476 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



all property or other qualifications, constitutional or 

 statutory, upon the exercise by every man who is a 

 citizen of the United States. 



Resolved, That the implied censure passed by the 

 convention at Worcester upon the national Admin- 

 istration, for its failure to vindicate the claims of this 

 country against Great Britain, meets our warm ap- 

 proval, and that in its foreign as in its internal policy 

 the Administration deserves our unqualified condem- 

 nation. 



Resolved, That the railroad corporations of this 

 Commonwealth were created by virtue of the sover- 

 eign prerogative of the State, for the public benefit, 

 and that we assert the right and duty of the Com- 

 monwealth to exercise its authority to keep them 

 within the scope of their organization, and enforce 

 their management for the best interests of the whole 

 people. 



Resolved, That the French Eepublic, now rising in 

 its strength from the ruins of an effete and corrupt 

 empirej under its rallying-cry^ of liberty, equality, and 

 fraternity, and which receives no encouragement 

 from the crowned heads of Europe, deserves and re- 

 ceives our earnest and cordial sympathy and support. 



The agitation of the question of woman suf- 

 frage was more general and earnest during 

 the year than in former ones. As neither 

 the Prohibitory nor the Labor Keform party 

 had incorporated in its platform the question 

 of female suffrage, the advocates of this cause 

 called a convention, to be held before the as- 

 sembling of the Eepublican and Democratic 

 Conventions, in order to decide upon a policy 

 for the campaign. Accordingly the Woman- 

 Suffrage convention assembled in Boston, on 

 the 29th of September, and organized with 

 Mrs. Julia "Ward Howe as presiding officer. 

 The principal question for discussion was as 

 to the expediency of nominating candidates 

 for the various State offices, and thus forming 

 a separate and distinct ticket. This measure 

 was finally voted down, and it was decided to 

 address the approaching Eepublican as well as 

 the Democratic Convention in behalf of woman 

 suffrage. The resolutions adopted were as 

 follows: 



Resolved, That the friends of woman's suffrage 

 should no longer support any candidate for State or 

 local office who is not in favor of the enfranchise- 

 ment of women, and, in case no such candidate is put 

 in nomination, that they should nominate and sup- 

 port independent candidates of their own. 



And whereas the platforms of the Prohibition and 

 Labor Keform parties are both silent on the question 

 of woman suffrage, and whereas the conventions of 

 the Eepublican and Democratic parties are about to 

 meet for the declaration of principles and the nomina- 

 tion of candidates : therefore, 



Resolved, That the proper committee be instructed 

 to prepare and forward memorials on behalf of this 

 convention to the conventions of the Eepublican and 

 Democratic parties, with copies of these resolutions 

 attached, respectfully requesting of each the adoption 

 of woman suffrage as a part of their platforms ; also 

 that said committee are instructed to question every 

 candidate upon the State ticket of every party in 

 the field whether he will work for the establishment 

 of woman's suffrage, and to publish his reply in the 

 Woman's Journal; also that this committee shall 

 meet in Boston on the 18th day of October next, 

 after adjournment of the Eepublican and Democratic 

 Conventions, to make nominations for a State ticket, 

 if necessary. 



Resolved. That all men and women who are in favor 

 of woman suffrage are requested to meet in their re- 



spective representative and senatorial districts, and 

 to take such steps as will insure the election of a 

 Eepresentative pledged to work and vote for woman 

 suffrage in the Legislature next winter. 



Resolved, That the friends of woman's suffrage 

 recognize in Wendell Phillips a leader second to 

 none in his early, able, and constant advocacy of 

 impartial suffrage ; that he has earned our gratitude 

 and has a right to claim our votes whenever they can 

 be given under the forms of law and without com- 

 plicating the cause of woman's suffrage with issues 

 merely political. 



Resolved, That the thanks of this convention are 

 due to Hon. Heriry Wilson, Senator of Massachusetts, 

 for having introduced a bill into the Congress of the 

 United States for the extension of suffrage to women 

 in the District of Columbia and in the Territories, 

 and we respectfully request him to renew the propo- 

 sition to Congress next winter. 



And whereas the Hon. Charles Sumner, Senator 

 from Massachusetts, has declared that distinctions 

 in suffrage founded on insurmountable qualifications 

 are in violation of republican principles, and whereas 

 sex is a qualification as insurmountable as color : 

 therefore, 



Resolved, That consistency to his own principles 

 demands from the Hon. Charles Sumner next winter 

 the submission of a sixteenth amendment to the 

 Federal Constitution, prohibiting political distinc- 

 tions on account of sex. 



In accordance with one of the above reso- 

 lutions, the "Woman-Suffrage State Central 

 Committee" appeared before the Republican 

 Convention on the 5th of October, and pre- 

 sented the following memorial : 



To the Republican Convention of the State of Massa- 

 chusetts : 



The undersigned, having been appointed a State 

 Central Committee, by the friends of woman suf- 

 frage assembled in convention at Tremont Temple, 

 in Boston, on the 29th day of September, 1870, are 

 instructed by and on behalf of said convention to 

 lay before your honorable body the following me- 

 morial, with a copy of the resolutions of the said 

 convention attached. We respectfully represent that, 

 in violation of the Bill of Eights of the Common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts, which expressly affirms that 

 " all power resides originally in the people, and is 

 derived from them," the women of Massachusetts 

 one-half of the entire people are excluded from poli- 

 tical power. 



That, in violation of the Declaration of Indepen- 

 dence, which declares, that " governments derive 

 their just power from the consent of the governed," 

 all the women of Massachusetts are governed with- 

 out consent. 



That, in violation of the fundamental principle of 

 representative government, that "taxation without 

 representation is tyranny," every woman in Massa- 

 chusetts who is the owner of property is taxed with- 

 out representation, and has no voice in the amount 

 or expenditure of the taxes she is compelled to pay. 



We therefore respectfully request that this con- 

 vention of the Eepublican party, which has abolished 

 political distinctions on account of race, color, or 

 previous condition of servitude, will declare itself 

 by resolution opposed to political distinctions on ac- 

 count of sex, and in favor of so amending our State 

 constitution as to extend suffrage to women on the 

 same terms and qualifications as are prescribed for 

 men. 



The question was brought before the con- 

 vention in the form of the following reso- 

 lution : 



Resolved, That the Eepublican party of Massa- 

 chusetts is mindful of its obligations to the loyal 

 women of America for their patriotic devotion to the 



