The History of Woman Suffrage Volume III Part 81

In the spring of 1882 the officers of the State society issued a call for a ma.s.s-meeting, to which "all women within the boundaries of the State who believed in equal suffrage, or were interested in the fate of the pending amendment," were invited.

The meeting was held on May 19, at the Grand Opera House, and the attendance exceeded the most extravagant hopes of those who had called it. If any came to scoff, they remained to partic.i.p.ate with pride in this remarkable convention, which is yet frequently referred to as the largest and most impressive meeting ever held in the Hoosier capital. The call had invited those who could not attend the meeting to manifest their sympathy by sending postal-cards to the corresponding secretary. These were received in such numbers for several days that Mrs. Adkinson and the half-dozen clerks appointed to a.s.sist her in counting them, unable to bring in a full report, announced at the close of the evening session, that having reached 5,000, they desisted from further enumeration.

No effort was spared to make the demonstration truly representative of the suffrage interest throughout the State. All the sessions were presided over by Mrs. Sewall, who called the roll by congressional districts, some one of whose representatives responded. The ease and dignity with which women, many of whom had never spoken before any audience save their own neighbors gathered in Sunday-school or prayer-meeting, reported the status of their respective communities on the suffrage question, was matter of astonishment as well as of admiration.[337] So exceptional in all regards was the conduct of the meeting that the papers united in expressing surprise at the strength of the suffrage sentiment in the State as indicated by the ma.s.s-convention.

This meeting of May 19, 1882, struck the key on which the friends in the State spoke during the summer and fall of that year. Large numbers of societies were organized and numerous meetings held; the immediate object being to secure the election of a legislature that should vote to submit the amendment pa.s.sed by the General a.s.sembly of 1881 to the decision of what is mis-named "a popular vote." The degree to which this action influenced the politicians of the State cannot be accurately known, but we are compelled to believe that it was one of the causes which induced the Republicans in convention a.s.sembled to declare for the "submission of the pending amendments." The Republican State convention was held August 8, 1882, and the first plank in the platform reads thus:

_Resolved, First_--That reposing trust in the people as the fountain of power, we demand that the pending amendments to the const.i.tution shall be agreed to and submitted by the next legislature to the voters of the State for their decision thereon. These amendments were not partisan in their origin, and are not so in character, and should not be made so in voting upon them. Recognizing the fact that the people are divided in sentiment in regard to the propriety of their adoption or rejection, and cheris.h.i.+ng the right of private judgment, we favor the submission of these amendments at a special election, so that there may be an intelligent decision thereon, uninfluenced by partisan issues.

At the ma.s.s-meeting of May 19, Mrs. P. T. Merritt of Indianapolis, Mrs. M. E. M. Price of Kokomo, and Mrs. J. C.

Ridpath of Greencastle were appointed as delegates to the different political State conventions. As a Republican, Mrs.

Merritt was received with great courtesy and accorded time to speak. Her address was characterized by sound logic and dignity of expression, and was reported in full with the rest of the proceedings of the Republican convention. As a prohibition amendment had also been pa.s.sed by the legislature of 1881, the interests of suffrage and prohibition in the campaign of 1882 were identical. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana sent Mrs. Helen M. Gougar to the Republican State convention, by which she was respectfully received and which she ably addressed.

The advocates of suffrage did not content themselves during the summer of 1882 by merely holding suffrage meetings proper, and addressing political bodies, but they sought every opportunity to reach the ears of the people for whatever purpose convened. The Equal Suffrage Society received from the managers of the Acton camp-meeting a place on their programme; accordingly Mrs. Haggart and Mrs. Gougar, as delegates, addressed immense audiences. Both of these ladies labored indefatigably, discussing the question of submission of the amendments before Sunday-school conventions, teachers' a.s.sociations, agricultural fairs, picnics and a.s.semblies of every name. Others rendered less conspicuous, but not less earnest or constant service; and when the political campaign proper opened, it was evident that every candidate would firmly and unreservedly answer the challenge: "Submission, or non-submission?"

For the first time in the history of Indiana, women were employed by party managers to address political meetings and advocate the election of candidates. Mrs. Gougar addressed Republican rallies at various points; she and Mrs. Haggart together made a canva.s.s of Tippecanoe county on behalf of the Republican candidate for representative in the General a.s.sembly, Captain W. De Witt Wallace, who was committed not only to the submission of the amendments, but also to the advocacy of both woman suffrage and prohibition. The animosity of the liquor league was aroused, and this powerful a.s.sociation threw itself against submission. The result was the election of a legislature containing so large a Democratic majority that there was no ground for hoping that the amendments would be re-pa.s.sed and sent to the voters of the State for final adoption or rejection.

Though the submission of the amendments was one of the chief issues in the campaign, many candidates who pledged themselves on the ground that they involved questions which it was the privilege of the voters to decide, reserved their own opinions upon their merits. There were, however, candidates who openly espoused woman suffrage _per se_.[338] Knowing that a majority of the members of the General a.s.sembly were pledged to vote down the pending amendments, the friends tacitly agreed to maintain a dignified silence toward that body concerning them. The Suffrage Society at the capital, however, appointed a committee[339] to watch the interests of woman in the legislature; and through its influence, special committees on women's claims were obtained in both Houses. Disappointed by the result in the legislature of 1883, but not discouraged, the society continued to labor with undiminished zeal, and sought every legitimate opportunity to prove woman a factor in State politics.

Several weeks prior to the Republican nominating convention at Chicago, June 3, 1884, this society appointed committees to correspond with each of the gentlemen prominently named as candidates for nomination to the office of president, and also appointed committees[340] to press upon the attention of the different parties the political claims of women. The society instructed each committee to carry on its work according to the united judgment of its members and continue it until the close of the legislative session of 1885. The committee appointed to communicate with the Republicans addressed a letter to each of the thirty delegates sent by Indiana to the nominating convention at Chicago. They also addressed letters to the Republican State central committee, and through the courtesy of Mr. John Overmeyer, chairman, they were given an opportunity to appear before the committee on resolutions. Mrs. Sewall presented a resolution, and in a brief speech urged its adoption and incorporation into the platform of the Republican party. Mrs.

Merritt and Mrs. Sewall were offered an opportunity to speak before the convention, which they declined in the belief that it was a greater gain to the cause to appear before the resolution and platform committee than before the convention itself.

To what an appalling degree women were discriminated against by the law prior to 1860, may be inferred from subsequent legislative enactments. At almost every sitting of the biennial legislature, since 1860, some important change will be observed.

In 1861 was pa.s.sed the following:

AN ACT _to enlarge the Legal Capacity of Married Women whose Husbands are Insane, and to enable them to Contract as if they were Unmarried._

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General a.s.sembly of the State of Indiana: That all married women, or those who may hereafter be married, whose husbands are or may be insane, are, during the continuance of such insanity, hereby enabled and authorized to make and to execute all such contracts, and to be contracted with in relation to their separate property, as they could if they were unmarried, and they may sue and be sued as if they were _sole_.

The legislature of 1863 was undisturbed by any question concerning women. In 1865 the legislature discriminated against women by the pa.s.sage of a very long act, prescribing the manner in which enumerations of _white male citizens_ shall be made; thus implying that a _white male citizen_ is an honorable and important person, whose existence is to be noted with due care; with a care that distinguishes him equally above the _white female_ and the _black male_ citizen, and in effect places these two unenumerated divisions of human beings into one cla.s.s.

Another act of 1865 reaffirmed an act of 1852 which prescribed the cla.s.ses of persons capable of making a will, from which married women were excluded.

[Ill.u.s.tration: May Wright Sewall]

The legislature of 1867 pa.s.sed an act in regard to conveyance of lands by wives of persons of unsound mind, which read as follows:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General a.s.sembly of Indiana: That in cases where the guardian of any person of unsound mind, under the direction of any court of competent jurisdiction has made, or may hereafter make, sale of any lands of such person of unsound mind, the wife of such person of unsound mind may by her separate deed release and convey all her interest in and t.i.tle to such land, and her deed so made shall thereafter debar her from all claim to such land, and shall have the same effect on her rights as if her husband had been of sound mind and she had joined with such husband in the execution of such conveyance.

In 1869, an act pa.s.sed by the legislature of 1852, providing for the settlement of a decedent's estate, was so amended as to provide that the widow might select articles to the value of $500, or receive the first $500 derived from the sale, or in case it was worth no more than $500, might hold it. In 1871 the amendment of 1869 was further amended so that in case the personal property was less than $500 the deficit could be a lien on the real estate, to be settled with other judgments and mortgages.

In 1873 the possible ability of women to serve the State officially was recognized by the pa.s.sage of the following bill:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General a.s.sembly of Indiana: That women are hereby declared to be eligible to any office, the election to which is or shall be vested in the General a.s.sembly of this State; or the appointment to which is or shall be vested in the governor thereof.

SEC. 2. The foregoing shall not include women who shall labor under any disability which may prevent them from binding themselves by an official bond.

The legislature of 1873 also pa.s.sed an act regulating the liquor traffic, in which it is formally provided that a wife shall have the same right to sue, to control the suit, and to control the sum recovered by the suit, as a _feme sole_.

In 1875 an act pa.s.sed the General a.s.sembly making it impossible to sell real property in which a woman has, by virtue of her marriage; an inchoate right, for less than four-ninths of its appraised value: and also providing that upon the sale of any piece or aggregate of pieces of real property not exceeding $2,000, the wife has her absolute right; and moreover providing that in case of a judicial sale, the wife's inchoate interests become absolute, and she may demand a part.i.tion.

In 1877 the General a.s.sembly pa.s.sed an act enabling married women whose husbands are insane to sell and to convey real-estate belonging to such married women, in the same way as if _femes soles_.

When the act for establis.h.i.+ng a female prison pa.s.sed the legislature of 1860, it provided that the board managing its affairs should consist of three men, who should be a.s.sisted by an advisory board composed of one man and two women. By the legislature of 1877 this section was so amended as to make the managing board consist of women exclusively, and the advisory board was abolished.[341]

Of all the changes effected in the statutory law of Indiana since 1860, the following is the most important and may be regarded, so far as women are concerned, the measure of the highest legislative justice thus far attained in any State. This bill was prepared by Addison C. Harris, then representing Indianapolis in the State Senate, and was approved March 25, 1879:

AN ACT _concerning Married Women--Approved March 25, 1879:_

SEC. 1.--Be it enacted by the General a.s.sembly of the State of Indiana: A married woman may bargain, sell, a.s.sign and transfer her separate personal property the same as if she were _sole_.

SEC. 2.--A married woman may carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or service on her sole and separate account. The earnings and profits of any married woman accruing from her trade, business, services or labor, other than labor for her husband or family, shall be her sole and separate property.

SEC. 3.--A married woman may enter into any contract in reference to her personal estate, trade, business, labor or service, and the management and improvement of her separate real property, the same as if she were _sole_; and her separate estate, real and personal, shall be liable therefor on execution or other judicial process.

SEC. 4.--No conveyance or contract made by a married woman for the sale of her lands or any interest therein, other than leases for a term not exceeding three years, and mortgages on lands to secure the purchase money of such lands, shall be valid, unless her husband shall join therein. Provided, however, that if she shall have attempted to convey her real estate or shall have agreed to convey the same, and shall have received the whole or any part of the consideration therefor, the person paying such consideration, or the person for whose benefit the same was paid, shall have the right to sue and recover judgment therefor, and the same may be enforced against the property of such married woman.

SEC. 5.--A married woman shall be bound by the covenants of the t.i.tle in a deed of conveyance of her real property.

SEC. 6.--A married woman may bring and maintain an action in her own name against any person or body corporate for damages for any injury to her person or character, the same as if she were _sole_; and the money recovered shall be her separate property, and her husband in such case shall not be liable for costs.

SEC. 7.--Whenever the husband causes repairs or improvements to be made on the real property of the wife, with her knowledge and consent thereto in writing, delivered to the contractor or person performing the labor or furnis.h.i.+ng the material, she shall alone be liable for material furnished or labor done.

SEC. 8.--A husband shall not be liable for any debts contracted by the wife in carrying on any trade, labor or business on her sole and separate account, nor for improvements made by her authority on her separate real property.

SEC. 9.--Whenever a judgment is recovered against a married woman, her separate property may be sold on execution to satisfy the same, as in other cases. Provided, however, that her wearing apparel and articles of personal adornment purchased by her, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, and all such jewelry, ornaments, books, works of art and _virtu_, and other such effects for personal or household use as may have been given to her as presents, gifts and keep-sakes, shall not be subject to execution. And provided further, that she shall hold as exempt, except for the purchase money therefor, other property to the amount of three hundred dollars to be set apart and appraised in the manner provided by law for exemption of property.

SEC. 10.--A married woman shall not mortgage or in any manner enc.u.mber her separate property acquired by descent, devise or gift, as a security for the debt or liability of her husband or any other person.

The legislature of 1881 enacted the following, which is really a sequence of the property-rights statute of 1879:

A married woman may sue alone when: _First_--The action concerns her own property. _Second_--When the action is between herself and her husband. But in no case shall she be required to sue or defend by guardian or next friend, unless she be under twenty-one years.

It further enacted, making it section 28, to act 38, that: When a husband or father has deserted his family, or is imprisoned, the wife or mother may prosecute or defend in his name any action which he might have prosecuted or defended, and shall have the same powers and rights therein as he might have had.

The legislature of 1881 also pa.s.sed the following:

AN ACT _to Authorize the Election of Women to School Offices_:

SEC. 1.--Be it enacted by the General a.s.sembly of Indiana, that any woman, married or single, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and possessing the qualifications prescribed for men, shall be eligible to any office under the general or special school laws of the State.

SEC. 2.--That any woman elected or appointed to any office under the provisions of this act, before she enters upon the discharge of the duties of her office, shall qualify and give bond as required by law; and such bond shall be binding upon her and her securities.

The following, enacted by this same legislature of 1881, would indicate that fidelity to his domestic obligations is not even yet esteemed in man as a virtue of high order; the value attached to the fidelity can be measured by the penalty incurred by infidelity, which is thus stated:

Whoever without cause deserts his wife or children, and leaves wife and child or children as a charge upon any county of this State, shall be fined not more than $100 nor less than $10.