The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-08-04

heaven, look you we'll to the ways of
your household, for your own women
are under servitude. America, proud
nation, with thy national ambition
towering up, where lieth thy boasted
honor; America, with thy bulwarks of
education excelled by no other nation
under the sun; with Golfers overfiowing
with wealth In reserve for the education
of thy people, think of it-millious of
dollars are used to build colleges for the
development of the arts and sciences; to
exhibit light and knowledge, which is
power, the subjugation of your women,
is in keeping with ignorance and super
stition, relic of barbarism. America,
with religious liberty safely guaranteed
by law, with thy churches, charitable
societies, and institutions of virtue and
benevolence teaching the unlimited
gospel of "peace on earth and goodwill
to men," where is thy mission field
You who look upon this protest to OBJ
ject and criticise, let me ask, is it not
shame, burning shame, that such
American history must be PACED as to-
day is being written? 1t is history that,
if not yourselves, your children will
blush to own in future years. A land
of liberty and freedom is shouted forth
with all the eloquence and power of hu-
man voices. The sound is prolonged
and carried along by the heavy artillery
that causes the very earth to tremble; it
is uttered in prayer, it is hallowed in
song, it is emblazoned on banners, mot
toes, signets, and shields. 'Tis a dis
honor to the nation that this truth must
go into record, that after a hundred
years of ceaseless toll to establish and
maintain this government on a basis of
human rights and true sovereignty,
with such requirements of wisdom and
knowledge, with such developments of
true manhood, which elements secure to
nation true greatness, that to-day we
are under the despotic rule of an aris-
tocracy of sex. o, Columbia! where is
thy boasted pride, thy vaunted liberty ?
Hearken and thou wilt hear one-half of
thy subjects pleading for self-govern-
ment.
Why such great bulwarks of educa-
tion? Why such towers of strength
Why secure such safeguards for national
peace, national prosperity, and national
greatness, with sex as basis of repre-
sentation, placing the boon of acknOwl-
edged citizenship beyond woman's
reach? Were it established upon educa-
ton, she would scale the intellectual
heights in search of it. Were it moral
ity, surely woman could secure it. Were
it age, or property rights, that could be
obtained. If it could be found in the
heights or depths, lengths or breadths
of the land, some women at least could
, secure it. But ser! Heaven pity her
e Heaven pity the nation that ignores al
= true and just acquisitions, and substi
e tutes sex as a requirement. Sex is the
: ruling power; sex makes our laws; sex
s executes them, and sex receives the su
e perior advantages of them. We are un
u der sway of sex. Social positions, se2
: religion, sex education, sex labor, anC
a sex compensation for labor. D, ye dem
r agogues of the land enjoying all tn,
rights, privileges, and immunities guar
IT anteed to all citizens, but enjoyed b!
l. you only because of your sexhood; lie
lr shame mantle your brows, you who op
l. pose woman's equality before the law
m that 'derive their just powers from tn
10 consent of the governed" You cannot
: dare not attempt to give single lOgica
D reason for this injustice, and 1 charg
ot you, preserve a semblanee of wisdom b,
l. remaining silent. This pleading 70
liberty and justice on the part of wOmel
IN is no new idea, as some suppose, n
m fungous growth, which begins and die
n in day. The desire and power of sell
to government began with Eve, in tn
We garden of Eden. Though long burie
n up by the ignorance, superstition, an
ir aristocracy of sex, yet these latent pow
of ers have lived and become more deepl
to rooted in the hearts aud heads of Amer
I'D can womanhood.
ed In our historical research through a
IlO u6Cdu0S llldJ nave Ddu0 JlllS Otl
OF tennial that is to-day being celebrated
on we have found representative wome
ne daring to demand that which God an
de nature justly entities them to, beginnin
lst a hundred years ago with Abiga
ng Adams, wife of John Adams, then
'm member of the Continental Congress
ID To him, we find petition-his wife
FL petition-addressed, asking individui
es- rights for women, and predicting a gel
eral revolution in the government if ju
MS tice was denied her. And for one hundre
for years these fires of freedom have smou
Tot dered and burned, until the volume
he waxing hot and furious, and who wan
on to extinguish it? Yea, many; "the
ny name is legion;" but who can quenc
Ter it? No man or set of men. Truth
ac- powerful, and must sooner or later pr
ed, vail; though long crushed to the cart
he and trailed in the dust, it will rise aga
IN because overruled by the great Omnip
~, tent power that kindled the fam
he Spirit of Abigail Adams, wife of oil
10 President and mother of another, cou
rs; we>calI you forth from your Puritt
l.