The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-03-08
The Women Who Wanted to Vote.
woMAN's TESTIMONY To THE PRAcTBrLrr-
or WOMEN POLLING.
NEW YoRK. Nov 1871

New YORK, Nov. 1871.
To the Editor Of the Hcrald:-Well,
our votes have been refused after reg
istration. But we have demonstrated
one fact by our efforts-namely, that
women may visit the polls unattended
by father, husband or brother, with
the same security and freedom from in
suit that they do the Post Office.
Being advised that my late protracted
visit to the South mightvitiate my resi-
dent qualifications as a voter / did not
offer my own ballot, but attended the
| polls at the Second district of the Twenty
second ward with alady friend, who had
all the qualifications of residence. On
entering the small, crowded shop, the
gentlemen present made room for US to
pass to the rear of the apartment. Here
a police officer requested those standing
around the voting boxes to allow the
ladies to approach the table, which they
did at once. Here / inquired if they
would accept our votes The answer
came promptly, ave cannot accept the
votes of women / responded 0Very
WELL" and we retired without a word
I that was not respectful. Indeed, l feel
assured that officers and people, from
the sympathy they have manifested,
are ready to admit that women are citi-
zens, and as such are entitled to the
franchise, and only the declaratOry act
l of Congress is needed to convince the
most skeptical that it is Just as practical
and proper for lady to drop a vote i'm
the ballot box as to drop a letter in the
Post Office. The many abuses i'm our
government call loudly for the aid of
woman to redeem the country from the
evils inseparable from purely male adj
ministration. Give us the 'Declaratorv
Act" and we pass peacefully into the
exercise of the duties and the enjoyment
of the privileges of citizenship. Refuse
us tins, and L speak advisedly when l
say the next move will be revolution.
. injustice and oppression are ever lulled
, by fancied security. The condition of
involuntary servitude is favorable to
the cultivation of all the vices of secrecy
and deceit. As women we have been
, schOoled in hypocrisy and duplicitv nm
til our deep souls revolt against the on
preston that so compels us to belle
our sincere and earnest natures. The
most docile wife has that latent fire
! in her heart which only needs the air of
freedom to fan to a flame. MANY seem-
, ingly cOntented wives would almost risk
the salvation of their souls to make their
masters feel for one day the humiliation
T they have endured uncOmplainingly for
. years. If this is true of the favorites of
| fortune, what may be said of the great
crowd of women who rush into every
folly or are doomed to severest trial bv
; stringent laws and the oppressive Gus
toms growing out of them-laws and
customs that disfranchise them, pre-
scribe their pleasures, limit their fields
of labor and curtail their wages, all on
the plea of sex? We have, gentlemen,
very generally arrived at the knowledge
that sex is a crime punishable by law
We are deprived of citizenship, taxed
without representation, covered without
our consent, not allowed jury of our
peers, and, i'm the language of '72, we
say, at is our right, it is our duty, to
throw off such government, and to pro-
vide new guards for our future security,
and woman's heart to-day is ready to re-
echo the words of Patrick Henry, "Give
me liberty or give me DEATH" Up to
this time we have repaid your injustice
and oppression with such caricatures
and moral abortions as have made you
blush with shame. We have given
you sons and daughters, blind, deaf,
dumb, deformed and idiotic. We have
given you frail snow-drops who dis
solved at the first breath of miasma. All
those protests against oppression you
have looked upon as dispensations of
Divine Providence you will learn then
to be the legitimate fruits of male domi-
nation.
Our secret service system reaches to
every hearthstOne; our bond of union is
strong as truth; our signs and passwords
defy masculine scrutiny; our communi-
cations are independent of the printed
page.
We point you a safe passage from
fancied to real security; from partial to
complete republicanism; from Oppres-
sion OF one-half of the community to
equal rights and privileges in the pas
sage of the "Declaratory Act.n
MARY A. LELAND.