The History of Woman Suffrage Volume II Part 109

Mrs. HANNAH B. CLARKE spoke as follows: When I am satisfied that a majority of the women of this country desire the ballot, I shall be in favor of granting the same, says the man of to-day of average ability and culture. Oh! my friend, we shall not allow you to take out a patent for magnanimity on the strength of that confession. When all the women, or even the majority of the women, shall unite in one solemn, earnest appeal for a voice in the framing of the laws which they are compelled to obey, the turf will be green over that political statesmans.h.i.+p which supposes that a question of right, of principle, is a question of majorities. While I do not believe that the fewness of the women in any community who really desire the ballot furnishes any man good ground for throwing his influence in the opposite scale, I do believe that the most serious hindrance to the immediate success of our cause is the opposition of women themselves.

It is one of the saddest, the most discouraging, features of any reform to find its worst foes are they of its own household. But the woman movement is not unique in this particular. Other reforms have presented the self-same characteristic. He who is familiar with the history of labor-saving machinery in this country knows that its introduction was fought inch by inch by that very cla.s.s whose condition it was especially designed to ameliorate. If the Jews were the first to crucify instead of receive their Messiah, we know that the bad precedent which they established has not been lost upon succeeding generations. My friends, every reform begets a vast amount of ignorant opposition before which its advocates must simply possess their souls in patience.

This opposition among women shows itself in two distinct ways.

The first kind manifests itself in holding meetings, framing pet.i.tions, and soliciting signatures, asking Congress to withhold the right of suffrage from the women of the land. I make no quarrel with that kind of opposition, nay, more, I entertain for it a certain kind of regard, for two reasons: First, because any decision that is candid and the result of reflection, ent.i.tles the holder to respect, but secondly and mainly, because it is no opposition at all. These persons are our friends, doing just what we are, no more and no less. For, mind you, it is not the mere dropping of the ballot once or twice a year on the part of woman to which public opinion is such a dead set. It is that which follows the ballot, that which the ballot involves. It is the office holding, the introduction of woman into public life, this stepping outside of what has always been considered her particular sphere. And so these women, who are memorializing Legislatures to deny their sisters the ballot, are doing our work, in that they are breaking the crust of that bitter prejudice which says that a woman's business is to keep house and tend babies, utterly regardless of the fact that every community contains scores of women who have neither houses to keep, nor babies to tend; doing our work in their own way, to be sure, in a way that reflects little credit on their good sense, but we shall not be particular about that if they are not. My verdict for such women is, let them alone. We shall be the losers if they ever find out their mistake.

But that kind of opposition which we dread the most, which takes the courage out of the most courageous, and the heart out of the most earnest, is the opposition of utter insensibility, of stolid indifference, which the ma.s.s of women exhibit, not only to this question, but to any question that does not touch their immediate personal interests. If I had a cause, of whatever kind, to advocate on its merits alone, one argument to make that appealed to a reasonable intellect, a discriminating judgment, I should want an audience not of women. It is a sad, a humiliating fact that the great ma.s.s of women are not thinkers.

At the morning session Colonel HIGGINSON read a letter from Henry Ward Beecher.

BROOKLYN, N. Y., Nov. 18, 1870.

MRS. LUCY STONE:--My Dear Madam--You were kind enough to ask me to allow my name to be used again in connection with the presidency of the American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation. But, after reflection, I am persuaded that it will be better to put in nomination some one who can give more time to the affairs of the society than I can and who can at least attend its meetings, which I find it impossible to do. But, while I detach myself from the mere machinery of the society, I do not withdraw from the cause, nor abate my hopes of its success and my conviction of the justice of its aims. On the contrary, with every year I feel increasing confidence that the ultimate forms of civilized society will surely include women in its political management. I am not so sanguine of the nearness of the day when a woman's vote must be calculated by political a.s.semblies as many are, but little by little the cause will gain and ultimately the result is certain. I wish you an enthusiastic meeting, a harmonious adjustment of all affairs, and a prosperous future.

I am very truly yours, HENRY WARD BEECHER.

The Committee on Resolutions[189] reported later. The first four resolutions were unanimously adopted, the fifth, after full discussion, was rejected by a vote of 112 1-3 to 47 2-3.

MR. HENRY B. BLACKWELL offered the following resolution:

_Resolved_, That the American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation heartily invites the cooperation of all individuals and all State societies who feel the need of a truly National a.s.sociation on a delegated basis, which shall avoid side issues, and devote itself to the main question of suffrage.

Adopted unanimously.

The American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation held its semi-annual meeting in Steinway Hall, New York, May 10, 1871. A large audience had already gathered when the Convention was called to order, which was constantly increased during the morning session, until between 800 and 1,000 persons were in attendance. In the absence of the President of the a.s.sociation, Mrs. H. M. Tracy Cutler, Mrs. M. A. Livermore was called to the chair. She read the following letter from Mrs. Cutler:

_To the American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, Steinway Hall New York:_

With much self-denial on my part, I remain far from your semi-annual gathering. But in heart I am with you, partaking in your deliberations, and recounting the advances since our meeting one year ago. Mrs. Dr. Patten, wife of the editor of the _Advance_, who believes and does far better than he would make us believe through his paper, is president of a society for sending women as missionaries to India for the express purpose of educating Brahman women. They will deny any belief in the woman suffrage movement, but they are teaching women the alphabet, and that is the first step toward the fullest possession of self, which will yet claim and vindicate all human rights. Among the most significant signs of the influence of this agitation, is the change in the laws of the different States in regard to the rights of women. Conversing with a member of the committee charged with the revision of the laws of California, he said to me: "The most important part of my work is the revisions of the statutes concerning marriage and divorce and the rights of property and of guardians.h.i.+p for married women."

The action of Congress shows us clearly, that as soon as there is sufficient pressure from without, it will give a light by which to read the XIV. and XV. Amendments, or it will inspire the pa.s.sage of a XVI., so that our cause will be won. Knowing that your deliberations will be wise, and that the inspiring spirit will be purity and harmony, I shall the less regret that I am compelled to be absent in person, though present in spirit.

H. M. T. CUTLER.

The Rev. Dr. EDWARD EGGLESTON, of the _Independent_, said: One can not show one's interest in the cause better than by speaking in this opening moment of the Convention. I think every individual in the country should have a voice in the making of the laws. Here is a large and increasing cla.s.s of women in the country who need the suffrage, and men feel that they need women in politics. A great many people never think of the effect of suffrage on woman without a shudder. I am not one who believes that women are adapted to every kind of work to which a man is. I do not believe that a woman's mind is just like a man's, but the most shameful proscription of all is that which prevents women from doing the work for which they are adapted. It is not necessary for a woman to be a man in order to vote. We want a woman's vote to be a woman's vote, and not a man's vote. It is a singular old heresy that to be able to vote you must be able to be a soldier. The purpose of the ballot-box is not to be bolstered by bullets. It is intended that public sentiment shall make law; and I think women can make public sentiment faster than men. I would back a New England sewing society against any town meeting. If women can not make war, they can at least do something to stop war. There is nothing in the world so absurd as regarding womanhood as some delicate flower that should be shut up in some gla.s.s jar for fear it may be injured by contact with the air. The ballot opens the door for every true and needed reform for women, because the ballot is the great educating power. A true, right-feeling woman does not want to be dependent, and the ballot will educate them to independence, because it brings duties and responsibilities to them.

Resolutions[190] were presented by H. B. Blackwell, chairman of the Committee on Resolutions.

Mrs. LUCY STONE then addressed the Convention as follows: The ideas which underlie the question of woman suffrage have reached the last stage of discussion before their final acceptance. They have grown up first through the period of indifference, then that of scorn, and then that of moral agitation; and now they are ushered into politics. In nearly every Northern and Western State, such discussions have been had, and action has been taken upon the subject in some form. Even in South Carolina it has voted itself, with the Governor of the State for its ally. Under the XIV. and XV. Amendments, several women in Was.h.i.+ngton attempted to vote, but were refused. They are now trying the question in the United States Courts. In Congress 55 votes were cast in our favor at the last session. Politicians know perfectly well that our success is a foregone conclusion. No coming event ever cast its shadow before it more clearly than does this--that women will vote. It is only a question of time, say all. It is important for us, then, to-day, to suggest such measures as shall win us sympathy, co-operation, and success; and for the first time give to the world an example of true republicanism--a government of the people, by the people, and for the people--man and woman.

If neither of the existing parties takes up our cause, then the best men from both will form a new party, which will win for itself sympathy, support, power, and supremacy, because it gave itself to the service of those who needed justice. I care for any party only as it serves principles, and secures great National needs. But the Republican party made itself a power by doing justice to the negro. When the war was over and the reconstruction of the South became necessary, the Republican party was in the full tide of power, and had its choice of methods and means. It was the golden hour that statesmans.h.i.+p should have seized to reconstruct the Government on the basis of the consent of the governed, without distinction of s.e.x, race, or color.

Mr. BLACKWELL addressed the Convention as follows:

He enumerated the different methods which have been proposed in order to secure the suffrage for women, as follows: By a XVI.

Amendment to the Const.i.tution, as suggested by the Hon. George W.

Julian; by an Act of Congress enfranchising women in the District of Columbia, as advised by Hon. Henry Wilson; by Amendments to the various State Const.i.tutions, and by litigation for a broader construction of the XIV. and XV. Amendments to the Const.i.tution.

Mr. Blackwell said that all these methods are worth trying, but thought there was a swifter and easier method, viz: to induce the State Legislatures to direct that the votes of all adult native and naturalized citizens shall be received and counted in the Presidential election of 1872. This can be done, in Mr.

Blackwell's opinion, under the first section of the second article of the Const.i.tution, which says:

Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be ent.i.tled in the Congress.

The great underlying ma.s.s of ignorance is always conservative.

Hence the difficulty of making const.i.tutional amendments, and the importance of employing an easier method. Let every man or woman who believes in woman suffrage organize within their respective States and endeavor to obtain such an act from their respective Legislatures next winter, and let it be understood that the votes of the woman suffrage party, both men and women, will be cast as a unit within each State for the party which does this great act of political justice.

GILES B. STEBBINS said: It has been stated that women don't want the ballot. Well, suppose they don't. That is the very strongest argument why they should be taught that they do. Fred. Dougla.s.s said, "Show me a contented slave, and I will show you a depraved man." We want duties and responsibilities shared equally by all, that man may be more manly and woman more womanly.

Mrs. ELIZABETH K. CHURCHILL, of Providence, said: Can there be an aristocracy meaner and more tyrannical than that of s.e.x, by which a wise, cultured, intelligent woman is made the inferior (for that is what the denial of the ballot implies), the inferior of a base, brutal, degraded man? The divine right of kings is an exploded notion; it is time for the divine right of s.e.x to follow it. The chief value of the ballot is the educational power. He who feels an interest in men and measures will soon feel a responsibility. Everybody knows that women are no better than men. They are no angels floating in an ethereal atmosphere. It is the fas.h.i.+on sometimes to call them "angels," but I observe they are no longer angels when they get aged. I don't know a more unpleasant role to play than that of an aged angel. If it is said that woman can't know enough to vote, I can only reply that G.o.d made them to match men. But no standard of education was ever fixed for the ballot; and if there had been one, it never could exclude woman, any more than it could negroes.

Mrs. LIVERMORE left the chair for a short time to read a note from a lady inquiring whether, if she thought the woman suffrage movement was condemned in the New Testament, she would abandon the movement. I think she said, that it is not the proper way to put the question. If the question were put to me, If I thought the woman's reform contrary to Christianity, would I throw it overboard? I should answer, Yes, unhesitatingly; I should desire, for one, to stop it; I should renounce it forever. What is it that the woman's reform asks for woman? We ask for the ballot, and we ask it simply because it is the symbol of equality. There is no other recognized symbol of equality in this country. We ask for the ballot that we may be equal to men before the law. The very moment we obtain it the work of this a.s.sociation is done, and it must get out of the way. Then new a.s.sociations must be formed to take the new work that will come before us, for when the ballot is given to woman then the great work will begin. Then comes the tug of war. For the obtaining of the ballot by woman is but stepping up the first round of the ladder, whose topmost round takes hold of perfection.

OLIVER JOHNSON moved that the resolutions reported in the morning be voted on. The motion was carried, and the resolutions having been separately read, pa.s.sed unanimously with little discussion till the last two were reached.

Mr. KILGORE, of Philadelphia, objected to the seventh resolution, and said, if you don't want to cover this purpose with doubt and uncertainty, which is always an evidence of weakness, claim your right to vote under the XIV. and XV. Amendments to the Const.i.tution.

Mrs. LUCY STONE replied that we all believed we had a right to vote under the original Const.i.tution, as well as under these amendments, but since there was great doubt whether woman suffrage should be reached through these, she thought it best to seek also for a XVI. Amendment.

OLIVER JOHNSON said he didn't want to be included in Mrs.

Blackwell's remark that the Const.i.tution gives women the ballot.

He thought it not wise to agitate this question. The right to vote under the Const.i.tution can be reached only under a decision of the courts, and while waiting for that you are diverting the public mind from the true point at issue. Slavery had been put down in such a way that it can never be reconstructed; but if it had been put aside by a decision of the Supreme Court, a triumph of the Democratic party might change the character of the Supreme Court and reinstate it. He thought it wise to have the resolutions as they were, so that persons of all shades of opinions may vote for them.

Dr. MARY WALKER said that the fact of women attempting to vote in Was.h.i.+ngton had done more for woman suffrage than all the Conventions ever held. We want a declaratory law, she said, pa.s.sed by the Congress of the United States, giving women the right to vote. This was the only way to save an immense amount of labor in the different States.

DAVID PLUMB, of New York, advocated the seventh resolution. We need a XVI. Amendment to settle woman suffrage on a firm basis.

After considerable debate the resolution was unanimously adopted.

The eighth resolution was then discussed, to which Mr. KILGORE also objected, offering a motion that all the resolution coming after the words "special social theories," be stricken out. He was opposed, especially, to the introduction of the words "free love." What was meant by them?

Mr. BLACKWELL said the Convention meant by the use of that phrase exactly what the New York _Tribune_ of that morning meant, in its statement that the woman suffrage movement was one for free love.

The PRESIDENT said this great movement was not responsible for the freaks and follies of individuals. The resolutions simply denied that this a.s.sociation indorsed free love, which certain papers charged them with. After considerable discussion, the resolution was adopted by the strong, decided and united voices of nearly a thousand people, voting in the affirmative. At the evening session of the Convention the great hall was filled completely, not a seat on the lower floor being unoccupied, and all the desirable seats in the gallery being taken.

MOSES COIT TYLER, Professor in the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, was the first speaker: The seaboard is the natural seat of liberty. Coming to you from the inland, where the salt breath of the Atlantic is exchanged for the sweet vapors of the lakes, I say to you, look well to your laurels! What are you seaboard people doing to vindicate your honor? We, in the interior, have at least one National university which opens its gates to the s.e.x which has the misfortune to be that of Mrs.

Livermore, Mrs. Howe, and others. One of the keenest and brightest minds of the law in the West animates the head of a woman. In my own State of Michigan, at least two women have succeeded in getting their votes into the ballot-box. These are strifes in which good people may engage, and of the trophies won in such a contest every modest man may boast. This deep, national, resolute demand for a great right withheld, means that woman is really a person, and not merely a lovely shadow. If you can convince the majority of American men, and what is more, the majority of American women, that woman is a person, you will have the ballot to-morrow. We call woman an angel, and it is very easy to do that, because the Const.i.tution of the United States don't take any account of angels. If all citizens who are masculine have the right to vote, it is not because they are males, but because they are persons who are members of the Nation. Therefore women should likewise be given this right because they are also members of the nation, and it is the right of every member to vote. But, after all, we men are rather bashful, you know, and the business is new to us. We have a sort of "Barkis is willin'"

feeling, and don't want to be the first to speak. We are like the rustic young man who escorted a young lady home for the first time. Says she, as they reached the garden-gate: "Now, Jake, don't tell any one you beau'd me home." "No," he replied, "I am as much ashamed of it as you be!" [Laughter.] Now, it would have been much better if the young lady had said something more exhilarating, more encouraging. So we are new to the business of escorting women to the ballot, and they must come forward, and, overcoming their natural timidity, meet us half way and speak for themselves.

MARY GREW, of Philadelphia, was the next speaker: When I am asked to give arguments for the cause of woman suffrage, it seems like the old times when we were asked to give arguments for the freedom of the slave. It is enough for me to know that the charter of our Nation states that "taxation without representation is tyranny," and that "all just government is founded on the consent of the governed." No woman wrote those words. They were written by men. I stood recently at a woman suffrage meeting in Boston, and I heard a gentleman say, "I am willing, on certain conditions, that women shall vote. When women shall suppress intemperance, I am willing they shall have the ballot." I don't know how he was going to ascertain whether they would suppress it or not. I know that men who have held the ballot all their lives have not suppressed it; and I don't think there is any one here who would say that women would suppress it.

What is woman going to do with the ballot? I don't know; I don't care; and it is of no consequence. Their right to the ballot does not rest on the way in which they vote. This, however, must be admitted, and that is, that there are women in this country who will vote much more wisely than some men in New York and Philadelphia. You, my brothers, claim the right to vote because you are taxed, because you are one of the governed; and you know if an attempt was made to touch your right to vote, you would sacrifice everything to defend it. What would money be worth to you without it? You call it the symbol of your citizens.h.i.+p; and without it you would be slaves--not free. Listen, then, when a woman tells you that her freedom is but nominal without it. And when you ask what women are going to do with it, ask yourselves what you want it for and what you are going to do with it. There never was a cla.s.s of people able to take care of the rights of another cla.s.s....

Mrs. LUCY STONE next addressed the meeting briefly: If you have a man, said she, who is a fool or a felon, you put him over the line alongside of your mother. Every man of you before he sleeps should go on his knees to his mother, and beg her pardon, and you should tell her you are ashamed of yourselves.

The Rev. WAs.h.i.+NGTON GLADDEN, one of the editors of the _Independent_, rose to answer Mrs. Grew's question--why the _Tribune_ does not inquire about these ignorant men who are abusing the franchise? He could inform her. It is because they can not afford to. They are all politicians there. They want votes. They can not afford to tell the truth about these ignorant and vicious voters. He proceeded to give a sad picture of the political world at present and to show how little conscience, culture, or common honesty finds its way to the ballot-box. He didn't think the ballot had done anything for the education of the ignorant foreigner who had come to this country; he doubted whether it would do anything for the education of woman. He didn't wish to be cla.s.sed with the opposers to woman suffrage, and yet he didn't see his way clear to espouse it as others on the platform did. He believed in impartial suffrage--impartial for men and women, but not universal. He would have men and women fitted for the suffrage before they exercised it.

GRACE GREENWOOD gave a sketch of society in Was.h.i.+ngton.

Mrs. LIVERMORE, referring to Mr. Gladden's remarks, said there was nothing so painful to her as the lack of faith in republicanism among cultivated American gentlemen. Political atheism seemed to be rife among them. What wonder that political corruption exists to such an extent, when the clergymen, the doctors, professors of colleges, members of churches, the educated and cultivated, refuse to exercise the rights of citizens.h.i.+p by going to the polls to vote--when intelligence and morality are to so great a degree eliminated from public affairs?

At a late Presidential election in Ma.s.sachusetts it was ascertained that but 54 per cent. of the legal voters actually went to the polls. Among the 46 per cent. who staid away were the clergymen, the physicians, and the professional men. There was a fearful political apathy among the educated cla.s.ses in reference to the discharge of their political duties. If educated and good men, as a body, would interest themselves in the primary meetings and the caucuses, politics would be improved, even before women got the suffrage.