from the old Common Law of England, in regard to the civil rights of
women, from 1848 to the advance legislation in most of the Northern
States in 1880, marks an era both in the status of woman as a citizen
and in our American system of jurisprudence. When the State of New
York gave married women certain rights of property, the individual
existence of the wife was recognized, and the old idea that "husband
and wife are one, and that one the husband," received its death-blow.
From that hour the statutes of the several States have been steadily
diverging from the old English codes. Most of the Western States
copied the advance legislation of New York, and some are now even more
liberal.

The broader demand for political rights has not commanded the thought
its merits and dignity should have secured. While complaining of many
wrongs and oppressions, women themselves did not see that the
political disability of sex was the cause of all their special
grievances, and that to secure equality anywhere, it must be
recognized everywhere. Like all disfranchised classes, they begun by
asking to have certain wrongs redressed, and not by asserting their
own right to make laws for themselves.

Overburdened with cares in the isolated home, women had not the time,
education, opportunity, and pecuniary independence to put their
thoughts clearly and concisely into propositions, nor the courage to
compare their opinions with one another, nor to publish them, to any
great extent, to the world.

It requires philosophy and heroism to rise above the opinion of the
wise men of all nations and races, that to be unknown, is the highest
testimonial woman can have to her virtue, delicacy and refinement.

A certain odium has ever rested on those who have risen above the
conventional level and sought new spheres for thought and action, and
especially on the few who demand complete equality in political
rights. The leaders in this movement have been women of superior
mental and physical organization, of good social standing and
education, remarkable alike for their domestic virtues, knowledge of
public affairs, and rare executive ability; good speakers and writers,
inspiring and conducting the genuine reforms of the day; everywhere
exerting themselves to promote the best interests of society; yet they
have been uniformly ridiculed, misrepresented, and denounced in public
and private by all classes of society.

Woman's political equality with m