io, as has already been
proved in this debate. I am, therefore, sir, for keeping these
questions apart. I am for securing the needed suffrage for the
colored race. I am for enfranchising the black man, and then if
this other question shall come up in due time, and I have a vote
to give, I shall be ready to give my vote for it. But to vote for
it now is to couple it with the great measure now pressing upon
us, to weaken that measure and to endanger its immediate triumph,
and therefore I shall vote against the amendment proposed by the
Senator from Pennsylvania, made, it is too apparent, not for the
enfranchisement of woman, but against the enfranchisement of the
black man.

Mr. JOHNSON: The immediate question before the Senate, I
understand, is upon the amendment offered by the honorable member
from Pennsylvania, which, if I am correctly informed, is to
strike out the word "male," so as to give to all persons,
independent of sex, the right of voting. It is, therefore, a
proposition to admit to the right of suffrage all the females in
the District of Columbia who may have the required residence and
are of the required age. I am not aware that the right is given
to that class anywhere in the United States. I believe for a very
short time--my friend from New Jersey will inform me if I am
correct--it was more or less extended to the women of New Jersey;
but, if that be an exception, it is, as far as I am informed, the
only exception; and there are a variety of reasons why, as I
suppose, the right has never been extended as now proposed.

Ladies have duties peculiar to themselves which can not be
discharged by anybody else; the nurture and education of their
children, the demands upon them consequent upon the preservation
of their household; and they are supposed to be more or less in
their proper vocation when they are attending to those particular
duties. But independent of that, I think if it was submitted to
the ladies--I mean the ladies in the true acceptation of the
term--of the United States, the privilege would not only not be
asked for, but would be rejected. I do not think the ladies of
the United States would agree to enter into a canvass, and to
undergo what is often the degradation of seeking to vote,
particularly in the cities,