is not from forgetfulness of their services, for I credit them with all sincerity of motive, and nobleness in the wish for our enfranchisement. I have given, as briefly as possible, the two decades from 1850 to 1870. I have set down nothing in malice, and what is omitted must be charged to want of space and time. When the full history of this work is written, differences which have retarded its progress, and the wide range of action and reaction can be gone into if the historian so wills. I have endeavored to keep this report free from sectionalism and faction, believing that the finale would bring together all parties in one glad day of rejoicing. That there will be political parties in the future, with women, as with men, there can be no question; but that the sexes will have a purifying influence, each upon the other, is already conceded even by the opposers.
In closing this resume permit me to say that this meager outline, condensed from notes made from year to year, in no way satisfies the writer, but has been given by the earnest solicitations of friends, who wished that the steady progress of the cause might be marked in this retrospective hour. There is much that should have been embodied in this sketch of the past, especially the resolutions which have marked varying phases of the work, and which seemed like a divine inspiration in their comprehensive grasp and far-reaching thought, on this the last great question of reform.
Mrs. Mott rose at the conclusion of Mrs. Davis' history of the work for the past twenty years, and expressed herself as greatly pleased with its succinct and careful preparation. She felt that it was of great importance to the future work that this history be preserved, and hoped it would be published as part of the proceedings of this meeting. She felt that we had lost in not having kept more careful record of the progress of the work. She was sorry Mrs. Davis had not said more of herself, as she had done much toward opening the medical profession to women, and also in making lecturing a lucrative and respectable profession for them. She was, I believe, the first woman to claim the right to equal pay with men for her lectures. Mrs. Stanton expressed the same pleasure in listening to the report, and satisfaction in its historical accuracy. Resolutions[1] which had been pre-
- ↑ Resolved, That at the close of over twenty years of persistent agitation, petitioning, State Legislatures and Congress for the right of suffrage, we, who inaugurated this reform, now demand the immediate adoption of a XVI. Amendment to the Federal Constitution, that shall prohibit any State from disfranchising its citizens on the ground of sex; and whatever national party does this act of justice, fastens the keystone in the arch of the Republic. Resolved, That as neither free trade, finance, prohibition, capital and labor, nor any other political question, can be so vital to the existence of the Republic as the enfran-
considerable discussion; it was replied to by Mrs. Eliza W. Farnham, with all the objections which have ever been urged, and far more ably than by any of the later objectors. Mrs. Farnham lived long enough to retrace her ground and accept the highest truth. "Woman and her Era" fully refutes her early objections. Mr. Neal's lecture, published in The Brother Jonathan, was extensively copied, and as it reviewed some of the laws relating to woman and her property, it had a wide, silent influence, preparing the way for action. It was a scathing satire, and men felt the rebuke. In this conflict for principle, the names of Wm. L. Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Edmund Quincy, Oliver Johnson, Parker Pillsbury, 8.8. Foster, William Henry Channing, Samuel J. May, Charles Burleigh, James Mott, Frederick Douglass, Edmund M. Davis, and Robert Purvis, stand out conspicuously, and will so be remembered in all the future.
