the State as it now stands, or substituted for section 1, of article vii., in said amended constitution, if the latter is adopted.
This bill was promptly signed by Governor Bagley, and from that hour the attention of the advocates of suffrage for women was centered on Michigan.
The submission of this amendment to a vote of the people, gave an unusual interest and importance to the annual meeting held at Lansing, May 6, 1874,[1] at which plans were to be made, and money raised for a vigorous Campaign throughout the State. The large number of women ready to do the speaking, and the equally large number of men ready to make generous contributions, were most encouraging in starting. Women who could not aid the cause in any other way cast their gold watches into the treasury. From the large number of letters received at this convention we may judge how thoroughly aroused the friends were all over the country. Lydia Maria Child wrote:
It is urged, that if women participated in public affairs, puddings would be spoiled, and stockings neglected. Doubtless some such cases might occur; for we have the same human nature as men, and men are sometimes so taken up with elections as to neglect their business for a while. But I apprehend that puddings and stockings, to say nothing of nurseries, suffer much greater detriment from the present expenditure of time and thought upon the heartless ostentation of parties, and the flounces and fripperies of fashion, than can possibly accrue from the intellectual cultivation of women, or their participation in public affairs. Voting is a mere incident in the lives of men. It does not prevent the blacksmith from shoeing horses, or the farmer from planting fields, or the lawyer from attending courts; so I see no reason why it need to prevent women from attending to their domestic duties. On certain subjects, such as intemperance, licentiousness and war, women would be almost universally sure to exert their influence in the right directions, for the simple reason that they peculiarly suffer from the continuance of these evils. In the discharge of this new function, they would doubtless make some mistakes, and yield to some temptations, just as men do. But the consciousness of being an acknowledged portion of the government of the country would excite a deeper interest in its welfare, and produce a serious sense of responsibility, which would gradually invigorate and ennoble their characters,
Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote: I believe that.we fail to establish a truly republican government, or to test the principle of universal suffrage, so long as we enfranchise one sex only.
A. Bronson Alcott wrote: *** Where women lead—the best women—is it unsafe for men to follow? Woman's influence cannot be confined to her household;
- ↑ Officers of the Michigan State Woman Suffrage Association: President, Hon. Jonas H. McGowan, Coldwater; Vice-Presidents, Rev. Richmond Fiske Jr., Grand Haven, Mrs. John J. Bagley, Detroit; Recording Secretary, Mrs. N. Geddes, Lenawee; Secretary and Treasurer, George H. Stickney, Grand Haven; Executive Committee, Chairman, Hon. William M. Ferry, Grand Haven; First District—Giles B. Stebbins, Z. R. Brockway, Wayne; Second District—Hon. Charles E. Mickley, Lenawee, Mrs. M. A. Hazlett, Hillsdale; Third District—Hon. W. H. Withington, Jackson, Morgan Bates, Calhoun; Fourth District—James H. Stone, Kalamazoo, Miss Sarah Clute, St. Joseph; Fifth District—Hon. B. A. Harlan, Mrs. M. C. Bliss, Kent; Sixth District—Hon. I. H. Bartholomew, Ingham, Mrs. A. Jenney, Genesee; Seventh District—Hon. J.C. Lamb, Lapeer, J. P. Hoyt, Tuscola; Eighth District—Hon. C. V. DeLand, Saginaw, Hon. J. D. Lewis, Bay; Ninth District—Hon. E. L. Gray, Newaygo, Mrs. J. G. Ramsdell, Grand Traverse; Vice-Presidents by Congressional Districts, First District—Mrs. Eliza Leggett, Hon. W. N. Hudson, Wayne; Second District—Hon. W.S. Wilcox, Lenawee, Hon. Talcott E. Wing, Monroe; Third District—Mrs. Ann E. Graves, Calhoun, Mrs. Mary Lathrop, Jackson; Fourth District—Hon. Levi Sparks, Berrien, Rev. H. C. Peck, Kalamazoo; Fifth District—Hon. S. L. Withey, Hon. James Miller, Kent; Sixth District—Hon. Randolph Strickland, Clinton, C. F. Kimball, Oakland; Seventh District—Hon. Ira Butterfield, Lapeer, John M. Potter, Macomb; Eighth District—Hon. Ralph Ely, Gratiot, Mrs. S. M. Green. Bay; Ninth District—Elvin L. Sprague, Grand Traverse, S. W. Fowler, Manistee.
