life intolerable, so that she is forced to leave him, he has the
power to retain her children, and "seize her and bring her back,
for he has a right to her society which he may enforce, either
against herself or any other person who detains her" (Walker,
page 226). Woman by being thus subject to the control, and
dependent on the will of man, loses her self-dependence; and no
human being can be deprived of this without a sense of
degradation. The law should sustain and protect all who come
under its sway, and not create a state of dependence and
depression in any human being. The laws should not make woman a
mere pensioner on the bounty of her husband, thus enslaving her
will and degrading her to a condition of absolute dependence.

Believing that woman does not suffer alone when subject to
oppressive and unequal laws, but that whatever affects
injuriously her interests, is subversive of the highest good of
the race, we earnestly request that in the New Constitution you
are about to form for the State of Ohio, women shall be secured,
not only the right of suffrage, but all the political and legal
rights that are guaranteed to men.

After some discussion the memorial was adopted. With the hope of
creating a feeling of moral responsibility on this vital question, an
earnest address[16] to the women of the State was also presented,
discussed, and adopted.

ADDRESS TO THE WOMEN OF OHIO.

How shall the people be made wiser, better, and happier, is one
of the grand inquiries of the present age. The various benevolent
associations hold up to our view special forms of evil, and
appeal to all the better feelings of our nature for sympathy, and
claim our active efforts and co-operation to eradicate them.
Governments, at times, manifest an interest in human suffering;
but their cold sympathy and tardy efforts seldom avail the
sufferer until it is too late. Philanthropists, philosophers, and
statesmen study and devise ways and means to ameliorate the
condition of the people. Why have they so little practical
effect? It is because the means employed are not adequate to the
end sought for. To ameliorate the effects of evil seems to have
been the climax of philanthropic effort. We respectfully suggest
that lopping the branches of the tree but causes