Lamartine said, "Universal Suffrage is the first truth and only basis of every national republic."
In regard to "Taxation without representation," Mr. Sumner quotes from Lord c.o.ke:
The Supreme Power cannot take from any man any part of his property _without consent in person, or by representation_.
Taxes are not to be laid on the people, but by their consent in person, or by representation.
I can see no reason to doubt but that the imposition of taxes, whether on trade, or on land, or houses, or ships, or real or personal, fixed or floating, property in the colonies, is absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the colonies, as British subjects, _and as men_. I say men, for in a state of nature no man can take any property from me without my consent. _If he does, he deprives me of my liberty and makes me a slave._ The very act of taxing, exercised over those who are not represented, appears to me to deprive them of one of their most essential rights as freemen, and if continued seems to be in effect an entire disfranchis.e.m.e.nt of every civil right. For what one civil right is worth a rush, after a man"s property is subject to be taken from him at pleasure without his consent?
In demanding suffrage for the black man you recognize the fact that as a freedman he is no longer a "part of the family," and that, therefore, his master is no longer his representative; hence, as he will now be liable to taxation, he must also have representation. Woman, on the contrary, has never been such a "part of the family" as to escape taxation. Although there has been no formal proclamation giving her an individual existence, she has always had the right to property and wages, the right to make contracts and do business in her own name. And even married women, by recent legislation, have been secured in these civil rights. Woman now holds a vast amount of the property in the country, and pays her full proportion of taxes, revenue included.
On what principle, then, do you deny her representation? By what process of reasoning Charles Sumner was able to stand up in the Senate, a few days after these sublime utterances, and rebuke 15,000,000 disfranchised tax-payers for the exercise of their right of pet.i.tion merely, is past understanding. If he felt that this was not the time for woman to even mention her right to representation, why did he not take breath in some of his splendid periods, and propose to release the poor shirtmakers, milliners and dressmakers, and all women of property, from the tyranny of taxation?
We propose no new theories. We simply ask that you secure to ALL the practical application of the immutable principles of our government, without distinction of race, color or s.e.x. And we urge our demand _now_, because you have the opportunity and the power to take this onward step in legislation. The nations of the earth stand watching and waiting to see if our Revolutionary idea, "all men are created equal," can be realized in government.
Crush not, we pray you, the million hopes that hang on our success. Peril not another b.l.o.o.d.y war. Men and parties must pa.s.s away, but justice is eternal. And they only who work in harmony with its laws are immortal. All who have carefully noted the proceedings of this Congress, and contrasted your speeches with those made under the old _regime_ of slavery, must have seen the added power and eloquence that greater freedom gives. But still you propose no action on your grand ideas. Your Joint Resolutions, your Reconstruction Reports, do not reflect your highest thought. The const.i.tution, in basing representation on "respective numbers," covers a broader ground than any you have yet proposed. Is not the only amendment needed to Article 1st, Section 3d, to strike out the exceptions which follow "respective numbers?" And is it not your duty, by securing a republican form of government to every State, to see that these "respective numbers" are made up of enfranchised citizens? Thus bringing your legislation up to the Const.i.tution--not the Const.i.tution down to your party possibilities!! The only tenable ground of representation is UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, as it is only through Universal Suffrage that the principle of "Equal Rights to All"
can be realized. All prohibitions based on race, color, s.e.x, property, or education, are violations of the republican idea; and the various qualifications now proposed are but so many plausible pretexts to debar new cla.s.ses from the ballot-box. The limitations of property and intelligence, though unfair, can be met; as with freedom must come the repeal of statute-laws that deny schools and wages to the negro. So time makes him a voter.
But color and s.e.x! Neither time nor statutes can make black white, or woman man! You a.s.sume to be the representatives of 15,000,000 women--American citizens--who already possess every _attainable_ qualification for the ballot. Women read and write, hold many offices under government, pay taxes, and the penalties of crime, and yet are allowed to exercise but the one right of pet.i.tion.
For twenty years we have labored to bring the statute laws of the several States into harmony with the broad principles of the Const.i.tution, and have been so far successful that in many, little remains to be done but to secure the right of suffrage.
Hence, our prompt protest against the propositions before Congress to introduce the word "male" into the Federal Const.i.tution, which, if successful, would block all State action in giving the ballot to woman. As the only way disfranchised citizens can appear before you, we availed ourselves of the sacred right of pet.i.tion. And, as our representatives, it was your duty to give those pet.i.tions a respectful reading and a serious consideration. How well a Republican Senate performed that duty, is already inscribed on the page of history. Some tell us it is not judicious to press the claims of women _now_; that this is not the time. Time? When you propose legislation so fatal to the best interests of woman and the nation, shall we be silent till the deed is done? No! As we love republican ideas, we must resist tyranny. As we honor the position of American Senator, we must appeal from the politician to the man.
With man, woman shared the dangers of the Mayflower on a stormy sea, the dreary landing on Plymouth Rock, the rigors of a New England winter, and the privations of a seven years" war. With him she bravely threw off the British yoke, felt every pulsation of his heart for freedom, and inspired the glowing eloquence that maintained it through the century. With you, we have just pa.s.sed through the agony and death, the resurrection and triumph, of another revolution, doing all in our power to mitigate its horrors and gild its glories. And now, think you we have no souls to fire, no brains to weigh your arguments; that, after education such as this, we can stand silent witnesses while you sell our birthright of liberty, to save from a timely death an effete political organization? No, as we respect womanhood, we must protest against this desecration of the magna charta of American liberties; and with an importunity not to be repelled, our demand must ever be: "No compromise of human rights"--"No admission in the Const.i.tution of inequality of rights, or disfranchis.e.m.e.nt on account of color or s.e.x."
In the oft-repeated experiments of cla.s.s and caste, who can number the nations that have risen but to fall? Do not imagine you come one line nearer the demand of justice by enfranchising but another shade of _man_hood; for, in denying representation to woman you still cling to the same principle on which all the governments of the past have been wrecked. The right way, the safe way, is so clear, the path of duty is so straight and simple, that we who are equally interested with yourselves in the result, conjure you to act not for the pa.s.sing hour, not with reference to transient benefits, but to do now the one grand deed that shall mark the progress of the century--proclaim EQUAL RIGHTS TO ALL. We press our demand for the ballot at this time in no narrow, captious or selfish spirit; from no contempt of the black man"s claims, nor antagonism with you, who in the progress of civilization are now the privileged order; but from the purest patriotism, for the highest good of every citizen, for the safety of the Republic, and as a spotless example to the nations of the earth.
Mr. Beecher was followed by Wendell Phillips, Frances Dana Gage, Frances Watkins Harper; the Financial Committee[64] meantime pa.s.sed through the audience for the material aid to carry forward the work.
Miss Anthony presented the following resolution, and moved its adoption, which was seconded by Martha C. Wright:
_Whereas_, By the act of Emanc.i.p.ation and the Civil Rights bill, the negro and woman now hold the same civil and political _status_, alike needing only the ballot; and whereas the same arguments apply equally to both cla.s.ses, proving all partial legislation fatal to republican inst.i.tutions, therefore,
_Resolved_, That the time has come for an organization that shall demand UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, and that hereafter we shall be known as the "AMERICAN EQUAL RIGHTS a.s.sOCIATION."
Miss ANTHONY said: Our friend Mrs. Mott desires me to explain the object of this change, which she would gladly do but for a severe cold, which prevents her from making herself heard. For twenty years we have pressed the claims of woman to the right of representation in the government. The first National Woman"s Rights Convention was held in Worcester, Ma.s.s., in 1850, and each successive year conventions were held in different cities of the Free States--Worcester, Syracuse, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and New York--until the rebellion. Since then, till now, we have held no conventions. Up to this hour, we have looked to State action only for the recognition of our rights; but now, by the results of the war, the whole question of suffrage reverts back to Congress and the U. S. Const.i.tution. The duty of Congress at this moment is to declare what shall be the basis of representation in a republican form of government. There is, there can be, but one true basis; and that is that taxation must give representation; hence our demand must now go beyond woman--it must extend to the farthest bound of the principle of the "consent of the governed," as the only authorized or just government. We, therefore, wish to broaden our Woman"s Rights platform, and make it in _name_--what it ever has been in _spirit_--a Human Rights platform. It has already been stated that we have pet.i.tioned Congress the past winter to so amend the Const.i.tution as to prohibit disfranchis.e.m.e.nt on account of s.e.x.
We were roused to this work by the several propositions to prohibit negro disfranchis.e.m.e.nt in the rebel States, which at the same time put up a new bar against the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women.
As women we can no longer _seem_ to claim for ourselves what we do not for others--nor can we work in two separate movements to get the ballot for the two disfranchised cla.s.ses--the negro and woman--since to do so must be at double cost of time, energy, and money.
New York is to hold a Const.i.tutional Convention the coming year.
We want to make a thorough canva.s.s of the entire State, with lectures, tracts, and pet.i.tions, and, if possible, create a public sentiment that shall send genuine Democrats and Republicans to that Convention who shall strike out from our Const.i.tution the two adjectives "_white male_," giving to every citizen, over twenty-one, the right to vote, and thus make the Empire State the first example of a true republican form of government. And what we propose to do in New York, the coming eighteen months, we hope to do in every other State so soon as we can get the men, and the women, and the money, to go forward with the work. Therefore, that we may henceforth concentrate all our forces for the practical application of our one grand, distinctive, national idea--UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE--I hope we will unanimously adopt the resolution before us, thus resolving this Eleventh National Woman"s Rights Convention into the "AMERICAN EQUAL RIGHTS a.s.sOCIATION."
The Resolution was unanimously adopted.
STEPHEN S. FOSTER said: I wish to suggest that it will be necessary, first, to adopt a form of Const.i.tution, and that it is a very important question. Upon it will depend much of the success of our movement. We have been deeply thrilled by the eloquence of our friend, Mr. Beecher. We have all felt that his utterances were the essential truth of G.o.d; and the bright picture he drew before us is a possibility, if we do our duty.
But this state of things will never be realized by us, unless it is from a united, persevering effort, giving a new impetus to the Woman"s Rights movement. I think it necessary that we should have a more perfect organization than we can prepare this morning, at this late hour, and I therefore move that we adjourn to meet in the vestry this afternoon at four o"clock, to perfect an organization, and take such further measures for the prosecution of our cause as may then and there be deemed expedient. (The motion was carried.)
A large audience a.s.sembled in the Lecture-room, at four o"clock. Susan B. Anthony took the Chair and said, the first thing, in order to complete the new organization, would be to fix upon a form of Const.i.tution. Parker Pillsbury, from the Business Committee, reported one which was considered article by article, and adopted. There was an interesting discussion relative to the necessity of a preamble, in which the majority sympathized with LUCRETIA MOTT, who expressed herself specially desirous that there should be one, and that it should state the fact that this new organization was the outgrowth of the Woman"s Rights movement. Mrs. Stanton gave her idea of what the preamble should be; and Mrs. Mott moved that Mrs. Stanton write out her thought, and that it be accepted as the preamble of the Const.i.tution.[65] The motion was adopted. Miss Anthony proposed a list of names as officers[66] of the a.s.sociation. Mrs. Stanton thanked the Convention for the honor proposed, to make her President, but said she should prefer to see Lucretia Mott in that office; that thus that office might ever be held sacred in the memory that it had first been filled by one so loved and honored by all. "I shall be happy as Vice-President to relieve my dear friend of the arduous duties of her office, if she will but give us the blessing of her name as President." Mrs. Stanton then moved that Mrs. Mott be the President, which was seconded by many voices, and carried by a unanimous vote.
Mrs. Mott, escorted to the Chair by Stephen S. Foster, remarked that her age and feebleness unfitted her for any public duties, but she rejoiced in the inauguration of a movement broad enough to cover cla.s.s, color, and s.e.x, and would be happy to give her name and influence, if thus she might encourage the young and strong to carry on the good work. On motion of Theodore Tilton, Mrs. Stanton was made first Vice-President. The rest of the names were approved.
Mrs. STANTON said, It had been the desire of her heart to see the Anti-Slavery and Woman"s Rights organizations merged into an Equal Rights a.s.sociation, as the two questions were now one. With emanc.i.p.ation, all that the black man asks is the right of suffrage. With the special legislation of the last twenty years, all that woman asks is the right of suffrage. Hence it seems an unnecessary expenditure of force and substance for the same men and women to meet in convention on Tuesday to discuss the right of one cla.s.s to the ballot, and on Thursday to discuss the right of another cla.s.s to the same. Has not the time come, Mrs.
President, to bury the black man and the woman in the citizen, and our two organizations in the broader work of reconstruction?
They who have been trained in the school of anti-slavery; they who, for the last thirty years, have discussed the whole question of human rights, which involves every other question of trade, commerce, finance, political economy, jurisprudence, morals and religion, are the true statesmen for the new republic--the best enunciators of our future policy of justice and equality. Any work short of this is narrow and partial and fails to meet the requirements of the hour. What is so plain to me, may, I trust, be so to all before the lapse of many months, that all who have worked together thus far, may still stand side by side in this crisis of our nation"s history.
JAMES MOTT said, he rejoiced that the women had seen fit to re-organize their movement into one for equal rights to all, that he felt the time had come to broaden our work. He felt the highest good of the nation demanded the recognition of woman as a citizen. We could have no true government until all the people gave their consent to the laws that govern them.
STEPHEN S. FOSTER said, Many seemed to think that the one question for this hour was negro suffrage. The question for every man and woman, he thought, was the true basis of the reconstruction of our government, not the rights of woman, or the negro, but the rights of all men and women. Suffrage for woman was even a more vital question than for the negro; for in giving the ballot to the black man, we bring no new element into the national life--simply another cla.s.s of men. And for one, he could not ask woman to go up and down the length and breadth of the land demanding the political recognition of any cla.s.s of disfranchised citizens, while her own rights are ignored. Thank G.o.d, the human family are so linked together, that no one man can ever enjoy life, liberty, or happiness, so long as the humblest being is crippled in a single right. I have demanded the freedom of the slave the last thirty years, because he was a human being, and I now demand suffrage for the negro because he is a human being, and for the same reason I demand the ballot for woman.
Therefore, our demand for this hour is equal suffrage to all disfranchised cla.s.ses, for the one and the same reason--they are all human beings.
MARTHA C. WRIGHT said: Some one had remarked that we wished to merge ourselves into an Equal Rights a.s.sociation to get rid of the odious name of Woman"s Rights. This she repudiated as unworthy and untrue. Every good cause had been odious some time, even the name Christian has had its odium in all nations. We desire the change, because we feel that at this hour our highest claims are as citizens, and not as women. I for one have always gloried in the name of Woman"s Rights, and pitied those of my s.e.x who ign.o.bly declared they had all the rights they wanted. We take the new name for the broader work because we see it is no longer woman"s province to be merely a humble pet.i.tioner for redress of grievances, but that she must now enter into the fullness of her mission, that of helping to make the laws, and administer justice.
Aaron M. Powell presented the following resolution:
_Resolved_, That in view of the Const.i.tutional Convention to be held in the State of New York the coming year, it is the duty of this a.s.sociation to demand such an amendment of the Const.i.tution as shall secure equal rights to all citizens, without distinction of color, s.e.x, or race.
Miss Anthony seconded the resolution, and urged the importance of making a thorough canva.s.s of the State with lectures, tracts, and pet.i.tions.[67] Mr. Powell, Mrs. Gage, and others, advocated the concentration of all the energies of the a.s.sociation for the coming year on the State of New York; after which the resolution was adopted.
PARKER PILLSBURY: Perhaps we ourselves do not appreciate the magnitude of the enterprise we are here to inaugurate. If successful, we close to-day one epoch in human history, and enter on another of results more millennial than have been seen before.
We give now a new definition to the word Liberty. We clothe our divinity with new honors. The ancients worshiped in her temple, but to them all, even the devoutest, she was ever an "Unknown G.o.d." In all ages, men sing her praises, but know not her law.
Our revolutionary fathers were blind as others--blinder than many others. They declared all men free and equal. They fought long and valiantly for their evangel, baptizing it in the blood of many battles, came home triumphant, and then constructed a despotism which their own immortal Jefferson declared was fraught with more woes in one hour, to myriads of its citizens, than would be endured in whole ages of the worst they themselves had ever known! That government they named a Republic. Under it we held millions of slaves, and were providing to hold many millions more, when G.o.d sent a thunderbolt and dashed it in pieces before our eyes and gave our slaves their freedom. Now our wise men and counselors, our statesmen and sages, are seeking how the government and Union may be reconstructed. But they are laying again false foundations. Of three immense cla.s.ses, they proscribe two and provide for one; and that one perhaps a minority of the whole. Half our people are degraded for their s.e.x; one-sixth for the color of their skin. And this is the republican and democratic definition of freedom. The ruling cla.s.s boasts two qualities, in virtue of which it claims the right to rule all others. It is male, not female--white, not colored. For neither of these surely is it responsible. For being women and colored, the proscribed cla.s.ses are no more responsible. A more cruel, unrighteous, unjust distinction was never made under heaven. By it we are driven into this new revolution; a revolution which is to eclipse all that have gone before, as far as the glories of Calvary outshone the shadows and terrors of Sinai. Even the Anti-Slavery Society can only demand equality for the _male_ half of mankind. And the Woman"s Rights movement contemplated only _woman_ in its demand. But with us liberty means freedom, equality, and fraternity, irrespective of s.e.x or complexion. It is a gospel that was unknown to the ancients; hidden even from the wise and prudent among our revolutionary fathers.
Revolutionary _mothers_ we seem never to have had. As in Eden, "Adam was first found, then Eve," so in our revolution; but Eve has come to-day, demanding her portion of the equal inheritance, a mystery, a wonder, a "_new thing under the sun_," the declaration of King Solomon to the contrary notwithstanding. And here and to-day we lay new foundations. For the first time, law and liberty are to be founded in nature and the government of the moral universe. For the first time is it demanded that JUSTICE be made our chief corner-stone. The ancient republics, not thus underpinned, fell. Our old foundations, too, are fallen. In G.o.d"s wisdom, not in man"s foolishness, let us henceforth build. And the work of our hands, feeble as we seem to-day, shall survive all the present kingdoms and dominions of the world.
Miss ANTHONY remarked that Theodore Tilton was in the house, and had not yet spoken. She would like to hear his opinion.
Mr. TILTON replied that of course Miss Anthony was speaking in pleasantry when she thus ingeniously pretended not to know his opinion. This pretense was only a piece of strategy to compel him to make a speech. Both she and he had lately been co-workers in a local a.s.sociation for just such a purpose as to-day"s enterprise meditated--"The New York Equal Rights a.s.sociation," of which he had had the honor to be president, and Miss Anthony to be secretary--an a.s.sociation which both its secretary and its president were only too glad to see superseded by a larger and more general movement. The apple tree bears more blossoms which fall off than come to fruit. Our local a.s.sociation was the necessary first blossom which had to be blown away by the wind.
No--he would rather say it was a blossom which had ripened to-day into golden fruit. And now, said he, in this consecrated house, at this sunset hour, amid these falling shadows, with a president in the chair whose well-spent life has been crowned with every virtue, let us make a covenant with each other such as was made by the original members of the American Anti-Slavery Society--a mutual pledge of diligent and earnest labor, not for the abolition of chattel slavery, but for the political rights of all cla.s.ses, without regard to color or s.e.x. Are we only a handful?
We are more than formed the Anti-Slavery Society--which grew into a force that shook the nation. Who knows but that to-night we are laying the corner-stone of an equally grand movement? Let us, therefore, catch at this moment the cheering pretoken of the prophecy that declares, "At evening time there shall be light!"
A motion was made to adjourn, when the President, Lucretia Mott, made a few closing remarks, showing that all great achievements in the progress of the race must be slow, and were ever wrought out by the few, in isolation and ridicule--but, said she, let us remember in our trials and discouragements, that if our lives are true, we walk with angels--the great and good who have gone before us, and G.o.d is our Father. As she uttered her few parting words of benediction, the fading sunlight through the stained windows, fell upon her pure face, a celestial glory seemed about her, and a sweet and peaceful influence pervaded every heart. And all responded to Theodore Tilton when he said, "this closing meeting of the Convention was one of the most beautiful, delightful, and memorable which any of its partic.i.p.ants ever enjoyed."
The Convention adjourned to meet in Boston May 31, 1866, where a large, enthusiastic meeting was held, of which we find the following report by Charles K. Whipple.
_From the National Anti-Slavery Standard of June 9, 1866._
The meeting next in interest as in time, among the crowded a.s.semblies of Anniversary week, was that of the Equal Rights a.s.sociation, called and managed by those intelligent and excellent women who have for years labored in behalf of Woman"s Rights. A large portion of the community have been accustomed to sneer at these ladies as self-seeking and fanatical. The new position they have taken shows, on the contrary, the largeness of their views, the breadth of their sympathy, and the practical good sense which govern their operations. Their proceedings show their full appreciation of the fact that the rights of men and the rights of women must stand or fall together.
Mrs. Dall called the meeting to order, and introduced as its president, Martha C. Wright, of Auburn, N. Y., in the absence of Lucretia Mott, the president of the a.s.sociation. Mrs. Wright made some well-chosen introductory remarks; Miss Susan B. Anthony read letters of friendly greeting from Frederick Dougla.s.s and William Lloyd Garrison, and then a very admirable report was read by Mrs.
Dall, summing up the advance made in the woman"s cause the past year.... The freedom of the platform was an admirable feature of this Convention. Early in the proceedings it was announced that any member of the audience, male or female, was ent.i.tled to speak on the topics under debate, and would be made welcome. Among those who addressed the Convention were Parker Pillsbury, Henry C. Wright, Aaron M. Powell, Dr. Sarah Young, Rev. Olympia Brown (minister of a church at Weymouth), Susan B. Anthony, Stephen S.
Foster, Mr. Tooker, Ira Stewart, Charles C. Burleigh, Wendell Phillips, Frances Ellen Harper, Anna E. d.i.c.kinson. The mention of these names is enough to indicate that there was abundance of good speaking. No time was lost, and the hours of three sessions were pleasantly and profitably filled.
Mr. Pillsbury said the word "male," as a restriction upon the action of women, is unknown to the Federal Const.i.tution, as well as the word "black," and that its introduction into that doc.u.ment should be resisted in the most strenuous manner, since we can never have a true democracy while the work of government is monopolized by a privileged cla.s.s.... Wendell Phillips, admitting that the suffrage is the great question of the hour, thought, nevertheless, that in view of the peculiar circ.u.mstances of the negro"s position, his claim to this right might fairly be considered to have precedence.... This hour, then, is preeminently the property of the negro. Nevertheless, said Mr.
Phillips, I willingly stand here to plead the woman"s cause, because the Republican party are seeking to carry their purpose by newly introducing the word "male" into the Const.i.tution. To prevent such a corruption of the National Const.i.tution, as well as for the general welfare of the community, male and female, I wish to excite interest everywhere in the maintenance of woman"s right to vote. This woman"s meeting was well conducted, and met with success in every way.....
FRANCES D. GAGE, in a letter to the _National Anti-Slavery Standard_, May 26, 1866, speaking of her attendance of the anniversary meetings in New York, said: "If the Anti-Slavery work has fallen somewhat behind our hope, that of the Woman"s Rights movement has far outstripped our most sanguine expectations. When the war-cry was heard in 1861, the advance-guard of the Woman"s Rights party cried "halt!" And for five years we have stood waiting while the grand drama of the Rebellion was pa.s.sing. Not as idle spectators, but as the busiest and most unwearied actors on the boards. We have, as our manly men a.s.sert, fought half the battle, and helped to win the victory.
"Wendell Phillips said, "Women made this war!" By the same process of reasoning women may claim that "they made the peace,"
that "they broke the chains of the slave, and redeemed the land from its most direful curse." Be this true or otherwise, one fact is patent to every mind--woman to-day is an acknowledged power!
And when we met at the Church of the Puritans last week, we found Woman"s Rights filling its halls and galleries as never before; with a Beecher and a Tilton to defend our cause, but not one sneerer or opposer to open his or her lips. Who now will dare call us "infidels," since Bishop Simpson, Henry Ward Beecher, and Dr. Tyng champion our cause, and proclaim it "woman"s _duty_ to vote for the good of humanity"? Who will now dare sneer while the leading minds of Europe--among them Ruskin, John Stuart Mill, Mazzini, Victor Hugo--must share the odium with those hitherto called "strong-minded?"
"It was with pain that I heard Wendell Phillips say on our platform, "Albany can not help you; your throne is the world of fashion!"--meaning women. If we are given over to fashion, frivolity, and vice, does it follow that rights and privileges, duties and responsibilities will not help us? If just governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, and taxation without representation is tyranny, then Albany can help us in just so much as a good and just government will help the people who live under its rules and laws. No one would at this day, if a friend to the negro, say to him, "A vote can not help you!" Then why say it to women?