[47] The facts that Miss Carroll planned the campaign on the Tennessee; that Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell originated the Sanitary movement; and that those Senators most active in carrying the measure for a Freedman's Bureau through Congress, intended that Mrs. Griffing should be its official head, are known only to the few behind the scenes, facts published now on the page of history for the first time. CHAPTER XVII. CONGRESSIONAL ACTION. First petitions to Congress December, 1865, against the word "male" in the 14th Amendment--Joint resolutions before Congress--Messrs. Jenckes, Schenck, Broomall, and Stevens--Republicans protest in presenting petitions--The women seek aid of Democrats--James Brooks in the House of Representatives--Horace Greeley on the petitions--Caroline Healy Dall on Messrs. Jenckes and Schenck--The District of Columbia Suffrage bill--Senator Cowan, of Pennsylvania, moved to strike out the word "male"--A three days' debate in the Senate--The final vote nine in favor of Mr. Cowan's amendment, and thirty-seven against. Liberty victorious over slavery on the battle-field had now more powerful enemies to encounter at Washington. The slave set free; the master conquered; the South desolate; the two races standing face to face, sharing alike the sad results of war, turned with appealing looks to the General Government, as if to say, "How stand we now?" "What next?" Questions, our statesmen, beset with dangers, fears for the nation's life, of party divisions, of personal defeat, were wholly unprepared to answer. The reconstruction of the South involved the reconsideration of the fundamental principles of our Government, and the natural rights of man. The nation's heart was thrilled with prolonged debates in Congress and State Legislatures, in the pulpits and public journals, and at every fireside on these vital questions, which took final shape in three historic amendments.