lowing protest was presented by Mrs. Gage, adopted by the
convention, printed and extensively circulated:

_To the Political Sovereigns of the United States in Independence
Hall assembled:_

We, the undersigned women of the United States, asserting our
faith in the principles of the Declaration of Independence and in
the constitution of the United States, proclaiming it as the best
form of government in the world, declare ourselves a part of the
people of the nation unjustly deprived of the guaranteed and
reserved rights belonging to citizens of the United States;
because we have never given our consent to this government;
because we have never delegated our rights to others; because
this government is false to its underlying principles; because it
has refused to one-half its citizens the only means of
self-government--the ballot; because it has been deaf to our
appeals, our petitions and our prayers;

Therefore, in presence of the assembled nations of all the world,
we protest against this government of the United States as an
oligarchy of sex, and not a true republic; and we protest against
calling this a centennial celebration of the independence of the
people of the United States.

Letters[2] were read and a series of resolutions were discussed and
adopted:

_Resolved_, That the demand for woman suffrage is but the
next step in the great movement which began with _Magna
Charta_, and which has ever since tended toward vesting
government in the whole body of the people.

_Resolved_, That we demand of the forty-fourth congress, in
order that it may adequately celebrate the centennial year,
the admission to the polls of the women of all the
territories, and a submission to the legislatures of the
several States of an amendment securing to women the
elective franchise.

_Resolved_, That the enfranchisement of women means wiser
and truer wedlock, purer and happier homes, healthier and
better children, and strikes, as nothing else does, at the
very roots of pauperism and crime.

_Resolved_, That if Colorado would come into the Union in a
befitting manner for the celebration of the centennial of
the Declaration of Independence, she should give the ballot