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1 George William Curtis, Equal Rights for All 1 (1867)

handle is hein.peggy/equrigal0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Equal R k/is for All -Charles Sumner GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS IN THE NEW YORK STATE C(NSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 1867 The Suffrage Committee reported as follows: StcIoN I. Every man of the age- of twenty-one years who shall have been an inhabitant of this State * * * * * * * Mr. Curtis moved as an amendment: In the first section, strike out the word man' : and wherever in that section the wor' he occurs, add or she ; an-l whercvcr the word his occurs, add or her. N proposing a change so new to our political practice, but so harmonious with the spirit and principles of our Government, it is only just that I should attempt to show that it is neither re- pugnant to reason nor hurtful to the State. Yet I confess some embarrassment; for, while the essential reason of the proposition seems to me to be clearly defined, the objectiun to it is vague and shadowy. From the formal opening of the general discus- sion of the question in this country, by the Convention at Seneca Falls in 1848, down to the present moment, the opposition to the suggestion, so far as I am acquainted with it, has been only a repetition of a traditional prejudice, or the protest of mere sen- timentality; and to cope with these is like wrestling with a malaria, or arguing with the east wind. I do not know, indeed, why the Committee have changed the phrase male inhabitant or citizen, which is uniformly usedin a constitutional clause limiting the elective franchise. Under the circuinstances, the word rnai i5, t)'ruc, and undoubt- edly inclu(ds women as itchW is the wvord mankind. But the intention of, the clause is evident, and the report of the Con- mittee makes it indisvtable. Had they been willing to say Reproduction by Permission of Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Buffalo, NY

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