he laws; you need her for
all that is just, merciful and good in government. But above all,
women themselves need the ballot for self-protection, and as we
are by common right and the laws of God free human beings, we
demand that you no longer hold us your subjects--your political
slaves.

MRS. MARY E. HAGGART (Ind.): When Abraham Lincoln penned the
immortal emancipation proclamation he did not stop to inquire
whether every man and every woman in Southern slavery did or did
not want to be free. Whether women do or do not wish to vote does
not affect the question of their right to do so. The right of man
to the ballot is a logical deduction from the principles
enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. And singular to
say, while this inheres in all people alike, the privilege of
exercising it is withheld from women by a class who have no right
to say whether they are willing or not that women should vote.
Their right to the ballot was long ago settled beyond a quibble,
by laws and principles of justice which are superior to the codes
of men, who have usurped the power to regulate the voting
privileges of citizens. If this right be inherent and existing in
the great body of society before governments are formed, it
follows that all citizens of a republic, be they male or female,
are alike entitled to its exercise.

....Is there a man among you willing to resign his own right to
the ballot and to place his own business interests and general
welfare at the mercy of the votes of others? Would you not resent
an attempt on the part of any man, or set of men, to fix your
mental status, assign your work in life and lay out with
mathematical precision your exact sphere in the world? And yet
men undertake to adjust the limitations of the Elizabeth Cady
Stantons, the Susan B. Anthonys, the Harriet Beecher Stowes, the
Frances E. Willards, the Harriet Hosmers of the world, and
continue to talk with patronizing condescension of female
retirement, female duties and female spheres.

The question is not whether women want or do not want to vote,
but how can republican inconsistencies be wiped out, justice
universally recognized and impartially administered, and the
civil and political errors of the past effectually repaired.
Whoever admits tha