The ladies then shook hands with each of these gentlemen, and added a few words of personal thanks, after which the committee adjourned.
That the position in regard to the rights of women under the XIV. and XV. Amendments was still maintained is shown in the call[144] and resolutions[145] as well as the speeches in the three days' convention held in Lincoln Hall, Washington, in January, 1872.
One of the interesting episodes of this convention was the invitation extended by the Association to certain non-believers to appear in open session, and meet the champions of the cause in argument. Mrs. Gage wrote an invitation[146] to Mrs. Dahlgren, which she most courteously declined.[147] The idea was suggested to Mrs. Gage by the memorial which Mrs. General Sherman and Mrs. Admiral Dahlgren had presented to the Senate of the United States. Their petition was as follows:
TO THE U. S. SENATE AGAINST WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
We, the undersigned, do hereby appeal to your honorable body, and desire respectfully to enter our protest against an extension of suffrage to women; and in the firm belief that our petition represents the sober convictions of the majority of the women of the country. Although we shrink from the notoriety of the public eye, yet we are too deeply and painfully impressed by the grave perils which threaten our peace and happiness in these proposed changes in our civil and political rights, longer to remain silent.
Because, Holy Scripture inculcates a different, and for us higher, sphere apart from public life.
Because, as women, we find a full measure of duties, cares, and responsibilities devolving upon us, and we are therefore unwilling to bear other and heavier burdens, and those unsuited to our physical organization.
Because, we hold that an extension of suffrage would be adverse to the interests of the workingwomen of the country, with whom we heartily sympathize.
Because, these changes must introduce a fruitful element of discord in the existing marriage relation, which would tend to the infinite detriment of children, and increase the already alarming prevalence of divorce throughout the land.
Because, no general law, affecting the condition of all women, should be framed to meet exceptional discontent.
For these, and many more reasons, do we beg of your wisdom that no law extending suffrage to women may be passed, as the passage of such a law would be fraught with danger so grave to the general order of the country.
[Signed by Mrs. General Sherman, Mrs. Admiral Dahlgren, and other ladies to the number of 1,000.]
Mrs. Dahlgren presented a form of XVI. Amendment as follows:
SHERMAN-DAHLGREN XVI. AMENDMENT.
Congress shall have power to, and shall pass laws which shall be uniform throughout the United States.
To regulate the transfer and descent of all kinds of property.
To regulate marriages and the registration of the same, and the registration of births.
To regulate the right of dower and all rights and obligations of married persons.
To regulate divorces and to grant alimony, but no divorces a vinculo matrimonii shall be granted, except for the cause of adultery, and in such case the offending party shall not have the privilege of marrying during the lifetime of the offended party.
In her opening remarks Mrs Stanton said:
This is the fourth convention we have held in Washington, and the effect can hardly be estimated in the education of the American people toward woman suffrage. I feel more anxious about how women will vote than in their speedy enfranchisement. So many important political questions are seen in the horizon that woman's influence is needed to guide safely through all storms the ship of state. We propose to change our tactics. Instead of petitioning Congress for our rights we propose to settle the question before the courts, unless Congress gives us the declaratory act this winter, which I think they will. We have reasoned for twenty-five years, and we now propose to take our rights under the Constitution as it is. The people are beginning already to discuss the fitting celebration for our centennial anniversary. No grander step could mark that great national event than to extend the right of suffrage to one half the citizens of our republic.
The following letter was read at the morning session:
Brooklyn, January 1, 1872.
My Dear Madam: Your letter of December 30th, in which you invite me to take part in the Washington convention in behalf of woman's suffrage, is duly received.
I am engaged during the whole week with lectures in Massachusetts and Maine. I can not say that I am so sanguine of the immediate or new admission of women to the right of suffrage. But of its ultimate accomplishment I have not a doubt, since justice and expediency combine in requiring it. That manhood is, on the whole, made better and stronger by a direct participation in the duties, and responsibilities of active citizenship, notwithstanding incidental evils, is becoming the sentiment of the civilized world; nor is there any reason to doubt that, in spite of temporary and incidental evils, the same advantages would accrue to womanhood. In every wise and Christian movement for the education and enfranchisement of woman I hope always to be in sympathy. I am, respectfully, yours,
Henry Ward Beecher.