national life.

_Resolved_, That the decision of Chief Justice Waite, in the case of
Virginia L. Minor of Missouri, that according to the Federal
Constitution woman is a citizen, but not entitled to the right of
suffrage, is more infamous and retrogressive in principle at this
hour, than was Chief-Justice Tancy's decision in the Dred Scott case,
that a black man was not a United States citizen, and therefore not
entitled to the rights of a citizen of every State.

_Whereas_, By the recent decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of
Myra Bradwell of Illinois, and of Virginia L. Minor of Missouri, the
Federal Constitution is declared powerless to protect the civil and
political rights of woman.

_Resolved_, That it is the duty of Congress to take the necessary
steps to secure an amendment to the Constitution that shall prohibit
the several States from disfranchising citizens of the United States
on account of sex.

_Whereas_, One of the strongest evidences of the degradation of
disfranchised classes is the denial of their right to testify against
their rulers in courts of justice (slaves could not testify against
their masters; Chinamen in California to-day can not testify against
white men, nor wives in cases of crim. con. against their husbands);
therefore

_Resolved_, That the denial of Elizabeth R. Tilton's right to testify
in the pending Brooklyn trial, is but proof of woman's need of the
ballot in her own right for self-defence and self-protection.

_Resolved_, That as the proposition for woman's enfranchisement is to
be submitted in Iowa, in 1876, the National Woman Suffrage Association
will hold there 100 county conventions, and by lectures and the
circulation of tracts, help the women of Iowa to make a thorough
canvass of the State.

_Resolved_, That we congratulate the women of England for the large
vote secured on the Woman's Disabilities Bill in the House of Commons.
With a Queen on her throne, 400,000 women already voting, and her
Premier in favor of the measure, England bids fair to take the lead in
the complete enfranchisement of women.

[162] Rev. O. B. Frothingham, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Rev. Olympia Brown,
Lillie Devereux Blake, Carrie S. Burnham, Mrs. Stanton, and Miss
Anthony.

[163] Matilda Joslyn Gage, President; Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Vice-Presidents; Henrietta P. Westbrook, Recording Secretary;
Isabella Beecher Hooker, Corresponding Secretary; Ellen Clark Sargent,
T