Volume III Part 77 (1/2)
The reasons which have influenced the committee in recommending an amendment so radical and sweeping in the changes which it will create if finally adopted by the people, are briefly these: The question of granting the right of suffrage to women equally with men, is one that has been seriously and widely agitated for years, and while, like other political reforms which change in any considerable degree the old and established order of things, it has met with strong opposition, on the other hand it has been ably advocated by men and women distinguished alike for their intellectual ability and their excellent judgment.
Although we believe that there should be certain necessary and proper restrictions to the exercise of the elective franchise, we are of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to doubt whether the distinction of s.e.x in the matter of voting, is not, in a large measure, a fict.i.tious one. The interests of women in all matters pertaining to good government are certainly identical with those of men.
In the matter of property their rights conceded by law are equal, and in some respects superior to those of men; and if the principle of no taxation without representation is a just one as applied among men, it would seem that it might in justice be extended to women. As the reasons given above are strongly urged by the advocates of woman suffrage, and as several pet.i.tions, numerously signed by citizens of the State, asking for some action on the part of the House in this matter, are in the hands of the committee, we have deemed it advisable, although not equally agreed as to the main question involved, to recommend the pa.s.sage of the resolution by the House, in order that the people of the State may have an opportunity of expressing their will at the ballot-box as to the expediency of extending the right of suffrage to women.
SAMUEL H. BLACKMAN, _Chairman of Committee on State Affairs._ JAMES BURNES, _Chairman of Committee on Elections._
Report accepted, and joint resolution placed on the general order.
On March 18 the following joint resolution pa.s.sed the House by a vote of 67 to 27, and pa.s.sed the Senate by a vote of 26 to 4,[310] proposing an amendment to section I of article VII. of the const.i.tution, in relation to the qualification of electors:
_Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Michigan_, That at the election when the amended const.i.tution shall be submitted to the electors of this State for adoption or rejection, there shall be submitted to such electors the following propositions, to be subst.i.tuted in case of adoption, for so much of section I, of article VII., as precedes the proviso therein, in the present const.i.tution of this State as it now stands, and subst.i.tuted for section I, article VII., in said amended const.i.tution, if the latter is adopted, to wit:
SECTION 1. In all elections, every person of the age of twenty-one years who shall have resided in this State three months, and in the towns.h.i.+p or ward in which he or she offers to vote ten days next preceding an election, belonging to either of the following cla.s.ses, shall be an elector and ent.i.tled to vote:
_First_--Every citizen of the United States; _Second_--Every inhabitant of this State, who shall have resided in the United States two years and six months, and declared his or her intention to become a citizen of the United States pursuant to the laws thereof, six months preceding an election; _Third_--Every inhabitant residing in this State on the twenty-fourth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Said proposition shall be separately submitted to the electors of this State for their adoption or rejection, in form following, to wit: A separate ballot may be given by every person having the right to vote, to be deposited in a separate box. Upon the ballot given for said proposition shall be written, or printed, or partly written and partly printed, the words, ”Woman Suffrage,--Yes”; and upon ballots given against the adoption thereof, in like manner, the words, ”Woman Suffrage,--No.” If at said election a majority of the votes given upon said proposition shall contain the words, ”Woman Suffrage,--Yes,” then said proposition shall be subst.i.tuted for so much of section I, of article VII., as includes the proviso therein in the present const.i.tution of the State as it now stands, or subst.i.tuted for section I, of article VII., in said amended const.i.tution, if the latter is adopted.
This bill was promptly signed by Governor Bagley, and from that hour the attention of the advocates of suffrage for women was centered on Michigan.
The submission of this amendment to a vote of the people, gave an unusual interest and importance to the annual meeting held at Lansing, May 6, 1874,[311] at which plans were to be made, and money raised for a vigorous campaign throughout the State. The large number of women ready to do the speaking, and the equally large number of men ready to make generous contributions, were most encouraging in starting. Women who could not aid the cause in any other way cast their gold watches into the treasury. From the large number of letters received at this convention we may judge how thoroughly aroused the friends were all over the country. Lydia Maria Child wrote:
It is urged, that if women partic.i.p.ated in public affairs, puddings would be spoiled, and stockings neglected.
Doubtless some such cases might occur; for we have the same human nature as men, and men are sometimes so taken up with elections as to neglect their business for a while. But I apprehend that puddings and stockings, to say nothing of nurseries, suffer much greater detriment from the present expenditure of time and thought upon the heartless ostentation of parties, and the flounces and fripperies of fas.h.i.+on, than can possibly accrue from the intellectual cultivation of women, or their partic.i.p.ation in public affairs. Voting is a mere incident in the lives of men. It does not prevent the blacksmith from shoeing horses, or the farmer from planting fields, or the lawyer from attending courts; so I see no reason why it need to prevent women from attending to their domestic duties. On certain subjects, such as intemperance, licentiousness and war, women would be almost universally sure to exert their influence in the right directions, for the simple reason that they peculiarly suffer from the continuance of these evils. In the discharge of this new function, they would doubtless make some mistakes, and yield to some temptations, just as men do. But the consciousness of being an acknowledged portion of the government of the country would excite a deeper interest in its welfare, and produce a serious sense of responsibility, which would gradually invigorate and enn.o.ble their characters.
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON wrote: I believe that we fail to establish a truly republican government, or to test the principle of universal suffrage, so long as we enfranchise one s.e.x only.
A. BRONSON ALCOTT wrote: * * * Where women lead--the best women--is it unsafe for men to follow? Woman's influence cannot be confined to her household; woman is, and will be, womanly wherever placed. No condition can uns.e.x the s.e.xes.
The ten commandments will not suffer in her keeping. Her vote will tell for the virtues, against the vices all. Plato said: ”Either s.e.x alone is but half itself.” Socially, we admit his a.s.sertion, and are just beginning to suspect that our republican inst.i.tutions need to be complemented and rounded with woman's counsels, and administrations also.
Good republicans are asking if our legislation is not unsettled, demoralized by the debauchery of hasty politics, by private vices, and the want of manly integrity, woman's honor. Let our courtesy to women be sincere--paid to her modesty as to her person; her intelligence as to her housekeeping; her refining influence in political as in social circles. Where a husband would blush to take his wife and daughters, let him blush to be seen by his sons. ”Revere no G.o.d,” says Euripides, ”whom men adore by night.” And Sophocles: ”Seek not thy fellow-citizens to guide till thou canst order well thine own fireside.” Mrs. Alcott and Louisa join in hearty hopes for your success.
EDNA D. CHENEY wrote: * * * How I long for the time when this question being settled, we can all go forward, working together, to discuss and settle the really great questions of political and social economy, of labor, of education, and the full development of human life in State and society.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER wrote: * * * I hope and trust the electors will be wise and generous enough to decide it in your favor. Were I a citizen of the State I should esteem it alike a duty and a privilege to vote in the affirmative.
ASA MAHAN, president of Oberlin College, wrote: The cause which has called you together is a very plain one. It is simply this, whether ”taxation without representation” is tyranny to all but one-half of the human race, and the principle that rulers derive their authority to make and administer law from the consent of the governed, holds true of the white man and the black man, of man native or foreign born, and even of the ”heathen Chinee,” if he belong to the male s.e.x, and is a lie in its application to woman.[312]
Dr. Stone, of Kalamazoo, read an able report of what had been done, and all it was necessary to do if the friends desired to carry the pending amendment. The following extract will give some idea of the momentous undertaking in canva.s.sing a State:
When the governor decided to call an extra session of the legislature, so as to submit the new const.i.tution to a popular vote next November, the committee had but little time for the circulation of pet.i.tions; but enough was done to secure the vote in favor of submission. This was the more easily accomplished because we have in the present legislature so many warm and active friends, who gave that body no rest until their point was carried. And here we find ourselves suddenly brought into a campaign almost as novel as momentous, with scarce a precedent to guide us. We ask the electors of Michigan to share their civil and political power with those who have always been denied all electoral rights--to vest the popular sovereignty not merely in themselves, in a quarter of a million of men, as. .h.i.therto, but in half a million of men and women, and so make our State what it is not now, a truly republican commonwealth.
We have a great work before us, and no time should be lost in organizing a general canva.s.s of the entire State.
Competent lecturers should be employed wherever hearers can be found, and money raised to defray the expenses. Printed doc.u.ments too, must be circulated; arguments and conclusions framed by those who have thought on these subjects for men, and sometimes for women, who are too indolent to think for themselves. And there are many other things which we must do before the November election; ballots must be furnished for every towns.h.i.+p and polling place, especially affirmative ballots, and placed in the hands of all the voters. The Executive Committee cannot be ubiquitous enough to discharge all these multifarious duties. We therefore suggest that there be appointed during this meeting, _First_, a Committee on Finance. _Second_, a Committee on Printed Doc.u.ments. _Third_, a Committee on Lecturers.
_Fourth_, a County Committee of perhaps three persons in each county, who shall have power also to appoint a sub-committee in each towns.h.i.+p. Whether so many distinct committees will be needed, or more than one cla.s.s of duties can be entrusted to the same committee, the a.s.sociation can determine. We do not want too much, nor too complicated machinery, but just enough to accomplish the work. We must fall into line; woman expects every man to do his duty; surely she will not fail to be true to herself.
Representatives from the different counties gave their names[313]
as ready to begin the work arranged by the several committees.
With this large and enthusiastic convention the campaign may be said fairly to have opened at Lansing early in May, a political organization being formed of Republicans and Democrats alike, representing nearly every district in the State. Governor Bagley having promptly signed the bill, and his wife being an earnest advocate of the measure, the social influence of the family was all in the right direction. The influence of the church, too, was in a measure favorable. The Methodist denomination, in its general conference, pa.s.sed a resolution indorsing woman suffrage.
Mrs. Stanton, in a letter to the _Golden Age_, said: