606 



BHODE ISLAND. 



Padleford, of Providence, for Governor; Par- 

 don "W. Stevens, of Newport, for Lieutenant- 

 Governor ; John E. Bartlett, of Providence, for 

 Secretary of State ; "Willard Sayles, of Provi- 

 dence, for Attorney-General ; and Samuel A. 

 Parker, of Newport, for General Treasurer. 



The Democratic State Convention was held 

 at Providence on the 24th of March, and nom- 

 inated Lyman Pierce, of Providence, for Gov- 

 ernor; William H. Allen, of North Kingston, 

 for Lieutenant-Governor ; J. Miller, of Bristol, 

 for Secretary of State ; George N. Bliss, of East 

 Providence, for Attorney-General, and Philip 

 Eider, of 'Newport, for General Treasurer. The 

 election was held on the 7th of April, and 

 passed off very quietly. The vote was not large, 

 and resulted in the entire success of the Eepub- 

 lican ticket. The number of votes received by 

 the different candidates was as follows : 



Republicans. Democrats. 



Governor, S. Padleford, 7, 370... Pierce, 3,390 



Lieut. -Gov.,P. "W. Stevens, 7,523. . . Allen, 3,257 



Sec. State, J. E. Bartlett, 7,373... Miller, 3,174 



Att'y.-Gen., W. Sayles, 7,327. . .Bliss, 3,334 



Treasurer, 8. A. Parker, 7,359. . .Eider, 3,447 



Members of the General Assembly were also 

 chosen at this election, as follows : 



Senate. Houws. 



Eepublicans 27 61 



Democrats ... 6 11 



Eepublican majority 21 



50 



At the election held in 1868, Burnside re- 

 ceived 10,038 votes for Governor, and Pierce 

 received 5,731. 



The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution 

 of the United States, having been postponed 

 from the January session, was ratified by the 

 Senate, on the 27th of May, by a vote of 22 to 

 11. The House, however, did not concur in 

 the ratification, but action on the amendment 

 was postponed by that body until the January 

 session of 1870. The cause assigned for the 

 reluctance of the Ehode Island Legislature to 

 ratify this amendment is the clause in the 

 State constitution requiring of all voters, 

 not native citizens, a property qualification of 

 $140 ; the effect of which is, to exclude many 

 foreigners from the privilege of voting. It was 

 feared by many members of the Legislature 

 that this provision of their State law would 

 be nullified by the adoption of the fifteenth 

 amendment, though many able lawyers con- 

 tended that there would be no conflict between 

 the two laws. In his first message to the 

 Legislature, Governor Padleford urged that 

 body to take early action on the fifteenth 

 amendment. 



A State Teachers' Institute was held at East 

 Greenwich on the 22d and 23d of October, 

 which was attended by many prominent edu- 

 cators from different parts of the State. The 

 educational needs of the State were fully dis- 

 cussed, and the various modes of teaching com- 

 pared, by those who were successful laborers 

 in the cause of education. The need of a State 

 Normal School was most prominent in the dis- 



cussions, and the views of the convention on 

 this subject were expressed in the following 

 resolutions, reported by the Commissioners of 

 Public Schools : 



Resolved, That as teacliers of Ehode Island -we feel 

 the need of a higher professional training, and we 

 recognize in tlie Normal School the supply of the 

 great want felt, etc. 



2. That it is the expression of our earnest feeling, 

 as teachers at the East Greenwich Institute, that a 

 State Normal School is greatly needed in our own 

 State, and we appeal to the legislators to make special 

 and immediate effort to secure such a Normal School, 

 that Ehode Island may take rank with her sister 

 States in the educational work 1 . 



3. That we will use our utmost endeavors to secure 

 a time public sentiment on this subject, and we con- 



fratulate ourselves that, in Prof. J. T. Edwards and 

 rof. Green, of East Greenwich, the chairmen of 

 Education in the Senate and House of Eepresentatives 

 in this State, we find the true friends of the proposed 

 school. 



In the month of October the "Ehode Island 

 Woman Suffrage Association " held a conven- 

 tion at Providence, which was attended by 

 many prominent women in this movement. 

 It was urged, in the speeches, that the Legis- 

 lature should be influenced by strong petitions 

 to take early action on the question of woman 

 suffrage. The following were the resolutions 

 adopted : 



Whereas, In the adjustment of the question of suf- 

 frage now before the people of this country for settle- 

 ment, it is of the highest importance that the organic 

 law of the land should be so framed and constructed 

 as to work injustice to none, but secure as far as pos- 

 sible perfect political equality among all classes of 

 citizens ; and, 



Whereas, All persons born or naturalized in the 

 United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 

 are citizens of the United States, and of the State 

 wherein they reside : be it 



Resolved, 1. That the immunities and privileges of 

 American citizenship, however defined, are national 

 in character, and paramount to all State authority. 



2. That while the Constitution of the United States 

 leaves the qualifications of electors to the several 

 States, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive 

 any citizen of the elective franchise which is possessed 

 by any other citizen to regulate, not including the 

 right to prohibit, the franchise. 



3. That, as the Constitution of the United States 

 expressly declares that no State shall make or enforce 

 any laws that shall abridge the privileges or immuni- 

 ties of citizens of the United States, those provisions 

 of the several State constitutions that exclude women 

 from the franchise on account of sex, are violative 

 alike of the spirit and letter of the Federal Constitu- 

 tion. 



4. That, as the subject of naturalization is expressly 

 withheld from the States, and as the States clearly 

 would have no right to deprive of the franchise nat- 

 uralized citizens, among whom women are expressly 

 included, still more clearly have they no right to 

 deprive native-born women citizens of this right. 



5. That justice and equity can only be attained by 

 having the same laws for men and women alike. 



6. That, having full faith and confidence in the 

 truth and justice of these principles, we will never 

 cease to urge the claims of women to a participation 

 in the affairs of government equal with men. 



^ Resolved, That this society declares its strong con- 

 viction that it is in the highest degree unequal and 

 impolitic to make sex the ground of seclusion from 

 the exercise of political rights. 

 Resolved, That suffrage is the turning-point of wo- 





