getting up to the polls, crowded out
and crowded in. I rather think they would feel it, instead of a
privilege, a dishonor. There is another reason why the right
should not be extended to them, unless it is the purpose of the
honorable member and of the Senate to go a step further. The
reason why the males are accorded the privilege, and why it was
almost universal in the United States with reference to those of
a certain age, is that they may be called upon to defend the
country in time of war or in time of insurrection. I do not
suppose it is pretended that the ladies should be included in the
militia organization or be compelled to take up arms to defend
the country. That must be done by the male sex, I hope.

But I rose not so much for the purpose of expressing my own
opinion, or reasoning rather upon the opinion, as to refer to a
sentence or two in a letter written many years ago, by the elder
Adams, to a correspondent in Massachusetts. It was proposed at
that time in Massachusetts to alter the suffrage. It was then
limited in that State. That limitation, it was suggested, should
be taken away in whole or in part, and the correspondent to whom
this letter was addressed seems to have been in favor of that
change. Mr. Adams, under date of the 26th of May, 1776, writes to
his correspondent, Mr. James Sullivan, a name famous in the
annals of Massachusetts, and well known to the United States, a
long letter, of which I shall read only a sentence or two. It is
to be found in the ninth volume of the works of John Adams,
beginning at page 375. In that letter Mr. Adams, among other
things, says: "But let us first suppose that the whole community,
of every age, rank, sex, and condition, has a right to vote. This
community is assembled. A motion is made and carried by a
majority of one voice. The minority will not agree to this.
Whence arises the right of the majority to govern and the
obligation of the minority to obey?

"From necessity, you will say, because there can be no other
rule. But why exclude women?

"You will say, because their delicacy renders them unfit for
practice and experience in the great businesses of life and the
hardy enterprises of war, as well as the arduous cares of state.
Besides, their attention is so much engaged