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cured to her own use; that married women may have the same right to their own property that married men have; and that the mother may have an equal right with the father to the custody of the children." The need of such a committee existed in that year of 1869, and they seemed to have wrought effective service, since on March 24 the married woman's earnings act was approved.

An Act in Relation to the Earnings of Married Women. Sec. 1.—Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That a married woman shall be entitled to receive, use and possess her own earnings, and sue for the same in her own name, free from the interference of her husband or his creditors: Provided, This act shall not be construed to give to the wife any compensation for any labor performed for her minor children or husband.

Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Stanton, Judge Waite, Judge and Mrs. Bradwell, had an enthusiastic meeting in the Opera House, Springfield, most of the members of the legislature being present.

September 9, 10, 1869, the Western Convention was held in Library Hall, Chicago; Mrs. Livermore presided. This influential gathering was largely attended by leading friends from other States.^[1] Mrs. Kate Doggett and Dr. Mary Safford were appointed to attend the Woman's Industrial Congress at Berlin. Letters were read from Wm. Lloyd Garrison and others.^[2]

February 8, 9, 1870, the first annual meeting of the State Association was held at Springfield in the Opera House, Hon. James B. Bradwell in the chair. Many members of the legislature were present during the various sessions and a hearing^[3] before the House was granted next day. Resolutions were discussed and adopted, declaring that women were enfranchised under the fourteenth amendment. As a constitutional convention was in session, and there was an effort being made to have an amendment for woman suffrage submitted to a vote of the people, greater interest was felt in all that was said at this convention.

The strange inconsistency of the opponents of woman suffrage was perhaps never more fully illustrated than by the following occurrence: While the patriotic and earnest women of Illinois were quietly acting upon the advice of their representatives, and relying upon their "quiet, moral influence" to secure a just recognition of their rights in the constitutional convention, a conservative woman of Michigan, who, afraid that the women of Illinois were about to lose their womanliness by asking for the right to have their opinions counted, deserted her home in the Peninsular State, went to Springfield, secured the hall of the convention, and gave two lectures against woman suffrage. A meeting was called at the close

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1. Indiana—Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Dr. Mary Wilhite, Emma Mallory, and Amanda Way; Missouri—Rebecca N. Hazzard; Wisconsin—Lelia Peckham; Iowa—Mary Newbury Adams, Matilda Fletcher; Minnesota—Mrs. Bishop; Kansas—Mrs. Henry; Ohio—Margaret V. Longley; Michigan —Professor Stone; Massachusetts—Henry B. Blackwell, and Lucy Stone; New York—Susan B. Anthony, most of whom took part in the discussions.
2. Letters were also received from Paulina Wright Davis, Frederick Douglass, Hon. Sharon Tyndale, Rev. D. H. N. Powers, Mrs. Arabella Mansfield, Rev. Willis Lord. "
3. The speakers were Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Stone, Hon. Sharon Tyndale, Hon. E. Haines, and Judge Bradwell.