as the husband on the
decease of the wife, the property subject to the same
liabilities for the payment of debts and the maintenance of
children as before the decease of the husband. I made this
small claim for the relief of many wives whose husbands had
gone into the army, leaving them with all the
responsibility; and there seemed no sufficient reason for
disturbing and distributing either the family or the estate,
when the husband exchanged the battle-field for the "sleep
that knows no waking." This petition, asking for these
reasonable and righteous laws, was, by motion of Colonel
Mack, in a spirit of burlesque, referred to the Committee on
Internal Navigation, and a burlesque report was made in open
Senate, too indecent to be entered on the records. The grave
and reverend seigniors, on this, indulged in a hearty
guffaw, hugely enjoyed by his honor Lieutenant-Governor
Hoffman, and, to this day, no further action has been taken
to give the wife and mother this small modicum of justice,
though many of the senators at that time promised the
question an early consideration.

On Saturday, October 3, 1868, a genuine sensation was produced by
the appearance of the Chicago _Legal News_, edited by Mrs. Myra
Bradwell. At this day it is impossible to realize with what
supreme astonishment this journal was received. Neither can we
estimate its influence upon the subsequent legislation of the
State. Looking through its files we find that no opportunity was
lost for exposing all laws unjust to woman, or for noting each
indication of progress throughout the world. Under date of
October 31, 1868, a short article in regard to the "Citizenship
of Women" reads thus:

The act of congress provides that any alien, being a free
white person, may become a citizen of the United States.
While congress was very careful to limit this great
privilege of citizenship to the free white person, it made
no distinction or limitation whatever on account of sex.
Under this statute it has been held that a married woman
may be naturalized and become a citizen of the United
States, and that, too, without the consent of her husband. A