The History of Woman Suffrage Volume IV Part 137

[467] The State const.i.tution provides that the suffrage may be extended by a law submitted to the electors at any general election.

If it receives a majority vote it is held to have the force of a const.i.tutional amendment.

[468] The open letter addressed to Judge Ca.s.sody, March 28, 1888, by Mrs. Brown, in regard to this decision, was p.r.o.nounced by the best lawyers as unsurpa.s.sed in logic, legal ac.u.men, keen sarcasm and righteous indignation. [Eds.

[469] E. P. Wilder, a.s.sociate editor of the Madison _State Journal_, chief official organ of the Republican party, made an excellent address at this time in favor of woman suffrage, which was afterwards printed as a leaflet.

[470] This is believed to be the only case on record where the age of protection has been lowered. The amendment was urged by Senator P. J.

Clawson of Monroe, Green County At its next meeting the county suffrage society pa.s.sed the strongest possible denunciatory resolutions, and thereafter its members worked diligently to defeat Mr. Clawson for the nomination to Congress, which they succeeded in doing.

CHAPTER LXXII.

WYOMING.[471]

It is said that a contented people or a happy life is one without a history. The cause of woman suffrage in Wyoming has not been marked by agitation or strife, and for that reason there is no struggle to record, as is the case in all other States. In its story Mrs. Esther Morris must ever be considered the heroine. A native of New York, she joined her husband and three sons in 1869 at South Pa.s.s, then the chief town of Wyoming. She was a strong advocate of the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women and succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of Col. William H. Bright, president of the first Legislative Council of the Territory, which that very year pa.s.sed a bill conferring on women the full elective franchise and the right to hold all offices.

Gov. John A. Campbell was in some doubt as to signing it, but a body of women in Cheyenne, headed by Mrs. Amalia Post (wife of Morton E.

Post, delegate to Congress), went to his residence and announced their intention of staying until he did so. A vacancy occurring soon afterward in the office of Justice of the Peace at South Pa.s.s, the Governor appointed Mrs. Morris on pet.i.tion of the county attorney and commissioners. She tried between thirty and forty cases and none was appealed to a higher court.[472]

In 1871 a bill to repeal this woman suffrage law was pa.s.sed by the Legislature and vetoed by Governor Campbell. An attempt to pa.s.s it over his veto failed. No proposition to abolish it ever was made in the Legislature thereafter.

In 1884, fifteen years after women had first voted in Wyoming, U. S.

District Attorney Melville C. Brown, at the request of Miss Susan B.

Anthony, sent to the National a.s.sociation an extended resume of the status of women suffrage in the Territory, to which he himself had been opposed in 1869. It expressed throughout the most emphatic approval without any qualifications. Some of the statements were as follows:

Women have exercised their elective franchise, at first not very generally but of late with universality, and with such good judgment and modesty as to commend it to the men of all parties who hold the good of the Territory in high esteem.... It has been stated that the best women do not avail themselves of the privilege. This is maliciously false.... The foolish claim has also been made that the influence of the ballot upon women is bad. This is not true. It is impossible that a woman's character can be contaminated in a.s.sociating with men for a few minutes in going to the polls any more than it would be in going to church or to places of amus.e.m.e.nt. On the other hand women are benefited and improved by the ballot.... The fact is, Wyoming has the n.o.blest and best women in the world because they have more privileges and know better how to use them.

To conclude I will say: Woman suffrage is a settled fact here, and will endure as long as the Territory. It has accomplished much good; it has harmed no one; therefore we are all in favor, and none can be found to raise a voice against it.

In the convention called the first Monday of September, 1889, to prepare a const.i.tution for admission as a State, this was the first clause presented for consideration:

The right of citizens of the State of Wyoming to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of s.e.x. Both male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.

After just twenty years' experience of woman suffrage no man in this convention was found in opposition to it, but to the surprise of the members, one delegate, A. C. Campbell of Laramie, proposed to amend this section by making it a separate article to be voted upon apart from the rest of the const.i.tution. He supported his amendment by a long speech in which he said that he himself should vote in favor of the article and, from his observations throughout the Territory, he believed two-thirds or more of the people would do the same, but he thought they ought to have a chance to express themselves; that "they were going to have a pretty tough time anyhow getting into the Union, and if they put in a proposition of this kind without giving those persons who were opposed to woman suffrage a chance to express themselves, they would vote against the whole const.i.tution."

The other members of the convention looked upon this as a scheme of the opponents, and Mr. Campbell had no support to his proposition. On the contrary, the most eloquent addresses were made by George W.

Baxter, Henry A. Coffeen, C. W. Holden, Asbury B. Conaway, Melville C.

Brown, Charles H. Burritt and John W. Hoyt demanding that the suffrage clause should stand in the const.i.tution regardless of consequences.

s.p.a.ce will permit only the keynote of these courageous speeches.[473]

MR. BAXTER: ... I defend this because it is right, because it is fair, because it is just.... I shall ever regard as a distinguished honor my members.h.i.+p in this convention, which, for the first time in the history of all this broad land, rising above the prejudice and injustice of the past, will incorporate into the fundamental law of the State a provision that shall secure to every citizen within her borders not only the protection of the courts, but the absolute and equal enjoyment of every right and privilege guaranteed under the law to any other citizen.

MR. COFFEEN: ... The question, as I take it, is already settled in the hearts and minds and judgments of the people of our glorious State proposed-to-be, and shall we stand here to-day and debate over it when every element of justice and right and equality is in its favor; when not one iota of weight of argument has been brought against it; when every word that can be said is in favor of continuing the good results of woman suffrage, which we have experienced for twenty years?... I shall not go into the policy or propriety of submitting such a proposition as this now before us to the people of this Territory....

MR. HOLDEN: I do not desire at this time to offer any reason why the right to vote should be granted to women; that is not the question before us. The question is, shall we secure that right by fundamental law? The proposition now under consideration is, shall we leave it to the people of Wyoming to say whether or not the privilege of voting shall be secured to women? Now, Mr.

Chairman, I believe that I voice the wishes of my const.i.tuency when I say that rather than surrender the right which the women of this Territory have so long enjoyed--and which they have used not only with credit to themselves but with profit to the country in which they live--I say that rather than surrender that right we will remain in a Territorial condition throughout the endless cycles of time.

MR. CONAWAY: ... The sentiment of this convention, and I believe of the people whom we represent, is so nearly unanimous that extended discussion, it seems to me, would be a waste of time.... If it were proposed to submit to a vote of the people whether the property of the gentleman from Laramie should be taken from him, or my property should be taken from me and given to somebody else, there would be no difference of opinion upon it. In Wyoming this right of our women has been recognized, has been enjoyed; there are such things in law as vested rights, and the decisions of our courts are unanimous that it is not within the power of the Legislature ever to take away from any person his rights or his property and to confer them upon another, and that is what this clause proposes to do, to submit to a vote whether we shall take away from one-half of our citizens--and, as my friend has well stated, the better half--a certain right, and increase the rights of the other half by so doing....

MR. BROWN: I was a member of that second Legislature which tried to disfranchise women.... From that day to the present no man in the Legislature of Wyoming has been heard to lift his voice against woman suffrage. It has become one of the fundamental laws of the land, and to raise any question about it at this time is as improper, in my judgment, as to raise a question as to any other fundamental right guaranteed to any citizen in this Territory. I would sooner think, Mr. Chairman, of submitting to the people of Wyoming a separate and distinct proposition as to whether a male citizen of the Territory shall be ent.i.tled to vote....

MR. HOYT: ... For twenty years the women of this Territory have taken part with the men in its government, and have exercised this right of suffrage equally with them, and we are all proud of the results. No man in Wyoming ever has dared to say that woman suffrage is a failure. There has been no disturbance of the domestic relations, there has been no diminution of the social order, there has been no lessening of the dignity which characterizes the exercise of the elective franchise; there have been, on the contrary, an improvement of the social order, better laws, better officials, a higher civilization. Why, then, this extraordinary proposition that, after so many years, having exercised with us the right of suffrage since the foundation of this Territorial government, women are now to be singled out, to be set aside, and the question submitted to a vote as to whether they shall have a continuance of the rights which have been given to them by unanimous consent, and which they have exercised wisely and properly and, as my friend says, with profit to the whole Territory? This is indeed an extraordinary proposition, to submit to a vote the continuance of a vested right. I will not impugn the motives of the gentleman who makes it, but I demand as a matter of justice that it shall be voted down by an overwhelming majority, and I would that he had never presented it.... We are told that if we put this clause into our const.i.tution as a fundamental law, we shall fail to secure its approval by the people of Wyoming and its acceptance by the Congress of the United States; but if it should so prove that the adoption of this provision to protect the rights of the women should work against our admission, then I agree with my friend, Mr. Holden, that we will remain out of the Union until a sentiment of justice shall prevail....

MR. BURRITT: ... Mr. Campbell destroyed any argument that he made in favor of this amendment by saying, first, that woman suffrage as a principle is right; second, that he would vote for it if presented to the people. And he further said that he was not afraid, in defending the right of pet.i.tion, to come before this convention and indorse this proposition to be separately voted upon, even if it cost him the ladies' vote or the votes of any other cla.s.s. That certainly is very courageous on the part of the gentleman from Laramie.... But I will say this much in addition, which he did not say, that, as a member of this convention and believing the right of suffrage to be a vested right, of which it would be wrong and wicked for us to attempt to deprive women, I have also the courage to rise above the single const.i.tuent that I have in Johnson County who is opposed to woman suffrage (and I know but one) and to rise above the majority even of its citizens if I knew they were opposed, and I am sure that this convention and this State have as much courage as I have. Believing that woman suffrage is right, I am sure that this convention has the courage to go before Congress and say that if they will not let us in with this plank in our State const.i.tution we will stay out forever.... I stand upon the platform of justice, and I advocate the continuance of the right of women to vote and hold office and enjoy equally with men all civil, religious and political privileges, and that this right be incorporated as a part of the fundamental law of the State....

The woman suffrage clause was retained as a part of the const.i.tution, which was adopted by more than a three-fourths majority of the popular vote.

A bill to provide for the admission of Wyoming as a State was introduced into the House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 1889, and later was favorably reported from the Committee on Territories by Charles S. Baker of New York. A minority report was presented by William M. Springer of Illinois, consisting of twenty-three pages, two devoted to various other reasons for non-admission and twenty-one to objections because of the woman suffrage article.

As it was supposed that the new State would be Republican, a bitter fight was waged by the Democrats, using the provision for woman suffrage as a club. The bill was grandly championed by Joseph M.

Carey, delegate from the Territory (afterward United States senator) who defended the suffrage clause with the same courage and ability as all the others in the const.i.tution.[474]

The princ.i.p.al speech in opposition was by Joseph E. Was.h.i.+ngton of Tennessee, who said in part:

My chief objection to the admission of Wyoming is the suffrage article in the const.i.tution. I am unalterably opposed to female suffrage in any form. It can only result in the end in uns.e.xing and degrading the womanhood of America. It is emphatically a reform against nature.... I have no doubt that in Wyoming to-day women vote in as many [different] precincts as they can reach on horseback or on foot after changing their frocks and bustles....

Tennessee has not yet adopted any of these new-fangled ideas, not that we are lacking in respect for true and exalted womanhood.[475]

William C. Oates of Alabama also delivered a long speech in opposition, of which the following is a specimen paragraph:

I like a woman who is a woman and appreciates the sphere to which G.o.d and the Bible have a.s.signed her. I do not like a man-woman.

She may be intelligent and full of learning, but when she a.s.sumes the performance of the duties and functions a.s.signed by nature to man, she becomes rough and tough and can no longer be the object of affection.

He concluded his argument by saying that if ever universal suffrage should prevail the Government would break to pieces of its own weight.

The enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women was also vehemently attacked by Alexander M. Dockery of Missouri, George T. Barnes of Georgia, William M.

Springer of Illinois, and William McAdoo of New Jersey. It was strongly defended by Henry L. Morey of Ohio, Charles S. Baker of New York, Daniel Kerr and I. S. Struble, both of Iowa, and Harrison B.

Kelley of Kansas.

Every possible effort was made to compel the adoption of an amendment limiting the suffrage to male citizens, and it was defeated by only six votes. The bill of admission was pa.s.sed March 28, 1890, after three days' discussion, by 139 ayes to 127 noes. During the progress of this debate Delegate Carey telegraphed to the Wyoming Legislature, then in session, that it looked as if the suffrage clause would have to be abandoned if Statehood were to be obtained, and the answer came back: "We will remain out of the Union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage."[476]

In the Senate the fight against the suffrage article was renewed with added intensity. The bill for the admission of Wyoming was reported favorably through the chairman of the Committee on Territories, Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, in January, 1890, but was not reached on the calendar until February 17. On objection from Francis M.

c.o.c.krell of Missouri, that there was not time then for its consideration, it was postponed, but without losing its place on the calendar. Not until May 2, however, did it come up again as unfinished business, and only to be again postponed. On May 8 the bill was set down for the following Monday, but it was June 25 before it finally received extended consideration. The debate continued for three days and the clause conferring suffrage on women took a prominent place.

George G. Vest of Missouri led the opposition and said in the course of his lengthy oration:

I shall never vote to admit into the Union any State that adopts woman suffrage. I do not propose to discuss the sentimental side of the question.... In my judgment woman suffrage is antagonistic to the spirit, to the inst.i.tutions, of the people of the United States. It is utterly antagonistic to my ideas of the Government as the fathers made it and left it to us. If there were no other reason I would never give the right of suffrage to women because the danger to the inst.i.tutions of the United States to-day is in hurried, spasmodic, sentimental suffrage.... I believe that with universal suffrage in this country, the injecting into our suffrage of all the women of the United States would be the greatest calamity that could possibly happen to our inst.i.tutions and people.... If there were no other reason with me, I would vote against the admission of Wyoming because it has that feature in its const.i.tution. I will not take the responsibility as a senator of indorsing in any way, directly or indirectly, woman suffrage. I repeat that in my judgment it would be not only a calamity but an absolute crime against the inst.i.tutions of the people of the United States....

In an extended speech John H. Reagan of Texas said:

But what are we going to do, what are the people of this Territory going to do, by the adoption of this const.i.tution? They are going to make men of women, and when they do that the correlative must take place that men must become women. So I suppose we are to have women for public officers, women to do military duty, women to work the roads, women to fight the battles of the country, and men to wash the dishes, men to nurse the children, men to stay at home while the ladies go out and make stump speeches in canva.s.ses.... Mr. President, when the Almighty created men and women He made them for different purposes, and six thousand years of experience have recognized the wisdom and justice of the Almighty in this arrangement. It is only latterly that people have got wiser than their Creator and wiser than all the generations which have preceded them.... The const.i.tution of society, the necessity for the existence of society, the necessity of home government, which is the most important of all the parts of government, can only be preserved and perpetuated by keeping men in their sphere and women in their sphere....

It is a wholesome thing to reflect that after a hard day's struggle and of rough contacts which men must have with each other, they can go to a home presided over by one there who soothes the pa.s.sions of the day by the sweetness of her temper, the gentleness of her disposition and the happiness which she brings around the family circle. But if the wife and the husband are both out in the bitter contests of the day, making speeches, electioneering with voters, pus.h.i.+ng their way to the polls, they will both be apt to go home in a bad humor, and there will not be much happiness in a family during the remainder of the day which follows such a scene. And while they are both out what will become of the children? Are they to take care of themselves?

What rights can women expect to have that they do not have now?

They are clothed with the protection of law.[477] In my judgment, Mr. President, the day that the floodgate of female suffrage is opened upon this country, the social organism will have reached the point at which decay and ruin begin.... Why, sir, what is the advantage? If the head of the family votes he is apt to reflect the views of the family. It is more convenient than to have all the family going out to vote.

Wilbur F. Sanders of Montana interrupted Senator Reagan to ask if the law should not be an expression of the intellectual and moral sense of all the people, and whether governments did not derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.