Samantha among the Brethren — Volume 7Holley, Marietta
General
Samantha among the Brethren — Volume 7
Holley, Marietta
Methodism -- Humor; Women in church work -- Methodist church -- Humor; Women's rights -- Humor
It is at once a Congress, if you please, to enact law, and a supreme
court to interpret law. Now, then, in admitting women to our General
Conference, we are simply construing the Constitution, and not changing
the Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States gives decisions
on the construing of the Constitution, and who ever heard of a decision
of the Supreme Court being sent down to be ratified by the State
Legislatures? The Supreme Court of the United States construes the
Constitution, without any reference to the State Legislatures, and so
we construe law without any reference to the Annual Conferences. If we
touch the law inside of the Restrictive Rules, we must go down to the
Annual Conferences. Outside we are free to legislate as we may.
What is the Constitution for? The Constitution is designed simply to
limit the powers of the Legislature. In my own State of Ohio, for
illustration, we have an article in our Constitution that forbids our
Legislature to license the liquor traffic, but our legislators give a
license under the guise of taxing, but they cannot give us a license
law in form. The Constitution prevents it. There are States that have
Constitutions that have no word to say about the liquor traffic at all,
while they may either tax, license, or prohibit.
This is a fact that is well settled, that the Constitution is a
limitation of legislative power, and where there is no such limitation
there is no restriction.
ADDRESS OF REV. DR. ALFRED WHEELER.
Mr. President, it will be well for us, so far as we have progressed in
this discussion, to see how near and how far we agree. It is admitted by
the friends of the report, or by the committee, that this is a question
of law, and to be decided exclusively upon principles of law. So far as
those who are opposed to the report have spoken, they conceive, as I
understand it, that the position taken by the committee is taken by
those who are advocating its adoption. Then we are agreed that it is not
a matter of sentiment, it is not a matter of chivalry. There is no place
for knighthood, or any of its laws, or any other of the principles that
dominated the contests of the knights of old. If it were a matter of
knighthood there is not a man on this floor that would deem it necessary
to bring a lance into this body. All would be peace and quiet.
There are none that would hail with more joy and gladness the women of
the Church to a seat in this body than those of us who now, under the
circumstances, oppose their coming in.
It is not either a matter of progressive legislation regarding the
franchise of colored men, or of anybody else in the country. It is a
question of law, Methodist law, and Methodist law alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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