claration without a
word. Then the four intrepid women filed out, distributing printed
copies of their declaration while General Hawley boomed out, "Order!
Order!"

Leaving the square and mounting a platform erected for musicians in
front of Independence Hall, they waited until a curious crowd had
gathered around them. Then while Mrs. Gage held an umbrella over Susan
to shield her from the hot sun, she read the Women's Declaration in a
loud clear voice that carried far.

"We do rejoice in the success, thus far, of our experiment of
self-government," she began. "Our faith is firm and unwavering in the
broad principles of human rights proclaimed in 1776, not only as
abstract truths, but as the cornerstones of a republic. Yet we cannot
forget, even in this glad hour, that while all men of every race, and
clime, and condition, have been invested with the full rights of
citizenship under our hospitable flag, all women still suffer the
degradation of disfranchisement."[329]

Then she enumerated women's grievances and the crowd applauded as she
drove home point after point.

"Woman," she continued, "has shown equal devotion with man to the
cause of freedom and has stood firmly by his side in its defense.
Together they have made this country what it is.... We ask our rulers,
at this hour, no special favors, no special privileges.... We ask
justice, we ask equality, we ask that all civil and political rights
that belong to the citizens of the United States be guaranteed to us
and our daughters forever."

Stepping down from the platform into the applauding crowd which
eagerly reached for printed copies of the declaration, she and her
four companions hurried to the First Unitarian Church where an eager
audience awaited their report and hailed their courage.

[Illustration: Aaron A. Sargent]

The New York _Tribune_, commenting on Susan's militancy, prophesied
that it foreshadowed "the new forms of violence and disregard of order
which may accompany the participation of women in active partisan
politics."[330]

* * * * *

Nor was Congress impressed by Susan's centennial publicity demanding a
federal woman suffrage amendment. She had gathered petitions from
twenty-six states with 10,000 signatures which were presented to the
Senate in 1877. The majority of the Senators found these petitions
uproariously funny, and Susan in the visitors' gallery at the time of
their presentation was infuriat