Boston, August 5, 1869.
Many friends of the cause of woman suffrage desire that its interests may be promoted by the assembling and action of a convention devised on a truly National and representative basis for the organization of an American Woman Suffrage Association.
Without depreciating the value of Associations already existing, it is yet deemed that an organization at once more comprehensive and more widely representative than any of these is urgently called for. In this view, the Executive Committee of the New England Woman Suffrage Association has appointed the undersigned a Committee of Correspondence to confer by letter with the friends of woman suffrage throughout the country on the subject of the proposed convention.
We ask to hear from you in reply, at your earliest convenience. Our present plan is that the authority of the convention shall be vested in delegates, to be chosen and accredited by the Woman Suffrage Associations existing, or about to be formed, in the several States of the Union. The number of delegates to be sent by each Association and the precise time of the meeting of the convention can be determined as soon as we shall have received such answers to our present application as shall assure us of an active and generous co-operation in the measure proposed, on the part of the addressed.
Lucy Stone, Caroline M. Severance, T. W. Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Geo. H. Vibbert.
| Lucy Stone, | Caroline M. Severance, |
| T. W. Higginson, | Julia Ward Howe, |
| Geo. H. Vibbert. | |
Soon after, the following call was issued:
The undersigned, being convinced of the necessity for an American Woman Suffrage Association, which shall embody the deliberate action of the State organizations, and shall carry with it their united weight, do hereby respectfully invite such organizations to be represented in a Delegate Convention, to be held at Cleveland, Ohio, November 24th and 25th, a.d., 1869.
The proposed basis of this Convention is as follows:
The delegates appointed by existing State organizations shall be admitted, provided their number does not exceed, in each case, that of the Congressional delegation of the State. Should it fall short of that number, additional delegates may be admitted from local organizations, or from no organization whatever, provided the applicants be actual residents of the States they represent. But no votes shall be counted in the Convention except of those actually admitted as delegates. (Signed)
John Neal, Maine; Nathaniel White, Armenia S. White, William T. Savage, New Hampshire; James Hutchinson, Jr., Vermont; William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, David Lee Child, George F. Hoar, Julia Ward Howe, Gilbert Haven, Caroline M. Severance, James Freeman Clarke, Abby Kelly Foster, Stephen S. Foster, Frank B. Sanborn, Phebe A. Hanaford, Massachusetts; Elizabeth B. Chase, T. W. Higginson, Rowland G. Hazard, Rhode Island; H. M. Rogers, Seth Rogers, Marianna Stanton, Connecticut; George William Curtis, Lydia Mott, Henry Ward Beecher, Frances D. Gage, Samuel J. May, Celia Burleigh, W. H. Burleigh, Aaron M. Powell, Anna C. Field, Gerrit Smith, E. S. Bunker, New York; Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, John Gage, Portia Gage, Antoinette B. Blackwell, A. J. Davis, Mary F. Davis, New Jersey; Mary Grew, Pennsylvania; Thomas Garret, Fielder Israel, Delaware; Hannah M. Tracy Cutler, A. J. Boyer, Margaret V. Longley, J. J. Belleville, Miriam M. Cole, S. Bolton, Ohio; Amanda Way, George W. Julian, Laura Giddings Julian, Lizzie M. Boynton, Indiana; Mary A. Livermore, C. B. Waite, Myra Bradwell, James B. Bradwell, Sharon Tyndale, J. P. Weston, Robert Collyer, Joseph Haven, Illinois; Moses Coit Tyler, James A. B. Stone, Mrs. H. L. Stone, Michigan; Lilie Peckham, Augusta J. Chapin, Wisconsin; Amelia Bloomer, Iowa; Mrs. S. B. Stearns, Minnesota; Charles Robinson, Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols, John Ekin, D.D., J. P. Root, Kansas; Mrs. W. T. Hazard, Isaac H. Sturgeon, Mrs. Beverly Allen, James E. Yeatman, Mary E. Beede, J. C. Orrick, Mrs. George D. Hall, Missouri; Guy W. Wines, Charles J. Woodbury, Tennessee; Mary Atkins Lynch, Louisiana; Elizabeth C. Wright, Texas; Grace Greenwood, Dist. Columbia; A. K. Safford, Arizona; J. A. Brewster, California: Hon. G. C. Jones, Dowagiac, Hon. William S. Farmer, Eau Claire, Hon. T. W. Ferry, of Grand Haven; Hon. S. H. Blackman, Paw Paw, Rev. J. Straub, Lansing, and S. H. Brigham, editor of the Lansing Republican, Michigan; Mrs. Austin Adams, and Edna T. Snell, of Dubuque, Miss Mattie E. Griffiths, Prof. and Mrs. Belle Mansfield, Mt. Pleasant, T. M. Mills, Ed. Des Moines State Register, Ex-Gov. and Mrs. B. F. Gue, and Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy, Ft. Dodge, Iowa; Mrs. J. C. Burbank, Mrs. Smith (State Librarian), Rev. J. Marvin, and Capt. Russell Blakely, of St. Paul, Mrs. Elliott, of Minneapolis, Mr. and Mrs. A. Knight, of St. Peter, Minnesota; Rev. H. Eddy, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Mrs. E. O. G. Willard, of Chicago, Illinois.
The first American Woman Suffrage Convention assembled at Case Hall, Cleveland, O., on Wednesday morning, November 24th. The attendance from the city was very large; the vast hall being well filled, both floor and balcony. The Convention was called to order by Mrs. Lucy Stone. Twenty-one States were represented—eighteen by regularly accredited delegates; thus making it truly National. Great harmony pervaded all the deliberations of the Committees and the discussions of the Convention.
On motion of F. B. Sanborn, of Massachusetts, Judge J. B. Bradwell, of Chicago, was chosen temporary Chairman, and on motion of Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Mary F. Davis, of New Jersey, was elected temporary Secretary. Upon taking the chair, Judge Bradwell returned his thanks for the honor conferred upon him. It was unnecessary for him to speak at length in regard to the object of the meeting; it had been stated in the call read by Mrs. Stone. He said they were met for the formation of an American Woman Suffrage Association, which shall be represented in every State of this great Nation; and not only every State, but every city, town, and county from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. On motion of Mr. Sanborn a Committee on Credentials[180] was appointed by the President. All State delegations were requested to report their names to the Committee, and also to fill any vacancies which might exist, if persons were present from their respective States.
Pending the report of the Committee on Credentials, Mrs. Lucy Stone presented letters from several persons[181] who had been unable to attend the Convention, but desired to give expression to their sympathy with its object. In a few preliminary remarks she expressed the pleasure she felt at the sight of such a large and intelligent audience at the first session of the Convention, which many had supposed would be but merely a business meeting. It was an evidence of the increasing interest which is being felt upon the subject of woman suffrage. She alluded to the Convention held in this city sixteen years ago, and was glad to see several familiar faces which were present on that occasion. Mrs. H. M. Tracy Cutler, of Cleveland, delivered an eloquent appeal for women.
Judge Bradwell said that under the laws in some States the right of woman to a certain degree of citizenship is acknowledged. Foreign-born women may be naturalized, and even without the consent of their husbands. In all probability Vermont will soon confer upon woman the right of suffrage. In that State the women considerably outnumber the men, and if some of them should move to the West, they might say, "We voted and were citizens in Vermont, and, under the XIV. Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, we claim the right to vote here."
Mrs. C. G. Ames, of California, alluded to a case which occurred in San Francisco. A woman was informed that she might be protected through the courtesy of the consul, but that she had no claim to protection as a citizen of the Government.
The Committee on Credentials presented the names of delegates[182] who were already present as entitled to seats in the Convention. Other names were added as they were reported to the Convention during the session.
There were also in attendance persons from Virginia, Mississippi, and Nebraska, who conferred with the Chairman of the Committee on credentials with reference to their admission to the body of delegates. They were all bona fide residents in the States they represented, but they seemed so undecided in reference to the question of woman suffrage, finding it hardly possible to tell whether they were for it or against it, that it was thought not best for them to propose themselves as self-constituted delegates. Near the close of the Convention, those from Nebraska and Virginia sought the Chairman of the Committee to say that if another convention were to be held, they could heartily and conscientiously take seats as delegates; for if they had any doubts as to the justice and utility of woman suffrage in the outset, they had been wholly removed by the arguments to which they had listened. Twenty-one States were thus represented in the Convention, making it truly National.
On motion of Mr. Blackwell, the President was authorized to appoint a committee,[183] consisting of one from each State on the permanent organization of the Convention. Pending the announcement of the committee, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, of Boston, delivered an address to the Convention, replete with the noblest wisdom and the soundest morality. Her utterance was both prophetic and hortatory. She cautioned women not to do injustice to others, while seeking justice for themselves; advised them that they must prepare for the new responsibilities they coveted; and that they would better learn to command, by learning well how to serve. She closed her grand and inspiring address with this sentence: "Oh! of all the names given to us to warn off the demon and invoke the angel, let us hold fast to this word—service!"
The Convention reassembled at two o'clock, the hall being filled in every part. Before proceeding to business, the President invited to seats upon the platform, Stephen S. Foster, Miss Susan B. Anthony, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Andrew Jackson Davis, Mrs. Leland, of Wisconsin; Mr. and Mrs. John Gage, of Vineland, New Jersey, all of whom he designated as faithful veteran laborers in the good cause. He also invited all officers of Woman Suffrage Associations, members of the press and the clergy without distinction of sex or color.
The proceedings were opened with an impressive prayer by Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, of New Jersey. The Committee on Permanent Organization reported the list of officers[184] of the Convention, which was adopted. The announcement of the name of T. W. Higginson as President was received with loud applause. On taking the Chair, he spoke substantially as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen and Fellow Citizens: I feel truly grateful to the members of this Convention for the honor they have done me by choosing me for this responsible position. I take it not as a personal compliment to myself, but as a graceful act of courtesy on the part of the West, which is so largely represented, to the East, which is but slightly represented—perhaps our California friends would rather hear us say from the great central Keystone States of the Nation, to the little border States on the Atlantic coast. It is eminently fit and proper that this Convention should select for its place of meeting the great State of Ohio, which takes the lead in the woman suffrage movement, as well as in other good things. It was the first to organize a State Woman Suffrage Association, and the first in which a committee of the Legislature recommended extending to woman the right of suffrage. It is befitting, then, that this Convention should desire Ohio as the stepping stone from which an American Suffrage Association shall rise into existence.
My own State is but a small one. At the commencement of the war it was hardly thought worth while to attempt to raise troops in Rhode Island, for if they should be able to muster a regiment it would be necessary to go out of the State to find room to drill. But regiments were raised and they stood side by side with those of Ohio during the great struggle, and your record is theirs. Rhode Island, too, stands shoulder to shoulder with Ohio in the cause of woman suffrage. The call for this Convention was signed by the representatives of twenty-five States; that for, the Woman's Rights Convention, in 1850, was signed by those of but six, yet Ohio and Rhode Island were two of that number. I do not blush at the smallness of my State, but I rejoice in its prominence in this movement. I am glad to claim her as the only State which stands as a unit in the Senate of the United States in favor of giving the ballot to woman. Messrs. Sprague and Anthony, the Senators from that State, agree upon this point, although if they ever agreed upon any other matter, I never heard of it.
Fellow-delegates and citizens, we have come together as supporters of a grand reformatory movement, and there is but one plain course for us to pursue. Some years ago I attended a meeting of progressive Friends, in Pennsylvania. The subject of Woman's Rights came up for discussion, and opinions were expressed pro and con, when suddenly there came striding up the aisle an awkward boy, half-witted and about half-drunk. He stepped to the platform, flung his cap to the floor, and said that he wanted to give his testimony. "I don't know much about this subject or any other, but my mother was a woman!" The boys in the galleries laughed, and the Quakers, sitting with their hats on their heads, looking as solemn as if the funeral of the whole human race was being held and they were the chief mourners, did not relax a muscle of their faces, but thought I to myself, "That overgrown boy, drunk or sober, has solved the whole question." Women may doubt and hesitate, uncertain whether they want to vote or not, but men have only one position to take—to withdraw their opposition, and leave it to the women to decide for themselves.
Many intelligent and respectable ladies fear a conspiracy against their freedom—imagining that at times of elections detachments of police would seize and rudely drag the weak, fainting sisters to the polls against their will. They seem to regard the matter in the same light as a boy who went to the theatre night after night, but invariably went to sleep. Upon being asked what he went for, he replied: "Why I've got to go because I've a season ticket." And so some women seem to think that the right of suffrage will be like the boy's season ticket, and they must vote whether they will or not. When we can not drive men to the polls, when there is no law to compel them to serve or save their country at the ballot-box, if they stay away from selfishness or indifference, it is not likely that we will be more successful with the women. No compulsion is intended. We will lay before woman the great responsibility that rests upon her, her sacred duty as a wife and mother, we will open up to her a career of the highest usefulness in the world, in which she may more perfectly than ever before fulfill the destiny for which she is created, and then she may individually accept the ballot or not, according to the dictates of her own conscience. All men can do is to take down the barriers and say to her: "Vote, if you please." It is to give more dignity and sacredness to woman; to enlarge and not limit her field of usefulness; but not to take her out of her appropriate sphere. It says to the wife: "Do all you can to save your sons and husbands at home, strew around them its most hallowed influences; but if you fail there, you have another chance at the ballot-box to abolish, by your votes, the liquor-sellers that are dragging them down to ruin."
I would earnestly recommend to this Convention the importance of efficient and perfect organization, and not only in this body, but throughout the country. In the judgment of those who called this meeting, the great movement for woman suffrage is too far advanced to be further prosecuted only by local and accidental organizations. In most of the States, State Associations are of but recent origin, and in many they do not exist at all. The efforts hitherto made were all well and useful in their way, but not enough to meet the demands of the present. It is the aim to establish this Association on a national representative basis, embracing all the States in the Union. We seek this because we need it. The enterprise is too vast to be left to hasty or accidental organizations only. We want something solid and permanent. The Congress of the United States rests upon a narrower basis than does the organization at which we aim. That represents but half the people of the country while this is for all. It is eminently needful that we give the greatest care and deliberations to the work. We must have the counsel of various minds, laying aside local differences. We are of different habits and opinions, and do not think alike on all subjects. Upon many questions we "agree to differ," but on this great question we are, and must be, all united. Efficient organization will be a powerful aid in helping forward the grandest reform that was ever launched upon the human race. With this understanding I accept the position of President of this Convention, losing my own individuality as one of its members. In conclusion, I ask your patience with my short-comings and your co-operation in conducting its proceedings.
Mrs. Cutler read a courteous communication from H. S. Stevens Esq., kindly offering to furnish carriages free to those members of the Convention who may wish to see the city, during their stay. Col. Higginson said that in the early days of woman suffrage, he had seen a rivalry among livery stable keepers to furnish carriages to take persons engaged in the movement out of town, and he regarded this offer as in singular contrast to that. On motion of Mrs. Lucy Stone, the Committee on Permanent Organization of the Convention was also charged with the duty of preparing a basis of organization, constitution, and by-laws for a National Woman Suffrage Association, and to report a list of officers for the same. The President invited all local Woman Suffrage organizations to make themselves known through their members present, and to participate in the deliberations of the Convention. The following resolution, offered by Mrs. Lucy Stone, was adopted.
Resolved, That the members of the Associated Press, now in session in this city, be invited to attend this Convention and take part in its proceedings, and that Mr. Boyer, Mr. F. B. Sanborn, and Mrs. Cole, of Dayton, be a Committee to convey the invitation to that body.
A telegram was received from Grace Greenwood, as follows:
To T. W. Higginson, President of the Woman's Suffrage Convention:
Kept at home by illness. God speed the cause.
Grace Greenwood.
Brief speeches were made by Rev. Mrs. Hanaford, of Massachusetts; Mary F. Davis and Lucy Stone, of New Jersey; and Giles B. Stebbins, of Michigan, who introduced the following resolution, which was unanimously carried:
Resolved, That the National Labor Congress, representing five hundred thousand of the workingmen of our country, at its late session at Philadelphia, by recognizing the equal membership and rights of men and women, of white and colored alike, showed a spirit of broad and impartial justice worthy of all commendation, and we hail its action as a proof of the power of truth over prejudice and oppression, which must be of signal benefit to its members, in helping that self-respect, intelligence, and moral culture by which the fair claims of labor are to be gained and the weaker truly ennobled and elevated.
Mr. H. B. Blackwell presented the following:
Constitution of the American Woman Suffrage Association.
Preamble: The undersigned, friends of woman suffrage, assembled in delegate Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, November 24th and 25th, 1869, in response to a call widely signed and after a public notice duly given, believing that a truly representative National organization is needed for the orderly and efficient prosecution of the suffrage movement in America, which shall embody the deliberate action of State and local organizations, and shall carry with it their united weight, do hereby form the American Woman Suffrage Association.
ARTICLE I.
Name: This Association shall be known as the American Woman Suffrage Association.
ARTICLE II.
Object: Its object shall be to concentrate the efforts of all the advocates of woman, suffrage in the United States for National purposes only, viz:
Sec. 1. To form auxiliary State Associations in every State where none such now exist, and to co-operate with those already existing, which shall declare themselves auxiliary before the first day of March next, the authority of the auxiliary Societies being recognized in their respective localities, and their plan being promoted by every means in our power.
Sec. 2. To hold an annual meeting of delegates for the transaction of business and the election of officers for the ensuing year; also, one or more national conventions for the advocacy of woman suffrage.
Sec. 3. To publish tracts, documents, and other matter for the supply of State and local societies and individuals at actual cost.
Sec. 4. To prepare and circulate petitions to State Legislatures, to Congress, or to constitutional conventions in behalf of the legal and political equality of woman; to employ lecturers and agents, and to take any measures the Executive Committee may think fit, to forward the objects of the Association.
ARTICLE III.—ORGANIZATION.
Sec. 1. The officers of this Association shall be a President, eight Vice-Presidents at Large, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Foreign Corresponding Secretary, two Recording Secretaries, and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be ex-officio members of the Executive Committee from each State and Territory, and from the District of Columbia, as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 2. Every President of an auxiliary State society shall be ex-officio a vice-president of this Association.
Sec. 3. Every chairman of the Executive Committee of an auxiliary State society shall be ex-officio a member of the Executive Committee of this Association.
Sec. 4. In cases where no auxiliary State society exists, a suitable person may be selected by the annual meeting, by the Executive Committee, as Vice-President or member of the Executive Committee, to serve only until the organization of said State Association.
Sec. 5. The Executive Committee may fill all vacancies that may occur prior to the next annual meeting.
Sec. 6. All officers shall be elected annually at any annual meeting of delegates, on the basis of the Congressional representation of the respective States and Territories, except as above provided.
Sec. 7. No distinction on account of sex shall ever be made in the membership or in the selection of officers of this Society; but the general principle shall be that one half of the officers shall, as nearly as convenient, be men, and one half women.
Sec. 8. No money shall be paid by the Treasurer except under such restrictions as the Executive Committee may provide.
Sec. 9. Five members of the Executive Committee, when convened by the Chairman, after fifteen days written notice previously mailed to each of its members, shall constitute a quorum. But no action thus taken shall be final, until such proceedings shall have been ratified in writing by at least fifteen members of the Committee.
Sec. 10. The Chairman shall convene a meeting whenever requested to do so by five members of the Executive Committee.
ARTICLE IV.
This Association shall have a branch office in every State in connection with the office of the auxiliary State Society therein, and shall have a central office at such place as the Executive Committee may determine.
ARTICLE V.
This Constitution may be amended at any annual meeting, by a vote of three-fifths of the delegates present therein.
ARTICLE VI.
Any person may become a member of the American Woman Suffrage Association by signing the Constitution and paying the sum of $1 annually, or life members by paying the sum of $10, which membership shall entitle the individual to attend the business meetings of delegates and participate in their deliberations.
ARTICLE VII.
Honorary members may be appointed by the annual meeting or by the Executive Committee, in consideration of services rendered.
The officers of the Association were then appointed:
President—Henry Ward Beecher.
Vice Presidents at Large—T. W. Higginson, Mary A. Livermore, William Lloyd Garrison, Mrs. W. T. Hazard, George W. Curtis, Celia M. Burleigh, George W. Julian, Margaret V. Longley.
Chairman of Executive Committee—Lucy Stone.
Foreign Corresponding Secretary—Julia Ward Howe.
Corresponding Secretary—Myra Bradwell.
Recording Secretaries—Henry B. Blackwell, Amanda Way.
Treasurer—Frank B. Sanborn.
Vice-Presidents—Maine, Rev. Amory Battles; New Hampshire, Armenia S. White; Vermont, Hon. C. W. Willard; Massachusetts, Caroline M. Severance; Rhode Island, Rowland G. Hazard; Connecticut, Seth Rogers; New York, Oliver Johnson; New Jersey, Antoinette Brown Blackwell; Pennsylvania, Robert Purvis; Delaware, Mrs. Hanson Robinson; Ohio, Dr. H. M. Tracy Cutler; Indiana, Lizzie M. Boynton; Illinois, C. B. Waite; Wisconsin, Rev. H. Eddy; Michigan, Moses Coit Tyler; Minnesota, Mrs. A. Knight; Kansas, Hon. Charles Robinson; Iowa, Amelia Bloomer; Missouri, Hon. Isaac H. Sturgeon; Tennessee, Hon. Guy W. Wines; Florida, Alfred Purdie; Oregon, Mrs. General Rufus Saxton; California, Rev. Charles G. Ames; Virginia, Hon. J. C. Underwood; Washington Territory, Hon. Rufus Leighton; Arizona, Hon. A. K. P. Safford.
Executive Committee—Maine, Mrs. Oliver Dennett; New Hampshire, Hon. Nathaniel White; Vermont, Mrs. James Hutchinson, Jr.; Massachusetts, Rev. Rowland Connor; Rhode Island, Elizabeth B. Chace; Connecticut, Rev. Olympia Brown; New York, Mrs. Theodore Tilton; New Jersey, Mary F. Davis; Pennsylvania, Mary Grew; Delaware, Dr. John Cameron; Ohio, Andrew J. Boyer; Indiana, Rev. Charles Marshall; Illinois, Hon. J. B. Bradwell; Wisconsin, Lilie Peckham; Michigan, Lucinda H. Stone; Minnesota, Abby J. Spaulding; Kansas, Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols; Iowa, Belle Mansfield; Missouri, Mrs. Francis Minor; Tennessee, Rev. Charles J. Woodbury; Florida, Mrs. Dr. Hawkes; California, Mrs. Mary E. Ames; Virginia, Hon. A. M. Fretz; District of Columbia, Grace Greenwood.
The addresses of the evening were made by Judge Bradwell and Mary A. Livermore, of Illinois; Miriam M. Cole, of Ohio; Lilie Peckham, of Wisconsin; Frank B. Sanborn, editor of the Springfield, Mass., Republican; and Dr. Lees, of Leeds, England. At the Thursday morning session the attendance was large, and the interest in the Convention seemed to be increasing. The forenoon was devoted to a consideration of the basis of the National organization, its constitution and by-laws. The discussions[185] were earnest, temperate, in excellent spirit, every woman keeping within the five minutes' rule, and speaking to the point—a circumstance commented on pleasantly by the President. The articles of the Constitution and By-Laws were discussed seriatim, and adopted, and then the Constitution, as a whole, was adopted. A letter was presented by Mrs. Lucy Stone, from the proprietor of the Birch House, Water Street, offering to entertain a few delegates—free. She also read the following:
Cleveland, November 25, 1869.
To the Delegates of the Woman's National Convention:—The Faculty of the Homeopathic College hereby extend their most cordial invitation to your honorable body to visit the College. Conveyances for the same will be in readiness at any time desired. In this College, now in its twentieth annual session, woman, with the exception of one winter, has always been equal with man in privilege and honor, and here she shall always share an equal privilege and honor, so long as she is willing to conform to the same standard of culture.
Yours, most respectfully,
T. P. Wilson, Dean.
H. V. Biggar, Registrar.Judge Bradwell offered the following, which was adopted:
Resolved, That we urgently request all State and National Associations, formed for the purpose of aiding in giving suffrage to woman, to become auxiliary to, or co-operate with the American Woman's Suffrage Association, believing that by concert of action on the part of all Societies and Associations formed in the nation for this purpose, suffrage will sooner be extended to woman.
Able addresses were made during the afternoon by Rev. Charles Marshall, pastor of one of the Presbyterian churches of Indianapolis; Lizzie Boynton and Mrs. Swank, of Indiana; Lucy Stone, of New Jersey; Ex-Gov. Root, of Kansas; Mary E. Ames, of California; and Addie Ballou, of Minnesota. Rebecca Rickoff, of Cleveland, recited an original poem, "The Convict's Mother," with marked effect. During the entire session the hall was filled to its utmost limit. The Convention met for the closing session at an early hour. The hall was densely filled in every part, the man at the ticket-office having been literally inundated with "quarters." Mrs. Dr. Cutler occupied the chair. Mrs. Stone announced that she would go through the audience to get names of members of the Association, which any one could become on payment of a dollar.
Brief speeches were made by Mr. Bellville and Mr. Lamphear, of Ohio; Mr. Henry Blackwell, of New Jersey; and Rev. Rowland Connor, of Massachusetts, and then Mrs. Julia Ward Howe delivered a second address of remarkable power and unparalleled beauty. She spoke the day before as the prophet of the Convention—this evening, she spoke as its historian. Her address was faultless, peerless, perfect, and though read from a manuscript, moved the large audience deeply. Next followed Mrs. Celia Burleigh, of New York, a woman of rare grace and culture, with an address packed with thought and wisdom, uttered in the choicest language. Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, of Boston, succeeded her with another speech of like polish and impressiveness, and then the great congregation rose, and closed the interesting meetings of the two days with the singing of the grand old doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," after which the Convention adjourned sine die.
A Mass Convention for the advocacy of Woman Suffrage, under the auspices of the American Woman Suffrage Association, was held at Steinway Hall, New York City, May 11th and 12th, 1870. Upon each of those days three sessions were held, and at each session the attendance was numerous and enthusiastic. The Convention was presided over by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Upon the platform were seated many earnest, active supporters, and advocates of the cause.[186]
The address of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was as follows: Ladies and Gentlemen:—It is but a little while ago that the question whether a woman might, with modesty and propriety, appear upon the public platform to speak her sentiments upon moral and philanthropic questions, agitated the whole community. Although I do not regard myself as excessively conservative, I remember very well when the appointment of women, by the Anti-Slavery Society of New England, to act on committees with men, grievously shocked my prejudices; and I said to myself, "Well, where will this matter end?" I remember very well that when many persons, whose names are now quite familiar to the people, first began to speak on the anti-slavery question, I felt that if the diffidence and modesty and delicacy of woman had not been sacrificed, it had, at any rate, been put in peril; and that, although a few might survive, the perilous example would pervert and destroy the imitators and followers.
It was in the year 1856 that I first made a profession of my faith in Woman's Rights. During the Fremont campaign I had so far had my eyes opened and my understanding enlightened, as to see that if it is right for the people of Great Britain to put a politician at the head of their government, and she a woman—if, in all the civilized nations of the world, it is deemed both seemly and proper for women to be in public meetings and take part therein, provided they are duchesses or the ladies of lords—if it is right, in other words, for aristocracy to give to their women the right of public speech, then it is right, also, for democracy to give their women the right of public speech. Does any one question whether Lucy Stone may speak? or Mrs. Livermore? or Mrs. Stanton? There is not a city or town in the nation that does not hail their coming; and there are no persons so refined, and no persons so conservative as not to listen to them; and there are none that listen who do not always admit that women may speak. God does not give such gifts for nothing.
We are in a community that is constantly growing, expanding, developing. We do not believe that human nature has reached its limits. There are new combinations, new developments, taking place. Nor do we believe that men have reached the ultimatum of their practical efficiency, any more than women have. It is in the order of things, that having met, tried, and settled this question—the right of woman to public speech—we should meet the next question, the right of women to act. She has a right to think,—has she a right to practice? May she vote, or sit upon committees in matters pertaining to local or National interests? It is this question which is under discussion now. It seems wild and wandering to many, but not more wild and wandering than fifteen years ago, to the great majority of our citizens, seemed the question of woman's right to public speech. I venture to say that within the fifteen years next coming it will seem strange to the great mass of the people that it should have been considered of doubtful propriety for woman to exercise the privilege, or, I should rather say, the duty of suffrage.
And so within the last few years this question has risen up, to the suppression, I may say, of everything else; for everything else is conceded. I don't know what advanced step may be next proposed. If I did, I should propose it to-day—for this reason, that I notice that each advance becomes the acceptance of the disputed question immediately in its rear. When the doctrine of physiognomy—Lavater's doctrine—was first propounded, men laughed it to scorn, and contemned the idea that there could be anything true or noble in it, until phrenology came and asserted that the brain's proportional parts could be known, and that the mind could be outwardly ascertained, and then men said: "Oh, this phrenology is a humbug! Physiognomy is rational; we can see how a man can judge that way; there is something in physiognomy." So they swallowed physiognomy in order to be strong enough to combat phrenology. Animal magnetism, I believe, came up next; and the people ridiculed it as they had ridiculed those that had gone before. They now thought that there might be some sense in physiognomy and phrenology, but animal magnetism was preposterous. Then came mesmerism. "Why," people said, "this is nothing in the world but animal magnetism, in which, of course, there is some reason." Then came spiritualism. "Oh," people said, "that is nothing but mesmerism." So they admitted each anterior heresy for the sake of refuting the new one. And now, may a woman be an artist? May she sing in public? May she speak in public? "Well," said people, "she can sing, if she has the gift; there is no harm in that; but this delivering an oration, this is not woman's sphere." Then if we say, "Shall a woman vote?" they say, "Oh! vote! vote! Let her speak if she wants to speak; but as for voting, that will never do!"
Therefore, as I have said, if I could but see the next point ahead, I would immediately proclaim it, because then people would say, "Let women vote if they want to vote, but that is as far as we can go." I rejoice in your presence this morning. I, for one, need not assert that I am from my whole heart and conviction thoroughly of opinion that the nature of woman, the purity and sweetness of the family, the integrity and strength of the State, will all be advantaged when woman shall be, like man, a participator in public affairs.
Rev. James Freeman Clarke said—Ladies and gentlemen:—This is a very serious question, whichever way we look at it. I do not suppose that, if the women of the country were to be admitted to-day to vote, the consequences would appear to-day, or for some time to come, because women everywhere would vote very much as those around them are in the habit of voting. Young men growing up generally vote as their fathers and brothers are in the habit of voting—those with whom they are in the habit of communication; so it would be with women. They would probably, for some time to come, vote very much as their husbands, fathers, and brothers do now. The ultimate result, however, is of the greatest consequence; and nobody can tell exactly what it will be. I, for one, believe that it will be very beneficial, and it is for that reason that I am here to-day.
I believe, in the first place, that women ought to vote, because it seems to me that this is in the direction of all human progress, and in the direction of civilization. Civilization, thus far, has constantly occupied itself in bringing woman up to, and putting her by the side of man. In the barbarous stage of society, woman is the slave and tool of man; in the Asiatic age she is the plaything and ornament with which man amuses himself; but in Christendom there is a tendency to place woman side by side with man in everything, and just as far as it has been done we find the benefit of it. Woman ought to be made the companion of man in his great work of government. The reason why people think politics is a low and vulgar pursuit is that woman has never been in politics. Where man goes alone he is easily corrupted. Soldiers in the army are degraded, despite the patriotic nobleness of their motive, by the absence of woman, and men are degraded at the polls, as well as everywhere else, through not having women by their side.
I believe in this movement, not only because it is in the direction of all modern civilization, but because it is in accordance with the idea of American government, and the policy of American institutions. A State is saved by being faithful to its own idea, or lost by faithlessness to that idea. Now the American idea is faith in the people. We know perfectly well there are evils connected with republicanism, as there are with everything; but we have chosen the good of a republic with this great, broad basis of universal suffrage. People say, "Well, but there is no natural right to vote." We knew that very well before, because there is no voting in a state of nature. Voting is a social contrivance. Because it is not a natural right, is it any less unjust to deprive a large part of the people of it? There are no roads in a state of nature. For that reason, shall we say to a woman, "You shall not walk in the road?" Wherever the male and female qualities go together, we are better for it, and therefore it is our business to put them together in the government. Put away all the absurd restrictions on woman, and let her do what God intended her to do. Let us trust nature and God, and give to woman the opportunity to do whatever she is able to accomplish.
I have another reason for woman suffrage, and that is, that nothing can be said against it. Our good friend, Dr. Bushnell, has written a book in which he says that if woman is allowed to vote she must be allowed to govern; and, being a subject nature, she can not govern. In other words, as she is a subject nature, let her stay at home and govern her household all the time! People say she ought to influence gently and quietly, and not to govern by force. Now if there is anything which means influence and not force, except indirectly and secondarily, it is the ballot-box! We had an administration two years ago which had all the force of the country at command, and the people went to the ballot-box and destroyed it so completely that we have almost forgotten we ever had so bad a Government as that of Andrew Johnson.
All the strength and bravery and determination of this world are not so much confined to the male sex as some ornaments of that sex would have us believe. We want the women—the wives and sisters and mothers of the land, to help save our men from political corruption. It is what God has ordained, and the time is coming when it shall be effected.
Mrs. M. M. Cole read the following letter:
Vineland, N. J., May 10, 1870.
My Dear Friends: I once had a neighbor who was for years entirely crippled with rheumatism, and she, when asked, "How are you to-day?" invariably answered, "Better, I thank you, to-day than I was yesterday. Hope I shall be right smart to-morrow." So, friends, I could say, unasked, I am better this year than I was last, and I hope to keep on in this line until 1876, and be able then to stand with you once more upon the platform of equal rights, and shout "Hallelujahs" over the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment; over the crowning of my labors of twenty-five years, during which time I have not failed to ask for the right of suffrage for all citizens of this Republic, of sane mind and adult years, without regard to race, color, or sex.
"The good time coming is almost here."
Yours in faith,
Frances D. Gage.
The President read a letter just received from Mr. Tilton:
New York, May 11, 1870.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, President of the American Woman Suffrage Association: Honored Sir: I am commissioned by the unanimous voice of the Union Woman Suffrage Society, now assembled in Apollo Hall, to present to yourself, and through you to the Association over which you are presiding in Steinway Hall, our friendly salutations, our hearty good will, and our sincere wishes for mutual co-operation in the cause of woman's enfranchisement.
Theodore Tilton,
President of the Union Woman Suffrage Society.Fraternally yours,
At his own desire the President was unanimously requested to make reply on the behalf of the American Woman Suffrage Association. Mr. Beecher remarked, "If there are two general associations for the same purpose, it is because we mean, in this great work, to do twice as much labor as one society could possibly do."
Rev. Oscar Clute said: Every favored movement of civilization has been simply a recognition of the rights and privileges that inhere in humanity. Take for instance the idea of the divine right of kings—which has been so thoroughly scouted by our republicanism. The abandonment of that idea upon the part of our fathers was a great stride in the path of civilization. And at this time in almost all parts of the world something is being done toward giving the masses a clearer idea of those rights which inhere in them.
In our own country, the object of the woman suffrage reformers is, not to overturn anything already established that is good and pure and noble, but to extend to women those rights which inhere in them as human beings. It is not claimed for women that they shall have any advantage over men, but simply that they shall have the right to labor and receive their earnings. That they shall have such facilities of education as men enjoy. Give woman equal opportunities. Her sphere is, undoubtedly, to engage in such labor, to get such culture, and do such good work as she finds ready to her hands, and to help on in the cause of humanity. The ballot is the key that opens to woman all the avenues of labor and of culture. If all the avenues of education and labor were open to women, we should find them growing up with higher and nobler ambition than the girls of to-day. The laws at present in force are detrimental to the interests of women not only in regard to property, but to marriage itself. Some provision is necessary by which women themselves can bring their efforts to bear upon these laws, and the ballot is the only effective measure for the purpose.
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe said: My dear friends—Sometimes, when I begin to speak at conventions for the advocacy of woman suffrage, I feel self-dismayed in thinking that I ought to educate my audience all over from beginning to end. But this would require so much time that no one convention would ever get through with it; so I content myself with saying, as simply and as strongly as I can, what happens to be in my mind. That particular thought which is now uppermost is the great pleasure of our meeting to-day. We come together here, trusting to see in your kind faces the reflection of our great hope; and to find in your ears the echo of that great promise which some of us expected to hear a long while ago, and which all of us now see growing and strengthening until its harmony seems to us to fill the world.
We don't come together here to ignore oppositions, but to reconcile them. Oppositions are divinely appointed. I do believe that their distance can not be increased with safety to the economy of the world. But love is the tropical equator. His fiery currents are able to quicken and vivify the whole globe. They circulate equally at the arctic and antarctic extremities. The work that we are doing in common is not unfavorably affected by oppositions. The poles are God's anointed and stand firm; but opposition has quickened the currents of love until it has melted the social ice at the extremities for us, and even the snows which very prematurely, I do assure you, begin to fall upon the heads of some of us. I have been speaking and writing on this subject for a year and a half, and I find the subject always getting outside of my efforts much more rapidly than my efforts are able to get outside of it. At every new meeting I find the speech of the last meeting much too small. Whether the question grows or the speech shrinks I do not know, but I am inclined to think the former. I never knew any member of my nursery to require so much letting out, expanding, as this question. From all of this I am inclined to think that we have set our hands to a great work, to a long and hard labor, to a reform of human society; to a reduplication of human power and well-being.....
Mrs. Sara J. Lippincott, more widely known as "Grace Greenwood," stated that she had believed in woman suffrage since she was old enough to believe in anything that was right and to denounce anything that was wrong. She was not counted among the extremists. Indeed, she claimed the right only for three classes of persons, namely, single women who have property of their own, married women, and all such other women as may desire it. I am willing that a property qualification should be exacted. Require, if you will, that each woman voter shall possess a gold watch, and keep it wound and up to time—a clothes wringer and a sewing machine; that she shall be able to concoct a pudding, sew on a button, and, at a pinch, keep a boarding-house and support a husband respectably....
The President read the reply which he had prepared to the letter of Mr. Tilton as follows:
New York, May 11, 1870.
To Theodore Tilton, President of the Woman Suffrage Society Meeting in Apollo Hall: Dear Sir: Your letter of congratulation was received with great pleasure by the mass Convention assembled in Steinway Hall, under the auspices of the American Woman Suffrage Association, and I am instructed by their unanimous vote to express their gratification, and to reciprocate your sentiments of cordial good-will. In this great work upon which you have entered—the enfranchisement of woman—we have a common aim and interest, and we shall rejoice at any success which is achieved by your zeal and fidelity.
Henry Ward Beecher.
I am, very truly, yours,
Mrs. Mary F. Davis, of New Jersey, read a report from the executive committee of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association.
Col. T. W. Higginson spoke as follows: Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen—I was thinking during the brilliant speech of Mrs. Lippincott, what an awful reflection the existence of that woman was upon the Government of the country in which we live—that she should reside in sight of the Capitol of Washington and never get nearer the interior of that building than the reporter's desk. Fancy a House of Representatives in which she should have an opportunity of talking to her fellow-delegates as she has talked to us this afternoon. Fancy the life, the new interest, the animation that will come into those desolate debates in Congress whenever she sets her foot as Senator or Representative within those halls, and the rest of the women come after her. If she was there, she might perhaps be met by the old objection, that, whatever her words may be, she did not have the physical force to sustain them. The composition of our delegates in both houses of Congress is not, as a general rule, so formidable as to lead one to suppose that they were particularly sent there for their muscle. Bring before you the array of the men whom you send to represent the nation. See how absurd it is to suppose that they were chosen for anything but their intellect. Hear this lady talk, and when you compare what you have heard with the debates in Congress, it does not seem to me that even intellect was the main consideration.
I believe that no man ever made use of that hackneyed argument, that women couldn't vote because they couldn't discharge military duty, unless there was in that man something that needed the teaching of womanhood to make him do his military duty, and do it well. I never heard that argument made that I do not suspect that there is something amiss in that man's lungs, or his liver, or at any rate his brain. The military duties of the nation have nothing to do with the elective franchise. Every soldier who comes back from military service finds the way to the polls blocked up by dozens of men who, at the time of the draft, suddenly developed lamenesses, either of limbs, or of excuses; men who wanted to see if there wasn't some wound or trouble by which they could be relieved from the obvious necessity. You recollect the man that Mr. Clarke spoke to you of this morning, who, at the sacking of Lawrence, hid himself in the cellar, while his wife guided with a lantern the border ruffians who were in search of him. She relied apparently upon the ingenuity of the husband to hide himself effectively—a reliance in which she was not disappointed. Not having found him, they decided to set fire to the house, and then she asked permission to bring out her household furniture and save it from the flames. To finish up she dragged out a great roll of carpet. Had anybody sat down on that roll of carpet they would have heard the ready scream of her brave but suffering husband. If that man was like multitudes of men, if he were a man like Horace Greeley in his opinions, the moment the carpet was unrolled, the carpet knight would step out, and his first remark to his wife would probably be, "My dear, you can now return to the kitchen. I will do the voting, because I have the physical strength to stand by the Government."
Woman, in time of war, has her mission, as man has his. It is idle to talk about her "sphere"—as her sphere is generally interpreted. Even in the most disastrous war, the mission of woman is plainly to be discerned in deeds of self-denial and self-sacrifice. Women have worked themselves literally to death through the toils and exposures of war. Of all the semblances of argument that can be brought against the right of woman to the suffrage—of all the figments of the brain that men devise, there is nothing idler than to object to this right on the ground that suffrage and bearing arms should go together. In times of war the women of our country did aid and comfort and bless our suffering armies, and hundreds of returned soldiers owe their restoration to health and life to the ministering labors and devotedness of some woman. Such men will not use the argument that woman should not have the suffrage because she can not bear arms.
The ballot of woman is needed to render our civilization more complete and harmonious. I knew a lady who rode with the first party of ladies over the mountains into a mining town of California. The whole population turned out to see the novel spectacle. What did they say when the women came among them? Did they say, "Go away from here; this is no place for women; you will unsex yourself?" Oh, no! The first sound heard from that silent and expectant throng of miners was a rough voice calling out, "Three cheers for the ladies who have come to make us better!" It is this coming of the new influence—not a purer influence merely, for doubtless a great part of what is called the purity of woman is but the purity of ignorance, that rough contact with the world would seem to endanger—it is not merely the greater purity, but it is because she is the other part of the human race; it is because without her we have fathers in the State, but no mothers; it is because without her in our legislative halls, we have laws that take from the mother the right to every child she bears; it is because without her in our courts, lawyers use foul words that shame the purity of woman. Until woman takes a place with man in the legislation of the world, and in the administration of justice, she will suffer, and man through her will suffer; also, it is not because woman is so far above man that we claim her rights in this matter. It is because she is the other half of man and society is imperfect, and will remain so until she takes her proper place in the labors of the world. If a pair of scissors be broken in two, and you have it riveted together, it is not because you concede angelic superiority to either half, but simply because it takes two halves to make a whole.
Mrs. Cutler was the first speaker of the evening session. Ladies and Gentlemen:—When the cloud of slavery agitation arose—a cloud at first no bigger than a man's hand, but which at length became a great tempest, overshadowing all the land, and when the thunders rolled, and the lightnings flashed, and when we felt that almost the doom of our nation had come, then we women read, as one of our number has so grandly expressed it—we read by the light of a hundred thousand lamps, the judgment of the Almighty against the institution of slavery. That institution was wrong because it took away human rights. But what were the rights? The right to live was not among them—for the slave lived. The right to bread was not among them—for he was fed and clothed. The rights that were taken away were the rights inherent in all human beings to the results of their own labor, to the freedom of the body and the mind. And when the country once became aroused to the full significance of this slavery question, the heart of every mother in the land throbbed in sympathy with the enslaved. At last War said to us, "These people have not been remembered in their bonds, and our sons and brothers are now called from us, and we must offer them upon the altar of sacrifice!" And, wondering, we read anew the Declaration of Independence, and swore fealty to its precepts, now to be written with a pen of iron dipped in the hearts' blood of our sons. It is past, and all men are free and equal in America.
But there is one thing yet to be done in order that our country may come fully within the provisions of the well-nigh inspired expression of our forefathers, "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." The women of America pay taxes for the support of the Government, and their consent should be had in matters affecting their welfare and their lives. We have been making our work known for years, but it has been to no purpose, and we have come to the conclusion that the only way to remedy the evil is to get the ballot.... There is nothing to be asked for now but the ballot. I shall never ask for anything less than that while I live.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the President, then addressed the Convention. Ladies and Gentlemen:—We expect that every great movement in the community will, from various reasons, meet with ridicule and depreciation, as well as plain, honest resistance. Nor are we indisposed to take our share in the merriment that is made. We are, however, indisposed to have it said that this is a complaining movement on the part of women. For, although there may be occasions of single outbursts of this kind, this movement has no such parentage, and it is progressing under no such motives. It has long been in the hearts of many that women should be raised to an equality in civil affairs with men, but that great discussion which aroused and instructed the conscience of the nation, and, above all, that issue of war which brought men down to the very foundations of their belief, has been fruitful in raising a multitude of questions which are advancing now and which are to be consummated. Among these is the question, "Are women equal with men?" You might as well ask, "Are all men equal to each other?" For you adjudicate no questions in this country on the ground of superiority or inferiority of classes among men. It makes no difference, therefore, in regard to this question, whether women be superior or inferior. The question is simply this: have they not, before the law, the same rights that men have, and ought they not to have, in the administration of public interests, precisely the same power that men have? Now, in arguing this question—in urging it upon the community, I find a fear first, lest woman's nature should deteriorate. Kings were always afraid that if their nobles got power it would make them dissolute and reckless and grasping, and the nobles were always afraid of the burgher class, that if they should get political honor, it would only puff them up and make them unmanageable, and the burgher class, when they have obtained their political privileges, were afraid to extend a share in these privileges to the yeomanry, the peasantry. You never saw one upper class who held a prerogative that could ever be made to see any reason why the inferior class should have a share of it. It is the universal law of the superior class to keep the privileges to themselves, and the privileges have usually had to be wrested from them.
In the first place, what has been the effect upon woman of enlarging the sphere of her influence? There can be no question that from generation to generation since the introduction of Christianity the sphere of woman has been enlarging. She has been growing up in the scale of power; has she been going down in the scale of moral character? You know as well as I do that they are better, and that, instead of deteriorating their character, it has improved them and augmented the volume of their being, and they are women still.
But it is said that "in politics it is different." In what way is it different? Do you hesitate to say, "Jane, on your way to school please take these letters and drop them into the letter-box at the corner," and your daughter does it. There is much more trouble in doing that than to drop a ballot in the ballot-box. Nobody thinks anything of it, although there are men there, too. Is a woman demeaned by dropping her ballot into the box? Does the act injure her? "Oh, no; it is not the act—it is the scenes that she would have to meet. Go to the polls, and see what voting means." Yes; go and see what bachelor voting means. It is exactly the thing that we want to improve. Did you ever see a crowd of men, the rudest in the world, who, when a lady walked among them, did not open spontaneously and let her pass through as if she was an angel? It is asked sometimes, "Would you like to have your wife or daughter go to the polls and vote?" Yes—on my arm; yes. I venture to say that there is not a precinct in the city where well-bred ladies will not only be allowed to vote themselves, but would carry peace in the exercise of the right to others. "Would you have a woman participate in the scenes preliminary to an election?" I will tell you that the moment that women begin to vote there will be no scenes "preliminary" in which women may not appear. It is this very jointure of the family influence that we look to as a part of the influence that should bring reformation into our politics; for if our politics are to be masculine forever I despair of the republic. No! whatever thing on God's earth a woman's conscience tells her to do, she can do it, though she stood in the gates of hell, and be every particle a woman just as much. Is there anything in this world that has so great a reputation for lawlessness as a camp? And yet, when our armies went into this conflict, how many hundreds of women went, not as companions, but to minister to the boys. They went down into the camps, and through the whole war consorted with the rudest of men, and not one single syllable did they ever hear from the lips of those men that a pure ear should not hear. They ate the soldiers' fare—they performed the most menial services; but it was love that inspired and sustained them in their toils. And will any man say that after these four years had passed, and these ministers of mercy came back again, that because they had been mixed up with this rabble crew, they were the less women? Were they not the more women? These are sisters of charity—these are heroines without a record in any human literature. Have they been injured by mixing with the rude affairs of war in camps and among soldiers? When women take upon themselves such necessary duties they take vulgarity from vulgarity, and coarseness becomes refined, for it is the heart of woman that brings life among men, and restores Paradise.
But it is said that it would do women no good to have the vote, because they would vote as their husbands would. Well, I am very glad to hear that you are all so happily mated. I have a pretty large flock, and my observation has been that there was not such perfect unanimity. The tidings brought to me are that there are women who have minds of their own, and I don't think a woman would make up her mind to vote with her husband unless she conscientiously believed that he voted the right way. It is said again that it would introduce division into the family, and that a division about politics is the most bitter thing in the world. No; there is one thing in which a difference is more bitter than politics. What? Religion. There is no such diverging influence in this world as a difference in religion. Yet when I look into these matters I find that families all through the community are divided on the subject of religion. I have known scores and scores of families in which there were Baptists and persons of other denominations, and they found no trouble in getting along. You will always find where husband and wife can not agree, they will peaceably differ. There is no danger of their ever disturbing the family relations by that.
We are still holding, it seems, the old barbaric notion of the inferiority of woman. Every higher class preaches, preaches, preaches—about the inferiority of everything and everybody below it. All the world believes that the nation in which the man is born is the highest nation in the world. Why, we believe that we Americans are the biggest people in the world, the Englishman believes the English people to be the highest in the world. There is not the least doubt in the mind of a Frenchman that he was God Almighty's first favorite, and so on, nation by nation. So it is with classes. So, also, it seems to be with man. All the men in the world join hands together and agree that whatever may be the classification as between man and man, all men are infinitely superior to woman. Now I hold that in some things woman is inferior to man, and in some things greatly superior to man, and that in the general average she is fully his equal. A woman is God's chief engineer in the home. She ought to have a clear eye and a deep heart and a wide understanding. You can't make a woman too broad, too strong, too high, too deep in all generous enthusiasm for the purposes of the family, for it takes strong women to bring up strong men and strong women. In regard to this matter I wonder that people should attempt to separate so much by guess. Hear people say, "What will be the effect?" As if this thing was not already demonstrated—as if history was not already a picture of what the result will be. Will you be good enough to tell me which woman you think to-day is the superior? There is the problem: the Asiatic woman is the woman we hear tell about; just look at her—a do-nothing, a know-nothing woman! The European woman is the woman that has been cultured. Which is the superior to-day? which commands most respect?
Delicacy in woman is sentiment, not appearance, not enamel, not languishing airs. But it is asked, why make this disturbance? Why not let a woman, if it is desired that she should be a student, inquire of her husband? Suppose she hasn't got one. Young gentlemen that are so fond of talking about the matter say, let the women stay at home and take care of their families. Let me ask you if you will agree to give every woman a family that hasn't got one? If you will not, then hold your tongue. But even taking the question in the way they put it, how would these young men like their fathers to say, "Tom, Bill, you are both Republicans. You have gone away from my notions; I am a good, stanch, old-fashioned Democrat; and my advice to you, boys, is that you stay at home and read, and think these matters over, and I will go and vote for you,"—how would the boys like that? Everybody is willing to be above everybody else, and this thing of one man assuming that he is the superior of another, and asking that other to knuckle down to him, is not popular. You don't like it. And women don't like it any better than you do—and they ought not to like it, either. Women can have all the benefit of holding an opinion, but they shall not have the power of expressing it. They go through all the labor and trouble of loading, but can't fire off. Now, I affirm, that it is wrong to give women the responsibilities of public life without giving them the safety of public life, too.
But what practical use will the ballot be to women? Tell me what practical use the ballot will be to men; then I will tell you of what use it will be to women. A man that denies the right of woman to the ballot must deny it to any body and all bodies. I affirm another thing. I affirm that the ballot is a natural right. To say that voting is an artificial thing is merely an evasion. If there is any such thing as natural rights in the world, it is the right of every person to have a voice in the government that he shall live under, and in the electing of the magistrate who shall make the laws by which he is to be governed. But they say women don't want to vote. Well, I didn't want to learn my letters, but I had to, and, on the whole, I am not sorry for it. If men say women don't want the ballot, my reply is, they need it, at any rate. In behalf of the poor and needy, I plead for suffrage. They are the persons who are in just that place where the hail of misfortune plays pitilessly upon them. I plead for suffrage for women, not because the rich and refined need it—they have already more than their heart could wish—but for the great sisterhood of common women.
But, it is said, is it not subverting the order of the Bible; is it not subverting those sound Christian maxims in respect to the subordination of woman to man? Well, if you think it is, let the husband vote first and the wife vote after; that settles that point. I have looked through the Ten Commandments, and although I find a great many things that you shall not do, I don't find anywhere it says that you shall not vote; and I don't think that there is a place in the Bible where it says that a woman shall not vote; nor, since it pleased God to make thousands and thousands of women that are superior to men, I don't believe that he ever wrote a line to say that a woman who was superior should be inferior. My friends, the true rendering of Scripture is this: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. In the kingdom of love there is neither high nor low. Love knows no distinctions. It is all equal in the kingdom of God; and wherever the human family are supremely possessed by that one supreme, beneficent feeling of love, there never can arise these disturbing elements.
Mrs. Livermore said: Ladies and Gentlemen—Mr. Beecher very pertinently said that women are allowed to know, but not to say; they may make all the preparations necessary to intelligent voting, but that they shall not vote. That is exactly what is doing a vast deal of mischief the world over. If they are not allowed to vote, and express their opinions upon the laws by which they are to be governed, and if they are not to have opened to them all proper fields of labor, they will turn their attention to dressmaking, and to millinery, and to all the other hot-beds of our fast modern life. It is doing great harm; and that is one reason I earnestly plead in their behalf for the ballot. Men say women shall not have the ballot. They must petition and beg for it. Have not petitions been already made? Have not 200,000 names been sent in to Congress already? Then they say you must "organize;" and when that is done, and they find the country rocked as by a traveling volcano, they then say, "All women do not want to vote; all the women in the country should ask for it, and beg for it, and petition for it."
Let me relate an incident that occurred in Boston at the office of Chief Justice Chapman, four or five weeks ago. A man, a guardian, came there with a writ of habeas corpus, which placed in his charge two children in no wise related to him, and he asked that he might have the control of the children, in opposition to the claim of their mother, who desired to keep them. The facts were briefly these: the woman had been happily married; her husband died and left her a widow with two young children. By the laws of the State of Massachusetts at that time, she was not allowed to be their guardian, nor the guardian of any body else's children. So the Judge of Probate appointed a guardian for the children, who magnanimously allowed them to remain in their mother's care. After two or three years she committed the unpardonable crime of marrying again, a thing that no man was ever guilty of. The marriage was perfectly acceptable to her former husband's relatives, but the guardian was so displeased with it, that he got out a writ of habeas corpus, and demanded of Chief Justice Chapman that the children be remanded to his custody. We are apt to boast of Massachusetts and its laws, but here was a case in which the Chief Justice, after hearing the case, actually remanded these children to the possession of that man. The court-room was crowded; the excitement was intense; the poor mother sank down in a deadly faint. I say such laws are an outrage upon womanhood, and they arise simply and solely from a deep contempt for womanhood. This contempt is palpable throughout all the entire code of laws.
Another argument that is frequently made against the extension of the suffrage to woman is this: "If women go to the polls it is going to take them away from their homes and families." These arguments are urged with as much pertinacity as if the polls were open three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, and twenty-four hours each day, and that all that people did was to lie around the polls and vote, and vote, and vote, and vote.
Another statement is, that it is because women have been kept out of politics that they are pure and good. Well, now, it is a poor rule that won't work both ways, and if disfranchisement has made such angels of women, suppose you try it a little on men. I have a firm belief that the men need, infinitely more than the women do, the influence that woman will bring with her to the ballot; not because woman is better, but because she is the other half of humanity. It reminds me of the account of the battle of Gettysburg, given by a colonel of a Western regiment. His regiment was placed among the reserves, on an eminence, where they could see the battle as it went on. "There we stood," said the colonel; "our brave men trying to serve their country; able to do it, and anxious to do it. Yet we were kept the whole of the first day watching the fight go on. On the second day another regiment, which had been much associated with ours, was called into action. We saw them marching, their guns aslant, as if there was no battle being carried on, or deeds of death and destruction—and all the while, as they marched, the grape, and the canister, and the shot, and the shell, tore their ranks terribly; and men fell dead in all directions; and still those who yet remained carried their guns in the same position, and kept time, and closed up, and closed up, until my agitation became so unendurable that I forgot all else, and cried out, 'Oh, God! why don't they call the reserves into action? We could help them.'"
John Neal, Maine; Nathaniel White, Armenia S. White, William T. Savage, New Hampshire; James Hutchinson, Jr., Vermont; William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, David Lee Child, George F. Hoar, Julia Ward Howe, Gilbert Haven, Caroline M. Severance, James Freeman Clarke, Abby Kelly Foster, Stephen S. Foster, Frank B. Sanborn, Phebe A. Hanaford, Massachusetts; Elizabeth B. Chase, T. W. Higginson, Rowland G. Hazard, Rhode Island; H. M. Rogers, Seth Rogers, Marianna Stanton, Connecticut; George William Curtis, Lydia Mott, Henry Ward Beecher, Frances D. Gage, Samuel J. May, Celia Burleigh, W. H. Burleigh, Aaron M. Powell, Anna C. Field, Gerrit Smith, E. S. Bunker, New York; Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, John Gage, Portia Gage, Antoinette B. Blackwell, A. J. Davis, Mary F. Davis, New Jersey; Mary Grew, Pennsylvania; Thomas Garret, Fielder Israel, Delaware; Hannah M. Tracy Cutler, A. J. Boyer, Margaret V. Longley, J. J. Belleville, Miriam M. Cole, S. Bolton, Ohio; Amanda Way, George W. Julian, Laura Giddings Julian, Lizzie M. Boynton, Indiana; Mary A. Livermore, C. B. Waite, Myra Bradwell, James B. Bradwell, Sharon Tyndale, J. P. Weston, Robert Collyer, Joseph Haven, Illinois; Moses Coit Tyler, James A. B. Stone, Mrs. H. L. Stone, Michigan; Lilie Peckham, Augusta J. Chapin, Wisconsin; Amelia Bloomer, Iowa; Mrs. S. B. Stearns, Minnesota; Charles Robinson, Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols, John Ekin, D.D., J. P. Root, Kansas; Mrs. W. T. Hazard, Isaac H. Sturgeon, Mrs. Beverly Allen, James E. Yeatman, Mary E. Beede, J. C. Orrick, Mrs. George D. Hall, Missouri; Guy W. Wines, Charles J. Woodbury, Tennessee; Mary Atkins Lynch, Louisiana; Elizabeth C. Wright, Texas; Grace Greenwood, Dist. Columbia; A. K. Safford, Arizona; J. A. Brewster, California: Hon. G. C. Jones, Dowagiac, Hon. William S. Farmer, Eau Claire, Hon. T. W. Ferry, of Grand Haven; Hon. S. H. Blackman, Paw Paw, Rev. J. Straub, Lansing, and S. H. Brigham, editor of the Lansing Republican, Michigan; Mrs. Austin Adams, and Edna T. Snell, of Dubuque, Miss Mattie E. Griffiths, Prof. and Mrs. Belle Mansfield, Mt. Pleasant, T. M. Mills, Ed. Des Moines State Register, Ex-Gov. and Mrs. B. F. Gue, and Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy, Ft. Dodge, Iowa; Mrs. J. C. Burbank, Mrs. Smith (State Librarian), Rev. J. Marvin, and Capt. Russell Blakely, of St. Paul, Mrs. Elliott, of Minneapolis, Mr. and Mrs. A. Knight, of St. Peter, Minnesota; Rev. H. Eddy, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Mrs. E. O. G. Willard, of Chicago, Illinois.
Resolved, That the members of the Associated Press, now in session in this city, be invited to attend this Convention and take part in its proceedings, and that Mr. Boyer, Mr. F. B. Sanborn, and Mrs. Cole, of Dayton, be a Committee to convey the invitation to that body.
To T. W. Higginson, President of the Woman's Suffrage Convention:
Kept at home by illness. God speed the cause.
Grace Greenwood.
Resolved, That the National Labor Congress, representing five hundred thousand of the workingmen of our country, at its late session at Philadelphia, by recognizing the equal membership and rights of men and women, of white and colored alike, showed a spirit of broad and impartial justice worthy of all commendation, and we hail its action as a proof of the power of truth over prejudice and oppression, which must be of signal benefit to its members, in helping that self-respect, intelligence, and moral culture by which the fair claims of labor are to be gained and the weaker truly ennobled and elevated.
Constitution of the American Woman Suffrage Association.
Preamble: The undersigned, friends of woman suffrage, assembled in delegate Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, November 24th and 25th, 1869, in response to a call widely signed and after a public notice duly given, believing that a truly representative National organization is needed for the orderly and efficient prosecution of the suffrage movement in America, which shall embody the deliberate action of State and local organizations, and shall carry with it their united weight, do hereby form the American Woman Suffrage Association.
ARTICLE I.
Name: This Association shall be known as the American Woman Suffrage Association.
ARTICLE II.
Object: Its object shall be to concentrate the efforts of all the advocates of woman, suffrage in the United States for National purposes only, viz:
Sec. 1. To form auxiliary State Associations in every State where none such now exist, and to co-operate with those already existing, which shall declare themselves auxiliary before the first day of March next, the authority of the auxiliary Societies being recognized in their respective localities, and their plan being promoted by every means in our power.
Sec. 2. To hold an annual meeting of delegates for the transaction of business and the election of officers for the ensuing year; also, one or more national conventions for the advocacy of woman suffrage.
Sec. 3. To publish tracts, documents, and other matter for the supply of State and local societies and individuals at actual cost.
Sec. 4. To prepare and circulate petitions to State Legislatures, to Congress, or to constitutional conventions in behalf of the legal and political equality of woman; to employ lecturers and agents, and to take any measures the Executive Committee may think fit, to forward the objects of the Association.
ARTICLE III.—ORGANIZATION.
Sec. 1. The officers of this Association shall be a President, eight Vice-Presidents at Large, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Foreign Corresponding Secretary, two Recording Secretaries, and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be ex-officio members of the Executive Committee from each State and Territory, and from the District of Columbia, as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 2. Every President of an auxiliary State society shall be ex-officio a vice-president of this Association.
Sec. 3. Every chairman of the Executive Committee of an auxiliary State society shall be ex-officio a member of the Executive Committee of this Association.
Sec. 4. In cases where no auxiliary State society exists, a suitable person may be selected by the annual meeting, by the Executive Committee, as Vice-President or member of the Executive Committee, to serve only until the organization of said State Association.
Sec. 5. The Executive Committee may fill all vacancies that may occur prior to the next annual meeting.
Sec. 6. All officers shall be elected annually at any annual meeting of delegates, on the basis of the Congressional representation of the respective States and Territories, except as above provided.
Sec. 7. No distinction on account of sex shall ever be made in the membership or in the selection of officers of this Society; but the general principle shall be that one half of the officers shall, as nearly as convenient, be men, and one half women.
Sec. 8. No money shall be paid by the Treasurer except under such restrictions as the Executive Committee may provide.
Sec. 9. Five members of the Executive Committee, when convened by the Chairman, after fifteen days written notice previously mailed to each of its members, shall constitute a quorum. But no action thus taken shall be final, until such proceedings shall have been ratified in writing by at least fifteen members of the Committee.
Sec. 10. The Chairman shall convene a meeting whenever requested to do so by five members of the Executive Committee.
ARTICLE IV.
This Association shall have a branch office in every State in connection with the office of the auxiliary State Society therein, and shall have a central office at such place as the Executive Committee may determine.
ARTICLE V.
This Constitution may be amended at any annual meeting, by a vote of three-fifths of the delegates present therein.
ARTICLE VI.
Any person may become a member of the American Woman Suffrage Association by signing the Constitution and paying the sum of $1 annually, or life members by paying the sum of $10, which membership shall entitle the individual to attend the business meetings of delegates and participate in their deliberations.
ARTICLE VII.
Honorary members may be appointed by the annual meeting or by the Executive Committee, in consideration of services rendered.
President—Henry Ward Beecher.
Vice Presidents at Large—T. W. Higginson, Mary A. Livermore, William Lloyd Garrison, Mrs. W. T. Hazard, George W. Curtis, Celia M. Burleigh, George W. Julian, Margaret V. Longley.
Chairman of Executive Committee—Lucy Stone.
Foreign Corresponding Secretary—Julia Ward Howe.
Corresponding Secretary—Myra Bradwell.
Recording Secretaries—Henry B. Blackwell, Amanda Way.
Treasurer—Frank B. Sanborn.
Vice-Presidents—Maine, Rev. Amory Battles; New Hampshire, Armenia S. White; Vermont, Hon. C. W. Willard; Massachusetts, Caroline M. Severance; Rhode Island, Rowland G. Hazard; Connecticut, Seth Rogers; New York, Oliver Johnson; New Jersey, Antoinette Brown Blackwell; Pennsylvania, Robert Purvis; Delaware, Mrs. Hanson Robinson; Ohio, Dr. H. M. Tracy Cutler; Indiana, Lizzie M. Boynton; Illinois, C. B. Waite; Wisconsin, Rev. H. Eddy; Michigan, Moses Coit Tyler; Minnesota, Mrs. A. Knight; Kansas, Hon. Charles Robinson; Iowa, Amelia Bloomer; Missouri, Hon. Isaac H. Sturgeon; Tennessee, Hon. Guy W. Wines; Florida, Alfred Purdie; Oregon, Mrs. General Rufus Saxton; California, Rev. Charles G. Ames; Virginia, Hon. J. C. Underwood; Washington Territory, Hon. Rufus Leighton; Arizona, Hon. A. K. P. Safford.
Executive Committee—Maine, Mrs. Oliver Dennett; New Hampshire, Hon. Nathaniel White; Vermont, Mrs. James Hutchinson, Jr.; Massachusetts, Rev. Rowland Connor; Rhode Island, Elizabeth B. Chace; Connecticut, Rev. Olympia Brown; New York, Mrs. Theodore Tilton; New Jersey, Mary F. Davis; Pennsylvania, Mary Grew; Delaware, Dr. John Cameron; Ohio, Andrew J. Boyer; Indiana, Rev. Charles Marshall; Illinois, Hon. J. B. Bradwell; Wisconsin, Lilie Peckham; Michigan, Lucinda H. Stone; Minnesota, Abby J. Spaulding; Kansas, Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols; Iowa, Belle Mansfield; Missouri, Mrs. Francis Minor; Tennessee, Rev. Charles J. Woodbury; Florida, Mrs. Dr. Hawkes; California, Mrs. Mary E. Ames; Virginia, Hon. A. M. Fretz; District of Columbia, Grace Greenwood.