The claim of the plaintiff, who is a married woman, to be admitted to practice as an attorney…is based upon the supposed right of every person, man or woman, to engage in any lawful employment for a livelihood…
The claim that, under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which declares that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens…assumes that it is one of the privileges and immunities of women as citizens to engage in any and every profession, occupation or employment in civil life.
It certainly cannot be affirmed, as a historical fact, that this has ever been established as one of the fundamental privileges and immunities of the sex. On the contrary, the civil law, as well as nature herself, has always recognized a wide difference in the respective spheres and destinies of man and woman. Man is, or should be, woman’s protector and defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life…
The harmony [and interests of] the family…is repugnant to the idea of a woman adopting a distinct and independent career from that of her husband… [A] married woman is incapable, without her husband’s consent, of making contracts which shall be binding on her or him. This very incapacity was one circumstance which the supreme court of Illinois deemed important in rendering a married woman incompetent to perform the duties and trusts that belong to the office of an attorney…
It is true that many woman are unmarried and not affected by any of [these issues], but these are exceptions to the general rule. The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator. And the rules of civil society must be adapted to the general constitution of things, and cannot be based upon exceptional cases.
. . . We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . . The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, [in order to establish] an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to [the] world.
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to [vote].
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice . . .
Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the [vote], leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.
He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.
Now . . . we insist that [women] have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.
The question is presented in this case, whether, since the adoption of the 14th amendment, a woman, who is a citizen of the United States…has the right of suffrage…
There is no doubt that women may be citizens…sex has never been made one of the elements of citizenship in the United States. In this respect men have never had an advantage over women… The direct question is…whether all citizens are necessarily voters.
It certainly is nowhere made so in express terms. …It cannot for a moment be doubted that if it had been intended to make all citizens of the United States voters, the framers of the Constitution would not have left it to implication.
…[It] is now too late to contend that a government is not republican…because women are not made voters… If suffrage was intended to be included within its obligations, language better adapted to express that intent would have been employed.
…If the law is wrong, it ought to be changed; but the power for that is not with us… No argument as to woman’s need of suffrage can be considered. We can only act upon her rights as they exist…
To the Women of the United States:Â
Having celebrated our Centennial birthday with a National jubilee, let us now dedicate the dawn of the Second Century to securing justice to Woman.Â
For this purpose we ask you to circulate a petition to Congress, just issued by the “National Woman Suffrage Association,†asking an amendment to the United States Constitution, that shall prohibit the several states from disfranchising any of their citizens on account of Sex…Â
…We urge the women of this country to make now the same united effort for their own rights, that they did for the slaves at the south, when the 13th amendment was pending… [Then] the leading statesmen who welcomed woman’s untiring efforts to secure the black man’s freedom, frowned down the same demands when made for herself. Is not liberty as sweet to her as to him?Â
…[Making up] as we do one-half the people, bearing the burdens of one-half the National debt, equally responsible with man for the education, religion and morals of the rising generation, let us with united voice send forth a protest against the present political status of Woman…
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.Â
In Congress Assembled:Â
The undersigned, citizens of the United States, Residents of the State of Massachusetts, County of Essex, City of Salem, earnestly pray your Honorable Body to submit to the several States the following Amendment to the National Constitution, now pending in Congress (Senate Resolution No. 55, House Resolution No. 175)Â
Article 16Â
Sec. 1. The right of suffrage in the United States shall be based on citizenship, and the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state on account of sex, or for any reason not equally applicable to all citizens of the United States.Â
Sec. 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.Â
MenWomenÂ
(List of Signatures)(List of Signatures)