confer the rights of suffrage upon all citizens except such as are disqualified by reason of crime. Consequently, when congress decrees that we shall not, as a State, deprive citizens of rights already guaranteed to them, it does not transcend its powers, or impose upon us conditions from which we are now exempt.
With these discussions of fundamental principles which, although couched in the most comprehensive terms, strangely enough conserved the rights of only half the citizens, the fourteenth amendment was ratified, and Nebraska became a State on March 1, 1867.
The early legislation of Nebraska was favorable to woman, and much ahead of that passed in the same period by most of the older States, The records show that a few legislators treated any matter that referred to the rights of woman as a jest, but the majority were liberal or respectful, and the honored names of Dailey, Reavis, Majors, Porter, Kelley, and others, constantly recur in the records of the earlier sessions as pushing favorable legislation for women. At almost every session, too, the actual question of the ballot for woman was broached. The legislature of 1869 bestowed school suffrage on women;[1] and a joint resolution and a memorial to congress relative to female suffrage were introduced. The journals show that:
Hon. Isham Reavis of Falls City, introduced in the Senate January 30, a memorial and joint resolution to congress, on the subject of female suffrage. After the second reading, on motion of Mr. Majors, it was referred to a select committee of bachelors, consisting of Senators Gere, Majors, Porter, and Goodwill, who reported it back without recommendation. It was afterwards considered in committee of the whole, then taken up by the Senate. Reavis moved it be taken up for third reading on the following day. The yeas and nays being demanded the motion was lost by a vote of 6 to 7. On motion of Mr. Stevenson the matter was referred to the Judiciary Committee, with the usual result of neglect and oblivion.
In the autumn of 1867 Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony lectured in Omaha and sowed seed which bore fruit in the large number of petitions sent later from that city. In December 1870, Mrs. Tracy Cutler gave several addresses in Lincoln. Miss Anthony lectured January 28, 1871, on "The False Theory," and before leaving the city looked in on the legislature, which promptly extended to her the privilege of the floor. A number of ladies met Miss Anthony for consultation, and took the initiatory steps for forming a State association. A meeting was appointed for the following Friday, when it was decided to memorialize the legislature. The memorial was headed by Mrs. Lydia Butler, wife of the governor of the State, who spent some days in securing signatures. A lively pen-picture of those times is furnished by private correspondence of Mrs. Esther L. Warner of Roca:
The first work done for woman suffrage in Lincoln was in December, 1870. Mrs. Tracy Cutler stopped when on her way to California, and gave several addresses in Lincoln. Her womanliness and logic won and convinced her hearers, and had a
- ↑ The legislature of 1875 repealed this law except so far as it referred to unmarried adult women and widows. In the legislature of 1881, Senator C. H. Gere introduced a bill revising the laws relating to schools. One of the provisions of the bill conferred the school ballot on women on the same terms as on men—viz: Any person having children of school age, or having paid taxes on personal property, or being assessed on real estate, within such a period, is entitled to vote at all elections pertaining to schools. This, however, does not include the power to vote for State or county superintendents. The women of the State now vote so largely that it is no longer a matter of comment or record.
