they were their natural protectors," that they could safely trust them to legislate on their personal and property rights; for they found in almost every case that whatever right and privilege man claimed for himself, he proposed exactly the opposite for women. Hence the necessity for them to have a voice as to the laws and the rulers under which they lived. Whatever reform they attempted they soon found their labors valueless, because they had no power to remedy any evils protected by law. After laboring in temperance, prison-reform, coëducation, and women's rights in the trades and professions, their hopes all alike centered at last in the suffrage movement.
In 1866, a suffrage association was formed in Philadelphia at a meeting of the American Equal Rights Society, [1] held in Franklin Institute. This convention was marked by a heated debate on the duty of the abolitionists now that the black man was emancipated, to make the demand for the enfranchisement of women, as well as the freedmen.
We are indebted to John K. Wildman of Philadelphia for the following:
- ↑ The speakers at this convention were Lucretia Mott, Frances Dana Gage, Wendell Phillips, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Edward M. Davis, Robert Purvis, Aaron M. Powell. The officers of the society were: President, Robert Purvis; Vice--presidents, Lucretia Mott, William Whipper, Dinah Mendenhall; Recording Secretary, Mary B. Lightfoot; Corresponding Secretary, Frances B. Jackson; Treasurer, John K. Wildman; Executive Committee, William Still, Ellen M. Child, Harriet Purvis, Elisha Meaner, Octavius Catts, Sarah S. Hawkins, Sarah Pugh, Clementina Johns, Alfred H. Love, Louisa J. Roberts, Jay Chapel.
- ↑ J. K. Wildman, Miss A. Ramborger, Clementina L. John, Ellen M. Child, and Passmore Williamson.