FOOTNOTES:
[111] A National Woman's Suffrage Convention will be held in Carroll Hall, Washington, D. C., on the 19th and 20th of January, 1869. All associations friendly to Woman's Rights are invited to send delegates from every State. Friends of the cause are invited to attend and take part in the discussions.
Committee of Arrangements.—Josephine S. Griffing, William Hutchinson, Lydia S. Hall, John H. Crane, Mary T. Corner, George F. Needham, James K. Wilcox.
[112] Speeches were made by Mrs. Griffing and Miss Clara Barton of Washington, Mrs. Wright and Susan B. Anthony of New York, Mr. Edward M. Davis and Mr. Robert Purvis of Pennsylvania, Dr. Charles Purvis, Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, Mr. Wilcox, Mrs. Julia Archibald, Col. Hinton and Mr. George T. Downing of Washington, Mrs. Starrett, Dr. Root and Mrs. Archibald of Kansas, Mr. Wolff of Colorado, Mrs. Kingsbury of Vineland, New Jersey, Mrs. Dr. Hathaway of Massachusetts, Mrs. Minor of Missouri, and others.
[113] The amendment as proposed by the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, extended the right of suffrage to "all citizens," which included both white and black women. At the bare thought of such an impending calamity, the more timid Republicans were filled with alarm, and the word "male" promptly inserted.
[114] A circumstance at the Woman's National Convention served to impress me profoundly with the monstrousness of slavery, and of the prejudice it created and has left behind it, which I have been waiting a convenient opportunity to tell you about. Far into the first evening of the Convention, when the debate had waxed warm between Mrs. Stanton—who opposed the admission of any more men (referring to the negroes) to the political franchise, until the present arbiters of the question were disposed to admit women also—and Mr. Downing and Dr. Purvis, of Washington, an elegant looking gentleman arose upon impulse and began to talk in his seat, but, after a little hesitancy, accepted the invitation of Mrs. Mott and Miss Anthony to take the platform. As he stood up before the audience, he appeared a tall, slender, elderly gentleman, with the white hair and other marks of years, at least not less than sixty, graced with a handsome face of the highest type, strikingly fine in character. I have seen many nations and conditions of people, and I do not fear to say with some regard for my reputation as an observer—that I believe it one of the most benevolent and exalted faces—one of the most elevated and least mixed with the animal and earthly alloys of our humanity, that adorn the whole globe. He spoke but a few words. They were all of the character of the generous impulse upon which he rose. In his gratitude for what those noble women had done for the colored race, with which he was identified, he was willing to wait for the ballot for himself, his sons, and his race, until women were permitted to enjoy it. The speaker was Robert Purvis, of Philadelphia, Dr. Purvis's father. By the gas light of the hall, he not only appeared to be a white man, but a light complexioned white man. It may be that he has one thirty-second—possibly one-sixteenth—negro blood in his veins. There is so little in effect, that the whole make-up of the man is after the highest pattern of white men. Besides—to descend a little—Mr. Purvis is a gentleman of wealth and culture, and surrounds his family with all the gratifications of the intellectual, esthetic and moral desires, and carefully developed his children at home and at the best schools into which they could gain admission.—Correspondence of the Denver News.
[115] Resolved, That governments among men have hitherto signally failed, their history being but a series of revolutions, bloodshed, and desolation.
Resolved, That a democracy based on a republicanism which proscribes and disfranchises one part of the citizens for their sex, and another for their color, is a contradiction in terms more offensive and harder to be borne than despotism itself, under its true name, and vastly more dangerous by its seductive influence to human well-being.
Resolved, That we demand, as the only assurance of national perpetuity and peace, as well as a measure of Justice and right, that in the reconstruction of the Government suffrage shall be based on loyalty and intelligence, and nowhere be limited by odious distinctions on account of color, or sex.
Resolved, That we earnestly recommend to the friends of equal suffrage in all the States to call a convention at their respective capitals during the sessions of their Legislatures, and that committees be appointed to memorialize those bodies on the subject of suffrage alike impartial for men and women, and that as far as possible able and earnest women obtain a hearing before them, to urge the necessity and justice of their claim.
Resolved, That we denounce the proposition now pending in Congress to abolish the elective franchise in the District of Columbia, as it tends to make the disfranchisement of the 25,000 women of the District, and the lately enfranchised colored men perpetual.
Resolved, That in demanding the ballot for the disfranchised classes, we do not overlook the logical fact of the right to be voted for; and we know no reason why a colored man should be excluded from a seat in Congress, or any woman either, who possesses the suitable capabilities, and has been duly elected.
Resolved, That we demand of the Government, and of the public also, that women and colored people shall choose their own occupations, and be paid always equally with men for equal work.
Resolved, That a man's government is worse than a white man's government, because, in proportion as you increase the tyrants, you make the condition of the disfranchised class more hopeless and degraded.
Resolved, That as the partisan cry of a white man's government created the antagonism between the Irishman and the negro, culminating in those fearful riots in 1863, so the Republican cry of manhood suffrage creates the same antagonism between the negro and the woman, and must result, especially in the Southern States, in greater injustice toward woman.
[116] ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN EQUAL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION.
The American Equal Rights Association will hold its Anniversary in New York, at Steinway Hall, Wednesday and Thursday, May 12th and 13th, and in Brooklyn, Academy of Music, on Friday, the 14th.
After a century of discussion on the rights of citizens in a republic, and the gradual extension of suffrage, without property or educational qualifications, to all white men, the thought of the nation has turned for the last thirty years to negroes and women.
And in the enfranchisement of black men by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution, the Congress of the United States has now virtually established on this continent an aristocracy of sex; an aristocracy hitherto unknown in the history of nations.
With every type and shade of manhood thus exalted above their heads, there never was a time when all women, rich and poor, white and black, native and foreign, should be so wide awake to the degradation of their position, and so persistent in their demands to be recognized in the government.
Woman's enfranchisement is now a practical question in England and the United States. With bills before Parliament, Congress, and all our State Legislatures—with such able champions as John Stuart Mill and George William Curtis, woman need but speak the word to secure her political freedom to-day.
We sincerely hope that in the coming National Anniversary every State and Territory, East and West, North and South, will be represented. We invite delegates, too, from all those countries in the Old World where women are demanding their political rights.
Let there be a grand gathering in the metropolis of the nation, that Republicans and Democrats may alike understand, that with the women of this country lies a political power in the future, that both parties would do well to respect.
The following speakers from the several States are pledged: Anna E. Dickinson, Frederick Douglass, Mary A. Livermore, Madam Anneke, Lillie Peckham, Phoebe Couzins, M. H. Brinkerhoff, Mrs. Frances McKinley, Amelia Bloomer, Olive Logan, Mrs. E. Oakes Smith, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Henry Ward Beecher, Olympia Brown, Robert Purvis, Josephine S. Griffing, Lucy Stone, Ernestine L. Rose, Susan B. Anthony, Theodore Tilton, Rev. O. B. Frothingham.
Lucretia Mott, President.
Vice-Presidents, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher, Martha C. Wright, Frances D. Gage, New York; Olympia Brown, Massachusetts; Elizabeth B. Chase, Rhode Island; Charles Prince, Connecticut; Robert Purvis, Pennsylvania; Antoinette B. Blackwell, New Jersey; Josephine S. Griffing, Washington, D. C.; Thomas Garrett, Delaware; Stephen H. Camp, Ohio; Euphemia Cochrane, Michigan; Mary A. Livermore, Illinois; Mrs. I. H. Sturgeon, Missouri; Amelia Bloomer, Iowa; Mary A. Starrett, Kansas; Virginia Penny, Kentucky.
Corresponding Secretary, Mary E. Gage.
Recording Secretaries, Henry B. Blackwell, Harriet Purvis.
Treasurer, John J. Merritt.
Executive Committee, Lucy Stone, Edward S. Bunker, Elizabeth R. Tilton, Ernestine L. Rose, Robert J. Johnston, Edwin A. Studwell, Anna Cromwell Field, Susan B. Anthony, Theodore Tilton, Margaret E. Winchester, Abby Hutchinson Patton, Oliver Johnson, Mrs. Horace Greeley, Abby Hopper Gibbons, Elizabeth Smith Miller.
[117] See Appendix.
[118] On the platform were seated Ernestine L. Rose, of New York; Mary A. Livermore, of Chicago; Phoebe Couzins, of St. Louis; Lillie Peckham, of Milwaukee; Madam Anneke, of Milwaukee; Madam de Hericourt, of Chicago; Mrs. M. Joslyn Gage, of Syracuse; Frederick Douglass; Lucy Stone, of New Jersey; Olive Logan, of New York; Josephine Griffing, of Washington; Mrs. Paulina W. Davis; Mrs. Abby H. Patton; Mrs. Kate N. Doggett; Eleanor Kirk; Mrs. Bachelder, of Boston; Mrs. Mary Macdonald, of Mount Vernon; Rev. Mrs. Hanaford; Rev. Antoinette L. Brown Blackwell, of New Jersey; Mrs. Jennette Brown Heath, of Kansas; Mrs. Mary Newman, of Binghamton, N.Y.; Mrs. Mathilde Wendt, of New York; Andrew Jackson Davis; Mary F. Davis; Mrs. Caroline Morey Holmes, of Union Village, New York; Mrs. Phelps, of the Woman's Bureau, New York; Senator Pomeroy; Mrs. Longley, of Cincinnati; Mrs. Amelia Bloomer, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Lizzie Boynton, of Ohio; Mary A. Gage, of Brooklyn; Mrs. Sarah Norton, of the New York Working-Women's Association, and others.
The following committees, on motion of Miss Susan B. Anthony, were appointed by the Chair: Committee on Nominations—Edwin S. Bunker, Lydia Mott, Edwin A. Studwell, Abby H. Gibbons, Lucy Stone, Charles C. Burleigh, and Lillie Peckham. Committee on Resolutions—Ernestine L. Rose, Henry B. Blackwell, Anna C. Field, Mary A. Livermore, S. S. Foster, Josephine S. Griffing, Madam Anneke, Madam Hericourt, and Phebe A. Hanaford. Committee on Finance—Susan B. Anthony, Anna C. Field, Mary A. Gage, and R. J. Johnston.
[119] President:—Lucretia Mott.
Vice-Presidents at Large:—Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Ernestine L. Rose.
Vice-Presidents for the States:—John Neal, Maine; Armenia S. White, New Hampshire; James Hutchinson, Jr., Vermont; William Lloyd Garrison, Julia Ward Howe, Massachusetts; Elizabeth B. Chase, Rhode Island; Isabella B. Hooker, Connecticut; Henry Ward Beecher, Frederick Douglass, Martha C. Wright, New York; Portia Gage, New Jersey; Robert Purvis, Pennsylvania; Mary A. Livermore, Illinois; George W. Julian, Indiana; Benjamin F. Wade, Ohio; Gilbert Haven, Michigan; Rev. A. L. Lindsley, Oregon; Joseph H. Moore, California; Hon. J. Nye, Nevada; Hon. A. P. K. Safford, Arizona; Hon. James H. Ashley, Montana; Josephine S. Griffing, District of Columbia; Thomas Garrett, Delaware; Ellen M. Harris, Maryland; John C. Underwood, Virginia; Mrs. J. K. Miller, North Carolina; Mrs. Pillsbury, South Carolina; Elizabeth Wright, Texas; Mrs. Dr. Hawkes, Florida; Hon. Guy Wines, Tennessee; Mrs. Francis Minor, Missouri; Hon. Charles Robinson, Kansas; Governor Fairchild and Madam Anneke, Wisconsin; Mrs. Harriet Bishop, Minnesota; Hon. Mr. Loughridge, Iowa.
Executive Committee:—-Elizabeth R. Tilton, Lucy Stone, Edwin Studwell, Susan B. Anthony, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Thomas W. Higginson, Anna C. Field, Edward S. Bunker, Abby Hutchinson Patton, Oliver Johnson, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Margaret E. Winchester, Edward Cromwell, Robert J. Johnston, Mary A. Davis.
Corresponding Secretaries:—Mary A. Gage, Harriet Purvis, Henry B. Blackwell.
Treasurer:—John J. Merritt.
[120] Resolved, That the extension of suffrage to woman is essential to the public safety and to the establishment and permanence of free institutions; that the admission of woman to political recognition in our national reconstruction is as imperative as the admission of any particular class of men.
Resolved, That as woman, in private life, in the partnership of marriage, is now the conservator of private morals, so woman in public life, in the partnership of a republican State, based upon Universal suffrage, will become the conservator of public morals.
Resolved, That the petitions of more than 200,000 women to Congress and to their State Legislature during the past winter, are expressions of popular sympathy and approval, everywhere throughout the land, and ought to silence the cavil of our opponents that "women do not want to vote."
Resolved, That while we heartily approve of the Fifteenth Amendment, extending suffrage to men, without distinction of race, we nevertheless feel profound regret that Congress has not submitted a parallel amendment for the enfranchisement of women.
Resolved, That any party professing to be democratic in spirit or republican in principle, which opposes or ignores the political rights of woman, is false to its professions, short-sighted in its policy, and unworthy of the confidence of the friends of impartial liberty.
Resolved, That we hail the report of the Joint Special Committee, just rendered to the Massachusetts Legislature, in favor of woman suffrage, as a fresh evidence of the growth of public sentiment and we earnestly hope that Massachusetts, by promptly submitting the question to a vote of her people, will maintain her historic pre-eminence in the cause of human liberty.
Resolved, That the thanks of the Convention are due to the Hon. George W. Julian in the House of Representatives, and to the Hon. Henry Wilson and the Hon. S. C. Pomeroy In the Senate of the United States, for their recent active efforts to secure suffrage for woman.
Resolved, That we recommend the men and women of every Ward, Town, County, and State, to form local Associations for creating and organizing public sentiment in favor of Suffrage for Woman, and to take every possible practical means to effect her enfranchisement.
[121] 1st. That we form a League of all women claiming their rights, both in America and Europe.
2d. The aim of this League, which shall be called the "Universal League for Woman's Rights and Universal Peace," is to extinguish prejudice between nations, to create a common interest through the influence of woman, in order to substitute the reign of humanity for the divisions and hatred and causes of war, and to give aid to the women of all nations in securing their rights.
3d. That in every country Emancipation Societies shall be organized, that a National Union may be formed which shall be in constant communication with other countries by means of journals, pamphlets, and books.
4th. That every year a General Assembly of delegates from every country shall meet in one of the capitals by turn. These capitals might for the present be Washington, Paris, London, Florence, and one of the central cities of Germany.
5th. That at the stated meetings of the League there shall be an exhibition of works of art by women.
6th. That, in traveling, women should everywhere find friendship and aid in pursuing the end which they propose. Women, being sisters and daughters in the ranks of humanity, must feel themselves at home with their sisters of all nations. Among us there can be no foreigners, since we are not citizens.
[122] E. S. Bunker, Mrs. E. R. Tilton, Mrs. A. Field, Rev. J. W. Chadwick, J. J. Merritt and Mrs. E. A. Studwell.
[123] The Woman's Bureau was located at No. 49 East Twenty-third Street, owned by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Phelps. Handsomely furnished apartments were rented to the proprietor of The Revolution, where much of the editorial work of that paper was done. Meetings were held in the spacious parlors every week, where Mrs. Phelps also gave many pleasant receptions, breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners. It was a kind of ladies' exchange, where reformers were sure to meet each other. These pleasant rooms in a fashionable part of the city gave a fresh impetus to our cause, and the regular meetings, seemingly so novel and recherché, called out several new speakers. This was the school where Lilie Devereux Blake, Dr. Clemence Lozier, Isabella Beecher Hooker, and others made their first attempts at oratory.
[124] In The Revolution of May 20th we find the following:
National Woman's Suffrage Association.—This organization was formed at the reunion held at the Woman's Bureau at the close of the Convention in New York. Delegates from nineteen States, including California and Washington Territory, were present on the occasion, and all felt the importance of an organization distinctively for Woman's Suffrage, in view of the fact that a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution to secure this is now before the people. The Association has held several meetings to plan the work for the coming year. Committees are in correspondence with friends in the several States to complete the list of officers.
President.—Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Vice-Presidents.—Elizabeth B. Phelps, New York; Anna E. Dickinson, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Kate N. Doggett, Illinois; Madam Anneke, Wisconsin; Mrs. Lucy Elmes, Connecticut; Mrs. Senator Henderson, Missouri; Mattie Griffith Brown, Massachusetts; Mrs. Nicholas Smith, Kansas; Lucy A. Snow, Maine; Elizabeth B. Schenck, California; Josephine S. Griffing, D.C.; Paulina W. Davis, Rhode Island; Miss Phoebe W. Couzins, Missouri. Corresponding Secretaries.—Mrs. Laura Curtis Bullard, Ida Greeley, Adelaide Hallock. Recording Secretaries.—Abby Burton Crosby, Sarah E. Fuller. Treasurer.—Elizabeth Smith Miller. Executive Committee.—Ernestine L. Rose, Charlotte B. Wilbour, Mathilde F. Wendt, Mary F. Gilbert, Susan B. Anthony. Advisory Counsel.—Matilda Joslyn Gage, New York; Mrs. Francis Minor, Missouri; Adeline Thompson, Pennsylvania; Mrs. M. B. Longley, Ohio; Mrs. Dr. J. P. Root, Kansas; Lilie Peckham, Wisconsin.
Constitution—Article 1. This organization shall be called the National Woman Suffrage Association.
Article 2. Its object shall be to secure the Ballot to the women of the nation on equal terms with men.
Article 3. Any citizen of the United States favoring this object, shall, by the payment of the sum of one dollar annually into the treasury, be considered a member of the Association, and no other shall be entitled to vote in its deliberations.
Article 4. The officers of the Association shall be a President, a Vice-President from each of the States and Territories, Corresponding and Recording Secretaries, Treasurer, an Executive Committee of not less than five nor more than nine members, located in New York City, and an Advisory Counsel of one person from each State and Territory, who shall be members of the National Executive Committee. The officers shall be chosen at each annual meeting of the Association.
Article 5. Any Woman's Suffrage Association may become auxiliary to the National Association by its officers becoming members of the Parent Association and sending an annual contribution of not less than twenty-five dollars.
Petition for Women Suffrage.—The following Petition was adopted by the National Woman Suffrage Association at their meeting held at the Woman's Bureau, June 1, 1869:
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The undersigned men and women of the United States ask for the prompt passage by your Honorable Bodies of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, to be submitted to the Legislatures of the several States for ratification, which shall secure to all citizens the right of suffrage without distinction of sex.
The Revolution of May 27, 1869, said: "National Woman Suffrage Association.—It is with great pleasure that we announce that Anna E. Dickinson will deliver the inaugural address of the new National Woman Suffrage movement at the Cooper Institute to-morrow (Friday) evening at eight o'clock, also that Miss Dickinson consents to represent Pennsylvania in that Association as its Vice-President. The title of Anna Dickinson's lecture is "Nothing Unreasonable."
Chicago, Illinois.
Dear Miss Anthony: As to the new Society, God bless and speed it. Write me down for anything in which I can serve it. I feel like "a new hand," but I am not so dull but I can learn. Please put my name on your list of members, and also on your list of subscribers.
Kate N. Doggett.
With entire sympathy,
Manhattan, Kansas, June 3, 1869.
I shall be indeed proud to represent Kansas in the new National Woman Suffrage Association, whose formation meets my hearty approval. Definiteness of purpose is always conducive to success, and I think it would be well now to concentrate all our efforts upon the one idea of "Suffrage for Women." You may rely upon me to do whatever lies within my power and ability to further the cause.
Mary A. Humphrey.
Yours truly,
[125] National Woman Suffrage Convention at Newport, R.I.—A Woman Suffrage Convention will be held in the Academy of Music at Newport, R.I., on Wednesday and Thursday the 25th and 26th days of August next. The success attending the recent gathering at Saratoga warrants the most sanguine hopes and expectations from this also. The intense interest now everywhere felt on the great question renders all appeal for a full attendance unnecessary. Among the speakers will be Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mrs. Paulina Wright Davis, Mrs. Celia Burleigh, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Mrs. Wilbour, and Miss Susan B. Anthony. The Misses Alice and Phoebe Cary, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, Mrs. E. H. Bullard, and many other of the most eminent women of the country will be in attendance. Names of other speakers will be announced hereafter.
In behalf of the National Woman Suffrage Association.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, President.
A. L. Norton, Paulina W. Davis, Advisory Counsel for the State of Rhode Island.
London, July 18, 1869.
Mrs. President and Members of the Woman's National Suffrage Association:
I send an account of the first woman suffrage meeting ever held in London. But if we may judge anything of the prospects of the movement from the list of men and women who have interested themselves in the cause, it will not be the last. When such men as John Stuart Mill, Charles Kingsley, Prof. Newman, and their peers, put the shoulder to the wheel, a cause is bound to move on and crush all obstacles in the way of its progress. No old stumbling blocks of prejudice, or deep ruts of conventionality can impede the onward movement. As in America, I find that intellect, genius, wealth, and fashion even, are beginning in England to fall into the ranks and push on the woman suffrage question. Miss Frances Power Cobbe writes me: "The uprising of a sex throughout the civilized world, is certainly an unique fact in history, and can hardly fail of some important results."
With the confident expectation that her prophecy will find a speedy and perhaps grander fulfillment than she or any of us dream of now, I remain yours, respectfully,
Laura C. Bullard, Cor. Sec'y N. W. S. Association.