suffrage." Your platform of 1872 declared "the Republican party
mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of the nation for
their noble devotion to the cause of freedom." Devotion to
freedom is no new thing for the women of this nation. From the
earliest history of our country, woman has shown herself as
patriotic as man in every great emergency in the nation's life.
From the Revolution to the present hour, woman has stood by the
side of father, husband, son and brother in defense of liberty.
The heroic and self-sacrificing deeds of the women of this
republic, both in peace and war, must not be forgotten. Together
men and women have made this country what it is. And to-day, in
this one-hundredth year of our existence, the women--as members
of the nation--as citizens of the United States--ask national
recognition of their right of suffrage.

The Declaration of Independence struck a blow at every existent
form of government, by declaring the individual the source of all
power. Upon this one newly proclaimed truth our nation arose. But
if States may deny suffrage to any class of citizens, or confer
it at will upon any class--as according to the Minor-Happersett
decision of the Supreme Court--a decision rendered under the
auspices of the Republican party against suffrage as a
constituent element of United States citizenship--we then possess
no true national life. If States can deny suffrage to citizens of
the United States, then States possess more power than the United
States, and are more truly national in the character of their
governments. National supremacy does not chiefly mean power "to
levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish
commerce"; it means national protection and security in the
exercise of the right of self-government, which comes alone, by
and through the use of the ballot.

Even granting the premise of the Supreme-Court decision that "the
Constitution of the United States does not confer suffrage on any
one"; our national life does not date from that instrument. The
constitution is not the original declaration of rights. It was
not framed until eleven years after our existence as a nation,
nor fully ratified until nearly fourteen years after the
commencement of our national life. This centennial celebrat