation  of  civilized  society,  it 
should  be  carefully  guarded.  Under  our  present  laws  the  causes  of  divorce  are  too 
numerous,  and  not  sufficiently  defined,  and  too  wide  a  discretion  is  given  to  the  courts. 
I  think  the  law  of  1849  should  be  modified,  and  so  much  of  the  statute  as  grants 
divorces  for  "  any  such  misconduct  as  permanently  destroys  the  happiness  of  the  peti- 
tioner, and  defeats  the  purposes  of  the  marriage  relation,"  should  be  repealed.  I 
would  also  suggest  that  the  law  provide  that  no  decree  of  divorce  shall  take  effect  till 
one  year  after  it  is  granted. 

In  conversation  with  the  governor  on  this  point  in  his  message  he  stated  the 
singular  fact  that  the  majority  of  the  applications  for  divorce  were  made  by  women. 
If  this  be  so.  we  suggested  that  the  laws  of  Connecticut  should  stand  as  they  are  until 
the  women  have  the  right  of  suffrage,  that  they  may  have  a  voice  in  a  social  arrange- 
ment in  which  they  have  an  equal  interest  with  man  himself.  If  Connecticut,  with  its 
blue  laws,  disloyal  Hartford  convention,  and  Democracy,  has,  nevertheless,  been  a 
Canada  for  fugitive  wives  from  the  yoke  of  matrimony,  pray  keep  that  little  State,  like 
an  oasis  in  the  desert,  sacred  to  sad  wives,  at  least  until  the  sixteenth  amendment  of 
the  federal  constitution  shall  give  the  women  of  the  republic  the  right  to  say  whether 
they  are  ready  to  make  marriage,  under  all  circumstances,  for  better  or  worse,  an  in- 
dissoluble tie.  We  have  grave  doubts  as  to  the  sacredness  of  a  relation  in  which  the 
subject-class  has  no  voice  whatever  in  the  laws  that  regulate  it.  We  shall  never 
know  what  "laws  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  civilized  society"  until  woman's  thought 
finds  expression  in  the  State,  the  church  and  the  home.  It  is  presumption  for  man 
longer  to  legislate  alone  on  this  vital  question,  when  woman,  too,  should  have  a  word 
to  say  in  the  matter. 

The  morning  after  the  convention  we  had  a  pleasant  breakfast  under  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hooker's  hospitable  roof,  where  Boston  and  New  York  amicably  broke  bread  and 
discussed  the  fifteenth  amendment  together  All  the  wise  and  witty  sayings  that 
passed  around  that  social  board,  time  fails  to  chronicle. 

In  1877.  Governor  Hubbard  called  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  the 
wrongs  of  married  women,  in  the  iollowing  words : 

There  has  been  for  the  last  few  years  in  this  State  much  slip-shod  and  fragmentary 
legislation  in  respect  to  the  property  rights  of  married  women.  The  old  common  law 
assumed  the  subjugation  of  the  wife,  and  stripped  her  of  the  better  part  of  her  rights 
of  person  and  nearly  all  her  rights  of  property.  It  is  a  matter  of  astonishment  that 
Christian  nations  should  have  been  willing  for  eighteen  centuries  to  hold  the  mothers 
of  their  race  in  a  condition  of  legal  servitude.  It  has  been  the  scandal  of  jurisprud- 


Property  Rights  of  Married  Women.  325 

ence.  Some  progress  has  been  made  in  reforming  the  law  in  this  State,  but  it  has  been 
done,  as  I  have  already  said,  by  patch-work  and  shreds,  sometimes  ill-considered,  and 
often  so  incongruous  as  to  provoke  vexatious  litigation  and  defy  the  wisdom  of  the 
courts.  The  property  relations  of  husband  and  wife  do  not  to-day  rest  on  any  just  or 
harmonious  system.  Not  only  has  the  husband  absolute  disposal  of  all  his  own  prop- 
erty freed  from  all  dower  rights,  but  he  is  practically  the  owner  during  coverture  of  all 
his  wife's  estate  not  specially  limited  to  her  separate  use;  and  after  her  death  has,  in 
every  case,  a  life  use  in  all  her  personal,  and  in  most  cases  in  all  her  real  property,  by 
a  title  which  the  wife,  no  matter  what  may  have  been  his  ill-deserts,  is  powerless  to 
impair  or  defeat ;  whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  the  wife  has  during  the  husband's  life 
no  more  power  of  her  own  right  to  sell,  convey,  or  manage  her  own  estate  than  if  she 
were  a  lunatic  or  slave,  and  in  case  of  his  death  has  a  life  use  in  only  one-third  part  of 
the  real  estate  of  which  he  dies  possessed,  and  no  indefeasible  title  whatever  in  any  of 
his  personal  estate.  As  a  consequence,  a  husband  may  strip  his  wife,  by  mere  volun- 
tary disposition  to  strangers,  of  all  claim  on  his  estate  after  his  death,  and  thus  add 
beggary  to  widowhood. 

I  am  sure  this  cannot  seem  right  to  any  fair-minded  man.  Neither  is  it  strange  that 
some  of  our  countrywomen,  stung  by  the  injustice  of  the  law  towards  their  sex,  should 
be  demanding,  as  a  mode  of  redress,  a  part  in  the  making  of  the  laws  which  govern 
them.  I  am  confident  there  is  manhood  enough  in  our  own  sex  to  right  this  obvious 
wrong  to  which  I  have  alluded. 

I  therefore  recommend  that  the  law  on  this  subject  be  so  recast  that,  in  all  marriages 
hereafter  contracted,  the  wife  shall  hold  her  property  and  all  her  earnings  for  personal 
services  not  rendered  to  her  husband  or  minor  children,  as  a  sole  and  separate  estate, 
with  absolute  power  of  disposition  in  her  own  name,  and  that  the  surviving  wife  shall 
have,  by  law,  the  same  measure  of  estate  in  the  property  of  the  deceased  husband,  as 
the  surviving  husband  shall  be  allowed  to  have  in  the  property  of  his  deceased  wife. 
This  will  reduce  their  property  relations  to  a  principle  of  equality,  and,  in  my  judgment, 
is  demanded  by  the  most  obvious  dictates  of  justice  and  equity.  Those  who  are  not 
satisfied  with  this  can  make  a  different  law  for  themselves  by  ante-nuptial  settlements. 

I  am  not  unmindful  that  the  husband  alone  is  liable  in  the  first  instance  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  family;  but  this  is  much  more  than  neutralized  by  the  fact  that,  in  most 
cases,  the  wife's  whole  life  is  spent  in  the  toilsome  and  unpaid  service  of  the  house- 
hold, and  that  the  whole  drift  of  her  estate,  in  consequence  of  her  more  unselfish  and 
generous  nature,  is  towards  the  husband's  pockets,  in  spite  of  all  the  guards  of  the 
law  and  every  consideration  of  prudence. 

Calling  attention  to  this  stirring  appeal,  the  Hartford  Times,  Demo- 
cratic, used  the  following  language  : 

Another  notable  feature  of  the  message  is  its  outspoken  and  manly  call  for  a  reforma- 
tion in  our  laws  concerning  the  property  rights  of  married  women.  Here  as  in  other 
points  it  is  a  model  message.  The  governor's  experience  as  a  lawyer  has  brought  him 
often  face  to  face  with  this  disgraceful  one-sidedncss  of  our  laws  on  this  subject,  and 
in  some  terse  sentences  he  shows  up  the  injustice  more  effectively  than  has  ever  been 
done  in  any  of  the  so-called  women's  rights  conventions.* 


*  Mrs.  Hooker  writes  us  that  the  act  passed  upon  Governor  Hubbard's  recommendation  was  prepared 
at  his  request  by  Mr.  Hooker,  and  was  essentially  the  same  that  had  been  unsuccessfully  urged  by 
him  upon  the  legislature  eight  years  before.  She  then  goes  on  to  say :  "  What  part  our  society  had  in 
our  bringing  about  so  beneficent  a  change  in  legislation,  cannot  be  better  set  forth  than  in  two  private 
letters  from  Samuel  Bowles  of  the  Springfield  Republican^  and  Governor  Hubbard.  While  these  gen- 
tlemen were  friends  of  Mr.  Hooker  and  myself,  yet,  as  politically  opposed  to  each  other,  their  united 
testimony  is  exceedingly  valuable,  and  since  they  have  both  passed  on  to  a  world  of  more  perfect  adjust- 
ments, I  feel  that  nothing  would  give  them  greater  satisfaction  than  to  be  put  upon  record  here  as 
among  the  earliest  defenders  of  the  rights  of  women. 

"  SruiNGFiKi.i>,  M.iss.,  M.irch  38,  1877. 

"  MY  PEAK  MRS.  HOOKER  :— I  return  your  letters  and  paper  as  you  desired.  It  is  an  interesting  story, 
and  a  most  gratifying  movement  forward.  I  am  more  happy  over  the  bill  passed,  than  I  am  sorry  over 
the  bill  that  failed.  We  shall  move  fast  enough.  The  first  great  step  is  this  successful  measure  in  Connect!- 


326  History  of  Woman  Sit ff rage. 

The  following  editorial  from  the  Springfield  Republican,  gives  a  good 
digest  'of  the  new  law  passed  upon  Governor  Hubbard's  recommenda- 
tion : 

Connecticut  has  taken  a  great  leap  forward  in  the  reform  of  the  property  relations 
of  married  persons.  The  law  had  been  long  neglected  in  that  State,  the  obvious 
right  of  a  married  woman  to  property  acquired  before  marriage,  which  is  now  secured 
in  most  States  by  constitutional  provision,  having  been  there  denied.  In  Massachu- 
setts, the  modification  of  the  former  inequalities  has  gone  on  by  piecemeal,  till  it  is 
said  that  in  some  respects  the  woman  is  now  the  more  favored  party. 

The  new  Connecticut  statute  also  puts  the  burden  of  the  family  maintenance  on  the 
man,  as  under  most  circumstances  the  real  bread-winner.  It  simply  lays  down  the 
principle  of  absolute  equality  in  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  husband  and  wife, 
with  the  abov«  exception.  In  all  marriages  hereafter  contracted,  neither  husband  nor 
wife  shall  acquire  any  right  to  or  interest  in  any  property  of  the  other,  whether  held 
before  the  marriage  or  acquired  after  the  marriage,  except  as  provided  in  this  law. 
The  separate  earnings  of  the  wife  shall  be  her  sole  property.  She  shall  have  the 
same  right  to  make  contracts  with  third  persons  as  if  she  were  not  married,  and  to 
convey  her  real  and  personal  estate.  Her  property  is  liable  for  her  debts  and  not  for 
his;  his  is  not  liable  for  her  debts,  except  those  contracted  for  the  support  of  the  fam- 
ily. Purchases  made  by  either  party  shall  be  presumed  to  be  on  the  private  account 
of  the  party,  but  both  shall  be  liable  where  any  article  purchased  by  either  shall  have 
in  fact  gone  to  the  support  of  the  family,  or  for  the  joint  benefit  of  both,  or  for  the 
reasonable  apparel  of  the  wife,  or  for  her  reasonable  support  while  abandoned  by  her 
husband.  It  shall,  however,  be  the  duty  of  'the  husband  to  support  his  family,  and 
his  property,  when  found,  shall  be  first  applied  to  satisfy  any  such  joint  liability.  The 
wife  shall  be  entitled  to  indemnity  for  any  money  of  her  own  used  to  pay  such  claims. 
We  have  used  almost  the  precise  language  of  thetfirst  and  second  sections  of  the  act. 

On  the  death  of  either,  the  survivor  shall  be  entitled  to  the  use  for  life  of  one-third 
the  estate  of  the  deceased,  which  right  cannot  be  defeated  by  will.  If  the  deceased 
leaves  no  children  or  representatives  of  children,  the  survivor  is  entitled  to  one-half 
instead  of  one-third.  When  either  party  gives  a  legacy  to  the  other,  the  latter  may 
choose  between  its  rights  under  the  will,  and  those  under  the  statute.  Abandonment 
without  cause  may  defeat  this  provision,  and  a  marriage  contract  may  supersede  it  en- 


has  disseminated  the  perception  of  that  right  ;  third,  to  you  and  your  husband  in  particular  ;  and 
fonrth,  to  the  fact  that  you  had  in  Connecticut  this  year  a  governor  who  was  recognized  as  the  leading 
lawyer  of  the  State,  a  genuine  natural  conservative  who  yet  said  the  measure  was  right  and  ought  to  go. 
It  is  this  last  element  that  has  given  Connecticut  its  chief  leadership.  It  is  a  bigger  thing  than  it  seems 
at  first  to  have  an  eminent  conservative  lawyer  on  the  side  of  such  legislative  reform.  1  hate  very  much 
to  take  your  husband's  side  against  you,  and  yet  now  that  I  am  over  fifty  years  old,  I  find  I  more  and 


"  Very  faithfully  yours,  SAMUEL  BOWLES. 

"  This  letter  I  enclosed  to  Governor  Hubbard  and  received  the  following  reply  : 

"  EASTER,  April  i,  1877. 

"  MY  GOOD  FRIEND  : — It  was  a  'Good  Friday  '  indeed  that  brought  vour  friendly  missive.  And 
what  a  dainty  and  gracious  epistle  Sam.  Bowles  does  know  how  to  write !  fie  is  a  good  fellow,  upon  my 
word,  full  of 'generous  instincts  and  ideas.  He  ought  to  beat  the  head  of  the  London  Times  and  master 
of  all  the  wealth  it  brings.  Add  to  this,  that  the  Good  Physician  should  heal  him  of  his  '  chronic  in- 
validism  '  and  then — well  what's  the  use  of  dreaming?  Thank  yourself,  and  such  as  you  for  what 
there  is  of  progress  in  respect  of  woman's  rights  amongst  us.  I  do  believe  our  bill  is  a  'great  leap  for- 
ward '  as  Bowles  says  in  his  editorial.  'Alas!'  says  my  friend ,' it  has  destroyed  the  divine 

conception  of  the  unity  of  husband  and  wife.'  As  divine,  upon  my  soul,  as  the  unity  of  the  lamb  and 
the  devouring  wolf.  *  *  *  But  enough  of  this.  I  salute  you  my  good  friend,  with  a  thousand  salu- 
tations of  respect  and  admiration.  I  do  not  agree  with  you  in  all  things,  but  I  cannot  tell  you  how 
much  I  glorify  you  for  your  courage  and  devotion  to  womanhood. _  I  am  a  pretty  poorstick  for  anything 
like  good  work  in  the  world,  but  1  am  not  without -respect  for  it  in  others.  And  so  I  present  myself  to 
yourself  and  to  your  good  and  noble  husband  whom  I  take  to  be  one  of  the  best,  with  every  assurance 
of  affection  and  esteem.  Thanking  you  for  your  kind  letter,  I  remain,  dear  madam, 

"  Yours  very  truly,  R.  D.  HUBBARD." 


Before  the  Legislature.  327 

tirely.     Parties  already  married  may  contract  to  surrender  their  present  rights  for 
those  secured  by  this  statute,  such  contracts  to  be  recorded  in  the  probate  court. 

Thus  we  have  a  new  and  clear  statute  framed  in  accordance  with  a  simple  principle 
of  reform,  for  which  the  Republican  has  long  done  battle — the  equality  of  married  per- 
sons in  their  rights  and  responsibilities  of  property.  The  adoption  of  the  reform  is 
due  deeply  to  the  general  agitation  of  the  rights  of  women,  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Isabella 
Beecher  Hooker,  the  Smith  girls'  cows,  and  perhaps  some  flagrant  instance  of  injus- 
tice to  rich  wives  by  tyrant  husbands  near  the  capital.  But  the  great  occasion  and 
immediate  cause,  without  which  this  generation  might  have  pleaded  for  it  in  vain,  was 
the  perception  of  the  justice  of  it  by  Governor  Hubbard,  and  his  open  advocacy  of  it 
in  his  message.  Lawyers  have  one  answer  for  all  reforms  regarding  property  or  civil 
contracts — they  are  impossible.  But  here  was  undeniably  the  best  lawyer  in  the  State 
who  said,  and  threw  the  weight  of  his  first  State  paper  on  the  proposition,  that  this 
thing  was  possible,  and,  if  he  said  it  was  possible,  there  was  no  man  who  could  gain- 
say it.  The  legislature  took  the  reform  on  its  own  sense  of  justice  and  on  the  assur- 
ance of  Richard  D.  Hubbard,  that  it  would  work. 

On  June  6,  1870,  at  a  second  hearing*  before  the  Joint  Com- 
mittee on  Woman  Suffrage,  in  the  capitol  at  New  Haven,  Rev. 
PhebeA.  Hanaford  of  the  Universalist  church,  Mrs.  Benchley  and 
Mrs.  Russell  were  the  speakers.  During  that  session  of  the  legis- 
lature Mrs.  Hanaford  acted  as  chaplain  both  in  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  and  received  a  check  for  her  services 
which  she  valued  chiefly  as  a  recognition  of  woman's  equality  in 
the  clerical  profession. 

Mrs.  Hooker  was  ably  sustained  in  her  new  position  by  her 
husband,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  the  State.  Being  equally 
familiar  with  civil  and  canon  law,  with  Blackstone  and  the  Bible, 
he  was  well  equipped  to  meet  the  opponents  of  the  reform  at 
every  point.  While  Mrs.  Hooker  held  meetings  in  churches  and 
school-houses  through  the  State,  her  husband  in  his  leisure  hours 
sent  the  daily  press  articles  on  the  subject.  And  thus  their 
united  efforts  stirred  the  people  to  thought  and  at  last  roused 
a  Democratic  governor  of  the  State  to  his  duty  on  this 
question.  From  the  many  able  tracts  issued  and  articles 
published  in  the  journals  we  give  a  few  extracts.  In  answer  to 
the  common  objections  of  "  free  love  "  and  "  easy  divorce,"  in 
the  Evening  Post  of  January  17,  1871,  Mr.  Hooker  said  : 

The  persons  who  advocate  easy  divorce  would  advocate  it  just  as 
strongly  if  there  was  no  woman  suffrage  movement.  The  two  have  no 
necessary  connection.  Indeed  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  in  favor  of 
woman  suffrage  is,  that  the  marriage  relation  will  be  safer  with  women  to 
vote  and  legislate  upon  it  than  where  the  voting  and  legislation  are  left 
wholly  to  the  men.  Women  will  always  be  wives  and  mothers,  above  all 
things  else.  This  law  of  nature  cannot  be  changed,  and  1  know  of  nobody 

*  At  the  various  hearings  Mrs.  Anna  Middlebrook,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Joseph  Sheldon,  Julia  and  Abby 
Smith,  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hooker  were  the  speakers. 


328  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

who  desires  to  change  it.  The  marriage  relation  will  therefore  always  be 
more  to  woman  than  to  man,  and  we,  who  would  give  her  the  right  to 
vote,  have  no  fear  to  trust  to  her  the  sanctity  and  purity  of  that  relation. 
It  is  the  opponents  of  woman  suffrage  who  distrust  the  fidelity  of  woman 
to  her  divine  instincts  and  dare  not  let  her  vote.  Our  little  State  has 
been  two  hundred  years  under  male  legislation,  and  yet  a  long  memorial 
from  hundreds  of  clergymen  and  other  Christian  men  went  up  to  our 
legislature  two  years  ago,  representing  our  legislation  on  divorce  as  de- 
moralizing and  as  fatal  to  the  best  interests  of  the  marriage  relation.  It 
really  seems  as  if  the  incompetency  for  the  management  of  public  affairs 
which  by  mere  assumption  is  charged  in  advance  upon  women,  has  been 
proved  with  regard  to  men  by  an  actual  experience  of  many  years.  The 
true  idea  is  for  man  and  woman  to  share  together  the  responsibilities  and 
duties  of  legislation,  and  until  this  is  done  I  have  no  hope  for  any  real 
progress  towards  purity  in  the  administration  of  our  public  affairs.  We 
who  favor  woman  suffrage  speak  confidently  on  this  subject  because  the 
reform  works  so  well  wherever  it  has  been  tried,  in  England,  Sweden, 
Austria  and  Wyoming  Territory. 

No  rational  man  can  suppose  for  a  moment  that  with  woman  suffrage 
established  in  England  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  we  in  this  country, 
which  so  specially  stands  on  equal  representation,  are  going  to  refuse  it. 
It  must  be  set  down  as  one  of  the  certain  things  of  the  future.  And  when 
it  has  come,  and  women  vote,  it  will  excite  no  more  attention  or  comment 
than  the  voting  of  our  colored  people. 

Now  if  woman  suffrage  is  to  come,  is  it  worth  while  to  be  making  the 
impression  that  the  women  of  our  country  are  not  to  be  trusted  with  it, 
and  that  the  marriage  relation  is  to  be  imperiled  by  it?  Above  all,  is  it 
manly  or  just  to  be  charging  corrupt  motives  on  nine-tenths  of  those 
who  advocate  the  reform  ?  The  notoriety  which  to  some  extent  its  advo- 
cates must  get  is  almost  universally  painful  to  the  women  who  are  the 
subjects  of  it.  One  noble  woman,  whose  whole  soul  is  in  this  cause,  and 
the  purity  of  whose  motives  in  this,  as  in  everything  else,  I  have  had  good 
opportunity  to  learn,  said  to  me,  on  reading  Dr.  Bushnell's  remark  in  his 
book  on  woman  suffrage,  that  these  women  were  only  trying  to  make 
themselves  men  :  "  Cruel,  cruel  words !  If  so  noble  a  man  as  Dr.  Bush- 
nell  so  utterly  fails  to  comprehend  a  woman's  nature,  shall  not  she  be 
allowed  to  speak  for  herself,  and  no  testimony  be  taken  but  hers?"* 

Much  might  be  said  in  regard  to  the  most  famous  women  of 
Connecticut,  the  historic  "  Maids  of  Glastonbury,"  celebrated  for 
their  resistance  to  taxation.  After  the  death  of  Abby,  July  23, 
1878,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith,  in  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the 
sisters,  said ; 

Many  years  ago  they  took  a  stand  akin  to  that  of  the  illustrious  Hamp- 
den,  which  has  made  his  name  a  synonym  for  patriotism  as  well  as  just 
and  manly  opposition  to  unconstitutional  revenue  exaction.  "  The  tax 
.may  be  a  small  matter  for  an  English  gentleman  to  pay,  but  it  is  too  much 

*  See  Appendix  for  Mr.  Hooker's  article,  "  Is  the  Family  the  Basis  of  the  State?  " 


The  Smith  Sisters  of  Glastonbury.  329 

for  a  British  freeman  to  pay,"  was  the  ground  of  his  noble  resistance,  and 
this  view  precipitated  that  great  Revolution  which  more  than  all  other  mod- 
ern movements  consolidated  and  strengthened  the  rights  of  the  British 
subject.  These  two  women  deserve  to  stand  upon  a  platform  side  by  side 
with  the  great  Hampden.  Other  women  have  paid  their  taxes  under  pro- 
test, but  Abby  and  Julia  Smith  have  done  more  than  protest;  they  have 
suffered  loss  as  well  as  inconvenience,  their  property  having  been  seized 
and  sold  again  and  again  because  of  their  honest  conviction  that  taxation 
without  representation  was  as  unjust  to  women  as  to  men.  Their  stead- 
fastness has  been  the  more  remarkable  because,  by  their  social  position, 
their  learning  and  their  wealth,  they  might  be  supposed  to  be  indifferent 
to  the  ballot-box,  as  so  many  thus  situated  claim  to  be.  Abby  and  her 
sister  were  no  ordinary  women.  The  family  originally  consisted  of  five 
sisters,  all  more  or  less  accomplished.  The  father  was  a  man  of  learning, 
a  graduate  of  Yale  and  a  clergyman.  The  mother  was  familiar  with 
French  and  Italian,  and  no  mean  astronomer.  Thus  parented,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  Glastonbury  sisters  were  of  marked  individualism  as 
well  as  superior  scholarship.  They  were  more  or  less  acquainted  with 
Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin,  and  have  made  a  translation  of  the  Bible  from 
these  sources,  giving  its  original  meaning. 

The  maids  of  Glastonbury  planted  themselves  upon  the  right  of  the 
sex  to  suffrage,  from  purely  philosophic  and  statesman-like  grounds. 
They  had  no  other  disabilities  of  which  to  complain — no  other  grievance 
— no  social  ostracism,  as  is  so  often  charged,  and  most  unjustly,  against 
other  advocates  of  the  doctrine.  They  were  unmarried,  studious,  up- 
right, simple-minded  gentlewomen,  and  were  much  esteemed  and  hon- 
ored in  the  community  in  which  they  lived.  They  occupied  the  old 
homestead,  doing  their  own  work,  their  interests  well  cared  for  in  the 
person  of  Mr.  Kellogg,  an  intelligent  tenant  of  theirs,  as  well  as  friend 
and  neighbor. 

The  Hartford  Post,  in  a  tender  mention  of  the  life  and  death  of  Abby. 
with  a  brief  sketch  of  the  family,  thus  bears  honorable  testimony  to  her 
worthiness : 

In  the  death  of  Miss  Smith  the  cause  of  woman  suffrage  has  met  with  a  severe  loss, 
as  her  firm  resistance  to  what  she  believed  to  be  the  unjust  treatment  of  women  greatly 
encouraged  her  companions  in  the  contest;  her  sister  has  lost  her  chief  support,  and 
the  community  in  which  she  lived  a  faithful  friend  and  a  worthy  exponent  of  the  vir- 
tues of  truthfulness,  firmness,  and  adherence  to  the  right  as  she  understood  it 

The  Hartford  Times  said  : 

A  notable  woman  who  died  last  week  was  Miss  Abigail  H.  Smith,  of  Glastonbury, 
Conn.,  one  of  the  two  sisters  who  resisted  the  collection  of  their  taxes  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  no  voice  in  the  levy.  It  will  be  remembered  that  their  cows  were  seized 
and  some  of  their  personal  property  sold  two  years  ago.  Of  course  there  were  friends 
who  were  willing  and  anxious  to  pay  the  taxes,  but  the  plucky  old  ladies  were  fighting 
for  a  principle,  and  they  would  allow  no  one  to  stand  in  the  way.  The  notoriety, 
which  they  neither  sought  nor  avoided,  undoubtedly  did  a  great  deal  to  call  public 
attention  to  the  anomalous  condition  of  woman  under  the  law.  It  would  be  very  hard 
for  any  man  to  argue  successfully  that  he  possessed  any  stronger  natural  claim  to  the 
suffrage  than  was  possessed  by  these  shrewd,  honest,  energetic  old  ladies. 


330  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Many  encouraging  letters  were  written  the  sisters  during  their 
many  trials,  of  which  the  following  is  a  fair  specimen  : 

Near  BOSTON,  January  14,  1874. 

MY  DEAR  MADAM  :  The  account  of  your  hardships  is  interesting,  and 
your  action  will  be  highly  beneficial  in  bringing  the  subject  to  public  no- 
tice, and  in  leading  to  the  correction  of  a  great  injustice.  The  taxation  of 
the  property  of  women,  without  allowing  them  any  representation,  even 
in  town  affairs,  is  so  unfair  that  it  seems  only  necessary  to  bring  it  to  pub- 
lic view  to  make  it  odious  and  to  bring  about  a  change.  Therefore  you 
deserve  the  greater  honor,  not  only  because  you  have  suffered  in  a  good 
cause,  but  because  you  have  set  an  example  that  will  be  followed,  and 
that  will  lead  to  happy  results. 

Your  case  has  its  parallel  in  every  township  of  New  England.  In  the 
town  where  this  is  written  a  widow  pays  into  the  treasury  §7,830  a  year, 
while  600  men,  a  number  equal  to  half  the  whole  number  of  voters,  pay 
$1,200  in  all.  Another  lady  pays  $5,042.  Yet  neither  has  a  single  vote, 
not  even  by  proxy.  That  is,  each  one  of  600  men  who  have  no  property, 
who  pay  only  a  poll-tax,  and  many  of  whom  cannot  read  or  write,  has 
the  power  of  voting  away  the  property  of  the  town,  while  the  female 
owners  have  no  power  at  all.  We  have  lately  spent  a  day  in  celebrating 
the  heroism  of  those  who  threw  overboard  the  tea;  but  how  trifling  was 
the  tea-tax,  and  how  small  the  injustice  to  individuals  compared  with  this 
one  of  our  day  !  The  principle,  however,  was  the  same — that  there  should 
be  no  taxation  where  there  is  no  representation.  And  this  is  what  we 
ought  to  stand  by.  Please  to  accept  the  sympathy  and  respect  of  one 
of  your  fellow  citizens.  No  doubt  you  will  have  the  same  from  all  in 
due  time;  or,  at  any  rate,  from  all  who  love  to  see  fair  play. 

Very  truly  yours,  AMOS  A.  LAWRENCE. 

Miss  Abby  H.  Smith,  Glastonbury,  Conn. 

A  marked  evidence  of  the  advance  of  public  sentiment  was 
manifested  by  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1882,  by  which 
the  women  of  Connecticut  were  held  to  have  the  right  to  practice 
law.  The  opinion  of  Chief-Justice  Park  concerning  the  legality 
of  the  admission  of  Miss  Mary  Hall  of  Hartford  to  the  bar,  giving 
her  the  right  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  State,  is  as  follows: 

This  is  an  application  by  a  woman  for  admission  to  the  bar  of  Hartford  county. 
After  having  completed  the  prescribed  term  of  study  she  has  passed  the  examination 
required  and  has  been  recommended  by  the  bar  of  the  county  to  the  Superior  Court 
for  admission,  subject  to  the  opinion  of  the  court  upon  the  question  whether,  as  a 
woman,  she  can  legally  be  admitted.  The  Superior  Court  has  reserved  the  case  for 
our  advice. 

The  statute  with  regard  to  the  admission  of  attorneys  by  the  court  is  the  2gth  section 
of  chapter  3,  title  4,  of  the  General  Statutes,  and  is  in  the  following  words  :  "  The  Su- 
perior Court  may  admit  and  cause  to  be  sworn  as  attorneys  such  persons  as  are  quali- 
fied therefor  agreeably  to  the  rules  established  by  the  judges  of  said  court;  and  no 
other  person  than  an  attorney  so  admitted  shall  plead  at  the  bar  of  any  court  of  this 
State,  except  in  his  own  cause." 


Admission  to  the  Bar.  331 


It  is  not  contended,  in  opposition  to  the  application,  that  the  language  of  this  statute 
is  not  comprehensive  enough  to  include  women,  but  the  claim  is  that  at  the  time  it 
was  passed  its  application  to  women  was  not  thought  of,  while  the  fact  that  women 
have  never  been  admitted  as  attorneys,  either  by  the  English  courts  or  by  any  of  the 
courts  of  this  country,  had  established  a  common-law  disability,  which  could  be  re- 
moved only  by  a  statute  intended  to  have  that  effect. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  consider  how  far  the  fact  that  women  have  never  pursued 
a  particular  profession  or  occupied  a  particular  official  position,  to  the  pursuit  or  occu- 
pancy of  which  some  governmental  license  or  authority  was  necessary,  constitutes  a 
common-law  disability  for  receiving  such  license  or  authority,  because  here  the  statute 
is  ample  for  removing  that  disability  if  we  can  construe  it  as  applying  to  women;  so 
that  we  come  back  to  the  question  whether  we  are  by  construction  to  limit  the  appli- 
cation of  the  statute  to  men  alone,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  in  its  original  enactment 
its  application  to  women  was  not  intended  by  the  legislators  that  enacted  it.  And 
upon  this  point  we  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  an  inquiry  of  this  sort  involves  very 
serious  difficulties.  No  one  would  doubt  that  a  statute  passed  at  this  time  in  the  same 
words  would  be  sufficient  to  authorize  the  admission  of  women  to  the  bar,  because  it 
is  now  a  common  fact  and  presumably  in  the  minds  of  legislators,  that  women  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country  are,  and  for  some  time  have  been,  following  the  profession 
of  law.  But  if  we  hold  that  the  construction  of  the  statute  is  to  be  determined  by  the 
admitted  fact  that  its  application  to  women  was  not  in  the  minds  of  the  legislators 
when  it  was  passed,  where  shall  we  draw  the  line  ?  All  progress  in  social  matters  is 
gradual.  We  pass  almost  imperceptibly  from  a  state  of  public  opinion  that  utterly 
condemns  some  course  of  action  to  one  that  strongly  approves  it.  At  what  point,  in 
the  history  of  this  change,  shall  we  regard  a  statute,  the  construction  of  which  is  to  be 
affected  by  it,  as  passed  in  contemplation  of  it  ?  When  the  statute  we  are  now  consid- 
ering was  passed,  it  probably  never  entered  the  mind  of  a  single  member  of  the  legis- 
lature that  black  men  would  ever  be  seeking  for  admission  under  it.  Shall  we  now 
hold  that  it  cannot  apply  to  black  men  ?  We  know  of  no  distinction  in  respect  to  this 
rule  between  the  case  of  a  statute  and  that  of  a  constitutional  provision.  When  our 
State  constitution  was  adopted  in  1818  it  was  provided  in  it  that  every  elector  should 
be  "eligible  to  any  office  in  the  State,"  except  where  otherwise  provided  in  the  consti- 
tution. It  is  clear  that  the  convention  that  framed,  and  probably  all  the  people  who 
voted  to  adopt  the  constitution,  had  no  idea  that  black  men  would  ever  be  electors, 
and  contemplated  only  white  men  as  within  any  possible  application  of  the  provision, 
for  the  same  constitution  provided  that  only  white  men  should  be  electors.  But  now 
that  black  men  are  made  electors,  will  it  do  to  say  that  they  are  not  entitled  to  the 
full  rights  of  electors  in  respect  to  holding  office,  because  an  application  of  the  pro- 
vision to  them  was  never  thought  of  when  it  was  adopted?  Events  that  gave  rise  to 
enactments  may  always  be  considered  in  construing  them.  This  is  little  more  than 
the  familiar  rule  that  in  construing  a  statute  we  always  inquire  what  particular  mischief 
it  was  designed  to  remedy.  Thus,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  held 
that  in  construing  the  recent  amendments  of  the  federal  constitution,  although  they 
are  general  in  their  terms,  it  is  to  be  considered  that  they  were  passed  with  reference 
to  the  exigencies  growing  out  of  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
benefiting  the  blacks  {Slaughter-house  Cases,  16  Wall.,  67;  Straudervs.  West  /'/>- 
ginia,  100  U.  S.  Jteps.,  306).  But  this  statute  was  not  passed  for  the  purpose  of  ben- 
efiting men  as  distinguished  from  women.  It  grew  out  of  no  exigency  caused  by  the 
relation  of  the  sexes.  Its  object  was  wholly  to  secure  the  orderly  trial  of  causes  and 
the  better  administration  of  justice.  Indeed,  the  preamble  to  the  first  statute  provid- 
ing for  the  admission  of  attorneys,  states  its  object  to  be  "  for  the  well-ordering  of 
proceedings  and  pleas  at  the  bar." 

The  statute  on  this  subject  was  not  originally  passed  in  its  present  form.  The  first 
act  with  regard  to  the  admission  of  attorneys  was  that  of  1708,  which  was  as  follows: 
"That  no  person,  except  in  his  own  cause,  shall  be  admitted  to  make  any  plea  at  the 
bar  without  being  first  approved  by  the  court  before  whom  the  plea  is  to  be  made,  nor 


33-  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

until  he  shall  take  in  the  said  court  the  following  oath,"  etc.  (Col.  Records,  1706  to 
1716,  page  48).  This  act  seems  to  have  contemplated  an  approval  by  the  court  in  each 
particular  case  in  which  an  attorney  appeared  before  it.  The  first  act  with  regard  to 
the  general  admission  of  attorneys  appears  in  the  revision  of  1750,  and  is  as  follows : 
"  That  the  county  courts  of  the  respective  counties  in  this  colony  shall  appoint,  and 
they  are  hereby  empowered  to  approve,  nominate  and  appoint  attorneys  in  their  re- 
spective counties,  as  there  shall  be  occasion,  to  plead  at  the  bar;  *  *  and  that  no 
person,  except  in  his  own  case,  shall  make  any  plea  at  the  bar  in  any  court  but  such 
as  are  allowed  and  qualified  attorneys,  as  aforesaid."  Thus  the  statute  stood  until  the 
revision  of  1821;  when,  for  the  first  time,  it  took  essentially  its  present  form.  Up  to 
this  time  the  word  "person "  had  been  used  in  this  statute  only  in  the  clause  that  "no 
person  "  should  be  allowed  to  practice  before  the  courts  except  where  formally  admit- 
ted by  the  court,  a  use  of  the  word  which,  of  course,  could  not  be  regarded  as  limited 
to  the  male  sex,  as  women  would  undoubtedly  have  been  held  to  be  included  in  the 
term.  The  language  of  the  statute  as  now  adopted  was  as  follows:  "  The  county 
courts  may  make  such  rules  and  regulations  as  to  them  shall  seem  proper  relative  to 
the  admission  and  practice  of  attorneys;  and  may  approve  of,  admit  and  cause  to  be 
sworn  as  attorneys,  such  persons  as  are  qualified  therefor  agreeably  to  the  rules  estab- 
lished; *  *  and  no  person  not  thus  admitted,  except  in  his  own  cause,  shall  be  ad- 
mitted or  allowed  to  plead  at  the  bar  of  any  court."  The  statute  in  this  form  passed 
through  the  compilations  of  1835  and  1838,  the  revision  of  1849  and  the  compilation 
of  1854,  and  appears,  with  a  slight  modification,  in  the  revision  of  1866.  The  county 
courts  had  now  been  abolished,  and  the  power  to  admit  attorneys,  as  well  as  to  make 
rules  on  the  subject,  had  been  given  to  the  Superior  Court;  the  expression,  "such  per- 
sons," being  preserved,  and  the  provision  that  "no  person"  not  thus  admitted  should 
be  allowed  to  plead,  being  omitted. 

The  statute  finally  took  its  present  form  in  the  revision  of  1875.  It  retains  the  pro- 
vision that  the  Superior  Court  may  make  rules  for  the  admission  of  attorneys,  and  pro- 
vides that  the  court  "may  admit  and  cause  to  be  sworn  as  attorneys  such  persons  as 
are  qualified  therefor  agreeably  to  the  rules  established,"  and  restores  the  provision, 
dropt  in  the  revision  of  1866,  that  "no  person  other  than  an  attorney  so  admitted 
shall  plead  at  the  bar  of  any  court  in  this  State,  except  in  his  own  cause." 

These  changes,  though  not  such  as  to  affect  the  meaning  of  the  statute  at  any  point 
of  importance  to  the  present  question,  are  yet  not  wholly  without  importance.  The 
adoption  by  the  legislature  of  the  revision  of  the  statutes  becomes,  both  in  law  and  in 
fact,  a  reenactment  of  the  whole  body  of  statutes  ;  and  though  in  determining  the 
meaning  of  a  statute,  we  are  not  to  regard  it  as  then  enacted  for  the  first  time,  especially 
if  there  be  no  change  in  its  phraseology,  yet,  where  there  is  such  a  change,  it  follows  that 
the  attention  of  the  revisers  had  been  particularly  directed  to  that  statute,  as  of  course 
also  that  of  the  legislature,  and  that  with  the  changes  made  it  expresses  the  present 
intent  of  both.  Thus,  in  this  case,  it  is  clear  that  the  revisers  gave  particular  thought 
to  the  phraseology  of  the  statute  we  are  considering,  and  put  it  in  a  form  that  seemed 
to  them  best  with  reference  to  the  present  state  of  things,  and  decided  to  leave  the  words 
"such  persons"  to  stand  with  full  knowledge  that  they  were  sufficient  to  include  women, 
and  that  women  were  already  following  the  profession  of  law  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  The  legislators  must  be  presumed  to  have  acted  with  the  same  considera- 
tion and  knowledge.  It  would  have  been  perfectly  easy,  if  either  had  thought  best,  to 
insert  some  words  of  limitation  or  exclusion,  but  it  was  not  done.  Not  only  so,  but  a 
clause  omitted  in  the  revision  of  1866  was  restored,  providing  that  no  "person"  not 
regularly  admitted  should  act  as  an  attorney — a  term  which  necessarily  included  women, 
and  the  insertion  of  which  made  it  necessary,  if  the  word  ' '  persons  "  as  used  in  the 
first  part  of  the  statute  should  be  held  not  to  include  women,  to  give  two  entirely  dif- 
ferent meanings  to  the  same  word  where  occurring  twice  in  the  same  statute  and  with 
regard  to  the  same  subject  matter. 

The  object  of  a  revision  of  statutes  is,  that  there  may  be  such  changes  made  in 
them  as  the  changes  in  political  and  social  matters  may  demand,  and  where  no 


Admission  to  the  Bar.  333 

changes  are  made  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  legislature  is  satisfied  with  it  in  its 
present  form.  And  where  some  changes  are  made  in  a  particular  statute,  and  other 
parts  of  it  are  left  unchanged,  there  is  the  more  reason  for  the  inference  from  this 
evidence  that  the  matter  of  changing  the  statute  was  especially  considered,  that  the 
parts  unchanged  express  the  legislative  will  of  to-day,  rather  than  that  of  perhaps  a 
hundred  years  ago,  when  it  was  originally  enacted. 

But  this  statute,  in  the  revision  of  1875,  is  placed  immediately  after  another  with 
regard  to  the  appointment  of  commissioners  of  the  Superior  Court,  the  necessary  con- 
struction of  which,  we  think,  throws  light  upon  the  construction  of  the  statute  in  ques- 
tion. That  act  was  passed  in  1855,  after  women  had  begun,  with  general  acceptance, 
to  occupy  a  greatly  enlarged  field  of  industry  and  some  professional  and  even  public 
positions  ;  and  it  has  been  held  by  the  Superior  Court,  very  properly  we  think,  as  ap- 
plying to  women,  a  woman  having  three  years  ago  been  appointed  commissioner  under 
it.  Its  language  is  as  follows  :  "  The  Superior  Court  in  any  county  may  appoint  any 
number  of  persons  in  such  county  to  be  commissioners  of  the  Superior  Court,  who, 
when  sworn,  may  sign  writs  and  subprenas,  take  recognizances,  administer  oaths  and 
take  depositions  and  the  acknowledgement  of  deeds,  and  shall  hold  office  for  two  years 
from  their  appointment."  Here  the  very  language  is  used  which  is  used  in  the  statute 
with  regard  to  attorneys.  In  one  it  is,  "  any  number  of  persons,"  in  the  other,  "  such 
persons  as  are  qualified."  These  two  statutes  are  placed  in  immediate  juxtaposition  in 
the  revision  of  1875  and  deal  with  kindred  subjects,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  presume  that 
the  revisers  and  legislature  intended  both  to  receive  the  same  construction.  It  would 
seem  strange  to  any  common-sense  observer  that  an  entirely  different  meaning  should 
be  given  to  the  same  word  in  the  two  statutes,  especially  when  in  giving  the  narrower 
meaning  to  the  word  in  the  statute  with  regard  to  attorneys,  we  are  compelled  to  give 
it  a  different  meaning  from  that  which  the  same  word  requires  in  the  next  line  of  the 
same  statute. 

We  are  not  to  forget  that  all  statutes  are  to  be  construed,  as  far  as  possible,  in  favor 
of  equality  of  rights.  All  restrictions  upon  human  liberty,  all  claims  for  special  privi- 
leges, are  to  be  regarded  as  having  the  presumption  of  law  against  them,  and  as 
standing  upon  their  defense,  and  can  be  sustained  if  at  all  by  valid  legislation,  only 
by  the  clear  expression  or  clear  implication  of  the  law. 

We  have  some  noteworthy  illustrations  of  the  recognition  of  women  as  eligible  or 
appointable  to  office  under  statutes  of  which  the  language  is  merely  general.  Thus, 
women  are  appointed  in  all  parts  of  the  country  as  postmasters.  The  act  of  congress 
of  1825  was  the  first  one  conferring  upon  the  postmaster-general  the  power  of  appoint- 
ing postmasters,  and  it  has  remained  essentially  unchanged  to  the  present  time.  The 
language  of  the  act  is,  that  "the  postmaster-general  shall  establish  post-offices  and 
appoint  postmasters."  Here  women  are  not  included,  except  in  the  general  term 
"  postmasters,"  a  term  which  seems  to  imply  a  male  person;  and  no  legislation  from 
1825  down  to  the  present  time  authorizes  the  appointment  of  women,  nor  is  there  any 
reference  in  terms  to  women  until  the  revision  of  1874,  which  recognizes  the  fact 
that  women  had  already  been  appointed,  in  providing  that  "  the  bond  of  any  married 
woman  who  may  be  appointed  postmaster  shall  be  binding  on  her  and  her  sureties." 
Some  of  the  higher  grades  of  postmasters  are  appointed  by  the  president,  subject  to 
confirmation  by  the  Senate,  and  such  appointments  and  confirmations  have  repeatedly 
been  made.  The  same  may  be  said  of  pension  agents.  The  acts  of  congress  on  the 
subject  have  simply  authorized  "the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  appoint  all  pension  agents,  who  shall  hold  their  offices  for  the  term  of 
four  years,  and  shall  give  bond,"  etc.  At  the  last  session  of  congress  a  married 
woman  in  Chicago  was  appointed  for  a  third  term  pension  agent  for  the  State  of 
Illinois,  and  the  public  papers  stated  that  there  was  not  a  single  vote  against  her  con- 
firmation in  the  Senate.  Public  opinion  is  everywhere  approving  of  such  appointments. 
They  promote  the  public  interest,  which  is  benefitted  by  every  legitimate  use  of  indi- 
vidual ability,  while  mere  justice,  which  is  of  interest  to  all,  requires  that  all  have  the 


334  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

fullest  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  their  abilities.  These  cases  are  the  more  note- 
worthy as  being  cases  of  public  offices,  to  which  the  incumbent  is  appointed  for  a  term 
of  years,  upon  a  compensation  provided  by  law,  and  in  which  he  is  required  to  give 
bond.  If  an  attorney  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  officer,  it  is  in  a  lower  sense. 

We  have  had  pressed  upon  us  by  the  counsel  opposed  to  the  applicant,  the  decisions 
of  the  courts  of  Massachusetts,  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  and  the  United  States  Court  of 
Claims,  adverse  to  such  an  application.  While  not  prepared  to  accede  to  all  the 
general  views  expressed  in  those  decisions,  we  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  go  into  a 
discussion  of  them,  as  we  regard  our  statute,  in  view  of  all  the  considerations  affecting 
its  construction,  as  too  clear  to  admit  of  any  reasonable  question  as  to  the  interpreta- 
tion and  effect  which  we  ought  to  give  it. 

In  this  opinion  Carpenter  and  Loomis,  Js.,  concurred;  Pardee,  J.,  dissented. 

In  1884,  the  State  society  held  a  spirited  and  successful  con- 
vention.* Julia  Smith  gave  an  extemporaneous  talk  to  the 
great  delight  of  the  audience,  who  applauded  continually  ;  Mrs. 
Crane,  a  fine  elocutionist,  gave  a  reading  from  Carlyle ;  Mrs. 
Hooker  closed  with  a  brief  resum£  of  the  work  the  society  had 
accomplished. 

We  are  also  indebted  to  Frances  Ellen  Burr  for  many  facts,  as 
the  following  letter  will  show : 

HARTFORD,  September  17,   1885. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY:  I  have  received  your  letter  of  inquiry.  As 
to  that  petition  in  1867,  I  was  one  of  the  signers,  and,  probably  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  getting  the  other  signatures,  though  I  have  nothing  but 
my  memory  to  depend  on  as  to  that ;  but  I  was  pretty  much  alone  here 
in  those  days,  on  the  woman  suffrage  question.  Who  the  other  signers 
were  I  made  an  attempt  to  find  out  in  the  secretary  of  state's  office  the 
other  day,  but  found  that  it  would  take  days,  instead  of  the  few  hours  I  had 
at  my  command.  I  find  in  my  journal  a  reference  to  Lucy  Stone  and  Mr. 
Blackwell  addressing  the  committee  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
that  was  the  committee  that  made  the  report  afterwards  published  in  The 
Revolution,  Mr.  Croffut  made  the  opening  address  on  the  day  of  the  hear- 
ing. He  was  always  ready  to  aid  us  in  whatever  way  he  could,  and  I 
felt  grateful  to  him,  for  a  helping  hand  was  doubly  appreciated  in  those 
days.  I  find  by  the  journal  of  the  House' for  that  year  that  the  vote  on 
the  question  was  93  yeas  to  in  nays.  The  name  of  Miss  Susie  Hutchin- 
son  heads  one  petition,  with  70  others.  How  many  other  petitions 
there  were  that  year  I  do  not  know,  but  I  believe  there  have  been  several 
every  year  since,  besides  a  number  of  individual  petitions.  Since  that 
time  the  House  has  voted  favorably  on  the  question  twice,  at  least,  but  I 
believe  we  have  never  had  a  majority  in  the  Senate. 

*  At  the  convention  of  March  17  and  18,  1884,  the  speakers  were  Mrs.  Hooker,  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
the  Rev.  Charles  Stowe,  Julia  Smith  Parker,  Mrs.  Emily  Collins,  Abigail  Scott  Duniway,  Miss 
Leonard,  Mrs.  C.  G.  Rogers,  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  J.  Sage,  Mrs.  Ellis,  Miss  Gage,  the  Rev.  J.  C- 
Kimball,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Everts  of  Hartford,  Mary  Hall  and  F.  E.  Burr.  The  officers  elected  at  this 
meeting  were :  Isabella  B.  Hooker,  President,'  F.  Ellen  Burr,  Secretary:  Mary  Hall,  Assistant-sec- 
retary; John  Hooker,  Treasurer.  Executive  Committee ;  Mrs.  Ellen  Burr  McManus,Mrs.  Emily  P. 
Collins,  Mrs.  Amy  A.  Ellis,  Mrs.  J.  G.  Parsons  Hartford  ;  Mrs.  Susan  J.  Cheney,  South  Manchester  ; 
Mrs.  John  S.  Dobson,  Vernon  Depot ;  Judge  Joseph  Sheldon,  Charles  Atwater,  James  Gallagher, 
New  Haven. 


Frances  Ellen  Burrs  Letter.  335 

You  ask  when  I  first  wrote  or  spoke  for  the  ballot.  My  first  ven- 
ture in  that  line  was  in  1853.  I  was  then  at  the  age  of  twenty-two, 
living  with  my  sister  in  Cleveland,  O.,  and  had  never  given  any  attention 
to  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage,  and  cared  nothing  about  it  any  further 
than  the  spirit  of  rebellion — born  with  me — against  everything  unjust, 
might  be  said  to  have  made  me  a  radical  by  nature.  In  the  fall  of  that 
year  a  woman's  rights  convention  met  in  Cleveland,  and  I  attended  it 
alone,  none  of  the  rest  of  the  family  caring  to  go.  In  my  old  journal  I 
find  this  entry : 

October  7,  1853.  Attended  a  woman's  rights  convention  which  has  met  here. 
Never  saw  anything  of  the  kind  before.  A  Mr.  Barker  spent  most  of  the  morning 
trying  to  prove  that  woman's  rights  and  the  Bible  cannot  agree.  The  Rev.  Antoinette 
L.  Brown  replied  in  the  afternoon  in  defense  of  the  Bible.  She  says  the  Bible  favors 
woman's  rights.  Miss  Brown  is  the  best-looking  woman  in  the  convention.  They 
appear  to  have  a  number  of  original  and  pleasing  characters  upon  their  platform, 
among  them  Miss  Lucy  Stone — hair  short  and  rolled  under  like  a  man's;  a  tight-fitting 
velvet  waist  and  linen  collar  at  the  throat;  bombazine  skirt  just  reaching  the  knees, 
and  trousers  of  the  same.  She  is  independent  in  manner  and  advocates  woman's 
rights  in  the  strongest  terms  : — scorns  the  idea  of  woman  asking  rights  of  man,  but  says 
she  must  boldly  assert  her  own  rights,  and  take  them  in  her  own  strength.  Mrs. 
Ernestine  L.  Rose,  a  Polish  lady  with  black  eyes  and  curls,  and  rosy  cheeks,  manifests 
the  independent  spirit  also.  She  is  graceful  and  witty,  and  is  ready  with  sharp  replies 
on  all  occasionsi  Mrs.  Lucretia  Mott,  a  Philadelphia  Quaker,  is  meek  in  dress  but 
not  in  spirit.  She  gets  up  and  hammers  away  at  woman's  rights,  politics  and  the 
Bible,  with  much  vigor,  then  quietly  resumes  her  knitting,  to  which  she  industriously 
applies  herself  when  not  speaking  to  the  audience.  She  wears  the  plain  Quaker  dress 
and  close-fitting  white  cap.  Mrs.  Frances  D.  Gage,  the  president,  is  a  woman  of  sound 
sense  and  a  good  writer  of  prose  and  poetry.  Mrs.  Caroline  Severance  has  an  easy, 
pleasing  way  of  speaking.  Mr.  Charles  Burleigh,  a  Quaker,  appears  to  be  an  original 
character.  He  has  long  hair,  parted  in  the  middle  like  a  woman's,  and  hanging  down 
his  back.  He  and  Miss  Stone  seem  to  reverse  the  usual  order  of  things. 

My  first  speech  in  public,  I  find  by  my  old  journal — which  serves  me 
better  than  I  thought  it  would — was  given  in  Music  Hall  in  this  city  in 
November,  1870.  This  meeting  was  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  State 
association,  and  was  presided  over  by  the  Rev.  Olympia  Brown.  I  find 
that  in  the  winter  of  1871  I  made  addresses  in  various  parts  of  the  State. 
The  journal  also  tells  of  a  good  deal  of  trotting  about  to  get  signatures  to 
petitions,  for  I  had  more  time  to  do  that  thing  then  than  I  have  now. 

The  first  woman  suffrage  meeting  ever  held  in  Hartford,  and  the  first, 
probably,  in  Connecticut,  was  the  one  )rou  and  Mrs.  Stanton  held  in  Allyn 
Hall  in  December,  1867.  Our  State  Suffrage  Association  was  organized  in 
October,  1869.  The  signers*  to  the  call  for  that  convention  were  quite 
influential  persons. 


*  John  Hooker,  Isabella  B.  Hooker,  the  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton,  Rachel  C.  Burton,  Franklin  Chamber- 
lin,  Francis  Gillette,  Eliza  D.  Gillette,  Frances  Ellen  Burr,  Catharine  E.  Beecher,  Esther 
E.  Jewell,  Calvin  E.  Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  and  others,  Hartford ;  Joseph  Cummings, 
Middletown,  President  of  Wesleyan  University  ;  Thomas  Elmes,  Lucy  R.  Elmes,  Derby  ;  Charles 
Atwatcr,  New  Haven ;  Thomas  T.  Stone,  Laura  Stone,  Brooklyn.  The  officers  elected  for 
the  Association  were:  President,  the  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton,  Hartford  ;  Secretary^  Frances  Ellen  Burr  ; 
l-'.\-i-cutive  Coinnn'(tct\  Isabella  1'..  Hooker;  Mrs.  Lucy  R.  Elmes,  Derby  ;  Mrs.  J.  G.  Parsons,  Miss 
Emily  Manning.  M.  C.,  Hartford  ;  Mr.  Charles  Atwater,  New  Haven  ;  Mr.  Ward  Cheney,  Mrs.  Susan 
J.  Cheney,  South  Manchester  ;  Mrs.  Virginia  Smith,  Hartford.  Treasurer,  William  B.  Smith,  Hart- 
ford. There  was  a  long  list  of  vice-presidents,  which  I  presume  you  do  not  care  for,  nor  for  the  other 
names  that  were  added  as  changes  had  to  be  made  in  the  years  that  followed. 


336  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  my  hunt  through  the  journals  of  the  two  legislative  houses  I  found 
in  the  House  journal  for  1878  that  Mr.  Pratt  of  Meriden  had  presented 
the  petition  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Isaac  C.  Lewis.  Mr.  Clark  of  Enfield,  pre- 
sented the  petition  of  Lucy  A.  Allen  ;  Mr.  Gallagher  of  New  Haven  pre- 
sented several  petitions  that  year,  one  of  them  being  headed  by  Mr. 
Henry  A.  Stillman  ot  Wethersfield,  followed  by  532  names,  and  another  by 
Mrs.  D.  F.  Connor,  M.  D.  Mr.  Broadhead  of  Glastonbury  presented  the 
petition  of  the  Smith  sisters.  This  unique  petition  Miss  Mary  Hall,  who 
was  with  me  in  the  secretary's  office,  chanced  to  light  upon,  and  she  copied 
it.  It  is  a  document  well  worth  handing  down  on  the  page  of  history,  and 
runs  as  follows : 

The  Petition  of  Julia  E.  Smith  and  Abby  H.  Smith,  of  Glastonbury,  to  the  Senate  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut  : 

This  is  the  first  time  we  have  petitioned  your  honorable  body,  having  twice  come 
before  the  House  of  Assembly,  which  the  last  time  gave  a  majority  that  we  should 
vote  in  town  affairs  ;  but  it  was  negatived  in  the  Senate. 

We  now  pray  the  highest  court  in  our  native  State  that  we  may  be  relieved  from  the 
stigma  of  birth.  For  forty  years  since  the  death  of  our  father  have  we  suffered  in- 
tensely for  being  born  women.  We  cannot  even  stand  up  for  the  principles  of  our 
forefathers  (who  fought  and  bled  for  them)  without  having  our  property  seized  and 
sold  at  the  sign-post,  which  we  have  suffered  four  times  ;  and  have  also  seen  eleven 
acres  of  our  meadow-land  sold  loan  ugly  neighbor  for  a  tax  of  fifty  dollars — land  worth 
more  than  $2,000.  And  a  threat  is  given  out  that  our  house  shall  be  ransacked  and 
despoiled  of  articles  most  dear  to  us,  the  work  of  lamented  members  of  our  family  who 
have  gone  before  us,  and  all  this  is  done  without  the  least  excuse  of  right  or  justice. 
We  are  told  that  it  is  the  law  of  the  land  made  by  the  legislature  and  done  to  us, 
two  defenceless  women,  who  have  never  broken  these  laws,  made  by  not  half  the  citi- 
zens of  this  State.  And  it  was  said  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence  that  "  Govern- 
ments derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 

For  being  born  women  we  are  obliged  to  help  support  those  who  have  earned  noth- 
ing, and  who,  by  gambling,  drinking,  and  the  like,  have  come  to  poverty,  and  these  same 
can  vote  away  what  we  have  earned  with  our  own  hands.  And  when  men  meet  to 
take  off  the  dollar  poll-tax,  the  bill  for  the  dinner  comes  in  for  the  women  to  pay. 
Neither  have  we  husband,  or  brother,  or  son,  or  even  nephew,  or  cousin,  to  help  us. 
All  men  will  acknowledge  that  it  is  as  wrong  to  take  a  woman's  property  without  her 
consent  as  to  take  a  man's  without  his  consent;  and  such  wrong  we  suffer  wholly  for 
being  born  women,  which  we  are  in  no  wise  to  blame  for.  To  be  sure,  for  our  con- 
solation, we  are  upheld  by  the  learned,  the  wise  and  the  good,  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  having  received  communications  from  thirty-two  of  our  States,  as  well  as  from 
over  the  seas,  that  we  are  in  the  right,  and  from  many  of  the  best  men  in  our  own 
State.  But  they  have  no  power  to  help  us.  We  therefore  now  pray  your  honorable 
body,  who  have  power,  with  the  House  of  Assembly,  to  relieve  us  of  this  stigma  of 
birth,  and  grant  that  we  may  have  the  same  privileges  before  the  law  as  though  we 
were  born  men.  And  this,  as  in  duty  bound,  we  will  ever  pray. 

Glastonbury,  Conn.,  January  29,  j8j8.  JULIA  and  ABBY  SMITH. 

The  story  of  the  Smith  sisters,  from  1873  and  on,  will  be  handed  down 
as  one  of  the  most  original  and  unique  chapters  in  the  history  of  woman 
suffrage.  Abby  Smith,  with  my  friend  Mrs.  Buckingham,  attended  with 
me  the  first  meeting  of  the  Woman's  Congress,  in  New  York,  in  October, 
1873.  While  there,  she  said  she  should,  on  her  return,  address  her  town's 
people  on  woman  suffrage  and  taxation,  as  they  had  not  been  treated 
fairly  in  the  matter  of  their  taxes.  She  did  so  on  the  fifth  of  November, 


/ft. 


33< 


'istory  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


were  published  in  different  papers,  but  she  made  no  noise  about  it ;  hei 
work  was  all  done  with  her  own  characteristic  gentleness.  Generous  to 
a  fault,  winning  and  beautiful  as  the  flowers  she  scattered  on  the  pathway 
of  her  friends,  she  passed  on  her  way  ;  and  one  memorable  Easter  morn- 
ing she  left  us  so  gently  that  none  knew  when  the  sleep  of  life  passed 
into  the  sleep  of  death  ;  we  only  knew  that  the  glorious  light  of  her  eyes 
— a  light  like  that  which  "  never  shone  on  sea  or  land  " — had  gone  out 
forever. 

"  She  died  in  beauty  like  the  dew 

Of  flowers  dissolved  away  ; 
She  died  in  beauty  like  a  star 

Lost  on  the  brow  of  day." 

The  Hartford  Equal  Rights  Club*  was  organized  in  March,  1885,  and 
holds  semi-monthly  meetings.  Its  membership  is  not  large,  but  what  it 
lacks  in  numbers  it  makes  up  in  earnestness.  Its  proceedings  are  re- 
ported pretty  fully  and  published  in  the  Hartford  Times,  which  has  a 
large  circulation,  thus  gaining  an  audience  of  many  thousands  and  making 
its  proceedings  much  more  important  than  they  would  otherwise  be.  It 
is  managed  as  simply  as  possible,  and  is  not  encumbered  with  a  long  list 
of  officers.  There  are  simply  a  president,  Mrs.  Emily  P.  Collins  ;t  a  vice- 
president,  Miss  Mary  Hall;  and  a  secretary,  Frances  Ellen  Burr,  who  is 
also  the  treasurer.  Debate  is  free  to  all,  the  platform  being  perfectly 
independent,  as  far  as  a  platform  can  be  independent  within  the  limits  of 
reason.  Essays  are  read  and  debated,  and  many  interesting  off-hand 
speeches  are  made.  It  is  an  entirely  separate  organization  from  the  Con- 
necticut State  Suffrage  Association,  founded  in  1869.  But  its  membership 
is  not  confined  to  the  city ;  it  invites  people  throughout  the  State,  or  in 
other  States,  to  become  members — people  of  all  classes  and  of  all  beliefs. 
Opponents  of  woman  suffrage  are  always  welcome,  for  these  furnish  the 
spice  of  debate.  Among  the  topics  discussed  has  been  that  of  woman  and 
the  church,  and  upon  this  subject  Mrs.  Stanton  has  written  the  club  sev- 
eral letters. 

Last  spring  (1885)  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  club  were  given 
hearings  before  the  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage  in  the  legislature  in 
reference  to  a  bill  then  under  consideration,  which  was  exceedingly  lim- 
ited in  its  provisions.  The  House  of  Representatives  improved  it  and 
then  passed  it,  but  it  was  afterwards  defeated  in  the  Senate.  Some  of  the 
meetings  of  the  club  have  been  held  in  Hartford's  handsome  capitol,  a 
Toom  having  been  allowed  for  its  use,  and  a  number  of  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  have  taken  part  in  the  discussions.  Mrs.  Col- 
lins, president  of  the  club,  is  always  to  be  depended  upon  for  good  work, 
and  Miss  Hall,  its  vice-president,  is  active  and  efficient.  She  is  in  herself 
an  illustration  of  what  women  can  become  if  they  only  have  sufficient 
confidence  and  force  of  will.  She  is  a  practicing  lawyer,  and  a  successful 
one. 


*  A  member  of  the  club  says :    "  We  receive  more  of  our  life  and  enthusiasm  from  Frances  Ellen 
Burr  than  all  other  members  combined ;  indeed,  the  chief  part  of  the  work  rests  on  her  shoulders." 
tSee  Mrs.  Collins's  Reminiscences,  chapter  V.,  Vol.  I. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 
RHODE    ISLAND. 

Senator  Anthony  in  North  American  Review — Convention  in  Providence — Work  of 
State  Association — Report  of  Elizabeth  B.  Chace — Miss  Ida  Lewis — Letter  of 
Frederick  A.  Hinckley — Last  Words  from  Senator  Anthony. 

RHODE  ISLAND,  though  one  of  the  smallest,  is,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  its  inhabitants,  one  of  the  wealthiest  states  in  the 
Union.  In  political  organization  Rhode  Island,  in  colonial  times, 
contrasted  favorably  with  the  other  colonies,  nearly  all  of  which 
required  a  larger  property  qualifiation,  and  some  a  religious  test 
for  the  suffrage.  The  home  of  Roger  Williams  knew  nothing  of 
such  narrowness,  but  was  an  asylum  for  those  who  suffered  perse- 
cution elsewhere.  Nevertheless  this  is  now,  in  many  respects, 
the  most  conservative  of  all  the  States. 

In  the  November  number  of  the  North  American  Review  for 
1883,  Senator  Anthony,  in  an  article  on  the  restricted  suffrage  in 
Rhode  Island,  stoutly  maintains  that  suffrage  is  not  a  natural- 
right,  and  that  in  adhering  to  her  property  qualification  for 
foreigners  his  State  has  wisely  protected  the  best  interests  of  the 
people.  In  his  whole  argument  on  the  question,  he  ignores  the 
idea  of  women  being  a  part  of  the  people,  and  ranks  together 
qualifications  of  sex,  age,  and  residence.  He  quite  unfairly  at- 
tributes much  of  Rhode  Island's  prosperity — the  result  of  many 
•causes — to  her  restricted  suffrage.  His  position  in  this  article, 
written  so  late  in  life,  is  the  more  remarkable  as  he  had  always 
spoken  and  voted  in  his  place  in  the  United  States  Senate  (where 
he  had  served  nearly  thirty  years)  strongly  in  favor  of  woman's 
enfranchisement.  And  the  Providence  Journal,  which  he  owned 
and  controlled,  was  invariably  respectful  and  complimentary 
towards  the  movement. 

While  such  a  man  as  Senator  Anthony,  one  of  the  political 
leaders  in  his  State,  regarded  suffrage  as  a  privilege  which  society 
may  concede  or  withhold  at  pleasure,  we  need  not  wonder  that 


34-O  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

so  little  has  been  accomplished  there  in  the  way  of  legislative  en- 
actments and  supreme-court  decisions.  Nevertheless  that  State 
has  shared  in  the  general  agitation  and  can  boast  many  noble 
men  and  women  who  have  taken  part  in  the  discussion  of  this 
subject. 

The  first  woman  suffrage  association  was  formed  in  Rhode 
Island  in  December,  1868.  In  describing  the  initiative  steps, 
Elizabeth  B.  Chace  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  says : 

In  October  1868,  while  in  Boston  attending  the  convention  that  formed 
the  New  England  society,  Paulina  Wright  Davis*  conceived  the  idea  that 
the  time  had  come  to  organize  the  friends  of  suffrage  in  Rhode  Island. 
After  consultation  with  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  friends  of  the  cause, 
a  call  was  issued  for  a  convention,  to  be  held  in  Roger  Williams  Hall, 
Providence,  December  nth,  signed  by  many  leading  names.  No  sooner 
did  the  call  appear  than,  as  usual,  some  clergyman  publicly  declared  him- 
self in  opposition.  The  Rev.  Mark  Trafton,  a  Methodist  minister,  gave  a 
lecture  in  his  vestry  on  "The  Coming  Woman,"  who  was  to  be  a  good 
housekeeper,  dress  simply,  and  not  to  vote.  This  was  published  in  the 
Providence  Journal,  and  called  out  a  gracefull  vindication  of  woman's 
modern  demands  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Helen  Whitman,  the  poet, 
and  Miss  Norah  Perry,  a  popular  writer  of  both  prose  and  verse.  The 
convention  was  all  that  its  most  ardent  friends  could  have  desired,  and 
resulted  in  forming  an  association. t  The  audience  numbered  over  a 
thousand,  at  the  different  sessions,  and  among  the  speakers  were  some  of 
the  ablest  men  in  the  State.  Though  the  friends  were  comparatively  few 
in  the  early  days,  yet  there  was  no  lack  of  enthusiasm  and  self-sacrifice. 
Weekly  meetings  were  held,  tracts  and  petitions  circulated  ;  conventions  \ 
and  legislative  hearings  were  as  regular  as  the  changing  seasons,  now  in 
Providence,  and  now  in  Newport,  following  the  migratory  government. 

Mrs.  Davis  was  president  of  the  association  for  several  success- 
ive years  in  which  her  labors  were  indefatigable.  Finally  failing 

*  To  Mrs.  Davis,  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York,  belongs  the  honor  of  inaugurating  this  move- 
ment in  New  England,  as  she  called  and  managed  the  first  convention  held  in  Massachusetts  in  1850, 
and  helped  to  arouse  all  these  States  to  action  in  1868.  With  New  England  reformers  slavery  was 
always  the  preeminently  pressing  question,  even  after  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  while  in  New 
York  woman's  civil  and  political  rights  were  considered  the  more  vital  question. — [E.  C.  S. 

t  The  Revolution  of  December  17, 1868,  says  :  The  meeting  last  week  in  Providence,  was,  in  numbers 
and  ability,  eminently  successful.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  B.  Chace,  of  Valley  Falls,  presided,  and  addresses 
were  made  by  Colonel  Higginson,  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  Lucy  Stone,  Frederick  Douglass,  Mrs.  O. 
Shepard,  Rev.  John  Boyden,  Dr.  Mercy  B.  Jackson,  Stephen  S.  and  Abbey  Kelly  Foster.  The  officers 
of  the  association  were  :  President,  Paulina  Wright  Davis.  I'ice-fi residents,  Elizabeth  B.  Chace  of 
Valley  Falls,  Col.,  T.  W.  Higginson  of  Newport,  Mrs.  George  Cushing,  J.  W.  Stillman.  Mrs.  Buffum 
of  Woonsocket  and  P.  W.  Aid  rich.  Recording  Secretary,  Martha  W.  Chase.  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, Mrs.  Rhoda  Fairbanks.  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Susan  B.  Harris.  Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  James 
Bucklin,  Catharine  W.  Hunt,  Mrs.  Lewi's  Doyle,  Anna  Aldrich,  Mrs.  S.  B.  G.  Martin,  Dr.  Perry,  Mrs. 
Churchill,  Arnold  B.  Chace. 

\  Among  the  speakers  at  these  annual  conventions  we  find  Rowland  G.  Hazard,  Rev.  John  Boyden. 
Rev.  Charles  Howard  Malcolm,  the  brilliant  John  Neal,  Portland,  Maine,  Hon.  James  M.  Stillman 
Gen.  F.  G.  Lippett,  Theodore  Tilton,  Rev.  Olympia  Brown.  Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford,  Elizabeth  K. 
Churchill.  For  a  report  of  the  convention  held  at  Newport  during  the  fashionable  season,  Augustas, 
26,  1869,  see  vol.  II.,  page  403,  also  The  Revolution,  September  2,  1869. 


A  Shabby    Trick.  341 

health  compelled  her  to  resign  her  position  as  president  of  the  as- 
sociation.* Since  then  her  able  coadjutor  Elizabeth  B.  Chace, 
has  been  president  of  the  Rhode  Island  Suffrage  Association,  and 
with  equal  faithfulness  and  persistence,  carried  on  the  work.  She 
steadily  keeps  up  the  annual  conventions  and  makes  her  appeals 
to  the  legislature.  Among  the  names  f  of  those  who  have  ap- 
peared from  year  to  year  before  the  Rhode  Island  legislature  we 
find  many  able  men  and  women  from  other  States  as  well  as  many 
of  their  own  distinguished  citizens. 

In  this  State  an  effort  was  made  early  to  get  women  on  the 
board  of  managers  for  schools,  prisons  and  charitable  institutions. 
In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Davis,  John  Stuart  Mill  says: 

I  am  very  glad  to  hear  of  the  step  in  advance  made  by  Rhode  Island  in 
creating  a  board  of  women  for  some  very  important  administrative  pur- 
pose. Your  proposal  that  women  should  be  empanneled  on  every  jury 
where  women  are  to  be  tried  seems  to  me  very  good,  and  calculated  to 
place  the  injustice  to  which  women  are  subjected  at  present  by  the  entire 
legal  system  in  a  very  striking  light. 

In  1873  an  effort  was  made  to  place  women  on  the  Providence 
School  Board,  with  what  success  the  following  extracts  from  the 
daily  papers  show.  The  Providence  Press  of  April  25,  1873,  says: 

A  shabby  trick  was  perpetrated  by  the  friends  of  John  W.  Angell,  which 
was  certainly  anything  but  "angelic,"  and  which  ought  to  consign  the 
parties  who  committed  it  to  political  infamy. 

Yesterday,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  this  city,  women  were 
candidates  for  political  honors — in  the  fifth  ward,  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  H.  Doyle, 
and  in  the  fourth  ward,  Mrs.  Rhoda  A.  F.  Peckham,  were  candidates  for 
positions  on  the  school  committee ;  both,  however,  failed  of  an  election. 
Mrs.  Doyle  received  the  unanimous  nomination  of  the  large  primary 
meeting  of  the  National  Union  Republican  party,  and  Mrs.  Peckham  was 
run  as  an  outside  candidate  against  the  regular  nominee.  These  ladies 
would  undoubtedly  have  made  excellent  members  of  the  committee,  and. 
unlike  a  great  portion  of  that  body,  would  have  been  found  in  their  places 
at  the  meetings,  and  we  should  have  been  glad  to  have  seen  the  experi- 
ment tried  of  women  in  the  position  for  which  their  names  were  pre- 
sented. When  the  polls  opened  in  the  fifth  ward,  instead  of  Mrs.  Doyle's 
name  being  on  the  ballots  for  the  place  to  which  she  had  been  nominated 
there  appeared  the  name  of  John  W.  Angell,  esq.,  and  until  about  n 

*  Mrs.  Chacc  says  in  a  letter,  speaking  of  Mrs.  Davis  :  "  After  several  years  absence  in  Europe  she 
returned,  a  helpless  invalid,  unable  to  resume  her  labors.  But  her  devotion  in  early  years  will  long 
remain  fresh  in  the  memory  of  those  associated  with  her,  who  were  inspired  by  her  self-sacrifice  and 
enthusiasm."  Forfarther  details  of  Mrs.  Davis'  earlier  labors,  see  vol.,  I,  pages  215,  383. 

t  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Celia  Burleigh,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Aaron  M.  Powell,  Caroline  H.  Dall, 
Mrs.  Kdnah  D.  Cheney,  Miss  Mary  F.  Eastman,  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill,  Rev.  Augustus  Woodbury 
Hon.  Amasa  M.  Eaton,  Mr.  Stillman,  Hon.  Thomas  Davis,  Hon.  George  L.  Clarke,  Rev.  Frederick 
Hinckley,  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  Hon.  A.  Payne. 


342  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

o'clock  A.  M.  he  had  the  field  to  himself.  At  that  hour,  however,  Mrs. 
Doyle's  friends  appeared  with  the  "regular"  nomination,  and  from  that 
time  to  the  close  of  the  polls  she  received  145  votes;  Mr.  Angell,  notwith- 
standing- his  several  hours'  start  in  the  race,  only  winning  by  a  majority 
of  38.  From  this  fact  it  is  clear  that  had  Mrs.  Doyle's  name  been  in  its 
proper  place  at  the  opening  of  the  polls  she  would  have  beaten  her  oppo- 
nent handsomely.  Mrs.  Peckham's  opponent  obtained  but  23  majority  in 
a  poll  of  349.  It  is  evident  from  the  vote  yesterday,  that  if  they  have  but 
a  fair  show,  women  will  at  the  next  election  be  successful  as  candidates- 
for  the  school  committee.  Had  the  intelligent  ladies  of  the  fifth  ward1 
been  allowed  to  vote,  Mrs.  Doyle  would  have  led  even  the  gubernatorial 
vote  of  that  ward. 

The  Providence  Journal  makes  the  following  comment : 

We  are  sorry  to  observe  that  the  two  estimable  and  admirably  qualified" 
ladies  whose  names  were  presented  for  school  committee  in  this  city, 
failed  of  success.  Their  influence  in  official  connection  with  the  schools 
could  not  have  been  other  than  salutary.  The  treatment  accorded  Mrs.- 
Doyle  in  the  fifth  ward  was  wofully  shabby.  Without  her  solicitation, 
the  Republican  caucus  unanimously  nominated  her  for  a  member  of  the 
school  committee.  Being  a  novice  in  political  proceedings,  she  naturally 
enough  supposed  that  the  party  that  desired  her  services  so  much  as  to 
'place  her  in  nomination,  would  make  provision  for  electing  their  candi- 
date. There  was  not  gallantry  enough  in  the  ward,  however,  for  that 
duty,  and  it  was  not  until  11  o'clock  on  election  day  that  any  tickets  bear- 
ing the  name  of  Mrs.  Doyle  were  to  be  found. in  the  ward-room  ;  but  a 
ticket  with  the  names  of  two  men  was  on  hand  at  sunrise,  and  the  time 
lost  in  procuring  tickets  for  the  regular  nominee  proved  fatal  to  her  suc- 
cess. Mrs.  Doyle  has  now  learned  something  of  the  wa3*s  of  politicians,, 
and  is  not  likely  to  put  her  trust  again  in  the  faithfulness  of  ward  com- 
mittees. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  State  association,  held  in  Providence,  on 
Thursday,  May  18,  1871,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions 
were,  after  a  full  and  earnest  discussion,  unanimously  adopted : 

WHEREAS,  It  is  claimed,  in  opposition  to  the  demand  that  the  elective  franchise- 
shall  be  given  to  women,  that  they  are  represented  in  the  government  by  men,  so  that 
they  do  not  need  the  ballot  for  their  protection,  inasmuch  as  all  their  rights  are  secured 
to  them  by  the  interest  of  these  men  in  their  welfare;  and,  whereas,  in  February  last, 
in  view  of  the  appalling  facts  frequently  coming  to  our  notice,  consequent  upon  the 
mismanagement  of  poor-houses  and  asylums  for  the  insane,  this  association  did  earn- 
estly petition  our  State  legislature  to  enact  a  law  providing  for  the  appointment  of 
women  in  all  the  towns  in  our  State  to  act  as  joint  commissioners  with  men  in  the  care 
and  control  of  these  institutions;  and,  whereas,  in  utter  disregard  of  our  request,  the 
Committee  on  State  Charities,  to  whom  it  was  referred,  in  reporting  back  our  petition 
to  the  House  of  Representatives,  did  recommend  that  the  petitioners  be  given  leave  to- 
withdraw,  and  the  House,  without  (so  far  as  we  could  learn)  one  word  of  protest  from 
any  member  thereof,  did  so  dispose  of  our  petition;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  this  association  do  most  solemnly  declare,  that  so  far  from  being; 
represented  in  our  legislature,  the  rights  of  the  women  of  this  State  were  in  this- 
instance  trampled  under  foot  therein,  and  the  best  interests  of  humanity,  in  the  per- 


Report  by  Mrs.   Chace.  343 

sons  of  the  poorest  and  most  unfortunate  classes,  were  not  sufficiently  regarded,  under 
this  system  of  class  legislation. 

Resolved,  That,  despairing  of  obtaining  for  women  even  the  privileges  which  would 
enable  them  to  look  after  the  welfare  of  the  destitute  and  the  suffering,  with  any 
power  or  authority  to  improve  their  condition,  until  equal  rights  in  the  government 
itself  are  guaranteed  to  all  without  regard  to  sex,  we  will  henceforth  make  use  of  this 
treatment  we  have  received  as  a  new  argument  in  favor  of  the  emancipation  of  women 
from  the  legal  status  of  idiots  and  criminals,  and,  with  this  weapon,  in  our  hands,  we 
will  endeavor  to  arouse  the  women  of  our  State  to  a  keener  sense  of  their  degraded 
condition,  and  we  will  never  abate  our  demand  until  an  amendment  to  the  constitution 
is  submitted  to  the  people  granting  suffrage  to  the  women  of  Rhode  Island. 

Resolved,  That  this  preamble  and  these  resolutions  be  offered  for  publication  to  the 
daily  papers  of  this  city.  ELIZABETH  B.  CHACE,  President. 

SUSAN  B.   P.  MARTIN,   Secretary. 

For  several  years  the  philanthropic  women  of  Rhode  Island 
made  many  determined  efforts  to  secure  some  official  positions 
in  the  charitable  institutions  of  the  State,  with  what  success  the 
following  report  by  Elizabeth  B.  Chace,  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  American  Association,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876,  will  show: 

The  Rhode  Island  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  while  holding  its 
monthly  meetings  through  the  year,  circulating  petitions  to  the  legisla- 
ture, and,  in  other  ways,  constantly  endeavoring  to  revolutionize  the  en- 
tire sentiment  of  the  State  on  the  question  of  woman  suffrage,  still  has 
less  progress  to  report  than  its  friends  would  have  desired.  Our  last 
annual  meeting,  as  usual,  drew  together  a  large  audience.  Among  our 
speakers  from  abroad  was  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  who,  in  a  speech  of 
almost  anti-slavery  force  and  fervor,  appeared  to  send  conviction  into 
many  minds.  Our  home  speakers  included  a  clergyman  of  Providence 
and  one  of  our  ablest  lawyers,  and  an  ex-legislator  who  had  never  stood 
on  our  platform  before. 

As  usual,  our  petitions  went  into  the  legislature.  They  were  referred 
to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  before  whom  we  had  a  hearing,  at  which 
three  Providence  lawyers  gave  us  their  unqualified  support  and  earnest 
advocacy.  One  of  these  men  set  forth  in  the  strongest  light  the  injustice 
of  our  laws  in  regard  to  the  property  of  married  women  and  their  non- 
ownership  of  their  minor  children.  The  committee  made  no  report 
to  the  legislature,  and  so  our  petitions  lie  over  until  the  next  session, 
when  we  hope  for  some  evidence  of  progress.  In  the  meantime 
we  intend  to  very  much  increase  their  number.  For  many  years 
we  have  been  begging  of  our  law-makers  to  permit  women  to 
share  in  the  rhanagement  of  the  penal,  correctional  and  charita- 
ble institutions  of  the  State  ;  we  have,  however,  only  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing an  advisory  board  of  women,  which  has  been  in  operation  for  the  last 
six  years. 

Last  spring  a  majority  of  these  women,  having  become  weary  of  the 
service  in  which  they  had  no  power  to  decide  that  any  improvement 
should  be  made  in  the  management  of  these  institutions,  resigned  their 
positions  on  this  board,  some  of  them  giving  through  the  press  tln-ir  rea- 
sons therefor.  When  the  time  came  for  making  the  new  appointments; 


344  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

for  the  year,  the  governor  earnestly  urged  these  women  to  permit  him  to 
appoint  them,  voluntarily  pledging  himself  to  recommend  at  the  opening 
of  the  next  session  of  the  legislature,  that  a  bill  should  be  passed  provid- 
ing for  the  appointment  of  women  on  the  boards  of  management  of  all 
these  prisons  and  reformatories,  with  the  same  power  and  authority  with 
which  the  men  are  invested,  who  now  alone  decide  all  questions  concern- 
ing them.  On  this  condition  these  women  consented  to  serve  on  the 
advisory  board  a  few  months  longer,  with  the  understanding  that,  if  the 
legislature  fails  to  make  this  important  provision,  their  advice  will  be 
withdrawn,  and  the  men  will  be  left  to  take  care  of  thieves,  criminals  and 
paupers  until  they  are  ready  to  ask  for  our  help  on  terms  of  equality  and 
justice. 

In  the  Providence  Journal  appeared  the  following: 

Mrs.  Doyle  seems  to  have  learned  by  experience  that  the  board,  as  now 
constituted  under  the  law,  can  have  no  real  efficiency.  The  ladies  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  management  of  no  part  of  any  of  the  institutions  which 
they  are  permitted  officially  to  visit.  Their  reports  are  not  made  to  the 
boards  which  are  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  managing  these  insti- 
tutions, and,  in  the  case  of  the  reform  school,  are  not  made  to  the  body 
which  elects  and  controls  the  board  of  management.  The  State  ought 
not  to  place  ladies  in  such  an  anomalous  position.  The  women's  board 
should  have  positive  duties  and  direct  responsibilities  in  its  appropriate 
sphere,  or  it  should  be  abolished.  The  following  is  Mrs.  Doyle's  letter  of 
resignation : 

To  His  Excellency  Henry  Lippitt,  Governor  of  the  State  : 

SIR:  Please  accept  my  resignation  as  member  of  the  Board  of  Lady  Visitors  to  the 
Penal  and  Correctional  Institutions  of  the  State.  The  recent  action  of  a  part  of  the 
board,  in  regard  to  the  annual  report  made  to  the  General  Assembly,  makes  it  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  continue  longer  as  a  member.  Before  the  report  was  submitted,  it  was 
carefully  examined  by  the  members  signing  it,  and  was  acquiesced  in  by  them,  as  their 
signatures  testify.  Still  further,  I  am  confirmed  in  the  opinion  that  so  important  a 
trust  as  this  should  be  coupled  with  some  power  for  action;  without  this  we  are  neces- 
sarily confined  to  suggestions  only  to  the  male  boards,  which  suggestions  receive  only 
the  attention  they  may  consider  proper.  Believing  that  this  board,  as  now  empow- 
ered, can  have  no  efficiency  except  where  its  suggestions  or  criticisms  meet  the  entire 
approval  of  the  male  boards,  and  failing  to  see  any  good  which  can  result  from  our  in- 
spections under  such  conditions,  or  any  honor  to  the  board  thus  examining,  I  respect- 
fully tender  my  resignation.  SARAH  E.  H.  DOYLE. 

Providence,  R.  I. 

Three  more  ladies  of  the  Women's  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Penal  and 
Correctional  Institutions  of  the  State  attest  the  correctness  of  the  repeated 
suggestions  that  the  board,  as  organized  under  the  existing  laws,  must  be 
Comparatively  powerless  for  good.  The  question  now  comes,  will  the 
J?hode  Island  General  Assembly  enact  a  law  which  shall  give  to  women 
certain  definite  duties  and  responsibilities  in  connection  with  the  care  and 
correction  of  female  offenders?  We  propose  to  refer  to  this  matter 
further.  We  are  requested  to  publish  the  following  communications  to 
his  excellency,  the  governor: 


The   Womeris  Board  of  Visitors.  345 

To  Henry  Lippitt,  Governor  of  Rhode  Island  : 

My  appointment  on  the  Women's  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Penal  and  Correctional  In- 
stitutions of  the  State,  which  I  received  from  your  hands  for  this  year,  I  am  now  com- 
pelled respectfully  to  resign.  My  experience  in  this  board  for  nearly  six  years  has 
convinced  me  that  this  office,  which  confers  on  its  holders  no  power  to  decide  that  any 
improvement  shall  be  made  in  the  government  or  workings  of  these  institutions,  is  so 
nearly  useless  that  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that,  for  myself,  the  time  spent  in  the 
performance  of  its  duties  can  be  more  effectively  employed  elsewhere.  That  the  in- 
fluence of  women  is  indispensable  to  the  proper  management  of  these  institutions  I 
was  never  more  sure  than  I  am  at  this  moment;  but  to  make  it  effectual,  that  influence 
must  be  obtained  by  placing  women  on  the  boards  of  direct  control,  where  their 
judgment  shall  be  expressed  by  argument  and  by  vote. 

A  board  of  women,  whose  only  duties,  as  defined  by  the  law,  are  to  visit  the  penal 
and  correctional  institutions,  elect  its  own  officers  and  report  annually  to  the  legis- 
lature, bears  within  itself  the  elements  of  weakness  and  insufficiency.  And  if  the 
annual  reports  contain  any  exposure  of  abuses,  they  are  sure  to  give  offense  to  the 
managers,  to  be  followed  by  timidity  and  vacillation  in  the  board  of  women  itself. 
Our  late  report,  written  with  great  care  and  conscientious  adherence  to  the  truth, 
which  called  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  certain  abuses  in  one  of  our  institutions, 
and  to  some  defect  in  the  systems  established  in  the  others,  has,  thus  far,  elicited  no 
official  action,  has  brought  censure  upon  us  from  the  press,  while  great  dissatisfaction 
has  been  created  in  our  own  body  by  the  failure  of  a  portion  of  its  members  to  sustain 
the  allegations  to  which  the  entire  board,  with  the  exception  of  one  absentee,  had 
affixed  their  names. 

When  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  shall  call  its  best  women  to  an  equal  participation 
with  men  in  the  direction  of  its  penal  and  reformatory  institutions,  I  have  no  doubt 
they  will  gladly  assume  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  such  positions;  and  I  am  also 
sure  that  the  beneficent  results  of  such  cooperation  will  soon  be  manifest,  both  in  ben- 
efit to  individuals  and  in  safety  to  the  State.  But  under  present  circumstances  I  most 
respectfully  decline  to  serve  any  longer  on  the  advisory  board  of  women. 

Valley  Falls,  X.  I.  ELIZABETH  B.  CHACE. 

GOVERNOR  LIPPITT  :  Dear  Sir:  When  I  accepted  an  appointment  on  the  Ladies' 
Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Penal  and  Correctional  Institutions  of  the  State,  I  did  so  with 
the  hope  that  much  good  might  be  accomplished,  especially  toward  the  young  girls  at 
the  reform  school,  in  whose  welfare  I  felt  a  deep  interest.  To  that  institution  my  at- 
tention has  been  chiefly  devoted  during  my  brief  experience  in  this  office.  This  expe- 
rience, however,  has  convinced  me  that  a  board  of  officers  constituted  and  limited  like 
this  can  have  very  little  influence  toward  improvement  in  an  institution  whose  methods 
are  fixed,  and  which  is  under  the  exclusive  control  of  another  set  of  officers,  who  see 
no  necessity  for  change.  Those  causes  render  this  women's  board  so  weak  in  itself 
that  I  cannot  consent  to  retain  my  position  therein.  I  therefore  respectfully  tender  to 
you  my  resignation.  ABBY  D.  WEAVER. 

Providence,  R.  I. 

GOVERNOR  LIPPITT  :  Please  accept  the  resignation  of  my  commission  as  a  member 
of  the  Ladies'  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Penal  and  Correctional  Institutions  of  the  State, 
conferred  by  you  in  June,  1875.  Yours  respectfully, 

Westerly,  R.  I.  ELIZA  C.  WEEDEN. 

Early  in  the  year  1880  the  State  association  issued  the  follow- 
ing address : 
To  the  friends  of  Woman  Suffrage  throughout  the  State  of  Rhode  Island: 

In  behalf  of  the  Rhode  Island  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  we  beg 
leave  to  call  your  attention  to  the  result  of  our  last  year's  work,  and  to 
our  plans  for  future  effort.  We  went  before  the  General  Assembly  with 


346  History  of   Woman  Suffrage, 

petitions  for  suffrage  for  women  on  all  subjects,  and  also  with  petitions 
asking  only  for  school  suffrage?  The  former,  bearing  nearly  2,500  names, 
was  presented  in  the  Senate  and  finally  referred,  with  other  unfinished 
business,  to  the  next  legislature  ;  they  will  thus  be  subject  to  attention  the 
coming  year.  The  latter,  bearing  nearly  3,500  names,  was  presented  in 
the  House  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Education.  This  committee 
reported  unanimously : 

Resolved,  That  the  following  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  the  State  is  hereby 
proposed:  Article  — .  Women  otherwise  qualified  are  entitled  to  vote  in  the  election 
of  school  committees  and  in  all  legally  organized  school-district  meetings. 

This  resolution  was  adopted  in  the  House  .by  48  to  11,  but  rejected  in 
the  Senate  by  20  to  13.*  Nineteen  members  being  required  to  make  a 
majority  of  a  full  Senate,  the  amendment  failed  by  six  votes.  Had  the 
ballots  in  the  two  branches  been  upon  a  proposition  to  extend  general 
suffrage  to  women,  they  would  have  been  the  most  encouraging,  and,  as 
it  is,  they  show  signs  of  progress ;  but  a  resolve  to  submit  the  question 
of  school  suffrage  to  the  voters  of  Rhode  Island,  ought  to  have  been  suc- 
cessful this  year.  Why  was  it  defeated  ?  Simply  for  the  lack  of  political 
power  behind  it.  To  gain  this,  our  cause  needs  a  foothold  in  every  part 
of  the  State.  We  need  some  person  or  persons  in  each  town,  to  whom  we 
can  look  for  hearty  cooperation.  If  our  work  is  to  be  effective,  it  must 
not  only  continue  as  heretofore — one  of  petitioning — but  must  include 
also  a  constant  vigilance  in  securing  senators  and  representatives  in  the 
General  Assembly,  favorable  to  woman  suffrage.  We  propose  the  coming 
year : 

First — To  petition  congress  in  behalf  of  the  following  amendment  to 
our  national  constitution,  viz.: 

ARTICLE  XVI.  Section  I — The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on  account  of  sex. 
Section  2 — Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appropriate  legislation. 

Second — To  secure  a  hearing  and  action  upon  the  petitions  referred  from 
the  last  Assembly,  for  such  amendment  to  our  State  constitution  as  shall 
extend  general  suffrage  to  women. 


*  Ijj  THE  HOUSE.    For  the  A  mendment. — Davis  Aldrich,  North  Smithfield  :  Thomas  Arnold,  War- 


L 


ton,  Westerly  ;  Wm.  A.  Pirce,  Johnston  ;  Clinton  Puffer,  Woonsocket ;  Olney  W.  Randall,  No.  Provi- 
dence ;  John  P.  Sanborn,  Newport  ;  Wm.  P.  Sheffield,  Newport ;  Israel  R.  Sheldon,  Warwick  ;  Martin 
S.  Smith,  Scituate  ;  Wm.  H.  Spooner,  Bristol ;  Henry  A.  Stearns,  Lincoln  ;  Simon  S.  Steere,  Smith- 
field  ;  Joseph  Tillinghast,  Coventry;  Wm.  C.  Townsend,  Newport  ;  Stephen  A.  Watson,  Portsmouth; 
Stillman  White,  Providence  ;  Benj.  F.  Wilbor,  Little  Compton  ;  Andrew  Winsor,  Providence — 48. 

IN  THE  SENATE.  For  the  Amendment. — Lieut. -Gov.  Howard,  E.  Providence;  Ariel  Ballou,  Woon- 
socket ;  Cyms  F.  Cooke,  Foster  ;  Edward  T.  DeBlois,  Portsmouth  ;  Rodney  F.  Dyer,  Johnston  :  An- 
son  Greene,  Exeter  ;  Daniel  W.  Lyman,  No.  Providence;  Jabez  W.  Mowry,  Smithfield  ;  Dexter  B. 
Potter,  Coventry  ;  Stafford  W.  Rizee.  Cumberland  ;  T,  Mumford  Seabury,  Newport ;  Lewis  B.  Smith, 
Barrington  ;  John  F.  Tobey,  Providence — 13. 


Before  the  Legislature.  347 

Third—  To  petition  the  General  Assembly  for  the  necessary  legislation  to 
secure  school  suffrage  to  women. 

The  arguments  in  the  various  hearings  before  the  legislature 
with  the  majority  and  minority  reports,  are  the  same  as  many 
already  published,  in  fact  nothing  new  can  be  said  on  the  ques- 
tion. As  none  of  the  women  in  this  State,  by  trying  to  vote,  or 
resisting  taxation,  have  tested  the  justice  of  their  laws,  they  have 
no  supreme-court  decisions  to  record. 

Honorable  mention  should  be  made  of  Dr.  William  F.  Chan- 
ning,  who  has  stood  for  many  years  in  Providence  the  noblest 
representative  of  liberal  thought.  He  is  a  worthy  son  of  that 
great  leader  of  reform  in  New  England,  Rev.  William  Ellery 
Channing.  In  him  the  advocates  of  woman's  rights  have  always 
found  a  steadfast  friend.  He  sees  that  this  is  the  fundamental 
reform  ;  that  it  is  the  key  to  the  problems  of  labor,  temperance, 
social  purity  and  the  cooperative  home.  Those  who  have  had  the 
good  fortune  of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Channing  have 
felt  the  sense  of  dignity  and  self-respect  that  the  delicate  courtesy 
and  sincere  reverence  of  a  noble  man  must  always  give  to  woman. 

Though  Mrs.  Channing  has  not  been  an  active  participant  in 
the  popular  reforms,  having  led  a  rather  retired  life,  yet  her 
sympathies  have  been  with  her  husband  in  all  his  endeavors  to 
benefit  mankind.  She  has  given  the  influence  of  her  name  to  the 
suffrage  movement,  and  extended  the  most  generous  hospitalities 
to  the  speakers  at  the  annual  conventions.  Their  charming 
daughters,  Mary  and  Grace,  fully  respond  to  the  humanitarian 
sentiments  of  their  parents,  constituting  a  happy  family  united 
in  life's  purposes  and  ambitions. 

The  New  York  Evening  Post  of  September,  1875,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing of  one  of  Rhode  Island's  brave  women,  but  the  State  has 
not  as  yet,  thought  it  worth  while  to  honor  her  in  any  fitting 
manner : 

Yrsterday  noon  Miss  Ida  Lewis  again  distinguished  herself  by  rescuing 
a  man  who  was  in  danger  of  drowning  in  the  lower  Newport  harbor. 
Miss  Lewis  first  came  into  prominence  in  1866,  when  she  saved  the  life 
of  a  soldier  who  had  set  out  for  a  sail  in  a  light  skiff.  It  was  one 
of  the  coldest  and  most  blustering  days  ever  known  in  this  latitude, 
yet  a  girl  but  25  years  old,  impelled  by  the  noblest  spirit  of  humanity,  ven- 
tured to  the  assistance  of  a  man  who  had  brought  himself  into  a  sorry 
plight  through  sheer  fool-hardiness.  One  day,  during  the  autumn 

*  [Signed  :]  President,  Elizabeth  B.  Chace  ;  Secretaries,  Fanny  P.  Palmer,  Elizabeth  C.  Hincklcy  ; 
Treasurer,  Susan  B.  P.  Martin  :  Executive  Committee,  Sarah  E.  H.  Doyle,  Susan  Sisson,  William 
Barker,  Francis  C.  Frost,  Anna  E.  Aldrich,  Frederick  A.  Hinckley,  Susan  G.  Kenyon,  Rachael 
E.  Fry,  A.  A.  Tyn-,  Arnold  B.  Chace. 


348  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

of  the  next  year,  while  a  terrible  gale  was  raging,  two  men  sat 
out  to  cross  the  harbor  with  several  sheep.  One  of  the  animals 
fell  overboard  while  the  boat  was  rocked  by  the  heavy  sea,  and 
its  keepers,  in  trying  to  save  it,  were  in  imminent  peril  of  swamping 
their  craft.  Ida  Lewis  saw  them  from  the  window  of  her  father's  light- 
house on  Lime  Rock,  and  in  a  few  minutes  was  rowing  them  in  safety 
toward  the  shore.  After  landing  the  men,  she  went  back  again  and 
rescued  the  sheep. 

These  brave  deeds,  with  others  of  a  less  striking  character,  made  Miss 
Lewis'  name  famous  throughout  the  world,  and  won  for  her  the  title  of 
"the  Grace  Darling  of  America";  but  in  1869  the  newspapers  were  filled 
with  the  story  of  what  was  perhaps  her  greatest  exploit.  On  March  29  two 
young  soldiers  set  sail  from  Newport  for  Fort  Adams  in  a  small  boat, 
under  the  guidance  of  a  boy  who  pretended  to  understand  the  simple 
rules  of  navigation.  Mrs.  Lewis  chanced  to  be  looking  out  of  the  light- 
house window,  and  saw  a  squall  strike  the  boat  and  overturn  it.  She  called 
to  her  daughter,  telling  her  of  the  casualty.  Ida,  though  ill  at  the  time, 
rushed  out  of  the  house,  launched  her  life-boat  and  sprang  in,  with  neither 
hat  on  her  head  nor  shoes  on  her  feet.  By  the 'time  she  reached  the  scene 
of  the  disaster  the  boy  had  perished,  and  the  two  soldiers  were  clinging 
desperately  to  the  wreck,  almost  ready  to  loose  their  hold  from  exhaus- 
tion. They  were  dragged  into  the  life-boat,  and  carried  to  Lime  Rock,  and, 
with  careful  nursing,  were  soon  sufficiently  restored  to  proceed  to  Fort 
Adams. 

Miss  Lewis'  repeated  acts  of  philanthropy  have  been  recognized  by 
gifts  at  various  times,  but  no  national  testimonial,  so  far  as  we  are  aware, 
has  yet  been  offered  to  her.  True  generosity,  like  true  virtue,  is  its  own 
reward,  and  we  of  the  world  are  not  often  disposed  to  meddle  with  its 
quiet  enjoyment  by  its  possessor.  It  seems  eminently  fitting,  however, 
that  among  the  first  to  receive  the  new  decoration  to  be  bestowed  by  con- 
gress for  heroic  deeds  in  saving  life,  should  be  the  heroine  of  Newport 
harbor. 

Writing  from  Valley  Falls  September  9,  1885,  Elizabeth  B. 
Chace,  president  of  the  Rhode  Island  Association,  in  summing  up 
the  steps  of  progress,  says  : 

On  December  4,  1884,  by  unanimous  consent  of  our  General  Assembly 
the  state-house  was  granted  to  us  for  the  first  time,  for  a  woman  suffrage 
convention.  A  large  number  of  our  best  men  and  women,  and  some  of 
our  ablest  speakers*  were  present.  An  immense  audience  greeted  them 
and  listened  with  eager  interest  throughout.  The  occasion  was  one  of  the 
most  pleasant  and  profitable  we  have  enjoyed  in  a  long  time.  At  the  fol- 
lowing session  of  our  Legislature,  1885,  an  amendment  to  our  State  con- 
stitution was  proposed  giving  the  franchise  to  women,  on  equal  terms  with 
men.  It  passed  both  Houses  by  a  large  majority  vote,  but  by  some  tech- 

*  The  speakers  were  Abraham  Payne,  John  Wyman.  Matilda  Hindman,  Frederick  A.  Hinckley,  Rer. 
Mr.  Wendt,  Elizabeth  B.  Chace,  William  I.  Bowditch,  Mary  F.  Eastman,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  jr.. 
Lucy  Stone,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Frederick  Douglass,  Henry  B.  BlackwelL 


Letter  from  Mr.  Hinckley.  349 

nicality,  for  which  no  one  seemed  to  blame,  it  was  not  legally  started  on 
its  round  to  the  vote  of  the  people.  Hence  the  proposition  to  submit  the 
amendment  will  be  again  passed  upon  this  year,  and  with  every  promise 
of  success.  We  have  strong  hopes  of  making  our  little  commonwealth 
the  banner  State  in  this  grand  step  of  progress. 

The  following  letter  from  Frederick  A.  Hinckley,  makes  a 
fitting  mention  of  some  of  the  noble  women  who  have  represented 
this  movement  in  his  State: 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  Sept.  14,  1885. 

DEAR  FRIENDS  :  You  ask  for  a  few  words  from  me  concerning  salient 
points  in  the  history  of  the  woman  suffrage  movement  in  Rhode  Island. 
As  you  know,  ours  is  a  very  small  State — the  smallest  in  the  Union 
— and  has  a  very  closely  compacted  population.  With  us  the  manu- 
facturing interest  overshadows  everything  else,  representing  large  invest- 
ments of  capital.  On  the  one  hand  we  have  great  accumulations  of  wealth 
by  the  few ;  on  the  other  hand,  a  large  percentage  of  unskilled  foreign 
labor.  For  good  or  for  ill  we  feel  all  those  conservative  influences  which 
naturally  grow  out  of  this  two-fold  condition.  This  accounts  in  the  main, 
for  the  Rhode  Islander's  extreme  and  exceptionally  tenacious  regard  for 
the  institutions  of  his  ancestors.  This  is  why  we  have  the  most  limited 
suffrage  of  any  State,  many  men  being  debarred  from  voting  by  reason  of 
the  property  qualification  still  required  here  of  foreign-born  citizens. 
Such  a  social  atmosphere  is  not  favorable  to  the  extension  of  the  fran- 
chise, either  to  men  or  women,  and  makes  peculiarly  necessary  with  us, 
the  educational  process  of  a  very  large  amount  of  moral  agitation  before 
much  can  be  expected  in  the  way  of  political  changes. 

My  own  residence  here  dates  back  only  to  1878,  though  before  that  from 
my  Massachusetts  home  I  was  somewhat  familiar  with  Rhode-Island  peo- 
ple and  laws.  Our  work  has  consisted  of  monthly  meetings,  made  up 
usually  of  an  afternoon  session  for  address  and  discussion,  followed  by  a 
social  tea  ;  of  an  annual  State  convention  in  the  city  of  Providence  ;  and 
of  petitioning  the  legislature  each  year,  with  the  appointment  of  the  cus- 
tomary committees  and  hearings.  For  many  years  the  centre  of  the 
woman  movement  with  us  has  been  the  State  association,  and  since  my 
own  connection  with  that,  the  leader  about  whom  we  have  all  rallied,  has 
been  your  beloved  friend  and  mine,  Elizabeth  B.  Chace.  Hers  is  that 
clear  conception  c»f,  and  untiring  devotion  to  principles,  which  make  in- 
vincible leadership,  tide  over  all  disaster,  and  overcome  all  doubt.  By  her 
constant  appearance  before  legislative  committees,  her  model  newspaper 
articles  which  never  fail  to  command  general  attention  even  among  those 
who  would  not  think  of  agreeing  with  her,  and  by  her  persistent  fidelity 
to  her  sense  of  duty  in  social  life,  she  is  the  recognized  head  of  our  agita- 
tion in  Rhode  Island.  But  she  has  not  stood  alone.  She  has  been  the 
centre  of  a  group  of  women  whose  names  will  always  be  associated  with 
our  cause  in  this  locality.  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill  lived  and  died  a  faith- 
ful and  successful  worker.  The  Woman's  Club  in  this  city  was  her  child ; 
temperance,  suffrage,  and  the  interests  of  working-women  were  dear  to 
her  heart.  She  was  independent  in  her  convictions,  and  true  to  herself, 


350  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

even  when  it  compelled  dissent  from  the  attitude  of  trusted  leaders  and 
friends,  but  her  work  on  the  platform,  in  the  press,  and  in  society,  made 
her  life  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  woman's  rights  cause  and  her  death 
a  lamentable  loss.  Another  active  leader  in  the  work  here,  though  not 
a  speaker,  who  has  passed  on  since  my  residence  in  Providence,  was 
Susan  B.  P.  Martin.  I  think  those  of  us  accustomed  to  act  with  her 
always  respected  Mrs.  Martin's  judgment  and  felt  sure  of  her  fidelity. 
What  more  can  be  said  of  any  one  than  that  ? 

It  is  difficult  to  speak  publicly  of  one's  friends  while  living.  But  no 
history  of  woman  suffrage  agitation  in  Rhode  Island  would  be  complete 
which  did  not  place  among  those  ever  to  be  relied  on,  the  names  of 
Anna  Garlin  Spencer,  Sarah  E.  H.  Doyle,  Anna  E.  Aldrich  and  Fanny  P. 
Palmer.  Mrs.  Spencer  moved  from  the  State  just  as  I  came  into  it,  but 
the  influence  of  her  logical  mind  was  left  behind  her  and  the  loss  of  her 
quick  womanly  tact  has  been  keenly  felt.  Mrs.  Doyle  has  long  been  chair- 
man of  the  executive  committee  of  the  association,  Mrs.  Aldrich  a  safe 
and  trusted  counsellor,  and  Mrs.  Palmer  as  member  of  the  Providence 
school  committee,  and  more  recently  as  president  of  the  Woman's  Club, 
has  rendered  the  cause  eminent  service. 

If  final  victory  seems  farther  off  here  than  in  some  of  the  newer  States, 
as  it  certainly  does,  that  is  only  the  greater  reason  for  earnest,  and  cease- 
less work.  We  know  we  are  right,  and  be  it  short  or  long  I  am  sure 
we  have  all  enlisted  for  the  war. 

Always  sincerely  yours,  FREDERIC  A.  HINCKLEY. 

Below  is  the  last  utterance  of  Senator  Anthony  on  this  ques- 
tion. In  writing  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  he  said  : 

UNITED  STATES  SENATE  CHAMBER,  WASHINGTON,  March  4,  1884. 

MY  DEAR  COUSIN:  I  am  honored  by  your  invitation  to  address  the 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  at  the  convention  to  be  held  in 
this  city.  I  regret  that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  comply  with  your  com- 
plimentary request.  The  enfranchisement  of  woman  is  one  of  those 
great  reforms  which  will  come  with  the  progress  of  civilization,  and 
when  it  comes  those  who  witness  it  will  wonder  that  it  has  been  so  long 
delayed.  The  main  argument  against  it  is  that  the  women  themselves 
do  not  desire  it.  Many  men  do  not  desire  it,  as  is  evidenced  by  their 
omission  to  exercise  it,  but  they  are  not  therefore  deprived  of  it.  I  do 
not  understand  that  you  propose  compulsory  suffrage,  although  I  am  not 
sure  that  that  would  not  be  for  the  public  advantage  as  applied  to  both 
sexes.  A  woman  has  a  right  to  vote  in  a  corporation  of  which  she  is  a 
stockholder,  and  that  she  does  not  generally  exercise  that  right  is  not  an 
argument  against  the  right  itself.  The  progress  that  is  making  in  the 
direction  of  your  efforts  is  satisfactory  and  encouraging. 

Faithfully  yours,  H.  B.  ANTHONY. 

Senator  Anthony  was  one  of  the  ever-to-be-remembered  nine 
senators  who  voted  for  woman  suffrage  on  the  floor  of  the 
United  States  Senate  in  1866.  He  also  made  a  most  logical 
speech  on  our  behalf  and  has  ever  since  been  true  to  our  demands. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 
MAINE. 

Women  on  School  Committees — Elvira  C.  Thorndyke — Suffrage  Society,  1868 — Rock- 
land — The  Snow  Sisters — Portland  Meeting,  1870 — John  Neal — Judge  Goddard — 
Colby  University  Open  to  Girls,  August  12,  1871 — Mrs.  Clara  Hapgood  Nash 
Admitted  to  the  Bar,  October  26,  1872 — Tax-payers  Protest — Ann  F.  Greeley, 
1872 — March,  1872,  Bill  for  Woman  Suffrage  Lost  in  the  House,  Passed  in  the 
Senate  by  Seven  Votes — Miss  Frank  Charles,  Register  of  Deeds — Judge  Redding- 
ton — Mr.  Randall's  Motion — Moral  Eminence  of  Maine — Convention  in  Granite 
Hall,  Augusta,  January,  1873,  Hon.  Joshua  Nye.  President — Delia  A.  Curtis — 
Opinions  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  Regard  to  Women  Holding  Offices — Governor 
Dingley's  Message,  1875 — Convention,  Representatives  Hall,  Portland,  Judge 
Kingsbury,  President,  February  12,  1876. 

THE  first  movement  in  Maine,  in  1868,  turned  on  the  question 
of  women  being  eligible  on  school  committees.  Here,  as  in  Ver- 
mont, the  men  inaugurated  the  movement.  The  following  letter, 
from  the  Portland  Press,  gives  the  iniative  steps: 

HIRAM,  March  15,  1868. 

MR.  EDITOR:  A  statement  is  going  the  rounds  of  the  press  that  the 
Democrats  of  Hiram  supported  a  lady  for  a  member  of  the  school  com- 
mittee. I  am  unwilling  that  any  person  or  party  shall  be  ridiculed  or 
censured  for  an  act  of  which  I  was  the  instigator,  and  for  which  I  am 
chiefly  responsible.  I  am  in  favor  of  electing  ladies  to  that  office,  and  ac- 
cordingly voted  for  one,  without  her  knowledge  or  consent;  several 
Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans  voted  with  me.  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  scores  of  Democrats  voted  for  the  able  and  popular  candidate 
of  the  Republicans  (Dr.  William  H.  Smith),  and  but  for  my  peculiar  notion 
I  should  have  voted  for  him  myself,  as  I  always  vote  with  the  Republican 
party.  I  am  in  favor,  however,  of  laying  aside  politics  in  voting  for 
school  committees,  and  the  question  of  capability  should  outweigh  the 
question  of  sex.  A  few  years  ago  we  had  a  large  number  of  boy  school- 
masters, but  agents  are  learning  to  appreciate  teachers  of  tact,  experience 
ami  natural  qualifications,  as  well  as  book-knowledge.  Of  eleven 
schools  under  the  care  of  the  writer  the  past  year,  but  one  had  a  male 
teacher,  and  by  turning  to  the  reports  I  find  that  of  forty-nine  schools 
in  Hiram  during  the  past  two  years,  forty-two  were  taught  by 
ladies.  Four  of  these  teachers  of  the  past  year  have  taught  respectively 
twenty,  twenty-one,  twenty-three  and  thirty  schools.  I  put  the  question, 
why  should  a  lady  who  has  taught  thirty  schools  be  considered  less  suita- 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


ble  for  the  office  of  school  committee  than  the  undersigned,  who  has 
taught  but  two,  or  scores  of  men  who  never  taught  school  at  all  ?  Slowly 
and  with  hesitation  over  the  ice  of  prejudice  comes  that  unreasonable 
reason — "  O,  'cause."  But  regardless  of  pants  or  crinoline,  the  ques- 
tion remains  unanswered  and  unanswerable.  It  is  not  deemed  im- 
proper for  the  ladies  of  Hiram  to  go  with  their  husbands  to  the  town- 
house  to  a  cattle  show  and  fair,  and  serve  as  committees  on  butter  and 
cheese,  but  it  is  considered  unreasonable  for  ladies  to  serve  as  superin- 
tendents of  school  committees. 

General  Washington  gave  a  lieutenant's  commission  to  a  woman  for  her 
skill  and  bravery  in  manning  a  battery  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth.  He 
also  granted  her  half-pay  during  life.  It  is  stated  in  "  Lincoln's  Lives  of 
the  Presidents  "  that  "  she  wore  an  epaulette,  and  everybody  called  her 
Captain  Molly."  And  yet  I  do  not  read  in  history  that  General  Washing- 
ton was  ever  impeached.  Females  have  more  and  better  influence  than 
males,  and  under  their  instruction  our  schools  have  been  improving  for 
some  years.  There  is  less  kicking  and  cudgeling,  and  more  attention  is 
given  to  that  best  of  all  rules,  "The  Golden  Rule."  If  they  are  more  effi- 
cient as  teachers  is  it  not  fair  to  presume  that  they  would  excel  as  com- 
mittees ?  Very  respectfully  yours, 

LLEWELLYN  A.  WADSWORTH. 

The  editor  of  the  Press  adds  to  the  above  his  own  endorse- 
ment, in  these  words : 

We  are  pleased  to  have  Mr.  Wadsworth's  explanation  of  the  reform 
movement  in  Hiram,  which  we  had  been  misled  into  crediting  to  the 
Democrats.  *  *  *  Go  on,  Mr.  Wadsworth,  you  have  our  best  wishes. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  way  of  the  general  adoption  of  your  ideas  but  a 
lot  of  antiquated  and  obsolete  notions,  sustained  by  the  laughter  of  fools. 

The  same  year  we  have  the  report  of  the  first  suffrage  society 
in  that  State,  which  seems  to  place  Maine  in  the  van  of  her  New 
England  sisters,  notwithstanding  the  great  darkness  our  corre- 
spondent deplores : 

DEAR  REVOLUTION  :  A  society  has  just  been  organized  here  called  the 
Equal  Rights  Association  of  Rockland.  It  bids  fair  to  live,  although  it 
requires  all  the  courage  of  heroic  souls  to  contend  against  the  darkness 
that  envelopes  the  people.  But  the  foundation  is  laid,  and  many  noble 
women  are  catching  the  inspiration  of  the  hour.  When  we  are  fully  un- 
der way,  we  shall  send  you  a  copy  of  our  preamble  and  resolutions. 

ELVIRA  C.  THORNDVKE,  Cor.  Secy. 

The  Hon.  John  Neal,  .who  was  foremost  in  all  good  work  in 
Maine,  in  a  letter  to  The  Revolution,  describes  the  first  meeting 
called  in  Portland,  in  May,  1870,  to  consider  the  subject  of  suf- 
frage for  woman.  He  says: 

DEAR  REVOLUTION  :  According  to  my  promise,  I  sent  an  advertise- 
ment to  all  three  of  our  daily  papers  last  Saturday,  in  substance  like  the 
following,  though  somewhat  varied  in  language  : 


John  Neal's    Letter.  353 

ELEVATION  OF  WOMAN. — All  who  favor  Woman  Suffrage,  the  Sixteenth  Amend- 
ment, and  the  restoration  of  woman  to  her  "natural  agd  inalienable  rights,"  are 
wanted  for  consultation  at  the  audience  room  of  the  Portland  Institute  and  Public 
Library,  on  Wednesday  evening  next,  at  half-past  seven  o'clock.  Per  order 

JOHN  NEAL. 

The  weather  was  unfavorable  ;  nevertheless,  the  small  room,  hold- 
ing from  sixty  to  seventy-five,  to  which  the  well-disposed  were 
invited  for  consultation  and  organization,  was  crowded  so  that 
near  the  close  not  a  seat  could  be  had ;  and  crowded,  too,  with 
educated  and  intelligent  women,  and  brave,  thoughtful  men,  so  far 
as  one  might  judge  by  appearances,  and  about  in  equal  proportions. 
Among  the  latter  were  Mr.  Talbot,  United  States  district-attorney,  a 
good  lawyer  and  a  self-convinced  fellow  laborer,  so  far  as  suffrage  is  con- 
cerned ;  but  rather  unwilling  to  go  further  at  present,  lest  if  a  woman 
should  be  sent  to  the  legislature  (against  her  will,  of  course  \)  she  might 
neglect  her  family,  or  be  obliged  to  take  her  husband  with  her,  to  keep 
her  out  of  mischief;  just  as  if  Portland,  with  35,000  inhabitants  and  four 
representatives,  would  not  be  likely  to  find  two  unmarried  women  or 
widows,  or  married  women  not  disqualified  by  matrimonial  incumbrances 
or  liabilities,  to  represent  the  sex  ;  or  lest,  if  she  should  get  into  the  post- 
office,  being  by  nature  so  curious  and  inquisitive,  she  might  be  found 
peeping — as  if  the  chief  distinction  between  superior  and  inferior  minds 
was  not  this  very  disposition  to  inquire  and  investigate  ;  as  if,  indeed,  that 
which  distinguishes  the  barbarous  from  the  civilized,  were  not  this  very 
inquisitiveness  and  curiosity;  the  savage  being  satisfied  with  himself  and 
averse  to  inquiry  ;  the  civilized  ever  on  the  alert,  in  proportion  to  his  in- 
telligence, and,  like  the  Athenians,  always  on  the  look-out  for  some  "new 
thing." 

And  then,  too,  we  had  Judge  Goddard,  of  the  Superior  Court,  one  of  our 
boldest  and  clearest  thinkers,  who  could  not  be  persuaded  to  take  a  part 
in  the  discussion,  though  declaring  himself  entirely  opposed  to  the  move- 
ment. And  yet,  he  is  the  very  man  who,  at  a  Republican  convention  sev- 
eral years  ago,  offered  a  resolution  in  favor  of  impartial  suffrage,  only  to 
find  himself  in  a  minority  of  two;  but  persevered  nevertheless,  year  after 
year,  until  the  very  same  resolution,  word  for  word,  was  unanimously 
adopted  by  another  Republican  convention  !  Of  course,  Judge  Goddard 
will  not  be  likely  to  shrink  from  giving  his  reasons  hereafter,  if  the 
movement  should  propagate  itself,  as  it  certainly  will. 

We  had  also  for  consideration  a  synopsis  of  what  deserves  to  be  called 
most  emphatically  "The  Maine  Law,"  in  relation  to  married  women,  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Drummond,  our  late  speaker  and  formerly  attorney-general, 
and  one  of  our  best  lawyers,  where  it  was  demonstrated,  both  by  enact- 
ments and  adjudications,  running  from  March,  1844,  to  February,  1866, 
that  a  married  woman — to  say  nothing  of  widows  and  spinsters — has  little 
to  complain  of  in  our  State,  her  legal  rights  being  far  ahead  of  the  age, 
and  not  only  acknowledged,  but  enforced;  she  being  mistress  of  herself 
and  of  her  earnings,  and  allowed  to  trade  for  herself,  while  "  her  contracts 
for  any  lawful  purpose  are  made  valid  and  binding,  and  to  be  enforced,  as 
if  she  were  sole  agent  of  her  property,  but  she  cannot  be  arrested. ' 

23 


354  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Then  followed  Mr.  S.  B.  Beckett,  just  returned  from  a  trip  to  the  Holy 
Land,  who  testified,  aming  other  things,  that  he  had  seen  women  both  in 
London  and  Ireland  who  knew  "how  to  keep  a  hotel,"  which  is  reckoned 
among  men  as  the  highest  earthly  qualification — and  proved  it  by  man- 
aging some  of  the  largest  and  best  in  the  world. 

And  then  Mr.  Charles  Jose,  late  one  of  our  aldermen,  who,  half  in  earn- 
est and  half  in  jest,  took  t'other  side  of  the  question,  urging,  first,  that 
this  was  a  political  movement — as  if  that  were  any  objection,  supposing  it 
true ;  our  whole  system  of  government  being  a  political  movement,  and 
that,  by  which  we  trampled  out  the  last  great  rebellion,  another,  both 
parties  and  all  parties  cooperating  in  the  work  ;  next,  that  women  did  not 
ask  for  suffrage — it  was  the  men  who  asked  for  it,  in  their  names ;  that 
there  were  no  complaints  and  no  petitions  from  women  !  As  if  petitions 
had  not  gone  up  and  complaints,  too,  by  thousands,  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  from  school-teachers  and  office  clerks  and  others,  as  well  as  from 
the  women  at  large,  both  over  sea  and  here. 

But  enough.  The  meeting  stands  adjourned  for  a  week.  Probably  no 
organization  will  be  attempted,  lest  it  might  serve  to  check  free  dis- 
cussion. J.  N. 

May  j,  1870. 

Mr.  W.  W.  McCann  wrote  to  the  Woman's  Journal  of  this 
suffrage  meeting  in  Portland,  in  1870: 

Judge  Howe's  voice,  when  he  addressed  the  jury  of  Wyoming  as  "  Ladies 
and  Gentlemen  of  the  Grand  Jury,"  fell  upon  the  ears  of  that  crowded 
court-room  as  a  strange  and  unusual  sound.  Equally  strange  and  imprac- 
ticable seemed  the  call  for  a  "woman  suffrage  meeting,"  at  the  city  build- 
ing, to  the  conservative  citizens  of  Portland.  However,  notwithstanding 
the  suspicion  and  prejudice  with  which  this  movement  is  regarded,  quite 
a  large  and  highly  respectable  audience  assembled  at  an  early  hour  to 
witness  the  new  and  wonderful  phenomenon  of  a  meeting  to  aid  in  giving 
the  ballot  to  woman. 

Hon.  John  Neal,  who  issued  the  call  for  the  meeting,  was  the  first  to 
.speak.  He  reviewed  the  history  of  this  movement,  both  in  this  country 
and  in  England.  He  gave  some  entertaining  reminiscences  of  his  ac- 
quaintance with  John  Stuart  Mill  forty  years  ago.  Mr.  Mill  was  not  then 
in  favor  of  universal  suffrage;  he  advocated  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
male  sex  only.  Mr.  Neal  claimed  the  right  for  women  also.  He  was 
happy  to  learn  that  since  then  Mr.  Mill  has  thrown  all  the  weight  of  his 
influence  and  his  masterly  intellect  in  favor  of  universal  suffrage.  He 
then  entered  into  an  elaborate  discussion  of  some  of  the  objections 
brought  against  woman  suffrage,  and,  much  to  the  surprise  of  many 
present,  showed  that  the  rights  which  women  demand  are  just  and  rea- 
sonable, and  ought  to  be  granted.  John  M.  Todd  remarked  that  he  was 
not  so  much  impressed  by  the  logical  arguments  in  favor  of  suffrage  as 
by  the  shallow  and  baseless  arguments  of  the  opposition.  The  friends  of 
woman  suffrage  are  becoming  active  and  earnest  in  their  efforts,  and  dis- 
cussion is  freely  going  on  through  the  daily  papers. 


Admission  to  the  Bar.  355 

To-day,  the  Eastern  Argus,  a  leading  Democratic  organ  of  this  city,  de- 
nounces this  movement  as  the  most  "  damnable  heresy  of  this  genera- 
tion." We  venture  the  prediction  that  its  friends,  if  true  to  the  pro- 
gressive tendencies  of  the  day,  will  realize  the  consummation  of  their 
cherished  heresy  in  the  proposed  sixteenth  amendment,  which  will 
abolish  all  distinction  of  class  and  sex. 

On  August  12,  1871,  the  announcement  that  Colby  University 
would  be  opened  to  girls  gave  general  satisfaction  to  the  women 
of  Maine.  A  correspondent  says: 

Hereafter  young  women  will  be  admitted  to  this  institution  on  "  pre- 
cisely the  same  terms  as  young  men."  They  may  take  the  regular  course, 
or  such  a  course  as  they  may  select,  taking  at  least  two  studies  each  term. 
They  will  room  and  board  in  families  in  the  village,  and  simply  attend  the  re- 
quired exercises  at  the  college.  The  next  examination  for  entrance  will 
be  on  Wednesday,  August  30.  One  young  lady  has  already  signified  her 
purpose  to  enter  the  regular  course.  Four  New  England  colleges  are 
now  open  to  women — Bates,  at  Lewiston  ;  Colby,  at  Waterville,  Me.;  Ver- 
mont University,  at  Burlington,  Vt.,  and  Wesleyan,  at  Middletown,  Conn. 
Let's  have  no  more  women's  colleges  established,  for  the  next  decade  will 
make  them  unnecessary,  as  by  that  time  all  the  colleges  of  the  country 
will  be  opened  to  them. 

October  26,  1872,  another  advance  step  was  heralded  abroad  : 
On  motion  of  the  Hon.  James  S.  Milliken,  Mrs.  Clara  Hapgood  Nash,  of 
•Columbia  Falls,  was  formally  admitted  to  the  bar  as  an  attorney-at-law. 
During  the  session  of  the  court  in  the  forenoon,  Mrs.  Nash  had  presented 
herself  before  the  examining  committee,  Messrs.  Granger,  Milliken  and 
Walker,  and  had  passed  a  more  than  commonly  creditable  examination. 
After  the  opening. of  the  court  in  the  afternoon,  Mr.  Milliken  arose  and 
said  :  "  May  it  please  the  court,  I  hold  in  my  hand  papers  showing  that  M  re. 
Hapgood  Nash,  of  Columbia  Falls,  has  passed  the  committee  appointed 
by  the  court  to  examine  candidates  for  admission  to  the  bar  as  attorneys- 
at-law  and  has  paid  to  the  county  treasurer  the  duty  required  by  the 
statute;  and  I  now  move  the  court  that  she  be  admitted  to  this  bar  as 
an  attorney-at-law.  In  making  the  motion  I  am  not  unaware  that  this  is 
a  novel  and  unusual  proceeding.  It  is  the  first  instance  in  this  county 
and  this  State,  and,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  first  instance  in  New  Eng- 
land, of  the  application  of  a  woman  to  be  formally  admitted  to  the 
bar  as  a  practitioner.  But  knowing  Mrs.  Nash  to  be  a  modest  and 
refined  lady,  of  literary  and  legal  attainments,  I  feel  safe  in  assuring  Your 
Honor  that  by  a  course  of  honorable  practice,  and  by  her  courte- 
ous intercourse  with  the  members  of  the  profession,  she  will  do  her  full 
part  to  conquer  any  prejudice  that  may  now  exist  against  the  idea  of 
-women  being  admitted  as  attorneys  at  law."  Judge  Barrows,  after  e.x.iin- 
ining  the  papers  handed  to  him,  said  :  "  I  am  not  aware  of  anything  in  the 
constitution  or  laws  of  this  State  prohibiting  the  admission  of  a  wmn.in. 
possessing  the  proper  qualifications,  to  the  practice  of  the  law.  I  have 
i\o  sympathy  with  that  feeling  or  prejudice  which  would  exclude  women 


356  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

from  any  of  the  occupations  of  life  for  which  they  may  be  qualified.  The 
papers  put  into  my  hands  show  that  Mrs.  Nash  has  received  the  unani- 
mous approval  of  the  examining  committee,  as  possessing  the  qualifica- 
tions requisite  for  an  acceptable  attorney,  and  that  she  has  paid  the  legal 
duty  to  the  county  treasurer,  and  I  direct  that  she  be  admitted." 

On  May  10,  1873,  the  trustees  of  the  Industrial  School  for 
Girls  issued  the  following  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  State  : 

The  undersigned,  trustees  of  the  Maine  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  here- 
by earnestly  appeal  to  the  generosity  of  the  State,  to  the  rich  and  poor 
alike,  for  aid  to  this  important  movement.  Our  call  is  to  mothers  and 
fathers  blessed  with  virtuous  and  obedient  children  ;  to  those  who  have 
suffered  by  the  waywardness  of  some  beloved  daughter ;  and  to  all  who 
would  gladly  see  the  neglected,  exposed  and  erring  girls  in  our  midst  re- 
claimed. For  six  years  has  this  subject  been  agitated  in  the  State  and  pre- 
sented to  the  consideration  of  several  legislatures ;  and  during  that  time  the 
objects,  plans  and  practical  workings  of  such  an  institution,  have  become 
familiar  to  the  public  mind.  The  project  is  now  so  near  consummation 
that  by  prompt  and  liberal  response  to  this  appeal,  the  school  can  be 
in  active  operation  by  the  first  of  July  next. 

By  the  terms  of  the  resolution  of  the  legislature  granting  State  aid  of 
five  thousand  dollars,  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  must  first 
be  secured  from  other  sources.  Of  this,  five  thousand  at  least  has 
been  contributed  by  two  generous  ladies  in  Hallowell.  For  the  balance 
the  trustees  confidentially  look  to  the  citizens  of  the  whole  State  as 
equally  to  be  benefited.  Let  them  send  their  contributions,  whether  large 
or  small,  freely  and  at  once,  to  either  of  the  undersigned  and  the  receipt 
of  the  same  shall  be  duly  acknowledged.* 

Some  of  the  women  tax-payers  f  in  Ellsworth,  Maine,  sent  the 
following  protest  to  the  assessors  of  that  city  : 

We  the  undersigned  residents  of  the  city  of  Ellsworth,  believing  in  the 
declaration  of  our  forefathers,  that  '"governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed, "  and  that  •'  taxation  without  represen- 
tation is  tyranny,"  beg  leave  to  protest  against  being  taxed  for  support  of 
laws  that  we  have  no  voice  in  making.  By  taxing  us  you  class  us  with 
aliens  and  minors,  the  only  males  who  are  taxed  and  not  allowed  to  vote, 
you  make  us  the  political  inferiors  of  the  most  ignorant  foreigners,  ne- 
groes, and  men  who  have  not  intellect  enough  to  learn  to  write  their 
names,  or  to  read  the  vote  given  them.  Our  property  is  at  the  disposal 
of  men  who  have  not  the  ability  to  accumulate  a  dollar's  worth  and  who 
pay  only  a  poll-tax.  We  therefore  protest  against  being  taxed  until  we 
are  allowed  the  rights  of  citizens. 


*  Signed :  President,  Benj.  Kingsbury,  Portland  ;  Secretary,  E.  R.  French,  S.  Chesterville  ;  Treas- 
urer, William  Deering  Portland  ;  ex  officio,  Gov.  Sidney  Perham,  Secretary  of  State  Geo.  G.  Stacy, 
Superintendent  of  Schools  Warren  Johnson  ;  John  B.  Nealley,  S.  Berwick  ;  Nelson  Dingley,  jr.,  Lewis- 
ton  ;  J.  S.  Wheelright,  Bangor  ;  H.  K.  Baker,  Hallowell  ;  Mrs.  C.  A.  L.  Sampson,  Bath  ;  Mrs.  James 
Fernald,  Portland. 

t  Ann  F.  Greely,  Sarah  Jarvis,  C.  B.  Grant,  E.  E.  Tinker,  A.  IX  Might,  M.  J.  Brooks,  C.  W.  Jarvis, 
E.  B.  Jarvis,  Rebecca  M.  A  very. 


Letter  in  the  "Woman's  Journal"  357 

AUGUSTA,  March  i,  1872. 

EDITORS  WOMAN'S  JOURNAL  :  I  have  never  seen  a  letter  in  the  Woman's 
Journal  written  from  Augusta,  the  capital  of  Maine,  and  as  some  things 
have  transpired  lately  which  might  interest  your  readers,  I  take  the  lib- 
erty of  writing  a  few  lines.  The  bill  for  woman  suffrage  was  defeated 
in  the  House,  fifty-two  to  forty-one.  In  the  Senate  the  vote  was  fifteen 
in  favor  to  eight  against.  I  think  the  smallness  of  the  vote  was  owing 
to  the  indifference  of  some  of  the  members  and  the  determination  of  a  few 
to  kill  the  bill.  Some  politicians  are  afraid  of  this  innovation  just  now, 
lest  the  Republican  party  be  more  disrupted  than  it  already  is.  Day  after 
day,  when  the  session  was  drawing  to  a  close,  women  went  to  the  state- 
house  expecting  to  hear  the  question  debated.  Wednesday  every  available 
place  was  filled  with  educated  women.  The  day  was  spent — if  I  should 
say  how,  my  criticism  might  be  too  severe.  Gentlemen  from  Thomaston, 
Biddeford,  Burlington  and  Waldoborough  had  the  floor  most  of  the  time 
during  the  afternoon.  In  the  evening,  while  those  same  women  and  some 
of  the  members  of  the  legislature  were  attending  a  concert,  the  bill  was 
taken  up  and  voted  upon,  without  any  discussion  whatever.  Now,  I  submit 
to  any  fair-minded  person  if  this  was  right.  I  have  listened  to  discussions 
upon  that  floor  this  winter  for  which  I  should  have  hung  my  head  in  shame 
had  they  been  conducted  by  women.  The  whole  country,  from  Maine  to 
California,  calls  loudly  for  better  legislation — for  morality  in  politics. 

A  member  of  the  House  said  to  me  yesterday,  that  he  thought  that 
some  of  the  members  from  the  rural  districts  were  not  sufficiently  en- 
lightened upon  the  question  of  woman  suffrage,  and  the  bill  ought  to 
have  been  thoroughly  discussed.  Yes,  and  perhaps  treated  with  respect 
by  its  friends.  I  saw  the  member  from  Calais  while  a  vote  was  being 
taken.  Standing  in  his  seat,  with  his  hand  stretched  toward  the  rear  of 
the  House,  where  it  is  generally  supposed  that  members  sit  who  are  a  lit- 
tle slow  in  voting  at  the  beck  of  politicians,  he  said  :  "  Yes  is  the 
way  to  vote,  gentlemen!  Yes!  Yes!"  When  women  have  such  poli- 
ticians for  champions  equal  suffrage  is  secured.  But  do  we  want  such 
men  ?  The  member  from  Calais  voted  against  woman's  right  of  suffrage. 
He  is  said  to  be  an  ambitious  aspirant  in  the  fifth  congressional  district. 
See  to  it,  women  of  the  fifth  district,  that  you  do  not  have  him  as  an  op- 
ponent of  equal  rights  in  congress.  There  is  a  throne  behind  a  throne. 
Let  woman  be  regal  in  the  background,  where  she  must  stand  for  the 
present,  in  Maine. 

But  I  am  happy  and  proud  to  state  that  some  very  high-minded  men, 
and  some  of  the  best  legislators  in  the  House,  did  vote  for  the  bill,  viz.: 
Brown  of  Bangor.  Judge  Titcomb  of  Augusta,  General  Perry  of  Oxford, 
Porter  of  Burlington,  Labroke  of  Foxcroft,  and  many  others ;  in  the  Sen- 
ate, the  president  and  fourteen  others,  the  real  bone  and  marrow  of  the 
Senate,  voted  for  the  bill.  The  signs  of  the  times  are  good.  Thewatchman 
of  the  night  discerns  the  morning  light  in  the  broad  eastern  horizon. 

[Signed:]  PATIENCE  COMMONSENSE. 

The  Portland  Press,  in  a  summary  of  progress  in  Maine  for 
1873,  says: 


358  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

Women  certainly  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  year's  dealings 
with  them,  for  they  have  been  recognized  in  many  ways  which  indicate 
the  gradual  breaking  down  of  the  prejudices  that  have  hitherto  given 
them  a  position  of  quasi  subjection.  Mrs.  Mary  D.  Welcome  has  been 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Methodists;  Mrs.  Fannie  U.  Roberts  of  Kittery 
has  been  commissioned  by  the  governor  to  solemnize  marriages;  Clara 
H.  Nash,  of  the  famous  law  firm  of  F.  C.  &  C.  H.  Nash,  of  Columbia  Falls, 
has  argued  a  case  before  a  jury  in  the  Supreme  Court;  Miss  Mary  C. 
Lowe  of  Colby  University  has  taken  a  college  prize  for  declamation. 
They  are  the  first  Maine  women  who  have  ever  enjoyed  honors  of  the 
kind.  Miss  Cameron  spoke,  too,  at  the  last  Congregational  conference,, 
and  Miss  Frank  Charles  was  appointed  register  of  deeds  in  Oxford  county. 

It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  the  legislature  voted  as  follows  on  the 
question  of  giving  the  ballot  to  women:  Senate — 14  yeas,  14  nays;. 
House — 62  yeas,  69  nays.  Women  are  rapidly  obtaining  a  recognized  po- 
sition in  our  colleges.  There  are  now  five  young  women  at  Colby,  three 
at  Bates,  and  three  at  the  Agricultural  College — eleven  in  all.  Bates  has 
already  graduated  two.  In  the  latter  college  a  scholarship  for  the  benefit 
of  women  has  been  endowed  by  Judge  Reddington.  Finally,  the  first 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  ever  formed  in  Maine  held  its  first  meeting 
at  Augusta  last  January,  and  was  a  great  success.  Carmel,  Monroe,  Etna 
and  some  other  towns  have  elected  women  superintendents  of  schools, 
but  this  has  been  done  in  other  years.  Fora  little  movement  in  the  right 
direction  we  must  credit  Messrs.  Amos,  Abbott  &  Co.,  woolen  manufac- 
turers of  Dexter,  who  divide  ten  per  cent,  of  their  profits  with  their  op- 
eratives. 

Clara  H.  Nash,  the  lady  who,  in  partnership  with  her  husband, 
has  recently  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law  in  Maine,  says: 

Scarcely  a  day  passes  but  something  occurs  in  our  office  to  rouse  my 
indignation  afresh  by  reminding  me  of  the  utter  insignificance  with  which 
the  law,  in  its  every  department,  regards  woman,  and  its  utter  disregard 
of  her  rights  as  an  individual.  Would  that  women  might  feel  this  truth; 
then,  indeed,  would  their  enfranchisement  be  speedy. 

In  the  Woman's  Journal  of  January  I,  1873,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing call : 

The  people  of  Maine  who  believe  fn  the  extension  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise to  women  as  a  beneficent  power  for  the  promotion  of  the  virtues 
and  the  correction  of  the  evils  of  society,  and  all  who  believe  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  equal  justice,  equal  liberty  and  equal  opportunity,  upon  which 
republican  institutions  are  founded,  and  have  faith  in  the  triumph  of  intel- 
ligence and  reason  over  custom  and  prejudice,  are  invited  to  meet  at 
Granite  Hall,  in  the  city  of  Augusta,  on  Wednesday,  January  29,  1873,  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  a  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  and  in- 
augurating such  measures  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  as  the  wis- 
dom of  the  convention  may  suggest.* 


*  Signed  by  John  Neal,  S.  T.  Pickard,  Mrs.  Oliver  Dennet,  Mrs.  Eleanor  Neal,  Portland;  J.  J.  Eve- 
leth,  mayor,  Joshua  Nye,  Chandler  Beal,  William  H.  Libbey,  George  W.  Quinby,  William  P.  White- 


Moral  Eminence  of  Maine.  359 

The  Portland  Press,  in  a  leading  editorial  on  the  "  Moral  Emi- 
nence of  Maine,"  says: 

Maine  has  been  first  in  many  things.  She  has  taught  the  world  how  to 
struggle  with  intemperance,  and  pilgrims  come  hither  from  all  quarters  of 
the  earth  to  learn  the  theory  and  practice  of  prohibition.  She  was  among 
the  first  to  practically  abolish  capital  punishment  and  to  give  married 
women  their  rights  in  respect  to  property.  She  is,  perhaps,  nearer  giving 
them  political  rights,  also,  than  any  of  her  sister  commonwealths.  If 
Maine  should  be  first  among  the  States  to  give  suffrage  to  women,  she 
would  do  more  for  temperance  than  a  hundred  prohibitory  laws,  and  more 
for  civilization  and  progress  than  Massachusetts  did  when  she  threw  the 
tea  into  Boston  harbor  in  1773,  or  when  she  sent  the  first  regiment  to  the 
relief  of  Washington  in  1861. 

The  leaders  of  the  temperance  reform  in  Maine  are  fully  alive  to  the 
necessity  of  woman  suffrage  as  a  means  to  that  end.  At  the  meeting  of 
the  State  Temperance  Association  of  Maine,  in  Augusta,  recently, .  Mr. 
Randall  said  that  "as  the  woman  suffrage  convention  has  adjourned  over 
this  afternoon  in  order  to  attend  the  temperance  meeting,  he  would 
move  that  when  we  adjourn  it  be  to  Thursday  morning,  as  the  work  at 
both  conventions  is  intimately  connected.  If  the  women  of  Maine  went 
to  the  ballot-box,  we  should  have  officers  to  enforce  the  law."  Mr.  Ran- 
dall's motion  was  carried,  and  the  temperance  convention  adjourned. 

The  Woman  Suffrage  Association  assembled  Wednesday,  Janu- 
ary 29,  in  Granite  Hall,  Augusta.  There  was  a  very  large 
attendance,  a  considerable  number  of  those  present  being  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature.  Hon.  Joshua  Nye  presided.  He  made  a 
few  remarks  relating  to  the  removal  of  political  disabilities  from 
women,  and  introduced  Mrs.  Agnes  A.  Houghton  of  Bath,  who 
spoke  on  the  "Turning  of  the  Tide,"  contending  that  woman 
should  be  elevated  socially,  politically  and  morally,  enjoying  the 
same  rights  as  man.  She  was  followed  by  Judge  Benjamin 
Kingsbury,  jr.,  of  Portland,  who  declared  himself  unequivocally 
in  favor  of  giving  woman  the  right  to  vote,  and  who  trusted  that 
she  would  be  accorded  this  right  by  the  present  legislature. 
More  than  1,000  persons  were  in  the  audience,  and  great  en- 
house,  General  Selden  Conner,  H.  H.  Hamlen,  H.  S.  Osgood,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Quinby,  Mrs.  W.  K.  Lancey, 
Mrs.  D.  M.  Waitt,  Mrs.  William  B.  Lapham,  Mrs.  S.  M.  Barton,  Augusta;  Mary  A.  Ross  and  fifty 
others;  Rev.  W.  L.  Brown,  Mrs.  E.  A.  Dickerson,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Burrill,  Mrs.  N.  Abbott,  Mrs.  Thomas 
N.  Marshall,  Miss  A.  A.  Hicks,  Belfast;  John  D.  Hopkins,  Rev.  William  H.  Savary,  C.  J.  1'cck, 
mayor,  A.  E.  Drinkwater,  Mrs.  Ann  F.  Greely,  Ellsworth;  Mrs.  A.  H.  Savary  and  twenty  others;  Mrs. 
M.  C.  Grossman,  Mrs.  S.  D.  Morison,  Mrs.  J.  Tillson,  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Prcntiss,  Mrs.  Amos  Pickard, 
Bangor;  Miss  M.  Phillips  and  twelve  others;  Rev.  John  W.  Hinds,  Lewiston;  Rev.  T.  P.  Adams.  Bow- 
doinham  ;  A.  H.  Sweetser  and  twenty  others,  Rockland  ;  Rev.  W.  H.  Bolster,  Wisi  .i-soi  ;  \V.  T.  C- 
Runnels,  Searsport;  Rev.  M.  V.  B.  Stinson,  Kittery;  John  U.  Hubbard,  Alfred  Winslow,  West  Water- 
ville;  Mrs.  M.  S.  Philbrick,  SkowheRan;  Mrs.  Simeon  Conner,  Kail-field;  George  Gifford,  Mrs.  Mary' 
W.  Southwick,  H.  M.  N.  Bush,  M.  A.  Bush,  A.  E.  Prescott,  Vassalboro;  A.  R.  Dunham  and  fourteen 
others;  R.  C.  Caldwell  and  eight  others,  Gardiner;  Albert  Crosby,  Mrs.  S.  G.Crosby,  Albion;  Noah  F. 
Norton,  Mercy  G.  Norton,  Penobscot. 


360  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

thusiasm  prevailed.  The  morning  session  was  devoted  to  busi- 
ness and  the  election  of  officers.*  In  order  not  to  conflict  with 
a  meeting  of  the  State  Temperance  Association,  no  afternoon 
session  was  held,  and,  in  return,  the  State  Temperance  Society 
gave  up  its  evening  meeting  to  enable  its  members  to  attend  the 
suffrage  convention. 

Speeches  were  made  by  Henry  B.  Blackwell  of  Boston,  Rev. 
Ellen  Gustin  of  Mansfield,  Mary  Eastman  of  Lowell,  and  others. 
Resolutions  were  passed  pledging  the  association  not  to  cease 
its  efforts  until  the  unjust  discrimination  with  regard  to  voting 
is  swept  away ;  that  in  the  election  of  president,  and  of  all  offi- 
cers where  the  qualifications  of  voters  are  not  prescribed  by  the 
State  constitution,  the  experiment  should  be  tried  of  allowing 
women  to  vote ;  that  in  view  of  the  large  amount  of  money 
which  has  been  expended  in  Maine  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of 
the  Boys'  Industrial  School  during  the  past  twenty  years,  it  is 
the  prayer  of  the  ladies  of  Maine  that  the  present  legislature 
vote  the  sum  asked  for  the  establishment  of  an  Industrial  School 
for  girls. 

In  1874  we  find  notices  of  other  onward  steps: 

EDITORS  JOURNAL  :  Woman's  cause  works  slowly  here,  though  in  one 
respect  we  have  been  successful.  Our  county  school-superintendent  is  a 
lady.  She  had  a  large  majority  over  our  other  candidate,  and  over  two 
gentlemen,  and  she  is  decidedly  "the  right  person  in  the  right  place." 
She  is  a  graduate  from  the  normal  school,  the  mother  of  four  children,  q 
widow  for  some  six  years  past,  and  a  lady.  What  more  can  we  ask,  un- 
less, indeed,  it  be  for  a  very  conscientious  idea  of  duty?  That,  too,  she 
has,  and  also  energy,  with  which  she  carries  it  out.  The  sterner  sex  admit 
that  women  are  competent  to  hold  office.  But  some  say  we  are  not  intel- 
ligent enough  to  vote.  What  an  appalling  amount  of  wisdom  they  show 
in  this  idea  !  It  would  be  "  unwomanly  "  in  us  to  suggest  such  a  word  as 
inconsistency.  Fraternally,  M.  J.  M. 

Cairo,  Me.,  April,  1874. 

In  Searsport  a  woman  was  elected  one  of  the  two  school- 
superintendents  of  the  town.  The  following  advertisement  ap- 
pears in  the  local  newspaper: 

SEARSPORT  SCHOOL  NOTICE. — The  superintending  school-committee  of  Searsport 
-will  meet  to  examine  teachers  at  the  town  library,  April  17  and  May  r,  1874,  at  x 
o'clock  P.  M.  DELIA  A.  CURTIS, 

JOHN  NICHOLS, 

S.  S.  Com.  of  Sear sfort. 

*  President,  Benjamin  Kingsbury  of  Portland;  Secretary,  Miss  Addie  Quimby  of  Augusta;  Treas- 
urer, Mrs.  W.  K.  Lancey  of  Augusta.  Among  the  vice-presidents  are  the  Hon.  S.  F.  Hersey  of  Ban- 
gor,  and  John  Neal  of  Portland.  An  Executive  Committee  was  elected,  which  included  John  P.  White- 
house,  Hon.  Joshua  Nye,  Neal  Dow,  jr.,  and  other  leading  citizens. 


Supreme  Judicial  Court  Interrogated.  361 

Teachers  will  be  expected  to  discountenance  the  use  of  tobacco  and  intoxicating 
liquors,  and  to  use  their  best  endeavors  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  the  children  and 
youth  committed  to  their  care  and  instruction  a  proper  understanding  of  the  evil  ten- 
dency of  such  habits;  and  no  teacher  need  apply  for  a  certificate  to  teach  in  this  town, 
the  ensuing  year,  who  uses  either.  DELIA  A.  CURTIS. 

DEAR  JOURNAL  :  Aroostook,  though  occupying  the  extreme  north- 
eastern portion  of  our  good  State  of  Maine,  and  still  in  the  blush  of 
youth,  is  not  behind  her  sister  counties  in  recognition  of  woman's  fitness 
for  office.  The  returns  of  town  elections,  so  far  as  I  have  yet  seen,  give 
three  towns  in  the  county  which  have  elected  ladies*  to  serve  as  mem- 
bers of  the  school  committee.  L.  J.  Y.  W. 

Houlton,  Maine. 

In  the  autumn  of  1874  the  governor  and  council  requested  the 
opinion  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  on  the  following  questions: 

First — Under  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this  State,  can  a  woman,  if  duly  ap- 
pointed and  qualified  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  legally  perform  all  acts  pertaining  to 
that  office? 

Second — Would  it  be  competent  for  the  legislature  to  authorize  the  appointment  of 
a  married  woman  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace;  or  to  administer  oaths,  take 
acknowledgment  of  deeds  or  solemnize  marriages,  so  that  the  same  may  be  legal  and 
valid  ? 

The  following  responses  to  these  inquiries  were  received  by  the 
governor:  the  opinion  of  the  court,  drawn  by  Chief-Justice 
Appleton,  and  concurred  in  by  Justices  Cutting,  Peters,  Danforth 
and  Virgin;  a  dissenting  opinion  from  Justices  Walton  and  Bar- 
rows and  one  from  Justice  Dickerson.  The  opinion  of  the  court 
is  given  below: 

To  the  questions  proposed  we  have  the  honor  to  answer  as  follows : 

Whether  it  is  expedient  that  women  should  hold  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  is 
not  an  inquiry  proposed  for  our  consideration.  It  is  whether,  under  the  existing  con- 
stitution, they  can  be  appointed  to  such  office,  and  can  legally  discharge  its  duties. 

By  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  of  which  we  formerly  constituted  a  portion, 
the  entire  political  power  of  that  commonwealth  was  vested  under  certain  conditions, 
in  its  male  inhabitants  of  a  prescribed  age.  They  alone,  and  in  the  exclusion  of  the 
other  sex,  as  determined  by  its  highest  court  of  law,  could  exercise  the  judicial  function 
as  existing  and  established  by  that  iustrument. 

By  the  act  relating  to  the  separation  of  the  district  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts,  the 
authority  to  determine  upon  the  question  of  separation,  and  to  elect  delegates  to  meet  and 
form  a  constitution  was  conferred  upon  the  "  inhabitants  of  the  several  towns,  districts 
and  plantations  in  the  district  of  Maine  qualified  to  vote  for  governor  or  senators," 
thus  excluding  the  female  sex  from  all  participation  in  the  formation  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  in  the  organization  of  the  government  under  it.  Whether  the  constitution 
should  or  should  not  be  adopted,  was  especially,  by  the  organic  law  of  its  existence,  sub- 
mitted to  the  vote  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  the  State. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  constitution  of  the  State  was  the  work  of  its  male  citizens. 
It  was  ordained,  established,  and  ratified  by  them,  and  by  them  alone;  but  by  the 
power  of  government  was  divided  into  three  distinct  departments :  legislative,  execu- 
tive and  judicial.  By  article  VI.,  section  4,  justices  of  the  peace  are  recognized  as  judi- 
cial officers. 


*  Miss  Louisa  Coffin,  Dalton;  Miss  Annie  Lincoln,  Mapleton;  Miss  Ada  DeLaite,  Littleton. 


362  History  of  Woman   Suffrage. 

By  the  constitution,  the  whole  political  power  of  the  State  is  vested  in  its  male  citi- 
zens. Whenever  in  any  of  its  provisions,  reference  is  made  to  sex,  it  is  to  duties  to  be 
done  and  performed  by  male  members  of  the  community.  Nothing  in  the  language  of 
the  constitution  or  in  the  debates  of  the  convention  by  which  it  was  formed,  indicates 
any  purpose  whatever  of  any  surrender  of  political  power  by  those  who  had  previously 
enjoyed  it  or  a  transfer  of  the  same  to  those  who  had  never  possessed  it.  Had  any  such 
design  then  existed,  we  cannot  doubt  that  it  would  have  been  made  manifest  in  appro- 
priate language.  But  such  intention  is  nowhere  disclosed.  Having  regard  then,  to 
the  rules  of  the  common  law  as  to  the  rights  of  women,  married  and  unmarried,  as 
then  existing — to  the  history  of  the  past — to  the  universal  and  unbroken  practical  con- 
struction given  to  the  constitution  of  this  State  and  to  that  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts  upon  which  that  of  this  State  was  modeled,  we  are  led  to  the  inevitable 
conclusion  that  it  was  never  in  the  contemplation  or  intention  of  those  framing  our  con- 
stitution that  the  offices  thereby  created  should  be  filled  by  those  who  could  take  no 
part  in  its  original  formation,  and  to  whom  no  political  power  was  intrusted  for  the  or- 
ganization of  the  government  then  about  to  be  established  under  its  provisions,  or  for 
its  continued  existence  and  preservation  when  established. 

The  same  process  of  reasoning  which  would  sanction  the  conferring  judicial  power 
on  women  under  the  constitution  would  authorize  the  giving  them  executive  power  by 
making  them  sheriffs  and  major-generals.  But  while  the  offices  enacted  by  the  consti- 
tution are  to  be,  filled  exclusively  by  the  male  members  of  the  State,  we  have  no  doubt 
that  the  legislature  may  create  new  ministerial  offices  not  enumerated  therein,  and  if  it 
deem  expedient,  may  authorize  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  the  offices  so  created 
by  persons  of  either  sex. 

To  the  first  question  proposed,  we  answer  in  the  negative. 

To  the  second,  we  answer  that  it  is  competent  for  the  legislature  to  authorize  the 
appointment  of  married  or  unmarried  women  to  administer  oaths,  take  acknowledgment 
of  deeds  or  solemnize  marriages,  so  that  the  same  shall  be  legal  and  valid. 

JOHN  APPLETON,  JOHN  A.  PETERS, 

JONAS  CUTTING,  WM.  WIRT  VIRGIN, 

CHARLES  DANFORTH. 

The  dissenting  opinion  was  as  follows: 

We,  the  undersigned,  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  concur  in  so  much  of 
the  foregoing  opinion  as  holds  that  it  is  competent  for  the  legislature  to  authorize  the 
appointment  of  women  to  administer  oaths,  take  the  acknowledgment  of  deeds  and 
solemnize  marriages.  But  we  do  not  concur  in  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not  equally 
competent  for  the  legislature  to  authorize  the  appointment  of  women  to  act  as  justices 
of  the  peace. 

The  legislature  is  authorized  to  enact  any  law  which  it  deems  reasonable  and  proper, 
provided  it  is  not  repugnant  to  the  constitution  of  this  State,  nor  to  that  of  the  United 
States.  A  law  authorizing  the  appointment  of  women  to  act  as  justices  of  the  peace 
would  not,  in  our  judgment,  be  repugnant  to  either.  We  fail  to  find  a  single  word, 
or  sentence,  or  clause  of  a  sentence,  which,  fairly  construed,  either  expressly  or  im- 
pliedly  forbids  the  passage  of  such  a  law.  So  far  as  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace 
is  concerned,  there  is  not  so  much  as  a  masculine  pronoun  to  hang  an  objection  upon. 

It  is  true  that  the  right  to  vote  is  limited  to  males.  But  the  right  to  vote  and  the 
right  to  hold  office  are  distinct  matters.  Either  may  exist  without  the  other.  And  it 
may  be  true  that  the  framers  of  the  constitution  did  not  contemplate — did  not  affirma- 
tively intend — that  women  should  hold  office.  But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  they 
intended  the  contrary.  The  truth  probably  is  that  they  had  no  intention  one  way  or 
the  other  ;  that  the  matter  was  not  even  thought  of.  And  it  will  be  noticed  that  the 
unconstitutionality  of  such  a  law  is  made  to  rest,  not  on  any  expressed  intention  of  the 
framers  of  the  constitution  that  women  should  not  hold  office,  but  upon  a  presumed 
absence  of  intention  that  they  should. 


Recommendation  of  Gov.  Dingley.  363 

This  seems  to  us  a  dangerous  doctrine.  It  is  nothing  less  than  holding  that  the 
legislature  cannot  enact  a  law  unless  it  appears  affirmatively  that  the  framers  of  the 
constitution  intended  that  such  a  law  should  be  enacted.  We  cannot  concur  in  such  a 
doctrine.  It  would  put  a  stop  to  all  progress.  We  understand  the  correct  rule  to  be 
the  reverse  of  that  ;  namely,  that  the  legislature  may  enact  any  law  they  may  think 
proper,  unless  it  appears  affirmatively  that  the  framers  of  the  constitution  intended 
that  such  a  law  should  not  be  passed.  And  the  best  and  only  safe  rule  for  ascertaining 
the  intention  of  the  makers  of  any  written  law,  is  to  abide  by  the  language  which  they 
have  used.  And  this  is  especially  true  of  written  constitutions  ;  for  in  preparing  such 
instruments  it  is  but  reasonable  to  presume  that  every  word  has  been  carefully  weighed, 
and  that  none  is  inserted  and  none  omitted  without  a  design  for  so  doing.  Taking 
this  rule  for  our  guide  we  can  find  nothing  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  or 
of  this  State,  forbidding  the  passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the  appointment  of  women  to 
act  as  justices  of  the  peace.  We  think  such  a  law  would  be  valid. 

C.  W.  WALTON, 
WM.  G.  BARROWS. 

The  right  of  women  to  hold  office  was  affirmed  in  the  message 
of  Governor  Dingley,  January,  1875  : 

In  response  to  the  questions  propounded  by  the  governor  and  council,  a 
majority  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  have  given  an  opinion  that, 
under  the  constitution  of  Maine,  women  cannot  act  as  justices  of  the  peace, 
nor  hold  any  other  office  mentioned  in  that  instrument ;  but  that  it  is 
competent  for  the  legislature  to  authorize  persons  of  either  sex  to  hold 
any  ministerial  office  created  by  statute.  As  there  can  be  no  valid  objec- 
tion to,  but  on  the  contrary  great  convenience  in,  having  women  who  may 
be  acting  as  clerks  in  public  or  private  offices  authorized  to  administer 
oaths  and  take  acknowledgment  of  deeds,  I  recommend  the  passage  of 
an  act  providing  for  the  appointment  of  persons  of  either  sex,  to  perform 
such  official  duties.  Indeed,  if  further  legislation  be  necessary  to  establish 
that  principle,  I  suggest  the  justice  and  expediency  of  an  enabling  act 
recognizing  the  eligibility  of  women  to  office  in  the  same  manner  as  men  ; 
for  I  know  of  no  sufficient  reason  why  a  woman,  otherwise  qualified, 
should  be  excluded  from  any  position  adapted  to  her  tastes  and  acquire- 
ments, which  the  people  may  desire  she  should  fill. 

The  legislature  passed  the  bill  recommended  by  the  governor. 

In  1875  the  Constitutional  Committee,  by  a  vote  of  six  to  two, 
defeated  the  proposition  to  so  amend  the  constitution  as  to  make 
women  electors  under  the  same  regulations  and  restrictions  as  men. 

The  Maine  Woman  Suffrage  Association  held  its  third  annual  meeting 
at  Augusta  on  January  12,  1876,  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, the  use  of  which  had  been  courteously  extended  to  the  association. 
The  hull  and  galleries  were  crowded  in  every  part  with  an  intelligent  audi- 
ence, whose  close  attention  through  all  the  sessions  showed  an  earnot 
interest  in  the  cause. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Judge  Kingsburyof  Portland,  presi- 
dent of  the  association.*  Prayer  was  offered  by  Miss  Angell  <>t"  Canton, 


*  The  following  officers  were  elected  :  President,  Hon.  I'.cnjamin  Kinj^bury  of  Portland;  Chair- 
man Executive  Committee,  Hon.  Joshua  Nye;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mr.  C.  A.  Quinby.  Au- 
gusta; Recording  Secretory,  Mrs.  W.  D.  Eaton,  Dexter;  Trttuurer,  Mrs.  W.  K.  Lancey,  Pituficld. 


364  History  of  Woman  Siiffrage. 

N.  Y.  Judge  Kingsbury  made  the  introductory  address.  Addresses  were 
also  made  by  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Miss  Eastman  and  Lucy  Stone,  showing 
the  right  and  need  of  women  in  politics,  and  the  duty  of  law-makers  to 
establish  justice  for  them.  It  was  especially  urged  that  the  centennial 
celebration  would  be  only  a  mockery  if  the  Fourth  of  July,  1876,  finds  this 
government  still  doing  to  women  what  the  British  government  did  to  the 
colonists  a  hundred  years  ago.  Rev.  Mr.  Gage  of  Lewiston  urged  the 
right  of  women  to  vote  in  the  interest  of  civilization  itself.  In  the 
perilous  times  upon  which  we  have  fallen  in  the  great  experiment  of  self- 
government,  some  new  force  is  needed  to  check  growing  evils.  The  in- 
fluence in  the  home  is  that  which  is  needed  in  legislation,  and  it  can  only 
be  had  by  the  ballot  in  the  hand  of  woman.  Mrs.  Quinby,  from  the  Busi- 
ness Committee,  reported  a  series  of  resolutions.  After  their  adoption 
Mrs.  Abba  G.  Woolson,  in  an  earnest  and  forcible  speech,  claimed  the 
right  of  women  to  vote,  as  the  final  application  of  the  theory  of  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed.  She  had  personally  noticed  the  good  effects  of 
the  ballot  conferred  upon  the  women  in  Wyoming,  and  should  be  glad 
to  have  her  native  State  of  Maine  lead  in  this  matter,  and  give  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  true  republic.  Miss  Lorenza  Haynes,  who  had  been  the  day 
before  ordained  over  the  Universalist  Church  in  Hallowell,  followed  with 
a  speech  of  remarkable  wit  and  brilliancy,  to  which  no  report  can  do 
justice. 

A  writer  in  the  Woman  s  Journal  about  this  time  said  : 
During  the  early  part  of  the  session  of  our  late  legislature  woman  suf- 
frage petitions  were  numerously  signed  by  the  leading  men  and  women 
throughout  the  State  receiving  an  earnest  and  respectful  consideration 
from  the  people  generally,  even  from  those  who  were  not  quite  ready  to 
sign  petitions.  Consequently,  it  seemed  an  easy  matter  to  get  a  bill  be- 
fore the  legislature,  and  we  were  almost  certain  of  a  majority  in  one 
branch  of  the  House,  at  least,  especially  as  it  was  generally  understood 
that  our  new  governor  favored  the  cause;  and  it  is  believed  yet  that  Gov- 
ernor Dingley  does  sympathize  with  it,  even  though  he  failed  to  mention 
it  in  his  otherwise  admirable  message.  The  petitions  were  duly  pre- 
sented and  referred  to  a  joint  committee,  where  the  matter  was  al- 
lowed to  quietly  drop. 

It  is  neither  riches,  knowledge,  nor  culture  that  constitutes  the  electoral 
qualifications,  but  gender  and  a  certain  implied  brute  force.  By  this  stan- 
dard legislative  bodies  have  been  wont  to  judge  the  exigency  of  this  mighty 
question.  More  influential  than  woman,  though  unacknowledged  as  such 
by  the  average  legislator  of  States  and  nations,  even  the  insignificant 
lobster  finds  earnest  champions  where  woman's  claims  fail  of  recognition; 
which  assertion  the  following  incident  will  substantiate  :  Being  present  in 
the  Representatives  Hall  in  Augusta  when  the  "  lobster  question  "  came  up 
for  discussion  (the  suffrage  question  was  then  struggling  before  the  com- 
mittee), I  was  struck  by  the  air  of  earnestness  that  pervaded  the  entire 
House  on  that  memorable  occasion,  And  why  not  ?  It  was  a  question 
that  appealed  directly  to  man's  appetite,  and  there  he  is  always  inte- 
rested. After  the  morning  hour  a  dozen  ready  debaters  sprang  to  their 


Miss  Charlotte  Hill.  365 

feet,  eloquent  in  advocating  the  rights  of  this  important  member  of  the 
crustacean  family.  The  discussion  waxed  into  something  like  enthusiasm, 
when  finally  an  old  tar  exclaimed  with  terrific  violence  :  "Mr.  Speaker, 
I  insist  upon  it,  this  question  must  be  considered.  It  is  a  great  question  ; 
one  before  which  all  others  will  sink  into  insignificance ;  one  of  vastly 
mo,re  importance  than  any  other  that  will  come  before  this  honorable 
body  during  this  session  !"  DIRIOO. 

In  closing  this  chapter  it  is  fitting  to  mention  some  of  our 
faithful  friends  in  Maine,  whose  names  have  not  appeared  in  so- 
cieties and  conventions  as  leaders  or  speakers,  but  whose  services 
in  other  ways  have  been  highly  appreciated. 

Rockland  is  the  home  of  Lucy  and  Lavinia  Snow,  who,  from 
the  organization  of  the  first  society  in  1868,  have  never  failed  to 
send  good  words  of  cheer  and  liberal  contributions  to  all  our  Na- 
tional conventions.  Another  branch  of  the  worthy  Snow  family, 
from  the  town  of  Hamlin,  has  given  us  equally  generous  coadju- 
tors in  Mrs.  Spofford  and  her  noble  sisters  in  Washington. 

As  early  as  1857,  Mrs.  Anna  Greeley  and  Miss  Charlotte  Hill 
of  Ellsworth  constituted  themselves  a  conmittee  to  inaugurate  a 
course  of  lyceum  lectures  in  that  town,  taking  the  entire  finan- 
cial responsibility.  Miss  Hill  was  an  excellent  violinist  and 
taught  a  large  class  of  boys  and  girls,  and  also  played  at  balls 
and  parties,  thus  gaining  a  livelihood.  Some  of  her  patrons 
threatened  that  if  she  persisted  in  bringing  such  people*  to  that 
town  and  affiliated  with  them,  they  would  no  longer  patronize 
her.  "  Very  well  "  she  replied,  "  I  shall  maintain  my  principles, 
and  if  you  break  up  my  classes  I  can  go  back  to  the  sea-shore  and 
dig  clams  for  a  living  as  I  have  done  before."  Tradition  says  the 
lecture  course  was  a  success.  She  continued  her  classes  and  the 
neighbors  danced  as  ever  to  her  music. 

Gail  Hamilton,  who  resides  in  Maine  at  least  half  her  time,  is 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  pungent  American  writers.  In  de- 
nouncing the  follies  and  failures  of  her  sex,  her  critical  pen  has 
indirectly  aided  the  suffrage  movement  by  arousing  thought  upon 
all  phases  of  the  question  as  to  what  are  the  rights  and  duties  of 
woman,  though  she,  stoutly  maintains  that  she  is  opposed  to 
woman's  enfranchisement. 

In  Portland  there  has  always  been  a  circle  of  noble  men  and 
women,  steadfast  friends  alike  of  the  anti-slavery,  temperance 
and  woman  suffrage  movements.  The  names  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Oliver  Dennett,  Miss.  Charlotte  A.  Thomas  and  Mrs.  Ellen  French 


*  Those  invited  were  Wendell  Philips,  Harriet  K.  Hunt,  Caroline  H.  Dall  and  Susan  B.  Anthony. 


366  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Foster  are  worthy  of  mention.  That  untiring  reformer,  the 
Hon.  Neal  Dow,  has  clearly  seen  and  declared  in  the  later  years 
of  his  labors,  that  suffrage  for  women  is  the  short  path  to  the 
advancement  of  prohibition. 

The  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed  has  done  us  great  service  in  con- 
gress as  leader  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  House,  and  mem- 
ber of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  His  report,*  in  1884,  on  the  sub- 
mission of  the  sixteenth  amendment  has  had  an  extended  influ- 
ence. It  is  an  able  argument,  and  as  a  keen  piece  of  irony  it  is 
worthy  the  pen  of  a  Dean  Swift.  In  the  Senate  we  have  a  fast 
friend  in  William  P.  Frye,  who  has  always  voted  favorably  in 
both  houses  on  all  questions  regarding  the  interests  of  woman. 
In  1878,  in  presenting  Miss  Willard's  petition  of  30,000  for  woman's 
right  to  vote  on  the  temperance  question,  he  made  an  able  speech 
recommending  the  measure.f 

And  in  closing,  the  name  of  Maine's  venerable  statesman,  Han- 
nibal Hamlin,  so  long  honored  by  his  State  in  a  succession  of 
official  positions  from  year  to  year,  must  not  be  forgotten.  As 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1870 
he  presided  at  the  first  hearing  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage 
Association,  listened  with  respect  and  courtesy,  and  at  the  close 
introduced  the  ladies  to  each  member  of  the  committee,  and  said 
4<  he  had  been  deeply  impressed  by  the  arguments,  and  was  almost 
persuaded  to  accept  the  new  gospel  of  woman's  equality."  Mr. 
Hamlin's  vote  has  always  been  favorable  and  we  have  no  words 
of  his  recorded  in  the  opposition. 

Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  has  generally  maintained  a  dignified 
silence  on  the  question.  Thus  far  in  his  History,  a  reviewer  says, 
"  he  has  ignored  the  existence  of  woman  ";  but  perhaps  in  his 
researches  he  has  not  yet  reached  the  garden  of  Eden,  nor  taken 
cognizance  of  the  part  the  daughters  of  Eve  have  played  in  the 
rise  and  fall  of  mighty  nations. 

Nevertheless  in  our  prolonged  struggle  of  half  a  century  for 
equal  rights  for  woman,  we  have  found  in  every  State  the  tra- 
ditional ten  righteous  men  necessary  to  save  its  people  from 
destruction. 


*  Mr.  Reed's  report  is  published  in  full  in  our  annual  report  of  1884,  which  can  be  obtained  of  Susan 
B.  Anthony,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

t  See  page  104. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 
NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

Nathaniel  P.  Rogers — First  Organized  Action,  1868 — Concord  Convention — William 
Lloyd  Garrison's  Letter — Rev.  S.  L.  Blake  Opposed — Rev.  Mr.  Sanborn  in  Favor 
— Concord  Monitor — Armenia  S.  White — A  Bill  to  Protect  the  Rights  of  Married 
Men — Minority  and  Majority  Reports — Women  too  Ignorant  to  Vote — Republican 
State  Convention — Women  on  School  Committees — Voting  at  School-District  Meet- 
ings— Mrs.  White's  Address — Mrs.  Ricker  on  Prison  Reform — Judicial  Decision 
in  Regard  to  Married  Women,  1882 — Letter  from  Senator  Blair. 

A  STATE  that  could  boast  four  such  remarkable  families  as  the 
Rogers,  the  Hutchinsons,  the  Fosters,  and  the  Pillsburys,  all 
radical,  outspoken  reformers,  furnishes  abundant  reason  for  its 
prolonged  battles  with  the  natural  conservatism  of  ordinary  com- 
munities. Every  inch  of  its  soil  except  its  mountain  tops,  where 
no  man  could  raise  a  school-house  for  a  meeting,  has  been  over- 
run by  the  apostles  of  peace,  temperance,  anti-slavery,  and 
woman's  rights  in  succession. 

To  the  early  influence  of  Nathaniel  P.  Rogers  and  his  revolution- 
ary journal,  The  Herald  of  Freedom,  we  may  trace  the  general 
awakening  of  the  true  men  and  women  of  that  State  to  new  ideas 
of  individual  liberty.  But  while  some  gladly  accepted  his  words 
as  harbingers  of  a  new  and  better  civilization,  others  resisted  all  in- 
novations of  their  time-honored  customs  and  opinions.  And 
when  the  clarion  voices  of  Foster  and  Pillsbury  arraigned  that 
State  for  its  compromises  with  slavery,  howling  mobs  answered 
their  arguments  with  brickbats  and  curses ;  mobs  that  nothing 
could  quell  but  the  sweet  voices  of  the  Hutchinson  family. 
Their  peans  of  liberty,  so  readily  accepted  when  set  to  music, 
were  obstinately  resisted  when  uttered  by  others,  though  in 
most  eloquent  speech.  Thus  with  music,  meetings  and  mobs, 
New  Hampshire  was  at  least  awake  and  watching,  and  when  the 
distant  echoes  of  woman's  uprising  reverberated  through  her 
mountains  she  gave  a  ready  response. 

In  1868,  simultaneously  with  other  New  England  States,  she 
felt  the  time  had  come  to  organize  for  action  on  the  question  of 


368  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

suffrage  for  women.  A  call  for  a  convention  was  issued  to  be 
held  in  Concord,  December  22,  23,  and  signed  by  one  hundred 
and  twenty  men  and  women,*  some  of  the  most  honored  and  in- 
fluential classes  of  all  callings  and  professions.  Nathaniel  P. 
White,  always  ready  to  aid  genuine  reformatory  movements,  was 
the  first  to  sign  the  call.  As  a  member  of  the  legislature  he  had 
helped  to  coin  into  law  many  of  the  liberal  ideas  sown  broadcast 
in  the  early  daysf  by  the  anti-slavery  apostles.  Galen  Foster,  a 
brother  of  Stephen,  used  his  influence  also  as  a  member  of  the 
legislature,  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  women  to  civil  and  political 
equality.  This  first  convention  was  held  in  Eagle  Hall,  Concord, 
with  large  and  enthusiastic  audiences.  A  long  and  interesting 
letter  was  read  from  William  Lloyd  Garrison  : 

BOSTON,  December  21,  1868. 

DEAR  MRS.  WHITE  :  I  must  lose  the  gratification  of  being  present  at 
the  Woman  Suffrage  Convention  at  Concord  and  substitute  an  epistolary 
testimony  for  a  speech  from  the  platform. 

The  two  conventions  recently  held  in  furtherance  of  the  movement  for 
universal  and  impartial  suffrage — one  in  Boston,  the  other  in  Providence — 
were  eminently  successful  in  respect  to  numbers,  intellectual  ability,  moral 
strength  and  unity  of  action  ;  and  their  proceedings  such  as  to  challenge 
attention  and  elicit  wide-spread  commendation.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
convention  in  Concord  will  exhibit  the  same  features,  be  animated  by  the 
same  hopeful  spirit  and  produce  as  cheering  results. 

The  only  criticism  seemingly  of  a  disparaging  tone,  I  have  seen,  of  the 
speeches  made  at  the  conventions  alluded  to,  is,  that  there  was  nothing 
new  advanced  on  the  occasion  ;  as  though  novelty  were  the  main  thing, 
and  the  reiteration  of  time-honored  truths,  with  their  latest  application  to 
the  duties  of  the  hour,  were  simply  tedious  !  For  one,  I  ask  no  more  light 
upon  the  subject ;  nor  am  I  so  vain  as  to  assume  to  be  capable  of  throw- 
ing any  additional  light  upon  it.  One  drop  of  water  is  very  like  another, 
but  it  is  the  perpetual  dropping  that  wears  away  the  stone.  The  im- 
portunate widow  had  nothing  fresh  or  new  to  present  to  the  unjust  judge, 

*  Concord,  Nathaniel  P.  White,  Mrs.  Sarah  Pillsbury,  Rev.  J.  F.  Lovering,  P.  B.  Cogswell,  Mrs. 
Eliza  Morrill,  Mrs.  Louisa  W.  Wood,  Col.  James  E.  Larkin,  Mrs.  J.  F.  Lovering,  Charles  S.  Piper, 
Mrs.  Armenia  S.  White,  Mrs.  M.  M.  Smith,  Mrs.  F.  E.  Kittredge,  Mrs.  Sarah  Piper,  Mrs.  Ira  Abbott, 
Mrs.  L.  M.  Bust,  Dr.  A.  Morrill,  Mrs.  P.  Ladd,  Mrs.  R.  A.  Smith,  George  W.  Brown,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J. 
V.  Aldrich.Mr.  and  Mrs.  M.  B.  Smith,  Mrs.  T.  H.  Brown,  Mrs.  R.  Hatch,  Mrs.  J.  L.Crawford,  Mrs. 
Anna  Dumas,  Miss  Harriet  C.  Edmunds,  Miss  Salina  Stevens,  Miss  Mary  A.  Denning,  Miss  N.  E. 
Fessender,  MissM.  L.  Noyes,  Miss  Clara  Noyes,  James  H.  Chase,  Peter  Sanborn  ;  Lancaster,  Rev.  J. 
M.  L.  Babcock;  Rochester,  Mrs.  Abby  P.  Ela ;  Bradford.  Mrs.  L.  A.  T.  Lane,  Miss  M.  J.  Tappan  ; 
Laconia.  Rev.  J.  L.  Gorman,  William  M.  Blair;  Manchester,  Dr.  M.  O.  A.  Hunt  ;  riymvuth,  Hon. 
L>.  R.  Burnham  ;  Portsmouth,  Hon.  A.  W.  Haven  ;  Canterbury,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  M.  Clough  ;  Lebanon, 
A.  M.  Shaw  ;  Krene,  Col.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  ;  Gra/tort,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter  Kimball ;  Northfield,  -Mrs. 
D.  E.  Hill ;  Franklin,  Rev.  Wm.  T.  Savage ;  Canaan,  William  W.  George  ;  Littleton,  R.  D.  Runne- 
ville. 

tThey  had  their  influence  in  the  church  as  well  as  the  State,  as  the  following  item  in  The  Revolu- 
tion, July  16,  1868,  shows:  '•  The  New  Hampshire  convention  of  Universalists,  at  their  late  anniversary, 
adopted  unanimously  a  resolution  in  favor  of  woman's  elevation  to  entire  equality  with  man  in  every 
civil,  political  and  religious  right." 


Letter  Jrom  Mr.    Garrison.  369 

but  by  her  persistent  coming  she  wearied  him  into  compliance  with  her 
petition.  The  end  of  the  constant  assertion  of  a  right  withheld  is  restitu- 
tion and  victory.  The  whole  anti-slavery  controversy  was  expressed  and 
included  in  the  Golden  Rule,  morally,  and  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, politically;  nor  could  anything  new  be  added  to  these  by  the  wisest, 
the  most  ingenious,  or  the  most  eloquent.  "  Line  upon  line,  precept  upon 
precept,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little";  that  is  the  essential  method  of 
reform.  If  there  is  nothing  new  to  be  said  in  favor  of  suffrage  for  women, 
is  there  anything  new  to  be  urged  against  it?  But  though  the  objections 
are  exceedingly  trite  and  shallow,  it  is  still  necessary  to  examine  and 
refute  them  by  arguments  and  illustrations  none  the  less  forcible  because 
exhausted  at  an  earlier  period. 

The  first  objection  is  positively  one  of  the  most  urgent  reasons  for 
granting  suffrage  to  women  ;  for  it  is  predicated  on  the  concession  of  the 
superiority  of  woman  over  man  in  purity  of  purpose  and  excellence  of 
character.  Hence  the  cry  is,  that  it  will  not  only  be  descending,  but 
degrading  for  her  to  appear  at  the  polls.  But,  if  government  is  absolutely 
necessary,  and  voting  not  wrong  in  practice,  it  is  surely  desirable  that  the 
admittedly  purest  and  best  in  the  nation  should  find  no  obstacle  to  their 
reaching  the  ballot-box.  Nay,  the  way  should  be  opened  at  once,  by  every 
consideration  pertaining  to  the  public  welfare,  the  justice  of  legislation, 
the  preservation  of  popular  liberty.  It  is  impossible  for  a  portion  of  the 
people,  to  be  wiser  and  more  trustworthy  than  the  whole  people,  or  better 
qualified  to  decide  what  shall  be  the  laws  for  the  government  of  all.  The 
more  minds  consulted,  the  more  souls  included,  the  more  interests  at 
stake,  in  determining  the  form  and  administration  of  government,  the 
more  of  justice  and  humanity,  of  security  and  repose,  will  be  the  result. 
The  exclusion  of  half  the  population  from  the  polls,  is  not  merely  a  gross 
injustice,  but  an  immense  loss  of  brain  and  conscience,  in  making  up  the 
public  judgment.  As  a  nation  we  have  discarded  absolutism,  monarchy, 
and  hereditary  aristocracy ;  but  we  have  not  fully  attained  even  to  man- 
hood suffrage.  Men  are  proscribed  on  account  of  their  complexion, 
women  because  of  their  sex.  The  entire  body  politic  suffers  form  this 
proscription. 

The  second  objection  refutes  the  first ;  it  is  based  on  the  alleged  natural 
inferiority  of  woman  to  man,  and  the  transition  is  thus  quickly  made  for 
her,  from  a  semi-angelic  state,  to  that  of  a  menial,  having  no  rights  that  men 
are  bound  to  respect  beyond  what  they  choose  to  allow.  In  the  scale  of 
political  power,  therefore,  one  male  voter,  however  ignorant  or  depraved, 
outweighs  all  the  women  in  America!  For,  no  matter  how  intelligent,  cul- 
tured, refined,  wealthy,  intellectually  vigorous,  or  morally  great,  any  of 
their  number  may  be, — no  matter  what  rank  in  literature,  art,  science,  or 
medical  knowledge  and  skill  they  may  reach, — they  are  political  non- 
entities, unrepresented,  discarded,  and  left  to  such  protection  under  the 
laws,  as  brute  force  and  absolute  usurpation  may  graciously  condescend 
to  give.  Yet  they  are  as  freely  taxed  and  held  amendable  to  penal  l.iw 
as  strictly  as  though  they  had  their  full  share  of  representation  in  the 
legislative  hall,  on  the  bench,  in  the  jury-box,  and  at  the  polls.  This 
24 


370 


Tistory  oj 


roman   Suffrage. 


cry  of  inferiority  is  not  peculiar  in  the  case  of  woman.  It  was  the 
subterfuge  and  defiance  of  negro  slavery.  It  has  been  raised  in  all  ages 
by  tyrants  and  usurpers  against  the  toiling,  over-burdened  millions,  seek- 
ing redress  for  their  wrongs,  and  protection  for  their  rights.  It  always  in- 
dicates intense  self-conceit,  and  supreme  selfishness.  It  is  at  war  with 
reason  and  common-sense,  and  is  a  bold  denial  of  the  oneness  of  the  human 


The  third  objection  is,  that  women  do  not  wish  to  vote.  If  this  were 
true,  it  would  not  follow  that  they  should  not  be  enfranchised,  and  left 
free  to  determine  the  matter  for  themselves.  It  was  confidently  de- 
clared that  the  slaves  at  the  south  neither  wished  to  be  free,  nor  would 
they  take  their  liberty  if  offered  them  by  their  masters.  Had  that  asser- 
tion been  true,  it  would  have  furnished  no  justification  whatever,  for 
making  man  the  property  of  his  fellow-man,  or  for  leaving  the  slaves  in 
their  fetters.  But  it  was  not  true.  Nor  is  it  true  that  women  do  not  wish 
to  vote.  Tens  of  thousands  are  ready  to  go  to  the  polls  and  assume  their 
share  of  political  responsibility,  as  soon  as  they  shall  be  legally  permitted 
to  do  so ;  and  they  are  not  the  ignorant  and  degraded  of  their  sex,  but 
women  remarkable  for  their  intelligence  and  moral  worth.  The  great 
mass  will,  ere  long,  be  sufficiently  enlightened  to  claim  what  belongs  to 
them  of  right.  I  hope  to  be  permitted  to  live  to  seethe  day  when  neither 
complexion  nor  sex  shall  be  made  a  badge  of  degradation,  but  men  and 
women  shall  enjoy  the  same  rights  and  privileges,  and  possess  the  same 
means  for  their  protection  and  defense. 

Very  faithfully  yours,  WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

Mrs.  A.  S.  WHITE. 

At  the  close  of  this  convention  a  State  association  was  formed 
with  Mrs.  Armenia  S.  White  president.*  This  society  has  been 
unremitting  in  its  efforts  to  rouse  popular  thought;  holding 
annual  conventions,  scattering  tracts,  rolling  up  petitions,  and 
addressing  legislatures.  Many  of  the  best  speakers,  from  time  to 
time,  from  other  States  f  have  rendered  valuable  aid  in  keeping  up 
the  agitation. 


*  President,  Mrs.  Armenia  S.  White.  Vice-Presidents,  Rev.  J.  F.  Levering,  Concord  ;  Mrs.  A.  L. 
Thomas,  Laconia  ;  Ossian  Ray,  Lancaster  ;  Mrs.  S.  Pillsbury,  Concord  ;  J.  V.  Aldrich,  West  Con- 
cord ;  Mrs.  Mary  Worcester,  Nashua;  Mrs.  Mary  Barker,  Alton;  Peter  Kimball,  Grafton  ;  E.  J.  Du- 
rant,  Lebanon  ;  Mrs.  Fannie  V.  Roberts,  Dover  ;  Miss  A.  C.  Payson,  Peterboro  ;  Mrs.  E.  A.  Bartlett, 
Kingston  ;  Mr.  Springfield,  South  Wolfboro  ;  Galen  Foster,  Canterbury  ;  Mrs.  R.  M.  Miller,  Manches- 
ter ;  Mrs.  Nancy  Gilman,  Tilton  ;  C.  Ballou,  North  Weare  ;  D.  Burnham,  Plymouth.  Executive  Com- 
mittee, Nathaniel  White,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Lovering,  Col.  J.  E.  Larkin,  Concord  ;  Mrs.  J.  Abby  Ela,  Roch- 
ester ;  Rev.  Wm.  T.  Savage,  Franklin ;  Mrs.  Eliza  Morrill,  Mrs.  Daniel  Holden,  West  Concord  ;  Miss 
Caroline  Foster,  Canterbury ;  P.  B.  Cogswell,  Mrs.  Louisa  Wood,  Mrs.  M.  M.  Smith,  Concord ;  Dr. 
M.  V.  A.  Hunt,  Manchester.  Recording  Secretary •,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Lovering,  Concord.  Corresponding 
Secretary,  Dr.  J.  Gallinger.  Treasurer,  Jas.  H.  Chase. 

t  Wendell  Phillips,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  Frederick  Hinckley, 
I.ucy  Stone,  Frances  Ellen  Harper,  Dr.  Sarah  H.  Hathaway,  Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford,  Rev.  Mr. 
Connor,  Rev.  Ada  C.  Bowles,  Emma  Coe  Still,  Rev.  Lorenza  Hayne.-,.  Mary  Grew,  Mary  A.  Liver- 
more,  Elizabeth  K..  Churchill,  Margaret  W.  Campbell,  Anna  Dickinson,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton, 
Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  Elizabeth  A.  Meriwether,  Eliza- 
beth Lisle  Saxon,  Susan  B.  Anthony. 


A  Sensation  in  Concord.  371 

The  opposition  of  a  clergyman  produced  a  sensation  in  Con- 
cord. 

On  last  fast-day,  1871,  Rev.  S.  L.  Blake  of  the  Congregational  church 
in  Concord,  preached  a  sermon  in  which  he  came  out  against  the  woman's 
rights  convention  held  there  last  January,  bringing  the  stale  charge  of 
•"free-love"  against  its  advocates — a  charge  that  always  leaps  to  the  lips 
of  men  of  prurient  imagination — with  much  similar  clap-trap  of  the  Fulton 
type.  Rev.  Mr.  Sanborn  of  the  Universalist  church  replied  to  him  the 
next  Sunday  evening,  an  immense  audience  being  in  attendance,  and  com- 
pletely disproved  the  baseless  allegations  of  the  reverend  maligner,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all.  Rev.  Mr.  Blake  has  published  his  discourse  in  pamphlet 
form,  repeating  his  disproved  charges,  whereupon  Rev.  J.  F.  Lovering  of 
the  Unitarian  church  came  out  with  a  reply,  in  which  he  characterized 
Mr.  Blake's  charges  as  "unmitigated  falsehoods  "  and  "an  insult  to  every 
member  of  the  convention,"  and  demanded  of  the  author  to  "unsay  his 
words." 

Brainard  Cogswell,  in  his  journal,  the  Concord  Monitor,  of  July 
2,  1870,  published  the  following  letter: 

Petitions  for  woman's  enfranchisement  have  been  pouring  into  the  New 
Hampshire  legislature,  until  at  last  they  have  been  referred  to  a  special 
committee.  On  Thursday  week  this  committee  gave  the  'petitioners  a 
hearing;  and  on  their  invitation,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
K.Churchill  and  ourself  went  to  Concord  to  give  "the  reasons  why" 
women  should  have  the  ballot.  The  members  of  the  legislature  came  out 
in  force  to  hear,  and  our  good,  tried  friends,  Nathaniel  and  Armenia 
White,  learning  their  intention  in  advance,  opened  the  spacious  Eagle  Hall 
for  their  convenience,  and  that  of  the  towns-people  who  wished  to  see 
and  to  hear.  Warm  as  the  evening  was,  the  thermometer  up  in  the  nine- 
ties, the  hall  was  packed,  and  great  numbers  went  away  that  could  not 
gain  admittance.  Rev.  Mr.  Blake,  a  Congregationalist  minister  of  Con- 
cord, has  done  the  cause  good  service  by  vilifying  and  abusing  it,  until 
he  roused  quite  an  interest.  It  was  partly  owing  to  his  efforts  that  we 
had  so  grand  an  audience. 

General  Wilson,  who  twenty  years  ago  was  famed  throughout  New 
Hampshire  for  his  eloquence  and  oratory,  was  chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee, and  presided  at  the  meeting,  and  very  handsomely  introduced  the 
speakers.  Mrs.  Howe  spoke  with  more  pointed  and  pungent  power  than 
usual,  dwelling  on  the  deterioration  of  American  womanhood,  show- 
ing the  cause,  and  suggesting  the  remedy.  We  have  never  been  so  im- 
pressed by  her  as  on  this  occasion.  Mrs.  Churchill  read  a  letter  from 
Rev.  Mr.  Savage,  a  Congregationalist  clergyman  of  the  Stato.  who  advo- 
cates woman  suffrage,  and  who,  in  a  late  ministerial  gathering,  took  up 
the  gauntlet  thrown  down  by  Mr.  Blake,  and  defended  the  woman's  cause 
and  its  advocates  from  the  slanders  of  his  brother  minister. 

The  president  of  the  New  Hampshire  association,  in  writing 
from  Concord  to  the  Woman  s  Journal,  January  30,  1871,  sa\ 


372  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Our  second  annual  meeting  was  a  grand  success,  if  we  count  by  money 
and  numbers.  The  intense  cold  on  Wednesday  and  Thursday  made  our 
audiences  thinner  than  heretofore,  but  they  were  large  in  spite  of  the 
elements.  Mrs.  Churchill  and  Mrs.  Emma  Coe  Still,  who  had  never  pre- 
sented the  subject  here  before,  were  well  received.  Rev.  Dr.  Savage  of 
Franklin  made  an  excellent  address,  and  encouraged  us  by  timely  sugges- 
tions. Stephen  S.  Foster  aroused  us,  as  he  always  does,  with  his  bold 
declarations.  The  resolutions  adopted  look  toward  future  work,  and 
embody  the  principles  which  move  us  to  act. 

Lucy  Stone,  in  the  Woman  s  Journal  of  June  14,  1871,  says: 

The  Select  Committee,  Harry  Bingham,  chairman,  to  whom  was  referred 
a  bill  for  the  further  protection  of  the  rights  of  married  men,  reported  the 
bill  in  a  new  draft  as  follows1. 

Marriages  shall  not  hereafter  render  the  husband  liable  for  the  debts  contracted  by 
his  wife  prior  to  their  marriage  :  Second  section — No  marriage  shall  hereafter  dis- 
charge the  wife  from  liability  to  pay  the  debts  contracted  by  her  before  such  marriage, 
but  she,  and  all  property  which  she  may  hold  in  her  own  right,  shall  be  held  liable  for 
the  payment  of  all  debts,  whether  contracted  before  or  after  marriage;  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  she  continued  sole  and  unmarried. 

This  report  was  signed  by  eight  of  the  ten  members  of  the  committee. 
The  minority,  through  Mr.  Sprague  of  Swanzey,  made  a  report  recom- 
mending that  the  whole  subject  be  postponed  to  the  time  when  women 
in  New  Hampshire  have  the  right  to  vote.  Mr.  Sprague  moved  that  the 
minority  report  be  substituted  for  the  majority,  but  the  motion  was  lost 
by  an  almost  unanimous  vote.  The  majority  report  was  sustained  in  re- 
marks by  Messrs.  Wadleigh  of  Milford  and  Cogswell  of  Oilman.  The  lat- 
ter, hard  pushed  by  an  interrogatory  concerning  his  social  status,  admit- 
ted that  he  was  not  married,  but  intended  to  be  soon.  The  bill  reported 
by  the  majority  was  then  ordered  to  a  second  reading. 

If  this  action  should  be  sustained  by  the  legislature,  we  can  imagine 
some  future  suitor  for  a  lady's  hand  telling  her  that  he  shall  expect  her 
duly  to  keep  his  house  and  his  wardrobe  in  order,  to  prepare  his  meals,  to 
entertain  his  visitors,  to  bear  his  children,  and  that  she  will  be  required 
by  law  to  pay  her  own  bills ;  that  for  this  inestimable  privilege  she  shall 
be  called  Mrs.  John  Snooks,  and  may,  perhaps,  have  the  honor  of  being 
written  in  the  newspapers,  and  on  her  tombstone,  as  the  relic  of  Mr.  John 
Snooks.  Could  any  woman  withstand  that  ? 

The  following  statistics  have  been  used  by  speakers  in  the 
opposition,  to  show  that  women  are  too  ignorant  to  vote  r 

A  decided  sensation  has  been  produced  throughout  the  country  by  the 
publication  in  the  third  number  of  the  "Transactions  of  the  American 
Social  Science  Association "  of  statistics  concerning  the  illiteracy  of 
women  in  the  United  States.  The  subject  has  received  very  general  dis- 
cussion, and  these  are  the  conclusions  reached  : 

I.  That  there  is  a  large  excess  of  female  illiteracy.  2.  That  from  1850  to  1860 
there  was  an  increase  of  illiterate  women  to  the  extent  of  53  per  cent,  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, 27  in  Vermont,  24  in  Massachusetts,  33  in  Rhode  Island,  16  in  Connecticut,  37 


Mr.  Briggs  in  the  Republican  Convention.        373 

in  the  District  of  Columbia,  33  in  Wisconsin  and  32  in  Minnesota.     3.   That  this  state 
of  things  is  alarming,  and  ought  to  be  remedied. 

When  the  London  Saturday  Review  raised  the  cry  of  alcoholic  drunken- 
ness among  women,  the  conservative  journals  all  over  the  world  swelled 
the  sound  and  confirmed  the  charges.  Now  that  that  story  has  run  itself 
to  death,  a  new  assault  is  projected,  and  a  general  clamor  concerning  their 
illiteracy  follows.  If  the  charges  are  true,  there  is  nothing  very  astonish- 
ing about  them.  The  education  of  women  has  been  considered  a  matter 
of  secondary  importance  until  very  recently,  and  with  our  foreign  popu- 
lation the  education  of  girls  has  been  almost  wholly  neglected.  When 
the  customs  and  usages  of  the  world  have  made  ignorance  largely  com- 
pulsory in  women,  it  is  somewhat  inconsistent  in  men  to  go  into  spasms 
about  the  results. 

January  17,  1874,  at  the  Republican  State  convention,  Mayor 
Briggs  of  Manchester,  on  taking  the  chair,  made  a  speech,  re- 
hearsing the  history  of  the  party  and  laying  out  its  programme 
for  the  future,  closing  as  follows: 

The  Republican  party  has  future  duties.  Its  mission  cannot  end  and  its 
work  should  not,  so  long  as  any  radical  reform  shall  yet  urge  its  demands 
in  behalf  of  humanity.  The  civil  service  reform  is  eminent  and  important. 
In  this  regard  the  movement  of  the  present  administration  is  in  the  right 
direction,  and  yet  it  is  only  a  first  step  of  many  which  must  ultimately  be 
taken.  To  the  people,  not  to  a  part  of  the  people,  belongs  the  sover- 
eignty of  this  nation.  Let  them  keep  it.  To  this  end  great  care  should 
be  taken  to  guard  against  the  caucus  system.  Nothing  should  be  more 
scrupulously  avoided  in  the  management  of  political  parties.  Anti-repub- 
lican in  spirit,  it  is  sometimes  exclusive  in  practice.  The  people  have  the 
same  right  to  nominate  that  they  have  to  elect  their  own  officers.  Why 
not?  Ultimately,  too,  they  will  take  that  right,  and  for  its  own  sake  no 
party  can  afford  to  make  itself  the  nursery  of  caucus  power.  The  polit- 
ical machinery  should  be  simplified,  that  nothing  which  mere  politicians 
can  desire  shall  stand  between  the*  people  and  their  government.  In  a 
genuine  republic,  every  act  of  the  government  should  be  but  a  practical 
expression  of  its  subjects.  All  the  subjects,  too,  should  share  equally  the 
power  of  such  expression.  There  should  be  no  exclusion  among  intelli- 
gent, qualified  classes.  Involved  in  this  principle  is  the  idea  of  woman 
suffrage,  the  next  great  moral  issue,  in  my  judgment,  which  this  country 
must  meet,  and  a  reform  which  no  party  can  afford  to  despise.  Indubita- 
bly right,  as  I  believe  it  to  be,  I  regard  its  success  as  inevitable,  and  that 
whatever  party  opposes  it  is  as  surely  destined  to  defeat,  as  was  the  party 
which  arrayed  itself  in  opposition  to  the  anti-slavery  cause. 

The  following  letter  in  the  Woman  s  Journal  shows  that  some- 
thing of  the  spirit  of  the  Connecticut  Smith-sisters  has  been 
found  in  New  Hampshire: 

I  have  long  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  subject  of  woman's  rights, 
and  some  fifteen  years  ago  I  resisted  taxation  two  successive  years.  The 


3/4  History  of  IVoman  Suffrage. 

second  year  I  worked  out  my  highway  tax,  for  which  crime  I  brought 
down  upon  my  guilty  head  a  severe  persecution  from  both  men  and 
women,  from  clergymen  and  lawyers,  as  well  as  other  classes  of  my  fellow 
townsmen.  The  tax-collectors  came  into  my  house  and  attached  furni- 
ture and  sold  it  at  auction  in  order  to  collect  my  tax,  one  of  whom  made 
me  all  the  cost  the  laws  would  allow.  The  most  incensed  town  officers 
threatened  that  if  I  resisted  taxation  the  next  year,  they  would  take  my 
house  from  me  and  sell  it  at  auction.  One  of  the  tax-gatherers  asked  me 
what  I  thought  I  could  do  alone  in  resisting  taxation.  He  said  he  did  not 
believe  there  was  another  woman  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  who 
possessed  the  hardihood  to  take  such  a  stand  against  the  laws.  The  ed- 
itor of  one  of  our  weekly  journals,  who  professed  to  be  an  advocate  of 
woman's  rights,  and  who  was  a  candidate  for  representative  in  the  State 
legislature,  condemned  me  through  the  columns  of  his  paper,  in  order  to 
secure  the  votes  of  his  fellow  townsmen  who  were  opposed  to  woman's 
rights.  He  had  nothing  to  fear  from  me,  knowing  that  I  was  only  a  dis- 
franchised slave.  Such  unjust  treatment  seemed  so  cruel  that  I  some- 
times felt  I  could  willingly  lay  down  my  life,  if  it  would  deliver  my  sex 
from  such  degrading  oppression.  I  have,  every  year  since,  submissively 
paid  my  taxes,  humbly  hoping  and  praying  that  I  may  live  to  see  the  day 
that  women  will  not  be  compelled  to  pay  taxes  without  representation, 

MARY  L.  HARRINGTON. 

Claremont,  N.  H.,  January  17,  1874. 

In  1870  a  law  was  passed  allowing  women  to  be  members  of 
school  committees ;  and  eight  years  later  a  law  was  enacted  per- 
mitting women  to  vote  at  school  meetings.  On  the  evening  of 
August  7,  1878,  the  House  Special  Committee  granted  a  hearing 
to  the  friends*  of  the  School-suffrage  bill,  which  had  already 
passed  the  Senate  by  a  unanimous  vote ;  and  the  next  day,  when 
the  bill  came  up  for  final  action  in  the  House,  the  following  de- 
bate occurred : 

Mr.  BATCHELDER  of  Littleton  saifl :  This  bill  is  one  of  the  greatest 
importance,  and  before  we  vote  upon  it  let  us  have  the  views  of  the  com- 
mittee. 

Mr.  GALEN  FOSTER  of  Canterbury  called  upon  Mr.  Blodgett  to  give  his 
opinion  as  to  the  power  of  the  legislature  upon  the  question. 

Mr.  BLODGETT  of  Franklin  said  he  had  no  doubt  of  the  constitutionality 
of  the  bill.  School  districts  were  created  by  statute  and  not  by  the  con- 
stitution ;  hence  the  legislature  had  a  perfect  right  to  say  who  should 
vote  in  controlling  their  affairs. 

Mr.  FOSTER  said  :  The  mothers  of  our  children  should  have  a  voice  in 
their  education.  We  have  allowed  women  to  hold  certain  offices  in  con- 
nection with  schools,  but  we  have  never  given  them  a  voice  in  the 
control  of  the  money  expended  upon  them.  The  mothers  take  ten  times 


*  The  speakers  at  this  hearing  were  Mr.  Galen  Foster  of  Canterbury,  Senators  Gallinger  and  Shaw. 
Mrs.  Abby  Goold  Woolson,  H.  P.  Rolfe,  S.  B.  Page,  Rev.  E.  L.  Conger  and  Mrs.  Armenia  S.  White. 


Debate  in  the  House. 

more  interest  in  the  education  of  the  young  than  the  fathers  do,  and 
should  have  an  equal  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  school  districts.  This  is 
a  matter  of  right  and  justice. 

Mr.  SINCLAIR  of  Bethlehem  said  :  There  ought  not  to  be  any  objection 
to  this  bill.  If  there  is  any  class  that  ought  to  have  a  voice  in  the  educa- 
tion of  children,  it  is  the  mothers.  [Applause.]  Some  of  the  best  school 
committees  in  the  State  are  women.  If  they  can  be  elected  to  that  office, 
is  it  proper  to  say  they  shall  have  no  voice  in  the  elections? 

Mr.  WHICHER  of  Strafford  thought  they  would  get  a  little  mixed  in 
carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  in  the  face  of  the  statutes  relating 
to  school-district  meetings.  He  would  move  to  indefinitely  postpone  the 
bill. 

Mr.  MOSHER  of  Dover  said :  There  ought  to  be  a  new  motion  gotten 
up  ;  to  "  indefinitely  postpone  "  is  getting  to  be  stereotyped.  This  bill 
needs  no  further  championing.  Its  justice  is  apparent. 

Mr.  HOBBS  of  Ossippee  said :  If  women  are  capable  of  holding  office 
they  are  also  capable  of  saying  who  shall  hold  it.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  PATTEN  of  Manchester  favored  the  bill  and  hoped  the  motion  of 
Mr.  Whicher  would  be  voted  down. 

The  SPEAKER  [Mr.  WOOLSON  of  Lisbon]  said  :  The  bill  had  passed  the 
Senate  unanimously,  been  reported  unanimously  by  the  committee,  and 
he  hoped  it  would  be  passed  promptly  by  the  House.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  PATTERSON  of  Hanover  said  he  would  congratulate  the  gentleman 
from  Bethlehem  on  being  orthodox  on  this  question. 

Mr.  SINCLAIR  congratulated  his  friend  from  Hanover  on  his  display  of 
courage  in  waiting  until  the  ice  was  broken  all  round  before  making  a 
forward  step. 

Mr.  Whicher  withdrew  his  motion  to  postpone  and  then  moved 
to  lay  the  bill  upon  the  table.  This  being  lost,  the  bill  was 
passed,  August  8,  1878.  Mrs.  White,  the  president  of  the  State 
association,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  wrote  as  follows : 

To  our  surprise  and  delight  the  bill  allowing  women  to  vote  at  school- 
district  meetings  passed  the  House  yesterday  amid  much  cheering  and 
clapping  of  hands,  the  ladies  in  the  gallery  joining  in  the  demonstration. 
Thus  conservative  New  Hampshire  leads  New  England  in  this  branch  of 
reform  for  women. 

The  governor,  B.  F.  Prescott,  signed  the  bill  without  delay* 
and  words  of  cheer  poured  into  the  capital  city  from  all  quarters; 
especially  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  White  congratulated  upon  this  good 
result  of  their  earnest  and  persistent  labors.  The  following  is 
from  the  Woman  s  Journal : 

At  the  first  election  at  the  State  capital  of  New  Hampshire  under  the 
new  law  allowing  women  to  vote  on  school  questions,  the  result  was  a 
wonderfully  full  vote,  not  less  than  2,160  ballots  being  cast,  of  which 
over  half  were  deposited  by  women.  The  Boston  Investigator,  from  which 
we  gather  these  facts,  says  : 


376 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


The  balloting  extended  over  three  meetings  and  the  number  of  women  who  partici- 
pated was  almost  exactly  doubled  on  the  second  and  third  evenings — 150,  299,  662. 
Another  interesting  feature  of  this  election  was  the  fact  that  the  sexes  did  not  rally  to 
the  support  of  opposing  tickets,  but  men  and  women  divided  their  votes  very  evenly. 
A  ticket  bearing  the  names  of  two  men  was  elected  by  a  narrow  majority  over  another 
which  bore  the  names  of  a  man  and  woman. 

Of  the  first  evening's  election  the  telegraphic  dispatch  to  the  Boston 
Globe  was  headed,  "  Crowds  of  Women  Voting  in  New  Hampshire  ": 

CONCORD,  N.  H.,  March  22. — The  occasion  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Union- 
school  district  of  this  city,  which  comprises  all  of  the  city  proper,  this  evening,  was 
one  of  unprecedented  interest.  For  months  school  matters  have  been  sharply 
agitated  and  the  election  has  been  looked  forward  to  as  an  opportunity  by  all  parties. 
To  the  uncommon  interest  centered  in  the  matter  the  right  of  women  to  vote  at  school 
meetings,  delegated  by  the  last  session  of  the  legislature,  greatly  added.  The  new 
condition  of  affairs  had  been  fully  canvassed  and  the  women  had  determined  on  mak- 
ing the  best  of  their  first  opportunity  and  winning  a  decisive  victory  if  possible.  The 
night  of  the  meeting  proved  inauspicious,  but  notwithstanding  the  severe  storm  of 
snow  and  sleet  that  was  falling  the  newly  constituted  citizens  were  out  in  force.  At 
the  hour  of  opening  the  meeting  the  City  Hall  was  packed  to  suffocation,  500  of  the 
audience,  at  least,  being  ladies.  The  first  business  was  the  choice  of  a  moderator, 
and  in  this  the  ladies  may  claim  a  victory,  as  the  candidate  a  majority  of  them  sup- 
ported was  elected  in  the  person  of  ex-mayor  John  Kimball.  After  this  came  the 
reading  of  the  report  of  the  board  of  education,  which  was  strenuously  objected  to  by 
the  male  supporters  of  the  ladies.  In  this  they  were  beaten  by  a  large  majority.  The 
reading  completed,  the  meeting  commenced  to  ballot  for  three  members  of  the  board. 
The  scene  then  became  one  beyond  the  power  of  the  reportorial  pen  to  describe.  It 
was  an  old-fashioned  New  Hampshire  town-meeting,  with  the  concomitant  boisterous- 
ness  and  profanity  subdued  by  the  presence  of  the  ladies.  A  line  was  formed  to  the 
polls  and  a  struggling  mass  of  humanity  in  which  male  and  female  citizens  were  in- 
congruously and  indecorously  mixed,  surged  towards  the  ballot-box.  The  crowding, 
squeezing  and  pushing  were  severe  enough  for  the  taste  of  the  masculine  voter,  and 
were  harsh  enough  to  make  it  extremely  unpleasant  for  the  dear  creatures  who  were 
undergoing  so  much  to  cast  their  maiden  vote.  To  add  to  the  delay  the  Hon. 
Nathaniel  White  had  planted  his  somewhat  corpulent  form  directly  in  front  of  the 
ballot-box  and  stayed  the  surging  tide  to  shake  hands  with  every  woman  that  voted. 
Having  voted,  the  men  were  only  too  glad  to  leave  the  crowded  hall  and  let  the 
anxious  crowd  rush  in.  The  vote  was  at  last  all  in,  and  the  work  of  counting  com- 
pleted shortly  before  ii  o'clock.  It  was  found  that  there  were  some  ten  different 
tickets  in  the  field,  and  forty-two  candidates  voted  for;  but  from  this  mass  of  votes 
there  was  no  choice,  though  the  regular  candidates,  the  outgoing  members  of  the  board, 
who  would  have  been  elected  had  it  not  been  for  the  new  element  in  the  election, 
jvere  ahead,  having  a  plurality.  The  meeting  was  then  adjourned  till  next  Saturday 
/evening,  when  the  scenes  of  to-night  will  be  intensified  by  a  larger  attendance  and 
.-still  greater  interest.  The  meeting  to-night  obtains  importance  in  New  Hampshire, 
;as  this  is  the  center  of  female  suffrage  sentiment  in  this  State,  and  the  women  are  de- 
itermined  to  win  here  if  possible. 

In  the  opening  convention  of  November  5,  1879,  Mrs.  White, 
the  president,  made  the  following  address  : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Friends  of  the  N.  H.  Woman  Suffrage  Association  •' 
We  hold  the  seventh  meeting  of  this  association  under  circumstances 
that  mark  an  epoch  in  the  progress  of  equal  rights,  irrespective  of  sex, 
in  this  State.  After  more  than  a  decade  of  agitation,  and  petitioning  of 
our  legislature,  women  hold  in  their  hand  the  ballot  on  one  important 


Mrs.    Whites  Address.  377 

matter.  Let  us  exchange  congratulations  on  this  occasion,  that  so 
much  has  been  gained  toward  the  final  triumph  of  our  cause. 

You  will  remember  when  this  association  was  last  in  session,  July,  1878, 
that  the  bill  giving  the  women  of  New  Hampshire  the  right  to  vote  on 
the  public-school  questions,  was  pending  in  our  legislature.  At  our  first 
hearing  before  that  body,  we  hardly  dared  anticipate  the  passage  of  the 
bill  during  that  session.  But  agitation,  vigilance  and  perseverance  ever 
bring  their  sure  reward  in  the  end,  therefore  we  continued  to  press  our 
claim,  and  soon  learned  to  our  great  satisfaction  that  our  allies  in  behalf 
of  this  bill,  were  the  very  cream  of  our  legislature.  We  at  once  took 
courage,  and  as  day  after  day  we  went  up  to  the  State-house,  with  friends 
who  plead  for  it  before  the  committee,  who  kindly  gave  us  several 
hearings ;  we  saw  the  gradual  growth  of  interest  in  behalf  of  this  bill 
soon  ripen  into  a  final  decision  causing  it  to  pass ;  thereby  enacting 
a  law,  to  which  our  worthy  governor,  B.  F.  Prescott,  immediately  gave 
his  willing  signature,  securing  to  the  women  of  this  State  the  high 
privilege  many  of  them  gladly  exercised  last  spring.  Many  feared  this 
law  would  be  repealed ;  but  to  show  with  what  favor  it  has  been  re- 
ceived, we  have  only  to  refer  to  the  legislature  of  the  present  year, 
which  passed  an  additional  law,  giving  to  women  not  only  the  right 
to  vote  for  and  serve  on  school  boards,  but  also  the  power  to  serve 
as  moderator  or  clerk  in  school  meetings,  for  which  the  former  law  did 
not  provide.  This,  it  would  seem  must  remove  all  fears  of  a  repeal. 

Petitions  asking  municipal  suffrage  fo*  women,  were  sent  to  our  last 
legislature,  and  a  bill  to  that  effect,  introduced  in  the  House,  was  referred 
to  a  special  committee,  who  reported  in  its  favor  ;  and  after  more  or  less 
discussion,  although  the  bill  did  not  pass,  about  one  hundred  members 
voted  for  it,  and  their  names  are  registered,  and  with  the  committee, 
will  be  kindly  remembered  by  those  women  whose  cause  they  did  not 
desert.  From  past  experience  we  see  the  importance  of  continued  labor 
and  proper  measures  for  the  accomplishment  of  our  work.  The  present 
degree  of  progress  indicates  the  fact  that  we  are  not  to  obtain  the  full  re- 
cognition of  our  rights  at  one  bound,  but  that  they  are  coming  step  by 
step.  To  note  the  growth  of  our  principles  in  the  various  reform  move- 
ments, let  us  look  at  the  temperance  organizations  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  this  country  ;  we  find  nearly  all  of  them  now  discussing 
the  ballot  for  women.  Why,  no  sooner  had  Massachusetts,  following  the 
example  of  New  Hampshire,  obtained  the  school  ballot  for  women,  than 
the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Unions  all  over  the  State  were  a 
unit  for  the  temperance  ballot,  and  the  past  year  have  had  their  agents 
canvassing  the  State  in  the  interest  of  school  suffrage  and  "  home  protec- 
tion." 

All  who  read  the  reports  last  winter  of  Frances  E.  Willard's  labors  in 
Illinois  in  behalf  of  her  Home  Protection  bill  (for  it  originated  with  her), 
of  the  list  of  petitioners  of  both  sexes  she  secured  and  took  to  Spring- 
field, of  the  delegation  of  women  who  accompanied  her  there  to  advocate 
her  bill,  must  acknowledge  the  educating  force  of  all  such  untiring  devo- 
tion for  the  right  to  vote.  Although  she  was  not  victorious,  she  was 


378  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

successful  beyond  all  expectation,  for.it  is  said,  "Success  is  not  always  a 
victory,  nor  is  victory  always  a  success  in  the  end."  Let  me  say  here, 
Miss  Willard  believes  in  the  entire  enfranchisement  of  her  sex,  but  in  her 
earnest  and  faithful  labors  makes  a  specialty  of  the  temperance  ballot. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  Hampshire  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union,  held  here  one  year  ago,  a  resolution  was  offered  by 
a  most  worthy  lady,  indorsing  suffrage  for  women  on  all  temperance  ques- 
tions. It  was  at  once  vigorously  opposed  by  some,  while  others,  although 
believing  in  it,  feared  it  would  divide  their  ranks  if  it  passed,  and  felt  too 
timid  to  give  it  their  support.  The  lady  offering  it,  seeing  it  would  be  de- 
feated, withdrew  it,  at  the  same  time  giving  notice  that  she  should  present 
the  same,  or  one  similar,  to  that  body  every  year  as  long  as  she  lived,  or 
until  it  passed.  Last  month  the  same  organization  held  its  annual 
meeting  in  Portsmouth,  and  that  lady,  as  good  as  her  word,  was  there 
with  her  resolution  on  temperance  suffrage,  and  it  passed  unanimously, 
about  loo  delegates  being  present  and  voting,  many  of  whom  acknowl- 
edged the  timidity  they  felt  last  year,  but  now  earnestly  gave  it  their  sup- 
port. Such  experiences  give  us  some  idea  of  the  different  instrumentalities 
by  which  our  cause  is  forced  upon  conservative  minds  for  consideration, 
ending  in  honest  conviction. 

In  closing,  I  know  you  will  all  unite  with  me  in  tributes  to  Mr.  Garri- 
son. Now  that  he  has  gone  to  join  that  innumerable  host  of  philan- 
thropists in  the  higher  life,  let  us  rejoice  that  he  was  one  of  the  leaders 
of  that  reform  which  brings  u»  here  to-day.  And  now,  friends,  in  view  of 
the  present  status  of  our  cause,  have  we  not  much  to  encourage  us  in  our 
work?  May  we  go  forward  in  that  spirit  of  good-will  that  shall  bring 
us  a  speedy  victory. 

Resolutions  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Abby  P.  Ela, 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  Angelina  Grimk£  Weld  were 
adopted  by  a  rising  vote. 


In  the  National  Citizen  of  December  14,  1879,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing: 

Manila  M.  Ricker  of  New  Hampshire  had  an  executive  hearing  before 
the  governor  and  council  of  that  State,  November  18,  in  regard  to  the 
management  of  the  State  prison.  Mrs.  Ricker,  who  in  winter  practices 
law  in  Washington,,  and  is  known  as  "the  prisoner's  friend,"  referred  to 
the  cruel  treatment  of  convicts  in  various  States,  notably  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, where  prisoners  are  not  permitted  to  read  the  magazines  or  the 
weekly  newspapers  which  contain  no  record  of  crime,  nor  to  receive 
words  from  their  friends,  as  in  other  States  they  are  allowed  at  stated 
times  to  do.  When  Mrs.  Ricker  desired  to  see  a  certain  prisoner  and  let 
him  know  he  had  friends  who  were  yet  mindful  of  his  comfort,  the  warden 
replied  that  he  did  not  wish  that  man  "to  think  he  had  a  friend  in  the 
world."  Mrs.  Ricker  warmly  protested  against  such  brutality.  The  at- 
torney-general agreed  with  Mrs.  Ricker,  remarking  that  the  line  between 
crimes  punished  and  those  not  punished,  and  the  lines  between  those  in 


Mrs.  Richer  on  Prison  Reform.  379 

prison  and  those  outside  who  ought  to  be  there,  were  so  dim  and  shadowy 
that  great  care  should  be  exercised  in  order  to  secure  just  and  humane 
treatment  for  prisoners.  Mrs.  Kicker's  remarks  were  earnest  and  digni- 
fied, and  were  listened  to  with  the  closest  attention  by  the  governor  and 
his  official  advisers.  At  the  close  of  the  hearing  the  governor  referred 
the  subject  to  the  special  prison  committee  of  the  council,  directing  its 
members  to  procure  all  possible  information  as  to  the  management  of 
penitentiaries  in  other  States,  and  report  at  the  next  meeting.  Through 
Mrs.  Kicker's  influence  the  last  legislature  passed  an  act  providing  that 
any  convict  may  send  sealed  letters  to  the  governor  or  council  without 
their  being  read  by  the  warden. 

In  1882  a  judicial  decision  in  New  Hampshire  recognized  the 
advance  legislation  of  that  State  in  regard  to  the  position  of  mar- 
ried women.  This  decision  shows  that  they  are  no  longer  under 
the  shadow  of  the  old  common  law,  but  now  hold  equal  dignity 
and  power  as  individuals  and  joint  heads  in  family  life.  The 
"  divinely  ordained  head,"  with  absolute  control  in  the  home,  to 
rule  according  to  his  will  and  pleasure,  is  at  last  ruled  out  of  the 
courts  altogether,  as  the  following  case  illustrates : 

Mrs.  Harris  and  her  husband  sued  Mrs.  Webster  and  her  husband 
for  slanders  uttered  by  Mrs.  Webster  against  Mrs.  Harris.  The  suit 
was  brought  on  the  old  theory  that  the  legal  personality  of  the  wife 
is  merged  in  that  of  her  husband ;  that  she  is  under  his  control,  his 
chattel,  his  ox,  and  therefore  he  is  responsible  for  her  trespasses  as 
for  those  of  his  other  domestic  cattle.  The  Court  held  that  the  wife 
is  no  longer  an  "ox"  or  "chattel,"  but  a  person  responsible  for  her 
acts,  and  that  her  innocent  husband  could  not  be  held  responsible  for 
her  wrong.  In  rendering  the  decision  in  this  case,  Judge  Foster  further 
said  :  "  It  is  no  longer  possible  to  say  that  in  New  Hampshire  a  married 
woman  is  a  household  slave  or  a  chattel,  or  that  in  New  Hampshire  the 
conjugal  unity  is  represented  solely  by  the  husband.  By  custom  and  by 
statute  the  wife  is  now  joint  master  of  the  household,  and  not  a  slave  or 
a  servant.  The  rule  now  is  that  her  legal  existence  is  not  suspended.  So 
practically  has  the  ancient  unity  become  dissevered  and  dissolved  that 
the  wife  may  not  only  have  her  separate  property,  contracts,  debts, 
wages,  and  causes  of  separate  action  growing  out  of  a  violation  of  her 
personal  rights,  but  she  may  enter  into  legal  contract  with  her  husband 
and  enforce  it  by  suit  against  him." 

The  writer  of  the  following  letter  is  a  successful  farmer,  re- 
markable for  her  executive  ability  in  all  the  practical  affairs  of 
life,  as  well  as  for  her  broad  philanthropy.  One  year  she  sent,  as 
a  contribution  to  our  Washington  convention,  a  tub  of  butter 
holding  about  sixty  pounds,  which  was  sold  on  the  platform  and 
the  proceeds  put  into  the  treasury  of  the  National  Association : 


38o 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


Dear  Friends  assembled  in  the  Washington  Convention  : 

Last  week  our  new  town-house  was  dedicated.  The  women  accompa- 
nied their  husbands.  One  man  spoke  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage — said  it 
was  "  surely  coming."  In  this  town,  at  the  Corners,  for  several  years 
they  tried  to  get  a  graded  school,  but  the  men  voted  it  down.  After 
the  women  had  the  school-suffrage,  one  lady,  who  had  a  large  family  and 
did  not  wish  to  send  her  children  away  from  home,  rallied  all  the  women 
of  the  Corners,  carried  the  vote,  and  they  now  have  a  good  graded  school. 
Our  village  is  moving  down,  that  the  boys  and  girls  may  have  the  ben- 
efit of  the  good  school  there.  I  think  the  women  who  have  been  indif- 
ferent and  not  availed  themselves  of  their  small  voting  privilege,  by 
which  we  might  have  established  the  same  class  of  school  in  our  village, 
will  now  regret  their  negligence,  at  least  every  time  they  have  to  send 
three  miles  for  a  doctor.  Thus,  stupid  people,  blind  to  their  own  interest, 
punish  themselves.  I  regret  not  being  able  to  send  a  fuller  report  of  the 
good  that  woman's  use  of  the  ballot,  in  a  limited  form,  has  done  for  us  in 
this  State.  The  voting  in  the  town-hall  is  the  "  infant  school  "  for  women 
in  the  use  of  the  ballot.  Thanking  the  ladies  all  for  meeting  at  the  capital 
of  the  nation,  and  regretting  not  to  be  counted  among  the  number,  1  am, 

Yours  sincerely,  MARY  A.  P.  FILLEY. 

North  ffavtrill,  January  5,  1884. 

In  closing  this  chapter  some  mention  should  be  made  of  the 
invaluable  services  of  Senator  Blair,*  who,  in  his  place,  has  ahvays 
nobly  defended  the  rights  of  women.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
first  special  committee  ever  appointed  to  look  after  the  interests 
of  women  in  the  United  States  Senate.  The  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment in  that  State  claim  that  they  helped  to  place  Senator  Blair 
in  his  present  position  by  defeating  his  .predecessor,  Mr.  \Vad- 
leigh,  who  was  hostile  to  the  enfranchisement  of  women. 

UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  March  5,  1884. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  1  had  the  honor  duly  to  receive  your  invita- 
tion to  address  the  National  Association  during  its  sessions  in  this  city, 
for  which  I  heartily  thank  you  ;  but  the  pressure  of  duties  in  the  Senate, 
service  upon  committees  being  just  now  specially  exacting,  makes  it 
impossible  for  me  to  accept. 

I  trust  that  I  need  not  assure  you  of  my  full  belief  that  woman  has  the 
right  and  ought  to  have  the  privilege  to  vote.  Whenever  a  fundamental 
right  exists  both  public  and  individual  welfare  are  promoted  by  its  exer- 
cise and  injured  by  its  suppression.  The  exercise  of  rights  is  only  another 
name  for  the  discharge  of  duties,  and  the  denial  of  the  suffrage  to  an  adult 
human  being,  not  deprived  of  it  for  mental  or  penal  disability,  is  an  intol- 
erable wrong.  Such  denial  is  not  only  a  deprivation  of  right  to  the  indi- 
vidual, but  it  is  an  injury  to  the  State,  which  is  only  well  governed  when 
controlled  by  the  conflicting  opinions,  sentiments  and  interests  of  the 
whole,  harmonized  in  the  ballot-box,  and,  by  its  fiat,  elevated  to  the  func- 


*  Reflected  to  the  Senate,  June,  1885. 


Letter  from.  Senator  Blair.  381 

tions  of  law.  But  you  have  no  occasion  for  expression  of  theoretical 
views  from  me. 

If  I  may  be  pardoned  a  suggestion,  it  would  be  the  specification  to  the 
public  mind  of  the  practical  uses  and  benefits  which  would  result  from 
the  exercise  of  the  suffrage  by  women.  Men  are  not  conscious  that 
women  lack  the  practical  protection  of  the  laws  or  the  comforts  and  con- 
veniences of  material  and  social  relations  more  than  themselves.  The 
possession  of  the  ballot  as  a  practical  means  of  securing  happiness  does 
not  appear  to  the  masses  to  be  necessary  to  women  in  our  country.  Men 
say:  "We  do  the  best  we  can  for  our  wives  and  children  and  relatives. 
They  are  as  well  off  as  we."  In  a  certain  sense  this  appears  to  be  true. 
The  other  and  higher  truth  is  that  woman  suffrage  is  necessary  in  order 
that  society  may  advance.  The  natural  conservatism  of  an  existing  order 
of  things  will  not  give  way  to  a  new  factor  in  the  control  of  affairs,  until 
it  has  been  shown  in  what  way  enlightened  selfishness  may  hope  for 
good  to  society  if  the  change  be  made.  Here  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
convention  may  now  strike  a  blow  more  powerful  than  for  many  years. 
Society  has  not  so  labored  with  the  great  problems  which  concern  its 
own  salvation  for  generations. 

What  would  woman  do  with  the  ballot  if  she  had  it?  What  for  educa- 
tion? What  for  sobriety?  What  for  social  purity?  What  for  equalizing 
the  conditions  and  the  rewards  of  labor — the  labor  of  her  own  sex  first — 
and  towards  a  just  division  of  production  among  all  members  of  the  com- 
munity ?  What  for  the  removal,  or  for  the  amelioration  when  removal  is 
impossible,  of  hunger,  cold,  disease  and  degradation,  from  the  daily  lives 
of  human  beings  ?  What  could  and  what  would  woman  do  with  the  ballot 
which  is  not  now  as  well  done  by  man  alone,  to  improve  the  conditions 
which  envelope  individual  existence  as  with  bands  of  iron  ?  What  good 
things — state  them  seriatim,  as  the  lawyers  say — could  woman  do  in  New 
Hampshire  and  in  New  York  city,  and  ultimately  among  the  savage  tribes 
of  the  earth,  which  she  cannot  do  as  well  without  as  with  the  suffrage? 
Would  woman  by  her  suffrage  even  help  to  remove  illiteracy  from 
Louisiana,  intemperance  from  New  England,  and  stop  society  from 
committing  murder  by  the  tenement-house  abuses  of  New  York  ?  Let 
the  convention  specify  what  practical  good  woman  will  try  to  achieve 
with  her  God-given  rights,  provided  that  men  will  permit  her  to 
enjoy  them.  Show  us  wherein  you  will  do  us  good  if  we  will  rob  you  no 
longer.  It  might  influence  us  greatly.  Why  should  we  do  right  for  noth- 
ing? In  fact,  unless  you  show  that  the  exercise  of  your  alleged  right 
will  be  useful,  can  you  logically  conclude  that  you  have  any?  We  must 
have  proof  that  the  experiment  will  not  fail  before  we  will  even  try 
it.  You  must  connect  the  ballot  with  progress  and  reform  and  con- 
vince men  that  they,  as  well  as  women,  will  be  better  off  for  its 
possession  by  the  whole  of  the  adult  community  rather  than  only  by  a 
part.  Theories  may  be  true,  but  they  are  seldom  reduced  to  practice  by 
society  unless  it  can  be  clearly  seen  that  their  adoption  will  heal  some 
hurt  or  introduce  some  broad  and  general  good. 


382  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  increasing  discussion  of  industrial,  educational,  sanitary,  and  social 
questions  generally,  indicates  the  domain  of  argument  and  effort  where 
victories  for  the  advocates  of  enlarged  suffrage  are  most  likely,  and  I 
think  are  sure  to  be  won.  Woman  should  study  specially  what  is  called, 
for  the  want  of  a  better  term,  the  labor  problem — a  problem  which  in- 
cludes in  its  scope  almost  •  everything  important  to  everybody.  1 
know  this  is  an  unnecessary  suggestion,  for  it  is  just  what  you  are 
doing.  I  only  write  it  because  repetition  of  the  important  is  better  than 
to  recite  platitudes  or  even  to  quote  the  declaration.  I  believe  in  your 
success  because  I  believe  in  justice  and  in  the  advancement  of  mankind- 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant,  HENRY  W.  BLAIR. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 
VERMONT. 

Clarina  Howard  Nichols — Council  of  Censors — Amending  the  Constitution — St.  An- 
drew's  Letter — Mr.  Reed's  Report — Convention  Called — H.  B.  Blackwell  on  the 
Vermont  Watchman — Mary  A.  Livermore  in  the  Woman's  Journal— Surah  A. 
Gibbs'  Reply  to  Rev.  Mr.  Holmes — School  Suffrage. 

AFTER  the  miseries  growing  out  of  the  civil  war  were  in  a 
measure  mitigated,  there  was  a  general  awakening  in  the  New 
England  States  on  the  question  of  suffrage  for  women,  and  in 
1868  one  after  another  organized  for  action.  What  Nathaniel 
P.  Rogers  was  to  New  Hampshire  in  the  anti-slavery  struggle 
that  was  Clarina  Howard  Nichols*  to  Vermont  in  early  calling 
attention  to  the  unjust  laws  for  woman.  From  1843  to  ^53  she 
edited  the  Windham  County  Democrat,  in  which  she  wrote  a 
series  of  editorials  on  the  property  rights  of  women,  and  from 
year  to  year  made  her  appeals  in  person  to  successive  legislatures. 
Her  patient  labors  for  many  years  prepared  the  way  for  the  or- 
ganized action  of  1868.  The  women  of  that  State  can  never 
too  highly  appreciate  all  that  it  cost  that  noble  woman  to  stand 
alone,  as  she  did,  through  such  bitter  persecutions,  vindicating 
for  them  the  great  principles  of  republican  government. 

And  now,  after  a  quarter  of  a  century,  instead  of  that  one  soli- 
tary voice  in  the  district  school-house  and  the  State  cafjitol,  are 
heard  in  all  Vermont's  towns  and  cities,  echoing  through  her  val- 
leys and  mountains,  the  clarion  voices  of  a  whole  band  of  distin- 
guished men  and  women  from  all  the  Eastern  States.  The  re- 
vival of  the  woman  question  in  Vermont  began  with  proposi- 
tions to  amend  the  constitution.  We  are  indebted  to  a  series 
of  letters,  written  by  a  citizen  of  Burlington,  signed  "  St.  An- 

*  No  woman  in  so  many  varied  fields  of  action  has  more  steadily  and  faithfully  labored  than  Mr*. 
Nichols,  as  editor,  speaker,  teacher,  farmer,  in  Vermont,  New  York,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Ohio,  Kansas, 
and  California  where  she  spent  the  closing  years  of  her  life  ;  and  though  always  in  circumstances  of 
hardship  and  privation,  yet  no  annual  convention  was  held  without  a  long  letter  from  her  pen,  uni- 
formly the  most  cheerful  and  able  of  all  that  were  received.  A  great  soul  that  seemed  to  rise  above 
the  depressing  influences  of  her  surroundings!  The  last  letter  she  ever  wrote  us  was  in  January, 
1885,  a  few  days  before  she  passed  away.  See  Volume  I.,  page  171. 


Tistory  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


drew,"   for   many   of   the   interesting  incidents  and  substantial 
facts  as  to  the  iniative  steps  taken  in  this  campaign.     He  said : 

The  only  way  of  amending  the  constitution  is  for  the  people  (meaning 
the  male  voters)  to  elect,  every  seventh  year,  a  board  called  the  Council 
of  Censors,  consisting  of  thirteen  persons.  This  council  can,  within  a 
certain  time,  propose  amendments  to  the  constitution,  and  call  a  conven- 
tion of  one  delegate  from  each  town,  elected  by  the  freemen,  to  adopt 
or  reject  the  articles  of  amendment  proposed  by  the  council.  The 
Council  of  Censors,  elected  in  March,  1869,  proposed  six  amendments: 
(i)  In  relation  to  the  creation  of  corporations ;  (2)  in  relation  to  biennial 
sessions  and  elections  ;  (3)  in  relation  to  filling  vacancies  in  the  office  of 
senators  and  town  representatives ;  (4)  in  relation  to  the  appointment, 
terms,  etc.,  of  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  (5)  providing  that  women  shall 
be  entitled  to  vote,  and  with  no  other  restrictions  than  the  law  shall  im- 
pose on  men  ;  (6)  in  relation  to  the  manner  of  amending  the  constitution. 

The  election  of  delegates  occurs  on  Tuesday,  May  10,  and  the  con- 
vention meets  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  June.  There  is  no  general 
excitement  in  the  State  in  relation  to  any  of  the  proposed  changes; 
and  now,  upon  the  eve  of  the  election,  it  is  impossible  for  the  most 
sagacious  political  observer  to  predict  the  fate  of  any  of  the  amend- 
ments. The  fifth  is  the  only  one  in  support  of  which  public  meet- 
ings have  been  held,  and  those  took  place  the  early  part  of  the 
spring  at  the  larger  places  in  the  State.  The  friends  have  never  ex- 
pected to  obtain  a  majority,  nor  even  a  considerable  vote  in  the  conven- 
tion, and  the  meetings  that  have  been  held  were  not  expected  to  settle 
the  question,  but  to  awaken  the  public  mind  upon  the  subject.  These 
meetings  have  been  a  decided  success,  attended  by  hundreds  of  in- 
telligent citizens,  many  of  whom  for  the  first  time  listened  to  an 
address  upon  the  subject.  It  is  true  that  ladies  were  advised  to  remain 
away,  but  such  advice  generally  resulted  in  a  larger  attendance ;  and  to- 
day the  measure  has  a  firmer  support  than  ever  before,  and  its  advocates 
are  more  confident  of  final  success.  We  may  not  have  more  than  "ten 
righteous"  men  elected  to  the  convention,  but  that  number  was  enough  to 
save  the  cities  of  the  plain,  and  we  have  full  faith  that  as  small  a  number 
can  save  the  cities  of  the  mountains. 

The  press  of  the  State  is  divided  on  the  subject.  We  have  two 
dailies — one,  the  Rutland  Herald,  the  oldest  paper  in  the  State,  in  favor  of 
the  movement,  and  the  Free  Press  of  Burlington,  opposed  to  it.  After 
the  coming  convention,  no  change  can  be  made  in  our  constitution  for 
seven  years,  at  least,  and  if  the  sixth  amendment  be  adopted,  not  for 
ten  years.  But,  in  the  meantime,  the  question  will  assume  more  im- 
portance by  a  constant  agitation  as  to  the  equality  of  the  sexes,  the  ad- 
mission of  women  to  the  State  University,  the  professions,  and  other 
rights  to  which  men  are  entitled.  Vermont  can  never  emulate  in 
wealth  and  population  the  manufacturing  States  of  the  seaboard,  or  the 
prairie  States  of  the  West ;  but  she  can  win  a  nobler  preeminence  in  the 
quality  of  her  institutions.  She  may  be  the  first  State,  as  Wyoming 


Proposed  Constitutional  Amendment.  385 

already  is  the  first  territory,  to  give  political  equality  to  woman,  and  to 
show  the  world  the  model  of  a  true  republic.  ST.  ANDREW. 

Burlington,  Vt. ,  May  i,  2870. 

Mr.  Reed  of  Washington  county  submitted  the  report  in  favor 
of  the  woman  suffrage  amendment,  from  which  we  give  the 
following : 

One-half  of  the  people  of  our  State  are  denied  the  right  of  suffrage. 
Yet  woman  has  all  the  qualifications — the  capacity,  the  desire  for  the 
public  welfare,  that  man  has.  She  is  among  the  governed.  She  pays 
taxes.  Even-handed  justice,  a  fair  application  of  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  of  our  State  constitution,  give  woman 
the  ballot.  There  is  no  reason  why  woman  should  not  be  allowed  to 
do  what  she  is  so  eminently  fit  to  do.  We  know  no  good  reason  why 
the  most  ignorant  man  should  vote  and  the  intelligent  woman  be  refused. 
Our  present  political  institutions  were  formed  and  shaped  when  men 
had  their  chief  interests  and  pursuits  out  of  doors,  and  women  remained 
the  humble  slaves  at  home.  The  social  change  has  been  immense. 
Now  woman  sits  by  the  side  of  man,  is  his  companion  and  associate  in 
his  amusements,  and  in  his  labors,  save  the  one  of  governing  the  country. 
And  it  is  time  that  she  should  be  in  this. 

The  position  of  woman  in  regard  to  the  common  schools  of  the  State  is 
the  most  unjust.  She  must  always  be  the  chief  instructor  of  the  young 
in  point  of  time  and  influence.  She  is  their  best  teacher  at  home  and 
in  the  school.  And  her  share  in  this  ever-expanding  work  is  becoming 
vaster  every  day.  Woman  as  mother,  sister,  teacher,  has  an  intelligence, 
a  comprehension  of  the  educational  needs  of  our  youth,  and  an  interest 
in  their  development,  far  in  advance  of  the  other  sex.  She  can  or- 
ganize, control  and  teach  the  most  difficult  school  in  the  State ;  yet  she 
has  no  vote  in  the  selection  of  teachers,  the  building,  arrangements  and 
equipments  of  school-houses,  nor  in  the  method  and  extent  of  instruc- 
tion. She  can  pay  her  share  of  the  expenses  of  schools,  but  can  have 
no  legal  voice  in  their  management.  She  can  teach,  but  she  can 
have  no  vote  in  determining  what  shall  be  taught.  She  is  the  very 
corner-stone  of  institutions  which  she  has  no  power  in  shaping.  Let 
us  have  her  open,  avowed  and  public  cooperation — always  safer  than  in- 
direct influence. 

The  submission  of  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  necessa- 
rily aroused  a  general  agitation  on  the  proposed  changes.  The 
fifth  amendment  decided  on  by  the  board  of  censors  seemed  to 
create  a  more  general  interest  than  either  of  the  others,  and  ac- 
cordingly a  meeting  was  called  for  its  full  consideration,  that 
efficient  steps  might  be  taken  for  a  thorough  canvass  of  the 
State,  preparatory  to  the  May  election,  and  issued  the  follow- 
ing call : 

The  friends  of  woman  suffrage  in  Vermont  are  requested  to  meet  in  mass  conven- 
tion at  Montpelier  on  Wednesday,  February  2,  at  IO  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 

25 


386  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sidering  and  advancing  the  best  interests  of  the  cause  in  this  State,  in  view  of  the 
constitutional  amendment  proposed  by  the  council  of  censors.  The  convention  will 
be  addressed  by  several  Indies  and  prominent  gentlemen  of  this  State,  and  by  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  Julia  Ward  Howe  and  Rev.  Ada  C.  Bowles  of  Massachusetts;  Lucy 
Stone  and  Henry  B.  Blackwell  of  New  Jersey,  and  Mary  A.  Livermore  of  Illinois. 
A  public  meeting  will  also  be  held  the  evening  before  the  convention,  which  will  be 
addressed  'by  some  of  the  eminent  speakers  above  named.  The  Hutchinson  family 
will  be  present  and  sing  their  woman  suffrage  songs.  The  Vermont  Central, 
Passumpsic,  Rutland  and  Burlington  and  Bennington  and  Rutland  lines  of  railroad 
will  extend  the  courtesy  of  free  return  checks,  provided  they  shall  be  applied  for  by 
twenty-five  or  more  persons  paying  full  fare  one  way  over  an  average  distance  of  each 
of  their  respective  roads,  which  will  be  determined  by  the  secretary. 

C.  W.  WILLARD,  JAMES  HUTCHINSON,  Jr., 

GEORGE  H.  BIGELOW,  CHARLES  REED, 

NEWMAN  WEEKS,  JONATHAN  Ross, 

JAMES  S.  PECK. 
Ex.   Com.    Vermont  Woman  Suffrage  Association* 

Montpelier,  January  IO,  1870. 

It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  the  movement  for  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  woman  in  Vermont  was  inaugurated  wholly  by  men. 
Not  a  woman  was  on  its  official  board,  nor  was  there  one  to 
speak  in  the  State.  Men  called  the  first  woman's  rights  con- 
vention, and  chose  Hon.  Charles  Reed  of  Montpelier  as  its  pre- 
siding officer,  as  well  as  president  of  the  State  association. 

However,  these  gentlemen  invited  ladies  from  other  States, 
and  a  series  of  meetings  f  was  inaugurated  through  the  chief 
towns  and  cities  of  Vermont.  The  speakers:}:  were  heartily 
welcomed  at  some  points  and  rudely  received  at  others.  The 
usual  "  free-love "  cry  was  started  by  some  of  the  opposition 
papers — a  cry  that  like  "infidel"  in  the  anti-slavery  days,  oft' 
times  frightened  even  the  faithful  from  their  propriety.  Henry 
B.  Blackwell  came  to  the  rescue,  and  ably  answered  the  Ver- 
mont Watchman: 

The  Vermont  Watchman  evades  the  discussion  of  the  question  whether 
women  shall  be  entitled  to  vote,  by  raising  false  issues.  The  editor  as- 
serts that  "  many  of  the  advocates  of  suffrage  have  thrown  scorn  upon 


*  Officers  of  the  Vermont  Woman  Suffrage  Association :  President,  Hon.  Charles  Reed,  Mont- 
pelier. Vice-presidents,  Hon.  John  B.  Hollister,  Bennington  ;  Hon.  Seneca  M.  Dorr,  Rutland  ;  Rev- 
Addison  Brown,  Brattleboro' ;  Col.  Lynns  E.  Knapp,  Middlebury ;  Hon.  James  Hutchinson,  jr..  West 
Randolph  ;  Hon.  Russell  S.  Taft,  Burlington  ;  Hon.  A.  J.  Willard,  St.  Johnsbury  ;  Hon.  H.  Henry 
Powers,  Hyde  Park ;  Hon.  Jasper  Rand,  St.  Albans.  Recording  Secretary,  Henry  Clark,  Rutland. 
Corresponding  Secretary,  Albert  Clarke,  St.  Albans.  Treasurer,  Albert  D.  Hager,  Proctorsville- 
Executive  Committee,  Hon.  C.  W.  Willard,  Montpelier;  Hon.  Charles  Reed,  Montpelier;  George  H 
Bigelow,  Burlington ;  Newman  Weeks,  Rutland ;  Hon.  Jonathan  Ross,  St.  Johnsbury  ;  Rev.  Eli 
Ballou,  D.  D.,  Montpelier. 

t  Following  the  convention  at  Montpelier,  meetings  were  held  at  St.  Albans,  Northfield,  Barre,  Bur- 
lington, St.  Johnsbury,  Brattleboro',  Rutland,  Fairhaven,  Castleton,  Springfield  and  Bellows  Falls. 

\  Among  the  speakers  were  Mr.  Garrison,  Mrs.  Howe,  Mrs.  Stone,  Leo  Miller,  Mrs.  Churchill,  Mrs. 
Livermore,  Mrs.  Campbell,  Dr.  Sarah  Hathaway,  Mrs.  Bowles,  Mr.  Blackwell,  Hon.  A.  J.  Williard- 
Mr.  Taft,  Mr.  Clark,  Judge  Carpenter,  Mr.  Ivison,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Brigham,  Eastwood,  Brown  and 
Emerson. 


Henry  B.  Blackwell  to  the  Rescue.  387 


* 


marriage  and  upon  the  Divine  Word."  That  assertion  we  denounced  as 
an  unfounded  and  wicked  calumny.  We  also  objected  to  it  as  an  evasion 
of  the  main  question.  Thereupon  the  Watchman,  instead  of  correcting 
its  mistake  and  discussing  the  question  of  suffrage,  repeats  the  charge, 
and  seeks  to  sustain  it  by  garbled  quotations  and  groundless  assertions, 
which  we  stigmatized  accordingly.  The  Watchman  now  calls  upon  us  to 
retract  the  stigma.  We  prefer  to  prove  that  our  censure  is  deserved,  and 
proceed  to  do  so. 

The  first  quotation  of  the  Watchman  is  from  an  editorial  in  the 
Woman  s  Journal,  entitled  "  Political  Organization."  The  object  of  which 
was  to  show  the  propriety  of  doing  what  the  Watchman  refuses 
to  do — viz. :  of  discussing  woman  suffrage  upon  its  own  merits.  It  showed 
the  unfairness  of  complicating  the  questfon  with  other  topics  upon 
which  friends  of  woman  suffrage  honestly  differ.  It  regretted  that 
•"  many  well-meaning  people  insist  on  dragging  in  their  peculiar  views  on 
theology,  temperance,  marriage,  race,  dress,  finance,  labor,  capital — it 
matters  not  what."  It  condemned  "a  confusion  of  ideas  which  have  no 
logical  connection,"  and  protested  "  against  loading  the  good  ship,  Woman 
Suffrage,  with  a  cargo  of  irrelevant  opinions."  The  Watchman  cites  this 
article  as  an  admission  that  some  of  the  friends  of  suffrage  advocate  free- 
love.  Not  at  all.  The  editor  of  the  Watchman  is  himself  one  of  the  well- 
meaning  people  alluded  to.  He  insists  on  dragging  in  irrelevant  theolog- 
ical and  social  questions.  He  refuses  to  confine  himself  to  the  issue  of 
suffrage.  The  Watchman  quotes  a  single  sentence  of  the  following  state- 
ment : 

The  advocates  of  woman's  equality  differ  utterly  upon  every  other  topic.  Some  are 
abolitionists,  others  hostile  to  the  equality  of  races.  Some  are  evangelical  Christians; 
•others  Catholics,  Unitarians,  Spiritualists,  or  Quakers.  Some  hold  the  most  rigid 
theories  with  regard  to  marriage  and  divorce;  others  are  latitudinarian  on  these  ques- 
tions. In  short,  people  of  the  most  opposite  views  agree  in  desiring  to  establish 
woman  suffrage,  while  they  anticipate  very  different  results  from  the  reform,  when 
effected. 

The  above  is  cited  as  evidence  against  us.  How  so?  A  man  may  hold 
"  latitudinarian  theories  in  regard  to  marriage  and  divorce "  without 
•"throwing  scorn  upon  the  marriage  relation,"  or  having  the  slightest 
sympathy  with  free-love.  For  instance:  The  present  law  of  Vermont  is 
latitudinarian  is  these  very  particulars.  It  grants  divorce  for  many  other 
causes  than  adultery.  Measured  by  the  more  conservative  standard  of 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  Mary  A.  Livermore,  it  allows  divorce  upon  in- 
sufficient grounds.  This  law  represents  the  public  sentiment  of  a  majority 
•of  the  people  of  Vermont.  Will  the  Watchman  assert  that  the  people  of 
Vermont  "throw  scorn  on  the  marriage  relation"?  Or  that  he  is  in 
•"  low  company  "  because  he  is  surrounded  by  the  citizens  of  a  State  who 
•entertain  views  upon  the  marriage  relation  less  rigid  than  his  own  ?  Our 
indignant  protest  against  the  injustice  of  the  common  law,  which  subjects 
the  person,  property,  earnings  and  children  of  married  women  to  the  irre- 
sponsible control  of  their  husbands,  is  not  a  protest  against  marriage.  It 
is  a  vindication  of  marriage,  against  the  barbarism  of  the  law  which  de- 


388  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

grades  a  noble  and  life-long  partnership  of  equals  into  a  mercenary  and 
servile  relation  between  superior  and  dependant. 

The  Watchman  assails  prominent  supporters  of  woman  suffrage,  and 
misquotes  and  misrepresents  them.  Because  Theodore  Tilton  is  unwill- 
ing "that  men  or  women  shall  be  compelled  to  live  together  as  husband 
and  wife  against  the  inward  protest  of  their  own  souls,"  therefore  he  is 
charged  with  advocating  free-love.  Is  it  possible  that  the  editor  regards 
such  a  relation  of  protest  and  disgust  as  consistent  with  the  unity  of 
Christian  marriage  ?  Is  it  right  that  a  pure  and  noble  man,  the  tender 
husband  of  a  happy  wife,  the  loving  father  of  affectionate  children,  should 
be  thus  causelessly  traduced  for  showing  that  the  essential  fact  of  mar- 
riage is  in  that  unity  of  soul  which  is  recognized  and  affirmed  by  the  out- 
ward form  ?  When  the  Watchman  undertakes  to  brand  men  and  women 
of  irreproachable  character  for  an  intellectual  difference,  he  is  engaged  in 
a  very  unworthy  business.  When  he  charges  immorality  upon  the  New 
York  Independent  and  infidelity  upon  John  Stuart  Mill,  he  forgets  that  his 
readers  have  minds  of  their  own. 

But,  suppose  it  were  true  that  newspapers  and  individuals  who  believe 
in  woman  suffrage  held  objectionable  views  on  other  subjects,  what  has 
this  to  do  with  the  merit  of  the  proposed  reform  ?  There  are  impure  and 
intemperate  men  in  the  Republican  party.  Is  the  Republican  party  there- 
fore "  low  company  "  ?  There  are  brutal  and  ignorant  and  disloyal  men 
in  the  Democratic  party.  Does  this  prove  that  Dr.  Lord  and  every  other 
Democrat  in  the  State  of  Vermont  is  brutal  and  ignorant  and  disloyal  ? 
The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  just  decided  that  a  divorce 
obtained  under  the  laws  of  Indiana  is  legal  and  binding  in  every  other 
State.  In  thus  affirming  Mrs.  McFarland's  right  to  marry  Mr.  Richard- 
son, has  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  sanctioned  free-love  ? 
Will  the  Watchman  call  Chief-Justice  Chase  and  the  Supreme  Court  free- 
lovers  ?  We  have  very  little  hope  that  the  Watchman  will  treat  this  ques- 
tion with  fairness  or  candor.  Our  cause  is  too  strong.  The  argument 
from  reason,  from  revelation,  from  nature,  from  history,  is  on  our  side. 
The  Watchman  is  fighting  against  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
bill  of  rights  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  and  the  principles  of  representa- 
tive government.  No  wonder  that  it  raises  false  issues.  No  wonder  that 
it  evades  the  question.  H.  B.  B. 

The  following  editorial  in  the  Woman  s  Journal,  from  the  pen 
of  Mary  A.  Livermore,  does  not  give  a  very  rose-colored  view  of 
the  reception  of  the  Massachusetts  missionaries  on  their  first 
advent  into  Vermont : 

The  Vermont  constitutional  convention  has  rejected  a  proposition  to 
give  the  ballot  to  woman,  by  a  vote  of  231  to  i.  It  flouted  all  discus- 
sion of  the  question,  and  voted  it  down  with  the  utmost  alacrity.  No  one 
cognizant  of  the  bigotry,  narrowness  and  general  ignorance  that  prevail 
there  will  be  surprised  at  this  result.  It  is  not  a  progressive  State,  but 
the  contrary.  Great  stress  has  been  laid  on  the  fact  that  "  Vermont  never 
owned  a  slave  " — and  from  this  it  has  been  argued  that  the  Green  Moun- 


University  of  Vermont  Opened  to    Women.       389 

tain  State  is  and  has  been  especially  liberty-loving.  But  during  the  two 
brief  visits  we  made  last  winter,  we  were  told  again  and  again,  by  Ver- 
mont men,  that  the  only  reason  for  the  non-introduction  of  slaver)'  was 
the  impracticability  of  that  form  of  labor  among  the  Green  Mountains — 
that  slavery  could  never  have  been  made  profitable  there,  and  that  this, 
and  not  principle  and  heroic  love  of  freedom,  prevented  Vermont  from 
ever  being  a  slave  State.  Nowhere,  not  even  in  the  roughest  and  remotest 
West,  have  we  met  with  such  vulgar  rudeness,  ill-manners  and  heroic 
lying  as  we  encountered  in  Vermont.  The  lecturers  who  were  invited 
into  the  State  by  the  Vermont  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  composed 
wholly  of  men,  were  in  many  instances  left  unsupported  by  them,  allowed 
to  meet  the  frequently  rough  audiences  as  best  they  could,  to  pay  their 
own  bills,  and  to  manage  the  campaign  as  they  might.  At  the  very  first 
intimation  of  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Montpelter  Argus,  the  Watch- 
man and  the  Burlington  Free  Press — an  unworthy  trio  of  papers  that  ap- 
pear to  control  the  majority — many  members  of  the  State  association 
showed  the  "white  feather,"  and  either  apologetically  backed  out  of  the 
canvass,  or  ignominiously  kept  silent  in  the  background.  There  was, 
therefore,  nothing  like  a  thorough  discussion  of  the  question,  no  fair 
meeting  of  truth  and  error,  not  even  an  attempt  to  canvass  the  State. 
For,  not  ambitious  to  waste  their  efforts  on  such  flinty  soil,  the  men  and 
women  who  were  invited  to  labor  there  shook  off  the  dust  (snow)  of  Ver- 
mont from  their  feet,  and  turned  to  more  hopeful  fields  of  labor. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  this  vote  of  the  delegates  of  the 
constitutional  convention  is  any  indication  of  the  sentiment  of  the  women 
on  this  question.  The  fact  that  231  women  of  lawful  age,  residents  of 
Brattleborough,  and  96  of  Newfane,  sent  a  petition  for  woman  suf- 
frage, with  their  reasons  for  asking  it,  to  Charles  K.  Field,  delegate 
from  that  town  to  the  constitutional  convention;  that  petitions  from 
other  hundreds  of  women  have  been  forwarded  to  congress,  praying  for  a 
sixteenth  amendment,  that,  by  letters  and  personal  statements,  we  know 
the  most  intelligent  and  thoughtful  women  everywhere  rebel  against  the 
State  laws  whose  heathenism,  despotism  and  absurdity  were  so  well  shown 
by  Mrs.  Nichols  in  1845 — all  these  facts  are  proofs  that  the  sentiment  of 
Vermont  women  is  not  represented  by  the  constitutional  convention  now 
in  session  at  Montpelier. — [M.  A.  L. 

August  12,  1871,  our  Burlington  correspondent  says: 
While  conventions,  picnics  and  bazar  meetings',  In  the  cause  of  woman 
suffrage,  have  been  held  in  our  sister  States,  an  event  has  very  quietly 
occurred  with  us  which  we  deem  an  important  step  in  the  right  direction, 
vnz. :  the  admission  of  women  to  the  University.  By  an  almost  unanimous 
vote  of  the  corporation,  a  few  conservatives  opposing  it,  the  matter  was 
referred  to  the  faculty,  who  are  understood  to  be  heartily  in  favor  of  the 
"  new  departure."  The  college  that  has  thus  thrown  its  doors  wide  open 
to  all,  is  the  University  of  Vermont  and  State  Agricultural  College, 
founded  by  the  munificence  of  General  Ira  Allen  in  1791.  It  commenced 
operations  in  iSoo;  the  Federal  troops  used  its  buildings  for  barracks  in 
the  war  of  1812;  the  buildings  (and  library)  were  burned  in  1824,  and  re- 


3 go  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

constructed  in  the  following  year,  when  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by 
General  Lafayette.  It  sent  forth  nearly  all  its  sons  to  the  great  rebellion. 
Indeed,  at  one  time  its  condition  served  to  remind  one  of  the  lines  of 
Holmes — 

"Lord,  how  the  Senior  knocked  about 
That  Freshman  class  of  one. " 

It  has  graduated  such  men  as  the  late  Senator  Collamer,  John  G.  Smith, 
president  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad;  William  G.  T.  Shedd,  the 
learned  theologian  ;  the  late  Henry  J.  Raymond  of  the  New  York  Times  - 
John  A.  Kasson  of  Iowa,  Frederick  Billings,  and  a  host  of  others,  eminent 
in  all  the  walks  of  life.  Its  late  president,  who  was  an  "Angell  from 
Providence,"  and  has  just  been  elected  president  of  Michigan  Univer- 
sity, is  heartily  in  favor  of  the  movement,  and  the  president-elect,  Mat- 
thew H.  Buckham,  is  no  less  so.  With  its  new  president  and  its  "  new 
departure  "  the  future  bids  fair  even  to  outshine  the  past. 

It  may  be  well  to  inquire  the  reason  why  a  college  located  in  a  State  re- 
garded by  outsiders  "  as  the  most  conservative  of  the  Union  on  the  woman 
suffrage  question,"  should  take  a  step  so  far  in  advance  of  what  has  been 
deemed  the  prevailing  sentiment.  Editors  who  have  been  battling  the 
new  reform  with  a  zeal  equaled  only  by  that  manifested  against  aboli- 
tionism a  few  years  since,  can  see  no  necessary  connection  between  the 
new  movement  and  the  general  cause  of  woman's  emancipation.  Whether 
necessary  or  not,  there  is  a  practical  connection  between  them  which  is 
being  felt  more  and  more  every  day.  I  assert,  with  no  fear  of  contradic- 
tion by  any  observing  man,  that  Vermont  is  no  more  committed  against 
woman  suffrage  than  any  other  State  in  the  East,  and  the  fact  that  but 
one  man  in  our  late  convention  voted  to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage  to- 
all,  can  well  be  explained  when  we  consider  the  manner  of  choosing  dele- 
gates by  towns ;  one  town,  for  instance,  with  twelve  voters,  having  the 
same  voice  in  the  representation  that  this  city  has  with  1,500.  With  a. 
popular  vote  upon  that  question  the  State  would  give  such  a  majority  as 
would  fairly  astonish  all  those  who  regarded  the  late  convention  as  a  com- 
plete demolition  of  the  "reformers."  ST.  ANDREW. 

The  following  criticism  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Holmes,  from  the  pen 
of  a  woman,  shows  the  growing  self-assertion  of  a  class  hitherto- 
held  in  a  condition  of  subordination  by  clerical  authority.  Such 
tergiversation  in  the  pulpit  as  his  has  done  much  to  emancipate 
woman  from  the  reverence  she  once  felt  for  the  teaching  of  those 
supposed  to  be  divinely  ordained  of  heaven  : 

BENSON,  Vt.,  June  20,  1871. 

I  have  heard  it  stated  from  the  pulpit  within  a  year  that  the  woman  suf- 
frage question  in  Vermont  is  dead.  Well,  we  believe  in  the  resurrection. 
Week  by  week  this  question  of  the  hour  and  of  the  age  confronts  those 
who  claim  to  have  given  it  decent  burial.  The  same  clergyman  who  pro- 
nounced it  dead  has  since  spoken  of  it  as  one  of  the  "growing  evils  of  the 
times,"  and  in  this  beautiful  summer  weather  he  has  felt  called  upon  to 
preach  another  sermon,  ostensibly  on  "marriage,"  really  upon  this  "dead 


Dissection  of  a  Sermonizer.  391 

question,"  dragging  it  out  to  daylight  again,  that  we  might  see  how  easily 
he  could  bury  it  fifty  fathoms  deep— with  mud.  It  reminded  me  of  Robert 
Laird  Collier's  sermon,  "The  Folly  of  the  Woman  Movement,"  in  its  logic 
and  its  spirit.  Mr.  Collier  and  our  Mr.  Holmes  see  but  one  thing  in  all 
this  struggle  for  truth  and  justice,  and  that  is  "  free-love."  Here  are  some 
specimens  of  Mr.  Holmes'  assertions  : 

The  advocates  of  woman's  rights  want,  not  the  ballot  so  much  as  the  dissolution  of 
the  marriage  tie.  They  propose  to  form  a  tie  for  the  term  of  five,  six  or  seven  years. 
Mark  the  men  or  women  who  are  the  most  strenuous  advocates  of  woman  suffrage. 
They  are  irreligious  and  immoral. 

Who  are  more  strenuous  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  than  Mrs.  Julia 
Ward  Howe,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  Mrs.  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker, 
Mrs.  Lucy  Stone,  Mrs.  Lucretia  Mott,  Mrs.  Livermore,  T.  W.  Higginson, 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Bishop  Simpson,  Governor  Claflin,  Gilbert  Haven, 
Wendell  Phillips,  and  scores  of  others  whose  lives  are  as  pure  and  intel- 
lects as  fine  as  his  who  dares  stand  in  the  sacred  desk  and  call  these  per- 
sons "  irreligious  and  immoral"?  His  argument  seems  to  be  like  this: 
Some  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  are  in  favor  of  easy  divorces.  These 
men  and  women  advocate  woman  suffrage ;  therefore  these  men  and 
women  are  in  favor  of  easy  divorces.  Or,  to  make  the  matter  still  plainer, 
some  ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  immoral.  Mr.  H.  is  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel ;  therefore  Mr.  H.  is  immoral.  The  method  of  reasoning  is  the 
same,  but  it  don't  sound  quite  fair  and  honorable,  does  it? 

"In  our  land  woman  is  a  queen  ;  she  is  loved  and  cared  for,"  says  Mr. 
Holmes.  In  sight  from  the  window  where  I  write  is  a  sad  commentary 
upon  this.  One  of  these  queens,  so  tenderly  cared  for,  is  hoeing  corn, 
while  her  five-months-old  baby — the  youngest  of  nine  children — lies  on 
the  grass  while  she  works.  Her  husband  is  away  from  home,  but  has  left 
word  for  the  "old  woman  "  to  "take  care  of  the  corn  and  potatoes,  for  he 
has  to  support  the  family."  When  they  are  out  of  meat,  she  must  go  out 
washing  and  earn  some,  for  "he  has  to  support  the  family,"  and  cannot 
have  her  idle.  Not  long  since  they  were  planting  corn  together,  she  do- 
ing as  much  as  he.  At  noon,  although  she  had  a  pail  of  milk  and  another 
of  eggs,  he  brought  her  the  two  hoes  to  carry  home,  as  he  could  not  be 
troubled  with  them.  Had  he  ever  read : 

"  I  will  be  master  of  what  is  my  own; 
She  is  my  goods,  my  chattels — 
My  horse,  my  ox,  my  ass,  my  anything"  ? 

"  No  woman  reaches  such  dignity  as  the  New  England  wife  and  mother," 
says  Mr.  H.  Is  wi/ehood  more  honorable,  or  motherhood  more  sacred,  in 
New  England  than  in  other  places?  Is  to  be  a  wife  and  mother,  and 
nothing  else,  the  sole  end  and  aim  of  woman?  Or  is  there  not  other 
work  in  God's  universe  which  some  woman  may  possibly  be  called  upon 
to  do?  Is  Florence  Nightingale  or  Anna  Dickinson  less  dignified  than 
Mrs.  John  Smith,  who  happens  physically  to  be  the  mother  of  half-a-dozen 
children,  but  mentally  and  morally  is  as  much  of  a  child  as  any  of  them  ? 

"  Woman  has  just  the  sphere  she  wants.  She  has  more  privileges  than 
she  could  vote  herself  into,"  says  Mr.  H.  Has  she,  indeed?  I  know 
women,  who  would  gladly  vote  themselves  into  the  privilege  of  having 


392  History  of  Woman  Stiff  rage. 

the  custody  of  their  own  children,  whose  husbands  are  notoriously 
drunken  and  licentious.  They  are  pure,  good  women,  who,  rather  than 
part  with  their  children,  live  on  with  men  whose  very  breath  is  pollution. 
I  know  others  who  would  like  to  vote  themselves  into  the  privilege  of 
retaining  their  own  hard  earnings  instead  of  having  them  sacrificed  by  a 
drunken  husband.  Widows  have  been  literally  turned  out  of  doors  after 
their  husbands'  death,  and  the  property  they  had  helped  to  accumulate 
divided  among  those  who  never  earned  it.  Do  you  think  such  women 
would  not  change  the  laws  of  inheritance  if  they  had  the  power? 

"  Husband  and  wife  are  one,  hence  one  vote  is  sufficient,"  says  Mr.  H. 
Follow  out  the  reasoning,  if  you  please.  "  Both  one,"  hence  one  dinner 
is  sufficient ,  "  both  one,"  hence  if  a  man  is  a  member  of  a  church  his  wife 
is  also.  In  plain  English,  "the  husband  and  wife  are  both  one,"  and  the 
husband  is  that  one.  Now  in  case  that  one  should  die,  is  it  fair,  or  just,  or 
fitting,  that  the  widow — "the  relict" — or,  in  the  words  of  Mr.  H.,  "the 
feminine  spirit  that  has  supplemented  this  masculine  nature,"  whose 
hands  have  been  tied  all  these  years,  should  be  called  upon  to  pay  taxes 
upon  the  share  of  property  the  law  allows  her  ?  Taxation  without  repre- 
sentation was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  famous  tea-party  in  Boston  har- 
bor, and,  in  fact,  of  a  good  many  other  unpleasant  things  that  followed. 

"  Woman  has  just  the  sphere  she  wants,"  says  Mr.  H.,  closing  the  discus- 
sion. No,  sir,  she  has  not.  Had  those  young  ladies  in  Philadelphia  who 
were  studying  medicine,  and  were  insulted  day  after  day  by  the  male  med- 
ical students,  the  sphere  they  wanted  ?  Our  American  girls  have  been  to 
Europe  for  the  sake  of  pursuing  their  studies  in  medicine,  and  have  met 
with  kindness  and  courtesy,  while  in  this  land,  where  they  are  called 
"queens,"  they  received  only  hisses.  Last  winter  Governor  Claflin  of 
Massachusetts — one  of  those  "irreligious  and  immoral"  advocates  of 
woman  suffrage — reminded  the  gentlemen  of  that  State  who  claim  to  be 
woman's  representatives  in  the  legislature,  "that  a  wife  in  that  State  is 
deprived  of  the  free  control  of  property  that  was  her  own  before  marriage, 
and  is  denied  an  equal  right  in  the  property  accumulated  during  the  mar- 
riage partnership  ;  that  a  married  mother  has  no  legal  right  to  her  child  ; 
and  that  a  widow  has  not  equal  rights  with  a  widower."  When  woman 
has  the  sphere  she  wants,  these  things  will  be  changed. 

As  a  majority  of  the  men  in  this  community  are  opposed  to  woman  suf- 
frage, I  will  relate  one  circumstance  that  will  do  to  "  point  a  moral  or 
.-adorn  a  tale."  Of  course,  the  voters  in  this  or  any  other  place  always 
<elect  their  best  men  to  hold  office  ,  and  the  board  of  selectmen  would  nat- 
urally be  the  very  wisest  and  best,  the  "  crhne  de  la  creme."  Now  it  so 
happens  that  one  selectman  being  away  from  home,  there  was  not  enough 
arithmetic  left  with  the  other  two  to  make  out  the  tax-bills  for  the  town, 
and  they  hired  a  woman,  the  mother  of  two  children,  to  do  it  for  them. 
It  certainly  took  more  of  her  time  than  it  would  for  her  to  have  walked 
across  the  street  and  voted  for  men  who  could  make  out  their  own  tax- 
bills.  Then  arithmetic  is  not  a  womanly  accomplishment,  like  tatting, 
crocheting,  etc.  These  things  sink  into  our  hearts,  and  will  bear  fruit  in 
due  season.  SARAH  A.  GIBBS. 


Vote  on  School-Suffrage.  393 

In  1877,  July  21,  Miss  Thyrza  F.  Pangborn,  for  the  last  six 
years  the  capable  and  efficient  recorder  in  the  probate  office  of 
Burlington,  was  appointed  and  sworn  as  a  notary  public.  In  a 
letter  of  December  7,  1872,  our  correspondent  says  : 

In  the  year  1870,  the  world  was  somewhat  startled  by  the  fact  that  in 
the  constitutional  convention,  held  that  year  in  Vermont,  but  one  vote 
was  cast  for  the  enfranchisement  of  woman  ;  and  no  one  wonders  that  the 
friends  of  that  movement  exclaimed,  "Can  any  good  come  out  of — Ver- 
mont "  ?  Yesterday  the  first  bie'nnial  session  of  the  legislature  closed  its 
session  of  fifty-seven  days.  A  bill  has  been  pending  in  each  House,  giv- 
ing female  tax-payers  a  right  to  vote  at  all  school-district  meetings.  It 
was  advocated  by  Mr.  Butterfield,  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
House,  in  an  able  and  learned  speech,  and  received  64  votes  to  103  against. 
Is  not  that  doing  well  for  such  a  staid  old  State  as  Vermont,  and  one 
where  the  enemies  of  equal  suffrage  supposed,  two  years  since,  that  the 
measure  was  indefinitely  postponed?  But  this  is  not  all.  The  measure 
was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  composed  of  thirty  members,  who  are  sup- 
posed to  be  the  balance-wheel  of  the  General  Assembly.  It  was  warmly 
discussed  by  several  Senators,  and  the  vote  taken,  when  there  were  three 
members  absent,  resulting  in,  yeas  13,  nays  14.  Had  the  Senate  been 
full,  the  vote  would  have  been,  yeas  14,*  nays  16.  A  change  of  one  of 
the  "no"  votes  would  have  carried  the  measure,  as  the  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, who  presides  in  the  Senate,  would  have  given  the  casting  vote  in  its 
favor. 

The  supporters  of  the  measure  included  some  of  the  ablest  members  of 
the  Senate,  among  them  the  chairmen  of  the  very  important  Committees 
on  Finance,  Claims,  Education,  Agriculture,  Manufactures,  Railroads  and 
Printing. 

Following  the  defeat  of  the  above-mentioned  bill  came  up  a  measure 
granting  to  women  the  same  right  to  vote  as  men  have  in  all  elections 
everywhere  in  the  State.  It  received  the  support  of  all  who  voted  for 
the  school  measure,  save  two,  Mr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Rogers,  who  prefer  to 
see  the  first  tried  as  an  experiment  in  the  school  meetings.  You  thus 
perceive  that  twelve  out  of  our  thirty  grave  and  reverend  Senators  are 
real  out-and-out  equal  suffrage  men.  Verily,  the  world  moves  !  Another 
year,  1874,  we  hope  will  carry  off  the  measure.  Meanwhile,  \vr  xiv.  three 
cheers  for  old  Vermont,  and  glory  enough  for  one  day  !  ST.  ANDKKW. 

Burlington,  Vt. 


*  The  fourteen  who  favored  the  bill  were:  Mr.  Bij?elow  of  Burlington,  one  of  the  leading  edii 
the  State;  Mr.  Butterfield  of  Grafton,  one  of  the  most  experienced  legislators  in  the  Stale;  Mr  Carpen- 
ter of  Northneld,  who  is  known  to  be  right  on  all  questions  that  concern  humanity,  Mr.  Colton  of  Ira*- 
burgh,  now  serving  his  second  term  in  the  Senate;  Mr.  Estey  of  Brattleboro',  the  manufacturer  of  the 
celebrated  cottage  organ;  Mr.  Houghton  of  North  Bennington,  a  leading  banker  and  busine>«  man  who 
IKIS  just  been  elected  one  of  the  directors  of  our  state-prison;  Mr.  King  of  North  Miuilpelier,  farmer; 
Mr.  Lamb  of  Royalton,  the  oldest  member  in  the  Senate,  a  lawyer;  Mr.  M.i-.-n  of  Richmond,  a  man 
who  would  be  described  by  a  Yankee  as  "  chock  full  of  honesty  and  common— cn-c  ';  Mr.  Roger*  of 
Whcelock  and  Mr  Stiles  of  Montgomery,  both  farmers,  and  -as  near  like  Mr.  Mason  a*  two  peas  are 
alike;  Mr.  Reynolds  of  Alburgh  Springs,  one  of  the  absentees,  but  in  favor  of  the  bill,  a  prominent 
merchant;  Mr.  Powers,  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  State,  and,  finally,  Mr.  Sprague  of  Brandon,  a 
leading  banker  and  manufacturer,  the  head  and  principal  ownerof  the  Brandon  Manufacturing  Company 


394  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  1880  the  School  Suffrage  bill  passed  the  Vermont  House  of 
Representatives,  with  only  four  dissenting  votes.  When  the  bill 
came  to  a  third  reading  and  only  four  men  stood  up  for  the  nega- 
tive, there  was  so  marked  an  expression  of  derision  that  the 
speaker  called  for  "  order,"  and  reminded  the  House  that  "  no 
man  was  to  be  scorned  for  voting  alone  any  more  than  with  a 
crowd."  The  action  and  the  voting  came  cheerily.  More  than 
one  man,  to  the  objection  of  "an  entering  wedge,"  said  "he  was 
ready  to  grant  the  whole."  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  triumph- 
antly and  was  approved  by  the  governor,  December  18,  1880: 

Women  shall  have  the  same  right  to  vote  as  men  have,  in  all  school-district  meet- 
ings and  in  the  election  of  school  commissioners  in  towns  and  cities,  and  the  same 
right  to  hold  office  relating  to  school  affairs. 

An  item  in  the  Woman 's  Journal,  from  Vergennes,  March  22, 
1 88 1,  says:  , 

At  the  city  election  to-day  General  J.  H.  Lucia,  a  staunch  friend  of 
woman  suffrage,  was  elected  mayor,  and  principally  through  his  manage- 
ment Miss  Electa  S.  Smith  has  been  chosen  to  the  office  of  city  clerk,  which 
office  he  has  held  for  the  past  two  years.  The  legislature  of  1880  author- 
ized the  election  of  women  to  the  offices  of  superintendent  of  schools  and 
town  clerk,  and  some  of  the  friends  of  the  cause  were  disposed  to  try  the 
working  of  the  law  here.  They  selected  a  candidate  whose  ability,  quali- 
fications and  thorough  fitness  all  had  to  concede,  and  against  whom  the 
only  objection  that  could  be  raised  was  her  being  a  woman.  It  took  the 
conservatives  some  time  to  get  over  their  surprise  at  the  first  suggestion 
of  her  name,  but  they  admitted  the  propriety  of  the  thing  and  gallantly 
lent  a  hand,  so  that  when  the  election  came  all  the  candidates  who  had 
been  talked  about  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence,  and  Miss  Smith 
was  elected  by  acclamation.  Surely  the  world  does  move. 

SPRINGFIELD,  February  7,  1884. 
Miss  Lydia  Putnam,  Brattleboro ',  Vt.  : 

Your  letter  is  at  hand.  I  think  but  few  women  have,  as  yet,  availed 
themselves  of  the  privilege  of  voting  in  school  meetings  in  this  State,  and 
I  am  not  able  to  say  what  the  effect  upon  our  schools  has  been  up  to  the 
present  time.  Very  respectfully,  JUSTUS  DARTT. 

Notwithstanding  the  above  reply  from  the  state-superintendent 
of  the  public  schools  of  Vermont,  the  Associated  Press  reports  of 
every  year  since  1881  make  mention  of  women  being  elected  to 
school  offices  in  the  various  towns  and  counties  of  the  State. 


*  In  1885  there  were  thirty-three  women  elected  to  the  office  of  school  superintendent  in  eleven  of 
the  fourteen  counties  of  the  State,  as  follows  :  Addisoii,  Miss  A.  L.  Huntley  ;  Bennington*  Mrs.  R. 
K.  Wiley  ;  Caledonia*  Miss  Nellie  Russell,  Mrs.  A.  F.  Stevens.  Mrs.  E.  Bradley,  Miss  S.  E.  Rogers; 
Chitienden*  Mrs  S.  M.  Benedict,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Bates,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Draper;  Essex*  Mrs.  Henry  Fuller, 
Hettie  W.Matthews,  Jennie  K.  Stanley,  Mrs.  S.  M.  Day;  1'ranklin*  none;  Grand  Isle*  Miss  I. 
Montgomery  ;  La  Moille*  Carrie  P.  Carroll,  Miss  C.  A.  Parker  ;  Orange*  Miss  F.  H.  Graves,  Miss  A. 
A.  Clement,  Miss  V.  L.  Farnham,  Miss  F.  Martin  ;  Orleans*  none  ;  Rutland,  Mrs.  I.  C.  Adams,  Miss 
H.  M.  Bromley,  Miss  M.  A.  Mills,  Lillian  Tarbell,  Mrs.  H.  M.  Crowley  ;  Washington*  none  ;  Wind- 
ham,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Powers,  Mrs.  J.  E.  Phelps ,  Windsor*  Mrs.  E.  G.  White,  Miss  C.  A.  Lamb,  Mrs.  H. 
F.  VanCor,  Clara  E.  Perkins,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Lovejoy,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Hall. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 
NEW    YORK— 1860-1885. 

Saratoga  Convention,  July  13,  14,  1869 — State  Society  Formed,  Martha  C.  Wright, 
President —  The  Revolution  Established,  1868 — Educational  Movement — New  York 
City  Society,  1870,  Charlotte  B.  Wilbour,  President — Presidential  Campaign,  1872 
— Hearings  at  Albany,  1873 — Constitutional  Commission — An  Effort  to  Open 
Columbia  College,  President  Barnard  in  Favor — Centennial  Celebration,  1876 — 
School  Officers — Senator  Emerson  of  Monroe,  1877 — Gov.  Robinson's  Veto — 
School  Suffrage,  1880— Gov.  Cornell  Recommended  it  in  his  Message — Stewart's 
Home  for  Working  Women — Women  as  Police — An  Act  to  Prohibit  Disfranchise- 
ment — Attorney-General  Russell's  Adverse  Opinion — The  Power  of  the  Legisla- 
ture to  Extend  Suffrage — Great  Demonstration  in  Chickering  Hall,  March  7,  1884 
— Hearing  at  Albany,  1885 — Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Mrs.  Rogers,  Mrs.  Howell, 
Gov.  Hoyt  of  Wyoming. 

THE  New  York  chapter  in  Volume  I.  closes  with  an  account 
of  some  retrogressive  legislation  on  the  rights  of  married  women,* 
showing  that  until  woman  herself  has  a  voice  in  legislation  her 
rights  may  be  conceded  or  withheld  at  the  option  of  the  ruling 
powers,  and  that  her  only  safety  is  in  direct  representation.  The 
chapter  on  "Trials  and  Decisions"  in  Volume  II.,  shows  the 
injustice  women  have  suffered  in  the  courts,  where  they  have 
never  yet  enjoyed  the  sacred  right  of  trial  by  a  jury  of  their  own 
peers. 

After  many  years  of  persistent  effort  for  the  adjustment  of 
special  grievances,  many  of  the  leaders,  seeing  by  what  an  uncer- 
tain tenure  their  civil  rights  were  maintained  by  the  legislative 
and  judicial  authorities,  ceased  to  look  to  the  State  for  redress, 
and  turned  to  the  general  government  for  protection  in  the  right 
of  suffrage,  the  fundamental  right  by  which  all  minor  privileges 
and  immunities  are  protected.  Hence  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  National  Association,  which  had  been  regularly  held  in  New 
York  as  one  of  the  May  anniversaries,  was,  from  1869,  supple- 
mented by  a  semi-annual  convention  in  Washington  for  special 
influence  upon  congress. 


*  It  has  recently  been  ascertained  that  the  first  woman's  rights  petition  sent  to  the  New  York  State 
legislature  was  by  Miss  Mary  Ayers,  in  1834,  for  a  change  in  the  property  laws.  It  wa»  ten  or  fifteen 
feet  long  when  unrolled,  and  is  still  burled  in  the  vaults  of  the  capitol  at  Albany. 


His  tor  v  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


Until  the  war  the  work  in  New  York  was  conducted  by  a  cen- 
tral committee ;  but  in  the  summer  of  1869,  the  following  call 
was  issued  for  a  convention  at  Saratoga  Springs,  to  organize  a 
State  Society: 

The  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  will  hold  a  State  convention  at 
Saratoga  Springs  on  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  of  July,  1869.  The 
specific  business  of  this  convention  will  be  to  effect  a  permanent 
organization  for  the  State  of  New  York.  Our  friends  in  the  several 
congressional  districts  should  at  once  elect  their  delegates,  in  order 
that  the  whole  State  may  be  represented  in  the  convention.  In  dis- 
tricts where  delegates  cannot  be  elected,  any  person  can  constitute  him- 
self or  herself  a  representative.  The  convention  will  be  attended  by  the 
ablest  advocates  of  suffrage  for  woman,  and  addresses  may  be  expected 
from  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  president  of  the  National  Association,  Celia 
Burleigh,  president  of  the  Brooklyn  Equal  Rights  Association,  Matilda 
Joslyn  Gage,  advisory  counsel  for  the  State,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  of  The 
Revolution,  Charlotte  B.  Wilbour  of  New  York  city,  and  others.  Every 
woman  interested  for  her  personal  freedom  should  attend  this  convention, 
and  by  her  presence,  influence  and  money,  aid  the  movement  for  the 
restoration  of  the  rights  of  her  sex. 

Mrs.  ELIZABETH  B.  PHELPS,  Vice-President  for  the  State  of  New  York, 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Advisory  Counsel. 

The  opening  session  of  the  convention  was  held  in  the  spacious 
parlors  of  Congress  Hall  the  audience  composed  chiefly  of 
fashionable  ladies*  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  who  listened 
with  evident  interest  and  purchased  the  tracts  intended  for  dis- 
tribution. The  remaining  sessions  were  held  in  Hawthorn  Hall, 
Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  presiding.  A  series  of  spirited  resolutions 
was  adopted,  also  a  plan  of  organization  presented  by  Charlotte 
B.  Wilbour,  for  a  State  association. f  Many  able  speakers  \  were 
present.  The  formation  of  this  society  was  the  result  of  a  very 


*  Many  years  afterwards,  lecturing  in  Texas,  I  met  a  party  of  ladies  from  Georgia,  thoroughly  awake 
on  all  questions  relating  to  women.  Finding  ourselves  quite  in  accord,  I  said,  "  how  did  you  get  those 
ideas  in  Georgia  ?''  "  Why,  '  said  one,  "  some  of  our  friends  attended  a  woman's  convention  at  Sara- 
toga, and  told  us  what  was  said  there,  and  gave  us  several  tracts  on  all  phases  of  the  question,  which 
were  the  chief  topics  of  discussion  among  us  long  after."  Southern  women  have  suffered  so  many  evils 
growing  out  of  the  system  of  slavery  that  they  readily  learn  the  lessons  of  freedom.  —  [E.  C.  S. 

t  The  following  were  elected  officers  of  the  association.     President,  Martha  C.  Wright,  Auburn. 
Vice-1 
lane 


________  i  _____  ^    ___    __    ______  t    _  ____  (  _____  3    ____  ^   ___________  ^  ______  ^_   ^     ____  „„„„,    _________  ., 

Bridge  ;  Ida  Greeley,  Chappaqua;  Mary  Hunt,  Waterloo.  Secretary,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Fayette- 
ville.  Executive  Committee^  Lucy  A.  Brand,  Emeline  A.  Morgan,  Mrs.  H.  Stewart,  Samuel  J.  May. 
Rhoda  Price,  all  of  Syracuse.  Advisory  Counsel,  for  First  Judicial  District,  Susan  B.  Anthony 
New  York  ;  Second,  Sarah  Schram,  Newhurgh  ;  Third,  Sarah  H.  Hallock,  Milton  ;  Fourth,  Caroline 
Mowry  Holmes,  Greenwich  ;  Fifth,  Ann  T.  Randall,  O.>«rego  ;  Sixth,  Mrs.  Professor  Sprague,  Ithaca  , 
Seventh,  Harriet  N.  Austin,  Dansville  ;  Eighth,  Helen  P.  Jenkins,  Buffalo. 

J  The  speakers  were  Celia  Burleigh,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Charlotte  B.  Wilbour,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage, 
Mrs.  Bedortha,  of  Saratoga,  Mrs.  Strowbridge,  of  Cortland,  Mrs.  Norton,  J.  N.  Holmes,  esq.,  Judge 
McKean,  Rev.  Mr.  Angier,  Hon.  Wm.  Hay.  See  Vol.  II.,  page  402,  for  Mrs.  Burleigh's  letter  on  this 
Saratoga  convention. 


Questions  Raised.  397 

general   agitation    in   different  localities  on    several  vital    ques- 
tions in  the  preceding  year: 

First — On  taxation.  Women  being  large  property  holders,  had 
felt  the  pressure  during  the  war,  especially  of  the  tax  on  incomes, 
and  had  resolved  on  resistance.  Accordingly,  large  meetings* 
were  tailed  at  various  points,  in  1868.  While  women  of  wealth 
were  organizing  to  resist  taxation,  the  working  women  f  were 
uniting  to  defend  their  earnings,  and  secure  better  wages.  It 
seemed  for  a  few  months  as  if  they  were  in  a  chronic  condition  of 
rebellion.  But  after  many  vain  struggles  for  redress  in  the  iron 
teeth  of  the  law,  and  equally  vain  appeals  to  have  unjust  laws 
amended,  the  women  learned  the  hopelessness  of  all  efforts  made 
by  disfranchised  classes. 

Second — On  prostitution.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  government,  a  bill  was  presented  in  the  New  York  legisla- 
ture, in  1868,  proposing  to  license  prostitution.  This  showed  the 
degradation  of  woman's  position  as  no  other  act  of  legislation 
could  have  done,  and  although  the  editors  of  The  Revolution  were 
the  only  women  who  publicly  opposed  the  bill  (which  they  did 
both  before  the  committee  of  the  legislature,  and  in  their  journal), 
yet  there  was  in  the  minds  of  many,  a  deep  undercurrent  of  resist- 
ance to  the  odious  provisions  of  that  bill.  Horace  Greeley,  too, 
in  his  editorials  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  denounced  the  propo- 
sition in  such  unmeasured  terms  that,  although  pressed  at  three 
different  legislative  sessions,  no  member  of  the  committee  could 
be  found  with  sufficient  moral  hardihood  to  present  the  bill. 

In  connection  with  this  question,  the  necessity  of  "  women  as 
police,"  was  for  some  time  a  topic  of  discussion.  They  had 

*  The  Board  of  Trustees  of  Mt.  Vernon,  Westchester  county,  called  a  meeting  of  taxpayers  of  that 
village  on  July  19,  1868,  to  vote  upon  the  question  of  levying  a  tax  of  $6,000  for  the  purpose  of  making 

of  the  real-estate  owners  being  women,  they  resolved  upon  asserting  their  right  to  a  voice  in  the  matter, 
and  issued  a  call  for  a  meeting,  signed  by  the  following  influential  ladies:  Mr-.  M.  J.  l..i«  ,  Mr-.  H.  H. 
Leaver,  Mrs.  Olive  Leaver,  Mrs.  J.  Haggcrty,  Mary  H.  Macdonald,  Mrs.  Dorothy  Ferguson,  Mi>.  M. 
J.  L'arrand,  Mrs.  Jcanctte  Oron,  Mrs.  Tnirza  Clark,  Mrs.  S.  J.  Clark,  Mrs.  Nettie  Morgan,  Mrs.  D. 
Downs,  Miss  L.  M.  Hale,  Miss  Susie  Law,  Mrs.  Cclia  Pratt.  Mrs.  Sabra  Talcott,  Mrs.  Mary  Wilkic, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Latham,  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Brown,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Lockwood,  Mrs.  May  Howe,  Mrs.  Aduline 
Bjylis,  Mrs.  J.  Harper,  Miss  Elizabeth  Eaton,  Miss  C.  Fredcriska  Scharft,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Hathaway, 
Mrs.  Margaret  Hick,  Mrs.  Rebecca  Dimmic,  Mrs.  Catharine  Alphonse,  Miss  Julia  Cheney,  Mrs.  E. 
Watkins,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Pease,  Mrs.  Margaret  Coles,  Mrs.  Rulh  Smith,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Douglas,  Mrs. 
Sarah  Valentine,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Jones,  Mrs.  J.  Tomlinson,  Mrs.  Amanda  Carr,  Mrs.  Margaret  Wooley, 
Mrs.  S.  Seeber,  Mrs.  B.  Powers,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Waterhouse,  Mrs.  H.  M.  Smith.  But  notwithstanding  the 
numbers,  wealth,  and  social  influence  of  the  women,  their  demand  was  rejected,  while  hundreds  of 
men,  who  had  never  paid  a  dollar's  tax  into  the  village  treasury,  were  permitted  to  deposit  their  votes, 
though  challenged  by  friends,  and  well  known  to  the  officers  as  not  possessors  of  a  foot  of  real  estate. 

t  The  Working  Women's  Association  was  organized  in  New  York,  September  17,  1868.  with  Mm. 
Anna  Tobitt,  President ;  Miss  Augusta  Lewis,  Miss  Susan  Johns,  Miss  Mary  Peers.  /  'iif-t'rftiJrmtt  ; 
Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Browne,  Secretary,  and  Miss  Julia  Browne,  Treasurtr.  The  three  vice-president* 
were  young  ladies  of  about  twenty.  Miss  Lewis  worked  upon  a  newly  invented  type-setting  machine. 


398  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

proved  so  efficient  in  many  cases,  that  it  was  seriously  proposed 
to  have  a  standing  force  in  New  York  and  'Brooklyn,  to  look 
after  young  girls,*  new  to  the  temptations  and  dangers  of  city 
life.  In  The  Revolution  of  March  26,  1868,  we  find  the  following: 
It  is  often  asked,  would  you  make  women  police  officers  ?  It  has  already 
been  done.  At  least  a  society  of  women  exists  in  this  country,  for  the 
discovery  of  crimes,  conspiracies  and  such  things.  The  chief  of  this 
band  was  Mrs.  Kate  Warn,  a  native  of  this  State,  who  lately  died  in  Chica- 
go. She  was  engaged  in  this  business,  fifteen  years  ago,  by  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton,  of  the  National  Police  Agency.  She  did  good  service  for  many  years 
in  watching,  waylaying,  exploring  and  detecting ;  especially  on  the  critical 
occasion  of  President  Lincoln's  journey  to  Washington  in  1861.  In  1865 
she  was  sent  to  New  Orleans,  as  head  of  the  Female  Police  Department 
there. 

There  was  a  general  movement  in  these  years  for  the  more 
liberal  education  of  women  in  various  departments  of  art  and  in- 
dustry, as  well  as  in  letters.  First  on  the  list  stands  Vassar  College, 
founded  in  1861,  richly  endowed  with  fine  grounds  and  spacious 
buildings.  We  cannot  estimate  the  civilizing  influence  of  the 
thousands  of  young  women  graduating  at  that  institution,  now,  as 
cultivated  wives  and  mothers,  presiding  in  households  all  over  this 
land.  Cornell  University  f  was  opened  to  girls  in  1872,  more 
richly  endowed  than  Vassar,  and  in  every  way  superior  in  its  en- 
vironments ;  beautifully  situated  on  the  banks  of  Cayuga  Lake, 
with  the  added  advantage  and  stimulus  of  the  system  of  coedu- 
cation. To  Andrew  D.  White,  its  president,  all  women  owe  a 


*  "  Sergeant  Robinson,  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Precinct,  made  a  raid  on  the  abandoned  women  patrol- 
ing  the  park  last  evening.  At  n  p.  m.  six  unfortunates  were  caged."  Thus  runs  the  record.  Will 
some  one  now  be  kind  enough  to  tell  us  whether  Sergeant  Robinson,  or  any  other  sergeant,  made  a  raid 
upon  the  abandoned  men  who  were -patrolling  Broadway  at  the  same  hour?  Did  anyone  on  that 
night,  or,  indeed,  upon  any  other  night,  within  the  memory  of  the  oldest  Knickerbocker,  make  a  raid 
upon  the  gamblers,  thieves,  drunkards  and  panders  that  infest  Houston  street?  By  what  authority 
do  the  police  call  women  "  abandoned  "  and  arrest  them  because  they  are  patrolling  any  public  park  or 
square  ?  If  these  women  belonged  to  the  class  euphemistically  called  "  unfortunate,"  they  were  doubt- 
less there  because  men  were  already  there  before  them.  And  if  it  was  illegal  in  women  and  deserving 
of  punishment,  why  should  men  escape  ?  Prima  facie,  if  crime  were  committed,  the  latter  are  the 
greater  criminals  of  the  two.  We  humbly  suggest  to  all  who  are  endeavoring  to  reform  this  class  of 
women,  that  they  turn  their  attention  to  reforming  the  opposite  sex.  If  you  can  make  men  so  pure 
that  they  will  not  seek  the  society  of  prostitutes,  you  will  soon  have  no  prostitutes  for  them  to  seek  ;  in 
other  words,  prostitution  will  cease  when  men  become  sufficiently  pure  to  make  no  demand  for  prosti- 
tutes. In  any  event,  the  police  should  treat  both  sexes  alike.  Making  a  raid,  as  it  is  called,  upon 
abandoned  women,  and  shutting  them  up  m  prison,  never  can  procure  good  results.  The  most  repuls- 
ive and  bestial  features  of  "  the  social  evil  "  have  their  origin  in  the  treatment  that  women  receive  at 
the  hands  of  the  police  ;  and  society  itself  would  be  much  better  if  the  police  would  keep  their  hands 
off  such  women. — [P.  P.  in  The  Revolution. 

t  An  important  decision  relating  to  the  eligibility  of  candidates  for  the  Cornell  free  scholarship  has 
been  rendered  by  Judge  Martin  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Mary  E.  Wright,  who  stood  third  in  the  re- 
cent examination  here  for  the  scholarship,  contested  the  appointment  on  the  ground  that  the  candidates 
who  were  first  and  second  in  the  examination  were  not  pupils  of  a  school  in  the  county.  The  judge 
decided  that  candidates  for  the  position  must  be  residents  of  the  county  and  pupils  of  a  school  therein, 
to  be  eligible,  and  he  awarded  the  scholarship  to  Miss  Wright.  This  is  the  first  contested  scholarship 
since  the  establishment  of  the  University. — Ithaca  dispatch  to  New  York  Times. 


Educational  Opportunities.  399 

debt  of  gratitude  for  his  able  and  persevering  advocacy  of  the 
benefits  to  both  sexes,  of  coeducation.  The  university  at  Syra- 
cuse, in  which  Lima  College  was  incorporated,  is  also  open  alike 
to  boys  and  girls.  Rochester  University,*  Brown,  Columbia, 
Union,  Hamilton,  and  Hobart  College  at  Geneva,  still  keep  their 
doors  barred  against  the  daughters  of  the  State,  and  the  three 
last,  in  the  small  number  of  their  students,  and  their  gradual  de- 
cline, show  the  need  of  the  very  influence  they  exclude.  Could 
all  the  girls  desiring  an  education  in  and  around  Rochester,  Gen- 
eva^ Clinton  and  Schenectady,  enter  these  institutions,  the  added 
funds  and  enthusiasm  they  would  thus  receive  would  soon  bring 
them  renewed  life  and  vigor. 

Peter  Cooper  and  Catharine  Beecher's  efforts  for  the  working 
classes  of  women  were  equally  praiseworthy.  Miss  Beecher 
formed  "The  American  Woman's  Educational  Association,"  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  schools  all  over  the  country  for  train, 
ing  girls  in  the  rudiments  of  learning  and  practical  work.  The 
Cooper  Institute,  founded  in  1854,  by  Peter  Cooper,  has  been 
invaluable  in  its  benefits  to  the  poorer  classes  of  girls,  in  giving 
them  advantages  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  evening  as  well  as 
day  classes.  Here  both  boys  and  girls  have  free  admission  into 
all  departments,  including  its  valuable  reading-room  and  library. 
It  had  long  been  a  cherished  desire  of  Mr.  Cooper  to  found  an 
institution  to  be  devoted  forever  to  the  union  of  art  and  science 
in  their  application  to  the  useful  purposes  of  life.  The  School 
of  Design  is  specially  for  women. 

The  Ladies  Art  Association  of  New  York  was  founded  in  1867, 
now  numbering  over  one  hundred  members.  One  of  the  most 
important  things  accomplished  by  this  society  has  been  the 
preparation  of  thoroughly  educated  teachers,  many  of  whom  are 
now  filling  positions  in  Southern  and  Western  colleges. 

NEW  YORK,  June  3,  1869. 

EDITORS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  :  Inclosed  please  find  the  report  of  a 
meeting  of  New  York  ladies  to  consider  the  important  subject  of  woman's 
education.  The  within  slip  will  show  that  this  is  a  movement  quite  as 

*  Dr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  who  died  in  1882,  famed  in  both  hemisphere*  as  an  ethnologist,  left  a  con- 
siderable estate  to  be  devoted  at  the  death  of  his  wife  (which  has  since  occurred)  and  of  his  son  with- 
out issue,  to  the  establishment,  in  connection  with  the  University  of  Rochester,  of  a  collegiate 
institution  for  women.  This  makes  it  very  probable  that  Rochester  will  ultimately  offer  equal  oppor- 
tunities to  both  sexes. 

t  At  one  time  it  was  said  that  Hobart  College  had  mora  professor*  than  students,  and  one  year  had 
arrived  at  such  a  point  of  exhaustion  as  to  graduate  but  one  Xoung  man.  When  the  proposition  to  in- 
corporate Geneva  Medical  College  with  the  Syracuse  University  was  made,  Hon.  George  F.  Comslock. 
a  trustee  of  the  latter  institution,  vigorously  opposed  it  unless  equal  advantages  were  pledged  to  women. 


400  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

earnest  and  pronounced  as  the  woman  suffrage  agitation  of  the  day,  and 
more  in  consonance  with  prevailing  public  opinion.  We  trust  that  you 
will  aid  the  effort  by  inserting  the  report  and  resolutions  into  your  col- 
umns, and  add  at  least  a  brief  editorial  notice. 

Very  respectfully,  MRS.  MARSHALL  O.  ROBERTS. 

IMPORTANT  MEETING  OF  NEW  YORK  LADIES. — WOMAN'S  EDUCATION. 
— On  Monday,  the  31  st  of  May,  a  large  number  of  influential  ladies  gath- 
ered at  Dr.  Taylor's,  corner  Sixth  avenue  and  Thirty-eighth  street,  in  re- 
sponse to  the  call  of  the  secretary  of  The  American  Woman's  Educational 
Association.  A  meeting  was  organized,  Mrs.  Marshall  O.  Roberts  presid- 
ing, and  after  a  long  and  interesting  discussion  the  following  resolutions 
were  unanimously  passed.  It  is  proper  to  state  that  the  society  has  been 
an  organized  and  efficient  power  in  woman's  education  for  over  twenty 
years.  The  object  of  its  present  action  is  to  forward  a  movement  to  se- 
cure endowed  institutions  for  the  training  of  women  to  their  special  du- 
ties and  professions  as  men  are  trained  for  theirs,  particularly  the  science 
and  duties  of  home-life  : 

Resolved,  That  one  cause  of  the  depressed  condition  of  woman  is  the  fact  that  the 
distinctive  profession  of  her  sex,  as  the  nurse  of  infancy  and  of  the  sick,  as  educator  of 
childhood,  and  as  the  chief  minister  of  the  family  state,  has  not  been  duly  honored, 
nor  such  provision  been  made  for  its  scientific  and  practical  training  as  is  accorded  to 
the  other  sex  for  their  professions;  and  that  it  is  owing  to  this  neglect  that  women  are 
driven  to  seek  honor  and  independence  in  the  institutions  and  the  professions  of  men. 

Resolved,  That  the  science  of  domestic  economy,  in  its  various  branches,  involves 
more  important  interests  than  any  other  human  science;  and  that  the  evils  suffered  by 
women  would  be  extensively  remedied  by  establishing  institutions  for  training  woman 
for  her  profession,  which  shall  be  as  generously  endowed  as  are  the  institutions  of 
men,  many  of  which  have  been  largely  endowed  by  women. 

Resolved,  That  the  science  of  domestic  economy  should  be  made  a  study  in  all  insti- 
tutions for  girls;  and  that  certain  practical  employments  of  the  family  state  should  be 
made  a  part  of  common  school  education,  especially  the  art  of  sewing,  which  is  so 
needful  for  the  poor;  and  that  we  will  use  our  influence  to  secure  these  important 
measures. 

Resolved,  That  every  young  woman  should  be  trained  to  some  business  by  which 
she  can  earn  an  independent  livelihood  in  case  of  poverty. 

Resolved,  That  in  addition  to  the  various  in-door  employments  suitable  for  woman, 
there  are  other  out-door  employments  especially  favorable  to  health  and  equally  suita- 
ble, such  as  raising  fruits  and  flowers,  the  culture  of  silk  and  cotton,  the  raising  of 
bees  and  the  superintendence  of  dairy  farms  and  manufactures.  All  of  these  offer 
avenues  to  wealth  and  independence  for  women  as  properly  as  men,  and  schools  for 
imparting  to  women  the  science  and  practice  of  these  employments  should  be  provided 
and  as  liberally  endowed  as  are  the  agricultural  schools  for  men. 

Resolved,  That  the  American  "Woman's  Educational  Association  is  an  organiza- 
tion which  aims  to  secure  to  women  these  advantages,  that  its  managers  have  our  confi- 
dence, and  that  we  will  cooperate  in  its  plans  as  far  as  we  have  opportunity. 

Resolved,  That  the  Protestant  clergy  would  greatly  aid  in  these  efforts  by  preaching 
on  the  honor  and  duties  of  the  family  state.  In  order  to  this,  we  request  their  atten- 
tion to  a  work  just  published  by  Miss  Beecher  and  Mrs.  Stowe,  entitled  "  The  Ameri- 
can Woman's  Home,"  which  largely  discusses  many  important  topics  of  this  general 
subject,  while  the  authors  have  devoted  most  of  their  profits  from  this  work  to  pro- 
mote the  plans  of  the  American  Woman's  Educational  Association. 


Lucy  B.  Hobbs,  D.  D.  S.  401 

Resolved,  That  editors  of  the  religious  and  secular  press  will  contribute  impor- 
tant aid  to  an  effort  they  must  all  approve  by  inserting  these  resolutions  in  their  col- 
umns. 

Among  the  influences  that  brought  new  thought  to  the  question 
of  woman  suffrage  was  the  establishment  of  The  Revolution  in 
1868.  Radical  and  defiant  in  tone,  it  awoke  friends  and  foes 
alike  to  action.  Some  denounced  it,  some  ridiculed  it,  but  all 
read  it.  It  needed  just  such  clarion  notes  sounded  forth  long 
and  loud  each  week  to  rouse  the  friends  of  the  movement  from 
the  apathy  into  which  they  had  fallen  after  the  war.  One  cannot 
read  its  glowing  pages  to-day  without  appreciating  the  power  it 
was  just  at  that  crisis.* 

Miss  Lucy  B.  Hobbs  of  New  York  was  the  first  woman  that 
ever  graduated  in  the  profession  of  dentistry.  She  matriculated 
in  the  Cincinnati  Dental  College  in  the  fall  of  1864 — passing 
through  a  full  course  of  study,  missing  but  two  lectures,  and 
those  at  the  request  of  the  professor  of  anatomy.  She  graduated 
from  that  institution  in  February,  1866.  A  letter  from  the  dean 
of  the  college  testifies  to  her  worth  as  follows : 

She  was  a  woman  of  great  energy  and  perseverance.  Studious  in  her 
habits,  modest  and  unassuming,  she  had  the  respect  and  kind  regard  of 
every  member  of  the  class  and  faculty.  As  an  operator  she  was  not  sur- 
passed by  her  associates.  Her  opinion  was  asked  and  her  assistance 
sought  in  difficult  cases  almost  daily  by  her  fellow-students.  And  though 
the  class  of  which  she  was  a  member  was  one  of  the  largest  ever  in  at- 
tendance, it  excelled  all  previous  ones  in  good  order  and  decorum — a  con- 
dition largely  due  to  the  presence  of  a  lady.  In  the  final  examination  she 
was  second  to  none. 

Having  received  her  diploma,  she  opened  an  office  in  Iowa  ; 
from  thence  she  removed  to  Chicago,  and  practiced  successfully. 
The  following  letter  from  Mrs.  Taylor  (formerly  Miss  Hobbs) 
gives  further  interesting  details.  Writing  to  Matilda  Joslyn 
Gage,  she  says: 

I  am  grateful  to  you  for  giving  me  the  opportunity  to  place  in  history 
the  fact  of  my  study  of  dentistry.  I  was  born  in  Franklin  county.  N«-\v 
York,  in  1833.  You  ask  my  reason  for  entering  the  profession.  It  \\.is 
to  be  independent.  I  first  studied  medicine,  but  did  not  like  the  practice. 
My  preceptor,  Professor  Cleveland,  advised  me  to  try  dentistry,  and  I 
commenced  with  Dr.  Samuel  Warde  of  Cincinnati,  finishing  my  studies  in 
March,  1861.  At  that  time  the  faculty  of  the  Ohio  Dental  College  would 
not  permit  me  to  attend,  and  there  was  not  a  college  in  the  United  States 
that  would  admit  me,  and  no  amount  of  persuasion  could  change  their 

*  Sec  Volume  II.,  page  264. 
26 


402  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

minds.     So  far  as  I  know,  I  was  the  first  woman  who  had  ever  taken  in- 
struction of  a  private  tutor. 

I  went  to  Iowa  to  commence  practice,  and  was  so  successful  that  the 
dentists  of  the  State  insisted  I  should  be  allowed  to  attend  the  college. 
Their  efforts  prevailed,  and  I  graduated  from  the  Ohio  Dental  College  at 
Cincinnati  in  the  spring  of  1866 — the  first  woman  in  the  world  to  take  a 
diploma  from  a  dental  college.  I  am  a  New-Yorker  by  birth,  but  I  love 
my  adopted  country — the  West.  To  it  belongs  the  credit  of  making  it 
possible  for  women  to  be  recognized  in  the  dental  profession  on  equal 
terms  with  men.  Should  you  wish  any  further  proof,  write  to  Dr.  Watt, 
who  was  professor  of  chemistry  at  the  time  I  graduated,  and  I  know  he 
will  take  pleasure  in  giving  you  any  additional  information. 

As  early  as  1866  a  system  of  safe-deposit  companies  was  inau- 
gurated in  New  York,  which  has  proved  a  boon  to  women, 
enabling  them  to  keep  any  private  papers  they  may  wish  to  pre- 
serve. In  1880,  we  find  the  following  in  the  National  Citizen: 

A  ladies'  exchange  for  railroad  and  mining  stocks  has  been  started  at 
71  Broadway,  New  York.  The  rooms  are  provided  with  an  indicator, 
desks  and  such  other  conveniences  as  are  required  for  business.  Mes- 
senger boys  drop  in  and  out,  and  a  telephone  connects  with  the  office  of 
a  prominent  Wall-street  brokerage  firm.  Miss  Mary  E.  Gage,  daughter  of 
Frances  Dana  Gage,  is  the  manager  and  proprietor  of  the  business.  In 
reply  to  the  inquiries  of  a  Graphic  reporter,  Miss  Gage  said  she  had  found 
so  much  inconvenience  and  annoyance  in  transacting  her  own  operations 
in  stocks  that  she  concluded  to  establish  an  office.  After  Miss  Gage  was 
fairly  settled,  other  women  who  labored  under  the  same  disadvantages, 
began  to  drop  in,  their  number  increasing  daily.  A  ladies'  stock  exchange 
also  exists  at  No.  40  Fourth  street,  under  charge  of  Mrs.  Favor.  The 
banking  houses  of  Henry  Clews  and  the  wealthy  Russell  Sage  are  said  to 
be  working  in  union  with  this  exchange.  In  January  we  chronicled  the 
formation  of  a  woman's  mining  company  and  this  month  of  a  woman's 
stock  exchange,  each  of  them  an  evidence  of  the  wide  range  of  business 
women  are  entering. 

In  The  Revolution  of  May  14,  1868,  we  find  the  following: 
SOROSIS. — This  is  the  name  of  a  new  club  of  literary  women,  who  meet 
once  a  month  and  lunch  at  Delmonico's,  to  discuss  questions  of  art,  sci- 
ence, literature  and  government.  Alice  Carey,  who  is  president,  in  her 
opening  speech  states  the  object  of  the  club,  which  is  summed  up  in  this 
brief  extract : 

We  have  proposed  the  inculcation  of  deeper  and  broader  ideas  among  women,  pro- 
posed to  teach  them  to  think  for  themselves  and  get  their  opinions  at  first  hand,  not  so 
much  because  it  is  their  right  as  because  it  is  their  duty.  We  have  also  proposed  to 
open  new  avenues  of  employment  to  women — to  make  them  less  dependent  and  less 
burdensome — to  lift  them  out  of  unwomanly  self-distrust  and  disqualifying  diffidence 
into  womanly  self-respect  and  self-knowledge.  To  teach  them  to  make  all  work  honor- 
able, by  each  doing  the  share  that  falls  to  her,  or  that  she  may  work  out  to  herself 
agreeably  to  her  own  special  aptitude,  cheerfully  and  faithfully — not  going  down  to  it, 
but  bringing  it  up  to  her.  We  have  proposed  to  enter  our  protest  against  all  idle 


Miss    Middie   Morgan.  403 

gossip,  against  all  demoralizing  and  wicked  waste  of  time,  also,  against  the  follies  and 
the  tyrannies  of  fashion,  against  all  external  impositions  and  disabilities;  in  short, 
against  each  and  every  thing  that  opposes  the  full  development  and  use  of  the  faculties 
conferred  upon  us  by  our  Creator. 

We  most  heartily  welcome  all  movements  for  the  cultivation  of  indi- 
vidual thought  and  character  in  woman,  and  would  recommend  the  forma- 
tion of  such  clubs  throughout  the  country.  The  editors  of  the  New  York 
press  have  made  known  their  dissatisfaction  that  no  gentlemen  were  to 
be  admitted  into  this  charmed  circle.  After  a  calm  and  dispassionate  dis- 
cussion of  this  question,  it  was  decided  to  exclude  gentlemen,  not  because 
their  society  was  not  most  desirable  and  calculated  to  add  brilliancy  to  the 
•club,  but  from  a  fear  lest  the  natural  reverence  of  woman  for  man  might 
•embarrass  her  in  beginning  to  reason  and  discuss ;  lest  she  should  be 
awed  to  silence  by  their  superior  presence.  It  was  not  because  they  love 
man  less,  but  their  own  improvement  more.  For  the  comfort  of  these 
ostracised  ones,  we  would  suggest  a  hope  for  the  future.  After  these 
ladies  become  familiar  with  parliamentary  tactics,  and  the  grave  questions 
that  are  to  come  before  them  for  consideration,  it  is  proposed  to  admit 
gentlemen  to  the  galleries,  that  they  may  enjoy  the  same  privileges  vouch- 
safed to  the  fair  sex  in  the  past,  to  look  down  upon  the  feast,  to  listen  to 
the  speeches,  and  to  hear  "the  pale,  thoughtful  brow,"  -'the  silken  mous- 
tache," "the  flowing  locks,"  "the  manly  gait  and  form  "  toasted  in  prose 
and  verse. 

This  club  has  met  regularly  ever  since  the  day  of  its  inaugura- 
tion, and  has  been  remarkable  for  the  harmony  maintained  by  its 
members.  Mrs.  Charlotte  Wilbour  was  president  for  several  years, 
until  she  went  to  reside  in  Paris,  in  1874.  Since  that  time  Mrs. 
Croly  has  been,  from  year  to  year,  elected  to  that  office.  Begin- 
ning with  12  members,*  this  club  now  numbers  320. 

The  most  respected  live-stock  reporter  in  New  York  is  a  woman, 
Miss  Middie  Morgan,  pronounced  the  best  judge  of  horned  cattle 
in  this  country.  She  can  tell  the  weight  of  a  beef  on  foot  at  a 
glance,  and  reports  the  cattle  market  for  the  New  York  Times. 
A  correspondent  says : 

Her  father  was  a  cattle-dealer,  and  taught  her  to  handle  fearlessly  the 
animals  he  delighted  in.  She  learned  to  tell  at  a  glance  the  finest  points 
of  live-stock,  and  to  doctor  bovine  and  equine  ailments  with  the  utmost 
skill.  With  all  this,  she  became  a  proficient  in  Italian  and  French,  and  a 
terse  and  rapid  writer.  A  few  years  ago,  after  her  father's  death,  she 
( i  a\  cled  in  Italy  with  an  invalid  sister,  having  an  eye  to  her  pet  passion— the 
lioisc.  While  there  she  met  Prince  Poniatmvskv.  also  an  ardent  adiniu-r 
of  that  animal.  He  mentioned  her  zoological  accomplishments  to  Victor 
Kinamicl,  and  the  consequence  was  Miss  Middie  was  deputed  by  His 

*The  twelve  were:  Mrs.  H.  M.  Field,  Mrs.  Anna  Lynch  I:  :  ..  -I.  K  M  1  icld.  Mr..  Ann*  B. 
Allen,  Miss  Josephine  Pollard,  Mrs.  ( Cli.i  ilnrleigh,  Mrs.  Fanny  Barrow,  Mr».  C.  B.  Wilbour,  Mr».  J. 
C.  Croly,  Miss  Ella  Dietz,  Alice  and  I'hebc  Cary. 


404  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Majesty  to  purchase  a  hundred  or  so  of  fine  horses.  She  had  charge  of 
the  blood-horses  of  King  Victor  Emanuel,  who  owns  the  finest  stud  in 
Europe,  and  breeds  horses  of  a  superior  shape,  vigor  and  fire.  He  beats 
Grant  in  his  admiration  for  that  noble  animal.  When  she  decided  to  come 
to  this  country,  she  made  known  the  fact  to  Hon.  George  P.  Marsh,  our 
minister  to  Italy;  and  he  gave  her  a  letter  of  recommendation  to  Mr. 
Bigelow,  of  the  Times,  who  employed  her.  She  is  an  expert  among  all 
kinds  of  animals.  Her  judgment  about  the  different  breeds  is  sought 
after  and  much  quoted.  She  can  discuss  the  nice  points  about  cattle  as 
easily  as  Rosa  Bonheur  can  paint  them.* 

From  the  Woman's  Journal,  Oct.  i,  1870: 

Miss  Barkaloo,  the  lady  just  admitted  to  the  St.  Louis  bar  as  a  lawyer, 
and  who  has  received  a  license  to  practice  as  attorney-at-law  from  the 
Supreme  Court  of  that  State,  is  a  native  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  is  a 
woman  of  more  than  ordinary  ability.  Two  years  ago,  after  having  read 
Blackstone  and  other  elementary  law-books,  she  made  application  for  ad- 
mission as  a  student  at  Columbia  College,  New  York,  and  was  promptly 
refused.  Nothing  daunted,  she  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  she  was  admit- 
ted to  the  Law  School.  For  eighteen  months  she  assiduously  devoted 
her  energies  to  the  study  of  the  science,  and  her  fellow-students  all  agreed 
in  declaring  her  by  far  the  brightest  member  of  the  class.  That  there 
was  no  question  of  her  ability  was  clearly  shown  at  her  examination. 
Judge  Knight,  although  overflowing  with  gallantry,  gave  the  lady  no 
quarter.  The  most  abstruse  and  erudite  questions  were  propounded  to 
the  applicant,  but  not  once  did  the  judge  catch  the  fair  student  tripping. 
Miss  Barkaloo  was  about  22  years  of  age,  of  a  fine  figure,  intelligent 
face  and  large,  expressive  eyes.  The  St.  Louis  papers  of  last  week 
reported  her  sudden  death  of  typhoid  fever.  According  to  custom, 
a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  St.  Louis  bar  was  held  to  take 
suitable  action  and  pay  respect  to  her  memory.  It  was  the  first 
meeting  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States,  and  was  largely  attended,  not 
only  by  the  young  members  of  the  bar,  but  by  the  most  distinguished  at- 
torneys. Miss  Phoebe  Couzins,  herself  a  member  of  the  Law  School,  was 
in  attendance,  attired  in  deep  mourning  for  the  recent  death  of  a  beloved 
sister.  The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Miss  Helena  Barkaloo  we  deplore  the  loss  of  the 
first  of  her  sex  ever  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Missouri. 

Resolved,  That  in  her  erudition,  industry  and  enterprise  we  have  to  regret  the  loss 
of  one  who,  in  the  morning  of  her  career,  bade  fair  to  reflect  credit  on  our  profession, 
and  a  new  honor  upon  her  sex. 

Resolved,  That  our  sympathy  and  condolence  be  extended  to  the  relatives  of  the  de- 
ceased. 

Major  Lucien  Eaton,  into  whose  office  she  had  entered  to  seek  oppor- 
tunities of  perfecting  herself  in  the  knowledge  of  her  profession,  said 
that— 

He  had  been  requested  by  an  accomplished  lady  of  St.  Louis  to  afford  her  that  op- 
pogumity,  and  at  first  had  hesitated  to  do  so  ;  yet  he  felt  that  she  should  have  a  trial, 


*  She  now  reports  the  cattle-market  for  four  New  York  papers  including  the  Tribune  and  Tintei. 


The  New    York   City  Society.  405 

and  when  he  took  her  into  his  office  his  conduct  met  with  the  approbation  of  the  legal 
fraternity  generally.  That  fraternity  cordially  sympathized  with  the  efforts  she  was 
making,  and  both  old  lawyers  and  young  ones  tried  to  put  business  into  her  hands, 
the  taking  of  depositions  and  other  such  work  as  she  could  perform.  He  testified  to 
finding  her  a  true  woman  ;  modest  and  retiring,  carefully  shunning  all  unnecessary 
publicity,  and  avoiding  all  display.  She  was  earnest  in  her  studies,  and  being 
gifted  witfi  a  fine  intellect  and  a  good  judgment,  gave  promise  of  great  at- 
tainments. He  had  never  known  a  student  more  assiduous  in  study  ;  she  wanted  to 
become  mistress  of  her  profession.  Her  death  is  a  calamity,  not  to  her  friends  alone, 
but  to  all  who  are  making  an  effort  for  the  enlargement  of  woman's  sphere. 

After  the  closing  of  the  doors  of  the  Geneva  Medical  School 
to  women,  the  Central  Medical  College  of  Syracuse  was  the  first 
to  admit  them.  Four  were  graduated  in  1852.  Since  then  the 
two  medical  colleges  in  New  York  city  have  graduated  hundreds 
of  women.  Among  the  many  in  successful  practice  are  Clemence 
S.  Lozier,  Emily  Blackwell,  Mary  Putnam  Jacobi,  New  York ; 
Eliza  P.  Mosher,  Brooklyn  ;  Sarah  R.  A.  Dolley,  Anna  H.  Searing, 
Fannie  F.  Hamilton,  Rochester;  Amanda  B.  Sanford,  Auburn  ; 
Eveline  P.  Ballintine,  Le  Roy ;  Rachel  E.  Gleason,  Elmira. 

In  May,  1870,  the  New  York  City  Society  was  formed,  with 
efficient  officers,*  and  pleasant  rooms,  at  16  Union  Square,  where 
meetings  were  regularly  held  on  Friday  afternoon  of  each  week. 
These  meetings  were  well  attended  and  sustained  with  increasing 
interest  from  month  to  month.  This  society  held  its  first  meet- 
ing November  27,  1871,  which  was  addressed  by  Mrs.  Julia  Ward 
Howe;  and  on  January  13,  1872,  another,  addressed  by  Jennie 
Collins,  the  indefatigable  Bostonian  who  has  done  so  much  for 
the  benefit  of  the  working  girls.  A  series  of  meetings  was 
held  under  the  auspices  of  this  association  in  many  of  the  chief 
cities  around  New  York  and  on  the  Hudson,  the  chief  speakers 
being  the  officers  of  the  association.  An  active  German  society 
was  soon  after  formed,  with  Mrs.  Augusta  Lillienthal,  president, 
and  Mrs.  Matilda  F.  Wendt,  secretary.  The  latter  published  a 
paper,  Die  Neue  Zeit,  devoted  to  woman  suffrage.  She  was  also 
the  correspondent  of  several  leading  journals  in  Germany.  The 
society  held  its  first  public  meeting  March  21,  1872,  in  Turner 
Hall,  Mrs.  Wendt  presiding.  Mrs.  Lillienthal,  Mrs.  Clara  Neyman 
and  Dr.  Adolphe  Doney  were  the  speakers.  Clara  Neyman  be- 
came afterwards  a  popular  speaker  in  many  suffrage  and  free- 
religious  associations. 

Petitions  were  rolled  up  by  both  the  German  and  American 
societies  to  the  legislature,  praying  for  the  right  of  suffrage,  and 

*  President,  Charlotte  H.  Wilbour  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Dr.Clemencc  S.  Lozier,  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake  ; 
Secretary,  Frances  V.  Hallock  ;  Treasurer,  Miss  Jeannie  McAdam. 


406  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

on  April  3,  1871,  the  petitioners*  were  granted  a  hearing,  before 
the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  Assembly,  Hon.  L.  Bradford 
Prince  presiding.  Mrs.  Wilbour's  able  address  made  a  most 
favorable  impression.  The  question  was  referred  to  the  Judi- 
ciary Committee.  The  majority  report  was  adverse,  the.minority, 
signed  by  Robert  A.  Strahan  and  C.  P.  Vedder,  favorable. 

A  grand  demonstration  was  made  April  26,  1872,  in  Cooper 
Institute,  intended  specially  to  emphasize  the  claims  of  wives  and 
mothers  to  the  ballot,  and  to  show  that  the  City  Association  had 
no  sympathy  with  any  theories  of  free-love.  Five  thousand  cards 
of  invitation  were  distributed. 

In  1871  women  attempted  to  vote  in  different  parts  of  the 
State,  among  whom  were  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  at  Fayetteville, 
and  Mrs.  Louise  Mansfield  at  Nyack,  but  were  repulsed.  In  1872 
others  did  vote  under  the  fourteenth  amendment,  conspicuously 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  who,  as  an  example  for  the  rest,  was  arrested, 
tried,  convicted  and  fined.f  Mrs.  Gage  published  a  woman's 
rights  catechism  to  answer  objections  made  at  that  time  to 
woman's  voting,  which  proved  a  valuable  campaign  document. 
We  find  the  names  of  Mary  R.  Pell  of  Flushing,  Helen  M.  Loder 
of  Poughkeepsie,  and  Elizabeth  B.  Whitneyof  Harlem,  frequently 
mentioned  at  this  time  for  their  valuable  services. 

The  following  items  show  the  varied  capacity  of  women  for 
many  employments: 

In  March,  1872,  Miss  Charlotte  E.  Ray  (colored)  of  New  York,  was  grad- 
uated at  the  Howard  University  Law  School,  and  admitted  to  practice 
in  the  courts  of  the  District  of  Columbia  at  Washington. The  head- 
quarters of  the  Women's  National  Relief  Association  is  in  New  York  ;  its 
object  is  supplying  government  stations  along  the  coast  with  beds, 
blankets,  warm  clothing  and  other  necessaries  for  shipwrecked  persons. 

— Miss  Leggett,  for  a  long  time  proprietor  of  a  book  and  paper  store  in 
New  York,  established  a  home,  in  1878,  for  women,  on  Clinton  Square, 
which  is  in  all  respects  antipodal  to  Stewart's  Hotel.  It  is  governed  by 
no  stringent  rules  or  regulations.  No  woman  is  liable  without  cause, 
at  the  mere  caprice  of  the  founder,  to  be  suddenly  required  to  leave, 
as  was  the  case  in  Judge  Hilton's  home.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  object 
of  the  founder  to  provide  a  real  home  for  women.  The  house  is  not 
only  provided  with  a  library,  piano,  etc.,  but  its  inmates  are  allowed  to 
bring  their  sewing-machines,  hang  pictures  upon  the  walls,  put  up  private 
book-racks,  etc.  The  price,  too,  but  $4  a  week,  falls  more  nearly  within. 

*  The  petitioners  were  represented  by  Mrs.  Wilbour,  Mrs.  Hester  M.  Poole,  Elizabeth  B.  Phelps, 
Elizabeth  Langdon,  Mrs.  I.  D.  Hull,  Mrs.  Charlotte  L.  Coleman,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Leclover,  Matilda  Joslyn 
Gage. 

t  See  Vol.  II. .page  628. 


Some    Things  that    Women  Do.  407 

the  means  of  laboring  women  than  the  $6  to  $10  of  the  Stewart  Hotel. 

The  first  penny  lunch-room  in  New  York  was  established  by  a  woman, 

who   made   it   a   source  of   revenue. The  inventor  of  the  submarine 

telescope,  a  woman,  has  received  $10,000  for  her  invention. Deborah 

Powers,  now  over  ninety  years  of  age,  is  the  head  of  a  large  oil-cloth  man- 
ufactory in  Troy.  Her  sons  are  engaged  in  business  with  her,  but  she, 
still  bright  and  active,  remains  at  the  head  of  the  firm.  This  is  the  largest 
oil-cloth  factory  in  the  United  States.  She  was  left  a  widow  with  three 
sons,  with  a  heavy  mortgage  on  her  estate.  She  secured  an  extension  of 
time,  built  up  the  business  and  educated  her  sons  to  the  work.  She  is 

also  president  of  a  bank. A  successful  nautical  school  in  New  York  is 

conducted  by  two  ladies,  Mrs.  Thome  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Brownlow. 
These  ladies  have  made  several  voyages  and  studied  navigation,  both 
theoretically  and  practically.  During  the  late  war  they  prepared  for  the 
navy  2,000  mates  and  captains  bringing  their  knowledge  of  navigation 

up  to  the  standard  required  by  the  strict  examiners  of  the  naval  board. 

Mrs.  Wilson,  since  a  New  York  custom-house  inspector,  took  charge,  in 
1872,  of  her  husband's  ship,  disabled  in  a  terrific  gale  off  Newfoundland 
in  which  his  collar-bone  was  broken  and  a  portion  of  the  crew  badly  hurt. 
The  main-mast  having  been  cut  down  she  rigged  a  jury-mast,  and  after 
twenty-one  days  brought  ship  and  crew  safe  to  port. 

Miss  Jennie  Turner,  a  short-hand  writer  of  New  York,  is  a  notary 
public.  In  a  recent  law-suit  some  of  the  papers  were  "  sworn  to  "  before 
her  in  her  official  capacity,  and  one  of  the  attorneys  claimed  that  it  was 
not  verified,  inasmuch  as  a  woman  "could  not  legally  hold  public  office." 
The  judge  decided  that  the  paper  must  be  accepted  as  properly  verified, 
and  said  that  the  only  way  to  oust  her  was  in  a  direct  action  by  the  attor- 
ney-general. The  judge  said  : 

Whether  a  female  is  capable  of  holding  public  office  has  never  been  decided  by  the 
courts  of  this  State,  and  is  a  question  about  which  .legal  minds  may  well  differ.  The 
constitution  regulates  the  right  of  suffrage  and  limits  it  to  "  male  "  citizens.  Disabili- 
ties are  not  favored,  and  are  seldom  extended  by  implication,  from  which  it  may  be 
argued  that  if  it  required  the  insertion  of  the  term  "  male  "  to  exclude  female  citizens 
of  lawful  age  from  the  right  of  suffrage,  a  similar  limitation  would  be  required  to 
disqualify  them  from  holding  office.  Citizenship  is  a  condition  or  status  and  has  no 
relation  to  age  or  sex.  It  may  be  contended  that  it  was  left  to  the  good  sense  of  the 
executive  and  to  the  electors  to'determine  whether  or  not  they  would  select  femalo 
to  office,  and  that  the  power  being  lodged  in  safe  hands  was  beyond  the  danger  of 
abuse.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  be  seriously  contended  that  the  constitution,  by  neces- 
sary implication,  disqualifies  females  from  holding  office,  it  must  follow  as  a  necessary 
Huence  that  the  act  of  the  legislature  permitting  females  to  serve  as  school  offi- 
cers, and  all  other  legislative  enactments  of  like  import  removing  such  disqualification, 
are  unconstitutional  and  void.  In  this  same  connection  it  may  be  argued  that  if  the 
use  of  the  personal  pronoun  "he  "  in  the  constitution  does  not  exclude  females  from 
public  office,  its  use  in  the  statute  can  have  no  greater  effect.  The  statute,  like 
the  constitution,  in  prescribing  the  qualifications  for  office,  omits  the  wprd  "male," 
leaving  the  question  whether  female  citizens  of  lawful  age  are  included  or  excluded,  one 
of  construction. 

Miss  Anna  Ballard,  a  reporter  on  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Sun,  w.i» 
elected  a  member  of  the  Press  Club,  in  1877,  by  a  vote  of  24  to  10.     Within 


408  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

the  last  ten  years  women  contributors  to  the  press  have  become  numerous. 
The  book-reviewer  of  the  Herald  is  a  woman ;  one  of  the  book-reviewers  of 
the  Tribune,  one  of  its  most  valued  correspondents  and  several  of  its  regu- 
lar contributors  are  women  ;  the  agricultural  and  market  reporter  of  the 
New  York  Times  is  a  woman ;  the  New  York  Sun's  fashion  writer  is  a 
woman,  and  also  one  of  its  most  industrious  and  sagacious  reporters. 
Female  correspondents  flood  the  evening  papers  with  news  from  Wash- 
ington. We  instance  these  not  at  all  as  a  complete  catalogue  ;  for  there 
are,  we  doubt  not,  more  than  a  hundred  women  known  and  recognized  in 
and  about  Printing-house  Square  as  regular  contributors  to  the  columns 
of  the  daily  and  weekly  press.  As  a  rule  they  are  modest,  reputable 
pains-taking  servants  of  the  press ;  and  it  is  generally  conceded  that  if 
they  are  willing  to  put  up  with  the  inconveniences  attending  journalistic 
work,  it  is  no  part  of  men's  duty  to  interfere  with  their  attempt  to  earn  an 
honest  livelihood  in  a  profession  which  has  so  many  avenues  as  yet  un- 
crowded.  Miss  Ellen  A.  Martin,  formerly  of  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,a  graduate 
of  the  Law  School  of  Ann  Arbor,  in  1875,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  at  the  January  term,  and  is  practicing  in 
Chicago,  occupying  an  office  with  Miss  Perry,  Room  39,  No.  143  La  Salle 
street.  Mrs.  Martha  J.  Lamb  was  the  first  woman  ever  admitted  to  mem- 
bership in  the  New  York  State  Historical  Society.  Her  "  History  of 
New  York  City"  is  recognized  as  a  standard  authority,  and  has  already 
taken  rank  among  the  great  histories  of  the  world. 

During  the  summer  of  1872  the  presidential  campaign  agitated 
the  country.  As  Horace  Greeley,  who  was  opposed  to  woman 
suffrage,  was  running  against  Grant  and  Wilson,  who  were  in 
favor,  and  as  the  Republican  platform  contained  a  plank  promis- 
ing some  consideration  for  the  loyal  women  of  the  nation,  a  great 
demonstration  was  held  in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  Oc- 
tober 7.  The  large  hall  was  crowded  by  an  excited  throng. 
Hon.  Luther  R.  Marsh  presided.  The  speakers  *  were  all  un- 
usually happy.  Mrs.  Blake's  f  address  was  applauded  to  a 


*  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Dr. 
Clemence  Lozier,  Helen  M.  Slocum,  Lillie  Devereux  Blake. 

t  Lillie  Devereux  Blake  was  born  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  in  August,  1833.  Her  father,  George 
^Devereux,  was  a  wealthy  Southern  gentleman  of  Irish  descent.  Her  mother's  maiden  name  was 
:S*xah  Elizabeth  Johnson  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  a  descendant  of  William  Samuel  Johnson  who  was 
•one  €>l  the  first  two  senators  from  that  State.  Both  her  parents  were  descended  from  Jonathan  Ed- 
-wards.  Her  father  died  in  1837,  and  the  widow  subsequently  removed  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  where  she 
-was  well  known  for  her  large  and  generous  hospitality.  Her  daughter,  the  future  favorite  writer  and 
•lecturer,  was  a  much  admired  belle,  and  in  1855  was  married  to  Frank  Umsted,  a  lawyer  of  Phila- 
•delphia,  with  whom  she  lived  two  years  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  Mr.  Umsted  died  in  1859,  and  his  widow. 
w&O  liad  written  sketches  for  Harper  s  Magazine  and  published  a  novel  called  "  Southwold,"  from 
that  date  contributed  largely  to  leading  newspapers  and  magazines.  She  was  Washington  correspon- 
dent of  the  Evening  Post  in  the  winter  of  1861,  published  "  Rockford  "  in  1862,  and  wrote  many  stories 
for  Frank  Leslie's  Weekly,  the  Philadelphia  Press  and  other  publications.  In  1866  she  married 
Greenfill  Blake  of  New  York.  In  1872  Mrs.  Blake  published  "  Fettered  for  Life,"  a  novel  designed  to 
show  the  legal  disadvantages  of  women.  Ever  since  she  became  interested  in  the  suffrage  movement 
Mrs.  Blake  has  been  one  of  the  most  ardent  advocates.  She  has  taken  several  lecturing  tours  in  dif- 
ferent States  of  the  Union.  Mrs.  Blake  is  an  easy  speaker  and  writer,  and  of  late  has  contributed  to 
many  of  our  popular  magazines.  Much  of  the  recent  work  in  the  New  York  legislature  is  due  to  her 
untiring  zeal. 


Commission  on   Constitutional  Revision.  409 

recall,  when  she  went  forward  and  asked  the  audience  to  give 
three  cheers  for  the  woman  suffrage  candidates,  Grant  and  Wilson, 
which  they  did  with  hearty  good  will. 

During  the  winter  of  1873  a  commission  was  sitting  at  Albany 
to  revise  the  constitution  of  New  York.  As  it  seemed  fitting 
that  women  should  press  their  claims  to  the  ballot,  memorials 
were  presented  and  hearings  requested  by  b6th  the  State  and 
City  societies.  Accordingly  Mr.  Silliman,  the  chairman,  ap- 
pointed February  18,  to  hear  the  memorialists.  A  large  delega- 
tion of  ladies  went  from  New  York.*  The  commission  was  hold- 
ing its  sessions  in  the  common-council  chamber,  and  when  the 
time  arrived  for  the  hearing  the  room  was  crowded  with  an 
attentive  audience.  The  members  of  the  Committee  on  Suffrage 
were  all  present,  Mr.  Silliman  presided.  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage 
represented  the  State  association,  speaking  upon  the  origin  of 
government  and  the  rights  pertaining  thereto.  Mrs.  Wilbour 
and  Mrs.  Blake  represented  the  New  York  City  Society,  and  each 
alike  made  a  favorable  impression.  The  Albany  Evening  Journal 
gave  a  large  space  to  a  description  of  the  occasion.  The  respect- 
ful hearing,  however,  was  the  beginning  and  the  end,  as  far  as 
could  be  seen,  of  all  impression  made  on  the  committee,  which 
coolly  recommended  that  suffrage  be  secured  to  colored  men  by 
ratifying  the  fifteenth  amendment,  while  making  no  recognition 
whatever  of  the  women  of  the  State.  A  memorial  was  at  once 
sent  to  the  legislature  and  another  hearing  was  granted  on  Febru- 
ary 27.  Mrs.  Blake  f  was  the  only  speaker  on  that  occasion.  The 
Hon.  Bradford  Prince,  of  Queens,  presided.  At  the  close  of  Mrs. 
Blake's  remarks  James  W.  Husted  of  Westchester,  in  a  few  earnest 
words,  avowed  himself  henceforth  a  champion  of  the  cause. 
Shortly  afterwards  the  Hon.  George  West  presented  a  constitu- 
tional amendment  giving  to  every  woman  possessed  of  $250  the 
right  to  vote,  thus  placing  the  women  of  the  State  in  the  same 
position  with  the  colored  men  before  the  passage  of  the  fifteenth 
amendment ;  but  even  this  was  denied.  The  amendment  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Judiciary  Committee  and  there  entombed.  Large 

*  Mrs.  Jennie  McAdam,  Mrs.  Hester  Poole,  Charlotte  Coleman,  Mrs.  Hull,  Mrs.  Morse  and  other>. 
A  month  before,  January  33,  Miss  Anthony  was  invited  to  address  the  commission,  giving  her  consti- 
tutional argument,  showing  wr  man's  right  to  vote  under  the  fourteenth  amendment.  Hon.  Henry  R. 
Seldcn  was  in  the  audience,  being  in  the  city  on  Miss  Anthony's  case.  At  the  close  of  her  argument 
he  said :  "  If  I  had  heard  that  speech  before,  I  could  have  made  a  stronger  plea  before  Judge  Hall 
this  morning." 

t  She  was  escorted  to  the  capitol  by  Phoebe  H.  Jones  and  the  venerable  Lydia  Mott,  who  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  had  entertained  at  their  respective  homes  the  various  speakers  that  had  come  to  Albany 
to  plead  for  new  liberties,  and  had  accompanied  them,  one  after  another,  to  the  halls  of  legislation. 


4io  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

meetings*  were  held  at  Robinson  Hall  during  the  winter,  and  at 
Apollo  Hall  in  May,  and  in  different  localities  about  New  York. 

July  2, 1873,  an  indignation  meeting  was  held  by  the  City  Society 
to  protest  against  the  sentence  pronounced  by  Judge  Hunt  in  the 
case  of  Susan  B.  Anthony.  De  Garmo  Hall  was  crowded.  The 
platform  was  decorated  with  the  United  States  flag  draped  with 
black  bunting,  while  on  each  side  were  banners,  one  bearing  the 
inscription,  "  Respectful  Consideration  for  a  Loyal  Woman's  Vote ! 
$100  Fine  !  "  the  other,  "  Shall  One  Federal  Judge  Abolish  Trial 
by  Jury?"  Dr.  Clemence  Lozier  presided,  and  Mrs.  Devereux 
Blake  made  a  stirring  speech  reviewing  Miss  Anthony's  trial  and 
Judge  Hunt's  decision.f  Mr.  Hamilton  Wilcox  made  a  manly 
protest  against  Judge  Hunt's  high-handed  act  of  oppression,  and 
Mrs.  Marie  Rachel  made  another,  in  behalf  of  the  German  asso- 
ciation. 

In  October,  1873,  Mrs-  Devereux  Blake  made  an  effort  to  open 
the  doors  of  Columbia  College  to  women.  A  class  of  four  young 
ladies:}:  united  in  asking  admission.  Taking  them  with  her,  Mrs. 
Blake  went  before  the  president  and  faculty,  who  gave  her  a 
respectful  hearing.  She  argued  that  the  charter  of  the  college 
itself  declared  that  it  was  founded  for  "  the  education  of  the 
youth  of  the  city,  and  that  the  word  youtJi  was  defined  in  all 
dictionaries  as  "  young  persons  of  both  sexes,"  so  that  by  its 
very  foundation  it  was  intended  that  girls  as  well  as  boys  should 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  university,  and  it  was  no  more  than  just 
that  they  should,  seeing  that  the  original  endowment  was  by  the 
"rectors  and  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  New  York,"  one-half  of 
these  inhabitants  being  women.  Mrs.  Blake's  §  application  was 
referred  to  "the  Committee  on  the  Course  of  Instruction,"  and 
after  some  weeks  of  consideration  was  refused,  on  the  ground 
that  "  it  was  inexpedient,"  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix  being  especially 


*  Addressed  by  Mrs.  Wilbour,  Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Lozier,  Mrs.  Hallock,  Hamilton  Wilcox  and  Dr. 
Hallock. 

t  For  Judge  Hunt's  decision,  see  Volume  II.,  page  677. 

\  Miss  Charlotte  C.  Jackson,  the  valedictorian  of  the  Normal  College  of  New  York ;  Miss  Mary  Hus- 
sey  of  Orange,  New  Jersey  ,  Miss  Mosher  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan  ;  Miss  Emma  Wendt,  daughter  of 
Mathilde  Wendt.  In  1867,  Mrs.  Stanton  had  made  a  similar  application  to  Theodore  D.  Dwight,  that 
the  law  school  might  be  opened  to  young  women.  In  the  course  of  their  conversation  Professor  Dwight 
said  :  "  Do  you  think  girls  know  enough  to  study  law  ? ''  Mrs.  Stanton  replied  :  "  All  the  liberal  laws 
for  women  that  have  been  passed  in  the  last  twenty  years  are  the  results  of  the  protests  of  women  ; 
surely,  if  they  know  enough  to  protest  against  bad  laws,  they  know  enough  to  study  our  whole  system 
of  jurisprudence." 

§  It  was  peculiarly  fitting  that  this  application  should  be  made  by  Mrs.  Blake,  as  two  of  her  ances- 
tors had  been  presidents  of  the  college.  The  first  it  ever  had,  when  founded  as  King's  College  in  1700, 
was  the  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  D.  D.,  her  great-great-grandfather.  His  son,  the  Hon.  Samuel  William 
Johnson,  was  the  first  president  after  the  Revolution,  when  the  name  was  changed  to  Columbia  Col- 
lege. 


A    Woman  s    Congress.  411 

active  in  his  opposition.  However,  soon  after  this,  the  lectures 
of  the  college  were  open  to  ladies,  and  a  few  years  later  President 
Barnard  warmly  recommended  that  young  women  should  be  ad- 
mitted as  students  to  all  the  privileges  of  the  university. 

A  Woman's  Congress  was  organized  at  New  York,  October  15, 
16,  17,  1873,  in  the  Union  League  Theater.  Representative 
women*  were  there  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Its  object 
was  similar  to  the  social  science  organizations — the  discussion  of 
a  wider  range  of  subjects  than  could  be  tolerated  on  the  plat- 
forms of  any  specific  reform.  Mary  A.  Livermore  presided,  and 
the  meeting  was  considered  a  great  success.  The  speeches  and 
proceedings  were  published  in  pamphlet  form,  and  still  are  from 
year  to  year.  This  had  been  an  idea  long  brewing  in  many 
minds,  and  was  at  last  realized  through  the  organizing  talent  of 
Mrs.  Charlotte  B.  Wilbour,  the  originator  of  Sorosis.  From  year 
to  year  they  have  held  regular  meetings  in  the  chief  cities  of  the 
different  States. 

Dr.  Clemence  Lozier,f  president  of  the  city  society,  early 
opened  her  spacious  parlors  to  the  monthly  meetings,  where  they 
have  been  held  for  many  years.  This  association  has  been  active 
and  vigilant,  taking  note  of  and  furthering  every  step  of  progress 
in  Church  and  State.  Mrs.  Lozier  and  Mrs.  Blake  have  worked 
most  effectively  together,  the  former  furnishing  the  sinews  of  war, 
and  the  latter  making  the  attack  all  along  the  line,  to  the  terror 
of  the  faint-hearted. 

The  era  of  centennial  celebrations  was  now  approaching,  and 
it  was  proposed  to  hold  a  suitable  commemoration  on  the  one- 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Boston  tea-party,  December  16, 
1873.  Union  League  Theater  was,  on  the  appointed  evening, 
filled  to  its  utmost  capacity.  The  platform  was  decorated  with 


*  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Elisabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Antoinette  Brown  Blackwell,  Mary  F.  Eastman,  Helen 
Potter,  Sarah  Andrews  Spencer.  Augusta  Cooper  Bristol,  Alice  Fletcher,  Maria  Mitchell,  professor  at 
,  College,  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Frances  Ellen  Burr,  Abby  Smith,  Rossclla  E.  Buckingham, 
and  others. 

t  Dr.  Clemence  Lozier  was  born  of  a  good  family  in  New  Jersey.  She  was  married  at  the  early  age 
of  16,  and  widowed  at  27,  left  with  a  young  family  without  means  of  support.  But  being  an  excellent 
teacher,  she  soon  found  employment.  For  eleven  years  she  was  principal  of  a  young  ladies'  seminary. 
By  natural  instinct  a  physician  and  a  healer,  she  determined  to  fit  herself  for  that  profc>Mi<n. 
A  physician  of  the  old  school  assisted  her  in  her  medical  studies,  and  in  1853  she  received  a  diploma 
from  the  Eclectic  College  of  Syracuse,  and  shortly  after  established  herself  in  New  York,  where  her 
practice  steadily  increased,  until  her  professional  income  <vas  one  of  the  largest  in  the  city.  In  1860 
she  began  a  course  of  free  medical  lectures  to  women,  which  continued  for  three  years,  culminating  in 
"The  New  York  Medical  College  for  Women,"  which  was  chartered  in  1863.  The  foundation  and  es- 
tablishment of  this  institution  was  the  crowning  work  of  her  life,  to  which  she  has  devoted  time  and 
money.  From  the  first  she  has  been  dean  of  the  faculty,  and  after  years  of  struggle  at  last  has  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  it  a  complete  success,  owning  a  fine  building  up  town,  with  hospital  and  dispen- 
sary attached. 


4I2 


^istory  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


flowers  and  filled  with  ladies,  Dr.  Lozier  presiding.  Miss  An- 
thony was  the  speaker  of  the  evening,  and  made  a  most  effective 
address;  Helen  Potter  gave  a  recitation  ;  Hannah  M'L.  Shepherd 
read  letters  of  sympathy;  Mrs.  Blake  made  a  short  closing 
address,  and  presented  a  series  of  resolutions,  couched  in  precisely 
the  same  language  as  that  adopted  by  our  ancestors  in  protesting 
against  taxation  without  representation  : 

Resolved,  That  as  an  expression  of  the  sentiments  of  the  tax-paying  wom£n  of  New 
York,  we  reiterate,  as  applied  to  ourselves,  the  declaration  contained  in  the  bill  of 
rights  put  forth  by  our  ancestors  too  years  ago  :  First — That  the  women  of  the  coun- 
try are  entitled  to  equal  rights  and  privileges  with  the  men;  Second — That  it  is  insep- 
arably essential  to  the  freedom  of  a  people,  and  the  undoubted  right  of  all  men  and 
women,  that  no  taxes  be  imposed  on  them  but  by  their  own  consent,  given  in  person 
or  by  their  representatives;  Third — That  the  only  representatives  of  these  women 
are  persons  chosen  by  themselves,  and  that  no  taxes  ever  have  been  or  can  be  consti- 
tutionally imposed  upon  them  but  by  legislatures  composed  of  persons  so  chosen. 

The  report  of  the  State  assessors  *  of  1883  brought  forcibly  to 
view  the  injustice  done  in  taxing  non-voters.  At  their  meeting 
with  the  supervisors  of  Onondaga  county,  Mr.  Pope  of  Fabius 
said:  "Mrs.  Andrews  is  assessed  too  much."  Mr.  Hadley  re- 
plied :  "  Well,  Mr.  Briggs  says  that  is  the  way  all  the  women  are 
assessed."  Mr.  Briggs  responded  :  "  Yes,  that  is  the  way  we 
find  the  assessors  treat  the  women;  they  can't  vote,  you  know! 
I  am  in  favor  of  letting  the  women  vote  now." 

Two  women  in  the  village  of  Batavia  were  assessed  for  more 
personal  property  than  the  entire  assessment  of  like  property, 
exclusive  of  corporations,  in  the  city  of  Rochester  with  a  popu- 
lation of  70,000 !  While  declaring  they  had  found  very  little  per- 
sonal property  assessed,  Mr.  Fowler  said  :  "  We  found  some  cases 
where  town  assessors  had  taxed  the  personal  property  of  women, 


*  Several  ladies  appeared  last  week  before  the  New  York  Supervisors'  Committee  to  protest  against 
excessive  taxation.  The  New  York  World  informs  us  that  Mrs.  Harriet  Ramsen  complained  that  the 
appraisement  of  lot  5  West  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-second  street,  was  increased  from  $7,000  to 
$Q,OOO.  Mrs.  P.  P.  Dickinson,  house  48  West  Fifty-sixth  street,  increased  from  $15,000  to  $20,000; 
Mrs.  Cynthia  Bunce,  house  37  West  Fifty-fourth  street,  last  year's  valuation  $10,000;  this  year's,  $15, 
ooo.  Mrs.  Daly,  who  owns  a  house  in  Seventy-second  street,  informed  the  committee  that  the  assess- 
ment on  the  house  (a  small  dwelling)  was  put  at  $2,000,  an  increase  of  $700  over  last  year's  valua- 
tion. This  house  stands  in  an  unopened  street.  Supervisor  McCafferty  said  that  the  committee  would 
do  all  in  its  power  to  have  the  assessment  reduced,  and  also  remarked  that  it  was  a  positive  outrage  to 
assess  such  a  small  house  at  so  high  a  figure.  Mrs.  Louisa  St.  John,  who  is  reputed  to  be  worth 
$2,000,000,  complained  because  three  lots  on  Fifth  avenue,  near  Eighty-sixth  street,  and  five  lots  on 
the  last-named  street,  have  been  assessed  at  much  higher  figures  than  other  lots  in  the  neighborhood. 
Mrs.  St.  John  addressed  the  commitlee  with  much  eloquence  and  force.  Said  she:  "I  do  not  com- 
plain of  the  assessments  that  have  been  laid  on  my  property.  I  complain  of  the  inequalities  practiced 
by  the  assessors,  and  I  should  like  to  see  them  set  right.'1  Supervisor  McCafferty  assured  Mrs.  St. 
John  that  everything  in  the  power  of  the  committee  would  be  done  to  equalize  assessments  in  future. 
Mrs.  St.  John  is  a  heavy  speculator  in  real  estate.  She  attends  sales  and  has  property  "  knocked 
down"  to  her.  She  makes  all  her  own  searches  in  the  register's  office,  and  is  known,  in  fact,  among 
property-owners  as  a  very  thorough  real-estate  lawyer.  Many  years  ago  she  was  the  proprietor  of  the 
Globe  Hotel,  now  Frankfort  House,  corner  of  Frankfort  and  William  streets. 


Anti-Tax   Societies.  41 3 

and  one  case  of  a  ward  who  was  assessed  to  full  value,  while  upon 
the  guardian's  property  there  was  no  assessment  at  all."  This 
report  not  only  proved  a  good  woman  suffrage  document,  but 
the  work  done  by  the  State  assessors,  Messrs.  Hadley,  Briggs 
and  Fowler,  convinced  them  personally  of  woman's  need  of  the 
ballot  for  the  protection  of  her  property. 

Early  in  the  year  1874,  memorials  from  societies  in  different 
parts  of  the  State  were  sent  to  the  legislature,  asking  "  that  all 
taxes  due  from  women  be  remitted  until  they  are  allowed  to 
vote."  The  most  active  of  these  anti-tax  societies  was  the  one 
formed  in  Rochester  through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Lewia  C.  Smith, 
whose  earnestness  and  fidelity  in  this,  as  in  many  another  good 
word  and  work,  have  been  such  as  to  command  the  admiration 
even  of  opponents — a  soul  of  that  sweet  charity  that  makes  no 
account  of  self.  A  hearing  was  appointed  for  the  memorialists 
on  January  24,  and  the  journals*  made  honorable  mention  of 
the  occasion. 

The  centennial  was  approaching  and  the  notes  of  preparation 
were  heard  on  all  sides.  The  women  who  understood  their  sta- 
tus as  disfranchised  citizens  in  a  republic,  regarded  the  coming 
event  as  one  for  them  of  humiliation  rather  than  rejoicing,  inas- 
much as  the  close  of  the  first  century  of  the  nation's  existence 
found  one  half  the  people  still  political  slaves.  At  the  February 
meeting  of  the  association,  Mrs.  Blake  presented  the  following 
resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  society  do  hereby  pledge  themselves  not  to  aid 
either  by  their  labor,  time  or  money,  the  proposed  celebration  of  the  independence  of 
the  men  of  the  nation,  unless  before  July  4,  1876,  the  women  of  the  land  shall  be 
guaranteed  their  political  freedom. 


*  The  Albany  Evening  Journal  of  January  22  said :  A  hearing  was  granted  by  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee to-night,  on  the  petition  of  the  Woman's  Tax-payers  Association  of  the  City  of  Rochester,  for 
either  representation  or  relief  from  taxation.  The  petitioners  were  heard  in  the  assembly  chamber, 
and  in  addition  to  members  of  the  committee,  a  large  audience  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  drawn  to- 
gether, including  the  president  of  the  Senate,  speaker  of  the  House,  and  nearly  all  the  leading  members 
of  both  branches  of  the  legislature.  The  first  speaker  was  Mrs.  Blake,  the  youngest  of  the  trio,  who 
occupied  about  twenty  minutes  and  was  well  received.  She  was  followed  by  Miss  Anthony,  who  made 
a  telling  speech,  frequently  eliciting  applause.  She  recounted  her  long  service  in  the  woman's  rights 
cause,  and  gave  a  brief  history  of  the  different  enactments  and  repeals  on  the  question  for  the  last 
thirty  years.  She  related  her  experience  in  voting,  and  said  she  was  fined  $100  and  costs,  one  cent  of 
which  she  had  never  paid  and  never  meant  to.  She  claimed  Judge  Waite  was  in  favor  of  woman  suf- 
frage, and  believed  the  present  speaker  of  the  Assembly  of  New  York  was  also  in  favor  of  the  move- 
ment. Calls  being  made  for  General  Husted,  that  gentleman  replied  that  Miss  Anthony  was  perfectly 
correct  in  her  statement.  She  summed  up  by  asking  the  committee  to  report  in  favor  of  legislation  ex- 
empting women  from  taxation  unless  represented  by  the  ballot,  remarking  that  she  would  not  ask  for 
the  right  to  vote,  as  that  was  guaranteed  her  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Miss  Anthony 
then  introduced  Mrs.  Joslyn  Gage,  who  said  if  any  member  of  the  committee  had  objections  to  offer 
or  questions  to  ask  she  would  like  the  privilege  of  answering  ;  but  as  none  of  the  committee  availed 
themselves,  she  proceeded  for  fifteen  minutes  in  about  the  same  strain  as  her  predecessors.  Calls  being 
made  for  Mr.  Spencer  and  eliciting  no  reply  from  that  gentleman,  Mrs.  Blake  said  they  should  consider 
him  a  convert. 


414  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  their  own  way,  however,  the  members  of  the  society  intended 
to  observe  such  centennials  as  were  fitting,  and  so  preparation 
was  made  for  a  suitable  commemoration  of  the  battle  of  Lexing- 
ton. They  held  a  meeting*  in  the  Union  League  Theatre,  the 
evening  of  April  19,  to  protest  against  their  disfranchisement. 
The  journals  contained  fair  reports,  with  the  exception  of  The 
Tribune,  which  sent  no  reporter,  and  closed  its  account  next  day  of 
many  observances  elsewhere  by  saying,  "  there  was  no  celebration 
in  New  York  city."  Several  of  the  papers  published  Mrs  Blake's 
speech  : 

Just  as  the  first  rays  of  dawn  stole  across  our  city  this  morning,  the  century  was 
complete  ^ince  the  founders  of  this  nation  made  their  first  great  stand  for  liberty.  The 
early  April  sunshine  a  hundred  years  ago  saw  a  group  of  men  and  boys  gathered 
together,  "  a  few  rods  north  of  the  meeting-house,"  in  the  Massachusetts  village  of 
Lexington.  Un-uniformed  and  undisciplined,  standing  in  the  chilly  morning,  that 
handful  of  patriots  represented  the  great  Republic  which  on  that  day  was  to  spring 
from  their  martyrdom.  The  rebellious  colonists  had  collected  in  the  hamlets  near 
Boston  some  military  stores;  these  the  British  officers  in  command  at  Boston  resolved 
should  be  seized  and  destroyed.  Warned  of  their  design  Paul  Revere  made  his  famous 
ride  to  arouse  the  country  to  resistance,  and  in  the  dead  of  night  Adams  and  Han- 
cock went  out  to  summon  their  comrades  to  arms.  As  the  last  stars  vanished  before 
the  dawn,  the  drum  beat  to  summon  the  patriots  to  action,  and  in  response  a  little 
band  of  about  eighty  men  and  boys  assembled  on  the  village  green.  Few  as  they  were 
in  numbers,  they  presented  a  brave  front  as  the  British  regulars  came  up  the  quiet 
street,  2OO  strong.  What  followed  was  not  a  battle,  but  a  butchery.  The  minute-men 
refused  to  surrender  to  Major  Pitcairn's  haughty  demand,  and  a  volley  of  musketry, 
close  and  deadly,  was  poured  on  this  devoted  band.  In  response  only  a  few  random 
shots  were  fired,  which  did  absolutely  no  harm,  and  then,  seeing  the  hopelessness  of 
resistance,  the  commander  of  the  minute-men  ordered  them  to  disperse.  The  British, 
elated  with  their  easy  victory,  pushed  on  toward  Concord,  thinking  that  there  another 
speedy  success  awaited  them.  In  this  they  soon  bitterly  learned  their  error.  Although 
they  were  reinforced  on  the  way,  when  they  reached  that  village  they  were  met  by  such 
a  resistance  as  drove  them  back,  broken  and  disorganized,  on  the  road  they  had  so 
proudly  followed  in  the  morning.  Concord  nobly  avenged  the  slaughter  at  Lexington. 

So  much  for  what  men  did  on  that  day,  and  let  us  see  what  share  the  women  had  in 
its  dangers  and  its  sorrows.  Jonathan  Harris  was  shot  in  front  of  his  own  house,  while 
his  wife  was  watching  him  from  a  window,  seeing  him  fall  with  such  anguish  as  no 
poor  words  of  mine  can  describe.  He  struggled  to  his  feet,  the  blood  gushing  from  a 
wound  in  his  breast,  staggered  forward  a  few  paces  and  fell  again,  and  then  crawled  on 
his  hands  and  knees  to  his  threshold  only  to  expire  just  as  his  wife  reached  him.  Did 
not  this  woman  bear  her  portion  of  the  martyrdom  ?  Isaac  Davis,  a  man  in  the  prime 
of  life,  went  forth  from  his  home  in  the  morning,  and  before  the  afternoon  sunlight 
had  grown  yellow,  was  brought  back  to  it  dead,  and  was  laid,  pale  and  cold,  in  his 
wife's  bed,  only  three  hours  after  he  had  left  her  with  a  solemn  benediction  of  farewell. 
Did  not  this  woman  also  suffer?  She  was  left  a  widow  in  the  very  flower  of  her  youth, 
and  for  seventy  years  she  faithfully  mourned  his  taking  off  !  Nor  were  these  the  only 
ones;  for  every  man  who  fell  that  day,  some  woman's  heart  was  wrung.  There  were 
others  who  endured  actual  physical  hardship  and  suffering.  Hannah  Adams  lay  in  bed 
with  an  infant  only  a  week  old  when  the  British  reached  her  house  in  their  disorderly 


*The  speakers  were  Dr.  Clemence  Lozier,  Helen  M.  Siocum,  Henrietta  Westbrook,  Mrs.  Devereux 
Blake.    Mrs.  J.  E.  Frobisher  recited  Paul  Revere's  ride,  and  Helen  M.  Cooke  read  the  resolutions. 


Mrs.  B lakes  Speech.  415 

retreat  to  Boston ;  they  forced  her  to  leave  her  sick  room  and  to  crawl  into  an  adjoin- 
ing corn  shed,  while  they  burned  her  house  to  ashes  in  her  sight.  Three  companies  of 
British  troops  went  to  the  house  of  Major  Barrett  and  demanded  food.  Mrs.  Barrett 
served  them  as  well  as  she  was  able,  and  when  she  was  offered  compensation,  refused 
it,  saying  gently,  "We  are  commanded  if  our  enemy  hunger  to  feed  him."  So,  in 
toil  or  suffering  or  anguish  the  women  endured  their  share  of  the  sorrows  of  that  day- 
Do  they  not  deserve  a  share  of  its  glories  also?  The  battles  of  Lexington  and  Con. 
cord  form  an  era  in  our  country's  history.  When,  driven  to  desperation  by  a  long 
course  of  oppression,  the  people  first  resolved  to  revolt  against  the  mother  country. 
Discontent,  resentment  and  indignation  had  grown  stronger  month  by  month  among 
the  hardy  settlers  of  the  land,  until  they  culminated  in  the  most  splendid  act  of  audacity 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  A  few  colonies,  scattered  at  long  intervals  along  the 
Atlantic  seaboard,  dared  to  defy  the  proudest  nation  in  Europe,  and  a  few  rustics,  un- 
disciplined, and  almost  unarmed,  actually  ventured  to  encounter  in  battle  that  army 
which  had  boasted  its  conquests  over  the  flower  of  European  chivalry.  What  unheard 
of  oppressions  drove  these  people  to  the  mad  attempt  ?  What  unheard  of  atrocities 
had  the  rulers  of  these  people  practiced,  what  unjust  confiscations  of  property,  what 
cruel  imprisonments  and  wicked  murders?  None  of  all  these;  the  people  of  this  land 
were  not  starving  or  dying  under  the  iron  heel  of  an  Alva  or  a  Robespierre,  but  their 
civil  liberties  had  been  denied,  their  political  freedom  refused,  and  rather  than  endure 
the  loss  of  these  precious  things,  they  were  willing  to  encounter  danger  and  to  brave 
death.  The  men  and  women  who  suffered  at  Concord  and  at  Lexington  loo  years  ago 
to-day,  were  martyrs  to  the  sacred  cause  of  personal  liberty  !  Looking  over  the  records 
of  the  past  we  find,  again  and  again  repeated,  the  burden  of  their  complaints.  Not 
that  they  were  starving  or  dying,  but  that  they  were  taxed  without  their  consent,  and 
that  they  were  denied  personal  representation. 

The  congress  which  assembled  at  Philadelphia  in  1774,  declared  that  "the  founda- 
tion of  liberty  and  of  all  free  governments  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  participate  in 
their  legislative  council";  and  the  House  of  Burgesses,  assembled  in  Virginia  in  the 
same  year,  asserted  "  That  a  determined  system  is  formed  and  pressed  for  reducing  us 
to  slavery,  by  subjecting  us  to  the  payment  of  taxes  imposed  without  our  consent." 
Strong  language  this,  as  strong  as  any  we  women  have  ever  employed  in  addressing 
the  men  of  this  nation.  Our  ancestors  called  the  imposition  of  taxes  without  their  con- 
sent, slavery,  and  the  denial  of  personal  representation,  tyranny.  Slavery  and  tyranny  ! 
words  which  they  tell  us  to-day  are  too  strong  for  our  use.  We  must  find  some  mild 
and  lady-like  phrases  in  which  to  describe  these  oppressions.  We  must  employ  some 
safe  and  gentle  terms  to  indicate  the  crimes  which  our  forefathers  denounced  !  My 
friends,  what  was  truth  a  century  ago  is  truth  to-day  !  Other  things  may  have  changed, 
but  justice  has  not  changed  in  a  hundred  years  ! 

In  1876  a  presidential  election  was  again  approaching,  and  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  the  campaign  a  woman  suffrage  committee 
was  formed  to  ask  the  legislature  to  grant  presidential  suffrage 
to  women,  as  it  was  strictly  within  their  power  to  do  without 
a  constitutional  amendment.  To  this  end  Mrs.  Gage  prepared 
an  appeal  which  was  widely  circulated  throughout  the  State: 

Within  u  year  the  election  of  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  will  again  take  place.  The  right  to  votd»  for  these  func- 
tionaries is  a  National  and  not  a  State  right;  the  United  States  has  un- 
questioned control  of  this  branch  of  suffrage,  and  in  its  constitution  has 
declared  to  whom  it  has  delegated  this  power.  Article  2  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  is  devoted  to  the  president ;  the  manner  of 
choosing  him,  his  power,  his  duties,  etc.  In  regard  to  the  method  of 


4i 6  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

choosing  the  president,  Par.  2,  Sec.  i,  Art.  2,  reads  thus:  "Each  State 
shall  appoint  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a  num- 
ber of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  senators  and  representatives 
to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  congress."  There  is  no  other 
authority  for  the  appointment  of  presidential  electors,  either  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  or  in  the  constitution  of  any  State.  The 
constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York  is  entirely  silent  upon  the  appoint- 
ment of  presidential  electors,  for  the  reason  that  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  declares  that  they  shall  \>e  appointed  in  such  manner  as  the 
legislature  may  direct.  With  the  exception  of  South  Carolina,  every  State 
in  the  Union  has  adopted  the  plan  of  choosing  presidential  electors  by 
ballot,  and  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  legislature  of  each  State  to  prescribe 
the  qualifications  of  those  who  shall  be  permitted  to  vote  for  such  electors. 
The  authority  to  prescribe  the  qualifications  of  those  persons  in  the 
State  of  New  York  who  shall  be  permitted  to  vote  for  electors  of  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  therefore  lies  alone  in  the 
legislature  of  this  State.  That  body  has  power  in  this  respect  superior  to 
the  State  constitution;  it  rises  above  the  constitution;  it  is  invested 
with  its  powers  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  it  is  under 
national  authority,  and  need  in  no  way  be  governed  by  any  representa- 
tive clause  which  may  exist  in  the  State  constitution.  In  prescribing  the 
qualifications  of  those  persons  who  shall  vote  for  electors,  the  legis- 
lature has  power  to  exclude  all  persons  who  cannot  read  and  write. 
It  has  power  to  say  that  no  person  unless  possessing  a  freehold 
estate  of  the  value  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  shall  vote  for  such 
electors.  It  has  power  to  declare  that  only  tax-payers  shall  vote  for 
such  electors ,  it  is  even  vested  with  authority  to  say  that  no  one  but 
church  members  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  for  electors  of  President  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  The  legislature  of  this  State  at  its 
next  session  has  even  power  to  cut  off  the  right  of  all  white  men  to  vote 
for  electors  at  the  presidential  election  next  fall.  It  matters  not  what 
qualifications  the  State  itself  may  have  prescribed  for  electors  of  State 
officers,  the  question  who  shall  vote  for  president  and  vice-president  is 
on  an  entirely  different  basis,  and  prescribing  the  qualifications  for  such 
electors  lies  in  entirely  different  hands.  It  is  a  question  of  national  im- 
port, with  which  the  State  (in  its  constitution)  has  nothing  to  do,  and  over 
which  even  congress  has  no  power.  The  legislature  which  is  to  assemble 
in  Albany,  the  first  Tuesday  in  January  next,  will  have  power,  by  the 
passage  of  a  simple  bill,  to  secure  to  the  women  of  this  State  the  right  to 
vote  for  electors  at  the  presidential  election  in  the  fall  of  1876,  and  thus 
to  inaugurate  the  centennial  year  by  an  act  of  equity  and  justice  that 
will  be  in  accordance  with  that  part  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
which  declares  that  "governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed."  Shall  it  not  be  done  ? 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE, 
LILLIE  DEVEREUX  BLAKE, 
CLEMENCE  S.  LOZIER,  M.  D., 

N.  Y.  State  Woman  Suffrage  Com. 


-/' 


4i 8  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  ) 
ALBANY,  May  8,  1877.      \ 
To  the  Senate: 

I  return  without  approval  Senate  bill  No.  61,  entitled  "An  act  to  author- 
ize the  election  of  women  to  school  offices." 

This  bill  goes  too  far  or  not  far  enough.  It  provides  that  women  may 
hold  any  or  all  of  the  offices  connected  with  the  department  of  education, 
that  is  to  say,  a  woman  may  be  elected  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion, women  may  be  appointed  school  commissioners,  members  of  boards 
of  education  and  trustees  of  school  districts.  In  some  of  these  positions 
it  will  become  their  duty  to  make  contracts,  purchase  materials,  build  and 
repair  school-houses,  and  to  supervise  and  effect  all  the  transactions  of 
school  business,  involving  an  annual  expenditure  of  over  twelve  million 
dollars  in  this  State.  There  can  be  no  greater  reason  that  women  should 
occupy  these  positions  than  the  less  responsible  ones  of  supervisors,  town 
clerks,  justices  of  the  peace,  commissioners  of  highways,  overseers  of  the 
poor,  and  numerous  others.  If  women  are  physically  and  mentally  fitted 
for  one  class  of  these  stations,  they  are  equally  so  for  the  others. 

But  at  this  period  in  the  history  of  the  world  such  enactments  as  the 
present  hardly  comport  with  the  wisdom  and  dignity  of  legislation.  The 
God  of  nature  has  appointed  different  fields  of  labor,  duty  and  usefulness 
for  the  sexes.  His  decrees  cannot  be  changed  by  human  legislation.  In 
the  education  of  our  children  the  mother  stands  far  above  all  superinten- 
dents, commissioners,  trustees  and  school  teachers.  Her  influence  in  the 
family,  in  social  intercourse  and  enterprises,  outweighs  all  the  mere  ma- 
chinery of  benevolence  and  education.  To  lower  her  from  the  high  and 
holy  place  given  her  by  nature,  is  to  degrade  her  power  and  to  injure 
rather  than  benefit  the  cause  of  education  itself.  In  all  enlightened  and 
Christian  nations  the  experience  and  observations  of  ages  have  illustrated 
and  defined  the  relative  duties  of  the  sexes  in  promoting  the  best  inter- 
ests of  society.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  intelligent  and  right-minded  among 
women  desire  or  would  be  willing  to  accept  the  change  which  such  a  law 
would  inaugurate. 

The  bill  is  moreover  a  clear  infraction  of  the  spirit  if  not  the  letter  of 
the  constitution.  Under  that  instrument  women  have  no  right  to  vote, 
and  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  it  is  the  intention  of  the  constitution  that 
persons  not  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage  should  be  eligible  to  some  of 
the  most  important  offices  in  the  State.  L.  ROBINSON. 

On  May  24,  25,  1877,  the  National  and  State  conventions  were 
again  held  in  New  York,  at  Steinway  Hall.  Both  conventions 
passed  resolutions  denouncing  Governor  Robinson's  action  in  his 
veto.  The  following  address  was  issued  by  the  State  association  : 
To  the  Voters  and  Legislators  of  New  York : 

The  women  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  convention  assembled,  do 
most  earnestly  protest  against  the  injustice  with  which  they  are  treated 
by  the  State,  where  in  point  of  numbers  they  are  in  excess  of  the  men : 

First — They  are  denied  the  right  of  choosing  their  own  rulers,  but  are  compelled  to 
submit  to  the  choice  of  a  minority  consisting  of  its  male  residents,  fully  one-third  of 


Address  of  the  State  Association.  419 

-whom  are  of  foreign  birth.  Second — They  are  held  amenable  to  laws  they  have  had 
-no  share  in  making  and  in  which  they  are  forbidden  a  voice — laws  which  touch  all 
their  most  vital  interests  of  education,  industry,  children,  property,  life  and  liberty. 
Third — While  compelled  to  bear  the  burdens  and  suffer  the  penalties  of  government, 
•they  are  debarred  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  civil  service,  and  the  control  of  offices 
in  the  righteous  discharge  of  whose  duties  their  interest  is  equal  to  that  of  men. 
.Fourth — They  are  taxed  without  their  consent  to  sustain  men  in  office  who  enact  laws 
-directly  opposing  their  interests,  and  inasmuch  as  the  State  of  New -York  pays  one-sixth 
the  taxes  of  the  United  States,  its  women  feel  the  arm  of  oppression — like  Briareus 
with  his  hundred  hands — touching  and  crushing  tbem  with  its  burdens.  Fifth — They 
.are  under  the  power  of  an  autocrat  whose  salary  they  must  pay,  but  who,  in  opposition 
to  the  will  of  the  people — as  recently  shown  in  the  passage  of  the  School  bill  by  the 
legislature — has  by  his  veto  denied  them  all  official  authority  in  the  control  of  the 
public  schools,  and  this  despite  the  fact  of  there  being  3,670  more  girls  of  school  age 
than  boys,  and  14,819  more  women  than  men  teaching  in  the  State.  Sixth — Under 
pretence  of  regulating  public  morals,  women  of  the  femme  de  pave  class,  many  of 
whom  have  been  driven  to  this  mode  of  life  as  a  livelihood,  are  subjected  to  more 

•  oppressive  laws  than  their  partners  in  vice.     Seventh — The  laws  treat  married  women 
as  criminals  by  taking  from  them  all  legal  control  of  their  children,  while  those  born 

-outside  of  marriage  belong  absolutely  to  the  mothers.  Eighth — They  forbid  the 
mother's  inheritance  of  property  from  her  children  in  case  the  father  is  living,  thus 
making  her  of  no  consideration  in  the  eyes  of  those  to  whom  she  has  given  birth. 
Ninth — They  give  the  husband  control  of  the  common  property — allow  him  to  spend 
the  whole  personal  estate  in  riotous  living,  or  even  to  sell  the  home  over 'his  wife's 
head,  subject  only  to  her  third  life-interest  in  case  she  survives  him.  Tenth — They 

.allow  the  husband  to  imprison  her  at  his  pleasure  within  his  own  house,  the  court  sus- 
taining him  in  this  coercion  until  the  wife  "submits  herself  to  her  husband's  will." 
Eleventh — They  allow  the  husband  while  the  common  property  is  in  his  possession, 
•"  without  even  the  formality  of  a  legal  complaint,  the  taking  of  an  oath  or  the  filing  of 
a  bond  for  the  good  faith  of  his  action,"  to  advertise  his  wife  through  the  public  press 
as  a  deserter  and  to  forbid  her  credit.  Twelfth — They  deny  the  widow  the  right  of 
inheritance  in  the  common  property  that  they  give  the  widower,  allow  her  but  forty 

-days'  residence  in  the  family  mansion  before  paying  rent  to  her  husband's  heirs,  thus 
treating  her  as  if  she  were  an  alien  to  her  own  children — set  off  to  her  a  few  paltry 
articles  of  household  use,  close  the  estate  through  a  process  of  law,  and  make  the  days 

•  of  her  bereavement  doubly  days  of  sorrow. 

The  above  laws  of  marriage,  placing  irresponsible  authority  in  the 
hands  of  the  husband,  have  given  him  a  power  of  moral  coercion  over  the 
wife,  making  her  virtually  his  slave.  Without  entering  into  fuller  details 
of  the  injustice  and  oppression  of  the  laws  upon  all  women,  married  and 
single,  we  will  sum  the  whole  subject  up  in  the  language  of  the  French 
Woman's  Rights  League,  which  characterizes  woman's  position  thus : 

(i)  Woman  is  held  politically  to  have  no  existence;  (2)  civilly,  she  is  a  minor;  (3)  in 
marriage  she  is  a  serf;  (4)  in  labor  she  is  made  inferior  and  robbed  of  her  earning; 
(5)  in  public  instruction  she  is  sacrificed  to  man;  (6)  out  of  marriage,  answers  to  the 
faults  committed  by  both;  (7)  as  a  mother  is  deprived  of  her  right  to  her  children;  (8) 
sin-  U  only  deemed  equally  responsible,  intelligent  and  answerable  in  taxes  and  crimes. 

By  order  of  the  New  York  State  Woman  Suffrage  Society. 

May,  1877.  MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE,  Secretary. 

In  the  summer  of  1877  another  effort  was  made  by  women  of 
wealth  to  be  relieved  from  taxation.  Several  memorials  to  that 
«ffect  were  sent  to  the  legislature,  one  headed  by  Susan  A. 


420  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

King*  of  New  York,  a  self-made  woman  who  had  accumulated  a 
large  fortune  and  owned  much  real  estate.  Her  memorial,  signed 
by  a  few  others,  represented  $9,000,000.  The  committee  bearing 
these  waited  on  many  members  of  the  legislature  to  secure 
their  influence  when  such  a  bill  should  be  presented,  which 
was  done  March  II,  by  Col.  Alfred  Wagstaff,  with  warm  recom- 
mendations. He  was  followed  by  Senator  McCarthy  of  Onon- 
daga,  who  also  introduced  a  bill  for  an  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution to  secure  to  women  the  right  of  suffrage.  Both  these  bills 
called  out  the  determined  opposition  of  Thomas  C.  Ecclesine, 
senator  from  the  eleventh  district,  and  the  ridicule  of  others. 
The  delegation  of  ladies,  sitting  there  as  representatives  of  half 
the  people  of  the  State,  felt  insulted  to  have  their  demands  thus 
sneered  at ;  it  was  for  them  a  moment  of  bitter  humiliation.  In 
the  evening,  however,  their  time  for  retaliation  came,  as  they 
had  a  hearing  in  the  Senate  chamber,  before  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee, where  an  immense  crowd  assembled  at  an  early  hour. 
The  chairman  of  the  committee  Hon.  William  H.  Robertson,  pre- 
sided. Each  of  the  ladies,  in  the  course  of  her  speech,  referred 
to  the  insulting  remarks  of  Mr.  Hughes  of  Washington  county. 
That  gentleman,  being  present,  looked  as  if  he  regretted  his  un- 
fortunate jokes,  and  winced  under  the  sarcasm  of  the  ladies. 

Soon  after  this,  great  excitement  was  created  by  the  close  of 
Stewart's  Home  for  Working  Women.  This  fine  building,  on 
the  corner  of  Thirty-second  street  and  Fourth  avenue,  had  been 
erected  by  the  merchant  prince  for  the  use  of  working  women, 
who  could  there  find  a  home  at  a  moderate  expense.  The  mil- 
lionaire dead,  his  large  fortune  passed  into  other  hands.  The 

*  Miss  King,  the  head  of  a  New  York  tea-dealing  firm  composed  of  women,  who  control  a  capital  of 
$1,000,000,  has  recently  gone  to  China  to  make  purchases.  Her  previous  business  experience,  as  nar- 
rated by  a  correspondent  of  the  Chicago  Tribune^  explains  her  fitness  for  her  mission,  while  it  inci- 
dentally throws  some  light  on  the  secrets  of  the  tea-company  business : 

"  Previous  to  the  outbreak  of  our  civil  war  Miss  King  was  extensively  engaged  in  utilizing  the  leaves 
of  the  great  blackberry  and  raspberry  crops  running  to  waste  in  the  rich  lowlands  of  Georgia  and 
Alabama,  and  kept  in  that  fertile  region  a  large  levy  of  Northern  women — smart,  like  herself — to 
superintend  the  gathering  of  the  leaves  and  their  preparation  for  shipment  to  headquarters  in  New 
York.  These  leaves  were  prepared  for  the  market  at  their  manipulating  halls  in  one  of  the  narrow 
streets  on  the  Hudson  side  of  New  York  city.  Over  this  stage  of  the  tea  preparations  Miss  King  had 
special  supervision,  and,  by  a  generous  use  of  the  genuine  imported  teas,  worked  up  our  American  pro- 
ductions into  all  the  accredited  varieties  of  the  black  and  green  teas  of  commerce.  Here  the  female 
supervision  apparently  ended.  In  their  extensive  tea  ware-rooms  in  Walker  street  the  business  was 
conducted  by  the  shrewdest  representatives  of  Gothamite  trade,  with  all  the  appliances  of  the  great 
Chinese  tea-importing  houses.  Here  were  huge  piles  of  tea-chests,  assorted  and  unassorted,  and  the 
high-salaried  tea-taster  with  his  row  of  tiny  cups  of  hot-drawn  tea,  delicately  sampling  and  classifying 
the  varieties  and  grades  for  market.  The  breaking  out  of  the  war  stopped  the  Southern  supplies  and 
sent  Miss  King's  female  agents  to  their  Northern  homes.  But  the  business  was  made  to  conform  to 
the  new  order  of  things.  Large  cargoes  of  imported  black  teas  were  bought  as  they  arrived  and  were 
skillfully  manipulated  into  those  high-cost  varieties  of  green  teas  so  extensively  purchased  by  the  gov- 
ernment for  its  commissary  and  medical  departments." 


Employment  of  Women  in  Insane  Asylums.      421 

building  was  completed  and  furnished  in  a  style  of  elegance  far 
beyond  what  was  appropriated  to  that  purpose.  On  April  2, 
with  a  great  flourish,  the  immense  building  was  thrown  open  for 
public  inspection.  A  large  number  of  women  applied  at  once 
for  admission,  but  encountered  a  set  of  rules  that  drove  most  of 
them  away.  This  gave  Judge  Hilton  an  excuse  for  violating  his 
obligation  to  carry  out  the  plan  of  his  dead  benefactor,  and  in  a 
few  weeks  he  closed  the  house  to  working  women  and  opened  it 
as  the  Park  Hotel,  for  which  it  was  so  admirably  furnished  and 
fitted  that  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  it  was  intended  for  this 
from  the  beginning.  Great  indignation  was  felt  in  the  com- 
munity, the  women  calling  a  meeting  to  express  their  dissapoint- 
ment  and  dissatisfaction.  This  was  held  in  Cooper  Institute, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Woman  Suffrage  Association.*  Had 
Mr.  Stewart  provided  a  permanent  home  for  working  women  it 
would  have  been  but  a  meager  return  for  the  underpaid  toil  of 
the  thousands  who  had  labored  for  half  a  century  to  build  up 
his  princely  fortune.  But  even  the  idea  of  such  an  act  of  justice 
died  with  him. 

In  1879  that  eminent  philanthropist  Dr.  Hervey  Backus  Wilbur, 
superintendent  of  the  State  Idiot  Asylum  at  Syracuse,  urged  the 
passage  of  a  law  requiring  the  employment  of  competent  women 
as  physicians  in  the  female  wards  of  the  State  insane  asylums. 
Petitions  prepared  by  him  were  circulated  by  the  officers  of  the 
Women's  Medical  College,  of  the  New  York  Infirmary,  by  Mrs. 
Josephine  Shaw  Lowell  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  and  by 
Drs.  Willard  Parker,  Mary  Putnam  Jacobi,  and  other  eminent 
physicians  of  New  York.  The  bill  prepared  by  Dr.  Wilbur  was 
introduced  in  the  Assembly  by  Hon.  Erastus  Brooks,  and  re- 
quired the  trustees  of  each  of  the  four  State  asylums  for  the  insane, 
"  to  employ  one  or  more  competent,  well-educated  female  physi- 
cians to  have  the  charge  of  the  female  patients  of  said  asylum,  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  medical  superintendents  of  the  several 
asylums,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  or  male  assistant  physicians, 
and  to  take  the  place  of  such  male  assistant  physician  or  physi- 
cians in  the  wards  of  the  female  patients."  Although  Dr.  Wilbur 
stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession,  his  authority  upon  everything 
connected  with  the  feeble-minded  being  not  only  recognized  in 
this  country  but  in  Europe  also  as  absolute,  yet  this  bill,  which 

*  Mrs.  Lozier  presided.    Addresses  were  made  by  Matilda  Fletcher  of  Iowa,  Mrs.  Helen  Slocum  and 
Mrs.  Devereux  Blake. 


422  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

did  not  contemplate  placing  a  woman  in  charge  of  such  an  insti- 
tution, and  which  was  so  purely  moral  in  its  character,  met  with, 
ridicule  and  opposition  from  the  press  of  the  State,  to  which  Dr.. 
Wilbur  made  an  exhaustive  reply,  showing  the  need  of  women, 
as  physicians  in  all  institutions  in  which  unfortunate  women  are 
incarcerated. 

When  the  fall  elections  of  1879  approached,  a  circular  letter 
was  sent  to  every  candidate  for  office  in  the  city,  asking  his  views- 
on  the  question  of  woman  suffrage,  and  delegations  waited  on 
the  nominees  for  mayor.  Mr.  Edward  Cooper,  the  Republican* 
candidate,  declared  he  had  no  sympathy  with  the  movement,, 
while  Hon.  Augustus  Schell,  the  Democratic  candidate,  received 
the  ladies  with  great  courtesy,  and  avowed  himself  friendly  at 
least  to  the  demand  for  equal  wages  and  better  opportunities^ 
for  education,  and  in  the  trades  and  professions.  From  the  an- 
swers received,  a  list  of  candidates  was  prepared.  On  the  even- 
ing of  October  30,  a  crowded  mass-meeting  was  held  in  Stein- 
way  Hall  to  advocate  the  election  of  those  men  who  were 
favorable  to  the  enfranchisement  of  woman.  Mr.  Schell  was- 
chosen  Mayor.  The  re-nomination  in  1879,  °f  Lucius  Robinsoa 
for  governor  by  the  Democratic  convention,  aroused  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  women  who  understood  the  politics  of  the  State.. 
He  had  declared  that  "the  God  of  Nature  did  not  intend  women 
for  public  life  ";  they  resolved  that  the  same  power  should  retire 
Mr.  Robinson  from  public  life,  and  held  mass-meetings  to  that 
end.*  These  meetings  were  all  alike  crowded  and  enthusiastic,, 
and  the  speakers  f  felt  richly  paid  for  their  efforts.  A  thorough, 
canvass  of  the  State  was  also  made,  and  a  protest  \  extensively 
circulated,  condemning  the  governor  for  his  veto  of  the  school-bill- 


*  In  Poughkeepsie,  Yonkers,  Harlem,  Williamsburgh,  Brighton,  and  in  several  districts  in  the  city  of 
New  York. 

t  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Helen  M.  Loder,  Mrs.  Clara  Neyman,  Mrs.  Slocum,  Mrs.  Miller  and  Mrsr 
Blake. 
%  To  the  Women  of  the  State  of  New  York: 

The  undersigned,  citizens  of  the  State  of  New  York,  who  if  free  to  do  so,  would  express  themselves 
at  the  ballot  box,  but  who  by  unjust  enactments  are  debarred  the  exercise  of  that  political  freedom 
whereto  "the  God  of  nature"  entitles  them,  earnestly  protest  against  the  proposed  reelection  of 
Lucius  Robinson  as  governor.  They  say  naught  against  his  honor  as  a  man,  but  they  protest  because 
when  the  legislature  of  the  Empire  State  had  passed  a  bill  making  women  eligible  to  school-boards. 
Lucius  Robinson,  by  his  veto,  kept  this  bill  from  becoming  law.  They  therefore  call  on  all  men  and 
women  who  respect  themselves  and  dare  maintain  their  rights,  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  defeat  the 
reelection  of  one  who  has  set  himself  against  the  advance  made  by  Iowa,  Kansas,  Oregon,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  Colorado,  California,  Minnesota,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire,  in 
many  of  which  States  woman's  right  to  vote  on  school  questions  is  also  recognized. 

[Signed:]  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  President  N.  Y.  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association.  Jennie 
M.  Lozier,  M.  D.,  Secretary.  Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  Vice-President  National  Association^ 
Clemence  S.  Lozier,  M.  D.,  President  N.  Y.  City  Association.  Susan  A.  King,  Cordelia  S.  Knapp,. 
Helen  M.  Slocum,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Amanda  Deyo,  Helen  M.  Cooke,  Elizabeth  B.  Phelps,  Charlotte 
Fowler  Wells,  Emma  S.  Allen. 


Defeat  of  Governor  Robinson.  423 

Mr.  F.  B.  Thurber,  and  Miss  Susan  A.  King  contributed 
liberally  to  this  campaign.  Handbills  containing  the  protest  and 
a  call  for  a  series  of  mass-meetings,  were  distributed  by  the 
thousands  all  over  the  State.  The  last  meeting  was  held  at  the 
seventh  ward  Republican  wigwam,  an  immense  structure,  in 
Brooklyn ;  its  use  was  given  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
club.*  At  every  one  of  these  meetings  resolutions  were  passed 
condemning  Mr.  Robinson,  and  electors  were  urged  to  cast  their 
votes  against  him.  No  doubt  the  enthusiasm  the  women  aroused 
for  his  opponent  helped  in  a  measure  to  defeat  him. 

In  the  meantime,  women  in  the  eleventh  senatorial  district  were 
concentrating  their  efforts  for  the  defeat  of  Thomas  H.  Eccelsine. 
His  Republican  opponent,  Hon.  Chas.  E.  Foster,  was  a  pronounced 
advocate  of  woman  suffrage.  Miss  King,f  who  resided  in  this 
district,  exerted  all  her  influence  for  his  election,  giving  time, 
money  and  thought  to  the  canvass.  On  the  morning  of  Novem- 
ber 5,  the  day  after  election,  the  papers  announced  that  Mr.  Cor- 
nell was  chosen  governor,  and  that  Mr.  Ecclesine,  who  two  years 
before  had  been  elected  by  7,000  majority,  was  defeated  by  600, 
and  Mr.  Foster  chosen  senator  in  his  stead. 

This  campaign  attracted  much  attention.  The  journals  through- 
out the  country  commented  upon  the  action  of  the  women.  It 
was  conceded  that  their  efforts  had  counted  for  something  in  in- 
fluencing the  election,  and  from  this  moment  the  leaders  of  the 
woman  suffrage  movement  in  New  York  regarded  themselves  as 
possessing  some  political  influence. 

In  January,  1880,  GoVernor  Alonzo  B.  Cornell,  in  his  first  mes- 
sage to  the  legislature,  among  other  recommendations,  embodied 
the  following : 

The  policy  of  making  women  eligible  as  school  officers  has  been  adopted 
in  several  States  with  beneficial  results,  and  the  question  is  exciting  much 
discussion  in  this  State.  Women  are  equally  competent  with  men  for  this 
duty,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  their  admission  to  representation 
would  largely  increase  the  efficacy  of  our  school  management.  The  favor- 
able attention  of  the  legislature  is  earnestly  directed  to  this  subject. 

With  such  words  from  the  chief  executive  it  was  an  easy  mat- 
ter to  find  friends  for  a  measure  making  women  eligible  as  school 


*  Chester  A.  Arthur,  chairman  of  the  Republican  campaign  committee,  presented  the  motion. 

t  She  threw  her  spacious  apartments  open,  and  gave  some  of  the  voters  a  free  lunch,  that  she  might 
have  the  opportunity  of  adding  her  personal  persuasions  to  the  public  protests.  Miss  King  and  Mi-<. 
Helen  Potter,  the  distinguished  reader,  then  residing  with  Miss  King,  assisted  in  raising  a  banner  for  Cor- 
nell and  Foster,  applauded  by  the  multitude  of  by-standers. 


424  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

officers.     Early  in  the  session  the  following  bill  was  introduced 
by  Hon.  Lorraine  B.  Sessions  of  Cattaraugus: 

No  person  shall  be  deemed  ineligible  to  serve  as  any  school  officer,  or  to  vote  at  any 
school  meeting,  by  reason  of  sex,  who  has  the  voter's  qualifications  required  by  law. 

Senator  Edwin  G.  Halbert  of  Broome  rendered  efficient  aid 
and  the  bill  passed  at  once  in  the  Senate  by  a  nearly  unanimous 
vote.  Hon.  G.  W.  Husted  of  Westchester  introduced  it  at  once 
in  the  assembly  and  earnestly  championed  the  measure.  It  passed 
by  a  vote  of  87  to  3.  The  bill  was  laid  before  the  governor,  who 
promptly  affixed  his  signature  to  it,  and  thus,  at  last,  secured  to 
the  women  of  the  Empire  State  the  right  to  vote  on  all  school 
matters,  and  to  hold  any  school  offices  to  which  they  might  be 
chosen.  The  bill  was  signed  on  February  12,  and  the  next  day 
being  Friday,  was  the  last  day  of  registration  in  the  city  of  Syra- 
cuse, the  election  there  taking  place  on  the  following  Tuesday. 
The  news  did  not  reach  there  until  late  in  the  day,  the  evening 
papers  being  the  first  to  contain  it.  But,  although  so  little  was 
known  of  the  measure,  thirteen  women  registered  their  names  as 
voters,  and  cast  their  ballots  at  the  election.  This  was  the  first 
time  the  women  of  New  York  ever  voted,  and  Tuesday,  February 
1 8,  1880,  is  a  day  to  be  remembered.*  The  voting  for  officers, 
like  all  other  school  matters,  was  provided  for,  not  under  the 
general  laws,  but  by  the  school  statutes.  There  are  two  gen- 
eral elections  in  chartered  cities  and  universal  suffrage  for  school 
as  well  as  all  other  officers ;  no  preparation  being  required  of 
voters  but  registration.  In  the  rural  districts  school  meetings 


*  Mrs.  Lucy  A.  Brand,  principal  of  the  Genesee  school  of  this  city,  a  woman  with  abilities  as  good  as 
those  of  any  male  principal,  but  who,  because  she  is  a  woman,  receives  $550  less  salary  a  year  than  a 
male  principal,  was  the  first  woman  in  the  State  of  New  York  to  cast  a  vote  under  the  new  school  law. 
On  Saturday  afternoon  she  was  at  a  friend's  house,  when  the  Journal  was  thrown  in,  containing  the 
first  editorial  notice  of  the  passage  of  the  law.  Mrs.  Brand  saw  the  welcome  announcement.  "  Let  us 
go  and  register,"  she  at  once  said,  her  heart  swelling  with  joy  and  thankfulness  that  even  this  small 
quantity  of  justice  had  been  done  woman.  "  Where  is  my  shawl  ?  I  feel  as  if  I  should  die  if  I  don't 
get  there,"  for  the  hour  was  late,  and  the  time  for  closing  the  registry  lists  was  near  at  hand.  To  have 
Host  this  opportunity  would  have  placed  her  in  the  position  of  a  second  Tantalus,  the  cup  withdrawn  just 
;as  it  touched  her  lips.  But  she  was  in  time,  and  the  important  act  of  registering  accomplished,  she  had 
.but  to  possess  her  soul  in  patience  until  the  following  Tuesday.  Who  shall  say  how  long  the  two  in- 
tervening days  were  to  her  ;  but  Tuesday  morning  at  last  arrived,  when,  for  the  first  time,  Mrs.  Brand 
was  to  exercise  the  freeman's  right  of  self-government.  A'  gentleman,  the  owner  of  the  block  in  which 
:she  resided,  offered  to  accompany  her  to  the  polls,  although  he  was  a  Democrat  and  knew  Mrs.  Brand 
\vvQuJdvote  the  Republican  ticket.  Although  not  hesitating  to  go  alone,  Mrs.  Brand  accepted  this 
courtesy.  As  she  entered  the  polling  place  the  men  present  fell  back  in  a  semi-circle.  Not  a  sound 
was  heard,  not  a  whisper,  not  a  breath.  In  silence  and  with  a  joyous  solemnity  well  befitting  the  oc- 
casion, Mrs.  Brand  cast  her  first  vote,  at  five  minutes  past  eight  in  the  morning.  The  post-master  of 
the  city,  Mr.  Chase,  offered  his  congratulations.  A  few  ordinary  remarks  were  exchanged,  and  then 
Mrs.  Brand  left  the  place.  And  that  was  all ;  neither  more  nor  less.  No  opposition,  no  rudeness,  no 
jostling  crowd  of  men,  but  such  behavior  as  is  seen  when  Christians  come  together  at  the  sacrament. 
I  have  long  known  Mrs.  Brand  as  a  noble  woman,  but  talking  with  her  a  few  days  since  I  could  but 
notice  the  added  sense  of  self-respecting  dignity  that  freedom  gives.  "  I  feel  a  constant  gratitude  that 
even  some  portion  of  my  rights  have  been  recognized,"  said  she,  and  I  left  her,  more  than  ever  im- 
pressed, if  that  is  possible,  with  the  beauty  and  sacredness  of  freedom.— [M.  J.  G. 


Efforts  to  Bring  Ozit  the  New   Voters.          425 

are  help!  for  elections,  and  there  are,  by  the  statutes,  three  classes 
of  voters  described  by  law. 

1.  Every  person  (male  or  female)  who  is  a  resident  of  the  district,  of  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  entitled  to  hold  lands  in  this  State,  who  either  owns  or  hires  real  es- 
tate in  the  district  liable  to  taxation  for  school  purposes. 

2.  Every  citizen  of  the  United  States  (male  or  female)  above  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  who  is  a  resident  of  the  district,  and  who  owns  any  personal  property  assessed 
on  the  last  preceding  assessment  roll  of  the  town  exceeding  $50  in  value,  exclusive  of 
such  as  is  exempt  from  execution. 

3.  Every  citizen  of  the  United  States  (male  or  female)  above  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  who  is  a  resident  of  the  district  and  who  has  permanently  residing  with  him,  or 
her,  a  child  or  children  of  school  age,  some  one  or  more  of  whom  shall  have  attended 
the  school  of  the  district  for  a  period  of  at  least  eight  weeks  within  the  year  preceding 
the  time  at  which  the  vote  is  offered. 

Several  of  the  large  cities  hold  their  elections  on  the  first  Tues- 
day in  March,  while  the  majority  of  the  rural  districts  hold  their 
school  meetings  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  October.  Prepara- 
tions were  at  once  made  to  call  out  a  large  vote  of  women  in  the 
cities  holding  spring  elections,  but  all  such  efforts  were  checked 
by  official  action.  The  mayor  of  Rochester  wrote  to  the  gov- 
ernor, asking  him  if  the  new  law  applied  to  cities.  Mr.  Cornell  laid 
the  question  before  Attorney-General  Ward,  who  promptly  gave 
an  opinion  that  inasmuch  as  the  words  "school  meeting"  were 
used  in  the  law,  women  could  only  vote  where  such  meetings 
were  held,  but  were  not  entitled  to  vote  at  the  elections  in  large 
cities.  Meantime  the  New  York  City  Association  called  a  meeting 
of  congratulation  on  the  passage  of  the  bill  on  February  25, 
when  Robinson  Hall  was  crowded  to  overflowing  with  the  friends 
of  woman  suffrage,  some  of  whom  addressed  the  vast  audience.* 

A  mass-meeting  of  women  was  held  at  Albany,  in  Geological 
Hall,  Mrs.  Blake  presiding.  It  was  especially  announced  that  the 
meeting  was  only  for  ladies,  but  several  men  who  strayed  in  were 
permitted  to  remain,  to  take  that  part  in  the  proceedings  usually 
allowed  to  women  in  masculine  assemblies,  that  is,  to  be  silent 
spectators.  Resolutions  were  passed,  urging  the  women  to  vote 
at  the  coming  election,  and  the  names  of  several  ladies  were  sug- 
gested as  trustees.  March  19,  1880,  the  Albany  County  Woman 
Suffrage  Association  f  was  formed,  whose  first  active  duty  was  to 
rouse  the  women  to  vote  in  the  coming  school  election,  which  they 
did,  in  spite  of  the  attorney-general's  opinion. 


*  Rev.  Robert  Collyer,  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon,  Clara  Neyman,  Augusta  Cooper  Bristol,  Helen  M.  Slo- 
cuin,  Hamilton  Wilcox,  Mrs.  Devereux  liluke,  and  Dr.  Clemence  Lozier  whoipresided. 

t  Mary  Seymour  Howell,  President:  Miss  Kate  Stoneman,  Secretary.  .  Miss  Stoneman  cast  the  first 
vote  at  the  school  election  in  Albany. 


426  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Mr.  Edwin  G.  Halbert  of  Broome  also  introduced  a  bill  in  the 
Senate,  for  a  constitutional  amendment,  to  secure  to  women  the 
right  of  suffrage,  which  was  passed  by  that  conservative  body  just 
before  its  adjournment.  Meantime  Mr.  Wilcox  urged  the  passage 
of  the  bill  to  prohibit  disfranchisement,  which  was  brought  to  a 
third  reading  in  the  Assembly.  He  prepared  and  circulated  among 
the  members  of  the  legislature  a  brief,*  showing  their  power  to 
extend  the  suffrage.  The  argument  is  unanswerable,  establishing 
the  fact  that  women  had  voted  through  the  early  days  of  the 
Colonies,  and  proving,  by  unanswerable  authorities,  their  right  to 
do  so ;  thus  establishing  the  right  of  women  to  vote  in  1885. 
Mr.  Wilcox'  researches  on  this  point  will  prove  invaluable  in  the 
enfranchisement  of  woman,  as  his  facts  are  irresistible.  Follow- 
ing is  the  proposed  bill : 

AN  ACT  to  Prohibit  Disfranchisement. 

Introduced  in  the  Assembly  by  Hon.  Alex.  F.  Andrews,  March  31,  1880.  Reported 
by  the  Judiciary  Committee  for  consideration,  May  24.  Ordered  to  third  reading,  May 
27.  Again  so  reported,  unanimously,  March  16,  1881.  Again  ordered  to  third  read- 
ing, May  3,  1881  ;  ayes  60,  noes  40.  Vote  on  passage,  May  II,  1881  ;  ayes  59,  noes 
55,  majority  4.  (65  necessary  to  pass). 

Whereas,  the  common  law  entitles  women  to  vote  under  the  same  qualifications  as 
men  ;  and 

Whereas,  said  common  law  has  never  been  abrogated  in  this  State;  and 

Whereas,  a  practice  nevertheless  obtains  of  treating  as  disfranchised  all  persons  to 
whom  suffrage  is  not  secured  by  express  words  of  the  constitution;  and 

Whereas,  the  constitution  makes  no  provision  for  this  practice,  but  on  the  contrary 
declares  that  its  own  object  is  to  secure  the  blessings  of  freedom  to  the  people,  and 
provides  that  no  member  of  this  State  shall  be  disfranchised  or  deprived  of  any  of  the 
privileges  secured  to  any  citizen  unless  by  constitutional  provision  and  judicial  decision 
thereunder;  and 

Whereas,  this  practice,  despite  the  want  of  authority  therefor,  has  by  continuance 
acquired  the  force  of  law;  and 

Whereas,  many  citizens  object  to  this  practice  as  a  violation  of  the  spirit  and  pur- 
pose of  the  constitution,  as  well  as  against  justice  and  public  policy;  and 

Whereas,  the  legislature  has  corrected  this  practice  in  repeated  instances,  its  power 
to  do  so  being  in  such  instances  fully  recognized  and  exercised;  therefore 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and  Assembly,  do  en- 
act as  follows: 

SECTION  I.  Every  woman  shall  be  free  to  vote,  under  the  qualifications  required  of 
men,  or  to  refrain  from  voting,  as  she  may  choose;  and  no  person  shall  be  debarred, 
by  reason  of  sex,  from  voting  at  any  election,  or  at  any  town  meeting,  school  meet- 
ing, or  other  choice  of  government  functionaries  whatsoever. 

SEC.  2.     All  acts  and  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  with  this  act,  are  hereby  repealed. 

SEC.  3.     This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

Various  memorials  were  sent  to  the  legislature  in  behalf  of  this 
bill,  and  a  hearing  was  granted  to  its  advocates.f  The  Assembly 


*  See  appendix. 

t  Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Slocum,  Mrs  Saxon,  of  Louisiana. 


Voting  for  School  Officers.  427 

chamber  in  the  beautiful  newcapitol  was.  crowded  as  it  had  never 
been  before.  A  large  proportion  of  the  senators  and  assembly- 
men were  present,  many  of  the  judges  from  the  various  courts, 
while  the  governor  and  lieutenant-governor  occupied  prominent 
places,  and  large  crowds  of  fashionable  ladies  and  leading  gentle- 
men filled  the  seats  and  galleries.  The  chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee, Hon.  George  L.  Ferry,  presided.  The  ladies  were  graciously 
received  by  the  governor,  who,  at  their  request,  gave  them  the 
pen  with  which  he  signed  the  bill  providing  "  school  suffrage  for 
women,"  and  in  return  they  presented  him  a  handsome  gold- 
mounted  pen,  a  gift  from  the  City  Society. 

The  first  voting  by  women  after  the  passage  of  the  new  law, 
was  at  Syracuse,  February  17,  only  five  days  after  the  bill 
received  the  governor's  signature,  but  the  great  body  of  women 
had  not  the  opportunity  until  October.  At  that  time  in  Fayette- 
ville,  the  home  of  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  women  voted  in  large 
numbers  ;  the  three  who  had  been  placed  upon  the  ticket,  trus- 
tee, clerk  and  librarian  were  all  elected.  It  was  an  hour  of  tri- 
umph for  Mrs.  Gage  who  was  heartily  congratulated  upon  the 
result.  It  was  remarked  that  so  quiet  an  election  had  seldom 
been  known.  At  Middletown,  Orange  county,  Dr.  Lydia  Sayre 
Hasbrook  urged  the  women  to  take  advantage  of  their  new  privi- 
lege, and  when  the  day  of  election  came,  although  it  was  cold  and 
stormy,  over  200  voted,  and  elected  the  entire  ticket  of  women 
for  trustees,  Mrs.  Hasbrook  herself  being  chosen  as  one. 

There  were  many  places,  however,  where  no  women  voted,  for 
the  reform  had  all  the  antagonisms  and  prejudices  of  custom  to 
overcome.  Many  obstacles  were  thrown  in  the  way  to  prevent 
them  from  exercising  this  right.  The  men  of  their  families  ob- 
jecting, and  misconstruing  the  law,  kept  them  in  doubt  both  as  to 
their  rights  and  duties.  The  clergy  from  their  pulpits  warned 
the  women  of  their  congregations  not  to  vote,  fathers  forbade 
their  daughters,  husbands  their  wives.  The  wonder  is  that  against 
such  a  pressure  so  many  women  did  vote  after  all. 

October  12,  1880,  the  elections  took  place  in  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  eleven  thousand  school  districts  of  the  State,  and  the 
daily  journals  were  full  of  items  as  to  the  result.  We  copy  a  few 
of  these : 

LOWVILLE,  Lewis  County,  Oct.  16,  1880. — The  business  meeting  was  held  on  the 
evening  of  the  I2th,  and  was  attended  by  twenty  ladies.  On  the  following  day  at 
i  i1.  M.,  the  election  was  held.  The  ladies  had  an  independent  ticket  opposing  the  in- 
cumbent clerk  and  trustee.  Seven  voted.  Four  were  challenged.  They  swore  their 


428  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

votes  in.  Boys  just  turned  twenty-one  years  of  age  voted  unchallenged.  The  clerk, 
who  is  a  young  sprig  of  a  lawyer,  made  himself  conspicuous  by  challenging  our  votes. 
He  first  read  the  opinion  of  the  State  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  and  said  that 
the  penalty  for  illegal  voting  was  not  less  than  six  months'  imprisonment.  My  vote 
was  challenged,  and  although  my  husband  is  an  owner  of  much  real  estate  and  cannot 
sell  one  foot  of  it  without  my  consent,  I  could  not  vote. 

From  Penn  Yan  a  woman  writes  : — About  seventy  ladies  voted  here,  but  none  who 
did  not  either  own  or  lease  real  estate.  The  argument  so  often  used  against  woman 
suffrage — viz:  that  the  first  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege  would  be  those  least 
qualified  to  do  so,  is  directly  refuted,  in  this  town  at  least,  since  the  ladies  who  voted 
are  without  doubt  those  who  by  natural  ability  and  by  culture  are  abundantly  compe- 
tent to  vote  intelligently  as  well  as  conscientiously. 

A  woman  in  Nunda  writes : — Only  six  women  attended  the  school  meeting  in  the 
first  district  on  the  I2th,  but  over  forty  went  to  the  polls  on  the  I3th.  Two  women 
were  on  one  of  the  tickets;  the  opposition  ticket  was  made  up  entirely  of  males.  We 
were  supported  by  the  best  men  in  the  village.  The  ticket  bearing  the  names  of  Mrs. 
Fidelia  J.  M.  Whitcomb,  M.  D.,  and  Mrs.  S.  Augusta  Herrick,  was  elected. 

From  Poland  a  woman  writes  : — Our  school  meeting  was  attended  by  about  thirty 
men  and  two  women.  The  population  of  the  village  is  between  three  and  four  hund- 
red. My  neighbor  and  I  were  proud  of  the  privilege  of  casting  our  first  vote.  There 
was  nothing  of  special  interest  to  call  out  voters,  as  our  trustees  are  satisfactory  to  all. 
If  circumstances  required,  there  would  be  many  women  voters  here. 

David  Hopkins  and  Gustave  Dettloff  were  candidates  for  school  trustee  in  district 
No.  I  of  New  Lots,  Long  Island,  at  the  last  election.  Mr.  Hopkins  is  a  farmer  and  was 
seeking  reelection.  Mr.  Dettloff  is  connected  with  an  insurance  company  in  this  city, 
and  is  a  well-known  resident  of  the  town.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Hopkins  about  an  hour 
before  the  closing  of  the  polls,  perceived  that  there  was  danger  of  their  candidate's 
defeat.  A  consultation  was  held,  and  it  was  decided  to  utilize  the  new  law  giving 
women  the  privilege  of  voting.  Accordingly,  several  farm  wagons  were  procured  and 
sent  through  the  district  to  gather  in  the  farmers'  wives  and  daughters.  The  wagons 
returned  to  the  polls  with  107  women,  all  of  whom  voted  for  Mr.  Hopkins,  thus  saving 
him  from  defeat.  It  was  too  late  to  use  a  counter  poison.  The  total  number  of  votes 
cast  was  329,  Mr.  Hopkins  receiving  eighty  majority. 

PORT  JERVIS.  Oct.  13. — The  annual  election  of  school  trustees  occurred  to-day 
and  was  attended  with  unusual  excitement.  Eight  hundred  and  thirty  votes  were 
polled,  150,  for  the  women's  ticket,  the  remainder  being  divided.  Only  fifty 
ladies  voted,  a  great  many  being  kept  from  the  polls  by  the  crowd  of  loafers 
standing  around.  The  Protestant  ticket,  composed  of  three  men,  was  elected.  The 
election  was  held  in  a  small  room,  and  this  was  crowded  with  men  who  amused  them- 
selves by  passing  remarks  about  the  ladies  until  the  police  were  called  in.  Every  lady 
who  offered  her  vote  was  challenged  and  a  great  many  left  the  polls  in  disgust.  In 
Carpenter's  Point  and  Sparrowbush,  two  suburbs  of  the  village,  the  ladies  voted  and 
were  not  molested. 

Only  a  few  women  voted  on  Tuesday  evening  at  the  election  for  school  trustees  in 
the  first  district  of  Southfield,  Staten  Island.  When  the  poll  was  opened  Judge  John  G. 
Vaughan,  the  retiring  trustee,  presided.  A  motion  was  made  to  reeled  him  by  ac- 
clamation. Amid  great  confusion  Judge  Vaughan  put  the  motion  and  declared  it 
carried.  Then  Officers  Fitzgerald  and  Leary  had  to  take  charge  of  the  meeting  to 
preserve  order,  and  Judge  Vaughan's  opponents  withdrew,  threatening  proceedings 
to  have  the  election  declared  invalid.  Abram  C.  Wood  was  elected  school  trustee  in 
the  West  New  Brighton  (S.  I.)  district  by  69  majority,  which  included  the  votes  of 
eight  of  eleven  women  present.  Other  women  promised  to  vote  if  Mr.  Wood  needed 
their  support.  Mr.  Robert  B.  Minturn  presided. 

SING  SING,  Oct.  13. — Five  women  voted  at  the  school  meeting  last  night. 


Reports  of  the   Voting.  429 

MOUNT  MORRIS,  Oct.  13. — One  hundred  and  twenty  women  voted  at  the  school 
election  here  last  evening. 

GLEN'S  FALLS,  Oct.  13. — I  am  informed  that  women  did  vote  here  and  in  the 
neighborhood  last  evening. 

PERRY,  Oct.  13. — A  large  woman  vote  was  cast  here.  Two  women  were  elected 
members  of  the  school-board. 

PEEKSKILL,  Oct.  13. — Five  women  voted  in  one  district. 

SHELTER  ISLAND,  Oct.  13. — Women  voted  at  our  school  meeting. 

COFFIN  SUMMIT,  Oct.  15. — Six  women  voted  at  the  school  meeting  here.  A  lady 
was  nominated  for  trustee  and  received  many  votes,  but  was  defeated. 

STAMFORD,  Oct.  15. — Four  ladies  voted  at  the  school  meeting. 

PORT  RICHMOND,  Oct.  15. — Six  ladies  attended  the  school  meeting.  The  chair- 
man, Mr.  Sidney  P.  Ronason,  made  a  speech,  welcoming  them,  stating  that  an 
unsuccessful  effort  had  been  made  by  citizens  to  induce  a  leading  lady  to  become  a 
candidate  for  trustee;  also,  that  Lester  A.  Scofield,  the  retiring  trustee,  would  cheer- 
fully give  way  if  any  competent  lady  would  take  his  place.  This  Mr.  Scofield  con- 
firmed, but,  no  lady  being  nominated,  he  was  reelected  without  opposition. 

BALDWINVILLE,  Oct.  15. — Thirty-three  ladies  voted  at  the  school  election. 

LOCKPORT,  Oct.  15. — Two  Quaker  ladies  voted  at  the  school  meeting  of  the 
first  district  of  this  township.  One  of  them,  Dr.  Sarah  Lanb  Gushing,  was  chosen 
tax-collector  by  23  votes  out  of  26.  On  the  entrance  of  the  ladies,  smoking  and  all 
disorder  ceased,  and  the  meeting  was  uncommonly  well-conducted. 

LAWTON  STATION,  Oct.  15. — Of  the  16  votes  cast  at  the  school  meeting  here,  15 
were  given  by  women.  A  woman  received  the  highest  vote  for  school  trustee,  but 
withdrew  in  favor  of  one  of  the  male  candidates.  The  proceedings  were  enlivened 
with  singing  by  the  pupils  under  the  direction  of  the  teacher.  Several  improvements 
in  the  building  were  ordered  at  the  instance  of  the  ladies. 

KNOWLESVILLE,  Oct.  15. — Many  women  meant  to  vote  at  the  school  meeting, 
but  a  person  went  from  house  to  house  and  threatened  them  with  legal  penalties 
if  they  did.  Mrs.  James  Kernholtz  was  nominated  for  tax-collector  at  the  meeting, 
but  declined,  saying  the  pay  was  too  small.  Miss  Adelina  Lockwood,  being  nomi- 
nated for  librarian,  declined,  but  was  elected  by  acclamation,  amid  great  applause. 
The  meeting  was  very  large,  but  unusually  orderly. 

FLUSHING,  Oct.  15. — Forty  women  voted  at  the  school  meeting  here,  and  in  the 
adjoining  district. 

SYRACUSE,  Oct.  14,  1881. — At  the  Fayetteville,  Onondaga  county,  school-dis- 
trict election  yesterday,  a  direct  issue  was  made  on  the  question  of  woman's  rights. 
The  candidate  of  the  women  was  chosen.  This  is  the  women's  second  victory  in 
that  place,  giving  them  control  of  the  school-board. 

A  correspondent  describing  what  the  voters  had  to  enconnter, 
said : 

Is  the  question  asked,  why  have  not  more  women  voted  ?  I  answer, 
hundreds  of  women  in  this  State  were  debarred  by  falsehood  and 
intimidation.  No  sooner  had  the  school  suffrage  law  passed  than 
the  wildest  statements  about  it  were  made.  It  was  given  out  that 
the  Governor  had  recalled  the  bill  from  the  Secretary  of  State  after  sign- 
ing it  (which  he  could  not  do),  and  vetoed  it ;  that  the  law  was  unconsti- 
tutional ;  that  it  was  defective  and  inoperative ;  that  it  did  not  apply  to 
cities  and  villages;  that  it  had  been  repealed;  and  like  untruths.  Pains 
was  taken  to  hide  its  existence  by  corrupt  officials,  who  told  the  women 
that  the  law  did  not  apply  to  the  places  where  they  lived,  or  who  withheld 
the  fact  of  its  passage.  The  State  was  flooded  just  before  the  elections  with 


430  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

an  incorrect  statement  that  only  the  rich  women  could  vote ;  that  the 
children's  mothers  could  not  unless  they  held  real  estate.  The  story  was 
also  set  afloat  that  the  attorney-general  had  indorsed  this  statement ; 
which  that  gentleman  promply  repudiated.  All  this  we  corrected  as  fast 
and  as  far  as  we  could  ;  but  it  unavoidably  did  much  harm. 

Wholesale  hindrance  and  terrorism  too,  were  used.  A  few  samples  are 
these  :  In  Albany,  many  women  were  threatened  by  their  own  husbands 
with  expulsion  from  house  and  home,  imprisonment,  bodily  violence  or 
death  if  they  dared  vote  ;  while  many  others  were  deterred  by  insults  and 
threats  of  social  persecution.  Many  persons  ridiculed  and  abused  those 
who  sought  to  vote.  In  some  districts  the  inspectors  refused  to  register 
qualified  women,  while  in  others  votes  were  refused.  Statements  were 
widely  published  that  the  law  did  not  apply  to  Alban)'.  In  Knowersville,  the 
village  teacher  went  to  every  house,  and  threatened  the  women  with  state- 
prison  if  they  dared  to  vote.  In  Mount  Morris,  the  president  of  the  Board 
of  Education  denounced  the  ladies  who  induced  others  to  vote.  In  Fayette- 
ville,  Saratoga  and  elsewhere,  the  ladies'  request  for  some  share  in  making 
the  tickets  was  scornfully  ignored.  In  Port  Jervis,  the  Board  of  Education 
declined  a  hall  that  was  offered,  and  had  the  election  in  a  low,  dirty  little 
room.  Smoke  was  puffed  in  the  ladies'  faces,  challenges  were  frequent, 
and  all  sorts  of  impudent  questions  were  asked  of  the  voters.  In  Long 
Island  City  many  ladies  were  challenged,  and  stones  were  thrown  in  the 
street  at  Mrs.  Emma  Gates  Conkling,  the  lady  who  was  most  active 
in  bringing  out  the  new  voters.  In  New  Brighton,  the  village  paper 
threatened  the  women  with  jail  if  they  voted ;  and  when  a  motion  was 
made  in  one  district  that  the  ladies  be  invited  to  attend,  a  large  negative 
vote  was  given,  one  man  shouting,  "  We  have  enough  of  women  at  home  ; 
we  don't  want  'em  here !"  At  West  New  Brighton  it  was  openly  an- 
nounced that  the  meeting  should  be  too  turbulent  for  ladies,  insomuch 
that  many  who  intended  to  go  staid  away,  and  the  few  who  went  were 
obliged  to  wait  till  all  the  men  had  voted.  In  Newham  a  gang  of  low 
fellows  took  possession  of  the  polling  place  early,  filled  it  with  smoke  of 
the  worst  tobacco,  and  covered  the  floor  with  tobacco  juice  ;  and  through 
all  this  the  few  ladies  who  ventured  to  vote  had  to  pass.  In  New  York  a 
man  who  claims  to  be  a  gentleman  said  :  "  If  my  wife  undertook  to  vote  I 
would  trample  her  under  my  feet."  In  New  Rochelle  the  school  trustee 
told  the  women  they  were  not  entitled  to  vote,  and  tried  to  prevent  a 
meeting  being  held  to  inform  them.  Clergymen  from  the  pulpit  urged 
women  not  to  vote,  and  a  mob  gathered  at  the  polls  and  blocked  the  way. 
These  are  but  samples  of  the  difficulties  under  which  the  new  law  went 
into  operation  ;  and  it  is  the  truth  that  there  was  as  much  bulldozing  of 
voters  in  New  York  as  ever  in  the  South,  though  sometimes  by  other 
means. 

In  1880  Mrs.  Blake  was  sent  by  the  New  York  society  to  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  presidential  conventions  at  Chicago 
and  Cincinnati,  and  on  her  return  a  meeting  was  called  in  Repub- 
lican Hall,  July  9,  to  hear  her  report  as  to  the  comparative  treat- 


The  Bill  to  Prohibit  D  is  franc  his  ement.          431 

ment  received  by  the  delegates  in  the  two  conventions.  Soon 
afterwards  a  delegation  of  ladies  *  waited  on  Winfield  S.  Han- 
cock, the  Democratic  nominee,  who  received  them  with  much 
courtesy,  saying  he  was  quite  willing  to  interpret,  in  its  broadest 
sense,  that  clause  of  his  letter  of  acceptance  wherein  he  said  :  "  It 
is  only  by  a  full  vote  and  a  fair  count  that  the  people  can  rule  in 
fact,  as  required  by  the  theory  of  our  government."  "  I  am  will- 
ing, ladies,"  said  the  general,  "to  have  you  say  that  I  believe  in 
a  free  ballot  for  all  the  people  of  the  United  States,  women  as 
well  as  men." 

Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Slocum  and  Mr.  Wilcox  made  quite  an  ex- 
tensive canvass  through  many  counties  of  the  State,  to  rouse  the 
women  to  use  their  right  to  vote  on  all  school  matters. 

The  bill  to  prohibit  disfranchisement  was  again  introduced  in 
the  legislature  of  1881,  by  Joseph  M.  Congdon,  and  ordered  to 
a  third  reading  May  3,  by  a  vote  of  60  to  40,  and  on  May  1 1  came 
up  for  final  action,  when  the  ladies,  by  special  courtesy,  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  floor  of  the  Assembly  chamber  to  listen  to  the  dis- 
cussion. General  Francis  B.  Spinola  and  General  James  W. 
Husted  made  earnest  speeches  in  favor  of  the  bill,  and  Hon. 
Erastus  Brooks  and  General  George  A.  Sharpe  in  opposition. 
The  roll-call  gave  57  ayes  to  55  noes — a  majority  of  those  present, 
but  not  the  majority  (65)  of  all  the  members  of  the  Assembly, 
which  the  constitution  of  New  York  requires  for  the  final  passage 
of  a  bill.  The  vote  astonished  the  opponents,  and  placed  the 
measure  among  the  grave  questions  of  the  day.  This  substantial 
success  inspired  the  friends  to  renewed  efforts.f 

The  necessity  of  properly  qualified  women  in  the  police  sta- 
tions again  came  up  for  consideration.  The  condition  of  unfor- 
tunate women  nightly  consigned  to  these  places  had  long  been  set 
forth  by  the  leaders  of  the  suffrage  movement.  In  New  York 
there  were  thirty-two  station-houses  in  which,  from  night  to  night, 
from  five  to  forty  women  were  lodged,  some  on  criminal  charges, 
some  from  extreme  poverty.  All  there,  young  and  old,  were  en- 
tirely in  the  hands  of  men,  in  sickness  or  distress.  If  search  was 
to  be  made  on  charge  of  theft,  it  was  always  a  male  official  who 
performed  the  duty.  If  the  most  delicate  and  refined  lady  were 

*  Miss  Helen  Potter,  Miss  Susan  A.  King,  Miss  Helen  M.  Slocum,  Miss  Harriet  K.  Dolaon  and  Mrs. 
Devcreux  Blake. 

t  Mrs.  Rogers  organized  a  society  in  Lansingburg,  Mrs.  Loder  in  Poughkeepsie,  Miss  Stoneman  held 
meetings  in  Chautauqua  county,  Mrs.  Howellin  Livingston  county,  Mrs.  Blake  in  ten  other  counties,  and 
held  several  parlor  meetings  in  New  York  city.  The  annual  convention  of  the  State  society  was  held  in 
Chickering  Hall,  February  i,  2,  1882. 


43  2 


Tistory  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


taken  ill  on  the  street,  or  injured  in  any  way,  she  was  liable  to  be 
taken  to  the  nearest  station,  where  the  needful  examinations  to 
ascertain  if  life  yet  lingered  must  be  made  by  men.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  a  resolution  was  again  passed  at  the  State  conven- 
tion, and  request  made  to  the  police  commissioners,  to  permit  a 
delegation  of  ladies  to  meet  with  them  in  conference.  The  com- 
missioners deigned  no  reply,  but  gave  the  letter  to  the  press, 
whereupon  ensued  a  storm  of  comment  and  ridicule. 

On  consultation  with  Mrs.  Josephine  Shaw  Lowell,  commis- 
sioner of  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  a  bill  was  drawn  up  and 
sent  to  Albany,  providing  for  the  appointment  of  one  or  more 
police-matrons  at  every  station-house  in  cities  of  50,000  inhabi- 
tants and  upwards,  the  salaries  to  be  $600  each.  Hon.  J.  C.  Boyd 
presented  the  bill  in  the  Senate,  where  it  passed  April  18.  In 
the  Assembly  its  passage  was  urged  by  Hon.  Michael  C.  Murphy, 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Cities.  Meantime  Mayor  Grace 
and  Comptroller  Campbell  entered  their  protest  against  the  bill, 
declaring  the  measure  ought  to  originate  in  the  city  departments, 
where  there  was  full  power  to  appoint  police-matrons ;  also,  that 
the  proposed  salaries  would  be  a  heavy  drain  upon  the  city 
treasury.  The  comptroller  was  at  once  informed  of  the  previous 
application  to  the  police  commissioners,  from  whom  no  reply  had 
been  received,  which  virtually  compelled  appeal  to  the  legislature. 
And  as  to  salaries,  it  was  suggested  that  there  were  now  on  the 
pay-roll  of  the  police  of  New  York  2,500  men  whose  salaries 
amounted  to  over  $2,500,000,  whereas  the  bill  before  the  legisla- 
ture asked  for  only  sixty  matrons,  whose  salaries  would  amount 
to  but  $36,000.  This  was  certainly  a  most  reasonable  demand 
for  the  protection  of  one-half  the  people  of  the  city,  who  paid 
fully  half  the  indirect  taxes  as  well  as  a  fair  proportion  of  the 
direct  taxes.  Finally,  it  was  proposed  to  the  comptroller  that 
the  bill  should  be  withdrawn  if  he  would  recommend  the  appoint- 
ment of  police-matrons  in  the  city  departments.  This  was  not 
accepted.  The  Committee  on  Cities  gave  a  hearing  to  Mrs. 
Blake,  and  reported  unanimously  in  favor  of  the  bill.  Public  sen- 
timent supported  the  measure,  the  press  generally  advocated  it, 
and  the  Assembly  passed  the  bill  by  a  vote  of  96  to  7 ;  but  it 
failed  to  receive  the  signature  of  the  governor, — a  most  striking 
proof  of  the  need  of  the  ballot  for  women  ;  since,  friendly  as  he 
was  to  woman's  enfranchisement,  when  he  found  the  police  de- 
partment, with  its  thousands  of  attaches,  all  with  votes  in  their 


Need  of  Higher  Education.  433 

hands,  opposed,  Governor  Cornell  was  found  wanting  in  courage 
and  conscience  to  sign  this  bill  for  women  who  had  no  votes.* 
The  next  year  application  was  again  made  to  the  city  authorities 
for  the  appointment  of  matrons,  but  they  refused  to  act.  The 
bill  was  remtroduced  in  the  legislature,  passed  by  a  large  majority 
in  the  Assembly,  but  defeated  in  the  Senate  by  the  adverse  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Cities.  A  mass-meeting  to  discuss  this 
question  of  police-matrons  was  held  in  Steinway  Hall,  March  I, 
at  which  the  speakers  f  all  urged  such  appointments. 

During  the  winter  of  1882  an  effort  was  made  in  New  York  city 
to  secure  the  enforcement  of  the  law  enacted  by  the  previous  leg- 
islature, which  provided  that  seats  should  be  furnished  for  the 
"shop-girls."  Mrs.  Emma  Gates  Conkling  caused  the  arrest  of 
certain  prominent  shop-keepers  on  the  charge  of  not  complying 
with  the  law,  but  on  coming  to  trial  the  suits  were  withdrawn  on 
the  promise  of  the  delinquents  to  give  seats  to  their  employes. 

During  the  winter  of  1882  agitation  for  the  higher  education  of 
women  was  renewed,  and  a  society  organized  by  some  of  the 
most  influential  ladies  in  the  city.  They  rolled  up  a  petition  of 
1,200,  asking  that  Columbia  College  be  opened  to  women.  Presi- 
dent Barnard  had  recommended  this  in  his  reports  for  three 
years.  The  agitation  culminated  in  a  grand  meeting  f  in  the 
new  Union  League  Theater.  Parke  Godwin  of  the  Evening  Post 
presided.  The  audience  was  chiefly  composed  of  fashionable 
ladies,  whose  equipages  filled  Thirty-eighth  street  blocks  away, 
yet  not  a  woman  sat  on  the  platform  ;  not  a  woman's  voice  was 
heard  ;  even  the  report  of  the  society  was  read  by  a  man,  and 
every  inspiration  of  the  occasion  was  filtered  through  the  brain 
of  some  man.  Among  other  things,  Mr.  Godwin,  son-in-law  of 
the  poet  Bryant,  said  : 

We  speak  of  the  higher  education  of  women.  Why  not  also  of  men  ? 
Because  they  already  have  the  opportunity  for  obtaining  it.  The  idea 
upon  which  our  government  is  built  is  the  idea  of  equal  rights  for  all ;  and 
that  means  equal  opportunities.  Every  society  needs  all  the  best  intellect 
that  it  can  get.  We  have  many  evil  influences  acting  upon  our  society 
here,  and  we  need  the  all-controlling  influence  of  woman.  We  cannot  fix 
a  standard  for  her.  History  shows  what  she  has  done,  in  a  Vespasia,  Vit- 

*  The  press  generally  commented  unfavorably.  The  Htrald  said  :  "  The  legislature  passed  a  bill 
in  the  interest  of  decency  and  humanity,  authorizing  the  appointment  of  matrons  in  the  several  police 
stations  in  the  city  of  New  York  to  look  after  female  prisoners  who  might  be  placed  in  the  station- 
houses.  This  bill  was  recommended  by  our  best  charitable  and  religious  societies,  but  failed  to  receive 
the  sanction  of  the  governor,  although  he  very  promptly  signed  a  bill  to  increase  the  number  of  the 
detective  force." 

t  Mrs.  Emma  Gates  Conkling,  Mrs.  Clara  Neyman,  Dr.  Clcmcnce  Lozier  and  Mrs.  Blake. 
28 


434  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

toria  Colonna,  De  Stael,  Bremer,  Evans,  Somerville  and  Maria  Mitchell. 
She  does  not  go  out  of  her  sphere  when  she  is  so  highly  educated.  She 
can  darn  her  stockings  just  as  well  if  she  does  know  the  word  in  half-a- 
dozen  languages.  There  is  no  longer  novelty  in  this  movement ;  it  has 
been  tried  successfully  here  and  abroad  in  the  universities,  and  always 
with  success. 

Addresses  were  also  made  by  Rev.  Dr.  Stowe,  Dr.  William  Dra- 
per, Joseph  Choate,  and  others  eminent  in  one  way  or  another. 
The  meeting  closed  by  circulating  a  petition  for  presentation  to 
the  trustees  of  Columbia  College,  asking  that  properly  qualified 
women  be  admitted  to  lectures  and  examinations. 

The  bill  to  prohibit  disfranchisement  on  account  of  sex  was 
again  introduced  in  the  Assembly  by  Hon.  J.  Hampden  Robb, 
and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Grievances,  of  which  Major 
James  Haggerty  was  chairman,  who  gave  to  it  his  hearty  approval 
and  granted  t\vo  hearings  to  the  officers  of  the  State  society,  on 
behalf  of  the  large  number  of  memorialists  who.  had  sent  in  their 
petitions  from  all  parts  of  the  State.  The  women  of  Albany 
were  indefatigable  in  their  personal  appeals  to  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  Assembly,  urging  them  to  vote  for  the  bill,  while 
Major  Haggerty  was  ^fctiring  in  his  advocacy  of  the  measure. 
On  May  3  there  was  an  animated  discussion  :  *  the  bill  passed  to 
its  third  reading  by  an  overwhelming  vote,  which  alarmed  the 
opponents  into  making  a  thorough  canvass,  that  proved  to  them 
the  necessity  of  some  decisive  action  for  the  defeat  of  the  bill. 
The  Hon.  Erastas  Brooks  presented  a  resolution,  calling  on  the 
attorney-general  for  his  opinion  on  the  constitutionality  of  the 
proposed  law,  which  was  passed  in  a  moment  of  confusion,  and 
when  many  of  our  friends  were  absent.  Following  is  the  opinion 
elicited  : 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  OFFICE  OF  THE  ATTORNEY-GENERAL,  ) 

ALBANY,  May  10,  1882.      \ 
To  the  Assembly : 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  resolution  of  the 
Assembly  requesting  the  attorney-general  to  report  his  opinion  as  to  the 
constitutionality  of  Assembly  bill  No.  637,  which  provides  that  "every 
woman  shall  be  free  to  vote  under  the  qualifications  required  of  men,  or 
to  refrain  from  voting,  as  she  may  choose ;  and  no  person  shall  be  de- 
barred by  reason  of  sex  from  voting  at  any  election,  or  at  any  town  meet- 
ing, school  meeting,  or  other  choice  of  government  functionaries  whatso- 
ever," and  whether,  without  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  suffrage 

*  Major  Haggerty,  ex-Governor  Thomas  G.  Alvord  and  Hon.  James  D.  McMellan  in  its  favor;  Hon. 
Erastus  Brooks  and  General  Sharpe  against. 


Opinion  of  the  Attorney-General.  435 

can  be  granted  to  any  class  of  persons  not  named  in  the  constitution.  I 
reply : 

First — It  has  been  decided  so  often  by  the  judicial  tribunals  of  the  vari- 
ous States  of  the  Union,  and  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
that  suffrage  is  not  a  natural  inherent  right,  but  one  governed  by  the  law- 
making  power  and  regulated  by  questions  of  availability  and  expediency, 
instead  of  absolute,  inalienable  right  (i,  3),  that  the  question  is  no  longer 
open  for  discussion,  either  by  the  judicial  forum  or  legislative  assemblies 
'(Burnham  vs.  Laning,  i  Legal  Gazette  Rep.,  411,  Supreme  Court  Penn.  ;  Mi- 
nor vs.  Happersett,  21  Wallace,  162  ;  Day  -vs.  Jones,  ji  California,  261 ;  An- 
derson vs.  Baker,  23  Maryland,  jj>/  /  Abbott  -vs.  Bay  ley,  6  Pickering,  92  ;  2 
Dallas,  471-2 ;  In  re  Susan  B.  Anthony,  if  Blatchford,  200).  At  the  com- 
mon law  women  had  no  right  to  vote  and  no  political  status  (2,4)  (Maine's 
Ancient  Law,  140  ;  Cooley's  Const.  Lim.,  jpp  ;  Blackstone's  Comm.,  ///). 

Second — Therefore  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York,  providing 
that  every  male  citizen  of  the  age  of  21  years  who  shall  have  certain  other 
qualifications,  may  vote,  the  determination  of  the  organic  law  specifying 
who  shall  have  the  privilege  of  voting,  excludes  all  other  classes  (5),  such 
as  women,  persons  under  21  years  of  age  and  aliens.  The  argument  that, 
because  women  are  not  expressly  prohibited,  they  may  vote,  fails  to  give 
the  slightest  force  to  the  term  "  male  "  in  the  constitution ;  and  by  the 
same  force  of  reasoning,  the  expression  of  the  term  "citizen  "  and  the 
statement  of  the  age  of  21  years  would  not  necessarily  exclude  aliens  and 
those  under  21  years  of  age  from  voting  (6).  Therefore,  assuming  that 
•our  organic  law  was  properly  adopted  without  the  participation  of  women 
either  in  making  or  adopting  it  (7),  that  organic  law  controls. 

Third — It  follows,  therefore,  as  a  logical  consequence  that  the  proposed 
reform  cannot  be  accomplished  except  by  an  amendment  of  the  constitu- 
tion ratified  by  two  successive  legislatures  and  the  people,  or  by  a  consti- 
tutional convention,  whose  work  shall  be  sanctioned  by  a  vote  of  the 
people.  LESLIE  W.  RUSSELL,  Attorney-General* 

Weak  as  was  this  document,  and  untenable  as  were  its  asser- 
tions, it  had  great  weight  with  many  of  the  members  of  the  legis- 
lature coming  as  the  opinion  did  from  the  attorney-general  of  the 
State.  The  friends  of  the  bill  resolved  to  call  for  the  vote  when 
the  bill  should  be  reached,  and  on  May  16,  the  women  were 
present  in  large  numbers,  listening  with  intense  interest  to  the 
brief  speeches  of  the  members  for  and  against,  and  watching  and 
•counting  the  vote  as  the  roll-call  proceeded,  which  resulted  in  54 
ayes  and  59  noes,  lacking  three  votes  of  a  majority  of  those  pres- 
ent and  only  eleven  of  the  requisite  number,  sixty-five.  In  view 
of  the  official  opinion  against  its  constitutionality  amounting  to 
a  legal  decision,  this  was  a  most  gratifying  vote.f 


*  Mr.  Hamilton  Wilcox  at  once  prepared  an  able  paper,  refuting  the  attorney-general's  assertion.  It 
•was  widely  circulated  throughout  the  State. 

t  When  the  vote  was  announced,  the  ladies  sent  the  page*  with  bouquets  to  the  leading  speakers  in 
behalf  of  the  bill,  and  button-hole  sprigs  to  the  fifty-four  who  voted  aye. 


436  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  presence  of  Leslie  W.  Russell  in  Albany,  as  attorney-gen- 
eral, rendered  it  useless  to  remtroduce  the  bill  to  prohibit  disfran- 
chisement  on  account  of  sex  in  the  legislature  of  1883,  but  in  its 
stead,  Dr.  John  G.  Boyd  of  New  York  introduced  a  proposition 
to  strike  "  male  "  from  the  suffrage  clause  of  the  constitution, 
which,  however,  received  only  fifteen  votes. 

To  pass  from  the  State  to  the  Church,  the  winter  of  1883  was 
notable  for  the  delivery  of  a  series  of  Lenten  lectures  on  woman 
by  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.  D.,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New 
York,  afterwards  published  in  book  form  under  the  title,  "  The 
Calling  of  a  Christian  Woman  and  her  Training  to  Fulfill  it." 
The  lectures  were  delivered  each  Friday  evening  during  Lent,  in 
Trinity  Chapel,  and  at  once  attracted  attention  from  their  con- 
servative, reactionary,  almost  monastic  views  of  woman's  posi- 
tion and  duties. 

After  reading  a  report  of  one  of  these  remarkable  essays  in 
which  women  were  gravely  told  their  highest  happiness  should 
be  found  in  singing  hymns,  Mrs.  Blake  decided  to  reply  to  them. 
She  secured  a  hall  on  Fourteenth  street,  and  on  successive  Sunday 
evenings  gave  addresses  in  reply.  Both  courses  of  lectures  were 
well  attended.  The  moderate  audiences  of  Trinity  Chapel  soon 
became  a  throng  that  more  than  filled  the  large  building,  while  the 
hall  in  which  Mrs.  Blake  spoke  was  packed  to  suffocation,  hun- 
dreds going  away  unable  to  gain  admittance.  The  press  every- 
where favored  the  broad  and  liberal  views  presented  by  Mrs. 
Blake,  and  denounced  the  old-time  narrow  theories  of  Dr.  Dix. 
Mrs.  Blake's  lectures  were  also  published  in  book  form  with  the 
title  of  "  Woman's  Place  To-day  "  and  had  a  large  circulation. 

The  Republicans  again  nominating  Mr.  Russell  for  attorney- 
general,  an  active  campaign  was  organized  against  him  and  in 
favor  of  the  Democratic  nominee,  Mr.  Dennis  O'Brien.  Protests* 


*  To  the  Women  of  the  State  of  Ne^v  York  : 

The  undersigned  urge  you  to  exert  yourselves  to  turn  every  vote  possible  against  Leslie  W.  Russell's 
reelection  as  attorney-general.  His  official  acts  prove  him  the  unscrupulous  foe  of  your  liberties.  By 
informing  tlie  legislature  that  you  have  no  right  to  vote  at  common  law,  he  has  denied  your  sacred 
rights  and  misrepresented  the  law  to  your  hurt.  By  stating  that  you  have  no  natural  right  to  vote,  he 
has  denied  your  title  to  freedom  and  sought  to  keep  your  rights  at  the  mercy  of  those  in  power.  By 
informing  the  legislature  that  the  bill  to  repeal  the  statutes  which  keep  you  from  voting  was  unconsti- 
tutional he  misled  the  legislature  and  kept  you  disfranchised.  By  thus  continuing  your  disfranchise- 
ment,  he  has  subjected  you  to  many  misfortunes  and  wrongs  which  the  repeal  of  your  disfranchisement 
would  cure,  and  is  personally  responsible  for  these  sufferings.  He  has  also  sought  to  rob  the  mothers 
of  this  State  of  their  votes  at  school  elections,  and  thus  to  deprive  them  of  the  power  to  control  their 
children's  education. 

[Signed:]  Clemence  S.  Lozier,  M.  D.,  New  York;  Mary  R.  Pell,  Queens;  Lillie  Devereux  Blake. 
New  York  ;  Caroline  A.  Bassett,  Erie  ;  Susan  A.  King,  New  York ;  Lucy  Shawler,  Chenango ;  Mary 
E.  Tallman,  Oneida  ;  Hannah  M.  Angel,  Allegany  ;  Ida  Louise  Dildine,  Broome  ;  Zerivah  L.  Watkeys. 


Reception  at  the  Capitol.  437 

against  Russell  were  circulated  throughout  the  State ;  Republi- 
can tickets  were  printed  with  the  name  of  Denis  O'Brien  for 
attorney-general,  and  on  election  day  women  distributed  these 
tickets,  and  made  every  possible  effort  to  ensure  the  defeat  of 
Russell ;  and  he  was  defeated  by  13,000  votes. 

The  legislature  of  1884  showed  a  marked  gain  ;  Hon.  Erastus 
Brooks,  General  George  A.  Sharpe,  and  other  prominent  oppo- 
nents had  been  retired,  and  their  seats  filled  by  active  friends. 
Our  bill  was  introduced  by  Mr.  William  Rowland  of  Cayuga,  and 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  Mr.  Rowland  also 
secured  the  passage  of  a  special  act,  granting  women  the  right  to 
vote  at  the  charter  elections  of  Union  Springs,  Cayuga  county. 
Under  similar  enactments  women  have  the  right  to  vote  for 
municipal  officers  in  Dansville,  Newport  and  other  villages  and 
towns  in  the  State. 

On  March  n,  12,  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  society  was 
Tield  in  the  City  Hall,  Albany,  with  a  good  representation*  from 
the  National  Convention  at  Washington,  added  to  our  own  State 
speakers. f  On  the  last  evening  there  was  an  overflow  meet- 
ing held  in  Geological  Hall,  presided  over  by  Mrs.  Matilda  Joslyn 
Gage. 

Governor  Cleveland  accorded  the  delegates  a  most  courteous 
reception  in  his  room  in  the  capitol.  A  hearing  was  had  before 
the  Judiciary  Committee  March  13.  The  assembly-chamber  was 
•crowded.  General  Rusted,  chairman  of  the  committee,  presided, 
and  Mrs.  Blake,  the  president  of  the  society,  introduced  the 
speakers.^:  A  few  days  later  the  same  committee  gave  a  special 

Onondaga ;  Asenath  C.  Coolidge,  Jefferson  ;  Sarah  H.  Hallock,  Ulster ;  N.  W.  Cooper,  Jefferson,  and 
•others. 
To  the  Republican  and  Independent  I'oters  of  the  State  of  Neva  York: 

The  undersigned  earnestly  ask  you  to  cast  your  votes  against  Leslie  \V.  Russell,  the  present  attorney- 
general.  When  the  legislature  last  year  was  about  to  repeal  the  election  laws  which  prevent  women 
from  exercising  the  right  of  suffrage,  Leslie  W.  Russell  stated  to  that  body  that  women  had  no  right  at 
common  law  to  vote,  and  that  this  bill  was  unconstitutional.  By  these  misstatemcnts  he  misled  the 
legislature,  defeated  this  most  righteous  bill  and  prolonged  the  disfranchiscment  of  women.  Thus  he 
inflicted  on  a  majority  of  our  adult  citizens,  who  had  committed  no  offense,  the  penalty  of  disfran- 
•chisement  and  the  great  mischiefs  which  flow  thence,  and,  like  Judge  Taney  in  the  Dred-Scott  de- 
cision, perverted  law  and  constitution  to  justify  injustice  and  continue  wrong.  A  vote  for  Leslie  W. 
Russell  is  a  vote  to  keep  these  women  disfranchised  and  to  prolong  these  mischiefs.  He  who  thus 
blocks  the  way  of  freedom  should  be  removed  from  the  place  which  enables  him  to  do  this.  You  can 
vote  at  this  election  for  fifteen  or  more  officers.  It  is  but  a  small  thing  to  ask,  that  each  of  you  cast 
•one-fifteenth  part  of  his  vote  to  represent  women's  interest  at  the  polls. 

[Signed:]  Clemence  S.  Lozier,  M.  D.,  Bronson  Murray,  Susan  A.  King,  Hamilton  Wilcox,  Lillie 
Devcreux  Blake,  Albert  O.  Wilcox. 

*  Abigail  Scott  Duniway,  editor  New  Northwest,  Oregon ;  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbcrt,  editor 
""Woman's  Kingdom,"  Chicago  Inter-Ocean;  Helen  M.  Cougar,  editor  Our  Herald^  Indiana. 

t  On  the  evening  of  March  8  the  New  York  city  society  gave  a  reception  in  honor  of  the  delegate-  t.> 
the  National  Convention,  recently  held  at  Washington,  in  the  elegant  parlors  of  the  Hoffman  House. 

\  Mrs.  Gage,  Mrs.  Howell,  Mrs.  Rogers,  Mrs.  Duniway  and  Mrs.  Cougar. 


438  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

hearing  to  Mrs.  Gougar,  who  made  the  journey  from  Indiana  to- 
present  the  case.  The  committee  reported  adversely,  but  by  the 
able  tactics  of  General  Husted,  after  an  animated  debate  the  bill 
was  placed  on  the  calendar  by  a  vote  of  66  to  62,  and  shortly  af- 
ter ordered  to  a  third  reading  by  a  vote  of  74  to  39.  On  May  8 
the  bill  was  reached  for  final  action.  Frederick  B.  Howe  of  New 
York  was  the  principal  opponent,  trying  to  obstruct  legislation 
by  one  and  another  pretext.  General  Husted  took  the  floor  in 
an  able  speech  on  the  constitutionality  of  the  bill,  and  the  vote 
stood  57  ayes  to  61  noes,  lacking  eight  votes  of  the  requisite  65. 
While  the  right  of  suffrage  is  still  denied,  gains  in  personal  and 
property  rights  have  been  granted  : 

In  1880,  the  law  requiring  the  private  acknowledgment  by  a  married 
woman  of  her  execution  of  deeds,  or  other  written  instruments,  without 
the  "  fear  or  compulsion  "  of  her  husband,  was  abolished,  leaving  the  wife 
to  make,  take  and  certify  in  the  same  manner  as  if  she  were  a  feme  sole. 

March  21,  1884,  the  penal  code  of  the  State  was  amended,  raising  the 
age  of  consent  from  ten  to  sixteen  years,  and  also  providing  penalties* 
for  inveigling  or  enticing  any  unmarried  woman,  under  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  years,  into  a  house  of  ill-fame  or  assignation. 

Under  the  act  of  May  28,  1884,  a  married  woman  may  contract  to  the 
same  extent,  with  like  effect  and  in  the  same  form  as  if  unmarried,  and 
she  and  her  separate  estate  shall  be  liable  thereon,  whether  such  contract 
relates  to  her  separate  business  or  estate,  or  otherwise,  and  in  no  case 
shall  a  charge  upon  her  separate  estate  be  necessary. 

It  is  by  court  decisions  that  we  most  readily  learn  the  legal 
status  of  married  women,  under  the  favorable  legislation  of  the 
period  covered  by  this  History.  While  referring  the  reader  to- 
Abbott's  Digest  of  New  York  Laws  for  full  knowledge  upon  this 
point,  we  give  a  few  of  the  more  recent  decisions  as  illustrating 
general  legal  opinion  : 

TROY,  March  23,  1882. — The  Court  of  Appeals  decided  that  married  women  are 
the  rightful  owners  of  articles  of  personal  adornment  or  convenience  coming  from  hus- 
bands, and  can  bequeath  them  to  their  heirs.  The  court  held  that  separate  and  per- 
sonal possession  by  a  wife  of  articles  specially  fitted  for  and  adapted  to  her  personal 
use,  and  differing  in  that  respect  from  household  goods  kept  for  the  common  use  of 
husband  and  wife,  would  draw  after  it  a  presumption  of  the  executed  gift  if  the  prop- 
erty came  from  the  husband,  and  of  the  wife's  ownership,  but  for  disabilities  of  the 
marital  relations.  Now  that  these  disabilities  are  removed  the  separate  existence  and 
separate  property  of  the  wife  are  recognized,  and  her  capacity  to  take  and  hold  as  her 
own  the  gift  in  good  faith  and  fairly  made  to  her  by  her  husband  established,  it  seemed 
to  the  court  time  to  clothe  her  right  with  natural  and  proper  attributes,  and  apply  to> 
tjhe  gift  to  her,  although  made  by  her  husband,  the  general  rules  of  law  unmodified 
and  unimpaired  by  the  old  disabilities  of  the  marriage  relations. 

*  Imprisonment  for  not  more  than  five  years,  or  a  fine  of  not  more  than  $1,000,  or  both. 


Supreme  Court  Decision  Reversed.  439 

This  decision  was  important  as  further  destroying  the  old 
common-law  theory  of  the  husband's  absolute  ownership  of  his 
wife's  person,  property,  services  and  earnings.  The  same  year 
(1882)  the  Supreme  Court,  at  its  general  term,  rendered  a  deci- 
sion that  a  married  woman  could  sue  her  husband  for  damages 
for  assault  and  battery;  that  by  the  act  of  1860  the  legislature 
intended  to,  and  did,  change  the  common-law  rule,  that  a  wife 
could  not  sue  her  husband.  Judge  Brady  rendered  the  opinion, 
Judge  Daniels  concurring;  Presiding  Judge  Noah  Davis  dissent- 
ing. Judge  Brady  said : 

To  allow  the  right  (to  sue)  in  an  action  of  this  character,  in  accordance  with  the  lan- 
guage of  the  statute,  would  be  to  promote  greater  harmony  by  enlarging  the  rights  of 
married  women  and  increasing  the  obligations  of  husbands,  by  affording  greater  pro- 
tection to  the  former,  and  by  enforcing  greater  restraint  upon  the  latter  in  the  indulg.- 
ence  of  their  evil  passions.  The  declaration  of  such  a  rule  is  not  against  the  policy  of 
the  law.  It  is  in  harmony  with  it,  and  calculated  to  preserve  peace  and,  in  a  great 
measure,  prevent  barbarous  acts,  acts  of  cruelty,  regarded'by  mankind  as  inexcusable, 
contemptible,  detestable.  It  is  neither  too  early  nor  too  late  to  promuleate  the  doc- 
trine that  if  a  husband  commits  an  assault  and  battery  upon  his  wife  he  may  be  held 
responsible  civilly  and  criminally  for  the  act,  which  is  not  only  committed  in  violation 
of  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  but  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  contract  of  marriage,  its 
obligations,  duties,  responsibilities,  and  the  very  basis  on  which  it  rests.  The  rules  of 
the  common  law  on  this  subject  have  been  dispelled,  routed,  and  justly  so,  by  the  acts 
of  1860  and  1862.  They  are  things  of  the  past  which  have  succumbed  to  more  liberal 
and  just  views,  like  many  other  doctrines  of  the  common  law  which  could  not  stand 
the  scrutiny  and  analysis  of  modern  civilization. 

The  utter  insecurity  of  woman  without  the  ballot  is  shown  in 
the  reversal  of  this  decision  within  a  few  months,  by  the  Court 
of  Appeals,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  "  contrary  to  the 
policy  of  the  law,  and  destructive  to  the  conjugal  union  and  tran- 
quility  which  it  had  always  been  the  object  of  the  law  to  guard 
and  protect."  Could  satire  go  farther?  We  record  with  satis- 
faction the  fact  that  Judge  Danforth  uttered  a  strong  dissenting 
opinion. 

The  friends  of  woman  suffrage  in  the  legislature  of  1884 
secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  empowering  women  to  vote  on  all 
questions  of  taxation  submitted  to  a  popular  vote  in  the  village  of 
Union  Springs.  Governor  Cleveland  was  urged  to  veto  it ;  but 
after  hearing  all  the  objections  he  signed  the  bill  and  it  became 
a  law. 

At  Clinton,  Oneida  county,  twenty-two  women  voted  on  June 
21,  1884,  at  an  election  on  the  question  of  establishing  water- 
works. Eight  voted  for  the  tax,  fourteen  against  it.  Fifteen 
other  women  appeared  at  the  polls,  but  were  excluded  from  vot- 
ing because,  though  they  were  real-estate  tax-payers,  the  asses- 


44°  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sor  had  left  their  names  off  the  tax-roll.  Judge  Theodore  W. 
Dwight,  president  of  the  Columbia  Law  School,  pronounced 
women  tax-payers  entitled  to  vote  under  the  general  water-works 
act,  and  therefore  that  the  election-officials  violated  the  law  in 
refusing  to  accept  the  votes  of  the  women  whose  names  were 
omitted  from  the  assessors'  tax-list. 

In  1879,  there  was  a  report  of  the  committee  to  allow  widows 
an  active  voice  in  the  settlement  of  the  family  estate  and  to 
have  the  sole  guardianship  of  minor  children.  A  petition  in 
favor  of  the  bill  had  upon  it  the  names  of  such  well-known  men 
as  Peter  Cooper,  George  William  Curtis,  Henry  Bergh  and  J.  W. 
Simonton. 

September  13,  1879,  Mrs.  MacDonald  of  Boston  argued  her 
own  case  before  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  in  New  York 
city,  in  a  patent  suit.  It  was  a  marked  event  in  court  circles,  she 
being  the  first  lady  pleader  that  ever  appeared  in  that  court,  and 
the  second  woman  who  ever  argued  a  case  in  this  State.  Anne 
Bradstreet  was  for  years  a  marked  character  in  Albany  courts, 
but  her  claims  for  justice  were  regarded  as  an  amusing  lunacy. 

In  1880,  Governor  Cornell  appointed  Miss  Carpenter  on  the 
State  Board  of  Charities. 

In  the  suit  of  Mr.  Edward  Jones  to  recover  $860  which  he 
alleged  he  had  loaned  to  the  Rev.  Anna  Oliver  for  the  Willoughby 
Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  'Church,  Brooklyn,  of  which  she 
was  pastor,  a  verdict  for  the  defendant  was  rendered.  Miss  Oli- 
ver addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  court : 

To  his  Honor,  the  Judge,  the  Intelligent  Jury,  the  Lawyers  and  all  who  are  engaged  in 
the  case  of  Jones  vs.  Oliver  : 

GENTLEMEN  : — Thanking  you  for  the  politeness,  the  courtesy,  the  chivalry  even, 
that  has  been  shown  me  to-day,  allow  me  to  make  of  you  the  following  request:  Please 
sit  down  at  your  earliest  leisure,  and  endeavor  to  realize  in  imagination  how  you 
would  feel  if  you  were  sued  by  a  woman,  and  the  case  was  brought  before  a  court  com- 
posed entirely  of  women;  the  judge  a  woman;  every  member  of  the  jury  a  woman; 
women  to  read  the  oath  to  you,  and  hold  the  Bible,  and  every  lawyer  a  woman.  Fur- 
ther, your  case  to  be  tried  under  laws  framed  entirely  by  women,  in  which  neither  you 
•not  any  man  had  ever  been  allowed  a  voice.  Somewhat  as  you  would  feel  under  such 
.circumstances,  you  may  be  assured,  on  reading  this,  I  have  felt  during  the  trial  to-day. 
Perhaps  the  women  would  be  lenient  to  you  (the  sexes  do  favor  each  other),  but  would 
you  be  satisfied  ?  Would  you  feel  that  such  an  arrangement  was  exactly  the  just  and 
:fair  thing?  If  you  would  not,  I  ask  you  on  the  principle  of  the  Golden  Rule,  to  use 
yonr  influence  for  the  enfranchisement  of  women. 

New  York,  1881. 

Mrs.  Roebling,  wife  of  the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  construc- 
tion of  the  marvelous  Brooklyn  bridge,  made  the  patterns  for 
various  necessary  shapes  of  iron  and  steel  such  as  no  mills  were 


Lansingburgh    Tax- Payers.  441 

making,  after   her  husband  and  other  engineers  had  for  weeks 
puzzled  their  brains  over  the  difficulties. 

When  Frank  Leslie  died,  his  printing-house  was  involved,  and 
Mrs.  Leslie  undertook  to  reedeem  it,  which  she  did,  and  in  a 
very  short  time.  Speaking  of  it  she  says : 

"  I  had  the  property  in  reach,  and  the  assignees  were  ready  to  turn  it  over  to  me, 
but  to  get  it,  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  raise  $50,000,  I  borrowed  it  from  a  woman. 
How  happy  I  was  when  she  signed  the  check,  and  how  beautiful  it  seemed  to  me  to 
see  one  woman  helping  another.  I  borrowed  the  money  in  June,  and  was  to  make  the 
first  payment  of  $5,000,  on  the  1st  of  November.  On  the  2gth  of  October  I  paid  the 
$50,000  with  interest.  From  June  to  the  agth  of  October,  I  made  $50,000  clear.  I 
had  also  to  pay  $30,000  to  the  creditors  who  did  not  come  under  the  contract.  While 
I  was  paying  this  $80,000  of  my  husband's  debts,  I  spent  but  $30  for  myself,  except  for 
my  board.  I  lived  in  a  little  attic  room,  without  a  carpet,  and  the  window  was  so  high 
that  I  could  not  get  a  glimpse  of  the  sky  unless  I  stood  on  a  chair  and  looked  out. 
When  I  had  paid  the  debts  and  raised  a  monument  to  my  husband,  then  I  said  to  my- 
self, '  now  for  a  great  big  pair  of  diamond  earrings,'  and  away  I  went  to  Europe,  and 
here  are  the  diamonds."  The  diamonds  are  perfect  matches,  twenty-seven  carats  in 
weight,  and  are  nearly  as  large  as  nickles. 

In  Lansingburgh  the  women  tax-payers  offered  their  ballots 
and  were  repulsed,  as  follows: 

September  2,  1885,  the  special  election  of  the  taxable  inhabitants  of  the 
village  of  Lansingburgh  took  place,  to  vote  upon  a  proposition  to  raise  by 
tax  the  sum  of  $i  5,000  for  water-works  purposes.  The  measure  was  voted 
by  102  for  it  to  46  against.  But  a  small  amount  of  interest  was  manifested 
in  the  election.  Several  women  tax-payers  offered  their  votes,  but  the  in- 
spectors would  not  receive  them,  and,  the  matter  will  be  contested  in  the 
courts.  The  call  for  the  election  asked  for  an  expression  from  "  the  tax- 
able inhabitants,"  and  women  tax-payers  in  the  'burgh  claim  under  the  law 
their  rights  must  be  recognized.  Lansingburgh  inspectors  have  on  num- 
erous occasions  refused  to  receive  the  ballots  thus  tendered,  and  the 
women  have  lost  patience.  They  are  to  employ  the  best  of  counsel  and 
settle  the  question  at  as  early  a  day  as  possible.  Women  pay  tax  upon 
$367, 394  of  the  property  within  the  village  boundaries,  and  they  believe 
that  they,  to  the  number  of  317  at  least,  are  entitled  to  votes  on  all  ques- 
tions involving  a  monetary  expenditure.  In  Saratoga,  Clinton,  and  a 
number  of  other  places  in  this  State,  where  elections  in  relation  to  water- 
works have  taken  place,  it  has  been  held  by  legal  authority  that  women 
property  owners  have  a  right  to  vote,  and  they  have  voted  accordingly  the 
same  as  other  tax-payers. 

In  regard  to  recent  efforts  to  secure  legislation  favorable  to 
women,  Mr.  Wilcox  writes: 

The  impression  that  the  School  Act,  passed  in  1880,  did  not  apply  to 
cities,  led  to  the  introduction  by  the  Hon.  Charles  S.  Baker  of  Rochester, 
of  a  bill  covering  cities.  A  test  vote  showed  the  Assembly  practically  unan- 
imous for  it,  but  it  was  referred  to  the  Judiciary  Committee  to  examine  its 
constitutionality.  The  chairman,  Hon.  Geo.  L.  Ferry,  and  other  members, 


442  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

asked  me  to  look  up  the  point  and  inform  the  committee,  supposing  a 
constitutional  amendment  needful.  When  the  point  was  made  on  this 
bill,  I  for  the  first  time  closely  examined  the  constitution,  and  finding 
there  was  nought  to  prevent  the  legislature  enfranchising  anyone, 
promptly  apprised  the  committee  of  the  discovery.  The  acting-chair- 
man, Major  Wm.  D.  Brennan,  requested  me  to  furnish  the  committee  a 
legal  brief  on  the  matter.  This  (Feb.  19,  1880)  I  did,  and  arranged  a 
public  hearing  before  them  in  the  assembly-chamber,  which  was  attended 
by  Governor  Cornell,  Lieutenant-Governor  Hoskins,  many  senators,  as- 
semblymen, and  State  officers;  at  which  Mrs.  Blake,  the  sainted  Helen 
M.  Slocum  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon  were  the  speakers.  From  that 
year  to  the  present  there  has  been  a  "Bill  to  Prohibit  Disfranchisement " 
before  each  legislature.  In  1881,  it  was  carried  to  a  majority  vote  in  the 
Assembly.  In  1883,  two-thirds  of  the  Assembly  were  ready  to  pass  the  bill 
when  the  attorney-general  declared  it  unconstitutional.  In  1884,  Gover- 
nor Cleveland  had  approved  two  suffrage  acts,  and  promised  to  sign  all 
the  friends  could  carry.  In  1885,  growing  tired  of  the  senseless  clamor 
of  "unconstitutionally,"  I  resolved  to  show  how  little  law  the  clamorers 
knew.  To  the  knowledge  gained  by  five  years'  discussion,  I  added  that 
obtained  by  several  months'  research  in  the  State  Library  at  Albany,  that 
of  the  New  York  Bar  Association,  those  of  the  New  York  Law  Institute 
and  Columbia  College,  and  elsewhere.  The  result  was  the  publication  of 
"Cases  of  the  Legislature's  Power  over  Suffrage,"  wherein  it  was  shown, 
condensed  from  a  great  number  of  authorities,  that  all  classes  have  re- 
ceived suffrage,  not  from  the  constitution  but  from  the  legislature,  and 
that  the  latter  has  exercised  the  power  of  extending  suffrage  in  hundreds 
of  cases.  This  document  received  high  praise  from  General  James  W. 
Husted  and  Major  James  Haggerty;  who  have  manfully  championed  our 
bills  in  the  Assembly,  General  Husted  reading  from  it  in  his  speech 
and  it  was  signally  sanctioned  by  the  Assembly  which,  after  being  sup- 
plied with  copies,  voted  down  by  more  than  three  to  one  a  motion  to 
substitute  a  constitutional  amendment. 

But  while  working  at  this  document,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  make  a 
still  greater  discovery — that  portions  of  statute  law  which  formerly  pre- 
vented women's  voting  were  repealed  long  since  ;  that  the  constitutiofi 
and  statutes  in  their  present  shape  secure  women  the  legal  right  to  vote. 

February  19,  1885,  a  hearing  was  granted  to  Mrs.  Stanton,  Mrs. 
Rogers  and  Mrs.  Blake  in  the  assembly-chamber  before  the  Com- 
mittee on  Grievances,  on  the  "  Bill  to  Prohibit  Disfranchisement." 
The  splendid  auditorium  was  crowded  for  two  hours,  and  members 
of  the  committee  lingered  a  long  time  after  the  audience  had  dis- 
persed to  discuss  the  whole  question  still  further  with  the  speakers. 
On  the  next  day  Mrs.  Mary  Seymour  Howelland  Governor  John 
W.  Hoyt  of  Wyoming  Territory  had  a  second  hearing.  The  com- 
mittee reported  for  consideration.  When  the  bill  came  up  for  a 


Results.  443 

third  reading,  General  Martin  L.  Curtis  of  St.  Lawrence  moved 
that  it  be  sent  to  the  Judiciary  Committee  with  instructions  to 
substitute  a  constitutional  amendment;  lost,  ayes  25,  noes  75; 
carried  to  a  third  reading  by  viva  voce  vote.  The  vote  on  the 
final  passage  was,  ayes  57,  noes  56;  the  constitutional  majority 
in  this  State  being  65  of  the  128  members,  it  was  lost  by  eight 
votes.  Of  the  73  Republicans,  29  voted  for  the  bill ;  of  the  55 
Democrats,  28  voted  for  the  bill,  showing  that  more  than  half  the 
Democratic  vote  was  in  favor,  and  only  two-fifths  of  the  Repub- 
lican ;  thus  our  defeat  was  due  to  the  Republican  party. 

Thus  stands  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  in  the  Empire 
State  to-day,  where  women  are  in  the  majority.*  After  long 
years  of  unremitting  efforts  who  can  read  this  chapter  of  woman's 
faith  and  patience,  under  such  oft-repeated  disappointments,  but 
with  pity  for  her  humiliations  and  admiration  for  her  courage 
and  persistence.  For  nearly  half  a  century  the  petitions,  the 
appeals,  the  arguments  of  the  women  of  New  York  have  been 
before  the  legislature  for  consideration,  and  the  trivial  conces- 
sions of  justice  thus  far  wrung  from  our  rulers  bear  no  proportion 
to  the  prolonged  labors  we  have  gone  through  to  achieve  them. 


*  The  last  census  shows  there  are  72,224  more  women  than  men  in  New  York ;  that  there  are  360,381 
women  and  girls  over  ten  years  of  age  who  support  themselves  by  work  outside  their  own  homes,  not 
including  the  house-keepers  who,  from  the  raw  material  brought  into  the  family,  manufacture  food 
and  clothing  three  times  its  original  value. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 

Carrie  Burnham — The  Canon  and  Civil  Law  the  Source  of  Woman's  Degradation — 
Women  Sold  with  Cattle  in  1768 — Women  Arrested  in  Pittsburgh — Mrs.  McManus 
— Opposition  to  Women  in  the  Colleges  and  Hospitals;  John  W.  Forney  Vindi- 
cates their  Rights — Ann  Preston — Women  in  Dentistry — James  Truman's  Letter — 
Swarthmore  College — Suffrage  Association  Formed  in  1866,  in  Philadelphia — John 
K.  Wildman's  Letter — Judge  William  S.  Pierce — The  Citizens'  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion, 333  Walnut  Street,  Edward  M.  Davis,  President — Petitions  to  the  Legis- 
lature— Constitutional  Convention,  1873 — Bishop  Simpson,  Mary  Grew,  Sarah  C. 
Hallowell,  Matilda  Hindman,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Address  the  Convention — Messrs. 
Broomall  and  Campbell  Debate  Writh  the  Opposition — Amendment  Making  Women 
Eligible  to  School  Offices — Two  Women  Elected  to  Philadelphia  School  Board, 
1874 — The  Wages  of  Married  Women  Protected — J.  Edgar  Thomson's  Will — 
Literary  Women  as  Editors — The  Rev.  Knox  Little — Anne  E.  McDowell — Women 
as  Physicians  in  Insane  Asylums — The  Fourteenth  Amendment  Resolution,  1881 
— Ex-Governor  Hoyt's  Lecture  on  Wyoming. 

IN  the  demand  for  the  right  of  suffrage,  women  are  constantly 
asked  by  the  opposition  if  they  cannot  trust  their  own  fathers, 
husbands  and  brothers  to  legislate  for  them.  The  answer  to  this 
question  may  be  found  in  an  able  digest  of  the  old  common  laws 
and  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Pennsylvania,*  prepared  by  Carrie 
S.  Burnham  f  of  Pennsylvania.  A  careful  perusal  of  this  paper 
will  show  the  relative  position  of  man  and  woman  to  be  that  of 
sovereign  and  subject. 

To  get  at  the  real  sentiments  of  a  people  in  regard  to  the  true 
status  of  woman  we  must  read  the  canon  and  civil  laws  that  form 
the  basic  principles  of  their  religion  and  government.  We  must 
not  trust  to  the  feelings  and  actions  of  the  best  men  towards  the 
individual  women  whom  they  may  chance  to  love  and  respect. 
The  chivalry  and  courtesy  that  the  few  command  through  their 
beauty,  wealth  and  position,  are  one  thing;  but  justice,  equality, 
liberty  for  the  multitude,  are  quite  another.  And  when  the  few, 


*  See  Appendix, 

t  Carrie  S.  Burnham  after  long  years  of  preparation  and  persistent  effort  for  admission  to  the  bar  of 
Philadelphia,  was  admitted  in  1884.  She  was  thorougly  qualified  to  enter  that  profession  and  to  prac- 
tice in  the  courts  of  that  State,  and  the  only  reason  ever  offered  for  her  rejection  from  time  to  time 
was,  "  that  she  was  a  woman." 


Past  and  Present.  445 

through  misfortune,  are  made  to  feel  the  iron  teeth  of  the  law, 
they  regret  that  they  had  not  used  their  power  to  secure  perma- 
nent protection  under  just  laws,  rather  than  to  have  trusted  the 
transient  favors  of  individuals  to  shield  them  in  life's  emergencies. 

The  law  securing  to  married  women  the  right  to  property,* 
inherited  by  will  or  bequest,  passed  the  legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  was  approved  by  the  governor  April  1 1,  1848,  just  five 
days  after  a  similar  law  had  been  passed  in  New  York.  Judge 
Bovier  was  the  mover  for  the  Pennsylvania  Married  Women's 
Property  Law.  His  feelings  had  been  so  often  outraged  with 
the  misery  caused  by  men  marrying  women  for  their  property, 
that  he  was  bound  the  law  should  be  repealed.  He  prevailed 
on  several  young  Quakers  who  had  rich  sisters,  to  run  for 
the  legislature.  They  were  elected  and  did  their  duty.  Judge 
Bovier  was  a  descendent  of  the  Waldenses,  a  society  of  French 
Quakers  who  fled  to  the  mountains  from  persecution.  Their 
descendants  are  still  living  in  France.f 

The  disabilities  and  degradation  that  women  suffer  to-day  grow 
out  of  the  spirit  of  laws  that  date  from  a  time  when  women  were 
viewed  in  the  light  of  beasts  of  burden.  Scarce  a  century  has 
passed  since  women  were  sold  in  this  country  with  cattle.  In 
the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  for  January  7,  1768,  is  the  following* 
advertisement : 

To  BE  SEEN. — At  the  Crooked  Billet,  near  the  Court-house,  Philadelphia  (Price 
Three  Pence),  A  Two  Year  Old  Hogg,  12  Hands  high,  and  in  length  16  Feet;  thought 
to  be  the  largest  of  its  Kind  ever  seen  in  America. 

In  the  same  paper  of  the  following  week  occurs  this  yet  more 
extraordinary  announcement : 

To  BE  SOLD. — A  Healthy  Young  Dutch  Woman,  fit  for  town  or  country  business; 
about  1 8  years  old;  can  spin  well;  she  speaks  good  English,  and  has  about  five  years 
to  serve.  Inquire  at  James  Der  Kinderen's,  Strawberry  alley. 

In  one  century  of  growth  a  woman's  sewing  machine  was 
better  protected  than  the  woman  herself  under  the  old  common 
law : 

AN  ACT  to  exempt  Sewing  Machines  belonging  to  Seamstresses  in  this  Commonwealth 

from  levy  and  sale  on  execution  or  distress  for  rent  : 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  com- 
monwealth of  Pennsylvania  in  general  assembly  met,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the 
authority  of  the  same,  That  hereafter  all  sewing  machines  belonging  to  seamstresses 
in  this  commonwealth  shall  be  exempt  from  levy  and  sale  on  execution  or  distress  for 
rent,  in  addition  to  any  article  or  money  now  exempt  by  law.  Approved,  April  17, 
1869. 


*  By  an  oversight  this  law  was  jiot  mentioned  in  Vol.  I.  in  iti  proper  place. 
t  George  W.  Childs  married  Judge  Bovier's  grand-daughter. 


446  History  of  Woman  Stiffrage. 

While  the  following  order  reflects  the  spirit  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  comments  show  the  dawning  of  the  right  idea,  and 
are  worthy  the  time  in  which  the  great  State  of  Pennsylvania 
could  boast  such  women  as  Lucretia  Mott,  Anna  E.  Dickinson, 
Jane  G.  Swisshelm  and  Sarah  J.  Hale: 

A  WOMAN  ORDER  IN  PITTSBURGH. — The  mayor  of  Pittsburgh  has  ordered  the  ar- 
rest of  every  woman  found  on  the  streets  alone  after  9  o'clock  in  the  evening;  the 
consequence  of  which  has  been  that  some  respectable  ladies  have  recently  seen  the  in- 
side ot  the  lock-up. — Exchange^  June,  1869. 

Now  let  the  mothers,  wives  and  daughters  of  Pittsburgh  obtain  the  passage,  by  the 
city  council,  of  an  ordinance  causing  the  arrest  of  every  man  found  in  the  streets  after 
9  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  the  law  will  then  be  equal  in  its  operation.  This  legis- 
lating upon  the  behavior  of  one  sex  by  the  other  exclusively,  is  one-sided  and  despotic. 
Give  both  sexes  a  chance  at  reforming  each  other. 

Another  step  in  progress  was  indicated  by  the  assumption  of 
some  women  to  influence  civil  administration,  not  only  for  their 
own  protection,  but  for  that  of  their  sires  and  sons : 

An  exchange  says  that  women  are  becoming  perfect  nuisances,  and  to  substantiate 
the  assertion  adds  that  1,500  women  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  have  petitioned 
the  court  to  grant  no  more  liquor  licenses. 

Suppose  wives  should  come  reeling  home,  night  after  night, 
with  curses  on  their  lips,  to  destroy  the  food,  the  dishes,  the  fur- 
niture for  which  husbands  toiled  ;  to  abuse  trembling  children, 
jnaking  the  home,  from  year  to  year,  a  pandemonium  on  earth — 
would  the  good  men  properly  be  called  "  nuisances,"  who  should 
rise  up  and  say  this  must  end  ;  we  must  protect  our  firesides,  our 
children,  ourselves,  society  at  large?  To  have  women  even  sug- 
gest such  beneficent  laws  for  the  men  of  their  families  is  called 
"  a  nuisance,"  while  the  whole  barbarous  code  for  women  was  de- 
clared by  Lord  Coke  to  be  the  "  perfection  of  reason." 

The  prejudice  against  sex  has  been  as  bitter  and  unreasonable 
as  against  color,  and  far  more  reprehensible,  because  in  too  many 
cases  it  has  been  a  contest  between  the  inferior,  with  law  on  his 
side,  and  the  superior,  with  law  and  custom  against  her,  as  the 
following  facts  in  the  Sunday  Dispatch,  by  Anne  E.  McDowell, 
fully  show : 

The  decision  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  McManus,  elected 
principal  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Boys'  Grammar  School,  is  to  the  effect  that,  no  rule 
being  in  existence  prohibiting  the  exercise  of  the  duties  of  such  office  by  a  woman,  the 
resolution  of  the  controllers  against  the  exercise  of  the  duties  of  that  office  by  the  lady 
was  unjustifiable  and  illegal.  Since  the  decision  was  pronounced  the  controllers  have 
come  up  to  the  boundary  of  the  principle  held  by  the  court,  and  a  rule  has  been  pro- 
posed that  in  future  women  shall  be  ineligible  to  be  principals  of  boys'  grammar 
schools — the  case  of  Mrs.  McManus  being  specially  excepted.  That  lady,  therefore, 
will  be  undisturbed.  But  she  maybe,  like  the  celebrated  "Lady  Freemason."  an 
exception  to  her  sex.  The  controllers  have  not  favored  the  public  with  their  reasons 


The  Medical  School  Controversy.  447 

for  opposition  to  the  employment  of  females  in  the  higher  positions  of  teaching. 
Women  are  good  enough  for  inferior  service  about  a  boys'  grammar-school,  it  seems, 
but  they  are  not  capable  of  superintending  it.  They  may  be,  and  are,  teachers  in  all 
the  classes  in  such  schools,  even  to  the  highest;  but  when  the  question  arises  whether 
a  woman,  perfectly  competent,  shall  be  superintendent  of  all  the  classes — for  a  princi- 
pal is  little  more — the  controllers  say  no.  If  this  action  is  influenced  by  a  belief  that 
women  cannot  control  a  school  of  boys,  we  hope  that  the  experience  in  the  case  of 
Mrs.  McManus  will  dispel  the  illusion,  and  the  public  can  afford  to  await  the  result  of 
the  trial.  But  if  it  is  caused  by  a  regard  to  tradition  or  precedent,  or  because  there 
never  has  yet  been  an  instance  of  a  woman  being  a  principal  of  a  boys'  grammar- 
school  before  this  case  of  Mrs.  McManus,  we  hope  that  the  controllers  will  soon  see 
the  error  of  their  course.  The  complaints  from  the  sections  are  to  the  effect  that  it  is 
very  difficult  to  get  a  competent  male  teacher  to  remain  principal  of  a  boys' 
grammar-school  for  any  length  of  time.  The  salary  attached  to  that  position  is 
inadequate,  according  to  the  increased  cost  of  living  of  the  times.  Gentlemen  who 
are  competent  to  act  as  principals  of  the  public  schools  find  that  they  can  make  more 
money  by  establishing  private  schools;  and  hence  they  are  uneasy  and  dissatisfied 
while  in  the  public  service.  A  woman  able  to  take  charge  of  a  boys'  grammar-school 
will  be  paid  a  more  liberal  salary  (such  is  the  injustice  of  our  social  system  in  relation 
to  female  labor)  in  that  position  than  in  any  other  connected  with  education  that 
she  can  command,  and  she  will  therefore  be  likely  to  be  better  satisfied  with  the  duties 
and  to  perform  them  more  properly.  That  such  advantage  ought  to  be  held  out  to 
ladies  competent  to  be  teachers  of  the  highest  grade,  we  firmly  believe.  The  field  of 
female  avocations  should  be  extended  in  every  legitimate  direction;  and  it  seems  to 
us,  unless  some  reason  can  be  given  for  the  exception,  which  has  not  yet  been  presented 
in  the  case  of  Mrs.  McManus,  that  the  principalships  of  the  boys'  grammar-schools 
ought  to  be  accessible  to  ladies  of  the  proper  character  and  qualification,  without  the 
imputation  that  by  reason  of  their  sex  they  must  necessarily  be  unfitted  for  such  duties. 

In  preparing  themselves  for  the  medical  profession,  for  which 
the  most  conservative  people  now  admit  that  women  are  pecu- 
liarly adapted,  students  have  encountered  years  of  opposi- 
tion, ridicule  and  persecution,  /^fter  a  college  for  women  was 
established  in  Philadelphia,*  there  was  another  long  struggle  be- 
fore their  right  to  attend  the  clinics  in  the  hospitals  was  ac- 
corded. The  faculty  and  students  alike  protested  against  the 
admission  of  women  into  mixed  classes;  but  as  there  was  no  pro- 
vision to  give  them  the  clinics  alone,  a  protest  against  mixed 
classes  was  a  protest  against  such  advantages  to  women  alto- 
gether. One  would  have  supposed  the  men  might  have  left  the 
delicacy  of  the  question  to  the  decision  of  the  women  themselves. 
But  in  this  struggle  for  education  men  have  always  been  more 
concerned  about  the  loss  of  modesty  than  the  acquirement  of 
knowledge  and  wisdom.  From  the  opinions  usually  expressed 
by  these  self-constituted  guardians  of  the  feminine  character,  we 
might  be  led  to  infer  that  the  virtues  of  women  were  not  a  part 
of  the  essential  elements  of  their  organization,  but  a  sort  of 
temporary  scaffolding,  erected  by  society  to  shield  a  naturally 
weak  structure  that  any  wind  could  readily  demolish. 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

At  a  meeting  convened  November  15  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  consider  the  subject  of -clinical  instruction  to 
mixed  classes  the  following  remonstrance  was  unanimously 
adopted : 

The  undersigned,  professors  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  professors  in  Jeffer- 
son Medical  College,  members  of  the  medical  staff  of  various  hospitals  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  members  of  the  medical  profession  in  Philadelphia  at  large,  out  of  respect 
for  their  profession,  and  for  the  interests  of  the  public,  do  feel  it  to  be  their  duty,  at 
the  present  time,  to  express  their  convictions  upon  the  subject  of  "  clinical  instruction 
to  mixed  classes  of  male  and  female  students  of  medicine."  They  are  induced  to  pre- 
sent their  views  on  this  question,  which  is  of  so  grave  importance  to  medical  educa- 
tion, from  the  fact  that  it  is  misunderstood  by  the  public,  and  because  an  attempt  is 
now  being  made  to  force  it  before  the  community  in  a  shape  which  they  conceive  to 
be  injurious  to  the  progress  of  medical  science,  and  to  the  efficiency  of  clinical  teach- 
ing. They  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  their  deliberate  conviction  is  adverse 
to  conducting  clinical  instruction  in  the  presence  of  students  of  both  sexes.  The  judg- 
ment that  has  been  arrived  at  is  based  upon  the  following  considerations: 

I.  Clinical  instruction  in  practical  medicine  demands  an  examination  of  all  the  or- 
gans and  parts  of  the  body,  as  far  as  practicable;  hence,  personal  exposure  becomes  for 
this  purpose  often  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity.     It  cannot  be  assumed,  by  any  right- 
minded  person,  that  male  patients  should  be  subjected  to  inspection  before  a  class  of 
females,  although  this  inspection  may,  without  impropriety,  be  submitted  to  before 
those  of  their  own  sex.     A  thorough  investigation,  as  well  as  demonstration,  in  these 
cases — so  necessary  to  render  instruction  complete  and  effective — is,  by  a  mixed  audi- 
ence, precluded;  while  the  clinical  lecturer  is  restrained  and  embarrassed  in  his  in- 
quiries, and  must  therefore  fall  short  in  the  conclusions  which  he  may  draw,  and  in 
the  instruction  which  he  communicates. 

II.  In  many  operations  upon  male  patients  exposure  of  the  body  is  inevitable,  and 
demonstrations  must  be  made  which  are  unfitted  for  the  observation  of  students  of  the 
opposite  sex.     These  expositions,  when  made  under  the  eye  of  such  a  conjoined  as- 
semblage, are  shocking  to  the  sense  of  decency,  and  entail  the  risk  of  unmanning  the 
surgeon — of  distracting  his  mind,  and  endangering  the  life  of  his  patient.     Besides 
this,  a  large  class  of  surgical  diseases  of  the  male  is  of  so  delicate  a  nature  as  altogether 
to  forbid  inspection  by  female  students.     Yet  a  complete  understanding  of  this  partic- 
ular class  of  diseases  is  of  preeminent  importance  to  the  community.      Moreover,  such 
affections  can  be  thoroughly  studied  only  in  the  clinics  of  the  large  cities,  and  the  op- 
portunity for  studying  them,  so  far  from  being  curtailed,  should  be  extended  to  the  ut- 
most possible  degree.     To  those  who  are  familiar  with  such  cases  as  are  here  alluded 
to,  it  is  inconceivable  that  females  should  ever  be  called  to  their  treatment. 

III.  By  the  joint  participation,  on  the  part  of  male  and  female  students,  in  the  in- 
struction and  in  the  demonstrations  which  properly  belong  to  the  clinical  lecture-room, 
the  barrier  of  respect  is  broken  down,  and  that  high  estimation  of  womanly  qualities, 
which  should  always  be  sustained  and  cherished,  and  which  has  its  origin  in  domestic 
and  social  associations,  is  lost,  by  an  inevitable  and  positive  demoralization  of  the 
individuals  concerned,  thereby  entailing  most  serious  detriment  to  the  morals  of  so- 
ciety.    In  view  of  the  above  consideratious,  the  undersigned  *  do  earnestly  and  sol- 


*  University  of  Pennsylvania — Joseph  Carson.  Robert  E.  Rogers,  Joseph  Leidy,  Henry  H.  Smith, 
Francis  G.  Smith,  R.  A.  T.  Penrose,  Alfred  Stille,  George  B.  Wood,  Samuel  Jackson,  Hugh  L.  Hodge, 
R.  La  Roche,  George  W.  NorrL,.  Jefferson  Medical  College — Joseph  Pancoast,  S.  D.  Gross,  Samuel 
Henry  Dickson,  Ellerslie  Wallace,  B.  Howard  Rand,  John  B.  Biddle,  James  Auken  Meigs.  Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital — J.  Forsyth  Meigs,  James  H.  Hutchinson,  J.  M.  Da  Costa,  Addinell  He\vson,  Will- 
iam Hunt,  D.  Hayes  Agnew.  Philadelphia  Hospital— ft*.  J.  Levis,  William  H.  Pancoast.  F.  F. 
Maury,  Alfred  Stille,  J.  L.  Ludlow,  Edward  Rhodes,  D.  D.  Richardson,  E.  L.  Duer,  E.  Scholfield,  R. 
M.  Girvin,  John  S.  Parry,  William  Pepper,  James  Tyson.  Medical  Staff  of  Episcopal  Hospital — 
John  H.  Packard,  John  Ashhurst,  jr.,  Samuel  Ashhurst,  Alfred  M.  Slocum,  Edward  A.  Smith,  William. 


Resolutions  of  the  Students.  44 9 

emnly  protest  against  the  admixture  of  the  sexes  at  clinical  instruction  in  medicine  and 
surgery,  and  do  respectfully  lay  these  their  views  before  the  board  of  managers  of  the 
hospitals  in  Philadelphia. 
November  //,  1869. 

At  meetings  held  at  the  University  and  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
leges, by  the  students,  on  Wednesday  evening,  the  following  pre- 
ambles and  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

WHEREAS,  The  managers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hopsital  have  seen  fit  to  admit  female 
students  to  the  clinics  of  that  establishment,  thereby  excluding  from  the  lectures  many 
cases,  medical  and  surgical;  and 

WHEREAS,  We  consider  that  in  our  purchase  of  tickets  of  admission  there  was  a  tacit 
agreement  that  we  should  have  the  benefit  of  all  cases  which  the  medical  and  surgical 
staff  of  that  hospital  should  deem  fit  for  our  instruction: 

Resolved,  That  a  respectful  request  be  made  to  the  managers  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital  that  we  be  informed  as  to  whether  the  usual  character  of  the  clinics  will  be 
changed. 

Resolved,  That  pending  the  action  of  the  managers  on  this  question,  we  as  a  class 
and  individually  absent  ourselves  from  the  clinical  lectures.  And 

WHEREAS,  The  levity  of  a  few  thoughtless  young  men  in  the  presence  of  the  females 
at  the  hospital  has  caused  the  journals  of  this  city  to  assume  that  the  whole  class  of 
medical  students  are  utterly  devoid  of  all  the  attributes  of  gentlemen, 

Resolved,  That  while  we  do  not  by  any  means  concede  that  the  published  accounts  of 
the  affair  are  correct,  we  deplore  the  fact  that  any  demonstration  should  have  taken 
place;  for  although  the  female  students  may  be  considered  by  their  presence  at  the 
hospital  where  male  students  are  present,  to  have  cast  aside  that  delicacy  and  modesty 
which  constitutes  the  aegis  of  their  sex,  they  are  women,  and  as  such  demand  our  for- 
bearance, if  not  our  respect. 

Resolved,  That  these  preambles  and  resolutions  be  published  in  some  respectable 
journal  of  this  city.* 

On  these  remonstrances  of  the  faculty  and  students,  The  Press, 
John  W.  Forney,  editor,  had  many  able  editorials  condemning  the 


Thomson,  William  S.  Forbes.  Wills  Hospital  for  the  Rlimi  <i>ui  Lame — Thomas  George  Morton, 
A.  D.  Hall,  Harrison  Allen,  George  C.  Harlan,  R.  J.  Levis.  St.  Joseph's  Hospital—  William  V.  Keat- 
ing, Alfred  Stille,  John  J.  Reese,  George  R.  Morehouse,  A.  C.  Bournonville,  Edward  A.  Page,  John 
H.  Brinton,  Walter  F.  Atlee,  C.  S.  Boker.  St.  Mary's  Hospital— C..  Percy  La  Roche,  J.  Cummiskey 
A.  11.  1  Msh,  J.  H.  Grove,  W.  W.  Keen,  W.  L.  Wells,  L.  S.  Bolles.  German  Hospital—  Albert  Fricke 
Kniil  Fischer,  Joseph  F.  Koerper,  Julius  Schrotz,  Julius  Kamcrer,  Karl  Beeken,  Theodore  A.  Dcmme 
(.'liildrt-ns  Hospital — Thomas  Hewson  Bache,  D.  Murray  Cheston,  H.  Lenox  Hodge,  F.  W.  Lewi-. 
Hilborn  West.  Charity  Hospital— A.  H.  Fish.  L.  K.  Baldwin,  Horace  Y.  Kvans,  John  M.  Mcllr.ith 
H.  St.  Glair  Ash,  J.  M.  Boisnot,  N.  Hatfield,  W.  M.  Welch,  H.  Lycurgus  Law,  H.  U-ainan,  J.  A.  M.  - 
Arthur.  Howard  Hospital—  Thomas  S.  Harper,  Laurence  Turnbull,  T.  H.  Andrew*,  H<.r.uc  Wil- 
liams, Joseph  Klapp,  William  B.Atkinson,  S.  C.  Brincklee.  Pkysicians-at-Lurgt  of  tkt  City  of 
rhit,ntt-lp/tia—]L.  Ward,  George  H.  Beaumont,  William  W.  Lamb,  Thomas  H.  Reed,  (.'baric*  Sihatfcr, 
J.  Heritage,  W.  Stump  Forwood,  W.  J.  Phelps,  Richard  Maris,  Frank  Muhlcnbcrg,  George  M.  \V.ud, 
James  Collins,  William  F.  Norris,  Samuel  Lewis,  Isaac  Hay*,  G.  Emerson,  W.  W.  ( '.cih.ir,!,  ( 
Morris,  15.  II.  C'oatcs,  George  Strawbridge,  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  I.  Minis  Hays,  Edward  B.  Van  Dyke,  J. 
Bylvetter  Ramsey,  G.  W.  Bowman,  W.  H.  H.  Githens,  T.  W.  Lewis,  T.  M.  FinU-y,  S.  W.  Butler,  Rob- 
ert P.  Harris,  C.  Moehring,  George  L.  Bomberger,  Philip  Leidy,  D.  F.  Willard,  James  V.  In^ham,  F.d- 
u:u -1  H.irtshorne,  W.  S.  W.  Ruschenberger, Thomas  Stewanlsoti,  James  Darr.i.  h,  S.  L.  Il..llin^»ortli, 
William  Mayburry,  Lewis  Rodman,  Casper  Wi-.trr,  A.  NVlnn-.-r,  H.ua.  i:  r.inm-y  II. m-,  !•'.  1«  ar.l  Ship- 
pen,  S.  Littell,  F.  W.  Lewis,  Robert  Bridges,  William  H.  Glotiingcr,  James  Mnrkoc,  Charles  Hunter, 
D.  F.  Woods,  Herbert  Norris,  Harrison  Allen,  Charles  ]!.  N.m.  r.vlr,  W.  [  < 

Ki.  h.ml  Tli<. mas,  Lewis  H.  Adler,  G.  H.  Dunmire,  John  Neill,  Wliariou  Sinklcr.  George  Pepper,  J.  J. 
Sowerby,  Henry  C.  Eckstein,  F.ugene  P.  Bernardy,  Charles  K.  Miles,  J.  Soli*  Cohen. 

*  C.  L.  Schlattcr,  J.  Wm.  White,  Daniel  Bray,  C.  E.  Cassady,  Robert  B.  Burns,  Albert  Tronchard, 
John  t;.  Scott,  J.  J.  Bowen,  P.  Collings,  E.  Cullcn  Brayton,  joint  committee  of  i  .:>•  and 

Jefferson  Medical  Colleges. 
29 


450  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

action  of  the  medical  fraternity.  The  leading  journals  through- 
out the  country  advocated  the  right  of  the  women  to  enjoy  the 
advantages  of  the  hospital  clinics.  The  Press,  November  22, 
1869,  said : 

The  proceedings  of  the  meeting  held  by  the  faculties  of  our  two  leading 
medical  schools  evince  the  disposition  which  lurks  at  the  bottom  of  the 
movement  against  women  as  physicians.  The  hospital  managers  are  to  be 
browbeaten  into  the  stand  taken  by  the  students,  and  now  sanctioned  by 
the  professors.  If  the  women  are  to  be  denied  the  privilege  of  clinical 
lectures,  why  do  not  learned  professors,  or  students,  or  both,  have  the 
manliness  to  suggest  and  advocate  some  means  of  solving  the  difficulty 
so  that  the  rights  of  neither  sex  shall  be  impaired?  Would  any  professor 
agree  to  lecture  to  the  women  separately  ?  Would  any  professor  favor 
the  admission  of  women  into  the  female  wards  of  the  hospitals  ?  Would 
any  professor  agree  to  propose  anything,  or  do  anything  that  would 
weaken  the  firm  stand  taken  against  the  admission  of  women  to  pro- 
fessional privileges?  If  so,  why  not  do  it  at  once?  Nothing  else 
will  make  protestations  of  fairness  appear  at  all  genuine.  Nothing  else 
will  remove  the  stigma  of  attempting  to  drag  the  hospitals  into  a  sup- 
port of  this  crusade  against  women.  *  *  *  How  absurd  the  solemn 
declaration,  "  it  cannot  be  assumed  by  any  right-minded  person  that  male 
patients  should  be  subjected  to  inspection  before  a  class  of  females,  al- 
though this  inspection  may,  without  impropriety,  be  submitted  to  before 
those  of  their  own  sex."  This  cuts  both  ways.  If  it  be  improper  for  fe- 
male students  to  be  present  when  patients  of  the  other  sex  are  treated,  is 
it  proper  for  male  students  to  witness  the  treatment  of  female  patients  ? 

The  practical  good  sense  shown  in  the  following  report  of  a 
committee  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Woman's  Medical  College  of 
Pennsylvania,  makes  a  very  favorable  contrast  with  the  unreason- 
able remonstrances  of  the  so-called  superior  sex  : 

PHILADELPHIA,  Nov.  15,  1869. 

As  the  relation  of  students  of  medicine  to  public  clinics,  and  the  views 
entertained  by  those  entitled  to  speak  for  their  medical  education,  are  now 
extensively  discussed  in  the  public  journals,  it  seems  necessary  for  us  to 
state  our  position.  Considering  it  decided  that,  as  practitioners  of  medi- 
cine, the  guardianship  of  life  and  health  is  to  be  placed  in  the  keeping  of 
women,  it  becomes  the  interest  of  society  and  the  duty  of  those  entrusted 
with  their  professional  training  to  endeavor  to  provide  for  them  all  suit- 
able means  for  that  practical  instruction  which  is  gained  at  hospital 
clinics. 

The  taunt  has  heretofore  been  frequently  thrown  out  that  ladies  have 
not  attended  the  great  clinical  schools  of  the  country,  nor  listened  to  its 
celebrated  teachers,  and  that,  consequently,  they  cannot  be  as  well  pre- 
pared as  men  for  medical  practice.  We  believe,  as  we  have  always  done, 
that  in  all  special  diseases  of  men  and  women,  and  in  all  operations  nec- 
cessarily  involving  embarrassing  exposure  of  person,  it  is  not  fitting  or 


Voice  of  the    Woman  s  Medical  College.  451 

expedient  that  students  of  different  sexes  should  attend  promiscuously ; 
that  all  special  diseases  of  men  should  be  treated  by  men  in  the  presence 
of  men  only,  and  those  of  women,  where  it  is  practicable,  by  women  in 
the  presence  of  women  only.  It  was  this  feeling,  founded  on  the  respect 
due  to  the  delicacy  of  women  as  patients,  perhaps  more  than  any  other 
consideration,  which  led  to  the  founding  pf  the  Women's  Hospital  in 
Philadelphia.  There  the  clinical  demonstration  of  special  diseases  is 
made  by  and  before  women  alone.  As  we  would  not  permit  men  to  enter 
these  clinics,  neither  would  we  be  willing — out  of  regard  to  the  feelings 
of  men  as  patients,  if  for  no  other  considerations — that  our  students 
should  attend  clinics  where  men  are  specially  treated,  and  there  has  been 
no  time  in  the  history  of  our  college  when  -our  students  could  intention- 
ally do  so,  save  in  direct  contravention  of  our  known  views.  In  nearly 
all  the  great  public  hospitals,  however,  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of 
cases  suited  for  clinical  illustration — whether  medical  or  surgical — is 
of  those  which  involve  no  necessary  exposure,  and  are  the  results  of  dis- 
eases and  accidents  to  which  man  and  woman  are  subject  alike,  and  which 
women  are  constantly  called  upon  to  treat.  Into  these  clinics,  women 
also — often  sensitive  and  shrinking,  albeit  poor — are  brought  as  patients 
to  illustrate  the  lectures,  and  we  maintain  that  wherever  it  is  proper  to 
introduce  women  as  patients,  there  also  is  it  but  just  and  in  accordance 
with  the  instincts  of  the  truest  womanhood  for  women  to  appear  as 
physicians  and  students. 

We  had  arranged  when  our  class  was  admitted  to  the  Pennsylvania 
hospital  to  attend  on  alternate  clinic  days  only,  so  as  to  allow  ample  op- 
portunity for  the  unembarrassed  exhibition  of  special  cases  to  the  other 
students  by  themselves.  We  encouraged  our  students  to  visit  the  hos- 
pital upon  this  view,  sustained  by  our  confidence  in  the  sound  judgment 
and  high-minded  courtesy  of  the  medical  ge/itlemen  in  charge  of  the 
wards.  All  the  objections  that  have  been  made  to  our  students'  admis- 
sion to  these  clinics  seem  to  be  based  upon  the  mistaken  assumption  that 
they  had  designed  to  attend  them  indiscriminately.  As  we  state  distinct- 
ly and  unequivocally  that  this  was  not  the  fact,  that  they  had  no  idea  or 
intention  of  being  present  except  on  one  day  of  the  week,  and  when  no  cases 
which  it  would  not  be  proper  to  illustrate  betore  both  classes  of  students 
would  necessarily  be  brought  in — it  seems  to  us  that  all  these  objections 
are  destroyed,  and  we  cannot  but  feel  that  those  fair-minded  professional 
gentlemen,  who,  under  this  false  impression  as  to  facts,  have  objected  to 
our  course,  will,  upon  a  candid  reconsideration,  acknowledge  that  our 
position  is  just  and  intrinsically  right.  The  general  testimony  of  those 
who  attended  the  Saturday  clinics  last  winter  at  the  Philadelphia  Hospital 
at  Rlockley,  when  about  forty  ladies  made  regular  visits,  was  that  the  tone 
and  bearing  of  the  students  were  greatly  improved,  while  the  usual  cases 
were  brought  forward  and  the  full  measure  of  instruction  given  without 
any  violation  of  refined  propriety. 

We  maintain,  in  common  with  all  medical  men,  that  science  is  imper- 
sonal, and  that  the  high  aim  of  relief  to  suffering  humanity  sanctifies  all 
duties :  and  we  repel,  as  derogatory  to  the  science  of  medicine,  the  asser 


452  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

tion  that  the  physician  who  has  risen  to  the  level  of  his  high  calling  need 
be  embarrassed,  in  treating  general  diseases,  by  the  presence  of  earnest 
women.  The  movement  for  woman's  medical  education  has  been  sus- 
tained from  the  beginning  by  the  most  refined,  intelligent,  and  religious 
women,  and  by  the  noblest  and  best  men  in  the  community.  It  has  ever 
been  regarded  by  these  as  the  cause  of  humanity,  calculated  in  its  very 
nature  to  enlarge  professional  experience,  bless  women,  and  refine  society. 
It  has  in  our  own  city  caused  a  college  and  a  hospital  not  only  to  be 
founded,  but  to  be  sustained  and  endowed  by  those  who  have  known  in- 
timately the  character  and  objects  of  this  work,  and  the  aims  and  efforts 
of  those  connected  with  it.  It  has  this  year  brought  to  this  city  some  fifty 
educated  and  earnest  women  to  study  medicine,  women  who  have  come  to 
this  labor  enthusiastically  but  reverently,  as  to  a  great  life-interest  and  a 
holy  calling.  These  ladies  purchased  tickets,  and  entered  the  clinic  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  with  no  obtrusive  spirit,  and  with  no  intention  of 
interfering  with  the  legitimate  advantages  of  other  students.  If  they 
have  been  forced  into  an  unwelcome  notoriety,  it  has  not  been  of  their 
own  seeking.  ANN  PRESTON,  M.  D.,  Dean. 

EMELINE  H.  CLEVELAND,  M.  D.,  Secretary. 

We  are  indebted  to  James  Truman,  D.  D.  S.,  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania College  of  Dental  Surgery,  for  the  following  account  of  the 
admission  of  women  into  that  branch  of  the  medical  profession: 

The  general  agitation  of  the  question  :  What  are  women  best  qualified 
for  in  the  struggle  for  existence  ?  naturally  led  liberal  minds  to  the  open- 
ing of  new  avenues  for  the  employment  of  their  talents,  shared  equally 
with  men.  Her  right  to  practice  in  medicine  had  been  conceded  after  a 
long  and  severe  conflict.  Even  the  domain  of  the  theologian  had  been 
invaded,  but  law  and  dentistry  were  as  yet  closed,  and  in  the  case  of  the 
latter,  unthought  of  as  an  appropriate  avocation  for  women.  The  sub- 
ject, however,  seemed  so  important,  presenting  a  field  of  labor  peculiarly 
suited  to  her,  that  one  gentleman,  then  professor  in  the  Pennsylvania 
College  of  Dental  Surgery,  felt  it  his  duty  to  call  public  attention  to  this 
promising  work.  In  a  valedictory  delivered  by  him  to  the  class  of  1866, 
at  Musical  Fund  Hall  of  Philadelphia,  he  included  in  his  theme  the  pecu- 
liar fitness  of  dentistry  for  women.  The  question  was  briefly  stated,  but 
it  rather  startled  the  large  audience  by  its  novelty,  and  the  effect  was  no 
less  surprising  on  the  faculty,  board  of  trustees  and  professional  gentle- 
men on  the  platform. 

In  the  fall  of  1868  the  dean  of  the  Pennsylvania  College  of  Dental  Sur- 
gery was  waited  upon  by  a,  German  gentleman,  who  desired  to  introduce 
a  lady  who  had  come  to  this  country  with  the  expectation  that  all  col- 
leges were  open  to  women. .  Although  informed  that  this  was  not  the 
case,  he  still  entertained  the  hope  that  she  might  be  admitted  as  a  student 
of  dentistry.  She  gave  her  name  as  Henrietti  Hirschfeld,  of  Berlin.  The 
matter  came  up  before  the  faculty,  and  after  a  free  discussion  of  the  whole 
subject,  she  was  rejected  by  a  majority  vote,  but  two  voting  in  her  favor. 

In  a  subsequent  interview  with  Professor  Truman,  he  learned  that  she 
had  left  her  native  land  with  the  full  assurance  that  she  would  have  no 


Professor  James    Truman  s  Letter.  453 

difficulty  in  "free  America"  in  securing  a  dental  education.  She  had  also 
the  positive  sanction  of  her  government,  through  the  then  minister  of 
instruction,  Dr.  Falk,  that  on  condition  of  receiving  an  American  diploma 
she  would  be  permitted  to  practice  on  her  return.  Her  distress,  there- 
fore, at  this  initial  failure  was,  naturally,  very  great.  The  excitement  that 
this  application  made  was  intensified  when  it  was  rumored  among  the 
students  that  a  woman  desired  to  be  matriculated.  The  opposition  be- 
came very  bitter,  and  manifested  itself  in  many  petty  annoyances.  In  the 
course  of  a  day  or  two  one  gentleman  of  the  faculty,  and  he  the  dean,  con- 
cluded to  change  his  vote,  and  as  this  decided  the  question,  she  was  ad- 
mitted. The  opposition  of  the  professor  of  anatomy,  who  belonged  to 
the  old  school  of  medical  teachers,  was  so  manifest  that  it  was  deemed 
advisable  to  have  her  take  anatomy  in  the  Woman's  Medical  College  for 
that  winter.  The  first  year  of  this  was  in  every  way  satisfactory.  Al- 
though the  students  received  her  and  Mrs.  Truman,  who  accompanied  her 
on  the  first  visit,  with  a  storm  of  hisses,  they  gradually  learned  not  only 
to  treat  her  with  respect,  but  she  became  a  favorite  with  all,  and  while 
not  convinced  as  to  the  propriety  of  women  in  dentistry,  they  all  agreed 
that  Mrs.  Hirschfeld  might  do  as  an  exception.  The  last  year  she  was 
permitted  by  the  irate  professor  of  anatomy,  Dr.  Forbes,  to  take  that 
subject  under  him. 

She  graduated  with  honor,  and  returned  to  Berlin  to  practice  her  pro- 
fession. This  was  regarded  as  an  exceptional  case,  and  by  no  means  set- 
tled the  status  of  the  college  in  regard  to  women.  The  conservative 
element  was  exceedingly  bitter,  and  it  was  very  evident  that  a  long  time 
must  elapse  before  another  woman  could  be  admitted.  The  great  stir 
made  by  Mrs.  Hirschfeld's  graduation  brought  several  other  applications 
from  ladies  of  Germany,  but  these  were  without  hesitation  denied.  Fail- 
ing to  convince  his  colleagues  of  the  injustice  of  their  action,  Dr.  Truman 
tried  to  secure  more  favorable  results  from  other  colleges,  and  applied 
personally  to  Dr.  Gorgas  of  the  Baltimore  College  of  Dental  Surgery. 
The  answer  was  favorable,  and  he  accompanied  the  applicant  and  entered 
her  in  that  institution.  This  furnished  accommodation  for  the  few  appli- 
cants. The  loss  in  money  began  to  tell  on  the  pockets,  if  not  the  con- 
sciences, of  the  faculty  of  the  Philadelphia  school.  They  saw  the  stream 
had  flown  in  another  direction,  swelling  the  coffers  of  another  institution, 
when,  without  an  effort,  they  could  have  retained  the  whole.  They  con- 
cluded to  try  the  experiment  again,  and  accepted  three  ladies  in  1872  and 
1873 — Miss  Annie  D.  Ramborger  of  Philadelphia,  Fraulein  Veleske  Wilcke 
and  Dr.  Jacoby  of  Germany.  Their  first  year  was  very  satisfactory,  but 
at  its  close  it  was  very  evident  that  there  was  a  determination  on  the  part 
of  the  minority  of  the  class  to  spare  no  effort  to  effect  their  removal  from 
the  school.  A  petition  was  forwarded  to  the  faculty  to  this  effect,  and 
although  one  was  presented  by  the  majority  of  the  students  in  their  favor, 
the  faculty  chose  to  accept  the  former  as  representing  public  sentiment, 
and  it  was  decided  not  to  allow  them  to  take  another  year  at  this  college. 
This  outrage  was  not  accomplished  without  forcible  protest  from  the  gen- 
tleman previously  named,  and  he  appealed  from  this  decision  to  the  gov- 


454  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

erning  power,  the  board  of  trustees.*  To  hear  this  appeal  a  special 
meeting  was  called  for  March  27,  1873,  at  which  the  communication  of 
Professor  Truman  was  read  and  ordered  filed.  A  similar  communication, 
in  opposition,  was  received,  signed  by  Professors  T.  L.  Buckingham,  E. 
Wildman,  George  T.  Barker,  James  Tyson  and  J.  Ewing  Mears.  The 
matter  was  referred  to  a  committee  consisting  of  Hon.  Henry  C.  Carey, 
W.  S.  Pierce  and  G.  R.  Morehouse,  M.  D.  At  a  special  meeting  convened 
for  this  purpose,  March  31,  1873,  this  committee  made  their  report.  They 
say : 

Three  ladies  entered  as  students  of  this  college  at  the  commencement  of  the  session, 
1872-73,  paid  their  matriculation  fees,  attended  the  course  of  lectures,  and  were  in- 
formed, by  a  resolution  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  faculty' at  the  close  of  the  session, 
that  they  would  not  be  permitted  to  attend  the  second  course  of  lectures.  No  other 
cause  was  assigned  for  the  action  of  the  faculty  than  that  they  deemed  it  against  the 
interest  of  the  college  to  permit  them  to  do  so,  on  account  of  the  dissatisfaction  which 
it  gave  to  certain  male  students,  etc.  *  *  *  The  goal  to  which  all  medical  and 
dental  students  look,  is  graduation  and  the  diploma,  which  is  to  be  the  evidence  of 
their  qualification  to  practice  their  art.  To  qualify  themselves  for  this  they  bestow 
their  time,  their  money  and  their  labor.  To  deprive  them  of  this  without  just  cause 
is  to  disappoint  their  hopes,  and  to  receive  from  them  money  and  bestowal  of  time  and 
labor  without  the  full  equivalent  which  they  had  a- right  to  expect. 

After  discussing  at  length  the  legal  aspects  of  the  case,  the  summing  up 
is  as  follows : 

'We,  therefore,  respectfully  report  that  in  our  opinion  it  is  the  legal  right  of  these 
ladies  to  attend,  and  it  is  the  legal  duty  of  this  college  to  give  them,  as  students,  a 
seco/id  course  of  lectures  on  the  terms  of  the  announcement  which  forms  the  basis'of 
the  contract  with  them. 

This  report  was  signed  by  all  the  committee,  and  read  by  W.  S.  Pierce, 
one  of  the  number,  and  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Philadel- 
phia. It  carried  with  it,  therefore,  all  the  force  of  a  judicial  decision,  and 
was  so  accepted  by  the  board,  and  adopted  at  once.  This  left  the  majority 
of  the  faculty  no  choice  but  to  accept  the  decision  as  final  as  far  as  these 
ladies  were  concerned.  This  they  did,  and  the  three  were  invited  to  re- 
sume their  studies.  Two,  Misses  Ramborger  and  Wilcke,  accepted.  Miss 
Jacoby  refused  and  went  to  Baltimore. 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  this  matter,  and  that  which  clearly 
demonstrated  a  marked  advance  in  public  opinion,  was  the  stir  it  made  in 
the  press.  The  daily  and  Sunday  papers  bristled  with  strong  leaders,  the 


*  As  through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Truman  Miss  Hirschfeld  had  first  been  admitted  to  the  college,  he 
felt  in  a  measure  responsible  for  the  fair  treatment  of  her  countrywomen  who  came  to  the  United 
States  to  enjoy  the  same  educational  advantages.  When  the  discussion  in  regard  to  expelling  the 
young  women  was  pending.  Dr.  Truman  promptly  and  decidedly  told  the  faculty  that  if  such  an  act  of 
injustice  was  permitted  he  should  leave  the  college  also.  Much  of  Dr.  Truman's  clearsightedness  and 
determination  may  be  traced  to  the  influence  of  his  noble  wife  and  no  less  noble  mother-in-law,  Mary 
Ann  McCliniock,  who  helped  to  inaugurate  the  movement  in  1848  in  Central  New  York.  She  lamented 
in  her  declining  years  that  she  was  able  to  do  so  little.  But  by  way  of  consolation  I  often  suggested 
that  her  influence  in  many  directions  could  never  be  measured  ;  and  here  is  one  :  Her  influence  on  Dr. 
Truman  opened  the  Dental  College  to  women,  and  kept  it  open  while  Miss  Hirschfeld  acquired  her 
profession.  With  her  success  in  Germany,  in  the  royal  family,  every  child  in  the  palace  for  genera- 
tions that  escapes  a  toothache  will  have  reason  to  bless  a  noble  friend,  Mary  Ann  McClintock,  that  she 
helped  to  plant  the  seeds  of  justice  to  woman  in  the  heart  of  young  James  Truman.  We  must  also 
recognize  in  Dr.  Truman's  case  that  he  was  born  and  trained  in  a  liberal  Quaker  family,  his  own  father 
and  mother  having  been  disciples  of  Elias  Hicks. 


Women  in  Dentistry.  455 

faculty  being  denounced  in  no  measured  terms  for  their  action.  To  such 
an  extent  was  this  carried,  and  so  overwhelming  was  the  indignation,  that 
it  practically  settled  the  question  for  Philadelphia,  although  several  years 
elapsed  after  these  ladies  were  graduated  before  others  were  accepted. 
When  that  time  did  arrive,  under  the  present  dean,  Dr.  C.  N.  Pierce,  they 
were  accorded  everything,  without  any  reservation,  and  the  school  has 
continued  ever  since  to  accept  them.  At  the  meeting  of  the  National 
Association  of  Dentists,  held  at  Saratoga,  1869,  Dr.  Truman  introduced  a 
resolution  looking  to  the  recognition  of  women  in  the  profession.  The 
resolution  and  the  remarks  were  kindly  received,  but  were,  of  course,  laid 
on  the  table.  This  was  expected,  the  object  being  to  make  the  thought 
familiar  in  every  section  of  the  country. 

These  efforts  have  borne  rich  fruit,  and  now  women  are  being  edu- 
cated at  a  majority  of  the  prominent  dental  colleges,  and  no  complaints 
are  heard  of  coeducation  in  this  department  of  work.  The  college 
that  first  accepted  and  then  rejected — the  Pennsylvania  of  Phila- 
delphia— has  a  yearly  average  of  seven  to  eight  women,  nearly  equally 
divided  between  America  and  Germany.  Of  the  three  dental  schools  in 
Philadelphia,  two  accept  women,  and  the  third — the  Dental  Department 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania — would,  if  the  faculty  were  not  over- 
ruled by  the  governing  powers. 

The  learned  theories  that  were  promulgated  in  regard  to  the  injury  the 
practice  of  dentistry  would  be  to  women,  have  all  fallen  to  the  ground. 
The  advocates  of  women  in  dentistry  were  met  at  the  outstart  with  the 
health  question,  and  as  it  had  never  been  tested,  the  most  favorably 
inclined  looked  forward  with  some  anxiety  to  the  result.  Fifteen  years 
have  elapsed  since  then,  and  almost  every  town  in  Germany  is  supplied 
with  a  woman  in  this  profession.  Many  are  also  established  in  America. 
These  have  all  the  usual  requisites  of  bodily  strength,  and  the  writer 
has  yet  to  learn  of  a  single  failure  from  physical  deterioration. 

The  first  lady,  Miss  Lucy  B.  Hobbs,  to  graduate  in  dentistry,  was  sent 
out  from  the  Cincinnati  College,  and  she,  I  believe,  is  still  in  active  prac- 
tice in  Kansas.  She  graduated  in  1866.  Mrs.  Hirschfeld,  before  spoken 
of,  returned  to  Germany  and  became  at  once  a  subject  for  the  fun  of  the 
comic  papers,  and  for  the  more  serious  work  of  the  Bajan  and  Uberlana 
und  Meer,  both  of  them  containing  elaborate  and  illustrated  notices  of 
her.  She  had  some  friends  in  the  higher  walks  of  life  ;  notable  amongst 
these  was  President  Lette  of  the  Trauen-Verem,  whose  aid  and  powerful 
influence  had  assisted  her  materially  in  the  early  stages  of  her  effort. 
The  result  of  these  combined  forces  soon  placed  her  in  possession  of  a 
large  practice.  She  was  patronized  by  ladies  in  the  highest  circles, 
including  the  crown  princess.  She  subsequently  married,  had  two  boys 
to  rear  and  educate,  and  a  large  household  to  supervise.  She  has 
.twisted  several  of  her  relatives  into  professions,  two  in  medicine  and 
two  in  dentistry,  besides  aiding  many  worthy  persons.  She  has  estab- 
lished a  clinic  for  women  in  Berlin,  something  very  badly  needed 
there.  This  is  in  charge  of  two  physicians,  one  being  her  husband's  sis- 
ter, Dr.  Fanny  Tiburtius.  She  has  also  started  a  hospital  for  women.. 


456  History  of  Woman   Suffrage. 

These  are  mainly  supported  by  her  individual  exertions.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  these  multifarious  and  trying  duties,  she  practices  daily,  and  is  as 
well  physically  and  mentally  as  when  she  commenced.  Fraulein  Valeske 
Wilcke  of  KOnigsberg  has  been  over  twelve  years  in  a  very  large  practice 
with  no  evil  results;  Miss  Annie  D.  Ramborger,  an  equal  time,  with  an 
equally  large  practice,  and  enjoys  apparently  far  better  health  than  most 
ladies  of  thirty. 

Dentistry  is,  probably,  one  of  the  most  trying  professions,  very  few 
men  being  equal  to  the  severe  strain,  and  many  are  obliged  to  succumb. 
No  woman  has  as  yet  failed,  though  it  would  not  be  at  all  remarkable  if 
such  were  the  case.  The  probabilities  are  that  comparatively  few  will 
choose  it  as  a  profession,  but  that  another  door  has  been  opened  for 
employment  is  a  cause  for  congratulation  with  all  right-thinking  minds. 

For  opening  this  profession  to  women  a  debt  of  gratitude  is 
due  to  Dr.  Truman  from  all  his  countrywomen,  as  well  as  to 
those  noble  German  students,  who  have  so  ably  filled  the  posi- 
tions he  secured  for  them.  Similar  struggles,  both  in  medicine 
and  dentistry,  were  encountered  in  other  States,  but  the  result 
was  as  it  must  be  in  every  case,  the  final  triumph  of  justice 
for  women.  Already  they  are  in  most  of  the  colleges  and  hos- 
pitals, and  members  of  many  of  the  State  and  National  associa- 
tions. 

In  1870,  the  Society  of  Friends  founded  Swarthmore  College* 
for  the  education  of  both  sexes,  erecting  a  fine  building  in  a 
beautiful  locality.  At  the  dedication  of  this  institution,  Lucretia 
Mott  was  elected  to  honorary  membership  and  invited  to  the 
platform.  With  her  own  hands  she  planted  the  first  tree,  which 
now  adorns  those  spacious  grounds. 

The  persecutions  that  women  encountered  in  every  onward 
step  soon  taught  them  the  necessity  of  remodeling  the  laws  and 
customs  for  themselves.  They  began  to  see  the  fallacy  of  the 
old  ideas,  that  men  looked  after  the  interests  of  women,  "  that 


*  PHILADELPHIA,  Nov.  10, 1870.— The  formal  opening  of  Sv.'arthmore  College  took  place  this  afternoon, 
when  a  large  number  of  its  friends  were  conveyed  thither  in  a  special  train  on  the  Westchester  railroad. 
The  audience  assembled  in  the  lecture  room,  where  addresses  were  delivered  by  Samuel  Willets  and 
John  D.  Hyoks,  of  New  York,  Edward  Parnsh,  president  of  the  college,  Wm.  Dorsey.  and  Lucretia 
Mott.  It  was  stated  that  the  amount  spent  in  land  and  buildings  amounted  to  $205,000  and  contribu- 
tions were  solicited  for  $100,000  additional  to  fully  furnish  the  building,  and  supply  a  library,  philosoph- 
ical and  astronomical  apparatus.  The  building  is  a  massive  one  of  five  stories,  constructed  of  Pennsyl- 
vania granite,  and  appointed  throughout,  from  dormitory,  bathroom,  recitation-hall,  to  parlor,  kitchen 
and  laundry,  in  the  most  refined  and  substantial  taste.  It  is  400  feet  in  length,  by  100  deep,  presenting 
two  wings  for  the  dormitories  of  the  male  and  female  students  respectively,  and  a  central  part  devoted 
to  parlor,  library,  public  hall,  etc.  Especially  interesting  in  this  division  of  the  college  is  a  room  devoted 
to  Quaker  antiquities,  comprising  portraits  and  writings  of  the  founders  of  the  sect.  Among  them  we 
notice  the  treaty  of  William  Penn,  a  picture  of  the  treaty  assembly,  a  letter  of  George  Fox,  etc.  The 
Allege  opens  with  180  pupils,  about  equally  divided  between  the  sexes,  the  system  of  instruction  being 
•n  jwjnt  education  of  boys  and  girls,  though  each  occupy  separate  wings  of  the  building.  The  institution 
fvas  fjuilt  by  the  Hicksitc  branch  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  but  the  pupils  are  not  confined  to  members 
,tX  that  persuasion. 


John  K.    Wildman. 


457 


they  were  their  natural  protectors,"  that  they  could  safely  trust 
them  to  legislate  on  their  personal  and  property  rights;  for  they 
found  in  almost  every  case  that  whatever  right  and  privilege  man 
claimed  for  himself,  he  proposed  exactly  the  opposite  for  women. 
Hence  the  necessity  for  them  to  have  a  voice  as  to  the  laws  and  the 
rulers  under  which  they  lived.  Whatever  reform  they  attempted 
they  soon  found  their  labors  valueless,  because  they  had  no  power 
to  remedy  any  evils  protected  by  law.  After  laboring  in  tem- 
perance, prison-reform,  coeducation,  and  women's  rights  in  the 
trades  and  professions,  their  hopes  all  alike  centered  at  last  in  the 
suffrage  movement. 

In  1866,  a  suffrage  association  was  formed  in  Philadelphia  at  a 
meeting  of  the  American  Equal  Rights  Society,*  held  in  Frank- 
lin Institute.  This  convention  was  marked  by  a  heated  debate 
on  the  duty  of  the  abolitionists  now  that  the  black  man  was 
emancipated,  to  make  the  demand  for  the  enfranchisement  of 
women,  as  well  as  the  freedmen. 

We  are  indebted  to  John  K.  Wildman  of  Philadelphia  for  the 
following : 

The  Pennsylvania  association  was  organized  December  22,  1869,  in 
Mercantile  Library  Hall,  Philadelphia.  The  meeting  was  called  to  order 
by  John  K.  Wildman,  who  said  :  "The  time  has  arrived  when  it  is  neces- 
sary for  us  to  take  some  action  towards  promoting  the  cause  of  woman 
suffrage.  We  desire  to  do  our  part  as  far  as  practicable,  in  the  work  of 
enlightening  the  people  of  our  State  upon  this  important  subject.  With 
this  end  in  view  we  propose  to  organize,  hoping  that  all  friends  of  the 
movement  will  cordially  give  us  their  influence."  Edward  M.  Davis  then 
proposed  the  appointment  of  Judge  William  S.  Pierce  as  chairman 
of  the  meeting.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  Judge  Pierce  announced 
that  the  meeting  was  ready  for  business,  reserving  for  another  stage 
of  the  proceedings  any  remarks  he  might  wish  to  make.  Annie 
Heacock  was  chosen  to  act  as  secretary.  In  accordance  with  a  motion 
that  was  adopted,  the  chairman  appointed  a  committee  of  five  persons t 
to  prepare  a  constitution,  and  present  the  same  for  the  action  of  the 
meeting.  Mary  Grew  spoke  at  length  in  her  earnest  and  impressive  man- 
ner, presenting  forcibly  those  familiar  yet  solid  arguments  in  favor  of 
woman  suffrage  which  form  the  basis  of  the  discussion,  and  which  should 
irrevocably  settle  the  question.  Dr.  Henry  T.  Child  followed  with  a  brief 

*  The  speakers  at  this  convention  were  Lucrctia  Mott.  F ranees  Dana  Gage,  Wendell  Phillips,  Eliza- 
beth Cady  Stanton,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Edward  M.  Davis,  Robert  Purvis,  Aaron  M.  Powell.  The 
officers  of  the  society  were:  President,  Robert  Purvis;  / 'ice-presidents,  Lucretia  Mott,  William 
\\hippcr,  Diii.ih  Mendenhall  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Mary  K.  Lightfoot  ;  Corresponding  Secretary, 
Frances  K.  Jackson  ;  Treasurer,  John  K.  Wildman  ;  Executive  Committee,  William  Still,  Ellen  M. 
Child,  Harriet  Purvis,  Klisha  Meaner,  Octavius  Catts,  Sarah  S.  Hawkins,  Sarah  Pugh,  Clementina 
Johns,  Alfred  H.  Love,  Louisa  J.  Roberts.  Jay  Chapel. 

t  J.  K.  Wildman,  Miss  A.  Ramborger,  Clementina  L.  John,  Ellen  M.  Child,  and  Passmore  Williamson. 


458  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

address,  showing  his  zealous  interest  in  the  object  of  the  meeting,  and 
trusting  that  at  no  distant  period  the  ballot  would  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  women  of  the  land.  Judge  Pierce  said  : 

I  am  in  favor  of  giving  woman  a  chance  in  the  world.  I  feel  very  much  in  regard 
to  woman  as  Diogenes  did  when  Alexander  the  Great  went  to  see  him.  When  the 
monarch  arrived  at  the  city  in  which  Diogenes  lived,  he  sent  a  request  for  him  to  come 
to  see  him.  Diogenes  declined  to  go.  The  monarch  then  went  to  the  place  of  his 
residence,  and  found  him  lying  in  his  court-yard  sunning  himself.  lie  did  not  even 
rise  when  Alexander  approached.  Standing  over  him,  the  warrior  asked,  "  Diogenes, 
what  can  I  do  for  you  ?"  And  the  philosopher  answered,  "  Nothing,  except  to  stand 
out  of  my  sunshine."  Now,  I  am  disposed  to  stand  out  of  woman's  sunshine.  If  she 
wants  the  light  of  the  sun  upon  her,  and  the  breath  of  heaven  upon  her,  and  freedom 
of  action  necessary  to  develop  herself,  heaven  forbid  that  I  should  stand  in  her  way.  I 
believe  that  everything  goes  to  its  own  place  in  God's  world,  and  woman  will  go  to  her 
place  if  you  do  not  impede  her.  We  should  not  be  afraid  to  trust  her,  or  to  apply 
the  same  principles  to  her  in  regard  to  suffrage  that  we  apply  to  ourselves.  There 
should  be  no  distinction.  Her  claims  to  the  ballot  rest  upon  a  just  and  logical  founda- 
tion. 

The  venerable  Sojourner  Truth  spoke  a  few  words  of  encouragement, 
showing  in  her  humble  and  fervid  way  a  reverent  faith  in  the  final  triumph 
of  justice.  After  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  the  organization  was 
completed  by  the  election  of  officers*  to  serve  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  first  thing  that  claimed  the  attention  of  the  officers  of  the  new" so- 
ciety was  the  representation  of  the  different  counties  on  the  executive 
committee  ;  and  for  this  purpose  the  chairman  wrote  to  nearly  all  of  the 
sixty-three  counties,  chiefly  to  the  postmasters  of  the  principal  towns. 
The  replies  that  were  received  presented  a  curious  medley  of  sentiment 
and  opinion  touching  the  object  in  view,  disclosing  every  shade  of  tone 
and  temper  between  the  two  extremes  of  cold  indifference  and  warm  en- 
thusiasm. It  was  evident  that,  in  a  large  number  of  cases,  the  inquiries 
promptly  found  their  resting-place  in  the  waste-basket.  Before  the  close 
of  the  year  twenty-two  counties  were  represented.  Thus  reinforced,  the 
committee  took  immediate  steps  towards  distributing  documents  and  cir- 
culating petitions  throughout  the  State.  Many  of  the  county  members 
cooperated  earnestly  in  this  work.  Some  of  them,  not  satisfied  to  limit 
their  action  to  this  particular  form  of  service,  aided  the  movement  by 
collecting  funds  and  holding  public  meetings  in  their  respective  locali- 
ties. Matilda  Hindman,  representing  Alleghany  county,  evinced  both 
energy  and  enterprise  in  forwarding  the  movement  through  the  agency 
of  public  meetings.  She  did  good  service  from  the  beginning,  relying 
almost  solely  upon  her  own  determined  purpose.  Her  deep  interest  in 
the  work  and  its  object,  and  the  courage  that  animated  her  at  the  first 
impulse  of  duty,  have  continued  without  abatement  to  the  present  time. 
Her  usefulness  and  activity  have  not  confined  themselves  within  the 
limits  of  Pennsylvania,  but  have  extended  to  other  States,  both  in  the 
East  and  West. 

*  President,  Mary  Grew  ;  I'tce-Prcsidcnts,  Edward  M.  Davis,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Farrington,  Mary  K.  Wil- 
liamson ;  Recording  Secretary,  Annie  Heacock ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Eliza  Sproat  Turner  ; 
Treasurer,  Gulielma  M.  S.  P.  Jones;  Executive  Committee,  John  K.  Wildman,  Ellen  M.  Child, 
Annie  Shoemaker,  Charlotte  L.  Pierce,  and  Dr.  Henry  T.  Child. 


Matilda  Hindman.  459 

Miss  Matilda  Hindman,  of  Philadelphia,  pays  the  following  tribute  to 
her  parents : 

In  1837,  my  father  being  a  member  of  the  school  committee  of  the  Union  town- 
ship, Washington  county,  secured  equal  salaries  for  women;  and  in  spite  of  steady 
opposition,  there  was  no  difference  made  for  four  years.  The  women  who  taught  the 
schools  in  the  summer  were  paid  the  same  as  the  men  who  taught  in  the  winter.  At 
the  death  of  my  father  the  board  returned  to  the  old  system  of  half  pay  for  women; 
the  result  was  "incompetent  teachers,"  furnishing  the  opposition  with  just  the  plea 
they  desired — that  women  were  not  fit  for  school  teachers.  My  mother  remonstrated, 
but  in  vain.  They  replied,  "  women  never  received  as  much  as  men  for  any  work"; 
"it  did  not  cost  as  much  to  keep  a  woman  as  a  man,"  and  moreover,  these  school  mat- 
ters belonged  to  men,  and  women  had  no  right  to  interfere.  In  1842,  my  mother 
offered  to  board  the  teacher  in  her  district,  gratis,  if  the  board  would  raise  her  salary 
proportionally.  They  received  her  proposition  with  scorn.  She  then  refused  to  pay 
her  taxes.  Such  was  the  respect  for  her  in  the  community,  and  the  sense  of  justice  in 
regard  to  the  teachers,  that  the  authorities  suffered  the  tax  to  go  unpaid,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  year  accepted  the  proposition,  and  for  many  years  after,  she  boarded  the  teacher 
in  her  district,  making  the  woman's  net  salary  equal  to  that  of  the  man. 

My  mother  lived  to  see  her  daughters  employed  in  her  township  on  equal  salaries 
with  men.  But  in  process  of  time,  another  board,  for  the  express  purpose  of  humiliat- 
ing mother  and  daughters  alike,  passed  a  resolution  to  take  two  dollars  a  month  from 
each  of  their  salaries,  when  all  three  resigned.  They  all  honored  her,  by  carrying  into 
their  life-work  the  noble  principles  for  which  she  suffered  so  much. 

She  was  the  grand-daughter  of  a  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  minister,  who,  with  his 
young  family,  was  among  the  earliest  settlers  in  the  wilderness  of  what  is  now  known 
as  the  prosperous  and  beautiful  county  of  Washington,  Pennsylvania.  Her  name  was 
Sarah  Campbell.  She  was  born  in  1798.  From  her  earliest  girlhood  she  rebelled 
against  the  injustice  done  women  by  the  law.  She  felt  acutely  the  wrong  done  her  and 
her  sisters  by  being  denied  an  education  equal  to  their  brothers,  and  denied  also  an 
equal  share  of  theii  inheritance.  While  the  father  possessed  a  large  estate,  and  pro- 
vided liberally  for  his  sons,  he  left  his  daughters  a  mere  pittance. 

In  view  of  such  facts,  it  is  folly  to  say  that  women  were  ever  satisfied 
with  the  humiliating  discriminations  of  sex  they  have  endured  in  all 
periods,  and  in  all  ranks  in  society. 

The  first  annual  report  of  the  association  was  prepared  by  Eliza  Sproat 
Turner.  She  said : 

We  do  not  complain  that  man  is  slow  to  realize  the  injustice  of  his  present  attitude 
towards  woman — an  attitude  once,  from  necessity,  endurable;  now,  from  too  long  con- 
tinuance, grown  intolerable.  It  would  not  be  natural  for  him  to  feel  it  with  equal 
keenness.  It  takes  a  great-minded  fox  to  find  out,  what  every  goose  knows,  that 
foxes'  teeth  are  cruel.  And  while  we  do  not  complain  of  this  incapacity  on  his  part, 
the  advocates  of  this  cause  feel  the  necessity  for  woman  to  take  upon  herself  whatever 
share  in  the  management  of  their  mutual  affairs  shall  be  needed  to  right  the  balance; 
IOIH  huling  that  the  defects  in  legislation  which  she  is,  by  reason  of  her  position,  more 
competent  to  understand,  she  should  be  more  competent  to  remedy.  Not  these  inno- 
vations alone,  but  others  involving  matters  beyond  individual  interests,  she  expects  to 
adiieve  by  the  power  she  shall  gain  through  the  exercise  of  her  right  of  suffrage.  We 
discern,  in  the  consideration  of  nearly  all  questions  of  national  welfare,  a  disposition 
to  press  unduly  the  interests  of  trade  and  commerce  rather  than  the  interests  of  the 
fireside. 

Mary  Grew  presided,  and  has  been  elected  president  of  the  association 
every  year  from  the  beginning,  performing  the  duties  of  the  position  with 
ability,  earnestness  and  satisfaction.  In  the  winter  of  1870-71  the  execu- 


460  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

live  committee  recommended  the  passage  of  a  law  that  should  give  mar- 
ried women  the  control  of  their  own  earnings.  The  appeal  to  the  legisla- 
ture in  behalf  of  such  a  law  was  renewed  the  following  winter,  and  its 
passage  finally  secured.  Among  the  resolutions  adopted  at  the  annual 
meeting  was  the  following  : 

Resolved,  That  the  vote  of  the  legislature  of  this  State  for  a  convention  to  amend 
the  constitution,  makes  it  our  duty  to  work  for  the  exclusion  of  the  word  "male" 
from  the  provision  defining  the  qualifications  for  the  elective  franchise,  and  that  we 
call  upon  all  friends  of  justice  to  give  their  best  energies  to  the  sustaining  of  this 
object. 

Subsequently  the  executive  committee  prepared  a  petition  with  refer- 
ence to  the  formation  of  the  constitutional  convention,  asking  the  legis- 
lature, in  making  the  needful  regulations,  to  frame  them  in  such  a  way  as 
to  secure  the  representation  of  the  women  of  the  State.  This  petition 
was  unavailing.  At  the  next  annual  meeting,  which  was  held  at  the  time 
the  constitutional  convention  was  in  session,  a  resolution  was  adopted 
containing  an  appeal  to  that  body,  earnestly  requesting  it  to  present  to 
the  people  of  the  State  a  constitution  that  should  secure  the  right  of  suf- 
frage to  its  citizens  without  distinction  of  sex,  accompanied  by  a  request 
for  a  hearing  at  such  time  and  place  as  the  convention  should  decide. 
The  request  was  willingly  granted,  and  an  evening  assigned  for  that  pur- 
pose. An  evening  was  also  given  to  the  Citizens'  Suffrage  Society  of  Phil- 
adelphia for  a  like  object.  These  meetings  were  held  in  the  hall  of  the 
convention,  and  were  largely  attended  by  the  members  and  by  the  people 
generally.  Addresses  were  delivered  by  various  friends  of  woman  suffrage, 
as  representatives  of  the  two  societies.*  Still  another  evening  was  granted 
the  Pennsylvania  association  for  a  meeting  to  be  addressed  by  Bishop 
Matthew  Simpson  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  earnest  and 
forcible  words  of  the  eloquent  speaker,  and  his  solid  array  of  arguments, 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  attentive  audience. 

In  the  convention  the  question  was  discussed  during  five  successive 
days.  Hon.  John  M.  Broomall  introduced  a  provision  in  favor  of  making 
the  ballot  free  to  men  and  women  alike,  proposing  that  it  be  incorporated 
in  the  new  constitution.  This  provision  was  ably  advocated  by  Mr. 
Broomall  and  many  other  members  of  the  convention.  Their  firm  con- 
victions in  behalf  of  equal  and  exact  justice,  however  well  sustained  by 
"sound  reasoning  and  earnest  appeal,  was  an  unequal  match  for  the  rooted 
conservatism  which  recoiled  from  such  a  new  departure.  Although  the 
measure  was  defeated,  its  discussion  had  an  influence.  It  was  animated, 
intelligent  and  exhaustive,  and  drew  public  attention  more  directly  to  the 
subject  than  anything  that  had  occurred  since  the  beginning  of  its  agita- 
tion in  the  State. 

The  only  act  of  the  convention  that  gave  hope  to  the  friends  of  impar- 
tial suffrage  was  the  adoption  of  the  third  section  of  Article  X. :  "  Women 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  of 
control  or  management  under  the  school  laws  of  this  State."  It  was  a 


*  Among  those  who  addressed  the  members  of  the  convention  were  Bishop  Matthew  Simpson.  Rev. 
Charles  G.  Ames,  Fanny  B.  Ames,  Mary  Grew,  Sarah  C.  Hallowell,  Matilda  Hindman,  Elizabeth  S. 
Blaiien  and  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton. 


The  Citizens'  'Suffrage  Association. 


461 


very  faint  gleam  of  comfort,  too  small  to  stir  more  than  a  breath  of 
praise.  It  had  the  merit  of  being  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  though 
timid  and  feeble,  and  as  it  has  never  disturbed  the  equilibrium  of  society, 
it  may  ultimately  be  followed  by  others  of  more  importance. 

The  annual  meetings  of  the  association  have  been  held  in  Philadelphia, 
Westchester,  Bristol,  Kennett  Square  and  Media,  respectively.  An  inter- 
esting feature  of  the  Westchester  meeting  was  the  reading  of  an  essay, 
entitled  "Four  quite  New  Reasons  why  you  should  wish  your  Wife  to 
Vote."  It  was  written  for  the  occasion  by  Eliza  Sproat  Turner,  and  was 
subsequently  printed  and  re-printed  in  tract  form  by  order  of  the  execu- 
tive committee,  and  freely  circulated  among  the  people.  It  was  likewise 
published  in  the  Woman  s  Journal.  Other  documents  relative  to  the 
question  have  been  printed  from  time  to  time  by  authority  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  large  numbers  of  suffrage  tracts  have  been  purchased  for  dis- 
tribution year  after  year,  embodying  the  best  thoughts,  the  soundest 
arguments,  and  the  most  forcible  reasoning  that  the  question  has  elicited. 
Frequent  petitions  have  been  sent  to  the  legislature  and  to  congress,  all 
having  in  view  the  one  paramount  object,  and  showing  by  their  repeated 
and  persistent  appearance  the  indefatigable  nature  of  a  living,  breathing 
reform.  The  executive  committee  at  one  time  employed  Matilda  Hind- 
man  as  State  agent.  Meetings  were  held  by  her  chiefly  in  the  western 
part  of  the  State.  In  1874  her  services  extended  to  the  State  of  Michigan, 
where  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  was  specially  before  the  people. 
Lelia  E.  Patridge  also  represented  the  association  in  Michigan  at  that 
time,  where  she  performed  excellent  service  in  addressing  numerous 
meetings  in  different  parts  of  the  State.  In  1877  Miss  Patridge  was  ap- 
pointed to  represent  the  society  in  Colorado.  There  she  labored  with 
others  to  secure  the  adoption  of  a  constitutional  amendment  providing 
for  suffrage  without  regard  to  sex.  On  several  occasions  the  executive 
committee  has  contributed  to  woman  suffrage  purposes  in  other  States. 
Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Colorado  and  Oregon  have  been  recipients  of 
the  limited  resources  of  the  association.  The  executive  committee  has 
felt  the  cramping  influence  of  an  unfriended  treasury.  Its  provision  has 
been  the  fruit  of  unwearied  soliciting,  and  should  the  especial  object  of 
the  association  ever  be  accomplished,  the  honors  of  success  may  be 
fitly  contested  by  the  fine  art  of  begging. 

The  following  report  was  sent  us  by  Mrs.  Mary  Byrnes: 
March  22,  1872,  the  Citizens'  Suffrage  Association  of  Philadelphia  was 
formed,  William  Morris  Davis,  president,  with  fifty  members.  The  name 
i.l  the  society  was  chosen  to  denote  the  view  of  its  members  as 
to  the  basis  of  the  elective  franchise.  The  amendments  to  the  United 
Stales  constitution  had  clearly  defined  who  were  citizens,  and  shown 
citizenship  to  be  without  sex.  Woman  was  as  indisputably  a  citizen 
as  man.  Whatever  rights  he  possessed  as  a  citizen  she  possessed  also. 
The  supreme  law  of  the  land  placed  her  on  the  same  plane  of  political 
rights  with  him.  If  man  held  the  right  of  suffrage  as  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  either  by  birthright  within  the  respective  States,  or  by 
naturalization  under  the  United  States,  then  the  right  of  the  female  ciu- 


462  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

2en  to  vote  was  as  absolute  as  that  of  the  male  citizen ;  and  woman's 
disfranchisement  became  a  wrong  inflicted  upon  her  by  usurped  power. 
Men  became  voters  by  reason  of  their  citizenship,  having  first  com- 
plied with  certain  police  regulations  imposed  within  and  by  the  respective 
States.  The  Citizens'  Suffrage  Association  demanded  the  same  political 
rights  for  all  citizens,  nothing  more,  nothing  less.  It  repudiated  the  idea 
that  one  class  of  citizens  should  ask  of  another  class  rights  which  that 
other  class  never  possessed,  and  which  those  who  were  denied  them  never 
had  lost.  This  society  held  that  the  right  to  give  implied  the  right  to 
takeaway;  and  further,  that  the  right  to  give  implied  a  right  lodged 
somewhere  in  society,  which  society  had  never  acquired  by  any  direct 
concession  from  the  people. 

This  society  held  also,  that  the  theory  of  the  right  to  the  franchise,  as 
a  gift,  bore  with  it  the  power  somewhere  to  restrict  the  male  citizen's  suf- 
frage, and  to  strike  at  the  principle  of  self-government.  They  had  seen 
this  doctrine  earnestly  advanced.  They  knew  that  there  was  a  growing 
class  in  the  country  who  were  inimical  to  universal  suffrage.  In  view  of 
this  they  chose  the  name  of  citizen  suffrage,  as  the  highest  and  broadest 
term  by  which  to  designate  their  devotion  to  the  political  rights  of  all 
citizens.  They  held  that  the  political  condition  of  the  white  women  of  the 
United  States  was  totally  unlike  that  of  the  slave  population  in  this; 
that  while  the  slaves  were  not  considered  citizens  until  the  adoption  of 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments,  white  women  had  always  been 
citizens,  and  always  entitled  to  all  the  political  rights  of  citizenship.  The 
colored  male  citizen  became  a  voter — subject  to  the  police  regula- 
tions of  the  different  States — upon  acquiring  citizenship.  No  constitu- 
tional enactment  denied  equal  political  rights  to  women  as  citizens.  No 
constitutional  enactment  was  therefore  required  to  enable  them  to  exer- 
cise the  right  to  vote,  which  became  the  right  of  male  slaves  upon  their 
securing  citizenship  under  the  law.  The  first  legal  argument  on  the  sub- 
ject of  woman's  right  to  the  ballot  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  was 
made  by  Jacob  F.  Byrnes  before  the  Pennsylvania  Society.  Had  it  been 
published  as  soon  as  written,  instead  of  being  circulated  privately,  surpris- 
ing person  after  person  with  the  position  taken,  it  would  have  antedated 
the  report  of  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  the  winter  of  1871. 

Edward  M.  Davis,  president  for  many  years,  was  one  of  the 
most  active  and  untiring  officers  of  this  association,  giving  gener- 
ously of  his  time  and  money  not  only  to  its  -support  but  to 
the  general  agitation  of  the  suffrage  question  in  every  part  of 
the  country.  The  meetings  were  held  regularly  at  his  office, 
333  Walnut  street,  as  were  also  those  of  the  Radical  Club. 
This  was  composed  largely  of  the  same  members  as  the  suffrage 
society,  but  in  this  organization  they  had  a  greater  latitude  in  dis- 
cussion, covering  all  questions  of  political,  religious  and  social  in- 
terest. As  the  division  in  the  National  Society  produced  divi- 


Edward  M.  Davis.  463 

sion  everywhere,  some  of  the  friends  in  Philadelphia  made  them- 
selves auxiliary  to  the  American  Association,  and  the  sympathy 
of  others  was  with  the  National,  thus  forming  two  rival  societies, 
which  together  kept  the  suffrage  question  before  the  people  and 
roused  their  attention,  particularly  to  the  fact  of  a  pending  con- 
stitutional convention.  Hence  the  necessity  of  holding  meetings 
throughout  the  State,  and  rolling  up  petitions  asking  that  the 
constitution  be  so  amended  as  to  secure  to  women  the  right  to 
vote.  The  following  appeal  was  issued  by  this  association  : 

To  the   Editor  of  the  Post  : 

SIR  :  There  is  no  political  question  now  before  the  people  of  this  commonwealth 
more  important  than  the  consideration  of  the  changes  to  be  made  in  our  constitution. 
The  citizens  of  the  State,  by  an  enormous  majority  of  votes,  have  re-claimed  the 
sovereign  powers  of  government,  and  evinced  a  determination  to  re-form  the  funda- 
mental law,  the  constitution  of  this  State,  in  the  interest  of  a  government  "  of  the  peo- 
ple, by  the  people,  and  for  the  people."  In  this  new  adaptation  of  old  rules  of  gov- 
ernment to  the  advanced  ideas  of  the  age,  it  seems  to  us  fitting  and  opportune  that 
woman  in  her  new  status  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  (under  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment of  the  constitution),  should  be  allowed  the  exercise  of  rights  which  have  been 
withheld  under  old  rules  of  action.  Therefore  we  respectfully  ask  you  to  give  this, 
with  our  appeal,  an  insertion  in  your  paper,  and  to  continue  the  appeal  until  further 
notice.  And  we  ask  all  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage  to  aid  our  association  in  plac- 
ing this  appeal  in  each  paper  of  our  city,  as  well  as  of  the  nf  ighboring  towns. 

"  There  is  no  distinction  in  citizenship  as  has  been  determined  by  the  fourteenth 
amendment  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  citizens  of  Pennsylvania 
have  decided  on  a  revision  of  the  constitution  of  the  commonwealth.  The  power  of 
revision  is  to  be  delegated  by  the  citizens  of  the  commonwealth  to  a  convention.  The 
foundation  of  free  government  is  based  on  the  consent  of  the  governed.  Therefore, 
the  Citizens'  Suffrage  Association  of  Pennsylvania  appeals  to  the  sense  of  right  and 
justice  in  the  hearts  of  the  citizens  of  this  State,  to  aid  in  securing  to  every  citizen, 
irrespective  of  sex,  an  equal  voice  in  the  selection  of  delegates,  and  an  equal  right,  if 
elected  thereto,  to  a  seat  in  said  constitutional  convention." 

WM.  MORRIS  DAVIS,  Controller. 

Mr.  Robert  Purvis,  at  the  request  of  the  Citizens'  Suffrage 
Association  of  Philadelphia,  waited  upon  Mrs.  President  Hayes 
and  presented  to  her  an  address  adopted  by  that  society.  Mr. 
Purvis  wrote: 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  very  satisfactory  and  delightful  interview 
•with  Mrs.  Hayes.  She  received  me  most  cordially.  I  read  to  her  the 
(i.Kjuent  address  from  the  Citizens' Suffrage  Association.  She  listened 
with  marked  attention,  was  grateful  for  the  high  favor  conferred  upon  her, 
and  sent  her  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  the  cause.  I  made  reference 
l'>the  fact  that  the  address  bore  the  honored  name  of  Lucretia  Mott, 
which  she  received  with  a  ready  acknowledgment  of  her  great  worth  and 
usefulness,  and  her  distinguished  place  as  a  reformer  and  philanthropist. 

Through  the  liberality  of  Edward  M.  Davis,  this  society  was 
able  to  publish  and  circulate  an  immense  number  of  tracts  cover- 
ing all  phases  of  the  question.  He  has  been  one  of  the  few 


464  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

abolitionists  who  have  thrown  into  this  movement  all  the  old-time 
fervor  manifested  in  the  slavery  conflict.  A  worthy  son  of  the 
sainted  Lucretia  Mott,  her  mantle  seems  to  have  fallen  on  his 
shoulders. 

The  Hon.  John  M.  Broomall  was  ever  ready  to  champion  the 
cause  of  equality  of  rights  for  women,  not  only  in  the  legislature 
and  in  the  constitutional  conventions  of  his  own  State,  but  on  the 
floor  of  congress  as  well.  In  a  letter  giving  us  valuable  informa- 
tion on  several  points,  he  says: 

You  ask  when  I  made  my  first  declaration  for  woman  suffrage.  I  can- 
not tell.  I  was  born  in  1816,  and  one  of  the  earliest  settled  convictions  I 
formed  as  a  man  was  that  no  person  should  be  discriminated  against  on 
account  of  sect,  sex,  race  or  color,  but  that  all  should  have  an  equal 
chance  in  the  race  which  the  Divine  Ruler  has  set  before  all ;  and  I  never 
missed  an  opportunity  to  give  utterance  to  this  conviction  in  conversation, 
on  the  stump,  on  the  platform  and  in  legislative  bodies.  My  views  were 
set  out  concisely  in  my  remarks  in  congress,  on  January  30,  1869,  and  I 
cite  the  commencement  and  conclusion,  as  1  find  them  in  The  Globe  of 
that  date : 

Every  person  owing  allegiance  to  the  government  and  not  under  the  legal  con- 
trol of  another,  should  ^iave  an  equal  voice  in  making  and  administering  the 
laws,  unless  debarred  for  violating  those  laws  ;  and  in  this  I  make  no  distinction 
of  wealth,  intelligence,  race,  family  or  sex.  If  just  government  is  founded 
upon  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  if  the  established  mode  of  consent  is  through 
the  ballot-box,  then  those  who  are  denied  the  right  of  suffrage  can  in  no  sense  be  held 
as  consenting,  and  the  government  which  withholds  that  right  is  as  to  those  from  whom 
it  is  withheld  no  just  government.  *  *  '  The  measure  now  before  the  House 

is  necessary  to  the  complete  fulfillment  of  what  has  gone  before  it.  To  hesitate' now 
is  to  put  in  peril  all  we  have  gained.  Let  this,  too,  pass  into  history  as  an  accomplished 
fact.  Let  it  be  followed,  in  due  course  of  time,  by  the  last  crowning  act  of  the  series 
— an  amendment  to  the  constitution  securing  to  all  citizens  of  full  age,  without  regard 
to  sex,  an  equal  voice  in  making  and  amending  the  laws  under  which  they  live,  to  be 
forfeited  only  for  crime.  Then  the  great  mission  of  the  party  in  power  will  be  ful- 
filled; then  will  have  been  demonstrated  the  capacity  of  man  for  self-government; 
then  a  just  nation,  founded  upon  the  full  and  free  consent  of  its  citizens  will  be  no 
longer  a  dream  of  the  optimist. 

Mrs.  Virginia  Barnhurst  writes: 

I  think  you  should  make  mention  of  the  few  men  who,  against  the 
greatest  opposition,  stood  boldly  up  and  avowed  themselves  in  favor  of 
woman's  cause.  When  I  think  of  some  of  the  speeches  that  I  heard  from 
the  opposite  side — expressions  which  sent  the  hot  blood  to  my  face,  and 
which  showed  the  low  estimate  law-makers  put  upon  woman,  those  few 
men  who  dared  to  defend  mothers  and  sisters,  stand  out  in  my  mind 
as  worthy  of  having  their  names  go  down  in  history — and  especially 
in  a  history  written  by  women.  I  had  a  good  talk  with  Lawyer  Campbell. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  ardent  in  the  cause  ;  he  believes  the  ballot  to  be  a 
necessit)'  to  woman,  as  a  means  of  self-protection,  this  necessity  being 
seen  in  the  unequal  operation  of  many  laws  relating  to  the  guardianship 


Campbell's   Minority  Report.  465 

of  children  and  the  ownership  of  property.  Caleb  White's  words  have  in 
them  the  just  consciousness  of  their  own  immortality  :  "  I  want  my  vote 
to  be  recorded  ;  not  to  be  judged  of  here,  but  to  be  judged  of  by  coming 
generations,  who,  at  least,  will  give  to  woman  the  rights  which  God  in- 
tended she  should  have." 

The  constitutional  convention  to  which  reference  has  been  so 
frequently  made  in  this  chapter,  assembled  November  12,  1872, 
and  as  early  as  the  22d,  resolutions  relative  to  women  holding 
school-offices  and  to  the  property-rights  of  women  were  presented. 
Numberless  petitions  for  these  and  full  suffrage  for  women  were 
sent  in  during  the  entire  sitting  of  the  convention.  February  3, 
1873,  John  H.  Campbell  presented  the  minority  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Suffrage  and  Elections: 

The  undersigned,  members  of  the  Committee  on  Suffrage,  Election  and  Represen- 
tation, dissent  from  that  part  of  the  majority  report  of  said  committee,  which  limits 
the  right  of  suffrage  to  male  electors.  We  recommend  that  the  question,  "  Shall 
woman  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage,"  be  submitted  by  the  convention  to  the  qualified 
electors  of  this  commonwealth,  and  also  upon  the  same  day  therewith,  to  those  women 
of  the  commonwealth  who  upon  the  day  of  voting  shall  be  of  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years  and  upwards,  and  have  been  residents  of  the  State  one  year,  and  in  the  district 
where  they  offered  to  vote  at  least  sixty  days  prior  thereto;  and  that  if  the  majority  of 
all  the  votes  cast  at  said  election  should  be  in  the  affirmative,  then  the  word  "male  "  as 

a  qualification  for  an  elector,  contained  in  section ,  article  on  suffrage  and 

election  shall  be  stricken  out,  and  women  in  this  State  shall  thereafter  exercise  the 
right  of  suffrage,  subject  only  to  the  restrictions  placed  upon  the  male  voters. 

JOHN   H.    CAMPBELL, 
LEWIS  C.  CASSIDY. 
LEVI   ROOKE. 

The  amendment  for  full  suffrage  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  75  to  25, 
with  33  absent,  while  the  amendment  making  women  elegible  for 
school  offices  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  60  to  32.*  The  debate  by 
those  in  favor  of  the  amendment  was  so  ably  and  eloquently  con- 
ducted that  we  would  gladly  reproduce  it,  had  not  all  the  salient 
points  been  so  often  and  so  exhaustively  presented  on  the  floor 
of  congress,  and  by  some  of  the  members  from  Pennsylvania. 

After  the  passage  of  the  school  law  of  1873,  it  was  immediately 
tested  all  over  the  State,  rousing  opposition  and  conflict  every- 
where, but  the  struggle  resulted  favorably  to  women,  who  now 
hold  many  offices  to  which  they  were  once  ineligible.  At  the 
first  election  of  school  directors  in  Philadelphia  the  nomination 


*  Among  the  men  who  spoke  for  woman's  enfranciscment  were  John  M.  Broomall,  John  M.  Camp- 
bell, Lewis  C.  Cassidy,  Benjamin  L.  Temple,  Levi  Rooke,  George  F.  Horton,  H.  W.  Palmer,  William 
Darlington,  Harry  White,  Frank  Mantor,  Thomas  MacConnell,  Henry  Carter,  Thomas  E.  Cochran. 
In  addition  to  those  who  spoke,  those  who  voted  yfs  are  John  E.  Addicks,  William  H.  Ainey,  William 
D.  Baker,  Charles  O.  Bowman,  Charles  Brodhead,  George  N.  Corson,  David  Craig,  Matthew  Edwards. 
J.  Gillingham  Tell,  Thomas  Howard.  Ed-ward  C.  Knight,  George  Lear,  John  S.  Mann,  H.  W.  Patter- 
ion,  T.  H.  B.  Patton,  Thomas  Struthers,  John  W.  F.  White. 

30 


466  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

of  two  women  was  hotly  contested.     The  Evening  TelcgrapJi  of 
February  6,  1874,  gives  the  following: 

There  is  progressing  in  the  Thirteenth  ward  a  contest  which  involves  so  peculiar  and 
important  an  is.-,ue  as  to  merit  the  widest  publicity.  It  illustrates  how  the  rights  guar- 
anteed to  women  under  the  new  constitution  are  to  be  denied  them,  if  cunning  and 
bold  chicanery  are  to  be  tolerated,  by  a  few  ward  politicians.  At  the  Republican  pri- 
mary election,  held  January  20,  Mrs.  Harriet  \V.  Paist  and  Mrs.  George  W.  Woelpper 
were  duly  nominated  as  candidates  for  members  of  the  board  of  school  directors  of  the 
ward.  Both  of  these  ladies  received  their  certificates,  that  given  to  Mrs.  Paist  reading 
as  follows: 

This  is  to  certify  that  at  a  meeting  of  the  judges  of  the  different  divisions  of  the 
Thirteenth  ward,  held  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  Republican  party,  on  the 
evening  of  January  20,  1874,  Mrs.  Harriet  W.  Paist  was  found  to  be  elected  as  candi- 
date upon  the  Republican  ticket  from  the  Thirteenth  ward,  for  school  director. 

JAMKS  M.  STEWART,  )  r,    ,  CHARLES  M.  CARPK.NTER,  President. 

DAVID  J.  SMITH,        f  c' 

No  sooner  was  it  ascertained  that  the  ladies  had  actually  become  candidates  on  the 
Republican  ticket  than  a  movement  was  inaugurated  to  oust  them,  the  old  war  tocsin 
of  "Anything  to  beat  Grant"  being  for  this  purpose  amended  thus  :  "  Anything  to 
beat  the  women."  This  antagonism  to  the  fair  candidates  was  based  entirely  upon 
the  supposition  that  their  names  would  so  materially  weaken  the  ticket  as  to  place  the 
election  of  the  Republican  common  councilman,  Henry  C.  Dunlap,  in  the  greatest 
jeopardy.  To  save  him,  therefore,  the  managers  of  tl.c  movement  must  sacrifice 
Mesdames  \Yoelpper  and  Paist.  How  was  this  to  be  accomplished  ?  Each  was  forti- 
fied in  her  position  by  a  genuine  certificate  of  election,  and  had,  furthermore,  ex- 
pressed her  determination  to  run.  What  could  not  be  done  fairly  must  be  accom- 
plished by  strategy.  Mr.  Ezra  Lukens  called  upon  Mrs.  Paist,  stating  that  if  she  did 
not  withdraw  the  Republicans  who  were  opposed  to  the  lady  candidates  would  unite 
•with  the  "other  party"  and  defeat  the  Republican  ward  ticket.  Mrs.  Paist  inquired 
if  she  had  not  been  regularly  nominated,  and  his  reply  was  that  she  had  been,  but  that 
her  opponents  in  the  party  would  unite  with  the  "  other  party  "  and  defeat  her.  Mrs. 
Paist  was  firm,  and  Mr.  Lukens  retired  foiled.  A  day  or  two  after,  the  chairman  of 
the  Thirteenth  ward  Republican  executive  committee  received  somehow  this  letter : 

PHILADELPHIA.  February  2,  1674. 

DEAR  SIR:  Please  accept  this  as  my  declination  as  school  director  on  the  Thirteenth 
ward  Republican  ticket.  Hoping  it  v.  ill  please  those  opposed  to  a  lady  director. 

Respectfully  yours,  HARRIET  \V.   PAIST. 

A  week  previous  to  this  the  husband  of  Mrs.  Woelpper  was  called  upon  by  Mr. 
William  B.  Elliott,  a  member  of  this  executive  committee,  and  was  informed  by  him 
that  Mrs.  Paist  had  withdrawn,  and  that  it  would  be  unpleasant,  if  not  inexpedient, 
for  Mrs.  Woelpper  to  run  alone.  Mr.  Woelpper  expressed  his  belief  that  if  such  were 
the  case  his  wife  would  withdraw.  At  a  meeting  of  the  executive  committee  a  short 
time  after,  it  was  announced  that  both  the  ladies  had  withdrawn,  and  everything 
looked  serene  for  victory,  when  the  next  day  the  members  were  individually  informed 
that  the  letter  of  declination  written  above  was  a  base  forgery,  and  that  neither  of  the 
ladies  intended  to  withdraw  from  the  contest.  Another  meeting  of  the  executive 
committee  was  held  on  the  2d  inst.,  at  which  Mr.  Woelpper,  jr  ,  was  present. 
He  declared  that  the  statement  made  to  his  father  was  false,  and  that  he  was  present  to 
say  for  his  mother  that  she  was  still  a  candidate.  This  announcement  fell  like  a  bomb 
in  a  peaceful  camp,  causing  great  confusion.  After  order  was  restored,  William 
B.  Elliott,  the  collector,  offered  a  resolution  declaring  it  inexpedient  to  have  any  ladies 
on  the  ticket  at  this  time.  This  resolution  was  opposed  by  F.  Theodore  Walton  and 
a  number  of  the  members,  who  denied  the  power  of  the  committee  to  change  the  ticket 
regularly  chosen  at  the  primary  election.  They  favored  the  fair  candidates,  for  whose 
election  as  school  directors  the  constitution  had  made  special  provisions,  and  whose 


Women  Elected  School  Officers.  467 

t 

presence  in  the  school-boards  had  been  very  favorably  commented  upon  by  all  the 
papers  of  the  city.  Besides,  the  ladies  were  as  legitimately  enticed  to  their  candidacy 
as  Mr.  Dunlap,  and  it  would  be  a  gross  and  unparalelled  outrage  to  sacrifice  them 
from  mere  prejudice,  or  in  the  belief  that  their  presence  would  injure  the  chances  of 
Mr.  Dunlap.  Then  arose  Collector  Elliott,  his  face  fairly  glowing  with  honest  indigna- 
tion, and  his  voice  sharp  and  stinging  in  his  tirade  against  the  newspapers.  What  did 
he  care  what  the  newspapers  said  ?  What  are  the  newspapers  but  sheets  sold  out  to  the 
highest  bidder?  The  newspapers,  he  cried,  are  all  in  the  market,  to  be  bought  and 
sold  the  same  as  coal  !  That  was  their  business,  and  they  didn't  want  stability  so  long 
as  there  was  cash  to  be  got.  Then  he  came  down  upon  them  in  a  perfect  whirlwind 
of  wrath  for  daring  to  favor  the  women  candidates  for  school  directors  of  the  Thir- 
teenth ward,  and  sat  down  as  though  he  had  accomplished  a  noble  purpose. 

The  question  on  the  resolution  was  pressed,  and  resulted  in  its  adoption  by  a  vote 
of  20  to  12.*  A  resolution  was  offered  by  David  T.  Smith  that  Mrs.  Paist  and  Mrs. 
Woelpper  be  thrown  off  the  ticket,  and  this  resolution  was  carried  by  the  same  Vote  as 
the  preceding  one.  The  meeting  then  adjourned.  In  consequence  of  this  action 
Mrs.  Paist  addressed  to  the  citizens  of  the  Thirteenth  ward  the  following  card,  in 
which  she  declares  that  she  does  not  intend  to  resign: 
To  the  Citizens  of  the  Thirteenth  Ward : 

Unpleasant  though  it  maybe  to  thus  appear  before  the  public,  I  feel  that  I  must,  in 
justice  to  mysell,  expose  the  fraud  and  deception  that  have  been  practiced  to  defeat 
my  election  on  the  i"th  of  February  next.  I  received  the  nomination  and  certificate 
of  election  signed  by  James  M.  Stewart,  David  T.  Smith,  clerks,  and  Charles  M.  Car- 
penter, president.  Certainly  they  would  not  be  guilty  of  deceiving,  for  are  they  not 
"all  honorable  men"?  John  B.  Green,  George  M.  Taylor  and  A.  W.  Lyman  then 
(K/ra  Lukens  having  been  on  a  similar  fruitless  mission)  called  on  the  eve  of  January 
30,  1874,  wishing  me  to  withdraw;  stating  that  Mrs.  Woelpper  had  done  so  (which  was 
false),  and  they  thought  it  would  not  be  pleasant  forme  to  serve.  They  also  placed  it 
•on  the  ground  of  expediency,  fearing  that  their  candidate  for  council  (Mr.  Dunlap)  was 
so  weak  that  a  woman  on  the  ticket  might  jeopardize  the  election.  I  knew  not  before 
that  woman  held  the  balance  of  power.  After  sending  their  emissaries  under  the 
false  garb  of  friendship  to  induce  me  to  decline,  without  success,  they  were  reduced 
to  the  desperate  means  of  producing  a  letter,  which  was  read  by  the  secretary  of  the 
executive  meeting,  February  2,  purporting  to  come  from  me,  and  withdrawing  my 
name.  I  pronounce  it  publicly  to  be  a  forgery.  I  have  not  withdrawn,  neither  do  I 
intend  to  withdraw.  Would  that  I  had  the  power  of  Brutus  or  a  Patrick  Henry,  that 
I  might  put  these  designing,  intriguing  politicians  in  their  true  light  !  They  deserve 
in  In  held  up  to  the  contumely  and  scorn  of  the  community. 

February j,  1874.  HARRIET  W.    PAIST. 

Despite  the  action  of  the  committee,  these  talented  ladies  will  be  run  as  the  regular 
candidates  for  school  directors.     A  committee  of  citizens  of  the  Republican  party  will 
]>n •]> arc  the  tickets  and  see  that  they  are  properly  distributed,  and  take  all  precautions 
>   I  fraud  at  the  election  and  against  any  effort  that  may  be  made  to  count  out  the 
fair  candidates  at  the  meeting  of  the  ward  return  judges.     It  is  of  the  greatest  import- 
that  all  good  citizens  of  the  ward  shall  do  all  in  their  power  to  secure  not. only 
the   fullest  possible  number  of  votes  for  the  lady  candidates,  but  a  fair  count  when 


*  Ayes — William  Styles,  William  McLain,  clerks  in  the  water  department;    A.  W.  Lyman,  clerk  in 
loin-house  ;  M.  C.  Coppeck,  clerk  in  the  highway  department,  who  was  defeated  by  one  of  the 
tor  school  directorship  ;  John  1!.  Green,  a  member  of  the  board  of  education;   John   Huckley, 
clerk  in  the  post-office  ;  Theodore  Canfield,  sergeant  of  police  ;  John  Murray,  contractor  of  the  high- 
way department  ;  ( Ic-orge  W.  Schrack,  an  ex-clerk,  lately  resigned  from  the  tax  receiver's  office  ;  1  >an- 
inith,  cx-dctectivc  ;  Ashcr  W.  Dewees,  Oliver  Bowler,  Mr.  Agnew,  Ezra  Lukens,  clerk  in  the 
I  States  a^M-tant  treasurer's  office,  president  of  the  Republican  Invincibles,  candidate  last  year 
'  Mr.  Jonathan  I 'ugh  for  commissioner  of  city  property,  and  a  candidate  for  the  same  office  next 
V\  ilhaiii  11.  Klliott,  collector  of  internal  revenue  ;  Charles  M.  Carpenter,  alderman,  who  signed 
M       I'.HM'?.  re Ttiiu  ate  ;  Jackson  Keyser,  an  employe  in  the  navy  yard  ;  Alfred  Ktihl,  clerk  in  the  cus- 
tom-house;    Mr.  Jones,  and   Henry  C.   Dunlap,  who  is   Republican   candidate  for  common   council 
—ao.    Nays— James  W.  Sayre,  Joseph  R.  Ridge,  Samuel  Caldwell,  Dr.  Charles  Hooker,  John  E.  Lane, 
T..  UK  ]:,,^v,  John  Mansfield.  Daniel  Rieff,  William  Githens,  Thomas  Evans,  George  Schimpf  and  K. 
Theodore  Walton— 12.     So  the  resolution  was  carried  by  20  yeas  to  12  nays. 


468  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

they  have  been  received.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  Republican  citizens  of 
the  ward  will  endorse  the  action  of  a  committee  which  from  mere  prejudice  can  throw 
off  regularly-elected  candidates  from  a  ticket. 

The  ladies  were  elected,  and  Mrs.  Paist  served  her  term.  Mrs. 
Woelpper  died  immediately  after  the  election. 

Anna  McDowell,  in  the  Sunday  Republic  of  April  8,  1877,  in  a 
long  article  shows  the  necessity  of  some  legal  knowledge  for 
women,  enough  at  least  to  look  after  their  own  interests,  and  not 
be  compelled  through  their  ignorance  to  trust  absolutely  to  the 
protection  of  others.  They  should  be  trained  to  understand  that 
all  pecuniary  affairs  should  be  placed  on  a  business  basis  as 
strictly  between  themselves  and  their  fathers  and  brothers  as  men 
require  in  their  contracts  with  each  other.  After  giving  many 
instances  in  which  women  have  been  grossly  defrauded  by  their 
relatives,  she  points  to  the  will  of  the  great  railroad  king  of  Penn- 
sylvania : 

Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  will  of  the  late  J.  Edgar  Thomson,  than  which 
no  more  unjust  testament  was  ever  offered  for  probate.  This  gentleman,  the  sole 
object  of  affection  of  two  most  worthy  and  self-sacrificing  sisters,  married  late  in  life 
without  making  any  adequate  settlement  upon  the  relatives  to  whom,  in  a  great 
measure,  he  owed  his  success.  He  always  promised  to  provide  for  them  amply,  saying, 
repeatedly,  in  effect,  in  letters  which  we  have  seen,  "  As  my  fortune  advances  so  also 
shall  yours;  my  prosperity  will  be  your  prosperity,"  etc.  Oblivious  to  the  ties  of 
nature  and  affection,  however,  when  he  came  to  make  his  will  he,  out  of  a  fortune  of 
two  millions,  bequeathed  to  these  sisters,  during  life,  an  annuity  of  $1,200  per  annum 
only,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  income  of  his  estate  to  his  wife  and  her  niece,  the  latter  a 
young  lady  whom  he  had  previously  made  independent  by  his  skilful  investment  of  a 
few  thousand  dollars  left  her  by  her  father.  Not  content  with  the  will  which  gave  her 
also  a  large  income  for  life  out  of  Mr.  Thomson's  estate,  this  niece  of  his  wife  brought 
suit  against  the  executors  to  recover  bonds  found  after  the  death  of  the  testator  in  an 
envelope  on  which  her  name  was  written,  and  through  the  ruling  of  Judge  Thayer,  a 
relation  by  marriage  to  the  husband  of  the  lady,  the  case  was  decided  in  her  favor,  and 
$100,000  was  thus  absolutely  and  permanently  taken  from  the  fund  designed  for  the 
asylum  which  it  was  Mr.  Thomson's  long-cherished  desire  to  found  for  the  benefit  and 
education  of  orphan  girls  whose  fathers  had  been  or  might  be  killed  by  accidc'iit  on  the 
Pennsylvania  and  other  railroads.  The  injustice  of  this  decision  is  made  manifest  when 
we  reflect  that  the  Misses  Anna  and  Adeline  Thomson,  who  worked  side  by  side  with 
their  brother  is  civil  engineers  in  their  father's  office,  and  labored,  without  pay,  therein, 
that  lie  might  be  educated  and  sent  abroad  further  to  perfect  himself  in  his  profession, 
were  cut  off  with  a  comparatively  paltry  stipend  for  life,  this  being  still  further  re- 
duced by  the  collateral-inheritance  tax.  As  high  an  authority  as  Dr.  William  A. 
Hammond  says  that,  ''  for  a  man  to  cut  off  his  natural  heirs  in  his  will  is  priina  facie 
evidence  of  abberation  of  mind,"  and  we  believe  this  to  be  true. 

Had  these  sisters*  been  brothers  they  would  have  been  recog- 
nized as  partners  and  had  their  legal  proportion  of  the  accumula- 


T/te  Century  Club.  469 

tions  of  the  business  in  which  they  labored  in  early  years  with 
equal  faithfulness,  side  by  side.  This  is  but  another  instance  of 
women's  blind  faith  in  the  men  of  their  families  and  of  the  danger 
in  allowing  business  matters  to  adjust  themselves  on  the  basis  of 
honor,  courtesy  and  protection. 

Among  the  literary  women  of  the  State  are  Sarah  C.  Hallowell, 
on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Public  Ledger ;  the  daughters  of  John 
W.  Forney,  for  many  years  in  charge  of  the  woman's  department 
of  Forney  s  Progress ;  Anne  McDowell,  editor  of  the  woman's 
department  in  The  Sunday  Republic ;  Mrs.  E.  A.  Wade  ;  "  Bessie 
Bramble  "  of  Pittsburg  has  for  many  years  ably  edited  a  woman's 
department  in  the  Sunday  Leader ;  Matilda  Hindman,  an  ex- 
cellent column  in  the  Pittsburg  Commercial  Gazette.  In  science 
Grace  Anna  Lewis  stands  foremost.  Her  paper  read  before  the 
Woman's  Congress  in  Philadelphia  in  1876,  attracted  much  atten- 
tion. These  ladies  with  others  organized  "The  Century  Club  "* 
in  1876,  for  preeminently  practical  and  benevolent  work.  .  Its  ob- 
jects are  various:  looking  after  working  girls,  sending  children 
into  the  country  for  fresh  air  during  summer,  and  improving  the 
houses  of  the  poor  and  needy.  The  Club  has  a  large  house  to 
which  is  attached  a  cooking-school  and  lodgings  for  unfortunates 
in  great  emergencies. 

Woman's  ambition  was  not  confined  at  this  period  to  litera- 
ture and  the  learned  professions ;  she  found  herself  capable  of 
practical  work  on  a  large  scale  in  the  department  of  agriculture. 
The  Philadelphia  Press  has  the  following : 

The  beautiful  farm  of  Abel  C.  Thomas,  at  Tacony,  near  Philadelphia,  is  remarkable 
chiefly  because  it  is  managed  by  a  woman,  Mrs.  Louise  H.  Thomas.  Her  husband, 
the  intimate  friend  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  well  known  as  an  author  and  theologian, 
in  time  past,  has  long  been  too  feeble  to  take  any  part  in  managing  the  property.  That 
duty  has  devolved  upon  Mrs.  Thomas.  The  house,  two  hundred  yards  from  the 
Pennsylvania  railroad,  is  hidden  from  view  by  the  trees  which  surround  it.  The 
grounds  are  tastefully  laid  out,  and  the  lawn  mowed  with  a  regularity  that  indicates 
constant  feminine  attention.  The  plot  is  20  .acres  in  extent.  Six  acres  comprise  the 
orchard  and  garden.  In  addition  to  apple,  apricot,  pear,  peach,  plum  and  cherry, 
there  are  specimens  of  all  kinds  of  trees,  from  pine  to  poplar. 

*  The  Executive  Board  of  the  New  Century  Club  for  1879-1880,  was :  President,  Mrs.  Eliza  S. 
Turner;  Vice-Presidents,  Mrs.  Emily  W.  Taylor,  Mrs.  S.  C.  F.  Hallowell,  Mrs.  Henry  C.  Townsend, 
Mrs.  Aubrey  H.  Smith  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Miss  Louise  Stockton  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Miss 
Anna  C.  Bliss;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Charlotte  L.  Pierce;  Directors,  Mrs.  Susan  I.  Lesley,  Mrs.  Henry 
Cohen,  Mrs.  Huldah  Justice,  Miss  Emily  Sartain,  Miss  Mary  Grew,  Mrs.  S.  B.  F.  Grcble,'  Mrs.  M.  W. 
Coggins,  Miss  Mary  A.  Burnham,  Mrs.  Elliston  L.  Perot,  Mrs.  Thomas  Roberts.  Other  names  found 
in  its  annual  report  as  contributing  to  the  efficiency  of  the  club  are:  Mrs.  Fannie  B.  Ames,  Miss 
Grace  Anna  Lewis,  Mrs.  Emma  J.  Bartol,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Head,  Miss  Mary  C  Coxe,  Mrs.  Charlotte  L. 
Pierce,  Madam  Emma  Seller,  Miss  Amanda  L.  Dods,  Miss  I.elia  Patridge,  Miss  Lily  Ray,  Miss  Ella 
Cole,  Mrs.  Susan  I.  Lesley,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Mayer.  Miss  Bennett,  Mile.  Frasson.  The  work  of  the  club  hat 
Us  divisions  of  science,  literature,  art,  music,  entertainment,  cooking,  hospitalities,  charities,  employ- 
ment for  women,  legal  protection  for  working  women,  prisons  and  reformatory  institutions. 


470  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

A  Press  reporter  recently  walked  over  the  premises,  and  Mrs.  Thomas  explained  her 
manner  of  doing  business.  "I  look  after  everything  about  the  farm;  take  my  little 
sample  bags  of  wheat  to  the  mills,  and  sell  the  crop  by  it;  and  twice  I  got  ten  cents 
more  a  bushel  than  any  of  my  neighbors.  But  the  things  I  take  most  interest  in  are 
my  cows,  chickens  and  bees.  My  cattle  are  from  Jersey  island,  and  pure  Alderney. 
They  are  very  gentle  and  good  milkers.  From  four  of  them  I  get  about  800 
pounds  of  butter  a  year.  The  price  of  this  butter  varies  from  50  cents  to  $1.00  per 
pound.  There's  my  dog.  When  it's  milking  time,  the  hired  man  says  to  the  dog, 
'  Slii'p,  go  after  the  cows,'  and  away  he  goes,  and  in  a  little  while  the  herd  come  tink- 
ling up.  Why  send  a  man  to  do  a  boy's  work,  or  a  boy  to  do  that  which  a  shepherd 
dog  can  do  just  as  well?  The  cows  understand  him,  and  readily  come  when  they 
are  sent  after.  Well,  so  much  for  the  milk  department.  Now,  as  to  the  garden;  I 
don't  sell  much  from  that.  Still,  if  the  vegetables  were  not  grown,  they  would 
have  to  be  bought,  and  I  take  all  that  into  consideration  in  closing  accounts. 
And  that's  one  thing  most  farmers  don't  do;  they  don't  put  on  the  cash  side  of  the  ledger 
the  cost  of  their  living,  for  which  they  have  been  to  no  expense.  Now,  as  to  the  bees. 
The  first  cost  is  about  the  only  expense  attached  to  these  little  workers.  I  have  twen- 
ty-five colonies,  and  can,  and  do  handle  them  with  as  much  safety  as  if  they  were  so 
much  dry  wheat.  I  sell  about  $100  worth  of  honey  yearly,  and  consume  half  as  much 
at  home.  The  bees  are  not  troublesome  when  you  know  how  to  handle  them,  but 
they  require  to  be  delicately  handled  at  swarming  time. 

"  Now,  as  to  chickens.  My  stock  consists  exclusively  of  the  light  Brahma  breed. 
They  come  early,  grow  fast,  sell  readily,  are  tender,  and  have  no  disposition  to  forage; 
they  are  not  all  the  time  wandering  round  and  flying  over  the  garden  fence,  and 
scratching  up  flowajr  and  vegetable  seeds.  In  fact,  if  you'll  notice,  there  is  a  docility 
about  my  live-stock  that  is  very  attractive.  The  cows  and  chickens  only  need  articula- 
tion to  carry  on  conversation.  You  didn't  see  the  hatching  department  of  my  chicken- 
house?  I  modeled  the  building  after  one  used  by  a  Madame  de  Linas,  a  French  lady 
living  near  Paris,  and  am  much  pleased  with  it.  I  sometimes  raise  1,000  chickens  a 
season.  I  sell  them  at  prices  all  the  way  up  from  $i  to  $3  apiece.  You  must  re- 
member that  they  are  full-blooded,  and  I  always  have  my  stock  replenished.  I  keep 
the  best  and  sell  for  the  highest  prices.  They  are  generally  sold  to  private  families, 
who  wish  to  get  the  stock,  and  I  always  sell  them  alive.  They  are  not  much  trouble 
to  raise,  provided  you  know  how,  and  have  the  accommodations  for  doing  it.  I  feed 
them  corn,  milk,  meal  and  water,  and  pay  particular  attention  to  their  being  properly 
housed.  The  eggs  of  this  breed  are  very  rich,  and  I  charge  one  dollar  and  a  half 
for  a  setting — that  is,  thirteen  eggs. 

"  I  have  some  three  or  four  acres  of  wheat  growing  and  it  is  heading  out  finely.  Oh!" 
said  Mrs.  Thomas,  becoming  more  enthusiastic,  as  she  reviewed  the  incomes  from  the 
cereals,  cows,  and  chickens,  "  I  am  making  money,  and  money  is  a  standard  of  suc- 
cess, although  there  is  to  me  a  greater  pleasure  than  the  mere  financial  part  of  the 
business,  which  comes  from  the  passion  I  have  for  the  life.  I  wish,  indeed,  that 
young  ladies  would  turn  their  attention  to  this  matter.  To  me,  it  seems  to  open  to 
them  an  avenue  for  acquiring  a  competency  in  an  independent  way;  and  to  one  who 
would  pursue  it  earnestly,  I  know  of  no  avocation  scarcely  worth  being  classed 
with  it." 

"  And  you  are  not  lonesome  out  here?" 

"Oh  !  no.  I  never  Was  lonesome  an  hour  in  my  life — don't  have  time;  I  have  a 
great  deal  of  work  to  do,  and  am  always  ready  to  do  it.  Indeed,  the  only  people  I 
pity  are  those  who  do  not  work,  or  find  no  interest  in  it.  No,  no;  I  have  plenty  of 
visitors,  and  last  week  Jennie  June,  Lucretia  Mott,  and  Anna  Dickinson  paid  me 
a  visit  and  were  very  much  pleased  while  here.  I  have  two  grown-up  boys,  one  in 
New  York  and  the  other  in  California;  and  have  reared  thirteen  children  besides  my 
own  family — colored,  French,  Italian,  and  I  know  not  what  nationalities." 

Mrs.  Thomas,  who  is  certainly  a  remarkable  womarj,  is  a  thoroughly  educated  one; 
has  traveled  extensively  both  in  Europe  and  this  country.  Herself  and  husband 


Anne  E.  McDowell,  471 

have  been  intimate  acquaintances  of  many  eminent  men,  among  whom  were  President 
Lincoln  and  Secretary  Stanton.  The  activity  displayed  in  managing  the  estate  indi- 
cates the  possession  of  marked  executive  ability,  and  the  exercise  she  thus  receives 
has  doubtless  had  its  share  in  keeping  her  young,  well-preserved,  and  good-natured. 

When  the  Rev.  Knox  Little  visited  this  country  in  1880,  think- 
ing the  women  of  America  specially  needed  his  ministrations,  he 
preached  a  sermon  that  called  out  the  general  ridicule  of  our  liter- 
ary women.  In  the  Sunday  Republic  of  December  12,  Anne  E. 
M'Dowell  said : 

The  reverend  gentlemen  of  St.  Clement's  Church,  of  this  city,  with  their  frequent 
English  visiting  clergymen,  are  not  only  trying  their  best  to  carry  Christianity  back 
into  the  dark  ages,  by  reinvesting  it  with  all  old-time  traditions  and  mummeries,  but 
they  are  striving  anew  to  forge  chains  for  the  minds,  consciences,  and  bodies  of  women 
whom  the  spirit  of  Christian  progress  has,  in  a  measure,  made  free  in  this  country.  The 
sermon  of  the  Rev.  Knox  Little,  rector  of  St.  Alban's  Church,  Manchester,  England, 
recently  delivered  at  St.  Clement's  in  this  city,  and  reported  in  the  daily  Times,  is  just 
such  an  one  as  might  be  looked  for  from  the  class  of  thinkers  whom  he  on  that  occasion 
represented.  These  ritualistic  brethren  are  bitterly  opposed  to  divorce,  and  hold  the 
belief  that  so  many  Britons  adhere  to  on  their  native  soil,  viz.,  that  "woman  is  an  in- 
ferior animal,  created  only  for  man's  use  and  pleasure,  and  designed  by  Providence 
to  be  in  absolute  submission  to  her  lord  and  master."  The  feeling  engendered  by 
this  belief  breeds  contempt  for  and  indifference  to  the  nobler  aspirations  of  women 
amongst  men  of  the  higher  ranks,  while  it  crops  out  in  tyranny  in  the  middle,  and 
brutality  in  the  lower  classes  of  society.  Even  the  gentry  and  nobility  of  Great  Britain 
are  not  all  exempt  from  brutal  manifestations  of  power  toward  their  wives.  We  once 
sheltered  in  our  own  house  for  weeks  the  wife  of  an  English  Earl  who  had  been  forced 
to  leave  her  home  and  family  through  the  brutality  of  her  high-born  husband — brutality 
from  which  the  law  could  not  or  would  not  protect  her.  She  died  at  our  house,  and 
when  she  was  robed  for  her  last  rest  much  care  had  to  be  taken  to  arrange  the  dress 
and  hair  so  that  the  scars  of  wounds  inflicted  on  the  throat,  neck  and  cheek  by  her 
cruel  husband  might  not  be  too  apparent. 

The  reports  of  English  police  courts  are  full  of  disclosures  of  ill-treatment  of  women 
by  their  husbands,  and  year  by  year  our  own  courts  are  more  densely  thronged  by 
women  asking  safety  from  the  brutality  of  men  who  at  the  altar  have  vowed  to  "love, 
honor  and  protect"  them.  In  nearly  all  these  cases,  the  men  who  are  brought  into  our 
courts  on  the  charge  of  maltreating  women  are  of  foreign  birth  who  have  been  born  and 
brought  up  under  the  spiritual  guidance  of  such  clergymen  as  the  Rev.  Knox-Little, 
who  tell  them,  as  he  told  the  audience  of  women  to  whom  he  preached  in  this  city; 
"  To  her  husband  a  wife  owes  the  duty  of  unqualified  obedience.  There  is  no  crime 
that  a  man  can  commit  which  justifies  his  wife  in  leaving  him  or  applying  for  that 
monstrous  thing,  a  divorce.  It  is  her  duty  to  submit  herself  to  him  always,  and  no 
crime  he  can  commit  justifies  her  lack  of  obedience.  If  he  is  a  bad  or  wicked  man 
she  may  gently  remonstrate  with  him,  but  disobey  him,  never."  Again,  addressing 
liis  audience  at  St.  Clement's,  he  says:  "  You  may  marry  a  bad  man,  but  what  of  that  ? 
You  had  no  right  to  marry  a  bad  man.  If  you  knew  it,  you  deserved  it.  If  you  did 
not  know  it,  you  must  endure  it  all  the  same.  You  can  pray  for  him,  and  perhaps  he 
will  reform;  but  leave  him — never.  Never  think  of  that  accursed  thing — divorce. 
I)ivorce  breaks  up  families — families  build  up  the  church.  The  Christian  woman 
lives  to  build  up  the  church."  This  is  the  sort  of  sermonizing,  reiterated  from  year  to. 
that  makes  brutes  of  Englishmen,  of  all  classes,  and  sinks  the  average  English 
woman  to  the  condition  of  a  child-beaiing  slave,  valuable,  mostly,  for  the  number 
of  children  she  brings  her  husband.  She  is  permitted  to  hold  no  opinion  unaccepted 
by  IHT  master,  denied  all  reason  and  forced  to  frequent  churches  where  she  is  forbid- 
den the  exercise  of  her  common-sense,  and  where  she  is  told:  "Men  are  logical;, 


472  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

women  lack  this  quality,  but  have  an  intricacy  of  thought.  There  are  those  who  think 
that  women  can  be  taught  logic;  this  is  a  mistake.  They  can  never,  by  any  process  of 
education,  arrive  at  the  same  mental  status  as  that  enjoyed  by  man;  but  they  have  a 
quickness  of  apprehension — what  is  usually  called  leaping  at  conclusions — that  is  as- 
tonishing." 

Divorce  is  a  question  over  which  woman  now  disputes  man's 
absolute  control.  His  canon  and  civil  laws  alike  have  made  mar- 
riage for  her  a  condition  of  slavery,  from  which  she  is  now  seek- 
ing emancipation;  and  just  in  proportion  as  women  become  in- 
dependent and  self-supporting,  they  will  sunder  the  ties  that  bind 
them  in  degrading  relations. 

In  September,  1880,  Governor  Hoyt  was  petitioned  to  appoint 
a  woman  as  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
Public  Charities.  The  special  business  of  this  commission  is  to 
examine  into  the  condition  of  all  charitable,  reformatory  and 
correctional  institutions  within  the  State,  to  have  a  general  over- 
sight of  the  methods  of  instruction,  the  well-being  and  comfort 
of  the  inmates,  with  a  supervision  of  all  those  in  authority  in 
such  institutions.  Dr.  Susan  Smith  of  West  Philadelphia,  from 
the  year  of  the  cruel  imprisonment  of  the  unfortunate  Hester 
Vaughan,  regularly  for  twelve  years  poured  petitions  into  both 
houses  of  the  legislature,  numerously  signed  by  prominent  phi- 
lanthropists, setting  forth  the  necessity  of  women  as  inspectors  in 
the  female  wards  of  the  jails  of  the  State,  and  backing  them  by 
an  array  of  appalling  facts,  and  yet  the  legislature,  from  year  to 
year,  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  her  appeals.  Happily  for  the  unfortu- 
nate wards  of  the  State,  the  law  passed  in  1881. 

STATE  HOSPITAL  FOR  THE  INSANE,  NORRISTOWN,  Pa.,  Sept.  28,  1885. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  I  have  referred  your  letter  to  my  old  friend, 
Dr.  Hiram  Corson,  of  Plymouth,  Pa.,  who  can,  if  he  will,  give  a  much 
better  history  of  the  movement  in  this  State,  than  anyone  else,  being  one 
of  the  pioneers.  I  hope  that  you  will  hear  from  him.  If,  however,  he 
returns  your  letter  to  me,  I  will  give  you  the  few  facts  that  I  know.  I 
should  be  glad  to  have  you  visit  our  hospital  and  see  our  work. 

Very  respectfully  yours,  ALICE  BENNETT. 

PLYMOUTH  MEETING,  Pa.,  Oct.  2,  1885. 

"MlSS  SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY:  Esteemed  Friend: — Dr.  Alice  Bennett  has 
referred  your  letter  with  questions  to  me.  Alice  Bennett,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D., 
is  chief  physician  of  the  female  department  of  the  eastern  hospital 
of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  insane.  She  is  also  member  of  the  Mont- 
gomery County  Medical  Society,  and  member  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  She  is  the  only  woman  in  the  civilized 
world,  of  whom  I  have  ever  heard,  who  has  entire  charge  of  the 
female  patients  in  an  institution  for  the  care  and  treatment  of  the 
insane.  We  have  in  the  Harrisburg  hospital,  Dr.  Jane  Garver,  as 


Dr.   Alice  Bennett.  473 

physician  for  the  female  insane,  but  she  is  subordinate  to  the  male 
physician.  She  has  a  female  physician  to  assist  her.  Dr.  Bennett 
was  appointed  and  took  charge  in  July,  1880,  with  Dr.  Anna  Kingler  as 
her  assistant.  Dr.  Kingler  resigned,  and  went  to  India  as  medical  mis- 
sionary;  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Rebecca  S.  Hunt,  who,  after  more  than  a 
year's  service,  also  resigned  to  go  to  India  as  medical  missionary.  Dr. 
Bennett  has  now  two  women  physicians  to  assist  her  in  the  care  of  more 
than  six  hundred  patients,  nearly  as  many  as,  if  not  more  than,  are  in  the 
female  departments  of  the  Harrisburg,  Danville,  and  Warren  hospitals 
all  combined. 

Dr.  Bennett's  hospital  is  a  model  one.  There  is  a  total  absence  of  phys- 
ical restraint,  as  used  formerly  under  male  superintendents,  and,  I  may 
say,  as  still  used  in  other  hospitals  than  that  of  Norristown.  Her  skill  in 
providing  amusement,  instruction  and  employment  of  various  kinds,  for 
the  comfort  and  restoration  of  her  patients  to  sanity  and  physical  health, 
I  feel  sure  has  never  been  equaled  in  any  hospital  for  the  treatment  of  in- 
sane women.  It  is  exceedingly  interesting  to  see  the  school  which  she 
has  established,  and  in  which  a  large  number  of  the  insane  are  daily  in- 
structed, amused  and  interested.  It  is  well  known,  now,  that  when  the 
mind  of  the  insane  can  be  drawn  away  from  their  delusions  by  employ- 
ment, or  whatever  else  may  interest  them  and  absorb  their  attention,  they 
are  on  the  road  to  health.  The  public  are  not  yet  fully  awake  to  the  great 
reform  effected  in  having  women  physicians  for  the  women  insane.  In- 
sane women  have  been  treated  as  though  there  were  no  diseases  peculiar 
to  the  sex.  Never,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  have  they  been 
treated  by  the  means  used  for  the  relief  of  women  in  their  homes.  An 
eminent  surgeon  of  Philadelphia  informed  me  a  few  days  since,  that  thirty 
years  ago  he  was  an  assistant  to  Dr.  Kirkbride,  and  desired  to  treat  a 
patient  for  uterine  troubles,  but  was  rebuked  by  Dr.  K.,  and  told  never  to 
attempt  to  use  the  appliances  relied  on  in  private  practice.  My  inform- 
ant added  that  he  believed  not  a  single  insane  woman  had  ever  received 
special  treatment  for  affections  in  any  of  the  hospitals  under  the  care  of 
mule  physicians.  While  we  realize  that  great  advantages  would  have 
come  to  these  poor  unfortunates  by  proper  treatment,  we  feel  that  no 
male  physician  having  due  regard  for  his  own  reputation,  should  attempt 
to  treat  an  insane  woman  for  uterine  diseases  by  means  used  in  private 
practice,  or  even  in  hospitals  with  sane  women.  And  this  shows  the  im- 
portance of  women  physicians  for  women  insane.  One  of  the  most  in- 
tellectual and  prominent  women  of  this  State  was,  30  years  ago,  on 
account  of  domestic  application,  an  inmate  of  our  then  champion  hospi- 
tal for  the  insane,  for  several  months,  during  all  of  which  time  her  suffer- 
ings were,  to  use  her  own  words,  indescribable,  and  yet  she  was  not  once 
asked  in  relation  to  her  physical  condition.  Let  us  turn  aside  from  this, 
and  glance  at  the  last  annual  report  of  Dr.  Alice  Bennett.  She  reports 
180  patients  examined  for  uterine  diseases;  125  were  placed  under 
treatment ;  67  treated  for  a  length  of  time ;  60  benefited  by  treatment. 
While  Dr.  Bennett  does  not  say  that  their  insanity  was  caused  by  the 
Uterine  disease,  or  that  they  were  cured  by  curing  that  affection,  she  ob- 
serves that  in  some  cases  the  relief  of  the  mind  kept  pace  with  the  prog- 


474  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

ress  of  cure  of  the  uterine  affections.  I  have,  perhaps,  written  more 
than  was  needed  on  this  subject,  but  I  am  so  anxious  that  we  shall  have 
women  doctors  in  every  hospital  for  the  treatment  of  insane  women,  and 
know,  too,  what  influence  yourself  and  good  Mrs.  Stanton  can  exert  by 
turning  your  attention  to  it,  which  I  am  sure  you  will  as  you  become  in- 
formed in  relation  to  the  facts,  that  I  could  not  stop  short  of  what  I  have 
said.  1  have  prepared  a  full  account  of  our  struggles  with  the  State  Society 
during  six  years  to  obtain  for  women  doctors  their  proper  recognition  by 
the  profession,  and  also  the  obstacles  and  opposition  we  encountered  in 
our  attempt  to  procure  the  law  empowering  boards  of  trustees  to  appoint 
women  to  hospitals  for  the  insane  of  their  sex.  It  will  give  me  pleasure 
to  send  them  to  you  if  they  would  be  of  any  use  to  you. 

Respectfully,  HIRAM  CORSON. 

As  I  am  within  a  week  of  my  82d  birthday,  and  am  writing  while  my 
heart  is  beating  one  hundred  and  sixty  times  per  minute,  you  must  not 
criticise  me  too  sharply.  H.  C. 

January  24,  1882,  Miss  Rachel  Foster  made  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  a  national  convention,  to  be  held  in  St.  George's  Hall, 
Philadelphia.*  She  also  inaugurated  a  course  of  lectures,  of 
which  she  took  the  entire  financial  responsibility,  in  the  popular 
hall  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  Ex-Governor 
Hoyt  of  Wyoming,  in  his  lecture,  gave  the  good  results  of  thir- 
teen years'  experience  of  woman's  voting  in  that  Territory.  Miss 
Foster  employed  a  stenographer  to  report  the  address,  had  20,- 
ooo  copies  printed,  and  circulated  them  in  the  Nebraska  campaign 
during  the  following  summer. 

At  its  next  session  (1883)  the  legislature  passed  a  resolution 
recommending  congress  to  submit  a  sixteenth  amendment,  secur- 
ing to  women  the  right  to  vote : 

HARRISBURG,  Pa.,  March  21,  1883. — In  the  House,  Mr.  Morrison  of  Alle- 
ghany  offered  a  resolution  urging  congress  to  amend  the  national  consti- 
tution so  that  the  right  of  suffrage  should  not  be  denied  to  citizens  of  any 
State  on  account  of  sex.  It  was  adopted  by  78  ayest  to  76  noes,  the 
result  being  greeted  with  both  applause  and  hisses. 

The  Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin  of  November  8,  1882,  men- 
tions an  attempt  to  open  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  to 
women  : 


*  See  Chapter  30  for  an  account  of  this  Philadelphia  convention. 

t  The  yeas  were  as  follows :  Messrs.  Ayers,  Barnes,  Blackford,  Boyer,  Boyle,  Brooks,  W.  C.  Brown, 
I.  B.  Brown,  J.  L.  Brown,  Brosius,  Burnite,  Burchfield,  Chadwick,  Coburn,  E.  L.  Davis,  Deveney, 
Duggan,  Eckels,  Ellsworth,  Emery,  Fetters,  Gahan,  Gardner,  Gavitt,  Gentner,  Glenn,  Grier,  G.  W. 
Hall,  F.  Hall,  A.  W.  Hayes,  Hines,  Higgins,  Hoofnagle,  Hulings,  Hughes,  Jenkins,  Klein,  Kava- 
naugh,  Landis,  Latterly,  Merry,  B.  B.  Mitchell,  S.  N.  Mitchell,  Millor,  Molineaux,  A.  H.  Morgan.  \V. 
D.  Morgan,  J.  W.  Morrison,  E.  Morrison,  Myton,  McCabe,  McCIarnn,  Neill,  Neeley,  Nelson,  Xesbit, 
Nicholson,  Parkinson,  Powell,  Romig,  Schwartz,  Short,  Sinex,  Slocum,  J.  Smith.  Sneeringer,  Snod- 
grass,  Stees,  Sterett,  Stewart,  Stubbs,  Sweeney,  Trant,  Vanderslice,  Vaughn,  Vojzdes,  Wayne  and 
Ziegler— 78. 


The  Conservation  of  Modesty.  475 

The  trustees  held  several  meetings  to  consider  the  applications.  Beside  Miss 
Craddock's,  there  were  two  others  which  the  faculty  referred  to  the  trustees,  and 
which  appear  not  to  have  been  reached  in  the  regular  course  of  business.  Miss  Flor- 
ence Kelley,  a  post-graduate  from  Cornell  University,  daughter  of  Judge  Kelley,  who 
applied  for  admission  as  a  special  student  in  Greek,  and  Miss  Frances  Henrietta 
Mitchell,  a  junior  student  from  Cornell,  who  asked  to  be  admitted  in  the  junior  class. 
Our  information  comes  from  these  ladies,  who  were  notified  that  their  cases  would  be 
presented.  The  question  of  coeducation,  which  has  been  seriously  occupying  the 
minds  of  the  trustees  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  was  settled  last  evening,  at 
least  for  the  present,  by  the  passage  of  a  resolution  refusing  the  admission  of  girls  to 
the  department  of  arts,  but  proposing  to  establish  a  separate  collegiate  department  for 
them,  whenever  the  requisite  cost,  about  $300,000,  is  provided.  There  has  been  an 
intelligent  and  honest  difference  among  both  trustees  and  professors  on  this  interesting 
question,  and  the  diversity  has  been  complicated  by  the  various  grounds  upon  which 
the  pros  and  cons  are  maintained.  There  are  those  who  advocate  the  admission  of 
girls  to  the  University  as  a  proper  thing  perse.  Others  consent  to  it,  because  the 
University  cannot  give  the  desired  education  separately.  Others  hold  that  girls  should 
be  admitted  because  of  their  equal  rights  to  a  university  education,  although  their 
admission  is  very  undesirable.  Others  oppose  coeducation  in  the  abstract,  conceding 
that  girls  should  be  as  well  educated  as  boys,  but  insisting  that  they  must  be  differently 
and  therefore  separately  educated.  These  draw  a  clear  line  between  "equal"  and 
"  similar"  education,  and  hold  that  no  university  coiirse  of  studies  can  be  laid  out  that 
will  not  present  much  of  classical  literature  and  much  of  the  mental,  moral  and  natural 
sciences,  that  cannot  be  studied  and  recited  by  boys  and  girls  together,  without  serious 
risk  of  lasting  injury  to  both. 

Would  it  not  be  better,  all  things  considered,  to  abjure  this 
kind  of  classical  literature,  and  instead  of  subjecting  our  sons  to 
its  baneful  influence,  give  them  the  refining,  elevating  compan- 
ionship of  their  sisters?  If  we  would  preserve  the  real  modesty 
and  purity  of  our  daughters,  it  is  quite  as  important  that  we 
should  pay  some  attention  to  the  delicacy  and  morality  of  the 
men  with  whom  they  are  to  associate. 

If  a  girl  cannot  read  the  classics  with  a  young  man  without 
contamination,  how  can  she  live  with  him  in  all  the  intimacies  of 
family  life  without  a  constant  shock  to  her  refined  sensibilities? 
So  long  as  society  considers  that  any  man  of  known  wealth  is  a 
fit  husband  for  our  daughters,  all  this  talk  of  the  faculties  and 
trustees  of  our  colleges  about  protecting  woman's  modesty  is  the 
sheerest  nonsense  and  hypocrisy.  It  is  well  to  remember  that 
these  professors  and  students  have  mothers,  wives  and  sisters, 
and  if  man  is  coarse  and  brutal,  he  invariably  feels  free  to  show 
his  worst  passions  at  his  own  fireside.  To  warn  women  against 
coeducation  is  to  warn  them  against  association  with  men  in  any 
relation  whatsoever. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
NEW  JERSEY. 

Women  Voted  in  the  Early  Days — Deprived  of  the  Right  by  Legislative  Enactment 
in  1807 — Women  Demand  the  Restoration  of  Their  Rights  in  1868 — At  the  Polls 
in  Vineland  and  Roseville  Park — Lucy  Stone  Agitates  the  Question — State  Suffrage 
Society  Organized  in  1867 — Conventions — A  Memorial  to  the  Legislature — Mary 
F.  Davis — Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford — Political  Science  Club — Mrs.  Cornelia  C. 
Hussey — Orange  Club,  1870 — July  4,  1874,  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake  Gives  the  Ora- 
tion— Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell's  Letter — The  Laws  of  New  Jersey  in  Regard  to 
Property  and  Divorce — Constitutional  Commission,  1873 — Trial  of  Rev.  Isaac  M. 
See — Women  Preaching  in  His  Pulpit — The  Case  Appealed — Mrs.  Jones,  Jail- 
oress — Legislative  Hearings. 

NEW  JERSEY  was  the  only  State  that,  in  adopting  her  first 
constitution,  recognized  woman's  right  to  suffrage  which  she  had 
exercised  during  the  colonial  days,  and  from  time  immemorial  in 
the  mother  country.  The  fact  that  she  was  deprived  of  this 
right  from  1807  to  1840  by  a  legislative  enactment,  while  the 
constitution  secured  it,*  proves  that  the  power  of  the  legislature, 
composed  of  representatives  from  the  people,  was  considered  at 
that  early  day  to  be  above  the  State  constitution.  If,  then,  the 
legislature  could  abridge  the  suffrage,  it  must  have  the  power  to 
extend  it,  and  all  the  women  of  this  State  should  demand  is  an  act 
of  the  legislature.  They  need  not  wait  for  the  slow  process  of  a 
constitutional  amendment  submitted  to  the  popular  vote.  In 
1868,  in  harmony  with  a  general  movement  in  many  other  States, 
the  women  of  New  Jersey  began  to  demand  the  restoration  of 
their  ancient  rights.  The  following  is  from  The  Revolution  of 
November  19,  1868,  written  by  Elizabeth  A.  Kingsbury: 

VINELAND,  N.  J.,  Nov.  5,  1868. 

At  a  meeting  of  women,  held  the  week  before  election,  a  unanimous  vote  was  taken 
that  we  would  go  to  the  polls.  John  Gage,  chairman  of  the  Woman  Suffrage  Asso- 
ciation of  Vineland,  called  a  meeting,  and  though  the  day  was  an  inclement  one, 
there  was  a  good  attendance.  A  number  of  earnest  men  as  well  as  women  addressed 

*  See  Vol.  I.,  page  447. 


Elizabeth  A.  Kings  bur ys  Letter.  477 

the  audience.  Among  them  were  Colonel  Moss  of  Missouri,  and  James  M.  Scovel 
of  Camden,  State  senator,  who  strengthened  us  by  their  words  of  earnest  eloquence. 
At  7:30  A.  M.,  November  3,  John  and  Portia  Gage  and  myself  entered  Union  Hall, 
where  the  judges  of  election  had  already  established  themselves  for  the  day.  Instead 
of  occupying  the  center  of  the  platform,  they  had  taken  one  side  of  it,  apparently 
for  the  purpose  of  leaving  us  room  on  the  other.  We  seated  ourselves  in  chairs 
brought  for  the  occasion,  when  one  gentleman  placed  a  small  table  for  our  use.  An- 
other inquired  if  we  were  comfortable  and  the  room  sufficiently  warm.  "  Truly,"  we 
thought,  "this  does  not  look  like  a  very  terrible  opposition."  As  time  passed,  there 
came  more  men  and  women  into  the  hall.  Quite  a  number  of  the  latter  presented 
their  votes  first  at  the  table  where  those  of  men  were  received,  where  they  were  re- 
jected with  politeness,  and  then  taken  to  the  other  side  of  the  platform  and  deposited 
in  our  box.  Shall  I  describe  this  box,  twelve  inches  long  and  six  wide,  and  originally 
a  grape-box  ?  Very  significant  of  Vineland.  Soon  there  came  to  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Gage 
and  myself  a  blooming  and  beautiful  young  lady,  Estelle  Thomson,  who,  with  much 
grace  and  dignity,  sat  there  throughout  the  day,  recording  the  names  of  the  voters.  It 
would  have  clone  you  good  to  have  witnessed  the  scene.  Margaret  Pryor,*  who  is  better 
known  to  you  perhaps  than  to  many  of  your  readers,  as  one  whose  life  has  been  active  in 
the  cause  of  freedom  for  the  negro  and  for  woman;  a  charming  old  lady  of  eighty-four 
years,  yet  with  the  spirit,  elasticity  and  strength  of  one  of  thirty-five,  sat  there  in  her 
nice  Quaker  bonnet  by  the  side  of  Miss  Thomson  a  great  part  of  the  day.  Sarah 
Pearson,  also  advanced  in  years  and  eminent  for  her  labors  of  love  for  the  suffering 
and  oppressed  everywhere;  with  her  peculiarly  delicate  organization  and  placid  coun- 
tenance, remained  with  us  till  the  last  moment.  There  was  no  lack  of  friends  and 
supporters.  The  platform  was  crowded  with  earnest,  refined,  intellectual  women,  who 
felt  that  it  was  good  for  them  to  be  there.  One  beautiful  girl  said  in  my  hearing,  "  I 
feel  so  much  stronger  for  having  voted."  It  was  pleasant  to  see  husbands  and  wives 
enter  the  hall  together,  only  they  had  to  separate,  one  turning  to  the  right  hand  and 
the  other  to  the  left,  when  no  separation  should  have  taken  place. 

Some  women  spent  the  day  in  going  after  their  friends  and  bringing  them  to  the 
hall.  Young  ladies,  after  voting,  went  to  the  homes  of  their  acquaintances,  and  took 
care  of  the  babies  while  the  mothers  came  out  to  vote.  \Vill  this  fact  lessen  the  alarm 
of  some  men  for  the  safety  of  the  babies  of  enfranchised  women  on  election  day  ? 
One  lady  of  refinement  and  aristocratic  birth  brought  her  little  girl  of  ten  years  with 
her,  and  I  assure  you  it  did  the  men  good  as  well  as  us.  They  said  they  never  had  so 
quiet  and  pleasant  a  time  at  the  polls  before,  though  it  is  always  more  quiet  here  than 
in  many  other  towns,  because  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  is  forbidden.  John  Gage — 
bless  his  dear  soul — identifies  himself  completely  with  this  glorious  cause,  and  labors 
with  an  earnestness  and  uniformity  of  purpose  that  is  truly  charming.  His  team  was 
out  all  day,  bringing  women  to  vote,  half-a-dozen  at  a  time,  while  his  personal  efforts 
were  unremitting  and  eminently  successful.  He  and  his  noble  wife,  Portia,  seem  to 
be,  indeed,  one  in  thought  and  action.  Some  time  ago  he  sent  a  pledge  to  the  candi- 
dates for  office  in  this  State.  By  signing  it,  they  promise  to  sustain  the  cause  of 
woman  suffrage  by  every  means  in  their  power.  Nixon,  candidate  for  the  Senate, 
signed  it  last  year.  House,  candidate  for  the  Assembly,  signed  the  pledge  at  the 
eleventh  hour,  and  though  he  lost  two  of  our  votes  by  the  delay,  yet  he,  too,  is 
elected.  Thus  we  have,  at  least,  three  public  men  in  New  Jersey  pledged  to  sustain 


*  Mrs.  I'ryor  lived  formerly  in  Waterloo,  New  York.  She  was  present  at  the  first  convention  at  Sen- 
eca Fall-,,  and  sustained  the  demand  for  woman  suffrage  with  earnest  sympathy.  1  have  been  indebted 
to  her  for  a  splendid  housekeeper,  trained  by  her  in  all  domestic  accomplishments,  who  lived  in  my 
family  for  thirty  years,  a  faithful,  devoted  friend  to  me  and  my  children.  Much  that  I  have  enjoyed 
and  accomplished  in  life  is  due  to  her  untiring  and  unselfish  services.  My  cares  were  the  lighter  for 
all  the  heavy  burdens  she  willingly  took  on  her  shoulders.  The  name  of  Amelia  Willard  should'al- 
ways  be  mentioned  with  loving  praise  by  me  and  mine.  Her  sympathies  have  ever  been  in  our  reform. 
When  Abby  Kelly  was  a  young  girl,  speaking  through  New  York  in  the  height  of  the  anti-slavery 
mobs  Margaret  Pryor  traveled  with  her  for  company  and  protection.  Abby  used  to  say  she  always 
felt  *ufe  when  she  could  see  Margaret  Pryor's  Quaker. bonnet. —  [E.  C.  S. 


478  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  woman  suffrage  cause.  We  think  it  is  time  to  say  to  candidates  for  office:  "You 
tell  us  we  have  a  good  deal  of  influence,  and  ask  us  to  exert  it  for  your  election.  We 
will  do  so,  if  you  will  promise  to  advocate  our  cause.  If  you  do  not,  we  will  oppose 
your  election."  The  result  of  the  ballots  cast  by  the  women  of  Vineland  is  this  :  For 
president — Grant,  164;  Seymour,  4;  E.  Cady  Stanton,  2;  Fremont,  i;  and  Mrs.  Gov- 
ernor Harvey  of  Wisconsin,  I.  The  president  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Vineland, 
S.  C.  Campbell,  has  petitioned  for  the  ballot-box  and  list  of  voters,  to  put  into  its 
archives.  He  will  probably  get  them. 

A  gentleman  said  to  me  last  week  :  "What  is  the  use  of  your  doing  this?  Your 
votes  will  count  nothing  in  the  election."  "  It  will  do  good  in  two  ways,"  I  replied. 
"  You  say  there  will  not  be  five  women  there.  We  will  show  you  that  you  are  mis- 
taken; that  women  do  want  to  vote,  and  it  will  strengthen  them  for  action  in  the 
future."  Both  these  ends  have  been  accomplished;  and  on  November  12  we  are  to 
meet  again,  to  consider  and  decide  what  to  do  about  the  taxation  that  is  soon  coming 
upon  us. 

While  the  Vineland  women  expressed  their  opinion  by  voting, 
other  true  friends  of  woman's  enfranchisement  were  moved  to  do 
the  same.  The  Revolution  of  November  12,  1868,  gave  the  fol- 
lowing: 

The  Newark  Daily  Advertiser  says  that  Mrs.  Hannah  Blackwell,  a  highly  esteemed 
elderly  lady,  long  resident  in  Roseville,  and  Mrs.  Lucy  Stone,  her  daughter-in-law, 
both  of  them  property-holders  and  tax-payers  in  the  county,  appeared  at  the  polls  in 
Roseville  Park,  accompanied  by  Messrs.  Bathgate  and  Blackwell  as  witnesses,  and 
offered  their  votes.  The  judges  of  election  were  divided  as  to  the  propriety  of  receiv- 
ing the  votes  of  the  ladies,  one  of  them  stating  that  he  was  in  favor  of  doing  so,  the 
two  others  objecting  on  the  ground  of  their  illegality.  The  ladies  stated  that  they  had 
taken  advice  of  eminent  lawyers,  and  were  satisfied  that  in  New  Jersey,  women  were 
legally  entitled  to  vote,  from  the  fact  that  the  old  constitution  of  the  State  conferred 
suffrage  upon  "all  inhabitants"  worth  $250.  Under  that  constitution  women  did  in 
fact  vote  until,  in  1807,  by  an  arbitrary  act  of  the  legislature,  women  were  excluded 
from  the  polls.  The  new  constitution,  adopted  in  1844,  was  framed  by  a  convention 
and  adopted  by  a  constituency,  from  both  of  which  women  were  unconstitutionally 
excluded,  so  that  they  have  never  been  allowed  to  vote  upon  the  question  of  their  own 
disfranchisement.  The  article  in  the  present  constitution  on  the  right  of  suffrage  con- 
fers it  upon  white  male  citizens,  but  docs  not  expressly  limit  it  to  such.  It  is  claimed 
that  from  the  absence  of  any  express  limitation  in  the  present  constitution,  and  from 
the  compulsory  exclusion  of  the  parties  interested  from  its  adoption,  the  political 
rights  of  women  under  the  old  constitution  still  remain.  Mrs.  Stone  stated  these 
points  to  the  judges  of  election  with  clearness  and  precision.  After  consultation,  the 
votes  of  the  ladies  were  refused.  The  crowd  surrounding  the  polls  gathered  about  the 
ballot-box  and  listened  to  the  discussion  with  respectful  attention;  but  every  one  be- 
haved with  the  politeness  which  gentlemen  always  manifest  in  the  presence  of  ladies. 

The  women  of  New  Jersey  may  have  been  roused  to  assert 
their  right  to  vote  by  an  earnest  appeal  of  that  veteran  of  equal 
rights,  Parker  Pillsbury,  in  The  Revolution  of  March  25,  1868,  sug- 
gested by  the  following: 

At  the  recent  election  in  Vineland,  New  Jersey,  a  unanimous  vote  in  favor  of  "no 
rum  "  was  polled.  The  Vineland  Weekly  says  :  "  Among  the  incidents  of  the  late  elec- 
tion was  the  appearance  of  a  woman  at  the  polls.  Having  provided  herself  with  a 
ballot,  she  marched  up  to  the  rostrum  and  tendered  it  to  the  chairman  of  the 
board  of  registry.  The  veteran  politician,  John  Kandle,  covered  with  blushes,  was 
obliged  to  inform  the  lady  that  no  one  could  vote  unless  his  name  was  registered. 


Lucy  Stone.  479 

She  acquiesced  in  the  decision  very  readily,  saying  she  only  wished  to  test  a  principle, 
and  retired  very  quietly  from  the  hall." 

While  thus  mentioning  the  women  with  uncounted  votes,  it 
may  be  well  to  embalm  here  a  historical  fact,  published  in  April, 
J&6S: 

In  the  year  1824  widows  were  allowed  to  vote  in  New  Jersey  on  their  husbands'  tax 
receipts.  The  election  officers  paid  great  deference  to  the  widows  on  these  occa- 
sions, and  took  particular  care  to  send  carriages  after  them,  so  as  to  get  their 
votes  early  and  make  sure  of  them.  The  writer  of  this  has  often  heard  his  grand- 
mother state  that  she  voted  for  John'Quincy  Adams  for  president  of  the  United  States 
when  he  was  elected  to  that  office.  Her  name  was  Sarah  Sparks,  and  she  voted  at 
Barnsboro',  her  husband  having  died  the  year  previous. 

N.  M.  WALLINGTON,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Miss  Anthony  held  a  spirited  meeting  in  Rahway  on  Christ- 
mas eve,  December  24,  1867.  The  following  October,  1868, 
Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  attended  a  two  days'  conven- 
tion in  Vineland,  and  helped  to  rouse  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
people.  A  friend,  writing  from  there,  gives  us  the  following : 

The  Unitarian  church  in  this  town  is  highly  favored  in  having  for  its  pastor  a  young 
man  of  progressive  and  thoroughly  liberal  ideas.  Rev.  Oscar  Clute  is  well  known  as  an 
earnest  advocate  in  the  cause  of  woman.  Last  Sunday  the  communion  or  Lord's  Sup- 
per was  administered  in  his  church.  One  of  the  laymen  who  usually  assists  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  bread  and  wine,  was  absent,  and  Mr.  Clute  invited  one  of  the  women 
to  officiate  in  his  stead.  She  did  so  in  such  a  sweet  and  hospitable  manner  that  it  gave 
new  interest  to  the  occasion.  Even  those  who  do  not  like  innovations  could  not  find 
fault.  And  why  should  anyone  be  displeased?  The  Christ  of  the  sacrament  was  the 
emancipator  of  women.  In  olden  time  they  had  deaconesses,  and  in  most  of  our 
churches  women  constitute  a  majority  of  the  communicants,  so  it  seems  particularly 
appropriate  that  they  should  be  served  by  women.  Women  vote  on  all  matters  con- 
nected with  this  church,  they  are  on  all  "standing  committees,"  and  sometimes  are 
chosen  and  act  as  trustees. 

Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford  sends  us  the  following  reports  of  the 
progress  of  the  movement  in  this  State: 

While  Lucy  Stone  resided  in  New  Jersey,  she  held  several  series  of 
meetings  in  the  chief  towns  and  cities  before  the  formation  of  the  State 
Society.*  The  agitation  that  began  in  1867  was  probably  due  to  her,  more 
than  to  any  other  one  person  in  that  State.  The  State  society  was  or- 
ganized in  the  autumn  of  1867,  and  from  year  to  year  its  annual  meetings 
have  been  held  in  Vineland,  Newark,  Trenton,  and  other  cities.  On 
its  list  of  officers  t  are  some  of  the  best  men  and  women  in  the  State. 


*  In  a  letter  to  Mary  F.  Davis,  February  13,  1882,  asking  her  for  some  facts  in  regard  to  that  period, 
Lucy  Stone  says:  "  I  have  never  kept  any  diary  or  record  of  my  work.  I  have  been  too  busy  with 
the  work  itself.  I  could  not  answer  your  questions  without  a  search  among  old  letters  and  papers, 
whii  h  have  been  packed  away  for  years,  and  I  have  not  time  to  make  the  search,  and  cannot  be  accu- 
i:  limit.  1  know  we  had  many  meetings  in  New  Jersey  in  all  the  large  towns,  beginning  in  New- 
ark .mil  <  >r.mjje,  and  following  the  line  of  the  railroad  to  Trenton,  Camden,  and  Vineland,  and  then 
another  scries  that  included  towns  reached  by  stage,  Salem  being  one,  but  I  cannot  tell  whether  these 
meetings  were  before  or  after  the  formation  of  the  State  Society."  The  records  show  that  they  were 
before,  says  Mrs.  Davis  ;  newspaper  reports  of  them  are  in  the  archives  of  the  Historcal  Society. 

t  Fn-sidtnt*  Lucy  Stone,  RosevilKv,  I'i\ ;--/'rrsi'fentx,  Antoinette  Brown  Blackwell,  Thomas  B.  Ped- 
die,  Portia  Gage,  Rev.  Robert  McMurdy,  Cornelia  Collins  Hussey,  George  T.  Cobb,  Sarah  E.  Webb, 


480  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Several  distinguished  names  from  other  States  are  among  the  speakers" 
who  have  taken  part  in  their  conventions.  County  and  local  societies 
too  have  been  extensively  organized.  These  associations  have  circu- 
lated tracts  and  appeals,  memorialized  the  legislature,  and  had  various 
hearings  before  that  body.  At  the  annual  meeting  held  in  Newark 
February  15,  1871,  the  following  memorial  to  the  legislature,  prepared 
by  Mary  F.  Davis,  was  unanimously  adopted  : 
To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey: 

Section  2,  Article  I,  of  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  expressly  de- 
clares that  "All  political  power  is  inherent  in  the  people.  Government  is  instituted 
for  the  protection,  security,  and  benefit  of  the  people,  and  they  have  the  right  at  all 
times  to  alter  or  reform  the  same,  whenever  the  public  good  may  require  it." 
Throughout  the  entire  article  the  words  "  people  "  and  "  person  "  are  used,  as  if  to 
apply  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  State.  In  direct  contradiction  to  this  broad  and  just 
affirmation,  section  I,  article  2,  begins  with  the  restrictive  and  unjust  sentence : 
"  Every  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years 

*  *         *         shall  be  entitled  to  vote,"  etc.,  and  the  section  ends  with  the  specifi- 
cation   that    "no   pauper,    idiot,    insane    person,    or    person    convicted   of   a  crime 

*  *        *        shall  enjoy  the  right  of  an  elector." 

Of  the  word  "  white"  in  this  article  your  memorialists  need  not  speak,  as  it  is  made 
a  dead  letter  by  the  limitations  of  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  the  United  States  con- 
stitution. To  the  second  restriction,  indicated  by  the  word  "male"  we  beg  leave  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  legislature,  as  we  deem  it  unjust  and  arbitrary,  as  well  as  con- 
tradictory to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  as  expressed  in  the  first  article.  It  is  also 
contrary  to  the  precedent  established  by  the  founders  of  political  liberty  in  New  Jersey. 
On  the  second  of  July,  1776,  the  provincial  congress  of  New  Jersey,  at  Burlington, 
adopted  a  constitution  which  remained  in  force  until  1844,  in  which  section  4  specified 
as  voters,  "  all  the  inhabitants  of  this  Colony,  of  full  age,"  etc.  In  1790,  a  committee 
of  the  legislature  reported  a  bill  regulating  elections,  in  which  the  words  "he  and  she  " 
are  applied  to  voters,  thus  giving  legislative  endorsement  to  the  alleged  meaning  of 
the  constitution. 

The  legislature  of  1807  departed  from  this  wise  and  just  precedent,  and  passed  an 
arbitrary  act,  in  direct  violation  of  the  constitutional  provision,  restricting  the  suffrage 
to  white  male  adult  citizens,  and  this  despotic  ordinance  was  deliberately  endorsed  by 
the  framers  of  the  State  constitution  which  was  adopted  in  1844.  This  was  plainly  an 
act  of  usurpation  and  injustice,  as  thereby  a  large  proportion  of  the  law-abiding  citi- 
zens of  the  State  were  disfranchised,  without  so  much  as  the  privilege  of  signifying 
their  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  barbarous  fiat  which  was  to  rob  them  of  the  sacred 
right  of  self-protection  by  means  of  a  voice  in  the  government,  and  to  reduce  them  to 
the  political  level  of  the  "pauper,  idiot,  insane  person,  or  person  convicted  of  crime." 

If  this  flagrant  wrong,  which  was  inflicted  by  one-half  the  citizens  of  a  free  common- 
wealth on  the  other  half,  had  been  aimed  at  any  other  than  a  non-aggressive  and  self- 
sacrificing  class,  there  would  have  been  fierce  resistance,  as  in  the  case  of  the  United 
Colonies  under  the  British  yoke.  It  has  long  been  borne  in  silence.  "  The  right  of 
voting  for  representatives,"  says  Paine,  "is  the  primary  right,  by  which  other  rights 

Dr.  James  Brotherton,  Isaac  Stevens,  Rev.  H.  A.  Butler,  A.  J.  Davis,  James  H.  Xixon,  Dr.  G.  H. 
Haskell,  I.  M.  Peebles,  Rev.  C.  H.  Dezanne,  William  Baldwin  ;  Corresponding  Secretaries,  Phebe  A. 
Pierson,  Miss  P.  Fowler  ;  Recording  Secretary,  C.  A.  Paul ;  Treasurer.  S.  G.  Silvester ;  Executive 
Committee,  Mary  F.  Davis,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Bush,  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Rev.  Oscar  Clute,  Miss  Charlotte 
ite,  Rowland  Johnson,  Mrs.  Robert  McMurdy,  Dr.  D.  N.  Allen,  Sarah  Pierson,  Lizzie  Prentice, 
W.  1 1.  Conan,  John  Whitehead. 

*  Among  those  who  addressed  the  conventions  and  the  legislature  we  find  the  names  of  Lucretia 
Mott,  F.rnestine  L.  Rose,  Lucy  Stone,  Antoinette  Brown  Blackwell,  Mary  F.  Davis,  Charlotte  B.  Wil- 
bour,  Elizabeth  R.  Churchill,  Elizabeth  A.  Kingsbury,  Deborah  Butler,  Olive  F.  Stevens.  Rev.  Phebe 
A.  Hanaford,  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake,  Rev.  Oscar  Clute,  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Rev.  Mr.  McMurdy,  Mr. 
Taylor,  John  Whitehead,  Mrs.  Seagrove,  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  Hon.  James  Scovell. 


Woman 's  Political  Science   Club.  481 

are  protected.  To  take  away  this  right  is  to  reduce  man  to  a  state  of  slavery,  for 
slavery  consists  in  being  subject  to  the  will  of  another,  and  he  that  has  not  a  vote  in 
the  electing  of  representatives  is  in  this  condition.  Benjamin  Franklin  wrote  :  "  They 
who  have  no  voice  nor  vote  in  the  electing  of  representatives  do  not  enjoy  liberty,  but 
are  absolutely  enslaved  to  those  who  have  votes  and  to  their  representatives;  for  to  be 
enslaved  is  to  have  governors  whom  other  men  have  set  over  us,  and  be  subject  to  laws 
made  by  the  representatives  of  others,  without  having  had  representatives  of  our  own 
to  give  consent  in  our  behalf."  This  is  the  condition  of  the  women  of  New  Jersey. 
It  is  evident  to  every  reasonable  mind  that  these  unjustly  disfranchised  citizens  should 
be  reinstated  in  the  right  of  suffrage.  Therefore,  we,  your  memorialists,  ask  the 
legislature  at  its  present  session  to  submit  to  the  people  of  New  Jersey  an  amendment 
to  the  constitution,  striking  out  the  word  "  male  "from  article  2,  section  I,  in  order 
that  the  political  liberty  which  our  forefathers  so  nobly  bestowed  on  men  and  women 
alike,  may  be  restored  to  "  all  inhabitants  "  of  the  populous  and  prosperous  State  into 
which  their  brave  young  colony  has  grown. 

With  but  a  slight  change  of  officers  and  arguments,  these  conventions 
were  similar  from  year  to  year.  There  were  on  all  occasions  a  certain 
number  of  the  clergy  in  opposition.  At  one  of  these  meetings  the  Rev. 
Mr.  McMurdy  condemned  the  ordination  of  women  for  the  ministry.  But 
woman's  fitness  *  for  that  profession  was  successfully  vindicated  by  Lu- 
cretia  Mott  and  Phebe  A.  Hanaford.  Mrs.  Portia  Gage  writes,  December 

12,    1873: 

There  was  an  election  held  by  the  order  of  the  township  committee  of  Landis,  to 
vote  on  the  subject  of  bonding  the  town  to  build  shoe  and  other  factories.  The  call 
issued  was  for  all  legal  voters.  I  went  with  some  ten  or  twelve  other  women,  all  tax- 
payers. We  offered  our  votes,  claiming  that  we  were  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  also  property-holders  in  and  residents  of  Landis  town- 
ship, and  wished  to  express  our  opinion  on  the  subject  of  having  our  property  bonded. 
Of  course  our  votes  were  not  accepted,  whilst  every  tatterdemalion  in  town,  either 
black  or  white,  who  owned  no  property,  stepped  up  and  very  pompously  said  what  he 
would  like  to  have  done  with  his  property.  For  the  first  time  our  claim  to  vote 
seemed  to  most  of  the  voters  to  be  a  just  one.  They  gathered  together  in  groups  and 
got  quite  excited  over  the  injustice  of  refusing  our  vote  and  accepting  those  of  men 
who  paid  no  taxes. 

In  1879,  the  Woman's  Political  Science  Club  t  was  formed  in  Vineland, 
which  held  its  meetings  semi-monthly,  and  discussed  a  wide  range  of  sub- 
jects. Among  the  noble  women  in  New  Jersey  who  have  stood  for  many 
years  steadfast  representatives  of  the  suffrage  movement,  Cornelia  Collins 
Hussey  of  Orange  is  worthy  of  mention.  A  long  line  of  radical  and  brave 
ancestors  j  made  it  comparatively  easy  for  her  to  advocate  an  unpopular 

*  This  has  been  well  illustrated  by  Mrs.  Hanaford  in  her  own  case,  she  having  preached  for  nearly 
twenty  years  with  but  three  changes  of  place,  and  ten  of  these  passed  successively  in  the  Universalist 
churches  in  Jersey  City. — [E.  C.  S. 

t  VIXEI.AXD,  July  15,  1879. — Club  met  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Bristol.  The  meeting  was  opened 
with  music  by  Mrs.  Parkhurst,  followed  by  a  recitation  by  Miss  Etta  Taylor.  Mrs.  Andrew  read  an 
excellent  essay, opposing  the  national  bank  system.  Mrs.  Bristol  gave  an  instructive  lesson  in  political 
economy  on  "  Appropriation."  The  next  lesson  will  be  upon  "Changes  of  Matter  in  Place."  Appro- 
l:s  were  made  by  Mrs.  Neyman  of  New  York,  Mr.  Broom,  Mrs.  Duffey  and  Mr.  Bristol. 
Several  new  names  were  added  to  the  list  of  membership.  Miss  Etta  Taylor  gave  another  recitation, 
whii  h  closed  the  exercises  of  the  afternoon.  In  the  evening  a  pleasant  reception  was  held,  and  many 
invited  guests  were  present.  The  exercises  consisted  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  social  converse 
and  dancing.  The  club  will  meet  again  in  two  weeks. — [C.  L.  LADD,  Secretary, 

i  Isaac  Collins,  her  grandfather,  died  at  Burlington,  March  21,  1817,  a  man  remarkable  alike  for  his 
uprightness,  industry,  intelligence  and  enterprise.  He  was  a  Quaker  by  birth  and  conviction,  and  a 
printer,  appointed  by  King  George  III.  for  the  province  of  New  Jersey.  He  printed  many  valuable 

31 


482  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

cause.  Her  father,  Stacy  B.  Collins,  identified  with  the  anti-slavery  move- 
ment, was  also  an  advocate  of  woman's  right  to  do  whatever  she  could» 
even  to  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage.  He  maintained  that  the  tax-payer 
should  vote  regardless  of  sex,  and  as  years  passed  on  he  saw  clearly  that 
not  alone  the  tax-payer,  but  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  governed 
and  punished  by  its  laws,  had  a  just  and  natural  right  to  the  ballot  in  a 
country  claiming  to  be  republican.  The  following  beuutiful  tribute  to  his 
memory,  by  Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell,  is  found  in  a  letter  to  his  daughter : 

LONDON,  July  27,  1873. 

My  last  letter  from  America  brought  me  the  sad  intelligence  of  )our  dear  father's 
departure  from  amongst  you;  and  I  cannot  refrain  from  at  once  writing  and  begging 
you  to  accept  the  sincere  sympathy  and  inevitable  regret  which  I  feel  for  your  loss. 
The  disappearance  of  an  old  friend  brings  up  the  long  past  times  vividly  to  my  remem- 
brance— the  time  when,  impelled  by  irresistible  spiritual  necessity,  I  strove  to  lead  a 
useful  but  unusual  life,  and  was  able  to  face,  with  the  energy  of  youth,  both  social 
prejudice  and  the  hindrance  of  poverty.  I  have  to  recall  those  early  days  to  show 
how  precious  your  father's  sympathy  and  support  were  to  me  in  that  difficult  time;  and 
how  highly  I  respected  his  moral  courage  in  steadily,  for  so  many  years,  encouraging 
the  singular  woman  doctor,  at  whom  everybody  looked  askance,  and  in  passing  whom 
so  many  women  held  their  clothes  aside,  lest  they  should  touch  her.  I  know  in  how 
many  good  and  noble  things  your  father  took  part;  but,  to  me,  this  brave  advocacy  of 
woman  as  physician,  in  that  early  time,  seems  the  noblest  of  his  actions. 

Speaking  of  the  general  activity  of  the  women  of  Orange,  Mrs  Hussey 
says : 

The  Women's  Club  of  Orange  was  started  in  1871.  It  is  a  social  and  literary  club, 
and  at  present  (1885)  numbers  about  eighty  members.  Meetings  are  held  in  the  rooms 
of  the  New  England  Society  once  in  two  weeks,  and  a  reception,  with  refreshments, 
given  at  the  house  of  some  member  once  a  year.  Some  matter  of  interest  is  discussed 
at  each  regular  meeting.  This  is  not  an  equal  suffrage  club,  yet  a  steady  growth  in 
that  direction  is  very  evident.  Very  good  work  has  been  done  by  this  club.  An 
evening  school  for  girls  was  started  by  it,  and  taught  by  the  members  for  awhile, 
until  adopted  by  the  board  of  education,  a  boys'  evening  school  being  already 
in  operation.  Under  the  arrangements  of  the  club,  a  course  of  lectures  on  physiology, 
by  women,  was  recently  given  in  Orange,  and  well  attended.  At  the  house  of  one 
of  the  members  a  discussion  was  held  on  this  subject:  "Does  the  Private  Charac- 
ter of  the  Actor  Concern  the  Public?"  Although  the  subject  was  a  general  one,  the 
discussion  was  really  upon  the  proper  course  in  regard  to  M'lle  Sarah  Bernharclt,  who 
had  recently  arrived  in  the  country.  Reporters  from  the  New  York  Sun  attended 
the  meeting,  so  that  the  views  of  the  club  of  Orange  gained  quite  a  wide  celebrity. 

Of  Mrs.  Hussey's  remarks,  the  Newark  Journal  said  : 

The  sentiments  of  the  first  speaker,  Mrs.  Cornelia  C.  Hussey,  were  generally  ap- 
proved, and  therefore  are  herewith  given  in  full:  "  I  have  so  often  maintained  in  argu- 
ment that  one  has  no  right  to  honor  those  whose  lives  are  a  dishonor  to  virtue  or 
principle,  that  I  cannot  see  any  other  side  to  our  question  than  the  affirmative.  That 
the  stage  wields  a  potent  influence  cannot  be  doubted.  Let  the  plays  be  immoral,  and 
its  influence  must  be  disastrous  to  virtue.  Let  the  known  character  of  the  actor  be 
what  we  cannot  respect,  the  glamour  which  his  genius  or  talent  throws  around  that 
bad  character  will  tend  to  diminish  our  discrimination  between  virtue  and  vice,  and 

books,  almanacs,  Bibles,  revised  laws,  government  money,  and  a  weekly  paper.  The  .\'f-;i>  Jersey  Ga- 
zette. In  making  his  will  he  so  divided  his  property  that  each  of  his  six  daughters  received  twice  the 
sum  that  he  gave  to  each  of  the  seven  sons.  This  he  explained  by  saying  that  the  latter  could  go  into 
business  and  support  themselves,  but  his  daughters  must  have  enough  to  live  upon,  if  they  chose  to  re- 
main single  ;  he  did  not  wish  them  to  be  forced  to  marry  for  a  support. 


Mrs.   Cornelia   Collins  Hiissey.  483 

our  distaste  for  the  latter.  Some  one  says:  '  Let  me  write  the  songs  of  a  nation,  and 
I  care  not  who  makes  the  laws.'  The  poetry  that  Byron  wrote,  together  with  his  well- 
known  contempt  for  a  virtuous  life,  is  said  to  have  had  a  very  pernicious  influence  on 
the  young  men  of  his  time,  and  probably,  too,  blinded  the  eyes  -of  the  young  women. 
I  recall  being  quite  startled  by  reading  the  essay  of  Whittier  on  Byron,  which  showed 
him  as  he  was,  and  not  with  the  halo  of  his  great  genius  thrown  around  his  vices.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  our  national  government  dethroned  virtue  when  it  sent  a  homicide, 
if  not  a  murderer,  to  represent  us  at  a  foreign  court;  and  again  when  it  sent  as  minis- 
ter to  another  court  on  the  coutinent  a  man  whose  private  character  was  well  known  to 
be  thoroughly  immoral.  Even  to  trifle  with  virtue,  or  to  be  a  coward  in  the  cause  of 
principle,  is  a  fearful  thing;  but  when,  a  person  comes  before  the  public,  saying  by 
liis  life  that  he  prefers  the  pleasures  of  sin  to  the  paths  of  virtue,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  way  is  plain — to  withhold  our  patronage  as  a  matter  of  public  policy." 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1874,  Mrs.  Lillie  Devereux  Blake  was  invited  to  make  the 
-usual  address  in  East  Orange,  which  she  did  before  a  large  audience  in  the  public  hall. 
Says  the  Journal :  "  Mrs.  Blake's  speech  was  characterized  by  simplicity  of  style  and 
appropriateness  of  sentiment."  She  made  mention  of  Molly  Pitcher,  Mrs.  Borden 
and  Mrs.  Hall  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  noted  women  of  other  States,  who  did  good 
service  in  Revolutionary  times,  when  the  country  needed  the  help  of  her  daughters  as 
well  as  her  sons. 

In  the  summer  of  1876  a  noteworthy  meeting  was  held  in  Orange  in  the  interest  of 
Tvomen.  A  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  met  in  my  parlor  to  listen  to  statements 
in  relation  to  what  is  called  the  "  social  evil."  to  be  made  by  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Gledstone 
and  Mr.  Henry  J.  Wilson,  delegates  from  the  "  British,  Continental  and  General 
Federation  for  the  Abolition  of  Government  Regulation  of  Prostitution."  It  is  due  to 
the  English  gentlemen  to  say  that  they  gave  some  very  strong  reasons  for  bringing  the 
disagreeable  subject  before  the  meeting,  and  that  they  handled  it  with  becoming  deli- 
cacy, though  with  great  plainness. 

"Ann  A.  Horton,  who  died  in  June,  1875,  at  the  Old  Ladies'  Home,  Newark,  be- 
queathed $2,000  to  Princeton  College,  to  found  a  scholarship  to  be  called  by  her  name." 
Would  not  the  endowment  of  a  "free  bed"  in  Mrs.  Horton's  true  alma-mater,  the 
Old  Ladies'  Home,  have  been  a  far  wiser  bequest  than  the  foundation  of  a  scholarship 
in  Princeton — a  college  which,  while  fattening  on  enormous  dole  received  from  women, 
offers  them  nothing  in  return  ? 

In  relation  to  the  law  giving  the  mothers  of  New  Jersey  some  legal 
claim  to  their  children,  Mrs.  Hussey  writes  : 

I  have  often  heard  it  said  that  Kansas  is  the  only  State  where  the  married  mother 
has  any  legal  ownership  in  her  children;  but  the  women  of  New  Jersey  have  enjoyed 
this  privilege  since  1871,  when  it  was  gained  for  them  by  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Ann  H. 
Connelly  of  Rahway.  She  was  an  American  woman,  the  mother  of  one  daughter,  and 
unhappily  married.  She  desired  to  be  divorced  from  her  husband,  but  she  knew  that 
in  such  case  he  might  legally  take  her  child  from  her.  Such  a  risk  could  not  be 
thought  of  for  a  moment;  so  she  applied  to  the  legislature  for  a  change  of  the  law. 
She  was  assisted  by  many  influential  citizens,  both  men  and  women  ;  petitions 
hirgely  signed  were  presented,  and  the  result  was  the  amendment  of  the  law  making 
the  mother  and  father  equal  in  the  ownership  of  their  children.  When  a  copy  of  the 
uc\v  law  appeared  in  our  papers  I  wrote  to  Mrs.  Connelly,  inclosing  a  resolution  of 
thanks  from  the  Essex  County  Woman  Suffrage  Society,  of  which  I  was  then  secretary. 
In  her  reply  she  said:  "  This  unexpected  and  distinguishing  recognition  of  my  imper- 
fect, but  earnest,  efforts  for  justice  is  inexpressibly  gratifying."  Several  years  after,  I 
went  with  my  daughter  to  Rahway  to  see  Mrs.  Connelly.  She  seemed  to  be  well 
known  and  much  respected.  She  was  teaching  in  one  of  the  public  schools,  but 
seemed  quite  feeble  in  health.  In  iSSi  I  saw  the  notice  of  her  death.  She  was  a 
woman  of  much  intelligence,  and  strongly  interested  in  suffrage,  and  should  certainly 
be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  mothers  of  New  Jersey,  to  whom  she  restored 


484 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


the  right  which  nature  gave  them,  but  which  men  had  taken  away  by  mistaken  legis- 
lation. 

This  law  of  February  21,  1871,  composed  of  several  acts  purporting  to 
give  fathers  and  mothers  equal  rights  in  cases  of  separation  and  divorce, 
is  not  so  liberal  as  it  seems  in  considering  this  provision  : 

Upon  a  decree  of  divorce  the  court  may  make  such  further  decree  as  may  be  deemed 
expedient  concerning  the  custody  and  maintenance  of  minor  children,  and  determine 
with  which  of  the  parents  the  children  shall  remain. 

This  act,  though  declaring  that  the  mother  and  father  are  equal,  soon 
shows  by  its  specifications  that  the  courts  can  dispose  of  ail  woman's  in- 
terests and  affections  as  they  may  see  fit.  What  avails  a  decree  of  divorce 
or  separation  for  woman,  if  the  court  can  give  the  children  to  the  father 
at  its  pleasure  ?  Here  is  the  strong  cord  by  which  woman  is  held  in 
bondage,  and  the  courts,  all  composed  of  men,  know  this,  and  act  on  it 
in  their  decisions. 

A  petition  was  addressed  to  the  constitutional  commission  of  1873,  re- 
questing an  amendment  restoring  to  the  women  of  New  Jersey  their 
original  right  to  vote,  which  that  body  decided  would  be  "inexpedient." 
A  bill  introduced  in  the  legislature  by  Senator  Cutler,  of  Morris  county, 
making  women  eligible  to  the  office  of  school-trustee,  became  a  law  March 
25,1873: 

Be  it  enacted,  That  hereafter  no  person  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  school- 
trustee,  unless  he  or  she  can  read  and  write;  and  women  who  are  residents  in  the  dis- 
trict and  over  twenty  years  of  age,  shall  also  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  school-trustee, 
and  may  hold  such  office  and  perform  the  duties  of  the  same,  when  duly  elected  by  ten 
votes  of  the  district. — [Chap.  386. 

February  26,  1874,  a  law  for  the  better  protection  of  the  property  of 
married  women  was  passed  : 

I.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
That  any  married  woman  who  now  is,  or  may  hereafter  become,  entitled,  by  gift,  de- 
vise or  bequest,  to  any  contingent  estate,  or  any  interest  in  any  real  or  personal  prop- 
erty or  estate,  may,  with  the  concurrence  of  her  husband,  compound  and  receipt  for, 
assign  and  convey  the  same,  in  all  cases  where  she  lawfully  might,  if  a  feme  sole;  and 
every  release,  receipt,  assignment,  discharge,  agreement,  covenant,  or  contract,  there- 
upon entered  into  by  her  in  regard  to  the  same  and  to  the  said  property,  shall  be  as 
valid  and  binding  in  every  respect,  upon  her,  her  heirs,  executors,  administrators,  and 
assigns,  and  any  and  all  persons  claiming  under  her,  them  or  either  of  them,  as  if  she 
were  at  the  time  of  entering  into  the  same,  a  feme  sole,  and  when  duly  executed  and 
acknowledged  in  the  manner  provided  by  law  for  conveyance  of  real  estate,  may  be 
recorded  in  the  surrogate's  office,  and  whenever  it  relates  to  real  estate  in  the  clerk's 
or  recorder's  office,  of  the  proper  county  or  counties,  in  the  same  manner  and  with  like 
effect  as  other  receipts  and  discharges  may  now  be  recorded  therein.  2.  And  be  it 
enacted,  That  this  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

A  most  remarkable  trial,  lately  held  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  which  in- 
volved the  question  whether  it  was  contrary  to  Scripture,  and  a  violation 
of  the  rules  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  admit  women  to  the  pulpit,  is 
well  reported  by  the  New  York  World,  January  i,  1877 : 

Since  the  time  that  the  Rev.  Theodore  Cuyler  was  obliged  by  the  Presbytery  of  Long 
Island  to  apologize  for  inviting  Miss  Sarah  Smiley,  the  Quaker  preacher,  to  occupy  the 
pulpit  of  the  Lafayette  Avenue  Church  in  Brooklyn,  the  question  of  the  right  of  women 


Trial  of  Rev.  Dr.  See.  485 

to  preach  in  Presbyterian  churches,  has  come  up  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  but 
has  never  been  brought  judicially  before  any  ecclesiastical  body  until  yesterday,  when 
it  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Newark  Presbytery,  under  the  following  circumstances. 
October  29,  1876,  Mrs,  L.  S.  Robinson  and  Mrs.  C.  S.  Whiting,  two  ladies  who  were 
much  interested  in  the  temperance  movement,  asked  and  received  permission  of 
the  Rev.  Isaac  M.  See,  of  the  Wickliffe  Presbyterian  Church  at  Newark,  to  occupy  his 
pulpit,  morning  and  evening  of  that  day.  They  accordingly  addressed  the  congrega- 
tion on  the  subject  of  temperance.  To  this  the  Rev.  E.  R.  Craven,  of  the  Third  Pres- 
byterian Church,  of  Newark,  objected,  and  brought  before  the  Newark  Presbytery  the 
following  charge : 

"  The  undersigned  charges  the  Rev.  Isaac  M.  See,  pastor  of  the  Wickliffe  Church, 
of  Newark,  N.  J.,  a  member  of  your  body,  with  disobedience  to  the  divinely  enacted 
ordinance  in  reference  to  the  public  speaking  and  teaching  of  women  in  churches,  as 
recorded  in  I.  Corinthians,  xiv.,  33  to  37,  and  I.  Timothy,  ii.,  13,  in  that:  First  speci- 
fication— On  Sunday,  October  29,  1876,  in  the  Wickliffe  Church  of  the  city  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  he  did,  in  the  pulpit  of  tne  said  church,  and  before  the  congregation  there 
assembled  for  public  worship  at  the  usual  hour  of  the  morning  service,  viz. ,  10:30 
A.  M.,  introduce  a  woman,  whom  he  permitted  and  encouraged  then  and  there 
publicly  to  preach  and  teach. "  The  second  specification  is  couched  in  similar  language, 
except  that  it  charges  Mr.  See  with  introducing  another  woman  at  the  evening  service 
upon  the  same  day.  The  charge  was  presented  at  the  regular  meeting  of  the  Presby- 
tery, a  short  time  ago,  and  the  hearing  of  the  case  was  adjourned  until  yesterday.  The 
meeting  was  held  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Wash- 
ington street.  Rev.  John  L.  Wells,  pastor  of  the  Bethany  Mission  Chapel,  presided, 
and  there  was  a  fair  attendance  of  the  members  of  the  body.  Of  the  audience  at  least 
nine-tenths  were  women.*  Dr.  Craven,  the  prosecutor,  sat  on  the  front  row  of  seats, 
near  to  the  clerk's  table,  while  Dr.  See,  who  is  very  stout,  with  a  double  chin,  and  the 
picture  of  good-nature,  sat  in  the  rear  of  the  members  of  the  Presbytery,  and  among  the 
front  rows  of  spectators.  Dr.  Mclllvaine  introduced  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That' this  charge,  by  common  consent  of  the  parties,  be  dismissed  at  this 
stage  of  the  proceedings,  with  affectionate  council  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  See  not  to  go  con- 
trary to  the  usages  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  the  future. 

This  brought  Brother  See  to  his  feet.  He  could  not,  he  said,  assent  to  Brother  Mc- 
Illvaine's  resolution.  He  had  not  consented  that  the  charge  should  be  dismissed,  as  in 
the  resolution.  Brother  Mclllvaine  expressed  himself  as  sure  that  Brother  See  had 
consented,  but  Brother  See  was  again  equally  sure  that  he  had  not.  Some  member 
here  suggested  that  Dr.  Craven  should  first  have  been  asked  if  he  consented  to  dis- 
miss the  charge,  and  this  brought  that  gentleman  to  his  feet.  A  more  complete  an- 
tithesis to  Dr.  See  cannot  be  imagined.  He  is  tall,  gaunt,  with  full  beard  and  mus- 
tache, short,  bristling  hair,  that  stands  upright  in  a  row  from  the  centre  of  his  fore- 
head to  the  crown  of  his  head.  He  said  that  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Mclllvaine  and 
another  respected  member  of  the  Presbytery  he  had  said  that  if  the  party  charged 
would  give  full  and  free  consent  to  the  resolution,  he  would  also  assent ;  "and,"  he 
added,  "  such  is  now  my  position."  Dr.  Mclllvaine  then  gave  at  length  his  reasons 
for  desiring  to  arrest  the  case  where  it  was.  No  good  could  come  of  its  discussion, 
and  the  result  could  not  but  be  productive  of  discord.  The  Moderator  reminded  Dr. 
See  that  they  waited  for  an  answer  from  him. 


*  In  the  audience  were  several  advocates  of  woman  suffrage,  probably  there  to  take  observations  of 
the  manner  in  which  Christian  clergymen  conduct  their  meetings.  This  class  of  men  had  been  so 
severe  in  their  criticisms  of  woman  suffrage  conventions  that  we  hoped  to  learn  lessons  of  wibdom  from 
the  dignity,  refinement  and  parliamentary  order  of  their  proceedings.  Among  these  ladies  were  Rev. 
Phebe  A.  Hanaford,  Miss  Arathusia  Forbes,  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake  and  Miss  Susan  King  of  New  York, 
.1  wralthy  tea-merchant  and  extensive  traveler,  and  myself.  That  day  the  Rev.  Dr.  Craven  was  the 
principal  speaker.  The  whole  tenor  of  his  remarks  were  so  insulting  to  women  that  Miss  King  pro- 
posed to  send  an  artist  tlic  following  Sunday  to  photograph  the  women  possessing  so  little  self-respect 
as  to  sit  under  his  ministrations.  He  punctuated  his  four-hours'  vulgar  diatribe  by  a  series  of  resound- 
ing whacks  with  the  Bible  on  the  table  before  him.— [M.  J.  G. 


486  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Dr.  See — May  we  have  a  season  of  prayer,  sir?  The  Moderator  said  there  was  no 
objection.  Dr.  See  explained  that  the  matter  at  issue  was  not  a  personal  one;  it  %vas 
a  question  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  upon  a  certain  point,  and  he  was  there 
simply  to  know  what  the  Presbytery  would  do.  Rev.  Drs.  Brinsmayd  and  Fewsmith 
then  prayed,  Imt  Dr.  See's  frame  of  mind  was  not  in  the  least  changed.  He  still  in- 
si-ted  that  his  was  the  passive  part,  to  sit  and  see  what  they  would  do  with  his  case. 
Rev.  Dr.  XYilxm  thought  that  if  Brother  See  did  not  desire  to  do  anything  contrary  to 
the  usages  of  the  church,  he  might  say  so.  Brother  See  said  it  was  a  question  of 
whether  God  Almighty  had  said  certain  things  or  not,  and  that  he  could  not  answer. 
In  his  formal  answer  to  the  charge  the  accused  then  said  :  "  I  believe  myself  to  be  not 
guilty  of  the  charge,  but  I  admit  the  specifications."  Dr.  Craven,  in  his  speech,  said 
it  was  in  no  spirit  of  animosity  that  he  had  brought  the  charge.  He  believed  that  the 
law  of  God  had  been  broken  in  this  case;  not  designedly,  perhaps,  but  really.  A  cus- 
tom had  found  lodgment  in  a  Presbyterian  church  that  would  impair  its  efficiency  and 
would  also  injure  woman  in  the  sphere  which  she  was  called  upon  by  God  to  fill.  No 
judicial  decision  had  been  arrived  at  upon  this  question.  The  case  of  Dr.  Cuyler  was 
the  first  that  had  come  before  a  Presbytery,  and  that  was  hardly  a  trial  of  the  question. 
"Why  should  I, "he  continued,  "  bring  this  charge?  Because  I  have  felt  it  to  be  wrong, 
and  feeling  thus,  resolved  to  take  the  duty  upon  myself,  painful  and  agonizing  as  the 
task  may  be.  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  God  to  do  so."  Dr.  See  (sotto  voce) — "And  the 
Lord  will  bless  you  for  it." 

Dr.  Craven,  continuing,  read  the  passages  of  Scripture  referred  to  in  this  charge.  He 
did  not,  he  said,  affirm  that  woman  had  no  work  in  the  church.  She  had  a  great  and 
glorious  sphere;  she  had  no  right  to  teach  and  speak  in  public  meetings,  but  she  could 
teach  children  and  ignorant  men  in  private.  He  would  not  affirm  that  some  women 
could  not  preach  as  well  as,  or  better  than  some  men,  and  he  did  not  know  but  that  in 
the  future  she  might  occupy  the  platform  on  an  equality  with  men;  but  at  present  she 
could  not,  and  it  was  expressly  forbidden  in  the  passages  which  he  had  read.  "  You 
may  run  to  hear  another  man's  wife  preach,  or  another  man's  daughter,"  said  he,  "but 
who  would  have  his  own  wife  stand  upon  the  platform,  or  his  own  daughter  face  the 
mob  ?  Woman  is  the  heart  of  man,  but  man  is  the  head.  Let  woman  go  upon  the 
platform,  and  she  loses  that  shrinking  modesty  that  gives  her  such  power  over 
children.  What  child  would  wish  to  have  a  public-speaking  mother?  I  trust  this  evil 
will  not  creep  in  upon  the  church.  I  felt  bound  to  resist  it  at  the  outset,  and  unless  I 
am  convinced  of  my  error  shall  withstand  it  to  the  death."  *  *  *  * 

January  2,  1877,  Rev.  Dr.  See  continued  his  defense  of  himself  for  letting  a  woman 
into  his  pulpit.  Then  the  roll  was  called  for  the  views  of  the  Presbytery.  Dr.  Mc- 
Illvaine  said  that  the  two  sources  of  light,  as  he  understood  it,  were  the  teachings  of 
the  Lord  and  his  disciples.  The  Lord  didn't  select  women  for  his  twelve,  and  vacan- 
cies were  not  filled  by  women.  It  wasn't  a  woman  who  was  chosen  to  do  Paul's  work. 
He  was  the  chosen  teacher  of  the  church  in  that  and  all  succeeding  ages,  and  he  had 
said.  "  I  suffer  not  women  to  teach,  or  to  usurp  authority  in  the  church."  Dr.  Brins- 
made,  who  was  the  pastor  of  the  Wickliffe  Church  before  Dr.  See  was  called  there,  ad- 
mitted that  women  could  preach  well,  but  thought  the  Presbytery  had  better  stick  by 
the  divine  command.  Dr.  Canfield  also  agreed  with  Paul.  He  loved  women  and 
loved  their  work,  but  it  seemed  from  the  experience  of  the  world  that  God  intended 
that  the  pulpit  should  be  the  place  for  men.  Such,  at  any  rate,  had  been  the  principle 
and  the  practice  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  and  if  Brother  See  could  not  conform  to 
its  rules,  he  would  say  to  him,  "  Go,  brother;  there  are  other  churches  in  which  you 
can  find  a  place."  -Dr.  Canfield  was  called  to  order  for  that  addendum.  Dr.  Hutch- 
ings,  of  Orange,  referred  to  the  ancient  justification  of  slavery  from  the  Bible,  and  in 
view  of  honest  differences  of  construction  accepted  by  the  church,  thought  the  question 
should  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  pastors  and  church-sessions.  Rev.  Jonathan  F. 
Stearns,  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  demurred  to  this  and  stood  by  the  Scripture  text. 
Nine-tenths  of  the  ladies  of  the  church,  he  said,  would  vote  against  preaching  by 
women. 


Trial  of  Rev.  Dr.   See.  407 

Rev.  James  E.  Wilson,  pastor  of  the  South  Park  Church,  said  that  in  churches  where 
women  had  been  permitted  to  preach,  they  had  lost  ground.  "  I  have  never  heard  a 
Quaker  woman, "said  he,  " preach  a  sermon  worth  three  cents  (laughter),  and  yet  I 
have  heard  the  spirit  move  them  to  get  up  and  speak  at  most  improper  times  and  on 
most  inopportune  occasions,  and  have  heard  them  say  most  improper  and  impertinent 
things."  In  the  Methodist  Church  he  did  not  believe  that  there  were  over  twenty-five 
women  preachers,  so  the  women  were  losing  ground,  and  not  gaining.  Even  the 
woman  suffragists,  who  made  so  much  noise  a  few  years  ago,  had  subsided,  and  he  did 
not  believe  there  were  a  hundred  agitators  in  the  whole  country  now.  "  See,"  he  said, 
"  where  Brother  See's  argument  would  carry  him.  Any  woman  that  has  the  spirit 
upon  her  may  speak,  and  so,  by  and  by,  two  or  three  women  may  walk  up  into  Brother 
See's  pulpit  and  say, 'Come  down;  it's  our  turn  now,  we  are  moved  by  the  spirit.' 
(Laughter).  A  woman's  voice  was  against  her  preaching;  a  man's  voice  came  out  with 
a  '  thud,"  but  a  woman  spoke  soft  and  pleasing;  however,  here  were  the  plain  words  of 
the  text,  and  any  man  that  could  throw  it  overboard  could  throw  over  the  doctrine  of 
the  atonement.  If  a  mother  should  teach  her  son  from  the  pulpit  by  preaching  to  him, 
thus  disobeying  the  plain  words  of  the  apostle,  she  must  not  be  surprised  if  her  son 
went  contrary  to  some  other  teaching  of  the  apostle.  But  the  fact  was,  the  women  did 
not  desire  to  preach;  otherwise  they  would  have  preached  long  ago.  H.e  rejoiced 
when  that  convention  of  temperance  women  assembled  in  Newark,  but  he  could  not 
help  pitying  their  husbands  and  families  away  out  in  Chicago  and  elsewhere.  (Laughter). 

Rev.  Ferd.  Smith,  the  pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  said  the  president  of  the 
Woman's  Temperance  Union  had  asked  him  if  they  could  have  the  use  of  the  church, 
and  he  had  said  "yes";  "  and,"  said  Dr.  Smith,  "  I  am  glad  that  I  did  it,  and  I  am 
sorry  that  I  was  not  there  to  hear  the  address;  and  now,  brethren,  I  am  going  to  con- 
fess that  I  have  sinned  a  little  in  this  matter  of  women  preaching.  Two  or  three 
years  ago  I  went  and  heard  Miss  Smiley  preach.  I  had  heard  in  the  morning — I 
won't  mention  his  name — one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  country  preach  a 
very  able  sermon — a  very  long  one,  too.  [Laughter.]  I  had  heard  in  the  afternoon 
a  doctor  of  divinity;  I  don't  see  him  here  now,  but  I  have  seen  him,  and  I  won't  men- 
tion his  name;  and  I  heard  Miss  Smiley  in  the  evening.  It  may  be  heresy  to  say  it, 
but  I  do  think  I  was  more  fed  that  evening  than  I  had  been  by  both  the  others;  but  I 
do  not  on  that  account  say  that  it  is  good  for  women  to  go,  as  a  regular  thing,  into  the 
pulpit.  If  I  had  heard  her  a  dozen  times,  I  should  not  have  been  so  much  moved. 
Woman-preaching  may  do  for  a  little  time,  but  it  won't  do  for  a  permanency.  I 
heard  at  Old  Orchard,  at  a  temperance  convention,  the  most  beautiful  argument  I 
ever  listened  to,  delivered  with  grace  and  modesty  and  power.  The  words  fell  like 
dew  upon  the  heart,  enriching  it,  and  the  speaker  was  Miss  Willard;  but  for  all  this, 
brethren,  I  do  not  approve  of  women  preaching.  [Great  laughter.]  We  must  not, 
for  the  sake  of  a  little  good,  sacrifice  a  great  principle."  Dr.  Pollock  of  Lyons  Farms 
wanted  to  shelter  women,  to  prevent  them  from  being  talked  about  as  ministers  are 
and  criticised  as  ministers  are;  it  was  for  this  that  he  would  keep  them  out  of  the  pul- 
pit. Rev.  Drs.  Findley  and  Prentiss  de  Neuve  were  in  favor  of  sustaining  the  charge. 
Rev.  Dr.  Haley  contended  that  Brother  'See  ought  not  to  be  condemned,  because  he 
had  not  offended  against  any  law  of  the  church.  Drs.  Seibert,  Ballantine  and  Hop- 
wood  spoke  in  favor  of  sustaining  the  charge.  A  vote  of  16  to  12  found  Rev.  Dr. 
See  guilty  of  violating  the  Scriptures  by  allowing  women  to  preach,  and  the  case  was 
appealed  to  the  General  Assembly. 

The  General  Assembly  adopted  the  following  report  on  this  case  : 

The  Rev.  Isaac  W.  See,  pastor  of  the  Wickliffe  Church,  Newark,  N.  J.,  was 
charged  by  Rev.  Elijah  R.  Craven,  D.  D.,  witlulisobedience  lo  the  divinely  enacted  or- 
dinance in  reference  to  the  public  speaking  and  teaching  of  women  in  the  churches  as- 
iron-tied  in  i  Corinthians,  xiv.,  33-37,  nnd  in  I  Timothy,  ii.,  11-13,  in  that  twice  on 
a  specified  Sabbath,  in  the  pulpit  of  his  said  church,  at  the  usual  time  of  public  ser- 
vice, he  did  introduce  a  woman,  whom  he  permitted  and  encouraged  then  and  there 
publicly  to  preach  and  teach. 


488  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  Presbytery  of  Newark  sustained  the  charge,  and  from  its  decision  Mr.  See  ap- 
pealed to  the  synod  of  New  Jersey,  which  refused  by  a  decided  vote  to  sustain  the  ap- 
peal, expressing  its  judgment  in  a  minute  of  which  the  following  is  a  part  : 

In  sustaining  the  Presbytery  of  Newark  as  against  the  appeal  of  the  Rev.  I.  M. 
See,  the  synod  holds  that  the  passages  of  scripture  referred  to  in  the  action  of  the 
Presbytery,  do  prohibit  the  fulfilling  by  women  of  the  offices  of  public  preachers  in 
the  regular  assemblies  of  the  church. 

From  this  decision  Mr.  See  has  further  appealed  to  the  General  Assembly,  which, 
having  thereupon  proceeded  to  issue  the  appeal,  and  having  fully  heard  the  original 
parties  and  members  of  the  inferior  judicatory,  decided  that  the  said  appeal  from  the 
synod  of  New  Jersey  be  not  sustained  by  the  following  vote :  To  sustain,  85.  To 
sustain  in  part,  71.  Not  to  sustain,  201. 

From  the  following  description  by  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake,  we  have  con- 
clusive evidence  of  woman's  capacity  to  govern  under  most  trying  cir- 
cumstances : 

A  certain  little  woman  living  in  Jersey  City  has,  from  time  to  time,  occupied  a  por- 
tion of  public  consideration;  this  is  Mrs.  Ericka  C.  Jones,  for  four  years  and  a  half 
warden  of  .the  Hudson  county  jail,  probably  the  only  woman  in  the  world  who  holds 
such  a  position.  Her  history  is  briefly  this :  Some  seven  years  ago  her  husband  ob- 
tained the  appointment  of  jailor  at  this  institution,  and  moved  to  it  with  his  bride. 
From  the  time  of  their  incoming  a  marked  improvement  in  the  administration  of  the 
jail  became  apparent,  which  continued,  when,  after  two  years,  Mr.  Jones  was  stricken 
down  with  softening  of  the  brain,  which  reduced  him  to  a  condition  of  idiocy  for  six 
months  before  his  death.  When  at  last  this  occurred,  by  unanimous  vote  of  the  board 
of  freeholders  the  woman  who  had  really  performed  the  duties  of  jailor  was  appointed 
warden  of  Hudson  county  jail.  All  this  has  been  a  matter  of  report  in  the  papers,  as 
well  as  the  attempt  to  oust  her  from  the  position,  which  was  made  last  fall,  when  cer- 
tain male  politicians  wanted  the  place  for  some  friend  and  voter,  and  appealed  to 
Attorney-General  Vanetta,  who  gave  an  opinion  adverse  to  the  lady's  claims.  Reso- 
lutions on  the  subject  were  passed  by  various  woman  suffrage  societies,  and  anxious 
to  see  the  subject  of  so  much  dispute,  and  hear  her  story  from  her  own  lips,  a  party  of 
ladies  was  made  up  to  call  upon  her. 

Hudson-county  jail  stands  in  the  same  inclosure  with  the  court-house,  a  small, 
neatly-kept  park,  well  shaded  by  fine  trees,  and  being  on  very  high  ground  com- 
mands a  view  over  the  North  River  and  New  York  Bay.  The  building  is  a  substan- 
tial one  of  stone,  with  nothing  of  the  repulsive  aspect  of  a  jail  about  it.  Asking  for 
Mrs.  Jones,  we  were  at  once  shown  into  the  office.  We  had  expected  to  see  a  woman 
of  middle  age  and  somewhat  stern  aspect.  Instead,  we  beheld  a  pretty,  young  per- 
son, apparently  not  more  than  twenty-five  years  old,  with  bright,  black  eyes,  waving 
brown  hair,  good  features  and  plump  figure.  She  was  very  neatly  dressed  and  pleas- 
ant in  manner,  making  us  cordially  welcome.  We  were  conducted  into  the  parlor 
and  at  once  begged  her  to  tell  us  all  about  her  case,  which  she  did  very  clearly  and 
Concisely.  When  she  was  left  a  widow  with  two  little  children  she  had  no  idea  that 
this  place  would  be  given  her,  but  it  was  tendered  to  her  by  unanimous  vote  of  the 
board  of  freeholders.  At  that  time  there  were  in  jail  three  desperate  criminals,  Proc- 
tor, Demsing  and  Foley,  bank  robbers,  and  some  persons  feared  that  a  woman  could 
not  hold  them,  but  they  were  safely  transferred  at  the  proper  time  from  the  jail  to  the 
:state-prison.  "  And,"  she  added,  with  a  bright  smile,  "  I  never  have  lost  a  prisoner, 
which  is  more  than  many  men-jailors  can  say.  Some  of  them  tried  to  escape  last  fall, 
but  I  had  warning  in  time,  sent  for  the  police,  and  the  attempt  was  prevented." 

"  And  do  you  think  there  is  any  danger  of  your  being  turned  out?"  "I  don't 
know.  I  intend  to  remain  in  the  place  until  the  end  of  my  term,  if  possible,  since  as 
long  as  the  effort  to  dismiss  me  is  based  solely  on  the  ground  of  my  sex  and  not  of  my 
incompetency,  it  ought  justly  to  be  resisted."  "  But  Attorney-General  Vanetta  gave 


Mrs.  Ericka   C.  Jones.  489 

an  adverse  opinion  as  to  the  legality  of  your  appointment  ?  "  "Yes,  but  ex- Attorney- 
General  Robert  Gilchrist,  a  very  able  lawyer,  has  given  an  opinion  in  my  favor,  while 
Mr.  Lippincott,  counsel  of  the  board  when  I  was  appointed,  also  held  that  I  was  eligi- 
ble for  the  place." 

She  then  went  on  to  tell  us  some  of  the  petty  persecutions  and  indirect  measures 
which  have  been  resorted  to  in  order  to  induce  her  to  resign,  as  her  term  of  office  will 
not  expire  for  two  years.  When  her  husband  was  given  the  position,  the  allowance 
consisted  of  40  cents  a  day  for  each  prisoner,  50  cents  for  each  sick  person,  25  cents  for 
every  committal,  and  12^  cents  for  every  discharge.  The  daily  allowance  has  been  cut 
down  from  40  to  25  cents,  and  all  the  other  allowances  have  been  entirely  done  away 
with.  She  is,  therefore,  at  this  moment  running  that  jail  on  25  cents  a  day  for  each 
prisoner.  Out  of  this  sum  she  must  pay  for  all  food,  all  salaries  of  assistant  jailors, 
etc.,  all  wages  of  servants,  and  even  the  furniture  of  the  place.  She  is  supplied  with 
fuel  and  gas,  but  no  stores  of  any  description.  She  has  also  had  other  annoyances. 
The  payment  of  money  justly  due  has  been  opposed  or  delayed;  and  whereas  her  hus- 
band was  required  to  give  bond  for  only  $5,000,  she  has  been  forced  to  give  one  for 
$10,000.  She  has  also  been  troubled  by  the  visits  of  persons  representing  themselves 
to  be  reporters  of  papers,  who  have  wished  to  borrow  money  of  her,  and  failing  in 
this,  have  printed  disagreeable  articles  about  her.  She  has,  of  course,  no  salary 
whatever.  "However,  I  do  as  well  as  I  can  with  the  money  I  receive,"  she  said, 
with  that  pleasant  smile.  "  And  now  would  you  like  to  see  the  jail  ?"**** 

Ex-Attorney  Gilchrist's  opinion  on  her  case  is  an  able  indorsement  of  her  position. 
He  says,  in  the  first  place,  that  as  Attorney-General  Vanetta's  adverse  view  was  not 
given  officially,  it  is  not  binding  on  the  Board  of  Freeholders,  and  then  goes  on  to  cite 
precedents.  "Alice  Stubbs,  in  1787,  was  appointed  overseer  of  the  poor  in  the  county 
of  Stafford,  England,  and  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  sustained  her  in  the  office.  A 
woman  was  appointed  governor  of  the  work-house  at  Chelmsford,  England,  and  the 
court  held  it  to  be  a  good  appointment.  Lady  Brangleton  was  appointed  keeper  of 
the  Gate-House  jail  in  London.  Lady  Russell  was  appointed  keeper  of  the  Castle  of 
Dunnington.  All  these  cases  are  reported  in  Stranges  .A'.,  .as  clearly  establishing 
the  right  and  duty  of  woman  to  hold  office.  The  case  of  Ann,  Countess  of  Pembroke, 
Dorsett  and  Montgomery,  who  was  sheriff  of  Westmoreland,  is  very  well  known."  The 
opinion  winds  up  by  saying:  "  The  argument  that  a  woman  is  incompetent  to  perform 
the  duties  of  such  an  office  is  doubly  answered — first,  by  the  array  of  cases  in  which  it 
is  held  that  she  is  competent;  second,  by  the  resolution  of  the  board  when  Mrs.  Jones 
was  appointed,  that  she  had  for  a  long  time  prior  thereto  actually  kept  the  jail  while 
her  husband  was  jailor."  How  this  whole  matter  would  be  simplified  if  women  could 
vote  and  hold  office,  so  that  merit  and  not  sex  should  be  the  only  qualification  for  any 
place. — New  York  Record,  i8j6. 

The  following  incident  shows  not  only  what  physical  training  will  do  in 
giving  a  girl  self-reliance  in  emergencies,  but  it  shows  the  nice  sense  of 
humor  that  grows  out  of  conscious  power  with  which  a  girl  can  always 
take  a  presuming  youth  at  disadvantage.  No  doubt  Miss  McCosh,  as  a 
student  in  Princeton,  could  as  easily  distance  her  compeers  in  science, 
philosophy  and  the  languages,  as  she  did  the  dude  on  the  highway.  Why 
not  open  the  doors  of  that  institution  and  let  her  make  the  experiment? 

The  distinguished  president  of  Princeton  College,  Dr.  McCosh,  has  two  daughters 
who  are  great  walkers.  They  are  in  the  habit  of  going  to  Trenton  and  back,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  twenty  miles,  where  they  do  their  shopping.  One  day  a  dude  accosted 
Miss  Bridget  on  the  road,  and  said,  in  the  usual  manner:  "  Beg  pardon,  but  may  I 
walk  with  you?"  She  replied,  "Certainly,"  and  quickened  her  pace  a  little.  After 
the  first  half-mile  the  masher  began  to  gasp,  and  then,  as  she  passed  on  with  a  smile, 
he  sat  down  panting  on  a  mile-stone,  and  mopped  the  perspiration  from  his  brow. 


490  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

At  the  sixteenth  national  convention,  held  in  Washington,  March,  1884, 
the  State  was  well  represented  :  *  Mrs.  Hanaford  gave  an  address  on  "  New 
Jersey  as  a  Leader."  In  her  letter  to  the  convention,  Mrs.  Hussey  wrote : 

An  old  gentleman,  Aaron  Burr  Harrison,  a  resident  of  East  Orange,  has  just  passed 
on  to  his  long  home,  full  of  years — eighty-eight — and  with  a  good  record.  He  told  me 
about  his  sister's  voting  in  New  Jersey,  when  he  was  a  child — probably  about  1807. 
The  last  time  I  took  a  petition  for  woman  suffrage  to  him,  he  signed  it  willingly,  and 
his  daughter  also. 

February  12,  1884,  a  special  committee  of  the  New  Jersey  Assembly 
granted  a  hearing  t  on  the  petition  of  Mrs.  Celia  B.  Whitehead,  and  220 
other  citizens  of  Bloomfleld,  asking  the  restoration  of  woman's  right  to 
vote  ;  fully  one-half  of  the  members  of  the  Assembly  were  present.  Mrs. 
Seagrove  handcrl  the  committee  an  ancient  printed  copy  of  the  original 
constitution  of  New  Jersey,  dated  July  2,  1776.  The  name  of  James  Sea- 
grove,  her  husband's  grandfather,  is  endorsed  upon  it  in  his  own  hand- 
writing. In  the  suffrage  clause  of  this  document  the  words  "all  inhab- 
itants "  were  substituted  for  those  of  "  male  freeholders  "  in  the  provincial 
charter.  Hence  the  constitution  of  1 776  gave  suffrage  to  women  and  men  of 
color.  Mrs.  Seagrove  made  an  appeal  on  behalf  of  the  women  of  the  State. 
Mr.  Blackwell  gave  a  resume  of  the  unconstitutional  action  of  the  legis- 
lature in  its  depriving  women  of  their  right  to  vote.  Mrs.  Hanaford,  in 
answer  to  a  question  of  the  committee,  claimed  the  right  for  women  not 
only  to  vote  but  to  hold  office;  and  instanced  from  her  own  observation 
the  need  of  women  as  police  officers,  and  especially  as  matrons  in  the 
police  stations.  The  result  of  these  appeals  may  be  seen  in  a  paragraph 
from  the  Boston  Commonwealth,  a  paper  in  hearty  sympathy : 

In  the  lower  House*  of  the  New  Jersey  legislature  a  Democratic  member  recently 
moved  that  the  word  "male"  be  stricken  from  the  constitution  of  the  State.  After 
some  positive  discussion  a  non-partisan  vote  of  27  to  24  defeated  the  motion.  This 
occurrence,  it  is  to  be  observed,  is  chronicled  of  one  of  the  most  conservative  States 
in  the  Union.  The  arguments  used  on  both  sides  were  not  new  or  remarkable.  But 
the  vote  was  very  close.  If  such  a  measure  could  in  so  conservative  a  State  be  nearly 
carried,  we  can  have  reasonable  hope  of  its  favorable  reception,  in  more  radical  sec- 
tions. In  New  Jersey  we  did  not  expect  success  for  the  resolution  proposed.  The 
favorable  votes  really  surprised  us.  We  do  not  mistake  the  omen.  Gradually  the 
point  of  woman's  responsibility  is  being  conceded.  The  arbitrary  lines  now  drawn 
politically  and  socially  are  without  reason.  Indeed,  one  of  the  members  of  the  New 
Jersey  Assembly  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  to  grant  suffrage  now  would  not  be 
the  conferring  of  a  new  gift  on  women,  but  only  a  restoration  of  rights  exercised  in 
colonial  times. 


*  Rev.  Phcbe  A.  Hanaford,  Miss  Ellen  Miles  and  Mrs.  Jackson  of  Jersey  City. 

*  Mrs.  Theresa  Walling  Seagrove  of  Keyport,  Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford  of  Jersey  City  and  Henry  B. 
Blackwell  cf  Boston  were  the  speakers. 


CHAPTER    XL. 
OHIO. 

The  First  Soldiers' Aid  Society-^-Mrs.  Mendenhall — Cincinnati  Equal  Rights  Associa- 
tion, 1868 — Homeopathic  Medical  College  and  Hospital — Hon.  J.  M.  Ashley — 
State  Society,  1869 — Murat  Halstead's  Letter — Dayton  Convention,  1870 — Women 
Protest  against  Enfranchisement — Sarah  Knowles  Bolton — Statistics  on  Coeduca- 
tion— Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson — Woman's  Crusade,  1874 — Miriam  M.  Cole 
— Ladies'  Health  Association — Professor  Curtis — Hospital  for  Women  and  Child- 
ren, 1879 — Letter  from  J.  D.  Buck,  M.  D. — March,  iSSi,  Degrees  Conferred  on 
Women — Toledo  Association,  1869 — Sarah  Langdon  Williams — The  Sunday 
Journal — The  Ballot-Box — Constitutional  Convention — Judge  WTaite — Amend- 
ment Making  Women  Eligible  to  Office — Mr.  Voris,  Chairman  Special  Committee 
on  Woman  Suffrage — State  Convention,  1873 — Rev.  Robert  McCune — Centen- 
nial Celebration — Women  Decline  to  Take  Part — Correspondence — Newbury  Asso- 
ciation— Women  Voting,  1871 — Sophia  Ober  Allen — Annual  Meeting,  Painesville, 
1885 — State  Society,  Mrs.  Frances  M.  Casement,  President — Adelbert  College. 

EARLY  in  the  year  1862,  Cincinnati  became  a  hospital  for  the 
army  operations  under  General  Grant  and  was  soon  filled  with 
wounded  heroes  from  Fort  Donelson  and  Pittsburg  Landing,  and 
the  women  here,  as  in  all  other  cities,  were  absorbed  in  hospital 
and  sanitary  work.  To  the  women  of  Cleveland  is  justly  due  the 
honor  of  organizing  the  first  soldiers'  aid  society,  a  meeting  being 
called  for  this  purpose  five  days  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter. 
Through  the  influence  of  Mrs.  Mendenhall  were  inaugurated  the 
great  sanitary  fairs*  there,  and  by  her  untiring  energy  and  that 
of  the  ladies  who  labored  with  her,  many  of  our  brave  soldiers 
were  restored  to  health.  Mrs.  Annie  L.  Quinby  writes : 

In  the  autumn  of  1867  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  made  a  lecturing 
tour  through  Ohio  and  roused  popular  thought  on  the  question  of  suf- 
frage. March  28,  1868,  the  Cincinnati  Equal  Rights  Association  t  was 
formed,  auxiliary  to  the  National  Society,  of  which  Lucretia  Mott  was 
president.  April  7,  1869,  Mrs.  Ryder  called  the  attention  of  the  meeting 

*  Among  those  associated  with  Mrs.  Mendenhall  were  Mrs.  Calvin  W.  Starbuck,  Mrs.  W.  Woods, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Morris,  Miss  Kllen  Thomas,  Mrs.  Kendrick,  sister  to  General  Anderson,  Mrs.  Cald- 
well,  Mrs.  Annie  Ryder,  Mrs.  Mary  Graham,  Mrs.  Louisa  Hill,  Mrs.  Ho;idly. 

t  The  officers  of  Cincinnati  Ec[ual  Rights  Society  were:  /'»•••.»•/'./.•;;/,  Mrs.  H.  A.  Leavitt ;  1'i're- 
/';,,/,/,«/,  Mr.  J.  B.  Quinby  ;  CorrtsfondtHg^StXrttary,  Mrs.  A.  L.  Ryder;  Recording-Secretary ', 
Mrs.]..  H.  Hlangy  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Mary  Mnnltnn  ;  /-.'.i-.rw/ir'r  Committee,  Mrs.  J.  B.  Quinby, 
Mr.  -:-  Hill.  Mrs.  A.  L.  Ryder.  Mrs.  Dr.  Morrell,  Mrs.  Mary  Moulton,  Mrs.  Mary  Graham,  Mrs- 
Annie  Laurie  Quinby,  Mrs.  L  .H.  Blangy  and  Mrs.  Dr.  Gibson. 


492  History  of  Woman  Stiff  rage. 

to  a  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Gordon  in  the  State  legislature,  to  amend 
the  constitution  so  as  to  strike  out  the  word  male,  proposing  that  at  the 
October  election,  "in  all  precincts  in  the  State,  there  shall  be  a  separate 
poll,  at  which  all  white  women  over  21  years  of  age  shall  be  permitted  to 
vote,  and  if  the  votes  cast  be  a  majority  of  all  .he  white  women,  the  con- 
stitution shall  be  amended."  Mrs.  Ryder  seemed  to  think  the  proposition 
a  very  fair  one,  or  intended  by  the  mover  to  give  the  women,  if  they 
wanted  to  vote,  the  opportunity  of  saying  so  on  this  amendment  to  the 
constitution.  Mrs.  Blangy  also  concurred  in  this  view  of  the  subject. 
Mrs.  Quinby  expressed  her  indignation  at  the  proposition,  saying  she 
believed  its  passage  by  the  legislature  would  be  detrimental  to  the  cause, 
both  on  account  of  its  provisions  and  the  mode  of  accomplishing  the  ob- 
ject of  the  resolution.  As  it  stood,  it  could  but  fail,  as  women  were  not 
prepared  for  it  at  the  present  time,  and  the  proposition  was  not  that  the 
majority  of  votes  cast  should  settle  the  question,  but  that  the  number  cast 
in  favor  of  it  should  be  a  majority  of  all  the  women  in  the  State  21  years 
of  age.  She  therefore  thought  we  should  express  our  decided  disapproval 
of  this  amendment.  Mrs.  Leavitt  also  declared  her  opposition  to  this  res- 
olution, believing  it  to  have  been  offered  for  the  sole  purpose  of  stalling 
the  woman  suffrage  movement  for  years  to  come.  She  thought  this 
association  should  express  its  decided  opposition  to  this  resolution.  Mrs. 
Butterwood  and  others  followed  in  the  same  strain,  and  it  was  finally 
agreed  unanimously  that  the  corresponding  secretary  be  instructed  to 
write  to  the  mover  of  the  resolution,  expressing  disapprobation  of  some 
of  the  terms  of  the  amendment,  with  the  hope  that  it  will  not  pass  in  the 
form  offered,  and  politely  requesting  Mr.  Gordon  to  define  his  position, 
as  the  resolution  is  susceptible  of  being  construed  both  for  and  against 
equal  rights. 

At  a  meeting  held  April  21,  1869,  delegates*  were  elected  to  attend  the 
May  anniversary  of  the  American  Equal  Rights  Association  in  New  York. 
Mrs.  Margaret  V.  Longley  was  placed  on  the  executive  committee  of 
the  National  Association  to  represent  Ohio.  On  her  return  from  New 
York  she  joined  with  the  Cincinnati  Equal  Rights  Society  in  a  call  for  a 
convention  in  Pike's  Hall,  September  15,  16,  1869,  for  the  organization 
of  an  Ohio  State  Society.t  Mrs.  Longley  presided  ;  the  audiences  were 
large  and  enthusiastic;!  the  press  of  the  city  gave  extended  reports. 
Murat  Halstead,  editor  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  sent  the  following 
reply  to  his  invitation  : 

*  The  delegates  appointed  were,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  B.  Quinby,  Mrs.  Mary  Graham,  Mrs.  Charles  Gra- 
ham, Mrs.  Mary  Moulton,  Mrs.  Dr.  Morrel,  Mrs.  Blangy,  Mrs  M.  V.  Longley,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  G.  W- 
Carter,  and  Mrs.  Soula  and  daughter. 

t  The  officers  of  the  State  Society  were :  President,  Mrs.  H.  Tracy  Cutler,  M.  D.,  Cleveland  ; 
Vice-President,  Mrs.  M.  V.  Longley  ;  Recording  Secretary ,  Mrs.  H.  M.  Downey,  Xenia  ;  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  Mrs.  Miriam  M.  Cole,  Sidney  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs:  L.  H.  Crall,  Cincinnati  ;  Warden, 
Mr.  J.  B.  Quinby,  Cincinnati ;  Business  Committee,  A.  J.  Boyer,  esq.,  Dayton  ;  Elias  Longley,  esq., 
Cincinnati;  Mrs.  R.  L.  Segur,  Toledo;  Mrs.  Morgan  K.  Warwick.  Cleveland;  Dr.  M.  T.  Organ, 
Urbana ;  Mrs.  E.  D.  Stewart,  Springfield  ;  Miss  Rebecca  S.  Rice,  Yellow  Springs. 

*  The  speakers  at  Pike's  Hall  were  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Lucy  Stone.  Henry  B- 
Blackwell,  Mrs.  Dr.  Chase,  Miriam  M.  Cole,  Mr.  A.J.  Boyer,  Dr.  Mary  Walker,  J.  J.  Bellville,  Mary 
B.  Hall,  Mrs.  Dr.  Keckeler,  Mrs.  Longley,  Mrs.  Graham,  Mrs.  Griffin,  and  Elizabeth  Boynton. 


Dayton  Mass- Meeting.  493 

CINCINNATI,  July  28,  1869. 

Mrs.  M.  V.  LONGLEY  :  Dear  Madam — I  cannot  sign  your  call  for  a  woman  suffrage 
convention,  for  I  do  not  feel  a  serious  interest  in  the  subject.  That  there  are  woman's 
wrongs  that  the  law-makers  should  right,  I  believe.  For  instance,  I  think  married 
women  should  hold  property  independently;  that  they  should  be  able  to  save  and  en- 
joy the  fruits  of  their  own  industry;  and  that  they  should  not  be  absolutely  in  the 
power  of  lazy,  dissipated  or  worthless  husbands.  But  I  cannot  see  clearly  how  the 
possession  of  the  ballot  would  help  women  in  the  reform  indicated.  If,  however,  a 
majority  of  the  women  of  Ohio  should  signify  by  means  proving  their  active  interest  in 
the  subject  that  they  wanted  to  acquire  the  right  of  suffrage,  I  don't  think  I  would  offer 
opposition.  M.  HALSTEAD. 

Mrs.  Livermore  and  Miss  Anthony  made  some  amusing  strictures  on 
Mr.  Halstead's  letter,  which  called  out  laughter  and  cheers  from  the 
audience.  April  27  and  28,  1870,  a  mass-meeting  was  held  in  Dayton. 
Describing  the  occasion,  Miss  Sallie  Joy,  in  a  letter  to  a  Boston  paper*, 
says  : 

The  west  is  evidently  wide  awake  on  the  suffrage  question.  The  people  are  work- 
ing with  zeal  almost  unknown  in  the  East,  except  to  the  more  immediately  interested, 
who  are  making  a  life-labor  of  the  cause.  The  two  days'  convention  at  Dayton  was 
freighted  with  interest.  Earnest  women  were  there  from  all  parts  of  the  State.  They 
of  the  west  do  not  think  much  of  distances,  and  consequently  nearly  every  town  of 
note  was  represented.  Cleveland  sent  her  women  from  the  borders  of  the  lake;  Cin- 
cinnati sent  hers  from  the  banks  of  the  Ohio;  Columbus,  Springfield,  Toledo  and 
Sydney  were  represented.  Not  merely  the  leaders  were  there,  but  those  who  were 
comparatively  new  to  the  cause;  all  in  earnest, — young  girls  in  the  first  flush  of  youth, 
a  new  light  dawning  on  their  lives  and  shining  through  their  eyes,  waiting,  reaching 
longing  hands  for  this  new  gift  to  womanhood, — mothers  on  the  down-hill  side  of  life, 
quietly  but  gladly  expectant  of  the  good  that  was  coming  so  surely  to  crown  all  these 
human  lives.  Most  of  the  speakers  were  western  women — Mrs.  Cutler,  Mrs.  Cole, 
Mrs.  Stewart,  of  Ohio,  and  Miss  Boynton,  of  Indiana.  The  East  sent  our  own  Susan 
B.  Anthony,  and  Mrs.  Livermore  of  Boston.  Like  every  other  convention,  it  grew 
more  interesting  the  longer  it  continued,  and  just  when  the  speakers  were  so  tired  that 
they  were  glad  the  work  for  the  time  was  done,  the  listeners,  like  a  whole  army  of 
Oliver  Twists,  were  crying  for  more.  They  are  likely  to  have  more — a  great  deal 
more — before  the  work  is  done  completely,  for  it  is  evident  the  leaders  don't  intend  to 
let  the  thing  rest  where  it  is,  but  to  push  it  forward  to  final  success.  From  the  list  of 
resolutions  considered  and  adopted,  I  send  the  following  : 

Resolved,  That  as  the  Democratic  party  has  long  since  abolished  the  political  aris- 
tocracy of  wealth;  and  the  Republican  party  has  now  abolished  the  aristocracy  of  race; 
so  the  true  spirit  of  Republican  Democracy  of  the  present,  demands  the  abolition  of  the 
political  aristocracy  of  sex. 

R  i- solved,  That  as  the  government  of  the  United  States  has,  by  the  adoption  of  the 
fifteenth  amendment,  admitted  the  theory  that  one  man  cannot  define  the  rights  and 
duties  of  another  man,  so  we  demand  the  adoption  of  a  sixteenth  amendment  on  the 
same  principle,  that  one  sex  cannot  define  the  rights  and  duties  of  another  sex. 

Resolved,  That  we  rejoice  in  the  noble  action  of  the  men  of  Wyoming,  by  which 
the  right  of  suffrage  has  been  granted  to  the  women  of  that  territory. 

Resolved,  That  we  feel  justly  proud  of  the  action  of  those  representatives  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  who  have  endeavored  to  secure  an  amendment  to  the  State 
constitution,  striking  out  the  word  "male"  from  that  instrument. 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  in  a  State  which  so  early  estab- 
lished two  colleges  admitting  women — Oberlin  in  1834,  and  An- 
tioch  in  1853 — any  intelligent  women  should  have  been  found 
at  so  late  a  date  as  April  15,  1870,  to  protest  against  the  right  of 


494  History  of  Woman  Suffrages 

self-government  for  themselves,  yet  such  is  the  case,  as  the  fol- 
lowing protest  shows : 

We  acknowledge  no  inferiority  to  men.  We  claim  to  have  no  less  ability  to  perform 
the  duties  which  God  has  imposed  upon  us  than  they  have  to  perform  those  imposed 
upon  them.  We  believe  that  God  has  wisely  and  well  adapted  each  sex  to  the  proper 
performance  of  the  duties  of  each.  We  believe  our  trusts  to  be  as  important  and  as 
sacred  as  any  that  exist  on  earth.  We  feel  that  our  present  duties  fill  up  the  whole  mea- 
sure of  our  time  and  abilities;  and  that  they  are  such  as  none  but  ourselves  can  perform. 
Their  importance  requires  us  to  protest  against  all  efforts  to  compel  us  to  assume 
those  obligations  which  cannot  be  separated  from  suffrage;  but  which  cannot  be  per- 
formed by  us  without  the  sacrifice  of  the  highest  interests  of  our  families  and  of  society. 
It  is  our  fathers,  brothers,  husbands  and  sons,  who  represent  us  at  the  ballot-box.  Our 
fathers  and  brothers  love  us.  Our  husbands  are  our  choice,  and  one  with  us.  Our 
sons  are  what  -we  make  them.  We  are  content  that  they  represent  us  in  the  corn-field, 
the  battle-field,  at  the  ballot-box  and  the  jury-box,  and  we  them,  in  the  church,  the 
school-room,  at  the  fireside  and  at  the  cradle;  believing  our  representation,  even  at  the 
ballot-box,  to  be  thus  more  full  and  impartial  than  it  could  possibly  be,  were  all  women 
allowed  to  vote.  We  do,  therefore  respectively  protest  against  legislation  to  establish 
woman  suffrage  in  Ohio. 

The  above  paper,  signed  by  more  than  one  hundred  ladies  of  Lorain 
county,  was  presented,  March  14,  1870,  to  the  legislature  assembled  at  Col- 
umbus. Mrs.  Sarah  Knowles  Bolton,  criticising  the  Oberlin  protestants, 
said  : 

That  so  many  signed  is  not  strange,  because  the  non-suffrage  side  is  the  popular  one 
?.t  present.  Years  hence,  when  it  shall  be  customary  for  women  to  vote,  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  the  lady  \\  ho  drew  up  that  document  would  have  many  supporters. 

If  "we  are  not  inferior  to  men,"  we  must  have  as  clear  opinions  and  as  good  judg- 
ment as  they.  To  say,  then,  that  we  are  not  capable  of  judging  of  political  questions, 
is  untrue.  To  say  that  we  are  not  interested  in  such  things  is  absurd,  for  who  can  be 
more  anxious  for  good  laws  and  good  law-makers  than  women,  who,  for  the  most  part, 
have  sons  and  daughters  in  this  whirlpool  of  temptation,  called  social  and  business  life. 
If  we  are  too  ignorant  to  have  an  opinion,  the  fault  lies  at  our  own  door. 

These  ladies  reason  upon  the  premises  that  the  duties  imposed  upon  us  as  we  find 
them  in  this  nineteenth  century,  are  the  duties,  conditions,  and  relations  established  of 
God.  Two  things  we  do  certainly  find  in  the  Bible  with  regard  to  this  matter;  that 
women  are  to  bear  children,  and  men  to  earn  bread.  The  first  duty  we  believe  has 
been  confined  entirely  to  the  female  sex,  but  the  male  sex  have  not  kept  the  other  in  all 
cases.  If  anybody  has  belonged  for  any  considerable  time  to  a  benevolent  institution, 
he  has  ascertained  that  women  sometimes  are  obliged  to  earn  bread  and  bear  children 
also.  A  century  or  two  ago,  when  women  seldom  thought  of  writing  books,  or  being 
physicians  or  lawyers,  professors  or  teachers,  or  doing  anything  but  housework,  prob- 
ably they  thought,  as  the  ladies  of  Lorain  county  do  to-day,  they  were  in  the  blessed, 
noonday  of  woman's  enlightenment  and  happiness.  Their  husbands,  very  likely, 
needed  something  of  the  same  companionship  as  the  men  of  the  present,  but  it  was 
unpopular  for  girls  to  attend  school.  If  these  ladies,  after  careful  study  and  thought, 
believe  that  woman  suffrage  will  work  evil  in  the  land,  they  ought  to  say  that,  rather 
than  base  it  upon  lack  of  time.  The  enfranchisement  of  15,000,000  women  will  be  a 
balance  of  power  for  good  or  evil  that  will  need  looking  after.  As  for  our  represent- 
ing men  at  the  fireside,  I  think  it  a  great  deal  pleasanter  that  they  be  there  in  person. 
Nothing  is  more  blessed  than  the  home  circle,  and  here  I  think  if  husbands  wen? not 
so  often  represented  by  their  wives,  while  they  are  absent  evening  after  evening  on 
"  important  business,"  the  condition  of  things  would  be  improved.  If  the  ladies  afore- 
said cannot  vote  without  the  highest  interests  of  their  families  being  sacrificed,  they 
ought  to  be  -allowed  to  remain  in  peace.  I  am  glad  they  made  this  protest,  not  only 


Hon.  J.   M.  Ashley.  495 

because  this  is  a  country  where  honest  views  ought  to  be  expressed,  but  because  agi- 
tation pushes  forward  reform.  I  am  glad  that  nearly  half  of  our  representatives  were 
in  favor  of  submitting  this  question  to  the  women  of  the  State,  and  that  our  interests 
were  so  ably  defended  by  a  talented  representative  from  our  own  district.  I  do  not 
think,  however,  by  submitting  it  to  the  women,  they  would  get  a  correct  expression  upon 
the  subject.  A  good  many  would  vote  for  suffrage,  a  few  against  it,  and  thousands  would 
be  afraid  to  vote.  If  it  is  granted,  I  do  not  suppose  all  women  will  vote  immediately. 
Many  prejudices  will  first  have  to  give  way.  If  women  vote  what  they  wish  to  vote, 
and  there  is  no  disorderly  conduct  at  the  polls  in  consequence,  and  no  general  disor- 
der in  the  body  politic,  I  do  not  see  any  objection  to  the  voting  being  continued  from 
year  to  year. 

When  women  like  Miss  Jones  of  our  city,  now  in  California,  take  a  few  more  pro- 
fessorships in  a  university  over  half-a-hundred  competitors,  write  a  few  more  libraries, 
show  themselves  capable  of  solving  great  questions,  become  ornaments  to  their  pro- 
fessions, it  will  seem  more  absurd  for  them  not  to  be  enfranchised  than  it  does  now 
for  them  to  be  so. 

Hon.  J.  M.  Ashley,  of  Toledo,  in  a  speech  on  the  floor  of  congress,  June 
i,  1868,  said : 

I  want  citizenship  and  suffrage  to  be  synonymous.  To  put  the  question  beyond  the 
power  of  States  to  withhold  it,  I  propose  the  .amendment  to  article  fourteen,  now 
submitted.  A  large  number  of  Republicans  who  concede  that  the  qualifications  of 
an  elector  ought  to  be  the  same  in  every  State,  and  that  it  is  more  properly  a  national 
than  a  State  question,  do  not  believe  congress  has  the  power  under  our  present  con- 
stitution to  enact  a  law  conferring  suffrage  in  the  States,  nevertheless  they  are  ready 
and  willing  to  vote  for  such  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  as  shall  make  citizen- 
ship and  suffrage  _  uniform  throughout  the  nation.  For  this  purpose  I  have  added  to 
the  proposed  amendment  for  the  election  of  president  a  section  on  suffrage,  to  which  I 
invite  special  attention. 

This  is  the  third  or  fourth  time  I  have  brought  forward  a  proposition  on  suffrage  sub- 
stantially like  the  one  just  presented  to  the  House.  I  do  so  again  because  I  believe  the 
question  of  citizenship  suffrage  one  which  ought  to  be  met  and  settled  now.  Import- 
ant and  all-absorbing  as  many  questions  are  which  now  press  themselves  upon  our  con- 
sideration, to  me  no  one  is  so  vitally  important  as  this.  Tariffs,  taxation,  and  finance 
ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  supersede  a  question  affecting  the  peace  and  personal 
security  of  every  citizen,  and,  I  may  add,  the  peace  and  security  of  the  nation.  No 
party  can  be  justified  in  withholding  the  ballot  from  any  citizen  of  mature  years,  native 
or  foreign  born,  except  such  as  are  non  compos  or  are  guilty  of  infamous  crimes;  nor 
can  they  justly  confer  this  great  privilege  upon  one  class  of  citizens  to  the  exclusion  of 
another  class. 

The  Revolution  of  March  19,  1868,  said  : 

Notwithstanding  the  most  determined  hostility  to  the  demands  of  the  age  for  female 
physicians,  institutions  for  their  educational  preparation  for  professional  responsibili- 
ties are  rapidly  increasing.  The  ball  first  began  to  move  in  the  United  States,*  and 
now  a  female  medical  college  is  in  successful  operation  in  London,  where  the  favored 
monopolizers  of  physic  and  surgery  were  resolved  to  keep  out  all  new  ideas  in  their  line 
by  acts  of  parliament.  But  the  ice-walls  of  opposition  have  melted  away,  and  even  in 
Russia  a  woman  has  graduated  with  high  medical  honors. 


*  At  a  meeting  of  the  corporators  of  the  Cleveland  Homeopathic  Medical  College  and  Hospital  for 
\Vuiiien,  the  following  board  of  trustees  was  appointed  :  Stillman  \Vitt,T.  S.  Beckwith,  Bolivar  Butts* 
X.  Schneider,  M.  D.,  T.  S.  Lindsey,  Mrs.  D.  R.  Tilden,  Mrs.  S.  F.  Lester,  Mrs.  Peter  Thatcher,  .Mrs. 
C.  A.  Seaman,  M.  D.,  Mrs.  M.  K.  Merrick,  M.  D.,  Mrs.  S.  JJ.  McMillan,  Mrs.  M.  B.  Ambler,  Mrs. 
Lemuel  Crawford,  Mrs.  Henry  Chisholm,  Mrs.  G.  B.  Bowers.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  board  of 
trustees,  the  following  officers  were  chosen:  President,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Seaman,  M.  D.;  Vice-President, 
Mrs.  S.  F.  Lester ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  M.  B.  Ambler ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  S.  1).  McMillan. 


496 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


The  following  statistics  from  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  settle 
many  popular  objections  to  a  collegiate  education  for  women  : 

GRADUATES  OF  ANTIOCII  COLLEGE. — In  a  paper  read  before  the  Social  Science 
Association  in  the  spring  of  1874  I  pointed  out  the  presumption  to  be,  that  if  a  desire 
for  knowledge  was  implanted  in  the  minds  of  women,  they  had  also  as  a  class  the 
physical  capacity  to  gratify  it;  and  that  therefore  the  burden  of  proof  lay  on  those  who 
opposed  such  education,  on  physiological  grounds,  to  collect  facts  in  support  of  their 
position.  In  criticising  Dr.  Clarke's  book,  "Sex  in  Education,"  I  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  he  has  made  no  attempt  to  do  this,  but  has  merely  given  a  few  detached 
cases,  whose  scientific  value  is  impaired  by  the  absence  of  all  proof  whether  they  stand 
for  few  or  many.  We  need  many  facts  and  a  cautious  induction;  not  merely  a  few 
facts  and  a  sweeping  induction.  I  am  now  glad  to  put  on  record  a  tabular  view  *  of 
the  graduates  of  Antioch,  with  special  reference  to  their  physical  health  and  condition; 
the  facts  being  collected  and  mainly  arranged  by  Professor  J.  B.  Weston  of  Antioch — 
who  has  been  connected  with  that  institution  from  its  foundation — with  the  aid  of  Mrs. 
Weston  and  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  both  graduates  of  the  college.  For  the  present 
form  of  the  table,  however,  I  alone  am  responsible. 

It  appears  that  of  the  41  graduates,  ranging  from  the  year  1857  to  1873,  no  fewer 
than  36  are  now  living.  Of  these  the  health  of  II  is  reported  as  "very  good1';  19 


1 

"n 

d 

'—    C 

o 

"°  c 

a 

>~  u 

J- 

— 
'.- 

u    R 

°"si 
't.= 

~a 

I 

Remarks. 

-_ 

^  2 

~^t 

- 

C 

it 

2 

i 

1857 

Married 

3 

Nut  living 

Died,  1874. 

I 

i 

Good 

Taught  eleven  years  ;  now  in  Indiana.' 

3 

4 

1858 

, 

2 
2 

Very  good 

Has  taught  ever  since  graduating  ;  now  in  Ohio. 
Taught  five  years  ;   now  in  Ohio. 

1 

.} 

' 

6 

Good 

Has  taught  school  ;  slight  bronchial  trouble. 

' 
7 

1859 

. 

3 

3 

Uncertain 

Has  taught  school. 

: 

•• 

' 

Good 

Taught  thirteen  years,  lill  married,  in  1872. 

•• 

* 

2  or  3 

No  recent  intelligence  ;  health  good  so  far  as  known. 

I 

1860 

Single 

" 

Taught  some  years  ;  now  in  England. 

XI 

" 

Married 

2 

'• 

Taught  three  years. 

: 

" 

Single 

" 

Has  taught  school. 

i  | 

" 

>r 

Very  good 

Physician  in  Missouri. 

I  : 

•' 

Married 

I 

Has  taught  school. 

!  = 

f* 

Single 

"         " 

Constantly  a  teacher,  except  two  years  in  Europe. 

ra 

" 

Married 

"         " 

Minister  in  Connecticut  ;  lately  married. 

«7 

1861 

1 

Good 

Taught  three  years  ;  journalist  in  Ohio. 

i- 

** 

fc 

I 

Has  taught  school. 

'  • 

1862 

' 

I 

Not  living 

Died  of  Hereditary  consumption. 

r 

* 

I 

'        * 

2: 

•• 

' 

I 

Good 

H 

•• 

• 

2 

Very  good 

Resides  in  Ohio. 

•3 

44 

' 

2 

"        •' 

Resides  tn  Vermont. 

" 

t 

2 

"         " 

Resides  in  New  York. 

•j 

" 

i 

Good 

Lately  married. 

2' 

•7 

1863 

: 

3 

2 

Very  good 

Has  taught  school. 
Taught  Tour  years,  till  married. 

.- 

1864 
1866 

i 

3 

Not  good 

Taught  one  year. 
Troubled  with  scrofula,  dating  back  earlier  than  her  school 

days;  practices  medicine  in  Missouri. 

: 

iG6S 

Single 
Married 

i 

Verjf  good 
Good 

Has  just  returned  from  three  years  in  Europe,  where  she 
took  long  pedestrian  journeys. 
Has  taught  school  and  is  teaching  now. 

-•- 
1 

18(9 

Single 

2 

u 

Taught  three  years. 
Taught  constantly  and  is  teaching  now. 

-'  : 

1870 

Married 

Not  living 

Died,  1871. 

-•'- 

" 

I 

Good 

Has  taught  school  in  Missouri. 

** 

44 

I 

41 

Taught  one  year. 

1871 

Single 

Unknown 

Came  to  college  in  delicate  health,  which  improved  while 

there:  the  youngest  woman  ever  graduated  at  Antioch. 

• 

1872 

'* 

Not  living 

Died,  1873,  of  hereditary  consumption. 

• 

•' 

** 

Fair 

Teaching  in  Massachusetts. 

4° 

1873 

14 

Good 

4: 

" 

" 

Mr.  Higginson  in  "The   Womaris  Journal"      497 

"good";  making  30  in  all;  I  is  reported  as  "fair";  I  "uncertain";  I  "not  good," 
and  3  "unknown."  Of  the  41  graduates,  30  are  reported  as  married  and  1 1  are  single, 
five  of  these  last  having  graduated  within  three  years.  Of  the  30  married,  24  have 
children,  numbering  48  or  49  in  all.  Of  the  6  childless,  3  are  reported  as  very  re- 
cently married;  one  died  a  few  months  after  marriage,  and  the  facts  in  the  other  cases 
are  not  given.  Thirty-four  of  the  forty-one  have  taught  since  graduated,  and  I  agree 
with  Professor  Weston  that  teaching  is  as  severe  a  draft  on  the  constitution  as  study. 
Taking  these  facts  as  a  whole,  I  do  not  see  how  the  most  earnest  advocate  of  higher 
education  could  ask  for  a  more  encouraging  exhibit;  and  I  submit  the  case  without 
argument,  so  far  as  this  pioneer  experiment  at  coeducation  is  concerned.  If  any  man 
seriously  believes  that  his  non-collegiate  relatives  are  in  better  physical  condition  than 
this  table  shows,  I  advise  him  to  question  forty-one  of  them  and  tabulate  the  statistics 
obtained. 

In  the  following  editorial  in  the  Woman  s  Journal  Mr.  Higginson  pur- 
sues the  opposition  still  more  closely,  and  answers  their  frivolous  objec- 
tions : 

I  am  surprised  to  find  that  Professor  W.  S.  Tyler  of  Amherst  College,  in  his  paper 
on  "  The  Higher  Education  of  Woman,"  in  Scribner's  Monthly  for  February,  repeats 
the  unfair  statements  of  President  Eliot  of  Harvard,  in  regard  to  Oberlin  College. 
The  fallacy  and  incorrectness  of  those  statements  were  pointed  out  on  the  spot  by  sev- 
eral, and  were  afterwards  thoroughly  shown  by  President  Fairchild  of  Oberlin;  yet 
Professor  Tyler  repeats  them  all.  He  asserts  that  there  has  been  a  great  falling  off  in 
the  number  of  students  in  that  college;  he  entirely  ignores  the  important  fact 
of  the  great  multiplication  of  colleges  which  admit  women;  and  he  implies,  if  he  does 
not  assert,  that  the  separate  ladies'  course  at  Oberlin  has  risen  as  a  substitute  for  the 
regular  college  course.  His  words  are  these,  the  italics  being  my  own  : 

In  Oberlin,  where  the  experiment  has  been  tried  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances, it  has  proved  a  failure  so  far  as  the  regular  college  course  is  concerned.  The 
number  of  young  women  in  that  course,  instead  of  increasing  with  the  prosperity  of 
the  institution,  has  diminished,  so  that  it  now  averages  only  two  or  three  to  a  class. 
The  rest  pursue  a  different  curriculum,  live  in  a  separate  dormitory,  and  study  by 
themselves  in  a  course  of  their  own,  reciting,  indeed,  with  the  young  men,  and  by  way 
of  reciprocity  and  in  true  womanly  compassion,  allowing  some  of  them  to  sit  at  their 
table  in  the  clining-hall,  but  yet  constituting  substantially  a  female  seminary,  or,  if 
you  please,  a  woman's  college  in  the  university. — Scribner,  February,  page  457. 

Now,  it  was  distinctly  stated  by  President  Fairchild  last  summer,  that  this  "differ- 
ent curriculum  "  was  the  course  originally  marked  out  for  women,  and  that  the  regu- 
lar college  course  was  an  after-thought.  This  disposes  of  the  latter  part  of  Professor 
Tyler's  statement.  I  revert,  therefore,  to  his  main  statement,  that  "the  number  of 
young  women  in  the  collegiate  course  has  diminished,  so  that  it  now  averages  only 
two  or  three  to  a  class."  Any  reader  would  suppose  his  meaning  to  be  that  taking 
one  year  with  another,  and  comparing  later  years  with  the  early  years  of  Oberlin, 
there  has  been  a  diminution  of  women.  What  is  the  fact?  The  Oberlin  College  tri- 
ennial catalogue  of  1872  lies  before  me,  and  I  have  taken  the  pains  to  count  and  tabu- 
late the  women  graduated  in  different  years,  during  the  thirty-two  years  after  1841, 
when  they  began  to  be  graduated  there.  Dividing  them  into  decennial  periods,  I  find 
the  numbers  to  be  as  follows  :  1841-1850,  thirty-two  women  were  graduated;  1851-1860, 
seventeen  women  were  graduated;  1861—1870,  forty  women  were  graduated.  From  this 
it  appears  that  during  the  third  decennial  period  there  was  not  only  no  diminution,  but 
actually  a  higher  average  than  before.  During  the  first  period  the  classes  averaged 
3.2  women;  during  the  second  period  1.7  women,  and  during  the  third  period  4 
women.  Or  if,  to  complete  the  exhibit,  we  take  in  the  two  odd  classes  at  the  end, 
and  make  the  third  period  consist  of  twelve  classes,  the  average  will  still  be  3.8,  and 
will  be  larger  than  either  of  the  previous  periods.  Or  if,  disregarding  the  even  distri- 
bution of  periods,  we  take  simply  the  last  ten  years,  the  average  will  be  3.1.  More- 
32 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

over,  during  the  first  period  there  was  one  class  (1842)  which  contained  no  women  at 
all;  and  during  the  second  period  there  were  three  such  classes  (1852-3,  7);  while  dur- 
ing the  third  period  every  class  has  had  at  least  one  woman. 

It  certainly  would  not  have  been  at  all  strange  if  there  had  been  a  great  falling  off 
in  the  number  of  graduates  of  Oberlin.  At  the  outset  it  had  the  field  to  itself.  Now 
the  census  gives  fifty-five  "colleges"  for  women,  besides  seventy-seven  which  admit 
both  sexes.  Many  of  these  are  inferior  to  Oberlin,  no  doubt,  but  some  rose  rapidly  to 
a  prestige  far  beyond  this  pioneer  institution.  With  Cornell  University  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  University  of  Michigan  on  the  other — to  say  nothing  of  minor  institu- 
tions— the  wonder  is  that  Oberlin  could  have  held  its  own  at  all.  Yet  the  largest 
cla*s  of  women  it  ever  graduated  (thirteen)  was  so  late  as  1865,  and  if  the  classes  since 
then  "  average  but  two  or  three,"  so  did  the  classes  for  several  years  before  that  date. 
Professor  Tyler  knows  very  well  that  classes  fluctuate  in  every  college,  and  that  a  de- 
cennial period  is  the  least  by  which  the  working  of  any  system  can  be  tested.  Tried 
by  this  test,  the  alleged  diminution  assumes  a  very  different  aspect.  If,  however, 
there  were  a  great  decline  at  Oberlin,  it  would  simply  show  a  transfer  of  students  to 
other  colleges,  since  neither  Professor  Tyler  nor  President  Eliot  will  deny  that  the 
total  statistics  of  colleges  show  a  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  women. 

Moreover,  I  confess  that  my  confidence  in  Professor  Tyler's  sense  of  accuracy  is 
greatly  impaired  by  these  assertions  about  Oberlin,  and  also  by  his  statement,  which  I 
must  call  reckless,  at  least,  in  regard  to  the  inferiority  in  truth,  purity  and  virtue  of 
those  women  who  seek  the  suffrage.  He  asserts  (page  456)  that  "  women — women 
generally — the  truest,  purest  and  best  of  the  sex — do  not  wish  for  the  right  of  suffrage." 
Now,  if  the  women  who  oppose  suffrage  are  truest,  purest  and  best,  the  women  who 
advocate  it  must  plainly  be  inferior  at  all  these  points;  and  that  is  an  assertion  which 
not  only  these  women  themselves,  but  their  brothers,  husbands  and  sons  are  certainly 
entitled  to  resent.  Mr.  Tyler  has  a  perfect  right  to  argue  for  his  own  views,  for  or 
against  suffrage,  but  he  has  no  right  to  copy  the  Oriental  imprecation,  and  say  to  his 
opponents,  "  May  the  grave  of  your  mother  be  defiled  !"  'He  claims  that  he  holds 
official  relations  to  one  "  woman's  college,"  one  "  female  seminary  "  and  one  "young 
ladies'  institute."  Will  it  conduce  to  the  moral  training  of  those  who  enter  those  in- 
stitutions that  their  officers  set  them  the  example  of  impugning  the  purity  and  virtue  of 
those  who  differ  in  opinion  from  themselves  ? 

But  supposing  Professor  Tyler  not  to  be  bound  by  the  usual  bonds  of  courtesy  or  of 
justice,  he  is  at  least  bound  by  the  consistency  of  his  own  position.  Thus,  he  goes  out 
of  his  way  to  compliment  Mrs.  Somerville  and  Miss  Mitchell.  Both  these  ladies  are 
identified  with  the  claim  for  suffrage.  He  lauds  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  but  Mrs. 
Stowe  has  written  almost  as  ably  for  the  enfranchisement  of  woman  as  for  the  freedom 
of  the  blacks.  He  praises  the  "  sacramental  host  of. authoresses,"  who,  he  says,  "will 
move  on  with  ever-growing  power,  overthrowing  oppression,  restraining  vice  and 
crime,  reforming  morals  and  manners,  purifying  public  sentiment,  revolutionizing 
business,  society  and  government,  till  every  yoke  is  broken  and  all  nations  are  won  to 
the  truth."  But  it  has  been  again  and  again  shown  that  the  authoresses  of  America 
are,  with  but  two  or  three  exceptions,  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage,  and,  therefore,  in- 
stead of  being  "  sacramental,"  do  not  even  belong  to  Professor  Tyler's  class  of  "  wisest, 
truest  and  best."  He  thus  selects  for  compliment  on  one  page  the  very  women  whom 
he  has  traduced  on  another.  His  own  witnesses  testify  against  him.  It  is  a  pity  that 
such  phrases  of  discourtesy  and  unfairness  should  disfigure  an  essay  which  in  many  re- 
spects says  good  words  for  women,  recommends  that  they  should  study  Greek,  and 
says,  inclosing,  that  their  elevation  "is  at  once  the  measure  and  the  means  of  the 
elevation  of  mankind." 

In  the  autumn  of  1884  an  effort  was  made  to  exclude  women  from  Adel- 
bert  College.  We  give  an  account  thereof  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Sarah 
Knowles  Bolton,  published  in  the  English  Woman's  Review  of  January, 
1885: 


Adelbert  College.  499 

DEAR  EDITOR  :  The  city  of  Cleveland  has  been  stirred  for  weeks  on  this  question  of 
•woman's  higher  education.  Western  Reserve  College,  founded  in  1826,  at  Hudson, 
was  moved  to  Cleveland  in  1874,  because  of  a  gift  of  $100,000  from  Mr.  Amasa  Stone, 
•with  the  change  of  name  to  Adelbert  College,  in  memory  of  an  only  son.  A  few 
young  women  had  been  students  since  1873.  In  Cleveland,  about  twenty  young  ladies 
availed  themselves  of  such  admirable  home  privileges.  Their  scholarship  was  excel- 
lent— higher  than  that  of  the  young  men.  They  were  absent  from  exercises  only  half 
as  much  as  the  men.  Their  conduct  was  above  reproach.  A  short  time  since  the  fac- 
ulty, except  the  president,  Dr.  Carroll  Cutler,  petitioned  the  board  of  trustees  to  dis- 
continue coeducation  at  the  college,  for  the  assumed  reasons  that  girls  require  different 
training  from  boys,  never  "  identical "  education;  that  it  is  trying  to  their  health  to  re- 
•cite  before  young  men;  "  the  strain  upon  the  nervous  system  from  mortifying  mistakes 
and  serious  corrections  is  to  many  young  ladies  a  cruel  additional  burden  laid  upon 
them  in  the  course  of  study";  "  that  the  provision  we  offer  to  girls  is  not  the  best,  and 
is  even  dangerous";  that  "where  women  are  admitted,  the  college  becomes  second  or 
third-rate,  and  that,  worst  of  all,  young  men  will  be  deterred  from  coming  to  this  col- 
lege by  the  presence  of  ladies."  An  "annex"  was  recommended,  not  with  college 
•degrees,  but  a  subordinate  arrangement  with  "  diploma  examinations,  so  far  and  so  fast 
.as  the  resources  of  the  college  shall  allow." 

As  soon  as  the  subject  became  known,  the  newspapers  of  the  city  took  up  the  ques- 
tiom  As  the  public  furnishes  the  means  and  the  students  for  every  college,  the  public 
•were  vitally  interested.  Ministers  preached  about  it,  and  they,  with  doctors  and  law- 
yers, wrote  strong  articles,  showing  that  no  "annex"  was  desired;  that  parents  wished 
thorough,  high,  self-reliant  education  for  their  daughters  as  for  their  sons;  that  health 
was  not  injured  by  the  embarrassment  (?)  of  reciting  before  young  men;  that  young 
men  had  not  been  deterred  from  going  to  Ann  Arbor,  Oberlin,  Cornell,  and  other  in. 
stitutions  where  there  are  young  women;  that  it  was  unjust  to  make  girls  go  hundreds 
of  miles  away  to  Vassar  or  Smith  or  Wellesley,  when  boys  were  provided  with  the  best 
•education  at  their  very  doors;  that,  with  over  half  the  colleges  of  this  country  admit- 
ting women,  with  the  colleges  of  Italy,  Switzerland,  Sweden,  Holland  and  France 
throwing  open  their  doors  to  women,  for  Adelbert  College  to  shut  them  out,  would  be 
.a  step  backward  in  civilization. 

The  women  of  the  city  took  up  the  matter,  and  several  thousands  of  our  best  names 
were  obtained  to  a  petition,  asking  that  girls  be  retained  members  of  the  college; 
judges  and  leading  persons  gladly  signed.  The  trustees  met  November  7,  1884. 
The  whole  city  eagerly  waited  the  result.  The  chairman  of  the  committee,  Hon. 
I.  W.  Chamberlain  of  Columbus,  who  had  been  opposed  to  coeducation  at  first,  from 
the  favorable  reports  received  by  him  from  colleges  all  over  the  country,  had  become 
.a  thorough  convert,  and  the  report  was  able  and  convincing. 

President  Angell  of  Michigan  University,  where  there  are  1,500  students,  wrote : 
""Women  were  admitted  here  under  the  pressure  of  public  sentiment  against  the 
wishes  of  most  of  the  professors.  But  I  think  no  professor  now  regrets  it,  or  would 
favor  the  exclusion  of  women.  We  made  no  solitary  modification  of  our  rules  or  re- 
quirements. The  women  did  not  become  hoydenish;  they  did  not  fail  in  their  studies; 
they  did  not  break  down  in  health;  they  have  been  graduated  in  all  departments;  they 
have  not  been  inferior  in  scholarship  to  the  men.  We  count  the  experiment  here  suc- 
cessful." 

Galusha  Anderson,  president  of  Chicago  University,  wrote  :  "Our  only  law  here  is 
that  the  students  shall  act  as  gentlemen  and  ladies.  They  mingle  freely  together,  just 
as  they  do  in  society,  as  I  think  God  intended  that  they  should,  and  the  effect  in  all 
respects  is  good.  I  have  never  had  the  slightest  trouble  from  the  association  of  the 
:sexes." 

Chancellor  Manatt  of  Nebraska  University,  for  four  years  engaged  in  university 
work  at  Yale,  in  answer  to  the  questions  as  to  whether  boys  would  be  driven  away 
from  the  institution,  replied:  "This  question  sounds  like  a  joke  in  this  longitude.  As 


500  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

well  sny  a  girl's  beine  born  into  a  family  turns  the  boys  out  of  doors.  It  rather 
strengthens  the  home  attraction.  So  in  the  university.  I  believe  there  is  not  a  pro- 
fessor or  student  here  who  would  not,  for  good  and  solid  reasons,  fight  for  the  system." 

President  Warren  of  Boston  University,  lately  the  recipient  of  ,£200,000,  wrote : 
"  The  only  opponents  of  coeducation  I  have  ever  known  are  persons  who  know  noth- 
ing about  it  practically,  and  whose  difficulties  are  all  speculative  and  imaginary.  Men 
are  more  manly  and  women  more  womanly  when  concerted  in  a  wholly  human  society 
than  when  educated  in  a  half-human  one." 

President  White  of  Cornell  wrote  :  "I  regard  the  '  annex  '  for  women  in  our  colleges 
as  a  mere  make-shift  and  step  in  the  progress  toward  the  full  admission  of  women  to 
all  college  classes,  and  I  think  that  this  is  a  very  general  view  among  men  who  have 
given  unprejudiced  thought  to  the  subject.  Having  now  gone  through  one  more  year, 
making  twelve  in  all  since  women  were  admitted,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  be- 
lieve their  presence  here  is  good  for  us  in  every  respect." 

Professor  Moses  Coit  Tyler  of  Cornell  said  :  "  My  observation  has  been  that  under 
the  joint  system  the  tone  of  college  life  has  grown  more  earnest,  more  courteous  and 
refined,  less  flippant  and  cynical.  The  women  are  usually  among  the  very  best  schol- 
ars, and  lead  instead  of  drag,  and  their  lapses  from  good  health  are  rather,  yes,  de- 
cidedly, less  numerous  than  those  alleged  by  the  men.  There  is  a  sort  of  young  man 
who  thinks  it  not  quite  the  thing,  you  know,  to  be  in  a  college  where  women  are;  and 
he  goes  away,  if  he  can,  and  I  am  glad  to  have  him  do  so.  The  vacuum  he  causes  is 
not  a  large  one,  and  his  departure  is  more  than  made  up  by  the  arrival  in  his  stead  of 
a  more  robust  and  manlier  sort." 

The  only  objectors  to  coeducation  were  from  those  colleges  which  had  never  tried 
it;  President  Porter  of  Yale  thought  it  a  suitable  method  for  post-graduate  classes,  and 
President  Seeley  for  a  course  of  "lower  grade  "  than  Amherst. 

President  Cutler  of  Adelbert  College  made  an  able  report,  showing  that  the  progress 
of  the  age  is  towards  coeducation.  Only  fifty-three  Protestant  colleges,  founded  since 
1830,  exclude  women;  while  156  coeducational  institutions  have  been  established  since 
that  date. 

Some  of  the  trustees  thought  it  desirable  to  imitate  Yale,*  and  others  felt  that  they 
knew  what  studies  are  desirable  for  woman  better  than  she  knew  herself !  When  the 
vote  was  taken,  to  their  honor  be  it  said,  it  was  twelve  to  six,  or  two  to  one,  in  favor 
of  coeducation.  The  girls  celebrated  this  just  and  manly  decision  by  a  banquet. 

The  inauguration  of  the  women's  crusade  at  this  time  (1874)  in 
Ohio  created  immense  excitement,  not  only  throughout  that 
State,  but  it  was  the  topic  for  the  pulpit  and  the  press  all  over 
the  nation.  Those  identified  with  the  woman  suffrage  move- 
ment, while  deeply  interested  in  the  question  of  temperance,  had 
no  sympathy  with  what  they  felt  to  be  a  desecration  of  woman- 
hood and  of  the  religious  element  in  woman.  They  felt  that 
the  fitting  place  for  petitions  and  appeals  was  in  the  halls  of  leg- 
islation, to  senators  and  congressmen,  rather  than  rumsellers  and 
drunkards  in  the  dens  of  vice  and  the  public  thoroughfares.  It 
was  pitiful  to  see  the  faith  of  women  in  God's  power  to  effect  im- 
possibilities. Like  produces  like  in  the  universe  of  matter  and 


*  But  even  old  Yale  has  to  succumb  to  the  on-sweeping  tide  of  equal  chances  to  women,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  Associated  Press  item  in  the  New  York  Sun  of  October  2,  1885  :  "  NEW  HAVEN, 
Conn..  Oct.  i. — Miss  Alice  B.  Jordin.  of  Coldwater,  Mich.,  a  graduate  of  the  academic  and  law  depart- 
ments of  the  University  of  Michigan,  entered  the  Yale  law  school  to-day.  She  is  the  first  woman  ever 
entered  in  any  department  of  Yale  outside  of  the  art  school. 


Miriam  M.    Cole.  501 

mind,  and  so  long  as  women  consent  to  make  licentious,  drunken 
men  the  fathers  of  their  children,  no  power  in  earth  or  heaven 
can  save  the  race  from  these  twin  vices.  The  following  letter 
from  Miriam  M.  Cole  makes  some  good  points  on  this  question: 

If  the  "  woman's  war  against  whisky"  had  been  inaugurated  by  the  woman  suffrage 
party,  its  aspect,  in  the  eyes  of  newspapers,  would  be  different  from  what  it  now  is.  If 
Lucy  Stone  had  set  the  movement  on  foot,  it  would  have  been  so  characteristic  of  her! 
What  more  could  one  expect  from  such  a  disturber  of  public  peace?  She,  who  has  no 
instinctive  scruples  against  miscellaneous  crowds  at  the  polls,  might  be  expected  to  visit 
saloons  and  piously  serenade  their  owners,  until  patience  ceases  to  be  a  virtue.  But 
for  women  who  are  so  pressed  with  domestic  cares  that  they  have  no  time  to  vote;  for 
women  who  shun  notoriety  so  much  that  they  are  unwilling  to  ask  permission  to  vote; 
for  women  who  believe  that  men  are  quite  capable  of  managing  State  and  municipal 
affairs  without  their  interference;  for  them  to  have  set  on  foot  the  present  crusade,  how 
queer  !  Their  singing,  though  charged  with  amoral  purpose,  and  their  prayers,  though 
directed  to  a  specific  end,  do  not  make  their  warfare  a  whit  more  feminine,  nor  their 
situation  more  attractive.  A  woman  knocking  out  the  head  of  a  whisky  barrel  with  an 
ax,  to  the  tune  of  Old  Hundred,  is  not  the  ideal  woman  sitting  on  a  sofa,  dining  on 
strawberries  and  cream,  and  sweetly  warbling,  "The  Rose  that  All  are  Praising."  She 
is  as  far  from  it  as  Susan  B.  Anthony  was  when  pushing  her  ballot  into  the  box.  And 
all  the  difference  between  the  musical  saint  spilling  the  precious  liquid  and  the  unmu- 
sical saint  offering  her  vote  is,  that  the  latter  tried  to  kill  several  birds  with  one  stone, 
and  the  former  aims  at  only  one. 

Intemperance,  great  a  curse  as  it  is,  is  not  the  only  evil  whose  effects  bear  most 
heavily  on  women.  Wrong  is  hydra-headed,  and  to  work  so  hard  to  cut  off  one  head, 
when  there  is  a  way  by  which  all  may  be  dissevered,  is  not  a  far-sighted  movement;  and 
when  you  add  to  this  the  fact  that  the  head  is  not  really  cut  off,  but  only  dazed  by  un- 
expected melodies  and  supplications,  there  is  little  satisfaction  in  the  effort.  We 
learn  that,  outside  of  town  corporations  that  have  been  lately  "rectified,"  the  liquor 
traffic  still  goes  on,  and  the  war  is  to  be  carried  into  the  suburbs.  What  then  ?  Where 
next?  Which  party  can  play  this  game  the  longer?  Tears,  prayers  and  songs  will 
soon  lose  their  novelty — this  spasmodic  effort  will  be  likely  soon  to  spend  itself;  is 
there  any  permanent  good  being  wrought  ?  Liquor  traffic  opposes  woman  suffrage,  and 
with  good  reasons.  It  knows  that  votes  change  laws,  and  it  also  knows  that  the  votes 
of  women  would  change  the  present  temperance  laws  and  make  them  worth  the  paper 
on  which  they  are  printed.  While  this  uprising  of  women  is  a  hopeful  sign,  yet  it 
cannot  make  one  law  black  or  white.  It  may,  for  a  time,  mold  public  opinion,  but 
depraved  passions  and  appetites  need  wholesome  laws  to  restrain  them.  If  women 
would  only  see  this  and  demand  the  exercise  of  their  right  of  suffrage  with  half  the 
zeal  and  unanimity  with  which  they  storm  a  man's  castle,  it  would  be  granted.  This 
is  the  only  ax  to  lay  at  the  root  of  the  tree. 

Springfield,  Ohio,  has  just  had  a  case  in  a  Justice  Court  which  attracted  much  at- 
tention and  awakened  much  interest.  A  woman  whose  husband  had  reduced  his 
family  to  utter  want  by  drunkenness,  entered  a  suit  against  the  rumseller.  An  appeal 
from  the  drunkard's  wife  to  the  ladies  of  Springfield  had  been  circulated  in  the  daily 
papers,  which  so  aroused  them  that  a  large  delegation  of  the  most  respectable  and 
pious  women  of  the  city  came  into  the  court.  But  the  case  was  adjourned  for  a 
week.  During  this  time  the  excitement  had  become  so  great  that  when  the  trial  came 
on  the  court-room  was  full  of  spectators,  and  the  number  of  ladies  within  the  rail  was 
increased  three-fold.  Mrs.  E.  D.  Stewart  made  the  plea  to  the  jury.  A  verdict  was 
rendered  against  the  rumseller.  An  appeal  will  be  taken;  but  the  citizens  of  Spring- 
field will  never  forget  the  influence  which  the  presence  of  women,  in  sympathy  with 
another  wronged  woman,  had  upon  the  court.  And  what  added  power  those  women 


502  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

would  have  had  as  judges,  jurors  and  advocates;  citizens  crowned  with  all  the  rights, 
privileges  and  immunities  justly  theirs  by  law  and  constitution. 

Of  the  work  in  Geauga  county,  Mrs.  Sophia  Ober  Allen,  of 
South  Newbury  writes : 

In  the  winter  of  185 1-2,  Anson  Read  circulated  a  petition  praying  the  legis- 
lature to  protect  married  women  in  their  property  rights  ;  and  from  that 
time  the  subject  of  women's  rights  was  frequently  discussed  in  social  and 
literary  gatherings.  In  1871,  Mrs.  Lima  Ober  proposed  to  be  one  of  six 
women  to  go  to  the  township  election  and  offer  her  vote.  Nine  *  joined 
her,  but  all  their  votes  were  rejected,  the  judges  saying  they  feared  trouble 
would  be  the  result  if  they  received  them.  From  that  year  to  1876  these 
heroic  women  of  South  Newbury  persisted  in  offering  their  votes  at  the 
town,  state  and  presidential  elections ;  and  though  always  refused,  they 
would  repair  to  another  room  with  the  few  noble  men  who  sustained 
them,  and  there  duly  cast  their  ballots  for  justice  and  equality.  On  one 
occasion  the)r  polled  fifty  votes — thirty-one  women  and  nineteen  men.  In 
1876  they  adopted  a  series  of  stirring  resolutions  with  a  patriotic  declara- 
tion of  principles. 

In  1873,  large  meetings  were  held,  and  a  memorial  sent  to  the  constitu- 
tional convention,  asking  for  an  amendment,  that  "  the  right  to  vote  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  to  any  adult  citizen  except  for  crime,  idiocy  or 
lunacy."  On  January  12,  1874,  a  political  club  was  organized,!  which  has 
been  active  in  holding  meetings  and  picnics,  circulating  petitions  and 
tracts.  On  July  4,  1874,  a  basket  picnic  was  held  in  Ober  and  Allen's- 
grove,  at  which  Gen.  A.  C.  Voris  was  among  the  speakers.!  Hon.  A.  G. 
Riddle,  whose  early  life  was  spent  mostly  in  Newbury,  encouraged  and 
assisted  the  work,  both  by  voice  and  pen.  During  the  winter  of  1878, 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  in  company  with  my  husband  and  myself,  lectured  ia 
several  towns  under  the  auspices  of  the  club.  Miss  Eva  L.  Pinney,  a 
native  of  Newbury,  was  employed  by  the  club  to  canvass  the  county. 
Her  success  was  marked.  In  1879  the  treasury  received  a  bequest  of  $50, 
from  Reuben  H.  Ober,  who,  though  spending  much  of  his  time  in  the 
East,  ever  sustained  a  live  interest  in  the  home  society.! 


*  Mesdames  Lima  H.  Ober,  Lovina  Greene,  Hophni  Smith,  Ruth  F.  Munn,  Perleyette  M.  Burnett,  So- 
phia L.  O.  Allen,  Mary  Hodges,  Lydia  Smith,  Sarah  A.  Knox.  The  men  who  sustained  and  voted  with 
these  women  were  Deacon  Amplias  Greene,  Darius  M.  Allen,  Ransom  Knox,  Apollos  D.  Greene, 
Wesley  Brown.  Their  tickets  were  different  each  year;  their  fin«t  read,  "  Our  Motto— Equal  Rights, 
for  all — Taxation  without  Representation  is  Tyranny.  Our  .Foes — Tradition  and  Superstition." 
Among  the  speakers  invited  to  address  the  people  at  the  polls  were  Mrs.  Organ,  of  Yellow  Springs,  and 
Mrs.  Hope  Whipple,  of  Clyde. 

t  President,  Ruth  F.  Munn ;  Vice-Presidents,  Joel  Walker,  D  M.  Allen  ;  Recording  Secretary, 
Ellen  Munn  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Julia  P.  Greene  ;  Treasurer,  Mary  Hodges  ;  Executive 
Committee,  William  Munn,  Sophia  L.  O.  Allen,  Amanda  M.  Greene,  Apollos  D.  Greene,  Ransom 
Knox. 

\  At  other  picnics  the  speakers  were,  Mrs.  S.  B.  Chase,  M.  D.,  Colonel  S.  D.  Harris,  J.  W.  Tyler 
Jane  O.  DeForrest,  T.  W.  Porter. 

$  The  Society  of  South  Newbury,  like  that  of  Toledo,  refrained  from  auxiliary-ship  with 
the  State  Association  from  the  time  of  its  organization  to  June,  1885,  when  such  relationship 
was  made  possible  by  the  State  Society  voting  itself  an  independent  organization,  free  to  cooperate 
with  all  national  or  local  associations  that  have  for  their  object  the  enfranchisement  of  women  ;  and 
to  Mrs.  Allen  may  be  ascribed  a  large  share  of  the  credit  for  the  good  work  and  broad  platform  of  tht 
South  Newbury  club. 


The   Toledo  Society.  503 

Mrs.  Sarah  Langdon  Williams  sends  us  the  following  report 
from  the  Toledo  society : 

In  the  winter  of  1869,  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  returning  from 
an  extended  trip  through  the  West,  spent  a  few  days  in  Toledo.  In  ad- 
dition to  public  meetings,  their  coming  was  the  occasion  for  many  pleas- 
ant and  hospitable  gatherings.  A  large  circle  of  intelligent  and  earnest 
women  were  longing  and  waiting  to  do  something  to  speed  the  movement 
for  woman  suffrage,  when  the  coming  of  these  pioneers  of  reform  roused 
them  to  action.  It  was  like  the  match  to  the  fire  all  ready  for  kindling,  and 
an  organization  was  speedily  effected.*  From  that  time  forward,  the  air 
seemed  magnetized  with  reform  ideas,  and  to  the  loyal  band  who  stood 
true  to  their  flag,  new  members  were  added  from  time  to  time,  and  from 
this  little  band  went  forth  an  influence,  a  steady  force  which  has  operated 
silently  though  continuously  through  both  visible  and  invisible  channels, 
moulding  the  thought  and  action  of  the  community.  The  meetings  of 
this  association  were  regularly  reported  by  the  daily  press,  with  more  or 
less  justice,  according  as  the  reporter  present,  or  the  newspaper  which 
reported  the  proceedings,  was  more  or  less  friendly. 

A  letter  published  in  The  Revolution  of  June  10,  1869,  indicates  the 
practical  work  of  our  association  : 

The  first  skirmish  along  the  line  of  the  suffrage  army  in  Ohio  has  been  fought,  and 
the  friends  of  reformation  may  well  rejoice  at  the  result.  In  this  city  there  has  existed 
for  a  long  time  a  library  association  to  which  women  were  admitted  as  members,  but 
in  the  control  or  management  of  which  they  had  no  voice.  Under  the  pressure  of  in- 
fluences set  in  motion  by  your  visit,  it  was  resolved  that  this  relic  of  the  past  should  be 
swept  away,  that  women  should  be  represented  in  the  management  as  well  as  in  the 
membership  of  the  association.  At  the  late  election  six  directors  were  to  be  chosen 
among  other  officers,  and  Miss  Anna  C.  Mott.f  Mrs.  M.  W.  Bond  and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Bar- 
ker were  candidates  upon  a  ticket  called  the  Equal  Rights  Ticket,  headed  by  Mr.  A. 
\V.  (llcason,  for  president.  The  dangerous  proposition,  not  only  of  allowing  women 
to  vote,  but  of  giving  them  offices,  was  a  bombshell  in  the  camp  of  conservatism,  and 
every  influence  that  could  be,  was  brought  to  bear  against  this  ticket.  After  an  ex- 
citing contest,  the  result  showed  that  notwithstanding  a  powerful  and  influential  op- 
position, the  ticket  was  elected  by  a  vote  of  from  186  to  220  out  of  327  votes.  This 
result  has  been  all  the  more  grateful,  because  in  the  opposition  were  to  be  found  many 
of  the  most  wealthy  and  respected  citizens  of  Toledo. 

As  an  index  of  the  interest  the  women  manifested  in  that  election,  three-fourths  of 
them  voted.  It  was  interesting  to  notice  the  firmness  with  which  the  women  walked 
up  to  the  ballot-box.  No  trembling  was  perceptible.  They  carried  the  ballot  with 
ease,  deposited  it  with  coolness,  watched  to  see  that  no  fraud  was  perpetrated,  and  then 
departed  as  noiselessly  as  they  came.  The  deed  was  done.  Woman's  honor,  woman's 
purity,  woman's  domestic  felicity,  woman's  conjugal  love,  woman's  fidelity  to  her  home 
duties,  all  these  and  a  thousand  other  of  the  finer  qualities  were  destroyed.  No  more 
peace  in  families;  no  more  quiet  home  evenings;  no  more  refined  domestic  women; 

*  The  presidents  of  the  Toledo  Society  have  been,  Emma  J.  Ashley.  Elizabeth  R.  Collins,  Sarah  R. 
I.,  \\illiams,  Rosa  L.  Segur,  Julia  P.  Cole,  Sarah  S.  Bissell,  Ellen  S.  Fray,  Mary  J.  Cravens.  The, 
vice-presidents,  Martha  Stebbins,  Julia  Harris,  S.  R.  L.  Williams,  Sarah  S.  liisscll,  Ellen  Sully  Fray,. 
Mary  J.  Barker.  Miss  Charlotte  Langdon  Williams  rendered  valuable  service  in  the  business  depart-, 
ment  of  The  Ballot-Box,  and  served  for  three  years  as  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  association. 

t  Miss  Anna  ('.  Mott,  and  her  father,  Richard  Mott,  were  two  strong  pillars  of  the  woman  suffrage- 
movement  in  Ohio  ;  their  beautiful  home  has  for  many  years  been  a  harbor  of  rest  alike  to  the  advo-. 
cates  of  anti-slavery,  temperance  and  woman's  rights. 


504  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

but  wrangling  and  discords  instead.  Soldiers  and  sailors,  policemen  and  gravel- 
shovelers  had  taken  the  place  of  wives  and  mothers.  Sick  at  heart  I  went  to  my  home 
and  wept  for  American  womanhood.  But  the  sun  rose  as  usual,  and  the  world  still 
revolved.  I  went  to  the  police-court — all  was  quiet.  I  passed  to  the  county-court, 
and  looked  over  the  docket — no  new  divorce  cases  met  my  gaze.  With  unsteady  hand 
I  have  opened  the  morning  papers  for  the  past  few  days,  but  nothing  there  betrayed 
the  terrible  results  of  that  false  step.  Oh,  women  !  women  !  In  the  days  of  Indian 
warfare,  the  skilled  hunter  would  tell  you  that  after  an  attack,  when  all  was  quiet,  and 
you  thought  the  enemy  had  departed,  the  greatest  danger  awaited,  and  the  most  care- 
ful vigilance  was  required.  So  I  still  keep  watching,  for  I  know  the  vengeance  of  the 
gods  must  fall  upon  this  worse  than  Sodom,  for  since  women  have  voted,  surely  there 
be  not  five  righteous  within  the  city.  Real  estate  is  not  falling,  however,  but  then  ! — 

The  evening  after  the  election,  the  friends  of  the  association  and  of  the  successful 
tickets,  gathered  to  witness  the  incoming  of  the  new  administration.  Hearty  words  of 
cheer  for  the  future  were  spoken.  The  president,  Mr.  Gleason,  delivered  a  beautiful 
inaugural  address,  of  which  I  send  you  a  few  sentences,  and  the  meeting  adjourned. 

The  president  said:  \Vhile  thanking  you  most  heartily,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for 
the  distinguished  honor  conferred  upon  me  in  the  election,  I  do  not  forget  that  it  is 
due  to  the  great  principles  of  equal  rights  and  universal  suffrage — not  to  any  merits  of 
my  own.  We  live  in  an  age  of  progress.  In  my  humble  opinion  we  have  taken  a 
great  step  forward  in  admitting  ladies  to  the  management  of  this  association — not  only 
from  the  fact  that  in  this  particular  institution  they  hold  an  equal  footing  with  our- 
selves, and  of  right  are  entitled  to  all  its  privileges,  but  from  the  more  important  fact 
that  it  is  a  recognition  here  of  those  principles  which  are  now  claiming  recognition  in 
the  political  institutions  of  our  country.  It  is  in  the  natural  order  of  events  that  this 
"equal  rights "  movement  should  meet  with  opposition.  All  movements  of  a  novel 
and  radical  character  at  their  commencement  meet  with  opposition.  This  is  the 
ordeal  through  which  they  must  pass,  but  their  success  or  failure  depends  upon  their 
intrinsic  merit.  Nothing  is  to  be  feared  from  opposition  to  any  movement  that  pos- 
sesses these  elements.  Whatsoever  idea  has  its  origin  in  the  recesses  of  human  nature, 
will,  sooner  or  later,  become  embodied  in  living  action,  and  so  we  have  this  assurance 
— that  as  here,  so  also  in  the  political  institutions  of  our  country — this  principle  of 
equal  rights,  both  to  man  and  woman,  will  at  last  prevail. 

In  1871  the  Sunday  Journal  offered  the  association  half  a  column,  which 
was  gratefully  accepted,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  Langdon  Williams  appointed  ed- 
itor. The  department  increased  to  a  full  page,  and  the  circulation  of  the 
paper  became  as  large  as  that  of  either  of  the  city  dailies.  When  there  \va> 
danger  of  its  being  sold  to  opponents  of  the  cause,  Mrs.  Williams  purchased 
one-half  interest,  and  by  so  doing  kept  the  other  half  in  the  hands  of  the 
friendly  proprietor.  In  the  Sunday  Journal  \hs  association  had  a  medium 
through  which  it  could  promptly  answer  all  unjust  attacks,  and  thus  kept 
up  a  constant  agitation.  In  November,  1875,  the  sale  of  the  paper  closed 
for  a  while  direct  communication  between  the  association  and  the  public. 
But  soon  becoming  restive  without  any  medium  through  which  to  express 
Itself,  the  society  started  The  Ballot-Box  in  April,  1876,  raising  money 
among  the  citizens  in  aid  of  the  enterprise.  With  this  first  assistance  the 
•paper  became  at  once  self-supporting,  and  continued  thus  until  April, 
1878,*  when  it  was  transferred  to  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  and  published  at 
Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


*  Mrs.  Williams  further  adds  that  The  Kallot-Rox  became  also  a  foster  child  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion, Miss  Anthony  canvassing  for  it  after  each  of  her  lectures  during  the  winters  of  1877  and  1878,  thus 
largely  increasing  the  circulation.  It.  on  the  other  hand,  gave  full  and  faithful  account  of  the  work  of 
the  National  Association,  so  that  in  reality  it  was  the  organ  of  the  National  as  well  as  of  the  Toledo 
society. 


Hon.   M.  R.    Waite.  505 

The  convention  for  the  remodeling  of  the  constitution  of  the  State,  in 
1873-74,  afforded  an  opportunity  for  unflagging  efforts  of  the  members  of 
the  association  in  the  circulation  of  petitions  ;  and  so  successful  were  they 
that  when  their  delegates  presented  themselves  with  1,500  signatures, 
asking  for  an  amendment  securing  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  convention,  on  scanning  the  roll,  exclaimed :  "Why,  you  have 
here  all  the  solid  men  of  Lucas  county."  Mr.  M.  R.  Waite,  since  chief- 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  was  president  of  the 
convention,  and  in  presenting  the  petition  said  the  names  on  that  paper 
represented  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  Mr.  Waite's  courtesy  indicated 
stronger  convictions  regarding  the  rights  of  women  than  he  really  pos- 
sessed. In  an  interview  with  our  committee,  appointed  to  secure  a  hear- 
ing from  the  members-elect — Mr.  Waite  and  Mr.  Scribner — Mr.  Waite  de- 
clared himself  in  favor  of  according  equal  wages  to  women,  and  believed 
them  entitled  to  all  other  rights,  except  the  right  to  vote.  He  thought 
women  were  entitled  to  a  hearing  in  the  convention,  and  would  aid  them 
all  he  could  to  secure  the  privilege.  Mr.  Waite,  with  great  kindness  of 
nature,  possesses  an  inborn  conservatism  which  curbs  his  more  generous 
impulses.  He  adhered  to  this  position  in  his  decision  in  the  case  of  Minor 
•vs.  Happersett,  declaring  that  "the  constitution  of  the  United  States  has 
no  voters."  Many  of  the  most  sanguine  friends  were  greatly  disap- 
pointed. They  had  fully  believed  his  love  of  justice  would  lead  him  to 
the  broad  interpretation  of  the  constitution,  so  clearly  the  true  one,  set 
forth  in  the  first  article  of  the  fourteenth  amendment.  It  did  prevail, 
however,  when,  after  saying  the  constitution  does  not  confer  the  right  of 
suffrage  with  citizenship,  he  said:  "If  the  law  is  wrong,  it  ought  to  be 
changed  ;  but  the  power  is  not  with  the  Supreme  Court." 

When,  in  February,  1873,  an  irascible  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  refused  to  ratify  the  appointment  of  a  woman — Miss  Mary  Sibley — 
to  the  office  of  deputy  clerk,  which  she  had  filled  for  eight  years  with  un- 
usual acceptance,  on  the  ground  that  not  being  an  elector  she  was  legally 
disqualified,  the  association  determined  to  dispute  the  decision  in  her  be- 
half, and  on  applying  through  their  president  to  Mr.  Waite  to  act  as 
counsel,  he  gave  his  unhesitating  acceptance,  and  declared  that  if  the 
appointment  was  illegal,  the  law  ought  to  be  changed  at  once.  True  to  his 
promise,  he  defended  her  most  ably,  and  engaged  other  counsel  to  act 
with  him.  His  services  were  given  gratuitously. 

Subsequently,  in  the  constitutional  convention,  an  amendment  was 
adopted  making  women  eligible  to  appointive  offices,  and  also  to  any  office 
under  the  school  control,  with  the  exception  of  State  commissioner.  But 
when  voted  upon,  the  new  constitution  was  lost,  and  with  it  these  amend- 
ments. The  cause  had  able  advocates  in  the  convention,  leading  whom 
was  General  A.  C.  Voris  of  Akron,  who  was  made  chairman  of  the  Special 
Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage.  The  Standing  Committee  on  Elective 
Franchise  was  extremely  unfriendl}',  conspicuously  so  the  chairman,  Mr. 
Sample.  A  Special  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage  was  appointed,  which 
performed  its  duty  faithfully,  and  reported  unanimously  in  favor.  Mr. 
Voris  worked  for  the  measure  with  an  enthusiasm  equaled  only  by  his 


506  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ability.  When  the  report  came  up  for  discussion  he  made  a  masterly 
speech  of  two  hours,  during  which  the  attention  was  so  close  that  a  pin 
could  be  heard  to  drop.  Other  able  speeches  were  also  made  in  favor 
of  the  measure  by  some  of  the  most  talented  members  of  the  conven- 
tion. It  came  within  two  votes  of  being  carried.  The  defeat  was 
largely  due  to  the  liquor  influence  in  the  convention.  The  cause,  how- 
ever, received  a  new  impetus  through  the  exertions  of  General  Voris,  to 
whom,  second  to  no  other  person  in  Ohio,  should  the  thanks  of  the 
women  be  rendered.  During  the  contest  the  Toledo  society  was  con- 
stantly on  the  alert.  On  three  occasions  it  sent  its  delegates  to  the  con- 
vention ;  but  it  has  not  limited  its  work  to  Ohio  alone  ;  it  has  given  freely 
of  its  means  whenever  it  could  to  aid  the  struggle  in  other  States,  and  has 
rolled  up  large  petitions  to  congress  asking  for  a  sixteenth  amendment. 

When  the  State  convention  met  in  Toledo,  February,  1873,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  city  society  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  have  all  ar- 
rangements for  their  reception  and  entertainment  of  the  most  satisfactory 
character,  and  the  delegates  unanimously  agreed  they  had  never  before 
had  so  delightful  and  successful  a  meeting.  Many  lasting  friendships 
were  formed.  The  opera-house  was  well  filled  at  every  session  of  the 
three  days'  convention.  At  the  opening  session  a  cordial  address  of 
welcome  was  given  by  Rev.  Robert  McCune,  one  of  Toledo's  most  elo- 
quent Republicans.  The  mayor  of  the  city,  Dr.  W.  W.  Jones,  a  staunch 
Democrat,  also  made  a  courteous  speech. 

The  Toledo  Society  has  always  held  itself  an  independent  organization, 
though  its  members,  individually,  have  identified  themselves  as  they 
chose  with  other  associations.  Its  attitude  has  been  of  the  most  uncom- 
promising character.  It  has  never  been  cajoled  into  accepting  a  crumb 
in  any  way  in  the  place  of  the  whole  loaf.  Sometimes  this  has  brought 
upon  it  the  condemnation  of  friends,  but  in  the  long  run  it  has  won  re- 
spect, even  from  bitter  opponents.  An  illustration  of  this  was  given  in 
its  action  with  regard  to  the  centennial  celebration.  The  Fourth  of  July, 
1876,  was  to  be  observed  in  Toledo  as  a  great  gala  day.  Long  before  its 
arrival  preparations  were  in  progress  through  which  patriotic  citizens 
were  to  express  their  gratitude  over  the  nation's  prosperity  on  the  one- 
hundredth  anniversary  of  freedom.  All  trades,  professions  and  organiza- 
tions were  to  join  in  one  vast  triumphal  procession.  A  call  was  issued 
for  a  meeting,  to  which  all  organizations  were  requested  to  send  repre- 
sentatives. The  Woman  Suffrage  Association  was  not  neglected,  and  a 
circular  of  invitation  was  mailed  to  its  president.  This  raised  a  delicate 
question,  for  how  could  women  take  part  in  celebrating  the  triumphs  of 
their  country  whose  laws  disfranchised  them  ?  But,  having  received  a 
courteous  recognition,  they  must  respond  with  equal  courtesy.  The  let- 
ter was  laid  before  the  society,  and  the  president  instructed  to  politely 
decline  the  honor.  The  Ballot-Box  of  May,  1876,  contains  the  corre- 
spondence : 

TOLEDO,  Ohio,  April  8,  1876. 

At  a  meeting  of  citizens,  held  at  White's  Hall,  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  inst.,  the 
undersigned  were  instructed  to  invite  your  organization,  with  others,  to  send  a  repre- 
sentative to  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  White's  Hall,  on  the  evening  of  Monday,  April 


No   Centennial  to  Celebrate.  507 

17,  which  will  elect  an  executive  committee,  and  make  other  arrangements  for  a  cele- 
bration by  Toledo  of  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  American  independence  in  a 
manner  befitting  the  occasion  and  the  character  of  our  city.  It  is  earnestly  de- 
sired that  every  organization,  of  whatever  nature,  in  Toledo,  be  represented  at  this 
meeting.  We  would,  therefore,  ask  of  you  that  you  lay  the  matter  before  your  or- 
ganization at  its  next  regular  meeting,  or  in  case  it  shall  hold  no  meeting  before  the 
lyth,  that  you  appear  as  a  representative  yourself.  GUIDO  MARX,  Chairman. 

D.  R.  LOCKE,  JAMES  H.  EMORY,  Secretaries. 

This  was  laid  before  the  association  at  a  meeting  which  occurred  the 
same  afternoon,  and  by  the  order  of  the  society  the  invitation  therein 
conveyed  was  replied  to  in  season  to  be  read  at  the  meeting  at  White's 
Hall,  April  17: 

TOLEDO,  Ohio,  April  15,  1876. 
Hon.  Guido  Marx,  Messrs.  D.  R.  Locke  and  James  H.  Emory: 

GENTLEMEN  :  The  printed  circular,  with  your  names  attached,  inclosed  to  my  ad- 
dress as  president  of  the  Toledo  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  inviting  that  body  to 
send  a  representative  to  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  White's  Hall,  Monday  evening,  April 
17,  to  elect  an  executive  committee  and  make  other  arrangements  for  a  celebration  by 
Toledo  of  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  American  independence,  was  received 
just  in  time  to  lay  before  the  meeting  held  April  10.  It  was  there  decided  that  while 
the  members  of  the  association  fully  appreciate  the  generosity  of  the  men  of  Toledo, 
and  feel  grateful  for  the  implied  recognition  of  their  citizenship,  yet  they  manifestly 
have  no  centennial  to  celebrate,  as  the  government  still  holds  them  in  a  condition  of 
political  serfdom,  denying  them  the  greatest  right  of  citizenship — representation. 

Conscious,  however,  of  the  great  results  which  the  nation's  hundred  years  have 
achieved  in  building  up  a  great  people,  we  are  aware  that  you,  as  American  men, 
have  cause  for  rejoicing,  and  we  bid  you  God-speed  in  all  efforts  which  you  may  make 
in  the  approaching  celebration.  In  an  equal  degree  we  feel  it  inconsistent,  as  a  dis- 
franchised class,  to  unite  vvith  you  in  the  celebration  of  that  liberty  which  is  the  herit- 
age of  but  one-half  the  people.  It  is  the  will,  therefore,  of  the  association  that  I  re- 
spond to  the  above  effect,  thanking  you  for  your  courteous  invitation,  and  recognizing 
with  pleasure  among  your  names  those  who  have  heretofore  extended  to  us  their  sym- 
pathy and  aid.  I  remain,  with  sincere  respect,  yours, 

SARAH  R.  L.  WILLIAMS,  President  T.  W.  S.  A. 

The  letter  was  intended  to  be  in  all  respects  courteous,  as  the  writer 
and  the  society  which  she  represented  had  naught  but  the  kindest  of  feel- 
ings toward  those  who,  in  so  friendly  a  manner,  recognized  their  citizen- 
ship by  inviting  them  to  take  part  in  the  meeting,  and  also  toward  the 
Toledo  public,  who,  as  a  general  thing,  had  treated  their  organization 
with  friendly  consideration.  It  appears,  however,  that  their  attitude  was 
misconstrued,  according  to  articles  subsequently  published  in  the  Blade 
and  Commercial,  which  we  reproduce  below : 

The  women  say  they  "  manifestly  have  no  centennial  to  celebrate."  If  we  are  not 
mistaken,  the  women  of  this  country  have  enjoyed  greater  progress  than  the  men  un- 
der our  free  government,  and  it  illy  becomes  them  now  to  steadily  and  persistently 
pout  because  they  have  not  yet  attained  the  full  measure  of  their  earthly  desires — the 
ballot-box.  Better  by  far  give  a  hearty  show  of  appreciation  of  benefits  received,  and 
thereby  materially  aid  in  further  progress.  Nothing  can  be  gained  by  their  refusing 
to  celebrate  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The  rights 
of  all  are  necessarily  restricted  wherever  there  is  a  government,  and  time  and  experi- 
ence can  alone  demonstrate  just  what  extension  or  contraction  of  rights  and  liberties 
may  be  essential  to  the  general  good.  In  our  judgment  the  women,  by  refusing  to 
participate  in  the  coming  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  have  committed  an  error,  the  in- 


508  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

fluence  of  which  cannot  but  prove  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  their  association. 
The  opposite  course  would  undoubtedly  have  won  friends. — Blade. 

A  singularly  uncourteous  letter  was  the  one  sent  by  the  Woman  Suffrage  Association 
to  the  meeting  at  White's  Hall.  Ninety-nine-hundredths  of  the  women  of  the  country 
will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  they  "  have  no  centennial  to  celebrate,"  and  will  be  still 
more  surprised  when  they  discover  that  it  is  "  inconsistent "  for  them  to  unite  with 
their  brothers,  fathers,  sons  and  husbands  "in  the  celebration  of  the  liberty  which  is 
the  heritage"  of  <z//the  people.  We  cannot  but  feel  that  the  claims  set  forth  by  the 
association  would  command  more  respectful  consideration  with  the  display  of  a  differ- 
ent spirit.  The  maids  and  matrons  of  1776  were  of  a  different  mold. — Commercial. 

The  Blade  has  been  a  good  friend  to  woman  suffrage  for  many  years, 
but  we  feel  that  the  present  article  was  written  in  a  spirit  of  needless  irri- 
tability, such  as  we  should  think  might  ensue  from  a  fit  of  indigestion. 
The  Commercial,  since  its  change  of  management,  has  certainly  not  been 
unfriendly,  and  we  have  thought  fair.  Its  present  comments  are  unjust. 
The  following  editorial  appeared  in  The  Ballot-Box  of  the  same  date  : 

WHY  WE  CANNOT  CELEBRATE  THE  CENTENNIAL. — The  city  dailies  criticise  the  suf- 
frage association  somewhat  severely  for  declining  to  unite  in  the  centennial  celebra- 
tion. Perhaps  from  the  outlook  of  masculine  satisfaction  it  may  seem  astonishing  that 
patriotism  should  not  inspire  us  with  gratitude  for  the  crumbs  from  the  national  table; 
that  we  should  not  rejoice  at  the  great  banquet  being  prepared.  But  it  is  as  impossi- 
ble for  us  to  look  from  their  standpoint,  as  for  them  to  see  from  ours.  While  appre- 
ciating the  kindnesses  measured  out  to  us  in  this  city  by  our  friends  and  the  press,  yet 
laboring  without  visible  results  for  the  recognition  of  our  rights  as  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  we  cannot,  even  through  the  potent  incentive  of  sympathizing  with  our 
"husbands,  fathers,  brothers  and  sons,"  lay  aside  our  grievances  and  rejoice  in  a 
triumph  which  more  clearly  marks  our  own  humiliation. 

Can  our  friends  inform  us  what  is  our  crime,  that  we  are  denied  the  right  of  repre- 
sentation? Can  they  point  to  any  mental  or  moral  deficiency,  to  render  justifiable  our 
being  denied  political  rights  ?  If  not — if  there  is  no  just  cause  for  our  disf ranchisement, 
it  surely  should  not  excite  surprise  that  we  cannot  rejoice  with  those  who  systematically 
persist  in  perpetrating  this  great  wrong.  With  no  discredit  to  any  of  the  sovereign 
voters  of  this  nation,  we  cannot  forget  that  the  most  ignorant  negro,  the  most  degraded 
foreigner,  even  refugees  from  justice,  are  accorded  the  rights  which  we  have  been  de- 
manding in  vain;  and  we  are  conscious  every  day  and  hour  these  privileges  are  denied 
us,  that  we  are  not  only  wronged  by  the  American  government,  but  insulted.  Every 
year  that  our  appeals  for  political  rights  to  congress  and  the  legislature  are  de- 
nied, insult  is  heaped  upon  injury.  Women  are  told  by  those  who  are  in  the  full  en- 
joyment of  all  the  privileges  which  this  government  can  confer,  to  rejoice  in  what  little 
they  have,  and  wait  patiently  until  more  is  bestowed.  Wait  we  must,  because  they 
have  the  reins  of  power,  but  to  wait  patiently,  with  the  light  we  have  to  perceive  our 
relative  condition,  would  be  doing  that  for  which  we  should  despise  ourselves. 

We  are  not  laboring  for  to-day  alone,  but  for  the  fruition  which  must  come  from 
the  establishment  of  justice.  If  we  fail  in  this  memorial  year,  a  brighter  day  must 
surely  come.  Our  failure  now  will  be  the  failure  of  the  country  to  improve  its  oppor- 
tunities. All  the  successes  which  may  be  rejoiced  over,  all  the  triumphs  of  trade, 
commerce  and  invention  are  secondary  to  the  rights  of  citizens,  to  those  principles 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  national  liberty.  When  women  are  recognized  as  citi- 
zens of  this  republic,  there  will  be  some  occasion  for  their  thankfulness  and  rejoicing; 
then  they  can  join  in  the  jubilee  which  celebrates  the  birthday  of  a  mighty  nation. 

At  the  June  meeting  of  the  association,  a  declaration  of  rights,  and  a 
series  of  radical  resolutions  were  adopted.  The  president  urged  the 
society  to  stand  firm  in  the  determination  to  take  no  part  in  the  centen- 


The   Western  Reserve  Chid.  509 

nial  celebration,  and  the  members  of  the  suffrage  association  passed 
the  Fourth  of  July  quietly  at  their  own  homes,  but  they  caused  a 
banner,  bearing  the  inscription,  "  Woman  Suffrage  and  Equal  Rights," 
to  be  hung  across  one  of  the  principal  streets,  under  which  the  whole 
procession  passed.  Of  the  original  members  of  the  society,*  some  who 
during  its  earlier  years  took  an  active  part  have  removed  elsewhere,  and 
a  few  have  passed  to  the  beyond.  But  the  majority  still  remain,  and  are 
earnest  in  their  labors  with  the  hope  for  a  better  day,  undampened  by  the 
delays  and  disappoinments  which  attend  every  step  in  progress. 

There  is  a  flourishing  association  at  Cleveland  called  the 
Western  Reserve  Club;f  Mrs  Sarah  M.  Perkins  and  her  highly 
educated  daughters,  graduates  of  Vassar  College,  are  among  the 
leading  members.  They  hold  regular  meetings,  have  a  course  of 
lectures  every  winter  and  are  exerting  a  wide  influence.  The 
club  consists  of  thirty  members,  paying  five  dollars  annually  into 
the  treasury. 

The  Painesville  Equal  Rights  Society,!  formed  November  20,  1883,  is 
one  of  the  most  flourishing  county  associations  in  the  State.  It  numbers 
150  members,  and  it  has  organized  many  local  societies  in  the  vicinity. 
The  annual  meeting  of  the  State  society,§  held  at  Painesville,  May  II,  12, 
13,  1885,  with  a  large  representation  of  the  most  active  friends  present, 
by  a  unanimous  vote  declared  itself  no  longer  auxilary  to  the  American, 
and  thereby  secured  the  cooperation  of  the  Toledo,  South  Newbury,  and 
other  independent  local  organizations  of  the  State. 

We  are  indebted  to  Annie  Laurie  Quinby  for  the  following  ac- 
count of  the  founding  of  a  hospital  for  women  and  children,  and 
of  some  of  the  difficulties  women  encountered  in  gaining  admit- 
tance into  the  medical  colleges  : 

Mrs.  Quinby  says  :  In  1867,  some  Cincinnati  ladies  met  at  the  residence 
of  Mrs.  J.  L.  Roberts  and  organized  a  health  association,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  obtain  and  disseminate  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  science 
of  life  and  health.  Mrs.  Leavett  addressed  the  ladies  on  the  importance 
of  instituting-  a  medical  school  for  women,  stating  a  recent  conversation 


*Thc  officers  of  the  Toledo  Society  are,  1885,  President,  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Cravens  ;  \~ice-pr  esideni^ 
Sarah  R.  L.  Williams  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  E.  R.  Collins  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs. 
Sarah  S.  liisscll  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Barker;  Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  Rosa  L.  Segur,  Mrs. 
Julia  P.  Cole,  Mrs.  Caroline  T.  Morgan,  Miss  Anna  C.  Mott,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Hawley. 

t  President,  Mrs.  Judge  Caldwell ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  Bushnell ;   Treasurer,  Mrs.  Ammon. 

J  The  officers  of  the  Painesville  Society,  1885,  are.  President,  Mrs.  Frances  Jennings  Casement ; 
Vict^PrtsidfHtt,  Mrs.  Eli/a  P.  Chesney,  Mrs.  Lydia  Wilcox,  Mis.  Cornelia  Swezey  ;  Recording  Secre- 
tary, Mrs.  Martha  Paine;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Lou  J.  Bates;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Adelia 
J.  Bates  ;  Trustees,  Mrs.  J.  B.  Burrows,  Mrs.  A.  G.  Smith,  Mrs.  C.  C.  Beardslee. 

$The  officers  of  the  Ohio  State  Association  for  1885  are,  President,  Mrs.  Frances  M.  Casement, 
Painesville  ;  /  'ice-Presidents,  Mrs.  N.  Coe  Stewart,  Cleveland  ;  Mrs.  C.  C.  Swezey,  Painesville  ;  Hon. 
Richard  Mott,  Toledo  ;  Mrs.  U.  R.  Walker,  Cincinnati  ;  Mrs.  Dr.  Warren,  Elyria  ;  Recording  Secre- 
tary, Miss  Mary  P.  Spargo,  Cleveland;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Rosa  L.  Scgur,  Toledo; 
Treasurer,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Coit,  Columbus  ;  /.'.rc< •«/;>•<•  I'niiiniittef,  Dr.  N.  S.  Townshend,  Colum- 
bus ;  Mrs.  M.  B.  Haven,  Cleveland  ;  Mrs.  M.  Cole,  Painesville  ;  Mrs.  W.  J.  Sheppard,  Cleveland  ;  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Coit,  Columbus  ;  Mrs.  Ports  Wilson,  Warren  ;  Mrs.  Sarah  M.  Perkins,  Cleveland. 


510  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

she  had  with  Prof.  Curtis,  and  suggesting  that  he  be  invited  to  lay  his 
views  before  them.  A  vote  to  that  effect  was  passed,  and  in  his  address 
Professor  Curtis  touched  the  following  points  : 

Women  have  greater  need  than  men  of  the  knowledge  of  the  science  of  life,  andean 
make  more  profitable  use  of  it.  First:.  They  need  this  knowledge.  In  a  practice  of 
thirty-six  years,  full  seven-tenths  of  my  services  have  been  devoted  to  women  who,  had 
they  been  properly  instructed  in  the  science  of  life,  and  careful  to  obey  those  instruc- 
tions, would  not  have  needed  one-seventh  of  those  services,  while  they  would  have  pre- 
vented six-sevenths  of  their  sickness,  suffering  and  loss  of  time,  and  a  like  proportion 
of  the  expenses  of  doctoring,  nursing,  medicines,  etc.,  etc.  Second ' :  They  can  make 
a  far  better  and  more  profitable  use  of  this  knowledge  than  men  can,  because  they  can 
better  appreciate  the  liabilities,  sufferings  and  wants  of  their  sex,  which  are  far  more 
numerous  and  imperative  than  ours;  and  they  are  always  with  us,  from  infancy  to  boyhood 
and  womanhood,  to  watch  us  and  protect  us  from  injury,  and  to  relieve  us  promptly 
from  the  sufferings  that  may  afflict  us,  as  well  as  to  teach  us  how  to  avoid  them.  Third: 
Their  intellectual  power  to  learn  principles  is  as  great  as  ours,  their  perceptions 
are  quicker  than  ours,  their  sympathies  are  more  tender  and  persistent,  and  their  watch- 
fulness and  patient  perseverance  with  the  sick  are  untiring.  I  regard  the  teaching  and 
practice  of  the  science  of  life  as  woman's  peculiarly  appropriate  sphere.  Its  value  to 
the  family  of  the  wife  and  the  mother,  is  beyond  estimation  in  dollars  and  cents,  by  the 
husband  and  father.  No  money  that  he  can  properly  spend  to  secure  it  to  his  daugh- 
ters, should  be  otherwise  appropriated;  for,  should  they  never  enter  the  family  rela- 
tion, it  will  be  a  means  of  escape  from  sickness  mortification  and  expense  to  them- 
selves, and  of  useful  and  honorable  subsistence,  not  only  priceless  in  its  possession, 
but  totally  inalienable  by  any  reverses  of  fortune.  The  possession  of  this  knowledge 
from  their  infancy  up,  would  do  more  to  prevent  their  becoming  poor  and  "  friendless," 
than  do  all  the  alms  houses  for  the  former,  and  "  homes  "  for  the  latter  that  society  can 
build,  while  it  would  cost  less  to  each  individual  than  does  an  elegant  modern  piano. 
Forty  years  ago  your  speaker  obtained  from  the  legislature  of  Ohio  a  liberal  university 
charter  under  the  title  of  "  The  Literary  and  Botanical  Medical  College  of  Ohio," 
which  was  afterwards  changed  to  "  The  Cincinnati  Literary  and  Scientific  Institute 
and  Physio-Medical  College."  By  the  aid  of  able  assistants  he  conducted  this  institu- 
tion for  the  benefit  of  men  only,  till,  in  1851,  the  students  of  the  class  were  between 
eighty  and  ninety.  From  that  time  to  the  present,  he  has  received  women  into  the 
classes  and  demonstrated  that  they  are  not  only  as  competent  as  men  to  learn  all  parts 
of  the  science  of  life,  but,  in  very  many  particulars,  far  better  qualified  for  the  prac- 
tice of  the  art  of  curing  disease.  The  last  session  of  the  college  was  suspended  that  he 
might  travel  in  the  country  and  learn  the  disposition  of  the  friends  of  progress  to  estab- 
lish the  institution  on  a  permanent  foundation,  and  is  happy  to  say  that  all  that  seems 
necessary  to  that  glorious  consummation  is  the  prompt  and  concentrated  effort  of  a  few 
judicious  and  influential  ladies  and  their  friends  to  secure  pecuniary  aid. 

June  ii,  1879,  a  dispensary  for  women  and  children  was  opened  in  Cin- 
cinnati, by  Drs.  Ellen  M.  Kirk,  and  M.  May  Howells,  graduates  of  the  Xew 
York  College  and  Hospital  for  Women.  Their  undertaking  proving  suc- 
cessful, with  other  ladies  of  wealth  and  ability  they  soon  after  established 
a  hospital.  November  i,  1881,  the  certificate  of  incorporation  was  filed 
in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state.  The  ladies  labored  unweariedly  for 
the  support  of  these  institutions.  At  two  public  entertainments  they 
realized  nearly  a  thousand  dollars.  For  the  establishment  of  a  hom- 

*  The  incorporators  were,  Mrs.  Davies  Wilson,  Mrs.  John  Goddard,  Mrs.  Jane  Wendte,  Mrs.  William 
N.  Hobart,  Dr.  Ellen  M.  Kirk,  Dr.  M.  May  Howells,  Miss  Jennie  S.  Smith,  and  Miss  Harriet  M.  Hins- 
dale  ;  Resident  Physician,  Dr.  Sarah  J.  Bebout  ;  Visiting  Physicians,  Drs.  Ellen  M.  Kirk,  M.  May 
Howells. 


Pulte  Medical   College.  511 

eopathic  college  they  manifested  equal  earnestness  and  enthusiasm.  Many 
of  them  interested  in  this  mode  of  practice,  seeing  the  trials  of  Dr.  Pulte 
in  introducing  this  new  theory  of  medicine,  determined  to  help  him  in 
building  up  a  college  and  hospital  for  that  practice.  By  one  fair  they 
raised  §13,500,  net  profits,  and  the  Pulte  Medical  College  was  established. 
But  the  remarkable  fact  about  these  institutions  is  that  after  being  started 
through  the  labors  of  women,  women  appealed  in  vain  for  admission  for 
scholarships  for  a  long  time.  For  a  clear  understanding  of  the  matter^ 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  defense  made  in  behalf  of  the  right  of  women  to 
enter  the  college,  I  send  you  the  following  from  Dr.  J.  D.  Buck  : 

Pulte  Medical  College,  of  Cincinnati,  was  organized  under  the  common  law,  and 
opened  in  1872,  for  the  admission  of  students,  with  no  provision,  either  for  or  against 
the  admission  or  women.  From  time  to  time,  during  the  first  seven  years,  the  subject 
of  the  admission  of  women  was  broached,  but  generally  bullied  out  of  court  amid 
sneers  and  ridicule.  The  faculty  stood  five  against  and  four  for.  The  opposition  was 
the  most  pronounced  and  bitter  imaginable,  the  staple  argument  being  that  the  ming- 
ling of  the  sexes  in  medical  colleges  led  always  and  necessarily  to  licentiousness. 

Finally,  in  the  fall  of  1877,  seven  of  the  nine  members  of  the  faculty  voted  to  admit 
women.  One  professor  voted  no,  and  the  leader  of  the  opposition,  Prof.  S.  R.  Beck- 
with — a  life-long  opponent  of  the  broader  culture  of  women — left  the  meeting  with  the 
purpose  of  arresting  all  action.  In  this,  however,  he  failed  ;  the  vote  was  confirmed. 

On  the  following  day  another  meeting  was  held,  when,  the  vote  was  re-considered 
and  again  confirmed,  each  of  the  seven  members  agreeing  to  stand  by  it.  Still  again, 
another  meeting  was  called,  at  the  instance  of  the  leader  of  the  opposition,  and  in  the 
absence  of  two  of  the  staunch  friends,  a  bare  majority  of  the  whole  faculty  voted  to  ex- 
clude women,  as  heretofore,  and  notified  the  applicants  for  admission,  who  had  been 
officially  informed  of  the  previous  resolution  to  admit  them,  that  they  would  not  be  ad- 
mitted. 

Forbearance  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  justice  was  no  more  to  be  thought  of,  and 
notice  was  given  that  the  wrong  should  be  righted,  at  all  hazards.  For  the  next  two 
years  war  raged  persistent  and  unflinching  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the  rights  of 
women,  bitter  and  slanderous  on  the  part  of  the  opposition.  All  the  tricks  of  the  poli- 
tician were  resorted  to  to  defeat  the  cause  of  right,  and  more  than  once  by  misrepre- 
sentation they  obtained  the  announcement  in  the  public  press  that  the  case  was  decided, 
and  women  forever  excluded.  Still  the  cause  moved  on  to  complete  triumph,  and  to 
the  disgrace  and  final  exclusion  from  the  college  of  two  of  the  most  bitter  leaders  of 
the  opposition. 

In  the  fall  of  1879  it  was  announced  in  the  annual  catalogue,  "  that  students  will  be 
admitted  to  the  lectures  of  Pulte  college  without  distinction  of  sex,"  a  very  simple 
result  indeed,  as  the  outcome  of  two  years'  warfare.  At  the  opening  of  lectures  the  first 
of  October,  four  female  students  presented  themselves,  and  were  admitted  to  matricula- 
tion. Every  prophecy  of  disaster  had  failed.  The  class  was  an  increase  in  numbers 
over  that  of  any  preceding  year,  and  showed  a  marked  improvement  in  deportment  and 
moral  tone  from  the  presence  of  ladies,  who  from  their  high  character  and  bearing  ex- 
erted a  restraining  influence,  as  they  always  do,  on  those  disposed  to  be  gentlemen.  At 
the  commencement  exercises  in  March,  1881,  three  women,  viz:  Miss  S.  C.  O'Keefe, 
Mrs.  Mary  N.  Street,  and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Taylor,  received  the  degree  of  the  college,  after 
having  attended  the  same  lectures  and  been  submitted  to  the  same  examination'  as  the 
male  graduates.  The  prize  for  the  best  examination  (in  writing)  in  physiology,  was 
awank-d  t<>  Miss  Strlla  Hunt,  of  Cincinnati.  The  right  of  women  to  admittance  to  this 
college  cannot  again  be  raised  except  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  faculty  and  trustees 
— a  majority  which  will  be  difficult  to  obtain  after  the  record  which  the  women  have 
already  made  as  students  in  the  institution.  Yours  truly,  J.  D.  BUCK. 


512  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

After  all  this  educational  work  and  this  seeming  triumph  for 
the  recognition  of  an  equal  status  in  the  colleges  for  women,  we 
find  this  item  going  the  rounds  of  the  daily  journals,  under  date 
of  Cleveland,  March  29,  1885  : 

Considerable  excitement  prevails  among  the  homeopathists  of  Cleveland.  Com- 
mencement  exercises  of  the  college  are  to  be  held  next  Tuesday  evening,  and  Miss 
Madge  Dickson,  of  Chambers,  Pa.,  was  to  have  delivered  the  salutatory  address.  Dr. 
II.  If.  Baxter,  a  prominent  professor  of  the  college,  objected,  saying  a  woman  saluta- 
torian  would  disgrace  the  college.  Miss  Dickson  resigned  the  honor,  and  no  address 
will  be  delivered. 

In  April,  1873,  Miss  Nettie  Cronise  of  Tiffin,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  In  the  following  September,  her  sister  Florence  was 
admitted,  and  they  practiced  as  N.  &  F.  Cronise,  until  Miss 
Nettie's  marriage  with  N.  B.  Lutes,  with  whom  she  has  since 
been  associated  under  the  firm  name  of  Lutes  &  Lutes.  Miss 
Florence  Cronise  has  her  office  in  Tiffin.  Soon  after  commenc- 
ing practice  Mrs.  Lutes  was  appointed  to  examine  applicants  for 
admission  to  the  bar,  the  first  instance  of  a  woman  serving  in  this 
capacity  in  the  United  States,  although  Florence  Cronise  and 
one  or  two  other  women  have  since  done  like  duty.  These  ladies 
and  Miss  Hulett  were  the  first  women  to  open  law  offices  and 
begin  an  active,  energetic  practice  of  the  profession. 

In  1885,  Miss  Mary  P.  Spargo  of  Cleveland,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 
MICHIGAN. 

Women's  Literary  Clubs  and  Libraries — Mrs.  Lucinda  H.  Stone — Classes  of  Girls  in 
Europe — Ernestine  L.  Rose — Legislative  Action,  1849-1885 — State  Woman  Suf- 
frage Society,  1870— Annual  Conventions — Northwestern  Association — Wendell 
Phillips'  Letter — Nannette  Gardner  Votes — Catharine  A.  F.  Stebbins  Refused — 
Legislative  Action — Amendments  Submitted — An  Active  Canvass  of  the  State  by 
Women — Election  Day — The  Amendment  Lost,  40,000  Men  Voted  in  Favor — 
University  at  Ann  Arbor  Opened  to  Girls,  1869 — Kalamazoo  Institute — J.  A.  B. 
Stone,  Miss  Madeline  Stockwell  and  Miss  Sarah  Burger  Applied  for  Admission  to 
the  University  in  1857 — Episcopal  Church  Bill — Local  Societies — Quincy — Lansing 
— St.  Johns — Manistee — Grand  Rapids — Sojourner  Truth— Laura  C,  Haviland — 
Sybil  Lawrence. 

TRAVELING  through  the  State  of  Michigan,  sufficiently  at  leis- 
ure to  make  acquaintances,  one  would  readily  remark  the  unusual 
intelligence  and  cultivation  of  the  women.  Every  large  town 
can  boast  a  woman's  literary  club,  a  reading-room,  nicely  fur- 
nished, with  a  library  containing,  in  many  cases,  one  and  two 
thousand  volumes,  a  choice  collection  of  scientific,  historical  and 
classical  works.  This  may  be  attributed  in  part  to  the  fact  that 
the  population  is  largely  from  New  York  and  New  England, 
partly  to  the  many  institutions  of  learning  early  opened  to  girls, 
and  partly  to  the  extensive  social  influence  of  Mrs.  Lucinda  H. 
Stone,*  whose  rare  culture,  foreign  travels  and  liberal  views  have 
fitted  her,  both  as  a  woman  and  as  a  teacher,  to  inspire  the  girls  of 
Michigan  with  a  desire  for  thorough  education.  Mrs.  Stone  has 
traveled  through  many  countries  in  the  old  world  with  large 
classes  of  young  ladies  under  her  charge,  superintending  their 
reading  and  studies,  and  giving  them  lectures  on  history  and  art 
on  classic  ground,  where  some  of  the  greatest  tragedies  of  the 

*  Having  made  many  lyceum  trips  through  Michigan,  I  have  had  several  opportunities  of  meeting 
Mrs.  Stone  in  her  own  quiet  home,  and  I  can  readily  understand  the  wide  influence  she  exerted  on  the 
women  of  that  State,  and  what  a  benediction  her  presence  must  have  been  in  all  the  reform  associa- 
tions in  which  slm  took  an  active  part.  I  always  felt  that  Michigan  would  be  a  grand  State  in  which 
to  make  the  experiment  of  woman  suffrage,  especially  as  in  Mrs.  Sti  ne  we  had  an  enthusiastic  coad- 
jutor. In  paying  this  well-deserved  tribute  to  Mrs.  Stone,  I  must  not  forget  to  mention  that  Mrs.  Jan- 
ney  of  Flint,  a  woman  of  great  executive  ability,  started  the  first  woman's  reading-room  and  library 
many  years  ago. — [E.  C.  S. 

33 


514  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

past  were  enacted ;  in  ancient  palaces,  temples  and  grand  cathe- 
drals; upon  the  very  spots  still  rich  with  the  memories  of 
kings  and  popes,  great  generals,  statesmen,  poets  and  philoso- 
phers. We  cannot  estimate  the  advantages  to  these  young  trav- 
elers of  having  one  always  at  hand,  able  to  point  out  the  beauties 
in  painting  and  statuary,  to  interpret  the  symbols  and  mysteries 
of  architecture,  the  language  of  music,  the  facts  of  history,  and 
the  philosophy  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  mighty  nations.  Mrs.  Stone 
has  also  given  courses  of  parlor  lectures  to  large  classes  of  ladies 
in  every  city  of  the  State,  thus,  with  her  rare  experiences  and 
extensive  observations,  enriching  every  circle  of  society  in  which 
she  moved. 

To  Catharine  A.  F.  Stebbins  we  are  indebted  for  compiling 
many  of  the  facts  contained  in  this  chapter.  Reviewing  the  last 
forty  years,  she  says : 

The  agitation  on  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  began  in  this  State  in 
1846,  with  the  advent  of  Ernestine  L.  Rose,*  who  spoke  twice  in  the  legis- 
lative hall  in  Detroit — once  on  the  "  Science  of  Government,"  and  once 
on  the  "  Antagonisms  in  Society."  A  resolution  was  passed  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  expressing  a  high  sense  of  her  ability,  eloquence 
and  grace  of  delivery.  Her  work  in  Detroit,  Ann  Arbor  and  other  places 
was  three  or  four  years  prior  to  the  first  report  by  the  Special  Committee 
of  the  Senate  in  the  general  revision  of  the  constitution,  nine  years  be- 
fore the  House  Committee's  report  on  elections  in  response  to  women's 
petitions,  and  a  dozen  years  before  the  favorable  "  report  of  the  Senate 
upon  the  memorial  of  ladies  praying  for  the  privilege  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise," signed  by  Thomas  W.  Ferry. 

The  Revolution  of  April  30,  1868,  gives  an  account  of  the  manner  the 
women  of  Sturgis  voted  on  the  question  of  prohibition  : 

"A  few  weeks  ago,  at  a  large  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Sturgis,  Michigan,  the 
ladies  were  asked  to  help  in  the  coming  election  the  cause  of  prohibition.  They  re- 
plied that  they  would  if  they  were  allowed  to  vote.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  the  gen- 
tlemen could  do  no  less  than  to  invite  them.  A  committee  of  twelve  was  appointed. 
They  canvassed  the  village  and  invited  all  the  ladies  to  come  out  and  join  in  the  dem- 
onstration. At  2  o'clock  on  election  day  they  assembled  at  Union  School  Hall  and 
marched  to  the  room  where  the  election  was  held,  and  one  hundred  and  fourteen  de- 
posited their  votes  in  favor  of  prohibition,  and  six  against  it.  Whilst  they  were 
inarching  through  the  room  the  utmost  order  prevailed,  and  when  they  were  retiring 
three  hearty  cheers  were  given  for  the  ladies  of  Sturgis.  Great  credit  is  due  to  Mrs. 
William  Kyte,  chairman  of  the  committee,  as  well  as  to  all  the  other  members,  for 
their  management  of  the  whole  affair.  •  The  utmost  good  feeling  prevailed,  and  not  a 
sneer  or  a  jeer  was  heard  from  the  lords  of  creation,  but  a  large  majority  seemed  to 
hail  this  as  a  precursor  of  what  they  expect  in  the  future,  when  the  people  shall  be  ed- 
ucated to  respect  the  rights  of  all." 

We  find  the  above  in  the  Sturgis  Journal,  by  the  way,  one  of  the  best  in  tone  and 

*  A  sketch  of  this  brilliant  Polish  woman,  who  has  taken  such  an  active  part  in  the  woman  suffrage 
movement,  both  in  this  country  and  England,  will  be  found  in  Volume  I.,  page  95. 


Voting  in  Sturgis.  515 

talent  of  all  our  western  exchanges.  Its  editor,  Mr.  Wait,  is  a  prominent  leader  in 
the  State,  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  a  believer  in  the  equal  civil  and  political ' 
rights  of  women.  We  have  more  than  once  suggested  in  The  Revolution  that  the 
women  should  appear  at  the  polls  on  election  days  and  demand  their  rights  as  citizens. 
The  effect  could  not  but  be  beneficial  wherever  tried.  Any  considerable  number  of 
intelligent  women  in  almost  any  locality  would  in  this  way  soon  inaugurate  a  move- 
ment to  result  in  a  speedy  triumph.  Let  these  noble  Sturgis  women  persevere. 
Methodist  Bishop  Simpson  was  right  when  he  declared  the  vote  of  woman  at  the  polls 
would  soon  extinguish  the  perdition  fires  of  intemperance.  The  Sturgis  women  have 
begun  the  good  work,  a  hundred  and  fourteen  to  six  !  Surely,  blessed  are  the  hus- 
bands and  children  of  such  wives  and  mothers.  P.  P. 

In  The  Revolution  of  September  3,  1868,  we  find  the  following  from  the 
Sturgis  Star : 

Last  spring  the  ladies  of  Sturgis  went  to  the  polls  one  hundred  and  twenty  in  num- 
ber, and  demonstrated  the  propriety  of  the  movement.  Their  votes  did  not  count, 
for  they  could  only  be  cast  in  a  separate  box,  and  the  movement  was  only  good  in  its 
moral  effect.  But  at  the  school  meeting  the  ladies  have  an  equal  right  to  vote  with 
the  men.  Whatever  qualifications  a  man  must  possess  to  exercise  privileges  in  that 
meeting,  any  woman  possessing  like  qualifications  can  exercise  like  privileges  there. 
To  substantiate  this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  read  the  school  law.  Section  145  of  the 
Primary  School  law:  "  The  words 'qualified  voter1  shall  be  taken  and  construed  to 
mean  and  include  all  taxable  persons  residing  in  the  district  of  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  and  who  have  resided  therein  three  months  next  preceding  the  time  of  voting." 

Ex-State  Superintendent  John  M.  Gregory's  opinion  of  that  is,  that  "under  this 
section  (145)  all  persons  liable  to  be  taxed  in  the  district,  and  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
and  having  resided  three  months  in  the  district,  without  distinction  of  sex,  color,  or 
nationality,  may  vote  in  the  district  meetings."  In  districts  where  they  elect  only  a 
director,  assessor  and  moderator,  the  women  can  vote  on  all  questions  except  the  elec- 
tion of  officers.  In  graded  districts  they  can  vote  on  all  questions,  election  of  trustees 
included.  Men  having  no  taxable  property,  but  who  vote  at  town  meetings  and  gen- 
eral elections,  can  only  vote  for  trustees  at  a  school  meeting.  Any  woman,  then,  hav- 
ing a  watch,  cow,  buggy,  or  personal  property  of  any  kind,  subject  to  tax,  or  who  has 
real  estate  in  her  own  name,  or  jointly  with  her  husband,  can  vote.  Here,  then,  is  a 
lawful  right  for  women  to  vote  at  school  meetings,  and  as  there  can  be  no  impro- 
priety in  it,  we  advocate  it.  We  believe  that  it  will  work  good.  Our  Union  school  is 
something  that  all  should  feel  an  active  interest  in.  We  hope,  then,  that  those  ladies 
entitled  to  vote  will  exercise  the  rights  that  the  law  grants  them.  To  give  these  sug- 
gestions a  practical  effect,  we  cheerfully  publish  the  following  notice : 

The  undersigned  respectfully  request  those  ladies  residing  in  District  No.  3,  of 
the  township  of  Sturgis,  who  are  entitled  to  vote  at  the  annual  meeting,  to  assemble  in 
Mrs.  Pendleton's  parlor,  at  the  Exchange  Hotel,  on  Friday  evening  next,  August  28, 
at  7:30  o'clock,  to  consider  the  matter  of  exercising  the  privilege  which  the  law  gives 
them. 

This  call  is  signed  by  about  twenty  of  the  best  women  of  the  borough.  Last  week 
we  called  attention  in  The  Revolution  to  the  earnestness  of  the  English  women  in 
urging  their  claim  to  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  appealed  to  American  women  from 
their  example.  We  hear  from  different  sources  that  American  women  will  attempt,  to 
some  extent,  to  be  registered  this  year  as  voters,  and  we  hope  so  brave  an  example 
will  become  a  contagion.  A  boastful  warrior  once  demanded  of  his  foe,  "  Deliver  up 
your  arms."  The  answer  was,  "Come,  if  you  dare,  and  take  them!"  Let  women 
become  brave  enough  to  take  their  rights,  and  there  will  not  be  much  resistance. 
According  to  their  faith  and  their  courage,  so  shall  it  be.  P.  P. 

The  Michigan  State  Suffrage  Society — always  an  independent  associa- 
tion— was  organized  at  the  close  of  the  first  convention  held  in  Ham- 


516  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

blin's  Opera-house,  Battle  Creek,*  January  20,  1870,  aqd  has  done  the 
usual  work  of  aiding  in  the  formation  of  local  societies,  circulating  tracts 
and  petitions,  securing  hearings  before  the  legislature,  and  holding  its 
annual  meetings  from  year  to  year  in  the  different  cities  of  the  State. 

The  Northwestern  Association  held  its  first  annual  convention  in  the 
Young  Men's  Hall,  Detroit,  November  28,  29,  1870,  with  large  and  appre- 
ciative audiences.t  Legislative  action  on  the  question  of  woman  suffrage 
began  in  Michigan  in  1849,  when  : 

The  special  report  favorable  to  Senate  document  No.  10,  for  universal  suffrage,  was 
signed  by  Dwight  Webb,  Edward  H.  Thompson  and  Rix  Robinson. — House  docu- 
ment No.  31,  legislature  of  1855:  "The  Committee  on  Elections,  to  whom  was  re- 
ferred the  petition  of  Betsy  P.  Parker,  Lucinda  Knapp,  Nancy  Fleming,  Electa  Myers, 
and  several  other  'strong-minded*  ladies  of  Lenawee  county,  asking  such  amend- 
ments to  the  constitution  of  the  State  as  will  secure  to  women  an  equal  right  to  the 
elective  franchise  with  men,"  reported  adversely,  ridiculed  the  petitioners,  and  was 
signed  by  A.  P.  Moorman. — Senate  document  No.  27,  in  the  session  of  1857  :  On  a 
memorial  of  ladies  praying  the  legislature  to  grant  them  the  elective  franchise,  the 
report  was  signed  by  Thomas  \V.  Ferry,  and  was  favorable  and  respectful. — House 
document  No.  25,  legislature  of  1859  :  On  constitutional  amendments  in  favor  of  uni- 
versal suffrage,  the  report  was  favorable  for  extending  suffrage  to  colored  men,  but 
doubtful  as  to  the  wisdom  of  extending  it  to  women.  This  was  signed  by  Fabius 
Miles,  chairman. — Senate  document  No.  12:  Upon  the  same  constitutional  amend- 
ments, in  the  legislature  of  1859,  the  report  signed  by  R.  E.  Trowbridge,  chairman  of 
the  committee,  was  adverse  to  extending  suffrage  to  women. 

On  February  13,  1873,  Mr.  Lamb  introduced  "  a  joint  resolution  granting  the  privi- 
lege of  the  elective  franchise  to  the  women  of  the  State."  Mr.  Bartholomew  intro- 
duced "  a  joint  resolution  proposing  an  amendment  to  section  I,  article  I.,  of  the  con- 
stitution, in  relation  to  the  qualifications  of  electors."  Both  were  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Elections,  which  made  the  following  report : 

The  Committee  on  Elections,  to  whom  was  referred  the  joint  resolution  granting 
the  privilege  of  the  elective  franchise  to  women  of  this  State,  respectfully  report  that 
they  have  had  the  same  under  consideration,  and  have  directed  me  to  report  the  same 
back  to  the  House  without  recommendation.  We  think  the  time  has  not  arrived  for 
us  to  decide  on  so  important  a  matter.  We  await  further  developments,  and  are  un- 
der the  impression  that  there  is  no  popular  demand  for  the  change — at  least  not  sum- 


*  The  speakers  at  the  Battle  Creek  convention  were  Miriam  M.  Cole,  editor  of  The  Woman's  Advo- 
cate, Dayton,  Ohio;  Mary  A.  Livermore,  editor  Woman's  Journal,  Boston  ;  Hannah  Tracy  Cutler, 
Illinois  ;  Rev.  J.  M.  McCarthy,  Saginaw  ;  Mrs.  J.  C.  Dexter,  Ionia;  Mrs.  D.  C.  Blakeman,  Lucinda 
H.  Stone,  Kalamazoo;  Adelle  Hazlett,  Hillsdale;  Rev.  J.  S.  Loveland,  D.  M.  Fox,  Battle  Creek ; 
Mary  T.  Lathrop,  Jackson.  Letters  of  sympathy  were  received  from  B.  F.  Cocker  and  Moses 
Coit  Tyler,  professors  of  the  Michigan  State  University.  The  officers  of  the  State  association 
were  :  President,  Professor  Moses  Coit  Tyler,  Ann  Arbor  ;  Vice-President,  Lucinda  H.  Stone  ;  Re- 
cording Secretary,  Mary  T.  Lathrop  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  EuphemiaCochran,  Detroit ;  Treas- 
urer, Colin  Campbell,  Detroit ;  Executive  Committee,  Dr.  S.  B.  Thayer,  Frances  W.  Titus,  Battle 
Creek  ;  Eliza  Burt  Gamble,  East  Saginaw  ;  Catharine  A.  F.  Stebbins,  Detroit ;  Hon.  J.  G.  Wait,  Stur- 
gis  ;  Mrs.  D.  C.  Blakeman,  Kalamazoo  ;  Mrs.  L.  H.  T.  Dexter,  Ionia. 

t  The  speakers  at  the  Northwestern  convention  were  Mrs.  Hazlett,  the  president ;  Hon.  C.  B.  Waite, 
Professor  D.  C.  Brooks,  Chicago ;  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Celia  Burleigh,  New  York  ;  Lillie  Peckham, 
Wisconsin  ;  Mrs.  Lathrop,  Jackson  ;  Giles  B.  Stebbins,  Adam  Elder,  J.  B.  Bloss,  Detroit.  Letters 
were  reported  from  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Wendell  Phillips,  Rev.  E.  O.  Haven,  Professor  B.  F.  Cocker, 
Moses  Coit  Tyler,  Mrs.  Livermore,  Lucy  Stone,  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Mrs.  Josephine  Griffing,  T.  W.  Hig- 
ginson,  Theodore  Tilton,  Phoebe  Couzins,  Anna  E.  Dickinson,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Miriam  M.  Cole 
and  Rev.  Robert  Collyer.  The  officers  elected  were:  President,  Mrs.  A.M.  Hazlett,  Michigan;  Record- 
ing Secretary,  Mrs.  Rebecca  W.  Mott,  Chicago  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Harriet  S.  Brooks, 
Chicago;  Treasurer;,  Hon.  Fernandol  Jones,  Chicago;  Vice-Presidents,  J  B.  Bloss,  Michigan  ;  Mrs. 
Myra  Bradwell,  Illinois  ;  Mrs.  E.  R.  Collins,  Ohio  ;  Mrs.  Dr.  Ferguson,  Indiana  ;  Miss  Phcebe  Couzins, 
Missouri ;  Executive  Committee,^..  B.  Waite, Chicago  ;  Colin  Campbell,  Detroifc;  Mrs.  Francis  Minor, 
Missouri ;  Madame  Anneke,  Wisconsin  ;  Mrs.  Charles  Leonard  and  Mrs.  E.  J.  Loomis,  Chicago. 


Memorial  of  the  State  Association.  517 

cient  to  warrant  us  in  recommending  so  important  a  change  in  our  form  of  government 
at  the  present  session  of  the  legislature — and  ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further 
consideration  of  the  subject.  [Signed  :]  A.  HEWITT,  Acting  Chairman. 

Motion  carried  to  lay  the  joint  resolution  on  the  table.  March  4,  it  was  taken  from 
the  table  and  referred  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  who  recommended  its  passage, 
and  April  10  it  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  50  to  24  : 

The  committee  have  considered  the  matters  embraced  in  the  several  resolutions  re- 
ferred to  them  relative  to  providing  for  woman's  suffrage,  and  have  instructed  me  to 
report  against  adding  any  such  provision  to  the  constitution  at  present.  The  commit- 
tee ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

[Signed:]  E.  W.  MEUDAUGH,   Chairman. 

October  14. — A  bill  for  separate  submission  to  a  vote  of  the  people  of  an  amend- 
ment to  the  constitution  relating  to  woman's  suffrage,  was  lost  by  a  tie  vote — 7  for  and 
7  against. 

At  the  extra  session  of  the  legislature,  1874,  in  the  House,  March  10,  Mr.  Hoyt  in- 
troduced a  joint  resolution  for  separate  submission  to  a  vote  of  the  people  of  an 
amendment  to  the  constitution  relating  to  woman  suffrage.  Referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Elections  and  State  Affairs,  jointly.  On  March  12  the  following  memorial 
from  the  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association  *  was  presented  in  the  House : 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the   State  of  Michigan,  in  Special 
Session  Convened: 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Michigan  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  at 
their  meeting  held  in  Kalamazoo,  Februay  10,  1874,  voted  to  memorialize  your  honor- 
able body,  at  your  special  session  now  being  held. 

We  beg  leave  to  represent  to  you  that  the  object  of  this  association  is  to  secure,  in  a 
legal  way,  the  enfranchisement  of  the  women  of  the  State.  They  are,  as  you  well 
know,  already  recognized  as  citizens  of  the  State  according  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States.  They  are  now  taxed  for  all  purposes  of  public  interest  as  well  as  the  men. 
But  they  are  not  represented  in  the  legislature,  nor  in  any  brairch  of  the  State  govern- 
ment, thus  affording  a  great  example,  and  an  unjust  one  for  women,  of  taxation  with- 
out representation,  which  our  fathers  declared  to  be  tyranny;  and  which  is  contrary  to 
the  genius  of  our  republican  institutions,  and  to  the  general  polity  of  this  common- 
wealth. Women  are  also  governed,  while  they  have  no  direct  voice  in  the  government, 
and  made  subject  to  laws  affecting  their  property,  their  personal  rights  and  liberty,  in 
whose  enactment  they  have  no  voice. 

We  therefore  petition  your  honorable  body,  that  in  preparing  a  new  constitution,  to 
be  submitted  for  adoption  or  rejection  by  the  people  of  this  State,  you  will  strike  out 
the  word  "  male"  from  the  ariicle  defining  the  qualifications  of  electors;  or  if  deemed 
best  by  you,  will  provide  for  the  separate  submission  of  an  article  for  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  women  of  Michigan,  giving  them  equal  rights  and  privileges  with  the  men. 
By  thus  taking  the  lead  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  to  more  fully  secure  the  personal 
rights  of  all  the  citizens,  you  will  show  yourselves  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  age 
and  worthy  to  be  called  pioneers  in  this  cause,  as  you  are  already  most  honorably  ac- 
counted pioneers  in  your  educational  system,  which  affords  equal  and  impartial  ad- 
vantages to  the  population  of  our  State,  irrespective  of  sex  or  condition  in  life — thus 
aiming  to  elevate  the  entire  people  to  the  highest  practicable  plane  of  intelligence  and 
true  civilization. 

By  order,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Michigan  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

LUCINDA  H.  STONE,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Mrs.  A.  II.  WALKER,  President. 

On  March  14,  the  joint  committee  made  the  following  report : 

The  committees  on  State  affairs  and  elections,  to  whom  was  referred  the  joint  resolu- 
tion proposing  an  amendment  to  section  I,  article  vn.,  of  the  constitution,  in  relation 
to  the  qualifications  of  electors,  respectfully  report  that  they  have  had  the  same  under 
consideration,  and  have  directed  us  to  report  the  same  back  to  the  House  without 
amendment,  and  recommend  that  it  do  pass  and  ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further 
consideration  of  the  subject. 


*  President,  Mrs.  A.  H.  Walker  ;  Corresponding  Secretary ,  T.ucinda  H.  Stone  ;  Recording  Secre- 
tary, Mrs.  S.  E.  Emory  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  K.  Mctcalf  ;  Kxecvtive  Committee,  Dr.  J.  A.  B.  Stone, 
Mrs.  Frances  Titus,  Mrs.  O.  A.  Jeimison,  Mrs.  C.  A.  F.  Stcbbins,  Mrs.  D.  C.  Blakeman,  Mrs.  L.  B 
Curtiss,  Dr.  J.  H.  Bartholomew. 


518  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  reasons  which  have  influenced  the  committee  in  recommending  an  amendment 
so  radical  and  sweeping  in  the  changes  which  it  will  create  if  finally  adopted  by  the 
people,  are  briefly  these  :  The  question  of  granting  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women 
equally  with  men,  is  one  that  has  been  seriously  and  widely  agitated  for  years,  and 
while,  like  other  political  reforms  which  change  in  any  considerable  degree  the  old  and 
established  order  of  things,  it  has  met  with  strong  opposition,  on  the  other  hand  it  has 
been  ably  advocated  by  men  and  women  distinguished  alike  for  their  intellectual 
ability  and  their  excellent  judgment.  Although  we  believe  that  there  should  be  certain 
necessary  and  proper  restrictions  to  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise,  we  are  of 
the  opinion  that  there  are  reasonable  grounds  to  doubt  whether  the  distinction  of  sex 
in  the  matter  of  voting,  is  not,  in  a  large  measure,  a  fictitious  one.  The  interests  of 
women  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  good  government  are  certainly  identical  with  those 
of  men.  In  the  matter  of  property  their  rights  conceded  by  law  are  equal,  and  in 
some  respects  superior  to  those  of  men;  and  if  the  principle  of  no  taxation  without 
representation  is  a  just  one  as  applied  among  men,  it  would  seem  that  it  might  in  jus- 
tice be  extended  to  women.  As  the  reasons  given  above  are  strongly  urged  by  the 
advocates  of  woman  suffrage,  and  as  several  petitions,  numerously  signed  by  citizens 
of  the  State,  asking  for  some  action  on  the  part  of  the  House  in  this  matter,  are  in  the 
hands  of  the  committee,  we  have  deemed  it  advisable,  although  not  equally  agreed  as 
to  the  main  question  involved,  to  recommend  the  passage  of  the  resolution  by  the 
House,  in  order  that  the  people  of  the  State  may  have  an  opportunity  of  expressing 
their  will  at  the  ballot-box  as  to  the  expediency  of  extending  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
women.  SAML'EL  H.  BLACKMAN,  Chairman  of  Committee  on  State  Affairs. 

JAMES  BURNES,  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Elections. 

Report  accepted,  and  joint  resolution  placed  on  the  general  order. 

On  March  18  the  following  joint  resolution  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  67  to  27, 
and  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  26  to  4,*  proposing  an  amendment  to  section  I  of 
article  VII.  of  the  constitution,  in  relation  to  the  qualification  of  electors  : 

Resolved,  By  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  of  Michigan, 
That  at  the  election  when  the  amended  constitution  shall  be  submitted  to  the  electors 
of  this  State  for  adoption  or  rejection,  there  shall  be  submitted  to  such  electors  the 
following  propositions,  to  be  substituted  in  case  of  adoption,  for  so  much  of  section  I, 
of  article  VII.,  as  precedes  the  proviso  therein,  in  the  present  constitution  of  this  State 
as  it  now  stands,  and  substituted  for  section  I,  article  vn.,  in  said  amended  constitu- 
tion, if  the  latter  is  adopted,  to  wit : 

SECTION  I.  In  all  elections,  every  person  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  who  shall 
have  resided  in  this  State  three  months,  and  in  the  township  or  ward  in  which  he  or 
she  offers  to  vote  ten  days  next  preceding  an  election,  belonging  to  either  of  the  fol- 
lowing classes,  shall  be  an  elector  and  entitled  to  vote  : 

First — Every  citizen  of  the  United  States;  Second — Every  inhabitant  of  this  State, 
who  shall  have  resided  in  the  United  States  two  years  and  six  months,  and  declared 
his  or  her  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  pursuant  to  the  laws 
thereof,  six  months  preceding  an  election;  Third — Every  inhabitant  residing  in  this 
State  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five. 

Said  proposition  shall  be  separately  submitted  to  the  electors  of  this  State  for  their 
adoption  or  rejection,  in  form  following,  to  wit:  A  separate  ballot  may  be  given  by 
every  person  having  the  right  to  vote,  to  be  deposited  in  a  separate  box.  Upon  the 
ballot  given  for  said  proposition  shall  be  written,  or  printed,  or  partly  written  and 
partly  printed,  the  words,  "Woman  Suffrage, — Yes";  and  upon  ballots  given  against 
the  adoption  thereof ,  in  like  manner,  the  words,  "  Woman  Suffrage, — No."  If  at  said 
election  a  majority  of  the  votes  given  upon  said  proposition  shall  contain  the  words, 
"  Woman  Suffrage, — Yes,"  then  said  proposition  shall  be  substituted  for  so  much  of 
section  I,  of  article  vil.,  as  includes  the  proviso  therein  in  the  present  constitution  of 

*  The  following  named  representatives  voted  yea  :  Messrs.  Armstrong,  Bailey,  Bartholomew,  Black- 
man,  Briggs,  Brown,  Branson,  Buell,  Burns,  Cady,  Carter,  Chamberlain,  Collins,  Dintruff,  Drake, 
Drew,  Edwards,  Fancher,  Ferguson,  Garfield,  Gravelink,  Gilmore,  Goodrich,  Gordon,  Green,  Haire, 
Harden,  Hewitt,  Hosner,  Howard,  Hoyt,  Kellogg,  Knapp,  Lamb,  Luce,  E.  R.  Miller,  R.  C.  Miller, 
Mitchell,  Morse,  O'Dell,  Parker,  Parsons,  Pierce,  Priest,  Remer,  Rich,  Robinson,  Sanderson.  Scott,  Ses- 
sions, Shaw,  Smith,  Taylor,  Thomas,  Thompson,  VanAken,  VanScoy,  A.  Walker,  F.  Walker,  Walton, 
Warren.  Welch.  Welker,  Wheeler,  Withington,  Wixon,  Speaker — 67.  The  following  named  Senators 
voted  yea  :  Messrs.  Anderson,  Beattie,  Brewer,  Butterfield,  Childs,  Clubb,  Cook,  Crosby,  Curry,  De- 
Land,  Ely,Goodell,  Gray,  Hewitt,  Isham.  Lewis,  Mickley,  Mitchell,  McGowan,  Neasmith,  Prutzman, 
Richardson,  Sparks,  Sumner,  Sutton,  Wells — 26. 


Lydia  Maria  Child.  5 1 9 

the  State  as  it  now  stands,  or  substituted  for  section  I,  of  article  vn.,  in  said  amended 
constitution,  if  the  latter  is  adopted. 

This  bill  was  promptly  signed  by  Governor  Bagley,  and  from  that  hour 
the  attention  of  the  advocates  of  suffrage  for  women  was  centered  on 
Michigan. 

The  submission  of  this  amendment  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  gave  an  un- 
usual interest  and  importance  to  the  annual  meeting  held  at  Lansing, 
May  6,  1874,*  at  which  plans  were  to  be  made,  and  money  raised  for  a  vig- 
orous campaign  throughout  the  State.  The  large  number  of  women  ready 
to  do  the  speaking,  and  the  equally  large  number  of  men  ready  to  make 
generous  contributions,  were  most  encouraging  in  starting.  Women  who 
could  not  aid  the  cause  in  any  other  way  cast  their  gold  watches  into  the 
treasury.  From  the  large  number  of  letters  received  at  this  convention 
we  may  judge  how  thoroughly  aroused  the  friends  were  all  over  the 
country.  Lydia  Maria  Child  wrote  : 

It  is  urged,  that  if  women  participated  in  public  affairs,  puddings  would  be  spoiled, 
and  stockings  neglected.  Doubtless  some  such  cases  might  occur;  for  we  have  the 
same  human  nature  as  men,  and  men  are  sometimes  so  taken  up  with  elections  as  to 
neglect  their  business  for  a  while.  But  I  apprehend  that  puddings  and  stockings,  to 
say  nothing  of  nurseries,  suffer  much  greater  detriment  from  the  present  expenditure 
of  time  and  thought  upon  the  heartless  ostentation  of  parties,  and  the  flounces  and 
fripperies  of  fashion,  than  can  possibly  accrue  from  the  intellectual  cultivation  of 
women,  or  their  participation  in  public  affairs.  Voting  is  a  mere  incident  in  the  lives 
of  men.  It  does  not  prevent  the  blacksmith  from  shoeing  horses,  or  the  farmer  from 
planting  fields,  or  the  lawyer  from  attending  courts;  so  I  see  no  reason  why  it  need  to 
prevent  women  from  attending  to  their  domestic  duties.  On  certain  subjects,  such  as 
intemperance,  licentiousness  and  war,  women  would  be  almost  universally  sure  to  ex- 
ert their  influence  in  the  right  directions,  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  peculiarly 
suffer  from  the  continuance  of  these  evils.  In  the  discharge  of  this  new  function,  they 
would  doubtless  make  some  mistakes,  and  yield  to  some  temptations,  just  as  men  do. 
But  the  consciousness  of  being  an  acknowledged  portion  of  the  government  of  the 
country  would  excite  a  deeper  interest  in  its  welfare,  and  produce  a  serious  sense 
of  responsibility,  which  would  gradually  invigorate  and  ennoble  their  characters. 

THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON  wrote  :  I  believe  that  .we  fail  to  establish  a  truly 
republican  government,  or  to  test  the  principle  of  universal  suffrage,  so  long  as  we  en- 
franchise one  sex  only. 

A.  BRONSON  ALCOTT  wrote  :  *  *  *  Where  women  lead — the  best  women — is  it 
unsafe  for  men  to  follow?  Woman's  influence  cannot  be  confined  to  her  household; 


*  Officers  of  the  Michigan  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association  :  President ',  Hon.  Jonas  H.  Mc- 
Gowan,  Coldwater  ;  Vice-Presidents ;  Rev.  Richmond  Fiske  Jr.,  Grand  Haven,  Mrs.  John  J.  Bagley, 
Detroit;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  N.  Geddes,  Lenawee ;  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  George  H. 
Stickney,  Grand  Haven  ;  Ejcecutiz'g  Committee^  Chairman,  Hon.  William  M.  Ferry,  Grand  Haven; 
First  District— Giles  B.  Stebbins,  Z.  R.  Brockway,  Wayne  ;  Second  District— Hon.  Charles  E.  Mick- 
ley,  Lenawee,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Hazlett,  Hillsdale  ;  Third  District — Hon.  W.  H.  Withington,  Jackson,  Mor- 
Kan  l';it(-s,  Culhoun  ;  Fourth  District — James  H.  Stone,  Kalamazoo,  Miss  Sarah  Clute,  St.  Joseph  ; 
Fifth  District— Hon.  B.  A.  Harlan,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Bliss,  Kent  ;  Sixth  District — Hon.  I.  H,  Bartholomew, 
Ingham,  Mrs.  A.  Jenney,  Gencsec  ;  Seventh  District — Hon.  J.  C.  Lamb,  Lapeer,  J.  P.  Hoyt,  Tuscola  ; 
Eighth  District — Hon.  C.  V.  DcLand,  Saginaw,  Hon.  J.  D.  Lewis,  Bay  ;  Ninth  District — Hon.  E.  L. 
Gray,  Newaygo,  Mrs.  J.  G.  Ramsdell,  Grand  Traverse;  ^ice-Presidents  by  Congressional  Districts, 
First  District— Mrs.  Eliza  Leggett,  Hon.  W.  N.  Hudson,  Wayne  ;  Second  District— Hon.  W.  S.  Wilcox, 
Lenawee,  Hon.  Talcott  E.  Wing,  Monroe;  Third  District — Mrs.  Ann  E.  Graves,  Calhoun,  Mrs.  Mary 
I.athrop,  Jackson;  Fourth  District— Hon.  Levi  Sparks,  Berrien,  Rev.  H.  C.  Peck,  Kalama/oo ;  Fifth 
District — Hon.  S.  L.  Withey,  Hon.  James  Miller,  Kent  ;  Sixth  District — Hon.  Randolph  Strickland, 
Clinton,  C.  F.  Kimball,  Oakland  ;  Seventh  District— Hon.  Ira  Butterfield,  Lapeer,  John  M.  Potter, 
Macomb  ;  Eighth  District— Hon.  Ralph  Ely,  Gratiot,  Mrs.  S.  M.  Green.  Bay;  Ninth  District — Elvin 
L.  Sprague,  Grand  Traverse,  S.  W.  Fowler,  Manistee. 


520  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

woman  is,  and  will  be,  womanly  wherever  placed.  No  condition  can  unsex  the  sexes. 
The  ten  commandments  will  not  suffer  in  her  keeping.  Her  vote  will  tell  for  the 
virtues,  against  the  vices  all.  Plato  said:  "  Either  sex  alone  is  but  half  itself." 
Socially,  we  admit  his  assertion,  and  are  just  beginning  to  suspect  that  our  republican 
institutions  need  to  be  complemented  and  rounded  with  woman's  counsels,  and  adminis- 
trationsalso.  Good  republicans  are  asking  if  our  legislation  is  not  unsettled,  demoralized 
by  the  debauchery  of  hasty  politics,  by  private  vices,  and  the  want  of  manly  integrity, 
woman's  honor.  Let  our  courtesy  to  women  be  sincere — paid  to  her  modesty  as  to  her 
person;  her  intelligence  as  to  her  housekeeping;  her  refining  influence  in  political  as  in 
social  circles.  Where  a  husband  would  blush  to  take  his  wife  and  daughters,  let  him 
blush  to  be  seen  by  his  sons.  "  Revere  no  god,"  says  Euripides,  "  whom  men  adore  by 
night."  And  Sophocles:  "  Seek  not  thy  fellow-citizens  to  guide  till  thou  canst  order 
well  thine  own  fireside."  Mrs.  Alcott  and  Louisa  join  in  hearty  hopes  for  your  su> 

ED.NA  I).  CIIKNKY  wrote  :  *  *  *  How  I  long  for  the  time  when  this  question 
being  settled,  we  can  all  go  forward,  working  together,  to  discuss  and  settle  the  really 
great  questions  of  political  and  social  economy,  of  labor,  of  education,  and  the  full 
development  of  human  life  in  State  and  society. 

JOHN  GREEXLKAK  WHITTIER  wrote  :  *  *  *  I  hope  and  trust  the  electors  will 
be  wise  and  generous  enough  to  decide  it  in  your  favor.  Were  I  a  citizen  of  the  State 
I  should  esteem  it  alike  a  duty  and  a  privilege  to  vote  in  the  affirmative. 

ASA  MAHAN,  president  of  Oberlin  College,  wrote  :  The  cause  which  has  called  you 
together  is  a  very  plain  one.  It  is  simply  this,  whether  "  taxation  without  representa- 
tion "  is  tyranny  to  all  but  one-half  of  the  human  race,  and  the  principle  that  rulers 
derive  their  authority  to  make  and  administer  law  from  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
holds  true  of  the  white  man  and  the  black  man,  of  man  native  or  foreign  born,  and 
even  of  ihe  "  heathen  Chinee,"  if  he  belong  to  the  male  sex,  and  is  a  lie  in  its  applica- 
tion to  woman.* 

Dr.  Stone,  of  Kalamazoo,  read  an  able  report  of  what  had  been  done, 
and  all  it  was  necessary  to  do  if  the  friends  desired  to  carry  the  pending 
amendment.  The  following  extract  will  give  some  idea  of  the  momentous 
undertaking  in  canvassing  a  State  : 

When  the  governor  decided  to  call  an  extra  session  of  the  legislature,  so  as  to  sub- 
mit the  new  constitution  to  a  popular  vote  next  November,  the  committee  had  but  little 
time  for  the  circulation  of  petitions;  but  enough  was  done  to  secure  the  vote  in  favor 
of  submission.  This  was  the  more  easily  accomplished  because  we  have  in  the  present 
legislature  so  many  warm  and  active  friends,  who  gave  that  body  no  rest  until  their 
point  was  carried.  And  here  we  find  ourselves  suddenly  brought  into  a  campaign  al- 
most as  novel  as  momentous,  with  scarce  a  precedent  to  guide  us.  We  ask  the  electors 
of  Michigan  to  share  their  civil  and  political  power  with  those  who  have  always  been 
denied  all  electoral  rights — to  vest  the  popular  sovereignty  not  merely  in  themselves, 
in  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  men,  as  hitherto,  but  in  half  a  million  of  men  and  women, 
and  so  make  our  State  what  it  is  not  now,  a  truly  republican  commonwealth.  We  have 
a.  great  work  before  us,  and  no  time  should  be  lost  in  organizing  a  general  canvass  of 
the  entire  State.  Competent  lecturers  should  be  employed  wherever  hearers  can  be 
.found,  and  money  raised  to  defray  the  expenses.  Printed  documents  too,  must  be  cir- 
culated; arguments  and  conclusions  framed  by  those  who  have  thought  on  these  sub- 
jects for  men,  and  sometimes  for  women,  who  are  too  indolent  to  think  for  themselves. 
And  there  are  many  other  things  which  we  must  do  before  the  November  election; 
ballots  must  be  furnished  for  every  township  and  polling  place,  especially  affirmative 
ballots,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  all  the  voters.  The  Executive  Committee  cannot 


*  Among  many  others  were  letters  from  Amos  Dresser.  Parker  Pillsbury,  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  Rev. 
S.  Reed,  of  Ann  Arbor,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Lucy  Stone,  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  Lucretia 
Molt,  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  Dr.  Henry  B.  Baker,  Miriam  M.  Cole,  Margaret  V.  Longley,  Abby 
and  Julia  Smith,  of  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  A.  C.  Voris,  from  the  Ohio  constitutional  convention,  Hon.  J. 
Logan  Chipman. 


Attitude  of  the   Churches.  521 

be  ubiquitous  enough  to  discharge  all  these  multifarious  duties.  We  therefore  suggest 
that  there  be  appointed  during  this  meeting,  First,  a.  Committee  on  Finance.  Second, 
a  Committee  on  Printed  Documents.  Third,  a  Committee  on  Lecturers.  Fourth,  a 
County  Committee  of  perhaps  three  persons  in  each  county,  who  shall  have  power  also 
to  appoint  a  sub-committee  in  each  township.  Whether  so  many  distinct  committees 
will  be  needed,  or  more  than  one  class  of  duties  can  be  entrusted  to  the  same  com- 
mittee, the  association  can  determine.  We  do  not  want  too  much,  nor  too  complicated 
machinery,  but  just  enough  to  accomplish  the  work.  We  must  fall  into  line;  woman 
expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty;  surely  she  will  not  fail  to  be  true  to  herself. 

Representatives  from  the  different  counties  gave  their  names*  as  ready 
to  begin  the  work  arranged  by  the  several  committees.  With  this  large 
and  enthusiastic  convention  the  campaign  may  be  said  fairly  to  have 
opened  at  Lansing  early  in  May,  a  political  organization  being  formed  of 
Republicans  and  Democrats  alike,  representing  nearly  every  district  in 
the  State.  Governor  Bagley  having  promptly  signed  the  bill,  and  his  wife 
being  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  measure,  the  social  influence  of  the  fam- 
ily was  all  in  the  right  direction.  The  influence  of  the  church,  too,  was 
in  a  measure  favorable.  The  Methodist  denomination,  in  its  general  con- 
ference, passed  a  resolution  indorsing  woman  suffrage.  Mrs.  Stanton,  in 
a  letter  to  the  Golden  Age,  said  : 

During  the  time  I  spent  in  Michigan,  speaking  every  night  and  twice  on  Sunday  to 
crowded  houses,  I  had  abundant  opportunities  of  feeling  the  pulse  of  the  people,  both 
in  public  and  private,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  tide  of  popular  thought  and  feel- 
ing was  running  in  the  right  direction.  The  people  are  beginning  to  regard  the  idea 
of  woman's  equality  with  man  as  not  only  a  political,  but  a  religious  truth,  Metho- 
dist, Congregational,  Presbyterian,  Baptist  and  Unitarian  churches  being  all  alike 
thrown  open  to  its  consideration.  Sitting  Sunday  after  Sunday  in  the  different  pulpits 
with  reverend  gentlemen,  my  discourses  given  in  the  place  of  the  sermon,  in  the  reg- 
ular services,  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the  distance  we  had  come  since  that  period 
in  civilization  when  Paul's  word  was  law,  "Let  your  women  keep  silence  in 
the  churches."  Able  men  and  women  are  speaking  in  every  part  of  the  State,  and 
if  our  triumph  should  not  be  complete  at  the  next  election,  at  all  events  a  great  educa- 
tional work  will  have  been  accomplished  in  the  distribution  of  tracts,  in  the  public  de- 


*  The  following  persons  were  announced  and  requested  to  communicate  at  once  with  the  Executive 
Committee,  George  H.  Stickney,  Secretary,  Grand  Haven,  Mich.:  Allegan,  Mrs.  E.  S.  Nichols  ; 
Harry,  Mrs.  Goodyear;  Bay,  Mrs.  S.  M.  Green,  Mrs.  Judge  Holmes;  Berrien,  Hon.  Levi  Sparks,  O. 
K.  Mead;  Branch,  Mrs.  Celia  Woolley,  Mrs.  H.  J.  Boutelle  ;  Calhoun,  W.  F.  Neil,  Mrs.  Judge 
(Iruvus,  Morgan  Hates,  Dr.  G.  P.  Jocelyn  ;  Cass,  Mr.  Rice,  William  L.  Jaques  ;  Chippewa,  Mrs. 
Charles  G.  Shepherd  ;  Clinton,  Mrs.  Lee,  Mrs.  Gole ;  Eaton,  J.  Chance,  Hon.  A.  K.  Warren,  Mrs.  J. 
Musgrave,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Foote  ;  Gencsee,  Mrs.  D.  Stewart;  Grand  Traverse,  Hon.  W.  H.  C. 
Mitchell,  Hon.  J.  G.  Ramsdell ;  Gratiot,  Hon.  Ralph  Ely  ;  Hillsdale,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Pendill,  Mrs.  Dr. 
Swift,  Mrs.  E.  Samm  ;  Inghatn,  Dr.  I.  H.  Bartholomew,  Mrs.  O.  A.  Jcnison,  A.  R.  Burr;  Ionia, 
Mrs.  A.  Williams,  Mrs.  Chaddock,  Mr.  J.  B.  Smith  ;  Isabella,  Mrs.  Douglas  Nelson  ;  Jackson,  Mrs. 
Mary  Lathrop,  F'dus  Livermore  ;  Kalatnazoo,  J.  H.  Stone,  Col.  F.  W.  Curtenius,  Merritt  Moore.  Dr. 
N.  Thomas  ;  Kent,  Mrs.  K.  L.  Briggs,  E.  G.  D.  Holden,  E.  P.  Churchill  ;  Lapeer,  Hon.  J.  C.  Lamb, 
Mrs.  J.  B.  Wilson;  Loitticfi;  Mre.  Dr.  Fox,  Mrs.  F.  A.  Rowley,  Hon.  Charles  E.  Mickley  ;  Liv- 
•n.  K.  P.  Gregory;  Macoinb,  Mrs.  Ambrose  Campbell,  Daniel  B.  Briggs ;  Manistee,  S.  W. 
Fowler,  Hon.  B.  M.  Cutcheon,  T.  J.  Rumsdell ;  Alarquctte,  Sidney  Adams,  Hiram  A.  Burt ;  Mason, 
Mr.  Foster;  Midland,  Dr.  E.  Jennings,  Mrs.  Sunnier;  Missnukee,  S.  W.  Davis;  Monroe,  Hon.  J.  J. 
Stimncr  ;  Montcaint,  Mr.  J.  M.  Fuller  ;  Muskcgon,  Lieutenant-Governor  H.  H.  Holt,  Mrs.  O.  B. 
Ingersoll,  Mrs.  Barney  ;  Ke-waygo,  Hon.  E.  L.  Gray,  Mrs.  Lucy  Utley ;  Oakland,  Mrs.  D.  B.  Fox,  J. 
Holman,  jr.,  Mrs.  Alexander ;  Occana,  John  Halstcd  ;  Osccola,  B.  F.  Gooch  ;  Ottawa,  Dwight  Cutler, 
Mrs.  W.  C.  Sheldon  ;  Roscommon,  Messrs.  Davis  &  Hall  ;  Saginaw,  Mrs.  Whiting.  Mrs.  Gamble,  J. 
F.  Driggs,  W.  P.  Burdick  ;  Shiawassee,  Mrs.  Dr.  Parkill,  J.  H.  Hartwell,  Hon.  J.  M.  Goodell.  Dr. 
King  ;  St.  Clair,  Hon.  B.  W.  Jenks  ;  St.  Joseph,  W.  S.  Moore,  Mr-,.  Mary  Peck  ;  Tuscola,  Mrs.  J.  P. 
Mnyt;  \'an  J!:n;-n,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  D.  Van  Vechten,  A.  S.  Dyckman,  Hon.  S.  H.  Blackman ; 
ll'aslttenaiv,  Mrs.  Israel  Hall,  Mrs.  Seth  Reed,  U.  Cramer,  Mary  E.  Foster;  ll'ayne,  Mrs.  C.  A.  F. 
Stebbins,  Colin  Campbell,  G.  W.  Bates,  Lucy  L.  Stout. 


522  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

bates,  and  in  reviewing  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  government  and  religion. 
Being  frequently  told  that  women  did  not  wish  to  vote,  I  adopted  the  plan  of  calling 
for  a  rising  vote  at  the  close  of  my  lectures,  and  on  all  occasions  a  majority  of  the 
women  would  promptly  rise.  Knowing  that  the  men  had  the  responsibility  of  voting 
before  their  eyes,  and  might  be  diffident  about  rising,  I  reversed  the  manner  of  expres- 
sion in  their  case,  requesting  all  those  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  to  keep  their  seats, 
and  those  opposed  to  rise  up,  thus  throwing  the  onerous  duty  of  changing  their  atti- 
tudes on  the  opposition.  So  few  arose  under  such  circumstances  that  it  was  somewhat 
embarrassing  for  those  who  did. 

Those  who  were  engaged  in  the  canvass  *  had  enthusiastic  meetings 
everywhere.  They  not  only  filled  all  their  regular  appointments,  but 
spoke  in  the  prisons,  asylums;  even  the  deaf  and  dumb  were  refreshed 
with  the  gospel  of  woman  suffrage.  The  press,  too,  was  generally  favor- 
able, though  the  opposition  magnified  the  occasional  adverse  criticisms 
out  of  all  proportion  to  their  severity  and  number.  Towards  the  last  of 
September  Miss  Anthony,  by  invitation  of  Mrs.  Briggs  and  Mrs.  Bliss  of 
Grand  Rapids,  came  into  the  State  and  remained  until  election  day.  She 
often  brought  down  the  house  with  her  witty  comments  on  the  criticisms 
of  the  press.t 

Everything  that  could  be  done  was  done  by  the  friends  of  the  amend- 
ment throughout  the  State  ;  meetings  held  and  tracts  on  every  phase  of 
the  question  scattered  in  all  the  most  obscure  settlements ;  inspiring 
songs  sung,  earnest  prayers  offered,  the  press  vigilant  in  its  appeals,  and 
on  election  day  women  everywhere  at  the  polls,  persuading  voters  to  cast 
their  ballots  for  temperance,  moral  purity  and  good  order,  to  be  secured 
only  by  giving  the  right  of  suffrage  to  their  mothers,  wives  and  daughters. 
But  the  sun  went  down,  the  polls  were  closed,  and  in  the  early  dawn  of 
the  next  morning  the  women  of  Michigan  learned  that  their  status  as 
citizens  of  the  United  States  had  not  been  advanced  one  iota  by  the  lib- 
eral action  of  their  governor,  their  legislature,  the  appeals  of  the  women 
nor  the  votes  of  40,000  of  the  best  men  of  the  State. 

When  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  to  the  national  consti- 
tution were  passed,  many  advocates  of  suffrage  believed  that  the  right 
was  conferred  on  women.  In  a  letter  to  a  State  convention  held  at  that 
time,  Wendell  Phillips  said  : 

The  new  phase  of  the  woman  movement — that  claiming  the  right  to  vote  under  the 
fourteenth  amendment — is  attracting  great  attention  in  Washington.  Whether  it  ever 
obtains  judicial  sanction  or  not,  it  certainly  gives  a  new  and  most  effective  means  of 
agitation.  The  argument  of  the  minority  report,  understood  to  be  written  by  General 
Butler,  is  most  able.  *  *  *  The  statement  of  the  argument,  and  the  array  of  cases 


*  Miss  Eastman,  Miss  Hindman,  Phoebe  Couzins,  Margaret  \V.  Campbell,  Elizabeth  K.  Churchill, 
Lelia  Partridge,  Mrs.  Hazlett,  Mrs.  Samms,  Miss  Matilda  Victor;  George  W.  Julian  of  Indiana,  Giles 
B.  Stebbins  and  Clinton  R.  Fisk,  representing  the  Michigan  Association,  and  the  following  among  volun- 
teer workers:  B.  A.  Harlan  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mrs.  Hathaway  of  Cass  county,  Mrs.  Judge  Fuller,  the 
Hon.  J.  H.  McGowan  and  Mrs.  Boutelle  of  Branch  county  ;  Mrs.  L.  A.  Pearsall  of  Macomb,  Mrs.  F. 
W.  Gillette  of  Oakland,  Miss  Strickland  of  Clinton,  J.  B.  Stone  of  Kalamazoo,  Mrs.  Lucy  L.  Stout  of 
Wayne,  and  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Stewart  of  Indiana. 

t  It  was  in  this  campaign  that  an  editor  in  a  Kalamazoo  journal  said  :  •*  That  ancient  daughter  of 
Methuselah,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  passed  through  our  city  yesterday,  on  her  way  to  the  Plainwell  meet- 
ing, with  a  bonnet  on  her  head  looking  as  if  she  had  recently  descended  from  Noah's  ark."  Miss  An- 
thony often  referred  to  this  description  of  herself,  and  said,  "  Had  I  represented  20.000  votes  in  Michi- 
gan, that  political  editor  would  not  have  known  nor  cared  whether  I  was  the  oldest  or  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Methuselah,  or  whether  my  bonnet  came  from  the  ark  or  from  Worth's.— [E.  C.  S. 


Nannette  B.   Gardner.  523 

and  authorities,  are  very  striking.  Nothing  more  cogent  can  be  imagined  or  desired. 
When  two  years  ago  a  Western  advocate  of  woman's  rights  started  this  theory,  we 
never  expected  to  see  it  assume  such  importance. 

In  accordance  with  this  opinion,  certain  women  resolved  to  apply  for 
registration,  and  offer  their  votes.  On  March  25,  1871,  Catherine  A.  F. 
Stebbins  and  Mrs.  Nannette  B.  Gardner  of  Detroit  made  the  attempt  to 
have  their  names  regularly  enrolled  as  legally  qualified  voters.  Mrs.  Steb- 
bins, accompanied  by  her  husband,  made  application  in  the  fifth  ward  to 
have  her  name  registered,  but  was  refused.  She  then  proposed  to  her 
friend,  Mrs.  Gardner,  to  make  the  trial  in  her  ward,  to  which  she  assented. 
Accordingly,  they  went  to  the  first  district  of  the  ninth  ward,  where  Peter 
Hill  was  the  enrolling  officer.  Mrs.  Gardner  gave  her  name,  saying  she 
was  a  "person  "  within  the  meaning  of  the  fourteenth  amendment,  and 
that  she  was  a  widow,  and  a  tax-payer  without  representation.  Mr.  Hill, 
seeing  the  justice  of  her  demand,  entered  her  name  upon  the  register. 

This  action  took  some  of  the  board  of  registration  by  surprise,  and  a 
motion  was  made  to  erase  her  name,  but  was  decided  in  the  negative.* 
The  board  was  now  asked  for  a  decision  in  regard  to  Mrs.  Stebbins'  name, 
as  the  question  very  naturally  suggested  itself  to  the  inspectors,  if  one 
woman  can  vote  why  not  another.  Mrs.  Stebbins  was  notified  that  her 
case  would  have  a  hearing.  When  asked  to  submit  her  reasons  for  de- 
manding the  right  to  vote,  Mrs.  S.  stated  that  she  asked  it  simply  as  the 
right  of  a  human  being  under  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  She 
had  paid  taxes  on  personal  and  real  estate,  and  had  conformed  to  the  laws 
of  the  land  in  every  respect.  Since  the  fourteenth  amendment  had  en- 
franchised woman  as  well  as  the  black  man,  she  had  the  necessary  quali- 
fications of  an  elector. 

A  long  debate  followed.  Inspectors  Bagg,  Hill  and  Folsom  argued  in 
favor  of  the  petitioner  ;  Allison,  Brooks,  Henderson  and  Hughes  against. 
The  opposition  confessed  that  the  negro  had  voted  before  the  word 
"white  "had  been  expunged  from  the  State  constitution;  but  that  was 
done  from  a  "political  necessity."  The  question  of  acceptance  being  put 
to  vote,  was  negatived — 13  to  10.  This  was  counted  a  victory,  and  stimu- 
lated the  opposition  to  make  another  effort  to  strike  Mrs.  Gardner's  name 
from  the  register;  but  failing  in  that,  the  board  adjourned.  There  was 
how  much  curiosity  to  know  if  Alderman  Hill  would  have  the  nerve  to 
stand  by  his  initiative  ;  but  with  him  the  Rubicon  was  passed,  and  on 
April  3,  Messrs.  Hill  and  Durfee  accepted  Mrs.  Gardner's  vote,  Mr.  Bond 
protesting.  The  Detroit  Post  gave  the  following  account : 

Mrs.  Gardner  arrived  at  the  polls  of  the  first  precinct  of  the  ninth  ward  at  about 
half-past  ten  o'clock  in  a  carriage,  accompanied  by  her  son,  a  lad  of  ten  years,  Mrs. 
Starring  and  Mrs.  Giles  B.  Stebbins.  Barely  a  dozen  by-standers  were  present,  and 
the  larger  part  of  these  were  laboring  men.  No  demonstration  followed  the  appear- 
ance of  the  ladies,  the  men  remaining  quiet,  and  contenting  themselves  with  comments 
sot  to  rocf  on  this  last  political  development,  and  with  speculations  as  to  how  the  newly 
enfranchised  would  vote.  Mrs.  Gardner  presented  herself  at  the  polls  with  a  vase  of 


*  The  inspectors  voting  were  :  Yeas — Adams,  Baxter,  Brooks,  Dullea,  Henderson,  Smith.  Nays — 
Bragg,  Balch,  Barclay,  Barry,  Bond,  Christian,  Hill,  Hughes,  Langley,  Mahoney,  O'Keefe,  Suther- 
Uutd. 


524  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

flowers  and  also  a  prepared  ballot,  which  she  had  decorated  with  various  appropriate 
devices.  The  inspectors  asked  the  questions  usually  put  to  all  applicants,  and  her 
name  being  found  duly  registered,  her  ballot  was  received  and  deposited  in  the  box. 
There  was  no  argument,  no  challenge,  no  variation  from  the  routine  traversed  by  each 
masculine  exerciser  of  the  elective  franchise.  Mrs.  Gardner  voted,  as  we  understand, 
for  the  Republican  candidates  generally,  with  one  Democrat  and  one  lady. 

At  Battle  Creek,  Mrs.  Mary  Wilson  voted  at  the  election  of  1871. 
When  she  registered,  she  was  accompanied  by  her  lawyer. 

In  the  fall  of  1872,  Peter  Hill  again  registered  Mrs.  Gardner,  and  re- 
ceived her  vote.  Mr.  Hill  had  been  exposed  to  many  animadversions  for 
his  persistence,  and  as  an  acknowledgment  of  her  appreciation  of  his 
course,  Mrs.  Gardner  presented  him  a  silk  banner  suitably  inscribed.  A 
city  paper  gives  this  account  of  it : 

Mrs.  Gardner,  who  has  for  years  been  a  recognized  voter  in  the  ninth  ward  of  De- 
troit, again  voted  on  Tuesday.  She  came  on  foot,  with  Mrs.  Stebbins,  in  a  drenching 
rain,  as  no  carriage  could  be  obtained.  After  voting,  she  presented  a  beautiful  banner 
of  white  satin,  trimmed  with  gold  fringe,  on  which  was  inscribed,  "A  Woman's 
Voting  Hymn."  The  reverse  side,  of  blue  silk,  contained  the  dedication:  "  To 
Peter  Hill,  Alderman  of  the  Ninth  Ward,  Detroit.  First  to  Register  a  Woman's  Vote. 
By  recognizing  civil  liberty  and  equality  for  woman,  he  has  placed  the  last  and  brightest 
jewel  on  the  brow  of  Michigan." 

The  city  board  now  felt  called  upon  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  upon  Mr. 
Hill's  action.  The  record  runs  thus  : 

Canvasser  BAXTER  :  Resolved,  That  the  act  of  the  inspectors  of  election  of  the  first 
district  of  the  ninth  ward,  in  receiving  the  vote  of  Mrs.  Nannette  B.  Gardner  at  the 
election  just  passed,  is  emphatically  disapproved  by  this  board,  on  the  ground  that  said 
act  is  a  plain  violation  of  the  election  laws  and  constitution  of  the  State  of  Michigan, 
and  is  liable  to  lead  to  the  grossest  abuses  and  complications. 

Canvasser  FULDA  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  tables-lost.  Adopted  as  fol- 
lows :  Yeas — Langley,  Flower,  House,  Lichtenberg,  Phelps,  Parsons,  Christian,  Al- 
lison, Buehle,  Dullea,  Daly,  Barbier,  Baxter — 13.  Nays — Wooley  and  Fulda — 2. 

CHAS.  A.  BORGMAN,  Secretary.  PHILO  PARSONS,   Chain/tan. 

Mrs.  Stebbins  attempted  to  register  at  this  election  with  the  same  re- 
sult as  before.  Upon  the  fourth  of  November  she  provided  herself  with 
a  sworn  statement  that  she  had  been  "wrongfully  prevented  "  the  record 
of  her  name,  and  offered  her  vote  at  the  polls,  calling  attention  to  the 
"enforcing  act,"  provided  for  such  cases.  It  had  no  terror,  however,  for 
the  valiant  inspectors  of  the  fifth  ward.  In  the  fall  of  1873,  there  was  the 
following  correspondence  between  the  board  and  the  city  counselor  : 

Hon.  D.  C.  Holbrook,  City  Counselor:  DEAR  SIR  : — Mrs.  Giles  B.  Stebbins  has  ap- 
plied to  this  board  and  demands  the  right  to  register.  This  board  has  declined  to 
grant  the  request  on  the  ground  that  it  does  not  believe  her  to  be  a  legal  elecior.  Mrs. 
Stebbins  would  have  all  the  required  qualifications  of  an  elector,  but  for  the  fact  of 
her  being  a  woman,  and  we  therefore  respectfully  request  that  you  instruct  us  as  to  our 
duty  in  the  premises.  Very  respectfully,  S.  B.  Wooi.LEY, 

ALBERT  BOTSFORD, 

Inspectors  of  First  Ward. 

Woman  cannot  be  enrolled  or  registered.     Let  her  try  it  on.* 
Oct.  24,  ffyj.  D.  C.  HoLBROOK,  City  Counselor. 


*  We  can  easily  see  how  little  the  opponents  who  talk  so  much  of  chivalry,  respect  women  or  them- 
selves, by  the  language  they  use  when  they  are  opposed  on  this  very  question. 


James  A.  B.  Stone.  525 

In  company  with  Mrs.  H.  J.  Boutelle.Mrs.  Stebbins  offered  her  vote  in 
the  fifth  ward.  Mr.  Farwell  was  in  favor  of  receiving  it,  and  wished  to 
leave  the  question  to  a  dozen  responsible  citizens  whom  he  called  in  as 
referees,  but  Col.  Phelps  woulcl  not  be  influenced  by  the  judgment  of  out- 
siders, and  would  not  agree  to  the  proposal.* 

Mrs.  Gardner's  name  was  retained  on  the  ward  voting  list,  and  she 
voted  every  year  until  she  left  the  city  for  the  education  of  her  children. 

Before  the  University  at  Ann  Arbor  was  opened  to  girls  in  1869,  there 
had  been  several  attempts  to  establish  seminaries  for  girls  alone. t  But 
they  were  not  successful  for  several  reasons.  As  the  State  would  not  endow 
these  private  institutions,  it  made  the  education  of  daughters  very  expen- 
sive, and  fathers  with  daughters,  seeing  their  neighbors'  sons  in  the  State 
University  educated  at  the  public  expense,  from  financial  considerations 
were  readily  converted  to  the  theory  of  coeducation.  Again  the  general 
drift  of  thought  was  in  favor  of  coeducation  throughout  the  young  west- 
ern States.  Then  institutions  of  learning  were  too  expensive  to  build 
separate  establishments  for  girls  and  boys,  and  the  number  of  boys  able  to 
attend  through  a  collegiate  course  could  not  fill  the  colleges  ready  for 
their  reception.  Hence  from  all  considerations  it  was  a  double  advantage 
both  to  the  State  and  the  girls,  to  admit  them  to  the  universities. 

James  A.  B.  Stone  and  Mrs.  Lucinda  H.  Stone  went  to  Kalamazoo  in 
1843,  immediately  after  his  election  to  take  charge  of  the  Literary  Institute. 
The  name  was  afterwards  changed  to  Kalamazoo  College.  It  is  the  oldest 
collegiate  institute  in  the  State,  having  been  chartered  in  1833,  and  was 
designed  from  the  outset  for  both  sexes.  In  the  beginning  it  did  not  con- 
fer degrees,  but  was  the  first,  after  Oberlin,  to  give  diplomas  to  women. 
Kalamazoo  was  an  object  of  derision  with  some  of  the  professors  of  the 
University,  because  it  was,  they  averred,  of  doubtful  gender.  But  a  lib- 
eral-minded  public  grew  more  and  more  in  favor  of  epicene  colleges. 
Literary  seminaries  had  been  established  for  coeducation  at  Albion, 
Olivet,  Adrian  and  Hillsdale,  but  some  of  their  charters  were  not  exactly 
of  a  collegiate  grade,  and  it  was  doubtful  whether  under  the  new  consti- 
tution, new  college  charters  would  be  granted,  so  that  Kalamazoo  and 
Ann  Arbor  had  the  field.  In  January,  1845,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the 
legislature  to  organize  literary  institutions  under  a  general  law,  no  col- 
legiate degrees  being  allowed,  unless  on  the  completion  of  a  curriculum 
equal  to  that  of  the  State  University.  The  championship  of  this  bill  fell 
to  Dr.  Stone,  for  while  it  would  have  no  special  effect  on  Kalamazoo,  it 
concerned  the  cause  of  coeducation  in  the  State,  and  the  friends  of  the 
University  made  it  a  kind  of  test  of  what  the  State  policy  should  be  in 
reference  to  the  higher  learning  for  women.  Dr.  Tappan,  then  the  able 
president  of  the  University,  appeared  at  Lansing,  supported  by  Rev.  Dr. 

*  Mrs.  I'outelle  and  Mrs.  Stebbins  were  in  the  polling  place  two  or  three  hours,  while  Mr.  Farwell 
iiiiulctliiiris  tu  j:nin  favorable  opinions  enough  to  convert  Colonel  Phelps  ;  many  excellent  men  were  in 
favor  of  her  vote.  The  ladies  lunched  from  a  daintily  filled  basket,  prepared  by  the  wife  of  inspector 
Farwell. 

t  Miss  Abby  Rogers,  Miss  Delia  Rogers,  Miss  Emily  Ward,  and  Miss  Clapp,  were  all  deeply  inter- 
ested in  establishing  a  seminary  where  girls  could  have  equal  advantages  with  students  in  the  university. 
This  seminary  was  in  existence  ten  years,  but  without  State  aid  the  struggle  was  too  great,  and  Miss 
Abby  Rogers,  the  founder,  abandoned  the  undertaking. 


526  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Duffield  and  a  force  of  able  lawyers,  to  oppose  it,  and  the  far-seeing  friends 
of  education  in  the  legislature  and  in  the  lobby,  rallied  with  Dr.  Stone  for 
its  support.  For  several  weeks  the  contest  was  carried  on  with  earnest- 
ness, almost  with  bitterness,  before  the  legislative  committees,  before 
public  meetings  called  in  the  capitol  for  discussion,  and  on  the  floor  of 
both  houses.  Dr.  Tappan  made  frantic  appeals  to  Michigan  statesmen 
not  to  disgrace  the  State  by  such  a  law,  which  he  prophesied  would  result 
in  "preparatory  schools  for  matrimony,"  and,  shocking  to  contemplate, 
young  men  would  marry  their  classmates.  Among  the  friends  of  the 
measure  present,  were  President  Fairfield,  Professor  Hosford,  and  Hon. 
Mr.  Edsell,  of  Otsego,  all  graduates  of  Oberlin,  who  had  married  their 
classmates,  and  "  been  glad  ever  since."  They  replied,  "  What  of  it  ?  Are 
not  those  who  have  met  daily  in  the  recitation-room  for  four  years,  as 
well  prepared  to  judge  of  each  other's  fitness  for  life-companionship,  as  if 
they  had  only  met  a  few  times  at  a  ball,  a  dress  party,  or  in  private  inter- 
view?" The  legislature  was  an  intelligent  one,  and  the  bill  passed  amid 
great  excitement,  crowds  of  interested  spectators  listening  to  the  final 
discussions  in  the  lower  House.  Governor  Bingham  was  friendly  to  the 
bill  from  the  first.  After  its  passage,  he  sent  a  handsome  copy  signed  by 
himself  and  other  officers,  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Stone,  at  Kalamazoo,  to  be  pre- 
served as  a  record  of  the  Thermopylae  fight  for  coeducation  in  Michigan. 

Rev.  E.  O.  Havens  succeeded  Dr.  Tappan  in  the  presidency,  and  was  sup- 
posed to  be  less  strong  in  his  prejudices,  but  when  efforts  were  made  to 
open  the  doors  to  both  sexes,  he  reported  it  difficult  and  inexpedient,  if 
not  impossible.  But  he  counted  without  the  broad-minded  people  of 
Michigan.  A  growing  conviction  that  the  legislature  would  stop  the 
appropriations  to  the  University  unless  justice  was  done  to  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  State,  finally  brought  about,  at  Ann  Arbor,  a  change  of  policy. 
Under  the  light  that  broke  in  upon  their  minds,  the  professors  found 
there  was  really  no  law  against  the  admission  of  women  to  that  very  lib- 
eral seat  of  learning.  "To  be  sure,  they  never  had  admitted  women,  but 
none  had  formally  applied."  This,  though  somewhat  disingenuous,  was 
received  in  good  faith,  and  soon  tested  by  Miss  Madeline  Stockwell,  who 
had  completed  half  her  course  at  Kalamazoo,  and  was  persuaded  by  Mrs. 
Stone  to  make  application  at  Ann  Arbor.  Mrs.  Stone  knew  her  to  be  a 
thorough  scholar,  as  far  as  she  had  gone,  especially  in  Greek,  which  some 
had  supposed  that  women  could  not  master.  When  she  presented  her- 
self for  examination  some  members  of  the  faculty  were  far  from  cordial, 
but  they  were  just,  and  she  entered  in  the  grade  for  which  she  applied. 
She  sustained  herself  ably  in  all  her  studies,  and  when  examined  for  her 
degree — the  first  woman  graduate  from  the  literary  department — she  was 
commended  as  the  peer  of  any  of  her  class-mates,  and  took  an  honorable 
part  in  the  commencement  exercises.  Moreover,  she  fulfilled  the  doleful 
prophecy  of  Dr.  Tappan,  as  women  in  other  schools  had  done  before  her, 
and  married  her  class-mate,  Mr.  Turner,  an  able  lawyer. 

The  statement  by  the  faculty,  or  regents,  that  "  no  woman  had  formally 
applied,"  was  untrue,  as  we  shall  see.  The  University  was  opened  to  them 
in  1869;  eleven  years  before,  Miss  Sarah  Burger,  now  Mrs.  Stearns,  made 


Miss  Burger  and  the   University.  527 

the  resolve,  the  preparation,  and  the  application  to  enter  the  University 
of  Michigan;  and  young  as  she  was,  her  clear-sightedness  and  courage 
called  forth  our  admiration.  As  a  child,  in  Ann  Arbor,  from  1845,  to  1852, 
she  had  often  attended  the  commencement  exercises  of  the  University, 
and  on  those  occasions  had  felt  very  unhappy,  because  all  the  culture 
given  to  mind  and  heart  and  soul  by  this  institution  was  given  to  young 
men  alone.  It  seemed  a  cruel  injustice  to  young  women  that  they  could 
not  be  there  with  their  brothers,  enjoying  the  same.  In  connection  with 
her  efforts  and  those  of  her  friends  to  enter  those  enchanted  portals,  she 
bears  grateful  testimony  to  the  discussions  on  the  question  of  woman's 
rights,  as  follows : 

When  it  was  my  blessed  privilege  to  attend  a  women's  rights  convention  at  Cleve- 
land', Ohio,  in  1853, — and  it  was  a  grand  meeting — where  dear  Lucretia  Mott,  Ernes- 
tine L.  Rose,  Frances  D.  Gage,  Antoinette  Brown,  Lucy  Stone,  and  others,  dwelt 
upon  the  manifold  wrongs  suffered  by  women,  and  called  upon  them  to  awake  and  use 
their  powers  to  secure  justice  to  all,  I  felt  their  words  to  mean  that  the  Michigan 
University  as  well  as  all  others,  should  be  opened  to  girls,  and  that  women  themselves 
should  first  move  in  the  matter. 

Thus  aroused,  though  but  sixteen  years  old,  she  resolved  at  once  to  make 
application  for  admission  to  the  State  University.  Early  in  the  autumn 
of  1856,  she  entered  the  high  school  at  Ann  Arbor,  and  studied  Greek  and 
Latin  two  years,  preparatory  to  taking  the  classical  course.  Four  young 
ladies  besides  herself,  recited  with  the  bo)rs  who  were  preparing  for  col- 
lege, and  they  were  all  declared  by  a  university  professor  who  had  at- 
tended frequent  examinations,  to  stand  head  and  shoulders  in  scholarship 
above  many  of  the  young  men.  Miss  Burger  wishing  as  large  a  class  as 
possible  to  appeal  for  admission,  wrote  to  a  number  of  classical  schools 
for  young  women,  asking  cooperation,  and  secured  the  names  of  eleven* 
who  would  gladly  apply  with  her.  In  the  spring  of  1858,  she  sent  a  note 
to  the  regents,  saying  a  class  of  twelve  young  ladies  would  apply  in  June, 
for  admission  to  the  University  in  September.  A  reporter  said  "  a  certain 
Miss  B.  had  sent  the  regents  warning  of  the  momentous  event."  At  the 
board  meeting  in  June,  the  young  ladies  presented  their  promised  letter 
of  application,  and  received  as  reply,  that  the  board  should  have  more  time 
to  consider.  In  September  their  reply  was,  that  it  seemed  inexpedient  for 
the  University  to  admit  ladies  at  present.  In  the  meantime,  a  great  deal 
had  been  said  and  done  on  the  subject ;  some  members  of  the  faculty  had 
spoken  in  favor,  some  against.  University  students,  and  citizens  of  Ann 
Arbor  also  joined  in  the  general  discussion.  The  subject  was  widely  dis- 
cussed in  the  press  and  on  the  platform ;  members  of  the  faculty  and 
board  of  regents  applied  to  the  presidents  of  universities  east  and  west, 
for  their  opinions.  The  people  of  Michigan,  thus  brought  to  consider  the 
injustice  of  the  exclusion  of  their  daughters  from  this  State  institution, 
there  was  offered  for  signature  during  the  winter  of  1859,  the  following 
petition : 
To  the  Kegents  of  the  University  of  Michigan  : 

The  undersigned,  inhabitants  of ,  in  the  county  of  —  ,  and  State 

of  Michigan,  respectfully  request  that  young  women  may  be  admitted  as  students  in 

*  The  names  of  the  eleven  young  women  Mrs.  Stearns  is  unable  to  recall. 


528  PI  1st  or  v  of  ]\*oinan  Sit jf rage. 

the  University,  for  the  following  among  other  reasons  :  First — It  is  incumbent  on  the 
State  to  give  equal  educational  advantages  to  both  sexes.  Second — All  can  be  edu- 
cated in  the  State  University  with  but  little  more  expense  than  is  necessary  to  educate 
young  men  alone.  Third — It  will  save  the  State  from  the  expenditure  of  half  a  mill- 
ion of  dollars,  necessary  to  furnish  young  ladies  in  a  separate  institution  with  the  ad- 
vantages now  enjoyed  by  young  men.  Fourth — It  will  admit  young  ladies  at  once  to 
the  benefits  of  the  highest  educational  privileges  of  the  State. 

Among  the  most  active  in  lectures,  debates,  circulation  of  petitions  and 
general  advocacy  were  James  B.  Gott,  Judge  Edwin  Lawrence,  Giles  B. 
Stebbins  and  O.  P.  Stearns,  the  last  at  that  time  a  student,  since  a  lawyer, 
and  the  husband  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Burger  Stearns  of  Minnesota. 

In  the  spring  of  1859  formal  application  was  again  made  to  the  regents 
by  a  class  of  young  ladies,  only  to  receive  the  same  answer.  But  the.dis- 
cussion  was  not  dropped  ;  indeed,  that  was  impossible.  Some  of  the  most 
intelligent  on  this  question  believe  that  the  final  admission  of  women  to 
the  University  was  due  to  a  resolve  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  State- 
to  place  upon  the  board  of  regents,  as  the  terms  of  old  members  expired- 
men  well  known  to  be  favorable.  On  the  election  of  Professor  Estabrook 
of  the  State  Normal  School  there  was  one  more  noble  man  "  for  us,"  who, 
with  other  new  members,  made  a  majority  in  favor  of  justice.  In  the  au- 
tumn of  that  year  (1869)  young  women  were  admitted  to  full  privileges  in 
Michigan  University,  and,  like  political  freedom  in  Wyoming,  it  has  for 
years  been  confessed  to  have  yielded  only  beneficent  results.  As  long 
ago,  however,  as  the  first  application  was  made  (1858)  women  were  per- 
mitted to  attend  certain  lectures.  They  could  not  join  a  class  or  read  a 
book,  but  it  was  the  custom  for  them  to  go  and  listen  to  the  beautiful  and 
highly  instructive  lectures  by  Professor  Andrew  D.  White  on  history, 
sculpture,  and  mediaeval  architecture,  and  they  highly  appreciated  the 
privilege. 

In  March,  i8'69,  President  Havens  said  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
at  Lansing,  "  he  believed  the  University  should  be  opened  to  those 
who  desired  to  obtain  the  benefit  of  the  branches  of  education  which 
they  could  not  obtain  elsewhere."  The  Rev.  Gilbert  Haven  wrote  to 
the  American  Society's  meeting  held  in  Detroit,  in  1874:  "I  have  been 
identified  with  your  cause  through  its  evil  report,  and,  I  was  going  to 
add,  good  report,  but  that  part  has  not  yet  very  largely  set  in.  I  also  had 
the  honor  to  preside  over  the  first  ecclesiastical  body  that  has,  just  now, 
pronounced  in  your  favor."  This  church  assembly  was  the  Methodist 
State  Association,  which  adopted  the  following  in  October,  1874,  without 
a  negative  vote,  though  several  of  the  delegates  refused  to  vote : 

WHEREAS,  The  legislature  of  Michigan,  at  its  recent  session,  has  submitted  to  the 
electors  of  the  State  a  proposition  to  change  the  State  constitution  so  as  to  admit  the 
women  of  Michigan  to  the  elective  franchise;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  recognizes  the  action  of  the  legislature  as  a  step 
toward  a  higher  and  purer  administration  of  the  government  of  our  country,  and  we 
hope  the  provision  will  be  adopted.  ' 

But  the  above  was  not  the  strongest  utterance  of  Bishop  Gilbert  Haven. 
Once  at  an  equal  rights  society  convention  in  the  Academy  of  Music, 
Brooklyn,  where  from  floor  to  ceiling  was  gathered  an  admirable  and 
immense  andience,  with  profound  respect  I  heard  these  memorable  words  : 


Reports  from  Other   Towns.  529 

"I  shall  never  be  satisfied  until  a  black  woman  is  seated  in  the  presidential 
chair  of  the  United  States,"  than  which  no  more  advanced  claim  for  the 
complete  legal  recognition  of  woman  has  been  made  in  our  country. 

In  February,  1879,  a  spirited  debate  took  place  in  the  legislature  upon 
an  amendment  to  the  Episcopal  Church  bill,  which  struck  out  the  word 
"male"  from  the  qualification  of  voters.  The  Detroit  Post  and  Tribune 
says  a  vigorous  effort  was  made  to  defeat  the  measure,  but  without  suc- 
cess. The  justice  of  allowing  women  to  take  part  in  church  government 
was  recognized,  and  the  amendment  carried. 

We  have  written  persistently  to  leading  women  all  over  the  State  for 
facts  in  regard  to  their  local  societies,  and  such  responses  as  have  been 
received  are  embodied  in  this  chapter.  We  give  interesting  reports  of  a 
few  of  the  county  societies  in  which  much  has  been  accomplished. 

Of  the  work  in  Quincy  Mrs.  Sarah  Turner  says : 

We  never  organized  a  woman  suffrage  society,  although  our  literary  club  has  done 
much  for  the  cause  in  a  general  way.  We  had  crowded  houses  on  the  occasions  of  a 
very  able  speech  from  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  and  a  most  spirited  one  from  Miss 
Phoebe  Couzins.  For  the  past  eight  years  a  dozen  tax-paying  women  of  this  town 
have  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege  granted  them  years  ago,  and  voted  at  the 
school  meetings;  and  two  years  ago  a  woman  was  elected  member  of  the  school-board. 

Lansing  reports  for  January,  1871,  Mrs.  Livermore's  lecture  on  "The  Reasons 
Why"  [women  should  be  enfranchised];  the  organization  of  a  city  society  with  sixty 
members  at  the  close  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Association  held  in  that  city 
in  March;  a  lecture  from  Mrs.  Stanton  before  the  Young  Men's  Association;  the 
adoption  of  a  declaration  of  rights  by  the  Ingham  County  Society,  March,  1872, 
signed  by  169  of  the  best  people  of  the  county.  In  1874,  of  the  many  meetings  held 
those  of  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Couzins  are  specially  mentioned. 

The  St.  Johns  society,  formed  in  1872  with  six  members,  reported  sixty  at  the  State 
annual  meeting  of  1874,  and  also  $171.71,  raised  by  fees  and  sociables,  mainly  ex- 
pended in  the  circulation  of  tracts  and  documents  throughout  the  county. 

From  Manistee  Mrs.  Fannie  Holden  Fowler  writes : 

In  the  campaign  of  1874  Hon.  S.  W.  Fowler,  one  of  the  committee  for  Northern 
Michigan  appointed  by  the  State  Society,  canvassed  Manistee  county  and  advocated 
the  cause  through  his  paper,  the  Times  and  Standard.  The  election  showed  the  good 
of  educational  work,  as  a  large  vote  was  polled  in  the  towns  canvassed  by  Mr.  Fowler, 
two  of  them  giving  a- majority  for  the  amendment.  In  an  editorial,  after  the  election, 
Mr.  Fowler  said:  "  The  combined  forces  of  ignorance,  vice  and  prejudice  have  blocked 
the  wheels  of  advancing  civilization,  and  Michigan,  once  the  proudest  of  the  sister- 
hood of  States,  has  lost  the  opportunity  of  inaugurating  a  reform;  now  let  the  women 
organize  for  a  final  onset."  However,  no  active  suffrage  work  was  done  until  Decem- 
ber 3,  1879,  when  Susan  B.  Anthony  was  induced  to  stop  over  on  her  way  from  Frank- 
fort to  Ludington  and  give  her  lecture,  "  Woman  Wants  Bread;  Not  the  Ballot."  She 
was  our  guest,  and  urged  the  formation  of  a  society,  and  through  her  influence  a 
"  Woman's  Department"  was  added  to  the  Times  and  Standard,  which  is  still  a  feat- 
ure of  the  paper.  In  the  following  spring  (April,  1880),  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  gave 
her  lecture,  "  Our  Girls,"  with  two  "  conversations,"  before  the  temperance  women 
and  others,  which  revived  the  courage  of  the  few  who  had  been  considering  the  ques- 
tion of  organization.  A  call  was  issued,  to  which  twenty-three  responded,  and  the 
society  was  formed  June  8,  1880,*  adopting  the  constitution  of  the  National  and  elect- 

*  The  officers  of  the  Manistee  Society  are  (1885):  President,  Mrs.  Lucy  T.  Stansell ;  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  Fannie  Holden  Fowler  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Miss  Nellie  Walker  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs. 
Susan  Seymour. 

34 


530  History  of   IVoman   Suffrage. 

ing  delegates  to  attend  a  convention  to  be  held  under  the  auspices  of  that  association 
the  following  week  at  Grand  Rapids.  The  society  at  once  made  a  thorough  canvass 
of  the  city,  which  resulted  in  the  attendance  of  seventy  tax-paying  women  at  the  school 
election  in  September,  when  the  first  woman's  vote  was  cast  in  Manatee  county, 
Each  succeeding  year  has  witnessed  more  women  at  the  school  election,  until,  in  1883. 
they  outnumbered  the  men,  and  would  have  elected  their  ticket  but  for  a  fraud  perpe- 
trated by  the  old  school-board,  which  made  the  election  void. 

In  August  1881,  Mrs.  May  Wright  Sewall  delivered  two  lectures  in  Manistee.  In 
February  1882,  a  social,  celebrating  Miss  Anthony's  birthday,  was  given  by  the  asso- 
ciation at  the  residence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fowler,  and  was  voted  a  success.  Through 
the  untiring  efforts  of  Mrs.  Lucy  T.  Stansell,  who  was  also  a  member  of  the  Ladies' 
Lever  League,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert  gave  a  Manistee  audience  a  rich  treat 
in  her  "  Homes  of  Representative  Women,"  and  her  conversation  on  suffrage  elicited 
much  interest. 

During  the  autumn  of  1882,  petitions  asking  for  municipal  suffrage  were  circulated. 
The  venerable  Josiah  R.  Holdea  of  Grand  Rapids,  father  of  Mrs.  Fowler,  then  in 
his  88th  year,  obtained  the  largest  number  of  signatures  to  his  petition  of  any  one  in 
the  State.  A  bill  granting  municipal  suffrage  to  women  was  drawn  by  Mrs.  Fowler, 
introduced  in  the  legislature  by  Hon.  George  J.  Robinson,  and  afterwards  tabled.  At 
the  session  of  1885  a  similar  bill  came  within  a  few  votes  of  being  carried. 

In  Grand  Rapids  there  was  no  revival  of  systematic  work  until  1880,  when  the 
National  Association  held  a  very  successful  two  days'  convention  in  the  city.  In  re- 
sponse to  a  petition  from  the  society,  the  legislature  in  the  winter  of  1885  passed  a 
law,  giving  to  the  tax-paying  women  of  the  city  the  right  to  vote  on  school  questions 
at  the  charter  elections.  At  the  first  meeting  a  hundred  women  were  present,  and 
hundreds  availed  themselves  of  their  new  power  and  voted  at  the  first  election. 

The  State  Society  held  its  annual  meeting  at  Grand  Rapids,  October  7, 
8,  9,  1885,  at  which  the  address  of  welcome  was  given  by  Mrs.  Loraine 
Immen,  president  of  the  City  Society,*  and  responded  to  by  Mrs.  Stebbins 
•of  Detroit. t 

The  only  religious  sect  in  the  world,  unless  we  except  the  Quakers, 
that  has  recognized  the  equality  of  woman,  is  the  Spiritualists.  They 
have  always  assumed  that  woman  may  be  a  medium  of  communi- 
cation from  heaven  to  earth,  that  the  spirits  of  the  universe  may 
breathe  through  her  lips  messages  of  loving  kindness  and  mercy  to  the 
children  of  earth.  The  Spiritualists  in  our  country  are  not  an  organized 
body,  but  they  are  more  or  less  numerous  in  every  State  and  Territory 
from  ocean  to  ocean.  Their  opinions  on  woman  suffrage  and  equal 
rights  in  all  respects  must  be  learned  from  the  utterances  of  their  leading 
speakers  and  writers  of  books,  from  their  weekly  journals,  from  resolu- 
tions passed  at  large  meetings,  and  from  their  usage  and  methods.  A  re- 
liable person  widely  familiar  with  Spiritualism  since  its  beginning  in  1848, 
says  that  he  has  known  but  very  few  Spiritualists  who  were  not  in  favor 


*  The  officers  of  the  Grand  Rapids  Society  are :  President,  Mrs.  Cordelia  F.  Briggs ;  I'ice-Presi- 
dents,  Loraine  Immen,  Emma  Wheeler;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Henry  Spring;  Secretary,  Mrs.  J.  W. 
Adams. 

t  Following  is  a  complete  list  of  all  officers  elected  in  1885  :  President.  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Doe  of  Car- 
rollton  ;  Vice-President,  Mrs.  Loraine  Immen  of  Grand  Rapids;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  H.  S. 
Spring  of  Grand  Rapids  ;  Corresponding  Secretary ,  Mrs.  Fannie  H.  Fowler  of  Manistee  ;  Treasurer, 
Mrs.  C.  A.  F.  Stebbins  of  Detroit;  Advisory  Committee,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Briggs  of  Grand  Rapids,  and 
Mrs.  S.  E.V.Emery  of  Lansing;  Executive  Committee—  First  District,  Mrs.  Harriet  J.  Boutell  of 
Detroit ;  Second  District,  Mrs.  Annette  B.  Gardner  Smith  of  Ann  Arbor ;  Fifth  District,  Mrs.  Emily 
H.  Ketchum  of  Grand  Rapids;  Sixth  District,  Francis  M.  Stuart  of  Flint;  Eighth  District.  Mrs. 
Frances  C.  Stafford  of  Milwaukee ;  Ninth  District,  Col.  S.  W.  Fowler  of  Manistee  ;  Eleventh  and 
Twelfth  Districts,  Mrs.  R.  A.  Campbell,  Traverse  City. 


Sojoumer   Triith.  531 

of  woman  suffrage  ;  that  all  their  representative  men  and  women,  and  all 
their  journals  advocate  it,  and  have  always  done  so ;  that  expressions  in 
its  favor  in  public  meetings  meet  with  hearty  approval,  and  that  men  and 
women  have  spoken  on  their  platforms,  and  held  official  places  as  co- 
workers  in  their  societies  through  all  of  these  thirty-seven  years.  All  this 
has  taken  place  with  very  little  argument  or  discussion,  but  from  an  in- 
tuitive sense  of  the  justice  and  consequent  benefits  of  such  a  course.  A 
single  testimony,  of  many  that  might  be  given  from  their  writings,  must 
suffice.  In  the  Religio-Philosophical  Journal,  Chicago,  111.,  November  22, 
1884,  its  editor,  J.  C.  Bundy,  says  :  "  Although  not  especially  published  in 
the  interest  of  woman,  this  journal  is  a  stalwart  advocate  of  woman's 
rights,  and  has  for  years  given  weekly  space  to  'Woman  and  the  House- 
hold,' a  department  under  the  care  of  Mrs.  Hester  M.  Poole,  who  has 
done  much  to  encourage  women  to  renewed  and  persistent  effort  for  their 
own  advancement." 

It  has  been  the  custom  of  some  of  our  journals  to  ask  for  letters  of 
greeting  from  distinguished  people  for  New  Year's  day.  We  find  the  fol- 
lowing in  the  Inter-Ocean:  "  Sojourner  Truth,  the  Miriam  of  the  later 
Exodus,  sends  us  this  remarkable  letter.  She  is  the  most  wonderful 
woman  the  colored  race  has  ever  produced,  and  thus  conveys  her  New 
Year's  greeting  to  our  readers  : 

"  DEAR  FRIENDS  :  More  than  a  hundred  New  Years  have  I  seen  before  this  one,  and 
I  send  a  New  Year's  greeting  to  one  and  all.  We  talk  of  a  beginning,  but  there  is  no 
beginning  but  the  beginning  of  a  wrong.  All  else  is  from  God,  and  is  from  everlasting 
to  everlasting.  All  that  has  a  beginning  will  have  an  ending.  God  is  without  end, 
and  all  that  is  good  is  without  end.  We  shall  never  see  God,  only  as  we  see  him  in 
one  another.  He  is  a  great  ocean  of  love,  and  we  live  and  move  in  Him  as  the  fishes 
in  the  sea,  filled  with  His  love  and  spirit,  and  His  throne  is  in  the  hearts  of  His  peo- 
ple. Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  will  be  as  we  are,  if  we  are  pure^and  we  will  be  like  him. 
There  will  be  no  distinction.  He  will  be  like  the  sun  and  shine  upon  us,  and  we  will 
be  like  the  sun  and  shine  upon  him;  all  filled  with  glory.  We  are  the  children  of  one 
Father,  and  he  is  God;  and  Jesus  will  be  one  among  us.  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, and  we  will  be  as  one.  If  it  were  not  so,  there  would  be  jealousy.  These  ideas 
have  come  to  me  since  I  was  a  hundred  years  old,  and  if  you,  my  friends,  live  to  be  a 
hundred  years  old,  too,  you  may  have  greater  ideas  than  these.  This  has  become  a 
new  world.  These  thoughts  I  speak  of  because  they  come  to  me,  and  for  you  to  con- 
sider and  look  at.  We  should  grow  in  wisdom  as  we  grow  older,  and  new  ideas  will 
come  to  us  about  God  and  ourselves,  and  we  will  get  more  and  more  the  wisdom  of 
God.  I  am  glad  to  be  remembered  by  you,  and  to  be  able  to  send,  my  thoughts,  hop- 
ing they  may  multiply  and  bear  fruit.  If  I  should  live  to  see  another  New  Year'a  Day 
I  hope  to  be  able  to  send  more  new  thoughts.  SOJOURNER  TRUTH. 

"  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  Dec.  26,  1880." 

This  was  accompanied  by  a  note  from  her  most  faithful  friend,  Mrs. 
Frances  W.  Titus,  relating  matters  of  interest  as  to  her  present  circum- 
stances. She  also  said  :  "  We  have  recently  another  proof  that  she  is 
over  one  hundred  years  old.  Mention  of  the  'dark  day'  May  19,  1780, 
was  made  in  her  presence,  when  she  said, '  I  remember  the  dark  day  ';  and 
gave  a  description  of  that  wonderful  phenomenon.  As  the  narrative  of 
Sojourner's  life  has  long  been  before  the  public,  we  prefer  to  anything 
this  latest  thought  of  hers,  standing  then  on  the  verge  of  the  life  of  the 
spirit." 


532  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Sojourner  was  long  a  resident  and  laborer  in  reform  in  Michigan, 
from  which  State  she  went  out  to  the  District  of  Columbia  to  befriend 
her  people,  as  well  as  to  other  distant  fields.  She  went  to  help  feed  and 
clothe  the  refugees  in  Kansas  in  1879-80,  and  in  reaching  one  locality  she 
rode  nearly  a  hundred  miles  in  a  lumber  wagon.  She  closed  her  eventful 
life  in  Buttle  Creek,  where  she  passed  her  last  days,  having  reached  the 
great  age  of  one  hundred  and  ten  years. 

Mrs.  Laura  C.  Haviland  is  another  noble  woman  worthy  of  mention.  She  has  given 
a  busy  life  to  mitigating  the  miseries  of  the  unfortunate.  She  helped  many  a  fugitive 
to  elude  the  kidnappers;  she  nursed  the  suffering  soldiers,  fed  the  starving  freedmen, 
following  them  into  Kansas,*  and  traveled  thousands  of  miles  with  orphan  children 
to  find  them  places  in  western  homes.  She  and  her  husband  at  an  early  day  opened 
a  manual-labor  school,  beginning  by  taking  nine  children  from  the  county-house,  to 
educate  them  with  their  own  on  a  farm  near  Adrian.  Out  of  her  repeated  experi- 
ments, and  petitions  to  the  legislature  for  State  aid,  grew  at  last  the  State  school  for 
homeless  children  at  Coldwater,  where  for  years  she  gave  her  services  to  train  girls  in 
various  industries. 

Mrs.  Sybil  Lawrence,  a  woman  of  strong  character,  and  charming  social  qualities, 
exerted  a  powerful  influence  for  many  years  in  Ann  Arbor.  Being  in  sympathy  with 
the  suffrage  movement,  and  in  favor  of  coeducation,  she  did  all  in  her  power  to  make 
the  experiment  a  success,  by  her  aid  and  counsels  to  the  girls  who  first  entered  the 
University.  Her  mother,  sister,  and  nieces  made  a  charming  household  of  earnest 
women  ready  for  every  good  work.  Their  services  in  the  war  were  indispensable,  and 
their  sympathies  during  the  trying  period  of  reconstruction  were  all  on  the  side  of  lib- 
erty and  justice. 

There  are  many  other  noble  women  in  Michigan  worthy  of  mention  did 
space  permit,  such  as  Miss  Emily  Ward,  a  woman  of  remarkable  force  of 
character  and  great  benevolence;  Mrs.  Lucy  L.  Stout,  who  has  written 
many  beautiful  sentiments  in  prose  and  verse  :  Eliza  Legget  and  Florence 
Mayhew,  identified  with  all  reform  movements ;  Mrs.  Tenney,  the  State 
librarian ;  and  Mrs.  Euphemia  Cochrane,  a  Scotch  woman  by  birth,  who 
loved  justice  and  liberty,  a  staunch  friend  alike  of  the  slave  and  the  un- 
fortunate of  her  own  sex.  Under  her  roof  the  advocates  of  abolition  and 
woman  suffrage  always  found  a  haven  of  rest.  Henry  C.  Wright,  Wendell 
Phillips,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Sojourner  Truth,  Theodore  Tilton, 
Frederick  Douglass,  Abbey  Kelley  and  Stephen  Foster  could  all  bear 
testimony  to  her  generous  and  graceful  hospitality.  She  was  president  of 
the  Detroit  Woman  Suffrage  Association  at  the  time  she  passed  from 
earth  to  a  highejr  life. 


*  Spending  the  summer  of  1865  at  Leavenworth,  I  frequently  visited  Mrs.  Haviland,  then  busily  occu- 
pied in  ministering  to  the  necessities  of  the  10,000  refugees  just  then  from  the  Southern  States.  On 
May  29,  I  aided  her  in  collecting  provisions  for  the  steamer,  which  was  to  transport  over  a  hundred 
men,  women  and  children,  for  whom  she  was  to  provide  places  in  Michigan.  I  shall  never  forget  that 
day  nor  the  admiration  and  reverence  I  felt  for  the  magnanimity  and  self-sacrifice  of  that  wonderful 
woman. —  [S.  B.  A. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 
INDIANA. 

The  First  Woman  Suffrage  Convention  After  the  War,  1869 — Amanda  M.  Way — An- 
nual Meetings,  1870-85,  in  the  Larger  Cities — Indianapolis  Equal  Suffrage  Society, 
1878 — A  Course  of  Lectures — In  May,  1880,  National  Convention  in  Indianapolis 
— Zerelda  G.  Wallace — Social  Entertainment — Governor  Albert  G.  Porter-^Susan 
B.  Anthony's  Birthday — Schuyler  Colfax — Legislative  Hearings — Temperance 
Women  of  Indiana — Helen  M.  Cougar — General  Assembly — Delegates  to  Political 
Conventions — Women  Address  Political  Meetings — Important  Changes  in  the 
Laws  for  Women,  from  1 860  to  1884 — Colleges  Open  to  Women — Demia  Butler — 
Professors — Lawyers — Doctors — Ministers — Miss  Catherine  Merrill — Miss  Eliza- 
beth Eaglesfield — Rev,  Prudence  Le  Clerc — Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas — Prominent 
Men  nnd  Women — George  W.  Julian — The  Journals — Gertrude  Garrison. 

THIS  was  one  of  the  first  States  to  form  a  Woman  Suffrage 
Society  *  for  thoroughly  organized  action,  with  a  president, 
secretary,  treasurer,  and  constitution  and  by-laws.  From  October, 
1851,  this  association  held  annual  meetings,  sent  petitions  and 
appeals  to  the  legislature,  and  had  frequent  hearings  at  the  capi- 
tol,  diligently  pressing  the  question  of  political  equality  for  woman 
for  ten  consecutive  years.  Then,  although  the  society  did  not 
disband,  we  find  no  record  of  meetings  or  aggressive  action  until 
1869,  for  here,  as  elsewhere,  all  other  interests  were  forgotten 
in  the  intense  excitement  of  a  civil  war.  But  no  sooner  were 
the  battles  fought,  victory  achieved,  and  the  army  disbanded, 
than  woman's  protests  against  her  wrongs  were  heard  throughout 
the  Northern  States;  and  in  Indiana  the  same  Amanda  M.  Way 
who  took  the  iniative  step  in  1851  for  the  first  woman's  conven- 
tion, summoned  her  coadjutors  once  more  to  action  in  iS69,t 
and  with  the  same  platform  and  officers  renewed  the  work  with 
added  determination  for  a  final  victory. 

*  See  Vol.  I.,  page  306. 

t  The  call  for  this  convention  was  signed  by  Amanda  M.  Way,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Bland,  Mrs.  M.  M.  B. 
Goodwin,  Mrs.  Henry  Blanchard,  Mrs.  Emma  B.  Swank,  Indianapolis  ;  Mrs.  Isaac  Kinley,  Richmond  i 
Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas,  Camden  ;  Dr.  Mary  H.  Wilhite,  Miss  Lizzie  Boynton,  Miss  Mollie  Krout,  Dr. 
E.  E.  Barrett,  Crawfordsville  ;  Mrs.  Abula  Pucket  Nind,  Fort  Wayne  ;  Mrs.  L.  S.  Bidell,  Crown  Point ; 
Rev.  E.  P.  Ingersoll,  J.  V.  R.  Miller,  Rev.  Henry  Blanchard,  Rev.  William  Hannaman,  Professor  A. 
C.  Shortridge,  Professor  R.  T.  Brown,  Professor  Thomas  Rhodes,  Dr.  T.  A.  Bland,  Indianapolis; 
Hon.  Isaac  Kinley,  Isaac  H.  Julian,  Richmond  ;  Hon.  L.  M.  Nind,  Fort  Wayne ;  Hon.  S.  T.  Mont- 
gomery, Kokomo  ;  D.  R.  Pershing  and  Rev.  T.  Sells,  Warsaw. 


534  History  of  Woman  Suffrage, 

For  this  interesting  chapter  we  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  May 
Wright  Sewall,  who  has  patiently  gathered  and  arranged  this 
material,  and  laid  it,  as  a  free  gift,  at  our  feet.  Those  who  have 
ever  attempted  to  unearth  the  most  trivial  incidents  of  history, 
will  appreciate  the  difficulties  she  must  have  encountered  in  this 
work,  as  well  as  in  condensing  all  she  desired  to  say  within  the 
very  limited  space  allowed  to  this  chapter.  Mrs.  Sewall  writes: 

The  first  convention  after  the  war,  June  8,  9,  1869,  was  held  in  Masonic 
Hall,  and  continued  two  days.  The  Indianapolis  Journal  devoted  several 
columns  daily  to  the  proceedings,  closing  with  the  following  compli- 
mentary editorial : 

As  a  deliberative  assembly  it  compared  favorably  with  the  best  that  have  ever  been 
conducted  by  our  own  sex.  To  say  that  there  was  as  much  order,  propriety  and  dig- 
nity as  usually  characterizes  male  conventions  of  a  political  character  is  but  to  put  the 
matter  in  a  very  mild  shape.  Whatever  was  said,  was  said  with  earnestness  and  for  a 
purpose,  and  while  several  times  the  debate  wasjxmsiderably  spiced,  the  ladies  never 
fell  below  their  brothers  in  sound  sense.  We  have  yet  to  see  any  sensible  man 
who  attended  the  convention  whose  esteem  for  woman  has  been  lowered,  while  very 
many  have  been  converted  by  the  captivating  speeches  of  Mrs.  Cole,  Mrs.  Swank  and 
Mrs.  Livermore. 

In  the  Sentinel  of  June  n,  1869,  an  editorial  appeared  whose  evident  ob- 
ject was  to  reassure  the  public  mind  and  to  restore  to  peace  and  confi- 
dence any  souls  that  might  have  been  agitated  during  the  convention  by 
so  unusual  and  novel  an  exercise  as  thought.  The  nature  of  the  sedative 
potion  thus  editorially  administered  to  an  alarmed  public  may  be  inferred 
from  this  sample : 

No  amount  of  human  ingenuity  can  change  the  arrangement  of  nature.  The  history 
of  the  race  furnishes  the  evidence  that  the  species  of  man  and  woman  are  opposite. 
The  distinctions  that  now  exist  have  existed  from  the  time  that  the  "  Lord  God  caused 
a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,"  and  said:  "Thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband;  he 
shall  rule  over  thee."  This  brief  story  comprises  the  history  of  man  and  woman,  and 
defines  the  relations  which  shall  ever  exist  between  them.  When  woman  ceases  to  be 
womanly,  woman's  rights  associations  become  her  fitting  province. 

The  editor  of  the  Journal at  that  time  was  Colonel  W.  R.  Holloway,  the 
present  very  liberal  manager  of  the  Times.  The  editor  of  the  Sentinel  was 
Joseph  J.  Bingham.  The  State  was  then  Republican,  and  as  the  organ  of 
that  party  the  Journal  probably  had  the  larger  number  of  readers. 

The  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association  convened  in  Indianapolis,  June 
8,  1870,  and  held  a  two  days'  meeting.  The  Journal  contains,  as  usual,  a 
full  report.  The  Sentinel's  tone  is  quite  different  from  that  which  distin- 
guished its  utterances  the  preceding  year.  Its  reports  tore  full  and  per- 
fectly respectful.  This  convention  is  memorable  as  that  at  which  the 
Indiana  Society  became  auxiliary  to  the  American  Association.  The 
records  show  that  this  union  was  accomplished  by  a  majority  of  one,  the 
ballot  on  the  proposition  standing  15  for  and  14  against.  As  soon  as  the 
union  was  thus  effected  the  following  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  this  association  is  in  favor  of  the  union  of  the  National  and  Ameri- 
can Associations  as  soon  as  practicable. 


A  Secret  Conclave.  535 

On  the  same  day  Judge  Bradwell  of  Chicago  submitted  a  resolution 
favoring  the  union  of  the  two  national  societies,  which  was  laid  on  the 
table.  Of  the  annual  meetings  from  1871  to  1878  the  Indianapolis  papers 
contain  no  reports,  save  the  briefest  mention  of  those  of  1873-4.  From 
1878  to  1885  short  but  fair  reports  may  be  found.  Since  1870,  the  conven- 
tions of  this  society*  have  been  held  in  different  towns  throughout  the 
State. t  The  minutes  show  that  the  propriety  of  withdrawing  from  the 
American  Association  and  remaining  independent  was  brought  before  the 
convention  of  1871,  under  the  head  of  special  business  ;  that  it  was  decided 
to  postpone  action  until  the  next  annual  meeting,  and  to  make  the  matter 
of  withdrawal  a  special  order  of  business,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  from 
that  time  the  subject  has  ever  been  broached.  At  the  annual  meeting  of 
1875,  held  at  a  time  when  preparations  for  celebrating  our  national  cen- 
tennial were  in  progress,  the  following  resolution  was  passed : 

Resolved,  That  we  congratulate  the  voters  of  the  United  States  on  their  enjoyment 
of  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  commend  them  for  the  great  centenary  celebration  of  the 
establishment  of  that  right,  which  they  are  about  to  have.  But  we  do  earnestly  pro- 
test against  the  action  of  the  Indiana  legislature  by  which  it  made  appropriations  for 
that  purpose  of  moneys  collected  by  taxing  women's  property. 

In  November,  1878,  the  ninth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion was  held  in  Indianapolis,  by  invitation  from  the  State  Society.  \ 

In  the  month  of  March,  1878,  some  very  mysterious  whisperings  adver- 
tised the  fact  that  there  was  to  be  a  meeting  of  the  ladies  of  Indianapolis 
known  to  have  "  advanced  ideas  "  concerning  their  sex.  In  response  to 
a  secretly  circulated  summons,  there  met  at  No.  18  Circle  Hall  nine 
women  and  one  man,  who,  though  not  mutually  acquainted,  were  the 
most  courageous  of  those  to  whom  the  call  had  come.  Probably  each  of 
the  ten  often  thinks  with  amusement  of  the  suspicious  glances  with  which 
they  regarded  one  another.  As  a  participant,  I  may  say  that  the  company 
had  the  air  of  a  band  of  conspirators.  Had  we  convened  consciously  to 
plot  the  ruin  of  our  domestic  life,  which  opponents  predict  as  the  result 
of  woman's  enfranchisement,  we  could  not  have  looked  more  guilty  or 
have  moved  about  with  more  unnatural  stealth.  That  demeanor  I  explain 
as  an  unconscious  tribute  to  what  "  Madam  Grundy  "  would  have  thought 
had  she  known  of  our  conclave. 

At  that  meeting  one  point  only  was  definitely  settled ;  which  was, 
whether  the  new  society  should  take  a  name  which  would  conceal  from 
the  public  its  primary  object,  or  one  which  would  clearly  advertise  it. 
The  honesty  of  the  incipient  organization  was  vindicated  by  its  deciding 

*  The  officers  of  the  State  Association  in  1883  were :  President,  Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas :  I'ice-Presi- 
dents,  Mrs.  Helen  V.  Austin,  Mrs.  S.  S.  McCain,  Mrs.  M.  V.  Berg,  Mrs.  G.  Gifford,  Mrs.  M.  P.  Lind- 
sey,  Mrs.  C.  A.  P.  Smith  and  Mrs.  F.  G.  Scofield  ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  M.  E.  M.  Price  ;  Corresponding 
Secretary,  Mrs.  F.  M.  Adkinson  ;  Treasurer,  Miss  Mary  1).  Naylor;  State  Central  Committee,  Mrs. 
Mary  K.  Haggart,  Mrs.  Z.  G.  Wallace  and  May  Wright  Sewall. 

t  Annual — 1871,  June  21,  22,  Bloomington  ;  1872,  June  5,  6,  Dublin  ;  1873,  June  n,  12,  Terre  Haute ; 
Semi-Annual,  November  19,  Richmond.  Annual — 1874,  May  28,  29,  Fort  Wayne  ;  1875,  May  25,  26, 
l.iixrty;  Semi-Annual,  November  23,  24,  Winchester.  Annual — 1876,  May  30,  31,  Anderson;  1877, 
September  4,  5,  Knightstown  ;  1878,  June  n,  12,  Richmond  :  1879,  May  14,  15,  Kokomo  ;  1880,  April 
27,  28,  Crawfordsville  ;  1881,  June  15,  16,  Kokomo  ;  Semi-Annual,  October  29,  Dublin.  Annual— 1882, 
May,  Columbus  ;  1883,  June,  Logansport ;  1884,  Kokomo  ;  1885,  November  22,  23,  War>:iw. 

t  See  Vol.  II.,  page  851. 


536  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

upon  the  latter.  I  do  not  record  in  detail  the  initiative  steps  of  this  flour- 
ishing society  in  order  to  awaken  in  its  members  any  humiliating  memo- 
ries, but  because  the  fact  that  ten  conscientious,  upright  persons  could 
thus  secretly  convene  in  an  obscure  room,  and  that  such  a  question  could 
agitate  them  for  more  than  two  hours,  is  the  best  indication  that  could 
be  given  of  the  conservative  atmosphere  which  enveloped  Indianapolis, 
even  as  late  as  1878.  The  next  meeting  was  appointed  for  April  2,  at  the 
residence  of  Mrs.  Zerelda  G.  Wallace.  Notices  were  inserted  in  the  pa- 
pers, and  in  the  meantime  some  pains  was  taken  to  secure  not  only  the 
presence  of  persons  who  had  not  previously  been  identified  with  any  re- 
form movement,  but  also  that  of  some  well-known  friends.  It  was  at- 
tended by  twenty-six  men  and  women,  representing  various  religious  and 
political  parties,  most  of  whom  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  education  and 
social  position,  and  resulted  in  a  permanent  organization  under  a  consti- 
tution whose  first  article  is  as  follows : 

This  organization  shall  be  known  as  the  Indianapolis  Equal  Suffrage  Society,  and 
shall  consist  of  such  men  and  women  as  are  willing  to  labor  for  the  attainment  of  equal 
rights  at  the  ballot-box  for  all  citizens  on  the  same  conditions. 

On  the  principle  that  that  which  has  some  restrictions  is  most  desired, 
membership  was  at  first  hedged  about  with  certain  formalities.  While 
most  reform  organizations  welcome  as  members  all  who  will  pay  their 
annual  fee  and  subscribe  to  the  constitution,  this  society  requires  that  the 
names  of  candidates  be  presented  at  one  meeting  and  formally  balloted 
on  at  the  next,  thus  providing  a  month  for  consideration.  Since  1878  this 
society  *  has  held  forty-three  public  meetings,  and  distributed  through- 
out the  city  several  thousand  tracts.  At  intervals  the  society  has  engaged 
speakers  from  abroad.  Miss  Anthony  gave  her  "  Bread  and  Ballot"  to  a 
large  audience  in  Masonic  Hall,  and  many  date  their  conversion  from  that 
evening.  Mrs.  Stanton  has  appeared  twice  under  the  auspices  of  the  so- 
ciety. On  the  first  occasion  it  secured  for  her  the  court-room  in  which 
the  upper  house  of  the  general  assembly  was  then  sitting.  Tickets  of 
admission  were  sent  to  all  the  members  of  both  houses.  Her  lecture  on 
"The  Education  of  Girls,"  made  a  profound  impression.  On  her  second 
appearance  she  spoke  in  the  First  Christian  Church,  on  "  Boys."  For 
Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,  Robert's  Park  Church  was  obtained,  and  thus 
suffrage  principles  were  presented  to  a  new  class  of  minds.  Mrs.  J.  Ellen 
Foster  spoke  on  "  Women  before  the  Law,"  in  the  Criminal-court  room. 
The  society  made  every  effort  to  secure  the  general  attendance  of  mem- 
bers of  the  bar.  Before  one  of  its  regular  meetings  in  the  Christian 
chapel,  Mrs.  Louise  V.  Boyd  read  a  very  bright  paper  on  "A  Cheerful 
Outlook  for  Women."  At  its  present  parlors,  Mrs.  Harbert  delivered  an 
address  for  the  benefit  of  the  suffrage  campaign  in  Oregon. 

*  The  Equal  Suffrage  Society  has  now,  1885,  a  membership  of  175,  including  many  representatives 
of  whatever  in  Indianapolis  is  best  in  character,  culture  and  social  place.  The  society  has  lately  dis- 
tricted the  city  for  local  work,  assuming  the  boundaries  of  the  school  districts  as  its  own  for  this  pur- 
pose ;  its  present  plan  is  to  place  each  of  these  twenty-six  districts  under  the  especial  care  of  a  commit- 
tee whose  business  shall  be  to  hold  meetings,  distribute  literature  and  circulate  petitions.  The  society 
thus  hopes  to  create  a  stimulating  suffrage  atmosphere  at  the  capital  which  shall  inspire  the  legislators 
with  courage  to  do  good  work  for  women  at  their  next  session. 


An  Open  Letter.  537 

In  May,  1880,  this  society  invited  the  National  Association  to  hold  its 
annual  convention  in  Indianapolis.  Entertainment  was  provided  for 
eighty-seven  delegates,  besides  the  friends  who  came  from  different  parts 
of  the  State.  In  Park  Theatre,  the  largest  auditorium  of  the  city,  eloquent 
voices  for  two  days  pleaded  the  cause  of  freedom.  The  reports  in  the  city 
press  were  full  and  fair,  and  the  editorials  commendatory.  The  fact  that 
the  Sentinel  contained  a  long  editorial  advocating  the  doctrines  of  equal 
suffrage,  shows  the  progress  since  1869.  The  evening  after  the  conven- 
tion a  reception  was  given  to  the  members  and  friends  of  the  National 
Association  in  the  spacious  parlors  of  Mrs.  John  C.  New. 

From  its  origin  the  Indianapolis  society  has  held  aloof  from  all  formal 
alliances.  Thus  it  has  been  free  to  work  with  individuals  and  organiza- 
tions that  have  woman  suffrage  for  their  aim.  It  habitually  sends  dele- 
gates to  the  State  annual  conventions,  and  in  those  of  the  American  and 
National  it  is  usually  represented. 

In  December,  1880,  the  society  issued  a  letter,  secured  its  publication  in 
the  leading  papers  of  the  State,  and  addressed  a  cop)'  to  each  member  of 
the  General  Assembly,  in  order  to  advise  that  body  that  there  were  women 
ready  to  watch  their  official  careers  and  to  demand  from  them  the  con- 
sideration of  just  claims : 

INDIANAPOLIS,  Dec.  22,  1880. 

DEAR  SIR:  The  Equal  Suffrage  Society  of  Indianapolis,  in  behalf  of  citizens  of 
Indiana  who  believe  that  liberty  to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage  should  neither  be 
granted  nor  denied  on  the  ground  of  sex,  would  respectfully  notify  you  that  during  the 
next  session  of  the  State  legislature  it  will  invite  the  attention  of  that  body  to  the  con- 
sideration of  what  is  popularly  called  "The  Suffrage  Question."  The  society  will 
petition  the  legislature  to  devote  a  day  to  hearing,  from  representative  advocates  of 
woman  suffrage,  appeals  and  arguments  for  such  legislation  as  may  be  necessary  to 
abolish  the  present  unjust  restriction  of  the  elective  franchise  to  one  sex,  and  to  secure 
to  women  the  free  exercise  of  the  ballot,  under  the  same  conditions  and  such  only,  as 
are  imposed  upon  men.  To  this  matter  we  ask  your  unprejudiced  attention,  that 
when  our  cause  shall  be  brought  before  the  legislature  its  advocates  may  have  your 
cooperation.  Very  respectfully  yours,  ZERELDA  G.  WALLACE,  President. 

MAY  WRIGHT  SEWALL,  Secretary. 

By  order  of  the  Equal  Suffrage  Society  of  Indianapolis. 

The  society  has  lately  taken  a  new  departure,  giving  lunches,  parties 
and  literary  entertainments,  to  which  invitations*  are  issued,  by  the 
officers,  thus  becoming  a  factor  in  the  social  life  of  the  city.  The  invita- 
tion, programme,  and  press  comments  of  its  last  entertainment  indicate 
the  character  of  these  reunions,  and  the  esteem  in  which  they  are  held. 
These  occasions  have  been  the  means  of  securing  for  the  society  greater 
popular  favor  than  it  has  hitherto  enjoyed.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 

*  INVITATION. — The  Indianapolis  Equal  Suffrage  Society  requests  the  pleasure  of  your  company  at  a 
literary  and  social  entertainment  to  be  given  in  the  Bates  House  parlors,  Friday  evening,  November  4, 
1881.  (.'omniittee—^xy  Wright  Sewall,  Mary  C.  Raridan,  Mrs.  H.  G.  Carey,  Mrs.  Charles  Kregelo, 
and  Miss  Lydia  Halley.  Please  present  invitation  at  the  door. 

PROGRAMME.-— i.  Music,  piano  solo,  Miss  Dietrich  ;  2.  Toast,  Yorktown,  Henry  D.  Pierce  ;  3.  Toast, 
The  True  Republic,  Mrs.  Z.  G.  Wallace  ;  4.  Music,  solo  (vocal),  Mrs.  J.  J.  Cole  ;  5.  Toast,  Women 
in  Indiana,  Gen.  John  Coburn  ;  6.  Toast,  Women  in  the  "  Revised  Version,"  Arthur  \V.  Tyler;  7. 
Music,  solo  (vocal),  Arthur  Miller:  8.  Toast.  The  Literary  Women  of  Indiana.  Q.  Toast,  Women  in 
the  U.  S.  School  System,  Horace  S.  Tarbell ;  10.  Recitation,  Lida  Hood  Talbott  ;  n.  Toast,  Our 
Forefathers,  Rev.  Myron  \V.  Reed  ;  12.  A  Reply,  Mary  C.  Raridan  ;  13.  Music,  solo  (vocal),  Mrs.  J. 
C.  New.  Music  In  charge  of  Mrs.  John  C.  New.  W.  B.  Stone,  accompanist. 


538  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

formal  toasts,  the  president  called  upon  Gov.  Albert  G.  Porter,  who  had 
come  in  a  few  minutes  before.  He  thanked  the  meeting  for  its  reference 
to  what  he  had  done  for  the  cause  of  equal  suffrage,  and  announced  that 
while  he  remained  governor  of  Indiana  he  would  do  all  he  could  for  the 
rights  of  women.*  He  referred  to  the  progress  made,  and  to  the  refining 
influence  that  women  would  have  on  political  matters.  Of  all  the  social 
entertainments  given,  none  has  secured  more  converts  than  the  celebra- 
tion of  Susan  B.  Anthony's  sixty-second  birthday.  The  arrangements  for 
this  event  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Mary  E.  N.  Carey  and  Mrs. 
May  Wright  Sewall.  The  following  account,  prepared  by  the  author  of 
this  chapter  for  the  Indianapolis  Times  of  February  18,  1882,  will  suf- 
ficiently indicate  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  : 

The  anniversary  was  a  unique  event.  A  number  of  invitations  were  issued  to  citi- 
zens interested  in  suffrage  who  were  not  formally  connected  with  the  association.  As 
a  result,  on  the  evening  of  February  15,  there  were  gathered  in  the  spacious  parlors  of 
Dr.  Carey's  hospitable  home,  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  representing  the  best  cir- 
cles of  Indianapolis  society.  A  portrait  of  Miss  Anthony  rested  upon  an  easel,  con- 
spicuously placed,  that  all  might  see  the  serene  face  of  the  woman  who  for  thirty  years 
has  preached  the  gospel  of  political  freedom,  and  expounded  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  in  favor  of  justice  to  all.  The  programme  was  somewhat  informal,  all 
but  two  of  the  speeches  f  being  spontaneous  expressions  of  admiration  for  Miss  Anthony 
and  her  fidelity  to  principle.  There  were  two  regrets  connected  with  the  programme. 
These  were  caused  by  the  absence  of  Gov.  Porter  and  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax  ;  but  the 
gracious  presence  of  Mrs.  Colfax  was  a  reminder  of  her  husband's  fidelity  to  our  cause, 
and  Mrs.  Porter's  sympathetic  face  was  a  scarcely  less  potent  support  than  would  have 
been  a  speech  from  the  governor.  Just  before  the  close  of  the  meeting  the  following 
telegram  was  sent  to  Miss  Anthony  : 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  Tenafly,  New  Jersey. 

The  Indianapolis  Equal  Suffrage  Society,  in  meeting  assembled  with  many  friends 
sends  you  greeting  on  this  anniversary  occasion,  in  recognition  of  your  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  women.  MAY  WRIGHT  SEWALL,  Secretary. 

To  report  the  details  of  this  social  gathering  would  be  wearisome,  but  some  reflec- 
tions to  which  the  occasion  gave  rise  may  be  permitted.  One  lady  upon  seeing  the  in- 
vitation to  the  meeting  exclaimed:  "This  little  bit  of  paper  is  an  indication  of  a 
higher  civilization  than  I  supposed  we  had  yet  entered  upon.  Until  recently  it  has 
been  like  the  betrayal  of  a  secret  for  a  woman,  particularly  for  an  unmarried  woman, 
to  have  a  birthday."  This  exclamation  but  expresses  a  historical  fact  and  a  prophetic 
truth.  So  long  as  woman's  only  value  depended  upon  physical  charms,  the  years  which 
destroyed  them  were  deemed  enemies.  The  fact  that  an  unmarried  woman's  sixty- 
second  birthday  can  be  celebrated,  shows  the  dawning  of  the  idea  that  the  loss  of  youth 
and  its  fresh  beauty  may  be  more  than  compensated  by  the  higher  charms  of  intellect- 
ual attainments.  The  time  will  never  come  when  women,  or  men  either,  will  delight 
in  the  possession  of  crows-feet,  gray  hairs  and  wrinkles;  but  the  time  will  come,  aye, 
and  now  is,  when  they  will  view  these  blemishes  as  but  a  petty  price  to  pay  for  the  joy 
of  new  knowledge,  for  the  deeper  joy  of  closer  contact  with  humanity,  and  for  the 
deepest  joy  of  worthy  work  well  done. 

The  first  legislative  hearing  since  1860,  was  that  granted  January,  1871, 
to  Miss  Amanda  Way  and  Mrs.  Emma  B.  Swank.  The  two  houses  re- 
ceived them  in  joint  session,  the  lieutenant-governor  and  speaker  of  the 

*  The  speakers  were  Helen  M.  Gouger,  Florence  M.  Adkinson,  Mary  A.  Haggart,  Ex-Gov.  Baker, 
Judge  Martindale,  Mrs.  Wallace,  Messrs.  Walker  and  Dooley,  editors  of  ihe  Times  and  Herald,  Mr. 
Tarbell,  superintendent  of  the  city  schools,  and  May  Wright  Sewall. 

t  See  Indiana  Appendix,  note  A. 


Constituents  versus   Consciences.  539 

house  occupying  the  speaker's  desk.  Mr.  William  Cumback  introduced 
Miss  Way,  who  read  the  following  memorial : 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen — We  come  before  you  as  a  committee  appointed  by 
the  Woman  Suffrage  Association  to  memorialize  your  honorable  body  in  behalf  of  the 
women  of  Indiana.  We  ask  you  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to 'so  amend  the  State 
constitution  as  to  secure  to  women  the  right  of  suffrage.  We  believe  the  extension  of 
the  full  rights  of  citizenship  to  all  the  people  of  the  State,  is  in  accordance  with  the 
fundamental  principles  of  a  just  government.  We  believe  that  as  woman  has  an 
equal  interest  with  man  in  all  public  questions,  she  should  therefore  have  an  equal 
voice  in  their  decision.  We  believe  that  as  woman's  life,  prosperity  and  happiness 
are  equally  dependent  upon  the  order  and  morality  of  society,  she  should  have  an  equal 
voice  in  the  laws  regulating  her  surroundings.  We  believe  that  as  woman  is  human, 
she  has  human  needs  and  rights,  and  as  she  is  held  responsible  to  law,  she  should  have 
an  equal  voice  in  electing  her  law-makers. 

We  believe  that  the  interests  of  man  and  woman  are  equally  improved  in  securing 
to  both  equal  education,  a  place  in  the  trades  and  professions,  equal  honor  and  dig- 
nity everywhere;  and  as  the  first  step  to  this  end  is  equality  before  the  law,  we,  your 
petitioners,  ask  that  you  extend  to  the  women  of  Indiana  the  right  of  suffrage,  and 
thus  enable  one-half  the  citizens  of  the  State  to  protect  themselves  in  their  most 
sacred  rights. 

Miss  Way  spoke  briefly  to  the  points  in  the  memorial,  urging  the  legis- 
lators to  give  to  women  the  same  chances  for  improvement,  the  same 
means  for  defense,  and  the  same  weapons  for  protection  that  they  have 
secured  to  themselves.  Mrs.  Swank  also  made  a  logical  and  eloquent 
speech.  No  action  was  taken  by  the  legislature. 

On  January  22,  1875,  the  two  houses  of  the  General  Assembly  convened 
in  joint  session,  to  receive  petitions  from  the  "Temperance  Women  of 
Indiana,"  who  were  on  this  occasion  represented  by  Mrs.  Zerelda  G.  Wal- 
lace, Mrs.  Avaline  and  Mrs.  Robinson,  who  had  been  appointed  by  the 
State  Temperance  Association.  Mrs.  Wallace  read  a  memorial  and  stated 
that  it  was  signed  by  10,000  women,  and  then  argued  its  various  points  and 
pleaded  for  the  action  of  the  "  Honorable  Body."  Mrs.  Avaline  and  Mrs. 
Robinson  followed  In  briefer,  but  not  less  earnest  appeals.  The  only 
answer  elicited  by  these  ladies  was  the  assurance  made  by  Dr.  Thompson, 
a  member  of  the  Senate,  that  he  and  his  colleagues  were  there,  "  not  to 
represent  their  consciences,  but  to  represent  their  constituents,"  whose  will 
was  directly  opposed  to  the  petition  offered. 

On  January  3,  1877,  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  give  the 
ballot  to  women,  came  to  its  third  reading  in  the  lower  House.  On  that 
occasion,  Mrs.  Wallace  and  Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas  represented  the  women 
of  Indiana,  and  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore  was  present  to  lend  the  assistance 
of  her  oratory.  The  speeches  created  a  profound  impression,  but  neither 
native  nor  foreign  eloquence  was  able  to  secure  the  requisite  vote. 
When  the  ayes  and  nays  were  called,  the  resolution  was  lost — 51  to  22.  " 

On  February  24,  1879,  once  again  in  joint  session,  the  General  Assembly 
received  a  committee  appointed  by  the  State  Association  and  the  Equal 
Suffrage  Society  of  Indianapolis,  to  support  woman's  claim  to  the  ballot. 
Mrs.  Wallace,  Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas,  Mary  E.  Haggart  and  Amy  E.  Dunn, 
each  spoke  at  length  on  the  points  clearly  set  forth  in  the  memorial. 
Whatever  arguments  could  reach  the  intellect,  whatever  could  touch  the 


54°  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sensibilities,  were  urged  by  these  ladies  on  that  occasion,  and  the  gentle- 
men did  not  fail  to  compliment  their  abilities,  although  the  exercise  of 
them  had  no  palpable  effect  upon  legislation. 

Before  the  General  Assembly  of  1880-81,  had  convened,  it  was  known 
by  its  members-elect  that  the  women  of  the  State  would  be  a  constant 
factor  in  their  deliberations.  They  had  been  notified  of  this  intention  by 
the  circular  letter  from  the  City  Society,  and  by  the  published  fact  that  the 
State  Association  had  already  appointed  representatives,  whose  duty  it 
should  be  to  secure  a  hearing  for  such  an  amendment  to  the  constitution 
of  the  State  as  should  enable  women  to  vote.  As  soon  as  the  legislature 
assembled,  committees  on  women's  claims  were  appointed  in  both 
branches ;  Simeon  P.  Yancey  being  the  chairman  of  the  Senate,  and  J.  M. 
Furnas  of  the  House,  committee.  Two  points  had  been  determined  upon. 
These  were  to  try  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill  which  should  immediately 
authorize  women  to  vote  for  presidential  electors,  and  such  an  amendment 
to  the  constitution  of  the  State  as  should  enable  women  to  exercise  the 
right  of  suffrage  on  all  questions. 

In  connection  with  the  first  of  these  points  the  name  of  Helen  M.  Gou- 
gar  deserves  especial  mention.  At  the  Washington  convention  of  the 
American  Association,  Mr.  Blackwell  suggested  that  the  States  try  to  se- 
cure the  electoral  ballot  for  women,  and  as  soon  as  Mrs.  Gougar  returned 
she  urged  the  members  of  the  legislature  to  take  the  matter  up.  At  her 
suggestion,  Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas  addressed  a  letter  to  W.  D.  Wallace,  esq., 
a  prominent  lawj^er  of  Lafayette,  asking  him  if,  in  his  opinion,  the  exten- 
sion of  the  electoral  ballot  to  women  would  be  incompatible  with  the 
present  constitution  of  the  State  ;  in  reply  to  this  Mr.  Wallace  set  forth 
an  exhaustive  argument,*  proving  the  entire  constitutionality  of  such  an 
act.  Five  thousand  were  printed  and  gratuitously  distributed  throughout 
the  State. 

The  Committee  on  Women's  Claims  in  both  Houses  met  at  sundry 
times  with  members  of  the  Suffrage  Association  to  discuss  the  merits  of 
these  bills  and  to  become  familiar  with  the  arguments.  During  the  regu- 
lar session  Mrs.  Wallace  and  Mrs.  Gougar  spent  two  consecutive  weeks 
in  attendance  at  the  legislature,  watching  the  attitude  of  the  different 
members  and  lobbying,  in  the  good  sense  of  that  word.  The  immediate 
object  was  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  electoral  bill,  for  that  once  gained, 
and  women  by  act  of  the  legislature  made  voters  upon  the  most  import- 
ant question,  it  was  reasonably  thought  that  the  passage  of  the  amend- 
ment would  be  thereby  facilitated.  A  hearing  was  granted  on  February 
16,  1881,  and  the  House  took  a  recess  to  listen  to  the  speeches  of  the 
women  appointed  by  the  State  Association,  Mrs.  Haggart  and  Mrs.  Gou- 
gar. The  next  day,  February  17,  the  Senate  afforded  a  similar  opportu- 
nity, and  the  same  ladies  addressed  that  body. 

In  addition  to  the  faithful  exertions  of  Mrs.  Wallace  and  Mrs.  Gougar, 
and  the  public  hearing  granted  by  both  houses,  much  quiet  but  most 
effective  work  was  done  with  individual  members.  To  no  one  is  more  due 
than  to  Paulina  T.  Merritt,  whose  reputation  for  intelligent  charity  is 

*  See  Appendix  to  Indiana,  note  B. 


Efforts  for  Constitutional  Amendment.  541 

widely  known.  Mrs.  Merritt  was  a  frequent  attendant  upon  the  sessions  of 
the  legislature  and  her  untiring  efforts  in  private  conversations  with  mem- 
bers were  invaluable.  In  spite  of  all  these  influences,  when  the  electoral 
bill  was  brought  to  a  vote  upon  its  third  reading,  it  was  lost  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  unconstitutional. 

At  the  special  session  all  efforts  centered  upon  the  bill  for  amending 
section  2,  of  article  II.,  of  the  State  constitution,  so  as  to  give  women  the 
right  to  vote  in  all  elections.  Mrs.  Wallace  and  Mrs.  Gougar  gave  an- 
other week  to  the  work,  and  on  April  7  the  bill  was  brought  to  a  vote  in 
the  House,  and  passed — ayes  62,  nays  24;  in  the  Senate,  on  April  8,  it  also 
passed — ayes  25,  nays  18  ;  and  so  the  first  entrenchment  was  won. 

No  one  believed  that  the  bill  to  amend  the  constitution  would  have 
passed  had  it  not  been  preceded  by  the  battle  over  the  electoral  bill  and 
the  consequent  education  of  the  General  Assembly  in  regard  to  this  great 
question  of  political  rights.  Immediately  a  conference  was  held  as  to  the 
proper  manner  of  expressing  our  gratitude  to  the  committees  on  women's 
political  claims.  It  was  at  first  thought  the  recognition  should  come 
from  the  Equal  Suffrage  Society,  but  it  was  finally  considered  wiser  to 
have  a  reception  given  the  honorable  body  by  a  voluntary  committee  of 
women  who  should  act  quite  independently  of  any  society.* 

The  passage  of  the  amendment  by  the  legislature  of  1881  gave  the  advo- 
cates of  our  cause  a  common  objective  point,  and  the  efforts  of  all  during 
the  two  years  immediately  succeeding  were  directed  toward  securing  the 
election  of  such  a  legislature  as  might  be  relied  upon  to  repass  the  bill  in 
1883.  The  State  society  at  its  annual  meeting  enlarged  its  central  com- 
mittee and  instructed  it  to  arrange  meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  State, 
to  send  out  speakers,  and  to  organize  local  societies.!  This  committee 
prepared  a  letter,  for  general  distribution,  indicating  to  the  women  of 
the  State  their  duty  in  the  premises,  and  suggesting  various  lines  of  work. 
Blanks  for  a  special  petition  to  the  General  Assembly  were  sent  to  every 
township,  which  were  industriously  circulated  and  numerously  signed. 

In  the  spring  of  1882  the  officers  of  the  State  society  issued  a  call  for  a 
mass-meeting,  to  which  "all  women  within  the  boundaries  of  the  State 
who  believed  in  equal  suffrage,  or  were  interested  in  the  fate  of  the  pend- 
ing amendment,"  were  invited.  The  meeting  was  held  on  May  19,  at  the 

*  The  following  invitation  was  sent  to  every  member  of  the  legislature  who  had  voted  for  the  amend- 
ment, and  also  to  all  the  leading  people  of  the  city  :  The  pleasure  of  your  company  is  requested  at  the 
parlors  of  the  New-Denison,  Friday  evening,  April  15,  from  8  to  12,  where  a  social  entertainment  will 
be  given  in  honor  of  the  passage  of  the  suffrage  amendment  by  our  State  legislature.  [Signed  :]  Mrs. 
Zerelda  G.  Wallace,  Miss  Catherine  Merrill,  Mrs.  Harvey  G.  Carey,  Mrs.  Charles  Kregelo,  Mrs.  Henry 
D.  Pierce,  Mrs.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  May  Wright  Sewall,  Mrs.  George  Merritt,  Mrs.  John  C.  New 
and  Mrs.  John  M.  Judah.  The  programme  was  as  follows:  i.  Music,  Solo  (vocal),  Zelda  Seguin  Wal- 
lace. 2.  Toast,  Our  Legislature,  Senator  Spann.  3.  Toast,  Our  Opponents,  Colonel  DeWitt  Wallace. 
4.  Toast,  The  Press  and  Progress,  Laura  Ream.  5.  Toast,  The  Indiana  Woman  under  the  Law,  William 
Wallace.  6.  Music,  Solo  (vocal),  Mrs.  John  C.  New.  7.  Toast,  The  Ideal  Man,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Judah. 
8.  Toast,  The  Ideal  Woman,  Mr.  A.  S.  Caldwell.  o.  Toast,  The  Home  of  the  Future,  May  Wright 
Sewall.  10.  Music,  German  Song,  Professor  John  Fiskc.  n.  Toast,  The  Woman  who  "  Don't  want 
to  Vote,"  Gertrude  Garrison.  12.  Recitation,  Lida  Hood  Talbot.  13.  Toast,  The  Attitude  of  the  Pul- 
pit toward  Reform,  Rev.  Myron  W.  Reed.  14.  Music,  Solo  (vocal),  Zelda  Seguin  Wallace. 

t  The  persons  thus  authorized  by  the  central  committee  to  hold  meetings  and  organize  societies  were 
I>r.  Mary  F.  Thomas,  Mary  E.  Haggart,  Zerelda  G.  Wallace,  Helen  M.  Gougar,  May  Wright  Sewall 
and  L.  May  Wheeler. 


542  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Grand  Opera  House,  and  the  attendance  exceeded  the  most  extravagant 
hopes  of  those  who  had  called  it.  If  any  came  to  scoff,  they  remained  to 
participate  with  pride  in  this  remarkable  convention,  which  is  yet  fre- 
quently referred  to  as  the  largest  and  most  impressive  meeting  ever  held 
in  the  Hoosier  capital.  The  call  had  invited  those  who  could  not  attend 
the  meeting  to  manifest  their  sympathy  by  sending  postal-cards  to  the 
corresponding  secretary.  These  were  received  in  such  numbers  for  sev- 
eral days  that  Mrs.  Adkinson  and  the  half-dozen  clerks  appointed  to  as- 
sist her  in  counting  them,  unable  to  bring  in  a  full  report,  announced  at 
the  close  of  the  evening  session,  that  having  reached  5,000,  they  desisted 
from  further  enumeration. 

No  effort  was  spared  to  make  the  demonstration  truly  representative  of 
the  suffrage  interest  throughout  the  State.  All  the  sessions  were  presided 
over  by  Mrs.  Sewall,  who  called  the  roll  by  congressional  districts,  some 
one  of  whose  representatives  responded.  The  ease  and  dignity  with 
which  women,  many  of  whom  had  never  spoken  before  any  audience  save 
their  own  neighbors  gathered  in  Sunday-school  or  prayer-meeting,  re- 
ported the  status  of  their  respective  communities  on  the  suffrage  ques- 
tion, was  matter  of  astonishment  as  well  as  of  admiration.*  So  excep- 
tional in  all  regards  was  the  conduct  of  the  meeting  that  the  papers 
united  in  expressing  surprise  at  the  strength  of  the  suffrage  sentiment  in 
the  State  as  indicated  by  the  mass-convention. 

This  meeting  of  May  19,  1882,  struck  the  key  on  which  the  friends  in 
the  State  spoke  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  that  year.  Large  numbers 
of  societies  were  organized  and  numerous  meetings  held,  the  immediate 
object  being  to  secure  the  election  of  a  legislature  that  should  vote  to 
submit  the  amendment  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1881  to  the 
decision  of  what  is  mis-named  "  a  popular  vote."  The  degree  to  which 
this  action  influenced  the  politicians  of  the  State  cannot  be  accurately 
known,  but  we  are  compelled  to  believe  that  it  was  one  of  the  causes 
which  induced  the  Republicans  in  convention  assembled  to  declare  for 
the  "  submission  of  the  pending  amendments."  The  Republican  State 
convention  was  held  August  8,  1882,  and  the  first  plank  in  the  platform 
reads  thus : 

Resolved,  First — That  reposing  trust  in  the  people  as  the  fountain  of  power,  we  de- 
mand that  the  pending  amendments  to  the  constitution  shall  be  agreed  to  and  submitted 
by  the  next  legislature  to  the  voters  of  the  State  for  their  decision  thereon.  These 
amendments  were  not  partisan  in  their  origin,  and  are  not  so  in  character,  and  should 
not  be  made  so  in  voting  upon  them.  Recognizing  the  fact  that  the  people  are  divided 
in  sentiment  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of  their  adoption  or  rejection,  and  cherishing 
the  right  of  private  judgment,  we  favor  the  submission  of  these  amendments  at  a  spe- 
cial election,  so  that  there  may  be  an  intelligent  decision  thereon,  uninfluenced  by 
partisan  issues. 

At  the  mass-meeting  of  May  19,  Mrs.  P.  T.  Merritt  of  Indianapolis,  Mrs. 
M.  E.  M.  Price  of  Kokomo,  and  Mrs.  J.  C.  Ridpath  of  Greencastle  were 

*  Besides  these  five-minute  reports,  addresses  were  delivered  by  Rev.  Myron  W.  Reed,  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Indianapolis ;  Captain  DeWitt  Wallace  of  Lafayette,  Dr.  Ridpath  of  De- 
Paun  University,  Colonel  Maynard,  chief  editorial  writer  on  the  Sentinel :  Mrs.  Haggart,  Mrs.  Gou- 
gar,  Mrs.  Josephine  R.  Nichols,  and  other  men  and  women  of  less  prominence,  but  on  that  occasion  of 
hardly  less  interest. 


Campaign  of  1882.  543 

appointed  as  delegates  to  the  different  political  State  conventions.  As  a 
Republican,  Mrs.  Merritt  was  received  with  great  courtesy  and  accorded 
time  to  speak.  Her  address  was  characterizeH  by  sound  logic  and  dignity 
of  expression,  and  was  reported  in  full  with  the  rest  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Republican  convention.  As  a  prohibition  amendment  had  also  been 
passed  by  the  legislature  of  1881,  the  interests  of  suffrage  and  prohibition 
in  the  campaign  of  1882  were  identical.  The  Woman's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union  of  Indiana  sent  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar  to  the  Republican 
State  convention,  by  which  she  was  respectfully  received  and  which  she 
ably  addressed. 

The  advocates  of  suffrage  did  not  content  themselves  during  the 
summer  of  1882  by  merely  holding  suffrage  meetings  proper,  and  address- 
ing political  bodies,  but  they  sought  every  opportunity  to  reach  the  ears 
of  the  people  for  whatever  purpose  convened.  The  Equal  Suffrage 
Society  received  from  the  managers  of  the  Acton  camp-meeting  a  place 
on  their  programme;  accordingly  Mrs.  Haggart  and  Mrs.  Gougar,  as  del- 
egates, addressed  immense  audiences.  Both  of  these  ladies  labored  inde- 
fatigably,  discussing  the  question  of  submission  of  the  amendments  be- 
fore Sunday-school  conventions,  teachers'  associations,  agricultural  fairs, 
picnics  and  assemblies  of  every  name.  Others  rendered  less  conspicuous, 
but  not  less  earnest  or  constant  service  ;  and  when  the  political  campaign 
proper  opened,  it  was  evident  that  every  candidate  would  firmly  and  un- 
reservedly answer  the  challenge  :  "  Submission,  or  non-submission  ?  " 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Indiana,  women  were  employed  by 
party  managers  to  address  political  meetings  and  advocate  the  election 
of  candidates.  Mrs.  Gougar  addressed  Republican  rallies  at  various 
points ;  she  and  Mrs.  Haggart  together  made  a  canvass  of  Tippecanoe 
county  on  behalf  of  the  Republican  candidate  for  representative  in  the 
General  Assembly,  Captain  W.  De  Witt  Wallace,  who  was  committed  not 
only  to  the  submission  of  the  amendments,  but  also  to  the  advocacy  of 
both  woman  suffrage  and  prohibition.  The  animosity  of  the  liquor  league 
was  aroused,  and  this  powerful  association  threw  itself  against  submission. 
The  result  was  the  election  of  a  legislature  containing  so  large  a  Demo- 
cratic majority  that  there  was  no  ground  for  hoping  that  the  amendments 
would  be  re-passed  and  sent  to  the  voters  of  the  State  for  final  adoption 
or  rejection. 

Though  the  submission  of  the  amendments  was  one  of  the  chief  issues 
in  the  campaign,  many  candidates  who  pledged  themselves  on  the  ground 
that  they  involved  questions  which  it  was  the  privilege  of  the  voters  to 
decide,  reserved  their  own  opinions  upon  their  merits.  There  were,  how- 
ever, candidates  who  openly  espoused  woman  suffrage  per  se*  Knowing 
that  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly  were  pledged  to 
vote  down  the  pending  amendments,  the  friends  tacitly  agreed  to  main- 
tain a  dignified  silence  toward  that  body  concerning  them.  The  Suffrage 
Society  at  the  capital,  however,  appointed  a  committee  t  to  watch  the  in- 

*  Among  these  the  names  of  William  Dudley  Foulke  of  Richmond,  W.  DeWitt  Wallace  of  Lafayette, 
G.  H.  Thomas  of  Huntington,  and  S.  J*.  Yancey,  merit  honorable  mention, 
t  Mrs.  Sewall,  Mrs.  Merritt  and  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Newman  Carey. 


544  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

terests  of  woman  in  the  legislature;  and  through  its  influence,  special 
committees  on  women's  claims  were  obtained  in  both  Houses.  Disap- 
pointed by  the  result  in  the  legislature  of  1883,  but  not  discouraged,  the 
society  continued  to  labor  with  undiminished  zeal,  and  sought  every 
legitimate  opportunity  to  prove  woman  a  factor  in  State  politics. 

Several  weeks  prior  to  the  Republican  nominating  convention  at  Chi- 
cago, June  3,  1884,  this  society  appointed  committees  to  correspond  with 
each  of  the  gentlemen  prominently  named  as  candidates  for  nomination 
to  the  office  of  president,  and  also  appointed  committees*  to  press  upon 
the  attention  of  the  different  parties  the  political  claims  of  women.  The 
society  instructed  each  committee  to  carry  on  its  work  according  to  the 
united  judgment  of  its  members  and  continue  it  until  the  close  of  the 
legislative  session  of  1885.  The  committee  appointed  to  communicate 
with  the  Republicans  addressed  a  letter  to  each  of  the  thirty  delegates 
sent  by  Indiana  to  the  nominating  convention  at  Chicago.  They  also  ad- 
dressed letters  to  the  Republican  State  central  committee,  and  through 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  John  Overmeyer,  chairman,  they  were  given  an  op- 
portunity to  appear  before  the  committee  on  resolutions.  Mrs.  Sewall 
presented  a  resolution,  and  in  a  brief  speech  urged  its  adoption  and  incor- 
poration into  the  platform  of  the  Republican  party.  Mrs.  Merritt  and 
Mrs.  Sewall  were  offered  an  opportunity  to  speak  before  the  convention, 
which  they  declined  in  the  belief  that  it  was  a  greater  gain  to  the  cause  to 
appear  before  the  resolution  and  platform  committee  than  before  the 
convention  itself. 

To  what  an  appalling  degree  women  were  discriminated  against  by  the 
law  prior  to  1860,  may  be  inferred  from  subsequent  legislative  enactments. 
At  almost  every  sitting  of  the  biennial  legislature,  since  1860,  some  im- 
portant change  will  be  observed.  In  1861  was  passed  the  following: 

AN  ACT  to  enlarge  the  Legal  Capacity  of  Married  Women  whose  Husbands  are  Insane, 

and  to  enable  them  to  Contract  as  if  they  -were  Unmarried. 

SECTION  I.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Indiana  :  That 
all  married  women,  or  those  who  may  hereafter  be  married,  whose  husbands  are  or  may 
be  insane,  are,  during  the  continuance  of  such  insanity,  hereby  enabled  and  authorized 
to  make  and  to  execute  all  such  contracts,  and  to  be  contracted  with  in  relation  to 
their  separate  property,  as  they  could  if  they  were  unmarried,  and  they  may  sue  and 
be  sued  as  if  they  were  sole. 

The  legislature  of  1863  was  undisturbed  by  any  question  concerning 
women.  In  1865  the  legislature  discriminated  against  women  by  the 
passage  of  a  very  long  act,  prescribing  the  manner  in  which  enumerations 
of  white  male  citizens  shall  be  made;  thus  implying  that  a  -white  male  citi- 
zen is  an  honorable  and  important  person,  whose  existence  is  to  be  noted 
with  due  care;  with  a  care  that  distinguishes  him  equally  above  the  white 
female  and  the  black  male  citizen,  and  in  effect  places  these  two  unenu- 
merated  divisions  of  human  beings  into  one  class. 

Another  act  of  1865  reaffirmed  an  act  of  1852  which  prescribed  the 
classes  of  persons  capable  of  making  a  will,  from  which  married  women 
were  excluded. 


*  Republican.  May  Wright  Sewall  and  Paulina  T.  Merritt ;   Democratic,  Mary  E.  Haggart  and 
Florence  M.  Adkinson. 


Some  Ameliorating  Enactments.  545 

The  legislature  of  1867  passed  an  act  in  regard  to  conveyance  of  lands 
by  wives  of  persons  of  unsound  mind,  which  read  as  follows  : 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Indiana  :  That  in  cases  where 
the  guardian  of  any  person  of  unsound  mind,  under  the  direction  of  any  court  of  com- 
petent jurisdiction  has  made,  or  may  hereafter  make,  sale  of  any  lands  of  such  person 
of  unsound  mind,  the  wife  of  such  person  of  unsound  mind  may  by  her  separate  deed 
release  and  convey  all  her  interest  in  and  title  to  such  land,  and  her  deed  so  made  shall 
thereafter  debar  her  from  all  claim  to  such  land,  and  shall  have  the  same  effect  on  her 
rights  as  if  her  husband  had  been  of  sound  mind  and  she  had  joined  with  such  husband 
in  the  execution  of  such  conveyance. 

In  1869,  an  act  passed  by  the  legislature  of  1852,  providing  for  the  settle- 
ment of  a  decedent's  estate,  was  so  amended  as  to  provide  that  the  widow 
might  select  articles  to  the  value  of  $500,  or  receive  the  first  §500  derived 
from  the  sale,  or  in  case  it  was  worth  no  more  than  $500,  might  hold  it. 
In  1871  the  amendment  of  1869  was  further  amended  so  that  in  case  the 
personal  property  was  less  than  $500  the  deficit  could  be  a  lien  on  the  real 
estate,  to  be  settled  with  other  judgments  and  mortgages. 

In  1873  the  possible  ability  of  women  to  serve  the  State  officially  was 
recognized  by  the  passage  of  the  following  bill : 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Indiana:  That  women  are 
hereby  declared  to  be  eligible  to  any  office,  the  election  to  which  is  or  shall  be  vested 
in  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State;  or  the  appointment  to  which  is  or  shall  be  vested 
in  the  governor  thereof. 

SEC.  2.  The  foregoing  shall  not  include  women  who  shall  labor  under  any  disability 
which  may  prevent  them  from  binding  themselves  by  an  official  bond. 

The  legislature  of  1873  also  passed  an  act  regulating  the  liquor  traffic, 
in  which  it  is  formally  provided  that  a  wife  shall  have  the  same  right  to 
sue,  to  control  the  suit,  and  to  control  the  sum  recovered  by  the  suit,  as  a 
feme  sole. 

In  1875  an  act  passed  the  General  Assembly  making  it  impossible  to 
sell  real  property  in  which  a  woman  has,  by  virtue  of  her  marriage,  an 
inchoate  right,  for  less  than  four-ninths  of  its  appraised  value:  and  also 
providing  that  upon  the  sale  of  any  piece  or  aggregate  of  pieces  of  real 
property  not  exceeding  $2,000,  the  wife  has  her  absolute  right ;  and  more- 
over providing  that  in  case  of  a  judicial  sale,  the  wife's  inchoate  interests 
become  absolute,  and  she  may  demand  a  partition. 

In  1877  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  enabling  married  women 
whose  husbands  are  insane  to  sell  and  to  convey  real-estate  belonging  to 
such  married  women,  in  the  same  way  as  if  femes  soles. 

When  the  act  for  establishing  a  female  prison  passed  the  legislature  of 
1860,  it  provided  that  the  board  managing  its  affairs  should  consist  of 
three  men,  who  should  be  assisted  by  an  advisory  board  composed  of 
one  man  and  two  women.  By  the  legislature  of  1877  this  section  was  so 
amended  as  to  make  the  managing  board  consist  of  women  exclusively, 
and  the  advisory  board  was  abolished.* 

Of  all  the  changes  effected  in  the  statutory  law  of  Indiana  since  1860, 
the  following  is  the  most  important  and  may  be  regarded,  so  far  as  women 


*  For  an  account  of  this  prison,  see  Appendix  to  Indiana  chapter,  note  C. 

35 


546  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

are  concerned,  the  measure  of  the  highest  legislative  justice  thus  far  at- 
tained in  any  State.  This  bill  was  prepared  by  Addison  C.  Harris,  then 
representing  Indianapolis  in  the  State  Senate,  and  was  approved  March 
25,  1879: 

AN  ACT  concerning  Married  Women — Approved  March  25,  i8jg: 

SEC.  I. — Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Indiana:  A  married 
woman  may  bargain,  sell,  assign  and  transfer  her  separate  personal  property  the  same 
as  if  she  were  sole. 

SEC.  2. — A  married  woman  may  carry  on  any  trade  or  business,  and  perform  any 
labor  or  service  on  her  sole  and  separate  account.  The  earnings  and  profits  of  any 
married  woman  accruing  from  her  trade,  business,  services  or  labor,  other  than  labor 
for  her  husband  or  family,  shall  be  her  sole  and  separate  property. 

SEC.  3. — A  married  woman  may  enter  into  any  contract  in  reference  to  her  personal 
estate,  trade,  business,  labor  or  service,  and  the  management  and  improvement  of  her 
separate  real  property,  the  same  as  if  she  were  sole;  and  her  separate  estate,  real  and 
personal,  shall  be  liable  therefor  on  execution  or  other  judicial  process. 

SEC.  4. — No  conveyance  or  contract  made  by  a  married  woman  for  the  sale  of  her 
lands  or  any  interest  therein,  other  than  leases  for  a  term  not  exceeding  three  years, 
and  mortgages  on  lands  to  secure  the  purchase  money  of  such  lands,  shall  be  valid, 
unless  her  husband  shall  join  therein.  Provided,  however,  that  if  she  shall  have 
attempted  to  convey  her  real  estate  or  shall  have  agreed  to  convey  the  same,  and  shall 
have  received  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  consideration  therefor,  the  person  paying 
such  consideration,  or  the  person  for  whose  benefit  the  same  was  paid,  shall  have  the 
right  to  sue  and  recover  judgment  therefor,  and  the  same  may  be  enforced  against  the 
property  of  such  married  woman. 

SEC.  5. — A  married  woman  shall  be  bound  by  the  covenants  of  the  title  in  a  deed  of 
conveyance  of  her  real  property. 

SEC.  6. — A  married  woman  may  bring  and  maintain  an  action  in  her  own  name 
against  any  person  or  body  corporate  for  damages  for  any  injury  to  her  person  or  char- 
acter, the  same  as  if  she  were  sole;  and  the  money  recovered  shall  be  her  separate  prop- 
erty, and  her  husband  in  such  case  shall  not  be  liable  for  costs. 

SEC.  7. — Whenever  the  husband  causes  repairs  or  improvements  to  be  made  on  the 
real  property  of  the  wife,  with  her  knowledge  and  consent  thereto  in  writing,  delivered 
to  the  contractor  or  person  performing  the  labor  or  furnishing  the  material,  she  shall 
alone  be  liable  for  material  furnished  or  labor  done. 

SEC.  8. — A  husband  shall  not  be  liable  for  any  debts  contracted  by  the  wife  in  car- 
rying on  any  trade,  labor  or  business  on  her  sole  and  separate  account,  nor  for  im- 
provements made  by  her  authority  on  her  separate  real  property. 

SEC.  9. — Whenever  a  judgment  is  recovered  against  a  married  woman,  her  separate 
property  may  be  sold  on  execution  to  satisfy  the  same,  as  in  other  cases.  Provided, 
however,  that  her  wearing  apparel  and  articles  of  personal  adornment  purchased  by 
her,  not  exceeding  two  hundred  dollars  in  value,  and  all  such  jewelry,  ornaments, 
books,  works  of  art  and  virtu,  and  other  such  effects  for  personal  or  household  use  as 
may  have  been  given  to  her  as  presents,  gifts  and  keep-sakes,  shall  not  be  subject  to 
execution.  And  provided  further,  that  she  shall  hold  as  exempt,  except  for  the  pur- 
chase money  therefor,  other  property  to  the  amount  of  three  hundred  dollars  to  be  set 
apart  and  appraised  in  the  manner  provided  by  law  for  exemption  of  property. 

SEC.  10. — A  married  woman  shall  not  mortgage  or  in  any  manner  encumber  her 
separate  property  acquired  by  descent,  devise  or  gift,  as  a  security  for  the  debt  or 
liability  of  her  husband  or  any  other  person. 

The  legislature  of  1881  enacted  the  following,  which  is  really  a  sequence 
of  the  property-rights  statute  of  1879: 

A  married  woman  may  sue  alone  when  :  First — The  action  concerns  her  own  prop- 
erty. Second — When  the  action  is  between  herself  and  her  husband.  But  in  no  case 


Women  in  the  Schools.  547 

shall  she  be  required  to  sue  or  defend  by  guardian  or  next  friend,  unless  she  be  under 
twenty-one  years. 

It  further  enacted,  making  it  section  28,  to  act  38,  that :  When  a  husband  or  father 
has  deserted  his  family,  or  is  imprisoned,  the  wife  or  mother  may  prosecute  or  defend 
in  his  name  any  action  which  he  might  have  prosecuted  or  defended,  and  shall  have 
the  same  powers  and  rights  therein  as  he  might  have  had. 

The  legislature  of  1881  also  passed  the  following: 
AN  ACT  to  Authorize  the  Election  of  Women  to  School  Offices: 

SEC.  i. — Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Indiana,  that  any  woman,  mar- 
ried or  single,  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  and  upwards,  and  possessing  the  qualifi- 
cations prescribed  for  men,  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  under  the  general  or  special 
school  laws  of  the  State. 

SEC.  2. — That  any  woman  elected  or  appointed  to  any  office  under  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  before  she  enters  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  her  office,  shall  qualify 
and  give  bond  as  required  by  law;  and  such  bond  shall  be  binding  upon  her  and  her 
securities. 

The  following,  enacted  by  this  same  legislature  of  1881,  would  indicate 
that  fidelity  to  his  domestic  obligations  is  not  even  yet  esteemed  in  man 
as  a  virtue  of  high  order;  the  value  attached  to  the  fidelity  can  be  meas- 
ured by  the  penalty  incurred  by  infidelity,  which  is  thus  stated  : 

Whoever  without  cause  deserts  his  wife  or  children,  and  leaves  wife  and  child  or 
children  as  a  charge  upon  any  county  of  this  State,  shall  be  fined  not  more  than  $100 
nor  less  than  $10. 

As  has  been  indicated  in  another  connection,  it  was  the  legislature  of 
1881  which  distinguished  itself  by  passing  a  bill  for  amending  section  2  of 
article  II.  of  the  State  constitution  so  as  to  give  women  the  right  to  vote  in 
all  elections.  The  legislature  of  1883  did  nothing  to  further  ameliorate 
the  legal  condition  of  women ;  and  the  highest  legal  rights  enjoyed  by 
women  of  Indiana  are  indicated  in  the  foregoing  recital  of  legislative 
action  upon  the  subject  from  1860  to  1884  inclusive. 

For  some  years  after  public  schools  were  established  in  Indiana,  women 
had  no  recognition.  I  am  told  by  a  reliable  gentleman,  Dr.  R.  T.  Brown, 
who  served  from  1833  to  1840  as  examiner  in  one  of  the  most  advanced 
counties  of  the  commonwealth,  that  during  that  period  no  woman  ever 
applied  to  him  for  a  license  to  teach,  and  that  up  to  1850  very  few  were 
employed  in  the  public  schools.  At  that  time  it  was  permitted  women 
to  teach  •'  subscription  "  schools  during  the  vacations,  for  which  purpose 
the  use  of  the  district  school-house  was  frequently  granted.  It  was  by 
demonstrating  their  capacity  in  this  unobtrusive  use  of  holidays,  that 
women  obtained  employment  in  the  regular  schools.  The  tables  show 
that  in  1861  there  were  6,421  men  and  1,905  women  employed  in  the  pri- 
mary schools,  and  128  men  and  72  women  in  the  high  schools.  From  that 
time  up  to  1866,  owing  to  the  war,  the  number  of  men  decreased  while 
that  of  women  rapidly  increased.  The  tables  for  that  year  show  5,330 
men  and  4,163  women  in  the  schools.  The  number  of  men  employed  in 
1880  was  7,802,  of  women,  5,776.  While  the  very  best  places  are  held  by 
men,  the  niajority  of  the  second-rate  places  are  filled  by  women,  and  men 
fill  a  majority  of  the  lowest  places.  The  average  daily  wages  received  by 
men  engaged  in  the  public  schools  in  1880  was  $1.86,  while  the  average 
daily  wages  of  women  was  $1.76. 


548  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Of  the  twenty-six  academies,  colleges  and  universities,  all  are,  with 
two  notable  exceptions — Hanover  and  Wabash — open  to  women.  Of 
these,  Butler,  at  Irvington,  formerly  known  as  the  Northwestern  Christian 
University,  was  the  first  to  admit  women  to  a  "female  course,"  which 
its  managers  arranged  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  female  mind.  In  its  laud- 
able endeavor- to  adapt  its  requirements  to  this  intermediate  class  of 
beings,  the  university  substituted  music  for  mathematics,  and  French  for 
Greek.  Few,  however,  availed  themselves  of  this  course,  and  it  was  ut- 
terly rejected  by  Demia  Butler,  a  daughter  of  the  founder  of  the  institu- 
tion, who  entered  it  in  1860,  and  graduated  from  what  was  then  known  as 
the  male  course,  in  1864,  thus  winning  the  right  to  be  remembered  as  the 
first  woman  in  Indiana  to  demonstrate  the  capacity  of  her  sex  to  cope  with 
the  clsssics  and  higher  mathematics.  From  that  time  the  "  female  course  " 
became  gradually  less  popular,  until  it  was  discarded.  One  after  another, 
private  and  denominational  schools  have  fallen  into  line,  until  nearly  all 
of  them  are  open  to  women  without  humiliating  conditions. 

Up  to  1867  the  Indiana  University  exhibited  the  anomaly  of  a  great  in- 
stitution of  learning  supported  by  the  State,  and  regarding  itself  as  the 
crown  of  the  public-school  system,  free  to  but  one-half  of  the  children  of 
the  commonwealth.  Since  that  date  it  has  been  open  equally  to  both 
sexes  in  all  three  of  its  departments — the  State  Normal  School,  located  at 
Terre  Haute,  the  Agricultural  College,  located  at  Lafayette  and  commonly 
known  as  Purdue  University,  and  the  State  University  proper,  including 
literary  and  scientific  departments  located  at  Bloomington.  Of  this  last 
branch,  30  per  cent,  are  women.  That  there  is  no  longer  any  discrimina- 
tion in  these  higher  institutions  of  learning  is  not  true.  Girls  must  always 
feel  that  they  are  regarded  as  belonging  to  a  subordinate  class,  wherever 
women  are  not  found  in  the  faculty  and  board  of  managers.  The  de- 
pressing influence  of  their  absence  in  superior  positions  cannot  be  mea- 
sured. 

Very  few  women  are  found  in  college  faculties  in  Indiana,  and  none  on 
boards  of  trustees.  Those  most  conspicuous  in  ability  are  Mrs.  Sarah  A. 
Oren,*  who,  having  served  two  successive  terms  as  State  librarian,  was 
called  from  that  position  to  fill  a  chair  at  Purdue  University,  where  she  re- 
mained several  years ;  Miss  Catharine  Merrill,  professor  of  English  litera- 
ture in  Butler  University,  who  throughout  her  term  of  service  from  1869 
to  1883  enjoyed  the  deserved  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  strongest 
members  of  the  faculty  ;t  and  Miss  Rebecca  I.  Thompson,  who  is  professor 
of  mathematics  at  Franklin  College,  the  leading  Baptist  school  in  the 
State.  The  women  occupying  these  conspicuous  positions  are  all  identi- 
fied with  the  suffrage  movement ;  Professor  Thompson,  of  Franklin,  is  the 
president  of  the  Johnson  County  Suffrage  Association.  Miss  N.  Cropsey 
has  served  the  cause  of  public  education  in  Indianapolis  in  some  capacity 
for  twenty  years,  and  has  for  several  years  been  superintendent  of  the 
primary  schools,  a  place  which  she  fills  with  acknowledged  ability.  Miss 

*  See  Appendix  to  Indiana  chapter,  note  G. 

t  Miss  Merrill  resigned  in  the  autumn  of  1883,  and  was  immediately  succeeded  by  Miss  Harriet 
Noble  of  Vincennes,  a  graduate  of  Vassar,  and  a  lady  of  most  admirable  qualities,  whose  success  is 
assured  by  the  record  of  her  first  year  in  this  responsible  position. 


In  Medicine. 


549 


Cropsey  is  another  living  denial  of  the  common  assertion,  that  only  half- 
cultured  and  ill-paid  women  want  the  ballot. 

Of  the  four  medical  colleges  in  Indianapolis,  two  admit  women  and  two 
exclude  them.  No  theological  school  in  the  State  receives  women,  nor 
does  the  only  law  school,  which  is  located  at  Indianapolis ;  but  its  former 
president,  Hon.  James  B.  Black,  told  me  that  it  was  ready  to  receive  them 
upon  application. 

Formerly,  many  questions  now  decided  by  the  board  of  trustees  of  each 
school  district,  were  directly  settled  by  the  people  themselves  at  the  an- 
nual school  meeting.  For  instance,  the  teacher  for  the  coming  term  was 
elected  from  among  the  candidates  for  that  place  ;  the  salary  to  be  paid, 
the  length  of  term,  the  location  of  the  school-house,  were  all  ques- 
tions to  be  decided  by  ballot.  I  have  reliable  authority  for  the  assertion 
that  in  some  parts  of  the  State,  as  early  as  1860,  widows,  and  wives  whose 
husbands  were  necessarily  absent  from  the  school  meetings,  voted  upon 
these  questions.  During  the  years  of  the  war  this  practice  became  very 
common,  but  fell  into  disuse  upon  the  return  of  peace. 

There  are  many  physicians  in  Indiana  enjoying  the  merited  esteem  of 
their  respective  communities  and  having  a  lucrative  practice.  The  most 
notable  example  of  success  in  this  profession  is  Dr.  Mary  F.  Thomas  of 
Richmond.*  Another  living  testimony  to  woman's  right  in  the  medical 
profession  is  Dr.  Rachel  Swain  of  Indianapolis,  whose  patrons  are  among 
the  first  families  of  the  city.  By  zealous  devotion  to  her  profession  she 
has  secured  the  respect  and  social  recognition  of  the  community  in  which 
she  moves.  As  an  avowed  friend  of  suffrage,  whose  word  in  season  is 
never  lacking,  Dr.  Swain  carries  a  knowledge  of  our  principles  into  circles 
where  it  would  otherwise  slowly  penetrate.  Dr.  Mary  Wilhite  of  Craw- 
fordsville  ranks  with  the  best  physicians  of  that  city.  In  her  practice 
she  has  gained  a  competence  for  herself  and  disseminated  among  her 
patients  a  knowledge  of  hygienic  laws  that  has  improved  the  health 
and  the  morals  of  the  community  to  which  she  has  ministered.  She,  too, 
advocates  political  equality  for  woman.  Dr.  Sarah  Stockton  of  Lafayette 
settled  in  Indianapolis  in  the  autumn  of  1883,  and  was  soon,  on  the  peti- 
tion of  leading  citizens,  including  both  men  and  women,  appointed  as 
physician  to  the  Woman's  Department  of  the  Hospital  for  the  Insane. 
Her  professional  labors  at  the  hospital  and  in  general  practice  indicate 
both  learning  and  skill.  In  November,  Dr.  Marie  Haslep  was  elected 
attendant  physician  at  the  Woman's  Reformatory,  a  State  institution 
having  some  four  hundred  inmates,  where  her  services  have  been  charac- 
terized by  faithfulness  and  caution. 

Elizabeth  Eaglesfield,  a  graduate  of  the  law  department  of  Michigan 
University,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Marion  county  in  the  spring  of 
1885,  and  is  the  first  woman  to  open  an  independent  law-office  in  this 
State. 

Very  few  women  have  served  in  the  ministry,  The  only  one  who  ever 
secured  any  prominence  in  this  profession  was  Miss  Prudence  LeClerc, 
who  \v;is  pastor  of  the  Universalist  church  in  Madison  in  1870-71,  and 

*  See  sketch  of  Dr.  Thomas,  Vol.  I.,  page  324. 


550  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


served  parishes  at  different  points  in  south-eastern  Indiana  until  her 
death  in  1878.  Miss  LeClerc  frequently  spoke  at  suffrage  conventions, 
and  called  meetings  wherever  she  preached,  instructing  the  people  in  the 
philosophy  of  this  reform. 

To  obtain  accurate  statistics  as  to  the  professions  and  industries  is  ex- 
tremely difficult,  as  the  year  1881  was  the  first  in  which  the  State  con- 
sidered women  at  all.  That  year  the  head  of  the  bureau  of  statistics  sent 
to  each  town  and  county  commissioner  certain  sets  of  questions  relative 
to  women's  occupations.  The  grace  with  which  they  were  received,  the 
seriousness  with  which  they  were  considered,  the  consequent  accuracy 
with  which  they  were  answered,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  one 
trustee  replied,  "The  women  in  our  county  are  mostly  engaged  in  baby- 
tending,"  and  that  his  response  was  generally  copied  by  the  press  as  a 
manifestation  of  brilliant  wit.  Although  some  commissioners  felt  tr^eir 
time  too  valuable  to  spend  in  gathering  information  relative  to  the  work 
of  women,  from  the  reports  of  those  who  seriously  undertook  to  canvass 
this  matter,  a  table  has  been  arranged  and  published,  which,  though  in- 
complete, must  be  regarded,  both  in  variety  of  occupations  and  in  the 
numbers  of  women  registered,  as  a  most  favorable  showing  for  this 
Western  State.  The  total  number  of  women  engaged  outside  of  home,  in 
non-domestic  and  money-making  industries,  is  15,122;  the  number  of  in- 
dustries represented  by  them  is  51.  Add  to  these  the  number  of  teachers, 
and  we  have  over  20,000  women  in  the  trades  and  professions  denied  the 
ballot,  that  sole  weapon  pledged  by  a  republic  to  every  citizen  for  the 
protection  of  person  and  property. 

Of  the  men  and  women  prominent  in  this  movement  since  1860,  whose 
names  are  not  mentioned  in  the  first  volume,  the  one  meriting  the  first 
place  is  beyond  doubt  Dr.  R.  T.  Brown  of  Indianapolis.  He  has  the  long- 
est record  as  an  advocate  of  suffrage  to  be  found  in  the  State.  As  a 
speaker  in  the  first  Harrison  campaign  (1836)  he  advocated  suffrage 
without  regard  to  sex.  Engaged  as  a  teacher  or  inspector  in  the  public 
schools  in  the  early  years,  Dr.  Brown  argued  the  adaptation  of  women  to 
the  teacher's  profession,  and  insisted  that  salaries  should  be  independent 
of  sex ;  and  in  many  individual  cases  where  he  had  authority,  women  se- 
cured this  recognition  before  it  was  generally  admitted  even  in  theory  to 
be  just. 

When,  in  1855,  the  Northwestern  Christian  (now  Butler)  University  was 
founded,  Dr.  Brown,  as  one  of  the  trustees,  advocated  coeducation ;  in 
1858  he  took  the  chair  of  natural  science,  and  in  that  branch  taught 
classes  of  both  sexes  until  1871.  In  1868  he  was  active  in  organizing  the 
Indiana  Medical  College  on  the  basis  of  equal  rights  to  women,  and  filled 
the  chair  of  chemistry  until  1872  ;  in  1873  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair 
of  physiology,  which  he  held  until  1877,  and  then  resigned  because  the 
board  of  trustees  determined  to  exclude  women.  This  proves  that  Dr. 
Brown's  devotion  to  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights  is  of  that  rare  degree 
which  will  bear  the  crucial  test  of  official  and  pecuniary  sacrifice.  He  has 
been  an  active  member  of  the  State  and  city  suffrage  associations  from  the 
beginning. 


Mrs.  Zerelda  G.    Wallace.  551 

The  name  of  Mary  E.  Haggart  first  appears  as  a  member  of  the  State 
Association  at  the  convention  held  in  Indianapolis  in  1869.  In  1870,  Mr. 
Hadley  made  a  speech  in  the  State  Senate  against  woman  suffrage,  to 
which  Mrs.  Haggart  wrote  an  able  reply  which  was  published  and  widely 
commented  on  by  the  press  of  the  State.  Her  next  notable  effort  was  in 
a  discussion  through  several  numbers  of  the  Ladies'  Own  Magazine,  pub- 
lished by  Mrs.  Cora  Bland,  where  she  completely  refuted  the  objections 
urged  by  her  opponent,  a  literary  gentleman  of  some  note.  Mrs.  Haggart 
has  addressed  the  legislatures  of  her  own  State,  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island  and  Kentucky,  as  well  as  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  the  hearing  granted  the  National  Association.  She 
seldom  speaks  without  the  most  careful  preparation,  and  never  without 
manifesting  abilities  of  the  highest  order.  Perhaps  no  woman  in  the 
State,  as  a  speaker,  has  won  higher  encomiums  from  the  press  or  has 
better  deserved  them. 

The  first  active  step  taken  in  suffrage  by  Mrs.  Florence  M.  Adkinson 
(then  Miss  Burlingame)  was  to  call  a  convention  in  Lawrenceburg.  In 
1871,  1872,  she  gave  several  lectures  on  suffrage  and  temperance  in  Ohio, 
and  held  a  series  of  meetings  in  southeastern  Indiana.  Though  an  ac- 
ceptable speaker,  it  is  as  a  writer  that  Mrs.  Adkinson  is  best  known  ;  she 
is  an  officer  in  both  the  State  and  the  city  organizations,  and  in  every 
capacity  serves  the  cause  with  rare  fidelity. 

The  name  of  Lizzie  Boynton  of  Crawfordsville  frequently  occurs  in 
suffrage  reports  between  1865  and  1870.  She  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Association  and  a  frequent  speaker  at  its  conventions.  Besides  working 
in  that  body,  she  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  local  society  at  Craw- 
fordsville, wrote  poems,  stories,  essays,  and  won  high  rank  in  the  State  in 
literature  and  reform.  From  mature  womanhood  her  record  as  Mrs.  Har- 
bert  belongs  to  Illinois  rather  than  Indiana. 

The  first  time  I  met  Mrs.  Zerelda  G.  Wallace  she  was  circulating  a  tem- 
perance petition  to  present  to  the  legislature.  One  day  while  busy  on  the 
third  floor  of  the  high-school  building  a  fellow-teacher  sent  up  word  that 
a  lady  wished  to  see  me.  Descending,  I  was  introduced  to  Mrs.  Wallace, 
who,  in  a  bland  way,  requested  me  to  sign  the  paper  which  she  ex- 
tended. Never  doubting  that  I  might  do  so,  I.  had  taken  my  pen  when 
my  eye  caught  the  words :  "  While  we  do  not  clamor  for  any  additional 
civil  or  political  rights."  "  But  I  do  clamor,"  I  exclaimed,  and  threw 
down  the  paper  and  pen  and  went  back  to  my  work,  vexed  in  soul  that  I 
should  have  been  dragged  down  three  flights  of  stairs  to  see  one  more 
proof  of  the  degree  to  which  honorable  women  love  to  humiliate  them- 
selves before  men  for  sweet  favor's  sake.  Mrs.  Wallace  went  forward 
with  her  work  of  solicitation,  thinking  me,  no  doubt,  to  be  a  very  impetu- 
ous, if  not  impertinent,  young  woman. 

When,  however,  upon  the  presentation  of  her  petition,  whose  framers 
had  taken  such  care  to  disclaim  any  desire  "  for  additional  civil  and  polit- 
ical rights,"  Mrs.  Wallace  was  startled  by  Dr.  Thompson's  avowal  (having- 
known  the  doctor,  as  she  naively  says,  "as  a  Christian  gentleman  "),  that 
he  was  not  there  "to  represent  his  conscience,  but  to  obey  his  constitu- 


552  History  of   Woman   Suffrage. 

ents,"  in  her  aroused  soul  there  was  that  instant  born  the  determination 
to  become  a  "constituent."  As  soon  as  the  hearing  was  at  an  end,  Mrs. 
Wallace  confessed  this  determination  to  Dr.  Thompson,  thanking  him  for 
unintentionally  awakening  her  to  a  sense  of  woman's  proper  position  in 
the  republic.  This  change  in  Mrs.  Wallace's  attitude  was  not  generally 
known  until  the  following  May,  when  the  annual  State  Temperance  con- 
vention was  held  in  Indianapolis ;  then,  in  her  address  before  that  body, 
she  avowed  her  conviction  that  it  was  woman's  duty  to  seek  the  ballot  as 
a  means  of  exerting  her  will  upon  legislation.  From  that  time  Mrs. 
Wallace  has  neglected  no  opportunity  to  propagate  suffrage  doctrines, 
and  has  been  most  potent  in  influencing  her  temperance  coadjutors  to 
embrace  these  principles.  Earnestness  and  logic  are  Mrs.  Wallace's  abid- 
ing forces.  Her  literary  work  is  chiefly  confined  to  correspondence,  in 
which  she  is  so  faithful  that  it  is  doubtful  if  any  man  in  public  life  in  In- 
diana can  plead  ignorance  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  suffrage.  Mrs. 
Wallace  has  been  an  officer  in  the  National,  the  American  and  the  State 
suffrage  societies,  and  has  served  the  Equal  Suffrage  Society  of  Indian- 
apolis as  president  most  of  the  time  since  its  formation.  Having  lived  in 
this  city  more  than  half  a  century,  related  to  many  men  who  have  held 
high  official  positions,  she  has  had  an  opportunity  to  exert  a  wide  influ- 
ence, and  it  may  be  safe  to  say  that,  by  virtue  of  her  own  consecrated  life, 
she  exerts  more  moral  power  in  this  community  than  any  other  woman 
in  Indiana. 

Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar  has  addressed  the  legislatures  of  New  York, 
Kansas  and  Wisconsin,  besides  that  of  her  own  State.  As  an  extempore 
speaker  she  has  no  peer  among  her  co-workers ;  her  first  suffrage  speech 
was  made  at  Delphi,  May,  1877.  In  July,  iSSi,  Mrs.  Gougar  became  the 
editor  of  Our  Herald,  a  weekly  which  she  conducted  with  great  ability  and 
success  in  the  interest  of  the  two  constitutional  amendments  then  pend- 
ing. In  1884,  in  an  extensive  lecturing  tour,  she  addressed  large  audiences 
in  Washington,  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Albany.  In  the  year  1883, 
Mrs.  Josephine  R.  Nichols  of  Illinois,  and  Mrs.  L.  May  Wheeler  of  Massa- 
chusetts, came  to  reside  in  Indianapolis.  Both  these  ladies  have  lectured 
frequently  and  with  marked  effect  in  various  parts  of  the  State. 

I  cannot  close  without  a  mention  of  those  public  men  who  have  hon- 
ored this  State  by  their  adherence  to  the  principle  of  woman  suffrage  and 
thereby  earned  a  title  to  the  fame  which  will  belong  to  the  advocates  of 
this  cause  in  the  hour  of  its  triumph.  Among  these  Hon.  George  W. 
Julian  is  most  conspicuous.  Referring  to  his  services  in  congress,  Mr. 
Julian  once  wrote: 

My  opinions  about  woman  suffrage,  however,  date  much  further  back.  The  sub- 
ject was  first  brought  to  my  attention  in  a  brief  chapter  on  the  "  Political  Non-exist- 
ence of  Women,"  in  Miss  Martineau's  book  on  "Society  in  America,"  which  I  read  in 
1847.  She  there  pithily  stated  the  substance  of  all  that  has  since  been  said  respecting 
the  logic  of  woman's  right  to  the  ballot;  and  finding  myself  unable  to  answer,  I  ac- 
cepted it.  On  recently  referring  to  this  chapter  I  find  myself  more  impressed  by  its 
force  than  when  I  first  read  it.  *  *  *  My  interest  in  anti-slavery  was 
awakened  about  the  same  time,  and  I  regarded  it  as  the  previous  question,  and  as  less 
abstract  and  far  more  important  and  absorbing  than  that  of  suffrage  for  women.  For 


A  Roll  of  Honor.  553 

the  sake  of  the  negro  I  accepted  Mr.  Lincoln's  philosophy  of  "  one  war  at  a  time," 
though  always  ready  to  own  and  defend  my  position  as  to  woman's  right  to  the  ballot. 

The  sincerity  of  Mr.  Julian's  belief  in  woman  suffrage  is  proved  by  his 
repeated  efforts  to  further  the  cause  in  the  United  States  congress.  On 
December  8,  1868,  he  submitted  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  guar- 
anteeing suffrage  to  al?  United  States  citizens,  which,  as  the  negro  had 
not  then  been  enfranchised,  he  numbered  article  fifteen.  On  March  15, 
1869,  he  submitted  the  same  amendment,  with  the  exception  that  the 
words  "  race  "  and  "color"  were  omitted  ;  on  the  same  day  Mr.  Julian  of- 
fered a  bill  providing  for  the  immediate  enfranchisement  of  women  in  all 
the  territories  of  the  United  States,  thus  doubling  on  one  day  his  claim  to 
the  gratitude  of  American  women.  On  April  4,  1870,  he  offered  another 
amendment,  numbered  article  sixteen,  which  followed  the  exact  form  and 
phraseology  of  the  fifteenth.  On  January  20,  1871,  he  offered  an  amend- 
ment to  the  bill,  providing  a  government  for  the  District  of  Columbia, 
striking  out  the  word  "male"  in  the  section  defining  the  right  of 
suffrage.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  even  so  long  ago  that  amend- 
ment received  55  yeas  against  117  nays.*  The  bills  which  Mr.  Julian  thus 
submitted  to  congress  when  he  was  a  member  of  that  body  prove  his  con- 
stancy to  a  cause  early  espoused,  his  conversion  to  which  was  due  to  that 
remarkable  English  woman  whose  claims  to  the  gratitude  of  her  Ameri- 
can sisters  are  thus  enhanced.  Mr.  Julian  has  not  worked  much  with  the 
suffrage  societies  of  his  own  State,  but  he  has  never  failed  in  his  repeated 
canvasses  to  utter  the  seasonable  word.  His  conviction  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  national  government  to  take  the  initiative  in  defining  the 
political  rights  of  its  citizens  has  naturally  led  him  to  present  this  ques- 
tion to  the  nation  as  represented  in  its  congress,  rather  than  to  agitate  it 
in  the  State. 

Oliver  P.  Morton  and  Joseph  E.  McDonald  are  two  other  names  con- 
spicuous in  Indiana  history  which  occur  frequently  in  connection  with 
"aye"  in  the  records  which  have  preserved  the  action  of  every  member 
of  congress  on  the  various  amendments  brought  before  it  involving 
woman's  political  equality. 

Albert  G.  Porter,  ex-governor  of  Indiana,  has  on  more  than  one  public 
occasion  avowed  his  belief  in  woman's  equality  as  a  citizen,  and  has  assented 
to  the  proposition  that  under  a  republic  the  only  sign  of  such  equality  is 
the  ballot.  Ardent  advocates  have  often  thought  him  inexcusably  reti- 
cent in  expressing  his  convictions  upon  this  subject,  but  such  have 
learned  that  it  is  given  to  but  few  mortals  to  "  remember  those  in  bonds 
as  bound  with  them,"  and  no  other  governor  of  Indiana  has  ever  taken 
occasion  to  remind  the  General  Assembly  of  its  duties  to  women,  as 
Governor  Porter  habitually  did.  In  his  address  of  1881  he  called  the 
attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  improved  condition  of  women  under 
the  laws,  pointed  out  disabilities  still  continuing,  and  bespoke  the  respect- 
ful attention  of  the  General  Assembly  to  the  women  who  proposed  to 
come  before  it  with  their  claims.  In  his  biennial  message,  1883,  the  gov- 
ernor recommended  the  enactment  of  a  statute  which  should  require  that 

*  For  these  bills  and  amendments,  see  Vol.  II.,  pages  325,  333. 


554  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

at  least  one  of  the  physicians  appointed  to  attend  in  the  department  for 
women  in  the  hospital  for  the  insane  should  be  a  woman.  The  whole 
tone  of  Governor  Porter's  administration  was  liberal  toward  women  ;  he 
invariably  implied  his  belief  in  their  equality,  and  on  one  or  two  occasions 
has  evinced  his  respect  for  their  ability  by  conferring  on  them  responsible 
offices.  Many  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Republican  part}',  and  a  few  in 
the  Democratic,  are  favorable,  and  while  they  do  not  labor  for  the  en- 
franchisement of  their  sisters  with  the  same  enthusiasm  which  personal 
bondage  excites,  their  constant  influence  is  on  the  side  of  woman's 
emancipation. 

As  to  .the  charities  conducted  by  Indiana  women,  for  a  condensed  nar- 
rative of  the  efficient  service  of  Mrs.  L.  B.  Wishard  and  Miss  Susan  Fus- 
sell,  I  must  refer  readers  to  the  account  kindly  prepared  for  me  by  Mrs. 
Paulina  T.  Merritt.* 

Whether  or  not  justified  by  the  facts,  the  feeling  is  current  that  those 
whom  the  masses  favor  hold  themselves  aloof  from  those  whom  personal 
experience,  or  a  sense  of  justice,  compels  to  walk  the  stony  path  of  reform. 
The  litterateurs  often  form  a  sort  of  pseudo-intellectual  aristocracy,  and 
do  not  willingly  affiliate  with  reformers,  whom  they  are  ready  to  assume 
to  be  less  cultivated  than  themselves.  Of  this  weakness  our  literary 
women  have  not  been  guilty.  Most  of  them  are  members  of  the  suffrage 
society.t 

A  system  is  now  developing  which  will  not  only  stimulate  women 
to  engage  in  competitive  industries  and  secure  justice  in  rewarding 
such  labor,  but  will  greatly  facilitate  the  work  of  ascertaining  what  part 
women  do  take  in  the  general  industries  of  the  State.  Indiana,  being 
mainly  agricultural,  is  divided  into  sixteen  districts,  each  of  which  has 
organized  an  agricultural  society.  Besides  these  there  are  also  county 
societies.  These  organizations  are  composed  of  men  and  women,  the  lat- 
ter having  nominally  the  same  powers  and  privileges  as  the  former.  An- 
nually the  State  Agricultural  Association  holds  a  meeting  at  Indianapolis. 
This  is  a  delegate  body,  consisting  of  representatives  from  the  dis- 
trict and  county  societies.  There  is  no  constitutional  check  against 
sending  women  as  delegates,  though  it  has  not  hitherto  been  done.  One 
chief  duty  of  the  primary  convention  is  to  elect  a  State  board  of  agricul- 
ture. This  board  consists  of  sixteen  members,  one  for  each  agricultural 
district.  The  managers  of  the  Woman's  State  Fair  Association  have 
called  an  industrial  convention,  whose  sessions  will  be  held  at  the  same 
time  that  the  Agricultural  Association  holds  its  annual  meeting.! 

If  the  press  reflects  the  public,  it  also  moulds  it ;  and  its  conservative 

*  See  Appendix,  Indiana  chapter,  notes  E  and  F. 

t  Mrs.  Sarah  T.  Bolton,  Laura  Ream,  Mrs.  Lew  Wallace,  Mary  H.  Korut,  Mary  Dean,  Margaret 
Holmes  (Mrs.  M.  V.  Bates),  Mrs.  M.  E.  Banta,  Mrs.  Louise  V.  Boyd,  Mrs.  Helen  V.  Austin,  Mrs. 
Hettie  A.  Morrison,  Mrs.  E.  S.  L.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Amy  E.  Dunn,  Mrs.  A.  D  Hawkins,  Miss  Rena  L. 
Miner,  Miss  Edna  C.  Jackson  and  Mrs.  D.  M.  Jordan  are  all  literary  women  who  sympathize  with  and 
aid  this  reform. 

}  The  woman's  department  has  constantly  grown  in  extent  and  value,  until  it  has  become  one  of  the 
most  important  features  of  the  State  fair,  and  this  year,  1885,  the  managers  have  allowed  to  it 
twice  the  space  hitherto  occupied.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  suffrage  papers,  tracts  and  books  are 
always  to  be  found  among  the  exhibits. 


Newspapers.  555 

attitude  is  doubtless  to  a  very  considerable  degree  responsible  for  the 
tone  of  opinion  which  prevailed  here  up  to  recent  years.  Papers 
throughout  the  State  naturally  take  their  cue  from  the  party  organs  pub- 
lished at  the  capital,  while  the  few  papers  identified  with  no  party  are 
wont  to  adapt  themselves  even  more  carefully  to  popular  opinion  upon 
general  subjects. 

The  citations  made  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  chapter  from  the  Sentinel 
and  the  Journal  clearly  show  the  spirit  of  their  management  in  1869.  But 
it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  Journal  has  through  all  these  years  main- 
tained the  position  occupied  by  it  at  that  time.  Had  it  done  so,  one  may 
reasonably  believe  that  the  women  of  Indiana  would  before  to-day  have 
been  enfranchised.  On  the  contrary,  that  sheet  has  been  very  vacillating, 
speaking  for  or  against  the  cause  according  to  the  principles  of  its  man- 
agers, the  paper  having  frequently  changed  hands;  and  until  recently  the 
principles  of  the  same  managers  upon  this  question  have  been  shifting; 
but  for  the  last  five  or  six  years  the  Journal  has  been  a  consistent,  though 
somewhat  mild,  supporter  of  woman  suffrage. 

On  the  contrary,  the  .&#//#*/ had  been  constant  in  its  opposition,  until, 
about  eight  years  since,  Mr.  Shoemaker  becoming  the  manager,  it  an- 
nounced a  Sunday  issue  devoted  to  the  interests  of  women.  The  pledge 
then  made  has  been  nobly  kept,  and  although  for  a  few  months  the  Sen- 
tinel  seemed  to  edit  its  week-day  issues  with  a  view  to  counteracting  the 
possible  good  effect  of  its  Sunday  utterances,  the  better  spirit  gradually 
triumphed,  until  at  last,  so  far  as  the  woman  question  is  concerned,  the 
paper  is  from  Sunday  to  Saturday  in  harmony  with  itself.  For  some  time 
it  gave  one  column  in  each  Sunday  issue  to  the  control  of  the  State  Cen- 
tral Suffrage  Committee,  and  printed  two  hundred  copies  of  the  column 
for  special  distribution  among  the  country  papers. 

The  Saturday  Herald,  established  in  1873,  under  the  editorial  manage- 
ment of  George  C.  Harding,  deserves  mention.  From  the  outset,  this 
paper  was  the  advocate  of  woman's  right  to  be  paid  for  work  done  accord- 
ing to  its  market  value,  and  to  protect  herself  and  her  property  by  the 
ballot.  Perhaps  the  best  service  rendered  to  women  by  Mr.  Harding,  was 
that  of  securing  in  1874  Gertrude  Garrison  as  assistant  editor. of  the 
Herald.  Mrs.  Garrison  is,  beyond  question,  one  of  the  ablest  journalists 
Indiana  can  boast,  and  the  influence  of  her  pen  in  modifying  the  popular 
estimate  of  woman's  capabilities  has  been  incalculable.  From  1874  she 
did  half  the  work,  editorial  articles,  locals,  sketches,  and  all  the  varieties 
of  writing  required  upon  a  weekly  paper,  but  at  her  own  request  her  name 
was  not  announced  as  associate  editor  until  1876.  In  this  capacity  she 
remained  upon  the  Herald  until  January  I,  1880,  when  the  paper  passed 
from  Mr.  Harding's  into  other  hands.  During  her  connection  with  the 
Herald,  if  there  was  anything  particularly  strong  in  the  paper,  her  associate 
received  the  credit.  The  public  will  not  permit  itself  to  believe  a  woman 
capable  of  humor,  though  I  think  Mrs.  Garrison  did  as  much  to  sustain 
the  paper's  reputation  for  wit  as  even  Mr.  Harding.  A.  H.  Dooley  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Harding  as  editor  of  the  Saturday  Herald,  and  it  remained 
under  his  management  a  sturdy  advocate  of  woman's  enfranchisement. 


556  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  Saturday  Review  was  established  by  Mr.  Harding  in  October,  1880, 
with  Mrs.  Garrison  associate  editor.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Harding,  May 
8,  1881,  Mr.  Charles  Dennis  became  chief  editor,  Mrs.  Garrison*  remaining 
on  the  staff  as  his  assistant. 

The  Times  was  founded  in  June,  1881.  From  the  first  it  devoted  a  col- 
umn to  notes  on  women's  work.  From  September  of  that  year  there  ap- 
peared in  each  Saturday  issue  a  department  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
women,  particularly  to  woman  suffrage,  under  the  editorial  management 
of  May  Wright  Sewall.  This  department  reappeared  in  the  weekly  and 
was  thus  widely  circulated  among  country  readers.  The  Times  is  under 
the  management  of  Colonel  W.  R.  Holloway.  Although  from  the  first 
fair  in  its  discussions  of  all  reform  questions,  it  did  not  avow  itself  to  be 
an  advocate  of  woman  suffrage  until  the  week  after  the  public  entertain- 
ment of  the  Equal  Suffrage  Society,  1881,  when  there  appeared  an  editorial 
nearly  one  column  in  length,  setting  forth  its  views  upon  the  whole  sub- 
ject. This  editorial  contained  the  following  paragraph  : 

As  the  question  is  likely  to  become  a  prominent  theme  of  discussion  during  the  next 
few  years,  the  Times  will  now  say  that  it  is  decidedly  and  unequivocally  in  favor  of 
woman  suffrage.  We  believe  that  women  have  the  same  right  to  vote  that  men  have, 
that  it  is  impolitic  and  unjust  to  deprive  them  of  the  right,  and  that  its  free  and  full 
bestowal  would  conserve  the  welfare  of  society  and  the  good  of  government. 

In  the  daily  Evening  News,  Mr.  J.  H.  Holliday,  with  his  editorial  aids, 
has  set  himself  to  stem  the  tide  of  progress  which  he  evidently  thinks 
will,  unless  a  manful  endeavor  on  his  part  shall  prevent  it,  bear  all  things 
down  to  ruin.  The  character  of  his  efforts  may  be  inferred  from  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  which  appeared  in  January  and  December  of  1881  : 

We  wish  our  legislators  would  go  home  and  ponder  this  thing.  Read  the  Bible  and 
understand  the  scheme  of  creation.  Read  the  New  Testament,  and  appreciate  the 
creation  of  the  Christian  home,  and  the  headship  of  things.  Reflect  upon  what  rests 
the  future  of  this  .government  we  have  reared,  and  ask  what  would  become  of  it  if  the 
Christian  homes  in  which  it  is  founded  were  broken  up  ;  then  reflect  upon  what  would 
become  of  the  Christian  homes  if  men  and  women  were  to  attend  to  the  same  duties  in 
life.  To  get  a  realistic  notion,  let  every  man  who  has  a  wife  ask  himself  how  he  would 
relish  being  told  by  her,  "  I  have  an  engagement  with  John  Smith  to-night  to  see 
about  fixing  up  a  slate  to  get  Mrs.  Jones  nominated  for  sheriff,"  and  being  left  to  go  his 
own  way  while  she  goes  with  Smith.  If  that  wouldn't  make  hell  in  the  household  in  one 
act  we  don't  know  what  would,  yet  this  is  merely  one  little  trivial  episode  of  what  this 
anti-christian  woman  suffrage  scheme  means. 

To  what  straits  must  the  advocates  of  suffrage  for  women  be  driven  when  they  needs 
must  seek  to  show  that  the  ballot  is  not  degrading.  What  becomes  of  all  our  fine  talk 
of  the  ballot  as  an  educator  if  they  who  seek  to  secure  it  for  women  must  advocate  as  a 
reason  why  it  should  not  be  withheld  that  it  is  not  degrading  !  But  what  better  can 
one  expect  from  those  who,  when  it  is  suggested  that  there  are  duties  attaching  to  the 
ballot  as  well  as  rights,  solemnly  say  that  the  few  moments  necessary  to  deposit  a  bal- 
lot will  not  interfere  with  women's  duties  of  sweeping  and  dusting  and  baby-tending. 
When  one  hears  talk  of  this  sort,  there  is  indeed  a  grave  doubt  as  to  whether  the  bal- 
lot really  is  an  educator  after  all. 

The  first  of  the  above  citations  is  from  what  might  be  called  an  article 
of  instruction  addressed  to  the  legislature  then  in  session,  and  considering 


*  Mrs.  Garrison  left  Indianapolis  for  New  York  in  May  of  1882.  Success  followed  her  to  the  metrop- 
olis and  she  now  has,  1885,  the  entire  editorial  management  of  the  literary  department  of  the  American 
Press  Association,  and  her  work  goes  into  more  than  fifty  of  the  best  weekly  papers  in  the  country. 


Mrs.  May   Wright  Sewall.  557 

the  question  of  woman  suffrage.  The  occasion  which  inspired  the  second 
paragraph  may  be  readily  inferred.  It  seems  "profitable  for  the  instruc- 
tion "  of  the  future  to  preserve  a  few  extracts  like  the  above,  that  it  may 
be  seen  how  weak  and  wild,  strength  itself  becomes,  when  the  ally  of 
prejudice  and  precedent. 

The  Indiana  Farmer,  exceptionally  well  edited,  having  a  wide  circula- 
tion in  the  agricultural  sections  of  the  State,  and  enjoying  there  a  power- 
ful influence,  is  an  outspoken  advocate  of  equal  suffrage.  From  statistics 
regarding  papers  published  outside  of  Indianapolis,  it  may  be  safe  to  say 
that  two  hundred  of  them  favor,  with  varying  degrees  of  constancy, 
giving  the  ballot  to  women.  On  the  staff  of  nearly  all  the  papers  whose 
status  is  above  given,  are  women,  who  in  their  respective  departments 
faithfully  serve  the  common  cause.  During  the  last  few  years,  efforts 
have  been  directed  to  the  capture  of  the  local  press,  and  many  of  the 
county  papers  now  have  a  department  edited  by  women.  In  most 
instances  this  work  is  done  gratuituously,  and  their  success  in  this 
new  line,  entering  upon  it  as  they  have  without  previous  training,  illus- 
trates the  versatility  of  woman's  powers.  Mrs.  M.  E.  Price  of  Kokomo, 
Mrs.  Sarah  P.  Franklin  of  Anderson,  Mrs.  Laura  Sandafur  of  Franklin, 
and  Mrs.  Ida  M.  Harper  of  Terre  Haute,  deserve  especial  mention  for 
their  admirable  work  in  the  papers  of  their  respective  towns.  Mrs. 
Laura  C.  Arnold  is  the  chief  editor  of  the  Columbus  Democrat,  and  is  the 
only  woman  in  the  State  having  editorial  charge  of  a  political  party  paper. 
Our  Herald,  under  the  ^ble  editorial  management  of  Mrs.  Helen  M. 
Cougar,  was  a  weekly  published  at  Lafayette.  It  was  devoted  to  securing 
the  re-passage  and  adoption  of  the  woman  suffrage  and  prohibition 
amendments.  It  was  a  strong,  aggressive  sheet,  and  deserved  its  almost 
unparalleled  success.* 

In  closing  this  able  report  for  Indiana  a  few  facts  in  regard  to 
the  author  may  interest  the  general  reader  as  well  as  the  student 
of  history. 

Mrs.  May  Wright  Sewall  has  been  well  known  for  many  years 
in  Indianapolis  in  the  higher  departments  of  education,  and  has 
recently  crowned  her  efforts  as  a  teacher  by  establishing  a  model 
classical  school  for  girls,  in  which  she  is  not  only  training  their 
minds  to  vigorous  thought,  but  taking  the  initiative  steps  to  se- 
cure for  them  an  equally  vigorous  physical  development.  Her 
pupils  are  required  to  wear  a  comfortable  gymnastic  costume,  all 
their  garments  loosely  resting  on  their  shoulders ;  corsets,  tight 
waists  and  high-heeled  boots  forbidden,  for  deep  thinking  re- 
quires deep  breathing.  The  whole  upper  floor  of  her  new 
building  is  a  spacious  gymnasium,  where  her  pupils  exercise  every 


addit 
by  p 


uy  puDiisning  a  scries  ol  biographical  sketches  ot   tne  most  prominent,     in  tne  winter  ot  i< 
Gougar  sold  Our  Herald  to  Mrs.  Harbert,  who  published  it  in  Chicago  as  the  The  New  Era. 


558  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

day  under  the  instruction  of  a  skillful  German  ;  and  on  every 
Saturday  morning  they  take  lessons  from  the  best  dancing  mas- 
ter in  the  city.  The  result  is,  she  has  no  dull  scholars  complain- 
ing of  headaches.  All  are  alike  happy  in  their  studies  and  amuse- 
ments. 

Mrs.  Sewall  is  a  preeminently  common-sense  woman,  believing 
that  sound  theories  can  be  put  into  practice.  Although  her 
tastes  are  decidedly  literary  and  aesthetic,  she  is  a  radical  re- 
former. Hence  her  services  in  the  literary  club  and  suffrage 
society  are  alike  invaluable.  And  as  chairman  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  National  Association,  she  is  without  her  peer 
in  planning  and  executing  the  work. 

As  her  husband,  Mr.  Theodore  L.  Sewall,  is  also  at  the  head  of 
a  classical  school,  and  equally  successful  in  training  boys,  it  may 
be  said  that  both  institutions  have  the  advantage  of  the  united 
thought  of  man  and  woman.  As  educators,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sewall 
have  reaped  much  practical  wisdom  from  their  mutual  consulta- 
tions and  suggestions,  the  results  of  which  have  been  of  incalcu- 
lable benefit  to  their  pupils. 

Peering  into  the  homes  of  the  young  w^men  in  the  suffrage 
movement,  one  cannot  but  remark  the  deference  and  respect  with 
which  these  intelligent,  self-reliant  wives  are  uniformly  treated  by 
their  husbands,  and  the  unbounded  confidence  and  affection  they 
give  in  return.  For  happiness  in  domestic  life,  men  and  women 
must  meet  as  equals.  A  position  of  inferiority  and  dependence 
for  even  the  best  organized  women,  will  either  wither  all  thei* 
powers  and  reduce  them  to  apathetic  machines,  going  the  round 
of  life's  duties  with  a  kind  of  hopeless  dissatisfaction,  or  it  will 
rouse  a  bitter  antagonism,  an  active  resistance,  an  offensive  self- 
assertion,  poisoning  the  very  sources  of  domestic  happiness.  The 
true  ideal  of  family  life  can  never  be  realized  until  woman  is  re- 
stored to  her  rightful  throne.  Tennyson,  in  his  "  Princess,"  gives 
us  the  prophetic  vision  when  he  says : 

"  Everywhere 

Two  heads  in  council,  two  beside  the  hearth, 
Two  in  the  tangled  business  of  the  world, 
Two  in  the  liberal  offices  of  life,  . 

Two  plummets  dropped  for  one,  to  sound  the  abyss 
Of  science,  and  the  secrets  of  the  mind." 


CHAPTER   XLIII. 
ILLINOIS. 

Chicago  a  Great  Commercial  Center — First  Woman  Suffrage  Agitation,  1855 — A.  J. 
Grover — Society  at  Earlville — Prudence  Crandall — Sanitary  Movement — Woman  in 
Journalism — Myra  Bradwell — Excitement  in  Elmwood  Church,  1868 — Mrs.  Hul- 
dah  Joy — Pulpit  Utterances — Convention,  1869,  Library  Hall,  Chicago — Anna 
Dickinson — Robert  Laird  Collier  Debate — Manhood  Suffrage  Denounced  by 
Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony — Judge  Charles  B.  Waite  on  the  Constitutional 
Convention — Hearing  Before  the  Legislature — Western  Suffrage  Convention,  Mrs. 
Livermore,  President — Annual  Meeting  at  Bloomington — Women  Eligible  to 
School  Offices — Evanston  College — Miss  Alta  Hulett — Medical  Association — Dr. 
Sarah  Hackett  Stephenson — "Woman's  Kingdom,"  in  the  Inter-Ocean — Mrs. 
Harbert — Centennial  Celebration  at  Evanston — Temperance  Petition,  180,000 — 
Frances  E.  Willard — Social  Science  Association — Art  Union — International  Con- 
gress at  Paris — Jane  Graham  Jones — Moline  Association. 

ILLINOIS,  one  of  the  Centra]  States  in  our  vast  country,  stretch- 
ing over  five  and  a  half  degrees  of  latitude,  was  admitted  to  the 
Union  in  1818.  Its  chief  city,  Chicago,  extending  for  miles 
round  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  is  the  great  com- 
mercial center  of  the  boundless  West.  We  may  get  some  idea  of 
the  magnitude  of  her  commerce  from  the  fact  that  the  receipts 
and  shipment  of  flour,  grain  and  cattle  from  that  port  alone  in 
1872  were  valued  at  $370,000,000. 

When  the  battles  with  the  Indians  were  finally  ended,  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  State  rapidly  increased,  and  in  1880  the  census 
gave  1,586,523  males  and  1,491,348  females.  In  the  school  statis- 
tics we  find  about  the  same  proportionate  number  of  women  and 
girls  as  teachers  and  scholars,  in  the  public  schools  and  in  all  the 
honest  walks  of  life ;  while  men  and  boys  in  the  criminal  ranks 
are  out  of  all  proportion.  For  example,  in  the  state-prison  at 
Joliet  there  were,  in  1873,  1,321  criminals;  fifteen  only  were 
women.  And  yet  the  more  virtuous,  educated,  self-governed 
part  of  the  population,  that  shared  equally  the  hardships  of  the 
early  days,  and  by  industry  and  self-sacrifice  helped  to  build 
up  that  great  State,  is  still  denied  the  civil  and  political  rights 


560  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

declared  by  the  constitution  to  belong  to  every  citizen  of  the 
commonwealth.  The  trials  and  triumphs  of  the  women  of  Illinois 
are  vividly  portrayed  in  the  following  records  sent  us  by  Eliza- 
beth Boynton  Harbert,Ph.  D.: 

His  biographer  asserts  that  Bernini,  the  celebrated  Florentine  artist, 
architect,  painter  and  poet,  once  gave  a  public  opera  in  Rome,  for  which 
he  painted  the  scenes,  composed  the  music,  wrote  the  poem,  carved  the 
statues,  invented  the  engines,  and  built  the  theater.  Because  of  his  ver- 
satile talents  the  man  Bernini  has  passed  into  history.  Of  almost  equal 
versatility  were  the  women  of  the  equal-rights  movement,  since  in  many 
instances  their  names  appear  and  reappear  in  the  records  we  have  con- 
sulted as  authors,  editors,  journalists,  lecturers,  teachers,  physicians,  law- 
yers, ordained  ministers  and  home-makers ;  and  in  many  localities  a 
woman,  to  be  eligible  for  the  lyceum,  was  expected  to  be  statesmanlike 
as  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  executive  as  Susan  B.  Anthony,  spiritual  as 
Lucretia  Mott,  eloquent  as  Anna  Dickinson,  graceful  as  Celia  Burleigh, 
fascinating  as  Paulina  Wright  Davis ;  a  social  queen,  very  domestic,  a 
skillful  musician,  an  excellent  cook,  very  young,  and  the  mother  of  at 
least  six  children  ;  even  then  she  was  not  entitled  to  the  rights,  privileges 
and  immunities  of  an  American  citizen.  So  "the  divine  rights  of  the 
people ''  became  the  watchword  of  thoughtful  men  and  women  of  the 
Prairie  State,  and  at  the  dawn  of  the  second  half  of  the  present  century 
many  caught  the  echoes  of  that  historic  convention  at  Seneca  Falls  and 
insisted  that  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  government  should  be 
applied  to  all  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

In  view  of  the  fearless  heroism  and  steady  adherence  to  principle  of 
many  comparatively  unknown  lives,  the  historian  is  painfully  conscious  of 
the  meagerness  of  the  record,  as  compared  with  the  amount  of  labor  that 
must  necessarily  have  been  performed.  In  almost  every  city,  village 
and  school  district  some  earnest  man  or  woman  has  been  quietly  waging 
the  great  moral  battle  that  will  eventually  make  us  free ;  and  while  it 
would  be  a  labor  of  love  to  recognize  every  one  who  has  wrought  for 
freedom,  doubtless  many  names  worthy  of  mention  may  unintentionally 
be  omitted. 

The  earliest  account  of  specific  work  that  we  have  been  able  to  trace  is 
an  address  delivered  in  Earlviile  by  A.  J.  Grover,  esq.,  in  1855, -who  from 
that  time  until  the  present  has  been  an  able  champion  of  the  constitu- 
tional rights  of  women.  As  a  result  of  his  efforts,  and  the  discussion  that 
followed,  a  societ)'  was  formed,  of  which  Mrs.  Susan  Hoxie  Richardson  (a 
cousin  of  Susan  B.  Anthony)  was  elected  president,  and  Mrs.  Octavia 
Grover  secretary.  This,  we  believe,  was  the  first  suffrage  society  in  Illi- 
nois. Its  influence  was  increased  by  the  fact  that,  during  two  years  of 
Mr.  Grover's  editorial  control,  the  Earlviile  Transcript  was  a  fearless 
champion  of  equal  rights.  While  that  band  of  pioneers  was  actively  at 
work,  Prudence  Crandall,  who  was  mobbed  and  imprisoned  in  Connecti- 
cut for  teaching  a  school  for  colored  girls,  was  actively  engaged  in  Men- 


The   Voice  of  the  Fair.  561 

dota,  in  the  same  county.     A  few  years  later,  lectures  were  delivered*  on 
the  subject  of  equal  rights  for  women  in  different  parts  of  the  State. 

Copies  of  two  of  the  early  appeals  have  been  secured.  One  by  A.  J. 
Grover,  published  in  pamphlet  form,  was  extensively  circulated  ;  the  other 
by  Mrs.  Catharine  V.  Waite,  appeared  in  the  Earlville  Transcript.  Both 
of  these  documents  are  yellowed  with  age,  but  the  arguments  presented 
are  as  logical  as  the  more  recent  utterances  of  our  most  radical  cham- 
pions. There  is  a  tradition  of  a  convention  at  Galesburg  some  years  later, 
but  we  have  failed  to  find  any  accurate  data.  During  the  interim  between 
these  dates  and  that  never-to-be-forgotten  April  day  in  1861,  but  little  agi- 
tation of  this  great  subject  can  be  traced,  and  during  the  six  years  subse- 
quent to  that  time  we  witness  all  previously  defined  boundaries  of  spheres 
brushed  away  like  cobwebs,  when  women,  north  and  south,  were  obliged 
to  fill  the  places  made  vacant  by  our  civil  war.  An  adequate  record 
of  the  work  accomplished  during  those  eventful  years  by  Illinois  women, 
notably  among  them  being  Mary  A.  Livermore  and  Jane  C.  Hoge,  lies 
before  us  in  a  bound  volume  of  the  paper  published  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Northwestern  Sanitary  Fair,  edited  by  the  Hon.  Andrew  Shuman. 
This  little  journal  was  called  the  Voice  of  the  Fair,  a  prophetic  name,  as 
really  through  the  medium  of  these  sanitary  fairs  were  the  voices  of  the 
/rt/rall  potent,  and  through  their  patriotic  services  to  our  soldiery  did  the 
women  of  the  United  States  first  discover  their  talent  for  managing  and 
administering  great  enterprises.  In  his  first  editorial  Lieutenant-Governor 
Shuman  says : 

On  motion  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Loomis,  it  was  decided  to  open  the  fair  on  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1865,  Washington's  birthday,  and  to  continue  it  till  March  4,  the  presidential 
inauguration  day.  A  committee,  consisting  of  Mrs.  H.  H.  Hoge,  Mrs.  D.  P.  Liver- 
more  and  Mrs.  E.  \V.  Blatchford  for  the  commission,  and  Mrs.  O.  E.  Hosmer,  Mrs. 
C.  P.  Dickinson  and  Mr.  L.  B.  Bryan  for  the  Home,  was  appointed  as  executive. 
This  was  the  little  cloud,  scarcely  larger  than  a  man's  hand,  which  grew  till  it  almost 
encircled  the  heavens,  spreading  into  every  corner  of  our  broad  land,  and  including 
every  department  of  industry  in  its  ample  details. 

The  undertaking  was  herculean,  and  on  the  grand  occasion  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  fair,  although  we  do  not  find  any  account  of  women  sharing  in 
the  honors  of  the  day,  yet  they  were  vouchsafed  honorable  mention  in 
the  following  terms  by  the  governor  of  the  State  :  "  I  do  not  know  how 
to  praise  women,  but  I  can  say  nothing  so  good  as  our  late  president  once 
said  on  a  similar  occasion,  '  God  bless  the  women  of  America.'  They  have 
been  our  faithful  allies  during  this  fearful  war.  They  have  toiled  steadily 
by  our  side,  with  the  most  eViduring  constancy  through  the  frightful  con- 
test." Amid  the  first  impulses  of  genuine  gratitude  men  recognized  what 
at  present  they  seem  to  forget,  that  by  inheritance  and  patriotic  service 
woman  has  an  equal  right  with  man  to  a  share  in  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  this  government. 

In  the  winter  of  1860  Hannah  Tracy  Cutler,  M.  D.,  and  Mrs.  Frances  D. 
Gage  made  a  canvass  of  the  interior  and  western  parts  of  the  State,  pro- 

*  Judge  and  Mrs.  Catharine  V.  Waite,  Mrs.  Hannah  M.  Tracy  Cutler,  Amelia  Bloomer,  Dr.  Ellen 
B.  Ferguson,  Mrs.  E.  O.  G.  Willard,  the  Rev.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harrison  of  Earlville ;  Professor  and  Mrs. 
1 1.  1  1 '.rooks,  Mrs.  M.  E.  De  Gcer,  Mrs.  Frances  D.  Gage. 

36 


562  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

curing  signatures  to  petitions  asking  for  equality  before  the  law,  and  es- 
pecially for  the  right  of  married  women  to  earn  and  hold  and  dispose  of 
property  the  same  as  a  feme  sole.  Also,  that  property  acquired  before 
marriage,  or  that  may  afterward  accrue  to  a  married  woman  by  gift,  de- 
vise, descent  or  deed,  may  be  held,  controlled  and  disposed  of  by  herself 
where  it  had  not  been  intentionally  converted  to  common  property  by 
her  consent.  In  response  to  a  request  for  data  on  this  point,  Mrs.  Cutler 
writes : 

At  the  close  of  our  campaign  we  were  summoned  to  Ohio  to  assist  in  the  canvass  in 
that  State.  Returning  to  Illinois,  I  learned  that  no  action  had  been  taken  on  our  pe- 
titions. The  member  to  whom  we  had  consigned  them,  and  who  had  promised  to  act 
in  our  behalf,  had  found  no  convenient  opportunity.  I  at  once  repaired  to  Spring- 
field, and,  on  inquiry,  was  told  that  it  was  now  too  late  in  the  session — that  members 
were  so  busy  that  no  one  could  be  induced  to  draft  a  bill  for  an  act  granting  such  laws 
as  we  desired.  I  found  one  member  ready  to  assist  to  the  full  measure  of  his  ability — 
Mr.  Pickett  of  Rock  Island.  By  his  encouragement  I  went  to  the  State  library  and 
there  drew  up  a  bill  giving  women,  during  coverture,  certain  personal  and  property 
rights.  Mr.  Pickett  presented  our  petitions,  got  a  special  committee,  took  my  bill  be- 
fore it,  got  a  favorable  report,  and  a  law  was  passed  to  that  effect.  Some  decisions 
occurred  under  this  law.  I  think,  however,  that  in  a  codification  a  year  or  two  after, 
this  law  was  left  out,  I  know  not  by  what  authority,  and  some  years  later  Mrs.  Liver- 
more,  Mrs.  Bradwell  and  others  presented  the  matter  afresh,  and  succeeded  in  pro- 
curing again  a  similar  enactment.  The  winter  following  I  presented  petitions  for  the^ 
right  of  guardianship;  also,  I  asked  that  for  estates  not  exceeding  $5*000  the  widow 
should  not  be  required  to  take  out  letters  of  administration,  but  should  be  permitted  to 
continue  in  possession,  the  same  as  the  husband  on  the  decease  of  the  wife,  the  prop- 
erty subject  to  the  same  liabilities  for  the  payment  of  debts  and  the  maintenance  of 
children  as  before  the  decease  of  the  husband.  I  made  this  small  claim  for  the  relief 
-of  many  wives  whose  husbands  had  gone  into  the  army,  leaving  them  with  all  the  re- 
sponsibility; and  there  seemed  no  sufficient  reason  for  disturbing  and  distributing 
either  the  family  or  the  estate,  when  the  husband  exchanged  the  battle-field  for  the 
"  sleep  that  knows  no  waking."  "This  petition,  asking  for  these  reasonable  and  right- 
•eous  laws,  was,  by  motion  of  Colonel  Mack,  in  a  spirit  of  burlesque,  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Internal  Navigation,  and  a  burlesque  report  was  made  in  open  Senate, 
too  indecent  to  be  entered  on  the  records.  The  grave  and  reverend  seigniors,  on 
this,  indulged  in  a  hearty  guffaw,  hugely  enjoyed  by  his  honor  Lieutenant-Governor 
Hoffman,  and,  to  this  day,  no  further  action  has  been  taken  to  give  the  wife  and 
mother  this  small  modicum  of  justice,  though  many  of  the  senators  at  that  time  prom- 
ised the  question  an  early  consideration. 

On  Saturday,  October  3,  1868,  a  genuine  sensation  was  produced  by  the 
appearance  of  the  Chicago  Legal  News,  edited  by  Mrs.  Myra  Bradwell. 
At  this  day  it  is  impossible  to  realize  with  what  supreme  astonishment 
this  journal  was  received.  Neither  can  we  estimate  its  influence  upon 
the  subsequent  legislation  of  the  State.  Looking  through  its  files  we 
find  that  no  opportunity  was  lost  for  exposing  all  laws  unjust  to 
woman,  or  for  noting  each  indication  of  progress  throughout  the 
world.  Under  date  of  October  31,  1868,  a  short  article  in  regard  to  the 
"  Citizenship  of  Women  "  reads  thus  : 

The  act  of  congress  provides  that  any  alien,  being  a  free  white  person,  may  become 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  While  congress  was  very  careful  to  limit  this  great 
privilege  of  citizenship  to  the  free  white  person,  it  made  no  distinction  or  limitation 
whatever  on  account  of  sex.  Under  this  statute  it  has  been  held  that  a  married  woman 


Queer   Church  Proceedings.  563 

:may  be  naturalized  and  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  that,  too,  without 
the  consent  of  her  husband.  A  woman  may  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  be  sub- 
ject to  the  laws,  own  property,  and  be  compelled  to  pay  taxes  to  support  a  government 
.•she  has  no  voice  in  administering  or  vote  in  electing  its  officers. 

In  the  same  issue  of  the  News  we  meet  with  an  earnest  appeal  for  the 
prompt  passage  of  a  law  conferring  upon  woman  a  right  to  her  earnings. 
AVhen  we  realize  that  one  of  the  Supreme  Judges  soon  after  this  assured 
Mrs.  Bradwell  that  she  was  editing  a  paper  that  no  lawyer  could  afford  to 
-do  without,  we  shall  understand  how  important  a  part  this  journal  has 
played  in  the  courts.  In  the  sixth  number  of  the  Newsvtt  find  the  atten- 
tion of  the  legal  fraternity  called  to  the  fact  that  in  the  reign  of  James  I. 
it  was  held  in  the  cases  of  Coats  vs.  Zy«//and  Holt  -vs,  Lyall,  tried  in  West- 
minster Hall,  that  a  single  woman,  if  a  freeholder,  had  the  right  to  vote 
for  a  parliament  man;  and  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  Lady  Pack- 
ington,  in  right  of  property  held  by  her,  did  actually  vote  for  a  return  of 
two  burgesses  to  parliament  for  the  borough  of  Aylesburg;  and  in  the 
time  of  Charles  I.,  Mrs.  Copley  voted,  in  right  of  her  property,  for  the  re- 
turn of  a  burgess  for  Gratton.  The  subject  of  their  return  was  brought 
before  parliament,  and  amended  by  joining  other  persons  with  Mrs. 
Copley  in  the  right  of  returning  burgesses  for  Gratton.  Women  have 
actually  sat  and  voted  in  the  English  parliament. 

In  1868,  Sorosis,  a  woman's  club,  was  organized  in  Chicago,  with  Mrs. 
Delia  Waterman  president,  and  soon  after  several  periodicals  were  estab- 
lished ;  The  Chicago  Sorosis,  with  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Walker,  Cynthia  Leonard 
and  Agnes  L.  Knowlton,  editors  ;  The  Inland  Monthly,  Mrs.  Charlotte 
Clark,  editor  and  publisher;  and  The  Agitator,  with  Mary  A.  Livermore 
and  Mary  L.  Walker  editors.  Though  all  were  short-lived,  they  serve  to 
show  woman's  ambition  in  the  direction  of  journalism. 

In  1868  there  was  a  decided  "awakening"  on  the  question  of  woman 
suffrage  in  central  Illinois.  In  the  town  of  Elmwood,  Peoria  county,  the 
question  drew  large  audiences  to  lyceum  discussions,  and  was  argued  in 
school,  church  and  caucus.  The  conservatives  became  alarmed,  and  an- 
nounced their  determination  to  "nip  the  innovation  in  the  bud."  A 
spirited  editorial  in  the  New  York  Independent  was  based  upon  the  follow- 
ing facts,  given  by  request  of  some  of  the  disfranchised  women  : 

Rev.  \V.  G.  Pierce  was  the  pastor  of  the  Elmwood  Congregational  Church.  A  large 
majority  of  the  members  were  women,  and  there  was  no  discrimination  against  them  in 
the  church  manual.  The  pastor  and  two  or  three  members  decided  that  a  change  of 
rules  was  needed.  A  church  meeting  was  held  in  March,  1868,  at  which  the  number 
in  attendance  was  very  small,  owing  to  some  irregularities  in  issuing  the  call.  The 
>uffrage  question  was  brought  up  by  the  pastor,  and  the  talk  soon  became  so  insulting 
that  the  women  present  felt  compelled  to  leave  the  house.  The  manual  was  then 
-amended  so  as  to  exclude  women  from  voting  "  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of 
the  church,"  and  making  a  two-thirds  vote  of  adult  males  necessary  to  any  change 
thereafter.  This  was  carried  by  five  yeas  to  one  nay — only  six  votes  out  of  a  mem- 
bership of  210  !  The  church  was  taken  by  surprise,  and  there  was  no  little  excitement 
wlirn  the  fact  became  known  next  day.  A  vigorous  protest  and  a  call  for  reconsidera- 
tion was  quickly  signed  by  nearly  a  hundred  members  and  sent  to  the  pastor.  The 
meeting  was  not  called  for  weeks,  and  when  at  last  it  was  secured,  he,  as  moderator, 
ruled  reconsideration  out,  on  the  ground  that  there  was  an  error  in  the  announcement 


564  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

of  the  business  (by  himself !)  from  the  pulpit.  At  a  later  meeting  a  vote  on  reconsidera- 
tion was  reached,  and  enough  of  the  male  adult  minority  were  in  attendance  to 
make  the  vote  stand  19  to  17,  not  two-thirds  of  the  male  adult  element  voting  for  re- 
consideration. 

The  contention  now  became  bitter,  and  twenty-eight  of  the  more  intelligent  and 
earnest  members  withdrew  and  asked  for  letters  to  other  churches.  Such  of  the 
"  adult  males  "  as  "  tarried  by  the  altar,"  refused  to  give  the  outgoing  members  the 
usual  letters,  to  join  in  a  mutual  council  on  an  equal  footing,  or  to  discipline  the  se- 
ceders.  The  latter  called  an  ex-parte  council,  composed  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Bascom, 
of  Princeton;  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  of  Galesburg;  Dr.  Haven,  of  Evanston;  Dr.  C. 
D.  Helmer,  of  Chicago,  and  others.  This  council  gave  the  desired  letters,  but  advised 
reconciliation.  Among  the  seceders,  Mrs.  Huldah  Joy,  an  educated,  and  intensely 
religious  woman,  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  earnest,  her  husband,  F.  R.  Joy,  and 
her  daughters,  also  doing  good  service.  Mrs.  H.  E.  Sunderland,*  another  woman  of 
culture,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Cone  and  Mrs.  S.  R.  Murray  were  faithful,  brave  and 
earnest.  The  church,  which  previous  to  the  secession,  was  strong  and  flourishing,  be- 
came an  inharmonious  organization,  and  has  never  rallied  from  the  effects  of  that  un- 
just action. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Chicago,  in  the  autumn  of  1868,  a  resolution  was 
offered  to  the  effect  that  "  a  State  association  be  formed,  having  for  its  ob- 
ject the  advocacy  of  universal  suffrage."  Among  the  many  interesting 
facts  connected  with  the  "  rise  and  progress  "  of  the  equal-rights  move- 
ment is  the  large  number  of  representative  men  and  women  who  have 
from  the  first  been  identified  with  it.t  January  25,  1860  we  find  among 
the  most  progressive  utterances  from  the  pulpit,  a  sermon  by  the  Rev. 
Sumner  Ellis  of  Chicago,  while  Rev.  Charles  Fowler  and  Dr.  H.  W. 
Thomas  were  ever  fearless  and  earnest  in  their  advocacy  of  this  measure. 
In  February,  1869,  the  Legal  News  said  : 


*  Mrs.  Sunderland  was  one  of  the  many  New  England  girls  who  in  the  early  days  went  West  to  teach. 
Speaking  of  the  large  number  of  women  elected  to  the  office  of  county  superintendent  (one  of  them  her 
own  daughter),  she  told  me  that  thirty  years  ago  when  she  arrived  at  the  settlement  where  she  had  been 
engaged  as  teacher,  the  trustees  being  unable  to  make  the  "  examination  "  deputed  one  of  their  num- 
ber to  take  her  to  an  adjoining  county,  where  another  New  England  girl  was  teaching.  The  excursion 
was  made  in  a  lumber  wagon  with  an  ox-team.  All  the  ordinary  questions  asked  and  promptly  an- 
swered, the  trustee  rather  hesitatingly  said,  "  Now,  while  you're  about  it,  wouldn't  you  just  as  lief 
write  out  the  certificate  ?"  This  was  readily  done,  and  the  man  affixing  his  cross  thereto,  triumphantly 
carried  the  applicant  back  to  his  district,  announcing  her  duly  qualified  to  teach  ;  and  that  trio  of  un- 
lettered men  installed  the  cultivated  New  England  girl  in  their  log  school-house,  probably  without  the 
thought  entering  the  heads  of  trustees  or  teacher,  that  woman,  when  better  educated,  should  hold  the 
superior  position. —  [S.  B.  A. 

t  Dr.  Mary  Safford,  Mrs.  A.  M.  Freeman,  Hon.  and  Mrs.  Sharon  Tyndale,  Hon.  E.  Haines,  Fer- 
nando Jones,  Jane  Graham  Jones,  Professor  Bailey,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ezra  Prince,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  M. 
Fell,  Mrs.  Belle  S.  Candee.  General  J.  M.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Professor  Noyes  of  Evanston,  Charles  B. 
Waite,  Catharine  V.  Waite,  Susan  Bronson,  E.  S.  Williams,  Kate  N.  Doggett,  C.  B.  Farwell, 
L.  Z.  Leiter,  J.  L.  Pickard,  Henry  M.  Smith,  Frank  Gilbert,  Ann  Telford,  Mrs.  L.  C.  Levanway, 
Myra  Bradwell,  Mary  E.  Haven,  Mrs.  A.  L.  Taylor,  Elizabeth  Eggleston,  P.  D.  Livermore,  James  B. 
Bradwell,  Joseph  Haven,  J.  H.  Bayliss,  D.  Blakely,  R.  E.  Hoyt,  C.  D.  Helmer,  Alfred  L. 
Sewell,  George  D.  Willigton,  H.  Allen,  R.  N.  Foster,  W.  W.  Smith,  M.  B.  Smith,  Amos  G. 
Throop,  Robert  Collyer,  L.  I.  Colburn,  G.  Percy  English,  Arthur  Edwards,  A.  Reed  and  Sons,  S.  M. 
Booth,  Sumner  Ellis,  George  B.  Marsh,  Sarah  Marsh,  Ruth  Graham,  John  Nutt,  J.  W.  Butler,  Mrs.  J. 
Butler.  Mrs.  S.  A.  Richards,  Mrs.  S.  W.  Roe,  F.  W.  Hall,  Mrs.  Fanny  Blake,  Mary  S.  Waite,  J.  F. 
Temple,  A.  W.  Kellogg,  W.  H.  Thomson,  J.  W.  Loomis,  James  E.  Curtis,  Elizabeth  Johnston,  E.  F. 
Hurlbut,  E.  E.  Pratt,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Warren,  William  Doggett,  Edward  Beecher,  James  P. 
Weston,  E.  R.  Allen,  J.  E.  Forrester,  Mrs.  J.  F.  Temple,  Mrs.  F.  W.  Adams,  L.  Walker, 
Mary  A.  Whitaker,  Elvira  W.  Ruggles,  W.  W.  Corbett,  H.  B.  Norton,  W.  H.  Davis,  I.  S.  Dennis,  G. 
T.  Flanders,  Mrs.  H.  B.  Ma,nford,  Edward  Eggleston,  Sarah  G.  Cleveland,  G.  G.  Lyon,  E.  Manford, 
William  D.  Babbitt,  Elizabeth  Holt  Babbitt,  I.  S.  Page,  W.  O.  Carpenter,  Mrs.  W.  O.  Carpenter,  Mrs. 
H.  W.  Cobb,  T.  D.  Fitch,  Harriet  Fitch,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  T.  W.  Eddy,  A.  G.  Brackett,  Andrew 
Shuman,  John  A.  Jameson,  John  V.  Farwell,  B.  W.  Raymond,  E.  G.  Taylor,  Mems  Root  and  lady, 
Rev.  John  McLean,  Mrs.  Owen  Lovejoy,  Mrs.  Noyes  Kendall. 


Chicago    Convention.  565 

A  call  has  been  issued,  inviting  all  persons  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  to  meet  in 
convention  in  Library  Hall,  Chicago.  There  are  many  hundred  names  appended,  in- 
cluding the  judges  of  all  the  courts  of  Cook  county,  leading  members  of  the  bar 
throughout  the  State,  representatives  of  the  press,  ministers  of  the  gospel,  from  all 
denominations,  and  representatives  from  every  profession  and  business.  Elizabeth 
Cady  Stanton,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  and  the  Rev.  Olympia  Brown  have  been  invited  and 
are  expected  to  attend. 

Pursuant  to  the  foregoing  "  call,"  a  notable  convention  was  held.*  The 
Tribune  devoted  nine  columns  to  an  account  of  the  proceedings,  respect- 
ful in  tone  and  fair  in  statement.  During  its  two  days'  session,  Library 
Hall  was  packed  to  its  utmost  capacity  with  the  beauty  and  fashion  of  the 
city.  Able  lawyers,  eloquent  and  distinguished  divines  and  gallant  gen- 
erals occupied  seats  upon  the  platform  and  took  part  in  the  deliberations. 
The  special  importance  of  this  convention  at  this  time,  was  the  consider- 
ation of  the  immediate  duty  of  securing  a  recognition  of  the  rights  of 
women  in  the  new  constitution,  for  the  framing  of  which  a  convention 
had  been  called. 

All  the  speakers  had  strong  convictions  and  showed  broad  diffetences, 
continually  making  sharp  points  against  each  other.  Several  clergymen 
v/ere  present,  some  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage,  some  opposed,  some  in 
doubt.  Among  these  were  the  two  Collyers — one,  the  Rev.  Robert,  the 
English  blacksmith  of  former  days,  liberal,  progressive,  of  large  physical 
proportions;  the  other,  the  Rev.  Robert  Laird,  a  much  smaller  man,  and 
of  conservative  tendencies. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Collyer  dissented  so  entirely  from  what  the  preceding  speaker, 
Dr.  Hammond,  had  said,  that  he  was  determined  to  run  the  risk  of  attempting  to  re- 
ply. He  thought  that  a  majority  of  men  who  began  by  being  reformers,  ended  by 
being  old  fogies,  and  he  thought  that  might  be  the  case  with  Mr.  Hammond.  He  felt 
no  doubt  that  the  whole  movement  of  women's  rights  was  to  be  established  in 
America.  He  had  seen  the  effects  of  woman's  presence  in  associations  upon  men,  and 
he  was  sure  that  this  same  agency  would  have  the  effect  of  bringing  politics  to  such  a 
condition  as  that  decent  people  of  either  sex  might  take  part  in  it.  As  to  the  Bible 
declaring  that  man  shall  rule  over  woman,  he  found  a  similar  case  where  it  used 
to  be  quoted  in  support  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  but  when  the  grander  and  more 
beautiful  principles  of  the  Bible  came  to  be  applied  the  contrary  was  clearly  established. 
So  it  was  with  the  question  of  woman's  rights.  To  him  the  Bible  seemed  like  an 
immense  pasture  wherein  any  and  every  species  of  animal  might  find  its  own  peculiar 
fond.  In  regard  to  what  Mr.  Hammond  said  as  to  the  rights  of  infants,  he  wished  he 
had  conferred  with  his  wife  and  got  her  approval  before  he  said  it.  The  speaker  was 
sure  his  own  wife  would  not  have  advised  him  to  say  it.  He  believed  that  when  ma- 
ternal and  home  duties  conflicted,  the  children  and  the  home  relations  would  take  the 
preference  invariably,  and  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Hammond  seemed  to  imply  a  terrible 
want  of  confidence  in  woman.  He  believed  that  woman  would  always  do  her  duty  to 
her  children  and  her  home.  Then,  too,  he  had  been  surprised,  that  Mr.  Hammond, 
in  speaking  of  preventing  children  from  coming  into  the  world,  had  failed  to  speak  of 


*  The  officers  were  :  President^  Mrs.  M.  Livermore ;  Vice-Presidents  ^  the  Rev.  Dr.  Goodspeed, 
Mi  •.  Helen  M.  Beveridge,  Judge  Bradwell,  the  Rev.  Edward  Beecher,  the  Rev.  D.  Eggleston,  Miss 
Eliza  Bowman,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fowler,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Loomis,  Mrs.  M.  Hawley,  Mrs.  M.  Wheeler,  Mrs. 
Myra  Bradwell ;  Secretaries,  Mrs.  Jeanne  Fowler  Willing,  of  Rockford,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Babbitt,  and 
George  Graham,  Esq.;  Committee  on  Finance^  Judge  Bradwell,  General  Beveridge  and  the  Hon.  S. 
M.  I'.ooth.  The  speakers  were  Anna  Dickinson,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton.  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Rev. 
Robert  Collyer,  Rev.  Mr.  Hammond,  Rev.  Robert  Laird  Collier,  Kate  N.  Doggett,  and  many  of  the 
officers  of  the  convention. 


566  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  complicity  of  man,  in  reality  the  greatest  criminal,  in  that  matter.  As  to  the  ex- 
citement attendant  upon  political  issues,  was  it  worse,  viewed  as  mere  excitement,  than 
that  which  is  so  earnestly  sought  to  be  aroused  at  religious  meetings?  Elizabeth, 
Anne,  and  Victoria  were,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Cromwell,  the  best  rulers- 
Enyland  ever  had,  and,  when  the  administration  of  Andrew  Johnson  was  remembered, 
he  thought  we  might  do  worse  than  to  have  a  woman  for  president,  after  Grant's  term 
shall  have  expired.  [Applause.]  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Collyer  said  that,  even  if  the 
fearful  picture  drawn  by  Mr.  Hammond,  of  70,000  immoral  women  marching  to  the 
polls  in  New  York,  were  realized,  he  could  draw  another  picture — that  of  75,000  good, 
and  pure  women  marching  to  the  polls  to  vote  the  others  down.  [Applause.] 

Rev.  Edward  Beecher,  of  Galesburg,  said:  Exclusive  class  legislation  was  not  safe~ 
it  was  oppressive  and  degrading.  Female  influence  has  procured  the  repeal  of  some- 
obnoxious  laws,  and  that  proved  it  was  a  powerful  element.  He  thought  the  Bible, 
as  regards  man  being  the  head,  had  been  misinterpreted.  When  man  took  the  atti- 
tude in  relation  to  women  which  Christ  sustains  to  the  church,  that  of  love,  of  service, 
of  helpfulness  and  sacrifice,  he  would  be  an  example  of  true  headship.  *  He  read  an 
extract  from  an  editorial  in  the  Tribune,  of  February  II,  in  regard  to  the  giving  way 
of  moral  integrity  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  and  commended  the  question  to  the  con- 
sideration of  all.  The  country  was  never  in  greater  danger  than  now  of  having  the 
whole  political  system  destroyed.  Some  great  moral  influence  ought  to  be  brought  to> 
eradicate  the  corruption  so  prevalent  among  public  men.  There  were  two  great 
vices  in  existence — drunkenness  and  licentiousness — and  in  both,  woman  was  the  vic- 
tim of  man  in  the  majority  of  cases.  The  legislation  which  pressed  down  women  was 
wrong,  and  should  be  remedied.  He  admitted  it  was  an  experiment  to  introduce  the- 
female  element  into  legislation,  but  the  success  of  the  male  element  had  thus  far  been 
such  that,  according  to  his  judgment,  things  could  not  be  much  worse  than  they  are. 
Women  were  always  deeply  interested  in  all  public  questions.  If  responsibilities  were 
put  upon  them  they  would  become  greater  intellectually,  morally  and  socially. 

Several  able  lawyers  also  took  part  in  the  convention,  who  brought 
their  legal  learning  to  bear  on  the  question.  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  An- 
thony, hostile  to  the  action  of  the  Republican  part)r  as  manifested  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments,  were  present  with  their  stern  criti- 
cisms and  scathing  resolutions  on  "  manhood  suffrage,"  submitting  the 
following  to  the  convention  : 

Resolved,  That  a  man's  government  is  worse  than  a  white  man's  government,  be- 
cause in  proportion  as  you  increase  the  rulers  you  make  the  condition  of  the  ostracised 
more  hopeless  and  degraded. 

Resolved,  That  as  the  Democratic  cry  of  "a  white  man's  government "  created  an 
antagonism  between  the  Irish  and  the  negro,  culminating  in  the  New  York  riots  of  '63, 
so  the  Republican  cry  of  "manhood  suffrage"  creates  an  antagonism  between  the 
black  man  and  all  women,  and  will  culminate  in  fearful  outrages  on  womanhood,  es- 
pecially in  the  Southern  States. 

Resolved,  That  by  the  establishment  of  an  aristocracy  of  sex  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, by  the  introduction  of  the  word  "  male  "  into  the  federal  constitution  in  article 
xiv.,  section  2,  and  by  the  proposition  to  enforce  manhood  suffrage  in  all  the  States  of 
the  Union,  the  Republican  party  has  been  guilty  of  three  successive  arbitrary  acts, 
three  retrogressive  steps  in  legislation,  alike  invidious  and  insulting  to  women  and 
suicidal  to  the  nation. 

After  a  long  and  earnest  discussion,  the  resolutions  were  voted  down. 
Mrs.  Stanton's  speech  setting  forth  six  reasons  against  a  "male  aristoc- 
racy "*  was  pronounced  able  and  eloquent,  though  directly  in  opposition 
to  the  general  sentiment  of  the  convention,  which  was  mainly  Republi- 


*  For  this  speech  see  Vol.  II.,  page  348. 


Anna  Dickinsons  Sp'eech.  567 

can.  Miss  Anna  Dickinson,  having  a  lyceum  engagement  in  Chicago, 
was  present  at  one  of  the  sessions,  and  had  quite  a  spirited  encounter 
with  Robert  Laird  Collier.  As  she  appeared  on  the  platform  at  the  close 
of  some  remarks  by  that  gentleman,  loud  calls  were  made  for  her,  when 
she  came  forward  and  spoke  as  follows  : 

MRS.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  It  is  impossible  forme  to  continue  in 
my  seat  after  so  kind  and  cordial  a  call  from  this  house,  and  I  thank  you  for  the  pleas- 
ant and  friendly  feeling  you  have  shown.  I  have  but  a  word  to  say.  I  had  gone  out 
of  the  room,  not  because  of  the  discussion,  but  because  it  was  too  warm  and  the  atmos- 
phere so  stifling,  when  I  was  recalled  by  hearing  something  to  this  effect:  "  That  there 
had  not  been  a  single  logical  argument  used  on  this  platform  in  behalf  of  woman  suf- 
frage; that  woman  is  abundantly  represented  by  some  man  of  her  family;  that  when  a 
woman  lifts  herself  up  in  opposition  against  her  husband,  she  lifts  herself  up,  if  I 
properly  and  rightly  understood  the  declaration,  against  God;  that  the  inspired  asser- 
tion is  that  the  husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife."  Oh!  but  Mr.  Collier  forgot  to  say 
the  husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  church.  In  my  obser- 
vation, and  it  has  not  been  a  limited  one,  though  I  confess  I  am  not  an  unprejudiced 
observer,  I  have  never  yet  discovered  a  man  who  is  the  head  of  the  wife  as  Christ  is 
the  head  of  the  church.  Furthermore,  he  announces  that  these  women,  being  repre- 
sented by  men,  if  they  lift  themselves  up  in  opposition  to  their  husbands,  lose  that 
womanly  and  feminine  element  which  is  so  admirable  and  pure  and  beautiful,  and 
nothing  can  preserve  them  from  the  contamination  of  politics.  Woman  is  to  lift  her- 
self against  God  if  she  lifts  herself  against  her  husband,  and  woman  is  abundantly 
represented  by  this  same  husband,  or  by  some  man  in  her  own  family.  There  are 
a  multitude  of  women  who  have  no  husbands  [laughter].  There  are  a  multitude  of 
women  who  never  will  have  any  husbands  [renewed  laughter].  There  are  a  great 
many  women  who  have  no  men  in  their  own  households  to  represent  them,  either  for 
their  wrongs  or  their  rights.  Mr.  Collier,  I  suppose,  however,  is  talking  about  women 
who  have  husbands. 

He  says  the  woman  loses  her  purity,  her  delicacy,  her  feminine  attributes  when  she 
lifts  her  voice  and  sentiments  against  the  man  whose  name  she  bears.  We  will  say, 
then,  look  across  these  western  prairies  to  Utah.  If  the  women  there  dare  to  say  to 
the  congress  of  the  United  States,  "Amend  this  constitution  that  we  women  of  Utah 
can  have  one  husband,  and  that  the  husband  can  take  but  one  wife";  if  these 
women  demand  decency  in  the  marriage  relation,  demand  justice  for  themselves,  de- 
mand purity,  they  are  lifting  themselves  against  the  laws  of  womanhood  and  the 
laws  of  God.  Every  woman  represented  by  her  husband  is  to  lose  her  purity,  her 
delicacy,  her  refinement,  if  she  dares  to  lift  her  hand  against  him  and  his  will.  You 
have  here,  within  the  limits  of  your  State  of  Illinois,  100,000  drunkards.  Every 
woman  who  dares  to  lift  her  hand,  cry  out  with  her  voice,  "Give  me  the  ballot  that 
may  offset  the  votes  of  these  drunkards  at  the  polls  and  save  my  children  from  starva- 
tion and  myself  from  being  put  into  the  workhouse  " — this  woman  is  lifting  herself 
against  the  laws  of  God  and  womanhood.  That  is  not  all !  Last  summer  this  question  of 
prohibition  was  being  tested  in  Massachusetts  by  votes.  I  went  from  town  to  town — my 
engagements  taking  me  all  over  the  State  at  that  time — and  said  my  say  upon  this  ques- 
tion of  woman  suffrage.  In  whatever  city  or  town  I  went,  women,  bowed  down  with 
grief,  who  desired  to  preserve  their  womanhood,  their  persons  from  blows  and  abuse, 
their  sons  from  going  to  gambling  hells  and  rum  shops,  their  girls  from  being  sent  to, 
hou>es  of  abomination,  came  to  me  and  said:  "  Anna  Dickinson,  if  you  are  a  woman, 
speak  and  use  your  influence  for  our  cause. "  Women  who  have  drunken  husband>y 
whether  they  lived  in  Beacon  street  or  at  the  North  End.^whether  they  lived  in  luxury 
or  poverty,  saiil :  "  For  the  sake  of  womanhood,  for  the  sake  of  motherhood,  for  the 
s.ike  of  all  things  good  and  true  in  the  world,  lift  up  our  hands  and  voices,  through 
yourself,  to  protest  against  these  men  whose  names  we  bear."  Ah!  that  Mr.  Collier 
could  have  seen  these  drunkards'  wives,  standing  with  tears  streaming  down  their 


568  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

cheeks,  and  begging  for  power,  begging  for  the  ballot  to  save  their  homes,  and  them- 
selves, and  their  children.  Do  you  tell  this  audience — do  you  tell  any  mother  or 
daughter  here  this  afternoon,  that  she  protests  against  the  purity  of  womanhood,  and 
lifts  her  powers  against  the  laws  of  God  ?  Pardon  me  for  taking  this  much  of  your 
time.  I  will  simply  add  a  thought.  This  is  the  cause  of  purity.  This  is  the  cause 
which  is  to  strengthen  young  girls,  which  is  to  give  them  self-reliance  and  self-respect- 
This  is  the  thing  that  is  to  put  these  girls  on  their  feet;  say  to  them  "  you  are  an  in- 
dependent being;  you  are  to  earn  the  clothes  that  cover  you,"  and  this  will  allow  them  to 
walk  with  steady  feet  through  rough  places.  This  thing  which  is  to  give  these  women 
such  power,  certainly  will  be  strengthening  to  them  by  making  them  independent  and 
self-reliant.  The  ballot  is  to  save  womanhood  and  save  purity,  which  he  says  is  in 
danger — the  feminine  element  of  dependence  and  weakness  and  tenderness,  of  clinging 
helplessness,  which  he  so  much  adores.  Let  justice  be  done.  Give  us  the  ballot. 
Here  is  the  power  to  defend  yourself  when  your  rights  are  assailed;  when  your 
home  is  entered.  Here  is  the  authority  to  tell  the  spoiler  to  stand  back;  when  our 
sons  are  being  brought  up  to  wickedness  and  our  daughters  to  lives  of  shame,  here  is 
the  power  in  the  mother's  hand  which  says  these  children  shall  be  taken  from  the 
wrong  place  and  put  in  the  right  one.  For  the  rights  of  mothers  I  plead.  Let  us 
allow,  from  one  end  of  this  country  to  the  other,  every  man  and  woman,  black  and 
white,  to  go  to  the  polls  to  defend  their  own  rights  and  the  rights  of  their  homes. 

The  Rev.  R.  L.  COLLIER  said  he  would  to  God  that  every  woman  in  America  had 
such  a  heart  and  such  a  voice  for  woman's  rights.  But  sympathy  was  one  thing  and 
logic  was  another.  If  he  thought  the  ballot  in  the  hand  of  woman  would  cure  the 
wrongs  she  speaks  of,  he  would  favor  female  suffrage,  but  he  was  firmly  convinced 
that  it  would  only  aggravate  their  wrongs.  He  could  not  fight  Anna  Dickinson. 

ANNA  DICKINSON  :  I  certainly  do  not  intend  to  fight  Mr.  Collier.  I  believe  I  have 
the  name  of  not  being  a  belligerent  woman.  Mr.  Collier  says  sympathy  is  one  thing 
and  logic  is  another.  Very  true!  I  did  not  speak  of  the  40,000  women  in  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  who  are  wives  of  drunkards,  as  a  matter  which  shall  appeal  to  your 
sympathies,  or  move  your  tears.  Mr.  Collier  says  that  these  women  are  to,  find  their 
rights  by  influence  at  home. 

Mr.  COLLIER  :  That  is  what  I  mean. 

Miss  DICKINSON  :  That  they  are  to  do  it  by  womanly  and  feminine  love,  and  I  tell 
him  that  is  the  duty  of  this  same  feminine  element  which  is  so  admirable  and  adora- 
ble. I  have  seen  men  on  your  street  corners,  as  I  have  seen  men  on  the  street  corners 
of  every  city  of  America,  with  bloated  faces,  with  mangled  forms,  and  eyes  blackened 
by  the  horrible  vice  and  orgies  carried  on  in  their  dens  of  iniquity  and  drunkenness 
and  sin.  I  have  seen  men  with  not  a  semblance  of  humanity  in  their  form  or  in  their 
face,  and  not  a  sentiment  of  manhood  in  their  scTuls.  I  have  seen  these  men  made 
absolute  masters  of  wives  and  children;  men  who  reel  to  their  homes  night  after  night 
to  beat  some  helpless  child;  to  beat  some  helpless  woman.  A  woman  was  beaten  here 
in  Chicago  the  other  day  until  there  was  scarcely  a  trace  of  the  woman's  face  left,  and 
scarcely  a  trace  of  the  woman's  form  remaining.  Mr.  Collier  tells  me,  then,  that  these 
"women  whose  husbands  reel  home  at  12,  I,  2,  3  o'clock  at  night,  to  demolish  the  fur- 
niture, beat  the  children,  and  destroy  their  wives'  peace  and  lives — that  these  women 
:are  to  find  their  rights  by  influence,  by  argument,  by  tenderness.  These  brutes  who 
deserve  the  gallo\vs  if  any  human  being  can  deserve  anything  so  atrocious  in  these 
days — are  these  women,  their  wives,  to  find  their  safety,  their  security  for  themselves 
and  their  children,  by  influence,  through  argument  and  tenderness,  or  love,  when 
nothing  can  influence  save  drink  ?  The  law  gives  man  the  power  to  say,  "  I  will  have 
drink;  I  will  put  this  into  my  mouth."  If  the  ballot  were  given  to  women  they  would 
vote  against  drunkenness.  It  is  not  sentiment,  it  is  logic,  if  there  be  any  logic  in 
votes  and  in  a  home  saved. 

The  Rev.  R.  L.  COLLIER,  in  reply  to  Miss  Dickinson,  quoted  a  story  from  an 
English  author  of  a  drunkard  who  was  reclaimed  by  a  daughter's  love  and  devotion. 
He  never  wanted  to  hear  a  woman  say  that  law  could  accomplish  what  love  could  not. 


Rev.  R.  L.   Collier  Set  Right.  569 

Miss  DICKINSON  :  I  only  want  to  ask  Mr.  Collier  a  question,  and  it  is  this:  Whether 
he  does  not  think  that  man  would  have  been  a  great  deal  better  off  if  this  woman's 
vote  could  have  offset  his  vote,  and  the  rum  thereby  prevented  from  being  sold  at  the 
outset? 

Mr.  COLLIER  :  I  wish  to  say  that  law  never  yet  cured  crime;  that  men  are  not  our 
only  drunkards.  Women  are  drunkards  as  well  as  men. 

Miss  DICKINSON  (excitedly) :  It  is  not  so,  in  anything  like  the  same  proportion;  a 
drunken  woman  is  a  rare  sight. 

Mr.  COLLIER  :  I  wish  to  say  that  intemperance  can  never  be  cured  by  law. 

Miss  DICKINSON  :  Very  well.  You  tell  me  that  there  are  woman  in  the  land  who 
are  drunkards.  Doubtless  there  are.  Then  I  stand  here  as  a  woman  to  entreat,  to 
beseech,  to  pray  against  this  sin.  For  the  sake  of  these  drunken  woman,  I  ask  the 
ballot  to  drag  them  back  from  the  rum-shops  and  shut  their  doors  [applause].  God 
forbid  that  I  should  underrate  the  power  of  love;  that  I  should  discard  tenderness. 
Let  us  have  entreaty,  let  us  have  prayers,  and  let  us  have  the  ballot,  to  eradicate  this 
evil.  Mr.  Collier  says  he  is  full  of  sympathy,  and  intimates  that  women  should  stand 
here  and  elevate  love  above  law.  So  long  as  a  man  can  be  influenced  by  love,  well 
and  good.  When  a  man  has  sunk  to  the  point  where  he  beats  his  wife  and  children, 
and  burns  the  house  over  them,  reduces  his  family  to  starvation  to  get  this  accursed 
drink;  when  a  man  has  sunk  to  such  a  level,  is  woman  to  stand  still  and  entreat?  Is 
this  all  woman  is  to  do  ?  No  !  She  is  to  have  the  power  added  that  will  drag  the  fire- 
brand out  of  his  hand,  and  when  sense  and  reason  return,  when  the  fire  is  extinguished, 
then,  I  say,  let  us  have  the  power  of  love  to  interfere.  I  think  keeping  a  man  out  of 
sin  is  better  than  trying  to  drag  him  out  afterward  by  love. 

Mr.  COLLIER  said  he  was  placed  in  a  false  position  of  prominence  because,  unfor- 
tunately, he  was  the  only  gentleman  on  the  platform  who  entertained  serious  convic- 
tions on  the  negative  side  of  the  subject.  The  only  question  was,  would  the  ballot 
cure  these  wrongs  ?  If  so,  he  would  like  to  hear  the  reasons,  philosophical  and  log- 
ical, set  forth.  The  appeals  that  had  been  made  to  the  convention  were  illogical  and 
sympathetic.  He  believed  the  persecutors  of  women  were  women.  Fashion  and  the 
prejudice  in  the  minds  of  women  had  been  the  barriers  to  their  own  elevation.  That 
the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  women  would  cure  these  evils  he  denied. 

Miss  DICKINSON:  Mr.  Collier  says,  "The  worst  enemies  of  women  are  women"; 
that  the  worst  opponents  of  this  measure  are  fashion,  dress  and  idleness.  I  confess 
there  are  no  bitterer  opponents  or  enemies  of  this  measure  than  women.  On  that  very 
ground  I  assert  that  the  ballot  will  prove  woman's  best  friend.  If  woman  has  some- 
thing else  to  think  about  than  simply  to  please  men,  something  else  than  the  splendor 
of  her  diamonds,  or  the  magnificence  of  her  carriage,  you  may  be  sure,  with  broader 
fields  to  survey,  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  her.  If  women  could  earn  their  bread  and 
buy  the  houses  over  their  heads,  in  honorable  and  lucrative  avocations;  if  they  stood 
in  the  eye  of  the  law  men's  equals,  there  would  be  better  work,  more  hopeful  hearts, 
more  Christian  magnanimity,  and  less  petty  selfishness  and  meanness  than,  I  confess 
with  sorrow  and  tears,  are  found  among  women  to-day. 

One  of  the  ablest  speeches  of  the  convention  was  made  by  Judge  Chas. 
B.  Waite,  on  woman's  position  before  the  law.  Immediately  after  this  en- 
thusiastic convention*  the  Illinois  State  Suffrage  Association  was  formed, 
a  committee  t  appointed  to  visit  Springfield  and  request  the  legislature  to 
so  "change  the  laws  that  the  earnings  of  a  married  woman  may  be  se- 


*  The  officers  of  the  convention  were :    President,  Mary  A.   Livermore  ;  J'ice-Prfsi<ifnts,\}\c  Rev. 

Robert  Collyer,  Professor  Haven  ;  Recording  Secretary ;  Jeanne  Willing,  of  Rockford  ;  Corresponding 

0ty,  Myr.i  liradwcll  ;  Executive  Committee,  Professor  Haven,  chairman  ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward 

'•r,  Elizabeth  J.  Loomis,  Hannah  B.  Manford,  the  Rev.  E.   Eggleston,  the  Rev.  C.  H.   Fowler 

the  Rev.  E.  J.  Goodspeed,  Rlbecca  Mott,  Charlotte  L.  Levanway. 

t  The  committee  to  visit  Springfield  were  Hon.  James  B.  Bradwell,  Mrs.  Myra  Bradwell,  Mrs.  Kate 
N.  Doggett,  the  Rev.  E.  Goodspeed,  the  Hon.  C.  13.  Waite,  and  Mrs.  Rebecca  Mott. 


570  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

cured  to  her  own  use;  that  married  women  may  have  the  same  right  to 
their  own  property  that  married  men  have;  and  that  the  mother  may 
have  an  equal  right  with  the  father  to  the  custody  of  the  children."  The 
need  of  such  a  committee  existed  in  that  year  of  1869,  and  they  seemed  to 
have  wrought  effective  service,  since  on  March  24  the  married  woman's 
earnings  act  was  approved. 
AN  ACT  in  Relation  to  the  Earnings  of  Married  Women. 

SKC.  i. — Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  represented  in  the 
General  Assembly,  That  a  married  woman  shall  be  entitled  to  receive,  use  and  pos- 
sess her  own  earnings,  and  sue  for  the  same  in  her  own  name,  free  from  the  interfer- 
ence of  her  husband  or  his  creditors :  Provided^  This  act  shall  not  be  construed  to 
give  to  the  wife  any  compensation  for  any  labor  performed  for  her  minor  children  or 
husband. 

Mrs.  Livermore,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Judge  Waite,  Judge  and  Mrs.  Bradwell, 
had  an  enthusiastic  meeting  in  the  Opera  House,  Springfield,  most  of  the 
members  of  the  legislature  being  present. 

September  9,  10,  1869,  the  Western  Convention  was  held  in  Library 
Hall,  Chicago  ;  Mrs.  Livermore  presided.  This  influential  gathering  was 
largely  attended  by  leading  friends  from  other  States.*  Mrs.  Kate  Dog- 
gett  and  Dr.  Mary  Safford  were  appointed  to  attend  the  Woman's  Indus- 
trial Congress  at  Berlin.  Letters  were  read  from  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison 
and  others. t 

February  8,  9,  1870,  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Association 
was  held  at  Springfield  in  the  Opera  House,  Hon.  James  B.  Bradwell  in 
the  chair.  Many  members  of  the  legislature  were  present  during  the 
various  sessions  and  a  hearing  f  before  the  House  was  granted  next 
day.  Resolutions  were  discussed  and  adopted,  declaring  that  women 
were  enlranchised  under  the  fourteenth  amendment.  As  a  constitutional 
convention  was  in  session,  and  there  was  an  effort  being  made  to  have  an 
amendment  for  woman  suffrage  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  greater 
interest  was  felt  in  all  that  was  said  at  this  convention. 

The  strange  inconsistency  of  the  opponents  of  woman  suffrage  was  per- 
haps never  more  fully  illustrated  than  by  the  following  occurrence : 
While  the  patriotic  and  earnest  women  of  Illinois  were  quietly  acting  upon 
the  advice  of  their  representatives,  and  relying  upon  their  "quiet,  moral 
influence  "  to  secure  a  just  recognition  of  their  rights  in  the  constitutional 
convention,  a  conservative  woman  of  Michigan,  who,  afraid  that  the 
women  of  Illinois  were  about  to  lose  their  womanliness  by  asking  for  the 
right  to  have  their  opinions  counted,  deserted  her  home  in  the  Peninsular 
State,  went  to  Springfield,  secured  the  hall  of  the  convention,  and  gave 
two  lectures  against  woman  suffrage.  A  meeting  was  called  at  the  close 


*  Indiana — Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  Dr.  Mary  Wilhite,  Kmma  Mallory,  and  Amanda  Way  ; 
Missouri — Rebecca  N.  Hazzard  ;  Wisconsin — Lelia  Peckham  ;  fa-fa — Man-  Newbury  Adams.  Matilda 
Fletcher;  Minnesota — Mrs.  Bishop  ;  Kansas — Mrs.  Henry  ;  Ohio — Margaret  V.  Longley  ;  Michigan 
— Professor  Stone  ;  Massachusetts — Henry  B.  Blackwell,  and  Lucy  Stone  ;  A'ew  York — Susan  B.  An- 
thony, most  of  whom  took  part  in  the  discussions. 

t  Letters  were  alsc  received  from  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  Frederick  Douglass,  Hon.  Sharon  Tyndale, 
Rev.  D.  H.  X.  Powers,  Mrs.  Arabella  Mansfield,  Rev.  Willis  Lord. 

J  The  speakers  were  Mrs.  Livermore,  Mrs.  Stone,  Hon.  Sharon  Tyndale,  Hon.  E.  Haines,  and  Judge 
Bradwell. 


Sorosis.  571 

of  the  second  lecture,  and  in  a  resolution  moved  by  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention, as  Mrs.  Bradwell  pertinently  says,  "  the  people  of  the  State,  were 
told  that  one  woman  had  proved  herself  competent  and  well  qualified  to  en- 
lighten the  constitutional  convention  upon  the  evils  of  woman  suffrage."  * 
Such  was  the  effect  of  this  self-appointed  obtruder  from  another  State  that 
the  members  of  the  convention,  without  giving  a  woman  of  their  own 
State  opportunity  for  reply,  not  only  struck  out  the  clause  submitting  the 
question  to  the  people  in  a  separate  article,  but  actually  incorporated  in 
the  body  of  the  constitution  a  clause  which  would  not  allow  a  woman  to 
hold  any  office,  public  position,  place  of  trust  or  emolument  in  the  State. 
Through  the  efforts  of  such  staunch  friends  as  Judge  Bradwell,  Judge 
Waite  and  others,  this  latter  clause  was  stricken  out,  and  one  inserted 
which,  under  a  fair  construction,  will  allow  a  woman  to  hold  almost  any 
office,  provided  she  receives  a  sufficient  number  of  votes. 

By  the  accidental  insertion  of  another  clause  in  the  constitution  under 
consideration,  Section  i,  of  Article  vn.,  any  foreign  born  woman,  natural- 
ized previous  to  January,  1870,  was  given  the  right  to  vote.  So  that 
Illinois  was  the  first  State  in  the  Union,  since  the  time  when  the  women 
of  New  Jersey  were  disfranchised,  to  give  to  foreign-born  women  the 
elective  franchise.  This  mistake  of  the  wise  Solons  was  guarded  as  a 
State  secret. 

Previous  to  the  great  fire  of  1871,  the  most  popular  and  influential 
woman's  club  in  Chicago  was  the  organization  known  as  Sorosis.  This 
club,  by  the  generous  aid  of  many  prominent  gentlemen  of  the  city,  es- 
tablished pleasant  headquarters,  where,  in  addition  to  bright  carpets  and 
artistic  decorations,  were  books,  flowers,  birds,  and  other  refined  access- 
ories. Mrs.  Elizabeth  Loomis  says  of  the  meetings  held  in  those  delight- 
ful parlors :  "  At  every  successive  session  we  could  see  that  we  were 
gaining  ground  and  receiving  influential  members.  I  well  remember  how 
it  encouraged  us  to  number  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  among  our  friends  ;  and 
how  gladly  I  made  the  motion  to  have  him  appointed  temporary  chair- 
man in  the  absence  of  the  president — a  position  which  he  cheerfully  ac- 
cepted." One  of  the  most  brilliant  reunions  ever  enjoyed  by  the  club, 
was  a  reception  given  to  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony,  as  they  were 
en  route  to  California,  early  in  June,  1871.  Of  this  reception,  Miss  An- 
thony, in  a  letter  from  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  to  The  Revolution,  said  :  "  Mrs. 
Stanton  and  I  were  in  Chicago  the  evening  the  Illinois  State  and  Cook 
County  Association  held  their  opening  reception  at  their  new  central 
bureau,  a  suite  of  fine  rooms  handsomly  carpeted  and  furnished  by 
prominent  merchants  of  the  city,  where,  with  music,  conversation, 
speeches,  etc.,  the  hours  passed  delightfully  away,"  forming,  as  Miss 
Anthony  might  have  added,  a  delightful  oasis  amid  the  many  discom- 
forts of  a  continuous  appeal  to  the  people  to  deal  justly. 

In  November,  1871,  Mrs.  Catharine  V.  Waite,  of  Hyde  Park,  made  a 
written  application  to  the  board  of  registration,  asking  them  to  place  her 

*  ( ine  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty  women  of  Peoria  also  prayed  that  the  constitution  might 
not  be  so  amended  as  to  enfranchise  women  ;  another  evidence  of  the  demoralizing  influence  of  any 
form  of  slavery  upon  the  human  mind.  Had  not  these  women  been  lacking  in  a  proper  self-respect 
they  would  not  have  protested  against  the  right  to  govern  themselves. — [E.  C.  S. 


572  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

name  upon  the  register  as  a  voter,  which  they  refused  to  do  on  the  ground 
that  she  was  a  woman,  whereupon  Mrs.  Waite  filed  a  petition  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Cook  county,  stating  the  facts,  and  praying  that  the 
board  be  compelled  by  mandamus  to  place  her  name  upon  the  register. 
Chief-Justice  Jameson  granted  an  alternative  writ,  returnable  on  the  fol- 
lowing Monday,  commanding  the  board  *o  show  cause,  if  any  they  have, 
why  Mrs.  Waite's  name  should  not  be  placed  upon  the  register.  Judge 
Charles  B.  Waite,  the  husband  of  the  plaintiff,  made  an  exhaustive  and 
unanswerable  argument  before  Judge  Jameson,  but  to  no  purpose  as  far 
as  the  result  of  that  case  was  concerned,  as  the  opinion  of  the  court  de- 
livered January  12,  1872,  which  was  very  lengthy,*  denied  the  relator  with 
costs. 

In  1872,  Norman  T.  Cassette,  esq.,  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Cook  county,  and  recorder  of  deeds,  remembering  the  limited  number  of 
industrial  occupations  open  to  women,  and  seeing  no  reason  why  they 
could  not  perform  the  work  of  that  office,  resolved  to  try  the  ex- 
periment. A  room  was  fitted  up  for  the  special  use  of  women,  a  number 
of  whom  gladly  accepted  the  proffered  positions  and  received  the  same 
pay  per  folio  as  that  earned  by  men.  The  experiment  proved  entirely 
satisfactory,  Major  Brockway  having  officially  testified  in  regard  to 
woman's  especial  fitness  for  the  work. 

There  was  an  attempt  this  year  to  get  a  law  licensing  houses  of  ill-fame 
in  Chicago,  and  an  immense  petition  was  rolled  up  and  presented  to  the 
legislature  by  ladies  who  desired  to  defeat  the  proposed  enactment. 
They  carried  their  point  by  as  neat  a  flank  movement  as  Sherman  ever 
executed.  A  quiet  move  to  Springfield  with  a  petition  signed  by  thous- 
ands of  the  best  men  and  women  of  the  city,  and  our  enemies  found  them- 
selves checkmated  before  the  game  had  fairly  begun. 

February  13,  14,  1872,  the  State  Association  held  its  annual  meeting  at 
Bloomington,  with  large  and  interested  audiences. t  March  28  Mrs.  Jane 
Graham  Jones  secured  a  hearing  before  the  legislature  for  Miss  Anthony, 
who  made  one  of  her  most  convincing  arguments,  and  had  in  her  audi- 
ence nearly  every  member  of  that  body  who  voted  for  what  was  termed 
the  Alta  Hulett  bill. 

To  Myra  Bradwell  and  Alta  C.  Hulett  belongs  the  credit  of  a  long  and 
persevering  struggle  to  open  the  legal  profession  to  women.  The  latter 
succeeded  at  last  in  slipping  the  bolt  which  had  barred  woman  from  her 
right  to  practice  law.  We  take  the  following  statement  in  regard  to  Miss 
Hulett's  experience  from  the  "  Women  of  the  Century  ": 

At  the  age  of  seventeen.  Miss  Alta  Hulett  entered  the  law  office  of  Mr.  Lathrop,  of 
Rockford,  as  a  student,  and  after  a  few  months'  study  passed  the  required  examina- 
tion, and  sent  her  credentials  to  the  Supreme  Court,  which,  instead  of  granting  or  re- 
fusing her  plea  for  admission,  ignored  it  altogether.  Myra  Bradwell,  the  successful 
editor  of  the  Legal  News,  had  just  been  denied  admission.  Her  case,  stated  in  brief, 


*  Our  limited  space  prevents  the  publication  of  Judge  Waite's  argument  and  Judge  Jameson's  de- 
cision. 

t  Jane  Graham  Jones  and  Elizabeth  Loomis  represented  the  Cook  County  Association.  Delegates 
from  several  other  districts  were  present.  The  speakers  were  A.  J.  Grover,  Mrs.  Jane  Graham  Jones, 
Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Adelle  Hazlett  of  Michigan,  Dr.  Ellen  B.  Furguson  of  Indiana,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Fell,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Prince. 


Miss  Alfa   C.  Hulett.  573 

is  this :  Mrs.  Bradwell  made  application  for  a  license  to  practice  law.  The  court  re- 
fused it  on  the  ground  of  her  being  a  married  woman.  She  immediately  brought  a  suit 
to  test  the  legality  of  this  decision.  This  interesting  case  was  carried  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  which  sustained  the  decision  of  the  lower  courts.*  Mi.ss 
Hulett  had  reason  to  expect  that  since  she  was  unmarried,  this  decision  would  not 
prejudice  her  case.  Just  on  the  threshold  of  her  chosen  profession,  the  rewards  of 
youthful  aspirations  and  earnest  study  apparently  within  her  grasp,  her  dismay  may  be 
imagined  when  no  response  whatever  was  vouchsafed  her  petition.  A  fainter  heart 
would  have  accepted  the  situation.  To  battle  successfully  with  old  prejudices,  en- 
trenched in  the  strongholds  of  the  law,  required  not  only  marked  ability,  but  also  a 
courage  which  could  not  surrender.  Miss  Hulett  took  a  country  school  for  four 
months,  and  bravely  went  to  work  again.  While  teaching  and  "boarding  round," 
she  prepared  a  lecture,  "  Justice  vs.  The  Supreme  Court,"  in  which  she  vigorously  and 
eloquently  stated  her  case.  This  lecture  was  delivered  in  Rockford,  Freeport,  and 
many  other  towns,  enlisting  everywhere  sympathy  and  admiration  in  her  behalf.  After 
taking  counsel  with  Lieutenant-Governor  Early  and  other  prominent  members  of  the 
legislature,  she  drafted  a  bill,  the  provisions  of  which  are  : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  People  of  the  State  of  Illinois  represented  in  the  General  Assembly, 
That  no  person  shall  be  precluded  or  debarred  from  any  occupation,  profession,  or 
employment  (except  military),  on  account  of  sex.  Provided  this  act  shall  not  be  con- 
'struecl  to  affect  the  eligibility  of  any  person  to  an  elective  office. 

Nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  as  requiring  any  female  to  work  on  streets  or 
roads,  or  serve  on  juries.  All  laws  inconsistent  with  this  act  are  hereby  repealed. 

Friends  obtained  for  this  bill  a  very  favorable  introduction  into  the  legislature, 
where  it  passed  and  received  the  Governor's  signature.  Passing  up  the  steps  to 
her  home  one  rainy  day,  the  telegram  announcing  that  the  bill  had  become 
a  law  was  placed  in  her  hands,  and  in  referring  to  the  incident,  Miss  Hulett 
said  :  :<  I  shall  never  again  know  a  moment  of  such  supreme  happiness."  We  can 
only  add  in  this  connection  that  after  a  most  vigorous  examination  she  stood  at  the 
head  of  a  class  of  twenty-eight,  all  the  other  members  being  gentlemen.  This  time 
the  Supreme  Court  made  the  amende  honorable,  courteously  and  cordially  welcoming 
her  into  the  ranks  of  the  profession  on  her'birthday,  June  4,  1873,  and  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  Miss  Hulett  commenced  the  practice  of  law. 

But  Miss  Hulett's  career,  so  full  of  promise,  was  soon  ended.  The  an- 
nouncement of  her  untimely  death,  which  occurred  at  San  Diego,  Cal., 
March  26,  1877,  sent  a  pang  to  the  hearts  of  those  who  knew  her  person- 
ally, and  of  thousands  who  regarded  her  with  pride  as  a  representative 
woman.  A  Chicago  correspondent  says  : 

The  daily  press  of  the  city  have  already  borne  ample  testimony  to  her  professional 
talents  and  success  and  to  the  esteem  and  admiration  accorded  her  by  the  bar  of  Chi- 
cago and  by  the  general  public;  for  her  somewhat  exceptional  position  as  well  as  her 
ability  had  made  her  one  of  the  marked  characters  of  the  city.  Her  short  life,  so 
successful  and  brilliant  to  the  public  eye,  was  not  without  its  dark  and  thorny  places. 
Unusual  responsibilities  of  a  domestic  nature,  opposition  of  various  kinds  and  keen 
disappointment!  only  nerved  her  to  greater  persistency,  and  her  courage  was  upheld  by 
the  generous  and  abundant  recognition  which  she  received  on  every  hand  from  leading 
members  of  the  bar — a  recognition  for  which  she  never  failed,  when  opportunity  of- 
fered, to  express  her  sense  of  profound  obligation — and  she  was  accustomed  to  say  that 
the  law  was  the  most  liberal  of  the  professions.  Much  as  Miss  Hulett  had  accom- 
plished hitherto,  it  was  felt  that  she  had  only  crossed  the  threshold  of  a  career  of  sur- 
passing usefulness;  all  things  seemed  possible  to  one  so  richly  endowed;  her  mental 
vigor  seemed  matched  by  a  physique,  the  apparent  type  of  blooming  health;  but  the 
seeds  of  disease  were  inherited  and  only  awaited  a  combination  of  circumstances  to  as- 


*  For  Mrs.  Bradwell's  case  see  Vol.  II.,  page  601. 


574  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sert  their  fatal  power.  Absorbing  enthusiasm  for  her  profession,  and  the  cares  of  a 
rapidly  increasing  practice,  made  her  overlook  the  insidious  danger  lurking  in  a  cold, 
and  not  until  her  alarmed  physician  ordered  her  to  the  soft  climate  of  Southern  Cali- 
fornia did  she  comprehend  her  danger.  This  peremptory  order  was  a  terrible  shock, 
and  the  forced  exile  from  the  field  of  her  hopes  and  ambitions,  more  bitter  than  death. 
She  never  rallied,  but  continued  rapidly  to  fail  until  the  end  came.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  bar  of  Chicago,  held  to  take  action  in  commemoration  of  the  death  of  Miss  Aha 
M.  llulett,  attorney-at-law,  the  following  was  one  of  the  resolutions  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  although  the  legal  profession  has  hitherto  been  almost,  if  not  alto- 
gether, considered  as  exclusively  for  men  to  practice,  yet  we  freely  recognize  Miss  Hu- 
lett's  right  to  adopt  it  as  her  pursuit  in  life,  and  cheerfully  bear  testimony  to  the  fact 
that  in  her  practice  she  never  demeaned  herself  in  any  way  unbecoming  a  woman. 
She  was  always  true  to  her  clients  and  their  interests,  but  she  was  equally  true  to  her 
sex  and  her  duty;  and  if  women  who  now  are,  or  hereafter  shall  become,  members  of 
our  profession  shall  be  equally  true,  its  honor  will  never  be  tarnished,  nor  the  respect, 
good-will  and  esteem  which  it  is  the  duty  and  pride  of  man  to  accord  to  woman  be  in 
the  least  diminished  by  their  membership. 

Which,  translated,  means  that  men  are  not  only  ready  to  welcome  into  one  of  their 
own  professions  women  having  the  requisite  intellectual  qualifications,  but  that  the 
welcome  will  be  the  warmer  if  the  women  entering  shall  not  leave  behind  the  more 
feminine  attributes  of  the  sex.  Portia  did  deliver  judgment,  but  the  counselor's  cap 
became  the  pretty  locks  it  could  not  hide,  and  the  jurist's  cloak  lent  additional  grace 
to  the  symmetry  and  litheness  of  female  youth. 

M.  Fredrica  Perry  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Shipman  & 
Loveridge,  Coldwater,  Michigan,  in  the  winter  of  1870-71.  She  spent 
two  years  in  the  law-office  and  then  two  years  in  the  law-school  of  Michi- 
gan University.  On  graduating  from  the  law-school  in  March,  1875,  she 
was  admitted  to  the  Michigan  bar.  She  located  in  Chicago  in  August, 
and  in  September  Avas  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  and  began  practice. 
A  few  weeks  later  she  was,  on  motion  of  Miss  Hulett,  admitted  to  the 
U.  S.  Circuit  and  District  Courts  for  the  Northern  District  of  Illinois. 
She  was  in  partnership  with  Ellen  A.  Martin  under  the  name  of  Perry  & 
Martin.  Her  death  occured  June  3,  1883,  and  was  the  result  of  pneu- 
monia. Miss  Perry  was  a  successful  lawyer  and  combined  in  an  eminent 
degree  the  qualities  which  distinguish  able  barristers  and  jurists ;  her 
mind  was  broad  and  catholic,  clear,  quick,  logical  and  profound;  her  in- 
formation on  legal  and  general  matters  was  extensive.  She  was  an  excel- 
lent advocate,  a  skillful  examiner  of  witnesses,  and  understood  as  few  do, 
save  practitioners  who  have  grown  old  in  experience,  the  nice  discrimina- 
tions of  common-law  pleading  and  the  rules  of  evidence.  She  was  en- 
grossed in  the  study  and  practice  of  law,  and  gained  steadily  in  efficiency 
and  power  year  by  year.  She  had  the  genius  and  ability  for  the  highest 
attainment  in  all  branches  of  civil  practice,  and  joined  with  these  the 
power  of  close  application  and  hard  work.  She  belonged  to  the  Strong 
family  which  has  furnished  a  good  deal  of  the  legal  talent  of  the  United 
States.  Judge  Tuley,  a  chancery  judge  of  Chicago  before  whom  she 
often  appeared,  said  of  her  at  the  bar  meeting  called  to  take  action  upon 
her  death  ;  "  I  was  surprised  at  the  extent  of  her  legal  knowledge  and 
the  great  legal  acumen  she  displayed."  And  of  her  manner  and  method 
of  conducting  a  certain  bitterly-contested  casein  his  court:  "I  became 
satisfied  that  the  influence  of  woman  would  be  highly  beneficial  in  pre- 


Report  of  Mary  Allen    West.  575 

serving  and  sustaining  that  high  standard  of  professional  courtesy  which 

should  always  exist  among  the  members  of  our  profession." Ellen  A. 

Martin,  of  Perry  &  Martin.  Chicago,  spent  two  years  in  a  law-office  and 
two  years  in  Michigan  University  law-school,  and  was  graduated  and  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  Michigan  at  the  same  time  with  Miss  Perry.  She 
was  admitted  in  Illinois  in  January,  1876,  and  since  then  to  the  U.  S.  Cir- 
cuit Court. In  the  summer  of  1879,  Mrs.  M.  B.  R.  Shay,  Streator,  grad- 
uating from  the  Bloomington  law-school,  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  She 
has  published  a  book  entitled,  "  Students  Guide  to  Common-Law  Plead- 
ing."  In  1880,  Cora  A.  Benneson,  Quincy,  was  graduated  from  the 

Michigan  University  law-school  and  admitted  to  the  Michigan  and  Illinois 

bar. Ada  H.  Kepley,  in  practice  with  her  husband  at  Effingham,  was 

graduated  from  the  Chicago  law-school  in  June,  1870,  but  was  refused 
admission  to  the  bar.  In  November  of  that  year,  a  motion  was  made  in 
the  Court  at  Effingham  that  she  should  be  allowed  to  act  as  attorney  in  a 
case  at  that  bar,  and  Judge  Decius  said  that  though  the  Supreme  Court 
had  refused  to  license  a  woman,  he  yet  thought  the  motion  was  proper 
and  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  granted  the  motion.  Mrs. 
Kepley  was  finally  admitted,  January,  1881. Miss  Bessie  Bradwell,  grad- 
uated from  the  Union  College  of  Law  of  Chicago  and  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1882,  is  associated  with  her  parents,  Judge  and  Mrs.  Bradwell,  on  the 
Legal  News  and  in  the  preparation  of  Bradwell's  Appellate  Court  Reports. 
July  i,  1873,  the  bill  making  women  eligible  as  school  officers  became  a 
law,  and  in  the  fall  elections  of  the  same  year  the  people  gave  unmistaka- 
ble indorsement  of  the  champions  of  the  bill,  by  electing  women  as  super- 
intendent of  schools  in  ten  counties,  while  in  sixteen  others  women  were 
nominated.  Many  of  these,earnest  women  have  been  in  the  service  ever 
since.  As  the  practical  results  of  woman's  controlling  influence  as  super- 
intendents of  schools  seems  to  epitomize  her  work  in  all  official  positions, 
we  submit  a  report  compiled  by  Miss  Mary  Allen  West,  made  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Illinois  Social  Science  Association,  regretting  that  we  have 
not  space  for  one  of  the  model  reports  of  Miss  Sarah  Raymond,  also  for 
ten  years  superintendent  of  the  schools  of  Bloomington  : 

During  the  session  of  1872-3,  Judge  Bradwell  introduced  into  the  legislature  the 
following  bill,  which  became  a  law  April  3,  1873  :  "Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of 
Illinois,  represented  in  General  Assembly,  that  any  woman,  married  or  single,  of  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years  and  upwards,  and  possessing  the  qualifications  prescribed  for 
men,  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  under  the  general  school  laws  of  this  State."  A  sec- 
ond section  provides  for  her  giving  bonds. 

.  At  the  next  election,  November,  1873,  ten  ladies  were  elected  to  the  office  of  county 
superintendent  of  schools  for  a  term  of  four  years.  As  this  term  has  now  expired,  it 
is  a  favorable  time  to  inquire  how  women  have  succeeded  in  this  new  line  of  labor. 
That  the  work  that  devolves  upon  county  superintendents  may  be  understood,  I  give 
a  part  of  the  synopsis  of  the  duties  pertaining  to  the  office,  as  enumerated  by  Dr. 
Newton  Bateman  : 

First — She  must  carefully  inspect  and  pass  upon  the  bonds  of  all  township  treasur- 
ers, and  upon  the  securities  given  in  each  ca*e,  and  is  personally  liable  as  well  upon 
her  official  bond  for  any  loss  to  the  school  funds  sustained  through  her  neglect  or  care- 
le>s  performance  of  duty. 

Second — She  must  keep  herself  fully  and  carefully  informed  as  to  what  townships 


5/6  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

have  and  what  have  not  complied  with  the  provisions  of  the  law  in  respect  to  mainte- 
nance of  schools;  so  that  no  funds  may  in  ignorance  be  paid  to  townships  having  no 
legal  claim  to  them. 

Third — She  must  collect,  transcribe,  classify,  verify,  tabulate,  and  transmit  annu- 
ally to  the  State  superintendent  the  school  statistics  of  her  county,  together  with  a  de- 
tailed written  report  of  the  condition  of  the  common  schools  therein. 

Fourth — She  must  arrange,  classify,  file  and  preserve  all  books,  papers,  bonds,  offi- 
cial correspondence  and  other  documents  belonging  to  her  office. 

Fifth — She  must  impart  instruction  and  give  directions  to  inexperienced  teachers  in 
the  science,  art  and  method  of  teaching,  and  must  be  ready,  at  all  times,  to  counsel, 
advise  and  assist  the  school  officers  of  her  county. 

Sixth — She  must  take  an  active  part  in  the  management  of  County  Teachers'  Insti- 
tutes, and  labor  in  every  way  to  improve  the  quality  of  teaching  in  her  county. 

Seventh — She  must  hear,  examine,  and  determine  all  questions  and  controversies 
under  school  law,  which  may  be  referred  to  her,  and  must  carefully  prepare,  to  the 
best  of  her  knowledge  and  ability,  such  replies  to  all  letters  from  school  officers  and 
teachers  as  each  case  demands. 

Eighth — She  must  examine  all  candidates  desiring  to  teach  in  her  county,  and  grant 
certificates  to  such,  and  such  only,  as  she  honestly  thinks  are  of  good  moral  character 
and  sufficient  scholastic  attainments.  As  no  one  can  teach  in  a  public  school  without 
such  certificate,  this  gives  her  the  veto  power  over  all  teachers.  Dr.  Bateman,  com- 
menting on  fourteen  specifications,  of  which  the  foregoing  constitute  but  eight,  says 
these  are  some  of  the  many  duties  made  obligatory  upon  the  county  superintendent  by 
law.  Besides  all  these,  is  the  visitation  of  schools,  which  every  true  superintendent 
considers  a  very  important  part  of  the  work. 

For  convenience  we  will  group  these  duties  in  three  classes  :  I.  Those  concerning 
finance.  2.  Legal  duties.  3.  Duties  to  teachers  and  schools. 

I.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  financial  interests  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  these  women, 
we  find  by  reference  to  the  State  superintendent's  report  for  last  year  that  the  total 
receipts  for  school  purposes  in  these  ten  counties  which  they  superintend  was  $1,009,- 
441.     So  far  as  can  be  learned  from  the  records,  not  one  cent  of  the  large  sums  over 
which  they  had  supervision  has  been  lost  through  their  dishonesty,  or,  what  was  more 
to  be  feared,  their  ignorance  of  business.     Unlike  those  of  Dora  Copperfield,  their  ac- 
counts will  "add  up."     In  the  county  (Knox)  where  the  receipts  are  greatest,  aggre. 
gating  $182,423.22,   the   greatest  difference  between  receipts  and  expenditures,  as 
shown  by  the  superintendent's  books,  is  ten  cents.     In  many  of  these  counties  the 
financial  affairs  were  in  the  greatest  confusion  when  the  ladies  came  into  office.     In 
one,  perhaps  more,  the  preceding  superintendent  was  a  defaulter,  in  another  he  was 
engaged  in  a  law-suit  with  the  county  board,  and  in  still  others  strange  irregularities 
were  discovered.     In  every  instance,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  these  crookednesses 
have  been  straightened  out,  the  finances  put  upon  a  surer  basis,  hundreds,  we  believe 
thousands,  of  dollars  of  bad  debts  have  been  collected,  treasurers  and  directors  hav- 
been  induced  to  keep  their  books  with  greater  care  and  in  better  shape,  reckless  ex- 
penditure of  school  funds  has  been  discouraged,  and  directors  encouraged  to  expend 
the  money  for  things  which  will  permanently  benefit  the  schools.     So  much  for  finance. 

II.  Legal  Duties. — Rightly  to  discharge  the  duties  imposed  by  specification  7,  the 
county  superintendent  needs  to  be  a  very  good  lawyer,  for  school  law  in  its  ramifica- 
tions reaches  many  other  departments  of  law.     Especially  is  it  inextricably  mixed  up 
with  election  laws,  and  all  know  that  cases  arising  under  election  laws  are  among  the 
most  complex  and  difficult  to  handle.     Probably  a  school  election  never  occurrs  in 
which  some  such  cases  are  not  referred  to  the  county  superintendent.     In  the  settle- 
ment of  these  and  other  cases  arising  under  school  law,  these  women  have  been  pecu- 
liarly successful,  and  some  of  them  have  earned  the  blessing  bestowed  upon  the  peace- 
makers.    We  know  of  one  county  where,  after  last  spring's  election,  five  contested 
cases  were  referred  to  the  superintendent  for  settlement ;  these  were  all  satisfactorily 
adjusted  by  her.     During  her  four  years'  administration,  scores  of  controversies  were 


School  Super  intendency.  577 

referred  to  her,  and  there  has  never  been  a  single  appeal  from  her  decisions.  Another 
most  complicated  case  involving  a  defaulting  treasurer,  was  conducted  entirely  by  the 
county  superintendent  until  it  became  necessary  to  employ  a  lawyer  to  argue  the  case 
in  court.  What  she  had  done  was  then  submitted  to  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the 
State,  and  he  sanctioned  and  approved  each  step.  Numerous  other  instances  might 
be  cited  to  show  that  woman  has  not  failed  in  the  legal  part  of  her  work  as  superin- 
tendent of  schools. 

III.  Her  Work  "with  Teachers  and  Schools. — Here  our  superintendents  were  per- 
fectly at  home.  Each  of  the  ten  had  taught  successfully  for  years,  and  so  knew  the 
wants  of  the  school-room.  This  knowledge  was  invaluable,  both  in  the  examination 
of  teachers  and  in  the  supervision  of  schools.  Fears  were  expressed  lest  in  the  exam- 
ination of  candidates,  womanly  sympathy  would  lead  them  to  grant  certificates  to 
needy  applicants  who  were  not  altogether  qualified.  But  the  motherliness  which  is  in 
every  true  woman's  heart,  warded  off  this  danger.  As  one  remarked,  "  I  have  a 
great  deal  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness  in  my  nature,  but  its  streams  flow  toward 
the  rbomful  of  children  to  be  injured  by  an  incompetent  teacher,  rather  than  toward 
that  teacher,  however  needy  he  may  be.  If  his  claims  rest  on  his  needs  rather  than 
his  merits,  let  the  poormaster  attend  to  his  wants,  not  the  superintendent.  School 
money  is  not  a  pauper  fund."  This  motherliness  comes  in  good  play  in  school  visita- 
tion. It  draws  the  children  to  the  superintendent;  keeps  them  from  being  afraid  of 
her,  and  hence  leads  them  to  work  naturally  during  her  visit;  thus  she  can  obtain  a 
true  idea  of  the  status  of  the  school,  and  know  just  how  to  advise  and  direct  the 
teacher.  The  same  thing  holds  true  in  regard  to  teachers;  the  majority  of  them  are 
ladies,  and  they  will  come  to  a  lady  for  the  solution  of  their  doubts  and  difficulties 
much  more  freely  than  to  a  gentleman.  This  gives  her  better  opportunity  to  "  impart 
instruction  and  give  directions  to  inexperienced  teachers."  Woman's  power  to  lift  up 
the  teachers  under  her  control  to  a  higher  plane,  both  intellectually  and  morally,  has 
been  signally  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of  the  past  four  years. 

In  looking  after  the  details  of  official  work,  those  tiresome  minutiae  so  often  left  at 
"loose  ends,"  producing  endless  confusion,  woman  has  shown  great  aptitude.  You 
say,  "this  is  but  the  clean  sweeping  of  a  new  broom."  Maybe  so,  in  part;  but  in 
part  it  comes  from  the  womanly  instinct  to  "  look  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household," 
whether  that  household  be  the  occupants  of  a  cottage  or  the  schools  of  a  county.  In 
the  work  of  the  State  Association  of  County  Superintendents,  the  ladies  have  well  sus- 
tained their  part.  When  placed  on  the  programme,  they  have  come  prepared  with 
carefully  written  papers,  showing  their  desire  to  give  the  Association  the  benefit  of 
their  best  thoughts,  and  not  put  off  upon  it  such  crudely  digested  ideas  as  may  spring 
up  at  the  moment.  At  the  last  meeting  at  Springfield,  four  out  of  the  nine  superin- 
tendents now  in  office  were  present,  44  per  cent.;  out  of  the  93  gentlemen  in  the  same 
office,  1 8  were  present,  19  per  cent.  The  ratio  of  attendance  has  been  about  the  same 
for  the  four  years. 

How  has  woman's  work  as  county  superintendent  impressed  other  educators  ?  State- 
Superintendent  Etter,  who  confesses  that  he  was  not  in  favor  of  the  plan,  said  at  the 
State  Teachers'  Association,  above  referred  to  :  "  The  ladies  compare  very  favorably 
with  their  gentlemen  co-laborers."  Mr.  E.  L.  Wells,  for  twelve  years  county  superin- 
tendent of  Ogle  county,  and  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  work  throughout  the  State, 
concurs  in  this  opinion.  President  Newton  Bateman,  than  whom  no  man  in  the  State 
is  better  fitted  to  speak  on  this  subject,  in  his  political-economy  class  in  Knox  college, 
took  occasion  to  commend  the  efficiency  of  women  as  county  superintendents  of  our 
State.  A  gentleman  who  travels  extensively,  and  looks  into  school  affairs  closely,  says 
he  is  convinced  that  in  every  county  where  a  woman  was  elected  four  years  ago,  the 
efficiency  of  the  office  had  been  doubled  and  in  some  cases  increased  four  or  even  ten 
fold.  If  this  be  not  an  exaggeration,  an  explanation  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  in 
most  of  these  counties  the  best  ladies  were  put  in  the  place  of  gentlemen  most  poorly 
fitted  for  the  place.  The  office  had  become  a  political  foot-ball,  kicked  about  as  party 
exigencies  demanded,  and  often  came  into  possession  of  political  hacks  who  "must  be 

37 


578  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

provided  for,"  and  for  whom  no  other  place  could  be  found.  They  had  no  qualifica- 
tions for  the  office,  and,  of  course,  could  not  perform  its  duties.  The  people,  dis- 
gusted, turned  to  the  women  for  relief,  and  took  good  care  to  elect  the  ones  best  fitted 
to  do  the  work.  Had  equal  care  been  used  in  the  selection  of  their  predecessors,  they 
might  have  done  equally  good  work.  In  quoting  opinions,  I  have  purposely  confined 
myself  to  those  given  by  gentlemen. 

The  limits  of  this  paper  have  restricted  this  discussion  to  the  work  of  woman  as  a 
county  superintendent;  but  in  other  school  offices  she  is  doing  efficient  work.  All  over 
the  State  we  have  examples  of  her  efficiency  as  school  director.  Miss  Sarah  E.  Ray- 
mond, in  Bloomington,  and  Miss  Ludlow,  in  Davenport  (by  the  way,  the  Iowa  State 
Teachers'  Association  last  year  honored  itself  by  electing  her  president),  abundantly 
proves  woman's  ability  to  superintend  the  schools  of  large  cities.  M.  A.  W. 

In  Zioris  Herald  1873,  on  the  origin  of  the  Woman's  College  ii.  Evans- 
ton,  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard  writes  : 

In  1866,  when  we  were  all  tugging  away  to  build  Heck  Hall  for  ministers,  I  heard 
several  thoughtful  women  say,  "We  ought  to  be  doing  this  for  our  own  sex.  Men 
have  help  from  every  side,  while  no  one  thinks  of  women."  In  the  summer  of  1868 
Mrs.  Mary  F.  Haskins,  who  had  been  treasurer  of  the  American  Methodist  Ladies' 
Centenary  Association,  which  built  Heck  Hall,  raising  for  the  purpose  $50,000,  in- 
vited the  ladies  of  Evanston  to  her  home  to  talk  over  the  subject  of  founding  a 
Woman's  College,  which  should  secure  to  young  women  the  highest  educational  ad- 
vantages. Mrs.  Haskin  originated  the  thought — with  her  own  hands  assisted  in  laying 
the  corner-stone,  and  in  her  first  address  as  president  she  said  :  "I  have  often  thought 
that  to  the  successful  teacher  the  words  must  be  full  of  hope  and  promise,  which  a 
great  writer  uses  of  education  :  '  It  is  a  companion  which  no  misfortune  can  dis- 
tress, no  crime  destroy,  no  enemy  alienate,  no  despot  enslave;  at  home  a  friend, 
abroad  an  introduction;  in  solitude  a  solace,  in  society  an  ornament.  It  chastens  vice, 
it  guides  virtue,  it  adds  a  grace  to  genius.  Without  it  what  is  man  ?' — and  I  would 
.add  with  emphasis,  Without  an  education,  what  is  woman?" 

This  Woman's  College  at  Evanston  is  the  first  on  record  to  which  a 
charter,  granting  full  collegiate  powers,  was  ever  given  by  legislative  act, 
including  only  names  of  women  in  its  board  of  trustees.  This  board, 
elected  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard  president,  who  presided  over  the  institu- 
tion for  two  years,  during  which  term  a  class  of  young  women  was  grad- 
uated, the  first  in  history  to  whom  diplomas  were  voted  and  conferred 
by  women.  The  degree  of  A.  M.  was  given  Mrs.  Jennie  Fowler  Willing, 
of  Chicago,  who  preached  the  baccalaureate  sermon  at  the  unique  com- 
mencement exercises.  Mrs.  Mary  F.  Haskin,  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Green- 
leaf  were  respectively  presidents  of  the  board  of  trustees. 

Later  on,  as  a  higher  evolution  of  the  central  thought,  an  arrangement 
was  made  between  the  Woman's  College  and  the  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity, by  which  the  former  became  the  woman's  department  of  the  latter, 
on  condition  that  in  its  board  of  trustees,  faculty  of  instruction,  and  all  its 
departments  of  culture,  women  should  be  admitted  on  an  equality  with 
men,  as  to  opportunities,  positions  and  salaries.  Miss  Willard  was  then 
chosen  dean  of  the  Woman's  College,  and  professor  of  aesthetics  in  the 
University.  Mrs.  Emily  Huntington  Miller  was  placed  on  the  executive 
committee  of  the  board,  and  Mrs.  R.  F.  Oueal,  Mrs.  Jennie  Fowler  Wil- 
ling, Mrs.  Mary  Bannister  Willard,  and  Mrs.  L.  L.  Greenleaf  were  elected 
trustees.  One  year  later,  Miss  Willard  entered  the  temperance  work 


Dr.  Sarah  Hackett  Stevenson.  579 

since  which  time  Miss  Ellen  M.  Soule  and  Miss  Jane  Bancroft  have  suc- 
cessively served  in  the  position  of  dean. 

The  young  women  have  led  in  scholarship,  taken  prizes  in  composition 
and  oratory,  while  upon  one  occasion  the  delighted  students  dragged 
forth  the  only  artillery  in  the  village  to  voice  their  enthusiasm  over  the 
fact  that  to  Miss  Lizzie  R.  Hunt  had  been  awarded  at  the  great  interna- 
tional contest  the  first  prize  for  the  best  English  essay. 

In  1873,  while  filling  the  duties  of  professor  in  Wesleyan  University, 
Mrs.  Jennie  Fowler  Willing  was  licensed  as  a  local  preacher  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  the  first  woman  engaged  as  evangelist  in  Illinois. 

The  Monticello  Ladies'  Seminary  at  Godfrey  is  worthy  of  mention. 
Miss  Harriet  N.  Haskell,  its  president,  has  done  a  noble  work  there  in 
making  possible  for  many  girls,  by  labor  under  her  roof  to  pay  in  part 
for  a  liberal  education.  She  has  been  at  the  head  of  this  institution  for 
thirty  years.  Mrs.  F.  A.  Shiner  at  Mt.  Carroll,  is  another  grand  woman 
worthy  of  mention.  She,  too,  gives  poor  girls  an  opportunity  in  her 
household  to  pay  in  part  for  their  education.  In  this  way  many  are  be- 
ing trained  in  domestic  accomplishments  as  well  as  the  higher  branches 
of  education.  There  is  no  distinction  made  between  those  who  work  a 
certain  number  of  hours  each  day  and  those  who  pay  in  full  for  their  ad- 
vantages ;  and  in  many  cases  the  best  scholars  have  been  found  from  year 
to  year  among  those  who  had  the  stimulus  of  labor.  As  Miss  Haskell 
and  Mrs.  Shiner  have  uniformly  entertained  all  the  lyceum  lecturers*  at 
their  beautiful  homes,  many  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  and  talking 
with  these  bright  girls,  and  the  worthy  presidents  of  the  institutions. 

We  believe  to  Illinois  belongs  the  distinction  of  being  the  birthplace  of 
the  first  woman  admitted  to  the  American  Medical  Association — Dr.  Sarah 
Hackett  Stevenson,  born  at  Buffalo  Grove,  Ogle  county.  Dr.  Stevenson 
was  admitted  to  this  time-honored  association  June,  1876.  The  Philadel- 
phia Evening  Bulletin  thus  refers  to  the  innovation  : 

The  doctors  have  combined  millennial  with  centennial  glories.  The  largest  assem- 
blage of  the  medical  profession  ever  held  in  America  yesterday  honored  itself  by  burst- 
ing the  bonds  of  ancient  prejudice,  and  admitting  a  woman  to  its  membership  by  a 
vote  that  proved  the  battle  won,  and  that  henceforth  professional  qualification,  and 
not  sex,  is  to  be  the  test  of  standing  in  the  medical  world.  Looking  over  the  past 
fierce  resistance  by  which  every  advance  of  woman  into  the  field  of  medical  life  was 
met,  yesterday's  action  seems  like  the  opening  of  a  scientific  millennium.  It  was  a 
most  appropriate  time  and  place  for  the  beginning  of  this  new  era  of  medical  right- 
eousness and  peace.  Here,  in  the  centennial  year,  in  the  "City  of  Brotherly  Love," 
where  the  first  organized  effort  for  the  medical  education  of  women  was  made,  where 
the  oldest  medical  college  for  women  in  the  world  is  located,  and  where  the  fight 
against  woman's  entry  into  the  medical  profession  was  most  hotly  waged,  was  the  place 
to  take  the  manly  new  departure,  which,  so  far  as  the  National  Association  is  con- 

*  Those  who  have  traveled  and  lectured  through  the  West  and  spent  many  rainy  Sundays  in  dreary 
hotels,  know  how  to  appreciate  a  few  days  rest  in  the  delightful  homes  scattered  over  the  country  as 
well  as  in  the  towns  and  cities.  How  many  of  these  memory  recalls  in  the  State  of  Illinois  1  What  a 
hospitable  reception  we  had  in  the  cozy  farm-house  of  Mrs.  Owen  Lovejoy  at  Princeton,  and  in  the 
stately  residence  of  Mrs.  Jsoyes  Kendall  at  I.a  Moile,  in  the  home  of  Judge  Lawrence  at  Galesburg, 
Mrs.  Judge  Joslyn  at  Woodstock,  Mrs.  R.  M.  Patrick,  Marengc ;  Mrs.  A.  W.  Bray  ton,  Mt.  Morris; 
Mrs.  Eldridge  Norwood,  Olney  ;  Rev.  i)r.  Moffatt,  Monticello;  Col.  E.  B.  Loop,  Bclvidcre  ;  Mrs. 
Judge  Grecr,  Decatur ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Prince,  Bloomington  ;  Col.  and  Mrs.  Latham,  Lincoln,  and 
others  too  numerous  to  mention  in  all  the  Western  States. —  IS.  B.  A. 


580  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

cernecl,  began  yesterday  in  the  election  of  Dr.  Sarah  Ilackett  Stevenson  as  a  member 
in  full  standing  from  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Dr.  Mary  H.  Thompson,  who  was  graduated  at  boston  in  1863,  and  who, 
removing  to  Chicago,  succeeded  in  establishing  a  woman's  hospital,  is  in- 
cluded in  a  short  list  of  notable  alumnae  of  the  Boston  Medical  School. 
Dr.  Lelia  G.  'Bedell,  Dr.  E.  G.  Cook,  Dr.  Julia  Holmes  Smith,  Dr.  Alice  B. 
Stockham,  and  many  others  have  won  honorable  distinction  in  this  pro- 
fession. 

One  of  the  marked  crises  in  the  history  of  the  reform  we  trace  was  the 
centennial  Fourth  of  July.  The  daughters  of  the  Pilgrims  realized  as 
never  before  the  cruel  injustice  by  which  they  were  deprived  of  their 
birthright,  and  from  the  Western  prairies  and  Eastern  hills  their  earnest 
protest  was  given  to  the  nation.  As  early  as  May  2,  1876,  at  a  special  con- 
vention of  the  Illinois  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  two  vigorous 
protests  were  read  as  the  official  utterances  of  State  and  National  Associa- 
tions. The  convention  was  called  to  order  by  Mrs.  Alma  Van  Winkle, 
who  stated  that  Mrs.  Jane  Graham  Jones,*  the  beloved  and  efficient  presi- 
dent of  the  association,  having  determined  upon  a  European  sojourn,  had 
sent  her  resignation  to  the  executive  committee,  and  that  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Boynton  Harbert,  recently  removed  to  the  State,  had  been  elected  to  fill 
her  place.  This  action  being  ratified,  Susan  B.  Anthony  was  introduced, 
and  although  she  had  just  concluded  an  intensely  vigorous  lyceum  tour, 
extending  through  many  months,  she  spoke  with  unusual  power.  Just 
here  I  wish  to  emphasize  the  great  loss  to  women  in  the  fact  that  as  Miss 
Anthony's  speeches  were  never  written,  but  came  with  thrilling  effect 
from  her  patriotic  soul,  scarce  any  record  of  them  remains,  other  than  the 
intangible  memories  of  her  grateful  countrywomen.  At  this  convention, 
the  following  address  was  read  and  adopted  : 

To  the  Women  of  the  United  States  of  America,  greeting  : 

While  the  centennial  clock  is  striking  the  hour  of  opportunity  for  the  Pilgrims' 
daughters  to  prove  themselves  regenerate  children  of  a  worthy  ancestry,  while  the  air 
reverberates  to  the  watchwords  of  the  statesmen  of  the  Revolution,  let  the  daughters  of 
the  nation,  in  clear,  steady  and  womanly  voices,  chorus  through  the  States:  "  Taxa- 
tion without  representation  is  tyranny,"  and  "  all  governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 

Womanly  hands,  firm,  capable  and  loving,  have  been  steadily,  persistently  and  un- 
ceasingly knocking,  knocking  at  the  doors  of  judicial,  ecclesiastical  and  legislative 
halls,  until  at  last  the  rusty  bars  are  yielding  and  the  persistent  knocking  is  beginning 
to  tell  upon  iron  nerves  and  all  kinds  of  masculine  constitutions.  Just  now,  in  the 
centennial  year,  another  door  has  opened,  preparing  the  way  for  the  Pilgrims'  daugh- 
ters to  present  their  claim  before  the  assembled  nation  on  the  "  Fourth  of  July,  1876." 

A  joint  resolution  of  congress,  signed  by  the  president  of  the  United  States,  and 
made  the  subject  of  proclamation  by  the  governor  of  the  State,  reads  as  follows: 


*  At  her  beautiful  home,  910  Prairie  avenue,  her  social  influence  was  even  more  than  her  public  work. 
An  unfriendly  report  in  any  journal  was  uniformly  followed  by  an  invitation  to  dinner  to  the  editur  or 
some  one  of  his  staff,  to  meet  the  lady  criticised,  or  discuss  the  point  of  attack.  Miss  Emily  Faithful, 
Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony  and  Miss  Couzins  have  all  in  turn  shared  these  dinners  and  discussions. 
If  the  Methodist  Episcopal  conference  sent  an  opponent  to  preach  in  their  church,  and  a  little  social 
attention  did  not  convert  him,  two  persons  left  the  church.  Neither  Mrs.  Jones  nor  her  husband  would 
listen  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hatfield,  for  Fernando  Jones  was  always  as  staunch  an  advocate  of  the  suffrage 
for  women  as  his  wife,  and  had  no  faith  in  a  religion  that  did  not  teach  human  equality. — [S.  B.  A. 


Mrs.  Harbert's   Oration.  50! 


Be  it  resolved  by  the  Senate  and  Hottse  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  That  it  be,  and  is  hereby,  recommended  by  the  Senate  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  to  the  people  of  the  several  States,  that  they  assemble  in  the  several 
counties  and  towns  on  the  approaching  centennial  anniversary  of  our  national  indepen- 
dence, and  that  they  cause  to  have  delivered  on  such  day  an  historical  sketch  of  said 
county  or  town  from  its  foundation,  and  that  a  copy  of  said  sketch  may  be  filed,  in 
print  or  manuscript,  in  the  clerk's  office  of  said  county,  and  an  additional  copy  be  filed 
in  the  office  of  the  librarian  of  congress  at  the  city  of  Washington,  to  the  intent  that  a 
complete  record  may  thus  be  obtained  of  the  progress  of  our  institutions  during  the 
first  centennial  of  thefr  existence. 

The  governor  of  this  State  earnestly  recommends  that  prompt  measures  be  taken  in 
each  county  and  town  for  the  selection  of  one  or  more  persons  who  shall  prepare  com- 
plete, thorough  and  accurate  historical  sketches  of  each  county,  city,  town  or  village, 
from  the  date  of  the  settlement  to  the  present  time. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  since  our  civil  war  thousands  of  charitable,  scientific,  phil- 
anthropic, religious  and  political  associations  have  been  organized  among  women,  of 
which  but  few  accurate  records  are  now  accessible  to  the  general  public,  and  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  Supreme  Court  and  many  of  our  legislators  construe  "persons"  to 
indicate  only  men  (except  when  persons  are  to  be  taxed,  fined  or  executed),  we  respect- 
fully suggest  that  in  all  cases  one  member  of  the  committee  shall  be  a  woman,  to  the 
end  that  there  may  be  submitted  to  future  historians  accurate  data  of  the  extent  and 
scope  of  the  work  of  American  women;  that  this  historian  of  woman  shall  carefully 
and  impartially  record  the  literary,  educational,  journalistic,  industrial,  charitable  and 
political  work  of  woman  as  expressed  in  temperance,  missionary  and  woman  suffrage 
organization. 

Let  a  meeting  of  every  woman  suffrage  organization  throughout  the  State,  or,  where 
none  exists,  let  any  friend  of  the  cause  call  a  meeting,  at  which  a  committee  shall  be 
appointed  to  present  this  suggestion  to  the  people  as  they  may  meet  in  the  different 
cities,  villages  and  towns,  to  perfect  arrangements  for  their  local  celebration. 

As  American  citizens  we  salute  the  tri-color,  emblem  of  the  rights  obtained  and  lib- 
erties won  by  husbands,  fathers  and  sons,  meanwhile  pledging,  if  need  be,  another 
century  of  toil  and  effort  to  the  sacred  cause  of  human  rights,  and  the  establishment 
of  a  genuine  republic.  ELIZABETH  BOYNTON  HARBERT, 

Pres.  III.  Woman  Suffrage  Society. 

It  was  decided  at  this  convention  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July  in 
some  appropriate  manner.  Under  the  auspices  of  Mrs.  Harbert  this  was 
done  at  Evanston.  The  occasion  was  heralded  as  "  The  Woman's  Fourth," 
and  programmes*  were  scattered  through  the  village. 

The  auditorium  of  the  large  Methodist  Church  was  tastefully  decorated 
with  exquisite  flowers ;  flags  were  gracefully  festooned  about  the  pulpit. 
and  all  the  appointments  were  pronounced  artistic  by  the  most  critical, 
and  Mrs.  Harbert's  oration,  of  which  we  give  a  few  extracts,  aimed  to  be 
in  keeping  with  her  surroundings  : 

If  possessed  of  artistic  genius,  I  would  seize  the  pencil  and  imprison  in  rich  and 
gorgeous  coloring  two  pictures  for  the  woman's  pavilion  of  our  centennial;  for  the  first 
I  would  reproduce  that  prophetically  symbolic  scene  at  the  dawn  of  our  history,  when 
•with  a  faith  and  generosity  worthy  of  honorable  mention,  Isabella  of  Castile  placed 
her  jewels  in  the  almost  discouraged  mariner's  hands,  and  bade  Columbus  give  to  the 
world  Columbia.  The  second  scene  would  be  the  antithesis  of  the  first,  as  to-day, 
the  women  of  the  United  States  make  haste  to  lay  at  the  feet  of  our  statesmen  and 


*  "  Due  it  Amor  Patrite"  \  "1876." — Centennial  Commemoration,  Evanston,  111.  Music,  prayer, 
muiic;  recitation,  Miss  M.  E.  Brown;  music,  "Battle  Hymn";  salutatory,  "Woman  and 
Philanthropy,"  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert ;  "  Historical  Record  of  the  Educational  Work  of 
Our  Women,"  Mrs.  Mary  Bannister  Willard  ;  music,  "  Whittier's  Hymn;  recitation,  Miss  M.  E. 
Urown  ;  Missionary  Roll  of  Honor,  Miss  Jessie  Brown  ;  oration,  Rev.  F.  L.  Chapell ;  benediction. 


582  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

prophets  their  jewels  of  thought  and  influence,  bidding  them,  in  the  name  of  woman, 
give  to  the  world  a  perfected  government,  a  genuine  republic,  a  purer  civilization. 
Now,  as  then,  there  are  many  ready  with  mocking  jeers;  but,  turning  not  to  the  right 
nor  the  left,  the  faith  of  woman  and  the  courage  of  man  move  on  apace  to  sure  suc- 
cess. That  historic  "  first  gun  "  not  only  jarred  loose  every  rivet  in  the  manacles  of 
4,000,000  slaves,  but  when  the  smoke  of  the  cannonading  had  lifted,  the  erttire  horizon 
of  woman  was  broadened,  illuminated,  glorified.  On  that  April  day  when  a  nation  of 
citizens  were  suddenly  transformed  into  an  army  of  warriors,  American  women,  with 
a  patriotism  as  intense  as  theirs,  a  consecration  as  true,  quietly  assumed  their  vacated 
places  and  became  citizens.  Out  from  market-place  and  forum,  counting-house  and  farm 
— keeping  time  to  the  chime  of  the  music  of  the  Union — marched  father,  husband  and 
son;  into  office,  store  and  farm,  called  there  by  no  ambitious  desire  to  wander  out  of 
their  sphere,  but  by  the  same  dire  military  necessity  that  called  our  men  to  the  front 
stepped  orphaned  daughter  and  widowed  wife.  Anna  Dickinson  captured  the  lyceum 
and  platform.  The  almost  classic  scene  of  "Corinne  at  the  Capitol"  is  not  more  re- 
markable than  that  historic  scene  of  the  Quaker  girl  at  Washington,  called  there  to 
receive  the  plaudits  of  the  highest  officials  of  our  nation,  for  services  rendered  in  the 
then  vital  political  campaigns  of  Ne\\%  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York. 

The  cruel,  scarlet  days  of  war  dragged  wearily  on.  Up  from*  the  Southern  battle- 
fields, borne  northward  in  the  lull  of  the  war  tempest,  came  a  wailing  appeal  from 
"the  boys,"  who  hitherto  had  never  appealed  to  "mother"  in  vain:  "We  are 
wounded,  sick  and  starving."  Instantly  the  mother-heart  responded — waiting  not  for 
"orders,"  snapping  official  red-tape,  as  though  it  had  been  woven  of  cob-webs,  two 
women  started  southward  with  the  needed  supplies,  and  this  great,  anxious,  agonized 
North  gave  a  sob  of  relief  when  the  message  thrilled  through  the  land  that  Jane  C. 
Hoge  and  Mary  A.  Livermore  had  arrived  at  the  front  with  the  needed  supplies. 
Idle,  helpless,  dependent  queens  were  not  then  in  demand,  but  women  fitted  to  be 
wives  of  heroes.  Because  our  lake-bordered,  tree-fringed  village  was  once  her  home, 
I  lovingly  trace  first  on  Evanston's  scroll  of  honor  the  name  of  Jane  C.  Hoge, 
while  just  underneath  it  I  write  that  of  our  venerable  philanthropist,  who  was  the  first 
woman  in  these  United  States  to  receive  the  badge  of  the  Christian  commission,  Mrs. 
Arza  Brown. 

And  now,  standing  here  upon  the  border-land  of  two  centuries,  over-shadowed  by 
the  dear  old  flag,  re-baptized  with  the  blood  of  my  beloved  as  of  yours — standing  here, 
a  native-born  citizen,  as  a  woman  to  whom  the  honor,  purity,  peace  and  freedom  of 
native  land  is  dear  as  life;  as  a  wife  vitally  interested  in  the  interests  of  manhood;  as 
a  mother  responsible  for  the  best  development  of  her  children ;  as  a  human  being,  re- 
sponsible to  her  Creator  for  the  highest  possible  usefulness,  I  claim  equality  before 
the  law. 

Mrs.  Mary  Bannister  Willard  gave  some  surprising  facts  in  regard  to 
woman's  work  in  connection  with  the  North  Western  University,  and  re- 
minded us  that  foremost  among  the  women  of  the  dawning  century 
was  Eliza  Garret  of  Chicago,  who  secured  to  the  Garret  Biblical  Institute 
its  endowment  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars,  with  the  proviso  that  a 
certain  increase  of  income  from  the  same  after  the  wants  of  the  young 
theologues  had  been  met,  should  be  applied  to  the  erection  and  endow- 
ment of  a  seminary  for  young  ladies.  But  alas  !  the  theological  appetite 
has  been  insatiate,  even  unto  this  last,  and  deliverance  has  come  to  our 
girls  from  another  quarter.  And  this  was  the  throwing  down  of  university 
gates  and  bars,  and  a  free  extension  of  all  educational  privileges  to 


"Woman's  Kingdom"  583 

women.  Upon  the  roll  of  honor  connected  with  this  work  we  gratefully 
place  the  names  of  many  brave,  self-sacrificing  women.* 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Chappell,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church,  then  gave  a  most 
eloquent,  liberal  oration.  In  closing,  he  said  :  "  But  what  think  you,  sis- 
ters, of  the  dangers  that  threaten  the  republic?  Do  they  lie  on  your 
hearts  ?  Are  they  in  your  prayers  ?  Do  they  enter  into  your  plans  ?  All 
compliments  and  gallantries  aside,  it  makes  a  vast  difference  in  the  des- 
tiny of  the  republic  whether  you  understand  and  feel  its  dangers.  The 
scale  has  turned.  No  longer  need  we  dread  oppression,  disability,  power; 
but  on  the  other  hand,  license,  luxury,  listlessness,  forgetfulness  of  God 
and  the  wholesome  truth.  This  watch-night  of  the  republic  augurs  well. 
This  gathering  of  the  sisterhood  has  its  meaning.  You  are  the  power 
behind  the  throne  ;  with  you  and  with  God  lies  the  destiny  of  the  repub- 
lic." After  the  benediction  the  audience  dispersed,  all  expressing  of  the 
entire  programme  the  most  enthusiastic  approval. 

About  the  close  of  the  year  1876,  a  noticeable  change  in  the  direction 
of  thought  and  effort  was  very  apparent  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  ravages  of  the  fire  and  the  severe  mental  strain  to  which  busi- 
ness men  were  subjected,  women  sprang  to  the  rescue,  and  actively  en- 
gaged in  business.  These  additional  burdens  assumed  by  the  many, 
the  few  were  left  to  bear  the  weight  of  religious,  philanthropic  and  social 
duties.  Women  had  tested  their  powers  sufficiently  to  realize  their 
strength,  and  were  impatient  for  immediate  results,  hence  many  of  the 
active  friends  of  woman  suffrage,  believing  that  the  temperance  ballot 
could  be  more  speedily  secured  than  entire  political  equality,  joined  the 
home-protection  movement,  while  through  the  broadening  and  helpful  in- 
fluence of  the  Grange  in  the  farm-homes  of  the  northwest,  requests  for  aids 
to  organization  came  from  all  quarters.  In  order  that  the  earnest  thoughts 
of  the  one  class  and  the  practical  methods  of  the  other,  might  be  ren- 
dered mutually  beneficial,  I  one  day  entered  the  sanctum  of  the  progress- 
ive editor  of  the  Inter-Ocean,  and  asked  for  a  ten-minute  audience.  The 
request  was  granted,  and  Wm.  Penn  Nixon,  esq.,  courteously  listened  to 
the  following  questions :  "  As  a  progressive  journalist,  and  one  who 
must  recognize  the  philanthropic  activity  of  the  women  of  the  Northwest, 
has  it  ever  occurred  to  you  that  there  is  nowhere  in  journalism  a  special 
recognition  of  their  interests  ?  We  have  special  fashion  departments, 
special  cooking  departments,  but  no  niche  or  corner  devoted  to  the  moral, 
industrial,  educational,  philanthropic  and  political  interests  of  women  ; 
and  does  not  your  judgment  assure  you  that  such  a  department  could  be 
rendered  popular?"  As  a  result  of  this  conversation  a  special  corner 
of  the  Inter-Ocean  was  yielded  to  woman's  interests,  designated  by  the 
editors,  "Woman's  Kingdom,"  and  on  January  6,  1877,  the  following  an- 
nouncement appeared : 

Congratulations  to  women  that  we  have  at  last  found  a  home  in  journalism  ;  that 
amid  the  clashing  of  sabers  of  our  modern  press  tournament,  the  knights  of  the  quill 

*  M.iry  !•'.  Haskin.  Melincla  Hamline,  Caroline  Bishop,  Elizabeth  M.  Greenlcaf,  Harriet  S.  Kiddeiy 
M:irv  T.  Willarcl.  Mary  I.  K.  Huse,  Cornelia  Lunt,  Harriet  N.  Noyes,  Maria  Cook,  Margaret  l\ 
K\  .ins,  Sarah  I.  Hurd,  Annie  H.  Thornton,  Abby  L.  Drown,  and  Virginia  S.  Kent. 


584  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

recognize  that  women  have  some  rights  that  journalists  are  bound  to  respect.  These 
columns  are  in  the  interest  of  no  class,  clique,  sect,  or  section,  and  we  earnestly  re- 
quest accurate  data  of  woman's  work.  All  missionary,  literary,  temperance  and 
woman  suffrage  organizations,  will  be  accorded  space  for  announcing  their  aims. 
With  an  occasional  review  of  new  books,  we  will  confer  in  regard  to  what  woman  has 
written  ;  wandering  through  studios  and  sanctums,  we  will  record  what  she  is  painting 
and  preaching.  Pleading  an  intense  and  loving  interest  in  the  splendid  opportunities 
now  opening  to  American  women,  we  shall  hope  that  some  truth  may  be  evolved  that 
may  enrich  their  lives. 

Notwithstanding  this  was  the  first  special  department  of  the  kind,  much 
of  the  best  journalistic  work  of  the  State  was  being  done  by  women,*  who 
seemed  to  have  received  a  new  baptism  to  serve  the  higher  interests  of 
humanity.  From  the  desire  for  cooperation  expressed  by  many  con- 
tributors to  "  Woman's  Kingdom,"  the  following  little  item  was  set  afloat 
in  May,  1877: 

Many  facts  recently  arresting  attention,  in  connection  with  the  industrial,  political, 
and  moral  interests  of  women,  seem  to  render  a  conference  of  their  representatives 
in  regard  to  business  aims,  expedient.  There  is  need  of  a  bureau  through  which  the 
industrial  interests  of  women  can  be  promoted  and  some  practical  answer  given  to  the 
question  everywhere  heard,  "  How  can  we  earn  a  living?"  There  is  a  demand  for  an 
educational  bureau  of  correspondence  and  also  a  lyceum  bureau  through  whose  agency 
good  lectures  upon  practical  subjects  can  be  secured  in  every  city  and  village.  All 
interested  in  such  a  conference  are  requested  to  send  their  names  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Boynton  Harbert,  Evanston.  111.,  or  Mrs.  Louise  Rockwood  Wardner,  Cairo,  111. 

Hon.  Frank  Sanborn,  in  his  annual  report  to  the  American  Social  Sci- 
ence Association,  mentioned  the  formation  of  a  branch  society  t  in  this 
State.  He  said : 

Like  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  York,  which  was  organized  and  is 
directed  by  women,  the  Illinois  Association  devotes  itself  chiefly  to  practical  applica- 
tions of  social  science,  though  in  a  somewhat  different  direction.  It  was  formed  in 
October,  1877,  with  a  membership  of  some  two  hundred  women;  it  publishes  a 
monthly  newspaper,  The  Illinois  Social  Science  Journal,  full  of  interesting  communi- 
cations, and  it  has  organized  in  its  first  seven  months'  existence  eight  smaller  associa- 
tions in  other  States. 

The  enthusiasm  in  this  society  branching  out  in  so  many  practical  direc- 
tions, absorbed  for  a  time  the  energies  of  the  Illinois  women.  Our  mem- 
bership reached  400.  This  may  account  for  the  apparent  lethargy  of  the 
Suffrage  Association  during  the  years  of  1877-78.  Caroline  F.  Corbin 


*  Prominent  among  these  journalists  were  Margaret  Buchanan  Sullivan  and  Mrs.  Annie  Kerr  of 
the  Chicago  Times,  Mrs.  Hubbard  of  the  Tribune,  Miss  Farrand  of  the  Advance,  Virginia  Fitzgerald 
and  Alice  Hobbins  of  the  Inter-Ocean,  Mrs.  Myra  Bradwell,  editor  of  the  Legal  News,  Mrs.  Cath- 
arine V.  Waite  and  Mrs.  DeGeer  of  the  Crusader,  Mrs.  Louisa  White  of  the  Moline  Dispa.Uk,  Mrs. 
C.  B.  Bostwick  of  the  Mattoon  Gazette,  Mrs.  J.  Oberly  of  the  Cairo  Bulletin,  Miss  Mary  West  of 
the  Galesburg  Republican,  Mrs.  Celia  Wooley,  Miss  Eliza  Bowman,  Mrs.  Clara  Lyon  Peters  of 
the  Watseka  Times,  Jane  Grey  Swisshelm,  Elizabeth  Holt  Babbitt,  and  many  others. 

t  The  officers  of  the  Illinois  Social  Science  Association  were:  President,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Boynton 
Harbert,  Evanston  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Miss  Sarah  A.  Richards,  Chicago ;  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, Mrs.  W.  E.  Clifford,  Evanston  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  H.  H.  Candee,  Cairo ;  Directors,  Mrs.  Helen 
M.  Beveredge,  Evanston  ;  Mrs.  Frank  Denman,  Quincy  ;  Mrs.  C.  A.  Beck,  Centralia  ;  Mrs.  R.  Me. 
Loughrey,  Joliet ;  Mrs.  W.  O.  Carpenter,  Chicago  ;  Miss  M.  Fredricka  Perry,  Chicago  ;  Vice-Presi- 
dents,  First  Congressional  District,  Mrs.  Eliza  R.  Sunderland,  Chicago  ;  Second,  Mrs.  W.  D.  Babbitt. 
Chicago  ;  Third,  Mrs.  Chas.  E.  Brown.  Evanston  ;  Fourth,  Mrs.  Carrie  A.  Potter,  Rockford  ;  Fifth, 
Mrs.  F.  A.  W.  Shimer,  Mt.  Carroll ;  Sixth,  Mrs.  Sarah  C.  Mclntosh,  Joliet ;  Thirteenth.  Mrs.  B.  M. 
Prince,  Bloomington  ;  Fourteenth,  Mrs.  C.  B.  Bostwick,  Mattoon  ;  Sixteenth,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Seymour, 
Centralia;  Nineteenth,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Oberly,  Cairo. 


Mrs.  Jane   Graham  Jones.  585 

dealt  an  effective  blow  in  her  novel,  entitled  "  Rebecca ;  or,  A  Woman's 
Secret."  Jane  Grey  Swisshelm,  with  trenchant  pen,  wrote  earnest  stric- 
tures against  the  shams  of  society.  Elizabeth  Holt  Babbitt  wrote  earnestly 
for  all  reform  movements.  Myra  Bradwell  persistently  held  up  to  the 
view  of  the  legislators  of  the  State  the  injustice  of  the  laws  for  woman. 
Mrs.  Julia  Mills  Dunn  and  Mrs.  Hannah  J.  Coffee  were  doing  quiet  but 
most  effective  work  in  Henry  county.  Miss  Eliza  Bowman  was  con- 
secrating her  young  womanhood  to  the  care  of  the  Foundlings' 
Home.  Mrs.  Wardner,  Mrs.  Candee,  Mrs.  George,  and  other  women 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  were  founding  the  library  at  Cairo, 
while  in  every  village  and  hamlet  clubs  for  study  or  philanthropic 
work  were  being  organized.  Mrs.  Kate  N.  Doggett,  as  president  of  the 
Association  for  the  advancement  of  Women,  was  lending  her  influence  to 
the  formation  of  art  clubs.  And  all  this  in  addition  to  the  vast  army  of 
faithful  teachers,  represented  by  Sarah  B.  Raymond,  Professor  Louisa 
Allen  Gregory  and  Mary  C.  Lamed.  Mrs.  Louise  Rockwood  Wardner, 
president  of  the  Illinois  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  and  the  noble  band 
of  women  associated  with  her,  were  earnestly  at  work  in  the  endeavor  to 
secure  to  the  vagrant  girls  of  the  State  an  industrial  education.  Miss 
Frances  E.  Willard  and  the  dauntless  army  of  temperance  workers  were 
petitioning  for  the  right  to  vote  on  all  questions  pertaining  to  the  liquor 
traffic. 

Meanwhile  many  of  the  members  of  the  Illinois  Social  Science  Associa- 
tion were  beginning  to  realize  that  every  measure  proposed  for  progress- 
ive action  was  thwarted  because  of  woman's  inability  to  crystallize  her 
opinions  into  law.  This  has  been  the  uniform  experience  in  every  depart- 
ment of  reform,  and  sooner  or  later  all  thinking  women  see  plainly  that 
the  direct  influence  secured  by  political  power  gives  weight  and  dignity 
to  their  words  and  wishes.  Mrs.  Jane  Graham  Jones,  ex-president  of  the 
State  Association,  continued  her  effective  work  in  Europe,  and,  as  a  dele- 
gate from  the  National  Association,  prepared  the  following  address  of 
welcome  to  the  International  Congress,  convened  in  Paris,  July  5,  1878: 

Friends,  compatriots,  and  confreres  of  the  International  Congress  assembled  to  dis- 
cuss the  rights  of  women :  Allow  me  to  extend  to  you  the  congratulations  of  the 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  of  America,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  repre- 
sent. I  congratulate  you  upon  this  important,  this  sublime  moment,  this  auspicious 
place  for  the  meeting  of  a  woman's  congress.  Paris,  gorgeous  under  the  grand  mon- 
arch who  surrounded  his  royal  person  with  a  splendid  galaxy  of  beauty,  genius,  and 
chivalry;  attractive  and  influential  under  the  great  emperor  whose  meteoric  genius 
held  spell-bound  the  wondering  gaze  of  a  world  ;  to-day,  with  neither  king  nor  court, 
nor  man  of  destiny,  is  grander,  more  gorgeous,  more  beautiful  and  more  influential 
than  ever  before.  To-day  this  is  the  shrine  toward  which  the  pilgrims  from  every  land 
turn  their  impatient  steps. 

Each  balmy  breeze  comes  to  us  heavily  laden  with  the  dialects  of  all  nations.  Not 
only  are  the  different  parts  represented  in  their  economic  and  industrial  products,  but 
each  thought,  idea,  motive  and  need  is  brought  before  the  world  in  the  various  con- 
gresses assembled  during  this  great  union  festival  of  liberty,  peace  and  labor.  Litera- 
ture, science,  religion,  education,  philosophy,  and  labor,  each  has  had  its  eloquent 
advocates.  At  this  time,  when  the  great  ones  of  the  earth  are  met  together  in  earnest 
thought  and  honest  discussion,  when  each  mind  and  conscience  is  attuned  to  the  high- 
est motive,  how  appropriate  that  woman,  whose  labor,  wealth  and  brain  have  cemented 


586  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  stones  in  every  monument  that  man  has  reared  to  himself; -that  woman,  the  op- 
pressed, woman,  the  hater  of  wars,  the  faithful,  quiet  drudge  of  the  centuries,  watch- 
ing while  others  slept,  working  while  others  plundered  and  murdered;  woman,  who 
has  died  in  prison  and  on  the  scaffold  for  liberty,  should  here  and  now  have  her 
audience  and  her  advocates. 

As  a  child  of  America  I  love  and  venerate  France.  We  cannot  forget  LaFayette, 
although  a  hundred  years  have  passed  since  generous  France  sent  him  to  our  aid  in  our 
great  struggle  for  freedom.  But  as  a  woman  I  glory  in  her.  [Great  and  deafening 
applause.]  All  true  women  love  and  honor  France.  [At  this  point  the  reader  was  in- 
terrupted with  wild  cries  of  "Bravo!  bravo!"  "Live  America!"  "True,  true."] 
France,  in  whose  prolific  soil  great  and  progressive  ideas  generate  and  take  root,  in 
spite  of  king,  emperor,  priest  or  tyrant;  France,  the  protectress  of  science,  art,  and 
philosophy;  France,  the  home  of  the  scholar  and  thinker;  France,  the  asylum  which 
generously  received  the  women  who  came  hither  seeking  those  intellectual  advantages 
and  privileges  cruelly  denied  them  at  home;  France,  that  compelled  republican 
America  and  civilized  England  to  open  their  educational  institutions  to  women; 
France,  the  birth-place  of  a  host  of  women  whose  splendid  genius,  devoted  lives,  and 
heroic  deaths  have  encouraged  and  inspired  women  of  other  lands  in  their  struggles  to 
strike  off  the  ignominious  shackles  which  the  ages  have  riveted  upon  them  !  [Loud  ap- 
plause.] How  apropos  it  is,  then,  that  the  women  from  all  nations  meet  on  the  free 
soil  of  France  to  give  to  the  world  their  declaration  of  rights.  To-day  we  clasp  hands 
and  pledge  hearts  to  the  sacred  cause  of  woman's  emancipation.  To-day  we  meet  to 
thank  France  for  the  grand  women  whose  lofty  utterances  come  echoing  and  reechoing 
to  us  through  the  corridors  of  time,  and  to  thank  her  for  her  great  men  who  have  been 
the  beacon  lights  to  guide  the  world  to  higher  civilization  and  greater  hatred  of  oppres- 
sion. In  the  name  of  my  great  countrywomen,  inaugurators  and  leaders  of  the 
woman's  rights  movement  in  America,  the  eloquent  and  ardent  advocates  of  liberty  for 
men  and  women  alike,  both  black  and  white;  in  the  name  of  the  officers  of  the  National 
Woman  Suffrage  Association;  in  the  name  of  those  grand  women,  Lucretia  Mott, 
Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  and  Susan  B.  Anthony,  I  salute  the  women  of  France  and  of 
the  world  assembled  in  this  congress,  and  bid  them  god-speed.  When  we  call  to 
mind  what  has  been  accomplished  by  noble  women  everywhere,  we  are  encouraged 
to  renewed  effort. 

In  America  we  have  accomplished  wonders,  and  yet  we  demand  more  ;  and  shall  con- 
tinue to  demand  until  we  are  equal  in  the  state,  in  the  church,  and  in  the  home.  Twenty 
years  ago  woman  entered  our  courts  of  law  only  as  a  criminal  to  be  tried;  now  she  enters 
as  an  advocate  to  plead  the  cause  of  justice,  and  invoke  the  spirit  of  mercy. 
Twenty  years  ago  woman  entered  the  sick  room  only  as  the  poorly-paid  nurse;  now 
she  is  the  trusted  medical  adviser,  friend  and  counsellor.  To-day  she  is  in  many  re- 
spects the  peer  of  man,  to-morrow  she  will  be  in  all  respects  his  acknowledged  equal. 
[Great  and  continued  applause.] 

Who  can  measure  the  influence  this  congress  may  have  on  woman's  advancement 
toward  that  perfect  equality  which  justice  and  humanity  demand.  Women  of  France 
and  of  the  world,  be  of  good  cheer,  and  continue  to  agitate  for  the  right,  for  in  the 
elevation  of  woman  lies  the  progress  of  the  world.  [Deafening  applause,  and  cries  of 
hear,  hear.] 

A  letter  to  the  Chicago  Times  commenting  upon  the  above  address  says  : 

Mrs.  Jones  being  indisposed,  was  replaced  momentarily  by  her  daughter,  a  beautiful 
young  lady  of  about  sixteen  summers,  who  read  the  opening  address  of  her  mother; 
her  rich  voice  pronouncing  with  such  distinctness  and  beauty,  the  earnest  words, 
translated  into  French,  won  all  hearts,  and  gave  to  the  opening  of  the  congress  such 
a  prestige  as  it  would  otherwise  never  have  had.  After  its  close,  Miss  Jones  regained 
her  seat  amidst  the  hearty  congratulations  of  the  throng  assembled  in  that  great  hall, 
and  I  was  proud  of  our  little  American.  Her  beauty  and  courage,  coupled  with  her 
extreme  youth,  were  the  principal  topics  discussed  during  the  day  by  outsiders.  I  was 


Scene  in  the  State-Hoiise.  587 

thankful  that  our  nation  was  so  well  represented  at  the  very  first  meeting,  and  the 
Parisian  journals  were  all  loud  in  their  praise  of  Mrs.  Jones'  welcoming  address,  as 
well  as  the  charming  apparition  of  her  young  and  accomplished  daughter. 

As  indicating  the  numerous  lines  along  which  woman's  aroused  energies 
have  found  expression,  we  would  call  attention  to  the  Art  Union  of  cen- 
tral Illinois.  It  is  composed  of  nine  societies,  "The  Historical,"  and 
"The  Palladium,"  of  Bloomington  ;  the  art  class  at  Decatur;  "Art  So- 
ciety," of  Lincoln  ;  "Art  Association, "of  Jacksonville  ;  "Art  Society,"  of 
Peoria;  "Art  Society,"  of  Springfield,  and  "Art  Club,"  of  Champagne. 
Mrs.  Lavilla  Wyatt  Latham,  wife  of  Col.  Robert  G.  Latham,  of  Lincoln, 
was  the  originator  of  the  Art  Union.  Their  spacious  home,  built  with 
large  piazzas  in  true  southern  style,  is  a  museum  of  curiosities.  Its  library, 
cabinet,  pictures,  and  statuary,  make  it  a  most  attractive  harbor  of  rest  to 
the  wandering  band  of  lecturers,  especially  as  the  cultivated  host  and 
hostess  are  in  warm  sympathy  with  all  reform  movements.  Mr.  Latham 
was  a  warm  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  entertained  him  many  times 
under  his  roof. 

The  Woman 's Journal of  March  24,  1877,  said: 

Seventy  women  of  Illinois,  appointed  by  the  Woman's  State  Temperance  Union, 
went  to  the  legislature,  bearing  a  petition  signed  by  7,000  persons,  asking  that  no 
licenses  to  sell  liquor  be  granted,  which  are  not  asked  for  by  a  majority  of  the  citizens 
of  the  place. 

Mr.  SHERMAN  moved  a  suspension  of  the  rules  to  admit  of  the  presentation  of  the 
petition. 

Mr.  MERRITT  objected,  but,  by  a  decided  vote,  the  rules  were  suspended,  and  the 
petition  was  received  and  read. 

Mr.  SHERMAN  moved  that  Mrs.  Prof.  S.  M.  D.  Fry  of  Wesleyan  University  of 
Bloomington,  be  invited  to  address  the  House  upon  the  subject  of  the  petition. 

Mr.  HERRINGTON  objected  to  the  obtrusion  of  such  trifling  matter  upon  the  House, 
which  had  business  to  do.  It  was  well  enough  to  let  the  petition  be  received,  but  he 
wanted  nobody  to  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  business  of  the  House.  Referring 
to  some  forty  or  fifty  ladies  of  the  Union  who  had  been  admitted  to  the  floor  of  the 
House,  he  wanted  to  know  by  what  authority  persons  not  entitled  to  the  privilege  of 
the  floor  had  been  admitted.  He  insisted  on  his  prerogative  as  a  member,  and  askad 
that  the  floor  and  lobbies  be  cleared  of  all  persons  not  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  the 
House. 

According  to  the  Chicago  Tribune,  this  speech  of  Herrington  created  a  slight  sen- 
sation, among  the  ladies  especially,  but  Mr.  Herrington's  demand  was  ignored,  and  a 
recess  of  thirty  minutes  was  taken  to  allow  Mrs.  Fry  to  address  the  House  in  support 
of  the  petition,  which  she  did  in  a  speech  put  in  very  telling  phrases.  At  its  conclu- 
sion, some  of  the  members  opposed  to  temperance  legislation,  signalized  their  ill- 
breeding,  to  say  the  least,  by  derisive  yells  for  Mr.  Herrington  and  others  to  answer 
Mrs.  Fry.  Presently  the  hall  was  resonant  with  yells  and  cheers,  converting  it  into  a 
a  very  babel,  and  the  hubbub  was  kept  up  until,  at  the  expiration  of  the  half-hour 
recess,  Speaker  Shaw  called  "  order'"  and  the  House  immediately  adjourned. 

If  any  body  of  men  bearing  a  petition  of  7,000  voting  men,  had  gone  to  the  same 
let^lature,  and  by  courtesy  been  admitted  to  speak  for  their  petition,  no  member 
would  have  dared  to  insult  them.  It  is  because  they  had  no  recognized  political  rights 
that  these  women  were  insulted.  Claim  your  right,  ladies,  to  be  equal  members  of 
the  legislature,  then  you  can  enact  temperance  laws,  and  have  an  unquestioned  right 
"  to  the  privilege  of  the  floor." 

In  1879,  under  the  lead  of  their  president,  Frances  E.  Willard,  the 
women  of  Illinois  rolled  up  a  mammoth  petition  of  180,000,  asking  the 


588  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

right  to  vote  on  the  question  of  license.  This  prayer,  like  that  of  the 
7,000,  met  the  fate  of  all  attempts  of  disfranchised  classes  to  influence 
legislation.  Following  this  repulse,  in  some  ten  or  fifteen  of  the  smaller 
cities  of  the  State,  boards  of  common  council  were  prevailed  upon  to 
pass  ordinances  giving  the  women  the  right  to  vote  on  the  question. 
Without  an  exception,  the  result  was  overwhelming  majorities  for  "  No 
License."  In  the  cities  where  officers  were  elected  at  the  same  time, 
almost  without  exception,  the  majority  of  them  were  in  favor  of  license, 
while  in  those  in  which  the  old  board  of  officers  held  over,  no  licenses 
were  granted,  until  the  new  board  elected  only  by  the  votes  of  the  men 
of  the  city,  was  installed.  Dr.  Alice  B.  Stockham,  in  her  report  at  the 
Washington  convention  of  1885,  said  : 

After  the  city  ordinance  of  Keithsburg  allowed  women  to  vote,  the  hardest  work 
was  to  convert  the  women  themselves.  Committees  were  appointed  who  visited  from 
house  to  house  to  persuade  women  to  go  to  the  polls  for  the  suppression  of  the  rule  of 
liquor.  On  the  morning  of  election  they  met  in  a  church  for  conference  and  prayer. 
At  10  o'clock  forty  brave  women  marched  to  the  polls  and  cast  their  first  ballot  for 
home  protection.  Carriages  were  running  to  and  fro  all  day  to  bring  the  invalid  and 
the  aged.  For  once  they  were  induced  to  leave  the  making  of  ruffles  and  crazy  quilts, 
to  give  their  silent  voice  for  the  suppression  of  vice.  Three  weeks  later  not  a  woman 
could  be  found  in  the  town  opposed  to  suffrage,  and  for  one  year  not  a  glass  of  liquor 
could  be  bought  in  Keithsburg. 

Under  the  act  of  1872,  the  women  of  Illinois  thought  their  right  to  pur- 
sue every  avocation,  except  the  military,  secure.  But  in  1880,  a  judicial 
decision  proved  the  contrary.  We  quote  from  the  National  Citizen  : 

In  June,  1879,  the  Circuit  Court  of  Union  County,  Judge  John  Dougherty  presiding, 
appointed  Helen  A.  Schuchardt,  resident  of  the  county,  to  the  office  of  Master  in 
Chancery.  Mrs.  Schuchardt  gave  bond  with  security  approved  by  the  court,  taking 
and  subscribing  the  required  oath  of  office.  Since  that  day,  she  has  been  the  acting 
Master  of  Chancery  of  that  county,  taking  proofs,  making  judicial  rules,  and  perform- 
ing the  other  various  duties  incident  to  such  office.  At  the  last  term  of  the  court  the 
State  attorney,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Frank  Hall,  relator,  filed  an  information  in  the 
nature  of  a  quo  warranto  charging  that  Mrs.  Schuchardt  had  usurped  and  was  unlaw- 
fully holding  and- exercising  the  office.  Mrs.  Schuchardt  filed  pleas  setting  forth  the 
order  of  the  court  appointing  her,  her  bonds  with  the  order  of  approval,  and  the  oath 
of  office  filed  by  her.  To  these  pleas  a  general  demurrer  was  interposed  and  argued. 

The  questions  presented  by  the  demurrer  were:  First — Is  the  defendant  eligible  to 
this  office,  she  being  neither  a  practicing  nor  a  learned  lawyer?  Second — Is  the  de- 
fendant eligible  to  this  office,  she  being  a  female?  The  court  dismissed  the  first  ques- 
tion on  the  ground  that  the  statute  does  not  require  admission  to  the  bar  as  a  qualifica- 
tion. Of  the  eleven  Masters  in  Chancery  in  that  Judicial  Circuit,  it  was  shown  that 
only  five  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar.  As  to  the  second  objection,  i.  e.,  that  Mrs. 
•Schuchardt  was  a  female  (!)  it  was  decided  that  the  common  law  never  contemplated 
the  admittance  of  a  woman  to  the  office  of  Master  in  Chancery,  and  that  doubtless 
it  was  the  first  instance  in  which  a  woman  had  been  admitted  to  the  office.  It  was  also 
decided  that  the  act  of  March  22,  1872,  did  not  make  women  eligible  to  this  office; 
Master  in  Chancery — for  woman — did  not  mean  "occupation,  profession,  or  employ- 
ment," and  that  "persons  do  not  select  an  office,  but  are  selected  for  the  office." 

Judge  Harker,  in  delivering  this  opinion,  said:  "  It  is  due  to  Mrs.  Schuchardt  to 
say  in  conclusion,  that  while  I  am  constrained  to  sustain  this  demurrer  and  hold  that 
under  the  law  she  cannot  retain  this  office,  there  is  not  one  of  the  Masters  in  Chan- 
cery in  the  four  counties  where  I  preside,  who  has  been  more  faithful  or  attentive  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties,  and  none  who  has  exhibited  higher  qualifications  to  dis- 


Moline  Association.  589 

charge  well  those  duties.     And  it  is  my  sincere  hope  that  at  its  next  session  the  legis- 
lature will  make  this  office  accessible  to  females." 

One  of  the  most  influential  local  associations  has  been  that  of  Chicago, 
or  Cook  county.*  From  1870  to  1876  Mrs.  Jane  Graham  Jones  was  its 
president,  as  well  as  the  leading  spirit  in  the  State  Society.t  She  was  the 
one  to  plan  and  execute  the  attacks  upon  the  board  of  education,  the  com- 
mon council,  and  the  legislature,  holding  many  meetings  in  Chicago, 
and  at  Springfield,  the  seat  of  government.  Another  flourishing  asso- 
ciation is  that  of  Moline.  We  give  the  following  from  its  secretary : 

In  May,  1877,  Mrs.  Eunice  G.  Sayles,  and  Mrs.  Julia  Mills  Dunn,  secured  Mrs. 
Stanton  to  give  a  lecture  on  woman  suffrage  in  Moline,  and  at  a  reception  given  to 
her  by  Mrs.  Sayles,  a  society  with  22  members  was  organized,  which  has  held 
meetings  regularly  since  that  time,  with  the  reading  of  papers  on  topics  previously  ar- 
ranged by  the  president.  It  is  a  matter  of  pride  that  not  a  failure  has  .ever  occurred, 
each  member  always  cheerfully  performing  the  duty  assigned  her.  An  evening  re- 
ception is  held  annually  to  celebrate  the  organization  of  the  society,  to  which  two 
hundred  or  more  guests  are  invited,  each  member  being  entitled  to  bring  several 
outside  of  her  own  family.  The  meetings  have  been  valuable,  not  only  in  promoting 
friendly  relations  between  the  members,  but  also  in  the  mental  stimulus  thev  have  af- 
forded. Much  of  the  success  of  this  society  is  due  to  the  literary  culture  and  earnest- 
ness of  Mrs.  Anne  M.  J.  Dow,  who  was  our  president  for  three  years.  We  have  sus- 
tained a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Mrs.  Sarah  D.  Nourse,  who  for  thirty-five  years  was 
an  earnest  friend  of  all  reforms. 

Soon  after  its  organization,  our  society  became  auxiliary  to  the  National  Associa- 
tion. We  have  circulated  petitions  and  forwarded  them  to  Springfield  and  Washing- 
ton, where  they  have  met  the  fate  common  to  all  prayers  of  the  disfranchised;  we  have 
circulated  tracts,  placed  on  file  in  the  public  reading  room  all  the  suffrage  journals, 
and  secured  the  best  lecturers  on  the  question.  \Ve  are  organizing  an  afternoon  read- 
ing society,  to  have  read  aloud  "The  History  of  Woman  Suffrage,"  and  shall  soon 
place  it  on  the  shelves  of  the  public  library  of  the  village.  While  we  cannot  point  to 
any  wonderful  revolution  in  public  sentiment  because  of  our  work,  we  are  neverthe- 
less full  of  courage,  and  under  the  leadership  of  our  State  president,  Elizabeth  Boyn- 
ton  Harbert,  we  shall  go  forward  in  faith  and  good  works,  hoping  for  the  end  of 
woman's  political  slavery.}: 

In  concluding  this  meager  record  of  the  methods  of  earnest  men  and 
women  of  Illinois  in  their  brave  work  for  liberty,  we  are  painfully  con- 

*  President.  Mrs  Fernando  Jones  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Mrs.  Robert  ColJyer,  Mrs.  Richard  Somers, 
Rev.  C.  D.  Helmer  Corresponding-Secretary,  Mrs.  C.  B.  Waite ;  Recording-Secretary,  Mrs.  S.  H. 
Pierce;  Treasurer  Mrs.  J.  W.  Loomis ;  Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  Rebecca  Mott,  Mrs.  H.  W. 
Fuller,  Mrs.  Dr.  C  D.  R.  Levanway,  Fernando  Jones,  Miss  Thayer,  Rev.  J.  M.  Reid,  Mrs.  Jno. 
Jones,  Mrs.  Wm.  Coker,  Dr.  S.  C.  Blake. 

t  The  officers  of  the  Illinois  State  Association  are  now,  1885  ;  President,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Boynton 
Harbert,  Evanston  ;  Vice-President-at-large,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Holmes,  Galva  ;  Secretary,  Rev.  Florence 
Kollock,  Englewood  ;  Treasurer,  Dr.  L.  C.  Bedell,  354  N.  La  Salle  street,  Chicago ;  ExecutiT't 
Committee,  Hon.  M.  B.  Castle,  Sandwich:  Mrs.  E.  J.  Loomis,  2,939  Wabash  avenue,  Chicago;  Mrs. 
Clara  L.  Peters,  Watseka ;  Mrs.  L.  R.  Wardner,  Anna  ;  Mrs.  Julia  Mills  Dunn,  Moline ;  Mrs.  Helen 
E.  Starrett,  Lake  Side  Building,  Chicago  ;  Capt.  W.  S.  Harbert,  Evanston  ;  Rev.  C.  C.  Harrah,  Galva. 

\  From  time  to  time  we  have  had  for  president,  Mrs.  Eunice  G.  Sayles,  Mrs.  Anna  M.  J.  Dow,  Mrs. 
Flora  N.  Candee,  Mrs.  Julia  Mills  Dunn,  Mrs.  Nettie  H.  Wheelock  ;  for  secretaries,  Mrs.  C.  W. 
Heald,  Mrs.  Lucy  Anderson,  Mrs.  Kate  Anderson  ;  among  those  who  have  been  active  members  of 
the  society  from  its  formation  are,  Harriet  B.  G.  Lester,  Ida  Peyton,  L.  F.  M'Clennan,  Catharine  H. 
Calkins,  Dr.  Jane  H.  Miller,  Margaret  Osborne,  Harriet  M.  Gillette,  Laoti  Gates,  Mary  F.  Barnes, 
Mary  Wright,  M.  M.  Hubbard,  Emma  Jones,  Mary  A.  Stewart,  Kate  S.  Holt,  Mary  A.  Stephens,  Ab- 
bie  A.  Gould,  Mrs.  M'Cord,  Lydia  Wheelock,  Mrs.  E.  P.  Reynolds,  J.  A.  Tallman,  Ann  Eliza  Reator, 
Dr.  S.  E.  Bailey,  Dr.  E.  A.  Taylor,  Lucy  Ainsworth,  Jerome  B.  Wheelock,  M.  A.  Young,  Mary 
Knowles,  M.  E.  Abbot,  Lois  Forward,  Mrs.  Young. 


590  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

scious  of  a  vast  aggregate  of  personal  toil  and  self  sacrifice  which  can 
never  be  reported.  We  write  of  petitions  presented  to  State  and  National 
legislative  assemblies,  but  it  is  impossible  to  record  the  personal  sacri- 
fice and  moral  heroism  of  the  women  who  went  from  house  to  house 
in  the  cities  and  villages,  or  traveled  long  distances  across  the  broad 
prairies  to  secure  the  signatures.  Only  those  who  have  carried  a 
petition  from  door  to  door  can  know  the  fatigue  and  humiliation  of  spirit 
it  involves.  Though  these  earnest  women  ask  only  the  influence  of  the 
names  of  persons  to  help  on  our  reform,  they  are  often  treated  with  less 
courtesy  than  the  dreaded  book-agent  and  peddler. 

WATSEKA,  111. 

I  send  you  petitions,  the  one  circulated  by  me  has  270  names — the  other  by  Clara 
L.  Peters,  139.*  We  are  interested  heart  and  soul  in  the  movement,  and  our  efforts 
here  have  made  many  friends  for  the  cause.  Have  been  an  ardent  worker  since  I  was 
a  child,  and  well  remember  that  grand  hero  of  moral  reforms,  Samuel  J.  May  of 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  at  a  Woman's  Temperance  Convention  held  in  Rochester  in  1852, 
when  I  was  eight  years  old.  VIOLA  HAWKS  ARCHIBALD.! 

The  following  letter  from  Mary  L.  Davis,  gives  some  idea  of  the  toils  of 
circulating  petitions: 

DAVIS,  Stephenson  Co.,  111.,  May  28,  1877. 

EDITOR  Ballot-Box: — The  question  of  suffrage  for  woman  has  been  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed in  our  society,  and  last  week  I  started  out  with  my  petition.  I  could  work 
but  a  short  time  each  day,  but  I  systematically  canvassed  our  beautiful  little  village, 
taking  it  by  streets,  and  although  I  have  been  over  but  a  small  portion,  I  have  ninety 
signatures.  I  met  with  but  little  opposition,  and  with  kind  wishes  in  abundance; 
with  some  amusing,  some  provoking,  some  pathetic,  and  some  disgusting  phases  of 
human  nature— with  very  agreeable  disappointments,  and  very  disagreeable  ones. 
Very  often  some  person  would  say  to  me,  there  is  no  use  in  calling  at  such  a 
house;  the  man  will  not,  and  the  woman  dare  not,  sign.  I  went  to  such  a  place 
last  week,  was  met  with  all  the  courtesy  one  could  ask.  The  man  looked  over  the 
petition  thoughtfully,  affixed  his  own  name,  and  asked  his  wife  if  she  did  not  wish  to 
do  so,  and  called  in  a  beautiful  sister  who  was  out  playing  ball  with  the  children,  tell- 
ing her  as  it  was  for  the  especial  benefit  of  women,  she  ought  to  sign  it  too.  I  write 
these  things  to  encourage  our  young  girls,  who  will  take  up  the  work.  Take  every 
house,  ask  every  person;  "  No,"  will  not  hurt  or  Jail  you.  Be  prepared  to  meet  every 
argument  that  can  possibly  be  advanced.  The  one  which  I  meet  oftenest,  is  that 
woman  cannot  fight,  and  therefore  she  shall  not  vote;  and  strange  to  relate,  it  is  al- 
most always  advanced  by  a  person  who  was  never  a  soldier,  through  physical  disability, 
cowardice,  or  over  or  under  age. 

The  shortest  "  No,"  without  the  slightest  shadow  of  courtesy,  was  shot  from  the  lips 
of  a  man  who  is  doing  business  on  capital  furnished  by  his  wife,  and  who  lives  in  a 
house  purchased  with  his  wife's  money.  Graceful  return  for  her  devotion,  wasn't  it? 
I  suppose  he  prefers  to  keep  her  in  her  present  state  of  serfdom,  as,  if  she  should  ever 

*  Mrs.  Clara  Lyon  Peters  of  Watseka,  furnished  the  largest  petition  ever  sent  from  Illinois;  W.  B. 
Wright  of  Greenview,  Mrs.  S.  Eliza  Lyon  of  Toulon,  Mrs.  Hannah  J.  Coffee  of  Orion,  Mrs.  Eva 
Edwards  of  Plymouth,  Mrs.  C.  E.  Lamed  of  Champaign,  Mrs.  Barbara  M.  Prince  of  Bloomington, 
Mrs.  F.  B.  Rowe  of  Freedom,  Mrs.  Jane  Barnett,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Blacfan,  and  Mrs.  E.  T.  Lippincott  of 
Orion,  Mrs.  Julia  Dunn  of  Moline,  Mrs.  Clara  P.  Bourland  of  Peoria,  Sybilla  Leek  Browne  of  Odell, 
Mrs.  Jacob  Martin,  Cairo,  Mary  E.  Higbee,  Kirkland  Grove,  Mary  Thompson,  LaSalle,  Emily  Z.  Hall 
of  Savoy,  Elizabeth  J.  Loomis  of  Chicago,  have  all  done  worthy  work  in  circulating  petitions,  both  to 
congress  and  the  State  legislature. 

t  Mrs.  Archibald  is  the  daughter  of  Betsey  Hawks,  of  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.  I  well  remember  the 
brave-hearted  mother  in  the  early  days  of  the  movement,  when  in  1852  I  made  my  first  stammering 
speech  in  the  town-hall  at  Batavia.  She  arranged  the  meeting,  and  entertained  the  speakers,  and  was 
indeed  "  the  cause  "  in  that  conservative  village. — [S.  B.  A. 


Letter  from  A.  J.   Graver.  591 

find  out  that  she  was  of  any  importance  in  the  world,  except  as  his  housekeeper,  cook, 
washerwoman,  and  waiter-in-general,  she  might  possibly  inquire  into  the  stewardship 
of  her  lord  and  master.  And  it  seemed  to  me  if  that  ever  came  to  pass,  a  man  who 
could  say"  no"  so  cavelierly,  •without  even  a  "  thank  you,  ma'am,  "or,  "you're  quite  wel- 
come," both  could  and  would  manage  to  make  surroundings  rather  disagreeeble  to  the 
party  of  the  second  part.  So  far  no  person  who  has  thought  much,  read  much,  or 
suffered  much,  has  refused  to  sign,  and  in  the  few  hours  which  I  have  devoted  to  the 
work,  three  grandmothers  nearly  ninety  years  of  age,  wished  to  have  their  names  re- 
corded on  the  right  side  of  the  question,  and  in  two  of  those  instances  the  grandmother, 
daughter,  and  grandfather  affixed  their  signatures,  one  after  another.* 

We  have  been  permitted  to  copy  the  following  private  letter  from  A.  J. 
Grover  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  who  is  now  at  her  home  in  Ten- 
afly,  N.  J.,  busily  at  work  with  Miss  Anthony  and  Mrs.  Gage  on  the  sec- 
ond volume  of  the  "  History  of  Woman  Suffrage."  The  first  volume 
should  be  on  the  center-table  of  every  family  in  the  land  as  a  complete 
text-book  on  the  woman  suffrage  question,  which  is  to  be  one  of  the  great 
issues,  social  and  political,  in  the  coming  years.  These  three  women 
have  grown  old  and  won  their  crowns  of  white  hair  in  the  cause  of  not 
only  their  sex,  but  of  mankind  : 

CHICAGO,  November  29,  1881. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND  :  You  represent  a  movement  of  more  importance  to  mankind 
than  any  that  ever  before  claimed  attention  in  the  whole  history  of  the  race,  viz. :  the 
freedom  of  one-half  of  it.  You  have  enforced  this  claim  by  half  a  century  of  heroic 
discussion — of  persistent,  unanswerable  logic  and  appeal  against  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  all  nations,  against  all  governments,  codes  and  creeds.  You  proclaimed  fifty 
years  ago  the  novel  doctrine  that  woman  by  nature  is,  and  by  law  and  usage  should  be, 
the  absolute  equal  of  man.  A  claim  so  self-evident  should  only  have  to  be  stated  to 
be  recognized  by  all  civilized  nations;  and  yet  to  this  hour  the  highest  civilization, 
equally  with  the  lowest,  is  built  on  the  slavery  of  woman.  In  the  darkest  corners  of 
the  earth  and  on  the  sunlit  heights  of  civilization,  the  mothers  of  the  race  are  by  law, 
religion  and  custom  doomed  to  degradation.  And  if  the  seal  of  their  bondage  is  never 
to  be  broken,  they  themselves  as  well  as  the  lords  and  masters  they  serve,  are  equally 
unconscious  of  the  servitude.  No  religion,  no  civil  government,  has  ever  taught  or 
recognized  any  other  condition  for  woman  than  that  of  subjection.  Against  the  accu- 
mulated precedents  of  all  the  ages,  you  and  your  noble  coadjutors  have  rebelled 
in  the  face  of  derision  for  fifty  long,  weary  years.  Was  ever  such  sublime 
womanly  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  before  known  ?  Was  ever  such  worth  of 
culture,  such  wealth  of  womanhood,  laid  on  the  altar  of  country  and  humanity? 
And  all  this  comparatively  unrecognized  and  unrewarded.  Where  is  the  boasted 
chivalry  of  the  English-speaking  nations?  It  is  a  virtue  we  boast  of,  but  do  not  pos- 
it never,  in  fact,  had  any  real  existence  based  on  genuine  respect  for  woman. 
It  is  a  bitter  sarcasm  in  the  mouth  of  an  American  male  citizen.  A  few  men  like 
Tln-ndore  Parker,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips, 
•  .rrrit  Smith,  Samuel  J.  May  and  Parker  Pillsbury  have  measurably  redeemed  this 
nation,  recognizing  your  claim  for  woman  as  self-evidently  just  and  righteous,  andcobp- 
c  rat  ing  with  you  in  maintaining  it.  There  are  only  a  score  or  two  of  such  men  in  a 
generation  with  sufficient  chivalry  or  perception  of  justice  to  publicly  claim  for  women 
the  rights  they  themselves  possess. 


*  When  at  Durand.  near  Davis,  in  1877,  Mrs.  Davis  and  her  husband  drove  over,  and  at  the  close  of 
my  In.turc,  she  gave  me  her  maiden  name  and  said,  "  Do  you  not  remember  me  ?  I  sat  by  your  side 
and  fairly  pushed  you  up  in  that  teachers'  convention  at  Rochester,  in  1853,  when  you  made  that  first 
speech  you  told  about ;  and  I  have  been  most  earnestly  hoping  and  working  for  the  enfranchisement  of 
women  ever  since." — [S.  B.  A. 


592  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Science  has  demonstrated  that  men  to  be  manly  must  be  well  born,  must  have  noble 
mothers.  How  can  a  mother  give  birth  to  a  noble  soul  while  herself  a  slave?  How 
can  she  impart  a  free  spirit  when  her  own  is  servile  ?  A  stream  cannot  rise  higher 
than  its  fountain. 

We  have  thought  to  bring  about  a  high  order  of  civilization  by  freeing  our  sons, 
while  chaining  our  daughters,  by  sending  sons  to  college  and  daughters  to  menial  ser- 
vice for  a  mere  pittance  as  wages,  or  selling  them  in  marriage  to  the  highest  bidder — 
by  robbing  them  on  the  very  threshold  of  life  of  all  noble  ambition.  By  the  degrada- 
tion of  our  women  we  take  from  the  inherited  qualities  of  the  race  as  much  as  is  added 
by  culture.  We  take  from  the  metal  before  casting  as  much  as  we  restore  by  polish 
afterwards,  and  thus  we  curse  and  stultify  both  sexes. 

The  law  and  religion  of  man  can  be  no  better  than  man  himself.  If  religion,  law, 
justice  and  social  order  are  to  improve,  man  must  first  be  improved.  Religion  and 
law  are  effects,  not  causes.  They  are  fruits,  not  the  tree — the  products  of  the  human 
mind.  If  these  are  to  be  improved,  mankind  must  first  be  improved.  This  will  be 
impossible  until  freedom  and  culture  shall  become  the  inalienable  rights  of  woman. 
It  would  be  a  thousand  times  better,  if  either  must  be  a  slave  to  the  other,  that  man 
should  be  a  slave  to  woman.  The  History  of  Woman  Suffrage,  on  which  you  are  en- 
gaged, if  the  second  volume  shall  prove  equal  to  the  first,  will  be  the  richest  legacy 
this  age  will  bequeath  to  the  future.  It  is  a  revelation  from  God,  in  which,  if  men 
believe,  they  shall  be  saved.  Religion  itself,  without  this  great  salvation,  will  con- 
tinue to  remain  little  else  than  "  a  wretched  record  of  inspired  crime"  against  woman. 
Woman  must  be  free  !  Protection  as  an  underling  from  man,  savage  or  civilized,  she 
in  reality  never  had  and  never  will  have.  Protection  she  does  not  want.  What  she 
needs  is  equal  rights,  when  she  can  protect  herself — rights  of  person,  rights  of  labor, 
rights  of  property,  rights  of  culture,  rights  of  leisure,  rights  to  participate  in  the  making 
and  administering  of  the  laws.  Give  her  equality  in  exchange  for  protection ;  give  her 
her  earnings  in  exchange  for  support;  give  her  justice  in  exchange  for  charity.  Let 
man  trust  woman  as  woman  trusts  man,  with  entire  liberty  of  action,  and  she  will 
show  the  world  that  liberty  is  her  highest  good. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  confess  that  I  read  your  first  volume  with  a  feeling  of  inex- 
pressible shame  and  mortification  for  my  sex.  Yours  faithfully, 

A.  J.  GROVER. 

Mrs.  Boynton  Harbert,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this 
chapter,  has  from  girlhood  been  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of 
the  rights  of  women.  Growing  up  in  Crawfordsville,  Indiana, 
under  the  very  shadow  of  a  collegiate  institution  into  which  girls 
were  not  permitted  to  enter,  she  early  learned  the  humiliation  of 
sex.  After  vain  attempts  to  slip  the  bolts  riveted  with  precedent 
and  prejudice  that  barred  the  daughters  of  the  State  outside,  she 
tried  with  pen  and  voice  to  rouse  those  whose  stronger  hands 
could  open  wide  the  doors  to  the  justice  of  her  appeals.  Her 
youthful  peans  to  liberty  in  prose  and  verse  early  found  their 
way  into  our  Eastern  journals,  and  later  in  arguments  before 
conventions  and  legislative  assemblies  in  Illinois,  Iowa  and  other 
Western  States.  As  editor  for  seven  years  of  the  "  Woman's 
Kingdom  "  in  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean — one  of  the  most  pop- 
ular journals  in  the  nation — she  has  exerted  a  widespread  in- 
fluence over  the  lives  of  women,  bringing  new  hope  and  am- 


Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert.  593 

bition  into  many  prairie  homes.  As  editor-in-chief  of  the  New 
Era,  in  which  she  is  free  to  utter  her  deepest  convictions;  as 
wife  and  mother,  with  life's  multiplied  experiences,  a  wider 
outlook  now  opens  before  her,  with  added  wisdom  for  the  re- 
sponsibilities involved  in  public  life.  In  all  her  endeavors  she 
has  been  nobly  sustained  by  her  husband,  Mr.  William  Har- 
bert, a  successful  lawyer,  many  years  in  practice  in  Chicago, 
whose  clear  judgment  and  generous  sympathies  have  made  his 
services  invaluable  in  the  reform  movements  of  the  day. 
38 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 
MISSOURI. 

Missouri  the  First  State  to  Open  Colleges  of  Law  and  Medicine  to  Woman — Lib- 
eral Legislation — Eight  Causes  for  Divorce — Harriet  Hosmer — Wayman  Crow — 
Works  of  Art — Women  in  the  War — Adeline  Couzins — Virginia  L.  Minor — Peti- 
tions— Woman  Suffrage  Association,  May  8,  1867 — First  Woman  Suffrage  Conven- 
tion, Oct.  6,  1869 — Able  Resolutions  by  Francis  Minor — Action  Asked  for  in  the 
Methodist  Church — Constitutional  Convention — Mrs.  Hazard's  Report — National 
Suffrage  Association,  1879 — Virginia  L.  Minor  Before  the  Committee  on  Constitu- 
tional Amendments — Mrs.  Minor  Tries  to  Vote — Her  Case  in  the  Supreme  Court 
— Miss  Phoebe  Couzins  Graduated  from  the  Law  School,  1871 — Reception  by  Mem- 
bers of  the  Bar — Speeches — Dr.  Walker — Judge  Krum — Hon.  Albert  Todd — Ex- 
Governor  E.  O.  Stanard — Ex-Senator  Henderson — Judge  Reber — George  M. 
Stewart — Mrs.  Minor — Miss  Couzins— Mrs.  Annie  R.  Irvine — "  Oregon  Woman's 
Union." 

IT  has  often  been  a  subject  for  speculation  why  it  was  that  a 
slave  State  like  Missouri  should  have  been  the  first  to  open  her 
medical  and  law  schools  to  women,  and  why  the  suffrage  move- 
ment from  the  beginning  should  there  have  enlisted  so  large  a 
number  of  men*  and  women  of  wealth  and  position,  who 
promptly  took  an  active  interest  in  the  inauguration  of  the 
work.  A  little  research  into  history  shows  that  there  must  have 
been  some  liberal  statesmen,  some  men  endowed  with  wisdom 
and  a  sense  of  justice,  who  influenced  the  early  legislation  in  Mis- 
souri. 

By  the  constitution,  imprisonment  for  debt  is  forbidden,  except 
for  fines  and  penalties  imposed  for  violation  of  law.  A  home- 
stead not  exceeding  $3,000  in  value  in  cities  of  40,000  inhabitants 
"or  more,  and  not  exceeding  $1,500  in  smaller  cities  and  in  the 
country,  is  exempt  from  levy  on  execution.  The  real  estate  of  a 
married  woman  is  not  liable  for  the  debts  of  her  husband.  There 


*  Among  them  were  Isaac  H.  Sturgeon,  Francis  Minor,  James  E.  Ycatman,  Judge  John  M.  Krum. 
Judge  Arnold  Krekel,  Hon.  Thomas  Noel,  Ernest  Decker,  Dr.  G.  A.  Walker,  John  E.  Orrick,  J. 
B.  Roberts,  Rev.  G.  W.  Eliot,  Bishop  Bowman,  Albert  Todd.  Rev.  John  Snyder,  John  JJatro,  J.  B. 
Case,  H.  E.  Merille,  Mrs.  Virginia  L.  Minor,  Mrs.  Rebecca  N.  Hazard,  Mrs.  Adeline  Couzins,  Miss 
Phoebe  Couzins,  Mrs.  Beverly  Allen,  Miss  Mary  Beedy,  Miss  Arathusa  Forbes,  Mrs.  Isaac  Sturgeon, 
Mrs.  Hall,  and  many  others. 


Harriet  Hosmer.  595 

are  eight  causes  for  divorce,  so  many  doors  of  escape  for  unfor- 
tunate wives  from  the  bondage  of  a  joyless  union. 

The  memory  of  the  unjust  treatment  of  Miss  Hosmer  will 
always  be  a  reproach  to  Massachusetts.  That  she  enjoyed  the 
privileges  of  education  in  Missouri  denied  her  in  Massachusetts 
was  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  generosity  and  public  spirit 
of  Wayman  Crow.  Speaking  of  the  gifted  sculptor,  a  corre- 
spondent says : 

Harriet  Hosmer  was  born  in  1830.  She  studied  sculpture  in  the  studio 
of  Mr.  Stephenson,  in  Boston,  and  also  with  her  father.  In  1830,  after  be- 
ing denied  admission  to  anatomical  lectures  in  Harvard  and  many  other 
colleges  at  the  East,  she  went  to  St.  Louis,  where,  through  the  spirited 
determination  of  Wayman  Crow,  a  most  liberal  benefactor  of  Washington 
University,  she  was  admitted  to  the  Missouri  Medical  College  through 
the  kindness  and  courtesy  of  Dr.  Joseph  N.  McDowell,  its  founder  and 
head.  Here  for  a  whole  winter  she  pursued  her  studies  under  the  in- 
struction of  Dr.  McDowell  and  Dr.  Louis  T.  Pim,  the  able  demonstrator 
of  anatomy  of  the  college,  who  gave  her  the  benefit  of  their  constant  and 
unremitting  aid;  also  Dr.  B.  Gratz  Moses  and  Dr.  J.  B.Johnson  were 
particularly  kind  in  inviting  her  to  be  present  when  important  cases  were 
before  them.  The  names  of  these  men  are  gratefully  mentioned,  now  that 
the  doors  of  hundreds  of  colleges  have  opened  to  women.  While  in  St. 
Louis  Miss  Hosmer  had  a  constant  companion  and  friend  in  Miss  Jane 
Peck,  a  lady  well  known  in  society  circles,  and  together  they  daily  at- 
tended at  the  college  ;  indeed,  Miss  Peck  informed  the  writer,  that  on  no 
occasion  did  Miss  Hosmer  go  to  the  college  without  her.  So  quietly  was 
this  done,  it  was  not  until  the  month  of  February  that  the  students  be- 
came aware  of  their  attending,  and  when  informed  of  it  the  entire  class, 
numbering  about  one  hundred  and  thirty,  gave  them  a  most  cordial  and 
hearty  endorsement,  and  from  that  time  on  until  the  day  of  graduation 
they  were  treated  by  the  young  gentlemen  with  marked  attention.  The 
students  were  not  aware  of  their  attending  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
course,  because  it  had  been  the  custom  for  the  ladies  to  attend  in  the 
amphitheater  after  the  class  had  left  to  go  to  the  various  hospitals.  On 
one  occasion  while  on  their  way  to  the  college,  a  number  of  the  students 
being  behind  them,  they  heard  the  gentlemen  say  to  some  men  they  met, 
"These  ladies  are  under  our  charge,  and  if  you  offer  them  an  insult  we 
will  shoot  you  down."  They  did  not  hear  the  language  of  the  men,  only 
the  reply  of  the  students.  At  the  close  of  the  session  the  students  gave 
a  ball  and  not  only  were  Miss  Hosmer  and  Miss  Peck  invited,  but  a  car- 
riage was  specially  sent  to  take  them  to  it. 

In  March,  1869,  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  again  visited 
St.  Louis.  In  a  letter  to  The  Revolution  the  former  said  : 

We  went  to  the  Mercantile  Library  to  see  Miss  Hosmer's  works  of 
art,  and  there  read  the  following  letter  to  Wayman  Crow,  who  had  been 
a  generous  friend  to  her  through  all  those  early  days  of  trial  and  disap- 


596  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

pointment.     One  of  the  best  of  her  productions  is  an  admirable  bust  of 
her  noble  benefactor: 

BOSTON,  October  18,  1857. 

DEAR  MR.  CROW  :  Will  you  allow  me  to  convey  through  you  to  the  Mercantile 
Library  Association  "  The  Beatrice  Cenci."  This  statue  is  in  execution  of  a  commis- 
sion I  received  three  years  ago  from  a  friend  who  requested  me  not  only  to  make  a 
piece  of  statuary  for  that  institution,  but  to  present  it  in  my  own  name.  I  have 
finished  the  work,  but  cannot  offer  it  as  my  own  gift — but  of  one  who.  with  a  most 
liberal  hand,  has  largely  ministered  to  the  growth  of  the  arts  and  sciences  in  your 
beautiful  city.  For  your  sake,  and  for  mine,  I  would  have  made  a  better  statue  if  I 
could.  The  will  was  not  wanting,  but  the  power — but  such  as  it  is,  I  rejoice  sincerely 
that  it  is  destined  for  St.  Louis,  a  city  I  love,  not  only  because  it  was  there  I  first  be- 
gan my  studies,  but  because  of  the  many  generous  and  indulgent  friends  who  dwell 
therein — of  whom  I  number  you  most  generous  and  indulgent  of  all,  whose  increasing 
kindness  I  can  only  repay  by  striving  to  become  more  and  more  worthy  of  all  your 
friendship  and  confidence,  and  so  I  am  ever  affectionately  and  gratefully  yours, 

Wayman  Crow,  Esq.  H.  G.  HOSMER. 

The  very  active  part  that  the  women  of  Missouri  had  taken  in 
the  civil  war,  in  the  hospitals  and  sanitary  department,  had 
aroused  their  enthusiasm  in  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and 
their  sense  of  responsibility  in  national  affairs.  The  great  mass- 
meetings  of  the  Loyal  Women's  Leagues,  too,  did  an  immense 
educational  work  in  broadening  their  sympathies  and  the  horizon 
of  their  sphere  of  action.  So  wholly  absorbed  had  they  been  in 
the  intense  excitement  of  that  period,  that  when  peace  came 
their  hands  and  hearts,  unoccupied,  naturally  turned  to  new  fields 
of  achievement.  While  in  some  States  it  was  the  temperance 
question,  in  St.  Louis  it  was  specifically  woman  suffrage. 

We  are  indebted  for  the  main  facts  of  this  chapter  to  Mr. 
Francis  Minor,  Mrs.  Rebecca  N.  Hazard,  Miss  Couzins  and  Miss 
Arathusa  Forbes,  who  have  kindly  sent  us  what  information  they 
had  or  could  hastily  glean  from  the  journals  of  the  time  or  the 
imperfect  records  of  the  association. 

The  labors  of  Mrs.  Minor  and  Mrs.  Couzins  were  exceptionally  pro- 
tracted and  severe.  The  latter  offered  her  services  as  nurse  at  the  very 
opening  of  the  war.  The  letters  received  from  men  in  authority  show 
how  highly  their  services  were  appreciated.  Dr.  Pope  who  writes  the 
following,  was  the  leading  surgeon  in  St.  Louis : 

ST.  Louis,  April  26,  1861. 

Mrs.  J.  E.  D.  COUZINS — Dear  Madam  :  Your  note  in  which,  in  case  of  collision 
here,  you  generously  offer  your  services  in  the  capacity  of  nurse,  is  just  received. 
Should  so  dire  a  calamity  befall  us  (which. God  forbid),  I  shall,  in  case  of  need,  most 
assuredly  remember  your  noble  offer.  With  high  regard  and  sincere  thanks,  I  am, 

Yours  very  truly,  CHAS.  A.  POPE. 

HEADQUARTERS  20  BRIG.,  Mo.  VOL.,  ST.  Louis,  Mo.,  Aug.  23,  1861. 
Mrs.  J.  E.  D.  COUZINS,  present — Madam  :   I  received  your  kind  letter,  dated  Aug. 
17.       Accept  my  heartfelt  thanks  for  your  generous  offer.       I  regard  the  nursing  of 
our  wounded  soldiers  by  the  tender  hands  of  patriotic  ladies  as  a  most  effectual  means 


Sanitary  Service.  597 

of  easing  their  condition  and  encouraging  them  to  new  efforts  in  defense  of  our  glori- 
ous cause.  You  will  please  confer  with  Mrs.  von  Wackerbarth,  corner  Seventh  and 
Elm  streets,  in  regard  to  the  steps  to  be  taken  in  this  matter. 

Your  obedient  servant,  F.  SIGEL,  Brig.-Gen.  Com. 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  MISSOURI,  February  i8th,  1862. 

The  commanding  officers  at  Cairo,  Paducah,  or  vicinity,  are  hereby  requested  to 
grant  any  facilities  consistent  with  the  public  interests  that  may  be  desired  by  the 
bearers  of  this  note.  They  are  Mrs.  Couzins  and  Crawshaw,  of  the  Ladies'  Union  Aid 
Society,  who  wish  to  administer  relief  to  our  sick  and  wounded.  By  order  of 

J.  T.  PRICE,  A.  D.  C.  Maj.-Gen'l  HALLECK. 

ROOMS  WESTERN  SANITARY  COMMISSION,  ST.  Louis,  Oct.  6th,  1862. 
MY  DEAR  MRS.  COUZINS  :  The  surgeon-general  has  notified  me  that  he  may  want 
me  to  send  nurses  and  surgeons  to  Columbus  and  Corinth.  I  look  to  you,  my  dear 
madam,  as  one  ever  ready  to  volunteer  when  you  can  be  of  real  service.  In  case  it 
should  become  necessary,  may  I  rely  on  your  valuable  services  ?  Such  other  names  as 
you  may  suggest  I  would  be  pleased  to  have.  Very  respectfully, 

JAS.  E.  YEATMAN. 

OFFICE  OF  WESTERN  SANITARY  COMMISSION,  ) 
SAINT  Louis,  Mo.,  Oct.  8th,  1862.      f 

Mrs.  Couzins  has  been  detailed  to  service  in  the  hospital  steamer  T.  L.  McGill,  as 
volunteer  nurse. 

N.  B. — If  the  place  of  service  is  changed,  a  new  certificate  will  be  issued. 

JAMES  E.  YEATMAN,  President  of  Sanitary  Commission. 

CORINTH,  Oct.  13,  1862. 
•   Pass  Mrs.  Couzins  from  Corinth  to  Columbus. 

W.  S.  ROSECRANZ,  Maj.-Gen'l  U.  S.  A. 

HEADQUARTERS  DEP'T  OF  THE  TENNESSEE,      | 
BEFORE  VICKSBURG,  Feb'y  2ist,  1863.  f 

The  quartermaster  in  charge  of  transportation  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  will  furnish 
transportation  on  any  chartered  steamer  plying  between  Memphis,  Tenn.,  and  St. 
Louis,  to  Mrs.  Couzins  and  five  other  ladies,  members  of  the  Western  Sanitary  Com- 
mission, and  who  have  been  with  this  fleet  distributing  sanitary  goods  for  the  benefit 
of  sick  soldiers.  U.  S.  GRANT,  Maj.-Gen.  Com. 

Capt.  J.  B.  LEWIS,  A.  Q.  M.  and  Master  of  Transportation,   Memphis,  Tenn. 

While  Mrs.  Couzins  thus  gave  herself  to  mitigating  the*  sufferings  of 
the  "  boys  in  blue,"  in  camp  and  hospital,  Mrs.  Minor  was  no  less  active 
and  energetic  in  the  equally  important  department  of  preserving  supplies 
for  the  sanitary  commission.  Although  Mrs.  Minor  resided  too  far  from 
the  city  to  attend  the  evening  meetings,  and  her  name  does  not  appear  in 
the  accounts  of  such  gatherings,  she  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the 
Ladies'  Union  Aid  Society  of  St.  Louis,  and  took  part  in  the  meeting  of 
loyal  women  called  and  presided  over  by  Gen.  Curtis.  Having  an  orchard 
and  dairy  on  her  place,  she  furnished  the  hospital  with  milk  and  fruit, 
and  for  more  than  two  years,  sent  a  supply  every  day  to  the  soldiers 
in  carnp  at  Benton  barracks.  When  the  news  came  that  the  army 
around  Vicksburg  was  suffering  with  scurvy,  she  took  her  carriage 
and  drove  through  the  country  soliciting  fruit,  and  in  one  week  she 
canned  with  her  own  hands,  a  wagon-load  of  cherries,  the  sanitary  com- 
mission finding  the  cans  and  sugar,  and  from  time  to  time  she  continued 
the  work  until  the  end  of  the  war.  When  the  great  fair  was  held  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission,  she  was  a  member  of 


598  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  floral  department,  and  worked  with  her  accustomed  energy.  The 
sanitary  commission,  feeling  that  she  had  done  so  much,  wrote  her  a  let- 
ter of  thanks,  and  enclosed  her  a  check  for  a  liberal  amount ;  but  she  re- 
turned the  check,  saying  that  hers  was  a  work  of  love,  and  not  for  money. 
Although  the  official  letter  of  the  commission  thanking  Mrs.  Minor  for 
her  most  valuable  services,  is  lost,  the  following  to  Mr.  Minor  may 
fairly  be  considered  as  including  her  also  : 

ROOMS  WESTERN  SANITARY  COMMISSION,  St.  Louis,  Oct.  7,  1863. 
FRANCIS  MINOR,  Esq. — My  Dear  Sir:  I  am  directed  by  our  board  to  return  you 
their  thanks  in  behalf  of  the  soldiers  in  the  hospitals,  for  your  long-continued  remem- 
brance of  them,  and  for  the  daily  supply  of  fresh  fruits,  vegetables  and  milk,  which 
you  have  furnished  for  the  sick,  now  more  than  two  years.  Your  garner  and  sympathy 
have  been  like  the  widow's  cruse,  and  may  they  ever  continue  to  be  so.  What  you 
have  done  has  been  in  the  most  quiet  and  unobtrusive  way.  The  sick  soldier  has  had 
no  more  constant,  uniform  and  untiring  friend,  and  it  is  with  pleasure  that  I  convey 
the  thanks  of  the  board,  both  to  yourself  and  wife,  who  have  been  as  indefatiga- 
ble at  home  in  preparing  canned  fruits  and  other  delicacies  for  the  sick  soldiers  in  the 
field,  as  you  have  been  in  providing  for  those  in  the  hospitals.  With  grateful  feelings 
and  many  thanks  and  best  wishes,  I  remain,  Very  respectfully  yours, 

JAMES  E.  YEATMAN, 
President  Western  Sanitary  Commission. 

The  submission  of  a  constitutional  amendment  in  Kansas,  and  the  prep- 
arations for  a  thorough  canvass  of  that  State,  had  its  influence  in  height- 
ening the  enthusiasm  and  increasing  the  agitation  in  Missouri,  as  most  of 
the  speakers  going  to  Kansas  held  meetings  at  various  points.  Mrs. 
Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  stopped  at  St.  Louis  both  going  and  return- 
ing, held  large  meetings  in  Library  Hall,  and  had  a  pleasant  reception  in 
the  parlors  of  the  Southern  Hotel,  where  many  warm  friendships  that 
have  lasted  ever  since,  were  formed. 

The  subject  of  woman's  enfranchisement  had  doubtless  often  occurred 
to  the  thoughtful  men  and  women  of  Missouri,  long  before  the  movement 
in  its  behalf  assumed  anything  like  a  practical  shape.  The  manifest  ab- 
surdity and  injustice  of  declaring,  as  the  constitution  of  the  State  did, 
"that  all  political  power  is  vested  in,  and  derived  from  the  people;  that 
all  government  of  right  originates  from  the  people,  is  founded  upon  their 
will  only,  and  is  instituted  solely  for  the  good  of  the  whole,"  and  at  the 
same  time,  denying  to  one-half  of  the  people  any  voice  whatever  in  fram- 
ing their  government  or  making  their  laws,  could  not  fail  to  strike  the 
attention  of  any  one  who  gave  the  subject  the  slightest  consideration. 
But  no  attempt  was  made  towards  an  organization  in  behalf  of  woman 
suffrage  until  the  winter  of  1866-7 ;  and  the  movement  then  had  its  origin 
from  the  following  circumstance  :  During  the  debate  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  on  the  district  suffrage  bill,  December  12,  1866,  Senator 
Brown,  of  Missouri,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  said  : 

I  have  to  say  then,  sir,  here  on  the  floor  of  the  American  Senate,  I  stand  for  univer- 
sal suffrage,  and  as  a  matter  of  fundamental  principle  do  not  recognize  the  right  of 
society  to  limit  it  on  any  ground  of  race,  color,  or  sex.  I  will  go  further,  and  say 
that  I  recognize  the  right  of  franchise  as  being  intrinsically  a  natural  right;  and  I  do 
not  believe  that  society  is  authorized  to  impose  any  limitation  upon  it  that  does  not 
spring  out  of  the  necessities  of  the  social  state  itself. 


Address  to  the   Voters.  599 

When  Mrs.  Francis  Minor,  of  St.  Louis,  who  had  given  the  subject 
much  thought,  read  the  report  of  Senator  Brown's  speech,  she  considered 
that  it  was  due  to  him  from  the  women  of  the  State  that  he  should  re- 
ceive a  letter  of  thanks  for  his  bold  and  out-spoken  utterances  in  their 
behalf.  She  accordingly  wrote  him  such  a  letter,  obtaining  to  it  all  the 
signatures  she  could,  and  it  was  presented  to  Senator  Brown  on  his  re- 
turn home.  But  although  first  an  advocate  of  the  measure,  he  soon  re- 
canted, and  gave  his  influence  against  it. 

It  was  next  determined  to  petition  the  legislature  of  the  State  then  in 
session,  January,  1867,  to  propose  an  amendment  to  the  constitution, 
striking  out  the  word  "  male,"  in  the  article  on  suffrage.  Such  a  petition 
was  presented,  and  attracted  much  attention,  as  it  was  the  first  instance 
of  the  kind  in  the  history  of  the  State.  This  move  was  followed  by  a 
formal  organization  of  the  friends  of  the  cause,  and  on  May  8,  1867,  the 
"Missouri  Woman  Suffrage  Association"  was  organized,  and  officers 
elected.* 

We  find  the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Minor  in  The  Revolution  of  Jan- 
uary 22,  1868: 

Editors  of  The  Revolution:  In  order  to  show  the  steady  progress  that  the  grand 
idea  of  equal  rights  is  slowly  but  surely  making  among  the  people  of  these  United 
States,  \  think  it  would  be  well,  in  the  beginning,  at  least,  to  make  a  record  in  The 
Revolution  of  the  fact  of  each  successive  State  organization  ;  and  for  that  purpose  I 
send  you  the  list  of  officers  for  the  association  in  Missouri  not  yet  a  year  old;  as  also 
their  petition  to  the  legislature  for  a  change  in  the  organic  law,  and  a  brief  address  to 
the  voters  of  the  State,  in  support  of  the  movement : 

To  the  Voters  of  Missouri: 

The  women  of  this  State,  having  organized  for  the  purpose  of  agitating  their  claims 
to  the  ballot,  it  becomes  every  intelligent  and  reflecting  mind  to  consider  the  question 
fairly  and  dispassionately.  If  it  has  merits,  it  will  eventually  succeed;  if  not,  it  will 
fail.  I  am  of  the  number  of  those  who  believe  that  claim  to  be  just  and  right,  for  the 
following,  among  other  reasons  : 

Taxation  and  Representation  should  go  hand  in  hand.  This  is  the  very  corner- 
stone of  our  government.  Its  founders  declared,  and  the  declaration  cannot  be  too 
often  repeated,  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created 
equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That  to  secure  those 
rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed."  The  man  who  believes  in  that  declaration,  cannot  justly 
deny  to  women  the  right  of  suffrage.  They  are  citizens,  they  are  tax-payers;  they 
bear  the  burdens  of  government — why  should  they  be  denied  the  rights  of  citizens? 
We  boast  about  liberty  and  equality  before  the  law,  when  the  truth  is,  our  government 
is  controlled  by  one-half  only  of  the  population.  The  others  have  no  more  voice  in  the 
making  of  their  laws,  or  the  selection  of  their  rulers,  than  the  criminals  who  are  in  our 
penitentiaries;  nay,  in  one  respect,  their  condition  is  not  as  good  as  that  of  the  felon, 
for  he  may  be  pardoned  and  restored  to  a  right  which  woman  can  never  obtain.  And 
this,  not  because  she  has  committed  any  crime,  or  violated  any  law,  but  simply  be- 
cause she  is,  what  God  made  her — a  woman  !  Possessed  of  the  same  intelligence — 


*  President,  Mrs.  Virginia  L.  Minor ;  Vice-President,  Mrs.  Beverly  Allen ;  Secretaries,  Mrs.  Re- 
becca N.  Hazard,  and  Mrs.  George  D.  Hall ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  George  W.  Banker.  There  were  pres- 
ent, besides  the  officers,  Mrs.  Anna  L.  Clapp,  Miss  Penelope  Allen,  Mrs.  Frank  Fletcher,  Miss  Arathu- 
Korbes,  Mrs.  Nannie  C.  Sturgeon,  Mrs.  Harriet  B.  Roberts,  Mrs.  N.  Stevens,  Mrs.  Joseph 
Hodgman,  Miss  A.  Greenman,  etc.  Among  the  men  who  aided  the  movement  were  Francis  Minor, 
Isaac  W.  Sturgeon,  James  E.  Yeatman,  Judge  John  M.  Krum,  Judge  Arnold  Krekel.  Hon.  Thomas 
N»  1.  who  gave  the  society  its  first  twenty-five  dollars.  Ernest  Decker,  Dr.  G.  A.  Walker,  John  C. 
O'Neill,  J.  B.  Roberts,  Wayman  Crow,  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  G.  Eliot,  Bishop  Bowman,  Albert  Todd,  Rev.. 
John  Snyder,  John  Datro,  J.  B.  Case,  H.  C.  Leville. 


6oo  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

formed  in  the  same  mold — having  the  same  attributes,  parts  and  passions — held  by  her 
Maker  to  the  same  measure  of  responsibility  here  and  hereafter,  her  actual  position  in 
society  to-day  is  that  of  an  inferior.  No  matter  what  her  qualifications  may  be,  every 
avenue  of  success  is  virtually  closed  against  her.  Even  when  she  succeeds  in  obtain- 
ing employment,  she  gets  only  half  the  pay  that  a  man  does  for  the  same  work.  But, 
it  is  said,  woman's  sphere  is  at  home.  Would  giving  her  the  right  to  vote  interfere 
with  her  home  duties  any  more  than  it  does  with  a  man's  business?  Again  it  is  said, 
that  for  her  to  vote  would  be  unfeminine.  Is  it  at  all  more  indelicate  for  a  woman 
to  go  to  the  polls,  than  it  is  for  her  to  go  to  the  court -house  and  pay  her  taxes?  The  truth 
is,  woman  occupies  just  the  position  that  man  has  placed  her  in,  and  it  ill  becomes  him 
to  urge  such  objections.  Give  her  a  chance — give  her  the  opportunity  of  proving 
whether  these  objections  are  well  founded  or  not.  Her  influence  for  good  is  great, 
notwithstanding  all  the  disadvantages  under  which  she  at  present  labors;  and  my  firm 
belief  is,  that  that  influence  would  be  greatly  enhanced  and  extended  by  the  exercise 
of  this  new  right.  It  would  be  felt  at  the  ballot-box  and  in  the  halls  of  legislation. 
Better  men,  as  a  general  rule,  would  be  elected  to  office,  and  society  in  all  its  ramifi- 
cations, would  feel  and  rejoice  at  the  change.  A  VOTER. 

To  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Missouri: 

GENTLEMEN:  The  undersigned  women  of  Missouri,  believing  that  all  citizens  who 
are  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  government  and  subject  to  its  laws,  should  have  a  voice 
in  the  making  of  those  laws,  and  the  selection  of  their  rulers;  that,  as  the  possession  of 
the  ballot  ennobles  and  elevates  the  character  of  man,  so,  in  like  manner,  it  would  en- 
noble and  elevate  that  of  woman  by  giving  her  a  direct  and  personal  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  government;  and  further,  believing  that  the  spirit  of  the  age,  as  well  as  every 
consideration  of  justice  and  equity,  requires  that  the  ballot  should  be  extended  to  our 
sex,  do  unite  in  praying  that  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  may  be  p^posed, 
striking  out  the  word  "  male  "  and  extending  to  women  the  right  of  suffrage. 

And,  as  in  duty  bound,  your  petitioners  will  ever  pray. 

On  behalf  of  the  Missouri  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

[Signed  :]  President,  Mrs.  Francis  Minor;  Vice-President,  Mrs.  Beverly  Allen;  Cor- 
responding Secretary,  Mrs.  Wm.  T.  Hazard;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  Geo.  D.  Hall; 
Treasurer,  Mrs.  N.  Stevens,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Copies  of  the  petition,  and  information  furnished  upon  addressing  either  of  above 
named  officers.  Formation  of  auxiliary  associations  in  every  county  requested.  Peti- 
tions when  completely  signed,  to  be  returned  to  the  head  office. 

These  papers  will  serve  to  show  that  the  idea  has  taken  root  in  other  States  beyond 
the  Mississippi  besides  Kansas;  and  may  also  be  somewhat  of  a  guide  to  others,  who 
may  desire  to  accomplish  the  same  purpose  elsewhere.  A  work  of  such  magnitude  re- 
quires, of  course,  time  for  development ;  but  the  leaven  is  working.  The  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  of  public  thought  have  been  broken  up.  The  errors  and  prejudices  of 
six  thousand  years  are  yielding  to  the  sunlight  of  truth.  In  spite  of  pulpits  and  politi- 
cians, the  great  idea  is  making  its  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  people;  and  woman  may  re- 
joice in  believing  that  the  dawn  of  her  deliverance,  so  long  hoped  for  and  prayed  for, 
is  at  last  approaching.  F.  M. 

St.  Louis,  January,  1868. 

The  following  from  The  Revolution  shows  that  the  women  of 
St.  Louis  were  awake  on  the  question  of  taxation : 

The  women  here  have  endeavored  to  find  out  to  what  extent  taxation 
•without  representation,  because  of  sex,  obtains  in  this  city,  and  as  the  re- 
sult of  their  inquiries  they  are  enabled  to  place  on  their  records  the  fol- 
lowing very  suggestive  document . 

ASSESSOR'S  OFFICE,  ST.  Louis,  January  30,  1869. 

To  Mrs.  Couzins  and  Emma  Finkelnburg,  Committee  of  the  Ladies'  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion : 

In  reply  to  your  request  to  report  to  your  association  the  amount  of  property  listed 
jn  the  city  of  St.  Louis  in  the  name  of  ladies,  permit  me  to  state  that  the  property  in 


Storming  the  Capitol.  60 1 

question  is  represented  by  over  2,000  tax-paying  ladies,  and  assessed  at  the  value  of 
$14,490,199.  Yours  very  respectfully, 

ROBT.  J.   ROMBAUER,  Assessor. 

This  exhibit  has  opened  the  eyes  of  a  good  many  people.  "Two  thou- 
sand on  'em,"  exclaimed  a  male  friend  of  mine,  "and  over  fourteen  millions 
of  property !  Whew  !  What  business  have  these  women  with  so  much 
money  ?  "  Well,  they  have  it,  and  now  they  ask  us,  "  Shall  2,000  men,  not 
worth  a  dollar,  just  because  they  wear  pantaloons  go  to  the  polls  and 
vote  taxes  on  us,  while  we  are  excluded  from  the  ballot-box  for  no  other 
reason  than  sex  ?  "  What  shall  we  say  to  them  ?  They  ask  us  if  the 
American  Revolution  did  not  turn  on  this  hinge,  No  taxation  withotit  rep- 
resentation. Who  can  answer? 

The  advocates  of  suffrage  in  St.  Louis  made  their  attacks  at  once  in 
both  Church  *  and  State,  and  left  no  means  of  agitation  untried.  There 
has  never  been  an  association  in  any  State  that  comprised  so  many  able 
men  and  women  who  gave  their  best  thoughts  to  every  phase  of  this 
question,  and  who  did  so  grand  a  work,  until  the  unfortunate  division  in 
1871,  which  seemed  to  chill  the  enthusiasm  of  many  friends  of  the  move- 
ment. 

In  the  winter  of  1869  the  association  sent  a  large  delegation  of  ladies  to 
the  legislature  with  a  petition  containing  about  2,000  signatures.  A  cor- 
respondent in  The  Revolution,  February  6,  1869,  said  : 

It  will  not  be  feminine  to  say,  yet  I  fear  I  must  say,  the  women  of  Missouri  have 
stormed  their  capitol,  and  if  it  is  not  yet  taken,  the  outworks  are  in  our  hands,  and  I 
believe  with  a  few  more  well-directed  blows  the  victory  will  be  ours.  On  February  3 
a  large  delegation  of  ladies,  representing  the  Suffrage  Association  of  Missouri,  visited 
Jefferson  City  for  the  purpose  of  laying  before  the  legislature  a  large  and  influentially 
signed  petition,  asking  the  ballot  for  women;  and  we  were  gratified  to  see  the  great 
respect  and  deference  shown  to  the  women  of  Missouri  by  the  wisest  and  best  of  her 
legislators  in  their  respectful  and  cordial  reception  of  the  delegates.  Both  Houses 
adjourned,  and  gave  the  use  of  the  house  for  the  afternoon,  when  eloquent  addresses 
were  made  by  Mrs.  J.  G.  Phelps  of  Springfield,  Dr.  Ada  Greunan  of  St.  Louis,  and 
the  future  orator  of  Missouri,  Miss  Phcebe  Couzins,  whose  able  and  effective  address 
the  press  has  given  in  full.  Of  the  brave  men  who  stood  up  for  us,  it  is  more  difficult 
to  speak.  To  give  a  list  would  be  impossible;  for  every  name  would  require  a  eulogy 
too  lengthy  for  the  pages  of  The  Revolution.  We  will,  therefore,  record  them  on  the 
tablets  of  our  memory  with  a  hand  so  firm  that  they  shall  stand  out  brightly  till  time 
shall  be  no  more.  Of  the  small  majority  who  oppose  us  we  will  say  nothing,  but 
throw  over  them  the  pall  of  merciful  oblivion. 

The  first  woman  suffrage  convention  ever  held  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
or  the  State  of  Missouri,  assembled  in  Mercantile  Library,  October  6,  7, 


*  The  following  we  find  in  the  St.  Louis  papers.  It  is  significant  of  the  sentiment  of  the  Methodist 
women  of  the  West :  "  We,  the  undersigned,  join  in  a  call  for  a  mass-meeting  of  the  M%  E.  Church  in 
St.  Louis,  to  meet  at  Union  Church  on  the  isth  inst.,  at  3  o'clock  p.  M.,  to  consider  a  plan  for  memo- 
riali/ing  the  General  Conference  to  permit  the  ordination  of  women  as  ministers.  All  women  of  the  M.  E. 
Churth  are  requested  to  attend.  Mrs.  Henry  Kennedy,  Mrs.  T.  C.  Fletcher,  Mrs.  E.  O.  Stanard,  Mrs. 
A.  C.  George,  Mrs.  Lucy  Prescott,  Mrs.  U.  13.  Wilson,  Mrs.  L.  Jones,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Case,  Mrs.  W.  F. 
Brink,  Mrs.  S.  C.  Cummins,  Mrs.  R.  N.  Hazard,  Mrs.  Dutro,  Mrs.  M.  H.  Himebaugh."  The  result  of 
this  meeting  of  the  ladies  of  the  Methodist  churches  to  discuss  a  plan  for  admitting  women  into  the  pul- 
pit as  preachers  was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  draft  a  memorial  to  the  General  Conference  to 
meet  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  asking  that  body  to  sanction  and  provide  for  the  ordination  of  women  as 
ministers  of  the  Methodist  Church. 


602  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

1869.  Many  distinguished  people  were  on  the  platform.*  At  this  con- 
vention Mr.  Francis  Minor  introduced  a  very  able  series  of  resolutions,  on 
which  Mrs.  Minor  made  a  remarkably  logical  address. t  The  following 
letter  from  Mr.  Minor  shows  the  careful  research  he  gave  to  the  consid- 
eration of  this  question : 

ST.  Louis,  December  30,  1869. 

DEAR  REVOLUTION  :  So  thoroughly  am  I  satisfied  that  the  surest  and  most  direct 
course  to  pursue  to  obtain  a  recognition  of  woman's  claim  to  the  ballot,  lies  through 
the. courts  of  the  country,  that  I  am  induced  to  ask  you  to  republish  the  resolutions 
that  I  drafted,  and  which  were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  St.  Louis  convention. 
And  I  will  here  add,  that  to  accomplish  this  end,  and  to  carry  these  resolutions  into 
practical  effect,  it  is  intended  by  Mrs.  Minor,  the  president  of  the  State  Association, 
to  make  a  test  case  in  her  instance  at  our  next  election  ;  take  it  through  the  courts  of 
Missouri,  and  thence  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  at  Washington.  I 
think  it  will  be  admitted  that  these  resolutions  place  the  cause  of  woman  upon  higher 
ground  than  ever  before  asserted,  in  the  fact  that  for  the  first  time  suffrage  is  claimed 
as  a  privilege  based  upon  citizenship,  and  secured  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  position  taken  is,  that  the  States  have  the  right  to  reg- 
ulate, but  not  to  prohibit,  the  elective  franchise  to  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Thus 
the  States  may  determine  the  qualifications  of  electors.  They  may  require  the  elector 
to  be  of  a  certain  age,  to  have  had  a  fixed  residence,  to  be  of  a  sane  mind,  and  uncon- 
victed  of  crime,  etc.,  because  these  are  qualifications  or  conditions  that  all  citizens, 
sooner  or  later,  may  attain  ;  but  to  go  beyond  this,  and  say  to  one-half  the  citizens  of 
the  State,  notwithstanding  you  possess  all  these  qualifications  you  shall  never  vote,  is 
of  the  very  essence  of  despotism.  It  is  a  bill  of  attainder  of  the  most  odious  character. 

A  further  investigation  of  the  subject  will  show  that  the  language  of  the  constitu- 
tions of  all  the  States,  with  the  exception  of  those  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia,  on 
the  subject  of  suffrage  is  peculiar.  They  almost  all  read  substantially  alike  :  "  White 
male  citizens,  etc.,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote,"  and  this  is  supposed  to  exclude  all  other 
citizens.  There  is  no  direct  exclusion,  except  in  the  two  States  above  named.  Now 
the  error  lies  in  supposing  that  an  enabling  clause  is  necessary  at  all.  The  right  of 
the  people  of  a  State  to  participate  in  a  government  of  their  own  creation  requires  no 
enabling  clause;  neither  can  it  be  taken  from  them  by  implication.  To  hold  other- 
wise would  be  to  interpolate  in  the  constitution  a  prohibition  that  does  not  exist.  In 
framing  a  constitution  the  people  are  assembled  in  their  sovereign  capacity;  and  being 
possessed  of  all  rights  and  all  powers,  what  is  not  surrendered  is  retained.  Nothing 
short  of  a  direct  prohibition  can  work  a  disseizin  of  rights  that  are  fundamental.  In 
the  language  of  John  Jay  to  the  people  of  New  York,  urging  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  "silence  and  blank  paper  neither  give  nor  take  away 
anything,"  and  Alexander  Hamilton  says  (Federalist,  No.  83),  "  Everyman  of  discern- 
ment must  at  once  perceive  the  wide  difference  between  silence  and  abolition." 

The  mode  and  manner  in  which  the  people  shall  take  part  in  the  government  of 
their  creation  may  be  prescribed  by  the  constitution,  but  the  right  itself  is  antecedent 
to  all  constitutions.  It  is  inalienable,  and  can  neither  be  bought,  nor  sold,  nor  given 
away.  But  even  if  it  should  be  held  that  this  view  is  untenable,  and  that  women  are 
disfranchised  by  the  several  State  constitutions  directly,  or  by  implication,  then  I  say 
that  such  prohibitions  are  clearly  in  conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  yield  thereto.  The  language  of  that  instrument  is  clear  aud  emphatic  :  "All  per- 

*On  the  platform  were  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Massachusetts  ;  Lillie  Peckham,  Wisconsin  ;  Miriam  M. 
Cole,  Ohio  ;  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Hon.  Sharon  Tyndale,  Judge  Waite  and  Rev.  Mr.  Harrison,  Illinois  ; 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  New  York.  The  officers  of  the  Woman  Suffrage  Association  of  Missouri :  Presi- 
dent^ Mrs.  F'rancis  Minor;  I'ice-President,  Mrs.  Beverly  Allen  ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  William  T.  Hazard; 
Treasurer,  Mrs.  George  B.  Hall  ;  Miss  Mary  Beady,  Miss  Phcebe  Couzins,  Mrs.  E.  Titunan,  Mrs.  Al- 
fred Clapp,  Miss  A.  L.  Forbes,  Isaac  H.  Sturgeon,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Orrick,  Mrs.  R.  J.  Lackland,  Francis 
Minor,  and  many  others. 

t  For  speech  and  resolutions,  see  Vol.  II.,  page  408. 


"National"  or  "American"  603 

sons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof, 
are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside."  "  No  State 
shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  that  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States."  It  would  be  impossible  to  add  to  the  force  or  effect  of 
such  language,  and  equally  impossible  to  attempt  to  explain  it  away. 

Very  respectfully,  FRANCIS  MINOR. 

The  St.  Louis  Democrat  spoke  of  the  convention  as  follows  : 

Readers  of  our  report  have  doubtless  been  interested  to  observe  the  fair  spirit  and 
dignified  manner  of  the  woman  suffrage  convention,  and  the  ability  displayed  in  some 
of  the  addresses.  It  is  but  due  to  the  managers  to  say  that  they  extended  most  cour- 
teous invitations  to  gentlemen  not  identified  with  the  movement  to  address  the  con- 
vention, and  state  freely  their  objections  to  the  extension  of  the  franchise.  Of  those 
invited  some  were  prevented  by  duties  elsewhere  from  attending.  Others,  it  may  be, 
felt  that  it  would  scarcely  be  a  gracious  thing,  in  spite  of  the  liberality  of  the  invita- 
tion, to  occupy  the  time  of  a  convention  in  favor  of  the  extension  of  the  franchise  with 
arguments  against  it.  But  the  objections  which,  after  all,  probably  have  most  weight 
with  candid  men  are  those  which  it  is  not  easy  to  discuss  in  public,  namely :  "  Will  not 
extension  of  suffrage  to  women  have  an  injurious  effect  upon  the  family  and  sexual  re- 
lations?" "Will  not  the  ballot  be  used  rather  by  that  class  who  would  not  use  it 
wisely  than  by  those  who  are  most  competent?"  We  do  not  argue  these  questions, 
but  are  sure  that  some  frank  discussion  of  them,  however  delicate  the  subject  may  be, 
is  necessary  to  convince  the  great  majority  of  those  who  are  still  doubting  or  opposed. 
Meanwhile  the  reports  are  of  interest,  and  reflect  no  little  credit  upon  the  women  of 
this  city  who  have  taken  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  movement. 

The  officers  of  the  Missouri  Society  were  annually  reflected  for  several 
years,  and  the  work  proceeded  harmoniously  until  the  division  in  the 
National  Association.  The  members  of  the  Missouri  Society  took  sides 
in  this  division  as  preference  dictated.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Minor,  Miss  Forbes, 
Miss  Couzins  and  others  were  already  members  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion, and  sympathized  with  its  views  and  modes  of  pushing  the  question. 

In  order  that  there  might  be  no  division  in  the  Missouri  Association,  a 
resolution  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Minor  and  unanimously  adopted,  de- 
claring that  each  member  of  the  society  should  be  free  to  join  the  Na- 
tional body  of  his  or  her  choice,  and  that  the  Missouri  Association,  as  a 
society,  should  not  become  auxiliary  to  either  the  "  National  "  or  the 
"American."  The  good  faith  of  the  association  was  thus  pledged  to  re- 
spect the  feelings  and  wishes  of  each  member,  and  as  long  as  this  course 
was  observed  all  went  well.  But,  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1871,  just  after 
Mrs.  Minor  had  for  the  fifth  time  been  unanimously  reflected  president, 
in  violation  of  the  previous  action  of  the  association  a  resolution  was  in- 
troduced and  passed,  declaring  that  the  association  should  henceforth 
become  auxiliary  to  the  American.  This  gross  disregard  of  the  wishes 
and  feelings  of  those  who  were  members  of  the  National  Association  left 
them  no  alternative,  with  any  feeling  of  self-respect,  but  to  withdraw ; 
and  accordingly  Mrs.  Minor  at  once  tendered  her  resignation  as  president 
and  her  withdrawal  as  a  member  of  the  association.  She  was  followed  in 
this  course  by  Mr.  Minor,  Miss  Couzins,  Miss  Forbes  and  others.*  How- 
ever, the  work  went  steadily  on.  Meetings  were  held  regularly  from 


*  Dissension  and  division  were  the  effect  in  every  State,  except  where  the  associations  wisely  re- 
mained independent  and  all  continued  to  work  together,  and  the  forces  otherwise  expended  in  rivalry 
were  directed  against  the  common  enemy. 


604  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

week  to  week,  with  occasional  grand  conventions,  tracts  and  petitions 
were  circulated,  and  constant  agitation  in  some  way  kept  up. 

In  answer  to  an  earnest  solicitation  for  facts  and  incidents  of 
the  suffrage  movement  in  Missouri,  Mrs.  Rebecca  N.  Hazard, 
one  of  the  earliest  and  most  active  friends  in  that  State,  sends  us 
the  following : 

I  think  the  cruel  war  had  much  to  do  in  educating  the  women  of  Mis- 
souri into  a  sense  of  their  responsibilities  and  duties  as  citizens  ;  at  least 
all  who  first  took  part  in  the  suffrage  movement  had  been  active  on  the 
Union  side  during  the  war,  and  that  having  ended  in  the  preservation  of 
the  government,  they  naturally  began  to  inquire  as  to  their  own  rights 
and  privileges  in  the  restored  Union.  My  own  feelings  were  first  fully 
awakened  by  the  hanging  of  Mrs.  Surrat;  for,  although  a  Unionist  and 
an  abolitionist,  I  could  but  regard  her  execution  by  the  government,  con- 
sidering her  helpless  position,  as  judicial  murder.  I  wrote  on  the  subject 
to  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Independent.  The  letter  was  handed  to 
Miss  Anthony,  and  resulted  in  an  invitation  to  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Equal  Rights  Society.  This  almost  frightened  me,  for  I  had  hitherto 
looked  askance  at  the  woman's  rights  movement. 

Meeting  an  old  friend  and  neighbor  not  long  after,  the  talk  turned  upon 
negro  suffrage.  I  expressed  myself  in  favor  of  that  measure,  and  timidly 
added,  "And  go  farther — I  think  women  also  should  vote."  She  grasped 
my  hand  cordially,  saying,  "And  so  do  I!"  This  was  Mrs.  Virginia  L. 
Minor.  We  had  each  cherished  this  opinion,  supposing  that  no  other 
woman  in  the  community  held  it ;  and  this  we  afterwards  found  to  have 
been  the  experience  of  many  others.  This  was  in  1866;  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing autumn  Mrs.  Minor  prepared  and  circulated  for  signatures  a  card 
of  thanks  to  Hon.  B.  Gratz  Brown  for  the  recognition  of  woman's  politi- 
cal rights  he  had  given  in  the  United  States  Senate  in  a  speech  upon  ex- 
tending the  suffrage  to  the  women  of  the  District  of  Columbia.*  This 
card  received  enough  names  to  justify  another  step — that  of  a  petition  to 
the  Missouri  General  Assembly.  This  was  headed  by  Mrs.  Minor,  and 
circulated  with  untiring  energy  by  her,  receiving  several  hundred  signa- 
tures, and  was  sent  to  the  legislature  during  the  winter,  where  it  received 
some  degree  of  favor. 

But  as  yet  no  effort  had  been  made  toward  an  organization.  The  first 
step  in  that  direction  was  in  May,  1867,  by  Mrs.  Lucretia  P.  Hall  and  her 
sister,  Miss  Penelope  Allen,  daughters  of  Mrs.  Beverly  Allen,  and  nieces 
of  General  Pope,  in  the  parlors  of  Mrs.  Anna  L.  Clapp,  the  president  of 
the  Union  Aid  Society  during  the  war.  Mrs.  Hall,  Mrs.  Clapp  and  my- 
self called  a  public  meeting  on  May  8,  when  the  Woman  Suffrage  Society 
of  Missouri  was  organized,  with  Mrs.  Minor  president. 

In  the  winter  of  1868  the  association  sent  a  large  delegation  of  ladies  to 
Jefferson  with  a  petition  containing  about  2,000  names,  to  present  to  the 
legislature.  The  Republicans  were  then  in  the  ascendency,  and  the  ladies 
having  many  professed  friends  among  the  members,  were  received  with 

*  For  this  speech  of  B.  Gratz  Brown  see  Vol.  II.,  page  136. 


Facts  and  Incidents.  605 

every  demonstration  of  respect.  Addresses  were  made  by  Miss  Phoebe 
Couzins  and  Dr.  Ada  Greunan.  The  petition  was  respectfully  considered 
and  a  fair  vote  given  for  the  submission  of  an  amendment. 

Subsequent  sessions  of  the  legislature  have  been  besieged,  as  was  also 
the  constitutional  convention  in  1875  ;  but  beyond  the  passage  of  several 
laws  improving  the  general  status  of  women,  we  have  not  made  much  im- 
pression upon  the  law-making  power  of  our  State  ;  not  so  much  since  the 
State  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Democrats,  as  while  the  Republicans 
were  in  the  majority. 

But  the  public  meetings  and  social  influence  of  our  association  have 
done  much  for  the  cause  of  woman  suffrage.  Strangers  are  surprised  to 
find  so  little  prejudice  existing  against  a  movement  so  decidedly  unpopu- 
lar in  many  places.  The  convention  held  in  St.  Louis  in  October,  1869, 
was  one  of  the  very  best  I  have  ever  known,  and  its  influence  was  long 
felt  for  good.  In  the  spring  of  1871  out  association  became  auxiliary  to 
the  American,  and  in  consequence  several  of  our  active  members  seceded, 
viz. :  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Minor,  Miss  Couzins,  Dr.  Greunan  and  others.  In  the 
autumn  of  1872  the  American  Association  held  its  annual  meeting  in  St. 
Louis. 

The  law  school  of  Washington  University  has  always  been  open  to 
women.  Miss  Couzins  was  the  first  to  avail  herself  of  its  advantages  in 
1869,  though  Miss  Barkaloo  of  Brooklyn,  denied  admission  to  Columbia 
Law  School,  soon  joined  her,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1870.  While 
Miss  Barkaloo  was  not  the  first  woman  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  United 
States,  she  doubtless  was  the  first  to  try  a  case  in  court.  She  died  after  a 
few  months  of  most  promising  practice.*  Miss  Couzins  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  May,  1871. 

The  St.  Louis  School  of  Design,  which  has  done  much  for  woman,  was 
originated  by  members  of  our  association;  principally  by  Mrs.  Mary  F. 
Henderson,  who  has  given  untiring  effort  in  that  direction.  Our  mem- 
bers were  also  instrumental  in  opening  to  women  the  St.  Louis  Homeo- 
pathic Medical  College,  and  active  in  opposing  what  was  known  as  the 
St.  Louis  "Social  Evil  Law."  They  aided  Dr.  Eliot  in  his  valiant  struggle 
against  that  iniquity.  Mrs.  E.  Patrick  and  myself  called  the  first  public 
meeting  to  protest  against  the  law.  It  was  repealed  March  27,  1874. 

You  are  probably  familiar  with  Mrs.  Minor's  suit  to  obtain  suffrage  un- 
der the  fourteenth  amendment.  We  all  admired  her  courageous  efforts 
for  that  object.  Previous  to  that  attempt  our  society  had  earnestly  ad- 
vocated a  sixteenth  amendment  for  the  protection  of  woman's  right  to 
vote,  but  held  the  matter  in  abeyance  pending  the  suit.  After  its  failure, 
we  again  renewed  our  efforts  for  a  sixteenth  amendment,  circulating  and 
sending  to  Washington  our  petitions.  Our  association  holds  monthly 
meetings  and  proposes  to  continue  the  agitation. t  I  ought  to  say,  per- 

*  For  full  account  of  Miss  Barkaloo  see  New  York  chapter,  page  404. 

t  Besides  those  already  named,  there  arc  many  other  women  worthy  of  mention — Mrs.  Hannah 
Stagg,  Mrs.  George  H.  Rha,  Mrs.  S.  F.  Gruff,  Miss  N.  M.  Lavclle,  Mrs.  Helen  E.  Starrett,  Mrs.  A.  K. 
Dickinson,  Mrs.  E.  R.  Case,  Miss  S.  Sharman,  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Phclps,  Miss  Mary  E.  Beedy,  Mrs.  Fanny 
O'Haly,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Orrick,  Miss  Henrietta  Moore.  Mrs.  Stephen  RidReley,  Mrs.  M.  K.  Bedford.  Mrs. 
M.  Jackson  ;  and  among  our  German  friends  are  Mrs.  Rosa  Tinman,  Mrs.  Dr.  Fiala,  Mrs.  Lena  Hildc- 
brand,  Mrs.  G.  G.  Fenkelnberg,  Mrs.  Rombauer,  Miss  Lidergerber. 


606  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

haps,  that  our  society  lends  all  the  help  possible  to  other  States.     It  gave 
$520  to  Michigan  in  1874,  and  $200  to  Colorado  in  1877.  R.  N.  H. 

To  bring  the  question  of  woman's  right  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
to  vote  for  United  States  officers  before  the  judiciary,  Mrs.  Minor  at- 
tempted to  register  in  order  to  vote  at  the  national  election  in  November, 
1872,  and  being  refused  on  account  of  her  sex,  brought  the  matter  before 
the  courts  in  the  shape  of  a  suit  against  the  registering  officer.*  The 
point  was  decided  adversely  to  her  in  all  the  courts,  being  finally  reported 
in  Vol.  21  of  Wallace's  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  Reports.  The  import- 
ance of  this  decision  cannot  be  over-estimated.  It  affects  every  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  male  as  well  as  female,  if,  as  there  pronounced,  the 
United  States  has  no  voters  of  its  own  creation.  The  Dred-Scott  decision 
is  insignificant  in  comparison.  Mrs.  Minor  made  the  following  points  in 
her  petition :  \ 

1.  As  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  the  plaintiff  is  entitled  to  any  and  all  the 
"privileges  and  immunities"  that  belong  to  such  position  however  defined;  and  as  are 
held,  exercised  and  enjoyed  by  other  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

2.  The  elective  franchise  is  a  "  privilege  "  of  citizenship,  in  the  highest  sense  of  the 
word.     It  is  the  privilege  preservative  of  all  rights  and  privileges;    and  especially  of 
the  right  of  the  citizen  to  participate  in  his  or  her  government. 

3.  The  denfal  or  abridgment  of  this  privilege,  if  it  exist  at  all,  must  be  sought  only 
in  the  fundamental  charter  of  government — the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.      If 
not  found  there,  no  inferior  power  or  jurisdiction  can  legally  claim  the  right  to  exer- 
cise it. 

4.  But  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  so  far  from  recognizing  or  permitting 
any  denial  or  abridgment  of  the  privileges  of  citizens,  expressly  declares  that   "no 
State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States." 

5.  It  follows  that  the  provisions  of  the  Missouri  constitution  and  registry  law  before 
recited  are  in  conflict  with,  and  must  yield  to  the  paramount  authority  of,  the   Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States. 

At  a  mass  meeting  held  in  St.  Louis  January  25,  1875,  a  committee  t  was 
appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  State,  setting  forth 
the  necessity  of  such  action  by  the  constitutional  convention,  soon  to  as- 
semble, as  would  insure  to  all  citizens  the  right  of  choice  in  their  law- 
makers and  in  the  officers  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  execute  the  laws. 
The  address  was  prepared  and  widely  circulated  over  the  State.  In  June, 
the  convention  being  in  session  at  Jefferson,  Mrs.  Minor,  Miss  Couzins, 
and  Mrs.  Dickinson  went  to  the  capitol  and  were  granted  a  gracious  hear- 
ing, but  no  action  was  conceded. 

In  May,  1879,  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  held  its  annual 
meeting  at  St.  Louis,  holding  its  session  through  the  day,  morning,  after- 
noon and  evening,  and  so  much  interest  was  aroused  that  on  May  13  a 
local  society  was  organized  under  the  head  of  the  National  Woman  Suf- 
frage Association  for  St.  Louis, f  with  Mrs.  Minor  president,  which  has  con- 

*  For  a  full  report  of  Mrs.  Minor's  trial,  see  History  of  Woman  Sufirage,  Vol.  II.,  page  715. 

t  The  committee  were  :  J.  B.  Merwin,  Virginia  L.  Minor,  John  Snyder,  Lydia  F.  Dickinson,  Maria 
E.  F.  Jackson. 

+  The  officers  were:  President,  Mrs.  Virginia  L.  Minor;  Vice-Presidents,  Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Patrick, 
Mrs.  Caroline  J.  Todd,  Miss  Phoebe  W.  Couzins  ;  Executiz'e  Committee,  Mrs.  E.  P.  Johnson,  Mrs. 
W.  W.  Polk;  Secretary,  Miss  Eliza  B.  Buckley  ;  Treasurer,  Miss  Maggie  Baumgartner. 


Virginia   L.  Minor.  607 

tinued  to  do  most  efficient  service  to  the  present.     During  the  summer 
of  1879,  Mrs.  Minor  refused  to  pay  the  tax  assessed  against  her: 

ST.  Louis,  Mo.,  August  26,  1879. 

Hon.  DAVID  POWERS,  President  Board  of  Assessors:  I  honestly  believe  and  con- 
scientiously make  oath  that  I  have  not  one  dollars'  worth  of  property  subject  to  taxa- 
tion. The  principle  upon  which  this  government  rests  is  representation  before  taxa- 
tion. My  property  is  denied  representation,  and  therefore  can  not  be  taxable.  The 
law  which  you  quote  as  applicable  to  me  in  your  notice  to  make  my  tax  return  is  in 
direct  conflict  with  section  30  of  the  bill  of  rights  of  the  constitution  of  the 
State  which  declares,  "  No  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  property,  without 
due  process  of  law,"  And  that  surely  cannot  be  due  process  of  law  wherein  oue  of  the 
parties  only  is  law-maker,  judge,  jury  and  executioner,  and  the  other  stands  silenced, 
denied  the  power  either  of  assent  or  dissent,  a  condition  of  "  involuntary  slavery"  so 
clearly  prohibited  in  section  31  of  the  same  article,  as  well  as  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  that  no  legislation  or  judicial  prejudice  can  ignore  it.  I  trust 
you  will  believe  it  is  from  no  disrespect  to  you  that  I  continue  to  refuse  to  become  a 
party  to  this  injustice  by  making  a  return  of  property  to  your  honorable  body,  as 
clearly  the  duties  of  a  citizen  can  only  be  exacted  where  rights  and  privileges  are 
equally  accorded.  Respectfully,  VIRGINIA  L.  MINOR. 

Again,  in  February,  1881,  Mrs.  Minor  made  an  able  argument  before 
the  legislative  committee  on  constitutional  amendments  in  support  of 
the  petition  for  the  enfranchisement  of  the  women  of  the  State.  Her 
pivotal  point  was,  "  By  whatever  tenure  you,  as  one-half  of  the  people, 
hold  it,  we,  the  other  half,  claim  it  by  the  same."  And  again  in  Decem- 
ber of  the  same  year  at  a  meeting  of  the  Knights  and  Ladies  of  the 
Father  Matthew  Debating  Club,  at  which  the  subject  was,  "  Is  the 
woman's  rights  movement  to  be  encouraged  ?"  Patrick  Long,  Daniel 
O'Connel  Tracy,  Richard  D.  Kerwen,  spoke  in  the  affirmative;  several 
gentlemen  and  two  ladies  in  opposition,  when  Mrs.  Minor,  who  was  in  the 
audience,  was  called  out  amid  great  applause,  to  which  she  responded  in 
an  able  speech,  showing  that  the  best  temperance  weapon  in  the  hands 
of  woman  is  the  ballot. 

Of  the  initial  steps  taken  for  the  elevation  of  women  in  the  lit- 
tle village  of  Oregon,  Mrs.  Annie  R.  Irvine  writes: 

The  Woman's  Union,  an  independent  literary  club,  designed  to  im- 
prove the  mental,  moral,  and  physical  condition  of  women,  held 
its  first  meeting  in  Oregon,  Holt  county,  on  the  evening  of  January  6, 
1872,  at  the  residence  of  Dr.  Asher  Goslin.  Temporary  officers  were 
elected,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  prepare  by-laws  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  club.  Six  ladies*  were  present.  The  succeeding  meetings 
grew  in  interest,  and  took  strong  hold  upon  the  minds  of  all  classes,  from 
the  fact  that  hitherto  no  outlet  had  been  found  for  the  energies  of  our 
women  outside  the  circle  of  home  and  church.  During  the  first  two  years 
of  its  existence,  the  Woman's  Union  had  to  bear  in  a  small  way,  many  of 
the  sneers  and  taunts  attending  more  pretentious  organizations,  but  luck- 
ily, when  the  novelty  wore  off,  we  were  allowed  to  pursue  the  quiet  tenor 
of  our  way,  with  an  occasional  slur  at  the  "  strong-minded  "  tendency  of 

*  They  were,  Mrs.  S.  L.  Goslin,  Mrs.  A.  E.  Goslin,  Mrs.  M.  M.  Soper,  Annie  E.  Batcheller,  Mary 
Curry,  Annie  R.  Irvine. 


608  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  organization.  During  nearly  fourteen  years  we  have  held  regular 
meetings  in  a  hall  rented  for  the  purpose,  and  paid  for  by  earnings  of  the 
society.  An  excellent  organ  is  owned  by  the  club  ;  they  have  a  library  of 
several  hundred  volumes,  book-cases,  carpet,  curtains,  pictures,  tables, 
chairs,  stove,  etc.,  and  the  members  take  great  pride  in  their  cosy  head- 
quarters. At  this  writing,  interesting  meetings  are  held  on  each  Wednes- 
day evening  at  the  homes  of  the  different  members  of  the  society.*  In 
the  course  of  so  long  a  time,  this  organization  has  had  many  changes. 
Members  have  removed  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  many  sim- 
ilar clubs  elsewhere  trace  their  origin  to  our  society. 

Several  years  ago  an  open  letter  from  here  to  "  Woman's  King- 
dom," in  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean  called  attention  to  our  plan  of  work 
for  small  towns;  as  a  result  fifteen  similar  Unions  were  organized, 
some  of  them  still  flourishing.  In  northwest  Missouri  the  same  kind 
of  clubs  were  formed  in  Maryville,  Nodaway  county,  and  Savannah, 
Andrew  county,  but  neither  of  them  became  permanent.  In  the  course 
of  twelve  years  many  of  the  best  speakers  on  the  American  plat- 
form have  addressed  Oregon  audiences,  brought  here  by  the  deter- 
mined efforts  of  a  few  women.  To-day,  public  opinion  in  this  part 
of  Missouri  is  in  advance  of  other  sections  on  all  questions  relating 
to  the  great  interests  of  humanity.  In  March,  1879,  a  call  signed  by 
prominent  citizens  t  brought  together  a  large  assembly  of  men  and  women 
in  the  court-house.  An  address  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  was  delivered 
by  Rev.  John  Wayman  of  the  M.  E.  Church  of  St.  Joseph.  Mr.  James 
L.  Allen  acted  as  chairman  of  the  meeting,  and  a  society  was  then  organ- 
ized, to  bear  the  name  of  the  Holt  County  Woman  Suffrage  Society.  At 
the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Convention  held  at  St.  Louis  later  in  the 
same  year,  Jas.  L.  Allen  acted  as  delegate  from  this  association  and  re- 
ported our  progress.  The  best  organized  woman's  society  in  the  State  is 
probably  the  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  In  its  different  de- 
partments, although  hampered  by  too  much  theological  red  tape,  it  is 
reaching  thousands  of  ignorant,  prejudiced,  good  sectarian  women  who 
would  expect  the  "heavens  to  fall  "  if  they  accidentally  got  into  a  meeting 
where  "woman's  rights"  was  mentioned  even  in  a  whisper.  Mrs.  Clara 
Hoffman,  of  Kansas  City,  is  State  president,  and  a  woman  of  great  force. 
She,  as  well  as  other  leading  lights  in  the  Women's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  is  strongly  advocating  woman  suffrage  as  a  sine  qua  non  in 
the  temperance  work.  The  women  of  this  part  of  the  State  have  been 
given  quite  a  prominent  place  among  organizations  mentioned  in  a  late 
"  History  of  Missouri,  by  Counties."  The  Woman's  Union  has  taken  the 


*  President,  Emma  G.  Dobyns  ;  Vice-President,  Kate  Evans  Thatcher  ;  Secretary,  Matilda  C. 
Shutts  ;  Treasurer,  Lucy  S.  Rancher  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Annie  R.  Irvine. 

t  Believing  that  the  best  interests  of  society,  as  well  as  government,  would  be  best  served  by  admit- 
ting all  citizens  to  the  full  rights  of  citizenship,  we,  the  undersigned,  hereby  give  notice  that  a  meeting 
will  be  held  at  the  court-house,  Oregon,  on  Saturday,  March  i,  1879,  at  2  p.  m.,  for  the  purpose  of  or- 
ganizing a  Woman  Suffrage  Association.  Those  interested  are  urged  to  attend.  Clarke  Irvine,  C.  W. 
Lukens,  James  L.  Allen,  S.  B.  Lukens,  Samuel  Stuckey,  Sudia  Johnson,  D.  J.  Lukens,  Elvira  Broed- 
beck,  Mary  Curry,  Jas.  B.  Curry,  Annie  R.  Irvine. 


The   Womaris   Union.  609 

place  of  honor.*  From  the  very  outset  we  have  had  the  most  bitter  and 
persistent  opposition  from  the  churches,  more  particularly  the  Presby- 
terian, although  some  of  our  most  capable  members  were  of  that  faith. 
Exceptions  should  be  made  in  favor  of  the  Christian,  or  Campbellite,  and 
as  a  general  thing,  the  M.  E.  churches.  The  greatest  shock  we  have  had 
to  resist,  however,  came  a  few  months  since  in  the  shape  of  a  division 
among  our  own  members,  and  has  really  discouraged  the  more  independ- 
ent among  us  more  than  anything  else.  The  W.  C.  T.  U.  sent  their  Mas- 
catine  organizer  here,  to  wake  up  the  women  in  the  interests  of  the  State 
society.  Although  ignorant  and  prejudiced,  he  created  a  fanatical  stam- 
pede, and  in  the  goodness  of  their  hearts  and  the  weakness  of  their  heads, 
our  church  women  in  the  Woman's  Union  proposed  to  give  to  the  three 
temperance  clubs,  numbering  perhaps  150,  the  free  use 'of  our  rooms  and 
property,  and  suspend  our  own  club,  claiming  that  our  mission  was  ended, 
and  that  a  field  of  greater  usefulness  was  opened  in  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  line 
of  work.  The  liberal  element  refused  to  abandon  the  old  organization, 
although  many  joined  in  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  work  and  attended  both  clubs. 
However,  in  a  small  community,  where  the  consciences  of  many  good 
women  are  not  free,  we  have  met  with  serious  drawbacks.  We  have 
had  to  submit  to  a  sort  of  boycotting  process,  for  some  time,  the  ortho- 
dox, goody-goody  people  evidently  trying  to  freeze  us  out ;  although  I 
must  claim  that  nearly  every  member  of  the  Woman's  Union  is  strongly 
interested  in  the  temperance  cause,  and  as  the  different  departments  in 
the  W.  C.  T.  U.  fail  to  cover  the  ground  we  occupy,  quite  a  respectable 
number  seem  determined  to  hold  on  in  their  own  way,  trying  little  by  little 
to  better  the  condition  of  all,  and  particularly  to  increase  and  strengthen 
the  feeble  germ  of  independent  thought  in  women,  so  often  smothered 
and  destroyed  by  too  much  theology.  What  we  need  for  women  is  not 
more  spirituality  but  more  hard  common-sense,  applied  to  reform^s 
well  as  religion.  One  thing  connected  with  our  organization  is  a  matter 
of  pride  to  all  women,  namely,  that  no  pecuniary  obligation  has  ever 
been  repudiated  by  the  Woman's  Union.  Besides  paying  our  debts  we 
have  given  hundreds  of  dollars  to  works  of  charity  and  education,  and 
keep  a  standing  fund  of  $100,  to  be  used  in  case  of  emergency,  when,  as 
often  happens,  we  fail  to  make  expenses  on  lectures,  entertainments,  etc. 
It  would  not  be  claiming  too  much  if  the  Woman's  Union  of  Oregon  was 

*  In  1875  I  made  my  first  visit  to  Oregon,  and  remember  my  surprise  at  meeting  so  large  a  circle  of 
bright,  intelligent  women.  After  taking  an  old  stage  at  Travesty  city,  and  lumbering  along  two  miles 
or  more  over  bad  roads  on  a  dull  day  in  March  into  a  very  unpropitious  looking  town,  my  heart  sank 
at  the  prospect  of  the  small  audience  I  should  inevitably  have  in  such  a  spot.  Wondering  as  to  the 
character  of  the  people  I  should  find,  we  jolted  round  the  town  to  the  home  of  the  editor  and  his 
charming  wife,  Mrs.  Lucy  S.  Rancher.  Their  cordial  welcome  and  generous  hospitalities  soon  made 
the  old  stage,  the  rough  roads,  and  the  dull  town  but  dim  memories  of  the  past.  One  after  another  the 
members  of  the  Union  club  came  to  greet  me,  and  I  saw  in  that  organization  of  strong,  noble  women, 
wisdom  enough  to  redeem  the  whole  State  of  Missouri  from  its  apathy  on  the  question  of  woman's 
rights.  One  of  the  promising  features  of  the  efforts  of  the  immortal  six  women  who  took  the  initiative, 
was  the  full  sympathy  shonrn  by  their  husbands  in  their  attempts  to  improve  themselves  and  the  com- 
munity. MissCouzins  and  Miss  Anthony  soon  followed  me,  and  were  alike  surprised  and  delighted 
with  the  Literary  Club  of  Oregon.  I  was  there  again  in  '77,  and  was  entertained  by  Mrs.  R.  A.  Nor- 
ni. in,  now  living  in  St.  Joseph,  and  in  '70,  I  stayed  in  a  large,  old-fashioned  brick  house  near  the  public 
square  with  Mrs.  Montgomery,  then  "  fat,  fair  and  forty,"  and  all  three  visits,  with  the  teas  and  din- 
ners at  the  homes  of  different  members  of  the  club,  I  thoroughly  enjoyed.— [E.  C.  S. 

39 


6io  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

to  go  upon  the  historic  page  as  the  only  free,  independent  woman's  club 
ever  successfully  carried  on  for  any  length  of  time,  in  the  great  State  of 
Missouri.* 

Missouri  has  always  felt  a  becoming  pride  in  the  gifted  daugh- 
ter, Miss  Phoebe  Couzins,  who  was  the  first  woman  to  enter  the 
law  school,  go  through  the  entire  course,  and  graduate  with 
honor  to  herself  and  her  native  State.  Hence,  a  reception  to 
her,  to  mark  such  an  event,  was  preeminently  fitting.  This  com- 
pliment was  paid  to  her  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  G.  A.  Walker,  and  a 
large  gathering  of  the  elite  of  St.  Louis  honored  her  with  their 
presence.f  The  drawing-rooms  were  festooned  with  garlands  of 
,  evergreens  and  brilliant  forest  leaves  and  hanging-baskets  of 
roses  ;  the  bountiful  tables  were  elaborately  decorated  with  fruits 
and  flowers  and  statuettes,  while  pictures  of  distinguished  women 
looked  down  from  the  wall  on  every  side.  After  the  feast  came 
letters,  toasts  and  speeches,  a  brilliant  address  of  welcome  was 
given  by  Dr.  Walker,  and  an  equally  brilliant  reply  by  Miss 
Couzins.  Witty  and  complimentary  speeches  were  made  by 
Judge  Krum,  Hon.  Albert  Todd,  Mrs.  Francis  Minor,  ex-Gov- 
ernor Stanard,  Judge  Reber,  Professor  Riley,  I.  E.  Meeker,  Mrs. 
Henrietta  Noa.  Congratulatory  letters  were  received  from  several 
ladies  and  gentlemen  of  national  reputation,  and  the  following 
regrets : 

Rev.  W.  G.  Eliot,  chancellor  of  the  University,  with  "compliments  and  thanks  to 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Walker.  I  regret  that  engagements  this  evening  prevent  me  from  en- 
joywg  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Miss  Couzins  and  welcoming  her  to  her  new  and  well- 
deserved  honors,  as  I  had  expected  to  do  until  an  hour  ago." 

James  E.  Yeatman  sent  regrets  accompanied  with  "his  warmest  congratulations  to 
Miss  Couzins,  with  best  wishes  for  her  success  in  the  noble  profession  of  the  law." 

George  Partridge  regrets,  "hoping  every  encouragement  will  be  given  to  those  who 
aspire  to  high  honors  by  their  intellectual  and  moral  attainments." 

General  J.  H.  Hammond,  Kansas  City,  Mo.:  "  I  would  feel  honored  in  being  al- 
lowed the  privilege  of  congratulating  this  lady  who  so  practically  honors  her  sex." 

In  addition  to  the  many  congratulations  showered  upon  Miss 
Couzins,  she  was  the  recipient  of  testimonials  of  a  more  enduring 


*  Among  progressive  women  in  this  part  of  Missouri,  Mrs.  Adela  M.  Kelly,  of  Savannah,  wife  of  Cir- 
cuit Judge  Henry  S.  Kelly,  is  prominent  ;  in  Mound  City,  Mrs.  Emma  K.  Hershberger,  Mrs.  Mary  L. 
Mamcher,  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Tracy,  Mrs.  Fanny  Smith,  and  others,  are  leading  women,  and  were  once  resi- 
dents here,  and  members  of  the  Woman's  Union.  Among  those  actively  interested  here  now,  I  shall 
only  mention  a  few,  Mrs.  Nancy  Hershberger,  Mary  Curry,  Elvira  Broedbeck,  Lucy  A.  Christian, 
Ella  O.  Fallen,  Mary  Stirrell,  and  many  others. 

t  Among  those  present  were  the  following  ladies  and  gentlemen :  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Walker,  Phoebe 
Couzins,  esq.,  Hon.  and  Mrs.  John  B.  Henderson,  Gov.  and  Mrs.  E.  O.  Stanard,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ches- 
ter H.  Krum,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Francis  Minor,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wm.  Patrick,  Major  and  Mrs.  J.  E.  D. 
Couzins,  Major  and  Mrs.  J.  R.  Meeker,  Major  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Pope,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lippmann,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Leopold  Noa,  Miss  Noa,  Miss  A.  L.  Forbes,  Judge  Krum,  Judge  Reber,  Judge  Todd,  Geo. 
M.  Stuart  (dean),  Prof.  Riley,  State  Entomologist;  Prof.  Hager,  State  Geologist;  J.  R.  Stuart,  artist, 
and  others. 


Phoebe   W.   Couzins.  6 1 1 

and  equally  flattering  character.  Among  many  valuable  presents 
were  twelve  volumes  of  Edmund  Burke  from  Miss  A.  L.  Forbes, 
who  wished  to  testify  her  appreciation  of  the  event  by  deeds 
rather  than  words.  Mrs.  E.  O.  Stanard  presented  a  hand- 
somely-bound set  of  "  Erskine's  Speeches,"  in  five  volumes. 
There  were  other  gifts  of  great  intrinsic  worth.  These  tokens  of 
regard  were  sent  from  admiring  friends  scattered  all  over  the 
country,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

Although  Miss  Couzins  has  never  practiced  in  her  chosen  profes- 
sion, yet  the  knowledge  and  discipline  acquired  in  the  study  of  our 
American  system  of  jurisprudence  and  constitutional  law  have 
been  of  essential  service  to  her  in  the  prolonged  arguments  on 
the  enfranchisement  of  woman,  in  which  she  has  so  ably  and  elo- 
quently advocated  the  case  of  the  great  plaintiff  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  in  that  famous  law-suit  begun  by  Margaret  Fuller  in 
1840,  "  Woman  versus  Man."  Our  junior  advocate  has  taken  the 
case  into  the  highest  courts  and  made  her  appeals  to  a  jury  of 
the  sovereign  people  and  "the  judgment  of  a  candid  world." 
On  all  principles  of  precedent  and  importance  our  case  now 
stands  first  on  the  calendar.  When  will  the  verdict  be  rendered 
and  what  will  it  be  ? 


CHAPTER   XLV. 
IOWA. 

Beautiful  Scenery — Liberal  in  Politics  and  Reforms — Legislation  for  Women — No 
Right  yet  to  Joint  Earnings — Early  Agitation — Frances  Dana  Gage,  1854 — Mrs. 
Bloomer  Before  the  Territorial  Legislature,  1856 — Mrs.  Martha  H.  Brinkerhoff — 
Mrs.  Annie  Savery,  1868 — County  Associations  Formed  in  1869 — State  So- 
ciety Organized  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  1870,  Henry  O'Connor,  President — Mrs.  Cutler 
Answers  Judge  Palmer — First  Annual  Meeting,  Des  Moines — Letter  from  Bishop 
Simpson — The  State  Register  Complimentary — Mass-Meeting  at  the  Capitol — Mrs. 
Savery  and  Mrs.  Harbert — Legislative  Action — Methodist  and  Universalist 
Churches  Indorse  Woman  Suffrage — Republican  Plank,  1874 — Governor  Carpen- 
ter's Message,  1876 — Annual  Meeting,  1882,  Many  Clergymen  Present — Five 
Hundred  Editors  Interviewed — Miss  Hindman  and  Mrs.  Campbell — Mrs.  Callanan 
Interviews  Governor  Sherman,  1884 — Lawyers — Governor  Kirkwood  Appoints 
Women  to  Office — County  Superintendents — Elizabeth  S.  Cook — Journalism — 
Literature — Medicine — Ministry — Inventions — President  of  a  National  Bank — 
The  Heroic  Kate  Shelly — Temperance — Improvement  in  the  Laws. 

THE  euphonious  Indian  name,  Iowa,  signifying  "the  beautiful 
land,"  is  peculiarly  appropriate  to  those  gently  undulating  prai- 
ries, decorated  in  the  season  of  flowers  with  a  brilliant  garniture 
of  honey-suckles,  jassamines,  wild  roses  and  violets,  watered  with 
a  chain  of  picturesque  lakes  and  rivers,  chasing  each  other  into 
the  bosom  of  the  boundless  Mississippi.  The  motto  on  the  great 
seal  of  the  State,  "  Our  liberties  we  prize  and  our  rights  we  will 
maintain,"  is  the  key-note  to  the  successive  struggles  made  there 
to  build  up  a  community  of  moral,  virtuous,  intelligent  people, 
securing  justice,  liberty  and  equality  to  all.  Iowa  has  been  the 
State  to  give  large  Republican  majorities ;  to  prohibit  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  by  a  constitutional  amend- 
ment; and  to  present  propositions  before  her  legislature  for  eight 
successive  sessions  to  give  the  right  of  suffrage  to  woman.  In  the 
article  on  Iowa,  in  the  American  Cyclopaedia,  the  writer  says :  "  No 
distinction  is  made  in  law  between  the  husband  and  the  wife  in  re- 
gard to  property.  One-third  in  value  of  all  the  real  estate  of  either, 
upon  the  death  of  the  other,  goes  to  the  survivor  in  fee  simple. 
Neither  is  liable  for  the  separate  debts  of  the  other.  The  wife 
may  make  contracts  and  incur  liabilities  which  may  be  enforced 


Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer.  613 

by  or  against  her  in  the  same  manner  as  if  she  was  unmarried ; 
and  so  a  married  woman  may  sue  and  be  sued  without  the  hus- 
band being  joined  in  the  action."  Many  women  living  in  Iowa 
often  quote  these  laws  with  pride,  showing  the  liberality  of  their 
rulers  as  far  as  they  go.  But  in  new  countries  the  number 
of  women  that  inherit  property  is  very  small  compared  to  the 
number  that  work  all  their  days  to  help  pay  for  their  humble 
homes.  It  is  in  the  right  to  these  joint  earnings  where  the 
wife  is  most  cruelly  defrauded,  because  the  mother  of  a  large 
family,  who  washes,  irons,  cooks,  bakes,  patches  and  darns, 
takes  care  of  the  children,  labors  from  early  dawn  to  midnight  in 
her  own  home,  is  not  supposed  to  earn  anything,  hence  owns 
nothing,  and  all  the  labors  of  a  long  life,  the  results  of  her  thrift 
and  economy,  belong  absolutely  to  the  husband,  so  that  when  he 
dies  they  call  it  liberality  for  the  husband  to  make  his  partner  an 
heir,  and  give  her  one-third  of  their  joint  earnings. 

For  this  chapter  we  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer, 
who  moved  into  this  State  from  New  York  in  the  spring  of  1855 
with  her  husband,  who  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Council 
Bluffs,  where  they  have  resided  ever  since.  Mrs.  Bloomer  had 
been  the  editor  for  several  years  of  a  weekly  paper  called  the 
Lily,  which  advocated  both  temperance  and  woman's  rights,  and 
for  the  six  years  of  its  publication  was  of  inestimable  value 
alike  to  both  reforms.  She  was  one  of  the  earliest  champions  of 
the  woman's  rights  movement,  and  as  writer,  editor  and  lecturer, 
did  much  to  forward  the  cause  in  its  infancy.* 

The  first  agitation  of  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  in  Iowa  was  in  the 
summer  of  1854,  when  Frances  Dana  Gage  of  Ohio  gave  a  series  of  lec- 
tures in  the  southeastern  section  of  the  State  on  temperance  and  woman's 
rights.  Letters  written  to  Lily  at  the  time  show  that  large  audiences 
congregated  to  see  and  hear  a  woman  publicly  proclaiming  the  wrongs  of 
her  sex,  and  demanding  equal  rights  before  the  law.  During  the  year 
1855  the  writer  gave  several  lectures  at  Council  Bluffs,  and  in  January, 

*  In  1849  her  husband  was  appointed  post-master,  she  became  his  deputy,  was  duly  sworn  in,  and 
during  the  administration  of  Taylor  and  Fillmore  served  in  that  capacity.  When  she  assumed  her 
ditties  the  improvement  in  the  appearance  and  conduct  of  the  office  was  generally  acknowledged.  A 
neat  little  room  adjoining  became  a  kind  of  ladies'  exchange  where  those  coming  from  different  parts  of 
the  town  could  meet  to  talk  over  the  contents  of  the  last  Lily  and  the  progress  of  the  woman  suffrage 
movement  in  general.  Those  who  enjoyed  the  brief  interregnum  of  a  woman  in  the  post-office,  can 
readily  testify  to  the  loss  to  the  ladies  of  the  village  and  the  void  felt  by  all  when  Mrs.  Ulnomcr  and 
the  Lily  left  for  the  West  and  men  again  reigned  supreme. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bloomer  removed  to  Mt.  Vernon,  Ohio,  in  1853,  and  the  publication  of  the  Lily  was 
continued  ;  she  was  also  the  associate  editor  of  the  Western  Home  Visitor.  Mrs  Bloomer  lectured  in 
the  principal  cities  of  Ohio  and  throughout  the  north-went,  and  was  one  of  a  committee  of  five  appointed 
to  memorialize  the  legislature  of  Ohio  for  a  prohibitory  law,  and  assisted  in  the  formation  of  several 
lodges  of  Good  Templars, 


614  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

1856,  by  invitation,  addressed  the  second  territorial  legislature  of  Ne- 
braska, in  Representative  Hall,  Omaha ;  and  in  the  year  following  lectured 
in  Council  Bluffs,  Omaha,  Nebraska  City,  Glenwood  and  other  towns. 

In  1868  Mrs.  Martha  H.  Brinkerhoff  made  a  very  successful  lecture-tour 
through  the  northern  counties  of  Iowa.  She  roused  great  interest  and 
organized  many  societies,  canvassing  meanwhile  for  subscribers  to  The 
Revolution.  In  the  same  year  Mrs.  Annie  C.  Savery  gave  a  lecture  for  the 
benefit  of  a  blind  editor  at  Des  Moines.  In  February,  1870,  by  invitation, 
she  responded  to  a  toast  at  a  Masonic  festival  in  that  city;  and  during 
that  and  the  year  following  she  lectured  in  several  places  on  woman  suf- 
frage, and  wrote  many  able  articles  for  the  press. 

On  April  17,  1869,  the  "  Northern  Woman  Suffrage  Association  "  was 
organized  at  Dubuque.*  This  was  the  first  society  in  Iowa,  though  about 
the  same  time  others  were  being  organized  in  different  localities.  J.  L. 
McCreery,  in  his  editorial  position,  advocated  the  enfranchisement  of 
woman,  and  wrote  an  able  paper  in  favor  of  the  object  of  the  organiza- 
tion. Mrs.  Mary  N.  Adams  opened  a  correspondence  with  friends  of  the 
movement  in  other  parts  of  the  State  ;  Henry  O'Connor,  Mary  A.  Liver- 
more  and  others  lectured  before  the  society,  thus  educating  the  people 
into  a  better  understanding  of  woman's  rights  and  needs.  Mrs.  Adams 
not  only  addressed  the  home  society,  but  gave  lectures  before  lyceums 
and  educational  institutions. 

Des  Moines  has  always  maintained  the  most  successful  organization^ 
having  a  band  of  earnest  women  enlisted  in  the  work,  and  being  the  capi- 
tal of  the  State,  where  every  opportunity  was  afforded  to  facilitate  their 
efforts.  The  liberality  of  the  press,  too,  aided  vastly  in  moulding  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  the  cause.  About  the  earliest  work  done  in  that 
city  was  in  June,  1870,  when  Hannah  Tracy  Cutler  and  Amelia  Bloomer 
(immediately  on  returning  from  the  formation  of  the  State  Society  at 
Mt,  Pleasant)  held  two  meetings  there — one  in  the  open  air  on  .the 
grounds  where  the  new  capitol  now  stands,  on  the  question  of  temper- 
ance, Sunday  afternoon,  presided  over  by  Governor  Merrill ;  the  other  in 
the  Baptist  Church,  on  woman  suffrage,  the  following  evening,  Mrs.  Annie 
C.  Savery  presiding. 

The  Polk  County  Woman  Suffrage  Society  was  formed  October  25,  and 
has  never  failed  to  hold  its  meetings  regularly  each  month  since  that 
time.  Every  congress  and  every  legislature  have  been  appealed  to  by 
petitions  signed  by  thousands  of  the  best  citizens,  and  it  is  on  record  that 
the  senators  and  representatives  of  Polk  county,  with  one  exception, t 
have  always  voted  in  favor  of  submitting  the  question  of  woman's  enfran- 
chisement to  the  electors  of  the  State.  When  men  are  talked  of  for  leg- 
islative honors  they  are  interviewed  by  a  committee  from  the  society,  and 
pledges  secured  that  they  will  vote  "  aye  "  on  any  woman  suffrage  bill 
that  may  come  before  them. 

This  society  has  from  time  to  time  engaged  the  services  of  prominent 


*  The  officers  were:     President,  Mrs.  D.  S.  Wilson  ;   I'ice-President,  Mrs.  W.  P.  Sage  ;  Secretary, 
Mrs.  J.  S.  McCreery  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Mary  N.  Adams, 
t  Frank  Allen. 


Societies   Organized.  615 

lecturers,*  and  nearly  all  of  the  ministers  and  lawyers  of  the  city  have 
given  addresses  in  favor  of  the  cause.  Only  one  minister  has  openly  and 
bitterly  opposed  the  measure,  and  his  sermon  on  the  "  Subordination  of 
Woman,"  published  in  the  Register,  called  out  spirited  replies  from  Mrs. 
Savery  and  Mrs.  Bloomer  in  the  same  journal,  which  completely  demol- 
ished the  flimsy  fancies  of  the  gentleman. 

About  1874  Mrs.  Maria  Orwig  edited  a  column  in  the  Record,  and  Mary 
A.  Work  a  column  in  the  Repitblican.  Since  1880,  Mesdames  Hunter,  Or- 
wig, Woods  and  Work  have  filled  two  columns  in  The  Prohibitionist,  of 
which  Laura  A.  Berry  is  one  of  the  editors.  Mrs.  M.  J.  Coggeshall  has  for 
several  years  served  the  society  as  reporter  for  the  Register,  proving  her- 
self a  very  ready  and  interesting  writer.  All  of  these  ladies  are  efficient 
and  untiring  in  whatever  pertains  to  woman's  interest.!  The  Register 
says : 

The  field  of  labor  in  Des  Moines  is  pretty  well  occupied  by  the  ladies.  You  will 
find  them  at  the  desks  in  the  county  and  United  States  court-houses,  in  the  pension 
office,  in  the  insurance  office,  in  the  State  offices,  behind  the  counters  in  stores,  in  at- 
torneys' offices — aud  there  is  one  woman  who  assists  her  husband  at  the  blacksmith's 
trade,  and  she  can  strike  as  hard  a  blow  with  a  sledge  as  the  brawniest  workman  in 
the  shop. 

In  the  autumn  of  1870  a  society  was  organized  at  Burlington,  with 
fifty  members.  One  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  the  cause  in  this  place 
was  Mary  A.  P.  Darwin,  president  of  the  association,  who  lectured  through 
the  southern  tier  of  counties  during  the  summer  of  1870.  She  was  an 
earnest  and  forcible  speaker. 

At  Oskaloosa  the  opening  work  was  done  in  1854  by  Frances  D.  Gage, 
who  gave  four  lectures  there,  and  roused  the  people  to  thought  and  dis- 
cussion. Mattie  Griffith  Davenport  has  long  filled  a  prominent  place  in 
the  woman  suffrage  movement  in  that  city.  She  commenced  lecturing  in 
1868,  and  during  that  and  the  two  succeeding  years  traveled  over  much 
of  the  State,  speaking  upon  temperance  and  woman's  rights.  During 
1879  she  edited  a  column  of  the  Davenport  News  in  the  interest  of  suf- 
frage. In  the  summer  of  1870  Mrs.  Cutler  and  Mrs.  Bloomer  held  two 
meetings  in  Oskaloosa,  in  one  of  which  a  gentleman  engaged  in  the  dis- 
cussions, and  as  is  usual  in  such  encounters,  the  women  having  right  and 
justice  on  their  side,  came  out  the  victors  ;  at  least  so  said  the  listeners. 
Following  this  a  Woman's  Suffrage  Society  was  organized.}  Many 
prominent  speakers  lectured  here  in  turn,  and  helped  to  keep  up  the 
interest. 

Council  Bluffs  also  organized  a  society  §  in  1870,  holding  frequent  meet- 
ings and  sociables.  There  is  here  a  large  element  in  favor  of  the  ballot 

*  Lucy  Stone,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Cutler,  Mrs.  Livermore,  Anna  Dickinson,  Phabc 
Couzins,  Mrs.  Swisshelm,  Miss  Hindman  and  Mrs.  Campbell,  from  abroad;  Mesdames  Savery,  Cal la- 
nan.  Gray,  Pittman,  Boynton  Harbert,  Brown,  and  Messrs.  Fuller,  Pomcroy,  Rutkay,  Cole  and  Max- 
well, of  the  city,  have  each  in  turn  come  to  the  aid  and  encouragement  of  the  society's  work. 

t  For  information  regarding  Des  Moines  I  am  indebted  to  Mary  A.  Work,  one  of  the  most  able  ad- 
vocates of  woman  suffrage  in  the  State. 

\  President.  Porte  Welch  ;  Secretary ',  Mattie  Griffith  Davenport. 

$  President,  Amelia  Bloomer;  Vice-Presidents,  C.  Munger  and  Mary  McPherson  ;  Recording  Stc~ . 
retary,  Ada  McPherson  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Will  Shoemaker  ;  Treasurer,  E.  S.  Barnett. 


616  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

for  woman ;  and  though  we  are  unfortunate  in  not  having  an  advocate  in 
the  press,  still  Council  Bluffs  will  give  a  good  report  of  itself  when  the 
question  of  woman's  enfranchisement  shall  come  before  the  electors  for 
action.  The  trustees  of  the  public  library  of  this  city  are  women ;  the 
librarian  is  a  woman :  the  post-office  is  in  the  hands  of  a  woman ;  the 
teachers  in  the  public  schools,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  are  women; 
the  principal  of  the  high  school  is  a  woman  ;  and  a  large  number  of  the 
clerks  in  the  dry  goods  stores  are  women.  Miss  Ingelletta  Smith  received 
the  nomination  of  the  Republican  party  for  school  superintendent  in  the 
fall  of  1881,  but  was  defeated  by  her  Democratic  competitor. 

Marshalltown  had  a  suffrage  organization  as  early  as  July,  1870.*  Nettie 
Sanford  lectured  in  several  of  the  central  counties  of  the  State  during 
that  and  the  previous  year.  Josephine  Guthrie,  professor  of  Belles-Lettres 
at  Le  Grand  College,  in  a  series  of  able  articles  in  the  Marshalltown  Times 
in  1869,  claimed  for  women  equality  of  rights  before  the  law.  In  1873, 
Abbie  Gifford,  a  woman  of  high  culture  and  an  experienced  teacher,  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  county  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of 
Marshall  county,  by  a  handsome  majority ;  she  was  reflected,  serving,  in 
all,  four  years. 

At  Algona  a  society  t  was  formed  in  1871.  At  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  State  Society  at  Des  Moines,  in  1873,  Lizzie  B.  Read  delivered  an  ad- 
dress entitled,  "  Coming  Up  Out  of  the  Wilderness,"  and  in  July,  1875,  at  a 
mass-meeting  at  Clear  Lake,  one  on  "The  Bible  in  Favor  of  Woman  Suf- 
frage." Mrs.  Read,  formerly  as  Miss  Bunnel,  published  a  paper  called  the 
Mayflower,  at  Peru,  Indiana,  and  in  1865  a  county  paper  in  this  State 
called  the  Upper  Des  Moines. 

Since  1875  Jackson  county  has  had  an  efficient  Equal  Rights  Society.* 
On  July  4,  1876,  Nancy  R.  Allen,  at  the  general  celebration  at  Maquoketa, 
the  county-seat,  read  the  "  Protest  and  Declaration  of  Rights,"  issued  by 
the  National  Association  from  its  Centennial  Parlors  in  Philadelphia. 
It  was  well  received  by  the  majority  of  the  people  assembled ;  but,  as 
usual,  there  were  some  objectors.  The  Presbyterian  minister  published 
a  series  of  articles  in  the  Sentinel,  to  each  of  which  Mrs.  Allen  replied 
ably  defending  the  principles  of  the  Woman  Suffrage  party.  The  Maquo- 
keta Equal  Rights  Society  celebrated  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the 
woman's  rights  movement  July  19,  1878,  by  holding  a  public  meeting  in 
Dr.  Allen's  grounds,  in  the  shade  of  the  grand  old  trees.  It  was  a  large 
gathering,  and  many  prominent  gentlemen  of  the  city,  by  their  presence 
and  words  of  cheer,  gave  dignity  to  the  occasion.  Jackson  county  has 
long  honored  women  with  positions  of  trust.  The  deputy  recorder  is  a 
woman;  Mrs.  Allen  was  notary  public ;  Mrs.  Patton  was  nominated  for 
auditor  by  the  Greenback  party  in  1880,  but  was  defeated  with  the  rest  of 


*  Its  officers  were  :  President \  Nettie  Sanford  ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  Fred.  Baum  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Dr. 
Whealen. 

t  President,  M.  W.  Stough  ;  Secretary,  Lizzie  B.  Read.  Mrs.  Read  was  president  of  the  State 
society  in  1873,  and  Mrs.  C.  A.  Ingham  in  1881. 

$  President,  Hon.  John  E.  Goodenow  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Nancy  R.  Allen,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Stephens, 
Mrs.  A.  B.  Wilbur  ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  E.  D.  Stewart ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Julia  Dunham  ; 
Treasurer,  Mrs.  T.  P.  Connell ;  Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  S.  Stephens,  Mrs.  Julia  Doe,  Mrs.  Polly 
Hamley,  Dr.  J.  H.  Allen,  W.  S.  Belden. 


Mt.  Pleasant  Convention.  617 

the  ticket.  Women  are  book-keepers,  merchants,  clerks,  teachers  ;  and, 
in  fact,  almost  every  avenue  is  open  to  them. 

Of  Fort  Dodge,  Mrs.  Haviland  writes:  "The  subject  has  never  been 
much  agitated  here.  I  have  stood  almost  alone  these  long  years,  watch- 
ing the  work  done  by  my  sisters  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  and  hoping 
the  time  would  soon  come  when  some  move  could  be  made  in  this  place. 
Last  spring  the  annual- meeting  of  our  State  Society  was  held  here,  but  it 
was  with  difficulty  that  I  found  places  where  the  few  who  came  could  be 
entertained,  people  were  so  afraid  of  woman's  rights.  After  the  refusal 
of  the  other  churches,  the  Baptists  opened  theirs ;  the  crowd  of  curious 
ones  looked  on  and  seemed  surprised  when  they  failed  to  discover  the 
'  horns.'  "  Mrs.  A.  M.  Swain  also  writes :  "  Miss  Anthony  came  here  first 
in  June,  1871,  and  has  been  here  twice  since.  Mrs.  Swisshelm  was  here 
in  1874.  Both  were  my  guests  when  no  other  doors  were  open  to  the  ad- 
vocates of  woman  suffrage.  The  late  convention  of  the  State  Society 
held  here  was  a  decided  success ;  the  best  class  of  ladies  attended ;  the 
dignity  and  ability  shown  in  the  management,  and  the  many  interesting 
and  logical  papers  read  disarmed  all  criticism  and  awakened  genuine  in- 
terest. I  have  handed  in  my  ballot  for  several  years,  but  it  has  never 
been  received  or  counted." 

Societies  were  organized  in  1869  and  1870,  in  Independence  and  Mon- 
ticello.  Humboldt,  Nevada,  West  Union,  Corning,  Osceola,  Muscatine, 
Sigourney,  Garden  Grove,  Decorah,  Hamburg,  and  scores  of  other  towns 
have  their  local  societies.  At  West  Liberty  Mrs.  Mary  V.  Cowgill  and 
her  good  husband  are  liberal  contributors  to  the  work,  both  State  and 
National. 

At  a  convention  held  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  June  17,  18,  1870,  different  sec- 
tions of  the  State  being  well  represented,  the  Iowa  Woman  Suffrage  So- 
ciety* was  formed.  Belle  Mansfield,  president,  Frank  Hatton.t  editor  of 
the  Mt.  Pleasant  Journal,  secretary.  W.  R.  Cole  opened  the  convention 
with  prayer.  After  many  able  addresses  from  various  speakers.^  in  re- 
sponse to  an  invitation  from  the  president,  Judge  Palmer  in  a  somewhat 
excited  manner  stated  his  objections  to  woman's  voting.  He  wanted 
some  guarantee  that  good  would  result  from  giving  her  the  ballot.  He 
thought  "she  did  not  understand  driving,  and  would  upset  the  sleigh. 
Men  had  always  rowed  the  boat,  and  therefore  always  should.  Men  had 
more  force  and  muscle  than  women,  and  therefore  should  have  all  the 
power  in  their  hands."  He  spoke  of  himself  as  the  guardian  of  his  wife, 
and  said  she  did  not  want  to  vote.  After  talking  an  hour  in  this  style,  he 
took  his  seat,  greatly  to  the  relief  of  his  hearers.  Mrs.  Cutler,  in  her 

*  President,  Henry  O'Connor ;  Vice-Presidents,  Amelia  Bloomer,  Nettie  Sanford,  Mrs.  Frank 
Palmer,  Joseph  Dugdale,  John  P.  Irish  ;  Secretary,  Belle  Mansfield  ;  Corresponding  Secretary, 
Annie  C.  Savery  ;  Executive  Committee,  Mary  A.  P.  Darwin,  Mattie  Griffith  Davenport,  Mrs.  J.  L. 
McCreery,  Rev.  Augusta  Chapin,  Hon.  Charles  Beardsley. 

t  Assistant  postmaster-general  under  President  Arthur. 

t  Mary  A.  P.  Darwin,  professor  of  the  college,  and  Hon.  Charles  Beardsley,  editor  of  the  Hawktyt* 
liiirlington  ;  Hon.  Henry  O'Connor,  Muscatine;  Mary  N.  Adams,  Dubuque  ;  Annie  C.  Savery,  DCS 
M»in<:s  ;  Amelia  Bloomer,  Council  Bluffs  ;  A.  P.  Lowrie,  Marshalltown  ;  Mr*.  Beavers,  Valiv;i.  H.m- 
n  ili  Tracy  Cutler  of  Illinois,  was  the  leading  speaker  ;  Edwin  A.  Studwell  of  New  York  represent, 
ing  The  Revolution,  Col.  George  Corkhill,  Joseph  Dugdale,  Rev.  Mr.  Cooper,  Mt.  Pleasant,  were  aUc 
in  attendance. 


618  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

calm,  dignified,  deliberate  manner,  answered  his  arguments.  She  proved 
conclusively  that  muscular  force  was  not  the  power  most  needed  in  our 
government.  If  it  were,  all  the  little,  weak  men  and  women,  no  matter 
how  intellectual  must  stand  aside,  and  let  only  the  strong,  muscular  do 
the  voting  and  governing.  In  clearness  of  perception,  and  readiness  of 
debate,  she  distanced  her  opponent  altogether  in  the  opinion  of  the  con- 
vention. 

The  first  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Society  was  held  at  Des  Moines, 
October  19,  1871.  Mrs.  Bloomer  presided*  in  the  absence  of  the  presi- 
dent, Gen.  O'Connor,  Speakers  had  been  engaged  for  this  convention, 
a  good  representation  secured,  and  every  arrangement  made  for  a  success- 
ful meeting.  And  such  it  was,  barring  a  difference  of  opinion  among  the 
friends  of  the  movement  as  to  what  questions  should  properly  come  be- 
fore a  society  whose  only  object,  as  declared  in  its  constitution,  was  to 
secure  suffrage  for  women.  The  following  letters  were  received  : 

IOWA  CITY,  October  n,  1871. 

Mrs.  ANNIE  SAVERY — Dear  Madam:  Your  kind  and  very  flattering  invitation  to 
address  the  Woman's  State  Suffrage  Convention,  in  Des  Moines,  reached  me  just  prior 
to  my  departure  for  this  city,  and  I  avail  myself  of  my  first  leisure  to  respond.  It 
would  not  only  give  me  great  pleasure,  but  I  should  esteem  it  among  my  higher  du- 
ties to  accept  your  invitation,  and  give  my  emphatic  endorsement  to  the  great  reform 
movement  represented  by  the  woman  suffrage  convention,  were  it  at  all  practicable. 
But  I  have  just  reached  my  new  charge,  and  can  not  dispose  of  immediate  pressing 
claims  upon  my  time  and  effort  here.  Please  accept  my  apology  for  declining,  and 
believe  me,  ever  yours  for  woman's  enfranchisement.  C.  R.  POMEROY. 

INDIANOLA,  Sept.  30, 1871. 

Mrs.  ANNIE  SAVERY — Madam:  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter,  asking  me  to  take 
part  in  your  annual  convention.  I  thank  you  for  the  honor,  as  I  expect  from  such  a 
convention  results  the  most  salutary,  not  only  to  the  condition  of  woman,  but  also  to 
the  progress  of  our  young  and  vigorous  commonwealth.  I  have  read  carefully  the  cir- 
cular enclosed  in  your  letter,  and  consider  the  logic  irrefutable,  and  its  suggestions 
well  worthy  the  attention  of  all  who  desire  the  complete  enfranchisement  of  woman. 
I  fear  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  attend,  but  if  I  am,  I  shall  be  with  you,  should  I  do 
no  more  than  say  "  Amen  "  to  the  words  of  my  eloquent  countryman,  O'Connor,  whom 
I  learn  you  have  honored  with  the  presidency  of  your  association.  Wishing  for  your 
cause  the  fullest  success,  I  subscribe  myself — one  for  the  enfranchisement  of  woman. 

ALEXANDER  BURNS. 

A  letter  was  also  received  from  Bishop  Matthew  Simpson,  of  the  Meth- 
odist church,  who  was  always  ready  to  declare  his  adherence  to  this  great 

reform : 

OWATOMA,  Oct.  2,  1871. 

Hon.  J.  HARLAN — Dear  Senator:  Yours,  inclosing  Mrs.  Savery's  kind  invitation, 
was  received  before  I  left  Mankota.  I  would  be  pleased  to  comply  with  her  invita- 
tion, joined  as  it  is  with  your  earnest  solicitation.  But  I  am  under  bonds — if  not  to 
keep  the  peace,  at  least  to  keep  silence — so  far  as  either  sermons  or  public  addresses 
are  concerned,  until  the  full  restoration  of  my  health.  I  am  glad  to  say  my  health  is  im- 
proving. I  have  presided  at  five  conferences  this  fall — two  still  await  me.  But  I  have 
not  ventured  any  extra  labor,  nor  dare  I  for  some  time  to  come.  Please  convey  to 


*  The  speakers  were  Mr.  Rutkay,  Mrs.  Sanford,  Mrs.  Bloomer,  Mrs.  Spaulding,  Mrs.  Savery.  En- 
couraging letters  were  read  from  Joseph  A.  Dugdale,  and  Hon.  Henry  O'Connor,  president  of  the  as- 
sociation. The  officers  for  1871  were  :  President,  Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs. 
Belle  Mansfield;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Annie  Savery  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  M.  Callanan. 


Des  Moines  Convention.  619 

Mrs.  Savery  my  thanks  for  her  kind  invitation,  and  say  to  her  that  I  sympathize  fully 
with  the  suffrage  association  in  its  desire  to  attain  for  women  the  ballot. 

A  series  of  resolutions  was  discussed,  other  letters  read,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  new  converts  joined  the  association.  The  State  Register  spoke  in 
a  very  complimentary  manner  of  the  deliberations  of  this  convention  : 

It  is  but  just,  perhaps,  that  we  should  say,  in  general  terms,  of  the  State  woman  suf- 
frage convention,  in  session  in  Des  Moines  the  past  week,  that  its  proceedings  were 
characterized  with  good  sense,  dignity,  and  the  best  of  order.  The  world  has  had  an 
impression  for  five  or  six  thousand  years  that  women  cannot  talk  without  wrangling, 
counsel  without  confusion.  Again,  many  are  so  unjust  as  to  imagine  that  a  convention 
composed  of  ladies,  assembled  to  discuss  serious  subjects,  can  be  nothing  more  than  a 
quilting  party  or  tattlers'  club  enlarged  and  let  loose. 

We  have  never  seen  a  convention  conducted  with  more  decorum,  or  a  greater  degree 
of  intelligent  accord  exhibited  in  the  routine  of  proceedings,  than  was  noticeable  in 
this  first  annual  gathering  of  the  friends  of  suffrage  in  Iowa.  A  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers were  women.  They  opened  the  convention  and  conducted  the  discussions  with  a 
spirit  and  in  a  manner  after  which  men  might  well  pattern.  In  some  respects,  the 
ladies  who  took  the  lead,  showed  themselves  better  posted  in  general  information, 
in  all  matters  of  deliberation,  than  men. 

We  would  not  endorse  all  that  was  done  at  the  convention,  but  we  would  be  fair 
enough  to  give  to  it  the  meed  of  having  been,  in  all  respects,  well  conducted.  The 
convention  strengthened  those  in  whose  name  it  met,  not  only  among  themselves,  but 
with  the  public.  All  who  attended  it  were  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  its 
members  were  earnest  and  honest,  and  could  see  that  they  were  intelligent  and  well 
armed.  Whatever  it  may  have  done  directly,  and  that  we  know  was  much,  it  accom- 
plished more  good  for  its  cause  by  impressing  the  public  mind  that  its  adherents  in 
Iowa  are  banded  together  in  union,  and  bound  to  make  every  honorable  effort  for 
success. 

In  January,  1872,  I  received  a  letter  from  a  very  prominent  member  of 
the  legislature,  from  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

After  consultation  I  believe  the  House  would  resolve  itself  into  committee  of  the 
whole  (when  senators  would  be  likely  also  to  come  in),  and  hear  you  on  the  question 
of  woman  suffrage.  Should  you  desire  to  press  it  to  vote  this  session,  I  should  advise 
that  course.  As  to  the  time  of  your  hearing,  it  should  be  in  the  day,  and  appointed 
soon  after  the  recess.  We  meet  again  on  February  13.  I  think  it  could  be  arranged 
for  Friday,  the  i6th,  if  agreeable  to  you.  With  kind  regards,  JOHN  A.  KASSON. 

Notwithstanding  this  kind  proposal  of  Mr.  Kasson,  I  did  not  act  upon 
his  suggestion.  But  Mrs.  Harbert  and  Mrs.  Savery,  feeling  that  something 
must  be  done,  had  the  courage  and  the  conscience,  on  their  individual  re- 
sponsibility, to  call  a  mass-meeting  at  the  capitol  on  the  evening  previous 
to  the  day  appointed  for  the  vote  on  the  amendment  in  the  House.  Mrs. 
Harbert  presided  and  opened  the  meeting  with  an  earnest  appeal ;  Mrs. 
Savery,  Mr.  C.  P.  Holmes,  Senator  Converse,  and  Governor  Carpenter, 
made  eloquent  speeches.  The  governor,  in  opening  his  address  said  he 
vuh-d  to  strike  "black  "'from  the  constitution  sixteen  years  ago,  and 
would  then,  as  now,  had  the  opportunity  been  presented,  have  voted  to 
strike  out  "  male." 

( >n  the  following  day  when  the  amendment  came  up  in  the  House  for 
the  final  vote,  it  was  carried  by  58  to  39,  In  the  Senate  there  was  a  spir- 
ited discussion,  Hon.  Charles  Beardslcy  making  an  earnest  speech  in 
favor  of  the  resolution.  The  vote  on  engrossing  the  bill  for  the  third 


620  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

reading  stood  26  ayes  to  20  nays.  Hope  ran  high  with  the  friends  ;  but 
alas!  on  a  final  vote,  taken  but  a  few  minutes  later,  the  bill  was  lost  by  24 
nays  to  22  ayes.*  The  general  sentiment  was  well  stated  by  the  Iowa 
State  Register  : 

The  Senate  disposed  of  the  woman  suffrage  question  yesterday  by  voting  it  down. 
AVe  think  it  made  a  mistake.  Certainly  there  was,  at  the  lowest  count,  thirty  out  of 
every  hundred  voters  in  the  State  who  desired  to  have  this  legislature  ratify  the  action 
of  the  last  Assembly,  and  submit  the  question  at  the  polls  this  fall.  The  Republican 
party  has  its  own  record  to  meet  here.  The  first  time  the  negro  suffrage  question  was 
submitted  to  the  people  of  Iowa,  it  was  submitted  by  a  Republican  legislature,  and 
the  submission  was  made  when  not  over  one  voter  in  a  hundred  desired  it  done.  This 
latter  thing  was  a  plain  proposition,  a  most  justly  preferred  petition.  The  people  who 
were  anxious  to  have  the  question  submitted,  are,  it  is  confidently  claimed,  in  majority. 
We  think  their  wishes  might  well  and  fitly  have  been  granted.  Even  those  who  were 
opposed  to  them  must  see  that  the  advocates  of  the  reform  will  now  have  a  chance  to 
claim  that  the  opponents  of  it  are  afraid  to  go  with  them  to  the  people.  This  is  not 
merely  a  defeat  for  the  present  year,  but  practically  for  four  years.  Our  State  consti- 
tution can  be  amended  only  after  two  legislatures  have  acted  upon  the  amendment, 
and  the  people  have  voted  upon  it.  The  legislature  of  two  years  ago  passed  the 
resolution  voted  down  yesterday.  Now,  we  presume,  it  will  have  to  take  another 
start.  Four  years  of  waiting  and  working  before  the  friends  of  the  reform  can  be 
given  a  chance  to  get  a  verdict  from  the  people,  is  a  long  and  painful  ordeal.  It 
will  not  be  endured  with  patience.  It  would  be  asking  too  much  of  human  nature  to 
expect  that. 

At  the  annual  convention  of  1874,  at  Des  Moines,  Bishop  Gilbert  Haven 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  a  clear  and  liberal  thinker,  made  a 
very  impressive  speech  on  the  power  woman  could  wield  with  the  ballot 
in  her  own  hand  in  making  our  towns  and  cities  safe  for  our  sons  and 
daughters  to  live  in.  This  year,  the  Des  Moines  annual  conference  of  the 
M.  E.  Church  passed  resolutions  advocating  woman  suffrage  as  a  great 
moral  reform  ;  while  the  State  convention  of  the  Universalist  Association 
in  its  resolution  said  :  "This  convention  recognizes  that  women  are  en- 
titled to  all  the  social,  religious,  and  political  rights  which  men  enjoy." 

At  the  Diocesan  Convention  held  at  Davenport  May  1881,  the  Episco- 
pal Church  took  a  step  forward  by  striking  the  word  male  out  of  a  canon, 
thus  enabling  women  to  vote  for  vestrymen,  a  right  hitherto  withheld. 
It  is  but  a  straw  in  the  right  direction,  but  "  straws  show  which  way  the 
wind  blows,"  and  we  may  hope  for  more  good  things  to  follow. 

The  Republican  party,  in  convention  assembled,  at  Des  Moines,  July  i, 
1874,  inserted  the  following,  as  the  tenth  plank  of  its  platform : 

Resolved,  That  since  the  people  may  be  entrusted  with  all  questions  of  governmental 
reform,  we  favor  the  final  submission  to  them  of  the  question  of  amending  the 
constitution  so  as  to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women,  pursuant  to  the  action  of 
the  fifteenth  General  Assembly. 

*  yeas.  Senators  Beardsley,  Bemis,  Burke,  Campbell,  Chambers,  Converse,  Dague,  Dashiell,  Dysart, 
Rowland,  Hurley,  Kephart,  Maxwell,  McCold,  McKcan,  McNutt,  Read,  Shane,  Smith,  Vale,  West, 
Young — 22.  Nays,  Senators  Allen,  Boomer,  Clausscn,  Crary,  Fairall,  Fitch,  Gault,  Havens,  Ireland, 
Ketcham,  Kinne,  Larrabee,  Leavitt,  Lowry,  McCoIlough,  Merrill,  Miles,  Murray,  Russell,  Stone, 
Stewart,  Taylor,  Willett,  Wonn — 24.  Senator  Murray  had  voted  in  the  affirmative  in  the  first  instance, 
but  changed  his  vote  in  order  to  be  able  to  move  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote,  by  which  the  resolution 
was  lost. 


Letter  from   Gov.   Carpenter.  621 

The  reading  of  the  resolution  called  forth  cheers  of  approval,  and  was 
adopted  without  a  dissenting  vote,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert  is 
entitled  to  great  credit  for  this  "  woman's  plank,"  she  having  gone  before 
the  committee  on  resolutions  and  made  an  earnest  appeal  for  woman's 
recognition  by  the  Republican  party.  The  State  Record  said  : 

When  the  Republicans,  in  national  convention,  recognized  woman,  and  gave  her  a 
plank  in  the  platform  of  .the  party,  it  reflected  back  a  spirit  of  justice  and  progress 
which  is  looked  for  in  vain  in  the  party  opposing,  of  whatever  name.  But  when  the 
Republicans  of  Iowa  gave  to  a  woman  the  privilege  of  bringing  in  a  plank  of  her  own 
production,  and  that  plank  was  added  to  the  State  platform  without  a  dissenting 
voice,  it  placed  Iowa,  men  and  women  alike,  in  the  vanguard  of  the  world's  onward 
march  to  a  more  rational  life,  more  even  justice,  and  purer  government. 

In  the  Republican  State  platform  of  Iowa  is  the  first  real  and  purely  woman's  plank 
that  ever  entered  into  any  political  platform — because  it  originated  in  the  brain  of 
woman.  It  was  by  a  woman  carried  to  the  committee,  and  in  response  to  an  able, 
dignified,  and  true  womanly  appeal,  it  was  accepted,  and  by  the  convention  incorpor- 
ated into  the  platform  of  the  party.  It  may  seem  to  be  a  small  plank,  but  it  has 
strength  and  durability.  It  is  the  live  oak  of  a  living  principle,  that  will  remain  sound 
while  other  planks  of  greater  bulk  around  it  will  have  served  their  purpose  and  wasted 
away. 

It  argues  thus:  if  woman  is  competent  to  present  a  political  issue,  clothed  in 
her  own  language,  with  a  dignity  and  modesty  that  silence  opposition,  is  she  not 
competent  to  exercise  with  prudence  and  intelligence  the  elective  franchise  ?  and  would 
she  not,  if  entrusted  with  it,  exercise  it  for  the  elevation  of  a  common  humanity?  The 
Record  tenders  hearty  congratulations  not  only  to  Mrs.  Harbert,  who  we  know  will 
bear  the  honors  modestly,  but  also  to  those  who  by  their  presence  in  the  convention 
gave  encouragement  to  greater  respect  for  woman's  wishes,  and  by  whose  work  is 
demonstrated  woman's  fitness  to  be  in  truth  a  helpmeet  for  man.  We  had  a  mother, 
and  have  sisters,  wife,  and  daughter,  and  that  is  why  we  would  have  woman  enjoy 
every  privilege  and  opportunity  to  be  useful  to  herself  and  her  country  that  we  claim 
for  ourself> 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1875,  held  at  Oskaloosa,  the  following  letter 
from  the  governor  of  the  State  was  received  : 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

Mrs.  R.  G.  ORWIG,  Cor.  Sec.  I.  W.  S.  S. — Dear  Madam:  I  have  your  letter  in- 
viting me  to  be  present  at  your  annual  meeting.  Thanking  you  and  the  association 
for  the  consideration  implied,  I  have  to  express  my  regrets  that  business  of  an  official 
character  will  prevent  me  from  coming.  I  hope  your  proceedings  may  be  character- 
ized by  such  wisdom,  moderation,  and  sincerity  as  to  advance  the  cause  to  which  your 
efforts  are  given.  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover  any  argument  to  sustain  my  own 
right  to  vote  that  does  not  equally  apply  to  woman.  Whether  my  right  is  founded 
upon  the  interest  I  have,  in  common  with  my  fellows,  in  the  preservation  of  the  free 
institutions  of  my  country;  or  upon  the  protection  of  my  personal  interests  as  a  citizen; 
or  upon  my  right  to  a  voice  in  the  creation  of  laws  to  which  I  am  held  amenable;  or 
upon  my  right  to  influence  by  a  vote  the  direction  given  to  revenues  which  I  am  taxed 
to  help  supply;  or  upon  any  other  right,  personal,  political  or  moral,  I  have  never  been 
able  to  see  why  the  reasons  which  make  the  vote  valuable  to  me  do  not  apply  with 
equal  force  to  woman.  You  doubtless  think  your  efforts  are  comparatively  fruitless; 
but  I  need  not  tell  you  that  while  your  agitation  has  failed,  so  far,  to  bring  you  the  bal- 
lot, it  has  ameliorated  the  condition  of  woman  in  very  many  particulars.  Her  prop- 
erty rights  are  better  protected;  her  sphere  of  activity  has  been  enlarged,  and  her  in- 
fluence for  good  is  more  widely  recognized.  So  I  wish  you  well.  Yonrs  truly, 

C.  C.  CARPENTER. 


622  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

This  year  women  were  members  of  a  lay  delegation  in  the  Methodist  con- 
ference, and  also  lay  delegates  to  the  Presbyterian  synod.  And  in  two  or 
three  instances  women  have  been  invited  to  address  these  bodies,  and 
have  received  a  vote  of  thanks.  Many  of  the  orthodox  clergy  are  openly 
advocating  our  cause,  and  in  some  instances  women  have  been  invited 
by  them  to  occupy  their  desks  on  Sunday  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
people.  This  is  a  wonderful  advance  in  sentiment  since  1852,  when  in 
New  York  the  clergy  would  not  permit  women  to  speak,  even  on  temper- 
ance in  a  public  hall. 

In  1876  the  society  secured  the  services  of  Matilda  Hindman,  of  Pitts- 
burg,  Pa.,  who  traveled  over  the  greater  part  of  the  State,  lecturing  and 
organizing  societies,  and  was  everywhere  spoken  of  as  an  eloquent  and 
logical  speaker.  She  was  followed  by  Margaret  W.  Campbell,  and  those 
who  know  her  feel  that  the  State  gained  in  her  a  valuable  friend  in  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  interests  of  woman.  What  is  said  of  Miss  Hind- 
man as  a  speaker  may  also  be  said  of  Mrs.  Campbell. 

The  first  governor  of  Iowa  to  officially  recognize  woman's  right  to  the 
ballot  was  the  Hon.  C.  C.  Carpenter,  who  in  his  message  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  1876,  said: 

The  proposed  amendment  to  the  constitution,  adopted  by  your  predecessors,  and 
which  requires  your  sanction  before  being  submitted  to  the  voters  of  the  State,  will 
come  before  you.  I  venture  to  suggest,  that  the  uniform  expression  in  Wyoming  Ter- 
ritory, where  woman  suffrage  is  a  fact,  is  favorable  to  its  continuance,  and  that  wher- 
ever in  Europe  and  America  women  have  voted  for  school  or  minor  officers  the  influ- 
ence of  their  suffrage  has  been  beneficent;  and  in  view  o/  the  peculiar  appropriateness 
of  submitting  this  question  in  this  year,  1876,  when  all  America  is  celebrating  achieve- 
ments which  were  inspired  by  the  doctrine  that  taxation  and  representation  are  of 
right  inseparable,  it  is  recommended  that  you  give  the  people  of  Iowa  an  opportunity 
to  express  their  judgment  upon  the  proposed  amendment  at  the  ballot-box.  . 

At  the  request  of  the  State  Association,  Miss  Matilda  Hindman  was 
granted  a  hearing  before  the  legislature,  and  most  respectful  attention 
was  accorded  to  her  able  address.  Miss  Anthony  was  also  invited,  and,  at 
the  suggestion  of  Mrs.  Savery,  she  engaged  the  opera-house.  The  seats 
reserved  for  the  members  were  all  filled,  and  every  part  of  the  house  oc- 
cupied. The  day  following,  the  vote  in  the  House  was  taken,  and  carried 
by  54  to  40.  After  a  careful  canvass  of  the  Senate,  it  was  found  that  there 
were  ten  votes  to  spare  ;  but  alas !  when  the  day  for  final  action  came  the 
amendment  was  lost  by  one  vote.* 


*  The  names  of  the  representatives  voting  on  the  Woman  Suffrage  amendment  are  as  fol 
lows  (Republicans  in  Roman,  Democrats  in  Italics):  YEAS — Allen,  Baker,  Bolter,  Brooks,  Brush, 
Calvin,  Campbell,  Case,  Chapman,  Clark  of  Johnson,  Cleveland,  Colvin,  Graver,  Deweese,  Giltner, 
Given,  Glendenning,  Glover,  Hall,  Hoag,  Homer,  Horton,  Hotchkiss,  Hunt,  Irwin  of  Warren,  Jaqua, 
Jordan,  Johnson  of  Benton,  Kauffman,  Lane,  Lathrop,  Lynch,  McCartney,  McHugh,  McNeill, 
Madden  of  Polk,  Madison,  Maris,  Mills,  Moffit,  Morse  of  Wright,  Norris,  Palmer,  Prcudfoot,  Rae, 
Reed  of  Howard,  Robinson,  Said,  Scott,  Smith,  Tice,  Underwood,  Ure,  Wilson— 54.  NAYS — Auld, 
Benton,  Birchard,  Brown,  Bush,  Christy,  Clark  of  Marion,  Crawford  of  Dubuque,  Danforth, 
Dixon,  Elliot,  Evans,  Fuller,  Gibbons,  Gilliland,  Cray,  Harned,  Hemenway,  Hobbs,  Horstman, 
Johnston  of  Dubuque,  Johnson  of  Winneshiek,  McCune,  Madden  of  Taylor,  Manning,  Mentzel, 
Morse  of  Adams,  Mueller,  Reed  of  Jackson,  Rees,  Shaw,  Simmons.  Stone,  Stuart,  Stuckey,  Thayer, 
ll'hite,  Williams,  Young,  Mr.  Speaker  (John  W.  Gear)— 40.  ABSENT— Shepardson,  Graves,  Irwin  of 
Lee,  Seevers,  McElderry,  Crawford  of  Scott. 

The  vote  in  the  Senate  was:  YEAS— Arnold,  Bailey,  Campbell.  Conaway,  Dashiell,  Dwelle, 
Gallup,  Gilmore,  Graham,  Harmon,  Hersey,  Jessup,  McCoid,  Miller  of  Appanoose,  Miller  of 


Annual  Meeting  of  1882.  623 

In  1880  Senator  Gaylord  of  Floyd  county  made  a  speech,  giving  twenty- 
one  reasons  why  he  voted  against  the  submission  of  the  proposition  for 
the  enfranchisement  of  women,  which  was  published  in  full  in  the  Des 
Moines  Register,  and  thus  sent  broadcast  over  the  State.  Mrs.  Bloomer 
replied  to  Mr.  Floyd  through  the  same  paper,  meeting  and  refuting  every 
objection,  thus  in  a  measure  antidoting  the  poisonous  influence  of  the 
senator's  pronunciamenio. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  Dr.  Harriette  Bottsford  and  Mrs.  Jane  C.  Mc- 
Kinney  were  appointed  by  a  caucus  of  Republican  women,  to  the  Powe- 
sheik  county  convention,  to  choose  delegates  to  the  State  convention. 
They  presented  their  credentials  to  the  committee,  and  the  chairman  re- 
ported them  as  delegates.  On  motion,  they  were  accepted — but  some 
men  soon  bethought  them  that  this  was  establishing  a  bad  precedent,  and 
began  maneuvering  to  get  rid  of  them.  This  was  finally  done  by  declar- 
ing the  delegation  full  without  them — two  men  having  been  quietly  ap- 
pointed to  fill  vacancies  after  the  ladies  had  presented  their  credentials. 
Mrs.  McKinney  made  a  spicy  speech,  saying  they  did  not  expect  to  be 
received  as  delegates,  but  wished  to  remind  the  men  that  women  were 
citizens,  tax-payers  and  Republicans,  but  unrepresented. 

At  the  Greenback  State  convention  of  1881,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Nash  was 
nominated  as  the  candidate  of  that  party  for  State  superintendent  of 
schools.  Mrs.  Nash  declined  the  honor  intended,  and  said  that  her  politi- 
cal flag,  if  it  were  to  float  at  all,  would  be  found  in  another  camp.  She 
would  not  desert  her  colors  for  office.  In  1884  Mrs.  H.  J.  Bellangee  and 
Mrs.  A.  M.  Swain  were  regularly  accredited  delegates  to  the  National 
Greenback  convention,  held  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  to  nominate  a  candidate 
for  the  presidency,  where  they  were  received  with  the  greatest  courtesy. 

The  annual  meeting  of  1882,  at  Des  Moines,  was  remarkable  for  the 
number  of  clergymen,  representing  nearly  all  the  different  denominations, 
who  took  part  in  its  proceedings,  each  of  the  nine  seeming  to  vie  with  the 
others  in  expressing  his  belief  that  the  ballot  for  woman,  as  for  man,  was 
a  right,  not  a  privilege.  Bishop  Hurst  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  made  an  able 
speech.  The  executive  committee  sent  a  memorial  to  the  Republican 
convention,  held  in  June  for  the  nomination  of  State  officers,  asking  a 
plank  in  their  platform  favoring  the  submission  of  the  woman  suffrage 
amendment.  The  request  was  not  granted.  Leading  politicians  who  pro- 
fessed to  believe  in  equality  of  rights  for  women  feared  that  to  do  so 
would  make  too  heavy  a  weight  for  the  party  to  carry,  it  having  already 
incorporated  a  prohibition  plank  in  its  platform.  The  committee  also 
interviewed  500  editors,  asking  them  to  open  the  columns  of  their  papers 
to  the  advocacy  of  woman  suffrage.  One  hundred  and  twenty  replied 
favorably,  while  many  were  courteous  and  others  brusque  in  their  re- 
fusals. 

A  committee  on  legislation  (Mrs.  Narcissa  T.  Bemis,  chairman)  did  good 

Blackhuwk,  Mitchell,  Newton,  Nichols,  Perkins,  Thornburg,  Wood,  Woolson— aa.  NAYS — Bestow, 
Carr,  Clark,  Cooley,  Dows,  Hartshorn,  Hebard,  Kinne,  Larrabee,  Lovell,  .'/.  ('<>/•/«, i<-X-,  Maginnis, 
Merrelt  of  Clinton,  Merrill  of  Wapello,  Peast\  Rothert,  Rumple,  Tealc,  Willett,  Williams,  H'ilson, 
Wann,  Wright— 33.  ABSENT — Hitchcock  (who  was  sick  and  died  in  a  few  days),  yea  ;  Murphy \  nay; 
Shane  (resigned  on  account  of  being  appointed  district  judge),  yea  ;  StantAartt,  nay  ;  Young,  nay. 


624  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

work  during  this  session  of  the  legislature,  and  also  published  a  tract 
composed  of  contributions  from  twelve  leading  ministers  of  the  State, 
called  "The  Clergymen's  Tract."  This  was  sent  broadcast.  Xine  hun- 
dred of  the  clergy  were  favored  with  a  copy.  The  Ministerial  Associa- 
tion, held  in  Des  Moines,  passed  the  following : 

Resolved,  That  we  are  heartily  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  as  advocated  by  your 
association,  and  regard  the  same  as  a  proper  subject  for  pulpit-teaching,  and,  as  oppor- 
tunity offers  of  furthering  said  cause  in  our  pulpit  ministry,  we  will  avail  ourselves  of 
the  same. 

During  this  year  the  State  Society  contributed  liberally  to  the  Nebraska 
campaign.  Mrs.  Nancy  R.  Allen  and  Mrs.  Mary  B.  Lee  each  left  a  small 
legacy  to  the  association. 

Of  the  annual  meeting  of  1883,*  held  at  Ottumwa,  the  local  papers  gave 
full  and  fair  reports ;  while  200  papers  of  the  State  published  a  condensed 
statement  prepared  by  the  secretary.  Miss  Hindman  and  Mrs.  Campbell 
were  again  invited  to  the  State.  No  grander  work  than  theirs  was  ever 
done  in  Iowa.  There  is  scarcely  a  county  which  they  have  not  canvassed  ; 
holding  meetings,  forming  associations,  circulating  petitions,  distributing 
tracts,  preaching  on  Sundays  in  the  churches,  traveling,  often  for  months 
at  a  time,  without  a  pledge  of  pecuniary  aid,  depending  for  their  expenses 
wholly  on  funds  contributed  at  their  meetings. 

The  State  convention  of  1884  met  at  the  Christian  Church  at  Des 
Moines;  Mrs.  Nacissa  T.  Bemis  presided.  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar  of  In- 
diana was  one  of  the  speakers.  A  committee,  of  which  Mrs.  Martha  C. 
Callanan  was  chairman,  interviewed  the  governor,  asking  a  recognition 
of  woman's  right  of  suffrage,  and  were  told  it  should  receive  considera- 
tion. Accordingly,  in  his  message  to  the  legislature,  Governor  Sherman 
said : 

Your  attention  is  respectfully  directed  to  the  question  of  impartial  suffrage,  in  re- 
spect to  which  the  nineteenth  General  Assembly  proposed  an  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution. Should  this  meet  your  approval,  as  preliminary  to  taking  the  judgment  of  the 
voters,  I  recommend  that  it  be  submitted  at  a  special  election,  in  order  that  it  may  be 
freed  from  the  influence  of  partisan  politics,  and  thus  receive  an  unprejudiced  vote  of 
our  citizens.  Not  caring  to  here  express  an  opinion  upon  the  question  itself,  it  is  suf- 
ficient to  say  that  now,  as  heretofore,  I  am  in  favor  of  the  submission  of  any  question 
which  is  of  importance  and  general  interest. 

Governor  Sherman  also  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  a  good  woman  should 
be  placed  on  the  board  of  trustees  of  every  public  institution.  This  was 
the  second  time  that  an  Iowa  governor  had  referred  to  this  great  political 
question  in  his  message  to  the  General  Assembly,  Governor  Carpenter 
having  heartily  indorsed  the  measure  in  1876.  It  is  said,  however,  that 
Governor  Newbold  had  written  a  clause  on  the  subject  in  his  message  in 
1878,  but  that  it  was  suppressed  by  the  careful  counsel  of  some  guardian 
angel  of  his  party. 

Previous  to  the  assembling  of  this  legislature,  petitions  had  been  widely 


*  Narcissa  T.  Bemis  of  Independence  was  reelected  president,  and  Mary  A.  Work  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee,  with  headquarters  at  Des  Moines ;  Mrs.  Margaret  W.  Campbell  was  made  State 
lecturer  and  organizer,  and  Mariana  T.  Folsom  financial  secretary  of  the  association. 


Summitry  of  Votes  in  the  Legislature.  625 

circulated,*  praying  for  the  submission  of  the  amendment.  Over  6,000 
signatures  were  obtained.  Each  petition  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
senator  or  member  from  the  county  in  which  the  names  were  gathered, 
for  presentation  in  the  respective  Houses. 

For  fifteen  consecutive  years  the  State  Society  has  met  annually, 
made  reports,  passed  resolutions,  elected  officers,  listened  to  speeches 
and  transacted  what  other  business  has  come  before  it.  Though  its  anni- 
versaries have  usually  been  held  at  Des  Moines,  its  influence  through  the 
press  has  pervaded  the  whole  State.  Since  1875,  the  annual  meetings 
have  been  held  in  different  cities  t  outside  the  capital,  thus  giving  the 
people  of  all  sections  of  the  State  an  opportunity  to  participate  in  the 
deliberations.  Petitions  to  the  legislature  and  to  congress  have  been  cir- 
culated by  the  society,  delegates  sent  to  the  conventions  of  the  National 
and  American  Suffrage  Associations, \  and  letters  addressed  to  the  dele- 
gates of  the  State  and  National  nominating  conventions  of  the  political 
parties,  asking  for  a  recognition  of  woman's  right  to  the  ballot  in  their 
platforms. 

A  brief  recital  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Iowa  legislature  will  show  that 
a  large  majority  of  the  Representatives  have  been  in  favor  of  submitting 
the  question  of  woman  suffrage  to  a  direct  vote  of  the  men  of  the  State. 
The  proposition  was  first  presented  in  the  House  by  Hon.  John  P.  Irish, 
in  1870.  The  resolution  passed  both  Houses  with  very  little  debate,  was 
approved  by  the  governor,  and  submitted  to  the  next  General  Assembly. 
In  the  session  of  1872  it  was  discussed  in  both  Houses  at  considerable 
length,  and  again  passed  in  the  Lower  House  by  the  strong  vote  of  58 
ayes  to  39  nays ;  while  in  the  Senate  it  was  lost  by  only  two  majority. 
The  House  has  never  failed  at  any  session  since  that  time,  until  1884,  to 
give  a  majority  in  its  favor ;  but  the  Senate  has  not  made  for  itself  so 
good  a  record.  In  1872  the  vote  in  the  Senate  stood :  ayes,  22  ;  nays,  24. 
In  1876  it  was  lost  by  one  vote;  and  in  1880  lost  on  engrossment.  In 
1884  the  tables  were  turned  ;  when  the  amendment  came  up  in  the  twen- 
tieth General  Assembly  for  ratification,  the  Senate  passed  the  bill,  while 
the  House,  for  the  first  time,  defeated  it  by  a  small  majority. 


*  Mrs.  M.  A.  Darwin,  Mrs.  Martha  Callanan,  Mrs.  Judith  Ellen  Foster,  superintendents  of  the 
franchise  department  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U,  of  the  State,  rolled  up  petitions  in  their  respective  districts; 
and  Mrs.  Campbell  and  Miss  Hindman  aided  largely  in  gathering  the  signatures. 

t  In  August,  1875,  at  Oskalooba;  October,  1880,  Fort  Dodge  ;  1881,  Marshalltown  ;  1883,  Ottumwa; 
1885,  Cedar  Rapids ;  all  of  the  intervening  anniversaries  have  been  held  at  Des  Moines.  The  presi- 
dents of  the  State  society  since  its  organization  have  been  Attorney-General  Henry  O'Connor,  Amelia 
Bloomer,  Lizzie  B.  Read,  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  Mrs.  Dr.  Porter,  James  Callanan,  Martha  C. 
Callanan,  Mrs.  Caroline  A.  Ingham,  Narcissa  T.  Bcmis,  Margaret  W.  CampbeU.  When  the  society 
was  organized,  in  1870,  it  declared  itself  independent  and  remained  thus  until  1879,  when,  by  a  small 
vote,  it  was  made  auxiliary  to  the  American  Association.  The  officers  for  1885  are:  President,  Mrs. 
M.  W.  Campbell,  Des  Moines;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Eliza  H.  Hunter,  Des  Moines;  Recording  Secre- 
tary, Mrs.  Jennie  Wilson,  Cedar  Rapids  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Martha  C.  Callanan,  Des 
Moines;  Executive  Committee,  Mary  J.  Coggeshall,  Chairman:  R.  Amanda  Stewart,  Harriet  G. 
Bellangcr.  Des  Moines;  Orilla  M.  James,  Knoxvillc ;  Florence  English,  Grinnell ;  Ellen  Armstrong, 
Ottumwa;  Narcissa  T.  Bemis,  Independence;  Angeline  Allison,  Cedar  Rapids;  Elizabeth  P.  Gue, 
l>cs  Mdinus. 

t  At  the  State  Fair  held  September,  1885,  at  Des  Moines,  the  women  had  a  very  handsomely 
decorated  booth  where  they  received  many  hundred  calls,  distributed  an  immense  amount  of  suffrage 
literature,  obtained  a  thousand  signatures  to  a  petition  to  the  legislature  and  wrote  notes  of  the  fair 
for  various  newspapers,  in  all  of  which  woman  suffrage  was  freely  discussed. 

40 


626  History  of   ]Voniau  Suffrage. 

By  the  constitution  of  Iowa  an  amendment  must  be  approved  by  two 
consecutive  legislatures,  convened  in  regular  session.  When  so  approved 
it  is  then  submitted  to  the  popular  vote  of  the  electors.  As  in  this  State 
the  legislature  meets  but  once  in  two  years,  the  reader  can  see  how  easily 
a  bill  passed  at  one  session  may,  two  years  later,  be  defeated  by  the 
election  of  new  members  who  are  opposed  to  it.  And  thus  through  all 
these  years  those  who  claim  the  ballot  for  woman  in  this  State  have  been 
elated  or  depressed  by  the  action  of  each  succeeding  legislature. 

The  thirteenth  General  Assembly  not  only  earned  a  good  name  for  en- 
lightened statesmanship  by  passing  the  constitutional  amendment  in  favor 
of  woman  suffrage,  but  it  also,  by  chapter  21,  approved  March  8,  1870, 
passed  an  act  admitting  women  to  the  practice  of  law.  It  was  under  this 
that  Judith  Ellen  Foster — so  widely  known  as  an  eloquent  lecturer  and 
able  lawyer — Annie  C.  Savery,  Mrs.  Emma  Haddock,  Louisa  H.  Albert, 
Jessie  M.  Johnson,  and  several  others  have  passed  the  necessary  examina- 
tion and  been  admitted  to  practice  as  attorneys  and  counselors  in  all  the 
courts  of  the  State.  Mrs.  Arabella  Mansfield  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1869,  just  a  year  previous  to  the  enactment  of  the  law. 

Miss  Linda  M.  Ramsey,  now  Mrs.  Hartzell,  was  employed  as  a  clerk  by 
Adjutant-General  Baker  in  1864,  and  held  the  office  for  some  time  after 
the  war  closed.  The  Record  says  she  was  the  first  woman  regularly  em- 
ployed and  paid  by  the  State  for  clerical  services.  Miss  Augusta 
Matthews  served  as  military  secretary  for  Governor  Stone  during  the  war 
under  pay  of  the  State. 

It  was  the  thirteenth  General  Assembly,  1870,  that  first  elected  a 
woman,  Miss  Mary  E.  Spencer,  to  the  office  of  engrossing  clerk  ;  and  upon 
her  it  devolved  to  convey  the  message  from  the  House  to  the  Senate,  an- 
nouncing the  passage  of  the  woman  suffrage  amendment.  In  1872  each 
House  elected  one  woman  among  its  officers  ;  and  each  succeeding  Gen- 
eral Assembly  since  that  time  has  elected  from  three  to  six  women.  The 
office  of  postmaster  has  been  filled  by  women  for  the  last  ten  years,  and 
is  now  held  by  the  venerable  widow  of  General  N.  A.  Baker,  for  many 
years  the  popular  adjutant-general  of  the  State.  The  office  of  State  libra- 
rian was  filled  by  Mrs.  Ada  North  for  seven  years,  and  is  now  held  by 
Mrs.  S.  B.  Maxwell.  Mrs.  North  is  (1885)  librarian  of  the  State  University 
at  Iowa  City. 

The  State  insane  hospitals  are  inspected  by  a  visiting  commission,  one 
of  whom  is  a  woman.  Several  of  the  city  hospitals  are  managed  by 
•women  of  the  Catholic  orders.  The  reform  schools  have  a  woman  on 
their  board  of  trustees,  of  whom  Governor  Sherman  was  graciously 
pleased  to  say  that  "  she  discovered  more  of  the  true  inwardness  of  the 
institution  in  three  days  than  her  honorable  colleague  had  done  in  three 
years." 

In  1876  Governor  Kirkwood  appointed  Mrs.  Nancy  R.  Allen  notary 
public.  He  also  appointed  Mrs.  Merrill  as  teacher  and  chaplain  at  the 
State  penitentiary,  Miss  McCowen  as  physician  of  the  State  insane 
asylum,  and  Dr.  Sara  A.  Pangborn,  one  of  the  staff  of  physicians  of  the  in- 
sane hospital  at  Independence. 


Attorney-General's  Opinion.  627 

In  1874  Governor  Carpenter  appointed  Mrs.  Deborah  Cattell  a  commis- 
sioner to  investigate  the  alleged  cruelty  in  the  State  Reform  School  at 
Eldora ;  and  for  this  service  she  was  paid  the  same  as  men  who  served  on 
the  same  commission.  Governor  Gear  appointed  Dr.  Abbie  M.  Cleaves 
delegate  from  Iowa  to  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correc- 
tion, and  to  the  National  Association  for  the  Protection  of  the  Insane  and 
the  Prevention  of  Insanity,  which  was  held  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  July,  1880. 
Mrs.  Mary  Wright  and  Dr.  Abbie  Cleaves  were  commissioned  to  the  con- 
ference of  the  same  associations  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1883.  The  legisla- 
ture of  1880  appointed  Jane  C.  McKinney  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Hos- 
pital for  the  Insane,  at  Independence. 

The  eighteenth  General  Assembly,  1880,  passed  an  act  to  extend  to 
women  the  right  to  hold  the  office  of  county  recorder.  A  bill  giving 
them  the  right  to  hold  the  office  of  county  auditor  passed  the  House,  but 
was  lost  in  the  Senate.  Under  the  above  law  Miss  Addie  Hayden  was 
elected  recorder  of  Warren  county  by  a  majority  of  397  votes.  She  ran 
on  an  independent  ticket.  Mrs.  C.  J.  Hill  was  chosen  recorder  of  Osceola 
county  at  the  same  election. 

The  instruction  of  the  youth  of  Iowa  has  fallen  largely  into  the  hands 
of  women.  During  the  year  1879  the  number  of  women  employed  as 
teachers  was  13,579,  while  the  number  of  men  was  7,573.  In  the  larger  towns 
and  cities  women  are  almost  exclusively  engaged  as  teachers.  Miss  Phebe 
Ludlow,  after  having  for  several  years  acceptably  discharged  the  duties 
of  city  superintendent  of  schools  at  Davenport,  was  elected  professor  of 
English  language  and  literature  in  the  State  University  at  Iowa  City. 
The  chair  is  still  occupied  by  a  woman,  as  is  that  of  instructor  of  mathe- 
matics and  several  other  branches  in  that  institution,  which,  to  the  honor 
of  Iowa  be  it  said,  always  opened  its  doors  to  both  sexes  alike. 

The  question  of  the  eligibility  of  women  to  the  office  of  county  superin- 
tendent of  public  schools  having  arisen  by  the  election  of  Miss  Julia  C. 
Addington  in  the  autumn  of  1869,  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  attorney- 
general  by  the  State  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  and  the  follow- 
ing was  his  reply : 

Hon.  A.  S.  Kissell,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  : 

DEAR  SIR:  Rights  and  privileges  of  persons  (citizens)  are  frequently  extended  but 
never  abridged  by  implication.  The  soundness  and  wisdom  of  this  rule  of  construc- 
tion is,  I  believe,  universally  conceded.  Two  clauses  of  the  constitution,  only,  con- 
tain express  provisions  excluding  women  from  the  rights  and  privileges  in  said  pro- 
visions. Section  I,  of  Article  I.,  as  to  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  Section  4,  of  Article 
III.,  which  provides  that  members  of  the  legislature  must  be  free  white  male  citizens. 
•'  Free"  and  "white"  have  lost  their  meaning  (if  the  words  in  that  use  ever  had  any  suit- 
able or  good  meaning),  but  the  word  "male"  still  retains  its  full  force  and  effect.  If  this 
express  restriction  exists  in  the  constitution  as  to  any  other  office,  it  has  escaped  my 
notice.  It  is  true  that  the  words  "person  "  and  "  citizen  "  frequently  occur  in  other 
l>;irts  of  the  constitution  in  connection  with  eligibility  and  qualification  for  office,  and 
I  fully  admit  that  by  usage — "  time-honored  usage,"  if  you  will — these  phrases  have  in 
common  acceptation  been  taken  to  mean  man  in  the  masculine  gender  only,  and  to 
exclude  woman.  But  a  recent  decision  in  the  Court  Exchequer,  England,  holding 
that  the  generic  term  "  man  "  includes  woman  also,  indicates  our  progress  from  a  crude 
barbarism  to  a  better  civilization. 


628  History  of   Woman   Suffrage. 

The  office  of  county  superintendent  was  created  by  chapter  52  of  the  acts  of  the 
seventh  General  Assembly,  laws  of  1868,  pages  52-72.  Neither  in  that  act,  nor  in 
any  subsequent  legislation  on  the  subject,  have  I  been  able  to  find  any  express  pro- 
visions making  male  citizenship  a  test  of  eligibility  for  the  place,  or  excluding  women; 
and  when  I  look  over  the  duties  to  be  performed  by  that  officer — as  'I  have  with  some 
care,  and,  I  trust,  not  without  interest — I  deem  it  exceedingly  fortunate  for  the  cause 
of  education  in  Iowa  that  there  is  no  provision  in  the  law  preventing  women  from 
holding  the  office  of  county  superintendent  of  common  schools.  I  know  that  the  pro- 
noun "  he  "  is  frequently  used  in  different  sections  of  the  act,  and  referring  to  the  offi- 
cer; but,  as  stated  above,  this  privilege  of  the  citizen  cannot  be  taken  away  or  denied 
by  intendment  or  implication;  and  women  are  citizens  as  well  and  as  much  as  men. 

I  need  scarcely  add  that,  in  my  opinion,  Miss  Addington  is  eligible  to  the  office  to 
which  she  has  been  elected;  that  she  will  be  entitled  to  her  pay  when  she  qualifies  and 
discharges  the  duties  of  the  office,  and  that  her  decisions  on  appeal,  as  well  as  all  her 
official  acts,  will  be  legal  and  binding.  It  is  perhaps  proper  to  state  that  an  opinion 
on  this  question,  substantially  in  agreement  with  the  present  one,  was  sent  from  this 
office  to  a  gentleman  writing  from  Osage,  in  Mitchell  county,  several  weeks  ago,  which 
for  some  reason  unknown  to  me,  seems  not  to  have  been  made  public  in  the  county. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc.,  HENRY  O'CONNOR,  Attorney-General. 

Miss  Addington,  in  her  short  letter  of  inquiry  to  the  superintendent, 
has  the  following  modest  conclusion  :  "The  position  is  not  one  I  should 
have  chosen  for  myself,  but  since  my  friends  have  shown  so  much  confi- 
dence in  me,  and  many  of  them  are  desirous  that  I  should  accept  the 
office,  I  feel  inclined  to  gratify  them,  if  it  be  found  there  is  nothing  in- 
compatible in  my  doing  so." 

The  question  of  the  eligibility  of  women  to  hold  school  offices  was 
again  raised  at  the  October  election  of  1875.  Miss  Elizabeth  S.  Cooke 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  superintendent  of  common  schools  in 
Warren  county.  The  question  of  her  right  to  hold  the  office  was  carried 
by  her  opponent,  Mr.  Huff,  to  the  District  Court  of  that  county,  by  ap- 
peal ;  and  that  court  decided  that  the  defendant,  Miss  Cooke,  "  being  a 
woman,  was  ineligible  to  the  office."  It  was  then  carried  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State,  which  held  that  "there  is  no  constitutional  inhibition 
upon  the  rights  of  women  to  hold  the  office  of  county  superintendent." 
In  the  meantime,  however,  and  immediately  following  the  decision  of  the 
Warren  county  judge,  the  General  Assembly,  March  2,  1876,  promptly 
came  to  the  rescue  and  passed  the  following  act,  almost  unanimously: 

SECTION  I.  No  person  shall  be  deemed  ineligible,  by  reason  of  sex,  to  any  school 
office  in  the  State  of  Iowa. 

SEC.  2.  No  person  who  may  have  been,  or  shall  be,  elected  or  appointed  to  the 
office  of  county  superintendent  of  common  schools,  or  director,  in  the  State  of  Iowa, 
shall  be  deprived  of  office  by  reason  of  sex. 

Under  the  provisions  of  this  law,  and  the  above-cited  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  Miss  Cooke  was  allowed  to  serve  out  her  term  of  office 
without  hindrance.  Since  that  time  women  have  been  elected,  and  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  county  superintendent  with  great  credit  to  them- 
selves and  advantage  to  the  public.  Women  have  also  been  elected  to 
other  school  offices  in  different  parts  of  the  State.  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Work 
was  unanimously  elected  sub-director  in  district  No.  6,  Delaware  town- 
ship, Polk  county,  in  the  spring  of  1880;  and  soon  alter  was  made  presi- 


School  Officers  and  Journalists.  629 

dent  of  the  board — the  first  woman,  so  far  as  known,  to  fill  the  position 
of  president  of  a  school  board. 

In  1877,  in  Frederica,  Bremer  county,  Mrs.  Mary  Fisher  attended  the 
school  meeting,  and  was  elected  as  one  of  the  three  directors.  The  two 
others  were  men,  one  of  whom  immediately  resigned,  saying  he  would  not 
hold  office  with  a  woman.  His  resignation  was  at  once  accepted.  He 
further  remarked  that  "woman's  place  was  to  hum;  she  was  out  of  her 
spear  to  school  meet  ins,  holdin'  office,"  etc.  Mrs.  Fisher  had  been  a 
teacher  for  six  years.  Mrs.  Shirley,  another  successful  teacher,  accom- 
panied Mrs.  Fisher  to  the  next  school  meeting,  and  both  ladies  voted  on 
all  questions  that  came  up  for  action,  and  nothing  was  said  against  their 
doing  so. 

This  year  (1885)  the  school  board  of  Des  Moines  elected  Mrs.  Lou.  M. 
Wilson  to  the  office  of  city  superintendent  of  public  schools,  with  a  salary 
of  $i,'8oo  a  year.  She  has  in  charge  eighty  teachers,  among  whom  are 
two  men  in  the  position  of  principals.  At  the  woman's  congress,  held  at 
Des  Moines  in  October,  1885,  Dr.  Jennie  McCowen,  in  her  report  for  this 
State,  said : 

An  increasing  number  of  women  have  been  elected  on  school-boards,  and  are  serv- 
ing as  officers  and  county  superintendents  of  schools.  Last  year  six  women  served  as 
presidents,  thirty-five  as  secretaries,  and  fifty  as  treasurers  of  school-boards.  Of  the 
superintendents  and  principals  of  graded  schools  about  one  in  five  is  a  woman;  of  county 
superintendents,  one  in  nine;  of  teachers  in  normal  institutes,  one  in  three;  of  princi- 
pals of  secondary  institutions  of  learning,  one  in  three;  of  tutors  and  instructors  in 
colleges,  one  in  two;  and  in  the  twenty-three  higher  institutions  of  learning,  thirteen 
young  women  are  officiating  as  professors,  and  in  three  of  these  colleges  the  secretary 
of  the  faculty  is  a  woman.  The  State  board  of  examiners  has  one  woman — Miss 
Ella  A.  Hamilton  of  Des  Moines — and  the  State  superintendent  of  public  instruction 
has  for  a  number  of  years  availed  himself  of  the  valued  services  of  a  woman  for  private 
secretary.  The  Northwestern  Educational  Journal  is  edited  by  a  woman.  At  the 
last  meeting  of  the  State  Teachers'  Association  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare 
a  regular  course  of  reading  for  teachers.  This  course  is  mainly  professional  and  liter- 
ary, with  a  leaning  toward  the  latter.  A  large  number  of  these  reading  circles  have 
already  been  organized,  and  much  interest,  and  even  enthusiasm,  is  being  manifested 
by  teachers  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  The  school  of  Domestic  Economy,  in  connection 
with  the  Agricultural  College,  is  in  charge  of  a  woman  as  dean,  and,  although  but  a 
year  old,  has  made  an  auspicious  beginning.  A  number  of  young  ladies,  graduates  of 
the  State  University  and  other  literary  schools,  have  gone  to  the  School  of  Domestic 
Economy  to  finish  their  education. 

Iowa  has  many  women  engaged  as  journalists.  Prominent  among  these 
is  Miss  Maggie  VanPelt,  city  editor  of  the  Dubuque  Times.  She 
conducts  her  department  very  ably,  and  acceptably  to  her  readers. 
Whether  an  advocate  for  suffrage  or  not,  she  is  certainly  a  practical 
woman's  rights  woman.  Independent  and  fearless,  she  goes  about  day 
and  night  where  she  pleases,  and  wherever  her  business  calls  her.  A  re- 
volver, which  she  is  known  to  carry,  makes  it  safe  for  her  to  walk  the 
street  at  all  hours.  Mrs.  Will  Hollingsworth,  of  the  Sigourney  Review, 
does  a  large  part  of  the  writing  for  that  paper,  and  assists  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  establishment.  Woman's  Hour,  edited  by  Mary  J.  Coggeshall, 
was  published  by  women  at  Des  Moines  two  seasons,  during  the  exposi- 
tion. Ten  thousand  copies  were  printed  for  free  distribution,  and  a  hand- 


630  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

somely  decorated  department  granted  the  society  in  the  exposition  for 
their  work.  Mrs.  E.  H.  Hunter  and  Mrs.  Woods  represented  the  society. 
Mrs.  Pauline  Swaim  is  noted  for  her  journalistic  ability.  Besides  working 
on  her  husband's  paper,  the  Oskaloosa  Herald,  she  has  done  much  for  the 
State  Register,  reporting  for  it  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate.  In  October, 
1875,  Nettie  Sanford  started  a  paper  at  Marshalltown,  called  The  Woman's 
Bureau,  which  she  published  for  two  years.  During  1878  she  published 
the  San  Gabriel  Valley  News,  in  California.  Mrs.  L.  M.  Latham  for  many 
years  conducted  a  suffrage  column  in  the  Cedar  Rapids  Times;  since  1884 
she  has  been  associated  with  Mrs.  J.  L.  Wilson  on  the  Transcript,  an  eight 
column  paper  devoted  to  general  news,  temperance  and  woman  suffrage. 
The  paper  is  owned  by  Mrs.  Wilson.  Mrs.  Nettie  P.  Fox  edits  the 
Spiritual  Offering  at  Ottumwa  ;  Mrs.  Hattie  Campbell,  a  suffrage  depart- 
ment in  The  Advance,  at  Des  Moines;  Mary  Osborne  edits  the  Osceola 
Sentinel,  and  is  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of  Clark  county ; 
Mrs.  Lafayette  Young  is  engaged  on  the  Atlantic  Telegraph.  Very  many 
papers  in  the  State  have  women  in  charge  of  one  or  more  columns. 

In  the  humbler  walks  of  literature  Iowa  can  boast  quite  a  number  of 
women  who  have  made  successful  attempts  at  authorship.*  In  sculpture 
Mrs.  Harriet  A.  Ketcham,  of  Mt.  Pleasant,  deserves  mention.  She  has 
the  exclusive  contract  to  model  the  prominent  men  of  Iowa  for  the  new 
capitol.  Mrs.  Estelle  E.  Vore,  Mrs.  Cora  R.  Fracker,  and  Miss  Emma  G. 
Holt,  are  known  as  musical  composers. 

Among  the  lecturers  of  Iowa,  Mrs.  Matilda  Fletcher  is  worthy  of  men- 
tion. Though  she  has  never  made  woman  suffrage  a  specialty,  she  is 
sound  on  that  question,  and  frequently  introduces  it  incidentally  in  her 
lectures.  In  1869  she  was  living  in  obscurity  in  Council  Bluffs,  her  hus- 
band being  employed  as  a  teacher  in  one  of  the  suburban  schools.  Young, 
girlish-looking,  no  one  seeing  her  would  have  dreamed  of  her  possessing 
the  capabilities  she  has  since  displayed.  She  started  out  under  many  dis- 
couragements, but  has  shown  a  perseverance,  a  self-reliance,  and  an  in- 
domitable will  that  few  women  manifest  in  the  same  direction.  Mrs. 
Fletcher  has  been  employed  by  the  Republican  party  during  some 
of  the  most  important  and  exciting  campaigns,  speaking  through- 
out the  State,  in  halls,  tents,  and  in  the  open  air.  Every  such  effort  on 
the  part  of  woman  is  an  advantage  to  the  cause  we  advocate,  bringing  it 
nearer  to  final  success.  But  it  is  to  Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony,  Anna 
Dickinson,  Mrs.  Livermore,  and  other  lyceum  lecturers  f  that  our  State  is 
especially  indebted  for  a  knowledge  of  the  true  principles  upon  which 


*  In  literature  there  is  "Europe  through  a  Woman's  Eye,"  by  Mrs.  Cutler  of  Burlington;  "The 
Waverly  Dictionary,"  by  Miss  May  Rogers,  Dubuque ;  "Common-School  Compendium,"  by  Mrs. 
Lamphere,  Des  Moines ;  "Hospital  Life,"  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Young,  Des  Moines;  "Wee  Folks  of  No 
Man's  Land,"  by  Mrs.  Wetmore,  Dubuque;  "  Two  of  L's,"  by  Calista  Patchin,  Des  Moines;  "  For 
Girls,"  by  Mrs.  E.  R.  Shepherd,  Marshalltown;  "Autumn  Leaves,"  by  Mrs.  Scott,  Greencastle; 
"  Phonetic  Pronunciation,"  by  Mrs.  Henderson,  Salem;  "Her  Lovers,"  by  Miss  Claggett,  Keokuk ; 
"Practical  Ethics,"  by  Matilda  Fletcher.  There  are  several  writers  of  cook-books,  of  medical  and 
sanitary  papers,  of  poems,  of  legal  papers  and  of  musical  compositions.  Miss  Adeline  M.  Payne  of 
Nevada  has  compiled  catalogues  of  stock. 

t  Miss  Anthony  has  given  her  lecture,  entitled  "Woman  Wants  Bread,  not  the  Ballot,"  in  over  one 
hundred  of  the  cities  and  villages  of  the  State  ;  and  Mrs.  Slanton  and  the  others  have  doubtless  lec- 
tured in  fully  as  many  places. 


A  Damsel  in  Arms.  631 

woman  founds  her  claim  to  equal  civil  and  political  rights  with  man.  In 
all  sections  of  our  land  their  voices  have  been  heard  by  interested  and  de- 
lighted audiences. 

There  are  about  one  hnndred  and  fifty  women  in  the  medical  profession 
in  the  different  cities  of  the  State.  Mrs.  Yeomans,  of  Clinton,  is  a  suc- 
cessful practitioner.  Mrs.  King,  allopathist,  and  Mrs.  Hortz,  homeopath- 
ist,  are  regular  graduates  in  good  practice  at  Des  Moines.  Dr.  Harding, 
electrician,  and  Dr.  Hilton,  allopathist,  also  graduates,  have  all  the  practice 
they  can  attend  to  in  Council  Bluffs.  In  1883,  Dr.  Jennie  McCowen  was 
elected  president  of  the  Scott  County  Medical  Society.  This  was  the  first 
time  a  woman  was  ever  elected  to  that  office  in  this  State,  if  not  in  the 
United  States. 

It  is  quite  sure  that  Iowa  may  justly  claim  the  first  woman  in  the  pro- 
fession of  dentistry — Mrs.  Lucy  B.  Hobbs,  as  early  as  1863.*  At  Cresco 
there  is  the  firm  of  Dr.  L.  F.  &  Mrs.  M.  E.  Abbott,  dental  surgeons.  At 
Mt.  Pleasant,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Hildreth  is  a  licensed  dentist  in  successful 
practice. 

Rev.  Augusta  Chapin  was,  I  think,  the  first  woman  to  enter  the  sacred 
office  in  this  State.  Miss  Safford,  Algona  ;  Mrs.  Gillette,  Knoxville  ;  Mrs. 
M.  A.  Folsom,  Marshalltown  ;  Florence  E.  Kollock,  Waverly ;  Mrs.  M.  J. 
Janes,  Spencer ;  Mrs.  Hartsough,  Ft.  Dodge,  are  regularly  ordained 
preachers  of  the  Universalist  and  Unitarian  faiths.  There  are  several 
licensed  preachers  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  but  none  have  received  regular 
ordination. 

Iowa  furnished  the  following  women  who  went  to  the  front  as  nurses 
during  the  war  :  Mrs.  Harlan,  wife  of  Senator  Harlan  ;  Mrs.  Almira  Fales, 
Mrs.  Anne  Wittenmeyer,  Miss  Phebe  Allen,  Mrs.  Jerusha  R.  Small,  Miss 
Melcena  Elliott,  Mrs.  Arabella  Tannehill.  These  all  did  good  service  in 
hospital  and  on  the  field,  and  some  of  them  laid  down  their  lives  as  a  sac- 
rifice. We  copy  the  following  as  one  of  the  many  facts  of  the  war: 

Some  years  ago  Adjutant-General  Baker  of  Des  Moines  received  a  letter  of  inquiry 
asking  about  a  certain  soldier  in  the  Twenty-fourth  Iowa  infantry.  The  tone  of  the 
letter  was  so  peculiar  as  to  attract  considerable  attention  and  create  much  comment  in 
the  office.  In  reply  the  general  stated  that  the  records  of  the  regiment  and  the  record 
of  the  soldier  (whom,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  we  will  call  Smith,  although  that 
is  far  from  the  real  name)  were  in  his  office.  A  few  days  afterwards  a  gentleman 
from  Northern  Iowa  appeared,  inquired  for  General  Baker,  and  was  closeted  with  him 
long  enough  to  divulge  the  following  singular  tale: 

When  the  war  broke  out  Miss  Mary  Smith,  daughter  of  the  general's  visitor,  was  re- 
siding in  Ohio,  working  for  a  farmer.  Her  father's  family  had  moved  to  Iowa  the  fall 
preceding  the  attack  on  Sumter,  leaving  Mary  behind  to  follow  in  the  spring.  Vari- 
ous causes  conspired  to  delay  her  departure  for  her  Iowa  home  until  autumn,  and  it 
was  September  before  she  landed  at  Muscatine,  from  which  place  she  expected  to 
travel  by  land  to  her  father's  house.  She  was  a  large-sized,  hearty-looking  girl, 
eighteen  years  of  age.  Arriving  at  Muscatine,  some  strange  freak  induced  her  to  as- 
sume man's  apparel  and  enlist  in  the  Twenty-fourth  infantry,  then  in  rendezvous  at 
that  city.  She  did  this  without  exciting  any  suspicion,  burned  all  her  feminine  gar- 
ments and  papers,  neglected  to  inform  her  friends  of  her  arrival,  and  became  a  sol- 
dier. Some  comment  was  elicited  by  her  beardless  face  and  girlish  appearance,  but  as 


*  Sec  New  York  chapter,  page  401. 


632  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

she  did  her  duty  promptly  and  was  particularly  handy  in  cooking  and  taking  care  of  the 
sick,  the  young  warrior  speedily  became  a  general  favorite  alike  with  officers  and  men. 

She  passed  through  all  the  campaigns  in  which  the  regiment  was  engaged  without  a 
scratch,  except  a  close  call  from  a  minie  ball  at  Sabine's  Cross  Roads,  which  took  the 
skin  off  the  back  of  her  left  hand,  voted  with  the  other  members  of  the  regiment  for 
president  in  1864,  and  was  finally  mustered  out  with  her  comrades  at  the  close  of  the 
war.  When  she  was  discharged  she  procured  female  apparel — although  in  doing  so 
she  was  obliged  to  make  a  confidant  of  one  of  her  own  sex — and  procured  work  in 
Illinois,  not  far  from  Rock  Island.  Six  months  elapsed  before  the  tan  of  five  sum. 
mers  wore  off,  and  when  she  had  again  become  "white,"  and  had  re-learned  the 
almost  forgotten  customs  of  womanhood,  she  presented  herself  at  her  father's  house, 
where  she  was  received  with  open  arms. 

To  all  the  questions  which  were  asked  by  the  various  members  of  the  family  she  re- 
plied that  she  had  been  honestly  employed,  and  had  never  forsaken  the  right  way. 
She  had  been  economical  in  the  army,  and  invested  several  hundred  dollars  in  land  in 
Northern  Iowa,  which  rapidly  appreciated  in  value,  and  to-day  she  is  well  off.  \\ii\\ 
the  remainder  of  her  money  she  attended  school.  Last  January  a  worthy  man,  who 
had  been  in  the  same  regiment,  but  in  a  different  company,  made  her  an  offer  of  mar- 
riage. Like  a  true  woman  she  was  unwilling  to  bestow  her  hand  when  any  part  of  her 
former  life  was  unknown,  and  before  accepting  the  offer  she  made  to  him  a  full  reve- 
lation of  her  soldier-days.  At  first  he  could  not  believe  it,  but  when  she  proceeded  to 
narrate  events  and  incidents  which  could  be  known  only  to  active  participants  in  them, 
told  of  marches,  camps,  skirmishes,  battles,  and  the  thousand  and  one  things  which 
never  appear  in  print,  but  which  ever  remain  living  pictures  with  "old  soldiers,"  he 
was  obliged  to  accept  the  strange  tale  as  true.  The  story,  however,  did  not  lessen  his 
regard  for  her,  and  about  the  first  of  February  they  were  married. 

The  lady's  father,  after  hearing  the  tale  of  her  life,  was  still  incredulous,  and  only 
satisfied  himself  of  its  truth  by  a  visit  to  the  adjutant-general's  office  and  an  inspection 
of  the  records.  By  comparing  dates  furnished  him  by  his  daughter  with  the  original 
rolls  there  on  file  he  became  fully  convinced  that  it  was  all  true. 

A  few  of  the  inventions  patented  by  women  of  Iowa  are  the  following  : 

Fly-screen  door-attachment,  by  Phcebe  R.  Lamborne,  West  Liberty;  photograph- 
album,  Viola  J.  Angie,  Spencer;  step-ladder,  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Gartrell,  Des  Moines; 
baking-powder  can  with  measure  combined,  Mrs.  Lillie  Raymond,  Osceola;  egg- 
stand,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Tisdale,  Cedar  Rapids;  egg-beater,  and  self-feeding  griddle- 
greaser,  Mrs.  Eugenia  Kilborn,  Cedar  Rapids;  tooth-pick  holder,  Mrs.  Avers,  Clinton; 
thermometer  to  regulate  oven  heat,  Mrs.  F.  Grace,  Perry;  the  excelsior  ironing-table, 
Mrs.  S.  L.  Avery,  Marion;  neck-yoke  and  pole-attachment,  by  which  horses  can  be 
instantly  detached  from  the  vehicle,  Maria  Dunham,  Dunlap;  invalid  bed,  Mrs.  Anna 
P.  Forbes,  Dubuque. 

In  the  various  business  avocations  I  find  the  following  : 

Mrs.  T.  Nodles  is  the  largest  fancy  grocer  In  the  State,  doing  a  yearly  business  of 
$80,000.  Mrs.  C.  F.  Barren,  Cedar  Rapids,  designs  and  manufactures  perforated 
embroidery  patterns.  Statistics  show  there  are  nine  hundred  and  fifty-five  Iowa  women 
who  own  and  direct  farms;  eighteen  manage  farms;  six  own  and  direct  stock-farms; 
twenty  manage  dairy-farms;  five  own  green-houses;  nine  manage  market-gardens; 
thirty-seven  manage  high  institutions  of  learning;  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  are 
physicians;  five  attorn eys-at-law;  ten  ministers;  three  dentists;  one  hundred  and  ten 
professional  nurses,  and  one  civil  engineer. 

In  the  summer  of  1884,  the  Fort  Dodge  Messenger  had  this  paragraph 
about  a  Des  Moines  family  : 

Miss  Kate  Tupper,  of  Des  Moines,  has  been  in  town,  visiting  at  Mr.  Bassett's  for 
a  few  days.  Kate  comes  of  a  family  which  is  remarkable  for  intelligent  womanly 
effort  and  success.  Her  mother  is  Mrs.  Ellen  S.  Tupper,  the  Bee-queen  of  Iowa, 


Kate  Shelly.  633 

whose  work  on  bee-culture  is  a  recognized  authority  everywhere;  her  eldest  sister  is  a 
very  eloquent  preacher  at  Colorado  Springs;  Miss  Kate  is  studying  medicine,  having 
taken  herself  through  a  full  course  at  the  Agricultural  College  by  her  own  work;  and 
Miss  Madge,  who  is  only  sixteen,  is  a  famous  poultry  raiser,  and  an  officer  of  the 
State  Poultry  Association,  who  has  made  money  enough  in  this  business  to  defray  her 
entire  expenses  through  a  full  collegiate  course.  Mrs.  Tupper's  family  is  a  sufficient 
answer  to  the  question  of  woman's  work,  if  there  were  no  other.  Let  any  mother  in 
Iowa  show  three  boys  who  can  beat  this. 

In  this  year  Mrs.  Louisa  B.  Stevens  was  elected  president  of  the  First 
National  Bank  at  Marion,  Linn  county.  The  important  position  women 
are  taking  in  the  business  world  is  illustrated  by  the  presence  of  two 
delegates  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Street  Railway  Association  held 
in  St.  Louis  in  the  autumn  of  1885 — Mrs.  L.  V.  Gredenburg,  proprietor 
and  treasurer  of  the  New  Albany  Street  Railway  of  New  Albany,  Ind., 
and  Mrs.  M.  A.  Turner,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Des  Moines  Rail- 
way, Des  Moines,  la.  One  of  the  gentlemen  expressed  the  belief  that 
fully  $25,000,000  of  street-railway  stock  in  this  country  ist>wned  by  women. 

As  to  the  distribution  of  the  cardinal  virtues  between  men  and  women  it 
is  generally  claimed  that  the  former  possess  courage,  the  latter  fortitude. 
Although  the  pages  of  history  are  gilded  with  innumerable  instances  of 
the  remarkable  courage  of  women  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  and  oftimes 
dimmed  with  the  records  of  cowardice  in  men  of  all  classes,  yet  what  has 
been  said  for  generations  will  probably  be  repeated,  even  in  the  face  of  so 
remarkable  a  fact  as  the  following  : 

On  March  i,  1882,  the  Iowa  House  of  Representatives,  on  motion  of  Hon.  A.  J. 
Holmes,  suspended  the  rules  and  passed  a  bill  introduced  by  that  gentleman  providing 
for  the  presentation  of  a  gold  medal  and  the  thanks  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Iowa  to  Miss  Kate  Shelly,  to  which  was  added  a  money  appropriation  of  two 
hundred  dollars,  which  passed  both  Houses  and  became  a  law. 

In  support  of  the  bill,  Mr.  Holmes  spoke  as  follows: 

Mr.  Speaker:  No  apology  is  required  for  the  introduction  of  this  bill,  and  I  shall 
make  no  explanation  in  regard  to  it,  save  a  brief  rtsumt  of  the  facts  upon  which  the 
bill  is  based.  Miss  Kate  Shelly,  with  her  widowed  mother  and  little  sisters  and 
brother,  lives  in  a  humble  home  on  the  hill-side,  in  a  rugged  country  skirting  the  Des 
M  nines  River.  Her  father  had  died  years  ago  in  the  service  of  the  great  railway 
company  whose  line  for  some  distance  is  overlooked  by  her  home,  while  her  mother,  by 
economy,  severe  toil,  and  the  assistance  of  Kate,  was  able  to  support  her  little  family. 

On  the  night  of  July  6,  1881,  about  8  o'clock,  there  commenced  one  of  the  most 
memorable  storms  that  ever  visited  Central  Iowa;  nothing  like  it  had  ever  been  wit- 
nessed by  the  oldest  inhabitants.  The  Des  Moines  river  rose  over  six  feet  in  one  hour 
— little  rills  that  were  dry  almost  the  year  round,  suddenly  developed  into  minatuie 
rivers — massive  railway  bridges  and  lines  of  track  were  swept  away  as  if  they  had  been 
cobwebs.  It  was  while  looking  out  of  her  window  toward  the  high  railroad  bridge 
over  Honey  creek,  that  Kate  Shelley  saw  the  advancing  head-light  of  a  locomotive  de- 
scend into  an  abyss  and  become  extinguished,  carrying  with  it  the  light  of  two  lives. 
It  was  then  she  realized  in  all  its  force  that  a  terrible  catastrophe  had  occurred,  and 
another  more  terrible,  if  not  averted,  would  soon  follow  to  the  east-bound  express  train, 
heavily  laden  with  passengers  from  the  Pacific.  She  announced  to  her  mother,  sisters 
and  brother,  that  she  must  go  to  the  scene  of  the  accident,  and  render  assistance  if 
possible,  and  also  warn  the  oncoming  passenger  train. 

It  was  in  vain  they  tried  to  dissunde  her.  Although  she  was  obliged  to  almost  im- 
provise a  lantern  in  many  of  its  parts,  it  was  but  a  few  minutes  before  she  was  ready 
to  set  out.  Realizing  then  that  her  mission  was  one  of  peril,  and  that  she  might  not 


634  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

again  look  upon  those  dear  faces,  she  kissed  each  of  them  affectionately,  and  amid 
their  sobs,  hurried  out  into  the  gloom,  into  the  descending  floods,  toward  the  rushing 
torrents — drenched  to  the  skin,  on  she  passed  toward  the  railroad  to  the  well  remem- 
bered foot-log,  only  to  find  the  waters  rushing  along  high  above  and  beyond  the  place 
where  it  had  been.  Then  she  thought  of  the  great  bluff  rising  to  the  west  of  her 
home  and  extending  southward  toward  the  railroad  track,  and  she  determined  to 
ascend  it  and  reach  the  bridge  over  this  barrier  to  the  waters.  Need  I  recount  how 
she  struggled  on  and  up  through  the  thick  oak  undergrowth,  that,  being  storm-laden 
drooped  and  made  more  difficult  her  passage;  how  with  clothing  torn,  and  hands  and 
face  bleeding  she  arrived  at  the  end  of  the  bridge,  and  standing  out  upon  the  last  tie 
she  peered  down  into  the  abyss  of  waters  with  her  dim  light,  and  called  to  know  if 
any  one  was  there  alive.  In  answer  to  her  repeated  calls  came  the  answer  of  the  en- 
gineer, who  had  caught  hold  of  and  made  a  lodgment  in  a  tree-top,  and  around  whom 
the  waters  were  still  rapidly  rising,  sending  floating  logs,  trees,  and  driftwood  against 
his  frail  support,  and  threatening  momentarily  to  dislodge  and  engulf  him. 

It  took  but  a  moment  to  be  assured  that  he  was  the  survivor  of  four  men  who  went 
down  with  the  engine,  and  after  a  moment's  hurried  consultation,  she  started  for 
Moingona,  a  mile  distant,  to  secure  assistance  and  to  warn  the  eastward-bound  passen- 
ger train  then  nearly  due.  As  she  passed  along  the  high  grade  it  seemed  as  if  she 
must  be  blown  over  the  embankment,  and  still  the  heavens  seemed  to  give  not  rain  but 
a  deluge.  As  she  approached  the  railway  bridge  over  the  Des  Moines  river  the  light 
in  her  lantern,  her  only  guide  and  protection,  went  out.  It  was  then  that  the  heroic 
soul  of  this  child  of  only  sixteen  years  became  most  fully  apparent;  facing  the  storm 
which  almost  took  away  her  breath,  and  enveloped  in  darkness  that  rendered  every  ob- 
ject in  nature  invisible,  she  felt  her  way  to  the  railroad  bridge.  Here  she  must  pass 
for  a  distance  of  four  or  five  hundred  feet  over  the  rushing  river  beneath  on  the  naked 
ties.  As  the  wind  swept  the  bridge  she  felt  how  unsafe  it  would  be  to  attempt  walk- 
ing over  it,  and  getting  down  upon  her  hands  and  knees,  clutching  the  timbers  with  an 
almost  despairing  energy,  she  painfully  and  at  length  successfully  made  the  passage. 
She  reached  the  station,  and  having  told  of  the  catastrophe  at  the  bridge,  and  requested 
the  stoppage  of  the  passenger  train  then  about  due,  she  fainted  and  fell  upon  the  plat- 
form. This  very  briefly,  wanting  in  much  that  is  meritorious  in  it,  is  the  story  of  Kate 
Shelly  and  the  6th  of  July.  Her  parents  were  countrymen  of  Sarsfield,  of  Emmett, 
and  O'Connell — of  the  land  that  has  given  heroes  to  every  other  and  dishonored  none. 
It  was  an  act  well  worthy  to  rank  her  with  that  other  heorine,  who,  launching  her  frail 
craft  from  the  long  stone  pier,  braved  the  terrible  seas  on  that  Northumberland  coast 
to  save  the  lives  of  others  at  the  risk  of  her  own. 

Mr.  Holmes  then  produced  a  copy  of  the  State  Register,  and  requested  the  clerk  to 
read  the  article  therein  contained,  giving  the  details  of  the  heroic  girl's  action,  written 
at  the  time  of  its  occurrence,  and  after  the  clerk  had  read  the  article,  concluded  by  say- 
ing: "  I  hope,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  this  bill  may  pass,  believing  that  it  is  right,  and  fu: 
ther  believing  that  the  State  of  Iowa  will  do  itself  as  much  honor  as  the  young  lady 
named  in  the  bill,  in  thus  recognizing  the  greatest  debt  in  our  power  to  pay — that  10 
humanity."  Mr.  Pickler  moved  to  amend  by  instructing  the  gentleman  from  Boone 
(Mr.  Holmes)  to  make  the  presentation.  Carried,  and  the  bill  was  amended  accord- 
ingly, as  above.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Holmes,  the  rules  were  suspended,  and  the  bill 
passed  by  a  vote  of  90  to  I.  The  governor  of  the  State,  Hon.  A.  J.  Holmes,  and 
Hon.J.  D.  Gillett  were  authorized  to  procure  a  medal  of  design  and  inscription  to  be 
approved  by  them,  and  present  the  same  to  the  donee  with  the  thanks  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Iowa. 

The  medal,  which  is  of  elegant  design  and  workmanship,  was  executed  by  Messrs 
Tiffany  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  and  was  presented  to  Miss  Shelly  during  the  holidays  of 
1883.  It  is  round  in  form,  about  three  inches  in  diameter  and  weighs  four  ounces 
five  and  a  half  pennyweights.  On  both  sides  it  is  sunken  below  the  circular  edges 
and  the  figures  and  decorations  are  then  displayed  in  bold  relief.  On  the  face  is  a 


Friendly  Associations.  635 

figure  emblematic  of  Kate  Shelly's  daring  exploit.  It  represents  a  young  girl  with  a 
lantern  in  her  left  hand  and  her  right  thrown  far  out  in  warning,  her  hair  streaming 
in  the  wind  and  her  wet  drapery  clinging  to  her  form,  making  her  way  over  the  ties  of 
a  high  railroad  bridge,  in  storm  and  tempest,  with  the  lightning  playing  about  her. 
In  a  semi-circle  over  the  figure  are  the  words  :  "  Heroism,  Youth,  Humanity."  On 
the  reverse  is  the  following  inscription  : 

"  Presented  by  the  State  of  Iowa  to  Kate  Shelly,  with  the  thanks  of  the  General 
Assembly,  in  recognition  of  the  courage  and  devotion  of  a  child  of  fifteen  years,  whom 
neither  the  terror  of  the  elements  nor  the  fear  of  death  could  appal  in  her  efforts  to 
save  human  life  during  the  terrible  storm  and  flood  in  the  Des  Moines  valley  on  the 
night  of  July  6,  1881." 

Surrounding  the  inscription  is  a  wreath  of  leaves  and  beneath  it  the  great  seal  of 
Iowa. 

The  presentation  was  made  at  Ogden  in  the  presence  of  3,000  people.  It  was 
given  in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Iowa  by  Mr.  Welker  Given,  secretary  to  Governor 
Sherman,  July  4,  1884,  who  represented  the  governor  in  his  necessary  absence.  Hon. 
J.  A.  T.  Hull,  Secretary  of  State,  introduced  Miss  Shelly  and  recounted  her  heroic 
deed  of  that  fearful  night,  after  which  Mr.  Given  made  the  presentation  speech.  The 
response  on  behalf  of  Miss  Shelly  was  made  by  Professor  J.  D.  Curran,  an  old  friend 
and  teacher. 

All  very  well,  but  how  much  better  to  have  placed  Kate  Shelly  (bear- 
ing the  name  of  one  of  England's  great  poets)  in  the  University  at  Des 
Moines,  and  given  her  a  thorough  education,  from  the  primary  through 
the  whole  collegiate  course,  and  the  school  for  law,  medicine,  or  theology. 
A  girl  capable  of  such  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  must  possess  capacities 
and  powers  worthy  the  highest  opportunities  for  development.  Kate 
Shell)',  with  the  scientific  training  of  a  civil  engineer,  might  shed  far 
more  honor  on  her  native  State  than  sitting  in  ignorance  and  poverty  on 
the  banks  of  the  Des  Moines  river  with  a  gold  medal  round  her  neck. 

The  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  having  at  one  time  as  many  as  1,998 
Granges  in  the  State,  admit  women  to  equal  membership  and  equal  rights. 
They  have  the  same  privileges  in  debate  as  men,  and  an  equal  vote  in  all 
matters  concerning  the  Grange.  The  Grangers  do  not  seem  to  fear  that 
the  children  will  suffer,  or  home  interests  be  neglected,  on  account  of  this 
liberty  given  to  women.  Miss  Garretson  is  State  agent  and  lecturer  for 
this  order,  and  has  accomplished  much  good  by  her  labors  among  the 
people  of  the  rural  districts.  She  claims  equal  rights  for  woman  even  to 
the  ballot.  The  Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars  passed  resolutions 
unqualifiedly  committing  the  grand  lodge  of  the  State  in  favor  of  grant- 
ing suffrage  to  woman,  and  pledging  themselves  to  labor  for  the  further- 
ance of  that  object.  Temperance  women  who  have  heretofore  opposed 
the  enfranchisement  of  their  sex,  and  objected  to  mixing  the  two  ques- 
tions, are  coming  to  see  that  a  powerless,  disfranchised  class  can  do  little 
toward  removing  the  great  evil  that  is  filling  the  land  with  pauperism 
and  crime,  and  sending  sixty  thousand  victims  annually  to  a  drunkard's 
grave.  They  have  prayed  and  plead  with  the  liquor-seller;  they  have 
petitioned  electors  and  law-makers,  but  all  in  vain  ;  and  now  they  begin 
to  see  that  work  must  accompany  prayer,  and  that  if  they  would  save 
their  sons  from  destruction  they  must  strike  a  blow  in  their  defense  that 
will  be  felt  by  the  enemy.  Hence  the  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
which  at  the  outset  declared  itself  opposed  to  woman  suffrage,  has  now 


636  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

resolved  in  favor  of  that  measure  as  a  necessity  for  the  furtherance  of 
their  cause. 

On  March  31,  1880,  Judith  Ellen  Foster,  of  Clinton,  made  an  able  and 
eloquent  argument  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Education  and  Labor, 
at  Washington,  on  Senator  Logan's  proposition  to  constitute  the  revenue 
on  .alcoholic  liquors  a  national  educational  fund.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
State  Union  held  in  1883,  resolutions  were  passed,  declaring  woman's 
efforts  in  temperance  of  no  avail,  until  with  ballots  in  their  own  hands, 
they  could  coin  their  ideas  and  sympathies  into  law,  and  that  henceforward 
they  would  labor  to  secure  that  power,  that  would  speedily  make  their 
prayers  and  tears  of  some  avail.  This  action  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the 
suffrage  movement.  At  the  State  convention,  Mrs.  Jane  Amy  M'Kinney 
was  appointed  Superintendent  of  Franchise.  Circulars  were  issued  advis- 
ing the  Unions  to  make  suffrage  a  part  of  their  local  work,  and  the  advice 
was  promptly  followed  in  many  sections  of  the  State.  At  the  election  on 
the  prohibitory  amendment,  June  29,  1882,  women  rallied  at  the  polls,  and 
furnished  tickets  to  all  whom  they  could  persuade  to  take  them,  and  this 
helped  to  roll  up  a  large  vote  in  favor  of -the  amendment. 

The  laws  of  Iowa  have  been  comparatively  liberal  to  woman,  and  with 
each  successive  codification  have  been  somewhat  improved.  By  the  code 
of  1857,  the  old  right  of  dower,  or  life  interest  in  one-third  of  the  real  es- 
tate of  a  deceased  husband,  was  made  an  absolute  interest ;  and  this  is 
the  law  at  the  present  time.  Of  the  personal  property,  the  wife  takes  one- 
third  if  there  are  children,  and  one-half  if  there  are  no  children  to  inherit. 
The  same  rule  applies  to  the  husband  of  a  deceased  wife.  The  codes  of 
1857  and  r86o  each  provided  that  the  husband  could  not  remove  the  wife, 
nor  their  children,  from  their  homestead  without  the  consent  of  the  wife  ; 
and  the  code  of  1875,  now  in  force,  changed  this  only  so  as  to  provide  that 
neither  shall  the  wife  remove  the  husband  without  his  consent.  Deeds 
of  real  estate  must  be  signed  by  both  husband  and  wife,  but  no  private  ex- 
amination of  either  has  ever  been  required  in  Iowa.  A  husband  and  wife 
may  deed  property  directly  to  each  other. 

By  the  code  of  1851  the  personal  property  of  the  wife  did  not  vest  at 
once  in  the  husband,  but  if  left  within  his  control  it  became  liable  for  his 
debts,  unless  she  filed  a  notice  with  the  recorder  of  deeds,  setting  forth 
her  claim  to  the  property,  with  an  exact  description.  And  the  same  rule 
applied  to  specific  articles  of  personal  property.  Married  women  aband- 
oned by  their  husbands  could  be  authorized,  on  proper  application  to  the 
District  Court,  to  transact  business  in  their  own  name.  The  same  pro- 
visions were  substantially  reenacted  in  the  code  of  1860.  Under  both 
codes  the  husband  was  entitled  to  the  wages  and  earnings  of  his  wife,  and 
could  sue  for  them  in  the  courts. 

But  the  code  of  1873  made  a  great  advance  in  recognizing  the  rights  of 
married  women  ;  and  it  is  said  the  revisers  sought,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
place  the  husband  and  wife  on  an  entire  equality  as  to  property  rights. 
By  its  provisions,  a  married  woman  may  own,  in  her  own  right,  real  and 
personal  property  acquired  by  descent,  gift  or  purchase ;  and  she  may 
manage,  sell,  convey,  and  devise  the  same  by  will,  to  the  same  extent, 


Exact  Justice  Not   Yet.  637 

and  in  the  same  manner,  that  the  husband  can  property  belonging  to  him. 
And  this  provision  is  followed  by  others  which  fully  confer  on  the  mar- 
ried woman  the  control  of  her  own  property.  Among  other  things  it  is 
enacted,  that  a  wife  may  receive  the  wages  of  her  personal  labor,  and 
maintain  an  action  therefor  in  her  own  name,  and  hold  the  same  in  her 
own  right ;  and  she  may  prosecute  and  defend  all  actions  at  law,  or  in 
equity,  for  the  preservation  and  protection  of  her  rights  and  property. 
Contracts  may  be  made  by  a  wife,  and  liabilities  incurred,  and  the  same 
may  be  enforced  by,  or  against  her,  to  the  same  extent  as  though  she 
were  unmarried.  The  property  of  both  husband  and  wife  is  equally  liable 
for  the  expenses  of  the  family  and  the  education  of  their  children,  and 
neither  is  liable  for  the  debts  of  the  other  contracted  before  marriage. 
By  the  code  of  1873,  now  in  force,  it  is  declared  that  the  parents  are  the 
natural  guardians  of  their  children,  and  are  equally  entitled  to  their  care 
and  custody  ;  and  either  parent  dying  before  the  other,  the  survivor  be- 
comes the  guardian. 

But  notwithstanding  the  seemingly  equal  provisions  of  our  code,  there 
is  still  a  great  disparity  in  the  laws  relating  to  the  joint  property  of  hus- 
band and  wife — or  property  accumulated  during  marriage  by  their  joint 
earnings  and  savings.  Such  property,  whether  real  or  personal,  is  gener- 
ally held  in  the  name  of  the  husband — no  matter  how  much  his  wife  may 
have  helped  to  accumulate  it.  If  the  wife  dies,  the  husband  still  holds  it 
all,  and  neither  law  nor  lawyers  can  molest  him,  or  question  his  right  to 
it.  But  if  the  husband  dies,  the  case  is  very  different.  Instead  of  being 
left  in  quiet  possession  c(.  what  is  rightfully  her  own,  to  use  and  guard 
with  all  a  mother's  care  and  watchfulness  for  the  benefit  of  her  children, 
the  law  comes  in  and  claims  the  right  to  appoint  administrators  and 
guardians — to  require  bonds  and  a  strict  accountability  from  her,  and  to 
set  off  to  her  a  certain  share  of  what  should  be  as  wholly  hers  as  it  is  the 
husband's  when  the  wife  dies. 

This  is  the  old  common  law,  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  barbarous 
times,  and  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  not  yet  been  sufficient 
to  so  illumine  the  minds  of  Iowa  legislators  as  to  enable  them  to  render 
exact  justice  to  woman. 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 
WISCONSIN. 

Progressive  Legislation — The  Rights  of  Married  Women — The  Constitution  Shows 
Four  Classes  Having  the  Right  to  Vote — Woman  Suffrage  Agitation — C.  L. 
Sholes'  Minority  Report,  1856 — Judge  David  Noggle  and  J.  T.  Mills'  Minority 
Report,  1859 — State  Association  Formed,  1869 — Milwaukee  Convention — Dr. 
Laura  Ross — Hearing  Before  the  Legislature — Convention  in  Janesville,  1870 — 
State  University — Elizabeth  R.  Wentworth — Suffrage  Amendment,  1880,  '81,  '82 
— Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Racine,  1877 — Madame  Anneke — Judge  Ryan — Three 
Days'  Convention  at  Racine,  1883 — Eveleen  L.  Mason — Dr.  Sarah  Munro — Rev. 
Dr.  Corwin — Lavinia  Goodell,  Lawyer — Angie  King — Kate  Kane. 

FOR  this  digest  of  facts  in  regard  to  the  progress  of  woman  in 
Wisconsin  we  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Laura  Ross  Wolcott,*  who  was 
probably  the  first  woman  to  practice  medicine  in  a  Western 
State.  She  was  in  Philadelphia  during  all  the  contest  about  the 
admission  of  women  to  hospitals  and  mixed  classes,  maintained 
her  dignity  and  self-respect  in  the  midst  of  most  aggravating  per- 
secutions, and  was  graduated  with  high  honors  in  1856  from  the 
Woman's  Medical  College  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  Ann  Pres- 
ton^ M.  D.,  was  professor  for  nineteen  years,  six  years  dean  of 
the  faculty,  and  four  years  member  of  the  board  of  incorporators. 
After  graduation  Laura  Ross  spent  two  years  in  study  abroad, 
and,  returning,  commenced  practice  in  Milwaukee,  where  she  has 
been  ever  since. 

By  an  act  of  congress  approved  May  29,  1848,  Wisconsin  was  admitted 
to  the  Union.  Its  diversity  of  soil  and  timber,  the  healthfulness  of  its 
climate  and  the  purity  of  its  waters,  attracted  people  from  the  New 
England  and  Middle  States,  who  brought  with  them  fixed  notions  as  to 
moral  conduct  and  political  action,  and  no  little  repugnance  to  many  of  the 
features  of  the  old  common  law.  Hence  in  Wisconsin's  territorial  con- 
ventions and  legislative  assemblies  many  of  the  progressive  ideas  of  the 


*  Mrs.  Wolcott  is  a  remarkable  woman,  of  rare  intelligence,  keen  moral  perceptions  and  most  impos- 
ing presence.  Much  of  her  success  in  life  is  due  no  doubt  to  her  gracious  manners.  Her  graceful 
figure,  classic  face,  rich  voice  and  choice  language  make  her  attractive  in  the  best  social  circles,  as  well 
as  in  the  laboratory  and  lecture-room.  She  is  a  perfect  housekeeper  and  a  most  hospitable  hostess. 
Having  enjoyed  many  visits  at  her  beautiful  home  I  can  speak  alike  of  her  public  and  domestic  virtues. 
— [E.  C.  S. 

t  See  Vol.  I.,  page  389. 


Modification  of  Statutes.  639 

East  were  incorporated  into  her  statutes.  Failing  to  lift  married  women 
into  any  solid  position  of  independence,  the  laws  yet  gave  them 
certain  protective  rights  concerning  the  redemption  of  lands  sold  for 
taxes,  and  the  right  to  dispose  of  any  estate  less  than  a  fee  without  the 
husband's  consent.  In  case  of  divorce  the  wife  was  entitled  to  her  per- 
sonal estate,  dower  and  alimony,  and  with  the  consent  of  her  husband  she 
could  devise  her  real  estate.  She  was  entitled  to  dower  in  any  lands  of 
which  the  husband  was  seized  during  marriage.  Gen.  A.  W.  Randall  was 
active  in  making  the  first  digest  and  compilation  of  the  laws  of  Wisconsin. 

The  legislature  of  1850  was  composed  of  notably  intelligent  men.  Nel- 
son Dewey  was  governor,  Moses  M.  Strong,  a  leading  lawyer,  speaker  of 
the  Assembly,  and  the  late  Col.  Samuel  W.  Beal,  lieutenant-governor. 
Early  in  the  session  a  bill  was  introduced,  entitled  "An  act  to  provide  for 
the  protection  of  married  women  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  property," 
which  provoked  a  stormy  debate.  Some  saw  the  dissolution  of  marriage 
ties  in  the  destruction  of  the  old  common-law  doctrine  that  "husband  and 
wife  are  one,  and  that  one  the  husband  ";  while  arguments  were  made 
in  its  favor  by  Hon.  David  Noggle.  George  Crasey,  and  others.  Con- 
servative judges  held  that  the  right  to  own  property  did  not  entitle  mar- 
ried women  to  convey  it;  therefore  in  1858  the  law  was  amended,  giving 
further  security  to  the  wife  to  transact  business  in  her  own  name,  if  her 
husband  was  profligate  and  failed  to  support  her;  but  not  until  1872  did 
the  law  protect  a  married  woman  in  her  right  to  transact  business,  make 
contracts,  possess  her  separate  earnings,  and  sue  and  be  sued  in  her  own 
name.  The  legislature  of  1878  reenacted  all  the  former  laws;  and  mar- 
ried women  may  now  hold,  convey  and  devise  real  estate  ;  make  contracts 
and  transact  business  in  their  own  names;  and  join  with  their  husbands 
in  a  deed,  without  being  personally  liable  in  the  covenants.  In  the  mat- 
ter of  homesteads,  the  husband  cannot  convey  or  encumber  without  the 
signature  of  the  wife,  and  thus  a  liberal  provision  is  always  secure  for  her 
and  the  children. 

By  the  law  of  1878,  if  the  husband  dies  leaving  no  children  and  no  will, 
his  entire  estate  descends  to  his  widow.*  If  the  owner  of  a  homestead 
dies  intestate  and  without  children,  the  homestead  descends,  free  of  judg- 
ments and  claims — except  mortgages  and  mechanics'  liens — to  his  widow; 
if  he  leaves  children,  the  widow  retains  a  life  interest  in  the  homestead, 
continuing  until  her  marriage  or  death. 

Thus  from  the  organization  of  the  State,  Wisconsin  has  steadily  ad- 
vanced in  relieving  married  women  from  the  disabilities  of  the  old  com- 
mon law.  The  same  liberal  spirit  which  has  animated  her  legislators  has 
admitted  women  to  equality  of  opportunities  in  the  State  University  at 
Madison;  elected  them  as  county  superintendents  of  public  schools;  ap- 
pointed them  on  the  State  board  of  charities,  and  as  State  commissioners 


*  During  a  visit  with  my  school-friend,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ford  Proudfit,  at  Madison,  in  1879,  I  heard  a 
great  deal  said  of  the  injustice  of  this  law  as  illustrated  in  two  notable  cases  of  widows  in  the  enjoy- 
ment ef  their  husbands'  entire  estates,  while  the  dead  men's  relatives,  many  of  them,  were  living  in 
poverty.  This  was  most  shocking!  though  widowers,  from  time  immemorial,  have  possessed  the 
life-earnings  and  inheritance  of  their  wives,  while  the  dead  women's  mothers  and  sisters  were  starving 
;unl  freezing  within  sight  of  the  luxurious  homes  that  rightfully  belonged  to  them  !  It  makes  a  mighty 
odds  whose  ox  is  gored — the  widower's  or  the  widow's  ! — [S.  B.  A. 


640  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

to  a  foreign  exposition  ;*  and  welcomed  them  to  the  professions  of  medi- 
cine, law  and  the  ministry. 

By  the  constitution  of  Wisconsin  the  right  of  suffrage  was  awarded  to 
four  classes  of  citizens,  twenty-one  years  and  over,  who  have  resided  in 
the  State  for  one  year  next  preceding  an  election. 

First — Citizens  of  the  United  States. 

Second — Persons  of  foreign  birth  who  have  declared  their  intention  to 
become  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

Third — Persons  of  Indian  blood  who  have  already  been  declared  by  act 
of  congress  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

Fourth — Civilized  persons  of  Indian  descent  who  are  not  members  of 
any  tribe. 

While  thus  careful  to  provide  for  all  males,  savage  and  civilized,  down 
to  one  thousand  Indians  outside  their  tribe,  the  constitution  in  no  way 
recognizes  the  women  of  the  State,  one-half  its  civilized  citizens.  How- 
ever, the  question  of  woman  suffrage  was  early  agitated  in  this  State,  and 
its  advocates  were  able  men.  In  1856  there  was  an  able  minority  report 
published,  from  C.  L.  Sholes,  of  the  Committee  on  Expiration  and  Reenact- 
ment  of  Laws,  to  whom  were  referred  sundry  petitions  praying  that  steps 
might  be  taken  to  confer  upon  women  the  right  of  suffrage.  In  1857,  there 
was  another  favorable  minority  report  by  Judge  David  Noggle,  and  J.  T. 
Mills.  It  has  been  twice  considered  by  the  legislatures  of  1868-69,  and 
1880-81,  failing  each  time  by  a  small  majority.  A  constitutional  amend- 
ment is  supposed  by  some  to  be  necessary  to  effect  this  needed  reform, 
but  the  legislature  is  competent  to  pass  a  bill  declaring  women  pos- 
sessed of  the  right  to  vote,  without  any  constitutional  amendment.  The 
legislature  of  New  York  all  through  the  century  has  extended  the  right 
of  suffrage  to  certain  classes  and  deprived  others  of  its  exercise,  without 
changing  the  constitution.  The  power  of  the  legislature  which  repre- 
sents the  people  is  anterior  to  the  constitution,  as  the  people  through  their 
representatives  make  the  constitution. 

The  women,  both  German  and  American,  awoke  to  action  and  organized 
a  local  suffrage  society  at  Janesville  in  1868.  The  Revolution  said  : 

From  the  report  of  a  recent  convention  held  in  Janesville,  we  find  the  leading  men 
and  women  of  that  city  have  formed  an  Impartial  Suffrage  organization,  and  are  re- 
solved to  make  all  their  citizens  equal  before  the  law.  Able  addresses  were  made  by 
the  Rev.  S.  Farrington,  Rev.  Sumner  Ellis,  and  a  stirring  appeal  issued  to  the 
people  of  the  State,  signed  by  Hon.  J.  T.  Dow,  G.  B.  Hickox,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Stillman, 
Joseph  Baker  and  Mrs.  F.  Harris  Reed.  Mrs.  Paulina  J.  Roberts  of  Racine,  a 
practical  farmer  in  a  very  large  sense,  delivered  an  address  which  was  justly  compli- 
mented. 

The  first  popular  convention  held  in  Wisconsin,  with  national  speakers, 
convened  in  Milwaukee  February  15,  16,  1869.1  The  bill  then  pending  in 


*  In  1867  the  governor,  General  Lucius  Fairchild,  appointed  Laura  J.  Ross,  M.  D.,  as  commissioner 
to  the  World's  Exposition  in  Park.  In  1871  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Lynde  was  appointed  on  the  State  Board 
of  Charities  and  Corrections  by  Governor  Fairchild. 

t  The  committee  on  resolutions  were;  Dr.  Laura  J.  Ross,  N.  S.  Murphey,  Mrs.  Livermore,  Madame 
Annecke,  Geo.  N\*  Peckham  and  Rev.  Mr.  Gannett.  '  The  officers  of  the  convention  were  :  President, 
Rev.  Miss  Augusta  J.  Chapin ;  Vice-Presidents,  O.  P.  Wolcott,  M.  D.,  Laura  J.  Ross,  M.  D.,  and 
Madame  Matilde  F.  Annecke  ;  Secretary,  Miss  Lilia  Peckham. 


Convention  at  Milwaukee.  641 

the  legislature  to  submit  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  to  the  electors 
of  the  State  added  interest  to  this  occasion.  Parker  Pillsbury,  in  The 
Revolution,  said : 

The  Wisconsin  convention  seems  to  have  been  quite  equal  in  all  respects  to  its  pred- 
ecessors at  Chicago  and  other  places.  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  were  accom- 
panied to  Milwaukee  by  Mrs.  Livermore,  a  new  Western  star  of  "bright  particular 
effulgence,"  and  the  proceedings  throughout  were  characterized  by  argument,  eloquence 
and  interest  beyond  anything  of  the  kind  ever  witnessed  there  before.  The  Milwau- 
kee papers  teem  with  accounts  of  it,  most  of  them  of  very  friendly  tone  and  spirit, 
even  if  opposed  to  the  objects  under  consideration.  The  Evening  Wisconsin  said,  if 
any  one  supposed  for  an  instant  that  the  call  fora  Woman's  Suffrage  convention  would 
draw  out  only  that  class  known  as  strong-minded,  such  a  one  was  never  more  deceived 
in  his  or  her  life.  At  the  opening  of  the  convention*  yesterday,  the  City  Hall  was 
crowded  with  as  highly  intelligent  an  audience  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  as  ever 
gathered  there  before. 

Mrs.  Stanton  spoke  at  the  evening  session  to  an  immense  andience  on 
the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  a  man's  government  is  worse  than  a  white  man's  government, 
because  in  proportion  as  you  increase  the  rulers  you  make  the  condition  of  the  ostra- 
cised more  hopeless  and  degraded. 

Resolved,  That,  as  the  cry  of  a  "  white  man's  government  "  created  an  antagonism 
between  the  Irish  and  the  negro,  culminatirig  in  the  New  York  riots  of  '63,  so  the  Re- 
publican cry  of  "  Manhood  Suffrage  "  creates  an  antagonism  between  the  black  man 
and  all  women,  and  will  culminate  in  fearful  outrages  on  womanhood,  especially  in  the 
Southern  States. 

Resolved,  That  by  the  establishment  of  an  aristocracy  of  sex  in  the  District  of  Col- 
umbia, by  the  introduction  of  the  word  "male"  into  the  Federal  Constitution  in 
Article  14,  Section  2,  and  by  the  proposition  now  pending  to  enforce  manhood  suf- 
frage in  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  the  Republican  party  has  been  guilty  of  three 
excessively  arbitrary  acts,  three  retrogressive  steps  in  legislation,  alike  invidious  and 
insulting  to  woman,  and  suicidal  to  the  nation. 

Miss  Anthony  followed  showing  that  every  advance  step  in  manhood 
suffrage  added  to  woman's  degradation.  Quite  a  number  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen  t  of  Wisconsin  spoke  well  of  the  various  sessions  of  the  con- 
vention. Altogether  it  was  a  most  enthusiastic  meeting,  and  the  press 
and  the  pulpit  did  their  part  to  keep  up  the  discussion  for  many  weeks 
after. 

These  resolutions,  readily  passed  in  the  Milwaukee  convention,  had 
been  rejected  at  all  others  held  in  the  West  during  this  campaign, 
although  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  had  earnestly  advocated  them 
everywhere.  They  early  foresaw  exactly  what  has  come  to  pass,  and  did 
their  uttermost  to  rouse  women  to  the  danger  of  having  their  enfranchise- 
ment indefinitely  postponed.  They  warned  them  that  the  debate  once 
closed  on  negro  suffrage,  and  the  amendments  passed,  the  question  would 
not  be  opened  ag;iin  for  a  generation.  But  their  warnings  were  unheeded. 
The  fair  promises  of  Republicans  and  Abolitionists  that,  the  negro  ques- 
tion settled,  they  would  devote  themselves  to  woman's  enfranchisement, 


*  For  a  further  description  of  this  convention  see  Mrs.  Stanton's  letters  from  Tkt  Revolution,  Vol. 
I. .page  873. 

t  Miss  Lilia  Peckham,  G.  W.  Peckham,  esq..  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Madam  Matilde  Annecke, 
Rev.  Augusta  J.  Chapin,  Rev.  Mr.  Eddy,  Rev.  Mr.  English,  Rev.  Mr.  Fallows. 

41 


642  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

deceived  and  silenced  the  majority.  How  well  they  have  kept  their 
promises  is  fully  shown  in  the  fact  that  although  twenty  years  have 
passed,  the  political  status  of  woman  remains  unchanged.  The  Abolition- 
ists have  drifted  into  other  reforms,  and  the  Republicans  devote  them- 
selves to  more  conservative  measures.  The  Milwaukee  convention  was 
adjourned  to  Madison,  where  Mrs.  Livermore,  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss 
Anthony  addressed  the  legislature,  Gov.  Fairchild  presiding. 

In  1870,  March  16,  17,  a  large  and  enthusiastic  convention  was  held  at 
Janesville,  in  Lappin's  Hall.  Rev.  Dr.  Maxon,  Lilia  Peckham  and 
Mrs.  Stanton  were  among  the  speakers.  After  this,  the  latter  being  on  a 
lyceum  trip,  spoke  in  many  of  the  chief  cities  of  the  State  and  drew 
general  attention  to  the  question. 

The  following  clear  statement  of  the  petty  ways  in  which  girls  can  be 
defrauded  of  their  rights  to  a  thorough  education  by  narrow,  bigoted  men 
entrusted  with  a  little  brief  authority,  is  from  the  pen  of  Lilia  Peckham, 
a  young  girl  of  great  promise,  who  devoted  her  rare  talents  to  the  suf- 
frage movement.  Her  early  death  was  an  irreparable  loss  to  the  women 
of  Wisconsin  :* 

ED.  NEWS  : — We  find  proofs  at  every  step  that  one  class  cannot  legislate  for 
another,  the  rich  for  the  poor,  nor  men  for  women. 

The  State  University,  supported  by  the  taxes  of  the  people  and  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people,  should  offer  equal  advantages  to  men  and  women.  By  amendment  of 
the  Constitution  in  1867,  it  was  declared  that  the  University  shall  be  open  to  female 
as  well  as  male  students,  under  such  regulations  and  restrictions  as  the  board  of 
regents  may  deem  proper.  At  first  the  students  recited  together,  but  Mr.  Chadbourne 
made  it  a  condition  of  accepting  the  presidency  that  they  should  be  separated.  I  do  not 
speak  of  the  separation  of  the  sexes  to  find  fault.  I  conceive  that  if  equal  advantages  be 
given  women  by  the  State,  whether  in  connection  with  or  apart  from  men,  they  have 
no  ground  for  complaint.  My  object  is  to  compare  the  advantages  given  to  the  sexes 
and  see  the  practical  effect  of  legislation  by  men  alone  in  this  department.  From  all 
the  facts  that  are  now  pressed  upon  us,  confused,  contradictory  and  obscure,  we  begin 
to  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  general  law  that  informs  them.  The  University  has  a  college 
of  arts  (including  the  department  of  agriculture,  of  engraving  a*id  military  tactics),  a 
college  of  letters,  preparatory  department,  law  department,  post-graduate  course,  last 
and  certainly  least,  a  female  college.  The  faculty  and  board  of  instructors  number 
twenty-one.  The  college  of  arts  has  nine  professors,  one  of  natural  philosophy,  one  each 
of  mental  philosophy,  modern  languages,  rhetoric,  chemistry,  mathematics,  agriculture, 


*  Miss  Lilia  Peckham  died  in  Milwaukee,  the  city  of  her  residence.  She  had  been  ill  but 
a  few  weeks,  her  physicians  considering  her  recovery  certain  up  to  within  an  hour  of  her  death  ;  but 
•a  sudden  and  unlooked-for  change  took  place.  One  of  the  truest,  purest  and  best  spirits  we  have  ever 
met  has  thus  passed  from  earth  to  heaven.  All  who  met  her  soon  came  to  appreciate  her  gifted  nature 
her  rare  talent  and  spiritual  insight.  But  only  those  who  knew  her  well  can  bear  witness  to  her  won- 
derful unselfishness,  her  remorseless  honesty  of  speech  and  deed,  the  loftiness  of  her  ideal  and  the 
beauty  of  her  womanly  soul.  The  Milwaukee  Sentinel  closes  a  brief  obituary  notice  of  our  friend  and 
co-worker  as  follows : 

"  This  talented  young  woman  is  well  known  throughout  the  country  as  an  earnest  advocate  of  the 
woman's  rights  movement.  Only  a  few  weeks  since  she  made  a  successful  tour  through  the  West, 
speaking  in  various  city  pulpits.  Fearlessly  she  spoke  all  that  she  had  come  to  feel  was  truth,  though 
it  shook  the  very  foundations  of  old  creeds  and  ideas.  Many  efforts  from  her  scholarly  pen  attest  to 
her  devotion  to  every  onward  movement  of  the  hour.  She  was  to  have  entered  the  Cambridge  Divinity 
School  early  in  the  present  autumn,  having  chosen  the  ministry  for  her  life-work.  That  a  life  so  full 
of  promise  of  usefulness  should  be  so  suddenly  stopped  is  irreconcilable  with  our  finite  judgment. 
It  is  hard  to  say,  'it  is  well,'  though  God's  fact  may  be  that  this  young  life,  with  its  beauty 
of  character,  its  sisterly  affection,  its  still  larger  sisterly  sympathy  with  a  suffering  humanity,  its  long- 
ings and  aspirations,  its  zealous  strivings  after  the  true  and  good,  is  full  and  complete  now;  still  we 
shall  mourn  her  loss,  her  brief  though  beautiful  career." 


Miss  Peckham  on  the  State   University.          643 

and  comparative  anatomy,  and  a  tutor.  In  the  department  of  engineering  is  an  officer  of 
the  United  States  Army.  In  the  college  of  letters  is  the  same  faculty,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  William  F.  Allen,  professor  of  ancient  languages  and  history,  one  coming  from 
a  family  of  scholarly  teachers  and  thoroughly  fitted  for  his  post.  In  the  law  depart- 
ment are  such  names  as  L.  S.  Dixon  and  Byron  Paine. 

Read  now  the  names  composing  the  faculty  of  the  female  college,  Paul  A.  Chad- 
bourne,  M.  D. ,  president;  T.  N.  Haskell,  professor  of  rhetoric  and  English  lit- 
erature ;  Miss  Elizabeth  Earle,  preceptress ;  Miss  Brown,  teacher  of  music  ;  Miss 
Eliza  Brewster,  teacher  of  drawing  and  painting.  Compare  these  faculties  and  note 
what  provision  is  made  here  for  the  sciences  and  languages.  Look  at  the 
•course  of  instruction  in  the  college  of  arts.  During  the  first  year  the  men 
study  higher  algebra,  conic  sections,  plane  trigonometry,  German  (Otto's)  botany, 
Gibbon's  Rome.  In  the  college  of  letters  the  course  is  similar,  but  more  atten- 
tion is  given  to  classical  studies ;  to  Livy,  Xenophon  and  Horace.  During 
the  same  years  in  the  female  college,  they  are  studying  higher  arithmetic,  ele-  . 
mentary  algebra,  United  States  history,  grammar,  geography  and  map  drawing.  Truly 
a  high  standard!  The  studies  in  the  first  term  of  the  preparatory  department  (to  which 
none  can  be  admitted  under  twelve  years  of  age)  are  identical  with  those  in  the 
female  college  at  the  same  time,  except  the  Latin.  Indeed,  I  cannot  see  why  it 
would  not  be  an  advantage  to  the  students  of  the  female  college  to  go  into  the  pre- 
paratory department  during  their  first  college  year,  since  they  can  get  their  own  course 
with  geometry  added,  and  if  they  stay  three  years  a  proportional  amount  of  Latin  and 
Greek.  I  could  compare  the  whole  course  in  the  same  way,  but  my  time  and  the 
reader's  patience  would  fail.  There  is  no  hint  either  of  any  thorough  prescribed 
•course  in  any  of  the  languages.  In  the  first  and  fourth  year  no  foreign  language  is 
put  down.  In  each  term  of  the  second  year  French  and  Latin  are  written  as  elective, 
the  same  for  Latin  or  German  in  the  third.  This  is  a  wretched  course  at  the 
best.  I  have  no  faith  in  a  course  set  down  so  loosely  as  "Latin"  instead  of 
being  defined  as  to  what  course  of  Latin,  and  what  authors  are  read.  In  that 
case  we  know  exactly  how  much  is  required  and  expected,  and  what  the  standard 
of  scholarship.  In  the  college  of  letters  we  know  that  they  go  from  Livy  to  Cicero 
on  Old  Age,  then  to  Horace  and  Tacitus.  Similar  definiteness  would  be  encouraging 
in  the  female  catalogue.  Its  absence  gives  us  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  course 
does  not  amount  to  enough  to  add  any  reputation  to  the  college  by  being  known. 
Under  the  head  of  special  information  we  are  told  that  in  addition  to  this  prescribed 
course  of  "thorough  education  young  ladies  will  be  instructed  in  any  optional  study 
taught  in  the  college  of  letters  or  arts,  for  which  they  are  prepared."  By  optional  I 
understand  any  of  the  studies  marked  elective,  since  they  are  the  only  optional  studies. 
In  the  college  of  letters  there  is  but  one,  and  that  is  the  calculus.  In  the  college  of 
arts  the  optional  studies  are  generally,  not  always,  those  that  they  could  not  be  pre- 
pared for  in  the  course  prescribed  by  their  own  college.  Under  the  head  of  degrees 
we  find  a  long  account  of  the  A.  B.,  A.  M.,  P.  B.,  S.  B.,  S.  M.,  L.  B.,  Ph.D.,  to 
which  the  fortunate  gentlemen  are  entitled  after  so  much  study.  Lastly,  the  students 
of  the  female  college  may  receive  "  such  appropriate  degrees  as  the  regents  may  deter- 
mine." I  wonder  how  often  that  solemn  body  deliberates  as  to  whether  a  girl  shall  be 
A.  B.,  P.  B.,  or  A.  M.,  or  whether  they  ever  give  them  any  degree  at  all.  It  makes 
little  difference.  With  such  a  college  course  a  degree  means  nothing,  and  only  serves 
to  cheapen  what  may  be  well  earned  by  the  young  men  of  the  college. 

In  1870,  the  stockholders  of  the  Milwaukee  Female  College  elected 
three  women  on  their  board  of  trustees:  Mrs.  Wm.  P.  Lynde,  Mrs.  Wm. 
Delos  Love  and  Mrs.  John  Nazro.  This  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  institution  that  women  have  been  represented  in  the  board  of  trustees. 

Elizabeth  R.  Wentworth  was  an  earnest  and  excellent  writer  and  kept 
up  a  healthy  agitation  through  the  columns  of  her  husband's  paper  at 
Racine. 


644  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

RACINE,  August  4,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  Would  it  not  be  well  for  us  women  to  accept  the  hint 
afforded  by  these  Englishmen,  and  bind  ourselves  together  by  a  constitution  and  by- 
laws. By  so  doing  we  might  sooner  be  enabled  to  secure  the  rights  which  men  seem 
so  persistently  determined  to  withhold  from  us.  Very  respectfully  yours, 

E.  R.  WENTWORTH. 

The  growing  strength  of  woman  suffrage  in  England  has  caused  con- 
siderable commotion  in  that  country,  among  officials  and  others.  Its 
growth  has  led  the  men  to  form  a  club  in  opposition  to  it,  composed 
of  such  men  as  Mr.  Bouverie,  a  noted  member  of  Parliament;  Sir  Henry 
James,  late  attorney-general ;  Mr.  Childers,  late  first  lord  of  the  admiralty. 

The  formation  of  this  club  calls  out  a  few  words  from  Mrs.  Stanton, 
who  sarcastically  says : 

Is  not  this  the  first  organized  resistance  in  the  history  of  the  race,  against  the 
encroachment  of  women  ;  the  first  manly  confession  by  those  high  in  authority — by 
lords,  attorney-generals,  sirs,  and  gentlemen — of  fear  at  the  progressive  steps  of  the 
daughters  of  men  ?  These  conservative  gentlemen  had  no  doubt  found  Lady  Am- 
berly,  Lydia  Becker,  and  Mrs.  Fawcett  too  much  for  them  in  debate  ;  they  had  prob- 
ably winced  under  the  satire  of  Frances  Power  Cobbe,  and  trembled  before  the  annu- 
ally swelling  lists  of  suffrage  petitions.  Single-handed  they  sa\v  they  were  helpless 
against  this  incoming  tide  of  feminine  persuasiveness,  and  so  it  seems  they  called  a 
meeting  of  faint-hearted  men,  and  bound  themselves  together  by  a  constitution  and 
by-laws  to  protect  the  franchise  from  the  encroachment  of  women. 

In  the  legislature  of  1880,  the  proposition  to  submit  an  amendment  for 
woman  suffrage  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  passed  both  Houses.  In  1881  it 
passed  one  branch  and  was  lost  in  the  other.  Senator  Simpson  introducd 
another  bill  in  1882*  which  was  lost.  These  successive  defeats  discour- 
aged the  women  and  they  instructed  their  friends  in  the  legislature  to 
make  no  further  attempts  for  a  constitutional  amendment,  because  they 
had  not  the  slightest  hope  of  its  passage. 

The  growing  interest  in  the  temperance  question  at  this  time  produced 
some  divisions  in  the  suffrage  ranks.  Some  thought  it  had  been  one  of 
the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  success  of  the  suffrage  cause,  rousing  the  op- 
position of  a  very  large  and  influential  class.  Millions  of  dollars  are  in- 
vested in  this  State  in  breweries  and  distilleries,  and  members  are 
elected  to  the  legislature  to  watch  these  interests.  Knowing  the 
terrible  sufferings  of  women  and  children  through  intemperance,  they 
naturally  infer  that  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  women  would  be 
inimical  to  their  interests,  hence  the  opposition  of  this  "wealthy  and 
powerful  class  to  the  suffrage  movement.  Others  thought  the  agitation 
was  an  advantage,  especially  in  bringing  the  women  in  the  temperance 
movement  to  a  sense  of  their  helplessness  to  effect  any  reform  without  a 
voice  in  the  laws.  They  thought,  too,  that  the  power  behind  the  liquor 
interests  was  readily  outweighed  by  the  moral  influence  of  the  best  men 


*  The  members  of  the  Wisconsin  Senate  who  voted  against  the  woman  suffrage  amendment 
were:  Ackley,  Adams,  Burrows,  Chase,  Coleman.  Delaney,  Flinkelberg,  Flint,  Kusel,  Palmetier, 
Pingel,  Rankin,  Ryland,  Smith  and  Van  Schaick— 15.  No  better  work  can  be  done  by  Wisconsin  suf- 
fragists than  to  try  to  defeat  every  one  of  them  at  the  next  election.  The  following  voted  for  the 
measure:  Bennett,  Crosby,  Ellis,  Hamilton,  Hill,  Hudd,  Kingston.  Meffert,  Phillfpps,  Scott, 
Simpson,  Wiley,  Randall — 13.  Senators  Wing  and  McKeeby  were  paired,  and  Senators  Erwin  and 
Richardson  were  absent. 


The  State  Association.  645 

and  women  in  the  State,  especially  as  the  church  began  to  feel  some  re- 
sponsibility in  the  question.  The  Milwaukee  Wisconsin  of  June  4,  1883, 
gives  this  interesting  item  : 

The  Rev.  Father  Mahoney,  of  St.  John's  Cathedral,  preached  a  temperance  sermon 
to  a  large  concourse  of  people  yesterday  morning,  in  which  he  heartily  indorsed  the 
action  of  Mayor  Stowell  in  his  war  against  the  ordinary  saloon,  and  declared  that  he 
should  be  reelected.  He  also  said  that  the  men  who  opposed  him  were  covering 
themselves  with  infamy,  and  that  he  could  not  conscientiously  administer  the  sacra- 
ments to  any  saloon-keeper  who  refused  to  obey  the  commands  of  the  Church  or  the 
laws  of  the  State  concerning  the  good  order  and  welfare  of  the  city.  The  sermon 
caused  quite  a  stir,  and  was  much  discussed  in  secular  as  well  as  religious  circles. 

The  State  Association*  has  maintained  an  unswerving  course,  between 
fanatacism  and  ultra-conservatism.  Since  1869  it  has  stood  as  on  the 
watch-tower,  quick  to  see  opportunities,  and  ever  ready  to  cooperate  with 
the  legislative  bodies,  in  the  State,  and  well  may  we  be  proud  of  our 
achievements  when  we  remember  that  by  the  census  of  1870  Wisconsin 
is  the  first  foreign  and  the  second  Roman  Catholic  State  in  the  Union, 
and  that  at  our  centennial  exposition  in  1876  our  public  schools  stood 
number  one. 

Rev.  Olympia  Brown  Willis  moved  into  the  State  of  Wisconsin  in  1877, 
and  became  pastor  of  the  church  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  in  Racine,  and 
exerted  a  wide  influence,  not  only  as  a  liberal  theologian,  but  as  an  earn- 
est advocate  of  suffrage  for  woman.  As  a  result  of  her  efforts  a  most 
successful  Woman's  Council  was  held  in  Racine,  March  26,  1883,  alternat- 
ing in  the  church  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  Blake's  Opera  House.  One 
of  the  chief  speakers  t  was  Dr.  Corwin,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  who  was  also  on  the  managing  committee.  The  cordiality 
of  many  of  the  western  clergy,  in  strong  contrast  with  those  in  the  east, 
makes  their  favorable  action  worthy  of  comment,  though  the  liberality  of 
the  few  is  of  little  avail  until  in  their  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  as  organ- 
izations, they  declare  the  equality  of  woman  not  only  before  the  law,  but 
in  all  the  offices  of  the  church.  Mrs.  Katharine  R.  Doud  was  chosen 
president  of  the  convention ;  Mrs.  Olin  gave  the  address  of  welcome,  to 
which  Mrs.  Sewall  responded.  Mrs.  Doud,  in  the  Advocate,  thus  sums  up 
the  three  days'  meetings  : 

During  the  past  week  a  woman's  council  has  been  held  in  Racine,  the  success  of 
which  has  been  most  noticeable.  The  different  sessions  have  been  attended  by  large 
audiences  of  intelligent  men  and  women,  who  have  very  thoughtfully  and  carefully 
weighed  and  discussed  the  various  questions  under  consideration. 

From  the  beginning  to  the  end  there  has  never  been  a  hitch  or  jar;  the  myriad 
wheels  of  the  machinery  required  to  make  smooth  the  workings  of  such  large  assem- 
blies have  moved  so  quietly,  and  have  been  so  well  oiled  and  in  such  perfect  order 

*  The  officers  of  the  Wisconsin  State  society  for  1885  were :  Prtsident,  Harriet  T.  Griswold. 
Columbus  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Laura  Ross  Wolcott,  Milwaukee  ;  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Racine  ;  Emma 
C.  Bascom,  Madison  ;  F.  A.  Delagise,  Antigo ;  Laura  James,  Kichland  Center;  Recording  Secretary, 
Helen  R.  Olin,  Madison  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  M.  W.  Bentley,  Schofield  ;  Treasurer,  Dr.  Sarah 
K.  Munro,  Milwaukee  ;  Chairntirn  Executive  Committee,  Amelia  B.  Gray,  Schofield.  Among  others 
active  in  the  movement  are  Eliza  T.  Wilson,  Menominee  ;  Alura  Collins,  Muckwonago ;  Mrs.  S.  C. 
Burnham,  Bear  Valley  ;  Sarah  H.  Richards,  Milwaukee;  Mrs.  W.  Trippe.  Whitewater. 

t  F.veleen  Mason,  May  Wright  Sewall,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Dr.  Sarah  Munro.  Mrs.  Haggart,  Mrs. 
K.  R.  Doud,  Miss  Comstock,  the  Grand  Worthy  Vice-Templar  from  Milwaukee,  Mrs.  Le  Page,  and 
Mrs.  Amy  Talbot  Dunn,  as  Zekel's  wife,  made  a  deep  impression. 


646  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

as  to  be  absolutely  unnoticed;  really,  one  might  have  been  tempted  to  feel  that  the 
machine  had  no  master,  no  controlling  hand. 

But  now  that  the  council  is  over;  now  that  we  can  pause  and  begin  to  estimate  the 
good  that  has  been  done;  now  that  the  seed  is  sown,  from  which,  please  God,  a  grand 
harvest  shall  be  reaped — now  we  can  look  back  and  see  how  one  brain  has  planned 
it  all.  One  clear-eyed,  far-seeing  will  gathered  together  these  women  of  genius,  who 
have  been  with  us;  one  practical,  mathematical  brain  made  all  estimates  of  expense, 
and  accepted  all  risks  of  failure;  one  hospitable  heart  received  a  house  full  of  guests, 
and  induced  others  to  be  hospitable  likewise;  and  one  earnest,  prayerful  soul — and 
this  the  best  of  all — besought  and  entreated  God's  blessing  upon  the  work.  Need  we 
tell  you  where  to  find  this  master-hand  which  has  planned  so  wisely  ?  the  strong  will, 
the  clear  brain,  the  \varm  heart,  the  pure  soul?  We  all  know  her;  she  is  indeed  a 
noble  woman,  and  her  name — let  us  whisper  lest  she  hear — is  Olympia  Brown  \Villis. 

The  following  sketch  of  the  leading  events  of  her  life,  shows  how  active 
and  useful  she  has  been  in  al-1  her  public  and  private  relations : 

Olympia  Brown  was  born  in  Kalamazoo  county,  Michigan,  January  5,  1835.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen  she  began  to  teach  school  during  the  winter  months,  attending 
school  herself  in  the  summer.  At  eighteen  she  entered  Holyoke  seminary,  but  finding 
the  advantages  there  inadequate  for  a  thorough  education,  her  parents  removed,  for 
her  benefit,  to  Yellow  Springs,  Ohio,  where  she  entered  Antioch  college,  Horace 
Mann,  one  of  the  best  educators  of  his  day,  being  president.  There  her  ambition 
was  thoroughly  satisfied,  and  she  was  graduated  with  honor  in  1860.  She  then  entered 
Canton  Theological  school,  was  graduated  in  1863,  and,  duly  ordained  as  a  Univers- 
alist  minister,  commenced  preaching  in  Marshfield  and  Montpelier,  Vermont, 
often  walking  fifteen  miles  to  fill  her  appointments.  In  1864  she  was  regularly  in- 
stalled over  her  first  parish  at  Weymouth,  Massachusetts.  Her  energy  and  fidelity 
soon  raised  that  feeble  society  into  one  of  numbers  and  influence. 

In  1869,  she  accepted  a  call  to  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  where  she  remained  seven 
years.  In  1878,  with  her  husband,  John  Henry  Willis,  and  two  children  she  removed 
to  Racine,  Wisconsin,  where  she  became  pastor  of  the  church  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 
without  the  promise  of  a  dollar.  The  church  had  been  given  up  as  hopeless  by  sev- 
eral men  in  succession,  because  of  the  influence  of  the  Orthodox  theological  seminary. 
But  she  soon  gathered  large  audiences  and  earnest  members  about  her;  established  a 
Sunday  school,  had  courses  of  lectures  in  her  church  during  the  winter,  which  she  made 
quite  profitable  financially  for  the  church,  beside  educating  the  people.  Out- 
side her  profession  she  has  also  done  a  grand  work,  in  temperance  and  woman 
suffrage.*  She  is  rarely  out  of  her  own  pulpit;  has  generally  been  superin- 
tendent of  her  own  Sunday  school,  and  head  of  the  young  ladies'  club,  doing  at  all 
times  more  varied  duties  than  any  man  would  deem  possible,  and  with  all  this  she  is  z 
pattern  wife,  mother  and  housekeeper,  and  her  noble  husband,  while  carrying  on  a 
successful  business  of  his  own,  stands  ever  ready  to  second  her  endeavors  with  generous 
aid  and  wise  counsel,  another  instance  of  the  happy  homes  among  the  "strong 
minded." 

Among  the  estimable  women  who  have  been  identified  with  the  cause 
of  woman  suffrage  in  this  country,  Mathilde  Franziska  Anneke,  a  German 
lad}-,  is  worthy  of  mention  : 

She  was  born  in  Westphalia,  April  3,  1817.  Her  childhood  was  passed  in 
happy  conditions  in  a  home  of  luxury,  where  she  received  a  liberal  education,  yet  her 
married  life  was  encompassed  with  trials  and  disappointments.  From  her  own  ex- 
periences she  learned  the  injustice  of  the  laws  for  married  women  and  early  devoted 
her  pen  to  the  redress  of  their  wrongs.  Her  articles  appeared  in  leading  journals  of 
Germany  and  awoke  many  minds  to  the  consideration  of  the  social  and  civil  condition 
of  woman. 


*  See  vol.  II.  page  259. 


Letter  front  Mrs.  B  as  com.  647 

• 

She  was  identified  with  the  liberal  movement  of  '48,  her  home  being  the  resort  for 
many  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolution.  She  published  a  liberal  paper  which  freely  dis- 
cussed all  the  abuses  of  the  government,  a  whole  edition  of  which  was  destroyed.  At 
length  denounced  by  the  government,  she  secretly  made  here  escape  from  Cologne, 
and  joined  her  husband  at  the  head  of  his  command  in  active  preparation  for  a  struggle 
against  the  Prussians. 

She  immediately  declared  her  determination  to  share  the  toils  of  the  expedition. 
Accordingly  Col.  Anneke  appointed  her  Tolpfofsort,  the  duties  of  which  she  con- 
tinued to  discharge  to  the  end  of  the  campaign.  In  one  of  her  works  published  in 
1853,  she  has  given  a  graphic  description  of  the  disastrous  termination  of  the  revo- 
lution, of  their  flight  into  France,  of  their  expulsion  from  France  and  Switzerland, 
and  of  their  final  determination  to  come  to  the  United  States. 

They  reached  New  York  in  the  fall  of  1849.  Madame  Anneke  lectured  in  most  of 
the  Eastern  cities  on  the  social  and  civil  condition  of  women,  claiming  for  them  the 
right  of  suffrage  and  more  liberal  education.  She  also  published  a  woman's  journal 
in  New  York,  and  was  soon  recognized  as  one  of  the  earnest  representative  women 
in  America.  For  many  years  she  made  her  home  in  Milwaukee,  where  she  taught 
a  successful  school  for  young  ladies.  Madame  Anneke,  a  widow  with  one  son  and  two 
daughters,  lived  quietly  the  closing  years  of  her  life,  and  in  death  found  the  peace  and 
rest  she  had  never  known  in  her  busy  life  on  earth. 

Prof.  G.  S.  Albee,  president  of  the  State  Normal  School  at  Oshkosh,  is 
a  firm  friend  and  outspoken  advocate  of  equal  right  of  the  sexes  to  all 
the  privileges  of  education,  not  excepting  the  education  of  the  ballot-box. 
John  Bascom,  president  of  the  Wisconsin  University,  has  been  an  advo- 
cate of  suffrage  for  women  many  years.  While  connected  with  Williams 
College  he  worked  to  secure  the  admission  of  women  thereto.  As  one  of 
a  committee  of  five  to  whom  the  matter  was  referred,  he,  together  with 
David  Dudley  Field,  presented  a  minority  report  favoring  their  admission. 
Since  he  has  been  at  the  head  of  our  State  University  he  has  been  in  per- 
fect sympathy  with  its  liberal  coeducational  policy,  and  has  insured  to  the 
young  women  equal  advantages  in  every  respect  with  the  young  men.  To 
his  wise  management  may  be  attributed  the  success  of  higher  coeducation 
in  Wisconsin.  He  gave  an  able  and  scholarly  address  before  our  conven- 
tion at  Madison  in  '82,  and  is  always  found  ready  to  speak  for  woman  suf- 
frage, both  in  public  and  private.  His  influence  has  done  much  for  the 
:ulv;uicement  of  the  cause  in  our  State.  A  cordial  letter  was  received 
from  Mrs.  Bascom  at  the  last  Washington  convention,  which  was  listened 
to  with  interest  and  prized  by  the  officers  of  the  National  Association  : 

MADISON,  Wis.,  January  16,  1885. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  ANTHONY  :  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  be  present  and  meet  the  many 
wise  and  great  women  who  will  respond  to  your  call  for  the  Seventeenth  Annual  Con- 
vention. 

What  a  glorious  record  these  words  reveal  of  unwavering  faith  in  the  right,  and 
heroic  persistency  in  its  pursuit  on  one  side,  and  what  blindness  of  prejudice  and 
M-lli.^hness  of  power  on  the  other.  The  struggle  has  indeed  been  a  long  one,  and  yet 
no  other  moral  movement  involving  so  many  and  so  great  social  changes  ever  made 
more  rapid  progress.  You  and  your  fellow-laborers  are  truly  to  be  congratulated  on 
the  full  and  abundant  harvest  your  faithful  seed-sowing  has  brought  to  humanity. 
The  irrational  sentiment,  based  upon  the  methods  and  customs  of  barbarous  tim<">,  is 
rapidly  yielding  to  reason.  The  world  is  learning — women  are  learning — that  char- 
acter, even  womanly  character,  does  not  suffer  from  too  much  breadth  of  thought,  or 
from  too  active  a  sympathy  in  human  interests  and  human  affairs,  but  is  ever  enriched 
by  a  larger  circle  of  ideas,  larger  experience,  and  more  extended  activities. 


648  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

• 

The  advance  of  women  in  position  and  influence  has  been  especially  great  during 
the  past  year,  and  in  directions  especially  cheering  and  hopeful  to  the  heart  of  every 
woman.  In  national  political  conventions,  as  your  call  so  justly  says,  she  has 
"actively  participated  in  the  discussion  of  candidates,  platforms  and  principles." 
The  last  mile-stone  before  the  goal  has  been  reached  and  passed  ! 

Your  convention  will  offer  the  final  opportunity  to  the  Republican  party.  Will  it 
be  wise  enough  to  seize  it  for  self  preservation,  if  not  from  principle?  Will  there  lie 
found  in  this  party  enough  of  spiritual  life  to  lay  hold  of  the  help  now  proffered  it, 
and  once  more  renew  its  strength  thereby  ?  Or  will  it,  as  so  repeatedly  in  the  past, 
turn  a  deaf  ear  to  reason,  and  still  continue  to  deny  the  rights  of  half  the  human  fam- 
ily ?  If  so,  if  it  continue  deaf,  dumb  and  blind,  then  the  Republican  party  has  no 
longer  any  function,  and  the  power  of  government  will  pass  forever  from  its  hands. 
The  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  national  constitution  is  coming,  but  it  will  be  the 
crown  of  blessing  and  of  fame  of  another  party  that  will  inaugurate  this  era  in  social 
life  !  I  take  the  liberty  to  send  loving  greetings  to  you  and  the  convention  in  the  name 
of  our  Wisconsin  Equal  Suffrage  society.  I  hope  our  bright,  eloquent  Rev.  Olympia 
Brown  will  be  with  you.  Of  Wisconsin's  eleven  representatives  in  congress,  I  am 
happy  to  make  honorable  mention,  as  broad-minded  advocates  of  our  cause,  of  three, 
Cameron,  Price  and  Stephenson.  In  earnest  sympathy  with  the  object  and  method 
of  the  convention,  and  with  high  regard  for  yourself,  I  remain  yours  truly, 

EMMA  C.  BASCOM. 

In  this,  as  in  many  other  States  there  was  a  prolonged  struggle  over 
the  equal  rights  of  women  in  the  courts.  The  first  woman  to  practice 
law  in  Wisconsin  was  Lavinia  Goodell.  She  was  admitted  in  the  First 
Judicial  Circuit  Court,  June  17,  1874,  Judge  H.  S.  Conger,  presiding.  She 
commenced  practicing  in  Janesville.  The  following  year  she  had  a  case 
which  was  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court.  When  the  appeal  was  made, 
Miss  Goodell  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  right  to  go  with  her 
case.  She  argued  her  own  case  and  based  her  claim  upon  a  statute  which 
provides,  "  That  words  of  the  masculine  gender  may  be  applied  to  females  ; 
unless  such  construction  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  manifest  inten- 
tion of  the  legislature."  After  she  had  shown  clearly  that  she  had  an  equal 
right  in  the  courts  in  an  able  and  unanswerable  argument,  Judge  Ryan  con- 
sidered her  application  for  two  months  and  rendered  an  adverse  decision. 
As  a  result  of  the  agitation  induced  by  this  case,  the  legislature  of  1877 
passed  a  law  that  "no  person  shall  be  refused  admission  to  the  bar  of  this 
State  on  account  of  sex,"  thus  showing  the  power  of  the  legislative  branch 
of  the  government  to  over-ride  all  judicial  decisions.  Miss  Goodell  im- 
mediately commenced  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court.  She  reviewed  the 
judicial  decision  with  keen  satire,*  and  ably  illustrated  the  comparative 
capacity  of  an  educated  man  and  woman  to  reason  logically  on  American 
jurisprudence  and  constitutional  law. 

In  the  early  part  of  1879  Kate  Kane  and  Angie  J.  King  were  admitted 
to  the  bar.  Miss  Kane  studied  in  a  law  office  and  in  the  law  school  of 
Michigan  University.  She  practiced  in  Milwaukee  until  1883,  when  she 
located  in  Chicago.  Miss  King  practices  in  Janesville  and  was  at  first 
associated  with  Miss  Goodell,  under  the  name  of  Goodell  &  King.  Cora 
Hurtz,  Oshkosh,  was  admitted  and  began  practice  in  1882. 


*  For  her  argument  see  Woman's  Journal,  April,  1876. 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 
MINNESOTA. 

Girls  in  State  University— Sarah  Burger  Stearns— Harriet  E.  Bishop  the  First  Teacher 
in  St.  Paul— Mary  J.  Colburn  Won  the  Prize— Mrs.  Jane  Grey  Swisshelm,  St. 
Cloud— Fourth  of  July  Oration,  1866— First  Legislative  Hearing,  1867— Governor 
Austin's  Veto — First  Society  at  Rochester — Kasson — Almira  W.  Anthony — Mary 
P.  Wheeler— Harriet  M.  White— The  W.  C.  T.  U.— Harriet  A.  Hobart— 
Literary  and  Art  Clubs— School  Suffrage,  1876 — Charlotte  O.  Van  Cleve  and  Mrs. 
C.  S.  Winchell  Elected  to  School  Board — Mrs.  Governor  Pillsbury — Temperance 
Vote,  1877 — Property  Rights  of  Married  Women — Women  as  Officers,  Teachers, 
Editors,  Ministers,  Doctors,  Lawyers. 

MINNESOTA  was  formally  admitted  to  the  Union  May  1 1,  1858. 
Owing  to  its  high  situation  and  dry  atmosphere  the  State  is  a 
great  resort  for  invalids,  and  nowhere  in  the  world  is  the  sun  so 
bright,  the  sky  so  blue,  or  the  moon  and  stars  so  clearly  defined. 
Its  early  settlers  were  from  New  England;  hence,  the  church  and 
the  school-house — monuments  of  civilization — were  the  first  ob- 
jects in  the  landscape  to  adorn  those  boundless  prairies,  as  the 
red  man  was  pushed  still  westward,  and  the  white  man  seized  his 
hunting-ground. 

This  State  is  also  remarkable  for  its  admirable  system  of  free 
schools,  in  which  it  is  said  there  is  a  larger  proportion  of  pupils 
to  the  population  than  in  any  other  of  the  Western  States.  All 
institutions  of  learning  have  from  the  beginning  been  open  alike 
to  boys  and  girls. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Burger  Stearns,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this 
chapter,  was  one  of  the  first  young  women  to  apply  for  admission 
to  the  Michigan  University.*  Being  denied,  she  finished  her 
studies  at  the  State  Normal  School,  and  in  1863  married  Mr.  O. 
P.  Stearns,  a  graduate  of  the  institution  that  barred  its  doors  to 
her.  Mr.  Stearns,  at  the  call  of  his  country,  went  to  the  front, 
while  his  no  less  patriotic  bride  remained  at  home,  teaching  in 

*  The  names  of  the  young  women  who  applied  for  admission  to  the  classical  course  of  the  Michigan 
State  University,  in  1858,  were  Sarah  Burger,  Clara  Norton,  Ellen  F.  Thompson,  Ada  A.  Alvord, 
Rose  Anderson,  Helen  White,  Amanda  Kieff,  Lizzie  Baker,  Nellie  Baker,  Anna  Lathrop,  Carrie 
Fekh,  Mary  Becker,  Adeline  Ladd  and  Harriet  Patton. 


650  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  at  Monroe  and  lecturing  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Societies. 

The  war  over,  they  removed  to  Minnesota  in  1866,  where  by 
lectures,  newspaper  articles,  petitions  and  appeals  to  the  legisla- 
ture, Mrs.  Stearns  has  done  very  much  to  stir  the  women  of  the 
State  to  thought  and  action  upon  the  question  of  woman's  en- 
franchisement. She  has  been  the  leading  spirit  of  the  State  Suf- 
frage Association,  as  well  as  of  the  local  societies  of  Rochester 
and  Duluth,  the  two  cities  in  which  she  has  resided,  and  also  vice- 
president  of  the  National  Association  since  1876.  As  a  member 
of  the  school-board,  she  has  wrought  beneficent  changes  in  the 
schools  of  Duluth.  She  is  now  at  the  head  of  a  movement  for 
the  establishment  of  a  home  for  women  needing  a  place  of  rest 
and  training  for  self-help  and  self-protection.  Mrs.  Stearns  has 
the  full  sympathy  of  her  husband  and  family,  as  she  had  that  of 
her  mother,  Mrs.  Susan  C.  Burger,  whose  last  years  were  passed 
in  the  home  of  her  daughter  at  Duluth.  Mrs.  Stearns  writes: 

The  advocates  of  suffrage  in  Minnesota  were  so  few  in  the  early  days,* 
and  their  homes  so  remote  from  each  other,  that  there  was  little  chance 
for  cooperation,  hence  the  history  of  the  movement  in  this  State  consists 
more  of  personal  efforts  than  of  conventions,  legislative  hearings  and 
judicial  decisions.  The  first  name  worthy  of  note  is  that  of  Harriet  E. 
Bishop.  She  was  invited  by  Rev.  Thomas  Williamson,  M.  D.,  a  missionary 
among  the  Dakotas,  to  come  to  his  mission  home  and  share  in  his  labors 
in  1847,  where  she  was  introduced  to  the  leading  citizens  of  St.  Paul. 
She  was  the  first  teacher  of  a  public  school  in  that  settlement.  She  lec- 
tured on  temperance,  wrote  for  the  daily  papers,  and  preached  as  a  regular 
pastor  in  a  Baptist  pulpit.  She  published  several  books,  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  State  Suffrage  Association  in  1881,  and  in  1883  rested 
from  her  labors  on  earth. 

The  first  lecture  in  the  State  on  the  "  Rights  and  Wrongs  of  Woman," 
was  by  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Colburn,  in  the  village  of  Champlin,  in  1858,  the 
same  year  that  Minnesota  was  admitted  to  the  Union.  In  1864,  the  State 
officers  promised  two  prizes  for  the  first  and  second  best  essays  on 
"  Minnesota  as  a  Home  for  Emigrants,"  reserving  to  the  examining  com- 
mittee the  right  to  reject  all  manuscripts  offered  if  found  unworthy.  The 
first  prize  was  accorded  to  Mrs.  Colburn.  .  Most  of  the  other  competitors 
were  men,  some  of  them  members  of  the  learned  professions.  Mrs.  Col- 
burn says,  in  writing  to  a  friend,  "  I  am  doing  but  little  now  on  the  suf- 
frage question,  for  I  will  not  stoop  longer  to  ask  of  any  congress  or  legis- 
lature for  that  which  I  know  to  be  mine  by  the  divine  law  of  nature." 

In  1857,  Mrs.  Jane  Grey  Swisshelm  settled  at  St.  Cloud,  where  she  lived 
until  1863,  editing  the  St.  Cloud  Democrat,  the  organ  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  making  a  heroic  fight  for  freedom  and  equality.  In  1860  she 

*  See  Appendix,  Chapter  XLVIL,  note  A. 


Bill  to  Amend  the  Constitution.  651 

spoke  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives,  on  Anti-slavery;  in  1862  she  was 
invited  io  speak  before  the  Senate  on  woman's  rights,  and  was  listened  to 
with  great  respect.* 

In  1866,  at  a  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  Mrs.  Stearns  accepted  an  invita- 
tion to  respond  to  the  sentiment,  "  Our  young  and  growing  State  ;  may 
she  ever  be  an  honor  to  her  citizens."  This  offered  her  an  opportunity 
for  an  off-hand  woman  suffrage  speech,  which  elicited  hearty  cheers,  and 
gave,  as  an  old  gentleman  present  said,  "  something  fresh  to  think  of 
and  act  upon."  About  this  time  the  friends  of  equality  began  petitioning 
the  legislature  for  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  striking  out  the 
word  "  male."  Through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  A.  G.  Spaulding — the  editor  of 
the  Anoka  Star — and  others,  these  petitions  were  referred  to  a  special  com- 
mittee which  granted  a  hearing  to  Mrs.  Colburn  and  Mrs.  Stearns  in  1867. 
Mrs.  Colburn  read  a  carefully  prepared  argument,  and  Mrs,  Stearns  sent  a 
letter,  both  of  which  were  ordered  to  be  printed.  In  1868  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced proposing  to  submit  the  desired  amendment,  but  when  brought  to 
a  vote  it  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  one. 

In  March,  1869,  The  Revolution  copied  from  the  Martin  County  Atlas  the 
following : 

Show  us  the  man  who  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  laying  aside  his  prejudices  and 
speaking  the  unbiased  truth,  will  not  say  that  women  should  have  the  same  rights  that 
he  himself  enjoys,  and  we  will  show  you  a  narrow-minded  sycophant,  a  cruel,  selfish 
tyrant,  or  one  that  has  not  the  moral  courage  to  battle  for  a  principle  he  knows  to  be 
just.  Equal  rights  before  the  law  is  justice  to  all.  and  the  more  education  we  give  our 
children  and  ourselves,  as  a  people,  the  sooner  shall  we  have  equal  rights.  May  the 
glorious  cause  speed  on. 

In  1869,  a  suffrage  society  was  organized  in  the  city  of  Rochester,  with 
fifty  members,  and  another  at  Champlin  ;  the  homes  of  Mrs.  Stearns  and 
Mrs.  Colburn.  Petitions  were  again  circulated  and  presented  to  the  leg- 
islature early  in  the  session  of  1870.  It  had  not  then  been  demonstrated 
by  Kansas,  Michigan,  Colorado,  Nebraska  and  Oregon,  that  the  votes  of 
the  ignorant  classes  on  this  question  would  greatly  outnumber  those  of 
the  intelligent.  The  legislature  granted  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  and 
passed  a  bill  for  the  submission  of  an  amendment,  providing  that  the 
women  of  the  State,  possessing  the  requisite  qualifications,  should  also 
be  allowed  to  vote  upon  the  proposition,  and  that  their  votes  should  be 
counted  as  legal.  The  governor,  Hon.  Horace  Austin,  vetoed  the  bill, 
saying  it  was  not  passed  in  good  faith,  and  that  the  submission  of  the 
question  at  that  time  would  be  premature.  In  a  private  letter  to  Mrs. 
Stearns,  the  governor  said  :  "  Had  the  bill  provided  for  the  voting  of  the 
\v< mien,  simply  to  get  an  expression  of  their  wishes  upon  the  question, 
without  requiring  their  votes  to  be  counted  as  legal  in  the  adoption  or 
rejection  of  it,  the  act  would  not  have  been  vetoed,  notwithstanding  my 
second  objection  that  it  was  premature." 

In  1871,  petitions  to  congress  were  circulated  in  Minnesota,  asking  a 
declaratory  act  to  protect  the  women  of  the  nation  in  the  exercise  of  "the 

*  For  further  account  of  Mrs.  Swisshelm's  patriotic  work  in  Minnesota  sec  her  "  Reminiscences  of 
Half  a  Century":  Janson,  McClurg  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111. 


652  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

citizen's  right  to  vote"  under  the  new  guarantees  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  amendments.  During  that  year  the  National  Woman  Suffrage 
Association  appointed  Mrs.  Addie  Ballou  its  vice-president  for  Minnesota. 

In  1872  a  suffrage  club  was  formed  at  Kasson.  Its  three  originators* 
entered  into  a  solemn  compact  with  each  other  that  while  they  lived  in 
that  city  there  should  always  be  an  active  suffrage  society  until  the  ballot 
for  women  should  be  obtained.  Their  secretary,  Mrs.  H.  M.  White, 
writes : 

Although  our  club  was  at  first  called  a  ladies'  literary  society,  the  suspicion  that  its 
members  wished  to  vote  was  soon  whispered  about.  Our  working  members  were  for 
some  years  few  in  number,  and  our  meetings  far  between.  But  our  zeal  never  abating, 
we  tried  in  later  years  many  plans  for  making  a  weekly  meeting  interesting.  The 
most  successful  was,  that  every  one  should  bring  something  that  had  come  to  her 
notice  during  the  week,  which  she  should  read  aloud,  thus  furnishing  topics  of  conver- 
sation in  which  all  could  join.  This  never  failed  to  make  an  interesting  and  profit- 
able meeting.  And  still  later  we  invited  speakers  from  other  States.  In  our  various 
courses  of  lectures,  Kasson  audiences  have  enjoyed  the  brave  utterances  of  Anna  Dick- 
inson, Julia  Ward  Howe,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  and  others.  The  pulpit  of  Kasson  we 
have  found  about  evenly  balanced  for  and  against  us ;  but  those  claiming  to  be 
friendly  generally  maintained  a  ' '  masterly  inactivity. "  Our  editors  have  always  shown 
us  much  kindness  by  gratuitously  advertising  our  meetings  and  publishing  our  articles. 
Our  members  were  all  at  the  first  meeting  after  school  suffrage  was  granted  to  women, 
and  one  lady  was  elected  director  for  a  term  of  three  years.  The  next  year  another 
lady  was  elected.  While  they  were  members  of  the  board,  a  new  and  beautiful  school 
house  was  erected,  though  some  men  said,  "  nothing  in  the  line  of  building  could  be 
safely  done  until  after  the  women's  term  of  office  had  expired."  Our  co-workers  have 
always  treated  us  with  great  courtesy.  In  this  respect  our  labors  were  as  pleasant  as 
in  any  church  work. 

At  a  temperance  convention  in  1874,  a  woman  suffrage  resolution  was 
ably  defended  by  Mrs.  Julia  Ballard  Nelson  and  Mrs.  Harriet  A.  Hobart ; 
Mrs.  Asa  Hutchinson,  of  beloved  memory,  also  spoke  at  this  meeting. 

As  the  women  in  several  of  the  States  voted  on  educational  matters, 
the  legislature  of  1875  wished  to  confer  the  same  privilege  upon  the 
women  of  Minnesota.  But  instead  of  doing  so  by  direct  legislation,  as  the 
other  States  had  done,  they  passed  a  resolution  submitting  a  proposition 
for  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  to  the  electors  of  the  State,  as  fol- 
lows: 

An  amendment  to  the  State  constitution  giving  the  legislature  power  to  provide  by 
law  that  any  woman  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  and  upwards,  may  vote  at  any 
election  held  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  any  officers  of  schools;  or  upon  any  measure 
relating  to  schools;  and  also  that  any  such  woman  shall  be  eligible  to  hold  any  office 
pertaining  solely  to  the  management  of  schools. 

No  effort  was  made  to  agitate  the  question,  lest  more  should  be  effected 
in  rousing  the  opposition  than  in  educating  the  masses  in  the  few  months 
intervening  between  the  passage  of  the  bill  and  the  election  in  November. 
Mrs.  Stearns,  however,  as  the  day  for  the  decision  of  the  question  ap- 
proached, wishing  to  make  sure  of  the  votes  of  the  intelligent  men  of  the 
State,  wrote  to  the  editor  of  the  Pioneer  Press,  the  leading  paper  of  Minne- 
sota, begging  him  to  urge  his  readers  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  secure 

*  The  three  women  were,  Mrs.  Almira  \V.  Anthony  (whose  husband  was  a  cousin  of  Susan  B. 
Anthony),  Mrs.  Mary  Powell  Wheeler  and  Mrs.  Hattie  M.  White. 


Voting  J or  School  Officers.  653 

the  adoption  of  the  amendment.  The  request  was  complied  with,  and  the 
editor  in  a  private  letter,  thanking  Mrs.  Stearns,  said  he  "had  quite  for- 
gotten such  an  amendment  had  been  proposed." 

At  this  last  moment  the  question  was,  what  could  be  done  to  secure 
the  largest  favorable  vote.  Finding  that  it  would  be  legal,  the  friends 
throughout  the  State  appealed  to  the  committees  of  both  political  parties 
to  have  "  For  the  amendment  of  Article  VII.  relating  to  electors — Yes," 
printed  upon  all  their  tickets.  This  was  very  generally  done,  and  thereby 
the  most  ignorant  men  were  led  to  vote  as  they  should,  with  the  intelli- 
gent, in  favor  of  giving  women  a  voice  in  the  education  of  the  children  of 
the  State,  while  all  who  were  really  opposed  could  scratch  the  "  yes,"  and 
substitute  a  "no."  When  election  day  came,  November  5,  1875,  the 
amendment  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  24,340  for,  to  19,468  against.  The  fol- 
lowing legislature  passed  the  necessary  law,  and  at  the  spring  election  of 
1876,  the  women  of  Minnesota  voted  for  school  officers,  and  in  several 
cases  women  were  elected  as  directors. 

I  have  given  these  details  because  the  great  wonder  has  been  how  the 
combined  forces  of  ignorance  and  vice  failed  to  vote  down  this  amend- 
ment, as  they  always  have  done  every  other  proposition  for  the  extension 
of  suffrage  to  women  in  this  and  every  other  State  where  the  question 
has  been  submitted  to  a  popular  vote.  I  believe  our  success  was  largely, 
if  not  wholly,  attributable  to  our  studied  failure  to  agitate  the  question, 
and  the  affirmative  wording  of  all  the  tickets  of  both  parties,  by  which 
our  bitterest  opponents  forgot  the  question  was  to  be  voted  upon,  and  the 
ignorant  classes  who  could  not,  or  did  not  read  their  ballots,  voted  un- 
thinkingly for  the  measure. 

In  the  cities  the  school  officers  are  elected  at  the  regular  municipal 
elections  usually  held  in  the  spring,  while  in  the  rural  districts  and 
smaller  villages  they  are  chosen  at  school  meetings  in  the  autumn.  In 
East  Minneapolis,  Hon.  Richard  Chute,  chairman  of  the  Republican  nom- 
inating convention,  having,  without  their  knowledge,  secured  the  nomina- 
tion of  Mrs.  Charlotte  O.  VanCleve*  and  Mrs.  Charlotte  S.  Winchellt  as 


*  In  a  volume  of  Minnesota  biography,  Mrs.  VanCleve  is  reported  as  a  woman  of  great  force  of  char- 
acter, strong  in  her  convictions  of  what  is  right,  and  fearless  in  following  the  dictates  of  her  conscience. 
She  was  one  of  the  original  founders  of  the  Sisterhood  of  Bethany,  a  society  for  the  reformation  of  un- 
fortunate women,  and  has  held  the  position  of  president  since  its  formation.  Through  the  medium  of 
lectures  and  social  influence,  she  has  enlisted  the  sympathy  of  a  large  number  of  the  community.  She 
has  served  faithfully  as  a  member  of  the  East  Minneapolis  board  of  education,  and  has  always  im- 
proved every  opportunity  to  advocate  the  right  of  suffrage  for  women.  She  is  a  member  of  the  State 
Suffrage  Society,  and  has  been  for  many  years  honorary  vice-president  for  this  State,  of  the  National 
Suffrage  Association.  The  following  interesting  fact  is  told  of  her,  on  the  authority  of  Major-General 
R.  W.  Johnson.  It  was  given  in  an  address  delivered  by  that  gentleman  before  the  old  settlers'  asso- 
ciation of  Hennepin  county,  at  a  reunion  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis :  Many  years  ago  a  soldier  at  Fort 
Snelling  received  an  injury  to  his  feet,  and  mortification  ensued.  Amputation  became  necessary  and  the 
case  could  not  be  postponed  until  a  surgeon  could  be  sent  for,  because  there  was  none  nearer  than  the 
post-surgeon  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  No  gentleman  in  the  garrison  was  willing  to  undertake  so  difficult  an 
operation.  Equal  to  any  emergency,  Mrs.  VanCleve,  on  hearing  of  the  case,  resolved  to  make  the  at- 
tempt. She  performed  the  operation  skillfully,  and  saved  the  soldier's  life. 

t  Mrs.  Charlotte  S.  Winchell  was  a  graduate  of  Albion  College,  Michigan,  and  came  to  this  State  in 
1873,  with  her  husband,  Prof.  Newton  H. Winchell,  widely  known  as  Minnesota's  State  geologist.  Mrs. 
Winchell  has  always  been  an  advocate  of  suffrage  for  woman,  and  cheerfully  accepted  the  position  on 
the  school  board,  serving  as  clerk.  She  took  an  active  part  in  the  nominations  and  elections  of  school 
officers.  She  was  chairman  of  the  commiittee  for  introducing  temperance  text  books  into  the  schools, 
secretary  of  the  Woman's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  a  member  of  the  State  and  City  Suffrage  Socie- 
ties, and  of  the  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Women. 


654  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

school  directors,  called  a  meeting  of  the  women  of  the  city  to  aid  in  their 
election.  It  was  a  large  and  enthusiastic  gathering.  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Peck- 
ham  presided,  Mrs.  Stearns  of  Duluth,  and  Mrs.  Pillsbury,  wife  of  the 
governor,  made  stirring  speeches,  after  which  the  candidates  were  called 
upon,  and  responded  most  acceptably.  When  election  day  came,  the 
names  of  Mrs.  VanCleve  and  Mrs.  Winchell  received  a  handsome  ma- 
jority of  the  votes  of  their  districts.  A  correspondent  in  the  Ballot-Box 
said: 

The  women  of  Minnesota  are  rejoicing  in  the  measure  of  justice  vouchsafed  them, 
— the  right  to  vote  and  hold  office  in  school  matters.  Two  hundred  and  seventy 
women  voted  in  Minneapolis,  the  governor's  wife  among  others.  Although  it  rained 
all  day  they  went  to  the  polls  in  great  numbers. 

Including  both  East  and  West  Minneapolis,  fully  1,000  women  voted; 
and  while  the  numbers  in  other  cities  and  villages  were  not  so  great,  they 
were  composed  of  the  more  intelligent.  In  St.  Charles,  where  Dr.  Adaline 
Williams  was  elected  to  the  school-board,  some  of  the  gentlemen  re- 
quested her  to  resign,  on  the  ground  that  she  had  not  been  properly 
elected.  Her  reply  was,  "  If  I  have  not  been  elected,  I  have  no  need  to 
resign  ;  and  if  I  have  been  elected,  I  do  not  choose  to  resign."  But  to 
satisfy  those  who  doubted,  she  proposed  that  another  election  should  be 
held,  which  resulted  in  an  overwhelming  majority  for  the  Doctor. 

As  the  law  says  women  are  "eligible  to  any  office  pertaining  solely  to 
the  management  of  schools,"  one  might  be  elected  as  State  superin- 
dent  of  public  instruction.  There  have  been  many  women  elected  to  the 
office  of  county  superintendent,  and  in  several  counties  they  have  been 
twice  reflected,*  and  wherever  women  have  held  school  offices,  they  have 
been  reported  as  doing  efficient  service.  Although  the  law  provided 
that  women  might  "vote  at  any  election  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  any 
officers  of  schools,"  the  attorney-general  gave  an  opinion  that  it  did  not 
entitle  them  to  vote  for  county  superintendent ;  hence  '•  an  act  to  entitle 
women  to  vote  for  county  superintendent  of  schools,"  was  passed  by  the 
legislature  of  1885. 

The  ladies'  city  school  committee,  Miss  A.  M.  Henderson,  chairman,  se- 
cured the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  seven  women  in  Minneapolis, 
to  meet  with  a  like  number  of  men  from  each  of  the  political  parties,  to 
select  such  members  of  the  school-board  as  all  could  agree  upon.  Hav- 
ing thus  aided  in  .the  nominations,  women  were  interested  in  their  elec- 
tion. In  1881  Mrs.  Merrill  and  Miss  Henderson  stood  at  the  polls  all  day 
and  electioneered  for  their  candidates.  It  was  said  that  their  efforts  not 
only  decided  the  choice  of  school  officers,  but  elected  a  temperance  alder- 
man. In  many  cities  of  the  State  the  temperance  women  exert  a  great 
influence  at  the  polls  in  persuading  men  to  vote  for  the  best  town-officers. 
At  the  special  election  held  in  Duluth  for  choosing  school  officers,  one 
of  the  judges  of  election,  and  the  clerks  at  each  of  the  polling  places 
have  for  the  last  two  years  been  women  who  were  teachers  in  our  public 
schools. 


*  For  names  of  women  elected  as  school  directors  and  county  superintendents,  see  Appendix  to  Minne- 
sota, Chapter  XLVII.,  Note  B. 


Efforts  for  Constitutional  Amendment.  655 

The  early  homestead  law  of  Minnesota  illustrates  how  easily  men  forget 
to  bestow  the  same  rights  upon  women  that  they  carefully  secure  to 
themselves.  In  1869,  the  "  protectors  of  women  "  enacted  a  law  which 
exempted  a  homestead  from  being  sold  for  the  payment  of  debts  so  long 
as  the  man  who  held  it  might  live,  while  it  allowed  his  widow  and  children 
to  be  turned  out  penniless  and  homeless.  It  was  not  until  1875  that  this 
law  was  so  amended  that  the  exemption  extended  to  the  widow  and  fath- 
erless children. 

In  1877,  a  law  was  passed  which  gave  the  widow  an  absolute  title — or 
the  same  title  her  husband  had — to  one-third  of  all  the  real  estate,  exclu- 
sive of  the  homestead,  and  of  that,  it  gave  her  the  use,  during  her  lifetime. 
So  that  now  the  widow  has  the  absolute  ownership,  instead  of  the  life  use 
of  one-third  of  whatever  she  and  her  husband  may  have  together  earned 
and  saved.  That  is,  should  there  be  any  real  estate  left,  over  and 
above  the  homestead,  after  paying  all  the  husband's  debts,  she  now  has, 
not  merely  the  difference,  as  heretofore,  between  the  amount  of  the  tax 
and  the  income  on  one-third,  but  she  may  avoid  the  tax  and  other  costs 
of  keeping  it,  by  selling  her  third,  if  she  prefers,  and  putting  the  money 
at  interest.  The  law  still  puts  whatever  may  be  left  of  the  other  two- 
thirds,  after  payment  of  debts,  into  the  hands  of  the  probate  judge  and 
others,  and  the  interest  thereof,  or  even  the  principal,  may  go  to  reward 
them  for  their  services,  or,  if  falling  into  honest  hands,  it  may  be  left  for 
the  support  and  education  of  the  children. 

The  legislature  of  1877  submitted  a  constitutional  amendment  giving 
women  a  vote  on  the  temperance  question.  This  seemed  likely  to  be 
carried  by  default  of  agitation,  as  was  that  of  school  suffrage,  until  within 
a  few  weeks  of  the  election,  when  the  liquor  interest  combined  all  its 
forces  of  men  and  money  and  defeated  it  by  a  large  majority.  The  next 
year  the  temperance  people  made  a  strong  effort  to  get  the  proposition 
re-submitted,  but  to  no  purpose. 

In  1879,  acting  upon  the  plan  proposed  to  all  the  States  by  the  National 
Association,  we  petitioned  for  the  adoption  of  a  joint  resolution  asking 
congress  to  submit  to  the  several  State  legislatures  an  amendment  to  the 
National  constitution,  prohibiting  the  disfranchisement  of  woman.  Mrs. 
Stearns  and  others  followed  up  the  petitions  with  letters  to  the  most  in- 
fluential members,  in  which  they  argued  that  the  legislatures  of  the  States, 
not  the  rank  and  file  of  the  electors,  ought  to  decide  this  question;  and 
further,  that  the  same  congress  that  had  granted  woman  the  privilege  of 
pleading  a  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  would 
doubtless  pass  a  resolution  submitting  to  the  legislatures  the  decision  of 
the  question  of  her  right  to  have  her  opinion  on  all  questions  counted 
at  the  ballot-box.  The  result  was  a  majority  of  six  in  the  Senate  in 
favor  of  the  resolution,  while  in  the  House  there  was  a  majority  of  five 
against  it. 

Since  1879,  our  legislature  has  met  biennially.  In  1881  the  temperance 
women  of  the  State  again  petitioned  for  the  right  to  vote  on  the  question 
of  licensing  the  sale  of  liquor.  Failing  to  get  that,  or  a  prohibitory  law, 
they  became  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  full  suffrage. 


656  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  annual  meetings  of  the  State  Union*  have  ever  since  been  spoken 
of  by  the  press  as  "  suffrage  conventions,"  because  they  always  pass  reso- 
lutions making  the  demand. 

Mr.  L.  Bixby,  editor  of  the  State  Temperance  Review,  gives  several  col- 
umns to  the  temperance  and  suffrage  societies.  Mrs.  Helen  E.  Gallinger, 
the  editor  of  these  departments,  is  a  lady  of  great  ability  and  earnestness. 
Mr.  Charles  H.  Dubois,  editor  of  The  Spectator,  gives  ample  space  in  his 
columns  to  notes  of  women.  Miss  Mary  C.  Le  Due  is  connected  with  The 
Spectator.  Other  journals  have  aided  our  cause,  though  not  in  so  pro- 
nounced a  way.  Mrs.  C.  F.  Bancroft,  editor  of  the  Mantorville  Express, 
and  Mrs.  Bella  French,  of  a  county  paper  at  Spring  Valley,  Mrs.  Annie 
Mitchell,  the  wife  of  one  editor  and  the  mother  of  another,  for  many 
years  their  business  associate,  have  all  given  valuable  services  to  our 
cause,  while  pecuniarily  benefiting  themselves.  The  necessity  of  finding 
a  voice  when  something  needed  to  be  said,  and  of  using  a  pen  when  some- 
thing needed  to  be  written,  has  developed  considerable  talent  for  public 
speaking  and  writing  among  the  women  of  this  State.t 

All  our  State  institutions  are  favorable  to  coeducation,  and  give  equal 
privileges  to  all.  The  Minnesota  University  has  been  open  to  women 
since  its  foundation,  and  from  1875  to  1885  fifty-six  young  women  were 
graduated  with  high  honor  to  themselves  and  their  sex.J  Miss  Maria  L. 
Sanford  has  been  professor  of  rhetoric  and  elocution  for  many  years. 
The  faculties  of  the  State  Normal  Schools  are  largely  composed  of 
women.  Hamline  University  and  Carlton  College  are  conducted  on  prin- 
ciples of  true  equality.  At  Carlton  Miss  Margaret  Evans  is  preceptress 
and  teacher  of  modern  languages.  Of  the  Rochester  High  School,  Miss 
Josephine  Hegeman  is  principal ;  of  Wasioga,  Miss  C.  T.  Atwood  ;  of 
Eyota  Union  School,  Miss  Adell  M'Kinley.§ 

For  many  years  Mrs.  M.  R.  Smith  was  employed  as  State  Librarian. 
Mrs.  H.  J.  M'Caine  for  the  past  ten  years  has  been  librarian  at  St.  Paul,  with 
Miss  Grace  A.  Spaulding  as  assistant.  Among  the  engrossing  and  en- 
rolling clerks  of  our  legislature,  Miss  Alice  Weber  is  the  only  lady's  name 
we  find,  though  the  men  holding  those  offices  usually  employ  a  half  dozen 
women  to  assist  them  in  copying,  allowing  each  two-thirds  of  the  price 
paid  by  the  State,  or  ten  cents  per  folio. 

In  this  State  the  suffrage  cause  has  had  the  sympathy  of  not  a  few  noble 
women  in  the  successful  practice  of  the  healing  art ;  thus  lending  their 
influence  for  the  political  emancipation  of  their  sex,  while  blessing  the 
community  with  their  medical  skill.  To  Doctors  Hood  and  Whetstone  is 
due  the  credit  of  establishing  the  Northwestern  Hospital  for  Women  and 
Children,  and  training  school  for  nurses,  of  which  they  are  now  the  attend- 


*  The  officers  of  the  Minnesota  State  W.  C.  T.  U.  are :  President,  Mrs.  H.  A.  Hobart ;  Vice-Presi- 
dents, Mrs.  Mary  A.  Shepardson,  Mrs.  E.  J.  Holley,  Mrs.  R.  C.  C.  Gale,  Mrs.  H.  C.  May,  Mrs.  L.  M. 
Wylie  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  D.  S.  Haywood  ;  Corresponding  Secretaries,  Mrs.  E.  S.  Wright, 
MUs  M.  E.  Mclntyre  ;  Treasurer,  Miss  A.  M.  Henderson.  Editor  W.  C.  T.  U.  department  of  Tem- 
perance Review,  Mrs.  Helen  E.  Gallinger. 

t  See  Appendix,  Chapter  XLVII.,  Note  C. 

$  During  the  same  decade  138  young  men  were  graduated  from  the  different  departments  of  the 
University. 

§  For  names  of  graduates  and  professors,  see  Appendix,  Chapter  XLVII.,  Note  D. 


The  State  Association.  657 

ing  physicians ;  and  Dr.  Hood  also  attends  the  Bethany  Home,  founded 
by  the  sisterhood  of  Bethany,  for  the  benefit  of  friendless  girls  and  women. 
In  the  town  of  Detroit  may  be  seen  a  drug  store  neatly  fitted  up,  with 
"Ogden's  Pharmacy"  over  the  door,  and  upon  it,  in  gilt  letters,  "Emma 
K.  Ogden,  M.  D."  While  the  doctor  practices  her  profession,  she  em- 
ploys a  young  woman  as  prescription  clerk.  The  Minnesota  State  Medical 
Society  has  admitted  nine  women  to  membership.* 

Conspicuous  among  evangelists  in  this  State  are  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Nind, 
Minneapolis,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Shepardson,  Wasioga,  Mrs.  Ruth  Cogswell 
Rowell,  Winona,  and  Rev.  Eliza  Tupper  Wilkes,  Rochester. 

Thus  far  this  chapter  has  been  given  mainly  to  individuals  in  the  State, 
and  to  the  home  influences  that  have  aided  in  creating  sentiment  in  favor 
of  full  suffrage  for  woman.  United  with  these  have  been  other  influences 
coming  like  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  directly  from  the  East  where  so 
many  noble  women  are  at  work  for  the  freedom  of  their  sex.  Among 
them  are  some  of  the  most  popular  lecturers  in  the  country.! 

In  September,  1881,  representative  women  from  various  localities  met 
at  Hastings  and  organized  a  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association  \  auxiliary 
to  the  National.  During  the  first  year  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
members  were  enrolled.  During  the  second  the  membership  more  than 
doubled.  In  October,  1882,  the  association  held  its  first  annual  meeting. 
The  audiences  were  large,  and  the  speakers  §  most  heartily  applauded. 
Mrs.  Nelson  presided.  In  her  letter  of  greeting  to  this  meeting,  from 
which  ill-health  obliged  her  to  be  absent,  the  president  urged  the  associa- 
tion to  firmly  adhere  to  the  principles  of  the  National  Association.  Let  us 
not  ask  for  an  amendment  to  the  State  constitution,  and  thus  put  it  in 
the  power  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  to  deny  the  boon  we  seek  ;  while  we 
are  auxiliary  to  the  National  let  us  work  according  to  its  plans.  Mrs. 
Stearns  was  unanimously  reflected  president,  and  her  views  heartily  en- 
dorsed. 

In  the  spring  of  '83,  at  the  request  of  the  State  society,  and  with  the 
generous  consent  of  Mr.  Bixby,  the  editor  of  the  State  Temperance  Review, 
Mrs.  Helen  E.  Gallinger  commenced  editing  a  woman  suffrage  column  in 
that  paper.  This  has  been  a  very  convenient  medium  of  communication 
between  the  State  society  and  the  local  auxiliaries  which  have  since  been 
organized  by  Mrs.  L.  May  Wheeler,  who  was  employed  as  lecturer  and 


*  See  Appendix,  Chapter  XLVII.,  Note  F. 

t  Miss  Anna  Dickinson,  Mrs.  Livermore,  Mrs.  Howe,  Miss  Alice  Fletcher,  Miss  Frances  Willard, 
Mrs.  Wittenmeyer,  Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Chase,  M.  D.  In  the  years  1875-6,  Mr*.  Stanton  favored  our  State 
with  a  series  of  lectures  that  awakened  much  interest.  In  1878-9,  Miss  Anthony  came,  and  spoke  in 
the  principal  cities.  From  Iowa  came  Mrs.  J.  Ellen  Foster,  Matilda  Fletcher,  and  Marianna  Folsom, 
and  from  Missouri,  Miss  Phoebe  Couzins. 

\  President,  Sarah  Burger  Stearns  ;  Vice-President,  Julia  Rullard  Nelson;  Recording  Stc  ret*ry^ 
Mrs.  C.  Smith  ;  Treasurer.  Mrs.  H.  j.  Moffit  ;  Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  Minnie  Reed,  Mrs.  L.  H. 
Clark,  Mrs.  R.  Coons  ;  Corresponding  Sec'jr,  Mrs.  Laura  Howe  Carpenter.  The  following  were  the 
charter  members :  Mrs.  Harriet  E.  Bishop,  Mrs.  Martha  Luly,  St.  Paul ;  Mrs.  A.  T.  Anderson. 
H.  J.  Moffit,  Mrs.  C.  Smith,  Minneapolis;  Mrs.  Harriet  A.  Hobart,  Julia  Bullard  NcUon,  Mrs.  R. 
Coons,  Red  Wing;  Sarah  Burger  Stearns,  Duluth  ;  Mrs.  L.  C.  Clarke,  Worthington  ;  Mrs.  L.  G. 
Finen,  Albert  Lea  ;  Mrs.  K.  E.  Webster,  Mrs.  Minnie  Reed,  Mrs.  M.  A.  VanHoesen,  Hastings. 

i  Mrs.  Nelson,  Mrs.  Hobart,  Mr.  Satterlee,  Mrs.  Charlotte  O.  Van  Cleve,  Mrs.  Laura  Howe  Carpen- 
ter, Mrs.  Viola  Fuller  Miner. 

42 


658  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

organizer,*  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1883.  Auxiliary  societies  had  pre- 
viously been  organized  by  Mrs.  Stearns,  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis.  The 
Kasson  society,  formed  in  1872,  also  became  auxiliary  to  the  State. 

During  the  Northwestern  Industrial  Exhibition,  held  in  Minneapolis 
August,  1883,  a  woman  suffrage  headquarters  was  fitted  up  on  the  fair- 
grounds, in  a  fine  large  tent,  made  attractive  by  flags,  banners  and  mot- 
toes. The  State  and  local  societies  were  represented,  officers  and  mem- 
bers being  there  to  receive  all  who  were  in  sympathy,  to  talk  suffrage  to 
opposers,  to  pass  out  good  leaflets,  and  to  exhibit  copies  of  the  Woman 
Suffrage  History.  At  the  annual  convention  this  year  we  were  honored 
by  the  presence  of  Julia  Ward  Howe  and  Mrs.  Marianna  Folsom  of  Iowa, 
and  many  of  the  clergymen  t  of  Minneapolis.  Rev.  E.  S.  Williams  gave 
the  address  of  welcome,  and  paid  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  self-sacrificing 
leaders  in  this  holy  crusade.  Mrs.  Howe  not  only  encouraged  us  with  her 
able  words  of  cheer,  but  she  presided  at  the  piano  while  her  Battle  Hymn 
of  the  Republic  was  sung,  and  seemed  to  give  it  new  inspiration.  In  the 
course  of  her  remarks  the  president  said  : 

Should  congress  finally  adopt  that  long-pending  amendment  in  the  winter  of  1883-4 
enfranchising  women,  we  should  still  have  work  to  do  in  1885  to  secure  the  ratifica- 
tion of  this  amendment  by  our  State  legislature.  But  should  congress  still  refuse,  let 
us  be  thankful  that  the  way  is  opening  for  women  to  secure  their  freedom  by  the 
power  of  the  legislature  independent  of  all  constitutional  amendments,  as  there  is 
nothing  in  ordinary  State  constitutions  to  prevent  legislators  from  extending  suffrage 
to  women  by  legislative  enactment.  The  constitution  of  the  State  of  Minnesota  sim- 
ply enfranchises  men,  and  does  not  even  mention  women;  we  have  clearly  nothing  to 
do  but  to  convince  our  legislators  that  they  are  free  to  give  educated  women  full  suf- 
frage. 

With  this  view  the  society  adopted  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  we  accept  with  joy  the  argument  that  comes  to  us  from  the  east  and 
from  the  west  declaring  suffrage  amendments  to  State  constitutions  unnecessary,  be- 
cause the  word  "  male,"  occurring  as  it  does  in  most  State  constitutions,  in  no  wise 
restrains  legislatures  from  extending  full  suffrage  to  women,  should  they  feel  inclined 
to  do  so.  Be  it  also 

Resolved,  That  it  therefore  becomes  our  duty  to  talk  with  all  men  and  women  who 
are  friendly  to  our  cause,  and  ask  them  to  examine  the  argument,  and  if  it  commends 
itself  to  their  judgment,  to  give  us  the  benefit  of  their  convictions. 

Though  passing  the  above  resolutions  at  that  time,  the  State  Associa- 
tion of  course  waits  to  see  what  may  be  done,  in  view  of  this  new  idea, 
by  older  and  stronger  States  whose  constitutions  are  similar  to  ours. 
Although  failing  health  induced  Mrs.  Stearns,  in  the  fall  of  1883,  to  re- 
sign her  suffrage  work  into  other  hands,  and  ask  to  be  excused  from  any 
office  whatever,  she  has,  with  improving  health  lately  accepted  the  presi- 
dency of  an  Equal  Rights  League  in  Duluth.  Dr.  Ripley  was  not  present 


ng  pla 
Lake,  and  Wabashaw. 

t  Rev.  W.  W.  Satterlee,  Rev.  H.  M.  Simmons,  Rev.  F.  J.  Wagner,  whose  church  we  occupied,  and 
others.  The  speakers  at  this  convention  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dubois,  Mrs.  Wheeler,  Mrs.  Elliott,  Mrs. 
Hobart,  Mrs.  Carpenter,  Miss  Harriman.  Letters  were  received  from  Mrs.  Devereux  Blake,  L>r. 
Clemence  Lozier,  Rev.  J.  B.  Tuttle,  H.  B.  Blackwell,  Lucy  Stone  and  Col.  T.  W.  Higginson. 


Annual  Meeting  in  Minneapolis.  659 

herself  at  the  convention*  which  chose  her  for  president  for  the  ensuing 
year,  being  then  at  the  East,  but  immediately  after  returning,  she  entered 
upon  her  new  duties  with  enthusiasm.  As  there  was  to  be  no  legislature 
in  1884,  there  could  be  no  petitioning,  except  to  continue  the  work  com- 
menced as  long  ago  as  1871,  of  petitioning  congress  for  a  sixteenth 
amendment.  The  work  was  carried  on  with  vigor,  and  many  hundreds  of 
names  obtained  in  a  short  time.  Early  in  1884  Mrs.  L.  May  Wheeler  con- 
tinued to  lecture  in  the  interests  of  the  suffrage  cause.  While  so  engaged 
she  issued  her  "Collection  of  Temperance  and  Suffrage  Melodies." 

In  1884  a  woman  suffrage  headquarters  was  again  fitted  up  in  News- 
paper Row,  on  the  grounds  of  the  Northwestern  Industrial  Exhibition. 
The  large  tent  was  shared  by  the  State  W.  C.  T.  U.f  and  appropriately 
decked  within  and  without  to  represent  both  of  the  State  organizations 
and  their  auxiliaries.  A  large  amount  of  suffrage  and  temperance  litera- 
ture was  distributed  among  the  many  who  were  attracted  by  the  novelty 
of  the  sight  and  sentiments  displayed  on  banners  and  flags. 

As  Minneapolis  had  already  become  headquarters  for  the  suffrage  work 
of  the  State,  it  was  thought  best  to  again  hold  the  annual  meeting  in  that 
city.  This  was  in  October,  continuing  two  days,  and  was  both  interesting 
and  encouraging.  Dr.  Martha  G.  Ripley  presided.  Many  interesting  let- 
ters were  read,  and  cheering  telegrams  received.!  Miss  Marion  Lowell 
recited  "The  Legend,"  by  Mary  Agnes  Ticknor,  and  "Was  he  Hen- 
pecked?" by  Phebe  Gary,  Mrs.  A.  M.  Tyng  of  Austin,  made  a  good 
speech,  also  recited  a  poem  entitled  "  Jane  Conquest."  Mr.  Lars  Oure  of 
Norway,  spoke  well  upon  the  "  Claims  of  Woman."  Dr.  L.  W.  Denton 
of  Minneapolis,  gave  a  very  good  address.  Dr.  Martha  G.  Ripley  spoke 
on  suffrage  as  a  natural  right,  and  in  support  of  this  view  read  extracts 
from  a  pamphlet  entitled,  •'  Woman  Suffrage  a  Right,  and  not  a  Privilege," 
by  Wm.  I.  Bowditch;  Eliza  Burt  Gamble  of  St.  Paul,  read  a  very  able 
paper  on  "Woman  and  the  Church";  Mrs.  Stearns  spoke  upon  the  new 
era  to  be  inaugurated  when  women  have  the  ballot.  Miss  Emma  Harri- 
man  read  a  bright  and  entertaining  paper.  The  fine  address  of  the  occa- 
sion was  given  by  Rev.  W.  W.  Satterlee,  showing  the  nation's  need  of 
woman's  vote.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Hemiup,  of  Minneapolis,  just  returned 
from  a  visit  to  Wyoming  Territory,  were  present.  The  judge  made  sev- 
eral speeches,  and  was  enthusiastic  in  his  praise  of  the  workings  of  woman 
suffrage  there.  He  and  his  wife  are  now  active  members  of  the  State  and 
city  (Minneapolis)  suffrage  societies.  The  judge  is  also  a  memberof  the 
State  executive  committee. 

Wishing  to  give  honor  to  whom  honor  is  due,  we  would  mention  the 
brave  young  women  who  have  formed  the  Christian  Temperance  Unions, 

*  The  officers  elected  at  this  convention  were:  /Vrr/./i-w/,  Martha  G.  Ripley,  M.  D.,  Minneapolis; 
I'i<f-J'rtji,/ent,  Mrs.  Lizzie  Manson,  Shakopee  ;  Rtcording  Secretary,  Mary  T.  Emery,  M.  D.,  St. 
I'. >'il  ;  Corrttponding  Secretary,  Emma  Harriman,  Minneapolis  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Helen  E.  Gallin- 
ger,  Minneapolis;  Executive  Committee*  Mrs.  S.  K.  Crawford,  Anoka;  Mrs.  M.  A.  Warner,  Ham- 
line  ;  Mrs.  F.  G.  Gould,  Excelsior ;  Rev.  E.  S.  Williams,  Prof.  W.  A.  Carpenter,  Mrs.  A.  T.  Ander- 
son and  Mrs.  Laura  Howe  Carpenter,  Minneapolis. 

t  From  John  G.  Whittier,  Mrs.  Julia  D.  Nelson  (teaching  school  in  Tennessee) and  Henry  B.  Black- 
well. 


66o  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  leading  spirits*  in  this  grand  movement  in  Minneapolis,  St.  Panl,  \Yin- 
ona  and  St.  Cloud.  Their  names  will  be  usually  found  as  delegates  to  the 
annual  meetings  of  all  the  State  Unions.  The  small  army  of  noble  girls 
who  have  helped  to  make  the  Good  Templars'  lodges  attractive  and  wor- 
thy resorts  for  their  brothers  and  friends,  have  done  an  inestimable  work 
in  elevating  the  moral  tone  of  the  community  all  over  the  State.  They 
have  also  done  their  full  share  in  petitioning  congress  for  a  sixteenth 
amendment,  in  which  they  have  received  most  untiring  help  from  the 
young  men  of  the  lodges.  In  1884  Miss  Frances  Willard  again  visited  the 
State,  advocating  the  ballot  as  well  as  the  Bible  as  an  aid  to  temperance 
work.  Her  eloquent  voice  here  as  elsewhere  woke  many  to  serious 
thought  on  the  danger  of  this  national  vice  to  the  safety  and  stability  oi 
our  republican  institutions.  It  was  through  Miss  Willard's  influence,  no 
doubt,  that  the  friends  of  temperance  established  a  department  of  fran- 
chise for  the  State,  and  made  Mrs.  E.  L.  Crockett  its  superintendent. 

The  women  of  Minnesota  seem  thus  far  to  have  no  special  calling  to 
the  legal  profession.  Mrs.  Martha  Angle  Dorsett  is  the  only  woman  as 
yet  admitted  to  the  bar.  She  was  graduated  from  the  law  school  at  Des 
Moines,  and  admitted  to  practice  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Iowa  in 
June,  1876.  She  was  refused  admission  at  first  in  Minnesota,  whereupon 
she  appealed  to  the  legislature,  which  in  1877  enacted  a  law  securing  the 
right  to  women  by  a  vote  of  63  to  30  in  the  House,  and  26  to  6  in  the 
Senate. 

In  some  of  the  larger  cities  and  towns  the  literary,  musical  and  dram- 
atic taste  of  our  women  t  is  evidenced  by  societies  and  clubs  for  mutual 
improvement.  Many  are  attending  classes  for  the  study  of  natural  his- 
tory, classic  literature,  social  science,  etc.  There  is  an  art  club  in  Minne- 
apolis, composed  wholly  of  artists,  both  ladies  and  gentlemen,  which 
meets  every  week,  the  members  making  sketches  from  life.  Miss  Julie 
C.  Gauthier  had  on  exhibition  at  the  New  Orleans  Exposition,  a  full- 
length  portrait,  true  to  life,  of  a  colored  man,  "Pony,"  a  veteran  wood- 
sawer  of  St.  Paul,  which  received  very  complimentary  notices  from  art 
critics  of  that  city,  as  well  as  from  the  press  generally. 

In  the  Business  Colleges  of  Mr.  Curtis  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis, 
many  women  are  teachers,  and  many  more  are  educated  as  shorthand  re- 
porters, telegraphers,  and  book-keepers.  These  have  no  difficulty  in  find- 
ing places  after  completing  their  college  course.  Nearly  fifty  young 
women  are  employed  in  the  principal  towns  of  the  State  as  telegraphers 
alone.  Miss  Mary  M.  Cary  has  been  employed  for  seyen  years  as  operator 
and  station  agent  at  Wayzata,  for  the  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Manitoba 
R.  R.  Her  services  are  highly  valued,  as  well  they  may  be,  for  during 
her  absence  from  the  station  two  men  are  required  to  do  her  work.  By 
her  talents  and  industry  she  has  acquired  a  thorough  education  for  herself, 
besides  educating  her  two  younger  sisters.  Mrs.  Anna  B.  Underwood  of 
Lake  City,  has  for  many  years  been  secretary  of  a  firm  conducting  a  large 
nursery  of  fruit  trees,  plants  and  flowers.  Her  husband  being  one  of  the 


*  Miss  Carrie  Holbrook,  Miss  Eva  Mclntyre,  Miss  Harriman. 
t  See  Appendix,  Chapter  XLVII.,  Note  F. 


Gain  of  Self-Reliance.  66 1 

partners,  she  has  taken  a  large  share  of  the  general  management.     The 
orchard  yields  a  profit  of  over  $1,000  a  year. 

From  the  list  of  names  to  be  found  in  the  Appendix,  we  see  that  Minne- 
sota is  remarkable  for  its  galaxy  of  superior  women  actively  engaged  as 
speakers  and  writers*  in  many  reforms,  as  well  as  in  the  trades  and  pro- 
fessions, and  in  varied  employments.  One  of  the  great  advantages  of 
pioneer  life  is  the  necessity  to  man  of  woman's  help  in  all  the  emergen- 
cies of  these  new  conditions  in  which  their  forces  and  capacities  are  called 
into  requisition.  She  thus  acquires  a  degree  of  self-reliance,  courage  and 
independence,  that  would  never  be  called  out  in  older  civilizations,  and 
commands  a  degree  of  respect  from  the  men  at  her  side  that  can  only  be 
learned  in  their  mutual  dependence. 

*  See  Appendix,  Chapter  XLVII.,  Note  G. 


CHAPTER   XLVIII. 
DAKOTA. 

Influences  of  Climate  and  Scenery — Legislative  Action,  1872 — Mrs.  Marietta  Bones — 
In  February,  1879,  School  Suffrage  Granted  Women — Constitutional  Convention, 
1883 — Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  Addressed  a  Letter  to  the  Convention  and  an  Appeal 
to  the  Women  of  the  State — Mrs.  Bones  Addressed  the  Convention  in  Person — 
The  Effort  to  Get  the  Word  "  Male"  Out  of  the  Constitution  Failed — Legislature 
of  1885 — Major  Pickler  Presents  the  Bill — Carried  Through  Both  Houses — Gov- 
ernor Pierce's  Veto — Major  Pickler's  Letter. 

PHILOSOPHERS  have  had  much  to  say  of  the  effect  of  climate 
and  scenery  upon  the  human  family — the  inspiring  influence  of  the 
grand  and  the  boundless  in  broadening  the  thought  of  the  people 
and  stimulating  them  to  generous  action.  Hence,  one  might 
naturally  look  for  liberal  ideas  among  a  people  surrounded  with 
such  vast  possessions  as  are  in  the  territory  of  Dakota.  But 
alas!  there  seems  to  be  no  correspondence  in  this  republic  be- 
tween areas  and  constitutions.  Although  Dakota  comprises  96,- 
595,840  acres,  yet  one-half  her  citizens  are  defrauded  of  their 
rights  precisely  as  they  are  in  the  little  States  of  Delaware  and 
Rhode  Island.  The  inhabitants  denied  the  right  of  suffrage  by 
their  territorial  constitution  are,  the  Indians  not  taxed  (a  hint 
that  those  who  pay  taxes  vote),  idiots,  convicts  and  women.  But 
from  records  sent  us  by  Mrs.  Marietta  Bones,  to  whom  we  are 
indebted  for  this  chapter,  there  seem  to  have  been  some  spas- 
modic climatic  influences  at  work,  though  not  sufficiently  strong 
as  yet  to  get  that  odious  word  "male"  out  of  the  constitution. 
Our  Dakota  historian  says: 

The  territorial  legislature,  in  the  year  1872,  came  within  one  vote  of 
enfranchising  women.  That  vote  was  cast  by  Hon.  W.  W.  Moody,  who, 
•let  it  be  said  to  his  credit,  most  earnestly  espoused  the  cause  in  our  con- 
stitutional convention  in  1883,  and  said  in  the  course  of  his  remarks: 
"Are  not  my  wife  and  daughter  as  competent  to  vote  as  I  am  to  hold 
office?"  which  question  caused  prolonged  laughter  among  the  most  ig- 
norant of  the  delegates,  and  cries  of,  "  You're  right,  Judge  !  "  Although 
it  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  through  one  vote  twelve  years  ago  our 


Letter  to  the   Women  of  Dakota.  663 

women  were  deprived  of  freedom,  yet  we  must  forgive  Judge  Moody  on 
the  ground  that  "  it  is  never  too  late  to  mend." 

In  February,  1879,  the  legislature  revised  the  school  law,  and  provided 
that  women  should  vote  at  school  meetings.  That  law  was  repealed  in 
March,  1883,  by  the  school  township  law,  which  requires  regular  polls  and 
a  private  ballot,  so,  of  course,  excluding  women  from  the  small  privi- 
lege given  them  in  1879.  That  act,  however,  excepted  fifteen  counties* — 
the  oldest  and  most  populous — which  had  districts  fully  established,  and 
therein  women  still  vote  at  school  meetings. 

In  townships  which  are  large  and  have  many  schools  under  one  board 
and  no  districts,  the  people  select  which  school  they  desire  their  children 
to  attend.  The  persons  who  may  so  select  are  parents:  first,  the  father; 
next,  the  mother,  if  there  be  no  father  living ;  guardians  (women  or  men), 
and  "persons  having  in  charge  children  of  school  age."  These  persons 
hold  a  meeting  annually  of  their  "school,"  and  such  women  vote  there, 
and  one  of  them  may  be  chosen  moderator  for  the  school,  to  hold  one 
year.  This  office  is  a  sort  of  responsible  agency  for  the  school,  and  be- 
tween it  and  the  township  board. 

Since  the  legislation  upon  the  subject  of  school  suffrage  there  has  not 
been  much  work  done  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause.  The  wide  distances 
between  towns  and  the  sparsely  settled  country  make  our  people  compara- 
tive strangers  to  each  other.  We  lack  organization ;  the  country  is  too 
new  ;  in  fact,  the  most  and  only  work  for  woman  suffrage  has  been  done 
by  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  and  myself,  and,  owing  to  disadvantages  men- 
tioned, that  has  been  but  little.  Mrs.  Gage  reached  Dakota  just  at  the 
close  of  the  Huron  convention,  held  in  June,  1883,  to  discuss  the  question 
of  territorial  division.  The  resolutions  of  the  convention  declared  that 
just  governments  derived  their  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed  ; 
that  Dakota  possessed  a  population  of  200,000,  women  included  ;  that  the 
people  of  a  territory  have  the  right,  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  to  adopt 
a  constitution  and  form  a  State  government.  Accordingly,  a  convention 
was  called  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  those  residing  in  that  part  of  Da- 
kota south  of  the  forty-sixth  parallel  to  organize  a  State.  Mrs.  Gage  at 
once  addressed  a  letter  to  the  women  of  the  territory  and  to  the  consti- 
tutional convention  assembled  at  Sioux  Falls : 

To  the  Women  of  Dakota  : 

A  convention  of  men  will  assemble  at  Sioux  Falls,  September  4,  for  the  purpose  of 
framing  a  constitution  and  pressing  upon  congress  the  formation  of  a  State  of  the 
southern  half  of  the  territory.  This  is  the  moment  for  women  to  act;  it  is  the  decisive 
moment.  There  can  never  again  come  to  the  women  of  Dakota  an  hour  like  the  pres- 
ent. A  constitution  is  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State;  upon  it  all  statute  laws 
an-  based,  and  upon  the  fact  whether  woman  is  inside  or  outside  the  pale  of  the  con- 
stitution, her  rights  in  the  State  depend. 

The  code  of  Dakota,  under  the  head  of  "  Personal  Relations,"  says:  "  The  husband 
is  the  head  of  the  family.  He  may  choose  any  reasonable  place,  or  mode  of  living,  and 
the  wife  must  conform  thereto."  Under  this  class  legislation,  which  was  framed  by  man 
entirely  in  his  own  interests,  the  husband  may,  and  in  many  cases  docs,  file  a  preilmp- 

*  These  counties  arc  Union,  Lincoln,  Clay,  Minnchnha,  Moody,  Deucl,  Codington,  Cass,  Wal«h, 

lir.iinl  I.  rk^,  lYiiil.in.i,  K.irncs,  Lawrence  and  Hutchinson. 


664  History  of   l]roinaii   Suffrage. 

tion  claim,  build  a  shanty,  and  place  his  wife  upon  the  ground  as  "a  reasonable  place 
and  mode  of  living,"  while  he  remains  in  town  in  pursuit  of  business  or  pleasure. 

Let  us  examine  this  condition  of  affairs  a  little  closer.  If  the  wife  is  not  pleased 
with  this  "place  and  mode  of  living,"  but  should  leave  it,  she  is,  under  this  lasv  of 
class  legislation,  liable  to  be  advertised  as  having  left  the  husband's  bed  and  board, 
wherefore  tye  will  pay  no  debts  of  her  contracting.  And  how  is  it  if  she  remains 
on  this  until  her  continued  residence  upon  it  has  enabled  her  husband  to  prove 
up  ?  Does  she  then  share  in  its  benefits?  Is  she  then  half  owner  of  the  land  ? 
l>y  no  means.  Chapter  3,  section  83,  article  V.  of  the  Code,  says  :  "  No  estate  is  al- 
lowed the  husband  or  tenant  by  courtesy  upon  the  death  of  his  wife,  nor  is  any  estate 
in  dower  allowed  to  the  wife  upon  the  death  of  the  husband." 

This  article  carries  a  specious  fairness  on  its  face,  but  it  is  a  bundle  of  wrongs  to 
woman.  By  the  United  States  law,  only  "the  head  of  the  family"  is  allowed  to  enter 
lands — either  a  preemption,  homestead  or  tree  claim.  In  unison  with  the  United 
States,  the  law  of  Dakota  (see  chapter  3,  section  76)  recognizes  the  husband  as  the 
head  of  the  family,  and  then  declares  that  no  estate  in  dower  is  allowed  to  the  wife 
upon  the  death  of  her  husband.  Neither  has  she  any  claim  upon  any  portion  of  this 
land  the  husband,  as  head  of  the  family,  may  take,  except  the  homestead,  in  which 
she  is  recognized  as  joint  owner.  The  preemption  claim  upon  which,  in  a  comfortless 
claim-shanty,  she  may  have  lived  for  six  months,  or  longer,  if  upon  unsurveyed  land, 
as  "  the  reasonable  place  and  mode- of  living"  her  husband  has  selected  for  her,  does 
not  belong  to  her  at  all.  She  has  no  part  nor  share  in  it.  Upon  proving,  her  hus- 
band may  at  once  sell,  or  deed  it  away  as  a  gift,  and  she  has  no  redress.  It  was  not 
hers.  The  law  so  declares;  but  she  is  her  husband's,  to  the  extent  that  she  can  be 
thus  used  to  secure  160  acres  of  land  for  him,  over  which  she  has  no  right,  title,  claim 
or  interest.  I  have  not  space  to  pursue  this  subject  farther,  but  will  assure  the  women 
of  Dakota  that  reading  the  code,  and  the  session  laws  of  the  territory  will  be  more  in- 
teresting to  them  than  any  novel.  If  they  wish  to  still  farther  know  their  wrongs,  let 
them  look  in  the  code  under  the  heads  of  "Parent  and  Child,"  "Crimes  Defined," 
"  Probate  Court,"  etc.,  etc. 

Every  woman  in  Dakota  should  be  immediately  at  work.  Inasmuch  as  the  consti- 
tution is  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State,  it  should  be  the  effort  of  the  women  of 
Dakota  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  the  restrictive  word  "  male."  The  delegates  to 
the  Sioux  Falls  convention  have  now  largely  been  elected.  Address  letters  of  protest 
to  them  against  making  the  constitution  an  organ  of  class  legislation.  In  as  far  as 
possible  have  personal  interviews  with  these  delegates,  and  by  speech  make  known 
your  wishes  on  this  point.  These  are  your  only  methods  of  representation.  You 
have  in  no  way  signified  your  desire  for  a  constitution.  You  have  not  been  permitted 
to  help  make  these  laws  which  rob  you  of  property,  and  many  other  things  more  val- 
uable. Many  women  are  settling  in  Dakota.  Unmarried  women  and  widows  in 
large  numbers  are  taking  up  claims  here,  and  their  property  is  taxed  to  help  support 
the  government  and  the  men  who  make  these  iniquitous  laws. 

I  have  not  mentioned  a  thousandth  part  of  the  wrongs  done  woman  by  her  being 
•deprived  of  the  right  of  self-government.  Every  injustice  under  which  she  suffers,  as 
"wife,  mother,  woman,  child,  in  property  and  person,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  she  is  not 
recognized  as  man's  political  equal — and  her  only  power  is  that  of  protest.  Lose  not 
a.  moment,  then,  women  of  Dakota,  in  objecting  to  the  introduction  of  the  word 
"male "  into  the  proposed  new  constitution.  Besides  seeing  and  writing  to  delegates, 
make  effort  to  be  present  at  Sioux  Falls  during  the  time  of  the  convention,  to  labor  with 
delegates  from  distant  points,  and  to  go  before  committees,  and  the  convention  itself, 
with  your  protests.  Above  all,  remember  that  now  is  the  decisive  hour. 

MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE, 
Vice-President-at-Large,  Xational  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

Mrs.  Gage  also  addressed  the  following  to  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion : 


Mrs.  Bones'  Address.  665 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  :  The  work  upon  which  you  are  now  engaged  is  an 
important  one  in  the  interests  of  liberty,  that  of  framing  a  constitution  for  a  proposed 
new  State,  As  a  constitution  is  the  fundamental  law,  its  provisions  should  be  general 
in  their  character,  equally  recognizing  the  rights  of  all  its  citizens  by  its  protective 
powers.  Our  National  principle,  that  governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed,  is  becoming  more  and  more  widely  recognized. 

At  an  early  day  suffrage  was  restricted  byxjualifications  of  property  and  education 
in  many  of  the  States,  and  the  removal  of  such  restrictions  has  been  left  entirely  to  the 
States,  except  in  the  one  instance  of  color.  Within  the  last  two  decades,  by  amend- 
ments to  the  national  constitution,  all  States  are  forbidden  to  exclude  citizens  from  the 
ballot  upon  that  account 

As  "sex "is  now  the  only  remaining  disqualification,  on  behalf  of  the  National 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  I  ask  you  to  omit  the  word  "male"  from  your  pro- 
posed constitution,  and  leave  the  women  of  Dakota  free  to  exercise  the  right  of  suf- 
frage. We  simply  ask  you  to  make  your  State  a  true  republic,  in  which  all  your  citi- 
zens may  stand  equal  before  the  law.  While  foreign  men  of  every  nation  are  wel- 
comed to  your  magnificent  prairies  as  equals,  it  is  humiliating  to  the  women  of  the 
territory,  who  are  helping  you  to  develop  its  resources,  who  have  endured  with  you  all 
the  hardships  of  pioneer  life,  to  be  treated  as  inferiors,  outside  the  pale  of  political 
consideration.  It  should  be  the  pride  of  Dakota  to  take  the  initiative  step  in  the  legis- 
lation of  the  period,  now  steadily  growing  more  liberal,  and  by  one  generous  and 
graceful  act  accord  to  the  women  of  this  territory  all  the  rights,  privileges  and  immu- 
nities that  men  claim  for  themselves.  MATILDA  JOSLYN  GAGE, 

Vice-President-at-Large,  N.   W.  S.  A. 

Aberdeen,  Dakota,  Sept.  j,  1883. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  argument  presented  by  Mrs.  Gage  could 
not  convince  that  honorable  body  of  the  injustice  of  laws  towards 
woman.  To  me  was  given  the  privilege  of  addressing  the  convention. 
I  said : 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  The  honor  conferred  on  me,  of 
being  allowed  to  address  you  on  this  important  occasion  is  fully  appreciated. 
I  am  here  in  behalf  of  the  women  of  our  territory,  who  are  opposed  to  being 
left  in  the  State  organization  with  no  more  authority  in  the  government  than  paupers, 
lunatics  and  idiots.  We  are  willing  to  do  one-half  of  the  manual  labor  in  this  coun- 
try, and  will  promptly  pay  our  portion  of  the  taxes.  As  sober  and  peaceful  citizens, 
we  compare  favorably  with  the  other  sex.  I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  you  a  peti- 
tion signed  by  hundreds  of  Day  county  voters,  praying  your  honorable  body  not  to 
allow  the  word  "  male  "  to  be  incorporated  within  our  State  constitution.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  this  petition  speaks  the  honest  sentiment  of  the  people  throughout  the 
territory.  In  but  a  single  instance  was  I  refused  a  name,  and  in  a  second  case  a  man 
hesitated,  saying,  "Well,  now,  if  it's  as  many  rights  you're  wantin*  es  I  hev  got  fur 
meself,  you'll  be  after  signin'  my  name  fur  me — fur  I  niver  do  any  writin*  at  all  fur 
meself."  And  yet  that  man  whose  name  I  had  to  write  has  more  rights  in  this,  his 
adopted  country,  than  I  and  all  other  women  have  in  this  our  native  land.  The  right 
of  franchise,  which  has  heretofore  been  regarded  as  a  privilege,  should  more 
properly  be  considered  a  right — a  right  to  be  exercised  by  every  citizen  for  the 
public  good.  If  there  is  not  another  woman  in  Dakota  who  wants  to  vote,  I  do! 
There  is  no  doubt  that  many  women  are  indifferent  upon  this  subject,  but  when  once 
given  the  ballot  you  will  see  that  their  progress  will  equal,  if  not  exceed,  that  of 
the  emancipated  slaves  in  the  South.  Look  at  Wyoming  Territory,  where  woman 
suffrage  has  a  fair  test;  no  one  will  deny  it  has  proved  a  marked  success.  Elec- 
tions there  now  are  quiet  and  more  orderly  than  they  are  elsewhere.  Before  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  women  of  Wyoming,  election  days  were  a  terror  gener- 
ally, being  both  boisterous  and  riotous.  It  is  really  true  that  Dakota  men  arc  the  most 


666  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

energetic  and  enterprising  anywhere  to  be  found,  and  in  number  they  largely  exceed 
our  women.  Gentlemen,  make  this  the  most  advantageous  State  for  women,  and  they 
will  soon  be  wending  their  way  hither.  Women  have  been  granted  select  committees 
in  both  Houses  of  congress,  and  better  still,  each  of  those  committees  has  given  us  a 
majority  report  in  favor  of  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  prohibiting  the  disfranchisement  of  citizens  on  account,  of  sex.  Gentlemen, 
delegates  of  this  State  constitutional  convention,  I  now  appeal  to  your  highest  sense  of 
honor  and  justice  to  give  us  the  right  to  vote — give  it  to  us,  not  because  we  possess 
any  particular  merit,  but  give  it  to  us  because  it  is  our  right !  Then  Dakota  will  in 
fact  be  "  a  home  of  the  free" — honored  by  all  nations,  and  the  Banner  State  of  the 
Union  [applause]. 

But,  after  all  our  work  and  pleading,  they  turned  a  deaf  ear — infinitely 
worse,  they  were  dishonest ;  at  least  this  was  true  of  the  committee  on 
elections.  I  was  present  at  every  meeting  of  that  committee.  At  their 
last,  I  was  with  them  three  hours  (the  entire  session)  to  answer  objections. 
One  member  made  the  motion,  "that  the  word  'male'  be  not  incor- 
porated within  our  State  constitution."  The  vote  on  the  motion  was  a 
tie,  when  the  chairman  cast  his  vote  in  the  affirmative.  After  weeks  of 
hard  work  I  had  reached  the  goal !  and  with  eyes  brim  full  of  tears, 
thanked  that  committee.  They  then  adjourned,  to  report  in  open  conven- 
tion the  next  morning  to  my  utter  surprise,  that  "Women  may  vote  at 
school  elections  and  for  school  officers."  No  words  of  mine  can  express 
the  disappointment  and  humiliation  this  defeat  of  justice  caused  me. 

Among  the  hundreds  of  questions  asked  me  by  that  committee  were 
these  :  "  Do  you  want  a  prohibitory  plank  in  our  State  constitution  ?  " 
Answer :  "  No  ;  prohibition  should  be  settled  by  the  people  ;  it  cannot  be 
with  one-half  our  citizens  disfranchised,  and  that  half  its  most  earnest 
advocates."  "  Do  you  think  prohibition  prohibits?"  "No;  man's  pro- 
hibitory laws  are  good  enough,  but  he  does  not  enforce  them  ;  women 
have  not  the  authority  to  do  so  ;  but  if  you  will  give  us  the  power,  we 
will  soon  have  prohibition  that  will  prohibit."  A  voice  :  "I  believe  it !  " 
"  Do  you  think  the  majority  of  women  want  to  vote  ?  "  "  I  do  not ;  but  is 
that  any  reason  why  you  should  deprive  the  one  who  does  ?  You  do  not 
force  men  to  vote  ;  women,  as  a  rule,  have  not  given  this  subject  the  at- 
tention they  should  ;  many  of  them  are  as  ignorant  of  the  advantages  the 
ballot  would  secure  as  were  the  negroes  when  John  Brown  raised  the  in- 
surrection at  Harper's  Ferry." 

There  is  a  trite  saying :  "The  darkest  hour  is  just  before  the  dawn." 
The  day  cannot  be  far  distant  when  Dakota's  women  will  be  free ;  for  the 
most  intelligent  men,  and  those  occupying  the  most  prominent  positions 
in  our  territory,  are  avowed  friends  of  suffrage.  Chief-Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  for  Dakota,  Hon.  A.  J.  Edgerton,  said  in  his  Fourth  of  July 
oration  here  :  "  How  necessary  it  is  for  us  to  elect  only  good  and  honest 
men  to  office !  To  do  this,  woman  likewise  must  act  her  part  in  the 
labor  of  arresting  the  advance  of  crime  and  corruption,  although  through 
timidity  the  politician  is  slow  to  invest  her  with  the  higher  duties  and 
obligations  of  American  citizenship." 

This  same  just  judge  has  appointed  a  woman  (Mrs.  Washburn  of  Cham- 
berlain) stenographer  of  his  judicial  district — the  best  salaried  office  in 


The   Governors    Veto.  66 / 

his  gift.*  With  the  assistance  of  this  grand  man  (occupying  the  highest 
position  in  our  territory),  and  many  others  equally  efficient,  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  our  most  intelligent  women  will  be  obliged  to  wait  for  the 
education  of  the  most  ignorant  men  to  consent  to  their  enfranchisement. 
In  the  last  legislature  (1885)  Major  John  A.  Pickler  introduced  a  bill 
enfranchising  the  women  of  the  territory,  which,  after  full  discussion, 
passed  the  House  by  29  to  i8,t  and  the  Council  by  14  to  10.  The  hopes 
of  the  friends  were  soon  disappointed  by  the  governor's  veto  : 

EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,  BISMARCK,  D.  T.,  March  13,  1885. 
To  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : 

I  herewith  return  House  file  No.  71,  with  my  objections  to  its  becoming  a  law.  A 
measure  of  this  kind  demands  careful  and  candid  consideration,  both  because  of  its 
importance  and  because  of  the  acknowledged  sincerity  and  high  character  of  those  who 
favor  it.  There  are  certain  reasons,  however,  why  I  cannot  approve  such  a  measure 
at  this  time,  and  other  reasons  why  I  cannot  approve  this  particular  bill.  It  is  desira- 
ble, in  my  judgment,  that  we  act,  so  far  as  possible,  as  if  we  were  governed,  restrained 
and  guided  by  a  constitution  adopted  by  ourselves,  If  we  had  a  constitution  modeled 
after  those  of  the  States,  an  extraordinary  proposition  like  this  would  be  submitted  to  the 
people.  If  congress  thinks  woman  suffrage  wise,  it  has  the  power  to  establish  it.  It  is 
unfair  to  shift  the  responsibility  on  the  territory  and  then  hold  it  responsible  for 
alleged  imprudent  legislation.  I  am  assured  the  enactment  of  this  law  will  delay  our 
claims  to  statehood,  and  in  so  critical  a  period  it  is  better  that  no  pretext  what- 
ever be  given  for  such  postponement.  It  is  doubted  by  many  if  a  majority  of  the 
women  of  Dakota  want  the  franchise.  The  point  is  made,  and  a  very  good  one,  that 
the  fact  that  one  woman  does  not  want  a  right  is  not  a  justifiable  reason  for  refusing 
it  to  another  who  does,  yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  enfranchisement  of  women 
confers  not  only  a  privilege  but  a  grave  burden  and  responsibility.  We  condemn  the 
man  who  neglects  to  vote  as  recreant  to  his  duty.  If  women  are  enfranchised,  the 
right  conferred  becomes  an  obligation  as  imperious  to  them  as  to  men;  on  those  op- 
posed as  on  those  who  favor  the  act.  I  think  the  women  of  Dakota  should  have  a 
voice  in  determining  whether  they  should  assume  this  burden  or  not.  So  much  for 
the  general  proposition.  There  are  two  other  features  of  this  bill  which  I  can  scarcely 
think  satisfactory  to  the  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  themselves.  I  am  satisfied  that 
they  should  appear  in  a  measure  claiming  to  advance  the  rights  of  women.  If  the 
vote  of  a  woman  is  needed  anywhere,  it  is  in  our  cities.  In  many  existing  city  char- 
ters a  distinct  clause  appears,  providing  that  males  alone  shall  possess  the  qualifica- 
tions of  electors.  In  this  bill  the  word  "  male  "  is  only  stricken  out  of  one  chapter  of 
the  code,  leaving  the  disability  still  standing  against  hundreds  of  women  equally  enti- 
tled to  recognition.  The  women  of  Sioux  Falls,  the  women  of  Mitchell,  the  women 
of  Brookings,  the  women  of  Chamberlain,  of  Watertown  and  a  great  many  of  the  more 
important  cities  in  southern  Dakota,  would  be  disqualified  from  voting  under  these 
special  enactments,  even  though  this  bill  became  a  law  at  this  very  session.  Charters 
have  been  created  with  that  provision  retained,  and  they  would  make  this  bill  abortive 
and  largely  inoperative.  A  still  more  objectionable  feature,  and  one  deliberately  in- 
serted, is  the  clause  debarring  women  from  the  right  to  hold  office.  If  the  word 


*  Since  1882  Mrs.  Bones  has  held  the  office  of  deputy-clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  Day  county: 
Mrs.  Washburn  was  appointed  to  her  office  in  1884  ;  Miss  Elizabeth  M.  Cochrane,  appointed  by  Judge 
Seward  Smith,  is  clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  Falk  county  ;  Mrs.  Virginia  A.  Wilkins  is  deputy-clerk 
of  the  District  Court  of  Hand  county  ;  Mrs.  Dutton,  deputy  county-clerk,  and  Mrs.  Hanson  deputy- 
sheriff  of  Day  county  ;  and  Mrs.  Pease  is  deputy-receiver  of  the  Watertown  Land-office. 

t  j  -fas—  Barnes,  Blackmore,  Coe,  Bayard,  Clark,  Dermody,  Greng,  Hutson,  Johnson,  Miller,  Mc- 
Call,  Par>hall,  Pierce,  Roach,  Southwick,  Smith,  Stebbins,  J.  P.  Ward,  Huntington,  Hutchinson,  l.an- 
gan,  Martin,  Morgan,  Pickler,  Riddell,  Steele,  Stevens,  SpraRue,  Stewart— ag.  fCays—  Davi-on. 
Hobart,  Larson,  McCumber,  Oliver,  Pugh.Ruger,  Strong  Eldridge,  Helvig.  Myron,  McHugh,  Runkle» 
Swanton,  Van  Osdcll,  Williams,  Mark  Ward,  Mr.  Speaker— 18. 


668  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

"male"  had  been  stricken  out  of  the  code,  and  no  other  action  taken,  they  would 
have  been  eligible,  and  I  believe  there  is  a  wide  feeling  that  many  offices,  particularly 
those  connected  with  penal  and  benevolent  institutions,  could  be  most  appropriately 
filled  with  women,  but  this  clause  practically  forbids  their  appointment.  If  women 
are  good  enough  to  vote  they  are  good  enough  to  be  voted  for.  If  they  are  qualified 
to  choose  officials,  they  are  qualified  to  be  chosen.  I  don't  say  that  I  would  approve 
this  measure  were  it  otherwise  worded,  but  I  certainly  would  not  indorse  a  bill  which 
thus  keeps  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear  and  breaks  it  to  the  hope,  which  deliberately 
and  avowedly  debars  and  disqualifies  women  while  assuming  to  exalt  and  honor  them. 
These  objections  are  apart  from  the  abstract  right  of  women  to  the  ballot,  but  they 
show  how  necessary  it  is  to  approach  such  a  subject  with  deliberation.  If  women  are 
to  be  enfranchised,  let  it  be  done,  not  as  a  thirty  days'  wonder,  but  as  a  merited  re- 
form resulting  from  mature  reflection,  approved  by  the  public  conscience  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  enlightened  judgment  of  the  people. 

[Signed:]  GILBERT  A.  PIERCE,  Governor. 

An  effort  was  promptly  made  to  carry  the  measure  over  the  governor's 
veto,  which  failed  by  a  vote  of  18  to  26. 

During  the  last  session  of  the  legislature  a  large  public  meeting  was 
held  in  Bismarck,  at  which  many  of  the  members  spoke  strongly  in  favor 
of  the  woman  suffrage  amendment,  the  chief-justice  and  a  majority  of  his 
associates  advocating  the  measure.  Mrs.  Gage,  in  a  letter  from  Dakota, 
said : 

An  acquaintance  of  mine,  the  owner  of  a  green-house,  sent  each  of  the  members 
•voting  "  aye  "  a  buttonhole  bouquet,  a  badge  of  honor  which  marked  our  friends  for  a 
few  hours  at  least.  It  is  a  pertinent  fact  that,  while  the  opposition  insist  that  women 
do  not  want  to  vote,  in  a  single  county  of  this  sparsely  settled  territory  222  women  did 
vote  in  the  midst  of  a  severe  storm.  In  a  series  of  articles  signed  "Justice,"  pub- 
lished in  the  Bismarck  Tribune,  we  find  the  following : 

The  women  of  Dakota  do  desire  the  power  to  vote.  One  year  ago  a  majority  of 
the  commissioners  of  Kingsbury  county  signed  a  request  that  at  an  election  to  be  held 
March  4,  1884,  the  women  should,  with  the  men,  express  their  wishes  by  vote  upon  a 
specified  question  of  local  policy.  The  women  immediately  responded,  prepared 
their  separate  ballot-boxes,  placed  them  in  charge  of  the  election  officers  by  the  side 
of  the  men's  boxes  upon  the  same  table  at  De  Smet  and  other  towns,  and  voted  all 
day  side  by  side  with  the  men,  casting  throughout  the  county  222  votes.  A  more  or- 
derly election  was  never  known.  No  self-respect  was  lost  and  no  woman  was  lowered 
in  public  esteem.  Clergymen,  lawyers,  merchants,  farmers,  all  voted  with  their  wives, 
the  ballots  going  into  different  boxes.  One  thousand  men  voted  in  the  county.  The 
day  was  stormy  and  snow  deep  on  the  ground.  If  222  women  in  one  county  would 
without  previous  experience  spring  forward  to  vote  on  a  week's  notice,  is  it  to  be  sup- 
posed they  do  not  appreciate  the  right?  JUSTICE. 

Mr.  Pickler,  who  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  discussion  on  the 
amendment,  received  many  letters  of  thanks  from  the  friends  of  woman 
suffrage  throughout  the  nation,  and  made  his  acknowledgments  in  the 
following  cordial  letter  to  Mrs.  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  : 

FAULKTON,  D.  T.,  April  20,  1885. 
Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  Syracuse,  N.   Y. : 

DEAR  MADAM:  Your  kind  letter  addressed  to  me  on  the  Woman  Suffrage  bill,  at 
Bismarck,  would  have  been  earlier  acknowledged  had  it  not  been  that  I  suffered  quite 
a  severe  illness  upon  my  return  from  the  legislature.  I  beg  to  assure  you  that  words 
of  encouragement  from  such  able  and  distinguished  personages  as  yourself  have  been 
highly  appreciated  in  my  effort  to  secure  suffrage  for  women  in  Dakota.  I  am  half 
inclined  to  think  that  your  indication  as  to  a  coming  political  party,  with  woman 
suffrage  as  one  plank  in  its  platform,  may  not  be  without  foundation. 


Letter  from  Hon.  J.  A.  Pickler.  669 

I  introduced  the  bill  in  the  Dakota  legislature,  having  previously  supported  a  like 
measure  in  the  Iowa  legislature,  really  without  consultation  with  any  one,  or  without 
knowledge  as  to  the  sentiment  of  the  members  upon  the  question.  I  have  had  my 
convictions  since  my  college  days  that  simple  justice  demands  that  woman  should 
have  the  ballot,  and  in  this  opinion  I  am  warmly  seconded  by  my  wife,  who  desires  to 
vote,  as  I  think  all  sensible  women  should.  I  was  pleased  with  the  favor  the  bill  re- 
ceived, and  after  a  week  or  two  believed  it  possible  to  have  it  pass  the  House,  with 
constant  exertion  and  watchfulness.  Those  who  at  first  laughed  at  the  idea,  learning 
I  was  very  much  in  earnest,  stopped  to  consider  and  to  discuss,  and  finally  came  to 
vote  for  it. 

It  passed  the  House,  and  after  considerable  difficulty  in  getting  it  out  of  the  hands 
of  an  adverse  committee  in  the  Council,  who  insisted  on  having  it  referred  to  them,  it 
passed  with  an  amendment  "  to  submit  to  a  vote  of  the  people."  I  managed  to  have 
the  House  refuse  to  concur  in  this  amendment,  which  resulted  in  a  conference  com- 
mittee, five  out  of  six  of  whom  reported  in  favor  of  the  Council  receding  from  their 
amendment,  which  they  did,  and  yet,  after  all,  and  when  we  thought  it  safe,  it  was 
vetoed.  Few,  if  any,  supposed  that  Governor  Pierce,  a  governor  only  appointed  over 
us  less  than  six  months,  would  place  himself  a  barrier  in  the  way  of  the  will  of  the 
people,  and  opposed  to  the  advancement  of  human  rights.  I  deeply  regret  that  he  did 
not  rise  to  the  grandest  opportunity  of  his  life,  but  he  failed  to  do  so. 

Your  words  were  particularly  encouraging,  being  personally  interested  in  Dakota  as 
you  are,  and  I  dare  say  you  will  bear  witness  that  we  have  an  intelligent  people,  and 
a  great  many  good  women,  land-owners  and  property-holders,  who  should  have  a 
voice  in  the  taxation  of  their  property,  real  and  personal.  We  shall  not  give  it  up; 
we  shall  continue  in  the  work,  not  doubting  that  success  will  finally  crown  our  efforts. 
Our  constitution  is  not  yet  formed,  and  if  ever  the  political  parties  cease  to  exercise 
their  tyranny  over  us,  by  allowing  us  to  be  admitted  as  a  State,  we  shall  endeavor  at 
least  to  secure  it  so  the  legislature  may  grant  or  prescribe  the  qualifications  of  voters 
without  requiring  a  change  in  the  constitution. 

Will  you  visit  Dakota  again  ?  In  another  contest  we  would  be  much  aided  by  your 
presence  and  assistance,  confidently  believing  that  "  Heaven  will  one  day  free  us  from 
this  slavery."  If  your  children*  reside  in  this  section  of  the  territory,  I  should  be 
pleased  to  form  their  acquaintance.  Again  thanking  you  for  your  kind  words,  I  am, 

Yours  truly,  J.  A.  PlCKLER. 

As  Dakota  has  thus  deliberately  trampled  upon  the  rights  of 
one-half  her  people,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  congress  will  not  admit 
her  into  the  Union  until  that  odious  word  "male"  is  stricken 
from  her  constitution. 


*  Mrs.  (lage  has  a  son  and  daughter  residing  in  Dakota,  both  well  educated,  superior  young  people, 
whose  influence  will,  no  doubt,  be  felt  in  every  progressive  movement  in  that  State.  Mrs.  Gage's  chil- 
dren sympathize  with  their  mother  in  her  broad,  liberal  views  on  all  questions. — [E.  C.  S. 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 
NEBRASKA. 

Clara  Bewick  Colby — Nebraska  Came  into  the  Possession  of  the  United  States,  1803 
— The  Home  of  the  Dakotas — Organized  as  a  Territory,  1854 — Territorial  Leg- 
islature— Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer  Addresses  the  House — Gen.  Wm.  Larimer,  1856— 
A  Bill  to  Confer  Suffrage  on  Woman — Passed  the  House — Lost  in  the  Senate — 
Constitution  Harmonized  with  the  Fourteenth  Amendment — Admitted  as  a  State 
March  I,  1867 — Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony  Lecture  in  the  State,  1867 — Mrs. 
Tracy  Cutler,  1870 — Mrs.  Esther  L.  Warner's  Letter — Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, 1871 — Woman  Suffrage  Amendment  Submitted — Lost  by  12,676  against, 
3,502  for — Prolonged  Discussion — Constitutional  Convention,  1875 — Grasshoppers 
Devastate  the  Country — Inter-Ocean,  Mrs.  Harbert — Omaha  Republican,  1876 — 
Woman's  Column  Edited  by  Mrs.  Harriet  S.  Brooks — "Woman's  Kingdom" — 
State  Society  formed,  January  19,  1881,  Mrs.  Brooks  President — Mrs.  Dinsmoore, 
Mrs.  Colby,  Mrs.  Brooks,  before  the  Legislature — Amendment  again  Submitted — 
Active  Canvass  of  the  State,  1882 — First  Convention  of  the  State  Association — 
Charles  F.  Manderson — Unreliable  Petitions — An  Unfair  Count  of  Votes  for 
Woman  Suffrage — Amendment  Defeated — Conventions  in  Omaha — Notable 
Women  in  the  State— Conventions —  Woman's  Tribune  Established  in  1883. 

CLARA  BEWICK  COLBY,  the  historian  for  Nebraska,  is  of  Eng- 
lish parentage,  and  came  to  Wisconsin  when  eight  years  of  age. 
In  her  country  home,  as  one  of  a  large  family,  she  had  but  scant 
opportunities  for  attending  the  district  school,  but  her  father 
encouraged  and  assisted  his  children  to  study  in  the  winter  even- 
ings, and  in  this  way  she  fitted  herself  to  teach  in  country  schools. 
After  a  few  terms  she  entered  the  State  University  at  Madison, 
and  while  there  made  a  constant  effort  to  secure  equal  privileges 
and  opportunities  for  the  students  of  her  sex.  She  was  gradu- 
ated with  honors  in  1869,  and  at  once  became  a  teacher  of  his- 
tory and  Latin  in  the  institution.  She  was  married  to  Leonard 
W.  Colby,  a  graduate  of  the  same  university,  and  moved  to 
Beatrice,  Nebraska,  in  1872.  Amidst  the  hardships  of  pioneer  life 
in  a  new  country,  the  young  wife  for  a  season  found  her  family 
cares  all-absorbing,  but  her  taste  for  study,  her  love  of  literature 
and  her  natural  desire  to  improve  the  conditions  about  her, 
soon  led  her  to  work  up  an  interest  in  the  establishment  of  a 
library  and  course  of  lectures.  She  afterwards  edited  a  depart- 
ment in  the  Beatrice  Express  called  "  Woman's  Work,"  and  in 


Life  on   the  Frontier.  671 

1883  she  started  The  Woman  s  Tribune,  a  paper  whose  columns 
show  that  Mrs.  Colby  has  the  true  editorial  instinct.  For  several 
years  she  has  been  deeply  interested  in  the  movement  for  woman's 
enfranchisement,  devoting  her  journal  to  the  advocacy  of  this 
great  reform.  In  addition  to  her  cares  as  housekeeper*  and 
editor,  Mrs.  Colby  has  also  lectured  extensively  in  many  States, 
east  and  west,  not  only  to  popular  audiences,  but  before  legisla- 
tive and  congressional  committees. 

In  her  description  of  Nebraska  and  the  steps  of  progress  in 
woman's  civil  and  political  rights,  Mrs.  Colby  says  : 

Nebraska  makes  its  first  appearance  in  history  as  part  of  Louisiana  and 
belonging  to  Spain.  Seized  by  France  in  1683,  ceded  to  Spain  in  1762; 
again  the  property  of  France  in  1800,  and  sold  to  the  United  States  in 
1803;  the  shifting  ownership  yet  left  no  trace  on  that  interior  and  inac- 
cessible portion  of  Louisiana  now  known  as  Nebraska.  It  was  the  home 
of  the  Dakotas,  who  had  come  down  from  the  north  pushing  the  earlier 
Indian  races  before  them.  Every  autumn  when  Heyokah,  the  Spirit  of  the 
North,  puffed  from  his  huge  pipe  the  purpling  smoke  "enwrapping  all  the 
land  in  mellow  haze,"  the  Dakotas  gathered  at  the  Great  Red  Pipestone 
Ouarry  for  their  annual  feast  and  council.  These  yearly  excursions 
brought  them  in  contact  with  the  fur  traders,  who  in  turn  roamed  the 
wild  and  beautiful  country  of  the  Niobrara,  returning  thence  to  Quebec 
laden  with  pelts.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  military  posts,  the  first 
established  in  1820  where  the  town  of  FortCalhoun  now  stands,  Nebraska 
was  uninhabited  by  white  people  until  the  gold  hunters  of  1849  passed 
through  what  seemed  to  them  an  arid  desert,  as  they  sought  their  Eldo- 
rado in  the  mountains  beyond.  Disappointed  and  homesick,  many  of 
the  emigrants  retraced  their  steps,  and  found  their  former  trail  through 
Nebraska  marked  by  sunflowers,  the  luxuriance  of  which  evidenced  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  encouraged  the  travelers  to  settle  within  its  bor- 
ders. 

Nebraska  became  an  organized  territory  by  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill 
in  1854,  including  at  first  Dakota,  Idaho  and  Colorado,  from  which  it  was 
separated  in  1863.  The  early  settlers  were  courageous,  keeping  heart 
amid  attacks  of  savages,  and  devastations  of  the  fire-demon  and  the  locust. 
Published  history  is  silent  concerning  the  part  that  women  took  in  this 
frontier  life,  but  the  tales  told  by  the  fireside  are  full  of  the  endurance  and 
heroism  of  wives  whose  very  isolation  kept  them  hand  to  hand,  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  and  thought  to  thought  with  their  husbands.  It  is  not 
strange  then  that  the  men  of  those  early  days  inclined  readily  to  the  idea 
of  sharing  the  rights  of  self-government  with  women  who  had  with  them 
left  home  and  kindred  and  the  comforts  of  the  older  States.  But  it  is  re- 

*  I  laving  visited  P.catrice  twice  to  speak  in  different  courses  of  lectures  arranged  by  Mrs.  Colby,  I 
can  testify  to  her  executive  ability  alike  in  her  domestic  and  public  work.  She  can  get  up  a  meeting, 
.m.uiiM-  the  platform,  with  desk  and  lights,  and  introduce  a  speaker  with  as  much  skill  and  grace  as 
she  can  spread  a  table  with  dainty  china  and  appetizing  food,  and  enliven  a  dinner  with  witty  and 

f;mi<:>.t  conversation.— [E.  C.  S. 


672  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

markable,  and  proof  that  the  thought  belongs  to  the  age,  that,  thirty  years 
ago,  when  the  discussion  of  woman's  status  was  still  new  in  Massachu- 
setts and  New  York,  and  only  seven  years  after  the  first  woman-suffrage 
convention  ever  held,  here — half  way  across  a  continent,  in  a  country 
almost  unheard  of,  and  with  but  scant  communication  with  the  older 
parts  of  the  Republic — this  instinctive  justice  should  have  crystalized  into 
legislative  action. 

In  December,  1855,  an  invitation  was  extended  by  the  territorial  legis- 
lature to  Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer  of  Council  Bluffs,  to  deliver  an  address  on 
woman's  rights,  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  in- 
vitation was  signed  by  twenty-five  members  of  the  legislature  and  was 
accepted  by  Mrs.  Bloomer  for  January  8.  The  following  pleasing  account 
of  this  address  and  its  reception  was  written  by  an  Omaha  correspondent 
of  the  Council  Bluffs  Chronotype  of  that  date  : 

Mrs.  Amelia  Bloomer,  who  had  been  formally  invited  by  members  of  the  legislature 
and  others,  arrived  at  the  door  of  the  state-house  at  7  o'clock,  P.  M.,  and  by  the  gal- 
lantry of  Gen.  Larimer,  a  passage  was  made  for  her  to  the  platform.  The  house  had 
been  crowded  for  some  time  with  eager  expectants  to  see  the  lady  and  listen  to  the 
arguments  which  were  to  be  adduced  as  the  fruitage  of  female  thought  and  research. 
When  all  had  been  packed  into  the  house  who  could  possibly  find  a  place  for  the  sole 
of  the  foot,  Mrs.  Bloomer  arose,  amid  cheers.  We  watched  her  closely,  and  saw  that 
she  was  perfectly  self-possessed — not  a  nerve  seemed  to  be  moved  by  excitement,  and 
the  voice  did  not  tremble.  She  arose  in  the  dignity  of  a  true  woman,  as  if  the  import- 
ance of  her  mission  so  absorbed  her  thoughts  that  timidity  or  bashfulness  were  too 
mean  to  entangle  the  mental  powers.  She  delivered  her  lecture  in  a  pleasing,  able, 
and  I  may  say,  eloquent  manner  that  enchained  the  attention  of  her  audience  for  an 
hour  and  a  half.  A  man  could  not  have  beaten  it. 

In  mingling  with  the  people  next  day,  we  found  that  her  argument  had  met  with 
much  favor.  As  far  as  property  rights  are  concerned,  all  seemed  to  agree  with  the 
lady  that  the  laws  of  our  country  are  wrong,  and  that  woman  should  receive  the  same 
protection  as  man.  All  we  have  time  to  say  now  is,  that  Mrs.  Bloomer's  arguments 
on  woman's  rights  are  unanswerable.  We  may  doubt  it  is  policy  for  women  to  vote, 
but  who  can  draw  the  line  and  say  that  naturally  she  has  not  a  right  to  do  so?  Mrs. 
Bloomer,  though  a  little  body,  is  among  the  great  women  of  the  United  States;  and 
her  keen,  intellectual  eye  seems  to  flash  fire  from  a  fountain  that  will  consume  the 
stubble  of  old  theories  until  woman  is  placed  in  her  true  position  in  the  enjoyment  of 
equal  rights  and  privileges.  Her  only  danger  is  in  asking  too  much.  ONEIDA. 

Eight  days  after  Mrs.  Bloomer's  address,  Hon.  Jerome  Hoover,  member 
for  the  counties  of  Nemaha  and  Richardson,  introduced  in  the  House  a 
bill  to  confer  suffrage  equally  upon  women.  The  bill  was  put  upon  its 
third  reading,  January  25,  and  was  earnestly  championed  by  General 
William  Larimer  of  Douglas  county,  formerly  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  It 
passed  by  a  vote  of  14  to  n.*  The  result  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  by 
the  House  was  graphically  described  by  the  Chronotype  of  January  30 : 

On  Friday  afternoon  and  evening  quite  an  excitement  took  place,  which  resulted  in 
offering  an  insult  to  one  of  the  ablest  members  of  the  legislature,  but  which,  while  it 
reflected  no  dishonor  upon  the  person  against  whom  it  was  aimed,  should  cover  the 

*  Yeas — Messrs.  Boulwere,  Buck,  Campbell,  Chambers,  Clancy,  Davis,  Decker,  Hail,  Haygood, 
Hoover,  Kirk,  Larimer,  Rose,  Sullivan — 14. 

Nays — Messrs.  Beck,  Bowen,  Gibson,  Harsh,  Laird,  Miller,  Moore,  Morton,  McDonald,  Riden, 
Salisbury — n. 


Bill  in  the    Territorial  Legislature.  673 

perpetrators  with  lasting  shame.     We  will  state  briefly  the  facts  as  we  have  heard 
them. 

The  bill  giving  woman  the  right  to  vote  came  up  at  II  o'clock,  by  a  special  order  of 
the  House.  A  number  of  ladies  entered  the  hall  to  listen  to  the  proceedings.  Gen- 
eral Larimer  spoke  eloquently  and  ably  in  favor  of  the  bill,  making,  perhaps,  the  best 
speech  that  could  be  made  on  that  side  of  the  question.  On  the  vote  being  taken,  it 
stood — ayes  14,  nays  II.  The  bill  was  then  sent  to  the  Council,  where  it  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Elections.  Its  passage  by  the  House  of  Representatives  created 
a  great  deal  of  talk,  and  several  members  threatened  to  resign.  At  the  evening  ses- 
sion J.  S.  Morton,  W.  E.  Moore,  A.  F.  Salisbury  and  L.  L.  Bowen  came  into  the 
House  and  proposed  to  present  General  Larimer  with  a  petticoat,  which  did  not  tend 
much  to  allay  the  excitement.  The  General,  of  course,  was  justly  indignant  at  such 
treatment,  as  were  also  the  other  members.  The  proposal  was  characteristic  of  the 
prime  mover  in  it,  and  we  are  astonished  that  the  other  gentlemen  named  should  have 
been  willing  to  associate  themselves  with  him  in  offering  this  indignity  to  the  oldest 
and  most  respected  member  of  the  body — a  man  who  was  elected  to  the  station  he  has 
so  ably  filled  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  people  of  Douglas  county.  General  Lari- 
mer had  a  perfect  right  to  advocate  or  oppose  the  bill  according  to  his  own  sense  of 
duty,  and  any  man,  or  set  of  men,  who  would  attempt  to  cast  insult  or  ridicule  upon 
him  for  so  doing,  is  worthy  only  of  the  contempt  of  decent  people.  In  saying  this  we, 
of  course,  express  no  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  bill  itself. 

The  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  Council,  read  twice,  and  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Elections,  whose  chairman,  Mr.  Cowles,  reported  it  back 
without  amendment,  and  recommended  its  passage.  This  being  the  last 
day  of  the  session,  the  bill  could  not  come  up  again.  The  Chronotype, 
after  the  adjournment,  commented  as  follows  : 

The  bill  granting  women  the  right  to  vote,  which  had  passed  the  House,  was  read 
the  first  and  second  time  in  the  Council  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Elections, 
where  it  now  remains  for  want  of  time  to  bring  it  up  again.  A  gentleman  who  was 
opposed  to  the  passage  of  a  bill  to  locate  the  seat  of  justice  of  Washington  county,  ob- 
tained the  floor,  and  delivered  a  speech  of  many  hours  on  some  unimportant  bill  then 
under  consideration,  in  order  to  "  kill  time"  and  prevent  the  Washington  county  bill 
from  coming  up.  The  hour  for  adjournment  sine  die  arrived  before  he  concluded, 
and  the  Woman  Suffrage  bill,  and  many  others  of  great  importance,  remained  upon 
the  clerk's  table  without  being  acted  upon.  It  is  admitted  by  every  one  that  want  of 
time  only  defeated  the  passage  of  the  bill  through  the  Council.  The  citizens  of  Ne- 
braska are  ready  to  make  a  trial  of  its  provisions,  which  speaks  volumes  for  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  free  and  independent  squatters  of  this  beautiful  territory. 

Mrs.  Bloomer  says  that  assurance  was  given  by  members  of  the  Coun- 
cil that  the  bill  would  have  passed  that  body  triumphantly  had  more  time 
been  allowed,  or  had  it  been  introduced  earlier  in  the  session.  The  gen- 
eral sentiment  was  in  favor  of  it,  and  the  gentlemen  who  talked  the  last 
hours  away  to  kill  other  bills  were  alone  responsible  for  its  defeat.  Mrs. 
Bloomer  followed  up  her  work  by  lectures  in  Omaha  and  Nebraska  City 
two  years  later. 

The  exigencies  attending  the  settlement  of  the  territory  and  the  ab- 
sorbing interests  of  the  civil  war  occupied  the  next  decade.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  settlers  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that,  with  only  about 
5,000  voters,  Nebraska  gave  over  3,000  soldiers  for  the  defense  of  the 
Union  and  of  their  home  borders,  where  the  Indians  had  seized  the  occa- 
sion to  break  out  into  active  hostilities.  The  war  over,  Nebraska  sought 
to  be  admitted  as  a  State,  and  a  constitution  was  prepared  on  the  old 

43 


674  History  of  Woman  S^^ffrage. 

basis  of  white  male  suffrage.  Congress  admitted  Nebraska,  but  provided 
that  the  act  should  not  take  effect  until  the  constitution  should  be 
changed  to  harmonize  with  the  fourteenth  amendment.  After  some  dis- 
cussion the  condition  was  accepted,  and  Nebraska  was  thus  the  first  State 
to  recognize  in  its  constitution  the  sovereignty  of  all  male  persons. 
Some  of  the  debates  of  this  time  indicate  that  the  appreciation  of  human 
rights  was  growing,  nor  were  allusions  wanting  making  a  direct  applica- 
tion of  the  principle  to  women.  The  debates  and  resolutions  connected 
with  the  ratification  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  are  historically  and 
logically  connected  with  the  growth  of  the  idea  of  woman's  political 
equality.  The  man  who,  from  regard  for  justice  and  civil  liberties,  advo- 
cates the  right  of  franchise  for  additional  classes  of  men,  easily  extends 
the  thought  until  it  embraces  woman.  On  the  other  hand  the  man  who 
sees  men  enfranchised  whom  he  deems  unworthy  to  use  the  ballot,  thinks 
it  a  disgrace  to  withhold  it  from  intelligent  women.  Gov.  Alvin  Saun- 
ders,*  in  his  message  urging  the  ratification  of  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment said : 

The  day,  in  my  opinion,  is  not  far  distant  when  property  qualifications,  educational 
qualifications,  and  color  qualifications,  as  precedent  to  the  privilege  of  voting,  will  be 
known  no  more  by  the  American  people,  but  that  intelligence  and  manhood  will  be 
the  only  qualifications  necessary  to  entitle  an  American  citizen  to  the  privilege  of  an 
elector. 

Later,  Acting-governor  A.  S.  Paddock*  in  his  message  said : 

I  should  hail  with  joy  a  radical  change  in  the  rule  of  suffrage  which  would  give  the 
franchise  to  intelligence  and  patriotism  wherever  found,  regardless  of  the  color  of  the 
possessor. 

The  majority  report  of  the  committee  to  whom  was  referred  that  por- 
tion of  the  governor's  message  which  related  to  rights  of  suffrage,  was  as 
follows : 

We  hold  that  the  dogma  of  partial  suffrage  is  a  dangerous  doctrine,  and  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  nature  and  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

[Signed:]  ISAAC  WILES,     WILLIAM  DAILEY,     GEORGE  CROW. 

A  minority  report  was  brought  in  by  S.  M.  Curran  and  Aug.  F.  Harvey.  On  its 
rejection  Mr.  Harvey  introduced  this  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  of  the  legislature 
of  Nebraska,  are  in  favor  of  impartial  and  universal  suffrage,  and  believe  fully  in  the 
equality  of  all  races,  colors  and  sexes  at  the  ballot-box. 

This  was  not  intended  to  advance  the  rights  of  women,  but  simply  to 
slay  the  advocates  of  the  enlargement  of  the  franchise  with  their  own 
weapons.  A.  B.  Fuller  moved  to  amend  by  striking  out  the  word  "uni- 
versal," and  all  after  the  word  "  suffrage,"  which  was  carried  by  a  vote  of 
22  to  9.  The  Committee  on  Federal  Relations  reported  : 

The  constitution  recognizes  all  persons  born  within  the  United  States,  or  naturalized 
in  pursuance  of  the  law,  to  be  citizens,  and  entitled  to  the  rights  of  citizenship  ;  and  a 
recent  act  of  congress  amends  the  organization  acts  of  the  several  territories  so  as  to 

*  It  is  a  pleasure  to  record  that  both  these  gentlemen  have  reached  the  logical  result  of  their  former 
views,  and  now  advocate  giving  the  franchise  to  intelligence  and  patriotism  regardless  of  the  sex  of  the 
possessor.  Governor  Saunders,  in  the  capacity  of  United  States  Senator,  cast  a  favorable  ballot  on 
measures  in  any  manner  referring  to  woman's  civil  rights,  and  in  1882  spoke  on  the  platform  of  the 
National  Association,  at  its  Washington  convention. 


"The  False   Theory."  675 

confer  the  rights  of  suffrage  upon  all  citizens  except  such  as  are  disqualified  by  reason 
of  crime.  Consequently,  when  congress  decrees  that  we  shall  not,  as  a  State,  de- 
prive citizens  of  rights  already  guaranteed  to  them,  it  does  not  transcend  its  powers,  or 
impose  upon  us  conditions  from  which  we  are  now  exempt. 

With  these  discussions  of  fundamental  principles  which,  although 
couched  in  the  most  comprehensive  terms,  strangely  enough  conserved 
the  rights  of  only  half  the  citizens,  the  fourteenth  amendment  was  rati- 
fied, and  Nebraska  became  a  State  on  March  i,  1867. 

The  early  legislation  of  Nebraska  was  favorable  to  woman,  and  much 
ahead  of  that  passed  in  the  same  period  by  most  of  the  older  States,  The 
records  show  that  a  few  legislators  treated  any  matter  that  referred  to 
the  rights  of  woman  as  a  jest,  but  the  majority  were  liberal  or  respectful, 
and  the  honored  names  of  Dailey,  Reavis,  Majors,  Porter,  Kelley,  and 
others,  constantly  recur  in  the  records  of  the  earlier  sessions  as  pushing 
favorable  legislation  for  women.  At  almost  every  session,  too,  the  actual 
question  of  the  ballot  for  woman  was  broached.  The  legislature  of 
1869  bestowed  school  suffrage  on  women  ;*  and  a  joint  resolution  and 
a  memorial  to  congress  relative  to  female  suffrage  were  introduced.  The 
journals  show  that  : 

Hon.  Isham  Reavis  of  Falls  City,  introduced  in  the  Senate  January  30,  a  memorial 
and  joint  resolution  to  congress,  on  the  subject  of  female  suffrage.  After  the  second 
reading,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Majors,  it  was  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  bachelors, 
consisting  of  Senators  Gere,  Majors,  Porter,  and  Goodwill,  who  reported  it  back  with- 
out recommendation.  It  was  afterwards  considered  in  committee  of  the  whole,  then 
taken  up  by  the  Senate.  Reavis  moved  it  be  taken  up  for  third  reading  on  the  follow- 
ing day.  The  yeas  and  nays  being  demanded  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  6  to  7. 
On  motion  of  Mr.  Stevenson  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  with 
the  usual  result  of  neglect  and  oblivion. 

In  the  autumn  of  1867  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss  Anthony  lectured  in 
Omaha  and  sowed  seed  which  bore  fruit  in  the  large  number  of  petitions 
sent  later  from  that  city.  In  December  1870,  Mrs.  Tracy  Cutler  gave  sev- 
eral addresses  in  Lincoln.  Miss  Anthony  lectured  January  28,  1871,  on 
"  The  False  Theory,"  and  before  leaving  the  city  looked  in  on  the  legisla- 
ture, which  promptly  extended  to  her  the  privilege  of  the  floor.  A  number 
of  ladies  met  Miss  Anthony  for  consultation,  and  took  the  initiatory  steps 
for  forming  a  State  association.  A  meeting  was  appointed  for  the  following 
Friday,  when  it  was  decided  to  memorialize  the  legislature.  The  me- 
morial was  headed  by  Mrs.  Lydia  Butler,  wife  of  the  governor  of  the  State, 
who  spent  some  days  in  securing  signatures.  A  lively  pen-picture  of 
those  times  is  furnished  by  private  correspondence  of  Mrs.  Esther  L. 
Warner  of  Roca : 

The  first  work  done  for  woman  suffrage  in  Lincoln  was  in  December,  1870.  Mrs. 
Tracy  Cutler  stopped  when  on  her  way  to  California,  and  gave  several  addresses  in 
Lincoln,  Her  womanliness  and  logic  won  and  convinced  her  hearers,  and  had  a 


*  The  legislature  of  1875  repealed  this  law  except  so  far  as  it  referred  to  unmarried  adult  women  and 
widows.  In  the  legislature  of  1881,  Senator  C.  H.  Gere  introduced  a  bill  revising  the  laws  relating  to 
schools.  One  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill  conferred  the  school  ballot  on  women  on  the  same  terms  ;,s 
on  men— viz  :  Any  person  having  children  of  school  age,  or  having  paid  taxes  on  personal  property, 
or  being  assessed  on  real  estate,  within  such  a  period,  is  entitled  to  vote  at  all  elections  pertaining  to 
schools.  This,  however,  docs  not  include  the  power  to  vote  for  State  or  county  superintendents.  The 
women  of  the  State  now  vote  so  largely  that  it  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  comment  or  record. 


676  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

marked  effect  upon  public  sentiment.  There  are  men  and  women  to-day  in  Nebraska 
who  date  their  conversion  to  the  cause  of  equal  rights  from  those  lectures.  Some  steps 
were  taken  towards  organization,  but  the  matter  was  dropped  in  its  incipient  stages. 
During  the  same  winter  Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony  lectured  in  Lincoln,  and  presented  a 
petition  to  be  signed  by  women,  asking  to  be  allowed  to  vote  under  the  fourteenth 
amendment.  She  also  called  a  meeting  of  ladies  in  a  hotel  parlor  and  aided  in  organ- 
izing a  State  suffrage  society.  Her  rare  executive  ability  accomplished  what  other 
hands  would  have  failed  to  do,  for  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  a  movement  at 
that  early  day  were  great.  Lydia  Butler,  wife  of  Governor  Butler,  was  elected  presi- 
dent, and  other  representative  women  filled  the  various  offices,  but  after  a  short  time 
it  was  deemed  wise  to  disband,  as  circumstances  made  it  impossible  to  keep  up  an 
efficient  organization.  Time  and  money  were  not  plentiful  with  western  women,  but 
we  did  what  we  could,  and  sent  a  petition  to  the  legislature  that  winter  asking  a  reso- 
lution recommending  to  the  coming  State  convention  to  omit  the  word  "  male"  from 
the  constitution.  The  petition  was  signed  by  about  1,000  women,  and  received 
respectful  attention  from  the  legislature,  and  speeches  were  made  in  its  favor  by 
several  members.  Among  others  the  speaker  of  the  House,  F.  M.  McDougal,  favored 
the  resolution.  Governor  Butler  sent  a  special  message  with  the  petition,  recommend- 
ing the  passage  of  the  resolution,  for  which  Nebraska  women  will  always  honor  him. 
Next  it  was  thought  best  to  call  a  convention  in  the  interest  of  woman  suffrage,  to 
be  held  while  the  constitutional  convention  should  be  in  session  the  coming  summer. 
Two  women  were  commissioned  to  prepare  the  call  and  present  it  for  the  signatures 
of  members  of  the  legislature  who  favored  the  measure.  It  was  thought  this  course 
would  give  dignity  and  importance  to  the  call  which  would  secure  attention  through- 
out the  State.  The  session  of  the  legislature  was  very  exciting.  Intrigue  accomplished 
the  impeachment  of  a  high  State  official,  and  others  were  being  dragged  down.  As  it 
neared  its  close  the  political  cauldron  boiled  and  bubbled  with  redoubled  violence.  It 
was  more  than  any  woman  dared  do  to  approach  it.  Were  not  the  political  fortunes 
and  the  sacred  honor  (?)  of  men  in  jeopardy  ?  Woman's  rights  sunk  into  insignificance. 
We  subsided.  Our  hour  had  not  yet  come. 

Mrs.  Butler  says  of  the  part  she  took  at  this  time  :  "  I  entertained  the 
speakers  because  requested  to,  and  found  them  so  pleasant  and  persuasive 
that  I  soon  became  a  convert  to  their  views.  The  active  and  intelligent 
leaders  at  that  time  were  Mesdames  Cropsey,  Galey,  Warner,  Monell, 
Coda,  and  many  others  whose  names  I  cannot  recall."  As  the  result 
of  the  effort  thus  made  the  legislature  of  1871  memorialized  the  constitu- 
tional convention  relative  to  submitting  the  question  to  the  electors.  The 
proceedings  given  in  the  journals  are  as  follows  : 

February  4,  1871,  Mr.  J.  C.  Myers  announced  that  ladies  were  in  the  gallery,  and 
desired  to  present  a  petition.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  wait  on  them.  D.  J. 
Quimby  introduced  a  resolution  asking  an  opinion  of  the  attorney-general  as  to  whether 
in  accepting  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  we  grant  the  right  of  suffrage 
to  women.  It  was  carried,  and  the  memorial,  the  opinion,  and  the  governor's  mes- 
sage were  referred  to  the  judiciary  committee,  which  reported  through  Mr.  Galey  as 
follows : 

Whereas,  The  constitution  of  the  State  of  Nebraska  prohibits  the  women  of  said 
State  from  exercising  the  right  of  the  elective  franchise;  and 

Whereas,  Taxation  without  representation  is  repugnant  to  a  republican  form  of 
government,  and  applies  to  women  as  well  as  all  other  citizens  of  this  State;  and 

Whereas,  All  laws  which  make  any  distinction  between  the  political  rights  and 
privileges  of  males  and  females  are  unbecoming  to  the  people  of  this  State  in  the  year 
1871  of  the  world's  progress,  and  tend  only  to  deprive  the  latter  of  the  means  necessary 
for  their  own  protection  in  the  various  pursuits  and  callings  of  life.  Therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  By  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  of  Nebraska,  that  the  con- 
stitutional convention  to  be  begun  and  holden  on  the — day  of  May,  1871,  for  the 


Before  the  Legislature.  677 

purpose  of  revising  and  amending  the  constitution  of  said  State,  is  hereby  most  re- 
spectfully and  earnestly  requested  to  draft  such  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  this 
State  as  will  allow  the  women  thereof  to  exercise  the  right  of  the  elective  franchise 
and  afford  to  them  such  other  and  further  relief  as  to  that  honorable  body  may  be 
deemed  wise,  expedient  and  proper;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  said  convention  is  hereby  most  respectfully  and  earnestly  requested 
to  make  such  provision  (when  said  amendment  shall  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  peo- 
ple of  said  State)  as  will  enable  the  women  of  Nebraska  to  vote  at  said  election  for  the 
adoption  or  rejection  of  the  same. 

Resolved,  Further,  that  the  Secretary  of  State  is  hereby  instructed  to  present  a  copy 
of  this  resolution  to  said  convention  as  soon  as  the  same  shall  be  convened. 

Mr.  Porter  moved  the  adoption  of  the  report,  which  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  19 
to  16.*  In  the  Senate,  March  22,  E.  C.  Cunningham  offered  the  following  amend- 
ment to  the  bill  providing  for  calling  a  constitutional  convention  : 

That  the  electors  of  the  State  be  and  are  hereby  authorized  and  recommended  to 
vote  for  and  against  female  suffrage  at  the  election  for  members  of  the  constitutional 
convention.  Provided,  That  at  such  election  all  women  above  the  age  of  21  years, 
possessing  the  qualifications  required  of  male  electors  are  hereby  authorized  and  re- 
quested to  vote  upon  said  proposition,  and  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  their  votes  a 
separate  polling  place  shall  be  provided. 

The  amendment  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  6  to  6.f 

In  accordance  with  the  memorial  of  the  legislature,  the  constitutional 
convention  that  met  in  the  following  summer  by  a  vote  of  30  to  13  \  sub- 
mitted a  clause  relative  to  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  constitution  itself 
was  rejected  by  the  voters  ;  and  on  this  clause  the  ballot  stood,  for,  3,502  ; 
against,  12,676.  Had  it  been  carried  at  the  polls,  it  would  only  have  con- 
ferred upon  the  legislature  the  right  to  submit  amendments,  and  it  was 
therefore  no  special  object  to  the  adherents  of  impartial  suffrage  to  make 
efforts  for  its  adoption,  while  the  fact  that  it  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  dis- 
cussion of  that  principle  brought  upon  it  all  the  opposition  that  a  clause 
actually  conferring  the  ballot  would  have  insured.  The  right  of  woman 
to  the  elective  franchise  was  championed  by  the  ablest  men  in  the  con- 
vention. Night  after  night  the  question  was  argued  pro  and  con.  Peti- 
tions from  Lincoln  and  Omaha  were  numerously  presented.  The  galler- 
ies were  filled  with  women  eagerly  watching  the  result.  The  proposition 
finally  adopted  did  not  touch  the  point  at  issue,  but  was  accepted  as  all 
that  could  be  obtained  on  that  occasion.  As  the  constitution  was  not 
adopted,  the  succeeding  legislature  felt  no  interest  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  convention,  and  the  journals  were  not  printed  ;  and  the  records  of  this 
battle  for  justice  and  civil  liberty  were  hidden  in  the  dusty  archives  of  the 
state-house  until  brought  out  to  tell  their  story  for  these  pages.  As  this 
is  the  only  discussion  of  the  question  by  Nebraska  statesmen  which  has 
been  officially  preserved,  and  as  the  debaters  were  among  the  most  promi- 


*  The  following  named  representatives  voted  "yea":  Messrs.  Ahmanson,  Cannon,  Doone,  Galey, 
Goodin,  Hall,  Jenkins,  Kipp,  Majors,  Myers,  Nims,  Patterson,  Porter,  Quimby,  Rhode*,  Ryan, 
Wirkham,  Riordan,  Roberts— 19.  Voting  "  nay  ":  Messrs.  Briggs,  Bcall,  E.  Clark,  J.  Clark,  Dillon, 
Duby,  Grencll,  Hudson,  Munn,  Overton,  Reed,  Rosewater,  Rouse,  Schock,  Shook,  Sommerlad — 16. 

t  Voting  in  the  affirmative  :  Messrs.  Gerrard,  Hascall,  Kennedy,  Tucker,  Tcnnant,  and  Mr.  Presi- 
dent—6.  Voting  in  the  negative  :  Messrs.  Brown,  Hawke,  Hillon,  Meu,  Sheldon,  and  Thomas — 6. 

t  Voting  "yea":  Messrs.  Ballard,  Boyd,  Campbell,  Cassell,  Estabrook,  Gibbs,  Gray,  Hascall,  Ken- 
aston,  Kilburn,  Kirkpatrick,  Lake,  Lyon,  Majors,  Mason,  Manderson,  Maxwell,  Neligh,  Newsome, 
Philpott,  Price,  Robinson,  Stewart  Spiece,  Shaft*,  Thomas,  Tisdel,  Towlc,  Wakeley,  President  Strick- 
land—30.  Voting  "nay":  Messrs.  Abbott,  Eaton,  Granger,  Griggs,  Moore,  Myers,  Parchin,  Rey- 
nolds, Sprague,  Stevenson,  Hummel,  Vifquain,  Weaver — 13. 


678  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

nent  men  of  the  State,  and  many  of  them  retain  that  position  to-day,  a 
few  extracts  will  be  of  interest : 

The  discussion  began  with  the  motion  of  Mr.  I.  S.  Hascall  to  strike  out  "men1* 
and  insert  "persons"  in  the  clause  "  All  men  are  by  nature  free  and  'independent." 
The  motion  was  lost.  General  E.  Estabrook  moved  to  add  "  Every  human  being  of 
full  age,  and  resident  for  a  proper  length  of  time  on  the  soil  of  the  Nation  and  State, 
who  is  required  to  obey  the  law,  is  entitled  to  a  voice  in  its  enactment;  and  every  such 
person  whose  property  is  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  government  is  entitled  to  a  direct 
representation  in  such  government."  Mr.  Hascall  moved  that  "  man  "  be  inserted  in 
place  of  "human  being."  Mr.  E.  S.  Towle  desired  to  put  "male"  in  the  place  of 
"  man."  General  Estabrook,  on  being  asked  if  his  amendment  was  intended  to  cover 
"woman's  rights,"  replied: 

I  take  pleasure  in  making  the  amendment  because  it  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction. 
Justice  to  woman  is  the  keystone  in  the  arch  of  the  temple  of  liberty  we  are  now  build- 
ing. That  no  citizen  should  be  taxed  without  representation  is  an  underlying  principle 
of  a  republic  and  no  free  government  can  exist  without  it. 

General  Estabrook  seems  to  have  stood  alone  in  considering  that  the  principle  of 
impartial  suffrage  properly  belonged  to  the  Bill  of  Rights.  The  amendments  were 
lost.  When  the  article  on  extension  of  suffrage  was  under  discussion,  General  Esta- 
brook opened  the  subject  in  a  comprehensive  speech,  lasting  all  one  evening  and 
part  of  the  next.  He  proved  that  women  were  citizens,  citing  the  petitions  to  con- 
gress relative  to  woman's  right  to  vote  under  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments, 
and  the  reports  of  the  committee  thereupon — one  in  favor  and  one  opposed,  but  both 
agreeing  that  women  are  citizens.  Then  he  showed  what  rights  they  were  entitled  to 
as  citizens,  quoting  the  Federal  Constitution,  Bouvier's  Institutes  and  Law  Dictionary, 
James  Madison,  Paine's  Dissertation  on  the  Principles  of  Government,  Otis'  Rights  of 
the  Colonies,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  others.  Commenting  upon 
these,  he  set  forth  that  women  vote  in  corporations,  administer  estates,  manage  hospi- 
tals and  rule  empires  without  harm  to  themselves  and  with  benefit  to  everybody  else. 
He  made  a  special  argument  to  the  Democrats,  reviewing  the  position  of  some  of  their 
leading  men,  and  closed  with  saying,  "  This  is  the  most  important  measure  yet  con- 
sidered, because  it  contains  a  fundamental  principle." 

General  Strickland  then  introduced  a  resolution  that  an  article  for  woman  suffrage 
should  be  submitted  to  the  people,  that  the  women  should  vote  separately,  and  that  if 
a  majority  of  both  men  and  women  should  be  in  favor,  it  should  become  a  law.  The 
member  did  not  move  this  because  he  favored  the  principle,  but  because  he  felt  sure 
the  women  would  not  vote  for  it.  He  could  not  understand  what  a  woman  could  pos- 
sibly want  more  than  she  had,  having  the  privileges  while  man  has  the  drudgery.  He 
closed  with  the  prophecy  that  in  two  years  not  a  woman  would  vote  in  Wyoming. 

General  Charles  F.  Manderson  followed.  Taking  the  ground  that  the  members 
were  not  in  convention  to  look  after  the  rights  of  the  males  only,  he  said:  "  Did  we 
recognize  the  right  of  all  the  people  to  be  represented,  we  should  have  to-day  on  this 
floor  some  persons  sent  here  to  represent  the  women  of  our  State.  Men  do  not  rep- 
resent women  because  they  are  not  and  cannot  be  held  responsible  by  them.  We 
have  no  more  right  to  represent  the  women  here  than  a  man  in  Iowa  has  to  go  to  con- 
gress and  presume  to  represent  Nebraska  there."  To  illustrate  the  principle  General 
Manderson  instanced  that  in  the  New  York  Constitutional  Conventions  of  1801  and 
1821,  persons  voted  for  delegates  who  had  not  the  property  qualifications  to  vote  at 
ordinary  elections.  Even  the  black  man  was  represented  by  delegates  for  whom  he 
had  voted.  In  presenting  a  petition  from  Lincoln  with  seventy  names  of  women  who 
desired  to  vote,  General  Manderson  said  he  had  made  inquiries,  and  these  were  the 
names  of  the  respectable,  influential  ladies  of  Lincoln,  sixty-three  of  whom  were  mar- 
ried. He  then  reviewed  the  history  and  workings  of  woman  suffrage  in  Wyoming, 
furnishing  the  highest  testimony  in  its  favor,  and  closed  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  envy  not  the  heart  or  the  head  of  the  man,  let  him  occupy  what 
place  he  may,  let  him  sit  in  a  legislative  body  or  wield  the  editorial  pen,  who  is  so 


Debate  in  Constitutional  Convention.  670 

base  as  to  denounce  the  advocates  of  this  measure  as  demagogues,  and  to  sav  that  if 
the  right  is  extended  to  woman,  the  low,  the  miserable,  will  outnumber  at  the  polls 
the  thousands  of  virtuous  wives  throughout  this  land  who  advocate  this  measure  ;  the 
lie  is  thrown  in  his  teeth  by  that  noble  woman,  Mrs.  Livermore,  who  did  more  service 
in  time  of  war  as  a  soldier  battling  for  the  right  than  did  even  my  gallant  friend,  and 
did  far  more  than  myself.  She  inaugurated  and  carried  in  her  mighty  hand  and 
guided  by  her  mighty  brain  that  Western  Ladies'  Aid  Society,  and  helped  by  some 
means  the  Western  Sanitary  Association  that  did  more  than  10,000  armed  men  to  sup- 
press the  late  rebellion.  The  lie  is  hurled  in  the  teeth  of  the  vile  slanderer  by  this 
petition  from  the  honest,  virtuous  ladies  of  the  city  of  Lincoln.  If  we  have  planted 
one  seed,  that  will  bring  forth  good  fruit,  God  be  thanked  for  that  result. 

Mr.  Kenaston  spoke  in  favor  of  the  measure,  and  Judge  Moore  opposed  it  in  a  very 
witty  speech,  of  which  the  principal  points  were  that  the  members  were  to  decide  ac- 
cording to  expediency,  not  right;  that  women  had  always  consented  to  the  government 
— never  trampled  the  flag  in  the  dust,  but  always  rallied  to  its  support.  Judge  O.  P. 
Mason  followed  in  opposition,  also  J.  C.  Myers,  the  latter  claiming  that  for  twenty 
years  the  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  have  made  little,  if  any,  impression  on  the  public 
mind.  E.  F.  Gray  had  begun  speaking  in  favor  when  Victor  Vifquain  moved  the  pre- 
vious question.  A  lively  debate  followed  this,  but  it  did  not  prevail.  Mr.  Mason 
said:  "  If  we  hold  the  right  on  this  question  let  us  challenge  discussion  and  meet 
the  opposition.  It  is  not  a  wasted  time  that  sows  the  seed  of  truth  in  the  brain."  Mr. 
Manderson  urged  the  number  of  petitions  that  had  been  sent  in  as  a  reason  for  full 
discussion.  R.  F.  Stevenson  said  he  was  opposed  to  it  in  every  form.  A.  L.  Sprague 
was  against  submitting  this  question  at  any  time,  that  neither  by  the  laws  of  God  nor 
of  man  were  women  entitled  to  vote.  Seth  Robinson  would  like  to  hear  the  social 
aspects  of  the  question  discussed.  He  said:  "I  would  like,  gentlemen,  to  show 
whether  it  would  not  have  a  tendency  to  regenerate  our  social  system  and  make  women 
as  a  class  more  efficient  than  they  are. "  The  motion  for  the  previous  question  being  lost 
a  motion  was  made  to  strike  out  this  section.  While  this  was  pending  General  Esta- 
brook  insisted  that  it  should  be  re-committed,  saying  :  "  It  is  the  only  politica^ques- 
tion  that  has  essential  principle  in  it.  There  are  not  brains  enough  in  this  convention 
to  show  the  justic«  of  taxation  without  representation.  Judge  George  B.  Lake  warmly 
seconded  Mr.  Estabrook's  motion.  O.  P.  Mason  wanted  the  proposition  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  both  sexes  separately.  J.  E.  Philpott  advocated  woman  suffrage  in  a  com- 
prehensive argument,  In  closing,  he  said  : 

I  demand  that  suffrage  shall  be  extended  to  females  for  the  reason  that  they  have 
not  adequate  representation  in  the  electoral  department.  As  evidence  of  this  I  cite 
the  undeniable  facts  that  in  this  State  woman  has  not  fair  wages  for  her  work — has 
not  a  fair  field  to  work  in.  The  law,  with  all  its  freedom,  does  not  place  her  on  the 
same  footing  as  to  property  that  it  does  males.  She  has  no  voice  as  an  elector  in 
the  making  of  the  laws  which  regulate  her  marital  union,  no  voice  in  the  laws  which 
sever  those  ties.  The  motto  of  the  State  is  "  Equality  Before  the  Law."  This  can 
no  more  be  among  us  with  women  disfranchised  than  in  our  nation  all  men  could  be 
free  and  equal  while  there  were  more  than  3,000,000  slaves. 

A.  J.  Weaver  spoke  in  opposition  and  was  followed  by  Hon.  I.  S.  Hascall,  who 
based  his  advocacy  of  the  principle  on  the  rights  that  woman  has  as  an  individual : 

Because  we  have  started  upon  the  wrong  track,  because  women  in  the  dark  ages 
were  in  bondage,  is  no  reason,  when  we  have  advanced  to  a  higher  civilization,  that 
we  should  continue  this  barbarous  practice.  There  is  a  higher  point  to  reach  and  I 
want  to  see  the  people  reach  that  point.  I  think  that  the  American  people  are  old 
enough  in  experience  to  bring  order  out  of  disorder,  and  that  when  the  question  arises 
they  will  meet  it  in  such  a  way  as  will  be  satisfactory  to  all. 

Mr.  Stevenson  spoke  in  opposition  basing  his  argument  on  man's  superiority  to 
woman  and  closed  with  this  remarkable  prediction  which  has  probably  never  been  sur- 
1  as  a  specimen  of  "  spread  eagle  ": 

Finally,  Mr.  President,  I  really  think  that  if  the  ballot  were  placed  in  the  hands  of 
woman  the  old  American  eagle  that  stands  with  one  foot  upon  the  Alleghanies  and 
the  other  upon  the  Rockies,  whetting  his  beak  upon  the  ice-capped  mountains  of. 


68o  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Alaska,  and  covering  half  the  Southern  gulf  with  his  tail,  will  cease  to  scream  and  sink 
into  the  pits  of  blackness  of  darkness  amidst  the  shrieks  of  lost  spirits  that  will  forever 
echo  and  reecho  through  cavernous  depths  unknown. 

S.  P.  Majors  advocated  the  measure,  and  in  the  course  of  the  discussion,  B.  I. 
Hinman  offered  a  burlesque  resolution,  proposing  to  change  the  duties  and  functions 
of  the  sexes  by  law,  and  John  IX  Neligh  said  : 

The  gentleman  from  Otoe  (Mr.  Mason)  will  get  the  commission  of  the  Christian 
mothers,  not  against  the  right  of  female  suffrage,  but  for  universal  suffrage.  That 
will  be  a  happy  day — a  day  when  we  shall  shine  out  as  a  nation  more  brightly  than 
any  other  nation  under  the  sun.* 

The  constitution  of  1871  not  having  been  adopted,  it  became  necessary 
to  present  another  to  the  people.  Accordingly  in  the  summer  of  1875 
delegates  of  the  male  citizens  met  in  the  capital  city.  No  outside  press- 
ure was  brought  to  bear  upon  them  to  influence  their  consideration  of  this 
subject.  The  grasshoppers  had  ravaged  the  State  the  previous  year,  cut- 
ting off  entirely  the  principal  crop  of  the  country.  Again  in  the  spring  of 
1875,  in  some  of  the  river  counties,  the  young  had  hatched  in  myriads, 
and  devoured  the  growing  crops  ere  winging  their  way  to  their  mountain 
home.  Gloom  overspread  the  people  at  the  prospect  of  renewed  disaster, 
and  the  dismal  forebodings  were  realized  even  as  the  delegates  sat  in 
council,  for  at  this  time  occurred  the  final  appearance  of  the  locust.  As 
the  people  gazed  into  the  sky  and  watched  the  silver  cloud  floating  in  the 
sunshine  resolve  itself  into  a  miniature  army  clad  in  burnished  steel, 
women  forgot  to  be  concerned  for  their  rights,  and  the  delegates  thought 
only  of  completing  their  work  with  the  utmost  economy  and  speed. 

The  new  constitution,  however,  was  formed  on  a  more  liberal  basis. 
Hon*  R.  B.  Harrington,  of  Beatrice,  in  the  Committee  on  Bill  of  Rights, 
substituted  the  word  "  people  "  for  "  men,"  and  it  passed  without  comment. 
An  article  on  amendments  was  embodied  in  the  constitution,  the  same  in 
substance  as  the  one  defeated  in  1871,  under  which,  as  was  actually  done 
in  1881,  the  legislature  could  present  amendments  relating  to  suffrage. 

The  question  of  adopting  the  article  relating  to  qualifications  of  electors 
being  before  the  convention,  Judge  Clinton  Briggs  of  Omaha  sat  during 
the  reading  of  the  first  clause,  "every  male,"  etc.,  meditating,  as  he  re- 
lated to  a  friend,  on  how  many  lives  had  been  sacrificed  and  how  many 
millions  of  money  had  been  spent  in  getting  rid  of  the  word  "white," 
which  had  made  such  an  unjust  restriction,  and  how  easy  it  would  be,  by 

*  The  gentlemen  who  advocated  the  measure  most  warmly,  were  among  the  ablest  judges  and  jurists 
of  the  State.  Of  the  opposition,  Judge  O.  P.  Mason  experienced  a  change  of  heart,  and  ten  years  later 
appeared  as  a  foremost  advocate.  General  E.  Estabrook  of  Omaha  lent  all  his  influence  to  the  amend- 
ment in  the  late  canvass,  and  Col.  Philpott  of  Lincoln  was  also  a  warm  advocate,  often  accompanying 
his  zealous  wife  and  other  members  of  the  effective  and  untiring  Lincoln  association  to  the  school-house 
meetings  held  in  all  parts  of  Lancaster  county.  D.  T.  Moore  was  called  out  at  a  meeting  in  York  in 
1881,  and  came  forward  without  hesitation,  saying  that  he  was  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage.  He  related 
this  incident:  that  on  his  return  home  from  the  convention  of  1871,  he  found  that  his  wife  had  been 
looking  after  his  stock  farm  and  attending  to  his  business  so  that  everything  was  in  good  order.  He 
praised  her  highly,  when  she  replied,  "  Yes,  and  while  I  was  caring  for  your  interests,  you  were  voting 
against  my  rights."  The  reply  set  him  to  thinking,  and  he  thought  himself  over  on  the  other  side.  A- 
J  Weaver  opposed  the  clause  in  a  very  bitter  speech.  The  friends  of  the  amendment  in  1881  were 
given  to  understand  that  Mr.  Weaver  was  friendly,  but  to  prevent  the  foreigners  having  that  opinion. 
Mr  Weaver  translated  the  record  of  his  opposition  into  German,  and  distributed  the  paper*  among  the 
German  voters.  Having  been  elected  to  congress,  he  was  one  of  only  three  Republican  members  who 
voted  against  the  standing  committee  on  woman's  claims.  These  facts  cost  him  a  great  many  votes  at 
the  time  of  his  reelection  in  1884,  and  are  not  yet  forgotten. 


Early  Suffrage  Societies.  68  r 

one  dash  of  the  pen,  to  blot  out  the  word  "  male,"  and  thus  abolish  this 
other  unjust  restriction.  On  the  inspiration  of  the  moment,  he  moved  to 
strike  out  the  word  "  male."  R.  B.  Harrington  relates  that  the  motion  of 
Judge  Briggs,  who  had  not  before  expressed  his  sentiments,  and  who  had 
not  consulted  with  the  known  advocates  of  the  measure,  so  astonished 
the  convention  that  it  was  some  time  before  they  could  realize  that  he  was 
in  earnest.  The  friends  rallied  to  Judge  Briggs'  support.  Gen.  Chas.  F. 
Manderson — a  member  of  this,  as  of  the  preceding  convention — seconded 
the  motion,  and  sustained  it  with  a  forcible  speech.  Mr.  Harrington  made 
a  speech  in  its  favor,  and  after  a  short  and  vigorous  discussion  it  came  to 
a  vote,  which  showed  fifteen  for  the  motion  and  fifty-two  against.* 

About  this  time  Nebraska  was  again  visited  by  lecturers  on  woman  suf- 
frage, who  found  an  intelligent  class  of  people,  who,  with  growing  ma- 
terial prosperity,  were  kindly  disposed  toward  progressive  ideas.  Mrs. 
Margaret  Campbell  lectured  in  Nebraska  in  1875,  at  about  fifteen  -places 
between  Kearney  and  the  Missouri.  In  1877-8  and  9,  Mrs.  Stanton  and 
Miss  Anthony  lectured  at  many  points.  These,  with  some  local  lectures 
aroused  an  intelligent  interest  in  equal  rights  for  women.  It  was  attempted 
to  give  this  expression  in  the  legislature  of  1879.  Resolutions  were  intro- 
duced, favorable  reports  made  and  the  subject  treated  with  kindly  con- 
sideration, but  for  lack  of  time,  or  some  one  deeply  interested,  nothing 
was  accomplished. 

The  legislation  of  1879  on  the  subject  of  equal  suffrage  originated  with  Senator 
McMeans  and  C.  B.  Slocumb  of  Fairbury.  The  former  offered  a  petition  from  Thos. 
Harbine  and  160  others,  asking  a  constitutional  amendment  prohibiting  the  disfranchis- 
ing of  citizens  on  account  of  sex.  -Referred  to  a  committee  of  whom  a  majority 
recommended  that  its  consideration  be  indefinitely  postponed.  A  minority  report  was 
brought  in  by  Orlando  Tefft  and  Chas.  H.  Brown  recommending  that  the  prayers  of  pe- 
titioners be  granted.  In  the  House,  at  the  same  session,  C.  B.  Slocumb  presented 
the  petition  of  Calvin  F.  Steele  and  others,  with  a  resolution  asking  that  the  com- 
mittee on  constitutional  amendments  be  instructed  to  provide  for  the  submission  of  an 
amendment  conferring  the  franchise  upon  woman.  The  resolution  was  adopted* 
referred,  and  reported  back  with  draft  of  an  amendment.  The  committee  were 
Messrs.  True,  Windham,  Batty,  Simonton,  Mitchell,  Sparks  and  Gaylord.  On  motion 
of  Mr.  True  the  joint  resolution  was  ordered  to  first  reading;  no  further  mention  ap- 
pears of  it. 

The  first  suffrage  society  of  the  State  was  formed  at  Fairbury  by  Mrs. 
H.  Tyler  Wilcox,  and  although  this  organization  lived  but  a  short  time,  it 
secured  petitions  and  drew  the  attention  of  legislators  elect — Senator  Mc- 
Means and  C.  B.  Slocumb — to  the  general  interest  felt  in  Jefferson  county. 
The  second  society  was  formed  in  Thayer  county.  The  sisters,  Mrs.  Davis 
and  Mrs.  Cornell,  of  Alexandria,  called  a  meeting,  which  resulted  in  or- 
ganizing the  Alexandria  Free  Suffrage  Association,  Sept.  27,  1878.  Prof. 
W.  D.  Vermilion  and  E.  M.  Correll  of  Hebron,  lectured  before  this  society, 
but,  most  of  the  members  living  in  the  country,  the  meetings  were  given 
up  when  the  cold  weather  set  in. 

*  The  debates  of  this  convention  were  not  reported  for  the  economical  reason*  mentioned.  The 
names  of  the  honored  fifteen  are,  Clinton  Briggs,  W.  L.  Dunlap,  R.  C.  Eldridge,  J.  G.  K.w.ui,  C.  H. 
Frady,  C.  H.  Gere,  R.  H.  Harrington.  D.  P.  Henry,  C.  F.  Manderaon,  J.  McPhcrson,  M.  B.  Reese,  S. 
M.  Kirkpatrick,  L.  B  Thome,  A.  M.  Walling,  J.  F.  Zediker.  Many  of  these  were  active  friends  of  the 

amendment  of  1881. 


682  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  first  working  society  was  that  of  Hebron,  which  was  organized  by 
Mrs.  Stanton,  April  15,  1879.  The  citizens  were  prepared  for  the  under- 
taking. E.  M.  Correll,  editor  of  the  Hebron  Journal,  in  editorials,  in  lec- 
tures by  himself  and  others,  had  urged  on  women  the  dignity  and  import- 
ance of  interesting  themselves  in  their  own  behalf.  The  society  had  been 
encouraged  by  lectures  from  Miss  Couzins  and  Mrs.  H.  T.  Wilcox,  the 
latter  taking  the  ground  then  comparatively  new,  that  woman's  ballot  is 
necessary  for  successful  temperance  effort.  Meetings  were  kept  up  regu- 
larly and  with  increasing  membership,  and  the  Thayer  County  Woman 
Suffrage  Association  won  a  deserved  triumph  in  being  primarily  connected 
with  the  origin  and  successful  passage  of  the  joint  resolution  of  1881.  The 
legislators  elected  in  1880  were  Senator  C.  B.  Coon,  and  Representative  E. 
M.  Correll.  Both  these  gentlemen  were  active  members  of  the  Thayer 
County  Association,  and  after  their  election  a  committee  waited  on  them, 
pledging  them  to  special  effort  during  the  coming  session. 

Meanwhile  a  general  favorable  sentiment  was  growing.  In  noting  this 
it  would  not  be  right  to  omit  mention  of  Mrs.  Harbert's  "  Woman's  King- 
dom," in  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  which  circulated  largely  among  country 
readers.  The  Omaha  Republican  passed,  in  1876,  under  the  editorial  man- 
agement of  D.  C.  Brooks,  who,  with  his  wife,  had  been  prominent  in  the 
suffrage  work  of  Michigan  and  Illinois.  The  favorable  attitude  of  this 
paper,  and  the  articles  which  Mrs.  Brooks  from  time  to  time  contributed 
to  it,  exerted  a  wide  influence.  In  the  winter  of  1881,  Mrs.  Brooks  estab- 
lished a  woman's  department  in  the  Republican  which  crystallized  the 
growing  interest  around  the  leadership  of  its  editor.  Letters  were 
addressed  to  her  from  various  sections  of  the  State,  urging  immediate 
action.  The  following  from  Mrs.  Lucinda  Russell  will  show  the  interest 

felt: 

TECUMSEH,  Neb.,  December  4,  1880. 

MRS.  HARRIET  S.  BROOKS — Dear  Madam:  I  have  been  shown  a  form  of  petition 
•for  the  suffrage  which  you  enclosed  to  Rev.  Mary  J.  DeLong,  of  this  place.  Will  you 
please  inform  me  if  this  is  to  be  the  form  of  petition  to  be  presented  during  the  pres- 
ent session  of  the  legislature  ?  We  wish  the  exact  words  in  order  that  we  may  have  it 
published  in  our  local  paper. 

We  think  it  best  to  call  a  meeting,  even  now  at  this  somewhat  late  day,  and  send 
women  to  Lincoln  who  will  attend  personally  to  this  matter.  We  have  left  these 
things  neglected  too  long.  Will  you  call  on  all  women  of  the  State  who  can  do  so  to 
assemble  at  Lincoln  during  the  session  of  the  legislature,  appointing  the  day,  etc.?  I 
think  we  would  be  surprised  at  the  result.  This  town  contains  scarcely  a  woman  who 
is  opposed  to  woman  suffrage.  We  know  we  are  a  power  here;  and  we  do  not  know 
but  the  same  hearty  support  which  Tecumseh  would  afford  may  exist  in  many 
towns  throughout  the  State.  All  we  need  for  good  earnest  work  and  mighty  results 
is  organization.  L.  R. 

In  accordance  with  these  requests  a  meeting  for  conference  was  called 
at  Lincoln,  January  19,  1881,  Mrs.  Brooks  presiding.  A  second  meeting 
was  held  at  the  M.  E.  Church,  January  22,  and  a  Lincoln  Woman  Suffrage 
Association  was  formed.  A  mass  convention  was  held  January  26,  and  a 
State  Association  was  formed  next  day  :  * 


*  The  officers  elected  were :      President \  Harriet   S.   Brooks,   Omaha ;    \'ice-President-a.t-Large, 
Clara  Bewick  Colby,  Beatrice  ;  Vice-Presidents — First  Judicial  District,  Mrs.  B.  J.  Thomson,  Hebron  ; 


Joint  Resolution  in  the  House.  683 

The  meeting  of  January  26  was  held  in  the  opera-house  and  was  presided  over  by 
Mrs.  Franc  E.  Finch.  The  speakers  were  John  B.  Finch,  Rev.  Mary  J.  DeLong, 
Judge  O.  P.  Mason  and  Mrs.  Esther  L.  Warner.  Reading  and  music  filled  the  pro- 
gramme. Mrs.  DeLong's  address  was  in  behalf  of  the  prohibitory  and  suffrage 
amendments.  Judge  Mason's  address  was  afterwards  printed  for  distribution.  It 
showed  how  forcible  and  eloquent  the  Judge  could  be  when  on  the  right  side.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Judge  Mason  opposed  woman  suffrage  in  the  constitutional  con- 
vention of  1871.  His  closing  sentences  were  : 

The  more  intelligent  and  exalted  the  character  of  the  electors  in  a  government 
whose  foundation  rests  upon  the  franchise,,the  more  safe  and  secure  are  the  liberties  of 
the  people  and  the  property  of  that  government.  The  higher  the  social  and  moral 
standard  of  the  electors,  the  better  will  be  the  type  of  manhood  that  is  chosen  to 
make  laws  and  administer  the  government..  As  you  elevate  the  standard  of  intelli- 
gence, and  increase  the  ability  and  intensify  the  power  to  recognize  the  right  and  a 
sense  of  obligation  to  follow  it,  you  make  sure  the  foundations  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  You  do  more,  you  elevate  the  character  of  the  laws,  and  better  the  adminis- 
tration in  every  department  of  government.  It  has  been  wisely  said  that  government 
is  best  which  is  best  administered. 

Do  as  we  will,  however,  forget  the  rights  of  others,  treat  them  with  con- 
tempt, summon  to  our  aid  the  united  efforts  of  great  political  parties,  invoke  statutory 
and  constitutional  law  to  aid  us  in  the  mad  career,  yet,  let  no  one  forget  that  God's 
balances,  watched  by  his  angels,  are  hung  across  the  sky  to  weigh  the  conduct  of  in- 
dividuals and  nations,  and  that  in  the  end  divine  wisdom  will  pronounce  the  inexorable 
judgment  of  compensatory  justice. 

Previous  to  all  of  these  meetings  Hon.  E.  M.  Correll  had  introduced  on 
January  13,  H.  R.  59,  a  bill  for  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  Striking 
the  word  "  male  "  from  qualifications,  of  electors.  This  had  given  im- 
petus to  the  friends  of  the  measure  and  inspiration  to  the  meetings.  A 
vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  Mr.  Correll  by  both  the  State  and  Thayer 
County  Associations.  The  bill  not  being  technically  correct,  Mr.  Correll 
introduced  on  February  3,  a  joint  resolution  of  the  same  purport,  H.  R. 
162.  The  committees  of  Senate  and  House  on  constitutional  amend- 
ments gave  a  hearing  that  evening  to  the  advocates  of  the  measure : 

Of  the  fourteen  members  of  the  committees,  ten  were  present;  the  full  number  from 
the  House  and  three  from  the  Senate.  Mr.  Correll  pressed  the  claims  of  the  resolu- 
tion in  the  first  speech,  and  then  introduced  the  different  speakers  representing  the  State 
association.  Mrs.  Harriet  S.  Brooks  reviewed  the  progress  of  sentiment  elsewhere  and 
said  that  her  acquaintance  and  correspondence  in  this  State  led  her  to  think  the  time 
ripe  for  action  of  this  kind.  Mrs.  Orpha  Clement  Dinsmoor  argued  the  abstract  right 
of  it,  saying : 

It  has  now  come  to  the  question  of  absolute  right — whether  one  class  of  people  shall 
say  to  another  :  "  You  can  come  only  thus  far  in  the  direction  of  liberty."  We  re- 
alize that  woman  must  be  educated  to  this  new  privilege,  just  as  man  has  been  edu- 
cated to  it,  and  just  as  this  nation  is  now  educating  millions  of  the  newly  enfran- 
dii-i-d  to  it.  Feeling  that  in  intellectual  and  moral  capacity  woman  is  the  peer  of  man, 
I  think  that  her  actual  steps  forward  in  needful  preparation  have  given  her  the  right 
to  say  who  shall  rule  over  her. 

Mrs.  Jennie  F.  Holmes  based  her  remarks  on  the  added  influence  it  would  give 
women  in  securing  wise  legislation  in  matters  of  welfare  to  the  home.  Clara  B. 
Coll>y  answered  questions  of  the  committee.  It  was  a  most  encouraging  fact  that 
every  member  of  the  committee,  after  the  speakers  had  finished  presenting  the  case, 

Second,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Warner,  Roca ;  Third,  Mrs.  A.  P.  Nicholas,  Omaha ;  Fourth,  Mrs.  J.  S.  Burns, 
Scribner;  Fifth,  Mrs.  C.  C.  Chapin,  Rivcrton  ;  Sixth,  Mrs.  P.  B.  Slaughter,  Fullerton ;  Recording 
Secretary,  Mrs.  Ada  M.  Rittenbendcr,  Osceola;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mr*.  Gertrude  McDowell, 
Fairbury ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  L.  Russell,  Tccumsch  ;  Executive  Committee,  Rev.  M.  J.  DeLong, 
Tecumseh;  Mrs.  Orpha  C.  Uinsmoor,  Omaha:  Mrs.  J.  C.  Roberts,  David  City;  Mrs.  C.  B.  Parker, 
Mrs.  J.  B.  Finch,  Lincoln  ;  Mrs.  E.  M.  Correll,  Hebron  ;  Mrs.  J.  H.  Bowen,  Hasting*. 


684  History  of  }\~ouian  Suffrage. 

spoke  in  favor  of  the  amendment,  except  one,  a  Bohemian,  who  was  suffering  from 
hoarseness  and  induced  his  colleague  to  express  favorable  sentiments  for  him.  These 
gentlemen  all  remained  friendly  to  the  bill  until  its  passage. 

Headquarters  were  established  in  Lincoln.  Mrs.  Brooks  remained  dur- 
ing the  session,  and  Mesdames  Holmes,  Russell,  Dinsmoor  and  Colby  all, 
or  most  of  the  time,  until  the  act  was  passed,  interviewing  the  members 
and  securing  the  promise  of  their  votes  for  the  measure  : 

The  joint  resolution  went  through  all  the  preliminary  stages  in  the  House  without 
opposition  on  account  of  the  discretion  of  its  advocates,  the  watchfulness  of  its  zealous 
friends  among  the  members,  and  the  carefulness  of  Mr.  Correll  with  regard  to  all 
pending  measures.  The  bill  was  made  a  special  order  for  February  18,  10:45  A-  M-> 
and  Mrs.  Brooks,  Mrs.  Dinsmoor  and  Mrs.  Colby  addressed  the  House  by  invitation. 
At  the  close  of  their  remarks  Mr.  Roberts  offered  the  following  : 

Resolved,  That,  as  the  sense  of  this  House,  we  extend  our  thanks  to  the  ladies  who 
have  so  ably  addressed  us  in  behalf  of  female  suffrage,  and  we  wish  them  God-speed 
in  their  good  work. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Howe  the  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted.  Mr.  Correll 
moved  that  H.  R.  162  be  ordered  engrossed  for  third  reading.  The  motion  prevailed. 
The  final  vote  in  the  House,  February  21,  stood  51  for  the  amendment;  22  against.* 

The  passage  of  the  bill  had  its  dramatic  features.  Intense  interest  was 
felt  by  the  crowds  which  daily  gathered  in  the  capitol  to  watch  its  prog- 
ress, while  the  officers  of  the  State  association  were  extended  the  court- 
esies of  the  floor,  and  came  and  went,  watching  every  opportunity  and 
giving  counsel  and  assistance  at  every  step.  On  this  eventful  Monday 
afternoon  but  one  of  these  was  present,  and  she  watched  with  anxiety  the 
rapid  passage  of  the  bills  preceding,  which  made  it  evident  that  H.  R. 
162  would  soon  be  reached.  Six  more  than  the  needed  number  of  votes 
had  been  promised,  but  three  of  these  were  absent  from  the  city.  There 
were  barely  enough  members  present  to  do  business,  as  important  bills 
claimed  attention  in  committee-rooms  and  lobbies.  The  last  bill  ahead 
of  this  was  reached,  and  the  friends  hurried  out  in  every  direction  to  in- 
form the  members,  who  responded  quickly  to  the  call.  One  man  pledged 
to  the  amendment  went  out  and  did  not  return,  the  only  one  to  betray  the 
measure. 

The  roll  was  called  amid  breathless  interest  and  every  one  kept  the 
tally.  Church  Howe,  in  voting,  said  :  "  I  thank  God  that  my  life  has 
been  spared  to  this  moment,  when  I  can  vote  to  extend  the  right  of  suf- 
frage to  the  women  of  my  adopted  State."  And  C.  B.  Slocumb  responded 
to  his  name,  "Believing  that  my  wife  is  entitled  to  all  the  rights  that  I 
enjoy,  I  vote  aye."  The  last  name  had  been  called,  and  all  knew  that 
only  fifty  votes  had  been  cast  for  the  amendment,  lacking  one  of  the 
required  three-fifths  of  all  members  elect.  The  chief  clerk  of  the  House, 
B.  D.  Slaughter,  usually  so  glib,  slowly  repeated  the  names  of  those  who 


*  Members  voting  in  the  affirmative  were:  Messrs.  Abbott,  Babcock,  Bailey,  Baldwin,  Bartlett, 
Broatch,  Brown,  Cantlin,  Carman,  Cook,  Cole,  Correll,  Dailey,  Dew,  Dowty,  Filley,  Fried,  Graham, 
Gray,  Hall,  Heacock,  Herman,  Hosteller,  Howe,  Jackson  of  Pawnee,  Jensen,  Johnson,  Jones,  Kaley, 
Kcmpton,  Kyner.  Linn,  McClun,  McDougall,  McKinnon,  Mickey,  Moore  of  York,  Montgomery, 
Palmer,  Paxton,  Ransom,  Reed,  Roberts,  Root,  Schick,  Scott,  Sill,  Slocumb,  Watts,  Wilsey  and 
Windham — 51.  Voting  in  the  negative :  Messrs.  Bick,  Bolln,  Case,  Franse,  Frederick,  Gates,  Holl- 
man,  Jackson  of  Douglas,  King,  Lamb,  Laughlin,  McShane,  Moore  of  Otoe,  Mullen,  Overton,  Peter- 
son, Putney,  Scars,  Wells,  Whedoii,  Ziegler  and  Mr.  Speaker — 22. 


Passage  of  the  Bill.  685 

had  voted  and  more  slowly  footed  up  the  result.  Two  favorable  members 
were  outside  ;  if  only  one  could  be  reached  !  The  speaker,  who  had  just 
voted  against  the  amendment,  but  was  kindly  disposed  towards  those 
interested  in  it,  held  the  announcement  back  for  a  moment  which  gave 
Church  Howe  time  to  move  the  recommitment  of  the  resolution.  His 
motion  was  seconded  all  over  the  House,  but  just  at  this  juncture  one  of 
the  absent  friends,  P.  O.  Heacock,  a  German  member  from  Richardson 
county,  came  in,  and,  being  told  what  was  going  on,  called  out,  "  I  desire 
to  vote  on  this  bill."  He  walked  quickly  to  his  place  and,  in  answer  to 
his  name,  voted  "aye."  The  speaker  asked  Mr.  Howe  if  he  wished  to 
withdraw  his  motion,  which  he  did,  and  the  vote  was  announced.  The 
galleries  cheered,  and  the  House  was  in  a  hubbub,  unrebuked  by  the 
speaker,  who  looked  as  happy  as  if  he  had  voted  for  the  bill.  The  mem- 
bers gathered  around  the  woman  who  sat  in  their  midst,  shook  hands  and 
extended  congratulations,  many  even  who  had  voted  against  the  amend- 
ment expressing  their  personal  sympathy  with  its  advocates. 

The  joint  resolution  was  immediately  sent  to  the  Senate,  where,  after 
its  second  reading,  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Constitutional 
Amendments,  who  returned  it  with  two  reports : 

That  of  the  majority,  recommended  its  passage,  while  the  minority  opposed  it  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  introduce  opposing  measures  into  the 
House  and  thus  create  new  divisions  in  politics  and  a  new  cause  of  excite- 
ment; but  principally  upon  the  claim  that  in  the  territory  where  female  suf- 
frage had  obtained  "for  a  period  of  two  years"  the  experiment  had  been 
disastrous,  the  "interests  of  the  territory  damaged  in  emigration,"  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  hindered  in  the  courts.  This  report  was  signed  by  Senators 
J.  C.  Myers  and  S.  B.  Taylor,  who  had  persistently  refused  to  listen  to  argument  or 
information  on  the  subject.  As  soon  as  the  report  was  made,  the  senators  were  informed 
of  their  glaring  mistake  as  to  the  length  of  time  the  women  of  Wyoming  had  voted, 
and  information  was  laid  before  them  proving  that  the  results  in  that  territory  had 
been  in  every  way  beneficial,*  but  they  refused  to  withdraw  or  change  their  report. 

The  parliamentary  tactics  and  watchfulness  of  Senators  Doane,  Coon,  Smith,  Whfte, 
Dinsmore,  Harrington  and  Tefft  carried  the  bill  through  the  bluster  of  the  minority  to 
its  final  vote  ;  by  twenty-two  for  to  eight  against,  f  When  Senator  Howe's  name  was 
called  he  offered  the  following  explanation  : 

The  question  of  submitting  this  proposition  to  a  vote  of  the  people  is  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  pleasantry,  as  some  members  seem  to  think.  However  mischievously 
the  experiment  of  giving  the  suffrage  to  women  may  operate,  the  power  once  given 
cannot  be  recalled.  I  have  endeavored  to  look  at  the  question  conscientiously.  I 
desire  to  keep  abreast  of  all  legitimate  reforms  of  the  day.  I  would  like  to  see  the 
moral  influence  of  women  at  the  polls,  but  I  would  not  like  to  see  the  immoral  influ- 


*  At  this  time  the  valuable  information  from  Wyoming  with  which  Nebraska  was  afterwards  flooded; 
letters  from  Gov.  Hoyt,  editorials  from  leading  papers  of  the  territory,  and  testimony  from  every 
reputable  source,  had  not  been  gathered  ;  but  two  members  of  the  House,  J.  H.  Helm  and  Church 
Hnwc,  had  been  residents  of  Wyoming,  and  these  cheerfully  gave  their  assurance  that  only  good  had 
resulted  from  the  enfranchisement  of  the  women  of  Wyoming. 

t  Those  voting  in  the  affirmative  were  :  Messrs.  Baker,  Burns  (of  Dodge),  Burns  (of  York),  Coon, 
Daily,  Dinsmore,  Doane,  Evans,  Gere,  Graham,  Harrington,  Morse,  Perkins,  Pierce,  Powers, 
Smith,  Tefft,  Turner,  Van  Wyck,  Wells,  Wherry  and  White — aa.  Those  voting  in  the  negative 
were :  Messrs.  Ballentine,  Cady,  Ervin,  Howe,  Myers,  Taylor,  Turk  and  Zehrung— 8.  Two  of 
these  names  cannot  stand  in  the  roll  of  honor  without  an  explanation;  for  twenty  votes  indicate  the 
full  strength  of  the  bill.  The  irrelevance  of  opponents  was  illustrated  by  Senators  Morse  and  Pierce. 
The  former  in  voting  said,  he  had  opposed  the  measure  every  step  of  the  way,  and  now  to  be  consistent 
he  voted  aye.  Senator  Pierce  said  he  had  been  watching  the  other  side  of  the  capitol  and  nothing 
there  seemed  popular  but  whiskey  and  women,  therefore,  he  voted  aye  1 


686  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ence  of  politics  in  the  home  circle.  The  Almighty  has  imposed  upon  woman  the 
highest  office  to  which  human  nature  is  subject,  that  of  bearing  children.  Her  life  is 
almost  necessarily  a  home  life  ;  it  should  be  largely  occupied  in  rearing  and  training 
her  children  to  be  good  men  and  pure  electors.  Therein  her  influence  is  all-powerful. 
Again,  I  incline  to  the  belief  that  to  strike  out  the  word  'male'  in  the  constitution 
would  not  change  its  meaning  so  as  to  confer  the  suffrage  upon  women.  I  am  not 
acquainted  with  half  a  dozen  ladies  who  would  accept  the  suffrage  if  it  were  offered  to 
them.  They  are  not  prepared  for  so  radical  a  change.  For  these  reasons,  briefly 
stated,  and  others,  I  vote  No. 

Mr.  Turner  explained  his  vote  as  follows  : 

Our  wives,  mothers  and  sisters  having  an  equal  interest  with  us  in  the  welfare  of 
our  commonwealth,  and  being  equal  to  ourselves  in  intelligence,  there  appears  no 
good  reason  why  the  right  to  vote  should  be  withheld  from  them.  The  genius  of  our 
institutions  is  opposed  to  taxation  without  representation  ;  opposed  to  government 
without  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  therefore  I  vote  Aye. 

The  act  was  then  signed  by  the  president  of  the  Senate  and  speaker  of  the  House, 
and  sent  to  Gov.  Nance.  The  latter,  who,  although  not  personally  an  advocate  of  the 
measure,  had  given  all  courtesy  and  assistance  to  its  supporters,  signed  it  promptly. 
To  take  a  bill  like  this,  which  even  a  minority  are  anxious  to  defeat,  through  the 
intricate  course  of  legislation  requires  work,  watchfulness  and  the  utmost  tact  and 
discretion  on  the  part  of  its  friends  in  both  Houses. 

The  suffrage  association  immediately  arranged  to  begin  a  canvass  of 
the  State.  The  vice-president  was  appointed  State  organizer  and  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  the  office  by  forming  a  society  at  Beatrice,  March  5. 
The  next  step  was  to  secure  ample  and  unimpeachable  testimonials  from 
Wyoming,  which  were  printed  in  Woman's  Work,  and  then  spread  broad- 
cast in  leaflet  form.  Lectures  were  given,  and  societies  and  working  com- 
mittees formed  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  Western  Woman's  Journal,  a 
neat  monthly  magazine,  was  established  in  May,  by  Hon.  E.  M.  Correll, 
and  a  host  of  women  suddenly  found  themselves  gifted  with  the  power 
to  speak  and  write,  which  they  consecrated  to  the  cause  of  their  civil 
liberties. 

The  Thayer  County  Association,  as  the  elder  sister  of  the  numerous 
family  now  springing  up,  maintained  its  prominence  as  a  centre  of  activity 
and  intelligence.  Barbara  J.  Thompson,  secretary  from  its  organization, 
wrote  at  this  time  of  the  enthusiasm  felt,  and  of  the  willingness  of  the 
women  to  work,  but  added,  "  nearly  all  our  women  are  young  mothers 
with  from  one  to  five  children,  and  these  cannot  do  anything  more  than 
attend  the  meetings  occasionally  when  they  can  leave  the  children."  This 
might  have  been  said  of  any  society  in  the  State,  and  this  fact  must  be 
considered  in  judging  from  their  achievements  of  the  zeal  of  the  Nebraska 
women.  Few,  comparatively,  could  take  a  public  part,  and  all  others  were 
constantly  reckoned  by  opponents  as  unwilling  or  indifferent.  Thayer 
County  Association  celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July  in  a  novel  manner,  mak- 
ing every  feature  an  object  lesson.  Woman's  Work  gave  an  account  of 
it  at  the  time,  which  is  quoted  to  give  a  pleasant  glance  backward  at  the 
enthusiasm  and  interest  that  marked  the  work  of  this  society  : 

We  found  to  our  surprise  that  the  women  of  Thayer  county  had  in  charge  the  whole 
celebration.  The  Fourth  dawned  cool  and  clear,  and  with  news  of  the  improvement 
of  Garfield,  everybody  felt  happy.  The  procession,  marshaled  by  ladies  on  their 
handsome  horses,  and  assisted  by  Senator  C.  B.  Coon,  was  formed  in  due  time,  and 
presented  a  very  imposing  appearance.  The  band  wagon  was  followed  by  nearly  a 
hundred  others,  and  among  the  novelties  of  the  occasion  was  the  boys'  brigade,  con- 


Convention  at   Omaha.  687 

sisting  of  a  score  of  little  fellows,  some  with  drums  and  some  with  cornets,  who  played 
in  quite  tolerable  time.  The  States  were  represented  to  indicate  their  progress  with  re- 
gard to  equal  rights.  Young  men  represented  those  wherein  no  advance  had  been 
made;  young  women  those  where  school  suffrage  had  been  granted  to  women;  and 
Wyoming  Territory  was  represented  by  two,  a  man  and  a  woman.  The  little  girls 
were  all  dressed  in  the  appropriate  colors,  the  wagons  were  gaily  decorated,  and  the 
procession  well  managed.  After  singing  and  prayer,  the  president,  Mrs.  Ferguson, 
gave  a  short  address.  Mrs.  Vermilion,  who  is  a  direct  descendant  of  one  of  the  sign- 
ers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  read  the  Woman's  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  Bill  of  Rights,  a  document  couched  in  such  forcible  terms  as 
Hancock,  Adams  &  Co.,  would  use  if  they  were  women  in  this  year  of  our 
Lord  1 88 1.  Then  followed  the  oration  of  the  day,  delivered  by  Mrs.  Colby, 
and  for  the  audience  it  had  at  least  two  points  of  interest:  First,  that  the  woman 
suffrage  society  had  acted  in  defiance  of  precedent,  and  had  engaged  a  woman 
as  their  orator;  and  secondly,  that  it  was  given  from  the  standpoint  of  a  citizen  and  not 
of  a  woman.  There  being  nothing  in  the  address  on  the  matter  of  woman  suffrage, 
the  society  desired  the  speaker  to  address  them  in  the  evening  on  that  subject.  Ac- 
cordingly a  meeting  was  held,  and  despite  the  fatigue  of  the  day,  there  was  a  good  at- 
tendance and  considerable  interest.  A  good  dinner  was  provided  on  the  grounds,  and 
afterwards  they  had  singing  and  speaking.  Mr.  Hendershot  addressed  the  children. 
It  will  be  an  item  of  interest  to  the  readers  of  the  Express  that  the  W.  S.  A.  of  Thayer 
county  have  had  some  songs  printed  appropriate  for  their  use.  Among  them  is  "  Hold 
the  Polls,"  a  song  by  the  editor  of  the  Express,  and  this  was  sung  with  considerable 
enthusiasm.  It  may  be  said  that  the  whole  affair  was  a  success,  and  reflected  great 
credit  on  the  executive  ability  of  the  ladies  in  charge.  One  item  of  interest  must  not 
be  forgotten — among  the  various  banners  indicative  of  the  virtues  which  are  worthy  of 
cultivation,  was  one  whose  motto  read,  "  In  Mother  we  Trust."  A  lady  being  asked 
the  peculiar  significance  of  this,  said,  "  It  has  always  been  God  and  father,  now  we 
want  the  children  to  learn  to  trust  their  mothers,  and  to  think  they  are  of  some  ac- 
count." 

A  successful  State  convention  was  held  at  Omaha  July  6,  7,  Mrs. 
Brooks  presiding  and  making  the  opening  address.  The  address  of  Mrs. 
Ada  M.  Bittenbender  on  "The  Legal  Disabilities  of  Married  Women" 
created  quite  a  discussion  among  a  number  of  noted  lawyers  present.  Of 
this  the  Republican  said  : 

This  lady  is  the  well-known  recent  editor  of  the  Osceola  Record,  which  she  has  now 
relinquished  for  the  study  and  practice  of  law,  in  partnership  with  her  husband.  Her 
address,  although  learned,  elaborate,  comprehensive,  and  dealing  with  principles  and 
technicalities,  was  delivered  extemporaneously,  with  great  animation  and  effect,  and  in 
a  manner  at  once  womanly,  captivating  and  strong. 

Miss  Ida  Edson  read  a  paper  on  "Might  and. Right."  Mrs.  Bloomer, 
whose  presence  was  an  interesting  feature  of  the  convention,  gaVe  remin- 
iscences of  her  own  work  for  woman's  ballot  in  Nebraska.  The  conven- 
tion was  enlivened  by  the  dramatic  readings  of  Mrs.  H.  P.  Mathewson, 
and  the  inspiring  ballads  of  the  poet-singer,  James  G.  Clark,  who  had 
come  from  Colorado  to  attend  the  meeting.  A  glimpse  at  the  convention 
through  the  friendly  eyes  of  the  editor  of  the  Republican  will  indicate  the 
interest  and  ability  shown  by  the  women  of  the  State  : 

The  first  general  convention  of  the  Woman's  State  Suffrage  Association  commenced 
its  session  last  evening  at  Masonic  hall,  the  president,  Mrs.  Harriet  S.  Brooks,  in  the 
chair,  assisted  by  the  first  vice-president,  Mrs.  Clara  B.  Colby  of  Beatrice;  the  secretary, 
Mrs.  A.  M.  Bittenbender  of  Osceola;  and  the  treasurer,  Mrs.  Russell  of  Tecumseh. 
A  majority  of  the  members  of  the  executive  committee  and  of  the  vice-presidents  were 


688  History  of   W'oman  Suffrage. 

also  present,  with  several  friends  of  the  cause  from  abroad,  including  Hon.  E.  M. 
Correll,  editor  of  the  Western  Woman 's  Journal,  who  was  the  "leader of  the  House" 
on  the  bill  for  submitting  the  suffrage  amendment  to  the  people.  The  evening  was 
sultry  and  threatening,  and  Masonic  hall  was  not  so  full  as  it  would  otherwise  have 
been,  considering  both  "  promise  and  performance."  The  local  attendance  was  repre- 
sentative, including  quite  a  number  of  our  leading  citizens,  with  their  wives,  and  the 
editors  of  our  contemporaries  the  /A'w/</and  the  Bee.  The  meeting  was  a  very  interest- 
ing one,  more  especially  the  "conversational"  portion,  in  which  free  discussion  was 
solicited.  This  was  opened  by  Hon.  E.  Rosewater,  who  spoke  in  response  to  a  very 
general  call.  His  address  of  half  an  hour  in  length  was  marked  by  apparent  sincerity, 
and  was  a  calm  and  argumentative  presentation  of  objections,  theoretical  and  practical, 
which  occurred  to  him  against  the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  women.  It  was  replied 
to  by  Mrs.  Colby,  in  a  running  comment,  which  abounded  in  womanly  wisdom  and  wit, 
and  incessantly  brought  down  the  house.  Our.restricted  space  will  compel  us  to  forego 
a  report  of  the  discussion  at  present.  On  the  conclusion  of  Mrs.  Colby's  very  bright 
and  convincing  remarks,  Dr.  McNamara  addressed  the  convention  in  a  brief  speech  of 
great  earnestness,  depth  and  power. 

The  last  session  was  most  interesting.  The  hall  was  nearly  filled,  and  among 
the  audience  were  repres'entatives  of  many  of  our  leading  families.  There  was 
rather  too  much  crowded  into  this  session,  but  the  convention  "cleaned  up"  its 
work  thoroughly,  and  the  audience  displayed  a  patient  interest  to  the  very  end. 
Besides  the  address  of  Professor  Clark,  there  was  a  masterly  constitutional  argu- 
ment by  Mrs.  Clara  B.  Colby,  which  demonstrated  that  woman  can  argue  logi- 
cally, and  can  support  her  postulates  with  the  requisite  legal  learning,  embracing  a 
knowledge  of  the  common  and  statute  law  authorities  from  Blackstone  down.  The 
address  abounded  in  historical  and  literary  allusions  which  show  its  author  to  be  a 
person  of  broad  culture  as  well  as  an  adept  in  "book  learning."  Following  came 
another  address  from  Mrs.  Bloomer,  in  which  she  disposed — as  he  expressed,  to  Dr. 
McNamara's  entire  satisfaction — of  the  stock  biblical  argument  down  from  Moses  to 
Paul  against  "  woman's  rights"  to  act  in  the  same  spheres,  and  speak  from  the  same 
platform  with  men.  This  address  was  given  at  the  special  request  of  several  leading 
ladies  of  this  city,  and  though  the  hour  was  late,  it  was  received  with  unbroken  interest, 
and  was  complimented  with  a  special  vote  of  thanks,  moved  by  Mrs.  Colby.  Most 
interesting  reports  of  district  and. local  work  were  made  by  Mrs.  Holmes,  of  Tecum- 
seh,  Mrs.  Chapin  of  Riverton,  and  Mrs.  Slaughter  of  Osceola.  Dr.  McXamara 
closed  the  convention  with  a  few  stirring  words  of  exhortation  to  the  ladies  to  go  right 
to  work  from  now  on  to  November,  1882.  He  excused  himself  from  a  set  speech  with 
the  promise  that,  if  "  let  off  "  now,  he  would,  at  some  future  time,  present  a  fuil  ex- 
pression of  his  views  on  the  reform  to  which  he  has  so  earnestly  pledged  himself.  The 
closing  word  in  which  the  Republican  would  sum  up  the  varied  proceedings  of  the  first 
State  suffrage  convention  is  the  magic  word  success. 

A  second  very  successful  convention  was  held  at  Kearney,  October  19, 
20.  A  score  or  more  societies  were  represented  by  delegates  and  their 
reports  were  very  encouraging. 

The  principal  features  of  the  programme  were :  Address  of  president,  Harriet  S. 
Brooks  ;  welcome,  Mrs.  H.  S.  Sydenham  ;  response,  Mrs.  A.  P.  Nicholas ;  addresses 
by  Mrs.  Esther  L.  Warner,  Gen.  S.  H.  Connor  (whose  name  appeared  among  the  votes 
of  the  opponents  in  1875) ;  Mrs.  Orpha  C.  Dinsmoor,  on  "  Inherent  Rights";  L.  B. 
Fifield,  regent  of  the  State  University,  on  "Woman's  Influence  for  Women";  and 
Rev.  Crissman,  resident  Presbyterian  minister,  on  "Expediency."  Among  the  letters 
received  was  the  following,  addressed  to  Mrs.  Dinsmoor,  by  Gen.  Manderson,  whose 
name  has  been  mentioned  as  voting  for  woman's  ballot  in  the  constitutional  conven- 
tions of  1871  and  1875 : 

OMAHA,  October,  17. 

Your  esteemed  favor  inviting  me  to  speak  before  the  convention  at  Kearney,  October 
18,  19,  upon  the  subject  of  the  extension  of  stfffrage  to  women,  was  duly  received.  I 


Convention  at  Norfolk.  689 

have  delayed  replying  to  it  until  to  day  in  the  hope  that  my  professional  engagements 
would  permit  me  to  meet  with  you  at  Kearney.  The  continuing  session  of  our  Dis- 
trict Court  prevents  my  absence  at  this  time.  I  would  like  very  much  to  be  with  you 
at  the  meeting  of  your  association.  My  desire,  however,  would  be  to  hear  rather  than 
to  speak.  Ten  years  have  passed  since,  with  other  members  of  the  constitutional 
convention  of  1871,  I  met  in  argument  those  who  opposed  striking  the  word 
"  male  "  from  the  constitution  of  Nebraska.  In  those  days  "the  truth  was  mighty 
and  prevailed,"  almost  to  the  extent  of  full  success,  for,  as  the  result  of  our  effort,  we 
saw  the  little  band  of  thirteen  increase  to  thirty.  I  feel  that  there  must  be  much  of 
new  thought  and  rich  argument  growing  from  the  agitation  of  the  last  ten  years,  and 
to  listen  to  those  who,  like  yourself  and  many  other  members  of  your  association,  have 
been  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle  for  the  right,  would  be  most  interesting,  But  I 
must,  for  the  present,  forego  the  pleasure  of  hearing  you.  I  write  merely  to  keep  myself 
"on  the  record"  in  the  good  fight.  Now,  as  ever,  I  favor  the  enfranchisement  of  women, 
the  disfranchisement  of  ignorance.  I  would  both  extend  and  contract  the  right  to 
vote  in  our  republic;  extend  it  so  that  intelligence  without  regard  to  color  or  sex 
should  rule,  and  contract  it  so  that  ignorance  should  be  ruled.  If  this  be  not  the  cure 
for  the  political  ills  that  threaten  the  permanency  of  American  institutions,  then  there 
is  no  cure.  May  Nebraska  be  the  first  of  the  States  to  apply  the  remedy. 

Very  respectfully  yours,  CHARLES  F.  MANDERSON. 

The  association  sent  out  its  scouts,  and  as  a  result  a  convention  was 
held  in  quite  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  at  Norfolk,  November  30  and 
December  i.  This  was  much  appreciated  by  the  citizens,  whose  locality 
was  at  that  time  not  much  frequented  by  speakers  on  any  topic.*  The 
first  annual  meeting,  held  at  Lincoln  in  February,  1882,  found  a  large 
number  of  delegates,  each  with  reports  of  kindred  local  work,  ready  to 
receive  the  record  of  this  year  of  preparation.  Everything  indicated  a 
favorable  termination  to  the  effort,  as  it  became  evident  that  all  sections 
of  the  State  were  being  aroused  to  active  interest. 

The  address  of  the  president,  Mrs.  Harriet  S.  Brooks,  was  entitled,  "  Work,  Wages 
and  the  Ballot."  It  was  a  review  of  a  lecture  given  earlier  in  the  season  by  Chancel- 
lor Fairchild  of  the  University,  in  which  he  had  taken  the  ground  that  the  work  of 
women  should  not  receive  the  same  wages  as  that  of  men.  Rev.  Dr.  McNamara  and 
others  spoke  briefly  and  earnestly.  Miss  Lydia  Bell,  at  the  closing  evening  session, 
gave  an  address  which,  to  use  the  words  of  the  reporter,  "  for  felicity  of  composition, 
strength  of  argument,  and  beauty  of  delivery,  fully  merited  the  special  resolution  of 
thanks  unanimously  given  by  the  society."  f 

The  work  of  organizing  and  lecturing  was  continued  with  as  much  zeal 
and  efficiency  as  the  busy  days  and  limited  resources  of  the  women  would 
permit.  Many  of  the  counties  held  conventions,  took  count  of  their 
friends,  and  prepared  for  a  vigorous  campaign.  As  the  summer  ad- 
vanced, at  picnics,  old  settlers'  gatherings,  soldiers'  reiinions,  fairs,  and 


*  The  speakers  of  this  convention  were  Clara  Bewick  Colby,  acting  president ;  Mr.  Saltier,  who  gave 
the  welcome  ;  Ada  M.  Bittenbender,  Esther  L.  Warner,  Judge  I.  N.  Taylor,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Vandermark, 
Rev.  Haywood  and  Professor  Wood  of  Nebraska  City  College.  The  latter  spoke  in  English  in  the 
:ifternoon,  and  in  German,  his  native  tongue,  in  the  evening.  The  announcement  that  he  would  do  so 
ilrcw  a  large  number  of  his  countrymen.  One  of  these  was  allowed  the  floor  by  request,  when  he 
soundly  berated  (in  German)  the  women  as  opposed  to  foreigners,  while  at  the  tame  time  he  tried  to 
ur.ikrn  Professor  Wood's  argument  by  saying  it  was  to  be  attributed  to  an  American  wife.  It  was 
reported  that  the  marked  contrast  between  the  speakers  was  commented  on  by  resident  Germans  greatly 
to  the  disadvantage  of  their  fellow-townsman. 

t  The  officers  elected  were :  President,  Ada  M.  Bittenbender ;  Vice-Pretidtnt,  Clara  Bewick  Colby ; 
Secretary,  Belle  G.  Bigelow  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Gertrude  M.  McDowell  ;  1'rtatitrer,  Luciml.i 
Kus-eli  ;  Executive  Committee,  Harriet  S.  Brooks,  E.  M.  Correll,  Susie  Noble  Fineld,  Gem 
Skinner,  Rev.  John  McNamara,  Jennie  F.  Holmes;  Vice-Presidents  o/ Judicial  Dittrictt—  Kir-t. 
Barbara  J.  Thompson  ;  second,  Dr.  Ruth  M.  Wood  ;  third,  Orpha  Clement  Dinsmoor ;  fourth,  Ada 
Van  Pelt ;  fifth,  Mrs.  H.  S.  Sydenham. 

44 


690  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

political  conventions, — wherever  a  company  of  people  had  assembled, 
there  interested  women  claimed  an  opportunity  to  present  the  subject  to 
audiences  it  would  otherwise  have  been  impossible  to  reach.  With  but 
few  exceptions,  officials  extended  the  courtesies  asked. 

During  the  summer  of  1882,  the  work  was  greatly  aided  by  the  lectures 
of  Margaret  Campbell  and  Matilda  Hindman ;  and  during  the  month  of 
September  by  Helen  M.  Gougar.  The  American  Suffrage  Association,  at 
its  annual  meeting  in  1881,  elected  Hon.  E.  M.  Correll  president,  as  a 
recognition  of  his  services  to  the  cause  in  Nebraska,  and  in  1882,  it  held 
its  annual  meeting  in  Omaha,  September  12  and  13.  Lucy  Stone,  H.  B. 
Blackwell,  and  Hannah  Tracy  Cutler  remained  for  some  weeks,  lecturing 
in  the  State,  and  were  warmly  received  by  the  local  committees.  Ex- 
Governor  John  W.  Hoyt,  and  Judge  Kingman,  of  Wyoming,  gave  a  few 
addresses.  The  National  Association  also  held  its  annual  meeting  at 
Omaha,  Sept.  26,  27,  28.  A  reception  was  given  at  the  Paxton  Hotel  on 
the  close  of  the  last  session.  Following  this,  a  two  days'  convention  was 
held  at  Lincoln,  from  which  point  the  speakers  diverged  to  take  part  in 
the  campaign.* 

While  those  friendly  to  the  amendment  were  laboring  thus  earnestly, 
the  politicians  held  themselves  aloof  and  attended  strictly  to  "  mending 
their  own  fences."  After  the  act  had  passed  the  legislature,  it  was  found 
that  almost  every  prominent  man  in  the  State  was  friendly  to  the  amend- 
ment. The  bench  and  bar  were  especially  favorable,  while  three-fourths 
of  the  press  and  a  large  majority  of  the  clergy  warmly  espoused  the  cause. 
Leading  politicians  told  the  women  to  go  ahead  and  organize,  and  they 
would  assist  in  the  latter  part  of  the  canvass.  Thayer  and  Clay  county 
.^Republicans  endorsed  woman  suffrage  in  their  platform,  while  Franklin 
•county  delegates  were  instructed  to  vote  for  no  one  who  was  not  in  favor 
of  the  amendment. 

Previous  to  the  session  of  the  Republican  State  Convention,  great 
hopes  were  entertained  that  this  body  would  put  an  endorsement  of  the 
amendment  in  its  platform,  as  a  majority  of  the  delegates  were  personally 
pledged  to  vote  for  such  a  measure.  But  the  committee  on  resolutions 
was  managed  by  a  man  who  feared  that  such  endorsement  would  hurt  the 
party,  and  the  suffrage  resolution  which  was  handed  in,  was  not  reported 
with  the  rest.  On  the  plea  of  time  being  precious,  the  convention  was 
maneuvered  to  pass  a  resolution  that  the  report  of  the  committee  should 
not  be  discussed.  The  report  was  brought  in  at  the  last  moment  of  the 
convention,  and  adopted  as  previously  arranged,  and  the  convention  was 
adjourned,  everybody  wondering  why  a  resolution  relative  to  the  amend- 
ment had  not  been  presented.  The  Republican  leaders  feared  that  their 
party  was  endangered  by  the  passage  of  the  bill  by  the  legislature,  for  it 
was  very  largely  carried  by  Republican  votes,  and  while  individually 
friendly,  they  almost  to  a  man  avoided  the  subject. 


*  Most  of  the  speakers  spent  several  weeks  in  the  State.  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar,  Mrs.  May  Wright 
Sewall,  Mrs.  Saxon,  Mrs.  Blake,  Mrs.  Harbert,  Mrs.  Shattuck,  Mrs.  Neyman.  Miss  Anthony,  Mi>< 
Couzins  and  Miss  Hindman  were  the  principal  National  speakers,  and  their  ability  and  zeal  aroused 
the  whole  State.  Mrs.  Colby  was  indefatigable  in  her  exertions  from  the  moment  the  amendment 
was  submitted  to  the  end  of  the  canvass.  Mrs.  Colby  and  Miss  Rachel  Foster  organized  the  whole 
campaign  throughout  the  State,  and  kept  all  the  speakers  in  motion. — [S.  B.  A. 


The   Trial  at  the  Polls.  691 

As  the  canvass  progressed,  it  was  comical  to  note  how  shy  the  politi- 
cians fought  of  the  women  to  whom  they  had  promised  assistance.  Judge 
O.  P.  Mason,  who  had  agreed  to  give  ten  lectures  for  the  amendment,  and 
whose  advocacy  would  have  had  immense  weight,  engaged  to  speak  for 
the  Republican  party,  and  at  everyplace  but  one,  the  managers  stipulated 
that  he  should  be  silent  on  the  amendment.  Of  the  vast  array  of  Repub- 
lican speakers,  had  even  those  who  had  expressed  themselves  in  favor  of 
the  amendment  advocated  it  intelligently  and  earnestly,  the  result  would 
have  been  different. 

Due  credit  must  be  given  to  ex-United  States  Senator  Tipton,  Judge 
W.  H.  Morris,  and  a  few  others  who  lectured  outside  of  their  own  coun- 
ties, as  well  as  at  home,  while  David  Butler,  candidate  for  senator  from 
Pawnee  county,  E.  M.  Correll  of  Hebron,  C.  C.  Chapin  of  Riverton,  Judge 
A.  P.  Yocum  of  Hastings,  and  doubtless  a  few  others,  regardless  of  their 
political  prospects,  advocated  the  cause  of  woman  along  with  their  own. 
The  women  of  Nebraska  will  always  cherish  the  memory  of  the  enthusi- 
astic young  student  from  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  who  spent  some  months 
of  the  campaign  in  Nebraska,  giving  lavishly  of  his  means  and  talents  to 
aid  the  cause.  Wilder  M.  Wooster  was  a  bright,  logical  speaker,  and  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  1885,  cost  the  world  a  promising  and  conscien- 
tious journalist. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  campaign  it  became  evident  that  the  saloon 
element  was  determined  to  defeat  the  amendment.  The  organ  of  the 
Brewers'  Association  sent  out  its  orders  to  every  saloon,  bills  posted  in 
conspicuous  places  by  friends  of  the  amendment  mysteriously  disap- 
peared, or  were  covered  by  others  of  an  opposite  character,  and  the 
greatest  pains  was  taken  to  excite  the  antagonism  of  foreigners  by  rep- 
resenting to  them  that  woman  suffrage  meant  prohibition.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  temperance  advocates  were  by  no  means  a  unit  for  its  support. 

The  morning  dawned  bright  and  clear  on  November  5,  1882.  The 
most  casual  observer  would  have  seen  that  some  unusual  interest  was 
commanding  attention.  Everything  wore  a  holiday  appearance.  Polling 
places  were  gaily  decorated;  banners  floated  to  the  breeze,  bearing  sug- 
gestive mottoes:  "Are  Women  Citizens?"  "Taxation  Without  Repre- 
sentation is  Tyranny!"  "Governments  Derive  their  Just  Powers  from 
the  Consent  of  the  Governed."  "  Equality  before  the  Law,"  etc.,  etc. 
Under  pavilions,  or  in  adjoining  rooms,  or  in  the  very  shadow  of  the  bal- 
lot-box, women  presided  at  well-filled  tables,  serving  refreshments  to  the 
voters,  and  handing  to  those  who  would  take  them,  tickets  bearing  the 
words  :  "  For  Constitutional  Amendment  Relating  to  Right  of  Suffrage," 
while  the  national  colors  floated  alike  over  governing  and  governed ; 
alike  over  women  working  and  pleading  for  their  rights  as  citizens,  and 
men  who  were  selling  woman's  birth-right  for  a  glass  of  beer  or  a 
vote.  It  looked  like  a  holiday  picnic — the  well-dressed  people,  the 
II'  >\vers,  the  badges,  and  the  flags  ;  but  the  tragic  events  of  that  day  would 
till  .1  volume. 

The  conservative  joined  hands  with  the  vicious,  the  egotist  with  the  ig- 
norant, the  demagogue  with  the  venial,  and  when  the  sun  set,  Nebraska  s 
opportunity  to  do  the  act  of  simple  justice  was  gone — lost  by  a  vote  of* 


692  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

50,693  to  25,756 — so  the  record  gives  it.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  many  tickets  were  fraudulently  printed,  and  that  tickets  which  con- 
tained no  mention  of  the  amendment  were  counted  against  it,  as  also  were 
tickets  having  any  technical  defect  or  omission  ;  for  instance,  tickets 
having  the  abbreviated  form,  "  For  the  Amendment,"  were  counted 
against  it.  It  will  always  remain  an  open  question  whether  the  amend- 
ment did  not,  after  all,  receive  an  actual  majority  of  all  votes  cast  upon 
that  question.  In  this  new  State,  burdened  with  the  duties  incident  to  the 
development  of  a  new  country,  the  women  had  done  what  women  might 
do  to  secure  their  rights,  but  their  hour  had  not  yet  struck. 

On  the  following  evening,  the  speakers  of  the  National  Association, 
who  still  remained  in  the  State  held  a  meeting*  at  the  opera-house  in 
Omaha,  at  which  the  addresses  were  in  the  main  congratulatory  for  the 
large  vote,  making  proportionally  the  largest  ever  cast  for  woman's 
ballot. 

While  history  must  perforce  be  silent  concerning  the  efforts  and  sacri- 
fices of  the  many,  a  word  will  be  expected  in  regard  to  some  of  the 
principal  actors.  Looking  back  on  these  two  eventful  years,  not 
a  woman  who  took  part  in  that  struggle  would  wish  to  have  been  inactive 
in  that  heroic  hour.  It  is  an  inspiration  and  an  ennobling  of  all  the  facul- 
ties that  they  have  once  been  lifted  above  all  personal  aims  and  transient 
interests  ;  and  for  all  who  caught  the  true  meaning  of  the  moment,  life  can 
never  again  touch  the  low  level  of  indifference.  The  officers  of  the  State 
Association  who  were  most  active  in  the  canvass  are  here  mentioned 
with  a  word  as  to  their  subsequent  efforts : 

Mrs.  Harriet  S.  Brooks,  whose  services  have  so  often  been  referred  to,  after  work- 
ing in  three  States  for  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  is  devoting  herself  to  the  congenial 
study  of  sociology,  and  her  able  pen  still  does  service. 

Ada  M.  Bittenbender  was  admitted  to  the  bar  May  17,  1882,  and  from  that  time 
until  the  election  gave  undivided  attention  to  the  duties  of  her  office  as  president  of 
the  State  Association.  The  campaign  song-book,  the  supplement  folded  in  the  county 
papers,  the  columns  of  notes  and  news  prepared  for  many  journals  in  the  State,  the 
headquarters  in  Lincoln  from  which,  with  the  assistance  of  E.  M.  Correll  and  Mrs. 
Russell,  she  sent  forth  documents,  posters,  blanks  and  other  campaign  accessories, 
sufficiently  attest  her  energy  and  ability.  She  is  now  a  practicing  lawyer  of  Lincoln, 
and  was  successful  during  the  session  of  the  legislature  of  1885  in  securing  the  passage 
of  a  law  making  mothers  joint  and  equal  guardians  of  their  children. 

Mrs.  Belle  G.  Bigelow  of  Geneva  was  an  active  and  reliable  officer  during  the  can- 
vass of  1882,  and  is  now  prominent  in  the  temperance  work  of  Nebraska. 

Mrs.  Lucinda  Russell  of  Tecumseh,  for  two  years  the  treasurer  of  the  State  Associa- 
tion, edited  a  department  in  the  local  paper  in  the  interest  of  the  amendment,  was  one 
of  the  campaign  committee,  and  spared  no  effort  to  push  the  work  in  her  own  county. 
Her  sister,  Mrs.  Jennie  F.  Holmes,  was  one  of  the  most  efficient  members  of  the  ex- 
ecutive committee.  She  drove  all  over  her  own  county,  holding  meetings  in  the 
school-houses.  The  efforts  of  these  two  women  would  have  carried  Johnson  county 
for  the  amendment  had  not  the  election  officials  taken  advantage  of  a  technical  defect 
in  the  tickets  used  in  some  of  the  precincts.  Mrs.  Holmes  sustained  the  suffrage  work 
in  Nebraska  through  the  two  following  years  as  chairman  of  the  executive  committee, 
was  elected  in  1884  to  the  office  of  president  of  the  State  Woman's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union,  and  reelected  in  1885  to  the  same  position. 


*  For  further  details  of  the  closing  scenes,  see  Vol.  III.  pa^e  241. 


Leaders  of  the  Campaign.  693 

Mrs.  Orpha  C.  Dinsmoor  of  Omaha,  as  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  during 
the  fiist  year  (Mrs.  De  Long  having  resigned),  contributed  largely  to  the  most  success- 
ful conventions  of  the  campaign.  One  of  the  most  notable  lectures  given  in  the  State 
was  hers  in  reply  to  Chancellor  Fairfield  of  the  Nebraska  University,  on  "Work 
and  Wages."  As  it  was  known  that  the  chancellor  held  the  ground  that  woman  should 
not  be  paid  equally  with  man,  even  for  the  same  work  and  the  same  skill,  the  Lincoln 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  invited  him  to  give  his  lecture  on  that  subject,  and  Mrs. 
Dinsmoor  to  answer  him  on  the  following  evening.  Mrs.  Dinsmoor  is  well  known 
for  her  interest  in  education  and  scientific  charity,  and  has,  by  appointment  of  the 
governor  of  the  State,  represented  Nebraska  at  the  National  Conference  of  Charities 
and  Corrections  at  its  last  two  annual  meetings.  She  is  now  the  president  of  the  Ne- 
braska Woman's  Board  of  Associated  Charities. 

Mrs.  Barbara  J.  Thompson,  of  English  birth,  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the 
Thayer  County  Society,  and  was  active  in  holding  meetings  and  organizing  commit- 
tees. Her  principal  service  was  by  her  ready  pen,  which  furnished  articles  for  a  large 
number  of  papers.  It  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that  one  woman  who  worked  so  earnestly 
for  the  rights  of  citizenship  in  Nebraska  has  obtained  them  in  her  new  home  at  Tacoma, 
Washington  Territory. 

Mrs.  Gertrude  McDowell  of  Fairbury  lent  her  wit  and  wisdom  to  many  conventions, 
was  ready  with  her  pen,  and  secured  a  thorough  canvass  in  Jefferson  county.  She 
was  the  third  president  of  the  State  Association. 

Mrs.  Mollie  K.  Maule  of  Fairmont  laid  by  her  law  studies  to  serve  on  the  executive 
board  of  the  State  Association.  In  company  with  Mrs.  Susie  Fifield  and  others,  she 
held  meetings  in  all  the  precincts  of  Fillmore  county,  securing  a  good  vote.  Mrs. 
Maule  was  elected  president  of  the  State  Association  in  1885. 

Mrs.  Jennie  G.  Ford  of  Kearney,  for  some  time  member  of  the  executive  commit- 
tee, was  one  of  the  leading  advocates  in  Buffalo  county.  Always  aiding  and  inspiring 
others  to  effort,  she  was  an  incessant  worker  in  the  causes. dear  to  her  heart.  She  was 
president  of  the  Nebraska  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  from  1882  to  1884. 
She  died  June  18,  1885,  leaving  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  had  known  her,  tender  memo- 
ries of  her  beautiful  life. 

Miss  Lyclia  Bell,  a  talented  elocutionist  of  Lincoln,  devoted  some  months  to  lectur- 
ing. Her  great  iutellectual  and  rhetorical  gifts  made  her  a  very  effective  speaker. 

Dr.  Hetty  K.  Painter  was  a  graduate  of  the  Pennsylvania  Medical  College  in  1860. 
She  was  a  physician  in  the  army  during  the  civil  war,  and  her  proudest  possession  is 
the  badge  which  proves  her  membership  in  the  Fifth  Army  Corps.  Her  practice  and 
her  infirmary  at  Lincoln  did  not  prevent  her  helping  largely  the  cause  in  which  she 
felt  so  great  an  interest. 

Mrs.  Esther  L.  Warner  of  Roca  was  the  only  person  actively  engaged  in  the  last 
canvass  who  had  been  connected  with  the  effort  of  1871.  As  vice-president  of  her 
judicial  district,  she  spoke  at  many  places,  organizing  wherever  practicable.  Her 
motherly  face,  and  persuasive  but  humorous  argument,  made  her  a  favorite  at  conven- 
tions. Coming  to  Nebraska  in  its  early  days,  a  widow  with  a  large  family,  she  pur- 
ch:iM-il  a  large  farm  and  devoted  herself  to  its  management,  to  the  care  and  education 
of  her  children,  and  to  the  direction  of  the  village  school,  being  a  member  of  the 
l»i;inl  of  trustees  for  many  years.  She  had  not  used  tongue  or  pen  for  public  service 
since  her  girlhood  until  this  occasion  enlisted  her  interest  and  proved  her  gifts. 

Clara  C.  Chapin,  La  Petite,  as  she  was  called  at  conventions,  or  as  a  friend  styles 
her,  "  the  dear  little  English  bud  that  blossomed  on  American  soil,"  was  one  of  the 
most  /ealousof  our  women,  organizing,  lecturing  and  arranging  campaigns.  She  is  at 
nt  very  active  in  the  temperance  work,  and  is  one  of  the  editors  of  a  State  tem- 
perance paper,  the  Republican  Valley  Echo.  An  extract  from  a  letter  received  from 
her  in  answer  to  inquiry  will  show  the  spirit  that  actuates  this  representative  advocate 
of  woman's  political  enfranchisement: 

I  never  thought  much  about  "  woman's  rights"  until  within  the  last  five  years — that 
is,  political  rights.  I  always  had  a  strong  sense  of  my  responsibilities  a&  a  woman 


694  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

and  a  mother  (have  three  children),  and  realize  that  we  need  something  more  than 
moral  suasion  to  make  our  influence  practical  and  effective.  My  husband,  though  not 
what  is  called  a  "politician,"  has  been  sufficiently  in  politics  for  me  to  know  just  what 
power  the  ballot  has,  and  to  see  the  necessity  of  woman's  work  in  that  direction.  I  am 
happy  to  say  that  Mr.  Chapin  is  heart  and  soul  with  me  in  this,  and  it  is  a  wonder  to 
us  how  any  wife  or  mother,  how  any  Christian  woman  can  say,  "  I  have  all  the  rights 
I  want." 

Hoping  to  hold  the  vantage  ground  already  gained,  a  State  convention 
was  held  at  Kearney,  December  6,  7,  the  place  being  selected  because 
Buffalo  county  had  carried  the  amendment  by  a  good  majority. 

The  association  held  three  formal  sessions,  which  were  well  attended  and  very  in- 
teresting.  Speeches  of  encouragement  and  congratulation  were  made,  plans  for  work 
discussed,  and  campaign  reminiscences  recounted.  One  of  the  most  interesting  that 
was  given  was  that  of  Mrs.  Beedy  of  Gardner  precinct,  who  said  that  the  women  ac- 
tively interested  in  the  suffrage  work  talked  socially  on  the  subject  with  every  man  in 
the  precinct.  There  were  seventy-two  votes,  and  only  four  against  the  amendment. 
Of  these  four  persons,  two  could  neither  read  nor  write,  a  third  could  not  write  his  own 
name,  and  the  fourth  could  not  write  his  name  in  English.  All  the  delegates  present 
reported  that  the  social  work  had  been  a  prime  cause  of  such  success  as  they  had 
found.  Mrs.  Bigelow  said  that  Geneva  precinct  stood  ninety-eight  for  the  amendment 
and  ninety-eight  against.  At  Fairmont  sixty  ladies  went  to  the  polls.  They  wore 
white  ribbon  badges  on  which  was  printed,  "  Are  we  citizens  ?  "  The  general  impres- 
sion among  those  attending  the  convention  was  that  the  Association  should  petition 
congress  for  a  sixteenth  amendment,  petition  the  Nebraska  legislature  for  municipal 
suffrage,  and  make  use  of  school  suffrage  to  its  fullest  extent.  The  executive  commit- 
tee held  four  sessions,  appointed  a  number  of  working  committees,  and  attended  to 
settling  up  the  campaign  business  of  the  Association.  The  convention  was  considered 
a  decided  success  in  every  way. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  in  January,  1883.  Mrs.  Gertrude  Mc- 
Dowell was  elected  president.  The  usual  business  was  transacted,  and  a 
special  committee  appointed  to  secure  favorable  legislation.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  so  much  of  the  opposition  had  been  based  on  the  allegation 
that  "women  do  not  want  to  vote,"  a  resolution  was  prepared  for  the  im- 
mediate re-submission  of  a  constitutional  amendment  with  a  provision 
making  it  legal  for  women  to  vote  on  its  final  ratification.  The  joint 
resolution  was  introduced  by  Senator  Charles  H.  Brown  of  Omaha,  and 
ably  advocated  by  him  and  others,  especially  by  Senator  David  Butler.  It 
was  lost  by  nearly  a  two-thirds  vote.  The  Committee  on  Amendments 
gave  a  hearing  to  Lydia  Bell,  Clara  C.  Chapin  and  Clara  B.  Colby.  The 
joint  resolution  was  taken  up  in  the  Senate  for  discussion  February  15. 
Woman's  Work  gives  the  record  of  the  proceedings  : 

Senator  McShane  of  Douglas  moved  indefinite  postponement.  Senator  Brown  of 
Douglas,  who  introduced  the  resolution,  spoke  against  the  motion  and  made  a  forcible 
historical  argument  for  the  bill.  Senator  McShane  then  spoke  at  length  against  the 
bill,  basing  his  opposition  to  the  enfranchisement  of  woman  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  be  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  foreigner.  Senator  SchOnheit  of  Richard- 
son opposed  the  bill  on  the  plea  that  it  would  mar  the  loveliness  of  woman  in  her 
domestic  relations.  Senator  Reynolds  of  Butler  favored  the  bill.  He  had  voted 
against  the  amendment  last  fall,  but  he  did  it  because  he  feared  the  women  did  not 
want  the  ballot,  and  he  was  willing  to  let  them  decide  for  themselves.  Senator  Dech 
of  Saunders  favored  the  bill  in  remarks  showing  a  broad  and  comprehensive  philoso- 
phy. Senator  Butler  of  Pawnee  made  a  magnificent  arraignment  of  the  Republican 
and  Democratic  parties,  and  an  appeal  to  the  anti-monopolists  to  oppose  the  monopoly 


The   Work  Still  Goes  On.  695 

of  sex.  His  speech  was  the  longest  and  most  earnest  of  the  session.  Several  persons 
expressing  a  desire  to  continue  the  discussion,  McShane  withdrew  his  motion  to  post- 
pone. The  Senate  adjourned,  and  on  Friday  morning  it  was  moved  and  carried  that 
this  bill  be  made  the  special  order  for  that  evening.  Accordingly,  the  chamber  and 
gallery  were  filled.  On  motion,  Mrs.  Colby  was  unanimously  requested  to  address 
the  Senate  in  behalf  of  the  bill.  Senator  Butler  escorted  her  to  the  clerk's  desk,  and 
she  delivered  an  extemporaneous  address,  of  which  a  fair  synopsis  was  given  by  the 
Journal  reporter.  Foreseeing  the  defeat  of  the  bill,  she  said,  in  closing,  "You  may 
kill  this  bill,  gentlemen,  but  you  cannot  kill  the  principle  of  individual  liberty  that  is 
at  issue.  It  is  immortal,  and  rises  Phoenix-like  from  every  death  to  a  new  life  of  sur- 
passing beauty  and  vigor.  The  votes  you  cast  against  the  bill  will,  like  the  dragons' 
teeth  in  the  myth  of  old,  spring  up  into  armed  warriors  that  shall  obstruct  your  path, 
demanding  of  you  the  recognition  of  woman's  right  to  ' equality  before  the  law.'" 
The  grave  and  reverend  senators  joined  in  the  applause  of  the  gallery,  and  carried 
Senator  Reynolds'  motion  "that  the  thanks  of  this  Senate  be  returned  to  Mrs.  Colby 
for  the  able,  eloquent  and  instructive  address  to  which  we  have  listened";  but  with 
no  apparent  reluctance,  on  Senator  McShane's  motion  being  renewed,  they  postponed 
the  bill  by  a  vote  of  18  to  6.*  Of  the  absent  ones,  Senator  Dech  was  know?  to  be 
sick,  some  of  the  others  were  in  their  seats  a  moment  previous,  and  it  is  fairly  to  be 
presumed  that  they  did  not  dare  to  vote  upon  the  question.  Of  those  voting  aye,  Sen- 
ators Brown  of  Clay,  and  Walker  of  Lancaster  had  favored  the  bill  in  the  committee, 
and  the  friends  were  counting  on  their  vote,  as  also  some  others  who  had  expressed 
themselves  favorable.  It  is  due  to  Senators  Brown  of  Douglas  and  Butler  to  say  that 
they  championed  the  bill  heartily,  and  furthered  its  interests  in  every  possible  way. 

Conventions  were  held  at  Grand  Island  in  May,  at  Hastings  in  Au- 
gust of  1883,  and  at  Fremont  August,  1884.  The  annual  meeting  of  1884 
was  held  at  York,  and  that  of  1885  in  Lincoln.  At  all  of  these  enthusiasm 
and  interest  were  manifested,  which  indicate  that  the  idea  has  not  lost  its 
foothold.  The  Woman's  Tribune,  established  in  1883,  circulates  largely  in 
the  State,  and  maintains  an  intelligent  if  not  an  active  interest.  When  a 
new  occasion  comes  the  women  will  be  able  to  meet  it.  Their  present 
attitude  of  hopeful  waiting  has  the  courage  and  faith  expressed  in  the 
words  of  Lowell : 

"  Endurance  is  the  crowning  quality, 
And  patience  all  the  passion  of  great  hearts; 
These  are  their  stay,  and  when  the  hard  world 
With  brute  strength,  like  scornful  conqueror, 
Clangs  his  huge  mace  down  in  the  other  scale, 
The  inspired  soul  but  flings  his  patience  in, 
And  slowly  that  out-weighs  the  ponderous  globe; 
One  faith  against  a  whole  world's  unbelief, 
One  soul  against  the  flesh  of  all  mankind." 


CHAPTER  L. 
KANSAS. 

Effect  of  the  Popular  Vote  on  Woman  Suffrage — Anna  C.  Wait — Hannah  Wilson — 
Miss  Kate  Stephens,  Professor  of  Greek  in  State  University — Lincoln  Centre 
Society,  1879 — The  Press — The  Lincoln  Beacon — Election,  1880 — Sarah  A.  Brown, 
Democratic  Candidate — Fourth  of  July  Celebration — Women  Voting  on  the  School 
Question — State  Society,  1884 — Helen  M.  Cougar — Clara  Bewick  Colby — Bertha 
H.  Ellsworth — Radical  Reform  Association — Mrs.  A.  G.  Lord — Prudence  Crandall 
— Clarina  Howard  Nichols — Laws — Women  in  the  Professions — Schools — Political 
Parties — Petitions  to  the  Legislature — Col.  F.  G.  Adams'  Letter. 

WE  closed  the  chapter  on  Kansas  in  Vol.  II.  with  the  submis- 
sion and  defeat  of  the  woman  suffrage  amendment,  leaving  the 
advocates  of  the  measure  so  depressed  with  the  result  that  sev- 
eral years  elapsed  before  any  further  attempts  were  made  to  re- 
organize their  forces  for  the  agitation  of  the  question.  This  has 
been  the  experience  of  the  friends  in  every  State  where  the 
proposition  has  been  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  electors — 
alike  in  Michigan,  Colorado,  Nebraska  and  Oregon — offering 
so  many  arguments  in  favor  of  the  enfranchisement  of  woman  by 
a  simple  act  of  the  legislature,  where  the  real  power  of  the  people 
is  primarily  represented.  We  have  so  many  instances  on  record 
of  the  exercise  of  this  power  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
States  in  the  regulation  of  the  suffrage,  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  sole  responsibility  in  securing  this  right  to  the 
women  of  a  State  rests  with  the  legislature,  or  with  congress  in 
passing  a  sixteenth  amendment  that  should  override  all  State 
action  in  protecting  the  rights  of  United  States  citizens. 

We  are  indebted  to  Anna  C.  Wait  for  most  of  the  interesting 
facts  of  this  chapter.  She  writes : 

I  watched  with  intense  interest  from  my  home  in  Ohio,  the  progress  of 
the  woman  suffrage  idea  in  Kansas  in  the  campaign  of  1867,  and  although 
temporary  defeat  was  the  result,  yet  the  moral  grandeur  displayed  by  the 
people  in  seeking  to  make  their  constitution  an  embodiment  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  American  liberty,  decided  me  to  become  a  citizen  of  that  young  and 
beautiful  State.  Gov.  Harvey's  massage  was  at  that  time  attracting  much 
attention  and  varied  comments  by  the  press.  For  the  benefit  of  those 


Revival  of  Interest.  697 

who  have  not  studied  the  whole  history  of  the  cause,  we  give  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  his  message,  published  February  9,  1871  : 

The  tendency  of  this  age  is  towards  a  civil  policy  wherein  political  rights  will  not  be 
affected  by  social  or  ethnological  distinctions;  and  from  the  moral  nature  of  mankind 
and  the  experience  of  States,  we  may  infer  that  restrictions  merely  arbitrary  and  con- 
ventional, like  those  based  upon  color  and  sex,  cannot  last  much  longer  than  they  are 
desired,  and  cannot  be  removed  much  sooner  than  they  should  be.  This  consideration 
should  give  patience  to  the  reformer,  and  resignation  to  the  conservative. 

Let  us  have  a  true  republic — a  "government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people,"  and  we  shall  hear  no  more  the  oligarchical  cry  of  croaking  conservatism  call- 
ing for  a  "  white  man's  government " — appealing  by  this,  and  like  slogans  of  class  and 
caste  to  the  lowest  and  meanest  principles  of  human  nature,  dangerous  alike  to  real  re- 
publicanism and  true  democracy.  Expediency,  that  great  pretext  for  the  infringement 
of  human  rights,  no  longer  justifies  us  in  the  retention  of  a  monopoly  of  political  power 
in  our  own  favored  class  of  "  white  male  citizens." 

In  the  summer  of  1871,  Mr.  Wait  and  myself  removed  to  Salina,  where 
Mrs.  Hannah  Wilson  resided.  She  was  the  only  person  in  this  section  of 
Kansas  I  ever  heard  of  doing  any  suffrage  work  between  the  years  of 
1867  and  1877.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  force  of  character,  and  a  strong 
advocate  of  suffrage.  She  was  born  in  Hamilton  county,  Ohio,  and  came 
to  Salina  in  1870.  After  Miss  Anthony  lectured  in  that  city  in  1877,  Mrs. 
Wilson  circulated  petitions  to  the  legislature  and  to  congress.  She  was 
also  active  and  aggressive  in  the  temperance  cause.  When  she  learned 
of  the  Lincoln  Beacon,  and  its  advocacy  of  woman  suffrage,  she  wrote  an 
article  for  the  paper,  and  accompanied  it  with  a  kind  letter  and  the  price 
of  a  year's  subscription.  Mrs.  Wilson  was  a  Quaker,  and  in  her  dress  and 
address  strictly  adhered  to  the  peculiarites  of  that  sect. 

Miss  Kate  Stephens,  professor  of  Greek  in  the  Kansas  State  Univer- 
sity, writes  that  she  has  made  dilligent  search  during  the  past  summer 
among  the  libraries  of  Topeka  and  Lawrence  for  record  of  suffrage  work 
since  the  campaign  of  1867,  and  finds  absolutely  nothing,  so  that  I  am 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  writing,  principally,  of  our  little  efforts 
here  in  central  Kansas.  In  the  intensely  interesting  letters  of  Mes- 
dames  Helen  Ekin  Starrett,  Susan  E.  Wattles,  Dr.  R.  S.  Tenney  and  Hon. 
J.  P.  Root,  in  Vol.  II.,  all  written  since  1880, ^1  find  no  mention  of  any 
woman  suffrage  organizations.  Mrs.  Wattles,  of  Mound  City,  says  :  "  My 
work  has  been  very  limited.  I  have  only  been  able  to  circulate  tracts  and 
papers  ";  and  she  enumerates  all  the  woman  suffrage  papers  ever  published 
in  America,  which  she  had  taken  and  given  away.  A  quiet,  unobtrusive 
method  of  work,  but  one  of  the  most  effective  ;  and  doubtless  to  the  sen- 
timent created  and  fostered  by  this  sowing  of  suffrage  literature  by  Mrs. 
\V;ittles,  is  largely  due  the  wonderful  revival  which  has  swept  like  one  of 
our  own  prairie  fires  over  south-eastern  Kansas  during  the  past  year;  a 
sentiment  so  strong  as  to  need  but  "  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar  "  to  kin- 
dle into  a  blaze  of  enthusiasm.  This  it  received  in  the  earnest  elo- 
quence of  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar,  who  has  twice  visited  that  portion  of  the 
State.  All  these  writers  express  their  faith  in  a  growing  interest  in  the 
suffrage  cause,  and,  some  of  them,  the  belief  that  if  the  question  were  again 
submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  it  would  carry. 
*In  our  State  suffrage  convention,  June,  1884,  among  the  demands  which 


698  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

we  resolved  to  make  of  our  incoming  legislature,  was  the  submission  of  an 
amendment  striking  out  the  word  "male"  from  the  State  constitution.  For 
myself,  I  entertained  no  hope  that  it  would  succeed  further  than  as  a  means 
of  agitation  and  education.  On  reflection,  I  hope  it  will  not  be  done.  The 
women  of  Kansas  have  once  been  subjected  to  the  humiliation  of  having 
their  political  disabilities  perpetuated  by  the  vote  of  the  "  rank  and  file" 
of  our  populace.  While  I  believe  the  growth  of  popular  opinion  in 
favor  of  equality  of  rights  for  women  has  nowhere  been  more  rapid  than 
in  Kansas,  yet  I  do  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  thousands  of  foreigners 
are  each  year  added  to  the  voting  population,  whose  ballots  in  the  aggre- 
gate defeat  the  will  of  our  enlightened,  American-born  citizens.  Besides, 
it  is  a  too  convenient  way  for  a  legislature  to  shirk  its  own  responsibility. 
If  the  demand  is  made,  I  hope  it  may  be  done  in  connection  with  that  for 
municipal  and  presidential  suffrage. 

The  history  of  the  woman  suffrage  organizations  in  Kansas  since  1867, 
may  be  briefly  told.  The  first  owes  its  existence  to  one  copy  of  the 
National  Citizen  and  Ballot-Box  subscribed  for  by  my  husband,  W.  S.  Wait, 
who  by  the  merest  chance  heard  Miss  Anthony  deliver  her  famous  lecture, 
"Woman  wants  Bread,  not  the  Ballot,"  in  Salina,  in  November,  1877.  The 
paper  was  religiously  read  by  Mrs.  Emily  J.  Biggs  and  myself;  although 
we  did  not  need  conversion,  both  being  radical  in  our  ideas  on  this  ques- 
tion, we  had  long  felt  the  need  of  something  being  done  which  would 
fix  public  attention  and  provoke  discussion.  This  was  all  we  felt  our- 
selves competent  to  do,  and  the  knowledge  that  nobody  else  in  our  sec- 
tion of  the  country  would  do  it,  coupled  with  the  inspiration  of  the 
National  Citizen,  culminated,  in  November  1879,  in  sending  to  the  Saline 
Valley  Register,  George  W.  Anderson,  editor  and  proprietor,  a  notice  for  a 
meeting  of  women  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  suffrage  society.  In 
response  to  the  call,  Mrs.  Emily  J.  Biggs,  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Lutes,  and  Mrs. 
Wait,  met  November  n,  1879,  at  the  house  of  A.  T.  Biggs,  and  organized 
the  Lincoln  Auxiliary  of  the  National  Association.  We  elected  a  full 
corps  of  officers  from  among  ladies  whom  we  believed  to  be  favorable, 
interviewed  them  for  their  approval,  and  sent  a  full  report  of  the  meeting 
to  be  published  as  a  mattej  of  news  in  the  Register,  which  had  given  our 
call  without  comment.  The  editor  had  a  few  weeks  previously  bought 
the  paper,  and  we  were  totally  ignorant  in  regard  to  his  position  upon 
the  question.  We  were  not  long  left  in  doubt,  for  the  fact  that  we  had 
actually  organized  in  a  way  which  showed  that  we  understood  our- 
selves, and  meant  business,  had  the  effect -to  elicit  from  his  pen  a  scur- 
rilous article,  in  which  he  called  us  "  the  three  noble-hearted  women,'' 
classed  us  with  "  free-lovers,"  called  us  "  monstrosities,  neither  men  nor 
women,"  and  more  of  the  same  sort.  Of  course,  the  effect  of  this  upon 
the  community  was  to  array  all  true  friends  of  the  cause  on  our  side,  to 
bring  the  opposition,  made  bold  by  the  championship  of  such  a  gallant 
leader,  to  the  front,  and  cause  the  faint-hearted  to  take  to  the  fence.  And 
here  we  had  the  discussion  opened  up  in  a  manner  which,  had  we  foreseen, 
I  fear  our  courage  would  have  been  inadequate  to  the  demand.  But  not 
for  one  moment  did  we  entertain  a  thought  of  retreating.  Knowing  that 
if  we  maintained  silence,  the  enemy  would  consider  us  vanquished,*! 


"Woman  as  a  Citizen''  699 

wrote  an  article  for  his  paper,  quoting  largely  from  Walker's  Ameri- 
can Law,  which  he  published;  and  Mrs.  Biggs  also  furnished  him  an 
article  in  which  she  showed  him  up  in  a  manner  so  ludicrous  and  sarcastic 
that  he  got  rid  of  printing  it  by  setting  it  up  full  of  mistakes  which  he 
manufactured  himself,  and  sending  her  the  proof  with  the  information 
that  if  he  published  it  at  all,  it  would  be  in  that  form.  It  appeared  the 
following  week,  however,  in  the  first  number  of  The  Argus,  a  Democratic 
paper,  Ira  C.  Lutes,  editor  and  proprietor,  in  which  we  at  once  secured  a 
column  for  the  use  of  our  society.  About  a  dozen  ladies  attended  our 
second  meeting,  at  which  the  following  resolutions  were  unanimously 
adopted,  all  the  ladies  present  being  allowed  to  vote : 

WHEREAS,  The  local  newspaper  is  adjudged,  by  common  consent,  to  be  the  expon- 
ent of  the  intelligence,  refinement,  and  culture  of  a  community,  and,  in  a  large  de- 
gree, the  educator  of  the  rising  generation  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  In  one  issue  of  the  Lincoln  Register  there  appears  no  fewer  than  forty- 
seven  misspelled  words,  with  numerous  errors  in  grammatical  construction  and  punctua- 
tion; also  a  scurrilous  article  headed  "  Woman  vs.  Man,"  in  which  the  editor  not  only 
grossly  misrepresents  us,  but  assails  the  characters  of  all  advocates  of  suffrage  every- 
where in  a  manner  which  shocks  the  moral  sense  of  every  true  lady  and  gentleman  in 
this  community;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  this  association  present  the  editor  of  the  Register  with  a  copy  of 
some  standard  English  spelling-book,  and  English  Language  Lessons,  for  his  especial 
use. 

Resolved,  That  as  he  has  been  so  kind  as  to  offer  his  advice  to  us,  unsolicited,  we 
reciprocate  the  favor  by  admonishing  him  to  confine  himself  to  facts  in  future,  and 
to  remember  that  the  people  of  Lincoln  are  capable  of  appreciating  truth  and  common 
decency. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  furnished  the  editor  of  the  Lincoln 
Register,  with  the  books  above  named. 

This  was  promptly  done,  and  so  enraged  him  that  the  following  week 
he  published  a  tirade  of  abuse  consisting  of  brazen  falsehoods,  whereupon 
a  iM-ntleman  called  a  halt,  by  faithfully  promising  to  chastise  him  if  he  did 
not  desist,  which  had  the  desired  effect  so  far  as  his  paper  was  concerned. 

W.  S.  Wait  bought  the  Argus  at  the  end  of  four  months,  changed  its 
politics  to  Republican,  and  its  name  to  the  Lincoln  Beacon,  in  which  I  es- 
tablished a  woman  suffrage  department,  under  the  head  of  "Woman  as  a 
Citizen,"  with  one  of  Lucretia  Mott's  favorite  mottoes,  "  Truth  for  Au- 
thority, and  not  Authority  for  Truth  ";  and  weekly,  for  six  years,  it  has 
gone  to  a  constantly  increasing  circle  of  readers,  and  contributed  its  share 
to  whatever  strength  and  influence  the  cause  has  gained  in  this  portion 
of  the  State.  In  the  summer  of  1880,  G.  W.  Anderson  announced  himself 
a  candidate  for  the  legislature.  He  had  just  before  made  himself  es- 
pecially obnoxious  by  shockingly  indecent  remarks  about  the  ladies  who 
had  participated  in  the  exercises  of  the  Fourth  of  July  celebration.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  suffrage  society,  held  August  6,  the  following  resolution, 
suggested  by  Mrs.  S.  E.  Lutes,  were  unanimously  adopted: 

WHEREAS,  We.  as  responsible  members  of  society,  and  guardians  of  the  purity  of 
our  families  and  community,  are  actuated  by  a  sense  of  duty  and  our  accountability  to 
r  tin-  faithful  performance  of  it;  and 

WHEREAS,  George  W.  Anderson,  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Lincoln  Register, 
during  his  few  months'  residence  in  our  county  has,  by  constant  calumny  and  scurrility, 


700  History  of  Woman  Suffrage* 

both  verbal  and  through  the  columns  of  his  paper,  sought  to  injure  the  reputation  of 
the  honorable  women  who  compose  the  Lincoln  suffrage  and  temperance  associations, 
and  of  all  women  everywhere  who  sympathize  with  the  aims  and  purposes  which  these 
societies  represent;  and 

WHERKAS,  His  utterances  through  the  columns  of  the  Lincoln  Register  are  often  un- 
fit to  be  read  by  any  child,  or  aloud  in  any  family,  because  of  their  indecency,  we  are 
unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  his  course  is  calculated  to  defeat  the  aims  and  pur- 
poses of  Christianity,  temperance  and  morality;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  whenever  George  W.  Anderson  aspires  to  any  position  of  honor, 
trust  or  emolument  in  the  gift  of  the  voters  of  Lincoln  county,  we  will  use  all  honor- 
able means  in  our  power  to  defeat  him;  and  we  further  urge  upon  every  woman  who 
has  the  welfare  of  our  county  at  heart,  the  duty  and  necessity  of  cooperating  with  us 
to  accomplish  this  end. 

The  above  preamble  and  resolution  appeared  in  the  woman's  column  of 
the  Lincoln  Beacon  the  following  week,  and  250  copies  were  printed  in  the 
form  of  hand-bills  and  distributed  to  the  twenty-three  post-offices  in  Lin- 
coln county.  It  did  not  prevent  his  election,  and  we  did  not  expect  it 
would,  but  we  believed  it  our  duty  to  enter  our  protest  against  the  perpe- 
tration of  this  outrage  upon  the  moral  sense  of  those  who  knew  him  best. 
We  ignored  him  in  the  legislature,  sending  our  petitions  asking  that  body 
to  recommend  to  congress  the  adoption  of  the  sixteenth  amendment,  to 
Hon.  S.  C.  Millington  of  Crawford,  who  had  come  to  our  notice  that  winter 
by  offering  a  woman  suffrage  resolution  in  the  House.  In  1882  Anderson 
sought  a  second  indorsement  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature,  but  that 
portion  of  the  community  which  he  really  represented  had  become 
disgusted  with  him ;  he  struggled  against  fate  with  constantly  waning 
patronage  for  another  year,  when  he  succumbed  to  the  inevitable  and 
sought  a  new  field,  a  wiser  if  a  sadder  man.  His  mantle  has  fallen  upon 
E.  S.  Bower,  whose  capacity  and  style  were  graphically  portrayed  in  caus- 
tic rhyme  by  Mrs.  Ellsworth,  making  him  the  target  for  the  wit  of  the 
women  long  after. 

I  have  given  more  space  and  prominence  to  these  two  editors  than 
they  merit,  but  the  influence  of  a  local  newspaper  is  not  to  be  despised, 
however  despicable  the  editor  and  his  paper  may  be  ;  and  it  takes  no 
small  degree  of  courage  to  face  such  an  influence  as  that  exerted  in  this 
county  by  the  one  in  question,  which,  I  am  happy  to  say,  has  gradually 
dwindled,  until  to-day  it  is  too  trifling,  both  in  extent  and  character,  to 
deserve  recognition. 

Six  years  ago  I  do  not  believe  there  was  a  paper  in  the  State  of  Kansas 
which  contained  a  woman  suffrage  department,  and  we  rarely  saw  any 
reference  whatever  to  the  subject ;  now,  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles  of 
Lincoln  Centre,  fully  two-thirds  of  all  newspapers  published  have  a  col- 
umn devoted  to  suffrage  or  temperance,  or  both,  edited  by  women.  The 
reason  this  is  not  true  of  the  press  of  the  entire  State  is  because  our  in- 
defatigable corresponding  secretary,  Mrs.  Bertha  H.  Ellsworth,  has  not 
yet  had  sufficient  time  to  personally  present  the  matter;  but  there 
has  been  such  a  growth  on  the  subject  that  by  the  press  generally 
it  seems  to  be  accepted  as  one  of  the  living  issues  of  the  day.  A  very 
efficient  agency  in  bringing  about  this  desirable  result  was  the  printed 
column,  entitled  "Concerning  Women,"  sent  out  gratis  every  week  dur- 


Fourth  of  July   Celebrations.  701 

ing  the  year  1882,  by  Mrs.  Lucy  Stone,  from  the  office  of  The  Woman's 
Journal,  to  all  newspapers  that  would  publish  it.  Many  Kansas  editors 
availed  themselves  of  this  generous  offer,  greatly  to  the  advantage  of 
their  patrons  and  themselves. 

But  to  return  to  the  Lincoln  Woman  Suffrage  Association.  The  first 
year  our  membership  increased  to  twenty-seven;  the  second,  to  forty, 
including  six  gentlemen.  We  did  not  invite  gentlemen  to  join  the 
first  year;  owing  to  the  character  and  attitude  of  the  opposition,  we  pre- 
ferred to  demonstrate  our  ability  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  society 
without  masculine  assistance.  During  our  six  years'  existence  we  have 
enrolled  eighty  members,  eighteen  of  whom  are  gentlemen.  Of  this 
number,  forty-five  women  and  fourteen  men  still  reside  in  Lincoln  county. 
We  have  held,  on  an  average,  one  parlor  meeting  a  month  and  ten  public 
meetings. 

In  1880,  Mesdames  Emily  J.  Biggs,  Mary  Crawford,  Bertha  H.  Ellsworth 
and  myself  were  assigned  places  on  the  programme  for  the  Fourth  of 
July  celebration,  after  solicitation  by  a  committee  from  our  society. 
To  me  was  assigned  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  I  embraced  the  opportunity  of  interspersing  a  few  remarks  not 
found  in  that  honored  document,  to  the  delight  of  our  friends  and  the 
disgust  of  our  foes.  The  other  ladies  all  made  original,  excellent  and 
well-timed  addresses.  In  1881  we  got  up  the  Fourth  of  July  celebration* 
ourselves,  and  gave  the  men  half  the  programme  without  their  asking  for 
it.  In  1883  we  had  a  "  Foremothers'  Day"  celebration,  and  confined  the 
programme  to  our  own  society.  In  September,  1882,  the  society  sent  the 
writer  as  delegate  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage 
•elation,  held  at  Omaha,  Nebraska;  and  in  March,  1884,  we  sent  Ber- 
tha H.  Ellsworth  to  the  Washington  convention  in  the  same  capacity. 
Our  society  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  annual  school  district  elec- 
tions in  Lincoln  Centre.  In  the  last  five  elections  we  have  been  twice 
defeated  and  three  times  successful.  Our  defeats  we  claimed  as  victories, 
inasmuch  as  we  forced  our  opponents  to  bring  out  all  their  friends  to  out- 
vote us.  Fifty  per  cent,  of  all  the  votes  cast  at  the  last  three  elections 
were  by  women.  Only  twelve  women  in  the  town  failed  to  vote  in  1884. 
This  increase  is  general  all  over  the  State;  and,  although  we  have  only 
once  tried  in  Lincoln  Centre  to  elect  a  woman,  and  then  failed,  yet  very 


*  In  the  centennial  year,  when  protests  were  in  order,  the  following  was  sent  to  the  National  Associ- 
ation at  Philadelphia,  describing  the  manner  in  which  a  lady  eighty-four  yean  old  celebrated  her 
birthday  :  * 

"NEUTRAL  STATION,  Kansas,  July  17,  1876. 

"  1  -i  :    Two  days  ago,  on  Saturday,  the  151)1,  as  ha*  been  usual  for  three  or  four  year*,  a 

i  i.inpany  of  rmr  friends  and  neighbors  met  at  our  house  to  celebrate  my  eighty-fourth  birthday.  \Ve 
h.i'l  .1  ]•!••.'.  -.mi  time.  Some  pieces,  composed  for  the  occasion,  were  read,  and  a  i.lcr^\  iu.ui  made  some 
appropriate  nm.uk..  I  improved  the  opportunity  to  obtain  the  names  of  the  ladies  present,  and  suc- 
ceeded with  all,  old  and  young,  except  one  who  was  afraid  it  would  get  her  into  a  trap  ;  lint  with 
the  rest  it  needed  but  little  electioneering  betide  reading  your  advertisement  to  secure  their  names. 
U>,  ., ,  a  neighborhood,  are  ignorant  on  the  subject.  I  solicited  assistance  pecuniarily,  and  send  y.  u 
what  I  i  an.  \viih  a  word  of  encouragement  still  to  work  and  wait,  and  my  earnest  prayer  f-r  \  •-.:  t~m.it 
success.  KISIK  STKWART.'' 

The  other  signatures  were:  Henrietta  L.  Miller,  Mrs.  Julia  A.  Ingroham,  Mr*.  Hollct.   ' 
r.iinin,  Sflimla  MilliT,  Cclina  Lake,  Mollie  Ycates,  Hetsey  J.  Corse,  Mary  G.  M.ipem.in.  Mr-.  Maggie 
(.'lark,  MU>  KUic  Miller,  Louie  Ingraham,  Malura  Hicltox,  C.   A.   Eddy,  Anna  Lowe,  Charlotte  H. 
Butler. 


702  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

many  of  the  country  districts  have  one,  some  two  women  on  the  school- 
board,  and  at  one  time  all  three  members  in  one  district  were  women. 
That  they  are  honest,  capable  and  efficient  is  the  verdict  in  every  case. 

In  the  spring  of  1881,  Mrs.  Emily  J.  Biggs  organized  the  Stanton  Suf- 
frage Society,  eight  miles  from  Lincoln  Centre,  with  a  membership  of 
over  twenty,  more  than  half  of  whom  were  gentlemen.  Mesdames  Mary 
Baldwin,  N.  Good,  T.  Faulkner,  M.  Biggs,  Mrs.  Swank  and  others  were 
the  leading  spirits.  All  their  meetings  are  public,  and  are  held  in  the 
school-house.  Through  this  society  that  portion  of  the  county  has  be- 
come well  leavened  with  suffrage  sentiment.  Failing  health  alone  has 
prevented  Mrs.  Biggs  from  carrying  this  school  district  organization  to 
all  parts  of  the  county  and  beyond  its  limits,  as  she  has  been  urgently  in- 
vited to  do.  "  Instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  "  with  a  word  for  the 
cause,  she  has,  individually,  reached  more  people  with  the  subject  than 
any  other  half-dozen  women  in  the  society.  Her  pen,  too,  has  done  good 
service.  Over  the  noin  de  plume  of  "  Nancy,"  in  the  Beacon,  she  has  dealt 
telling  blows  to  our  ancient  adversary,  the  Register.  In  October,  1882, 
the  writer  went  by  invitation  to  Ellsworth  and  organized  a  society*  aux- 
iliary to  the  National,  composed  of  excellent  material,  but  too  timid  to 
do  more  than  hold  its  own  until  the  summer  of  1884,  when  Mrs,  Gougar, 
and  later,  Mrs.  Colby,  lectured  there,  soon  after  which  Mrs.  Ellsworth 
canvassed  the  town  with  literature  and  a  petition  for  municipal  suffrage, 
which  was  signed  by  eighty  of  the  eighty-five  women  to  whom  it  was  pre- 
sented, showing  that  there  was  either  a  great  deal  of  original  suffrage 
sentiment  there,  or  that  the  society  had  exerted  a  large  amount  of  "  silent 
influence."  In  October,  1883,  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Gougar  came  to  fill  some 
lecture  engagements  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State.  During  this 
visit  she  organized  several  clubs.t 

In  June,  1884,  Mrs.  Gougar  again  visited  Kansas,  lecturing  for  a  month 
in  different  parts  of  the  State.  She  drew  large  audiences  and  made  many 
converts.  A  suffrage  society  was  organized  at  Emporia,  Miss  M.  J.  Wat- 
son, president.  The  active  friends  availed  themselves  of  her  assistance  to 
call  a  State  Suffrage  Convention,  which  met  in  the  Senate  chamber  in 
Topeka,  June  25,  26,  and  organized  a  State  Association. \  Mrs.  Gougar, 
by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  convention,  presided,  and  dispatched  busi- 
ness with  her  characteristic  ability.  In  view  of  all  the  circumstances,  this 


*  President,  Mrs.  Mary  Maberly ;  Secretary,  Miss  Lillie  M.  Hull;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Emma  H. 
Johns  ;  and  an  able  executive  committee,  of  which  Mrs.  E.  M.  Alden,  Mrs.  Emma  Faris,  Mrs.  Mattie 
McDowell  and  Bertha  H.  Ellsworth,  who  was  then  teaching  there,  were  members. 

t  Arkansas  City  Suffrage  Club,  with  Mrs.  M.  B.  Houghton,  President;  Mi's.  E.  T.  Ayers,  Vice- 
President ;  Miss  Gertrude  Fowler,  Secretary,  and  Mrs.  F.  Daniels,  Treasurer  ;  also  one  at  Winfield, 
county-seat  of  Cowley  county,  with  Mrs.  J.  Cairns,  President ;  Mrs.  M.  R.  Hall,  Secretary,  and  Mrs. 
E.  D.  Garlick,  Treasurer  ;  and  vice-presidents  from  each  of  the  churches,  as  follows  :  Mesdames  P. 
P.  Powell,  G.  Miller,  M.  Burkey  and  J.  C.  Fuller. 

\President,  Mrs.  Hetta  P.  Mansfield,  Winfield;  Vice-President-at-Large,  Mrs.  Anna  C.  Wait, 
Lincoln  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Bertha  H.  Ellsworth,  Lincoln  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Miss 
Georgiana  Daniels,  Eureka;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  D.  A.  Millington,  Winfield;  Chaplain,  Rev.  S.  S. 
Cairns,  Winfield  ;  Vice-Presidents  and  Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  Judge  Griswold,  Leavenworth  ; 
Miss  Sarah  Hurtsel,  Columbus ;  Mrs.  Anna  Taylor,  Wichita ;  Miss  Myra  Willets,  Independence ; 
Mrs.  W.  P.  Roland,  Cherryvale ;  Judge  Lorenzo  Westover,  Clyde ;  Mr.  V.  P.  Wilson,  Abilene  ;  Hon. 
Albert  Griffin,  Manhattan  ;  Mrs.  A.  O.  Carpenter,  Emporia  ;  Mrs.  Noble  Prentis,  Atchison  ;  Mrs.  S.  S. 
Moore,  Burden  ;  Mrs.  Emma  Faris,  Carnerio ;  Mrs.  Houghton  and  Mrs.  Farrer,  Arkansas  City  ;  Mrs. 
Finley,  Topeka. 


Mrs.  A.    G.  Lord.  703 

convention  and  its  results  were  highly  satisfactory.  The  attendance  was 
not  large,  but  the  fact  that  the  call  was  issued  from  Topeka  to  the  press 
of  the  State  but  eight  days  before  the  convention  met,  and  probably  did 
not  reach  half  the  papers  in  time  for  one  insertion,  accounts  for  the  ab- 
sence of  a  crowd.  Some  even  in  Topeka  learned  that  the  convention  was 
in  progress  barely  in  time  to  reach  its  last  session.  Reporters  for  the 
Topeka  Capital,  the  Topeka  Commonwealth  and  Kansas  City  Journal  at- 
tended all  the  day  sessions  of  the  convention,  and  gave  full  and  fair  re- 
ports of  the  proceedings.  After  the  adjournment  of  the  State  conven- 
tion, the  women  of  Topeka  formed  a  city  society.  The  corresponding 
secretary,  Mrs.  Ellsworth,  with  Mrs.  Clara  B.  Colby,  made  an  extensive 
circuit,  lecturing  and  organizing  societies.  They  were  everywhere  cor- 
dially welcomed.* 

Kansas  has  a  flourishing  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
which  at  its  last  annnal  meeting  adopted  a  strong  woman  suffrage  resolu- 
tion ;  Miss  O.  P.  Bray  of  Topeka  is  its  superintendent  of  franchise.  Mrs. 
Emma  Molloy  of  Washington,  both  upon  the  rostrum  and  through  her 
paper,  the  official  organ  of  the  State  Union,  ably  and  fearlessly  advocates 
woman  suffrage  as  well  as  prohibition,  and  makes  as  many  converts  to 
the  former  as  to  the  latter. 

Mrs.  A.  G.  Lord  did  a  work  worthy  of  mention  in  the  formation  of  the 
Radical  Reform  Christian  Association,  for  young  men  and  boys,  taking 
their  pledge  to  neither  swear,  use  tobacco  nor  drink  intoxicating  liquors. 
A  friend  says  of  Mrs.  Lord  : 

Like  all  true  reformers  she  has  met  even  more  than  the  usual  share  of  opposition 
and  persecution,  and  mostly  because  she  is  a  woman  and  a  licensed  preacher  of  the 
Methodist  church  in  Kansas.  She  was  a  preacher  for  three  years,  but  refuses  to 
be  any  longer  because,  she  says,  under  the  discipline  as  it  now  is,  the  church  has 
no  right  to  license  a  woman  to  preach.  Trying  to  do  her  work  inside  the  church  in 
which  she  was  born  and  reared,  she  has  had  to  combat  not  only  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness outside  the  church,  but  also  the  most  contemptible  opposition,  amounting  in 
several  instances  to  bitter  persecutions,  from  the  ministers  of  her  own  denomination 
with  whom  she  has  been  associated  in  her  work  as  a  preacher;  and  through  it  all  she 
has  toiled  on,  manifesting  only  the  most  patient,  forgiving  spirit,  and  the  broadest, 
most  Christ-like  charity. 

The  R.  R.  C.  A.  has  been  in  existence  two  and  a  half  years,  and  has 
already  many  hundreds  of  members  in  this  and  adjoining  counties,  through 
the  indefatigable  zeal  of  its  founder.  Mitchell  county  has  the  honor  of 
numbering  among  its  many  enterprising  women  the  only  woman  who  is 
a  mail  contractor  in  the  United  States,  Mrs.  Myra  Peterson,  a  native  of 
New  Hampshire.  The  Woman's  Tribune  of  November,  1884,  contains  the 
following  brief  sketch  of  a  grand  historic  character: 

Marianna  T.  Folsom  is  lecturing  in  Kansas  on  woman  suffrage.  She  gives  an  in- 
teresting account  of  a  visit  to  Mrs.  Prudence  Crandall  Philleo.  Miss  Crandall  over 


*  The  towns  visited  were :  Beloit,  Lincoln  Center,  Wilson,  Ellsworth,  Salina,  Solomon  City,  Minne- 
apolis, Cawker  City  and  Clyde.  The  officers  of  the  Topeka  society  were :  frttidcttt,  Mn.  PrUcilla 
Kinley  ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  E.  G.  Hammon  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Sarah  Smith.  The  officers  of  Rcloit  were  : 
Prtsiiitut,  Mrs.  H.  Still;  Vice-President$,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Patten,  Mm.  M.  Vaughan ;  CorrtiponJing 
Secretary,  Mrs.  F.  J.  Knight ;  Recording  Secretary,  Mary  Charlesworth  ;  Trttuurtr,  Mrs.  M.  Bailey. 
At  Salina,  Mrs.  Johns  and  Mrs.  Christina  Day  are  the  officers. 


704  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

fifty  years  ago  allowed  a  girl  with  colored  blood  in  her  veins  to  attend  her  young 
ladies'  school  in  Connecticut.  On  account  of  the  social  disturbance  because  of  this, 
she  dismissed  the  white  girls  and  made  her  school  one  for  colored  pupils.  Protests 
were  followed  by  indictments,  and  these  by  mobbings,  until  she  was  obliged  to  give  up 
her  school.  For  her  fortitude,  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  had  her  portrait  painted.  It 
became  the  property  of  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  who  donated  it  to  Cornell  University 
when  opened  to  women.  Miss  Crandall  married,  but  has  now  been  a  widow  many 
years.  She  is  in  her  eighty-third  year,  and  is  vigorous  in  mind  and  body,  having 
been  able  to  deliver  the  last  Fourth  of  July  oration  at  Elk  Falls,  Kan.,  where  she  now 
lives  and  advocates  woman  suffrage  and  temperance. 

In  the  introduction  to  Chapter  VII.,  Vol.  I.,  of  this  history,  appears 
this  sentence  :  "To  Clarina  Howard  Nichols  *  the  women  of  Kansas  are 
indebted  for  many  civil  rights  which  they  have  as  yet  been  too  apathetic  to 
exercise."  Uncomplimentary  as  this  statement  is,  I  must  admit  its  truth- 
fulness as  applied  to  a  large  majority  of  our  women  of  culture  and  leisure, 
those  who  should  have  availed  themselves  of  the  privileges  already  theirs 
and  labored  for  what  the  devotion  of  Mrs.  Nichols  made  attainable. 
They  have  neither  done  this,  nor  tried  to  enlighten  their  less  favored 
sisters  throughout  the  State,  the  great  mass  of  whom  are  obliged  to  exert 
every  energy  of  body  and  mind  to  furnish  food,  clothes  and  shelter  for 
themselves  and  children.  Probably  fully  four-fifths  of  the  women  of 
Kansas  never  have  heard  of  Clarina  Howard  Nichols  ;  while  a  much 
larger  number  do  know  that  our  laws  favor  women  more  than  those  of 
other  States,  and  largely  avail  themselves  of  the  school  ballot.  The  readi- 
ness with  which  the  rank  and  file  of  our  women  assent  to  the  truth  when 
it  is  presented  to  them,  indicates  that  their  inaction  results  not  so  much 
from  apathy  and  indifference  as  from  a  lack  of  means  and  opportunity. 
Among  all  the  members  of  all  the  woman  suffrage  societies  in  Central 
Kansas,  I  know  of  but  just  one  woman  of  leisure — one  who  is  not  obliged 
to  make  a  personal  sacrifice  of  some  kind  each  time  she  attends  a  meet- 
ing or  pays  a  dollar  into  the  treasury.  Section  6,  Article  XV.,  of  the  con- 
stitution of  Kansas  reads  : 

The  legislature  shall  provide  for  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  women,  in  acquiring 
and  possessing  property,  real,  personal,  and  mixed,  separate  and  apart  from  her  hus- 
band; and  shall  also  provide  for  their  equal  rights  in  the  possession  of  their  children. 
In  accordance  with  the  true  spirit  of  this  section,  our  statute  provides  that  the  law  of 
descents  and  distributions  as  regards  the  property  of  either  husband  or  wife  is  the  same; 
and  the  interests  of  one  in  the  property  of  the  other  are  the  same  with  each;  and  that 
the  common-law  principles  of  estates  of  dower,  and  by  courtesy  are  abolished. f 

The  rights  of  husband  and  wife  in  the  control  of  their  respective  prop- 
erties, both  real  and  personal,  are  identical,  as  provided  for  in  sections  i,  2, 
3,  and  4.  Chapter  62,  page  539,  compiled  laws  of  Kansas,  1878 : 

SECTION  I.  The  property,  real  and  personal,  which  any  woman  in  this  State  may 
own  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  and  the  rents,  issues,  profits,  and  proceeds  thereof, 


*  The  women  of  Kansas  should  never  forget  that  to  the  influence  of  Mrs,.  Nichols  in  the  Constitu- 
tional convention  at  Wyandotte,  they  owe  the  modicum  of  justice  secured  by  that  document,  \\ith 
her  knitting  in  hand,  she  sat  there  alone  through  all  the  sessions,  the  only  woman  present,  watching 
every  step  of  the  proceedings,  and  laboring  with  members  to  so  frame  the  constitution  as  to  make  all 
citizens  equal  before  the  law.  Though  she  did  not  accomplish  what  she  desired,  yet  by  her  conversa- 
tions with  the  yonng  men  of  the  State,  she  may  be  said  to  have  made  the  idea  of  woman  suffrage  seem 
practicable  to  those  who  formed  the  constitution  and  statute  laws  of  that  State.— [E.  C.  S. 

t  See  compiled  laws  of  Kansas,  79,  page  378,  chapter  XXXIII. 


, 


~r 


^ 


.  <z^  . 


,s  / 


Sarah.  A.  Brown.  705 

and  any  real,  personal,  or  mixed  property  which  shall  come  to  her  by  descent,  devise, 
or  bequest,  or  the  gift  of  any  person  except  her  husband,  shall  remain  her  sole  and 
separate  property,  notwithstanding  her  marriage,  and  not  be  subject  to  the  disposal  of 
her  husband,  or  liable  for  his  debts. 

SEC.  2.  A  married  woman,  while  the  marriage  relation  subsists,  may  bargain,  sell 
and  convey  her  real  and  personal  property,  and  enter  into  any  contract  with  reference 
to  the  same,  in  the  same  manner,  to  the  same  extent,  and  with  like  effect  as  a  married 
man  may  in  relation  to  his  real  and  personal  property. 

SEC.  3.  A  woman  may,  while  married,  sue  and  be  sued,  in  the  same  manner  as  if 
unmarried. 

SEC.  4.  Any  married  woman  may  carry  on  any  trade  or  business,  and  perform  any' 
labor  or  services,  on  her  sole  and  separate  account,  and  the  earnings  of  any  married 
woman  from  her  trade,  business,  labor  or  services,  shall  be  her  sole  and  separate  prop- 
erty, and  may  be  used  and  invested  by  her  in  her  own  name. 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note  that  the  above  legislation,  also  the  passage 
of  the  law  of  descents  and  distributions,  immediately  followed  the  woman 
suffrage  campaign  of  1867. 

In  1880,  the  Democrats  of  Kansas,  in  their  State  convention  at  Topeka, 
nominated  Miss  Sarah  A.  Brown  of  Douglas  county,  for  superintendent 
of  public  instruction,  the  first  instance  on  record  of  a  woman  receiving  a 
nomination  from  one  of  the  leading  political  parties  for  a  State  office. 
The  following  is  Miss  Brown's  letter  of  acceptance  : 

OFFICE  OF  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION,  Douglas  Co.,  Kansas,      ) 

LAWRENCE,  Kansas,  Sept.  30,  1880.  ) 

To  Hon.  yohn  Martin,  Topeka,  Kansas,  Chairman   of  the  State  Democratic  Central 
Committee: 

SIR  : — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  communication  of  August  30,  advising  me  of  the  action 
of  the  Democratic  convention  of  August  26,  in  nominating  me  as  their  candidate  for 
State  superintendent  of  public  instruction. 

In  making  this  nomination  the  Democratic  party  of  Kansas  has,  with  a  liberal  and 
enlightened  spirit,  and  with  a  generous  purpose,  yielded  to  the  tendency  of  the  times, 
which  demand  equal  rights  and  equal  opportunities  for  all  the  people,  and  it  has  thus 
shown  itself  to  be  a  party  of  progress.  It  has  placed  itself  squarely  and  unequivocally 
before  the  people  upon  this  great  and  vital  question  of  giving  to  woman  the  right  to 
work  in  any  field  for  which  she  may  be  fitted,  thus  placing  our  young  and  glorious 
State  in  the  foremost  rank  on  this,  as  on  the  other  questions  of  reform. 

Furthermore,  in  nominating  one  who  has  no  vote,  and  for  this  reason  cannot  be  con- 
sidered in  politics,  and  in  doing  this  of  its  own  free  will,  without  any  solicitation  on 
my  part,  the  Democratic  party  of  this  State  has  shown  that  it  is  in  full  accord  with  the 
Jeffersonian  doctrine  that  the  office  should  seek  the  man  and  not  the  man  the  office; 
and  also  that  it  fully  appreciates  the  fact  which  is  conceded  by  all  persons  who  have 
thought  much  on  educational  matters,  that  the  best  interests  of  our  schools  demand  that 
the  office  of  superintendent,  both  of  the  State  and  county,  should  be  as  far  as  possible 
disconnected  from  politics,  and  it  has  done  what  it  could  to  rescue  the  office  from  the 
vortex  of  mere  partisan  strife.  For  this  reason  I  accept  the  nomination,  thanking  the 
party  for  the  honor  it  has  conferred  upon  me.  Respectfully,  SARAH  A.  BROWN. 

Miss  Brown  was  defeated.  The  vote  of  the  State  showed  the  average 
Democrat  unable  to  overcome  his  time-rusted  prejudices  sufficiently  to 
vote  for  a  woman  to  fill  the  highest  educational  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
people,  so  that  Miss  Brown's  minority  was  smaller  even  than  that  of  the 
regular  Democratic  ticket. 

January  21,  1881,  Hon.  S.  C.  Millington  of  Crawford  county  introduced 
in  the  House  a  joint  resolution  providing  for  the  submission  to  the  legal 
45 


706  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

voters  of  the  State  of  Kansas  of  a  proposition  to  amend  the  constitution 
so  as  to  admit  of  female  suffrage.  The  vote  on  the  adoption  of  the  reso- 
lution stood  51  ayes  and  31  noes  in  the  House,  and  a  tie  in  the  Senate. 
Later  in  the  same  session,  Hon.  A.  C.  Pierce  of  Davis  county  introduced 
in  the  House  a  joint  resolution  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  constitu- 
tion which  should  confer  the  right  of  suffrage  on  any  one  over  21  years 
of  age  who  had  resided  in  the  State  six  months.  Mr.  Hackney  of  Cowley 
county,  introduced  a  like  resolution  in  the  Senate. 

In  December,  1881,  Governor  St.  John  appointed  Mrs.  Cora  M.  Downs 
one  of  the  regents  of  the  State  University  at  Lawrence.  In  1873,  Mrs. 
Rice  was  elected  to  the  office  of  county  clerk  of  Harper  county,  and  Miss 
Alice  Junken  to  the  office  of  recorder  of  deeds,  in  Davis  county,  In  1885 
Miss  Junken  was  reflected  by  a  majority  of  500  over  her  competitor,  Mrs. 
Fleming,  while  Trego  county  gave  a  unanimous  vote  for  Miss  Ada  Clift 
as  register  of  deeds. 

In  proportion  to  her  population  Kansas  has  as  many  women  in  the 
professions  as  any  of  the  older  States.  We  have  lawyers,  physicians, 
preachers  and  editors,  and  the  number  is  constantly  increasing.  In 
Topeka  there  are  eight  practicing  physicians,  holding  diplomas  from  medi- 
cal colleges,  and  two  or  three  who  are  not  graduates.  In  the  Woman's 
Medical  College  of  Chicago,  Kansas  now  has  four  representatives — Mrs. 
Sallie  A.  Goff  of  Lincoln,  Miss  Thomas  of  Olathe,  Miss  Cunningham  of 
Garnett,  and  Miss  Gilman  of  Pittsburg. 

All  female  persons  over  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  are  entitled  to 
vote  at  any  school-district  meeting  on  the  same  terms  as  men. 

The  right  of  a  woman  to  hold  any  office,  State  (except  member  of  the 
legislature),  county,  township  or  school-district,  in  the  State  of  Kansas,  is 
the  same  as  that  of  a  man.  In  1882,  six  counties,  viz.,  Chase,  Cherokee- 
Greenwood,  Labette,  Pawnee,  and  Woodson,  elected  women  as  superin- 
tendents of  public  instruction. 

Section  23,  Article  II.,  Constitution  of  Kansas,  reads:  "The  legislature,  in  pro- 
viding for  the  formation  and  regulation  of  schools,  shall  make  no  distinction  between 
males  and  females." 

Under  the  legislation  based  upon  this  clause  of  our  constitution,  males 
and  females  have  equal  privileges  in  all  schools  controlled  by  the  State. 
The  latest  report  of  the  State  superintendent  of  public  instruction  shows 
that  over  one-half  of  the  pupils  of  the  Normal  school,  about  two-fifths  in 
the  University,  and  nearly  one-third  in  the  Agricultural  College,  are 
females. 

In  the  private  institutions  of  learning,  including  both  denominational 
and  unsectarian,  over  one-half  of  the  students  are  females  who  study 
in  the  same  classes  as  the  males,  except  in  Washburn  college  which  has 
a  separate  course  for  ladies. 

Most  of  these  institutions  have  one  woman,  or  more,  in  their  faculties. 
One-half  of  the  faculty  of  the  State  University  is  composed  of  women. 
In  the  last  report  of  the  State  superintendent  is  the  following : 

The  ratio  of  female  teachers  is  greater  than  ever  before,  some  69  per  cent,  of  the 
entire  number  employed.  It  is,  indeed,  a  matter  of  congratulation  that  the  work  of 


Action  of  the  Parties  in  Convention.  707 

the  schools,  especially  the  primary  teaching,  is  falling  more  and  more  to  the  care  of 
women. 

The  Republican  State  convention  of  1882,  by  an  overwhelming  majority 
endorsed  woman  suffrage,  which  action  the  Lincoln  \V.  S.  A.  promptly  re- 
cognized as  follows : 

WHEREAS,  The  Republican  party  of  the  State  of  Kansas,  by  and  through  its  chosen 
representatives  in  the  Republican  State  convention  at  Topeka,  August  9,  1882,  did,  by 
an  overwhelming  majority,  pledge  itself  to  the  support  of  the  principle  of  woman 
suffrage  by  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  we  request  the  next  legislature  to  submit  such  an  amendment  to  the 
constitution  of  the  State  as  will  secure  to  woman  the  right  of  suffrage.  And, 

WHEREAS,  By  this  action  the  Republican  party  of  Kansas  has  placed  itself  in  line 
with  the  advanced  thought  of  the  times  in  a  manner  worthy  a  great  political  party  of 
the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  thereby  proving  itself  worthy  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  women  of  the  State;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  Lincoln  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  in  behalf  of  the  women  of 
Kansas,  does  hereby  express  thanks  to  the  Republican  party  for  this  recognition  of  the 
political  rights  of  the  women  of  the  State,  and  especially  to  the  Hon.  J.  C.  Root  of 
Wyandotte,  Hon.  Hackney  of  Winfield,  Col.  Graves  of  Montgomery,  and  Gen.  Kelly, 
for  their  able  and  fearless  support  of  the  measure,  and  to  each  and  every  member  of 
the  convention  who  voted  for  it. 

In  1883.  Senator  Hackney  introduced  a  bill  of  which  we  find  the  follow- 
ing in  the  Topeka  Capital  of  that  date  : 

Senate  bill  No.  46,  being  Senator  Hackney's,  an  act  to  provide  for  the  submission 
of  the  question  of  female  suffrage  to  the  women  of  Kansas,  was  taken  up,  the  reading 
thereof  being  greeted  with  applause.  It  provides,  that  at  the  general  election  in  1883 
the  women  of  the  State  shall  decide,  by  ballot,  whether  they  want  suffrage  or  not. 
Senator  Hackney  made  an  address  to  the  Senate  upon  the  bill,  saying  he  believed  in 
giving  women  the  same  rights  as  men  had.  The  last  Republican  platform  declared 
in  favor  of  woman  suffrage,  and  those  Republicans  who  opposed  the  platform  said  they 
believed  the  women  of  the  State  should  have  their  say  about  it;  the  Democratic  plat- 
form said  the  same  as  the  dissenters  from  the  Republican.  Several  humorous  amend- 
ments were  made  to  the  bill.  Senator  Kelley  favored  the  bill  because  there  were  a 
great  many  women  in  the  State  who  wanted  to  vote.  He  hoped  the  Senate  would  not 
be  so  ungallant  as  to  vote  the  bill  down.  Senator  Sluss  moved  the  recommendation  be 
made  that  the  bill  be  rejected.  Carried. 

The  Republican  State  convention  of  1884  ignored  the  woman  suffrage 
quest  i<  MI.  The  Anti-monopoly  (Greenback)  party  State  convention,  of 
August  1884,  placed  in  its  platform  the  following  : 

That  we  believe  the  advancing  civilization  of  the  past  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury demands  that  woman  should  have  equal  pay  for  equal  work,  and  equal  laws  with 
man  to  secure  her  equal  rights,  and  that  she  is  justly  entitled  to  the  ballot. 

Miss  Fanny  Randolph  of  Emporia,  was  nominated  by  acclamation  for 
St. itc  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  by  this  convention.  The  Pro- 
hibiti-Mi  State  r. Mivention,  in  session  in  Lawrence,  September  2,  1884, 
placed  the  following  plank  in  its  platform  : 

\Vc  believe  that  \\omen  have  the  same  right  to  vote  as  men,  and  in  the  language  of 
the  Republican  State  platform  of  two  yean  ago,  we  request  the  next  legislature  to 
submit  MU  li  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  the  State  as  will  secure  to  woman 
the  right  of  suffrage. 

This  year  we  sent  from  Lincoln  a  petition  with  173  names  asking  fora 
resolution  recommending  to  congress  the  adoption  of  the  sixteenth 


708  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

amendment.  The  results  of  the  election  of  1884,  showed  quite  a  gain 
for  women  in  county  offices.  There  are  now  eleven  superintendents  of 
public  instruction,  several  registers  of  deeds,  and  county  clerks.  The 
number  of  lawyers,*  physicians,  notaries  public,  principals  of  schools, 
members  of  school-boards  in  cities  and  school  districts,  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing, as  is  also  the  number  of  women  who  vote  in  school-district  elections. 
Miss  Jessie  Patterson,  who  ran  as  an  independent  candidate  for  register 
of  deeds  in  Davis  county,  beat  the  regular  Republican  nominee  286  votes, 
and  the  Democratic  candidate  299  votes. 

The  work  of  organizing  suffrage  societies  has  also  progressed,  though 
not  as  rapidly  as  it  should,  for  want  of  speakers  and  means  to  carry  it  on. 
Through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Laura  M.  Johns  of  Salina,  vice-president  of 
the  State  society,  several  new  and  flourishing  clubs  have  been  formed 
this  summer  in  Saline  county,  so  that  it  is  probably  now  the  banner 
county  in  Kansas.  The  Lincoln  society  is  preparing  to  hold  a  fair 
in  September,  for  the  benefit  of  the  State  association,  which  will  hold 
its  next  annual  convention  in  October.  Suffrage  columns  in  newspapers 
are  multiplying  and  much  stress  is  placed  upon  this  branch  of  work.  On 
July  18,  a  convention  was  held  to  organize  the  Prohibition  party  in  Lin- 
coln county.  A  cordial  invitation  was  extended  to  women  to  attend. 
Eight  were  present,  and  many  more  would  have  been  had  they  known  of 
it.  1  was  chosen  secretary  of  the  convention,  and  Mesdames  Ellsworth 
and  Goff  were  appointed  upon  the  platform  committee,  and  several  of  the 
central  committee  are  women.  The  position  of  the  new  party  upon  the 
question  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  clauses  in  its  platform : 

Resolved,  By  the  Prohibition  party  of  Lincoln  county,  Kansas,  in  convention  assem- 
bled, that  the  three  vital  issues  before  the  people  to-day  are  prohibition,  anti-mon- 
opoly, and  woman  suffrage. 

Resolved,  That  we  believe  in  the  political  equality  of  the  sexes,  and  we  call  on  the 
legislature  to  submit  such  an  amendment  to  the  people  for  adoption  or  rejection,  to 
the  constitution  of  the  State  as  will  secure  to  women  equal  political  rights. 

Later  the  convention  nominated  me  for  register  of  deeds,  and  Dr.  Sallie 
A.  Goff  for  coroner.  I  immediately  engaged  Miss  Jennie  Newby  of  Ton- 
ganoxie,  member  of  the  executive  committee  and  State  organizer  of  the 
Prohibition  party  of  Kansas,  to  make  a  canvass  of  the  county  with  me  in 
the  interest  of  the  party  and  the  county  ticket.  We  held  ten  meetings 
and  at  all  points  visited  made  converts  to  both  prohibition  and  woman 
suffrage,  though  nothing  was  said  about  the  latter.  There  were  two  men 
on  the  ticket;  one  of  them  received  more  votes  than  Dr.  Goff  and  I  did, 
and  the  other  fewer.  Emma  Paris  ran  independently  for  register  of  deeds 
in  Ellsworth  county  and  received  a  handsome  vote.  It  is  no  longer  a 
matter  of  much  comment  for  a  woman  to  run  for  an  office  in  Kansas. 

Mrs.  Gougar  came  again  to  Kansas  in  June  to  attend  the  third  annual 
meeting  of  the  Radical  Reform  Christian  Association,  and  spent  a  month 
lecturing  on  woman  suffrage  and  temperance. 


*  Miss  Flora  M.  Wagstaff  of  Paoli  was  among  the  first  to  practice  law  in  Kansas.     In  1881,  Ida  M. 
Tillotson  of  Mill  Brook,  and  in  1884,  Maria  E.  DeGeer  were  admitted. 


Mother  Bickerdyke.  709 

January  15,  16,  1885,  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  society  was  held 
at  Topeka.  Large  and  enthusiastic  audiences  greeted  Mrs.  Gougar  on 
this,  her  third  visit  to  Kansas.  She  remained  at  the  capital  for  several 
days,  and  largely  through  her  efforts  with  members  of  the  legislature 
special  committees  were  voted  for  in  both  Houses  to  consider  the  in- 
terests of  women.  The  measure  was  carried  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  75 
to  45.*  In  the  Senate  it  was  a  tie,  19  to  19.  The  new  committee  t  through 
its  chairman,  George  Morgan  of  Clay,  reported  in  favor  of  a  bill  for  munic- 
ipal suffrage.  It  was  so  low  on  the  calendar  that  there  was  no  hope  of  its 
being  reached,  but  a  motion  was  made  to  take  it  out  of  its  regular  course, 
which  was  lost  by  65  to  52. 

The  second  annual  meeting  of  the  State  society  was  held  at  Salina, 
October  28,  29,  1885.  Mrs.  Laura  M.  Johns  gave  the  address  of  welcome, 
to  which  Mrs  Anna  C.  Wait,  the  president,  responded.  "  Mother  Bicker- 
dyke,"  \  who  followed  Sherman's  army  in  its  march  to  the  sea,  was  present 
and  cheered  all  with  her  stirring  words  of  the  work  of  women  in  the 
war.§  Her  introduction  was  followed  with  applause  and  the  earnest 
attention  to  her  remarks  showed  in  what  high  esteem  she  is  held.  She 
said  that  half  the  work  of  the  war  was  done  by  women,  but  she  made  no 
complaint,  indeed  no  mention,  of  the  fact  that  these  women  had  never 
been  pensioned. 

As  it  may  add  force  to  some  facts  already  stated  to  have  them  repeated 
by  one  in  authority,  we  give  the  following  letter  from  the  secretary  of 
the  Kansas  Historical  Society  : 

*  The  names  of  representatives  voting  for  the  committee  stand  as  follows:  Yeat—  Barnes,  Keattie, 
Bollinger,  Bond,  Bonebrake,  Brewster,  Buck,  Butterfield,  Caldwell,  Campbdl,  Carter,  Clogston,  J.  B. 
Cook  of  Chetopa,  H.  C.  Cook  of  Oswego.  Collins,  Cox,  Currier,  Davenport,  Dickscn,  Edwards,  Faulk- 
ner, (iillespie,  Glasgow,  Gray,  Grier,  Hargrave,  Hatfield,  Hoguc,  Hollenshead,  Holman,  Hopkins, 
Hosteller,  Johnson  of  Ness  City,  Johnson  of  Marshall,  Johnson  of  Topeka,  Johnson  (Speaker  of  the 
House),  Kelley  of  Cawker  City,  King,  Kreger,  Lawrence,  Lewis,  Loofburrow,  Lower,  McBride,  Mc- 
Nall,  McN'eal,  Matlock,  Mnurer,  Miller,  Moore,  Morgan  of  Clay,  Morgan  of  Osborne,  Mosher,  Osborn, 
Patton,  Pratt,  Reeves,  Rhodes,  Roach,  Roberts,  Slavens,  Spiers,  Simpson,  Smith  of  McPherson.  Smith 
of  Neosho,  Stewart,  Stine,  Sweezy,  Talbot,  Vance,  Veach,  Wallace,  Wentworth,  Wiggins,  Willhelm— 
75.  The  names  of  senators  were:  Yeat— Bowden,  Congdon,  Donnell,  Edmunds,  Granger,  Hicks, 
Humphrey,  Jennings,  M.  B.  Kelley,  Kellogg,  Kimball,  Kohler,  Pickler,  Ritter,  Rush,  Shean,  Sheldon, 
White,  Young — 19. 

t  The  Committee  on  the  Political  Rights  of  Women,  granted  by  the  House,  were :  George  Morgan 
of  Clay,  George  Seitz  of  Ellsworth,  David  Kelso  of  Labette,  F.  W.  Rash  of  Butler,  W.  C.  Edward*  of 
Pawnee,  F.  J.  Kelley  of  Mitchell,  W.  H.  Deckard  of  Doniphan. 

t  The  speakers  were:  Rev.  Amanda  May  (formerly  of  Indiana),  Mrs.  Martha  I..  Merry,  Mrs.  Ada 
Sill,  Mrs.  Colby,  Dr.  Addie  Kester,  Mrs.  M.  D.  Vale,  Rev.  C.  H.  Roger*,  Mr*.  De  C.eer.  Miss  Jennie 
Newby.  Officers  :  President,  Mrs.  Anna  C.  Wait  of  Lincoln  ;  /  Yev-/V«/</><«/,  Mr*.  Laura  M.  Johns 
4>f  S.ilina;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Martia  L.  Berry  of  Cawker  City ;  Comt^omdinf  Stcrtiary,  Mr*.  B.  H. 
Ellsworth  of  Lincoln  ;  Recording  Secretary  ^  Mrs.  Alice  G.  Bond  of  Salina. 

|  When  Miss  Anthony  and  I  went  through  Kansas  in  1867  we  held  an  afternoon  and  evening  meeting 
in  S.ilina.  Our  accommodation*  at  the  hotel  were  wretched  l>ey»nd  description.  Mother  Bickerdyke 
was  just  preparing  to  open  her  hotel  but  wa*  still  in  great  confusion.  Hearing  of  our  dismal  quarters 
she  came  and  took  us  to  her  home,  where  her  exquisitely  cooked  food  and  clean  bed*  redeemed  in  a 
measure  our  dolorous  impression*  of  Salina.  Our  meeting*  were  held  in  an  unfinished  church  without 
a  floor,  the  audience  sitting  on  the  beams,  our  opponent*  (two  young  lawyer*)  and  ourselves  on  a  few 
planks  laid  across,  where  a  small  stand  wa*  placed  and  one  tallow  candle  to  lighten  the  discus»iun  that 
contintied  until  a  late  hour.  Being  delayed  the  next  day  at  the  depot  a  long  time  waiting  for  the  train 
we  held  another  prolonged  discussion  with  these  same  sprigs  of  the  legal  profession.  We  had  intended 
to  go  on  to  Ellsworth,  but  hearing  of  trouble  there  with  the  Indians  we  turned  our  face*  eastward. 
Mother  Itirkerdyke  and  her  thrilling  slurie*  of  the  war  are  the  pleaaaat  memories  that  still  linger  with 
us  of  Salina.— [E.  C.  S. 


710  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

KANSAS  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY   Topeka,  Nov.  26,  1885 
Miss  SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  Rochester,  N.  Y.: 

My  Dear  Friend: — In  answer  to  your  request  for  information  upon  certain  points 
hearing  upon  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage  in  Kansas,  I  give  the  following : 

The  women  avail  themselves  quite  generally  of  their  privilege  of  voting  at  the  an- 
nual and  special  school  district  meetings,  at  which  district  officers  are  elected,  and  all 
questions  of  taxes  and  expenditures  are  voted  on  and  settled.  Women  are,  in  many 
instances,  elected  members  of  the  board  of  school  directors,  and  thus  are  charged  with 
the  duty  of  employing  teachers,  with  the  supervision  of  the  schools,  and  with  the  gen- 
eral management  of  the  affairs  of  the  district.  Women  vote  on  the  question  of  the 
issue  of  school  district  bonds,  and  thus  they  take  part  in  deciding  whether  new  school 
houses  shall  be  built  and  the  property  of  the  districts  be  pledged  for  the  future  pay- 
ment of  the  cost  of  the  same. 

In  the  chartered  cities  women  do  not  generally  vote  for  school  officers  although, 
under  the  constitution,  it  is  believed  they  have  the  right  to  do  so,  and  in  one  or  more 
instances  I  am  informed  they  have  done  so,  without  the  right  being  contested.  In 
cities,  school  officers  are  elected  at  general  elections  for  other  city  officers,  for  which 
women  are  not  permitted  to  vote,  and  as  they  cannot  vote  for  all  they  generally  do  not 
choose  to  vote  for  any.  Women  do  not  vote  for  either  city,  county,  or  State  superin- 
dents,  and  it  is  not  considered  that  under  our  constitution  they  have  the  right  to  do  so. 

In  1884,  there  were  4,915  women  teaching  in  the  State,  and  1,936  men.  The  aver- 
age monthly  wages  of  women  was  $32.85,  and  of  men,  $40.70.  There  are  at  present 
twelve  women  holding  the  office  of  county  superintendent  of  public  schools  in  the 
State.  In  72  counties  the  office  is  filled  by  men.  Thus,  of  the  84  organized  counties 
of  the  State,  one-seventh  of  the  school  superintendents  are  women,  who  generally 
prove  to  be  competent  and  efficient,  and  the  number  elected  is  increasing. 

In  one  county,  Harper,  a  woman  holds  the  office  of  county  clerk.  A  young  woman 
was  recently  elected  to  the  office  of  register  of  deeds,  in  Davis  county.  It  is  conceded 
that  these  two  offices  can  very  appropriately  be  filled  by  women;  and  now  that  the 
movement  has  begun,  no  doubt  the  number  of  those  elected  will  increase  at  recurring 
elections.  Already,  in  numerous  instances,  women  are  employed  as  deputies  and  as- 
sistants in  these  and  other  public  offices. 

The  participation  of  women  in  school  elections  and  their  election  to  membership  of 
school  district  boards,  are  resulting  in  a  steady  growth  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  woman 
suffrage,  generally.  It  is  seen  that  in  the  decision  of  questions  involving  the  proper 
maintenance  of  schools,  and  the  supplying  of  school  apparatus,  women  usually 
vote  for  liberal  and  judicious  expenditures,  and  make  faithful  school  officers.  Their 
failures  are  not  those  of  omission,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case  with  men  holding  these 
offices.  If  they  err  in  judgment,  it  is  from  a  lack  of  that  business  information  and  ex- 
perience which  women  as  non-voters  have  had  little  opportunity  to  acquire,  but  which, 
under  our  Kansas  system  is  now  rapidly  being  supplied. 

Among  the  influences  tending  to  increase  the  suffrage  sentiment  in  Kansas,  may  be 
mentioned  those  growing  out  of  the  active  part  women  are  taking  in  the  discussion  of 
political,  economical,  moral  and  social  questions,  through  their  participation  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  the  State  Temperance  Union, 
the  Woman's  Social  Science  Association,  the  Kansas  Academy  of  Science,  the  Grange, 
the  State  and  local  Teachers'  Associations,  and  many  other  organizations  in  which 
women  have  come  to  perform  so  prominent  a  part.  In  these  organizations,  and  in 
the  part  they  take  in  discussions,  they  show  their  capacity  to  grapple  with  the  politi- 
cal, social,  and  scientific  problems  of  the  day,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  demonstrate 
their  ability  to  perform  the  highest  duties  of  citizenship.  Still  the  chief  influence 
which  is  bringing  about  a  growth  of  opinion  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  in  Kansas, 
comes  from  what  has  now  become  the  actual,  and  I  may  say,  the  popular  and  salu- 
tary practice  of  woman  suffrage  at  school  district  meetings.  It  is  seen  that  the  reasons 
which  make  it  right  and  expedient  for  women  to  vote  on  questions  pertaining  to  the 


The  Great   Obstacle.  7 1 1 

education  of  their  children,  bear  with  little,  if  any,  less  force  upon  the  propriety  of 
their  voting  upon  all  questions  affecting  the  public  welfare. 

I  think  I  may  truly  say  to  you  that  the  tendencies  in  Kansas  are  to  the  steady  growth 
of  sentiment  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage.  This  is  so  apparent  that  few  of  those  even 
who  do  not  believe  in  its  propriety  or  expediency  now  doubt  that  it  will  eventually  be 
adopted,  and  the  political  consequences  fully  brought  to  the  test  of  experience. 

Yours  sincerely,         F.  G.  ADAMS. 

The  greatest  obstacle  to  our  speedy  success  in  this  State,  as  elsewhere, 
is  the  ignorance  and  indifference  of  the  women  themselves.  But  the 
earnestness  and  enthusiasm  of  the  few,  in  their  efforts  from  year  to  year, 
cannot  be  wholly  lost — the  fires  kindled  by  that  memorable  campaign  of 
1867  are  not  dead,  only  slumbering,  to  burst  forth  with  renewed  brilliancy 
in  the  dawn  of  the  day  that  brings  liberty,  justice,  and  equality  for 
woman. 


CHAPTER   LI. 
COLORADO. 

Great  American  Desert — Organized  as  a  Territory,  February  28,  1860 — Gov.  McCook's 
Message  Recommending  Woman  Suffrage,  1870— Adverse  Legislation — Hon. 
Amos  Steck — Admitted  to  the  Union,  1876 — Constitutional  Convention — Efforts 
to  Strike  Out  the  Word  "  Male  " — Convention  to  Discuss  Woman  Suffrage — School 
Suffrage  Accorded — State  Association  Formed,  Alida  C.  Avery,  President — Propo- 
sition for  Full  Suffrage  Submitted  to  the  Popular  Vote — A  Vigorous  Campaign — 
Mrs.  Campbell  and  Mrs.  Patterson  of  Denver — Opposition  by  the  Clergy — Their 
Arguments  Ably  Answered — D.  M.  Richards — The  Amendment  Lost — The  Rocky 
Mountain  News. 

THAT  our  English  readers  may  appreciate  the  Herculean 
labors  that  the  advocates  of  suffrage  undertake  in  this  country 
in  canvassing  a  State,  they  must  consider  the  vast  territory  to  be 
traveled  over,  in  stages  and  open  wagons  where  railroads  are 
scarce.  Colorado,  for  example,  covers  an  area  of  104,500  square 
miles.  It  is  divided  by  the  Rocky  Mountains  running  north 
and  south,  with  two  hundred  lofty  peaks  rising  thirteen  thous- 
and feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  some  still  higher.  To 
reach  the  voters  in  the  little  mining  towns  a  hundred  miles  apart, 
over  mountains  such  as  these,  involves  hardships  that  only  those 
who  have  made  the  journeys  can  understand.  But  there  is  some 
compensation  in  the  variety,  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  scenery, 
with  its  richly  wooded  valleys,  vast  parks  and  snow-capped  moun- 
tains. It  is  the  region  for  those  awake  to  the  sublime  in  nature 
to  reverently  worship  some  of  her  grandest  'works  that  no  poet 
can  describe  nor  artist  paint.  Here,  too,  the  eternal  struggle 
for  liberty  goes  on,  for  the  human  soul  can  never  be  attuned 
to  harmony  with  its  surroundings,  especially  the  grand  and 
glorious,  until  the  birthright  of  justice  and  equality  is  secured 
to  all. 

For  a  history  of  the  early  efforts  made  in  the  Centennial  State 
to  secure  equal  rights  for  women,  we  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  Mary 
G.  Campbell  and  Mrs. Katharine  G.Patterson,  two  sisters  who 
have  been  actively  interested  in  the  suffrage  movement  in  Colo- 
rado, as  follows : 


The  First  Effort.  713 

In  1848,  while  those  immortal  women  whose  names  will  be  found  on 
many  another  page  of  the  volume  in  which  this  chapter  is  included,  were 
asking  in  the  convention  at  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.,  that  their  equal  member- 
ship in  the  human  family  might  be  admitted  by  their  husbands,  fathers 
and  sons,  Colorado,  unnamed  and  unthought  of,  was  still  asleep  with  her 
head  above  the  clouds.  Only  two  mountain-tops  in  all  the  world  were 
nearer  heaven  than  hers,  and  they,  in  far  Thibet,  had  seen  the  very  be- 
ginnings of  the  race  which,  after  six  thousand  years,  had  not  yet  pene- 
trated Colorado.  Islanded  in  a  cruel  brown  ocean  of  sand,  she  hid  her 
treasures  of  gold  and  silver  in  her  virgin  bosom  and  dreamed,  unstirred 
by  any  echoes  of  civilization.  When  she  woke  at  last  it  was  to  the  sound 
of  an  anvil  chorus — to  the  ring  of  the  mallet  and  drill,  and  the  hoarse 
voices  of  men  greedy  only  for  gold. 

In  1858,  when  the  Ninth  National  Convention  of  women  to  demand 
their  legal  rights  was  in  session  in  New  York,  there  were  only  three 
white  women  in  the  now  rich  and  beautiful  city  of  Denver.  Still  another 
ten  years  of  wild  border  life,  of  fierce  vicissitudes,  of  unwritten  tragedies 
enacted  in  forest  and  mine,  and  Colorado  was  organized  into  a  territory 
with  a  population  of  5,000  women  and  25,000  men. 

The  first  effort  for  suffrage  was  made  in  1870,  during  the  fifth  session 
of  the  legislative  assembly,  soon  after  General  Edward  McCook  was  sent 
out  by  President  Grant  to  fill  the  gubernatorial  chair.  In  his  message 
to  the  legislature,  he  promptly  recommended  to  the  attention  of  its  mem- 
bers the  question  of  suffrage  for  woman  : 

Before  dismissing  the  subject  of  franchise,  I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  one 
question  connected  with  it,  which  you  may  deem  of  sufficient  importance  to  demand 
some  consideration  at  your  hands  before  the  close  of  the  session.  Our  higher  civiliza- 
tion has  recognized  woman's  equality  with  man  in  all  respects  save  one — suffrage. 
It  has  been  said  that  no  great  reform  was  ever  made  without  passing  through  three 
stages — ridicule,  argument,  and  adoption.  It  rests  with  you  to  say  whether  Colorado 
will  accept  this  reform  in  its  first  stage,  as  our  sister  territory  of  Wyoming  has  done, 
or  in  the  last;  whether  she  will  be  a  leader  or  a  follower;  for  the  logic  of  a  progressive 
civilization  leads  to  the  inevitable  result  of  a  universal  suffrage. 

This  was  the  first  gun  of  the  campaign,  and  summoned  to  the  field 
various  contending  forces,  armed  with  ridicule,  argument,  or  an  optimistic 
diplomacy,  urging  an  immediate  surrender  of  the  ground  claimed.  Bills 
favoring  the  enfranchisement  of  women  were  discussed  both  in  the  Terri- 
torial Council  Chamber  and  in  the  lower  House  of  the  legislature.  The 
subject  was  taken  up  by  the  press  and  the  people,  and  not  escaping  its 
meed  of  ridicule,  was  seriously  dealt  with  by  both  friend  and  enemy. 
Perhaps  the  western  champions  of  woman's  recognition  as  an  intelligent 
part  of  the  body  politic  were  brought  to  understand  the  full  meaning  of 
her  disabilities  by  their  own  experiences  as  territorial  minors.  Certain  it 
is  that  the  high  spirit  of  the  citizens  of  Colorado  chafed  intolerably  under 
the  temporary  limitations  of  accustomed  rights  of  sovereign  manhood. 
The  federal  government,  in  the  capacity  of  regent,  sent  to  these  terri- 
torial wards  their  officers  and  governors  and  fixed  the  rate  of  their  taxa- 
tion without  full  representation.  These  wards  were  indeed  empowered, 
as  were  the  people  of  their  sister  territories,  to  elect  a  delegate  to  the 


714  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

national  congress,  whose  opinions  upon  territorial  matters  were  allowed 
expression  in  that  body,  but  who  could  no  more  enforce  there  his  con- 
victions upon  important  measures,  by  a  vote,  than  could  the  most  intelli- 
gent woman  of  this  territory  upon  the  question  of  his  election  to  repre- 
sent her  interests. 

In  the  Colorado  papers  of  those  days  of  territorial  tutelage,  there  ap- 
peared repeatedly  most  impatient  protests  against  these  humiliating  con- 
ditions of  citizenship.  With  the  attainment  of  statehood  in  1876  there 
came  to  the  men  of  Colorado  a  restoration  of  their  full  rights  as  citizens 
of  the  Republic.  According  to  the  prescriptive  usage,  the  humiliating 
conditions  of  citizenship  without  the  ballot,  remained  to  the  women  of 
the  Centennial  State  ;  and  those  of  their  reenfranchised  brothers  who  had 
felt  most  keenly  their  own  unaccustomed  restrictions,  were  without  doubt 
the  foremost  advocates  of  the  movement  to  secure  the  full  recognition 
of  women's  rights. 

The  majority  of  the  territorial  legislative  assembly  of  1870  was  unex- 
pectedly Democratic,  and  almost  as  unexpected  was  the  favor  promptly 
shown  by  the  Democratic  members  to  the  passage  of  the  bill  proposing 
woman  suffrage.  The  measure  was  indeed  characterized  by  the  opposing 
Republicans,  as  "  the  great  Democratic  reform,"  and  for  weeks  seemed 
destined  to  triumph  through  Democratic  votes,  in  spite  of  the  frivol- 
ous and  serious  opposition  of  the  Republican  minority,  and  the  few  Dem- 
ocratic members  who  deserted  what  then  seemed  the  party  policy  upon 
this  question.  The  pleas  urged  in  advocacy  of  the  new  movement,  as  well 
as  the  protests  urged  against  it,  were  substantially  the  same  as  were  used 
in  the  East  at  that  stage  of  the  question.  Accompanying  them  were  the 
extravagancies  of  hope  and  fear  incident  to  the  early  consideration  of 
every  suggested  change  in  a  long-accepted  social  order.  An  impossible 
Utopia  was  promised  on  the  one  hand  no  less  confidently  than  was  pre- 
dicted upon  the  other  a  dire  iconoclasm  of  the  sacred  shrine  of  long- 
adored  ideals,  as  a  consequence  of  simply  granting  to  intelligent  women 
a  privilege  justly  their  due.  Both  the  derision  and  the  adverse  reasoning 
of  the  alarmists  were  well  met  by  fearless  friends,  in  Council  and  House. 
Bills  looking  to  the  removal  of  woman's  disabilities  were  referred  in  each 
to  a  select  committee  for  consideration,  on  January  19.  The  majority  re- 
port to  the  House  through  the  chairman  of  its  special  committee,  M. 
DeFrance,  was  an  able  advocacy  of  the  measure  under  consideration, 
while  the  adverse  recommendation  of  the  Council  committee  was  accom- 
panied by  an  excellent  report  by  Hon.  Amos  Steck,  setting  forth  clearly 
the  reasons  of  the  minority  for  their  favorable  views.  After  hearing  the 
reports,  both  Houses  went  into  committee  of  the  whole  for  a  free  discus- 
sion upon  the  question. 

"  The  criterion  of  civilization,  physical  force,"  "  Strength  as  the  measure 
of  right," — as  recent  writers  have  defined  the  divine  right  of  might — 
seemed  the  basis  of  reasoning  with  those  who  claimed  that  woman  should 
not  be  given  the  ballot  because  she  might  not  carry  the  sword.  Dark 
pictures  were  drawn  of  possible  women  as  electors  plunging  their  country 
into  wars,  from  whose  consequences  they  would  themselves  suffer  noth- 


A  Lion  in  the   Way.  715 

ing.  By  the  more  hopeful  it  was  urged  that  the  mighty  heart,  the  moral 
force  of  humanity,  as  represented  in  womanhood,  and  united  with  clear 
womanly  intelligence,  would  prove  a  greater  power  in  all  State  interests 
than  sword  or  bayonet. 

The  strongest  speaker  in  the  legislature  upon  the  subject  of  suffrage — 
President  Hinsdale  of  the  Council — was,  unfortunately,  a  bitter  enemy  of 
the  proposed  reform.  Yet  some  of  his  most  forcible  utterances  made  in 
committee  of  the  whole,  were  excellent  arguments  in  favor  of,  rather  than 
against  the  measure.  Excellent  arguments  in  favor  of  the  bill  in  question 
were  made  by  leading  members  of  the  House — Messrs.  Lea,  Shepard 
and  DeFrance.  By  invitation  of  the  legislature,  that  body  was  addressed 
by  a  prominent  member  of  the  Denver  bar,  Mr.  Willard  Teller,  the 
brother  of  one  of  our  U.  S.  senators.  The  hall  was  filled  by  an  interested 
audience  to  hear  Mr.  Teller's  address,  which  was  a  strong  presentation 
of  the  principles  upon  which  rest  the  claims  of  American  citizens  to  uni- 
versal suffrage. 

Outside  the  assembly  halls,  Governor  McCook  and  his  beautiful,  accom- 
plished, and  gracefully  aggressive  wife,  strongly  favored  the  affirmative 
of  the  question  at  issue,  while  Willard  Teller,  D.  M.  Richards  and  other 
distinguished  men  and  women  of  the  territory  were  active  friends  dur- 
ing the  contest.  In  the  press,  the  measure  had  a  most  influential 
support  in  the  Daily  Colorado  Tribune,  a  well-conducted  Denver  journal, 
edited  by  Mr.  R.  W.  Woodbury.  Space  in  its  columns  was  given  to 
well-written  articles  by  contributors  interested  in  the  success  of  the 
cause,  and  many  able  editorials  appeared,  embodying  strong  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  the  reform,  or  answering  the  opposing  bitterness  and 
frivolity  of  its  contemporary  the  Rocky  Mountain  News.  The  interest  in 
the  proposed  innovation  was  indeed  quite  general  throughout  the  terri- 
tory, but  wherever  the  subject  was  discussed,  in  the  legislative  halls,  in 
private  conversation,  editorial  column,  or  correspondence  of  the  press, 
the  grounds  argumentatively  traversed  were  the  same  highways  and  by- 
ways of  reason  and  absurdity  which  have  been  so  often  since  gone  over. 

There  was  perhaps  one  lion  in  the  way  of  establishing  universal  suffrage 
in  the  West,  which  the  eastern  advocates  did  not  fear.  It  was  said  that 
our  intelligent  women  could  not  be  allowed  to  vote,  whatever  the  princi- 
ples upon  which  the  right  might  be  claimed,  because  in  that  case,  the  poor, 
degraded  Chinese  women  who  might  reach  our  shores,  would  also  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  voting  list,  and  what  then  would  become  of  our  proud,  Cau- 
casian civilization  ?  Whether  it  was  the  thought  of  the  poor  Mongolian 
slave  at  the  polls,  or  some  other  equally  terrifying  vision  of  a  yearly  visit 
of  American  women  to  the  centre  of  some  voting  precinct,  the  majority 
of  the  Colorado  legislative  assembly  of  1870,  in  spite  of  all  the  free  dis- 
cussion of  the  campaign  of  that  year,  decided  adversely.  In  the  latter 
days  of  the  session,  the  bill  having  taken  the  form  of  a  proposition  to 
submit  the  question  at  issue  to  the  already  qualified  voters  of  the  terri- 
tory, was  lost  in  the  council  chamber  by  a  majority  of  one,  and  in  the 
House  by  a  two-thirds  majority,  leaving  to  the  defeated  friends  of  the  re- 
form as  their  only  reward,  a  consciousness  of  strength  gained  in  the  con- 
test. 


716  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

A  few  years  more  made  Denver  a  city  beautiful  for  habitation,  made 
Colorado  a  garden,  filled  that  goodly  land  with  capable  men,  and  intelli- 
gent, spirited  women.  Statehood  had  been  talked  of,  but  lost,  and  then 
men  began  to  say  :  "  The  one  hundredth  birthday  of  our  American  inde- 
pendence is  so  near,  let  us  make  this  a  centennial  State  ;  let  the  entrance 
into  the  Union  be  announced  by  the  same  bells  that  shall  ring  in  our 
national  anniversary."  And  so  it  was  decreed.  Mindful  of  1776 — mindful 
too,  of  the  second  declaration  made  by  the  women  at  the  first  equal 
rights  convention  in  1848,  the  friends  of  equality  in  Colorado  determined 
to  gird  themselves  for  a  supreme  effort  in  anticipation  of  the  constitution 
that  was  to  be  framed  for  the  new  State  to  be. 

A  notice  was  published  asking  all  persons  favorable  to  suffrage  for 
women,  to  convene  in  Denver,  January  10,  to  take  measures  to  secure  the 
recognition  of  woman's  equality  under  the  pending  constitution.  In  pur- 
suance to  this  call,  a  large  and  eager  audience  filled  Unity  Church  long 
before  the  hour  appointed  for  the  meeting.  A  number  of  the  orthodox 
clergy  were  present.  The  Rev.  Mrs.  Wilkes  of  Colorado  Springs, 
opened  the  exercises  with  prayer.  Mrs.  Margaret  W.  Campbell  of  Massa- 
chusetts was  then  introduced,  and  said  :  "  This  convention  was  called  to 
present  woman's  claims  to  the  ballot,  from  her  own  stand-point,  and  to 
take  such  measures  to  secure  the  recognition  of  her  equality  in  the  con- 
stitution of  Colorado,  as  the  friends  gathered  from  different  parts  of  the 
territory  may  think  proper.  We  do  not  ask  that  women  shall  take  the 
places  of  men,  or  usurp  authority  over  them  ;  we  only  ask  that  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  our  government  is  founded  shall  be  applied  to  women. 

Rev.  Mrs.  Wilkes  made  an  especial  point  of  the  fact  that  in  Colorado 
Springs  women  owned  one-third  of  the  taxable  property,  and  yet  were 
obliged  (at  the  recent  spring  election)  to  see  the  bonds  for  furnishing  a 
supply  of  pure  water,  voted  down  because  women  had  no  voice  in  the 
matter.  This  had  been  a  serious  mistake,  as  the  physicians  of  the  place 
had  pronounced  the  present  supply  impure  and  unwholesome.  She  re- 
ferred to  the  fears  of  many  that  the  constitution,  freighted  with  woman 
suffrage,  might  sink,  when  it  would  else  be  buoyant,  and  begged  her 
hearers  not  to  fear  such  a  burden  would  endanger  it.  The  convention 
continued  through  two  days  with  enthusiastic  speeches  from  Mr.  D. 
M.  Richards  and  Rev.  Mr.  Wright,  who  preferred  to  be  introduced  as  the 
nephew  of  Dr.  Harriot  K.  Hunt  of  Boston.  Letters  were  read  from  Lucy 
Stone  and  Judge  Kingman,  and  an  extract  from  the  message  of  Governor 
Thayer  of  Wyoming,  in  which  he  declared  the  results  of  woman  suffrage 
in  that  territory  to  have  been  beneficial  and  its  influence  favorable  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  community.  A  territorial  society  was  formed  with 
an  efficient  board  of  officers  ;*  resolutions,  duly  discussed,  were  adopted, 


*  President,  Alida  C.  Avery,  M.  D.,  Denver.     Vice-Presidents,  Rev.  Mr.  Harford,  Denver  ;  Mr.  J. 

E.  Washburn,  Big  Thompson  ;  Mrs.  H.  M.  Lee.  Longmont ;  Mrs.  M.  M.  Sheetz, Canon  City  ;  Mrs.  L. 
S.  Ruhn.  Del  None;  Mr.  N.  C.  Meeker,  Greeley ;  Hon.  Willard Teller. Central ;  Mr.  D.  M.  Richards, 
Denver;    Mr.  J.  B.  Harrington,  Littleton;    Mr.  A.  E.  Lee,  Boulder;    Rev.  Wm.  Shephard,  Canon 
City.     Recording  Secretary,  Miss  Eunice  D.  Sewall,  Denver.     Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  A.  L. 
Washburn,  Big  Thompson.     Treasurer,  Mrs.  I.  T.  Hanna,  Denver.     Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  M. 

F.  Shields.  Colorado  Springs;   Mr.  A.  L.  Ellis,  Boulder;    Mrs.  M.   E.  Hale,  Denver;  Mr.  W.  A. 
Wilkes,  Colorado  Springs ;  Mr.  J.  R.  Hanna,  Denver ;  Mrs.  S.  C.  Wilber,  Greeley ;  Rev.  Dr.  Crary, 
Pueblo. 


A   Momentous  Day.  717 

and  the  meeting  closed  with  a  carefully-prepared  address  by  Dr.  Avery, 
the  newly-elected  president  of  the  territorial  association. 

The  committee*  appointed  to  wait  upon  the  constitutional  convention 
were  received  courteously  by  that  body,  and  listened  to  with  respectful 
attention.  One  would  have  thought  the  gentlemen  to  whom  the  argu- 
ments and  appeals  of  such  women  were  addressed  would  have  found  it  in 
their  hearts  to  make  some  reply,  even  while  disclaiming  the  official 
character  of  their  act ;  but  they  preserved  a  decorous  and  non-committal, 
if  not  incurious  silence,  and  the  ladies  withdrew.  The  press  said,  the 
morning  after  their  visit :  "  The  gentlemen  were  all  interested  and  amused 
by  the  errand  of  the  ladies."  The  morning  following,  the  constitutional 
convention  was  memorialized  by  the  Suffrage  Association  of  Missouri, 
and  was  also  presented  with  a  petition  signed  by  a  thousand  citizens  of 
Colorado,  asking  that  in  the  new  constitution  no  distinction  be  made  on 
account  of  sex.  This  was  only  the  beginning.  Petitions  came  in  after- 
wards, numerously  signed,  and  were  intended  to  have  the  force  of  a  sort 
of  ante-election  vote. 

Denver  presented  an  interesting  social  aspect  at  this  time.  It  was  as 
if  the  precursive  tremor  of  a  moral  earthquake  had  been  felt,  and  people, 
only  half  awake,  did  not  know  whether  to  seek  safety  in  the  house,  or 
outside  of  it.  Women  especially  were  perplexed  and  inquiring,  and  it 
was  observed  that  those  in  favor  of  asking  a  recognition  of  their  rights 
in  the  new  State,  were  the  intelligent  and  leading  ladies  of  the  city.  The 
wives  of  ministers,  of  congressmen,  of  judges,  the  prominent  mem- 
bers of  Shakespeare  clubs,  reading  circles,  the  directors  of  charitable 
institutions, — these  were  the  ones  who  first  ranged  themselves  on  the 
side  of  equal  rights,  clearly  proving  that  the  man  was  right  who  pointed 
out  the  danger  of  allowing  women  to  learn  the  alphabet. 

When  February  15  came,  it  was  a  momentous  day  for  Colorado.  The 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Suffrage  and  Elections  was  to  come  up  for 
final  action.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  were  two  reports;  that  of  the 
minority  was  signed  by  two  members  of  the  committee,  Judge  Bromwell, 
whose  breadth  and  scholarship  were  apparent  in  his  able  report,  and  a 
Mexican  named  Agapita  Vigil,  a  legislator  from  Southern  Colorado 
win-re  Spanish  is  the  dominant  tongue.  Mr.  Vigil  spoke  no  English,  and 
was  one  of  those  representatives  for  whose  sake  an  interpreter  was  main- 
tained during  the  session  of  the  convention. 

Ladies  were  present  in  large  numbers.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  cele- 
hrat'-d  the  occasion  by  an  unusual  spruceness  of  attire,  and  others  by 
l><  ing  sober  enough  to  attend  to  business.  The  report  with  three-fifths 
of  the  signatures,  after  setting  forth  that  the  subject  had  had  careful  con- 


•  ( )(  the  membership  of  this  committee  a  grateful  word  U  to  be  Mid :  Mr*.  Campbell  U  a  woman  of 
agreeable  and  stately  presence,  and  adds  to  thorough  information  on  all  point*  connected  with  the 
claim*  in. i.!.-  in  (hit  campaign,  an  unutual  facility  and  persuasiveness  of  language.  Mr*.  Shields  is  one 
of  the  in. -.i  lovable  women  to  be  seen  in  the  suffrage  panorama;  ft  tower  of  strength  in  her  own 
family,  where  she  is  at  once  the  comrade  and  commaiulcr  of  her  children — the  help-meet  ami  fn> 
her  hu«t>an<l.  She  inspires  immediate  confiilrnrc  whenever  »he  confronts  an  audience.  Mr*.  Wash- 
Inirii  it  aUo  an  attractive  and  large-hearted  woman— a  "  Granger,"  and  thus  experienced  in  united, 
:.-cil  action  of  men  and  women  for  furthering  the  imere*t»  of  both.  Mrv  Manna,  a  tall,  graceful 
blonde,  more  reserved  in  speech  but  entirely  intelligent  in  faith  and  in  labor,  represented  to  many  men 
of  the  convention  the  very  qualities  they  liked  in  their  own  wive*. 


7i 8  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

sideration,  went  on  to  state  the  qualifications  of  voters,  namely,  that  all 
should  be  male  citizens,  with  one  exception,  and  that  was,  that  women 
might  vote  for  school  district  officers. 

Mr.  A.  K.  Yount  of  Boulder,  spoke  in  favor  of  the  motion  to  strike  out 
the  word  "  male  "  in  section  i :  "  That  every  male  person  over  the  age  of  21 
years,  possessing  the  necessary  qualifications,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote," 
etc.  He  called  attention  to  the  large  number  of  petitions  which  had  been 
sent  in,  asking  for  this,  and  to  the  fact  that  not  a  single  remonstrance  had 
been  received.  He  believed  the  essential  principles  of  human  freedom 
were  involved  in  this  demand,  and  he  insisted  that  justice  required  that 
women  should  help  to  make  the  laws  by  which  they  are  governed.  The 
amendment  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  24  to  8. 

Mr.  Storm  offered  an  amendment  that  women  be  permitted  to  vote  for, 
and  hold  the  office  of,  county  superintendent  of  schools.  This  also  was 
lost.  The  only  other  section  of  the  report  which  had  any  present  inter- 
est to  women,  was  the  one  reading : 

SECTION  2.  The  General  Assembly  may  at  any  time  extend  by  law  the  right  of  suf- 
frage to  persons  not  herein  enumerated,  but  no  such  law  shall  take  effect  or  be  in 
force  until  the  same  shall  have  been  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  at  a  general 
election,  and  approved  by  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  for  and  against  such  law. 

After  much  discussion  it  was  voted  that  the  first  General  Assembly 
should  provide  a  law  whereby  the  subject  should  be  submitted  to  a  vote 
of  the  electors. 

After  this  the  curtain  fell,  the  lights  were  put  out,  and  all  the  atmos- 
phere and  mise  en  scene  of  the  drama  vanished.  It  was  well  known,  how- 
ever, that  another  season  would  come,  the  actors  would  reappear,  and  an 
"  opus "  would  be  given  ;  whether  it  should  turn  out  a  tragedy,  or  a 
Miriam's  song  of  deliverance,  no  one  was  able  to  predict.  Meantime,  the 
women  of  Colorado — to  change  the  figure — bivouacked  on  the  battle- 
field, and  sent  for  reinforcements  against  the  fall  campaign.  They  held 
themselves  well  together,  and  used  their  best  endeavors  to  educate  pub- 
lic sentiment. 

A  column  in  the  Denver  Rocky  Mountain  News,  a  pioneer  paper  then 
edited  by  W.  N.  Byers,  was  offered  the  woman  suffrage  association, 
through  which  to  urge  our  claims.  The  column  was  put  into  the  hands 
of  Mrs.  Campbell,  the  wife  of  E.  L.  Campbell,  of  the  law  firm  of  Patterson 
&  Campbell  of  Denver,  for  editorship.  This  lady,  from  whose  editorials 
quotations  will  be  given,  was  too  timid  (she  herself  begs  us  to  say  cow- 
ardly) to  use  her  name  in  print,  and  so  translated  it  into  its  German 
equivalent  of  Schlachtfeld,  thus  nullifying  whatever  of  weight  her  own 
name  would  have  carried  in  the  way  of  personal  and  social  endorsement 
of  an  unpopular  cause.  Her  sister,  Mrs.  T.  M.  Patterson,  an  early  and 
earnest  member  of  the  Colorado  Suffrage  Association,  "bore  testimony" 
as  courageously  and  constantly  as  her  environment  permitted. 

Mrs.  Gov.  McCook,  as  previously  stated,  had  been  the  first  woman  in 
Colorado  to  set  the  example  of  a  spirited  claim  to  simple  political  justice 
for  her  sex,  but  she,  alas !  at  the  date  now  reached  in  our  sketch,  was  dead 
— in  her  beautiful  youth,  in  the  first  flower  of  her  sweet,  bright  woman- 
hood. Her  loss  to  the  cause  can  best  be  measured  by  those  who  know 


Leaders  in  the  Cause.  719 

what  an  immense  uplifting  power  is  present  when  an  intelligent  man  in 
an  influential  position  joins  his  personal  and  political  force  to  his  wife's 
personal  and  social  force  in  the  endeavor  to  accomplish  an  object  dear 
to  both. 

It  is  a  pity  not  to  register  here,  however  inadequately,  some  outline  of 
many  figures  that  rise  to  form  a  part  of  the  picture  of  Colorado  in  1876-7. 
When  liberty  shall  have  been  achieved,  and  all  citizens  shall  be  com- 
fortably enjoying  its  direct  and  indirect  blessings,  this  book  should 
be  found  to  have  preserved  in  the  amber  of  its  pages  the  names  of  those 
who  bravely  wrought  for  freedom  in  that  earlier  time.  Would  that  one 
might  indeed  summon  them  all  by  a  roll-call !  But  they  will  not  answer — 
they  say  only,:  "  Let  our  work  stand  for  us,  be  its  out-come  small  or 
great." 

To  Dr.  Alida  C.  Avery,  however,  whatever  the  outcome,  a  weighty  ob- 
ligation is  due  from  all  past,  present  and  future  laborers  in  this  cause  in 
Colorado.  She  it  was  who  set  at  work  and  kept  at  work  the  interplay  of 
ideas  and  efforts  which  accomplished  what  was  done.  Through  her  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  the  immortals  at  the  East,  Lucy  Stone,  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  she  drew  them  to  Colorado  during  the 
campaign  about  to  be  described,  and  with  them  came  others.  Mrs.  M.  W. 
Campbell  and  her  husband  reappeared  to  do  faithful  service,  and  then 
came  also  Miss  Lelia  Patridge  of  Philadelphia,  a  young,  graceful,  and  ef- 
fective speaker, — so  the  local  papers  constantly  describe  her,  and  then 
came,  in  the  person  of  Miss  Matilda  Hindman  of  Pittsburg  Pa.,  one  of  the' 
ablest  women  of  the  whole  campaign.  Gentle,  persuasive,  womanly,  she 
was  at  the  same  time  armed  at  all  points  with  fact,  argument,  and  illustra- 
tion, and  her  zeal  was  only  equaled  by  her  power  of  sustained  labor. 

Many  of  these  same  qualities  belong  to  Mrs.  M.  F.  Shields,  of  Colorado 
Springs,  one  of  the  committee  on  constitutional  work  in  the  campaign  of 
1876,  and  an  ardent,  unceasing,  unselfish  laborer  in  the  church,  in  suffrage 
and  temperance,  for  more  than  ten  years.  She  did  not  lecture,  but 
"  talked  ";  talked  to  five  hundred  men  at  a  time  as  if  they  were  her  own 
sons,  and  only  needed  to  be  shown  they  were  conniving  at  injustice,  in 
order  to  turn  about  and  do  the  right  thing.  This  same  element  of 
"motherliness  "  it  was,  which  gained  her  the  respectful  attention  of  an 
audience  of  the  roughest  and  most  ignorant  Cornish  miners  up  in 
Caribou,  who  would  listen  to  no  other  woman  speaking  upon  the  subject. 
When  the  members  of  the  famous  constitutional  committee  were  con- 
sidering the  suffrage  petition,  prior  to  making  their  report,  Judge  Stone  of 
Pueblo,  tried  to  persuade  the  Spanish-speaking  member  that  to  grant  the 
franchise  to  women  would  be  to  be  false  to  his  party,  as  those  women  were 
all  Democrats.  But  Senor  Vigil  replied  that  he  had  been  talking  through 
his  interpreter  to  the  "  nice  old  lady,  who  smiled  so  much  "  (meaning  Mrs. 
Shields),  and  he  knew  what  they  asked  was  all  right,  and  he  should  vote 
for  it. 

Of  the  men  who  were  willing  to  obey  Paul's  entreaty  to  "help  those 
women,"  must  be  named  in  the  front  rank  David  M.  Richards  of  Denver, 
a  pioneer  of '59,  and  as  brave  and  generous  and  true  a  heart  as  ever  beat 


720  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

in  time  to  the  pulse  of  progress,  Rev.  B.  F.  Crary,  a  true  apostolic  helper, 
Mr.  Henry  C.  Dillon,  a  young  western  Raleigh  for  knightly  chivalry, 
Hon.  J.  B.  Belford,  member  of  congress  then  and  now,  Judge  H.  P.  H. 
Bromwell,  who  needs  no  commendation  from  the  historian,  as  his  elo- 
quent minority  report  speaks  adequately  for  him  ;  these,  and  very  many 
more,  both  men  and  women,  have,  as  the  French  say,  "  deserved  well  of 
the  State  and  of  their  generation." 

And  it  was  once  more  to  the  aid  of  these  men  and  women  that  the  East 
sent  reinforcements  as  soon  as  the  winter  of  1877  was  well  ushered  in.  An 
annual  convention  was  announced  for  January  15,  in  Denver.  When  the 
bitter  cold  evening  came  it  seemed  doubtful  if  any  great  number  of  per- 
sons would  be  present,  but  the  large  Lawrence  street  Methodist  Church 
was,  on  the  contrary,  packed  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Rev.  Mr.  Eads,  pas- 
tor of  the  church,  opened  the  meeting  with  prayer,  and  Dr.  Avery,  as 
president  of  the  association,  gave  a  brief  re'sume'  of  the  work  during  its 
one  year  of  existence.  Colonel  Henry  Logan  of  Boulder  (formerly  of  Ill- 
inois), made  a  manly  and  telling  speech  in  favor  of  a  measure  which  he 
called  one  of  axiomatic  justice.  Mrs.  Wright  of  New  York,  after  a  piquant 
address,  announced  the  meeting  of  the  convention  for  the  next  day.  On 
the  following  morning  a  business  session  was  held,  and  officers  elected 
for  the  year.*  In  the  afternoon  speeches  were  made  by  Dr.  Crary,  Mrs. 
Shields,  and  Mr.  David  Boyd  of  Greeley,  and  in  the  evening  by  Mr.  Henry 
C.  Dillon  and  Rev.  J.  R.  Eads,  the  closing  and  crowning  speech  of  the  con- 
'vention  being  given  by  Miss  Laura  Hanna  of  Denver,  a  petite,  pretty 
young  girl,  whose  remarks  made  a  bonne  bouche  with  which  to  close  the 
feast.  Interest  in  the  subject  rose  to  fever  heat  before  October.  Pulpit, 
press  and  fireside  were  occupied  with  its  discussion.  The  most  effective, 
and  at  the  same  time,  exasperating  opposition,  came  from  the  pulpit,  but 
there  was  also  vigorous  help  from  the  same  quarter.  The  Catholic  Bishop 
preached  a  series  of  sermons  and  lectures,  in  which  he  fulminated  all  the 
thunders  of  apostolic  and  papal  revelation  against  women  who  wanted  to 
vote  : 

Though  strong-minded  women  who  are  not  satisfied  with  the  disposition  of  Provi- 
dence and  who  wish  to  go  beyond  the  condition  of  their  sex,  profess  no  doubt  to  be 
Christians,  do  they  consult  the  Bible  ? — do  they  follow  the  Bible  ?  I  fear  not.  Had 
God  intended  to  create  a  companion  for  man,  capable  of  following  the  same  pursuits, 
able  to  undertake  the  same  labors,  he  would  have  created  another  man;  but  he  created 
a  woman,  and  she  fell.  *  *  *  The  class  of  women  wanting  suffrage  are  battalions 
of  old  maids  disappointed  in  love — women  separated  from  their  husbands  or 
divorced  by  men  from  their  sacred  obligations — women  who,  though  married,  wish  to 
hold  the  reins  of  the  family  government,  for  there  never  was  a  woman  happy  in  her 
home  who  wished  for  female  suffrage.  '  '  *  Who  will  take  charge  of  those  young 
children  (if  they  consent  to  have  any)  while  mothers  as  surgeons  are  operating  indis- 
criminately upon  the  victims  of  a  terrible  railway  disaster?  *  *  *  No  kind  hus- 


*  President,  Dr.  Alida  C.  Avery  of  Denver;  Vice-Presidents,  D.  Howe,  Mrs.  M.  B.  Hart,  J.  E. 
Washburn,  Mrs.  Emma  Moody,  Willard  Teller,  J.  B.  Harrington,  A.  E.  Lee,  and  N.  C.  Meeker ;  Re- 
cording Secretary p,  Birks  Carnforth  of  Denver;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  T.  M.  Patterson  of 
Denver;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Lawson  of  Denver;  Executive  Committee,  D.  M.  Richards,  Mrs. 
M.  F.  Shields.  Mrs.  M.  E.  Hale,  H.  McAllister,  Mrs.  Birks  Carnforth,  J.  A.  Dresser,  A.  J.  Wilber,  B. 
F.  Crary,  Miss  Annie  Figg,  H.  Logan,  J.  R.  Eads,  F.  M.  Ellis,  C.  Roby,  Judge  Jones,  General  Cam- 
eron, B.  H.  Eaton,  Agapita  Vigil,  W.  B.  Felton,  S.  C.  Charles  and  J.  B.  Campbell. 


Public  Discussion.  721 

band  will  refuse  to  nurse  the  baby  on  Sunday  (when  every  kind  of  business  is  stopped) 
in  order  to  let  his  wife  attend  church;  but  even  then,  as  it  is  not  his  natural  duty,  he 
will  soon  be  tired  of  it  and  perhaps  get  impatient  waiting  for  the  mother,  chiefly  when 
the  baby  is  crying. 

These,  with  the  omnipresent  quotations  from  St.  Paul  to  the  effect 
that  women  shall  keep  silence  in  the  church,  etc.,  formed  the  argument 
of  the  Bishop  in  two  or  three  lengthy  sermons.  Indignant  men,  dis- 
gusted with  the  caliber  of  the  opposition  and  yet  obliged  to  notice  it  on 
account  of  the  position  of  the  divine,  made  ample  rejoinders.  Rev.  Dr. 
Crary  of  Golden,  in  an  exhaustive  review  of  the  Bishop's  discourse,  depre- 
cated the  making  permanent  and  of  universal  application  the  commands 
which  with  Paul  were  evidently  temporary  and  local,  and  said  half  the 
churches  in  Christendom  would  be  closed  if  these  were  literally  obeyed : 

"  Women  should  not  usurp  authority,  therefore  men  should  usurp  all  authority." 
This  is  the  sort  of  logic  we  have  always  heard  from  men  who  are  trotting  along  in  the 
wake  of  progress  and  howling  because  the  centuries  do  not  stop  rolling  onward.  In 
barbarous  regions  Paul  is  paraded  against  e.ducating  girls  at  all.  In  half-civilized 
nations  Paul  is  doing  service  against  educating  girls  except  in  the  rudiments.  Among 
people  who  are  just  beginning  to  see  the  hill-tops  of  a  higher,  nobler  world,  Paul  is 
still  on  duty  crowding  off  women  from  high-schools  and  colleges.  Proud  universities 
to-day  have  Paul  standing  guard  over  medical  meanness  and  pushing  down  aspiring 
female  souls  from  the  founts  of  knowledge.  Within  our  memory  Paul  has  been  the 
standing  demonstration  in  favor  of  slavery,  intemperance  and  the  oppression  of  women. 

Another  sermon  in  which  the  Bishop  lays  solemn  stress  on  the  one 
sacred,  inevitable  duty  of  women  to  become  wives  and  mothers,  was 
answered  by  Mr.  David  Boyd  of  Greeley,  who,  among  other  things,  asks 
the  Bishop : 

How,  in  view  of  the  injunction  to  increase  and  multiply,  he  can  justify  the  large 
celibate  class  created  by  positive  command  of  the  Catholic  church,  not  only  by  the 
ordination  of  priests,  but  by  the  constant  urging  of  the  church  that  women  should  be- 
come the  barren  brides  of  Christ  by  taking  on  them  the  vows  of  nuns. 

The  Bishop  published  his  lectures  in  pamphlet  form,  that  their  influ- 
ence might  be  far-reaching,  and  curiously  enough,  the  very  same  lectures 
were  printed  and  scattered  by  the  friends  of  suffrage*as  the  best  sort  of 
document  for  the  campaign  now  fairly  inaugurated.  D.  M.  Richards,  the 
able  chairman  of  the  executive  committee,  and  Dr.  Avery,  president  of 
the  association,  showed  themselves  capable  of  both  conceiving  and  exe- 
cuting a  plan  of  operations  which  had  the  merit  of  at  least  deserving 
victory, 

There  was  no  lack  of  pens  to  defend  women's  claim  to  equal  chances  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.  In  Denver,  the  Rocky  Mountain  News  and  the 
Times  planted  themselves  fairly  and  squarely  in  an  affirmative  attitude,  and 
gave  generous  aid  to  the  effort.  The  Tribune's  columns  were  in  a  state  of 
chronic  congestion  from  a  plethora  of  protests,  both  feminine  and  mas- 
culine. One  young  lawyer  said  :  "  If  suffrage  is  to  come,  let  it  come  by 
man's  call,  and  not  by  woman's  clamor";  and,  "When  all  the  women  of 
the  land  can  show  the  ability  to  rear  a  family,  and  at  the  same  time  be- 
come eminent  in  some  profession  or  art,  then  men  will  gladly  welcome 
them."  Whereupon  the  women  naturally  rushed  into  print  to  protest 
46 


722  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

against  the  qualifications  required  of  them,  compared  with  those  required 
of  men. 

It  is  safe  to  say,  that  from  the  middle  of  January,  1877,  until  the  follow- 
ing October,  the  most  prominent  theme  of  public  discussion  was  this 
question  of  suffrage  for  women.  Miners  discussed  it  around  their  camp- 
fires,  and  "  freighters "  on  their  long  slow  journeys  over  the  mountain 
trails  argued  pro  and  con,  whether  they  should  "  let "  women  have  the 
ballot.  Women  themselves  argued  and  studied  and  worked  earnestly. 
One  lawyer's  wife,  who  declared  that  no  refined  woman  would  contend 
for  such  a  right,  and  that  no  woman  with  self-respect  would  be  found 
electioneering,  herself  urged  every  man  of  her  acquaintance  to  vote 
against  the  measure,  and  even  triumphantly  reported  that  she  had  spoken 
to  seventy-five  men  who  were  strangers  to  her,  and  secured  their  promise 
to  vote  against  the  pending  amendment.  This,  however,  must  not  be 
mistaken  for  electioneering. 

On  Wednesday,  August  15,  an  equal  rights  mass-meeting  was  held  in 
Denver,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  county  central  committee,  and 
for  an  informal  discussion  of  plans  for  the  campaign.  Judge  H.  P.  H. 
Bromwell  and  H.  C.  Dillon  spoke,  with  earnest  repetition  of  former 
pledges  of  devotion  to  the  cause,  and  Gov.  Evans  said : 

Equal  suffrage  is  necessary  to  equal  rights.  It  is  fortunate  that  we  have  in  Col- 
orado an  opportunity  of  bringing  to  bear  the  restraining,  purifying  and  ennobling  in- 
fluence of  women  upon  politics.  It  is  a  reform  that  will  require  all  the  benign  influ- 
ences of  the  country  to  sustain  and  carry  out,  and,  as  I  hope  for  the  perpetuation  of  our 
free  institutions,  I  dare  not  neglect  the  most  promising  and  potent  means  of  purifying 
politics,  and  I  regard  the  influence  of  women  as  this  means. 

Major  Bright  of  Wyoming,  was  introduced  as  the  man  who  framed  and 
brought  in  the  first  bill  for  the  enfranchisement  of  women.  Judge  W.  B. 
Mills  said  :  "  It  is  an  anomalous  condition  of  affairs  which  made  it  neces- 
sary for  a  woman  to  ask  a  man  whether  she  should  vote,"  and  referring 
to  all  the  reforms  and  changes  of  the  last  half  century,  predicted  that 
the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  woman  would  be  the  next  in  order. 

The  meeting  was,a  full  and  fervid  one,  and  great  confidence  of  success 
was  felt  and  expressed.  A  committee  of  seventeen  was  appointed  *  and 
this  committee  did  its  full  duty  in  districting  the  territory  and  sending  out 
speakers.  Mr.  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  Lucy  Stone  and  Miss  Anthony  ar- 
rived almost  immediately  after  this,  and  henceforth  the  advocates  of  suf- 
irage  swarmed  through  the  rocky  highways  and  byways  of  Colorado  as 
eagerly,  if  not  as  multitudinously,  as  its  gold  seekers.  Mrs.  Campbell 
wrote  to  the  Woman 's  Journal ': 

We  have  now  been  at  work  two  weeks.  Some  of  our  meetings  are  very  encouraging, 
some  not  so  much  so.  But  the  meetings  are  only  one  feature  of  the  work.  \Ve  stop 
along  the  way  and  search  out  all  the  leading  men  in  each  voting  precinct,  and  secure 
the  names  of  those  who  will  work  on  election  day.  We  do  more  talking  out  of  meet- 
ing than  in.  We  rode  thirty-five  miles  yesterday,  and  arrived  here  after  six  o'clock  in 

•Consisting  of  Dr.  R.  G,  Buckingham,  chairman,  Hon.  John  Evans,  Judge  G.  W.  Miller,  Benjamin 
D   Spencer  A  J   Williams,  Captain  Richard  Sopris,  E.  B.  Sluth,  John  Armor,  Hon.  E.  L.  Campbell, 
John  Walker,'j.  U.  Marlow,  Col.  W.  H.  Bright,  John  G.  Lilly,  John  S.  McCool,  J.  W.  Nesmyth, 
'  Henry  O.  Wagoner,  and  Dr.  Martimore. 


Will  the  Coming  Woman  Marry?  723 

the  evening.  While  Mr.  Campbell  was  taking  care  of  the  horse,  I  filled  out  bills  be- 
fore taking  off  my  hat  and  duster;  in  fifteen  minutes  they  were  being  distributed,  and 
at  eight  o'clock  I  was  speaking  to  a  good-sized  audience. 

On  October  i,  a  monster  meeting  was  held  in  the  Lawrence  street 
Methodist  Church,  and  was  addressed  by  Lucy  Stone,  Miss  Matilda  Hind- 
man,  Mrs.  Campbell,  and  Dr.  Avery.  The  most  intense  interest  was  mani- 
fested, and  the  excellent  speeches  heartily  applauded. 

The  next  day  (Sunday)  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bliss  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
preached  a  sermon  in  his  own  pulpit,  on  "  Woman  Suffrage  and  the  Model 
Wife  and  Mother,"  in  which  he  alluded  to  "certain  brawling,  ranting 
women,  bristling  for  their  rights,"  and  said  God  had  intended  woman  to 
be  a  wife  and  mother,  and  the  eternal  fitness  of  things  forbade  her  to  be 
anything  else.  If  women  could  vote,  those  who  were  wives  now  would 
live  in  endless  bickerings  with  their  husbands  over  politics,  and  those 
who  were  not  wives  would  not  marry." 

These  utterences  brought  out  many  replies.  One  was  in  the  column 
edited  by  "Mrs.  Schlachtfeld,"  and  may  perhaps  be  quoted  as  a  speci- 
men of  her  editorial  work,  such  being,  as  we  have  intimated,  her  one  ser- 
vice to  suffrage,  and  that  incognito  : 

One  of  the  daily,  dismal  forecasts  of  the  male  Cassandras  of  our  time  is,  that  in  the 
event  of  women  becoming  emancipated  from  the  legal  thralldom  that  disables  them, 
they  will  acquire  a  sudden  distaste  for  matrimony,  the  direful  consequences  of  which 
will  be  a  gradual  extermination  of  homes,  and  the  extinction  of  the  human  species. 
This  is  an  artless  and  extremely  suggestive  lament.  In  the  first  place — accepting  that 
prophecy  as  true — why  will  women  not  marry  ?  Because,  they  will  then  be  independ- 
ent of  men  ;  because  in  a  fair  field  for  competition  where  ability  and  not  sex  shall  de- 
termine employment  and  remuneration,  women  will  have  an  equal  chance  with  men 
for  distinction  and  reward,  for  triumphs  commercial  and  professional  as  well  as  social, 
and  hence,  needing  men  less,  either  to  make  them  homes,  or  to  gratify  indirectly  their 
ambitions,  their  affections  will  become  atrophied,  the  springs  of  domestic  life  will  dis- 
appear in  the  arid  sands  of  an  unfeminine  publicity,  and  marriage,  with  all  the  weary- 
ing cares  and  burdens  and  anxieties  that  it  inevitably  brings  to  every  earnest  woman, 
will  be  regarded  more  and  more  as  a  state  to  be  shunned.  The  few  who  enter  it  will 
be  compassionated  much  as  a  minister  is  who  undertakes  a  dangerous  foreign  mission. 
Men  will  stand  mateless,  and  the  ruins  of  the  hymeneal  altars  everywhere  crumble 
mournfully  away,  and  be  known  to  tradition  only  by  their  vanishing  inscriptions  :  "To 
the  unknown  god."  But  it  is  ill  jesting  over  that  which  tugs  at  every  woman's  heart- 
strings and  which  impinges  upon  the  very  life-centres  of  society.  If  women,  on  being 
made  really  free  to  choose,  will  not  marry,  then  we  must  arraign  men  on  the  charge  of 
having  made  the  married  state  so  irksome  and  distasteful  to  women  that  they  prefer 
celibacy  when  they  dare  enjoy  it.  Observe,  however,  the  inconsistency  of  another  line 
of  reasoning  running  parallel  with  this  in  the  floating  literature  of  the  day  :  "  Mother- 
hood," these  writers  say,  "  is  the  natural  vocation  of  women;  is,  indeed,  an  instinct  so 
mighty,  even  if  unconscious,  that  it  draws  women  toward  matrimony  with  a  yearning 
as  irresistible  as  that  which  pulls  the  great  sea  upon  the  land  in  blind  response  to  the 
moon."  If  this  be  true,  society  is  safe,  and  women  will  still  be  wives,  no  matter  how 
much  they  may  exult  in  political  freedom,  no  matter  how  alluringly  individual  careers 
may  open  before  them,  nor  how  accessible  the  tempting  prizes  of  human  ambition  may 
become. 

Well,  the  day  came, — the  dies  irae  for  one  side  or  the  other,  and  it  proved 
to  be  for  the  "  one."  The  measure  was  defeated.  Ten  thousand  votes  were 
lor  it,  twenty  thousand  against  it.  Women  remained  at  the  polls  all  day, 


724  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

distributing  ballots,  and  answering  objections.  They  had  flowers  on  all 
the  little  tables  where  the  tickets  were  heaped,  on  which  were  printed  the 
three  words,  "  Woman  Suffrage  Approved,"  words  for  many  pregnant  with 
hope  for  a  new  impetus  to  civilization,  for  others  with  a  misfortune  only 
to  be  compared  to  that  which  happened  in  Greece  when  Ino  boiled  the 
seed  corn  of  a  whole  kingdom,  and  thus  not  only  lost  the  crop  of  that 
year,  but,  by  the  subtle  interplay  of  the  laws  by  which  evolution  proceeds, 
set  back  humanity  for  a  period  not  to  be  reckoned  in  years.  Mrs.  H.  S. 
Mendenhall  of  Georgetown  wrote  to  Dr.  Avery  on  the  evening  of  election 
day: 

Before  this  reaches  you  the  telegraph  will  have  given  you  the  result  of  the  day's  work 
all  over  the  State,  but  I  thought  I  would  jot  down  a  line  while  the  experiences  of  the 
last  ten  hours  were  fresh  in  my  mind.  Last  evening  our  committee  appointed  ladies 
to  represent  the  interests  of  woman  suffrage  at  the  polls.  To  my  surprise,  many 
evaded  the  work  who  were,  nevertheless,  strongly  in  favor  of  the  measure.  Mrs.  Dr. 
Collins  and  I  were  the  only  ones  at  the  lowest  and  most  important  precinct  until  one 
o'clock,  when  we  were  joined  by  the  wife  of  the  Presbyterian  minister.  Our  course 
was  somewhat  as  follows  :  On  the  approach  of  a  voter,  we  would  ask  him,  "  have  you 
voted  ?"  If  he  had,  we  usually  troubled  him  no  further;  if  he  had  not,  we  asked, 
"Can  you  vote  for  woman  suffrage?"  If  he  approved,  we  supplied  him  with  his 
ticket;  if  he  disapproved,  we  asked  him  for  his  objections,  and  we  have  listened  to 
some  comical  ones  to-day.  One  man  asked  me,  though  not  rudely,  "Who  is  cook- 
ing your  husband's  dinner  ?"  I  promptly  invited  him  to  dine  with  us.  Another  spoke 
of  neglected  household  duties,  and  when  I  mentioned  a  loaf  of  bread  I  had  just  baked, 
and  should  be  glad  to  have  him  see,  he  said,  "  I  expect  you  can  bake  bread,"  but  he 
voted  against  us.  The  Methodist  men  were  for  us;  the  Presbyterians  and  Episcopa- 
lians very  fairly  so,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  were  not  all  against  us,  some  of  the 
prominent  members  of  that  church  working  and  voting  for  woman  suffrage.  The 
liquor  interest  went  entirely  against  us,  as  far  as  I  know. 

The  observations  of  the  day  have  led  me  to  several  general  conclusions,  to  which,  of 
course,  exceptions  exist :  (i)  Married  men  will  vote  for  suffrage  if  their  wives  appre- 
ciate its  importance.  (2)  Men  without  family  ties,  and  especially  if  they  have  asso- 
ciated with  a  bad  class  of  women,  will  vote  against  it.  (3)  Boys  who  have  just 
reached  their  majority  will  vote  against  it  more  uniformly  than  any  other  class  of 
men.  We  were  treated  with  the  utmost  respect  by  all  except  the  last  class.  Desti- 
tute of  experience,  and  big  with  their  own  importance,  these  young  sovereigns  will 
speak  to  a  woman  twice  their  years  with  a  flippancy  which  the  most  ignorant  foreigner 
of  mature  age  would  not  use,  and  I  have  to-day  been  tempted  to  believe  that  no  one 
is  fitted  to  exercise  the  American  franchise  under  twenty-five  years  of  age. 

The  main  objection  which  I  heard  repeatedly  urged  was,  women  do  not  want  to 
vote.  This  seems  to  be  the  great  stumbling-block  to  our  brethren.  Men  were  con- 
tinually saying  that  their  wives  told  them  not  to  vote  for  woman  suffrage.  If  we  are 
defeated  this  time  I  know  we  can  succeed  in  the  next  campaign,  or  just  as  soon  as  we 
can  educate  enough  prominent  women  up  to  the  point  of  coming  out  plainly  on  the 
subject.  Then  all  men,  or  all  but  the  vicious  men  who  always  vote  against  every  good 
thing,  will  give  in  right  away. 

Lucy  Stone,  in  a  letter  to  the  Woman  s  Journal  describes  similar  scenes 
enacted  that  day  in  Denver;  speaks  of  the  order  and  quiet  prevailing  at 
the  polls,  of  the  flowers  on  all  the  tables,  and,  in  spite  of  the  strangeness 
of  the  occasion,  of  the  presence  of  women  as  evidently  a  new  and  benifi- 
cent  element  there.  Rev.  Dr.  Ellis  of  the  Baptist  Church,  who,  on  the 
Sunday  before  had  preached  from  the  text,  "  Help  those  Women,"  was 
using  his  influence  to  convert  those  doubtful  or  opposed.  Rev.  Mr. 


The  Hour  Not   Yet.  725 

Bliss,  who  had  declared  in  his  pulpit  that  "  the  only  two  women 
the  Bible  mentioned  as  having  meddled  in  politics  were  Jezebel  and 
Herodias,"  was  there  also,  to  warn  men  not  to  vote  for  equal  rights  for 
women.  At  other  polls  I  saw  colored  men,  once  slaves,  electioneering 
and  voting  against  the  rights  of  women.  When  remonstrated  with,  one 
said  :  "  We  want  the  women  at  home  cooking  our  dinners."  A  shrewd 
colored  woman  asked  whether  they  had  provided  any  dinner  to  cook,  and 
added  that  most  of  the  colored  women  there  had  to  earn  their  dinner  as 
well  as  cook  it. 

********* 

Hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter.  In  the  words  of  the  last 
editorial  of  the  woman's  column  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  News: 

Woman's  hour  has  not  yet  struck  !  The  chimes  that  were  waiting  to  ring  out 
the  tidings  of  her  liberty — the  candles  furtively  stored  against  an  illumination  which 
should  typify  a  new  influx  of  light,  the  achievement  of  a  victory  whose  meaning  and 
promise  at  least  seemed  to  those  who  both  prayed  and  worked  for  it,  neither 
trivial  nor  selfish — all  these  are  relegated  to  the  guardianship  of  Patience  and  Hope. 
Colorado  has  refused  to  enfranchise  its  women.  ******  The  Qer. 
mans,  the  Catholics,  and  the  negroes  were  said  to  be  against  us.  Naturally,  those 
who  themselves  most  keenly  feel,  or  most  recently  have  felt,  the  galling  yoke  of  ar- 
bitrary rule,  are  most  disposed  to  derive  a  certain  enjoyment  from  the  daily  contem- 
plation of  a  noble  class  still  in  bondage.  *****  gut  a//  opposition,  in 
whatever  guise,  comes  back  at  last  to  be  written  under  one  rubric — the  immaturity  of 
woman.  We  make  this  dispassionate  statement  of  a  fact.  We  feel  neither  scorn  nor 
anger,  and  we  trust  that  we  shall  excite  none.  It  is  a  fault  which  time  will  cure,  but 
meantime  it  is  the  grand  factor  in  our  account.  Every  other  argument  has  been  met — 
every  other  stronghold  of  opposition  taken.  Woman's  claim  to  the  ballot  has  been 
shown  to  rest  in  justice  on  the  very  foundation  stone  of  democratic  government — has 
been,  from  the  Christian  standpoint,  as  completely  exonerated  from  the  charge  of  im- 
piety as  ever  anti-slavery  and  anti-polygamy  were,  and  the  fact  which  was  the  slogan 
of  the  anti-suffragists  still  remains  :  the  mass  of  the  women  do  not  want  it.  We  do 
not  quarrel  with  the  fact,  but  state  it  to  give  the  real  reason  for  our  failures — the  real 
objective  point  for  our  future  work. 

The  complacency  with  which  we  are  able  to  state  without  fear  of  contradiction  that 
the  body  of  intelligent  and  thoughtful  women  do  want  suffrage  must  not  obscure  our 
perception  of  the  equal  truth  of  what  we  have  just  stated  above.  To  accept  this  verity 
and  turn  our  energies  toward  the  emancipation  of  our  own  sex — toward  their  emanci- 
pation from  frivolous  aims,  petty  prejudices,  and  that  attitude  toward  the  other  sex 
which  is  really  the  sycophancy  born  of  vanity  and  weakness;  to  make  them  recognize 
the  State  as  a  multiplication  of  their  own  families,  and  patriotism  as  the  broadening  of 
their  love  of  home;  to  make  them  see  that  that  mother  will  be  most  respected  whose 
son  does  not,  when  a  downy  beard  is  grown,  suddenly  tower  above  her  in  the  super- 
cilious enjoyment  of  an  artificial  superiority — a  superiority  which  consists  simply,  as 
Figaro  says,  in  his  having  taken  the  trouble  to  be  born;  to  make  them  see,  finally,  that 
in  the  highest  exercise  of  all  the  powers  with  which  God  has  endowed  her,  woman  can 
no  more  refuse  the  duties  of  citizenship,  than  she  can  refuse  the  duties  of  wifehood  and 
motherhood,  once  having  accepted  those  sacred  relations.  This  is  our  first  duty,  and 
this  the  scope  of  our  work,  if  we  would  attain  suffrage  in  1879,  or  even  in  1900. 


CHAPTER    LII. 
WYOMING. 

The  Dawn  of  the  New  Day,  December,  1869 — The  Goal  Reached  in  England  and 
America — Territory  Organized,  May,  1869 — Legislative  Action — Bill  for  Woman 
Suffrage — William  H.  Bright — Gov.  Campbell  Signs  the  Bill — Appoints  Esther 
Morris,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  March,  1870 — Women  on  the  Jury,  Chief-Justice 
Howe,  Presiding — J.  W.  Kingman,  Associate-Justice,  Addresses  the  Jury — Women 
Promptly  take  their  Places — Sunday  Laws  Enforced — Comments  of  the  Press — 
Judge  Howe's  Letter — Laramie  Sentinel — J.  H.  Heyford — Women  Voting,  1870 
— Grandma  Swain  the  First  to  Cast  her  Ballot — Effort  to  Repeal  the  Law,  1871 — 
Gov.  Campbell's  Veto — Mr.  Corlett — Rapid  Growth  of  Public  Opinion  in  Favor 
of  Woman  Suffrage. 

AFTER  recording  such  a  long  succession  of  disappointments 
and  humiliations  for  women  in  all  the  States  in  their  worthy 
endeavors  for  higher  education,  for  profitable  employment  in  the 
trades  and  professions  and  for  equal  social,  civil  and  political 
rights,  it  is  with  renewed  self-respect  and  a  stronger  hope  of 
better  days  to  come  that  we  turn  to  the  magnificent  territory  of 
Wyoming,  where  the  foundations  of  the  first  true  republic  were 
laid  deep  and  strong  in  equal  rights  to  all,  and  where  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  race  woman  has  been  recognized  as  a 
sovereign  in  her  own  right — an  independent,  responsible  being — 
endowed  with  the  capacity  for  self-government.  This  great  event 
in  the  history  of  human  progress  transpired  in  1869. 

Neither  the  point  nor  the  period  for  this  experiment  could 
have  been  more  fitly  chosen.  Midway  across  this  vast  western 
continent,  on  the  highest  plane  of  land,  rising  from  three  to  eight 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  where  gigantic  moun- 
tain-peaks shooting  still  higher  seem  to  touch  the  clouds,  while 
at  their  feet  flow  the  great  rivers  that  traverse  the  State  in  all 
directions,  emptying  themselves  after  weary  wanderings  into 
the  Pacific  ocean  at  last ;  such  was  the  grand  point  where  woman 
was  first  crowned  with  the  rights  of  citizenship.  And  the  period 
was  equally  marked.  To  reach  the  goal  of  self-government  the 
women  of  England  and  America  seemed  to  be  vicing  with  each 
other  in  the  race,  now  one  holding  the  advance  position,  now  the 


Results  in  England  and  in  America.  727 

other.  And  in  many  respects  their  struggles  and  failures  were 
similar.  When  seeking  the  advantages  of  collegiate  education, 
the  women  of  England  were  compelled  to  go  to  France,  Austria 
and  Switzerland  for  the  opportunities  they  could  not  enjoy  in 
their  own  country.  The  women  of  our  Eastern  States  followed 
their  example,  or  went  to  Western  institutions  for  such' privi- 
leges, granted  by  Oberlin  and  Antioch  in  Ohio,  Ann  Arbor  in 
Michigan,  Washington  University  in  Missouri,  and  refused  in 
all  the  colleges  of  the  East.  For  long  years,  alike  they  endured 
ridicule  and  bitter  persecution  to  secure  a  foothold  in  their  uni- 
versites  at  home. 

Our  battles  in  Parliament  and  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  were  simultaneous.  While  nine  senators,* 
staunch  and  true,  voted  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  in  1866,  and 
women  were  rolling  up  their  petitions  fora  constitutional  amend- 
ment in  '68  and  '69,  with  Samuel  C.  Pomeroy  in  the  Senate 
and  George  W.  Julian  in  the  House,  the  women  of  England, 
keeping  step  and  time,  found  their  champions  in  the  House  of 
Commons  in  John  Stuart  Mill  and  Jacob  Bright  in  1867-69,  and 
no  sooner  were  their  mammoth  petitions  presented  in  parliament 
than  ours  were  rolled  into  the  halls  of  congress.  At  last  we 
reached  the  goal,  the  women  of  England  in  1869  and  those  of 
Wyoming  in  1870.  But  what  the  former  gained  in  time  the 
latter  far  surpassed  in  privilege.  While  to  the  English  woman 
only  a  limited  suffrage  was  accorded,  in  the  vast  territory  of 
Wyoming,  larger  than  all  Great  Britain,  all  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship were  fully  and  freely  conferred  by  one  act  of  the  legislature 
— the  right  to  vote  at  all  elections  on  all  questions  and  to  hold 
any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people. 

The  successive  steps  by  which  this  was  accomplished  are  given 
us  by  Hon.  J.  W.  Kingman,  associate-justice  in  the  territory  for 
several  years : 

It  is  now  sixteen  years  since  the  act  was  passed  giving  women  the  right 
to  vote  at  all  elections  in  this  territory,  including  all  the  rights  of  an 
elector,  with  the  right  to  hold  office.  The  language  of  the  statute  is 
broad,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  evasion.  It  is  as  follows : 

That  every  woman  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  residing  in  the  territory,  may,  at 
every  election  to  beholden  under  the  laws  thereof,  cast  her  vote;  and  her  rights  to  the 
elective  franchise,  and  to  hold  office,  shall  be  the  same,  under  the  election  laws  of  the 
territory,  as  those  of  the  electors. 


*  Messrs.  Wade,  Anthony,  Gratz  Brown,  Buckalew,  Cowan,  Foster,  Nesmith,  Patterson,  Riddle. 
See  Vol.  1 1.,  Chapter  XVI I. 


728  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

There  was  no  half-way  work  about  it,  no  quibbling,  no  grudgingly  part- 
ing with  political  power,  no  fear  of  consequences,  but  a  manly  acknowl- 
edgment of  equal  rights  and  equal  privileges,  among  all  the  citizens  of 
the  new  territory.  Nor  was  this  the  only  act  of  that  first  legislature  on 
the  subject  of  equal  rights.  They  passed  the  following : 

AN  ACT  to  protect  married  women  in  their  separate  property,  and  the  enjoyment  of  their 
labor. 

SECTION  i.  That  all  the  property,  both  real  and  personal,  belonging  to  any  married 
woman  as  her  sole  and  separate  property,  or  which  any  woman  hereafter  married,  owns 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  or  which  any  married  woman  during  coverture  acquires  in 
good  faith  from  any  person  other  than  her  husband,  by  descent  or  otherwise,  together 
with  all  the  rents,  issues,  increase  and  profits  thereof,  shall,  notwithstanding  her  mar- 
riage, be  and  remain  during  coverture,  her  sole  and  separate  property,  under  her  sole 
control,  and  be  held,  owned,  possessed  and  enjoyed  by  her,  the  same  as  though  she 
were  sole  and  unmarried,  and  shall  not  be  subject  to  the  disposal,  control  or  interfer. 
ence  of  her  husband,  and  shall  be  exempt  from  execution  or  attachment  for  the  debts 
of  her  husband. 

SEC.  2.  Any  married  woman  may  bargain,  sell,  and  convey,  her  personal  property, 
and  enter  into  any  contract  in  reference  to  the  same,  as  if  she  were  sole. 

SEC.  3.  Any  woman  may,  while  married,  sue  and  be  sued  in  all  matters  having  re- 
lation to  her  property,  person  or  reputation,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  she  were  sole. 

SEC.  4.  Any  married  woman  may,  while  married,  make  a  will  the  same  as  though 
she  were  sole. 

SEC.  5.  Any  married  woman  may  carry  on  any  trade  or  business,  and  perform  any 
labor  or  service  on  her  sole  and  separate  account,  and  the  earnings  of  any  married 
woman  from  her  trade,  business,  labor  or  services,  shall  be  her  sole  and  separate  prop- 
erty, and  may  be  used  and  invested  by  her  in  her  own  name;  and  she  may  sue  and  be 
sued,  as  if  sole,  in  regard  to  her  trade,  business,  labor,  services,  and  earnings.  * 

SEC.  9.  The  separate  deed  of  the  husband  shall  convey  no  interest  in  the  wife's 
lands. 

Under  the  statute  for  distributions,  the  wife  is  treated  exactly  as  the 
husband  is  ;  each  having  the  same  right  in  the  estate  of  the  other.  The 
provisions  are  so  unusual  and  peculiar,  that  I  venture  to  copy  some  of 
them  : 

'  If  such  intestate  leave  a  husband  or  wife,  and  children,  him  or  her 
surviving,  one-half  of  such  estate  shall  descend  to  such  surviving  husband  or  wife,  and 
the  residue  thereof  *  *  *  *  to  the  children;  if  such  intestate  leave  a  husband  or 
wife  and  no  child,  *  .  *  *  *  then  the  property  shall  descend  as  follows,  to  wit : 
three-fourths  thereof  to  such  remaining  husband  or  wife,  and  one-fourth  thereof  to  the 
father  and  mother  of  the  intestate,  or  the  survivor  of  them;  provided  that  if  the  estate 
of  such  intestate,  real  and  personal,  does  not  exceed  in  volume  the  sum  of  ten  thousand 
dollars,  then  the  whole  thereof  shall  descend  to  and  rest  in  the  surviving  husband  or 
wife  as  his  or  her  absolute  estate.  Dower  and  the  tenancy  by  the  curtesy  are  abol- 
ished. 

The  school  law  also  provides  : 

SEC.  9.  In  the  employment  of  teachers  no  discrimination  shall  be  made,  in  the  ques- 
tion of  pay,  on  account  of  sex,  when  the  persons  are  equally  qualified. 

Such  are  some  of  the  radical  enactments  of  the  first  legislature  of  Wy- 
oming territory  in  reference  to  woman's  rights  ;  and  to  a  person  who  has 
grown  up  under  the  common  law  and  the  usages  of  English-speaking 
people,  they  undoubtedly  appear  extravagant  if  not  revolutionary,  and 
well  calculated  to  disturb  or  overthrow  the  very  foundations  of  social  or- 


Election   Scenes.  729 

der.  Experience  has  not,  however,  justified  any  such  apprehensions. 
The  people  of  Wyoming  have  prospered  under  these  laws,  and  are  grow- 
ing to  like  them  better  and  better,  and  adapt  themselves  more  and  more 
to  their  provisions.  The  object  of  this  sketch  is  to  trace  the  progress  and 
development  of  this  new  legislation,  and  gather  up  some  of  its  conse- 
quences as  they  have  been  observed  in  our  social  and  political  relations. 

The  territory  of  Wyoming  was  first  organized  in  May,  1869.  The  Union 
Pacific  railroad  was  completed  on  the  9th  of  the  month,  and  the  trans- 
continental route  opened  to  the  public.  There  were  but  few  people  in 
the  territory  at  that  time,  except  such  as  had  been  brought  hither  in  con- 
nection with  the  building  of  that  road,  and  while  some  of  them  were  good 
people,  well-educated,  and  came  to  stay,  many  were  reckless,  wicked  and 
wandering.  The  first  election  was  held  in  September,  1869,  for  the  elec- 
tion of  a  delegate  in  congress,  and  members  of  the  Council  and  House 
of  Representatives  for  the  first  territorial  legislature.  There  was  a  good 
deal  of  party  feeling  developed,  and  election  day  witnessed  a  sharp  and 
vigorous  struggle.  The  candidates  and  their  friends  spent  money  freely, 
and  every  liquor  shop  was  thrown  open  to  all  who  would  drink.  I  was 
about  to  say  that  any  one  could  imagine  the  consequences ;  but  in  fact  I 
do  not  believe  that  any  one  could  picture  to  himself  the  mad  follies,  and 
frightful  scenes  of  that  drunken  election.  Peaceful  people  did  not  dare 
to  walk  the  streets,  in  some  of  the  towns,  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
day  and  evening.  At  South  Pass  City,  some  drunken  fellows  with  large 
knives  and  loaded  revolvers  swaggered  around  the  polls,  and  swore  that 
no  negro  should  vote.  One  man  remarked  quietly  that  he  thought  the 
negroes  had  as  good  a  right  to  vote  as  any  of  them  had.  He  was  immedi- 
ately knocked  down,  jumped  on,  kicked  and  pounded  without  mercy,  and 
would  have  been  killed,  had  not  his  friends  rushed  into  the  brutal  crowd 
and  dragged  him  out,  bloody  and  insensible.  It  was  a  long  time  before 
the  poor  fellow  recovered  from  his  injuries.  There  were  quite  a  number 
of  colored  men  who  wanted  to  vote,  but  did  not  dare  approach  the  polls 
until  the  United  States  Marshal  placed  himself  at  their  head  and  with 
revolver  in  hand  escorted  them  through  the  crowd,  saying  he  would 
shoot  the  first  man  that  interfered  with  them.  There  was  much  quarrel- 
ing and  tumult,  but  the  negroes  voted.  This  was  only  a  sample  of  the 
day's  doings,  and  characteristic  of  the  election  all  over  the  territory.  The 
result  was  that  every  Republican  was  defeated,  and  every  Democratic  can- 
didate elected ;  and  the  whisky  shops  had  shown  themselves  to  be  the 
ruling  power  in  Wyoming.  From  such  an  inspiration  one  could  hardly 
expect  a  revelation  of  much  value  1  Yet  there  were  some  fair  men  among 
those  elected. 

The  legislature  met  October  12,  1869.  Wm.  H.  Bright  was  elected 
president  of  the  Council.  As  he  was  the  author  of  the  woman  suffrage 
bill,  and  did  more  than  all  others  to  secure  its  passage,  some  account  of 
him  may  be  of  interest.  He  was  a  man  of  much  energy  and  of  good  nat- 
ural endowments,  but  entirely  without  school  education.  He  said  frankly, 
"  I  have  never  been  to  school  a  day  in  my  life,  and  where  I  learned  to 
read  and  write  I  do  not  know."  His  character  was  not  above  reproach, 


730  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

but  he  had  an  excellent,  well-informed  wife,  and  he  was  a  kind,  indulgent 
husband.  In  fact,  he  venerated  his  wife,  and  submitted  to  her  judgment 
and  influence  more  willingly  than  one  could  have  supposed  ;  and  she  was 
in  favor  of  woman  suffrage.*  There  were  a  few  other  men  in  that  legisla- 
ture, whose  wives  exercised  a  similar  influence  ;  but  Mr.  Bright  found  it 
up-hill  work  to  get  a  majority  for  his  bill,  and  it  dragged  along  until  near 
the  close  of  the  session.  The  character  of  the  arguments  he  used,  and 
the  means  he  employed  to  win  success  are  perhaps  worthy  of  notice,  as 
showing  the  men  he  had  to  deal  with.  I  ought  to  say  distinctly,  that  Mr. 
Bright  was  himself  fully  and  firmly  convinced  of  the  justice  and  policy  of 
his  bill,  and  gave  his  whole  energy  and  influence  to  secure  its  passage  ;  he 
secured  some  members  by  arguing  to  support  their  pet  schemes  in  return, 
and  some  he  won  over  by  even  less  creditable  means.  He  got  some  votes 
by  admitting  that  the  governor  would  veto  the  bill  (and  it  was  gener- 
ally understood  that  he  would),  insisting  at  the  same  time,  that  it  would 
give  the  Democrats  an  advantage  in  future  elections  by  showing  that 
they  were  in  favor  of  liberal  measures  while  the  Republican  governor  and 
the  Republican  party  were  opposed  to  them.  The  favorite  argument,  how- 
ever, and  by  far  the  most  effective,  was  this  :  it  would  prove  a  great  ad- 
vertisement, would  make  a  great  deal  of  talk,  and  attract  attention  to  the 
legislature,  and  the  territory,  more  effectually  than  anything  else.  The 
bill  was  finally  passed  and  sent  to  the  governor.  I  must  add,  however, 
that  many  letters  were  written  from  different  parts  of  the  territory,  and 
particularly  by  the  women,  to  members  of  the  legislature,  urging  its  pass- 
age and  approving  its  object. 

On  receipt  of  the  bill,  the  governor  was  in  great  doubt  what  course  to 
take.  He  was  inclined  to  veto  it,  and  had  so  expressed  himself;  but  he 
did  not  like  to  take  the  responsibility  of  offending  the  women  in  the  ter- 
ritory, or  of  placing  the  Republican  party  in  open  hostility  to  a  measure 


*  Ex-Governor  Hoyt  in  his  public  speeches  frequently  gives  this  bird's-eye  view  of  Bright's  domestic 
and  political  discussions :  "  Betty,  it's  a  shame  that  I  should  be  a  member  of  the  legislature  and  make 
laws  for  such  a  woman  as  you.  You  are  a  great  deal  better  than  I  am  ;  you  know  a  great  deal  more, 
and  you  would  make  a  better  member  of  the  Assembly  than  I,  and  you  know  it.  I  have  been  thinking 
about  it  and  have  made  up  my  mind  that  I  will  go  to  work  and  do  everything  in  my  power  to  give  you 
the  ballot.  Then  you  may  work  out  the  rest  in  your  own  way."  So  he  went  over  and  talked  with 
other  members  of  the  legislature.  They  smiled.  But  he  got  one  of  the  lawyers  to  help  him  draw  up 
a  short  bill,  which  he  introduced.  It  was.  considered  and  discussed.  People  smiled  generally.  There 
was  not  much  expectation  that  anything  of  that  sort  would  be  done  ;  but  this  was  a  shrewd  fellow,  who 
managed  the  party  card  in  such  a  way  as  to  get,  as  he  believed,  enough  votes  to  carry  the  measure 
before  it  was  brought  to  the  test.  I  will  show  you  a  little  behind  the  curtain,  so  far  as  I  can  draw  it- 
Thus  he  said  to  the  Democrats :  "  We  have  a  Republican  governor  and  a  Democratic  Assembly.  Now, 
then,  if  we  can  carry  this  bill  through  the  Assembly  and  the  governor  vetoes  it,  we  shall  have  made  a 
point,  you  know  ;  we  shall  have  shown  our  liberality  and  lost  nothing.  But  keep  still ;  don't  say  any- 
thing about  it."  They  promised.  He  then  went  to  the  Republicans  and  told  them  that  the  Democrats 
were  going  to  support  his  measure,  and  that  if  they  did  not  want  to  lose  capital  they  had  better  vote  for 
it  too.  He  didn't  think  there  would  be  enough  of  them  to  carry  it,  but  the  vote  would  be  on  record 
and  thus  defeat  the  game  of  the  other  party.  And  they  likewise  agreed  to  vote  for  it.  So  when  the 
bill  came  to  a  vole  it  went  right  through!  The  members  looked  at  each  other  in  astonishment,  for 
they  hadn't  intended  to  do  it,  quite.  Then  they  laughed  and  said  it  was  a  good  joke,  but  they  had 
"got  the  governor  in  a  fix."  So  the  bill  went,  in  the  course  of  time,  to  John  A.  Campbell,  who  was 
then  governor— the  first  governor  of  the  territory  of  Wyoming— and  he  promptly  signed  it !  His  heart 
was  right.  He  saw  that  it  was  long-deferred  justice,  and  so  signed  it  as  gladly  as  Abraham  Lincoln 
wrote  his  name  to  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  of  the  slaves.  Of  course  the  women  were 
astounded  !  If  a  whole  troop  of  angels  had  come  down  with  flaming  swords  for  their  vindication,  they 
would  not  have  been  much  more  astonished  than  they  were  when  that  bill  became  a  law  and  the  women 
of  Wyoming  were  thus  clothed  with  the  habiliments  of  citizenship. 


Mrs.  Esther  Morris,  J.  P.  731 

which  he  saw  might  become  of  political  force  and  importance.  I  remem- 
ber well  an  interview  that  Chief-Justice  Howe  and  myself  had  with  him 
at  that  time,  in  which  we  discussed  the  policy  of  the  bill,  and  both  of  us 
urged  him  to  sign  it  with  all  the  arguments  we  could  command.  After 
a  protracted  consultation  we  left  him  still  doubtful  what  he  would  do.* 
But  in  the  end  he  signed  it,  and  drew  upon  himself  the  bitter  curses  of 
those  Democrats  who  had  voted  for  the  bill  with  the  expectation  that  he 
would  veto  it.  From  this  time  onward,  the  measure  became  rather  a  Re- 
publican than  a  Democratic  principle,  and  found  more  of  its  friends  in  the 
former  party,  and  more  of  its  enemies  in  the  latter. 

Soon  after  the  passage  of  the  bill,  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  office  of 
justice  of  the  peace,  at  South  Pass  City,  the  county  seat  of  Sweetwater 
county,  and  the  home  of  Mr.  Bright  and  of  Mrs.  Esther  Morris.  At  the 
request  of  the  county  attorney — who  favored  woman  suffrage — the  com- 
missioners, two  of  whom  also  approved  of  it,  appointed  Mrs.  Morris 
to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  legislature  had  vested  the  appointment  of  offi- 
cers, in  case  of  a  vacancy,  in  the  county  commissioners,  but  the  organic 
act  of  congress,  creating  the  territory,  provided  that  the  governor  "  shall 
commission  all  officers  who  shall  be  appointed  under  the  laws  of 
said  territory."  Governor  Campbell  being  absent  from  the  territory  at 
the  time,  the  secretary,  acting  as  governor,  sent  Mrs.  Morris  her  com- 
mission. It  is  due  to  Secretary  Lee  to  say  that  he  was  an  earnest  advo- 
cate of  woman's  enfranchisement,  and  labored  for  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
and  gladly  embraced  the  opportunity  to  confirm  a  woman  in  office.  The 
important  fact  is,  however,  that  Mrs.  Morris'  neighbors  first  suggested 
the  appointment  that  secured  her  the  office,  and  manfully  sustained  her 
during  her  whole  term.  She  tried  between  thirty  and  forty  cases,  and  de- 
cided them  so  acceptably  that  not  one  of  them  was  appealed  to  a  higher 
court;  and  I  know  of  no  one  who  has  held  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace  in  this  territory,  who  has  left  a  more  acceptable  record,  in  all  re- 
spects, than  has  Mrs.  Esther  Morris.  Some  other  appointments  of  women 
to  office  were  made,  but  I  do  not  find  that  any  of  them  entered  upon  its 
duties. 

The  first  term  of  the  District  Court,  under  the  statutes  passed  by  the 
first  legislature,  was  to  be  held  at  Laramie  City,  on  the  first  Monday  of 
March,  1870.  When  the  jurors  were  drawn,  a  large  number  of  women 
were  selected,  for  both  grand  and  petit  jurors.  As  this  was  not  done  by 
the  friends  of  woman  suffrage,  there  was  evidently  an  intention  of  mak- 
ing the  whole  subject  odious  and  ridiculous,  and  giving  it  a  death-blow  at 
the  outset.  A  great  deal  of  feeling  was  excited  among  the  people,  and 
some  effort  made  to  prejudice  the  women  against  acting  as  jurors,  and 
even  threats,  ridicule  and  abuse,  in  some  cases,  were  indulged  in.  Their 
husbands  were  more  pestered  and  badgered  than  the  women,  and  some  of 
them  were  so  much  inflamed  that  they  declared  they  would  never  live 
with  their  wives  again  if  they  served  on  the  jury.  The  fact  that  women 


*  No  sooner  had  these  gentlemen  left  than  Mrs.  Post  and  Mrs.  Arnold  had  a  long  interview  with  the 
governor,  urging  him  to  sign  the  bill  on  the  highest  moral  grounds;  not  only  to  protect  the  personal 
rights  of  the  women  of  the  territory  but  to  compel  the  men  to  observe  the  decencies  of  life  and  to  ele- 
vate the  social  and  political  status  of  the  people. — [E.  C.  S. 


732  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

were  drawn  as  jurors  was  telegraphed  all  over  the  country,  and  the  news- 
papers came  loaded  with  hostile  and  uncomplimentary  criticisms.  At  this 
stage  of  the  case  Col.  Downey,  the  prosecuting  attorney  for  the  county, 
wrote  to  Judge  Howe  for  advice  and  direction  as  to  the  eligibility  of  the 
women  as  jurors,  and  what  course  should  be  taken  in  the  premises.  At 
first  Judge  Howe  was  much  inclined  to  order  the  women  discharged,  and 
new  juries  drawn  ;  and  it  certainly  required  no  small  amount  of  moral 
courage  to  face  the  storm  of  ridicule  and  abuse  that  was  blowing  from  all 
quarters.  We  had  a  long  consultation,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
since  the  law  had  clearly  given  all  the  rights  of  electors  to  the  women  of 
the  territory,  they  must  be  protected  in  the  exercise  of  these  rights  if 
they  chose  to  assume  them  ;  that  under  no  circumstances  could  the 
judges  permit  popular  clamor  to  deprive  the  women  of  their  legal  rights 
in  the  very  presence  of  the  courts  themselves.  The  result  was  that  Judge 
Howe  wrote  the  county  attorney  the  following  letter : 

CHEYENNE,  March  3,  1870. 

S.  W.  DOWNEY — My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  your  favor  of  yesterday,  and  have  carefully 
considered  the  question  of  the  eligibility  of  women  who  are  "citizens," to  serve  on 
juries.  Mr.  Justice  Kingman  has  also  considered  the  question,  and  we  concur  in  the 
opinion  that  such  women  are  eligible.  My  reason  for  this  opinion  will  be  given  at 
length,  if  occasion  requires.  I  will  thank  you  to  make  it  known  to  those  ladies  who 
have  been  summoned  on  the  juries,  that  they  will  be  received,  protected,  and  treated 
with  all  the  respect  and  courtesy  due,  and  ever  paid,  by  true  American  gentlemen  to 
true  American  ladies,  and  that  the  Court,  in  all  the  power  of  government,  will  secure 
to  them  all  that  deference,  security  from  insult,  or  anything  which  ought  to  offend  the 
most  refined  woman,  which  is  accorded  in  any  walks  of  life  in  which  the  good  and 
true  women  of  our  country  have  heretofore  been  accustomed  to  move.  Thus,  whatever 
may  have  been,  or  may  now  be  thought  of  the  policy  of  admitting  women  to  the  right 
of  suffrage  and  to  hold  office,  they  will  have  a  fair  opportunity,  at  least  in  my  Court, 
to  demonstrate  their  ability  in  this  new  field,  and  prove  the  policy  or  impolicy  of  occupy- 
ing it.  Of  their  right  to  try  it  I  have  no  doubt.  I  hope  they  will  succeed,  and  the 
Court  will  certainly  aid  them  in  all  lawful  and  proper  ways.  Very  respectfully, 

J.  H.  HOWE,  Chief-Justice. 

When  the  time  came  to  hold  the  court,  Judge  Howe,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  preside,  requested  me  to  go  with  him  to  Laramie  City,  and  sit  with  him 
during  the  term.  I  gladly  availed  myself  of  the  opportunity.  As  soon  as 
we  arrived  there,  Judge  Howe  was  waited  on  by  a  number  of  gentlemen 
who  endeavored  to  induce  him  to  order  the  discharge  of  the  female  jurors 
without  calling  them  into  court.  Some  spoke  of  the  impolicy  of  the  pro- 
ceeding, and  said  the  women  all  objected  to  it  and  wished  to  be  excused ; 
while  some  were  cross,  and  demanded  the  discharge  of  their  wives,  saying 
that  it  was  an  intentional  insult  and  they  would  not  submit  to  it.  But 
Judge  Howe  told  them  all  firmly,  that  the  women  must  come  into  court, 
and  if,  after  the  whole  question  was  fairly  explained  to  them,  they  chose 
to  decline,  they  should  be  excused.  At  the  opening  of  the  court  next 
morning,  the  house  was  crowded,  and  the  female  jurors  were  all  there. 
After  the  usual  preliminaries,  an  attorney  arose  and  moved  that  all  the 
women  summoned  as  jurors  be  excused,  saying  he  made  the  motion  at  the 
request  of  the  women  themselves  ;  and  that  he  was  assured  they  did  not 
wish  to  serve.  Judge  Howe  then  requested  me  to  express  my  opinion 


The  First  Jury  of  Men  and  Women.  733 

and  make  some  remarks  to  the  women  on  the  duties  devolving  on  them. 
I  said  : 

It  was  a  real  pleasure  to  me  to  see  ladies  in  the  court-room,  with  the  right  to  take  a 
responsible  part  in  the  proceedings,  as  grand  and  petit  jurors;  that  no  one  knew  so 
well  as  they  did,  the  evils  our  community  suffered  from  lawless  and  wicked  people  ; 
and  no  one  better  understood  the  difficulties  the  court  labored  under  in  its  efforts  to 
administer  justice  and  punish  crime;  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  good  women 
of  the  territory  could  give  us  substantial  aid,  and  we  looked  to  them  especially,  as  the 
power  which  should  make  the  court  efficient  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties;  that  the 
new  law  had  conferred  on  them  important  rights,  and  corresponding  duties  necessarily 
devolved  upon  them;  that  I  hoped  and  believed  they  would  not  shrink  when  so 
many  influences  were  calling  on  them  for  noble  and  worthy  action;  that  if  they  failed 
us  now,  the  cause  of  equal  rights  would  suffer  at  their  hands,  not  only  in  our  territory, 
but  in  every  land  where  its  advocates  were  struggling  for  its  recognition;  that  if  they 
would  remain,  their  presence  would  secure  a  degree  of  decorum  in  the  court-room  and 
add  a  dignity  to  the  proceedings,  which  the  judges  had  been  unable  to  command; 
that  we  required  the  assistance  of  good  women  all  over  the  territory,  and  I  begged 
them  to  help  us. 

Judge  Howe  then  spoke  as  follows : 

It  is  an  innovation  and  a  great  novelty  to  see,  as  we  do  to-day,  ladies  summoned  to> 
serve  as  jurors.  The  extension  of  political  rights  and  franchise  to  women  is  a  subject 
that  is  agitating  the  whole  country.  I  have  never  taken  an  active  part  in  these  discus- 
sions, but  I  have  long  seen  that  woman  is  a  victim  to  the  vices,  crimes  and  immorali- 
ties of  man,  with  no  power  to  protect  and  defend  herself  from  these  evils.  I  have  long 
felt  that  such  powers  of  protection  should  be  conferred  upon  woman,  and  it  has  fallen 
to  our  lot  here  to  act  as  the  pioneers  in  the  movement  and  to  test  the  question.  The 
eyes  of  the  whole  world  are  to-day  fixed  upon  this  jury  of  Albany  county.  There  is 
not  the  slightest  impropriety  in  any  lady  occupying  this  position,  and  I  wish  to  assure 
you  that  the  fullest  protection  of  the  court  shall  be  accorded  to  you.  It  would  be  a 
most  shameful  scandal  that  in  our  temple  of  justice  and  in  our  courts  of  law,  anything; 
should  be  permitted  which  the  most  sensitive  lady  might  not  hear  with  propriety  and 
witness.  And  here  let  me  add  that  it  will  be  a  sorry  day  for  any  man  who  shall  so  far 
forget  the  courtesy  due  and  paid  by  every  American  gentleman  to  every  American  lady 
as  to  ever  by  word  or  act  endeavor  to  deter  you  from  the  exercise  of  those  rights  with, 
which  the  law  has  invested  you.  I  conclude  with  the  remark  that  this  is  a  question, 
for  you  to  decide  for  yourselves.  No  man  has  any  right  to  interfere.  It  seems  to  me 
to  be  eminently  proper  for  women  to  sit  upon  grand  juries,  which  will  give  them  the 
best  possible  opportunities  to  aid  in  suppressing  the  dens  of  infamy  which  curse  the 
country.  I  shall  be  glad  of  your  assistance  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  object.  I 
do  not  make  these  remarks  from  distrust  of  any  of  the  gentlemen.  On  the  contrary,  I 
am  exceedingly  pleased  and  gratified  with  the  indication  of  intelligence,  love  of  law 
and  good  order,  and  the  gentlemanly  deportment  which  I  see  manifested  here. 

The  ladies  were  then  told  that  those  who  could  not  conveniently  serve, 
and  those  who  insisted  on  being  excused,  might  rise  and  they  should 
be  discharged.  Only  one  rose  and  she  was  excused.  But  a  victory  had 
been  won  of  no  small  moment.  Seeing  the  earnestness  of  the  judges  and 
the  dignified  character  they  had  given  to  the  affair,  the  women  were  en- 
couraged and  pleased,  and  the  enemies  of  equal  rights,  who  had  planned, 
as  they  thought,  a  stunning  blow  to  further  progress,  were  silenced  and 
defeated.  The  current  set  rapidly  in  the  other  direction  and  applause, 
as  usual,  followed  success.  The  business  of  the  court  proceeded  with 
marked  improvement.  The  court-room,  always  crowded,  was  quiet  and 
decorous  in  the  extreme.  The  bar  in  particular  was  always  on  its  good 


734  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

behavior,  and  wrangling,  abuse  and  buncome  speeches  were  not  heard. 
When  men  moved  about  they  walked  quietly,  on  tip-toe,  so  as  to  make 
no  noise,  and  forbore  to  whisper  or  make  any  demonstrations  in  of  around 
the  court-room.  The  women  when  called  took  their  chairs  in  the  jury- 
box  with  the  men,  as  they  do  their  seats  in  church,*  and  no  annoyance  or 
reluctance  was  visible  from  the  bench.  They  gave  close  and  intelligent 
attention  to  the  details  of  every  case,  and  the  men  who  sat  with  them 
evidently  acted  with  more  conscientious  care  than  usual.  The  verdicts 
were  generally  satisfactory,  except  to  convicted  criminals.  They  did  not 
convict  every  one  they  tried,  but  "  no  guilty  man  escaped,"  if  there  was 
sufficient  evidence  to  hold  him.  The  lawyers  soon  found  out  that  the 
usual  tricks  and  subterfuges  in  criminal  cases  would  not  procure  acquittal, 
and  they  began  to  challenge  off  all  the  women  called.  The  court  check- 
mated this  move  by  directing  the  sheriff  to  summon  other  women  in  their 
places,  instead  of  men,  and  then  came  motions  for  continuances.  The 
result  was  a  great  success  and  was  so  acknowledged  by  all  disinterested 
persons.  On  the  grand  jury  were  six  women  and  nine  men,  and  they 
became  such  a  terror  to  evil-doers  that  a  stampede  began  among  them 
and  very  many  left  the  town  forever.  Certainly  there  was  never  more 
fearless  or  efficient  work  performed  by  a  grand  jury. 

The  legislature  copied  most  of  the  statutes  which  it  enacted  from  the 
laws  of  Nebraska,  and  among  others  the  following  clauses  in  the  crimes 
act,  to  wit.: 

If  any  person  shall  keep  open  any  tippling  or  gaming-house  on  the  Sabbath  day  or 
night,  *  *  *  he  shall  be  fined  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars,  or  imprisoned 
in  the  county  jail  not  exceeding  six  months. 

Any  person  who  shall  hereafter  knowingly  disturb  the  peace  and  good  order  of 
society  by  labor  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  commonly  called  Sunday  (works  of  neces- 
sity and  charity  excepted),  shall  be  fined,  on  conviction  thereof,  in  any  sum  not  ex- 
ceeding fifty  dollars. 

No  attention  whatever  had  been  paid  to  these  statutes,  and  Sunday  was 
generally  the  great  drinking  day  of  the  whole  week;  the  saloons  sold 
more  whiskey  and  made  more  money  that  day  than  any  other.  The 
women  on  that  grand  jury  determined  to  put  a  stop  to  it  and  enforce 
these  laws.  They  therefore  indicted  every  liquor  saloon  in  town.  This 
made  a  great  outcry,  not  only  among  the  liquor-sellers  but  among  their 
customers  also.  They  were  all  arrested,  brought  into  court  and  gave  bail ; 
but  Judge  Howe  told  them  as  this  was  a  new  law  recently  passed,  and  as 
it  was  quite  probable  that  most  of  them  were  ignorant  of  its  provisions, 
he  would  continue  the  cases  with  this  express  understanding,  that  if  they 
would  strictly  obey  the  law  in  future  these  cases  should  be  dismissed  ;  but 


*  In  the  summer  of  1871  Mrs.  Stanton  and  myself,  en  route  for  California,  visited  Wyoming  and  met 
the  women  who  were  most  active  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights  of  citizenship.  At  Cheyenne  we  were 
the  guests  of  Mrs.  M.  B.  Arnold  and  Mrs.  Amalia  B.  Post.  Mrs.  Arnold  had  a  large  cattle-ranch  and 
Mrs.  Post  an  equally  large  sheep-ranch  a  few  miles  out  of  the  city,  which  they  superintended,  and 
from  which  each  received  an  independent  income.  They  had  not  only  served  as  jurors,  but  acted  as 
foremen.  At  Laramie  we  were  the  guests  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Hayford,  editor  of  the  Laramit  Sentinel,  and 
met  Grandma  Swain,  who  was  the  first  woman  to  cast  her  ballot  in  that  city.  We  also  met  Judges 
Howe  and  Kingman  and  Governor  Campbell,  and  heard  from  them  of  the  wonderful  changes  wrought 
in  the  court-room  and  at  the  polls  by  the  presence  of  enfranchised  women.  We  spoke  in  the  very 
court-room  in  which  women  had  sat  as  jurors  and  felt  an  added  inspiration  from  that  fact. — [S.  B.  A. 


Press  Comments.  735 

if  any  of  them  violated  it,  these  cases  would  be  tried  and  the  full  penalty 
inflicted.  They  all  agreed  to  this,  and  the  "  Sunday  Law,"  as  it  was  called, 
was  carefully  observed  afterwards  in  Laramie  City;  and  so  great  has  been 
the  change  in  that  town  in  the  habits  of  the  people  and  the  quiet  appear- 
ance of  the  streets  on  Sunday,  as  compared  with  other  towns  in  the  ter- 
ritory, that  it  has  been  nick-named  the  "  Puritan  town  "  of  Wyoming,  and, 
I  may  add,  rejoices  in  its  singularity. 

And  how  was  this  most  successful  experiment  in  equal  rights  received 
and  treated  by  the  press  and  the  people  out  of  the  territory?  The  New 
York  illustrated  papers  made  themselves  funny  with  caricatures  of  female 
juries,  and  cheap  scribblers  invented  all  sorts  of  scandals  and  misrepre- 
sentations about  them.  The  newspapers  were  overflowing  with  abuse 
and  adverse  criticism,  and  only  here  and  there  was  a  manly  voice  heard 
in  apology  or  defense.  I  copy  these  extracts  as  a  sample  of  the  rest. 

"LADY  JURORS." — Under  this  head  the  New  Orleans  Times,  the  ablest 
and  largest  paper  in  the  South,  said  : 

Confusion  is  becoming  worse  confounded  by  the  hurried  march  of  events.  Mad 
theorizings  take  the  form  of  every-day  realities,  and  in  the  confusion  of  rights  and  the 
confusion  of  dress,  all  distinctions  of  sex  are  threatened  with  swift  obliteration.  When 
Anna  Dickinson  holds  forth  as  the  teacher  of  strange  doctrines  in  which  the  mascu- 
linity of  woman  is  preposterously  asserted  as  a  true  warrant  for  equality  with  man  in  all 
his  political  and  industrial  relations;  when  Susan  B.  Anthony  flashes  defiance  from 
lips  and  eyes  which  refuse  the  blandishment  and  soft  dalliance  that  in  the  past  have 
been  so  potent  with  "the  sex";  when,  in  fine,  the  women  of  Wyoming  are  called 
from  their  domestic  firesides  to  serve  as  jurors  in  a  court  of  justice,  a  question  of  the 
day,  and  one,  too,  of  the  strangest  kind,  is  forced  on  our  attention.  From  a  careful 
review  of  all  the  surroundings,  we  think  the  Wyoming  experiment  will  lead  to  beneficial 
results.  By  proving  that  lady  jurors  are  altogether  impracticable — that  they  cannot  sit 
as  the  peers  of  men  without  setting  at  defiance  all  the  laws  of  delicacy  and  propriety — 
the  conclusion  may  be  reached  that  it  will  be  far  better  to  let  nature  alone  in  regulating 
the  relations  of  the  sexes. 

The  Philadelphia  Press  had  the  following  : 

WOMEN  AS  JURORS. — Now  one  of  the  adjuncts  of  female  citizenship  is  about  to  be 
tested  in  Wyoming.  Eleven  women  have  been  drawn  as  jurors  to  serve  at  the  March 
term  of  the  Albany  County  Court.  It  is  stated  that  immense  excitement  has  been 
created  thereby,  but  the  nature  of  the  aforesaid  excitement  does  not  transpire. 
Will  women  revolutionize  justice?  What  is  female  justice,  or  what  is  it  likely  to  be? 
Would  twelve  women  return  the  same  verdict  as  twelve  men,  supposing  that  each 
twelve  had  heard  the  same  case?  Is  it  possible  for  a  jury  of  women,  carrying  with  them 
all  their  sensitiveness,  sympathies,  predilections,  jealousies,  prejudices,  hatreds,  to 
reach  an  impartial  verdict  ?  Would  not  every  criminal  be  a  monster,  provided  not  a 
female?  Can  the  sex,  ordinarily  so  quick  to  pronounce  pre-judgments,  divest  itself  of 
them  sufficiently  to  enter  the  jury-box  with  unbiased  minds  ?  Perhaps  it  were  best 
to  trust  the  answer  to  events.  Women  may  learn  to  be  jurymen,  but  in  so  doing  they 
have  a  great  deal  to  learn. 

So  persistent  were  the  attacks  and  so  malignant  were  the  perversions 
of  truth  that  Judge  Howe,  at  the  request  of  the  editor,  wrote  the  follow- 
ing letter  for  publication  anonymously  in  the  Chicago  Legal  News,  every 
statement  in  which  I  can  confirm  from  my  own  observation.  The  Judge, 
after  writing  the  letter,  consented  to  its  publication  over  his  own  signature : 


73 6  History  of  Woman  Suffrage, 

CHEYENNE,  Wyoming,  April  4,   1870. 
Mrs.  Myra  Brad-well,   Chicago,  III.: 

DEAR  MADAM  :  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  favor  of  March  26,  in  which  you  request 
me  to  "give  you  a  truthful  statement,  over  my  own  signature,  for  publication  in  your 
paper,  of  the  history  of,  and  my  observations  in  regard  to,  women  as  grand  and  petit 
jurors  in  Wyoming."  I  will  comply  with  your  request,  with  this  qualification,  that  it 
be  not  published  over  my  own  signature,  as  I  do  not  covet  newspaper  publicity,  and 
have  already,  without  any  agency  or  fault  of  my  own,  been  subjected  to  an  amount  of 
it  which  I  never  anticipated  nor  conceived  of,  and  which  has  been  far  from  agreeable 
to  me. 

I  had  no  agency  in  the  enactment  of  the  law  in  Wyoming  conferring  legal  equality 
upon  women.  I  found  it  upon  the  statute-book  of  that  territory,  and  in  accordance 
with  its  provisions  several  women  were  legally  drawn  by  the  proper  officers  on  the 
grand  and  petit  juries  of  Albany  county,  and  were  duly  summoned  by  the  sheriff  with- 
out any  agency  of  mine.  On  being  apprised  of  these  facts,  I  conceived  it  to  be  my 
plain  duty  to  fairly  enforce  this  law,  as  I  would  any  other;  and  more  than  this,  I  re- 
solved at  once  that,  as  it  had  fallen  to  my  lot  to  have  the  experiment  tried  under  my 
administration,  it  should  have  a  fair  trial,  and  I  therefore  assured  these  women  that 
they  could  serve  or  not,  as  they  chose;  that  if  they  chose  to  serve,  the  Court  would 
secure  to  them  the  most  respectful  consideration  and  deference,  and  protect  them 
from  insult  in  word  or  gesture,  and  from  everything  which  might  offend  a  modest  and 
virtuous  woman  in  any  of  the  walks  of  life  in  which  the  good  and  true  women  of  our 
country  have  been  accustomed  to  move. 

While  I  had  never  been  an  advocate  for  the  law,  I  felt  that  thousands  of  good  men 
and  women  had  been,  and  that  they  had  a  right  to  see  it  fairly  administered;  and  I 
was  resolved  that  it  should  not  be  sneered  down  if  I  had  to  employ  the  whole  power 
of  the  court  to  prevent  it.  I  felt  that  even  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  policy  of 
admitting  women  to  the  right  of  suffrage  and  to  hold  office  would  condemn  me  if  I  did 
not  do  this.  It  was  also  sufficient  for  me  that  my  own  judgment  approved  this  course. 

With  such  assurances  these  women  chose  to  serve  and  were  duly  impanelled  as 
jurors.  They  were  educated,  cultivated  eastern  ladies,  who  are  an  honor  to  their  sex. 
They  have,  with  true  womanly  devotion,  left  their  homes  of  comfort  in  the  States  to 
share  the  fortunes  of  their  husbands  and  brothers  in  the  far  West  and  to  aid  them  in 
founding  a  new  State  beyond  the  Missouri. 

And  now  as  to  the  results.  With  all  my  prejudices  against  the  policy,  I  am  under 
conscientious  obligations  to  say  that  these  women  acquitted  themselves  with  such 
dignity,  decorum,  propriety  of  conduct  and  intelligence  as  to  win  the  admiration  of 
every  fair-minded  citizen  of  Wyoming.  They  were  careful,  pains-taking,  intelligent 
and  conscientious.  They  were  firm  and  resolute  for  the  right  as  established  by  the 
law  and  the  testimony.  Their  verdicts  were  right,  and,  after  three  or  four  criminal 
trials,  the  lawyers  engaged  in  defending  persons  accused  of  crime  began  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  right  of  peremptory  challenge  to  get  rid  of  the  female  jurors,  who  were 
too  much  in  favor  of  enforcing  the  laws  and  punishing  crime  to  suit  the  interests  of 
their  clients.  After  the  grand  jury  had  been  in  session  two  days,  the  dance-house 
keepers,  gamblers  and  demi-monde  fled  out  of  the  city  in  dismay,  to  escape  the  indict- 
ment of  women  grand  jurors  !  In  short  I  have  never,  in  twenty-five  years  of  constant 
experience  in  the  courts  of  the  country,  seen  more  faithful,  intelligent  and  resolutely 
honest  grand  and  petit  juries  than  these. 

A  contemptibly  lying  and  silly  dispatch  went  over  the  wires  to  the  effect  that  during 
the  trial  of  A.  W.  Howie  for  homicide  (in  which  the  jury  consisted  of  six  women  and 
six  men)  the  men  and  women  were  kept  locked  up  together  all  night  for  four  nights. 
Only  two  nights  intervened  during  the  trial,  and  on  these  nights,  by  my  order,  the 
jury  was  taken  to  the  parlor  of  the  large,  commodious  and  well-furnished  hotel  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad,  in  charge  of  the  sheriff  and  a  woman  bailiff,  where  they  were 
supplied  with  meals  and  every  comfort,  and  at  10  o'clock  the  women  were  conducted 
by  the  bailiff  to  a  large  and  suitable  apartment  where  beds  were  prepared  for  them, 


Comments  of  the  Press. .  73  7 

and  the  men  to  another  adjoining,  where  beds  were  prepared  for  them,  and  where 
they  remained  in  charge  of  sworn  officers  until  morning,  when  they  were  again  all 
conducted  to  the  parlor  and  from  thence  in  a  body  to  bieakfast,  and  thence  to  the 
jury-room,  which  was  a  clean  and  comfortable  one,  carpeted  and  heated,  and  furnished 
with  all  proper  conveniences. 

The  cause  was  submitted  to  the  jury  for  their  decision  about  n  o'clock  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  they  agreed  upon  their  verdict,  which  was  received  by  the  court  between  n 
and  12  o'clock  at  night  of  the  same  day,  when  they  were  discharged. 

Everybody  commended  the  conduct  of  this  jury  and  was  satisfied  with  the  verdict, 
except  the  individual  who  was  convicted  of  murder  in  the  second  degree.  The  pres- 
ence of  these  ladies  in  court  secured  the  most  perfect  decorum  and  propriety  of  con- 
duct, and  the  gentlemen  of  the  bar  and  others  vied  with  each  other  in  their  courteous 
and  respectful  demeanor  toward  the  ladies  and  the  court.  Nothing  occurred  to  offend 
the  most  refined  lady  (if  she  was  a  sensible  lady)  and  the  universal  judgment  of  every 
intelligent  and  fair-minded  man  present  was  and  is,  that  the  experiment  was  a  success. 

I  dislike  the  notoriety  this  matter  has  given  me,  but  I  do  not  shrink  from  it.  I 
never  sought  it  nor  expected  it,  and  have  only  performed  what  I  regarded  as  a  plain 
duty,  neither  seeking  nor  desiring  any  praise,  and  quite  indifferent  to  any  censure  or 
criticism  which  my  conduct  may  have  invoked. 

Thanking  you  for  your  friendly  and  complimentary  expressions,  I  am  very  respect- 
fully yours,  J.  H.  HOWE. 

As  showing  how  the  matter  was  received  at  home,  in  Laramie  City,  I 
copy  the  following  from  the  Laramie  Sentinel  of  April  7,  1870  : 

If  we  should  neglect  to  give  some  idea  of  the  results  of  our  jury  experiment, 
the  world  would  say  we  were  afraid  or  ashamed  of  it.  For  our  own  part  we 
are  inclined  to  admit  that  it  succeeded  beyond  all  our  expectations.  We  naturally 
wished  it  to  succeed;  still  we  scarcely  wished  it  to  demonstrate  a  theory  that  women 
were  better  qualified  for  these  duties  than  men.  Hence,  when  Chief-Justice  Howe  said, 
"  In  eighteen  years'  experience  I  have  never  had  as  fair,  candid,  impartial  and  able  a  jury 
in  court,  as  in  this  term  in  Albany  county,"  and  when  Associate-Justice  Kingman  said, 
"  Fbr  twenty-five  years  it  has  been  an  anxious  study  with  me,  both  on  the  bench  and  at 
the  bar,  how  we  are  to  prevent  jury  trials  from  degenerating  into  a  perfect  burlesque, 
and  it  has  remained  for  Albany  county  to  point  out  the  remedy  and  demonstrate  the  cure 
for  this  threatened  evil,"  we  confess  to  having  been  more  than  satisfied  with  the  result. 
It  may  be  safely  stated  as  the  unanimous  verdict  of  bench,  bar  and  public  opinion, 
that  the  jurors  of  Albany  county  did  well  and  faithfully  discharge  their  duties,  with 
honor  and  credit  to  themselves  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  public. 

Among  the  few  exceptions  to  the  general  abuse  of  the  press,  the  follow- 
ing from  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  of  April  14,  1870,  is  well  worth  preserving: 

Now,  in  the  name  of  the  inalienable  right  of  every  person  to  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,  we  have  to  ask  :  Are  not  these  women  competent  to  decide  for  themselves 
whether  their  households,  their  children  or  their  husbands  are  of  more  importance  than 
their  public  duties  ?  And  having  the  best  means  for  deciding  this  question,  have  they 
not  the  right  to  decide  ?  Who  has  the  right  to  pick  out  the  females  of  a  jury  and  chal- 
lenge them  with  the  question  whether  they  are  not  neglecting  their  households  or  their 
husbands?  Who  challenges  a  male  juror  and  demands  whether  he  left  his  family  well 
provided,  and  his  wife  well  cherished?  or  if,  through  his  detention  in  court,  the  cup- 
board will  be  bare,  the  wife  neglected,  or  the  children  with  holes  in  their  trousers  ? 
This  is  simply  the  crack  of  the  familiar  whip  of  man's  absolute  domination  over  women. 
It  means  nothing  short  of  their  complete  subjection.  Not  to  use  rights  is  to  abandon 
them.  There  are  inconveniences  and  cares  in  all  possessions;  but  who  argues  that 
therefore  they  should  be  abandoned  ?  It  would  much  promote  the  convenience  of 
man  if  he  would  let  his  political  rights  and  duties  be  performed  by  a  few  willing  per- 
sons; but  he  would  soon  find  that  he  had  no  rights  loft. 

47 


738  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

And  what  is  this  family  impediment  which  is  thus  set  up  as  a  female  disability?  The 
family  obligation  is  just  as  strong  in  man  as  in  woman.  It  is  much  stronger,  for  the 
manners  which  compel  woman  to  be  the  passive  waiter  on  the  male  providence  leave 
to  him  the  real  responsibility.  Yet  many  men  forego  marriage  and  homes  and  chil- 
dren, and  nobody  imagines  that  it  disqualifies  them  for  public  duties.  Nobody  chal- 
lenges them  as  jurors,  and  demands  if  they  have  discharged  the  family  obligation. 
Rather  it  is  held  wise  in  them  to  give  themselves  wholly  to  their  pursuits,  without  the 
distraction  of  conjugal  joys,  until  they  have  achieved  success.  Why  should  the  family 
requirement,  which  man  throws  off  so  easily,  be  made  a  yoke  for  woman  ?  There  is 
something  more  fundamental  than  nursing  babies  or  coddling  the  appetites  of  husbands. 
The  sentiment,  "Give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death,"  is  the  American  instinct. 
Breathes  there  a  woman  with  soul  so  dead  that  she  would  bring  forth  slaves  ?  Babes 
had  better  not  be  born  if  they  are  not  to  have  their  rights.  It  is  the  duty  of  women 
to  first  provide  the  state  of  freedom  for  their  progeny.  Then  they  may  consent  to  be- 
come wives  and  mothers.  Liberty  and  the  exercise  of  all  political  rights  are  so  bound 
together,  that  to  neglect  one  is  to  abandon  all.  Trial  by  a  jury  of  one's  peers  is  the 
essential  principle  of  the  administration  of  justice.  To  be  a  peer  on  a  jury  involves 
the  whole  principle  of  equal  rights.  To  abandon  this  to  man,  is  to  accept  subjection 
to  man. 

For  women  to  neglect  jury  duty  is  to  give  men  the  exclusive  privilege  to  judge 
•women,  and  to  abandon  the  right  to  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  their  peers.  How  can  men 
justly  judge  a  woman  ?  They  cannot  have  that  knowledge  of  her  peculiar  physical  and 
mental  organization  which  is  requisite  to  the  judgment  of  motives  and  temptations. 
They  cannot  comprehend  the  variable  moods  and  emotions,  nor  the  power  of  her  im- 
pulses. It  is  monstrous  injustice  to  judge  women  by  the  same  rules  as  men.  And 
men  lack  that  intuitive  charity  and  tender  sympathy  which  women  always  feel  for  an 
exposed,  erring  sister.  Furthermore,  many  of  the  crimes  of  men  are  against  women. 
How  can  men  appreciate  their  injury?  That  which  is  her  ruin,  they  call,  as  Anna 
Dickinson  says,  sowing  their  wild  oats.  How  can  justice  be  expected  from  those  who 
instinctively  combine  to  preserve  their  privilege  to  abuse  women  ?  For  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  to  women  who  are  accused,  and  to  men  who  have  wronged  women, 
judges  and  jurors  of  their  own  sex  are  indispensable. 

As  long  as  Judge  Howe  remained  on  the  bench  he  had  women  on  his 
juries.*  His  first  term  at  Cheyenne,  after  the  law  was  passed,  several 
women  were  among  the  jurors,  and  they  did  fully  as  well,  and  exerted  quite 
as  good  an  influence  there,  as  the  women  had  recently  at  Laramie  City. 

The  first  election  under  the  woman  suffrage  law  was  held  in  September- 
1870,  for  the  election  of  a  delegate  in  congress,  and  county  officers.  There 
was  an  exciting  canvass,  and  both  parties  applied  to  the  whisky  shops, 
as  before,  supposing  they  would  wield  the  political  power  of  the  terri- 
tory, and  that  not  enough  women  would  vote  to  influence  the  result.  The 
morning  of  election  came,  but  did  not  bring  the  usual  scenes  around  the 
polls.  A  few  women  came  out  early  to  vote,  and  the  crowd  kept  entirely 
out  of  sight.  There  was  plenty  of  drinking  and  noise  at  the  saloons,  but 
:the  men  would  not  remain,  after  voting,  around  the  polls.  It  seemed 
more  like  Sunday  than  election  day.  Even  the  negro  men  and  women 
Voted  without  objection  or  disturbance.  Quite  a  number  of  women  voted 
during  the  day,  at  least  in  all  the  larger  towns,  but  apprehension  of  a  re- 


*  The  following  is  the  list  of  the  first  grand  jury  at  Laramie  City,  composed  of  nine  men  and  six 
women,  as  impanneled  and  sworn  :  C.  H.  Bussard,  foreman  ;  Mrs.  Jane  E.  Hilton,  T.  W.  DeKay, 
Jeremiah  Boies,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Swain,  Joseph  DeMars,  M.  N.  Merrill,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Pierce,  Mrs.  C. 
Blake,  Richard  Turpin,  G.  W.  Cardwell,  Mrs.  S.  L.  Larimer,  N.  C.  Worth,  Mrs.  Jane  Mackle,  W.  H. 
Mitchell. 


View  of  Rev.  J.  D.  Pierce.  739 

petition  of  the  scenes  of  the  former  election,  and  doubt  as  to  the  proper 
course  for  them  to  pursue,  kept  very  many  from  voting.  The  result  was 
a  great  disappointment  all  around.  The  election  had  passed  off  with  un- 
expected quiet,  and  order  had  everywhere  prevailed.  The  whisky  shops 
had  been  beaten,  and  their  favorite  candidate  for  congress,  although  he 
had  spent  several  thousand  dollars  to  secure  an  election,  was  left  out  in 
the  cold.  I  cannot  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  quoting  at  length 
the  following  letter  of  the  Rev.  D.  J.  Pierce,  at  that  time  a  resident  of 
Laramie  City,  and  a  very  wealthy  man,  to  show  the  powerful  influence 
that  was  exerted  on  the  mind  of  a  New  England  clergyman  by  that  first 
exhibition  of  women  at  the  polls,  and  as  evidence  of  the  singular  and 
beneficial  change  in  the  character  of  the  election,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
men : 

Editor  Laramie  Sentinel :  I  am  pleased  to  notice  your  action  in  printing  testimonials 
of  different  classes  to  the  influence  of  woman  suffrage  in  Wyoming.  With  the  apathy 
of  conservatism  and  prejudice  of  party  spirit  arrayed  against  the  idea  in  America,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  residents  in  Wyoming  to  note  the  simple  facts  of  their  noted  experi- 
ment, and  lay  them  before  the  world  for  its  consideration.  I  came  from  the  vicinity 
of  Boston,  arriving  in  Laramie  two  weeks  before  the  first  regular  election  of  1870.  I 
had  never  sympathized  with  the  extreme  theories  of  the  woman's  rights  platform,  to 
the  advocates  of  which  I  had  often  listened  in  Boston.  But  I  had  never  been  able  to 
learn  just  why  a  woman  is  naturally  excluded  from  the  privilege  of  franchise,  and  I 
sometimes  argued  in  favor  in  lyceum  debates.  Still  the  question  of  her  degradation 
stared  me  in  the  face,  and  I  came  to  Wyoming  unsettled  in  the  matter,  determined 
to  be  an  impartial  judge.  I  was  early  at  the  polls,  but  too  late  to  witness  the  polling 
of  the  first  female  vote — by  "Grandma"  Swain,  a  much-esteemed  Quaker  lady  of  75 
summers,  who  determined  by  her  words  and  influence  to  rally  her  sex  to  defend  the 
cause  of  morality  and  justice. 

I  saw  the  rough  mountaineers  maintaining  the  most  respectful  decorum  whenever 
the  women  approached  the  polls,  and  heard  the  timely  warning  of  one  of  the  leading 
canvassers  as  he  silenced  an  incipient  quarrel  with  uplifted  finger,  saying,  "  Hist !  Be 
quiet  !  A  woman  is  coming  !" 

And  I  was  compelled  to  allow  that  in  this  new  country,  supposed  at  that  time  to  be 
infested  by  hordes  of  cut-throats,  gamblers  and  abandoned  characters,  I  had  witnessed 
a  more  quiet  election  than  it  had  been  my  fortune  to  see  in  the  quiet  towns  of  Ver- 
mont. I  saw  ladies  attended  by  their  husbands,  brothers,  or  sweethearts,  ride  to  the 
places  of  voting,  and  alight  in  the  midst  of  a  silent  crowd,  and  pass  through  an  open 
space  to  the  polls,  depositing  their  votes  with  no  more  exposure  to  insult  or  injury  than 
they  would  expect  on  visiting  a  grocery  store  or  meat-market.  Indeed,  they  were 
much  safer  here,  every  man  of  their  party  was  pledged  to  shield  them,  while  every 
member  of  the  other  party  feared  the  influence  of  any  signs  of  disrespect. 

And  the  next  day  I  sent  my  impressions  to  an  eastern  paper,  declaring  myself  con- 
vinced that  woman's  presence  at  the  polls  would  elevate  the  tone  of  public  sentiment 
there  as  it  does  in  churches,  the  social  hall,  or  any  other  place,  while  her  own  robes 
are  unspotted  by  the  transcient  association  with  evil  characters  which  she  is  daily 
obliged  to  meet  in  the  street  or  dry-goods  store.  My  observation  at  subsequent  an- 
nual elections  has  only  confirmed  my  opinion  in  this  respect. 

Without  reference  to  party  issues,  I  noticed  that  a  majority  of  women  voted  for  men 
of  the  most  temperate  habits,  thus  insuring  success  to  the  party  of  law  and  order. 

After  three  years'-  absence  from  my  old  home,  I  could  not  fail  to  notice  in  the  elec- 
tions of  1877  and  1878  that  both  parties  had  been  led  to  nominate  men  of  betterstand- 
ing  in  moral  character,  in  order  to  secure  the  female  vote. 

I  confess  that  I  believe  in  the  idea  of  aristocracy — *'.  e.  "  the  rule  of  the  best  ones" 


740  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

— not  by  blood  or  position,  but  the  aristocracy  of  character,  to  which  our  laws  point 
when  they  declare  that  prison  characters  shall  not  vote. 

The  ballot  of  any  community  cannot  rise  above  its  character.  A  town  full  of  aban- 
doned women  would  be  cursed  by  the  application  of  woman  suffrage. 

We  need  to  intrust  our  State  interests  to  the  class  most  noted  for  true  character.  As 
a  class,  women  are  more  moral  and  upright  in  their  character  than  men.  Hence 
America  would  profit  by  their  voting.  D.  J.  PIERCE,  Pastor  Baptist  Church. 

The  next  general  election  occurred  in  September,  1871,  for  members  of 
the  second  territorial  legislature.  The  usual  tactics  were  employed  and 
considerable  sums  of  money  were  given  to  the  drinking  saloons  to  secure 
their  influence  and  furnish  free  drinks  and  cigars  for  the  voters.  But  no 
one  thought  of  trying  to  buy  up  the  women,  nor  was  it  ever  supposed 
that  a  woman's  vote  could  be  secured  with  whiskey  and  cigars  !  Election 
day  passed  off  with  entire  quiet  and  good  order  around  the  polling-places  ; 
the  noise  and  bustle  were  confined  to  the  bar-rooms.  The  streets  pre- 
sented no  change  from  an  ordinary  business  day,  except  that  a  large 
number  of  wagons  and  carnages  were  driven  about  with  the  watch-words 
and  banners  of  different  parties,  or  different  candidates,  conspicuously 
posted  on  them.  A  much  larger  number  of  women  voted  at  this  election 
than  at  the  former  one,  but  quite  a  number  failed  or  refused  to  take  part 
in  it.  The  result  was  again  a  surprise,  and  to  many  a  disappointment. 
Some  candidates  were  unexpectedly  elected,  and  some  who  had  spent 
large  amounts  of  money  and  worked  hard  around  the  drinking  saloons, 
and  were  ready  to  bet  largely  on  being  elected,  were  defeated.  The  Re- 
publicans had  shown  an  unexpected  strength  and  had  returned  several 
members  to  each  House,  although  it  was  quite  certain  that  some  of  the 
Democrats  were  indebted  to  the  women  for  their  success.  It  was  ad- 
mitted, however,  that  their  votes  had  generally  gone  against  the  favorites 
of  the  whiskey  shops  and  that  the  power  of  the  saloons  had  been  largely 
neutralized  and  in  some  cases  entirely  overthrown.  Some  remarkable 
instances  of  woman's  independence  and  moral  character  occurred  at  this 
election  which  I  cannot  help  recording,  but  must  not  mention  names. 

As  above  stated  in  reference  to  the  grand  jury  in  Laramie  City,  the 
"  Sunday  law  "  had  there  been  put  into  vigorous  operation.  The  evening 
before  the  election,  and  after  both  the  political  parties  had  nominated 
their  candidates  for  the  legislature,  the  saloon-keepers  got  together  very 
secretly  and  nominated  a  ticket  of  their  own  number,  pledged  to 
repeal  the  "  Sunday  law."  This  move  was  not  discovered  until  they 
began  to  vote  that  ticket  at  the  polls  next  day.  Then  it  was  found 
that  the  saloons  were  pushing  it  with  all  their  influence  and  giving 
free  drinks  to  all  who  would  vote  it.  This  aroused  the  women  and  they 
came  out  in  force ;  many  who  had  declined  to  vote  before  not  only 
voted,  but  went  round  and  induced  others  to  do  the  same.  At  noon  the 
rum-sellers'  ticket  was  far  ahead  and  it  looked  as  though  it  would  be 
elected  by  a  large  majority ;  at  the  close  of  the  polls  at  night  it  was  over- 
whelmingly defeated.  In  one  case  the  wife  of  a  saloon-keeper  who  was 
a  candidate  on  that  ticket,  told  her  husband  that  she  would  defeat  him  if 
she  could.  He  was  beaten,  and  he  was  man  enough  to  say  he  was  glad  of 


Results  of  the  Election.  74  * 

it — glad  he  had  a  wife  so  much  better  than  he  was,  and  who  had  so  much 
more  influence  in  town  than  he  had. 

Another  candidate  on  that  ticket  was  a  saloon-keeper  who  had  grown 
rich  in  the  traffic,  but  whose  private  character  was  much  above  the 
morals  of  his  business.  He  had  recently  married  a-very  nice  young  lady  in 
the  East,  and  she  was  much  excited  when  she  learned  how  matters  were 
progressing.  She  told  her  husband  she  was  ashamed  of  him  and  would  vote 
against  him,  and  would  enlist  all  the  members  of  her  church  against  him 
if  she  could ;  and  she  went  to  work  in  earnest  and  was  a  most  efficient 
cause  of  the  defeat  of  the  ticket.  Her  husband  also  was  proud  of  her, 
and  said  it  served  him  right  and  he  was  glad  of  it.  I  have  never  heard 
that  the  domestic  harmony  of  either  of  these  families  was  in  anyway  dis- 
turbed by  these  events,  but  I  know  that  they  have  prospered  and  are  still 
successful  and  happy, 

Still  the  legislature  was  strongly  Democratic.  There  were  four  Re- 
publicans and  five  Democrats  in  the  Council,  and  four  Republicans  and 
nine  Democrats  in  the  House.  When  they  met  in  November,  1871,  many 
Democrats  were  found  to  be  bitteriy  opposed  to  woman  suffrage  and 
determined  to  repeal  the  act;  they  said  it  was  evident  they  were  losing 
ground  and  the  Republicans  gaining  by  reason  of  the  women  vot- 
ing, and  that  it  must  be  stopped.  The  Republicans  were  all  inclined 
to  sustain  the  law.  Several  caucuses  were  held  by  the  Democrats  to  de- 
termine on  their  course  of  action  and  overcome  the  opposition  in  their 
own  ranks,  These  caucuses  were  held  in  one  of  the  largest  drinking 
saloons  in  Cheyenne  and  all  the  power  of  whiskey  was  brought  to  bear 
on  the  members  to  secure  a  repeal  of  the  woman  suffrage  act.  It  required 
considerable  time  and  a  large  amount  of  whiskey,  but  at  last  the  opposi- 
tion was  stifled  and  the  Democratic  party  was  brought  up  solid  for  repeal. 
A  bill  was  introduced  in  the  House  for  the  purpose,  but  was  warmly 
resisted  by  the  Republicans  and  a  long  discussion  followed.  It  was 
finally  carried  by  a  strict  party  vote  and  sent  to  the  Council,  where  it 
met  with  the  same  opposition  and  the  same  result  followed.  It  then  went 
to  the  governor  for  his  approval.  There  was  no  doubt  in  his  mind  as  to 
the  course  he  ought  to  take.  He  had  seen  the  effects  produced  by  the 
act  of  enfranchisement,  and  unhesitatingly  approved  all  of  them.  He 
promptly  returned  the  bill  with  his  veto;  and  the  accompanying  message 
is  such  an  able  paper  and  so  fully  sets  forth  the  reasons  in  favor  of  the 
original  act,  and  the  good  results  of  its  operation,  that  at  least  a  few  ex- 
tracts well  deserve  a  prominent  place  in  this  record  : 

I  return  herewith  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  which  it  originated,  a  bill  for 
"An  Act  to  repeal  Chapter  XXXI.  of  the  Laws  of  the  First  Legislative  Assembly  of 
the  Territory  of  Wyoming." 

I  regret  that  a  sense  of  duty  compels  me  to  dissent  from  your  honorable  body  with 
regard  to  any  contemplated  measure  of  public  policy.  It  would  certainly  be  more  in 
accordance  with  the  desire  I  have  to  secure  and  preserve  the  most  harmonious  rela- 
tions among  all  the  branches  of  our  territorial  government,  to  approve  the  bill.  A 
regard,  however,  for  the  rights  of  those  whose  interests  are  to  be  affected  by  it,  and 
for  what  I  believe  to  be  the  best  interests  of  the  territory,  will  not  allow  me  to  do  so. 
The  consideration,  besides,  that  the  passage  of  this  bill  would  be,  on  the  part  of  those 
instrumental  in  bringing  it  about,  a  declaration  that  the  principles  upon  which  the 


742  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

enfranchisement  of  women  is  urged  are  false  and  untenable,  and  that  our  experience 
demonstrates  this,  influences  me  not  a  little  in  my  present  action. 

While  I  fully  appreciate  the  great  danger  of  too  much  attention  to  abstract  specula- 
tion or  metaphysical  reasoning  in  political  affairs,  I  cannot  but  perceive  that  there  are 
times  and  circumstances  when  it  is  not  only  proper  but  absolutely  necessary  to  appeal 
to  principles  somewhat  general  and  abstract,  when  they  alone  can  point  out  the  way 
and  they  alone  can  guide  our  conduct.  So  it  was  when,  two  years  ago,  the  act  which 
this  bill  is  designed  to  repeal  was  presented  for  my  approval.  There  was  at  that 
time  no  experience  to  which  I  might  refer  and  test  by  its  results  the  conclusions  to 
which  the  application  of  certain  universally  admitted  principles  led  me.  In  the 
absence  of  all  such  experience  I  was  driven  to  the  application  of  principles  which 
through  the  whole  course  of  our  national  history  have  been  powerfully  and  beneficially 
operative  in  making  our  institutions  more  and  more  popular,  in  framing  laws  more 
and  more  just  and  in  securing  amendments  to  our  federal  constitution.  If  the  ballot 
be  an  expression  of  the  wish,  or  a  declaration  of  the  will,  of  the  tax-payer  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  taxes  should  be  levied  and  collected  and  revenues  disbursed,  why 
should  those  who  hold  in  their  own  right  a  large  proportion  of  the  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try be  excluded  from  a  voice  in  making  the  laws  which  regulate  this  whole  subject  ? 
If,  again,  the  ballot  be  for  the  physically  weak  a  guarantee  of  protection  against  the 
aggression  and  violence  of  the  strong,  upon  what  ground  can  the  delicate  bodily 
organism  of  woman  be  forbidden  this  shelter  for  her  protection?  If,  once  more,  each 
ballot  be  the  declaration  of  the  individual  will  of  the  person  casting  it,  as  to  the  rela- 
tive merit  of  opposed  measures  or  men,  surely  the  ability  to  judge  and  determine — 
the  power  of  choice — does  not  depend  upon  sex,  nor  does  womanhood  deprive  of  per- 
sonality. If  these  principles  are  too  general  to  be  free  from  criticism,  and  if  this 
reasoning  be  too  abstract  to  be  always  practically  applicable,  neither  the  principles 
nor  the  reasoning  can  fail  of  approbation  when  contrasted  with  the  gloomy  mis- 
givings for  the  future  and  the  dark  forebodings  of  evils,  imaginary,  vague  and  unde- 
fined, by  dwelling  upon  which  the  opponents  of  this  reform  endeavor  to  stay  its 
progress.  Aggressive  reasoning  and  positive  principles  like  these  must  be  met  with 
something  more  than  mere  doubtful  conjectures,  must  be  resisted  by  something  more 
than  popular  prejudices,  and  overthrown — if  overthrown  at  all — by  something  stronger 
than  the  force  of  inert  conservatism;  yet  what  is  there  but  conjecture,  prejudice  and 
conservatism  opposing  this  reform  ?  *  ******* 

The  law  granting  to  women  the  right  to  vote  and  to  hold  office  in  this  territory  was 
a  natural  and  logical  sequence  to  the  other  laws  upon  our  statute-book.  Our  laws 
give  to  the  widow  the  guardianship  of  her  minor  children.  Will  you  take  from  her 
all  voice  in  relation  to  the  public  schools  established  for  the  education  of  those 
children  ?  Our  laws  permit  women  to  acquire  and  possess  property.  Will  you  forbid 
them  having  any  voice  in  relation  to  the  taxation  of  that  property?  This  bill  says  too 
little  or  too  much.  Too  little,  if  you  legislate  upon  the  assumption  that  woman  is  an 
inferior  who  should  be  kept  in  a  subordinate  position,  for  in  that  case  the  other  laws 
affecting  her  should  be  repealed  or  amended;  and  too  much,  if  she  is,  as  no  one  will 
deny,  the  equal  of  man  in  heart  and  mind,  for  in  that  case  we  cannot  afford  to  dis- 
pense with  her  counsel  and  assistance  in  the  government  of  the  territory. 

I  need  only  instance  section  9  of  the  school  act,  which  declares  that,  "  In  the  em- 
ployment of  teachers  no  discrimination  shall  be  made  in  the  question  of  pay  on  ac- 
count of  sex  when  the  persons  are  equally  qualified."  What  is  more  natural  than  that 
the  men  who  thought  that  women  were  competent  to  instruct  the  future  voters  and 
legislators  of  our  land,  should  take  the  one  step  in  advance  of  the  public  sentiment  of 
yesterday  and  give  to  her  equal  wages  for  equal  work  ?  And  when  this  step  had  been 
taken,  what  more  natural  than  that  they  should  again  move  forward — this  time  per- 
haps a  little  in  advance  of  the  public  sentiment  of  to-day — and  give  to  those  whom 
they  consider  competent  to  instruct  voters,  the  right  to  vote. 

To  the  statement,  so  often  made,  that  the  law  which  this  bill  is  intended  to  repeal 
was  passed  thoughtlessly  and  without  proper  consideration,  I  oppose  the  fact  to  which 


Governor  Campbell's   Veto.  743 

I  have  adverted,  that  the  law  perfectly  conforms  to  all  the  other  laws  in  relation  to 
women  upon  our  statute-book.  Studied  in  connection  with  the  other  laws  it  would 
seem  to  have  grown  naturally  from  them.  It  harmonizes  entirely  with  them,  and 
forms  a  fitting  apex  to  the  grand  pyramid  which  is  being  built  up  as  broadly  and  as 
surely  throughout  all  the  States  of  the  Union  as  it  has  been  built  up  and  capped  in 
Wyoming. 

The  world  does  not  stand  still.  The  dawn  of  Christianity  was  the  dawn  of  light 
for  woman.  For  eighteen  centuries  she  has  been  gradually  but  slowly  rising  from  the 
condition  of  drudge  and  servant  for  man,  to  become  his  helpmeet,  counselor  and 
companion.  As  she  has  been  advanced  in  the  social  scale,  our  laws  have  kept  pace 
with  that  advancement  and  conferred  upon  her  rights  and  privileges  with  accom- 
panying duties  and  responsibilities.  She  has  not  abused  those  privileges,  and  has  been 
found  equal  to  the  duties  and  responsibilities.  And  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
the  refining  and  elevating  influence  of  women  will  be  as  clearly  manifested  in  the 
political  as  it  now  is  in  the  social  world. 

Urged  by  all  these  considerations  of  right,  and  justice,  and  expediency,  and  the 
strong  conviction  of  duty,  I  approved  that  act  of  which  this  bill  contemplates  the  repeal, 
and  it  became  a  law.  To  warrant  my  reconsidering  that  action,  there  ought  to  be 
in  the  ejrperience  of  the  last  two  years  something  to  show  that  the  reasons  upon  which 
it  was  founded  were  unsound,  or  that  the  law  itself  was  wrong  or  at  least  unwise  and 
inexpedient.  My  view  of  the  teachings  of  this  experience  is  the  very  reverse  of  this. 
Women  have  voted,  and  have  the  officers  chosen  been  less  faithful  and  zealous  and 
the  legislature  less  able  and  upright  ?  They  have  sat  as  jurors,  and  have  the  laws 
been  less  faithfully  and  justly  administered,  and  criminals  less  promptly  and  adequately 
punished  ?  Indeed  the  lessons  of  this  two  years'  experience  fully  confirm  all  that  has 
beert  claimed  by  the  most  ardent  advocate  of  this  innovation. 

In  this  territory  women  have  manifested  for  its  highest  interests  a  devotion  strong, 
ardent,  and  intelligent.  They  have  brought  to  public  affairs  a  clearness  of  understand- 
ing and  a  soundness  of  judgment,  which,  considering  their  exclusion  hitherto  from 
practical  participation  in  political  agitations  and  movements,  are  worthy  of  the  greatest 
admiration  and  above  all  praise.  The  conscience  of  women  is  in  all  things  more  dis- 
criminating and  sensitive  than  that  of  men  ;  their  sense  of  justice,  not  compromising 
or  time-serving,  but  pure  and  exacting  ;  their  love  of  order,  not  spasmodic  or  senti- 
mental merely,  but  springing  from  the  heart  ;  all  these, — the  better  conscience,  the 
exalted  sense  of  justice,  and  the  abiding  love  of  order,  have  been  made  by  the  enfran- 
chisement of  women  to  contribute  to  the  good  government  and  well-being  of  our  ter- 
ritory. To  the  plain  teachings  of  these  two  years'  experience  I  connot  close  my  eyes. 
I  cannot  forget  the  benefits  that  have  already  resulted  to  our  territory  from  woman 
suffrage,  nor  can  I  permit  myself  even  to  seem  to  do  so  by  approving  this  bill. 

There  is  another,  and  in  my  judgment,  a  serious  objection  to  this  bill,  which  I  sub- 
mit for  the  consideration  and  action  of  your  honorable  body.  It  involves  a  reference 
to  that  most  difficult  of  questions,  the  limitations  of  legislative  power.  High  and  tran- 
scendent as  that  power  undoubtedly  and  wisely  is,  there  are  limits  which  not  even  it 
can  pass.  Two  years  ago  the  legislature  of  this  territory  conferred  upon  certain  of  its 
citizens  valuble  rights  and  franchises.  Can  a  future  legislature,  by  the  passage  of  a 
law  not  liable  to  the  objection  that  it  violates  the  obligation  of  contracts,  take  away 
those  rights  ?  It  is  not  claimed,  so  far  as  I  have  been  informed,  that  the  persons  upon 
whom  these  franchises  were  conferred  have  forfeited  or  failed  to  take  advantage  of 
them.  But  even  if  such  were  the  case  it  would  be  rather  a  matter  for  judicial  deter- 
mination than  for  legislative  action.  What  that  dertermination  wonld  be  is  clearly 
indicated  in  the  opinion  of  Associate-justice  Story  in  the  celebrated  case  of  Trustees  of. 
Dartmouth  College  vs.  Woodward:  "  The  right  to  be  a  freeman  of  a  corporation  is  a 
valuable  temporal  right  *  *  It  is  founded  on  the  same  basis  as  the  right  of  voting  in 
public  elections  ;  it  is  as  sacred  a  right  ;  and  whatever  might  have  been  the  prevalence 
of  former  doubts,  since  the  time  of  Lord  Holt,  such  a  right  has  always  been  deemed  a, 
valuable  franchise  or  privilege." 


744  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

But  even  if  we  concede  that  these  rights  once  acquired  may  be  taken  away,  the  pass- 
age of  this  bill  would  be,  in  my  judgment,  a  most  dangerous  precedent.  Once  admit 
the  right  of  a  representative  body  to  disfranchise  its  own  constituents,  and  who  can 
establish  the  limits  to  which  that  right  may  not  be  carried?  If  this  legislature  takes 
from  women  their  franchises  or  privileges,  what  is  to  prevent  a  future  legislature  from 
depriving  certain  men,  or  classes  of  men,  that,  from  any  consideration  they  desire 
to  disfranchise,  of  the  same  rights?  We  should  be  carefnl  how  we  inaugurate  prece- 
dents which  may  "  retnrn  to  plague  the  inventors,"  and  be  used  as  a  pretext  for  taking 
away  our  liberties. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  my  message  to  the  legislature  at  the  commencement 
of  the  present  session  I  said  :  "  There  is  upon  our  statue  book  an  act  granting  to  the 
women  of  Wyoming  territory  the  right  of  suffrage  and  to  hold  office  which  has  now 
been  in  force  two  years.  Under  its  liberal  provisions  women  have  voted  in  the  terri- 
tory, served  on  juries,  and  held  office.  It  is  simple  justice  to  say  that  the  women, 
entering  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  country  upon  these  new  and  untried 
duties,  have  conducted  themselves  with  as  much  tact,  sound  judgment,  and  good  sense 
as  the  men.  While  it  would  be  claiming  more  than  the  facts  justify,  to  say  that  this 
experiment,  in  a  limited  field,  has  demonstrated  beyond  a  doubt  the  perfect  fitness  of 
woman,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances,  for  taking  a  part  in  the  government, 
it  furnishes  at  least  reasonable  presumptive  evidence  in  her  favor,  and  she  has  a  right 
to  claim  that,  so  long  as  none  but  good  results  are  made  manifest,  the  law  should 
remain  unrepealed." 

These  were  no  hastily  formed  conclusions,  but  the  result  of  deliberation  and  convic- 
tion, and  my  judgment  to-day  approves  the  language  I  then  used.  For  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  our  country  we  have  a  government  to  which  the  noble  words  of  our  Magna 
Charta  of  freedom  may  be  applied, — not  as  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  but  as  express- 
ing a  simple  grand  truth, — for  it  is  a  government  which  "  derives  all  its  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  We  should  pause  long  and  weigh  carefully  the 
probable  results  of  our  action  before  consenting  to  change  this  government.  A  regard 
for  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  for  the  fundamental  principles  of  American  autonomy, 
and  for  the  immutable  principles  of  right  and  justice,  will  not  permit  me  to  sanction 
this  change. 

These  reasons  for  declining  to  give  my  consent  to  the  bill,  I  submit  with  all  defer- 
ence for  the  consideration  and  judgment  of  your  honorable  body. 

J.   A.   CAMPBELL. 

The  Republicans  in  the  House  made  an  ineffectual  effort  to  sustain  the 
veto,  but  the  party  whip  and  the  power  of  the  saloons  were  too  strong  for 
them,  and  the  bill  was  passed  over  the  veto  by  a  vote  of  9  to  4.  It  met  a 
different  and  better  fate,  however,  in  the  Council,  where  it  was  sustained 
by  a  vote  of  4  to  5,  a  strict  party  vote  in  each  case.  Mr.  Corlett,  a  rising 
young  lawyer,  at  that  time  in  the  Council  and  since  then  a  delegate  in 
congress,  made  an  able  defense  of  the  suffrage  act  and  resisted  its  repeal, 
sustaining  the  veto  with  much  skill  and  final  success.  And  there  was 
much  need,  for  the  Democrats  had  made  overtures  to  one  of  the  Republi- 
can members  of  the  Council  (they  lacked  one  vote)  and  had  obtained  a 
promise  from  him  to  vote  against  the  veto;  but  Mr.  Corlett,  finding  out 
the  fraud  in  season,  reclaimed  the  fallen  Republican  and  saved  the  law. 
It  is  due  to  Mr.  Corlett  to  say  that  he  has  always  been  an  able  and  con- 
sistent supporter  of  woman's  rights  and  universal  suffrage.  He  is  now 
the  leading  lawyer  of  the  territory. 

Since  that  time  the  suffrage  act  has  grown  rapidly  in  popular  favor,  and 
has  never  been  made  a  party  question.  The  leading  men  of  both  parties, 
seeing  its  beneficial  action,  have  given  it  an  unqualified  approval ;  and 


Suffrage    Well  Established.  745 

most,  if  not  all,  of  its  former  enemies  have  become  its  friends  and 
advocates.  Most  of  the  new  settlers  in  the  territory,  though  coming 
here  with  impressions  or  prejudices  against  it,  soon  learn  to  respect  its 
operation,  and  admire  its  beneficial  results.  There  is  nowhere  in  the 
territory  a  voice  raised  against  it,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  up  a 
party  for  its  repeal. 

The  women  uniformly  vote  at  all  our  elections,  and  are  exerting  every 
year  a  more  potent  influence  over  the  character  of  the  candidates  selected 
by  each  party  for  office,  by  quietly  defeating  those  most  objectionable  in 
point  of  morals.  It  is  true  they  are  not  now  summoned  to  serve  on  juries, 
nor  are  they  elected  to  office  ;  and  there  are  some  obvious  reasons  for  this. 
In  the  first  place,  they  never  push  themselves  forward  for  such  positions, 
as  the  men  invariably  do ;  and  in  the  second  place,  the  judges  who 
have  been  sent  to  the  territory,  since  the  first  ones,  have  not  insisted  on 
respecting  the  women's  rights  as  jurors,  and  in  some  cases  have  objected 
to  their  being  summoned  as  such.  But  these  matters  will  find  a  remedy 
by  and  by.  It  used  to  be  an  important  question  in  the  nominating  cau- 
cuses, "  Will  this  candidate  put  up  money  enough  to  buy  the  saloons,  and 
catch  the  loafers  and  drinkers  that  they  control  ?"  Now  the  question  is, 
"  Will  the  women  vote  for  this  man,  if  we  nominate  him  ?"  There  have 
been  some  very  remarkable  instances  where  men,  knowing  themselves  to 
be  justly  obnoxious  to  the  women,  have  forced  a  nomination  in  caucus, 
relying  on  their  money  and  the  drinking  shops  and  party  strength  to  se- 
cure an  election,  who  have  been  taught  most  valuable  lessons  by  signal 
defeat  at  the  polls.  It  would  be  invidious  to  call  names  or  describe 
individual  cases,  and  could  answer  no  necessary  purpose.  But  I  would 
ask  particular  attention  to  the  following  articles,  taken  from  recent  news- 
papers, as  full  and  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  truth  of  these  statements, 
and  of  the  wisdom  of  granting  universal  suffrage  and  equal  rights  to  the 
citizens  of  Wyoming  territory. 

The  Laramie  City  Daily  Sentinel  of  December  16,  1878,  J.  H.  Hayford, 
editor,  has  the  following  leading  editorial : 

For  about  eight  years  now,  the  women  of  Wyoming  territory  have  enjoyed  the  same 
political  rights  and  privileges  as  the  men,  and  all  the  novelties  of  this  new  departure, 
all  the  shock  it  carried  to  the  sensibilities  of  the  old  conservatives,  have  long  since  passed 
away.  For  a  long  time — even  for  years  past — we  have  frequently  received  letters  ask-' 
ing  for  information  as  to  its  practical  results  here,  and  still  more  frequently  have  re- 
ceived copies  of  eastern  papers  with  marked  articles  which  purported  to  be  written  by 
persons  who  resided  here,  or  had  visited  the  territory  and  witnessed  the  awful  results  or 
the  total  failure  of  the  experiment.  We  have  usually  paid  no  attention  to  these  false 
and  anonymous  scribblers,  who  took  this  method  to  display  their  shallow  wit  at  the 
sacrifice  of  truth  and  decency.  But  recently  we  have  received  more  than  the  usual 
number  of  such  missives,  and  more  letters,  and  trom  a  more  respectable  source  than 
before,  and  we  take  this  occasion  and  method  to  answer  them  all  at  once,  and  once 
for  always,  and  do  it  through  the  columns  of  the  Sentinel,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
widely  circulated  papers  in  the  territory,  because  it  will  be  readily  conceded  that  we 
would  not  publish  here  at  home,  false  statements  and  misrepresentations  upon  a  mat- 
ter with  which  all  our  readers  are  familiar,  and  which,  if  false,  could  be  easily  refuted. 

We  assert  here,  then,  that  woman  suffrage  in  Wyoming  has  been  in  every  particular 
a  complete  success. 


746  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

That  the  women  of  Wyoming  value  as  highly  the  political  franchise,  and  as  generally 
exercise  it,  as  do  the  men  of  the  territory. 

That  being  more  helpless,  more  dependent  and  more  in  need  of  the  protection  of 
good  laws  and  good  government  than  are  men,  they  naturally  use  the  power  put  into 
their  hands  to  secure  these  results. 

That  they  are  controlled  more  by  principle  and  less  by  party  ties  than  men,  and  gen- 
erally cast  their  votes  for  the  best  candidates  and  the  best  measures. 

That  while  women  in  this  territory  frequently  vote  contrary  to  their  husbands,  we 
have  never  heard  of  a  case  where  the  family  ties  or  domestic  relations  were  disturbed 
thereby,  and  we  believe  that  among  the  pioneers  of  the  West  there  is  more  honor  and 
manhood  than  to  abuse  a  wife  because  she  does  not  think  with  her  husband  about 
politics  or  religion. 

We  have  never  seen  any  of  the  evil  results  growing  out  of  woman  suffrage  which  we 
have  heard  predicted  for  it  by  its  opponents.  On  the  contrary,  its  results  have  been 
only  good,  and  that  continually.  Our  elections  have  come  to  be  conducted  as  quietly, 
orderly  and  civilly  as  our  religious  meetings,  or  any  of  our  social  gatherings,  and  the 
best  men  are  generally  selected  to  make  and  enforce  our  laws.  We  have  long  ago 
generally  come  to  the  conclusion  that  woman's  influence  is  as  wholesome  and  as  much 
needed  in  the  government  of  the  State  as  in  the  government  of  the  family.  We  do 
not  know  of  a  respectable  woman  in  the  territory  who  objects  to  or  neglects  to  use  her 
political  power,  and  we  do  not  know  of  a  decent  man  in  the  territory  who  wishes  it 
abolished,  or  who  is  not  even  glad  to  have  woman's  help  in  our  government. 

Our  laws  were  never  respected  or  enforced,  and  crime  was  never  punished,  or  life 
or  property  protected  until  we  had  woman's  help  in  the  jury  box  and  at  the  polls,  and 
we  unhesitatingly  say  here  at  home  that  we  do  not  believe  a  man  can  be  found  who 
wishes  to  see  her  deprived  of  voice  and  power,  unless  it  is  the  one  "  who  fears 
not  God  nor  regards  man,"  who  wants  to  pursue  a  life  of  vice  or  crime,  and  conse- 
quently fears  woman's  influence  and  power  in  the  government.  We  assert  further  that 
the  anonymous  scribblers  who  write  slanders  on  our  women  and  our  territory  to 
the  eastern  press,  are  either  fools,  who  know  nothing  about  what  they  write,  or  else  be- 
long to  that  class  of  whom  the  poet  says : 

"  No  rogue  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law." 

We  took  some  pains  to  track  up  and  find  out  the  author  of  one  of  the  articles  against 
woman  suffrage  to  which  our  attention  was  called,  and  found  him  working  on  the 
streets  of  Cheyenne,  with  a  ball  and  chain  to  his  leg.  We  think  he  was  probably  an 
average  specimen  of  these  writers.  And,  finally,  we  challenge  residents  in  Wyoming 
who  disagree  with  the  foregoing  sentiments,  and  who  endorse  the  vile  slanders  to 
which  we  refer,  to  come  out  over  their  own  signature  and  in  their  own  local  papers  and 
take  issue  with  us,  and  our  columns  shall  be  freely  opened  to  them. 

There  are  some  obvious  inferences  to  be  drawn  and  some  rather  re- 
markable lessons  to  be  learned,  from  the  foregoing  narrative.  In  the 
first  place,  the  responsibilities  of  self  government,  with  the  necessity  of 
making  their  own  laws,  was  delegated  to  a  people,  strangers  to  each  other, 
with  very  little  experience  or  knowledge  in  such  matters,  and  composed 
of  various  nationalities,  with  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  criminal 
classes.  It  is  a  matter  of  surprise  that  they  should  have  so  soon  settled 
themselves  into  an  orderly  community,  where  all  the  rights  of  person  and 
property  are  well  protected,  and  as  carefully  guarded  and  fully  respected 
as  in  any  of  our  old  eastern  commonwealths.  It  is  a  still  greater  surprise 
that  a  legislature  selected  by  such  a  constituency,  under  such  circum- 
stances as  characterized  our  first  election,  and  composed  of  such  men  as 
were  in  fact  elected,  should  have  been  able  to  enact  a  body  of  laws  con- 


Public  Opinion.  747 

taining  so  much  that  was  good  and  practicable,  and  so  little  that  was  in- 
judicious, unwise  or  vicious.  , 

In  the  next  place,  it  is  evident  that  there  was  no  public  sentiment  de- 
manding the  passage  of  the  woman  suffrage  law,  and  but  few  advocates 
of  it  at  that  time  in  the  territory;  that  its  adoption,  under  such  circum- 
stances, was  not  calculated  to  give  it  a  fair  chance  to  exert  a  favorable  in- 
fluence in  the  community,  or  even  maintain  itself  among  the  permanent 
customs  and  laws  of  the  territory.  The  prospect  was,  that  it  would  either 
remain  a  dead  letter,  or  be  swept  away  under  the  ridicule  and  abuse  of  the 
press,  and  the  open  attacks  of  its  enemies.  But  it  has  withstood  all  these 
adverse  forces,  and  from  small  beginnings  has  grown  to  be  a  permanent 
power  in  our  politics,  a  vital  institution,  satisfactory  to  all  our  people. 
The  far-reaching  benefits  it  will  yet  accomplish  can  be  easily  foreseen. 
To  make  either  individuals  or  classes  respected  and  induce  them  to  respect 
themselves,  you  must  give  them  power  and  influence,  a  fair  field  and  full 
enjoyment  of  the  results  of  their  labors.  We  have  made  a  very  creditable 
beginning  in  this  direction,  so  far  as  woman  is  concerned,  and  we  have 
no  doubts  about  the  outcome  of  it.  Wyoming  treats  all  her  citizens  alike, 
and  offers  full  protection,  equal  rewards,  and  equal  power,  to  both  men 
and  women. 

Again  it  is  very  evident  that  while  our  women  take  no  active  part  in  the 
primary  nomination  of  candidates  for  office,  they  exercise  a  most  potent 
influence  by  the  independent  manner  in  which  they  vote,  and  the  signal 
defeat  they  inflict  on  many  unworthy  candidates.  Their  successful  oppo- 
sition to  the  power  of  the  bar-rooms  is  a  notable  and  praiseworthy  in- 
stance of  the  wise  use  of  newly-acquired  rights.  The  saloon-keepers 
used  to  sell  themselves  to  that  party,  or  that  man,  who  would  pay  the 
most,  and  while  robbing  the  candidates,  degraded  the  elections  and  de- 
bauched the  electors.  So  long  as  it  was  understood  that  in  order  to 
secure  an  election  it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  rum-shops,  good  men 
were  left  out  of  the  field,  and  unscrupulous  ones  were  sought  after  as 
candidates.  The  women  have  already  greatly  modified  this  state  of  affairs 
and  are  likely  to  change  it  entirely  in  the  end. 

Another  wonderful  consequence  which  has  attended  the  presence  of 
women  at  the  polls,  is  the  uniform  quiet  and  good  order  on  election 
day.  All  the  police  that  could  be  mustered,  could  not  insure  half  the  de- 
corum that  their  simple  presence  has  everywhere  secured.  No  man,  not 
even  a  drunken  one,  is  willing  to  act  like  a  rowdy  when  he  knows  the 
women  will  see  him.  Nor  is  he  at  all  anxious  to  expose  himself  in  their 
presence  when  he  knows  he  has  drank  too  much.  Such  men  quit  the 
polls,  and  slink  out  of  the  streets,  to  hide  themselves  from  the  eyes  of  the 
women  in  the  obscurity  of  the  drinking  shops. 

Another  fact  of  great  importance  is  the  uniform  testimony  as  to 
woman's  success  as  a  juror.  It  is  true  that  there  has  been  but  a  limited 
opportunity,  thus  far,  to  establish  this  as  a  fact  beyond  all  doubt.  But  a 
good  beginning  has  been  made,  a  favorable  impression  produced,  and 
no  bad  results  have  accompanied  or  followed  the  experiment.  If  our 
jury  system  of  trying  cases  is  to  be  preserved,  as  a  tolerable  method  of  set- 


748  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

tling  disputes  and  administering  justice  in  our  courts,  every  one  will  admit 
that  a  great  improvement  in  the  character  of  the  jurors  must  be  speedily 
found.  At  present,  a  jury  trial  is  generally  regarded  as  a  farce,  or  some- 
thing worse.  The  proof  of  this  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  in  most  of  our 
courts  the  judges  are  required  to  try  all  cases  without  a  jury,  where  the 
parties  to  the  action  consent,  and  that  in  a  great  portion  of  the  cases  the 
parties  do  consent. 

Another  notable  observation  is  the  rapid  growth  of  opinion  in  favor 
of  woman  suffrage  among  our  people,  after  its  first  adoption  ;  but  more 
particularly  the  change  effected  in  the  minds  of  the  new  settlers,  who 
come  to  the  territory  with  old  prejudices  and  fixed  notions  against  it. 
Neither  early  education,  nor  personal  bias,  nor  party  rancor,  has  been 
able  to  withstand  the  overwhelming  evidence  of  its  good  effects,  and  of  its 
elevating  and  purifying  influence  in  our  political  and  social  organization. 

I  must  add,  in  conclusion,  that  the  seventh  legislature  of  our  territory 
has  just  closed  its  session  of  sixty  days.  It  was  composed  of  more  mem- 
bers than  the  earlier  legislatures  were,  there  being  thirteen  in  the  Council 
and  twenty-six  in  the  House.  Many  important  questions  came  up  for 
consideration,  and  a  wide  field  of  discussion  was  traveled  over,  but  not 
one  word  was  at  any  time  spoken  by  any  member  against  woman  suffrage. 

Hon.  M.  C.  Brown,  district-attorney  for  the  territory,  confirms 
the  testimony  given  by  the  judges  and  Governor  Campbell,  in  a 
letter  to  the  National  Suffrage  Convention  held  in  Washington 
in  1884.  which  will  be  found  in  the  pamphlet  report  of  that  year. 


CHAPTER    LIII. 
CALIFORNIA. 

Liberal  Provisions  in  the  Constitution — Elizabeth  T.  Schenck — Eliza  W.  Farnham — 
Mrs.  Mills'  Seminary,  now  a  State  Institution — Jeannie  Carr,  State  Superintendent 
of  Schools — First  Awakening — The  Revolution — Anna  Dickinson — Mrs.  Gordon 
Addresses  the  Legislature,  1868 — Mrs.  Pitts  Stevens  Edits  The  Pioneer — First 
Suffrage  Society  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  1869 — State  Convention,  January  26,  1870, 
Mrs.  Wallis,  President — State  Association  Formed,  Mrs.  Haskell  of  Petaluma, 
President — Mrs.  Gordon  Nominated  for  Senator — In  1871,  Mrs.  Stanton  and  Miss 
Anthony  Visit  California — Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent  Speaks  in  Favor  of  Suffrage  for 
Woman — Ellen  Clarke  Sargent  Active  in  the  Movement — Legislation  Making 
Women  Eligible  to  Hold  School  Offices,  1873 — July  10,  1873,  State  Society  In- 
corporated, Sarah  Wallis,  President — Mrs.  Clara  Foltz — A  Bill  Giving  Women 
the  Right  to  Practice  Law — The  Bill  Passed  and  Signed  by  the  Governor — Contest 
Over  Admitting  Women  into  the  Law  Department  of  the  University — Supreme 
Court  Decision  Favorable — Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent  on  the  Constitution  and  Laws — 
Journalists  and  Printers — Silk  Culture — Legislative  Appropriation — Mrs.  Knox 
Goodrich  Celebrates  July  4,  1876 — Imposing  Demonstration — Ladies  in  the  Pro- 


THE  central  figure  in  the  seal  of  California  is  the  presiding 
goddess  of  that  State,  her  spear  in  one  hand,  the  other  resting 
on  her  shield,  the  cabalistic  word  "  Eureka"  over  her  head  and  a 
bear  crouching  quietly  at  her  feet.  She  seems  to  be  calmly  con- 
templating the  magnificent  harbor  within  the  Golden  Gate.  The 
shadows  on  the  distant  mountains,  the  richly-laden  vessels  and 
the  floating  clouds  indicate  the  peaceful  sunset  hour,  and  the 
goddess/in  harmony  with  the  scene  is  seated  at  her  ease,  as  if 
after  many  weary  wanderings  in  search  of  an  earthly  Paradise 
she  had  found  at  last  the  land  of  perennial  summers,  fruits  and 
flowers — a  land  of  wonders,  with  its  mammoth  trees,  majestic 
mountain-ranges  and  that  miracle  of  grandeur  and  beauty,  the 
Yosemite  Valley.  Verily  it  seems  as  if  bounteous  Nature  in 
finishing  the  Pacific  Slope  did  her  best  to  inspire  the  citizens  of 
that  young  civilization  with  love  and  reverence  for  the  beautiful 
and  grand. 

California,  admitted  to  the  Union  in  1850,  owing  to  the  erratic 
character  of  her  early  population,  has  passed  through  more  vicis- 


750  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

situdes  than  any  other  State,  but  she  secured  at  last  social  order, 
justice  in  her  courts  and  a  somewhat  liberal  constitution,  as  far 
as  the  personal  and  property  rights  of  the  "  white  male  citizen  " 
were  concerned.  By  its  provisions — 

All  legal  distinctions  between  individuals  on  religious  grounds  are  pro- 
hibited ;  the  utmost  freedom  of  assembling,  of  speech  and  of  the  press  is 
allowed,  subject  only  to  restraint  for  abuse ;  there  is  no  imprisonment 
for  debt,  except  where  fraud  can  be  proved ;  slavery  and  involuntary 
servitude,  except  for  crime,  are  prohibited ;  wives  are  secured  in  their 
separate  rights  of  property ;  the  exemption  of  a  part  of  the  homestead 
and  other  property  of  heads  of  families  from  forced  sale  is  recognized. 

So  far  so  good ;  but  while  the  constitution  limits  the  franchise 
to  every  "  white  male  citizen  "  over  twenty-one,  who  has  been  a 
resident  of  the  State  six  months,  and  thus  makes  outlaws  and 
pariahs  of  all  the  noble  women  who  endured  the  hardships  of 
the  journey  by  land  or  by  sea  to  that  country  in  the  early  days, 
who  helped  to  make  it  all  that  it  is,  that  instrument  cannot  be 
said  to  secure  justice,  equality  and  liberty  to  all  its  citizens. 
The  position  in  the  constitution  and  laws  of  that  vast  territory, 
of  the  real  woman  who  shares  the  every-day  trials  and  hardships 
of  her  sires  and  sons  inspires  no  corresponding  admiration  and 
respect,  with  the  ideal  one  who  gilds  and  glorifies  the  great  seal 
of  the  State. 

For  the  main  facts  of  this  chapter  we  are  indebted  to  Elizabeth 
T.  Schenck.*  She  says : 

Out  of  the  stirring  scenes  and  tragical  events  characterizing  the  early 
days  of  California  one  can  well  understand  that  there  came  of  necessity 
many  brave  and  adventurous  argonauts  and  many  women  of  superior 
mental  force,  from  among  whom  in  after  years  the  woman  suffrage  cause 
might  receive  most  devoted  adherents.  For  nearly  a  score  of  years 
after  the  great  incursion  of  gold-seekers  into  this  newly-acquired  State 
no  word  was  uttered  by  tongue  or  pen  demanding  political  equality  for 
women — none  at  least  which  reached  the  public  ear.  There  were  no  pre- 
ceding causes,  as  in  the  older  States,  to  stimulate  the  discussion  of  the 
question,  and  even  that  mental  amazon,  Eliza  W.  Farnham  who  was  one 
of  the  distinguished  pioneers  of  California,  gathered  her  inspiration  from 


*  Having  spent  several  days  with  Mrs.  Schenck,  in  her  cozy,  artistic  home  surrounded  with  a  hedge  of 
brilliant  geraniums,  I  can  readily  testify  to  the  many  virtues  and  attractions  her  large  circle  of  friends 
has  always  accorded  her.  From  all  I  had  heard  I  was  prepared  to  find  Mrs.  Schenck  a  woman  of 
remarkable  cultivation  and  research,  and  I  was  not  disappointed.  Refined,  honorable  in  her  feeling, 
clear  in  her  judgments  of  men  and  measures,  just  and  upright  In  all  her  words  and  actions,  she  was 
indeed  the  fitting  leader  for  the  uprising  of  women  on  the  Pacific  Slope.  The  preparation  of  this  chapter 
occupied  the  last  year  of  her  life,  her  one  wish  to  live  was  to  complete  the  task,  but  when  her  failing 
powers  made  that  impossible  she  charged  her  friend  Mrs.  Manning,  with  whom  she  resided,  to  take 
up  the  work  that  had  fallen  from  her  hands  and  make  a  fair  record  of  all  that  had  been  done  and  said, 
by  her  noble  coadjutors,  who  had  labored  so  faithfully  to  inaugurate  the  greatest  reform  of  the  century. 
— [E.  C.  S. 


Laura  De  Force  Gordon.  751 

afar,  and  thought  and  wrote  for  the  whole  world  of  women  without  once 
sounding  the  tocsin  for  woman's  political  emancipation.  Many  of 
the  women  who  braved  the  perils  of  the  treacherous  deep,  or  still  more 
terrible  dangers  of  the  weary  march  over  broad  deserts,  inhospitable 
mountains,  and  through  the  fastnesses  of  hostile  and  merciless  Indians, 
to  reach  California  in  the  early  times,  entertained  broad  views  upon 
the  intellectual  capacity  and  political  rights  of  women,  but  their  efforts 
were  confined  to  fields  of  literature.  While  this  advanced  guard  of  pro- 
gressive women  was  moulding  into  form  a  social  system  out  of  the 
turbulent  and  disorganized  masses  thrown  together  by  the  rapidly- 
increasing  population  from  all  parts  of  the  globe,  the  elements  were 
aggregating  which  in  after  years  produced  powerful,  outspoken  thought 
and  earnest  action  in  behalf  of  disfranchised  women. 

Here  as  elsewhere  women  took  the  lead  in  school  matters  and  were 
the  most  capable  and  efficient  educators  from  the  days  of  "  "49."  One  of 
our  permanent  State  institutions,  Mills'  Seminary,  was  founded  by  a 
woman  whose  name  it  bears,  and  who,  assisted  by  her  husband,  Rev.  Mr. 
Mills,  conducted  the  school  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  until  by  an 
act  of  the  legislature,  she  conveyed  it  to  the  State.  Several  prin- 
cipals of  the  public  schools  in  San  Francisco  have  held  their  positions 
for  over  twenty  consecutive  years.  Mrs.  Jeanne  Carr,  deputy  state 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  from  1871  to  1875,  was  succeeded  by 
Mrs.  Kate  M.  Campbell,  who  served  most  efficiently  for  the  full  term. 
During  Mrs.  Carr's  public  service  she  visited  nearly  every  county  in  the 
State,  attending  teachers'  institutes,  and  lecturing  upon  educational  topics 
with  great  ability.  For  many  years  women  have  been  eligible  to  school 
offices  in  California  and  there  is  not  a  county  in  the  State  where  women 
have  not  filled  positions  as  trustees  or  been  elected  to  the  office  of  county 
superintendent.*  Mrs.  Coleman  has  been  reeleeted  to  that  office  in  Shasta 
county,  and  Mrs.  E.  W.  Sullivan  in  Mono  county  has  served  for  several 
terms. 

The  first  attempt  to  awaken  the  public  mind  to  the  question  of  suffrage 
for  woman  was  a  lecture  given  by  Laura  De  Force  Gordon  in  Platt's 
Hall,  San  Francisco,  Feburary  19,  1868.  Although  the  attendance  was 
small,  a  few  earnest  women  were  there  t  who  formed  the  nucleus  of 
what  followed.  Soon  after  Mrs.  Gordon  addressed  the  legislature  in  the 
senate-chamber  at  Sacramento,  and  made  an  eloquent  appeal  for  the  politi- 
cal rights  of  women.  Among  the  audience  were  many  members  of  the 
legislature  who  became  very  deeply  impressed  with  the  justice  of  her 


*Among  them  are  Laura  Fowler,  Kate  Kennedy,  Mary  N.  Wadleigh,  Trinity  County  ;  Anna  L. 
Spencer,  Alpine  ;  Mrs.  D.  M.  Coleman,  Shasta  ;  Miss  A.  L.  Irish,  Mono  ;  Los  Angeles  City  Board  of 
Education  has  three  women  out  of  its  five  members,  to-wit.,  Mrs.  C.  B.  Jones  (chairman),  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Hodgkins  (secretary),  Mrs.  M.  Graham.  Oakland  Board,  Miss  A.  Aldrich  ;  Sacramento,  Charlotte 
Slater  ;  San  Jose,  Mrs.  B.  L.  Hollenbeck.  Sister  Mary  Frances  of  the  order  of  "  Sisters  of  Charity  " 
came  to  California  in  1849,  and  devoted  her  great  energies,  and  rare  accomplishments,  to  the  cause  of 
education  up  to  the  time  of  her  demise  in  April,  1881.  Annie  Haven,  Miss  Prince,  Miss  Austin,  and  a 
host  of  others  have  been  successful  in  the  same  field  of  labor,  including  Miss  Merweidel,  founder 
of  the  kindergarten  system  in  San  Francisco. 

t  Among  them  were  Mrs.  Sarah  Wallis  of  Mayfield,  Mrs.  E.  T.  Schenck,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Clarke,  Emily 
Pitts  (afterwards  Mrs.  Stevens  of  San  Francisco). 


752  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

demand,  including  the  subsequent  governor  of  the  State,  George  C. 
Perkins,  then  senator  from  Butte  county.  Soon  afterwards  Mrs.  Gordon 
removed  to  Nevada,  and  no  more  lectures  on  woman  suffrage  were  given 
until  the  visit  of  Anna  Dickinson  in  the  summer  of  1869. 

The  way  was  being  prepared  however,  for  further  agitation  by  the 
appearance  of  The  Revolution  in  1868  in  New  York,  which  was  hailed  by 
the  women  of  California  (as  elsewhere)  as  the  harbinger  of  a  brighter  and 
better  era.  Its  well  filled  pages  were  eagerly  read  and  passed  from  hand 
to  hand,  'and  the  effect  of  its  startling  assertions  was  soon  apparent.  Mrs. 
Pitts  Stevens  had  about  that  time  secured  a  proprietary  interest  fn  the 
San  Francisco  Mercury,  and  was  gradually  educating  her  readers  up  to  a 
degree  of  liberality  to  endorse  suffrage.  Early  in  1869  she  became  sole 
proprietor,  changing  the  name  to  Pioneer,  and  threw  the  woman  suffrage 
banner  to  the  breeze  in  an  editorial  of  marked  ability. 

The  organization  of  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  in  New 
York,  May,  1869,  gave  fresh  impetus  to  the  movement,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  T.  Schenck  as  vice-president  for  California  by  that 
association,  met  with  the  approval  of  all  those  interested  in  the  movement. 
Soon  after  this  Mrs.  Schenck  with  her  gifted  ally,  Mrs.  Stevens,  decided  to 
organize  a  suffrage  society,  and  at  an  impromptu  meeting  of  some  of  the 
friends  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Nellie  Hutchinson,  July  27,  1869,  the  first 
association  for  this  purpose  on  the  Pacific  coast  was  formed.  There  were 
just  a  sufficient  number  of  members  *  to  fill  the  offices.  This  society  grew 
rapidly  and  within  a  month  the  parlors  were  found  inadequate  to  the 
constantly  increasing  numbers.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Mercantile 
Library  Association  their  commodious  apartments  were  secured. 

The  advent  of  Anna  Dickinson  afforded  the  ladies  an  opportunity  to 
attest  their  admiration  for  her  as  a  representative  woman,  which  they  did, 
giving  her  a  public  breakfast,  September  14.  Their  honored  guest  appre- 
ciated the  compliment ;  and  in  an  earnest  and  eloquent  speech  referred 
to  it,  saying  that  although  she  had  received  many  demonstrations  of  the 
kind,  this  was  the  first  ever  given  her  exclusively  by  her  own  sex.t 

Soon  after  Miss  Dickinson's  departure,  Mrs.  Schenck,  much  to  the  re- 
gret of  the  society,  resigned  the  chair,  and  Mrs.  J.  W.  Stow  was  appointed 
to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  ladies  having  for  some  time  considered  the  or- 
ganizing of  a  State  Society  of  great  importance,  it  was  decided  to  hold  a 
grand  mass  convention  for  that  purpose.  There  was  need  of  funds  to  carry 
forward  the  work,  and  a  course  of  three  lectures  was  suggested  as  a  means 
to  raise  money.  This  carried,  on  motion  of  Mrs.  Stow,  and  her  offer  to  de- 
liver the  first  lecture  of  the  course  was  accepted.  All  the  members  of 
the  society  devoted  their  energies  to  secure  the  success  of  the  undertak- 
ing. Many  of  them  engaged  in  selling  tickets  for  the  two  weeks  inter- 


*  President,  Elizabeth  T.  Schenck;  Vice-President,  Emily  Pitts  Stevens;  Recording  Secretary^ 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  ;  Corresponding  Secretary •,  Mrs.  Celia  Curtis  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs  S.  J.  Corbett. 

t  The  following  persons  were  present :  Mrs.  E.  T.  Schenck,  president  of  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
sion  of  San  Francisco  ;  Mrs.  E.  Pitts  Stevens,  Mrs.  Celia  Curtis,  Mrs.  Walton,  Mrs.  Watson,  Mrs.  S.  J. 
Corbett,  M.  D.;  Mary  Collins,  Mrs.  E.  P.  Meade,  M.  D.;  Mrs.  Alpheus  Bull,  Mrs.  James  S.  Bush,  Mrs. 
S.  M.  Clarke,  Mrs.  Judge  Shafter,  Mrs.  Judge  Burke,  Mrs  Thomas  Varney,  Mrs.  R.  B.  Swain,  Mrs. 
Carlton  Curtis,  Mrs.  T.  Richardson,  Mrs.  I.  W.  Hobson,  Mrs.  Smythe,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Stow,  Mrs.  C.  G. 
Ames,  Mrs.  Barry  and  30  others. 


c 


/'C  i  v 


<?X£   C^^ 


• 
The  conventit . 


vith  "'• 


return  i : 


meeting  i 
nblc. 

• 

LAI 


iw  gave  the  op< 


48 


Convention  at  San  Francisco.  753 

vening,  and  on  November  2,  Mrs.  Stow  gave  her  lecture  to  a  large  and  in- 
terested audience,  taking  for  her  theme,  "Woman's  Work."  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Hamilton  followed,  November  9,  with  "The  Parlor  and  the 
Harem,"  and  the  Rev.  C.  G.  Ames  concluded  the  course,  November  18, 
with  "  What  Does  it  Mean?"  The  lectures  were  well  received,  and  though 
not  particularly  directed  to  the  right  of  suffrage  for  women,  succeeded  in 
attracting  attention  to  the  society  under  whose  auspices  they  were  given, 
and  helped  it  financially.  About  this  time  Mrs.  Gordon  returned  from  the 
East  and  took  an  active  part  in  canvassing  the  State,  lecturing  and  form- 
ing county  societies  preparatory  to  securing  as  large  a  representation  as 
possible  at  the  coming  convention.  The  following  report  of  the  proceed- 
ings is  taken  from  the  San  Francisco  dailies  : 

The  convention  to  form  a  State  Woman  Suffrage  Society,  held  its  first  meeting  in 
Dashaway  Hall,  Wednesday  afternoon,  January  26,  1870.  The  hall  was  well  filled. 
Mrs.  E.  T.  Schenck,  vice-president  of  the  National  Association,  was  chosen  president, 
pro.  tern.,  and  Miss  Kate  Atkinson,  Secretary.  A  committee  on  credentials  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  chair,  consisting  of  one  member  from  each  organization.*  During 
the  absence  of  the  committee  quite  an  animated  discussion  arose  as  to  the  admission 
of  delegates.  Mrs.  Gordon  said  the  greatest  possible  liberality  should  be  exercised  in 
admitting  persons  to  the  right  to  speak  and  vote;  that  all  who  signed  the  roll,  paid  the 
fee,  and  expressed  themselves  in  sympathy  with  the  movement,  should  be  admitted. 
After  some  discussion,  Mrs.  Gordon's  views  prevailed,  and  the  names  of  those  who 
chose  to  qualify  themselves  were  enrolled.  About  I2O  delegates  were  thus  chosen 
from  nine  suffrage  societies  in  different  parts  of  the  State.  Many  counties  were  repre- 
sented in  which  no  organizations  had  yet  been  formed.  Some  rather  humorous  dis- 
cussion was  had  as  to  whether  the  president  should  be  called  Mrs.  Chairman  or  Mrs. 
Chairwoman.  The  venerable  Mr.  Spear  arose  and  suggested  the  title  be  Mrs.  Presi- 
dent, which  was  adopted.  Mrs.  Gordon  said  she  had  noticed  that  when  questions 
were  put  to  the  meeting  not  more  than  a  dozen  timid  voices  could  be  heard  saying 
"  aye,"  or  "  no."  The  ladies  must  not  sit  like  mummies,  but  open  their  mouths  and 
vote  audibly.  This  disinclination  to  do  business  in  a  business-like  way,  is  discredit- 
able. (Cheers).  Mrs.  Gordon's  hint  was  taken,  and  unequivocal  demonstration  of 
voices  was  made  thereafter  upon  the  taking  of  each  vote.  Long  before  the  time  ar- 
rived for  the  evening  session,  the  hall  in  every  part,  platform,  floor  and  gallery,  was 
crowded,  and  large  numbers  were  unable  to  gain  entrance. 

The  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization  presented  the  following  names  for  offi- 
cers of  the  convention  :  President,  Mrs.  Wallis  of  Mayfield  ;  Vice-PresiJents,  J.  A. 
Collins,  C.  G.  Ames,  Mrs.  Mary  W.  Coggins;  Secretaries,  Mrs.  McKee,  Mrs.  Rider, 
Mrs.  Perry;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Collins.  On  motion,  Mrs.  Haskell  and  Mrs.  Ames 
escorted  the  president  to  the  rostrum,  and  introduced  her  to  the  convention.  Mrs. 
Wallis  is  a  lady  of  imposing  presence,  and  very  earnest  in  the  movement.  Upon 
being  introduced  she  said  : 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — I  thank  you  for  this  expression  of  your  high  esteem  and 
confidence  in  electing  me  to  preside  over  your  deliberations.  I  regard  this  as  a  severe 
ordeal,  but,  having  already  been  tested  in  this  respect,  I  do  not  fear  the  trials  to  come. 
I  shall  persevere  until  the  emancipation  of  women  is  effected,  and  in  order  to  fulfill  my 
duties  successfully  upon  this  occasion,  I  ask  the  hearty  cooperation  of  all.  [Applause], 

Mrs.  Stow  gave  the  opening  address,  after  which  delegates  f  from  various  localities 
made  interesting  reports.  An  able  series  of  resolutions  was  presented  and  dis- 


*  Rev.  C.  G.  Ames,  San  Francisco  ;  Mrs.  S.  S.  Allyn,  Oakland  ;  Mrs.  Sarah  Wallis,  Mayfield  ;  Mrs. 
Bowman,  Sacramento  ;  Mrs.  Georgiana  Bruce  Kirby,  Santa  Cruz  ;  Mrs.  Fannie  Kingsbury,  San  Diego ; 
Mrs.  Elmira  Eddy,  Nevada  ;  Mrs.  A.  A.  Haskell,  Petaluma ;  Minnie  H.  McKee,  Santa  Clara. 

t  See  Appendix  to  California  chapter. 
48 


754  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

cussed  at  length  by  various  members  of  the  convention,  and  letters  of  sympathy  were 
read  from  friends  throughout  the  country.* 

From  the  first  session,  some  anxiety  was  felt  regarding  the  action  of 
the  State  Society  in  affiliating  with  one  of  the  two  rival  associations  in 
the  East.  The  Rev.  C.  G.  Ames  of  San  Francisco,  whose  wife  had  been  in 
attendance  upon  the  Cleveland  convention  of  the  American  Association, 
was  appointed  vice-president  for  California,  while  Mrs.  E.  T.  Schenck  had 
been  appointed  vice-president  by  the  National  Association.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  names  of  officers  of  county  societies  appended  to  the  call 
for  this  convention,  both  Mrs.  Schenck  and  Mrs.  Ames  signed  in  their 
official  capacity,  as  vice-president  of  their  respective  Associations.  Under 
these  circumstances  it  was  not  strange  that  a  spirit  of  rivalry  should  mani- 
fest itself,  but  it  was  unfortunate  that  it  was  carried  so  far  as  to  breed  dis- 
turbance in  this  infant  organization.  The  leading  women  looked  upon 
Mrs.  E.  Cady  Stanton  and  Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony  as  among  the  first  who 
organized  the  suffrage  movement  in  the  United  States,  and  therefore  felt 
that  it  was  due  to  them  that  our  California  Society  which  owed  its  exist- 
ence mainly  to  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Schenck  whom  they  had  appointed 
vice-president  for  California,  should  show  its  loyalty,  devotion  and  grati- 
tude to  them,  by  becoming  auxiliary  to  the  National  Association.  On  the 
other  hand,  Rev.  C.  G.  Ames,  being  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  some  of  the 
leading  spirits  in  the  American  Association,  desired  it  to  be  auxiliary  to 
that.  This  conflict  having  been  foreshadowed,  a  letter  was  writ- 
ten to  Miss  Anthony  in  relation  to  it.  Her  reply  was  received  by  Mrs. 
Schenck  on  the  first  day  of  the  convention,  breathing  a  noble  spirit  of  un- 
selfishness, advising  us  not  to  allow  any  personal  feelings  towards  Mrs. 
Stanton  or  herself  to  influence  us  in  the  matter,  but  rather  to  keep  our 
association  entirely  independent,  free  to  cooperate  with  all  societies  hav- 
ing for  their  object  the  enfranchisement  of  woman.  Accordingly,  the 
following  resolution  was  almost  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  California  Woman  Suffrage  Society  remain  independent  of  all 
other  associations  for  one  year. 

The  result  was  satisfactory  to  Mrs.  Schenck  and  her  sympathizers,  but 
Mr.  Ames  seemed  loth  to  relinquish  his  preference  for  the  American,  and 
the  course  taken  had  the  effect  of  lessening  his  zeal  and  that  of  his 
followers,  until  they  gradually  dropped  from  the  ranks.  But  the 
convention,  despite  the  unfortunate  schism,  was  a  grand  success.  The 
sessions  were  crowded,  and  so  great  was  the  interest  awakened  in 
the  public  mind  that  a  final  adjournment  was  not  had  until  Saturday 
night,  after  four  days  of  earnest,  profitable  work.  The  press  of  the  city 
gave  full  and  fair  reports  of  the  proceedings,  though  very  far  from  en- 
dorsing woman's  claim  to  suffrage,  and  men  and  women  of  all  classes  and 

*  At  the  close  of  the  convention  a  State  society  was  organized,  with  the  following  officers  :  Presi- 
dent^ Mrs.  A.  A.  Haskell  of  Petaluma ;  I'ice-Presidents,  Mrs.  J.  W.  McComb  of  San  Francisco,  Mrs. 
Denio  of  Solano,  Mrs.  Kingsbury  of  San  Diego,  Mrs.  E.  J.  Hall  of  Los  Angeles,  Mrs.  Eddy  of  Nevada, 
Mrs.  Lewis  of  Sacramento,  Mrs.  Kirby  of  Santa  Cruz,  Mrs.  Agnes  Eager  of  Alamcda,  Mrs.  Watkins  of 
Santa  Clara,  Mrs.  L.  D.  Latimer  of  Sonoma;  Secretary,  Mrs.  Minnie  McKee  of  Santa  Clara.  Board 
of  Control,  Mrs.C.  H.  Spear,  Mrs.  C.  G.Ames,  Mrs.  Minnie  Edwards,  Mrs.  Celia  Curtis,  Miss  Laura 
Fowler,  Mr.  John  A.  Collins,  Miss  Kate  Atkinson,  Mrs.  Pitts  Stevens. 


Attitude  of  the  Press.  755 

professions  took  an  active  part  in  the  deliberations.  But  of  the  multitude 
who  met  in  that  first  woman  suffrage  convention  on  the  Pacific  coast 
but  few  were  prominent  in  after  years. 

The  newly  organized  society  immediately  arranged  to  send  a  delegation 
to  Sacramento,  to  present  to  the  legislature  then  in  session  a  petition  for 
woman  suffrage.  The  delegation  consisted  of  Laura  DeForce  Gordon, 
Caroline  H.  Spear  and  Laura  Cuppy  Smith,  who  were  accorded  a  hearing 
before  a  special  committee  of  the  Senate,  of  which  the  venerable  Judge 
Tweed,  an  able  advocate  of  woman  suffrage,  was  chairman.  The  proceed- 
ing was  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  State.  The  novelty  of 
women  addressing  the  legislature  attracted  universal  attention,  and  the 
newspapers  were  filled  with  reports  of  that  important  meeting. 

During  the  year  1870  a  general  agitation  was  kept  up.  A  number  of 
speakers*  held  meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  State.  The  newspapers 
were  constrained  to  notice  this  all-absorbing  topic,  though  most  of  them 
were  opposed  to  the  innovation,  and  maintained  a  bitter  war  against  its 
advocates.  Prominent  among  them  was  the  sensational  San  Francisco 
Chronicle  followed  by  the  Bulletin,  the  Call,  and  in  its  usual  negative  style, 
the  Alta,  while  the  Examiner  mildly  ridiculed  the  subject,  and  a  score  of 
lesser  journalistic  lights  throughout  the  State  exhibited  open  hostility  to 
woman  suffrage,  or  simply  mentioned  the  fact  of  its  agitation  as  a  matter 
of  news.  But  the  brave  pioneers  in  this  unpopular  movement  received 
kindly  sympathy  and  encouragement  from  some  journals  of  influence,  first 
among  which  was  the  San  Francisco  Post,  then  under  the  management  of 
that  popular  journalist,  Harry  George,  afterwards  distinguished  as  the 
author  of  "  Progress  and  Poverty."  The  San  Jose  Mercury  was  our 
friend  from  the  first,  and  its  fearless  and  able  editor,  J.  J.  Owen,  ac- 
cepted the  office  of  president  of  the  State  woman  suffrage  society  to  which 
he  was  elected  in  1878.  The  Sacramento  Bee  also  did  valiant  service  in 
defending  and  advocating  woman's  political  equality,  its  veteran  editor, 
James  McClatchy,  being  a  man  of  liberal  views  and  great  breadth  of 
thought,  whose  powerful  pen  was  wielded  in  advocacy  of  justice  to  all 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  October,  1883.  There  were  several 
county  journals  that  spoke  kind  wqrds  in  our  behalf,  and  occasionally  one 
under  the  editorial  management  of  a  woman  would  fearlessly  advocate 
political  equality. 

During  the  year  of  1870,  Mrs.  Gordon  traveled  extensively  over  the 
State,  delivering  more  than  one  hundred  lectures,  beside  making  an  ex- 
tended tour,  in  company  with  Mrs.  Pitts  Stevens,  through  Nevada,  where 
on  the  Fourth  of  July,  at  a  convention  held  at  Battle  Mountain,  the  first 
suffrage  organization  for  that  State  was  effected.  In  February,  1871,  Mrs. 
Gordon  again  lectured  in  Nevada,  remaining  several  weeks  in  Carson 
while  the  legislature  was  in  session.  She  was  invited  by  that  body  to  ad- 
dress them  upon  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  State  constitution  to 
allow  women  to  vote,  which  amendment  was  lost  by  a  majority  of  only 

*  Mrs.  Kingsbury  of  San  Diego,  Mrs.  H.  F.  M.  Rrown,  Addie  L.  Ballou,  Paulina  Roberts,  Mrs.  C. 
H.  Spear,  Laura  Cuppy  Smith,  Mrs.  F.  A.  Logan,  M.  D.,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Churchill,  John  A.  Collins,  and 
a  large  number  of  local  speakers,  who  aided  in  organizing  societies,  or  in  keeping  up  the  interest  in 
those  already  formed.  , 


756  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

two  votes,  obtained  by  a  political  trick,  the  question  being  voted  upon 
without  a  call  of  the  House,  when  several  members  friendly  to  the  meas- 
ure were  absent.  The  author  of  the  proposed  amendment  was  the  Hon. 
C.  J.  Hillier,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Virginia  City,  who,  in  bringing  the 
bill  before  the  legislature  in  1869,  delivered  one  of  the  ablest  arguments 
ever  given  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage. 

In  1871  Mrs.  Gordon  again  made  an  extended  tour  through  Cali- 
fornia, Oregon,  and  Washington  Territory,  traveling  mostly  by  stage,  en- 
during hardships,  braving  dangers  and  everywhere  overcoming  prejudice 
and  antagonism  to  strong-minded  women,  by  the  persuasiveness  of  her 
arguments.  In  September,  while  lecturing  in  Seattle,  a  telegram  in- 
formed her  of  her  nomination  by  the  Independent  party  of  San  Joaquin 
county  for  the  office  of  State  senator,  requesting  her  immediate  re- 
turn to  California.  This  necessitated  a  journey  of  nearly  a  thousand 
miles,  one-half  by  stage-coach.  Six  days  of  continuous  travel  brought 
her  to  Stockton,  where  she  entered  at  once  upon  the  senatorial  campaign. 
Mrs.  Gordon  spoke  every  night  until  election,  and  succeeded  in  awakening 
a  lively  interest  in  her  own  candidacy  and  in  the  subject  of  woman 
suffrage.  Her  eligibility  to  the  office  was  vehemently  denied,  par- 
ticularly by  Republicans,  who  were  badly  frightened  at  the  appear- 
ance of  this  unlooked-for  rival.  The  pulpit,  press,  and  stump  speakers 
alternated  in  ridiculing  the  idea  of  a  woman  being  allowed  to  take  a  seat 
in  the  Senate,  even  if  elected.  The  Democratic  party,  being  in  the  minority, 
offered  but  little  opposition,  and  watched  with  great  amusement  this  un- 
equal contest  between  the  great  dominant  party  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
little  Spartan  band  on  the  other.  The  contest  was  as  exciting  as  it  was 
brief,  and  despite  the  great  odds  of  money,  official  power,  political  superi- 
ority, and  the  perfect  machinery  of  party  organization  in  favor  of  her 
opponents,  Mrs.  Gordon  received  about  200  votes,  besides  as  many  more 
which  were  rejected  owing  to  some  technical  irregularity.  Among  those 
who  took  part  in  that  novel  campaign  and  deserving  special  mention,  was 
the  venerable  pioneer  familiarly  called  Uncle  Jarvis,  who  had  voted  a 
straight  Whig  or  Republican  ticket  for  fifty  years,  and  who  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life  scratched  his  ticket  and  voted  for  Mrs.  Gordon. 

In  July,  1871,  California  was  favored  by  a  visit  from  Mrs.  Stanton  and 
Miss  Anthony,  who  awakened  new  interest  wherever  their  logical  and 
eloquent  appeals  were  heard.  Their  advent  was  hailed  with  joy,  and  they 
received  marked  attention  from  all  classes,  the  clergy  not  excepted. 
Every  lecture  given  by  them  drew  out  large  assemblies  of  the  most 
influential  of  the  citizens.  Indeed,  they  received  a  continual  ovation  dur- 
ing their  stay  in  San  Francisco.  After  Mrs.  Stanton  returned  to  New 
York,  Miss  Anthony  remained  and  traveled  in  California,  Nevada,  Oregon 
and  Washington  Territory  several  months,  speaking  at  conventions  held 
in  San  Francisco  and  Sacramento,  besides  lecturing  in  all  the  principal 
towns,  winning  for  herself  great  praise,  and  a  deeper  respect  for  the  cause 
she  so  ably  represented.  A  complimentary  banquet  was  tendered  her  in 
San  Francisco  on  the  eve  of  her  departure  eastward,  at  which  eighty 
guests,  distinguished  in  art,  literature  and  social  life,  sat  down  to  a  sump- 
tuous collation  spread  in  the  Grand  Hotel. 


Clara  S.  Foltz.  757 

In  the  early  part  of  that  year,  1871,  Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent  and  wife  returned 
to  California  from  Washington,  his  term  as  representative  having  expired, 
and  both  took  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  woman's  political  enfranchise- 
ment. Mr.  Sargent,  with  commendable  bravery,  which  under  the  cir- 
cumstances was  indeed  a  test  of  courage,  delivered  an  address  in  favor  of 
woman  suffrage  at  a  convention  held  in  San  Francisco,  just  on  the  eve  of 
an  important  political  campaign,  in  which  he  was  a  candidate  for  reelec- 
tion to  congress,  and  also  to  the  United  States  Senate.  Of  course,  those 
opposed  to  woman  suffrage  tried  to  make  capital  out  of  it  against  him, 
but  without  avail,  for  that  able  and  distinguished  statesman  was  elected 
to  both  offices,  his  term  as  representative  expiring  before  he  would  be 
called  upon  to  take  his  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate.  His  noble  wife, 
Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  took  an  active  interest  in  all  the  woman  suffrage 
meetings,  and  in  November,  1871,  was  appointed,  as  was  also  Mrs.  Gor- 
don, to  represent  California  in  the  National  convention  to  be  held  in 
Washington  in  January,  1872. 

During  the  session  of  the  California  legislature  in  1871-2  a  delegation 
from  the  State  Society  visited  Sacramento  and  was  accorded  a  hearing 
in  the  Assembly-chamber  before  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  that  body. 
Addresses  were  made  by  Mrs.  Pitts  Stevens,  Mrs.  A.  A.  Haskell,  Mrs.  E. 
A.  H.  DeWolf  and  Hon.  John  A.  Collins. 

During  the  session  of  1873-4  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  legislature  making 
women  eligible  to  school  offices,  and  also  one  which  provided  that  all 
women  employed  in  the  public  schools  should  receive  the  same  compen- 
sation as  men  holding  the  same  grade  certificates. 

Mrs.  Laura  Morton  has  filled  and  ably  discharged  the  office  of  assistant 
State  librarian  for  the  past  ten  years.  Mrs.  Mandeville  was  deputy-con- 
troller during  the  Democratic  administration  of  Governor  Irwin,  and 
proved  herself  fully  capable  of  discharging  the  duties  of  that  responsible 
office  ;  while  for  several  years  women  have  been  elected  to  various  posi- 
tions in  the  legislature  and  employed  as  clerks. 

July  10,  1873,  the  Woman  Suffrage  Society  was  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  the  State,  with  Mrs.  Sarah  Wallis,  president.  Mrs.  Clara  S.  Foltz, 
a  brilliant  young  woman  who  had  begun  the  study  of  law  in  San  Jose, 
knew  the  statutes  permitted  no  woman  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
early  in  the  session  of  1877  drafted  a  bill  amending  the  code  in  favor  of 
women,  and  sent  it  to  Senator  Murphy  of  Santa  Clara  to  be  presented. 
Five  years  before  this,  however,  Mrs.  Nettie  Tator  had  applied  for  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  at  Santa  Cruz.  A  committee  of  prominent  attorneys  ap- 
pointed by  the  court  examined  her  qualifications  as  a  lawyer.  She  passed 
creditably  and  was  unanimously  recommended  by  the  committee,  when 
it  was  discovered  that  the  law  would  not  admit  women  to  that  learned 
profession. 

Following  the  presentation  of  Mrs.  Foltz'  bill,  Mrs.  Knox  Goodrich, 
Laura  Watkins,  Mrs.  Wallis  and  Laura  De  Force  Gordon  were  appointed 
by  the  State  Society  a  committee  to  visit  Sacramento  during  the  session 
and  use  their  influence  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  "Woman's  Lawyer 
Bill,"  as  it  was  termed,  and  to  petition  for  suffrage.  Mrs.  Gordon,  who 


758  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

was  also  reading  law,  was  in  Sacramento  as  editorial  correspondent  for 
her  paper,  the  Daily  Democrat  of  Oakland,  and  had  ample  opportunity  to 
render  valuable  service  to  the  cause  she  had  so  much  at  heart.  The  bill 
passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  22  to  9,  being  ably  advocated  by  Senators 
N.  Green  Curtis,  Judge  Niles  Searles  of  Nevada  county,  Creed  Haymond 
of  Sacramento,  and  Joseph  Craig  of  Yolo.  In  the  Assembly,  after  weeks 
of  tedious  delajr  and  almost  endless  debate,  the  bill  was  indefinitely  post- 
poned by  a  majority  of  one.  By  the  persistent  efforts  of  Assemblymen 
Grove  L.  Johnson  of  Sacramento,  R.  W.  Murphy,  Charles  Gildea  and  Dr. 
May  of  San  Francisco,  the  bill  was  brought  up  on  reconsideration 
and  passed  by  two  majority.  The  session  was  within  three  days  of  its 
close,  and  so  bitter  was  the  opposition  to  the  bill  that  an  effort  was  made 
to  prevent  its  engrossment  in  time  to  be  presented  for  the  governor's 
signature.  The  women  and  their  allies,  who  were  on  the  watch  for  tricks, 
defeated  the  scheme  of  their  enemies  and  had  the  bill  duly  presented  to 
Governor  Irwin,  but  not  till  the  last  day  of  the  session.  Then  the  sus- 
pense became  painful  to  those  most  interested  lest  it  might  not  receive 
his  approval.  Mrs.  Gordon,  as  editor  of  a  Democratic  journal,  asserted 
her  claims  to  some  recognition  from  that  party  and  strongly  urged  that 
a  Democratic  governor  should  sign  the  bill.  Aided  by  a  personal  appeal 
from  Senator  Niles  Searles  to  his  excellency,  her  efforts  were  crowned 
with  success ;  the  governor's  message  sent  to  the  Senate,  when  the  hands 
of  the  clock  pointed  to  fifteen  minutes  of  twelve,  midnight  (at  which  hour 
the  president's  gavel  would  descend  with  the  words  adjourning  the  Senate 
sine  die),  announced  that  Senate  bill  number  66,  which  permitted  the  admis- 
sion of  women  to  all  the  courts  of  the  State,  had  received  his  approval. 
There  was  great  rejoicing  over  this  victory  among  the  friends  everywhere, 
though  the  battle  was  not  yet  ended. 

The  same  legislature  had  passed  a  bill  accepting  the  munificent  dona- 
tion to  the  State  of  $100,000  from  Judge  Hastings  to  found  the  Hastings 
College  of  Law,  on  condition  that  it  be  the  law  department  of  the  State 
University,  and  the  college  was  duly  opened  for  the  admission  of  students. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  December  term  Mrs.  Foltz,  who  had  been  ad- 
mitted to  the  District  Court  in  San  Jose  (being  the  first  woman  ever 
admitted  to  any  court  in  the  State),  came  to  San  Francisco,  and  with  Mrs. 
Gordon  applied  for  admission  to  the  law  college.  The  dean,  Judge  Has- 
tings, himself  opposed  to  women  being  received  as  students,  told  them  it 
was  a  matter  that  must  be  laid  before  the  board  of  directors,  but  that 
they  could  attend  the  lectures  ad  interim.  Three  days  later  they  were 
informed  that  their  application  had  been  denied.  Satisfied  that  the  law 
was  in  their  favor,  they  immediately  appealed  to  the  courts.  To  save  time 
Mrs.  Gordon  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  and  Mrs.  Foltz  to  the  Dis- 
trict Court,  simultaneously,  for  a  writ  of  mandamus  to  compel  the 
directors  to  act  in  obedience  to  the  law  which,  the  petitioners  claimed, 
did  not  discriminate  against  women  in  founding  the  State  University  or 
its  departments.  The  Supreme  Court,  wishing  perhaps  to  shirk  the 
responsibility  of  acting  in  the  first  instance,  sent  their  petitioner,  Mrs. 
Gordon,  to  the  lower  court,  which  had  in  the  meantime  ordered  the  writ 


An  Important  Legal  Contest.  759 

to  issue  for  Mrs.  Foltz ;  so  it  was  decided  to  make  hers  the  test-case,  and 
by  the  courtesy  of  Judge  Morrison,  now  chief-justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  Mrs.  Gordon  was  joined  with  Mrs.  Foltz  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
cause.  The  board  of  directors  of  the  college  consisted  of  the  chief-justice 
of  the  Supreme  Bench  and  seven  other  lawyers,  among  the  most  distin- 
guished and  able  in  the  State.  The  case  attracted  great  attention  and 
deep  interest  was  taken  in  the  proceedings.  Judges  Lake  and  Cope,  who 
were  ex-justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  assisted  by  T.  B.  Bishop,  another 
learned  practitioner  at  the  bar,  were  arrayed  as  counsel  for  the  defense 
against  these  comparatively  young  students  in  the  law,  who  appeared 
unaided  in  their  own  behalf.  After  one  of  the  most  interesting  legal  con- 
tests in  the  history  of  the  State  these  women  came  off  victors,  and  the 
good-natured  public,  through  the  press,  offered  them  congratulations. 
But  the  defendants  would  not  yield  without  a  stubborn  resistance  and 
carried  their  cause  on  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court;  hence  many  months 
elapsed  before  the  final  struggle  came,  but  victory  again  rewarded  the 
petitioners,  the  Supreme  Court  deciding  that  women  should  be  admitted 
to  the  law  department  of  the  State  University.  Although  excluded 
from  the  benefit  of  the  lectures  in  the  college,  Mesdames  Gordon  and 
Foltz  had  improved  their  time  in  study,  and  in  December,  1879,  both  were 
admitted  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  after  a  thorough  examination. 

Prior  to  this  legal  contest,  in  the  summer  of  1878,  when  delegates  to 
the  constitutional  convention  were  to  be  elected,  Mrs.  Gordon,  urged  by 
her  friends  in  San  Joaquin  county,  became  an  independent  candidate  only 
a  week  or  two  before  the  election.  With  Mrs.  Foltz  she  made  a  very 
brief  though  brilliant  canvass,  attracting  larger  and  more  enthusiastic 
audiences  than  any  other  speaker.  Mrs.  Gordon  received  several  hun- 
dred votes  for  the  office,  and  felt  compensated  for  the  time  and  money 
spent  by  the  great  interest  awakened  in  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage. 

As  soon  as  the  constitutional  convention  assembled  in  September, 
Mrs.  Gordon,  although  still  pursuing  her  legal  studies,  was  able  as  a  news- 
paper correspondent  to  closely  watch  the  deliberations  of  that  body  and 
urge  the  insertion  of  a  woman  suffrage  clause  in  the  new  organic  law. 
The  State  Society  delegated  Mrs.  Knox  Goodrich,  Mrs.  Sarah  Wallis  and 
Mrs.  Watkins  to  join  Mrs.  Gordon  in  pressing  the  claims  of  woman,  but 
the  opposition  was  too  strong  and  the  suffrage  clause  remained  declaring 
male  citizens  entitled  to  vote,  though  a  section  in  the  bill  of  rights,  to- 
gether with  other  provisions  in  the  new  constitution,  renders  it  quite 
probable  that  the  legislature  has  the  right  to  enfranchise  women  without 
having  to  amend  the  organic  law.  At  all  events  the  new  instrument  is 
far  more  favorable  to  women  than  the  old,  as  will  now  be  shown.  The 
agitation  of  the  question  of  the  admission  of  women  to  the  Law  College, 
which  began  during  the  session  of  the  convention,  led  that  body  to  in- 
corporate the  following  provision  in  the  constitution  : 

ARTICLE  II.,  SEC.  18.  No  person  shall  be  debarred  admission  to  any  of  the  collegi- 
ate departments  of  the  State  University  on  account  of  sex. 

Remembering  the  hard  struggle  by  which  the  right  to  practice  law  had 
been  secured  to  women,  and  the  danger  of  leaving  it  to  the  caprice  of 


760  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

future  legislatures,  Mrs.  Gordon  drafted  a  clause  which  protects  women 
in  all  lawful  vocations,  and  by  persistent  effort  succeeded  in  getting  it  in- 
serted in  the  new  constitution,  as  follows  : 

ARTICLE  XX.,  SEC.  18.  No  person  shall,  on  account  of  sex.be  disqualified  from  en- 
tering upon  or  pursuing  any  lawful  business,  vocation  or  profession. 

The  adoption  of  this  clause,  so  valuable  to  women,  was  mainly  accom- 
plished by  the  skillful  diplomacy  of  Hon.  Charles  S.  Ringgold,  delegate 
from  San  Francisco,  who  introduced  it  in  the  convention  and  worked 
faithfully  for  its  adoption.  Thus  California  stands  to-day  one  of  the  first 
States  in  the  Union,  as  regards  the  educational,  industrial  and  property 
rights  of  women,  and  the  probability  of  equal  political  rights  being  se- 
cured to  them  at  an  early  day,  is  conceded  by  the  most  conservative. 

About  the  time  Mrs.  Foltz  and  Mrs.  Gordon  were  admitted  to  the  bar, 
they,  as  chief  officers  of  the  State  W.  S.  S.  (incorporated),  called  a  con- 
vention in  San  Francisco.  It  convened  in  February,  1880,  and  was  well 
attended.  Mrs.  Sargent  took  an  active  part  in  the  meetings,  occupied  the 
chair  as  president  pro  tern.,  and  subsequently  spoke  of  the  work  done  by 
the  National  Association  in  Washington.  Several  prominent  officials,  un- 
able to  be  present,  sent  letters  heartily  endorsing  our  claims  ;  among  these 
were  Governor  Perkins,  State  Senator  Chace,  and  A.  M.  Crane,  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court.  Addresses  were  delivered  by  Judge  Swift,  Marian 
Todd  and  Mrs.  Thorndyke  of  Los  Angeles,  Judge  Palmer  of  Nevada  city, 
and  others.  The  newspapers  of  the  city,  though  still  hostile  to  the  object 
of  the  convention,  gave  very  fair  reports.  In  September  following,  the  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  society  was  held,  and  made  particularly  interesting  by 
the  fact  that  the  proposed  new  city  charter,  which  contained  a  clause  pro- 
scriptive  of  women,  was  denounced,  and  a  plan  of  action  agreed  upon 
whereby  its  defeat  should  be  secured,  if  possible,  at  the  coming  election. 
The  women  worked  assiduously  against  the  adoption  of  the  city  charter, 
and  rejoiced  to  see  it  rejected  by  a  large  majority. 

The  following  facts  in  regard  to  the  constitution  and  statute  laws  of 
California  were  sent  us  by  the  Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent : 

In  1879,  California  adopted  a  new  constitution,  by  means  of  a  constitutional  conven- 
tion. It  was  an  unfortunate  time  for  such  organic  legislation,  for  the  reason  that  the 
State  was  rife  at  the  time  with  the  agitation  of  "  sand-lotters,"  as  they  were  called,  a 
violent  faction  which  assailed  property  rights  and  demanded  extreme  concessions  to 
labor.  The  balance  of  power  in  the  constitutional  convention  was  held  by  persons 
elected  by  this  element,  and  resulted  in  a  constitution  extraordinary  in  some  of  its  feat- 
.ures,  but  which  was  adopted  by  the  people  after  a  fierce  contest. 

Women  fared  badly  at  the  hands  of  these  constitution-makers,  so  far  as  suffrage  is 
concerned.  Section  I,  article  2,  confirms  the  right  of  voting  to  "  every  native  male 
-citizen,"  and  "every  male  naturalized  citizen,"  although  a  heroic  effort  was  made  by 
.the  friends  of  woman  suffrage  to  keep  out  the  word  "  male."  But  section  18,  article 
XX,,  provides  that  "  no  person  shall,  on  account  of  sex,  be  disqualified  from  entering 
Upon  Of  pursuing  any  lawful  business,  vocation  or  profession." 

Some  years  before,  the  State  had  adopted  a  "  civil  code,"  which  was  abreast  of  the 
world  in  liberality  to  women.  This  code  discarded  the  idea  of  any  servility  in  the  re- 
lation of  the  wife  to  the  husband.  This  code  is  still  the  law,  and  provides,  in  effect, 
that  husband  and  wife  contract  toward  each  other  obligations  of  mutual  respect, 
fidelity  and  support.  The  husband  is  the  head  of  the  family,  and  may  choose  any 


Achievements  in  Journalism.  761 

reasonable  place  and  mode  of  life,  and  the  wife  must  conform  thereto.  Neither 
has  any  interest  in  the  property  of  the  other,  and  neither  can  be  excluded  from  the 
other's  dwelling.  Either  may  enter  into  any  engagement  or  transaction  with  the  other, 
or  with  any  other  person,  respecting  property,  which  either  might  if  unmarried.  They 
may  hold  property  as  tenants  in  common  or  otherwise,  with  each  other,  and  with 
others.  All  property  of  the  wife  owned  by  her  before  marriage,  and  acquired  after- 
wards by  gift,  devise,  bequest  or  descent,  with  the  rents,  issues  and  profit  thereof,  is 
her  separate  property,  and  she  may  convey  the  same  without  his  consent.  All  property 
acquired  after  marriage  is  community  property.  The  earnings  of  the  wife  are  not  liable 
for  the  debts  of  the  husband.  Her  earnings,  and  those  of  minor  children  in  her  cus- 
tody, are  her  separate  property.  A  married  woman  may  dispose  of  her  separate  prop- 
erty by  will,  without  the  consent  of  her  husband,  as  if  she  were  single.  One-half  of 
the  community  property  goes  absolutely  to  the  wife,  on  the  death  of  the  husband,  and 
cannot  be  diverted  by  his  testamentary  disposition.  A  married  woman  can  carry  on 
business  in  her  own  name,  on  complying  with  certain  formalities,  and  her  stock,  capi- 
tal and  earnings  are  not  liable  to  her  husband's  creditors,  or  his  intermeddling.  The 
husband  and  father,  as  such,  has  no  rights  superior  to  those  of  the  wife  and  mother,  in 
regard  to  the  care,  custody,  education  and  control  of  the  children  of  their  marriage, 
while  such  husband  and  wife  live  separate  and  apart  from  each  other. 

The  foregoing  exhibits  the  spirit  of  the  California  law.  It  is  believed  by  friends  of 
woman  suffrage  that  had  the  convention  been  held  under  normal  conditions,  the  word 
"male"  might  have  been  eliminated  from  that  instrument. 

Several  creditable  attempts  were  early  made  in  journalism.  In  1855 
Mrs.  S.  M.  Clark  published  the  weekly  Contra  Costa  in  Oakland.  In 
1858,  The  Hesperian,  a  semi-monthly  magazine,  was  issued  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, Mrs.  Hermione  Day  and  Mrs.  A.  M.  Shultz,  editors.  It  was  quite 
an  able  periodical,*  and  finally  passed  into  the  hands  of  Elizabeth  T. 
Schenck. 

As  journalists  and  printers,  women  have  met  with  encouraging  success. 
The  most  prominent  among  them  is  Laura  DeForce  Gordon,  who  began  the 
publication  of  the  Daily  Leader  at  Stockton  in  1873,  continued  afterward 
at  Oakland  as  the  Daily  Democrat,  until  1878.  In  Geo.  P.  Rowell's  News- 
paper Reporter  for  1874,  the  Stockton  Leader  is  announced  as  "the  only 
daily  newspaper  in  the  world  edited  and  published  by  a  woman."  Mrs. 
Boyer,  known  as  "  Dora  Darmoor,"  published  different  magazines  and 
journals  in  San  Francisco  during  a  period  of  several  years,  the  most  suc- 
cessful being  the  Golden  Dawn.  Mrs.  Theresa  Corlett  has  been  connected 
with  various  leading  journals  of  San  Francisco,  and  is  well  known  as  a 
brilliant  and  interesting  writer.  Miss  Madge  Morris  has  not  only  made  a 
place  for  herself  in  light  literature,  but  has  been  acting-clerk  in  the  legis- 
lature for  several  sessions.  Mrs.  Sarah  M.  Clark  published  a  volume 
entitled  "Teachings  of  the  Ages";  Mrs.  Josephine  Wolcott,  a  volume  of 
poems,  called  "  The  World  of  Song." 

Mrs.  Amanda  Slocum  Reed,  one  of  our  most  efficient  advocates  of  suf- 
frage, has  proved  her  executive  ability,  and  capacity  for  business,  by  the 
management  of  a  large  printing  and  publishing  establishment  for  several 
years.  The  liberal  magazine  called  Common  Sense,  was  published  by  her 
and  her  husband — most  of  its  original  contents  the  product  of  her  pen; 


*  Chief  among  its  contributors  were  Eliza  W.  Farnham,  Sarah  M.  Clark,  Amanda  Simonton  Page, 
Mrs.  M.  D.  Strong,  Fanny  Green,  Annie  K.  Fader,  Eliza  A.  Pittsinger,  Mrs.  James  Neal,  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Williams. 


762  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

and  when  the  radicalism  of  her  husband  caused  the  suspension  of  that 
journal  in  1878,  Mrs.  Slocum  began  the  publication  of  Roll  Call,  a  temper- 
ance magazine  which  was  mainly  edited  by  her  gifted  little  daughter  Clara, 
only  fifteen  years  old,  who  also  set  all  the  type.  Among  the  earliest 
printers  of  California  was  Lyle  Lester.  She  established  a  printing 
office  in  San  Francisco  in  1860,  in  which  she  employed  a  large  number 
of  girls  and  women  as  compositors.  Miss  Delia  Murphy — now  Mrs.  Dear- 
ing — ranks  with  the  best  printers  in  San  Francisco,  and  several  women  in 
various  portions  of  the  State  have  taken  like  standing.  "  Mrs.  Rich- 
mond &  Son,"  is  the  novel  sign  which  decorates  the  front  of  a  large  print- 
ing establishment  on  Montgomery  street,  San  Francisco,  known  for  many 
years  as  the  "  Woman's  Cooperative  Printing  Company,"  but  which,  in 
fact,  was  always  an  individual  enterprise.  Mrs.  Augusta  DeForce  Cluff 
has  entered  upon  her  seventh  year  in  practical  journalism  as  publisher 
of  a  sprightly  weekly,  the  Valley  Review,  at  Lodi,  in  which  enterprise  she 
has  met  with  remarkable  success,  being  a  superior  business  manager  as 
well  as  a  facile  and  talented  writer.  Some  of  her  little  poems  have  great 
merit.  Mrs.  Cluff  and  Mrs.  Gordon  have  both  filled  official  positions  in 
the  Pacific  Coast  Press  Association.  Miss  Mary  Bogardus,  the  gifted 
young  daughter  of  that  pioneer  journalist,  H.  B.  Bogardus,  editor  of 
Figaro,  is  her  father's  main  assistant  in  all  the  business  of  his  office. 
Mrs.  Wittingham  has  been  elected  postmaster  of  the  State  Senate 
several  terms,  and  is  at  present  employed  in  the  U.  S.  branch  mint  in  San 
Francisco. 

One  of  the  most  meritorious  and  successful  enterprises  occupying  the 
attention  of  the  women  of  California,  is  the  silk  culture,  which  promises 
to  develop  into  one  of  the  dominant  industries  of  the  nation.  Mrs.  G. 
H.  Hittel  first  brought  the  subject  into  public  notice  by  able  articles 
on  the  cultivation  of  the  mulberry  tree,  published  in  various  journals. 
In  1880  she  formed  the  Ladies'  Silk  Culture  Society  of  California.  This 
association  like  its  predecessor,  the  first  Woman  Suffrage  Society,  was 
organized  and  held  its  meetings  in  private  parlors  for  a  time,  but  it 
soon  required  more  room.  Men  have  been  taken  into  membership 
since  the  object  for  which  the  society  was  formed  seemed  to  be  feasible, 
and,  as  a  natural  result,  whatever  of  financial  and  honorary  reward  may 
be  accorded  the  self-sacrificing  women  who  performed  the  arduous  and 
thankless  labor  of  founding  the  institution,  will  be  shared  with  the  men 
who  now  come  into  the  work. 

During  the  session  of  the  legislature  of  1883,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  ask  an  appropriation  from  the  State  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a 
Filature  or  free  silk-reeling  school.  After  considerable  delay  the  com- 
mittee called  to  their  aid  Mrs.  Gordon,  and  asked  her  to  visit  the  State 
capital  and  see  what  could  be  done.  The  session  was  rapidly  drawing  to 
a  close,  and  even  the  warmest  friends  of  the  measure  feared  that  it  was  too 
late  to  accomplish  anything.  But  happily  the  bill  was  got  through 
both  branches  of  the  legislature  and  sent  to  the  governor  the  last 
hour  of  the  session.  By  its  provisions  a  State  Board  of  Silk  Culture  was 
created  consisting  of  nine  members,  five  of  whom  were  to  be  women, 


Women  in  the  Industries.  763 

and  the  sum  of  $7, 500  was  appropriated.  Thus  women  have  begun  and  are 
now  fostering  a  great  industrial  enterprise  which  in  the  near  future  will 
give  to  millions  of  hitherto  unemployed  or  ill-paid  women  and  children 
an  occupation  peculiarly  suited  to  them,  and  which  will  add  millions  of 
dollars  annually  to  the  revenue  of  the  country.  Mrs.  Florence  Kimball 
of  San  Diego  county  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of 
Silk  Commissioners  by  Governor  Stoneman  in  1883. 

Since  the  expiration  of  their  term  as  superintendents  of  the  public 
schools  of  the  State,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  James  Carr  have  made  their  home  in 
that  loveliest  spot  of  southern  California — Passadena,  where,  overlooking 
rich  orange  groves  and  luxurious  vineyards,  they  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
prosperity,  and  where  Mrs.  Carr,  with  her  ambitious,  active  nature,  finds 
congenial  employment  in  demonstrating  what  woman  can  accomplish  in 
silk-culture,  raisin-making,  and  the  crystalizing  of  fruit. 

Miss  Austen,  formerly  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  San  Francisco, 
has  a  vineyard  at  Fresno,  where  she  employs  women  and  girls  to  prepare 
all  her  considerable  crop  of  raisins  for  market,  conceded  to  be  of  the 
best  quality  produced  in  the  State.  Mrs.  Ellen  McConnell  Wilson  of  Sac- 
ramento county,  from  the  small  beginning,  twenty  years  ago,  of  320  acres 
of  land,  and  less  than  1,000  sheep,  has  now  over  5,000  acres  of  rich  farming 
land  and  6,000  sheep.  Mrs.  H.  P.  Gregory  of  Sacramento,  left  a  widow 
with  a  large  family  of  little  children,  succeeded  her  husband  in  the  ship- 
ping and  commission  business  in  which  he  was  engaged  on  a  small  scale. 
From  such  a  beginning,  Mrs.  Gregory  has  built  up  one  of  the  largest 
trades  in  that  city,  and  has  by  judicious  investments  in  real  estate  acquired 
property  of  a  value  exceeding  $100,000,  besides  having  reared  and  edu- 
cated her  numerous  family. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hill  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  Calaveras  county, 
where  her  husband  located  land  on  the  Mokelumne  river  near  Camanche 
in  1855.  Six  years  after  she  was  left  a  widow  with  four  little  children. 
The  support  of  the  family  devolved  upon  the  mother,  and  she  engaged  in 
cultivating  the  land,  adding  thereto  several  hundred  acres.  In  1877 
Mrs.  Hill  began  the  cultivation  of  the  Persian-insect-powder  plant,  known 
to  commerce  as  Buhach.  So  successful  has  this  venture  proved  that  she 
has  now  over  200  acres  planted  to  that  shrub,  and  manufactures  each  year 
about  fifteen  tons  of  the  Buhach  powder,  for  which  she  finds  a  ready  sale. 
The  number  of  women  who  have  supported  their  families  (often  including 
the  husband),  and  acquired  a  competency  in  boarding  and  lodging-house 
keeping,  dressmaking,  millinery,  type-setting,  painting,  fancy  work,  stock- 
dealing,  and  even  in  manufacturing  and  mercantile  pursuits,  is  legion. 

In  regard  to  the  position  of  women  in  medicine,  Miss  Elizabeth  Sargent, 
M.  D.,  writes: 

Women  are  admitted  on  equal  terms  with  men  to  the  medical  and  dental  depart- 
ments of  the  State  University,  and  to  the  Cooper  Medical  College  of  Skn  Francisco. 
Women  are  also  eligible  to  membership  in  the  State  and  various  county  medical  asso- 
ciations, as  well  as  in  the  dental  association.  There  are  in  the  State  73  women  who 
have  been  recognized  by  the  authorities  as  qualified  to  practice.  They  may  be  classi- 
fied as  follows:  Practitioners  of  regular  medicine,  30,  16  of  whom  are  established  in 
San  Francisco;  eclectics,  22,  9  in  San  Francisco;  homceopathists,  21,  2  in  San  Fran- 


764  History  of  Woman  Siiffrage. 

cisco.  Among  these  physicians  two  make  a  specialty  of  the  eye  and  ear,  one  in  San 
Francisco  and  one  in  San  Jose.  Two  women  have  been  graduated  from  the  State  Dental 
College,  located  in  San  Francisco.  In  April,  1875,  the  Pacific  Dispensary  Hospital 
for  women  and  children  was  founded  by  women.  In  1881  a  training-school  for  nurses 
was  added.  The  hospital  department,  although  admitting  women,  is  intended 
especially  for  children,  and  is  the  only  children's  hospital  on  the  coast.  The  dis- 
pensary is  for  out-patients,  both  women  and  children.  The  board  of  ten  directors, 
the  resident  and  attending  physicians  of  the  hospital,  and  five  out  of  the  seven 
connected  with  the  dispensary  are  women.  From  a  small  beginning  the  institu- 
tion has  increased  to  importance,  and  bids  fair  to  continue  in  its  present  prosperity  and 
capacity  for  good  work.  I  have  written  thus  lengthily  that  you  may  see  how  energetic 
our  women  have  been  in  originating  and  carrying  on  such  an  institution. 

The  most  prominent  literary  woman  of  the  coast  is  undoubtedly  Miss 
M.  W.  Shinn.  She  is  a  graduate  of  our  State  University  and  was  the 
medal  scholar  of  her  class.  At  present  she  is  the  editor  of  the  Overland 
Monthly,  and  the  excellent  prospects  of  the  magazine  are  largely  the  result 
of  her  own  courage  and  the  hard  work  she  has  done. 

The  higher  education  in  the  State  is  being  put  upon  a  secure  basis. 
Hon.  Leland  Stanford  and  his  wife,  Jane  Lathrop  Stanford,  have  recently 
given  a  great  part  of  their  vast  fortune  for  the  establishment  of  a  uni- 
versity which  bids  fair  to  be  the  foremost  educational  institution  on  the 
continent.  In  a  letter  specifying  his  views  in  regard  to  the  management 
of  the  university,  Governor  Stanford  says  : 

We  deem  it  of  the  first  importance  that  the  education  of  both  sexes  shall  be  equally 
full  and  complete,  varied  only  as  nature  dictates.  The  rights  of  one  sex,  political  and 
other,  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  other  sex,  and  this  equality  of  rights  ought  to 
be  fully  recognized. 

There  are  many  men  and  women  throughout  the  State  who  have  faith- 
fully advocated  political  equality  for  all  citizens.* 

Mendocino  county  has  the  honor  of  claiming  as  a  citizen,  one  of  the 
earliest  and  ablest  women  in  this  reform,  Clarina  Howard  Nichols,  who 
may  be  said  to  have  sown  the  seeds  of  liberty  in  three  States  in  which 
she  has  resided,  Vermont,  Kansas  and  California.  Since  1870,  her  home 
has  been  with  a  son  in  Porno,  where  she  finished  her  heroic  life  January 
ii,  1885.  Though  always  in  rather  straitened  circumstances,  Mrs.  Nichols 
was  uniformly  calm  and  cheerful,  living  in  an  atmosphere  above  the 
petty  annoyances  of  every-day  life  with  the  great  souls  of  our  day  and 
generation,  keeping  time  in  the  march  of  progress.  She  was  too 
much  absorbed  in  the  vital  questions  of  the  hour  even  to  take  note  of 
her  personal  discomforts.  Many  of  her  able  articles  published  in  mag- 
azines and  the  journals  of  the  day,  and  letters  from  year  to  year  to  our 


*  Among  the  many  who  have  been  active  and  faithful  in  the  movement  for  the  political  rights  of 
women,  whose  names  should  be  mentioned,  are  :  Mrs.  Eliza  Taylor,  Mrs.  O.  Fuller,  Elizabeth  Mc- 
Comb,  Dr.  Laura  P.  Williams,  Mrs.  Dr.  White,  Sallie  Hart,  Dr.  R.  H.  McDonald,  Hon.  Frank  Pixley, 
and  many  others  in  San  Francisco :  Fanny  Green  McDougal,  Oakland ;  Mrs.  Phebe  Benedict, 
Antioch.  ;  Mrs. (Isabella  Irwin,  San  Rafael;  Mrs.  Cynthia  Palmer,  Mrs.  Emily  Rolfe,  Nevada  City  ; 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Condy,  Stockton;  Miss  E.  S.  Sleeper,  Mountain  Vieiv  ;  Mrs.  Laura  J.  Watkins,  Mrs. 
Damon,  Santa  Clara:  Mrs.  Dr.  Kilpatrick,  San  Mateo ;  Mrs.  S.  G.  Waterhouse,  Drs.  Kellogg  and 
Bearby,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Young,  Mrs.  E.  B.  Crocker,  and  others,  Sacramento  ;  Mrs.  Mary  Jewett,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Howell,  Healdsburgh  ;  Mrs.  Lattimer,  Windsor  ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Denio,  Mrs.  E,  L.  Hale,  \  'allejo: 
Mrs.  J.  Lewellyn,  Mrs.  Potter.  St.  Helena;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  Eggleston,  Nafa ;  Henry  and  Abigail 
Bush,  Martinez  ;  Rowena  Granice  Steele,  Merced;  Mrs.  Jennie  Phelps  Purvis,  Mrs.  Lapham  and 
daughter,  Modesto. 


Sarah  Knox  Goodrich.  765 

conventions,  were  written  in  such  conditions  of  weakness  and  suffering, 
as  only  a  hero  could  have  overcome.  She  was  a  good  writer,  an  effective 
speaker,  and  a  preeminently  brave  woman,  gifted  with  that  rarest  of  all 
virtues,  common  sense. 

The  advocacy  of  woman's  rights  began  in  Santa  Cruz  county,  with  the 
advent  of  that  grand  champion  of  her  sex,  the  immortal  Eliza  Farnham, 
who  braved  public  scorn  and  contumely  because  of  her  advanced  views, 
for  many  years  before  the  suffrage  movement  assumed  organized  form. 
Mrs.  Farnham's  work  rendered  it  possible  for  those  advocating  woman 
suffrage  years  later,  to  do  so  with  comparative  immunity  from  public  ridi- 
cule. A  society  was  organized  there  in  1869,  and  Rev.  D.  G.  Ingraham, 
E.  B.  Heacock,  H.  M.  Blackburn,  Mrs.  Georgiana  Bruce  Kirby,  Mrs.  Van- 
Valkenburgh,  W.  W.  Broughton  and  wife,  and  Mrs.  Jewell  were  active 
members. 

Prominent  in  Santa  Clara  county  is  Mrs.  Sarah  Wallis  of  Mayfield. 
From  the  first  agitation  of  the  subject  in  1868,  when  she  entered  heartily 
into  the  work  of  getting  subscribers  to  The  Revolution,  she  has  been 
untiring  in  her  efforts  to  advance  the  interests  of  women.  A  lady 
of  fine  presence,  great  energy  and  perseverance,  Mrs.  Wallis  has  been 
able  to  accomplish  great  good  for  her  sex.  With  a  large  separate  estate, 
when  the  statutes  prevented  her  as  a  married  woman  from  managing  it, 
she  determined  that  the  laws  should  be  changed,  and  never  ceased  her  ef- 
forts until  she  succeeded  in  getting  an  amendment  to  the  civil  code  which 
enables  married  women  to  make  contracts.  The  most  successful  suffrage 
meetings  ever  held  in  Santa  Clara  county  have  been  at  Mayfield.  There 
Mrs.  Wallis  and  her  husband,  Judge  Joseph  S.  Wallace,  make  their  spa- 
cious and  luxurious  home  the  rendezvous  of  lecturers  and  writers  in  the 
great  work  of  woman's  emancipation. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Knox  Goodrich  of  San  Jose,  was  among  the  first  to  see  the 
significance  of  the  movement  for  woman's  rights  in  1868.  Her  husband, 
William  J,  Knox,  who  shortly  before  his  death  had  been  State  senator, 
secured  the  passage  of  a  bill,  drafted  by  himself,  giving  to  married  women 
the  right  to  dispose  of  their  own  separate  property  by  will.  Having  been 
from  her  youth  the  cherished  companion  of  a  man  who  believed  in  the 
equality  of  the  sexes,  and  being  herself  a  thoughtful,  clear-headed  person, 
she  naturally  took  her  place  with  those  whose  aim  was  the  social  and 
political  emancipation  of  woman,  and  has  stood  from  the  first  a  tower  of 
strength  in  this  cause,  giving  largely  of  her  wealth  for  the  propagation 
of  its  doctines.  Mrs.  Knox  Goodrich  has  for  many  years  paid  her  taxes, 
sometimes  exorbitant,  under  protest,  and  at  important  elections  has  also 
offered  her  vote,  to  have  it  refused.  The  county  suffrage  society  has  had 
an  untiring  leader  in  Mrs.  Goodrich,  and  on  all  occasions  she  has  nerved 
the  weak  and  encouraged  the  timid  by  her  example  of  unflinching  devotion. 
The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  written  by  the  lady  will  show  how 
effective  her  work  has  been  : 

In  1872,  our  society  was  invited  to  take  part  in  the  Fourth  of  July  celebration, 
which  we  did,  and  had  the  handsomest  carriages  and  more  of  them  than  any  other 
society  in  the  procession.  We  paid  our  own  expenses,  although  the  city  had 


766  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

made  an  appropriation  for  the  celebration.  In  1876  we  were  not  invited  to  take 
part  in  the  festivities,  but  some  of  us  felt  that  on  such  a  day,  our  centennial  anniver- 
sary, we  should  not  be  ignored.  Accordingly  I  started  out  to  see  what  could  be  done, 
but  finding  some  of  our  most  active  friends  ill  and  others  absent  from  home,  I  decided 
to  do  what  I  could  alone.  I  had  mottoes  from  the  grand  declarations  of  the  Fathers 
painted  and  put  on  my  house,  which  the  procession  would  pass  on  two  sides. 

Some  of  our  most  prominent  ladies  seeing  that  I  was  determined  to  make  a  mani- 
festation, drove  with  me  in  the  procession,  our  carriage  and  horses  decorated  with 
flags,  the  ladies  wearing  sashes  of  red,  white  and  blue,  and  bearing  banners  with 
mottoes  and  evergreens.  A  little  daughter  of  Mrs.  Clara  Foltz,  the  lawyer,  dressed 
in  red,  white  and  blue,  was  seated  in  the  center  of  the  carriage,  carrying  a  white  ban- 
ner with  silver  fringe,  a  small  flag  at  the  top  with  a  silver  star  above  that,  with 
streamers  of  red,  white  and  blue  floating  from  it,  and  in  the  center,  in  letters  large 
enough  to  be  seen  some  distance,  the  one  word  "  Hope."  On  my  flag  the  motto  was: 
"  We  are  Taxed  without  being  Represented";  Mrs.  Maria  H.  Weldon's,  "  We  are 
the  disfranchised  Class ";  Mrs.  Marion  Hooker's,  "The  Class  entitled  to  respectful 
Consideration";  and  Miss  Hannah  Millard's,  "  We  are  governed  without  our  Con- 
sent." On  the  front  of  my  house  in  large  letters  was  the  motto:  "  Taxation  without 
Representation  is  Tyranny  as  much  in  1876,  as  it  was  in  1776";  on  the  other  side 
was,  "We  are  Denied  the  Ballot,  but  Compelled  to  Pay  Taxes";  fronting  the  other 
side  was,  "  Governments  Derive  their  Just  Powers  from  the  Consent  of  the  Governed." 
Mrs.  McKee  also  had  the  last  motto  on  her  house.  On  the  evening  of  July  3,  after 
we  had  all  our  preparations  completed,  we  sent  to  one  of  the  marshals  and  asked  him 
to  give  us  a  place  in  the  procession  next  to  the  negroes,  as  we  wished  to  let  our  legal 
protectors  have  a  practical  illustration  of  the  position  occupied  by  their  mothers,  wives, 
sisters  and  daughters  in  this  boasted  republic.  We  did  want  to  go  in,  however,  ahead 
of  the  Chinamen,  as  we  considered  our  position  at  present  to  be  between  the  two.  The 
marshal  willingly  assigned  us  a  place,  but  not  the  one  we  desired.  "  We  cannot  allow 
you,"  said  he,  "  to  occupy  such  a  position.  You  must  go  in  front,  next  to  the  Pioneer 
Association  ";  and  being  in  part  members  of  that  society  we  accepted  the  decision. 
Our  carriage  was  the  center  of  attraction.  Many,  after  reading  our  mottoes,  said  : 
"Well,  ladies,  we  will  help  you  to  get  your  rights";  "It  is  a  shame  for  you  to  be 
taxed  and  not  have  the  right  to  vote."  Hundreds  of  people  stood  and  read  the  mottoes 
on  the  house,  making  their  comments,  both  grave  and  gay  :  "  Good  for  Mrs.  Knox  "; 
"  She  is  right  ";  "  If  I  were  in  her  place  I  would  never  pay  a  tax  ";  "I  guess  one  of 
the  strong-minded  lives  here." 

Mrs.  Knox  was  married  to  Mr.  Goodrich,  the  well-known  architect,  in 
1878,  in  whom  she  has  found  a  grand,  noble-souled  companion,  fully  in 
sympathy  with  all  her  progressive  views,  and  with  whom  she  is  passing  the 
advancing  years  of  her  well-spent  life  in  luxury  and  unalloyed  happiness. 

Mrs.  Van  Valkenburg  tried  to  vote  under  the  claim  that  the  fourteenth 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  entitled  her  to  regis- 
tration, and  being  refused,  brought  suit  against  the  registrars.  The  case 
was  decided  against  her  after  being  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Cali- 
fornia. These  cases  argued  in  the  Supreme  Court  have  been  of  inestim- 
able value  in  the  progress  of  the  movement,  lifting  the  question  of 
woman's  rights  as  a  citizen  above  the  mists  of  ridicule  and  prejudice,  into 
the  region  of  reason  and  constitutional  law.  We  cannot  too  highly  ap- 
preciate the  bravery  and  persistence  of  the  few  women  who  have  fur- 
nished these  test  cases  and  compelled  the  highest  courts  to  record  their 
decisions. 


CHAPTER    LIV. 
THE    PACIFIC    NORTHWEST. 

The  Long  Marches  Westward — Abigail  Scott  Duniway — Mary  Olney  Brown — The 
First  Steps  in  Oregon— Col.  C.  A.  Reed— Judge  G.  W.  Lawson— 1870— The  New 
Northwest,  1871 — Campaign,  Mrs.  Duniway  and  Miss  Anthony — They  Address 
the  Legislature  in  Washington  Territory — Hon.  Elwood  Evans — Suffrage  Society 
Organized  at  Olympia  and  at  Portland — Before  the  Oregon  Legislature — Dona- 
tion Land  Act — Hon.  Samuel  Corwin's  Suffrage  Bill — Married  Woman's  Sole 
Traders'  Bill — Temperance  Alliance — Women  Rejected — Major  Williams  Fights 
their  Battles  and  Triumphs — Mrs.  H.  A.  Loughary — Progressive  Legislation,  1874 
— Mob-Law  in  Jacksonville,  1879 — Dr.  Mary  A.  Thompson — Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 1878 — Woman  Suffrage  Bill,  1880 — Hon.  W.  C.  Fulton — Women  En- 
franchised*in  Washington  Territory,  Nov.  15,  1883 — Great  Rejoicing,  Bonfires, 
Ratification  Meetings — Constitutional  Amendment  Submitted  in  Oregon  and  Lost, 
June,  1884 — Suffrage  by  Legislative  Enactment  Lost — Fourth  of  July  Celebrated  at 
Vancouvers — Benjamin  and  Mary  Olney  Brown — Washington  Territory — Legisla- 
tion in  1867-68  Favorable  to  Women — Mrs.  Brown  Attempts  to  Vote  and  is  Refused 
— Charlotte  Olney  French — Women  Vote  at  Grand  Mound  and  Black  River  Pre- 
cincts, 1870 — Retrogressive  Legislation,  1871 — Abby  H.  Stuart  in  Land-Office — 
Hon.  William  H.  White — Idaho  and  Montana. 

IN  the  spring  of  1852,  when  the  great  furor  for  going  West 
was  at  its  height,  in  the  long  trails  of  miners,  merchants  and 
farmers  wending  their  way  in  ox-carts  and  canvas-covered 
wagons  over  the  vast  plains,  mountains  and  rivers,  two  remark- 
able women,  then  in  the  flush  of  youth,  might  have  been  seen ; 
one,  Abigail  Scott  Duniway,  destined  to  leave  an  indelible  mark 
on  the  civilization  of  Oregon,  and  the  other,  Mary  Olney  Brown, 
on  that  of  Washington  territory.  What  ideas  were  revolving 
in  these  young  minds  in  that  long  journey  of  3,000  miles,  six 
months  in  duration,  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine,  but  the  love 
of  liberty  had  been  infused  in  their  dreams  somewhere,  either  in 
their  eastern  homes  from  the  tragic  scenes  of  the  anti-slavery  con- 
flict, or  on  that  perilous  march  amidst  those  eternal  solitudes  by 
day  and  the  solemn  stillness  of  the  far-off  stars  in  the  gathering 
darkness.  That  this  long  communion  with  great  nature  left  its 
impress  on  their  young  hearts  and  sanctified  their  lives  to  the 
.  best  interests  of  humanity  at  large,  is  clearly  seen  in  the  deeply 
interesting  accounts  they  give  of  their  endeavors  to  mould  the 


768  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

governments  of  their  respective  territories  on  republican  princi- 
ples.    Writing  of  herself  and  her  labors,  Mrs.  Duniway  says: 

I  was  born  in  Pleasant  Grove,  Tazewell  county,  Illinois,  October  22, 
1834,  of  the  traditional  "poor  but  respectable  parentage  "  which  has  hon- 
ored the  advent  of  many  a  more  illustrious  worker  than  myself.  Brought 
up  on  a  farm  and  familiar  from  my  earliest  years  with  the  avocations  of 
rural  life,  spending  the  early  spring-times  in  the  maple-sugar  camp,  the 
later  weeks  in  gardening  and  gathering  stove-wood,  the  summers  in 
picking  and  spinning  wool,  and  the  autumns  in  drying  apples,  I  found 
little  opportunity,  and  that  only  in  winter,  for  books  or  play.  My 
father  was  a  generous-hearted,  impulsive,  talented,  but  uneducated  man  ; 
my  mother  was  a  .conscientious,  self-sacrificing,  intelligent,  but  unedu- 
cated woman.  Both  were  devotedly  religious,  and  both  believed  implicitly 
that  self-abnegation  was  the  crowing  glory  of  womanhood.  Before  I  was 
seventeen  I  was  employed  as  a  district  school  teacher,  received  a  first- 
class  certificate  and  taught  with  success,  though  how  I  became  pos- 
sessed of  the  necessary  qualifications  I  to  this  day  know  not.  I  never 
did,  could,  or  would  study  when  at  school. 

In  the  spring  of  1852  my  father  decided  to  emigrate  to  Oregon.  My 
invalid  mother  expostulated  in  vain ;  she  and  nine  of  us  children  were 
stowed  away  in  ox-wagons,  where  for  six  months  we  made  our  home, 
cooking  food  and  washing  dishes  around  camp-fires,  sleeping  at  night  in 
the  wagons,  and  crossing  many  streams  upon  wagon-beds,  rigged  as  ferry- 
boats. When  our  weary  line  of  march  had  reached  the  Black  Hills  of  Wy- 
oming my  mother  became  a  victim  to  the  dreadful  epidemic,  cholera,  that 
devastated  the  emigrant  trains  in  that  never-to-be-forgotten  year,  and  af- 
ter a  few  hours'  illness  her  weary  spirit  was  called  to  the  skies.  We  made 
her  a  grave  in  the  solitudes  of  the  eternal  hills,  and  again  took  up  our  line 
of  march,  "  too  sad  to  talk,  too  dumb  to  pray."  But  ten  weeks  after,  our 
Willie,  the  baby,  was  buried  in  the  sands  of  the  Burnt  River  mountains. 
Reaching  Oregon  in  the  fall  with  our  broken  household,  consisting  of 
my  father  and  eight  motherless  children,  I  engaged  in  school-teaching  till 
the  following  August,  when  I  allowed  the  name  of  "  Scott "  to  become 
"  Duniway."  Then  for  twenty  years  I  devoted  myself,  soul  and  body,  to 
the  cares,  toils,  loves  and  hopes  of  a  conscientious  wife  and  mother.  Five 
sons  and  one  daughter  have  been  born  to  us,  all  of  whom  are  living  and 
at  home,  engaged  with  their  parents  in  harmonious  efforts  for  the  enfran- 
chisement of  women. 

The  first  woman  suffrage  society  ever  formed  in  Oregon,  was  organ- 
ized in  Salem,  the  capital  of  the  State,  in  the  autumn  of  1870,  and  con- 
sisted of  about  a  dozen  members.  Col.  C.  A.  Reed  was  chosen  president 
and  G.  W.  Lawson,  secretary.  This  little  society  which  maintained  a 
quiescent  existence  for  a  year  or  more  and  then  disbanded  without  cere- 
mony, was,  in  part,  the  basis  of  all  subsequent  work  of  its  character  in 
Oregon.  In  the  winter  of  1871  this  society  honored  me  with  credentials 
to  a  seat  in  the  woman  suffrage  convention  which  was  to  meet  in  San 
Francisco  the  following  May.  My  business  called  me  to  the  Golden  City 
before  the  time  for  the  convention,  and  a  telegraphic  summons  com- 


A  Lecturing  Tour.  769 

pelled  me  to  return  to  Oregon  without  meeting  with  the  California 
Association  in  an  official  way,  as  I  had  hoped.  But  my  credentials  intro- 
duced me  to  the  San  Francisco  leaders,  among  whom  Emily  Pitts  Stevens 
occupied  a  prominent  position  as  editor  and  publisher  of  the  The  Pioneer, 
the  first  woman  suffrage  paper  that  appeared  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Before 
returning  to  Oregon  I  resolved  to  purchase  an  outfit  and  begin  the 
publication  of  a  newspaper  myself,  as  I  felt  that  the  time  had  come  for 
vigorous  work  in  my  own  State,  and  we  had  no  journal  in  which  the 
demands  of  women  for  added  rights  were  treated  with  respectful  con- 
sideration. 

Soon  after  reaching  my  home  in  Albany  I  sold  my  millinery  store  and 
removed  to  Portland,  where,  on  May  5,  1871,  the  New  Northwest  made  its 
appearance,  and  a  seige  of  the  citadels  of  a  one-sexed  government  began, 
which  at  this  writing  is  going  on  with  unabated  persistency.  The  first 
issue  of  this  journal  was  greeted  by  storms  of  ridicule.  Everybody 
prophesied  its  early  death,  and  my  personal  friends  regarded  the  enter- 
prise with  sincere  pity,  believing  it  would  speedily  end  in  financial  dis- 
aster. But  the  paper,  in  spite  of  opposition  and  burlesque,  has  grown 
and  prospered. 

In  August,  1871,  Susan  B.  Anthony  favored  Oregon  and  Washington 
territory  with  a  visit.  The  fame  of  this  veteran  leader  had  preceded  her, 
and  she  commanded  a  wide  hearing.  We  traveled  together  over  the 
country,  visiting  inland  villages  as  well  as  larger  towns,  holding  woman 
suffrage  meetings  and  getting  many  subscribers  for  the  New  Northwest. 
During  these  journeyings  I  became  quite  thoroughly  initiated  into  the 
movement  and  made  my  first  efforts  at  public  speaking.  After  a  six 
weeks'  campaign  in  Oregon,  we  went  to  Olympia,  the  capital  of  Washing- 
ton territory,  where  the  legislature  was  in  session,  and  where,  through  a 
motion  of  Hon.  Elwood  Evans,  we  were  invited  to  address  the  Assembly 
in  advocacy  of  equal  rights  for  all  the  people.  From  Olympia  we  pro- 
ceeded to  Victoria,  a  border  city  belonging  to  a  woman's  government, 
where  we  found  that  the  idea  of  the  ballot  for  woman  was  even  more  un- 
popular than  in  the  United  States,  though  all,  by  strange  inconsistency, 
were  intensely  loyal  to  their  queen.  After  an  interesting  and  profitable 
experience  in  the  British  possessions  we  returned  to  Puget  Sound,  stop- 
ping over  on  our  route  at  the  different  milling  towns  that  teem  with  busy 
life  upon  the  evergreen  shores  of  this  Mediterranean  of  the  Pacific.  At 
Seattle  we  organized  an  association*  in  which  many  of  the  leading  ladies 
and  gentlemen  took  a  prominent  part ;  after  which  we  returned  to 
Olympia,  where  a  territorial  organization  was  effected.t 

Returning  to  Portland,  we  called  a  convention,  and  organized  the 
Oregon  State  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  with  Harriet  W.  Williams,  a 
venerated  octogenarian,  president.  This  estimable  woman  had  been 
one  of  the  earliest  leaders  of  the  woman  suffrage  movement  in  the  State 


*  Hon.  H.  L.  Yesler,  the  city's  founder  and  mayor;  Mrs.  Yesler,  Rev.  John  F.  Damon,  Mrs.  Mary 
Olney  Brown,  Rev.  Daniel  Baglcy  and  others. 

t  Its  leaders  being  Mrs.  Abbfe  H.  H.  Stuart,  Mrs.  P.  C.  Hale,  Hon.  Marshall  Blinn,  Hon.  Elwood 
Evans,  and  Mr.  J.  M.  Murphy,  editor  of  the  Washington  Standard. 

49 


770  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

of  New  York,  and  her  presence  at  the  head  of  our  meetings  in  Oregon 
was  a  source  of  genuine  satisfaction  to  the  friends  of  the  cause  in  the  new 
State  of  her  adoption.  Subsequently,  Mrs.  Williams  was  compelled  to 
resign  on  account  of  increasing  infirmities,  but  her  wise  counsels  are  still 
cherished  by  her  successors,  whom  she  regards  with  motherly  solicitude 
as  she  serenely  awaits  the  final  summons  of  the  unseen  messenger.  Many 
of  those  who  early  distinguished  themselves  in  this  connection  deserve 
special  mention  because  of  their  long-continued  zeal  in  the  work.*  If 
others  failed  us,  these  were  always  ready  to  work  the  hardest  when  the 
fight  was  hottest.  And  whatever  might  be  our  differences  of  opinion 
personally,  we  have  always  presented  an  unbroken  phalanx  to  the  foe. 
The  original  society  at  Salem  having  disbanded,  its  members  joined  the 
new  State  Association  organized  at  Portland,  which  has  ever  since  been 
regarded  as  the  nucleus  of  all  our  activities. 

In  September  of  1872,  I  visited  the  Oregon  legislature,  where  I  went 
clothed  by  our  association  with  discretionary  power  to  do  what  I  could  to 
secure  special  legislation  for  the  women  of  the  State,  who,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, were  at  that  time  entirely  under  the  dominion  of  the  old  com- 
mon law.  The  exceptions  were  those  fortunate  women  who,  having  come 
to  Oregon  as  early  as  1850  and  '52,  had,  by  virtue  of  a  United  States 
law,  known  as  the  Oregon  Donation  Land  Act,  become  possessed  of 
"claims,"  as  they  were  called,  on  equal  shares  with  their  husbands,  their 
half,  or  halves,  of  the  original  ground  being  set  apart  as  their  separate 
property  in  realty  and  fee  simple.  This  Donation  Land  Act  deserves 
especial  mention,  it  being  the  first  law  enacted  in  the  United  States  which 
recognized  the  individual  personality  of  a  married  woman.  It  became  a 
temporary  law  of  congress  in  1850,  mainly  through  the  efforts  of  Hon. 
Samuel  R.  Thurston,  delegate  from  Oregon  territory  (which  at  that  time 
included  the  whole  of  Washington  territory),  aided  by  the  eminent  Dr. 
Linn  of  Missouri,  from  whom  one  of  the  principal  counties  of  the  State 
of  Oregon  derives  its  name. 

My  first  experience  in  the  capitol  was  particularly  trying.  I  spent 
two  days  among  my  acquaintances  in  Salem  in  a  vain  attempt  to  find  a 
woman  who  was  ready  or  willing  to  accompany  me  to  the  State-house. 
All  were  anxious  that  I  should  go,  but  each  was  afraid  to  offend  her  hus- 
band, or  make  herself  conspicuous,  by  going  herself.  Finally,  when  I 
had  despaired  of  securing  company,  and  had  nerved  myself  to  go  alone, 
Mary  P.  Sawtelle,  who  afterwards  became  a  physician,  and  now  resides  in 
San  Francisco  where  she  has  a  lucrative  practice,  volunteered  to  stand  by 
me,  and  together  we  entered  the  dominion  hitherto  considered  sacred  to 
the  aristocracy  of  sex,  and  took  seats  in  the  lobby,  our  hearts  beating 
audibly.  Hon.  Joseph  Engle,  perceiving  the  innovation  and  knowing  me 
personally,  at  once  arose,  and,  after  a  complimentary  speech  in  which  he 
•was  pleased  to  recognize  my  position  as  a  jonrnalist,  moved  that  I  be  in- 
vited to  a  seat  within  the  bar  and  provided  with  table  and  stationery  as 
were  other  members  of  the  profession.  The  motion  carried,  with  only  two 

*  Mr.  D.  W.  Williams,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  T.  Shanahan,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Gibson,  Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot, 
Mr.  B.  C.  Duniway,  Dr.  Mary  A.  Thompson,  Rev.  Isaac  Dillon  and  Hon.  and  Mrs.  G.  W.  Brown. 


Scene  in  a    Temperance  Meeting.  771 

or  three  dissenting  votes  ;  and  the  way  was  open  from  that  time  forward 
for  women  to  compete  with  men  on  equal  terms  for  all  minor  positions 
in  both  branches  of  the  legislature — a  privilege  they  have  not  been  slow 
to  avail  themselves  of,  scores  of  them  thronging  the  capitol  in  these  later 
years,  and  holding  valuable  clerkships,  many  of  them  sneering  the  while 
at  the  efforts  of  those  who  opened  the  way  for  them  to  be  there  at  all. 

Hon.  Samuel  Corwin  introduced  a  woman  suffrage  bill  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  early  in  the  session  ;  and  while  it  was  pending,  I  was  in- 
vited to  make  an  appeal  in  its  behalf,  of  which  I  remember  very  little,  so 
frightened  and  astonished  was  I,  except  that  once  1  inadvertently  alluded 
to  a  gentleman  by  his  name  instead  of  his  county,  whereupon,  being 
called  to  order,  I  blushed  and  begged  pardon,  but  put  myself  at  ease 
by  informing  the  gentlemen  that  in  all  the  bygone  years  while  they  had 
been  studying  parliamentary  rules,  I  had  been  rocking  the  cradle. 

One  member  who  had  made  a  vehement  speech  against  the  bill,  in 
which  he  had  declared  that  no  respectable  woman  in  his  county  desired 
the  elective  franchise,  became  particularly  incensed,  as  was  natural, 
upon  my  exhibiting  a  woman  suffrage  petition  signed  by  the  women 
he  had  misrepresented,  and  headed,  mirabile  dictu,  by  the  name  of  his 
own  wife  !  The  so-called  representative  of  women  lost  his  temper,  and 
gave  vent  to  some  inelegant  expletives,  for  which  he  was  promptly  repri- 
manded by  the  chair.  This  offender  has  since  been  many  times  a  candi- 
date for  office,  but  the  ladies  of  his  district  have  always  secured  his  de- 
feat. The  woman  suffrage  bill  received  an  unexpectedly  large  vote  at 
this  session,  and  was  favored  in  1874  by  a  still  larger  one,  when  it  was  ably 
championed  by  Hon.  C.  A.  Reed,  the  before  named  ex-president  of  the 
first  woman  suffrage  society  in  the  State. 

In  1872  the  Senate,  the  House  concurring,  passed  a  Married  Woman's 
Sole  Trader  bill,  under  the  able  leadership  of  Hon.  J.  N.  Dolph,  who  has 
since  distinguished  himself  as  our  champion  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  This  bill  has  ever  since  enabled  any  woman  engaged  in  business 
on  her  own  account  to  register  the  fact  in  the  office  of  the  county  clerk, 
and  thereby  secure  her  tools,  furniture,  or  stock  in  trade  against  the  lia- 
bility of  seizure  by  her  husband's  creditors. 

Perhaps  I  cannot  better  illustrate  the  general  feeling  of  opposition  to 
women  having  a  place  in  public  affairs  at  that  time,  than  by  describing  the 
scenes  in  the  State  Temperance  Alliance  in  February  of  that  year,  when 
somebody  placed  my  name  in  nomination  as  chairman  of  an  important 
committee.  The  presiding  officer  was  seized  with  a  sudden  deafness  when 
the  nomination  was  made,  and  the  Alliance  was  convulsed  with  merri- 
ment. Ladies  on  all  sides  buzzed  about  me,  and  urged  me  to  resent  the 
insult  in  the  name  of  womanhood.  And,  as  none  of  them  were  at  that 
time  public  speakers,  I  felt  obliged  to  rise  and  speak  for  myself. 

"Mr.  President,"  I  exclaimed,  "by  what  right  do  you  refuse  to  recognize 
women  when  their  names  are  called?  Are  men  the  only  lawful  members 
of  this  Alliance  ?  And  if  so,  is  it  not  better  for  the  women  delegates  to  go 
home?" 

"  Mr.  President :  The   committees  are   now  full!"   shouted   an  excited 


772  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

voter.  Somebody,  doubtless  in  ridicule,  then  nominated  me  as  vice-presi- 
dent-at-large,  which  was  carried  amid  uproarious  merriment.  I  took  my 
seat,  half  frightened  and  wholly  indignant;  and  the  deliberations  of  the 
sovereign  voters  were  undisturbed  for  several  hours  thereafter  by  word 
or  sign  from  women.  At  last  they  got  to  discussing  a  bill  for  a  prohib- 
itory liquor  law,  and  the  heat  of  debate  ran  high.  During  the  excitement 
somebody  carried  a  note  to  the  presiding  officer,  who  read  it,  smiled,  col- 
ored, and  rising,  said  :  "We  are  hearing  nothing  from  the  ladies,  and  yet 
they  constitute  a  large  majority  of  this  Alliance.  Mrs.  Duniway,  will  you 
not  favor  us  with  a  speech  ?" 

I  was  taken  wholly  by  surprise,  but  sprang  to  my  feet  and  said  :  "  Mr. 
President:  I  have  always  wondered  what  it  was  that  consumed  so  much 
time  in  men's  conventions.  I  hope  gentlemen  will  pardon  the  criticism, 
but  you  talk  too  much,  and  too  many  of  you  try  to  talk  at  once.  My  head 
is  aching  from  the  roar  and  din  of  your  noisy  orators.  Gentlemen,  what 
does  it  all  amount  to?  You  are  talking  about  prohibition,  but  you  over- 
estimate your  political  strength.  Disastrous  failures  attend  upon  all  your 
endeavors  to  conquer  existing  evils  by  the  votes  of  men  alone.  Give 
women  the  legal  power  to  combat  intemperance,  and  they  will  soon  be 
able  to  prove  that  they  do  not  like  drunken  husbands  any  better  than  men 
like  drunken  wives.  Make  women  free.  Give  them  the  power  the  ballot 
gives  to  you,  and  the  control  of  their  own  earnings  which  rightfully  be- 
long to  them,  and  every  woman  will  be  able  to  settle  this  prohibition 
business  in  her  own  home  and  on  her  own  account.  Men  will  not  toler- 
ate drunkenness  in  their  wives ;  and  women  will  not  tolerate  it  in  hus- 
bands unless  compelled  to." 

A  prominent  clergyman  arose,  and  said:  "Mr.  President:  I  charge  the 
sins  of  the  world  upon  the  mothers  of  men.  There  are  twenty  thousand 
fallen  women  in  New  York — two  millions  of  them  in  America.  We  can- 
not afford  to  let  this  element  vote."  Before  I  was  aware  of  what  I  was 
doing  I  was  on  my  feet  again.  Shaking  my  finger  at  the  clergymen,  I 
exclaimed  :  "  How  dare  you  make  such  charges  against  the  mothers  of 
men?  You  tell  us  of  two  millions  of  fallen  women  who,  you  say,  would 
vote  for  drunkenness ;  but  what  say  you,  sir,  to  the  twenty  millions  of 
fallen  men — all  voters — whose  patronage  alone  enables  fallen  women  to 
live  ?  Would  you  disfranchise  them,  sir  ?  I  pronounce  your  charge  a 
libel  upon  womanhood,  and  I  know  that  if  we  were  voters  you  would  not 
dare  to  utter  it." 

A  gentleman  from  Michigan — Mr.  Curtis — called  me  to  order,  saying 
my  remarks  were  personal.  "  You,  sir,  sat  still  and  didn't  call  this  man  to 
order  while  he  stood  up  and  insulted  all  womanhood  !"  I  exclaimed,  ve- 
hemently. "  Prohibition  is  the  question  before  the  house,"  said  the  gen- 
tleman, "  and  the  lady  should  confine  herself  to  the  resolution."  "That 
is  what  I  am  doing,  sir.  I  am  talking  about  prohibition,  and  the  only  way 
possible  to  make  it  succeed." 

The  chair  sustained  me  amid  cries  of  "good!"  "good!"  but  I  had  be- 
come too  thoroughly  self-conscious  by  this  time  to  be  able  to  say  any- 
thing further,  and,  with  a  bow  to  the  chairman  whom  I  had  before  for- 
gotten to  address,  I  tremblingly  took  my  seat. 


First  Annual  Convention.  773 

A  resolution  was  passed,  after  a  long  and  stormy  debate,  declaring 
it  the  duty  of  the  legislature  to  empower  women  to  vote  on  all 
questions  connected  with  the  liquor  traffic ;  and  I,  as  its  author,  was 
chosen  a  committee  to  present  the  same  for  consideration  at  the  com- 
ing legislative  session.  Woman  suffrage  gained  a  new  impetus  all  over 
the  Northwest  through  this  victory.  Everybody  congratulated  its  advo- 
cates, and  the  good  minister  who  had  unwittingly  caused  the  commotion 
seized  the  first  opportunity  to  explain  that  he  had  always  been  an  advo- 
cate of  the  cause.  I  was  by  this  time  so  thoroughly  advertised  by  the 
abuse  of  the  press  that  I  had  no  difficulty  in  securing  large  audiences  in 
all  parts  of  the  Pacific  Northwest. 

I  was  chosen  in  April,  1872,  as  delegate  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
National  Association,  held  in  New  York  the  following  month.  Horace 
Greeley  received  the  nomination  for  the  presidency  at  the  Cincinnati 
Liberal  Republican  Convention  while  I  was  on  the  way;  and  when  I 
reached  New  York  I  at  first  threw  what  influence  I  had  in  the  Associa- 
tion in  favor  of  the  great  editor.  But  Miss  Anthony,  who  knew  Mr. 
Greeley  better  than  I  did,  caused  me  to  be  appointed  chairman  of  a 
committee  to  interview  the  reputed  statesman  and  officially  report  the 
result  at  the  evening  session.  Miss  Anthony  and  Mrs.  Jane  Graham 
Jones  of  Chicago  were  the  other  members  of  this  committee.  We  ob- 
tained the  desired  interview,  of  which  it  only  needs  to  be  said  that  it 
became  my  humiliating  duty  to  ask  pardon  in  the  evening  for  the  speech 
in  advocacy  of  the  illustrious  candidate  which  in  my  ignorance  I  had  made 
in  the  morning.  That  Mr.  Greeley  owed  his  defeat  in  part  to  the  oppo- 
sition of  women  in  that  memorable  campaign,  I  have  never  doubted.  But 
he  builded  better  than  he  knew  in  earlier  years,  for  he  planted  many  a 
tree  of  liberty  that  shall  live  through  the  ages  to  come,  overshadowing 
in  a  measure  his  failure  to  recognize  the  divine  right  of  political  equality 
for  woman  in  his  later  days. 

The  first  annual  convention  of  the  Oregon  State  Association  met  in 
Portland,  February  9,  1873.  Many  ladies  and  several  gentlemen*  of  more 
or  less  local  prominence  assisted  at  this  convention,  but  we  were  able  to 
prevail  upon  but  one  gentleman,  Col.  C.  A.  Reed  of  Salem,  to  occupy  the 
platform  with  us.  This  convention  received  favorable  notice  from  the 
respectable  press  of  the  State,  and  was  largely  attended  by  the  best  ele- 
ments of  the  city  and  country.  Delegates  were  chosen  to  attend  the 
forthcoming  State  Temperance  Alliance  which  held  its  second  annual 
meeting  February  20,  and  to  which  a  dozen  of  us  went  bearing  credentials. 
It  was  evident  from  the  first  that  trouble  was  brewing.  The  enemy  had 
had  a  whole  year  to  prepare  an  ambuscade  of  which  our  party  had 
no  suspicion.  A  Committee  on  Credentials  was  appointed  with  in- 
structions to  rule  the  woman  suffrage  delegation  out  of  the  Alliance  as  a 
•"disturbing  element."  Hon  J.  Quinn  Thornton  was  chairman  of  that 


*  Addresses  were  made  in  advocacy  of  the  cause  by  Col.  Reed,  Mrs.  J.  Devore  Johnson,  Miss  V.  M. 
Olds,  Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Coburn,  Mrs.  Realty  (colored),  and  the  writer.  The  celebrated 
McGibeney  family  furnished  the  music,  and  the  Portland  press  gave  favorable  reports  of  the  proceed- 
ings. Valuable  aid  was  also  contributed  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  H.  Hendee,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  W.  Peters, 
and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Foster. 


774  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

committee.  In  his  report  he  declared  all  delegations  to  be  satisfactory 
(including  those  from  the  penitentiary)  except  the  women  whom  he 
styled  "setting  hens,"  "belligerent  females,"  etc.,  after  which  he  sub- 
sided with  pompous  gravity.  All  eyes  were  turned  upon  me,  and  I 
felt  as  I  fancy  a  general  must  when  the  success  or  failure  of  an  army  in 
battle  depends  upon  his  word.  "  Mr.  President,"  I  exclaimed,  as  soon  as 
I  could  get  the  floor,  "  I  move  to  so  amend  the  report  of  the  committee 
as  to  admit  the  suffrage  delegation."  The  motion  was  seconded  by 
a  half-dozen  voices.  Then  followed  a  scene  which  beggars  descrip- 
tion. It  was  pandemonium  broken  loose.  When  I  arose  again  to  address 
the  chair  that  worthy  ordered  my  arrest  by  the  sergeant-at-arms,  saying : 
"Take  that  crazy  woman  out  of  the  house  and  take  care  of  her."  The 
officer  came  forward  in  discharge  of  his  duty,  but  he  quailed  before  my 
uplifted  pencil,  and  several  gentlemen  stepped  into  the  aisle  and  began 
drawing  off  their  coats  to  defend  me,  among  them  a  veteran  minister  of 
the  gospel.  I  smiled  and  bowed  my  thanks,  and  as  nobody  could  hear  a 
word  amid  the  uproar  I  complacently  took  my  seat  while  the  officer 
skulked  away,  crestfallen.  All  that  day  and  evening,  and  until  one  o'clock 
the  next  afternoon,  a  noisy  rabble  of  self-styled  temperance  men  sought  to 
prevent  bringing  the  question  to  a  square  and  honorable  vote.  Major 
George  Williams,  a  brave  man  who  had  lost  a  limb  in  fighting  for  his 
country,  at  last  succeeded  in  wearying  the  chairman  into  a  semblance 
of  duty.  The  result  was  a  triumph  for  the  advocates  of  suffrage.  A 
recess  was  then  taken,  during  which  my  hand  was  so  often  and  enthusi- 
astically shaken  that  my  shoulder  was  severely  lamed.  The  first  thing  in 
order  after  resuming  business  was  my  report  as  Legislative  Committee. 
I  advanced  to  the  platform  amid  deafening  cheers  and,  as  soon  as  I  could 
make  myself  heard,  said,  in  substance,  that  the  legislature  had  decided 
that  it  was  an  insult  to  womanhood  to  grant  women  the  right  to  vote  on 
intemperance  and  debar  them  from  voting  on  all  honorable  questions.  I 
then  offered  a  fair  and  unequivocal  woman  suffrage  resolution,  which  was 
triumphantly  carried.  The  disappointed  minority  seceded  from  the 
Alliance  and  set  up  a  "  Union  "  for  themselves  ;  but  their  confederacy  did 
not  live  long,  and  its  few  followers  finally  returned  to  their  alma  mater 
and  gave  us  no  further  trouble. 

Woman  suffrage  associations  were  formed  in  several  counties  during 
the  year  1874.  Our  strength  was  now  much  increased  by  the  able  assist- 
ance of  Mrs.  H.  A.  Loughary,  who  suddenly  took  her  place  in  the  front 
rank  as  a  platform  speaker.  The  editorial  work  of  the  New  Northwest 
received  a  valuable  auxiliary  in  June  of  this  year  in  the  person  of  Cath- 
arine A.  Coburn,  a  lady  of  rare  journalistic  ability,  who  held  her  position 
five, years,  when  my  sons,  W.  S.,  H.  R.  and  W.  C.  Duniway,  having  com- 
pleted their  school  duties  and  attained  their  majority,  were  admitted  to 
partnership  in  the  business.  Mrs.  Coburn  now  holds  a  situation  on  the 
editorial  staff  of  the  Daily  Oregonian. 

In  the  autumn  of  1876  I  was  absent  at  the  Centennial  Exposition, 
whither  I  had  gone  in  the  summer  in  response  to  an  invitation  from  the 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association  to  "Come  over  into  Macedonia 


Egged  at  Jacksonville.  775 

and  help."  The  work  for  equal  rights  made  favorable  headway  in  the 
legislature  of  Oregon  that  year  through  the  influence  of  a  convention 
held  at  Salem  under  the  able  leadership  of  Mrs.  H.  A.  Loughary  and  Dr. 
Mary  A.  Thompson. 

In  June,  1878,  a  convention  met  in  Walla  Walla,  Washington  territory, 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  constitution  for  the  proposed  new  State  of 
Washington,  and  in  compliance  with  the  invitation  of  many  prominent 
women  of  the  territory  I  visited  the  convention  and  was  permitted  to 
present  a  memorial  in  person,  praying  that  the  word  "male"  be  omitted 
from  the  fundamental  law  of  the  incubating  State.  But  my  plea  (like  that 
of  Abigail  Adams  a  century  before)  failed  of  success,  through  a  close  vote 
however — it  stood  8  to  7 — and  men  went  on  as  before,  saying,  as  they  did 
in  the  beginning:  "Women  do  not  wish  to  vote.  If  they  desire  the 
ballot  let  them  ask  for  it."  In  September  of  that  year  I  was  again  at  my 
post  in  the  Oregon  legislature  circulating  the  New  Northwest  among  the 
law-makers,  and  doing  what  else  I  could  to  keep  the  cause  before  them  in 
a  manner  to  enlist  their  confidence  and  command  their  respect.  An 
opportunity  was  given  me  at  this  session  to  make  an  extended  argument 
upon  constitutional  liberty  before  a  joint  convention  of  the  two  Houses, 
which  occupied  an  hour  in  delivery  and  was  accorded  profound  attention. 
I  was  much  opposed  to  the  growing  desire  of  the  legislature  to  shirk  its 
responsibility  upon  the  voters  at  large  by  submitting  a  proposed  consti- 
tutional amendment  to  them  when  the  constitution  nowhere  prohibits 
women  from  voting,  and  I  labored  to  show  that  all  we  need  is 
a  declaratory  act  extending  to  us  the  franchise  under  the  existing 
fundamental  law.  Dr.  Mary  A.  Thompson  followed  in  a  brief  speech 
and  was  courteously  received.  The  Married  Woman's  Property  bill, 
passed  in  1874,  received  some  necessary  amendments  at  this  session,  and 
an  act  entitling  women  to  vote  upon  school  questions  and  making  them 
eligible  to  school  offices,  was  passed  by  a  triumphant  majority. 

I  went  to  Southern  Oregon  in  1879,  and  while  sojourning  in  Jackson- 
ville was  assailed  with  a  shower  of  eggs  (since  known  in  that  section  as 
"Jacksonville  arguments")  and  was  also  burned  in  effigy  on  a  principal 
street  after  the  sun  went  down.  Jacksonville  is  an  old  mining  town, 
beautifully  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  Southern  Oregon  mountains,  and 
has  no  connection  with  the  outside  world  except  through  the  daily  stage- 
coaches/ Its  would-be  leading  men  are  old  miners  or  refugees  from  the 
bushwhacking  district  whence  they  were  driven  by  the  civil  war.  The 
taint  of  slavery  is  yet  upon  them  and  the  methods  of  border-ruffians  are 
their  hearts'  delight.  It  is  true  that  there  are  many  good  people  among 
them,  but  they  are  often  over-awed  by  the  lawless  crowd  whose  very  in- 
stincts lead  them  to  oppose  a  republican  form  of  government.  But  that 
raid  of  the  outlaws  proved  a  good  thing  for  the  woman  suffrage  move- 
ment. It  aroused  the  better  classes,  and  finally  shamed  the  border  ruffians 
by  its  own  reaction.  When  I  returned  to  Portland  a  perfect  ovation 
awaited  me.  Hundreds  of  men  and  women  who  had  not  before  allied 
themselves  with  the  movement  made  haste  to  do  so.  The  newspapers 
were  filled  with  severe  denunciations  of  the  mob,  and  "Jackson-villains," 


776  History  of  Woman  Stiff  rage. 

as  the  perpetrators  of  the  outrage  were  styled,  grew  heartily  disgusted 
over  their  questionable  glory. 

When  the  legislature  met  in  the  autumn  of  1880  it  was  decided  by  the 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  that  we  could  "  raise  the  blockade  "  and  en- 
courage agitation  in  the  work  by  consenting  to  an  attempt  to  amend  the 
State  constitution.  Pursuant  to  this  decision  a  resolution  was  offered  in 
the  Senate  by  Hon.  W.  C.  Fulton  of  Clatsop,  and  in  the  House  by  Hon. 
Lee  Laughlin,  which,  after  considerable  discussion  pro  and  con  in  which 
I  was  graciously  invited  to  participate  on  the  floor  of  both  Houses,  was 
passed  by  the  requisite  two-thirds  majority.  The  result  was  considered 
a  triumph  for  the  cause.  A  grand  ratification  jubilee  was  held  in  the 
opera-house  in  honor  of  the  event,  and  resolutions  of  thanks  to  the  law- 
makers were  passed,  accompanied  by  many  expressions  of  faith  in  the 
legislation  of  the  future. 

In  the  meantime  the  work  was  going  steadily  on  in  Washington  terri- 
tory, my  own  labors  being  distributed  about  equally  between  the  two 
sections  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  that  had  formerly  been  united  under 
one  territorial  government.  In  the  autumn  of  1881  the  legislature  of 
Washington  met  one  afternoon  in  joint  convention  to  listen  to  arguments 
from  Hon.  William  H.  White  and  myself,  on  which  occasion  I  held  the 
floor  for  nearly  three  hours,  in  the  midst  of  an  auditory  that  was  itself  an 
inspiration.  Mr.  White,  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school,  and  now  (1885) 
holding  the  office  of  United  States  marshal  in  the  territory,  under  com- 
mission from  President  Cleveland,  based  his  plea  for  woman  suffrage 
upon  the  enfranchisement  of  the  colored  men,  urging  it  strongly  as  a 
means  of  Democratic  retaliation.  The  suffrage  bill  passed  in  the  House 
on  the  following  day  by  a  majority  of  two,  but  was  defeated  in  the  Coun- 
cil by  a  majority  of  two,  showing  that  the  vote  would  have  been  a  tie  if 
taken  under  the  joint-ballot  rule. 

Returning  to  Oregon  I  renewed  the  contest,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1882 
we  were  all  gratified  by  the  passage  of  the  pending  constitutional 
amendment  by  a  very  nearly  unanimous  vote  of  each  House.  Then  the 
Oregon  campaign  began  in  earnest.  The  question  had  assumed  formidable 
proportions  and  was  no  longer  an  ignored  issue.  The  work  went  on  with 
accelerated  speed,  and  as  far  as  could  be  ascertained  there  was  little  or  no 
opposition  to  it.  The  meetings  were  largely  attended  and  affirmative 
speakers  were  ready  to  assist  at  all  times,  the  help  of  this  kind  represent- 
ing all  grades  of  the  professions,  led  by  the  best  and  most  influential  men 
of  the  State  everywhere. 

Another  year  went  by,  and  the  time  for  assembling  the  Washington 
-territory  legislature  was  again  at  hand.  Immediately  upon  arriving  at 
Olympia  I  learned  that  a  coterie  of  politicians,  finding  open  hostility  no 
longer  effectual,  had  combined  to  crush  the  woman  suffrage  bill,  which 
had  passed  the  House  trimuphantly,  by  lobbying  a  "  substitute  "  through 
the  Council.  In  pursuance  of  this  seemingly  plausible  idea  they  talked 
with  the  ladies  of  Olympia  and  succeeded  in  convincing  a  few  of  them 
that  all  women,  and  especially  all  leaders  of  the  movement,  must  be  kept 
away  from  the  capitol  or  the  bill  would  certainly  be  defeated.  Several 


Passage  of  the  Suffrage  Bill.  777 

women  who  ought  to  have  have  known  better  were  deceived  by  these 
specious  pleaders,  and  but  for  sx>me  years  of  experience  in  legislative 
assemblies  that  had  brought  me  to  comprehend  the  "ways  that  are  dark 
and  tricks  that  are  vain,"  for  which  the  average  politician  is  "peculiar," 
the  ruse  would  have  succeeded.  I  remained  at  headquarters,  enduring 
alike  the  open  attacks  of  the  venal  press  and  the  more  covert  opposition 
of  the  saloons  and  brothels,  and,  as  vigilantly  as  I  could,  watched  all  legis- 
lative movements,  taking  much  pains  to  keep  the  public  mind  excited 
through  the  columns  of  the  Daily  Oregonian  and  the  weekly  issues  of  the 
New  Northwest.  The  bill,  which  had  been  prepared  by  Professor  William 
H.  Roberts,  passed  the  House  early  in  the  session ;  but  it  tarried  long 
in  the  Council,  and  those  most  interested  were  well-nigh  worn  out 
with  work  and  watching  before  the  measure  reached  a  vote.  It  came  up 
for  final  passage  November  15,  1883,  when  only  three  or  four  women  were 
present.  The  Council  had  been  thoroughly  canvassed  before-hand  and 
no  member  offered  to  make  a  speech  for  or  against  it.  The  deathly  still- 
ness of  the  chamber  was  broken  only  by  the  clerk's  call  of  the  names  and 
the  firm  responses  of  the  "ayes"  and  "noes."  I  kept  the  tally  with  a 
nervous  hand,  and  my  heart  fairly  stood  still  as  the  fateful  moment  came 
that  gave  us  the  majority.  Then  I  arose  and  without  exchanging  words 
with  any  one  left  the  State-house  and  rushed  toward  the  telegraph-office, 
half  a  mile  distant,  my  feet  seeming  to  tread  the  air.  Judge  J.  W.  Range 
of  Cheney,  president  of  a  local  woman  suffrage  society,  overtook  me  on 
the  way,  bound  on  the  same  errand.  He  spoke,  and  I  felt  as  if  called 
back  to  earth  with  a  painful  reminder  that  I  was  yet  mortal.  A  few  min- 
utes more  and  my  message  was  on  the  way  to  the  Neu(  Northwest.  It  was 
publication-day  and  the  paper  had  gone  to  press,  but  my  jubilant  and 
faithful  sons  opened  the  forms  and  inserted  the  news,  and  in  less  than  half 
an  hour  the  newsboys  were  crying  the  fact  through  the  streets  of  Port- 
land, making  the  New  Northwest,  which  had  fought  the  fight  and  led  the 
work  to  the  point  where  legislation  could  give  a  victory,  the  very  first 
paper  in  the  nation  to  herald  the  news  to  the  world.  The  rejoicing  in 
Oregon,  as  well  as  in  Washington  territory,  was  most  inspiriting.  A 
bloodless  battle  had  been  fought  and  won,  and  the  enemy,  asleep  in  carnal 
security,  had  been  surrendered  unawares.  The  women  of  Oregon  thanked 
God  and  took  courage. 

After  passing  the  Council  the  bill  passed  leisurely,  and  some  of  us 
feared  perilously,  through  the  various  stages  of  clerical  progress  till  No- 
vember 22,  when  it  received  the  signature  of  Governor  William  A.  Newell, 
who  used  a  gold  pen  presented  him  for  the  purpose  by  women  whom  his 
act  made  free.  And  when  at  a  given  signal  the  church  bells  rang  in  glad 
acclaim,  and  the  loud  boom  of  minute-guns  reverberated  from  the  forest- 
clothed  hills  that  border  Puget  Sound  and  lost  itself  at  last  in  the  faint 
echoes  of  the  far-off  hights,  the  scroll  of  the  dead  century  unrolled  before 
my  inner  vision  and  I  beheld  in  spirit  another  scene  on  the  further  verge 
of  the  continent,  when  men  in  designing  to  ring  the  bell  at  Independence 
Hall  in  professed  honor  of  the  triumph  of  liberty,  although  not  a  woman 
in  the  land  was  free,  had  sought  in  vain  to  force  the  loyal  metal  into  glad 


778  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

responses;  for  the  old  bell  quivered  in  every  nerve  and  broke  its  heart 
rather  than  tell  a  lie  J 

An  immense  ratification  jubilee  was  held  in  the  evening  of  the  same 
day  at  the  city  hall  in  Olympia,  with  many  distinguished  speakers.* 
Similar  meetings  were  subsequently  held  in  all  the  principal  towns  of  the 
Pacific  Northwest.  The  freed  women  of  Washington  thankfully  accepted 
their  new  prerogatives.  They  were  appointed  as  jurors  in  many  localities, 
and  have  ever  since  performed  their  duties  with  eminent  satisfaction  to 
judges,  lawyers  and  all  clients  who  are  seeking  to  obey  the  laws.  But 
their  jurisdiction  soon  became  decidedly  uncomfortable  for  the  law- 
breaking  elements,  which  speedily  escaped  to  Oregon,  where,  as  the 
sequel  proved,  they  began  a  secret  and  effective  war  upon  the  pending 
constitutional  amendment.  We  all  knew  we  had  a  formidable  foe  to  fight 
at  the  ballot-box.  Our  own  hands  were  tied  and  our  own  guns  spiked, 
while  our  foe  was  armed  to  the  teeth  with  ballots,  backed  by  money  and 
controlled  by  vice,  bigotry  and  tyranny.  But  the  leading  men  of  the 
State  had  long  been  known  to  favor  the  amendment ;  the  respectable 
press  had  become  mildly,  and  in  a  few  cases  earnestly  acquiescent ;  no 
opposition  could  be  raised  at  any  of  our  public  meetings,  and  we  felt 
measurably  sure  of  a  victory  until  near  election  time,  when  we  discovered 
to  our  dismay  that  most  of  the  leading  politicians  upon  whom  we  had 
relied  for  aid  had  suddenly  been  seized  with  an  alarming  reticence.  They 
ceased  to  attend  the  public  meetings  and  in  every  possible  way  ignored 
the  amendment,  lest  by  openly  allying  themselves  with  it  they  might  lose 
votes ;  and  as  all  of  them  were  posing  in  some  way  for  office,  for  them- 
selves or  friends,  and  women  had  no  votes  with  which  to  repay  their 
allegiance,  it  was  not  strange  that  they  should  thus  desert  us. 

Our  Republican  senator  in  congress,  Hon.  J.  N.  Dolph,  favored  the 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  with  an  able  and  comprehensive  letter, 
which  was  widely  circulated,  urging  the  adoption  of  the  amendment  as  a 
measure  of  justice  and  right,  and  appealing  to  the  voters  to  make  Oregon 
the  banner  State  of  the  great  reform.  Leading  clergymen,  especially  of 
Portland,  preached  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage,  prominent  among  them 
being  Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot,  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  church  ;  Chaplain  R.  S. 
Stubbs  of  the  Church  of  Sea  and  Land,  and  Rev.  Frederic  R.  Marvin  of 
the  First  Congregational  society.  Appeals  to  voters  were  widely  circu- 
lated from  the  pens  and  speeches  of  many  able  gentlemen.t  Not  one 
influential  man  made  audible  objection  anywhere. 

We  had  carefully  districted  and  organized  the  State,  sparing  neither 
labor  nor  money  in  providing  "  Yes  "  tickets  for  all  parties  and  all  candi- 
dates and  putting  them  everywhere  in  the  hands  of  friends  for  use  at  the 
polls.  But  the  polls  were  no  sooner  open  than  it  began  to  appear  that  the 
battle  was  one  of  great  odds.  Masked  batteries  were  opened  in  almost 


*  Governor  Newell,  Judge  Orange  Jacobs,  Judge  B.  F.  Dennison,  Mrs.  Pamela  Hale,  Hon.  Philip 
D.  Moore,  Mr.  W.  S.  Duniway,  Captain  William  H.  Smallwood,  the  writer,  and  a  large  number  of  the 
members  of  the  legislature. 

t  S.  F.  Chadwick,  Unhed  States  Representative  M.  C.  George,  ex-United  States  Senator  J.  H. 
Mitchell,  United  States  District  Judge  M.  P.  Deady,  Hon.  H.  W.  Scott,  editor  of  the  Oregonian,  ex- 
Governor  A.  C.  Gibbs,  District-Attorneys  J.  F.  Caples  and  T.  A.  McBride,  and  various  ex-members 
of  the  legislature. 


Fourth  of  July  Celebration. 


779 


every  precinct,  and  multitudes  of  legal  voters  who  are  rarely  seen  in  day- 
light except  at  a  general  election,  many  of  whom  were  refugees  from 
Washington  territory,  crowded  forth  from  their  hiding-places  to  strike 
the  manacled  women  down.  They  accused  the  earnest  ladies  who  had 
dared  to  ask  for  simple  justice  of  every  crime  in  the  social  catalogue. 
Railroad  gangs  were  driven  to  the  polls  like  sheep  and  voted  against  us 
in  battalions.  But,  in  spite  of  all  this,  nearly  one-third  of  the  vote  was 
thrown  in  our  favor,  requiring  a  change  of  only  about  one-fourth  of  the 
opposing  vote  to  have  given  us  a  victory,  and  proving  to  the  amazement 
of  our  enemies  that  the  strength  of  our  cause  was  already  formidable.* 
We  were  repulsed  but  not  conquered.  Before  the  smoke  of  the  battle 
had  cleared  away  we  had  called  immense  meetings  and  passed  vigorous 
resolutions,  thanking  the  lovers  of  liberty  who  had  favored  us  with  their 
suffrages,  and  pledging  ourselves  anew  to  the  conflict. 

We  at  once  decided  that  we  would  never  again  permit  the  legislature 
to  remand  us  to  the  rabble  in  a  vain  appeal  for  justice.  We  had  demon- 
strated the  impossibility  of  receiving  a  fair,  impartial  vote  at  the  hands  of 
the  ignorant,  lawless  and  unthinking  multitude  whose  ballots  outweigh 
all  reason  and  overpower  all  sense.  In  pursuance  of  this  purpose  I  went 
to  the  legislature  of  1885  and  found  no  difficulty  in  securing  the  aid  of 
friendly  members  of  both  Houses  who  kindly  championed  the  following 
bill: 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Oregon  : 

That  the  elective  franchise  shall  not  hereafter  be  denied  to  any  person  in  this  State 
on  account  of  sex. 

This  act  to  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  approval  by  the  governor. 

After  much  parliamentary  fillibustering  the  vote  of  both  Houses  was 
recorded  upon  this  bill  and  stood  conjointly  34  to  54.  This  vote,  coming 
so  soon  after  our  defeat  at  the  polls,  is  regarded  as  the  greatest  victory  we 
have  yet  won.  The  ablest  lawyers  of  the  State  and  of  Washington  terri- 
tory are  preparing  elaborate  opinions  showing  the  constitutionality  of  our 
present  plan,  and  these  are  to  be  published  in  the  form  of  a  standard 
work,  with  appropriate  references  for  convenient  use.  The  movement 
exhibits  a  healthy,  steady  and  encouraging  growth,  and  is  much  accele- 
rated by  its  success  in  Washington  territory. 

On  the  Fourth  of  July  of  this  year  a  grand  celebration  was  held  at 
Vancouver,  on  Washington  soil,  the  women  of  Oregon  having  resolved 
in  large  numbers  that  they  would  never  again  unite  in  celebrating  men's 
independence-day  in  a  State  where  they  are  denied  their  liberty.  The 
celebration  was  a  success  from  first  to  last.  Boys  and  girls  in  equal  num- 
bers rode  in  the  liberty-car  and  represented  the  age  of  the  government. 
The  military  post  at  Vancouver  joined  heartily  in  the  festivities,  headed 
by  the  gallant  soldier,  General  Nelson  A.  Miles,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  department  of  the  Columbia.  The  fine  Fourteenth  Infantry  Band 
furnished  the  instrumental  music,  and  a  local  choir  rendered  spirited 
choruses.  The  New  Declaration  of  Independence  was  read  by  Josie  De 
Vore  Johnson,  the  oration  was  delivered  by  Mattie  A.  Bridge,  and  Louise 


*  The  official  vote  of  the  State  was  11,223  f°r  '^c  amendment,  and  28,176  against. 


780  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Lester,  the  famous  frima  donna,  electrified  the  delighted  crowd  by  her 
triumphant  rendition  of  the  "  Star-Spangled  Banner."  The  exercises 
closed  with  the  announcement  by  the  writer,  who  had.  officiated  as  presi- 
dent of  the  day,  that  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Oregon  Woman 
Suffrage  Association  had,  during  the  noon  recess,  adopted  the  following 
resolutions: 

Resolved,  That  our  thanks  are  due  to  General  Nelson  A.  Miles  of  the  department 
of  the  Columbia  for  his  valuable  cooperation  in  the  exercises  and  entertainments  of 
this  historic  day. 

Resolved,  That  we  thank  the  citizens  of  Clarke  county,  and  especially  of  Vancouver, 
for  their  hospitality  and  kindness,  so  graciously  bestowed  upon  their  less  fortunate 
Oregon  neighbors,  who  have  not  yet  achieved  their  full  independence,  and  we  shall 
ever  cherish  their  fraternal  recognition  in  grateful  remembrance. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  deplore  the  injustice  that  still  deprives  the  women  of 
Oregon  of  the  liberty  to  exercise  their  right  to  the  elective  franchise,  we  rejoice  in  the 
record  the  women  of  Washington  are  making  as  citizens,  as  voters  and  as  jurors.  We 
congratulate  them  upon  their  newly-acquired  liberties,  and  especially  upon  the  intel- 
ligent and  conscientious  manner  in  which  they  are  discharging  the  important  public- 
duties  that  in  no  wise  interfere  with  their  home  affairs.  And  we  are  further 

Resolved,  That  if  our  own  fathers,  husbands,  sons  and  brothers  do  not  at  the  next 
session  of  the  Oregon  legislature  bestow  npon  us  the  same  electoral  privileges  which 
the  women  of  Washington  already  enjoy,  we  will  prepare  to  cross  the  Columbia  river 
and  take  up  our  permanent  abode  in  this  "land  of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave." 

The  resolutions  evoked  cheers  that  waked  the  echoes,  and  the  celebra- 
tion, reported  by  the  Oregon  press,  contributed  largely  to  the  growth  of 
the  equal-rights  sentiment  among  the  people  of  the  State.  Two  stanzas 
of  a  spirited  poem  are  subjoined,  written  for  the  Woman  Suffrage  Asso- 
ciation just  after  our  defeat  at  the  polls,  by  a  young  man  from  Southern 
Oregon  who  has  withheld  his  own  name  but  included  the  names  of  all 
the  counties  in  his  glorious  prophecy  : 

From  Clatsop  and  from  Clackamas,  from  Linn  and  Tillamook; 

From  Grant,  Multnomah,  Lane  and  Coos,  and  Benton,  Lake  and  Crook; 

From  Josephine,  Columbia,  and  loyal  Washington, 

And  Union,  Baker  and  Yamhill,  and  proud  old  Marion; 

From  where  the  Cascade  mountain-streams  their  foaming  waters  pour, 

We're  coming,  mothers,  sisters,  dear,  "ten  times  ten  thousand  more." 

From  Klamath's  lakes  and  Wasco's  plains,  and  Jackson's  rolling  hills; 
From  Douglas  with  her  mines  of  gold,  and  Curry  with  her  mills; 
From  Umatilla's  burdened  fields,  and  hills  and  dales  of  Polk, 
We're  coming  with  our  votes  and  songs  to  break  the  tyrant's  yoke, 
And  in  the  ears  of  Liberty  this  song  of  joy  we'll  pour, 
We're  coming,  mothers,  sisters,  dear,  "  ten  times  ten  thousand  more." 

Mrs.  Mary  Olney  Brown  gives  an  amusing  account  of  her 
attempts  to  vote  in  Washington  territory.  The  incidents  related 
occurred  several  years  before  the  passage  of  the  act  specifically 
enfranchising  women.  She  says  : 

I  do  not  think  there  has  ever  been  a  session  of  our  legislature  that  has 
not  had  before  it  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage.  It  has  been  my  habit  to 
write  out,  and  send  to  all  parts  of  the  territory,  before  the  assembling  of 
each  legislature,  petitions  to  be  signed,  asking  for  a  law  guaranteeing  to 


Mrs.  Brown  Attempts  to    Vote.  781 

women  the  exercise  of  their  right  to  vote.  These  petitions  were  not  with- 
out their  effect,  though  no  one  knew  who  sent  them  out,  or,  when  re- 
turned, who  selected  the  member  to  receive  and  present  them  to  the 
legislature.  At  the  session  of  1867,  mainly  through  the  efforts  of  Edward 
Eldridge  of  Whatcom  county,  an  act  was  passed  giving  "  all  white  Ameri- 
can citizens  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  "  the  right  to  vote.  This 
law  is  still  on  our  statute  books  ;  but,  like  the  fourteenth  amendment,  is 
interpreted  to  mean  only  male  citizens.  During  the  time  between  the 
passage  of  this  law  and  the  next  election,  I  wrote  to  some  of  the  promi- 
nent women  of  the  principal  towns,  telling  them  of  the  law,  and  urging 
them  to  go  out  and  vote  at  the  coming  election,  and  also  to  induce  as 
many  more  to  go  as  they  could.  But  no  notice  was  taken  of  my  letters. 
I  was  looked  upon  as  a  fanatic,  and  the  idea  of  a  woman  voting  was  re- 
garded as  an  absurdity.  The  law  seemed  to  be  in  advance  of  the  people. 
It  needed  lectures  and  organized  societies  among  us  to  educate  the 
women  into  a  just  appreciation  of  their  rights  and  duties. 

In  the  autumn  of  1868,  Dr.  Smith  wrote  several  articles  on  the  right  of 
women  to  the  ballot,  as  did  also  Mr.  Eldridge.  The  latter  asserted  that 
it  was  the  intention  of  the  law  to  give  the  women  of  the  territory  the 
right  to  vote ;  that  being  a  member  of  the  legislature  he  had  purposely 
stated  in  his  remarks,  that  if  the  bill  passed  in  that  form,  it  would  give 
the  women  the  right  to  vote;  and  a  member  from  his  seat  cried  out, 
"  That  is  what  we  want!"  Mr.  Eldridge  urged  the  women  to  go  out  to 
the  polls  and  vote.  These  articles  were  published  in  the  Olympia  Trans- 
cript, the  Republican  paper,  J.  N.  Gale,  one  of  the  editors,  being  an  advo- 
cate of  suffrage.  Still  not  a  woman  made  a  move.  Many  wished  to  vote  ; 
they  knew  it  was  the  only  way  to  secure  their  rights,  and  yet  they  had 
not  the  courage  to  go  to  the  polls  in  defiance  of  custom. 

Seeing  this  to  be  the  case,  and  knowing  that  if  anything  was  done  some 
one  must  take  the  initiative,  I  determined  to  cast  aside  my  timidity  and  set 
the  ball  rolling.  Accordingly,  several  weeks  before  the  election  of  1869 
I  gave  out  word  that  I  was  going  to  the  polls  to  vote.  I  had  the  previous 
year  removed  with  my  family  from  Olympia,  and  was  living  on  White 
River  in  King  county.  The  announcement  that  I  would  attend  the  elec- 
tion caused  a  great  commotion  in  White  River  precinct.  A  fearful  hue 
and  cry  was  raised.  The  news  reached  Olympia  and  Seattle,  and 
some  of  the  papers  deprecated  the  idea  that  "  a  woman  should  unsex 
herself  by  dabbling  in  the  filthy  pool  of  politics."  But  I  was  fully  com- 
mitted. The  law  had  been  on  our  statute  books  for  nearly  three  years. 
If  it  was  intended  for  our  benefit,  it  was  time  we  were  availing  ourselves 
of  it.  So,  nothing  daunted,  I  determined  to  repair  to  the  polling  place, 
the  district  school-house,  accompanied  by  my  husband,  my  daughter 
(Mrs.  Axtell)  and  her  husband — a  little  band  of  four — looked  upon  with 
pity  and  contempt  for  what  was  called  our  "fanaticism." 

For  several  days  before  the  election  the  excitement  in  the  neighborhood 
and  other  settlements  along  the  river  was  intense.  Many  gentlemen 
called  on  me  and  tried  to  persuade  me  to  stay  at  home  and  save  myself 
from  insult.  I  thanked  them  for  their  kindness,  and  told  them  I  fully 


782  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

appreciated  their  good  intentions,  but  that  I  had  associated  with  men  all 
my  life,  and  had  always  been  treated  as  a  lady  ;  that  the  men  I  should 
meet  at  the  polls  were  the  same  that  I  met  in  church  and  social  gather- 
ings, and  I  knew  they  would  treat  me  with  respect.  Then  they  begged 
my  husband  not  to  allow  me  to  go ;  but  he  told  them  his  wife  had  as  good 
a  right  to  vote  as  he  had  ;  and  that  no  citizen  can  legally  deprive  another 
of  the  right  to  vote. 

On  the  morning  of  the  election,  just  before  we  reached  the  school- 
house,  a  man  met  us  and  said,  "Mr.  Brown,  look  here  now!  If  Mrs. 
Brown  goes  up  to  vote  she  will  be  insulted  !  If  I  was  in  your  place  I 
wouldn't  let  her  go  any  farther.  She  had  better  go  back."  My  husband 
answered,  "  Mr.  Brannan,  my  wife  has  as  good  a  right  to  vote  as  I  have, 
and  I  would  not  prevent  her  if  I  could.  She  has  a  mind  of  her  own  and 
will  do  as  she  thinks  best,  and  I  shall  stand  by  her  and  see  that  she  is  well 
treated  !  Besides  [speaking  with  emphasis],  she  will  not  be  insulted 
either!"  "  Well,"  said  the  man,  "if  she  was  my  wife  she  shouldn't  go! 
She'll  be  sure  to  be  insulted  !  "  I  looked  him  full  in  the  face,  and  said  with 
decision,  "Mr.  Brannan,  a  gentleman  will  be  a  gentleman  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, and  will  always  treat  a  lady  with  respect."  I  said  this  because 
I  knew  the  man,  and  knew  that  if  anyone  offered  any  annoyance,  it  would 
be  he,  and  so  it  proved. 

As  we  drove  up  to  the  school-house  and  alighted,  a  man  in  an  angry 
voice  snapped  out,  "Well!  if  the  women  are  coming  to  vote,  I'm  going 
home  !"  But  he  did  not  go ;  he  had  too  much  curiosity  ;  he  wanted  to  see 
the  fun.  He  stayed  and  was  converted.  After  watching  the  sovereign 
"  white  male  citizen  "  perform  the  laborious  task  of  depositing  his  vote  in 
the  ballot-box,  I  thought  if  I  braced  myself  up  I  might  be  equal  to  the 
task.  So,  summoning  all  my  strength,  I  walked  up  to  the  desk  behind 
which  sat  the  august  officers  of  election,  and  presented  my  vote.  When 
behold  !  I  was  pompously  met  with  the  assertion,  "  You  are  not  an  Ameri- 
can citizen  ;  hence  not  entitled  to  vote."  The  great  unabridged  dictionary 
of  Noah  Webster  was  opened,  and  the  definition  of  the  word  citizen  read 
tome.  They  all  looked  to  see  me  vanquished;  they  thought  I  would 
have  to  retreat  before  such  an  overwhelming  array  of  sagacity.  The 
countenances  of  the  judges  wore  a  pleased  expression  that  they  had  hit 
on  so  easy  an  expedient  to  put  me  hors  du  combat,  while  the  crowd  looked 
astonished  that  I  did  not  sink  out  of  sight.  Waiting  a  moment,  I  said, 
"  The  definition  is  correct.  A  citizen  of  the  United  States,  is  a  person 
owing  allegiance  to  the  government;  but  then  all  persons  are  not  men; 
and  the  definition  of  "  citizeness  "  is  a  female  citizen.  I  claim  to  be  an 
American  citizen,  and  a  native-born  citizen  at  that ;  and  I  wish  to  show 
you  from  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  coustitution  of  the  United 
States,  that  women  are  not  only  citizens  having  the  constitutional  right 
to  vote,  but  also  that  our  territorial  election  law  gives  women  the  privi- 
lege of  exercising  that  right." 

When  I  commenced  speaking,  all  the  men,  with  the  exception  of  two 
— the  one  who  had  urged  my  husband  not  to  let  me  go  to  the  school- 
house,  and  a  low,  degraded  fellow,  who  had  a  squaw  for  a  wife — came  and 


Mrs.  Browns  Argument.  783 

ranged  themselves  around  me  and  the  judges  before  whom  I  stood,  and 
listened  attentively.  It  was  a  new  subject  to  them.  They  had  heard  of 
woman  suffrage,  but  only  in  ridicule.  Now  it  was  being  presented  to 
them  in  a  very  different  light.  As  I  proceeded  there  was  a  death-like 
stillness,  so  intent  were  they  to  catch  every  word.  Even  the  man  who 
had  declared  he  would  go  home  if  the  women  were  going  to  vote,  was 
among  the  most  interested  of  the  listeners.  There  was  but  one  interrup- 
tion ;  the  two  men,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  to  make  good  their  assertion 
that  I  would  be  insulted,  got  behind  a  desk  in  the  far  corner  of  the  room, 
and  began  talking  and  laughing  very  loudly ;  but  they  were  promptly 
called  to  order.  Silence  being  restored,  I  went  on  to  show  them  that  the 
original  constitution  recognized  women  as  citizens,  and  that  the  word 
citizen  includes  both  sexes,  as  is  proved  by  the  phrases,  "  male  citizen," 
and  "female  citizen";  that  women  from  the  beginning  had  been  un- 
justly deprived  of  the  exercise  of  their  constitutional  rights;  that  they 
had  for  years  been  petitioning  those  in  power  to  restore  them  to  their 
political  freedom,  when  the  emancipation  of  the  Southern  slaves  threw 
upon  the  country  a  class  of  people,  who,  like  the  women  of  the  nation, 
owed  allegiance  to  the  government,  but  whose  citizenship  was  not  recog- 
nized. To  settle  this  question,  the  fourteenth  amendment  was  adopted. 
Its  first  section  declares  emphatically  who  are  citizens,  and  guarantees  to 
them  the  exercise  of  all  their  natural  rights  under  the  equal  protection  of 
the  law.  (Here  I  read  to  them  the  section.)  No  distinction  is  made  in 
regard  to  sex  ;  the  word  "  person  "  being  used,  which  includes  both  men 
and  women. 

,  "And  now,  honorable  gentlemen,"  I  said,  in  conclusion,  "  I  am  a  'per- 
son,' declared  by  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  be  a  citizen,  and  still  fur- 
ther, I  am  a  native-born  citizen  of  the  same  race  and  color  of  these  gen- 
tlemen by  whom  I  am  surrounded,  and  whose  votes  you  do  not  hesitate 
to  receive  ;  and,  had  our  territorial  law  failed  to  give  me  the  right  to  vote, 
this  amendment  would  protect  me  in  the  exercise  of  it.  I  again  offer 
my  vote,  and  hope  you  will  not  refuse  it."  No  hand  was  extended 
to  receive  it ;  but  one  of  the  judges  threw  himself  back  in  his  seat, 
and  with  great  dignity  of  manner  and  an  immense  display  of  igno- 
rance, exclaimed,  "  Women  have  no  right  to  vote ;  and  the  laws  of 
congress  don't  extend  over  Washington  territory."  This  was  too  much 
for  even  the  strongest  opponents.  On  every  side  was  heard,  "Oh, 
Mr.  Alvord  !  why,  yes,  they  do!"  "Mr.  Alvord,  you  are  mistaken,  the 
laws  of  congress  do  extend  over  our  territory  ";  and  some  tried  to  explain 
to  him  that  the  territory  belonged  to  the  United  States  and  was  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  national  government,  and  that  of  course  the  laws  of 
congress  extended  over  it.  But  still  more  pompously,  he  again  declared, 
"  It  is  no  such  thing,  the  laws  of  congress  don't  extend  over  Washington 
territory."  A  look  of  disgust  and  shame  was  depicted  on  nearly  every 
countenance,  and  the  cause  of  woman  suffrage  had  advanced  perceptibly 
in  the  minds  of  the  audience. 

Another  of  the  judges  arose,  and  said,  he  had  never  thought  much  on 
the  subject.     He  had  no  doubt  but  Mrs.  Brown  was  right,  women  were 


784  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

citizens  and  had  the  right  to  vote  ;  but  as  the  courts  had  not  instructed 
the  election  officers  to  take  the  votes  of  women,  and  as  the  precinct  was 
a  small  one,  he  was  afraid  their  whole  vote  would  be  thrown  out  if  they 
received  the  women's  ballots.  So,  although  he  should  like  to  see  the 
women  have  their  rights,  he  should  have  to  refuse  Mrs.  Brown's  vote. 
Here  an  Irishman  called  out,  "  It  would  be  more  sensible  to  let  an  intelli- 
gent white  woman  vote  than  an  ignorant  nigger."  Cries  of  "Good  for 
you,  Pat !  good  for  you,  Pat !"  indicated  the  impression  that  had  been 
made.  My  daughter  now  went  up  and  offered  her  vote,  which  was,  of 
course,  rejected. 

My  going  to  the  polls  was  noised  abroad,  and  set  men  as  well  as  women 
thinking.  They  examined  the  law  for  themselves,  and  found  that  women 
had  a  right  to  vote,  so  that  before  the  next  election  many  were  prepared 
to  act.  In  May,  1870,  I  published  an  appeal  to  the  women  of  the  territory, 
quoting  to  them  the  law,  and  urging  them  to  avail  themselves  of  its  pro- 
visions by  going  to  the  polls  and  voting.  My  sister,  Charlotte  Olney 
French,  living  in  Grand  Mound  precinct,  some  twenty-five  miles  from 
Olympia,  began  talking  the  matter  up  ;  and,  being  a  woman  of  energy  and 
influence,  she  soon  had  the  whole  neighborhood  interested.  With  the  as- 
sistance of  an  old  lady,  Mrs.  Peck,  she  planned  a  regular  campaign.  By 
the  programme  the  women  were  to  get  up  a  picnic  dinner  at  the  school- 
house  where  the  election  was  to  be  held,  and  directly  after,  while  the  offi- 
cers of  election  were  in  good  humor  (wives  will  understand  the  philosophy 
of  this),  they  were  to  present  their  votes.  My  sister,  being  a  good  talker 
and  well  informed  on  all  the  constitutional,  judicial  and  social  phases  of 
the  question  as  well  as  a  good  judge  of  human  nature,  was  able  to  meet 
and  parry  every  objection,  and  give  information  where  needed,  so  that  by 
the  time  dinner  was  over,  the  judges,  as  well  as  everybody  else,  were  in 
the  best  of  spirits.  When  the  voting  was  resumed,  the  women  (my  sister 
being  the  first)  handed  in  their  ballots  as  if  they  had  always  been  accus- 
tomed to  voting,  and  everything  passed  off  pleasantly.  One  lady,  Mrs. 
Sargent,  seventy-two  years  old,  said  she  thanked  the  Lord  that  He  had 
let  her  live  until  she  could  vote.  She  had  often  prayed  to  see  the  day, 
and  now  she  was  proud  to  cast  her  first  ballot. 

It  had  been  talked  of  for  some  days  before  the  election  in  the  adjoining 
precinct — Black  River — that  Mrs.  French  was  organizing  a  party  of  wo- 
men to  attend  the  election  in  Grand  Mound  precinct ;  but  they  were  not 
sure  the  judges  would  let  them  vote.  "  If  they  do,"  said  they,  "  if  the  Grand 
Mound  women  vote,  the  Black  River  women  shall !"  So  they  stationed  a 
man  on  a  fleet  horse,  at  the  Grand  Mound  polls,  with  instructions  to  start 
as  soon  as  the  women  began  to  vote,  and  ride  with  all  haste  back  to  their 
precinct  and  let  them  know.  The  moment  the  man  rode  in  sight  of  the 
school-house  he  swung  his  hat,  and  screeched  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
"They're  voting!  They're  voting!"  The  teams  were  all  ready  in  antici- 
pation of  the  news,  and  were  instantly  flying  in  every  direction,  and  soon 
the  women  were  ushered  into  the  school-house,  their  choice  of  tickets 
furnished  them,  and  all  allowed  to  vote  as  "American  citizens." 

While  the  women  of  these  two  precincts  were  enjoying  the  exercise  of 


Another  Attempt  to   Vote.  785 

their  political  rights,  the  women  of  Olympia  were  suffering-  the  vexation 
of  disappointment.  I  had  been  stopping  there  for  some  weeks  previous 
to  the  election,  trying  to  induce  the  women  to  go  to  the  polls,  and  also 
to  convince  the  men  that  women  had  a  legal  right  to  vote,  and  that  their 
right  must  be  respected.  The  day  before  election  the  judges  were  inter- 
viewed as  to  whether  they  would  take  the  votes  of  the  women.  They  re- 
plied, "  Yes;  we  shall  be  obliged  to  take  them.  The  law  gives  them  the 
right  to  vote,  and  we  can  not  refuse."  This  decision  was  heralded 
all  over  the  city,  and  women  felt  as  if  their  millennium  had  come.  To- 
morrow, for  the  first  time,  their  voice  would  be  heard  in  the  government 
through  the  ballot.  All  day  long  women  met  each  other,  and  asked  : 
"Are  you  going  to  the  election  to-morrow?"  Groups  gathered  in  par- 
lors and  discussed  the  matter,  and  everything  seemed  auspicious. 

But  how  true  the  saying :  "There's  many  a  slip  'twixt  the  cup  and  the 
lip  !"  Before  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning,  the  word  had  been  commu- 
nicated all  over  town  that  "  the  women  need  not  come  out  to  the  polls 
as  the  judges  would  not  take  their  votes."  They  would  give  no  reason 
why,  but  said  "they  had  decided  not  to  take  the  votes  of  the  women." 
About  a  dozen  of  us  gathered  together  to  consult  what  was  best  to  be 
done  ;  finding  most  of  them  inclined  to  back  out,  I  urged  the  necessity  of 
our  making  an  effort ;  that  whether  the  judges  took  our  votes  or  not,  it 
was  not  best  to  give  it  up  as  the  rest  had  done ;  if  we  did,  it  would  be 
harder  to  make  an  effort  next  time ;  that  I  had  been  to  the  polls  once  and 
had  my  vote  refused,  and  could  be  refused  again ;  at  any  rate,  I  had  the 
right  to  vote,  and  I  should  go  and  offer  it  if  I  had  to  go  alone.  Three  of 
the  number  said  they  would  go  with  me — Mrs.  Patterson,  Mrs.  Wiley  and 
Mrs.  DofHemyer ;  these,  with  Mr.  Patterson,  my  husband  and  myself  made, 
our  party.  As  we  reached  the  court-house  where  the  election  was  held, 
Mr.  Dofflemyer  met  us  and  took  his  wife  home,  she  meekly  submitting. 

Just  before  us  a  cart  rattled  up  bearing  a  male  citizen,  who  was  too 
drunk  to  know  what  he  was  doing,  or  even  to  do  anything.  He  was  lying 
on  his  back  in  the  cart,  with  feet  and  hands  up,  hurrahing  at  the  top 
of  his  voice.  This  disgusting,  drunken  idiot  was  picked  up  out  of  the 
cart  by  two  men,  who  put  a  ticket  into  his  hand,  carried  him  to  the  win- 
dow (he  was  too  drunk  to  stand),  shoved  him  up  and  raised  his  arm  into 
the  aperture ;  his  vote  received,  he  was  tumbled  back  into  the  cart. 

I  then  stepped  up  and  offered  my  vote,  and  was  answered  with,  "We 
have  decided  not  to  take  the  votes  of  the  women  !"  "  On  what  grounds 
do  you  refuse  ?"  I  asked.  No  answer.  "  Do  you  refuse  it  on  legal 
grounds?"  Still  no  answer.  I  then  said,  "  Under  the  election  law  of  this 
territory,  setting  aside  my  constitutional  right  as  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  I  have  the  right  to  vote  at  this  election.  Have  you  the  election 
law  by  you?"  "No,  we  have  not  got  it  here,"  they  said.  I  knew  they  had, 
but  did  not  dispute  their  word.  "  Very  well,"  I  said,  "  I  can  quote  it  for 
you."  I  did  so,  and  then  said,  "Under  this  territorial  law  I  claim  my  right, 
and  again  I  offer  you  my  vote  as  an  American  citizen.  If  you  doubt  my 
citizenship,  I  will  insist  on  taking  the  oath.  Will  you  receive  it?"  The 
answer  was,  "  No ;  we  have  decided  not  to  take  women's  votes,  and  we 

50 


786  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

cannot  take  yours."  "Then,"  said  I,  "it  amonnts  to  this  :  the  law  gives 
women  the  right  to  vote  in  this  territory,  and  you  three  men  who 
have  been  appointed  to  receive  our  votes,  sit  here  and  arbitrarily  re- 
fuse to  take  them,  giving  no  reason  why,  only  that  you  have  decided  not 
to  take  the  women's  votes.  There  is  no  law  to  sustain  you  in  this  usurpa- 
tion of  power.  We  can  claim  legal  redress.  Are  you  willing  to  stand  a 
legal  prosecution  ?"  "  Yes,"  was  the  response  of  each  one  separately.  It 
was  now  plain  to  see  why  the  votes  of  the  women  were  refused ;  the  judges 
had  been  hired  to  do  the  dirty  work,  and  money  pledged  in  case  of  prose- 
cution. They  were  men  in  moderate  circumstances  and  could  not  have 
stood  the  cost  of  a  suit  individually.  The  ready  assent  they  gave  showed 
such  a  contingency  had  been  thought  of  and  provided  against  by  the  op- 
ponents of  woman  suffrage.  The  other  two  women  then  offered  their 
votes,  which  were  also  refused. 

In  the  autumn  of  1871  Susan  B.  Anthony  came  to  Olympia  and  attended 
the  first  woman  suffrage  convention  ever  held  here.  Our  legislature  was 
in  session,  and  a  joint  hearing  before  the  two  Houses  was  extended  to  her. 
Her  statesman-like  argument  clearly  proved  the  right  of  our  women  to 
vote  under  both  the  national  constitution  and  the  territorial  law.  After 
Miss  Anthony  left,  there  arose  a  rumor  that  the  election  law  was  to  be 
repealed,  and  a  committee  of  women  attended  every  session,  determined 
if  possible  to  prevent  it.  They  were  at  the  capitol  the  last  day,  prepared 
to  stay  until  the  adjournment ;  they  were  urged  to  go  home,  but  would 
not  unless  a  solemn  promise  was  made  them  that  the  law  should  in  no 
way  be  tampered  with.  This  the  members  refused  to  do,  until  a  bright 
idea  struck  one  of  them,  which  was  that  they  need  not  disturb  the  law, 
but  could  make  it  inoperative  by  enacting  another  statute.  This  being 
whispered  among  the  members,  the  promise  was  given,  and  the  women  re- 
tired. Immediately  after,  the  following  act  was  passed  by  both  Houses, 
approved  and  signed  by  the  governor : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the   Territory  of  Washington: 

SECTION  I.  That  hereafter  no  female  shall  have  the  right  of  ballot,  or  vote  at  any 

poll  or  election  precinct  in  this  territory  until  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of 

America  shall,  by  direct  legislation,  declare  the  same  to  be  the  supreme  law  of  the 

land. 

SEC.  2.  This  act  to  take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage. 

Approved  November  29,  1871.  EDWARD  S.  SOLOMON,  Governor. 

When  the  proclamation  to  hold  a  convention  to  form  a  constitution 
preparatory  to  our  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  was  issued,  I 
recommended  to  the  Territorial  Woman  Suffrage  Association  that  we 
make  every  effort  to  secure  to  the  convention  as  many  delegates  as  pos- 
sible in  favor  of  woman  suffrage,  and  then  that  we  circulate  petitions  ask- 
ing them  to  leave  out  the  word  "  male  "  from  the  constitution.  Failing  to 
get  the  society  to  take  any  associated  action,  I  went  to  work  individually, 
wrote  and  sent  out  petitions  into  every  town  and  country  place  where 
there  was  a  post-office,  asking  that  the  word  "  male  "  be  left  out  of  the  con- 
stitution. With  each  petition  I  sent  a  letter  to  the  person  whose  name 
I  had  procured  from  the  postmaster  of  the  place,  stating  the  object, 
urging  a  thorough  circulation,  and  directing  its  return  at  a  given  date  to 


Introduction  of  a  Suffrage  Bill.  787 

Mary  Olney  Brown,  President  of  the  Washington  Territorial  Woman 
Suffrage  Association  ;  thus  giving  the  credit  of  the  work  to  the  Society. 

I  could  not  get  a  member  of  our  Association  to  circulate  the  petition  in 
Olympia,  so  every  day  that  I  could  get  away  from  home  I  took  my  peti- 
tion in  hand  and  canvassed  for  signatures.  If  I  went  shopping  or  on  an 
errand  I  took  it  with  me,  and  in  that  way  I  procured  over  300  names. 
My  experience  had  taught  me  that  the  principal  opposition  to  woman's 
voting  came  from  ignorance  as  to  her  true  position  under  the  government. 
She  had  come  to  be  looked  upon  almost  as  a  foreign  element  in  oWr 
nation,  having  no  lot  nor  part  with  the  male  citizen,  and  I  felt  that  it  was 
necessary  to  disabuse  the  minds  of  the  people  generally,  and  the  dele- 
gates to  the  convention  particularly,  of  this  notion.  I  therefore  wrote 
five  articles  on  the  "Equality  of  Citizenship,"  which  Mrs.  Duniway 
kindly  published  in  the  New  Northwest.  The  Olympia  Courier  also 
printed  them,  and  placed  the  paper  on  file  in  the  city  reading-room  ;  and 
when  I  met  a  man  who  had  not  made  up  his  mind  on  the  subject  I  recom- 
mended him  to  the  reading-room,  and  several  after  perusing  the  articles 
were  converted  and  signed  the  petition. 

On  the  assembling  of  the  legislature  Mrs.  A.  H.  H.  Stuart  and  myself 
watched  a  lavorable  opportunity  to  present  an  equal  rights  bill.  We  let 
them  talk  up  the  matter  pretty  well  over  a  petition  signed  by  fifty  women 
of  one  of  the  upper  counties,  when  one  day  Mrs.  Stuart  came  to  me  and 
said  :  "  Now,  Mrs.  Brown,  write  out  your  bill ;  the  speaker  of  the  House 
sent  me  word  they  were  ready  for  it."  I  sat  down  and  framed  a  bill*  to 
the  best  of  my  ability,  which  was  duly  presented  and  respectfully  debated. 
Mrs.  Dnniway  came  from  Portland  to  urge  its  passage,  and  the  day  before 
it  came  to  a  vote  both  Houses  adjourned  and  invited  her  to  speak  in  the 
hall  of  representatives.  She  made  one  of  her  best  speeches.  The  mem- 
bers of  both  Houses  were  present,  besides  a  large  audience  from  the  city. 
The  next  day  the  House  passed  the  bill  by  two  majority,  and  on  the  day 
following  it  was  lost  in  the  Council  by  two  majority.  In  the  House  the 
vote  stood,  ayes,  13;  nays,  n.  In  the  Council,  ayes,  5;  nays,  7. 

Saturday  evening  Mrs.  Duniway  made  another  telling  speech  in  the 
city  hall,  at  the  close  of  which  Mr.  White,  a  lobby  member,  made  a  few 
remarks,  in  which  he  disclosed  the  cause  of  the  defeat  of  the  bill  in  the 
Council.  He  said,  after  the  bill  passed  the  House  the  saloon-keepers, 
alarmed  lest  their  occupation  would  be  gone  if  women  should  vote, 
button-holed  the  members  of  the  Council,  and  as  many  of  them  as  could 
be  bought  by  drinks  pledged  themselves  to  vote  against  the  bill.  The 
members  of  the  Council  were  present,  and  though  an  urgent  invitation 
was  given  to  all  to  speak,  not  one  of  them  denied  the  charge  made  by 
Mr.  White.  On  the  following  Monday  an  effort  was  made  in  the  Council 
to  reconsider  the  bill,  but  failed.  Thus  stands  our  cause  at  present. 


*  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of  Washington  : 

SECTION  i.  All  female  citizens  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  all  elec- 
tions in  the  territory,  subject  only  to  such  regulations  as  male  citizens. 

SEC.  2.  Any  officer  of  election  who  shall  refuse  to  take  the  vote  of  a  woman  citizen  (otherwise  quali- 
fied to  vote),  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  not  less  than  $100  nor  more  than  8500. 

SEC.  3.    All  laws  in  conflict  with  this  act  are  hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  4.    This  act  to  be  in  force  on  and  after  its  passage. 


788  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

There  will  be  a  greater  effort  than  ever  before  put  forth  during  the  next 
two  years  to  secure  an  affirmative  vote  in  our  legislature. 

As  Mrs.  Brown  wrote  the  above  in  1881,  the  promise  in  the 
closing  sentence  was  really  quite  prophetic,  since  the  legislature 
of  1883  passed  a  law  enfranchising  the  women  of  the  territory* 
Mrs.  Duniway  concludes  her  account  with  a  brief  reference  to 
the  work  in  neighboring  territories: 

In  addition  to  all  that  is  being  done  in  Oregon  and  Washington,  we  are 
actively  engaged  in  pushing  the  work  in  Idaho  and  Montana  territories, 
where  the  New  Northwest  has  been  thoroughly  circulated  in  many  locali- 
ties and  many  spirited  public  meetings  have  been  held.  The  Idaho  legis- 
lature seriously  considered  and  came  near  adopting  a  woman  suffrage  bill 
last  winter,  and  the  women  of  the  territory  are  confidently  awaiting  a 
triumph  at  the  next  biennial  session.  Remembering  Dakota's  set-back 
through  the  governor's  veto  in  1885,  they  are  carefully  planning  to 
avoid  a  like  calamity  in  their  own  territory.  In  Montana  the  cause  has 
made  less  apparent  progress,  but  there  is  much  quiet  and  constantly  in- 
creasing agitation  in  its  favor.  Popular  feeling  is  steadily  ripening  for 
the  change,  and  let  the  rest  of  the  world  wag  as  it  will,  there  cannot  be 
much  longer  hindrance  to  the  complete  triumph  of  liberty  in  the  Pacific 
Northwest. 


No  one  offered  to  speak  on  it.     The  vote  stood  :    Ayes — Burk,  Edmiston,  Hale,  Harper, 
and  Smith— 7.     Noes — Caton,  Collins,  Houghton,  Whitehouse  and  President  Truax— 5, 


W.  A.  Newell  approved  the  bill  November  22, 1883. 


CHAPTER    LV. 
LOUISIANA— TEXAS— ARKANSAS— MISSISSIPPI. 

St.  Anna's  Asylum,  Managed  by  Women — Constitutional  Convention,  1879 — Women 
Petition — Clara  Merrick  Guthrie — Petition  Referred  to  Committee  on  Suffrage — A 
Hearing  Granted — Mrs.  Keating — Mrs.  Saxon — Mrs.  Merrick — Col.  John  M. 
Sandige — Efforts  of  the  Women  all  in  Vain — Action  in  1885 — Gov.  McEnery — 
The  Daily  Picayune — Women  as  Members  of  the  School-Board — Physiology  in 
the  Schools — Miss  Eliza  Rudolph — Mrs.  E.  J.  Nicholson — Judge  Merrick's  Digest 
of  Laws — Texas — Arkansas — Mississippi — Sarah  A.  Dorsey. 

L— LOUISIANA. 

MRS.  CAROLINE  E.  MERRICK  has  furnished  the  following  in- 
teresting facts  from  her  native  State,  for  which  we  feel  ourselves 
deeply  indebted : 

Like  the  children  of  one  family  the  States  have  a  common  resemblance, 
but  they  are  various  in  character  as  in  geographical  outline.  In  Louisi- 
ana the  Anglo-American  finds  himself  side-by-side  with  inhabitants  of 
French  or  Spanish  descent,  and  in  many  of  the  country  parishes  the 
African  freedmen  outnumber  all  the  rest. 

St.  Anna's  Asylum  in  New  Orleans  is  controlled  and  managed  by  a 
board  of  directors  composed  entirely  of  women.  Among  the  inmates  in 
1878  was  a  German  woman  who  had  resided  in  the  institution  for  many 
years.  Finding  herself  in  ill-health  and  fearing  the  approach  of  the  end, 
she  confided  to  the  ladies  of  the  board  that  she  had  a  thousand  dollars  in 
bank  which  she  wished  to  bequeath  to  the  home  where  she  had  been 
provided  for  and  sheltered  so  long.  At  her  earnest  request  a  will  was 
drawn  up  in  accordance  with  her  wishes,  and  signed  by  members  of  the 
board  who  were  present  <^  witnesses.  'Shortly  after,  the  woman  died  and 
her  will  was  submitted  to  the  proper  authority  for  admission  to  probate. 
When  the  ladies  were  duly  informed  that  the  will  was  null  and  void,  they 
naturally  asked  why,  and  were  told  that  under  Louisiana  law  women 
were  not  lawful  witnesses  to  a  will.  Had  they  only  called  in  the  old 
darkey  wood-sawyer,  doing  a  day's  work  in  the  asylum  yard,  and  had  him 
affix  his  mark  to  the  paper,  the  money  would  have  accrued  to  the  asylum  ; 
as  it  was,  it  went  to  the  State. 

Early  in  1879,  when  a  convention  to  make  a  new  State  constitution* 

*  Emily  P.  Collins  of  Ponchatoula,  Louisiana,  wrote  Miss  Anthony  :  "  Our  State  is  to  form  a  new 
constitution  this  spring.  I  feel  that  now  if  ever  is  the  time  to  strike  for  woman's  emancipation.  '  We. 
the  people,'  includes  women  as  well  as  men,  and  regardless  of  former  legislative  enactments  we  should 


790  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

had  been  called  and  was  about  to  assemble  in  New  Orleans,  Mrs.  Merrick 
tried  to  arouse  the  ladies  of  the  board,  representing  to  them  that  in  the 
controlling  power  they  exercised  over  St.  Anna's  Asylum  they  were  only 
children  playing  they  were  a  part  of  the  people  and  citizens  of  the  State, 
when  in  reality  they  were  legally  powerless  to  perform  any  free  and  inde- 
pendent act.  The  ladies  were  mortified  by  the  position  in  which  they 
found  themselves  but  were  not  willing  to  take  any  step  to  remedy  their 
pitiful  case,  not  even  to  sign  the  petition  which  was  afterwards  drawn  up 
by  Mrs,  Saxon  and  Mrs.  Merrick  to  present  to  the  constitution-makers  to 
have  these  disabilities  removed.  The  petition  was  as  follows  : 

To  the  Honorable  President  and  Members  of  the  Convention  of  Louisiana,  convened 
for  the  purpose  of  framing  a  new  Constitution  : 

The  undersigned,  citizens  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  respectfully  represent : 

That  up  to  the  present  time  all  women,  of  whatever  age  or  capacity,  have  been  de- 
barred from  the  right  of  representation,  notwithstanding  the  burdensome  taxes  which 
they  have  paid. 

They  have  been  excluded  from  holding  any  office  save  in  cases  of  special  tutorships 
in  limited  degree,  or  of  administration  only  in  specified  cases. 

They  have  been  debarred  from  being  witnesses  to  wills  or  notarial  acts,  even  when 
executed  by  their  own  sex. 

They  look  upon  this  condition  of  things  as  a  grievance  proper  to  be  brought  before 
your  honorable  body  for  consideration  and  relief. 

As  a  question  of  civilization,  we  look  upon  the  enfranchisement  of  women  as  an  all- 
important  one.  In  Wyoming,  where  it  has  been  tried  for  ten  years,  the  law-makers 
and  clergy  unite  in  declaring  that  this  influx  of  women  voters  has  done  more  to  pro- 
mote morality  and  order  than  thousands  of  armed  men  could  have  accomplished. 

Should  the  entire  franchise  seem  too  extended  a  privilege,  we  most  earnestly  urge 
the  adoption  of  a  property  qualification,  and  that  women  may  be  allowed  a  vote  on 
school  and  educational  matters,  involving  as  they  do  the  interests  of  women  and  child- 
ren in  a  great  degree.  * 

So  large  a  proportion  of  the  taxes  of  Louisiana  is  paid  by  women,  many  of  them 
without  male  representatives,  that  in  granting  consideration  and  relief  for  grievances 
herein  complained  of,  the  people  will  recognize  justice  and  equity.  To  woman  as 
well  as  man  "taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny,"  she  being  "a  person,  a 
citizen,  a  freeholder,  a  tax-payer,"  the  same  as  man,  only  government  has  never  held 
out  the  same  fostering,  protecting  hand  to  all  alike,  nor  ever  will,  until  women  are 
directly  represented. 

Wherefore,  we,  your  petitioners,  pray  that  some  suitable  provision  remedying  these 
evils  be  incorporated  in  the  constitution  you  are  about  to  frame. 

While  this  petition  was  being  circulated,  favorable  articles  appeared 
from  time  to  time  in  the  public  prints.  The  following,  signed  "Fatima," 
the  nom  de plume  of  Clara  Merrick  Guthrie,  appeared  in  the  Democrat : 

A  well-known  notary  signed  this  petition  with  a  flourish,  remarking  that  "few 
women  and  not  over  half  the  men  were  aware  of  the  disabilities  of  wives  and 
daughters." 

If  the  convention  should  invest  women  of  property  with  the  elective  franchise  it 


be  allowed  to  vole  and  be  voted  for  as  delegates  to  the  constitutional  convention.  If  I  only  had  some 
one  to  aid  me,  or  had  your  moral  courage,  I  would  proclaim  myself  a  candidate  for  the  constitutional 
convention.  The  colored  people  ought  to  sustain  me  for  I  have  ever  been  their  steadfast  friend,  and 
they  themselves  owe  their  emancipation  chiefly  to  women.  They  cannot  elect  a  colored  man  here, 
but  could  I  have  their  support  I  have  personal  friends  enough  to  secure  my  election.  The  parish 
ought  to  be  stumped  in  support  of  some  candidate  whose  efforts  should  be  pledged  to  the  insertion  of  a 
clause  in  the  new  constitution  to  prohibit  future  legislatures  making  sex  a  qualification  for  voting." 


Constitutional  Convention.  791 

would  give  to  the  respectable  side  of  politics  a  large  body  of  sensible  voters  which 
would  go  far  toward  neutralizing  the  evil  of  unlimited  male  suffrage.  The  policy  in 
the  Northern  States  has  been  to  demand  unrestricted  suffrage,  but  the  women  of 
Louisiana  may  with  propriety  exhibit  certain  variations  in  the  nature  of  their  appeal. 
This  subject  in  all  its  phases  inspires  my  enthusiasm,  but  I  dare  not  be  as  eloquent  as 
I  might,  lest  a  messenger  should  be  sent  to  me  with  an  urgent  request  to  address  the 
convention  next  Monday  evening.  *  '  '  * 

On  dit. — Other  ladies  beside  our  brave  Mrs.  Saxon  are  desired  to  give  their  views. 
Now  surely  the  convention  would  not  ask  these  quiet  house-mothers,  who  are  not  even 
remotely  akin  to  professional  agitators,  to  do  such  violence  to  their  old-time  precedents 
if  the  prospect  of  some  reward  were  not  encouraging  and  immediate.  Nothing  could 
induce  me  to  make  personal  application  save  the  solemn  obligation  of  the  whole  august 
body  to  accede  to  my  timid  proposal  simultaneously  and  by  acclamation.  Fortunately 
for  us  there  are  women  in  Louisiana  more  sacrificing  of  their  naturally  shrinking  dis- 
position, who  perhaps  take  the  cause  more  seriously  than  your  correspondent,  who 
would  make  a  most  persuasive  enrolling-officer  but  not  so  gallant  a  general  for  active 
service. 

After  securing  over  400  influential  names  *  the  petition  was  sent  in  to 
the  convention  and  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Suffrage,  Mr.  Felix 
P.  Poche,  chairman,  now  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court.  On  May  7,  the 
committee  invited  the  ladies  to  a  conference  at  Parlor  P,  St.  Charles 
Hotel.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Saxon,  Colonel  and  Mrs.  John  M.  Sandige  and  Mrs. 
Mollie  Moore  Davis  were  present.  Mrs.  Saxon  spoke  for  an  hour  and 
replied  to  questions  from  the  committee.  She  made  a  very  favorable  im- 
pression and  was  highly  commended  for  her  argument.  On  June  16  the 
friends  of  the  petition  were  notified  that  a  hearing  would  be  granted  them 
at  the  evening  session  of  the  convention.  Mrs.  Harriette  C.  Keating  and 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  L.  Saxon  had  consented  to  speak  if  such  a  hearing  were 
granted. 

Col.  John  M.  Sandige,  who  had  occupied  prominent  positions  in  the 
political  affairs  of  the  State,  gave  much  encouragement  and  assistance. 
He  did  not  hesitate  to  urge  the  importance  of  this  movement,  and  the  ne- 
cessity that  the  women  who  were  most  interested  should  cheerfully  as- 
sume their  responsibility  in  relation  to  it.  While  Mrs.  Saxon  was  known 
already  as  a  fearless  and  able  reformer,  and  Dr.  Harriette  C.  Keating  as  a 
noble  representative  of  woman  in  professional  life,  he  thought  it  was  de- 
sirable to  have  a  voice  from  the  home  and  from  society,  and  Mrs.  Caro- 
line E.  Merrick  was  solicited  to  come  forward  and  endorse  what  her  col- 


*  The  following  letter  from  Mrs.  Saxon  to  Mrs.  Minor  gives  the  reason  why  she  could  not  be  present 
at  the  National  Convention  held  in  St.  Louis : 

"  Almost  entirely  unaided  I  have  gained  300  names  in  five  weeks.  Among  them  two  Presbyterian 
ministers,  wives  of  three  others,  seven  of  the  most  prominent  physicians,  all  of  the  city  administrators, 
two  distinguished  judges,  several  lawyers  and  many  leading  business  men.  I  have  begged  Mrs.  Emily 
P.  Collins  to  urge  upon  the  Association  to  meet  here  next  year.  I  feel  that  now  and  before  this  con- 
vention is  our  most  important  work,  so  I  mnst  stay  and  try  and  influence  the  members  all  in  my  power. 
I  was  unaware  of  the  action  I  was  to  take  here,  and  if  I  get  before  the  convention  it  will  not  be  before 
the  morning  of  the  7th,  or  I  would  come  anyway  as  I  have  been  offered  a  free  passage  by  both  rail  and 
river.  Mrs.  Collins  was  with  me  for  a  few  days  and  will  assure  you  of  my  untiring  efforts  in  the  cause 
here.  God  knows  I  would  be  willing  to  buy  fifteen  minutes  before  the  whole  convention,  the  day  they 
vote  on  that  bill,  by  the  sacrifice  of  my  life  ;  for  remembering  the  grand  women  I  have  seen  sacrificed 
along  life's  path,  I  think  from  their  memory  a  power  and  eloquence  would  spring  that  might  win  hearts 
of  steel  and  force  justice  to  women  from  them.  I  will  write  again  in  a  few  days  and  report  progress^ 

"  Very  sincerely  your  friend,  E.  L.  SAXON." 

"  May  j,  /<5>9." 


792  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

leagues  would  say,  in  a  few  words  at  the  close  of  the  proceedings.  Mrs. 
Merrick  finally  agreed  that  she  should  see  her  duty  in  the  light  in  which 
it  was  presented  if  Judge  Merrick,  who  constituted  her  court  of  last  re- 
sort, should  leave  her  entirely  free  to  act  in  the  case.  After  a  consulta- 
tion, to  her  great  surprise  and  consternation  the  judge  said,  "  You  have 
always  desired  to  help  women — here  is  an  opportunity ;  go  forward  and 
do  your  share  in  this  work." 

The  surprise  could  hardly  have  been  greater  if  a  procession  of  slaves 
twenty-five  years  ago  had  come  up  in  force  to  the  lordly  mansion  of  their 
master  with  several  spokesmen  chosen  from  their  ranks,  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  asking  for  their  freedom.  The  ladies  were  treated  with  a  deli- 
cate courtesy  and  kindness  on  this  unusual  occasion,  which  they  can 
never  forget.  Judge  Poche,  with  the  tact  of  a  true  gentleman,  endeavored 
to  smooth  a  difficult  way,  reassuring  the  failing  courage  of  the  ladies  while 
assisting  them  to  mount  the  platform.  The  Daily  Picayune  of  June  17, 
1879,  said: 

The  usually  prosaic  and  unimpressive  appearance  of  the  convention  hall  assumed 
for  the  occasion  an  entire  change  last  evening.  When  the  convention  closed  its  fore- 
noon's labors,  it  took  a  recess  until  half-past  7  o'clock  for  the  purpose  of  affording 
the  female  suffragists  an  opportunity  to  plead  their  cause  before  a  full  meeting.  The 
scene  before  the  convention  was  called  to  order  was  interesting  and  amusing.  As  the 
minutes  rolled  on  the  crowd  of  ladies  commenced  to  pour  in,  and  by  8  o'clock  the 
hall  contained  some  fifty  representatives  of  the  gentler  sex  of  the  Crescent  City.  Every 
age  of  womanhood  and  every  class  of  beauty  found  a  representative  upon  the  floor. 
About  half  a  dozen  "society  girls"  occupied  a  retired  corner  of  the  room,  while  a 
number  of  the  notables,  including  Mrs.  Myra  Clark  Gaines,  took  possession  of  the 
middle  of  the  hall. 

Promptly  at  8  o'clock  President  Wiltz  climbed  to  his  seat  and  called  the  convention 
to  order  in  a  tone  slightly  husky  from  nervous  excitement.  Secretary  Harris,  having 
summoned  up  his  spare  courage,  called  the  roll  in  a  determined  voice.  Of  the  134 
members  106  responded  to  their  names.  After  the  usual  preliminaries  Mr.  Poche  an- 
nounced that  a  committee  of  ladies  were  in  attendance,  prepared  to  address  the  con- 
vention upon  the  question  of  woman  suffrage.  He  then  introduced  Mrs.  Dr.  Keating. 
The  fair  speaker  had  scarcely  begun  before  it  was  seen  that  she  possessed  a  clear,  slow 
enunciation  and  perfect  confidence  in  her  ability  to  enforce  the  doctrines  of  the  cause 
she  was  to  advocate.  She  read  from  manuscript  and  showed  no  little  knowledge  of 
the  rules  of  oratory. 

Mrs.  Saxon  was  greeted  with  a  burst  of  applause,  which  was  gracefully  acknowl- 
edged by  the  recipient;  her  address  was  earnest  and  made  a  deep  impression. 

Mr.  ^Robertson  of  St.  Landry  then  offered  the  following  resolution,  which  lies  over 
under  the  rules  : 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  on  elective  franchises  be  directed  to  embody  in  the 
article  upon  suffrage  reported  in  this  convention,  a  provision  giving  the  right  of  suf- 
frage to  women  upon  the  same  terms  as  to  men. 

After  some  talk  the  resolution  was  laid  aside  to  allow  another  speech  to  be  made. 
'Mrs.  E.  T.  Merrick  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Poche,  as  the  wife  of  ex-Chief-Jus- 
tice Merrick,  and  a  shower  of  applause  followed  the  appearance  of  the  lady.  She 

said : 

Mr.  President  and  Delegates  of  the  Convention: — We  have  met  with  such  unexpected 
kindness  in  the  reception  which  you  have  accorded  us  to-night,  that  we  find  it  hard  to 
give  expression  to  anything  but  thanks.  When  we  remember  the  persistent  and  ag- 
gressive efforts  which  our  energetic  sisters  of  the  North  put  forth  before  they  could 
obtain  a  hearing  before  any  legislative  assembly,  we  find  ourselves  lost  in  a  pleasing 


Mrs.  Mer rick's  Address,  793 

astonishment  at  the  graciousness  which  beams  upon  us  here  from  all  quarters. 
Should  we  even  now  be  remanded  to  our  places  and  have  our  petitions  met  with  an 
utter  refusal,  we  should  be  grieved  to  the  heart,  we  should  be  sorely  disappointed,  but 
we  never  could  cherish  the  least  feeling  of  rebellious  spite  toward  this  convention  of 
men,  who  have  shown  themselves  so  respectful  and  considerate  toward  the  women  of 
Louisiana. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  gentlemen  thought  we  did  not  possess  the  moral  courage  to 
venture  even  thus  far  from  the  retiremeut  in  which  we  prefer  to  dwell  ;  perhaps  they 
thought  we  would  not  dare  to  appear  in  person  before  this  formidable  body  and  speak 
for  our  own  cause.  Be  assured  that  a  resolute  and  conscientious  woman  can  put  aside 
her  individual  preferences  at  the  call  of  duty,  and  act  unselfishly  for  the  good  of  others. 
You  are  our  witnesses  that  we  have  not  wearied  you  by  our  importunities,  nor  have 
we  sought  in  any  disingenuous  manner  to  influence  you  in  our  favor.  We  are  simply 
here  in  response  to  your  own  courteous  invitation  to  explain  our  ideas  and  opinions  on 
the  great  question  of  woman's  enfranchisement.  The  ladies  who  have  already  ad- 
dressed you  have  given  you  our  arguments,  and  in  eloquent  language  have  made  their 
appeal,  to  which  you  could  not  have  been  insensible.  It  only  remains  for  me  to  give 
you  some  of  my  own  individual  views  in  the  few  words  which  are  to  conclude  this  in- 
terview. 

We  assure  you  we  are  not  cherishing  any  ambitious  ideas  of  political  honors  and 
emoluments  for  women.  We  do  not  wish  to  become  governors  or  legislators,  nor 
have  we  any  inordinate  desire  to  obtain  seats  in  congress.  I  have  seen  but. one 
woman  who  ever  expressed  even  a  wish  to  be  president  of  these  United  States.  But 
we  do  ask  with  most  serious  earnestness  that  you  should  give  us  the  ballot,  which  has 
been  truly  called  the  expression  of  allegiance  and  responsibility  to  the  govern- 
ment. All  over  the  world  this  same  movement  is  advancing.  In  many  countries 
earnest,  thoughtful,  large-hearted  women  are  working  day  and  night  to  elevate  their 
sex;  to  secure  higher  education;  to  open  new  avenues  for  their  industrious  hands;  trying 
to  make  women  helpers  to  man,  instead  of  being  millstones  round  his  neck  to  sink  him 
in  his  life  struggle.  Ah,  if  we  could  only  infuse  into  your  souls  the  courage  which  we, 
constitutionally  timid  as  we  are,  now  feel  on  this  subject,  you  would  hasten  to  perform 
this  act  of  justice,  and  inaugurate  the  beginning  of  the  end  which  all  but  the  blind  can 
see  is  surely  and  steadily  approaching.  We  are  willing  to  accept  anything.  We  have 
always  been  in  the  position  of  beggars,  as  now,  and  cannot  be  choosers  if  we  wished. 
We  will  gladly  accept  the  franchise  on  any  terms,  provided  they  be  wholly  and  entirely 
honorable.  If  you  should  see  proper  to  subject  us  to  an  educational  test,  even  of  a 
high  order,  we  should  try  to  attain  it;  if  you  require  a  considerable  property  qualifica- 
tion, we  would  not  complain.  We  would  be  only  too  grateful  for  any  amelioration  of 
our  legal  disabilities.  Allow  me  to  ask,  are  we  less  prepared  for  the  intelligent  exer- 
cise of  the  right  of  suffrage  than  were  the  freedmen  when  it  was  suddenly  conferred 
upon  them  ?  Has  not  this  right  been  to  them  a  beneficial  stimulant,  inducing  them  to 
use  exertions  to  promote  their  improvement,  and  has  it  not  raised  them  to  a  superior 
place,  above  the  disfranchised  classes,  such  as  the  Chinese,  Indians  and  women  ? 

Perhaps  you  think  only  a  few  of  us  desire  the  ballot.  If  that  were  so,  we  think  it 
would  not  be  any  sufficient  reason  for  withholding  it.  In  old  times  most  of  our  slaves 
were  happy  and  contented.  Under  the  rule  of  good  and  humane  masters,  they 
gave  themselves  no  trouble  to  grasp  after  a  freedom  which  was  beyond  their 
reach.  So  it  is  with  us  to-day.  We  are  happy  and  kindly  treated  (as  witness  our  re- 
ception here  to-night),  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  numerous  privileges  which  our 
chivalrous  gentlemen  are  so  ready  to  accord;  many  of  us  who  feel  a  wish  for  freedom, 
do  not  venture  even  to  whisper  a  single  word  about  our  rights.  For  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  I  have  occasionally  expressed  a  desire  to  vote,  and  it  was  always  received  as 
a  matter  of  surprise,  but  the  sort  of  effect  produced  was  as  different  as  the  characters 
of  the  individuals  with  whom  I  conversed.  *  * 

Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  we  now  leave  our  cause  in  your  hands,  and  commend 
it  to  your  favorable  consideration.  We  have  pointed  out  to  you  the  signs  of  the  dawn- 


794  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ing  of  a  better  day  for  woman,  which  are  so  plain  before  our  eyes,  and  implore  you  to 
reach  out  your  hand  and  help  us  up,  that  we  may  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  its  glory  be- 
fore it  floods  the  world  with  noon-day  light.* 

Col.  John  M.  Sandidge  read  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Dorsey : 

JUNE  ii,  1879. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention: — Too  weak  from  recent  illness  and 
suffering  to  appear  personally  before  you  by  the  side  of  the  women  of  Louisiana  who 
are  asking  for  the  privilege  and  responsibility  of  political  suffrage,  I  am  forced  to  use 
this  mode  of  indorsing  their  movement. 

Being  left  by  the  fiat  of  God  entirely  alone  in  the  world,  with  no  man  to  represent 
me,  having  large  interests  in  the  State  and  no  voice  either  in  representation  or  taxa- 
tion while  hundreds  of  my  negro  lessees  vote  and  control  my  life  and  property,  I  feel 
that  I  ought  to  say  one  word  that  may  perhaps  aid  many  other  women  whom  fate  has 
left  equally  destitute.  It  is  doubtful  whether  I  shall  rise  from  my  couch  of  pain  to 
profit  by  the  gift  should  the  men  of  Louisiana  decide  to  give  the  women  of  the  State 
the  right  which  is  the  heritage  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race — repesentation  for  taxation. 
But  still  I  ask  it  for  my  sisters  and  for  the  future  of  the  race.  We  women  of  Louisi. 
ana  have  always  been  treated  before  the  law  as  civil  partners  of  our  husbands.  In 
every  respect  our  rights  have  been  protected. 

It  needs  but  one  more  step  to  make  us  civilly  free,  and  this  we  ask  you  to  embody 
in  your  new  constitution.  Many  men  are  not  opposed  to  the  fact  of  female  suffrage, 
but  to  its  mode  at  present;  that  could  be  corrected,  and  women  need  not  be  ex- 
posed to  the  coarseness  and  strife  of  the  polls  as  they  are  now  conducted.  There  is 
no  man  among  you  who  does  not  believe  his  wife  or  his  daughter  intelligently  capable 
of  taking  a  voice  in  the  government.  If  my  lessees  are  capable  of  being  citizens  of  Lou- 
isiana, it  is  because  for  thirty  years  of  my  life  and  for  five  generations  of  my  ancestors 
we  have  interested  ourselves  in  their  civilization  and  in  their  instruction.  Gentlemen, 
we  ask  nothing  that  would  unsex  ourselves.  We  do  not  expect  to  do  man's  work  ;  we 
can  never  pass  the  limits  which  nature  herself  has  set.  But  we  ask  for  justice;  we  ask 
for  removal  of  unnatural  restrictions  that  are  contrary  to  the  elemental  spirit  of  the 
civil  law;  we  do  not  ask  for  rights,  but  for  permission  to  assume  our  natural  responsi- 
bilities. 

Praying  that  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  men  of  Louisiana  may  be  moved  toward 
this  act  of  justice,  I  am,  with  profound  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

SARAH  A.  DORSEY. 

The  Webster  Tribune,  Mr.  Scanland,  editor,  of  June  25,  1879,  shows  the 
sensation  created  in  the  remotest  parishes  of  Louisiana  by  this  hearing 
before  the  convention : 

The  ladies,  it  seems,  are  about  walking  up  and  demanding  enlarged  liberties.  We 
were  under  the  impression  that  women  generally  had  about  as  much  latitude  as  they 
wanted,  but  if  they  desire  more,  the  Tribune  says,  in  the  name  of  gallantry  if  not 
justice,  let  them  have  all  they  wish.  There  is  an  element  throughout  the  Union  agi- 
tating the  proposition  that  they  are  entitled  to  vote  because  they  are  taxed.  The  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  provides  that  no  one  shall  be  taxed  without  representation. 
Representation  is  based  on  population,  and,  of  course,  the  ladies  are  enumerated  ;  and 
the  ' '  horrid  men  "  claim  that  the  ladies  are  represented  through  them.  This  a  great 
many  repudiate,  and  their  heads  are  about  level.  When  a  man  assumes  to  represent  a 
woman,  he  undertakes  a  larger  contract  than  he  imagines — something  we  would  not 
dream  of  attempting  in  a  political  or  any  other  sense. 

The  ladies  who  advocate  female  suffrage  claim  that  as  they  are  governed  by  the  laws 


*  Of  her  speech  Mrs.  Merrick  writes  :  "Fearing  that  I  could  not  be  heard,  I  proposed  to  my  son-in 
law,  Mr.  Guthrie,  that  he  should  read  it  for  me,  but  Mrs.  Saxon  objected,  saying,  '  No  matter  if  they 
do  not  hear  a  word  you  say  !  You  do  not  wish  a  man  to  represent  you  at  the  polls;  represent  yourself 
now,  if  you  only  stand  up  and  move  your  lips.'  '  I  will,'  said  I,  '  you  are  right.' — [EDITORS. 


Women  Eligible  to  School  Offices.  795 

they  have  a  right  to  a  voice  in  making  them.  Many  of  the  ablest  women  of  this  coun- 
try hold  that  belief,  and  of  all  our  noble  statesmen,  not  one  has  advanced  an  answer 
to  this  demand — reasonable,  if  it  does  come  from  women.  A  French  essayist  held 
that  as  women  are  a  part  of  society,  they  have  a  right  to  be  judges  of  its  members,  as- 
sist in  making  its  laws,  and  condemn  and  punish  transgressors.  They  have  their  in- 
fluence, but  that  is  not  so  effective  as  power.  *  *  *  *  Some  of  the  brightest 
intellects  that  adorn  the  social  circles  throughout  this  country  and  State  hold 
these  views  and  ably  advance  them.  Among  them  in  this  State  are  Mrs.  E.  L.  Saxon, 
Mrs.  Merrick,  wife  of  ex-Chief-Justice  Merrick,  and  Mrs.  Dr.  Harriette  Keating. 
When  our  convention  was  discussing  the  suffrage  question,  these  ladies  petitioned  to 
be  heard.  Of  course  the  request  was  allowed.  Last  Tuesday  evening  the  above-men- 
tioned ladies  addressed  the  congress  at  length.  Their  speeches  were  able,  and  the 
ideas  they  advanced  were  sound  logic;  but  if  carried  into  effect  may  prove  beneficial, 
and  may  not.  Woman  suffrage  is  an  experiment.  Like  everything  else,  we  will  never 
know  its  effects  until  after  it  is  tried.  We  only  wish  that  there  were  a  few  more  men 
in  that  convention  who  could  make  as  able  speeches  as  did  these  ladies — notwithstand- 
ing the  Utopian  ideas  advanced. 

When  the  new  constitution  finally  went  forth,  it  contained,  as  the  result 
of  all  our  arguments  and  appeals,  but  one  little  concession  : 

ARTICLE  232.  Women  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards,  shall  be  eligible  to  any 
office  of  control  or  management  under  the  school  laws  of  the  State. 

Judge  I.  F.  Marshall  of  Catahoula  parish,  an  accomplished  gentleman 
and  able  lawyer,  suggested  this  article,  and  it  was  presented  and  cham- 
pioned by  Hon.  F.  L.  Claiborne  *  of  Pointe  Coupee.  The  women  of 
Louisiana  have  never  realized  any  advantage  from  this  law.  All  school 
offices  are  filled  by  appointment  of  the  governor,  and  there  was  no 
serious  agitation  for  the  enforcement  of  this  clause  in  the  new  constitu- 
tion until  the  autumn  of  1885,  when,  in  response  to  the  demand  that 
women  should  be  appointed  on  the  school-board  of  New  Orleans,  Gov. 
McEnery,  through  a  correspondent  of  the  Times-Democrat,  gave  his 
opinion  as  follows : 

If  a  married  woman  occupied  an  office  under  the  school  laws,  in  which  it  was  neces- 
sary to  bring  a  suit  to  enforce  some  right  connected  with  it,  she  would  have-to  get  the 
consent  of  her  husband  to  bring  the  suit  and  join  him  with  her.  There  are  only  a  few 
exceptional  cases  where  the  married  woman  can  legally  act  independently  of  her  hus- 
band. Our  code  so  recognizes  the  paramount  control  of  the  husband  that  when  a 
widow,  who  is  the  tutor  of  her  minor  children,  wishes  to  marry,  and  gets  the  consent 
of  a  family  meeting  to  be  retained  in  the  tutorship,  the  code,  article  255,  says  :  Her 
second  husband  becomes  of  necessity  the  co-tutor,  and,  for  the  administration  of  the 
property  subsequently  to  his  marriage,  becomes  bound  in  solido  with  his  wife.  And 
so  it  would  be  in  the  appointment  of  a  married  woman  to  a  public  office.  Her 
husband,  of  necessity,  would  share  it  with  her;  would,  in  fact,  be  the  officer.  And  as 
to  unmarried  women,  Article  232  does  not  repeal  any  ot  their  disabilities.  It  does  not 
repeal  the  laws  creating  the  essential  differences  between  men  and  women.  It,  as  I 
stated,  simply  asserts  a  right,  and  is  inoperative  until  there  is  legislation  to  enforce  it. 

The  Daily  Picaytine  of  November  16,  under  the  head  lines  of  "  Women 
as  Members  of  School  Boards,"  "  The  Law  and  the  Facts  in  the  Case 
Presented  by  Mrs.  Merrick,"  gives  the  following: 

*  The  Claibornes  are  a  distinguished  Virginia  family,  but  belong  to  the  history  of  Mississippi  and 
Louisiana  since  territorial  times.  Mr.  Claiborne  now  regrets  that  he  did  not  go  farther,  for  he  is  satis- 
fied that  women  may  be  trusted  with  powers  that  have  long  been  withheld.  He  says  he  was  led  to  re- 
flect seriously  on  the  subject  by  the  able  addresses  of  Mrs.  Keating,  Mrs.  Saxon  and  Mrs.  Merrick,  who 
made  a  profound  impression  on  the  convention. 


796  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Last  Thursday  evening,  November  12,  a  special  meeting  or  reception  was  held  by 
the  women's  club  at  their  rooms  on  Baronne  street.  On  this  occasion  the  club  was  ad- 
dressed by  Mrs.  Caroline  E.  Merrick,  a  good  and  practical-minded  friend  of  the  cause 
of  woman.  The  I2th  was  the  seventieth  birthday  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton, 
and  a  decorated  picture  of  the  famous  woman  hung  in  the  rooms.  Mrs.  Merrick  read 
a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Mrs.  Stanton,  but  devoted  the  first  part  of  the  evening  to  reading 
the  following  paper,  the  matter  of  which  is  of  the  keenest  interest  to  all  thinking  men 
and  women  in  the  State  : 

More  than  eighty  thousand  children  attend  the  public  schools  in  Louisiana,  and  of 
this  number  one-half  are  girls,  and  of  the  389  teachers  employed  in  the  public  schools 
of  New  Orleans,  368  are  women.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  these  are  of  equal  concern 
and  importance  to  the  State  with  any  like  number  of  boys  and  men,  nor  does  it  require 
any  argument  to  prove  that  mothers  are  best  qualified  to  superintend  and  look  after 
the  welfare  of  their  own  children.  In  view  of  this  fact  the  convention  of  1879  em- 
bodied the  following  article  in  the  constitution  of  the  State  : 

ARTICLE  232.  Women  21  years  of  age  and  upward  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  of 
control  or  management  under  the  school  laws  of  this  State. 

Notwithstanding  the  absolute  right  conferred  by  this  article  on  women  over  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  the  chief  executive  of  the  State,  with  his  present  views,  is  apparently 
unwilling  to  make  any  appointment  of  women  to  such  management  without  further 
legislation.  The  views  of  the  Governor  on  all  questions  are  always  entitled  to  great 
respect.  The  question  is  one  of  interpretation,  and  many  of  the  best  lawyers  in 
Louisiana  do  not  hesitate  to  hold  and  declare  a  different  view. 

I  am  told  that  there  are  in  the  various  constitutions  of  the  States  and  general  gov- 
ernment two  classes  of  provisions,  the  one  self-executing  and  absolute,  and  the  other 
requiring  legislative  action  before  they  can  be  exercised.  For  example  of  the  first 
class,  article  59  of  the  constitution  declares  that  "  the  supreme  executive  power  of  the 
State  shall  be  vested  in  a  chief  magistrate,  who  shall  be  styled  the  Governor  of  Louisi- 
ana." Nobody  would  ever  undertake  to  say  that  the  governor  was  dependent  on  any 
more  legislation  to  carry  this  into  effect  so  as  to  enable  him  to  fill  his  office.  If  he 
were,  it  would  then  become  necessary  to  legislate  about  every  other  article,  and  so  the 
constitution  would  be  worthless,  everything  being  required  to  be  done  over  by  the 
legislature  before  the  constitution  could  have  any  effect. 

Article  232  of  the  constitution  is  imperative.  It  declares  that  women  over  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  of  control  or  management  under  the 
school  laws  of  the  State.  Can  the  legislature  repeal  or  modify  this  mandate  ?  Of 
course  not.  Could  the  absoluteness  of  this  right  be  expressed  in  plainer  or  more  ener. 
getic  terms?  No,  indeed.  We  are  told  and  have  been  made  to  understand  that  it  is 
a  right  conferred  by  the  constitution  of  the  State,  which  cannot  be  defeated  or  enlarged, 
or  even  abridged  in  any  way  by  the  legislature,'  neither  by  modification,  repeal,  or  in- 
action. That  this  article  being  paramount  law,  itself  repeals  all  legislation  inconsist- 
ent with  it.  The  constitution,  I  am  told,  prescribes  the  legal  and  other  qualifications 
for  our  judges  of  the  courts.  Nobody  ever  thought  legislative  action  was  needed  when 
their  qualifications  are  according  to  that  instrument,  to  enable  them  to  take  their 
places  on  the  bench. 

Article  185  of  the  constitution  prescribes  the  qualifications  of  voters  or  electors,  and 
we  are  instructed  that  all  conflicting  laws  on  that  point  are  annulled  by  the  sovereign 
will  of  the  people  in  convention  assembled.  In  fact,  good  lawyers  have  given  us  in- 
numerable examples,  illustrations  and  decisions  to  this  effect;  and  even  women,  who 
are  for  the  most  part  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  their  State,  begin  to  understand  that  they 
have  a  right  to  a  place  on  the  school-board  for  some  one  of  their  own  sex  here  in  Lou- 
isiana. True,  it  has  been  said  that  there  are  other  articles  which  are  in  conflict  with 
article  232,  but  we  are  told  the  other  provisions  of  the  constitution  relate  to  other  and 
more  general  subjects,  and  on  this  very  subject  the  framers  of  the  constitution  have  in 
very  positive  and  unmistakable  terms  declared  its  precise  will,  and  it  is  wasting  time 
to  try  to  explain  it  away.  These  wise  jurists  do  not  fear  to  tell  us  further,  that  special 


Mrs.  Merrick  Criticises   the  Governor.  797 

laws  or  provisions  in  a  constitution  or  statute  abrogate  or  limit  the  general  provisions 
in  the  same  instrument. 

We  are  sorry  that  our  governor  apprehends  any  difficulty  would  arise  in  regard 
to  married  women  being  school  directors.  He  says  the  husband  might  change  his 
domicile  and  the  wife  would  be  obliged  to  follow  him,  and  if  bond  were  required  she 
could  not  sign  it  without  his  consent,  and  finally  the  fact  was  she  could  not  do  anything 
without  the  husband's  consent.  Then  "  the  husband  would  share  the  office  with  her." 
I  have  heard  that  it  was  difficult  to  prevent  outside  influences  from  operating  upon  the 
minds  of  men  in  office.  We  have  certainly  heard  some  complaints  of  this  sort,  but  it 
seems  that  there  would  be  no  great  danger  encountered  from  this  source.  The  duties 
which  this  article  of  the  constitution  permits  women  to  perform  are  not  generally  re- 
munerative, and  would  be  probably  more  a  labor  of  love  than  of  reward.  As  to 
the  other  objections,  perhaps  the  husband  -would  sign  his  wife's  bond,  and  perhaps 
he  would  not  move  away  while  she  held  the  office.  I  have  heard  that  sheriffs  sometimes 
run  away  after  giving  bond,  and  people  are  sometimes  elected  to  office  and  unable  to 
qualify,  and  others  disappoint  the  public  by  resigning.  Moreover  we  have  ascertained 
the  fact  that  a  tutrix  may  subsequently  marry,  and  that  act  does  not  prevent  her  from 
filling  the  office  of  tutrix,  neither  does  the  fact  of  being  already  married  prevent  her 
from  discharging  the  duties  of  tutrix.  But  I  see  no  harm  done  if  the  husband  should 
become  the  assistant  of  his  wife  in  this  office.  Is  it  not  manifest  that  the  two  together 
would  have  a  superior  official  knowledge  of  the  needs  and  exigencies  of  the  girls  sent  to 
the  public  schools  and  the  women  who  teach  them  daily,  than  the  husband  could  pos- 
sibly attain  by  himself?  But  the  whole  difficulty,  it  seems  to  us,  might  be  obviated. 
Let  the  governor  appoint  unmarried  women.  A  woman  who  has  been  so  unfortunate 
as  to  be  a  widow  would  not  be  objectionabie. 

The  article  says  :  "  Women  over  twenty-one  years  shall  be  eligible  "  to  these  of- 
fices. It  does  not  say  the  legislature  may  make  them  "eligible."  By  its  own  inherent 
force  it  declares  them  eligible.  If  they  are  really  eligible,  then  why  not  have  them 
selected  and  appointed  ?  They  have  every  requisite  for  the  office,  and  as  the  diction- 
ary says,  are  "  proper  to  be  chosen."  They  are  "  qualified  to  be  elected."  They  are 
"legally  qualified."  They  are  eligible.  It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  legislature  will 
ever  do  the  vain  thing  of  affirming  a  constitutional  right  so  explicitly  given. 

The  opposition  of  the  executive,  therefore,  seems  to  be  a  bar  not  only  to  this  pro- 
vision being  carried  out,  but  also  to  the  raising  of  any  question  under  it  for  the  consid- 
eration of  the  judiciary.  It  is  confidently  hoped  and  expected  that  he  will  consent  to 
reconsider  the  whole  question.  We  feel  sure  the  governor  will  not  intentionally  be 
guilty  of  any  injustice  to  the  women  of  Louisiana,  and  will  not  desire  to  withhold  any 
benefit  from  them  which  has  already  been  conferred  by  the  State  constitution.  Women 
all  over  the  Union  rejoiced  when  this  generous  concession  was  granted  here  in  Louisi- 
ana. In  many  other  States  they  enjoy  the  same,  and  greater  privileges,  and  letters  and 
inquiries  have  come  from  distant  States,  asking  why  this  law  has  not  gone  into  effect. 
We  are  aware  that  any  reform  changing  existing  conditions  must  move  slowly, 
and  is  apt  to  be  unpopular  with  men  in  authority  ;  then  it  also  antagonizes  the  inertia 
of  women,  who  are  too  modest  to  thrust  themselves  forward,  saying,  "  I  am  ready  to 
serve  the  State  ";  yet  they  know  all  the  time  they  can  do  good  service  in  relation  to 
the  schools.  Only  give  them  a  kindly  helping  hand,  and  we  feel  sure  that  a  valuable 
cooperating  influence  will  be  felt,  of  which  no  one  has  ever  dreamed  in  the  past.  We 
leave  this  matter  to  the  governor,  to  the  citizens  of  Louisiana,  and  to  the  fathers  who 
take  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  their  daughters  as  well  as  of  their  sons. 

Our  legislature  passed  a  law  requiring  physiology  to  be  taught  in  the 
public  schools,  while  the  vast  majority  of  the  teachers  of  the  State  are 
women,  and  no  college  in  which  that  science  is  taught  is  open  to  them.  In 
1885,  Dr  Chaille  gave  a  course  of  free  lectures  on  physiology  and  anatomy 
for  the  benefit  of  the  New  Orleans  teachers,  who,  while  they  are  doing 


798  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  most  important  public  work  in  training  the  rising  generation  in  the 
rudiments  of  learning,  are  denied  the  advantages  of  the  higher  education 
that  would  fit  them  for  the  duties  of  their  profession.  A  fitting  precedent 
for  the  action  of  our  rulers  may  be  found  in  Shakespeare's,  "Titus 
Andronicus,"  in  which  rude  men  seize  the  king's  daughter,  cut  out  her 
tongue  and  cut  off  her  hands,  and  then  bid  her  go  call  for  water  and 
wash  her  hands. 

The  State  Pharmaceutical  Association,  formed  in  1882  with  no  mem- 
bers, unanimously  elected  Miss  Eliza  Rudolph  a  member.  Miss  Rudolph 
was  then  the  only  woman  in  the  drug  business.  Having  been  refused 
admission  to  the  medical  college  of  the  State  University,  she  perfected 
herself  in  pharmacy  by  a  course  of  private  lectures.  In  1884  she  was 
elected  corresponding  secretary  of  the  association. 

The  Daily  Picayune,  in  closing  its  half-century,  gives  the  following  of 
Mrs.  E.  J.  Nicholson,  its  chief  owner  and  manager  since  January,  1876: 

"Pearl  Rivers,"  the  lady's  nom  de plume,  was  already  well  known  in  the  republic 
of  letters  before  she  became,  as  she  now  is,  the  most  eminent  female  journalist  in  the 
world,  largely  owning  and  successfully  directing  for  years  a  great  daily  politi- 
cal journal.  The  fact  is  unique.  The  fame  of  Mrs.  Nicholson  belongs  to  the  world 
of  letters  and  her  biography  may  be  found  in  any  dictionary  of  Southern  authors, 
nevertheless  a  history  of  the  Picayune  would  not  be  complete  without  some  notice  of 
one  who  has  had  so  much  to  do  with  its  destiny.  Miss  Eliza  J.  Poltevent  is  a  native 
of  Hancock  county,  Mississippi.  She  was  born  on  the  banks  of  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  streams  in  the  South,  Pearl  river.  She  wrote  over  the  name  of  "Pearl 
Rivers,"  and  her  poems  made  her  a  conspicuous  niche  in  the  temple  of  Southern 
letters.  She  wrote  much  for  the  Picayune  and  wrote  herself  into  love  as  well  as  fame. 
She  was  married  to  Col.  Holbrook,  the  proprietor  of  the  paper,  and  after  his  death  in 
1876,  she  succeeded  to  the  ownership.  This  was  a  trying  position  for  a  woman. 
The  South  had  not  recovered  from  the  devastation  of  the  war,  and  the  Picayune  was 
involved  in  embarrassments.  Friends  even  advised  her  to  dispose  of  the  property 
and  not  to  undertake  so  formidable  a  task  as  the  conduct  of  a  daily  paper  under 
existing  complications.  Brave  and  true-hearted,  with  a  profound  and  abiding  con- 
viction of  her  duty  in  the  matter,  she  assumed  th'e  control  of  the  paper.  She  wisely 
surrounded  herself  with  able  and  devoted  assistants,  and  with  their  help  has  gallantly 
and  successfully  surmounted  many  formidable  obstacles,  until  she  has  seen  the  Pica- 
yune reestablished  on  a  sound  and  prosperous  basis.  Mr.  George  Nicholson  had  ac- 
quired a  proprietorship  in  it,  and  when  Mrs.  Holbrook  assumed  control  the  firm  name 
was  E.  J.  Holbrook  &  Co.  On  June  28,  1878,  the  interests  of  the  two  copartners 
were  further  consolidated  by  marriage.  Since  then  the  Picayune  has  been  published 
under  the  firm  name  of  Nicholson  &  Co.,  and  the  columns  daily  attest  the  energy,  en- 
terprise and  ability  with  which  it  is  conducted,  while  its  advertising  patronage  speaks 
for  itself. 

Mrs.  Martha  R,  Field  is  a  member  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Picayune. 
She  has  charge  of  the  Sunday  woman's  column,  besides  her  regular 
column  over  the  nom  de  plume  of  Catherine  Cole. 

The  Times-Democrat  is  owned  by  Mrs.  Burke,  who  however  leaves  its 
management  to  her  husband,  Col.  Burke.  Miss  Bessie  Bisland,  under 
the  name  of  B.  L.  R.  Dane,  contributes  to  the  Sunday  paper,  and  edits 
the  "  Bric-a-Brac  column"  which  consists  of  criticisms  and  reviews  of  the 
leading  magazines.  This  paper  boasts  the  most  clever  "  Society  column  " 
in  the  country  ;  it  is  edited  by  Mrs.  Jennie  Coldwell  Nixon  who  is  now, 
1886,  superintendent  of  the  Woman's  Department  of  the  Exposition. 


Laws  Relating  to  Married  Women.  799 

Mrs.  J.  Pinkney  Smith  edits  the  "  Social  Melange  "  of  the  States.  Among 
the  regular  Sunday  contributors  are  Miss  Corrinne  Castillanos,  who 
buzzes  as  the  Society  Bee,  and  Mrs.  Mollie  Moore  Davis,  known  as  the 
"  Texas  Song  Bird."  Mrs.  Ada  Hilderbrand,  editor  of  the  Courier  at 
Gretna,  did  the  printing  for  the  Woman's  Exposition. 

New  Orleans  has  a  Woman's  National  Press  Association  of  which  Mrs. 
E.  J.  Nicholson  is  president;  a  Christian  Woman's  Exchange,  Mrs.  R. 
M.  Wamsley,  president,  doing  a  business  of  $45,000  a  year,*  a  Southern 
Art  Union  and  Woman's  Industrial  Association,  with  Mrs.  J.  H.  Stauffer 
and  others  on  the  auxiliary  executive  committee,  and  a  Woman's  Club.t 
originated  by  Miss  Bessie  Bisland  who  was  the  president  of  the  club  for 
the  first  year,  1*885. 

The  laws  of  Louisiana  relating  to  women  have  been  given  by  Judge 
E.  T.  Merrick,  a  well-known  legal  authority  and  for  ten  years  the  chief- 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State : 

The  rights  of  married  women  to  their  estates  are  probably  better  secured  in  Louisi- 
ana than  in  any  other  of  these  United  States.  The  laws  on  this  subject  are  derived 
from  Spain.  Certain  provinces  of  that  kingdom  were  conquered  and  for  centuries 
held  by  the  Visigoths,  among  whom,  as  among  the  Franks  at  Paris,  the  institution 
called  the  community  of  aquets  and  gains  between  husband  and  wife,  prevailed.  In 
Spain,  as  in  France,  there  were  certain  provinces  in  which  the  ancient  Roman  law 
continued  in  force,  and  they  were  called  the  provinces  of  the  written  law.  In  these 
(called  also  the  countries  of  the  dotal  regime)  there  was  no  community  between  the 
spouses  of  their  acquisitions.  Both  of  these  systems  are  recognized  by  the  Louisiana 
civil  code,  but  if  the  parties  marry  without  any  marriage  settlement  the  law  implies 
that  they  have  married  under  the  regime  of  the  community.  To  prevent  error  it  is 
proper  to  observe  that  there  have  been  three  civil  codes  adopted  in  Louisiana,  viz.,  in 
1808.  1825  and  1870.  The  marriage  laws  are  substantially  the  same  in  all,  but  bear 
different  numbers  in  each  code.  The  following  references  are  to  the  code  of  1870. 
Except  in  a  very  limited  number  of  cases  the  husband  and  wife  are  incapable  of  making 
binding  contracts  with  each  other  during  the  marriage.  Hence  all  settlements  of 
property,  to  be  binding,  must  be  executed  before  marriage  and  in  solemn  form, 
that  is,  before  a  notary  and  two  male  witnesses  having  the  proper  qualifications.  The 
betrothed  are  granted  considerable  liberty  over  the  provisions  of  their  marriage  con- 
tract, as  the  following  quotations  show  : 

ART.  2,325.  In  relation  to  property,  the  law  only  regulates  the  conjugal  associa- 
tion in  default  of  particular  agreements,  which  the  parties  are  at  liberty  to  stipulate  as 
they  please,  provided  they  be  not  contrary  to  good  morals  and  under  the  modifications 
hereafter  prescribed. 

ART.  2,326.  Husband  and  wife  can  in  no  case  enter  into  any  agreement  or  make 
any  renunciation  the  object  of  which  would  be  to  alter  the  legal  order  of  descents, 
either  with  respect  to  themselves,  in  what  concerns  the  inheritance  of  their  children, 


*  The  officers  of  the  Christian  Woman's  Exchange  for  1885,  were  :  President,  Mrs.  R.  M.  Walmsley; 
Vice-Presidents,  Mesdames  T.  G.  Richardson,  M.  W.  Bartlett,  Albert  Baldwin,  John  R.  Juden,  J.  H. 
Allen;  Recording  Secretary ,  Mrs.  Theo.  Auze  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  E.  J.  Wharton ; 
Treasurer,  Mrs.  S.  H.  Davis;  Acting  Treasurer ;  Mrs.  F.  N.  Griswold  ;  Board of 'Managers •,  Mcs- 
datnes  S.  Landrtim,  M.  C.  Jennings,  B.  D.  Wood,  A.  Brittin,  Percy  Roberts,  S.  Delgado,  F.  N.  Gris- 
wold, E.  L.  Wood,  Wm.  Muller,  E.  Ranlett,  G.  W.  Pritchard,  L.  P.  Wayne,  T.  H.  Holmes,  J.  B. 
Wallace,  Albert  Baldwin,  P.  N.  Strong,  K.  Fuhri,  S.  H.  Kennedy,  H.  J.  Leovy,  John  Parker,  R.  M. 
Walmsley,  T.  G.  Richardson,  Theo.  Auze,  E.  J.  Wharton,  S.  H.  Davis.  M.  W.  Bartlett,  D.  A.  Given, 
John  R.  Juden,  J.  H.  Allen,  Fred.  Wing. 

t  The  original  members  of  the  Woman's  Club  were:  Miss  Bessie  Bistand,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W. 
Raker,  Miss  C.  Farrar,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Ferguson,  Miss  M.  E.  Hagan,  Miss  J.  E.  Linsler,  Miss  H.  D. 
Pickens,  Miss  M.  Siebold,  Mrs.  M.  J.  C.  Swayze,  Miss  E.  Schrievcs,  Mi^s  M.  Manning,  Miss  P.  Teil- 
tebaum. 


8oo  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

posterity,  or  with  respect  to  their  children  between  themselves,  without  prejudice  to 
the  donations  inter  -vivas  or  mortis  causa,  which  may  take  place  according  to  the 
formalities  and  in  the  cases  determined  by  this  code. 

The  parties  are  also  "prohibited  from  derogating  from  the  power  of  the  husband 
over  the  person  of  his  wife  and  children  which  belongs  to  the  husband  as  the  head 
of  the  family,  or  from  the  rights  guaranteed  to  the  surviving  husband  or  wife" 
(C.  C.,  Art.  2,327). 

If  the  parties  adopt  the  dotal  regime  in  their  marriage  contract  the  dotal  effects  are 
(except  under  some  circumstances)  inalienable  during  marriage;  and  at  the  dissolution 
of  the  marriage,  they  are  to  be  replaced  or  returned  to  the  wife,  or  her  heirs,  and  to 
secure  this,  the  wife  has  a  mortgage  on  her  husband's  lands,  and  a  privilege  on  his 
movables,  including  those  of  the  community  (C.  C.,  Art.  2376;  Art.  2347).  "The 
dower  is  given  to  the  husband,  for  him  to  enjoy  the  same  as  long  as  the  marriage  shall 
last."  Strong  as  is  this  language,  the  dowry  is  given  by  the  wife  or  her  father  or 
mother  or  other  relations  or  friends,  simply  to  support  the  marriage. 

Under  the  regime  of  the  community,  the  individual  property  of  the  husband  or  wife, 
and  all  property  either  may  acquire  afterwards  by  inheritance  or  donations  re- 
remain  separate  property.  The  conjugal  partnership  is  denned  by  C.  C.,  Art.  2402. 
"  This  partnership,  or  community,  consists  of  the  profits  of  all  the  effects  of  which  the 
husband  has  the  administration  and  enjoyment,  either  of  right  or  in  fact,  of  the  pro- 
duce of  the  reciprocal  industry  and  labor  of  both  husband  and  wife,  and  the  estates 
which  they  may  acquire  during  marriage,  either  by  donations  made  jointly  to  them 
both,  or  by  purchase,  or  in  any  other  similar  way,  even  should  the  purchase  be  in  the 
name  of  one  of  the  two,  and  not  of  both,  because  in  that  case  the  period  of  time  when 
the  purchase  is  made  is  alone  attended  to,  and  not  the  person  who  made  the  purchase." 

During  the  marriage  the  husband  has  the  management  of  the  community,  and  he 
can  sell  or  exchange  the  same,  but  he  cannot  give  away  the  real  estate  without  binding 
his  estate  to  recompense  the  wife  or  her  heirs,  for  the  one-half  so  given  away.  All 
the  income  of  his  estate  must  enter  into  the  community.  On  the  other  hand  the  wife 
may  at  her  pleasure  take  her  own  estate  from  the  management  of  the  husband  into  her 
own  control  and  discretion  (C.  C.  2384).  But  in  this  contingency  she  must  contribute 
to  the  family  expenses  (C.  C.  2389  and  2435). 

If  the  affairs  of  the  husband  become  embarrassed,  the  wife  can  sue  the  husband  for 
a  separation  of  property,  and  get  a  judgment  against  him  for  all  indebtedness,  on  ac- 
count of  money  or  property  used  or  disposed  of  by  him,  and  sell  him  out  under  execu- 
tion, and  buy  in  the  property  herself  if  she  sees  fit.  Thus  she  stands  in  a  more  favor- 
able position  toward  the  community  than  the  husband,  who  is  bound  for  all  its  debts, 
for  she  can  stand  by  and  choose.  If  the  community  becomes  prosperous,  she  has  the 
absolute  right,  as  owner,  to  one-half  of  it  after  payment  of  debts,  and  a  right  to  the 
income  of  tjje  other  half  until  she  dies,  or  marries  a  second  time. 

By  causing  her  claims  on  account  of  her  separate  or  paraphernal  estate  to  be  re- 
corded, she  secures  a  mortgage  against  her  husband's  lands  and  the  lands  of  the 
community.  If  a  husband  or  wife  dies  affluent,  leaving  the  survivor  in  necessitous  cir- 
cumstances, the  latter  can  claim  one-fourth  of  the  estate  of  the  deceased.  This  is 
called  "  the  marital  fourth."  The  wife,  also,  if  she  or  the  children  do  not  possess  one 
thousand  dollars  in  their  own  right,  can  claim  as  a  privilege  and  against  the  creditors, 
one  thousand  dollars,  or  a  sum  which,  with  her  own  estate,  shall  equal  that  amount. 

The  wife  cannot  appear  in  court,  or  dispose  of,  or  mortgage,  or  acquire  real  estate, 
without  the  consent  of  the  husband,  but  the  judge  of  the  court  of  the  domicil  may  au- 
thorize the  wife  to  sue,  or  be  sued.  If  the  husband  refuses  to  empower  the  wife  to 
contract,  she  may  cite  him  into  court  and  have  the  property  of  the  proposed  contract 
settled  by  an  order  of  the  judge.  The  wife  has  full  power  to  make  a  will  without  any 
authorization  from  her  husband  or  the  court. 

ART.  2,398.  The  wife,  whether  separated  in  property,  by  contract,  or  by  judgment, 
or  not  separated,  cannot  bind  herself  for  her  husband,  nor  conjointly  with  him,  for 
debts  contracted  by  him  before  or  during  the  marriage. 


Myra    Clark  Gaines.  80 1 

ART.  1 19.  The  husband  and  wife  owe  to  each  other  mutual  fidelity,  support  and  as- 
sistance. 

ART.  120.  The  wife  is  bound  to  live  with  her  husband,  and  follow  him  wherever  he 
chooses  to  reside;  the  husband  is  obliged  to  receive  her,  and  furnish  her  with  whatever 
is  required  for  the  convenience  of  life  in  proportion  to  his  means  and  condition. 

It  is  provided  that  the  domicil  for  granting  divorces  of  such  marriages  as  have  been 
solemnized  in  Louisiana,  shall  be  in  that  State  so  that  the  courts  of  Louisiana  may 
grant  divorces  for  causes  and  faults  committed  in  foreign  countries.  For  abandon- 
ment and  other  causes,  a  final  divorce  cannot  be  granted  until  one  year  after  a  decree 
of  separation  from  bed  and  board  has  elapsed  without  a  reconciliation.  In  other  par- 
ticulars the  law  is  similar  to  that  of  the  other  States. 

One  day  in  1842,  the  New  Orleans  Delta  had  this  item: 
"Myra  Clark  Gaines  argued  her  own  case  in  court  in  this  city; 
the  only  instance  of  a  lady  appearing  as  counsel  in  the  courts." 
Mrs.  Gaines  was  a  remarkable  woman.  She  carried  on  a  suit  for 
many  years  against  the  city  of  New  Orleans  to  recover  property 
that  belonged  to  her,  and,  through  untold  difficulties  and  delays, 
triumphed  at  last.  She  preserved  her  youth,  beauty  and  vivacity 
until  late  in  life.  All  who  knew  her  can  readily  recall  her  bright, 
sparkling  face,  and  wonderful  powers  of  conversation.  In  her 
long  experience  in  litigation,  she  became  well  versed  in  the  laws 
regarding  real  estate  and  the  right  of  descent.  Mrs.  Gaines  was 
a  generous  woman  and  did  not  desire  to  rob  the  poor ;  to  many 
such  she  gave  a  quit-claim  title  to  the  property  which  she  had 
secured  under  her  suits. 

In  1869,  the  New  Orleans  Republican  had  an  excellent  editorial 
fully  endorsing  the  demand  for  woman's  enfranchisement.  In 
1870  the  Livingston  Herald,  published  in  Ponchatoula  parish,  by 
J.  O.  and  J.  E.  Spencer,  advocated  suffrage  for  women. 

In  1874,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  rendered  a  decision  that 
when  a  woman  owns  a  steamboat  she  may  be  named  in  the  papers 
as  the  master  of  the  same.  This  decision,  despite  the  opposition 
of  Solicitor  Raynor,  received  confirmation  in  case  of  Mrs.  Miller, 
in  1883,  from  Secretary  Charles  J.  Folger. 

II.— TEXAS. 

In  the  adoption  of  the  first  constitution  of  Texas,  woman  had 
some  representatives  in  the  convention  to  remind  the  legislators 
of  that  State  of  her  existence,  and  to  demand  that  the  constitution 
be  so  framed  as  to  secure  the  right  of  suffrage  alike  to  both  sexes. 
On  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Mundine,  to  extend  suffrage  to  women, 
in  the  constitutional  convention  of  Texas,  January,  1869,  Hon. 
L.  D.  Evans  said  : 


802  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

I  do  not  favor  the  adoption  of  this  measure  at  the  present  time,  because  the  country 
is  not  yet  prepared,  yet  it  is  entitled  to  our  respectful  consideration — therefore  I  thank 
the  convention  for  allowing  me  the  opportunity  to  state  the  ground  on  which  the 
friends  of  woman  suffrage  place  their  advocacy,  so  far  as  I  may  be  able  under  the  five- 
minute  rule.  It  does  not  comport  with  the  dignity  of  a  representative  body  engaged 
in  forming  a  constitution  of  government  to  thrust  aside  the  claim  of  woman  to  the 
right  of  suffrage, — a  claim  that  is  advocated  by  some  of  the  ablest  statesmen  and  politi- 
cal philosophers  of  Europe  and  America,  and  is  destined  to  a  sure  and  speedy 
triumph. 

Aristotle,  the  profoundest  thinker  of  antiquity,  in  his  treatise  on  politics,  defines  a 
citizen  to  be  "  one  who  enjoys  a  due  share  in  the  government  of  that  country  of  which 
he  is  a  member."  If  he  does  not  enjoy  this  right,  then  he  is  no  citizen,  but  a  subject. 
Every  citizen,  therefore,  is  entitled  to  a  voice — a  vote — a  due  share  in  the  government 
of  his  country.  I  am  aware  that  the  courts  and  politicians  in  democratic  America  have 
not  so  defined  citizenship.  The  reason  is  that  politics  is  not  yet  a  positive  science,  and 
they  have  failed  to  analyze  this  question.  Had  they  a  clear  conception  of  the  con- 
stituent elements — the  anatomy,  so  to  speak,  of  the  body  politic,  they  would  perceive 
that  suffrage — a  voice  in  the  government — is  an  essential  condition  of  citizenship. 
Aristotle,  in  his  treatise,  which  is  perhaps  the  ablest  yet  given  to  the  world,  pointed 
out  that  families,  not  individuals,  are  the  constituent  units  of  a  State. 

A  family — a  household — exists  and  is  held  together  by  natural  laws,  independent  of 
the  State,  and  an  aggregation  of  these  constitute  the  State.  The  head  of  the  family, 
whoever  that  may  be,  according  to  its  structure,  is  the  representative  in  the  State.  All 
the  constituent  members  of  the  family,  consisting,  in  its  most  perfect  form,  of  husband, 
wife,  children  and  domestics,  are  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  head,  and  have  no 
voice,  no  vote,  no  share  in  the  government,  except  through  their  head  or  representa- 
tive. In  societies  where  the  common  law  obtains,  which  in  this  respect  is  a  transcript 
of  the  Bible,  the  wife,  like  the  child,  is  subordinated  to  the  authority  of  the  husband, 
and  on  principle,  has  no  voice,  no  vote.  On  the  decease  of  the  husband,  the  widow 
becomes  the  head  of  the  family,  and  on  principle  is  entitled  to  a  voice,  a  vote.  But 
in  countries  where  the  civil  law  governs,  the  wife  is  the  partner,  and  not  the  subject  of 
her  husband,  and  on  principle  ought  to  have  her  due  share  in  the  government. 

When  the  children  in  a  family,  whether  male  or  female,  attain  the  age  fixed  by  law 
for  the  control  of  their  own  affairs,  and  do  control  them,  they  are  free,  independent, 
and  on  every  principle  are  entitled  to  a  due  share  in  the  government — to  a  vote. 
Every  member  of  society  who  is  free  and  independent — capable  of  managing  his  own 
affairs,  or  making  his  own  living,  and  does  make  it,  should  have  the  same  right  of 
choice  in  the  selection  of  his  political  agents  that  he  has  to  select  his  legal  or  business 
agents.  But  all  persons,  no  matter  from  what  cause,  who  are  unable  to  maintain 
themselves,  and  are  dependent  for  their  support  upon  others,  are  incapable  of  any 
share  in  the  government,  and  should  have  no  voice — no  vote.  As  soon  as  the  princi- 
ple of  citizenship  comes  to  be  thoroughly  understood,  woman  suffrage  must  be  adopted 
throughout  the  United  States,  in  England,  and  in  every  country  where  representative 
government  exists. 

The  Revolution  of  August  20,  1868,  said  : 

"We  have  received  from  Loring  P.  Haskins,  esq.,  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
-vention,  the  following  excellent  report  and  declaration  made  and  signed 
by  a  majority  of  the  committee  to  whom  the  subject  of  woman  suffrage 
was  referred.  We  need  scarcely  bespeak  attentive  reading : 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  State  Affairs  upon  Female  Suffrage,  with  accompanying 
Declaration  : 

July  30,  1868 — Introduced  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

COMMITTEE  ROOM,  AUSTIN,  Texas,  July  10,  1868. 
To  the  Hon.  E.  J.  Davis,  President  of  the  Convention  : 

A  majority  of  your  Committee  on  State  Affairs,  to  whom  was  referred  the  declara- 


Constitutional  Convention  of  Texas.  803 

tion  introduced  by  the  Hon.  T.  H.  Mundine  of  the  county  of  Burleson,  to  extend  the 
right  of  suffrage  to  all  citizens  of  the  State  over  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  possessing 
the  requisite  qualifications  for  electors,  have  examined  with  much  care  said  declaration 
and  considered  the  object  sought  to  be  accomplished,  and  have  arrived  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  said  declaration  ought  to  be  a  part  of  the  organic  law. 

It  was  said  by  George  Washington  that  the  safety  of  republican  government  depends 
upon  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people.  This  declaration  is  not  a  new  theory 
of  government  for  the  first  time  proposed  to  be  made  a  part  of  our  republican  institu- 
tions. The  idea  of  extending  the  elective  franchise  to  females  has  been  discussed 
both  in  Great  Britain  and  in  the  United  States.  Your  committee  are  of  the  opinion  that 
the  true  base  of  republican  government  must  ever  be  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the 
people. 

In  this  State  our  system  of  jurisprudence  is  a  combination  of  civil  and  Spanish  law, 
intermixed  with  the  common  law  of  England;  and  this  peculiar  system,  just  in  all  its 
parts  for  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  married  and  unmarried  women,  is  likely  to 
be  continued.  The  time  was  when  woman  was  regarded  as  the  mere  slave  of  man. 
It  was  believed,  in  order  to  perpetuate  the  pretended  divine  right  of  kings  to  rule,  that 
the  mass  of  the  people  should  be  kept  in  profound  ignorance  and  that  woman  was  not 
entitled  to  the  benefits  of  learning  at  all.  It  is  not  remarkable  that  as  the  benign 
principles  of  Christianity  have  been  promulgated,  free  government  has  steadily  pro- 
gressed and  the  divine  rights  of  woman  have  been  recognized. 

The  old  constitution  of  the  republic  of  Texas,  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Texas 
of  1845,  the  laws  enacted  for  the  protection  of  married  women,  the  many  learned  de- 
cisions of  the  Supreme  Courts  of  Texas  and  Louisiana,  and  other  courts,  clearly 
indicate  that  the  march  of  intelligence  is  onward  and  that  our  advanced  civilization 
has  approximated  to  the  period  when  other  and  more  sacred  rights  are  to  be  conceded. 
Is  it  just  that  woman,  who  bears  her  reasonable  portion  of  the  burdens  of  government, 
should  be  denied  the  right  of  aiding  in  the  enactment  of  its  laws? 

The  question  of  extending  the  freedom  of  the  ballot  to  woman  may  well  claim  the 
attention  of  the  law-maker,  and  in  view  of  the  importance  of  the  subject  a  majority  of 
your  committee  earnestly  recommend  the  passage  of  the  declaration. 

H.  C.  HUNT,   Chairman, 
T.  H.  MUNDINE,  BENJ.  WATROUS, 

WM.  H.  FLEMING,  L.  P.  HARRIS. 

A    DECLARATION. 
Be  it  declared  by  the  people  of  Texas  in  convention  assembled,  that  the  following 

shall  be  a  section  of  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Texas,  known  as  section of 

article :     Every  person,  without  distinction  of  sex,  who  shall  have  arrived  at  the 

age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  who  shall  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  is  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  this  constitution  by  the  congress  of  the  United  States  a  citizen 
of  the  State  of  Texas,  and  shall  have  resided  in  this  State  one  year  next  preceding  an 
election,  and  the  last  six  months  within  the  district,  county,  city  or  town  in  which  he 
or  she  offers  to  vote,  shall  be  an  elector. 

The  Woman 's  Journal  of  December  4,  1875,  contains  a  letter 
from  Mrs.  Sarah  W.  Hiatt,  who  presented  a  memorial  to  the 
constitutional  convention.  The  memorial  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Suffrage.  In  regard  to  the  effect,  she  says: 

Since  the  presentation  of  the  memorial  I  have  had  some  very  interest- 
ing letters  on  the  subject  from  a  few  of  our  leading  men  ;  some  for,  others 
against  woman  suffrage,  but  all  treating  the  subject  respectfully.  I  copy 
below  a  portion  of  one  just  received.  I  should  like  to  give  it  entire  with 
the  writer's  name,  but  have  not  his  permission  to  do  so: 


804  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

As  you  apprehended,  the  question  of  suffrage  had  been  definitely  settled  in  the  con- 
vention  before  the  reception  of  your  letter.  It  remains  as  heretofore,  unrestricted 
manhood  suffrage.  That  all  the  rabble,  the  very  cttbris  of  society,  should  be  allowed 
a  voice  in  government,  and  yet  intelligent,  highly-cultivated  women  who  are  amenable 
to  the  laws  of  the  State  and  who  own  and  pay  taxes  on  property,  should  be  debarred 
from  a  voice  in  making  the  laws  which  are  to  affect  their  persons  and  property  equally 
with  that  of  the  men,  is  to  my  mind  simply  an  outrage  on  reason  and  justice.  *  *  * 
The  fear  of  ignoring  the  right  of  petition,  and  gallantry  towards  your  sex  on  the  part 

of  a  few,  prevented  the  memorial  from  being  summarily  rejected.     Outside  of 

and I  know  of  no  member  of  the  convention  who  openly  favors  woman  suffrage 

in  any  form.  It  is  true  there  are  a  number  of  gentlemen  who,  in  private  conversation, 
will  admit  the  justice  of  your  plea,  but  avoid  it  by  saying  that  ladies  generally  neither 
demand  nor  desire  the  right  to  vote.  The  truth  is,  these  men  (and  society  is  full  of 
them)  have  not  the  moral  courage  to  do  simple  justice. 

Thus  you  see  that,  so  far  as  the  action  of  this  convention  is  concerned, 
our  cause  is  defeated.  Yet  I  do  not  feel  discouraged.  I  think  there  is 
hardly  a  State  in  the  Union  that  has  such  just  and  excellent  laws  concern- 
ing the  property  rights  of  women  as  Texas.  There  is  also  great  liberality 
of  sentiment  here  concerning  the  avocations  of  women.  But  the  right  of 
women  to  thxe  ballot  seems  to  be  almost  a  new  idea  to  our  people. 
I  have  never  lived  in  a  community  where  the  women  are  more  nearly 
abreast  of  the  men  in  all  the  activities  of  life  than  here  in  this  frontier 
settlement.  In  our  State  a  woman's  property,  real  or  personal,  is  her 
own,  to  keep,  to  convey,  or  to  bequeath.  The  unusual  number  of  widows 
here,  due  to  the  incursions  of  the  Indians  during  and  since  the  war,  has 
made  the  management  as  well  as  the  ownership  of  property  by  women 
so  common  a  thing  as  to  attract  no  notice.  I  might  give  interest- 
ing instances,  but  that  would  take  time,  and  my  point  is  this, 
that  the  laws  which  have  enabled,  and  the  circumstances  which  have 
driven  women  to  rely  upon  and  to  exert  themselves,  have  been  educa- 
tional, not  only  to  them,  but  also  to  the  community.  The  importance  of 
this  education  to  the  future — who  can  measure  it  ?  It  is  true  that  many 
of  them  can  neither  read  nor  write,  but  in  this  the  men,  are  not  in  advance 
of  them.  It  as  often  happens  that  the  woman  can  read  while  the  man 
cannot,  as  the  reverse.  And  they  are  almost  universally  resolved  that 
their  children  shall  not  grow  up  in  the  ignorance  that  has  been  their  por- 
tion. If  the  women  could  vote,  our  convention  would  not  think  of  sub- 
mitting a  constitution  that  did  not  secure  to  the  State  a  liberal  free  school 
system. 

The  legislature  of  1885,  after  a  hard  struggle,  enacted  a  law 
making  it  compulsory  on  the  heads  of  all  departments  to  give  at 
least  one-half  of  the  clerical  positions  in  their  respective  offices  to 
women.  The  action  has  extraordinary  interest,  and  is  regarded 
as  a  victory  for  the  woman's  rights  party.  Mrs.  Jenny  Bland 
Beauchamp  of  Dennison  writes  : 

Texas  claims  to  be  a  woman's  State,  in  that  her  laws  are  unusually  just 
and  lenient  to  women.  A  woman  who  has  property  at  marriage  can  keep 
it.  She  can  even  claim  any  property  that  she  can  prove  was  bought  with 


Arkansas.  805 

that  money.  The  wife  is  entitled  to  half  the  community  whether  she 
owned  any  of  the  original  stock  or  not.  She  has  a  life  interest  in  the 
homestead  ;  no  deed  of  trust  can  be  put  upon  it,  nor  can  it  be  mortgaged. 
It  can  only  be  conveyed  from  her  by  actual  sale  with  her  written  consent. 
Under  our  latest  revised  statutes  women  have  the  right  of  suffrage,  but 
have  never  exercised  it;  nor  is  the  subject  agitated  to  any  great  extent. 

Three  years  ago,  when  the  State  University  was  built,  it  was  decided 
that  it  should  be  coeducational,  and  young  women  are  now  being  educated 
there  side  by  side  with  young  men.  Texas  has  many  liberal  men  and 
women.  It  is  generally  remarked  that  the  women  of  the  State  are  better 
educated  than  the  men. 

Miss  Julia  Pease,  a  Vassar  graduate  and  daughter  of  the  late  ex-Governor  Pease, 
has  charge  of  6,000  acres  of  land.  She  lives  in  the  family  mansion  at  Austin 
with  her  mother,  and  in  addition  to  her  other  duties  superintends  the  education  of  the 
three  children  of  her  deceased  sisters. 

Mrs.  Rogers,  the  "cattle  queen"  of  Texas,  inherited  from  her  first  husband  a  herd 
of  40,000  cattle.  The  widow  managed  the  business,  and  in  due  time  married  a 
preacher  twenty  years  younger  than  herself,  who  had  seven  children.  She  attends  to 
her  estate  herself,  rides  among  her  cowboys  on  horseback,  and  can  tell  just  what  a 
steer  or  cow  is  worth  at  any  size  or  age. 

The  largest  individual  sheep-owner  is  a  woman,  known  all  over  the  State  as 
the  "Widow  Cullahan."  Her  sheep,  more  than  50,000  in  number,  wander  over 
the  ranges  of  Uvalda  and  Bandern  counties,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State. 
Their  grade  is  a  cross  between  the  hardy  Mexican  sheep  and  the  Vermont  merino. 
They  are  divided  into  flocks  of  2,000  head  each,  with  a  ' '  bossero  "  and  two  ' '  pastoras  " 
in  charge  of  each  flock.  At  the  spring  and  fall  shearings  long  trains  of  wagons  trans- 
port the  "widow's"  wool  to  the  market  at  San  Antonio. 

Texas  has  two  female  dentists.  Mrs.  Stocking  is  one  of  the  most  successful  dental 
surgeons  in  the  State.  The  other,  Miss  Emma  Tibler,  went  from  Kentucky  to  Texas 
for  the  purpose  of  teaching.  Finding  this  profession  full,  she  studied  dentistry  and  is 
now  a  successful  practitioner  of  Cleburne. 

The  youngest  telegrapher  in  the  world  is  probably  Hattie  Hutchinson,  in  charge  of 
an  office  in  Texas.  She  is  only  ten  years  old. 

III. — ARKANSAS. 

Under  date  of  March,  1868,  Miles  L.  Langley  writes  from  Arka- 
delphia,  Arkansas,  in  regard  to  the  efforts  for  equality  in  the  con- 
stitutional convention  : 

ARKADELPHIA,  Ark.,  March  5,  1868. 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY — Dear  Friend:  With  a  sad  heart  but  an  approving 
conscience,  I  will  give  you  some  information  relative  to  the  action  of  our 
constitutional  convention  on  the  franchise  question. 

The  new  constitution — a  copy  of  which  I  send  you — makes  no  differ- 
ence between  men,  on  account  of  race  or  color  and  contains  other  ex- 
cellences; but  alas!  it  fails  to  guarantee  to  woman  her  God-given  and 
well-earned  rights  of  civil  and  political  equality. 

I  made  a  motion  to  insert  in  the  constitution  a  section  to  read  thus : 
"  All  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  can  read  and  write  the  English 
language,  shall  be  eligible  to  the  elective  franchise,  and  be  entitled  to 
equal  political  and  legal  rights  and  privileges."  The  motion  was  seconded 


806  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

and  I  had  the  floor,  but  the  House  became  so  clamorous  that  the  presi- 
dent could  not  restore  order,  and  the  meeting  adjourned  with  the  under- 
standing that  I  was  to  occupy  the  floor  next  morning.  But  next  morn- 
ing, just  as  I  was  about  to  commence  my  speech,  some  of  the  members 
tried  to  "  bully  "  me  out  of  the  right  to  speak  on  that  question.  I  replied 
that  I  had  been  robbed,  shot,  and  imprisoned  for  advocating  the  rights 
of  the  slaves,  and  that  I  would  then  and  there  speak  in  favor  of  the  rights 
of  women  if  I  had  to  fight  for  the  right !  I  then  proceeded  to  present 
arguments  of  which  I  am  not  ashamed.  I  was  met  with  ridicule,  sarcasm 
and  insult.  My  ablest  opponent,  a  lawyer,  acknowledged  in  his  reply  that 
he  could  not  meet  my  argument.  The  motion  was  laid  on  the  table. 

The  Democrats  are  my  enemies  because  I  assisted  in  emancipating  the 
slaves.  The  Republicans  have  now  become  my  opponents,  because  I 
have  made  an  effort  to  confer  on  the  women  their  rights.  And  even  the 
women  themselves  fail  to  sympathize  with  me. 

Very  respectfully,      MILES  L.  LANGLEY. 

The  Arkansas  Ladies  Journal  says  : 

They  tell  us  that  women  are  not  fit  for  politics.  This  may  be  true;  and  as  it  is  next 
to  impossible  to  change  the  nature  of  a  woman,  why  wouldn't  it  be  a  good  idea  to 
so  change  politics  that  it  shall  be  fit  for  women  ? 

In  1885,  Arkansas  formed  its  first  woman  suffrage  society  at  Eureka 
Springs  through  the  efforts  of  Miss  Phoebe  Couzins,  Mrs.  Lizzie  D.  Fyler, 
president.  The  association  numbers  some  fine  speakers.  The  press  is 
not  in  opposition,  one  or  two  papers  favor  the  cause. 

Misses  Pettigrew  and  Sims  have  been  elected  clerks  of  the  legislature. 
Several  other  ladies  were  candidates  for  the  positions,  and  the  contest 
was  quite  exciting.  Mrs.  Simonson  and  Miss  Emily  Thomas  are  members 
of  the  board  of  directors  of  a  lumber  company  at  Batesville,  and  Miss 
Thomas  is  also  bookkeeper  of  the  firm. 

A  very  able  report*  of  what  has  been  done  in  Arkansas  for  the 
elevation  of  woman  was  presented  by  Mrs.  Lizzie  D.  Fyler  at  the 
annual  Washington  convention  in  March,  1884. 

IV. — MISSISSIPPI. 

Mississippi  secures  to  a  married  woman  her  own  separate 
estate,  and  enables  her  to  contract  with  her  husband,  or  others, 
and  carry  on  business  in  her  own  name.  She  may  sue  her  hus- 
band, or  others,  and  be  sued,  and  has  practically  most  of  her  civil 
rights ;  but  her  political  rights  are  denied  as  in  all  other  States. 

In  1877  a  law  was  passed  by  which  henceforth  no  one  can  legally  sell 
liquor  in  Mississippi  unless  he  can  obtain  the  written  consent  of  a  majority 
of  the  adult  citizens  of  both  sexes  resident  in  the  township. 

The  Mississippi  Industrial  College  for  Women  held  its  formal  opening 
October  22,  1885,  at  Columbus.  Students  had  come  from  all  parts  of  the 
State.  More  than  300  had  already  entered.  The  occasion  was  a  brilliant 

*  See  Report  Washington  Convention,  1884. 


Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Dorsey.  807 

one.  Speeches  were  made  by  Senator  E.  T.  Sykes,  Senator  J.  McMartin 
of  Claiborne  county,  Col.  J.  L.  Power  of  Jackson,  Hon.  James  T.  Harri- 
son, Governor  Lowry,  and  Dr.  Jones.  Mrs.  E.  G.  Peyton  of  Hazelhurst, 
to  whose  efforts  the  founding  of  the  Industrial  College  is  largely  due,  was 
called  upon,  and  in  a  few  well-chosen  remarks  expressed  the  pride  she 
felt  in  the  State  and  in  the  college,  feeling  sure,  she  said,  that  Mississippi's 
daughters  were  now  in  safe  hands. 

Miss  Lilian  Light,  the  eight-year-old  daughter  of  Mr.  Jere  Light  of 
Hayneville,  when  only  five  or  six  years  old  began  to  make  figures  in  clay, 
and  now  (1885)  has  a  large  collection  of  mud  cats,  hogs,  dogs,  cows, 
horses,  and  men.  The  figures  are  declared  to  be  not  childish  imitations, 
but  remarkably  acute  likenesses.  Her  best  piece  represents  a  negro 
praying,  and  is  said  to  be  very  clever. 

Miss  C.  F.  Boardman  of  Elmore's  Point,  two  miles  from  Biloxi,  on  the 
Bock  Bay,  has  received  the  chief  premiums  awarded  for  oranges  grown 
on  the  Gulf  coast  outside  of  Florida.  This  lady  has  1,000  bearing  orange 
trees  of  the  choicest  varieties,  and  has  devoted  her  attention  to  the  pro- 
duction of  these  and  other  tropical  fruits,  with  great  success.  She  came 
to  the  South  for  health  a  few  years  ago,  and  has  not  only  found  that,  but 
has  established  for  herself  a  pleasing  and  profitable  industry  in  fruit  cul- 
ture. Her  oranges  were  exhibited  among  numerous  fine  competing 
specimens,  and  were  chosen  for  high  excellence. 

Miss  Eliza  A.  Dupuy  for  many  years  contributed  copiously  to  Mr. 
Bonner's  Ledger.  Miss  Dupuy,  who  was  descended  from  prominent  Vir- 
ginia families,  was  in  her  youth  a  teacher.  The  first  story  written  by  her 
was  produced  when  she  was  only  fourteen  years  old.  More  fortunate 
than  the  majority  of  authors,  she  leaves  behind  her  a  considerable  sum 
earned  by  her  ever-busy  pen. 

Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Dorsey  was  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  woman 
that  Mississippi  can  boast.  She  was  the  niece  of  Mrs.  Warfield, 
the  author  of  the  "  Household  of  Bouverie,"  who  had  great  in- 
fluence in  forming  her  literary  tastes.  The  New  Orleans  Monthly 
Review  contains  many  able  articles  on  abstruse  questions  from 
her  pen.  One,  in  the  February  number  for  1876,  on  the  "  Origin 
of  the  Species,"  is  exceptionally  able  and.  interesting.  It  was 
read  in  October,  1875,  before  the  New  Orleans  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences by  Mrs.  Dorsey  herself.  This  article  shows  extensive 
reading  in  scientific  questions.  She  was  made  corresponding 
member  of  the  Academy,  an  honor  she  appreciated  more  highly 
for  her  sex  than  for  herself.  She  was  a  large-souled,  noble 
woman,  devoted  to  what  she  considered  Southern  interests.  She 
bequeathed  to  Jefferson  Davis  the  estate,  called  Beauvoir,  on 
which  he  now  resides. 


CHAPTER    LV.  (CONTINUED). 

DISTRICT    OF    COLUMBIA— MARYLAND  — DELAWARE  — KEN- 
TUCKY — T  ENNESSEE  —  VIRGINIA  — WEST    VIRGINIA 
—NORTH    CAROLINA— SOUTH    CAROLINA- 
FLORIDA  —  ALABAMA  —  GEORGIA. 

Secretary  Chase — Women  in  the  Government  Departments — Myrtilla  Miner — Mrs. 
O'Connor's  Tribute — District  of  Columbia  Suffrage  Bill — The  Universal  Franchise 
Association,  1867 — Bill  for  a  Prohibitory  Law  Presented  by  Hon.  S.  C.  Pomeroy, 
1869 — A  Bill  for  Equal  Wages  for  the  Women  in  the  Departments,  Introduced  by 
Hon.  S.  M.  Arnell,  1870 — In  1871  Congress  Passed  the  Organic  Act  for -the  Dis- 
trict Confining  the  Right  of  Suffrage  to  Males — In  1875  it  Withdrew  all  Legislative 
Power  from  the  People — Women  in  Law,  Medicine,  Journalism  and  the  Charities 
— Dental  College  Opened  to  Women — Mary  A.  Stuart — The  Clay  Sisters — The 
School  of  Pharmacy — Elizabeth  Avery  Meriwether — Judge  Underwood — Mary 
Bayard  Clarke — Dr.  Susan  Dimock — Governor  Chamberlain— Coffee-Growing — 
'  Priscilla  Holmes  Drake — Alexander  H.  Stephens. 

I. — DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

THE  District  covers  an  area  of  64  square  miles,  and  contains  a 
population  of  200,000.  It  was  origininally  a  portion  of  Maryland, 
and  was  ceded  to  congress  by  that  State  for  the  exclusive  use  ot 
the  Federal  government.  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  secretary  of  the 
treasury  under  Abraham  Lincoln,  seeing  that  most  of  the  gifted 
young  men  had  been  drafted  or  had  enlisted  in  the  army,  intro- 
duced young  women  as  clerks  in  the  government  departments. 
The  experiment  proved  successful,  and  now  there  are  about  six 
thousand  women  in  the  various  departments.  Mr.  Chase  often 
alluded  to  this  afterwards  as  one  of  the  most  important  acts  of  his 
life.  The  war  brought  many  bright,  earnest  women  to  Washing- 
ton, led  thither  by  patriotism,  ambition,  or  the  necessity  of  finding 
some  new  employment.  This  new  vital  force,  this  purer  element, 
infused  into  the  society  at  the  capitol,  has  been  slowly  introduc- 
ing more  liberal  ideas  into  that  community. 

The  first  specific  work  for  woman  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
of  which  we  find  any  record  was  that  of  Myrtilla  Miner  of  New 
York,  who  opened  a  Normal  School  for  colored  girls,  December 
3,  1851.  She  began  with  six  pupils  in  a  small  room  in  a  private 


Universal  Franchise  Association.  809 

house,  but  soon  had  more  offered  than  could  be  accommodated. 
Through  much  ridicule  and  untold  difficulties  she  struggled  alone, 
but  successfully,  for  ten  years,  when  Miss  Emily  Rowland  came 
to  her  aid.  The  heroism  of  this  noble  woman  has  been  told  by 
Mrs.  Ellen  O.  Connor  in  a  little  volume*  which  is  a  beautiful 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Miss  Miner.  The  Miner  Normal  School 
of  Washington  is  now  a  thorough  and  popular  school  for  colored 
girls. 

For  a  brief  report  of  what  has  been  accomplished  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  we  are  indebted  to  Belva  A.  Lockwood  : 

In  1866,  the  women  of  Washington  were  first  aroused  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  suffrage  question,  by  the  discussion  of  "  The  District  of  Colum- 
bia suffrage  bill  "  proposing  to  strike  out  the  word  "white  "  in  order  to 
extend  the  franchise  to  colored  men.  Mr.  Cowan,  a  Democrat  from  Penn- 
sylvania, offered  an  amendment  to  strike  out  the  word  "  male  "  also,  and 
thus  enfranchise  the  women  of  the  District.  It  was  said  his  proposition 
was  not  made  in  good  faith,  but  simply  to  embarrass  Republican  legisla- 
tion. However  it  served  a  good  purpose  for  all  disfranchised  classes,  as 
the  amendment  called  out  a  notable  debate,!  lasting  three  days,  and 
received  the  votes  of  nine  influential  senators  in  its  favor.  The  voting 
of  the  newly  enfranchised  negroes  at  the  May  election,  1867,  brought  out 
in  strong  color  the  beauties  of  masculine  legislation,  and  immediately 
after  there  was  a  movement  among  the  friends  of  wqman's  enfranchise- 
ment. A  meeting  was  called  by  James  and  Julia  Holmes  at  their  resi- 
dence, where  the  "  Universal  Franchise  Association  "  was  organized.!  As 
soon  as  their  meetings,  regularly  held,  took  on  a  serious  air,  the  combined 
power  of  the  press  was  brought  to  bear  upon  them  with  the  determina- 
tion to  break  them  up.  But  the  meetings  were  continued,  notwithstand- 
ing the  opposition  ;  and  although  most  of  the  speeches  were  good, 
they  were  often  interrupted  with  hisses  and  yells,  and  the  police,  when 
appealed  to,  failed  to  keep  order,  seeming  rather  to  join  hands  with 
the  mob.  In  order  to  put  a  check  on  the  rabble,  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  the  society,  a  fee  was  charged  at  the  door.  Strangely  enough,  so  great 
had  the  interest  become,  the  crowd  increased  instead  of  lessening,  and 
night  after  night  Union  League  Hall  was  crowded,  until  the  coffers  of  the 
association  contained  nearly  $1,000.  The  press  of  the  city  in  the  mean- 
time had  kept  up  a  fusilade  of  ludicrous  reports,  in  which  the  women 
were  caricatured  and  misrepresented,  all  of  which  they  bore  with  forti- 
tude, and  without  any  attempt  at  reply.  The  meetings  continued  through 
the  year  notwithstanding  the  cry  of  the  timid  that  the  cause  was  being 
injured  and  fair  reputations  blighted. 

*  Myrtilla  Miner  ;  published  by  Houghton,  Mifllin  &  Co.,  Boston  and  New  York. 

t  See  Vol.  II.,  page  90. 

\  /'n-sii/i'fit,  Hon.  Samuel  C.  Pomeroy  ;  /  'ice-Presidents^  Josophine  S.  Grifnng,  Belva  A.  Lock- 
wood,  Jas.  H.  Holmes,  John  H.  Craney  ;  Advisory  Council,  M;iry  K.  O'Connor,  Josephine  S.  llrif- 
fing,  Caroline  B.  Winslow,  Dr.  Susan  A.  Edson,  Lydia  S.  Hall,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boyle,  Caroline  B. 
Colby,  and  others. 


8io  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

June  25,  1868,  a  deputation  from  the  District  Franchise  Association 
appeared,  by  appointment,  before  the  House  Committee  of  the  District,  to 
urge  the  passage  of  the  bill  presented  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
by  Hon.  Henry  D.  Washburn,  accompanied  by  a  petition  signed  by  eighty 
women  of  the  District : 

"Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  That  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  no  person  shall  be 
debarred  from  voting  or  holding  office  in  the  District  of  Columbia  by  reason  of  sex." 

Mrs.  Josephine  S.  Griffing  began  by  saying  that  the  friends  of  equal  freedom  for 
women  in  the  District  had  thought  the  revision  of  the  local  government  a  fit  time  to 
present  their  claims  and  submit  a  memorial,  setting  forth  the  justice  of  passing  the 
bill  before  the  committee  to  remove  the  restrictions  that  forbid  women  to  vote  in  the 
District.  The  movement  was  not  wholly  new,  and  was  known  by  those  active  in  the 
work  to  be  approved  by  a  large  mass  of  women  who  were  not  prepared  to  express  them- 
selves openly.  The  enfranchisement  of  woman  is  needful  to  a  real  reconstruction. 

Mr.  Wilcox  read  a  memorial,  signed  by  a  committee  of  residents  of  the  district,  con- 
sisting of  eleven  ladies  and  eleven  gentlemen,  including  Mrs.  Griffing,  Mrs.  E.  D.  E. 
N.  Southworth,  Miss  Lydia  S.  Hall  (formerly  of  Kansas),  Mrs.  Annie  Denton  Cridge, 
Judge  A.  B.  Olin  and  Mrs.  Olin,  recalling  the  fact  that  congress  had  freed  3,000  slaves, 
and  enfranchised  the  8,000  colored  men  of  the  district,  both  of  which  experiments  had 
worked  well,  notwithstanding  conservative  predictions  to  the  contrary;  and  showing 
that,  while  the  former  experiments,  on  a  small  scale  comparatively,  had  yielded  rich 
results,  so  the  enfranchisement  of  half  the  adult  population  would  produce  vast  good. 
He  incidentally  answered  the  usual  arguments  against  suffrage,  and  affirmed  that  those 
who  possess  neither  the  power  of  wealth  nor  of  knowledge  wherewith  to  protect 
themselves,  most  need  political  power  for  that  purpose.  He  remarked  that  the  com- 
petition for  votes  among  politicians  was  a  tremendous  educating  force,  and  that  laws 
would  not  be  certain  of  enforcement  unless  those  for  whose  benefit  they  were  made 
were  clothed  with  power  to  compel  such  enforcement. 

Mrs.  Mary  T.  Corner  presented  a  number  of  points  as  to  the  laws  of  the  district  re- 
lating to  women,  of  some  of  which  Judge  Welker  took  notes  with  a  view  to  their 
speedy  investigation  by  the  committee.  As  to  suffrage,  she  pointed  out  that  women 
do  not  come  under  the  head  of  paupers,  minors,  felons,  rebels,  idiots  or  aliens,  and 
that  the  reasons  existing  for  the  disfranchisement  of  such  persons  do  not  apply  to 
native-born,  loyal  women.  She  showed  that  women  are  not  represented  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  district,  though  taxed  by  it,  and  by  law  cannot  properly  protect  them- 
selves, their  children,  or  their  property,  nor  hold  municipal  office,  however  fit.  A  wife 
cannot  hold  property  in  the  district  except  by  proxy.  Women  understand  their  needs 
and  condition  better  than  men,  and  should  be  free  to  regulate  them.  The  swarms  of 
foreigners  who  are  freely  admitted  to  the  polls  know  less  of  our  institutions  than  the 
masses  of  our  women.  Women  have  voted  and  held  the  highest  offices  in  other  coun- 
tries with  great  success.  Are  our  women  less  capable  than  these?  At  the  conclusion 
Mrs.  Corner  returned  thanks  to  the  committee  for  their  attention;  and  the  latter,  with- 
out expressing  an  opinion  on  the  matter,  complimented  the  speakers  on  the  ability  and 
eloquence  with  which  their  views  had  been  presented.  It  was  also  stated  that  a  large 
number  of  petitions  would  be  presented  in  support  of  the  bill.  The  committee  ex- 
pressed themselves  as  unable,  by  reason  of  the  lateness  of  the  session  and  the  pressure 
of  other  business,  to  promise  an  early  report.  The  interview  lasted  about  an  hour,  and 
was  very  cordial  and  pleasant  on  both  sides. 

September  25,  1868,  the  Universal  Franchise  Association  held  its  first 
annual  meeting*  at  Union  League  Hall,  Mrs.  Josephine  S.  Griffing  presid- 

*  The  officers  elected  were  :  President,  United  States  Senator  S.  C.  Pomeroy  ;  rice-Presidents,  Mrs. 
Josephine  S.  Griffing,  Mrs.  Belva  McNall  Lockwood,  Miss  Stickney,  Thaddeus  Hyatt,  Caroline  B. 
Winslow,  M.  D.,  S.  Yorke  At  Lee,  Mrs.  Josephine  L.  Slade,  Prof.  William  J.  Wilson,  Mrs.  Mary  Olin, 
Judge  A.  B.  Olin,  Mrs.  C.  M.  E.  Y.  Christian,  Prof.  George  B.  Vashon,  J.  H.  Grossman,  Mrs.  Angeline 


Justice  to  Female  Employees.  8 1 1 

ing.     A  letter  was  read  from  Senator  Pomeroy,  stating  that  he  was  willing 
to  act  as  president  of  the  society.     In  closing  he  said  : 

I  trust  the  friends  will  unite  in  one  association.  We  have  but  one  object  in  view, 
and  should  ail  labor  together  to  accomplish  this  end,  viz.:  the  enfranchisement  of 
every  citizen,  with  no  partiality  for  race  or  sex.  The  American  citizen  is  the  only  safe 
depository  for  the  ballot,  and  the  only  safeguard  for  individual  and  national  liberty. 
Let  us  labor  to  realize,  even  in  our  day  and  time,  this  true  type  of  republican  govern- 
ment. The  rights  and  safety  of  individuals  and  of  the  nation  demand  it. 

In  1869,  the  executive  committee  passed  a  resolution  to  expend  the 
money  that  had  been  accumulated  at  the  meetings  of  the  association  in  a 
series  of  lectures  for  the  purpose  of  enlightening  the  public  mind  upon 
the  question  of  equal  political  rights  for  women.  Among  the  speakers 
engaged  were  Anna  Dickinson,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony,  D.  R.  Locke 
(Nasby),  Theodore  Tilton.  From  that  time  the  women  of  the  district  were 
permitted  to  speak  their  minds  freely. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  March  21,  1870,  Mr.  Arnell,  on  leave, 
introduced  the  following  bill : 

A  bill  to  do  justice  to  the  female  employees  of  the  Government,  and  for  other  purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  hereafter  all  clerks  and  other  employes  in  the 
civil  service  of  the  United  States  shall  be  paid,  irrespective  of  sex,  with  reference  to 
the  character  and  amount  of  services  performed  by  them. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  in  the  employment  of  labor,  clerical  or 
other,  in  any  branch  of  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States,  no  discrimination  shall 
be  made  in  favor  of  either  sex. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  where  examinations  of  candidates  for  posi- 
tions in  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States  are  prescribed  by  law,  or  by  the  heads  of 
departments,  bureaus,  or  offices,  said  examinations  shall  be  of  the  same  character  for 
persons  of  both  sexes. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  designations,  chief  clerk,  chief  or  head 
of  division,  chief  or  head  of  section,  clerk  of  the  fourth  class,  clerk  of  the  third  class, 
clerk  of  the  second  class,  clerk  of  the  first  class,  copyist,  messenger,  laborer,  and  all 
other  designations  of  employes,  in  existing  acts  of  Congress,  or  in  use  in  any  branch 
of  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  held,  hereafter  to  apply  to  women  as 
well  as  to  men;  and  that  women  shall  be  regarded  equally  eligible  with  men  to  perform 
the  duties  of  the  afore-designated  clerks  and  employes,  and  shall  receive  the  compen- 
sation therefor  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  this  act  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  re- 
quire the  displacement  of  any  person  now  employed,  but  shall  apply  to  all  vacancies 
hereafter  occurring,  for  any  cause. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  acts  and  parts  of  acts,  in  conflict  with 
any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby,  expressly  repealed. 

Thousands  of  petitions  for  this  bill  were  circulated.  Mrs.  Lockwood 
went  to  New  York,  and  secured  seven  hundred  signatures,  visiting  both 
of  the  suffrage  conventions  then  in  session  in  that  city,  the  National  and 


S.  Hall,  Dr.  C.  B.  Purvis,  Mrs.  Dr.  Hathaway,  Bishop  Moore,  Mrs.  C.  A.  F.  Stebbins,  Giles  B.  Stebbins, 
Miss  Emily  Stanton,  Dr.  John  Mayhew,  John  R.  Elvana,  J.  C.  O.  Whaley,  Charles  Roeser,  George  T. 
Downing  ;  Recording  Secretary ,  George  F.  Needham  ;  Treasurer,  Daniel  Breed  ;  Board  of  Managers, 
Josephine  S.  Griffing,  Hamilton  Wilcox,  Dr.  Daniel  Breed,  Mrs.  Comer,  Geo.  F.  Needham,  Mrs.  Lydia 
S.  Hall,  J.  H.  Crane  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  Mary  T.  Corner.  Letters  were  reported  from 
Frederick  Douglass,  George  William  Curtis,  Mrs.  E.  Oakes  Smith.  Addresses  were  delivered  by  J.  H. 
Crossman,  G.  F.  Needham,  Mrs.  Lockwood,  R.  J.  Hinton,  and  Mr.  Tibbits  of  Virginia.  Dr.  Breed 
recited  an  original  poem,  entitled,  "  Woman's  Pledge  to  Freedom." 


812  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  American.  The  bill  was  shortly  afterward  passed  in  a  modified  form, 
and  has  ever  since  been  in  force  in  all  of  the  government  departments. 

In  February,  1871,  congress  passed  the  organic  act  for  the  district,  mak- 
ing of  it  a  territory  and  granting  suffrage  to  the  male  members  of  the 
commonwealth.  There  was  also  granted  under  this  bill  a  right  to  a  dele- 
gate in  congress.  In  the  meetings  which  followed  for  the  nomination  of 
delegates  a  number  of  women  took  part.  Mrs.  Lockwood  often  broke 
the  monotony  with  a  short  speech,  and  on  one  occasion  only  lacked  one 
vote  of  an  election  to  the  general  convention  for  the  nomination  of  a 
delegate  to  congress. 

The  women  of  the  district  were  not  permitted  to  vote  under  the  organic 
act,  but  soon  after  the  organization  of  its  legislature,  bills  to  provide  for 
this  were  introduced  into  both  Houses.  Mrs.  Lockwood  prepared  an  ex- 
haustive address  upon  these  pending  bills,  and  was  granted  a  hearing 
before  both  Houses  of  the  legislature,  but  they  were  finally  lost.  In  1875 
congress  withdrew  the  legislative  power  from  the  people  of  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

It  was  also  in  1871  that  the  National  University  Law  School,  then  prin- 
cipally under  the  control  of  Prof.  Wm.  B.  Wedgewood,  organized  a  law 
class  for  women,  in  which  fifteen  matriculated.  Mrs.  Lockwood  had 
been  denied  admission  the  previous  year  to  the  law  class  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege for  the  reason,  as  given  by  the  trustees,  "  that  it  would  distract  the 
attention  of  the  young  men."  About  this  time  a  young  colored  woman, 
Charlotte  Ray  of  New  York,  was  graduated  from  the  law  class  of  Howard 
University  and  admitted  to  the  bar  with  the  class.  Of  the  fifteen  women 
who  entered  the  National  University  only  two  completed  the  course,  viz., 
Lydia  S.  Hall,  and  Belva  A.  Lockwood.  The  former  never  received  her 
diploma.  The  latter,  after  an  appeal  to  President  Grant,  received  her 
diploma,  and  was  admitted  to  the  district  bar,  September  23,  1873.  Since 
that  period  Emma  M.  Gillett,  Marilla  M.  Ricker,  and  Laura  DeForce  Gor- 
don have  been  admitted  to  the  district  bar,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  longer 
any  hindrance  to  such  admissions.  The  above-named  have  all  appeared 
in  court,  and  a  number  of  other  ladies  have  been  graduated  in  the  district. 
Women  have  also  been  appointed  notaries  public,  and  examiners  in  chan- 
cery. 

In  the  profession  of  medicine  there  has  been  more  liberality.  Dr.  Susan 
A.  Edson  and  Dr.  Caroline  B.  Winslow  have  been  in  full  practice  here 
since  the  close  of  the  war.  Dr.  Mary  Parsons  and  Dr.  Cora  M.  Bland 
and  others,  are  practicing  with  marked  success.  Last  year  there  were 
fourteen  women  duly  registered  with  the  health  department,  and  they 
all  seem  to  be  in  good  standing.  Howard  University  has  admitted  women 
to  its  medical  classes  for  some  years,  and  both  white  and  colored  women 
have  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege.  Last  year  Columbia  College 
opened  its  doors  in  the  medical  department,  with  a  suggestion  that  the 
classes  in  law  and  theology  may  soon  be  opened  also. 

Many  women  in  the  district  within  the  last  few  years  have  entered  into 
business  for  themselves,  as  they  are  now  permitted  to  do  under  the  law  of 
1869,  and  are  milliners,  merchants,  market-women,  hucksters.  In  the  art 
of  nursing,  which  has  been  reduced  to  a  science,  they  have  free  course. 


Writers  and   Teachers.  813 

In  1871,  a  large  number-  of  ladies  tried  to  register  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington. They  marched  in  solid  phalanx  some  seventy*  strong  to  the  regis- 
trar's office,  but  were  repulsed.  They  tried  afterwards  to  vote,  but  were  re- 
fused, whereupon  Mrs.  Spencer  sued  the  inspectors,  and  Mrs.  Webster 
sued  the  registrars,  so  testing  their  rights  in  two  suits  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  District.t 

In  1866  Jane  G.  Swisshelm  commenced  the  publication  of  a  liberal  sheet 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  known  as  The  Wasp.  This  was  the  continua- 
tion of  a  paper  formerly  published  by  her  in  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  and  in  St. 
Cloud,  Minn.,  called  The  Visitor.  Many  other  papers  by  women  have 
been  since  published  in  the  District.  Perhaps  the  most  voluminous  author 
in  this  country  is  Mrs.  E.  D.  E.  N.  Southworth,  who  has  written  a  volume 
for  each  year  of  her  life,  and  is  now  sixty-five  years  of  age.  Her  author- 
ship has  been  confined  to  romances,  which  have  been  very  popular.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  teachers  of  the  public  schools  in  the  District  are 
women,  some  of  them  of  very  marked  culture.  Many  of  the  most  noted 
and  successful  private  schools,  some  with  collegiate  courses,  are  conducted 
by  women.  Among  these,  Mrs.  Margaret  Harover  who  taught  in  the  Dis- 
trict during  the  war,  is  worthy  of  mention,  also  Mrs.  Ellen  M.  O'Connor, 
president  of  the  Miner  school.  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Spencer,  as  associate 
principal  of  the  Spencerian  business  college  whence  large  classes  of 
young  women  have  been  graduated  for  many  years  past,  is  deservedly 
popular.  She  was  at  one  time  prominent  in  the  woman  suffrage  move- 
ment, acting  as  corresponding  secretary  of  the.  National  Association.  She 
is  now  engaged  in  one  of  the  large  charity  organizations  of  the  city. 
Many  colored  women  who  have  been  graduated  from  Howard  University, 
have  become  quite  successful  as  teachers,  and  some  have  studied  medicine. 
All  of  the  copyists  in  the  office  of  registrar  of  deeds  are  women.  A  goodly 
number  are  short-hand  reporters  for  the  courts,  among  whom  Miss  Camp, 
daughter  of  the  assistant  clerk,  is  notably  skillful. 

The  number  of  women  who  hold  property  in  the  District  is  large  and 
rapidly  increasing.  A  woman  may  now  enter  into  almost  any  honorable 
profession  that  she  chooses,  and  maintain  her  respectability.  All  of  the 
professions  are  open  to  her,  and  the  sphere  of  trades  is  rapidly  widening. 
The  progress  made  in  this  regard  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  amounts 
almost  to  a  revolution.  The  first  women  ever  admitted  to  the  reporter's 

*  The  names  of  the  women  who  attempted  to  register  and  vote  were  :  Jane  A.  Archibald,  Clara  M. 
Archibald,  Mary  Anderson,  S.  W.  Aiken,  Sallie  S.  Barrett,  Mary  B.  Baumgras,  Florence  Riddle 
Bartlett,  Ann  M.  Boyle,  M.  W.  Browne,  Deborah  B.  Clarke  (Grace  Greenwood's  mother,  eighty  years 
of  age),  C.  W.  Campbell,  Elizabeth  T.  Cowperthwaite,  Mary  T.  Corner,  Mary  M.  Courtenay,  Mary  A. 
Donaldson,  Mary  A.  Dennison,  Ruth  Carr  Dennison,  L.  S.  Doolittlc,  Dr.  Susan  A.  Edson,  Sarah  P.  Ed- 
son,  B.  F.  Evans,  E.  W.  Foster,  Olive  Freeman,  Maggie  Finney,  Julia  H.  Grty,  Josephine  S.  Griffing, 
A.  A.  Henning,  Susie  J.  Hickey,  Calista  Hickey,  E.  M.  Mickey,  Mary  Hooper,  Ruth  G.  D.  Havens,  E. 
E.  Hill,  Lydia  S.  Hall,  Julia  Archibald  Holmes,  N.  M.  Johnson,  Jennie  V.  Jewell,  Carrie  Kctchum, 
Joanna  Kelly,  Sara  J.  Lippincott  (Grace  Greenwood),  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Susie  S.  McClure,  A. 
Jennie  Miles,  Augusta  E.  Morris,  M.  T.  Middleton,  Savangie  E.  Mark,  A.  E.  Newton,  M.  C.  Page, 
Eliza  Ann  Peck,  Mary  A.  Riddle,  A.  R.  Riddle.  Caroline  Risley,  Sarah  Andrews  Spencer,  E.  D.  E.  N. 
Southworth,  Caroline  A.  Sherman,  Mary  S.  Scribner,  Belle  Smith,  Maria  T.  Stoddard,  Ada  E." 
Spurgeon,  Rubina  Taylor,  Harriet  P.  Trickham,  Eliza  M.  Tibbetts,  Dr.  Caroline  B.  Winslow,  Sarah 
E.  Webster  (mother  of  Dr.  Susan  A.  Edson),  Julia  A.  Wilbur,  Mrs.  Westfall,  Mary  Willard,  Amanda 
Wall,  Lucy  A.  Wheeler. 

t  For  full  account  see  Vol.  II.,  page  587. 


8 14  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

gallery  of  the  Senate  and  House  we  re  Abigail  Dodge  (Gail  Hamilton),  and 
Helen  M.  Barnard,  both  political  writers  of  great  power;  the  former  as  a 
reporter  for  the  New  York  Times,  and  the  latter  for  the  New  York  Herald. 
Mrs.  Barnard,  during  Grant's  administration,  was  sent  as  commissioner  of 
immigration  to  Liverpool,  visiting  England,  Ireland  and  Scotland.  Return- 
ing in  the  steerage  of  an  ocean  steamer,  she  gave  one  of  the  finest  reports 
ever  made  upon  this  question.  This  resulted  in  the  passage  by  the  legis- 
lature of  New  York  of  a  bill  for  the  better  protection  of  emigrants  on 
shipboard,  and  the  appointment  by  the  United  States  government  of  an 
inspector  of  immigration  for  every  out-going  steamer. 

Women  were  first  appointed  as  clerks  in  the  government  departments 
in  1861  by  Secretary  Chase,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Treasurer  Spin- 
ner. They  were  employed  at  temporary  work  at  $50  a  month — one-half 
the  lowest  price  paid  to  any  male  clerk — until  they  were  recognized  by 
an  act  of  congress  in  which  their  salary  was  fixed  at  $900  a  year,  in  the 
general  appropriation  bill  of  July  23,  1 866.  The  men  doing  the  same  work 
were  of  four  classes,  receiving,  respectively,  $1,000,  $1,400,  $1,600,  $1,800. 
Treasurer  Spinner,  in  his  report  of  October,  1866,  said  : 

The  experiment  of  employing  females  as  clerks  has  been,  so  far  as  this  office  is  con- 
cerned, a  success.  For  many  kinds  of  office-work,  like  the  manipulation  and  counting 
of  fractional  currency,  they  excel,  and  in  my  opinion  are  to  be  preferred  to  males. 
There  is,  however,  quite  as  much  difference  in  point  of  ability  between  female  clerks 
as  there  is  between  the  several  classes  of  male  clerks,  whose  equals  some  of  them  are. 
Some  are  able  to  accomplish  twice  as  much  as  others,  and  with  greater  accuracy.  So, 
too,  some  of  them  incur  great  risks,  being  responsible  for  making  mistakes  in  count, 
and  for  counterfeits  overlooked.  Such  should,  by  every  consideration  of  justice  and 
fair  dealing,  be  paid  according  to  their  merits,  and  the  risks  and  liabilities  they  incur. 

And  in  1868,  Mr.  Spinner  urged  the  committee  of  which  Mr.  Fessenden 
of  Maine  was  the  chairman,  to  so  amend  the  bill  providing  for  the  re- 
organization of  the  treasury  department  as  to  increase  the  salary  of  the 
female  clerks  who  have  the  handling  of  money,  stating  that  cases  had  oc- 
curred in  which  women  had  lost  more  than  half  their  monthly  pay  by 
reason  of  being  short  in  count,  or  of  allowing  counterfeit  notes  to  pass 
their  hands. 

Secretary  M'Cullough  asserted  that  women  performed  their  clerical 
duties  as  creditably  as  men,  and  stated  that  he  had  three  ladies  who  per- 
formed as  much  labor,  and  did  it  as  well  as  any  three  male  clerks  receiv- 
ing $1,800  a  year.  It  is  now  a  quarter  of  a  century  that  women  have  served 
the  government  in  these  responsible  positions,  and  still,  with  but  few  ex- 
ceptions, they  receive  only  the  allotted  $900.  Mrs.  Fitzgerald,  the  expert 
in  the  redemption  bureau  of  the  treasury,  who  has  for  fifteen  years  de- 
ciphered defaced  currency,  in  which  no  man  has  ever  yet  proved  her 
equal,  receives  $1,400.  In  1886  she  subjected  herself  to  an  examination 
for  an  increase  to  $1,600,  but,  failing  to  answer  some  questions  foreign 
to  her  art,  she  was  compelled  to  content  herself  with  the  former  salary. 

II. — MARYLAND. 

The  Revolution  of  February  26,  1868,  shows  an  effort  in  the  direction  of 
progress  on  this  question  in  Man'land.  A  correspondent  says  : 


Maryland.  815 

Notwithstanding  the  present  ascendancy  of  conservatism  in  Maryland,  the  progress- 
ive element  is  not  wholly  annihilated;  in  proof  of  which,  we  send  information  of  the 
working  of  this  leaven,  as  developed  in  an  association  lately  organized  in  the  city  of 
Baltimore,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Maryland  Equal  Rights  Society."  For  nearly  a 
year  past  it  has  been  in  contemplation  to  form  a  society  based  upon  the  principle  of 
equal  chance  to  all  human  kind,  irrespective  of  sex  or  color,  through  the  mediumship 
of  the  elective  franchise.  The  first  public  meeting  of  the  friends  of  the  movement  was 
held  on  the  afternoon  of  November  12,  1867,  at  the  Douglass  Institute,  at  which 
twelve  persons,  white  and  colored,  were  present.  Some  steps  were  taken  towards  or- 
ganization in  the  framing  and  adopting  of  a  constitution  based  upon  the  principle 
afore-mentioned;  but  further  business  was  deferred  in  hope  of  securing  a  larger  at- 
tendance  at  a  subsequent  meeting.  Two  weeks  later  a  second  meeting  was  called, 
when  the  constitution  was  signed  by  fourteen  persons,  ten  of  whom  were  white  and 
four  colored.  Officers  were  chosen,  consisting  of  a  president,  a  vice-president,  a  secre- 
tary and  a  treasurer,  together  with  eight  other  members  to  act  as  an  executive  commit- 
tee. The  last  meeting,  held  January  29,  was  attended  by  Alfred  H.  Love  and  Rachel 
Love  of  Philadelphia.  To  Mr.  Love  the  society  is  indebted  fofc  many  valuable  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  best  means  of  becoming  an  effective  co-worker  m  the  cause  of  human 
progress. 

Our  colored  friends,  who  have  control  of  the  Douglass  Institute,  have  testified  their 
good  will  toward  the  movement  in  giving  the  society  the  use  of  an  apartment  in  the 
building,  free  of  charge.  This  is  the  one  instance  in  which  we  have  met  with  encour- 
agement in  our  own  community.  We  have  sought  it  in  high  places,  among  those  we 
supposed  to  be  friends,  and  found  it  not.  It  appears  to  be  the  nature  of  fine  linen 
to  dread  the  mud  splashes  of  the  pioneer's  spade  and  pick-ax,  and  for  silk  and  broad- 
cloth to  shrink  from  contact  with  the  briers  of  an  uncleared  thicket;  hence  our  sole  re- 
course is  to  appeal  to  those  only  who  are  dressed  for  the  service.  We  are  conscious 
that  we  have  entered  upon  no  easy  task;  but,  ashamed  of  having  so  long  left  our  North- 
ern sisters  to  toil  and  endure  alone  in  a  cause  which  is  not  one  of  section  but  of  hu- 
manity, we  come  forward  at  last  to  assume  our  share  of  the  hardship,  trusting  that 
what  we  have  lost  in  our  tardiness  may  be  made  up  in  earnestness  and  activity. 

From  various  papers  we  clip  the  following  items  : 

At  the  election  in  Baltimore,  January  20,  1870,  there  were  three  women  who  applied 
to  be  registered  as  voters  at  the  third-ward  registry  office.  Their  names  were  Mrs. 
L.  C.  Dundore,  Mrs.  A.  M.  Gardner  and  Miss  E.  M.  Harris.  Their  cases  were 

held  under  advisement  by  the  register. In  1871,  a  Maryland  young  lady,  Miss 

Middlebrook,  raised  over  5,000  heads  of  cabbage.  On  Christmas,  she  sold  in  the  Balti- 
more market  500  pounds  of  turkey  at  20  cents  per  pound. Mrs.  H.  B.  Conway  of 

Frederick  county,  has  established  a  reputation  as  a  contractor  for  "  fills"  and  "cuts." 
.She  has  filled  several  contracts  in  Pennsylvania,  been  awarded  a  $100,000  job  on  the 
Western  Maryland  railroad,  and  now,  1885,  is  engaged  in  the  work  of  excavating  a 
tract  in  Baltimore  for  building-sites. 

Miss  R.  Muller  has  for  several  years  been  engaged  as  subscription  and 
general  correspondence  clerk  for  the  Baltimore  Daily  American,  She 
was  the  first  woman  to  be  employed  in  that  city  on  newspaper  work  during 
the  present  century.  In  the  chapter  on  newspapers  it  will  be  seen  that 
Anna  R.  Green  established  the  first  newspaper  in  the  Maryland  colony 
one  hundred  and  nineteen  years  ago,  doing  the  colony  printing;  and  that 
Mary  R.  Goddard  not  only  published  a  pacer,  writing  able  editorials,  but 
was  also  the  first  postmaster  after  the  revolution.  And  from  the  follow- 
ing item  it  would  seem  that  the  first  woman  to  claim  her  right  to  vote 
must  be  credited  to  Maryland  : 

At  the  regular  meeting  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  in  Baltimore,  December, 
1885,  Hon.  J.  L.  Thomas  read  a  paper  on  "  Margaret  Brent,  the  first  woman  in 


816  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

America  to  claim  the  right  to  vote."  She  lived  at  St.  Mary's  city  on  the  river  of  the 
same  name  two  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  and  was  related  to  Lord  Baltimore. 
She  was  the  heir  of  Leonard  Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore's  brother  and  agent,  and  as  such 
she  claimed  not  only  control  of  all  rents,  etc.,  of  Lord  Baltimore,  but  also  the  right  to 
two  votes  in  the  assembly  as  the  representative  of  both  Calvert  and  Baltimore.  The 
first  claim  the  courts  upheld,  but  the  second  was  rejected. 

On  March  20,  1872,  Hon.  Stevenson  Archer  made  an  exhaustive  speech 
on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  entitled,  "  Woman  Suffrage 
not  to  be  tolerated,  although  advocated  by  the  Republican  candidate  for 
vice-presidency."  The  speech  was  against  Senator  Wilson's  bill  to  en- 
franchise the  women  of  the  territories.  The  honorable  representative 
from  Maryland  may  have  been  moved  to  enter  his  protest  against  woman's 
enfranchisement  by  the  fact  that  the  women  of  his  State  had  in  conven- 
tion assembled  early  in  the  same  month  made  a  public  demand  for  their 
political  rights  : 

The  Havre  de  Grace  Republican  says  that  the  convention  of  the  Maryland  Equal 
Rights  Association,  held  in  Raine's  Hall,  Baltimore,  last  week,  was  a  grand  success. 
Mrs.  Lavina  C.  Dundore,  president  of  the  association,  presided  over  the  convention 
with  dignity  and  grace.  Many  prominent  and  able  champions  of  the  cause  were 
present  and  delivered  eloquent  and  telling  addresses  in  favor  of  woman's  enfranchise- 
ment, which  were  listened  to  with  marked  attention  by  the  large  audiences  in  attend- 
ance. The  friends  of  the  cause  in  Maryland  feel  much  gratified  at  this  exhibition  of 
the  rapidly  increasing  interest  in  the  movement. 

Meetings  had  been  held  in  Baltimore  during  the  years  of  1870-71,  and 
lecture^  given  by  Lucy  Stone,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  and 
others. 

Charlotte  Richmond  of  Baltimore  writes  the  Woman 's  Journal,  April 
22,  1873: 

The  American  Journal  of  Dental  Science  makes  the  following  statement :  "  The 
Baltimore  College  of  Dental  Surgery,  having  had  the  honor  of  conferring  the  first  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery  in  the  world,  has  also  graduated  the  first  woman 
who  ever  received  a  diploma  in  medicine  or  dentistry  in  Baltimore,  in  the  person  of 
Miss  Emilie  Foeking  of  Prussia,  who,  after  attending  two  full  courses  of  lectures  and 
demonstrations,  passed  a  very  creditable  final  examination.  Miss  Foeking  conformed 
to  all  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  college  during  the  two  sessions  that  she  was  a 
student;  no  favor  whatever  as  to  requirement  being  asked  for  on  her  part,  or  extended 
to  her  by  the  faculty,  on  account  of  sex.  She  has  fairly  earned  her  degree  by  pro- 
ficiency and  earnest  application.  After  a  short  time  Miss  Foeking  will  return  to  Ber- 
lin, where  she  intends  to  locate.  That  she  will  succeed  in  establishing  a  large  and 
lucrative  practice,  there  is  no  doubt,  as  she  is  well  qualified  professionally,  and  is  in 
manner  so  perfect  a  lady  as  to  command  the  respect  of  all  who  know  her." 

You  will  see  by  this  extract  from  one  of  our  medical  journals,  that  a  lady  has  been 
graduated  from  our  dental  college.  I  hope  she  has  left  the  doors  open,  so  that  some  of 
our  own  countrywomen  may  enter  and  acquit  themselves  as  honorably,  but  without  the 
difficulties  which  she  has  been  compelled  to  encounter.  You  are  aware  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Philadelphia  college  in  regard  to  female  students.  Our  Baltimore 
dentist,  for  we  feel  proud  to  claim  her  as  ours,  although  admitted  in  the  college,  still 
had  all  the  prejudices  to  meet  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  but  they  were  too  courteous 
and  hospitable  to  act  upon  those  feelings  so  far  as  to  turn  her  from  their  doors.  She 
was  brave  and  did  not  surrender;  not  even  when  her  sensitive  woman's  heart  was 
wounded  and  humiliated  by  the  little  acts  done  heedlessly  under  the  impression  that  a 
woman  had  stepped  out  of  her  sphere  and  was  taking  upon  herself  a  vocation  belong- 
ing exclusively  to  men.  She  is  naturally  sincere,  modest  and  dignified.  With  these 


Delaware.  8 1  7 

lady-like  qualifications,  together  with  ability  and  perseverance,  she  has  won  the  honor 
and  esteem  of  the  faculty  and  the  students. 

I  wish  that  Prussia  could  have  witnessed  the  success  of  her  daughter  on  the  night  of 
commencement — the  wreaths  of  laurel,  and  the  incessant  applause  while  she  was  on 
the  stage.  I,  for  one,  felt  quite  proud  to  see  my  city  acknowledge  the  foreign  lady- 
student  so  gracefully.  She  is  already  practicing  to  some  extent,  and  in  every  case 
gives  the  most  entire  satisfaction.  I  trust  there  will  be  no  more  college  doors  closed 
against  our  sex,  for  the  reason  that  the  male  students  do  not  want  us.  Let  the  pro- 
fessors and  trustees  be  just.  We  have  proved  that  a  true  lady  is  no  disadvantage  in  a 
college  with  male  students.  I  think  the  way  is  now  clear  for  women  to  enter  upon  the 
dental  profession.  Miss  Foeking  has  proved  that  a  woman  can  be  successful  when  she 
undertakes  an  honorable  profession. 

For  the  facts  in  regard  to  the  Baltimore  Dental  College  we  are  indebted 
to  the  dean  of  the  faculty: 

BALTIMORE  COLLEGE  OF  DENTAL  SURGERY,  Jan.  2,  1886. 

Miss  SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY — Dear  Miss:  Your  letter  of  27th  of  last  month  came 
safely  to  hand.  In  reply  I  will  say  that  only  two  members  of  the  fair  sex  have  been 
graduated  with  us.  Miss  Emilie  Foeking  of  Prussia,  whose  present  address  I  do  not 
know,  and  Miss  Pauline  Boeck  of  Germany,  who  has  since  died.  Miss  Foeking  was 
graduated  in  1873,  an(i  Miss  Boeck  in  1877.  I  have  learned  that  both  of  these  young 
ladies  were  attentive  and  energetic  in  the  pursuit  of  their  studies,  and  were  graduated 
with  credit  to  themselves.  We  have  the  "Woman's  Medical  College,"  from  which 
quite  a  number  of  young  women  have  been  graduated.  For  information  in  regard  to  this 
institution  I  would  refer  you  to  its  dean,  Prof.  Wm.  D.  Booker,  157  Park  avenue. 

Very  truly  yours,  R.  B.  WINDER. 

III. — DELAWARE. 

Mary  A.  Stuart  is  the  active^  representative  of  the  movement  for 
woman  suffrage  in  Delaware.  From  year  to  year  she  has  written  and  con- 
tributed to  our  National  conventions  in  Washington,  and  has  been  among 
the  delegates  on  several  occasions  to  address  congressional  committees. 
In  her  report  she  says  : 

My  father  was  the  first  man  in  the  State  Senate  to  propose  the  repeal  of  some  of  our 
oppressive  laws,  and  succeeded  in  having  the  law  giving  all  real  estate  to  the  eldest 
male  heir  repealed.  The  law  of  1871  gave  a  married  woman  the  right  to  make  a  will, 
provided  her  husband  gave  his  written  consent,  with  the  names  of  two  respectable  wit- 
nesses thereunto  attached.  In  1873  the  law  was  repealed,  and  another  act  passed 
giving  married  women  the  right  to  make  a  will,  buy  property  and  hold  it  exempt  from 
the  husband's  debts,  but  this  law  does  not  affect  his  tenancy  by  courtesy. 

Prior  to  1868,  bonds,  mortgages,  stocks,  etc.,  were  counted  personal  property, 
all  of  which  went  into  the  possession  of  the  husband  the  moment  the  woman  answered 
"  I  will,"  in  the  marriage  ceremony.  I  worked  hard  to  get  the  law  passed  giving  the 
wife  the  right  to  her  own  separate  earnings,  and  at  last  was  greatly  helped  by  the 
fact  that  a  woman  petitioned  for  a  divorce,  stating  in  her  application  that  she  was 
driven  from  her  home,  that  she  and  her  two  children  had  worked  hard  and  saved  $100 
for  a  rainy  day,  and  now  her  husband  claimed  the  money.  It  was  a  case  in  point,  and 
helped  the  members  of  our  legislature  to  pass  the  wages  bill. 

Delaware  College,  the  only  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  State,  was  open  to  girls 
for  thirteen  years,  but  owing  to  a  tragedy  committed  by  the  boys  in  hazing  one  another, 
resulting  in  death,  the  doors  were  thereafter  closed  to  girls,  although  they  were  in  no 
way  directly  or  indirectly  implicated  in  the  outrages.  When  Governor  Stockley  was 
appealed  to,  he  simply  gave  some  of  the  old  arguments  against  coeducation,  and  did 

52 


818  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

not  recommend,  as  he  should  have  done,  an  appropriation  at  once  by  the  State  to  build 
a  similar  college,  with  all  the  necessary  appointments  for  the  education  of  girls.  We 
have  women  who  are  practicing  physicians,  and  are  also  in  the  State  Medical  Boards. 
We  have  none  who  practice  law  or  preach  in  our  pulpits,  and  all  the  political  offices 
of  the  State  are  closed  to  women.  No  notaries,  bank  cashiers,  telegraph  operators. 
Women  are  still  in  the  belief  that  work  outside  the  home  is  a  disgrace  to  the  men  of 
their  families. 

In  February,  1881,  Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony,  MissCouzins  and  Mrs.  Lockwood, 
held  various  hearings  before  the  legislature.  Mrs.  Lockwood  read  to  the  gentlemen 
article  4  of  the  constitution  as  amended  in  1834:  "  Any  white  male  citizen  over  22 
years  of  age  who  shall  be  a  tax-payer,  shall  be  eligible  to  vote  for  electors."  She  then 
showed  them  how  readily,  without  any  marked  revolution,  the  word  "  white  "  had  been 
stricken  out,  while  the  word  tax-payer  had  virtually  become  a  dead  letter.  Then  turn- 
ing to  the  first  paragraph  of  the  United  States  revised  code  she  cited  the  passage  which 
states  that  in  determining  the  meaning  of  statutes  after  February  25,  1877,  "  words 
importing  the  masculine  gender  may  be  applied  to  females."  *  *  *  *  At 
this  point  the  chairman  of  the  committee  placed  before  Mrs.  Lockwood  the  Dela- 
ware code  from  which  she  read  a  similar  application  of  the  law  made  many  years  be- 
fore. Having  laid  this  foundation  she  asserted  that  the  women  of  Delaware  were 
legally  entitled  to  vote  under  the  laws  as  they  are,  but  that  to  prevent  all  question  on 
the  subject,  she  would  recommend  a  special  enactment  like  that  prepared  in  the  bill  be- 
fore them.  An  amendment  to  the  State  constitution  giving  suffrage  to  women  was 
presented  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  February,  1881,  and  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee on  privileges  and  elections.  It  was  reported  adversely.  The  vote  showed  that 
all  the  members,  with  two  *  exceptions,  were  opposed  to  the  measure. 

Among  the  friends  in  Delaware  were  several  liberal  families,  active  in 
all  the  progressive  movements  of  the  day.  Preeminent  among  these  was 
that  of  the  noble  Thomas  Garrett,  whose  good  words  of  encouragement 
for  woman's  enfranchisement  may  be  found  in  the  bound  copies  of  The 
Revolution  as  far  back  as  1868.  His  private  letters  to  those  of  us  interested 
in  his  labors  of  love  are  among  our  most  cherished  mementoes.  He  was 
a  man  of  good  judgment,  broad  sympathies,  and  unswerving  integrity. 


IV. — KENTUCKY. 

MARY  B.  CLAY,  daughter  of  Cassius  M.  Clay,  sends  us  the  fol- 
lowing report  of  what  has  been  done  to  change  the  status  of 
women  in  Kentucky: 

The  earliest  agitation  of  the  suffrage  question  in  our  State  arose  from 
the  advent  of  Miss  Lucy  Stone  in  Louisville,  in  1853,  at  which  time  she 
•delivered  three  lectures  in  Masonic  Hall  to  crowded  audiences.  George 
D,  Prentice  gave  full  and  friendly  reports  in  the  Courier-Journal.  In  later 
years,  Anna  Dickinson  and  others  have  lectured  in  our  chief  cities.  But 
the  first  note  of  associated  effort  is  that  given  in  The  Revolution  from 
Glendale,  which  says : 

We  organized  here  an  association  with  twenty  members  the  first  of  October,  1867, 
and  now  have  fifty.  We  hope  soon  to  have  the  whole  of  Hardin  county,  and  by  the 
close  of  another  year  the  whole  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  enlisted  on  the  side  of 
woman's  rights. 


*  David  Eastburn  and  Henry  Swaine  of  New  Castle  county. 


Kentucky.  819 

In  the  winter  of  1872  Hannah  Tracy  Cutler  and  Margaret  V.  Longley 
were  granted  a  respectful  hearing  before  our  legislature  at  Frankfort.  In 
May,  1879,  self-appointed,  I  represented  Kentucky  at  the  May  anniversary 
of  the  National  Association  at  St.  Louis.  In  the  autumn  following,  Miss 
Anthony,  during  an  extended  lecture  tour  through  the  State,  stopped  in 
Richmond  several  days,  and  aided  us  in  organizing  a  local  suffrage  so- 
ciety.* Letters  were  at  once  written  to  the  leading  editors  asking  them 
to  publish  articles  on  the  subject.  Many  favorable  answers  were  received, 
and  we  have  largely  availed  ourselves  of  the  columns  of  the  papers  to 
keep  up  the  agitation.  My  sister,  Sally  Clay  Bennett,  edits  a  column  in 
the  Richmond  Register,  sister  Anne  a  column  in  the  Lexington  Gazette, 
and  Kate  Dunning  Clarke,  a  column  in  the  Turf,  Field  and  Farm.  Mrs. 
Clarke  is  also  associate  editor  of  the  Kentucky  State  Jonrnal.  The  Misses 
Moore  are  making  a  success  of  a  daily  paper  at  Milledgeville. 

In  May,  1880,  Mrs.  Bennett  and  myself  were  delegates  at  the  great  Na- 
tional Mass  Convention  in  Farwell  Hall,  Chicago.  In  October,  1881,  the 
American  Association  held  its  annual  meeting  in  Louisville.  It  was  largely 
attended  and  fully  and  fairly  reported  by  the  press  of  the  city.  At  its 
close,  a  Kentucky  State  association  was  organized,  with  Laura  Clay  as 
president. 

In  January,  1882,  the  Richmond  and  Louisville  clubs  secured  a  hearing 
before  the  judiciary  committee  of  the  Senate,  Mrs.  Bennett  and  myself 
representing  the  former,  and  John  A.  Ward  the  latter.  With  the  valuable 
aid  of  Mrs.  Mary  Haggart  of  Indianapolis  we  made  a  most  favorable  im- 
pression upon  our  legislators.  The  points  in  which  our  laws  are  defect- 
ive and  upon  which  our  appeals  and  arguments  were  based  are  well  indi- 
cated by  the  pleas  of  our  several  petitions: 

That  women  might  have  municipal  and  presidential  suffrage  by  statute;  that  in  mar- 
riage  women  might  own  their  property  as  men  own  theirs;  that  women  who  were 
married  might  be  the  legal  guardians  of  their  children's  property  and  persons  as  well 
as  the  father;  that  women  should  be  appointed  with  equal  responsibility  and  authority 
as  assistant  physicians  in  insane  asylums,  and  that  the  appointment  of  all  the  officers  in 
such  asylums  should  be  made  by  the  legislature,  and  not  by  the  governor,  as  now;  that 
women  be  appointed  on  boards  of  visitors  and  commissioners  to  all  asylums  where 
women  are  inmates  or  prisoners. 

In  1884,  all  of  the  Clay  sisters — Mrs.  Bennet,  Mary,  Laura  and  Anne — 
with  Mrs.  Haggart,  again  went  to  Frankfort,  and  held  meetings  in  the 
legislative  hall,  which  were  largely  attended  by  the  best  classes  of  the 
citizens  of  that  city,  as  well  as  by  members  of  the  legislature. 

For  several  years  we  have  had  a  woman  for  State  Librarian.  In  Fay- 
ette,  one  of  our  most  aristocratic  counties,  Lexington  being  its  county 
seat,  a  woman  was  elected  to  the  office  of  county  clerk  by  a  majority  of 
200  over  her  male  competitor.  In  two  other  connties  women  are  also 
county  clerks.  Each  of  them  had  served  so  efficiently  in  her  husband's 
office,  that  at  his  death  she  had  been  elected  in  his  place. 

That  woman  has  to  fight  every  step  of  her  way  to  the  recognition  of 
her  rights  as  a  citizen  equal  before  the  law,  is  shown  by  the  following  des- 
patch from  Frankfort,  dated  December  18,  1885  : 

*  The  officers  were :     Sally  Clay  Bennett,  Maggie  S.  Burnham,  Mrs.  Somcrs,  Mary  B.  Clay. 


820  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Mrs.  M.  C.  Lucas  was  elected  by  the  vote  of  Daviess  county  to  the  office  of  jailer, 
to  succeed  her  husband,  who  was  killed  by  a  mob  while  in  discharge  of  his  duty. 
When  she  appeared  before  the  county  court  to  give  bond  for  the  office,  the  Judge  re- 
fused to  allow  her  to  qualify.  A  writ  of  mandamus  from  the  Circuit  Court  was  applied 
for  to  compel  the  court  to  allow  her  to  qualify,  but  the  motion  was  denied.  An  ap- 
peal was  then  taken  to  the  Court  of  Appeals.  Yesterday  that  court  affirmed  the  de- 
cision of  the  Circuit  Court,  that  a  woman  cannot  legally  hold  the  office  of  county  jailer. 

A  woman  in  Madison  county  acted  as  census-taker,  and  performed  her 
duty  well.  She  was  the  niece  of  Mr.  Justice  Miller  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Gen.  W.  J.  Sanderson,  internal  revenue  collector 
for  the  eighth  district,  employed  two  young  ladies  as  clerks,  Miss  Brown 
and  Miss  Price,  the  former  of  whom  is  said  to  be  his  best  clerk.  She  is 
the  sister  of  Mrs.  Smith,  the  circuit  clerk  of  Laurel  county.  The  suc- 
cessor of  General  Sanderson,  employs  his  two  daughters  as  clerks,  and 
they  receive  the  same  pay  as  men  who  do  the  same  work. 

Many  women  in  our  State  manage  their  own  farms.  My  mother,  dur- 
ing my  father's  absence  as  minister  to  Russia,  took  his  farm  of  2, 500  acres 
(he  making  her  his  attorney),  paid  off  a  large  debt  on  the  property,  built  an 
elegant  house  costing  $30,000,  stocked  the  farm,  and  largely  supported  the 
family  of  six  children,  with  money  which  she  made  during  the  war.  She 
fed  government  mules,  and  did  it  so  well  that  she  would  return  them  to 
camp  before  the  time  expired,  in  better  condition  than  most  feeders  got 
theirs.  She  is  now,  1885,  conducting  her  own  farm  of  350  acres,  selling 
several  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  wheat,  cattle,  and  sheep  annually,  giv- 
ing her  personal  attention  to  everything,  at  the  age  of  seventy.  During 
the  adventurous  and  perilous  period  of  my  father's  life  she  shared  his 
dangers,  and  was  ever  his  mainstay  in  upholding  his  hands  against  slavery  ; 
and  in  that  crowning  point  of  his  life,  when  he  was  mobbed  in  Lexington, 
my  mother  sat  at  his  bed-side,  and  wrote  at  his  dictation,  "  Go  tell  your 
secret  conclave  of  dastardly  assassins,  Cassius  M.  Clay  knows  his  rights 
and  how  to  defend  them." 

Two  of  my  sisters,  Laura  and  Anne,  and  myself  are  practical  farmers, 
each  having  under  her  immediate  superintendence  the  workmen,  both 
white  and  black,  on  300  acres.  We  raise  corn,  wheat,  oats,  cattle  and 
sheep,  buying  and  selling  our  own  stock  and  produce.  We  took  posses- 
sion of  the  land  without  stock  or  utensils,  and  by  our  observation  and  ex- 
perience, prudence  and  industry,  have  greatly  improved  the  lands  and 
stock,  and  annually  realize  a  handsome  income  therefrom. 

Miss  Laura  R.  White  of  Manchester,  sister  of  Hon.  John  D.  White,  who 
ably  advocated  our  cause  in  congress  as  well  as  in  his  own  State,  was 
graduated  with  marked  honor  from  the  Michigan  State  University  in  1874. 
Since  that  time  she  has  studied  architecture  in  the  Boston  Institute  of 
Technology  one  year,  worked  as  draughtsman  in  the  office  of  the  super- 
visory architect  of  the  treasury  department  at  Washington,  two  years, 
studied  in  the  special  school  of  architecture  in  Paris  one  year,  and  is  now, 
1886,  prosecuting  her  studies  with  a  liberal  selection  of  French  and  English 
architectural  works  at  her  mountain  home  in  Kentucky.  Mrs.  Bessie 
White  Heagen,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  White,  was  grad- 
uated with  honor  from  the  Roxbury  High  School  of  Boston,  and  from  the 


Facilities  for  Education.  821 

school  of  Pharmacy  of  Michigan  University.  Being  denied  examination 
and  the  privileges  of  college  graduates  of  the  college  of  pharmacy  at 
Louisville,  where  she  was  employed  by  a  prominent  pharmacist,  she 
brought  suit  and  obtained  a  verdict  in  her  favor. 

Early  in  1882,  Dr.  J.  P.  Barnum  employed  young  women  in  his  store  with 
the  expectation  of  being  able  to  educate  them  in  the  college  of  pharmacy. 
But  the  hostility  of  the  students  to  the  proposed  innovation,  and  the  lack 
of  a  systematic  laboratory  course,  caused  the  relinquishment  of  that  plan 
and  the  formation  of  the  new  school.  Prominent  gentlemen  in  the  com- 
munity assisted  Dr.  Barnum,  and  the  Louisville  School  of  Pharmacy 
was  duly  incorporated  under  the  general  laws  of  Kentucky.*  Though 
sustained  by  men  of  wealth  and  influence,  the  school  met  with  great  oppo- 
sition, the  State  Board  of  Pharmacy  refusing  to  register  the  women  who 
were  graduated  from  it  until  compelled  to  do  so  by  a  mandamus  from  the 
Law  and  Equity  Court,  Judge  Simral  presiding.  March  7,  1884,  the  legis- 
lature incorporated  the  Louisville  School  of  Pharmacy  for  Women,  and 
by  special  enactment  empowered  its  graduates  to  practice  their  profession 
without  registration  or  interference  from  the  State  board. 

The  school  confers  two  degrees ;  its  full  course  taking  three  years  and 
requiring  more  work  than  is  done  in  other  schools.  So  far  its  gradu- 
ates have  been  representative  women,  and  all  have  found  responsible 
situations  awaiting  them.  Its  faculty  remains,  with  a  few  exceptions,  as 
in  the  first  session.  Dr.  J.  P.  Barnum,  to  whose  indefatigable  efforts  the 
foundation  of  the  school  is  due,  is  dean  and  professor  of  pharmacy  and 
analytical  chemistry;  Dr.  T.  Hunt  Stuckey,  a  graduate  of  Heidelberg  Uni- 
versity, who  joined  his  efforts  with, Dr.  Barnum  at  an  early  day,  is  pro- 
fessor of  materta  medica,  toxicology  and  microscopy.  Mrs.  D.  N.  Marble, 
professor  of  general  and  pharmaceutical  chemistry,  and  Mrs.  Fountaine 
Miller,  professor  of  botany,  were  graduates  of  the  first  class. 

Mrs.  Kate  Trimble  de  Roode,  in  a  recent  letter  says  : 

Kentucky  has  had  school  suffrage  for  thirty  years,  but  as  the  right  is  not  generally 
known  or  understood,  few  women  have  ever  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege.  The 
State  librarian  has  for  many  years  been  a  woman,  and  there  are  several  post-mistresses 
also  in  this  State.  The  State  University  has  recently  admitted  women  on  equal  terms 
to  all  its  departments.  As  a  general]  thing  the  young  women  of  Kentucky  are  better 
educated  than  the  men,  the  latter  being  early  put  to  business,  while  most  parents 
desire  above  all  things  to  secure  to  their  daughters  a  liberal  education.  We  have  a 
number  of  women  practicing  medicine  in  the  larger  cities,  one  architect,  but  as  yet  no 
lawyers,  although  several  women  have  taken  a  full  course  of  study  for  that  profession. 
The  question  of  woman  suffrage  has  been  but  little  agitated  in  this  State,  although  the 


*  The  incorporators  who  formed  the  Board  of  Regents  were,  the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  U.  Dudley,  D. 
D.,  Bishop  of  Kentucky;  Rev.  James  P.  Boyce,  D.  D.,  President  of  the  Baptist  Theological  Seminary; 
Rev.  E.  F.  Perkins,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church  ;  Hon.  I.  H.  Edwards,  Chancellor  of  Louisville  Chan- 
cery Court ;  Theodore  Harris,  President  Louisville  Banking  and  Insurance  Co.;  W.  N.  Haldeman, 
President  Courier  Journal  Co.;  Nicholas  Finzer,  President  of  Finzer  tobacco  works;  Samuel  L. 
Avery,  President  B.  F.  Avery  Co.;  G.  H.  Cochran,  President  Louisville  School  Board  ;  Robert  Coch- 
ran,  Commissioner  of  Chancery  Court ;  Hon.  Charles  Godshaw,  Trustee  of  Jury  Fund  ;  Dr.  E.  A. 
Grant  and  Mr.  James  K.  Lemon.  The  board  was  organized  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Theodore  Harris, 
President,  Dr.  E.  A.  Grant,  Secretary^  and  James  K.  Lemon,  Treasurer.  The  school  opened  with 
fifteen  students,  and  continued  until  June,  1883.  A  lecture  and  practical  course  combined,  occupy  ten 
months  of  the  year — lectures  being  given  five  afternoons  of  each  week  during  the  term. 


822  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

last  legislature  gave  a  respectful  hearing  to  several  ladies  on  the  question.  The  prop- 
erty rights  of  married  women  are  in  a  crude  state;  the  wife's  personal  property  vests  in 
the  husband;  the  profits  and  rents  that  accrue  from  her  real  estate  belong  to  him  also. 
She  can  make  no  will  without  the  assent  of  her  husband,  and  if  given,  he  can  revoke  it 
at  any  time  before  the  will  is  probated.  The  wife's  wages  belong  to  her  husband.  She 
cannot  sue  or  be  sued  without  he  joins  her  in  the  suit.  The  wife's  dower  is  a  life  in- 
terest in  a  third  of  the  husband's  real  estate,  whereas  the  husband's  curtesy,  where 
there  is  issue  of  the  marriage,  born  alive,  is  a  life  interest  in  all  the  real  estate  belong- 
ing to  the  wife  at  the  time  of  her  death.  This  is  the  statutory  law,  but  the  wife  by 
obtaining  a  decree  in  chancery  may  possess  all  the  rights  of  a  femme  sole.  A  bill  se- 
curing more  equal  rights  to  women  passed  the  House  of  the  last  legislature,  but  failed 
in  the  Senate.  The  courtesy  of  Kentucky  men  to  women  in  general,  has  kept  them 
from  realizing  their  civil  and  political  degradation,  until,  by  some  sudden  turn  in  the 
wheel  of  fortune,  the  individual  woman  has  felt  the  iron  teeth  of  the  law  in  her  own 
flesh,  and  warned  her  slumbering  sisterhood.  We  are  now  awaking  to  the  fact  that  an 
aristocracy  of  sex  in  a  republic  is  as  inconsistent  and  odious  as  an  aristocracy  of  color, 
and  indeed  far  more  so. 


V- — TENNESSEE. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Lisle  Saxon  for  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Elizabeth  Avery  Meriwether  is  the  chief  representative  of  liberal 
thought  in  Tennessee.  Her  pen  is  ever  ready  to  champion  the  wronged. 
I  first  came  to  know  her  when  engaged  in  a  newspaper  discussion  to  re- 
establish in  the  public  schools  of  Memphis  three  young  women  who  had 
been  dismissed  because  of  "  holding  too  many  of  Mrs.  Meriwether's  views  " 
— the  reason  actually  given  by  the  superintendent  and  endorsed  by  the 
board  of  directors.  A  seven  month's  war  was  carried  on,  ending  in  a 
triumphant  reinstallment  of  the  teachers,  a  new  superintendent,  and  a 
new  board  of  directors.  Public  opinion  was  educated  into  more  liberal 
ideas,  and  the  Memphis  Appeal,  through  its  chivalrous  editor,  Mr.  Keating, 
declared  squarely  for  woman  suffrage. 

When  Col.  Kerr  introduced  into  the  Tennessee  legislature  a  bill  making 
divorce  impossible  for  any  cause  save  adultery,  Mrs.  Meriwether  wrote 
the  ablest  article  I  ever  read,  in  opposition,  which  Mr.  Keating  published 
in  his  paper,  and  distributed  among  the  members  of  the  legislature.  The 
result  was  a  clear  vote  against  the  bill. 

With  Mrs.  Lide  Meriwether  and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Holmes,  she  publicly  assailed 
the  cross  examination  of  women  in  criminal  trials,  either  as  culprits  or 
witnesses,  until  the  practice  was  broken  up,  and  private  hearings  ac- 
corded. In  1876  she  sent  a  memorial  to  the  National  Democratic  con- 
vention at  St.  Louis,  asking  that  party  to  declare  for  woman  suffrage  in 
its  platform.  Though  her  appeal  was  not  read,  hundreds  of  copies  were 
circulated  among  the  members  in  the  hope  of  stirring  thought  on  the 
subject  in  the  South.  It  provoked  much  sarcasm  because  it  was  signed 
only  by  Mrs.  Meriwether  and  Mrs.  Saxon.  In  1880-81  Mrs.  Meriwether 
was  one  of  the  speakers  in  the  series  of  conventions  held  by  the  National 
association  in  the  Western  and  New  England  States. 


Mrs.  Bodeker  s  Letter.  823 

VI. — VIRGINIA. 

In  the  winter  of  1870,  immediately  after  the  National  Washington  con- 
vention, Mrs.  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  while  spending  a  few  days  in  Rich- 
mond, formed  the  acquaintance  of  Mrs.  Anna  Whitehead  Bodeker,  a 
most  earnest  advocate  of  the  ballot  for  women.  Mrs.  Davis  held  a  parlor 
meeting  in  the  home  of  Mrs.  Bodeker,  enlisting  the  interest  of  several 
prominent  citizens  of  Richmond,  who  very  soon  invited  Mrs.  Joslyn  Gage 
to  their  city  to  give  a  series  of  lectures.  Of  the  result  of  this  visit  we 
give  Mrs.  Bodeker's  report  as  published  in  The  Revolution  of  May,  1870  : 

DEAR  REVOLUTION  : — I  glory  in  announcing  a  grand  achievement  in  the  great  re- 
form of  the  day  in  Virginia.  Our  energetic  and  heroic  leader,  Mrs.  M.  Joslyn  Gage, 
after  giant  efforts  on  her  part,  and  with  the  aid  of  some  strong  advocates  of  the  re- 
form, on  Friday  evening,  May  6,  1870,  organized  in  the  city  of  Richmond  a  Virginia 
State  Woman  Suffrage  Association.  The  whole  proceedings  I  here  append,  for  im- 
mediate publication  in  your  columns. 

Mrs.  Gage,  advisory  counsel  for  New  York,  in  the  National  Woman  Suffrage  As- 
sociation of  America,  delivered  a  lecture  upon  "  Opportunity  for  Woman,"  at  Bosher's 
Hall,  corner  of  Ninth  and  Main  streets,  on  Thursday  evening.  The  lecture  was  able, 
earnest  and  eloquent,  and  was  listened  to  with  rapt  attention  by  the  friends  of  the 
cause  present.  At  its  conclusion,  Judge  John  C.  Underwood  gave  notice  that  on  the 
following  evening  a  meeting  would  be  held  at  the  United  States  Court  room  (which  he 
freely  proffered  for  the  purpose)  to  organize  a  State  Association,  adopt  a  constitution, 
elect  officers,  and  appoint  delegates  to  the  anniversary  of  the  National  Association 
soon  to  be  held  in  New  York  city.  The  judge  remarked  that,  upon  conversing  with 
Governor  Wise  upon  the  subject,  he  expressed  his  warm  sympathy  with  the  objects  of 
the  movement  save  upon  the  question  of  giving  women  the  ballot.  With  all  the  other 
rights  claimed,  he  was  heartily  in  accord;  especially,  he  thought,  should  the  professions 
be  opened  to  women,  more  particularly  the  medical,  they  being  the  natural  physicians 
of  their  sex  and  of  children. 

Pursuant  to  the  above  notice,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  United  States  court-room. 
Judge  John  C.  Underwood  was  called  to  preside.  Previous  to  action  on  the  regular 
business  of  the  meeting,  several  articles  favorable  to  the  movement  were  read.  Miss 
Sue  L.  F.  Smith,  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Smith,  read  very  charmingly 
a  well-written  essay  prepared  by  herself  in  advocacy  of  granting  to  women  the  full 
meed  of  powers  and  responsibilities  now  enjoyed  by  men.  Mr.  William  E. 
Colman  read  an  article  entitled  "Clerical  Denunciation  of  Woman  Suffrage — A 
Defense,"  being  a  reply  to  a  violent  attack  made  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edwards  of  this  city, 
upon  the  adherents  of  the  movement,  in  a  sermon  delivered  by  him  recently.  A  pro- 
posed constitution  for  the  government  of  the  Virginia  State  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion was  adopted;  after  which  came  the  election  of  officers*  of  the  society.  On  motion 
of  Judge  Underwood,  Miss  Sue  L.  F.  Smith  was  appointed  delegate  to  represent  Vir- 
ginia in  the  National  Association  to  be  held  in  New  York  city  May  12,  13,  the  society 
having  by  resolution  connected  itself  as  an  auxiliary  to  said  National  Association.  Mrs. 
Gage  offered  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  adopted,  after  which  she  delivered 
a  forcible  address,  enumerating  many  of  the  wrongs  to  which  women  are  subjected  in 
this  State,  dwelling  particularly  upon  the  laws  depriving  mothers  of  the  right  to  their  own 
children,  placing  the  property  of  married  women  at  the  mercy  of  their  husbands,  and 


*  President '.Mrs.  Anne  W.  Bodeker,  Richmond  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Mrs.  Maria  G.  and  Judge  JohnC. 
Underwood,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judge  Westal  Willoughby,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judge  I.ysandcr  Hill,  all  of  Alex- 
andria ;  Mr.  R.  M.  Manly,  Richmond  ;  Mrs.  Martha  Haines  Bennett,  Norfolk  ;  Mr.  Andrew  Wash- 
burne  and  Mr.  William  E.  Coleman,  Richmond  ;  Secretary*  Miss  Sue  L.  F.  Smith.  Richmond  ; 
Executive  Committee^  Rev.  W.  F.  Hemenway,  Mrs.  Andrew  Washburne,  Mrs.  Dr.  £.  H.  Smith,  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Langstedt,  Richmond,  and  Mrs.  Allen  (Florence  Percy)  of  Manchester. 


824  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

depriving  the  wives  of  all  voice  in  the  disposition  of  the  property  possessed  by  them 
before  marriage. 

In  the  winter  of  1871,  Miss  Anthony  was  honored  by  an  invitation  from 
the  society,  and  held  several  meetings  in  Judge  Underwood's  court-room. 
About  this  time  appeared  the  following: 

Judge  Underwood,  having  stated  in  a  letter  that  after  mature  consideration  he  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  together  with  the  enforcement  act  of  May  31,  1870,  have  se- 
cured the  right  to  vote  to  female  citizens  as  fully  as  it  is  now  exercised  and  enjoyed  by 
male  citizens,  a  test  case  is  to  be  made  at  once  in  the  Virginia  courts.  As  there  are 
very  few  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  in  Virginia,  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment in  Washington  are  about  to  move  to  Alexandria  to  perfect  an  organization  and 
be  ready  with  a  case  when  Judge  Underwood  opens  court  there. 

But  Mrs.  Bodeker,  who  also  memorialized  the  general  assembly,  was 
first  to  make  the  attempt  to  vote.  The  Richmond  Dispatch  describes  the 
occasion : 

Yesterday  morning  the  judges  of  the  second  precinct  of  Marshall  ward,  J.  F.  Shin- 
berger,  esq.,  presiding,  were  surprised  at  the  appearance  of  a  lady  at  the  polls.  She 
wished  to  deposit  a  ballot,  but  as  the  judges  declined  to  allow  this,  in  view  of  her  not 
having  registered,  she  then  asked  to  be  permitted  to  have  a  paper  with  the  following 
inscription  placed  in  the  ballot-box  :  "By  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  I, 
Anne  Whitehead  Bodeker,  have  a  right  to  give  my  vote  at  this  election,  and  in  vindica- 
tion of  it  drop  this  note  in  the  ballot-box,  November  7,  1871."  This  paper  was  taken 
by  the  judges,  and  will  be  deposited  with  the  ballots  in  the  archives  of  the  Hustings 
court. 

One  remarkable  incident  in  Gen.  Grant's  administration  was  Miss 
Elizabeth  VanLew's  appointment  as  postmaster  at  Richmond.  She  held 
the  office  eight  years,  notwithstanding  the  persistent  opposition  of  politi- 
cians=  The  Ballot-Box  said  : 

Miss  VanLew  was  postmaster  in  Richmond  under  Grant,  introducing  many  reforms 
in  the  office,  but  through  the  envy  of  men,  who  were  voters,  she,  a  non-voter,  lost  her 
office,  as  she  had  lost  wealth  and  friends  from  her  devotion  to  the  Union  during  the 
war.  Now,  since  its  close,  she  finds  not  only  her  former  slave  men  permitted  to  make 
laws  for  her,  but  also  those  whom  she  opposed  when  they  were  seeking  their  country's 
life.  But  women  of  all  ranks,  white  and  colored,  are  awaking  to  their  need  of  the 
ballot  for  self-protection. 

The  Philadelphia  Press,  edited  by  J.  W.  Forney,  said: 

Some  covert  enemies  of  the  president  and  the  new  civil-service  reform  have  been 
spreading  a  report,  through  sensational  specials,  that  the  Richmond  post-office  is  to  be 
given  to  some  prominent  Virginian  of  local  standing  as  soon  as  Miss  VanLew's  com- 
mission expires.  If  there  is  any  post-office  in  the  United  States  in  which  the  whole 
nation  at  this  time  has  a  special  interest,  it  is  this  one  of  Richmond  which  the  present 
incumbent  holds,  as  it  were,  by  a  national  right,  and  certainly  by  popular  acclaim. 
"We  have  not  time  in  a  brief  paragraph  to  tell  the  striking  story  of  what  Miss  VanLew 
has  done  and  what  she  has  suffered  for  the  country.  Her  story  will  pass  into  standard 
history,  however,  as  sadly  illustrative  of  our  times.  She  herself  is  known  and  loved 
wherever  the  horrors  of  Libby  and  Belle  Isle  are  mourned  and  denounced. 

VII. — WEST  VIRGINIA. 

Hon.  Samuel  Young,  in  a  letter  to  77;,?  Revolution,  dated  Senate  Cham- 
ber, Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  February  22,  1869,  writes: 


North    Carolina.  825 

In  1867,  I  introduced  a  bill  in  the  State  Senate,  looking  to  the  enfranchisement  of 
all  women  in  West  Virginia,  who  can  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence  intelli- 
gently, and  write  a  legible  hand,  and  have  actually  paid  tax  the  year  previous  to  their 
proposing  to  vote.  But  even  this  guarded  bill  had  no  friends  but  myself.  *  *  * 
I  introduced  a  resolution  during  the  present  session  of  our  legislature,  asking  congress 
to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women.  Eight  out  of  the  twenty-two  members  of 
the  Senate  voted  for  it.  This  is  quite  encouraging — advancing  from  one  to  eight  in 
two  years.  At  this  rate  of  progress,  we  may  succeed  by  next  winter.  I  give  the 
names  of  those  who  are  in  favor  of  and  voted  for  female  suffrage  in  the  Senate  : 
Drummond,  Doolittle,  Humphreys,  Hoke,  Wilson,  Workman,  Young,  and  Farnsworth, 
president.  The  same  senators  voted  to  invite  Miss  Anna  E.  Dickinson  to  lecture  in 
the  state-house  during  her  late  visit  to  Wheeling. 

VIII. — NORTH  CAROLINA. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  Mary  Bayard  Clarke  of  New  Berne  for  the 
following : 

Since  1868,  when  the  constitution  was  changed,  a  married  woman  has  absolute 
control  of  all  the  real  estate  she  possessed  before  marriage  or  acquired  by  gift  or 
devise  after  it,  except  the  power  to  sell  without  the  consent  of  her  husband,  who  in 
his  turn  is  not  at  liberty  to  sell  any  real  estate  possessed  by  him  before  marriage,  or 
acquired  after  it,  without  the  consent  of  his  wife.  Should  he  sell  any  real  estate 
without  the  wife's  consent,  in  writing,  she  can,  after  his  death,  claim  her  dower  of 
one-third  in  such  real  estate.  If  she  owns  a  farm  and  her  husband  manages  it,  she 
can  claim  full  settlements  from  him,  he  having  no  more  rights  than  any  other  agent 
whom  she  may  employ.  So  her  property,  real  and  personal,  is  her  individual  right, 
with  the  income  therefrom.  But  she  cannot  contract  a  debt  that  is  binding  on  her 
property  without  the  consent  of  her  husband.  With  his  written  consent,  which  must 
be  registered  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  county  in  which  she  resides,  she  may  be- 
come a  free-trader  with  all  the  rights  of  a  man,  her  husband  having  no  claim  to  her 
gains  and  not  being  responsible  for  any  debt  which  she  may  contract.  By  giving  this 
written  consent  her  husband  virtually  places  her  in  the  position  of  an  unmarried 
woman,  as  far  as  her  property  is  concerned. 

In  iSSi,  finding  that  a  widow  had  no  right  to  appoint  a  guardian  for  her  children 
by  "letters  testamentary,"  I,  through  my  son,  William  E.  Clarke,  who  was  then  sen- 
ator for  this  county  in  our  State  legislature,  succeeded  in  getting  this  law  so  changed 
that  she  now  has  the  same  rights  as  a  man.  In  cases  of  divorce  or  separation  while 
the  children  are  under  age,  it  is  discretionary  with  the  judge  to  give  the  children  to 
either  parent;  but  public  sentiment  always  gives  them  to  the  mother  while  young. 

As  a  rule  the  women  of  the  South  are  better  educated  than  the  men,  the  boys  being 
put  to  work  while  the  girls  are  at  school.  The  girls  are  not  trained  to  work  in  any 
way,  and  very  few,  as  yet,  see  the  necessity  of  being  regularly  trained  to  do  anything 
by  which  they  may  make  a  living  except  as  teachers.  Our  public-school  system  re- 
quires a  course  through  the  normal  school  for  all  teachers.  Mixed  schools  are  not 
popular  with  us,  but  we  have  been  forced  into  them  by  the  public-graded-school  tax, 
which  has  crushed  out  our  private  schools.  I  am  now,  and  have  been  for  the  past  two 
years,  making  an  effort  to  have  women  on  our  school-boards,  and  a  female  as  well  as 
a  male  principal  for  eveiy  mixed  public  school,  on  the  ground  that  mothers  have  as 
much  right  to  a  voice  in  the  education  of  their  daughters  as  fathers  have  in  that  of 
their  sons.  We  have  female  teachers  in  our  public  schools  but  not  as  principals,  and 
the  pay  of  the  women  is,  regardless  of  the  quality  of  their  work,  always  considerably 
less  than  that  of  men. 

Our  Supreme  Court  granted  a  license  to  Miss  Tabitha  A.  Holton  to  practice  law,  and 
there  is  no  legal  impediment  in  the  way  of  one  doing  so.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
medical  profession.  Dr.  Susan  Dimock  was  a  North  Carolinian  by  birth  and  on  her 


826  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

application  for  admission  to  the  State  Medical  Society  was  unanimously  elected  a 
member  of  that  body.  The  African  Methodist-Episcopal  Conference,  Bishop  Turner 
presiding,  ordained  Miss  Sarah  A.  Hughes  of  Raleigh,  a  bright  mulatto  girl,  as  deacon 
in  the  church.  Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  late  war,  my  husband  being  then  in- 
capacitated for  work  by  wounds  received  in  the  Mexican  and  the  civil  war,  and  my 
sons  under  age,  I  applied  to  Governor  Jonathan  Worth  for  the  position  of  State 
librarian.  Though  cordially  acknowledging  my  fitness,  intellectually,  for  the  office, 
and  admitting  that  my  sex  did  not  legally  disqualify  me  to  hold  it,  he  positively  re- 
fused to  appoint  me  or  any  other  woman  to  any  office  in  his  gift.  Public  sentiment 
then  sustained  him,  but  it  would  not  now  do  so;  so  many  ladies  of  culture,  refinement 
and  social  position  have  been,  since  the  war,  forced  to  work  or  starve,  that  it  is  now 
nothing  remarkable  to  see  them  and  their  daughters  doing  work  which  twenty  years 
ago  they  would  have  been  ostracised  for  undertaking. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Boston  Index,  published  August,  1885,  the  venerable  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Oakes  Smith,  who  is  now  a  resident  of  this  State,  truthfully  says  . 

The  women  of  the  North  can  have  little  conception  of  the  hindrances  which  their 
sisters  of  the  South  encounter  in  their  efforts  to  accept  new  and  progressive  ideas. 
The  other  sex,  in  a  blind  sort  of  way,  hold  fast  to  an  absolute  kind  of  chivalry  akin 
to  that  of  the  renowned  Don  Quixote,  by  which  they  try  to  hold  women  in  the  back- 
ground as  a  kind  of  porcelain  liable  to  crack  and  breakage  unless  daintily  handled. 
Women  here  see  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  need  of  change  far  more  clearly  than 
the  men,  and  act  up  to  this  light,  but  with  a  flexible  grace  that  disarms  opposition. 
They  see  the  necessity  of  work  and  are  turning  their  attention  to  methods  for  remu- 
nerative labor,  far  more  difficult  to  obtain  at  the  South  than  at  the  North. 

I  cordially  endorse  this  extract.  The  Southern  man  does  not  wish  his  "women 
folks "  to  be  self-supporting,  not  because  he  is  jealous  of  their  rivaling  him,  but 
because  he  feels  it  is  his  duty  to  be  the  bread-winner.  But  the  much  sneered  at 
"  chivalry  "  of  the  South,  while  rendering  it  harder  for  a  woman  to  break  through  old 
customs,  most  cordially  and  heartily  sustains  her  when  she  has  successfully  done  so. 
There  are  fewer  large  centers  in  the  South  than  in  the  North,  and  much  less  attrition 
of  mind  against  mind;  the  people  are  homogeneous  and  slower  to  change,  and  public 
opinion  is  much  less  fluctuating.  But  once  let  the  tide  of  woman  suffrage  fairly  turn, 
and  I  believe  it  will  be  irresistable  and  advance  far  more  steadily  and  rapidly  in  the 
South  than  it  has  done  in  the  North.  Let  the  Southern  women  be  won  over  and  the 
cause  will  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  opposition  of  the  men.  But,  after  twenty 
years'  experience  as  a  journalist,  my  honest  opinion  is  that  until  the  Southern  women 
can  be  made  to  feel  the  pecuniary  advantages  to  them  of  suffrage,  they  will  not  lift  a 
finger  or  speak  a  word  to  obtain  it. 

In  iSSi,  at  the  March  meeting  of  the  Raleigh  Typographical  Union,  No.  194,  my 
son,  being  then  a  member  of  that  Union,  introduced  and,  after  some  hard  fighting, 
succeeded  in  carrying  a  resolution  placing  women  compositors  on  a  par  in  every 
respect  with  men.  There  was  not  at  that  time  a  single  woman  compositor  in  the 
State,  to  my  son's  knowledge;  there  is  one  now  in  Raleigh  and  two  apprentices,  who 
claimed  and  receive  all  the  advantages  that  men  applying  for  admission  to  the  Union 
receive. 

Mrs.  C.  Harris  started  the  South  Atlantic  at  Wilmington.  The  Misses  Bernheim 
and  their  father  started  a  magazine  in  the  same  city  called  At  Home  and  Abroad, 
which  was  afterwards  moved  to  Charlotte;  both  were  short-lived.  We  have  now  the 
Southern  ]Voman.  This  is  the  only  journal  ever  edited  and  managed  by  a  woman 
alone,  with  no  man  associated  with  or  responsible  for  it.  I  have  been  for  twenty 
years  connected  with  the  press  of  this  State  in  one  way  and  another,  and  am 
called  the  "Grandmother  of  the  North  Carolina  Press  Association."  In  iSSo  I  de- 
livered an  original  poem  before  the  association,  and  another  Masonic  one  before  the 
board  of  the  orphan  asylum;  making  me,  I  believe,  the  first  native  North  Carolina 
woman  that  ever  came  before  the  public  as  a  speaker.  I  was  both  denounced  and 
applauded  for  my  "  brass"  and  "  bravery."  Public  sentiment  has  changed  since  then. 


Dr.  Susan  Dimock.  827 

Mrs.  Marion  A.  Williams,  president  of  the  State  National  Bank  at  Raleigh  for 
several  years,  is  probably  the  first  woman  ever  elected  to  that  responsible  position 
in  any  State  of  this  Union.  In  1885  Louisa  B.  Stephens  was  made  president  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Marion,  Iowa;  and  a  national  bank  in  Newbery,  South  Caro- 
lina, honored  itself  by  placing  a  woman  at  the  head  of  its  official  board. 

The  North  Carolinian  of  January,  1870,  contained  an  able  editorial  endorsing 
woman  suffrage,  closing  with  : 

For  one  we  say,  tear  down  the  barriers,  give  woman  an  opportunity  to  show  her 
wisdom  and  virtue;  place  the  ballot  in  her  hands  that  she  may  protect  herself  and  re- 
form men,  and  ere  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  elapsed  many  of  the  foulest  blots  upon 
the  civilization  of  this  age  will  have  passed  away. 

From  an  interesting  article  in  the  Boston  Advertiser,  May  22,  1875,  by 
Rev.  James  Freeman  Clark,  concerning  Dr.  Susan  Dimock,  one  of  North 
Carolina's  promising  daughters,  whose  career  was  ended  in  the  wreck  of 
the  Schiller  near  the  Scilly  islands,  we  make  a  few  extracts : 

One  of  our  eminent  surgeons,  Dr.  Samuel  Cabot,  said  to  me  yesterday : 

"  This  community  will  never  know  what  a  loss  it  has  had  in  Dr.  Dimock.  It  was 
not  merely  her  skill,  though  that  was  remarkable,  considering  her  youth  and  lim- 
ited experience,  but  also  her  nerve,  that  qualified  her  to  become  a  great  surgeon.  I 
have  seldom  known  one  at  once  so  determined  and  so  self-possessed.  Skill  is  a  quality 
much  more  easily  found  than  this  self-control  that  nothing  can  flurry.  She  had  that 
in  an  eminent  degree;  and,  had  she  lived,  she  would  have  been  sure  to  stand,  in  time, 
among  those  at  the  head  of  her  profession.  The  usual  weapons  of  ridicule  would  have 
been  impotent  against  a  woman  who  had  reached  that  supreme  position  which  Susan 
Dimock  would  certainly  have  attained." 

During  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  Miss  Dimock  sought  admission  into  the  medical 
school  of  Harvard  University,  preferring,  if  possible,  to  take  a  degree  in  an  American 
college.  Twice  she  applied,  and  was  twice  refused.  Hearing  that  the  University  of 
Zurich  was  open  to  women,  she  went  there,  and  was  received  with  a  hospitality  which 
the  institutions  of  her  own  country  did  not  offer.  She  pursued  her  medical  studies 
there,  and  graduated  with  honor.  A  number  of  the  "  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  "  for 
August,  1872,  contains  an  article  called  "  Les  Femmes  Al'Universitie  de  Zurich,"  which 
speaks  very  favorably  of  the  success  of  the  women  in  that  place.  The  first  to  take  a 
degree  as  doctor  of  medicine  was  a  young  Russian  lady,  in  1867.  Between  1867  and 
1872  five  others  had  taken  this  degree,  and  among  them  Miss  Dimock  is  mentioned. 
From  the  medical  school  at  Zurich,  she  went  to  that  at  Vienna;  and  of  her  appear- 
ance there  we  have  this  record  :  A  distinguised  German  physician  remarked  to  a  friend 
of  mine  residing  in  Germany  that  he  had  always  been  opposed  to  women  as  physicians 
— but  that  he  had  met  a  young  American  lady  studying  at  Vienna,  whose  intelligence, 
modesty  and  devotion  to  her  work  was  such  as  almost  to  convince  him  that  he  was 
wrong.  A  comparison  of  dates  shows  that  this  American  student  must  have  been  Dr. 
Dimock. 

On  her  return  to  the  United  States  Dr.  Dimock  became  resident  physician  at  "  The 
Hospital  for  Women  and  Children,"  on  Codman  Avenue,  in  Boston.  Both  the  stu- 
dents of  medicine  and  *the  patients  became  devotedly  attached  to  her;  they  were  fas- 
cinated by  this  remarkable  union  of  tenderness,  firmness  and  skill.  The  secret  was  in 
part  told  by  what  she  said  in  one  of  her  lectures  in  the  training-school  for  nurses  con- 
nected with  the  woman's  hospital  :  "  I  wish  you,  of  all  my  instructions,  especially  to 
remember  this.  Where  you  go  to  nurse  a  patient,  imagine  that  it  is  your  own  sister 
before  you  in  that  bed;  and  treat  her  as  you  would  wish  your  own  sister  to  be  treated." 
While  at  this  hospital,  she  was  also  able  to  carry  out  a  principle  in  which  she  firmly 
believed,  namely — that  in  a  hospital  the  rights  of  every  patient,  poor  and  rich,  should 
be  sacredly  regarded,  and  never  be  postponed  even  to  the  supposed  interests  of  medi- 
ca,l  students.  No  student  was  allowed  to  be  present  at  any  operation,  except  so  far  as 
the  comfort  and  safety  of  her  patients  rendered  the  student's  presence  desirable.  Her 


828  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

interest  in  the  woman's  hospital  was  very  great.  She  was  in  the  habit,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  year,  of  writing  and  sealing  up  her  wishes  for  the  coming  year.  Since 
her  death,  her  mother  has  opened  the  envelope  of  January  i,  1875,  and  found  it  to 
contain  a  prayer  for  a  blessing  on  "  my  dear  hospital." 

And  now  this  young,  strong  soul  so  ardent  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  so  filled  with 
a  desire  to  help  her  suffering  sisters,  has  been  taken  by  that  remorseless  deep. 

IX. — SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

The  first  action  we  hear  of  in  South  Carolina  was  a  Woman's  Right's 
Convention  in  Columbia,  Dec.  20,  1870,  of  which  the  Charleston  Republi- 
can said : 

The  chairman,  Miss  Rollin,  said  :  "It  had  been  so  universally  the  custom  to  treat  the 
idea  of  woman  suffrage  with  ridicule  and  merriment  that  it  becomes  necessary  in  sub- 
mitting the  subject  for  earnest  deliberation  that  we  assure  the  gentlemen  present  that 
our  claim  is  made  honestly  and  seriously.  We  ask  suffrage  not  as  a  favor,  not  as  a 
privilege,  but  as  a  right  based  on  the  ground  that  we  are  human  beings,  and  as  such, 
entitled  to  all  human  rights.  While  we  concede  that  woman's  ennobling  influence 
should  be  confined  chiefly  to  home  and  society,  we  claim  that  public  opinion  has 
had  a  tendency  to  limit  woman's  sphere  to  too  small  a  circle,  and  until  woman  has  the 
right  of  representation  this  will  last,  and  other  rights  will  be  held  by  an  insecure  tenure." 

Mr.  T.  J.  Mackey  made  a  forcible  argument  in  favor  of  the  movement.  He  was 
followed  by  Miss  Hosley,  who  made  a  few  brief  remarks  upon  the  subject.  General 
Moses  thought  woman's  introduction  upon  the  political  platform  would  benefit  us 
much  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  and  that  they  had  a  right  to  assist  in  making  the  laws 
that  govern  them  as  well  as  the  sterner  sex.  Messrs.  Cardozo,  Pioneer  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Harris  followed  in  short  speeches,  endorsing  the  movement  and  wishing  it  success. 
Resolutions  were  adopted,  and  officers  chosen.*  The  following  letters  were  read  : 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  Columbia,  Jan.  19,  1871. 

Miss  L.  M.  Rollin: — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  invitation 
to  be  present  at  the  preliminary  organization  of  the  association  for  the  assertion  of 
woman's  rights  in  this  State,  and  regret  that  the  pressure  of  public  duties  precludes  my 
indulging  myself  in  that  pleasure.  Be  assured,  however,  that  the  cause  has  my  warmest 
sympathy,  and  I  indulge  the  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  woman  shall  be 
the  peer  of  man  in  political  rights,  as  she  is  peerless  in  all  others,  and  when  she  will  be 
able  to  reclaim  some  of  those  privileges  that  are  now  monopolized  by  the  sterner  sex. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  etc.,  R.  K.  SCOTT,  Governor. 

OFFICE  OF  THE,  ATTORNEY-GENERAL,  Columbia,  Feb.  i,  1871. 

I  hoped  when  I  received  your  invitation  to  the  meeting  to-night  of  the  friends 
of  woman  suffrage,  that  I  should  be  able  to  attend  in  person,  but  at  a  late  hour  I  find 
other  duties  standing  in  the  way,  and  I  can  only  say  a  word  of  approval  and  encour- 
agement with  my  pen.  The  woman  suffrage  cause  is  to  my  mind  so  just  and  so  expe- 
dient as  to  need  little  argument.  To  say  that  my  mother,  my  sisters  or  my. wife  have 
less  interest  in  good  government  than  I  have,  or  are  less  fitted  by  nature  to  understand 
and  use  the  ballot  than  I  am,  is  to  contradict  reason  and  fact. 

Upon  the  same  grounds  that  I  defend  my  own  right  to  share  in  the  government 
which  controls  and  protects  me,  do  I  now  assert  the  right  of  woman  to,a  voice  in  pub- 
lic affairs.  For  the  same  reasons  that  I  would  regard  an  attempt  to  rob  me  of  my  civil 
rights  as  tyranny,  do  I  now  protest  against  the  continued  civil  inequality  and  thralldom 
of  woman.  I  take  no  merit  or  pride  to  myself  for  such  a  position.  I  have  felt  and 
said  these  things  during  my  whole  life.  They  are  to  me  self-evident  truths  ;  needing 


* President,  Gov.  R.  K.  Scott  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Hon.  B.  F.  Whittemore,  Hon.  G.  F.  Mclntyre, 
Gen.  W.  J.  Whipper,  Mrs.  R.  C.  DeLarge,  Hon.  D.  H.  Chamberlain,  Mrs.  A.  J.  Ransier,  and  Mrs.  R. 
K.  Scott ;  Secretary,  Miss  K.  Rollin  ;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  K.  Harris. 


Hon.   D.  H.    Chamberlain.  829 

no  more  demonstration  by  argument  than  the  first  lines  of  the  Declaration  of  American 
Independence.  My  claim  for  woman  is  simply  this  :  Give  her  a  full  and  fair  chance 
to  act  in  any  sphere  for  which  she  can  fit  herself.  Her  sphere  is  as  wide  as  man's.  It 
has  no  limits  except  her  capacity.  If  woman  cannot  perform  a  soldier's  duty,  then  the 
army  is  not  her  sphere  ;  if  she  can,  it  is  her  sphere,  as  much  as  it  is  man's. 

I  value  the  ballot  for  woman  chiefly  because  it  opens  to  her  a  wide,  free  avenue  to  a 
complete  development  of  all  her  powers.  The  Chinese  lady's  shoe  is  nothing  compared 
to  the  clamps  and  fetters  which  we  Americans  have  put  upon  woman's  mind  and  soul. 
An  impartial  observer  would  scarcely  condemn  the  one  and  approve  the  other.  What 
we  need  now  is  to  accustom  the  public  to  these  radical  truths.  Demand  the  ballot; 
demand  woman's  freedom.  It  is  not  a  conflict  of  argument  or  reason,  so  much  as  a 
crusade  against  habit  and  prejudice.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  don't  think  there  is  a  respect- 
able argument  in  the  world  against  woman  suffrage.  People  think  they  are  arguing  or 
reasoning  against  it  when  they  are  in  fact  only  repeating  the  prejudices  in  which  they 
have  been  trained.  With  the  sincerest  wishes  for  the  success  of  your  meeting  and  of 
all  your  efforts  for  woman  suffrage,  I  remain,  yours  very  truly, 

D.  H.  CHAMBERLAIN. 

The  American  association  memorialized  the  legislature  March  13,  1872. 
The  joint  committee  recommended  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  of 
the  State,  providing  that  every  person,  male  or  female,  possessed  of  the 
necessary  qualifications,  should  be  entitled  to  vote.  B.  F.  Whittemore, 
H.  J.  Maxwell,  W.  B.  Nash,  G.  F.  Mclntyre,  were  the  committee  on  the 
part  of  the  Senate;  C.  D.  Hayne,  W.  J.  Whipper,  Benj.  Byas,  B.  G. 
Yocom,  F.  H.  Frost,  committee  on  the  part  of  the  House. 

In  the  debate  in  congress  in  1874,  Hon.  Alonzo  J.  Ransier  of  South  Car- 
olina, the  civil-rights  bill  being  under  discussion,  claimed  that  equal  hu- 
man rights  should  be  extended  to  women  as  follows  : 

And  may  the  day  be  not  far  distant  when  American  citizenship  in  civil  and  political 
rights  and  public  privileges  shall  cover  not  only  those  of  our  sex,  but  those  of  the  op- 
posite one  also;  until  which  time  the  government  of  the  United  States  cannot  be  said 
to  rest  upon  the  "consent  of  the  governed,"  or  to  adequately  protect  them  in  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

Miss  Sallie  R.  Banks,  for  some  years  a  teacher  of  colored  schools  in 
South  Carolina,  has  been  appointed  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  the 
Sumter  district. 

X. — FLORIDA. 

In  1880,  the  agricultural  department  at  Washington,  paid  a  premium  of 
$12  to  Madame  Atzeroth  of  Manatee,  for  the  first  pound  of  coffee  ever 
grown  out  of  doors  in  the  United  States. 

The  following  is  from  a  letter  to  the  Savannah  News,  reporting  a  judg- 
ment rendered  by  a  Florida  county  judge,  in  a  case  between  an  old  black 

man  and  his  wife  : 

OCALA,  Fla.,  May  12,  1874. 

Be  it  known  throughout  all  Christendom  that  the  husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife, 
and  whatever  is  his  is  his'n,  and  whatever  is  hers  is  his'n,  and  come  weal  or  woe,  peace 
or  war,  the  right  of  all  property  is  vested  in  the  husband,  and  the  wife  must  not  take 
anything  away.  The  ox  belongs  to  Uncle  Ben,  and  he  must  keep  it,  and  the  other 
things,  and  if  the  old  woman  quits  she  must  go  empty-handed.  Know  all  that  this  is 
so  by  order  of  the  Judge  of  Probate.  [Signed]  WM.  R.  HlLLYi-  K. 

Though  quaintly  expressed,  yet  this  decision  Js  in  line  with  the  old 
common  law  and  the  statutes  of  many  of  the  States  in  this  Union  to-day. 


830  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

XI. — ALABAMA. 

The  women  of  Alabama  are  evidently  awake  on  the  temperance  ques- 
tion, though  still  apparently  unprepared  for  suffrage.  In  a  report  of  a 
meeting  in  Birmingham  in  1885,  the  following,  from  a  prominent  editor, 
was  read  by  the  president : 

Tell  the  admirable  lady,  Mrs.  Bryce,  that  I  would  devote  everything  to  the  cause 
she  espouses,  but  there's  no  use.  Let  women  demand  the  ballot,  and  with  it  they  can 
destroy  whisky,  and  by  no  other  agency.  There  is  no  perfect  family  or  state  in  which 
woman  is  not  an  active  governing  force.  They  should  have  the  courage  to  assert 
themselves  and  then  they  can  serve  the  country  and  the  race. 

If  a  thunderbolt  had  fallen  it  would  not  have  created  a  greater  sensa- 
tion. The  ladies  at  first  grew  indignant  and  uttered  protestations.  When 
they  grew  calmer,  the  corresponding  secretary  was  ordered  to  furnish  the 
editor  with  the  following : 

The  ladies  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  return  thanks  to  the  editor  for  his  kindly  and  pro- 
gressive suggestions,  but,  in  their  opinion,  they  are  not  ready  to  ask  any  political  favors. 
Whenever  suffrage  is  granted  to  the  women  of  the  United  States,  those  of  Alabama 
will  be  found  on  the  right  side. 

At  Huntsville  lives  Mrs.  Priscilla  Holmes  Drake,  whose  name  has  stood 
as  representative  of  our  National  Association  in  Alabama  since  1868. 

XII. — GEORGIA. 

We  give  a  letter  from  Georgia's  great  statesman,  defining  his  views  of 
woman's  sphere : 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  29,  1878. 
Mrs.  E.  L.  Saxon,  New  Orleans,  La. 

MY  DEAR  MADAM  : — Your  letter  to  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  the  22d  inst., 
came  duly  to  hand.  He  requests  me  to  thank  you  for  it,  and  to  say  in  reply  that  he 
has  ever  sympathized  with  woman  in  her  efforts  for  a  higher  and  broader  sphere  of  in- 
tellectual and  moral  culture,  as  well  as  physical  usefulness  in  life.  He  does  not  go 
so  far  as  to  endow  woman  with  the  ballot,  or  to  fit  her  for  the  more  masculine  duties 
of  the  State.  Her  sphere,  by  nature,  is  circumscribed  within  certain  physical  bound- 
aries, but  in  all  those  things  to  which  she  is  fitted  by  nature,  and  can  enter  without 
interference  with  the  laws  of  God,  he  would  open  the  doors  wide  to  her. 

Very  respectfully  yours,  C.  P.  CULVER,  Secretary. 


CHAPTER    LV.  (CONCLUDED). 

CANADA. 

WE  are  indebted  to  Miss  Phelps  of  St.  Catharines  and  Mrs.  Curzon  of 
Toronto  for  the  facts  we  give  in  regard  to  women's  position  in  the 
Dominion.  Miss  Phelps  says  : 

History  tells  us  that  when  the  thirteen  American  colonies  revolted  and  their  inde- 
pendence was  declared  there  were  25,000  who  adhered  to  the  policy  of  King  George, 
under  the  name  of  the  United  Empire  Loyalists,  some  of  whom  came  to  Canada, 
others  to  Acadia  and  others  wandered  elsewhere.  The  10,000  who  sought  a  home  in 
Canada  at  once  formed  a  government  in  harmony  with  English  laws  and  usages. 
Parliament  was  established  in  1803  at  York,  now  Toronto,  and  during  that  session 
the  first  law  for  the  protection  of  married  women  was  passed.  At  first,  if  a  married 
woman  desired  to  dispose  of  her  property,  she  was  obliged  to  go  before  the  courts  to 
testify  as  to  her  willingness  to  do  so.  In  1821  a  bill  was  passed  enabling  her  to  go 
before  justices  of  the  peace.  This  was  a  great  convenience,  for  the  courts  were  not 
always  in  session  when  it  was  imperative  for  her  to  sell.  In  1849  a  bill  was  passed  to 
naturalize  women  who  married  native-born  or  naturalized  subjects.  In  1859,  under 
the  old  parliament  of  Canada,  the  Married  Woman's  Property  act  was  passed,  which 
in  brief  provides  that  every  woman  who  may  marry  without  any  marriage-contract  or 
settlement  shall,  after  May  4,  1859,  notwithstanding  her  coverture,  have,  hold  and 
enjoy  all  her  real  estate,  whether  belonging  to  her  before  marriage  or  in  any  way 
acquired  afterward,  free  from  her  husband's  debts  and  obligations  contracted  after 
May  4,  1859.  A.  married  woman  may  also  hold  her  personal  property  free  from  the 
debts  and  contracts  of  her  husband,  and  obtain  an  order  of  protection  for  her  own 
earnings  and  those  of  her  minor  children.  She  may  become  a  stockholder  of  any 
bank,  insurance  company  or  any  incorporated  association,  as  if  she  were  a  feme  sole, 
and  may  vote  by  proxy  or  otherwise.  A  married  woman  is  liable  on  contracts  respect- 
ing her  own  real  estate.  No  married  woman  is  liable  to  arrest  either  on  mesne  or 
final  process.  Any  superior  court  of  law  or  equity  or  any  judge  of  said  court,  or  a 
judge  of  a  surrogate  court,  or  deputy,  may,  on  hearing  the  petition  of  a  mother,  or 
minor  whose  father  is  dead,  appoint  her  as  guardian — notwithstanding  the  appoint- 
ment of  another  person  by  the  father — of  the  estate  to  which  the  minor  is  entitled,  and 
of  such  sums  of  money  as  are  necessary  from  time  to  time  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
minor.  In  1881  a  law  was  passed  enabling  a  woman  to  discharge  a  mortgage  on  her 
lands  without  her  husband  being  a  party  to  it,  while  a  husband  cannot  dispose  of  his 
property  without  her  consent. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  school  suffrage  was  granted  to  women  on  the  same 
grounds  as  to  male  electors,  and  they  are  eligible  to  all  school  offices.  Women  have, 
however,  been  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  this  privilege,  owing  to  their  ignorance  of 
the  laws  and  their  lack  of  interest  in  regard  to  all  public  measures.  When  they  awake 
to  their  political  rights  they  will  feel  a  deeper  responsibility  in  the  discharge  of  their 
public  duties.  But  the  steady  increase  in  the  number  of  those  who  avail  themselves  of 
this  privilege  is  the  one  encouraging  indication  of  the  growth  of  the  suffrage  movement 
in  Canada. 


832  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  1882  the  municipal  act  was  so  amended  as  to  give  married  women,  widows  and 
spinsters,  if  possessed  of  the  necessary  qualifications,  the  right  to  vote  on  by-laws  and 
some  other  minor  municipal  matters.  Again,  in  1884,  the  act  was  still  further 
amended,  extending  the  right  to  vote  at  municipal  elections  to  widows  and  unmarried 
women  on  all  matters.  In  Toronto,  January  4,  1886,  the  women  polled  a  large  vote, 
resulting  in  the  election  of  the  candidate  pledged  to  reform.  But  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  this  progressive  legislation  belongs  only  to  the  Province  of  Ontario. 

Mrs.  Curzon  writes : 

In  the  year  1876  Dr.  Emily  H.  Stowe — graduated  in  New  York — settled  in 
Toronto  for  the  practice  of  her  profession.  Thoroughly  imbued  with  the  principles 
roughly  summed  up  in  the  term  "  woman's  rights,"  and  rinding  that  her  native  Canada 
was  not  awake  to  the  importance  of  the  subject,  she  lectured  in  the  principal  towns  of 
Ontario  on  "  Woman's  Sphere  and  Woman  in  Medicine."  By  reason  of  the  agitation 
caused  by  these  lectures  a  Woman's  Literary  Club  *  was  organized  in  Toronto  with 
Dr.  Stowe,  president,  and  Miss  Helen  Archibald,  secretary.  The  triumphs  scored 
through  the  efforts  of  this  club  were  the  admission  of  women  to  the  University  Col- 
lege and  School  of  Medicine  of  Toronto,  Queen's  University  and  the  Royal  Medical 
School  of  Kingston,  and  the  founding  of  a  medical  school  for  women  in  each  city. 
When  the  municipal  franchise  was  granted  to  women  the  club  decided  to  come  out 
boldly  as  a  suffrage  organization.  Accordingly  by  resolution  the  Toronto  Woman's 
Literary  Club  was  dissolved  and  the  Canadian  Woman  Suffrage  Association  f  formed, 
March  9,  1883. 

McGill  University  at  Montreal  has  an  annex  for  women  founded  through  the  munifi- 
cence of  one  of  the  merchants  of  that  city. Dalhousie  College,  Halifax,  admits 

women  on  the  same  footing  as  men.  The  Toronto  J/az'/says  it  is  only  a  question  of 

time  when  all  Canadian  colleges  will  do  the  same  thing. In  1883  the  provincial 

legislature  of  Nova  Scotia  gave  duly  qualified  women  the  right  to  vote,  and  they  ex- 
ercised it  very  generally  the  following  year. In  New  Brunswick  the  old  laws  and 

prejudices  remain,  but  woman  suffrage  has  its  friends  and  advocates  in  Mrs.  E.  W. 

Fisher  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  Frank  Hathaway  of  St.  Johns. In  1885  the  Mount 

Allison  Methodist  College  at  Sackville,  N.  B.,  conferred  the  degree  of  M.  A.  on  Miss 
Harriet  Stewart.  This  is  the  first  instance  of  an  educational  institution  in  the 
Dominion  conferring  such  an  honor  upon  a  lady. 


*  The  Ballot-Box  in  1880  said :  "  The  Citizen  of  Toronto,  Ont.,  has  established  a  *  Ladies'  Column ' 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Toronto  Woman's  Literary  Club,  the  first  ladies'  club  ever  formed  in  Canada. 
This  club  has  been  in  existence  four  years.  The  Citizen  is  said  to  be  the  first  Canadian  paper  devoted, 
even  in  part,  to  woman's  interest.  Heading  this  change  '  Important  Notice,'  it  says :  '  We  have  great 
pleasure  in  announcing  that  we  have  made  an  arrangement  with  the  Toronto  Woman's  Literary  Club 
to  occupy  an  important  space  in  our  columns,  for  the  advance  of  moral,  social,  educational  and  family 
matters  affecting  woman  generally.  Mrs.  S.  A.  Curzon  has  charge  of  this  column  as  associate  editor.' 
The  club  in  a  stirring  salutatory  defines  its  work  and  objects.  It  is  the  intention  to  give,  each  week,  a 
resume"  of  the  current  topics  concerning  women,  education,  the  franchises,  the  legal  abilities  and  dis- 
abilities of  women,  etc.,  hoping  to  arouse  a  national  sentiment  among  Canadian  women  and  intelligence 
upon  these  important  subjects.  This  appeal  is  signed  by  Mrs.  McEwen.  the  president,  and  Emily  H. 
Stowe,  Mrs.  W.  J.  MacKenzie,  Mrs.  W.  B.  Hamilton  and  Mrs.  S.  A.  Curzon,  the  executive  committee." 

t  The  officers  were:  President,  Mrs.  Donald  McEwen  ;  Vice-Presidents^  Mrs.  Curzon,  Mrs.  E.  H. 
Stowe,  M.  D.,  Captain  W.  F.  McMaster,  John  Hallam,  esq.;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  W.  B.  Hamilton; 
Secretary,  Miss  J.  Foulds ;  Executive  Committee,  Mrs.  McKenzie,  Mrs.  S.  McMaster,  Mrs.  Riches, 
Mrs.  Miller,  Miss  Hamilton,  Miss  McMaster,  Miss  Alexander,  William  Houston,  J.  L.  Foulds,  P. 
Mclntyre,  Phillips  Thompson,  Thomas  Bengough. 


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834  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

tion  for  the  county  of  Suffolk,  Sir  Simonds  d'Ewes  being  high- 
sheriff  : 

Who,  as  soon  as  he  had  notice  thereof,  sent  to  forbid  the  same,  con- 
ceiving it  a  matter  verie  unworthy  of  anie  gentleman,  and  most  dishonour- 
able in  such  an  election  to  make  use  of  their  voices,  although  in  law  they 
might  have  been  allowed. 

The  spirit  of  the  Puritans  was  not  favorable  to  woman's 
equality ;  but,  though  disused,  the  right  was  never  absolutely 
taken  away  by  law.  In  a  celebrated  trial,  Olive  vs.  Ingram 
(reign  of  George  II.)  the  chief-justice  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that 
"  a  person  paying  scot  and  lot,"  and  therefore  qualified  to  vote, 
was  a  description  which  included  women  ;  and  all  the  writs  of 
election  down  to  the  time  of  William  IV.  were  made  to  "  persons  " 
who  were  freeholders.  However,  for  all  purposes  of  political  life 
this  right  was'as  good  as  dead,  being  absolutely  forgotten.  But 
still  the  local  franchises  remained.  We  have  no  data  to  determine 
whether  these  were  as  completely  neglected  as  the  parliamentary 
franchise.  Parishioners  voted  for  overseers  of  the  poor  and  for 
other  local  boards ;  and  women  were  never  legally  disqualified 
from  voting  in  these  elections.  The  lowest  period  in  the  condi- 
tion of  women  appears  to  have  been  reached  at  the  end  of 
the  last  century,  though  they  were  not  then  indifferent  to  poli- 
tics. "You  cannot,"  says  Miss  Edgeworth's  Lady  Davenant, 
•"satisfy  yourself  with  the  common  namby-pamby  phrase,  '  Ladies 
have  nothing  to  do  with  politics.'  *  *  *  Female  influence 
must  exist  on  political  subjects  as  well  as  on  all  others  ;  but  this 
influence  should  always  be  domestic  not  public ;  the  customs  of 
society  have  so  ruled  it."  This  sentence  exactly  represented 
ordinary  English  feeling.  It  was  never  considered  derogatory 
to  an  English  lady  to  take  an  active  part  in  elections,  provided 
she  did  so  for  some  member  of  her  family  ;  but  of  direct  responsi- 
bility she  had  none. 

In  the  ferment  of  opinion  which  preceded  the  great  Reform 
bill,  woman's  claim  to  participate  in  it  was  never  heard.  The 
new  franchises  which  were  then  for  the  first  time  created  applied 
exclusively  to  male  persons,  but  in  the  old  franchises  continuing 
in  force,  the  word  "  person  "  alone  is  strictly  used.  Mr.  Sidney 
Smith  said : 

In  reserving  and  keeping  alive  the  qualifications  in  existence  before 
those  itself  created,  this  statute  falls  back  exactly  to  the  accustomed 
phraseology  of  the  earlier  acts.  Whenever  it  confers  a  new  right  it  re- 
stricts it  to  every  male  person.  Whenever  it  perpetuates  existing  fran- 


Mary  Smith's   Petition.  835 

chises,  it  continues  them  to  every  person,  leaving  the  word  "  male  "  out 
on  system. 

This  may  have  been  little  more  than  an  oversight,  or  it  may- 
have  been  that  respect  for  precedent  which  used  to  be  an  inherent 
quality  in  English  statesmen.  But  it  is  curious  that  the  first  pe- 
tition ever,  to  our  knowledge,  presented  for  women's  suffrage  to 
the  House  of  Commons  should  date  from  this  same  year.  It  was 
presented  on  August  3,  1832,  and  is  the  worthy  predecessor  of 
many  thousands  in  later  times.  Hansard  thus  describes  it : 

Mr.  Hunt  said  he  had  a  petition  to  present  which  might  be  a  subject  of 
mirth  to  some  honorable  gentlemen,  but  which  was  one  deserving  of  con- 
sideration. It  came  from  a  lady  of  rank  and  fortune,  Mary  Smith  of 
Stanmore,  in  the  county  of  York.  The  petition  stated  that  she  paid  taxes, 
and  therefore  did  not  see  why  she  should  not  have  a  share  in  the  election 
of  a  representative  ;  she  also  stated  that  women  were  liable  to  all  the 
penalties  of  the  law,  even  death,  and  ought  to  have  a  voice  in  the  fixing 
of  them  ;  but  so  far  from  this,  on  their  trials  both  judges  and  jurors  were 
of  the  opposite  sex.  She  could  see  no  good  reason  for  the  exclusion  of 
women  from  political  rights  while  the*  highest  office  of  the  State,  that  of 
the  crown,  was  open  to  the  inheritance  of  females  ;  and,  so  we  understood, 
the  petitioner  expressed  her  indignation  against  those  vile  wretches  who 
would  not  marry,  and  yet  would  exclude  females  from  a  share  in  the  legis- 
lation. The  prayer  of  the  petition  was  that  every  unmarried  female,  pos- 
sessing the  necessary  pecuniary  qualifications,  should  be  entitled  to  vote 
for  members  of  parliament. 

The  following  year  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  opposing  vote  by  ballot 
said  : 

The  theoretical  arguments  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  were  at  least  as 
strong  as  those  in  favor  of  vote  by  ballot.  There  were  arguments  in 
favor  of  extending  the  franchise  to  women  to  which  it  was  no  easy  matter 
to  find  a  logical  answer.  Other  and  more  important  duties  were  en- 
trusted to  women.  Women  were  allowed  to  hold  property,  to  vote  on 
many  occasions  in  right  of  that  property;  nay,  a  woman  might  inherit 
the  throne  and  perform  all  the  functions  of  the  first  office  of  the  State. 
Why  should  they  not  vote  for  a  member  of  parliament  ? 

But  Sir  Robert  Peel  evidently  had  no  idea  that  a  time  would 
come  when  women  would  ask  this  question  in  downright  serious- 
ness. Meanwhile  the  preference  for  the  words  "  male  person  "  in 
the  new  enactments  still  continued.  It  was  employed  in  the  Muni- 
cipal Corporation  Reform  act,.  1835  ;  and  in  the  Irish  poor-law  act 
of  1838,  women,  as  well  as  clergymen,  were  expressly  excluded 
from  election  as  poor-law  guardians.  The  repeal  of  the  corn- 
laws  brought  the  political  work  of  women  to  the  front ;  they 
formed  local  committees,  collected  funds  and  attended  meetings. 


836  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

In  a  speech  on  free-trade,  delivered  in  Covent  Garden  Theater 
January  15,  1845,  Richard  Cobden  said: 

There  are  many  ladies  present,  I  am  happy  to  say ;  now,  it  is  a  very 
anomalous  fact  that  they  cannot  vote  themselves,  and  yet  that  they 
have  a  power  of  conferring  votes  upon  other  people.  I  wish  they  had 
the  franchise,  for  they  would  often  make  much  better  use  of  it  than 
their  husbands. 

Again  in  1848,  in  supporting  a  motion  of  Mr.  Joseph  Hume  in 
the  House  of  Commons  to  the  effect  that  the  elective  franchise 
should  be  extended  to  all  householders,  Mr.  Cobden  said : 

A  gentleman  asked  me  to  support  universal  suffrage  on  the  ground  of 
principle,  and  I  said  to  him,  if  it  is  a  principle  that  a  man  should  have  a 
vote  because  he  pays  taxes,  why  should  not  a  widow  who  pays  taxes  and 
is  liable  to  serve  as  church-warden  and  overseer,  have  a  vote  for  members 
of  parliament  ?  The  gentleman  replied  that  he  agreed  with  me. 

In  1853,  Mr.  W.  J.  Fox,  member  for  Oldham,  in  acknowledg- 
ing the  presentation  to  him  by  the  ladies  of  Oldham  of  a  signet- 
ring  bearing  the  inscription,  ".Education,  the  birthright  of  all," 
spoke  strongly  in  favor  of  women  having  a  definite  share  in  politi- 
cal life : 

If  women  have  nothing  to  do  with  politics,  honest  men  ought  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  politics.  They  keep  us  pure,  simple,  just,  earnest,  in 
our  exertions  in  politics  and  public  life.  '  They  have  to  do  with  it,  because 
while  the  portion  of  man  may  be  by  the  rougher  labors  of  the  head  and 
hands  to  work  out  many  of  the  great  results  of  life,  the  peculiar  function 
of  woman  is  to  spread  grace  and  softness,  truth,  beauty,  benignity  over 
all.  Nor  is  woman  confined  to  this.  In  fact  I  wish  that  her  direct  as 
well  as  indirect  influence  were  still  larger  than  it  is  in  the  sphere  of  poli- 
tics. Why,  we  trust  a  woman  with  the  sceptre  of  the  realm,  consider  her 
adequate  to  make  peers  in  the  State  and  bishops  in  the  Church  ;  surely  she 
must  be  adequate  to  send  her  representatives  to  the  lower  House.  I 
know  the  time  may  not  have  come  for  mooting  a  question  of  this  sort; 
but  I  know  the  time  will  come,  and  that  woman  will  be  something  more 
than  a  mere  adjective  to  man  in  political  matters.  She  will  become  a  sub- 
stantive also.  And  why  not  ? 

Other  speakers  and  writers  brought  forward  the  same  point. 
Jeremy  Bentham  declared  he  could  find  no  reasons  for  the  ex- 
clusion of  women,  though  he  laid  no  stress  on  the  matter ;  Herbert 
Spencer  in  "Social  Statics"  (1851),  Mr.  Thomas  Hare  in  his 
book  on  "  Representation,"  and  Mr.  Mill  in  "  Representative 
Government,"  all  discussed  it.  In  1843  Mrs.  Hugo  Reid  pub- 
lished an  excellent  volume,  "  A  Plea  for  Woman,"  in  which 
she  maintained  that  "  There  is  no  good  ground  for  the  assump- 
tion that  the  possession  and  exercise  of  political  privileges  are 


The  Sheffield  Association.  837 

incompatible  with  home  duties."  In  1841  a  strong  article  ap- 
peared in  the  ^Westminster  Review,  written  by  Mrs.  Margaret 
Mylne,  a  Scotch  lady  still  living.  Mrs.  Stuart  Mill's  admirably 
comprehensive  article  appeared  in  the  same  review  in  1851.*  In 
1846,  also,  Col.  T.  Perronet  Thompson,  the  well-known  anti-corn- 
law  advocate,  wrote : 

Whenever  the  popular  party  can  agree  upon  and  bring  forward  any 
plan  which  shall  include  the  equal  voting  of  women,  they  will  not  only 
obtain  an  alliance  of  which  most  men  know  the  importance,  but  they  will 
relieve  the  theory  of  universal  suffrage  from  the  stigma  its  enemies  never 
fail  to  draw  upon  it,  of  making  its  first  step  a  wholesale  disqualification  of 
half  the  universe  concerned. 

Among  other  writers  and  speakers  on  the  subject,  we  must 
also  enumerate  Anne  Knight,  an  earnest  warm-hearted  Quaker 
lady.  She  sometimes  lectured  upon  it,  and  many  of  her  letters 
written  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Pease  Nichol  of  Edinburgh,  Lord 
Brougham,  and  others,  are  still  preserved,  in  which  she  eagerly  ad- 
vocates the  admission  of  women  to  the  suffrage.  She  assisted 
in  founding  the  Sheffield  Female  Political  Association.  On  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1851,  this  association  held  a  meeting  at  the  Democratic 
Temperance  Hotel,  Sheffield,  and  unanimously  adopted  an  ad- 
dress, which  was  the  first  manifesto  dealing  with  the  suffrage  ever 
formulated  by  a  meeting  of  women  in  England: 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  SHEFFIELD  POLITICAL  ASSOCIATION  TO  THE  WOMEN 
OF  ENGLAND — Beloved  Sisters  :  We,  the  women  of  the  democracy  of  Shef- 
field, beg  the  indulgence  of  addressing  you  at  this  important  juncture. 
We  have  been  observers  for  a  number  of  years  of  the  various  plans  and 
systems  of  organization  which  have  been  laid  down  for  the  better  govern- 
ment and  guidance  of  democracy,  and  we  are  brought  to  the  conclusion 
that  women  might  with  the  strictest  propriety  be  included  in  the  procla- 
mation of  the  people's  charter;  for  we  are  the  majority  of  the  nation,  and 
it  is  our  birth-right,  equally  with  our  brother,  to  vote  for  the  man  who 
is  to  sway  our  political  destiny,  to  impose  the  taxes  which  we  are  com- 
pelled to  pay,  to  make  the  laws  which  we  with  others  must  observe ;  and 
heartily  should  we  rejoice  to  see  the  women  of  England  uniting  for  the 
purpose  of  demanding  this  great  right  of  humanity,  feeling  assured  that 
were  women  thus  comprehended,  they  would  be  the  greatest  auxiliaries 
of  right  against  might.  For  what  would  not  the  patient,  energetic 
mind  of  woman  accomplish,  when  once  resolved?  The  brave  and  heroic 
deeds  which  history  records  are  our  testimony  that  no  danger  is  too 
great,  no  struggle  too  arduous  for  her  to  encounter;  thus  confirming 

*  This  was  called  out  by  the  movement  in  America.  A  report  of  a  convention  held  in  Worcester, 
Mass.,  published  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Taylor  and  aroused  her  to 
active  thought  on  the  question.  She  comments  on  a  very  able  series  of  resolutions  passed  at  this  con- 
vention, in  which  such  men  as  Emerson,  Parker,  Channing,  Garrison  and  Phillips  took  part. — [EDITORS. 


838  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

our  convictions  that  woman's  cooperation  is  greatly  needed  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  our  political  well-being.  But  there  are  some  who  would 
say:  "  Would  you  have  woman  enjoy  all  the  political  rights  of  men?" 
To  this  we  emphatically  answer:  Yes!  for  does  she  not  toil  early  and 
late  in  the  factory,  and  in  every  department  of  life  subject  to  the  despot- 
ism of  men  ?  and  we  ask  in  the  name  of  justice,  must  we  continue  ever 
the  silent  and  servile  victims  of  this  injustice?  perform  all  the  drudgery 
of  his  political  societies  and  never  possess  a  single  political  right?  Is 
the  oppression  to  last  forever?  We,  the  women  of  the  democracy  of 
Sheffield,  answer,  No  !  We  put  forth  this  earnest  appeal  to  our  sisters  of 
England  to  join  hand  and  heart  with  us  in  this  noble  and  just  cause,  to 
the  exposing  and  eradicating  of  such  a  state  of  things.  Let  us  shake  off 
our  apathy  and  raise  our  voices  for  right  and  liberty,  till  justice  in  all  its 
fulness  is  conceded  to  us.  This  we  say  to  all  who  are  contending  for 
liberty,  for  what  is  liberty  if  the  claims  of  women  be  disregarded  ?  Our 
special  object  will  be  the  entire  political  enfranchisement  of  our  own  sex  ; 
and  we  conjure  you,  our  sisters  of  England,  to  aid  us  in  accomplishing 
this  holy  work.  We  remain  with  heartfelt  respect,  your  friends.* 

At  the  end  of  1858  there  was  established  in  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne  an  association  called  the  Northern  Reform  Society,  which 
had  universal  suffrage  for  its  object,  and  it  expressly  invited  the 
contributions  of  women.  Letters  were  written  by  Matilda  Ashurst 
Biggs,  and  afterwards  by  two  or  three  women  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  offering  to  become  members.  In  acknowledging 
these  letters,  the  secretary  stated  that  the  Northern  Reform 
Union  only  contemplated  the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  men, 
although  he  admitted  that  many  of  its  leading  members  were  in- 
dividually in  favor  of  "woman  suffrage"  but  they  believed  that 
by  asking  for  manhood  suffrage,  they  were  advancing  a  step 
towards  universal  franchise.  He  added,  "The  society  will  be 
very  glad  of  women's  subscriptions,  and  trusts  that  they  will  use 
their  best  efforts  to  promote  its  extension."  Undoubtedly,  there 
has  never  been  any  reluctance  to  accept  the  subscriptions  of 
women  towards  promoting  the  objects  of  men.  In  commenting 
upon  this  letter,  Mrs.  Biggs  f  said  in  the  Newcastle  Guardian, 
February  19, -1859: 


*  Council cf  the  Association — Mrs.  S.  Turner,  Mrs.  S.  Bartholomew,  Mrs.  E.  Stephenson,  Mrs.  M. 
Whalley,  Mrs.  E.  Rooke,  Mrs.  E.  Wade,  Mrs.  C.  Ash,  president  pro  tern.,  Mrs.  E.  Cavill,  treasurer, 
Mrs.  M.  Brook,  financial  secretary,  Mrs.  A.  Higginbottom,  corresponding  secretary. 

t  Mrs.  Biggs,  Anna  Knight,  Mrs.  Hugo  Reid  and  many  other  English  women  were  roused  to  white 
heat  on  this  question,  by  the  exclusion  of  women  as  delegates  from  the  World's  Anti-slavery  Convention 
held  in  London  in  1840.  That  was  the  first  pronounced  public  discussion,  lasting  one  entire  day,  on  the 
whole  question  of  woman's  rights  that  ever  took  place  in  England,  and  as  the  arguments  were  repro- 
duced in  the  leading  journals  and  discussed  at  every  fireside,  a  grand  educational  work  was  inaugurated 
at  that  time.  The  American  delegates  spent  several  months  in  England — Lucretia  Mott  speaking  at 
many  points.  She  occupied  the  Unitarian  pulpit  in  London  and  elsewhere.  As  Mrs.  Hugo  Reid  sat 
in  this  convention  throughout  the  proceedings  and  met  Lucretia  Mott  socially  on  several  occasions,  we 
may  credit  her  outspoken  opinions,  in  1843,  in  a  measure  to  these  influences. — [EDITORS. 


Mill  and  Disraeli  United.  839 

I  have  never  given  my  rights  to  be  merged  in  those  of  any  other  person, 
and  I  feel  it  an  injustice  that  I,  who  am  equally  taxed  with  men,  should 
be  denied  a  voice  in  making  the  laws  which  affect  and  dispose  of  my 
property,  and  made  to  support  a  State  wherein  I  am  not  recognized  as  a 
citizen.  I  consider  that  a  tyranny  which  renders  me  responsible  to  laws 
in  the  making  of  which  I  am  not  consulted.  The  Northern  Reform 
Society,  which  "takes  its  stand  upon  justice,"  should  claim  for  us  at  least 
that  we  be  exempted  from  the  duties,  it  we  are  to  be  denied  the  rights 
belonging  to  citizens. 

These  books,  speeches  and  letters  though  scattered  and 
unconnected,  slowly  prepared  the  ground  for  the  organized  agi- 
tation. Another  Reform  bill  grew  into  preparation.  Men's 
thoughts  were  turned  again  towards  the  question  of  representa- 
tion, and  every  word  spoken  on  behalf  of  the  enfranchisement  of 
women  assumed  double  force  as  it  drew  near  to  a  political  issue. 
The  enfranchisement  of  women  advanced  from  a  question  of 
philosophical  speculation  to  actual  politics  in  the  election  of  John 
Stuart  Mill  member  of  parliament  for  Westminster  in  1865.  In  his 
election  address,  Mr.  Mill,  as  previously  in  his  work  on  representa- 
tive government,  openly  avowed  this  article  of  political  faith. 
Nevertheless,  the  first  speech  of  which  we  have  record  in  the 
House  of  Commons  plainly  vindicating  the  right  of  women  to  the 
vote,  was  that  of  a  man  who  differed  from  Mr.  Mill  in  every  other 
feature  of  his  political  life  and  creed — Mr.  Disraeli.  He  used 
almost  the  same  form  of  argument  as  Sir  Robert  Peel  had  done 
thirty  years  before,  but  unlike  the  former  statesman  he  backed  it 
up  with  his  vote  and  personal  influence  for  many  succeeding 
years.  It  was  in  1866  that  he  spoke  these  words,  long  and  grate- 
fully remembered  by  the  women  of  the  country: 

In  a  country  governed  by  a  woman — where  you  allow  woman  to  form 
part  of  the  estate  of  the  realm — peeresses  in  their  own  right  for  example — 
where  you  allow  a  woman  not  only  to  hold  land,  but  to  be  a  lady  of  the 
manor  and  hold  legal  courts — where  a  woman  by  law  may  be  a  church- 
warden and  overseer  of  the  poor, — I  do  not  see,  where  she  has  so  much 
to  do  with  the  State  and  Church,  on  what  reasons,  if  you  come  to  right, 
she  has  not  a  right  to  vote. 

These  words  from  Disraeli  were  the  spark  that  fired  the  train. 
In  answer  to  a  request  from  Miss  Jessie  Boucherett,  Mrs. 
Bodichon  and  Miss  Bessie  R.  Parkes,  Mr.  Mill  replied  that  if 
they  could  find  a  hundred  women  who  would  sign  a  petition  for 
the  franchise,  he  would  present  it  to  the  House  of  Commons.  A 
committee  was  immediately  formed  in  London,  and  the  petition 
was  circulated.  In  two  or  three  weeks  it  had  received  1,499 


840  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

signatures.  Among  these  were  many  who  in  after  years  took  a 
prominent  part,  not  only  in  suffrage,  but  in  other  move- 
ments for  the  elevation  of  women.  The  petition  was  presented 
by  Mr.  Mill  in  May,  1866,  and  was  received  with  laughter.  He 
then  gave  notice  of  a  motion  to  introduce  into  the  Reform  bill  a 
provision  to  the  same  effect.  The  committee*  immediately  be- 
gan to  circulate  petitions  and  pamphlets.  Two  of  these  were  by 
Mrs.  Bodichon,  "  Reasons  for,  and  Objections  against  the  En- 
franchisement of  Women,"  being  the  substance  of  a  paper  she 
had  read  at  the  Social  Science  Congress,  in  October,  1866.  We 
give  the  text  of  the  petition,  as  it  differed  somewhat  from  those 
circulated  in  after  years : 

To  the  Honorable,  the  Commons  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 

in  Parliament  assembled  : 

The  humble  petition  of  the  undersigned, — showeth,  That  your  petitioners  fulfill  the 
conditions  of  property  or  rental  prescribed  by  law  as  the  qualification  of  the  electoral 
franchise,  and  exercise  in  their  own  names  the  rights  pertaining  to  such  conditions  ; 
that  the  principles  in  which  the  government  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  based,  imply 
the  representation  of  all  classes  and  interests  in  the  State;  that  the  reasons  alleged  for 
withholding  the  franchise  from  certain  classes  of  her  majesty's  subjects  do  not  apply 
to  your  petitioners.  Your  petitioners  therefore  humbly  pray  your  honorable  House  to 
grant  to  such  persons  as  fulfill  all  the  conditions  which  entitle  to  a  vote  in  the  election 
of  members  of  parliament,  excepting  only  that  of  sex,  the  privilege  of  taking  part  in 
the  choice  of  fit  persons  to  represent  the  people  in  your  honorable  House. 

This  form  of  petition  was  only  signed  by  unmarried  women 
and  widows  of  full  age,  holding  the  legal  qualification  for  voting 
in  either  county  or  borough,  but  there  were  other  forms  for  other 
classes  of  persons.  On  March  28,  the  Right  Hon.  H.  A.  Bruce 
presented  a  petition  from  3,559  persons,  mostly  women.  Mr. 
Mill,  in  April,  presented  one  with  3,161  names  collected  by  the 
Manchester  committee,  and  the  Right  Hon.  Russell  Gurney  one 
signed  by  1,605  qualified  women,  i.e.,  free-holders  and  house- 


*  The  committee  as  at  first  formed,  consisted  of  the  following  persons :  The  very  Rev.  the  Dean 
of  Canterbury,  Dr.  Alford,  Miss  Jessie  Boucherett,  Professor  Cairnes,  Rev.  \V.  L.  Clay,  Miss 
Davies,  the  originator  of  Girton  College,  Lady  Goldsmid,  Mr.  G.  W.  Hastings,  Mr.  James 
jHeywood,  Mrs.  Knox,  Miss  Manning,  and  Mrs.  Hensleigh  Wedgwood.  Mrs.  Peter  A.  Taylor 
•was  treasurer,  and  Mrs.  J.  W.  Smith,  nee  Miss  Garrett,  honorary  secretary.  A  few  months  later 
TMrs.  Smith's  death  left  this  post  vacant,  and  Mrs.  P.  A.  Taylor  then  assumed  the  office  of  secretary 
••which  she  retained  with  the  aid  of  Miss  Caroline  Ashurst  Biggs  till  1871.  No  one  else  could  have 
rendered  such  services  to  our  movement  while  it  was  in  its  infancy  as  Mrs.  Taylor  gave.  Her  gentle 
and  dignified  presence,  her  untiring  energy,  the  experience  of  organization  and  public  life  which  she 
already  possessed,  her  influence  with  an  extended  circle  of  friends  chosen  from  among  the  most  liberal 
thinkers  of  the  nation,  secured  at  once  attention  and  respect  for  any  cause  she  took  up.  Many  years 
before  she  had  worked  hard  for  the  association  of  the  Friends  of  Italy,  and  on  the  breaking  out  of 
the  American  civil  war  her  sympathies  and  practical  knowledge  led  her  to  found  a  society  for  assisting 
the  freedmen.  In  acknowledgment  of  the  invaluable  assistance  she  rendered,  her  friends  in  America 
*ent  a  book  containing  a  complete  set  of  photographs  of  all  the  chief  anti-slavery  workers.  When  she 
began  her  efforts  for  women's  suffrage,  the  English  Abolitionists  were  among  the  first  correspondents 
to  whom  she  applied,  and  they  nearly  all  responded  cordially.  For  years  her  house,  Aubrey  House, 
Kensington,  was  the  centre  of  the  London  organization  lo  which  she  gave  her  time,  strength,  and 
money,  well  earning  the  title  of  "  Mother  of  the  Movement,"  which  loving  friends  have  since  bestowed. 


Mary  Somerville,  Florence  Nightingale.  841 

holders  who  would  have  had  the  vote  had  they  been  men.  In  all 
13,497  were  counted  in  the  parliamentary  report  this  session; 
among  these  were  many  clergymen,  barristers,  physicians  and 
fellows  of  colleges. 

While  we  are  on  the  subject  of  petitions  we  may  as  well  briefly 
glance  at  what  was  done  in  this  branch  of  work  during  succeed- 
ing years.*  No  better  method  could  'be  found  of  testing  public 
opinion,  or  of  affording  scope  for  quiet,  intelligent  agitation. 
Many  friends  could  help  by  circulating  petitions,  distributing 
literature  at  the  same  time  and  arguing  away  objections.  In 
1868  there  were  presented  78  petitions  with  nearly  50,000  signa- 
tures. One  of  them,  headed  by  Mrs.  Somerville  and  Florence 
Nightingale,  contained  21,000  names,  and  was  a  heavy  but  de- 
lightful burden  which  Mr.  Mill  could  hardly  carry  to  the  table. 
This  petition  excited  great  attention.  During  all  these  years  no 
petitions  were  presented  against  granting  the  suffrage  to  women. 
These  numbers  were  undoubtedly  a  surprise  to  many  members  of 
parliament  who  were  inclined  to  look  upon  woman  suffrage  as 
an  "  impracticable  fad,"  "  the  fantastic  crochet  of  a  few  shrieking 
sisters."  But  the  collection  and  arrangement  of  the  signatures 
took  up  incalculable  time,  and  after  a  few  years  this  method  of 
agitation  was  discarded  to  a  great  extent  in  the  large  political 
centres.  Friends  became  wearied  out  with  the  toilsome  process 
of  year  by  year  collecting  signatures,  which  when  presented  were 
silently  and  indifferently  dropped  into  the  bag  under  the  table 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  But  during  the  early  days  of  the 
movement  these  petitions,  signed  by  all  classes  of  men  and 
women,  were  invaluable  in  arousing  interest  in  our  movement. 

In  1867,  for  the  better  prosecution  of  the  work,  instead  of  one 
committee  embracing  the  whole  of  England,  separate  associations 
were  formed  in  London,  Manchester  and  Edinburgh.  The  Lon- 
don committee  consisted  of  ladies  only,  Miss  Frances  Power  Cobbe, 
Mrs.  Fawcett,  Miss  Hampson,  Miss  Hare,  Mrs.  Lucas,  Mrs. 
Stansfeld,  with  Mrs.  Taylor  as  secretary.  In  the  Manchester 
committee  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  M.  P.,  at  once  took  up  the  posi- 
tion of  leader  and  advocate  which  he  afterwards  so  long 
and  nobly  maintained  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Miss  Becker 


MgllCll    Only    Dy    te    Ln.Hnll.Hl,   UT    111)111    iuwll    I  iMIll'.ln    .*ilil    ;»<_.»lv.'4     «   tin    .111.    1'iiK-iMi    VN.OTI/   ,     ...    .w/a,   w 

tions  with  350,093  signatures ;  in  1873,  919  petitions,  with  329,206  signatures;  in  1874,  M<W  p 
with  430,343  signatures  ;  and  in  1873,  1,273  petitions  were  sent  in  containing  415,623  signatures. 


842  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

was  appointed  secretary.  The  Edinburgh  committee  elected 
Mrs.  McLaren*  for  their  president.  At  a  special  general  meeting, 
November  6,  1867,  it  was  resolved  that  these  three  societies 
should  form  one  national  society,  thus  securing  the  advantages 
of  cooperation  while  maintaining  freedom  of  action.  The  same 
rule  applied  to  societies  in  Birmingham,  Bristol  and  other 
towns. 

To  return  to  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  May  20, 
1867.  on  clause  4  of  the  Representation  of  the  People  bill. 
Mr.  Mill  moved  to  leave  out  the  word  "  man  "  and  insert  the 
word  "person."  His  speech  has  been  too  long  before  the  pub- 
lic to  need  quotation ;  it  is  a  model  of  inductive  reasoning  and 
masterly  eloquence.  The  debate  which  followed  was  very 
unequal  in  character,  but  the  division  was  gratifying,  for  he 
received  73  votes  (including  pairs,  81);  194  voted  against  him. 
Mr.  Mill  wrote  afterwards  to  a  friend : 

We  are  all  delighted  at  the  number  of  our  minority,  which  is  far  greater 
than  anybody  expected  the  first  time,  and  would  have  been  greater  still 
had  not  many  members  quitted  the  House,  with  or  without  pairing,  in  the 
expectation  that  the  subject  would  not  come  on.  But  the  greatest 
triumph  of  all  was  John  Bright's  vote. 

At  the  election  for  Manchester,  held  near  the  end  of  1867 
(when  Mr.  Jacob  ^Bright  was  elected),  Lily  Maxwell,  whose 
name  had  been  accidentally  left  on  the  parliamentary  register, 
recorded  her  vote.  No  objection  was  taken  to  it  by  the  return- 
ing officer,  or  by  the  agents  of  either  candidate.  The  Times  de- 
voted a  leading  article  to  it.  The  circumstance  was  of  no  legal 
value,  but  it  was  useful  to  show  that  a  woman  could  go  through 
the  process  of  recording  a  vote  in  a  parliamentary  election  even  be- 
fore the  Ballot  act  was  passed.  The  idea  gained  ground  that 
by  the  new  Reform  act  the  right  to  vote  had  been  secured  to 
women.  The  Reform  act  of  1867,  sec.  3,  declares  that : 

Every  man  shall  in  and  after  the  year  1868  be  entitled  to  be  registered 
as  a  voter,  and  when  registered,  to  vote  for  a  member  to  serve  in  parlia- 
ment. 

In  the  substitution  01  the  word  "  man  "  for  that  of  "  male  per- 
son "  in  the  Reform  act  of  1832,  a  great  difference  was  already 

*  This  lady,  sister  of  John  and  Jacob  Bright,  and  wife  of  the  senior  member  for  Edinburgh,  Mr. 
Duncan  McLaren,  so  much  esteemed  that  he  was  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  "  Member  for  Scotland,  ' 
unites  in  her  own  person  all  the  requisites  for  a  leader  of  the  movement.  She  has  the  charm  and 
dignified  grace  so  generally  found  among  Quaker  ladies,  and  the  pathetic  eloquence  which  belong  to 
her  family.  She  is  clear-sighted  in  planning  action,  and  enthusiastic  and  warm-hearted  in  carrying  it 
out,  and  for  the  past  sixteen  years  the  movement  in  Scotland  has  centered  around  her. 


Women    Vote  in  Many  Districts.  843 

discernable,  but  this  difference  was  more  important  when  taken 
into  conjunction  with  what  was  popularly  known  as  "  Lord 
Romilly's  act,"  an  act  for  shortening  the  language  used  in 
acts  of  parliament  (13  and  14  Viet.).  This  act  provides,  "that 
all  words  importing  the  masculine  gender  shall  be  deemed  and 
taken  to  include  females,  unless  the  contrary  is  expressly  pro- 
vided ";  and  in  the  Representation  of  the  People  act  there  was  no 
express  provision  to  the  contrary.  This  had  been  pointed  out 
by  one  or  two  members  at  the  time. 

Accordingly  the  several  societies  united  in  a  systematic  en- 
deavor to  procure  the  insertion  of  women's  names  on  the  registers 
of  electors  under  the  new  Reform  act.  A  circular  respectfully  re- 
questing the  boards  of  overseers  to  insert  on  the  list  of  voters 
the  names  of  all  persons  who  had  paid  their  rates,  was  sent  to 
several  hundred  boards  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Very 
few  replies  were  received,  but  women  were  placed  on  the  lists  in 
many  counties,  in  Aberdeen,  Salford  and  many  small  districts  in 
Lancaster,  Middlesex,  Kent,  etc.  The  overseers  of  Manchester 
declined  compliance.  In  that  city  there  were  5,100  women  house- 
holders who  claimed  their  votes,  and  when  the  revision  courts 
were  opened  in  September,  this  claim  came  on  for  consideration. 
The  case  was  ably  argued,  but  the  revising  barrister  decided 
against  admitting  it,  granting,  however,  a  case  for  trial  at  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas.  Another  case  was  also  granted,  being 
that  of  Mrs.  Kyliman,  a  free-holder,  her  claim  being  under  the 
old  free-holding  franchise  8  Henry  VI.,  to  wit. : 

Elections  of  knights  of  the  shire  shall  be  made  in  each  county  by  peo- 
ple dwelling  and  resident  therein  of  whom  each  has  free-hold  to  the  value 
of  £40  by  the  year. 

In  the  majority  of  districts  the  revising  barristers  disallowed 
the  claims ;  but  in  four  district-revision  courts  the  women's 
names  were  admitted.  In  Finsbury,  one  of  the  metropolitan 
boroughs,  Mr.  Chisholm  Anstey  was  revising  barrister,  and  he 
admitted  them  on  account  of  ancient  English  law  ;  in  Cocker- 
mouth,  Winterton  and  two  townships  of  Lancashire,  the  revising 
barrister  admitted  them  upon  his  interpretation  of  the  Reform 
act  taken  in  conjunction  with  Lord  Romilly's  act.  In  the  suf- 
frage report  for  this  year  the  number  of  women  placed  on  the 
electoral  roll  by  these  decisions  is  estimated  at  about  230,  but 
undoubtedly  there  were  others  concerning  whom  no  information 
was  received.  In  many  cases  the  women  voted:  15  did  so  in 


844  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Finsbury  (not  only  was  there  no  disturbance,  but  hardly  any  re- 
mark was  made,  and  they  expressed  their  surprise  that  it  was  so 
easy  a  thing  to  do);  12  in  Gordon  and  10  in  Levenshulme,  both 
little  districts  in  Lancashire,  and  smaller  numbers  in  other  places. 
In  Chester  the  parliament  candidate  issued  his  election  placards 
to  "  Ladies  and  Gentlemen." 

On  November  7,  the  case  of  the  5,000  Manchester  women 
householders  was  argued  before  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 
Mr.  J.  D.  Coleridge  (now  Lord  Coleridge,  Lord-chief-justice  of 
England)  and  Dr.  Pankhurst  were  the  counsel  for  the  appellants. 
Mr.  John  Coleridge  in  an  able  argument  spoke  of  the  ancient 
constitutional  right  of  women  to  take  part  in  elections.  He  pro- 
duced copies  from  the  record  office  of  several  indentures  return- 
ing members  to  parliament,  the  signatures  of  which  were  in  the 
hand-writing  of  women,  or  to  which  women  were  parties.  He 
argued  that  the  term  "  man  ''  in  the  Reform  act  included  woman, 
not  only  generally  but  specifically,  under  the  provisions  of  Lord 
Romilly's  act.  The  case  was  argued  before  Lord-chief-justice 
Boville ;  the  decision  was  given  on  November  9,  and  decisively 
pronounced  that  the  new  Reform  act  had  never  intended  to  in- 
clude women,  and  that  they  were  incapacitated  from  voting. 
This  decision  did  ijpt  affect  the  women  who  were  already  on  the 
register,  and  many  voted  in  the  general  election  which  took  place 
afterwards.  Thus  women  have  been  shut  out  from  electoral 
rights,  not  by  any  decree  of  parliament,  but  by  this  decision  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  However  there  was  no  appeal 
from  this  Court,  except  to  parliament,  and  from  this  time  for- 
ward the  character  of  the  agitation  changed.  The  year  1868 
ended  with  a  legal  decision  which  seemed  crushing  in  its  finality, 
while  the  same  year  had  given  the  most  conclusive  proof  that 
women  wished  to  vote,  and  would  do  so  whenever  the  opportunity 
offered. 

The  next  year,  1869,  gave  another  convincing  proof  that  women 
were  eager,  to  vote,  and  brought  us  the  most  substantial  triumph 
yet  obtained,  due  to  the  wisdom  and  skilful  tactics  of  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright,  member  of  parliament  for  Manchester.  This  victory  was 
the  municipal  franchise  for  women.  Early  in  1869  Mr.  Hibbert  in- 
troduced a  bill  to  regulate  the  conditions  of  the  municipal  fran- 
chise. By  the  Municipal  Corporation  Amendment  act,  passed  in 
1835,  male  persons  only  were  authorized  to  vote.  The  present 
bill  was  to  amend  that.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  seconded  by  Sir 


Jacob  B right's  Motion.  845 

Charles  Dilke  and  Mr.  Peter  Rylands,  proposed  the  omission  of 
the  word  "  male  "  from  the  bill,  and  the  insertion  of  a  clause  se- 
curing to  women  the  right  of  voting  in  municipal  elections.  Mr. 
Hibbert  concurred  in  the  introduction  of  these  amendments, 
though  he  did  not  anticipate  they  would  lead  to  any  result  be- 
yond a  discussion.  A  circular  containing  full  information  upon 
the  ancient  and  existing  rights  of  women  to  vote  in  local  affairs 
was  sent  to  each  member  of  parliament  by  the  Manchester  com- 
mittee. It  showed  that  before  the  passing  of  the  Municipal  Cor- 
poration act  of  1835,  women  rate-payers  had  rights  similar  to 
those  of  men  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  local  government  and 
expenditure  ;  and  that  in  non-corporate  districts  they  still  exer- 
cised such  rights,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Public  Health  act, 
and  other  statutes  guarding  the  electoral  privileges  of  the  whole 
body  of  rate-payers.  But  when  any  district  was  incorporated 
into  a  municipal  borough,  the  women  rate-payers  were  disfran- 
chised, although  those  not  included  within  its  boundaries  re- 
mained possessed  of  votes.  It  showed  also  that  women  can 
vote  in  parochial  matters,  and  take  part  in  vestry  meetings, 
called  for  various  purposes,  such  as  the  election  of  church-wardens 
and  way-wardens,  the  appointment  of  overseers,  the  sale  of  parish 
property,  and,  formerly,  the  levying  of  church-rates ;  also  that 
they  can  vote  in  the  election  of  poor-law  guardians — that  in  fact, 
in  none  of  those  ancient  voting  customs,  was  the  sex  of  the  rate- 
payers taken  into  consideration  as  either  a  qualification  or  dis- 
qualification. We  quote  from  the  Manchester  society : 

In  the  House  of  Commons  on  June  7,  1869,  on  consideration  of  the 
Municipal  Franchise  bill  as  amended,  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  rose  to  move  that 
in  this  act  and  the  said  recited  act  (Municipal  Corporation  Reform  act, 
1835)  wherever  words  occur  which  import  the  masculine  gender,  the  same 
shall  be  held  to  include  females  for  all  purposes  connected  with  and  having 
reference  to  the  election  of  or  power  to  elect  representatives  of  any 
municipal  corporation.  He  stated  that  his  object  was  to  give  the  municipal 
vote  to  every  rate-payer  within  the  municipal  limits  ;  to  give  to  municipal 
property  the  representation  which  all  property  enjoyed  elsewhere ;  that 
had  the  proposition  been  an  innovation,  a  departure  from  the  cus- 
tomary legislation  of  the  country,  he  would  not  have  brought  it  in  as 
an  amendment  to  a  bill ;  but  that  his  object  was  to  remove  an  innovation 
— to  resist  one  of  the  most  remarkable  invasions  of  long-established  rights 
which  the  legislation  of  this  or  any  other  country  could  show.  The  bill 
before  the  house  was  an  amendment  of  the  Municipal  Corporation  act  of 
1835.  That  act  was  the  only  act  in  regard  to  local  expenditure  and  local 
government  which  established  this  disability.  Before  and  since,  all  acts 


846  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

of  parliament  gave  every  local  vote  to  every  rate-payer.  The  Health  of 
Towns  act  of  1848  had  a  clause  almost  identical  with  the  one  he  was  mov- 
ing. He  was  therefore  asking  the  House  not  only  to  make  the  bill  in 
harmony  with  the  general  legislation  of  the  country,  but  to  allow  it  to  be 
in  harmony  with  its  latest  expressed  convictions  as  shown  in  the  act  of 
1848.  There  were  in  England  78  non-corporate  towns  which  were  not 
parliamentary  boroughs,  with  populations  varying  from  20,000  to  6,000. 
In  these  every  rate-payer  voted.  There  was  little  if  any  difference  between 
their  government  and  that  of  municipal  towns.  Who  could  assign  a  rea- 
son why  women  should  vote  in  one  and  not  in  the  other  ?  Every  parochial 
vote  was  in  the  hands  of  the  whole  body  of  rate-payers.  Women  held  the 
most  important  parochial  offices.  The  sister  of  the  member  for  Stockport 
had  acted  as  overseer.  Miss  Burdett  Coutts  had  been  urged  to  take  the 
office  of  guardian.  Had  she  been  a  large  rate-payer  in  a  municipal  town, 
•what  an  absurdity  to  shut  her  out  from  the  vote  !  He  then  showed  how 
the  process  of  disfranchisement  was  going  on,  and  quoted  Darlington  and 
Southport.  The  latter  town  was  incorporated  in  1867.  In  1866,  2,085 
persons  were  qualified  to  vote  for  commissioners ;  588  of  these  were 
•women.  From  the  moment  of  incorporation  these  votes  were  extin- 
guished without  a  reason  being  assigned,  though  they  had  exercised  them 
from  time  immemorial.  Such  would  be  the  case  with  any  town  incor- 
porated in  the  future.  He  appealed  to  the  metropolitan  members,  and 
showed  them  that  unless  his  clauses  were  carried,  when  they  came  to 
establish  corporations  throughout  the  metropolis,  as  some  of  them  de- 
sired, all  the  female  rate-payers  would  be  struck  off  the  roll ;  that  over  a 
population  of  3,000,000  this  exclusion  would  prevail.  He  stated  that  where 
women  had  the  vote  they  exercised  it  to  an  equal  degree  with  the  men. 
Mr.  Lings,  the  comptroller  for  the  city  of  Manchester,  affirms  that  accord- 
ing to  his  experience  the  number  of  men  and  women  who  vote  in  local 
affairs  bears  a  just  proportion  to  the  number  of  each  on  the  register.  He 
showed  that  as  the  bill  was  a  largely  enfranchising  measure,  his  clause 
was  in  strict  harmony  with  it,  but  that  while  the  bill  sought  to  in- 
crease the  representation  of  those  who  were  already  considerably  repre- 
sented, the  clause  which  he  wished  to  add  would  give  representation  to 
those  who  within  municipal  towns  were  totally  deprived  of  it.  He  con- 
cluded by  saying  that  questions  had  come  to  him,  since  these  amendments 
had  been  on  the*  paper,  from  women  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and 
from  those  who  by  their  social  and  intellectual  positions  might  be  regarded 
as  representatives  of  their  sex,  asking  why  there  should  always  be  this 
tender  regard  for  the  representation  and  therefore  the  protection  of  men, 
and  this  apparent  disregard  for  the  interest  of  women ;  and  he  appealed 
to  the  House,  by  its  decision,  to  show  that  as  regards  these  local  franchises 
it  had  a  common  regard  for  the  whole  body  of  rate-payers. 

Mr.  Jacob  Bright's  motion,  which  he  supported  with  all  the 
tact,  earnestness  and  judgment  of  which  he  afterwards  gave  such 
repeated  proofs  in  bringing  forward  his  Women's  Disabilities  bill, 
was  seconded  by  Mr.  Rylands.  Mr.  Bruce  (the  home  secretary) 


First  Demonstration  in  Manchester.  847 

said  he  had  shown  conclusively  that  this  proposition  was  no 
novelty,  and  that  women  were  allowed  to  vote  in  every  form  of 
local  government,  except  under  the  Municipal  Corporations  act. 
The  clause  introduced  no  anomaly,  and  he  should  give  it  his  cordial 
support.  Mr.  Hibbert  also  supported  the  clause,  which  was 
agreed  to  amid  cheers,  and  it  was  passed  without  a  dissentient 
word  or  the  faintest  shadow  of  opposition,  as  was  also  the  pro- 
posal of  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  to  lea^e  out  the  word  "  male "  in 
the  first  clause. 

In  the  House  of  Lords  an  attempt  was  made  by  Lord  Redes- 
dale  to  reverse  the  decision  of  the  House  of  Commons,  but  the 
proposal  found  no  seconder,  and  therefore  fell  to  the  ground. 
The  Earl  of  Kimberley,  on  behalf  of  the  government,  supported 
the  proposition,  as  did  also  Lord  Cairns,  from  the  opposition 
benches.  The  Municipal  Franchise  bill  became  law  in  August, 
1869.  One  well-known  statesman  said  at  the  time,  "This  is  a 
revolution ;  this  vote  means  still  another,  and  there  never  was 
so  great  a  revolution  so  speedily  accomplished."  In  1869  the 
Ballot  act  had  not  been  passed  ;  this  was  in  the  days  of  open 
voting.  It  was  therefore  possible  to  ascertain  with  accuracy  in 
how  large  a  proportion  the  women  householders  availed  them- 
selves of  their  restored  right  to  vote  whenever  a  contested  election 
took  place.  On  the  following  November  a  letter  of  inquiry  was 
sent  to  the  town  clerk  of  every  municipal  borough  in  England 
and  Wales,  and  by  their  courtesy  in  replying  it  was  ascertained 
that  the  women  voted  in  very  large  numbers.  In  our  municipal 
towns  the  average  ratio  of  women  householders  to  men  house- 
holders is  about  one  to  seven.  This  varies  greatly  in  different 
localities.  In  Tewkesbury,  for  instance,  there  was  only  one  woman 
householder  to  twenty-three  men  householders,  while  in  Bath  the 
proportion  had  risen  as  high  as  one  to  three.  The  women  voters 
were  in  about  the  same  proportion.  In  the  larger  boroughs  the 
proportion  was  especially  good,  while  there  were  cases  in  which 
the  polling  of  the  women  exceeded  that  of  the  men.  In  Bodmin, 
Cornwall,  two  women  voted,  one  of  whom  was  92  and  the  other 
94  years  of  age. 

The  first  public  meeting  in  connection  with  women's  suffrage 
was  held  in  Manchester,  April  14,  1868,  in  the  assembly  room  of 
the  Free  Trade  Hall.  The  occasion  was  one  of  great  interest. 
Mr.  Henry  D.  Pochin,  the  mayor  of  Salford  (which  adjoins  Man- 
chester), took  the  chair,  and  the  first  resolution  was  moved  by 


848  History  of  Woman  Siiffrage. 

Miss  Becker,  seconded  by  the  venerable  Arch-deacon  Sandford, 
and  supported  by  Mr.  T.  B.  Potter,  M.  P. : 

Resolved,  That  the  exclusion  of  women  from  the  exercise  of  the  franchise  in  the 
election  of  members,  being  unjust  in  principle  and  inexpedient  in  practice,  this  meeting 
is  of  opinion  that  the  right  of  voting  should  be  granted  to  them  on  the  same  conditions 
as  it  is  or  may  be  granted  to  men. 

The  other  resolutions  were  spoken  to  by  Dr.  Pankhurst,  Mrs. 
Pochin  (who  had  also  written  a  very  exhaustive  pamphlet  on 
"  The  Claim  of  Woman  to  the  Elective  Franchise,"  signed, 

o  ' 

Justitid),  Mr.  Chisholm  Anstey,  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  M.  P.,  Miss 
Annie  Robertson  of  Dublin,  Mr.  F.  W.  Myers,  fellow  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  and  Mr.  J.  W.  Edwards.  This  meeting,  and 
the  one  which  followed  in  Birmingham,  May  6,  are  fair  types  of 
those  which  have  followed  by  thousands.  With  few  excep- 
tions they  have  been  addressed  by  men  and  women  jointly ;  the 
resolutions  passed  have  generally  been  of  a  directly  practical  and 
political  character.  They  have  been  presided  over,  whenever 
possible,  by  the  chief  magistrate,  or  some  other  well-known  man 
in  the  locality  ;  in  comparatively  few  cases  have  women  presided, 
and  very  seldom,  indeed,  strangers.  Thus  they  have  been 
modeled  closely  on  the  ordinary  English  political  meet- 
ing ;  and  this  form,  quite  apart  from  the  principles  discussed  at 
the  meetings,  has  done  much  to  identify  women's  suffrage  with 
the  practical  politics  of  the  day.  The  first  meeting  ever  held 
in  London  (July,  1869,)  excited  much  attention.  Admittance 
here  was  by  ticket.  Mrs.  Peter  A.  Taylor  took  the  chair; 
Miss  Biggs  read  the  report,  and  a  noble  array  of  speakers  fol- 
lowed.* 

The  principle  of  women's  suffrage  was  unhesitatingly  conceded 
by  the  passing  of  the  Municipal  Amendment  act  of  1869.  The 
time  was  come  to  demand  its  application  in  parliamentary  elec- 
tions. Moreover,  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  had 
left  no  mode  of  action  possible  except  for  parliament  to 
reverse  that  decision.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  therefore,  on  the  first 
day  of  the  session  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  introduce  a  bill 
to  remove  the  electoral  disabilities  of  women.  Sir  Charles  Dilke, 
a  Liberal,  and  Mr.  E.  B.  Eastwick,  a  Conservative,  also  gave 
their  names  on  the  back  of  the  bill  • 


*  Mr.  Thomas  Hare,  Mr.  Boyd  Kinnear,  Mr.  Mill,  who  was  no  longer  in  parliament,  the  Rev. 
Charles  Kingsley  (this  was  the  first  and  only  meeting  at  which  he  was  present),  Prof.  Fawcett,  M.  P. 
and  Mrs.  Fawcett,  Lord  Houghton,  Mr.  John  Morley,  Sir  Charles  W.  Dilke,  Bt.  M.  P.,  Mr.  P.  A.  Tay- 
lor, M.  P.,  Professor  Masson  of  Edinburgh,  and  Mr.  Stamfeld,  M.  P. 


Bill  to  Remove  Electoral  Disabilities.  849 

A  BILL  to  remove  the  Electoral  Disabilities  of  Women  : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Queen's  most  excellent  Majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Lords,  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  Commons  in  this  present  parliament 
assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  as  follows  : 

First — That  in  all  acts  relating  to  the  qualification  and  registration  of  voters  or  per- 
sons entitled  or  claiming  to  be  registered  and  to  vote  in  the  election  of  members  of  parlia- 
ment, wherever  words  occur  which  import  the  masculine  gender,  the  same  shall  be  held 
to  include  females  for  all  purposes  connected  with,  and  having  reference  to  the  right  to 
be  registered  as  voters,  and  to  vote  in  such  elections,  any  law  or  usage  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding. 

On  February  16,  the  bill  was  read  for  the  first  time,  and  on 
May  4,  it  came  on  for  its  second  reading.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright 
earnestly  appealed  to  the  House  to  grant  this  measure  of  justice: 

The  women  who  are  interested  in  this  subject,  he  concluded,  are  only 
acting  in  the  spirit  of  one  of  the  noblest  proverbs  of  our  language,  "God 
helps  those  who  help  themselves."  Is  it  a  matter  of  regret  to  us  that 
they  should  have  these  aspirations?  Ought  it  not  rather  to  be  a  subject 
of  satisfaction  and  of  pride?  That  this  bill  will  become  law,  no  one  who 
has  observed  the  character  of  this  agitation  and  who  knows  the  love  of 
justice  in  the  British  people  can  doubt.  I  hope  it  will  become  law  soon, 
for  I  have  a  desire  which  will  receive  the  sympathy  of  many  in  this 
House.  I  have  a  strong  desire  that  when  our  children  come  to  read  the 
story  of  their  country's  fame,  it  may  be  written  there  that  the  British 
parliament  was  the  first  great  legislative  assembly  in  the  world,  which,  in 
conferring  its  franchises,  knew  nothing  of  the  distinctions  of  strong  an  " 
weak,  of  male  and  female,  of  rich  and  poor. 

The  result  of  the  division  surprised  and  cheered  all  the  sup- 
porters of  the  measure.  The  government  was  neutral,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  cabinet  voted  on  either  side  according  to  their  own 
opinions.  The  second  reading  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  124 
to  91,  being  a  majority  in  its  favor  of  33.  Those  who  wit- 
nessed that  division  will  never  forget  the  grateful  enthusiasm 
with  which  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  was  received  when  he  came  up  to 
the  ladies'  gallery,  with  his  wife  leaning  upon  his  arm.  But  our 
triumph  was  short-lived.  Before  the  bill  went  into  committee,  a 
week  later,  it  became  known  that  the  government  intended  to 
depart  from  its  attitude  of  neutrality.  A  strong  pressure  was 
exercised  to  crush  the  bill,  and  the  contest  of  course  became 
hopeless.  On  the  division  for  going  into  committee  220  votes 
were  counted  against  94  in  its  favor. 

It  became  evident  that  we  were  in  for  a  long  contest,  which 
would  require  not  only  patience,  courage  and  determination,  but 
a  high  degree  of  political  sagacity.  Organizations  had  to  be 
perfected,  and  additional  societies  established  ;  meetings  had  to 
be  called,  and  lectures  given  to  explain  the  question.  In  March 
54 


850  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

of  this  year  the  Women  s  Suffrage  Journal  was  established  in 
Manchester.  Miss  Becker  has  conducted  this  monthly  from  the 
beginning  with  great  talent  and  spirit ;  it  is  frequently  quoted 
by  the  ordinary  press,  and  its  pages  contain  the  best  record  ex- 
tant of  the  movement.  This  same  year  of  1870,  which  witnessed 
our  first  parliamentary  defeat,  brought  compensation  also  of 
such  magnitude  as  to  outweigh  the  temporary  overthrow  of  the 
franchise  bill.  This  was  the  Elementary  Education  act,  by  which 
women  were  not  only  admitted  to  vote  for  school-board  candi- 
dates, but  expressly  enabled  to  sit  on  these  boards,  and  thus  ex- 
ercise not  only  elective,  but  legislative  functions  of  the  most  im- 
portant character.  The  election  clause  reads  thus: 

The  school-board  shall  be  elected  in  the  manner  provided  by  this  act,  in  a  borough 
by  the  persons  whose  names  are  on  the  burgess  roll  of  such  borough  for  the  time  being 
in  force,  and  in  a  parish  not  situated  in  the  metropolis,  by  the  rate-payers. 

In  London,  with  the  sole  exception  of  the  city,  the  persons 
who  elect  the  vestries,  i.  e.  the  rate-payers,  are  the  electors — this 
includes  women  as  a  matter  of  course.  In  the  city  only,  the 
electors  were  to  be  the  same  persons  who  elected  common-coun- 
cil-men, and  as  these  included  men  only,  women  are  thus  ex- 
cluded from  voting  in  the  school-board  election,  though  even 
here  it  may  be  observed  they  are  eligible  to  sit  on  the  board. 
Thus,  within  the  space  of  two  years,  two  important  measures  were 
extended  unexpectedly. 

In  1871  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  again  introduced  the  Women's  Dis- 
abilities Removal  bill,  and  it  was  also  supported  by  Mr.  Eastwick 
and  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair.  It  was  thrown  out  in  the  division  upon 
the  second  reading  on  May  3,  by  a  majority  of  69 ;  151  (includ- 
ing tellers  and  pairs  159)  voting  for  it,  and  220  (including  tellers 
and  pairs  228)  voting  against  it.  The  most  remarkable  feature 
of  the  debate  was  a  speech  made  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  which  cer- 
tainly justified  the  confidence  that  women  have  subsequently 
entertained  that  the  great  minister  was  willing  to  see  justice  done 
to  them : 

The  ancient  law  recognized  the  rights  of  women  in  the  parish ;  I  appre- 
hend they  could  both  vote  and  act  in  the  parish.  The  modern  rule  has 
extended  the  right  to  the  municipality,  so  far  as  the  right  of  voting  is  con- 
cerned. .  .  .  With  respect  to  school-boards,  I  own  I  believe  that  we  have 
done  wisely,  on  the  whole,  in  giving  both  the  franchise  and  the  right  of 
sitting  on  the  school-board  to  women.  Then  comes  a  question  with  re- 
gard to  parliament,  and  we  have  to  ask  ourselves  whether  we  shall  or 
shall  not  go  further.  ...  I  admit,  at  any  rate,  that  as  far  as  I  am  able  to 
judge,  there  is  more  presumptive  ground  for  change  in  the  law  than  some 


Work  of  1872.  851 

of  the  opponents  of  the  measure  are  disposed  to  own.  ...  I  cannot  help 
thinking  that,  for  some  reason  or  other,  there  are  various  important  par- 
ticulars in  which  women  obtain  much  less  than  justice  under  social  ar- 
rangements. ...  I  niay  be  told  that  there  is  no  direct  connection  between 
this  and  the  parliamentary  franchise,  and  I  admit  it ,  but  at  the  same  time 
I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  these  inequalities  may  not  have  an  indirect 
connection  with  a  state  of  law  in  which  the  balance  is  generally  cast  too 
much  against  women,  and  too  much  in  favor  of  men.  There  is  one  in- 
stance which  has  been  quoted,  and  I  am  not  sure  there  is  not  something 
in  it — I  mean  the  case  of  farms.  ...  I  believe  to  some  extent  in  the  com- 
petition for  that  particular  employment  women  suffer  in  a  very  definite 
manner  in  consequence  of  their  want  of  qualification  to  vote.  I  go  some- 
what further  than  this,  and  say  that  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  form  an  opinion 
of  the  general  tone  and  color  of  our  law  in  these  matters,  where  the  pecu- 
liar relation  of  men  and  women  is  concerned,  that  law  does  less  than  jus- 
tice to  women  [hear,  hear],  and  great  mischief,  misery  and  scandal  result 
from  that  state  of  things  in  many  of  the  occurrences  and  events  of  life. 
[Cheers.]  .  .  .  If  it  should  be  found  possible  to  arrange  a -safe  and  well- 
adjusted  alteration  of  the  law  as  to  political  power,  the  man  who  shall  at- 
tain that  object,  and  who  shall  see  his  purpose  carried  onward  to  its  con- 
sequences in  a  more  just  arrangement  of  the  provisions  of  other  laws 
bearing  upon  the  condition  and  welfare  of  women,  will,  in  my  opinion,  be 
a  real  benefactor  to  his  country.  [Cheers.] 

In  another  portion  of  his  speech  Mr.  Gladstone  said  that  the 
personal  attendance  of  women  in  election  proceedings,  until  the 
principle  of  secret  voting  should  be  adopted,  was  in  his  eyes  an 
objection  of  the  greatest  force — thus  giving  reason  to  believe 
that  as  soon  as  vote  by  ballot  was  secured,  this  objection  would 
be  removed.  Mr.  Gladstone  did  not  on  this  occasion  vote  against 
the  bill,  but  left  the  House  without  voting. 

In  1872,  our  indefatigable  leader  again  moved  the  second  read- 
ing of  the  bill  on  the  4th  of  May.  His  speech  was  calm  and  mas- 
terly, and  he  was  ably  supported,  but  the  division  remained 
much  the  same ;  143  for  the  bill  and  222  against  it.  This 
year  the  Scotch  Education  bill  was  passed,  which  extended  the 
voting  of  women  and  their  election  on  school-boards  to  Scotland  ; 
thus  the  principle  of  direct  representation  on  a  matter  so  impor- 
tant as  national  education  was  recognized.  The  Ballot  act  also, 
which  at  once  rendered  elections  orderly  and  safe,  henceforth 
gave  increased  security  and  comfort  to  women  who  were  vot- 
ing in  municipal  elections. 

In  this  year  a  new  committee  was  established  in  London  called 
the  Central  committee,  to  which  all  other  branches  of  the  society 


852  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

had  the  right  of  appointing  delegates,  and  the  movement  received 
thereby  a  considerable  increase  of  strength  and  solidity.* 

Meantime  each  branch  of  the  society  was  working  away  inde- 
fatigably.  During  1871,  the  Suffrage  Journal  recorded  135 
public  meetings,  and  during  1872,  104  in  England  and  63  in 
Scotland.  The  work  in  Scotland  was  chiefly  carried  on  in  the 
way  of  lectures  by  Miss  Jane  Taylour,  who  during  these  early 
years  of  the  movement  was  an  untiring  and  spirited  pioneer,  Miss 
Agnes  McLaren  often  accompanying  her  and  helping  her  to 
organize  the  meetings. 

We  must  not  omit  to  mention  Mary  Burton  (sister  of  John 
Hill  Burton  the  historiographer  of  Scotland),  who  was  also  one  of 
the  most  energetic  workers  of  the  Edinburgh  committee,  especi- 
ally in  the  north  of  Scotland ;  and  Mrs.  Dick  Lauder  who  had 
the  courage  to  free  herself  from  the  opinions  in  which  she  had 
been  educated,  and  with  much  sacrifice  devoted  herself  to  the 
work.  Space  fails  us  fitly  to  record  the  indomitable  efforts  of 
Eliza  Wigham,  one  of  the  honorable  secretaries  of  the  Edinburgh 
committee.  In  England,  Mrs.  Ronniger  organized  and  spoke  at 
many  meetings,  as  did  Mrs.  Fawcett,  Miss  Rhoda  Garrett,  Miss 
Becker,  Miss  Craigen  and,  less  frequently,  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler, 
Lady  Amberley,  Miss  Annie  Young  and  others.  Mrs.  Grote,  wife 
of  the  historian  and  herself  a  well-known  author,  took  part  in  one 
meeting  held  in  Hanover  Square  rooms,  London,  on  March  26, 
1870.  Mrs.  Grote  was  then  upwards  of  seventy  years  of  age. 
Rising  with  great  majesty,  she  spoke  with  all  the  weight  that  age, 
ability  and  experience  could  give,  greatly  impressing  her  audience. 
Miss  Helen  Taylor,  step-daughter  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  also  made 
her  maiden  speech  at  this  meeting;  it  was  delivered  with  much 
grace,  excellent  in  thought  as  in  manner. 

Many  additional  local  committees  were  established,  and  good 
work  was  done  by  familiarizing  the  public  mind  with  the  princi- 
ples of  the  association.  Ward  meetings  were  held  in  which  the 
women  burgesses  and  municipal  voters  were  assembled,  and 
while  the  responsibilities  of  the  vote  they  already  possessed  were 
pointed  out  to  them,  attention  was  called  to  the  prior  importance 
of  the  vote  which  was  withheld  from  them. 


*  Mrs.  Penington,  Mr.  Hopwood,  Q.  C.  and  Professor  Amos  were  honorary  secretaries  the  first  year, 
and  succeeding  them  Miss  C.  A.  Biggs  and  Miss  Agnes  Garrett.  The  principal  committees  united 
with  the  central,  including  Bristol,  Birmingham,  Manchester,  Edinburgh,  Dublin  and  the  North  of 
Ireland. 


Defeat  of  Jacob  Bright.  853 

In  1873,  for  the  fourth  time,  our  unwearied  champion,  Mr. 
Jacob  Bright,  brought  forward  his  bill.  This  time  the  second 
reading  was  fixed  for  April  30.  He  was  supported  in  the  debate 
by  Mr.  Eastwick,  Sergeant  Sherlock,  Lord  John  Manners,  Mr. 
Fawcett,  Mr.  Heron,  Mr.  Henley,  and  Sir  J.  Trelawny.  While 
all  these  gentlemen  deserved  our  thanks  for  the  able  assistance 
they  rendered  the  cause,  the  speech  of  Mr.  Henley,  Conservative 
member  for  Oxfordshire,  so  old  a  member  that  he  was  styled  the 
"  Father  of  the  House,"  excited  special  attention.  He  said  he  had 
once  felt  considerable  doubt  and  dislike  of  the  measure,  but  after 
careful  watching  of  the  way  in  which  women  gave  the  local  votes, 
he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  an  extension  of  the  principle 
would  be  useful.  The  votes  in  favor  of  the  bill  increased  at 
this  debate  to  155  (with  tellers  and  pairs  172),  a  larger  number 
than  had  ever  before  been  obtained,  while  the  opposition  re- 
mained stationary. 

Along  with  the  petitions  of  this  year  were  two  memorials 
signed  by  upwards  of  1 1,000  women,  and  presented  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone and  Mr.  Disraeli.  Every  English  county,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  smallest,  Rutland,  and  most  large  towns  sent  repre- 
sentative signatures.  An  effort  was  made  this  session  by  Mr. 
William  Johnston,  the  member  for  Belfast,  to  introduce  amend- 
ments into  the  Irish  Municipal  bill,  which  would  have  had  the 
effect  of  extending  the  municipal  franchise  to  Irish  women  house- 
holders. But  the  bill  was  withdrawn,  and  similar  efforts  made  in 
subsequent  years  have  met  with  the  like  fate. 

This  year  the  death  of  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill  saddened  the 
hearts  of  all.  He  will  never  be  forgotten  as  the  first  man  who 
carried  this  question  into  the  arena  of  practical  politics  and  gave 
it  the  weight  of  an  honored  name.  The  strength  and  vitality  of 
the  movement  were  further  tested  by  a  disaster  which  threatened 
to  do  it  a  lasting  injury.  The  general  election  took  place  early 
in  the  spring  of  1874,  and  to  the  regret  and  consternation  of  the 
friends  of  equal  suffrage,  their  able  and  devoted  leader,  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright,  lost  his  seat  for  Manchester — a  loss  in  a  great  degree 
attributable  to  his  unshrinking  advocacy  of  an  unpopular  question. 
Never  did  his  clients,  for  whom  he  had  sacrificed  so  much,  feel 
so  deeply  the  need  of  the  power  which  the  franchise  would  have 
given  them  to  keep  so  good  a  friend  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Not  only  was  Mr.  Bright  defeated,  but  Mr.  Eastwick,  the  friend 
who  had  always  seconded  the  bill,  also  lost  his  seat  with  about 


854  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

seventy  others  of  our  supporters.  We  were  thus  compelled  to 
look  around  for  fresh  leaders.  The  task  of  bringing  in  a  bill  was 
accepted  by  Mr.  Forsyth,  the  Conservative  member  for  Maryle- 
bone,  one  of  the  London  boroughs ;  with  him  were  associated 
Mr.  Stansfeld,  Mr.  Russell  Gurney  and  Sir  R.  Anstruther,  men 
differing  widely  on  matters  of  party  politics.  The  bill  was  intro- 
duced early  in  the  session,  but  no  day  was  found  for  it,  and  in 
the  middle  of  July  it  was  withdrawn.  Considerable  discussion 
was  excited  by  the  unexpected  action  of  Mr.  Forsyth,  who  on  his 
own  responsibility  inserted  in  the  bill  an  additional  clause  by 
which  married  women  were  especially  excluded  from  its  operation. 
Although  the  insertion  of  this  clause  would  probably  have  made 
no  difference,  the  bulk  of  legal  opinion  being  that  under  the 
law  of  coverture,  married  women  even  when  possessed  of  prop- 
erty are  not  "  qualified  persons,"  yet  the  society  joined  in  re- 
questing that  this  additional  clause  should  be  dropped  and  the 
original  form  of  the  bill  adhered  to. 

Memorials  signed  by  upwards  of  18,000  women  headed  by 
Florence  Nightingale,  Harriet  Martineau,  Lady  Anna  Gore 
Langton  (sister  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham),  Frances  Power 
Cobbe,  Anna  Swanwick,  were  again  this  year  forwarded  to  Mr. 
Disraeli  and  Mr.  Gladstone.  An  important  memorial  was  also  for- 
warded from  a  large  conference  held  in  Birmingham  in  January, 
which  represents  very  accurately  the  special  aspects  of  the  ques- 
tion in  England.  The  president  of  the  conference  was  Mrs. 
William  Taylor,  sister-in-law  of  Mr.  Peter  A.  Taylor,  M.  P. : 

To  the  Right  Honorable  William  E-wart  Gladstone,  M.  P.,  First  Lord  of  Her 
Majesty  s  Treasury  : 

The  memorial  of  members  and  friends  of  the  National  Society  for 
Women's  Suffrage,  in  conference  assembled  at  Birmingham,  January  22, 
1874,  showeth,  that  your  memorialists  earnestly  desire  to  urge  on  the  at- 
tention of  her  majesty's  government  the  justice  and  expediency  of  abolish- 
ing the  disability  which  precludes  women,  otherwise  legally  qualified, 
from  voting  in  the  election  of  members  of  parliament. 

They  submit  that  the  disability  is  anomalous,  inasmuch  as  it  exists 
only  in  respect  to  the  parliamentary  franchise.  The  electoral  rights  of 
women  have  been  from  time  immemorial  equal  and  similar  to  those  of 
men  in  parochial  and  other  ancient  franchises,  and  in  the  year  1869  a 
measure  was  passed,  with  the  sanction  of  the  administration  of  which  you 
are  the  head,  restoring  and  confirming  the  rights  of  women  ratepayers  to 
the  exercise  of  the  municipal  franchise. 

The  electoral  disability  is  further  anomalous,  because  by  the  law  and 
constitution  of  this  realm,  women  are  not  disabled  from  the  exercise  of 


Memorial  of  the  Birmingham   Conference.         855 

political  power.  Writs,  returning  members  to  serve  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  signed  by  women  as  electors  or  returning  officers,  are  now  in 
existence,  and  the  validity  of  such  returns  has  never  been  disputed. 
Women  who  were  heirs  to  peerages  and  other  dignities  exercised  judicial 
jurisdiction  and  enjoyed  other  privileges  appertaining  to  such  offices  and 
lordships  without  disability  of  sex.  The  highest  political  function  known 
to  the  constitution  may  be  exercised  by  a  woman.  The  principle  that 
women  may  have  political  power  is  coeval  with  the  British  constitution. 
On  the  other  hand  the  practice  of  women  taking  part  in  voting  at  popu- 
lar elections  is  equally  ancient  in  date,  and  has  been  restored  and  ex- 
tended by  the  action  of  the  present  parliament.  Your  memorialists  there- 
fore submit  that  to  bring  the  existing  principle  and  practice  into  harmony 
by  removing  the  disability  which  prevents  women  who  vote  in  local  elec- 
tions from  voting  in  the  election  of  members  of  parliament,  would  be  a  step 
in  the  natural  process  of  development  by  which  institutions,  while  retain- 
ing the  strength  and  authority  derived  from  the  traditions  of  the  past,  and 
preserving  the  continuity  of  the  national  life,  continually  undergo  such 
modifications  as  are  needed  in  order  to  adapt  them  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  age  and  the  changed  conditions  of  modern  life. 

They  also  submit  that  the  old  laws  regulating  the  qualifications  of  elec- 
tors do  not  limit  the  franchise  to  male  persons;  that  the  laws  under 
which  women  exercised  the  parochial  franchise  were  couched  in  the 
same  general  terms  as  those  regulating  the  parliamentary  suffrage,  and 
that  while  the  latter  were  not  expressly  limited  to  men,  the  former  were 
not  expressly  extended  to  women.  There  is,  therefore,  a  strong  presump- 
tion that  the  exclusion  of  women  from  the  parliamentary  suffrage  was  an 
infringement  on  their  ancient  constitutional  rights,  rendered  possible  in 
a  barbarous  age  by  the  comparative  weakness  and  smallness  of  the  num- 
ber of  persons  affected  by  it,  and  continued  until  the  exclusion  had  become 
customary.  The  franchise  of  women  in  local  elections  has  been  from 
time  to  time  under  judicial  consideration,  and  their  right  to  take  part  in 
such  elections  has  been  repeatedly  confirmed  by  the  judges.  During  the 
arguments  in  these  cases,  the  question  of  their  right  to  vote  in  the  elec- 
tion of  members  of  parliament  was  frequently  mooted  and  conflicting 
Opinions  thereon  incidently  expressed  by  various  judges,  but  the  matter 
was  never  judicially  decided,  and  no  authoritative  judgment  was 
ever  given  against  the  right  until  the  year  1868,  after  the  passing  of 
two  modern  acts  of  parliament  in  1832  and  1867,  the  former  of  which  for 
the  first  time  in  English  history,  in  terms,  limited  the  franchise  created 
by  it  to  every  "male  person,"  and  the  latter  to  every  "man"  qualified 
under  its  provisions.  Your  memorialists  submit  that  had  the  question 
of  the  right  of  women  to  vote  in  the  election  of  members  of  parliament 
been  raised  in  the  law  courts  under  the  old  statutes  which  contain  no 
reference  to  sex,  and  before  the  passing  of  the  limiting  acts  of  1832  and 
1867,  that  the  precedents  which  had  determined  the  right  in  their  favor 
in  the  construction  of  the  law  as  to  local  government  must  have  been 
held  to  apply  to  the  case  of  qualified  freeholders  or  others  who  claimed 
the  right  as  regards  parliamentary  government. 


856  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

They  submit  also,  that  even  after  these  limiting  acts,  women  had  reason- 
able grounds  for  claiming  the  suffrage  under  the  existing  law.  There  is 
an  act  of  parliament  which  declares  that  "  in  all  acts,  words  importing  the 
masculine  gender  shall  be  deemed  and  taken  to  include  females,  .  .  .  un- 
less the  contrary  is  expressly  provided."  The  act  of  1867  contained  clauses 
imposing  personal  liabilities  and  pecuniary  burdens  on  certain  classes  of 
ratepayers.  In  these  clauses,  as  in  the  enfranchising  clauses,  and  through- 
out the  act,  words  importing  the  masculine  gender  were  alone  used.  No 
provision  was  made  that  these  words  should  not  include  females.  Ac- 
cordingly in  enforcing  the  act  the  extra  liabilities  and  burdens  were  im- 
posed on  women  ratepayers,  to  many  of  whom  they  caused  grievous 
hardship.  There  was,  therefore,  reason  to  expect  that  the  enfranchising 
clauses  would  bear  the  same  interpretation,  inasmuch  as  they  were  con- 
fessedly offered  as  an  equivalent  for  the  increased  liabilities.  But  when 
the  women  who  had  been  subjected  to  the  liabilities  claimed  their  votes, 
they  found  that  words  importing  the  masculine  gender  were  held  to  in- 
clude women  in  the  clauses  imposing  burdens,  and  to  exclude  them  in 
the  clauses  conferring  privileges,  in  one  and  the  same  act  of  parliament. 

This  kind  of  injustice  was  shown  in  a  marked  manner  in  the  case  of 
certain  women  ratepayers  of  Bridgewater,  who,  in  a  memorial  addressed 
to  you  in  1871,  set  forth  the  grievance  of  most  heavy  and  unjust  taxation 
which  was  levied  on  them,  in  common  with  the  other  householders  of 
that  disfranchised  borough,  for  the  payment  of  a  prolonged  commission 
respecting  political  bribery.  The  memorialists  felt  it  to  be  unjust  and 
oppressive,  inasmuch  as,  not  exercising  the  franchise  nor  being  in  any 
way  directly  or  indirectly  concerned  in  the  malpractices  which  led  to  the 
commision,  they  were  nevertheless  required  to  pay  not  less  than  three 
shillings  in  the  pound  according  to  their  rental.  To  that  memorial  you 
caused  a  reply  to  be  sent  through  Mr.  Secretary  Bruce,  stating  that  "it 
was  not  in  the  power  of  the  secretary  of  State  to  exempt  women  owning 
or  occupying  property  from  the  local  and  imperial  taxation  to  which  that 
property  is  liable."  While  fully  admitting  this,  your  memorialists  beg  to 
represent  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  legislature  to  secure  to  women 
the  vote  which  their  property  would  confer,  along  with  its  liability  to  lo- 
cal and  imperial  taxation,  were  it  owned  or  occupied  by  men. 

They  submit  that  this  concession  has  recently  been  granted  in  respect 
to  local  taxation,  and  that  if  justice  demands  that  women  should  have  a 
voice  in  controlling  the  municipal  expenditure  to  which  their  property 
contributes,  justice  yet  more  urgently  demands  that  they  should  have  a 
-voice  in  controlling  the  imperial  expenditure  to  which  the  same  property 
:ls  Jiable.  The  local  expenditure  of  the  country  amounts  to  about  ,£30,- 
000,000,  the  imperial  expenditure  to  about  ^70,000,000  annually  ;  if,  there- 
fore, the  matter  be  regarded  as  one  of  taxation  only,  the  latter  vote  is  of 
more  importance  than  the  former.  Local  government  deals  with  men 
and  women  alike,  and  knows  no  distinction  between  male  and  female 
ratepayers.  But  imperial  government  deals  with  men  and  women  on 
different  principles,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  whenever  there  is  any  dis- 
tinction made  in  the  rights,  privileges  and  protection  accorded  to  them 


Memorial  of  t/ie  Birmingham   Conference.         857 

respectively,  the  difference  is  always  against  women  and  in  favor  of  men. 
They  believe  this  state  of  things  is  a  natural  result  of  the  exclusion  of 
women  from  representation,  and  it  will  be  found  impracticable  to  amend 
it  until  women  are  admitted  to  a  share  in  controlling  the  legislature. 

By  the  deprivation  of  the  parliamentary  vote,  women,  in  the  purchase 
or  renting  of  property,  obtain  less  for  their  money  than  men.  In  a  bill 
which  passed  the  House  of  Commons  last  session,  provision  was  made 
for  the  amalgamation  in  one  list  of  the  municipal  and  parliamentary  regis- 
ters of  electors.  In  that  list  it  appeared  that  the  same  house,  the  same 
rent  and  the  same  taxes  conferred  on  a  man  the  double  vote  in  municipal 
and  parliamentary  government,  and  on  a  woman  the  single  vote  only, 
and  that  the  less  honorable  and  important  one.  When  the  occupation  of 
a  house  is  transferred  from  a  man  to  a  woman,  say  to  the  widow  of  the 
former  owner,  that  home  loses  the  privilege  of  representation  in  the  im- 
perial government,  though  its  relations  with  the  taxgatherer  continue 
unaltered.  There  have  been  various  societies  formed  with  a  view  to  en- 
able persons  .to  acquire  portions  of  landed  or  real  property,  partly  for  the 
sake  of  the  vote  attached  to  such  property.  Should  a  woman  purchase 
or  inherit  such  an  estate,  the  vote,  which  has  been  one  important  con- 
sideration in  determining  the  value,  would  be  lost  through  her  legal  disa- 
bility to  exercise  it. 

The  deprivation  of  the  vote  is  a  serious  disadvantage  to  women  in  the 
competition  for  farms.  A  case  is  recorded  of  one  estate  in  Suffolk  from 
which  seven  widows  have  been  ejected,  who,  if  they  had  possesed  votes, 
would  have  been  continued  as  tenants.  A  sudden  ejection  often  means 
ruin  to  a  family  that  has  sunk  capital  in  the  land,  and  it  is  only  too  prob- 
able that  no  day  passes  without  the  occurence  of  some  such  calamity  to 
some  unhappy  widow,  who,  but  for  the  electoral  disability,  might  have 
retained  the  home  and  the  occupation  by  which  she  could  have  brought 
up  her  family  in  comfort  and  independence. 

Besides  this  definite  manner  in  which  the  electoral  disability  injures 
women  farmers,  it  has  a  more  or  less  directly  injurious  influence  on  all 
self-dependent  women  who  maintain  themselves  and  their  families  by 
other  than  domestic  labor.  A  disability,  the  basis  of  which  is  the  pre- 
sumed mental  or  moral  incapacity  of  the  subject  of  it  to  form  a  rational 
judgment  on  matters  within  the  ordinary  ken  of  human  intelligence,  car- 
ries with  it  a  stigma  of  inferiority  calculated  to  cause  impediment  to 
the  entrance  on  or  successful  prosecution  of  any  pursuit  demanding  re- 
cognized ability  and  energy.  This  presumed  incapacity  is  probably  the 
origin  of  the  general  neglect  of  the  education  of  women,  which  is  only 
now  beginning  to  be  acknowledged,  and  the  absence  of  political  power  in 
the  neglected  class  renders  it  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  obtain  an  ade- 
quate share  for  girls  in  the  application  of  educational  funds  and  endow- 
ments. So  long  as  women  are  specifically  excluded  from  control  over 
their  parliamentary  representatives,  so  long  will  their  interests  be  post- 
poned to  claims  of  those  who  have  votes  to  give;  and  while  parliament 
shall  continue  to  declare  that  the  voices  of  women  are  unfit  to  be  taken 
into  account  in  choosing  members  of  the  legislature,  the  masses  of  men 


858  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

will  continue  to  act  as  if  their  wishes,  opinions  and  interests  were  unde- 
serving of  serious  consideration. 

It  is  now  nearly  two  years  since  you,  in  your  place  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  said  that  the  number  of  absolutely  self-dependent  women  is 
increasing  from  year  to  year,  and  that  the  progressive  increase  in  the 
number  of  such  women  is  a  very  serious  fact,  because  those  women  are 
assuming  the  burdens  that  belong  to  men;  and  you  stated  your  belief 
that  when  they  are  called  upon  to  assume  those  burdens,  and  to  under- 
take the  responsibility  of  providing  for  their  own  subsistence,  they 
approach  the  task  under  greater  difficulties  than  attach  to  their  more 
powerful  competitors.  Your  memorialists  therefore  ask  you  to  aid  women 
in  overcoming  these  difficulties,  by  assisting  to  place  them,  politically  at 
least,  on  a  level  with  those  whom  you  designate  as  "their  more  powerful 
competitors." 

One  of  the  greatest  hindrances  in  the  path  of  self-dependent  women  is 
the  opposition  shown  by  members  of  many  trades  and  professions  to 
women  who  attempt  to  engage  in  them.  The  medical  and  academical 
authorities  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh  have  successfully  crushed  the 
attempt  of  a  small  band  of  female  students  to  qualify  themselves  for  the 
medical  profession,  and  the  same  spirit  of  "  trades  unionism  "  is  rife  in  the 
industrial  community.  A  few  months  ago  the  printers  of  Manchester, 
learning  that  a  few  girls  were  practicing  type-setting,  and  endeavoring  to 
earn  a  little  money  thereby,  instantly  passed  a  rule  ordaining  a  strike  in 
the  shop  of  any  master  printer  who  should  allow  type  set  up  by  women 
to  be  sent  to  his  machines  to  be  worked.  At  the  present  time,  in  a  manu- 
facturing district  in  Yorkshire  where  there  are  " broad  "  and  "narrow" 
looms,  at  the  former  of  which  much  more  money  can  be  earned,  the  men 
refuse  to  allow  women  to  work  at  the  broad  looms,  though  they  are  quite 
able  to  manage  them,  because  the  work  is  considered  too  remunerative 
for  women.  At  Nottingham  there  is  a  particular  machine  at  which  very 
high  wages  can  be  earned,  at  which  women  now  work,  and  the  men,  in 
order  to  drive  them  out  of  such  profitable  employment,  have  insisted 
on  the  masters  taking  no  more  women  on,  but  as  those  at  present  em- 
ployed leave,  supplying  their  places  by  men.  A  master  manufacturer 
reports :  "  We  have  machines  which  women  can  manage  quite  as  well 
or  better  than  men,  yet  are  they  not  permitted  by  a  selfish  combination 
of  the  strong  against  the  weak."  These  are  only  samples  of  the  cases 
that  are  constantly  occurring  of  successful  attempts  to  drive  women  out 
of  remunerative  occupations.  Your  memorialists  submit  that  women 
would  be  more  able  to  resist  such  attempts  if  they  had  the  protection  of 
the  suffrage ;  and  that  men  would  be  less  likely  to  be  thus  aggressive  and 
oppressive  if  they  had  learned  to  regard  women  as  their  political  equals. 

Besides  the  restrictions  on  the  industrial  liberties  of  women  effected  by 
combinations  of  men,  there  are  existing  and  proposed  legislative  restric- 
tions from  which  men  are  exempt,  and  which  exercise  a  powerful  influence 
on  the  market  for  their  labor.  For  the  coming  session  we  have  the  pro- 
posal further  to  limit  their  hours  of  paid  labor  in  factories,  and  to  place 
other  restrictions  on  their  labor  in  shops ;  also  a  proposition  to  place 


Memorial  of  the  Birmingham  Conference.         859 

married  women  on  the  footing  of  half-timers.  Without  here  expressing 
any  opinion  as  to  the  wisdom  of  these  proposals,  we  urge  that  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons  would  be  more  capable  of  dealing  with  them 
in  a  just  and  appreciative  spirit  if  they  were  responsible  for  their  votes  to 
the  persons  whose  interests  are  directly  concerned  and  whose  liberties 
they  are  asked  to  curtail ;  and,  further,  that  it  is  a  grave  question  how  far 
it  is  safe  to  trust  the  industrial  interests  of  women,  as  a  class,  to  the  irre- 
sponsible control  of  the  men  who  have  manifested  to  individuals  and  to 
sections  of  working  women  the  spirit  indicated  by  the  examples  we  have 
cited. 

In  the  same  speech  you  spoke  of  a  state  of  the  law  in  which  the  balance 
is  generally  cast  too  much  against  women  and  too  much  in  favor  of  men. 
Since  you  directed  your  attention  to  this  matter,  you  have  not  been  able 
either  to  introduce  or  to  assist  others  who  have  introduced  measures  to 
ameliorate  the  state  of  the  law  respecting  women,  and  such  proposals 
have  been  unable  to  win  consideration  from  parliament.  Your  memorial- 
ists cannot  believe  that  this  neglect  has  arisen  from  want  of  a  desire  on 
your  part  to  deal  with  the  grievances  under  which  you  have  admitted  that 
your  countrywomen  suffer;  they  are  therefore  led  to  the  conclusion  that 
you  have  been  unable  to  take  into  consideration  the  affairs  of  an  unrepre- 
sented class,  owing  to  the  preoccupation  of  parliament  with  the  concerns 
of  those  to  whom  it  is  directly  responsible. 

You  stated  that  "the  question  was,  to  devise  a  method  of  enabling 
women  to  exercise  a  sensible  influence,  without  undertaking  personal 
functions  and  exposing  themselves  to  personal  obligations  inconsistent 
with  the  fundamental  particulars  of  their  condition  as  women,"  and  that 
the  objection  to  the  personal  attendance  of  women  at  elections  was  in 
your  mind  an  objection  of  the  greatest  force.  They  respectfully  submit 
that  the  exercise  of  the  municipal  franchise  involves  the  personal  attend- 
ance of  women  at  the  polls,  and  that  since  your  words  were  uttered  changes 
have  been  effected  which  render  the  process  of  voting  absolutely  identical 
for  municipal  and  parliamentary  elections,  and  the  whole  proceeding  per- 
fectly decorous  and  orderly.  Experience  has  proved  that  women  can 
vote  at  municipal  elections  without  prejudice  to  the  fundamental  particu- 
lars of  their  condition  as  women,  whatever  these  may  be ;  and  this  ex- 
perience shows  that  they  may  vote  in  parliamentary  elections  without  the 
smallest  personal  prejudice  or  inconvenience.  The  school-board  elections 
have  also  shown  that  women  can  appeal  to  large  constituencies  and  go 
through  the  ordeal  of  public  meetings,  addresses  and  questions  from 
electors,  to  which  men  must  submit  who  seek  the  suffrages  of  a  great 
community,  without  any  sacrifice  of  womanly  dignity,  or  of  the  respect 
and  consideration  accorded  to  their  position  and  their  sex.  They  there- 
fore submit  that  events  have  obviated  the  objections  you  entertained  in 
1871  to  the  proposal  to  give  representation  to  women,  and  that  the  course 
taken  by  the  administration  over  which  you  preside  in  assenting  to  the 
extension  of  the  municipal  and  school-board  franchise  to  them  ;  in  calling 
them  to  the  public  functions  of  candidates  and  members  of  school-boards ; 
and  lastly,  of  securing  the  passing  of  a  law  which  renders  the  process  of 


86o  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

voting  silent  and  secret,  have  taken  away  all  reasonable  grounds  for 
objecting  on  the  score  of  practical  inconvenience  to  the  admission  of 
women  to  the  exercise  of  a  vote,  which  they  would  have  to  give  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  manner,  but  not  nearly  so  often,  as  those  votes  which 
they  already  deliver. 

It  has  been  said  that  there  is  neither  desire  nor  demand  for  the  meas- 
ure, and  further,  that  women  do  not  care  for  and  would  not  use  the  suf- 
frage if  they  possessed  it.  But  the  demand  for  the  parliamentary  fran- 
chise is  enormously  greater  than  was  the  demand  for  the  municipal  fran- 
chise, and  for  the  school-board  franchise  there  was  no  apparent  call. 
Yet  these  two  measures  were  passed  purely  on  their  own  merits,  and  it 
was  not  held  to  be  necessary  to  impose  on  their  promoters,  over  and 
above  the  obligation  to  make  out  their  case,  the  condition  that  a  majority 
of  the  women  of  England  or  of  a  particular  district  should  petition  for  the 
proposed  boon.  Experience  proved  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  this  course, 
for  although  women  throughout  the  country  had  taken  no  active  part  in 
agitating  for  the  municipal  franchise,  no  sooner  was  the  privilege  ac- 
corded than  they  freely  availed  themselves  of  it,  and  statistics  obtained 
from  some  of  the  largest  boroughs  in  the  kingdom  show  that  from  the 
first  year  that  women  possessed  the  suffrage,  they  have  voted  in  about 
equal  proportion  with  men  to  the  number  of  each  on  the  register.  The 
parliamentary  vote  is  more  honorable  and  important  than  the  municipal 
vote  ;  it  is,  therefore,  safe  to  conclude  that  women  who  value  and  use  the 
latter  will  appreciate  and  exercise  the  former  as  soon  as  it  shall  be  be- 
stowed upon  them.  Your  memorialists  submit  that  great  injustice  and 
injury  are  done  by  debarring  these  women  from  a  voting  power  which 
there  is  such  strong  presumptive  ground  for  believing  that  they  would 
freely  exercise  but  for  the  legal  restraint. 

Your  memorialists  are  especially  moved  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
urgency  of  the  claim  at  the  present  time,  when  a  bill  extending  the  appli- 
cation of  the  principle  of  household  suffrage  is  about  to  be  proposed  to 
parliament,  which  bill  received  last  year  such  expressions  of  approval 
from  members  of  her  majesty's  government  as  to  lead  to  the  belief  that 
they  are  willing  to  take  the  proposal  into  serious  consideration.  They 
submit  that  the  claim  and  the  need  for  representation  of  women  house- 
holders are  even  more  pressing  than  that  of  agricultural  laborers.  The 
grievances  under  which  women  suffer  are  equally  great,  and  the  demand 
for  the  franchise  has  been  pressed  by  a  much  greater  number  of  women 
and  for  a  much  longer  period  of  time  than  in  the  case  of  county  house- 
holders now  excluded.  The  number  of  persons  who  petitioned  last  ses- 
sion for  the  County  Franchise  bill  and  for  the  Women's  Disabilities  bill 
respectively  were,  for  the  former,  1,889,  ar>d  for  the  latter,  329,206.  The 
latter  bill  has  received  most  influential  support  from  both  sides  of  the 
House,  and  more  votes  have  been  recorded  in  its  favor  than  have  been 
given  for  any  bill  not  directly  supported  as  a  party  measure  by  one 
or  other  of  the  great  parties  in  the  State.  Under  these  circumstances 
your  memorialists  earnestly  request  that  you  will  use  your  influence  as 
leader  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  of  the  government  to  secure  the 


John  Bright 's  Defection.  86 1 

passing  of  the  bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  either  as  a  substan- 
tive enactment,  or  as  an  integral  portion  of  the  next  measure  that  shall 
be  passed  dealing  with  the  question  of  the  representation  of  the  people. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  the  conference, 

CAROLINE  M.  TAYLOR,  President. 

The  first  vote  that  was  given  by  the  new  parliament  was  on 
April  7,  1875,  Mr.  Forsyth  having  moved  the  second  reading  in 
an  able  speech.  It  at  once  became  manifest  that  the  question  had 
made  great  progress  in  the  country.  In  spite  of  the  loss  of  the 
seventy  friends  at  the  preceding  general  election,  our  strength  in 
the  new  parliament  had  greatly  increased.  Including  tellers  and 
pairs,  170  voted  for  the  bill,  and  only  250  against.  This  result 
appears  to  have  alarmed  our  opponents,  who  proceeded  to  form 
an  association  of  peers,  members  of  parliament  and  other  in- 
fluential persons,  to  resist  the  claims  of  women  to  the  suffrage. 
They  issued  a  circular  which  will  be  read  by  future  generations 
with  a  smile  of  amazement.* 

It  may  have  been  partly  owing  to  the  influence  of  this  associa- 
tion that  the  next  year,  when  Mr.  Forsyth  again  brought  forward 
his  bill,  April  26,  1876,  although  the  numbers  of  our  friends  and 
supporters  remained  undiminished,  the  opponents  had  consider- 
ably increased.  This  was  due,  also,  no  doubt,  in  great  degree 
to  the  unexpected  attitude  taken  on  this  question  by  the  Right 
Hon.  John  Bright,  the  most  powerful  living  advocate  for  freedom 
and  representative  government.  In  Mr.  Mill's  division  of  1867, 
Mr.  Bright  had  voted  in  favor  of  the  measure,  and  while  his 
brother  had  charge  of  the  bill,  he  had  never  opposed  it.  His 
opposition  speech  in  this  debate,  therefore,  caused  extreme 
disappointment  and  discouragement.  It  had  little  of  the  force 
which  had  always  characterized  his  pleas  for  political  justice. 
The  most  eloquent  voice  in  the  House  of  Commons  lost  its 
magic  power  when  no  longer  inspired  by  truth.  The  women 
in  the  gallery  listened  with  sorrowful  hearts.  Though  they  knew 


*  Minutes  of  a  meeting  at  the  House  of  Commons,  June  93,  1875.  Present :  The  Right  Honorable 
E.  P.  Bouverie,  in  the  chair;  and  the  following  members  of  parliament:  Right  Hon.  H.  C.  Childcrs, 
Marquis  of  Hamilton,  Lord  Randolph  Churchill,  Hon.  E.  Stanhope,  Mr.  Bentiuck,  Mr.  Beresford 
Hope,  Mr.  Chaplin,  Mr.  Hayter,  Sir  Henry  Holland,  Sir  Henry  James,  Mr.  Kay  Shuttleworth,  Mr. 
Edward  Leatham,  Mr.  Merewether,  Mr.  Newdegate,  Mr.  Raikes,  Mr.  de  Rothschild,  Mr.  Scousficld, 
Mr.  Whitbread. 

Resolved^  That  a  committee  of  peers,  members  of  parliament  and  other  influential  men  be  organised 
for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  integrity  of  the  franchise,  in  opposition  to  the  claims  for  the  extension 
of  the  parliamentary  suffrage  to  women. 

Resolved,  That  Mr.  E.  P.  Bouverie  be  requested  to  act  as  chairman,  and  Lord  Claud  John  Hamilton 
and  Mr.  Kay  Shuttleworth  as  honorary  secretaries. 

The  following  members  have  since  joined  those  named  above :  Lord  Elcho,  Right  Hon.  E.  K  natch - 
bull-Hugessen,  Right  Hon.  J.  R.  Mowbray,  Sir  Thomas  Bazley,  Mr.  Butt,  Mr.  Gibson  and  Colonel 
Kingscote. 


862  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Mr.  Bright's  opinion  could  not  block  the  wheels  of  progress,  yet 
they  felt  intense  regret  that  so  honored  a  friend  to  freedom 
should  abandon  his  most  cherished  principles  when  applied  to 

women. 

i 

The  parliamentary  history  of  the  next  few  years  may  be  very 
briefly  recorded.  In  1877  the  bill  had  again  passed  into  the 
hands  of  our  beloved  leader,  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  who  had  resumed 
his  place  in  the  House  of  Commons,  as  member  of  parliament  for 
Manchester.  After  a  debate  of  great  interest,  and  while  our 
advocate,  Mr.  Leonard  Courtney,  was  speaking,  the  opponents  of 
the  measure  burst  into  a  tumultuous  uproar,  which  effectually 
drowned  his  voice.  This  new  method  of  setting  up  shouts  and 
howls  in  place  of  arguments,  has  since  been  brought  to  bear 
on  more  than  one  public  question,  but  it  was  then  comparatively 
novel.  Mr.  Courtney,  nothing  daunted,  would  not  give  way, 
and  when  six  o'clock,  which  is  the  hour  for  closing  the  debates 
on  Wednesday,  struck,  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  take  a  division. 

The  following  year,  1878,  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  was  unable  from 
failing  health  to  continue  in  charge  of  the  bill  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  a  deputation  of  members  from  each  society  waited 
on  Mr.  Courtney  and  placed  it  in  his  hands.  June  19,  was  set  for 
the  second  reading.  In  his  speech  Mr.  Courtney  dwelt  on  the 
benefits  that  may  accrue  to  women  from  representation.  He 
added  : 

The  political  reasons  for  granting  the  prayer  of  the  bill  appear  to  me 
to  be  undeniable,  but  I  confess  they  are  not  the  reasons  why  I  most 
strongly  support  it.  I  believe  it  will  develop  a  fuller,  freer  and  nobler 
character  in  women  by  admitting  them  into  the  sphere  of  political  thought 
and  duty.  Some  may  say,  "  But  what  is  to  be  the  end  ?  "  I  do  not  know 
that  we  are  always  bound  to  see  the  goal  towards  which  we  are  moving. 
If  we  are  moving  on  right  principles  ;  if  we  are  actuated  by  a  feeling  of 
justice ;  if  the  hand  that  moves  above  us  and  leads  us  on  is  a  hand  in 
which  we  can  place  implicit  confidence, — then  I  say,  trust  to  that  light, 
follow  that  hand,  without  fear  of  the  future. 

The  bill  was  again  lost  by  219  votes  against  140,  thus  showing 
a  smaller  adverse  majority  than  on  the  last  division.  This  year 
Mr.  Russell  Gurney  died.  His  name  will  always  be  associated 
with  the  women's  suffrage  movement,  which  he  had  supported 
ever  since  Mr.  Mill's  division  in  1867.  The  death  of  Lady  Anna 
Gore  Langton  about  this  time  was  also  a  severe  loss. 

The  last  time  that  the  question  was  brought  before  that  par- 
liament was  the  following  summer,  1870.  Mr.  Courtney,  after 


Mr.   Courtney's  Resohition.  863 

taking  counsel  with  his  parliamentary  friends,  made  an  important 
change  in  the  conduct  of  his  measure.  It  had  hitherto  been 
brought  forward  as  a  bill,  which,  if  passed,  would  have  made  the 
actual  change  desired  in  the  law ;  as  the  parliament  was  now 
verging  towards  its  close,  it  was  thought  wiser  to  test  the  opin- 
ion of  the  House  by  bringing  the  question  fonvard  in  the  form 
of  a  resolution.  Two  purposes  were  served  by  this  change  :  one 
was  that  many  men  who  were  in  favor  of  the  principle  of 
women's  suffrage  had  objected  to  it  when  brought  forward  as  an 
isolated  measure  of  reform  involving  a  large  addition  to  the  con- 
stituency, and  possibly  therefore  a  new  election  ;  the  other  was, 
that  the  time  for  discussion  of  a  private  member's  bill  is  very 
limited.  On  Wednesdays,  when  such  bills  come  on,  the  House 
only  sits  in  the  morning,  and  the  debate  must  be  concluded  at  a 
quarter  before  six,  while  the  forms  of  the  House  afford  greater 
facilities  for  discussing  and  voting  upon  motions.  Mr.  Courtney 
in  a  clear  and  exhaustive  speech  moved  his  resolution  as  follows : 

That  in  the  opinion  of  this  House  it  is  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  country  that  women  who  are  entitled  to  vote  in  municipal,  parochial 
and  school-board  elections  when  possessed  of  the  statutory  qualifications, 
should  be  disabled  from  voting  in  parliamentary  elections,  although  pos- 
sessed of  the  statutory  qualifications,  and  that  it  is  expedient  that  this  dis- 
ability should  be  forthwith  repealed. 

The  debate  was  animated,  but  the  result  on  division  was  much 
the  same  as  before:  113  (including  tellers  and  pairs,  144)  voting 
for  it,  and  217  (with  tellers  and  pairs,  248)  against  it.  Thus 
closed  the  ninth  parliament  of  Victoria,  as  far  as  women's  suffrage 
was  concerned. 

The  steady  perseverance  and  unflagging  courage  of  the  de- 
voted band  of  men  and  women  had  achieved  victories  at 
many  points  along  the  line  of  attack.*  Every  suffrage  meet- 


must  mention  the  names  of  the  ladies  who  during  ihe  previous  two  or  three  years  ha 
live  in  speaking  and  organizing  societies.     So  many  meetings  had  been  held  that  the 


864  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

ing  was  the  means  of  gaining  converts.  The  agitation  for 
the  suffrage  kept  the  memory  of  women's  wrongs  and  grievances 
fresh  before  the  public  mind.  These  years  saw  the  medical  pro- 
fession legally  thrown  open  to  women,  and  facilities  given  them 
in  school  and  hospital  for  obtaining  that  education  which  had 
been  hitherto  sought  abroad.  Pharmacy  no  longer  excluded 
them.  London  University  opened  its  gates.  The  Irish  Inter- 
mediate Education  bill,  in  1878,  which  was  originally  introduced 
for  boys  only,  was,  after  several  energetic  discussions,  widened,  so 
as  to  include  girls.  Women  began  to  be  elected  as  poor-law 
guardians.  A  Scotch  Married  Women's  Property  bill  was  passed, 
which  was  a  great  improvement  on  the  former  law.  A  Matrimo- 
nial Causes  Amendment  act  was  also  carried,  which  enables 
magistrates  to  grant  a  judicial  separation  to  wives  who  are  bru- 
tally treated,  along  with  a  maintenance  for  their  children.  Some  of 
our  friends  regretted  that  these  side  issues  should  absorb  the  time 
of  those  who  might  otherwise  have  been  working  exclusively  for 
suffrage  ;  but  this  was  a  short-sighted  fear.  By  broadening  the 
basis  of  work,  by  asking  simultaneously  for  better  laws,  better 
education,  better  employments  and  wider  fields  of  usefulness,  the 
sympathies  of  more  women  were  engaged  ;  while  underlying  and 
supporting  all  was  the  steady  agitation  for  the  suffrage  with  its 
compact  organization  of  committees,  meetings,  publications  and 
petitions  which  kept  parliament  awake  to  the  fact  that  though 
still  disfranchised,  women  had  claims  which  it  could  not  afford  to 
ignore. 

This  was  a  time  when  the  agitation  for  the  suffrage  had  appa- 
rently reached  a  stationary  condition,  neither  advancing  nor  re- 
ceding, in  which  it  was  destined  to  remain  for  some  years  longer. 
Other  causes,  as  the  abolition  of  West  Indian  slavery  and  the 
corn  laws,  have  had  a  similar  period  of  apparent  torpor  succeed- 
ing the  first  activity.  Justin  McCarthy  in  his  "  History  of  our 
own  Times,"  says : 


spoke  frequently.    Space  fails  me  to  do  justice  to  the  varied  powers  of  the  speakers  who  have  carried 
our  movement  on  during  these  years  of  patient   perseverance  ;   to  the  clear  logic  and  convincing  power 


by  national  inheritance.  During  these  years  of  trial,  too,  the  cause  owed  much  to  the  strenuous  ad- 
vocacy of  the  Misses  Ashworth,  Anne  Frances  and  Lillias  Sophia,  nieces  of  Jacob  Bright.  Miss  Ash- 
worth  did  not  herself  speak  at  meetings,  but  she  comforted  and  helped  those  who  did,  while  Lillias 
possesed  the  family  gift  of  eloquence  and  charmed  her  audience  by  her  witty,  forcible  and  telling 
speeches.  So  numerous  and  so  well  attended  have  been  thclte  meetings  during  these  and  subsequent 
years,  that  it  is  imposible  to  exonerate  men  and  women  from  the  charge  of  willful  blindness  if  they 
still  misconstrue  the  plain  facts  of  the  question. 


Views  of    Eminent   Women.  865 

This  is,  from  whatever  cause,  a  very  common  phenomenon  in  our  politi- 
cal history.  A  movement  which  began  with  the  promise  of  sweeping  all 
before  it,  seems  to  lose  all  its  force,  and  is  supposed  by  many  observers 
to  be  now  only  the  care  of  a  few  earnest  and  fanatical  men.  Suddenly  it 
is  taken  up  by  a  minister  of  commanding  influence,  and  the  bore  or  the 
crotchet  of  one  parliament  is  the  great  party  controversy  of  a  second,  and 
the  accomplished  triumph  of  a  third. 

During  the  year  of  1879,  it  was  thought  desirable  to  ascertain 
by  some  practical  test  what  were  the  various  reasons  which 
caused  thinking  women  to  wish  for  the  suffrage ;  and  letters  were 
addressed  to  ladies  who  were  eminent  either  in  literature  or  art, 
or  who  were  following  scientific  or  professional  careers,  or  were  en- 
gaged in  any  form  of  philanthropic  work.  The  answers  that  were 
returned  were  collected  into  a  pamphlet  of  exceeding  interest, 
which  was  sent  to  each  member  before  the  debate,  and  it  was 
amazing  to  watch  from  the  gallery  how  the  little  green  pamphlet 
was  consulted  and  quoted  from,  in  the  most  opposite  quarters 
of  the  House,  by  friends  who  sought  fresh  arguments  from  it  or 
by  enemies  who  were  looking  for  some  sentence  on  which  to  base 
a  sarcasm.* 

As  a  specimen  of  these  letters  Miss  Frances  Power  Cobbe  said  : 

So  far  from  the  truth  is  the  reiterated  statement  of  certain  honorable 
members  of  parliament  that  women  do  not  desire  the  franchise,  that  in 
my  large  experience  I  have  scarcely  ever  known  a  woman  possessed 
of  ordinary  common  sense,  and  who  had  lived  some  years  alone  in  the 
world,  who  did  not  earnestly  wish  for  it.  The  women  who  gratify  these 
gentlemen  by  smilingly  deprecating  any  such  responsibilities,  are  those 
who  have  dwelt  since  they  were  born  in  well-feathered  nests,  and  have 
never  needed  to  do  anything  but  open  their  soft  beaks  for  the  choicest 
little  grubs  to  be  dropped  into  them.  It  is  utterly  absurd  (and,  I  am  afraid 
the  members  of  parliament  in  question  are  quite  aware  they  are  talking 
nonsense)  to  argue  from  the  contented  squawks  of  a  brood  of  these  callow 

*  First  in  the  list  came  six  ladies,  members  of  school-boards :  Mrs.  Buckton  of  Leeds,  Miss 
Helena  Richardson  of  Bristol,  Mrs.  Surr,  Mrs.  Westlake,  Mrs.  Fenwick  Miller  and  Miss  Helen 
Taylor,  London  ;  then  followed  the  opinions  of  ladies  who  were  guardians  of  the  poor.  Forty  ladies 
known  as  authoresses  or  painters  came  next  on  the  list ;  among  these  were  Mrs.  Allingham,  Mrs.  Cow- 
den  Clarke,  Mrs. Eiloart,  Mary  Howitt,  Emily  Pfeiffer,  Augusta  Webster.  Women  doctors  came  next: 
Dr.  Garrett  Anderson,  Dr.  Annie  Barker,  Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell,  Dr.  Sophia  Jex-Blake,  Dr.  Eliza 
Dunbar,  Dr.  Frances  Hoggan,  Dr.  Edith  Pechey  ;  and  next  to  the  doctors  came  Miss  Eliza  Orme,  the 
only  woman  who  was  successfully  practicing  law.  The  section  of  education  included  the  names  of 
Mrs.  Wm.  Gray,  and  her  sister,  Miss  Shirrcff,  Mrs.  Nichol  (Edinburgh),  Miss  Emily  Davics,  founder  of 
Girton  College,  Miss  Byers,  founder  of  the  Ladies'  Collegiate  School,  Belfast,  Mrs.  Crawshay  and  Miss 
Mary  Gurney.  Nineteen  ladies,  the  heads  of  women's  colleges  and  high-schools,  next  gave  their  reasons 
why  they  desired  the  suffrage.  After  these  came  ladies  engaged  in  philanthropic  work,  which  included  the 
sisters  Rosamund  and  Florence  Davenport  Hill,  Florence  Nightingale,  Miss  Ellice  Hopkins,  eminent  for 
rescue  work;  Miss  Irby,  well-known  for  her  efforts  among  the  starving  Bosnian  fugitives;  Miss  Man- 
ning, secretary  of  the  National  Indian  Association;  Mrs.  Southey,  secretary  of  the  Women's  Peace 
Association  ;  Mrs.  Lucas,  and  Mrs.  Edward  Parker,  president  and  secretary  of  the  British  Women's 
Temperance  Society.  The  opinions  were  various,  both  in  kind  and  in  length,  some  being  only  a  con- 
fession of  faith  in  a  couple  of  lines,  others  a  page  of  able  reasoning. 

55 


866  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

creatures,  that  full  grown  swallows  and  larks  have  no  need  of  wings,  and 
are  always  happiest  when  their  pinions  are  broken. 

The  production  of  this  pamphlet  marked  an  era  in  women's 
suffrage  literature.  It  was  impossible  after  this  to  doubt  that  a 
large  body  of  thinking  women,  not  the  queens  of  society,  but  the 
women  who  wrote,  read,  thought,  or  worked,  were  in  favor  of 
having  full  admission  to  political  rights  and  responsibilities. 

The  chief  work  of  the  society  had  now  crystallized  into  five  or 
six  great  centres.  Edinburgh,  under  the  presidency  of  Mrs.  Mc- 
Laren, assisted  by  Miss  Wigham  and  Miss  Kirkland,  treasurer 
and  secretary,  was  the  recognized  centre  of  activity  for  Scotland. 
In  Ireland  there  was  a  committee  in  Dublin,  of  which  Mrs.  Has- 
lam  is  the  most  active  member ;  and  the  North  of  Ireland  Com- 
mittee, led  by  Miss  Isabella  Tod.*  The  three  principal  associa- 
tions in  England  were  those  of  London,^;  including  the  east  and 
north-east  counties  ;  Manchester,^:  taking  charge  of  the  north  of 
England  and  Wales,  and  Bristol  §  looking  after  the  West.  The 
officers  of  the  several  committees  of  the  three  kingdoms  form  a 
National  Central  Committee  which  has  its  headquarters  in  Lon- 
don and  superintends  all  of  the  work  bearing  specially  upon  the 
action  of  parliament. 

Petitions  were  still  sent  in,  but  no  longer  in  such  enormous 
numbers.  It  had  become  evident  that  parliament  cared  little  for 
a  long  roll  of  names  from  the  unrepresented  classes ;  they  were 
now  chiefly  collected  as  a  means  of  discovering  how  public  opin- 
ion stood  in  any  particular  district.  For  instance,  in  1879,  a  pe- 
tition was  sent  from  1,447  women  householders  of  Leicester.  The 
total  number  of  women  householders  in  this  town  was  2,610,  of 
whom  only  1,991  could  be  applied  to,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
.suppose  that  public  opinion  was  more  advanced  in  Leicester  than 
in  the  majority  of  large  manufacturing  towns. 


*  Miss  Tod  gives  the  spirit  to  each  movement  in  Ulster,  which  is  the  intellectual  headquarters  of 
Ireland.  She  is  the  pioneer  in  all  matters  of  reform  ;  she  is  asked  to  speak  in  churches  ;  she  instigated 
the  efforts  which  led  to  girls  participating  in  the  benefits  of  the  Irish  Intermediate  Education  act, 
•which  was  being  restricted  to  boys  ;  she  has  organized  and  has  won  friends  and  votes  not  only  over  her 
own  district  of  Ulster,  but  in  many  other  quarters  of  Ireland  ;  and  often  when  in  England  some  inde- 
finable torpor  has  crept  over  a  meeting — as  will  happen  at  times — a  few  eloquent  and  heart-stirring 
words  from  her  have  been  sufficient  to  raise  the  courage  and  revive  the  interest. 

t  Mrs.  Peter  A.  Taylor,  Mrs.  Fawcett,  Mrs.  Lucas,  Miss  Biggs,  Miss  Rhoda  Garrett,  Miss  Jessie 
Boucherett,  Mrs.  Arthur  Arnold,  Miss  Frances  Power  Cobbe,  Lady  Harberton,  Mrs.  Pennington,  Miss 
Helen  Taylor,  step-daughter  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  Miss  Henrietta  Miiller,  member  of  the  London 
school-boird,  and  others. 

$  Mrs.  Jacob  Bright,  Miss  Becker,  Mrs.  Scatcherd,  Miss  Corbutt,  Mr.  Steinthal,  Mrs.  Thomasson, 
and  others. 

§  Led  by  Mrs.  Lillias  Ashworth  Hallett,  Mrs.  Helen  Bright  Clark,  niece  and  daughter  of  John 
Bright,  Mrs.  Beddoe,  Miss  Snyder,  Miss  Estlin,  the  Priestman  sisters,  Miss  Blackburn  and  Miss  Colby. 
Eliza  Sturge,  Mrs.  Ashford,  Mrs.  Matthews.  Mrs.  Ann  Comen  and  Mrs.  Alfred  Osier,  niece  of 
Mrs.  Peter  Taylor,  are  the  chief  Birmingham  and  Nottingham  workers. 


Demonstration  in  Manchester.  867 

The  municipal  elections  occur  in  England  every  November, 
and  our  custom  in  some  towns  was  to  call  meetings  of  the  women 
householders  in  every  ward  in  which  there  was  a  contest,  to  ex- 
plain  to  them  the  responsibilities  resting  upon  the  voters,  and 
after  an  earnest  address  from  some  one  of  the  ladies,  to  invite  the 
respective  candidates  to  speak.  By  these  means  not  only  was  the 
interest  of  the  women  awakened  in  local  politics,  but  the  candi- 
dates themselves  were  reminded  of  the  interests  of  an  important 
section  of  their  constituencies. 

With  the  beginning  of  1880,  came  again  the  promise  of  a  reform 
bill.  The  majority  of  the  Liberal  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons had  pledged  themselves  to  their  constituents  in  its  favor. 
But  as  our  enemies  were  still  reiterating  that  women  themselves 
did  not  care  for  the  franchise,  some  further  proof  of  their  sympathy 
was  in  order.  The  first  great  demonstration  in  favor  of  women 
was  held  in  Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester,  which  seats  about 
5,000  people,  February  3,  where  women  were  admitted  free, 
and  seats  reserved  for  men  in  the  gallery  at  2s.  6d.  each.  This 
arrangement  was  adopted  to  make  it  a  meeting  of  women.  One 
hundred  gentlemen  were  present  besides  the  reporters. 

The  purpose  of  the  demonstration  had  been  explained  at  pre- 
liminary ward  meetings  to  which  men  and  women  came  in  crowds. 
On  the  night  in  question  the  scene  exceeded  the  most  sanguine 
expectations.  Those  who  had  witnessed  the  great  free  trade 
gatherings  which  assembled  to  hear  Charles  Villiers,  Richard 
Cobden  and  John  Bright,  never  saw  a  more  enthusiastic  audi- 
ence. Mrs.  Duncan  McLaren  of  Edinburgh,  who  had  been  in- 
vited to  preside,  took  her  seat  followed  by  an  array  of  dis- 
tinguished women,  such  as  had  never  before  graced  any  plat- 
form in  the  history  of  the  three  kingdoms,  while  the  vast  area 
and  galleries  weje  crowded  with  women  of  wealth  and  cul- 
ture ;  factory  women,  shop-keepers  and  hard  toilers  of  every  sta- 
tion were  also  there.  Some  had  walked  twenty  miles  to  attend 
that  great  meeting.  They  sat  on  the  steps  of  the  platform, 
climbed  on  every  coigne  of  vantage,  stood  in  dense  masses  in 
every  aisle  and  corner.  A  large  over-flow  meeting  was  also 
held  in  the  neighboring  Memorial  Hall  over  which  Mrs.  Lu- 
cas presided,  but  even  this  could  not  accommodate  all  who  came, 
and  thousands  went  away  disappointed.  It  was  truly  a  marvel- 
ous meeting,  grand  in  its  numbers,  grand  in  the  enthusiasm 
which  had  brought  so  many  thousands  together  unattracted  by 


868  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

the  names  of  any  distinguished  speakers,  to  sympathize  with 
each  other  in  a  great  national  movement,  and  to  proclaim  unity 
of  action  until  it  was  gained ;  and  it  was  grand  also  in  the  impres- 
siveness  of  the  words  that  were  uttered.  The  president  in  her 
clear  grave  tones  which  were  heard  in  the  breathless  stillness  over 
that  large  assembly,  said  : 

It  seems  like  a  dream.  But  only  a  grave  reality  could  have 
brought  so  many  women  together.  Need  we  wonder  that  the  beneficent 
designs  of  Providence  have  been  so  imperfectly  carried  out  when  only 
one-half  the  intellect  and  heart  of  the  nation  have  hitherto  been  called 
into  action,  and  the  powers  of  the  other  half  have  been  almost  wholly 
suppressed?  Women  are  learning  along  with  good  men  that  politics  in 
the  true  sense  has  to  do  with  human  interests  at  large. 

When  Mrs.  McLaren  had  concluded,  one  speaker  after  another, 
gave  her  special  testimony  in  favor  of  the  necessity  of  obtain- 
ing representation.  The  number  was  so  great  that  no  one  was 
allowed  more  than  ten  minutes.* 

This  demonstration  was  quickly  followed  by  others  that  were 
every  way  as  successful.  In  connection  with  one  at  St  James'  Hall, 
London,  over  which  Viscountess  Harberton  presided,  a  proces- 
sion of  working  women  marched  through  the  streets  with  a  ban- 
ner on  which  was  inscribed  "We're  far  too  low  to  vote  the  tax; 
we're  not  too  low  to  pay."  Here  also  an  overflow  meeting  was 
held  to  accommodate  the  numbers  that  could  not  be  admitted 
into  the  hall.  On  November  4,  the  same  scene  \vas  repeated  at 
the  Colston  Hall,  Bristol,  and  Mrs.  Beddoe,  the  wife  of  a  pop- 
ular physician  in  that  city  presided,  and  on  November  1 1,  the  last 
demonstration  of  that  year  was  convened  in  the  Albert  Hall, 
Nottingham,  where  Mrs.  Lucas  took  the  chair.  The  follow- 
ing year  saw  no  relaxation  in  these  efforts.  The  Birming- 
ham demonstration  took  place  on  February  22,  1881.  It  was 
a  most  inclement  night  and  great  fears  had  been  entertained 
that  it  would  prove  a  failure,  but  nothing  had  power  to  keep  the 
crowds  of  women  away  or  to  lessen  their  enthusiasm.  Mrs. 
Crosskey,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Crosskey,  one  of  the  most  respected  of 
the  Birmingham  Liberal  leaders,  presided.  The  next  was  in  St. 


*  Lady  Harberton,  Mrs.  Scatcherd,  Mrs.  Ashworth  Hallet,  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler,  Mrs.  Ellis,  Miss 
Eliza  Sturge,  Mrs.  Wellstood  (Edinburgh),  Mrs.  Haslam  (Dublin),  Miss  Becker,  Mrs.  Pearson,  Miss 
Jessie  Craigen,  Miss  Helena  Downing,  Miss  Lucy  Wilson,  Mrs.  Nichols  (Edinburgh),  Mrs.  O'Brien, 
and  in  the  overflow  meeting  Mrs.  Lucas  and  Miss  Biggs.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  the  enthusiastic 
and  prolonged  cheering  which  rose  from  the  crowd,  the  cordial  hand-shakes  of  utter  strangers  with 
words  of  encouragement  and  sympathy  brought  tears  to  the  eyes  of  many  who  had  the  privilege  of  be- 
ing present  on  that  occasion. 


Other  Demonstrations.  869 

George's  Hall,  Bradford,  on  November  22,  and  here  again  Mrs. 
McLaren  took  the  chair,  and  said  : 

We  are  here  to-night  in  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  We  have  had  our 
sorrows  in  working  on  this  question.  We  are  here  because  we  know 
there  are  on  our  statute  books  unjust  laws  which  subject  many  women  to 
sorrow  and  suffering,  and  the  fact  that  we  have  worked  our  way  to  such  a 
platform  proves  that  women  are  capable  of  holding  a  political  position, 
and  ought  to  have  a  voice  in  our  national  affairs.  We  cannot  rest  con- 
tented under  the  consciousness  of  injustice  because  there  are  women  who 
accept  it  as  their  natural  condition.  We  feel  it  our  duty  to  arouse  our 
sex  everywhere  to  a  sense  of  their  high  destiny.  The  inspiration  for 
this  work  has  come  from  a  higher  source  than  ourselves,  and  we  have 
had  often  to  feel  that  God  does  not  leave  his  children  to  fight  their 
battles  alone. 

In  1882  there  were  two  more  demonstrations.  The  first  was  in 
Albert  Hall,  Sheffield,  on  February  27,  Lady  Harberton  presid- 
ing, and  it  was  crowded  to  overflowing  with  women  of  all  ranks 
and  conditions  of  society.  The  demonstration  at  Glasgow  was 
on  November  3,  and  no  way  inferior  to  the  other  in  brilliancy 
and  interest.* 

These  demonstrations  conclusively  proved  that  the  suffrage  is 
desired,  not  only  by  a  few  educated  women,  the  leaders  of  the 
movement,  but  by  the  great  masses  of  the  hard-working  women. 
They  proved  also  woman's  political  capacity  and  organizing 
power.  No  body  of  persons  could  possibly  do  more  to  manifest 
their  desire  for  political  liberty  than  the  women  who  have  organ- 
ized and  attended  these  demonstrations.  So  far  as  I  am  aware 
no  such  meetings  have  been  attempted  by  the  agricultural 
laborers  over  whose  enfranchisement  the  House  of  Commons  has 
been  so  deeply  exercised,  and  though  the  absence  of  interest  which 
these  classes  of  men  have  as  a  whole  shown  in  the  question  of 
the  franchise  is  no  argument  for  depriving  them  of  it,  the  political 
knowledge  and  aspirations  that  women  have  shown  for  more  than 
fifteen  years  ought  to  count  for  something  in  establishing  their 
claim. 

The  session  of  1880  was  broken,  and  the  dissolution  of  parlia- 
ment in  March,  the  general  election  which  followed,  the  change 
in  the  government  and  the  consequent  press  of  public  affairs, 


*  Mrs.  McLaren  occupied  the  chair  and  was  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Nichol,  Miss  Wigham,  Miss  Tod, 
Mrs.  Charles  McLaren,  Miss  Craigen,  Miss  Becker,  Miss  Beddoe,  Mrs.  Shearer  (formerly  Miss  Helena 
Downing),  Miss  Flora  Stevenson,  Mrs.  Wellstood,  Miss  Annie  Stoddart,  Mrs.  Button  and  a  distin- 
guished visitor  from  New  York,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  who  was  able  on  this  visit  to  England 
to  estimate  the  wide  difference  in  the  position  of  women  since  the  time — more  than  forty  year*  before 
—she  had  been  refused  a  seat  as  a  delegate  in  the  World's  Anti-Slavery  Convention  in  London. 


870  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

made  it  impossible  to  bring  forward  any  measure  for  the  suffrage, 
but  the  principle  was  most  splendidly  and  triumphantly  vindi- 
cated in  the  ancient  kingdom  of  the  Isle  of  Man  which  has  an  in- 
dependent government  dating  from  the  time  of  its  first  coloniza- 
tion under  the  vikings.  It  has  in  modern  times  its  elective 
'house  which  is  called  the  House  of  Keys  and  is  equivalent  to  the 
Commons.  Its  Upper  House  consists  of  the  attorney-general, 
the  clerk  of  the  rolls,  the  bishop,  two  judges  (or  deemsters)  and 
other  officials.  It  enacts  its  own  laws  and  imposes  its  own  taxes, 
but  is  subject  to  imperial  control  by  requiring  the  sanction  of  the 
queen  before  any  law  can  come  into  effect.  Some  few  years  ago 
the  franchise  was  felt  to  be  too  restricted,  and  a  movement  was 
set  on  foot  which  culminated  in  1880  in  a  bill  to  extend  the  fran- 
chise to  every  male  person  who  was  a  householder.  Mr.  Richard 
Sherwood,  who  five  years  previously  had  brought  forward  a  simi- 
lar motion,  moved  an  amendment  to  omit  the  word  "  male  "  for 
the  purpose  of  extending  the  franchise  to  women  who  possessed 
the  requisite  qualification,  which  was  carried  by  16  to  3,  a  vote 
of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  body  of  the  House  of  Keys.  It 
then  went  before  the  Council  which  refused  the  franchise  to  female 
occupiers  and  lodgers,  though  agreeing  to  give  it  to  all  female 
owners  of  real  estate  of  £4  annual  value.  Thus  modified  the 
bill  was  sent  back  to  the  House  of  Keys  which  gave  up  the  lodger 
franchise  but  adhered  to  that  for  occupiers.  The  bill  thus  altered 
was  again  sent  back  to  the  Council  and  again  returned  with  a 
message  that  the  Council  refused  to  come  to  an  agreement.  The 
Keys  then  proposed  a  compromise,  limiting  the  qualification  to 
woman  occupiers  of  £,20  a  year.  This  again  was  refused,  and  the 
Council  were  prepared  to  reject  the  bill  altogether.  Sooner  than 
lose  the  whole,  the  Keys  assented,  signing,  however,  a  protest  in 
which  they  stated  that  they  had  complied  simply  to  secure  a  part 
of  a  just  principle  rather  than  lose  the  whole.  The  act  was 
signed  by  the  governor,  the  Keys  and  the  Council  on  December 
21,  received  the  royal  assent  on  January  5,  1881,  and  was  imme- 
diately afterwards,  according  to  ancient  custom,  proclaimed  as 
law  on  the  Tynwald  Hill. 

Fully  to  estimate  this  victory,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
vote  thus  gained  is  the  complete  parliamentary  franchise.  Though 
the  total  area  of  the  island  is  so  small  and  though  only  those 
women  who  were  absolutely  owners  of  property  were  enfran- 
chised, they  numbered  about  700.  The  law  came  into  opera- 


Municipal  Franchise  for  Scotland.  871 

tion  immediately,  and  the  election  began  March  21.  The 
women  voted  in  considerable  numbers,  and  were,  as  an  eye-wit- 
ness states,  without  exception  quite  intelligent  and  business  like 
in  this  procedure.  At  the  polling  stations,  the  first  persons  who 
recorded  their  votes  were  women.  We  may  mention  in  proof  of 
their  political  gratitude  that  in  the  district  where  Mr.  Sherwood 
was  one  of  the  candidates,  every  woman,  whatever  her  party, 
voted  for  his  reelection. 

Just  before  the  opening  of  parliament  in  1881,  Mr.  Courtney 
accepted  a  position  in  the  administration,  which  rendered  it 
impossible  for  him  to  continue  in  charge  of  any  independent 
measure.  By  his  advice,  application  was  made  to  Mr.  Hugh 
Mason,  member  for  Ashton  under  Lyme.  But  the  state  of 
public  business  during  the  session  never  permitted  the  resolution 
to  be  discussed.  The  same  disappointment  occurred  in  the 
session  of  1882 — the  difficulties  in  Ireland  and  Egypt  occupying 
the  attention  of  the  government  and  the  country  to  an  extent 
which  almost  precluded  any  measure  of  domestic  reform.  Never- 
theless, by  constant  and  arduous  efforts,  these  two  years  witnessed 
the  passing  of  the  Municipal  Franchise  bill  for  Scotland. 

The  Municipal  Franchise  act  of  1869  applied  to  English  women 
only.  Early  in  the  session  of  1881,  Dr.  Cameron,  member  for 
Glasgow,  introduced  a  bill  to  assimilate  the  position  of  Scottish 
women  to  that  which  their  English  sisters  had  enjoyed  for  twelve 
years.  The  bill  passed  the  House  of  Commons  before  Easter, 
and  was  then  brought  forward  in  the  House  of  Lords  by  the  Earl 
of  Camperdown,  passed  May  13,  and  received  the  royal  assent 
June  3.  This  law  applied  only  to  women  rate-payers  of  the 
royal  and  parliamentary  burghs,  and  did  not  extend  to  the  police 
burghs,  the  populous  places  endowed  with  powers  of  local  self- 
government  under  the  general  Police  and  Improvement  act  of 
1862.  A  request  was  sent  to  Mr.  Cameron  to  exert  himself 
for  a  similar  extension  of  the  franchise  to  the  women  of  the 
police  burghs,  and  h,e  answered  by  introducing  in  the  following 
year,  1882,  another  act  which  gave  to  all  women  rate-payers  the 
right,  not  merely  of  voting  at  elections  of  burgh  commissioners, 
but  also  of  voting  with  the  other  inhabitants  as  to  whether  a. 
populous  place  should  be  constituted  a  police  burgh. 

The  election  under  these  new  measures  was  in  November,  1882^ 
and  then  Scottish  women  voted  for  the  first  time,  excepting  of 
course  in  school-board  elections.  The  result  was  entirely  satis- 


872  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

factory,  though  the  number  of  women  who  voted  varied  greatly 
— in  some  places  where  no  special  interest  attached  to  the 
election  none  came  to  vote,  while  in  others  they  voted  in  equal 
proportion  with  the  men,  and  in  a  few  towns  nearly  every  woman 
whose  name  was  on  the  register  voted.  The  passing  of  these 
two  franchise  bills  was  an  undoubted  triumph  of  the  women's 
suffrage  party.  As  one  of  the  opponents  in  the  debate  of  July, 
1883,  scornfully  observed,  "  Had  it  not  been  for  the  question  of 
women's  suffrage  being  agitated  throughout  the  country  at  the 
time,  we  should  not  have  heard  a  syllable  of  the  Scottish  women's 
franchise  bill,"  a  sneering  admission  which  we  willingly  construe 
into  compliment. 

The  year  1882  also  witnessed  the  passing  of  the  Married 
Women's  Property  act,  whose  immense  benefits  can  hardly  be 
estimated,  and  we  may  confidently  assert  that  but  for  the 
unceasing  agitation  of  the  friends  of  women's  suffrage,  another 
quarter  of  a  century  would  have  been  suffered  to  pass  without 
bringing  in  this  tardy  measure  of  justice.* 

We  now  come  to  the  session  of  1883,  inoperative  as  far  as 
actual  legislation  was  concerned,  but  rich  in  its  augury  for  the 
future.  Already  in  April  the  improved  temper  of  the  House  on 
questions  in  which  women  were  concerned,  had  been  shown  by 
the  brilliant  majority  that  voted  with  the  Rt.  Hon.  Mr.  Stans- 
feld  for  the  suppression  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  acts  which 
have  so  long  stained  the  English  statute  book.  Early  in  May  a 
memorial  to  Mr.  Gladstone  was  signed  by  1 10  Liberal  members  of 
parliament,  unconnected  with  the  government,  in  which  they 
stated : 

That  in  the  opinion  of  your  memorialists  no  measure  for  the  assimila- 
tion of  the  county  and  borough  franchise  will  be  satisfactory  unless  it 
contain  provisions  for  extending  the  suffrage  without  distinction  of  sex 
to  all  persons  who  possess  the  statutory  qualifications  for  the  parliament- 
ary franchise. 


*  MARRIED  WOMEN'S  PROPERTY  COMMITTEE. — The  committee,  at  the  time  of  the  final  meeting,  No- 
vember 18,  1882,  consisted  of  the  following  ladies  and  gentlemen :  Mrs.  Addey;  Mr.  Arthur  Arnold, 
~M.  P.;  Mrs.  Arthur  Arnold;  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  M.  P.;  Mrs.  Josephine  E.  Butler;  Mr.  Thomas  Chorl- 
ton;  Mr.  L.  H.  Courtney,  M.  P.;  Sir  C.  W.  Dilke,  Bart.,  M.  P.;  Rev.  Alfred  Dewes,  D.D.,  LL.D.; 
Mrs.  Cell;  Lady  Goldsmid;  Rev.  Septimus  Hansard;  Mr.  Thomas  Hare;  Miss  Ida  Hardcastle;  Mrs. 
Hodgson;  Mr.  William  Malleson;  Mrs.  Moore;  Mr.  H.  N.  Mozley;  Dr.  Pankhurst;  Mrs.  Pankhurst; 
Mrs.  Shearer;  Mrs.  Sutcliffe;  Mr.  P.  A.  Taylor,  M.  P.;  Mrs.  P.  A.  Taylor;  Mrs.  Venturi;  Miss  Alice 
Wilson;  Miss  Lucy  Wilson;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Jacob  Bright.  Secretary ,  Mrs.  Wolstenholme  Elmy. 

The  immediate  passage  of  this  bill  was  in  a  large  measure  due  to  Mrs.  Jacob  Bright,  who  was 
unwearied  in  her  efforts,  in  rolling  up  petitions,  scattering  tracts,  holding  meetings,  and  in  company 
with  her  husband  having  private  interviews  with  members  of  parliament.  For  ten  consecutive  years 
she  gave  her  special  attention  to  this  bill.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  meeting  of  congratula- 
tion November  18,  and  heard  a  very  charming  address  from  Mrs.  Bright  on  the  success  of  the  measure. 
Mr.  Jacob  Bright  and  other  members  of  the  committee  spoke  with  equal  effect. — [E.  C.  S. 


Mr.  Masons  Resolution.  873 

This  memorial  was  a  most  remarkable  manifestation  of  the 
support  which  members  on  the  Liberal  side  of  the  House  are 
pledged  to  give  to  the  principle  of  justice  to  women.  Nor  are 
we  wanting  in  Conservative  support.  Sir  Stafford  Northcote, 
has  always  given  his  friendly  approval  to  the  movement,  and  has 
very  recently  repeated  his  assurances  of  cooperation  in  answer  to 
a  deputation  of  ladies  who  waited  on  him.  After  repeated  bal- 
loting, Mr.  Mason  obtained  a  day,  July  6,  on  which  to  bring 
forward  his  resolution.  It  was  thus  worded  : 

That  in  the  opinion  of  this  House  the  parliamentary  franchise  should 
be  extended  to  women  who  possess  the  qualifications  which  entitle  men 
to  vote,  and  who,  in  all  matters  of  local  government  have  the  right  of 
voting. 

Mr.  Edward  Leatham,  also  a  Liberal,  gave  notice  to  oppose 
the  resolution  affirming  with  a  curious  liberalism,  that  "  it  is  un- 
desirable to  change  the  immemorial  basis  of  the  franchise,  which 
is  that  men  only  shall  be  qualified  to  elect  members  to  serve  in 
this  House."  Thus  after  a  silence  of  four  years,  years  of  apparent 
inertia,  but  really  fraught  with  progress,  the  debate  once  again 
revived  in  parliament.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  said: 

They  have  told  us  women  can  get  what  they  want  without  the 
franchise.  That  used  to  be  said  of  working  men — but  since  they  have 
had  a  vote,  members  in  every  part  of  the  House  have  had  a  gen- 
erosity and  sympathy  and  courage  in  all  matters  affecting  working  men 
which  they  never  had  before.  Precisely  the  same  effect  would  follow 
if  you  gave  women  the  franchise.  I  admit  that  women  have  gained  much 
without  the  franchise,  and  I  will  tell  the  House  when  that  gain  began  :  It 
began  with  the  introduction  of  the  question  of  women's  suffrage  to  the 
House,  and  the  gain  has  been  mainly  due  to  the  awakening  intelligence 
of  women  on  political  questions  owing  to  the  wide-spread  agitation  and 
the  demand  for  women's  suffrage.  They  have  gained  without  the  fran- 
chise, municipal  votes,  school-board  votes,  the  right  to  sit  on  school- 
boards,  the  magnificent  act  of  last  year — an  act  which  ought  to  confer 
lasting  fame  on  the  present  lord  chancellor — the  Married  Women's 
Property  act.  And  owing  to  the  untiring  energy  of  the  right  honorable 
member  for  Halifax  (Mr.  Stansfeld),  they  have  succeeded  in  inflicting  a 
blow  on  an  act  of  parliament  *  more  unjust  to  women  than  anything  which 
has  ever  been  passed,  a  blow  from  which  that  act  will  .never  recover. 
These  things  have  been  gained  without  the  franchise.  But  who  will  tell 
me  they  would  not  have  gained  them  sooner,  with  less  heart-breaking 
labor,  if  they  had  had  the  political  franchise  ? 

Mr.  Courtney  also  addressed  the  House  in  stirring  words.  The 
result  was  most  encouraging.  Four  years  had  passed  since  a 


*  The  Contagious  Diseases  acts. 


874  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

division  had  been  taken,  and  the  enormous  majority  against  us 
which  in  so  many  divisions  had  maintained  its  strength  had 
dwindled  to  only  16.  A  total  of  164,  including  tellers  and  pairs 
supported  the  resolution  against  an  opposition  of  only  180.  If 
the  Liberal  side  of  the  House  had  only  been  canvassed  on  this 
occasion  it  would  have  been  a  victory,  as  1 19  Liberals  voted  for 
it  and  paired,  and  only  75  against  it. 

With  the  close  of  the  session  the  question  was  transferred  to 
the  country,  and  the  events  of  the  autumn  made  it  amply  evident 
that  the  majority  of  Liberals  were  in  favor  of  extending  the  par- 
liamentary suffrage  to  women.  A  great  conference  was  held  in 
October  at  Leeds,  where  delegates  from  between  500  and  600 
Liberal  organizations  were  present.  Fully  2,000  delegates  were 
present  at  the  first  meeting.  After  a  long  discussion  upon  the 
coming  Reform  bill,  the  Rev.  T.  Crosskey,  of  Birmingham,  pro- 
posed a  rider  to  the  resolution  which  would  include  women's  suf- 
frage, as  follows : 

Resolved,  That,  in  order  to  meet  the  just  expectations  of  the  country,  and  to  fulfill 
the  pledges  given  at  the  last  general  election,  this  conference  is  of  opinion  that  a 
measure  for  the  extension  of  the  franchise  should  confer  on  householders  in  the  coun- 
ties the  same  electoral  rights  as  those  enjoyed  by  householders  in  parliamentary  bor- 
oughs ;  and  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting,  any  measure  for  the  extension  of  the 
suffrage  should  confer  the  franchise  upon  -women,  who,  possessing  the  qualifications 
•which  entitle  men  to  vote,  have  now  the  right  of  voting  in  all  matters  of  local  govern- 
ment. 

Mr.  Walter  McLaren  seconded  Dr.  Crosskey  in  an  able  speech, 
and  Miss  Jane  Cobden  (daughter  of  the  late  Richard  Cobden) 
who  was  sitting  on  the  platform,  and  who  had  been  appointed 
delegate  from  the  Liberal  association  of  Midhurst,  supported  the 
resolution.  She  begged  them,  representing  as  they  did  the 
Liberal  principles  of  all  England,  to  give  it  their  hearty  support. 
This  was  a  continuation  of  the  struggle  in  which  Liberals  had 
taken  part  during  the  last  fifty  years,  and  she  trusted  they  would 
be  true  to  their  principles. 

Mrs.  Helen  Bright  Clark,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Bright,  M. 
P.,  who  had  been  appointed  delegate  from  one  of  the  few  Liberal 
associations  which  comprise  women  among  their  members,  said  : 

There  was  in  this  country  a  considerable  and  increasing  number  of 
earnest  women  of  strong  liberal  convictions,  who  felt  keenly  the  total  ex- 
clusion of  their  sex  from  the  parliamentary  suffrage.  Their  hope  was,  of 
course,  in  the  Liberal  party,  though  all  of  its  members  were  not  yet  con- 
verted to  true  liberalism.  The  Liberal  women  would  not  rest  satisfied 
until  there  was  throughout  the  United  Kingdom  a  real  and  honest  house- 


The  Daughters  of  Bright  and  Cobden.  875 

hold  suffrage.  They  knew  that  they  were  weak  in  the  cabinet,  and  they 
regretted  to  know  that  some  of  the  most  eminent  leaders  of  the  Liberal 
party  were  not  in  this  matter  wholly  their  friends.  These  leaders  had  fears 
which  she  thought  the  future  would  show  to  have  been  unfounded.  But  she 
could  venture  to  say  on  behalf  of  the  Liberal  women  of  England  that  they 
were  not  unmindful  of  the  past,  and  were  not  ungrateful  for  the  services 
which  these  men  rendered  and  were  prepared  to  render  to  their  country. 
Women  were  grateful.  They  sympathized  with  the  efforts  of  Liberal 
statesmen  in  the  past,  and  they  knew  how  faithfully  and  loyally  to  follow. 
But  they  felt  that  they  must  sometimes  originate  for  themselves,  and  they 
dared  not  blindly  and  with  absolute  faith  follow  any  man,  however  great 
or  however  justly  and  deeply  beloved.  Further,  she  could  say  that,  with 
the  result  of  the  high  political  teaching  they  had  had  in  the  past,  they 
would  endeavor  faithfully,  intelligently  and  with,  what  ability  was  given 
to  them,  to  uphold  those  great  principles  of  justice,  and  trust  in  the  peo- 
ple which  she  believed  had  made  the  Liberal  party  what  it  was,  and  which 
alone  were  capable  of  lifting  it  to  the  highest  triumphs  in  the  future. 

There  were  enthusiastic  cheers  when  Mrs.  Clark  had  finished 
speaking.  The  historical  interest,  the  self-evident  justice  of  the 
plea  brought  forward  by  the  daughters  of  the  great  reform  leaders 
on  behalf  of  the  continuance  of  the  grand  cause  of  freedom  for 
which  their  fathers  had  so  bravely  battled,  went  to  the  hearts  of 
the  crowded  assembly.  Delegates  who  had  come  determined  to 
vote  against  the  resolution — the  "  monstrous  political  fad,"  as  one 
of  our  opponents  in  parliament  had  called  it — said,  almost  with 
tears  in  their  eyes,  "  We  can't  vote  against  the  daughters  of 
Bright  and  Cobden,"  and  when  the  resolution  with  the  rider  was 
put,  a  forest  of  hands  went  up  in  its  support,  and  in  that  vast 
crowd  there  were  only  about  thirty  dissentients.  The  following 
evening  Miss  Jane  Cobden  and  Mrs.  Scatcherd  addressed  an  open- 
air  meeting  of  30,000  men  who  could  not  gain  access  to  Victoria 
Hall,  where  John  Bright  was  speaking  on  the  franchise  for  men, 
and  a  unanimous  cheer  was  given  in  favor  of  women's  suffrage. 

This  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  autumn  campaign  among 
the  Liberal  associations.  The  general  committee  of  the  Edin- 
burgh United  Liberal  Association  met  on  November  16,  1883,  m 
the  Oddfellows'  Hall  (No.  2),  Forrest  road,  Edinburgh,  to  con- 
sider the  questions  of  the  Local  Government  Board  (Scotland) 
bill,  the  equalization  of  the  burgh  and  county  franchise,  and  the 
extension  of  the  parliamentary  vote  to  women  householders. 
After  the  two  first  subjects  had  been  considered,  the  following 
resolution,  moved  by  ex-Bailie  Lewis,  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  regards  the  extension  of  the  parliamentary  franchise  to 
female  householders  as  just  and  reasonable,  and  would  hail  with  satisfaction  the  in- 


876  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

troduction  of  a  government  measure  which  would  confer  the  parliamentary  franchise 
upon  all  female  householders,  whether  resident  in  counties  or  burghs. 

November  21,  a  meeting  of  the  general  council  of  the  Man- 
chester Liberal  Association  was  held  in  the  Memorial  Hall  to 
consider  the  resolutions  passed  at  the  Leeds  conference.  Mr.  J. 
A.  Beith  presided.  Mr.  J.  W.  Southern  moved  the  following 
resolution : 

Resolved,  That  in  order  to  meet  the  just  expectation  of  the  country  and  to  fulfill  the 
pledges  given  at  the  last  general  election,  this  council  is  of  opinion  that  a  measure  for 
the  extension  of  the  franchise  should  confer  on  householders  and  lodgers  in  the  coun- 
ties the  same  electoral  rights  as  those  enjoyed  by  householders  and  lodgers  in  parlia- 
mentary boroughs,  and  should  extend  to  Ireland  the  franchise  enjoyed  by  Great 
Britain;  and  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting,  any  measure  for  the  extension  of 
the  suffrage  should  confer  the  franchise  upon  women  who,  possessing  the  qualifications 
which  should  entitle  men  to  vote,  have  now  the  right  of  voting  in  all  matters  of  local 
government. 

An  amendment  to  strike  out  the  portion  relating  to  women 
having  been  rejected,  the  resolution  was  carried  unanimously. 
November  26,  the  sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Liberal 
Association  was  held  at  Bristol.  Here  also  one  or  two  ladies 
were  present  as  delegates.  After  a  resolution  affirming  the 
urgency  of  the  question  of  parliamentary  reform  had  been  passed, 
Mr.  Lewis  Fry,  M.  P.,  moved :  .» 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  any  measure  for  the  extension  of  the 
suffrage  should  confer  the  franchise  upon  women  who,  possessing  the  qualifications 
which  entitle  men  to  vote,  have  now  the  right  of  voting  in  all  matters  of  local  govern- 
ment. 

The  resolution  was  seconded  by  Dr.  Caldicott,  supported  in  ex- 
cellent speeches  by  Mrs.  Walter  McLaren  and  Mrs.  Ashworth 
Hallett,  and  carried  by  a  majority  of  five.  Many  other  Liberal 
associations  of  less  importance,  during  the  autumn,  affirmed  the 
principle  of  women's  suffrage.  All  the  political  associations  in 
Ulster,  both  Conservative  and  Liberal,  either  formally  or  inform- 
ally signified  their  acceptance  of  the  principle.  In  the  progress 
of  the  movement  it  was  very  encouraging  to  see  so  many  brave 
women  *  of  ability  crowding  our  platform,  conscientiously  devot- 
ing their  time,  talents  and  money  to  this  sacred  cause,  ready  and 
able  to  fill  the  vacant  places  that  time  must  make  in  our  ranks. 

The  year  1884  opened  with  good  hopes.  There  was  the  im- 
mediate prospect  of  a  reform  bill,  intended  so  to  widen  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  as  to  fix  it  on  a  satisfactory  basis  for  an- 


*  Miss  Henrietta  Miiller  and  her  sister  Mrs.  Eva  McLaren,  Mrs.  Ormiston  Chant,  Mrs.  Ashton 
Dilke,  Mrs.  Oliver  Scatcherd,  Mrs.  Charles  McLaren,  Miss  Florence  Balgarnie,  Miss  Laura  Whittle, 
Florence  and  Lillie  Stacpoole,  Miss  Frances  Lord,  Mrs.  Stanton  Blatch  and  Mrs.  Helena  Downing 
Shearer. 


The  Effort  of  1884.  877 

other  generation  at  least.  The  time  seemed  opportune  for  the 
attainment  of  women's  suffrage.  There  had  been  repeated  proof 
that  the  majority  of  the  Liberal  party  in  the  country  admit  the 
justice  of  their  claims ;  there  were  renewed  promises  of  support 
on  the  part  of  members  of  parliament  of  all  shades  of  political 
opinion.  Many  times  the  claims  of  women  for  the  franchise  have 
been  set  aside  by  the  assertion  that  so  important  a  privilege  could 
not  be  granted  till  the  time  came  for  the  general  re-settlement  of 
the  question.  That  time  appeared  to  have  come.  A  consider- 
able extension  of  the  suffrage  was  to  be  granted,  so  as  to  include 
another  2,000,000  of  unenfranchised  men  ;  what  better  time  to 
recognize  the  claims  of  women  who  already  possessed  the  quali- 
fications of  property  or  residence  which  alone  in  England  give 
the  vote?  A  few  persons  expected  that  the  government  Reform 
bill  would  contain  a  clause  relating  to  women,  but  this  expecta- 
tion was  not  generally  shared.  It  was  well  known  that  strong 
differences  of  opinion  existed  in  the  cabinet  which  would  render 
it  well-nigh  impossible  for  the  government  to  introduce  the  ques- 
tion as  one  of  their  own  ;  and  though  there  may  have  been  disap- 
pointment, there  was  no  great  surprise  when  the  Franchise  bill, 
on  its  introduction,  was  found  to  contain  no  reference  to  women. 

Meanwhile  there  had  been  a  change  in  the  leadership  of  the 
movement.  Mr.  Hugh  Mason  having  intimated  his  intention  to 
resign  the  conduct  of  the  measure,  Mr.  William  Woodall,  mem- 
ber of  parliament  for  Stoke-on-Trent,  consented  to  take  charge  of 
it.  A  conference  of  friendly  members  of  parliament  was  held  in 
the  House  of  Commons  on  February  7,  and  it  was  then  agreed 
that  should  the  government  Franchise  bill  not  extend  to  women, 
an  amendment  with  the  object  of  including  them  should  be 
moved  at  some  stage  of  the  discussion  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Mr.  Woodall  agreed  to  take  charge  of  this  amendment. 

On  February  28,  Mr.  Gladstone  moved  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  amend  the  representation  of 
the  people.  The  forms  of  the  House  did  not  admit  of  Mr. 
Woodall's  amendment  being  placed  on  the  notice-paper  until 
after  the  second  reading  of  the  bill,  but  during  the  adjourned  de- 
bate on  the  second  reading  he  found  an  opportunity  to  announce 
that  he  would  move  his  proposed  clause  while  the  House  was  in 
committee  on  the  bill.  He  remarked  that  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  the  bill  as  it  was  described  by  the  prime  minister  was  to 
give  a  vote  to  every  household,  but  as  there  was  no  provision  for 


878  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

giving  the  franchise  to  such  householders  if  they  happened  to  be 
women,  he  intended  to  propose  the  insertion  of  a  clause  to 
remedy  this  omission.  The  clause  was: 

For  all  purposes  connected  with  and  having  reference  to  the  right  of  voting 
in  the  election  of  members  of  parliament,  words  in  the  Representation  of  the  People 
acts  importing  the  masculine  gender  include  women. 

A  careful  analysis  of  the  opinions  of  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  gave  every  promise  that  such  an  amendment  might  be 
successful.  The  views  of  485  out  of  the  entire  number  were 
known,  while  155  had  never  expressed  an  opinion,  about  one- 
third  of  these  being  new  members.  Of  those  whose  opinions 
were  known,  249,  or  a  majority,  had  expressed  themselves  in  favor 
of  women's  suffrage,  236  had  expressed  themselves  against  it. 
The  preponderance  of  support  had  hitherto  always  been  among 
the  Liberal  ranks,  for  though  the  leaders  of  the  Conservative 
party  had  given  the  principle  their  hearty  approval,  their  exam- 
ple had  not  been  followed  by  their  partisans.  It  appeared  prob- 
able therefore  that,  if  the  government  held  itself  neutral  on  the 
occasion  and  permitted  fair  play,  the  amendment  would  be 
carried  mainly  by  means  of  their  own  friends. 

During  the  spring,  meetings  of  considerable  importance  were 
held  in  the  country.  The  first  was  at  Edinburgh  on  March  22.  It 
was  a  demonstration  of  women  inferior  in  no  respect  to  those  we 
have  had  occasion  to  chronicle  of  former  years.  No  more  impos- 
ing assemblage  for  a  political  object  had  ever  been  seen  in  Edin- 
burgh. The  largest  hall  in  the  city — that  of  the  United  Presby- 
terian Synod — was  crowded  to  the  doors,  and  an  overflow  meeting 
was  held  in  the  Presbytery  Hall.  Banners  were  hung  above  the 
platform  and  a  roll  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  principal  sup- 
porters of  the  movement  was  conspicuously  displayed.*  Lady 
Harberton  occupied  the  chair  and  was  accompanied  by  the  dele- 
gates.f  Letters  \  of  sympathy  were  read  by  Miss  Wigham,  the 
secretary. 


*  The  inscription  was :  "  Women  Claim  Equal  Justice  with  Men.  The  Friends  of  Women  :  Henry 
Fawcett,  John  Stuart  Mill,  Chas.  Cameron,  Jacob  Bright,  Leonard  Courtney,  Duncan  McLaren, 
George  Anderson,  James  Stansfeld,  Sir  Wilfred  Lawson,  J.  P.  Thomasson." 

t  Mrs.  Buchanan,  Curriehill ;  Mrs.  O.  Scatcherd,  Leeds;  Mrs.  Nichol,  Mrs.  M'Laren,  Miss  Wig- 
ham,  Dr.  A.  M'Laren,  Miss  Hunter,  Mrs.  Paterson,  Miss  L.  Stevenson,  Miss  F.  Stevenson,  Mrs. 
M'Queen,  Mrs.  Hope.  Mrs.  M.  Miller,  Miss  S.  S.  Mair,  Miss  R.  Smith,  Miss  E.  Kirkland,  Mrs.  Rae- 
burn  and  Miss  A.  G.  Wyld,  Edinburgh  ;  Mrs.  O.  Chant,  Mrs.  Hodgson,  Bonaly  ;  Miss  Tod,  Belfast; 
Mrs.  Somerville,  Dalkeith  ;  Mrs.  Forbes,  Loanhead  ;  Mrs.  D.  Greig,  Mrs.  Erskine  Murray,  Miss  Greig, 
Mrs.  Lindsay,  Miss  Barton  and  Wrs.  A.  Campbell,  Glasgow;  Miss  Simpson,  Miss  Caldwell,  Porto- 
bello  ;  Mrs.  M'Kinnel,  Dumfries  ;  Mrs.  M'Cormick,  Manchester  ;  Miss  Burton,  Liberton  ;  Miss  Bal- 
garnie,  Scarborough  ;  Miss  A.  S.  Smith,  Gorebridge  ;  Miss  Drew,  Helensburgh  ;  Miss  Blair,  Girvan  ; 
Mrs.  Smith,  Mrs.  F.  Smith,  Bothwell. 

%  Miss  Helen  Taylor,  Mrs.  Lucas,  Mrs.  Fawcett,  London  ;  Mrs.  Thomasson,  Bolton  ;  Miss  Orme, 
Miss  Jane  Cobden,  Miss  C.  A.  Biggs,  Mrs.  Fenwick-Miller,  Mrs.  Ashton  Dilke,  London  ;  Mrs.  Hal- 


Lady  Harder  ions  Address.  879 

LADY  HARBERTON  said:  If  our  legislators  say  taxation  and  repre- 
sentation should  go  together,  it  is  right  that  they  should  give  expression 
to  this  opinion  fairly  and  openly,  and  at  all  times  and  seasons  insist  upon 
it  that  those  women  who  are  ratepayers  and  who  are  in  fact  heads  of 
households,  ought  not  to  be  excluded  from  the  privilege  of  voting  for  a 
member  to  represent  them  in  the  House  of  Commons.  This  is  no 
question  of  women  usurping  the  place  of  men  or  any  trivialities  of  that 
kind ;  it  is  a  much  more  serious  matter.  The  exclusion  of  women  from 
the  right  to  representation  has  already  led  to  laws  being  passed  about 
them  and  their  interests,  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  call  a  disgrace  to 
humanity.  [Cheers.]  That  they  are  not  more  commonly  recognized  as 
such  is  due,  I  think,  to  two  causes.  One  thing  is  that  women  of 
the  upper  classes,  who  are  usually  wealthy,  are  able  by  the  aid  of  money 
so  to  hedge  themselves  around  with  barriers  to  oppose  the  inconven- 
iences placed  upon  women  by  the  laws,  that  they  very  often  do  not  feel 
them  so  much ;  while  women  of  the  classes  who  are  not  wealthy  are 
so  crushed  and  oppressed  by  the  working  of  these  laws  that  they  are  un- 
able to  take  the  first  step,  which  is  agitation,  towards  getting  them  al- 
tered or  repealed.  [Cheers.]  It  often  seems  to  me  that  another  reason 
why  women  themselves  are  not  more  enthusiastic  upon  this  question  of 
the  franchise  is,  that  from  their  earliest  childhood  they  are  taught  that 
the  first  duty  of  women  is  unselfishness,  the  putting  of  their  own  in- 
terests and  wishes  behind  those  of  others.  Any  discussion  of  this  great 
question  only  brings  forth  hysterical  clamor  that  "women  should  stay  at 
Home  " — with  a  very  big  "  H."  [Laughter  and  cheers.]  Well,  I  have 
been  examining  a  little  into  the  conduct  of  those  ladies  who  do  stay  at 
home  so  much,  and  what  do  I  find  ?  Why,  that  they  rush  about  and  seem 
like  the  changing  colors  of  the  kaleidoscope,  now  collecting  at  a  bazaar, 
anon  singing  at  a  concert,  with  no  end  of  publicity  [cheers],  but  as  long 
as  no  rational  object  is  promoted  by  their  action,  it  is  all  counted  as 
staying  quietly  home  in  the  nursery,  whether  they  have  children  or  not. 
That  is  their  notion  of  being  "thoroughly  domesticated."  [Laughter.] 
Now,  much  as  I  could  wish  myself  that  men  had  done  their  duty  and  agi- 
tated for  us,  in  this  case  it  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  they  have  not  shown 
that  readiness,  I  may  say  eagerness,  to  begin  that  one  could  have  wished  ; 
it  therefore  changes  at  once  into  one  of  those  duties  men  have  not  seen 
their  way  to  do,  and  so  becomes  of  necessity  women's  work. 

A  series  of  meetings  *  after  this  was  held  in  Bath,  Newcastle 
and  London. 


lett,  Bath;  Miss  Becker,  Manchester;  Miss  Priestman,  Bristol;  Mrs.  Helen  Bright  Clark,  Street, 
Somersetshire  ;  Miss  Mullcr,  London  ;  Mrs.  Eva  M'Laren,  Bradford  ;  Mrs.  Charles  M'Laren,  London  ; 
Mrs.  Pochin,  Boclnant,  Conway  ;  Mrs.  Campbell.  Tillicchewan  Castle;  Mrs.  Charteris,  Edinburgh  ; 
Mrs.  Edward  Caird,  Mrs.  Young,  Mrs.  Kinnear,  Mrs.  A.  B.  M'Grigor,  Glasgow  ;  Mrs.  Arthur,  Bar- 
shaw,  Paisley  ;  Mrs.  Readdie,  Perth  ;  Miss  I'.irrcl,  Cupar ;  Mrs.  Dunn,  Aberdeen  ;  Miss  Duncan,  Fox- 
hall  ;  Miss  Chalmers,  Slateford  ;  Miss  Smith,  Linlithgow  ;  Miss  Macrobie,  Bridge  of  Allan  ;  Mrs.  Rit- 
chie, Mrs.  Greenlees,  Glasgow;  Mrs.  Ord,  Nesbit,  Kelso ;  Mrs.  Gordon,  Nairn;  Mrs.  Gerrard, 
Aberdeen  ;  Miss  Stoddart,  Kelso ;  Mrs.  Robertson,  Paisley  ;  Miss  Maitland,  Corstorphinc. 
*  EDINBURGH. — The  first  resolution  was  moved  by  Miss  Tod  and  seconded  by  Mrs.  Scatcherd : 
ResolveJ,  That  this  meeting,  whilst  thanking  the  no  Liberal  members  who  signed  the  memorial  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  to  the  effect  that  no  measure  of  refom  would-be  satisfactory  which  did  not  recognue  the 
claims  of  women  householders,  trusts  that  since  the  bill  unjustly  excludes  them,  these  members  will  be 


88o  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  audiences  heartily  concurred  with  the  speakers  that  the 
time  when  a  reform  bill  was  before  parliament  was  the  fittest  and 
most  opportune  moment  in  which  to  press  forward  the  claim  of 
women  to  representation. 

We  may  observe  once  again  with  pride,  how  hearty  and  cheer- 
ing have  always  been  the  sympathy  and  assistance  that  men 
have  rendered  to  women  in  this  movement  in  England.  At  no 
time  has  there  been  a  possibility  of  a  feeling  of  bitterness  be- 
tween the  sexes  or  a  conviction  that  their  interests  were  antago- 
nistic, for  the  plain  reason  that  there  have  always  been  men  work- 
ing side  by  side  with  women.  Our  suffrage  meetings  have  been 
attended  and  supported  by  political  leaders,  members  of  parlia- 
ment, town  councils  or  prominent  movers  among  the  working- 
class  associations.  Except  in  the  great  demonstrations,  which 
for  special  reasons  were  confined  exclusively  to  women,  our  move- 
ment has  formed  part  of  the  ordinary  political  life  of  the  country: 

The  Suffrage  Journal  for  May  contains  a  very  carefully  drawn 
calculation  of  the  number  of  women  in  the  United  Kingdom  who 
will  probably  receive  the  franchise  if  the  wider  qualifications  con- 
tained in  the  present  Franchise  bill  become  law.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  there  are  now  3,330,720  more  houses  than  elec- 
tors in  the  British  Isles.  In  boroughs  where  household  suffrage 
already  prevails  for  men,  the  unrepresented  houses  should  guide 
us  to  a  tolerably  correct  estimate  of  the  number  of  women  house- 
holders. We  may  say  that  practically  there  are  446,000  houses 
in  the  boroughs  of  England  and  Wales,  whose  inhabitant  in  each 
case  being  a  woman,  is  unrepresented.  The  proportion  varies 


faithful  to  the  convictions  expressed  in  that  memorial,  and  will  support  any  amendment  to  the  bill 
which  has  for  its  object  the  enfranchisement  of  duly  qualified  women. 

The  second  resolution,  a  memorial  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  was  moved  by  Miss  Flora  Stevenson,  member 
of  the  Edinburgh  school-board,  seconded  by  Mrs.  McLaren  and  supported  by  Miss  Florence  Balgarnie 
and  Mrs.  Ormiston  Chant.  The  third  resolution,  the  adoption  of  petitions,  was  moved  by  Miss  S.  S. 
Mair,  a  grand-niece  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  and  Mrs.  Lindsay  of  Glasgow. 

BATH,  GUILD  HALL. — Presided  over  by  the  mayor.  Among  other  speakers  were  Mrs.  Beddoe,  Miss 
Becker,  Mrs.  Jeffrey  and  Mrs.  Ashworth  Hallet. 

NEWCASTLE,  TOWN  HALL. — Followed  on  April  ai,  under  the  presidency  of  the  mayor.  The  crowd 
was  so  great  that  an  overflow  meeting  had  to  be  arranged.  The  speakers  were  Mrs.  Ashton  Dilke, 
Miss  Tod,  Mrs.  Eva  McLaren  and  Mrs.  Scatcherd.  The  audience  was  largely  composed  of  miners  and 
working  people,  and  the  enthusiasm  manifested  was  striking.  A  Newcastle  paper  reports  that  this  was 
the  first  occasion  on  which  Mrs.  Ashton  Dilke  had  appeared  in  public  since  her  husband's  death,  and 
tears  glistened  in  many  eyes  as  the  men  who  were  his  constituents  welcomed  her  among  them  once 
more.  Some  miners  walked  twelve  miles  to  hear  her  and  twelve  miles  back  after  the  meeting,  who  had 
to  go  down  the  pit  at  3  o'clock  next  morning.  Some  could  not  get  in,  and  pleaded  piteously  for  an 
overflow  meeting.  "  We  have  come  a  long  way  to  hear  Mistress  Dilke  ;  do  bring  her."  Some  women 
after  hearing  Miss  Tod  said :  "She's  worth  hearing  twice,  is  that,"  and  insisted  on  following  her  to 
the  overflow  meeting. 

LONDON,  ST.  JAMES  HALL. — Three  days  later  there  was  a  great  meeting  presided  over  by  Sir 
Richard  Temple  G.  C.  S.  I.,  and  addressed  by  Mr.  W.  Summers,  M.  P.,  Mrs.  Fawcett,  the  Rt. 
Hon.  Jas.  Stansfeld,  M.  P.,  Mrs.  Charles  McLaren,  Mr.  Woodall,  M.  P.,  Mr.  J.  Rankin,  M.  P.,  Miss 
Tod,  Mr.  J.  R.  Hollond,  M.  P.,  Viscountess  Harberton  and  Miss  Jane  Cobden. 


Circular  to  Members  of  Parliament.  88 1 

much  in  different  localities ;  in  the  city  of  Bath  one-fourth  the 
householders  are  women.  If  we  calculate  that  one  house  in 
every  six  in  the  boroughs  is  occupied  by  a  \vroman,  we  find  that 
349,746  is  the  probable  number  to  be  enfranchised  there. 

For  the  counties  there  are  no  means  of  arriving  at  so  close  a 
result,  but  by  estimating  the  proportion  of  women  householders 
to  be  the  same  as  that  of  women  land-owners,  or  one  in  seven,  we 
reach  the  fairly  approximate  calculation  of  390,434,  in  the  coun- 
ties. The  same  method  of  calculation  applies  to  Scotland  and 
to  Ireland,  where,  however,  the  proportion  of  woman  land-owners 
is  one  in  eight.* 

In  order  to  show  that  the  desire  for  the  suffrage  was  not  con- 
fined to  any  one  rank,  class  or  profession  of  women,  a  circular 
was  signed  by  a  large  number  of  ladies  and  sent  to  every  mem- 
ber of  both  houses  of  parliament.  It  was  as  follows : 

SIR  :  We  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  claim  of  women  who  are 
heads  of  households  to  be  included  in  the  operation  of  the  government 
Franchise  bill. 

Women  have  continuously  presented  this  claim  before  parliament  and 
the  country  since  the  Reform  bill  of  1867.  The  introduction  of  a  measure 
declared  by  the  government  to  be  intended  to  deal  with  the  franchise  in 
an  exhaustive  manner,  renders  it  especially  necessary  now  to  urge  it  upon 
the  attention  of  parliament. 

We  respectfully  represent  that  the  claim  of  duly  qualified  women  for 
admission  within  the  pale  of  the  constitution  is  fully  as  pressing  as  that 
of  the  agricultural  laborer,  and  that  the  body  of  electors  who  would 
thereby  be  added  to  the  constituencies,  would  be  at  least  equal  in  general 
and  political  intelligence  to  the  great  body  of  agricultural  and  other 
laborers  who  are  to  be  enfranchised  by  the  government  bill. 

Among  this  body  would  be  found  women  land-owners,  who  form  one- 
seventh  of  the  land  proprietors  of  the  country ;  women  of  means  and  posi- 
tion living  on  their  own  property  ;  schoolmistresses  and  other  teachers; 
women,  engaged  in  professional,  literary  and  artistic  pursuits ;  women 
farmers,  merchants,  manufacturers  and  shopkeepers;  besides  large  num* 


*  The  result  is  as  follows : 

No.  of  Inhabited  Estimated   No.   of 

ENGLAND  AND  WALES.                               Houses.  Women  Householders. 

Boroughs,                     2,098,476  340,746 

Counties,                      2,7^3.043  390,434 

4,83',5'9  74°,>8o 

SCOTLAND. 

Boroughs,                        339.328  54,888 

Counties,                         409,677  58,525 

— 739.005  — "3v»«3 
IRELAND. 

Boroughs,                        "9.837  »'. 339 

Counties,                              784,571  08.034 

9M.108  "9.373 

073,966 
56 


882  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

bers  of  self-supporting  women  engaged  in  industrial  occupations.  The 
continued  exclusion  of  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  property,  industry  and 
intelligence  of  the  country  from  all  representation  in  the  legislature  is  in- 
jurious to  those  excluded,  and  to  the  community  at  large. 

Several  bills  having  special  reference  to  the  interests  and  status  of  wo- 
men have  been  introduced  in  parliament  during  the  present  session. 
This  affords  a  powerful  reason  for  the  immediate  enfranchisement  of 
women,  in  order  that  members  of  parliament  may  have  the  same  sense  of 
responsibility  towards  the  class  affected  by  them  whether  dealing  with 
questions  relating  to  women  or  to  men. 

For  these  and  other  reasons  we  earnestly  beg  that  you  will  give  your 
support  to  the  amendment  to  be  introduced  by  Mr.  Woodall  in  committee 
on  the  Representation  of  the  People  bill  for  including  women  house- 
holders in  its  operation.  We  are,  sir,  yours  faithfully,* 

In  this  circular  women  of  all  opinions  were  represented,  but 
a  special  circular,  signed  only  by  ladies  of  Conservative  views, 
was  sent  to  the  conservative  associations.  These  ladies  pointed 
out  that  justice  to  women  themselves,  and  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  community  are  involved  in  the  admission  of  the  women 
householders  who  at  this  moment  are  possessed  of  the  existing 
statutory  qualifications: 

To  bring  in  a  new  class,  under  new  conditions,  whilst  continuing  to  ex- 
clude those  who  fulfill  the  present  conditions,  would  be  very  injurious  to 
those  excluded  and  set  a  wrong  example  before  the  community.  Every 
enlargement  of  the  electoral  franchise  for  men  which  can  now  take  place 
necessarily  includes  many  whose  interests  in  the  country  cannot  equal 
those  of  the  women  who  now  claim  it.  Their  position  is  already  recog- 
nized by  their  possession  of  every  local  franchise  whatsoever.  Justice 
requires  that  the  principle  should  be  fully  carried  out  by  extending  to 
women  the  right  to  vote  for  members  of  parliament,  whose  legislation  so 
strongly  affects  their  welfare.  Prudence  also  requires  that  an  impor- 
tant class  of  educated  and  philanthropic  persons  should  not  be  left  out, 
or  their  claims  postponed,  when  a  large  addition  is  likely  to  be  made  to 
the  less  educated  portion  of  the  electorate.  We  most  seriously  believe 
that  few  things  could  happen  more  dangerous  for  the  real  happiness  of 
the  nation  than  to  permit  the  opportunity  to  pass  without  the  admission 
of  legally  qualified  women  within  the  circle  of  the  constitution. 

*  Signed  by  Eveline  Portsmouth  (Countess  of  Portsmouth),  E.  P.  Verney  (Lady  Verney),  Florence 
Nightingale,  Anne  J.  Clough  (Newham  College),  Clara  E.  L.  Rayleigh  (Lady  Rayleigh),  Selina  Hogg 
(Lady  Hogg),  Anna  Swanwick,  Julia  Camperdown  (Countess  of  Camperdown),  Mina  E.  Holland,  (Mrs. 
John  Holland),  (Lady)  Dorothy  Nevill,  Millicent  Garrett  Fawcett,  Helen  P.  Bright  Clark,  Jane  E. 
Cobden,  Elizabeth  Adelaide  Manning,  M.  Power  (Lady  Power),  Louisa  Colthurst  (Dowager  Lady  Col- 
thurst),  Frances  E.  Hoggan,  M.  D.%  Florence  Davenport  Hill  (Poor-law  Guardian),  Louisa  Twining 
(Poor-law  Guardian),  Maryanne  Donkin  (Poor-law  Guardian),  Rosamond  Davenport  Hill  (M.  L.  S.  B.), 
Mary  Howitt,  Maria  G.  Grey,  Emily  A.  E.  Shireff,  Deborah  Bowring  (Lady  Bowring),  Emily  Pfeiffer, 
Barbara  L.  S.  Bodichon,  Augusta  Webster,  Catherine  M.  Buckton,  Frances  M.  Buss  (North  London 
Collegiate  School),  Sophia  Bryant,  B.  Sc.,  Malvira  Borchardt  (Head  Mistress  of  Devonport  High 
School).  Louisa  Boucherett,  Jessie  Boucherett,  Margaret  Byers  (Ladies'  Collegiate  School,  Belfast), 
Ellice  Hopkins. 


Memorial  to  Mr.   Gladstone.  883 

A  correspondence  also  was  conducted  with  Mr.  Gladstone  by 
the  Bristol  Ladies'  Liberal  Association  and  others  whom  they  in- 
vited to  join  them,  of  known  Liberal  views,  urging  him  to  receive 
a  delegation  and  praying  that 

It  may  not  in  the  future  be  said  that  women  alone  were  unworthy  of 
any  measure  of  confidence  which  you  so  rightly  extended  even  to  the 
humblest  and  most  ignorant  men. 

Mr.  Gladstone  declined  to  receive  the  deputation,  partly  on 
the  ground  of  illness,  partly  lest  the  admission  of  their  views 
might  interfere  with  his  plans  for  the  bill.  So  the  day  of  battle 
drew  on,  when  a  rumor  began  to  be  circulated  that  the  govern- 
ment intended  to  oppose  Mr.  Woodall's  clause,  on  the  ground 
that  its  admission  might  endanger  the  bill.  Strenuous  efforts 
were  at  the  same  time  made  to  induce  him  to  withdraw  the 
amendment,  and  the  government  whips  plainly  intimated  that 
the  question  would  not  be  considered  an  open  one,  on  which 
members  were  to  be  free  to  vote  according  to  their  convictions, 
but  as  one  which  the  government  had  made  up  their  minds  to 
oppose.  With  the  hope  of  changing  this  determination  a  me- 
morial was  signed  by  seventy-seven  members  of  parliament,  and 
presented  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  asking  him  to  leave  the  introduction 
of  the  clause  an  open  question.  It  represented — 

That  the  Franchise  bill  being  now  in  committee  a  favorable  opportunity 
is  afforded  for  the  discussion  of  the  amendment  for  extending  its  pro- 
visions to  women,  of  which  notice  has  been  given  by  Mr.  Woodall. 

That  your  memorialists  have  heard  a  rumor  that  her  majesty's  govern- 
ment have  declared  against  allowing  the  question  to  be  discussed  and 
decided  on  its  merits,  on  the  ground  that  the  adoption  of  the  proposal 
might  endanger  the  bill. 

That  your  memorialists  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  claim  of  women  who 
are  householders  and  ratepayers  is  just  and  reasonable,  and  that  the  time 
when  the  House  is  engaged  in  amending  J.he  law  relating  to  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  is  the  proper  time  for  the  consideration  of  this 
claim. 

That  during  the  discussion  in  committee  on  the  Reform  bill  of  1867,  an 
amendment  for  extending  its  provisions  to  women  was  introduced  by  Mr. 
John  Stuart  Mill,  and  that  on  that  occasion  the  government  of  the  day 
offered  no  opposition  to  the  full  and  free  discussion  of  the  question,  and 
placed  no  restriction  on  the  free  exercise  of  the  judgment  of  members  of 
their  party  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  should  vote.  The  tellers  ap- 
pointed against  Mr.  Mill's  motion  were  not  even  the  government  tellers. 

That  your  memorialists  earnestly  pray  that  the  precedent  so  instituted 
may  be  followed  on  the  present  occasion,  and  that  the  clause  proposed 
by  Mr.  Woodall  maybe  submitted  to  the  free  and  unbiased  decision  of  the 
House  on  its  own  merits. 


884  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

They  desire  earnestly  to  express  their  conviction  that  the  course  of 
allowing  the  question  to  be  an  open  one,  on  which  the  government  is  pre- 
pared to  accept  the  decision  of  the  House,  cannot  possibly  endanger  or 
prejudice  the  Franchise  bill.  In  connection  with  this  your  memorialists 
would  press  on  your  attention  the  fact  that  Mr.  Woodall's  amendment  is 
in  the  form  of  a  new  clause,  and  would  not  therefore  come  under  discus- 
sion until  the  bill  as  it  stands  has  passed  through  committee. 

This  request  was  refused.  On  June  9,  such  unexpected  pro- 
gress was  made  by  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  with 
the  Franchise  bill  that  all  the  government  clauses  were  carried. 
There  were  many  amendments  on  the  paper  which  took  preced- 
ence of  Mr.  Woodall's,  but  these  were  hastily  gone  through  or 
withdrawn,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  morning  sitting  of  June  9, 
he  rose  and  moved  the  introduction  of  his  clause.  Mr.  Wood- 
all's  speech  was  a  masterpiece  of  earnest  but  temperate  reason- 
ing. He  was  fortunate  enough  to  present  an  old  and  well-worn 
subject  in  new  lights.  He  said  that  Mr.  Gladstone  had  affirmed 
the  principle  of  the  measure  to  be  to  give  every  householder  a 
vote,  and  it  would  now  be  his  endeavor  to  pursuade  parliament 
that  women  were  capable  citizens,  who  would  meet  all  the  con- 
ditions so  clearly  laid  down  by  the  prime  minister.  Against  the 
charge  of  inopportunity  in  bringing  the  subject  forward  at  this 
crisis,  he  reminded  the  House  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  words  on  a 
recent  occasion,  that  it  was  always  opportune  to  do  right. 

Mr.  Gladstone  said  there  were  two  questions  to  be  considered.  One  of 
these  was  the  question  whether  women  were  to  be  enfranchised,  the  other 
whether  the  enfranchisement  should  be  effected  by  a  clause  introduced  in 
committee  on  the  present  bill.  The  second  question  was  that  on  which 
he  was  about  to  dwell.  He  deprecated  the  introduction  of  new  matter  into 
the  bill.  The  cargo  which  the  vessel  carried  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the  gov- 
ernment, as  large  as  she  could  carry  safely.  The  proposal  was  a  very  large 
one.  It  did  not  seem  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  number  of  persons 
in  the  three  kingdoms  to  be  enfranchised  by  the  amendment  would  be  little 
short  of  half  a  million.  What  was  the  position  in  which  Mr.  Woodall 
placed  the  government  when  he  requested  them  to  introduce  a  completely 
new  subject  on  which  men  profoundly  differed,  and  which,  it  was  clear, 
should  receive  a  full  and  dispassioned  investigation  ?  It  was  not  now 
practicable  to  give  that  investigation.  This  was  one  of  those  questions 
which  it  would  be  intolerable  to  mix  up  with  purely  political  and  party 
debates.  If  there  was  a  subject  in  the  whole  compass  of  human  life  and 
experience  that  was  sacred  beyond  all  other  subjects  it  was  the  character 
and  position  of  woman.  Did  his  honorable  friend  ask  him  to  admit  that 
the  question  deserved  the  fullest  consideration?  He  gave  him  that  ad- 
mission freely.  Did  he  ask  whether  he  (Mr.  Gladstone)  wished  to  bind 
the  members  of  the  Government  or  his  colleagues  in  the  cabinet  with 


Meeting  of  the  General  Committee.  885 

respect  to  the  votes  they  would  give  on  this  question  ?  Certainly  not, 
provided  only  that  they  took  the  subject  from  the  vortex  of  political  con- 
tention. He  was  bound  to  say,  whilst  thus  free  and  open  on  the  sub- 
ject itself,  that  with  regard  to  the  proposal  to  introduce  it  into  this  bill 
he  offered  it  the  strongest  opposition  in  his  power,  and  must  disclaim  and 
renounce  all  responsibility  for  the  measure  should  Mr.  Woodall  succeed 
in  inducing  the  committee  to  adopt  his  amendment. 

On  motion  of  Lord  John  Manners  the  debate  was  adjourned 
till  June  12. 

On  the  intervening  day  a  meeting  was  summoned  of  the  gen- 
eral committee  of  the  society.  Miss  Cobbe  first,  and  Mr.  Wood- 
all  subsequently,  presided,  and  the  following  resolutions  were 
passed : 

Resolved,  That  the  claim  of  duly  qualified  women  to  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage 
having  been  continuously  presented  before  parliament  and  the  country  since  the  Re- 
form bill  of  1867,  this  meeting  is  of  opinion  that  the  time  when  the  legislature  is 
again  engaged  in  amending  the  law  relating  to  the  representation  of  the  people  is  the 
proper  time  for  the  consideration  of  this  claim. 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  heartily  approves  of  the  amendment  which  Mr.  Wood- 
all  has  moved  in  committee  on  the  Franchise  bill  for  extending  its  provisions  to  duly 
qualified  women,  and  pledge  themselves  to  support  his  action  by  every  means  in  their 
power. 

Resolved,  That  they  have  heard  with  astonishment  that  her  majesty's  government 
refuse  to  allow  this  amendment  to  be  discussed  on  its  merits  and  to  be  decided  by  the 
free  exercise  of  the  judgment  of  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  but  that  the 
government  require  their  supporters  to  refrain  from  such  free  exercise  of  their  judg- 
ment on  the  alleged  ground  that  the  adoption  of  the  proposal  would  endanger  the 
Franchise  bill. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  the  exercise  of  such  pressure  appears 
to  be  an  infringement  of  the  privileges  of  a  free  parliament  and  an  aggression  on  the 
rights  of  the  people.  They  hold  that  all  sections  of  the  community,  whether  electors 
or  non-electors,  have  an  indefeasible  right  to  have  matters  affecting  their  interests 
submitted  to  the  unbiased  judgment,  and  decided  by  the  unfettered  discretion  of  the 
members  sent  to  represent  them  in  parliament. 

Resolved,  That  a  declaration  signed  by  1 10  Liberal  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  presented  last  session  to  Mr.  Gladstone  which  set  forth  that,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  memorialists,  no  measure  for  the  assimilation  of  the  borough  and  counly  fran- 
chise could  be  satisfactory  unless  it  contained  provisions  for  extending  the  suffrage, 
without  distinction  of  sex,  to  all  persons  who  possess  the  statutory  qualifications  for 
the  parliamentary  franchise. 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  calls  upon  those  who  signed  this  declaration,  and  all 
other  members  whq^  believe  that  the  claim  of  duly  qualified  women  to  the  parlia- 
mentary franchise  is  reasonable  and  just,  to  support  the  clause  moved  by  Mr.  Woodall, 
in  committee  on  the  Franchise  bill,  for  extending  its  provisions  to  such  women. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded  to  Mr.  Gladstone  and  to 
every  member  of  parliament. 

Resolved,  That  petitions  to  both  houses  of  parliament  in  support  of  Mr.  Woodall's 
clause  be  adopted  and  signed  by  the  chairma/i  on  behalf  of  this  meeting. 

Some  members  of  parliament  who  attended  this  meeting  ex- 
plained that  though  they  were  as  firmly  convinced  as  ever  of  the 
justice  of  the  claim,  they  could  not  vote  for  it  after  Mr.  Glad- 


886  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

stone's  distinct  declaration  that  he  would  abandon  the  bill  if  the 
amendment  were  passed.  On  June  12  Lord  John  Manners  re- 
sumed the  debate.  He  said  : 

That  although  this  proposal  had  never  been  of  a  party  character,  it  had 
always  been  a  political  question.  There  was  no  question  connected  with 
the  franchise  which  had  been  more  thoroughly  discussed,  threshed  and 
sifted.  Guided  by  every  consideration  of  justice  and  fairness,  of  equity, 
of  analogy  and  experience,  he  should  give  it  his  cordial  and  unhesitating 
support. 

The  next  speech  of  importance  was  Mr.  Stansfeld's.  He  main- 
tained that  the  acceptance  of  the  clause  by  the  government  would 
have  strengthened  rather  than  weakened  the  bill,  and  that  its  in- 
sertion certainly  would  not  have  rendered  the  bill  less  palatable 
to  the  House  of  Lords: 

The  principle  of  this  bill  is  household  suffrage.  Household  suffrage  is 
one  of  two  things — it  is  either  put  as  a  rough  test  of  capable  citizenship, 
or  else  it  means  what  I  will  call  the  family  vote.  The  women  to  be  en- 
franchised under  this  clause  would  be  first  of  all  women  of  property,  in- 
telligence and  education,  having  a  status  in  the  country ;  secondly  a  large 
class  of  women  of  exceptional  competency,  because  having  lost  the  ser- 
vices and  support  of  men  who  should  be  the  bread-winners  and  the  heads 
of  families,  they  are  obliged  to  step  into  their  shoes  and  to  take  upon  them- 
selves the  burdens  and  responsibilities  which  had  previously  devolved 
upon  men,  and  because  they  have  done  this  with  success.  I  decline  either 
byword  or  deed  to  make  the  admission  that  these  women  are  less  capable 
citizens  than  the  2,000,000  whom  the  right  honorable  gentleman  proposes 
to  enfranchise  by  this  bill.  Well,  then,  let  it  be  the  family  vote — that  is 
to  say,  exceptions  apart,  let  the  basis  of  our  constitution  be  that  the 
family,  represented  by  its  head,  should  be  the  unit  of  the  State.  Now 
that  is  the  idea  which  recommends  and  has  always  recommended  itself  to 
my  mind.  But  on  what  principle,  or  with  what  regard  to  the  permanence 
and  stability  of  that  principle,  can  you  exclude  the  head  of  the  family  and 
give  that  family  no  voice,  because  the  head  happens  to  be  a  woman  ?  If 
this  clause  be  excluded  from  the  measure,  as  it  will  be,  this  will  not  be  a 
bill  of  one  principle,  but  of  two  principles.  It  will  not  be  a  bill  contain- 
ing only  the  principle  of  household  suffrage  interpreted  as  the  family  vote, 
but  one  founded  on  these  two  principles — first,  a  male  householding  vote  ; 
and,  secondly,  the  exclusion  of  the  head  of  the  household  when  the  head 
is  a  woman.  That  is  a  permanent  principle  of  exclusion,  and  therefore  the 
bill  with  this  clause  left  out  is  a  declaration  for  ever  against  the  political 
emancipation  of  women. 

After  some  speeches  against  ,the  motion  Colonel  King-Harman 
said: 

« In  the  old  state  of  the  franchise  it  was  not  so  much  a  matter  of  import- 
ance to  women  whether  they  possessed  votes  or  not,  but  now  that  this 


Discussion  of  Mr.    WoodaWs  Amendment.       887 

bill  proposed  to  create  two  million  new  voters  of  a  much  lower  order 
than  those  now  exercising  the  franchise,  it  became  of  importance  to  se- 
cure some  countervailing  advantage.  They  were  told  this  was  a  matter 
which  could  wait.  What  were  the  women  to  gain  by  waiting?  They  had 
waited  for  seventeen  years  during  which  the  subject  had  been  discussed, 
and  now  they  were  told  to  wait  till  two  million  of  the  common  orders  had 
been  admitted  to  a  share  in  the  parliamentary  management  of  the  country. 
The  honorable  member  for  Huddersfield  (Mr.  Leatham)  had  used  an  ar- 
gument which  he  (Colonel  King-Harman)  thought  a  most  unworthy 
one,  namely,  that  the  franchise  was  not  to  be  extended  to  women,  be- 
cause, uuhappily,  there  are  women  of  a  degraded  and  debased  class.  Be- 
cause there  were  40,000  of  them  in  this  metropolis  alone,  the  remaining 
women  who  were  pure  and  virtuous  were  to  be  deprived  of  the  power  of 
voting.  But  would  Mr.  Leatham  guarantee  that  the  2,000,000  men  he 
proposes  to  enfranchise  shall  be  perfectly  pure  and  moral  men  ?  Would 
he  propose  a  clause  to  exclude  from  the  franchise  those  men  who  lead 
and  retain  in  vice  and  degradation  these  unfortunate  women?  No — men 
may  sin  and  be  a  power  in  the  State,  but  when  a  woman  sins  not  only  is 
she  to  have  no  power,  but  her  whole  sisterhood  are  to  be  excluded  from 
it.  He  believed  that  svery  idea  of  common  sense  pointed  to  the  desira- 
bility of  supporting  the  amendment,  and  he  therefore  had  great  pleasure 
in  doing  so. 

There  were  also  excellent  speeches  from  Mr.  Cowen  (New- 
castle), General  Alexander,  Sir  Wilfred  Lawson  and  Mr.  Story, 
and  finally  from  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  the  leader  of  the  Conserv- 
ative opposition.  He- observed  : 

That  the  prime  minister  had  told  them  that  they  did  not  consider 
this  clause  to  be  properly  introduced  now,  because  this  was  not  the 
time  for  the  question.  It  seemed  to  him,  on  the  contrary,  that  it 
was  the  very  best  opportunity  for  dealing  with  it,  because  they  were 
going  enormously  to .  increase  the  electorate,  and  would,  therefore, 
make  the  inequality  between  men  and  women  much  greater  than  it 
was  before.  It  would  be  said  they  were  going  to  extend  the  property 
franchise  if  this  amendment  were  carried.  On  that  issue  they  were  pre- 
pared to  join  and  to  maintain  that  it  was  a  right  thing,  and  it  was  the 
duty  of  that  House  to  make  proper  provision  for  those  classes  of  prop- 
erty holders  now  without  a  vote.  Members  who  had  canvassed  boroughs 
would  remember  that  after  going  into  two  or  three  shops  and  asking 
for  the  votes  of  those  who  were  owners,  they  have  come  to  one  perhaps  of 
the  most  important  shops  and  have  been  told,  "Oh,  it  is  of  no  use  going 
in,  there  is  no  vote  there."  Such  women  are  probably  of  education  and 
gentle  character,  and  perhaps  live  as  widows  and  take  care  of  their  fami- 
lies; they  have  every  right  to  be  consulted  as  to  who  should  be  the  man 
to  represent  the  constituency  in  which  they  lived  and  to  take  care  of 
their  interests  and  the  interests  of  those  dependent  on  them.  That  was 
the  ground  on  which  Lord  Beaconsfield  stood.  They  had  adhered  to 
that  ground  for  several  years,  and  there  they  stood  now. 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  division  took  place  at  a  late  hour  with  the  result  that  the 
clause  was  defeated  by  271  votes  to  135,  being  a  majority  against 
it  of  136,  or  two  to  one.  But  though  such  a  vote  would  have 
been  a  sore  discouragement  if  it  had  represented  the  real  opin- 
ion of  the  House,  on  the  present  occasion  it  meant  little  if  any- 
thing. The  government  had  sent  out  a  "  five-line  "  whip  for  its 
supporters,  and  so  effective  had  this  whip  been,  combined  with 
Mr.  Gladstone's  assertion  that  he  would  give  up  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  bill  if  the  clause  were  carried,  that  98  Liberals  and 
6  Home  Rulers,  known  to  be  supporters  of  our  cause,  voted 
with  the  government,  even  Mr.  Hugh  Mason  being  among  this 
number,  while  34  Liberals  and  7  Home  Rulers,  also  friends  of 
ours,  were  absent  from  the  division.  We  may  safely  assume  that 
had  the  government  more  wisely  left  it  an  open  question,  upon 
which  members  were  free  to  vote  according  to  their  consciences, 
our  defeat  would  have  been  turned  into  a  victory.  On  the  other 
hand  while  our  Liberal  friends  thus  voted  against  the  amend- 
ment or  abstained  from  voting,  the  bulk  of  our  supporters  in  this 
division  were  Conservatives,  a  circumstance  unknown  in  the  pre- 
vious history  of  the  movement. 

An  important  conference  of  friends  and  supporters  was  held 
the  next  morning  in  the  Westminster  Palace  Hotel  at  which 
Mr.  Stansfeld  presided.  To  use  Miss  Tod's  words: 

Never  had  a  defeated  army  met  in  a  more  victorious  mood.  There  was 
much  indeed  to  encourage  in  the  degree  of  importance  to  which  the  ques- 
tion had  attained.  It  had  risen  from  a  purely  speculative  into  a  pressing 
political  question  ;  it  had  been  debated  during  two  days,  and  it  was  heart- 
ily supported  by  the  Conservative  leader. 

The  speeches  at  the  conference  were  animated  and  full  of  hope 
for  the  future.  Mr.  Stansfeld  congratulated  the  meeting  on 
having  made  a  new  departure  ;  their  question  had  become  one  of 
practical  politics,  and  they  had  now  to  address  themselves  in  all 
the  constituencies  to  the  political  organizations. 

A  magnificent  meeting  was  held  in  St.  James  Hall  the  follow- 
ing week.  The  hall  was  densely  crowded  in  every  part,  and  an 
overflow  meeting  was  arranged  for  those  unable  to  gain  admis- 
sion. Some  of  the  speakers*  proposed  as  the  best  measure  for 
agitation,  a  determined  resistance  against  taxation.f 

*  Mrs.  Lucas  presiding,  Dr.  Garrett  Anderson,  Miss  Becker,  Miss  Orme,  Mrs.  Beddoe,  Mrs.  Scat- 
cherd,  Mrs.  Eva  M'Laren,  Mrs.  Simcok,  Mrs.  Stanton  Blatch,  Mrs.  Louisa  Stevenson,  Miss  Balgarnie, 
Miss  Muller,  Miss  Wilkinson,  Mrs.  Ashworth  Hallett,  Miss  Tod. 

•f  Miss  Miiller's  spirited  protest  against  taxation  without  representation,  owing  to  her  official 
reputation  as  a  member  of  the  London  school-board,  attracted  unusual  attention.  For  some  time  she 


Mr.    Woodall's  Bill.  889 

Repeated  attempts  to  obtain  a  day  for  the  debate  and  division 
were  followed  by  repeated  disappointments.  The  session  com- 
menced in  November,  1884.  Mr.  Woodall  at  once  gave  notice 
of  a  bill.  In  presenting  it  to  the  House,  he  concluded  after 
consultation  with  parliamentary  friends,  to  add  a  clause  defining 
the  action  of  his  bill  to  be  limited  to  unmarried  women  and 
widows.*  The  enacting  clause  of  the  bill  was  as  follows : 

For  all  purposes  of  and  incidental  to  the  voting  for  members  to  serve 
in  parliament,  women  shall  have  the  same  rights  as  men,  and  all  enact- 
ments relating  to  or  concerned  in  such  elections  shall  be  construed 
accordingly,  provided  that  nothing  in  this  act  shall  enable  women  under 
coverture  to  be  registered  or  to  vote  at  such  elections. 

The  addition  of  this  clause  excited  much  discussion.  Those 
in  favor  of  it  argued  that  this  limitation  would  certainly  be  im- 
posed in  committee  of  the  House,  which  though  it  was  in  all 
probability  prepared  to  give  the  vote  to  women  possessed  of  in- 
dependence, dreaded  the  extension  of  faggot  votes  which  would 
have  been  the  almost  inevitable  consequence  of  admitting  married 
women  ;  while  the  result  would  be  the  same  whether  the  limitation 
clause  was  introduced  by  the  promoters  of  the  bill  or  by  a  par- 
liamentary committee,  and  it  would  be  more  likely  to  obtain 
support  at  the  second  reading  if  its  intentions  were  made  clear  in 
the  beginning.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  argued  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  giving  the  vote  to  women  in  the  same  degree  that  it  was 
given  to  men,  was  the  basis  upon  which  the  whole  agitation 
rested  ;  that  marriage  was  no  disqualification  to  men,  and  there- 
fore should  not  prove  so  to  women  ;  and  that,  though  it  might 
be  necessary  to  accept  a  limitation  by  parliament,  it  was  not  right 
for  the  society  to  lower  its  standard  by  proposing  a  compromise. 
This  divergence  in  the  views  of  the  supporters  of  the  movement 
was  the  cause  of  much  discussion  in  the  public  press  and  else- 
where, and  unfortunately  resulted  in  the  abstention  of  some 
of  the  oldest  friends  of  the  cause  from  working  in  support  of  this 
particular  bill,  although  it  was  admitted  on  all  sides  that  if  a  day 
could  be  obtained  its  chances  in  a  division  were  very  good. 


kept  her  doors  barred  against  the  coarse  minions  of  the  law,  but  ultimately  they  entered  the  house, 
sri/cil  her  goods  and  carried  them  off  to  be  sold  at  public  auction,  but  they  were  bought  in  by  friend* 
next  day.  Miss  Charlotte  E.  Hall  and  Miss  Babb  have  protested  and  resisted  taxation  for  many  years. 

It  is  probable  that  Miss  Miiller's  example  will  be  followed  by  many  others  next  year.  This  quiet 
fnrin  <>f  pn.tc-st  used  to  be  very  generally  followed  by  members  of  the  society  of  Friends,  and  must 
command  the  sympathy  of  our  co-workers  in  the  United  States,  who  date  their  national  existence  from 
their  refusal  to  submit  to  taxation  without  representation.— [K.  C.  S. 

*  The  bill  was  prepared  and  brought  in  by  Mr.  Woodall,  Mr.  Illingworth,  Mr.  Coleridge  Kennard, 
Mr.  Stansfeld,  Mr.  Yorke  and  Baron  Henry  de  Worms. 


890  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  bill  was  introduced  on  November  19,  1884,  and  its  oppon- 
ents took  the  unprecedented  course  of  challenging  a  division  at 
this  stage.  Leave  was  however  given  to  bring  it  in,  and  the 
second  reading  was  set  down  for  November  25,  and  then  for 
December  9 ;  on  each  occasion  it  was  postponed  owing  to  the 
adjournment  of  the  House.  It  was  next  set  down  for  Wednes- 
day, March  4,  but  its  chance  was  again  destroyed  by  the  appro- 
priation by  the  government  of  all  Wednesdays  for  the  Seats  bill. 
Mr.  Woodall  then  fixed  on  June  24,  but  before  that  time  the 
ministerial  crisis  occurred,  and  when  that  day  arrived  the  House 
had  been  adjourned  for  the  reflections  consequent  upon  a  change 
of  government.  He  then  obtained  the  first  place  on  Wednesday, 
July  22,  but  again  ministers  appropriated  Wednesdays,  and  all 
chances  for  the  session  being  over,  Mr.  Woodall  gave  order  to 
discharge  the  bill. 

This  delay  stands  in  sharp  and  painful  contrast  with  the 
promptness  with  which  parliament  passed  the  Medical  Relief 
bill.  A  clause  had  been  inserted  in  the  Franchise  bill  disfran- 
chising any  man  who  had  been  in  receipt  of  parish  medical  aid 
for  himself  or  family.  This  clause  caused  great  dissatisfaction 
as  it  was  stated  it  would  disqualify  from  voting  a  large  number 
of  laborers  in  the  agricultural  counties ;  parliament  therefore 
found  time  amidst  all  the  press  of  business  and  party  divisions  to 
pass  the  Medical  Relief  bill  removing  this  disfranchisement  from 
men,  though  we  are  repeatedly  assumed  that  nothing  but  the  want 
of  time  prevents  their  fair  consideration  of  the  enfranchisement 
of  women.  It  is  another  proof  that  there  is  always  time  for  a 
representative  government  to  attend  to  the  wants  of  its  con- 
stituents. 

Another  effort  was  made  in  the  House  of  Lords  by  Lord  Den- 
man  who  introduced  a  bill  for  extending  the  parliamentary  vote 
to  women.  The  committees  *  were  unaware  of  his  intention  until 


*  Central  Committee  of  the  National  Society  for  Women  s  Suffrage — Mrs.  Ashford  (Birming- 
ham), Miss  Lydia  E.  Becker  (Manchester),  Alfred  W.  Bennett,  esq.,  M.  A.,  Miss  Caroline  Ashurst 
Biggs,  Miss  Helen  Blackburn,  Miss  Jessie  Boucherett,  Hon.  Emmeline  Canning,  Miss  Frances  Power 
Cobbe,  Miss  Jane  Cobden,  Miss  Courtenay,  Leonard  Courteny,  esq.,  M.  P.,  Mrs.  Cowen  (Not- 
tingham), Miss  Mabel  Sharman  Crawford,  Mrs.  Ashton  Dilke,  Hon.  Mrs.  Maurice  Drummond  (Hamp- 
stead),  Mrs.  Millicent  G.  Fawcett,  Miss  Agnes  Garrett,  Rev.  C.  Green  (Bromley),  Mrs.  Ash- 
worth  Hallett  (Bristol),  Viscountess  Harberton,  Thomas  Hare,  esq.,  Mrs.  Ann  Maria  Haslam  (Dub- 
lin), Frederick  Hill,  esq.,  Mrs.  John  Hollond,  Mrs.  Frank  Morrison,  C.  H.  Hopwood,  esq.,  Q.  C.,  M. 
P.,  Mrs.  John  Hullah,  Coleridge  Kennard,  esq.,  M.  P.,  Mrs.  Margaret  Bright  Lucas,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Lynch, 
Robert  Main,  esq.,  Mrs.  Laura  Pochin  McLaren,  Mrs.  Eva  Miiller  McLaren  (Bradford).  Mrs.  Pris- 
cilla  Bright  McLaren  (Edinburgh),  Miss  Henrietta  Miiller,  Frederick  Pennington,  esq.,  M.  P.,  Mrs. 
F.  Pennington,  Miss  Reeves,  Mrs.  Saville,  Miss  Lillie  Stacpole,  Rev.  S.  A.  Steinthal  (Manchester), 
J.  S.  Symon,  esq.,  Miss  Helen  Taylor,  Sir  Richard  Temple,  G.  C.  S.  I.;  J.  P.  Thomasson,  esq.,  M. 
P.,  Mrs.  Katharine  Lucas  Thomasson  (Bolton),  Miss  Isabella  M.  Tod  (Belfast),  Miss  Williams,  William 


Our  Losses.  891 

they  read  a  notice  of  the  bill  in  the  newspapers.     The  enacting 
clause  was  as  follows  : 

All  women,  not  legally  disqualified,  who  have  the  same  qualifications  as 
the  present  and  future  electors  for  counties  and  divisions  of  counties  and 
boroughs,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  for  knights  of  the  shire  for  counties 
and  divisions  of  counties  and  for  boroughs,  at  every  election. 

A  division  was  taken  upon  it  on  June  23,  just  after  the  Seats 
bill  had  been  passed  and  the  peers  were  about  to  adjourn  in  con 
sequence  of  the  change  of  government.  Many  protests  were 
made  that  the  time  was  ill  chosen,  and  some  peers  left 
the  House  to  avoid  recording  their  votes  while  others  voted 
against  it  without  reference  to  its  merits  as  a  question.  The 
division  showed  8  in  favor  and  36  against.  There  appears  to  be 
a  strong  impression  that  if  a  bill  to  enfranchise  women  were 
passed  by  the  Commons  it  would  be  accepted  by  the  Lords,  while 
there  is  at  the  same  time  a  feeling  that  any  measure  dealing  with 
the  representation  of  the  people  should  originate  with  the  Com- 
mons, and  not  in  the  upper  House. 

During  the  year  1885  we  sustained  the  loss  of  many  of 
the  earliest  friends  of  the  movement ;  chief  among  these  Pro- 
fessor Fawcett,  who  from  the  commencement  of  its  history 
had  given  it  his  firm  and  unflinching  support.  His  conviction 
that  justice  and  freedom  must  gain  the  upper  hand  often  caused 
him  to  take  a  more  sanguine  view  of  the  prospect  than  the  event 
has  justified.  He  was  the  firm  friend  of  women  in  all  their 
recent  efforts,  and  helped  them  to  obtain  employment  in  the  civil 
service,  to  enter  the  medical  profession,  to  open  the  universities, 
and  in  many  other  ways.  Next  to  be  mentioned  is  the  death  of 
Mrs.  Stansfeld.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  William  H. 
Ashurst,  who  was  a  staunch  advocate  of  freedom  and  may 
be  remembered  as  the  first  English  friend  of  William  L.  Gar- 
rison. She  had  been  a  member  of  the  suffrage  committee  in 
London  for  more  than  sixteen  years,  and  gave  unfailing  sympathy 
to  all  the  efforts  made  by  her  noble  husband,  James  Stansfeld,  in 
behalf  of  the  rights  of  humanity.  This  year  has  also  been  sad- 
dened by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Ronald  Shearer,  formerly  Helena 
Downing,  an  able  and  true-hearted  woman,  who  had  devoted  her 
strength  and  talents  to  the  furtherance  of  our  cause  at  a  time 

o 

when  its  advocates  were  still  the  objects  of  ridicule  and  attack. 


Woodall,  esq.   M.   P.     Secretary,   Miss    Florence   Balgarnie.  Assistant  Secretary,  Miss  Torrance. 
Organizing  Agent,  Miss  Moore.     Treasurer,  Mrs.  Laura  Pochin  McLaren.     Office*  29  Parliament 

street,  London,  S.  W. 


892  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

The  electorate  of  three  millions  of  men  is  now  increased  to  five 
millions,  and  by  this  extension  of  the  suffrage  the  difficulty  of 
waging  an  up-hill  fight  in  the  interests  of  the  still  excluded  class 
has  also  been  increased.  The  interests  of  the  newly  represented 
classes  will  imperatively  claim  precedence  in  the  new  parliament. 
Like  the  emancipated  blacks  who  received  the  vote  after  the 
American  civil  war,  while  the  women  who  had  supported  the 
cause  of  the  Union  by  their  enthusiasm  and  their  sacrifices  were 
passed  over,  the  miners  and  laborers  of  English  counties  have 
received  the  franchise  for  which  they  have  never  asked,  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  women  who  have  worked,  petitioned  and  organized 
themselves  for  years  to  secure  it.  Women  have  now  to  appeal 
to  this  new  electorate  to  grant  that  justice  which  the  old  elector- 
ate has  denied  them  ;  they  have  to  begin  again  the  weary  round 
of  educating  their  new  masters  by  appeals  and  arguments ;  they 
will  once  more  see  their  interests  "  unavoidably  "  deferred  to  the 
interests  of  the  represented  classes ;  they  will  once  again  be  bid- 
den to  stand  aside  till  it  is  time  for  another  Reform  bill  to  be 
considered ! 

In  recounting  the  history  of  woman  suffrage  frequent  allusion 
has  been  made  to  the  parallel  movements  which  have  been  car- 
ried on  through  the  same  course  of  years ;  the  most  important  of 
these  have  been  :  (i)  The  admission  of  women  to  fields  of  pub- 
lic usefulness  ;  (2)  removal  of  legal  disabilities  and  hardships  ;  (3) 
admission  to  a  better  education  and  greater  freedom  of  employ- 
ment. Much  of  the  progress  that  has  been  made  has  been  the 
work  of  the  active  friends  of  woman  suffrage,  and  under  the  fos- 
tering care  of  the  suffrage  societies. 

Under  the  first  division  comes  the  work  of  women  on  the  school- 
boards.  The  education  act  of  1870  expressly  guaranteed  their 
right  of  being  elected,  and  even  in  the  first  year  several  were 
elected.  One,  Miss  Becker,  in  Manchester,  has  retained  her  seat 
ever  since.  In  London  the  number  of  lady  members  has  greatly 
varied.  Beginning  with  two,  Miss  Jarrett  and  Miss  Davis,  in 
1879  it  rose  to  nine,  but  now,  1885,  has  sunk  again  to  three,  Miss 
Davenport  Hill,  Mrs.  Westlake,  and  Mrs.  Webster.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  their  influence  has  been  very  usefully  exerted  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  children  and  the  young  teachers.  Under  this  head  also 
comes  women's  work  as  poor-law  guardians.  The  first  was  elected 
in  Kensington  in  1875.  Six  years  afterwards  a  small  society  to 
promote  the  election  of  women  was  founded  by  Miss  Miiller, 


Removal  of  Legal  Disabilities.  893 

and  the  number  elected  is  steadily  increasing.  There  are  now  in 
England  and  Scotland  in  all  forty-six.  In  Ireland  women  are 
still  debarred  from  this  useful  work.  The  election  occurs  every 
year,  and  it  is  one  of  the  local  franchises  that  women  as  well  as 
men  exercise.  Last  year  three  ladies  were  appointed  members  of 
the  Metropolitan  Board  which  looks  after  London  hospitals  and 
asylums.  In  1873  Mr.  Stansford,  then  president  of  the  local 
government  board,  appointed  Mrs.  Hassan  Session  assistant  in- 
spector of  work-houses,  and  after  an  interval  of  twelve  years  Miss 
Mason  was  appointed  to  the  same  position.  Women  are  also 
sometimes  appointed  as  church  wardens,  overseers  of  the  roads, 
and  registrars  of  births  and  deaths.  These  are  the  only  public 
offices  they  fill. 

Under  the  second  heading,  the  removal  of  legal  disabilities,  is 
included  the  Married  Woman's  Property  act,  which  was  finally 
passed  in  1882,  twenty-five  years  after  it  had  been  first  brought 
forward  in  parliament  by  Sir  Erskine  Perry.  The  ancient  law  of 
England  transferred  all  property  held  by  a  woman,  except  land, 
absolutely  to  her  husband.  A  step  was  gained  in  1870  by  which 
the  money  she  had  actually  earned  became  her  own.  This  was 
followed  by  frequent  amendments,  sometimes  in  Scotland,  some- 
times in  England,  and  a  comprehensive  bill  met  with  frequent 
vicissitudes,  now  in  the  House  of  Lords,  now  in  the  Commons. 
The  honor  of  this  long  contest  is  chiefly  due  to  Mrs.  Jacob 
Bright  and  Mrs.  Wolstenholme  Elmy,  whose  unwearied  efforts 
were  finally  crowned  with  success  by  the  act  of  1882,  under  which 
the  property  of  a  married  woman  is  absolutely  secured  to  her  as 
if  she  were  single,  and  the  power  to  contract  and  of  sueing  and 
being  sued,  also  secured  to  her.  The  right  to  the  custody  of 
their  own  children  is  another  point  for  which  women  are  strug- 
gling. In  1884,  Mr.  Bryce,  M.  P.,  brought  in  a  bill  to  render  a 
mother  the  legal  guardian  of  her  children  after  the  father's  death. 
This  was  read  a  second  time  by  a  vote  of  207  for,  and  only  73 
against.  In  1885,  however,  though  passing  the  House  of 
Lords,  it  was  postponed  till  too  late  in  the  Commons.  Another 
important  alteration  in  the  legal  condition  of  married  women  was 
made  in  1878.  In  that  year  Mr.  Herschell  introduced  the  Matri- 
monial Causes  act  to  remedy  a  gross  injustice  in  the  divorce  law. 
and  Lord  Pensance  inserted  a  clause  which  provided  that  if  a 
woman  were  brutally  ill-treated  by  her  husband,  a  magistrate 
might  order  a  separate  maintenance  for  her  and  assign  her  the 


894  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

care  of  her  children.  It  is  no  secret  that  the  original  drafting  of 
this  clause  was  due  to  Miss  Frances  Power  Cobbe.  The  long 
struggle  which  is  not  yet  terminated  against  the  infamous  Con- 
tagious Diseases  acts  belongs  to  this  division  of  work.  The  acts 
were  passed  in  1866,  '69,  and  for  many  years  were  supported 
by  an  overpowering  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Mr. 
Stansfeld,  who  has  always  been  the  supporter  of  every  movement 
advancing  the  influence  of  women,  has  been  the  leader  of  this 
agitation.  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler,  Mrs.  Stewart  of  Ougar,  and 
latterly  Mrs.  Ormiston  Chant,  have  been  the  most  untiring  speak- 
ers on  this  question.  On  April  26,  1883,  Mr.  Stansfeld  carried  a 
resolution  by  a  vote  of  184  against  112  for  the  abolition  of  the 
acts,  since  which  time  the  acts  have  been  suspended,  but  we  must 
look  to  the  new  parliament  for  their  total  repeal.  The  Criminal- 
law  Amendment  act  was  the  great  triumph  of  1885.  It  had  been 
postponed  session  after  session,  but  the  bold  denunciation  of  Mr. 
Stead,  editor  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  finally  roused  the  national 
conscience,  and  now  a  larger  measure  of  protection  is  afforded 
to  young  girls  than  has  ever  been  known  before. 

Of  the  successive  steps  by  which  colleges  have  been  founded 
for  women,  and  the  universities  opened  to  them,  it  is  impossible 
to  give  any  record.  The  London  University  and  the  Royal  Uni- 
versity of  Ireland,  recognize  fully  the  equality  of  women ;  nine 
ladies  secured  the  B.  A.  diploma  from  the  latter  university 
in  1884,  and  nine  more  in  1885.  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
extend  their  examinations  to  women.  The  Victoria  Uni- 
versity acknowledges  their  claim  to  examination.  The  London 
school  of  medicine  gives  a  first  rate  education  to  women 
(there  are  48  this  session),  and  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons, 
Dublin,  admits  them  to  its  classes.  There  are  now  about  45 
ladies  who  are  registered  as  medical  practitioners.  One  of  them, 
Miss  Edith  Stone,  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Fawcett  medical  super- 
intendent of  the  female  staff  at  the  general  post-office,  London. 
The  success  of  the  movement  for  supplying  women  as  physicians 
for  the  vast  Indian  empire  has  attained  remarkable  success  during 
the  last  two  years. 


CHAPTER    LVII. 
CONTINENTAL    EUROPE.* 

4 

BY  THEODORE  STANTON. 

If  you  would  know  the  political  and  moral  status  of  a  people,  demand  what  place 
its  women  occupy. — [L.  AIMH  MARTIN. 

There  is  nothing,  I  think,  which  marks  more  decidedly  the  character  of  men  or  of 
nations,  than  the  manner  in  which  they  treat  women. — [HERDER. 

The  Woman  Question  in  the  Back-ground — In  France  the  Agitation  Dates  from  the 
Upheaval  of  1789 — International  Women's  Rights  Convention  in  Paris,  1878 — 
Mile.  Hubertine  Auclert  Leads  the  Demand  for  Suffrage — Agitation  began  in  Italy 
with  the  Kingdom — Concepcion  Arenal  in  Spain — Coeducation  in  Portugal — Ger- 
many :  Leipsic  and  Berlin — Austria  in  Advance  of  Germany — Caroline  Svetla  of 
Bohemia — Austria  Unsurpassed  in  contradictions — Marriage  Emancipates  from 
Tutelage  in  Hungary — Dr.  Henrietta  Jacobs  of  Holland — Dr  Isala  van  Diest  of 
Belgium — In  Switzerland  the  Catholic  Cantons  Lag  Behind — Marie  Goegg,  the 
Leader — Sweden  Stands  First — Universities  Open  to  Women  in  Norway — Associa- 
tions in  Denmark — Liberality  of  Russia  toward  Women — Poland — The  Orient — 
Turkey — Jewish  Wives — The  Greek  Woman  in  Turkey — The  Greek  Woman  in 
Greece — An  Unique  Episode — Woman's  Rights  in  the  American  Sense  not  known. 

THE  reader  of  the  preceding  pages  will  be  sorely  disappointed 
if  he  expects  to  find  in  this  brief  chapter  a  similar  record  of 
progress  and  reform.  If,  however,  he  looks  simply  for  an  earnest 
of  the  future,  for  a  humble  beginning  of  that  wonderful  revolu- 
tion in  favor  of  women  which  has  occurred  in  the  United  States, 
and  to  a  less  degree  in  England,  during  the  past  quarter  of  a 
century,  his  expectations  will  be  fully  realized.  More  than  this; 
he  will  close  this  long  account  of  woman's  emancipation  in  the 
new  world  convinced  that  in  due  season  a  similar  blessing  is  to 
be  enjoyed  by  the  women  of  the  old  world. 

For  the  moment,  the  woman  question  in  Europe  is  pushed  into 
the  background  by  the  all-absorbing  struggle  still  going  on  in 
various  forms  between  the  republican  and  monarchical  principle, 
between  the  vital  present  and  the  moribund  past ;  but  the  most 

*  This  chapter  is,  in  large  part,  a  resumi  of  Mr.  Stanton's  valuable  work  "  The  Woman  Question 
in  Europe, "published  in  1884  by  the  Putnams  of  New  York,  to  which  we  refer  the  reader  who 
desires  to  study  more  in  detail  the  European  movement  for  women. — [THK  EDITORS. 


896  History  of  Woman  Siiffrage. 

superficial  observer  must  perceive,  that  the  amelioration  of  the 
lamentable  situation  of  European  womanhood  is  sure  to  be  one 
of  the  first  problems  to  come  to  the  front  for  resolution,  as  soon 
as  liberty  gains  undisputed  control  on  this  continent, — a  victory 
assured  in  the  not-distant  future.  When  men  shall  have  secured 
their  rights,  the  battle  will  be  half  won ;  women's  rights  will  fol- 
low as  a  natural  sequence. 

The  most  logical  beginning  for  a  sketch  of  the  woman  move- 
ment on  the  continent,  and  indeed  of  any  step  in  advance,  is  of 
course  France,  where  ideas,  not  facts,  stand  out  the  more  promi- 
nently ;  for,  in  questions  of  reform,  the  abstract  must  always 
precede  the  concrete, — public  opinion  must  be  convinced  before 
it  will  accept  an  innovation.  This  has  been  the  role  of  France 
in  Europe  ever  since  the  great  revolution  ;  it  is  her  rdle  to-day. 
She  is  the  agitator  of  the  old  world,  and  agitation  is  the  lever  of 
reform. 

The  woman  movement  in  France  dates  from  the  upheaval  of 
1789.  Though  the  demands  for  the  rights  of  man  threw  all  other 
claims  into  the  shade,  a  few  women  did  not  fail  to  perceive  that 
they  also  had  interests  at  stake.  Marie  Olympe  de  Gouges,  for 
example,  in  her  "  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Woman,"  vindi- 
cated for  her  sex  all  the  liberties  proclaimed  in  the  famous 
"  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man."  During  the  empire  and  the 
restoration  the  reform  slept ;  under  the  July  monarchy  there  was 
an  occasional  murmur,  which  burst  forth  into  a  vigorous  protest 
when  the  revolution  of  1848  awakened  the  aspirations  of  1789, 
and  George  Sand  consecrated  her  talent  to  the  cause  of  progress. 
During  the  second  empire,  in  spite  of  the  oppressive  nature  of 
the  government,  the  movement  took  on  a  more  definite  form  ;  its 
advocates  became  more  numerous ;  and  men  and  women  who 
held  high  places  in  literature,  politics  and  journalism,  spoke  out 
plainly  in  favor  of  ameliorating  the  condition  of  French  women. 
Then  came  the  third  republic,  with  more  freedom  than  France 
had  enjoyed  since  the  beginning  of  the  century.  The  woman 
movement  felt  the  change,  and,  during  the  past  ten  years,  its 
friends  have  been  more  active  than  ever  before. 

The  most  tangible  event  in  the  history  of  the  question  in 
France  is  the  International  Woman's  Rights  Congress,  the  first 
international  gathering  of  the  kind,  which  assembled  in  Paris  in 
the  months  of  July  and  August  during  the  exposition  season  of 
1878.  The  committee  which  called  the  congress  contained  repre- 
sentatives from  six  different  countries,  viz.:  France,  Switzerland, 


International  Congress  at  Paris.  897 

Italy,  Holland,  Russia  and  America.  Among  the  eighteen  mem- 
bers from  France  were  two  senators,  five  deputies  and  three  Paris 
municipal  councilors.  Italy  was  represented  by  a  deputy  and 
the  Countess  of  Travers,  an  indefatigable  friend  of  the  under- 
taking, who  died  just  before  the  opening  of  the  congress.  The 
American  members  of  the  committee  were  Julia  Ward  Howe, 
Mary  A.  Livermore  and  Theodore  Stanton.  Among  the  mem- 
bers *  of  the  congress,  besides  those  just  mentioned,  were  depu- 
ties, senators,  publicists,  journalists,  and  men  and  women  of 
letters  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  Sixteen  different  organizations 
in  Europe  and  America  sent  delegates.  The  National  Woman 
Suffrage  Association  was  represented  by  Jane  Graham  Jones  and 
Theodore  Stanton,  and  the  American  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion by  Julia  Ward  Howe. 

The  work  of  the  congress  was  divided  into  five  sections,  as 
follows:  the  historical,  the  educational,  the  economic,  the  moral, 
and  the  legislative.  The  congress  was  opened  on  July  25,  by 
Leon  Richer,  its  promoter  and  originator,  and  one  of  the  most 
indefatigable  friends  of  women's  rights  in  France.  He  invited 
Maria  Deraismes,  an  able  speaker  well  known  among  Paris 
reformers,  to  act  as  temporary  chairman.  The  next  thing  in 
order  was  the  election  of  two  permanent  presidents,  a  man  and  a 
woman.  The  late  M.  Antide  Martin,  then  an  influential  member 
of  the  Paris  municipal  council,  and  Julia  Ward  Howe  were 
chosen.  Mrs.  Howe,  on 'taking  the  chair  made  a  short  speech 
which  was  very  well  received  ;  Anna  Maria  Mozzoni,  of  Milan,  a 
most  eloquent  orator,  followed ;  and  then  Genevieve  Graham 
Jones  advanced  to  the  platform,  and  in  the  name  of  her 
mother,  Jane  Graham  Jones,  delegate  of  the  National  Woman 
Suffrage  Association,  she  conveyed  to  the  congress  messages 
of  good-will  from  the  United  States.  This  address,  delivered 
with  much  feeling,  and  appealing  to  French  patriotism,  was 
enthusiastically  received.  When  Miss  Jones  had  taken  her 
seat,  M.  Martin  arose,  thanked  the  foreign  ladies  for  their  ad- 
mirable words,  and  concluded  in  these  terms:  *'In  the  name  of 
my  compatriots,  I  particularly  return  gratitude  to  Miss  Graham 
Jones  for  the  eloquent  and  cordial  manner  in  which  she  has  just 

*  The  United  States  was  represented  by  Albert  Brisbane  and  Mr».  Brisbane,  of  New  York ; 
Elizabeth  Chalmers  and  Mrs.  Gibbons,  of  Philadelphia  ;  Colonel  T.  W.  Higginson,  of  Massachusetts  ; 
Miss  Hotchkiss,  Fernando  Jones  and  his  wife  and  daughter,  Jane  Graham  Jones  and  Gcncvicve 
Graham  Jones  (now  Mrs.  Geo.  R.  Grant),  Mrs. Klumpkc  and  her  two  daughters,  of  Chicago;  Mrs. 
Party  and  Louisa  Southworth,  of  Ohio. 

57 


898  History  of  Woman  Suffrage, 

referred  to  France,  and  in  turn,  I  salute  republican  America, 
which  so  often  offers  Europe  examples  of  good  sense,  wisdom 
and  liberty." 

At  the  second  session  was  read  a  long  and  eloquent  let- 
ter from  Salvatore  Morelli,*  the  Italian  deputy.  Theodore 
Stanton  read  a  paper  entitled,  "The  Woman  Movement  in  the 
United  States."  The  third  session  was  devoted  to  the  educa- 
tional phase  of  the  woman  question.  Tony  Revillon,  who  has 
since  become  one  of  the  radical  deputies  of  Paris,  spoke,  and 
3Iiss  Hotchkiss  presented  an  able  report  on  "  The  Education  of 
"Women  in  America."  After  Miss  Hotchkiss  had  finished, 
Auguste  Desmoulins,  now  a  member  of  the  Paris  municipal 
-council,  offered,  as  president  of  the  section,  a  resolution  advo- 
cating the  principal  reforms — the  same  studies  for  boys  and  girls, 
and  coeducation — demanded  by  Miss  Hotchkiss.  The  resolution 
"was  carried  without  debate.  Aurelia  Cimino  Folliero  de  Luna,  of 
Florence,  followed  in  a  few  remarks  on  the  "  Mission  of  Woman." 
Eugenie  Pierre,  of  Paris,  spoke  on  the  "  Vices  of  Education  in 
Different  Classes  of  Society,"  and  in  closing  complimented 
America  in  the  highest  terms  for  its  progressive  position  on  the 
woman  question.  In  fact,  the  example  of  the  United  States  was 
frequently  cited  throughout  the  proceedings  of  this  congress, 
and  the  reformers  of  America  may  find  some  joy  in  feeling  that 
their  labors  are  producing  fruit  even  in  the  old  world. 

At  the  last  session  of  the  congress,  August  9,  1^78,  a  permanent 
international  committee  was  announced.  France,  England,  Italy, 
Alsace-Lorraine,  Switzerland,  Germany,  Holland,  Sweden,  Poland, 
Russia,  Roumania  and  the  United  States  are  all  represented  on 
this  committee.f  The  chief  duties  of  this  committee  were  to  be 


*  Before  closing  this  brief  sketch,  I  desire  to  mention  with  deep  gratitude  the  name  of  the  man  who 
first  lifted  up  his  voice  in  the  Italian  parliament  to  defend  and  protect  women.  Salvatore  Morelli 
deserves  the  veneration  of  every  Italian  woman.  His  first  book,  "  Woman  and  Science  "  {La  Donna 
e  la  Scienza),  dedicated  to  Antona  Traversi.was  animated  by  a  just  and  noble  spirit,  too  radical,  how- 
ever, to  meet  with  universal  approbation.  When  he  entered  parliament,  Morelli,  with  the  same 
courage,  constancy,  and  radicalism,  demanded  the  complete  emancipation  of  women.  Conservatives 
laughed,  and  many  friends  of  our  movement  trembled  for  the  cause.  Ably  seconded  by  Mancini,  he 
succeeded  in  securing  for  women  the  right  to  testify  in  civil  actions,  a  dignity  which  they  had  not  pre- 
viously enjoyed,  although,  by  an  absurd  contradiction  they  could  be  witnesses  in  criminal  cases,  convict  of 
murder  by  a  single  word  and  send  the  criminal  to  the  scaffold.  One  of  Morelli's  last  acts  was  a 
divorce  bill  which  was  examined  by  the  Chamber.  Guardasigilli  Tomman  Villa,  the  then  Minister  of 
Justice,  was  inclined  to  accept  it,  but  death,  which  occurred  in  1880,  saved  poor  Morelli  the  pain  of 
seeing  his  proposition  rejected.  An  appeal  to  women  has  been  made  to  raise  a  modest  monument  to 
Salvatore  Morelli  in  memory  of  his  good  deeds,  by  Aurelia  Cimino  Folliero  de  Luna.  The  author  of 
this  essay  has  been  requested  to  receive  subscriptions  to  this  fund.  Such  subscriptions  will  be  acknowl- 
edged and  forwarded  to  the  Italian  Committee.  They  should  be  addressed  to  Theoaore  Stanton, 
9  rue  de  Bassano,  Paris,  France. 

t  The  American  members  are  as  follow* :  Massachusetts,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Lucy  Stone ;  Illinois, 
Jane  Graham  Jones,  Miss  Hotchkiss ;  New  York,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
Theodore  Stanton  ;  Pennsylvania,  Mrs.  Gibbons,  of  Philadelphia. 


From  France  to  Italy.  goo 

the  advancement  of  the  reforms  demanded  by  the  congress  and 
to  issue  the  call  for  the  next  international  gathering.  The  con- 
gress ended  with  a  grand  banquet  on  the  evening  of  the  last  day's 
session,  in  which  about  two  hundred  guests  participated. 

The  present  situation  in  France  is  full  of  interest  and  en- 
couragement. There  are  societies,  journals,  and  different  groups 
of  reformers  all  striving  independently  but  earnestly  to  better 
the  situation  of  French  women  politically,  civilly,  morally  and 
intellectually.  At  the  head  of  the  agitation  in  favor  of  women's 
political  rights  stand  Hubertine  Auclert  and  her  vigorous 
monthly,  La  Citoyenne*;  the  reformers  of  the  code  are  lead  by 
L£on  Richer  and  his  outspoken  monthly,  Le  Droit  dcs  Femmes\\ 
the  movement  in  favor  of  divorce,  which  was  crowned  with 
success  in  the  summer  of  1884,  is  headed  by  Alfred  Naquet  in 
the  senate,  and  finds  one  of  its  earliest  and  ablest  supporters  in 
Olympe  Audouard ;  the  emancipation  of  women  from  priestly 
domination — and  herein  lies  the  greatest  and  most  dangerous 
obstacle  that  the  reformers  encounter — counts  among  its  many 
advocates  Maria  Deraismes ;  woman's  moral  improvement,  to  be 
mainly  accomplished  by  the  abolition  of  legalized  prostitution, 
is  demanded  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Chapman  and  Emilie  de  Morsier; 
while  the  great  uprising  in  favor  of  woman's  education  has  such 
a  host  of  friends  and  has  already  produced  such  grand  results, 
that  the  brief  limits  of  this  sketch  will  permit  neither  an  enu- 
meration of  the  one  nor  the  other. 

The  transition  from  France  to  Italy  is  easy  and  natural,  for  it 
is  on  the  Cisalpine  peninsula  that  Gallic  ideas  have  always  taken 
deeper  root  than  elsewhere  on  the  Continent,  and,  as  might  be 
expected,  the  Italian  woman  movement  resembles  in  many  re- 
spects that  of  which  we  have  just  spoken. 

With  the  formation  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy  in  1870  began  a 
well-defined  agitation  in  favor  of  Italian  women.  The  educa- 
tional question  was  first  taken  up.  Prominent  among  the 
women  who  participated  in  this  movement  were  Laura  Mante- 
gazza,  the  Marchioness  Brigida  Tanari,  and  Alessandrina  Ravizza. 
Aurelia  Cimino  Folliero  de  Luna,  who  has  devoted  her  whole 
life  to  improving  the  condition  of  her  countrywomen,  writes  me 
from  Florence  on  this  subject.  "  Here  it  was, "  she  says,  "  that 
the  example  of  American  and  English  women,  who  in  this  re- 

*  The  office  of  this  journal  is  12,  rue  de  Cail,  Paris. 

t  The  office  of  this  journal  is  4,  rue  dcs  Deux-Gare»,  Paris. 


900  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

spect  were  our  superiors,  was  useful  to  us.  While  we  were  still 
under  foreign  domination  and  ignorant  of  solidarity  of  sex,  they 
were  free  and  united."  The  new  political  life  produced  a 
number  of  able  women  orators  and  writers,  such  as  Anna  Mozzoni, 
Malvina  Frank,  Gualberta  Beccari,  and  many  others.  The  last 
named  founded  at  Venice  La  Donna,  and  in  1872  Aurelia  Cimino 
Folliero  de  Luna  established  in  Florence  La  Cornelia,  which  has 
since  ceased  to  exist,  while  in  1882  Ernesta  Napollon  began  at 
Naples  the  publication  of  the  short-lived  LUmanitario,  the 
youngest  of  a  goodly  list  of  journals  which  have  done  much  to 
excite  an  interest  in  the  woman  question.  ,  The  Italian  govern- 
ment has  generously  seconded  the  efforts  of  the  reformers.  The 
code  has  been  modified,  schools  have  been  established,  the  univer- 
sities thrown  open  and  courses  in  agriculture  proposed. 

But  the  most  significant  sign  of  progress  in  Italy  was  afforded  by 
the  great  universal  suffrage  convention,  held  at  Rome  on  February 
II,  12,  1 88 1.  Anna  Mozzoni,  delegate  to  the  convention  from 
the  Milan  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Woman's  Interests,  of 
which  she  is  the  able  president,  made  an  eloquent  appeal  for 
woman  suffrage  and  introduced  a  resolution  to  this  effect  which 
was  carried  by  a  good  majority.*  In  1876  a  committee  of  the 
Chamber,  of  which  the  deputy  Peruzzi  was  chairman,  reported 
a  bill  in  favor  of  conferring  on  women  the  right  to  vote  on  muni- 
cipal and  provincial  questions  (poto  amministrativo),  a  privilege 
which  they  had  formerly  enjoyed  in  Lombardy  and  Venice  un- 
der Austrian  rule.  This  bill  was  reintroduced  in  1882  by  the 
Depretis  ministry  and  was  reported  upon  favorably  by  the  proper 
committee  in  June,  1884.  It  is  believed  that  the  proposition 
will  soon  become  a  law.  If  such  is  the  case,  Italian  women  will 
enjoy  the  same  rights  as  Italian  men  in  municipal  and  provincial 
affairs,  with  this  exception,  that  they  will  not  be  eligible  to 
office  in  the  bodies  of  which  they  are  electors.f  Aurelia  Cimino 
Folliero  de  Luna,  says : 

I  make  no  doubt  that  in  a  few  years  the  question  of  the  emancipation 
of  women  in  Italy  will  be  better  understood ;  will  be  regarded  from  a 
more  elevated  standpoint  and  will  receive  a  more  general  and  greater 
support;  for  if  we  turn  to  the  past,  we  shall  be  astonished  at  what  has 
already  been  accomplished  in  this  direction. 

*  See  the  Index,  of  Boston,  May  19,  1881,  where  I  give  in  full  this  remarkable  speech, 
t  What  is  said  of  Austria  in  this  respect  further  on  in  this  chapter  will  apply  to  Italy  if  the  proposed 
reform  is  finally  accepted  by  parliament. 


Spain,  Portugal. 

Concepcion  Arenal,  the  distinguished  Spanish  authoress,  signals 
several  signs  of  progress  in  her  country.  This  lady  writes : 

In  the  schools  founded  by  the  Madrid  Association  for  the  Education  of 
Women,  nearly  five  hundred  girls  pursue  courses  in  pedagogics,  com- 
mercial studies,  modern  languages,  painting,  etc.  This  instruction,  for 
the  most  part  gratis,  is  given  by  professors  who  devote  their  time  and 
strength  to  this  noble  object  without  receiving  any  remuneration, — worthy 
continuators  of  the  grand  work  of  the  founder  of  the  Madrid  high-school 
for  women,  Fernando  de  Castro,  of  blessed  memory,  one  of  the  most 
philanthropic  men  I  ever  met,  who  so  loved  mankind  that  his  name  should 
be  known  in  every  land.  Nine  hundred  and  eighteen  girls  attended  the 
session  of  1880-1881  of  the  school  of  music  and  declamation  at  Madrid,  and 
the  number  has  since  increased. 

A  few  years  ago  a  school  of  arts  and  trades  was  founded  at  the  capital, 
and  women  were  admitted  to  the  classes  in  drawing.  In  1881,  one  hundred 
and  thirty  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege.  In  1882,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-four  female  students  were  present  at  the  institutions  (institutes)  for 
intermediate  education  in  Spain.  The  coeducation  of  the  sexes,  there- 
fore, is  not  unknown  to  us.  In  that  year  Valencia,  Barcelona,  Gerona 
and  Seville  each  counted  sixteen,  while  the  single  girl  at  Mahon  discon- 
tinued her  studies  on  the  ground  that  she  preferred  not  to  mingle  with 
boys.  At  Malaga,  the  only  female  aspirant  for  the  bachelor's  degree  took 
seven  prizes,  and  was  "  excellent "  in  all  her  studies.  During  the  academic 
year,  1881-1882,  twelve  women  attended  lectures  in  the  Spanish  universities. 
The  three  at  Madrid  were  all  working  for  the  doctorate,  and  one  had 
passed  the  necessary  examinations ;  the  two  at  Valladolid  were  occupied 
with  medicine,  while  at  Barcelona  five  were  studying  medicine,  one  law, 
and  one  pharmacy.  Three  9f  the  medical  students  have  passed  their  ex- 
aminations, but  instead  of  the  degrees,  which  are  refused  them,  they  are 
granted  certificates  which  do  not  allow  them  to  practice. 

Our  public  opinion  is  progressing,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  laws,  and 
especially  by  the  educational  reforms,  which  are  the  exclusive  work  of 
men.  The  council  of  public  instruction,  a  consulting  body  holding  by 
no  means  advanced  ideas,  was  called  upon  a  short  time  ago,  to  decide 
whether  the  university  certificates  conferred  upon  women  could  be  con- 
verted into  regular  degrees,  which  would  entitle  the  recipients  to  the  en- 
joyment of  the  privileges  attached  to  these  titles.  The  learned  council 
discussed,  hesitated,  tried  to  decide  the  question,  but  finally  left  it  in  a 
situation  which  was  neither  clear  nor  conclusive.  This  hesitancy  and 
vagueness  are  very  significant;  a  few  years  ago  a  negative  decision  would 
huvc  been  given  promptly  and  in  the  plainest  terms. 

Portugal  is  following  closely  upon  the  steps  of  Spain,  and,  in 
the  former  as  in  the  latter  country,  it  is  in  the  department  of 
education  that  the  most  marked  signs  of  an  awakening  are  to  be 
found.  Rodrigues  de  Freitas,  the  well-known  publicist  and  re- 
publican statesman  of  Porto,  says: 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

There  is  not  a  single  intermediate  school  for  girls  in  all  Portugal.  In 
1883,  the  Portugese  parliament  took  up  the  subject  of  intermediate  in- 
struction, and  discussed  the  question  in  its  relation  to  women,  and  the  pro- 
gress in  this  direction  realized  in  France  during  the  last  few  years.  A 
deputy  who  opposed  the  reform,  recalled  the  words  of  Jules  Simon;  pro- 
nounced in  a  recent  sitting  of  the  council  of  public  instruction  at  Paris. 
The  philosopher  remarked : 

We  are  here  a  few  old  men,  very  fortunate  gentlemen,  in  being  excused  from  having 
to  marry  the  girls  you  propose  to  bring  up. 

Our  minister  of  the  interior,  who  has  charge  of  public  instruction,  fol- 
lowed, and  declared  that  he  was  in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  girls' 
colleges.  He  said : 

It  is  true  that  M.  Jules  Simon  considers  himself  fortunate  in  not  having  to  marry  a 
girl  educated  in  a  French  college;  but  I  think  I  have  discovered  the  reason  for  this 
aversion.  He  is  getting  in  his  dotage,  otherwise  he  would  experience  no  repugnance 
in  proposing  to  such  a  girl,  provided,  of  course,  that,  along  with  an  education,  she  was 
at  the  same  time  pretty  and  virtuous. 

The  chamber  laughed.  And  such  is  the  situation  to-day :  the  minister 
favorable  to  the  better  instruction  of  women,  while  neither  minister  nor 
deputies  make  an  earnest  effort  to  bring  it  about. 

This  dark  picture  is  relieved,  however,  by  one  or  two  bright  touches. 
There  are  many  private  boarding  schools  where  families  in  easy  circum- 
stances send  their  daughters,  who  learn  to  speak  several  languages,  are 
taught  a  little  elementary  mathematics  and  geography,  and  acquire  a  few 
accomplishments.  Some  of  the  pupils  of  these  institutions  pass  with 
credit  the  examinations  of  the  boys'  lyceums  or  colleges.  Article  72,  of 
the  law  of  June  14,  1880,  on  intermediate  instruction,  reads  as  follows  : 
"  Students  of  the  female  sex,  who  wish  to  enter  the  State  schools,  or  pass 
the  examinations  of  said  schools,  come  within  the  provisions  of  this  law, 
except  as  regards  the  regulations  concerning  boarding  scholars."  That  is 
to  say,  girls  enjoy  in  the  State  intermediate  schools  the  same  privileges 
as  male  day  scholars.  Many  girls  have  availed  themselves  of  this  oppor- 
tunity and  have  passed  the  lyceum  examinations. 

Crossing  the  Rhine  into  the  Teutonic  countries,  we  find  less 
progress  on  the  whole,  than  among  the  Latin  races.  Germany, 
however,  if  behind  France  and  Italy,  is  far  ahead  of  Spain  and 
Portugal.  The  agitation  is  divided  into  two  currents :  the  Leip- 
sic  and  the  Berlin  movements.  The  former  is  the  older,  the 
General  Association  of  German  Women  having  been  founded 
in  Leipsic  in  October,  1865.  Louise  Otto-Peters,  the  prime 
mover  in  the  organization  of  this  association,  may  be  considered 
the  originator  of  the  German  movement.  A  novelist  of  much 
power,  whose  stories  all  teach  a  lesson  in  socialism,  she  established 
in  1848,  the  year  of  the  great  revolutionary  fermentation  through- 
out Europe,  the  first  paper  which  advocated  the  interests  of 
women  in  Germany.  The  aims  of  the  Leipsic  and  Berlin  re- 


Germany:    Leipsic,  Berlin.  903 

formers  were  of  an  economic  and  educational  nature.  It  was 
felt  that  the  time  had  come  when  woman  must  have  wider  and 
better  paid  fields  of  work,  and  when  she  must  be  more  thoroughly 
educated  in  order  to  be  able  the  easier  to  gain  her  livelihood.  A 
paper,  New  Paths  (Neue  Bahnen),  was  established  as  the  organ  of 
the  association.  It  still  exists.  The  plan  of  holding  annual 
conventions — much  like  those  which  have  been  in  progress  in 
America  for  so  many  years — in  the  chief  cities  of  Germany  was 
settled  upon,  and  numerous  meetings  of  this  kind  have  already 
occurred.  At  these  gatherings  all  questions  pertaining  to 
woman's  advancement  are  discussed,  and  auxiliary  associations 
organized.  The  General  Association  of  German  Women  has 
sent  several  petitions  to  the  Reichstag,  or  imperial  parliament, 
demanding  various  reforms  and  innovations.  The  principal 
members  of  the  association  are  Louise  Otto-Peters,  the  president 
and  editor  of  the  Neue  Bahnen ;  Henriette  Goldschmidt,  the 
most  effective  speaker  of  the  group ;  and  Mrs.  Winter,  the 
treasurer,  all  of  whom  live  in  Leipsic  ;  Miss  Menzzer  of  Dresden  ; 
Lina  Morgenstern,  the  well-known  Berlin  philanthropist ;  and 
Marie  Calm  of  Cassel,  perhaps  the  most  radical  of  the  body, 
whose  ideas  on  woman  suffrage  are  much  the  same  as  those 
entertained  in  England  and  the  United  States.  In  fact,  an 
American  is  frequently  struck  by  the  similarity  between  many 
of  the  features  of  the  General  Association  of  German  Women, 
and  the  Woman's  Rights  Association  in  the  United  States. 

The  Berlin  movement,  which  resembles  that  of  Leipsic  in 
everything  except  that  it  is  rather  more  conservative,  owes  its 
origin  to  that  distinguished  philanthropist,  Dr.  Adolf  Lette. 
The  Lette  Verein,  or  Lette  Society,  so  called  in  honor  of  its 
founder,  was  organized  in  December,  1865,  but  a  few  months 
after  the  establishment  of  the  Leipsic  association.  The  object 
of  the  society  is,  as  has  already  been  said,  to  improve  the 
material  condition  of  women,  especially  poor  women,  by  giving 
them  a  better  education,  by  teaching  them  manual  employments, 
by  helping  to  establish  them  in  business — in  a  word,  by  afford- 
ing them  the  means  to  support  themselves.  The  Lette  Society 
has  become  the  nucleus  of  similar  organizations  scattered  all 
over  the  German  empire.  Its  organ,  the  German  Woman's 
Advocate  (Dcutchcr  Fraucnanwalt\  is  a  well-conducted  little 
monthly,  edited  by  the  secretary  of  the  society,  Jenny  Hirsch. 
Anna  Schepeler-Lette,  daughter  of  the  founder,  has  been  for  many 


904  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

years  and  is  still  at  the  head  of  this  admirable  society.     She 
writes  me : 

If  we  are  asked  whether  we  would  have  women  enter  put>lic  life, 
whether  we  would  wish  them  to  become  professors  in  the  university, 
clergymen  in  the  church,  and  lawyers  at  the  bar,  as  is  the  case  in  America, 
we  should  make  no  response,  Tor  they  are  but  idle  questions.  These  de- 
mands have  not  yet  been  made  in  Germany,  nor  will  they  be  made  for  a 
long  time  to  come,  if  ever.  But  why  peer  into  the  future  ?  We  have  to- 
day many  institutions,  many  customs,  which  past  centuries  would  have 
looked  upon  as  contrary  to  Divine  and  human  law.  In  this  connection  we 
would  say  with  Sancho  Panza  :  "  What  is,  is  able  to  be." 

The  German  philosopher,  Herr  von  Kirchmann,  is  more  de- 
cided in  his  views  concerning  the  future  of  his  countrywomen. 
In  one  of  his  last  works,  entitled  "  Questions  and  Dangers  of  the 
Hour  "  (Zcitfragen  und  Abenteuer)  is  a  chapter  on  "  Women  in 
the  Past  and  Future,"  where  it  is  shown  that  the  female  sex  has 
been  gradually  gaining  its  freedom,  and  the  prediction  is  made 
that  the  day  is  near  at  hand  when  women  will  obtain  their  com- 
plete independence  and  will  compete  with  men  in  every  depart- 
ment of  life,  not  excepting  politics. 

Turning  to  the  other  great  Germanic  nation,  Austria,  we  find 
still  less  progress  than  in  the  north.  In  fact,  the  movement  in 
the  south  is  little  more  than  a  question  of  woman's  self-support. 
The  important  problem  of  woman's  education  is  not  yet  resolved 
in  Germany,  and  in  Austria  still  less  has  been  done.  "  In  two 
particulars,"  writes  a  Berlin  correspondent,  "  Austria  may  be 
said  to  be  in  advance  of  Germany.  The  admission  of  women  to 
the  university  does  not  present  such  insurmountable  difficulties, 
and  her  employment  in  railroad,  post,  and  telegraph  offices 
does  not  encounter  such  strong  opposition."  But  it  must  not 
be  supposed  from  this  statement  that  the  Austrian  universities 
are  open  to  women.  "  Our  universities  are  shut  against  women," 
Professor  Wendt,  of  Troppau,  informs  me  ;  "  but  they  may  pass 
the  same  examinations  as  boys  who  have  finished  their  preparatory 
studies,  though  it  is  distinctly  stated  in  the  women's  diplomas 
that  they  may  not  continue  their  studies  in  the  university."  The 
professors,  however,  sometimes  allow  foreign  girls  to  attend 
lectures.  Professor  Bruhl,  of  Vienna,  for  example,  has  lectured 
to  men  and  women  on  anatomy.  The  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at 
Vienna  is  not  open  to  women,  though  the  Conservatory  of  Music 
is  much  frequented  by  them.  In  1880,  in  fact,  three  women  re- 


Austro-Hungarian  Empire.  905 

ceived  prizes  for  musical  compositions.     Johanna  Leitenberger, 
of  Salzburg,  writes : 

Several  newspapers  are  devoted  to  the  different  phases  of  the  woman's 
movement  in  Austria.  Some  years  ago  an  ex-officer,  Captain  A.  D.  Korn, 
who,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  had  passed  some  time  in  England  and  America, 
founded  the  Women  s  Universal  Journal  (Allgemeine  Frauen  Zeitung). 
This  newspaper  was  wholly  devoted  to  women's  interest,  but  it  soon  died. 
The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  Women  s  Journal  (Frauenbldtter)  of  Gratz, 
which  appeared  for  a  short  time  under  my  editorship.  *  *  *  * 
On  October  9,  10,  n,  1872,  the  third  German  women's  convention 
{Deiitsche  Fraitenkonferenz)  was  held  at  Vienna,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
general  society  for  popular  education  and  the  amelioration  of  women's 
condition.  The  other  two  sittings  of  this  society  had  been  held  at  Leipsic 
and  Stuttgart.  The  soul  of  this  new  movement  was  Captain  Korn,  whom 
I  have  already  mentioned.  His  study  of  the  woman  question  in  the 
United  States  majr  have  prompted  him  to  awaken  a  similar  agitation 
among  the  women  of  the  Austrian  empire.  Addresses  were  delivered  at 
this  convention  by  ladies  from  Vienna,  Hungary,  Bohemia  and  Styria- 
and  all  the  various  interests  of  women  were  discussed.  *  *  *  * 
The  proceedings  of  the  convention  attracted  considerable  attention,  and 
produced  favorable  impressions  on  the  audience,  which  was  recruited  from 
the  better  classes  of  the  population.  But  the  newspapers  of  Vienna 
ridiculed  the  young  movement,  its  friends  grew  lukewarm,  and  every 
trace  was  soon  lost  of  this  first  and  last  Austrian  women's  rights  conven- 
tion. 

In  one  important  particular  the  Austro-Hungarian  empire 
treats  women  more  fairly  than  is  the  case  in  other  European 
countries.  Elise  Krasnohorska,  the  Bohemian  author,  writes 
me : 

Women  have  a  voice  in  the  municipal,  provincial  and  national  elections, 
though  male  citizens  duly  authorized  by  them  cast  their  vote.  With 
this  single  reserve — a  very  important  one,  it  must  be  confessed — our 
women  are  politically  the  equals  of  men.  At  Prague,  however,  this  is  not 
the  case.  The  Bohemian  capital  preserves  an  ancient  privilege  which  is 
in  contradiction  to  the  Austrian  electoral  law,  and  which  excludes  us 
from  the  elective  franchise.  Universal  suffrage  does  not  exist  in  the  em- 
pire, but  the  payment  of  a  certain  amount  of  taxes  confers  the  right  to 
vote.  I  do  not  enter  into  the  details  of  the  electoral  law,  which  is  some- 
what complicated,  which  has  its  exceptions  and  contradictions,  and  is  in 
fact  an  apple  of  discord  in  Austria  in  more  than  one  respect ;  but,  speak- 
ing generally,  it  may  be  said  that  a  woman  who  owns  property,  who  is  in 
business,  or  who  pays  taxes,  may  designate  a  citizen  possessing  her  con- 
fidence to  represent  her  at  the  polls.  Our  women  are  satisfied  with  this 
system,  and  prefer  it  to  casting  their  ballot  in  person. 

It  may  be  said,  also,  that  women  are  eligible  to  office,  or  at  least  that 
there  is  no  law  against  their  accepting  it,  while  there  are  instances  of 


906  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

their  having  done  so.  In  southern  Bohemia,  a  short  time  ago,  a  countess 
was  chosen  member  of  a  provincial  assembly  (pkresni  zastupitestvo)  with 
the  approval  of  the  body,  on  the  condition  that  she  should  not  participate 
personally  in  its  deliberations,  but  should  be  represented  by  a  man  having 
full  power  to  act  for  her.  At  Agram  in  Croatia,  a  woman  was  elected, 
a  few  years  ago,  member  of  the  municipal  council,  and  no  objection 
was  made.  Of  course  such  cases  are  very  rare,  but  they  have  their 
significance. 

Carolina  Svetla,  the  distinguished  poet  and  author,  has  done, 
perhaps,  the  most  to  awaken  thought  on  the  woman  ques- 
tion in  Bohemia.  She  stands  at  the  head  of  a  talented  group  of 
literary  women,  which  plays  a  brilliant  part  in  the  fatherland  of 
Huss.  The  means  for  woman's  instruction,  however,  are  most 
lamentable  in  Bohemia.  The  universities  are  shut  against  women, 
and  though  two  women  have  been  graduated  in  Switzerland, 
their  degrees  are  not  recognized  in  their  native  land.  Beyond 
primary  instruction  the  State  does  almost  nothing  for  its  women, 
though  they  outnumber  the  other  sex  by  two  hundred  thousand. 
In  several  of  the  large  cities  of  Bohemia  something  has  been 
accomplished  for  girls'  high-school  and  normal-school  instruction ; 
but,  in  general,  we  may  say  that  the  intellectual  development  of 
Bohemian  girls  is  left  to  private  instruction.  Associations  of 
women  have  done  much  to  fill  this  void,  one  of  which,  founded 
by  Carolina  Svetla,  is  devoted  to  the  industrial  and  commercial 
instruction  of  girls.  Two  thousand  women  belong  to  this  associa- 
tion, and  five  hundred  girls  attend  its  school  annually,  while 
many  young  women  frequent  its  school  for  the  training  of  nurses. 
This  vigorous  organization  has  disarmed  prejudices  by  the  suc- 
cess of  its  schools  and  by  the  arguments  of  its  monthly  organ, 
the  Zenskt  Listy,  ably  edited  by  Elise  Krasnohorska,  one  of  the 
best  known  Bohemian  poets,  and  a  leader  in  the  work  of  improv- 
ing the  condition  of  her  countrywomen.  Vojta  Naprstek,  a  man 
who  has  justly  been  named  "  the  woman's  advocate,"  has  founded 
at  Prague  the  Women's  American  Club,  whose  object  is  charity 
and  the  intellectual  elevation  of  women,  and  has  presented  the 
club  a  valuable  collection  of  books  and  objects  of  art.  A  lady, 
writing  me  from  Prague,  says  : 

The  club  has  always  been  in  a  most  flourishing  condition,  although  it 
has  never  had  a  constitution  or  by-laws  to  hold  it  together, — nothing  but 
the  single  bond  of  philanthropy.  At  first  it  had  not  even  a  name.  But 
outsiders  began  to  call  its  members  'the  Americans,'  because  they  adopted 
American  improvements  in  their  homes.  The  appellation  was  accepted 


Bohemia,  Hungary.  907 

by  the  club  as  an  honorable  title,  and  from  that  time  it  formally  called 
itself  the  "  American  Club." 

The  Austrian  code,  in  its  treatment  of  women,  is  unsurpassed 
in  contradictions.  Women,  for  example,  may  testify  in  criminal 
actions,  but  they  may  not  be  witnesses  to  the  simplest  legal 
document.  There  are  many  absurdities  of  this  sort  in  the  exist- 
ing law  which  were  unknown  in  the  ancient  code  of  inde- 
pendent Bohemia,  which  was  more  liberal  in  its  treatment  of 
women.  Divorce  exists,  but  divorced  persons  cannot  marry 
again.  Bohemia  being  a  part  of  Austria,  women  vote  in  the 
same  way  as  has  already  been  mentioned  in  what  was  said  of  the 
latter  country.  But  at  Prague,  however,  women  do  not  vote,  the 
capital  still  retaining  its  old  laws  on  this  subject. 

Concerning  the  other  grand  division  of  the  empire  of  the 
Hapsburgs,  Hungary,  much  the  same  maybe  said  as  of  Bohemia. 
It  is  only  within  the  last  forty  years  that  Hungary  has  striven  to 
attain  to  the  level  of  occidental  civilization  and  culture,  so  that 
the  question  of  the  amelioration  of  women's  condition  is  of  very 
recent  origin  in  that  country.  Rose  Revai,  of  Budapest,  writes: 

Hungarian  legislators  have  always  treated  us  favorably  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  the  family,  marriage  and  inheritance.  By  the  mere  act  of 
marriage  we  attain  our  majority  and  are  emancipated  from  tutelage.  As 
heirs,  our  interests  are  not  forgotten,  and  as  widows,  we  have  the  control 
over  our  own  children.  In  business  and  trade  we  enjoy  equal  rights  with 
men.  And  Hungarian  women  have  not  been  slow  to  take  advantage  of 
these  privileges,  as  is  shown  by  those  of  our  sex  who  occupy  worthy 
positions  in  literature,  art,  commerce,  industry,  the  theater  and  the 
school-room. 

Although  the  Hungarian  universities  are  still  closed  against 
women,  there  are  many  girls'  industrial  and  normal  schools  and 
colleges.  The  impetus  given  to  female  education  in  Hungary  is 
chiefly  due  to  the  late  Baron  Joseph  Ecetvoes,  the  savant,  poet  and 
philanthropist,  who  was  minister  of  public  instruction  in  1867. 
Women  are  employed  in  the  postal  and  telegraphic  service. 

Returning  north,  to  Holland,  we  flnd  much  the  same  situation 
as  in  the  other  Teutonic  nations.  "  The  women  of  Holland  are 
unquestionably  better  educated,  and  entertain  as  a  body  more 
liberal  ideas  than  French  women,"  said  a  Dutch  lady  to  me,  who 
had  lived  many  years  at  Paris  ;  "  but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
not  the  little  group  of  women  in  the  Netherlands  who  grasp  the 
real  meaning  of  the  woman  question  as  is  the  case  here  in 
France."  Woman's  social  position  is  a  little  better  in  Holland 


908  History  of  Woman  Siiffragc. 

than  in  the  Catholic  countries.  In  1870  an  essay  on  the  woman 
question  "  by  a  lady  "  demanded  political  rights  for  women,  and 
there  are  a  few  instances  of  women  having  lectured  on  that  sub- 
ject. The  Dutch  universities  are  open  to  female  students,  and 
Aletta  Henriette  Jacobs,  the  first  and  only  female  physician  in 
Holland,  has  a  successful  practice  at  Amsterdam.  Dr.  Jacobs 
recently  attempted  to  vote,  and  carried  the  question  before  the 
courts.  Elise  A.  Haighton,  of  Amsterdam,  writes  : 

A  few  of  our  women  do  not  hesitate  to  participate  in  political  and  social 
discussions.  The  Union  (Um'c),  a  society  which  aims  to  promote  popular 
interest  in  politics  by  meetings,  debates,  tracts,  etc.;  the  Daybreak 
(Dageraad),  a  radical  association  which  holds  very  ultra  opinions  on 
politics,  religion  and  science,  and  supports  a  magazine  to  which  many 
scientific  men  contribute  ;  and  the  New  Malthusian  Band,  an  organization 
sufficiently  explained  by  its  name,  all  count  several  women  among  their 
members. 

Elise  van  Calcar,  the  veteran  Dutch  authoress,  sums  up  the 
situation  in  Holland,  as  follows  : 

I  am  sorry  to  have  to  confess  that,  as  regards  the  general  emancipation 
of  women,  we  have  accomplished  but  very  little.  Our  work  is  indirect ; 
we  can  only  proclaim  the  injustice  of  our  position. 

Two  countries,  the  product  of  Latin  and  Teutonic  civilization, 
Belgium  and  Switzerland,  must  be  touched  upon  before  we  turn 
to  the  Scandinavian  people.  Of  the  first,  Belgium,  about  the 
same  may  be  said  as  of  Holland  with  which  she  was  so  long 
united  politically.  A  correspondent  in  Belgium  writes  me  as 
follows  : 

There  cannot  be  said  to  be  any  movement  in  this  country  in  favor  of 
the  emancipation  of  women.  No  journal,  no  association,  no  organization 
of  any  kind  exists. 

But  public  opinion  is  said  to  be  quite  favorable.  Women  are 
making  their  way  slowly  into  certain  callings.  The  professors  of 
the  universities  of  Liege  and  Ghent,  when  asked  their  opinion  not 
long  ago  by  the  minister  of  public  instruction,  expressed  a  de- 
sire to  see  women  admitted  J:o  the  privileges  of  these  institutions 
on  the  same  terms  as  men,  and  to-day  female  students  are  found 
at  all  the  institutions  for  higher  education.  Another  corres- 
pondent writes : 

Within  the  past  few  years  an  effort  has  been  made  among  the 
women  of  the  middle  classes  in  the  large  cities,  and  secondary  and  pro- 
fessional schools  have  been  established  for  girls,  which  are  already  pro- 
ducing good  fruit.  This  movement  is  beginning  to  make  itself  felt  among 
the  upper  classes,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  next  generation  will  make 


Holland,  Belgium.  009 

longer  strides  in  the  direction  of  instruction  than  is  the  case  with  the 
present  generation. 

In  one  respect  at  least  Belgium  is  far  behind  her  neighbor, 
Holland.  Dr.  Isala  van  Diest,  the  first  and  so  far  the  only 
female  physician  in  Belgium,  although  she  has  passed  success- 
fully all  the  necessary  examinations  and  taken  all  the  necessary 
degrees,  may  not  practice  medicine  in  her  own  country.  She 
wrote  me  recently : 

I  fear  I  shall  soon  be  obliged  to  give  up  the  fight  and  go  to  France, 
England  or  Holland,  unless  I  wish  to  lose  the  fruit  of  all  my  studies. 

Concerning  the  higher  education  of  women  Dr.  van  Diest 
writes : 

There  existed  in  Belgium  some  years  ago  a  law  which  required  students 
who  would  enter  the  university,  to  pass  the  examination  of  graduate  in 
letters  (gradut-en-lettres).  Candidates  for  this  degree  were  expected  to 
know  how  to  translate  Greek  and  write  Latin.  But  as  there  were  no 
schools  where  girls  could  study  the  dead  languages  with  the  thorough- 
ness of  boys  who  were  trained  six  years  in  the  classics,  the  former  were 
almost  entirely  shut  out  from  enjoying  the  advantages  of  an  university 
course.  This  graduat,  however,  no  longer  exists,  and  the  entrance  of 
women  into  our  universities  is  now  possible.  Female  students  are  found 
to-day  at  Brussels,  Liege  and  Ghent,  but  their  number  is  still  very  small. 
It  was  in  1880  that  the  first  woman  entered  the  university  of  Brussels,  but 
it  was  not  until  1883  that  their  admission  became  general.  They  pursue, 
for  the  most  part,  scientific  studies,  thereby  securing  more  lucrative  posi- 
tions as  teachers,  and  pass  their  examinations  for  graduation  with  success. 

Switzerland  being  made  up  of  more  than  a  score  of  separate 
cantons  closely  resembling  our  States  in  their  political  organiza- 
tion, it  is  difficult  to  arrive  at  the  exact  situation  throughout  the 
whole  country — small  though  it  be.  However,  generally  speak- 
ing, it  may  be  said  that  the  Helvetic  republic  has  remained 
almost  a  passive  spectator  of  the  woman  movement,  though  a 
few  signs  of  progress  are  worthy  of  note.  The  Catholic  cantons 
lag  behind  those  that  have  adopted  Protestantism,  and  the  latter 
are  led  by  Geneva.  Though  subject  to  the  Napoleonic  code, 
Geneva  has  never  known  that  debasing  law  of  the  tutelage  of 
women  which  existed  for  so  long  a  time  in  the  other  cantons, 
even  in  the  intelligent  canton  of  Vaud,  where  it  was  abolished 
only  in  1873.  It  was  not  until  1881  that  a  federal  statute  put 
an  end  to  the  law  throughout  all  Switzerland.  Geneva  has 
always  been  very  liberal  in  its  treatment  of  married  women- 
divorce  exists,  excellent  intermediate  girls'  schools  were  created 
more  than  thirty  years  ago,  and  women  are  admitted  to  all  the 


9io  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

university  lectures.     Marie  Gcegg,  the    untiring   leader   of    the 
movement  in  that  country,  writes  me  : 

However,  notwithstanding  these  examples  of  liberality,  which  denote 
that  the  law-makers  had  a  breadth  of  view  in  accord  with  their  time, 
Switzerland,  as  a  whole,  has  been  one  of  the  least  disposed  of  European 
States  to  accept  the  idea  of  the  civil  emancipation  of  woman,  much  less 
her  political  emancipation,  so  that  from  1848  to  1868  the  demands  of 
American  women  were  considered  here  to  be  the  height  of  extravagance. 
....  The  seed  planted  in  America  in  1848,  though  its  growth  was  dif- 
ficult, finally  began  to  take  root  in  Europe.  The  hour  had  come. 

In  March,  1868,  Marie  Gcegg  published  a  letter,  in  which 
she  invited  the  women  of  all  nations  to  join  with  her  in  the  for- 
mation of  a  society.  In  July  of  that  same  year  the  Woman's 
International  Association  was  founded  at  Geneva  with  Marie 
Gcegg  as  president.  The  organization  began  immediately  an 
active  work,  and  through  its  efforts,  several  of  the  reforms  already 
mentioned  were  brought  about,  and  public  opinion  in  Switzer- 
land considerably  enlightened  on  the  question.  Mrs.  Gcegg  says : 

With  the  object  of  advancing  the  young  movement,  I  established  at  my 
own  risk  a  bi-monthly,  the  Woman 's Journal  (Journal  des femmes).  But 
this  was  a  violation  of  that  good  Latin  motto,  festina  lentd,  and,  at  the  end 
of  a  few  months  the  paper  suspended  publication.  Swiss  public  opinion 
was  not  yet  ready  to  support  such  a  venture. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that,  except  in  England,  all  the  women's 
societies  created  in  Europe  had,  up  to  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the 
International  Association  refrained  from  touching  the  question  of  the 
political  rights  of  women.  The  Swiss  association,  on  the  contrary,  always 
included  this  subject  in  its  programme.  But,  unfortunately,  at  the  moment 
when  our  efforts  were  meeting  with  success,  and  the  future  was  full  of 
promise  for  the  cause  which  we  advocated,  the  terrible  Franco-German 
war  broke  out,  and,  for  various  reasons  unnecessary  to  go  into  here,  I 
felt  constrained  to  resign  the  presidency,  and  the  association  came  to  an 
end. 

Two  years  later  the  International  Association  was  revived  in  the 
form  of  the  Solidarity  (Solidarity],  whose  name  signified  the 
spirit  which  ought  to  unite  all  women.  In  1875  Mrs.  Gcegg  be- 
came president  of  the  new  organization  as  well  as  founder  and 
editor  of  its  organ,  the  Solidarity  Bulletin  (Bulletin  de  la  Solida- 
ritf}.  But  on  September  20,  1 880,  both  society  and  journal 
ceased  to  exist.  The  president  in  her  farewell  address  said : 

The  dissolution  of  the  Solidarity  ought  not  to  discourage  us,  but  ought 
rather  to  cause  us  to  rejoice,  for  the  recent  creation  of  so  many  women's 
national  societies  in  different  countries  proves  that  the  Solidarity  has 
accomplished  its  aim,  so  that  we  have  only  to  retire. 


Switzerland:    Madam  Gcegg.  pu 

The  striking  success  of  university  coeducation  in  Switzerland 
calls  for  a  few  words  of  notice.  Mrs.  Gcegg  writes : 

In  October,  1872,  I  sent  a  petition  to  the  grand-council  of  Geneva,  ask- 
ing that  women  be  admitted  to  the  university  of  Geneva  on  the  same 
footing  as  men.  The  state  of  public  opinion  on  this  subject  in  Switzer- 
land, and  especially  in  Geneva,  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that,  fearing 
to  compromise  the  demand  if  I  acted  in  my  own  name  or  that  of  the  Soli- 
darity, the  petition  was  presented  as  coming  from  "the  mothers  of 
Geneva."  Our  prayer  was  granted. 

The  number  of  women  who  have  pursued  studies  at  Geneva 
has  steadily  increased  every  year.  In  1878  the  university  of 
Nuefchatel  was  thrown  open  to  women,  while  the  university  of 
Zurich  has  long  had  a  large  number  of  female  students.  Pro- 
fessor Pfliiger,  of  the  university  of  Bern,  writing  to  me  in  April, 
1883,  said  : 

From  February  2,  1876,  to  the  present  time,  thirty-five  women  have 
taken  degrees  at  our  medical  school.  The  lectures  are  attended  each 
semister  on  an  average  by  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  women,  while  from 
three  to  six  follow  the  lectures  on  philosophy  and  letters.  The  presence 
of  women  at  our  university  has  occasioned  no  serious  inconvenience  and 
many  colleagues  favor  it. 

The  rector  of  the  university  of  Geneva  wrote,  February, 
1883: 

Up  to  the  present  time  th.e  attendance  of  women  at  our  university  has 
occasioned  us  no  inconvenience  except  in  some  lectures  of  the  medical 
school,  where  the  subjects  are  not  always  of  a  nature  to  admit  of  their 
treatment  before  mixed  classes. 

We  shall  now  glance  at  the  situation  of  woman  in  the  three 
Scandinavian  countries,  Sweden,  Norway  and  Denmark.  Sweden 
stands  first,  just  as  Germany  does  among  the  Teutonic  nations, 
and  France  among  the  Latin  nations ;  in  fact  we  may  perhaps 
go  farther  and  say  that  of  all  Continental  States,  Sweden  leads 
in  many  respects  at  least,  in  the  revolution  in  favor  of  women. 

The  State,  the  royal  family,  private  individuals,  and,  above  all, 
women  themselves  have  all  striven  to  outstrip  each  other  in  the 
emancipation  of  Swedish  women.  Normal  schools,  high  schools, 
primary  schools,  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  and  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  both  at  Stockholm,  dairy  schools  and  a 
host  of  other  educational  insitutions,  both  private  and  public, 
are  thrown  wide  open  to  women.  The  State  has  founded  scholar- 
ships for  women  at  Upsala  University  and  at  the  medical  school  of 
the  university  of  Lund.  Numerous  benevolent,  charitable  and 


912  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

industrial  societies  have  been  established  and  in  many  instances 
are  managed  by  women.  But  the  best  idea  may  be  gained  of 
the  liberal  spirit  which  prevails  in  Sweden  by  showing  what  the 
State  has  done  for  the  emancipation  of  women.  For  instance, 
in  1845,  equality  of  inheritance  for  son  and  daughter  was  estab- 
lished, and  the  wife  was  given  equal  rights  with  the  husband  as 
regards  the  common  property;  in  1846,  woman  was  permitted 
to  practice  industrial  professions  and  to  carry  on  business  in  her 
own  name;  in  1861,  the  professions  of  surgery  and  dentistry 
were  opened  to  her;  in  1864,  her  rights  in  trade  and  industrial 
pursuits  were  enlarged  ;  in  1870,  she  was  admitted  to  the  uni- 
versities and  medical  profession  ;  in  1872,  a  woman  of  twenty-five 
was  given  the  full  right  of  disposing  of  herself  in  marriage,  the 
consent  of  parents  and  relations  having  been  necessary  before 
that  time;  and  in  1874,  a  married  woman  became  entitled  to 
control  that  part  of  her  private  property  set  aside  for  her  per- 
sonal use  in  the  marriage  contract,  as  well  as  to  possess  her  own 
earnings.  The  reforms  jn  favor  of  married  women  are  in  no 
small  measure  due  to  the  society  founded  in  1871  by  Mrs.  E. 
Anckarsvard  and  Anna  Hierta  Retzius,  whose  aim  was  the  accom- 
plishment of  these  very  reforms. 

A  good  beginning  has  been  made  toward  securing  full  politi- 
cal rights  for  Swedish  women.  In  many  matters  relative  to  the 
muncipality,  women  vote  on  the  same  terms  with  men,  as  for 
example,  in  the  choice  of  the  parish  clergy,  in  the  election  of 
municipal  councilors,  and  members  of  the  county  council.  This 
latter  body  elects  the  House  of  Lords,  so  that  woman's  influence, 
through  an  intermediate  electoral  body,  is  felt  in  the  upper 
chamber.  May  this  not  be  one  reason  why  the  Swedish  legis- 
lature has  been  so  liberal  toward  women?  Demands  have  been 
made,  but  in  vain,  for  the  complete  franchise  which  would  confer 
upon  women  the  privilege  of  voting  for  members  of  the  diet. 
Woman's  interests  have  found  a  warm  and  energetic  advocate  in 
the  Home  Review  (Tidskrift  for  Hemmei),  which  was  founded  in 
1859  by  *he  Hon.  Rosalie  d'Olivecrona  and  the  Baroness  Leyon- 
hufoud,  to-day  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Adlersparre.  The  paper  is  still 
edited  by  the  latter ;  Rosalie  d'Olivecrona,  who,  has  always  been 
a  most  active  friend  of  the  woman  movement,  having  retired  in 
1868. 

If  we  cross  the  boundaries  of  Sweden  into  the  sister  kingdom 
of  Norway,  we  find  the  condition  of  woman  absolutely  changed. 


Sweden,  Norway.  913 

"Concerning  Norway,  I  have  said  almost  nothing,"  writes  Ca- 
milla Collett,  the  distinguished  Norwegian  author,  in  some  notes 
which  she  sent  me  recently  on  the  situation  of  women  in  Scandi- 
navia, "  for  the  very  simple  reason  that  there  is  little  to  say." 
The  long  and  oppressive  domination  of  'Denmark  prostrated 
Norway,  but  her  close  union  with  Sweden  since  the  fall  of  Na- 
poleon, has  begun  to  have  a  good  effect,  and  the  liberal  influence 
of  the  latter  country  in  favor  of  woman  is  already  beginning  to 
be  felt  in  the  other  half  of  the  Scandinavian  peninsula.  One 
step  in  advance  has  been  the  opening  of  the  university  to 
women — "The  best  thing  that  can  be  said  of  Norway,"  says 
Camilla  Collett.  Miss  Cecilie  Thoresen,  the  first  female  student 
to  matriculate  at  Christiania  University,  writing  to  me  from 
Eidsvold,  Norway,  in  December,  1882,  says  it  was  in  1880 
that  she  decided  to  try  and  take  an  academic  degree.  Her 
father,  therefore,  applied  to  the  minister  of  public  instruction 
for  the  necessary  authorization  ;  the  latter  referred  the  applica- 
tion to  the  university  authorities,  who,  in  their  turn,  submitted 
the  portentous  question  to  the  faculty  of  the  law-school.  In 
due  season  Miss  Thoresen  received  this  rather  unsatisfactory 
response : 

The  admission  of  women  to  the  university  is  denied,  but  we  recognize 
the  necessity  for  changing  the  law  on  the  subject. 

Thereupon  Mr.  H.  E.  Berner,  the  prominent  liberal  member 
of  the  Storthing,  or  Norwegian  parliament,  introduced  a  bill 
permitting  women  to  pursue  university  studies  leading  to  the 
degrees  in  arts  and  philosophy  (examen  artiuin  and  examen 
philosopJiicuni).  The  committee  reported  unanimously  in  favor 
of  the  bill;  on  March  30,  1882,  it  passed  without  debate  the 
Odelsthing,  one  of  the  two  chambers  of  the  Storthing,  with  but 
one  dissenting  voice — that  of  a  clergyman  ;  on  April  21,  1882,  it 
received  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  other  house,  the  Lagthing; 
and  it  finally  became  a  law  on  June  15,  1882.  But  Mr.  Berner 
did  not  stop  here.  He  once  wrote  me : 

In  my  opinion  there  hardly  exists  nowadays  another  social  problem 
which  has  a  better  claim  on  public  attention  than  that  of  the  emancipation 
of  women.  Until  they  are  placed  on  an  equal  footing  with  men,  we  shall 
not  have  departed  from  the  days  of  barbarism. 

In  1884,  Mr.  Berner  succeeded  in  making  it  possible  for  women 
to  take  all  university  degrees,  the  law  of  1882  having  opened  to 
them  only  the  degrees  in  arts  and  philosophy.     He  is  now  press- 
58 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ing  on  the  attention  of  parliament  other  reforms  in  favor  of 
women ;  and  he  has  recently  written  me  that  he  believes  that  his 
efforts  will  be  crowned  with  success. 

In  Denmark  nothing  has  been  done  in  the  direction  of  political 
rights,  nothing  for  school  suffrage,  though  the  liberal  movement 
of  1848  improved  woman's  legal  position  slightly.  But  the  situa- 
tion of  married  women  is  still  very  unsatisfactory,  for  it  may  be 
summed  up  by  saying  that"  her  property  and  her  children  are 
controlled  by  the  husband.  In  1879  many  thousand  women 
petitioned  the  legislature  for  the  right  to  their  own  earnings,  and 
a  law  was  passed  to  this  effect.  During  the  last  twenty  years, 
thanks  to  the  example  set  by  Sweden,  much  has  been  done  to 
open  to  women  the  field  of  work.  In  1875  the  university  con- 
sented to  receive  women,  but  as  the  State  furnishes  them  only 
primary  instruction,  and  does  nothing  for  their  intermedi- 
ate instruction,  leaving  this  broad  gap  to  be  filled  by  pri- 
vate efforts,  the  educational  situation  of  Danish  women  leaves 
much  to  be  desired.  But  the  women  themselves  have  turned 
their  attention  to  this  matter,  and  high  schools  and  professional 
schools  for  women,  and  generally  managed  by  women,  are 
springing  up. 

Denmark  has  produced  several  journals  devoted  to  the  in- 
terests of  women  and  edited  by  women.  The  Friday  (Fredageri), 
issued  from  July,  1875,  to  l$79>  was  edited  by  Vilhelmine  Zahle. 
It  was  a  bold,  radical  little  sheet.  The  name  was  probably  taken 
from  the  Woman  s  Journal  and  Friday  Society,  which  appeared  at 
Copenhagen  in  1 767,  under  the  anonymous  editorship  of  a  woman. 
The  Woman  s  Review  (Tidsskrift  for  Kvinder)  began  to  appear  in 
January,  1882.  Its  editor,  Elfride  Fibiger,  has  associated  with 
Jier  Mr.  Frii's,  a  very  earnest  friend  of  the  women's  movement, 
who  has  given  a  more  progressive  turn  to  the  paper,  which  has 
come  out  for  women's  suffrage — the  first  journal  in  Denmark  to 
take  this  radical  step. 

Perhaps  the  most  encouraging  sign  of  progress  is  the  founda- 
tion, during  the  past  few  years,  of  numerous  associations  of 
women  with  different  objects  in  view.  John  Stuart  Mill's  "Sub- 
jection of  Women,"  which  was  translated  into  Danish  and  widely 
read ;  the  "  Letters  from  Clara  Raphael,"  of  Mathilde  Fibiger, 
which  appeared  still  earlier,  in  1850;  the  writings  of  Camilla 
Collett,  of  Norway ;  the  liberal  utterances  of  the  great  poets  of 
the  North,  Bjornsen,  Hostrup  and  Ibsen,  whose  "Nora"  has 


Denmark,  Russia.  91 5 

rightfully  procured  for  him  the  title  of  "  Woman's  Poet ";  the 
great  progress  in  America,  England  and  Sweden  ;  all  these  influ- 
ences stimulated  thought,  weakened  prejudices  and  prepared  the 
way  for  reforms  in  the  Danish  peninsula.  Kirstine  Frederiksen, 
of  Copenhagen,  says : 

It  is  plainly  evident  that  Danish  women  are  weary  of  the  part  allotted  to 
them  in  the  old  society,  a  part  characterized  by  the  sentiment  that  the 
best  that  can  be  said  of  a  woman  is  that  there  is  nothing  to  say  about 

her When,  in  due  time,  the  claim  for  political  rights  is  made  here 

in  Denmark,  then  will  women  from  all  classes  unite  in  their  efforts  to 
secure  the  palladium  which  alone  can  protect  them  from  arbitrariness  and 
subjection. 

We  shall  now  take  up  the  Slavonic  countries,  beginning  with 
Russia,  which  stands  first,  not  only  because  of  its  vastness,  but 
also  because  of  its  liberality  toward  women.  The  position  of 
the  Russian  women  before  the  law  is  very  peculiar.  Children, 
whatever  their  age  and  whether  male  or  female,  are  never  eman- 
cipated from  the  control  of  their  parents.  The  daughter  can 
only  escape  from  this  authority,  and  then  only  in  a  limited  de- 
gree, by  marriage,  and  the  son  by  entering  the  service  of  the 
State.  In  the  provinces  alone  girls  of  twenty-one  may  marry 
without  the  parents'  consent.  The  married  woman  is  in  the  full 
power  of  her  husband,  though  she  is  the  mistress  of  her  own 
fortune.  Divorce  exists.  Russian  women  vote  on  an  equality 
with  men  for  members  .of  the  municipal  councils  and  county 
assemblies,  and  these  two  bodies  choose  the  boards  which  transact 
the  public  business,  such  as  superintending  the  collection  of 
taxes,  keeping  the  roads  in  order,  directing  the  schools,  etc.  The 
Russian  woman  does,  not  however,  appear  at  the  polls,  but  is 
represented  by  some  male  relative  or  friend  (as  we  have  already 
seen  in  Austria)  who  casts  the  vote  for  her.  Thus  the  Russian 
woman,  except  that  she  is  ineligible  to  office,  possesses  all  the 
political  rights  of  the  Russian  man — a  privilege,  however,  that  is 
of  little  value  in  a  country  where  liberty  is  crushed  under  the 
iron  heel  of  autocracy.  The  position  of  the  Russian  peasant 
women  is  not  as  good  as  that  of  the  women  of  the  upper  classes. 
They  find  some  comfort,  however,  in  the  doctrines  of  the  rapidly 
spreading  religious  sects,  which  resemble  somewhat  the  American 
Revivalists  or  Anabaptists.  In  fact,  the  subject  condition  of 
Russian  women  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  growth  of  these 
sects ;  down-trodden  by  society  and  the  State,  they  seek  liberty 
in  religion.  In  some  of  these  sects  women  preach.  Miss  Maria 


Qi  6  History  of  Woman  Stiff  rage. 

Zebrikoff,  an  able  Russian  writer,  sends  me  this  curious  informa- 
tion : 

We  have  lately  heard  of  a  new  sect  which  preaches  a  doctrine  exalting 
woman.  She  is  placed  above  man,  because  she  can  give  birth  to  another 
being.  Her  pain  and  travail  are  so  great,  that  alleviating  the  other  suf- 
ferings and  annoyances  of  woman  would  be  but  a  poor  reward ;  she  is 
entitled  to  the  deepest  gratitude  of  mankind. 

Thought  concerning  the  emancipation  of  woman  was  first 
awakened  among  the  upper  classes  about  1840,  inspired  by  George 
Sand,  but  was  confined  to  a  narrow  circle  of  men  of  science  and 
authors.  The  new  ideas  continued  to  exist  in  a  latent  form  until 
the  freedom  of  the  serfs  in  1860,  when  they  burst  forth  into  life. 
The  reforms  of  the  last  reign,  the  abolishment  of  bureaucratic 
government  and  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  advanced  the 
cause  of  woman,  for  the  daughters  of  the  office-holders  and  land- 
owners, reduced  to  poverty  by  these  changes,  were  forced  to  go 
forth  into  the  world  and  earn  their  own  living.  Woman's  suc- 
cess in  the  walks  of  higher  education — especially  in  medicine — 
has  been  a  great  victory  for  the  friends  of  the  rights  of  woman. 
The  government,  the  professors  of  the  university  and  women 
themselves  have  all  united,  more  or  less  heartily,  in  a  common 
effort  to  give  Russian  women  facilities  for  a  complete  education. 
The  first  woman's  medical  school  in  Russia  owes  its  origin  to  a 
donation  of  50,000  rubles  from  a  woman.  The  war  department 
— for  Russia  thinks  of  medicine  only  in  its  relation  to  the  army — 
came  to  the  aid  of  the  new  movement,  and  the  medical  profes- 
sion, though  in  a  restricted  manner,  was  thrown  open  to  women.* 
As  yet  women  physicians  may  treat  only  diseases  of  women  and 
children,  but,  notwithstanding  this  drawback,  there  are  fifty-two 
women  physicians  in  St.  Petersburg  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
in  Russia.  During  the  last  war  with  Turkey  twenty  women 
physicians  did  noble  work  in  the  army.  Women  flock  to  the 
universities  in  great  numbers.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to 
render  the  profession  of  law  accessible  to  them,  but  the  govern- 
ment has  prohibited  it.  It  is  expected  that  ere  long  women  will 
be  professors  in  the  university.  The  chemical,  medical  and  legal 
associations  have  already  received  women  into  membership. 

In  literature  Russian  women  take  an  active  part ;  reviews,  maga- 
zines, and  political  journals  counting  many  women  among  their 


*  Recent  reforms  in  the  war  department  call  for  economy,  and  the  minister  has  been  forced  to  refuse 
the  usual  subsidy  for  the  support  of  the  woman's  medical  courses  and  they  are  unfortunately  in  a  very 
critical  situation.  The  result  will  probably  be  the  foundation  of  medical  colleges  for  women  indpen- 
dent  of  government  aid. 


Poland.  917 

contributors  and  in  some  cases  their  directors.     Writes  Maria 

Zebrikoff : 

It  is  especially  in  the  domain  of  fiction  that  Russian  women  excel.  After 
the  two  renowned  names  of  Tourgueneff  and  Tolstoi,  the  greatest  genius 
of  which  our  contemporary  literature  can  boast  is  Krestowsky,  the 
pseudonym  of  woman. 

"  The  reactionary  party,"  exclaims  the  same  lady  with  en- 
thusiasm, "  counts  in  its  ranks  no  woman  distinguished  for 
thought  or  talent."  Even  this  brief  glance  at  woman's  position 
in  Russia  conclusively  proves  that  when  the  day  of  liberty  comes 
to  the  great  Cossack  empire,  the  women  will  be  as  thoroughly 
fitted  to  enter  upon  all  the  duties  of  citizenship  as  the  men. 
The  women  of  no  other  continental  nation  are  perhaps  better  pre- 
pared for  complete  emancipation  than  those  of  Russia.  Here, 
as  in  several  other  respects,  autocratic  Russia  resembles  free 
America.  The  good-will  of  every  transatlantic  friend  of  woman's 
elevation  should  ever  go  forth  to  this  brave,  struggling  people  of 
the  North. 

The  civil  law  of  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  a  part  of  Russia,  has 
been,  since  1809,  the  Napoleonic  code  ;  the  other  Polish  provinces 
of  Russia  are  subject  to  Russian  law.  Under  the  former,  the 
woman  has  an  equal  share  in  the  patrimony ;  but  the  married 
woman  is  a  perpetual  minor.  According  to  the  Russian  code, 
on  the  contrary,  a  girl  receives  only  a  fourteenth  part  of  the 
patrimony ;  and  when  a  distant  relative  dies,  brothers  alone  in- 
herit. But  a  woman  has  absolute  control  of  her  own  property ; 
and  when  she  becomes  of  age,  at  twenty-one,  she  may  buy,  own, 
sell,  without  being  subjected  to  any  tutelage,  without  requiring 
the  consent  of  the  husband — the  very  contrary  of  the  Napoleonic 
code.  This  same  thing  is  true  in  several  other  particulars,  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  fact  that  much-abused  Russian  civili- 
zation is  in  some  respects  superior  to  the  much-vaunted  Latin 
civilization.  In  regard  to  education,  the  Polish  woman  is  not  so 
well  off.  In  the  primary  schools  alone  does  she  enjoy  equal 
rights  ;  in  secondary  education  she  has  far  fewer  advantages  than 
the  boy ;  while  as  for  university  instruction,  she  is  forced  to  seek  it 
in  Russia  or  in  foreign  lands,  the  Polish  universities  being  abso- 
lutely closed  against  her.  In  the  Polish  provinces  under  direct 
Russian  authority,  the  State  does  nothing  whatever  for 
woman's  instruction ;  and  in  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  the  same 
thing  is  true  except  in  the  matter  of  primary  instruction.  Polish 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

women  may  practice  medicine,  if,  besides  this  foreign  diploma, 
they  also  pass  an  examination  before  the  medical  school  of  St. 
Petersburg.  Tomaszewicz  Dobrska  is  one  of  the  few  Polish 
women  who  has  succeeded  in  this  difficult  field. 

The  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at  Cracow  is  open  to  men  alone, 
but  Madeline  Andrzejkowicz  has  endeavored  to  fill  the  gap 
by  establishing  at  Warsaw  a  school  of  painting  for  women. 
The  first  woman's  industrial  school  was  founded  in  1874  at 
Warsaw,  and  during  the  first  six  years,  to  1880,  it  had  743 
scholars.  Establishments  of  this  kind  are  now  quite  numerous 
in  the  kingdom,  but,  for  political  reasons,  they  have  not  been 
founded  in  the  Polish  provinces  of  Russia.  The  unfortunate 
political  situation  of  Poland,  which  robs  even  men  of  their  rights, 
is  an  insurmountable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  emancipation  of 
women.  There  are,  however,  many  encouraging  signs  of  prog- 
ress. At  Warsaw  there  is  more  than  one  newspaper  edited  by  a 
woman.  Marie  Ilnicka  has  owned  and  edited  for  more  than 
sixteen  years,  at  the  capital,  a  paper  which  is  widely  read  and 
which  has  great  influence.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  women 
to  deliver  public  lectures,  which  are  very  popular  and  draw 
large  houses.  Elise  Orzeszko,  the  distinguished  Polish  novelist, 
tells  me : 

We  have  confidence  in  the  efforts  of  the  men  who  are  leading  society 
and  who  are  sacrificing  their  talents  and  earnestly  toiling  to  advance 
liberal  ideas.  In  the  meanwhile  our  duty  is  to  awaken  thought  on  the 
question  of  woman's  rights,  so  that  when  a  better  day  does  come  to 
Poland,  women  may  be  ready  to  participate  in  the  common  welfare. 

But  we  cannot  close  this  brief  sketch  without  mentioning  the 
Orient,  that  region  of  transition  between  the  darkness  of  Asia 
and  the  light  of  occidental  Europe  ;  for,  though  the  position  of 
woman  is  in  general  so  lamentable  that  at  first  glance  it  seems 
best  to  pass  over  this  portion  of  the  continent  in  silence,  one 
catches  here  and  there  a  glimmer  of  progress  that  portends  a 
better  day  in  the  still  distant  future.  And,  too,  regenerate 
Greece  commands  our  attention,  for  she  indeed  is  a  rich  oasis  in 
this  desert  of  Mohammedan  conquest. 

There  are  many  Ottoman  women,  especially  among  the  rich 
families,  who  desire  to  change  their  dress  and  enter  into  relations 
with  the  women  of  other  religions,  but  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
authorities  are  always  ready  to  check  this  tendency  and  to  rigor- 
ously enforce  the  ancient  customs.  In  certain  harems  earnest 


The  Orient:     Turkey,   Greece.  919 

efforts  have  been  made  to  establish  true  family  life  and  to  bring- 
up  the  children  under  the  eye  and  care  of  the  parents,  with  the 
aid  of  foreign  governesses,  who,  along  with  the  languages,  incul- 
cate the  habits  and  manners  of  occidental  nations.  Vain 
attempts  have  been  made  to  found  girls'  schools.  There  are 
noble  natures  who  long  for  amelioration  of  their  state,  and  for 
progress,  but  fanaticism  condemns  everything  to  mortal  stagna- 
tion. 

The  Jewish  woman  leads  a  contracted,  monotonous  existence 
under  the  authority  of  the  priest.  The  wives  of  many  rich 
bankers  have  tried  to  do  something  to  improve  the  condition  of 
Hebrew  women  by  founding  aid  societies,  primary  schools,  and 
normal  schools.  The  Bulgarian  women  of  the  country  enjoy 
an  agricultural  and  pastoral  life,  and  those  of  the  city  are  simple 
and  primitive  in  their  habits  and  customs.  But  little  has  been 
done  for  woman's  instruction,  though  some  worthy  attempts 
have  been  made  to  establish  schools.  The  hope  of  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  Oriental  woman  lies  in  the  influence  of  Greek  civiliza- 
tion. The  emancipation  of  the  Greek  woman  means  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  Turkish  woman. 

The  Greek  woman  in  the  Orient  must  be  studied  under  two 
heads:  the  Greek  woman  in  Turkey  and  the  Greek  woman  in 
Greece.  In  both  cases  we  find  them  filled  with  the  spirit  of 
western  civilization — perhaps  it  would  be  better  to  say,  with  the 
spirit  of  their  classic  ancestors.  Primary,  secondary  and  normal 
schools,  asylums,  hospitals,  societies — all  for  women  and  generally 
managed  by  women — are  found  in  all  the  Greek  centers  of  Tur- 
key. Calliope  A.  Kechayia,  the  cultured  principal  of  the  Zappion, 
the  famous  girls'  college  at  Constantinople,  says: 

The  intellectual  condition  of  the  Greek  woman  in  the  Orient  is,  gen- 
erally speaking,  not  inferior  to  that  of  women  in  many  parts  of  Europe ; 
and  as  regards  the  instruction  of  the  girls  of  the  lower  classes,  it  is  much 
superior  to  that  of  several  Latin  countries. 

The  Greek  woman  in  Greece  differs  essentially  from  the  Orien- 
tal woman.  With  the  independence  of  Greece  came  a  great 
patriotic  movement  for  the  building  up  of  the  new  nationality,  a 
movement  in  which  women  took  a  most  active  and  prominent 
part.  Several  American  women,  especially  Mrs.  Hill,  lent  their 
aid  and  founded  the  first  girls'  school  at  Athens.  "A  whole 
generation  of  women,"  says  a  Greek  lady,  "distinguished  for 
their  social  and  family  virtues,  received  their  education  in  this 


920  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

college."  An  association  of  Greeks  soon  afterward  established  a 
normal  school  for  women.  The  Greek  government  also  early 
took  up  the  question  of  popular  education  without  excluding 
women  from  its  plans.  The  way  in  which  young  Greek  school- 
mistresses hastened  all  over  the  peninsula,  spreading  knowledge, 
the  Greek  language  and  their  own  enthusiasm  throughout  the 
newly  liberated  nation,  is  one  of  the  most  unique  episodes  in 
modern  history.  "  It  is  true  and  beyond  dispute,"  I  am  told  by 
Miss  Kechayia,  "  that  the  Greece  of  to-day  owes  its  rapid  prog- 
ress and  its  Greek  instruction  to  its  women."  But  the  Greek 
woman  is  more  than  a  school-mistress.  The  wife  of  a  public  man 
has  other  than  social  duties  to  occupy  her.  She  often  represents 
her  husband  before  his  constituents.  She  participates  actively 
and  usefully  in  many  of  his  political  affairs.  It  frequently  hap. 
pens  that  the  wife  goes  into  the  provinces  to  solicit  votes  for  her 
husband,  and  sometimes  in  drawing-room  lectures  she  defends  his 
political  conduct.  "  In  truth  these  facts  would  not  be  believed 
by  a  foreigner  if  he  had  not  seen  them  with  his  own  eyes,"  I  was 
once  told  by  a  Greek.  Associations  of  various  kinds  have  been 
formed  by  women  during  the  past  few  years,  and  there  is  at  least 
one  instance  of  a  woman  lecturing  in  public  on  literary  topics. 
However,  woman's  rights  in  the  American  sense  has  not  yet 
penetrated  into  Greece,  but  from  what  has  just  been  said  it  will 
be  seen  that  when  that  day  comes,  the  reform  will  find  a  soil  well 
prepared  for  its  reception. 

Such  is  a  brief  and  general  view  of  the  present  status  of  the 
Woman  Question  on  the  European  Continent.  It  will  have  been 
constantly  noticed  in  the  preceding  pages  that  in  every  country 
there  are  evidences  of  progress.  Public  opinion  in  the  Old  World 
is  slowly  but  surely  accepting  Voltaire's  statement  when  the 
broad-minded  philosopher  says,  with  a  dash  of  French  gallantry: 
"Women  are  capable  of  doing  everything  we  do,  with  this  single 
difference  between  them  and  us,  that  they  are  more  amiable  than 
we  are."  In  matters  of  instruction,  the  ideas  of  Montesquieu 
and  Aim6  Martin  are  gaining  ground.  "The  powers  of  the 
sexes,"  wrote  the  penetrating  author  of  the  "  Spirit  of  the  Laws," 
"would  be  equal  if  their  education  were,  too.  Test  women  in 
the  talents  that  have  not  been  enfeebled  by  the  way  they  have 
been  educated,  and  we  will  then  see  if  we  are  so  strong."  "  It  is 
in  spite  of  our  stupid  system  of  education,"  declared  Aime  Martin, 


One  of  the  Decisive  Battles  of  History.         921 

more  than  fifty  years  ago,  "  that  women  have  an  idea,  a  mind 
and  a  soul."  And  even  the  more  radical  utterances  of  the  late 
Eugene  Pelletan  find  an  echo.  "  By  keeping  women  outside  of 
politics,"  once  said  the  distinguished  senator,  "  the  soul  of  our 
country  is  diminished  by  one-half."  No  wonder  then  that 
Frances  Power  Cobbe  likens  this  revolution  to  the  irresistible 
waves  of  the  ocean.  "  Of  all  the  movements,  political,  social  and 
religious,  of  past  ages,  there  is,  I  think,"  writes  Miss  Cobbe,  "  not 
one  so  unmistakably  tide-like  in  its  extension  and  the  uniformity 
of  its  impulse,  as  that  which  has  taken  place  within  living  mem- 
ory among  the  women  of  almost  every  race  on  the  globe.  Other 
agitations,  reforms  and  revolutions  have  pervaded  and  lifted  up 
classes,  tribes,  nations,  churches.  But  this  movement  has  stirred 
an  entire  sex,  even  half  the  human  race.  *  *  *  When  the 
time  comes  to  look  back  on  the  slow,  universal  awakening  of 
women  all  over  the  globe,  on  their  gradual  entrance  into  one 
privileged  profession  after  another,  on  the  attainment  by  them 
of  rights  of  person  and  property,  and,  at  last,  on  their  admission 
to  the  full  privileges  of  citizenship,  it  will  be  acknowledged  that 
of  all  the  '  Decisive  Battles  of  History,'  this  has  been,  to  the 
moralist  and  philosopher,  the  most  interesting;  even  as  it  will  be 
(I  cannot  doubt)  the  one  followed  by  the  happiest  Peace  which 
the  world  has  ever  seen." 


CHAPTER   LVIII. 
REMINISCENCES. 

BY    E.    C.    S. 

REACHING  London  amidst  the  fogs,  and  mists  of  November, 
1882,  the  first  person  I  met,  after  a  separation  of  many  years,  was 
our  revered  and  beloved  friend,  William  Henry  Channing.  The 
tall,  graceful  form  was  somewhat  bent ;  the  sweet,  thoughtful  face 
somewhat  sadder ;  the  crimes  and  miseries  of  the  world  seemed 
more  heavy  on  his  heart  than  ever.  With  his  refined,  nervous 
organization,  the  gloomy  moral  and  physical  atmosphere  of  Lon- 
don was  the  last  place  on  earth  where  that  beautiful  life  should 
have  ended.  I  found  him  in  earnest  conversation  with  my  daugh- 
ter and  a  young  Englishman  soon  to  be  married,  advising  them 
not  only  as  to  the  importance  of  the  step  they  were  about  to 
take,  but  as  to  the  minor  points  to  be  observed  in  the  ceremony. 
At  the  appointed  time  a  few  friends  gathered  in  Portland-street 
chapel,  and  as  we  approached  the  altar,  our  friend  appeared  in 
surplice  and  gown,  his  pale,  spiritual  face  more  tender  and  beau- 
tiful than  ever.  This  was  the  last  marriage  service  he  ever  per- 
formed, and  it  was  as  pathetic  as  original,  his  whole  appear- 
ance so  in  harmony  with  the  exquisite  sentiments  he  uttered  that 
we  who  listened  felt  as  if  for  the  time  being  we  had  entered  with 
him  into  the  Holy  of  Holies. 

Some  time  after,  Miss  Anthony  and  I  called  on  him,  to  return 
our  thanks  for  the  very  complimentary  review  he  had  written  of 
the  History  of  Woman  Suffrage.  He  thanked  us  in  turn  for  the 
many  pleasant  memories  we  had  revived  in  those  pages,  which  he 
said  had  been  as  entertaining  as  a  novel ;  "  but,"  said  he,  "  they 
have  filled  me  with  indignation,  too,  over  the  repeated  insults 
offered  to  women  so  earnestly  engaged  in  honest  endeavors  for 
the  uplifting  of  mankind.  I  blushed  for  my  sex  more  than  once 
in  reading  these  volumes."  We  lingered  long  in  talking  over  the 
events  connected  with  this  great  struggle  for  freedom.  He  dwelt 
with  tenderness  on  our  divisions  and  disappointments,  and  en- 


Features  of  English  Eloquence.  923 

tered  more  fully  into  the  humiliations  suffered  by  women  than 
any  man  we  ever  met.  His  conversation  that  day  was  fully  as 
appreciative  of  the  nice  points  in  the  degradation  of  sex  as 
is  John  Stuart  Mill  in  his  wonderful  work  on  "  The  Subjection 
of  Woman."  He  was  intensely  interested  in  Frances  Power 
Cobbe's  efforts  to  suppress  the  vivisectionists,  and  the  last  time  I 
saw  him  he  was  presiding  at  a  parlor  meeting  at  Mrs.  VVolcott 
Brown's,  when  Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell  gave  an  admirable  ad- 
dress on  the  causes  and  cure  of  the  social  evil.  Mr.  Channing 
spoke  beautifully  in  closing,  paying  a  warm  and  merited  compli- 
ment to  Miss  Blackwell's  clear  and  concise  review  of  all  the  diffi- 
culties involved  in  the  question. 

Reading  so  much  of  English  reformers  in  our  journals,  of  the 
Brights,  the  McLarens,  the  Taylors,  of  Lydia  Becker,  Caroline 
Biggs,  Josephine  Butler  and  Octavia  Hill,  and  of  their  great 
demonstrations  with  lords  and  members  of  parliament  in  the 
chair,  we  had  longed  to  compare  the  actors  in  those  scenes  with 
our  speakers  and  conventions  on  this  side  the  water.  At  last  we 
met  them,  one  and  all,  in  London,  York,  Manchester,  Liverpool, 
Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  in  great  public  meetings  and  parlor  re- 
unions, at  dinners  and  receptions,  listened  to  their  public  men  in 
parliament,  the  courts  and  the  pulpit,  to  the  women  in  their  va- 
rious assemblies,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Americans  sur- 
pass them  in  oratory  and  the  spirited  manner  in  which  they 
conduct  meetings.  They  have  no  system  of  elocution  in  England 
such  as  we  have — a  thorough  training  of  the  voice,  in  what  is 
called  vocal  gymnastics.  A  hesitating,  apotogetic  way  seems  to 
be  the  national  idea  for  an  exordium  on  all  questions.  Even 
their  ablest  men  who  have  visited  this  country,  such  as  Kingsley, 
Stanley,  Arnold,  Spencer,  Tyndal,  Huxley,  and  Canon  Farrar, 
have  all  been  criticised  by  the  American  public  for  their  stam- 
mering enunciation.  They  have  no  speakers  to  compare  with 
Wendell  Phillips  and  George  William  Curtis,  or  Anna  Dickinson 
and  Phcebe  W.  Couzins.  John  Bright  is  without  a  peer  among 
his  countrymen,  as  are  Mrs.  Bessant  and  Miss  Helen  Taylor 
among  the  women.  Miss  Tod,  from  Belfast,  is  a  good  speaker. 
The  women,  as  a  general  thing,  are  more  fluent  than  the  men  ; 
those  of  the  Bright  family  in  all  its  branches  have  deep,  rich 
voices. 

Among  the  young  women,  Mrs.  Fawcett,  Mrs.  Charles  Mc- 
Laren, Mrs.  Scatcherd,  Miss  Henrietta  Miiller,  Mrs.  Fen  wick 


924  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Miller,  and  Lady  Harberton,  all  speak  with  comparative  ease  and 
self-possession.  The  latter  is  striving  to  introduce  for  her  coun- 
trywomen a  new  style  of  dress,  in  which  all  the  garments  are  bi- 
furcated, but  so  skillfully  adjusted  in  generous  plaits  and  folds, 
that  while  the  wearer  enjoys  the  utmost  freedom,  the  casual  ob- 
server is  quite  ignorant  of  the  innovation.  We  attended  one  of 
their  public  meetings  for  the  discussion  of  that  question,  at 
which  Miss  King,  Mrs.  Charles  McLaren,  and  Lady  Harberton 
appeared  in  the  new  costume.  All  spoke  in  its  defense,  and  were 
very  witty  and  amusing  in  criticising  the  present  feminine  forms 
and  fashions.  Lady  Harberton  gave  us  a  delightful  entertain- 
ment one  evening  at  her  fine  residence  on  Cromwell  Road,  where 
we  laughed  enough  to  dissipate  the  depressing  effect  of  the  fogs 
for  a  week  to  come  over  the  recitations  of  Corney  Green  on  the 
piano.  There,  among  many  other  celebrities,  we  met  Moncure 
D.  Conway  *  and  his  charming  wife. 

I  reached  England  in  time  to  attend  the  great  demonstration 
in  Glasgow  to  celebrate  the  extension  of  the  municipal  franchise 
to  the  women  of  Scotland.  It  was  a  remarkable  occasion.  St. 
Andrew's  immense  hall  was  packed  with  women ;  a  few  men 
were  admitted  to  the  gallery  at  half  a  crown  apiece.  It  was  said 
there  were  5,000  people  present.  When  a  Scotch  audience  is 
thoroughly  roused,  nothing  can  equal  the  enthusiasm.  The  ar- 
riving of  the  speakers  on  the  platform  was  announced  with  the 
wildest  applause,  the  entire  audience  rising,  waving  their  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  clapping  their  hands,  and  every  compliment  paid 
the  people  was  received  with  similar  outbursts  of  pleasure.  Mrs., 
McLaren,  a  sister  of  John  Bright,f  presided,  and  made  the  open- 
ing speech.  I  had  the  honor,  on  this  occasion,  of  addressing  an 
audience  for  the  first  time  in  the  old  world.  Many  others  spoke 
briefly.  There  were  too  many  speakers ;  no  one  had  time  to 
warm  up  to  the  point  of  eloquence.  Our  system  of  conventions 
of  two  or  three  days,  with  long  speeches  discussing  pointed  and 
radical  resolutions,  is  quite  unknown  in  England.  Their  meet- 
ings consist  of  one  session  of  a  few  hours  into  which  they  crowd 
all  the  speakers  they  can  summon  together.  They  have  a  few 

*  He  asked  me  confidentially  if  I  knew  what  the  "  D  "  in  his  name  stood  for.  "  Why,"  said  I,  "  in 
line  with  your  profession,  it  must  be  for  '  Divinity,'  or  *  Doxology.'  "  "  No,"  said  he,  "  for  '  Dynam- 
ite.' "  As  we  were  being  blown  up  just  then  in  all  parts  of  London,  I  begged  him  not  to  explode  un- 
til Sunday  morning  in  old  South  Church,  as  I  would  rather  see  a  wreck  of  the  old  theologies  than  of 
our  charming  hostess  and  Corney  Green,  who  were  giving  us  this  pleasant  entertainment. 

tShe  says  she  prefers  to  be  known  as  the  wife  of  Duncan  McLaren,  a  member  of  parliament  from 
Edinburgh  for  sixteen  years,  who  always  voted  right  on  the  woman  question,  while  John  Bright  is  op- 
posed to  the  movement. 


Scene  in  Friends'  Meeting.  925 

tame  resolutions  on  which  there  can  be  no  possible  difference  of 
opinion  printed,  with  the  names  of  those  who  are  to  speak  ap- 
pended. Each  of  these  is  read,  a  few  short  speeches  made,  that 
may  or  may  not  have  the  slightest  reference  to  the  resolution, 
which  is  then  passed.  The  last  is  usually  one  of  thanks  to  some 
lord  or  member  of  parliament  who  may  have  condescended  to 
preside  at  the  meeting,  or  to  do  something  for  the  measure  in 
parliament ;  it  is  spoken  to  like  all  that  have  gone  before.  The 
Queen  is  referred  to  tenderly  in  most  of  the  speeches,  although 
she  has  never  done  anything  to  merit  the  approbation  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  suffrage  for  woman.  As  on  this  occasion  a  woman 
conducted  the  meeting,  much  of  the  usual  red  tape  was  omitted. 

From  Glasgow  quite  a  large  party  of  the  Brights  and  McLarens 
went  to  Edinburgh,  where  the  Hon.  Duncan  McLaren  gave  us  a 
warm  welcome  to  Newington  House,  under  the  very  shadow  of 
the  Salisbury  crags.  These  and  the  Pentland  Hills  are  the  re- 
markable feature  in  the  landscape  as  you  approach  this  beautiful 
city,  with  its  monuments  and  castles  on  which  are  written 
the  history  of  the  centuries.  We  passed  a  few  charming  days 
driving  about,  visiting  old  friends,  and  discussing  the  status  of 
woman  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Here  we  met  Elizabeth 
Pease  Nichol,  Jane  and  Eliza  Wigham,  whom  I  had  not  seen 
since  we  sat  together  hi  the  World's  Anti-slavery  Convention  in 
London  in  1840,  Yet  I  knew  Mrs.  Nichol  at  once  ;  her  strongly- 
marked  face  is  one  not  readily  forgotten. 

I  went  with  the  family  on  Sunday  to  Friends'  meeting,  where 
a  most  unusual  manifestation  for  that  decorous  sect  occurred.  I 
had  been  told  that  if  I  felt  inclined,  it  would  be  considered  quite 
proper  for  me  to  make  some  remarks,  and  just  as  I  was  revolving 
an  opening  sentence  to  a  few  thoughts  I  desired  to  present,  a 
man  arose  in  a  remote  part  of  the  house,  and  began  in  a  low 
voice  to  give  his  testimony  as  to  the  truth  that  was  in  him.  All 
eyes  were  turned  toward  him,  when  suddenly  a  friend  leaned  over 
the  back  of  the  seat,  seized  his  coat-tails  and  jerked  him  down  in 
a  most  emphatic  manner.  The  poor  man  buried  his  face  in  his 
hands,  and  maintained  a  profound  silence.  I  learned  afterwards 
that  he  was  a  bore,  and  the  friend  in  the  rear  thought  it  wise  to 
nip  him  in  the  bud.  This  scene  put  to  flight  all  intentions  of 
speaking  on  my  part,  lest  I,  too,  might  get  outside  the  prescribed 
limits,  and  be  suppressed  by  force.  I  dined  with  Mrs.  Nichol  at 
Huntly  Lodge,  where  she  has  entertained  in  turn  many  of  our 


926  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

American  reformers.  Her  walls  have  echoed  to  the  voices  of 
Garrison,  Rogers,  Samuel  J.  May,  Parker  Pillsbury,  Henry  C. 
Wright,  Douglass  and  Remond,  and  hosts  of  English  philan- 
thropists. Though  over  eighty,  she  is  still  awake  on  all  questions 
of  the  hour,  and  generous  in  her  hospitalities  as  of  yore. 

Later,  Miss  Anthony,  in  company  with  Mrs.  Rebecca  Moore, 
spent  several  weeks  in  Edinburgh  looking  over  Mrs.  Nichol's 
voluminous  correspondence  with  the  anti-slavery  apostles,  to  see 
if  anything  of  interest  could  be  gleaned  for  these  volumes.  She 
found  Mrs.  Moore  as  a  traveling  companion  better  than  the  most' 
approved  encyclopedia,  as  she  possessed  all  possible  information 
on  every  subject  and  locality,  so  that  all  Miss  Anthony  had  to  do 
was  to  keep  her  ears  open  whenever  she  was  sufficiently  rested  to 
listen.  There,  too,  Miss  Anthony  visited  Dr.  Agnes  McLaren,  in 
her  recherch^  home,  and  found  her  as  charming  in  the  social  circle 
as  she  was  said  to  be  skillful  in  her  profession.  She  spent  several 
days  also  with  Dr.  Jex  Blake,  and  from  her  lips  heard  the  full  ac- 
count of  her  prolonged  struggle  to  open  the  medical  college  to 
women,  and  to  secure  for  them  as  students  equal  recognition. 
After  listening  to  all  the  humiliations  to  which  they  had  been 
subjected,  and  their  final  expulsion  from  the  university,  and  of 
the  riots  in  Edinburgh,  Miss  Anthony  felt  that  Dr.  Jex  Blake  had 
fought  the  battle  with  great  wisdom  and  heroism.  The  failure 
of  the  experiment  in  that  university  was  not  due  to  a  want  of 
tact  in  the  women  who  led  the  movement,  but  to  the  natural 
bigotry  and  obstinacy  of  the  Scotch  people,  the  universal  hostility 
of  the  medical  professors  to  all  innovations,  and  the  antagonism 
men  feel  towards  women  as  competitors  in  the  sciences  and  pro- 
fessions. Before  leaving  Edinburgh  a  public  reception  was  ten- 
dered to  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Nichol  presiding.  Professor 
Blackie,  Mrs.  Jessie  Wellstood,  and  the  honored  guest  herself,  did 
the  speaking.  With  refreshments  and  conversation  it  was  alto- 
gether a  pleasant  occasion. 

In  the  meantime  I  was  making  new  friends  in  the  other  parts 
of  the  kingdom.  Mrs.  Margaret  Lucas,  whose  whole  soul  is  in 
the  temperance  movement,  escorted  me  from  Edinburgh  to  Man- 
chester, to  be  present  at  another  great  demonstration  in  the 
Town  Hall,  the  finest  building  in  that  district.  It  had  just  been 
completed,  and,  with  its  ante-rooms,  dining  hall,  and  various  apart- 
ments for  social  entertainments,  was  altogether  the  most  per- 
fect hall  I  had  seen  in  England.  There  I  was  entertained  by  Mrs. 


Moncure  D.    Conway.  927 

Matilda  Roby,  who,  with  her  husband,  gave  me  a  most  hospit- 
able reception.  She  invited  several  friends  to  luncheon  one 
day,  among  others,  Miss  Lydia  Becker,  editor  of  the  Suffrage 
Journal  in  that  city,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Steinthal,  who  had  visited 
this  country  and  spoken  on  our  platform.  The  chief  topic  at  the 
table  was  John  Stuart  Mill,  his  life,  character,  writings,  and  his 
position  with  reference  to  the  political  rights  of  woman.  In  the 
evening  we  went  to  see  Ristori  in  Queen  Elizabeth.  Having 
seen  her  many  years  before  in  America,  I  was  surprised  to  find 
her  still  so  vigorous.  And  thus,  from  week  to  week,  were  suf- 
frage meetings,  receptions,  dinners,  luncheons  and  theatres  pleas- 
antly alternated. 

The  following  Sunday  we  heard  a  grand  sermon  from  Moncure 
D.  Conway,  and  had  a  pleasant  interview  with  him  and  Mrs.  Con- 
way  at  the  close  of  the  sessions.  Later  we  spent  a  few  pleasant 
days  at  their  artistic  home,  filled  with  books,  pictures,  and  me- 
mentoes from  loving  friends.  A  billiard-room  with  well-worn  cues 
and  balls  may  in  a  measure  account  for  his  vigorous  sermons — 
quite  a  novel  adjunct  to  a  parsonage.  A  garden  reception  there 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Howells,  gave  us  an  opportunity  to  see  the 
American  novelist  surrounded  by  his  admiring  friends.  Howells 
and  Hawthorne  seemed  to  be  great  favorites  in  the  literary  cir- 
cles of  England  at  that  time,  but  I  never  read  one  of  their  novels 
without  regretting  for  the  honor  of  American  women  that  they 
had  not  painted  more  vigorous  and  piquant  characters  for  their 
heroines. 

One  was  always  sure  of  meeting  some  Americans  worth  know- 
ing at  the  Conway's  in  Bedford  Park.  We  dined  there  with  Mary 
Clemmer  and  Mr.  Hudson,  just  after  their  marriage,  and  a  bright, 
pretty  daughter  of  Murat  Halstead,  who  chatted  as  gaily  among 
the  staid  English  as  on  her  native  heath.  There,  too,  we  first 

D 

saw  Mrs.  William  Mellen  with  her  daughters,  from  Colorado 
Springs,  now  residing  in  London  for  the  purpose  of  educating  a 
family  of  seven  children,*  although  there  is  no  so  fitting  place  to 
educate  children  to  the  duties  of  citizens  of  a  republic,  as  under 
our  own  free  institutions.  If  possessed  of  wealth,  they  readily 
adopt  aristocratic  ideas,  and  enjoy  the  distinctions  of  class  they 
find  in  all  monarchical  countries,  which  totally  unfit  them  for 


*  She  occupies  the  home  of  an  English  woman  who  has  taken  her  seven  children  to  Germany  for  their 
education.     How  strange  it  is  that  so  many  parents  imagine  that  they  can  educate  their  children  better 

in  a  foreign  land. 


928  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

properly  appreciating  the  democratic  principles  it  is  our  interest 
to  cherish  at  home. 

The  Sunday  after  Mr.  Conway  left  for  Australia,  I  was  invited 
to  fill  his  pulpit.  Spending  a  few  days  with  Mrs.  Conway,  we 
attended  the  Ladies'  Club  one  afternoon.  The  leading  spirits 
seemed  to  be  Miss  Orme  and  Miss  Richardson,  both  attorneys  in 
practice,  with  an  office  in  London,  though  not  yet  regularly  ad- 
mitted to  the  Queen's  Bench.  The  topic  of  discussion  was  the 
well-worn  theme — the  education  of  girls  ;  but  no  one  seemed  quite 
prepared  to  take  off  all  the  ligatures  from  their  bodies  and  the 
fears  of  everything  known  or  unknown  from  their  minds,  and  leave 
them  for  a  season  to  grow  as  nature  intended,  that  we  might  find 
out  by  seeing  them  in  their  normal  condition  what  their  real  wants 
and  needs  might  be.  I  suggested  for  their  next  topic,  the  proper 
education  of  boys,  which  was  accepted.  I  retired  that  night  very 
nervous  over  my  sermon  for  the  next  day,  and  the  feeling  stead- 
ily increased  until  I  reached  the  platform  ;  but  once  there,  my 
fears  were  all  dissipated,  and  I  never  enjoyed  speaking  more  than 
on  that  occasion,  for  I  had  been  so  long  oppressed  with  the 
degradation  of  woman  under  canon  law  and  church  discipline 
that  I  had  a  sense  of  relief  in  pouring  out  my  indignation. 

My  theme  was,  "  What  has  Christianity  done  for  Woman  ?" 
and  by  the  facts  of  history,  I  showed  clearly  that  to  no  form  of 
religion  was  woman  indebted  for  one  impulse  of  freedom,  as  all 
alike  have  taught  her  inferiority  and  subjection  to  man.  No 
lofty  virtues  can  emanate  from  such  a  condition.  Whatever 
heights  of  dignity  and  purity  women  have  individually  attained, 
can  in  no  way  be  attributed  to  the  dogmas  of  their  religion. 

With  my  son  Theodore,  always  deeply  interested  in  my  friends 
and  public  work,  we  called  on  Mrs.  Gray,  Miss  Jessie  Boucherett 
and  Dr.  Hoggan,  who  had  written  essays  for  "The  Wroman  Ques- 
tion in  Europe  ";  on  our  American  minister,  Mr.  Lowell,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  George  W.  Smalley,  and  many  other  notable  me'n  and  wo- 
men. By  appointment  we  had  an  hour  with  the  Hon.  John 
Bright  at  his  residence  on  Piccadilly.  As  his  photograph,  with 
his  fame,  had  reached  America,  his  fine  face  and  head,  as  well 
as  his  political  opinions,  were  quite  familiar  to  us.  He  received 
us  with  great  cordiality,  and  manifested  a  clear  knowledge,  and 
deep  interest  in  regard  to  all  American  affairs.  Free  trade  and 
woman  suffrage  formed  the  basis  of  our  conversation  ;  the  litera- 
ture of  our  respective  countries,  our  great  men  and  women,  the 


Barn  Elms.  929 

lighter  topics  of  the  occasion.  He  is  not  sound  in  regard  to  the 
political  rights  of  women,  but  it  is  not  given  to  any  one  man  to 
be  equally  clear  on  all  questions.  He  voted  for  John  Stuart  Mill's 
amendment  to  the  "  Household  Suffrage  Bill,"  in  1867,  but,  as  he 
said,  as  a  personal  favor  to  a  friend,  without  any  strong  convic- 
tions as  to  the  merits  of  what  he  considered  "  a  purely  senti- 
mental measure." 

We  attended  the  meeting  called  to  rejoice  over  the  passage  of 
the  Married  Woman's  Property  bill,  which  gave  to  the  women  of 
England  in  1882  what  we  had  enjoyed  in  many  States  in  this 
country  since  1848.  Mrs.  Jacob  Bright,  Mrs.  Scatcherd,  Mrs. 
Almy,  and  several  members  of  parliament  made  short  speeches 
of  congratulation  to  those  who  had  been  instrumental  in  carrying 
the  measure.  It  was  generally  conceded  that  to  the  tact  and 
persistence  of  Mrs.  Bright,  more  than  to  any  other  one  person, 
belonged  the  credit  of  that  achievement.  Hon.  Jacob  Bright  was 
at  that  time  a  member  of  parliament,  and  fully  in  sympathy  with 
the  bill ;  and  while  Mrs.  Bright  exerted  all  her  social  influence  to 
make  it  popular  with  the  members,  her  husband,  thoroughly 
versed  in  parliamentary  tactics,  availed  himself  of  every  techni- 
cality to  push  the  bill  through  the  House  of  Commons.  Mrs. 
Bright's  chief  object  in  securing  this  bill,  aside  from  establishing 
the  right  every  human -being  has  to  his  own  property,  was, 
to  lift  married  women  on  an  even  plane  with  widows  and  spin- 
sters, thereby  making  them  qualified  voters. 

The  next  day  we  went  out  to  Barn  Elms  to  visit  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Chas.  McLaren.  Mr.  McLaren,  a  Quaker  by  birth  and  educa- 
tion, has  sustained  to  his  uttermost  the  suffrage  movement,  and 
his  charming  little  wife,  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Pochin,  is  worthy 
the  noble  mother  who  was  among  the  earliest  leaders  on  this 
question,  speaking  and  writing  with  equal  ability  on  all  phases  of 
the  subject.  Barn  Elms  is  a  grand  old  estate,  a  few  miles  out  of 
London.  It  was  the  dairy  farm  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  pre- 
sented by  her  to  Sir  Francis  Walsingham.  Since  then  it  has  been 
inhabited  by  many  persons  of  note.  It  has  existed  as  an  estate 
since  the  time  of  the  early  Saxon  Kings,  and  the  record  of  the 
sale  of  Barn  Elms  in  the  time  of  King  Athelston  is  still  extant. 
What  with  its  well-kept  lawns,  fine  old  trees,  and  glimpses  here 
and  there  of  the  Thames  winding  round  its  borders,  and  its  wealth 
of  old  associations,  it  is  indeed  a  charming  spot.  Our  mem- 
ory of  those  days  will  not  go  back  to  Saxon  Kings,  but  remain 

59 


930  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

with  the  liberal  host  and  hostess,  the  beautiful  children  and  the 
many  charming  acquaintances  we  met  at  that  fireside.  I  doubt 
whether  any  of  the  ancient  lords  and  ladies  who  dispensed  their 
hospitalities  under  that  roof,  did  in  any  way  surpass  the  present 
occupants.  Mrs.  McLaren,  interested  in  all  the  reforms  of  the 
day,  is  radical  in  her  ideas,  a  brilliant  talker,  and,  for  one  so  young, 
remarkably  well  informed  on  all  political  questions.  One  thing 
is  certain,  those  old  walls  never  echoed  to  more  rebellious  talk 
.among  women  against  existing  conditions,*  than  on  that  evening. 

It  was  at  Barn  Elms  I  met  for  the  first  time  Mrs.  Fannie  Hertz, 
to  whom  I  was  indebted  for  many  pleasant  acquaintances  after- 
wards. She  is  said  to  know  more  distinguished  literary  people 
than  any  other  woman  in  London.  I  saw  her,  too,  several  times 
in  her  own  cozy  home,  meeting  at  her  Sunday-afternoon  recep- 
tions many  persons  I  was  desirous  to  know.  On  one  occasion  I 
found  George  Jacob  Holyoake  there,  surrounded  by  a  bevy  of 
young  ladies,  all  stoutly  defending  the  Nihilists  in  Russia,  and 
their  right  to  plot  their  way  to  freedom  ;  they  counted  a  dynasty 
of  Czars  as  nothing  in  the  balance  with  the  liberties  of  a  whole 
people.  As  I  joined  the  circle  Mr.  Holyoake  called  my  attention 
to  the  fact  that  he  was  the  only  one  in  favor  of  peaceful  measures 
among  all  those  ladies.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  I  have  often  heard  it 
said  on  your  platform,  that  the  feminine  element  in  politics 
would  bring  about  perpetual  peace  in  government,  and  here  all 
these  ladies  are  advocating  the  worst  forms  of  violence  in  the 
name  of  liberty."  "  Ah,"  said  I,  "  lay  on  their  shoulders  the  re- 
sponsibility of  governing,  and  they  would  soon  become  as  mild 
and  conservative  as  you  seem  to  be."  He  then  gave  us  his  views 
on  cooperation,  the  only  remedy  for  many  existing  evils,  which 
he  thought  would  be  the  next  step  toward  a  higher  civilization. 

There,  too,  I  met  some  Positivists,  who,  though  quite  reason- 
able on  religious  questions,  were  very  narrow  on  the  sphere  of 


*  After  dinner,  while  the  gentlemen  still  lingered  at  the  table,  the  ladies  being  alone,  an  unusual 
amount  of  heresy  as  to  the  rights  of  "  the  divinely  appointed  head  of  the  house  "  found  expression.  A 
young  English-woman,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  great  retirement,  turned  to  me  and  said,  "  I  never 
heard  such  declarations  before  ;  do  you  ladies  all  xeally  believe  that  God  intended  men  and  women  to 


_nd  yo__  .  „ 

the  injustice  to  which  you  have  been  subjected.  Now,"  said  I,  "  think  a  little,  and  see  if  you  can  re- 
call no  sense  of  dissatisfaction  at  the  broad  difference  made  between  your  sisters  and  brothers." 
"  Well,"  said  she,  "  I  did  often  wonder  why  father  gave  the  boys  half  a  crown  a  week  for  spending 
money,  and  us  girls  a  few  pence  ;  why  so  much  thought  and  money  were  expended  on  their  education, 
and  so  little  on  ours  ;  but  as  1  saw  that  that  was  the  custom  everywhere,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  a  superior  order  of  beings,  and  so  thought  no  more  about  it,  and  I  never  heard  that  theory 
contradicted  until  this  evening." 


The  House  of  Commons.  931 

woman.  The  difference  in  sex,  which  is  the  very  reason  why 
men  and  women  should  be  associated  in  all  spheres  of  activity, 
they  make  the  strongest  reason  why  they  should  be  separated. 
Mrs.  Hertz  belongs  to  the  Harrison  school  of  Positivists.  I  went 
with  her  to  one  of  Mrs.  Orr's  receptions,  where  we  met  Robert 
Browning,  a  fine  looking  gentleman  of  seventy  years,  with  white 
hair  and  mustache.  He  is  frank,  easy,  playful,  and  a  good  talker. 
Mrs.  Orr  seemed  to  be  taking  a  very  pessimistic  view  of  our  pres- 
ent sphere  of  action,  which  Mr.  Browning,  with  poetic  coloring, 
was  trying  to  paint  more  hopeful. 

The  next  day  I  dined  with  Mrs.  Margaret  Bright  Lucas,  in 
company  with  Mr.  John  P.  Thomasson,  member  of  parliament, 
and  his  wife,  and  afterwards  we  went  to  the  House  of  Commons 
and  had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  Gladstone,  Parnell,  and  Sir 
Charles  Dilke.  Seeing  Bradlaugh  seated  outside  the  charmed 
circle,  I  sent  my  card  to  him,  and  in  the  corridor  we  had  a  few 
moments'  conversation.  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  he  would 
eventually  get  his  seat ;  he  replied,  "  Most  assuredly  I  will.  I 
shall  open  the  next  campaign  with  such  an  agitation  as  will  rouse 
our  politicians  to  some  consideration  of  the  changes  gradually 
coming  over  the  face  of  things  in  this  country." 

The  place  assigned  ladies  in  the  House  of  Commons  is  really  a 
disgrace  to  a  country  ruled  by  an  Empress.  This  dark  perch  is 
the  highest  gallery  immediately  over  the  speaker's  desk  and  gov- 
ernment seats,  behind  a  fine  wire-work,  so  that  it  is  quite  impos- 
sible to  see  or  hear  anything.  The  sixteen  persons  who  can 
crowd  in  the  front  seat,  by  standing  with  their  noses  partly 
through  some  open  work,  can  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
cranial  arch  of  their  rulers,  and  hearing  an  occasional  pean  to 
liberty,  or  an  Irish  growl  at  the  lack  of  it.  I  was  told  this  net 
work  was  to  prevent  the  members  on  the  floor  from  being  dis- 
turbed by  the  beauty  of  the  women.  On  hearing  this  I  remarked 
that  I  was  devoutly  thankful  that  our  American  men  were  not  so 
easily  disturbed,  and  that  the  beauty  of  our  women  was  not  of  so 
•dangerous  a  character. 

I  could  but  contrast  our  spacious  galleries  in  that  magnificent 
capitol  at  Washington,  as  well  as  in  our  grand  State  capitols, 
where  hundreds  of  women  can  sit  to  see  and  hear  their  rulers  at 
their  ease,  with  these  dark,  dingy  buildings,  and  such  inadequate 
accommodations  for  the  people.  My  son,  who  had  a  seat  on  the 
floor  just  opposite  the  ladies'  gallery,  said  he  could  compare  our 


93 2  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

appearance  to  nothing  better  than  birds  in  a  cage.  He  could  not 
distinguish  an  outline  of  anybody.  All  he  could  see  was  the 
moving  of  feathers  and  furs,  or  some  bright  ribbon  or  flower. 

In  the  libraries,  the  courts,  and  the  House  of  Lords,  I  found 
many  suggestive  subjects  of  thought.  Our  American  inventions 
seem  to  furnish  them  cases  for  litigation.  A  suit  in  regard  to 
Singer's  sewing  machine  was  just  then  occupying  the  attention 
of  the  Lord  Chancellor.  Not  feeling  much  interest  in  the  matter, 
I  withdrew  and  joined  my  friends,  to  examine  some  frescoes  in 
the  ante-room.  It  was  interesting  to  find  so  many  historical 
scenes  in  which  women  had  taken  a  prominent  part.  Among 
others,  there  is  Jane  Lane  assisting  Charles  II.  to  escape,  and 
Alice  Lisle  concealing  the  fugitives  after  the  battle  of  Sedgemoor. 
Six  wives  of  Henry  VIII.  stand  forth  a  solemn  pageant  when  one 
recalls  their  sad  fate.  Alas!  whether  for  good  or  ill,  woman 
must  ever  fill  a  large  space  in  the  tragedies  of  the  world. 

I  passed  a  few  pleasant  hours  in  the  house  where  Macaulay 
spent  his  last  years.  The  once  spacious  library  and  the  large 
bay  window  looking  out  on  a  beautiful  lawn,  where  he  sat  from 
day  to  day  writing  his  flowing  periods,  possessed  a  peculiar  charm 
for  me,  as  the  surroundings  of  genius  always  do.  I  thought  as  I 
stood  there  how  often  he  had  unconsciously  gazed  on  each  object 
in  sight  in  searching  for  words  rich  enough  to  gild  his  ideas. 
The  house  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stephen 
Winckworth.  It  was  at  one  of  their  sociable  Sunday  teas  that 
many  pleasant  memories  of  the  great  historian  were  revived. 

.We  went  with  Mrs.  Lucas  to  a  meeting  of  the  Salvation  army, 
in  Exeter  Hall,  which  holds  5,000  people.  It  was  literally  packed 
— not  an  inch  of  standing-room  even,  seemed  to  be  unoccupied. 
This  remarkable  movement  was  then  at  its  height  of  enthusiasm 
in  England,  and  its  leaders  proposed  to  carry  it  round  the  world, 
but  it  has  never  been  so  successful  in  any  other  latitude.  They 
not  only  hold  meetings,  but  they  march  through  the  streets,  men 
and  women,  singing  and  pl'aying  on  tambourines.  The  exercises 
on  this  occasion  consisted  of  prayers,  hymns,  and  exhortations  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Booth.  When  this  immense  audience  all  joined  in 
the  chorus  of  their  stirring  songs,  it  was  indeed  very  impressive. 
The  whole  effect  was  like  that  of  an  old-fashioned  Methodist  re- 
vival meeting.  I  purchased  their  paper,  The  War  Cry,  and 
pasted  it  in  my  journal  to  show  the  wild  vagaries  to  which  the 
human  mind  is  subject.  There  is  nothing  too  ridiculous  or  mon 


Frances  Power  Cobbe.  933 

strous  to  be  done  under  the  influence  of  religious  enthusiasm.  In 
spite,  however,  of  the  ridicule  attached  to  this  movement,  it  is 
at  least  an  aspiration  for  that  ignorant,  impoverished  multi- 
tude. The  first  thing  they  were  urged  to  do  was  to  give  up  in- 
toxicating drinks,  and  their  vicious  affiliations.  If  some  other  or- 
ganization could -take  hold  of  them  at  that  point,  to  educate  them 
in  the  rudiments  of  learning  and  right  living,  and  supplement 
their  emotions  with  a  modicum  of  reason  and  common  sense  in 
the  practical  affairs  of  life,  much  greater  good  might  result  from 
this  initiative  step  in  the  right  direction. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  genial  women  we  met  was 
Miss  Frances  Power  Cobbe.  She  called  one  evening  at  10  Duch- 
ess street,  and  sipped  with  us  the  five  o'clock  cup  of  tea,  a  uni- 
form practice  in  England.  She  is  of  medium  height,  stout,  rosy, 
and  vigorous  looking,  with  a  large,  well-shaped  head,  a  strong, 
happy  face,  and  gifted  with  rare  powers  of  conversation.  I  felt 
very  strongly  attracted  to  her.  She  is  frank  and  cordial  and  pro- 
nounced in  all  her  opinions.  She  gave  us  an  account  of  her 
efforts  to  rescue  unhappy  cats  and  dogs  from  the  hands  of  the 
vivisectionists.  We  saw  her,  too,  in  her  own  cozy  home  and  in 
her  office  in  Victoria  Row.  The  perfect  order  in  which  her  books 
and  papers  were  all  arranged,  and  the  exquisite  neatness  of  "the 
apartments  were  refreshing  to  behold. 

My  daughter,  having  decided  opinions  of  her  own,  was  soon  at 
loggerheads  with  Miss  Cobbe  on  the  question  of  vivisection.  Af- 
ter showing  us  several  German  and  French  books  with  illustra- 
tions of  the  horrible  cruelty  inflicted  on  cats  and  dogs,  enlarging 
on  the  hypocrisy  and  wickedness  of  these  scientists,  she  turned 
to  my  daughter  and  said,  "  Would  you  shake  hands  with  one  of 
these  vivisectionists?"  "Yes,"  said  Harriot,  "  I  should  be  proud 
to  shake  hands  with  Virchow,  the  great  German  scientist,  for  his 
kindness  to  a  young  American  girl.  She  applied  to  several  pro- 
fessors to  be  admitted  to  their  classes,  but  all  refused  except 
Virchow ;  he  readily  assented,  and  requested  his  students  to 
treat  her  with  becoming  courtesy.  'If  any  of  you  behave  other- 
wise,' said  he,  '  I  shall  feel  myself  personally  insulted.'  She  en- 
tered his  classes  and  pursued  her  studies  unmolested  and  with 
great  success.  Now,"  said  she,  "would  you  refuse  to  shake 
hands  with  any  of  your  statesmen,  scientists,  clergymen,  lawyers 
or  physicians,  who  treat  women  with  constant  indignities  and 
insults?"  "Oh,  no";  said  Miss  Cobbe.  "Then,"  said  Mrs. 


934  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Blatch,  "you  estimate  the  physical  suffering  of  cats  and  dogs  as 
of  more  consequence  than  the  humiliation  of  human  beings. 
The  man  who  tortures  a  cat  for  a  scientific  purpose  is  not  as  low 
in  the  scale  of  being,  in  my  judgment,  as  one  who  sacrifices  his 
own  daughter  to  some  cruel  custom."  Though  Miss  Cobbe 
weighs  over  two  hundred  pounds,  she  is  as  light  on  foot  as  a 
deer  and  is  said  to  be  a  great  walker.  After  seeing  her  I  read 
again  some  of  her  books.  Her  theology  now  and  then  evi- 
dently cramps  her,  yet  her  style  is  vigorous,  earnest,  sarcastic, 
though  at  times  playful  and  pathetic.  In  regard  to  her  theology, 
she  says  she  is  too  liberal  to  please  her  orthodox  friends  and 
too  orthodox  to  please  the  liberals,  hence  in  religion  she  stands 
quite  solitary. 

Suffering  from  the  effects  of  the  prolonged  fogs,  we  took  our 
letters  of  introduction  from  Dr.  Bayard  of  New  York  to  the  two 
leading  high-dilution  homeopathic  physicians  in  London,  Drs. 
Wilson  and  Berridge.  We  found  the  former  a  good  talker  and 
very  original.  WTe  were  greatly  amused  with  his  invectives 
against  the  quacks  in  the  profession;  the  "mongrels,"  as  he 
called  the  low  dilutionists.  The  first  question  he  asked  my 
daughter  was  if  she  wore  high  heels ;  he  said  he  would  not  at- 
tempt to  cure  any  woman  of  any  disease  so  long  as  she  was 
perched  on  her  toes  with  her  spine  out  of  plumb.  His  advice  to 
me  was  to  get  out  of  the  London  fogs  as  quickly  as  possible. 
No  one  who  has  not  suffered  a  London  fog  can  imagine  the 
terrible  gloom  that  pervades  everywhere.  One  can  see  noth- 
ing out  of  the  windows  but  a  dense  black  smoke.  Drivers 
carry  flambeaux  in  the  streets  to  avoid  running  into  each 
other.  The  houses  are  full ;  the  gas  burns  all  day,  but  you  can 
scarcely  see  across  the  room ;  theaters  and  places  of  amusement 
are  sometimes  closed,  as  nothing  can  be  seen  distinctly.  We 
called  on  Dr.  Berridge,  also,  thinking  it  best  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  both  that  we  might  decide  from  their  general 
appearance,  surroundings,  conversation  and  comparative  intelli- 
gence, which  one  we  would  prefer  to  trust  in  an  emergency.  We 
found  both  alike  so  promising  that  we  felt  we  could  trust  either 
to  give  us  our  quietus,  if  die  we  must,  on  the  high  dilutions.  It 
is  a  consolation  to  know  that  one's  closing  hours  at  least  are 
passed  in  harmony  with  the  principles  of  pure  science.  On 
further  acquaintance  we  found  these  gentlemen  true  disciples  of 
the  great  Hahneman. 


Harriet  Martineaiis  Home.  935 

As  we  were  just  then  reading  Froude's  "  Life  of  Carlyle,"  we 
drove  by  the  house  where  he  lived  and  paused  a  moment  at  the 
door,  where  poor  Jennie  went  in  and  out  so  often  with  a  heavy 
heart.  It  is  a  painful  record  of  a  great  soul  struggling  with 
poverty  and  disappointment ;  the  hope  of  success  as  an  author 
so  long  deferred  and  never  wholly  realized.  His  foolish  pride  of 
independence  and  headship,  and  his  utter  obliviousness  as  to  his 
domestic  duties  and  the  comfort  of  his  wife,  made  the  picture 
still  darker.  Poor  Jennie,  fitted  to  shine  in  any  circle,  yet 
doomed  all  her  married  life  to  domestic  drudgery,  with  no  asso- 
ciations with  the  great  man  for  whose  literary  companionship  she 
had  sacrificed  herself.  It  adds  greatly  to  one's  interest  in  Scott, 
Dickens,  Thackeray,  Charlotte  Bronte,  Bulwer,  James  and  George 
Eliot,  to  read  them  amidst  the  scenes  where  they  lived  and  died. 
Thus  in  my  leisure  hours,  after  the  fatigues  of  sight-seeing  and 
visiting,  I  re-read  many  of  these  authors  near  the  places  where 
they  spent  their  last  days  on  earth. 

As  I  had  visited  Ambleside  forty  years  before  and  seen  Har- 
riet Martineau  in  her  prime,  I  did  not  go  with  Miss  Anthony  to 
Lake  Windermere.  She  found  the  well-known  house  occupied 
by  Mr.  William  Henry  Hills,  a  liberal  Quaker  named  after  Wil- 
liam Henry  Channing.  Mrs.  Hills  received  the  party  with  great 
hospitality,  showed  them  through  all  the  apartments  and  pointed 
out  the  charming  views  from  the  windows.  They  paused  a 
few  moments  reverently  in  the  chamber  where .  that  grand 
woman  had  passed  her  last  triumphant  days  on  earth.  On  the 
kitchen  hearth  was  still  sitting  her  favorite  cat,  sixteen  years 
old,  the  spots  in  her  yellow  and  black  fur  as  marked  as  ever. 
Puss  is  the  observed'of  all  observers  who  visit  that  sacred  shrine, 
and  it  is  said  she  seems  specially  to  enjoy  the  attention  of 
strangers.  From  here  Miss  Anthony  drove  round  Grasmere,  the 
romantic  home  of  Wordsworth,  wandered  through  the  old  church, 
sat  in  the  pew  he  so  often  occupied  and  lingered  near  the  last 
resting-place  of  the  great  poet.  As  the  former  residence  of  the 
anti-slavery  agitator,  Thomas  Clarkson,  was  on  Ulswater,  another 
of  the  beautiful  lakes  in  that  region,  Miss  Anthony  extended  her 
excursion  still  further  and  learned  from  the  people  many  pleasing; 
characteristics  of  these  celebrated  personages.  On  her  way  to 
Ireland  she  stopped  at  Ulverston  and  visited  Miss  Hannah 
Goad,  who  was  a  descendant  of  the  founder  of  Quakerism, 
George  Fox.  She  was  in  the  old  house  in  which  he  was  married. 


936  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

to  Margaret  Fell  and  where  they  lived  many  years ;  attended  the 
quaint  little  church  where  he  often  spoke  from  the  high  seats, 
looked  through  his  well-worn  Bible,  and  the  minutes  of  their 
monthly  meetings,  kept  by  Margaret  Fell  two  centuries  ago. 

Returning  to  London  we  attended  one  of  Miss  Biggs'  recep- 
tions and  among  others  met  Mr.  Stansfeld,  M.  P.,  who  had 
labored  faithfully  for  the  repeal  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  acts, 
and  in  a  measure  been  successful.  We  had  the  honor  of  an 
interview  with  Lord  Shaftsbury  at  one  of  his  crowded  receptions, 
and  found  him  a  little  uncertain  as  to  the  wisdom  of  allowing 
married  women  to  vote,  for  fear  of  disturbing  the  peace  of  the 
family.  I  have  often  wondered  if  men  see  in  this  objection  what 
fatal  admissions  they  make  as  to  their  own  selfishness  and  love 
of  domination. 

Miss  Anthony  was  present  at  the  great  Liberal  conference  at 
Leeds  on  October  17,  to  which  Mrs.  Helen  Bright  Clark,  Miss 
Jane  Cobden,  Mrs.  Tanner,  Mrs.  Scatcherd  and  several  other 
ladies  were  duly  elected  delegates  from  their  respective  Liberal 
leagues,  and  occupied  seats  on  the  floor.  Mrs.  Clark  and 
Miss  Cobden,  daughters  of  the  great  Corn-law  reformers, 
spoke  eloquently  in  favor  of  the  resolution  to  extend  parlia- 
mentary suffrage  to  women,  which  was  presented  by  Walter 
McLaren  of  Bradford.  As  these  young  women  made  their  im- 
passioned appeals  for  the  recognition  of  woman's  political 
equality  in  the  next  bill  for  the  extension  of  suffrage,  that  im- 
mense gathering  of  1, 600  delegates  was  hushed  into  profound 
silence.  For  a  daughter  to  speak  thus  in  that  great  representa- 
tive convention  in  direct  opposition  to  her  loved  and  honored 
father,  the  acknowledged  leader  of  that  party,  was  an  act  of 
heroism  and  fidelity  to  her  own  highest  convictions  almost  with- 
out a  parallel  in  English  history,  and  the  effect  on  the  audience 
was  as  thrilling  as  it  was  surprising.  The  resolution  was  passed 
by  a  large  majority.  At  the  reception  given  to  Mr.  John  Bright 
that  evening,  as  Mrs.  Clark  approached  the  dais  on  which  her 
:noble  father  stood  shaking  the  hands  of  passing  friends,  she  re- 
marked to  her  husband,  "  I  wonder  if  father  has  heard  of  my 
speech  this  morning,  and  if  he  will  forgive  me  for  thus  publicly 
differing  with  him?"  The  query  was  soon  answered.  As  he 
caught  the  first  glimpse  of  his  daughter  he  stepped  down  and, 
pressing  her  hand  affectionately,  kissed  her  with  a  fond  father's 
warmth  on  either  cheek  in  turn.  The  next  evening  the  great 


John  Bright.  937 

Quaker  statesman  was  heard  by  the  admiring  thousands  who 
could  crowd  into  Victoria  Hall,  while  thousands,  equally  de- 
sirous to  hear,  failed  to  get  tickets  of  admission.  It  was  a 
magnificent  sight,  and  altogether  a  most  impressive  gathering  of 
the  people.  Miss  Anthony  with  her  friends  sat  in  the  gallery 
opposite  the  great  platform,  where  they  had  a  fine  view  of  the 
whole  audience.  When  John  Bright,  escorted  by  Sir  Wilfred 
Lawson,  took  his  seat,  the  immense  audience  rose,  waving  hats 
and  handkerchiefs  and  with  the  wildest  enthusiasm  giving  cheer 
after  cheer  in  honor  of  the  great  leader.  Sir  Wilfred  Lawson  in 
his  introductory  remarks  facetiously  alluded  to  the  resolution 
adopted  by  the  conference  as  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  ideas 
of  the  speaker  of  the  evening.  The  house  broke  into  roars  of 
laughter,  while  the  father  of  Liberalism,  perfectly  convulsed, 
joined  in  the  general  merriment. 

But  when  at  length  his  time  to  speak  had  come,  and  Mr.  Bright 
went  over  the  many  steps  of  progress  that  had  been  taken  by  the 
Liberal  party,  he  cunningly  dodged  all  in  the  direction  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  women  of  England.  He  skipped  round  the 
agitation  in  1867  and  John  Stuart  Mill's  amendment  presented 
at  that  time  in  the  House  of  Commons;  the  extension  of  the 
municipal  suffrage  in  1869;  the  participation  of  women  in  the 
establishment  of  national  schools  under  the  law  of  1870,  both  as 
voters  and  members  of  school-boards;  the  Married  Woman's 
Property  bill  of  1882;  the  large  and  increasing  vote  for  the  ex- 
tension of  parliamentary  suffrage  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
the  adoption  of  the  resolution  by  that  great  conference  the  day 
before.  All  these  successive  steps  towards  woman's  emancipa- 
tion he  carefully  remembered  to  forget. 

During  Miss  Anthony's  stay  in  Leeds  she  and  her  cousin,  Dr. 
Fannie  Dickinson,  were  guests  of  Mrs.  Hannah  Ford  at  Adel 
Grange,  an  old  and  lovely  suburban  home,  where  she  met  many 
interesting  women,  members  of  the  school-board,  poor-law  guard- 
ians and  others.  The  three  daughters  of  Mrs.  Ford,  though  pos- 
sessed of  ample  incomes,  have  each  a  purpose  in  life ;  one  had 
gathered  hundreds  of  factory  girls  into  evening  schools,  where  she- 
taught  them  to  cut  and  make  their  garments,  as  well  as  to  read  and 
write  ;  one  was  an  artist  and  the  third  a  musician,  having  studied 
in  London  and  Florence.  It  was  during  this  ever-to-bc-renu-m- 
bered  week  that  Miss  Anthony,  escorted  by  Mrs.  Ford,  visited 
Haworth,  the  bleak  and  lonely  home  of  the  Brontes.  It  wa-  .1 


938  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

dark,  drizzly  October  day,  intensifying  all  the  gloomy  memories 
of  the  place.  She  sat  in  the  old  church  pew  where  those  shiver-- 
ing girls  endured  such  discomforts  through  the  fearful  services, 
with  their  benumbed  feet  on  the  very  stone  slab  that  from  time 
to  time  was  taken  up  to  deposit  in  the  earth  beneath  their  loved 
dead !  She  was  shown  through  the  house,  paused  at  the  place 
under  the  stairs  where  the  imperial  Shirley  had  her  fierce  encoun- 
ter with  that  almost  human  dog,  Keeper ;  she  stood  in  the  draw- 
ing-room where  the  sainted  three  sisters,  arm-in-arm,  paced  up 
and  down  plotting  their  weird  stories.  She  walked  through  the 
same  old  gate,  on  the  same  single  stone  pavement  and  over  the 
same  stile  out  into  the  same  heather  fields,  gazing  on  the  same 
dreary  sky  above  and  the  same  desolate  earth  on  every  side. 
She  dined  in  the  same  old  "  Black  Bull ";  sat  in  poor  Branwell's 
chair  and  was  served  by  the  same  person  who  dealt  out  the  drinks 
to  that  poor  unfortunate — then  a  young  bar-maid,  now  the  aged 
proprietor. 

Miss  Anthony  crossed  from  Barrow  to  Belfast,  where  she  was 
given  a  most  cordial  reception  at  the  house  of  one  of  Ireland's 
distinguished  orators,  Miss  Isabella  M.  Tod,  who  took  her  to  one 
of  her  Ulster  temperance  meetings  at  Garvah,  where  they  were 
the  guests  of  Rev.  Thomas  Medill,  a  cousin  of  the  distinguished 
Chicago  editor.  There,  as  Miss  Anthony  listened  to  the  prayers 
and  exhortations  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  and  to  the  argu- 
ments of  Miss  Tod,  and  heard  no  appeals  to  the  audience  to  join 
in  the  work  of  suppressing  the  traffic,  a  realizing  sense  of  the 
utter  powerlessness  of  the  queen's  subjects  in  Ireland  dawned 
upon  her  for  the  first  time.  In  all  that  crowd  there  was  not  one 
who  had  any  voice  in  the  decision  of  that  question.  The  entire 
control  of  the  matter  rested  with  three  magistrates  appointed  by 
the  queen,  who  are  in  nowise  responsible  to  the  tax-paying 
people  to  whom  they  administer  the  laws.  Had  Miss  Tod  been 
addressing  an  American  audience,  she  would  have  appealed  to 
every  man  to  vote  only  for  candidates  pledged  to  no-license. 
From  Garvah  they  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Giant's  Causeway. 
Miss  Anthony  had,  when  at  Oban,  visited  Fingal's  Cave,  and  the 
two  wonders  that  always  fix  themselves  upon  the  imagination  of 
the  youthful  student  of  the  world's  geography  fully  matched  her 
expectations. 

At  Dublin  she  visited  the  Castle,  the  old  parliament  building, 
now  a  bank;  Kings  and  Queens  College,  that  gives  diplomas  to 


Killarney.  939 

women  ;  the  parks,  the  cemeteries,  the  tomb  of  Daniel  O'Connell. 
She  attended  a  meeting  of  the  common  council,  of  which  Alfred 
Webb,  the  only  surviving  son  of  the  old  abolitionist,  Richard  D. 
Webb,  was  a  member,  and  there  she  listened  to  a  discussion  on 
a  petition  to  the  queen  that  the  people  of  Dublin  might  be 
allowed  to  elect  their  own  tax-collector  instead  of  having  one 
placed  over  them  by  "  the  powers  that  be"  at  London,  as  the 
official  thus  appointed  had  just  proved  a  defaulter.  In  listening 
to  the  outrages  perpetrated  upon  a  helpless  people  by  foreign 
officials,  the  one  wonder  to  her  was,  not  that  so  many  of  Ireland's 
sons  are  discontented,  but  that  they  are  not  in  open  rebellion. 

There  Miss  Anthony  made  the  acquaintance  of  numbers  of 
excellent  Friends,*  and  with  Mrs.  Haslam  visited  their  large  free 
library  and  attended  their  First-day  meeting.  In  Dublin,  too, 
she  met  Michael  Davitt,  who  seemed  to  her  a  most  sincere  cham- 
pion of  liberty  for  himself  and  his  people.  Miss  Anthony  spent 
a  week  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Haslam  in  Cork,  visiting  Blarney 
Castle,  the  old  walled  city  of  Youghal  with  its  crumbling 
Quaker  meeting-house  and  fine  old  mansion  in  which  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  lived,  and  thence  to  the  beautiful  Lakes  of  Killarney, 
and  in  a  jaunting-car  through  the  evicted  tenants'  district,  enter- 
ing the  hovels  and  talking  with  the  inmates.  The  sad  stories 
poured  into  her  ears,  and  the  poverty  and  wretchedness  she  saw, 
proved  to  her  that  none  of  Mr.  Redpath's  revelations,  so  shock- 
ing to  the  humanity  of  our  people,  were  in  the  least  over-drawn. 
The  circuit  through  Limerick,  Galway,  Clifton  and  Belfast  was 
made  in  third-class  cars,  that  she  might  talk  with  the  people 
of  the  working  class.  This  was  the  season  for  their  county 
fairs,  which  gave  her  an  opportunity  to  see  the  farmers  driving 
their  cattle  and  taking  their  meagre  products  to  the  fair.  The 
women  and  girls  were  uniformly  barefooted,  while  some  of  the 
men  and  boys  wore  shoes.  In  reply  to  her  query  why  this  was 
so,  one  man  said,  "  It  is  all  we  can  do  to  get  shoes  for  them  as 
airnes  the  money."  The  same  old  story ;  woman's  work,  how- 
ever arduous,  brings  no  price  in  the  market. 

While  in  London  we  attended  several  large  and  enthusiastic 
reform  meetings.  We  heard  Bradlaugh  address  his  constituency 
on  that  memorable  day  at  Trafalgar  Square,  at  the  opening  of 

*  Among  these  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Haslam,  Mr.  Wigham,  brother  of  Eli«a  Wigham.  and  hi%  cul- 
tured wife";  Hannah  Webb,  the  daughter  of  Richard,  and  Thomas  Webb  and  daughter-,  in  whose  ol 
family-record  book  of  visitors  she  was  shown  the  autograph*  of  William  Lloyd  Oarruon  and  Nathaniel 
P.  Rogers  over  the  date  of  1840. 


94-O  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

parliament,  when  violence  was  anticipated  and  the  parliament 
houses  were  surrounded  by  immense  crowds,  with  the  military 
and  police  in  large  numbers  to  maintain  order.  We  heard  Michael 
Davitt  and  Miss  Helen  Taylor  at  a  great  meeting  in  Exeter  Hall, 
the  former  on  home-rule  for  Ireland,  and  the  latter  on  the  nation- 
alization of  land,  showing  that  in  ancient  times  the  people  had 
many  privileges  long  since  denied.  They  even  had  forests  and 
commons  and  the  road-side,  where  their  cows,  sheep  and  geese 
could  glean  something.  The  facts  and  figures  given  in  these  two 
lectures  as  to  the  abject  poverty  of  the  people  and  the  cruel 
system  by  which  every  inch  of  land  had  been  grabbed  by  their 
oppressors,  were  indeed  appalling.  A  few  days  before  sailing  we 
made  our  last  visit  to  Ernestine  L.  Rose  and  found  our  noble 
coadjutor,  though  in  delicate  health,  pleasantly  situated  in  the 
heart  of  London,  as  deeply  interested  as  ever  in  the  struggles  of 
the  hour. 

Dining  one  day  with  Mrs.  Lucas,  we  were  forcibly  impressed 
with  the  growing  liberality  of  people  of  all  shades  of  belief  and 
of  all  professions.  The  guests  on  that  occasion  were  Mrs.  Hal- 
lock,  sister-in-law  of  Robert  Dale  Owen,  thoroughly  imbued  with 
his  religious  and  social  ideas ;  Dr.  Mary  J.  Hall,  the  only  woman 
practicing  homeopathy  in  England ;  Miss  Henrietta  Miiller, 
member  of  the  London  school-board ;  Miss  Clara  Spence,  a 
young  actress  from  America,  who  gave  us  some  fine  recitations ; 
and  such  liberals  in  politics  and  religion  as  Mrs.  Stanton  Blatch 
and  myself,  while  our  hostess  was  an  orthodox  Friend.  How- 
ever we  were  all  agreed  on  one  point,  the  right  of  women  to  full 
equality  everywhere.  In  the  evening  we  went  to  see  Mrs.  Hal- 
lock's  daughter,  Ella  Deitz,  in  the  play  of  "  Impulse."  We  urged 
Mrs.  Lucas  to  accompany  us,  but  she  said  she  had  never  been  to 
a  theater  in  her  life. 

A  great  discomfort  in  all  English  homes  is  the  cold  draughts 
through  their  halls  and  unoccupied  rooms.  A  moderate  fire  in 
the  grates  in  the  family  apartments  is  their  only  mode  of  heat- 
ing, and  they  seem  quite  oblivious  as  to  the  danger  of  throwing 
a  door  open  into  a  cold  hall  on  one's  back  while  the  servants 
pass  in  and  out  with  the  various  courses  at  dinner.  As  \vc 
Americans  were  sorely  tried  under  such  circumstances,  it  was  de- 
cided in  the  Basingstoke  mansion  to  have  a  hall  stove,  which, 
after  a  prolonged  search,  was  found  in  London  and  duly  installed 
as  a  presiding  deity  to  defy  the  dampness  that  pervades  all  those 


York   Cathedral.  94 1 

ivy-covered  habitations,  as  well  as  the  neuralgia  that  wrings 
their  possessors.  What  a  blessing  it  proved,  more  than  any 
one  thing  making  the  old  English  house  seem  like  an  American 
home !  The  delightful  summer  hea£  we  in  America  enjoy  in  the 
coldest  weather  is  quite  unknown  to  our  Saxon  cousins.  Al- 
though many  came  to  see  our  stove  in  full  working  order,  yet  we 
could  not  persuade  them  to  adopt  the  American  system  of  heat- 
ing the  whole  house  at  an  even  temperature.  They  cling  to  the 
customs  of  their  fathers  with  an  obstinacy  that  is  incompre- 
hensible to  us,  who  are  always  ready  to  try  experiments.  Ameri- 
cans complain  bitterly  of  the  same  freezing  experiences  in  France 
and  Germany,  and  in  turn  foreigners  all  criticise  our  over-heated 
houses  and  places  of  amusement. 

An  evening  reception  at  Mrs.  Richardson's,  in  the  city  of  York, 
gave  us  an  opportunity  of  a  personal  greeting  with  a  large  circle 
of  ladies  identified  with  the  suffrage  movement,  and  a  large 
public  meeting  the  next  day  in  the  Town  Hall  enabled  us  to 
judge  still  further  of  the  merits  of  English  women  as  speakers. 
Here  I  was  entertained  by  Mrs.  Lucretia  Kendall  Clarke,  an 
American,  who  had  spent  five  years  as  a  student  in  Dresden, 
where  she  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Clarke.  It  is  said  in 
England  that  the  American  girls  capture  all  the  choice  young 
men  ;  that  our  rich  cattle-dealers  get  all  their  best  horses,  cows, 
sheep,  dogs,  and  that  in  time  we  shall  rob  them  of  all  that  is  best 
in  the  country.  One  thing  is  certain,  we  shall  always  regret  our 
hospitable  invitation  to  the  sparrows,  as  they  are  making  war  on 
our  native  birds  instead  of  fulfilling  their  mission  to  the  "  Diet  of 
Worms."  In  company  with  Mrs.  Scatcherd  we  spent  an  hour  in 
that  magnificent  York  cathedral,  said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in 
England.  Being  there  at  the  time  for  service  we  had  the  benefit 
of  the  music.  To  us,  lost  in  admiration  of  the  wonderful  archi- 
tecture and  the  beautiful  carving  in  wood  and  stone,  the  solemn 
strains  of  the  organ  reverberating  through  those  vast  arches  made 
the  whole  scene  very  impressive.  As  women  in  many  of  the 
churches  are  not  permitted  to  take  part  in  the  sacred  ceremonies, 
the  choir  is  composed  of  men,  and  boys  from  ten  to  fifteen  \\h«> 
sing  the  soprano  and  alto.  But  these  old  ideas,  like  the  old 
Roman  wall  that  still  surrounds  that  city,  time  only  can  remove. 

We  had  a  merry  trip  from  York  to  London.  Miss  M Ciller, 
Mrs.  Chant,  Mrs.  Shearer,  Miss  Stackpole,  in  our  compartment, 
discussed  freely  the  silly  objections  to  woman's  enfranchisement 


942  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

usually  made  by  our  legislators.  We  found  on  comparing  notes 
that  the  arguments  usually  made  were  the  same  in  the  House  of 
Commons  as  in  the  halls  of  Congress.  If  the  honorable  gentle- 
men could  only  have  heard  their  stale  platitudes  with  good  imi- 
tations in  voice  and  manner,  I  doubt  whether  they  would  ever 
again  air  their  absurdities.  I  regretted  that  our  Caroline  Gilkey 
Rogers  had  not  been  there  to  have  given  her  admirable  imper- 
sonation of  a  Massachusetts  legislator. 

A  few  days  later  I  attended  another  meeting  in  Birmingham 
and  stayed  with  a  relative  of  Joseph  Sturge,  at  whose  home  I  had 
visited  forty  years  before.  This  was  called  to  discuss  the  degra- 
dation of  women  under  the  Contagious  Diseases  acts.  Led  by 
Josephine  Butler,  the  women  of  England  have  been  deeply 
stirred  on  the  question  of  repeal,  and  are  very  active  in  their 
opposition  to  the  law.  We  heard  Mrs.  Butler  speak  in  many  of 
her  society  meetings,  as  well  as  on  several  public  occasions.  Her 
style  is  not  unlike  that  we  hear  in  Methodist  class-meetings  from 
the  best  cultivated  of  that  sect ;  her  power  grows  out  of  her 
deeply  religious  enthusiasm. 

In  London  we  met  Emily  Faithful,  who  had  just  returned 
from  a  lecturing-tour  in  the  United  States,  and  were  much 
amused  with  her  experiences.  Having  taken  prolonged  trips 
over  the  whole  country  from  Maine  to  Texas  for  many  succes- 
sive years,  Miss  Anthony  and  I  could  easily  add  the  superlative 
to  all  her  narrations.  She  dined  with  us  one  day  at  Mrs.  Mel- 
len's,  where  we  also  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Miss  Jane 
Cobden,  a  daughter  of  the  great  Corn-law  reformer,  who  was 
much  interested  in  forming  Liberal  leagues,  to  encourage  the 
Liberal  party  and  interest  women  in  the  political  questions  under 
consideration.  She  passed  a  day  with  us  at  Basingstoke,  and 
together  we  visited  Mrs.  Caird,  the  author  of  "  Whom  Nature 
Leadeth,"  an  interesting  story  of  English  life.  I  found  the 
author  a  charming  woman,  but  in  spite  of  the  title  I  really  could 
not  find  one  character  in  the  three  volumes  that  seemed  to  fol- 
low the  teachings  of  nature. 

Two  weeks  again  in  London,  visiting  picture-galleries,  museums, 
libraries,  going'  to  teas,  dinners,  receptions,  concerts,  theaters  and 
reform-meetings ;  it  is  enough  to  turn  one's  head  to  think  of  all 
the  different  clubs  and  associations  managed  by  women.  It  was 
a  source  of  constant  pleasure  to  me  to  drive  about  in  hansoms 
and  try  to  take  in  the  vastness  of  that  wonderful  city ;  to  see  the 


Mrs.    Peter    Taylor.  943 

beautiful  equipages,  fine  saddle-horses  and  riders  and  the  skill 
with  which  the  bycicles  were  so  rapidly  engineered  through  the 
crowded  streets.  The  general  use  of  bicycles  and  tricycles  all  over 
England,  even  for  long  journeys,  is  fast  becoming  the  favorite 
mode  of  locomotion  both  for  ladies  and  gentlemen. 

It  was  a  pleasant  surprise  to  meet  the  large  number  of  Ameri- 
cans usually  at  the  receptions  of  Mrs.  Peter  Taylor.*  Graceful 
and  beautiful  in  full  dress,  standing  beside  her  husband,  who 
evidently  idolizes  her,  Mrs.  Taylor  appeared  quite  as  refined  in 
her  drawing-room  as  if  she  had  never  been  "  exposed  to  the 
public  gaze,"  while  presiding  over  a  suffrage  convention.  Mr. 
Peter  Taylor,  M.  P.,  has  been  untiring  in  his  endeavors  to  get  a 
bill  through  parliament  against  "compulsory  vaccination."  Mrs. 
Taylor  is  called  the  mother  of  the  suffrage  movement.  The 
engraving  of  her  sweet  face  which  adorns  the  English  chapter 
will  give  the  reader  a  good  idea  of  her  character.  The  reform 
has  not  been  carried  on  in  all  respects  to  her  taste,  nor  on  what 
she  considers  the  basis  of  high  principle.  Neither  she  nor  Mrs. 
Jacob  Bright  has  ever  been  satisfied  with  the  bill  asking  the 
right  of  suffrage  for  "widows  and  spinsters"  only.  To  have 
asked  this  right  "  for  all  women  duly  qualified,"  as  but  few  mar- 
ried women  are  qualified  by  possessing  property  in  their  own 
right,  the  result  would  have  been  substantially  the  same 
without  making  any  invidious  distinctions.  Mrs.  Taylor  and 
Mrs.  Bright  felt  that  as  married  women  were  the  greatest 
sufferers  under  the  law,  they  should  be  the  first  rather 
than  the  last  to  be  enfranchised.  The  others,  led  by  Miss 
Becker,  claimed  that  it  was  good  policy  to  make  the  demand  for 
"  spinsters  and  widows,"  and  thus  exclude  the  "  family  unit  "  and 
"  man's  headship  "  from  the  discussion ;  and  yet  these  were  the 
very  points  on  which  the  objections  were  invariably  based. 
They  claimed  that  if  "  spinsters  and  widows  "  were  enfranchised 
they  would  be  an  added  power  to  secure  to  married  women  their 
rights.  But  the  history  of  the  past  gives  no  such  assurance. 
It  is  not  certain  that  women  would  be  more  just  than  men,  and 
a  small  privileged  class  of  aristocrats  have  long  governed  their 
fellow-countrymen.  The  fact  that  the  spinsters  in  the  movement 
advocated  such  a  bill  shows  that  they  are  not  to  be  trusted  in 


*  On  one  occasion  I  counted  fourteen  :  Miss  Risley  Seward,  Mr*.  Louise  Chandler  Moulton.  Mr», 
Laura  Curtis  Bullard,  Miss  Rachel  Foster,  Mrs.  William  Mellen  and  two  loni  and  daughters,  Mr. 
Theodore  Tilton.  Miss  Anthony,  Mrs.  Stanton  Blatch  and  myself. 


944  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

extending  it.     John  Stuart  Mill,  too,  was  always  opposed  to  the 
exclusion  of  married  women  in  the  demand  for  suffrage. 

If  our  English  friends  had  our  system  of  conventions  and 
discussions  in  which  every  resolution  is  subject  to  criticism, 
changes  could  be  more  readily  effected.  But  as  their  meetings 
are  now  conducted,  a  motion  to  amend  a  resolution  would  throw 
the  platform  into  the  wildest  confusion  and  hopelessly  bewilder 
the  chairman.  We  saw  this  experiment  made  at  the  great 
demonstration  in  St.  James'  Hall  the  night  before  Mr.  Mason's 
bill  was  to  be  acted  on  in  the  House  of  Commons.  For  its  effect 
on  their  champions  some  were  desirous  that  a  resolution  should 
be  endorsed  by  that  great  audience  proposing  higher  ground ; 
that  instead  of  "  spinsters  and  widows,"  the  demand  should  be 
for  "  all  duly  qualified  women."  After  the  reading  of  one  of  the 
resolutions  Miss  Jessie  Craigen  arose  and  proposed  such  an  amend- 
ment. Mr.  Woodhall,  M.  P.,  in  the  chair,  seemed  quite  at  a  loss 
what  to  do.  She  was  finally,  after  mnch  debate  and  prolonged 
confusion,  suppressed,  whether  in  a  parliamentary  manner  or  not 
I  am  unable  to  say.  Here  we  should  have  discussed  the  matter 
at  length  if  it  had  taken  us  until  midnight,  or  adjourned  over 
until  next  day,  "  the  spinsters  and  widows "  having  been  the 
target  for  all  our  barbed  arrows  until  completely  annihilated. 

Spending  two  months  in  traveling  on  the  continent,  Miss 
Anthony  had  many  amusing  experiences.  While  visiting  our 
minister  and  his  wife,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sargent,  at  Berlin,  she  occu- 
pied some  rainy  days,  when  sight-seeing  was  out  of  the  question, 
in  doing  up  papers  and  writing  a  large  number  of  letters  on  our 
official  paper,  bearing  the  revolutionary  mottoes,  "  No  just  gov- 
ernment can  be  formed  without  the  consent  of  the  governed," 
"Taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny."  For  a  brief 
period  she  was  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  that  freedom  one  has 
when, a  pressing  duty  to  family  and  friends  has  been  thoroughly 
discharged.  But  alas !  her  satisfaction  was  soon  turned  to 
disappointment.  After  a  few  days  a  dignified  official  ap- 
peared at  the  American  Legation  with  a  large  package  bearing 
the  proscribed  mottoes,  saying,  "such  sentiments  cannot  pass 
through  the  post-office  in  Germany."  So  all  that  form  of  prop- 
agandism  was  nipped  in  the  bud,  and  in  modest,  uncomplaining 
wraps  the  letters  and  papers  started  again  for  the  land  of  the 
free  and  reached  their  destination. 

But   this  experience  did  not    satisfy  the  "  Napoleon    of   our 


Religious  Persecutions.  945 

movement "  that  the  rulers  in  the  old  world  could  securely  guard 
their  subjects  from  those  inflammable  mottoes  to  which  from 
long  use  we  are  so  indifferent.  She  continued  to  sow  the 
seeds  of  rebellion  as  she  had  opportunity,  in  Germany,  France, 
Switzerland  and  Italy.  It  is  well  for  us  that  she  did  not  experi- 
ment in  Russia,  or  we  should  now  be  mourning  her  loss  as  an 
exile  in  Siberia.  At  all  points  of  interest  books  are  kept  for 
visitors  to  register  their  names  ;  Miss  Anthony  uniformly  added 
some  of  our  Pilgrim  Fathers'  heroic  ejaculations  in  their  struggle 
for  liberty,  which  friends  visiting  the  same  places  afterwards  in- 
formed us  were  carefully  crossed  out  so  as  to  be  quite  illegible. 
But  we  may  hope  for  their  restoration  in  the  near  future  and 
that  they  may  yet  do  an  effective  work.  Thus  circumscribed 
with  her  pen  and  not  being  able  to  speak  a  foreign  language, 
happily  no  rebellions  were  fomented  by  her  rapid  transit  through 
their  borders. 

My  sense  of  justice  was  severely  tried  with  all  I  heard  of  the 
persecutions  of  Mrs.  Besant  and  Mr.  Bradlaugh  for  their  publica- 
tions on  the  right  and  duty  of  parents  to  limit  population.  Who 
can  contemplate  the  sad  condition  of  multitudes  of  young  chil- 
dren jn  the  old  world  whose  fate  is  to  be  brought  up  in  ignorance 
and  vice — a  swarming,  seething  mass  whom  nobody  owns — with- 
out seeing  the  need  of  free  discussion  of  the  philosophical  prin- 
ciples that  underlie  these  tangled  social  problems.  The  trials 
of  Foote  and  Ramsey,  too,  for  blasphemy,  seemed  unworthy  a 
great  nation  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Think  of  well-educated 
men  of  good  moral  standing,  thrown  into  prison  in  solitary  con- 
finement for  speaking  lightly  of  the  Hebrew  idea  of  Jehovah  and 
the  New  Testament  account  of  the  birth  of  Jesus!  Our  Protest- 
ant clergy  never  hesitate  to  make  the  dogmas  and  superstitions 
of  the  Catholic  church  seem  as  absurd  as  possible,  and  why 
should  not  those  who  imagine  they  have  outgrown  Protestant 
superstitions  make  them  equally  ridiculous?  Whatever  is  true 
can  stand  investigation  and  ridicule. 

The  last  of  April,  when  the  wild-flowers  were  in  their  glory, 
Mrs.  Mellen  and  her  lovely  daughter,  Daisy,  came  down  to 
Basingstoke  to  enjoy  its  beauty.  As  Mrs.  Mellen  had  knou  n 
Charles  Kingsley  and  entertained  him  at  her  residence  in  Colo- 
rado, she  felt  a  desire  to  see  his  former  home.  Accordingly,  one 
bright  morning  Mr.  Blatch  drove  us  through  Stralficldsagc  over 
the  grounds  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  well  stocked  with  fine 

60 


946  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

cattle,  sheep  and  deer.  This  magnificent  place  was  given  him  by 
the  English  government  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  A  lofty 
statue  of  the  duke  that  can  be  seen  for  miles  around  stands  at 
the  entrance.  A  drive  of  a  few  miles  further  brought  us  to 
Eversley,  the  home  of  Canon  Kingsley,  where  he  preached  many 
years  and  where  all  that  is  mortal  of  him  now  lies  buried.  We 
wandered  through  the  old  church,  among  the  moss-covered  tomb- 
stones and  into  the  once  happy  home,  now  silent  and  deserted, 
his  loved  ones  scattered  in  different  quarters  of  the  globe.  Stand- 
ing near  the  last  resting-place  of  the  author  of  "  Hypatia,"  his 
warning  words  for  woman,  in  a  letter  to  John  Stuart  Mill,  seemed 
like  a  voice  from  the  clouds,  saying  with  new  inspiration  and 
power,  "This  will  never  be  a  good  world  for  woman  until  the  last 
remnant  of  the  canon  law  is  civilized  off  the  face  of  the  earth." 

Mrs.  Mellen's  spacious  home  in  Pembroke  Gardens,  Kensing- 
ton, was  thrown  open  for  her  American  friends  in  London  to 
celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July.  A  large  number  of  our  English 
acquaintances  were  also  present,  who  very  kindly  congratulated 
us  on  the  stirring  events  of  that  day  in  1776.  Of  the  Ameri- 
cans assembled,  many  contributed  to  the  general  entertain- 
ment. Grace  Greenwood,  Miss  Rachel  Foster,  Miss  Kate 
Hillard  and  Miss  Mildred  Conway  gave  recitations.  Miss  Lip- 
pincott,  daughter  of  Grace  Greenwood,  sang  some  fine  operatic 
music ;  Mrs.  Carpenter  of  Chicago  sang  sweetly,  playing  her  own 
accompaniment ;  Mr.  Frank  Lincoln  gave  some  of  his  amusing 
impersonations;  Miss  Maud  Powell  of  Chicago,  only  fourteen 
years  of  age,  who  had  been  taking  lessons  in  France  and  Ger- 
many for  some  years,  played  exquisite  airs  on  the  violin ;  Mrs. 
Flora  Stark,  Miss  Alice  Blatch  and  Miss  Conway  gave  us  some 
fine  classical  music  on  the  piano ,  and  Nathaniel  Mellen  sang 
some  pathetic  negro  melodies.*  Altogether  it  was  a  pleasant 
occasion  and  I  felt  quite  proud  of  the  varied  talents  manifested 
by  our  young  people.  Some  English  friends  remarked  on  their 
cleverness  and  readiness,  all  spontaneously  called  out  without  any 
time  for  preparation. 

We  heard  Mr.  Fawcett  speak  to  his  Hackney  constituents  at 


*  Aside  from  those  already  mentioned  were  William  Henry  Channing,  L.  N.  Fowler,  the  phrenolo- 
gist, and  his  daughter;  Mrs.  Louise  Chandler  Moulton,  Mrs.  Slanton,  Mrs.  Stanton  Blatch,  Miss 
Anthony,  Mrs.  Powell,  Mrs.  Wilson,  Mrs.  Phillips,  several  members  from  the  Bright,  the  McLaren  and 
the  Cobden  families,  Mrs.  Conway,  Miss  Emily  Faithful,  Mr  William  Henry  Blatch,  Mr.  Stark,  the 
artist  ;  Philip  Marston,  the  blind  poet  ;  Miss  Orme  and  Miss  Richardson,  attorneys-at-law  ;  Judge 
Kelley,  wife  and  daughter  Florence,  Miss  Lydia  Becker,  Miss  Caroline  Biggs  and  sisters,  Miss  Julia 
Osgood. 


Miss   Mary  Priestman.  947 

one  of  his  campaign  meetings.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he 
mentioned  with  evident  favor  as  one  of  the  coming  measures  the 
disestablishment  of  the  church,  and  was  greeted  with  loud 
applause.  Soon  after  he  spoke  of  woman  suffrage  as  another 
question  demanding  consideration,  but  this  was  received  with 
laughter  and  jeers,  although  the  platform  was  crowded  with  ad- 
vocates of  the  measure,  among  whom  were  the  wife  of  the  speaker 
and  her  sister,  Dr.  Garrett  Anderson,  who  sat  just  behind  him. 
The  audience  were  evidently  in  favor  of  releasing  themselves 
from  being  taxed  to  support  the  church,  forgetting  that  women 
were  taxed  also  not  only  to  support  the  church,  in  which  they 
had  no  voice,  but  the  State,  too,  with  its  army  and  navy.  Mr. 
Fawcett  was  not  an  orator,  but  a  simple,  straightforward  speaker. 
He  made  but  one  gesture,  striking  his  right  clenched  fist  into  the 
palm  of  the  left  hand  at  the  close  of  all  his  strongest  assertions; 
but  being  sound  and  liberal,  he  was  a  great  favorite  with  his  con- 
stituents. 

A  pleasant  trip  southward  through  Bath  to  Bristol  brought  us 
to  the  home  of  the  Misses  Priestman  and  Mrs.  Tanner,  sisters-in- 
law  of  John  Bright.  I  had  stayed  at  their  father's  house  forty 
years  before,  so  we  felt  like  old  friends.  I  found  them  all  charm- 
ing, liberal  women,  and  we  enjoyed  a  few  days  together,  talking 
over  our  mutual  struggles,  and  admiring  the  beautiful  scenery  for 
which  that  part  of  the  country  is  quite  celebrated.  The  women 
of  England  were  just  then  organizing  political  clubs,  and  I  was 
invited  to  speak  before  the  one  in  Bristol.  They  are  composed 
of  men  and  women  alike,  for  the  discussion  of  all  political 
questions.  The  next  day  I  spoke  to  women  alone  in  the  church 
on  the  Bible  view  of  woman's  creation  and  destiny.  It  is  strange 
that  those  who  pretend  to  be  well-versed  in  Scripture  do  not 
see  that  the  simultaneous  creation  of  man  and  woman  and  the 
complete  equality  of  the  sexes  are  as  clearly  taught  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  as  the  reverse  is  in  the  allegorical  garden- 
scene  in  the  second.  The  drive  over  the  suspension-bridge  by 
moonlight  to  dine  with  Mrs.  Garnet,  a  sister  of  John  Thomasson, 
M.  P.,  was  a  pleasant  episode  to  public  speaking  and  more  serious 
conversation.  There,  too,  we  had  an  evening  reception.  There 
is  an  earnestness  of  purpose  among  English  women  that  is  very 
encouraging  under  the  prolonged  disappointments  reformers  in- 
evitably suffer,  There  is  something  so  determined  and  heroic  in 
what  Mary  Priestman  does  and  says  that  one  would  readily  fol- 


948  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

low  her  through  all  dangers.  It  added  much  to  my  comfort  in 
this  visit  to  have  an  escort  in  Mrs.  Lucas. 

Later  Miss  Anthony  visited  Bristol  and  had  a  complimentary 
reception  at  the  Misses  Priestman's.  She  was  the  guest  of  Miss 
Mary  Estlin,  who  had  spent  some  time  in  America,  a  dear  friend 
of  Sarah  Pugh  and  Parker  Pillsbury.  Miss  Estlin  was  from  home 
during  my  visit,  so  that  I  did  not  see  her  while  in  England.  The 
order  of  English  homes  among  the  wealthy  classes  is  very  enjoy- 
able. All  goes  on  from  year  to  year  with  the  same  servants,  the 
same  surroundings,  no  changes,  no  moving,  no  building  even; 
in  delightful  contrast  with  our  periodical  upheavings,  always  un- 
certain where  we  shall  go  next,  or  how  long  our  main  dependents 
will  stand  by  us. 

From  Bristol  we  went  to  Greenbank  to  visit  Mrs.  Helen  Bright 
Clark,  a  daughter  of  the  great  orator.  In  the  evening  the  parlors 
were  crowded,  and  I  was  asked  to  give  an  account  of  the  suffrage 
movement  in  America.  Some  clergymen  questioned  me  in  re- 
gard to  the  Bible  position  of  woman,  whereupon  I  gave  quite  an 
exposition  of  its  general  principles  in  favor  of  liberty  and 
equality.  As  two  quite  distinct  lines  of  argument  can  be  woven 
out  of  those  pages  on  any  subject,  on  this  occasion  I  selected  all 
the  most  favorable  texts  for  justice  to  woman,  and  closed  by  stat- 
ing the  limits  of  its  authority.  Mrs.  Clarke,  though  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  the  views  I  had  expressed,  feared  lest  my 
very  liberal  utterances  might  have  shocked  some  of  the  strictest 
of  the  laymen  and  clergy.  "  Well,"  I  said,  "  if  we  who  do  see  the 
absurdities  of  the  old  superstitions  never  unveil  them  to  others, 
how  is  the  world  to  make  any  progress  in  the  theologies  ?  I  am 
now  in  the  sunset  of  life,  and  I  feel  it  to  be  my  special  mission 
to  tell  people  what  they  are  not  prepared  to  hear,  instead  of 
echoing  worn-out  opinions."  The  result  showed  the  wisdom  of 
my  speaking  out  of  my  own  soul.  To  the  surprise  of  Mrs.  Clark, 
the  primitive  Methodist  clergyman  called  on  Sunday  morning  to 
invite  me  to  occupy  his  pulpit  in  the  afternoon  and  present  the 
same  line  of  thought  I  had  the  previous  evening.  I  accepted  his 
invitation.  He  led  the  services  and  I  took  my  text  from  Gen- 
esis i.,  27,  28,.  showing  that  man  and  woman  were  a  simultaneous 
creation,  endowed  with  equal  power  in  starting. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  I  found  very  agreeable,  progressive  people, 
with  a  nice  family  of  boys  and  girls.  Like  all  English  children, 
they  suffered  too  much  repression,  while  our  American  children 


Reception  in  Princess1  Hall.  949 

have  too  much  latitude.  If  we  could  strike  the  happy  medium 
between  the  two  systems,  it  would  be  a  great  benefit  to  the 
children  of  both  countries.  The  next  day  we  drove  down  to  see 
Glastonbury  cathedral.  England  is  full  of  these  beautiful  ruins, 
covered  with  flowers  and  ivy,  but  the  saddest  spectacles,  with  all 
this  fading  glory,  are  the  men,  women  and  children  whose  naked- 
ness neither  man  nor  nature  seeks  to  drape. 

Returning  to  London  we  accepted  an  invitation  to  take  tea 
with  Mrs.  Jacob  Bright.  A  choice  circle  of  three  it  was, 
and  a  large  server  of  tempting  viands  was  placed  on  a  small 
table  before  us.  Mrs.  Bright,  in  earnest  conversation,  had  helped 
us  each  to  a  cup  of  tea,  and  was  turning  to  help  us  to  something 
more,  when  over  went  table  and  all,  tea,  bread  and  butter,  cake, 
strawberries  and  cream,  silver,  china,  in  one  conglomerate  mass. 
Silence  reigned.  No  one  started  ;  no  one  said  "  Oh !  "  Mrs. 
Bright  went  on  with  what  she  was  saying  as  if  nothing  unusual 
had  occurred,  rang  the  bell,  and  when  the  servant  appeared, 
pointing  to  the  debris,  she  said,  "  Charles,  remove  this."  I  was 
filled  with  admiration  at  her  coolness,  and  devoutly  thankful  that 
we  Americans  maintained  an  equally  dignified  silence. 

At  a  grand  reception  given  in  our  honor  by  the  National  Cen- 
tral Committee,  in  Princess'  Hall,  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  M.  P.,  pre- 
sided and  made  an  admirable  opening  speech,  followed  by  his 
sister,  Mrs.  McLaren,  with  a  highly  complimentary  address  of 
welcome.  By  particular  request  Miss  Anthony  gave  a  presenta- 
tion of  the  industrial,  legal  and  political  status  of  American 
women ;  while  I  set  forth  their  educational,  social  and  religious 
limitations.  Mr.  John  P.  Thomasson,  M.  P.,  made  the  closing 
address,  expressing  his  satisfaction  with  the  addresses  of  the 
ladies  and  the  progress  made  in  both  countries.* 

Mrs.  Thomasson,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Lucas,  gave  several  de- 
lightful evening  parties,f  receptions  and  dinners,  some  for  ladies 
alone,  where  an  abundant  opportunity  was  offered  for  a  critical 
analysis  of  the  idiosyncracies  of  the  superior  sex,  especially  in 

*  Among  the  distinguished  persons  on  the  platform  were  France*  Power  Cobbe,  Dr.  Garrett  Ander- 
son, Mrs.  Fawcett,  Mrs.  Jacob  Bright,  Mrs.   Lucas.  Mrs.  Thomasson,   Mrs.   Margaret  Parker. 
Alice  Scatcherd,  Miss  Becker,  Miss  Biggs,  Mrs.   Moore,  Mr.  and  Mr*.  Conway,  O>car  Wilde  and  hi* 
queenly  mother,  Charles  McLaren,  M.  P.,  Mrs.  Peter  A.  Taylor,  Miss  Helen  Taylor,  Mi«  •  >rn,. 
Miiller,  Miss  Lord,  Miss  Foster,  Mrs.  and  Miss  Blatch,  Mrs.  Mellcn,  Miss  Tod  of  Belfast.  Mr*.  Che»- 
son,  daughter  of  George  Thompson,  the  great  anti-slavery  orator,  and  very  many  other*  whoM  name* 


we  cannot  recall. 


we  uuiiuui  recall. 

t  Where  we  met  Mrs.  Fawcett,  Dr.  Garrett  Anderson,  Sir  Hugh  Staples,  Mr.  Mitchell,  the  MMM» 
Stackpole  and  brothers,  Madame  Venturi,  Miss  Biggs  and  sisters.  Miss  France*  Lord  and  her  »i»tw,  who 

is  doing  a  noble  work  in  her  kindergarten. 


950  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

their  political  dealings  with  women.  The  patience  of  even  such 
heroic  souls  as  Lydia  Becker  and  Caroline  Biggs  was  almost 
exhausted  with  the  tergiversations  of  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  Alas  for  the  many  fair  promises  broken,  the  hopes 
deferred,  the  votes  fully  relied  on  and  counted,  all  missing  in  the 
hour  of  action.  One  crack  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  whip  put  a  hun- 
dred Liberals  to  flight  in  a  twinkling,  members  whom  these  noble 
women  had  spent  years  in  educating.  I  never  visited  the  House 
of  Commons  that  I  did  not  see  Miss  Becker  and  Miss  Biggs  try- 
ing to  elucidate  the  fundamental  principles  of  just  government 
to  some  of  them.  Verily  their  divine  faith  and  patience  merited 
more  worthy  action  on  the  part  of  their  representatives. 

We  formed  very  pleasant  friendships  with  Miss  Frances  Lord 
and  Miss  Henrietta  Miiller,  spending  several  days  with  the  latter 
at  58  Cadogan  square,  and  both  alike  visited  us  at  different  times 
in  Basingstoke.  Miss  Lord  has  translated  some  of  Ibsen's  plays 
very  creditably  to  herself,  and,  we  understand,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  Swedish  poet.  Miss  Lord  is  a  cultured,  charming  woman, 
attractive  in  society,  and  has  a  rare  gift  in  conversation ;  she  is 
rather  shrinking  in  her  feelings.  Miss  Miiller,  her  devoted  friend,  is 
just  the  opposite;  fearless,  aggressive  and  self-centered.  Miss  Lord 
discharged  her  duties  as  poor-law  guardian  faithfully,  and  Miss 
Miiller,  as  member  of  the  London  school-board,  claimed  her  rights 
when  infringed  upon,  and  maintained  the  dignity  of  her  position 
with  a  good  degree  of  tact  and  heroism.  We  met  Miss  White- 
head,  another  poor-law  guardian,  at  Miss  Miiller's,  and  had  a  long- 
talk  on  the  sad  condition  of  the  London  poor  and  the  grand 
work  Octavia  Hill  had  done  among  them.  Miss  Miiller  read  us  a 
paper  on  the  dignity  and  office  of  single  women.  Her  idea  seems 
to  be  very  much  like  that  expressed  by  St.  Paul  in  his  epistles, 
that  it  is  better  for  those  who  have  a  genius  for  public  work  in 
the  church  or  State  not  to  marry;  and  Miss  Miiller  carries  her 
theory  into  practice  thus  far.  She  has  a  luxurious  establishment 
of  her  own,  is  fully  occupied  in  politics  and  reform,  and  though 
she  lives  by  herself  she  entertains  her  friends  generously,  and 
does  whatever  it  seems  good  to  her  to  do.  As  she  is  bright 
and  entertaining  and  has  many  worshipers,  she  may  fall  a  victim 
to  the  usual  fate  in  spite  of  her  admirable  essay,  which  has  been 
printed  in  tract  form  and  circulated  extensively  in  England  and 
America.  Miss  Miiller  gave  Miss  Anthony  and  myself  a  farewell 
reception  on  the  eve  of  our  departure  for  America,  when  we  had 


At  Alderly  Edge. 

the  opportunity  of  meeting  once  more  most  of  the  pleasant  ac- 
quaintances we  had  made  in  London.  Although  it  was  an- 
nounced for  the  afternoon,  we  did  in  fact  receive  all  day  as  many 
as  could  not  come  at  the  hour  appointed.  Dr.  Elizabeth  Black- 
well  took  breakfast  with  us;  Mrs.  Fawcett,  Mrs.  Seville*  and 
Miss  Lord  were  with  us  at  luncheon ;  Harriet  Hosmer  and  Olive 
Logan  soon  after ;  Mrs.  Peter  Taylor  later,  and  from  three  to  six 
o'clock  the  parlors  were  crowded. 

Returning  from  London  I  passed  my  birthday,  November  12, 
in  Basingstoke.  It  was  a  sad  day  to  us  all,  knowing  that  it  was 
the  last  before  my  departure  for  America.  When  I  imprinted 
the  farewell  kiss  on  the  soft  cheek  of  little  Nora  in  the  cradle, 
she  in  the  dawn  and  I  in  the  sunset  of  life,  I  realized  how  widely 
the  long  years  and  the  broad  ocean  would  separate  us  forever. 
Miss  Anthony,  who  had  been  visiting  Mrs.  Parker,  near  Warring- 
ton,  met  me  at  Alderly  Edge,  where  we  spent  a  few  days  in  the 
charming  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jacob  Bright.  There  we  found 
their  noble  sisters,  Mrs.  McLaren  and  Mrs.  Lucas,  young  Walter 
McLaren  and  his  lovely  bride,  Eva  Miiller,  whom  we  had  heard 
several  times  on  the  suffrage  platform.  We  rallied  her  on  the 
step  she  had  lately  taken,  notwithstanding  her  sister's  able  paper 
on  the  blessedness  of  a  single  life.  While  here  we  visited  Dean 
Stanley's  birthplace  ;  but  on  his  death  the  light  and  joy  went  out, 
and  the  atmosphere  of  the  old  church  whose  walls  had  once 
echoed  to  his  voice,  and  the  house  where  he  had  spent  so  many 
useful  years,  seemed  sad  and  deserted.  But  the  day  was  bright 
and  warm,  the  scenery  all  around  was  beautiful,  cows  and  sheep 
were  still  grazing  in  the  meadows,  the  grass  as  green  as  in 
June.  This  is  England's  chief  charm,  forever  green,  some  com- 
pensation for  the  many  cloudy  days.  An  evening  reception  in 
Mrs.  Bright's  spacious  parlors,  with  friends  from  Manchester  and 
other  adjoining  towns,  with  speeches  of  welcome  and  farewell, 
finished  our  visit  at  Alderly  Edge. 

As  our  good  friends  Mrs.  McLaren  and  Mrs.  Lucas  had  deter- 
mined to  see  us  safely  on  board  the  Servia,  they  escorted  us  to 
Liverpool,  where  we  met  Mrs.  Margaret  Parker,  Mrs.  Scatcherd 
and  Dr.  Fanny  Dickinson  of  Chicago.  Another  reception  was 

*  Mrs.  Seville,  whose  husband  was  a  professor  at  Sandhurst  College,  having  recently  awoke  to  the 
indignities  the  church  heaps  upon  women,  made  her  protest  in  discarding  her  bonnet  and  appearing  on 
Sundays  with  her  head  uncovered,  contrary  to  Paul's  injunctions.  Having  thus  attended  church  fur 
two  years,  involving  much  criticism  and  disturbance,  both  the  vicar  and  the  bishop  labored  with  her  t<- 
resume  the  bonnet,  but  she  remained  incorrigible.  She  read  us  a  letter  of  remonstrance  from  the 
bishop,  over  which  we  all  had  a  hearty  laugh. 


952  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

given  us  at  the  residence  of  Dr.  Ewing  Whittle.  Several  short 
speeches  were  made,  all  cheering  the  parting  guests  with  words 
of  hope  and  encouragement  for  the  good  cause. 

Here  the  wisdom  of  forming  an  international  association  was 
considered.  The  proposition  met  with  such  favor  from  those 
present  that  a  committee  was  appointed  to  correspond  with  the 
friends  in  different  nations.  As  Miss  Anthony  and  myself  are 
members  of  that  committee,*  now  that  these  volumes  are  finished 
and  we  are  at  liberty  once  more,  we  shall  ascertain  as  soon  as 
possible  the  feasibility  of  a  grand  international  conference  in 
New  York  in  1888,  to  celebrate  the  fourth  decade  of  our  move- 
ment for  woman's  enfranchisement.  Such  conventions  have  been 
held  by  the  friends  of  anti-slavery,  peace,  temperance,  social 
purity  and  evangelical  Christianity,  and  why  may  not  the  suffrage 
cause,  too,  receive  a  new  impetus  from  the  united  efforts  of  its 
friends  in  all  countries. 

On  the  broad  Atlantic  for  ten  days  we  had  many  opportunities 
tq  review  all  we  had  seen  and  heard.  There  we  met  our  noble 
friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hussey  of  New  Jersey;  also  Mrs.  Margaret 
Buchanan  Sullivan  of  Chicago,  just  returning  from  an  extended 
tour  in  Ireland,  who  gave  us  many  of  her  rich  experiences. 
Sitting  on  deck  hour  after  hour,  how  often  I  queried  with  myself 
as  to  the  significance  of  the  boon  for  which  women  were  so 
earnestly  struggling.  In  asking  for  a  voice  in  the  government 
under  which  we  live,  have  we  been  pursuing  a  shadow  for  forty 
years?  In  seeking  political  power,  are  we  abdicating  that  social 
throne  where  they  tell  us  our  influence  is  unbounded  ?  No  !  no  ! 
the  right  of  suffrage  is  no  shadow,  but  a  substantial  entity  that 


women  all 
ig  an 


*  The  following  is  the  report  of  the  action  prepared  that  evening  by  Mrs.  Parker:  "  At  a  large  and 
influential  gathering  of  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage,  at  Parliament  Terrace,  Liverpool,  November 
16,  1883,  convened  by  E.  Whittle,  M.  D.,  to  meet  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  and  Miss  Susan  B. 
Anthony  prior  to  their  return  to  America,  it  was  proposed  by  Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Parker  of  Penketh 
(near  Warrington),  seconded  by  Mrs.  McLaren  of  Edinburgh,  and  unanimously  passed : 

"  That  this  meeting,  recognizing  that  union  is  strength  and  that  the  time  has  come  when  wom« 
over  the  world  should  unite  in  the  just  demand  for  their  political  enfranchisement ;  therefore 

"  Resoh'ed^  That  we  do  here  appoint  a  committee  of  correspondence,  preparatory  to  formin 
International  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

"  Resolved^  That  the  committee  consist  of  the  following  friends,  with  power  to  add  to  their  number: 
ffff  (he  American  Center — Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Miss  Rachel 
Foster.  London  Center — Mrs.  Peter  A.  Taylor,  Mrs.  Margaret  B.  Lucas,  Miss  Helen  Taylor,  Mi>- 
Henrietta  Miiller.  Miss  Caroline  A.  Biggs,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  McLaren,  Miss  Eliza  Orme,  Miss 
Rebecca  Moore,  London  ;  Mrs.  Harriot  Stanton  Blatch,  Basingstoke.  Manchester  Center — Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Jacob  Bright,  Manchester;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  P.  Thomasson,  Bolton  ;  Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Parker, 
Penketh  ;  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Whittle,  Liverpool  ;  Mrs.  Oliver  Scatcherd,  Leeds  ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter 
McLaren,  Bradford  ;  Mrs.  Philips,  Liverpool ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crook,  Bolton  ;  Mr.  Berners,  Mr.  Russell, 
Liverpool;  Miss  Becker,  Manchester.  Bristol  Center — Miss  Helen  Bright  Clarke,  Street :  Mrs.  Alfred 
Ostler,  Birmingham  ;  Miss  Priestman,  Bristol.  Center  for  Scotland — Mrs.  Duncan  McLaren,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Pease  Nichol,  Miss  Eliza  Wigham,  Edinburgh.  Center  for  Ireland — Miss  Tod,  Belfast; 
Mrs.  Haslam,  Dublin.  Center  for  France — M'lle  Hubertine  Auclert,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Theodore  Stanton, 
Charlotte  B.  Wilbour,  Paris. 


Arrival  Home.  953 

the  citizen  can  seize  and  hold  for  his  own  protection  and  hie 
country's  welfare.  A  direct  power  over  one's  own  person  and 
property,  an  individual  opinion  to  be  counted  on  all  questions  of 
public  interest,  is  better  than  indirect  influence,  be  it  ever  so  far- 
reaching. 

Though  influence,  like  the  pure  white  light,  is  all-pervading, 
yet  it  is  oft-times  obscured  with  passing  clouds  and  nights  of 
darkness  ;  like  the  sun's  rays,  it  may  be  healthy,  genial,  inspiring, 
though  sometimes  too  direct  for  comfort,  too  oblique  for  warmth, 
too  scattered  for  any  given  purpose.  But  as  the  prism  by  divid- 
ing the  rays  of  light  reveals  to  us  the  brilliant  coloring  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  as  the  burning-glass  by  concentrating  them  in  a 
focus  intensifies  their  heat,  so  does  the  right  of  suffrage  reveal 
the  beauty  and  power  of  individual  sovereignty  in  the  great 
drama  of  national  life,  while  on  a  vital  measure  of  public  interest 
it  combines  the  many  voices  of  the  people  in  a  grand  chorus  of 
protest  or  applause. 

After  an  unusually  calm,  pleasant  voyage,  for  November,  we 
sailed  up  our  beautiful  New  York  harbor  just  as  the  sun  was 
rising  in  all  his  glory,  gilding  every  hill-top  and  distant  spire  in 
the  landscape,  and  with  grateful  hearts  we  celebrated  the 
national  Thanksgiving-day  once  more  with  loving  friends  in  the 
great  Republic. 


APPENDIX. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE    CENTENNIAL    YEAR. 

AMONG  those  who  sent  most  cordial  letters  of  greeting,  with  requests  that  their 
names  should  be  enrolled  in  the  centennial  autograph-book  as  signers  of  the  woman's 
declaration  of  sentiments,  were  :  Maine,  Lavinia  M.  Snow,  Lucy  A.  Snow;  New 
Hampshire,  Marilla  M.  Ricker,  Abby  P.  Ela;  Massachusetts,  E.  T.  Strickland,  Sarah 
E.  Wall;  Rhode  Island,  Paulina  Wright  Davis;  Connecticut,  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker, 
Frances  Ellen  Burr,  Julia  and  Abby  Smith;  New  York,  Clemence  S.  Lorier,  Hen- 
rietta Paine  Westbrook,  Nettie  A.  Ford,  Elizabeth  B.  Phelps,  Charlotte  A.  Cleveland, 
Elizabeth  M.  Atwell;  Pennsylvania,  E.  A.  Stetson  Lozier,  Anna  Thomson;  New 
Jersey,  Ellen  Dickinson,  S.  Mary  Clute,  Mary  M.  Van  Clief,  S.  H.  Cornell,  Emma 
L.  Wilde,  Jennie  Dixon,  Casa  Tonti,  Marie  Howland,  Lucinda  B.  Chandler;  District 
of  Columbia,  Addie  T.  Holton,  Margaret  E.  Johnson,  Sabra  P.  Abell,  Ruth  Carr 
Dennison,  Ellen  H.  Sheldon,  Mary  Shadd  Cary  and  ninety-four  others,  Mary  F. 
Foster,  Susan  A.  Edson;  Virginia,  Sally  Holly,  Carrie  Putnam;  Kentucky,  Annie 
Laurie  Quinby;  Tennessee,  Elizabeth  Avery  Meriwether;  Louisiana,  Elizabeth  Lisle 
Saxon;  Michigan,  Sarah  C.  Owen,  Margaret  J.  E.  Millar;  Illinois,  A.  J.  Grover, 
Edward  P.  Powell,  Cynthia  A.  Leonard,  Susan  H.  Richardson;  Missouri,  Francis 
Minor,  Annie  R.  Irvine;  California,  Sarah  L.  Knox,  Sarah  J.  Wallis,  Carrie  M. 
Robinson,  Mary  E.  Kellogg,  Georgiana  Bruce  Kirby;  Oregon,  Mrs.  A.  J.  Johns, 
Eveline  Merrick  Roork,  Charles  A.  Reed;  Washington  Territory,  Mary  Olney 
Brown,  Abby  H.  H.  Stuart;  Utah  Territory,  Annie  Godbe;  Iowa,  Amelia  Bloomer, 
Submit  C.  Loomis,  Philo  A.  Lyon  and  seventy-five  others  of  Humboldt,  Jane  A. 
Telker,  Nancy  R.  Allen,  Margaret  Euart  Colby,  Mrs.  Ellen  M.  Robinson,  Mrs.  G. 
R.  Woodworth,  Mrs.  W.  W.  Johnson,  Mrs.  Caroline  A.  Ingham,  Mrs.  Mabel  A. 
Stough,  Mrs.  R.  H.  Spencer,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Kenyon,  Mrs.  A.  M.  Horton,  Miss  L.  T. 
Dood,  Mary  L.  Watson,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  McCoy,  Mrs.  J.  J.  Wilson,  Mrs.  F.  L. 
Calkins,  Mrs.  L.  H.  Smith,  Mrs.  Emma  C.  Spear,  Mrs.  M.  L.  Burlingame,  Mrs.  G. 
W.  Blanchard,  Mrs.  D.  L.  Ford,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Buffam,  Mrs.  Cora  A.  Jones,  Mrs.  Clara 
M.  Wilson;  Wisconsin,  Laura  Ross  Wolcott,  M.  Josephine  Pearcc,  Eliza  T.  WiUon, 
H.  S.  Brown;  Minnesota,  Sarah  Burger  Stearns;  Kansas,  Susan  E.  Wattles,  F.l-ie 
Stewart,  Henrietta  L.  Miller,  Lottie  Griffin,  Jane  M.  Burke,  Malura  Hickson,  EUie 
J.  Miller;  Colorado,  Alicia  C.  Avery;  Ohio,  Sarah  R.  L.  Williams,  Margaret  V. 
Longley;  England,  Lydia  E.  Becker,  Caroline  A.  Biggs,  Jessie  M.  Wellstood. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  WOMAN   SI-FFRAGE  ASSOCIAM'-N. 
ARTICLE  i.     This  organization  shall  be  called  the  NATION  A  i.  W..MAN  SIKKRAGE 
ASSOCIATION. 


956  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

ARTICLE  2.  The  object  of  this  Association  shall  be  to  secure  NATIONAL  Protec- 
tion for  women  in  the  exercise  of  their  right  to  vote. 

ARTICLE  3.  All  citizens  of  the  United  States  subscribing  to  this  Constitution,  and 
contributing  not  less  than  one  dollar  annually,  shall  be  considered  members  of  the 
Association,  with  the  right  to  participate  in  its  deliberations. 

ARTICLE  4.  The  officers  of  this  Association  shall  be  a  President,  a  Vice-President 
from  each  of  the  States  and  Territories,  Corresponding  and  Recording  Secretaries,  a 
Treasurer  and  an  Executive  Committee  of  not  less  than  five. 

ARTICLE  5.  A  quorum  of  the  Executive  Committee  shall  consist  of  nine,  and  all 
officers  of  this  Association  shall  be  ex-officio  members  of  the  committee,  with  power  to 
vote. 

ARTICLE  6.  All  woman  suffrage  societies  throughout  the  country  shall  be  welcomed 
as  auxiliaries,  and  their  accredited  officers  or  duly  appointed  representatives  shall  be 
recognized  as  members  of  the  National  Association. 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  WOMAN  SUFFRAGE  ASSOCIATION,  1886. 

President—  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Tenafly,  N.  J. 

Vice-Presidents-at-Large — Susan  B.  Anthony,  Rochester,  N.  Y. ;  Matilda  Joslyn 
Gage,  Fayetteville,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  Olympia  Brown,  Racine,  Wis. ;  Phoebe  W.  Couzins, 
St.  Louis,  Mo.;  Abigail  Scott  Duniway,  Portland,  Ore. 

Honorary  Vice-P residents — Ernestine  L.  Rose,  London,  England;  Priscilla  Holmes 
Drake,  Huntsville,  Ala.;  Mrs.  Perry  Spear,  Eureka  Springs,  Ark.;  Sarah  J.  Wallis, 
Mayfield;  Sarah  Knox  Goodrich,  San  Jose,  Cal. ;  Mary  F.  Shields,  Colorado 
Springs,  Col.;  Rev.  Phebe  A.  Hanaford,  New  Haven,  Conn.;  Rev.  Eliza  Tupper 
Wilkes,  Sioux  Falls,  Dak.  Ten;  Rosina  M.  Parnell,  Susan  A.  Edson,  M.  D.,  Ellen 
M.  O'Connor,  Washington,  D.  C.;  Catherine  V.  Waite,  Myra  Bradwell,  Chicago, 
111.;  Zerelda  G.  Wallace,  Indianapolis;  Eliza  Hamilton,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.; 
Amelia  Bloomer,  Council  Bluffs;  Mary  V.  Cowgill,  West  Liberty,  la.;  Prudence 
Crandall  Philleo,  Elk  Falls;  Mary  T.  Gray,  Wyandotte;  Mary  A.  Humphrey,  Junc- 
tion City,  Kan.;  Elizabeth  H.  Duval,  Rinaldo,  Ky. ;  Ann  T.  Greeley,  Ellsworth; 
Lucy  A.  Snow,  Rockland,  Me.;  Anna  Ella  Carroll,  Baltimore,  Md. ;  Sarah  E.  Wall, 
Worcester;  Paulina  Gerry,  Stoneham,  Mass. ;  Catherine  A.  F.  Stebbins,  Detroit, 
Mich. ;  Charlotte  O.  Van  Cleve,  Minneapolis,  Minn. ;  Caroline  Johnson  Todd,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.;  Harriet  S.  Brooks,  Omaha,  Neb.;  Eliza  E.  Morrill,  Sarah  H.  Pillsbury, 
Concord;  Mary  Powers  Filley,  North  Haverhill,  N.  H. ;  Sarah  G.  Hurn,  Vineland; 
Delia  Stewart  Parnell,  Bordentown,  N.  J. ;  Clemence  S.  Lozier,  M.  D.,  New  York; 
Amy  Post,  Rochester;  Sarah  H.  Hallock,  Milton;  Mary  R.  Pell,  Flushing,  N.  Y. ; 
Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith,  Hollywood,  N.  C.;  Sophia  O.  Allen,  South  Newbury;  Sarah 
R.  L.  Williams,  Toledo;  Louise  Southworth,  Cleveland,  O. ;  Harriet  W.  Williams, 
Portland,  Ore.;  M.  Adeline  Thomson,  Philadelphia,  Penn. ;  Catherine  C.  Knowles, 
East  Greenwich;  Elizabeth  B.  Chace,  Valley  Falls,  R.  I.;  Elizabeth  Van  Lew,  Rich- 
mond, Va. ;  Mary  Olney  Brown,  Abbie  H.  H.  Stuart,  Olympia,  Wash.  Ter. ;  Laura 
Ross  Wolcott,  Milwaukee;  Emma  C.  Bascom,  Madison,  Wis. 

Vice-Presidents — Caroline  M.  Patterson,  Harrison,  Ark.;  Ellen  Clarke  Sargent, 
San  Francisco,  Cal.;  Mrs.  L.  J.  Terry,  Pueblo,  Col.;  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker, 
Hartford,  Conn.;  Marietta  M.  Bones,  Webster  City,  Dak.;  Mary  A.  Stewart,  Green- 
wood, Del.;  Ruth  C.  Dennison,  Washington,  D.  C.;  Mrs.  C.  B.  S.  Wilcox,  Inter- 
lachen,  Fla. ;  Althea  L.  Lord,  Savannah,  Ga. ;  Dr.  Jennie  Bearby,  Mountain  Home, 
Idaho;  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert,  Evanston,  111.;  Helen  M.  Cougar,  Lafayette, 
Ind.;  Jane  Amy  McKinney,  Decorah,  la.;  Laura  M.  Johns,  Salina  Kan.;  Mary  B. 
Clay,  Richmond,  Ky. ;  Caroline  E.  Merrick,  New  Orleans,  La.;  Sophronia  C.  Snow, 
Hampden  Corners,  Me.;  Caroline  Hallowell  Miller,  Sandy  Spring,  Md. ;  Harriette  R. 
Shattuck,  Maiden,  Mass.;  Fannie  Holden  Fowler,  Manistee,  Mich.;  Sarah  Burger 
Stearns,  Duluth,  Minn.;  Olivia  Fitzhugh,  Vicksburg,  Miss.;  Virginia  L.  Minor,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.;  Clara  Bewick  Colby,  Beatrice,  Neb.;  Maria  H.  Boardman,  Reno,  Nev. ; 
Ada  M.  Jarrett,  Magdalena,  N.  Mex. ;  Marilla  M.  Ricker,  Dover,  N.  H.;  Cornelia 


Appendix:     Chapter  XXXII.  957 

C.  Hussey,  East  Orange,  N*.  J.;  Lillie  Devereux  Blake,  New  York,  X.  Y. ;  Mary 
Bayard  Clarke,  New  Berne,  N.  C.;  Frances  D.  Casement,  Painesville,  O. ;  Harriettc 
A.  Loughary,  McMinneville,  Ore.;  Matilda  Hindman,  Pittsburgh,  Perm.;  Anna  S. 
Aldrich,  Providence,  R.  I. ;  Elizabeth  Lisle  Saxon,  Memphis,  Tenn. ;  Jennie  Bland 
Beauchamp,  Denton,  Tex.;  Jennie  A.  Froiseth,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah;  Lydia Putnam, 
Brattleboro',  Vt. ;  Mrs.  Roger  S.  Greene,  Seattle,  Wash.  Ten;  Alura  C.  Collins, 
Milwaukee,  Wis. ;  Amalia  B.  Post,  Cheyenne,  Wyoming. 

Executive  Committee — May  Wright  Sewall,  Chairman,  429  North  New  Jersey 
street,  Indianapolis,  Ind.;  Laura  DeForce  Gordon,  San  Francisco;  Mary  J.  Channing, 
Pasadena,  Cal. ;  Dr.  Alida  C.  Avery,  Denver,  Col.;  Frances  Ellen  Burr,  Emily  P. 
Collins,  Hartford,  Conn.;  Mrs.  J.  S.  Pickler,  Falktown;  Linda  W.  Slaughter,  Bis- 
mark,  Dak.  Ter. ;  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Dr.  Caroline  B.  Winslow,  Washington,  D. 
C. ;  Flora  M.  Wright,  Drayton  Island,  Fla. ;  Julia  Mills  Dunn,  Moline;  Rev.  Florence 
Kollock,  Englewood;  Dr.  Alice  B.  Stockham,  Ada  C.  Sweet,  Chicago,  111.;  Mary  E. 
Haggart,  Mary  E.  N.  Gary,  Indianapolis,  Ind.;  Narcisa  T.  Bemis,  Independence; 
Mary  J.  Coggeshall,  Des  Moines,  la;  Annie  C.  Wait,  Lincoln  Center;  Henrietta  B. 
Wall,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Hauk,  Hutchinson,  Kan.;  Sally  Clay  Bennett,  Mary  A.  Somers, 
Richmond;  Laura  \Vhite,  Manchester,  Ky.;  Maria  I.  Johnson,  Mound,  La.;  Charlotte 

A.  Thomas,  Portland,  Me.;  Amanda  M.  Best,  Bright  Seat,  Md.;    Harriet  H.  Robin- 
son,  Maiden;    Sara  A.   Underwood,  Dorchester  Mass.;    Julia  Upton,   Big  Rapids; 
Cordelia  Fitch  Briggs,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.;   Julia  Bullard  Nelson,  Red  Wing;  Mrs. 
L.  H.    Hawkins,  Shakopee;    Mary  P.   Wheeler,  Kasson,    Minn.;    Anne  R.   Irvine, 
Oregon;    Elizabeth  A.    Meriwether,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;    Jennie  F.  Holmes,  Tecumseh; 
Orpha  C.  Dinsmoore,  Omaha,  Neb.;  Hannah  R.  Clapp,  Carson  City,  Nev.;    Mrs.  A. 

B.  I.  Roberts,  Candia,  N.  H.;  Augusta  Cooper  Bristol,  Vineland;    Theresa  A.  Sea- 
brook,  Keyport,  N.  J.;    Mathilde  F.  Wendt,  New  York;    Caroline  G.  Rogers,  Lan- 
singburgh;    Ellen  S.  Fray,  Lewia  C.  Smith,  Rochester,  N.  Y.;    Sarah  M.  Perkins, 
Elvira  J.    Bushnell,  Cleveland;    Sarah  S.   Bissell,  Toledo,  O.;    Mrs.  J.    M.   Kclty. 
Lafayette,  Ore.;  Deborah  L.  Pennock,  Kennett  Square;  Harriet  Purvis,  Philadelphia, 
Penn. ;  Lillie  Chace  Wyman,  Valley  Falls,  R.  I.;  Lide  Meriwether,  Memphis,  Tenn.; 
Mrs.  D.  Clinton  Smith,  Middleboro',  Vt.;  Mrs.  F.  D.  Gordon,  Richmond,  Va. ;  Eliza 
T.  Wilson,  Menomonie;  Laura  James,  Richland  Center,  Wis. ;  Barbara  J,  Thompson, 
Tacoma,  Wash.  Ter.;  Mrs.  J.  H.  Hayford,  Laramie  City,  Wyoming  Ter. 

Recording  Secretaries — Julia  A.  Wilbur,  Caroline  A.   Sherman,  Washington.  D.  C. 

Corresponding  Secretaries — Rachel  G.  Foster,  Philadelphia,  Penn.;  Ellen  H.  Shel- 
don, Washington,  D.  C. 

Foreign  Corresponding  Secretaries — Caroline  A.  Biggs,  London;  Lydia  E.  Becker, 
Manchester,  England;  Marguerite  Berry  Stanton,  Hubertine  Auclert,  Charlotte  B. 
Wilbour,  Paris,  France;  Clara  Neymann,  Berlin,  Germany. 

Treasurer — Jane  H.  Spofford,  Riggs  House,  W'ashington,  D.  C. 

Auditors — Eliza  T.  Ward,  Ellen  M.  O'Connor,  Washington,  D.  C. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Is  the  Family  the  Basis  of  the  State? 

BY    JOHN    HOOKER. 

The  proposition  that  the  family  is  the  basis  of  the  State  has  come  down  through 
many  generations,  so  far  as  I  know,  unchallenged;    but  in  the  scn>c  in  which  it 
ordinarily  understood,  and  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  ordinarily  iiM-d.  it  rely 

a  fallacy.     The  State  depends  upon  the  family  for  the  continuance  of  its  popul 
jubt  as  it  depends  upon  the  school  for  the  intelligence  of  its  people  and  on 


958  History  of  Woman  Siiffrage. 

institutions  for  their  morality.  But  the  State  stands  in  no  political  relation  to  the 
family  any  more  than  to  the  school  and  the  church.  What  is  meant  by  the  proposi- 
tion as  generally  used  is,  that  the  State  is  politically  an  aggregate  of  families  and  not 
of  individuals.  This  is  entirely  untrue,  and  if  true  the  fact  would  be  calamitous. 
Civil  government  is  supposed  to  have  had  its  origin  in  family  government,  the 
patriarch  becoming  chief  of  a  tribe  which  was  substantially  the  outgrowth  and  expan- 
sion of  a  single  family;  but  if  a  nation  was  to  be  formed  of  such  tribes  it  would  be 
essential  to  its  peace  and  prosperity  that  they  should  as  soon  as  possible  mingle  into 
one  homogeneous  mass,  and  that  no  citizen  should  consider  himself  of  one  tribe  rather 
than  another.  It  is  the  family  idea  in  a  government  like  ours  that  makes  the  feuds 
which  are  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  in  some  parts  of  the  country. 
It  made  the  frequent  bloody  contests  of  the  clans  in  Scotland,  and  the  dissensions  of 
the  Hebrew  tribes.  In  a  republic  nothing  can  be  more  disastrous  than  that  great 
political  leaders  should  have  large  family  followings.  The  first  duty  of  the  citizen  is 
to  forget  that  he  belongs  to  any  family  in  particular.  He  is  an  individual  citizen  of  the 
State,  and  when  he  becomes  a  magistrate  he  must  practically  ignore  the  fact  that  he 
has  family  relatives  who  feel  entitled  to  his  special  favor.  He  must,  like  justice,  be 
blind  to  every  fact  except  that  the  applicant  for  office  or  for  justice  is  an  individual 
citizen  and  must  stand  wholly  on  his  personal  merits  or  the  justice  of  his  cause. 

The  proposition  that  the  family  is  the  basis  of  the  State  thus  taken  by  itself  is  en- 
tirely false;  but  even  if  true,  the  use  made  of  it  as  an  argument  against  giving 
suffrage  to  women  is  equally  fallacious.  This  can  be  shown  by  a  single  illustra- 
tion. We  will  suppose  there  are  two  families,  in  both  of  which  the  father 
dies,  leaving  in  one  case  a  widow  and  one  son,  and  in  the  other  a  widow  and  six 
daughters.  Where  is  now  the  family  representation  ?  The  son  whom  we  will  sup- 
pose to  be  of  age,  goes  to  the  polls  and  we  will  suppose  sufficiently  represents  the 
family  to  which  he  belongs;  but  where  is  the  family  representation  for  the  other  widow 
and  her  six  daughters  ?  She  may  be  the  largest  tax-payer  in  the  State,  and  yet  she  can 
have  no  voice  in  determining  what  taxes  shall  be  laid,  nor  to  what  purposes  the  money 
shall  be  appropriated. 

The  question  whether  the  family  is  the  basis  of  the  State  cannot  be  made  an  abstract 
question  of  political  philosophy.  Indeed  the  question  is  unmeaning  when  put  as  an 
abstract  one.  We  might  just  as  well  ask,  "  Is  the  climate  cold  in  a  State?"  or,  "  Is 
the  English  language  spoken  in  a  State  ? "  It  is  only  as  we  ask  these  questions  about 
a  particular  State  that  they  have  any  meaning.  "Is  it  cold  in  Russia?"  "  Is  Eng- 
lish spoken  in  Connecticut  ?  " 

Take  the  case  of  a  State  ruled  by  a  despot.  Here  the  people  are  not  the  political 
basis  of  the  State,  either  as  families  or  as  individuals.  They  have  no  political  power 
whatever.  The  political  basis  of  the  State  is  the  will  of  the  despot.  He  is  himself 
and  alone  the  State  politically.  He  makes  the  laws  himself,  and  shoots  and  hangs 
those  who  disobey  them.  The  people  are  indispensable  to  the  State,  and  so  in  one 
sense  its  basis,  just  as  the  square  miles  that  compose  its  territory  are  its  physical  basis, 
but  the  people  stand  in  no  political  relation  whatever  to  the  State,  any  more  than  the 
rocks  and  gravel  of  its  territory.  It  is  only  where  the  people  of  the  State  have  the 
whole  or  a  part  of  its  political  power,  that  the  question  can  possibly  arise  as  to  whether 
individuals  or  families  are  its  political  basis.  And  when  it  thus  arises,  it  comes  up 
wholly  with  reference  to  a  particular  State,  and  not  as  an  abstract  question.  And 
then  it  is  wholly  a  question  of  fact,  not  one  of  political  philosophy;  a  matter  for  simple 
ascertainment,  not  for  speculation  and  reasoning.  Thus,  suppose  the  question  to  be, 
' '  Is  the  family  or  the  individual  the  political  basis  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  ? "  We 
are  to  answer  the  question  solely  by  looking  at  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State. 
We  look  there  and  find  that  it  is  as  clear  as  language  can  make  it  that  the  political 
basis  of  the  State  is  the  individual  and  not  the  family.  The  individual  is  made  the 
voter — not  the  family — and  that  is  the  whole  question.  It  was  perfectly  easy  for  the 
people,  if  they  had  so  desired,  when  they  were  adopting  a  constitution,  to  make  fam- 
ilies and  not  individuals  the  depositaries  of  political  power,  but  they  chose  to  give  the 


Appendix:     Chapter  XXXVII.  959 

power  to  individuals,  and  thus  the  question  is  absolutely  settled  for  the  State.  It  is 
true,  the  State  does  not  carry  out  completely  its  own  theory,  but  this  was  its  theory, 
and  what  it  did  was  wholly  in  this  direction  and  away  from  the  family  theory.  We  go 
to  the  constitution  of  the  State  to  settle  this  question,  just  as  we  would  to  settle  the 
question  whether  the  governor's  term  is  one  year  or  two,  or  whether  the  judges  hold 
office  for  a  term  of  years'or  for  life.  While  considering  whether  either  of  these  pro- 
visions .ought  to  be  adopted,  we  are  dealing  with  a  matter  proper  for  opinions  and 
argument,  but  when  the  provisions  have  been  adopted,  the  whole  question  becomes 
one  of  fact,  and  we  look  only  to  the  constitution  to  determine  it,  and  treat  it  as  a 
matter  not  for  discussion  but  for  absolute  ascertainment. 

When  one  is  advocating  the  theory  that  the  family  should  be  the  political  basis  of 
the  State,  he  is  simply  saying  that  the  constitution  ought  to  be  amended  and  the  right 
of  voting  taken  away  from  individuals  and  given  to  families.  But  it  is  idle  to  urge 
this.  Such  a  measure  would  not  get  even  a  respectable  minority  of  votes.  It  is 
decisive  on  this  point  that  not  a  single  representative  government,  so  far  as  the  writer 
knows,  has  adopted  the  theory  that  the  family  and  not  the  individual  should  vote.  A 
law  peculiar  to  Russia  gives  its  villages,  in  the  management  of  their  local  matters,  the 
right  of  voting  by  families — a  perfect  illustration,  on  a  very  small  scale,  of  the  family 
as  the  political  basis  of  a  State.  But  here  woman  suffrage  is  admitted  as  a  necessary 
result;  and  where  there  is  no  man  to  represent  the  family,  or  he  is  unable  to  attend, 
the  woman  of  the  house  casts  the  vote. 

The  advocates  of  woman  suffrage  have  no  interest  whatever  in  this  question,  as  it 
is  idle  to  suppose  that  it  can  become  a  practical  one.  The  writer  has  taken  what 
trouble  he  has  in  the  matter  solely  in  the  interest  of  correct  thinking. 

Hartford,  May,  i&jg. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

NEW    YORK. 

Brief  on  the  Legislature's  Power  to  Extend  the  Suffrage,  Submitted  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1880,  to  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  New  York. 

BY    HAMILTON    WILCOX. 

I.  LEGISLATURE  OMNIPOTENT. — Unlike  the  Federal  constitution,  the  State  con- 
stitution   does  not  reserve  all  powers  not  expressly  delegated.     It  is  held  by  the 
authorities  that  in  the  absence  of  positive  restriction  the  legislature  is  omnipotent. 

"  In  a  judicial  sense,  their  authority  is  absolute  and  unlimited,  except  by  the  express 
restrictions  of  the  fundamental  law"  (Court  of  Appeals,  1863,  Bank  of  Chenan^; 
Brown,  26  N.  Y.,  467;  S.  P.,  Cathcart  vs.  Fire  Department  of  New  York,  Id.,  529; 
Supreme  Court,  1864,  Clark  vs.  Miller,  42  Barb.,  255;  Luke  vs.  City  of  Brooklyn,  43 
Id.,  54). 

"Only  on  the  ground  of  express  constitutional  provisions  limiting  legislative  power, 
can  courts  declare  void  any  legislative  enactment"  (Court  of  Error.  1838,  Cochran  vs. 
Van  Surlay,  29  Wend.,  365;  Newell  vs.  People,  7  N.  Y.  [3  Seld.J,  9,  109). 

"  Before  proceeding  to  amend,  by  judicial  sentence,  what  has  been  enacted  by  the 
law-making  power,  it  should  clearly  appear  that  the  act  cannot  be  supported  by  any 
reasonable  intendment  or  allowable  presumption"  (Court  of  Appeals,  1858,  People  vs. 
Supervisors  of  Orange,  17  N.  Y.,  235;  affi'g,  27  Barb.,  575). 

II.  POWERS  UNDEFINED. — The  constitution  forbids  the  legislature  to  do  certain 
things.     Otherwise  it  does  not  define  or  limit  the  legislature's  powers  (Art.  3,  g§  3, 
18,  19,  24). 

III.  No  PROHIBITION.— No  constitution  of  New  York  has  ever  forbidden  the 


960  History  of  Woman   Suffrage. 

legislature  to  extend  the  suffrage  beyond  the  classes  specified  by  such  constitution; 
nor  has  any  ever  forbidden  unspecified  persons  to  vote.  The  constitution  simply 
secures  the  suffrage  to  certain  classes,  and  there  leaves  the  matter. 

IV.  RULE  OF  CONSTRUCTION. — The  constitution  declares  that  the  object  of  its 
establishment  is  to  secure  the  blessings  of  freedom  to  the  people  (Preamble,  Revised 
Statutes,  vol.  I.,  p.  82).     Hence  it,  and  all  enactments  under  it,  must  be  understood 
and  construed,  where  a  contrary  intent  is  not  clearly  expressed,  to  be  aimed  at  securing 
freedom  to  all. 

V.  DISFRANCHISEMENT. — The  constitution  follows  this  declaration  by  laying  down 
at  its  outset,  as  its  fundamental  principle,  that  "No  member  of  this  State  shall  be 
disfranchised  or  deprived  of  any  of  the  rights  or  privileges  secured  to  any  citizens 
thereof,  except  by  the  law  of  the  land"  (Art.  I,  §  I,  do. ,  do.).     Disfranchisement, 
then,  must  be  express  by  the  law.     It  cannot  constitutionally  be  inflicted  through 
mere  implication  or  silence. 

Rules  for  the  securing  of  freedom  have  often  been  found  to  cover  unforeseen  cases. 
Such  was  the  fact  in  the  famous  decision  of  Lord  Mansfield  in  1774,  that  slavery  was 
against  the  common  law,  under  which  slavery  was  afterward  abolished  throughout  the 
British  empire;  and  the  decision  of  the  highest  court  of  Massachusetts,  that  the  terms 
of  the  constitution  of  1780  conferred  freedom  on  the  slaves  of  that  State. 

Women,  it  is  now  fully  recognized,  are  citizens,  and  hence  "members  of  the  State," 
entitled  to  the  security  guaranteed.  The  practice  under  the  constitution  has  been  to 
treat  as  disfranchised  all  persons  not  specified  as  entitled  to  vote.  Though  this  prac- 
tice is  plainly  against  the  declared  object  and  principle  of  the  constitution,  it  has  been 
general  and  mostly  continuous,  and  has  thus  acquired  the  force  of  law.  This,  how- 
ever, does  not  impair  the  legislature's  power  to  correct  the  practice  by  express  enact- 
ment. 

VI.  PRECEDENTS. — The  legislature   has  repeatedly  corrected    this   practice    by 
express  enactments  securing  freedom  to  various  portions  of  the  people. 

(a).  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION,  1801. — The  act  calling  this  convention  ex- 
tended the  suffrage  for  members  of  that  body — the  highest  officers  of  the  State — to 
"all  free  male  citizens  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  "while  the  constitution  secured 
suffrage  only  to  male  holders  of  and  actual  taxpayers  on  a  fixed  amount  of  real  estate 
(Session  Law  1801,  ch.  69,  p.  151;  constitution  of  1777,  do.,  i,  39). 

(b).  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION,  1821. — The  act  providing  for  the  convention 
that  framed  the  constitution  of  1822,  while  the  existing  constitution  (as  above)  only 
specified  as  entitled  to  vote,  holders  of  and  taxpayers  on  a  fixed  amount  of  real  estate — 
this  act  allowed  all  freeholders,  however  small  the  value  of  their  holdings,  all  actual 
taxpayers,  all  officers  and  privates,  ex-officers  and  ex-privates,  in  militia  or  in  volunteer 
or  uniform  corps,  all  persons  exempt  by  law  from  taxation  or  militia  duty,  all  workers 
on  public  roads  and  highways,  or  payers  of  commutation  for  such  work;  to  vote  on 
the  question  whether  the  convention  should  be  held,  to  vote  in  the  choice  of  delegates 
thereto — again  for  the  highest  officers  of  the  State — and  to  vote  on  the  question  of 
adoption  of  the  new  constitution — to  exercise  a  voice  in  framing  the  State's  funda- 
mental law.  The  council  of  revision,  including  the  governor,  which  opposed  and 
defeated  part  of  this  act,  made  no  objection  to  this  feature  (Session  Laws  1821,  ch. 
90,  p.  83). 

The  vote  for  governor,  1820,  was  93,437 — the  largest  ever  cast  in  the  State.  That 
on  the  question  of  calling  the  convention  in  1821  was  144,247.  One  act  of  the  legis- 
lature thus  enfranchised  fifty  thousand  persons.  The  vote  on  the  new  constitution 
stood:  For,  74,732;  against,  41,402;  majority  for,  33,330.  Thus  the  votes  of  fifty 
thousand  persons — enfranchised,  not  by  the  constitution  but  by  the  legislature — car- 
ried the  adoption  of  a  new  constitution,  which  further  secured  to  them  the  freedom 
which  the  legislature  had  opened  to  them.  The  vote  for  governor  in  1824 — the  next 
hotly-contested  election — was  190,545;  so  that  the  immediate  effect  of  the  legislature's 
act  was  to  add  97,108  persons  to  the  constituency — to  make  a  mass  of  new  voters  who 
outnumbered  those  specified  by  the  constitution. 


Appendix:     Chapter  XXXVIII.  961 

(c\  ALIENS  VOTING. — The  constitution  specifies  none  but  "  citizens"  as  entitled 
to  vote;  yet  the  legislature,  by  a  school  law  of  many  years'  standing,  allowed  aliens  to 
vote  for  school  functionaries,  on  filing  with  the  secretary  of  state  notice  of  intention 
to  become  naturalized  (t  R.  S.,  art.  2,  §  I,  p.  65;  2  R.  S.,  63,  §  12;  2  R.  S  ,  I  096 

§31). 

(</).  NORTHFIELD. — The  proprietors  of  swamp-lands  in  the  town  of  Northfield, 
Richmond  county,  were  authorized  to  elect  directors  of  drainage,  without  any  restric- 
tion or  qualification  but  ownership  (Session  Laws  1862,  ch.  80,  §  2,  p.  233). 

(e).  The  taxpayers  of  Newport,  Herkimer  county,  were  authorized  to  vote  on  the 
question  of  issuing  bonds  to  raise  money  for  a  town-house.  Under  this  law  women 
who  were  taxpayers  voted  (Act  April  9,  1873,  Session  Laws,  ch.  187,  §  3,  p.  304). 

(/).  The  taxpayers  of  Dansville,  Livingston  county,  were  authorized  to  vote  on 
the  issue  of  water-bonds.  Under  this  act  women  voted  (Act  April  24,  1873,  Session 
Laws,  ch.  285,  §  4,  p.  409). 

(g).  The  taxpayers  of  Saratoga  Springs  were  authorized  to  vote  on  the  question  of 
issuing  bonds  for  the  construction  of  an  additional  water-main.  Under  this  ninety- 
nine  women  voted  (Act  May  13,  1876,  Session  Laws,  ch.  254,  §  4,  p.  250). 

VII.  SCHOOL  SUFFRAGE. — If  the  legislature  can  admit  aliens  to  vote  at  school- 
meetings,  it  can  admit  female  citizens  to  do  so. 

VIII.  PRESIDENTIAL   SUFFRAGE. — i.      The   federal   constitution  provides   that 
electors  of  president  and  vice-president  shall  be  appointed  "in  such  manner  as  the 
legislature  thereof  may  direct "  (Art.  2,  §  2). 

2.  It  also  provides  that  "  this  constitution  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
and  the  judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  constitution  or 
laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding"  (Art.  6,  §  2). 

3.  The  legislature  has  the  power  under  the  federal  constitution  to  provide  what- 
ever method  it  may  choose  for  the  appointment  of  the  electors.     The  courts  have  no 
power  to  interfere,  and  even  an  executive  veto  would  have  no  force.     The  legislature 
has  sole  and  full  power  to  say  who  may  vote  for  electors  and  how  the  election  shall  be 
held. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
BY    CARRIE   S.    BURNHAM. 

THE  common  law  of  England  as  modified  by  English  statutes  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion has  been  formally  adopted  either  by  constitutions  and  statutes  or  assumed  by 
courts  of  justice  as  the  law  of  the  land  in  every  State  save  Louisiana,  and  in  the 
absence  of  positive  statutes  is  the  common  law  of  the  United  States.  To  understand 
the  legal  status  of  woman  in  Pennsylvania  it  is  therefore  necessary,  First — To  a 
tain  her  condition  under  the  common  law;  Second — How  this  law  has  been  modi  lied 
in  this  State  by  «tatutes. 

COMMON    LAW. 

By  the  common  law,  which  Lord  Coke  calls  "the  perfection  of  reason,"  women 
arrive  at  the  age  of  discretion  at  twelve,  men  at  fourteen;  both  sexes  are  of  full  age  at 
twenty-one,  entitled  to  civil  rights,  and  if  unmarried  and  possessed  of  freehold,  they 
are  equally  entitled  to  the  exercise  of  political  rights  (Blackstone,  I..  4^3;  IV.,  212; 
Bouvier's  Institutes,  156,  157;  Decisions  of  English  courts  in  1612,  quoted  in  7  Mod. 
Rep.,  264). 

"  By  marriage,  the  husband  and  wife  are  one  person  in  law  ";  that  is,  the  legal  ex- 
istence of  the  woman  is  "merged  in  that  of  her  husband."     He  is  her  "baron 
"lord,"  bound  to  supply  her  with  shelter,  food,  clothing  and  medicine,  and  is  entitled 

61 


962  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

to  her  earnings — the  use  and  custody  of  her  person,  which  he  may  seize  wherever  he 
may  find  it  (Blackstone,  I.,  442,  443;  Coke  Litt.,  112  a,  187  b;  8  Dowl.,  P.  C.,  632.) 

The  husband  being  bound  to  provide  for  his  wife  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  being 
responsible  for  "her  morals"  and  the  good  order  of  the  household,  may  choose  and 
govern  the  domicil,  choose  her  associates,  separate  her  from  her  relatives,  restrain  her 
religious  and  personal  freedom,  compel  her  to  cohabit  with  him,  correct  her  faults  by 
mild  means  and,  if  necessary,  chastise  her  with  moderation,  as  though  she  was 
his  apprentice  or  child.  This  is  in  "respect  to  the  terms  of  the  marriage  contract  and 
the  infirmity  of  the  sex"  (Bl.,  I.,  444;  I  Bishop  on  Mar.  and  Div.,  758;  8  Dowl.  P. 
C.,  632;  Bouv.  Insts.,  277,  278,  2,283;  I  Wend.  Bl.,  442,  note;  4  Petersdorf's  A.  B., 
21,  note). 

Woman's  character,  exposed  to  the  vilest  slanders  of  "malignity  and  falsehood,  "and 
her  chastity  are  protected  on  account  of  the  injury  sustained  by  the  father,  husband 
or  master  from  loss  of  her  services,  or  wrongful  entry  of  his  house,  rather  than  the 
injury  done  to  her  as  an  individual  (Bl.  I.,  445,  note;  III.,  141,  143,  note;  3  Serg. 
and  Rawle,  Penn.,  36;  3  Penn.,  49;  2  Watts'  Penn.,  474). 

The  husband  is  entitled  to  recover  damages  for  "criminal  conversation  with  his 
wife,"  or  for  injury  to  her  person  whereby  he  is  deprived  of  his  "marital  rights,"  or 
of  her  "company  and  assistance";  also  an  action  of  trespass  vi  et  artnis  against  the 
individual  enticing  her  away  or  encouraging  her  to  live  separately  from  him;  the 
offense  implies  force  and  constraint,  "the  wife  having  no  power  to  consent,"  and  is 
punishable  with  fine  and  imprisonment  (Bl.,  III.,  139;  2  Inst.,  434;  Bouvier's  Insti- 
tutes, 3-495). 

The  wife  has  no  action  for  injuries  to  her  husband  as  she  is  not  entitled  to  his  ser- 
vices, neither  has  she  any  separate  interest  in  anything  during  her  coverture.  The 
law  takes  notice  only  of  the  injuries  done  to  the  "superior  of  the  parties  related"; 
because  "the  inferior  has  no  kind  of  property  in  the  company,  care  or  assistance  of 
the  superior,  as  the  superior  is  held  to  have  in  those  of  the  inferior"  (Blackstone,  III., 
143;  Bouv.  Insts.,  3,495). 

The  husband,  by  marriage,  becomes  entitled  absolutely  to  the  personal  property  of 
Tiis  wife,  which  at  his  death  goes  to  his  representatives;  also  to  the  rents  and  profits  of 
her  lands,  to  the  interest  in  her  chattels  real  and  choses  in  action,  of  which  he  can 
dispose  at  pleasure,  except  by  will.  He  acquires  the  same  right  in  any  property 
whether  real  or  personal  of  which  she  may  become  possessed  after  marriage,  and  is 
liable  during  coverture  for  her  debts  contracted  before  marriage  (Bl.,  II.,  434,  435; 
Bouv.  Insts.,  4,005;  Coke  Litt.,  46,  351). 

At  his  death  she  becomes  possessed  of  her  wardrobe  and  jewels,  such  of  her  chattels 
as  remain  undisposed  of,  and  her  own  real  estate;  also  quarantine  (*'.  e.,  forty  days 
residence  in  "his  mansion  "),  one-third  of  his  personality  absolutely  and  the  use  of  one- 
third  of  any  real  estate  of  which  he  is  possessed  during  coverture  for  the  term  of  her 
natural  life.  His  mansion,  realty  and  personalty  includes  what  they  have  jointly 
earned  as  well  as  that  of  which  he  was  possessed  at  marriage.  The  widow's  right  to 
one-third  of  the  personal  estate  was  abolished  by  English  statutes  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, but  has  since  been  revived  by  Pennsylvania  statutes  (Blackstone,  II.,  129,  134, 
139,436,  492,  493;  Coke  Litt.,  31,  34;  Bouvier's  Institutes,  1,750;  .Brightley's  Pur- 
don,  806,  2  and  3). 

At  the  death  of  the  wife  their  joint  earnings,  also  her  chattels  real,  vest  absolutely 
in  the  husband,  and  if  they  have  had  a  living  child  the  husband,  as  "  tenant  by  the 
curtesy,"  becomes  possessed  of  her  entire  real  estate  for  life.  The  wife  loses  her 
dower  by  adultery,  but  the  husband  does  not  lose  his  curtesy  on  that  account.  Her 
dower  is  also  barred  by  his  treason  and  by  a  divorce  grounded  on  his  adultery  (Black- 
stone,  II.,  127,  434;  Roper,  Husband  and  Wife,  1,210;  2  Kent,  131;  7  Watts,  563; 
Bouvier's  Institutes,  1,732). 

A  husband  cannot  convey  real  estate  directly  to  his  wife,  but  may  through  a  trustee; 
neither  can  he  give  "anything  to  her  nor  covenant  with  her,  for  the  grant  would  be 
to  suppose  her  separate  existence,  and  to  covenant  with  her  would  be  to  covenant  with 


Appendix:    Chapter  XXXVIIL  963 

himself."  Their  covenants  or  indebtedness  to  each  other  before  marriage  are  by  the 
marriage  extinguished  (Blackstone,  I.,  442;  Coke  Litt.,  3,  30;  112  a;  187  b;  Connyn. 
Dig.  Baron  and  P'eme,  D). 

The  husband  may  devise  any  property  to  his  wife,  but  the  wife  cannot  make  a  will, 
the  law  supposing  her  to  be  under  his  coercion;  neither  can  she  bind  her  person  or 
property,  nor  make  nor  enforce  a  contract,  nor  can  she  be  a  witness  in  any  matter  in 
which  her  husband  is  interested  (Blackstone,  II.,  293,  498,  444;  2  Kent,  179;  Bouv. 
Insts.,  1,441;  Connyn.  Dig.  Pleader,  2  A,  i;  Baron  and  Feme,  W;  2  Roper,  Hus- 
band and  Wife,  171). 

A  wife,  with  the  consent  of  her  husband,  may  act  as  his  or  other's  attorney,  may  be 
a  guardian,  trustee,  administratrix  or  executrix,  but  cannot  sue  in  outer  droit  unless 
her  husband  join  in  the  suit.  This  incapacitates  her  to  act  independently  in  either 
capacity  (Blackstone,  II.,  503;  I  Anders.,  117;  2  Story,  Eq.  Juris.,  1,367,  note;  57 
Penn.  St.  Rep.,  356). 

A  wife  cannot  enforce  her  rights  nor  defend  any  action  brought  against  her,  but 
must  plead  coverture  in  person,  being  incapable  of  appointing  an  attorney  (Bouv. 
Insts.,  2,787,  2,907;  41  N.  H.,  106;  2  Saund.,  209;  c.  n.  i). 

When  a  woman  marries  after  having  commenced  a  suit,  the  suit  abates;  but  the 
husband  may  in  equity  sue  her  for  his  marital  rights  in  her  property;  marriage  of  a 
female  partner  dissolves  the  partnership  (Bouv.  Insts.,  4,037,  1,494;  4  Russ.  Ch.,  247; 
3  Atk.  Ch.,  478;  2  P.  Will  Ch.,  243). 

The  father  of  legitimate  children  is  bound  for  their  maintenance  and  education,  is 
entitled  to  their  labor  and  custody  and  has  power  to  dispose  of  them  until  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  by  deed  or  legacy,  even  though  they  are  unborn  at  his  death.  The  testa- 
mentary guardian's  right  to  their  custody  supersedes  that  of  their  mother  (Bl.,  I.,  447, 
45I.453;  2  Kent,  191  and  193;  Bouv.  Insts.,  344;  5  Rawle,  323;  2  Watts,  406;  5 
East,  221;  Purd.  Dig.,  New  Ed.,  411,  29;  5  Pitts,  L.  J.,  406;  I  Pitts,  412). 

"A  mother  is  entitled  to  no  power,  but  to  reverence  and  respect,  from  her  child- 
ren ";  she  has  no  legal  authority  over  them  nor  right  to  their  services,  but  her  property 
is  liable  for  their  maintenance  if  the  father  has  not  an  estate.  The  mother's  appoint- 
ment of  a  testamentary  guardian  is  absolutely  void  (Bl.,  I.,  453  and  461,  note  by 
Chitty;  Vaughan,  180;  i  Leg.  Gaz.  R.,  56). 

The  mother  of  a  "natural  or  illegitimate"  child  is  its  natural  guardian,  entitled  to 
its  control  and  custody  and  her  settlement  is  its  domicil  (Bl.,  I.,  459;  2  Kent,  216;  5 
Term  Rep.,  278;  Newton  vs.  Braintree,  14  Mass.,  382). 

"  Intestate  personal,  property  is  divided  equally  between  males  and  females,  but  a 
son,  though  younger  than  all  his  sisters,  is  the  heir  to  the  whole  of  real  property"  (Bl., 
I.,  444,  note  by  Christian). 

PENNSYLVANIA  STATUTES  AND  COURT  DECISIONS. 

This  "perfection  of  reason"  (the  common  law)  has  been  changed  in  Pennsylvania 
in  the  following  particulars  : 

All  women,  married  and  single,  are  deprived  of  political  rights  by  the  use  of  the 
generic  word  "freeman"  in  the  constitution  (29  Legal  Intelligencer,  5). 

Heir  at  common  law  is  abolished  by  statute;  however,  the  right  to  administer  vests 
in  the  male  in  preference  to  the  female  of  the  same  degree  of  consanguinity.  Half- 
brothers  are  entitled  to  the  preference  over  own  sisters  (Purdon,  410,  27;  Single's 
Appeal,  59  Penn.  St.  R.,  55). 

Any  property  belonging  to  a  woman  before  marriage,  or  which  accrues  to  her  during 
coverture  by  gift,  bequest  or  purchase,  continues,  by  the  act  of  April  n,  1848,  to  be 
her  separate  property  after  marriage,  and  is  not  liable  for  the  debts  of  her  husband 
nor  subject  to  his  disposal  without  her  written  consent,  duly  acknowledged  before  one 
of  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  as  voluntarily  given;  provided,  that  he  is 
not  liable  for  the  debts  contracted  before  or  after  marriage,  or  for  her  torts  (Pardon's 
Dig.,  1,005,  13)- 


964  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

"  This  act  protects  the  wife's  interest  in  her  separate  property  both  as  to  title  and 
possession,"  but  "does  not  empower  her  to  convey  her  real  estate  by  a  deed  in  which 
her  husband  has  not  joined,"  nor  "create  a  lease  without  his  concurrence,"  nor 
"  execute  an  obligation  for  the  payment  of  money  or  the  performance  of  any  other 
act,"  nor  in  any  way  dispose  of  her  property  save  by  gift  or  loan  to  him;  she  may 
bind  her  separate  estate  for  his  debts,  and  in  security  for  the  loan  she  may  take  a  judg- 
ment or  mortgage  against  the  estate  of  the  husband  in  the  name  of  a  third  person,  who 
shall  act  as  her  trustee  (18  Penn.  St.  R.,  506,  582;  21,  402;  i  Gr.,  402;  6  Phila.,  531; 
Pur.  Dig.,  1,007,  2I)- 

The  husband  is  the  natural  guardian  or  trustee  of  the  property  of  the  wife;  but  by 
application  '°  to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  the  county  where  she  was  domiciled  at 
the  time  of  her  marriage,"  the  court  will  appoint  a  trustee  (not  her  husband)  to  take 
charge  of  the  property  secured  to  her  by  the  act  of  1848.  This  act,  however,  does  not 
authorize  the  appointment  of  a  trustee,  to  the  exclusion  of  her  husband,  of  property 
owned  by  her  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  act,  nor  was  it  intended  to  affect  vested 
rights  of  husbands  and  does  not  protect  them  for  the  wife's  benefit  against  the  claims 
of  creditors  (10  Penn.  St.  Rep.,  398  and  505;  18,  392  and  509;  21,  260;  I  Jones,  272). 

In  a  clear  case  the  wife's  real  estate  cannot  be  levied  upon  and  sold  by  a  creditor  of 
the  husband,  but  the  burden  of  proof  is  upon  her  to  show  by  evidence  "which  does 
not  admit  of  a  reasonable  doubt,"  that  she  owned  the  property  before  marriage  or 
acquired  it  subsequently  by  gift,  bequest,  or  paid  for  it  with  funds  not  furnished  by 
her  husband  nor  the  result  of  their  joint  earnings.  The  wife's  possession  of  money  is 
no  evidence  of  her  title  to  it  (18  Penn.  St.  Rep.,  366;  7  Phila.,  118). 

If  no  property,  or  not  sufficient  property,  of  the  husband  can  be  found,  the  separate 
property  and  goods  of  the  wife  may  be  levied  upon  and  sold  for  rent  or  for  debts  in- 
curred for  the  support  of  the  family  (Purd.  Dig.,  1,006,  15;  38  Penn.  St.  Rep.,  344). 

A  married  woman's  bond  and  warrant  of  attorney  are  absolutely  void,  nor  can  she 
make  a  valid  contract  except  for  a  sewing-machine  or  for  the  improvement  of  her 
separate  property,  and  her  bond  given  or  a  judgment  confessed  by  her  for  such  debt  is 
void  (24  Penn.  St.  Rep.,  80;  Act  of  1872,  Pur.  Dig.,  1,010). 

She  may  sell  and  transfer  shares  of  the  capital  stock  of  any  railroad  company,  but 
cannot  herself  or  by  attorney  transfer  certificates  of  city  loan  (28  Leg.  Int.,  116;  Act 
June  2,  1871). 

A  married  woman  cannot  enforce  her  rights  against  third  persons,  either  for  the 
performance  of  a  contract  or  the  recovery  of  her  property,  without  her  husband  join 
in  the  suit,  although  the  party  contracting  with  her  is  liable  to  an  action  (i  Gr.,  21; 
Act  of  1850  and  1839;  6  Phila.,  223). 

If  divorced  or  separated  from  her  husband  by  his  neglect  or  desertion,  she  may 
protect  her  reputation  by  an  action  for  slander  and  libel;  but  if  her  husband  is  the  de- 
fendant, this  suit,  as  also  for  alimony  and  divorce,  must  be  in  the  name  of  a  "next 
friend."  She  is  entitled  to  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  if  unlawfully  restrained  of  her 
liberty  (Purd.  Dig.,  510,  12;  513,  24;  754,  i). 

The  wife  of  a  drunkard  or  profligate  man  by  petitioning  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  setting  forth  these  facts  and  his  desertion  of  her  and  neglect  to  provide  for  her 
and  their  children,  may  be  entitled  to  the  custody  of  her  children,  and,  as  a  "feme  sole 
trader"  empowered  to  transact  business  and  acquire  a  separate  property,  which  shall 
be  subject  to  her  own  disposal  during  life,  and  liable  for  the  maintenance  and  educa- 
tion of  her  children.  Her  testimony  must  be  sustained  "by  two  respectable  witnesses  " 
(Pur.  Dig.,  692,  5;  Act  of  1855,  2;  2  Roper,  Husband  and  Wife,  171,  173). 

By  act  of  April,  1872,  any  married  woman  having  first  petitioned  the  court,  stating 
under  oath  or  affirmation  her  intention  of  claiming  her  separate  earnings,  is  entitled 
to  acquire  by  her  labor  a  separate  property  which  shall  not  be  subject  to  any  legal 
claim  of  her  husband  or  of  his  creditors,  she,  however,  being  compelled  "to  show 
title  and  ownership  in  the  same."  The  husband's  possession  of  property  is  evidence 
of  his  title  to  it;  not  so  with  the  wife  (Purd.  Dig.,  1,010,  38,  39;  4  Lansing,  164;  6l 
Barb.,  145). 


Appendix:     Chapter  XL/7.  965 

A  married  woman  may  devise  her  separate  property  by  will,  subject,  however,  to 
the  husband's  curtesy,  which  in  Pennsylvania  attaches,  though  there  be  no  issue  born 
alive,  and  which  she  cannot  bar  (Purd.  Dig.,  806,  804;  I  Pars.,  489;  26  Penn.  St.  R., 
2O2,  203;  2  Brewster,  302). 

The  husband  may  bar  the  wife's  dower  by  a  bona  fide  mortgage  given  by  himself 
alone  or  by  a  judicial  sale  for  the  payment  of  his  debts.  It  is  also  barred  by  a  divorce 
obtained  by  her  on  the  ground  of  his  adultery,  and  in  case  of  such  divorce  she  is 
entitled  to  the  value  of  one-half  of  the  money  and  property  which  the  husband  re- 
ceived through  her  at  marriage  (Purd.  Dig.,  514;  2  Dall..  127;  12  Serg.  and  R.,  21; 
I  Yeates  Pa.,  300). 

A  single  woman's  will  is  revoked  by  her  subsequent  marriage,  and  is  not  again  re- 
vived by  the  death  of  her  husband;  a  single  man's  will  is  revoked  by  marriage  abso- 
lutely only  when  he  leaves  a  widow  but  no  known  heirs  or  kindred  (Purd.  Dig.,  1,477, 
18  and  19;  47  Penn.  S.  Rep.,  144,  34,  483). 

If  the  husband  die  intestate  leaving  a  widow  and  issue,  the  widow  shall  have  one- 
third  of  his  and  their  joint  personalty  absolutely,  and  one-third  of  the  real  estate  for 
life;  if  there  are  no  children,  but  collateral  heirs,  she  is  entitled  to  the  use  of  one-half 
the  realty,  including  the  mansion-house,  for  her  life,  and  one-half  the  personalty  ab- 
solutely (Purd.  Dig.,  806,  2  and  3;  Act  of  1833,  i). 

If  the  wife  die  intestate  leaving  a  husband  and  no  issue,  he  is  entitled  to  her  entire 
personalty  and  realty  during  his  life;  if  there  are  children  her  personal  estate  is  divided 
between  the  husband  and  children  share  and  share  alike;  in  either  case  he  is  entitled 
to  their  entire  joint  estate  (Purd.  Dig.,  806,  5;  Act  of  1848,  9). 

Married  women  may  be  corporate  members  of  any  institution  composed  of  and 
managed  by  women,  having  as  its  object  the  care  and  education  of  children  or  the 
support  of  sick  and  indigent  women  (Purd.  Dig.,  283;  Act  of  1859,  l). 

It  is  a  crime,  punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment,  to  employ  any  woman  to  attend 
or  wait  upon  an  audience  in  a  theater,  opera  or  licensed  entertainment,  to  procure  or 
furnish  commodities  or  refreshments  (Purd.  Dig.,  337,  112). 

A  man,  by  marriage,  is  subjected  to  no  political,  civil,  legal  or  commercial  disabili- 
ties, but  acquires  all  the  rights 'and  powers  previously  vested  in  his  wife.  II'-  i> 
capable  of  all  the  offices  of  the  government  from  that  of  postmaster  to  the  presidency, 
and  of  transacting  all  kinds  of  business  from  the  measuring  of  tape  to  the  practice  of 
the  most  learned  professions.  Woman,  deprived  of  political  power,  is  limited  in  op- 
portunities for  education,  and,  if  married,  is  incapable  of  making  a  contract;  hence 
crippled  in  the  transaction  of  any  kind  of  business. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

INDIANA. 

[A.] 

GOVERNOR  PORTER  made  the  following  novel  appointment :     On  August  30. 
Mrs.  Georgia  A.  Ruggles,  from  Bartholomew  county,  presented  to  Governor  Porter 
an  application  for  a  requisition  from  the  governor  of  Indiana  upon  the  govern. >r  of 
Kansas,  for  William  J.   Beck,  charged  with  the  crime  of  bigamy.     15i-i-k  had  been 
living  a  few  months  in  Bartholomew  county  and  had  passed  as  an  unmarried  man 
had  gained  the  affections  of  a  young  lady  much  younger  than  himself  and  mucl 
superior  to  him  by  birth  and  education.     After  their  marriage  the  fact  that  Beck 
already  one  wife  became  known  and  he  fled  to  Kansas.     Mrs.  Rug^l 
to  the  young  lady  who  had  been  thus  duped,  and  upon  learning  the  facts 
the  attention  of  the  proper  authorities  to  the  matter,  and  begged  them  to  effect  1 
arrest.     They  were  not  disposed  to  do  so,  and  upon  various  excuses  postponed 


966  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

She  therefore  determined  to  take  the  matter  into  her  own  hands.  Governor  Porter 
granted  her  the  desired  requisition;  she  went  to  Kansas,  and  on  September  10,  1882,  she 
received  Beck  from  Samuel  Hamilton,  sheriff  of  Ellsworth  county;  she  herself  brought 
the  prisoner,  in  cuffs,  to  Indiana,  and,  September  13,  she  delivered  him  into  the  hands 
of  Thomas  E.  Burgess,  sheriff  of  Bartholomew  county.  Beck  was  tried,  convicted 
and  sent  to  the  penitentiary.'  This  bit  of  justice  was  the  fruit  of  a  woman's  pluck 
and  a  governor's  good  sense. 

EXTRACT  FROM  GEN.   COBURN'S  ADDRESS. 

The  people  expect  that  they  will  in  their  own  way  and  time  inaugurate  such  meas- 
ures as  will  bring  these  questions  in  their  entire  magnitude  into  the  arena.  I  hope  to 
see  10,000  women  in  convention  here.  They  can,  if  they  will,  create  a  public  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  their  enfranchisement  that  will  be  irresistible.  They  have  the  ears 
of  the  voters;  they  have  access  to  the  columns  of  the  newspapers;  they  control  all  the 
avenues  of  social  life.  What  can  they  not  accomplish,  if,  with  their  whole  hearts  they 
set  about  it  ?  The  sphere  of  public  life  has  many  vacant  places  to  be  filled  by  women. 
Why  shall  they  not  serve  upon  the  boards  of  trustees  of  our  great  reformatory  and  be- 
nevolent institutions,  as  superintendents  in  our  hospitals,  and  as  directors  and  in- 
spectors in  our  prisons?  The  last  legislature  conferred  upon  them  the  right  to  hold 
any  office  in  our  great  school  system  except  one,  that  of  State  superintendent  of  public 
instruction.  From  them  may  now  be  selected,  president  of  the  State  university,  or 
of  the  Normal  School,  or  of  Purdue  University,  school  commissioners  and  county  super- 
intendents. But  the  legislature  should  give  them  the  power  to  rescue  our  prisons,  hos- 
pitals and  asylums  from  the  indescribable  horror  of  filth,  neglect  and  cruelty  which 
hangs  like  a  murky  cloud  over  many  of  them.  Men  have  tried  it  and  failed.  Stupidity 
or  partisanship  or  brutality  or  avarice,  has  transformed  many  a  noble  foundation  of 
benevolence  into  a  hell  of  abomination.  Some  one  must  step  in  to  inspect;  to  enforce 
order,  cleanliness  and  virtue;  to  bring  comfort  and  hope  to  the  downcast  and  to  the  out- 
cast of  society.  This  purpose  must  be  backed  up  by  the  strong  arm  of  power,  by  the 
sanction  of  the  law,  and  that  law  must  have  upon  it  the  stamp  of  woman's  intellect. 
This  year  the  women  of  Indiana  can  place  themselves  in  the  van  of  human  progress 
and  dictate  the  policy  which  mankind  must  recognize  as  just  and  true  for  ages  to 
come.  The  public  mind  is  not  unprepared  for  this  measure.  The  spread  and  the 
acceptance  of  great  ideas  is  almost  miraculous  in  intelligent  communities. 

[B.] 

LEGAL   OPINION    BY    W.    D.    WALLACE,  ESQ.,    UPON   THE   POWER   OF   THE   LEGISLATURE 
TO    AUTHORIZE   WOMEN    TO    VOTE   FOR   PRESIDENTIAL   ELECTORS. 

Capt.   W.  DeWitt  Wallace,  Attorney-at-law,  Lafayette,  Ind.: 

DEAR  SIR:  You  will  confer  a  favor  upon  the  friends  of  woman  suffrage  in  Indiana, 
if  you  will  send  me,  in  writing,  your  opinion,  as  a  lawyer,  in  answer  to  the  following 
question,  giving  your  reasons  therefor:  Can  the  legislature  of  this  State  empower 
women  to  vote  for  presidential  electors  ? 

MARY  F.  THOMAS,  President  I.    W.   S.  A. 

Richmond,  Ind.,  December  30,  iSSo. 

LAFAYETTE,  Ind.,  January  5,  iSSi. 

Dr.   Mary    F.    Thomas,  President  of  Indiana    Woman  Suffrage  Association,  Rich- 
mond, Indiana  : 

DEAR  MADAM:  In  your  favor  of  the  3Oth  ult.,  you  ask  my  opinion  upon,  to  me,  a 
novel  and  most  interesting  question,  viz.:  "Can  the  legislature  empower  women  to 
vote  for  presidential  electors  ?  "  After  the  most  careful  consideration  which  I  have 
been  able  to  give  to  the  subject,  consistent  with  other  duties,  and  with  the  aid  of  such 
books  as  I  have  at  command,  I  answer  your  question  in  the  affirmative.  The  grounds 
of  my  opinion  I  will  proceed  to  state  :  Section  i,  article  2,  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which  provides  that  the  president  and  vice-president  shall  be  chosen  by 


Appendix:     Chapter  XLII.  967 

electors  appointed  by  the  several  States,  declares  in  the  following  words  how  said 
electors  shall  be  appointed : 

Each  State  shall  appoint  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a 
number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  senators  and  representatives  to  which 
said  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  congress,  etc.,  etc. 

Now,  in  the  absence  of  any  provision  in  the  State  constitution,  limiting  or  attempt- 
ing to  limit  the  discretion  of  the  legislature  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  presidential 
electors  shall  be  chosen,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  legislature  could  empower 
female,  as  well  as  male,  citizens  to  participate  in  the  choice  of  presidential  electors. 

Section  2,  article  2  of  our  State  constitution  is  as  follows:  In  all  elections,  not 
otherwise  provided  for  by  this  constitution,  every  white  male  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  upwards,  who  shall  have  resided  in  the 
State  during  the  six  months  immediately  preceding  such  election  *  *  *  *  snau 
be  entitled  to  vote  in  the  township  or  precinct  where  he  may  reside. 

Two  questions  at  once  suggest  themselves  upon  the  reading  of  this  section  :    First 

Does  the  section  apply  to  elections  of  presidential  electors,  and  thus  become  a  limita- 
tion upon  the  discretion  of  the  legislature  in  case  it  shall  direct  the  appointment  of 
the  electors  by  a  popular  vote  ?  Second — If  so,  can  a  State  constitution  thus  limit  the 
discretion  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  directs  shall  be  exercised  by  the 
legislature?  I  shall  consider  the  last  question  first. 

While  the  legislature  is  created  by  the  State,  all  its  powers  are  not  derived  from, 
nor  are  all  its  duties  enjoined  by  the  State.  The  moment  the  State  brings  the  legis- 
lature into  being,  that  moment  certain  duties  enjoined,  and  certain  powers  conferred, 
by  the  nation,  attach  to  it.  Among  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  legislature,  which 
spring  from  the  national  constitution,  is  the  power  and  duty  of  determining  how  the 
State  shall  appoint  presidential  electors.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  de- 
clares in  the  most  explicit  terms  that  the  State  shall  do  this  "  in  such  manner  as  the 
legislature  may  direct."  In  the  case  of  Ex-Parte  Henry  E.  Hayne,  at  a/.t  reported  in 
volume  g,  at  page  106,  of  the  Chicago  Legal  News,  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  the  district  of  South  Carolina,  in  speaking  of  the  authority  upon  which  a  State 
legislature  acts  in  providing  for  the  appointment  of  presidential  elector*,  say- : 

Section  I,  article  2  of  the  constitution  provides  that  electors  shall  be  appointed  in 
such  manner  as  the  legislature  of  each  State  may  direct.  When  the  legislature  of  a 
State,  in  obedience  to  that  provision,  has,  by  law,  directed  the  manner  of  appointment 
< if  the  electors,  that  law  has  its  authorities  solely  from  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  a  law  passed  in  pursuance  of  the  constitution. 

lion.  James  A.  Garfield,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Electoral  Commission,  in  dis- 
cusMng  before  that  body  the  source  of  the  power  to  appoint  electors,  said: 

The  constitution  prescribes  that  States  only  shall  choose  electors.  *  *  *  To 
speak  more  accurately,  I  should  say  that  the  power  is  placed  in  the  legislatures  of  the 
States;  for  if  the  constitution  of  any  State  were  silent  upon  the  subject,  its  legislature 
is  none  the  less  armed  with  plenary  authority  conferred  upon  it  directly  by  the  national 
constitution. — [Electoral  Commission,  p.  242. 

That  this  section  of  the  national  constitution  has  always  been  understood  to  lodge 
an  absolute  discretion  in  the  legislature,  is  proved  by  the  practice  in  the  different 
States.  Chief  Justice  Story,  in  his  "Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,"  in  speaking  of  this  section  of  the  constitution  and  the  practice  under  it,  • 

Under  this  authority,  the  appointment  of  electors  has  been  variously  provided  for 
by  the  State  legislatures.  In  some  States  the  legislatures  have  directly  chosen  the 

>rs  by  themselves;  in  others  they  have  been  chosen  by  the  people  D?  a  jrei 
ticket  throughout  the  whole  State,  and  in  others  by  the  people  in  electoral  di-- 
liy  the  legislature,  a  certain  number  of  elector*  being  apportioned  to  e.uli  diltl 
No  question  has  ever  arisen  as  to  the  constitutionality  of  either  mode,  except  that  of  a 
direct  choice  by  the  legislature.     But  this,  though  often  doubted  by  able  and  ingei 
minds,  lias  been  firmly  established  in  practice  ever  since  the  adoption  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  does  not  now  seem  to  admit  of  controversy,  even  if  a  suitable  tribunal  e.v 
to  adjudicate  upon  it. — [2  Story  on  Constitution,  section  1,472. 


968  History  of  Woman   Suffrage. 

Judge  Strong,  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  a 
member  of  the  electoral  commission,  in  discussing  the  subject  of  this  section,  says : 

I  doubt  whether  they  Jthe  framers  of  the  national  constitution]  had  in  mind  at  all 
[in  adopting  this  section]  the  idea  of  a  popular  election  as  a  mode  of  appointing  State 
electors.  They  used  the  word  appoint,  doubtless  thinking  that  the  legislatures  of  the 
States  would  themselves  select  the  elettors,  or  empower  the  governor  or  some  other 
State  officer  to  select  them.  The  word  appoint  is  not  the  most  appropriate  word  for 
describing  the  result  of  a  popular  election.  Such  a  mode  of  appointment,  I  submit  is 
allowable,  but  there  is  little  reason  to  think  it  was  contemplated.  *  *  *  It  wa> 
not  until  years  afterward  that  the  electors  were  chosen  by  vote. — [Electoral  Commis- 
sion, p.  252. 

Senator  Frelinghuysen,  also  a  member  of  the  Electoral  Commission,  thus  speaks  of 
the  practice  in  the  several  States : 

Under  this  power  [the  power  given  by  the  section  of  the  national  constitution,  which 
we  are  now  considering]  the  legislature  might  direct  that  the  electors  should  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  legislature,  by  the  executive,  by  the  judiciary,  or  by  the  people.  In 
the  earliest  days  of  the  republic,  electors  were  appointed  by  the  legislatures.  In 
Pennsylvania  they  were  appointed  by  the  judiciary.  Now,  in  all  the  States  except 
Colorado,  they  are  appointed  by  the  people. — [Electoral  Commission,  p.  204. 

If  then  it  be  true  that  the  power  to  determine  how  the  presidential  electors  shall 
be  appointed  is  derived  from  the  national  constitution,  and  that  power  is  a  discre- 
tionary one,  to  be  exercised  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  may  direct,  how  can  it 
be  said  that  a  State  constitution  can  limit  or  control  the  legislative  discretion  ?  If  the 
State  can  limit  that  discretion  in  one  respect  it  can  limit  it  in  another,  and  in  another, 
and  in  another,  until  it  may  shut  up  the  legislature  to  but  a  single  mode  of  appoint- 
ment, which  is  to  take  away,  and  absolutely  destroy  all  its  discretion,  and  this  is  nulli- 
fication, pure  and  simple.  One  of  the  questions  before  the  electoral  commission  in 
the  case  of  South  Carolina,  was  whether  the  electoral  vote  of  that  State  should  not  be 
rejected  because  the  legislature,  in  providing  for  the  appointment  of  the  electors,  had 
failed  to  obey  a  requirement  of  the  State  constitution  in  regard  to  a  registry  law. 
This  raised,  in  principle,  the  very  question  we  are  now  considering,  and  on  that  question 
Senator  O.  P.  Morton,  who  was  a  member  of  the  commission,  and  who  was  an  able 
lawyer  as  well  as  a  great  statesman,  thus  expressed  himself : 

They  [the  presidential  electors]  are  to  be  appointed  in  the  manner  prescribed  by 
the  legislature  of  the  State,  and  not  by  the  constitution  of  the  State.  The  manner  of 
the  appointment  of  electors  has  been  placed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  State.- 
in  the  legislature  of  each  State,  and  cannot  be  taken  from  that  body  by  the  provisions 
of  a  State  constitution.  *  *  *  The  power  to  appoint  electors  by  a  State,  is  con- 
ferred by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  does  not  spring  from  a  State  con- 
stitution, and  cannot  be  impaired  or  controlled  by  a  State  constitution. — [Electoral 
Commission,  p.  2OO. 

The  distinguished  lawyer  and  statesman  [Hon.  William  Lawrence]  who  made  the 
principle  argument  before  the  commission  in  favor  of  admitting  the  vote  of  the  State, 
took  the  same  ground  (Electoral  Commission,  p.  iS6). 

The  opinion  of  Justice  Story,  expressed  in  the  Massachusetts  constitutional  conven- 
tion of  1820,  on  a  very  similar  question,  and  one  involving  the  same  principle,  quoted 
by  Mr.  Lawrence  in  his  argument,  is  very  high  authority,  and  I  reproduce  it  here. 
He  (Justice  Story)  said  : 

The  question  then  was  whether  we  have  a  right  to  insert  in  our  constitution  a  pro- 
vision which  controls  or  destroys  a  discretion  which  may  be,  nay  must  be,  exercised  by 
the  legislature  in  -virtue  of  powers  confided  to  it  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  fourth  section  of  the  first  article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
declares  that  the  times,  places  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives shall  be  prescribed  by  the  legislature  thereof.  Here  an  express  provision 
was  made  for  the  manner  of  choosing  representatives  by  the  State  legislatures.  They 
have  an  unlimited  discretion  on  the  subject.  They  may  provide  for  an  election  in 
districts  sending  more  than  one,  or  by  general  ticket  for  the  whole  State.  Here  is  a 
general  discretion,  a  power  of  choice.  What  is  the  proposition  on  the  table?  It  is  to 
limit  the  discretion,  to  leave  no  choice  to  the  legislature,  to  compel  representatives  to 


Appendix:     Chapter  XLII.  969 

be  chosen  in  districts  ;  in  other  words  to  compel  them  to  be  chosen  in  a  specific  manner, 
excluding  all  others.  Were  not  this  plainly  a  violation  of  the  constitution  ?  Does  it 
not  affect  to  control  the  legislature  in  the  exercise  of  its  powers  ?  *  *  *  It  assumes 
a  control  over  the  legislature,  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  does  not 
justify.  It  is  bound  to  exercise  its  authority  according  to  its  own  view  ol  public  policy 
and  principle;  and  yet  this  proposition  compels  it  to  surrender  all  discretion.  In  my 
humble  judgment  *  *  *  it  is  a  direct  and  palpable  infringement  of  the  constitu- 
tional provisions  to  which  I  have  referred. — [Electoral  Commission,  p.  186. 

The  conclusion  seems  irresistible  that  a  State  constitution  cannot  determine  for 
the  legislature  who  shall,  or  shall  not,  participate  in  the  choice  of  presidential  electors, 
and  that  in  so  far  as  our  State  constitution  may  attempt  to  do  so,  it  is  an  infringement 
of  the  national  constitution.  The  discretion  of  the  legislature,  by  virtue  of  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  being  (except  in  so  far  as  it  is  controlled  by  the  national  con- 
stitution itself)  thus  absolutely  unlimited,  it  may,  without  doubt,  as  I  think,  authorize 
all  citizens  without  regard  to  sex,  to  participate  in  the  choice  of  presidential  electors. 
But  it  has  been  suggested  to  me  that  possibly  by  the  State  legislature,  as  used  in  the 
section  of  the  national  constitution  which  we  have  been  considering,  was  meant  the 
whole  people  of  the  State  in  whom  the  legislative  power  originally  resides  and  not 
the  organized  legislative  body  which  they  may  create.  We  answer  first  that  the  lan- 
guage of  the  section  will  not  admit  of  this  construction.  It  clearly  recognizes  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  State  or  the  people  of  the  State,  and  its  legislature.  The  lan- 
guage is  not  "  each  State  shall  appoint  in  such  manner  as  it  may  direct,"  etc.,  but  it  is. 
"each  State  shall  appoint  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  thereof  may  direct,"  etc. 

Again,  it  is  a  familiar  canon  of  construction  that  in  determining  the  meaning  of  a 
statute,  recourse  may  be  had  to  the  history  of  the  times  in  which  it  was  enacted. 
When  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed,  all  of  the  States  had  organized 
legislatures,  or  representative  bodies  who  wielded  the  legislative  power,  and  without 
doing  violence  to  language,  we  must  suppose  that  it  was  to  them  the  constitution  re- 
ferred. Again,  the  State  legislatures  are  referred  to  not  less  than  ten  times  in  the 
national  constitution,  and  in  each  instance  the  reference  is  such  as  to  make  it  clear 
that  the  organized  representative  bodies  are  intended,  and  in  article  5  they  are,  in  ex- 
press terms,  distinguished  from  conventions  of  the  States.  Indeed,  the  fundamental 
idea  of  the  American  government  is  that  of  a  representative  republic  as  opposed  to 
a  pure  democracy,  and  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  a  State  government,  without  a 
representative  legislative  body  of  some  kind,  would,  in  the  American  sense,  be  repub- 
lican in  form. 

Finally,  it  is  apparent  from  the  debates  in  the  constitutional  convention  which 
framed  the  constitution,  and  from  the  whole  plan  devised  for  the  election  of  pre-i- 
dent  and  vice-president,  that  it  was  not  intended  by  the  framers  of  the  constitution  to 
commit  directly  to  the  whole  people  of  a  State  the  authority  to  determine  how  the  pre-i- 
dential  electors  should  be  chosen.  Nothing  seems  to  have  given  the  convention  more 
trouble  than  the  mode  of  selecting  a  president.  Many  plans  were  proposed.  Chief 
among  these  were:  election  by  congress;  election  by  the  executives  of  the  S 
election  by  the  people;  election  by  the  State  legislatures;  and  election  by  eK- 
These  were  presented  in  many  forms.  The  convention  decided  not  less  than  three 
times,  and  once  by  a  unanimous  vote,  in  favor  of  election  by  the  national  o>n_, 
and  as  often  reconsidered  it  (2  Madison  Papers,  pp.  770,  1.124,  I.M.JO).  The 
proposition  that  the  president  should  be  elected  directly  by  the  people,  intend  of  !•>• 
the  national  congress,  received  but  one  vote,  while  the  proposition  that  he  should  1* 
appointed  by  the  State  legislatures  received  two  votes  (2  Madison  I'.ipei*.  p.  1.124). 
The  most  cursory  examination  of  the  debates  will,  I  think,  convince  any  mind  that  it 
was  to  the  organized  legislature  of  the  State,  and  not  to  the  people  of  a  State,  that  the 
framers  of  the  constitution  intended  to  commit  the  power  of  determining  how  the 
presidential  electors  should  be  chosen.  It  seems,  both  from  the  del-au-s  an. I  the  plan 
adopted,  to  have  been  their  studied  effort  to  prevent  the  people  from  acting  in  the 
choice  of  their  chief  magistrate  otherwise  than  through  their  representatives,  and  in 


97°  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

no  single  step  of  the  process  are  the  people  directly  required  or  authorized  by  the  na. 
tional  constitution  to  act,  but  in  every  instance  the  duty  and  the  authority  are  devolved 
upon  their  representatives.  For  these  reasons  I  think  it  clear  that  it  was  intended  to 
invest  the  organized  State  legislatures  with  the  power  of  determining  how  the  presi- 
dential electors  should  be  chosen,  and  that  the  discretion  thus  lodged  in  the  legislature 
cannot  be  limited  or  controlled  by  a  State  constitution.  W.  DE  WITT  WALLACE. 

[C.] 

In  1868,  the  Indiana  (Friends)  Yearly  Meeting  appointed  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Smith  of 
Indianapolis,  and  Mrs.  Rhoda  M.  Coffin  of  Richmond,  to  visit  the  prisons  of  the  State, 
with  a  view  to  ascertain  the  spirit  of  the  management  of  these  institutions,  and  the 
moral  condition  of  their  inmates.  In  obedience  to  this  appointment  the  two  ladies 
visited  both  of  the  State  prisons  of  Indiana,  and  made  a  particularly  thorough  exami- 
nation of  the  condition  of  the  Southern  prison  (at  Jeffersonville)  where  all  our  women 
convicts  were  kept.  Here  they  found  the  vilest  immoralities  being  practiced;  they 
discovered  that  the  rumors  which  had  induced  their  appointment  were  far  surpassed  by 
the  revolting  facts. 

They  visited  Gov.  Conrad  Baker  and  urged  him  to  recommend  the  General  Assem- 
bly to  make  an  appropriation  for  a  separate  prison  for  women.  With  the  full  sympa- 
thy of  Governor  Baker,  who  was  not  only  a  most  honorable  gentleman,  but  a  sincere 
believer  in  the  equal  political  rights  of  women,  Mrs.  Smith  and  Mrs.  Coffin  appeared 
before  the  legislature  of  1869,  and  by  an  unvarnished  account  of  what  they  had  wit- 
nessed and  learned  in  the  Southern  prison,  they  aroused  the  legislators  to  immediate 
action,  and  an  act  to  establish  a  "  Reformatory  Institution  for  Women  and  Girls" 
was  passed  at  that  session  (viz. ,  that  of  1869).  By  statute  the  new  institution  was 
located  at  Indianapolis.  It  was  opened  in  1873,  the  first  separate  prison  for  women  in 
this  country.  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Smith  was  made  its  first  superintendent,  and  she  retained 
that  office,  discharging  all  its  duties  with  great  ability,  until  1883,  when  upon  her 
resignation  she  was  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Elmina  S.  Johnson,  who  had  up  to  that  time 
been  associated  with  Mrs.  Smith  as  assistant  superintendent. 

The  first  managing  board  of  women  consisted  of  Mrs.  Eliza  C.  Hendricks  (wife  of 
Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  who  was  governor  of  Indiana  on  the  opening  of  the 
prison),  Mrs.  Rhoda  M.  Coffin  and  Mrs.  Emily  A.  Roach.  The  changes  upon 
the  board  have  been  so  infrequent  that  in  addition  to  those  on  the  first  board  and  to 
those  on  the  board  at  present,  only  threelladies  can  be  mentioned  in  this  connection, 
viz.:  Mrs.  Eliza  S.  Dodd  of  Indianapolis,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Burson  (a  banker  of  Muncie) 
and  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Smith,  who,  after  resigning  the  superintendency,  served  on  the  board 
for  a  brief  time. 

The  board  at  present  consists  of  Mrs.  Eliza  C.  Hehdricks,  president,  Mrs.  Claire 
A.  Walker  and  Mrs.  M.  M.  James.  From  the  opening  of  this  institution  Mrs. 
Hendricks  has  been  connected  with  it;  first  as  a  member  of  the  advisory  board, 
for  eight  years  a  member  of  the  managing  board  and  during  a  large  part  of  the  time  its 
president,  she  has  served  its  interest  with  singular  fidelity.  The  position  is  no  sine- 
cure. The  purchasing  of  all  the  supplies  is  only  a  part  of  the  board's  work ;  the  business 
meetings  are  held  monthly  and  often  occupy  half  a  day,  sometimes  an  entire  day. 
These  Mrs.  Hendricks  always  attends  whether  she  is  in  Indianapolis  or  in  Washing- 
ton; from  the  latter  point  she  has  many  times  journeyed  in  weather  most  inclement 
b^1  heat  and  by  cold,  simply  to  look  after  the  prison  and  to  transact  the  business  for  it 
imposed  by  her  position  on  its  board.  During  the  last  eight  years,  since  women  have 
had  control  of  its  affairs,  Miss  Anna  Dunlop  of  Indianapolis  has  served  the  insti- 
tution as  its  secretary  and  treasurer.  Perhaps  the  highest  tribute  that  can  be  paid  to 
the  ability  with  which  Miss  Dunlop  has  discharged  the  responsible  and  complicated 
duties  of  her  double  office,  lies  in  the  fact  that  with  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State 
it  has  passed  into  a  proverb  that  "  The  Woman's  Reformatory  is  the  best  and  most 
economically  managed  of  the  State  institutions."  The  committees  appointed  to  visit 


Appendix:     Chapter  XLII.  971 

the  penal  institutions  always  report  that  ' '  The  accounts  of  the  reformatory  are  kept 
so  accurately  that  its  financial  status  can  always  be  understood  at  a  glance." 

This  institution  has  two  distinct  departments,  the  penal  and  the  reformatory,  occu- 
pying two  sides  of  one  main  building  and  joined  under  one  management.  Convicts 
above  sixteen  years  of  age  are  ranked  as  women  and  confined  in  the  penal  department; 
those  under  sixteen  years  are  accounted  girls  (children)  and  lodged  in  the  reformatory 
department. 

The  average  number  of  girls  in  the  institution  from  its  opening  has  been  150;  the 
number  of  women  45.  There  are  now  (July,  1885,)  over  200  inmates. 

All  of  the  work  of  the  institution  is  done  by  its  inmates.  A  school  is  maintained  in 
the  building  for  the  children;  a  few  trades  are  taught  the  girls;  all  are  taught  house- 
work, laundry  work,  plain  sewing  and  mending;  the  greatest  pains  is  taken  to  form  in 
the  inmates  habits  of  industry  and  personal  tidiness,  and  to  prepare  them  to  be  good 
servants;  and  when  their  period  of  incarceration  has  expired,  the  ladies  interest  them- 
selves in  finding  homes  and  employment  for  the  discharged  convicts  whom  they  seek  to 
restore  to  normal  relations  to  society.  The  secretary  estimates  that  of  those  who  have 
been  discharged  from  the  institution  during  the  last  twelve  years,  fully  seventy-five  per 
cent,  have  been  really  restored  and  are  leading  honest  and  industrious  lives. 

[D.] 

Gov.  PORTER'S  BifiNNlAL  MESSAGE,  1883:  "I  recommend  that  in  the  department 
for  women  in  this  hospital  it  shall  be  required  by  law  that  at  least  one  of  the  physicians 
shall  be  a  woman.  There  are  now  in  this  State  not  a  few  women  who  bear  diplomas 
from  respectable  medical  colleges,  and  who  are  qualified  by  professional  attainments 
and  experience  to  fill  places  as  physicians  in  public  institutions  with  credit  and  use- 
fulness. It  would  be  peculiarly  fit  that  their  ser/ices  should  be  sought  in  cases  of  in- 
sanity among  members  of  their  own  sex." 

[E.] 

About  the  year  1867,  Miss  Lucinda  B.  Jenkins,  formerly  of  Wayne  county,  Indiana, 
left  her  work  among  the  "  Freedmen  "  in  the  South,  to  accept  the  position  of  matron 
in  "The  Soldiers' Orphans'  Home"  at  Knightstown,  Indiana.  She  afterwards  be- 
came the  wife  of  Dr.  Wishard,  the  superintendent;  and  when  the  office  was  vacated 
by  his  death,  she  was  authorized  to  assume  his  responsibilities,  and  perform  his  duties, 
with  the  exception  of  receipting  bills  and  drawing  appropriations,  which  latter  duties, 
not  being  then  considered  as  within  the  province  of  a  woman,  were  delegated  to  the 
steward  until  the  doctor's  successor  could  be  legally  appointed. 

She  was  a  lady  of  intelligence  and  true  moral  worth,  possessing  a  dignified, 
pleasing  manner,  and  other  good  qualities,  which,  with  her  long  experience  as  co- 
manager  of  the  institution,  admirably  fitted  her  for  the  position  of  superintendent; 
but  she  was  a  woman,  without  a  vote  or  political  influence,  and  it  was  necessary  that 
"  party  debts  "  should  be  paid.  She  therefore  continued  her  influence  for  the  good  of 
the  institution  without  public  recognition  until  1882,  when  she  left  to  take  charge  of 
a  private  orphan  asylum  under  the  management  of  ladies  of  Indianapolis. 

[F.] 

Miss  Susan  Fussell  is  the  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  B.  Fussell  of  Philadelphia,  to 
whom,  with  his  estimable*Wife,  women  are  indebted  as  the  founder  of  the  first  medical 
college  for  women  in  the  United  States.  At  that  period  of  our  civil  war,  when  women 
were  admitted  to  the  hospitals  as  nurses,  Miss  Fussell  was  at  her  brother's  home  at 
Peiulleton,  Indiana.  She  immediately  volunteered  her  services,  and  was  n-i-iu  .i  to 
duty  by  the  Indiana  sanitary  commission  in  the  military  hospitals  in  l.oui-villc.  Ken- 
tucky, where  she  served  faithfully  until  the  close  of  the  war,  giving  the  bloom  of  her 
youth  to  her  country  without  hope  of  reward  other  than  that  which  comes  to  all  as  the 
result  of  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  the  cause  of  humanity. 


972  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  she  returned  to  Philadelphia,  but  learning  soon  that  an  effort 
was  being  made  to  induce  the  State  of  Indiana  to  provide  a  home  for  the  soldiers' 
orphans,  she  again  offered  her  services  in  any  useful  capacity  in  that  work.  A  benevo- 
lent gentleman  of  Indianapolis  who  had  been  most  urgent  in  calling  the  attention  of 
the  officers  of  the  State  to  their  duty  in  that  matter,  finding  that  there  was  no  hope, 
offered  to  furnish  Miss  Fussell  with  the  money  necessary  to  clothe,  rear,  educate  and 
care  for  a  family  of  ten  orphans  of  soldiers,  and  bring  them  up  to  maturity,  if  she 
would  furnish  the  motherly  love,  the  years  of  hard  labor  and  self-sacrifice,  the  sleep- 
less nights  and  endless  patience  needed  for  the  work.  After  a  few  days  of  prayerful 
consideration  she  accepted,  and  in  the  fall  of  1865  ten  orphans  were  gathered 
together  in  Indianapolis  from  various  parts  of  the  State  from  among  those  who  had 
no  friends  able  or  willing  to  care  for  them.  In  the  spring  of  1866  they  were  removed 
to  the  Soldiers'  Home  near  Knightstown,  where  a  small  cottage  and  garden  were 
assigned  to  their  use.  In  1875,  she  placed  the  older  boys  in  houses  where  their  grow- 
ing strength  could  be  better  utilized,  and  moved  with  the  girls  and  younger  boys  to 
Spiceland  to  secure  the  benefit  of  better  schools.  In  1877,  all  of  the  ten  but  one 
were  self-supporting,  and  have  since  taken  useful  and  respectable  positions  in  society. 
The  one  exception  was  a  little  feeble-minded  boy,  who,  with  his  brother,  had  been 
found  in  the  county  poor-house;  his  condition  and  wants  very  soon  impressed  her  with 
the  necessity  for  a  State  home  for  feeble-minded  children  in  Indiana,  it  having  been 
found  necessary  to  send  this  boy  to  another  State  to  be  educated.  He  is  now  in  a 
neighboring  State  institution,  and  is  almost  self-supporting.  With  her  usual  energy 
and  directness,  she  went  to  work  to  gather  statistics  on  the  subject  of  "  Feeble-minded 
Children  "  in  this  and  other  States,  and  to  interest  others  in  their  welfare.  She  at  last 
found  an  active  co-worker  in  Charles  Hubbard,  the  representative  from  Henry  county 
in  the  legislature,  and  their  united  efforts,  aided  by  other  friends  of  the  cause,  secured 
in  1876  the  enactment  of  the  law  establishing  the  Home  for  Feeble-minded  Children, 
now  in  operation  near  Knightstown,  Indiana. 

Having  seen  all  her  children  well  provided  for,  she  began  to  look  for  further  work, 
and  soon  conceived  the  idea  of  taking  the  children  from  the  county  poor-houses  of  the 
State  and  forming  them  into  families.  She  offered  to  take  the  children  in  the  Henry 
county  poor-house  and  provide  for  them  home,  food,  clothing  and  education,  for  the 
small  sum  of  twenty-five  cents  per  day  for  each  child,  which  her  experience  had 
proven  to  be  the  smallest  sum  that  would  accomplish  the  good  she  desired;  but  the 
county  commissioners  would  only  allow  her  twenty  cents  per  day.  She  accepted  their 
terms,  furnishing  the  deficit  from  her  own  means,  and  so  earnest  was  she  and  so  com- 
pletely did  she  demonstrate  the  superiority  of  her  plan  for  the  care  of  these  children, 
that  she  interested  many  others  in  the  work,  and  the  result  was  the  passage  of  a  law 
by  the  legislature  of  1880-1881,  giving  to  county  commissioners  the  right  to  place  their 
destitute  children  under  the  care  of  a  matron,  giving  her  sole  charge  of  them  and  full 
credit  for  her  work,  and  providing  for  her  salary  and  their  support.  Under  that  law 
Miss  Fussell  now  has  all  the  destitute  children  of  Henry  county  under  her  care,  and 
has  created  a  model  orphans'  home.  Thus  has  this  one  woman  been  a  power  for  good, 
and  by  following  in  the  direct  line  of  her  duty,  has  been  obliged  to  "  meddle  in  tin 
affairs  of  State  "  and  to  influence  legislation. 

If  in  giving  this  sketch  we  have  exceeded  the  limits  allotted  us,  let  us  remembe. 
that  our  subject  represents  thousands  of  noble  women  who  care  rather  that  their 
light  shall  carry  with  it  comfort  and  warmth,  than  be  noted  for  its  brilliancy,  and 
who,  having  no  voice  in  the  government,  are  obliged  to  work  out  their  beneficent  ideas 
with  much  unnecessary  labor. 

[G.] 

The  friends  of  woman's  equality  addressed  the  following  petition  to  each  member  of 
the  State  legislature  : 

Being  personally  acquainted  with  Mrs.  SARAH  A.  OREN,  and  knowing  her  to  be  a 
woman  of  refinement  and  culture,  we  can  consistently  urge  upon  you  a  favorable  con- 


Appendix:    Chapter  XLVII.  973 

sideration  of  her  claims  as  a  candidate  for  election  to  the  office  of  State  librarian. 
She  has  had  the  benefit  of  a  collegiate  education,  and  has  been  for  several  years  a  suc- 
cessful teacher  in  Antioch  College  and  in  the  public  high-school  of  Indianapolis.  She 
is  mainly  dependent  on  her  own  labor  for  the  means  to  support  and  educate  her 
children,  who  were  made  fatherless  by  a  rebel  bullet  at  the  siege  of  Petersburg.  Her 
education  and  experience  have  admirably  fitted  her  for  the  discharge  of  all  the  duties 
of  the  office  of  State  librarian;  and  by  electing  her  to  that  office,  the  Republican  party 
will  secure  a  faithful  and  efficient  officer,  and  have  the  pleasure  of  making  another 
payment  on  the  debt  we  owe  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  died  that  our 
country  might  live.* 

Mrs.  Oren  was  elected  to  the  office  of  State  librarian  and  performed  the  duties  be- 
longing to  it  with  great  efficiency  and  fidelity.  She  has  been  succeeded  by  Mrs. 
Margaret  Peele,  Mrs.  Emma  A.  Winsor  and  Miss  Lizzie  H.  Callis. 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

MINNESOTA. 

[A.] 

IN  the  early  days,  long  before  the  organization  of  either  State  or  local  societies, 
there  were,  besides  those  mentioned  in  the  main  chapter,  a  few  earnest  women  who 
were  ever  ready  to  subscribe  for  suffrage  papers  and  circulate  tracts  and  petitions  to 
congress  and  the  State  legislature,  whose  names  should  be  honored  with  at  least  a 
mention  on  the  page  of  history.  Among  them  were  :  Mrs.  Addie  Ballou,  Mrs.  Ellis 
\Vhile,  Mrs.  Eliza  Dutcher,  Mrs.  Sarah  Clark,  Miss  Amelia  Heebner,  Miss  Emily  A. 
Emerson,  Mrs.  Mary  F.  Mead,  Mrs.  E.  M.  O'Brien,  Miss  Ellen  C.  Thompson, 
R.  J.  Haner,  Mrs.  Mary  Hulett,  Mrs.  Gorham  Powers,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Hotchkiss,  Mrs. 
Emma  Wilson,  Mrs.  Mary  Wilkins,  Mrs.  Anna  D.  Weeks,  Mrs.  Mary  1.  eland,  Mrs. 
Susan  C.  Burger,  Mrs.  A.  R.  Lovejoy,  and  others. 


Of  the  seventy-six  organized  counties  in  Minnesota  we  give  the  following  partial 
list  of  those  that  have  elected  women  to  the  office  of  superintendent  of  public  schools  : 
Mille  Lacs  County,  Olive  R.  Barker;  Pine,  Ella  Gorton;  Lac  Qui  Park,  Malena  P. 
Kirley;  Anoka,  Mrs.  Catharine  J.  Pierce,  Mrs.  Ellen  Conforth,  Miss  Dailey;  Benten, 
Mrs.  Belle  Graham,  Mrs.  E.  K.  Whitney;  Cotton-Mood,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Huntington,  Mrs, 
B.  J.  Banks,  Mrs.  L.  Huntington;  Dodge,  Mrs.  Mary  Powell  Wheeler,  Mrs.  P.  L. 
Dart,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Willard,  Barbara  Van  Allen;  Dakota,  Mr-,.  Martha  Wallace,  Har- 
riet E.  Jones,  Mrs.  C.  H.  Day,  Mrs.  C.  Teachout,  Nellie  Duff,  Mary  Mather,  Anna 
Manners,  Jennie  Horton;  Freeborn,  Mrs.  J.  B.  Foote,  Mrs.  D.  R.  Ilibbs,  Mrs.  A. 


*  Signed  by  Superintendents  Public  Schools,  A.  C.  Shortridge,  Indianapolis,  Alexander  M.  Cow, 
Evansville,  Wm.  H.  Wiley,  Terre  Haute,  Jas.  McNeil,  Richmond,  J.  H.  Smart,  Fort  Wayne,  Wm 
I'helan.  Laporte,  Barnabas  C.  Hobbs,  Bloomingdale  ;  Thomas  Holmes,  president  Union  Christian  Col- 
lege,  Mrs.  Thos.  Holmes,  Merom ;  Geo.  P.  Brown,  principal  hi({h-«chool,  Mrs.  Ceo.  P.  Brown, 
Jessie  H.  Brown,  assistant-superintendent  public  schools,  Prof.  W.  A.  Bell,  Prof.  T.  Charles,  Hon. 
Byron  K.  Elliott,  Geo.  Merritt,  Mrs.  George  Mcrritt,  Wm.  Coughlen,  Jno.  S.  Newman,  prr»iden«  Mer- 
chants National  Bank,  Col.  James  B.  Black,  Jos.  E.  Perry,  Dr.  E.  S.  Newcomer,  Mrv  S.  K.  Newcomer, 
Col.  Samuel  Merrill,  Franklin  Taylor,  Phebe  M.  Taylor,  H.  H.  Lee,  Mr*  Eliiabeth  Le«,  Dr.  O.  S, 
Runnels,  Mrs.  Dora  C.  Runnels,  Horace  McKay,  Thomas  E.  Chandler,  David  Gibson,  Mitt  M«ry 
Bradshaw,  Dr.  J.  C.  Walker,  Indianapolis  ;  Elias  Hicks  Swayne,  Mahala  M.  Swayne,  Richmond  ;  Dr. 
Geo.  M.  Dakin,  Mrs,  Geo.  M.  Dakin,  Laporte. 


974  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

W.  Johnson,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Pickard;  Fillmore,  Charlotte  Taeor,  Margaret  Hood,  Mrs. 
M.  E.  Molstad,  Mrs.  A.  E.  Harsh;  Fahbault,  Jane  Harris,  Georgia  Adams,  Mrs.  A. 
B.  Thorp,  Mrs.  Levi  Crump,  Mrs.  R.  C.  Smith,  Mary  Rumage,  Mrs.  L.  A.  Scott; 
Goodhue,  Mrs.  H.  A.  Hohart;  Brown,  Mrs.  O.  B.  Ingraham;  Douglass,  Mrs.  M.  C. 
Lewis,  Mrs.  J.  B.  Van  Hoesen,  Mrs.  Trask;  Houston,  Mrs.  Annie  M.  Carpenter; 
Henmpin,  Angelina  Dupont,  Mrs.  M.  F.  Taylor;  Lyon,  Louise  M.  Ferro,  M.  D., 
Mrs.  W.  C.  Robinson,  Mertie  Caley;  Mower,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Parker,  Mrs.  V.  J.  Duffy, 
Mrs.  J.  F.  Rockwell,  Mrs.  E.  Hoppin,  Sarah  M.  Dean;  Marshall,  Mrs.  L.  H.  Stone; 
Meeker,  Mrs.  A.  R.  Jackman,  Mrs.  Orin  Whitney,  Mary  E.  Ferguson;  Martin,  Mrs. 
J.  W.  Fuller,  Mrs.  M.  E.  St.  John,  Mary  E.  Harvey,  Mary  A.  McLean;  Olmstead, 
Adelle  Moore,  Jane  Haggerty,  Mrs.  R.  S.  Carver;  Polk,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Perrin,  Mrs.  J. 
A.  Barnum;  Ramsey,  Mrs.  B.  McGuire,  Annie  E.  Dunn;  St.  Louis,  Sarah  Burger 
Stearns;  Winona,  Dr.  Adaline  Williams;  Stevens  county  reports  one  lady  serving  as 
school-district  treasurer;  Otter  Tail  county  reports  six  ladies  serving  in  different 
places;  Wright  county,  four  serving  as  clerks  of  school-districts;  and  in  Beeker  county 
it  is  said  ladies  sometimes  serve  as  deputies  during  their  husbands'  absence. 

[C.] 

In  a  volume  edited  by  Harriet  N.  R.  Arnold,  entitled,  "The  Poets  and  Poetry  of 
Minnesota,"  published  in  1864,  are  the  following  names:  Mrs.  Laura  E.  Bacon 
Hunt,  Mrs.  Emily  F.  Bugbee  Moore,  Miss  Eleanor  C.  Donnelly,  Miss  Jane  Gray 
Fuller,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Harris,  Miss  Ninetta  Maine,  Mrs.  J.  R.  McMasters,  Harriet  E. 
Bishop,  Irene  Galloway,  Mary  R.  Lyon,  Miss  M.  E.  Pierson  Smith,  Mrs.  Helen  L. 
Pandergast,  Julia  A.  A.  Wood.  Among  the  later  writers  possessing  true  poetic  genius 
are  Mrs.  Julia  Cooley  Carruth,  Miss  Eva  J.  Stickney,  Miss  Jennie  E.  M.  Caine,  Mrs. 
Emily  Huntington  Miller. 

Among  the  authors  who  sent  their  books  to  the  New  Orleans  Exposition  in  1885, 
are  Frances  A.  Shaw,  Marion  Shaw,  Minnie  May  Lee,  Eleanor  G.  Donnelly,  Mrs.  M. 
M.  Sanford,  Mrs.  Julia  Wood,  Edna  A.  Barnard,  Mrs.  Arnold,  Miss  Franc  E.  Bab- 
bett,  Mrs.  Henderson,  Miss  Campbell,  Mrs.  C.  H.  Plummer,  Mrs.  Will  E.  Haskell, 
Mrs.  Delia  Whitney  Norton,  Maria  A.  Drew,  Mrs.  Jennie  Lynch,  Miss  Mary  A. 
Cruikshank. 

[D.] 

Mrs.  Winchell,  wife  of  the  president  of  the  Minnesota  State  University,  kindly  sent 
us  the  names  of  the  fifty-six  young  women  who  were  graduated  from  that  institution 
between  1875  and  1885:  Class  of  '75,  Helen  Mar  Ely;  '76,  Martha  Butler;  '77, 
Matilda  J.  Campbell,  Viola  Fuller,  Charlotte  A.  Rollet,  Mary  A.  Maes;  '78,  Mary 
Robinson,  Nettie  Getchel;  '79,  Marian  H.  Roe,  Caroline  Rollet,  Martha  J.  West, 
Evelyn  May  Champlin,  Etta  Medora  Eliot;  '80,  Lizzie  A.  House,  Bessie  S.  Lawrence, 
Minnie  Reynolds,  Lillian  Todd,  Cora  Inez  Brown;  '81,  Emily  Hough,  Diana  Burns, 
Sarah  E.  Palmer,  Lilla  Ruth  Williams;  '82,  Carrie  Holt,  Lydia  Holt,  Mary  Eliza 
Holt,  Alice  E.  Demmon,  Louise  Lillian  Hilbourn,  Emily  D.  McMillan,  Ada  Eva 
Pillsbury,  Agnes  V.  Bonniwell,  Grace  W.  Curtis,  Marie  Louise  Henry,  Mary  Nancy 
Hughes,  Carrie  D.  Fletcher;  '83,  Annie  Harriet  Jefferson,  Kate  Louise  Kennedy, 
Sarah  Pierrepont  McNair,  Anna  Calista  Marston,  Janet  Nunn,  Emma  Frances  Trus- 
sell,  Helen  Louise  Pierce,  Martha  Sheldon,  Louise  E.  Hollister,  Emma  J.  Ware; 
'84,  Hannah  Sewall,  Susie  Sewall,  Anna  Bonfoy,  Bessie  Latho,  Addie  Kingsbury, 
Belle  Bradford,  Emma  Twinggi;  '85,  Mary  Benton,  Bertha  Brown,  Ida  Mann,  Mary 
Irving,  Mabel  Smith. 

Among  the  women  who  have  been  successful  as  preceptresses  in  the  State  Uni- 
versity are:  Helen  Sutherland,  M.  A.,  Mrs.  Augusta  Norwood  Smith,  Matilda  J. 
Campbell,  B.  L.,  Maria  L.  Sanford. 

Among  the  teachers  in  the  normal  schools  of  the  State  are  the  following :" 

Winona — Martha  Brechbill,  Sophia  L.  Haight,  Jennie  Ellis,  Sarah  E.  Whittaker, 


Appendix:     Chapter  XLVII.  975 

Kate  L.  Sprague,  Vienna  Dodge,  Ada  L.  Mitchell,  Anna  C.  Foekens,  Rena  M.  Mead, 
Mary  E.  Couse,  B.  S. 

Mankato  Normal  School—  Helen  M.  Philips,  Defransa  A.  Swan,  Anna  McCutcheon, 
Genevieve  S.  Hawley,  Mary  E.  Hutcheson,  Eliza  A.  Cheney,  Charity  A.  Green,  M. 
Adda  Holton. 

St.  Cloud  Normal  School — Isabel  Lawrence,  Ada  A.  Warner,  Minnie  F.  Wheelock, 
Rose  A.  Joclin,  Mary  L.  Wright,  Kittie  W.  Allen.  Nearly  all  of  the  above-named 
teachers  were  graduated  from  Eastern  colleges  and  universities. 

Women  occupy  the  same  positions  as  men  and  receive  corresponding  salaries.  A 
recent  report  of  Minneapolis  schools  names  fifteen  women  in  the  High  School  receiv- 
ing from  $650  to  $900  per  year;  twelve  principals  of  ward  schools,  receiving  from 
$750  to  $1,000;  and  eleven  primary  principals  receiving  from  $650  to  $800.  At  St. 
Paul  there  were  reported  two  principals  getting  $1,200  each,  two  getting  $900,  and 
twelve  others  getting  $600  each;  of  the  five  lady  assistants  in  the  High  School,  one 
received  $900,  one  $800,  and  three  received  $700  each.  The  principal  of  the  High 
School  at  Duluth  receives  $750  per  annum,  and  some  of  the  assistants  and  principals 
of  ward  schools,  $600. 

Miss  Sarah  E.  Sprague,  a  graduate  of  St.  Lawrence  University,  and  of  the  Normal 
and  Training  School  at  Oswego,  N.  Y. ,  has  been  employed  since  August,  1884,  by  the 
State  Department  of  Public  Instruction,  for  institute  work,  at  a  salary  of  $1,260  per 
year  and  expenses.  Miss  Sprague  is  a  lady  of  rare  ability  and  an  honor  to  her  pro- 
fession. 

Prominent  among  private  schools  for  young  ladies  is  the  Bennett  Seminary  at  Min- 
neapolis, Mrs.  B.  B.  Bennett,  principal;  also  the  Wasioja  Seminary,  Mrs.  C.  B.  P. 
Lang,  preceptress,  and  Miss  M.  V.  Paine,  instructor  in  music.  The  services  of  Miss 
Mary  E.  Hutcheson  have  been  highly  valued  as  instructor  in  vocal  music  and  elocu- 
tion in  the  Mankato  Normal  School.  Miss  Florence  Barton  at  Minneapolis,  Mrs. 
Emily  Moore  of  Duluth,  are  excellent  teachers  of  music,  and  Miss  Zella  D'Unger,  of 
elocution. 

Prominent  among  the  kindergarten  schools  is  that  of  Mrs.  D.  V.  S.  Brown  at  St. 
Paul;  Mrs.  Mary  Dowse,  Duluth;  Miss  Endora  Hailman,  Winona.  The  latter  is 
director  of  the  kindergarten  connected  with  the  Winona  State  Normal  School.  Miss 
Fannie  Wood,  Miss  Kate  E.  Barry,  Miss  Ella  P.  McWhorter  and  Miss  Abby  E.  Ax- 
tell,  are  reported  as  having  rendered  very  efficient  service  as  teachers  in  the  State  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Asylum;  Miss  Mary  Kirk,  Miss  Alice  Mott  and  Miss  Emma  L.  Rohow 
are  spoken  of  as  having  been  earnest  and  devoted  teachers  in  the  State  Institution  for 
the  Blind. 

Mrs.  Viola  Fuller  Miner  of  Minneapolis,  graduated  from  the  State  University,  has 
long  been  known  as  a  teacher  and  writer  of  much  ability.  Her  pen  never  touches  the 
suffrage  question  except  to  its  advantage.  Miss  Eloise  Butler,  teaching  in  the  High 
School  of  the  same  city,  would  gladly  have  lent  her  personal  aid  to  suffrage  work  had 
time  and  strength  permitted.  We  have  at  least  the  blessing  of  her  membership  and 
influence.  Mrs.  Sadie  Martin,  likewise  a  teacher  of  advanced  classes  and  an  easy 
writer,  will  be  remembered  as  the  first  president  of  the  local  suffrage  society  of  Min- 
neapolis, and  one  much  devoted  to  its  interests.  Mrs.  Maggie  McDonald,  formerly  a 
teacher  at  Rochester  and  long  a  resident  of  St.  Paul,  has  ever  been  a  devoted  friend 
of  the  suffrage  cause — commenced  work  as  long  ago  as  '69,  and  is  to-day  unflagging 
in  hope  and  zeal.  Mrs.  Caroline  Nolle  of  the  same  city,  though  much  occupied  as 
a  teacher  in  the  High  School,  still  found  time  to  aid  in  forming  the  St.  Paul  Suffrage 
Society.  Miss  Helen  M.  McGowan,  a  teacher  at  Owatonna,  is  spoken  of  as  "  a  gr.uul 
woman  who  believes  in  the  ballot  as  a  means  to  higher  ends."  Miss  S.  A.  Mayo,  a 
lady  of  fine  culture  and  a  successful  teacher  of  elocution,  was  also  an  active  member 
of  this  society  while  in  the  city.  Miss  Clara  M.  Coleman,  a  classical  scholar  ! 
Michigan  University,  for  one  year  principal  of  the  Duluth  High  School,  was  a  believer 
in  equal  rights  for  all  and  did  not  hesitate  to  say  so.  Miss  Louise  Hollister,  a 
graduate  of  the  Minnesota  University,  is  Miss  Coleman's  successor  and  a  friend  of 


976  History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 

suffrage  for  women,  with  an  educational  qualification;  she  is  vice-president  of  the 
Kqual  Rights  League  of  Duluth.  Miss  Jenny  Lincl  Gowdy,  graduated  from  the 
Winona  Normal  School,  is  an  excellent  primary  principal  who  teaches  her  pupils  that 
girls  should  have  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  boys — no  more,  no  less. 

[E.] 

The  names  of  the  women  who  have  been  admitted  to  the  Minnesota  State  Medical 
Society  are  :  Clara  E.  Atkinson,  Ida  Clark,  Mary  G.  Hood,  A.  M.  Hunt,  Harriet  E. 
Preston,  Belle  M.  Walrath,  Annes  F.  Wass,  Lizzie  R.  Wass,  Mary  Twoddy  Whetsone. 

Among  the  women  who  have  practiced  medicine  in  Minnesota  are  :  Catharine 
Underwood  Jewell,  Lake  City;  E.  M.  Roys,  Rochester;  Harriet  E.  Preston,  M. 
Mason,  Mary  E.  Emery,  Jennie  Fuller,  Clara  E.  Atkinson,  St.  Paul;  Mary  G.  Hood, 
Mary  J.  Twoddy  Whetsone,  R.  C.  Henderson,  A.  M.  Hunt,  Adele  S.  Hutchinson, 
Mary  L.  Swain,  D.  A.  Coombe,  Minneapolis;  E.  M.  Roys,  Mary  Whitney,  Ida  S. 
Clark,  Rochester;  Augusta  L.  Rosenthal,  Winona;  Fannie  E.  Holden,  Anna  Brock- 
way  Gray,  Duluth. 

The  board  of  officers  of  the  Sisters  of  Bethany  has  for  many  years  consisted  of : 
President,  Mrs.  Charlotte  O.  Van  Cleve;  Vice-President,  Mrs.  Euphemia  N,  Over- 
lock;  Secretary,  Mrs.  Harriet  G.  Walker;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Abbie  G.  Mendenhall. 

The  city  of  Minneapolis  takes  the  lead  of  all  others  in  the  State  in  the  number  of 
its  benevolent  institutions.  It  has  its  Woman's  Industrial  Exchange,  as  an  aid  to 
business  women;  its  Woman's  Home,  or  pleasant  boarding-house;  for  the  care  of  sick 
women,  its  Northwestern  Woman's  Hospital  and  training-school  for  nurses;  also  a 
homeopathic  hospital  for  women;  for  the  care  of  homeless  infants,  its  Foundlings' 
Home;  for  unfortunate  girls,  its  Bethany  Home.  All  of  these  institutions  are  in  the 
hands  of  the  best  of  women.  Among  the  most  active  are  :  Mrs.  M.  B.  Lewis,  Miss 
Abby  Adair,  Mrs.  O.  A.  Pray,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Robinson,  Mrs.  John  Edwards,  Mrs.  L. 
Christian,  Mrs.  S.  W.  Farnham,  Mrs.  Wrm.  Harrison,  Mrs.  H.  M.  Carpenter,  Mrs. 
D.  Morrison,  Mrs.  John  Crosby,  Mrs.  George  B.  Wright,  Mrs.  Moses  Marston,  Mrs. 
Charlotte  O.  Van  Cleve,  Mrs.  T.  B.  Walker,  Dr.  Mary  S.  Whetsone,  Mrs.  C.  S. 
Winchell,  Dr.  Mary  G.  Hood,  Mrs.  R.  W.  Jordan,  Miss  A.  M.  Henderson. 

In  the  city  of  Duluth  there  is  a  woman's  home  unlike  any  other  in  the  State.  It  is 
managed  by  a  corporate  body  of  ladies  known  as  home  missionaries.  The  charter 
members  are  :  Sarah  B.  Stearns,  Laura  Coppernell,  Jennie  C.  Swanstrom,  Fanny  H. 
Anthony,  Olive  Murphy,  Flora  Davey,  Jennie  S.  Lloyd,  Fannie  E.  Holden,  M.  D. 
The  work  of  this  corporation  is  to  seek  out  all  poor  women  needing  temporary  shelter 
and  employment.  The  classes  chiefly  cared  for  are  poor  widows  and  deserted  wives, 
and  such  small  children  as  may  belong  to  them;  also  over-worked  young  women  who 
may  need  a  temporary  resting-place;  also  young  girls  thrown  suddenly  upon  their  own 
resources  without  knowledge  of  how  to  care  for  themselves.  These  ladies  care  also 
for  the  unfortunate  of  another  class,  but  in  a  retired  place,  unmarked  by  any  sign. 
They  prefer  that  to  the  usual  plan  of  caring  for  the  victims  of  men. 

[F-] 

Portrait  and  landscape-painters  in  oil  and  water-colors,  who  give  promise  of  suc- 
cess :  Minneapolis,  Miss  Clara  V.  Shaw,  Miss  Mary  E.  Neagle,  Mrs.  Frank 
Painter,  Miss  Mary  Dunn,  Mrs.  Irene  W.  Clark,  Miss  C.  M.  Lenora,  Mrs.  Arthur 
Clark,  Mrs.  A.  M.  West,  Miss  Myra  H.  Twitchell,  Mrs.  A.  L.  Loring,  Miss  Luella 
Gurney,  Mrs.  Charles  Fairfield,  Mrs.  A.  T.  Rand,  Miss  E.  Robeson,  Miss  Helen 
Goodwin,  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Corbett,  Mrs.  Lucille  Hunkle,  Miss  Mary  Kennedy,  Mrs. 
Frances  A.  Pray.  Mrs.  W.  B.  Mead,  Miss  Flora  Edwards,  Mrs.  Knight,  Mrs.  I.  W. 
Mauley,  Mrs.  M.  P.  Hawkins;  St.  Paid,  Miss  Florence  M.  Cole,  Miss  Mary  Hol- 
lingshead,  Miss  A.  M.  Shavre,  Miss  Alice  Chandler,  Mrs.  Martha  Griggs,  Miss  L.  B. 
West,  Mrs.  Knox,  Mrs.  Theodosia  Rose  Cleveland,  Mrs.  Genevieve  Jefferson,  Mrs. 


Appendix:    Chapter  LI  I  I.  977 

C.  B.  Grant,  Jennie  Lynch,  Miss  Wilson,  Miss  Lilla  Inness,  Mrs.  George  Eastman, 
Mrs.  Paine,  Mrs.  Fannie  Smith,  Miss  Alice  Page,  Mrs.  Hunter;  Winona,  Mrs.  \V. 
Ely,  Mrs.  Ella  Newell,  Miss  D.  E.  Barr;  Lake  City,  Mrs.  H.  B.  Sargent,  Mrs.  J.  G. 
Richardson,  Bessie  Milliken;  Still-water,  Sadie  S.  Clark,  Miss  Field,  Sarah  Murdock; 
Albert  Lea,  Birdie  Slocum;  Fairbault,  Grace  McKinster,  MissS.  E.  Cook;  Litchfield, 
Mrs.  Carter;  Alexandria,  Mamie  Lewis;  St.  Cloud,  Mary  Clarke;  Fergus  Falls,  Mrs. 
Wurtle;  Owatonna,  Mrs.  D.  O.  Searles;  Duluth,  Emma  F.  Shaw  Newcome,  Anna 
E.  Gilbert,  Mrs.  A.  D.  Frost,  De  Etta  Evans,  Mrs.  Persis  Norton,  Addie  W.  L. 
Barrow,  Gertrude  Olmstead,  Addie  Hunter,  Fanny  Woodbridge.  Doubtless  there 
are  many  others  of  worth  in  other  localities  improving  their  talents  and  finding  real 
enjoyment  and  pecuniary  recompense  in  the  pursuit  of  their  loved  art. 

It  is  one  of  the  imperfections  of  this  chapter  that  the  names  cannot  be  given  of  the 
many  gifted  young  ladies  who  have  gone  from  Minnesota  for  a  musical  education  to 
the  New  York  and  Boston  Conservatories  of  Music.  Of  those  who  have  gone  from 
Duluth,  and  returned  as  proficients,  may  be  named  Mary  Willis,  Mary  Ensign 
Hunter,  Mary  Munger,  Florence  Moore  and  Jessie  Hopkins.  With  this  beautiful 
thought  in  mind,  "  noblesse  oblige"  the  Christian  workers  of  Duluth  call  upon  these 
talented  young  ladies  for  aid  in  furnishing  many  entertainments  for  charity's  sake,  and 
are  seldom  disappointed. 

[G.] 

Among  the  occasional  speakers  and  writers  not  mentioned  in  the  main  chapter  are  : 
Abbie  J.  Spaulding,  Mrs.  M.  M.  Elliot,  Miss  A.  M.  Henderson,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Warner, 
Lizzie  Manson,  Rebecca  S.  Smith,  Viola  Fuller  Miner,  Harriet  G.  Walker,  Eliza  Hurt 
Gamble,  Emma  Harriman,  Eva  Mclntyre,  Mary  Hall  Dubois,  Minnie  Reed,  Mrs. 
G.  H.  Miller,  Dr.  Mary  Whetsone,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Ladd,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Seely,  Mrs.  E.  S. 
Wright,  Mrs.  M.  H.  Drew,  Mrs.  E.  J.  Holly,  Mrs.  David  Sanford,  Mrs.  F.  E.  Rus- 
sell, Lily  Long.  Zoe  McClary,  daughter  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  McClary,  gives 
promise  of  distinction. 

Since  the  formation  of  the  State  and  local  societies  there  are  many  women  in  their 
quiet  homes  who  are  ever  ready'  to  encourage  any  effort  toward  making  all  women 
more  free,  helpful  and  happy.  Let  this  paragraph  record  the  names  of  a  few  of  these  : 
Mary  E.  Chute,  Isabelle  L.  Blaisdell,  Mary  Partridge,  Mrs.  C.  C.  Curtis,  Frances  A. 
Shaw,  Lucy  E.  Prescott,  Mrs.  S.  J.  Squires,  Minnie  Reed,  Mrs.  E.  S.  Wright,  Nellie 
H.  Hazeltine,  Aclelle  J.  Grow,  Mrs.  A.  B.  Cole,  Mrs.  A.  F.  Bliss,  Mrs.  E.  J.  Hollcy, 
Frances  P.  Sawyer,  Frances  L.  James,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Clark,  Lucy  Gibbs,  Prudence 
Lusk,  Lizzie  P.  Hawkins,  M.  Hammond,  Mrs.  E.  Southworth,  Josephine  Strait, 
Kittie  Manson,  Mrs.  R.  C.  Watson,  Alice  B.  Cash,  Emma  Drew,  Helen  M.  Olds, 
Mrs.  W.  W.  Bilson,  Adaline  Smith,  Mrs.  L.  A.  Watts,  Emily  Moore,  Olive  Muq>hy. 
Mrs.  L.  A.  Wentworth,  Gertrude  L.  Gow,  Delia  W.  Norton,  Mrs.  V.  A.  Wright, 
Mrs.  M.  H.  Wells,  Aurelia  Bassett,  Kate  C.  Stevens,  Mary  Vrouman,  Belle  Hazen, 
Mrs.  D.  C.  Hunt,  Mrs.  L.  H.  Young,  Louisa  Stevens,  Father  Hayes,  Sarah  J.  Craw- 
ford,  Lucinda  Roberts,  Carrie  Rawson,  Sarah  Herrick,  Kate  Tabor,  Charlotte 
Herbert,  Belle  McClelland,  Jane  E.  Knott,  Margaret  l>r\-'ii.  Mary  McKnight, 
EmmaColeman,  Sarah  Ricker,  Mary  M.  Pomeroy,  Sarah  Fribble,  Mary  A.  Griuncll, 
Eliza  Van  Ambden. 


CHAPTER    LIII. 

CALIFORNIA. 

WE  give  not  only  the  names  of  the  delegates  present  at  the  convention  of  1870,  hot 
also  of  a  few  of  the  most  earnest  friends  of  the  cause  in  the  several  counties  of  the 
State,  not  heretofore  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  early  conventions. 

In  San  Francisco  we  must  not  omit  the  venerable  Eliza  Taylor,  a  sweet-faced 
Quaker,  eighty  years  of  age,  nor  Fanny  Green  McDougall — "Aunt"  Fanny,  as 
62 


978  History  of  Woman 

we  loved  to  call  her — nor  Mrs.  C.  C.  Calhoun,  Mary  F.  Snow,  Minnie  Edwards,  Mrs. 
O.  Fuller,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Parker,  Wm.  R.  Ryder,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Hendee,  Kate  Collins, 
Mary  Kellogg,  Louise  Fowler,  M.  J.  Hemsley  and  Mrs.  H.  T.  Perry.  In 
October,  1883,  Elizabeth  McComb,  Mary  Coggins,  Mrs.  J.  V.  Drinkhouse,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  E.  D.  Smith,  Mrs.  E.  Sloan,  Mrs.  C.  J.  Furman,  Elizabeth  D.  Layres,  Miss 
Prince,  Kate  Kennedy,  Carrie  Parker,  Marion  Hill,*  Mrs.  Olmstead,  Mrs.  Dr.  White, 
Dr.  Laura  P.  Williams  and  Mrs.  Olive  Washburn  were  all  members  of  the  city  and. 
State  associations.  There  was  the  brilliant  Sallie  Hart,  who  took  such  an  active  part  in 
the  "local  option"  contest  in  1871,  and  who  as  a  newspaper  reporter  and  correspon- 
dent in  the  State  legislature  for  two  or  three  sessions  was  very  active  in  urging  the 
claims  of  woman  upon  the  consideration  of  our  law-makers. 

Hon.  Philip  A.  Roach,  often  a  prominent  official  of  the  State,  and  for  many  years 
editor  of  the  Daily  Examiner,  is  an  advocate  of  woman's  rights  and  was  instrumental 
in  getting  an  act,  known  as  "  Senator  Roach's  bill  to  Punish  Wif e-whippers, "  passed. 
It  provided  that  such  offenders  should  be  punished  by  flogging  upon  the  bare  back  at 
the  whipping-post.  A  wise  and  just  law,  but  it  was  afterward  declared  unconstitu- 
tional by  the  Supreme  Court.  Hon.  James  G.  Maguire,  a  brilliant  and  rising  young 
lawyer,  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1875,  now  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  San  Francisco,  is  a  most  reliable  and  talented  advocate  of  equality  for  women. 
Among  the  members  of  the  bar  and  other  prominent  men  of  the  State  are  to  be 
found  a  number  who  are  either  pronounced  in  their  views  of  woman's  right  to  vote,  or 
are  inclined  to  favor  all  measures  tending  to  ameliorate  woman's  condition  in  life;  of 
whom  are  Judge  G.  M.  Clough,  Judge  Darwin,  D.  J.  Murphy,  Judge  L.  Quint,  Col. 
J.  P.  Jackson  of  the  Daily  Post,  Hon.  Charles  Gildea  of  the  Board  of  Equalization, 
Judge  Toohey,  the  late  Judge  Charles  Wolff,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  F.  Jewell,  Dr.  R.  H.  Mc- 
Donald, the  prominent  temperance  advocate;  Hon.  J.  T.  Wharton,  P.  ^.  Dorney, 
esq.,  Judge  J.  B.  Lamar,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  McKenzie,  Capt.  W'alker  of  the  City 
Argus,  Hon.  Frank  Pixley  of  the  Argonaut,  ex-Gov.  James  A.  Johnson  of  the  Daily 
Alta,  Alfred  Cridge,  esq.,  Dr.  R.  B.  Murphy,  N.  Hawks,  W.  H.  Barnes  of  The  Call, 
O.  Dearing,  Hon.  W.  W.  Marrow,  Hon.  Charles  A.  Sumner,  representative  in  con- 
gress; Hon.  J.  B.  Webster  of  the  California  Patron,  in  San  Francisco.  In  other 
parts  of  the  State  are  ;  Senator  Cross  of  Nevada  county,  Assemblyman  Cominette  of 
Amador,  Judge  G.  G.  Clough,  and  Senator  Kellogg  of  Plumas  county,  Hon.  H.  M. 
Larue,  Speaker  of  the  House,  and  Assemblyman  Doty  of  Sacramento  county,  Senator 
Del  Valle  of  Los  Angeles,  Hon.  O.  B.  Hitchcock  of  Tulare  county,  Judge  McCan- 
naughy and  Judge  E.  Steele  of  Siskyon  county,  Hon.  T.  B.  Wigginton,  Judge  Charles 
Marks,  R.  J.  Steele,  esq.,  of  Merced  county;  John  Mitchell,  John  T.  Davis  and 
Capt.  Gray  of  Stanislaus;  Hon.  J.  McM.  Shafter  of  Marin  county;  Senator  Brooks 
and  Judge  J.  D.  Hinds  of  Ventura  county. 

Sacramento  county  contains  a  large  number  of  progressive  men  and  women,  though 
the  good  work  has  consisted  mainly  in  the  efforts  made  by  committees  appointed  by 
the  State  society  to  attend  the  biennial  sessions  of  the  legislatuere,  most  of  whom 
were  not  residents  of  the  county.  But  among  those  who  have  done  good  service  in 
Sacramento,  the  first  and  most  active  for  many  years  has  been  Mrs.  L.  G.  Waterhouse, 
now  of  Monterey.  She  espoused  the  cause  in  early  life,  and  when  many  added  years 
compelled  her  to  retire  from  active  service,  her  efforts  in  behalf  of  women  were  still 
continued.  Miss  Dr.  Kellogg  is  not  only  a  successful  practitioner  of  medicine,  but  is 
gifted  with  eloquent  speech,  and  has  on  several  occasions  addressed  the  legislature  of 
the  State;  Dr.  Jennie  Bearby,  for  some  years  a  resident  of  Sacramento,  now  of  Idaho, 
is  worthy  of  mention;  Mrs.  M.  J.  Young,  attorney-at-law  since  June,  1879;  Annie  G. 
Cummings  and  daughter,  have  been  among  the  earliest  and  most  faithful  adherents  to 
our  cause.  Mrs.  E.  B.  Crocker  has,  through  her  social  position,  exerted  great  influ- 
ence in  a  quiet  way,  and  has  contributed  liberally  from  her  vast  wealth  to  aid  the 


*  Mrs.  Hill  was  Presidant  of  the  San  Francisco  Woman  Suffrage  Society  for  three  years  prior  to  her 
death  in  1884. 


Appendix:     Chapter  LHI.  979 

cause;  she  founded  the  Marguerite  Home  foraged  women.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bowman, 
now  of  Oakland,  were  pioneers  in  this  work;  while  Mesdames  Jackson,  Hontoon, 
Perley  Watson,  and  Miss  Hattie  Moore  are  among  the  recent  converts.  Hon.  Grove 
1,.  Johnson  has  been  one  of  the  most  eloquent  of  all  the  fearless  champions  of  women 
-who  have  occupied  a  seat  in  the  legislature;  Hon.  Creed  Haymond  deserves  to  rank 
with  the  foremost,  as  an  able  advocate  of  woman's  political  rights;  Hon.  S.  J.  Finney 
of  Santa  Cruz,  Talbot  Wallis,  State  Librarian,  Judge  Taylor,  a  prominent  lawyer,  and 
Tiis  brilliant  wife,  are  also  among  our  friends.  Sarah  A.  Montgomery,  Mattie  A. 
Shaw,  Mrs.  A.  Wilcox,  Mary  B.  Lewis,  Judge  and  Mrs.  McFarland,  Judge  J.  W. 
Armstrong,  encouraged  by  his  devoted  and  talented  wife,  and  a  large  number  of 
others,  favor  in  a  quiet  way  the  ballot  for  women. 

San  Joaquin  county  has  been  the  home  of  Laura  De  Force  Gordon  since  1870,  and 
much  of  her  practice  as  a  lawyer  has  been  in  the  courts  at  Stockton.  Among  the 
.earliest  advocates  of  suffrage  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Condy,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harry, 
Judge  Brush,  Hattie  Brush,  Judge  Roysdon,  William  Hickman  and  wife,  Mr>.  K. 
Emery,  William  Israel,  Hannah  Israel,  Miss  E.  Clifford,  Dr.  Holden,  Richard  Condy 
and  his  noble  wife  Elizabeth,  who  was  the  first  president  of  the  San  Joaquin  county 
society.  Among  a  hosfrof  others  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  F.  Freeman  and  their  bright 
joung  daughter  Sophronia,  who  gives  promise  of  future  usefulness  in  the  lecture-field; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  C.  Gage,  whose  daughter  Hattie  possesses  marked  artistic  ability,  and 
though  still  in  her  teens  has  produced  oil  paintings  of  rare  beauty;  Dr.  Brown,  physi- 
cian in  charge  of  the  State  Insane  Asylum ;  Dr.  Phcebe  Tabor,  for  many  years  a  success- 
ful medical  practitioner;  Mrs.  N.  G.  Gary,  Mrs.  M.  S.  Webb,  Mrs.  Zignago,  a  suc- 
cessful business  woman;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  B.  Loomis,  R.  B.  Lane,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  II. 
M.  Bond,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  L.  Overhiser,  both  of  whom  are  active  members  of  that 
liberal  woman's  rights  order,  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry.  Hon.  R.  C.  Sargent,  a  member 
•of  the  legislature  for  several  terms,  has  always  aided  the  woman's  cause  by  his  vote  and 
influence.  Dr.  J.  L.  Sargent  and  his  intelligent  wife  are  also  friends  to  every  measure 
tending  to  benefit  woman.  Hon.  S.  L.  Terry,  Senator  F.  T.  Baldwin,  James  A. 
Lontitt,  esq.,  Judge  J.  H.  Budd,  Judge  A.  Van  R.  Patterson,  George  B.  M 
Judge  Buckley  and  a  number  of  other  prominent  officials  and  members  of  the  legal 
profession,  are  all  in  favor  of  equal  rights. 

Sonoma  county  has  a  few  fearless  friends  of  woman  suffrage.  Mary  Jewett, 
Prince,  Fannie  M.  Wertz  and  Miss  E.  Merrill  were  officers  in  the  first  organization 
formed  at  Healdsburg  in  that  county  in  1870,  and  together  with  J.  G.  Unwell  and 
•wife,  who  were  proprietors  of  the  Russian  River  Flag,  kept  up  the  society  for  years.  At 
I'etaluma,  Mrs.  A.  A.  Haskell,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  L.  Hatch,  Kate  Lovcjoy  and  Mrs. 
Judge  Latimer  organized  asociety  in  1869.  In  Solano  county  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Denio 
.and  Mrs.  E.  L.  Hale  of  Vallejo;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ober  and  Mrs.  Celia  Geddes  of  1 
field.  Napa  county  soon  became  an  objective  point  for  lecturers;  a  society  was  organ- 
ized at  St.  Helena  in  1871,  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Lewcllyn,  Charles  King.  Mr>. 
Potter  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Allyn  as  officers;  at  Napa  were  Joseph  Eggletonand  wife  and 
Mrs.  Ellis.  In  San  Mateo  county  was  Mrs.  Dr.  Kilpatrick.  Contra  Costa  county  wa» 
organized  in  1870,  and  Mrs.  Phebe  Benedict,  Mrs.  Abbott,  Mary  O'Brien,  Sarah 
Sellers,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Howard,  Hannah  Israel,  an  able  writer  and  lecturer,  ami  Capt. 
Kimballof  Antioch,  took  an  active  part  therein.  Mrs.  J.  H.  l'!;  \\\ct.  E 

II.  Cox  and  wife  of  Danville,  were  pioneers  in  the  cause,  and  Henry  and  Abigail 
Hush  of  Martinez,  were  most  prominent  in  the  fir>t  meetings  held  there.  Mm.  Bu»h 
had  the  honor  to  preside  over  the  second  woman  suffrage  convention  ever  held  in  the 
United  States,  that  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  1848.  O.  Alley  and  wife,  a! 
Martinez,  extended  their  hospitality  to  lecturers  who  visited  that  place,  and  fully 
.sympathized  in  the  cause. 

In  Marin  county  a  society  was  formed  in  1870,  with  Isabella  : 
Flora  Whitney,  Mrs.  M.   Dubois  and  Mary  Bat  toy  Smi:h,  a*  oliu-cru;   ) 
Shafter,  a  gifted  and   influential  lady,  was  al>o  an  active  worker  in  the  good  cau* 
Alameda  county— Rev.  John  Benton  and  wife,  Professor  E.  Carr  and  wife,  Mr*.  C.  C. 


980  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

Calhoun,  Mrs.  M.  L.  S.  Duncan,  Mrs.  S.  S.  Allen,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Powers,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ingersoll,  Angie  Eager,  Mary  Kenny,  George  and  Martha  Parry  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  William  Stevens,  were  interested  in  the  earlier  agitation  of  the  question;  Mrs. 
Sanford,  Mrs.  A.  M.  Stoddard  and  Mrs.  M.  Johnson  are  among  the  later  converts. 
Merced  county  the  home  of  Rowena  Granice  Steele,  the  author,  and  publisher  of 
the  San  Joaquin  Valley  Argus,  has  furnished  the  State  with  a  worthy  and  capable 
advocate  of  woman  suffrage,  both  as  a  speaker  and  writer.  In  her  cozy,  rose- 
embowered  cottage  at  Merced,  she  generously  entertains  her  numerous  guests,  who 
always  seek  out  this  distinguished  and  warm-hearted  friend  of  woman.  Stanislaus 
county  is  the  present  home  of  Jennie  Phelps  Purvis,  a  talented  and  brilliant  woman, 
well  known  in  literary  circles  in  an  early  day  and  for  some  years  a  prominent  officer 
and  member  of  the  State  society.  At  Modesto  are  Mrs.  Lapham  and  daughter  Amel, 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown,  good  friends  to  suffrage.  In  San  Diego  are  Mrs.  F.  P. 
Kingsbury,  Mrs.  Tallant.  In  Santa  Cruz  county,  Georgiana  Bruce  Kirby,  Mrs.  H. 
M.  Blackburn,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Heacock,  Rev.  D.  G.  Ingraham,  Ellen  Van  Valkenburg. 
In  Los  Angeles  county,  Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Hall,  M.  D.  Ingo  county,  J.  A.  Jennings. 
Santa  Clara  county,  J.  J.  Owen,  the  able  editor  of  the  San  Jose"  Mercury;  Laura 
J.  Watkins,  Hon.  O.  H.  Smith  and  wife,  Mrs.  G.  B.  McKee,  Mrs.  McFarland,  Mrs. 
Herman,  Mrs.  Montgomery,  Mrs.  Miller,  Mrs.  J.  J.  Crawford,  Mrs.  R.  B.  Hall,  Mrs. 
Knox,  Mrs.  Wallis,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Putney,  Mrs.  Damon,  Miss  Walsh,  and  many  others, 
have  all  helped  the  good  cause  in  San  Jose;  while  Louisa  Smith  of  Santa  Clara,  a  lady 
of  advancing  years,  was  ever  a  faithful  friend  of  the  cause,  as  was  also  Miss  Emma 
S.  Sleeper  of  Mountain  View,  formerly  of  Mt.  Morris,  N.  Y.  In  Nevada  county, 
originally  the  home  of  Senator  A.  A.  Sargent,  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  was 
agitated  at  an  early  day.  The  most  active  friends  were  :  Ellen  Clark  Sargent,  Emily 
Rolfe,  Mrs.  Leavett,  Mrs.  E.  P.  Keeney,  Mrs.  E.  Loyed,  Elmira  Eddy,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
William  Stevens,  Mrs  Hanson,  Judge  Palmer  and  Mrs.  Cynthia  Palmer. 


CHAPTER    LVI. 

GREAT    BRITAIN. 

A  CRONOLOGICAL   TABLE  OF  THE    SUCCESSIVE    STEPS   OF   PROGRESS    TOWARDS    FREE- 
DOM  FOR  WOMEN. 

1848.  Queen's  College,  Harley  street,  London,  founded  for  girls. 

1849.  Bedford  College,  London,  founded;  incorporated,  1869. 

1850.  North  London  Collegiate  School  for  girls  opened  by  Miss  Buss,  April  4. 
1854.  Cheltenham  Ladies'  College  commenced. . .  .Miss  Nightingale  goes  to  Sentari ; 

from  hence  may  be  dated  the  beginning  of  training  schools  for  nurses,  metro- 
politan associations  for  nursing  the  poor,  etc. ,  etc. 

1856.  Female  Artists'  Society  founded. 

1857.  Divorce  and  Matrimonial  Causes  act  passed,  by  which  divorce  and  judicial  sepa- 

ration became  attainable  in  course  of  law. ..  .Ladies'  Sanitary  Association, 
founded  October  I. 

1858.  English-woman's  Journal  started  (now  Englishwoman's  Review)  by  Bessie  R. 

Parkes  and  Mdme.  Bodichon,  March  2. . .  .First  swimming  bath  for  ladies, 
opened  in  Marylebone,  July  14. 

1859.  Society  for  the  Employment  of  Women  established  in  London,  June  22. 

1860.  Law-copying  Office  for  women  opened  February  15. ..  .Victoria  Printing  Press, 

established  March  26. ..  .Institution  for  the  Employment  of  Needle-women 
commenced. ..  .First  admission  of  women  students  to  the  Royal  Academy 
(Miss  Herford). 

1861.  Lectures  on  Physiology  to  ladies  at  University  College,  April. 


Appendix:     Chapter  LVL  981 

1862.  Social  Science  Congress  in  London;  though  not  the  first  time  ladies  had  read 

papers  at  the  congress — this  was  remarkable  for  the  increased  share  they  took 
in  its  proceedings. . .  .Ladies'  Negro  Emancipation  Society  commenced.... 
New  church  order  of  deaconeeses  founded  on  the  model  of  Kaiserwerth. . . . 
First  voyage  of  Miss  Rye  to  Australia,  and  commencement  of  her  system 
of  emigration. 

1863.  Establishment  of  Queen's  Institute,  Dublin,  for  industrial  training  cf  women. 

1864.  Female  Medical  and  Obstetrical  Society  begun. . .  .Working  Women's  College, 

Queen's  Square,  opened  October  26. 

1865.  Miss  Garrett  receives  her  medical  diploma  from  Apothecaries'  Hall. 

1866.  A  petition  of  1,500  women*  for  the  franchise  presented,  and  the  first  women's 

suffrage  society  formed. 

1867.  Mr.  Mill's  motion  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  give  the  suffrage  to  v/omen. . . . 

Lily  Maxwell  voted  in  Manchester  for  Mr.  Jacob  Bright. 

1868.  In    the   general   election  many  women  who  were  left  on  the  register  voted. 

Women's  suffrage  was  declared  illegal  by  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  No- 
vember 9. . .  .London  University  establishes  a  women's  examination. 

1869.  Ladies'  Educational  Association  begun  in   London,  which  was  dissolved  July 

18,  1878,  npon  London  University  College  admitting  women  as  regular 
students. . .  .Women's  College  established  at  Hitchin,  October. . .  .The  tele- 
graph service  was  transferred  to  government,  and  women  clerks  were  retained, 
thus  entering  the  civil  service. . .  .Municipal  Franchise  act  passed  ;  women 
first  voted  under  it  November  I. 

1870.  Publication  of   Women's  Suffrage  Journal  commenced  March  I.... Women's 

Disabilities  Removal  bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  M.  P.,  read  a 
second  time,  but  rejected  in  committee,  May. . .  .Lectures  for  women  begun 
in  Cambridge. ..  .First  examinations  of  women  in  Queen's  University,  Ire- 
land...  .Married  Women's  Property  act  (England)  passed,  August  9.... 
National  Indian  Association  established  by  Mary  Carpenter  (principal  object: 
the  improvement  of  women's  education  in  India),  September. ..  .Vigilance 
Association  established,  October;  mainly  occupied  in  women's  questions. . . . 
Elementary  Education  act  passed. . .  .First  school-board  election  in  London, 
November  25  (Miss  Garrett  and  Miss  Emily  Davies  elected  in  London; 
Miss  Becker,  Manchester,  etc.). 

1871.  Ladies'  National  Health  Association  commenced  by  Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell. . . . 

Law  of  Ireland  amended  slightly  with  regard  to  married  women's  property. . . . 
National  Union  for  improving  the  education  of  women  established  by  Mrs. 
Grey,  November. 

1872.  New  Hospital  for  Women,  opened  February,  in  Marylebone  (women  doctors) 

Girls'  Public  Day  School  Company  formed.  First  school  opened  Jan- 
uary i,  at  Chelsea;  there  are  now  fifteen. . .  .Girton  College,  Cambridge,  in- 
corporated. Hitchin  College  subsequently  removed  to  it New  Bastardy 

act,  passed  August  10,  affording  a  greater  measure  of  relief  to  unmarried 
mothers. 

1873.  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior,  appointed  assistant  inspector  of  workhouses,  January;  the 

first  government  appointment  of  a  lady;  made  permanent,  February,   1874. 

First  school-board  election.in  Scotland,  February  (twenty  ladies  elected). 

Second  English  school-board Custody  of  Infants  act  pa»ed.  which 

enables  a  man,  having  a  deed  of  separation  from  his  wife,  to  give  up  the  cus- 
tody of  the  children  to  her  if  he  chooses. 

1874.  Women's  Peace  and  Arbitration  Auxiliary  of  the  London  Peace  Society  formed, 

April Women's  Protection  and  Provident  League  formed,  July  8  (benefit 

societies  and  trades  unions  for  working  women) Protection  Orders  giren 

to  wives  in  Scotland,  July  19 College  for  Working  Women,  Fitiroy  street, 

London,  opened  October London  School  of  Medicine  for  Women,  opened 

October  12. 


982  History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 

1875.  A  lady  first  elected  as  poor-law  guardian  (Miss  Merington,  in  Kensington), 

April. . . .  Albemaile  Club  opened  for  ladies  and  gentlemen,  May  29. . .  Ne-wn- 
ham  College,  Cambridge,  opened. .  .  .Employment  of  Women  Office,  opened 
in  Brighton. . .  .Female  clerkships  in  Post-Office  Savings  Bank. . .  .Pharma- 
ceutical Society  of  Ireland  admitted  women  to  examinations. ..  .Madras- 
Medical  School  opened  to  women. . .  .First  woman  lawyer's  office  opened  in. 
London  (Miss  Orme). ..  .Metropolitan  and  National  Nursing  Association 
formed. ..  .Women  delegates  from  women's  unions  first  admitted  to  Trades' 
Congress  in  Glasgow,  October. 

1876.  Admission  of  women  to  Manchester  New  College,  February  9. . .  .First  quali- 

fied woman  pharmacist  established  in  Londoa(Miss  Isabella  Clarke). . .  .Plan- 
tracing  office  for  women  opened  (Miss  Crosbie). . .  .Employment  of  Womert 
Office,  opened  in  Glasgow. ..  .Scholarship  for  women  established  in  Bristol. 
University  College. . .  .British  Women's  Temperance  Association  commenced! 
. . .  .Passing  of  the  act,  known  as  Russell-Gurney's  act,  enabling  universities; 
to  admit  women  to  degrees,  August. ..  .Resolutions  of  King  and  Queen's. 
College  of  Physicians  in  Ireland  to  confer  medical  degrees  on  women;  five 
ladies  passed  their  examinations  and  received  degrees  in  the  following  spring: 
...  .A  memorial,  signed  by  45,000  women,  presented  to  the  queen  on  behalf 
of  the  Bulgarians. 

1877-  Teachers,  Training  and  Registration  Society  inaugurated,  February  2. . .  .Trinity 
College,  London,  decided  to  throw  open  its  musicial  examinations  to  women,. 
. . .  .St.  Andrew's  University  offered  "  Literate  in  Arts"  degrees  to  women. 
...  .A  bill  to  amend  the  Married  Women's  Property  Law  (Scotland)  passed;, 
came  into  force  January  I,  1878. ..  .International  Congress  on  Public  Mo- 
rality met  at  Geneva,  September. . .  .Admission  of  women  medical  students  to* 
the  Royal  Free  Hospital,  October  I. . .  .Manchester  and  Salford  College  for 
women  (now  affiliated  to  the  Victoria  University)  opened,  October. 

1878.  Society  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  law  among  women  started. . .  .Matrimonial 

Causes  Amendment  act  passed;  a  clause  being  inserted  by  Lord  Penzance- 
enabling  magistrates  to  grant  a  judicial  separation  to  women  if  brutally 
treated  by  their  husbands,  a  maintenance  to  be  given  them,  and  the  children 
to  remain  under  their  mother's  care. . .  .Admission  of  women  to  London  Uni- 
versity degrees  and  examinations,  July  I. ..  .Intermediate  Education  act, 
Ireland;  participation  of  girls  in  its  benefits. 

1879.  Victoria  University  charter  grants  degrees  to  women Oxford,  Somerville  and! 

Lady  Margaret  Halls  opened,  October. ..  .Nine  ladies  elected  on  London 
school-board,  November. . .  .Pharmaceutical  Society  admits  women  as  mem- 
bers, October. . .  .Order  of  St.  Katherine  for  nurses  established. . .  .School  for 
wood-engraving  and  one  for  wood-carving  established. 

1880.  Charter    of   Irish   University  gives  degrees   to  women. ..  .Demonstration   of 

women  in  Manchester  in  favor  of  the  suffrage,  February  3'  followed  by 
London,  Bristol  and  Nottingham  in  the  same  year. ..  .Bill  to  give  further 
protection  to  little  girls  under  13  passed. . .  .Mason  College  in  Birmingham 
founded;  equal  facilities  to  girls  and  boys. ..  .First  lady  B.  A.  in  London- 
University,  October. ..  .Melbourne  University  matriculates  women,  March 
22. ..  .The  Burial  bill  gives  women  the  right  to  conduct  funeral  services. . .  , 
The  House  of  Keys  in  the  Isle  of  Man  passed  women's  suffrage  for  women 
who  are  owners  of  property,  November  5. 

1881.  Suffrage  bill  in  the  Isle  of  Man  received  royal  assent  January  5;  seven  hundred 

women  are  electors;  general  election  began  March  21. ..  .Cambridge  Univer- 
sity admits  women  students  to  formal  examinations  by  a  vote  of  398  against 
32,  February  24. . .  .Durham  University  votes  that  women  may  become  mem- 
bers. 

1881.  Sydney  University  (New  South  Wales)  admits  women  to  matriculation  and  de- 
grees. . .  .New  Zealand  University  confers  title  of  M.  A.  on  a  woman,  August 


Appendix:     Chapter  LVL  983 

Poor-law  Guardian  Association  for  promoting  the  election  of  ladies  es- 
tablished, March;  seven  ladies  elected  in  London Somerville  Club  for 

women  opened Women  clerks  admitted  to  the  civil  service  by  open  com- 
petition  Municipal  Franchise  act  for  Scotland,  passed  June  3;  came  into 

operation  January  i,   1882 Married  Women's  Property  act  for  Scotland, 

passed  July  18. 

1882.  London  University  Convocation  resolves  to  admit  women  as  graduates,  January 

17 Twelve  women  elected  in  London  as  poor-law  guardians,  April;  fifteen 

in  the  country. . .  .Married  Women's  Property  act  passed  by  the  Lords  and 
brought  down  to  the  Commons  May  22;  passed  and  returned  to  the  Lords 
August  16;  received  royal  assent  August  1 8 Addition  to  Municipal  Fran- 
chise act  (Scotland)  by  inclusion  of  police  burghs. . .  .Women  first  voted  in 
Scotland  under  the  new  act,  November  8. . .  .Appointment  of  women  as  reg- 
istrars of  births  and  deaths  in  four  parishes. 

1883.  Married  Women's  Property  act  comes  into  operation  January  I Appointment 

of  Miss  E.  Shove  as  physician  to  female  staff  in  post-office;  first  appoint- 
ment by  government  of  a  woman ....  Poor-law  guardian  elections,  April; 
thirteen  ladies  in  London,  two  in  Scotland  for  the  first  time;  thirteen  in 
other  towns  in  England. . .  .Mr.  Stansfeld's  resolution  against  the  Contagious 
Diseases  acts  carried  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a  majority  of  72,  April 
26;  the  acts  consequently  are  suspended. ..  .May. — Memorial  to  the  Prime 
Minister  signed  by  no  independent  Liberal  members,  asking  that  women's 
suffrage  shall  be  included  in  the  coming  Reform  bill. . .  .Mr.  Mason's  resolu- 
tion for  women's  suffrage  thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  only  16. . .  .Great  confer- 
ence of  Liberal  associations  at  Leeds  on  parliamentary  reform  votes  for 
woman  suffrage,  October  17,  followed  by  similar  votes  at  Edinburgh,  No- 
vember 16;  Manchester,  November  21;  Bristol,  November  26,  and  in  many 
smaller  places. . .  .Guarantee-fund  raised  in  Bombay  for  lady  physicians  and 
hospitals  for  women  commenced;  Calcutta  University  opened  to  women. 

1884.  Second  reading  of  the  bill  for  the  Custody  and  Guardianship  of  children  car- 

ried, March  26,  by  a  majority  of  134. . .  .First  lady,  Mrs.  Bryant,  obtained 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  in  London  University. ..  .Nine  ladies  obtain 
B.  A.  degree  in  Royal  Irish  Universify. 

1885.  College  of   Surgeons,  Ireland,  opens  its  degrees  to  women. ..  .Criminal-law 

Amendment  Bill  passed  in  August,  raising  the  age  of  protection  for  girls, 
and  giving  increased  facilities  for  rescuing  them  from  ruin. ..  .Municipal 
suffrage  granted  to  women  in  Madras. ..  .Miss  Mason  appointed  inspector 
of  workhouses  by  local  government  board,  November. 


INDEX 

TO 

THE   HISTORY  OF  WOMAN  SUFFRAGE. 


Compiled  by  JOHN  WEINHEIMER  of  The  New  York  Tribune. 


A. 

Abelard,  i,  759. 

Abbott,  Francis,  iii,  127. 

Adam  and  Eve,  i,  561, 

Adams,  Abigail  Smith,  i,  32,  201. 

Adams,  Hannah,  author,  i,  205. 

Adams,  John,  i,  31,  iii,  79. 

Adams,  John  Q.,  iii,  479. 

Adams,  Mary  N.,  lecturer,  iii,  614. 

Addresses  and  appeals,  i,  106,  595,  676, 
742,  856;  ii,  51,  67,  167,  168,  364,  485, 
517;  iii,  58,  129,  580. 

Adelbert  College,  iii,  498. 

Agitator,  ii,  373,  iii,  274. 

Agrippa,  Cornelius,  i,  29. 

Alabama,  iii,  830. 

Albany  Evening  Journal,  ii,  282, 

Albany  Knickerbocker  on  woman's  rights, 
i,  611. 

Albany  Register  on  woman's  rights,  i, 
608,  609,  610,  611. 

Albany  Law  Journal,  ii,  691,  947.  —on 
"  our  laws,'  iii,  94. 

Alcibiades  and  the  dog,  ii,  103. 

Alcott,  A.  Bronson,  iii,  193 — on  woman 
suffrage,  iii,  519, 

Alcott,  Abby  May,  appeal,  i,  247. 

Alcott,  Louisa  May,  letter  to  Mrs.  Stone, 
ii,  831. 

Alexander,  Janet,  iii,  298. 

Allen,  Jane,  case  of,  ii,  592, 

Allen,  Nancy  R.,  argument  before  Senate 
Committee,  iii,  160 — legacy,  iii,  624 — 
Notary  Public,  made,  iii,  626. 

Alleij,  Sophia  Ober,  iii,  502. 

Almanac,  Woman's  Rights,  i,  863. 

Amberly,  Lady,  letter  to  Mrs.  P.  W. 
Davis,  ii,  439. 

AMERICAN  EQUAL  RIGHTS  ASSOCIATION: 
— "colored,"  the  word,  discussion,  ii, 
214 — Constitution,  ii,  173 — Meetings: 
Academy  of  Music  (Brooklyn),  ii,  398, 
Church  of  the  Puritans,  ii,  182,  Cooper 
Institute,  ii,  309,  Steinway  Hall,  ii, 
378 — Memorial  to  Congress,  ii,  226 — 
name  changed  to  "Nat.  Woman  Suf- 


frage Association,"  ii,  400— officers,  ii, 
174 — organized,  ii,  173 — letter  of  B.  F. 
Wade,  ii,  117 — report,  Susan  B.  An- 
thony's, ii,  183. 

American  flag,  design,  i,  323. 

AMERICAN  WOMAN  SUFFRAGE  ASSO- 
CIATION, ii,  756 — Celebration  of  Wo- 
man Suffrage  in  New  Jersey,  ii, 
846 — constitution  of,  ii,  763 — conven- 
tions: call  for  first,  ii,  757,  Baltimore, 
820,  Brooklyn  in  Plymouth  Church, 
831,  Cincinnati,  O.,  854,  Cleveland. 
O.,  802,  Detroit,  Mich.,  834,  Indiana- 
polis, Ind.,  851,  Louisville,  Ky.,  861, 
New  York  City  in  Apollo  Hall,  821.  in 
Cooper  Institute,  825,  in  Steinway  Hall, 
809,  840,  Philadelphia,  815,  849,  St. 
L,ouis,  Mo.,  821,  Washington,  D.  C., 
819,  858 — letter,  circular,  ii,  757 — 
members  received  at  the  White  ; 
by  Mrs.  Hayes,  ii.,  860— memorial  to 
Congress,  ii.,  859,  referred  to  Commit- 
tee on  Territories,  860— report  of 
chairman  of  Executive  Committee,  ii, 
803— resolutions,  ii,  805,  809.  810,  8i3. 
826,  837,  843,  849,  851.  859. 

Ames,  Chas.  G.,   i,  271,  ii,  844,  iii,  754- 

Amnesty,  universal,  ii,  315. 

Amos,  Sheldon,  on  vice,  i,  796. 

Anderson,  Geo.  W.,  iii,  699. 

Andrews,   Margaret  H.,  letter  to  S.   J. 
May,  i,  531. 

Angell,  John  W.,  iii.  341. 

Ann  Arbor  University,  ii.  541. 

Anneke,  Franceska.  i,  571,  ii.  374.  393— 
sketch  of  iii,  646. 

Anniversaries,  Stt  Conventions. 

Anthony,  Daniel,  Lucy  and  Mary 

Anthony.  Hon,  Henry  B.,  on  woman  suf- 
frage, i,  867.  ii.  106.  273— 1'embma 
Territory  bill,  on  the.  ii,  568 — Sar- 
gent's amendment  to  the  Pembina  Ter- 
ritory  bill,  on.  ib.—  suffrage  «>: 
339 — woman  suffrage,  his  last  utterance 
on,  iii,  350. 

ANTHONY,  Susan  B.,  i,  186,  465.  4^7. 


986 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


468,  476,  485,  487,  489,  490, 500, 501, 

515,  517,  526,  570,  589.  591-  607,  624, 
653,  673,  679,  716;  ii,  66,  67,  116,  154, 
220,  286,  287,  322,  360,  361,  363,  375, 
382,  389,  391,  427,  431,  437,  442,  456, 
582,  584,  760;  iii,  3,  40,  66,  151,  175, 
178,  195,  243,  257,  412,  502,  560,  580, 
630,641,  697,  773,  811,  819 — Aboli- 
tionists, and  the,  ii,  264 — American 
Equal  Rights  Association,  ii,  117,  171 
— appeal  for  woman  rights,  1854,  i, 
856— appeal  to  Congress,  ii,  167 — ar- 
gument before  Illinois  Legislature,  iii, 
572 — argument  before  Senate  Commit- 
tee, iii,  160,  227 — arrest  of,  ii,  628 — 
arrest,  incidents  of,  ii,  539 — arrest,  re- 
solution concerning,  ii,  537 — birthday 
celebrated  in  Indianapolis,  iii,  538 — 
"  Bloomer, "  in  a,  i,  128 — bonnet  and 
Noah's  ark,  iii,  522 — "  Bread  and  Bal- 
lot," iii,  536 — California  visit,  iii,  756 
— call,  loyal  women,  ii,  53 — Centennial 
Exhibition,  at  the,  iii  27 — compli- 
mented by  Judge  Edmunds,  iii,  160 — 
Constitutional  Convention  at  Albany, 
before,  ii,  284 — corruptionist,  as  a,  ii, 
936— Declaration  of  Rights,  reads,  at 
Centennial,  iii,  31 — delegate  to  Demo- 
cratic National  Convention,  ii,  340, 
comments  of  the  press,  ii,  342 — Demo- 
cratic National  Convention,  at  the,  iii, 
182 — feme  sole  capable  of  making  aeon- 
tract,  iii,  21 — Fifteenth  Amendment, 
on  the,  ii,  340 — financial  report,  ii,  175 
— fugitive  wife's  escape  from  an  insane 
asylum,  aids,  i,  469 — general  agent,  ap- 
pointed, i,  619 — Grant  and  Wilson 
campaign,  appeal,  ii,  517 — Grant,  U. 
S.,  conversation  with,  ii,  544 — Iowa, 
in,  iii,  622 — Kansas  campaign,  i,  200, 
ii,  239,  254,  261,  262,  263 — lecture, 
"False  Theory,"  iii,  675 — lecturing 
tour,  Ohio,  iii,  491 — Letters :  Boston 
Convention,  i,  256 — Brooks,  James,  to, 
ii,  97 — Carson  League,  i,  488 — Demo- 
cratic National  Convention,  to,  ii,  340 
— Foote,  E.  B.,  to,  ii,  941 — Garfield. 
Jas.  A.,  to,  iii,  185 — loyal  women,  from, 
iif  875 — Mott,  Lydia,  to,  i,  748 — Stan- 
ton,  Mrs.,  to,  announcing  her  having 
voted,  ii,  934 — Wright,  Martha  C.,  to, 
i,  678.  Logan,  Olive,  and,  ii,  385 — 
"Male"  in  the  Constitution,  on  the 
word,  ii,  91 — manhood  suffrage,  on,  iii, 
566 — marriage  and  divorce,  on,  i,  735 — 
meeting  in  Rahway,  N.  J.,  iii,  479 — 
meetings  in  Virginia,  iii,  824 — Michi- 
gan campaign,  iii,  522 — Napoleon  of 
Woman  Suffrage,  the,  I,  456 — Newport 
Convention,  ii,  403 — on  Mrs.  Robert 
Dale  Owen,  i,  303 — Oregon  visit,  iii, 
769 — police  officer,  and  the,  ii,  540 — 
portrait,  i,  577 — President  Mozart  Hall 
Convention,  i,  668 — President  National 


Woman  Suffrage  Association,  ii,  516— 
presentations,  iii,  193 — reception,  So- 
rosis,  iii,  571 — registered,  ii,  627 — rem- 
iniscences, Mrs.  E.  C.  Stanton's,  i, 
456 — report,  National  Convention,  at 
Cooper  Institute,  i,  689 — report  as  sec- 
retary of  American  Equal  Rights  Asso- 
ciation, ii,  183 — Revolution,  i,  46 — 
Secretary  Loyal  League,  made,  ii,  66 — 
sex,  and  her,  ii,  112 — Speeches:  Anti- 
Slavery  question,  ii,  898 — Congressional 
Committee,  before,  ii,  414,  513 — first 
public  speech,  i,  41 — Furness"  Church, 
in  iii,  35 — Is  It  a  Crime  for  a  United 
States'  Citizen  to  Vote  ?  ii,  630 — Phila- 
delphia Convention,  i,  385 — Saratoga 
Convention,  i,  621 — Teachers' Conven- 
tion, N.  Y.  State,  i,  513 — Temperance 
Convention,  Rochester,  i,  483 — Wash- 
ington Convention,  ii,  423,  521 — Wash- 
ington Convention,  iii,  259 — Woman's 
National  Loyal  League,  ii,  57,  61. 
Suffrage,  on,  ii,  383 — tableau  "  Mother 
and  Susan,"  i,  461 — Taxation  without 
Representation,  on,  ii,  539 — Temper- 
ance Convention  at  Rochester,  read 
call,  i,  481 — testimonial,  i,  534 — tour, 
western,  ii,  367 — tour  with  Ernestine 
L.  Rose,  i,  97 — tracts,  Kansas  cam- 
paign, ii,  239 — tracts  and  petitions,  on, 
i,  383 — Train,  G.  F.,  and  T lie  Revolu- 
tion, criticism,  ii,  264 — Trial:  Arrest, 
ii,  628 — argument,  Crowley's,  ii,  648, 
675 — argument,  Judge  Selden's,  ii, 
654 — bail,  refused  to  give,  ii,  629 — case 
opened  by  Judge  Selden,  ii.  652 — Gage, 
Matilda  J. ,  Letter  to  Albany  Law  Jour- 
nal, ii,  947 — guilty,  Court  directs  a  ver- 
dict of,  ii,  679 — Hunt's,  Judge,  deci- 
sion, ii,  677 — Hunt's  decision  criticised, 
ii,  689, — Hunt's  decision  reviewed,  ii, 
946 — incidents,  ii,  537 — indictment,  ii, 
647 — inspectors  of  elections,  See  trials 
and  decisions — Jones,  B.  W.,  testimony, 
ii,  650 — letter  from  Gerrit  Smith,  ii, 
941 — trial,  new,  denied,  ii,  687 — trial, 
new,  motion  for,  ii,  680 — opening  of, 
ii,  647 — petition  to  Congress  praying 
for  remission  of  fine,  ii,  698 — reports, 
majority  and  minority,  ii,  701,  711 — 
Pound,  J.  E.,  testimony  ii,  653 — press 
comments,  ii,  935 — resolutions  concern- 
ing, ii,  537 — Selden's  letter,  ii,  935 — 
sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  $100,  ii,  6^87 — 
— testimony  in  trial  of  election  in- 
spectors, ii,  692 — Washington  gossip, 
ii,  943.  Tribute,  "Aunt  Lottie's," 
iii,  41 — tribute,  to  Laura  C.  Havi- 
land,  iii,  532 — tribute,  from  The 
Leavenworth  Commercial  (Kansas), 
ii,  263 — tribute  to  Lucretia  Mott, 
iii,  189 — tribute,  St.  Louis  Convention, 
iii,  147 — tribute,  Scovill's,  ii,  420 — 
visit  to  Lucretia  Mott,  i,  414 — voted  for 


Index. 


987 


Grant  for  President,  ii,  628 — letter  an- 
nouncing her  having  voted,  ii,  934 — 
Washington  Territory  Legislature, 
hearing  before,  iii,  786 — Wyoming 
visit,  iii,  734. 

Anti-Slavery  struggle,  i,  39,  52,  54,  323, 
325,  339,  417 — Josephine  Griffing  and 
Freedman's  Bureau,  ii,  29 — Society  re- 
organized, ii,  153. 

Anti- Woman  Suffrage  Society,  iii,  99. 

Antonelli's,  Cardinal,  sacrilegious  child, 
i,  788. 

Appendix,  i,  801,  ii,  863,  iii,  955. 

Archer,  Stevenson,  iii,  816. 

Arkansas,  iii,  805 — Constitutional  Con- 
vention, iii,  806. 

Arnell's  services  in  Congress,  ii,  489,  491. 

Arnett,  Hannah,  i,  442. 

Art  and  artists,  iii,  301. 

Ashley,  Henry,  iii,  319. 

Ashley,  J.    M.,  speech  in  Congress,  iii, 

495- 

Astell,  Mary,  i,  30. 
Attorneys,  ii,  604. 
Augustine,  i,  756. 

Austin,  Helen  V.,  sketch  of,  i,  312. 
Austria,  iii,  904. 

Autograph  book,  Centennial,  iii,  40. 
Avery,  Alida  C.,  iii,  719. 

B. 

Ballard,  Anna,  iii,  407. 

Ballot,  the,  ii,  168 — Sumner  on  the,  ii,  95 
— what  is  the,  ii,  155. 

Ballot-Box,  iii,  51,  504. 

Banks,  N.  P.,  speech,  iii,  10. 

Banquet,  St.  James  Hotel,  ii,  441. 

Bar,  admission  to  the,  iii,  330. 

Barber,  Miss,  i,  807. 

Barkaloo,  Helena,  lawyer,  iii,  404. 

Barker,  Jos.,  i,  114 — Pulpit,  on  the,  i,  140. 

Barnum,  P.  T.,  i,  503. 

Barstow,  Hon.  A.  C.,  i,  499 — battle-field, 
services  on  the,  ii,  23 — letters  to  Susan 
B.  Anthony,  ii,  916. 

Barton,  Clara,  appeal  to  soldier  friends, 
ii,  418. 

Bascom,  Emma  C.,  letter  to  S.  B.  An- 
thony, iii,  647. 

Batchelder,  Mrs.  Dr.  L.  S.,  on  working 
women,  ii,  389. 

"Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,"  ii,  18. 

Battle  of  Lexington,  commemoration  of, 
iii,  414. 

Baxter,  Richard,  on  witchcraft,  i,  765. 

Bayard,  Thos.  F.,  ii,  567,  576;  iii,  205-6. 

Beck,  Senator,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii,  209. 

Becker,  Lydia  E.,  letters,  iii,  62,  121,  249. 

Beecher,  Catharine  E.,  ii,  787,  iii,  399. 

Beecher,  Edward,  ii,  368,  iii,  566. 

BEECHER,  Henry  Ward,  Kansas  cam- 
paign, ii,  265 — letter  to  American 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  meeting 
in  St.  Louis,  ii,  825 — letter  to  Lucy 


Stone,  Presidency  American  Woman 
Suffrage  Association,  ii,  808 — letter  to 
Washington  Convention,  ii,  496—  Pres- 
ident of  American  Woman  Suffrage 
Association,  made,  ii,  764 — speeches, 
ii,  156,  216,  399,  766,  774;  iii,  52— 
suffrage,  universal,  and,  ii,  315 — Tilton 
colloquy,  ii,  167 — Tilton  trial,  i,  789 — 
woman's  right  to  vote,  on,  i,  620. 

Beecher,  Lyman,  i,  393. 

Belgium,  iii,  909. 

Bell,  Lydia,  iii,  693. 

Bell,  Dr.  T.  S.,  ii,  862. 

Bellows,  Dr.,  on  woman's  rights,  i,  245. 

Bennett,  Dr.  Alice,  iii,  472. 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  i,  546. 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  iii,  836. 

Bequests,  i,  257,  258,  667,  742. 

Berlin,  iii,  903. 

Berlin  Congress,  ii,  404. 

Bible,  Antoinette  L.  Brown's  points,  i, 
535 — divorce,  and,  i,  213 — interpola- 
tions, i,  797 — revision,  i,  798 — woman 
and  the,  discussion,  i,  380. 

Biggs,  Caroline  A.,  letter  to  S.  B.  An- 
thony, iii,  250 — letter  to  Rochester 
Convention,  iii,  120 — letter  to  Wash- 
ington Convention,  iii,  261. 

Biggs,  Emily  J.,  iii,  702. 

Bingham,  Anson,  i,  687,  ii,  461. 

BIOGRAPHY:  Austin,  Helen  V.,  i,  312 — 
Blake,  Lillie  D.,  iii,  408 — Barton, 
Clara,  ii,  23 — Boyd,  Louise  V.,  i.  312 
— Brown,  Olympia,  iii,  646— Clark, 
Mary  T.,  i,  312— Colby,  Clara  B.,  iii, 
670 — Collins,  Emily,  i,  88 — Davis, 
Paulina  Wright,  by  "  E.  C.  S.",  i,  283 
— Duniway,  Abigail  S.,  iii,  768— Grif- 
fing, Josephine  Sophie,  ii,  26 — Lozier, 
Clemence,  iii,  411 — Morrow,  ^Janc,  i, 
313 — Owen,  Mary  Robinson,  i,  313 — 
Owen,  Robert  Dale,  i,  293 — Rose,  Er- 
nestine, i,  95 — Swank,  Emma  B.,  i, 
313 — Thomas,  Mary  F.,  i,  314 — Un- 
derhill,  Sarah  E.,  i,  313 — Warren, 
Mercy  Otis,  in  the  Revolution,  i,  201 
— Way,  Amanda  M.,  i,  311 — Wright, 
Frances,  i,  35. 

Bird,  Frank  W.,  iii,  194. 

Birdsall,  Mary  B.,  sketch  of,  i,  313. 

Bittenbender,  Ada  M.,  sketch  of,  iii,  690. 

Blackstone  on  the  canon  law,  i,  771. 

BLACKWELL,  Antoinette  L.  B..  ii,  760— 
letter  to  Cooper  Institute  Convention, 
i,  862 — marriage  and  divorce,  on.  i, 
723 — speech  at  American  Woman  Suf- 
frage Association  meeting  in  New 
York,  ii,  841 — Woman's  National  Loyal 
League,  ii,  69.  (See  Brown,  A.  L.) 

BLACKWELL,  Elizabeth,  i,  37,  78— letter 
to  Emily  Collins,  i,  90— letter  to  We»t- 
chester,  Pa.,  Convention,  i,  831 — phy- 
sician, as  a,  i,  94 — sanitary  commission, 
ii,  13. 


938 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


BLACKWELL,  Henry  B.,  ii,  382 — Kansas 
Campaign,  ii,  232,  235 — South,  on  the, 
ii,  929 — speech  at  American  Woman 
Suffrage  Association  meeting  in  Stein- 
way  Hall,  ii,  8n — at  American  Woman 
Suffrage  Association  meeting  in  Cooper 
Institute,  ii,  830— Cleveland  Conven- 
tion, i,  126,  ii,  780 — President  of  Am. 
Woman  Suffrage  Association,  made,  ii, 
856 — Vermont  Watchman,  on  iii,  386 
— Woman  Suffrage  in  New  Jersey,  on, 
ii,  846. 

BLAKE,  Lillie  Devereux,  iii,  74,  223,  483 
— Argument  before  House  Committee, 
iii,  163 — sketch  of,  iii,4o8 — Dix's  Lenten 
lectures,  her  reply  to,  iii,  436 — lectures 
"Woman's  Place  to-day,"  iii,  436 — 
Washington  Convention  '76,  iii,  7 — 
Washington  Convention,  at,  ii,  541 — 
Fable,  "The  Selfish  Rats,"  iii,  114— 
— speech,  Battle  of  Lexington  Com- 
memoration, iii,  414. 

Blake,    S.    L.,    against  woman  suffrage, 

iii,  371. 

Blain'e,  Jas.  G.,  iii,  164,  165,  366. 

Blair,  Henry  W.,  letter  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, iii,  380. 

BLOOMER,  Amelia,  i,  46— address  before 
Nebraska  Legislature,  iii,  672 — Cleve- 
land National  Convention,  at,  i,  128 — 
comments  on  Jane  G.  Swisshelm,  i,  844 
— portrait,  i,  496 — replies  to  Senator 
Gaylord's  speech  against  rwoman  suf- 
frage, iii,  623 — speech  at  Rochester 
Temperance  Convention,  i,  483 — work 
done,  iii,  613. 

Bloomer  costume,  i,  127,  469,  844. 

Blunt,  Gen.,  Kansas  campaign,  ii,  243. 

Boarding  House  Law,  i,  688. 

Bodeker,  Anna  W.,  iii,  823 — vote,  at- 
tempted to,  iii,  824. 

Bohemia,  iii,  907. 

Bolton,  Sarah  Knowles,  iii,  494. 

Bolton,  Sarah  T.,  i,  300. 

Bones,  Marietta,  address  to  Dakota  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  iii,  665. 

Booth,  Mary  L.,  i,  48,  624,  ii,  433. 

Boston  Common-wealth,  report  of  fifth 
Washington  Convention,  ii,  543. 

Boston  Convention,  i,  255. 

Boston  Transcript,  iii,  227. 

Bottsford,  Harriette,  iii,  623. 

Bower,  E.  S.,  iii,  700. 

Bowles,  Ada  C.,  iii,  194. 

Bowles,  Samuel,  letter  to  Mrs.  Hooker, 
iii,  325. 

Boyd,  Louise  V.,  sketch  of,  i,  312. 

Bradburn,  Geo. ,  address,  i,  56. 

Bradlaugh,  Charles,  speaks  in  New  York 
for  woman  suffrage,  ii,  842. 

Bradley,  Judge,  on  the  XIV.  Amendment, 
ii,  457 — opinion,  Bradwell  case,  ii,  624. 

Bradstreet,  Anne,  i,  204,  iii,  302. 

Bradwell,  Myra,    application   to   Illinois 


Bar,  ii,  601 — opinion  denying,  ii,  609 — 
Carpenter's,  Matt.  H.,  argument,  ii,  615 
— opinion  of  Justice  Bradley,  ii,  624 — 
report  of  proceedings  in  Illinois  and 
U.  S.  Snpreme  Courts,  ii,  614 — U.  S.  i 
Supreme  Court  decision,  ii,  622 — writ 
of  error,  ii,  614. 

Brent,  Margaret,  first  woman  in  America 
to  claim  the  right  to  vote,  iii,  815. 

BRIGHT,  Jacob,  iii,  727,  841 — letter  to 
Mrs.  P.  W.  Davis,  ii,  438 — municipal 
franchise  bill,  secures,  iii,  845 — became 
law,  iii,  847 — Parliament,  fails  of  re- 
election, iii,  853 — speech  on  woman 
suffrage,  iii,  849,  873 — votes  for  woman 
suffrage,  iii,  842. 

Bright,  John,  ii,  349,  366,  420 — speech 
against  woman  suffrage,  iii,  861. 

Bright,  Wm.  H.,  career  of,  iii,  729. 

Brinkerhoff,  Martha  H.,  iii,  614. 

British  taxation,  ii,  202. 

Bromwell,  H.  P.  H.,  iii,  720. 

Brooklyn  Bridge,  iii,  440. 

Brooks,  James,  on  woman  suffrage,  ii,  97. 

Brooks,  Harriets.,  sketch  of,  iii,  692. 

Broomall,  John  H.,  iii,  464. 

Brougham,  Lord,  i,  633. 

BROWN,  Antoinette  L.,i,  41,  119, 186,  624 
— Bible  argument,  points  on  the,  i,  535 
— colleges,  on  i,  144 — on  the  Half- 
'world's  Temperance  Convention,  i,  507 
— pastor,  ordained  as,  i,  473 — portrait, 
i,  449 — resolutions,  Albany  Convention, 
i,  593 — speech  at  Broadway  Tabernacle 
Convention,  i,  553 — Syracuse  National 
Convention,  argument,  i,  524 — World's 
Temperance  Convention,  at  the,  i,  152. 
(See  Blackwell,  A.  L.  B.) 

Brown,  B.  Gratz,  speech,  ii,  136— univer- 
sal suffrage,  on,  iii,  598. 

Brown,  David  Paul,  i,  333. 

Brown,  Martha  McClellan,  iii,  226. 

Brown,  Mary  Olney,  iii,  767— argument, 
her  right  to  vote,  iii,  783 — vote,  at- 
tempts to,  iii,  780,  785. 

BROWN,  Olympia,  iii,  73,  267,  301 — dis- 
cussion with  Fred.  Douglass,  ii,  311 — 
Kansas,  in,  i,  200,  ii,  239,  240,  241 — 
letter  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  259 — 
sketch  of,  iii,  646 — speech  at  Equal 
Rights  Association  anniversary,  Cooper 
Institute,  ii,  309 — speech  before  Con- 
gressional Committee,  iii,  95 — speech, 
Washington  Convention,  '76,  iii,  7 — 
speech  at  Washington  Convention,  ii, 
422. 

Brown,  R.  T.,  speech  on  suffrage,  ii,  853. 

Brown,  Sarah  A.,  nominated  for  office, 
iii,  705. 

Brown,  Wm.  Wells,  ii,  368. 

Bruhn,  Rosa,  letter  to  Mrs.  P.  W.  Davis,  \ 

ii,  439- 

Buchanan,  James,  ii,  204. 
Buck,  J.  D.,  iii,  511. 


Index. 


989 


Buckalew,  Senator,  speech,  ii,  146. 

Buckingham,  Mrs.,  iii,  337. 

Buckley,  Brother,  on  women  as  preach- 
ers, i,  784. 

Burger,  Sarah,  iii,  5 26  (see  Stearns,  S.  B.). 

Burleigh,  Celia,  ii,  402,  790,  801,  817. 

Burleigh,  Charles  C.,  i,  148,  549'  558,  iij 
194,  392,  818. 

Burnet,  Rev.  J.,  i,  55. 

Burnham,   Carrie  S. ,  ii,  600,  iii,  444. 

Burns,  Anthony,  i,  254. 

Burns,   Robert,  ii,  266. 

Burr,  Frances  Ellen,  iii,  319 — letters  to 
S.  B.  Anthony,  ii,  912,  iii,  334 — Senate 
Judiciary  Committee,  argument  before, 

ii,  543; 

Burtis,  Sarah  Anthony,  i,  76. 

Burton,   Mary,  iii,  852. 

Bush,  Abigail,  i,  75,  iii,  120. 

BUTLER,  Benj.  F.,  letters  to  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  ii,  539,  iii,  255 — report  on 
Victoria  C.  Woodhull's  memorial  to 
Congress,  ii,  464 — speech,  ii,  514. 

Butler  David,  iii,  691. 

Butler,  Deborah,  ii,  348. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.,  on  prostitution,  iii, 
145 — vice,  on,  i,  795. 

C. 

Cadwallader,  John,  i,  330. 

CALIFORNIA,  iii,  740 — Appendix,  iii,  977 
— constitution,  liberal  provisions,  750 — 
constitution  and  statute-laws,  760 — 
Conventions  (see  Conventions)— journa- 
lism, 761 — Mill's  Seminary,  751— peti- 
tion to  Legislature,  755 — press,  ib. — 
senator,  Mrs.  Gordon  nominated  for, 
756 — silk  culture,  762 — State  Society 
organized,  754 — woman's  lawyer  bill, 
757 — woman  suffrage  society,  first, 
752 — women  made  eligible  to  school 
offices,  757 — women  in  the  industries, 
763 — women  in  the  State  University, 
contest,  758. 

Cameron,  Don,  iii,  176. 

Campbell,  Margaret  W.,  iii,  269,  716 — 
speech  in  Detroit,  ii,  839. 

Campbell,  Mary  G.,  iii,  712. 

Canada,  women's  position  in,  iii,  831. 

Canon  law   i,  755,  769,  770,  771,  774. 

Carey,  Mary  A.  S.,  iii,  72. 

Carey,  Samuel  F.,  i,  121,  154. 

Carpenter  Hall,  application  for,  iii,  16. 

Carpenter,  C.  C.,  letter  to  Iowa  Woman 
Suffrage  Association,  iii,  621. 

Carpenter,  Matt.  II.,  on  Sargent's  amend- 
ment to  Pembina  Territory  bill,  ii,  562 
— Anthony,  Susan  B.,  trial,  on,  ii,  701 
— argument  in  Myra  Bradwell's  appli- 
cation to  Illinois  Bar,  ii,  615 — letter  to 
Elizabeth  C.  Stanton,  ii,  423. 

Carr,  Jeanne,  iii,  751. 

CARROLL,  Anna  Ella,  iii,  153— -claim  be- 
fore Congress,  ii,  12,  863 — statement  of 
Benj,  F.  Wade,  ii,  865— letters,  ii, 


865,   866,  867,  868— Tennessee  cam. 
paign,  ii,  3 — Vicksburg,  on,  ii,  ii. 
Cartter,  Mrs.  M.  M.,  ii,  442. 
Cartter,   Chief-Justice,  opinion,  Spencer- 
Webster  suit,  ii,  597. 
Gary,  Alice  and  Phoebe,  ii,  433. 

Catherine  II.,  i,  34. 

Catholic  Church,  ii,  201,  207. 

Cattle  expert,  Middie  Morgan,  iii,  404. 

Cavender,  John  H.,  i,  328. 

Centennial  celebration,  iii,  411. 

Centennial  headquarters,  iii,  21. 

Centennial  Tea-Party,  iii,  269. 

Centennial  year,  iii,  i. 

Centralization,  iii,  89 — Matilda  J.  Gage, 
on,  ii,  523. 

Century  Club,  Philadelphia,  iii,  469. 

Chace,  Elizabeth  B.,  iii,  340,  341,  348. 

Chalkstone,  Mrs.,  ii,  59. 

Chamberlain,  D.  II.,  favors  woman  suf- 
frage, iii,  829. 

Chambers,  Rev.  John,  i,  159,  167,  500, 
508. 

Chandler,  Dolly,  iii,  275. 

Chandler,  Z.,  on  Mrs.  J.  S.  Griffing  and 
the  freedmen,  ii,  33. 

CHANNINO,  William  Henry,  i,  476,  583, 
584,  587,  591 — appeal,  woman's  rights, 
i,  588 — resolutions,  Rochester  Conven- 
tion, i,  580— social  relations,  report 
on,  i,  233 — speech  at  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle Convention,  i,  550— Woman's 
Rights,  Declaration,  i,  129 — World's 
Temperance  Convention  and  John 
Chambers,  on  the,  i,  508,  iii,  922. 

Chapin,  Augusta,  iii,  276. 

Chapin,  Clara  C.,  iii,  691,  693. 

Chapin,  E.  H.,  i,  476. 

Chaplain,  Mrs.  E.  F.  Hobart,  ii.  18. 

Chapman,  Maria  Weston,  i,  53 — poem, 
i.  82. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  i,  167,  ii,  73,  iii,  808. 

Cheever,  George  B.,  ii,  226. 

Chicago  Historical  Society,  iii,  179. 

Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  iii,  682. 

Chicago  Legitl  A'tws,  iii,  562. 

Chicago  Legal  News  Company,  ii,  607. 

CHILD,  Lydia  Maria,  i,  38,  858,  775 — 
letter  to  E.  C.  Stanton,  ii,  910— letter 
to  St.  Louis  Convention,  ii,  825 — peti- 
tions Congress,  iii,  266 — universal  suf- 
frage, on,  iii,  519. 

Children,  guardianship  of,  i,  747 — ille- 
gitimate, i,  760— rearing  of,  i,  304. 

Christine  of  Pisa,  i,  19. 

Christlieb,  Prof.,  i,  787. 

Church  and  State,  i,  753. 

Church,  Elmwood,  Illinois,  iii,  563. 

Churchill,  Elizabeth  K,,  iii,  371 — woman 
suffrage,  on,  ii,  812.  ' 

CITIZENSHIP,  ii,  462,  468,  469,  470, 473, 
532,  555.  556.  665— Bates,  Attorney- 
General,  on,  ii,  461 — Blake,  Dcvcreux, 
on,  iii,  7 — Curtis,  Justice,  on,  ii.  472 — 
Daniel,  Justice,  on,  ii,  471 — Stanton, 


990 


History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


Elizabeth  C.,  speech  on,  iii,  80 — Taney, 
Justice,  on,  ii,  472 — term  defined,  ii, 
451 — Thorbeck,  on,  ii,  473 — White, 
Richard  Grant,  on,  ii,  567. 

Citizenship,  women  crowned  with  rights 
of,  in  Wyoming,  iii,  726. 

Claiborne,  F.  L.,  iii,  795. 

Clark,  Emily,  i,  489. 

Clark,  Helen  Bright,  iii,  874. 

Clark,  Mary  T.,  sketch  of,  i,  312. 

Clark,  Sidney,  ii,  363. 

Clarke,  Hannah  B.,  on  woman  suffrage, 
ii,  807. 

Clarke,  Jas.  Freeman,  on  suffrage,  i,  258, 
ii,  768,  iii,  266— speech,  New  England, 
Convention,  i,  263. 

Clarke,  Mary  Bayard,  iii,  825. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  i,  54. 

Clay,  Mary  B.,  iii,  818. 

Clemmer,  Mary,  letter  to  S.  B.  Anthony, 
iii,  262 — letter  to  Senator  Wadleigh, 
iii,  in. 

Clergy,  charges  against,  i,  135— celibacy 
of,  i,  757. 

Clergymen  and  corkscrews,  ii,  167. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  iii,  437. 

Clute,  Oscar,  on  woman  suffrage,  ii,  770. 

Cobbe,  Francis  Power,  iii,  865 — letter  to 
Mrs.  P.  W.  Davis,  ii,  438. 

Cobden,  Jane,  iii,  875. 

Cobden,  Richard,  favors  woman  suffrage, 
iii,  835. 

Coe,  Emma  R.,  i,  146,  232. 

Cogswell,  Brainard,  iii,  371. 

Colburn,  Catharine  A.,  iii,  774. 

Colburn,  Mary  J.,  iii,  650. 

Colby,  Clara  Bewick,  iii,  222 — sketch  of, 
iii,  670. 

Colby  University  opened  to  girls,  iii,  355. 

Cole,  Mrs.  Miriam  M.,  ii,  790,  806,  832, 
iii,  501. 

Coleman,  Lucy  N.,  speech  at  Woman's 
National  Loyal  League,  ii,  62. 

Coleridge,  Lord,  iii,  844. 

Colfax,  Schuyler,  ii,  181. 

Colleges,  iii,  399 — women  in,  i,  144. 

Colleges  for  women,  iii,  296. 

College,  Woman's,  Evanston,  111.,  iii, 
578. 

Collier,  Robert  Laird,  iii,  567. 

Collins,  Emily,  reminiscences  of,  i,  88 — 
Miss  Sarah  Owen's  correspondence,!^!. 

Collins,  Jennie,  speech  at  Washington 
Convention,  ii,  423. 

Collins,  Stacy  B.,  iii,  482. 

Collyer,  Robert,  ii,  368,  371,  372 — recol- 
lections of  Lucretia  Mott,  i,  409,  414 
— speech  at  Chicago,  iii,  565. 

COLORADO:  clergy,  iii,  720 — Conventions, 
See  Conventions — Desert,  great  Ameri- 
can, iii,  712 — equal-rights  mass-meeting 
in  Denver,  722 — leaders  in  the  cause, 
719 — legislation,  714,  715 — press,  715 
— suffrage  amendment,  defeat  of,  723 
—suffrage  first  effort  for,  712 — suffrage, 


Gov.  McCook's  message,  713 — woman 
suffrage,  Gov.  Evan's  on,  722. 

Colorado  Ttibune,  iii,  715. 

Columbia  College,  effort  to  open  to 
women,  iii,  410. 

Colvin,  N.  J.,  letters  to  S.  B.  Anthony, 
i,  691,  750;  ii,  914. 

Conciliatory  amendments,  ii,  527. 

Concord  Monitor,  iii,  371. 

Congress,  first  Continental,  iii,  17 — Eliza- 
beth C.  Stanton  runs  for,  ii,  180 — 
Victoria  C.  Woodhull's  memorial, 
443 — Riddle's  speech  in  support  of,  448 
— House  majority  report,  461— Minor- 
ity report,  464. 

CONGRESSIONAL  ACTION,  ii,  90 — An- 
thony, Senator,  speech,  ii,  106 — argu- 
ments before  House  Committee,  iii, 
161 — arguments  before  Senate  Com- 
mittee, iii,  155 — Banks'  N.  P.,  speech, 
iii,  10— Brooks'  James,  speech,  ii,  96 — 
Brown's,  Senator,  speech,  ii,  136 — 
Buckalew's,  Senator,  speech,  ii,  146 — 
Butler's,  Benj.,  speech,  ii,  514 — Com- 
mittee, special,  House  appoints,  iii,  221 
— Committee,  special,  on  woman  suf- 
frage, Senate  discussion,  iii,  198 — Com- 
mittee, special,  on  woman  suffrage, 
House  discussion,  iii,  219 — Committee, 
standing,  Senate  discussion,  iii,  190 — 
Cowan,  Senator,  speech,  ii,  103,  no — 
Cowan  repels  the  charge  of  insincerity, 
ii,  121 — Davis's  Senator,  speech,  ii,  144 
— Debate,  Senate  and  House,  iii,  70— 
Democrats  and  the  petitions,  ii.  95 — 
District  of  Columbia  suffrage  bill,  ii, 
103 — vote,  ii,  151 — District  of  Columbia 
bill,  Julian's  amendment,  ii,  482 — Doo- 
little,  Senator,  speech  against,  ii,  ISO—- 
electors, who  constitute,  House  debates, 
ii,326 — female  employees,  iii,8ii — Fre- 
linghuysen's,  Senator,  speech,  ii,  135 — 
hearing  bofore  Senate  Committee,  iii, 
227 — Henderson,  Senator,  presents 
Mrs.  Gerrit  Smith's  petition  with  a 
speech,  ii,  98 — House  discussion,  ii,  514 
— Johnson's,  Senator,  speech,  ii,  130— 
joint  resolutions  before  House  affecting 
women,  ii,  72 — Julian's  bills,  ii,  325 — 
Merrill's, Senator,  speech,  ii,  118 — Na- 
tional Association  granted  hearing,  iii, 
75 — Negro's  hour,  ii,  94 — Parker's  bill, 
ii,  516 — Pembina  Territory  bill,  debate 
on,  Sargent's  amendment,  ii,  545;  am't 
rejected,  582;  Anthony's  remarks,  568; 
Bayard's  remarks,  567,  575;  Boreman's 
remarks,  549,  580;  Carpenter's  remarks, 
562;  Conkling's  remarks,  558,  559; 
Edmund's  remarks,  562,  569,  571,  572, 
573.  580;  Ferry's  remarks,  568;  Flana- 
gan's remarks,  552;  Merrimon's  re- 
marks, 552,  553,  554,  555,  556,  557, 
560;  Merrill's  remarks,  562;  Morton's 
remarks,  549,  569;  Sargent's  remarks, 
546,  555.  564,  567;  Stewart's  remarks, 


Index. 


991 


.548,  558,  559.  564,  573,  579-  Petition, 
iii,  9 — petition  read  and  referred,  iii, 
130 — petition,  Rhode  Island,  ii,  560 — 
petition  for  universal  suffrage,  ii,  97 — 
petitions  against  the  word  "male"  in 
Constitution,  ii,  91 — Pomeroy's,  Sena- 
tor, resolution,  ii,  324 — Pomeroy's,  Sen- 
ator, speech,  ii,  151 — Report,  first  fav- 
orable majority,  iii,  231 — report,  first 
favorable,  Senate,  iii,  131 — report,  mi- 
nority, iii,  237 — reports  on  Victoria  C. 
Woodhull's  memorial,  ii,  461,  464 — re- 
ports, iii,  150 — Republicans' protest  in 
presenting  petitions,  ii,  94,  96— Repub- 
licans, squirming  of,  ii,  IOI — resolution 
to  appoint  special  committee,  iii,  175 
— Sargent,  Senator,  speech,  iii,  9 — Six- 
teenth Amendment,  ii,  333 — Sixteenth 
Amendment,  resolutions,  iii,  154 — 
Stevens',  Thaddeus,  resolution,  ii,  95 — 
Sumner,  Charles,  presents  a  petition 
under  protest,  ii,  96;  why  he  protested, 
ii,  100.  Wade,  Benj.  F.,  speech,  ii, 
123 — Williams,  Senator,  speech  against, 
ii,  108 — Wilson's,  Senator,  bill,  ii,  324 
— Wilson's,  Senator,  speech,  ii,  128. 

Conkling,  Roscoe,  ii,  363 — on  Senator 
McDonald's  Woman  Suffrage  resolu- 
tion, iii,  191 — talk  with,  ii,  347 — Sena- 
tor Stewart  and  woman  suffrage,  on, 
ii,  558. 

Connecticut,  iii,  316 — Appendix,  iii,  957 
— Bar,  admission  to  the,  iii,  330 — 
Legislature,  minority  report,  iii,  317. 

Constitution,  Story  on  the,  ii,  477,  478, 
588. 

Constitution  and  suffrage,  ii,  741. 

Continental  Europe,  iii,  895. 

CONVENTIONS:  American  Woman  Suf- 
frage Association  (See  Am.  Woman 
Stiffrage  Association) — barn,  in  a,  i, 
123 — California,  San  Francisco,  iii, 
753,  7°o — Connecticut,  Hartford,  iii, 
197,  322 — Colorado,  Denver,  iii,  716, 
720 — Illinois,  Bloomington,  iii,  572, 
Chicago,  ii,  368,  iii,  175,  565,  570; 
Galena,  ii,  375;  Springfield,  ii,  371, 
iii,  570. — Indiana,  Dublin,  Wayne  Co., 
i,  306;  Indianapolis,  i,  307,  iii,  175. 
534,  537;  Richmond,  i,  307;  Winches- 
ter, i,  308; — Iowa,  Des  Moincs,  iii, 
618,  623,  624;  Mount  Pleasant,  iii,  617; 
Ottumwa,  iii,  624. — A'a/isiis,  Topeka, 
iii,  702,  709;  Saliua,  iii,  709. — London, 
first  ever  held,  ii,  406— Loyalists'  ii, 
329 — Maine,  Augusta,  iii,  359,  363; 
Portland,  iii,  197,  352 — Afastaemuftttt 
Boston,  ii,  178,  iii,  192 — Worcester 
(Nat.),  i,  215,  266 — Mii-/n\',in,  Detroit, 
iii,  516;  Grand  Rapids,  iii,  530;  Lans- 
ing, iii,  519 — Minnesota,  Minneapolis, 
iii,  659 — Missouri,  St.  Louis,  ii,  369, 
407,  iii,  142,  601,  606 — National,  in 
1866-67,  report  by  Caroline  H.  Dall, 
ii,  899 — Nebraska,  Kearney,  iii,  688 


694;  Norfolk,  iii,  689;  Omaha,  iii, 
241,  687,  690 — New  England,  i,  254, 
255,  262;  iii,  267 — New  Hampshire, 
Concord,  iii,  270,  368;  Dover,  iii,  197; 
Keene,  id. ;  New  Haven,  it. — New  Jer- 
sey, Vineland,  iii,  479 — New  York,  Al- 
bany, i,  591, 628, 678,  745;  Rochester,  i, 
75.  577,  Press  comments,  i,  802;  Roches- 
ter, iii,  117;  Saratoga,  ii,4O2;  Burleigh's, 
Celia,  description,  ii,  402;  Saratoga,  i, 
620,623 1  Saratoga,  iii,  396;  Seneca  Falls, 
i,  67,  press  comments,  i,  802;  Syracuse 
(Nat.),  i,  517,  press  comments  i,  852 — 
New  York  Constitutional,  ii,  269,  282 
— New  York  City,  Apollo  Hall,  ii,  427. 
484.  533;  Broadway  Tabernacle  i,  631, 
546;  Church  of  the  Puritans  (Nat.), 
152;  Cooper  Institute  (Nat.),  i,  688; 
Irving  Hall,  ii,  426,  545;  Masonic 
Temple,  ii,  584,  iii.  19,  98;  Mozart 
Hall  (Nat.),  i,  668,  672;  Steinway  Hall, 
ii,  809 — Ohio,  Akron,  i,  in;  Cincinnati 
(Nat.),  i,  163;  Cincinnati,  iii,  492; 
Cleveland  (Nat.),  i,  124;  Cleveland,  ii, 
757;  Dayton,  iii,  493;  Massilon,  i,  123; 
Salem,  i,  103;  Toledo,  ii,  377,  iii,  506. 
Oregon,  Portland,  iii,  773 — Paris.  In- 
ternational, iii,  127.  585,  896 — Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia,  i,  375,  iii,  34,  229; 
Westchester,  i,  350—  Khode  Island, 
Newport,  11,403;  Providence,  iii,  197, 
340—  South  Carolina,  Columbia,  iii, 
828 — Vermont,  Montpelier,  iii,  385 — 
Washington  Ter.,  Walla  Walla,  iii, 
775 — Washington,  D.  C.,  ii,  345,  356, 
359,  416,  418,  425,  417,  442.  493,  521. 
537.  538,  543,  582,  iii,  3,  60,  71,  I2S, 
150,  187,  221,  254 — Wisconsin,  Janes- 
ville,  iii,  642;  Madison,  ii,  374;  Mil- 
waukee, ii,  374,  iii,  640;  Racine,  iii. 

645. 

Conventions,   Constitutional,  Kansas,    I, 
189 — Massachusetts,  i.  253 — No. 
ii,  267 — Ohio,  i,  105 — Pennsylvania,  iii, 
465. 

Conventions  held  in  Washington,   why, 
iii,  150. 

Cooper,  Edward,  against  woman  suffrage. 
iii,  422. 

Coi.j.i-r,  losoph.  i.  447- 

Cooper,  Peter,  iii,  399. 

"  Copperhead*,"  going  over  to  the,  ii,  320. 

Corbin,  Hannah  Lee,  i,  33. 

Torm-ll,  A.  P...  iii,  22.-. 

Cornell,  Univorsiiy.  ii:. 

Corner.  M.uy  T..  i.  !-•-'.  m.  8l<X 

Correll,  E.  M.,  ii,  862,  iii,  691. 

Correspondence,  See  Letters. 

Conon,  Hiram,  letter  to  Susan   II.   An- 
t'lony,  iii,  472. 

Courtney,  Leonard,  iii,  862. 

, ,,  Ph.rbe  V  n.  370— ad- 

dress, "Woman  a»»  Lawyer."  ii.  543 
— argument  before  House  Comi 
iii,   170— delegate  to  National  Demo- 


992 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


cratic  Convention,  iii,  27 — Labors  of, 
iii,  596 — reception,  iii,  610— Senate 
Judiciary  Committee,  argument  before, 
ii.  543 — Speeches:  Centennial,  iii,  36, 
St.  Louis  Convention,  iii,  142;  Wash- 
ington Convention,  223,  258;  Woman 
Suffrage,  ii,  387. 
Couzins,  Mrs.  J.  E.  D. ,  as  a  nurse,,  iii, 

596. 

Covenant,  Ladies'  National,  ii,  39. 

Cowan,  Senator,  speech  on  District  of 
Columbia  suffrage  bill,  ii,  163,  no. 

Cowles,  Betsey  M.,  i,  104. 

Cox,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.,  i,  782. 

Crandall,  Prudence,  iii,  316,  560,  703. 

Craven,  Rev.  E.  A.,  on  \Voman  in  the 
Pulpit,  iii,  485. 

Crawford,  S.  J.,  ii,  251. 

Cromwellian  era,  i,  775. 

Crosby,  Howard,  letter  to  Mrs.  M.  J. 
Gage,  i,  798. 

Crow,  Wayman,  iii,  595. 

Crowley,  Richard,  argument  Miss  An- 
thony's trial,  ii,  648. 

"Crown  and  Anchor,"  i,  438. 

Culver,  Hon.  Erastus  D.,  speech  at 
Cooper  Institute  Convention,  i,  709. 

CURTIS,  Geo.  \Vm.,  i,  668;  ii,  378;  iii, 
440 — speech  on  woman  suffrage,  ii, 
795 — speech,  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion at  Albany,  ii,  288 — suffrage  for 
women,  favors,  i,  672. 

Cushman,  Major  Pauline,  ii,  20. 

Cutler,  Hannah  M.  T.,  i,  123,  163,  380, 
384;  ii,  773,  788,  809,  818,  823,  853; 
iii,  561,  614,  675. 

D. 

Dahlgren,  Madeleine,  ii,  494,  495,  iii,  101. 

DAKOTA,  iii,  662 — address  to  women  of, 
M.  J.  Gage's,  iii,  663 — Constitutional 
Convention,  iii,  664 — Legislative  ac- 
tion, iii,  662 — school  suffrage,  iii,  663, 
666— suffrage  bill  passed  Legislature, 
iii,  667 — vetoed,  iii,  667. 

DALL,  Caroline  H.,  "  Drawing-room  Con- 
vention, i,  276 — lectures,  i,  262 — letter 
to  The  Nation,  ii,  101 — petition,  i,  262 
— reports  National  Conventions  held 
in  '66  and  '67,  ii,  899 — speech,  New 
England  Convention,  i,  265. 

Dana,  Richard  H.,  on  womanhood,  i,  367 
— woman  suffrage,  on,  i,  41. 

Darlington,  Hannah  M.,  i,  349 — letter  to 
Mrs.  E.  C.  Stanton,  i,  344. 

Darrah,  Lydia,  i,  321. 

Dartmouth  College  case,  ii,  725. 

Daughters  of  Liberty,  i,  203. 

Davis,  Senator,  speech  against  woman  suf- 
frage, ii,  144. 

Davis,  Edward  M.,  ii,  358,  iii,  45,462. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  ii,  542. 

Davis,  J.  J.,  iii,  154. 

Davis,  Mary  F.,  ii,  390,  791,  iii,  480. 

DAVIS,  Paulina  Wright,  i,  37,  46,  iii,  823 


— colored  women  on,  ii,  391 — death  of, 
i,  827 — Fifteenth  Amendment,  on  the, 
i'.  336— portrait,  i,  273 — President, 
made,  Boston  Convention,  i,  255 — 
President,  made,  Worcester  convention, 
i,  221 — President,  made,  Worcester 
National  Convention,  i,  227 — reminis- 
cences of,  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton's,  i, 
283 — speech,  Boston  Convention,  i, 
256 — speech,  Syracuse  National  Con- 
vention, i,  533 — The  Una,  i,  246 — 
woman's  rights  movement,  review  of, 
ii,  428. 

Deaths,  Mrs.  Dall's  report,  ii,  905. 

Decisions  and  Trials,  ii,  586. 

Declaration,  Channing's,  i,  129. 

Declaration  of  sentiments,  i,  70. 

Declaration  and  pledge,  ii,  486, 

DeFoe,  Daniel,  i,  29. 

Delaware,  iii,  817. 

Democrats  advocated  woman  suffrage,  ii, 
320. 

Denmark,  iii,  914. 

Dentistry,  Lucy   B.  Hobbs,  iii,  401,  455. 

Dentistry,  women  in,  iii,  452. 

Deroine,  Jeanne,  address  to  women  of 
America,  i,  234. 

DICKINSON,  Anna  E.,  ii,  375,  iii,  320, 
Si  i — California,  in,  iii,  752 — Chicago 
Convention,  at,  ii,  368 — Fifteenth 
Amendment,  her  suggestion,  ii,  227 — 
letter  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  916 — 
speech,  Chicago,  iii,  567 — speeches,  ii, 
40 — tribute,  ii,  433 — "  Young  Ele- 
phant," ii,  42. 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles,  iii,  847. 

Dimock,  Susan,  tribute,  iii,  827. 

Dinsmoor,  Orpha  C.,  sketch  of,  iii,  693. 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA,  iii,  808 — Con- 
ventions (see  Conventions);  Miner 
Normal  School,  iii,  809 — Organic  Act, 
iii,  812 — suffrage  bill,  iii,  809,  ii,  103, 
482 — Universal  Franchise  Association, 
iii,  809 — women  admitted  to  District 
bar,  iii,  812 — women  in  government 
departments,  iii,  808 — women  in  the 
profession  of  medicine,  iii,  812 — women 
writers  and  teachers,  iii,  813. 

Disraeli  on  woman  suffrage,  iii,  839. 

Dix,  Dorothea,  i,  479,  ii,  12. 

Dix,  John  A.,  i,  530. 

Dix,  Morgan,  Lenten  lectures,  iii,  436 — 
Mrs.  Blake's  reply,  iii,  436- — coeduca- 
tion, on,  iii,  410. 

Divorce  (see  Marriage  and  Divorce). 

Dodge,  Mary  Mapes,  i,  49. 

Dolph,  J.  N.,  iii,  778. 

Doolittle's,  Senator,  speech  against 
woman  suffrage,  ii,  150. 

Dorsett,  Martha  Angle,  lawyer,  iii,  660. 

Dorsey,  Sarah  A.,  iii,  794,  807. 

Doud,  Katharine  R.,  iii,  645. 

DOUGLAS,  Frederick,  i,  74,  584,  585, 
587,  ii,  391,  iii,  74,  125 — discussion 
with  Olympia  Brown,  ii,  311 — Fif- 


Index. 


993 


teenth  Amendment,  on  the  origin  of, 
ii,  326 — Kansas  campaign,  ii,  265 — let- 
ter to  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  ii,  328 
— Loyalists'  Convention,  delegate,  ii, 
329 — refuge  in  Mrs.  E.  C.  Stanton's 
house,  ii,  382 — Revolution,  on  the,  ii, 
382 — wolf-skins,  in,  ii,  377 — speech, 
Washington  Convention  '76,  iii,  7. 

Douglass,  Sarah  M.,  i,  332. 

Douglass,  Stephen  A.,  ii,  263,  301. 

Dow,  Neal,  i,  121,   154. 

Downing,  Geo.  T.,  ii,  214,  215,  377. 

Downing,  Lucy,  iii,  296. 

I>nwns,  Cora  M.,made  a  Regent,  iii,  706. 

Doyle,  Sarah  E.  H.,  iii,  344. 

Draper,  E.  D. ,  ii,  242. 

Dresser,  Horace,  ii,  952. 

Duchess  of  Sutherland,  i,  421. 

Dugdale,  Jos.  A.,  on  wills,  i,  357. 

DUNIWAY,  Abigail  Scott,  arrest  of,  or- 
dered, iii,  774 — career,  iii,  768 — egged 
at  Jacksonville,  Oregon,  iii,  775 — Con- 
stitutional liberty,  on,  ib. — lecturing 
tour,  iii,  769— temperance  meeting,  at 
a,  iii,  772. 

E. 

Eaglesfield,  Elizabeth,  iii,  549. 

Earl,  Sarah  H.,  tribute,  i,  217 — Presi- 
dent New  England  Convention,  made, 
i,  254- 

Eastman,  Mary  F.,  speeches,  ii,  829, 
840,  845,  854. 

Ecclesine,  Thos.  C.,  iii,  420. 

Kddy,  Eliza  P'.,  will  case,  iii,  312. 

Edgerton,  A.  J.,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii, 
666. 

Editor,  first  colored,  i,  91. 

Editors,  opinions  of  three  liberal,  ii,  227. 

Editors  interviewed,  iii,  623. 

Edmunds,  Senator,  on  State  rights  and 
suffrage,  ii,  561,  569,  570,  571,  572, 
573.  580 — woman  suffrage,  on,  iii,  70. 

Education,  Mrs.  Dall's  report,  ii,  900. 

Education,  compulsory,  iii,  6l. 

Education,  equal,  ii,  909. 

Educational  movement,  iii,  398. 

Eggleston,  Edward,  on  woman  suffrage, 
ii,  810. 

Eldridge,  Edward,  iii,  781. 

Electors,  qualification  of,   ii,  272,  463-4. 

Eliot,  Rev.  Wm.  G.,  i,  171. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  i,  30. 

Ellsworth,  Bertha  H.,  iii,  700. 

Elstob,  Elizabeth,  i,  30. 

Emancipation  Petition,  ii,  78. 

Emerson,  on  Power  of  Human  Mind,  ii, 
427. 

Episcopal  restrictions,  i,  785. 

Essex  County  Society,  iii,  270. 

Estabrook,  Prof.,  speech  for  woman  suf- 
frage, ii,  839. 

"  Eumenes",  i,  451. 

Evans,  L.  D.,  ii,  10,  iii,  801. 

63 


Evarts,  Wm.  M.,  upon  woman's  subor- 
dination, i,  789,  iii,  53. 

F. 

Fable,  "The  Selfish  Rats,"  iii,  114. 

Fales,  Mrs.  I.  C.,  speech  on  suffrage  ii 
851. 

Fairchild,  Governor,  ii,  375. 

Faithful,  Emily,  letter  to  Mrs.  P.  W. 
Davis,  ii,  440. 

Farnham,  Eliza  W.,  iii,  750— speech  at 
Mozart  Hall,  i,  669,  iii,  750. 

Ferrin,  Mary  Upton,  i,  209,  iii,  289 — 
speech  before  Judiciary  Committee. 
Massachusetts  Legislature,  i.  212. 

Ferry,  Thos.  W.,  ii,  568,  iii,  28,  154.  on 
the  Pembrina  Territory  bill,  ii,  568. 

Feudalism,  i,  761-3. 

Flanagan,  Senator,  on  Sargent's  amend- 
ment to  Pembrina  Territory  bill,  ii,  552. 

Florida,  iii,  829. 

Field,  Anna  C..  ii,  398. 

Field,  David  Dudley,  iii,  647. 

Field,  Kate,  i,  620. 

Fields,  Jas.  T.,  letter  to  H.  B.  Black- 
well,  ii,  838. 

Fifteenth  Amendment,  ii,  314,  327,  333, 
334,  335,  336.  337,  387.  455.  4&3,  47*. 
479.  502,  503,  556,  557.  569,  616,  618, 
619,  641.  642,  663. 

Filley,  Mary  Powers,  iii,  97,  380. 

Foeking,  Emilie,  iii,  816. 

Foley,  Margaret,  iii,  301. 

Folger,  Chas.  J.,  i,  750,  ii,  271,  iii,  801. 

Folsom,  Marianna,  iii,  703. 

Foltz,  Clara  S. ,  iii,  757. 

Foote,  Samuel  A.,  i,  629. 

Forbes,  Arathusa  L.,  iii,  596. 

Ford,  Jennie  G.,  iii,  693. 

Forney,  John  W.,  on  women  and  hos- 
pital clinics,  3,  450. 

Foster,  Abby  Kelly,  i,  40,  53,  101,  134. 
ii,  216. 

Fester,  J.  Ellen,  iii,  536. 

Foster,  Julia,  i,  301. 

Foster,  Rachel,  i,  391,  iii,  474. 

Foster,  Stephen  S.,  i,  141,  ii,  381.111,372, 

Fourteenth  Amendment,  ii,  313,  315, 
323.  324,  327,  407,  411.  412,  422,  455, 
457.  461,  463.  468,  478,  479.  499,  500, 
501.  502,  503,  556,  586,  590.  593,  595, 
596,  619,  617,  618,  619,  621,  622,  624, 
625,  626,  641,  642,  663. 

Fox,  CharU  .  453. 

i  ."36. 

Fowler,  Lydia  F.,  i,  178.  478,  491. 

France,  ii,  202 — agitation  in,  address  of 
I'.mlmf  Roland  and  Jeanne  I>m>inr, 
i,  234 — international  woman's  rights 
congress,  iii,  896. 

"Frank  Miller,"  ii,  19. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  i,  324,  ii,  344.  475. 

Franklin,  William,  i,  441. 

Freedmcn's  Relief  Association,   Mr*.   J. 


994 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


S.  Griffing,  ii,  26 — Josephine  Griffing's 
letter  to  Lucretia  Mott,  ii,  869 — letters 
on  the,  ii,  45 — originator  of ,  ii,  38. 

Freeland,  Margaret,  arrest  of,  i,  475, 

Frelinghuysen,  F.  G.,  speech,  ii,  135. 

Fremont,  Jessie  E.,  letter  to  Susan  B, 
Anthony,  ii,  911. 

Fremont,  Jno.  C.,  Presidential  cam- 
paign, i,  651. 

French,  Charlotte  Olney,  iii,  784. 

Frothingham,  O.  B.,   ii,   186,  248,    380, 

545- 

Fry,  Elizabeth,  i,  479. 
Fry,  Elizabeth,  and  Lucretia  Mott,  i.  423. 
Frye,  Wm.  P.,  iii,  105,  366. 
Fuller,   Margaret,  i,  40,  49,  217,  801;  iii, 

307. 

Fulton,  W.  C.,  iii,  776. 
Furness'  church,  iii,  35. 


GAGE,  Frances  Dana,  ii,  112,  113,  114, 
116,  iii,  561 — Cleveland  Convention, 
at,  i,  124 — lectures  in  Iowa,  iii,  613 — 
letter  to  American  Woman  Suffrage 
Association,  ii,  769 — at  Cincinnati,  ii, 
857 — letter  to  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage, 
i,  117 — letter  to  National  Anti- 
Slavery  Standard,  ii,  176 — letter  to 
Lucy  Stone,  i,  656 — letter  to  Roch- 
ester Temperance  Convention,  i,  845 — 
letter  to  Washington  Convention,  ii, 
424 — mothers  and  their  children,  on, 
i,  360 — National  Convention,  Philadel- 
phia, at,  i,  325 — negro  testimony 
quoted  by  Senator  Cowan  in  U.  S. 
Senate,  ii,  115 — Nichols,  Mrs.,  and,  i, 
198 — orator,  as  an,  i,  168 — portrait,  i, 
128 — reminiscences  of  Sojourner  Truth, 
i,  115 — reply  to  Gerrit  Smith's  letter  to 
Mrs.  Stanton,  i,  842 — speech,  Akron 
Convention,  i,  in;  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle Convention,  i,  563;  Winchester, 
Ind.,  Convention,  i,  308;  Equal  Rights 
Association  Convention,  ii,  197,  200 — 
her  last  speech,  ii,  223;  temperance  and 
the  ballot  ,  ii,  211. 

GAGE,  Matilda  Joslyn,  i,  589,  591,  iii,  65, 
151,  227,  437 — address  to  women  of  Da- 
kota, iii,  663 — Anthony  case,  her  letter 
to  Albany  Law  "Journal,  ii,  947 — ap- 
peal, iii,  413 — argument  before  House 
Committee,  iii,  167 — Carpenter  Hall, 
application  for,  iii,  17 — churjh  influence 
on  woman's  liberties,  iii,  74 — divorce  on, 
i,  566 — Grant  and  Wilson  campaign, 
appeal,  ii,  517 — letter  to  wife  of  Admi- 
ral Dahlgren,  ii,  494 — letter  to  Dakota 
Constitutional  Convention,  iii,  664 — let- 
ter to  Omaha  convention,  iii,  259 — Mi- 
nor suit,  her  review  of  judge  Waite's 
opinion,  ii,  742 — National  Citizen  pros- 
pectus, iii,  Ii6 — National  Citizen  and 
Ballot- Box,  i,  47 — petition,  political  dis- 


abilities, iii,  60 — portrait,  i,  753 — re- 
port, iii,  522 — sketch  of,  i,  466 — 
pseeches:  Centralization,  at  Washing- 
ton Convention,  ii,  523;  Congressional 
Committees,  before,  ii,  415,  iii,  10,  93; 
Furness'  church,  in,  iii,  35;  Rochester 
Convention,  i,  579;  Saratoga  Conven- 
tion, i,  622;  Syracuse  National  Con- 
vention, i,  528;  United  States  on  trial, 
not  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  630;  \Yash- 
ington  National  Convention,  iii.  4 — 
Sunderland  controversy,  i,  543 — Van 
Schaick,  and  Mr.,  i,  406— Woman, 
Church  and  State,  i,  753. 

"  Gail  Hamilton,"  iii,  365. 

Gaines,  Myra  Clark,  iii,  801. 

Gale's,  Senator,  insulting  epithets,  i,  483. 

Gallup,  J.  D.,  iii,  319. 

Galusha,  Eben,  address,  i,  55. 

Gardner,  Nannette  B.,  ii,  587 — votes  in 
Michigan,  iii,  523. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  letter  to  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  iii,  185. 

Garret,  Eliza,  iii,  582. 

Garrett,  Thomas,  iii,  818. 

GARRISON,  Wm.  Lloyd,  argument  at 
Cleveland  National  Convention,  i,  136 
— attacked  by  Dr.  Nevin,  i,  144 — on 
Gen.  Carey,  i,  162 — letter  to  American 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  meeting 
in  Philadelphia,  ii,  816 — letter  to  Con- 
cord Convention,  iii,  368 — letter  to 
Rochester  Convention,  iii,  122 — letter 
to  Worcester  National  Convention,  i, 
216 — London  Anti-slavery  Convention, 
and  the,  i,  61 — marriage  and  divorce, 
on,  i,  733 — National  Convention,  Phil- 
adelphia, at,  i,  378 — speech  at  Broad- 
way Tabernacle  Convention,  i,  548, 
570 — tracts  and  petitions,  on,  i,  383 
— tribute  to  Mrs.  J.  S.  Griffing,  ii,  38 
— woman  suffrage,  apathy,  ii,  322 — 
women  in  national  councils,  on  the 
right  of,  i,  672 — World's  Temperance 
Convention,  on  the,  i,  160. 

Gay,  Sidney  Howard,  ii,  369. 

Gaylord,  Senator,  iii,  623. 

Geddes,  Geo.,  on  the  Property  bill,  i,  64. 

Generals,  why  kept  in  the  army,  ii,  75. 

Geneva,  iii,  909. 

George  Eliot,  i,  302. 

Georgia,  iii,  830. 

Germans  against  woman  suffrage,  ii,  231. 

Germany,  iii,  902. 

Gibbons,  Abby  Hopper,  i,  40. 

Gibbs,  Sarah  A.,  dissection  of  a  sermon- 
izer,  iii,  391. 

Gibson,  Anthony,  i,  29. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  on  woman  suffrage, 
i,  128 — World's  Temperance  Conven- 
tion, on  the,  i,  162. 

Giddings,  Maria  L.,  i,  114. 

Gillette,  Rev.  Mrs.,  ii,  837. 

Gillingham,  Lydia,  i,  324. 


Index. 


995 


Girls  and  boys,  ii,  541. 

Gladden,  Washington,  on  woman  suffrage, 
ii,  815. 

GLADSTONE,  ii,  293,  366— Catholicism, 
i,  27 — speech  on  woman  suffrage,  iii, 
850,  854,  877,  883,  888. 

Goddard,  Sarah,  i,  44. 

Godwin,  Parke,  on  the  higher  education 
of  women,  iii,  433. 

Goodell,  Lavinia,  iii,  648. 

Goodrich,  Sarah  Knox,  iii,  765. 

Gordon,  j.  W.,  i,  307. 

Gordon,  Laura  DeForce,  iii,  6,  751 — Lee- 
tures,  iii,  755 — Letter  to  Washington 
Convention,  iii,  64 — Senator,  nominated 
for,  iii,  756. 

Cougar,  Helen  M.,  iii,  540,  552,697,  702, 
708,  857. 

Government,  Hooker  on,  ii,  475 — Paine 
on,  ii,  474  —  Pillsbury  on,  ii,  201 — 
Priestly  on,  ii,  476 — Radical  basis  of, 
ii,  290 — Sharpe,  Granville,  on,  ii,  475 
— Summers,  Lord,  on,  ii,  475 — theory, 
true,  ii,  474. 

"  Grace  Greenwood  "  (see  Mrs.  Sara  J. 
Lippincott). 

GRANT.  U.  S.,  ii,  88 — campaign  (1872), 
Tremont  Temple  meeting,  iii,  278 — 
XV.  Amendment,  on  the,  ii,  646 — talk 
with  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  544 

Grant  and  Wilson  campaign,  National 
Woman's  Rights  Association's  appeal, 
ii,  SI?- 

Graves,  Ezra,  ii,  282,  307. 

GREAT  BRITAIN,  ii,  202;  iii,  833 — asso- 
ciations formed,  iii,  841— circular  to 
Members  of  Parliament,  iii,  881 — Con- 
ference,  Edinburgh,  iii,  878 — Confer- 
ence, Leeds,  iii,  874 — Conference,  St. 
James'  Hall,  iii,  888 — demonstration, 
Birmingham,  iii,  868 — demonstration, 
Manchester,  iii,  867 — demonstrations, 
iii,  869 — education  act,  iii,  850 — educa- 
tion bill,  Scotch,  iii,  851 — household 
suffrage,  iii,  886 — Isle  of  Man,  iii,  870 
— letters,  woman  suffrage,  iii,  865 — 
Manchester  Liberal  Association,  iii, 
876 — married  women's  property  act,  iii, 
872 — medical  relief  bill,  iii,  890 — meet- 
ings during  1870,  iii,  852 — memorial  of 
the  Birmingham  conference,  iii,  855 — 
memorial  to  Gladstone,  iii,  883 — me- 
morials, iii,  853,  854,  873 — municipal 
franchise  hill,  iii,  845 — municipal  fran- 
chise bill  for  Scotland,  iii,  871 — North- 
ern Reform  Society,  iii,  838 — Parlia- 
ment debates  woman  suffrage,  iii,  850, 
861,  862,  863,  873,  884,  889,  890— 
petitions,  iii,  866— petitions  and  pam- 
phlets, iii,  840 — petition  to  Parliament, 
Mary  Smith's,  iii,  835 — reform  act,  ii, 
590 — Sheffield  Association,  iii,  837 — 
,  suffrage  bill  before  Parliament,  iii.  842 
— chronological  table  of  successive 
steps  towards  freedom,  iii,  980— 


women  householders,  iii,  83 1 — women 
in  politics,  iii,  835 — woman  suffrage, 
able  advocates  of,  iii,  836— women  suf- 
frage meeting,  first  ever  held  in  London, 
iii,  848 — Woman  Suffrage  Journal,  iii, 
850  —  women  vote,  iii,  843 — women 
vote  in  Scotland,  iii,  871. 

Greece,  iii,  919. 

Greeley,  Ann  F.,  iii,  356. 

GREELEY,  Horace,  ii,  227;  iii,  408,  773 — 
abolitionists,  denounced,  ii,  287 — bul- 
let and  ballot,  ii,  284 — defranchisemem, 
panacea  for,  ii,  101 — enfranchisement 
of  women,  on,  ii,  103 — Kansas  cam- 
paign, ii,  230 — letter  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, i,  628 — letter  to  Cleveland  Na- 
tional Convention,  i,  125 — lefir  to 
Paulina  W.  Davis,  i,  520— letter  to  Mrs. 
J.  S.  Griffing,  ii,  36— letter  to  Sam'l  J. 
May  on  woman's  rights,  i.  653 — mar- 
riage, on,  i,  730— marriage  and  divorce, 
on,  i,  740 — Owen,  R.  D. ,  discussion, 
divorce,  i,  296,746 — Stanton,  Elizabeth 
Cady,  and,  ii,  287 — support  of,  lost,  ii. 
269— temperance  speech.  Metropolitan 
Hall,  i,  491 — universal  suffrage  and 
universal  amnesty,  ii,  315 — woman  and 
work,  on,  i,  589 — woman  suffrage,  op- 
posed to,  iii,  185  —  woman  suffrage, 
report  against,  ii,  285 — criticism.  \eu- 
York  Independent,  ii,  305. 

Greeley "s,  Mrs.,  petition,  ii,  287. 

Green,  Anna  R.,  Md.,  iii,  815. 

Green,  Beriah,  i,  417 — speech  at  Cooper 
Institute  Convention,  i,  699,  450,  437. 

Gregory,  Samuel,  i,  38. 

Grew,  Rev.  Henry,  on  woman's  rights,  i, 

379- 

Grew,  Mary,  i,  325 — speech  at  C  ooper 
Institute  Convention,  i,  735 — woman 
suffrage,  on,  ii,  814 — President,  in. 457. 

GKIKHNG,  Josephine  S.,  i,  no;  ii,  345, 
422;  iii,  810— Freedman's  Aid  A 
tion,  letter  to  Lucretia  Molt,  ii,  869— 
Freedman's  Bureau,   originator  of,  ii, 
38 — Freedman's  Relief  Associa: 
26 — letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  ii,  36 — 
letter  to  Lucretia  Mott,  ii.  33 — letter  to 
Catharine  F.  Stebbins,  ii,  874 — report 
1871,  ii,  484 — "Shirlev  Dare."  on,  ii, 
30 — speech.  Equal  Rights  Association, 
ii,   221 — testimonials  i>f    Con^rc-snu-n. 
ii,  33 — tribute  from  Win.  Lloy>: 
son,  ii,  38, 

GRIMKK,  Angelina,  i,  39,  52 — anecdotes, 
by  her  husband,  i,  402 — letter  t«>  \Vm. 
Lloyd  Garrison,  i,  3.); — .ketch  «>f  "  K. 
C.  S.,"  i,  392 — speech  against  slavery, 
i,  334. 

GRtMKfc,  Sarah  Moore,  i.  39,  53.  4<>°— 
letter.  West  Cliche:.  I'.i..  ' 

>,  353- 

Grover.  A.  J.,  iii.  560,  591. 
Guardianship  1 . 
Gurney,  Samuel,  i.  4-1. 


9y6 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


Guthrie,  Clara  Merrick,  iii,  790. 
Guthrie,     Mrs.,     daughter     of     Frances 
Wright,  ii,  543. 

H. 

Haggerty,  James,  ii,  210,  iii,  434. 

Hale,  Sarah  Josepha,  i,  45,  388. 

Hall,  Israel,  ii,  3/7. 

Hall,  Mary,  admission  to  the  Bar,  iii,  330. 

Halleck,  Sarah  H.,  ii,  60. 

Hallock,  Frances  V.,  ii,  435. 

Halstead,  Murat,  iii,  593. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  ii,  413. 

Hamlin,  Senator,  ii,  411. 

Hampden  Society,  iii,  270. 

Hanaford,  Phebe,  ii,  3~<)8,  791;  iii,  327, 

479.  48i. 

Hancock,  Gen.  W.  S.,  iii,  185,  431. 

Hanna,  Laura,  iii,  720. 

HARBERT,  Elizabeth  Boynton,  iii,  560, 
592,  621 — delegate  to  Republican  Na- 
tional Convention,  iii,  26- — oration,  iii, 
581 — speech  before  Congressional  com- 
mittee, iii,  76. 

Harberton,  Lady,  speech  at  Edinburgh, 
iii,  879. 

Hare,  Thomas,  ii,  292. 

Harper,  Frances  E.  W.,  ii,  838. 

Harrington,  Mary  L.,  iii,  374. 

Harris,  Sarah,  ii,  376. 

Hartford  Courant,  iii,  322. 

Hartford  Times,  ii,  538. 

Harvard  Annex,  iii,  294. 

Haskell,  Mehitable,  Worcester  Conven- 
tion, i,  232;  iii,  286. 

Hatch,  Junius,   "pin-cushion  ministry," 

i,  539- 

Hatton,  Frank,  iii,  617. 

Haven,  Gilbert,  ii,  388;  iii,  268,  528,  620; 
ii.  839,  398,  840. 

Havens,  E.  O.,  iii,  526428. 

Haviland,  Laura  C.,  iii,  532. 

Hawley,  Jos.  R.,  letter  to  Mrs.  Stan  ton, 
iii,  28,  30,  90. 

HAY,  William,  letter  to  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle Convention,  i,  655 — letter  to  Su- 
san B.  Anthony,  i,  631 — letter  to  The 
North  Star,  on  the  Saratoga  Conven- 
tion, i,  621 ;  paper,  property  rights,  607. 

Hayes,  R.  B.,  iii,  165. 

Hayhurst,  Martha,  i,  348. 

Hazard,  Rebecca  N.,  ii,  855,  iii,  604. 

Hazlett,  Aclelle,  ii,  787;  iii,  522. 

Heath,  Jeannette  Brown,  i,  642. 

Heloise,  i,  759. 

Henderson,  Miss  A.  M.,  iii,  654. 

Henderson,  Senator,  ii,  98. 

Heroism,  Kate  Shelly,  iii,  633. 

Herricourt,  Madame,  ii,  569,  395. 

Hertell's,  Barbara,  will,  i,  63. 

Hewitt,  Rev.  Dr.,  i,  502. 

Heyrick,  Elizabeth,  i,  41. 

Heywood,  E.  H.,  ii,  222. 

Hiatt,  Hannah,  i,  306. 


Hiatt,  Sarah  W.,  iii,  803. 

Hicks,  Elias,  i,  412,  415. 

HIGGINSON,  Thos.  \Ventworth,  iii,  275, 
277.  3°5  —  Brick  Church  meeting,  i, 
500 — coeducation,  on,  iii,  496 — Kansas 
campaign,  ii,  265 — Kansas  campaign, 
ii,  237— letter  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii, 
917 — letter  to  Cleveland  National  Con- 
vention, i,  131 — letter  to  Lucy  Stone,  i, 
566 — marriage  ceremony,  on,  i,  260— 
Massachusetts  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, i,  253 — New  York  Times,  on  the, 
i,  648 — speech,  in  Cleveland,  O.,  ii, 
802 — speech,  in  Cooper  Institute,  ii, 
828  —  speech,  Broadway  Tabernacle 
Convention,  at,  i,  656 — speech,  Cleve- 
land Convention,  ii,  760,  771 — speech, 
National  Convention,  New  York,  i, 
642 — voters,  qualification  of,  i,  249 — 
temperance  and  woman  suffrage,  on,  ii, 
819 — theological  discussion,  i,  647 — 
woman's  rights  almanac,  i,  863 — wonren 
in  Christian  civilization,  on,  i,  791. 

Hilda,  Abbess,  i,  30. 

Hill,  Benj.  H.,  speech,  iii,  217. 

Hill,  Charlotte,  iii,  365. 

Hill,  Peter,  iii,  524. 

Hillier,  C.  J.,  iii,  756. 

Hinckley,  Frederick  A.,  on  woman  suf- 
frage in  Rhode  Island,  iii,  349 — speech 
at  Washington  Convention,  iii,  222. 

Hindman,  Matilda,  iii,  459,  522,  621,  719, 

723. 

HOAR,  Geo.  F.,  minority  report,  iii,  131, 
— presents  petitions,  iii,  104 — letter  to 
Washington  Convention,  ii,  858  — 
speech,  women  in  the  Supreme  Court, 
iii,  139 — select  committee,  U.  S.  Senate, 
iii,  198-216 — speech  in  1871,  ii,  820. 

Hobart's,  Ella  F.,  services  as  chaplain  in 
Union  army,  ii,  18. 

Hobbs,  Lucy  B.,  dentist,  iii,  401,  455. 

Holland,  J.  G.,  iii,  46. 

Holloway,  Wm.  R.,  iii,  534. 

Homeopathic  College,  ii,  765. 

Holland,  iii,  907, 

Holmes,  Jennie  F.,  iii,  683. 

Holmes,  Rev.,  iii,  390. 

Hook,  Frances,  as  a  soldier,  ii,  19. 

HOOKER,  Isabella  B.  iii,  194,  327 — argu- 
ment before  House  Judiciary  commit- 
tee, iii,  103 — before  Senate  committee, 
iii,  105 — declaration  and  pledge,  ii,  486 
—  letter  to  New  York  Convention, 
twenty-fifth  anniversary,  ii,  534 — police, 
how  she  would  rule,,  iii,  73 — receptions 
in  Washington,  iii,  99 — reminiscences 
of,  iii,. 320 — report,  National  Associa- 
tion, 1872,  ii,  496— speech  before  House 
Judiciary  committee,  ii,  458  —  speech 
before  Senate  Judiciary  committee,  ii, 
499 — thanks  the  champions  of  woman's 
rights  in  Congress,  ii,  489 — Washington 
Convention,  notes  ii,  425. 


Index. 


997 


Hooker,  John,  iii,  101,  327,  957. 

Hopkins,  E.  A.,  on  legal  grievance  of 
women,  i,  584. 

Hosmer,  Harriet,  iii,  143,  301,  595,  951. 

Hospital  clinics,  iii,  448. 

Houghton,  Agnes-A.,  iii,  359. 

Hovey,  Charles  F.,  i,  625 — Bequests,  i, 
257,  258,  667. 

Howe,  Frederick  B.,  iii,  438. 

Howe,  J.  II.,  on  women  as  jurors,  iii,  736. 

HOWE,  Julia  Ward,  ii,  757,  770,  792,  873, 
portrait,  783;  iii,  270,  275,  276,  371 — 
Fifteenth  Amendment,  on  the,  ii,  335 
— President  of  Am.  Woman  Suffrage 
Association,  made,  ii  834 — Speech  in 
Philadelphia,  ii,  817;  in  Detroit,  834 — 
Woman  Suffrage  in  New  Jersey,  on,  ii, 

847. 
Hoyt,   John  W.,  Gov.  of  Wyoming,  iii, 

241,  474,  730- 
Hoyt,  Mrs.,  on  anti-slavery  and  woman's 

rights,  ii,  59,  61,  63. 
Howitt,  Wm.,  letter  to  Lucretia  Mott,  i, 

434- 

Howland,  Emily,  i,  688. 

Howland,  Fannie,  description  of  Wash- 
ington Convention,  ii,  416. 

Howland,  William,  iii,  437. 

Hubbard,  R.  D.,  iii,  326. 

Hugo,  Victor,  ii,  369,  iii,  75,  127. 

Hulett,  Alta  C.,  iii,  572. 

"Human  Rights,"  Hurlbut's,  i,  38. 

Hi; NT,  Harriot  K.,  i,  219,  224,  255,  356, 
531,  535t  ii,  583 — medical  education, 
on,  i,  356 — physician,  as  a,  r,  260 — 
hat  Broadway  Tabernacle  Conven- 
tion, i,  564 — taxation,  protest  against, 
i,  259,  iii,  298. 

Hunt's,  Ward,  Judge,  decision  Anthony 
trial,  ii,  689 — resolution  against,  ii,  537. 

Hunt's,  Richard,  tea  table,  i,  68. 

Hunt,  Scth,  iii,  270. 

Hurlbut's  "Human  Rights,"  i,  38. 

Husband  and  wife,  act  concerning  rights 
and  liabilities  of,  i,  686. 

. ,  Cornelia  Collins,  iii,  482. 

Husted,  James  W.,  favors  suffrage  for 
women,  iii,  409,  417,  424,  437. 

Hutchinson  family,  ii,  59,  239,  262,  309, 
542,  934;  iii,  35 — Letter,  John  W.,  i, 
627. 

Hutchinson,  Anne,  i,  206. 

Hutchinsun,  Nellie,  iii,  752. 

I. 

II.I.INOIS,  iii,  559 — Art  Union,  iii,  587 — 
Bar,  Myra  Bradwell's  application,  ii, 
601 — opinion  denying,  ii,  609 — Carpen- 
ter's, Matt.  H.,  argument,  11,615 — opin- 
ion of  Justice  Bradley,  ii,  624 — report 
of  proceedings  in  Illinois  and  U.  S. 
Supreme  Courts,  ii,  614 — U.  S.  Supreme 
Court  decision,  ii,  622 — writ  of  error, 
ii,6l4 — centennial  celebration  at  Evans- 


ton,  iii,  581 — Conventions  (see  conven- 
tions)—Elmwood  church  trouble,  iii, 
563 — Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  iii.  582 
— houses  of  ill-fame,  licensing  Chicago, 
iii,  572 — married  women's  earnings  act, 
iii,  570— Master  in  Chancery,  Mr-. 
Schuchardt,  iii,  588 — Moline  Associa- 
tion, iii,  589 — Monticello  Ladies  Semi- 
nary, iii,  579 — petitions,  toils  of  circu- 
lating, iii,  590 — pulpit  utterances,  iii, 
564 — Social  Science  Association,  iii,  584 
— Suffrage  Association  formed,  iii,  569 
— suffrage  society,  first,  iii,  560— tem- 
perance petition,  iii,  587 — Woman's 
College  at  Evanston,  iii,  578 — woman, 
as  preacher,  first  in,  iii,  579 — women 
elected  as  school  officers,  iii,  575 — 
women  eligible  as  school  officers,  bill 
making,  iii,  575 — women,  trials  and  tri- 
umphs of,  iii,  560. 

Impeachment,  articles  of,  iii,  31. 

INDIANA,  i.  290,  iii,  533 — appendix,  iii, 
965 — campaign  of  1882,  iii,  543— col- 
leges open  to  women,  iii,  548— consti- 
tutional debates,  i,  296— Conventions 
(see  Conventions)— electoral  bill,  iii,  541 
— Equal  Suffrage  Society  Indianapoli*. 
iii,  536 — laws  for  women,  changes  in, 
iii,  544 — legislative  enactments,  iii,  544 
— legislative  hearings,  iii,  538 — liqu .-r 
law,  i,  307 — mass  meeting  in  Indian- 
apolis, iii,  541 — newspapers,  iii,  555 — 
Republican  State  Convention,  iii,  542 — 
secret  conclave,  iii,  535 — temperance 
petition,  Mrs.  Wallace,  iii,  539 — women 
in  schools,  iii,  547. 

Infidelity,  i.  143. 

International  Convention,  iii,  157,  585. 
896,  952. 

IOWA,  u'i,  6l2 — churches  indorse  woman 
suffrage,  iii,  620— Clergymen's  tract,  iii, 
624 — Conventions  (see  Convent. 
Fort  Dodge,  iii,  617 — friendly  associa- 
tions, iii,  635 — Governor  Kirkwood  ap- 
points women  to  office,  iii,  62' 
ernor,  first,    to  recogni/e  woman  suf- 
frage, iii,  622 — Governor  Sherman  in- 
terviewed,   iii,     624  —  Invention*    by 
women,  iii,  632 — Journalism,  iii,  629 — 
liiw^.  improvement  in,  iii,  630 — 1> 
iii,  630 — Legislative  action,  iii,  619— 
Legislative  action,  summary,  iii,  6as — 
mass  meeting  at  the  c.ipitol.  iii,  6l«> — 
medical  profession,  iii,  631 — Polk  Coun- 
ty >ocicty,  iii,  614 — Republic., 
vention,    women's    plank,    iii,    6ao— 
County  School  Superintendent*.  A 
ney  General's  opinion,  iii,  627— school 
offices,  eligibility  of  w 
628 — societies  organized,  iii,  615,  617 — 
State  A'tgittfr,  iii,  6ao — women  in  office. 
iii,  626 — women  employed  as  Ir.i 
ni.  (>.'7 — woman  suffrage.  fir»t  »£ 
of,   iii,  613 — woman  suffrage  society. 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


first,   iii,  614 — women   in  positions  of 
trust,  iii,  616. 

Island  No.  10,  ii,  10. 

Italy,  iii,  899. 

J- 

Janney's,  Mrs.  R.  A.  S.,  recollections,  i. 
122. 

Jay,  John,  ii,  413. 

Jackson,  Rev.  E.  M.,  i,  502. 

Jackson,  Francis,  i,  189,  257,  634,  667, 
743,  will  case,  iii,  310. 

Jackson,  James  C.,  ii,  582. 

Jackson,  Mercy  B.,  letter,  ii,  920. 

Jenkins,  Lydia  Ann,  i,  145. 

Jerry,  rescue  trials,  i,  474. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  ii,  205. 

Johnson,  Mariana,  i,  103,  351. 

Johnson,  Oliver,  i,  101,  367,  671;  ii,  786, 
813- 

Johnson,  Rev.  Samuel,  letter  to  National 
Convention  in  New  York,  i,  635. 

Johnson,  Wm.  H.  and  Mary,  letter  to 
\Vestchester,  Pa.,  Convention,  i,  832. 

Jones,  Mrs.  E.  C.,  Jailoress,  iii,  488. 

Jones,  Jane  Graham,  delegate  to  National 
Convention  at  Washington,  ii,  522,  442; 
iii,  229,  580 — address  International 
Congress  at  Paris,  iii,  585 — Genevieve 
Graham,  daughter,  iii,  586,  897. 

Jones,  J.  Elizabeth,  report,  i,  168 — speech 
at  Cooper  Institute  Convention,  i,  694 
— speech  at  Syracuse  National  Conven- 
tion, i,  530. 

Journalism,  women  in,  i,  43,  iii,  303,  629, 
761,  813. 

Judge  direct  a  verdict  of  guilty,  can  a,  ii, 
690. 

Julian,  Geo.  W.,  ii,  333,  489,  490,  552, 
727 — amendment  to  District  of  Colum- 
bia suffrage  bill,  ii,  282 — speech  on 
woman  suffrage,  ii,  801. 

Juries,  venerable  decisions  on,  ii,  705. 

Jury,  women  on,  iii,  732. 

Justice  of  Peace,  Mrs.  Esther  Morris  made, 
iii,  73L 

K. 

Kalamazoo  college,  iii,  525. 

KANSAS,  Mrs.  Nichols*  account,  i,  185, 
iii,  696 — appeal,  ii,  247 — campaign, 
1867,  ii,  928 — campaign,  S.  N.  Wood's 
summing  up  of,  ii,  254 — Champion 
(Atchison)  on  woman  suffrage,  ii.  240 — 
Commercial,  (Leavenworth)  on  the  cam- 
paign, ii,  262 — constitutional  amend- 
ment to  strike  word  "'white"  from  suf- 
frage clause,  ii,  229 — Conventions  (see 
Conventions) — elections,  iii,  701,  708 — 
Harvey, Governor,  message,  iii,  696— leg- 
islative action,  iii,  709 — Lincoln  suffrage 
association,  iii,  701 — Lincoln  Auxiliary 
of  the  National  Association,  iii.  698- 
parties  in  convention,  action  of,  iii.  707 
— press,  iii.  699 — property  rights,  iii, 
704 — Radical  Reform  Christian  Associ- 


ation, iii,  703 — reminiscences,  Helen 
Ekin  Starrett's.  ii,  250 — schools,  iii,  706 
— Stanton  Suffrage  Society  organized, 
iii,  702 — suffrage  organizations,  history 
of,  iii,  698 — suffrage  song,  the  Hutch- 
insons,  ii,  934 — Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction,  Sarah  A.  Brown 
nominated,  iii,  705 — suppressed  pro- 
ceedings, ii,  931 — Temperance  Conven- 
tion, ii,  231 — woman  suffrage  facts,  iii, 
709 — woman  suffrage  indorsed  by  Re- 
publican State  Convention,  iii,  707 — 
woman  suffrage  petitions,  report  of  Ju- 
diciary Franchise  Committee,  i,  194 — 
W'omen's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
iii,  703 — Women's  Impartial  Suffrage 
Association,  address,  ii,  932 — women 
run  for  office,  iii,  708 — women  in  office, 
iii,  706 — women  in  the  professions,  iii, 
706. 

Kasson,  John  A.,  iii,  619. 

Keating,  Harriette  C.,  iii,  791. 

Kelley,  W.  D.,  suffrage  resolution,  iii,  71. 

Kelly,  Abby  (see  Foster). 

Kemble,  Fanny,  i,  412. 

KENTUCKY,  iii,  818 — architecture,  Miss 
White,  iii,  820 — education,  facilities  for, 
iii,  821 — Louisville  School  of  Pharma- 
cy, iii,  821 — woman  suffrage  society, 
ii,  862 — school  suffrage,  i,  869.  iii,  821. 

King,  Susan  A.,  sketch  of,  iii,  420. 

King,  Thos.  Star,  i,  666. 

Kingman,  Judge,  Kansas,  i,  192. 

Kingman,  J.  W.,  ii,  836,  iii,  727,  241. 

Kingsbury,  Benjamin,  iii,  359. 

Kingsbury  Elizabeth  A.,  ii,  310,  iii,  476. 

Kingsley,  Henry,  letter  to  Mrs.  P.  W. 
Davis,  ii,  438. 

Kirk.  Mrs.  Eleanor  (Nellie  Ames),  ii,  390. 

Knight,  Ann.  i,  438,  iii,  837. 

Knowlton,  Helen  M.,  iii,  302. 

L. 

Ladies'  Art  Association,  iii,  399, 

Lander,  Mrs.  Dick,  iii,  852. 

Lane,  James  H.,  i,  191. 

Langdon,  Lady  Anna  G. ,  iii,  854. 

Lapham,  Elbridge  G.,  presents  petition, 
ii,  283  —  votes  for,  ii,  304 — Anthony 
trial,  ii,  647 — printing  speeches  in  the 
House,  iii,  174 — vote  in  Senate,  iii,  218 
— Senate  committee,  228,  231 — Senate 
report,  232 — thanks  to,  iii,  252. 

Lawrence,  Amos  A.,  iii,  330. 

Lawrence,  Sybil,  iii,  532. 

Lawyers,  women,  iii,  575. 

Lee,  Mary  B. ,  legacy,  iii,  624. 

Leftwich,  i,  649. 

Legacy,  iii,  624. 

Leipsic,  iii,  902. 

Leslie,  Mrs.  Frank,  iii,  441. 

Lester,  Louise,  iii,  780. 

LETTERS  :  Alcott,  Louisa  May,  to  Lucy 
Stone,  ii,  831 — Amberly,  Lady,  to  Mrs. 
P.  W.  Davis,  ii,  439 — Andrews,  Mar- 


Index. 


999 


garet  H.,  to  S.  J.  May,  i,   531 — An- 
thony,  H.  B.,  to  S.  B.  Anthony,  iii,  350. 

Letters,  Anthony,  Susan  B. ,  to  her  family; 
Boston  Convention,  i,  256;  to  Brooks, 
James,  ii,  97;  to  Foote,  E.  B.,  ii,  941; 
to  Garfield,  iii,  185;  to  Mott,  Lydia,  i, 
748;  to  National  Democratic  Conven- 
tion, ii,  340;  to  Wright,  Martha  C.,  i, 
676. 

Letters,  Barton,  Clara,  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, ii,  916 — Bascom,  E.  C.,  to  S.  B. 
Anthony,  iii,  647 — Becker,  Lydia  E., 
to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  iii,  62 — Beecher, 
H.  W.,  to  St.  Louis  Convention,  ii,  825 
— Bennett,  Alice,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
iii,  472 — National  Association  to  Berlin 
Congress,  ii,  404 — Briggs,  Caroline  A., 
to  S.  B.  Anthony,  iii,  250 — Blackwell 
Elizabeth,  to  Emily  Collins,  i,  91 — 
Blackwell,  Antoinette  Brown,  to  Cooper 
Institute  Convention,  i,  862 — Black- 
well,  Elizabeth,  to  Westchester,  Pa., 
Convention,  i,  831 — Blackwell,  H.  B., 
to  E.  C.  Stanton,  ii,  232,  235 — Blair, 
Henry  W.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  iii, 
380 — Bowles,  Samuel,  to  Mrs.  Hooker, 
iii,  325 — Bright,  Jacob,  to  Mrs.  P.  W. 
Davis,  ii,  438 — Brown,  Olympia,  to  S. 
B.  Anthony,  ii,  259 — Bruhn,  Rosa,  to 
Mrs.  P.  W.  Davis,  ii,  439 — Burleigh, 
Celia,  giving  account  of  Saratoga  Con- 
vention, ii,  402 — Burns,  Alexander,  to 
Des  Moines  Convention,  iii,  618 — Burr, 
Frances  E.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii, 
912,  iii,  334 — Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  to 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  539,  iii,  255. 

Letters:  Carpenter,  C.  C.,  to  Iowa  W.  S. 
Association,  iii,  621 — Carpenter,  M.  H., 
to  Elizabeth  C.  Stanton,  ii,  423 — Chan- 
ning,  Wm.  Henry,  Cleveland  National 
Convention,  i,  129 — Child,  L.  Maria,  to 
St.  Louis  Convention,  ii,  825;  E.  C. 
Stanton,  ii,  910 — Clemmer,  Mary,  to 
Senator  Wadleigh,  iii,  1 1 1 ;  to  S.  B.  An- 
thony, iii,  262 — Cobbe,  Frances  P.,  to 
Paulina  W.  Davis,  ii,438 — ColeM.  M., 
tolI.B.Blackwell,  ii,832— ColvinA.J., 
to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  i,  691,  750;  ii.  914 
— Corner,  Mary  T.,  to  Mrs.  Bloomer,  i, 
122 — Corson,  Hiram,  to  Susan  I'..  An- 
thony, ii,,472 — Cutler,  Mrs.  II.  M.  T., 
to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  915 — Dall, 
Caroline  II.,  to  The  Nation,  ii,  101 — 
Darlington,  Hannah  M.,  to  Mrs.  Stan- 
ton,  i,  344 — Deroine,  Jeanne,  to  women 
of  America,  i,  234 — Dickinson,  Anna 
E.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  916— 
Douglass,  Fred.,  to  E.  Cady  Stanton, 
ii,  328 — Faithful,  Emily,  to  Mrs.  1'.  \V. 
Davis,  ii,  440 — Fields,  lames  T.,  toll. 
B.  Blackwell,  ii,  838 — Folger,  Charles 
J.,  to  Susan  1>.  Anthony,  i,  750— Foster, 
Rachel  G.,  to  Our  Herald,  iii,  243 — 
Freedman's  Relief  Association,  on,  ii, 


35 — Fremont,  Jessie  B.  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony,  ii,  911. 

Letters:  Gage,  Frances  D.,  to  Cincinnati 
Convention,  ii,  857;  Stein  way  Hall  Con- 
vention, ii,  769;  Gage,  M.  E.  J.,  to,  i, 
47;  Rochester  Temperance  Convention, 
i,  845;  Stone,  Lucy,  i,  656;  Washing- 
ton Convention,  ii,  424 — Gage,  M.  J., 
to  Mrs.  Dahlgren,  ii,  494;  to  Omaha 
Con.,  ii,  250;  to  women  of  Dakota,  iii, 
663— Garfield,  James  A.,  to  S.  B.  An- 
thony, iii,  185 — Garrison,  Wm.  Lloyd, 
to  American  Woman  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion meeting  in  Philadelphia,  ii,8l6;  to 
Third  Decade  Convention,  Rochester, 
iii,  123;  to  Concord  Convention,  iii,  368 
— Geddes,  George,  to  M.  J.  Gage,  i, 
64 — Greeley,  Horace,  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, i,  628;  Cleveland  National  Con- 
vention, i,  125;  Davis,  Paulina  W.,  i, 
520;  Marsh,  Rev.  John,  i,  503;  May,  S. 
J.,  on  woman's  rights,  i,  653.  Sever- 
ance, Mrs.  C.  M.,  i,  125 — Griffing, 
Josephine  S.,  to  Catharine  A.  F. 
Stebbins,  ii,  874;  to  Greeley,  ii,  36 
— Grimke,  Angelina,  to  Win.  I.loyd 
Garrison,  i,  397 — Grimke,  Sarah  M.,  to 
Westchester,  Pa.,  Convention,  i,  353 — 
Grover,  A.  J.,  to  Mrs.  Stanton,  i,  591. 

Letters:  Hay,  Wm.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
i,  631;  Broadway  Tabernacle  Conven- 
tion, i,  655 — Higginson,  T.  W.,  to  S. 
B.  Anthony,  ii,  917;  Cleveland  (Nat.) 
Convention,  i,  131 — Hooker,  Isabella 
B.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  i,  535;  to 
Mrs.  Dahlgren,  iii, loo;  Stone,  Lucy  i, 
566 — Howitt,  Wm.,  to  Lucretia  Mott, 
i,  434 — Hugo,  Victor,  to  Clemence  S. 
Lo/ier,  iii,  75 — Johnson,  Samuel,  Na- 
tional Convention  in  New  York,  i,  635 
— Johnson,  Wm.  II.  and  M.irv,  t 
chester,  Pa., Convention,  1,832 — King- 
man,  J.  \\'.,  to  Lucy  Stone,  ii,  836 — 
Kingsley,  Henry,  to  .Mr-..  1'.  \\ 
ii,  438 — Lawrence,  Amos  A.,  to  Abby 
Smith,  iii,  330—  Leo,  Ami;. 
Decade  meeting,  ii,  439 — I.ivcrmore, 
Mary  A.,  to  Susan  H.  Anthony,  ii,  921. 

Lctteri:   M.nuli  t-on.  C.  1  . .  Mt>.  (.'.  iMiix- 
moor,  iii,  688 — Marsh,    I.,  to   I 
Greeley,  i,  503 — Marsh.  L.  R.,  to  Mr*. 
E.G.  Stanton,  ii.  922— M.irtmenu.  Har- 
riet, to  1'.  \V.  1'  -Mott,  Lu- 
cretia, i,437 — M 
Con.,  i,   851  —  Men.lenhall.    H. 
Hi.  .\\.iy,  ni.  724— Mcriuian.  1 
J.,  to  the  Si  i  on, 1    1  >i  >  i.'.c  iiiri-tinj;,  ii. 
45l_Mill.  John  Stu.ut.  to  r.iulina  W. 
l)avi>,  i,   - 

ii,  252—  Miller.  Francw,  to  S.   B.   An- 
thony, ii,  536—  MilU,  Cha*.  P. 
Mr*.  Matilda  J.  Gage,  ii,  434- 

I.iureti.i.   to   D.inu-l  U'Connell, 

to  j-  <:"M{.  »>.  873;   10 


IOOO 


History  of  Woman  Siiffragc. 


Salem,  Ohio,  Convention,  i,  812 — 
Mott,  Lydia,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
i,  630 — Mott,  Mary,  to  Westchester, 
Pa.,  Convention,  i,  829. 

Letters:  New  York  Tribune,  on,  canvass 
of  i85g-'6o,  i,  677 — Nichols,  Mrs.  C.  I. 
H.,  to  Rochester  Tem.  Convention,  i, 
847 — Owen,  Robert  Dale,  to  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  i,  292 — Pastoral,  i,  81 — 
Phelps,  Almira  L.,  to  Mrs.  Hooker,  iii, 
100 — Phelps,  Elizabeth  Stuart,  to  Am. 
W.  S.  Association  meeting  in  Cooper 
In.,  ii,  831— Phillips,  Wendell, to  S.  B. 
Anthony,  iii,  62;  to  Third  Decade  Con- 
vention at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  iii,  122 
— Pickler,  J,  A.,  to  Matilda  J.  Gage, 
iii,  668 — Pomeroy,  C.  R.,  toDes  Moines 
Convention,  iii,  618 — Post,  Amy,  to  S. 
B.  Anthony,  iii,  48 — Pugh.  Sarah,  to 
Salem,  Ohio,  Convention,  i,  814 — Rose, 
Ernestine  L.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  i, 
98;  ii,  423;  iii,  50,  120;  to  Mrs.  J.  S. 
Griffing,  ii,  356— Russell,  Lucinda,  to 
Harriet  S.  Brooks,  iii,  682. 

Letters:  Sanford,  R.  M.,  to  Cleveland 
Con.,  i,  819 — Sargent,  A.  A.,  to  Third 
Decade  Con.,  iii,  121;  to  Omaha  Con., 
iii,  245 — Sargent,  J.  T.,  to  E.  C.  Stan- 
ii,  911 — Saxon,  Elizabeth  L.,  to  Mrs. 
Minor,  iii,  791 — Severance,  Caroline 
M.,  to  Mrs.  E.  C.  Stanton,  ii,  911 — 
Shaw,  Sarah  B.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
ii,  239 — Smith,  Gerrit,  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, i,  497;  ii.  317,  538,  941;  Gar. 
rison,  \Vm.  L. ,  i,  223,620;  Stanton,  E. 
Cady,  i,  708,  836;  St.  Louis  Convention, 
ii,  825 — Somerville,  Mary,  to  Mrs.  P. 
W.  Davis,  ii,  440 — Stanton,  Elizabeth 
Cady,  to  Akron,  O..  Convention,  i,  815; 
Cooper  Institute  Con.,  i,  860;  Greeley, 
Horace,  i,  738;  Mott,  Lucretia,  iii,  45; 
Omaha  Convention,  iii,  244;  Salem,  O., 
Convention,  i,  810;  Smith,  Gerrit,  i, 
839;  Syracuse  Convention,  i,  848 — 
Stanton,  Harriot,  to  Nebraska  voters, 
iii,  247 — Stebbins,  Catharine  A.  F.,  to 
Lucretia  Mott,  iii,  47 — Stone,  Lucy, 
to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  237,  919; 
to  Elizabeth  C.  Stanton,  ii,  234;  to 
Salem,  O.,  Convention,  i,  813. 

Letters:  Taylor,  Mrs.  M.,  to  Mrs.  P.  W. 
Davis,  ii,  438 — Tenney,  Mrs.  R.  S.,  to 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  257 — Tilton, 
Theo.,  to  American  Woman  Suffrage 
Association,  ii,  770 — Wade,  Benjamin 
F.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  117,  to 
Josephine  Sophie  Griffing,  ii,  35 — 
Wallace,  Zerelda  G.,  to  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  iii,  257 — Wattles,  Susan  E. 
to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  255 — Weber, 
Helene  M.,  to  M.  A.  Spofford,  i,  822— 
Weld,  Angelina  G.,  on  organizations, 
i,  540 — Whiting,  N.  H.,  letter  to  Cooper 
Institute  Convention,  i,  861 — Winder, 


R.  B.,  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  iii,  817 — 
Wright,  Elizur,  to  Paulina  W.  Davis,  i, 
217 — Wright,  Henry  C.,  to  Garrison, 
i,  310 — Wright,  Martha  C.,  to  Pills- 
bury,  ii,  240. 

Lewis,  Ida,  iii,  347. 

Lily,  The,  i,  486. 

Lincoln  (Kansas)  Beacon,  Lincoln  (Kan- 
sas) Register,  iii,  699. 

Lippincott,  Sarah  J.,  i,  46 — Saxe's  poems, 
on,  i,  828  —  Washington  Convention 
(Nat.),  description  of,  ii,  359 

List,  Charles,  address  at  Worcester  Na- 
tional Convention,  i,  232. 

Little,  Knox,  iii,  471 — sermon  to  women, 
i,  728. 

Livermore,  Mary  A.,  ii,  777;  iii,  268,  274, 
279,  388,  561,  565,  570. 

Livingston,  William,  i,  441. 

LOCKWOOD,  Belva  A.,  ii,  522,  240,  443, 
523,  537,  585;  i",  64,  177,  809,  811, 
818 — attempted  to  vote,  iii,  813 — ad- 
mitted to  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  iii, 
141 — brief  to  U.  S.  Senate,  on  women  as 
lawyers,  iii,  106  —  motion  to  admit 
Lowry  to  Supreme  Court,  iii,  174 — 
speech  in  Dr.  Furness'  Church,  iii,  35 
— women's  rights,  the  way  to  get,  iii, 

73- 

Logan,  John  A.,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii, 
207. 

Longfellow,  Samuel,  speech  at  Cooper  In- 
stitute Convention,  i,  711 

Lord,  Mrs.  A.,  iii,  703. 

Loring,  Geo.  B.,  iii,  154. 

Lords,  feudal,  i,  760,  762. 

Loud,  Huldah  B.,  iii,  279. 

Loughary.  Mrs.  H.  A.,  iii,  774. 

LOUISIANA,  Constitutional  Convention, 
iii,  789 — married  women,  laws  relating 
to,  iii,  799 — press,  iii,  798 — St.  Anna's 
Asylum,  iii,  789 — schools,  physiology 
in,  iii,  797 — women  eligible  to  school 
offices,  iii,  795 — women's  club,  iii,  796. 

Love,  Mary  F.,  i,  583,  587,  589  (.^ee 
Davis,  Mary  F.). 

Levering,  J.  F.,  iii,  371. 

Lowell,  Jas.  R.,  poem  "Endurance,"  iii, 
695. 

Lowell,  Josephine  Shaw,  appointed  to  of- 
fice, i,  473;  police  matrons,  iii,  432 — 
Com'r  of  Charities,  made  a,  iii,  417. 

Lozier,  Clemence  S. ,  M.  D.,  iii,  405 — 
sketch  of ,  iii,  411,  416,  421 — presided, 
425 — seats  for  shop  girls,  433 — protest 
against  District  Attorney  Russell,  436 
— appeal  to  voters,  437. 

Lukens,  Esther  Ann,  i,  311. 

Lunt's,  Bishop,  defence  of  polygamy,  i, 
776. 

Luther,  Martin,  will  of,  i,  358. 

Luther  and  polygamy,  i,  775,  776. 

Lyford,  Rev.  C.  P.,  on  polygamy,  i,  778. 

Lynn,  Eliza,  i,  34. 


Index. 


1001 


M. 

Macaulay,  Catharine  Sawbridge,  i,  32, 
790. 

McCarthy,  Justin,  iii,  864. 

McClellan,  Geo.  B. ,  ii,  42,  75. 

McClintock,  Thomas,  i,  539. 

McCHntock,  Mary  Ann,  i,  67,  iii,  454. 

McCook,  Edward,  on  suffrage,  iii,  713. 

McCook,  Mrs.  Mary,  715 — tribute,  718. 

McDonald,  Joseph  E.,  women  to  the  Su- 
preme Court,  iii,  III,  139,  155 — moves 
Standing  Committee,  iii,  190— tribute. 

ii',  553- 

McDowell,  AnnaE.,  Woman's  Advocate, 
i,  388 — Sunday  Dispatch,  iii,  446 — J. 
Edgar  Thomson's  will,  iii,  468 — Rev. 
Knox  Little,  iii,  471. 

McDowell,  Gertrude,  iii,  693. 

Mackey,  T.  J.,  iii,  828. 

McLaren,  Mrs.  Duncan,  iii,  842 — por- 
trait, iii,  849;  951. 

McLaren,  Charles,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  iii,  927. 

McLaren,  \Valter,  iii,  874,  936. 

McRae,  Emma  M.,  argument  before 
House  committee,  iii,  161. 

Madison,  James,  ii,  632. 

Mahan,  Asa,  i,  151 — argument  at  Cleve- 
land National  Convention,  i,  133. 

MAINE,  iii,  351 — Bar,  admissions  to,  iii, 
355 — conventions  (see  Conventions) — 
faithful  friends,  iii,  365  —  Goddard, 
Judge,  iii,  353 — Industrial  School  for 
girls,  iii,  356 — legislation,  iii,  357,  364 
— married  women,  law,  iii,352i— "Moral 
Eminence  of  Maine,"  iii,  359 — suffrage 
society,  first,  iii,  352 — women  holding 
office,  Supreme  Judicial  Court  opinion, 
iii,36i — women  in  office,  Gov  Dingley's 
message,  iii,  363 — women  on  school 
committees,  iii,  351 — woman  suffrage, 
progress  made,  1873,  iii,  357 — women 
tax-payers  protest,  iii,  356. 

"  Male"  in  the  Constitution,  ii,  91. 

Manderson,  Charles  F.,  iii,  678-— letter  to 
O.  C.  Dinsmoor,  iii,  688. 

Mandeville,  Dr.,  i,  486. 

Manikin,  i,  37. 

Mann,  Horace,  i,  356. 

Mansfield,  Arabella  A.,  case  of,  ii,  606. 

Manufactures  in  hands  of  women,  i,  291, 

Marcet,  Jane,  i,  34. 

"  Maria"  and  "Old  Betty,"  ii,  114. 

Marriage  amendment  act,  English,  ii,  293. 

Marriage  a  cause  of  disfrancliisement,  ii, 
621. 

Marriage  and  minority  disabilities,  ii,  603. 

Marriage,   "Mrs.  Schlachtfeld,"  on,  iii, 

723. 

Marriage,   what  is  legal  status  of,  ii,  456. 

MARRIAGE  CJUKSTION  :  Church  \u-\\  i,  i, 
758 — devils,  with,  {,769 — Greek  church, 
under,  i,  773 — heterogeneous,  i,  719 — 
law,  i,  107 — law  of  1860,  i,  636— pro- 


test, Robert  Dale  Owen's,  i,  295 — pro- 
test, Lucy  Stone's,  i,  260 — relations,  i, 
293 — Rose,  Ernestine  L.,  on,  i,  237. 

MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE  :  Anthony,  Su- 
san B.,  on,  i,  735— bill  before  New- 
York  Legislature,  i,  745— Blackwell. 
Antoinette  B.,  on,  i,  723— drunkennc-s, 
for,  i,  485 — Garrison,  Wm.  Lloyd,  on, 
'•  733 — Greeley,  Horace,  on,  i,  740 — 
Greeley-Owen  discussion,  i,  296,  746 
— law  amended  in  Massachusetts,  i, 
2ii — Mott,  Lucretia,  on,  i,  746— Phil- 
lips, Wendell,  on,  i,  732 — Rose,  Er- 
nestine L.,  on,  i.  729 — Stanton,  Eli/a- 
beth  Cady,  on,  i,  716 — Stanton,  Mr^., 
letter  to  Horace  Greeley  on,  i,  738. 

Marriages  solemnized  by  women,  iii,  301. 

Marquette,  i,  762. 

Marsh,  lohn,  letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  i, 
503.  " 

Marsh,  Luther  R.,  iii,  408 — letter  to  Mrs. 
E.  C.  Stanton,  ii,  922. 

"  Martian  Statutes,"  i,  31. 

Martin,  John  A.,  ii,  249. 

MARTINKAU,  Harriet,  i,  34;  iii,  854 — let- 
ter to  Pauline  \V.  Davis,  i,  229 — letters 
to  Lucretia  Mott,  i,  437. 

MARYLAND,  iii,  814 — Baltimore  Dental 
Surgery,  iii,  817 — Equal  Rights  Soci- 
ety, iii,  815. 

Mason,  O.  P.,  iii,  683,  691.    . 

MASSACHUSETTS,  i,  201 ,  iii,  265 — Associa- 
tion, anniversary,  iii,  272 — association, 
work  done,  iii,  269— conventions  (see 
Conventions) — Democratic  Convention, 
action,  iii,  278— divorce  law  amended, 
i,  211 — Governors,  action  of,  iii,  287 — 
Grant  campaign,  Tremont  Temple 
meeting,  iii,  278 — Harvard  Annex,  iii, 
294 — Legislative,  action,  iii,  284 — Leg- 
islature, petition  before,  i,  258 — New 
England  Women's  Club,  iii,  304— 
petitions,  iii,  274,  285 — Philosophy  at 
Concord,  School  of,  iii,  307 — prohibi- 
tionists, alliance  with,  iii,  280— Rcpul>- 
lican  Convention,  action,  iii,  2~ 
— school  committees,  won. 
— school  suffrage,  iii,  280,  288— -suffrage 
associations,  iii,  273 — Supreme  Court 
decisions,  iii,  290— women  in  tl 
service,  iii,  306 — women  delegates  to 
Republican  Convention,  iii,  277 — wom- 
en opposed  to  suffrage,  iii,  275 — women 
at  the  polls,  iii,  282 — women,  social 
condition,  iii,  294  —  woman  suffrage 
political  |>:u'.\.  iii,  276— woman  suffrage 
ticket,  iii.  2Si. 

Mather,  Cotton,  iii,  303. 

Maule,  Mollic  K..  iii,  693. 

Maxwell.  I  ily.  iii,  842. 

May,  Jo-cph.  iii,  34. 

M  IT,  Samud  J..  i.  40.  485,  518;  ; 

422—  "(.'. -lore. I. "on  the  v 

campaign,    ii.    265 — President 


IOO2 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


Rochester  Convention,  made,  i,  578 — 
speech  at  American  Equal  Rights  As- 
sociation meeting,  ii,  191 — speech  on 
temperance,  i,  478. 

Mayo,  A.  D.,  letter  to  Syracuse  Conven- 
tion, i,  851. 

Medical,  iii,  299,  549. 

Medical  College,  first  opened  to  women, 
i,  88,  389. 

Medical  Education,  Harriot  K.  Hunt  on, 
i,  356.  [iii,  631. 

Medical  profession,  i,  37 — Iowa  women, 

Meetings  (see  Conventions). 

Memorials,  ii,  226,  497;  iii,  130,480,  517, 
539.  855 — Democratic  Party,  iii,  182 — 
Gladstone,  iii,  883 — Greenback  Con- 
vention, iii,  1 80 — Ohio  Constitutional 
Convention,  i,  105 — Republican  Party, 
iii,  177 — Woodhull,  Victoria  C.,  ii,  443 
— Legislatures,  i,  673. 

Mendenhall,  Mrs.  H.  S.,  letter  to  Dr. 
Avery,  iii,  724. 

Meriman,  EmeliaJ., letter  to  Second  Dec- 
ade meeting,  ii,  441. 

Meri wether,  Elizabeth  A.,  iii,  27,  154, 
822. 

Merrick,  Caroline  E.,  iii,  789 — women  as 
school  officers,  iii,  795. 

Merrick,  Mrs.  E.  T.,  speech,  Louisiana 
Constitutional  Convention,  iii,  792. 

Merrill,  Catharine,  iii,  548. 

Mernmon,  Senator,  on  the  Pembina  Ter- 
ritory bill,  ii,  552-560. 

Merritt,  Paulina,  T.,  iii,  540. 

Methodists  and  women  preachers,  i,  784. 

MICHIGAN,  iii,  513 — churches,  attitudeof, 
iii,  521 — constitutional  amendment,  iii, 
518;  lost,  iii,  522 — Conventions  (see 
Conventions)— Episcopal  Church  bill, 
iii,  529 — legislative  action,  iii,  516 — 
local  societies,  iii,  529 — memorial,  iii, 
517 — Northwestern  Association,  iii,  516 
— State  Suffrage  Society,  iii,  515 — Uni- 
versity, iii,  525 — State  University,  Ann 
Arbor,  opened  to  girls,  iii,  525 — vote 
for  woman  suffrage,  iii,  522 — women's 
literary  clubs  and  libraries,  iii,  513 — 
women  voting  in  Sturgis,  iii,  514. 

Middlesex  society,  iii,  270. 

Miles,  Nelson  A.,  iii,  779. 

MILL,  John  Stuart,  ii,  341,  378,  727,  833 
— death  of,  iii,  853 — Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment, on  the,  ii.  334 — "Household  Suf- 
frage Bill"  amendment,  ii,  182 — Letter 
to  Paulina  W.  Davis,  i,  220;  ii,  419 — 
letter  to  S.  N.  Wood,  ii,  252 — women 
government,  on,  iii,  77. 

MILL,  Mrs.  John  Stuart,  essay,  i(  225. 

Miller,  Francis,  argument,  ii,  523 — Ar- 
gument Spencer-Webster  suit,  ii,  595 — 
letter  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  ii,  536. 

Mills,  Chas.  D.  B.,  letter  to  M.  J.  Gage, 
ii,  424;  ii,  915. 

Milton,  John,  i,  779,  780. 


Ministers,  charges  against,  i,  135. 

MINNESOTA,  iii,  648 — Appendix:  Early 
friends,  iii,  973;  school  officers,  973; 
authors  and  poets,  iii,  974;  graduates 
from  State  University,  iii,  974;  teach- 
ers and  professors,  iii,  975;  medical 
profession,  benevolent  institutions, 
painters  in  oil  and  water  colors,  iii.  976; 
musical  clubs,  speakers  and  writers, 
iii,  977 — coeducation,  iii,  656 — consti- 
tution, bill  to  amend,. iii,  651 — Conven- 
tions (see  Conventions) — Evangelists, 
iii,  657 — homestead  law,  iii,  655 — Kas- 
son  Society,  iii,  652 — legislative  hear- 
ing, iii,  651 — petitions  to  Congress,  iii, 
651 — property  rights  of  married  women, 
iii,  655 — Rochester  society,  iii,  651 — 
school  officers,  voting  for,  iii,  653 — 
school  suffrage,  iii,  652 — State  associa- 
tion organized,  iii,  657 — teachers,  iii, 
660— temperance  question,  iii,  655. 

Miner,  Myrtilla,  iii,  808. 

Minor,  Francis,  resolutions  St.  Louis  Con- 
vention, ii.  407,  717. 

MINOR,  Virginia  L.,  Dahlgren's,  Mrs., 
memorial,  on,  iii,  103 — delegate  to  Nat. 
Democratic  Convention,  iii,  27 — labors 
of,  iii,  596 — sanitary  work,  iii,  597 — 
speeches:  St.  Louis  Convention,  ii,  409; 
Washington  Convention,  iii,  257 — suit, 
ii,  715 — Chief-Justice  Waite's  opinion, 
ii,  734 — decision  reviewed  by  Mrs. 
Gage,  ii,  742 — reviewed  by  Central  Law 
Journal^  ii,  748 — taxes,  refused  to  pay, 
iii,  607 — vote,  attempted  to,  iii,  606. 

MISSISSIPPI,  iii,  806. 

MISSOURI,  i,  194,  594 — address  to  voters, 
iii,  599 — Church  and  State,  iii,  601 — 
colleges  and  law  schools,  iii,'l594 — Con- 
ventions (see  Conventions)— petition  to 
Legislature,  iii,  601 — suffrage  move- 
ment, facts  and  incidents,  iii,  604 — tax- 
ation, iii,  600— Woman  Suffrage  Asso- 
ciation organized,  iii,  599;  division,  iii, 
603 — woman's  union,  iii,  607 — women 
in  the  war,  iii,  596. 

Mob  Convention,  Broadway  Tabernacle,  i, 
546. 

Mobs,  i,  467. 

Moody,  W.  W.,  iii,  662. 

Morelli,  Salvatore,  iii,  898. 

Morgan,  E.  D.,  i,  687. 

Morgan,  John  T.,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii, 
210. 

Morgan,  Middie,  live-stock  reporter,  iii, 

403- 

Morinella,  Lucrezia,  i,  29. 
Mormonism,  see  Polygamy. 
Morrill,  Senator,  on  Sargent's  amendment 

to   Pembina   Territory   bill,    ii,    562 — 

speech  on  woman  suffrage,  ii,  118.  563. 
Morris.   Esther,  made  Justice  of  Peace, 

iii,  731. 
Mom.?,  \V.  H.,  iii,  691. 


Index. 


1003 


Morrow,  Jane,  sketch  of  i.  313. 

Morton,  O.  P.,  iii,  114,  553 — Pembina 
Territory  bill,  on  the,  ii.  549.  569,  571. 

Moss,  Charles  E.,  speech,  ii,  200. 

''Mother  Bickerdyke"  iii,  709. 

Mott,  James,  i,  69,  174,  438. 

MOTT,  Lucretia,  ii,  177, 184;  iii,  456 — ad- 
dress at  Westchester,  Pa.,  Convention, 
i»  355 — Bible,  on  the,  i,  143 — Bible, 
position  of  woman,  on  the,  i,  380 — 
Cleveland  National  Convention,  at,  i, 
124 — dangerous  woman,  spoken  of  as  a, 
i,  423 — divorce,  on,  i,  746 — eulogy  by 
Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  i,  407 — Fare- 
well, last  Convention,  iii,  125 — funeral, 
i,  835 — Furness'  church  meeting,  at.  iii, 
35 — home  of,  i,  411 — Howitt,  William, 
correspondence,  i,  434 — letter  to  Lydia 
Mott,  i,  746 — letter  to  Josephine  Grif- 
fing  ii.  873 — letter  to  St.  Louis  Con- 
vention, iii,  144 — letter  to  Salem;  O., 
Convention,  i,  812 — letter  to  Saratoga 
Convention,  i,  626 — Luther's  will,  on, 
i,  359 — marriage  of,  i,  408 — marriage 
on,  i,  79 — Martineau,  Harriet,  corre- 
spondence, i,  437 — memorial  service, 
iii,  1 88 — ministry,  engaged  in,  i.  412 — 
O'Connell,  Daniel,  correspondence,  i, 
432 — portrait,  i,  369 — President  of  the 
American  Equal  Rights  Association, 
made,  ii,  174 — President,  meeting  in 
Dr.  Furness' church,  iii,  35 — President 
National  Woman's  Rights  at  Syracuse, 
made,  i,  519 — President  Washington 
National  Convention,  made,,  ii,  346 — 
Pulpit,  on  the,  i,  73 — recollections  of, 
by  Robert  Collyer,  i,  409. 414 — religion 
and  theology,  on,  i.  422 — Rochester 
Convention,  at,  iii,  123 — sketch  of,  i, 
407 — slavery,  on,  i,  416 — speech  at 
>  Broadway  Tabernacle  Convention,  i, 
557 — Syracuse  National  Convention,  ar- 
gument, i,  527 — tribute,  Susan  B.  An- 
thony's, iii,  189 — womanhood,  her  reply 
to  R.  H.  Dana's  lecture,  i,  368. 

Mot:,  Lydia,  i,  376,476,519,  578,  593,623, 
744 — letter  Susan  B.  Anthony,  i,  630; 
iii,  409. 

Mott,  Mary,  letter  to  Westchester,  Pa., 
Convention,  i,  829. 

Mottoes,  Washington  Convention,  1880, 
iii,  151 — Newbury  Society,  Ohio,  502. 

Moulton,  Louise  Chandler,  i,  49. 

N. 

Nash,  Clara  H.,  iii,  358 — admitted  to  the 

I'-ar,  iii,  355. 
Nash,  Mary  E.,  iii,  623, 
National  Association,    officers    1886,    iii, 

956. 

National  CitittH,  iii,  114,  116,  125. 
Nations,  mortality  of,  ii,  201. 
Neal,  Alice  Bradley,  i,  386. 
Neal,  John,  ii,  435;  iii,  352. 


NEBRASKA,  iii,  670— campaign,  iii,  253 — 
canvass  of  the  State,  iii,  686— Constitu- 
tional amendment,  iii,  683;  again  de- 
feated, 691;  convention,  677;  debate, 
678;  new  constitution,  680— Conven- 
tions (see  Conventions)— description  of, 
iii,  671 — electors,  qualifications  of,  iii, 
680 — Fourteenth  Amendment  ratified, 
iii,  675 — Frontier  life,  iii,  671 — legisla- 
tive action,  iii,  672,  674,  675,  676,  683, 
695 — State,  made  a,  iii,  675 — suffrage 
societies,  first,  iii,  681 — Thayer  County 
Association,  iii,  686 — Woman  Suffrage 
Amendment  beaten  at  the  polls,  iii, 
677 — woman  suffrage  bill  passed  House, 
beaten  in  Senate,  iii,  672 — woman  suf- 
frage, first  work  in  Lincoln,  iii,  675 — 
women,  leading,  iii,  692. 

Negro,  civil  and  political  right  of,  argu- 
ment, ii,  59. 

Negroes  opposed  to  woman  suffrage  in 
Kansas,  ii,  232,  238. 

Negro  suffrage,  ii,  103,  106. 

Nevin,  Dr.,  defence  of  the  clergy,  i,  140. 

New  England  Convention,  i,  262. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  iii,  367 — married  men, 
bill  to  protect,  iii, 372 — married  women, 
Judicial  decision,  iii,  379 — petitions, 
iii,  371 — Republican  Convention,  iii, 
373 — State  Association  formed,  iii,  370 
— woman  suffrage,  first  organized  action, 
iii,  367 — women  on  school  committees, 
iii,  374 — women  voting,  iii,  376. 

NEW  JERSEY,  i,  441;  iii,  476 — Conven- 
tions  (see  Conventions) — -Constitution, 
defects  in,  i,  451 — Historical  Society, 
i,  447 — legislative  hearings,  iii,  490-^ 
memorial  to  Legislature,  iii,  480— 
mothers'  legal  claim  to  their  children, 
iii,  483 — property  of  married  women. 
iii,  484 — State  Society,  iii,  479 — suf- 
frage, progress  made,  iii, 479 — Women's 
Club  of  Orange,  iii,  482 — Woman's 
Political  Science  Club,  iii,  481 — women 
in  the  pulpit,  iii,  484 — women  as  school 
trustees,  iii,  484 — woman  suffra}.: 
ebration  of,  ii,  846— woman  suffrage, 
origin  of,  i,  447 — women  voted,  iii,  47°. 

New  Orleans  J'itayune,  iii,  798. 

Newspapers,  women  in,  i.  43. 

NEW  YORK,  i,  63,  472,  iii,  395 — appen- 
dix, iii,  959 — Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, ii,  269,  282  —  ConstUotiooal 

revision  commission,  iii,  4<*) — I 
tions    (see  Conventions) — disfranchise- 
ment  bill,  Attorney-General    Russell's 
opinion,    iii,    434— I.ansin^l-urgh    tax- 
payers, iii,  441  —  Legislative  hearing-,  i. 

P9,  605,679.  74$;iii.  4«*'. -l 
420;  disfranchisemcnt  bill,  iii.4-1 
434;  reports  on  petitions.  , 
on  woman  suffrage,  I,  629;  school  »uf. 
frage    bill  '.    4241    suffrage, 

power  to  extend,  iii,  959 — Licence  Law 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


of  1848,  repeal,  i,  474 — property  rights 
granted,  iii,  438 — reception  at  the  cap- 
itol,  iii,  438 — results,  iii,  443. 

New  Yo)k  Christian  Enquirer  on  the 
Worcester  National  Convention,  i,  243. 

New  York  Evening  Express,  ii,  95. 

New  York  Evening  Post,  ii,  102. 

New  York  Herald  on  Senator  Wilson  and 
woman  suffrage,  ii,  325. 

New  York  Independent  on  the  New  York 
Constitutional  Convention,  ii,  305. 

New  York  Times,  i,  645,  648. 

New  York  Tribune,  ii,  ioi,  103,304,491, 
820,  iii,  46 — support  lost,  ii,  269 — 
World's  Temperance  Convention,  on 
the,  i,  511 — woman  as  a  voter,  on  the, 
ii,  248 — Kansas  campaign,  on  the,  ii, 
232. 

Neyman,  Clara,  speech  at  Washington 
Convention,  iii,  258. 

Nichols,  Elizabeth  Pease,  iii,  837,  925-6. 

NICHOLS,  Clarina  I.  Howard,  iii,  704 — 
Centennial  protest,  iii,  49 — education 
of  women,  on,  i,  356 — Kansas  cam- 
paign, ii,  258 — letter  to  Rochester  Tem- 
perance Convention,  i,  847 — portrait,  i, 
192 — reminiscences,  i,  171 — speech  at 
Broadway  Tabernacle  Conventidh,  i, 
561 — Syracuse  National  Convention  ar- 
guments, i,  522 — tribute,  iii,  764 — work 
in  Vermont,  iii,  383. 

Nicholson,  Mrs.  E.  J.,  iii,  798. 

Nightingale,  Florence,  ii,  14;  iii,  854. 

Nixon,  Jennie  C.,  iii,  798. 

NORTH  CAROLINA,  iii,  825. 

Northcote,  Sir  Stafford,  iii,  873 — speech 
on  woman  suffrage,  iii,  887. 

Norton,  Caroline,  i,  229. 

Norway,  iii,  912. 

Nye,  Joshua,  iii,  359. 

o. 

Obituaries,  ii,  905;  iii,  891. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  letter  to  Lucretia  Mott, 
i,  432. 

O'Connor,  Henry,  iii,  617. 

OHIO,  i,  ioi;  iii,  491 — centennial  cele- 
bration, women  decline  to  take  part, 
iii,  507 — Constitutional  Convention,  iii, 
565 — Conventions  (see  Conventions) — 
Equal  Rights  Association,  iii,  491 — 
Painesville  Equal  Rights  Society,  iii, 
509 — Senate  Committee  report  on  the 
suffrage  question,  i,  870— Soldiers'  Aid 
society,  first,  iii,  491 — Toledo  society, 
iii,  503,  506— women  of  Oberlin  protest 
against  enfranchisement,  iii,  494. 

Oliver,  Anna,  debate  upon  ordaining,  i, 
784 — suit,  iii,  440. 

Oliver,  Lewise,  letters,  iii,  40. 

Omaha  Republican,  iii,  682 — on  Omaha 
Convention,  iii,  251. 

OREGON,  iii,  767 — clergy  favor  woman 
suffrage,  iii,  778 — constitutional  amend- 


ment lost,  iii,  778 — Convention  at  Port- 
land, iii,  773 — Donation  Land  Act,  iii, 
770— legislative  action,  iii,  779 — mar- 
ried woman's  property  bill,  iii,  775 — 
married  woman's  sole  trader  bill,  iii, 
771 — school  offices,  women  made  elig- 
ible, iii,  775 — suffrage  organizations 
formed,  iii,  774 — suffrage  society,  first, 
iii,  768 — Temperance  Alliance,  iii,  771 
— woman  suffrage  bill,  iii,  771 — woman 
suffrage  bill  passed  Legislature,  iii,  776. 

Oren,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.,  iii,  548,  972. 

Organizations,  Angelina  G.  Weld,  on,  i, 
540. 

Orth,  Judge,  votes  woman  suffrage  in 
Congress,  ii,  483 — on  national  platform, 
iii,  225. 

Orient,  iii,  918. 

Orme,  Miss,  iii,  928,  982. 

Ostrander,  Mrs.  R.,  i,  180. 

Otis,  James,  ii,  291,  644. 

OWEN,  Robert  Dale,  Women's  Loyal 
League,  ii,  50 — "male"  in  Federal  Con- 
stitution, ii,  91 — birthday  anniversary, 
83rd,  i,  619 — Greeley  discussion  on  di- 
vorce, i,  746 — letter  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, i,  292 — sketch  of,  by  Rosamond 
Dale  Owen,  i,  293 — speech  at  meeting 
in  Philadelphia,  ii,  817 — speech,  prop- 
erty rights  of  married  women,  i.  296 — 
spiritualism,  i,  301 — testimonial,  silver 
pitcher,  i,  300. 

Owen,  Mrs.  Robert  Dale,  i,  302,  313,  (see 
Robinson  ,*Mary). 

Owen,  Sarah  C.,  letter  to  Emily  Collins, 
i,  91 — speech,  i,  78. 

P. 

Pacific  Northwest,  iii,  767. 

Paddock,  A.  S.,  iii,  674. 

Painter,  Hetty  R.,  iii,  693. 

Paist,  Harriet  W.,  iii,  467. 

Pan-Presbyterians,  i,  783. 

Panim,  Ivan,  i,  773. 

Parasol-makers,  ii,  829. 

Parker,  Alex.,  speech  at  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle Convention,  i,  560. 

Parker,  Julia  Smith,  argument  before  Sen- 
ate Committee,  iii,  156  (see  Smith,  Julia, 
and  Abby). 

Parker,  Mary  S.,  i,  39. 

Parker  Theodore,  i,  626;  ii,  207 — sermon 
"Function  of  Woman,"  i,  277. 

Parnell,  Stewart,  M.  P.,  iii,  71. 

Parnell,  Rosina  M.,  iii,  956. 

Parody,  woman  suffrage  in  the  courts,  ii. 

599- 

"Pastoral  Letter,"  i.  81,  84. 
Pat  and  the  Locomotive,  ii,  188. 
Patridge,  Lelia  E.,  ii,  852;  iii,  461. 
Patterson,  Catherine  G.,  iii,  712. 
Patterson,  Jessie,  iii,  708. 
Peckham,  Lilia,  career,  iii,  642. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  iii,  835. 


Index. 


1005 


Pellet,  Sarah,  speech  at  Saratoga  Conven- 
tion, i,  621. 

Pembina  Territory  bill,  U.  S.  Senate  de- 
bate on  Sargent's  amendment,  ii,  545 — 
bill  rejected,  ii,  582  (see  also  Congres- 
sional). 

Penn,  William,  i,  320. 

Pennell,  Mrs.  Horace,  i,  92. 

PENNSYLVANIA,  i,  320;  iii,  444 — anti- 
slavery  struggle,  i,  323 — appendix,  iii, 
961 — Century  Club,  iii,  469 — Citizens' 
Suffrage  Association,  iii,  460 — common 
law,  iii,  961 — Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, iii,  495 — Conventions  (see  Con- 
vention)!— Fugitive  Slave  law  i,  328 — 
hall,  destruction  of,  i,  333 — Legislature 
recommends  a  sixteenth  amendment, 
iii,  474 — literary  women,  iii,  469 — medi- 
cal school  controversy,  iii,  447 — peti- 
tions to  Legislature,  iii,  463 — property 
law,  married  women's,  iii,  445 — school 
officers,  women  elected,  iii,  467 — school 
offices,  women  made  eligible,  111,465 — 
statutes  and  court  decisions,  iii,  963 — 
suffrage  association  formed  in  Philadel- 
phia, iii,  457 — report,  annual,  iii,  459 — 
Swarthmore  college,  iii,  456 — temper- 
ance work  in,  i,  344 — University,  at- 
tempt to  open  to  women,  iii,  474 — 
University,  clinical  instruction,  iii,  448 
— Woman's  Medical  College,  i,  389 — 
Woman's  Medical  College,  report  on  hos- 
pital clinics,  iii,  450 — woman's  rights, 
first  legal  argument,  iii,  462 — women 
sold  with  cattle,  iii,  445. 

Perry,  M.  Frederica,  lawyer,  iii,  574. 

Peru,  iii,  6. 

Peterson,  Myra,  iii,  703. 

PETITION  to  Congress  for  a  XVI.  amend- 
ment, ii,  851 — first,  sent  to  New  York 
Legislature,  iii,  395 — Sherman-Dahl- 
gren  against  woman  suffrage,  ii,  494 — 
Woman's  National  Loyal  League,  ii, 
78. 

Petitions,  i,  262,  308,  315,  489,  588,  625, 
629;  ii,  91,  282,  283,  286,  401,  514, 
516,  560,  698;  iii,  58,  104,  790 — form  of, 
i,  676 — New  York  Legislature  report, 
i,  612;  against,  iii,  571,  841. 

Petitioners,  four  classes  of,  ii,  283. 

Phelps,  Almira  L.,  letter  to  Mrs. Hooker, 
iii,  loo, 

Phelps,  Elizabeth  B.,  woman's  bureau,  ii, 

431. 

Phelps,  Elizabeth  Stuart,  ii,  831. 

1'liiladelphia  Press,  ii,  359;  iii,  44 — 
Ledger,  iii,  43. 

Philadelphia  Anti-Slavery  Society,  i,  325. 

PHILLIPS,  Wendell,  ii,  317,  268;  i,  469 — 
Anti-Slavery  Convention,  London,  i,  54 
— Grimke,  Angelina,  his  opinion  of,  i. 
399 — Kansas  campaign,  ii,  230— last 
letter  on  woman  suffrage,  iii,  122 — let- 
ter of  regret,  Saratoga  Con.,  i,  627 — 


letter  to  Susan  B.  Anthony,  iii,  62  — 
letter  to  Mrs.  Stebbins,  iii,  522 — mar- 
riage and  divorce,  on,  i,  732 — Mrs.  Ed- 
dy's will,  iii,  312 — self-government,  on, 
i,  258 — speeches:  Broadway  Tabernacle 
Convention,  i,  572,  637;  Cooper  In>ti- 
tute  Convention,  i,  701;  Mozart  Hall 
Convention,  i,  674;  National  Conven- 
tion, Boston,  ii,  178;  New  England 
Convention,  i,  273;  Woman's  National 
Loyal  League,  ii,  84;  Worcester,  Mass., 
Convention,  i,  227 — treasurer  of  Jack- 
son fund,  i,  189 — woman  suffrage, 
apathy,  ii,  318 — World's  Temperance 
Convention,  at  the,  i,  152. 

Philosophy,  school  of,  at  Concord,  iii,  307. 

Physical  culture,  ii,  908. 

Physicians  and  nurses,  iii,  298. 

Pickler,  J.  A.,  letter  to  M.  J.  Gage,  iii. 
668. 

Pierce,  J.  D.,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii.  739. 

Pierce,  Wm.  S.,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii, 
.458. 

Pierpont,  Rev.  John,  iii,  294 — speech  at 
Broadway  Tabernacle,  i,  451,  569. 

PILLSBURY,  Parker,  speeches,  1,427,671; 
ii,  173, 176,  201,  375;  iii,  173,  196.  275, 
367,  478,  948— appeal  for,  univcr-al 
suffrage,  ii,  917 — editor,  The  A'f?v/u- 
tion,  ii,  264 — Fifteenth  Amendment,  on 
the,  ii,  265,  335,  337 — Kansas  cam- 
paign, ii,  265;  iii,  367,  945. 

Pitkin,  Benjamin  C.,  on  woman's  rights, 
i,  209. 

Playfair,  Lyon,  iii,  850, 

Plumb,  P.  B.,  the  Kansas  campaign,  ii, 
231,  253. 

Plumly,  Rush,  i.  364. 

Pochin,  Henry  D..  iii,  847. 

Pochin,  Mrs.,  iii,  848,  929. 

Poem,  "Endurance,"  Lowell,  iii,  695— 
Frances  D.  Gage  and  the  Hutchin&ons, 
iii,  38  — "  From  Clatsop,"  iii,  780 
— "Pastoral  Letter,"  i.  84 — "Ancient 
Usage,"  i,  371 — "The  Times  That  Try 
Men's  Souls, "i, 82 — "Wonum's  t 
Lowell,  i,  263 — Tennyson's  J'rincesi, 
iii,  258. 

POLAND,  iii,  917. 

Police,  women  as,  iii,  3<)7,  431.  432. 

Political  campaigns,  Anna  E.  Ditkinsun, 

ii,  43- 

Political  disabilities  n.  315. 
Polygamy,  i.  776,  777,  77? — M'-s  *-'.>u.-ms 

on,  iii,  223,    128,    130 — Bishop   l.unt'* 

defense  of,  i.  776. 
r«.im-i..y.  C    K  .   letter   to   Des   Moine* 

Convention,  iii,  618. 
Pomeroy,  Senator,  S.  C.,  i,  185— «p< 

ii,  151,  324,  346.  4>9:  »'•  "37.  811. 
Poppleton,  A.  J.,  speech  at  Omaha  Coiw 

venlion,  iii,  241. 
Porter,  Albert  ('..,  iii,  53^  553- 
Portugal,  iii,  901. 


ioo6 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


POST,  Amy,  i,  75 — letter  to  Susan  B.  An- 
thony, iii,  48 — Third  Decade  Meeting 
in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  iii,  117 — tried  to 
vote,  ii,  647, 

Potter,  T.  B.,  iii,  848. 

Powell,  Aaron  M.,  i,  468,  671;  ii,  783. 

Pray,  Isaac  C.,  speech  at  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle Convention,  i,  571. 

Presidential  campaigns:  1856,  John  C. 
Fremont,  i,  633,  641,  643 — 1872,  (.rant 
and  Wilson,  ii,  217,  520 — 1876,  I  i  ayes 
and  Tilden,  iii,  22,26,415 — 1880,  Gar- 
field  and  Hancock,  iii,  175,  187,431. 

Preston.  Ann,  i,  389,  390 — address  at 
Westchester,  Pa.,  Convention,  i,  360 — 
Dean  Medical  College,  iii,  450,  379. 

Pretorius,  Emile,  letter  to  Woman'.-,  Nat. 
Loyal  League,  ii,  86. 

Price,  Abby,  speech  at  Syracuse  National 
Convention,  i,  532 — Worcester  Conven- 
tion, i,  218,  242. 

Priestley,  celibacy,  i,  759,  760. 

Prince,  Bradford  L.,  iii,  417. 

Privileges  and  immunities,  ii,  453. 

Progressive  friends,  i,  141. 

Prohibition  Convention,  iii,  183. 

Prohibitionists,  alliance  with,  iii,  280. 

Property  Bill,  i,  64 — bill,  New  York,  i, 
256 — laws,  i,  171 — rights,  Wm.  Hay's 
paper,  i,  607 — rights  of  married  women, 
iii,  325 — opinions  of  Indiana  Legislat- 
ors, i,  299. 

Prostitution,  i,  264;  iii,  144,  397,  398 
(see,  also,  Vice). 

Pryor,  Margaret,  iii,  477. 

Pugh,  Sarah,  i,  327,  337,  376 — letter  to 
Salem,  O.,  Convention,  i,  814;  iii,  19, 
34 — at  Third  Decade  Convention,  iii, 
125. 

Pulpit,  ii,  902— charges  against,  135. 

Pulte  medical  college,  iii,  511. 

Purvis,  Robert,  ii,  183,  265,  347,  358, 
418;  iii,  63,  72. 

Q. 

Quakers,  i,  412,  783. 
"Queen's  women,"  i,  794. 

R. 

Ransier,  A.  J.,  ii,  542;  iii,  829. 

Raymond,  Henry  J.,  i,  547,  649. 

Reconstruction,  ii,  313. 

Reed,  C.  A.,  iii,  768,  773. 

Reed,  Thomas  B.,  in  Congress,  iii,  219, 
366. 

Reformation,  i,  774. 

Reid,  Mrs.  Hugo,  iii,  836,  838. 

REMINISCENCES:  Collins,  Emily,  i,  88 — 
Davis,  Paulina  W.,  by  "E.  C.  S.,"  i, 
283 — Grimke,  Angelina,  by  "E.  C.  S." 
i,  392 — Nichols,  Clarina  I.  H.,  i,  171 
— Stanton's,  Elizabeth  C.,  i,  456;  iii, 
922  —  Starrett,  Helen  E.,  ii,  250  — 
Thomas,  Mary  F.,i,  306 — Way,  Aman- 
da, i,  306. 


Remoad,  Cnarles  L.,  i,,  214,  22O,  225. 

Republican  Party,  iii,  279. 

Republicans,  treachery  of,  ii,  322. 

Reports  (see  Woman  Suffrage). 

Resolutions:  i,  71,219,  254,  535,  537,  542, 
570,  574,  58o,  593,  633,  641,  644,  646, 
673,  694,  706,  708,  716,  723,  787,  808, 
814,  816,  817,  820,  821,  823,  825,  827, 

833,  834,  855; 

ii,  57,  84,  154,  171,  190,  213,  358, 
384,  388,  396,  407,  420,  436,  ..93,  521, 
533.  537,  583,  584,  78o,  809,  810,  818, 
826,  837,  843,  859; 

iii,  5,  19,  61,  69,  74,  124,  128,  152, 
252.  256,  493,  566,  619,  641,  676,  707, 
708,  780. 

Retrospect,  iii,  51. 

Revelation,  i,  647. 

Revolution,  1776,  i,  747 — Arnett,  Han- 
nah, i,  441 — battle,  first,  i,  203 — girls, 
two,  with  a  drum  and  fife,  i,  204 — spy, 
female,  i,  323 — women  in  the,  i,  201, 
321,  444- 

Revolution,  The,  i,  46;  ii,  317,  31;),  321, 
324,  333,  340.  344,  345,  372,  381,  382, 
400,  401,  407,  411,  426,  431;  iii,  397, 
398,  478,  752,  802 — editorial  correspon- 
dence, Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  ii,  362, 
367 — establishment  of.  iii,  401 — found- 
ed, when,  ii,  264. 

RHODE  ISLAND,  iii,  339 — Conventions 
(see  Conventions)— legislation,  iii,  346 
— State  Association,  organized,  iii,  340, 
address,  iii,  345;  work  done,  iii,  343 — 
women  represented,  iii,  349 — Women's 
Board  of  Visitors,  iii,  345 — women  on 
school  boards,  iii,  341. 

Richards,  David  M.,  iii,  715,  716,  719, 
721. 

Richardson,  Susan  Hoxie,  iii,  560. 

Ricker,  Marilla  M.,  iii,  106 — first  woman 
to  cast  a  vote,  ii,  586 — prison  reform, 
on,  iii,  578. 

Riddle,  Albert  G.,  iii,  106 — speech  at 
Washington  Convention,  ii,42i — speech 
before  Congressional  Committee,  ii,  448 
— Spencer- Webster  suit,  argument,  ii, 

587. 

Roberts,  Mrs.  Marshall  O..  iii,  400. 
Roberts,  William  H.,  iii,  777. 
Robinson,  Charles,  i,  191. 
Robinson,  Emily,  i,  103. 
Robinson,  Harriett  Hanson,  iii,  125,  196, 

222,  227,  229,  265. 
Robinson,    Lelia  J.,   application    to   the 

bar,  iii,  307 — Supreme  Court  decision, 

iii,  308. 
Robinson,  Lucius  (Gov.),   defeat  of,  iii, 

423 — vetoes  school  suffrage  bill,  iii,  418. 
Robinson,  Mary,  sketch  of,  i,  293. 
Rochester  Democrat  and  Chronicle  on  Miss 

Anthony's  trial,  ii,  71$- 
Rochester  Evening  Express  on  Miss  An- 
thony's trial,  ii,  714. 


Index. 


1007 


Rocky  Mountain  Ne-ws,  iii,  715. 

Roebling,  Mrs.,  iii,  440. 

Roebuck's  flattery  of  woman,  i,  537. 

Rogers,  Nathaniel  P.,  i,  61,  iii,  367. 

Roland,  Pauline,  i,  234. 

Rome,  "The  City  of  God,"  i,  794. 

Root,  H.  K.,  speech  at  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle Convention,  i,  560. 

Root  J.  P.,  on  the  Kansas  campaign,  ii, 
258. 

ROSE,  Ernestine  L.F  i,  38,  52,  619,  624, 
626,  636;  ii,  390;  iii,  514 — biography, 
i,  95 — debate,  Cleveland  National  Con- 
vention, i,  133 — English  women,  on,  i, 
645 — Equal  Rights  Association,  on  the, 
ii,  397 — Letters:  to  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
i,  99,  iii,  50;  to  Mrs.  J.  F.  Griffing,  ii, 
356;  to  Rochester  Convention,  iii,  120 
— marriage,  on,  i,  237 — marriage  and 
divorce,  on,  i,  729 — portrait  of,  i,  97 — 
propagandist,  Albany  Register  charges, 
i,  608 — resolutions,  i,  707 — Spetckts: 
Broadway  Tabernacle,  i,  562,  661; 
Cooper  Institute  Covention,  {,692;  New 
York  Legislature,  i,  607;  Philadelphia 
Convention,  i,  376;  Rochester  Conven- 
tion, i,  579;  Syracuse  Convention,  i, 
537;  Woman's  National  Loyal  League, 
ii,  60,  64,  73;  Worcester  Convention,  i. 
237 — tribute  to  Frances  Wright,  i,  692 
— Westchester,  Pa.,  Convention,  at,  i, 
357 — women  in  colleges,  on,  i,  144:  ii, 
208 — in  London,  1883,  iii,  940. 

Ross,  E.  G.,  letter  to  Susan  B.  Ar/.hony, 

ii,  423- 

Ross,  James,  i,  449. 
Ross,    Laura  J.,   ii,    374;    (see    Wolcott, 

Laura  Ross). 
Russell,  Leslie  W.,   iii,  434 — defeat  of, 

i'i,  437- 
Russell,  I.ucinda,  correspondence,  iii,  682 

— sketch  of,  iii,  692. 
Russia,  iii,  915. 

s. 

Sacrilegious   child,   Cardinal   Antonelli's, 

i,  788. 

Safe  deposit  companies,  iii,  402. 
St.  Chrysostom's  description  of  woman,  i, 

758. 

St.  John,  Gov.,  J.  P.,  ii,  258.111,706. 

St.  Paul,  quotations,  iii,  720. 

Salic  law,  i,  774. 

Sanborn,  Frank  B.,  ii,  765. 

Sandford,  Arch-I>eacon,  iii,  848. 

Sanford,  Rebecca  M.,  i,  77— letter  to 
Cleveland  Convention,  i,  819. 

Sandige,  John  M.,  iii,  791. 

Sanitary  Commission,  ii,  13. 

SAR<;KNT,  A.  A.,  iii,  108 — California  Con- 
stitution, on  the,  iii,  760— District  of 
Columbia  suffrage  bill,  on  the,  ii,  483 
letter  to  Omaha  Convention,  iii,  245 — 
letter  to  Rochester  Convention,  iii,  121 


— Pembina  Territory  bill,  amendment, 
ii,  545;  bill  rejected,  ii,  582 — Pembina 
Territory  bill,  on  the,  ii,  546,  555,  564, 
567 — resolution,  woman  suffrage,  iii,  70 
— speech  in  San  Francisco,  on  woman's 
rights,  ii,  483 — speech  in  Senate,  iii,  9 
— woman  suffrage,  joint  resolution,  iii, 
75 — minister  at  Berlin,  iii,  944. 

Sargent,  Elizabeth,  M.  D.,  iii,  763. 

Sargent,  J.  T.,  letter  to  Mrs.  E.  C.  Stan- 
ton,  ii,  911 — speech  at  New  England 
Convention,  i,  270. 

Saunders,  Alvin,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii, 
226,  674, 

Savage,  John,  i,  38. 

Saxe,  Dana,  and  Grace  Greenwood,  i,  828. 

Saxon  Elizabeth  L.,  iii,  180,  197.  241, 
690,  791 — argument  before  Senate  com- 
mittee, iii,  157. 

Scatcherd,  Mrs.  Oliver,  iii,  875,  878.  923, 
629,  936. 

Schell,  Augustus,  favors  woman  suffrage, 
iii,  422. 

Schenck,  Elizabeth  T.,  iii,  750,  754. 

School  of  Design  for  Women,  i,  390;  iii, 

399- 

School  omcirs,  bill  passed  New  York  Leg- 
islature, iii,  417;  vetoed  by  Gov.  Rob- 
inson, iii,  418. 

School  suffrage  (see  Suffrage  Gained). 

Schurz,  Carl,  i,  42;  ii,  370;  iii,  46. 

SCOTLAND  (see  Great  Britain,  iii.  833). 

Scott,  Thomas  A.,  ii,  5. 

Scovill,  James  M.,  ii,  420;  i: 

Sears,  Judge,  in  Kansas  campaign,  ii,  240, 

253. 
See,  Rev.  Isaac  M.,  trial  of,  i,  7-";  iii, 

485. 

Segur,  Rose  L.,  iii,  103. 
Selden,  H.  R.,  Miss  Anthony's  o>un>cl, 

ii,  629,  647,  652,  654.  679,  63o.  689; 

appeal  to  Congress,  698. 
Seneca  Falls  Convention,  i,  67. 
Severance,  Caroline  M..  addri»n:  I'.r<>.i<l- 

way  Tabernacle,  i,  569 — New  England 

Convention,  i,  262 — letter  : 

Stanton,  ii,  91 1. 
Sewall,  Samuel  E.,  iii.  269. 
Sewwd,  Win.  II.,  on  self-government,  ii, 

76,  77;  iii,  85 — on  woman's  right*,  i, 

457- 
Sewall,  May  Wright,  iii.  826,  534.  557. 

259. 
Seymour.  Horatio,  thirty  ]»it-< 

i.  473- 

Sli.uiiKk.  Il.-miettc  R..  iii.  226.  257. 
Shaw.  Sar.ili   I1.,     letter  to   Su*»n   H.  An- 

tliony.  ii,  239. 
Shelly.  Kate,  heroism 
Sherman-Dahlgren  petition  against  woman 

suffrage,  ii.  494. 
Shields.  M.  K..  iii,  7*9- 
Sholi-s.  C.  I...  report  t-i 

in  Wisconsin,  i.  315:  '"•  *>¥>• 


ioo8 


History  of   Woman  Suffrage. 


Shuman,  Andrew,  iii,  561. 

Silk  Culture,  iii,  762. 

Simpson,  Bishop,  favors  woman  suffrage, 

iii,  460,  616. 
Sixteenth  Amendment,  ii,  333,  350,  351, 

352,  353,  400,  420,  422,  425,  436;  iii, 

IT2. 
Sixteenth  Amendment,  reasons  for  a,  iii, 

235- 

Sixteenth  Amendment,  renewed  appeal, 
iii,  58 — press  comments,  iii,  67. 

Sketches,  see  Biography. 

Slave  law,  fugitive,   Pennsylvania,  i,  328. 

Slavery,  Angelina  Grimke's  speech,  i,  334 
(see,  also,  Anti-Slavery). 

Slavery  sustained  by  the  North,  ii,  542. 

Slavery  and  the  war,  ii,  77. 

Slavonic  countries,  iii,  915. 

Smith,  Elizabeth  Oakes,  iii,  117,  128,  328, 
826— Massachusetts  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, at  the,  i,  253 — speech  at  Syra- 
cuse Convention,  i,  522  —  Worcester 
Convention,  at,  i,  231. 

SMITH  Gerrit,  home  of,  i,  471 — letter  to 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  i,  497;  ii,  317,  538, 
941;  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison,  i,  223,  620; 
St.  Louis  Convention,  ii,  825;  Elizabeth 
Cady  Stanton,  i,  708,  836 — speech  at 
Syracuse  National  Convention,  i,  526 — 
petition  for  woman  suffrage,  refused  to 
sign,  ii,  317. 

Smith,  Mrs.  Gerrit,  petition,  ii,  98. 

Smith,  Hannah  Whitehall,  speech  at  Phil- 
adelphia Convention,  iii,  230. 

Smith,  Julia  and  Abby,  iii,  76,  98,  328, 

336- 

Smith,  Sidney,  iii,  834. 

Snow,  Lucy  and  Lavinia,  iii,  365. 

Social  relations,  Channing's  report,  i,  233. 

Sojourner  Truth,  i,  115,  567;  ii,  193,  222, 
224,  926;  iii,  458,  531. 

Soldiers,  women  as,  ii,  1 8,  869. 

Somerville,  Mary,  i,  790 — letter  to  Mrs. 
P.  W.  Davis,  ii,  440. 

Song,  "A  Hundred  Years  Hence,"  iii,  38. 

Song,  "Kansas  Suffrage,"  ii,  934. 

Sorosis,  iii,  402,  571. 

South,  what  the,  can  do,  ii,  929. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA,  iii,  828. 

South  wick,  Thankful,  i,  341. 

Southworth,  Mrs.  E.  D.  E.  N.,  iii,  813. 

SPAIN,  iii,  901. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  i,  26. 

SPENCER,  Sarah  Andrews,  iii,  35,  66,  97, 
103 — argument  before  House  Commit- 
tee, iii,  166 — before  Senate  Judiciary 
Committee,  ii,  543  —  before  D.  C. 
Committee,  iii,  12 — delegate  Rep.  Nat. 
Convention,  iii,  26 — resolutions,  iii,  152 
— speeches,  ii,  539 — suit,  ii,  587 — Chief- 
Justice  Cartter's  opinion,  ii,  597. 

Spider-crab,  Theodore  Tilton,  ii,  93. 

Sprague,  Homer  B.,  ii,  425. 

Stanford,  Leland,  iii,  764. 


Stansfeld,  M.  P.,  James,  iii,  872 — speech, 
in,  886.' 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  and  Mrs.  J.  S.  Grif- 
fing,  »,  33- 

STANTON,  Elizabeth  Cady,  i,  61,  67,  79; 
ii,  322,  360,  361,  381,  382,  383,  391, 
417,  418,  428,  430,  456,  582;  iii,  7,  35, 
40,  195,  222,  529,  560,  630,  644,  8ll— 
Abolitionists,  and  the,  ii,  264 — address 
to  New  York  Legislature,  i,  595 — ap- 
peal to  women  of  New  York  State,  i, 
676 — appeal  to  women  of  the  Republic, 
ii,  51 — appeal  for  Woman's  Rights,  i, 
858 — argument  before  Senate  commit- 
tee, iii,  228 — "  Bloomer,"  in  a,  i,  128 — 
California  visit,  iii,  756 — call,  loyal 
women,  ii,  53 — candidate  for  Congress, 
ii.  180 — children  i,  457 — civil  rights 
bill  for  women,  ii,  541 — "copperheads," 
ii,  320 — divorce  for  drunkenness,  argu-. 
ment,  i,  485 — editorial  correspondence 
in  The  devolution,  ii,  362,  367 — • 
eulogy:  Lucretia  Mott,  i,  407 — Equal 
Rights  Association,  ii,  173,  174 — eter- 
nal punishment,  on,  iii,  1961 — Fifteenth 
Amendment,  on  the,  ii,  333 — girls  and 
boys  at  school,  on,  ii,  541 — Grant  and 
Wilson  campaign,  in,  ii,  520 — Greeley, 
Horace,  and,  ii,  287 — Hurlbut,  Judge, 
i,  39 — Kansas  campaign,  i,  200;  ii,  253, 
254,  261,  262,  263 — lecture,  "  Educa, 
tion  of  Girls,"  iii,  536— lectures  in 
Omaha,  iii,  675 — lecturing  tour,  Ohio, 
iii,  491 — Letters:  to  Akron,  O. ,  Con. 
vention,  i,  815;  to  The  Ballot  Box,  iii, 
64;  to  Cooper  Institute  Convention,  i, 
860;  to  Gerrit  Smith,  i,  839;  to  Gen. 
Hawley,  iii.  28;  to  Horace  Greeley,  i, 
735;  to  the  National  Citizen,  iii,  147; 
to  Omaha  convention,  iii,  244;  to  Sa- 
lem, O.,  convention,  i,  810:  to  Syra- 
cuse convention  i,  848;  to  Washington 
convention,  iii,  261  —  London  visit, 
1882-3,  iii,  922 — "  male  "  in  the  con- 
stitution, on  the  word,  ii,  91 — manhor.cl 
suffrage,  on,  iii,  566 — marriage  and 
divorce,  on,  i,  716,  738 — Michigan  cam- 
paign iii,  521 — "Negro's  hour,"  ii,  94 
— Newport  Con.,  ii,4O3 — Oregon,  Mo., 
visit,  iii,  609 — portrait,  i,  721 — Presi- 
dent Albany  convention,  i,  592 — Presi- 
dent Loyal  League,  made,  ii,  66 — press 
comments  on  Rochester  and  Seneca 
Falls  conventions,  her  reply  to,  i,  806 
— reception,  Sorosis,  Chicago,  iii,  571 
— reconstruction,  on,  ii,  214 — Reminis- 
cences: i,  456,  836;  iii,  922;  of  Ange- 
lina Grimke,  i,  392;  of  Paulina  Wright 
Davis,  i,  283 — resolutions  before  Con- 
gress affecting  women,  on,  ii,  92 — reso- 
lutions, Washington  convention,  ii,  542 
— sermon,  St.  Louis,  iii,  148 — Sixteenth 
Amendment,  urges  a,  ii,  350— Smith, 
Gerrit,  refusing  to  sign  petition  for 


Index. 


1009 


woman  suffrage,  on,  ii,  317 — Speeches: 
Cooper  Institute,  i,  716;  Congressional 
committee,  before,  ii,  411 ;  Furness' 
Church,  in,  iii,  35  ;  Legislature,  claim- 
ing woman's  rights,  ii,  271  ;  Milwaukee, 
iii,  641  ;  National  protection  for  Na- 
tional citizens,  iii,  80  ;  New  York  Leg- 
islature, i,  679  ;  New  York  National 
convention,  ii,  154  ;  Rochester  Conven- 
tion, iii,  117;  Rochester  Temperance 
Convention,  i,  481,  493  ;  Senate  Judi- 
ciary Committee,  before,  ii,  506 ;  suf- 
frage, question  of,  ii,  185  ;  Washington 
Convention,  ii,  495  ;  Washington  Nat. 
Convention,  ii,  348  ;  Woman's  National 
Loyal  League,  ii,  87 — testimonial  ii, 
533 — Train,  G.  F.,and  The  Revolution, 
criticism,  ii,  264 — tribute  from  Leaven- 
worth  Commercial  (Kansas),  ii,  263 — 
view  of,  an  objective,  i,  456— Wadleigh, 
Senator,  on,  iii,  93 — western  trip,  ii, 
367 — Wyoming  visit,  iii,  734. 

Stanton  Harriot,  letter  to  Nebraska  vot- 
ers, iii,  247,  933. 

Stanton,  Theodore,  iii,  262,  895    928. 

Starrelt,  Helen  Ekin,  reminiscences  Kan- 
sas campaign,  ii,  250,  348. 

Stearns,  O.  P.,  iii,  528. 

Stearns,  Sarah  Burger,  iii,  527,  649. 

Stebbins,  Catharine  A.  F.,  ii,  26,  514 — 
before  House  committee,  iii,  162 — let- 
ter to  Lucretia  Mott,  iii,  47 — vote,  at- 
tempts to,  iii.  523. 

Steck,  Amos,  iii,  714. 

Steele,  William,  iii,  319. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  reception,  iii,  98, 
830. 

Stevens,  Louisa  15.,  iii,  633. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  ii,  354,  632. 

Stevenson,  Emily  Pitts,  iii,  752. 

Stevenson,  Sarah  Hackett,  iii,  579. 

Stewart's  Home  for  Working  Women,  iii, 
420. 

Stewart,  Senator,  on  the  Pembina  Terri- 
tory bill,  ii,  548,  558-  559-  5"4,  573.  579- 

Stone,  Dr.  James  A.  B.,  address  at  St. 
I.ouis,  ii,  821;  iii,  525. 

SKIM,,  Lucy,  i,  473,  619,  626;  ii,  56; 
iii,  268,  279,  513.  722,  724,  818 — Con- 
stitutional Convention  at  Albany,  ii, 
284 — husband,  and  her,  i,  164 — hus- 
band's name,  refusing  to  take  her,  i, 
261 — Kansas,  in,  i,  2<xj — Kansas  cam- 
paign, in,  ii,  232 — letter  to  Susan  H. 
Anthony,  ii,  237,  919 — letter  to  Salem, 
O..  Convention,  i,  813 — letters  to  }•'.. 
Cady  Stanton,  ii,  234 — letter  to  The 
Una,  i,  501 — marriage  of,  under  pi"- 
test,  i,  260 — meetings  held  in  New  Jei- 
sey,  iii,  479  —  petitions,  iii,  104 — Na- 
tional Convention.  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle, i,  631 — Philadelphia  National 
Convention,  at,  i,  375— portrait,  ii.  7''1 
— report,  American  Woman  Suffrage 
64 


Association,  ii,  803  —  scripture,  on,  i, 
650  —  speeches:  Broadway  Tabernacle 
Convention,  i,  554,  565,632;  American 
Woman  Suffrage  Association  meeting 
in  Cooper  Institute,  ii.  829;  in  Stein- 
way  Hall,  ii,  811;  in  Detroit,  11,837; 
in  St.  Louis,  ii,  823,  827;  in  Washing- 
ton, ii,  858;  Cincinnati;  i,  165;  Cleve- 
land, i.  163;  Concord,  iii,  271;  Woman's 
National  Loyal  League,  ii,  64;  Worces- 
ter, i,  233  —  suffrage,  negro,  first,  on,  ii, 
383  —  Syracuse  National  Convention,  i, 
524  —  taxes,  refused  to  pay,  i,  450. 

Story,  Judge,  on  the  Constitution,  ii,  477, 
478,  588. 

Strahan,  Robert  H.,  iii,  417. 

Strong,  Rev.  A.  H.,  iii,  155  —  on  subor- 
dination of  women,  i,  787. 

Stuart,  Abby  H.  H.,  iii,  787. 

Stuart,  Mary  A.,  iii,  158,  817. 

Studwell,  Edwin  A.,  ii,  398. 

SUFFRAGE  GAINED:  Full  suffrage,  Isle  of 
Man,  iii,  870,982;  Utah  Territory,  ii, 
426,  432;  Washington  Territory,  iii,  777; 
Wyoming  Territory,  ii,  426,  432;  iii, 
730. 

SUFFRAGE  GAINED:  Municipal  stiff  race: 
Canada,  iii,  832,  England,  iii.  845;  Mad- 
ras, iii,  983;  Scotland,  iii,  Syr,  983. 

SUFFRAGE  GAINED;  School  suffrage  : 
Canada,  iii,  831;  Colorado,  iii,  718; 
Dakota,  iii,  633;  England,  iii,  850; 
Kansas,  i,  185,  iii,  701,  710;  Kentucky, 
i,  869,  iii,  821;  Massachusetts,  iii,  288; 
Michigan,  iii,  515,  530;  Minnesota,  iii, 
652.653.654;  Nebraska,  iii,  675;  New 
Hampshire,  iii,  375.  37";  New  York,  iii, 
424;  Oregon,  iii,  775;  Scotland,  iii,  851; 
Vermont,  i,  171,  iii,  304. 

Suits  (see  Trials). 

SUMNER,  Charles,  ii,  35,  8l.  168,  169  — 
ballot,  on  the,  ii,  95  —  equal  rights  t<> 
all,  ii,  322  —  Fourteenth  Amendment, 
opposed,  ii,  323  —  voted  for.  ii,  324— 
letter,  Woman's  National  Loyal  League 
anniversary,  ii.  86—  "  male."  ami  the 
word,  ii,  91  —  petition,  present  ».  undrr 
protest,  ii,  96  —  petitions,  ask^  for,  ii. 
.93  —  rebuked  by  S<  -n.it.  -r  C  '.-wan,  n  n  ; 
—  sj>cech  in  U.  S.  Senate  on  |>- 
tion  of  petition  of  the  NVcm.u! 
League,  ii,  78  —  Taxation  without  Rep- 
resentation, on,  ii,  114- 

Sunday-school  te.uhing-,  i.  786. 

Sundeiland-Clage  COBtt  S43- 

Sunderl.ind,  Mi-     II     K.,  iii,  5°4. 

Sutherland,  Julia  K   .  in.  <>. 

Swank,  Emma  I'...  i.    V'7     .k.-t.h  .-I,  i. 


Swrel,    Ada.    prllslon  agrlil. 

Swisshelm.    Jan.-    ' 
' 


-i  ;    -.SVi/M/w'i/r  4&— 

rderi  <>(    Mtinkryd"m."   i,  807- 

s|..-r.li,  Washington  I  .invention,  in.  Ot. 
S\\  I  1/1  KI  \M>.  in,  909,  911. 


IOIO 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage. 


T. 


Taney,  Justice,  ii,  639. 

Tax,  society,  anti,  iii,  413 — Susan  A. 
King,  iii,  420 — protest,  Harriet  K. 
Hunt's,  i,  259— Report  of  N.  Y.  State 
Assessors,  iii,  412  —  representation, 
without,  ii,  114.  169,  274.  475;  iii,  289, 
397 — Lucy  Stone  refused  to  pay,  i,  450. 

Taylor,  Helen,  ii,  425;  iii,  852,  923,  940. 

Taylor,  Mrs.  Mentia,  letter  to  Mrs.  P. 
W.  Davis,  ii,  438— Mrs.  P.  A.,  iii,  848. 

Taylor,  R.  B.,  in  Kansas  campaign,  ii, 
231. 

Tea,  Anti,   Leagues,  i,  202. 

Telegrapher,  Hattie  Hutchinson,  age  ten 
years,  iii,  805. 

Teller,  Willard,  iii,  715. 

TEMPERANCE  conventions :  Albany,  i, 
489 — Dayton,  Ohio,  i,  118 — Half 
World's,  i,  506 — Lawrence,  Kansas,  ii, 
231 — Pennsylvania,  i,  348 — World's,  i, 
152 — press  comments,  i,  854 — daugh- 
ters of,  i,  474 — New  York,  Brick 
Church  meeting,  i,  499 — New  York, 
Metropolitan  Hall  meeting,  i,  490 — 
New  York  Woman's  State  Society,  i, 
484 — Woman  Suffrage,  and,  ii,  819. 

TENNESSEE,  iii,  822. 

Tennessee  campaign,  Miss  Carroll,  ii,  3-9. 

Tenney,  Mrs.  R.  S. ,  letter  to  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  ii,  257. 

TEXAS,  iii,  801 — Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, iii,  801 — Legislative  action,  iii, 
802 — women  in  government  offices, 
iii,  804. 

Theological  discussion,  i,  647. 

Thirteenth  Amendment,  ii,  77,  313,  663. 

Thomas',  Mrs.  Abel  C.,  farm,  iii,  469. 

Thomas,  Julia  J.,  and  Greek  prize,  iii,  6. 

Thomas,  Mary  F.,  ii,  860 — reminiscences 
of,  i,  306 — sketch  of,  i,  314 — speech, 
Winchester,  Ind.,  convention,  i,  308. 

Thompson,  Geo. ,  speech,  i,  56. 

Thompson,  Mary  A.,  iii,  97,  775. 

Thomson,  J.  Edgar,  will  of,  iii,  468. 

Thornton,  J.  Quinn,  iii,  773. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  i,  473;  iii,  417. 

Tillotson,  Mary  A.,  iii,  103.  • 

TILTON,  Theodore,  ii,  117,376 — Beecher 
colloquy,  ii,  167 — Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment, and  the,  ii.  327 — Kansas  cam- 
paign, ii,  230  —  letter  to  American 
Woman  Suffrage  Association,  ii,  770 — 
speech  at  Nat.  Convention  in  New 
York,  ii,  154. 

Tod,  Isabella  M.,  iii,  866,  888,  938. 

Toucey,  Sinclair,  ii,  419. 

Train,  Geo.  Francis,  ii,  381,  431 — Con- 
stitutional Convention  at  Albany,  be- 
fore, ii,  284 — Kansas  campaign,  in,  ii, 
243,  254,  264. 

Tracts,  prize,  i,  379. 

TRIALS  and  Decisions,  ii,  586,  934 — Al- 


len, Jane,  case  of,  ii,  592 — Anthony, 
Susan  B.  (see  Anthony) — Ely,  Mrs.,  ii, 
671 — Bradwell,  Myra  (see  Bradwell) — 
Burnham,  Carrie,  suit,  ii,  600 — Gard- 
ner, Nannette  B.,  ii,  587 — Huntington, 
Sarah  M.  T.,  ii,  628 — Inspectors  of 
election,  ii,  691 — jury  convicts,  ii,  696 
— pardoned  by  President  Grant,  ii,  715 
— sentenced,  ii,  698 — trial,  motion  for 
new,  ii,  696 — Mansfield,  Arabella  A., 
case  of,  ii,  606 — Minor,  Virginia  L., 
ii,  715 — Chief-Justice  Waite's  opinion, 
ii,  734 — opinion  reviewed  by  Mrs. 
Gage,  ii,  742 — reviewed  by  Central  Law 
Journal,  ii,  748 — parody,  ii,  599 — 
Ricker,  Mrs.  M.  M,,  ii,  586 — Spencer, 
Sarah  Andrews,  suit,  ii,  587 — Chief- 
Justice  Cartter's  opinion,  ii,  597 — Van 
Valkenburg,  Ellen  Rand,  suit,  ii,  600 — 
Waite,  Catharine  V.,  suit,  ii,  6oi;iii, 
571 — Webster,  Sarah  E.,  ii.  587;  iii, 
571 — 5,000  women  householders  and 
Lord  Coleridge,  iii,  884. 

Truman,  James,  on  Women  in  dentistry, 
iii,  452. 

Trumbull,  Lyman,  ii,  498. 

Tudor,  Mrs.  Fenno,  reception,  iii,  197. 

TURKEY,  iii,  919. 

Turner,  Eliza  Sproat,  iii,  451. 

Turner,  Jennie,  iii,  407. 

Tyler,  Moses  Coit,  ii,  813. 

Tyler,  W.  S.,  iii,  497. 

Tyndale,  Sarah,  tribute,  i,  218. 

Tyndale,  Sharon,  ii,  371. 

u. 

UNA,  Mrs.  Paulina  Wright  Davis,  i,  46, 

246. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  i,  102. 
Underbill,  Sarah  E.,    i,   308 — sketch  of, 

i,  3*3- 

United  States  a  nation  ?  Is  the,  ii,  529. 

Updegraff,  W.  W.,  Kansas  campaign,  ii, 
250. 

Upham,  Hon.  Charles  W.,  i.  210. 

Underwood,  John  C.,  iii,  823— tribute, 
ii,  538,  640. 

UTAH,  ii,  325. 

V. 

Van  Cleve,  Charlotte  O.,  iii,  653. 

Van  Lew,  Elizabeth,  postmaster  at  Rich- 
mond, iii,  824. 

Van  Pelt,  Maggie,  journalist,  iii,  629. 

Van  Valkenburg,  Ellen  Rand,  ii,  600. 

Van  Voorhis,  John,  41,692-697. 

Vassar  College,  iii,  398- 

Vaughan,  MaryC.,  speech  on  temperance, 
i,  476. 

VERMONT,  i,  171;  m,  383— homestead 
law,  i,  172 — St.  Andrew's  letter,  iii,  384, 
389— school  suffrage,  iii,  393 — Univer- 
sity opens  to  women,  iii,  389 — woman 
suffrage  amendment,  Reed's  report,  iii, 
385 — Vermont  Waichman,  iii,  386. 


Index. 


101  I 


Vest,  Senator,  on  woman  suffrage,  iii,  199, 

203. 
Vice,  legalization  of,  i,  795,  796;  iii,  145, 

397- 

Vicksburg,  naval  attack  on,  ii,  11. 

VIRGINIA,  iii,  823 — Woman  Suffrage  As- 
sociation, iii,  823. 

Voltaire,  i,  658. 

Voris,  A.  C.,  ii,  837. 

Vote,  first  woman  to  cast  a,  ii,  586 — first 
woman  to  claim  the  right,  iii,  815 — 
Mrs.  Gage  attempted  to,  iii,  406 — 
woman  earned  her  right  to,  ii,  89 — in 
Scotland,  iii,  871 — reports  of  voting  in 
New  York,  iii  429-  -voted  with  Miss 
Anthony,  list  of,  ii,  647 — voted  in  New 
Jersey,  i,  448;  iii,  476— voting  in  1776, 
i,  33 —  persons  entitled  to,  ii,  272. 

Voted,  1867,  Lily  Maxwell,  iii,  981. 

Voters,  qualification  of,  T.  W.  Higgin- 
son's  speech,  i,  249. 

W. 

Wade,  Benjamin,  F.,  ii,  9 — letter  to  Susan 
B.  Anthony,  ii,  117;  J.  S.  Griffing,  ii, 
34 — speech,  ii,  123 — remarks  to  Anna 
Ella  Carroll,  ii,  9 — letters  to  Miss  Car- 
roll, ii,  866,  867. 

Wadsworth,  L.  A.,  iii,  352. 

Wait,  Anna  C.,  iii,  696,  709. 

Waite,  Catharine  V.,  ii,  601;  iii,  571. 

Waite,  Chas.  B. ,  iii,  569. 

Waite,  Jessie  T.,  argument  before  House 
committee,  iii,  161 — report  of  National 
Convention,  iii,  254-260. 

Waite,  M.  R.,  iii,  505 — Supreme  Court 
opinion,  ii,  734-742. 

Waldo,  Peter,  ii,  27. 

Walker,  Dr.  Mary,  ii,  20,  813;  iii,  103. 

Wall,  Sarah  E. ,  ii,  636;  iii,  310. 

Wallace,  W.  D.,  iii,  540,  966. 

Wallace,  Zerdda  G.,  iii,  536-7,  539-40, 
551 — argument  la-fort-  Small-  com.,  iii, 
155 — letter  to  S.  1!.  Anthony,  iii,  257. 

Walling,  Mrs.  M.  C.  .speech  in  U.  S.  Sin- 
ate,  ii,  327. 

Walter,  Cornelia,  iii,  303. 

War,  woman'*  patriotism  in,  ii,  I,  8639!!, 

S96-  631. 

Warn  Kale,  iii,  398. 
Warner,  Esther  1..,  iii,  693. 
Warren,  Mercy,  Otis,  i,  31;  ii,  201. 
Washington    Conventions    (set-    ('••nvm- 

tions) — (see  also  Itistrict  of  Columbia). 
Washington  l''.r,-nin^  .S'/,;/,  iii.  <.)- . 
Washington  Sunday  Cli>vnitl,\  ii,  509. 
Washington,    Gi-orgi-,    letter  to   Indies  of 

Trenton,   N.  J.,  i,  447. 
WASHINGTON  Ti-niinry,  iii,  786 — women 

enfranchised,  iii,  776. 
Wattersoii,    Henry,  ii,   861,   862;  iii,  iSa. 
Wattles,  John  O.,  i,  189. 
Wattles,  Susan  K.,  ii,  255;  iii,  6.);. 
Way,    Amanda    M.,    iii.    533— legislator 


hearing,  iii,  539 — reminiscences,  i,  306 
— sketch  of,  i,  311. 

Weber,  Helene  Marie,  i,  41 — letter  t»  M. 
A.  Spofford,  i,  825. 

Webster,  Rev.  D.  L..  i,  114. 

Webster,   Sarah   E..suit,  ii.   587 — Chief- 
Justice  Cartter's  opinion,  ii,  597. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  i,  720. 

Weld,  Angelina  Grimke,  on  organizations, 
i,  54O — speech,    Loyal   Women 
vention,  ii,   54 — speech.  Woman'*  .Vi- 
tional  Loyal  League,  ii,  60;  iii,  282. 

Weld,  Theodore,  i,  392. 

Wells,  Charlotte  Fowler,  i,  45;  ii,  435. 

Wendt,   Mathilda  F.,  iii,  405. 

Wendte,  W.  C.,  ii.  855. 

Wenthworth,  Elizabeth  R.,  iii,  643. 

Wesley,  John,  on  witchcraft,  i,  765. 

Wesley,  Susannah,  i,  790. 

Weston,  Hannah  and  Rebecca,  i,  203. 

WEST  VIRGINIA,  iii,  824. 

Wheatly,  Phillis,  colored,  i,  205. 

Wheeler,  L.  May,  iii,  659. 

Whipple,  E.  P. ,  views  of  George  Elioi.  i, 
791- 

White  Andrew  D.,  iii,  398,  528. 

While,  Bessie  II eagi-n,  pharmacy,  iii,  820. 

White,  Laura  R.,  architect,  iii,  - 

White,  Richard  Grant,  on  the  wuid  "cit- 
izen," ii,  567. 

Whitehead,    Win.   A.,  paper  on  woman 
suffrage,  i,  447. 

Whiting  Lilian,  iii,  303. 

Whiting.  N.  II..  i.  861. 

Whitman,  Sarah  Helen,  ii,  433. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  i,  83;  iii,  520. 

Wife  ownership,  i,  772. 

Wigham,  Eliza,  iii.  852. 

Wu.HorR,  Charlotte  B..  iii.  396 — organ, 
ized  Sorosis,    iii,   403 — Prcsi.U  i. 
York  City  Society,  iii,  405 — remarks  at 
Washington  Convention,  ii,  421,  424 — 

Corresponding S  •>»!  League, 

ii,  80. 

Wilbur,  IltTvcy  Backus  iii. 
Wilcox,    II. mnlton.  ii.  346;  iii,    \\i,  959. 
Wildm.m.  John  R..  iii.  457. 
Willar.l.   Eniin.i.  i.  36.  ju.. 

Willard.    Fi.in.  e*    F...  iii.    104,   578.  587. 
Willaid,  Judge  J<>»".  ' 
Will  of  Bridget  Sinn: 
Williams,  George,  iii.  774. 
Williams,  Nellie, 
Williams,   Sarah   I.angdon.  iii.  503— 7*4/ 

Ballt't-li<:v,  iii.  51. 
William*,  Senat. ir.  ii.   ) 
Willing.  Mrs.  J.   1 
Willis  (si-t-  Olyin) 

\\  ii.on.  Elisabetk  i.  i 

WiUoii.   Hannah,  in,  60,7. 
WiUoii,   He  my,  ii,    M  i.  ia8.  322. 
267. 

Winilidl.  Ch.uloi! 

.  638 — Con- 


IOI2 


History  of  Woman  Suffrage, 


ventions  (see  Conventions) — legislation, 
iii,  638 — Shole's  report,  i,  315 — report 
of  David  Noggle,  i,  867  —  married 
women,  rights  of,  iii,  638 — Milwaukee 
Female  College,  iii,  643 — State  Asso- 
ciation, iii,  645 — State  University,  iii, 
643 — statutes,  modification  of,  iii,  639 
— suffrage  amendment,  iii,  644 — tem- 
perance question,  iii,  645 — women  as 
lawyers,  iii,  648 — voters,  iii,  640. 

Wise,  Mary  E.,  ii,  869. 

Witchcraft,  i,  759,  764,  765,  766,  767, 
768,  769. 

Wives  in  Russia,  i,  773. 

Wives,  sale  of.  i,  792. 

Wizards,  i,  766. 

Wolcott,  Laura  Ross,  graduated  medical 
college  i,  389  —  organized  Wisconsin 
State  Society,  ii,  374 — sketch  of,  iii, 
638 — National  Convention,  Milwaukee, 
iii,  184. 

Wollstonecraft,  Mary,  eulogy  of,  i,  126-7 
— "  Rights  of  Women,"  i,  34. 

Wollstenholme,  Mrs.  Almy,  with  Mrs. 
Jacob  Bright,  iii,  893. 

WOMAN,  advice  of  men,  warned  against, 
ii,  268— Anglo-Saxon  laws,  i,  863— army, 
in  the,  i,  290 — bar,  admissions  to,  iii, 
3°7.  355 — British  Parliament,  in,  i,3O — 
census  enumerators,  first  appointments, 
iii,  174 — church  poll,  at  the,  i,  781 — civil 
service,  in,  iii,  306 — clinical  instruction, 
Pennsylvania  University,  iii,  448 — co- 
education, statistics,  iii,  496- — colleges, 
and  the,  ii,  541 — colleges,  in,  i,  144, 
iii,  6 — college  in  Evanston,  Illinois,  iii, 
578 — congress  organized  in  New  York, 
iii,  411 — degradation  of,  i,  791,  794 — 
— emancipation,  i,  29  —  employment 
of,  in  insane  asylums,  iii,  421  —  em- 
ployments, varied  capacity  for,  iii, 
406,  572 — excluded  as  delegates,  Anti- 
slavery  Convention,  London,  i,  60 — 
chronological  table  of  successive  steps 
in  England,  iii,  980 — history  of,  in 
three  pictures;  under  Hindoo  laws,  i, 
863:  under  Anglo-Saxon  laws,  i,  863, 
864;  under  Signs  of  the  Times,  i,  865, 
866— illiteracy  of,  iii,  372 — inventions 
by,  iii,  632 — jury,  on,  iii,  731;  list  of 
the  first  grand,  iii,  738  —  Kansas, 
of,  i,  642 — labor  performed  in  Chris- 
tian countries,  i,  792 — laborer,  un- 
paid, i,  -28  —  legal  disabilities,  re- 
moved of,  iii,  893 — legal  rights,  i,  107 
— list  of  names  of  friends  in  California, 
iii,  977-80;  list  of  names  of  friends 
in  Minnesota,  iii,  973-80  —  Loyal 
League,  ii,  3;  address  to  Abraham 
Lincoln,  ii,  67;  anniversary  of,  ii, 
80;  tetters  in  response  to  a  call  for  a 
meeting,  ii,  875;  petition,  ii,  78;  plat- 
form, ii,  891;  press  comments,  ii,  893; 
resolutions,  ii,  84;  secretary's  report,  ii, 


80 — married,  act  relative  to  rights  of,  i, 
618 — married,  laws  regarding,  iii,  291 
— married,  and  their  legal  status,  ii, 
642 — married,  property  rights  of,  iii, 
325 — marry,  will  the  coming,  iii,  723 — 
national  protection,  claim,  ii,  531 — 
naval  heroines,  ii,  21 — official  posi- 
tion, first  appointed  to,  in  New 
York,  iii,  417 — Ohio,  protest  against 
enfranchisement,  iii,  494  —  outrages, 
1880,  in  Ireland,  i,  794 — pharmacy, 

379,  820,  980 — physician,  first,  i,  260— 
physicians  in  insane  asylums,  as,  iii,  473 
— politics,  in,  ii,  277,304 — preachers,  as, 
i,   784 — professions,  in  the,  iii,  706 — 
property  rights,  i,  38,  64,  146,  256,  296, 
770 — property  rights  granted,  iii,  438 — 
public  affairs,  why  meddle  in,  i,  109 — 
revolution,  in  the,  i,  31,  201,  321,  444 
— Roman  law,  under  i,  754 — school  of 
design,    Philadelphia,    i,    390 — school 
boards,  on,  iii,  892,  981 — school  officers, 
bill  passed  New  York  Legislature,  iii, 
417;  vetoed  by  Gov.  Robinson,  iii,  418 — 
school  officers,  made  so  in  Illinois,  iii, 
575 — science   and  literature,  degraded 
in,    i,    790 — sermon    to,     Rev.    Knox 
Little's,  i,  782 — Sin,  Original,  i,  756 — 
slaves,  legislated  for  as,  i,  772 — social 
evolution  of,  iii,  226 — social  relations, 
i,  233 — sold  with  cattle  in  Pennsylvania, 
iii,    445 — soldiers,    as,    ii,    18,    889 — 
sphere,  i,   76,  93,    148,   265,  317,  522, 
660,   662,  694,  713,   716;  ii,   62,    163. 
779 — spy,  anecdote,  i,  323 — subordina- 
tion, i,  780;  Evarts  in  the  Beecher-Til- 
ton  trial  upon,  i,  789;  sermon  by  Rev. 
A.  H.  Strong,  i,  787 — Supreme  Court 
opened    to,    iii,    138;    Senator    Hoar's 
speech,  iii,  139 — torture  of,  {,26,766, 
768 — type-setters,  i,  585 — wardens,  iii, 
893 — work,  statistics,  i,  267 — work  done 
by,,  iii,  54 — work  and  wages,  i,  78,  589 
— working,  of  Boston,  ii,  389 — working, 
seats  in  shops,  iii,  433. 

WOMAN  SUFFRAGE,  (see  Suffrage  Gained); 
appeals,  i,  588,  856,  858;  ii,  168,  247,  364 
— rfrguments  in  favor  of,  ii,  349 — Bible 
argument,  ii,  374;  Bible,  and  the,  i, 

380,  535 — complaints,  1869,  the,  ii,  323 
— debate  between  Anna  Dickinson  and 
R.  L.  Collier,  iii,  567 — Democratic  Na- 
tional Convention,  letters  and  delegates, 
iii,  22 — discussion  at  Woman's  National 
Loyal  League,  ii,   59 — England,  Gen. 
Butler's  report  in,  ii,  465,  466,  467 — 
essay,  in  Westminster  /fevirw,  i,  225 — 
Equal    Rights   Association    organized, 
ii,   173 — Fifth  Avenue  conference,  ii, 
427 — Kansas,  report  of  Judiciary  Fran- 
chise Committee,  i,  194 — National  A;.- 
sociation  organized,  ii,  400;  address  to 
President  Hayes,  iii,  129:  appeal,  Mrs. 
Hooker's,    to  women    of    the   United 


Index. 


1013 


States,  ii,  485;  appedi  to  women,  Grant 
and  Wilson  Presidential  campaign,  ii, 
517;  Congressional  Committee  grant 
hearings,  iii,  75;  constitution  and  offi- 
cers, ii,  401,  iii,  955-6;  letter  to  Berlin 
Congress,  ii,  404;  delegates  to  Berlin, 
ii,  406 — New  York  and  Boston  wings, 
ii,  406 — New  York  City  society,  iii,  405 
— opponents,  iii,  570 — organ  .need  of  an, 
i,  378 — periods,  most  trying,  ii,  319 — pe- 
titionsin  many  States, one  year's  work,  i, 
869 — power  of  legislature  to  extend  suf- 
frage, iii,  959-6 — presidential  suffrage 
iii,  966 — principles,  mode  of  dissem- 
inating, i,  379 — progress  made,  ii,  905 — 
"  Fair  Play,"  from  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Chan- 
ning,  i,  6ii-Second  Decade  celebration, 
ii,  427 — Third  Decade  Celebration,  iii, 
117 — subscriptions,  ii,  923 — sympathiz- 
ers, celebrated,  iii,  233. 

ll\»nan's  Journal,  Lucy  Stone  editor,  ii, 
819,  820;  iii,  268,  274,  297,  388. 

"Woman's  Kingdom,"  Chicago  Inter- 
Ocean,  Mrs.  Harbert,  editor,  iii,  583. 

ll\»n  tin's  A'evtew,  English,  Caroline  A.sh- 
urst  Biggs,  editor,  iii,  120,  970. 

\\\>»icns  Suffrage  Journal,  Lydia  E. 
Becker,  editor,  iii,  850.  852,  88p,  981. 

Woman's  Tribune,  Mrs.  Colby,  editor,  iii, 

695. 

Wood,  Bradford  R.,  i,  500. 

\Vo«d,  Hev.  Jeremiah,  i,  690. 

Wood,  S.  N.,  i,  200 — Kansas  campaign, 
ii,  230,  232,  233,  234,  236,  250,  251, 
252,  254. 

Wo. .dull,  William,  iii,  877. 

Wondhull,  Victoria  C.,  memorial  to  Con- 
gress, ii,  443 — memorial  supported  in  a 
spri-rh  by  A.  11.  Kiddle,  ii,  448 — me- 
morial, House  majority  report,  iii,  461 
— memorial,  House  minority  report,  ii, 


464 — speech  before  Judiciary  Commit- 
tee, House  of  Representatives,  ii,  444. 

Woolson,  Abba  G.,  ii,  832. 

Wooster,  Wilder  M.,  iii,  691. 

Worden,  Mrs.,  i,  462. 

Wright,  Elizur,  letter  to  Paulina  W.Davis, 
i,  217. 

WRIGHT,  Frances,  i,  44,  52 — editor.  Free 
Enquirer,  i,  296— Owen,  Robert  Dale, 
and,  i,  293 — portrait,  i,  I — sketch  of, 
i.  35 — tribute,  ii,  429;  tribute,  Mrs. 
Rose's,  i,  692.  [310. 

Wright,  Henry  C.,  letter  to  Garrison,  i, 

WRIGHT,  Martha  C.,  i,  67,  69.  376,  429, 
462,  519,  522,  535,  744 — May  Anniver- 
sary, ii,  545 — President  Cincinnati  Con- 
vention, made,  i,  163 — President  N.  Y. 
State  Society,  i,  623;  presided,  628-31  — 
thanks  Rev,  Sam'l  Longfellow  i,  716 — 
portrait,  i,  640 — Equal  Rights  Associa- 
tion, on  the,  ii,  175 — letter  to  Pillsbury. 
ii,  240 — speech  at  Cooper  Institute  Con- 
vention, i,  689 — tribute,  ii,  582-3. 

WYOMING,  iii, 726 — act  to  protect  property 
rights  of  married  women,  iii,  728 — 
election,  first,  iii,  729 — election  under 
woman  suffrage,  first,  iii,  738 — jury, 
women  on,  iii,  731;  list  of  the  first 
grand,  iii,  738^press,  iii,  745 — school 
law,  iii,  728 — Sunday  laws  enforced, 
iii,  734 — suffrage  bill  signed  by  Gov. 
Campbell,  iii,  731 — territory  organized, 
iii,  729 — women  granted  citizenship, 
iii,  720 — woman  suffrage  act, 
lature  votes  i->  rcpc-al,  iii,  741;  bill  ve- 
toed, iii,  741  —  woman  suffrage  re- 
ipei-ted,  iii,  744. 

Y. 

Yocuin,  A.  P.,  iii,  691. 
Yount,  A.  K.,  iii,  718. 


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