ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, _President_.

MATILDA JOSLYN GAGE, _Corresponding Secretary_.
SUSAN B. ANTHONY, _Chairman Executive Committee_.

At the opening of the last session of the forty-fifth congress most
earnest appeals (copies of which were sent to every member of
congress) came from all directions for the presentation of a
minority report from the Committee on Privileges and Elections. The
response from our representatives was prompt and most encouraging.
The first favorable report our question had ever received in the
Senate of the United States was presented by the Hon. George F.
Hoar, February 1, 1879:

_The undersigned, a minority of the Committee on Privileges and
Elections, to whom were referred the resolution proposing an
amendment to the constitution prohibiting discrimination in the
right of suffrage on account of sex, and certain petitions in aid
of the same, submit the following minority report:_

The undersigned dissent from the report of the majority of the
committee. The demand for the extension of the right of suffrage
to women is not new. It has been supported by many persons in
this country, in England and on the continent, famous in public
life, in literature and in philosophy. But no single argument of
its advocates seems to us to carry so great a persuasive force as
the difficulty which its ablest opponents encounter in making a
plausible statement of their objections. We trust we do not fail
in deference to our esteemed associates on the committee when we
avow our opinion that their report is no exception to this rule.

The people of the United States and of the several States have
founded their political institutions upon the principle that all
men have an equal right to a share in the government. The
doctrine is expressed in various forms. The Declaration of
Independence asserts that "all men are created equal" and that
"governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed." The Virginia bill of rights, the work of Jefferson and
George Mason, affirms that "no man or set of men are entitled to
exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the rest of
the community but in consideration of public services." The
Massachusetts bill of rights, the work of John Adams, besides
reaffirming these axioms, declares t