The History of Woman Suffrage Volume II Part 17

Mr. BROOKS: I suggested that I would move it at a convenient time.

Mr. STEVENS: Is the gentleman in favor of his own amendment?

Mr. BROOKS: I am in favor of my own color in preference to any other color, and I prefer the white women of my country to the negro.

[Applause on the floor and in the galleries promptly checked by the Speaker]. The Speaker said he saw a number of persons clapping in the galleries. He would endeavor, to the best of his ability, whether supported by the House or not, to preserve order. Applause was just as much out of order as manifestations of disapproval, and hisses not more than clapping of hands. Instead of general applause on the floor, gentlemen on the floor should set a good example.

[53] WOMEN POLITICIANS.--Mr. Lane, of Kansas, it is reported, has presented to the Senate the pet.i.tion of "one hundred and twenty-four beautiful, intelligent, and accomplished ladies of Lawrence," praying for a const.i.tutional amendment that shall prohibit States from disfranchising citizens on account of s.e.x. That trick will not do. We wager a big apple that the ladies referred to are not "beautiful" or accomplished. Nine of every ten of them are undoubtedly _pa.s.se_. They have hook-billed noses, crow's-feet under their sunken eyes, and a mellow tinting of the hair. They are connoisseurs in the matter of snuff. They discard hoops, waterfalls, and bandeaux. They hold hen conventions, to discuss and decide, with vociferous expression, the orthodoxy of the minister, the regularity of the doctor, and the morals of the lawyer. They read the _Tribune_ with spectacles, and have files of _The Liberator_ and Wendell Phillips' orations, bound in sheepskin. Heaven forbid that we should think of any of the number as a married woman, without a fervent aspiration of pity for the weaker vessel who officiates as her spouse. As to rearing children, that is not to be thought of in the connection. Show us a woman who wants to mingle in the exciting and unpurified squabble of politics, and we will show you one who has failed to reach and enjoy that true relation of sovereignty which is held by her "meek and lowly" sisters; who, though dest.i.tute of such panting aspirations, hold the scepter of true authority in those high and holy virtues which fascinate while they command in their undisputed empire--the social circle. What iconoclast shall break our idol, by putting the ballot in woman's hand?--_Albany Evening Journal._

A CRY FROM THE FEMALES.--Mr. Sumner yesterday presented a pet.i.tion to the Senate from a large number of the women of New England, praying that they may not be debarred from the right of suffrage on account of s.e.x. Our heart warms with pity toward these unfortunate creatures. We fancy that we can see them, deserted of men, and bereft of those rich enjoyments and exalted privileges which belong to women, languishing their unhappy lives away in a mournful singleness, from which they can escape by no art in the construction of waterfalls or the employment of cotton-padding. Talk of a true woman needing the ballot as an accessory of power, when she rules the world by a glance of her eye.

There was sound philosophy in the remark of an Eastern monarch, that his wife was sovereign of the Empire, because she ruled his little ones, and his little ones ruled him. The sure panacea for such ills as the Ma.s.sachusetts pet.i.tioners complain of, is a wicker-work cradle and a dimple-cheeked baby.--_The New York Tribune._

[54] WOMAN SUFFRAGE.--_Editor Commonwealth_:--Enclosed is a letter I sent to the editor of _The Nation_. As I consider his allusion to it insufficient, will you have the kindness to print it, no paper but yours, that I know of, being now open to the subject. All that the editor of _The Nation_ has a right to say is, that he has not investigated the statistics. Most of the women who have signed the pet.i.tions are women who have not a male relative in the world interested in the matter. Very truly yours,

BOSTON, _Jan. 20, 1866_. CAROLINE H. DALL.

70 WARREN AVENUE, BOSTON, _Jan. 6, 1866_.

_To the Editor of The Nation_:--I saw with surprise in _The Nation_, received to-day, a paragraph on "Universal Suffrage," which contained the following lines:

"We think the women of the United States ought to have the franchise if they desire it, and we think they ought to desire it. But until they do desire it, and show that they do, by a _general_ expression of opinion, we are opposed to their being saddled with it on grounds of theoretical fitness, etc."

Surely, it is difficult to explain such a sentence in a professedly far-seeing and deep-thinking journal! That argument will serve as well for the lately enfranchised blacks as for women, for no one will pretend that of the millions set free, a bare majority would of themselves contend for the franchise. That argument might have refused them freedom itself, for a large majority of Southern slaves knew too little of it to desire it, however they may have longed to be rid of a taskmaster and the pangs which slavery brought. During the last four years women have been silent about their "rights" in the several States, because pressed by severe duties. Desirous to establish a reputation for discretion, we have refrained from complicating the perplexities of any Senator; but now that a const.i.tutional amendment is pending we must be careful, even if we gain no franchise, to lose no _opportunity_.

Hitherto the Const.i.tution of the United States has contained no word that would shut women out from future suffrage. Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, and Mr. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, propose to limit a right to "male citizens" which should rest, as it now does, simply on "legal voters."

This would oblige women to move to amend the Const.i.tution of the United States after each separate State was carried. We have no inclination for this unnecessary work, and here, in Boston, we are preparing a pet.i.tion basing the necessity of our present interference on this fact alone. How much women desire the suffrage, Mr. Editor, you ought to perceive from the conduct of the women of Australia.

Carelessly enough, her male legislators omitted the significant adjective from their const.i.tutional amendment, and, without a word of warning, on election day, every woman, properly qualified, was found at the polls. There was no just reason for refusing them the privilege, and _The London Times_ says the precedent is to stand.

A very absurd article in _The Evening Post_ has lately given us an idea that New York contains some remarkable women. Women born to be looked at!--women who do their whole duty if they blossom like the roses, and like the roses die. Let us hope they fulfill the functions of this type by as short a sojourn on this earth as may be, lingering, as Malherbe would have it, only for "the s.p.a.ce of a morning." It may be among them that you find the women who "look persistently to married life as a means of livelihood." Here, in Ma.s.sachusetts, we do not acknowledge any such. Fashion has her danglers among men and women, but we pity those whose lot has thrown them into intimate relations with such women as you describe. They are not of our sort.

We think that if the writer in _The Evening Post_ were tested, he would be forced to admire most the hands which could do the best work.

It would be small comfort to him, when Bridget and John had simultaneously departed, when the baby was crying and the fire out, that his wife sat lonely, in one corner of the apartment, with serene eyes and unstained hands. Men who talk such nonsense in America, must remember that neither wealth nor gentle blood can _here_ protect them from such a dilemma. As to suffrage, we are not now talking of granting it to a distinct race; if we were, they might manifest a "general" desire for it. Women, who love their husbands and brothers, can not _all_ submit to bear the reproach which clings to their demand for justice. A few of us must suffer sharply for the sake of that great future which G.o.d shows us to be possible, when goodness shall join hands with power. But we do not like our pain. We would gladly be sheltered, and comforted, and cheered, and we warn you, by what pa.s.ses in our own hearts, that women will never express a "general" desire for suffrage until men have ceased to ridicule and despise them for it; until the representatives of men have been taught to treat their pet.i.tions with respect. There would be no difficulty in obtaining this right of suffrage If it depended on a property qualification. It is consistent democracy which bars our way.

CAROLINE HEALEY DALL.

[55] _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_: That, from and after the pa.s.sage of this act, each and every male person, excepting paupers and persons under guardianship, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who has not been convicted of any infamous crime or offence, and who is a citizen of the United States, and who shall have resided in the said District for the period of six months previous to any election therein, shall be ent.i.tled to the elective franchise, and shall be deemed an elector and ent.i.tled to vote at any election in said District, without any distinction on account of color or race.

[56] _The New York Tribune_, Dec. 12, 1866, contains the following editorial comments: The Senate devoted yesterday to a discussion of the right of women to vote--a side question, which Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, interjected into the debate on suffrage for the District of Columbia. Mr. Cowan chooses to represent himself as an ardent champion of the claim of woman to the elective franchise. It is not necessary to question his sincerity, but the occasion which he selects for the exhibition of his new-born zeal, subjects him to the suspicion of being considerably more anxious to embarra.s.s the bill for enfranchising the blacks, than to amend it by conferring upon women the enjoyment of the same right. Mr. Cowan was once a Republican. He abandoned his party, has been repudiated by his State, and may well be casting about for some new issue by which to divert attention from his faithlessness on the old. We have heard that Mr. Cowan affects the cla.s.sics; we are sure, therefore, that he will thank us for reminding him of that familiar story out of Plutarch respecting Alcibiades. When the dissolute Athenian had cut off the tail of his dog, which was the dog's princ.i.p.al ornament, and all Athens cried out against him for the act, Alcibiades laughed, and said: "Just what I wanted has happened. I wished the Athenians to talk about this that they might not say something worse of me."

We are not to be suspected of indifference to the question whether woman shall vote. At a proper time we mean to urge her claim, but we object to allowing a measure of urgent necessity, and on which the public has made up its mind, to be r.e.t.a.r.ded and imperilled. Nor do we think the Radical majority in the Senate need be beholden to the enemy's camp for suggestions as to their policy. We want to see the ballot put in the hands of the black without one day's delay added to the long postponement of his just claim. When that is done, we shall be ready to take up the next question.

[57] Mrs. Frances Dana Gage, of Ohio.

[58] YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Foster, Nesmith, Patterson, Riddle, Wade--9. NAYS--Messrs. Cattell, Chandler, Conness, Creswell, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fogg, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Hendricks, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Norton, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Saulsbury, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Willey, Williams, Wilson, Yates--37.

[59] YEAS--Ancona, Baker, Barker, Baxter, Benjamin, Boyer, Broomall, Bundy, Campbell, Cooper, Defrees, Denison, Eldridge, Farnsworth, Ferry, Finck, Garfield, Hale, Hawkins, Hise, Chester D. Hubbard, Edwin N. Hubbell, Humphrey, Julian, Ka.s.son, Kelley, Kelso, Le Blond, Coan, McClurg, McKee, Miller, Newell, Niblock, Noell, Orth, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Sitgreaves, Starr, Stevens, Strouse, Taber, Nathaniel G. Taylor, Trimble, Andrew H. Ward, Henry D. Washburn, Winfield--49.

CHAPTER XVIII.

NATIONAL CONVENTIONS IN 1866-67.

The first National Woman Suffrage Convention after the war--Speeches by Ernestine L. Rose, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Henry Ward Beecher, Frances D. Gage, Theodore Tilton, Wendell Phillips--Pet.i.tions to Congress and the Const.i.tutional Convention--Mrs. Stanton a candidate to Congress--Anniversary of the Equal Rights a.s.sociation.

The first Woman's Rights Convention[60] after the war was held in the Church of the Puritans, New York, May 10th, 1866.

As the same persons were identified with the Anti-slavery and Woman's Rights Societies, and as by the "Proclamation of Emanc.i.p.ation" the colored man was now a freeman, and a citizen; and as bills were pending in Congress to secure him in the right of suffrage, the same right women were demanding, it was proposed to merge the societies into one, under the name of "The American Equal Rights a.s.sociation,"

that the same conventions, appeals, and pet.i.tions, might include both cla.s.ses of disfranchised citizens. The proposition was approved by the majority of those present, and the new organization completed at an adjourned session. Though Mr. Garrison, with many other abolitionists, feeling that the Anti-slavery work was finished, had retired, and thus partly disorganized that Society, yet, in its executive session, Wendell Phillips, President, refused to entertain the proposition, on the ground that such action required an amendment to the const.i.tution, which could not be made without three months previous notice.

Nevertheless there was a marked division of opinion among the anti-slavery friends present.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Clemence Sophia Lozier. "Yours Sincerely Clemence Sophia Lozier, M.D."]

At an early hour Dr. Cheever's church was well filled with an audience chiefly of ladies, who received the officers and speakers[61] of the Convention with hearty applause. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, President of the "National Woman's Rights Committee," called the Convention to order, and said:

We have a.s.sembled to-day to discuss the right and duty of women to claim and use the ballot. Now in the reconstruction is the opportunity, perhaps for the century, to base our government on the broad principle of equal rights to all. The representative women of the nation feel that they have an interest and duty equal with man in the struggles and triumphs of this hour.

It may not be known to all of you that, during the past year, thousands of pet.i.tions, asking the ballot for woman, have been circulated through the Northern States and sent to Congress. Our thanks are due to the Hon. James Brooks for his kindness in franking our pet.i.tions, and his skill in calling to them the attention of the nation. As we have lost this champion in the House, I trust his more fortunate successor will not _dodge_ his responsibilities to his countrywomen who are taxed but not represented. This should be a year of great activity among the women of this State. As New York is to have a const.i.tutional convention in '67, it behooves us now to make an earnest demand, by appeals and pet.i.tions, to have the word "male" as well as "white" stricken from our Const.i.tution.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY, presented several resolutions for consideration.

5. _Resolved_, That disfranchis.e.m.e.nt _in a republic_ is as great an anomaly, if not cruelty, as slavery itself. It is, therefore, the solemn duty of Congress, in "_guaranteeing a republican form of government to every State of this Union_," to see that there be no abridgment of suffrage among persons responsible to law, on account of color or s.e.x.

6. _Resolved_, That the Joint Resolutions and report of the "Committee of Fifteen," now before Congress, to introduce the word "_male_" into the Federal Const.i.tution, are a desecration of the last will and testament of the Fathers, a violation of the spirit of republicanism, and cruel injustice to the women of the nation.

7. _Resolved_, That while we return our thanks to those members of Congress who, recognizing the sacred right of pet.i.tion, gave our prayer for the ballot a respectful consideration, we also remind those who, with scornful silence laid them on the table, or with flippant sentimentality pretended to exalt us to the clouds, above man, the ballot and the work of life, that we consider no position more dignified and womanly than on an even platform with man worthy to lay the corner-stone of a republic in equality and justice.

8. _Resolved_, That we recommend to the women of the several States to pet.i.tion their Legislatures to take the necessary steps to so amend their const.i.tutions as to secure the right of suffrage to every citizen, without distinction of race, color or s.e.x; and especially in those States that are soon to hold their const.i.tutional conventions.

THEODORE TILTON said: According to the programme, it is now my friend Mr. Beecher's turn to speak, but I observe that this gentleman, like some of the rest of the President's friends, occupies a back seat. [Laughter]. While, therefore, he is sitting under the gallery, I will occupy your attention just long enough to give that modest man a chance to muster nerve enough to make his appearance in public. [Laughter]. First of all, I have an account to settle with Mrs. Stanton. In her speech on taking the chair, she said that editors are not good housekeepers--a remark which no editor would think of retorting upon herself.

[Laughter]. But, however dingy my editorial office may sometimes be, it is always a cheerful place when Mrs. Stanton visits it.

[Applause]. Moreover, I think the place she invited me _out of_ is no darker than this place which she invited me _into_!

[Laughter]. In fact, I think the press has generally as much illumination as the church. [Applause].

Mrs. President, this convention is called to consider the most beautiful and humane idea which has ever entered into American politics--the right of woman to that ballot which belongs equally to all citizens. What is the chief glory of our democratic inst.i.tutions? It is, that they appeal equally to the common interest of all cla.s.ses--to high and low, to rich and poor, to white and black, to male and female. And never, until the political equality of all these cla.s.ses is fully recognized by our laws, shall we have a government truly democratic. The practical instrument of this equality is the ballot. Now what is the ballot? Mr. Frothingham gave us one definition; Mr. Phillips gave us another. But the ballot is so large a thing that it admits of many definitions. The ballot is what the citizen thinks of the government. The government looks to the ballot to know the popular will. I do not mean to say that the little piece of white paper which we hold in our hand on election day is the only means whereby we can utter an opinion that shall be heard in Washington. We can speak by the pen; we can speak by the voice. A wise government will give heed to the public press, and to the popular voice. But there is no spoken voice, there is no written word, which the government is legally bound to heed except the ballot. When they see the ballot, they know they are served with official notice. When you _talk_ to a government, you talk as to a tree; but when you _vote_ at it, you scratch your name on the bark. Now, I want to see Rosalind's name cut into the bark of the government. [Applause]. Who ought to possess the ballot? Our President is right--I mean _this_ President. [Applause]. She does not claim the ballot for women as women, but for women as citizens. That is the true ground. The ballot belongs not to the white man, not to the black man, not to the woman, but to the citizen. Shall the minister vote? No. Shall the lawyer? No. Shall the merchant? No. Shall the rich man? No. Shall the poor man? No.

None of these shall vote. There is only one person who shall vote, and that is the citizen. [Applause]. Now I trust the day is not far distant when our inst.i.tutions shall practically recognize this idea--when civil prerogative shall be limited not only by no distinction of color, but by no distinction of s.e.x.

Are women politically oppressed that they need the ballot for their protection? I leave that question to be answered by women themselves. I demand the ballot for woman, not for woman's sake, but for man's. _She_ may demand it for her own sake; but to-day, _I_ demand it for _my_ sake. We shall never have a government thoroughly permeated with humanity, thoroughly humane, thoroughly n.o.ble, thoroughly trustworthy, until both men and women shall unite in forming the public sentiment, and in administering that sentiment through the government. [Applause]. The church needs woman, society needs woman, literature needs woman, science needs woman, the arts need woman, politics need woman. [Applause]. A Frenchman once wrote an essay to prove woman's right to the alphabet. She took the alphabet, entered literature, and drove out Dean Swift. When she takes the ballot, and enters politics, she will drive out Fernando Wood. [Applause]. But, shall we have a woman for President? I would thank G.o.d if to-day we had a _man_ for President. [Laughter]. Shall women govern the country? Queens have ruled nations from the beginning of time, and woman has governed man from the foundation of the world! [Laughter]. I know that Plato didn't have a good opinion of women; but probably they were not as amiable in his day as in ours. They undoubtedly have wrought their full share of mischief in the world. The chief bone of contention among mankind, from the earliest ages down, has been that rib of Adam out of which G.o.d made Eve. [Laughter]. And I believe in holding women to as great a moral accountability as men. [Laughter]. I believe, also, in holding them to the same intellectual accountability. Twenty years ago, when Macaulay sat down to review Lucy Rushton's--no, I mean Lucy Aiken's (laughter) "Life of Addison," he was forced to allude to what was a patent fact, that a woman's book was then to be treated with more critical leniency than a man's. But criticism nowadays never thinks of asking whether a book be a woman's or a man's, as a preliminary to administering praise or blame. In the Academy of Design, the critic deals as severely with a picture painted by a woman as with one painted by a man. This is right. Would you have it otherwise? Not at all! We are to stand upon a common level.

The signs of the times indicate the progress of woman's cause.

Every year helps it forward visibly. The political status of woman was never so seriously pondered as it is now pondered by thoughtful minds in this country. By and by, the principles of Christian democracy will cover the continent--nay, will cover the world, as the equator belts it with summer heat! [Applause].

Until which time, we are called to diligent and earnest work.

"Learn to labor and to wait," saith the poet. There will be need of much laboring and of long waiting. Sir William Jones tells us that the Hindoo laws declared that women should have no political independence--and there is many a backward Yankee who don't know any better than to agree with the Hindoos. Salatri, the Italian, drew a design of Patience--a woman chained to a rock by her ankles, while a fountain threw a thin stream of water, drop by drop, upon the iron chain, until the link should be worn away, and the wistful prisoner be set free. In like manner the Christian women of this country are chained to the rock of Burmese prejudice; but G.o.d is giving the morning and the evening dew, the early and the latter rain, until the ancient fetters shall be worn away, and a disfranchised s.e.x shall leap at last into political liberty. [Applause]. And now for Mr. Beecher.

MR. BEECHER, on rising, was received with hearty applause,[62] and spoke for an hour, in a strain of great animation, as follows:

It may be asked why, at such a time as this, when the attention of the whole nation is concentrated upon the reconstruction of our States, we should intrude a new and advanced question. I have been asked "Why not wait for the settlement of the one that now fills the minds of men? Why divert and distract their thoughts?"