tual and moral dignity
by such a course; and that the effect on the whole race would therefore
be most advantageous, as the increased influence of woman in public
affairs would purify politics, and elevate the whole tone of political
life. Here we have the reason for this movement as advanced by its
advocates. These are the points on which they lay the most stress:

FIRST. The abuse of legislative power in man, by oppressing the sex.

SECONDLY. The inalienable natural right of woman to vote; and
imperatively so in a country where universal suffrage is a great
political principle.

THIRDLY. The elevation of the sex, and the purification of politics
through their influence.

Let us consider each of these points separately.

FIRST. THE ABUSE OF LEGISLATIVE POWER BY MAN IN THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN.

In some countries of Europe much of wrong is still done to woman, at
the present day, by old laws owing their existence to a past state of
things, and which have not yet been repealed or modified to suit
existing circumstances. But we are writing now to American women, and,
instead of the evils existing in the other hemisphere, we are looking
at a very different state of society. Let us confine ourselves,
therefore, to the subject as it affects ourselves.

To go into all the details which might be drawn together from the
statute books of the different States of the Union bearing on this
point, and to do them full justice, would require volumes. Such a
course is not necessary. The question can be decided with truth and
justice on general principles--on generally admitted facts. We admit,
then, that in some States--perhaps in all--there may be laws in which
the natural and acquired rights of woman have not been fairly
considered; that in some cases she has needed more legal protection and
more privileges than she has yet received. But while this admission is
made, attention is at the same time demanded for a fact inseparably
connected with it; namely, the marked and generous liberality which
American men have thus far shown in the considerate care and protection
they have, as a general rule, given to the interests of women. In no
country, whether of ancient or modern times, have women had less to
complain of in their treatment by man than in America. This is no
rhetorical declamation; it is the simple statement of an undeniable
fact. It is a matter of social history. Since the days of early
colonial life to the present ho