mbarrassing for those who did.

Those who were engaged in the canvass[314] had enthusiastic
meetings everywhere. They not only filled all their regular
appointments, but spoke in the prisons, asylums; even the deaf
and dumb were refreshed with the gospel of woman suffrage. The
press, too, was generally favorable, though the opposition
magnified the occasional adverse criticisms out of all proportion
to their severity and number. Towards the last of September Miss
Anthony, by invitation of Mrs. Briggs and Mrs. Bliss of Grand
Rapids, came into the State and remained until election day. She
often brought down the house with her witty comments on the
criticisms of the press.[315]

Everything that could be done was done by the friends of the
amendment throughout the State; meetings held and tracts on every
phase of the question scattered in all the most obscure
settlements; inspiring songs sung, earnest prayers offered, the
press vigilant in its appeals, and on election day women
everywhere at the polls, persuading voters to cast their ballots
for temperance, moral purity and good order, to be secured only
by giving the right of suffrage to their mothers, wives and
daughters. But the sun went down, the polls were closed, and in
the early dawn of the next morning the women of Michigan learned
that their status as citizens of the United States had not been
advanced one iota by the liberal action of their governor, their
legislature, the appeals of the women nor the votes of 40,000 of
the best men of the State.

When the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the national
constitution were passed, many advocates of suffrage believed
that the right was conferred on women. In a letter to a State
convention held at that time, Wendell Phillips said:

The new phase of the woman movement--that claiming the right
to vote under the fourteenth amendment--is attracting great
attention in Washington. Whether it ever obtains judicial
sanction or not, it certainly gives a new and most effective
means of agitation. The argument of the minority report,
understood to be written by General Butler, is most able. *
* * The statement of the argument, and the array of cases
and authorities, are very striking. Nothing more c