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Matilda Joslyn Gage Website
Protest Against the Unjust Interpretation of the Constitution
Presented on Behalf of the Women of the United States by the Officers of the National Woman Suffrage Association to the President of the United States, the Governors of the States, and other Federal and State Officals, on the occasion of the Constitutional Centennial in Philadelphia, September 17th, 1887
Rejoicing as dwellers in this favored land that the noble series of celebrations in commemoration of the birth of a mighty nation have been fittingly brought to a conclusion by the ceremonies of this day, we yet cannot allow the occasion to pass without reminding you that one-half the people who obey the laws of the United states are unjustly denied all place of part in the body politic. In the midst of the pomps and glories of this celebration women are only onlookers, voiceless and unrepresented.
This denial of our chartered rights, this injustice of which we complain, is inflicted in defiance of the provisions of the Constitution you profess to honor. When we examine that instrument we find it is declared in the Preamble that it was; "Ordained and established by 'The People of the United States,' " one-half of the people of the United States are women, yet they are allowed no voice, direct or indirect, in framing this Constitution or executing its provisions, we protest therefore that the words of the Preamble have been falsified for a hundred years.
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We find it declared in Article I, Section 2, that "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen by the people." One-half of the people of every State are women and yet they have never been permitted to choose the members of the House of Representatives. We protest therefore that this important provision of the Constitution has been shamefully violated and that the denial to women of the right thus plainly secured to them, has been a grievous wrong.
We find that in Article IV, Section 2, it is declared: "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several states." The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that women are citizens, and yet these millions of citizens are denied the privilege of the ballot, which is throughout the land granted to male citizens and refused to female citizens. We protest therefore that in thus denying to women the exercise of the elective franchise, the fundamental rights of citizenship are withheld in defiance of a direct provision of the Constitution.
We find that in Article IV, Section 4, it is declared that: "The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a Republican form of Government." A Republic is defined as "a state governed by representatives elected by the citizens." One-half of the citizens of every state are women; they have never been permitted to elect the officials who have held rule over them. We protest therefore that the provisions of this article have never been fulfilled, that not a solitary state in the Union has a Republican form of Government. But, that on the contrary, each and every one is a despotism under which one-half the citizens are held in a condition of political slavery.
The recital of these facts is the summary of a century of injustice. We solemnly and earnestly protest against its continuance, and demand that hereafter the Constitution of these United States shall be interpreted in accordance with the simple words in which it is framed. That there shall be no longer a cruel and unwarranted discrimination against any class of our citizens, but that in the future all the people of the nation shall have an equal voice in choosing the rulers whose high mission it shall be to guide a true Republic on its course of glory.
On behalf of the National Woman Suffrage Association
Susan B. Anthony (NY), Acting President
Matilda Joslyn Gage (NY), Vice-President-at-Large
Rachel G. Foster (Pa), Corresponding Secretary
Mary Wright Seweall (Ind), Chairman Executive Committee
Lillie Devereux Blake (NY), Vice-President for New York, Chairman Presentation Committee
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