" in the Federal
Constitution, where it has never been, and thereby put up a new
barrier against the enfranchisement of woman. This fresh insult
to the women of the Republic, who so bravely shared the dangers
and sacrifices of the late war, has roused us to more earnest and
persistent efforts to secure those rights, privileges, and
immunities that belong to every citizen under Government. As you
hold the Constitution of the fathers to be a sacred legacy to us
and our children forever, we ask you to save it from this
desecration, which deprives one-half our citizens of the right of
representation in the Government. Over this base proposition the
nation has stood silent and indifferent. While the dominant party
has with one hand lifted up two million black men and crowned
them with the honor and dignity of citizenship, with the other it
has dethroned fifteen million white women--their own mothers and
sisters, their own wives and daughters--and cast them under the
heel of the lowest orders of manhood.

We appeal to you, not only because you, being in a minority, are
in a position to consider principles, but because you have been
the party heretofore to extend the suffrage. It was the
Democratic party that fought most valiantly for the removal of
the "property qualification" from all white men, and thereby
placed the poorest ditch-digger on a political level with the
proudest millionaire. This one act of justice to workingmen has
perpetuated your power, with but few interruptions, from that
time until the war. And now you have an opportunity to confer a
similar boon on the women of the country, and thus possess
yourselves of a new talisman that will insure and perpetuate your
political power for decades to come.

While the first and highest motive we would urge on you, is the
recognition in all your action of the great principles of justice
and equality that are the foundation of a republican government,
it is not unworthy to remind you that the party that takes this
onward step will reap its just reward. It needs but little
observation to see that the tide of progress in all countries is
setting toward the enfranchisement of woman, and that this
advance step in civilization is destined to be taken in our day.

We conjure you, then, to tur