Volume III Part 57 (1/2)

[190] _President_, Mrs. Armenia S. White. _Vice-Presidents_, Rev.

J.F. Lovering, Concord; Mrs. A.L. Thomas, Laconia; Ossian Ray, Lancaster; Mrs. S. Pillsbury, Concord; J.V. Aldrich, West Concord; Mrs. Mary Worcester, Nashua; Mrs. Mary Barker, Alton; Peter Kimball, Grafton; E.J. Durant, Lebanon; Mrs. Fannie V. Roberts, Dover; Miss A.C. Payson, Peterboro; Mrs. E.A. Bartlett, Kingston; Mr. Springfield, South Wolfboro; Galen Foster, Canterbury; Mrs.

R.M. Miller, Manchester; Mrs. Nancy Gilman, Tilton; C. Ballou, North Weare; D. Burnham, Plymouth. _Executive Committee_, Nathaniel White, Mrs. E.C. Lovering, Col. J.E. Larkin, Concord; Mrs. J. Abby Ela, Rochester; Rev. Wm. T. Savage, Franklin; Mrs. Eliza Morrill, Mrs. Daniel Holden, West Concord; Miss Caroline Foster, Canterbury; P.B. Cogswell, Mrs. Louisa Wood, Mrs. M.M. Smith, Concord; Dr.

M.V.A. Hunt, Manchester. _Recording Secretary_, Mrs. E.C. Lovering, Concord. _Corresponding Secretary_, Dr. J. Gallinger. _Treasurer_, Jas. H. Chase.

[191] Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Frederick Hinckley, Lucy Stone, Frances Ellen Harper, Dr. Sarah H. Hathaway, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Rev. Mr. Connor, Rev. Ada C. Bowles, Emma Coe Still, Rev. Lorenza Haynes, Mary Grew, Mary A. Livermore, Elizabeth K. Churchill, Margaret W. Campbell, Anna d.i.c.kinson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Rev.

Olympia Brown, Lillie Devereux Blake, Elizabeth A. Meriwether, Elizabeth Lisle Saxon, Susan B. Anthony.

[192] The speakers at this hearing were Mr. Galen Foster of Canterbury, Senators Gallinger and Shaw, Mrs. Abby Goold Woolson, H. P. Rolfe, S. B. Page, Rev. E. L. Conger and Mrs. Armenia S.

White.

[193] Reelected to the Senate, June, 1885.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

VERMONT.

Clarina Howard Nichols--Council of Censors--Amending the Const.i.tution--St. Andrew's Letter--Mr. Reed's Report--Convention Called--H. B. Blackwell on the _Vermont Watchman_--Mary A.

Livermore in the _Woman's Journal_--Sarah A. Gibbs' Reply to Rev.

Mr. Holmes--School Suffrage.

After the miseries growing out of the civil war were in a measure mitigated, there was a general awakening in the New England States on the question of suffrage for women, and in 1868 one after another organized for action. What Nathaniel P. Rogers was to New Hamps.h.i.+re in the anti-slavery struggle that was Clarina Howard Nichols[194] to Vermont in early calling attention to the unjust laws for woman. From 1843 to 1853 she edited the _Windham County Democrat_, in which she wrote a series of editorials on the property rights of women, and from year to year made her appeals in person to successive legislatures. Her patient labors for many years prepared the way for the organized action of 1868. The women of that State can never too highly appreciate all that it cost that n.o.ble woman to stand alone, as she did, through such bitter persecutions, vindicating for them the great principles of republican government.

And now, after a quarter of a century, instead of that one solitary voice in the district school-house and the State capitol, are heard in all Vermont's towns and cities, echoing through her valleys and mountains, the clarion voices of a whole band of distinguished men and women from all the Eastern States. The revival of the woman question in Vermont began with propositions to amend the const.i.tution. We are indebted to a series of letters, written by a citizen of Burlington, signed ”St. Andrew,” for many of the interesting incidents and substantial facts as to the initiative steps taken in this campaign. He said:

The only way of amending the const.i.tution is for the people (meaning the male voters) to elect, every seventh year, a board called the Council of Censors, consisting of thirteen persons.

This council can, within a certain time, propose amendments to the const.i.tution, and call a convention of one delegate from each town, elected by the freemen, to adopt or reject the articles of amendment proposed by the council. The Council of Censors, elected in March, 1869, proposed six amendments: (1) In relation to the creation of corporations; (2) in relation to biennial sessions and elections; (3) in relation to filling vacancies in the office of senators and town representatives; (4) in relation to the appointment, terms, etc., of judges of the Supreme Court; (5) providing that women shall be ent.i.tled to vote, and with no other restrictions than the law shall impose on men; (6) in relation to the manner of amending the const.i.tution.

The election of delegates occurs on Tuesday, May 10, and the convention meets on the first Wednesday in June. There is no general excitement in the State in relation to any of the proposed changes; and now, upon the eve of the election, it is impossible for the most sagacious political observer to predict the fate of any of the amendments. The fifth is the only one in support of which public meetings have been held, and those took place the early part of the spring at the larger places in the State. The friends have never expected to obtain a majority, nor even a considerable vote in the convention, and the meetings that have been held were not expected to settle the question, but to awaken the public mind upon the subject. These meetings have been a decided success, attended by hundreds of intelligent citizens, many of whom for the first time listened to an address upon the subject. It is true that ladies were advised to remain away, but such advice generally resulted in a larger attendance; and to-day the measure has a firmer support than ever before, and its advocates are more confident of final success. We may not have more than ”_ten righteous_” men elected to the convention, but that number was enough to save the cities of the _plain_, and we have full faith that as small a number can save the cities of the _mountains_.

The press of the State is divided on the subject. We have two dailies--one, the _Rutland Herald_, the oldest paper in the State, in favor of the movement, and the _Free Press_ of Burlington, opposed to it. After the coming convention, no change can be made in our const.i.tution for seven years, at least, and if the sixth amendment be adopted, not for ten years. But, in the meantime, the question will a.s.sume more importance by a constant agitation as to the equality of the s.e.xes, the admission of women to the State University, the professions, and other rights to which men are ent.i.tled. Vermont can never emulate in wealth and population the manufacturing States of the seaboard, or the prairie States of the West; but she can win a n.o.bler preeminence in the quality of her inst.i.tutions. She may be the first State, as Wyoming already is the first territory, to give political equality to woman, and to show the world the model of a true republic.

ST. ANDREW.

_Burlington, Vt., May 1, 1870._

Mr. Reed of Was.h.i.+ngton county submitted the report in favor of the woman suffrage amendment, from which we give the following:

One-half of the people of our State are denied the right of suffrage. Yet woman has all the qualifications--the capacity, the desire for the public welfare, that man has. She is among the governed. She pays taxes. Even-handed justice, a fair application of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and of our State const.i.tution, give woman the ballot. There is no reason why woman should not be allowed to do what she is so eminently fit to do. We know no good reason why the most ignorant man should vote and the intelligent woman be refused. Our present political inst.i.tutions were formed and shaped when men had their chief interests and pursuits out of doors, and women remained the humble slaves at home. The social change has been immense. Now woman sits by the side of man, is his companion and a.s.sociate in his amus.e.m.e.nts, and in his labors, save the one of governing the country. And it is time that she should be in this.

The position of woman in regard to the common schools of the State is the most unjust. She must always be the chief instructor of the young in point of time and influence. She is their best teacher at home and in the school. And her share in this ever-expanding work is becoming vaster every day. Woman as mother, sister, teacher, has an intelligence, a comprehension of the educational needs of our youth, and an interest in their development, far in advance of the other s.e.x. She can organize, control and teach the most difficult school in the State; yet she has no vote in the selection of teachers, the building, arrangements and equipments of school-houses, nor in the method and extent of instruction. She can pay her share of the expenses of schools, but can have no legal voice in their management. She can teach, but she can have no vote in determining what shall be taught. She is the very corner-stone of inst.i.tutions which she has no power in shaping. Let us have her open, avowed and public cooperation--always safer than indirect influence.

The submission of an amendment to the const.i.tution necessarily aroused a general agitation on the proposed changes. The fifth amendment decided on by the board of censors seemed to create a more general interest than either of the others, and accordingly a meeting was called for its full consideration, that efficient steps might be taken for a thorough canva.s.s of the State, preparatory to the May election, and issued the following call:

The friends of woman suffrage in Vermont are requested to meet in ma.s.s convention at Montpelier on Wednesday, February 2, at 10 o'clock, for the purpose of considering and advancing the best interests of the cause in this State, in view of the const.i.tutional amendment proposed by the council of censors. The convention will be addressed by several ladies and prominent gentlemen of this State, and by William Lloyd Garrison, Julia Ward Howe and Rev. Ada C. Bowles of Ma.s.sachusetts; Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell of New Jersey, and Mary A. Livermore of Illinois. A public meeting will also be held the evening before the convention, which will be addressed by some of the eminent speakers above named. The Hutchinson family will be present and sing their woman suffrage songs. The Vermont Central, Pa.s.sumpsic, Rutland and Burlington and Bennington and Rutland lines of railroad will extend the courtesy of free return checks, provided they shall be applied for by twenty-five or more persons paying full fare one way over an average distance of each of their respective roads, which will be determined by the secretary.

C. W. WILLARD, JAMES HUTCHINSON, JR., GEORGE H. BIGELOW, CHARLES REED, NEWMAN WEEKS, JONATHAN ROSS, JAMES S. PECK.

_Ex. Com. Vermont Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation_.[195]

_Montpelier_, January 10, 1870.