n for the right to vote.
Why is it, my friends, that Congress has enacted laws to give the
negro of the South the right to vote? Why do they not at the same
time protect the negro woman? If Congress really means to protect
the negro race, they should have acknowledged woman just as much
as man; not only in the South, but here in the North, the only
way to protect her is by the ballot. We have often heard from
this platform, and I myself have often said, that with individual
man we do not find fault. We do not war with man; we war with bad
principles. And let me ask whether we have not the right to war
with these principles which stamp the degradation of inferiority
upon women.

This Society calls itself the Equal Rights Association. That I
understand to be an association which has no distinction of sex,
class, or color. Congress does not seem to understand the meaning
of the term universal. I understand the word universal to include
ALL. Congress understood that Universal Suffrage meant the white
man only. Since the war we have changed the name for Impartial
Suffrage. When some of our editors, such as Mr. Greeley and
others, were asked what they meant by impartial suffrage, they
said, "Why, man, of course; the man and the brother." Congress
has enacted resolutions for the suffrage of men and brothers.
They don't speak of the women and sisters. [Applause.] They have
begun to change their tactics, and call it manhood suffrage. I
propose to call it Woman Suffrage; then we shall know what we
mean. We might commence by calling the Chinaman a man and a
brother, or the Hottentot, or the Calmuck, or the Indian, the
idiot or the criminal, but where shall we stop? They will bring
all these in before us, and then they will bring in the
babies--the _male_ babies. [Laughter.] I am a foreigner. I had
great difficulty in acquiring the English language, and I never
shall acquire it. But I am afraid that in the meaning of language
Congress is a great deal worse off than I have ever been. I go
for the change of name; I will not be construed into a man and a
brother. I ask the same rights for women that are extended to
men--the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
and every pursuit in life must be as free and open to me as any
man in the l