Woman and the Republic: A Survey of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in the United States and a Discussion of the Claims and Arguments of Its Foremost AdvocatesJohnson, Helen Kendrick
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Woman and the Republic: A Survey of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in the United States and a Discussion of the Claims and Arguments of Its Foremost Advocates
Johnson, Helen Kendrick
Women -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
In Wyoming, where women have voted so many years, less restraint is
imposed on liquor-selling than in most of the other States. Divorce is
granted for any one of eleven causes, after a residence of but six months.
The age of consent was only fourteen years as late as 1890. Gambling is
legal; not only do the laws mention many games with cards as lawful, but a
statute declares: "No town, city, or municipal corporation in this
Territory shall hereafter have power to prohibit, suppress or regulate any
gaming-house or game, licensed as provided for in this chapter."
"Excusable homicide" is also defined by statute. It is allowable "when
committed by accident or misfortune, in the heat of passion or sufficient
provocation, or upon a sudden combat; provided that no undue advantage is
taken, nor any dangerous weapon used, and that the killing is not done in
a cruel or unusual manner." The laws could hardly have been worse before
women voted.
It is matter of surprise to find how generally in Western towns and States
in which woman has voted or held office, "Woman has degraded politics, and
politics has degraded woman." This is not, to my mind, proof that American
women are degenerating, but it suggests that the women who have sought
political life are not representative.
Another legal demand very early made by the Suffrage leaders was that for
the entrance of women into men's colleges. So far as the State could
control this by law, it has done so. Every educational institution that
receives State support, from the primary school to the State University,
is now open to women. Cornell University, opened in October, 1868, was
aided by a State gift of a million acres, and opened its doors to women in
April, 1872. In the West, the State Universities would have been closed
for lack of pupils, during the war, if women had not attended them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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