History of Woman Suffrage Volume II Part 76

WHEREAS, The underlying principle of our Government is equality of political rights, therefore,

_Resolved_, That in the prosecution and trial of Susan B. Anthony, a citizen of the United State, for having cast a ballot at the last election, the Government of the United States declares it is a crime to vote, thus attempting to undermine the very foundation of the Republic.

_Resolved_, That as in this trial Susan B. Anthony represents one-half of the people, the whole power of the United States is arrayed against the women of the nation--against law-abiding, tax-paying women citizens.

_Resolved_, That the trial of Susan B. Anthony, though ostensibly involving the political status of woman alone, in reality questions the right of every man to share in the Government; that it is not Susan B. Anthony, or the women of the Republic who alone are on trial to-day, but it is the Government of the United States, and that as the decision is rendered for or against the political rights of citizenship, so will the men of America find themselves free or enslaved.

_Resolved_, That the decisions of the courts in the case of Mrs.

Bradwell, of Illinois, Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Webster, of Washington; Mrs. Minor, of St. Louis; Miss Burnham, of Philadelphia, and others, are warnings to the people that their liberties are in danger.

_Resolved_, That it is because women are not voters, and, therefore, have no recognized political power, that the members of the Forty-second Congress, while raising their own salaries from $5,000 to $7,500, dared to reject an amendment to the same bill, which proposed to raise the salaries of the women employes of the Government from $900 to $1,200.

_Resolved_, That in the coming Centennial of our nation's birth it is mockery to ask woman to lend a helping hand without some pledge to right her wrongs; what cause has she for rejoicing unless the century shall round out with her enfranchis.e.m.e.nt, and the old liberty bell ring in equality for all.

_Resolved_, That the report of the Judiciary Committee of the a.s.sembly of the State of New York in regard to a property suffrage qualification for women, is one of the signs of awakened thought toward our reform.

_Resolved_, That the rapid advance of Woman's Rights in foreign countries is a subject of gratulation, and as a matter of special cheer we call particular attention to the grand international Woman's Rights Congress, under the control of the liberals of Europe, to be held in Paris during the present year.

WHEREAS, The National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation has been requested to send delegates to the International Woman's Rights Congress to be held in Paris in October next; therefore,

_Resolved_, That this a.s.sociation empower Ernestine L. Rose, Paulina Wright Davis, Mathilde F. Wendt, Jane Graham Jones, and Elizabeth Phelps Pearsall, to represent our woman suffrage movement in that congress.

[155] Mrs. Nettie C. Tabor, Cal.; Frances Ellen Burr, Hartford, Conn.; Mrs. Elizabeth B. Phelps, N. Y.; Mrs. E. Langdon, N. Y.; Jane B.

Archibald, D. C.; Miss Jennie V. Jewell, D. C.; Mrs. Adeliah Gardiner, Baltimore; Kate C. Harris, Baltimore; Miss Laura Ewing, Baltimore; Phoebe W. Couzins; Edward M. Davis, Philadelphia; Matilda Joslyn Gage, Fayetteville, N. Y.; Lillie Devereux Blake, New York City; Ruth C.

Dennison, D. C.; Sara Andrews Spencer, D. C.; Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, New York City; Belva A. Lockwood, Virginia L. Vaughn, James K. Wilc.o.x, and the Hutchinson Family.

[156] Letters were received from Paulina Wright Davis, Providence, R.

I.; Virginia L. Minor, St. Louis, Mo.; Hon. E. G. Lapham, Canandaigua, N. Y.; Vice-Pres. Henry Wilson, Natick, Ma.s.s.; John Van Vhoris, Rochester, N. Y.; Dr. James C. Jackson, Dansville, N. Y.; Hon. Henry R. Selden, Rochester, N. Y.; Hon. John A. Ka.s.son, Iowa; Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Newport, R. I.; Ernestine L. Rose, London, England; Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Carrie S.

Burnham, Philadelphia, Pa.; Lewia C. Smith, Rochester, N. Y.; Asenath Coolidge, Watertown, N. Y.; Priscilla Holmes Drake, Alabama; Laura De Force Gordon, California; George F. Downing, Washington, D. C.; The Free Thinkers Club of Milwaukee; The Radical Democracy of Wisconsin.

[157] _Resolved_, That this convention, representing as it does all portions of our country, cordially sympathizes with the proposed efforts of the women of the District of Columbia to secure the practical enjoyment of their const.i.tutional right to vote, as declared by the Supreme Court of said District, by the pa.s.sage of an act of Congress amending the organic law of the District by striking out the word "male" from the seventh section of said act; and we earnestly request our senators and representatives to support a bill providing for such an amendment by speech and vote.

_Resolved_, That a committee of seven be appointed by the president of this convention to co-operate with the committee heretofore appointed by the women of the District of Columbia in their application to Congress for the pa.s.sage of an act amendatory of the organic act of said District, as above indicated.

_Resolved_, That among the important events in our struggle for the equal rights of woman we place the trial of Miss Susan B. Anthony before Hon. Ward Hunt, a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, at Canandaigua, New York, in June last, on an indictment for voting as a citizen at the general election in November, 1872; that the grossly partial course of Judge Hunt on that occasion, his seeming unacquaintance with the plainest rules of law, and his eagerness for the conviction of Miss Anthony, stand in marked contrast with the calm demeanor and clear apprehension of the facts and principles at issue which she exhibited on the trial, and their conduct respectively in this memorable contest affords proof that, though it may be possible that all women have not a const.i.tutional right to be voters, it is very certain that some men are not fit to be judges.

_Resolved_, That waiving for the present moment the question whether or not Judge Hunt was correct in his decision concerning the const.i.tutional right of women to vote for Federal officers, nevertheless, in the opinion of all sound lawyers and intelligent men, he committed a great outrage against Miss Anthony by a.s.suming, without proof, that she voted for a candidate for Congress, and by arbitrarily refusing to allow the jury to pa.s.s upon the question of her innocence, and by peremptorily commanding them to render a verdict of guilty.

That so plain is this to the minds of those who possess any clear knowledge of general principles of law, and of the ordinary duties of a criminal court, that Judge Hunt has shown by his conduct on that trial that he is too ignorant to fill his high position, or too arbitrary to be entrusted with its grave responsibilities; and, therefore, in either case, he ought to be impeached and removed from the bench.

_Resolved_, That by the death of John Stuart Mill, woman has lost a wise, brave friend. His great work for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of woman, and for the elevation of all mankind deserves the public thanks of this convention.

_Resolved_, That in Hon. John C. Underwood, lately removed from the bench by death, the women of his district have lost that rarest of public servants, a judge to whom the disfranchised could confidently look for justice.

_Resolved_, That by the death of John M. Morris, late editor of the Washington _Chronicle_, the cause of woman's freedom lost a tried and valued friend, whose faithfulness and judgment ent.i.tled him to the grat.i.tude of the women of this Nation.

Miss Anthony submitted the following:

_Resolved_, That the thanks of the friends of woman suffrage are due to the Misses Smith, of Glas...o...b..ry, Connecticut, for their patriotic resistance to the tyranny of taxation without representation, and that all women tax payers through the country should follow their example.

_Resolved_, That the best means of agitating at the present hour is for all women to insist on their right of representation by actually presenting their votes at every election, and for all property-holding women to refuse to pay another dollar of tax until their right of representation is recognized.

PETERBORO, January 5, 1874

SUSAN B. ANTHONY--MY DEAR FRIEND: As I am suffering from an attack of vertigo, I answer your letter by the hand of my wife. Enclosed is my contribution toward defraying the expenses of your convention. Strong as is the Const.i.tutional argument for woman suffrage, I nevertheless hope that your convention will not tolerate the idea of measuring the rights of woman by a man-made const.i.tution. Have you heard of a State in which women and women only bear rule, and the const.i.tution of which was made by women only? Perhaps there is such a flagrantly unjust state, either on this or some other planet. If so, deep is the injury done to its men. But deeper the insult added to this injury if, when the men complain of being excluded from the government, the women apply to the measurement of man's rights the yardstick of a woman-made const.i.tution. Const.i.tutions are useful in settling ten thousand subordinate questions. But the great questions of primary and inherent human rights are to be submitted to no lower decisions than those of G.o.d's immutable and everlasting justice.

With high regard, your friend, GERRIT SMITH.

GEN. BUTLER'S LETTER.

WASHINGTON, December 1.

MY DEAR MADAM: As a rule I have refused to take part in any convention in the District of Columbia about any matter which might come before Congress. I do not think it proper. I went far out of my way in this regard, having given evidence that I am most strongly committed to the legality, propriety and justice of giving the ballot to woman. I do not see how I can add anything to it by appearing on the platform in advocacy of any measure that may come before me as a Member of Congress, and I do not think my sense of propriety would over-balance such considerations. Hoping that your cause may succeed, I have the honor to be, very truly yours,

BEN. F. BUTLER.

[158] ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE a.s.sOCIATION.--For more than a quarter of a century the representative women of this nation have held annual meetings, demanding the recognition of their rights as citizens of the United States. In halls of legislation and courts of justice, as well as in Conventions, woman's equality with man in all civil and political rights, privileges and immunities, has been debated and variously decided by popular opinion, statute law and judicial decree, without arriving at any permanent settlement of the question. And until the world learns that there should be but one code of laws and morals for man and woman, this question never can be settled. But the discussion has roused woman herself to new thought and action, and kindled in her an enthusiasm that the best interests of the nation demand should be wisely directed and controlled.

The fact that women are already voting, holding office and resisting taxation, that thousands are enrolling in the Grange movement and Temperance Crusade, that Woman Suffrage is to be voted upon in Michigan at the next election, should warn the Government that the hour for its action has come. It must now determine whether woman's transition from slavery to freedom shall be through reformation or revolution, whether she shall be permitted to express her interest in national questions through law by the direct power of the ballot, or outside of law by indirect and irresponsible power; and thus, by a blind enthusiasm, plunge the nation into anarchy.

For an earnest discussion of the duty of the hour, we invite all persons interested in woman's enfranchis.e.m.e.nt to meet in Irving Hall, New York, on the 14th and 15th of May.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY, _President_.

ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, _Chairman Ex. Com_.

[159] The speakers at this Convention were Ernestine L. Rose, Martha C. Wright, O. B. Frothingham, Rev. Olympia Brown, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Elizabeth B. Phelps, Carrie S. Burnham, Sarah Andrews Spencer, Frances V. Hallock, Amanda Deyo, Dr. J. Mix, Mrs. Helen M.

Sloc.u.m, Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, Lillie Devereux Blake, Susan B.

Anthony.

[160] Letters were received at this May Anniversary (1874) from Lucinda B. Chandler, Vineland, New Jersey; Mrs. C. C. Hussey, Report of New Jersey; Mary F. Davis, New Jersey; Catherine F. Stebbins, Michigan; Mary J. Channing, Paulina Wright Davis, Rhode Island; Alfred H. Love, Edward M. Davis, Sarah Pugh, Philadelphia; Lorenza Haynes, Theological School, St. Lawrence University, Canton, N. Y.; Sarah R.

L. Williams, Toledo, Ohio; Harriet S. Brooks, Report for Illinois; Catharine V. Waite, Illinois; Lizzie Boynton Harbert, Iowa; Virginia L. Minor, Missouri; Annie L. Quinby, Kentucky; Sarah Burger Stearns, Duluth, Minnesota; Hon. Benj. F. Butler, Ma.s.sachusetts; Mrs. C. H.

Baker, Mrs. H. K. Clapp, Nevada; Sarah J. Wallis, California; Mrs. C.

I. H. Nichols, Pomo, California; Mariana Thompson Folsom, Foxboro, Ma.s.s.; Emily P. Collins, La.; Mary K. Spalding, Atlanta, Ga.; Mrs.

Matilda Joslyn Gage, New York; Mary L. Booth, _Harper's Bazar_, New York; Ann T. Greeley, Ellsworth, Me.; Mary Olney Brown, Olympia, Washington Territory.

[161] _Resolved_, That as complete individual development depends on the harmonious exercise of our three-fold nature, and undue power given to either deranges and undermines the whole being, so in the nation, a complete experiment of self-government can be made only by the equal recognition of the rights of all citizens, and in their h.o.m.ogeneous education into the laws of national life.

_Resolved_, That the decision of Chief Justice Waite, in the case of Virginia L. Minor of Missouri, that according to the Federal Const.i.tution woman is a citizen, but not ent.i.tled to the right of suffrage, is more infamous and retrogressive in principle at this hour, than was Chief-Justice Tancy's decision in the Dred Scott case, that a black man was not a United States citizen, and therefore not ent.i.tled to the rights of a citizen of every State.

_Whereas_, By the recent decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of Myra Bradwell of Illinois, and of Virginia L. Minor of Missouri, the Federal Const.i.tution is declared powerless to protect the civil and political rights of woman.

_Resolved_, That it is the duty of Congress to take the necessary steps to secure an amendment to the Const.i.tution that shall prohibit the several States from disfranchising citizens of the United States on account of s.e.x.

_Whereas_, One of the strongest evidences of the degradation of disfranchised cla.s.ses is the denial of their right to testify against their rulers in courts of justice (slaves could not testify against their masters; Chinamen in California to-day can not testify against white men, nor wives in cases of crim. con. against their husbands); therefore

_Resolved_, That the denial of Elizabeth R. Tilton's right to testify in the pending Brooklyn trial, is but proof of woman's need of the ballot in her own right for self-defence and self-protection.

_Resolved_, That as the proposition for woman's enfranchis.e.m.e.nt is to be submitted in Iowa, in 1876, the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation will hold there 100 county conventions, and by lectures and the circulation of tracts, help the women of Iowa to make a thorough canva.s.s of the State.