392 



ILLINOIS. 



the examining trial, or when the grand jury 

 ignores the bill in such case." 



Among the general provisions of the judi- 

 ciary article as adopted is the following : 



SECTION 81. All judges of Courts of Eecord, infe- 

 rior to the Supreme Court, shall, on or before the 

 first day of June, of each year, report in writing to 

 the judges of the Supreme Court such defects and 

 omissions in the laws as their experience may sug- 

 gest ; and the judges of the Supreme Courts shall, on 

 or before the first day of January, of each year, re- 

 port in writing to the Governor such defects and 

 omissions in the constitution and laws as they may 

 find to exist, together with appropriate forms of bills 

 to cure such delects and omissions in the laws. And 

 the judges of the several Circuit Courts shall report 

 to the next General Assembly the number of days 

 they have held court in the several counties com- 

 prising their respective circuits the preceding two 

 years. 



The seventh article relates to the right of 

 suffrage, and the section conferring that privi- 

 lege is in the following words : 



SECTION 1. Every person having resided in this 

 State one year, in the county ninety days, and in the 

 election district thirty days next preceding any elec- 

 tion therein, who was an elector in this State on the 

 first day of April, in the year of our Lord one thou- 

 sand eight -hundred and forty-eight, or obtained a cer- 

 tificate of -naturalization before any Court of Eecord 

 in this State prior to the first day of January, in the 

 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 

 seventy, or who shall be a male citizen of the United 

 States above the age of twenty-one years, shall be 

 entitled to vote at such election. 



There is no other restriction on the exercise 

 of the right of voting except that the General 

 Assembly is required to pass laws excluding 

 therefrom " persons convicted of infamous 

 crimes." Besides these provisions, three other ' 

 propositions relating to the same subject were 

 submitted in the convention. A minority of 

 the committee to whom the article on suffrage 

 was intrusted reported in favor of restricting 

 the privilege to " white male inhabitants." A 

 second minority report recommended that the 

 question of striking out the word " white " be 

 separately submitted to a vote of the people. 



The question of woman suffrage also came 

 up. During the early part of the sittings of 

 the convention, a meeting of men and women 

 in favor of female suffrage was held at Spring- 

 field, at which resolutions were passed calling 

 upon the delegates to incorporate into the new 

 constitution provisions allowing women to 

 vote on the same terms with men, or at least 

 to submit the question of allowing them this 

 privilege to a vote of the people. In response 

 to this appeal the following resolutions were 

 offered and referred to the Committee on Suf- 

 frage : 



Whereas, It is the pride and boast of the true 

 American citizen that his country is a progressive 

 one ; taking no step backward, but always reaching 

 forward to a more perfect freedom and equality ; and, 



Whereas, In sympathy with the progressive spirit, 

 a majority of the States of the Federal Union nave 

 just conferred citizenship and suffrage upon the 

 black man ; and, 



Whereas, There are found in the several counties 

 of this State associations known as "Woman's Suf- 



frage Associations," with a general head, which is 

 now in session at the capital of the State, which 

 associations, general and local, have demanded of 

 this body a provision guaranteeing to their members 

 and all other females in the State the right of suf- 

 frage ; therefore be it 



_ Resolved,. That the Committee on the Eight of Suf- 

 frage be instructed to report to this convention a 

 proposition in accordance with this request and the 

 request of the many petitions numerously signed 

 which have from time to time been presented to this 

 body. 



Resolved, That the same committee report upon the 

 propriety of submitting the suffrage proposition as 

 an independent one, to be voted for or against by the 

 women of the State, who if electors would be eligible 

 under the election laws of the State, and that if a 

 majority of all such women electors shall vote for 

 said propositions then it shall become a part of the 

 constitution, otherwise the propositions snail not be 

 a part of the organic law of this State. 



After the reports of the committee, Mr. 

 Buxton proposed the following additional sec- 

 tion : 



The question of woman suffrage shall be submitted 

 to a separate vote } at the time of the submission of 

 the constitution, in such manner as may be provided 

 in the schedule, and if, upon a canvass of the votes 

 cast on the question, a majority thereof shall be 

 found " for woman suffrage,"' then the word " male " 

 shall be stricken out of section one of the suffrage ar- 

 ticle, otherwise not. 



This was adopted by a vote of forty to 

 twenty-one, but soon after protests were re- 

 ceived from various parts of the State declaring 

 that the women did not desire this supposed 

 concession in their behalf. A petition frona 

 Peorja, signed by over 1,300 women, was in 

 the following words : 



To the Honorable the Constitutional Convention of th 

 State of Illinois : 



The undersigned, women of the county of , 



fearing that a small minority of our countrywomen, 

 by their boldness and misdirected zeal, may succeed 

 in carrying a measure which we believe to be preju- 

 dicial to the highest interests of our sex, if not in 

 direct opposition to both divine and natural laws, 

 and understanding that petitions urging the omission 

 of the word MALE from the constitution which you 

 are engaged in preparing, have been presented to 

 your honorable Body, we feel it our duty to enter 

 our solemn protest, and declare that we are unaltera- 

 bly opposed to any action upon your part, which 

 shall confer upon the women of the State of Illinois 

 the right of suffrage. And we also declare that wo 

 are opposed to any action upon the part of Congress 

 lookirfg to a like result through an amendment of the 

 Federal Constitution. All of which is respectfully 

 submitted to your honorable body. 



At the meeting where this counter-move- 

 ment was set on foot these resolutions were 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That we are unqualifiedly opposed to 

 giving the elective franchise to women. 



Resolved, That, while we admit the necessity of ex- 

 tensive reform, both in the political and social rela- 

 tions of life, we deny that the bestowal of the right 

 of suffrage on woman would in any way hasten that 

 reform. 



Resolved, That woman's sphere of duty is distinct 

 from man's, and is well defined; and that, as going 

 to the polls forms no part of it, we will strenuously 

 oppose this movement as an invasion of our right not 

 to do man's work. 



Resolved, Therefore, that we are the true advocates 



