The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1854-04-11
woMEN's RIGHTS.
Report of the Select Committee of the Neto
York assembly.
In AssEMDLY- MONDAY. March 27, 1854.

with mon, TepOtt.-
That they have examined tho said petition
and have heard and considered tho suggestions
of persons who have appeared before thom on
behalf Of the petition ers. Your committee
are we'll aware that tho matters submitted to
them have boon and still are the subject oi
rdicule and jest; but they are also aware that
rdicule and jest never yot effectually put down
either truth or error; and that the develop
ment of our times and the progression of our
age is such, that many thoughts which to-day
are laughed at as wild vagaries, are Tomorrow
recorded as developed principles or embodied
in experimental facts.
| A higher power than that from which ema-
mates legislative cnactments has given forth
the mandate thai man and woman shall not be
equal; that there shall be inequalities by which
each in their own appropriate sphere shall have
precedence to the other; and each shall be su-
perior or inferior as they well or i'll act the
part assigned them. Both alike are tho sub
jects of government, equally entitled to its
| protection; and civil power must in its enact
meuts recognize this inequality. We cannot
obteratc it if we would, and legal inequalities
must follow.
! The education of woman has not been the
result of Statutes, but of civilization and
christianity: and her elevation. great as it h S
been, has only corresponded with that of man
under the same influences She owes no more
to these causes than he does. The true eleva-
ton of the sexes will always correspond. But
elevation, instead of destroying, shows more
polpubly those inherent inequalities and makes
more apparent the harmony and happiness
VIII ch the Creator designed to accomplish BY
| them.
Your committee will not attempt to pre-
scribe, or rather they will not attempt to de-
fine the province and peculiar sphere which a
power that we cannot overrule has prescribed
| for the different sexes; every well regulated
h,me and household in the land affords an
example illustrative what is woman's proper
| sphere, as nlso that Of man. Government has
its miniature rs we'll as iis foundation in the
homes of our country; and as in governments
| there must be some recognized head TO con-
troll aud direct, so there must also be a con-
trolling and directing in every smaller associa-
ton: there must be some one to act and 10 bo
acted with as the embodiment Of the persons
associated. In the formation OF governments.
tho manner in which the common interest
shall be embodied and represented is a matter
| of conventional arrangement; but in The family
an influence more potent than that of contracts
and cnnvoniionalities, and when everywhere
underies humanity, has indicated that the
husband shall ill the necessity which exists
" arise when this necessity is not answered.
The harmony of life. the real interest of both
husband and wife. and of all dependent upon
them. require it In obedience TO that re-
quircmcni and necessity, the husband is the
hcal-lhe representative of the family.
II was strongly urged upon your committee
that woman inasmuch as their properly was H.
rble to taxation. should be entitled to ronre-
scutatinn Tho member Of this House who
considers himself the rcpresentatve only Of
those whose ballots were cast for him. or even
of all the voters IN his district, has in the o.
pnion Of your committee quito too limited an
opinon of his position on this floor. In their
opinion he is the representative of tho inhabi-
'ants of his district, whether they be voters or
not. whether thev be men or women. old or
young: and hc who does not alike watch over
the interests of oil, fails in his duty and is false
to his trust.
Your committee cannot regard marriage as
a mere contract. but as something above and
Notwithstanding more binding than rec
ords, more sol mn than specialities: and the
person who reasons rs TO the relations of hus
band and wife, as upon an ordinary contract,
in 'ficir opinion, commits fatal error in the
outset: and your committee cannot recommend
any action based upon such a theory.
AS society progresses now wants are felt,
new facts and combinations are presented.
which constantly calls for more or less of adj
dition to the bldy of our laws, and often for
innovations upon customs so old that "the
memory of man runneth not to tho contrary
thereof" The marriage relation in common
with everything else. has fel, the effects of this
progress and from timo to time be tho sub
ect of legislative action. And, while yonr
committee report adversely to tho PRAYER of
the petitions referred TO Them they believe tho
time has como when certain alterations and a.
mendments are, by common consent, admitted
as proper and necessary.
Your committee recommend that the assent
Of the mother, If she be living. be made neces-
sary to the validity of any disposition which
the father may make Of her child by way Of
the appointment of guardian or of apprentice
ship Tho consent of tho wife is now neces-
sary to deed of real estate, in order TO bar
her contingent interest therein; and there are
certainly for more reasons why her consent
should be necessary to the conveyance or
transfer of her own offspring to the care, teach
ing ard control of another.
When the husband from any cause neglects
to provide for the support and education of his
family. the wife should have the right to col
lect and receive her own earnings and tho
earnings of her minor children. and apply
rhom to the support and education Of tho fam
ily FREQ from the control of the husband, or any
person claiming the same through him.
There are many other rules of law applica-
Bile to the relation of husband and wife, which
in occasional cases bear hard upon the one or
the other, but your committee do not deem it
wise that a new arrangement of our laws OF
domestic relation should be Attempted to obvi-
ate such cases they always have and always
will arise out of every subject of legal regula-
ton.
There is much Of wisdom (Which may well
be applied to this, and many other subjccts)
In tho quain, remark Of an English lawyer,
philosopher, and statesman, that at were well
that men in their innovations would follow the
example of time. which innovateth greatly but
quietly. and by degrees scarce to be perceived
II is good also in States not to try the expert
ments eccept tho necessity be urgent and the
utility evident: and well TO beware that it be
the reformation. that draweth on tho change:
and not tho desire of change that preteudeth
the reformation"
In conclusion your committee recommend
that the prayer of the petitioners ho denied;
and thav i.,avo m infroduco hill o,,rrac-