The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2): Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty YearsHarper, Ida Husted
History
The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2): Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years
Harper, Ida Husted
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906
No more brilliant galaxy of men and women ever assembled than at this
Syracuse convention, and the great question of the rights of woman was
discussed from every conceivable standpoint. Hundreds equally able have
been held during the last half century, and these extensive quotations
have been made simply to show that fifty years ago the whole broad
platform of human rights was as clearly defined by the leading
thinkers, and in as logical, comprehensive and dignified a manner, as
it is today. There was as much opposition among the masses of both men
and women against _all_ that they advocated as exists today against
their demand for the ballot, perhaps more; yet the close of the century
finds practically all granted except the ballot; the full right to
speak in public; nearly the same educational and industrial
opportunities; in many States almost equal legal rights, and not one
State now wholly under the English common law, which everywhere
prevailed at that time. The prejudice against all these innovations is
rapidly disappearing but it still lingers in regard to the yielding of
the suffrage, except in the four States where this also has been given.
In not one instance have these concessions been made in response to the
"voice of the people," but only because of the continued agitation and
unceasing efforts of a few of the more advanced and progressive
thinkers of each generation.
[Footnote 11: The Tribune, at this time, was the only paper in New
York, and, with few exceptions, the only large newspaper in the
country, which treated the question of woman's rights in any but a
contemptuous, abusive manner.]
[Footnote 12: They may have been preceded by the Moral Reform Societies
for the Rescue of Fallen Women, which originated in New York City, and
by a few Female Anti-Slavery Societies.]
[Footnote 13: At the first Woman's Rights Convention in 1848, Mrs. Mott
and Mrs. Stanton were so opposed to having a woman for chairman that
they came near leaving the hall. Four years later Mrs. Mott is herself
the presiding officer.]
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