Volume II Part 66 (1/2)
[150] The speakers were Rev. Olympia Brown, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Susan B. Anthony, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Dr.
Clemence S. Lozier, Helen M. Sloc.u.m, Lillie Devereux Blake.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Belva A. Lockwood.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS 1873, '74, '75.
Fifth Was.h.i.+ngton Convention--Mrs. Gage on Centralization--May Anniversary in New York--Was.h.i.+ngton Convention, 1874--Frances Ellen Burr's Report--Rev. O. B. Frothingham in New York Convention--Territory of Pembina--Discussion in the Senate--Conventions in Was.h.i.+ngton and New York, 1875--Hearings before Congressional Committees.
The fifth Was.h.i.+ngton Convention was held in Lincoln Hall, January 16th and 17th, 1873. The President, Miss Anthony, in opening, said:
There are three methods of extending suffrage to new cla.s.ses. The first is for the Legislatures of the several States to submit the question to the vote of the people; that is to those already voters. Before the war this was the only way thought of, and during all those years we pet.i.tioned to strike the word ”male”
from the State Const.i.tutions. The second method is for Congress to submit to the several legislatures a proposition for a XVI.
Amendment that shall prohibit the States from depriving women citizens of their right to vote. The third plan is to take our rights under the XIV. Amendment of the Const.i.tution which declares ”that all persons are citizens,” and ”no State shall deny or abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens.”
Again, there are two ways of securing the right of suffrage under the Const.i.tution as it is; one by a declaratory act of Congress instructing the officers of election to receive the votes of women, the other in appeals to the courts by inst.i.tuting suits as women have already done, in order to secure a judicial decision on the broad interpretation of the Const.i.tution ”that all persons are citizens, and all citizens voters.” The vaults in yonder Capitol hold the pet.i.tions of many thousands of women for a Declaratory Act, and the calendars of our courts show that many are already testing their right to vote under the XIV. Amendment.
I stand here under indictment for having exercised my right as a citizen to vote at the last election; and by a fiction of the law, I am now in custody, and not free on this platform.
A series of resolutions[151] were reported, and discussed at great length.
After the appointment of committees,[A] Matilda Joslyn Gage made the annual report. She said:
Though the casual observer might think but little progress had been made during the year, this is not the fact. There has been in many ways a marked advance, and although I do not claim to have a complete and exact record, I would mention points which have come under my notice.
Soon after the opening of the last session of Congress several important bills were introduced. The Hon. Mr. h.o.a.r introduced a bill against Territorial disfranchis.e.m.e.nt, which, as women vote in two Territories, was a bill having an important bearing upon this question of suffrage. About the same time, the Hon. Mr.
Butler introduced a bill for a Declaratory Law to protect women citizens in their right to vote. During the progress of our annual Convention in January last, a memorial was presented, and a hearing obtained before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The speeches made by women at that time have been printed in pamphlet form, and extensively circulated throughout the nation. Within a few days after this hearing, a pet.i.tion, containing 35,000 names, was presented to the House by the Hon. Benjamin F. Butler. During his remarks upon this occasion his coadjutors left their seats and pressed around him, so anxious were they to hear, until, in order to give all an equal chance, the Speaker was forced to call to order.
The Hon. Matt. Carpenter made an elaborate argument before the Supreme Court, in the Myra Bradwell case. Mrs. Bradwell, as is well known, is the editor of a paper, ent.i.tled the _Legal News_, which is ably conducted, and accepted as authority by the profession. Mrs. Bradwell, upon applying for admission to the bar in Illinois, found her husband a ”legal disability,” and carried her case up to the Supreme Court. This argument was also published and circulated in pamphlet form.
The Hon. Mr. Munroe, member from Indiana, presented a pet.i.tion from the women of that State, praying for the removal of political disabilities; and in the Senate Mr. Wilson introduced a bill to allow women to hold office in the Territories.
In February an argument was made before the Senate Military Committee in behalf of women who served in the army. Mrs. Admiral Dahlgren argued in person before a Congressional committee, in reference to moneys due her deceased husband.
Mrs. Lockwood and Mrs. Spencer both gave interesting statements in regard to women voting in the District of Columbia, and ably argued their right to do so under the National Const.i.tution. Mrs. Lockwood introduced the following resolution:
_To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress a.s.sembled:_
We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, being deprived of some of the privileges and immunities of citizens, among which is the right to vote, beg leave to submit the following resolution:
_Resolved_, That we, the officers and members of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, in convention a.s.sembled, respectfully ask Congress to enact appropriate legislation, during its present session, to protect women citizens in the several States of this Union in their right to vote.
FRANCIS MILLER, Esq. said that he had one reason for congratulation in being engaged in the suit with Mr. Riddle, as it gave him an opportunity to do something for the women of his country. Under the XIV. Amendment he contended that women had the right to vote, and no lawyer that read the amendment could decide in any other way.
It was not true that the cohorts of this issue had been defeated every time, but it was true that they had gained two victories.
Chief-Justice Cartter had decided that woman was a full citizen, and had not the right to vote, simply because they had not pa.s.sed a law necessary for the purpose. If the XIV. Amendment did not confer suffrage they must go through the States with a new amendment, and fight a battle in each. He thought that very obscure ideas prevailed on the subject. How could anyone that had no self-government enjoy any inalienable right? It was said that the ballot was a creature of legislation, consequently not natural. This was an absurdity. There was no way in the world for a man to govern himself except by the ballot. To deny any one the only means of exercising that right is a wrong before heaven and should be redressed. He did not propose to go into a legal argument; the best of his ability has been expended in the cause, and is before the public.
At the evening session Mrs. Gage gave the following address:
Mrs. GAGE said: We hear many fears expressed in regard to the danger of ”centralized power,” and the growing tendency of the nation toward it. The people have been told that through this tendency their liberties were endangered. The truth is just the contrary. ”State rights” has from the very commencement of this Government been the rock on which the s.h.i.+p of the nation has many times nearly foundered, and from which it is to-day in great danger. The one question of the hour is, Is the United States a Nation with full and complete National powers, or is it a mere thread upon which States are strung as are the beads upon a necklace?