BLACKWELL FAMILY                   Petition to the Senate and Assembly
LUCY STONE                               of the State of New Jersey (Lucy Stone and 
                                                                                        Antoinette Blackwell)[*Lucy Stone comp'ts of the author*]

FACTS versus SNEERS.

LETTER
TO THE
COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
OF THE
New Jersey House of Assembly,
REVIEWING THEIR LATE
REPORT AGAINST FEMALE SUFFRAGE,
BY J. K. H. WILLCOX, B. S., L. L. B.
Professor of Political Science in Howard University, and Editor Social Science Review,
TO WHICH IS ADDED
THE REPORT OF THAT COMMITTEE.

CAMDEN, N. J.
PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE NEW REPUBLIC
1868.PETITION.

To the Senate and Assembly of New Jersey:
The undersigned, citizens of Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, pray your
Honorable body to take such steps for the amendment of the Constitution of this
State as will secure to Women their right to vote.
Also, We pray your Honorable body so to amend the statues of this State that
Married Women may make a valid will of all property, real, personal and mixed,
in the same manner that all other sane adult persons are now free to do so.
Also, That a widow may be entitled to the life use of the whole of the deceased
husband's real estate, as the widower is now to the life use of the whole of his
deceased wife's real estate.
Also, That a widow may succeed to the ownership of the whole of her deceased
husband's personal property, in the same manner that a widower now succeeds to
the ownership of the whole personal property of his wife.
LUCY STONE,
ANTOINETTE B. BLACKWELL

A LETTER
To Messrs. C. Christie, Chairman, Charles E.
Hendrickson, George Gage, Committee on
Judiciary of the House of Assembly of the
Legislature of the State of New Jersey, respecting
their late report on Female Suffrage.
GENTLEMEN :–Permit a non-resident
of your State to congratulate you and
your constituents on the brilliant and
courtly way in which you have disposed
of the petition of Lucy Stone and Antoinette
B. Blackwell. The people who
chose and trusted you to serve their interests,
and the House which chose you,
as the three ablest lawyers among its
members, to form the Committee on
Judiciary, are alike honored by the wisdom
of their choice. They have selected
three statesmen who have earned immortality.
For generations to come the
children of New Jersey will be taught to
revere your names, as those of men whose
learning in the law, whose wisdom in administration,
and whose genius in political
science enabled them to quote verses
where common men rely on authorities, to
dispose of injustice with a jest, and to refute
argument with a sneer.
That in this I do not exaggerate, let
me recall the facts.
Two citizens of your State, who have
risen to eminence and honor by lives of
rare and earnest toil and usefulness, and
whose large experiences in ameliorating
the sufferings of the class to which they
belong, entitles their suggestions to the
"respectful consideration" which you
profess to extend to them, and for which
you strangely apologize, make to the
Legislature, of which you are such glittering
ornaments, certain suggestions as
to the share which the government of your
State may properly take in lessening the
evils of which their knowledge is so large.
To you, as the three ablest members of
your body, these suggestions are referred
for examination.
What are these suggestions?
They are in substance that, while many
of the aristocracies and castes of the Old
World have never been allowed to take
root on this continent, and while others
which have done so have been destroyed,
one of the most cruel and wide-spread is
in full growth, running its poison tendrils
over the whole of American society. This
caste is the subjection of women to men,
which leads to the foulest wrongs, wrongs
that blight the happiness alike of the villa
and the hovel.
The petitioners believe that if women
had the same power that men now have
over the making of the laws, and over
their administration, the evils that now
burden many weary souls would pass
away. They believe that equal political
power would yield equal justice and
freedom.
Accordingly they ask your Legislature
to secure to the oppressed class that equal
freedom at the ballot box which they believe
would yield equal justice before the
law.
On these suggestions, to use your sarcastic
phrase, you "respectfully report."
You first deliberately misconstrue the
petition, by stating that it asks that a
right be given, whereas the petitioners
ask that it be secured to those to whom4 

it belongs, and to whom the existing 
aristocracy of sex debars its exercise, 
however needful. 

You then set up a windmill, consisting 
of a question which you propose to yourselves, 
and run a logical tilt at it worthy 
of Don Quixote in his bravest days. Of 
all the lights in which the subject can be
viewed, you find two sufficient to enlighten
the august body of which you are distinguished 
luminaries. You consume 
your valuable time, as well as that of the 
House, both paid for in part by the oppressed 
class whom you are asked to relieve, 
in discussing a point with which 
both you and the Legislature have nothing 
whatever to do, namely, "Should 
women vote?" And this you answer 
much after the fashion of the brave and 
sage Knight of La Mancha, when if his 
lance was driven into a revolving sail he 
was whirled into the air and dashed between 
the sails one of them was sure to 
strike him with a like result. You admit
but two alternatives; if women generally 
do not ask to be allowed to exercise the 
right, no women should be allowed to use 
it; and if most women ask to exercise it, 
all will surely be allowed to do so. 

To intelligence as lofty as yours the 
question whether many wish the power 
who for various reasons are unwilling to 
ask it, and whether the indifference or 
aversion of one should fetter the action of 
another, would probably seem trifling.     
Allow me therefore to put to you a case 
which will commend itself to the attention 
of your judicial minds. 

Suppose that on the statute books of 
New Jersey appeared a provision that 
male citizens alone should enjoy the privilege 
of the writ of habeas corpus. Sup-
that the women of your State suffered 
under the frightful oppressions which 
history tells us were the fate of those deprived 
of this privilege. Suppose that 
two women, who felt little need of the 
privilege themselves, but the goodness of 
whose hearts had led them to become 
practically acquainted with the wrongs 
which existed, should ask you to extend 
this defense of freedom to those why they 
knew needed it. Suppose that most of 
the oppressed were too ignorant or too 
closely kept down to ask for the privilege 
which would protect their persons and 
property. With equal fitness as on the present 
occasion, when you are asked to give 
them a like defence, might you not then 
gravely and sagely observe that when the 
mass of women asked the privilege (that 
is, when they were sufficiently protected 
without it to be able to ask it) it would 
be time to grant it? 

You will perhaps answer that you would 
grant that privilege. Then, permit me 
to ask, why not this also, for it is a defense 
of person and property, if you disapprove 
fraud and robbery. Nay, pardon 
me; on recalling certain current rumors 
respecting your Legislature, it occurs to 
me that you may not be of this latter 
opinion.    

When I say that the question "Should 
women vote?" is one with which neither 
you, the Legislature, nor the petition are 
concerned, I have no doubt that intellects 
so profound will apprehend my meaning, 
and that (to follow your illustrious example 
of familiar quotations) if I undertook 
to explain the difference between the  
possession and the use of a power I should 
be open to the charge of attempting to instruct 
my grand maternal relative in the 
rudiments of the process of suction. I 
venture to remark, however, that those 
who actually use the habeas corpus privilege 

5

are not the only gainers by its possession, 
and that its possessors are in a 
far different position from those who are 
wholly debarred from its exercise. 

Propose to yourselves for a moment 
the question which the petition proposes: 
"Should women be free to vote if they 
choose? 

The intensity of your metaphysical researches, 
gentlemen, has so far removed 
you from the every-day world, that you 
are in the position of astronomers, whose 
search into the secrets of the universe has 
dimmed their perception of things around 
them. In the subtleness of your researches 
you have overlooked the difference between 
this question and the one that you have 
undertaken to answer - which you do answer 
with logic that would triumphantly 
win a leathern prize to a school boy, 
which with modesty and irony at once 
requisite and crushing, you entitle "your 
most respectful consideration." 

In view of the facts on whose existence 
I have ventured to remark, the philosophical 
nature becomes strikingly plain of an 
answer to the question raised by the petition 
made up of speculations, such as 
yours, to the effect that the success of the 
petition "would result in a simple increase 
of numbers in those who exercise 
suffrage," (the grammatical genius which 
produced this sentence cannot be too  
much admired). That "the extension of 
suffrage would not improve the condition of 
woman;" and that "the burdens that 
would be imposed on her would more than 
counterbalance the benefits gained." 
Permit me, as a practical man, to suggest 
that a question of the realness of this ca 
be settled by experience alone, and not 
by any fine-spun reasoning or theory. 

It would enable the common mind to 
better comprehend your luminous lucubrations 
on "the true sphere and true 
mission of woman "if you would condescend 
to explain how a plain measure of 
protection to the noble qualities of woman 
which you so eloquently portray, a simple 
and ready defence against wrong and pollution, 
is to destroy those qualities, and 
serve the purpose that it is calculated to 
defeat. Also, why the danger of dragging 
her shining skirts in the polluting mire of 
politics, is a vital objection to their use of 
the ballot, when it can be obviated by a 
curtailing process at once easy, economical, 
and simple. A mind of equal insight 
can alone penetrate these paradoxes; and 
perhaps the common herd would do wrong 
to ask such to make themselves understood. 

One result of your profound investigations, 
has, I must confess, struck me with 
astonishment and regret. This is the 
conclusion which you announce, that 
"grace and gentleness, love and dignity, 
are the peculiar property of woman." It 
is commonly thought that men have some 
title to these qualities. By what process 
of comparison, personal or otherwise, 
gentlemen, you have attained this result, 
I know not; but as you put it forth as 
derived from investigation, I am compelled 
to believe that, in your State at least, 
these "elements of power and worth" are 
subject to one of the monopolies in which 
your Legislature seems to delight, and are 
deemed inconsistent with a part in public 
affairs. 

Still further, gentlemen. The petitioners 
ask of you specific measures of relief, 
as well as a general measure of protection. 
To this request you pay no attention, 
beyond confessing that there may be 
exceptions to the assertion which you as 
theorists make, against the practical 
knowledge of the petitioners, that she 

 
 
       
 

   

 
   

6 

already enjoys all the rights essential to 
her happiness, or consistent with the 
marriage relation." The petitioners tell 
you that there are such exceptions, and 
ask you to provide against them, both 
generally and specially. You do neither, 
and in the same breath declare that 

"When women sue. 
Men give like Gods." 

Do you intend us to belive certain low 
tales respecting your constituents, that 
you do not advise them even to give like 
men? 

There is another common poetical quotation 
from an older and more familiar 
writer than any with whom you have displayed 
acquaintance, which seems equally 
fitting to the occasion: 

"Three wise men of Gotham, 
Went to sea in a bowl;   
If their heads had been stronger, 
My tale had been longer -

But enough, gentlemen. In concluding, 
you show your boasted "reverence 
for woman," by what you are pleased to 
call "respectfully submitting" an allusion 
to the childlessness of some women 
who devote themselves to raising the 
down-trodden, in regard to the taste and 
courtesy of which I need but say that it 
is a worthy end to such a document, a fitting 
close to a report whose dignity is 
approached only by its poetry, whose 
brevity is equalled only by its levity, and 
whose wisdom is surpasses only by its wit. 
I cannot but add that enough praise cannot 
be awarded to the temper and 
patience of a House whose members listened 
to its reading without refusing to 
receive it, and did not forthwith declare 
it an insult to their understandings. 

With great respect, gentlemen, 

J. K. H. WILLCOX.    

REPORT OF JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. 

The Committee on the Judiciary to 
whom was referred the petition and communication 
 of Lucy Stone and Antoinette 
B. Blackwell, do respectfully report, 

"The gallant urging of the House as 
well as their own reverence for woman, 
have induced the Committee to give the 
matter their earliest and most respectful 
consideration.  

The fair petitioners pray for such 
amendment of our State Constitution as 
will give to women the right to vote, and 
for such amendment of our statutes as 
will give to a married woman the full 
right of disposal of her property by will, 
and to a widow the same rights in the 
property of her deceased husband that a 
man now has in the property of his deceased 
wife. 

In this day of agitation and experiment, 
it is natural, nay, inevitable, that 
all parties and classes should seek to 
know and strive to attain their just rights 
and relations in society and government. 
And it is neither right not wise summarily 
to condemn such a spirit simply because 
the particular privilege claimed 
may seem at first sight absurd or wrong. 
But when woman is the part who agitates 
the question of her rights, it becomes 
a matter of particular delicacy and 
difficulty. It hath been said, 

"When women sue 
Men give like gods,"    

and the committee feel almost bound to
apologize while they proceed, in obedience 
to duty, to consider the propriety of the 
present petition. 

The demand for suffrage is undoubtedly 
the chief concern of the petitioners, 
and to this the committee will confine 
their report. 

Should women vote? Viewing this 
question in one light, it would seem to be 
conclusively settled by this consideration: 
When legislation is claimed for any
class of citizens, it is always natural and 
fair to ask if the majority of that class 
favor the claim. Now the majority of 
women in this State do not desire suffrage. 
If they did, it would be easy for   
them unmistakeably to manifest it. But 
the petitioners are only two, while the 
women of the State are many thousands. 
And the committee confidently assert 
that the silence of the women who do not 
petition, is an indication, not so much of 
their indifference as of their aversion to 
the claim made in their behalf. In other 
words, a great majority of the women of 
the State would disclaim any desire to 
vote. 

Viewing this question in another light, 
it does not seem any question at all. If 
the women of the State either unanimously 
or by a majority, or even in considerable numbers 
desire this right they will 
have it. There is an old couplet which 
reads of woman, 

"When she will she will, you may depend on't, 
When she won't she won't, and there's an end 
on't."

And there is at least as much truth in 
this, even in politics, that if these women 
in such numbers were to press their 
claim for suffrage with earnestness, the 
ordinary considerations that control parties 
and legislatures would make their 
claim successful. Besides, the women of 
the State are in an actual majority over 
the men of several thousand, so that if 
there be of right no political distinction 
between them, the simple determination 
of the women to assume the right of suffrage, 
should of itself be effectual. Why 
not? 

But, granting what the petitioners 
seem to intimate, that there is an actual 
desire for suffrage by the women of the 
State, who are yet willing to abide by the 
determination of this Legislature, would  


  8

it be wise for the Legislature to gratify
that desire? Would it elevate suffrage?
Men and women differ in many important
respects, but under the same circumstances
they are morally equal. If women
were invested with suffrage, though
at first they might purify the ballot-box,
ultimately, when they came to feel the
full force of all the influences that bear
upon men, they would manifest the same
tendencies. Thus is would result in a 
simple increase of numbers in those who
exercise suffrage. It is of course a duty
to protect suffrage in every way from the
danger of degradation, but would mere
numbers serve more to lessen or enhance
this peril. Would the extension of suffrage 
improve the condition of woman?
It may be said that it would enable her
to enforce all her demands, and thus ultimately 
gain for her full equality of rights
with man. And evidently the right of
suffrage is not sought for itself, but for
these general ends. But the same rights
imply the same duties, responsibilities
and capacity. In other words, women
would be entitled to no relief from the
burdens now exclusively borne by man,
on the plea of any inferiority or peculiarity 
of organization or character, while
man would be relieved from all duties to 
her founded upon such distinctions. When
it is remembered what many of those
duties are, and the unquestionable unfitness
of woman to discharge them, and
then that she already enjoys, with rare
exceptions, if any, all the rights essential
to her happiness, or consistency with
the marriage relation, it would seem that
the burdens that would be imposed on 
her would more than counterbalance the
benefits gained.
   But would it consist with the true
sphere and true mission of woman? Not
if any regard is had to the teachings of 
the Bible, either as to the original purpose
of her creation or to the proper duties
and character of a model woman.
there it is taught that woman was made
to be an help-meet for man, that she is
properly subject to her husband, that her
duty is to learn in silence (not to teach
or usurp authority over man), to love her

husband and children; that her true ornaments
are a meek and quiet spirit, 
diligence, modesty, sobriety, and virtue,
and that her true sphere is home. So
the highest uninspired authorities accord
with these sentiments. The great poets
of our own tongue have sung the praises
of woman in the highest strains, and
with the intuition of genius have caught
and fixed the true elements of her power
and worth, her grace and gentleness,
her love and dignity - elements that have
their origin and gain their strength only
in the domestic sphere, and are the peculiar
property of woman. In her true 
sphere of home, and in her highest charm,
woman hath been thus most happily portrayed:

"Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife,
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life;
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye
An angel guard of loves and graces lie;
Around her knees domestic duties meet,
And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet."

   Surely, woman never fulfills her true
mission or fills her true sphere if not
when, as wife and mother, by her wise
provision and rule she brings happiness
and honor to her husband and her household, 
and shapes the character of her
children to the highest ends of life. Of
such an one the wisest of men said:
"Many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou excellest them all." And another
has well said: "In her a thousand
claims to reverence close." But woman,
mingling in the angry strife of politics,
and dragging her shining skirts in its
polluting mire, is not consistent with such
a conception as this.
   In view of all these considerations, the
committee do report adversely to the
prayer of the petitioners for suffrage.
And if it be proper for them to make any
suggestions for the benefit of the petitioners
and those who sympathize with 
them, they would say, with all respect,
with the stern of King of the ambitious
Princess -

"A lusty brace
Of twins may cure her of her folly. By
The bearing and traiaing of a child
Is woman's wisdom."

All of which is respectfully submitted,

C. CHRISTIE, Chairman,
CHAS. E. HENDRICKSON,
GEORGE GAGEREPORT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
OF THE
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY,
IN RELATION TO
FEMALE SUFFRAGE.

TRENTON, N. J.:
PRINTED AT THE TRUE AMERICAN OFFICE.
1868.
PETITION.

To the Senate and Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

The undersigned, citizens of Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, 
pray your Honorable body to take such steps for the amendment of 
the Constitution of this State as will secure to Women their right to 
vote. 

Also:  We pray your Honorable body so to amend the statutes of
this State that Married Women may make a valid will of all property, 
real, personal and mixed, in the same manner that all other sane 
adult persons are now free to do.

Also:  That a widow may be entitled to the life use of the whole of 
the deceased husband's real estate, as the widower is now to the life 
use of the whole of a his deceased wife's real estate.

Also:  That a widow may succeed to the ownership of the whole of 
her deceased husband's personal property, in the same manner that a 
widower now succeeds to the ownership of the whole personal property 
of his wife.

LUCY STONE,
ANTOINETTE B. BLACKWELL.REPORT.

The Committee on the Judiciary to whom was referred the petition 
and communication of Lucy Stone and Antoinette B. Blackwell, do 
respectfully report. 

The gallant urging of the House as well as their own reverence for 
woman, have induced the Committee to give the matter their earliest 
and most respectful consideration.

The fair petitioners pray for such amendment of our State Constitution 
as will give to women the right to vote, and for such amendment 
of our statutes as will give to a married woman the full right of
disposal of her property by will, and to a widow the same rights in 
the property of her deceased husband that a man now has in the 
property of his deceased wife.

In this day of agitation and experiment, it is natural, nay, inevitable, 
that all parties and classes should seek to know and strive to 
attain their just rights and relations in society and government. And
it is neither right nor wise summarily to condemn such a spirit simply 
because the particular privilege claimed may seem at first absurd or 
wrong.  But when woman is the party who agitates the question of 
her rights, it becomes a matter of peculiar delicacy and difficulty. 
It hath been said,
 
"When women sue 
Men give like gods."

And the Committee feel almost bound to apologize while they proceed, 
in obedience to duty, to consider the propriety of the present 
petition. 

The demand for suffrage is undoubtedly the chief concern of the 
petitioners, and to this the Committee will confine their report.

Should women vote?  Viewing this question in one light, it would 
seem to be conclusively settled by this consideration : When legislation 
is claimed for any class of citizens, it is always natural and fair 
to ask if the majority of that class favor the claim. Now the majority 
of the women of the State do not desire suffrage.  If they did, it 
would be easy for them unmistakably to manifest it. But the petitioners 
are only two, while the women of the State are many thousand.6                REPORT ON FEMALE SUFFRAGE. 

And the Committee confidently assert that the silence of the women
who do not petition, is an indication, not so much of their indifference, 
as of their aversion to the claim made in their behalf. In other  
words, a great majority of the women of the State would disclaim any 
desire to vote.

Viewing this question in another light, it does not seem any question 
at all. If the women of the State either unanimously or by a 
majority, or even in considerable number desire this right they will 
have it. There is an old couplet that reads of woman, 

'When she will she will, you may depend on't, 
When she won't she won't, and there's an end on't."

And there is at least as much truth in it as this, even in politics, 
that if these women in such numbers were to press their claim for 
suffrage with earnestness, the ordinary considerations that control 
parties and legislatures would make their claim successful. Besides, 
the women of the State are in an actual majority over the men of 
several thousand, so that if there be of right no political distinction 
between them, the simple determination of the women to assume the   
right of suffrage, should of itself be effectual. Why not? 

But, granting what the petitioners seem to intimate, that there is 
an actual desire for suffrage by the women of the State, who are yet 
willing to abide by the determination of this Legislature, would it be 
wise for the Legislature to gratify that desire? Would it elevate 
suffrage? Men and women differ in many important respects, but 
under the same circumstances they are morally equal. If women 
were invested with suffrage, though at first they might purify the ballot-
box, ultimately, when they came to feel the full force of all the 
influences that bear upon men, they would manifest the same tendencies. 
Thus it would result in a simple increase of numbers in those 
who exercise suffrage. It is of course a duty to protect suffrage in 
every way from the danger of degradation, but would mere numbers 
serve more to lessen or enhance this peril. Would the extension of 
suffrage improve the condition of woman? It may be said that it 
would enable her to enforce all her demands, and thus ultimately gain 
for her full equality of rights with man. And evidently the right of 
suffrage is not sought for itself, but for these general ends. But the 
same rights imply the same duties, responsibilities and capacity.
In other words, women would be entitled to no relief from the burdens 
now exclusively borne by man, on the plea of any inferiority or 
peculiarity of organization or character, while man would be relieved 
from all duties to her founded upon such distinction. When it is remembered 
what many of those duties are, and the unquestionable 
unfitness of woman to discharge them, and then that she already enjoys, 
with rare exceptions, if any, all the rights essential to her happiness 
or consistent with the marriage relation, it would seem that the 
burdens that would be imposed on her would more than counterbalance 
the benefits gained. 

REPORT ON FEMALE SUFFRAGE.       7

But would it consist with the true sphere and true mission of woman? 
Not if any regard be had to the teachings of the Bible, either 
as to the original purpose of her creation, or as to the proper duties 
and character of a model woman. There it is taught that women 
was made to be an help-meet for man, that she is properly subject to 
her husband, that her duty is to learn in silence (not to teach or usurp 
authority over man), to love her husband and children; that her true 
ornaments are a meek and quiet spirit, diligence, modesty, sobriety
and virtue, and that her true sphere is home. So the highest uninspired 
authorities accord with these sentiments. The great poets of 
our own tongue have sung the praises of woman in the highest strains,  
and with the intuition of genius have caught and fixed the true elements
of her power and worth, her grace and gentleness, her love and 
dignity - elements that have their origin and gain their strength only 
in the domestic sphere, and are the peculiar property of woman. In 
her true sphere of home, and in her highest charm, woman hath been 
thus most happily portrayed: 

"Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife,    
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life; 
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye 
An angel guards of loves and graces lie; 
Around her knees domestic duties meet, 
And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet." 

Surely, woman never fulfills her true mission or fills her true sphere 
if not when, as wife and mother, by her wise provision and rule she 
brings happiness and honor to her husband and household, and shapes 
the character of her children to the highest ends of life. Of such an 
one the wisest of men said: "Many daughters have done virtuously, 
but thou excellest them all." And another has well said: "IN her 
a thousand claims to reverence close." But woman, mingling in the 
angry strife of politics, and dragging her shining skirts in its polluting 
mire, is not consistent with such a conception as this. 

In view of all these considerations, the Committee do report adversely 
to the prayer of the petitioners for suffrage. And if it be 
proper for them to make any suggestion for the benefit of the petitioners 
and those who sympathize with them, they would say, with all 
respect, with the stern old King of the ambitious Princess - 

"A lusty brace 
Of twins may weed her of her folly. By 
The bearing and the training of a child 
Is woman's wisdom." 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

C. CHRISTIE, Chairman,  
CHAS. E. HENDRICKSON, 
GEORGE GAGE.