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270 & ••••••••• 117 • Appeal by ECS and SBA [15 January 1899] Petition for the Women of Hawaii To the Editor of The Sun 1 —Sir: The following petition should be circulated by every organized society of women throughout the United States, and promptly forwarded to their respective Representatives: To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress Assembled. The undersigned earnestly pray your honorable body that in the proposed government for our newly acquired territories you recognize for women the highest position of citizenship yet attained in this republic. As in four States of the Union women now enjoy civil and political equality, to create a male oligarchy, by restricting the right to vote and hold office to men, would be to ignore all the steps of progress made during the last fifty years and reestablish at the very dawn of the new century a government based upon the invidious distinctions of sex, which have ever blocked the way to a higher civilization. 2 When the emancipation of black men was under discussion the Women ’s Loyal League sent 400,000 petitions to Congress in favor of that measure . 3 Shall we do less for the political freedom of the women of Hawaii? On the contrary,let us of the several States vie with each other in our efforts to roll up the largest petition ever presented in Congress against any form of class legislation. U Elizabeth Cady Stanton. U Susan B. Anthony. Y “The Cause of Woman,” New York Sun, 15 January 1899. 1. That is, Paul Dana. 15 january 1899 ^ 271 2. Some versions of this petition continue: “Therefore we earnestly beg of you to strike from the pending Hawaiian bill the word ‘male’ as a qualification for voting and holding office.” The Sun’s shorter version is also found in the Woman’s Journal. (Film, 39:468; Woman’s Journal, 21 January 1899; Kansas Suffrage Reveille, March 1899.) For an antisuffragist’s critique of the petition and ECS’s response, see “The Women of Hawaii,” 28 January 1899, Film, 39:500. Although the response bears the names of ECS and SBA, SBA left New York City for Rochester before the critic wrote to the Evening Post and was not on hand to collaborate with ECS. 3. On the work of the Women’s Loyal National League to outlaw slavery in 1863 and 1864, see Papers 1. ••••••••• 118 • From the Diary of SBA [15 January 1899] Sun. Jan. 15, 1899. At home— Went to Church— Had calls in p.m. so did not get down town for the N.Y. Sun until 8 p.m— then bought 5 copies at The Powers Hotel 1 —& found Mrs Harper’s article—but Mrs Stanton ’s & my petition & appeal before it—with the heading “The Cause of Woman”—very good—but too weak!! Sent copies at once to Woman’s Journal & Tribune Mrs Harpers good but lacked well sharpened points to the items—so it seemed— 2 Still I scribbled & took to letter box—“Well done Jimmy Grind”— It will be splendid if the Sun will let her give our patriotic woman’s thought of things every Sunday!! 1. The Powers Hotel, open since 1883, occupied the corner of West Main and Fitzhugh streets in the city center. 2. Ida Harper began her new assignment to fill one and one-half columns of the Sunday Sun with “Various Items of Interest to Its Friends and Foes.” (New York Sun, 15 January 1899.) Y Excelsior Diary 1899, n.p., SBA Papers, DLC. 15 january 1899 ...

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