History of Woman Suffrage Volume II Part 61

[Ill.u.s.tration: Isabella Beecher Hooker.]

On the day of the adjournment of Congress Mrs. Hooker presented thanks, in the name of the Committee, to such members of the House as had been most active in serving our cause. She said:

GENTLEMEN: The National Woman Suffrage and Educational Committee desire me to express to you their heartfelt thanks for the good service you have rendered the whole woman movement by your willingness to entertain, examine, and, in some instances, advocate our new claim that we are already enfranchised under the original Const.i.tution and the XIV. and XV. Amendments.

To you, Mr. Julian, we are especially indebted, in that while you were the first member of the House who introduced our claim to the suffrage under the form of a XVI. Amendment, you were in the front once more when a new issue was presented in the shape of the "Woodhull Memorial." Your resolution asking the House "to partic.i.p.ate in the proceedings," by which two women citizens of the United States "might present the moral and const.i.tutional argument in favor of the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the women citizens of the United States, and in support of a memorial lately reported upon by a majority and minority of the Judiciary Committee," was in keeping with every other act of your public life, a protest against injustice, a proposition looking toward perfect equality; and we thank you for it in the name of the disfranchised millions who will one day realize, as they now do not, the significance of that act.

To you, Mr. Arnell, we owe not only the pa.s.sage of "A bill to do justice to the female employes of the Government," but the first admission of women to this Capitol as citizens having common rights with the ruling cla.s.s in the use of buildings devoted to the public service. In your committee-room we found not only a home, but such courtesy, such opportunity for friendly consultation with members of Congress upon subjects of deepest political importance, as must forever silence the absurd charge that men and women will cease to regard the decorums of life, to interchange its happy civilities when they become equally responsible for the welfare of the State.

To other gentlemen of the House we owe thanks also for their co-operation with you in this manly service, especially to General Wilson, of Ohio, to Mr. Morrill, of Pennsylvania, and General Butler, of Ma.s.sachusetts, who have, as chairmen of their respective committees, offered us the use of their several rooms, in case the threats of a certain gentleman in the House should so terrify you, sir, that you should feel compelled to withdraw your most friendly offer. We have accepted the use of the Committee-room on Agriculture, leaving you, sir, with reluctance, simply because it is larger and more accessible than your room, and one so beautifully adorned by art, that our womanly tastes are daily gratified in its use.

To you, Mr. Loughridge, as the author of the minority report of the Judiciary Committee on the Woodhull Memorial, and to General Butler, your faithful colleague, we owe that most luminous statement of the historic position of woman, her natural, civil, and const.i.tutional rights, and the best method of enforcing these in the interest of the women citizens of the United States. For that report, sir, we thank you from the depth of our hearts. We claim it as our bill of rights. On that line we also fight, not with weapons of steel, but with pen and voice and silent prayer; and when at last the solemn responsibilities of citizens.h.i.+p shall have been laid upon us by the men of this great nation, and together we shall strive to bring justice and equality into legislation and administration, we shall not forget to whom we owe this first judicial protest in these halls against traditional misrepresentations of the const.i.tutional rights of women citizens of the Republic.

And, gentlemen, permit us to congratulate you all, that having secured equal rights to all men in these United States by your vote, and having welcomed the proscribed black man to a seat by your side in halls of legislation, you are now turning your attention to the women of the United States, with a firm resolution that they shall no longer be denied the rights nor excused from the responsibilities of a full citizens.h.i.+p.

Permit us to express the hope that in coming years you may be returned to this Capitol by the votes of grateful women citizens, enfranchised through your instrumentality; and should you be called to take upper seats here in remembrance of faithful service during this session, we shall congratulate not only ourselves but our common and well-beloved country; and if, gentlemen, you should find here as colleagues some of the matrons of this Republic whose names are now being daily signed to this new declaration of fealty to human rights, we have confident a.s.surance that you will cheerfully work hand in hand with them, according to the tenor of their pledge to work with you for the maintenance of those equal rights on which our Republic was originally founded, to the end that it may have what is declared to be the first condition of just government--the consent of the governed.

Mr. JULIAN responded:--I thank you, Mrs. Hooker, and the committee you represent, for your words of cordial approbation.

Such a testimony will go far to redeem the ordinary drudgery and dreariness of public life, and I shall ever cherish it with real satisfaction and pride. I ought to say, however, that in performing the acts so handsomely commended by you I did nothing but my simple duty. Indeed, const.i.tuted as I am, and believing as I do, it was morally impossible for me to do otherwise. Having espoused the cause of woman's enfranchis.e.m.e.nt more than twenty years ago, when it was first launched in the United States, and having labored so long and so earnestly for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the male citizens of our country, irrespective of color or race, it would have been grossly inconsistent in me, not to say recreant and mean, to shrink from the duties for which you compliment me when invited to their performance.

You are pleased to express the hope that some of the retiring members of the XLI. Congress may hereafter be returned to the places they have filled. For myself, I am weary of the service in which I have toiled for so many years, and I welcome a season of rest, or at least a change of labor. But when your hope goes farther, and points to our return here by the votes of enfranchised women, and our welcome from a sisterhood of co-representatives in the halls of Congress, I confess the prophecy is so pleasing and the picture seems so tempting that its realization would completely reconcile me to my restored place in the House of Representatives, or even to a seat in that smaller body at the other end of the Capitol. And I am not lacking in the spirit of good courage and hope which animates you. These are revolutionary times. Whole years of progress are now crowded into days. Who will venture to judge the future by any political almanac of by-gone times? I can say with old Thomas Carlyle, "One strong thing I find here below, the just thing, the true thing." And no man or party is strong enough, no earthly power is strong enough to stay the grand march of events through which the hand of G.o.d is visibly guiding the Republic to universal liberty, and through that to enduring prosperity and peace.

Mr. ARNELL, of Tennessee, said--_Mrs. Hooker and Ladies_: You have been kind enough to refer to me by name. I think you have been over-generous in your estimation of my poor services. If I have accomplished anything, no matter how inconsiderable, for your cause, I greatly rejoice. Yet, in reality, it is my cause as much as yours--a man's cause as much as a woman's; for the inquiry you have raised is a great fundamental question, broad as humanity itself. I thank you for your wide interpretation of the invitation I gave you to occupy the Committee-room of Education and Labor. You have rightly touched its true meaning. The doors were opened hopefully, invitingly to you as the advance-guard of American women, who are soon, I trust, to take equal part with their brothers, husbands and fathers in the government of this great and free Republic.

There is a bit of history connected with this room of Education and Labor. A hard-working woman was once driven from it by vote of the House of Representatives. She carried her work across the ocean, rested it under the Italian skies, until it blossomed into everlasting stone. Then she brought it back. A great admiring city and the self-same men who had voted her out, marveled and said, "Well done, woman." Her success is a triumph for woman.

Meantime you, representing, arguing a higher cause than Art, had found a footing in this very apartment from which she had been turned out. This was a higher triumph. The amiable New York _Tribune_, chuckling over a false rumor that you were denied its further use, has misstated the facts. The _Tribune_ only advertised its own narrow, pretentious wishes.

In bringing the proposition before Congress to pay women the same price as men for the same work performed, I desired not only to help those spirited, deserving women in the Departments, but also to aid two and a half millions of my working sisters in this country. It seemed to me that just here was room for practical legislation. Here was an angle to be carried in this great contest for justice and freedom, and I drew my best inspiration from a bright, sunny-faced wife, who to-day is far away among the hills of Tennessee. I greatly admire and respect either a working man or woman, for I devoutly believe in this latest evangel, that "to work is to pray." Allow me to say, as a parting word, "Courage." The world may sneer at you, for it does not believe that a man is moved save by some selfish ambition. Trojan's n.o.ble fraction of a line, "_indocillis privata loqui_," is not generally considered as adapted to, or to be applied to, the domain of every-day life. Yet, ladies, far above all ridicule, misjudgment, slander, and abuse even, is the holy consciousness you have of the n.o.bility of your work, which is, as I have said, the emanc.i.p.ation and elevation of both man and woman. The great Republic, of which you are citizens, by express provision of its fundamental law, can exist only as it is free, as it is just; two ideas that lie, as I understand it, at the bottom of your movement. The country must continue one-sided, ill-balanced, imperfect in its civilization, until woman, with her peculiar nature, is admitted to that individuality which of right belongs to every human being. Therefore I bid you G.o.d-speed in your work.

Judge LOUGHRIDGE, of Iowa, spoke as follows--_Ladies_: I take pleasure in appearing here in response to your kind invitation. I understand fully your desire to express in this way your appreciation of the aid given by a portion of the Representatives to the XLI. Congress to the cause you have so much at heart--the cause of universal suffrage and political liberty.

In reference to the report of the minority of the Judiciary Committee, to which Mrs. Hooker has referred in such complimentary terms and in which I had the honor to join with the distinguished gentleman from Ma.s.sachusetts, Mr. Butler, I am glad to know that you are satisfied with it, and that you think it does justice to your cause. What is written there is the honest conviction of my judgment, and in my opinion the principles contended for therein will, before many years, be accepted as the law of the land.

I desire to say one word, suggested by the remark which I have heard made frequently of late, that the only resort now for the advocates of woman suffrage is to the courts of the country. I think it is a mistake. In this country, on questions involving political rights, the courts are generally in the rear rank; the people are mostly in advance of the courts. In my opinion the most speedy and certain victory will be acquired through the political departments of the government, which are moulded and controlled by the people, and which will always in the end reflect the will of the people. You applied to Congress; although not successful, yet the support you did receive was greater than the most sanguine expected. Continue your efforts, persevere in your determination, and in the end you will win, for you are right, and the right always triumphs.

The ladies then shook hands with each of these gentlemen, and added a few words of personal thanks, after which the committee adjourned.

That the position in regard to the rights of women under the XIV. and XV. Amendments was still maintained is shown in the call[144] and resolutions[145] as well as the speeches in the three days' convention held in Lincoln Hall, Was.h.i.+ngton, in January, 1872.

One of the interesting episodes of this convention was the invitation extended by the a.s.sociation to certain non-believers to appear in open session, and meet the champions of the cause in argument. Mrs. Gage wrote an invitation[146] to Mrs. Dahlgren, which she most courteously declined.[147] The idea was suggested to Mrs. Gage by the memorial which Mrs. General Sherman and Mrs. Admiral Dahlgren had presented to the Senate of the United States. Their pet.i.tion was as follows:

TO THE U. S. SENATE AGAINST WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

We, the undersigned, do hereby appeal to your honorable body, and desire respectfully to enter our protest against an extension of suffrage to women; and in the firm belief that our pet.i.tion represents the sober convictions of the majority of the women of the country. Although we shrink from the notoriety of the public eye, yet we are too deeply and painfully impressed by the grave perils which threaten our peace and happiness in these proposed changes in our civil and political rights, longer to remain silent.

_Because_, Holy Scripture inculcates a different, and for us higher, sphere apart from public life.

_Because_, as women, we find a full measure of duties, cares, and responsibilities devolving upon us, and we are therefore unwilling to bear other and heavier burdens, and those unsuited to our physical organization.

_Because_, we hold that an extension of suffrage would be adverse to the interests of the workingwomen of the country, with whom we heartily sympathize.

_Because_, these changes must introduce a fruitful element of discord in the existing marriage relation, which would tend to the infinite detriment of children, and increase the already alarming prevalence of divorce throughout the land.

_Because_, no general law, affecting the condition of all women, should be framed to meet exceptional discontent.

For these, and many more reasons, do we beg of your wisdom that no law extending suffrage to women may be pa.s.sed, as the pa.s.sage of such a law would be fraught with danger so grave to the general order of the country.

[Signed by Mrs. General Sherman, Mrs. Admiral Dahlgren, and other ladies to the number of 1,000.]

Mrs. Dahlgren presented a form of XVI. Amendment as follows:

SHERMAN-DAHLGREN XVI. AMENDMENT.

Congress shall have power to, and shall pa.s.s laws which shall be uniform throughout the United States.

To regulate the transfer and descent of all kinds of property.

To regulate marriages and the registration of the same, and the registration of births.

To regulate the right of dower and all rights and obligations of married persons.

To regulate divorces and to grant alimony, but no divorces _a vinculo matrimonii_ shall be granted, except for the cause of adultery, and in such case the offending party shall not have the privilege of marrying during the lifetime of the offended party.

In her opening remarks Mrs Stanton said:

This is the fourth convention we have held in Was.h.i.+ngton, and the effect can hardly be estimated in the education of the American people toward woman suffrage. I feel more anxious about how women will vote than in their speedy enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. So many important political questions are seen in the horizon that woman's influence is needed to guide safely through all storms the s.h.i.+p of state. We propose to change our tactics. Instead of pet.i.tioning Congress for our rights we propose to settle the question before the courts, unless Congress gives us the declaratory act this winter, which I think they will. We have reasoned for twenty-five years, and we now propose to take our rights under the Const.i.tution as it is. The people are beginning already to discuss the fitting celebration for our centennial anniversary. No grander step could mark that great national event than to extend the right of suffrage to one half the citizens of our republic.

The following letter was read at the morning session:

BROOKLYN, January 1, 1872.

MY DEAR MADAM: Your letter of December 30th, in which you invite me to take part in the Was.h.i.+ngton convention in behalf of woman's suffrage, is duly received.

I am engaged during the whole week with lectures in Ma.s.sachusetts and Maine. I can not say that I am so sanguine of the immediate or new admission of women to the right of suffrage. But of its ultimate accomplishment I have not a doubt, since justice and expediency combine in requiring it. That manhood is, on the whole, made better and stronger by a direct partic.i.p.ation in the duties, and responsibilities of active citizens.h.i.+p, notwithstanding incidental evils, is becoming the sentiment of the civilized world; nor is there any reason to doubt that, in spite of temporary and incidental evils, the same advantages would accrue to womanhood. In every wise and Christian movement for the education and enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of woman I hope always to be in sympathy. I am, respectfully, yours,

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

MR. BURLINGAME, of R. I., remarked:--I sympathize with this movement. It commands my respect and admiration. I have come here unexpected and unsolicited, because I think my wife and other women should have the same rights as the colored man and Irishman. I believe in this movement, because I believe it to be right; it is the most important question of the times. The speaker then reviewed the objections against female suffrage, and p.r.o.nounced them all weak, and closed with allusions to the many heroic deeds of ill.u.s.trious women now a part of history.

MRS. ISABELLA BEECHER HOOKER then presented the following report, in relation to the work of the a.s.sociation for the past year:

REPORT.

The work to be done in the future is precisely what has been recommended during the past year by every member of the committee in public and in private.

1. Women should attempt to qualify and attempt to vote in every State election or otherwise, according to opportunity. This action not only serves the purpose of agitation of the whole question of suffrage, but it puts upon men, our brothers, the onus of refusing the votes of their fellow citizens, and compels them to show just cause for such proceeding. If it could be well understood that every woman who believes that she has a right to vote, would actually test her right by an appearance at the polls before and at the next Presidential election, the question as to nominees for that office would contain a new element, and the views and preferences of this large const.i.tuency would receive serious consideration at the hands of president-makers in both the great parties of the country.

2. Women should study the question of their present rights and duties, and make their views known in public and in private to the utmost extent of their ability. In a time like this, when the interests of our whole beloved country are at stake; when political corruption is appalling, and men are paralyzed with fear because of the threatened failure of republican inst.i.tutions, ignorance and indifference on the part of women, who are the natural protectors of purity and honor, whether in the family or the State, are sins against G.o.d, their country, and their own souls.