The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV

by Unknown

He concluded his argument by saying that if ever universal suffrage should prevail the Government would break to pieces of its own weight.

The enfranchisement of women was also vehemently attacked by Alexander M. Dockery of Missouri, George T. Barnes of Georgia, William M. Springer of Illinois, and William McAdoo of New Jersey. It was strongly defended by Henry L. Morey of Ohio, Charles S. Baker of New York, Daniel Kerr and I. S. Struble, both of Iowa, and Harrison B. Kelley of Kansas.

Every possible effort was made to compel the adoption of an amendment limiting the suffrage to male citizens, and it was defeated by only six votes. The bill of admission was passed March 28, 1890, after three days' discussion, by 139 ayes to 127 noes. During the progress of this debate Delegate Carey telegraphed to the Wyoming Legislature, then in session, that it looked as if the suffrage clause would have to be abandoned if Statehood were to be obtained, and the answer came back: "We will remain out of the Union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage."[476]

In the Senate the fight against the suffrage article was renewed with added intensity. The bill for the admission of Wyoming was reported favorably through the chairman of the Committee on Territories, Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, in January, 1890, but was not reached on the calendar until February 17. On objection from Francis M. Cockrell of Missouri, that there was not time then for its consideration, it was postponed, but without losing its place on the calendar. Not until May 2, however, did it come up again as unfinished business, and only to be again postponed. On May 8 the bill was set down for the following Monday, but it was June 25 before it finally received extended consideration. The debate continued for three days and the clause conferring suffrage on women took a prominent place.

George G. Vest of Missouri led the opposition and said in the course of his lengthy oration:

I shall never vote to admit into the Union any State that adopts woman suffrage. I do not propose to discuss the sentimental side of the question.... In my judgment woman suffrage is antagonistic to the spirit, to the institutions, of the people of the United States. It is utterly antagonistic to my ideas of the Government as the fathers made it and left it to us. If there were no other reason I would never give the right of suffrage to women because the danger to the institutions of the United States to-day is in hurried, spasmodic, sentimental suffrage.... I believe that with universal suffrage in this country, the injecting into our suffrage of all the women of the United States would be the greatest calamity that could possibly happen to our institutions and people.... If there were no other reason with me, I would vote against the admission of Wyoming because it has that feature in its constitution. I will not take the responsibility as a senator of indorsing in any way, directly or indirectly, woman suffrage. I repeat that in my judgment it would be not only a calamity but an absolute crime against the institutions of the people of the United States....

In an extended speech John H. Reagan of Texas said:

But what are we going to do, what are the people of this Territory going to do, by the adoption of this constitution? They are going to make men of women, and when they do that the correlative must take place that men must become women. So I suppose we are to have women for public officers, women to do military duty, women to work the roads, women to fight the battles of the country, and men to wash the dishes, men to nurse the children, men to stay at home while the ladies go out and make stump speeches in canvasses.... Mr. President, when the Almighty created men and women He made them for different purposes, and six thousand years of experience have recognized the wisdom and justice of the Almighty in this arrangement. It is only latterly that people have got wiser than their Creator and wiser than all the generations which have preceded them.... The constitution of society, the necessity for the existence of society, the necessity of home government, which is the most important of all the parts of government, can only be preserved and perpetuated by keeping men in their sphere and women in their sphere....

It is a wholesome thing to reflect that after a hard day's struggle and of rough contacts which men must have with each other, they can go to a home presided over by one there who soothes the passions of the day by the sweetness of her temper, the gentleness of her disposition and the happiness which she brings around the family circle. But if the wife and the husband are both out in the bitter contests of the day, making speeches, electioneering with voters, pushing their way to the polls, they will both be apt to go home in a bad humor, and there will not be much happiness in a family during the remainder of the day which follows such a scene. And while they are both out what will become of the children? Are they to take care of themselves?

What rights can women expect to have that they do not have now? They are clothed with the protection of law.[477] In my judgment, Mr. President, the day that the floodgate of female suffrage is opened upon this country, the social organism will have reached the point at which decay and ruin begin.... Why, sir, what is the advantage? If the head of the family votes he is apt to reflect the views of the family. It is more convenient than to have all the family going out to vote.

Wilbur F. Sanders of Montana interrupted Senator Reagan to ask if the law should not be an expression of the intellectual and moral sense of all the people, and whether governments did not derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

John T. Morgan of Alabama entered into a long and sarcastic argument to prove that if a woman could vote in Wyoming she might be sent to Congress and then she could not be admitted because the law says a senator or representative "must be an inhabitant of the State in which he is chosen." He ignored the fact that all legal papers are made out with this pronoun, which presents no difficulty in their application to women.