introduced by the Hon. T. H. Mundine of the county of Burleson, to extend the right of suffrage to all citizens of the State over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the requisite qualifications for electors, have examined with much care said declaration and considered the object sought to be accomplished, and have arrived at the conclusion that said declaration ought to be a part of the organic law.
It was said by George Washington that the safety of republican government depends upon the virtue and intelligence of the people. This declaration is not a new theory of government for the first time proposed to be made a part of our republican institutions. The idea of extending the elective franchise to females has been discussed both in Great Britain and in the United States, Your committee are of the opinion that the true base of republican government must ever be the wisdom and virtue of the people.
In this State our system of jurisprudence is a combination of civil and Spanish law, intermixed with the common law of England; and this peculiar system, just in all its parts for the preservation of the rights of married and unmarried women, is likely to be continued. The time was when woman was regarded as the mere slave of man. It was believed, in order to perpetuate the pretended divine right of kings to rule, that the mass of the people should be kept in profound ignorance and that woman was not entitled to the benefits of learning at all. It is not remarkable that as the benign principles of Christianity have been promulgated, free government has steadily progressed and the divine rights of woman have been recognized.
The old constitution of the republic of Texas, the constitution of the State of Texas of 1845, the laws enacted for the protection of married women, the many learned decisions of the Supreme Courts of Texas and Louisiana, and other courts, clearly indicate that the march of intelligence is onward and that our advanced civilization has approximated to the period when other and more sacred rights are to be conceded. Is it just that woman, who bears her reasonable portion of the burdens of government, should be denied the right of aiding in the enactment of its laws?
The question of extending the freedom of the ballot to woman may well claim the attention of the law-maker, and in view of the importance of the subject a majority of your committee earnestly recommend the passage of the declaration.
| H. C. Hunt, Chairman, | |
| T. H. Mundine, | Benj. Watrous, |
| Wn. H. Fleming, | L. P. Harris, |
A DECLARATION.
The Woman's Journal of December 4, 1875, contains a letter from Mrs. Sarah W. Hiatt, who presented a memorial to the constitutional convention. The memorial was referred to the Committee on Suffrage. In regard to the effect, she says:
