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1 Legal Condition of Women in Massachusetts in 1875 1875

handle is hein.beal/legcdi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: . CONDI[ IN MASSA IN BY lION. SAM This little tract was originally prepared in .18 A revise-d edition was issued in 1S 0, gontaining notices of the changes in the laws re Lprd to women, which had been made ce llwv& Statutes since passed render it ssary to embody in a new edition still her and im rtant changes. )`fy objcc-t, r. the following pages, is to y esent an outline of the laws of M asaachu- setts affecting women, as distinguished from men, with occasional comments. The law of this Commonwealth, however, is so like that of most of the States, that the greater part of what I write will apply to many of the others. Nothing more than a mere sketch, and that an imperfect one, is sible within the limits that I propose. I a aim to present the n=: Important features of the system; though even of these many of the qualifica- tions, distinctions and exceptions, will be necessarily passed without notice. A large and instructive volume in regard to the sub- Ject might be written. Most people have a nerr.l idea of the le- gi disaosities of the female sex. But ve r few, except lawyer, understand, in their Rtll extent, the aunoyance and oppression to which our ssm subjects women, until some hard case their attention to a peculiar form of this injustice. The Delaration of Indepedene prodaims t~4t all men are created equal and have Iiallenable rights. We all admit this. And tis cocedej that the word men here in- cludes pereons of both sexes, and the word equal means equality of rights, not of ca- WL efforson wrote tbhee -'ors, which have been cited my tisousands of times, and ar ': worth citing, he was, no doubt, far firme tinking of all the applications of the terUh he was publishin. The Constitution of Massachusetts, follow- ing the Declaration. says, All men are bored ree asd equal,' and have unalienable I;ghts. T6e Constitutio. of Massai+chett. denie Suffrage to Woman, an$ Ulns is inconsisWt th itself. and also violatee the great prini- p of the Declaration of Independenoe, the wganic law of the nation, by giving man a h and rivilege, and refusing th'j ..º _ SiIS to them as his eqiual. d o1ehmm m is se ag.tse- t '1 tinn dkee to vemsa, since 'in 0 S....L as doszb1, Ua t 3eir other wu TiON OF OMEN 04 ACHUSETTS . rw m GEL E. SHW VL. This refusal of the ballot perpetuates the stigma of inferiority on more than one half of the whole population of the State. The effect is obvious. We look upon the ballot as one of the great educators of male citizens, be- cause it interests them in public affairs, and leads them to consider and discuss important questions of legislation. OurConstitution not only shuts out this great avenue of edueati:,n from our female citizens, but the legal inferi- ority tends in every direction to produce the mental inferiority which it presupposes. It cramps thought, and paralyzes effort. The secondary effects of this Inferiority are equally if not more disastrous. Aden fall short of the high character which would be infused into them through the superior moral and in- tellectual power which women would acq uire in consequence of gaining the great franchise. Our legislation is degraded, and ouaesociet debased, because the two sex do not assoc ate as equals in the most important business of the nation. It is hardly necessary to add, that to de rive any class of p rsons who pay taxes of the right of voting, violates the principle for which our fathers contended during the revolution, that taxation without represemaition is tyran- ny. Thousands of women pay taxes inMa,.. sachusetts, some of them very large ones. In 1871, women paid nearly two million dollars of the sums raised by taxation on real and peronal property in iies and towns in Mas- sachusetts, being vey nearly one eleventh of the whole amount assessed. In Boston, In 1873, women paid nearly thirteen hundred thousand dollars of the taxes levied be '!u city, being morm than one tmnth of tiw ..hole a.,uIAnL* get women have no voice in di- recting the appropriation of their money, ' compelled to submit toenactments from %,aich their moral instinct rs'olts, and have no pow- er to urge effecrally refarms which they be- leve to be all-important. Since women are 'i: allowed to vote they are generally con- .4dered ineligible to any public ofce, and in- pable of holding any by appointment of the governor. I am far from assenting to this view of the law; for, in my opinion, an ld on, even an alien or a woman, is legally ca- able of holding any office, unless expressly rohibited by the Constitution er .itrtates. WHilam, t flow4ttct, aut., hao 1sa. I. ,LKae a ssm. It Is full of ,aluab.l lai.,rt.al Ned bs- ducal esor W aon the saJs.A, wIth as as - oe wtad by afv asseratss at w U5* Digitized from Best Copy Available

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