at our very mistakes shall argue
for us and not against us.

In the ages past the right of citizenship meant the right to
enjoy or possess or attain all those civil and political rights
that are enjoyed by any other citizen. But here we have a class
who can bear the burdens and punishments of citizens, but cannot
enjoy their privileges and rights. But even the meanest may
petition, and so we come with our thousands of petitions, asking
you to protect us against the unjust discriminations imposed by
State laws. Nor do we find that there is any conflict between the
duties of the national government and the functions of the State.
The United States government has to do with general interests,
but everything that is special, has to do with sectional
interests, belongs to the State. Said Charles Sumner:

The State exercises its proper functions when it makes local
laws, promotes local charities, and by its local knowledge
brings the guardianship of government to the homes of its
citizens; but the State transcends its proper functions when
in any manner it interferes with those equal rights recorded
in the Declaration of Independence.

The State is local, the United States is universal. And, says
Charles Sumner, "What can be more universal than the rights of
man?" I would add, "What can be more universal than the rights of
woman?" extending further than the rights of man, because woman
is the heaven-appointed guardian of the home; because woman by
her influence and in her office as an educator makes the
character of man; because women are to be found wherever men are
to be found, as their mothers bringing them into the world,
watching them, teaching them, guiding them into manhood. Wherever
there is a home, wherever there is a human interest, there is to
be felt the interest of women, and so this cause is the most
universal of any cause under the sun; and, therefore, it has a
claim upon the general government. Therefore we come petitioning
that you will protect us in our rights, by aiding us in the
passage of the sixteenth amendment, which will make the
constitution plain in our favor, or by such actions as will
enable us to cast our ballots at the polls without being
interfered with by State authorities. And we