Catt, Carrie Chapman SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Article: "God and the People"

1915
GOD AND THE PEOPLE.
Since history began the idea has prevailed that some human
beings are born to rule and others to obey.  Louis XIV said: "I am the
State," and the people believed him to be God appointed and that it
was their divinely determined lot to pay the taxes he imposed and
obey the edicts he decreed.  The single ruler of that day has been
forced by the logic of events to share his power with others; but
the class empowered to rule has ever claimed its authority from God.
Peter Stuyvesant drew  his authority "from God and the Dutch West India
Co."  Later, it was believed, and enforced in our Colonies, that
God ordained Protestants to vote and to rule, and that it was the
divinely appointed lot of Catholics and Jews to obey all laws meekly
and to pay their taxes without comment.
In the Continental Congress of 1774 an extensive discussion
took place as to the source of authority which would enable the
Colonists to erect an independent Government.  Some thought that
authority could come only from "God and the British Constitution;"
several that it rested with "Hod and the Land."  The latter theory
prevailed and the young Republic gave votes to Landholders only.
As men in other times had believed that the chance of hereditary
birth gave a man the life-long right to rule over his fellowmen,
so now Americans believe that God gave the man who had seized fifty
acres of land from the great stretches of unused territory,
the right to rule over all others.
During another struggle in our history it was claimed with
fervor that God gave the white men the inherent right to rule over
black men.  Each of these theories of government in turn was replaced
by one which admitted the fallacy of the former, and that God had intended
to include in the ruling class those newly enfranchised.

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Rule by the Divine Right of Kings has slowly given way to the spread
of democracy until the ruling class virtually includes all men; the
subject class all women.  The appeal of women for the vote is met by
the historical defence pronounced as insistently as in the days of
Kinds by Divine Right:  "God has ordained men to rule and women to obey."
In nearly half the territory of the United States, woman
suffrage is an established fact; one woman in every five already has the
right to vote for President in 1916.  In triumphant response to the
eastern claim of the Divine Right of men comes the western answer:
"God ordains the people to rule, and women are people."
Lincoln said:  "This government cannot exist one-half slave
and one-half free."  The handwriting on the wall points to the coming
of the People, whose only sovereign is the honest will of the majority.
With the enfranchisement of women the ruling class will
disappear forever.  Popular government, with no privileged class
based on religion, wealth, race or sex to claim especial God-given
powers, will become an established fact.  Cooperation in a common effort
to help each other, and to secure the highest welfare for all will replace
the old system and new constitutions will write between their
lines:  "The voice of the people is the voice of God"- Remember Nov. 2, 1915'.

Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.