26
HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
and prevented the intervention of foreign powers, merits the condemnation of all lovers of right, and we hereby not only send to her our loving recognition and sympathy, but pledge ourselves to arouse this nation to the fact of her services.[1]
The plan of work submitted by Mrs. Gougar, chairman of the committee, was adopted.[2] This was supplemented by suggestions of the national board as to methods of organization.[3]
- ↑ For a full account of Miss Carroll's services and such congressional action as was taken, see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, pp. 3 and 863. It is the story of a national disgrace.
- ↑ Resolved, That we hold a convention in every unorganized State and Territory during the present year, as far as possible, at the capital. Resolved, That we consider the enfranchisement of the women citizens of the United States the paramount issue of the hour; therefore Resolved, That we will, by all honorable methods, oppose the election of any presidential candidate who is a known opponent to woman suffrage, and we recommend similar action on the part of our State associations in regard to State and congressional candidates; and further Resolved, That the officers of this convention shall communicate with presidential nominees of the several political parties and ascertain their position upon this question. Resolved, That all Legislatures shall be requested to memorialize Congress upon the submission of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution; this to be the duty of the vice-presidents of the States and Territories. Whereas, The National Government, through Congress and the Supreme Court, has persistently refused to protect the women of the several States and Territories in "the right of the citizen to vote;" therefore Resolved, That this association most earnestly protests against national interference to abolish the right where it has been secured by the Legislature—as, for example, the Edmunds-Tucker Bill, which proposes to disfranchise all the women of Utah, thus inflicting the most degrading penalty upon the innocent equally with the guilty, by robbing them of their most sacred right of citizenship.
- ↑ The method of organization must be governed by circumstances. In some localities it is best to call a public meeting, in others to invite the friends of the movement to a private conference. Both women and men should be members and co-operate, and the society should be organized on as broad and liberal a basis as possible. Hold conventions, picnics, teas, and occasionally have a lecture from some one who will draw a large crowd. Utilize your own talent; encourage your young women and men to speak, read essays and debate on the question. Hold public celebrations of the birthdays of eminent women, and in that way interest many who would not attend a pronounced suffrage meeting. Persons who can not be induced to attend a public meeting will often accept an invitation to a parlor conference or entertainment where woman suffrage can be made the subject of conversation. Cultured women and men, who "have given the matter no thought," can be interested through a paper presenting the life and work of such women as Margaret Fuller, Abigail Adams, Lucretia Mott, etc., or showing the rise and progress of the woman suffrage movement, giving short biographies of the leaders. Advocate suffrage through your local papers. Send them short, pithy communications, and, when possible, secure a column in each, to be edited by the society. Invite pastors of churches to select from the numerous appropriate texts in the Bible, and preach occasionally upon this subject. A strong effort should be made to circulate literature. Every society should own a copy of the Woman Question in Europe, by Theodore Stanton; of the History of Woman Suffrage, by Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and Mrs. Gage; of Mrs. Robinson's Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement; of T. W. Higginson's Common Sense for Women; of John Stuart Mill's Subjection of Women, and of Frances Power Cobbe's Duties of Women. These will furnish ammunition for arguments and debates. Suffrage leaflets should be circulated in parlors and places of business; and "pockets"
