The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-02-27
FIRST SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT COMMENCED IN IOWA
It Was in Summer of 1854 When Series of Lectures We given Throughout State by Women

III Luis StlupdlSu W NlVe Ldil
Phillips, George Thompson. a MEM
Der of the British parliament, Daniel
! O'Connell and other advocates made
earnest and eloquent pleas for their
admission, but the American and
English opponents prevailed and the
women delegates were denied the
privilege Of seats III the convention.
William Lloyd Garrison, the great
a~nti-slavery leader, thereupon refused
to take a seat in the convention.
Much bad feeling was observed in
the proceedings. 1t is told that dur
ing the discussion. the opposing
clergyman quoted freely from the
scriptures to sustain their argument,
when George Bradford. an excited ad-
vocate for the women sprang 10 his
feet and towering like a knight"
exclaimed: Prove to me, gentlemen,
that our Bible sanctions the slavery
of women-the complete s%ubjugation
Of n half of the ace to the other
and I should feel that the best
work I could do for humanity would
be to make a grand bonfire of every
Bible in the universe"
Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stan
ton and the other American women
who a travelled 5000 miles to rep
resent their constituents in a worlds
anti-slavery convention are said to
have realized tina the American ne
groes were not the only people de-
prived of rights and upon this thought
there was then and there i%naugurated
the plan of beginning a crusade upon
their return to America in behalf Of
the enfranchisement of women.
Movement Begins In Iowa.
While the germs had been spread
or the seeds sown preparatory to the
ripening of the fruit for the harvest
time, the first really active suffrage
movement began in Iowa in the sum-
mer Of 1854, when a series of lectures
were delivered by Frances Dana Gage
of Ohio in the southwestern part Of
Iowa. In 1855, Mrs. Amelia jerks
Bloomer, a resident Of Council Bluffs.
and a oma of rare talent, CAV sew
eraI lectures on the subject in west
ern Iowa and Nebraska. In 1868,
Martha H. Brinkerhoff. said to have
been a talented and eloquent young
woman, awakened a deep interest in
northwestern Iowa as the pioneer ad-
vocate of woman's rights, organizing
many societies. In 186S-9-70, Annie
c.. Slavery of Des Moines, delivered
popular lectures on the subject in
various Iowa localities. adding to the
growth Of the movement.
On April II, 1869, we are told, the
first organization vas made at Du
buque, called the Northern Woman
Suffrage association. Mary Newberry
Adams was a brilliant woman whose
pictures show intelligence and attrac-
tiyeness. She was the wife of Judge
Austin Adams of the Iowa supreme
court and was one Of the early lead
ers Of the movement. Five Of her an
cestors were governors of New Eng
land states, and an elder sister be-
came the wife of Governor job J..
Bagley of Michigan.
June II, 1870, a state convention Of
the advocates of suffrage was
held at Mt. Pleasant and an organi-
zation formed, the Iowa Woman Suf-
frage society. The following officers
were elected: Henry O'Conner, presi-
dent; Amelia jerks Bloomer, Nettie
Sanford, Mrs. F. W. Palmer, Joseph
dents; Belle Mansfield, secretary;
Annie c. Slavery, corresponding secre-
tary; and the following executive
committee, Mary A. p. Darwin, Mat
tie Griffith, Mrs. J. l.. McCreery, Rev.
Augusta Chaplin and Charles Boards
ley. The object Of the society was
to secure suffrage for m
Resolution Passes Assembly.
At the session of the thirteenth
general assembly of Iowa convened
at Des Moines January 10, 1870, Ay-
lett r. Cotton was speaker Of the
house and Lee county was represent
ed in that body by Christian Hirsch-
Ter, David S. Bell and Patrick Glib
bons. Lieutenant Governor Madison
M. Watson presided over the senate
and e. S. McCulloch represented Lee
county in that body. A resolution in
the house was introduced by John P.
Irish, proposing to strike from the
constitution the word male from
the article on suffrage.
The resolution passed both houses
and vas approved by Governor Mer-
rill. Before the resolution could be-
come effective it must have the ap-
prevail of two consecutive general as
semblies and the votes of a majority
of electors voting at an election in
which it is submitted for approval or
rejection. John P. Irish, the legisla-
tor who proposed this resolution. wa
a native Iowan, a leading democrat
and a very able and eloquent orator,
| VINO was OICSu CdllcQ " w SSEflCe
on the stump in political campaigns
outside his native state. In 1877 he
was the democratic nominee for gov
ernor Of Iowa. He went to Califor-
MIA to reside several years ago.
The first annual meeting of the
state suffrage society was held at
Des Moines on the 10Th day of Oc-
tober, 1871, and in the absence Of the
president, Mrs. Amefia jerks Bloom
er presided. Among the principal
speawers were Mrs. Della Ruttkay.
Nellie Sanford, Ama'ia '-fnks Bloom
err, Annie c.. Slavery and Mrs. Spaul-
ding.
There is an interesting record as
happening in connection with the as
sembling Of the Fourteenth Iowa gen
eral assembly. Lieut.. Gov. Henry c.
Bulls presided over the senate. and
Lee county was represented in this
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