The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-10-27
Miss AnthOny's Speech Before the Wash
ingtOn Territory Legislature

/ lne HOUSE met at = VI anu Neto
called to order by the Speaker. a large
number of ladies present were invited
within the bar The hall and lobby
were crowded with visitors. The Com
mittee appointed to wait upon Miss An
thony and Mrs. Duniway escorted those |
ladies TO the forum, whereupon the
/ Speaker introduced the ladies to the As
sembly.
/ Miss Anthony, upon taking the stand, !
said for the first time in her life, she APP
peared as a speaker before a Legislature,
/ and this was the first time in the his
tory of our nation that n woman has
been allowed the privilege of addressing
/ the Lawmakers in session. She said
| they had done themselves honor in ae-
cOrding her the privileges of the floor. |
She appeared as the advocate of woman
suffrage under the guarantees of the l4th |
and 18th Amendments to the COnstitu- |
ton. Governments, she held, were in |
stitutions not to establish rights but to |
secure them to their pOssessOrs. The !
theory of our Government is embodied |
in the Declaration of Independence !
which declares that ''all men are created |
equal; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certin malienable rights"
"that to secure these rights, Govern
ments were instituted among men, de- !
irving their Just powers from the con-
sent of the governed" And it further
declares that: "Whenever any form of
government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the right of the people to alter
or abolish it, and institute a new gov
ernment, laying its foundation on such
principles as shall secure their safety
and happiness" How can this be done
peaceably except by giving to them the
right to vote? The idea of free govern
ment does not appertain to those not ell
franchised. The tenor of the Constitu-
tion is the same. The preamble says,
1--WE, the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect Union, es-
tablish justice" etc, establish this
Constitution" The preamble of the
Constitution of the state of New York
begins with eve, the people, i'm order
to secure the blessings of freedom etc.
and the Organic Act of Oregon, which
a few years ago was he supreme law of
this Territory as we'll, reads 1--WE, the
people of Oregon These examples are
sufficient to show that all the people
were included as the body corporate 1t
is assumed that men only We're included
from the fact that the personal pronOun
, ''he' and his has been used through the
Constitution of the United States, and
is the mode of expression in the laws
framed in accordance with ii. If this is
: so, the laws afliXing penalties and levy
ing taxes should receive the same con
structiOn, and only apply to the male
sex. She held that the pronOun included
both sexes, and the injustice of collecting
: taxes from dIsfranchised women was
acknowledged, whenever they made a
. spirited opposition to such demands
Miss Wall, of Massachusetts. and a wild
Ow lady in Wisconsin, she lately met on
the cars, refused to pay taxes after long
submission, and the tax-gatherer passed
them by without attempting to enforce
collection. She said that until the 18th
and 18th Amendments We're adopted, no
! law existed fixing the status of the cit
iZen. The l4th Amendment aflirms
that "all persons born or naturalized in
the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
, United States, and of the State wherein
4, they feside.h The only question is,
Are women citizens? The next clause
declares that mo State shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of
the United States.n Would any MEM
ber of this Assembly believe that he
held all these rights and immunities.
should he be deprived of the right Of
| voting? Webster defines citizenship to
be "a person, native or naturaliZed, who
has the privilege of exercising the cleo
tive franchise, or the qualifications
which enable him to vote for rulers, and
TO purchase and hold real estate" All
authorities agree that citizenship in
cludes the right to vote and hold office
Previous to the adoption of the 14th
Amendment, the negroes had all the
rights except voting and holding office.
, Chas. Sumner declares that there was
I nnpnGGifr~ for IL fhnf oil s4ff
sessed these rights. Judge Taney said
in substance, in the famous Dred Scott
decision, that negroes had no rights
that white men were bound to respect
His decision is to the point. He de
clined To assert that Dred Scott was one
of the people; to acknowledge this would
have been to acknowledge citizenship
civil and political. Under the act of
, Congress Of 1870 and the recent Ku Klux
, bill, If anybody estOps Il negro from vOt-
ing he is liable to the severe penalty
therein provided; and these apply with
no less force if anybody hinders or pre-
vents woman from voting. Naturali-
, zatlon does not change an alien; if he is
an lrishman he is an Irishman still; he
possesses all the rights of citizenship
except what this is designed to confer
namely, the right to vote and hold of
flee. The enfranchisement of the negro
was the result of party necessity. No
body cared for him further than this. Al
though he had the right to vote, the
question was unsettled and the result
therefore uncertain. To determine the
question, and obtain a judicial explana-
tloh OF the exact meaning of the terms
employed the 1Ah amendment was
adopted. The two amendments to-
Sether determine, unquestiOnably, who
|1aW.a = -
are citizens and who are entitled to vote.
III Is claimed that because women were
not specially mentioned il was not the
intent To include them, but she main-
tanned that under the clause "involun-
tary servitude,' "a special allusion is
made to woman. BY all mems defini-
tions Of the term, the Withholding of the
ballot and representation while taxes
are imposed, is the most abiect of SER
vitude. What's sauce for the goose is
sauce for the gander. Otis says that the
act of taxing, exercised over those NOT
represented, is servitude. Franklin
said that to be enslaved is to have Others
govern them. Paine said that the right
OF voting is the primary right unon
which all other rights are based. All
the women want of Congress or State
Legislatures is a declaratory law. ex-
planning the meaning ofthe 18th Amend
nlent. Legislatures are estopDed from
legislation to regulate the matter as
the right exists in the fullest and freest
Iorn; Even granting that this was not
So she objected to Mr.. BigeIow's bill.
because 1t submitted the matter to the
women, who were i'm a condition of ser
Vltude and incapacitated from voting
on the question. IL was hard to break