Elizabeth Cady Stanton SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE Untitled and undated Writing 5 Front page missing 2 of the native all the rights privileges & immunities of citizens. During this discussion the basic principles of republican government, the Declaration of Independence, the National Constitution have been thoroughly studied by us, until it may be truly said that the leaders in the 260 3 suffrage movement fully understand the Constitution, & that to them its provisions for the largest liberty are as familiar as the spelling book. Their arguments already gild the page of history, & are highly creditable, for their research & eloquence, to the women of this generation. Our champions too in the Halls of Congress & Legislative Assemblies in half the states 261 4 of the Union have based their arguments on these immortal documents which together form the Magna Charta of human liberties. Logical arguments against woman's enfranchisement, cannot be based on the principle of our government, for they all alike proclaim "equal rights to all" without regard to race, color, sex, 262 5 or previous conditions of servitude. Individual sovreignty, individual conscience & judgment are the central truths of a Republic, from which radiate the guiding principles, which lighten our paths through all the complications of government. = The constitution as it is in spirit & letter is broad enough to protect 263 6 the personal & property rights of all citizens under our flag. By every principle of fair interpretation we need no amendment, no new definitions of the terms "people" "persons" "citizens" no additional power conferred on Congress to enable this body to establish a republican form of government in every state of the union And whenever our rulers are ready to make the experiment, they will see 264 7 that they already possess all the constitutional power they need to act, & that the right of suffrage is & always was the inalienable right of every citizen under government. Let me rehearsh a few of the provisions of the constitution to show your power, & our rights as citizens of a Republic 8 In determining your right, & power to legislate on this question, consider whhat has been done already. As the National constitution declares, that all persons born and naturalized in the United State & subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United State, & of the state wherein they reside, it is evident. 9 1st, That the immunities, & privileges of American citizenship, however defined are national in character, & paramount to all state authority. 2nd, That while the constitution leaves the qualification of electors, to the several states, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive any citizen of the elective franchise, the state may regulate, but not abolish 10 the right of suffrage for any class. 3rd, As the constitution of the United States, expressly declares, that no state shall make and enforce any law, that shall abridge the privileges, or immunities of citizens of the United States, those provisions of the several state constitutions, that exclude women from the franchise, on account 267 of sex, alike violate the spirit & letter 11 of the Federal constitution. 4th, As the question of naturalization is expressly withheld from the states, & as the states would clearly have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native born women citizens of this right. Let me give you a few 268 12 extracts from the National Constitution, upon which these propositions are based Preamble. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare & secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves, & our posterity, do ordain, & establish this constitution" 269 13 This is declared to be a government " of the people" All power it is said centres in the people. Our state constitutions also open with the words, " We the people" Does any one pretend to say that men alone constitute races, & peoples ? When we say parents, do we not mean Mothers, as well as Fathers, when we say children, do we not mean girls, as well as boys, 270 14 when we say people, do we not mean women, as well as men ? When the race shall spring Minerva like from the brains of their Fathers, it will time enough, thus to ignore the fact, that one half the human family are women Individual rights : - individual conscience & judgement are our great American ideals, the fundamental principles of our political 271 15 & religious faith : - men may as well attempt to do our repenting, confessing, & believing, as our voting, as well represent us at the throne of grace, as at the ballot box Article 1st sec 9th No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law shall be passed, No title of nobility, shall be granted by the United States. 272 16 Sec. 10th No state shall pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, a law impairing the obligations of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. ( Lee Cummings vs. the State of Missouri) 4th Wallace Rep 278. Exparte Garland same volume) Notwithstanding these provisions of the National Constitution, bills of attainder have been passed by the introduction of the word 273 17 "male" into all the state constitutions, denying to woman the right of suffrage, & thereby making sex a crime. A citizen disfranchised in a republic is a citizen attainted. When we place in the hands of one class of citizens the right to make, interpret, & execute the law, for another class wholly unrepresented in the government, we have made an order of nobility. Universal 274 18 manhood suffrage makes all men sovreigns, all women slaves : - the most odious form of aristocracy, the world has yet seen. Article 4th. Sec. 2nd The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges, & immunities of citizens in the several states {The elective franchise is one of the privileges secured by this section See Carfield 275 19 vs. Corrgell 4. Washington Circuit Refs 880 cited & approved in Dunham vs Laniphore 3. Gray -- Maps Ref. 276. & Bennett vs. Boggs, Baldwins Ref. p 72. Circuit Court U. S.] Sec. 4th The United States shall guarantee, to every state in this union, a republican form of government. ( How can that form of government be called republican, in which one half 276 20 the people are forever deprived, of all participation in its affairs ?] Article 6th The constitution & laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land : & the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution, or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. 277 21 14th amendment. All persons born & nationalized in the United States, & subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. x x x x No state shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges & immunities of citizens of the United States, [ See Federalist Nos. 83 : 84. battel B. 2 , ch. 17. S. 282. Story's commentaries S. 448 Green 278 vs. Shumway . 36 Howards practice Ref. p. 5. 22 . [19] Wilkinson vs. Leland. 2d Peters, Rep 657. Taylor vs. Porter. 4 Hills Rep. 140 People vs. Berberrick, 11th Howard's Practice Rep 289. Morrison vs. Springer 15. Iowa 305. Rowland vs. Hildreth 26 Cat 163. dissenting opinion of Chief Justice Saunderson. Twitchell vs. Blodgett 13 Michigan dissenting opinion of Chief Justice Martin Sedgewick on Const. Law 537 - 539 & cases cited. . 23 . [For this list of authorities, on this point I am indebted to Francis Minor Esqr of St Louis, one of the attorneys in the case of Virginia L Minor et al, vs Reese Happersett.] In the discussion of the enfranchisement of woman; suffrage is now claimed by one class of thinkers, as a privilege based upon citizenship, & secured by the [*280*] 24 constitution of the United States. As by lexicographers as well as by the constitution itself, the definition of citizen includes women as well as men, no state can rightfully deprive a woman citizen of the United States of any fundamental right which is hers, in common with all other citizens. 281 * - *. 25 Even the preamble of the constitution is an argument for self government. "We the people" you recognize women as people for you count us in the laws of representation, Half our Congressmen hold their seats to day as representatives of women We help to swell the figures by which you are here, & too many of you alas ! are only 282 \ -- c 26 figurative representatives paying little heed to our rights as citizens "No bill of attainder shall be passed", " No title of nobility granted" so says the Constitution & yet you have passed bills of attainder in every state of the Union making sex a disqualification for citizenship. You have granted titles of nobility to every male 283 \ -- \ 27 voter, making all men rulers governors sovreigns over all women. "The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a republican form of government" And yet we have not a republican form of government in a single state in the union. One half the people have never consented to a single law 284 \ -- \ 28 under which they live. They have had rulers placed over them in whom they have no choice. They are taxed without representation, tried in our courts by men, for the violation of laws made by men with no appeal except to men & for crimes over which men should have no jurisdiction whatever 285 \ -- \. 29 While Honorable Gentlemen all these, & many more provisions of the Constitution are violated every day, that woman remains disfranchised. You are very conscientious, in not using the power you already possess, to crown us with all the rights of citizens. = There is no significance in the argument that the fathers did not intend to 286 \\ 30 to include women in their provisions. The contrary supposition is quite as fair, as in spirit & letter they have done so. "We the people" are three plain English words that do no admit of any subtle symbolical meaning. & when you count us in the basis of representation as I said you admit that we are people. Again as women voted all along from the earliest days in England, & many voted & held important offices 287 \ --- \ 31 in Colonial days in our own country. The fact must have been familiar to the fathers. Article 4th section says, The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges & immunities of citizens in the several states. Yet if citizens from Washington Territory, Wyoming or Kansas where women vote, pass into any other state or Territory they lose the right to vote the fundamental right of citizenship. 288 32 We have abundant guarantees in the Constitution, to secure to women all her rights. All we need is that some far seeing statesmen or Chief Justice may arise who shall fairly interpret the constitutional law we already possess. A man who like Lord Mansfield in the Somerset case, shall declare that according to the genius of our institutions, no disfranchised citizen can breath on American soil. That simple declaration 289 33 of Lord Mansfield, struck every fetter from the slaves in every land & isle of the sea under the shadow of the English throne. The Chief Justice of Massachusetts abolished slavery in that state by a similar declaration. The fact that the pronoun "he" is used in various provisions of the constitution does not decide that man alone is referred to, for in the whole criminal code the pronouns are "he" "his" "him" Surely if woman can be 34 made to pay all the penalties of violated law as "he," she might be permitted to enjoy all the privileges of a citizen as "he" If a woman can hang as "he", she might vote as "he" 35 I would quote a few opinions of distinguished statesmen & publicists to show what our ablest men think, as to where the principles of our government legitimately lead us in deciding the inalienable rights of citizens * * 36 The Declaration of Independence asserts that, to secure the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, governments are instituted among men, "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Benjamin Franklin said: liberty consists in having an actual share in the appointment of those who frame the laws and who are the guardians of every man's life, property, and peace. That they who have no voice no vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and to their representatives. James Madison said: 293 Under every view of the subject it seems indispensable that the mass of the citizens should not be without a voice in making the laws which they are to obey, and in choosing the magistrates who are to administer them. Samuel Adams said: Representation and legislation, as well as taxation, are inseparable, according to the spirit of our Constitution and of all others that are free. Again he said: No man can be justly taxed by, or bound in conscience to obey, any law to which he has not given his consent in person or by his representative. And again: No man can take another's property from him without his consent. This is the law of nature; and a violation of it is the same thing whether it is done by one man, who is called a king, or by five hundred of another denomination. James Otis, in speaking of the rights of the colonists as descendants of Englishmen, said they "were not to be cheated out of them by any phantom of virtual representation or any other fiction of law or politics." Again: 293 No such phrase are virtual representation is known in law or constitution. It is altogether a subtlety and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd. Among all the rights and privileges appertaining unto us, that of having a share in the legislation, and being governed by such laws as we ourselves shall cause, is the most fundamental and essential as well as the most advantageous and beneficial. The judicious Hooker wrote: Agreeable to the same just privileges of natural equity is that maxim of the English constitution that "Law to bind all must be assented to by all," and there can be no legal appearance of assent without some degree of representation. In 1790, the Condorcet, in his treatise on the admission of women to the rights of citizenship in France, says: Now the rights of men result solely from the fact that they are rational beings, susceptible of acquiring moral ideas and reasoning on those ideas. Women, having the same qualities, have the same equal rights. Either no one individual of the human kind has true rights or all have the same, and one who votes against the right of another, whatever be that other's religion, color, or sex, from that moment forteits his own. 293 Mirabeau condenses the whole question in his definition that "a representative body should be a miniature of the whole community." The right of woman to personal representation through the ballot seems to me unassailable, wherever the right of man is conceded and exercised. I can conceive of no possible abstract justification for the exclusion of the one and the inclusion of the other. 293 293 37 For years we demanded our rights under the constitution as it is, specifically under the 14th amendment, Some of our coadjutors tested its legality by exercising the right of suffrage in their respective states. Their cases were tried in the Supreme Court & decided against them. Thus practically declaring that under neither state nor national constitution is their any guarantee 294 38 for the protection of the political rights of women and their civil rights [of women] have also been denied by both the state & general government. A woman in the state of Illinois was denied the right to practice law, & the Supreme Court of the United States to which she carried her case, confirmed the state's decision. Since their decisions we have asked for a 16th amendment, declaring 295 X 39 that all the provisions of the constitution shall apply equally to men & women x Although we have had these hearings eighteen years in succession, & all the Minority Reports of our champions from Gen Butter of Massachusetts down to Senator Blair of New Hampshire have been able unanswerable constitutional arguments the Majority Reports have studiously avoided, logic 296 40 common sense, & constitution & based their objections upon the most trivial popular prejudices. Lecky the historian has well said the success of a movement depends much less on the force of its arguments, or upon the ability of its advocates than the predisposition of society to receive it. Though our arguments have never been answered, it is fair to suppose that the Honorable Gentlemen who 297 [13] 41 who have written the Majority Reports. have read the constitution which they have sworn to support, & are fully aware that the weight of argument rests on our side, hence they betake themselves to the world of speculation, where they can manufacture statistics adapted to their prejudices as our arguments are never answered it is evident They make no impression on our opponents. as 298 [14] 42 each committee in turn rehearses the popular objections though we have pointed out their absurdity as often as they are offered. Instead of a constitutional argument at this time I will review a few of the points made by former Majority Committees, suggesting that the gentlemen to report on this hearing will try to strike out some new & more worthy trend of thought. It may not be 299 [15] 43 known to you gentlemen that all these reports are published in the History of woman suffrage & that these volumes have been not only extensively circulated in this country & placed in all our leading public libraries, but that they are also circulated in foreign lands & placed in all the old universities in Great Britain & Europe However indifferent our statesmen may be to their 300 [16] 44 to their own reputations their wives & daughters do not wish them to make fools of themselves on the pages of history. I never glance over these Reports that I do not blush for my countrymen. My only consolation is that the able & eloquent Minority Reports do in a measure redeem the dignity of their committees in both the Senate & the House. In view of such reports as the Majority 301 [17] 45 have given as I cannot express to you gentlemen the humiliation I feel as a native born American citizen, much older probably than any member on the Committee, that after half a century of weary waiting & watching educated refined women are still compelled to beg [of their own] of their own Saxon fathers, husbands brothers & sons, for their civil & political rights 302 [18] 46 so freely granted to every foreigner who lands on our shores. While I possess every qualification of a voter age property education while I fully appreciate the genius of republican institutions, & glory in the success of our triumphant democracy while travelling in the old world my proudest boast has ever been " I am an American citizen" 303 [19] 47 yet to my pleadings for the political rights of women you turn a deaf ear, & hold the very idea of woman's enfranchisement up to scorn, while you extend the right hand of welcome to every ignorant foreigner who lands on our shores who has no idea of what constitutes a republic. nor of the duties self- government involves. yet you crown him with the rights of American 304 [20] 48 citizenship, rights for which your own mothers wives sisters & daughters plead in vain. Landing in New York one week ago. I saw four hundred steerage passengers leave the vessel. Dark eyed, heavy visaged, stooping with [heavy] huge burdens & the oppressions they endured in the old world, they stood in painful contrast with the grief of [with the] brilliant women on their way to the 305 [21] 49 International Council party [to] [be] held here in Washington [during the coming week] I thought, as this long line passed by, of the speedy transformation, the genial influences of equality would effect, in the appearance of these men, of the new dignity they would acquire, with a voice in the laws under which they live, & I rejoiced for them, but bitter reflections filled my mind when I thought these men are the future rulers of our daughters [*306*] 50 [22.] these will interpret the civil & criminal codes by which they will be governed, these will be our future Judges & Jurors, to try young girls in our courts for the crime of Infanticide, for trial by a jury of her peers but never yet in the history of the world been vouchsafed to woman. Here is a right so ancient that it is difficult to trace its origin in history. [*307*] 51 [23] a right so sacred that the humblest criminal may choose his juror. But alas for the daughters of the people, their Judges Advocates Jurors must be men & for them there is no appeal. But this is only one wrong among many inevitable in a disfranchised class. It is impossible for you gentlemen to appreciate the humiliations women suffer at every turn, [*308*] 52 [24.] My joy in reaching my native land & meeting dear friends & family once more, was shadowed by that vision on the warf, & by the knowledge that by the thousands still they come, & from lands where woman as a mere beast of burden is infinitely more degraded than by any possibility she can be here. Do you wonder in view of what the character of our future law makers may be that we are filled with apprehension of coming evil [*309*] 53 [25.] & that we feel that there is no time to be lost, if our Saxon fathers ever propose to throw round us the protecting power of law & constitution # The justice & moderation of our demands have always seemed to me so apparent, that the bare statement should have sufficed long ago The protracted struggle through which we have passed & our labor not yet crowned with 310 The next generation of women will not argue with their rulers, as patiently as we have done, & to so little purpose for half a century. You have now the power, to settle this question by moral influences, by wise legislation. But if you cannot be roused to its serious consideration, like every other step in progress, it will eventually be settled by violence. The wild enthusiasm of woman can be used for evil, as well as good. To day you have the power to guide & direct it into channels of true patriotism. But in future, will all the elements of discontent now gathering from foreign lands you will have the scenes of the French Commune repeated in our land. [26] 54 success seems to me sometimes like a fanciful dream in which one strives to run, & yet stands still, incapable alike of escaping, or meeting the impending dangers. I would not pain your ears with a rehearsal of the hopes oftimes deferred & shadowed with fear, of the brightest anticipations again & again disappointed. I will leave it to your imaginations to picture to yourselves, [*311*] 55 [27] how you would feel, if you had had a case in court, a bill before some legislative body, or a political aspiration, for nearly half a century, with a continual succession of adverse decisions, while law & common justice were wholly on your side. Such Honorable Gentlemen is our case. Every point of Constitutional has been [*312*] 56 [28] argued over & over, not only by our coadjutors, but by some of the ablest men in the nation. These arguments still remain unanswered. It is fair to suppose, that understanding the provisions of the Constitution, you know that women being persons born & naturalized in this country, are citizens of the United States, & of the state wherein they reside, & that they have the same inalienable right, to life liberty, & happiness, to [*313*] 57 [29 .] to self government & self protection that each of you possess. Like you women pay taxes & the penalty of their own crimes. If they commit theft or murder they are imprisoned & hung. If compelled to represent themselves on the gallows why not at the polls. Surely the latter duty could be much more gracefully discharged than the former. In looking over the majority [*314*] 58 [30.] Reports I find the chief subterfuge of some of our opponents is that woman would be a dangerous element in politics. 1st They fear the vicious women, as it is supposed that they would rally a mighty multitude, & all go to the polls, drive all the virtuous women away, completely demoralize the men, & sap the formations of party platforms & political life. The women of the French revolution are supposed to illustrate what this class [would do] [*315*] 59 [31] would do 2nd They fear the fashionable women, because they would vote for handsome men, make their parlors symposiums, for the discussion of questions of political economy, sacrifice their country to personal ambition, & family aggrandizement & spend so much tine in the galleries of legislative assemblies, as to distract the attention of statesmen from the great work of government [*316*] 60 [32] 3rd They fear religious devout women, because they would destroy the secular nature of our government, by introducing the name of God into the Constitution, & establishing religious tests for political parties & platforms. 4th The fear married women, because they would vote with their husbands, & thus merely double the vote or they would vote directly opposite, & thus destroy the family relation. [*317*] 61 [33] which in either view, might be a public & social calamity. 5th The colored women, after wasting reams of paper, or an immense amount of brain force, in drawing up the 14th Amendment expressly to keep this class out of the body politic it would be most aggravating after twenty years of safety, to find them citizens of the United States, under this very amendment. [*318*] 62 . [34] Well gentlemen to make the first practical step for you as easy as possible, why not exclude these five classes for the present & begin your experiment "with spinsters & maidens, "who are householders. This is the basis on which England extends [municipal?] suffrage to women. You have the power to extend, & withhold the suffrage as you chose. There is no reason why you should [*319*] 63 [35] begin with universal suffrage for women + men. Though my coadjutors all believe in universal suffrage yet I think we should [all] be willing to let you start with spinsters & widows who are householders Having homes of their own, it is fair to suppose that they are industrious, common sense women, neither vicious, fashionable, nor ambitious for family position, women who love their country: (having [*320*] 64 [36] no husbands to love) better than themselves, With this class, you escape all danger of family upheavals, on the one side, & doubling the vote on the other. In this way, by admitting some women into political life, we overturn the aristocracy of sex. Do you realize gentlemen, that in establishing manhood suffrage, you made all men sovreigns. & all women subjects? 65 [37] this, the most odious form of aristocracy, that the world ever saw, is the only one we have; an aristocracy that makes all men, black & white, foreign & native, lettered & unlettered, washed & unwashed, virtuous & vicious, the rulers of refined educated native born women. An aristocracy that destroys the happiness of social life, exalting the son above the [*322*] 66 [38] mother who bore him, engendering an insidious contempt for woman, among all classes, expressed in the debates on the question at every fireside, in the halls of legislation, in our laws & literature, alike in poetry & prose, most distressing to sensitive women, insulting to those who have a proper self respect, & alike exasperating to all. [*323*] Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.