of the people of said
State) as will enable the women of Nebraska to vote at said
election for the adoption or rejection of the same.

_Resolved_, Further, that the Secretary of State is hereby
instructed to present a copy of this resolution to said
convention as soon as the same shall be convened.

Mr. Porter moved the adoption of the report, which was
carried by a vote of 19 to 16.[461] In the Senate, March 22,
E. C. Cunningham offered the following amendment to the bill
providing for calling a constitutional convention:

That the electors of the State be and are hereby authorized
and recommended to vote for and against female suffrage at
the election for members of the constitutional convention.
Provided, That at such election all women above the age of
21 years, possessing the qualifications required of male
electors are hereby authorized and requested to vote upon
said proposition, and for the purpose of receiving their
votes a separate polling place shall be provided.

The amendment was lost by a vote of 6 to 6.[462]

In accordance with the memorial of the legislature, the
constitutional convention that met in the following summer by a
vote of 30 to 13[463] submitted a clause relative to the right of
suffrage. The constitution itself was rejected by the voters; and
on this clause the ballot stood, for, 3,502; against, 12,676. Had
it been carried at the polls, it would only have conferred upon
the legislature the right to submit amendments, and it was
therefore no special object to the adherents of impartial
suffrage to make efforts for its adoption, while the fact that it
was the outgrowth of the discussion of that principle brought
upon it all the opposition that a clause actually conferring the
ballot would have insured. The right of woman to the elective
franchise was championed by the ablest men in the convention.
Night after night the question was argued _pro_ and _con_.
Petitions from Lincoln and Omaha were numerously presented. The
galleries were filled with women eagerly watching the result. The
proposition finally adopted did not touch the point at issue, but
was accepted as all that could be obtained on that occasion. As
the con