republican government
must ever be the wisdom and virtue of the people.

In this State our system of jurisprudence is a combination
of civil and Spanish law, intermixed with the common law of
England; and this peculiar system, just in all its parts for
the preservation of the rights of married and unmarried
women, is likely to be continued. The time was when woman
was regarded as the mere slave of man. It was believed, in
order to perpetuate the pretended divine right of kings to
rule, that the mass of the people should be kept in profound
ignorance and that woman was not entitled to the benefits of
learning at all. It is not remarkable that as the benign
principles of Christianity have been promulgated, free
government has steadily progressed and the divine rights of
woman have been recognized.

The old constitution of the republic of Texas, the
constitution of the State of Texas of 1845, the laws enacted
for the protection of married women, the many learned
decisions of the Supreme Courts of Texas and Louisiana, and
other courts, clearly indicate that the march of
intelligence is onward and that our advanced civilization
has approximated to the period when other and more sacred
rights are to be conceded. Is it just that woman, who bears
her reasonable portion of the burdens of government, should
be denied the right of aiding in the enactment of its laws?

The question of extending the freedom of the ballot to woman
may well claim the attention of the law-maker, and in view
of the importance of the subject a majority of your
committee earnestly recommend the passage of the
declaration.

H. C. HUNT, _Chairman_,

T. H. MUNDINE, BENJ. WATROUS,
WM. H. FLEMING, L. P. HARRIS.

A DECLARATION.

Be it declared by the people of Texas in convention
assembled, that the following shall be a section of the
constitution of the State of Texas, known as section ---- of
article ----: Every person, without distinction of sex, who
shall have arrive