egradation. That a majority of the women of the
United States accept without protest the disabilities that grow out
of their disfranchisement, is simply an evidence of their ignorance
and cowardice, while the minority who demand a higher political
status clearly prove their superior intelligence and wisdom.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Some suggested that the women in their various towns and
cities, draped in black, should march in solemn procession, bells
slowly tolling, bearing banners with the inscriptions: "Taxation
without representation is tyranny," "No just government can be
formed without the consent of the governed," "They who have no
voice in the laws and rulers are in a condition of slavery."

Others suggested that instead of women wearing crape during the
centennial glorification, the men should sit down in sackcloth and
ashes, in humiliation of spirit, as those who repented in olden
times were wont to do. The best centennial celebration, said they,
for the men of the United States, the one to cover them with glory,
would be to extend to the women of the nation all the rights,
privileges and immunities that they themselves enjoy.

Others proposed that women should monopolize the day, have their
own celebrations, read their own declarations and protests
demanding justice, liberty and equality. The latter suggestion was
extensively adopted, and the Fourth of July, 1876, was remarkable
for the large number of women who were "the orators of the day" in
their respective localities.

[2] Letters were read from the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of
Georgia; William J. Fowler, of Rochester, N. Y.; Isabella Beecher
Hooker, of Connecticut, and Susan B. Anthony.

[3] News of the cannonade of Boston had been received the day
previous.

[4] Though thus discourteously refused to an association to secure
equality of rights for women, it was subsequently rented to "The
International Peace Association."

[5] _President_--Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Tenafly, New Jersey.

_Vice-Presidents_--Lucretia Mott, Pa.; Ernestine L. Rose, England;
Paulina Wright Davis, R. I.; Clarina I. H. Nichols, Cal.; Amelia
Bloomer, Iowa; Mathilde Franceska Anneke, Wis.; Virginia L. Minor,
Mo.; Catharine A. F. Stebbins, Mich.; Julia and Abby Smith, Conn.;
Abby P. Ela, N. H.; Mrs. W. H. H. Murray, Mass.; Ann T. Greely,
Me.; Eliza D. Stewart, Ohio; Mary Hamilton Williams, Ind.;
Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Ill.; Sarah Burger Stearns, Minn.; Ada
W. Lucas, Ne