Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
I should have acknowledged the receipt of yours of the 1st inst.
earlier, but wished to report somewhat of progress whenever I
should write. Our prospects here are brightening. Every lady of
any worth or intelligence adopts unhesitatingly our view, and
concurs in our measures. On the 19th inst. we met and organized a
Woman's Equal Rights Union. Living in the country, where the
population is sparse, we are consequently few; but hope to make
up in zeal and energy for our lack of numbers. We breathe a
freer, if not a purer atmosphere here among the mountains, than
do the dwellers in cities,--have more independence,--are less
subject to the despotism of fashion, and are less absorbed with
dress and amusements.... A press entirely devoted to our cause
seems indispensable. If there is none such, can you tell me of
any paper that advocates our claims more warmly than the _North
Star_?[12] A lecturer in the field would be most desirable; but
how to raise funds to sustain one is the question. I never really
wished for Aladdin's lamp till now. Would to Heaven that women
could be persuaded to use the funds they acquire by their
sewing-circles and fairs, in trying to raise their own condition
above that of "infants, idiots, and lunatics," with whom our
statutes class them, instead of spending the money in decorating
their churches, or sustaining a clergy, the most of whom are
striving to rivet the chains still closer that bind, not only our
own sex, but the oppressed of every class and color.
The elective franchise is now the one object for which we must
labor; that once attained, all the rest will be easily acquired.
Moral Reform and Temperance Societies may be multiplied _ad
infinitum_, but they have about the same effect upon the evils
they seek to cure, as clipping the top of a hedge would have
toward extirpating it. Please forward me a copy of the petition
for suffrage. We will engage to do all we can, not only in our
own town, but in the adjoining ones of Richmond, East Bloomfield,
Canandaigua, and Naples. I have promises of aid from people of
influence in obtaining signatures. In the meantime we wish to
disseminate some able work upon the enfranchisement of women. We
wish to present our Assemblyman elect, whoever he may be, with
some work of this kind, and solicit his candid attention to the
subject. People are more willing to be convinced by the calm
perusal of an argument, than in a personal discussion....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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