, 1876-09-02


men certain rights Of property and
mothers the custody of their children,
have been repealed IN States where We
supposed all was safe. Thus have our
most sacred rights been made the loot.
hall Of Legislative caprice, proving that IL
power which grants, rs II privilege whnt
hy nalure and law is a right, may with
hold the same ms penalty, when drcmng
it necessary for its own pcrprtuntion.
REPRESENTATION FOR WOMAN
has had no place in the nations thought.
since the incorporation OF the thirteen
original states, twenty.our have been
admitted to the Union, not one of which
has recognised woman's riylt OF self
government On this birthday Of our
national liberties, July 4, 1876. Colorado,
like all her elder sisters, comes into the
Union, with the invidious word "male"
in her Constitution.
UNIVERSAL MANHOOD SUFFRAGE,
by establishing an ariStocmcy OF sex, i'm
poses upon the women OF this nation ii
more absolute and cruel dcspoti>m than
monarchy; in that. women finds pol,.
ical mrster in her father, husband, broth.
er, son. The aris;ocracies of the old
world are based on birth, wealth, retne.
ment, education, nobility, brave deeds of
chivalry; i'll this nation, on sex alone !;
eXalling brute force above moral power,
vice above virtue, Ignorance above edu.
cation, and the son above the mother
who bore him.
THE JUDICIARY OF THE NATION
has proved itself but the party in pow
er, by upholding and enforcing laws
that are opposed tn the spirit and letter
Of the Constitution. When the slave
power was dominant, the Supreme Court
decided that black man was not cit
izen, because he had not the right to
vote. Such vaScilating interpretations
of constitutional law unseitlc our faith
in Judicial authority, and undermine the
liberties of the whole people.
THESE ARTICLES or IMPEACHMENT
against our rulers we now submit to the
impartial judgment of the people.
And to all these wrongs and oppres.
sions woman has not submitted in silence
and resignation. From the beginning OF
the century, when Abigail Adams. the
vile OF one President and the mother
OF another, said, 1--WE will not hold our
selves bound to obey laws in which we
have no voice or representation" until
now, womans discomfort las been stead
lily increasing, eliminating nearly thirty
years ago in simultaneous movement
among the women 0f the nation, demand
ing the right Of suffrage. In making our
Just demands, higher motive than the
pride of sex inspires us; We feel that
national safety and stability depend on
the complete recognition Of the broad
principles of our government, Woman's
degraded, helpless position is the weak
point in our institutions to. day; dis
turbing force everywhere, severing TAM
lily ties, filling our asylunis with tho deaf,
the dum', the blind, our prisons with
criminals, our cities with drunkenness
and prostitution, our homes with dis
ease and death.
1t was the boast of the founders of the
republic, that the rights for which they
contendcd, were the rights of human ua-
ture. If these rights ale ignored in the
case Of one half of the people, the nation
is surely preparing for its own downfall.
Governments try themselves. The rec.
ognition of a governing and governed
class is incompatible with the first prin.
ciples Of freedom. Woman has not been
needless spectator OF the events of this
century, nor duh listener to the grand
arguments for the equal rights of human
ity. From the earliest history of our
country, woman has shown equal devo-
tion with man to the cause of freedom,
and has stood firmly b, his side in it's
defence. Together, they have made this
country what it is. Woman's wealth,
thought and labor have cemented the
stones Of every monument man has rear
cd to liberty.