ublican leaders that the
officers of the National Association felt justified in giving their
influence to this party. They were the more willing to do this as
General Grant, the nominee, had been the first President to appoint
women postmasters and was known to be friendly to their claim for equal
opportunities, and as Henry Wilson, candidate for Vice-President, was
an avowed advocate of woman suffrage. Therefore, Miss Anthony,
president, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, chairman of the executive
committee, on July 19 sent out a ringing address which began:

Women of the United States, the hour for political action has come.
For the first time in the history of our country, woman has been
recognized in the platform of a large and dominant party.
Philadelphia has spoken and woman is no longer ignored. She is now
officially recognized as a part of the body politic.... We are told
that the plank does not say much, that in fact it is only a
"splinter;" and our Liberal friends warn us not to rely upon it as
a promise of the ballot to women. What it is, we know even better
than others. We recognize its meagerness; we see in it the timidity
of politicians; but beyond and through all, we see a promise of the
future. It is the thin side of the entering wedge which shall break
woman's slavery in pieces and make us at last a nation truly
free--a nation in which the caste of sex shall fall down by the
caste of color, and humanity alone be the criterion of all human
rights. The Republican has been the party of ideas; of progress.
Under its leadership, the nation came safely through the fiery
ordeal of the rebellion; under it slavery was destroyed; under it
manhood suffrage was established. The women of the country have
long looked to it in hope, and not in vain; for today we are
launched by it into the political arena, and the Republican party
must hereafter fight our battles for us. This great, this
progressive party, having taken the initiative step, will never go
back on its record.

In July Miss Anthony, continuing the correspondence with Mr. Blackwell,
wrote:

Letters are pouring in upon me because of my announcement that I
shall work for the Republican party, second only in numbers and
regret to those of 1868--because of my accepting Train's words,
works and cash, given me to push on the cause of woman suffrage as
best I