The History of Woman Suffrage Volume V Part 54

"Undaunted by opposition brave spirits led on."

PRESENTATION OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS BY THE NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE a.s.sOCIATION to Pioneers, those who labored before 1880; Veterans, those who labored between 1880 and 1900; Honor Workers after 1900.

While Mrs. Catt was busy handing out the honor rolls to pioneers and veterans with a few precious words to each, Mrs. Upton came suddenly forward and laid a detaining hand on her arm. With tender reminiscence, relieved by the sparkles of humor never absent from whatever she said, she presented in the name of countless suffragists an exquisite pin, a large star sapphire surrounded by diamonds and set in platinum. It was the a.s.sociation's parting gift to its beloved leader, whose usually perfect poise deserted her and she could not acknowledge it. To her whispered appeal to Mrs. Upton to speak for her, the latter laughingly answered that this was the first time she ever was able to do something that Mrs. Catt could not.

The evening part of the celebration began with community singing, William Griswold Smith, director, and was followed by an ill.u.s.tration of Then and Now, Told in Pictures, under the management of Miss Young.

Down a wide flight of stairs came one picturesque figure after another garbed to represent the pa.s.sing years during the suffrage contest, beginning with the middle of the last century, many clothed in the actual garments worn at the period, and after crossing the stage they took their seats in tiers, a lovely spectacle. At the last came the Red Cross workers, the nurses, the motor corps and others in war service. The picture ended with a gay group of debutantes in filmy chiffon gowns to symbolize the present day of rejoicing. The triumphs of women in the intellectual field were told in the program that followed: Education--Professor Maria L. Sanford; Medicine--Dr. Julia Holmes Smith; Law--Miss Florence Allen; Theology--the Rev. Olympia Brown; Journalism--Miss Ethel M. Colson; Politics--Miss Mary Garrett Hay.

Different sections of the League of Women Voters were in session day and night perfecting the organization of this most significant a.s.sociation of women ever attempted. The culmination of seventy years'

continuous effort was about to be reached in the complete and universal enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women and now a new generation, under the guidance of the older workers who remained, was bravely taking up another great task, that of bringing about cooperation among women in the effective use of this supreme power for the highest welfare of the State. On the last afternoon of the convention the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation and the League of Women Voters held a joint session for discussion of matters in which they had a mutual interest.

On the last evening, just before the beginning of the first session of the School for Political Education in the Florentine Room, Mrs. Catt, with suitable ceremony formally adjourned the Victory Convention, the last of a series held for fifty years by the old a.s.sociation.

FOOTNOTES:

[121] Following are the officers of the a.s.sociation who were elected at the convention in St. Louis in 1919 and re-elected in Chicago in 1920 to remain in office until the a.s.sociation should go out of existence: President, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt; first vice-president, Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick; second vice-president, Miss Mary Garrett Hay; third vice-president, Mrs. Guilford Dudley; fourth vice-president, Mrs. Raymond Brown; fifth vice-president, Mrs. Helen H. Gardener; treasurer, Mrs. Henry Wade Rogers; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Nettie R. Shuler; recording secretary, Mrs. Halsey W.

Wilson. All were of New York City except Mrs. Dudley of Tennessee and Mrs. Gardener of the District of Columbia. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, who had been president from 1904 to 1915 and honorary president thereafter, had died July 2, 1919.

Directors: Mrs. Charles H. Brooks (Kans.); Mrs. J. C. Cantrill (Ky.); Mrs. Richard E. Edwards (Ind.); Mrs. George Gellhorn (Mo.); Mrs. Ben Hooper (Wis.); Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore (N. Y.); Miss Esther G. Ogden (N. Y.); Mrs. George A. Piersol (Penn.).

[122] Fraternal delegates were present from the a.s.sociation of Collegiate Alumnae; Florence Crittenden Mission; General Federation of Women's Clubs; Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic; National Board of the Young Women's Christian a.s.sociation; National Congress of Mothers; Parent Teachers' a.s.sociation; National Council of Jewish Women; National Council of Women; National Council of College Women; National Women's Trade Union League; National Women's a.s.sociation of Commerce; National Women's Relief Corps; National Women's Relief Society; State Federation of Women's Clubs; State Trade Union League; Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Women's City Club; State League of Women Voters; Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom.

[123] To Governors who called special sessions: "On behalf of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation meeting in its 51st annual convention I am instructed to express its official appreciation and grat.i.tude to you for your a.s.sistance in ratifying the Federal Suffrage Amendment. Woman suffrage will soon be a closed chapter in the history of our country and we are confident that the pride and satisfaction of every Governor and legislator who has aided the ratification will increase as time goes on. We want you to know that the women of the nation are truly grateful to you for your part in their enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. Nettie Rogers Shuler, corresponding secretary.

[124] For account of meetings of the Board of Officers and Executive Council in April and June, 1921, see Appendix for this chapter.

[125] The names of the organizers retained, all of whom gave most effective service, were Mrs. Augusta Hughston, Miss Edna Annette Beveridge, Mrs. Maria S, McMahon, Miss Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, Miss Josephine Miller, Miss Lola Trax, Miss Edna Wright, Miss Marie Ames and Miss Gertrude Watkins. Their organized work extended over Iowa, Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Delaware and New Hampshire. In addition to the regular force Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham and Miss Liba Peshakova were sent to Mississippi for two months. The work of the organizers is regarded as the hardest and most difficult connected with a State campaign and Mrs. Shuler paid high tribute to them.

[126] The final report of the Oversea Hospitals Committee is given in the chapter on War Work of Organized Suffragists.

[127] In this s.p.a.ce have been placed the little mahogany table on which were written the Call for the first Woman's Rights Convention in 1848, the Declaration of Principles and the Resolutions; a portrait in oil of Miss Anthony on her eightieth birthday; large framed photographs of Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Catt; photographs of the signing of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Vice-president Marshall and Speaker Gillett, the pens with which it was done and the pen with which Secretary of State Colby signed the Proclamation that it was a part of the National Const.i.tution, and personal mementoes of Miss Anthony. The table has special historical value. It stood for years in the parlor of the McClintock family at Waterloo, N. Y., and was bequeathed to Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who, with Mrs. McClintock, Lucretia Mott and her sister, Martha C. Wright, wrote the Call, etc. When Mrs.

Stanton died in New York City it stood at the head of her casket holding the Biography of Susan B. Anthony and the History of Woman Suffrage, of which Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony wrote the first three volumes. The table was left to Miss Anthony and was in her home at Rochester, N. Y., until her death, when it stood at the head of her casket, bearing a floral tribute from the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation. It then pa.s.sed to Dr. Anna Howard Shaw and was in her home at Moylan, Penn., until the national suffrage headquarters were opened in Washington December, 1916, when it was taken there. At the time they were closed, after the Federal Suffrage Amendment had been submitted by Congress, the table found a final haven in the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution.

[128] Dr. Shaw was a graduate of Albion College, Mich.; of the medical department of Boston University and of its School of Theology. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on her by Temple University, Philadelphia.

[129] Mrs. John O. Miller, president of the Pennsylvania State Suffrage a.s.sociation, was appointed chairman of this committee, to which six others were added and it was decided to raise $500,000 to be divided between the two colleges. When Bryn Mawr was making its "drive" for $2,000,000 in 1920 it included an appeal for $100,000 for this chair in politics, which were subscribed. The Medical College raised $30,000 for the chair in preventive medicine. The committee hopes to have the full amount by Feb. 14, 1922.

Several months before, at the invitation of Dean Virginia C.

Gildersleeve, a meeting had been held at Barnard College, Columbia University, to arrange for the Anna Howard Shaw Chair of American Citizenship. It was addressed by President Nicholas Murray Butler, who strongly favored it; by Dean Gildersleeve, Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw and other alumnae and a committee formed to raise $100,000, of which amount $4,000 were subscribed at that time. Mrs. George McAneny (a daughter of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi) was made chairman and the other members were Barnard alumnae and well-known workers for woman suffrage. The convention was asked to endorse the project, which was done. The committee expects soon to have the full amount. These lectures on American Citizenship will not be confined to Barnard students but will be offered to women in general.

[130] For accounts and tributes see Appendix for this chapter.

CHAPTER XX.

THE FEDERAL AMENDMENT FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE.[131]

The first convention in all history to consider the Rights of Women was called by Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and two others to meet July 19, 20, 1848, at Seneca Falls in western New York, Mrs.

Stanton's home.[132] In 1851 the work was taken up by Susan B.

Anthony, destined to be its supreme leader for the next half century.

Meetings soon began to take place and societies to be formed in various States, so that by 1861 there was a well-defined movement toward woman suffrage. Large conventions were held annually in eastern and western cities, in which the most prominent men and women partic.i.p.ated. The commencement of the Civil War ended all efforts for this object and its leaders devoted themselves for the next five years to the women's part of every war. In May, 1866, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony issued a call for the scattered forces to come together in convention in New York City, and here began the movement for woman suffrage which continued without a break for fifty-four years.

No large extension of the franchise had been made since the government was founded except to the working men between 1820 and 1830 and this had been accomplished by amending State const.i.tutions. There had been no thought of enfranchising women in any other way but now Congress, for the purpose of giving the ballot to the recently freed negro men, was about to submit an amendment to the National Const.i.tution. This convention was called to protest against "cla.s.s legislation" and demand that women should be included. It adopted a Memorial to Congress, prepared by Mrs. Stanton, which contained a portion of Charles Sumner's great speech, Equal Rights for All, and was a complete statement of woman's right to the franchise. In Miss Anthony's address she said: "Up to this hour we have looked only to State action for recognition of our rights but now, by the results of the war, the whole question of suffrage reverts to Congress and the United States Const.i.tution. The duty of Congress at this moment is to declare what shall be the true basis of representation in a republican form of government."

As soon as the intention to submit the 14th Amendment was announced Miss Anthony and her co-workers began rolling up pet.i.tions to Congress that it should provide for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women and tens of thousands of names had been sent to Washington. These pet.i.tions represented the first effort ever made for an amendment to the Federal Const.i.tution for woman suffrage and the action of this convention marked the first organized demand--May 10, 1866. At this time the American Equal Rights a.s.sociation was formed and the Woman's Rights Society merged with it, as having a larger scope.[133]

The following month the 14th Amendment was submitted by Congress for the ratification of the State Legislatures and it was declared adopted by the necessary three-fourths in July, 1868. By this amendment the status of citizenship was for the first time definitely established--"All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens." This plainly put men and women on an exact equality as to citizenship. Then followed the broad statement: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." This also seemed to guarantee the equal rights of men and women. It was the second section which aroused the advocates of suffrage for women to vigorous protest:

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to the _male_ inhabitants of such State, being 21 years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged except for partic.i.p.ation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such _male_ citizens shall bear to the whole number of _male_ citizens 21 years of age in such State.

Up to this time there was no mention of suffrage in the Federal Const.i.tution except the provision for electing members of the Lower House of Congress but now for the first time it actually discriminated against women by imposing a penalty on the States for preventing men from voting but leaving them entirely free to prohibit women. When even this penalty proved insufficient to protect negro men in their attempts to vote, Congress in 1869 submitted a 15th Amendment which was declared ratified the following year: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude."

Those who had been striving for two decades to obtain suffrage for women protested by every means in their power against this second discrimination. They implored and demanded that the word "s.e.x" should be included in this amendment, which would have forever settled the question, just as the omission of the word "male" in the 14th Amendment would have settled it. The most of the men who had stood by them in their early struggles for the vote, when both were working together for the freedom of the slaves, now sacrificed them rather than imperil the political rights of the negro men. Some of the women themselves were persuaded to abandon their opposition to these amendments by the promise of the Republican leaders that as soon as they were safely intrenched in the const.i.tution another should be placed there providing for woman suffrage. This promise they did not try to keep and it remained unfulfilled over fifty years. Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton were never for one moment deceived or silenced but in their paper, _The Revolution_, they opposed these amendments as long as they were pending.

Although the protests were in vain the women had learned that they might be relieved of the intolerable burden of having to obtain the suffrage State by State through permission of a majority of the individual voters. They had seen an entire cla.s.s enfranchised through the quicker and easier way of amending the Federal Const.i.tution and they determined to invoke this power in their own behalf. From the office of _The Revolution_ in New York in the autumn of 1868 went out thousands of pet.i.tions to be signed and sent to Congress for the submission of an amendment to enfranchise women. Immediately after its a.s.sembling in December, 1868, Senator S. C. Pomeroy of Kansas introduced a resolution providing that "the basis of suffrage shall be that of citizenship and all native or naturalized citizens shall enjoy the same rights and privileges of the elective franchise but each State shall determine the age, etc." A few days later Representative George W. Julian of Indiana offered one in the House which declared: "The right of suffrage shall be based on citizenship ... and all citizens, native or naturalized, shall enjoy this right equally ...

without any distinction or discrimination founded on s.e.x." These were the first propositions ever made in Congress for woman suffrage by National Amendment.

In order to impress Congress with the seriousness of the demand, a woman's convention--the first of its kind to meet in the national capital--was held in Washington in January, 1869. It continued several days with large audiences and an array of eminent speakers, including Lucretia Mott, Clara Barton, Mrs. Stanton, a number of men and Miss Anthony, the moving spirit of the whole. In response Congress the next month submitted the 15th Amendment with even a stronger discrimination against women than the 14th contained.

The annual gatherings of the Equal Rights a.s.sociation had been growing more and more stormy while the 14th and 15th Amendments were pending and the point was reached where any criticism of them made by the women was met by their advocates with hisses and denunciation. Finally at the meeting of May 12, 1869, in New York City, with Mrs. Stanton presiding, an attempt was made, led by Frederick Dougla.s.s, to force through a resolution of endors.e.m.e.nt. Miss Anthony opposed it in an impa.s.sioned speech in which she said: "If you will not give the whole loaf of justice to the entire people, then give it first to women, to the most intelligent and capable of them at least.... If Mr. Dougla.s.s had noticed who applauded when he said black men first and white women afterwards, he would have seen that it was only the men."

The men succeeded in wresting the control of the convention from the women, who then decided that the time had come for them to have their own organization and endeavor to have the question of their enfranchis.e.m.e.nt considered entirely on its own merits. Three days later, at the Women's Bureau in East 23rd Street, where now the Metropolitan Life Building stands, with representatives present from nineteen States, the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation was formed.

Mrs. Stanton was made president, Miss Anthony chairman of the executive committee. One hundred women became members that evening and here was begun the organized work for an Amendment to the Federal Const.i.tution to confer woman suffrage which was to continue without ceasing for half a century.[134] Its const.i.tution declared the object of the a.s.sociation to be "to secure the ballot to the women of the Nation on equal terms with men." On June 1 its executive board sent a pet.i.tion to Congress for "a 16th Amendment to be submitted to the Legislatures of the States for ratification which shall secure to all citizens the right of suffrage without distinction of s.e.x."

Before the work for a 16th Amendment was fairly organized a number of members of Congress and const.i.tutional lawyers took the ground that women were already enfranchised by the first clause of the 14th Amendment. At the convention held in St. Louis in the autumn of 1869, Francis Minor, a prominent lawyer of that city, presented this position so convincingly that the newly formed National a.s.sociation conducted an active campaign in its favor for several years. In 1872 women tried to vote in a number of States and in a few of them were successful. Miss Anthony's vote was accepted in Rochester, N. Y., and later she was arrested, charged with a _crime_, tried by a Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court and fined $100. The inspectors in St. Louis refused to register Mrs. Francis Minor, she brought suit against them, and her husband carried the case to the Supreme Court of the United States (Minor vs. Happersett). He made an able and exhaustive argument but an adverse decision was rendered March 29, 1875.[135]

The women then returned to the original demand for a 16th Amendment, which indeed many of them, including Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton, never had entirely abandoned. Beginning with 1869 Congressional committees had granted hearings on woman suffrage every winter, even though no resolution was before them. Under the auspices of the National a.s.sociation pet.i.tions by the tens of thousands continued to pour into Congress, which were publicly presented. Finally on Jan. 10, 1878, Senator A. A. Sargent of California offered the following joint resolution: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of s.e.x."

The Committee on Privileges and Elections granted a hearing which consumed a part of two days, with the large Senate reception room filled to overflowing and the corridors crowded. Extended hearings were given also by the House Judiciary Committee and const.i.tutional arguments of the highest order were made by noted women in attendance at the national suffrage convention. The Senate committee reported adversely, however, and the House committee not at all. This took place over forty years ago. Senator Sargent's amendment, which in later years was sometimes called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, was presented to every Congress during this period and hearings were granted by committees of every one. The women who made their pleadings and arguments simply to persuade these committees to give a favorable report and bring the question before their respective Houses for debate comprised the most distinguished this country had produced. It is only by reading their addresses in the History of Woman Suffrage that one can form an idea of their masterly exposition of laws and const.i.tution, their logic, strength and oftentimes deep pathos.

There are in the pages of history many detached speeches of rare eloquence for the rights of man but nowhere else is there so long an unbroken record of appeals for these rights--the rights of man and woman. Again and again at the close of the suffrage hearings the chairman and members of the committee said that none on other questions equalled them in dignity and ability. From 1878 to 1896 there were five favorable majority reports from Senate committees, two from House committees and four adverse reports. Thereafter, when Miss Anthony no longer spent her winters in Washington and persisted in having a report, none of any kind was made until the movement for woman suffrage entered a new era in 1912. One significant event, however, occurred during this time. Largely through the efforts of Senator Henry W. Blair (Rep.) of New Hampshire, the resolution for a 16th Amendment was brought before the Senate. After a long and earnest discussion the vote on Jan. 25, 1887, resulted in 16 ayes, all Republican; 34 noes, eleven Republican, twenty-three Democratic; twenty-six absent.[136]

It early became apparent to the leaders of the movement that there would have to be a good deal of favorable action by the States before Congress would give serious consideration to this question and therefore under the auspices of the National American a.s.sociation, they continuously helped with money and work the campaigns for securing the suffrage by amendment of State const.i.tutions. Miss Anthony herself took part in eight such campaigns, only to see all of them end in failure. Up to 1910 there had been at least twenty and only two had been successful--Colorado, 1893; Idaho, 1896; Wyoming and Utah had equal suffrage while Territories and came into the Union with it in their const.i.tutions, but all were spa.r.s.ely settled States whose influence on Congress was slight. Commercialism had become the dominating force in politics and moral issues were crowded into the background. Nevertheless in every direction was evidence of an increasing public sentiment in favor of woman suffrage in the accession of men and women of influence, in the large audiences at the meetings, in the official endors.e.m.e.nt of all kinds of organizations--the Federation of Labor, the Grange and many others of men, of women and of the two together, for educational, patriotic, religious, civic and varied purposes almost without number. There was not yet, however, any strong political influence back of this movement which was so largely of a political nature.

In 1910 an insurgent movement developed in Congress and extended into various States to throw off the party yoke and the domination of "special interests" and adopt progressive measures. One of its first fruits was the granting of suffrage to women by the voters in the State of Washington. Under the same influence the women of California were enfranchised in 1911, a far-reaching victory. In 1912 Oregon, Arizona and the well populated State of Kansas adopted woman suffrage by popular vote. In 1913 the new Legislature of Alaska granted it, and that of Illinois gave all that was possible without a referendum to the voters, including munic.i.p.al, county and that for Presidential electors. In 1914 Nevada and Montana completed the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women in the western part of the United States, except in New Mexico.

The effect upon Congress of the addition of between three and four million women to the electorate was immediately apparent. A woman suffrage amendment to the Federal Const.i.tution had suddenly become a live question. A circ.u.mstance greatly in its favor was the shattering of the traditional idea that the Federal Const.i.tution must not be further amended, by the adoption of two new Articles--for an income tax and the election of U. S. Senators by the voters.