Elizabeth Cady Stanton SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE Speech: "Taxation" [1880-90] Manuscript of speech by Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered 1880 - 1890 Manuscript of Speech on Taxation by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This was probably for some unimportant occasions, as it contains no constitutional or legal arguments such as are found in Mrs. Stanton's speeches on the same subject as quoted from Congressional Reports in the History of Woman Suffrage. Taxation. As women property holders already represent many millions of wealth in this nation the question of taxation is a branch of woman's rights in which they feel some interest Political economists have labored long & hard to discover some system of equitable taxation. But with all .2. the shiftings of the burden on various classes & kinds of property it is not yet fairly adjusted. In running over the history of the past it is curious to see the cunning devices of those in power to lay the heavy burdens ever on the shoulders of those classes that cannot help themselves, on those who in their .3. ignorance, & innocence cannot trace the powers by which it is accomplished Sovereign, Noble, Pope, Priest, Parliament President, Congress, Legislator, like boys tossing bean bags in a gymnasium, have played with these onerous burdens each in turn throwing the weight from their own shoulders on those of their neighbors .4. In ancient times, public expenditures were drawn from the revenue of sovereigns, but when through bad economy they found these insufficient they demanded contributions from the nobility. The nobles however denied this right in a sovereign & refused to grant the exaction. But the nobles seeing the necessity to 5 to increase the revenue in order to support the dignity of the state, & the sovereign being afraid to constrain them. They agreed to unite, & lay the taxes on the people, who not belonging to the privileged orders, having no voice in the laws, from want of union & power would be obliged to yield .6. And here, & for this reason, to a greater, or less degree, the load has existed ever since. In despotisms, monarchies, & republics alike, directly, & indirectly the weight of taxation rests on the shoulders of those who have the least influence in shaping governmental policy, on the laboring classes of men & women 7. In England there is a way side Inn called the four A.L.L.S. Some satirical sign painter who under - stood the situation placed the letters all in the middle of the sign. A Bishop representing the church stands on one side pointing to the letters says " I pray for all" A soldier on the other .8. side representing the army says "I fight for all" Above sits the sovereign pointing down she says "I rule all" While below bearing up the whole sign on his stooping shoulders bows the laborer saying " I pay for all" We should be obliged to change the sign somewhat for our latitude .9. & in the place of Victoria put our next President [if we are so fortunate as ever to find out who he is]. & in the place of the English laborer, the woman, as all men in this country belong to the privileged class & vote their own taxes. In a country here the aristocracy is based on sex, women are the only classes taxed without their 10 consent; though ever [to day] doing their full share of the work of the world Go to the rice plantations & cotton fields of the south, there in the old days of slavery, thousands of mothers wives sisters & daughters toiled their lives away. & even now their labors freight the merchant ships for foreign lands that bring back gold, on western .11. prairies too they gather in the harvests that feed the world & watch the cattle on a thousand hills, in New England factories they work all day, with nimble fingers & keen eye they keep time & tune with shaft, & wheel, & bar, racing with unseen forces as inexorable as death itself. In the garrets of .12. our cities they stitch stitch stitch their own windering sheets. With weary brains & just hearts they have taught our Presidents Senators Congressmen, our Lawyers Doctors clergymen. The Principals & Professors in our schools & colleges, for one century, on half pay. & yet the theory is man feeds, & clothes & .13. shelters woman, & is her protector everywhere, he pays her taxes & does her voting. The old definition of taxation was that portion of property exacted by the state for public "necessities But in these days of extravagance & corruption the tax payers have something more to meet than public necessities such necessities as the Tweeds, the .14. Boss Shepherds, the Presidential elections for indirectly women are taxed to pay for all these frauds. & all the women in the departments at Washington are directly assessed for the election fund. Webster defines a tax as a sum of money assessed on the person or property of a "citizen" by government for the use of the nation .15. or state. Thus in taxing women the law pays them the compliment of recognizing in them the dignity of citizenship. "A citizen", say Webster, "in the United States is a person "native or naturalized who has the "privilege of exercising the elective franchise, "is the qualifications which enable him to vote for rulers, & to purchase & hold .16. real estate. Women are "persons" "citizens" "property holders". By what power they are denied the right to [have] a voice in the election of assessor tax collecter & the rates of taxation is the problem demanding solution of this age & generation. "Women, says a recent writer, belonging to our privileged classes." Is this true .17. in fact? Who ever heard of a class of women exempt from taxation. In our state & Federal constitutions we hear of a privileged order of "Indians," of "black men", "malitia, clergymen" exempt from taxation but no class of women are ever released from that burden. Indians having no voice in the government pay no taxes. [(27.)] .(18. When black men voted in New York on a property qualification of $250. They were not taxed on real estate less than that sum, but the moment the black man died, the name of the widow or daughter was put on the assessors list & the taxes extorted. As early as 1844 Gov Baldwin in his address to the Connecticut legislature said, "I deem it worthy of consideration whether it is consistent with .19. the great principles maintained by our Fathers in the revolutionary contest to subject colored citizens to taxation so long as they are excluded by the constitution from the right of suffrage" And the Legislature of that year promptly enacted a law exempting colored citizens from taxation This law continued in force until the 15 amendment enfranchised all colored 20 male citizens, when strange to say the supreme law of the land has so interpreted, as to make the women of that race tax payers, when the men became voters. The logic of an amendment that brought on the same breeze blessings to men, & burdens to women. We shall leave the nine judges on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, to explain to the people 21 Some colored women in Connecticut at that time though large property holders, had never paid a cent of tax, but when their lords became a part of the government, lifted above their heads, new burdens were laid on their shoulders. In most of the states the Militia are exempt from taxation on $800 of property While the men live & vote they pay no 22 taxes on this amount, but when they die their wives, or daughter who cannot vote pay town, & county taxes on every dollar. [By the law of New York $1500 of a clergyman's property is exempt from taxation As long as the Pastor lives with or without his full salary, the collector halts not at his portals, but the moment he dies] the name of wife, or daughter, is at once 23 written in the assessor's book, & the annual calls are never forgotten. This is one of the grievous wrongs the women of this country have suffered during the century. A wrong that was the immediate cause of the rebellion of the Colonies against Great Britain. [Lord Coke, who is good authority said the very act of taxing a man's property without his consent is in effect] 23. a In most of the states of the union churches, colleges, schools, museums, libraries, hospitals, engine houses, cemetaries, charitable institutions & the lands of agricultural societies are exempt from taxation. As the Catholic church owns more property than any other one sect consider the amount of property it holds free from all taxation. In New York, St Louis, & other cities it is immense. Within ten miles of the City-Hall b. it is estimated as not less than $80,000,000 in St Louis $20,000,000. Trinity church in N.Y. city has $60,000 exempt from taxation. The Episcopalian churches with half a million & more apeice are dotted all through our large cities, built on sites worth hundreds of thousands. & so in smaller terms, all sects, building building, building, not a little town on the western prairies but c. has its three & four churches, & [all] this immense accumulation of wealth taken all together, is wholly exempt from taxation. In the new world, as well as the old these rich ecclesiastical corporations are already a heavy load on the shoulders of the people. If all the church property in this country were d. [taxed in the same ratio poor widows are to day. We could soon roll off the national debt from the shoulders of the masses. If this immense sum could be applied to pleasant homes for the laboring masses, multitude now swarming in the garrets & cellars of our cities might be relieved from ignorance & degradation.] The Governor of New York in his message this year objected to the taxation of church property because the influence ofsuch initiations was great in society. Is the church E. as an institution of more consequence than the family. Are the priesthood as an order of more value than the women to a nation. Is the influence of woman so wholly evil that no representatives of that unfortunate sex can ever be exempt from taxation. On what principle of justice are there large classes of men F. allowed to vote without paying taxes while the women are compelled to pay taxes without voting? Whatever property the state protects should I think contribute its proportion to the states support, hence as loyal law abiding citizens we are willing to pay our share for the support of the state: - but as our taxes are increased not in proportion G. as many other states, and many kinds of property are exempt, we have a reason to complain of this injustice and to insist that women as large property holders throughout the United States should have a vote on this question. The fundamental principles of our government and the action of our H. state legislators in the case of Indians and Africans furnish logic, precedent for the exemption of all disenfranchised classes from taxation. There is no principle of equity more universally admitted than that the owner of property shall have a word to say in its use, that his or her consent is necessary for what they are taxed to support .I. Now the consent of the citizen to all governmental measures can be given but in one way: - and that is at the ballot box. Hence woman now demands that she be permitted to exercise the right of suffrage. That she may have the power to protect her own person and property, her civil and social rights .J. It is wiser for our rulers to do this act of justice, than to compel us to resist taxation, in order to arrest their attention to the violation of one of the fundamental principles of our government that "taxation without representation is tyranny." We would rather amend than resist the laws for in a republic .K. it is of vital moment that the people respect the law, - here where we have no Kings, Popes or orders of nobility, nothing outward to venerate we must cultivate a sacred observance of law. Hence I have never counselled resistance to any known law. While I have appreciated the advantage, as a means .L. of agitation the individual action of a few women here or there who have gone to the polls and voted and openly resisted taxation, in the face of laws and constitution, yet I should deplore any general united action among women in these directions, as a bad precedent for the American people. It is better to endure injustice until by the slow process M. of education we can amend our laws, & constitutions, than to defy all authority. Reformation, if possible is better than revolution. But an overwhelming sense of injustice, among the ignorant masses, waits not for fundamental, or politic considerations. There is a growing discontent among women & a determination [O] to resist the warnings they have thus for so patiently endured. In fact the battle has already [begun] opened all along the line. In the churches, the colleges, the courts another "irresponsible conflict" begins for justice liberty & equality to the mother of the race. [.33.] 24 [disfranchising him of every civil right.] Is there no injustice in taxing womans property & compelling her to support crimes that she abhors? Deploring war, with all the demoralization that follows in its train, we have been taxed to support standing armies, with their waste of life & wealth. Believing in temperance, we have been taxed to 25 support the Liquor traffic. while we suffer its wrongs & abuses infinitely more than man. We have no power to protect our sons against this giant evil. During the temperance crusade mothers were arrested, fined & imprisoned, for praying & singing in the streets, while men blockade the sidewalks with impunity even on Sunday, with their military 26 parades & political processions. Believing in honesty, we are taxed to support a dangerous army of civilians buying & selling the offices of government, & sacrificing the best interests of the people. And moreover we are taxed to support the very legislators & judges, who make the laws & render decisions adverse to women. And for refusing to pay such unjust 27 taxation. The houses, lands, bond, stock of women, have been seized & sold in several states. And such is the much talked of protection than man extends to woman. Who would not be ashamed in his individual capacity to perpetuate such injustice? 28 Do not such laws prove the danger of allowing one class to legislate for another. When one half the people of every state in the union are robbed of their most sacred rights, a portion of this class consisting of the most moral, intelligent, wealthy, law abiding, part of the population. Surely their care is one of sufficient magnitude to command the prompt attention of the 29 general government. In making our just demands a higher motive than the pride of sex inspires us; we feel that national safety, stability depend on the complete recognition of the broad principles of government. If the violation of justice in the case of 4,000,000 Africans resulted in civil war that involved us in a national debt that will rest heavy on the shoulders of another 30. generation, that sacrificed the youth and flower of the nation. Swept our commerce from the seas. Silenced our workshops, & palsied the energy, enterprize of our people & clouded the moral sense of political leaders. There must be dangers in this widespread injustice to 20,000,000 women. Though they may never meet their oppressors 31. in battle array in the tented field, get with their armys be arranged by natural eternal laws. More sure & terrible than open war Woman's degraded helpless position is the weak point in our institutions today, a disturbing force everywhere, severing family ties, filling our asylums with the deaf, the dumb, the blind, our prisons with criminals, our cities 32. with drunkenness, and prostitution our homes with disease & death & yet sentimentalists adjudge us "The privileged order." No no you must look elsewhere for the "privileged order." There is no mention in any code or Constitution of this fortunate type of womanhood. There is nothing in the treatment of the masses of women anywhere that indicate the "privileged order." 33. All this talk about women being too good, too pure, too excellent to have a voice in government is the sheerest sham and hypocrisy for all our customs, creeds, code harmonize with the idea of degradation. It was thought in the early days of the colonies that the priesthood was too good to vote, and in their 34. case see how with our land, customs, constitutions harmonized with that idea. All men pay more respect to the black coat than any other. In all ages they have been treated as a superior order, thought too good to work as well as vote. The people are ready to give the clergy homes to live in, clothes to wear 35. food to eat. What other class have donation parties. They are a privileged class with the trades & professions. The shoemaker, the butcher, the baker serve them half price. Lawyers fight their battles for nothing. Physicians prescribe for their families without charge. $1,500 of their property in some states is exempt from taxation. They get railroad 36. tickets, periodicals, newspapers at half price. But what one of all these privileges is vouchsafed to woman. Not one, the whole idea is reversed. She does everything for the rest of the world at half price. Such is her exaltation, the "privileged order." 37. In a speech in Columbus Ohio, he said, "There are many thousands in the single state of Arkansas who being property holders & citizens, responsible intelligent men are forbidden to vote, hold office, while men without a penny vote away their 38. "property, bury it under enormous " public debts. We think this a " grievous wrong, & a wrong that ought now to be amended" I quote this to show how keenly men appreciate the degradation of taxation without representation for their own sex. And yet the condition of these southern men after the war 39. was precisely the condition of all the women in this republic. We too are "citizens" responsible intelligent, property holders, loyal & law abiding. Yet we are forbidden to vote, hold office while men without a penny vote away our property, bury it under enormous public debts. We think 47. makes another nervous, prevents me from the thinking 41. which one would think woman would actually have lead the way, but she has given 40. this is a grievous wrong, a wrong that ought now to be amended." Is ti more unjust to disenfranchise 20,000 southern men who in the late war sought to destroy our free institutions than 21,000 northern women who gave their wealth. Their Fathers Husbands Brothers & Sons to fight the battles of freedom 41. who watched our boys in blue in hospitals & on the battlefield; who held their drooping hearts through the lovely watches of the night, dealt with carnage in every hole, with the cold stars only to keep them company. Are women outlaws, beyond the reach of common justice & sympathy, that no mortal man 42. ere thinks to apply to them the well established rules of equity familiar to all judicial & legislative amenities? Is it because woman knows nothing of war & glory, or justice & mercy, of freedom, equality that all the great principles of jurisprudence, constitutional law & self-government have no 43. significance for her? While women tax payers listen to the echoes of 1776 let them learn in all humility that the grand declarations that sent [?] at the mouth of the canon round the world were never intended for their ears "Taxation without representation is tyranny" said the grand old heroes that laid 44. the cornerstones of the republic. That was the theme for many a hot debate in the parliament of the old world, & for many an eloquent oration in the forests of the new, for all our Fourth of July orations running down through the century, inscribed on all our flags, banners until every man woman & child in the 45. nation know that "taxation without representation is tyranny." The women of 76, who helped to fan the fires of our revolution, understood these principles as well as the men by their side. James Otis was indebted to his sister Mercy Otis Warren for many of the ideas he gave the world. In 1770, six years before 46. the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed the women of New England made a public combined protest against taxation without representation & entered into a league for some kind of resistance. This league was formed by the married women. But the young ladies followed their example. They also held an anti-tax 47 meeting & declared publicly that they did not take this step for themselves alone, but they protested against taxation without representation as a matter of principle, & for the benefit of posterity. These protests were the real origin of the famous tea party in Boston harbor. A tea party generally supposed to have been 48. inspired by men. But the firm resolve of the mothers & daughters of the revolution to use no more taxed tea aroused the men to action. Lord Coke who is good authority on this question says taxes cannot be laid on the people without their consent. The very act of taxing a man's property without his consent 49. is in effect disenfranchising him of every civil right. And this is woman's condition today, in denying her the right to protect her own person & property by law she is in effect disenfranchised of every civil right. For what one right is _______________ a _________________ . if my inheritance, my earnings, my daily bread may 50. be taken from me by any "privileged order," without my consent & at their pleasure. Oh! says me we have no privileged orders here. The genius of our government is offered to all discriminations among citizens, to monarchical theories, & privileged orders. But what do republican theories, Constitutions, Declarations 51. of human freedom + equality amount to if with our faces to the dead past we interject - all these fundamental principles in harmony with the old feudal ideas of woman. The one title there is to nobility in this country is the right of suffrage; & the ballot is the only sceptre of royalty. In cramming all 52. men with this dignity; denying it to all women. we have established here the most odious form of aristocracy the world has ever seen, an aristocracy of sex, making all men sovereigns, all women subjects. Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.