The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-04-19
cLE,rENcE 5. LoZIER.

AND ELECTIONS or THE UNITED sTATEs sES-
ATE, JANUAEY II And d, lsls-
CLEMENCE s. LOZIER.
Clemence =. Lozier, NJ. D., President
of the National Woman Suffrage Asso-
citation, addressed the committee as fol-
lows
Gentlemen and Senator's Of orr Coun-
frV.-Permit Us to thank you for this
privilege, knowing, as we do, that you
have it largely in your power to grant
US the relief we ask. / ask permission,
in the beginning, to read an extract
from a recent letter received from Victor
Hugo, which reads as follows:
"Our Unbalanced society seems as if.
It would take from woman all that ma
ture bad endowed her with. In our
codes there Is something to recast. It
is what / call the woman law. Man
has had bis law; be has made il for
himself Woman has only the law Of
man. She, by this law, is civilly a
minor and morally slave. Her educa-
tion is imbued with this two-fold char
acter Of inferiOrity. Hence many suf-
ferings to her which man must justly
share. There must be reform here, and
it will be to the benefit Of civilization,
truth, and light"
By an expensive war, both in blood
and treasure, in which woman suffered
and labored, and from which we are not
recovered, and by the assassination Of
our martyr President, this country has
painfully demonstrated the fact that
t-preservation is the first law of ma
ti0ns. As women become more gener-
ally enlightened, we justly criticise the
laws that govern Us, aud we cOmpre-
bend that self-preservatiOn is the first
law Of individuals, as well as of nations.
IL Is conceded that the best government
is that which encourages self-gOvern-
meut, and the pivot on which this
whole teaching turns is the ballot For
the personal representation which the
ballot gives, men are ever ready TO
pledge their fortunes, their lives, and
their sacred honor, and women who
would do less are deplorably ignorant
OF wanting in moral courage. For this
principle of personal representation" /"
mothers, as well as fathers, of the
American Revolution suffered seven
long years Of war.
To-day all thinking women Of this
republic feel keenly their degradation
in consequence of the deprivation Of the
ballot. lt cannot, for one moment, be
supposed that the word linen" I'm the
Declaration Of Independence stands for
one sex only, and not as a generic term;
or that the word governed" meant only
one-half Of the people.
Gentlemen, our petitions are before
you, not from illiterate, feeble mendi-
cants, but sane, educated people-your
constituents, citizens of this nation
asking for the removal of woman's DO
litical disabilities. No class has had
more honorable claims. We are wholly
unrepresented in this government; the
only class, not guilty Of crime, taxed
without representation, governed with
out our consent; tried, punished, aud
hung without a jury e our peers.
This state Of things is a denial Of the
fundamental principles on which this
government was based, and If not soon
remedied, must surely lead to its over
throw.
Governments try themselves" )" Those
IN which women have been ignored in
council have always shown instability,
poverty, aud decay.
Special laws, or laws specially defined
Tor one particular body Of persons on
account oi race, color, or sex, or occu-
patton, Is class legislation. aud class
legislation bears the seeds of death
within ITSELF because the disfranchised
classes are held amenable to lawsrthev
have no share in makiug-laws which
touch the most vital interests Of educa-
ton, industry, and personal effort. the
security oi property life, and liberty.
MRS. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
Gentlemen Of the Committee In an
pearing before you TO ask for Sixteenth
Amendment 10 the United States Com
stitution, permit me 10 say that, with
the Hon. Charles Sumner, we believe
that our Constitution, fairly interpreted,
already secures to the humblest indi-
vidual all the rights, privileges, and
lmmunities Of American citizens. But
as statesmen differ in their iuterpreia-
tlons of Constitutional law as widely as
they ditler in their organizations, the
rights oI every class Of citizens must be
clearly defined Ia concise, unmistakable
language. All the great PRINCIPLES Of
liberty declared by the fathers gave no
protection 10 the black men of the re-
puoilc lot century, and when. with
hlguer hght and knowledge, his enan-
cipalion ana acknowledgements were pro-
..Ii " vas said that the great
t.utns set lorth IN the prolonged debates /
OF tnirly years on the individual ri7hts
OF the black man, culminatins, -
Fourteenth and Fifteenth AmeDdn,.,,,.
70 the Constitution, had no Significance
Tor woman. Hence We ask that tbis
anomalous class of beings, not racor,-
nized by the supreme powers a. ems
''persOns" or Citizens" NAV now ~
defined aud their rights declared i'm the
Constitution.
In tue adjustment of the question NJ
suffrage now before the people of tins
country for settlement, il is Of the high
estimportance that the organic law oftbe
land should be so framed and construed
as TO work injustice to none, but secure
as far as possible perfect political equal
ity among all classes Of citizens.
In determining your right and power
to legislate on this question, consider
what has been done already.
As the national Constitution declares
that call persons born or naturalized in
the United States, and subject to the