The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1866-04-04
Female Suffrage.

Cemale SunreScs
The inveterate wag on the local Of the Des
Moines Register thus displays his "taiens" On
the female suffrage question. IT'S meant for
irony, bu. there's a doal of truth in it after
ALL While the union is rocked to its centre
to secure negro suffrage, we do not see why
those who rocked the cradles Of our eminent
statesmen, soldiers, divines and scholars, shou
not have something to say about pnblic affairs
particularly is this the case when the ladies
are understood to be on all reasonable oeca
sions, desirous Of speaking! If the women of
Iowa vote, the local of the Register will be our
next Governor!
The great question before the American
people is as follows: "Shall women be per-
mitted to exercise the right Of voters? Find
ing much logical difficulty ih the way Of prov.
ing a negative, we take the affirmative Of the
above proposition, and proceed herewith to
pile up mountain Of argument. Therefore.
Firstly, Fellow citizens, we take it upon
ourself to prove that al Of good which this
country possesses, or ever will possess. down
to the end of the last ,udispensatiOn is attribu.
table to women. N1man but misogynist
and q fool will doubt the truth of this decara.
ton. As we rise to the dignity Of the theme,
permit US to ask where would have been your
Washingtons, your Jetfersons, your w Webstsrs,
Clays and LiRcolns, if it had not been for wO.
men? This is leading question, and we de
sire an immediate response. None Of those
great men, whose comprehensive minds gave
form and vigOr and permanence to the legisla.
ton Of the country, would have kicked their
way into general society from realm of nom
| entity, if it had not been fashionable for wo.
men to become wives and mothers! An ex.
pansion of this idea will prove to the satisiac
ton of our readers that, but for the agency Of
women, America would now be without rail.
read or steamboat or clothes wringer, or pat
ent rake, without telegraphs or sewing ma.
chimes, without cities or civilization, and with
out printing presses or pretty babies! And yet
there are many persons SO small of intellect
and large of prejudice and ignorance, as to
oppose the policy Of Female Suffrage!
Secondly, Fellow citizens, 1t is claimed by
! the opponents of Female Suffrage that wo.
men will be inclined to vote in accordance
with the opinions and convictions of their hus.
bands. It's no such tLing! Women are inds.
pendent thinkers, Iu fact their independence
is supposed to approach sclfwil. In other
words they are inclined to have their own way,
and they riH have it, as a general thing. or
send the fragments of domestic establishments
crashing through the kitchen windows! Some
of the meanest cOpperheads in this city have
republican wives; and the country would be
better of if the copperhead husbands we're
disiranchised and their wives changed into vo.
tiers. The mother of Fred. Douglass, if alive,
would make a better president than Andy
Johnson; and We wnnld ha pleased to see
feminine Ethiopia and masculine Tennessee
change places at the White House for the ne II
thrpp Z ga il trno hat nnhhs "a, q
lican while his wife is coppeshead: but her
political perversity may be set down as the
only exception to a general rule Of which we
have any knowledge; and her very copper
headism sustains the declaration that women
are in the habit Of believing as they please,
independent of any dictation from their hus.
b .Rds.
Thirdly, Fellow citizens, barbarism degrades
women into shameful inferiority. 1t makes
her drudge and slave. An Indian with
painted nose and a feathery landscape on top
of his head, denies to his wife the divinity of
q soul, and makes her hoe corn and carry her
pappooses in a swinging ambulance just below
the back of her neck. The barbarism which
reduces woman TO q vassal is akin to that in
tolerance which. in this country, cuts her off
from the immunities of the ballot-box Civil.
ization, as it progresses towards refinement,
constantly elevates women; and when it reach
es the point of perfection will doubtless reeog.
nze the absolute political equality oi the sex
eS.
FOurthly, Fellow sisters. great in suffering
if not in suffrage, our opinion is you ought to
vote. If Queen Elizabeth, or Queen Anne
or Queen Isabella, or Queen Victoria, were
competent to rule great nations, you are com
petent to vote in this great republic! Your
sex has adorned every department Of litera
ture. 1t has contributed to the dramatic glory
Of England and America. 1t has discussed
politics with the Caesars of Rome, philosophy
with Socrates, poetry with Milton and Byron,
criticism with Johnson and Macaulay, theology
with John Wesley and President Dwight,
mathematics with Sir Isaac Newton, astrono.
my with tho Ptolemies Of Egypt, and defend
ed christianity against the infdels Of America
and the atheists of France! Your sisters were
Sgourney, Barbaud, Hemans, and the mothers
Of Washington. Shakespeare and Jesus Christ!
| Yet you are not allowed to vote in what is
called q Christian republic. A spade or a mat
took from the boss Of Ireland, is permitted to
stand up and vote against its adopted country
in time of war, while the mothers Of Generals
Grant, Sherman and sheridan, if living, must
not be trusted with the dignities and proprie.
ties Of the ballot.box! Shame, where is thy
blush! Ignorance in pantaloons, Bigotry in
Boots, Vice in coat and vest. and Treason in
full masculine apparel, are invested with po
litical sovereignty, while the women of this
country, whose delicate hands have wrought
banners of the free. and placed them in the
hsrds Of fathers, husbands and sons, and then
prayed for "the coming Of the glory Of the
Lord" in the restoration of bleeding govern
ment. are rudely thrust aside from all partici
patton in the franchise of true freedom,
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