The History of Woman Suffrage Volume III Part 113

The world does not stand still. The dawn of Christianity was the dawn of light for woman. For eighteen centuries she has been gradually but slowly rising from the condition of drudge and servant for man, to become his helpmeet, counselor and companion. As she has been advanced in the social scale, our laws have kept pace with that advancement and conferred upon her rights and privileges with accompanying duties and responsibilities. She has not abused those privileges, and has been found equal to the duties and responsibilities. And the day is not far distant when the refining and elevating influence of women will be as clearly manifested in the political as it now is in the social world.

Urged by all these considerations of right, and justice, and expediency, and the strong conviction of duty, I approved that act of which this bill contemplates the repeal, and it became a law. To warrant my reconsidering that action, there ought to be in the experience of the last two years something to show that the reasons upon which it was founded were unsound, or that the law itself was wrong or at least unwise and inexpedient. My view of the teachings of this experience is the very reverse of this. Women have voted, and have the officers chosen been less faithful and zealous and the legislature less able and upright? They have sat as jurors, and have the laws been less faithfully and justly administered, and criminals less promptly and adequately punished? Indeed the lessons of this two years' experience fully confirm all that has been claimed by the most ardent advocate of this innovation.

In this territory women have manifested for its highest interests a devotion strong, ardent, and intelligent. They have brought to public affairs a clearness of understanding and a soundness of judgment, which, considering their exclusion hitherto from practical partic.i.p.ation in political agitations and movements, are worthy of the greatest admiration and above all praise. The conscience of women is in all things more discriminating and sensitive than that of men; their sense of justice, not compromising or time-serving, but pure and exacting; their love of order, not spasmodic or sentimental merely, but springing from the heart; all these,--the better conscience, the exalted sense of justice, and the abiding love of order, have been made by the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women to contribute to the good government and well-being of our territory. To the plain teachings of these two years' experience I cannot close my eyes. I cannot forget the benefits that have already resulted to our territory from woman suffrage, nor can I permit myself even to seem to do so by approving this bill.

There is another, and in my judgment, a serious objection to this bill, which I submit for the consideration and action of your honorable body. It involves a reference to that most difficult of questions, the limitations of legislative power. High and transcendent as that power undoubtedly and wisely is, there are limits which not even it can pa.s.s. Two years ago the legislature of this territory conferred upon certain of its citizens valuable rights and franchises. Can a future legislature, by the pa.s.sage of a law not liable to the objection, that it violates the obligation of contracts, take away those rights? It is not claimed, so far as I have been informed, that the persons upon whom these franchises were conferred have forfeited or failed to take advantage of them. But even if such were the case it would be rather a matter for judicial determination than for legislative action. What that determination would be is clearly indicated in the opinion of a.s.sociate-justice Story in the celebrated case of Trustees of Dartmouth College _vs._ Woodward: "The right to be a freeman of a corporation is a valuable temporal right. * * It is founded on the same basis as the right of voting in public elections; it is as sacred a right; and whatever might have been the prevalence of former doubts, since the time of Lord Holt, such a right has always been deemed a valuable franchise or privilege."

But even if we concede that these rights once acquired may be taken away, the pa.s.sage of this bill would be, in my judgment, a most dangerous precedent. Once admit the right of a representative body to disfranchise its own const.i.tuents, and who can establish the limits to which that right may not be carried? If this legislature takes from women their franchises or privileges, what is to prevent a future legislature from depriving certain men, or cla.s.ses of men, that, from any consideration they desire to disfranchise, of the same rights? We should be careful how we inaugurate precedents which may "return to plague the inventors," and be used as a pretext for taking away our liberties.

It will be remembered that in my message to the legislature at the commencement of the present session I said: "There is upon our statue book an act granting to the women of Wyoming territory the right of suffrage and to hold office which has now been in force two years. Under its liberal provisions women have voted in the territory, served on juries, and held office. It is simple justice to say that the women, entering for the first time in the history of the country upon these new and untried duties, have conducted themselves with as much tact, sound judgment, and good sense as the men. While it would be claiming more than the facts justify, to say that this experiment, in a limited field, has demonstrated beyond a doubt the perfect fitness of woman, at all times and under all circ.u.mstances, for taking a part in the government, it furnishes at least reasonable presumptive evidence in her favor, and she has a right to claim that, so long as none but good results are made manifest, the law should remain unrepealed."

These were no hastily formed conclusions, but the result of deliberation and conviction, and my judgment to-day approves the language I then used. For the first time in the history of our country we have a government to which the n.o.ble words of our _Magna Charta_ of freedom may be applied,--not as a mere figure of speech, but as expressing a simple grand truth,--for it is a government which "derives all its just powers from the consent of the governed." We should pause long and weigh carefully the probable results of our action before consenting to change this government. A regard for the genius of our inst.i.tutions, for the fundamental principles of American autonomy, and for the immutable principles of right and justice, will not permit me to sanction this change.

These reasons for declining to give my consent to the bill, I submit with all deference for the consideration and judgment of your honorable body.

J. A. CAMPBELL.

The Republicans in the House made an ineffectual effort to sustain the veto, but the party whip and the power of the saloons were too strong for them, and the bill was pa.s.sed over the veto by a vote of 9 to 4. It met a different and better fate, however, in the Council, where it was sustained by a vote of 4 to 5, a strict party vote in each case. Mr. Corlett, a rising young lawyer, at that time in the Council and since then a delegate in congress, made an able defense of the suffrage act and resisted its repeal, sustaining the veto with much skill and final success. And there was much need, for the Democrats had made overtures to one of the Republican members of the Council (they lacked one vote) and had obtained a promise from him to vote against the veto; but Mr. Corlett, finding out the fraud in season, reclaimed the fallen Republican and saved the law. It is due to Mr. Corlett to say that he has always been an able and consistent supporter of woman's rights and universal suffrage. He is now the leading lawyer of the territory.

Since that time the suffrage act has grown rapidly in popular favor, and has never been made a party question. The leading men of both parties, seeing its beneficial action, have given it an unqualified approval; and most, if not all, of its former enemies have become its friends and advocates. Most of the new settlers in the territory, though coming here with impressions or prejudices against it, soon learn to respect its operation, and admire its beneficial results. There is nowhere in the territory a voice raised against it, and it would be impossible to get up a party for its repeal.

The women uniformly vote at all our elections, and are exerting every year a more potent influence over the character of the candidates selected by each party for office, by quietly defeating those most objectionable in point of morals. It is true they are not now summoned to serve on juries, nor are they elected to office; and there are some obvious reasons for this.

In the first place, they never push themselves forward for such positions, as the men invariably do; and in the second place, the judges who have been sent to the territory, since the first ones, have not insisted on respecting the women's rights as jurors, and in some cases have objected to their being summoned as such. But these matters will find a remedy by and by. It used to be an important question in the nominating caucuses, "Will this candidate put up money enough to buy the saloons, and catch the loafers and drinkers that they control?" Now the question is, "Will the women vote for this man, if we nominate him?" There have been some very remarkable instances where men, knowing themselves to be justly obnoxious to the women, have forced a nomination in caucus, relying on their money and the drinking shops and party strength to secure an election, who have been taught most valuable lessons by signal defeat at the polls. It would be invidious to call names or describe individual cases, and could answer no necessary purpose. But I would ask particular attention to the following articles, taken from recent newspapers, as full and satisfactory evidence of the truth of these statements, and of the wisdom of granting universal suffrage and equal rights to the citizens of Wyoming territory.

The Laramie City _Daily Sentinel_ of December 16, 1878, J. H.

Hayford, editor, has the following leading editorial:

For about eight years now, the women of Wyoming territory have enjoyed the same political rights and privileges as the men, and all the novelties of this new departure, all the shock it carried to the sensibilities of the old conservatives, have long since pa.s.sed away. For a long time--even for years past--we have frequently received letters asking for information as to its practical results here, and still more frequently have received copies of eastern papers with marked articles which purported to be written by persons who resided here, or had visited the territory and witnessed the awful results or the total failure of the experiment. We have usually paid no attention to these false and anonymous scribblers, who took this method to display their shallow wit at the sacrifice of truth and decency. But recently we have received more than the usual number of such missives, and more letters, and from a more respectable source than before, and we take this occasion and method to answer them all at once, and once for always, and do it through the columns of the _Sentinel_, one of the oldest and most widely circulated papers in the territory, because it will be readily conceded that we would not publish here at home, false statements and misrepresentations upon a matter with which all our readers are familiar, and which, if false, could be easily refuted.

We a.s.sert here, then, that woman suffrage in Wyoming has been in every particular a complete success.

That the women of Wyoming value as highly the political franchise, and as generally exercise it, as do the men of the territory.

That being more helpless, more dependent and more in need of the protection of good laws and good government than are men, they naturally use the power put into their hands to secure these results.

That they are controlled more by principle and less by party ties than men, and generally cast their votes for the best candidates and the best measures.

That while women in this territory frequently vote contrary to their husbands, we have never heard of a case where the family ties or domestic relations were disturbed thereby, and we believe that among the pioneers of the West there is more honor and manhood than to abuse a wife because she does not think with her husband about politics or religion.

We have never seen any of the evil results growing out of woman suffrage which we have heard predicted for it by its opponents. On the contrary, its results have been only good, and that continually. Our elections have come to be conducted as quietly, orderly and civilly as our religious meetings, or any of our social gatherings, and the best men are generally selected to make and enforce our laws. We have long ago generally come to the conclusion that woman's influence is as wholesome and as much needed in the government of the State as in the government of the family.

We do not know of a respectable woman in the territory who objects to or neglects to use her political power, and we do not know of a decent man in the territory who wishes it abolished, or who is not even glad to have woman's help in our government.

Our laws were never respected or enforced, and crime was never punished, or life or property protected until we had woman's help in the jury box and at the polls, and we unhesitatingly say here at home that we do not believe a man can be found who wishes to see her deprived of voice and power, unless it is the one "who fears not G.o.d nor regards man," who wants to pursue a life of vice or crime, and consequently fears woman's influence and power in the government. We a.s.sert further that the anonymous scribblers who write slanders on our women and our territory to the eastern press, are either fools, who know nothing about what they write, or else belong to that cla.s.s of whom the poet says:

"No rogue e'er felt the halter draw With good opinion of the law."

We took some pains to track up and find out the author of one of the articles against woman suffrage to which our attention was called, and found him working on the streets of Cheyenne, with a ball and chain to his leg. We think he was probably an average specimen of these writers. And, finally, we challenge residents in Wyoming who disagree with the foregoing sentiments, and who endorse the vile slanders to which we refer, to come out over their own signature and in their own local papers and take issue with us, and our columns shall be freely opened to them.

There are some obvious inferences to be drawn and some rather remarkable lessons to be learned, from the foregoing narrative.

In the first place, the responsibilities of self government, with the necessity of making their own laws, was delegated to a people, strangers to each other, with very little experience or knowledge in such matters, and composed of various nationalities, with a very large percentage of the criminal cla.s.ses. It is a matter of surprise that they should have so soon settled themselves into an orderly community, where all the rights of person and property are well protected, and as carefully guarded and fully respected as in any of our old eastern commonwealths.

It is a still greater surprise that a legislature selected by such a const.i.tuency, under such circ.u.mstances as characterized our first election, and composed of such men as were in fact elected, should have been able to enact a body of laws containing so much that was good and practicable, and so little that was injudicious, unwise or vicious.

In the next place, it is evident that there was no public sentiment demanding the pa.s.sage of the woman suffrage law, and but few advocates of it at that time in the territory; that its adoption, under such circ.u.mstances, was not calculated to give it a fair chance to exert a favorable influence in the community, or even maintain itself among the permanent customs and laws of the territory. The prospect was, that it would either remain a dead letter, or be swept away under the ridicule and abuse of the press, and the open attacks of its enemies. But it has withstood all these adverse forces, and from small beginnings has grown to be a permanent power in our politics, a vital inst.i.tution, satisfactory to all our people. The far-reaching benefits it will yet accomplish can be easily foreseen. To make either individuals or cla.s.ses respected and induce them to respect themselves, you must give them power and influence, a fair field and full enjoyment of the results of their labors. We have made a very creditable beginning in this direction, so far as woman is concerned, and we have no doubts about the outcome of it. Wyoming treats all her citizens alike, and offers full protection, equal rewards, and equal power, to both men and women.

Again it is very evident that while our women take no active part in the primary nomination of candidates for office, they exercise a most potent influence by the independent manner in which they vote, and the signal defeat they inflict on many unworthy candidates. Their successful opposition to the power of the bar-rooms is a notable and praiseworthy instance of the wise use of newly-acquired rights. The saloon-keepers used to sell themselves to that party, or that man, who would pay the most, and while robbing the candidates, degraded the elections and debauched the electors. So long as it was understood that in order to secure an election it was necessary to secure the rum-shops, good men were left out of the field, and unscrupulous ones were sought after as candidates. The women have already greatly modified this state of affairs and are likely to change it entirely in the end.

Another wonderful consequence which has attended the presence of women at the polls, is the uniform quiet and good order on election day. All the police that could be mustered, could not insure half the decorum that their simple presence has everywhere secured. No man, not even a drunken one, is willing to act like a rowdy when he knows the women will see him. Nor is he at all anxious to expose himself in their presence when he knows he has drank too much. Such men quit the polls, and slink out of the streets, to hide themselves from the eyes of the women in the obscurity of the drinking shops.

Another fact of great importance is the uniform testimony as to woman's success as a juror. It is true that there has been but a limited opportunity, thus far, to establish this as a fact beyond all doubt. But a good beginning has been made, a favorable impression produced, and no bad results have accompanied or followed the experiment. If our jury system of trying cases is to be preserved, as a tolerable method of settling disputes and administering justice in our courts, every one will admit that a great improvement in the character of the jurors must be speedily found. At present, a jury trial is generally regarded as a farce, or something worse. The proof of this is seen in the fact that in most of our courts the judges are required to try all cases without a jury, where the parties to the action consent, and that in a great portion of the cases the parties do consent.

Another notable observation is the rapid growth of opinion in favor of woman suffrage among our people, after its first adoption; but more particularly the change effected in the minds of the new settlers, who come to the territory with old prejudices and fixed notions against it. Neither early education, nor personal bias, nor party rancor, has been able to withstand the overwhelming evidence of its good effects, and of its elevating and purifying influence in our political and social organization.

I must add, in conclusion, that the seventh legislature of our territory has just closed its session of sixty days. It was composed of more members than the earlier legislatures were, there being thirteen in the Council and twenty-six in the House.

Many important questions came up for consideration, and a wide field of discussion was traveled over, but not one word was at any time spoken by any member against woman suffrage.

Hon. M. C. Brown, district-attorney for the territory, confirms the testimony given by the judges and Governor Campbell, in a letter to the National Suffrage Convention held in Washington in 1884, which will be found in the pamphlet report of that year.

FOOTNOTES:

[491] Messrs. Wade, Anthony, Gratz Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Foster, Nesmith, Patterson, Riddle. See Vol. II., Chapter XVII.

[492] Ex-Governor Hoyt in his public speeches frequently gives this bird's-eye view of Bright's domestic and political discussions: "Betty, it's a shame that I should be a member of the legislature and make laws for such a woman as you. You are a great deal better than I am; you know a great deal more, and you would make a better member of the a.s.sembly than I, and you know it. I have been thinking about it and have made up my mind that I will go to work and do everything in my power to give you the ballot. Then you may work out the rest in your own way." So he went over and talked with other members of the legislature. They smiled. But he got one of the lawyers to help him draw up a short bill, which he introduced.

It was considered and discussed. People smiled generally. There was not much expectation that anything of that sort would be done; but this was a shrewd fellow, who managed the party card in such a way as to get, as he believed, enough votes to carry the measure before it was brought to the test. I will show you a little behind the curtain, so far as I can draw it. Thus he said to the Democrats: "We have a Republican governor and a Democratic a.s.sembly. Now, then, if we can carry this bill through the a.s.sembly and the governor vetoes it, we shall have made a point, you know; we shall have shown our liberality and lost nothing. But keep still; don't say anything about it." They promised. He then went to the Republicans and told them that the Democrats were going to support his measure, and that if _they_ did not want to lose capital they had better vote for it too. He didn't think there would be enough of them to carry it, but the vote would be on record and thus defeat the game of the other party. And they likewise agreed to vote for it. So when the bill came to a vote it went right through!

The members looked at, each other in astonishment, for they hadn't intended to do it, _quite_. Then they laughed and said it was a good joke, but they had "got the governor in a fix." So the bill went, in the course of time, to John A. Campbell, who was then governor--the first governor of the territory of Wyoming--and he promptly signed it! His heart was right. He saw that it was long-deferred justice, and so signed it as gladly as Abraham Lincoln wrote _his_ name to the Proclamation of Emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves. Of course the women were astounded! If a whole troop of angels had come down with flaming swords for their vindication, they would not have been much more astonished than they were when that bill became a law and the women of Wyoming were thus clothed with the habiliments of citizenship.

[493] No sooner had these gentlemen left than Mrs. Post and Mrs.

Arnold had a long interview with the governor, urging him to sign the bill on the highest moral grounds; not only to protect the personal rights of the women of the territory but to compel the men to observe the decencies of life and to elevate the social and political status of the people.--[E. C. S.

[494] In the summer of 1871 Mrs. Stanton and myself, _en route_ for California, visited Wyoming and met the women who were most active in the exercise of their rights of citizenship. At Cheyenne we were the guests of Mrs. M. B. Arnold and Mrs. Amalia B. Post. Mrs.

Arnold had a large cattle-ranch and Mrs. Post an equally large sheep-ranch a few miles out of the city, which they superintended, and from which each received an independent income. They had not only served as jurors, but acted as foremen. At Laramie we were the guests of Mr. J. H. Hayford, editor of the _Laramie Sentinel_, and met Grandma Swain, who was the first woman to cast her ballot in that city. We also met Judges Howe and Kingman and Governor Campbell, and heard from them of the wonderful changes wrought in the court-room and at the polls by the presence of enfranchised women. We spoke in the very court-room in which women had sat as jurors and felt an added inspiration from that fact.--[S. B. A.

[495] The following is the list of the first grand jury at Laramie City, composed of nine men and six women, as impanneled and sworn: C. H. Bussard, foreman; Mrs. Jane E. Hilton, T. W. DeKay, Jeremiah Boies, Mrs. H. C. Swain. Joseph DeMars, M. N. Merrill, Mrs. M. A.

Pierce, Mrs. C. Blake, Richard Turpin, G. W. Cardwell, Mrs. S. L.

Larimer, N. C. Worth, Mrs. Jane Mackle, W. H. Mitch.e.l.l.

CHAPTER LIII.

CALIFORNIA.

Liberal Provisions in the Const.i.tution--Elizabeth T.

Schenck--Eliza W. Farnham--Mrs. Mills' Seminary, now a State Inst.i.tution--Jeannie Carr, State Superintendent of Schools--First Awakening--_The Revolution_--Anna d.i.c.kinson--Mrs. Gordon Addresses the Legislature, 1868--Mrs. Pitts Stevens Edits _The Pioneer_--First Suffrage Society on the Pacific Coast, 1869--State Convention, January 26, 1870, Mrs. Wallis, President--State a.s.sociation Formed, Mrs. Haskell of Petaluma, President--Mrs. Gordon Nominated for Senator--In 1871, Mrs.

Stanton and Miss Anthony Visit California--Hon. A. A. Sargent Speaks in Favor of Suffrage for Woman--Ellen Clarke Sargent Active in the Movement--Legislation Making Women Eligible to Hold School Offices, 1873--July 10, 1873, State Society Incorporated, Sarah Wallis, President--Mrs. Clara Foltz--A Bill Giving Women the Right to Practice Law--The Bill Pa.s.sed and Signed by the Governor--Contest Over Admitting Women into the Law Department of the University--Supreme Court Decision Favorable--Hon. A. A.

Sargent on the Const.i.tution and Laws--Journalists and Printers--Silk Culture--Legislative Appropriation--Mrs. Knox Goodrich Celebrates July 4, 1876--Imposing Demonstration--Ladies in the Procession.