o 
 
w ojyi A N 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM .-* 
 
 MRS, ELIZABETH C, STANTON, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION, 
 
 HELD AT WORCESTER, OCT., 1850. 
 
 SENECA FALLS, Sunday, Oct. 20, 1850. 
 
 My Dear Friend : As you laave handed over to me the case of 
 those women, who have fears in regard to the propriety of woman's 
 exercising her political rights, I would gladly embrace this opportunity 
 to address them through your Convention. 
 
 No one denies our right to the elective franchise, unless we except 
 those who go against all human governments, and the non-resistant, 
 who condemns a government of force ; though I think the latter might 
 consistently contend for the right, even if she might not herself choose 
 to exercise it. But to those who believe in having a government to 
 those who believe that no just government can be formed without the 
 consent of the governed to them would I appeal, and of them do I 
 demand some good reason, why one half of the citizens of this Repub- 
 lic have no voice in the laws which govern them. 
 
 The right is one question, and the propriety of exercising it, quite 
 another. The former is undeniable ; and against the latter I have 
 never heard one solid objection, that would not apply equally to man 
 and woman. 
 
 Some tell us that if woman should interest hersetf in political 
 affairs, it would destroy all domestic harmony. What, say they, 
 would be the consequence, if husband and wife should not agree in 
 their views of political economy ? Because, forsooth, husband and 
 wife may chance to differ in their theological sentiments, shall woman 
 have no religion ? Because she may not choose to worship at the 
 same altar with her liege lord, must she of necessity do up all her 
 worshipping in private, in her own closet ? Because she might choose 
 
2 MRS. 8TANTON J S LETTER. 
 
 to deposit her vote for righteous rulers such as love justice, mercy, 
 truth, and oppose a husband, father, or brother, who would, by their 
 votes, place political power in the hands of unprincipled men, swear- 
 ing, fighting, leaders of armies, rumsellers and drunkards, slaveholders 
 and prating northern hypocrites, who would surrender the poor, 
 panting fugitive from bondage into the hands of his blood-thirsty 
 pursuers shall she not vote at all ? It is high time that men learn- 
 ed to tolerate independence of thought and opinion in the women of 
 their household. 
 
 It would not make much difference in man's every day life, in his 
 social enjoyments, whether his wife differed with him as to the locali- 
 ty of hell, the personality of the devil, or the comparative altitude of 
 the saintships of Peter and Paul; as to one's right to as much* air, 
 water, light, and land as he might need for his necessities ; as to the 
 justice of free trade, free schools, the inviolable homestead, and per- 
 sonal freedom provided the husband had a great head and heart, 
 and did not insist upon doing up all the thinking and talking in the 
 establishment himself, or the wife was not a miserable formalist, like 
 Mrs. Swisshelm's Deborah Elmsley. Much of this talk about do- 
 mestic harmony is the sheerest humbug. Look around among your 
 whole circle of friends, and tell me, you who know what transpires 
 behind the curtain, how many truly harmonious households have we 
 now. Quiet households we may have, but submission and harmony 
 produce very different states of quietness. There is no true happi- 
 ness where there is subjection no harmony without freedom. 
 
 But, say some, would you have women vote? What, refined, 
 delicate women at the polls, mingling in such scenes of violence and 
 \ulgarity ! By all means, where there is so much to be feared for 
 the pure, the innocent, the noble, the mother surely should be there 
 to watch and guard her sons who are to encounter such stormy, dan- 
 gerous sceaes at the tender age of twenty-one. Much is said of wo- 
 man's influence : might not her presence do much toward softening 
 down this violence, refining this vulgarity ? Depend upon it, that 
 places which, by their impure atmosphere, are rendered unfit for wo- 
 man, cannot but be dangerous to her sires and sons. But if woman 
 claims all the rights of a citizen, will she buckle on her armor, and 
 fight in defence of her country ? Has not woman already often shown 
 herself as courageous in the field, as wise and patriotic in counsel, as 
 man ? Have you not had the brave Jagello in your midst, and vied 
 
MRS. STANTOK'S LETTER. 2 
 
 with each other to touch but the hem of her garment ? But for my- 
 self, I believe all war sinful ; I believe in Christ ; I believe that the 
 command, ' Eesist not evil," is divine ; I would not have man go to 
 war ; I can see no glory in fighting with such weapons as guns and 
 swords, while man has in his possession the infinitely superior and 
 more effective ones of righteousness and truth. 
 
 But if woman votes, would you have her hold office ? Most cer- 
 tainly would we have woman hold office. We would have man and 
 woman what God intended they should be, companions for each other, 
 always together, in counsel, government, and every department of 
 industry. If they have homes and children, we would have them stay 
 there, educate their children, provide well for their physical wants, 
 and share in each other's daily trials and cares. Children need the 
 watchful care and wise teachings of fathers as well as of mothers. No 
 man should give up a profitable business, leave his wife and children 
 month after month, and year after year, and make his home desolate 
 for any false ideas of patriotism, for any vain love of display or am- 
 bition, for fame and distinction. The highest, holiest duty of both 
 father and mother is to their children and each other ; and when they 
 can show to the world a well-developed, wisely-governed family, then 
 let the State profit by their experience. Having done their duty at 
 home, let them together sit in our national councils. The violence, 
 rowdyism, and vulgarity which now characterize our Congressional 
 Halls, show us clearly that " it is not good for man to be alone." 
 The purifying, elevating, softening influence of woman is a most 
 healthful restraint on him at all times and in all places. We have 
 many noble women in our land, free from all domestic incumbrances, 
 who might grace a Senate chamber, and for whose services the country 
 might gladly forego all the noise, bluster, and folly of one-half the 
 male dolts, who now flourish there and pocket their eight dollars a 
 day. The most casual observer can see that there is some -essential 
 element wanting in the political organization of our Republic. The 
 voice of woman has been silenced, but man cannot .fulfil his destiny 
 alone he cannot redeem his race unaided. There must be. a great 
 national heart, as well as head ; and there are deep and tender 
 chords of sympathy and love, that woman can touch more skillfully 
 than man. The earth has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous 
 nation, for woman has never yet stood the equal with man. As with 
 nations, so with families. It is the wise mother who has the wise 
 
4 MRS. STAXTON 6 LETTER. 
 
 son, and it requires but little thought to decide, that as long as the 
 women of this nation remain but half developed in mind and body, 
 so long shall we have a succession of men dwarfed in body and soul. 
 So long as your women are mere slaves, you may throw your colleges 
 to the wind there is no material to work upon. It is in vain to 
 look for silver and gold from mines of copper and brass. How sel- 
 dom now is the father's pride gratified in the budding genius of his 
 son ? The wife is degraded, made the mere creaturg of his tyranny 
 and caprice, and now the foolish son is heaviness to his heart. Truly 
 are the sins of the father visited upon the children. God, in his wis- 
 dom, has so linked together the whole human family, that any vio- 
 lence done at one end of the chain, is felt throughout its length. 
 Adieu. Yours truly, 
 
 E. C. STANTON. 
 PAULINA W. DAVIS. 
 
LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 MRS, ELIZABETH C, STANTON, 
 
 TO THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS CONVENTION 
 
 Held at Syracuse, Sept. 1852. 
 
 SENECA FALLS, Sept. 6th. 
 
 My Dear Friends : As I cannot be present with you, I wish to 
 suggest three points, for your serious and earnest consideration. 
 
 1st. Should not all women, living in States where woman has a 
 right to hold property, refuse to pay taxes, so long as she is unrepre- 
 sented in the government of that State ? 
 
 Such a movement, if simultaneous, would no doubt produce a great 
 deal of confusion, litigation and suffering, on the part of woman ; but 
 shall we fear to suffer for the maintenance of the same glorious prin- 
 ciples, for which our fore-fathers fought, and bled, and died ? Shall 
 we deny the faith of the old revolutionary heroes, and purchase for 
 ourselves a false peace, and ignoble ease, by declaring in action, that 
 taxation without representation is just? Ah! no; like the English 
 Dissenters, and high-souled Quakers, of our own land, let us suffer 
 our property to be seized and sold but let us never pay another tax, 
 until our existence as citizens, our civil and political rights, be fully 
 recognized. 
 
 The poor, crushed slave, but yesterday toiling on the rice planta- 
 tion in Georgia, a beast, a chattel, a thing, is to-day, in the Empire 
 State, (if he own a bit of land, and a shed to cover him,) a person, and 
 may enjoy the proud honor of paying into the hand of the complai- 
 sant tax-gatherer the sum of seventy-five cents. Even so with the 
 white woman the satellite of the dinner-pot the presiding genius 
 of the wash-tub the seamstress the teacher the gay butterfly of 
 fashion the femme covert of the law. Man takes no note of her 
 
through all these changing scenes. But lo ! to-day, by the fruits of 
 her industry, she becomes the owner of a house and lot, and now her 
 existence is remembered and recognized, and she too may have the 
 privilege of contributing to the support of this mighty Republic for 
 the " white male citizen " claims of her one dollar and seventy-five 
 <ients a year because, under the glorious institutions of this free and 
 happy land, she has been able, at the age of fifty years, to possess 
 herself of a property worth the enormous sum of three hundred dol- 
 lars. It is natural to suppose, she will answer this demand on her, 
 joyously and promptly ; lor she must, in view of all her rights and 
 privileges, so long enjoyed, consider it a great favor, to be permitted 
 to contribute thus largely to the governmental treasury. 
 
 One thing is certain, this course will necessarily involve a good 
 deal of litigation, and we shall need lawyers of our own sex, whose 
 intellects, sharpened by their interests, shall be quick to discover the 
 loop-holes of retreat. Laws are capable of many and various con- 
 structions ; we find among men, that as they have new wants, as 
 they develope into more enlarged views of justice, the laws are sus- 
 ceptible of more generous interpretation, or are changed altogether ; 
 that is, all laws touching their own interests : for while man has abol- 
 ished hanging for theft, imprisonment for debt, and secured universal 
 suffrage for himself, a married woman, in most of the States of the 
 Union, remains a non-entity in law can own nothing ; can be 
 whipped and locked up by her lord ; can be worked without wages ; 
 be robbed of her inheritance, stripped of her children, and left alone, 
 and penniless and all this, they say, according to law. Now, it is 
 quite time that we have these laws revised, by our own sex for man 
 does not yet feel, that what is unjust for himself, is also unjust for 
 woman. Yes, we must have our own lawyers, as well as our physi- 
 cians and priests. Some of our women should go at once into this 
 profession, and see if there is no way by which we may shuffle off 
 our shackles, and assume our civil and political rights. We cannot 
 accept man's interpretation of the law. 
 
 2d. Do not sound philosophy, and long experience teach us, that 
 man and woman should be educated together ? 
 
 This isolation of the sexes, in all departments, in the business and 
 pleasure of life, is an evil greatly to be deplored. We see its bad 
 effects on all sides. Look at our National Councils. Would man, 
 as a statesman, ever have enacted such scenes, as the capitol of our 
 country has witnessed, had the feminine element been fairly repre- 
 sented in their midst ? Are all the duties of husband and father to 
 be made subservient to those of statesman and politician ? How 
 many of these husbands return to their homes as happy and content- 
 ed as pure and loving, as when they left ? Not one in ten. * 
 
 * * * Experience has taught us, that man has discovered the 
 most profitable branches of industry, and we demand a place by his 
 side. Inasmuch, therefore, as we have the same objects in life, name- 
 ly, the full development of all our powers, and should, to some ex- 
 
MRS. ST ANTON'S LETTER. 7 
 
 tent, have the same employments, we need precisely the same educa- 
 tion ; and we therefore claim that the best colleges of our country be 
 open to us. * * * This point, the education of boys and girls 
 together, is a question of the day ; it was prominent at the late Edu- 
 cational Convention, in Xewark ; and it is fitting that in our Con- 
 vention it should be fully discussed. My ground is, that the boy and 
 the girl, the man and the woman, should be always together, in the 
 business and pleasures of life : sharing alike its joys and sorrows, its 
 distinction and fame ; nor will they ever be harmoniously developed, 
 until they are educated together, physically, intellectually, and 
 morally. 
 
 I hope, therefore, that in the proposed People's College, some 
 place will be provided, where women can be educated side by 
 side with men. 
 
 There is no better test of the spirituality of a man, than is found 
 in his idea of the true woman. Men, having separated themselves 
 from woman, in the business of life, and thus made their natures 
 coarse, by contact with their own sex exclusively, now demand sepa- 
 rate pleasures too ; and, in lieu of the cheerful family circle, its books, 
 games, music, and pleasant conversation, they congregate in clubs, to 
 discuss politics, to gamble, drink, etc., in those costly, splendid estab- 
 lishments, got up for such as cannot find sufficient excitement, in their 
 own parlors or studios. It seems never to enter the heads of these 
 fashionable husbands, that the hours drag as heavily with their fash- 
 ionable wives, as they sit alone, night after night, in their solitary 
 elegance, wholly given over to their own cheerless reflections : for 
 what subjects of thought have they ? Gossip and fashion will do for 
 talk, but not for thought. Their Theology is too gloomy and shad- 
 owy, to afford them much pleasure in contemplation ; their Religion 
 is a thing of form, and not of life, so it brings them no joy or satis- 
 faction. As to the Reforms of the day, they are too genteel to feel 
 much interest in them. There is no class more pitiable, than the 
 unoccupied woman of fashion, thrown wholly upon herself. 
 
 * * * Does not the present abuse of the religious element in 
 woman demand our earnest attention and investigation ? 
 
 Priestcraft did not end with the beginning of the reign of Protest- 
 antism. Woman has always been the greatest dupe, because the 
 sentiments act blindly, and they alone have been educated in her. 
 
 Her veneration, not guided by an enlightened intellect, leads her 
 as readily to the worship of saints, pictures, holy days, and inspired 
 men and books, as of the living God, and the everlasting principles 
 of Justice, Mercy, and Truth. " * * 
 
 There is the Education Society, in which Avomen who can barely 
 read and write, and speak their own language correctly, form sewing 
 societies, and beg funds to educate a class of lazy, inefficient young: 
 men for the ministry, who, starting in life on the false principle that 
 it is a blessing to escape physical labor, begin at once to live on their 
 
piety. What is the result ? Why, after going through College, 
 Theological Seminaries, and a brief struggle at fitting up skeleton 
 sermons, got up by older heads, for the benefit of beginners, and after 
 preaching them for a season to those who hunger and thirst for light 
 and truth, they sink down into utter insignificance, too inefficient to 
 keep a place, and too lazy to earn the salt to their porridge whilst 
 the women work on, to educate more, for the same noble destiny. 
 Look at the long line of benevolent societies, all filled with these male 
 agents, living, like so many leeches, on the religious element in our 
 natures. Most of them, from the ranks of the clergy, who, unable 
 to build up, or keep a church, have taken refuge in some of these 
 "theological asylums for the ifitellectually maimed, halt, and blind, of 
 this profession. 
 
 Woman really thinks she is doing God service, when she casts her 
 mite into their treasury, when in fact, not one tenth of all the funds 
 raised, ever reach the ultimate object. 
 
 Among the clergy, we find our most violent enemies those most 
 opposed to any change in woman's position ; yet no sooner does one 
 of these find himself out of place and pocket, than, if all the places 
 in the various benevolent societies chance to be occupied, he takes a 
 kind of philanthropic survey of the whole habitable globe, and forth- 
 with forms a Female Benevolent Society, for the conversion of the 
 Jews, perchance, or for sending the gospel to the Feejee Islands 
 and he is, in himself, the law for the one, and the gospel for the 
 other. Now, the question is not whether the Jews are converted, or 
 whether the gospel ever reaches the Islands ; but does the agent 
 flourish ? Is his post profitable 1 And does woman beg and stitch 
 faithfully for his support, and for the promotion of his glorious 
 mission ? 
 
 Now, I ask woman, with all seriousness, considering that we have 
 little to give, had we not better bestow our own charities with our 
 own hands ? And, instead of sending our benevolent outgushings, in 
 steamers, to parts unknown, had we not better let them flow in 
 streams whose length and breadth we can survey at pleasure, know- 
 ing their source, and where they empty themselves ? 
 
 * * * Thus woman, in her present ignorance, is made to rest 
 in the most distorted view of God and the Bible, and the laws of her 
 being ; and, like the poor slave, "Uncle Tom," her religion, instead 
 of making her noble and free, and impelling her to flee from all gross 
 surroundings, by the false lessons of her spiritual teachers by the 
 wrong application of great principles of right and justice, has made 
 her bondage but more certain and lasting her degradation more 
 hopeless and complete. 
 
 ELIZABETH C. STANTOK 
 
 Masters' Print, Malcolm Block, Syracuse* 
 

 
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
 University of California Library 
 
 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 (510)642-6753 
 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing 
 books to NRLF 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 
 4 days prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AUG 1 6 2005 
 
 DD20 12M 1-05 
 
 I 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 1 783 BERKELEY, CA 94720 
 
M 148392 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY