Mrs. Beecher Hooker now arose and said that after the subject had been presented to her in this light she had immediately written to Myra Bradwell, who was practicing law in Chicago, for a judicial opinion. She had also invited Mrs. Bradwell to come to this convention and plead the case. Mrs. Bradwell declined on the plea of ill-health, but at the same time she sent a written opinion of the judge of the Superior Court and had presented this to Mr. Riddle, one of the ablest lawyers in the country, and, at her request, Mr. Riddle would now address the committee.
Mr. Riddle arose and said he meant to say nothing save what would bear upon the case; however, he meant to say strongly what he intensely felt, and whoever would take the pains to examine the Constitution which he held in his hands would not attempt to gainsay the facts contained therein. The right of suffrage is a natural right. The right of self-government pertains to all alike, the right to be exercised as all other rights. The right to dress is a natural right, and the right to consume food no matter how artificially prepared is another. What was necessary to bring the negro race to the enjoyment of their natural rights? It was simply to remove obstructions. Legislation can regulate the franchise but not prohibit it. Those who were content for women to vote must do it in one of two ways—either get rid of the word “male” or define the meaning of citizenship. A gifted woman has just given us an argument that can not be refuted. This change has been wrought by an amendment to the Constitution.
The speaker was interrupted by Mr. Cook, of Illinois, asking: “What clause of the Constitution would give us the right to allow Mrs. Woodhull the exercise of suffrage in New York?”
Mr. Riddle replied: “All persons who live under the Constitution are citizens of the United States; those who framed it meant citizenship. We have no half citizens.”
Mrs. Hooker arose and said this term “citizen” had not been fully defined.
Mr. Riddle proceeded to say: “If you look into the dictionaries, you will find it means an inhabitant of a city who is allowed the enjoyment of political rights. The fourteenth amendment claims that all born within the jurisdiction of the United States are citizens, and it also says no State shall make laws to abridge the privileges of citizenship. What does privilege or immunity mean? It means that New York shall not do anything to abridge the privileges.”
The speaker was again interrupted by Mr. Eldridge, of Wisconsin, asking, “Do you claim by this prohibition that the natural rights of infants must not be interfered with, as well as idiots, who must come under the law as you interpret it?”
Mrs. Hooker answered, “That State may say when I may exercise it, but not whether I may do so.”
Mrs. Hooker’s lawyer then proceeded to read from law books some very substantial authority, but the writer could not see its application to the case. He then said two citizens of two different States had a law-suit. Delaware set out to know whether she had the right to rake the oyster beds of New Jersey. In this suit the meaning of “citizen” was thoroughly and carefully discussed, but Mr. Riddle did not let us know whether the Jersey oyster beds were raked. The eloquent speaker went on to say that the right of self-government was older than any amendment to the Constitution. The right of suffrage already exists, but it is not for Congress to define the full meaning of the Constitution. The married woman’s fate is one of servitude. Her identity is lost in that of her husband. She is his servant, and as such only is known to the law. If Mrs. Riddle were killed by an accident on the railway, I could only recover damages for my servant. But, gentlemen, I leave the case in your hands after defining the word “citizen.” It is the natural person rounded and finished with political rights.
Mrs. Hooker arose and said that it was not of so much consequence when the right came. For her part she would not allow men to vote until they were twenty-five years old. The one great power that keeps a government alive is personal responsibility and personal liberty. She had heard people say that we could run our national machine alone; but here comes the foreigner with his ignorance and his ways so different from ours. When he first comes he expects to be equal with the first in the country, but he sees his neighbor living in a fine house, unaccustomed to labor, and the spirit of hatred is engendered. But at the polls, at least one day in the year, he is equal to the greatest man in the whole land, and it makes a man of him. It teaches him to think that he is helping to frame the laws under which we live. I used to think a man should be here ten or twenty years in order to understand our institutions, but now I would give him the ballot as soon as his naturalization papers could be made out; and, gentlemen, when you limit manhood, you cut your own throats. When, with God’s aid, the oak ribs were put in the Mayflower, he knew what was to be the result.