Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
We are in danger in this country of Catholic domination, not
because the Catholics are more numerous than we are, but because
the Catholic church is represented at the polls and the
Protestant church is not. The foreigners are Catholic--the
greater portion of them; the foreigners are men--the greater part
of them, and members of the Catholic church, and they work for it
and vote for it. The Protestant church is composed of women. Men
for the most part do not belong to it; they do not care much for
it except as something to interest the women of their household.
The consequence is the Protestant church is comparatively
unrepresented at the ballot-box....
I urge upon you, women, that you put suffrage first and foremost,
before every other consideration upon earth. Make it a religious
duty and work for the enfranchisement of your sex, which means
the growth and development of noble characters in your children;
for you can not educate your children well surrounded by men and
women who hold false doctrines of society, of politics, of
morals. Leave minor issues, leave your differences of opinion
about the Trinity, or the Holy Ghost, or endless misery; about
high license and low license; or Dorcas Societies and Chautauqua
Circles. Let them all go; they are of no consequence compared
with the enfranchisement of women.
Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell gave a humorous series of Suffrage Pictures
in New York, which was greatly relished by the audience. Mrs. Laura M.
Johns described Municipal Suffrage in Kansas in an enthusiastic and
interesting manner. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw then delivered her
lecture, which has since become so famous, The Fate of Republics,
tracing the rise and fall of the republics of history, which grew
because of material prosperity and failed because of moral weakness.
All were in the hands of men, and women were excluded from any
share.[73]
Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck gave an account of the recent school
election in Boston where 19,490 women voted, a much higher percentage
of those registered than of the men, and thus defeated the dangerous
attempt which had been made by the Church to interfere with the State.
Richard W. Blue, State Senator of Kansas, was called to the platform
by Mrs. Gougar as one who had greatly aided its Municipal Suffrage
Bill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account