WOMEN. 



787 



hospitals, clerks in tlie several departments of govern- 

 ment, and by special act of Congress women may be 

 commissioned as attorneys-at-law of tlie Supreme 

 Court of the United States. Her right to a commis- 

 sion as an attorney-at-law of the Circuit and District 

 Courts of the United States depends upon the pro- 

 visions of the law of the State in which such court 

 hull.-! its sessions. \Vninen citizens of the United 

 States may also pre-empt lands under tlie laws of the 

 general government. They are counted in the basis 

 of representation, both in the State and national gov- 

 ernments, and are subject to the general laws govern- 

 ing taxation ; are capable of committing treason and 

 for treasonable acts are held responsible to the general 

 government. 



2. Tlie State Law. The characteristic difference 

 in the personal rights of men and women in the United 

 States consists in the enjoyment of political rights by 

 the former. In every State and Territory of tlie 

 United States every man not convicted of an igno- 

 minious crime js a voter or capable of becoming a 

 voter, clothed with all political rights, and eligible to 

 the highest office in the government, if he be native- 

 born, although in many instances exempt from many 

 of the corresponding political duties of citizenship, 

 while women are very generally deprived of political 

 rights. From this deprivation of political rights arise 

 all the legal disabilities of women in the United 

 States which are not incident to the marriage relation 

 under the common law of England. Ivich State has 

 the power to extend the right of suffrage to its women 

 citizens, either by constitutional amendment or by vir- 

 tue of a constitutional provision already existing is 

 in Wisconsin and Colorado by a majority vote of its 

 qualified electors at any general election ; also by a thrc-.:- 

 i'ourth.s vote of the States tlie national Constitution 

 way be amended so as to secure to women throughout 

 the United States the right to vote. Strenuoii and 

 continued efforts have been made to secure these con- 

 stitutional amendments, and it is believed that soon 

 women in the United States will be very generally 

 clothed with political power. 



Alndy in tin- Territories of Wyoming. Warning 



ton, and Utah women vote, serve upon juries, and are 

 eligible to office ; in short, are clothed equally with 

 men with full political rights, and are subject to the 

 iMirrespondinir political duties of citizenship. 



In Kan-as women have equal suffrage upon all mu- 

 nicipal questions and at all municipal elections, and are 

 eligible to all municipal offices absolutely filling the 

 of mayor of the municipality in several instance-. 

 but may not vote at Presidential and Congressional 

 election*. 



Since the adoption of Amendments XIV. and XV. 

 to the national Constitution, the riirht of women eiti- 

 !' the Unit.-,! Slates to vote at Presidential and 

 Congressional elections has Keen tested in N'cw York, 

 Illinois, Mio!iri, California. Connecticut, and Penn- 

 sylvania. In Pennsylvania, in Is7i_>. the right of women 

 to vote_ at the^ S ..ns under the word "free- 



men" in the State Cmistiiution describing the qualifi- 

 cations of VOLTS in that State wasclaimcd and resulted 

 in a change in tin; State Constitution, by which the 

 words "male citizens" were substituted For the Word 

 "freemen," thus confining suffrage to men. 



Pennsylvania recognizes the right of women to direct 

 representation upon the public school question, by 

 making her eligible to an elective office upon the school 

 board, thin indirectly recognizing the correlative right 

 of suffrage. At the iiresent time more than half of 

 the States recognize the right of married and unmar- 

 ried women to the school franchise ; noted among 

 which in the Hast are Massachusetts and New York. 



In several instances mnrrinl women have been called 

 upon to serve upon the school board always an elective 

 office and in one instance to fill the office of State 

 school superintendent. 



In a number of the States strenuous efforts have 



been made by those opposed to woman suffrage to have 

 the right to vote upon the question of "license or pro- 

 hibition " generally extended to woman. No State has 

 as yet extended equal suffrage to women, nor has any 

 woman yet been called upon to fill the higher political 

 and judicial offices of the State or nation. England, 

 accustomed to women occupying the highest office in 

 the kingdom, more easily extends the franchise, subject 

 to a property qualification, to unmarried women and 

 widows. 



Professional Rights. The civil right of choosing 

 one's profession or trade apparently guaranteed to all 

 citizens by the Declaration of llights, adopted as a 

 constitutional provision in all of the States and in 

 Amendment X.IV. of the U. S. Constitution has not 

 until recently been practically recognized as a right of 

 women in any of the States, and now but partially pre- 

 vails throughout the United States. 



The profession of medicine is open to women in all 

 of the States, and thousands of women in the United 

 States are successfully engaged iu this profession. 

 Women are admitted upon equal terms with men into 

 the medical department of many American colleges and 

 universities. There are also numerous medical colleges 

 chartered and well-endowed for women exclusively, 

 and medical societies, both State and national, are grad- 

 ually recognizing their right as medical practitioners to 

 become members thereof, in full fellowship. 



All of the States in which the question has been 

 raised have either by direct legislation or by a generic 

 interpretation of the existing law recognized women's 

 right to enter the legal profession Pennsylvania being 

 one of the first in which application was made, and one 

 of the last to extend this recognition to women. In 

 Pennsylvania a woman attorney-at-law may, as an offi- 

 cer and appointee of the court, serve as master and 

 examiner in equity cases, in which office she is clothed 

 with the power of the court to subpoena witnesses and 

 to administer the oath, but may not be appointed by 

 the governor as a notary public. In Connecticut, Mas- 

 sachusetts, New York, and generally in the Western 

 States woman may act as notary public, United States 

 and State commissioner of deeds, and very generally 

 as administratrix and executrix. The University of 

 Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Howard University in 

 Washington, Washington University in St. Louis, Co- 

 lumbia Law College of New York, also many other law 

 colleges east and west, afford women equal opportunity 

 with men to become qualified as legal practitioners and 

 confer upon them the degree of Bachelor of Law. 

 Probably not more than one hundred women in the 

 United States are actually engaged in the legal pro- 

 fession. 



The government neither recognizes nor denies 

 woman's right to enter the clerical profession. The 

 orthodox religious denominations very generally refusa 

 to ordain her as a minister, but the Society of Friends 

 and the most liberal religious sects give her official rec- 

 ognition. Women occupy high and responsible posi- 

 tions as educators, public and private, authors, editors, 

 artists, and musicians, and in commercial life, and 

 although they may receive the well-earned degree of 

 Doctor of .Medicine, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor 

 of Philosophy. Hachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Arts, 

 Bachelor of Music, and Master of Arts no theolog- 

 ical school is yet open to them, and as yet they are in- 

 eligible fin- the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 



Neither do the oldest colleges and universities admit 

 women in all departments to a full course of instruc- 

 tion. Harvard, to meet the demand for their higher 

 education, has created a department known as the 

 Harvard Annex, in which they may study and receive 

 a certificate of proficiency. Manual schools of training 

 are now being established in connection with schools 

 for girls, and normal and art schools, also business and 

 commercial colleges very generally afford educational 

 opportunities to women and girls. 



>Yomen and girls are generally admitted into all 



