Committee on the District of Columbia.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Friday, March 31, 1876.

Mr. COX: Mr. Speaker, I am requested to present a memorial,
asking for a form of government in the District of Columbia which
shall secure to its women the right to vote; and I ask the grace
and favor to have this memorial printed in the _Record_.

Mr. BANKS: Mr. Speaker, I beg the privilege of saying a few words
in favor of the request made by the gentleman from New York who
presents this memorial. It is a hundred years this day since Mrs.
Abigail Adams, of Massachusetts, wrote to her husband, John
Adams, then a member of the continental convention, entreating
him to give to women the power to protect their own rights and
predicting a general revolution if justice was denied them. Mrs.
Adams was one of the noblest women of that period, distinguished
by heroism and patriotism never surpassed in any age. She was
wife of the second and mother of the sixth president of the
United States, and her beneficent influence was felt in political
as well as in social circles. It was perhaps the first demand for
the recognition of the rights of her sex made in this country,
and is one of the centennial incidents that should be remembered.
It came from a good quarter. This memorial represents half a
million of American women. They ask for the organization of a
government in the District of Columbia that will recognize their
political rights. I voted some years ago to give women the right
to vote in this District, and recalling the course of its
government I think it would have done no harm if they had enjoyed
political rights.

Mr. KASSON: I suggest that the memorial be printed without the
names.

Mr. COX: There are no names appended except those of the officers
of the National Woman Suffrage Association; and I hope they will
be printed with the memorial.

Mr. HENDEE: I trust the gentleman will allow this petition to be
referred to the committee of which I am a member: the Committee
for the District of Columbia. There being no objection, the
memorial was read and referred to the Committee for the District
of Columbia, and ordered to be printed in the _Record_.

At the close of the convention a hearing was granted to the ladies
before the co