Democratic Ideals (Brown)/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI.
THE FEDERAL SUFFRAGE ASS'N OF THE UNITED STATES
Mrs. Colby devoted a large part of her time from 1902 until her death in 1916 to advocacy of the ideas represented by the Federal Suffrage Association. For this reason a short account of the history and principles of this society are a necessary adjunct to a sketch of her life.
After the union of the National and American Associations in 1889 the work with Congress which Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony had pressed with such vigor ceased to receive the attention which had previously been given it. State work took the place of national effort. The failure of Mrs. Virginia Minor to maintain the right of women to vote under the XIVth amendment had discouraged many, and it seemed evident that the time had come for a new departure. These things led to the organization of the Federal Suffrage Association of the United States. Judge Francis Minor of St. Louis had prepared the way by articles published in the Forum in 1886 and later in the Arena, urging upon women the importance of demanding the right to vote under the constitution, Section 2, Article 1, which provides:
"The members of the House of Representatives shall be elected once in two years by the people."
As no exceptions or qualifications were made, the term "people" necessarily included women. He supported his claim by many unanswerable arguments and telling quotations from the framers of the constitution and the decisions of the courts. He quoted the Federalist as showing by the constitution that those counted in the enumeration are entitled to vote. "Therefore," he said, "as women are counted in the enumeration on which the congressional apportionment is based, they are legally entitled to an equal share of representation."
He demanded an act of Congress according to the fourth section of Article I and quoted James Madison as saying that "the power to change the regulations made by the states was to protect the people. Should the people at any time be deprived of the right of suffrage in any state for any cause it was deemed proper that it should be remedied by the General Government."
The following quotation from Mr. Minor gives an idea of his line of argument. He said in speaking of the Yarborough decision (concerning the right of the states to regulate the qualifications of voters):
"Two circumstances have led to confusion of thought in this matter. Every citizen of the United States is possessed of a dual citizenship, and is a member of two sovereignties; and yet these two conditions of citizenship, although entirely distinct, are united or blended in the same individual. Suffrage is an attribute of citizenship under the federal constitution; no limitation or restriction whatever is made as to the sex of the elector, while under the State constitution there is; and as there has been no assertion by the federal government of its reserved right to make and alter regulations as to the times, places and manner of holding elections for representatives in Congress, the matter has gone by default, as it were, and been left entirely to the control of the states. And this has been the case so long, that the impression is almost universal, that the states have supreme control over the federal as well as the state right of suffrage. This was the opinion of the Supreme Court itself when the subject was formerly under consideration in the case of Minor vs. Happersett, (21 Wallace), for the Court was then unanimously of the opinion that the United States has no voters of its own creation, and that the constitution of the United States does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one. Subsequent reflection, however, has led the Court to change its views, and it now declares (in the Yarborough decision) that the right to vote for members of Congress is fundamentally based upon the constitution of the United States, which created the office, if it can be called an office, and declares the manner in which it shall be filled. The importance of this last declaration by the Supreme Court cannot be over-estimated. It places the right to vote for members of Congress on its only true foundation, that of the constitution of the United States, and is an assertion of national power and dignity; and the next declaration by the Court is no less important, that 'the States, in prescribing the qualifications of voters for the most numerous branch of their own Legislatures,do not do this with reference to the election of members of Congress. Nor can they prescribe the qualifications for voters for those eo nomine. So that when the states impose upon their own citizens a qualification, that of sex, with which one-half of them cannot comply, it has no reference to the federal elector, who is not bound thereby, nor can his or her right of federal suffrage be defeated by such an artifice. Thus an impediment, heretofore supposed to be ineluctable, is removed by this decision.
"The right of federal suffrage is not based upon sex. It inheres in the status or condition of federal citizenship. Men do not vote for members of Congress by reason of their sex, or because they are men, but because they are citizens of the United States, and members of the national body politic. Upon this ground, and upon this only, is their right to vote based, and the right of women to vote is based on the same ground and for the same reason. They constitute a part of the 'people' or 'citizens.' There is not a word as to the sex of the electors.
"The right is vested absolutely and without limitation in 'the people of the several states.' The term 'people' includes persons of both sexes—neither sex is excluded. The present decision, therefore, that the right to vote for members of Congress is fundamentally based upon the constitution applies to women as well as to men."
As the result of Mr. Minor's publications, bills were presented in Congress by Senator Manderson of Nebraska, and others, asking for an act protecting women in their right to vote for National Officers.
In April, 1892, Hon. Clarence D. Clark of Wyoming presented a bill in the House of Representatives asking for an act to protect the right of citizens of the United States to register and vote for members of the House of Representatives.
In the convention of the National American Association held in Washington in 1889, Senator Henry W. Blair of New Hampshire in speaking of the injustice of the decision of the Supreme Court in Mrs. Minor's case, said:
"It has become necessary for the Supreme Court of the United States to decide that we are not a sovereign people, that we have no nation at all, in order to prevent women from exercising the right of suffrage throughout the country."
Farther on, in discussing the claims made by the Court that the United States has no voters, he said: "As the law now is in the Federal Constitution there must always have been a voter in the United States for in the second clause of the first article it is provided that there shall be a House of Representatives elected by the people."
At various times a number of people in different places have manifested an interest in Mr. Minors method of working for Woman's Suffrage by means of an Act of Congress. Among those who took an active part in this propaganda, were Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett and her sister, Miss Laura Clay. These ladies are near relatives to the great Henry Clay, and they seem to have inherited an ability to discuss constitutional questions. They were among the first to understand the right of women, under the Constitution, to vote for National Officers. By writing for the public press, issuing circulars at their own expense, and distributing articles to educate the public, they have done much in advancing the interest in this line of suffrage work.
In the early spring of 1892 the following circular was copied in the Woman's Tribune and in the Woman's Journal, in the great city dailies and other papers:
"The Federal Suffrage Association was initiated on the 10th of March, 1892, at a meeting of a few friends, residing in and about Chicago, with representatives from several neighboring states. At this meeting letters from eminent people in different parts of the United States were read, expressing interest in the movement, and readiness to join the society. Among other well known names were those of Mrs. Louisa Southworth, of Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway, of Oregon; Belva Lockwood, of Washington, D. C.; Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott of Milwaukee, Wis.; Miss Mary A. Ripley of Nebraska, and others of national reputation. A temporary organization was formed and the nucleus of a constitution was adopted.
The object of the new Association is, to obtain such legislation as will secure every citizen of the United States in the exercise of the right of suffrage, and also to advocate uniformity in the election of national officers. Some plan of effective National work will be adopted.
It was voted to hold a meeting on the 10th of May at the Sherman House parlors, Chicago, at 2 P. M., to complete the organization. The officers were instructed to issue a circular inviting the attendance and co-operation of all friends of republican ideas.
The Association has already been offered handsome headquarters during the Fair in the immediate vicinity of the World's Fair buildings, and has, among its supporters, persons of wealth and influence.
You are earnestly invited to attend the meeting of May 10th, and to assist in the inauguration of this work.
President, Hon. M. B. Castle,
Sandwich, Ill.
Secretary, Mrs. E. J. Loomis,
In response to this call as many people as could be accommodated in the club room of the Sherman House assembled at the time named. Among those present were Mrs. Lucia Blount of Washington; Mrs. Lucinda Stone of Kalamazoo; Mrs. Mary E. Holmes of Chicago; Mr. Walter Thomas Mills, and many others.
The Chicago Tribune gave the following report of the meeting:
"The suffragists formed a new National Association at the Sherman House yesterday. Its title is the Federal Suffrage Association of the United States, and its especial object is to secure equal and uniform federal suffrage for all citizens of the country. The new Association is in no wise antagonistic to other Suffrage Associations, but merely takes up the special subject of equal federal suffrage as distinguished from equal, state, municipal, or school suffrage, whose claims are being urged by other organizations. Then, as Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, who is especially interested in and largely responsible for the new society, says, the country is large and the women cannot get too many Associations before the public to urge their demands for full and equal suffrage"
On motion of Clara B. Colby the following memorial was adopted and Mrs. Colby was directed to submit the same to Clarence D. Clark, congressman from Wyoming, who had introduced a bill in congress providing for the federal enfranchisement of women:
To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:
WHEREAS, the right to vote for members of the House of Representatives is, by the constitution of the United States, vested in the people of the United States, without condition, limitation, or restriction, and women are people; therefore, we, members of the Federal Suffrage Association of the United States, respectfully request your honorable bodies to pass a bill enabling women citizens of the United States to vote for members of the House of Representatives. Signed this 10th day of May, 1892.
Olympia Brown,
Acting President.
Elizabeth Loomis,
Judge C. B. Waite made a short speech, in which he urged that the women of the Association vote for Congressman at the next election, and send in their votes to the House of Representatives, thus forcing that body to pass upon the legality of votes of women.
The officers were instructed to present a memorial to the National Republican Convention asking for a resolution in favor of suffrage reform.
On the 10th of May the organization of the society was completed by the adoption of a constitution, and the election of permanent officers of whom Hon. M. B. Castle of Illinois was president; Rev. Olympia Brown, vice-president; Mrs. E. J. Loomis, of Chicago, secretary.
In accordance with the vote passed as above a memorial addressed to the Republican Convention at its session in Minneapolis was prepared. Mrs. S. M. C. Perkins, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Rev. Olympia Brown, of Racine, Wisconsin, attended the convention. They were given prominent seats and were present at every session. They secured the presentation of the memorial, and its reference to the resolution committee. A hearing on the subject was granted, but apparently the time was not ripe for favorable action by any political party.
The Association thus launched went on its way advocating the right of women to vote for national officers, under the constitution as it stood. Meetings were held in different parts of Wisconsin, Indiana, and other states and organizations formed for the education of the people along this line.
Mrs. Clara B. Colby was present at the organization of the Federal Suffrage Association, and approved the policy proposed, but although many of the best known suffrage workers took part, Mrs. Colby declined to do so, believing that the National American Woman's Suffrage Association could be depended upon to do the work. Miss Anthony was successful in securing the adoption by that body of a federal suffrage department of which Mrs. Colby was made the head. On January 1, 1893, she made a masterly report showing an immense amount of work done. She had written to all the different states and had received favorable and enthusiastic responses, besides securing strong resolutions from many organizations, all indicating popular favor for the new method proposed by Judge Minor.
Strangely enough the National American Association at that time discontinued activity in the federal suffrage department, and has never favored it since, although Miss Anthony a short time before she died, wrote Mrs. Colby asking if she would be willing to take the chairmanship of such a committee should the plan be adopted at the Baltimore convention in 1906 as she hoped it might be.
It would seem that with Judge Minor's strong presentation before the public, with the grand beginning which had been made by Mrs. Colby's wonderful work (described in a previous chapter) and with the help of an organized society composed of prominent people which had already received the most cordial recognition, the National American Association had an opportunity to secure an early passage of a law enabling women to vote for members of Congress, and from that an amendment to the United States Constitution enfranchising all the women of the country. Had they chosen to maintain their own department of federal suffrage or to co-operate with the Federal Suffrage Association, the measure might have been carried through Congress and women might have been voters these many years. Thus the labors, money and lives of many women, which have been spent in the state campaigns might have been saved. But it was not so to be.
On the occasion of the Chicago Exposition in 1893 the Federal Suffrage Association was assigned a section in the political congress, and a day appointed for its meetings. The following program was carried out:
PROGRAM OF THE NATIONAL FEDERAL SUFFRAGE CONGRESS
To be held in Art Institute, Chicago, Aug. 9. President, Hon. M. B. Castle, Sandwich, Ill.
This session will be held under the management of the Federal Suffrage Association, an organization advocating the equal suffrage of qualified American citizens only, irrespective of sex, and demanding the direct vote of the people for federal officers.
Hall of Columbus, 2 o'clock P. M.
Hon. M. B. Castle, President F. S. A.—"Why Federal Suffrage Association."
Mrs. S. M. Perkins, Cleveland, Ohio—"All Women Citizens."
Mrs. Mary E. Holmes, President Illinois Suffrage Association—"Danger to the Nation of the Alien Vote, and the Remedy."
Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, Lafayette, Ind. — "The Qualifications of Citizenship."
Hall IV, 8 o'clock P. M.
Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, Hartford, Conn.—"United States Citizenship."
The Federal Suffrage Association
Judge C. B. Waite, Chicago, Illinois—Address.
Rev. Olympia Brown, President Wisconsin W. S. A.— "Federal Suffrage/ Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Evanston, 111.—"The Statesmanship of Women, and Our Motherless Government."
Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway, Portland, Ore.—Paper to be read by Dr. Helen Reynolds Kellogg, Chicago.
Unfortunately the infant Federal Suffrage Society, after a short time was crippled by the death of prominent officers and became partially inactive. Rev. Olympia Brown, the acting president, by the death of her husband and the long invalidism of her mother, was necessarily occupied with business activities and domestic duties, and unable to carry on the work as planned. For a time only sporadic attempts at propaganda were made here and there. Memorials were sent to the great national conventions of the great political parties asking for recognition in their platforms and appeals were made to Congress by petitions and memorials. Thus while the idea was kept alive, the work was not done, and the results expected from the auspicious beginning were not realized. The failure was a great sorrow to many, and an immense loss to the woman's suffrage cause.
The Federal Suffrage Association
In 1902 the writer met Mrs. Colby in Washington. It was decided to present the federal subject in a different way, seeking for women everything Congress has power to grant, as well as the right to vote. Accordingly, the Federal Woman's Equality Association was formed, with Olympia Brown and afterwards Belva Lockwood as president, and Clara B. Colby, corresponding secretary, an office which she held until her death, September 7, 1916.
Later it was deemed best to return to the original name, in order, as Mrs. Colby said, "to relate the organization to the former work of the Federal Suffrage Association of the United States," and Rev. Olympia Brown was elected president. Since 1902 the subject of woman's right to vote for national officers has been continually before Congress. No session has been allowed to pass without attention called to this bill. Congressmen have been interviewed, hearings have been held, literature distributed, members of the society gained, and many congressman have become earnest advocates of the measure.
In 1904 an extended hearing was held before committees in both Senate and House. At this time Mrs. Colby made a thorough and exhaustive study of the subject, with quotations from the decisions of the courts, and from historical documents which proved to be most convincing, so much so that the
The Federal Suffrage Association
committee of the House, after a two hourssession, asked her to return the following day for a further discussion of the subject.
In 1906 Mrs. Colby being absent from Washington, Rev. Olympia Brown and Dr. Clara MacNaughton asked the Woman's Suffrage Committee of the Senate for a hearing which was granted and the committee was addressed by Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Rev. Olympia Brown and others.
The entire committee was present and by questions and remarks indicated a very great interest. A very extended report of this hearing was given in the Washington Star.
In 1913, after a very interesting hearing before the committee on election of president, vice-president and members of Congress, the officers of the association called attention to the fact that the Anthony Amendment was being entirely neglected. No bills had been presented for a long time; no hearings had been held during the session, and no indication of interest manifested on the part of Congress or the National Suffrage Association.
The officers felt that while the Federal Suffrage Bill was important as an opening wedge, yet it was only subsidiary to the main purpose, the complete enfranchisement of all women of the country. This can only be accomplished by the passage of a constitutional amendment. Therefore, they determined
The Federal Suffrage Association
to prepare and submit a bill asking for the passage of the Anthony Amendment. This was done, and Dr. Clara MacNaughton interested Senator Chamberlain of Oregon, who, at the opening of the extra session of Congress presented Joint Resolution No. 1, providing for the amendment of the constitution prohibiting the states from disfranchising citizens on account of sex. This was the beginning of the renewed activity in behalf of the Anthony amendment which has been so vigorously and so successfully carried forward by the Congressional Union, and the Woman's Party.
Besides Congressional work the Association has contributed not a little to the state campaigns in which Woman's Suffrage has been submitted to the voters. Money has been raised and speakers have been sent to several states. Mrs. Colby represented the Association in campaigns in Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin in 1912, and in New Jersey in 1915.
The Federal Suffrage Association held a Congress at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, July 11th, 12th and 13th, 1915. This was said by some good judges to be "the best of the many congresses held at that time." Among the distinguished people who took part were, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Mrs. Bellamy, former member of the Legis
The Federal Suffrage Association
lature of Wyoming, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, well known for her work in the Woman's Council, Adelaide Johnson, the noted suffrage sculptor, Mrs. Elizabeth Lowe Watson, of California, and Mrs. Emma Smith De Voe of Tacoma, Washington.
Through all the history of the Federal Suffrage Society Dr. Clara MacNaughton has taken a leading part. As chairman of the committee of ways and means, she has been instrumental in securing the aid of prominent people; in raising money, and has never wearied in working for the cause. Her absence in Paris during recent years has been a serious loss to the Association.
On the occasion of the great celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Federal Woman's Suffrage Association, then called the Federal Woman's Equality Association, took an important part.
The society was represented by a committee of which Dr. C. W. MacNaughton was the chairman, and Mrs. Anna Harmon was vicechairman. By the courtesy of Major Narmoyle, quarter-master general, a large tent was erected for the use of the Association. This tent was occupied by the committee and other friends of the cause during the entire celebration. From there, circulars were distributed, and gatherings of those interested were held in the tent. Signatures were obtained for membership in the Federal Suf 75
The Federal Suffrage Association
frage Association, and petitions to the United States Senate circulated asking for the passage of Senate Joint Resolution No. 1. Several thousand signatures were obtained. The committee occupied the tent at Gettysburg from June 31 to July 7, experiencing many hardships and suffering much from the heat and hard work involved, but it was gratifying to see the readiness with which people gave their names for the cause, especially the old soldiers who seemed to feel it a privilege to sign the petition. What was most remarkable was that the Confederate soldiers were quite as eager to inscribe their names on the petition for woman's enfranchisement as any of the Union soldiers. Mrs. Anson Wells and Mrs. Henry P. Blair with other friends of the cause contributed generously to the expense of the enterprise. Although the effort cost considerable money, time and labor, yet the committee felt that it was well worth doing as a means of awakening interest in and advancing the cause of woman's suffrage.
The Federal Suffrage measure has commended itself to thoughtful and unprejudiced people. The law should have been passed by Congress long ago as has been well said by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper in an article published in the Washington Herald of June 5, 1914, as follows:
"The immense advantage which this pro
The Federal Suffrage Association
posed bill has over the resolution for a national amendment, which lately has received a majority vote in the Senate, is that it would require only an Act of Congress, needing but a majority, instead of two-thirds, and would not have to be ratified by the State Legislatures. It is true that the amendment would confer the full suffrage on women, and this federal act would give only a vote for members of Congress, but if women helped to elect Senators and Representatives would they have to wait very long for the national amendment? This federal act would bring the close of the long contest into full view and there would be an end to state campaigns.
"All of the Suffrage organizations could well afford to lay aside other measures and unite on this one, and it seems strange that it has been allowed for so long to remain a side issue. It is amazing that there should have been no effort to have women inducted in Senator Poindexter's bill, if for no reason but the agitation of the fact that Congress has power to confer on women this federal vote. It was one of many great opportunities that have been lost, and this should henceforth be made a leading question."
In former years the Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution was called the Sixteenth Amendment, later the Anthony Amendment. Recently the term
The Federal Suffrage Association
\
"Federal" has been applied to it, thus confusing" it with the Federal law in regard to the election of national officers for which a bill has been in Congress for many years. This confusion of terms has caused much trouble. Mrs. Colby regretted this appropriation of our name, she took pride in the thought that we were not begging for an Amendment to the Constitution but demanding our original rights guaranteed by that great document.
We must continue our work until Congress shall enfranchise the womanhood of America. It is hoped that the Anthony Amendment will be passed at the regular session of the 65th Congress. Should such be the case, and should the act of Congress be ratified by three-fourths of the states, the long struggle for woman's right to vote will close, and the work of the Federal Suffrage Association will be ended. But the report of the effort will ever stand as a most interesting page in the history of the woman suffrage movement, especially as the demand is based on the constitution itself, and recognizes the dignity and authority of the general government. The whole argument illustrates the fundamental principles of our democracy These principles applied would make citizenship rather than any incident of sex or color the qualification for the voter, thus giving to every citizen of the United States a birthright of liberty of inestimable value and crowning him with the majesty of an independent freeman.