|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 36
Thus the right to vote is not the same thing as the right to live; and
even in a commonwealth founded on ideal justice only those having a
stake in the community life, and possessing normal intelligence and
morality, will be allowed to rule. In a word, equal suffrage is
possible, while universal man or woman suffrage is not.
All through our colonial period women had a large influence in
determining community questions, and in Massachusetts, under the old
Providence Charter, they voted for all elective officers for nearly a
hundred years. Here and there women--like Margaret Brent, of Maryland;
Abigail Adams, of Massachusetts; or Mrs. Corbin, of Virginia--put
forward their right to participate in the public life around them. But,
in 1776, women were not voting, and the Federal Constitution left the
matter of determining electoral rights to the several States. They all
decided for male suffrage.
The initial impulse to secure suffrage for American women came from
Europe. After the Revolution, Frances Wright, a young Scotchwoman, came
to America to lecture and write, claiming equal political rights with
men. In 1836, Ernestine L. Rose came from Poland and also advocated
equal political rights. All the teachings of the American Revolution had
favored the idea of human equality; and, as has been pointed out, when,
with established peace after the War of 1812, women engaged in
anti-slavery, temperance and allied movements, they were driven by the
logic of events to demand the suffrage.
In 1848, the women of the country began to organize. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Martha C. Wright called together at Seneca
Falls, New York, the first convention in America to further equal
suffrage. No permanent organization was founded, but in 1850 a
convention was held in Salem, Massachusetts, and in 1852 a Woman's
Rights Convention was called in Syracuse, New York, with delegates
present from eight States and Canada. Miss Susan B. Anthony had meantime
joined the movement; and from this time on conventions and appeals
became common.
The Civil War distracted attention from all social and political issues
but one. The Equal Rights Association turned its attention mainly to the
rights of negroes; and in 1869 the National Woman's Suffrage Association
was organized to work exclusively for woman's rights. Backed by such
women as Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe, and aided by
men like Henry Ward Beecher, the association became a national power. In
1890, the two organizations were united under the name of The National
American Woman's Suffrage Association. This organization still leads the
movement in America.[45]
[45] _The History of Woman Suffrage_, by ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, SUSAN
B. ANTHONY, and IDA HUSTED HARPER, 4 vols. Rochester, N.Y.
In 1902, an international meeting was called in Washington; and in 1904
the International Suffrage Alliance was formed in Berlin with Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt as president. Thirteen nations are now affiliated
with the Alliance; and the women of the world are highly organized to
further equal suffrage.
Two generations of women have given themselves to this movement, and a
third still faces it. To the first group belong those leaders we have
already named: Emma Willard, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Julia Ward Howe,
Susan B. Anthony and their associates. It was their problem to secure
woman's control of her own body and property, some share in the
direction of her children, and some opportunity to train her own mind
and earn an independent living. These women bore the heat and burden of
a conflict in which all the blind prejudices of a fixed r�gime were
strongly massed, presenting few promising points of attack. It is small
wonder that some of these leaders gained a reputation for being hard,
dogmatic, aggressive, and sometimes careless of popular sensibilities.
The first generation of reformers in any field must be made of stern
stuff; and their beneficiaries are apt to forget the conditions that
justified means no longer necessary.
The lives of these women could not be expected to fully illustrate the
type of life they hoped to see their sisters living when opportunity was
finally won. Only women who participated in this struggle could fully
appreciate the splendid devotion of these lives to the service of a
group many of whom, being personally comfortable, were insensible to the
needs of less fortunate women; and were sometimes even willing to fight
back any advanced ideas which might disturb their own comfort. The
feeling within this group of leaders, and the failure of oncoming
generations of American women to recognize the debt of obligation they
owe to its efforts, was illustrated by an incident that came up in
connection with the Third International Congress of Women which met in
London in 1899. The session was opened in Westminster Town Hall, with
seven hundred delegates present, representing the most thoughtful women
of the world. Lady Aberdeen was in the chair, and Mrs. Creighton, wife
of the late Bishop of London, was reading a paper. In the midst of deep
attention, a door at the rear of the platform was gently opened, and
Miss Susan B. Anthony stepped onto the stage. She had just arrived from
America. Her strong figure was bent with the weight of years; her face
was squared by the conflict and partial ostracism she had met; but her
glance had lost none of its stern kindliness, and her bearing none of
its indomitable courage. As she appeared, this most representative
audience of women in the world sprang to its feet and burst into wild
cheering. In vain did Lady Aberdeen rap for order and beg the audience
to let Mrs. Creighton proceed. Not until Miss Anthony came to the front
and urged the women to sit down was quiet restored. These women knew the
price of a life which their champion had paid for their opportunities.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|