uching
the general national interest has been left to be fought out by
individual action in the separate States....

We only ask for woman an opportunity to bring her suit in the
great court for the amendment of fundamental law. It is
impossible for any right mind to escape the impression of solemn
responsibility which attaches to our decision. Ridicule and wit
of whatever quality are here as much out of place as in the
debates upon the Declaration of Independence. We are affirming or
denying the right of petition which by all law belongs as much to
women as to men....

Let us by our action to-day indorse, if we do not initiate, a
movement which, in the development of our race, shall guarantee
liberty to all without distinction of sex, even as our glorious
Constitution already grants the suffrage to every male citizen
without distinction of color or race.

As Senator Brown was absent, Senator Cockrell objected to a
consideration of the resolution and it was postponed. The minority
report of the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage signed by these two
Senators consisted wholly of extracts from a series of anonymous
articles which had appeared in the Chicago _Tribune_, entitled
"Letters from a Chimney-Corner."

On January 25, 1887, Senator Blair again called up his resolution and
a spirited debate followed. Senators Joseph E. Brown (Ga.) and George
G. Vest (Mo.) represented the negative; Henry W. Blair (N. H.) and
Joseph N. Dolph (Ore.) the affirmative. Senator Brown opened the
discussion by presenting, word for word, the report signed by Senator
Francis M. Cockrell (Mo.) and himself in 1884. It embodied the stock
objections to woman suffrage, practically all in fact which are ever
made, and was in part as follows:[34]

Mr. President, the joint resolution introduced by my friend, the
Senator from New Hampshire, proposing an amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, conferring the right to vote
upon the women of the United States, is one of paramount
importance, as it involves great questions far-reaching in their
tendency, which seriously affect the very pillars of our social
fabric, which involve the peace and harmony of society, the unity
of the family, and much of the future success of our
Government....

I believe that the Creator intended that the sphere of the males
and f