ugh
unfair, can be met; as with freedom must come the repeal of statute laws
that deny schools and wages to the negro, and time will make him a
voter. But color and sex! Neither time nor statutes can make black,
white, or woman, man! You assume to be the representatives of 15,000,000
women--American citizens--who already possess every attainable
qualification for the ballot. Women read and write, hold many offices
under government, pay taxes and suffer the penalties of crime, and yet
are denied individual representation.

For twenty years we have labored to bring the statute-laws of the
several States into harmony with the broad principles of the
Constitution, and have been so far successful that in many of them
little remains to be done except to secure the right of suffrage. Hence,
our prompt protest against the propositions before Congress to introduce
the word "male" into the Federal Constitution, which, if successful,
would sanction all State action in withholding the ballot from woman. As
the only way in which disfranchised citizens can appear before you, we
availed ourselves of the sacred right of petition; and, as our
representatives, it was your duty to give those petitions a respectful
reading and a serious consideration. How a Republican Senate failed in
that duty, is already inscribed on the page of history. Some tell us it
is not judicious to press the claims of women now; that this is not the
time. Time? When you propose legislation so fatal to the best interests
of woman and the nation, shall we be silent until after the deed is
done? No! As we love justice, we must resist tyranny. As we honor the
position of American senator, we must appeal from the politician to the
man.

With man, woman shared the dangers of the Mayflower on a stormy sea, the
dreary landing on Plymouth Rock, the rigors of New England winters and
the privations of a seven years' war. With him she bravely threw off the
British yoke, felt every pulsation of his heart for freedom, and
inspired the glowing eloquence which maintained it through the century.
With you, we have just passed through the agony and death, the
resurrection and triumph of another revolution, doing all in our power
to mitigate its horrors and gild its glories. And now, think you, we
have no souls to fire, no brains to weigh your arguments; that, after
education such as this, we can stand silent witnesses while you sell our
birthright of liberty to save from a timely