Part 1

Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. A row of asterisks represents a thought break. A complete list of corrections as well as other notes follows the text. The following Table of Contents has been added for the convenience of the reader.

DEDICATION INTRODUCTION AN ADDRESS ON FEMALE SUFFRAGE AN ADDRESS TO LADIES OF HARTFORD, CONN. AN ADDRESS TO THE CHRISTIAN WOMEN OF AMERICA NOTE A NOTE B NOTE C NOTE D

WOMAN'S PROFESSION

AS

MOTHER AND EDUCATOR,

WITH VIEWS IN OPPOSITION TO

WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

BY

CATHARINE E. BEECHER.

PHILADELPHIA AND BOSTON: GEO. MACLEAN. NEW YORK: MACLEAN, GIBSON & CO. 1872.

DEDICATION.

TO THE MINISTERS OF RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

FATHERS AND BRETHREN:

As the daughter and sister of nine ministers of Jesus Christ you will allow me to address you by those endeared names; and also because there is an emergency that demands unusual measures.

This _woman movement_ is one which is uniting by co-operating influences, all the antagonisms that are warring on the family state. Spiritualism, free-love, free divorce, the vicious indulgences consequent on unregulated civilization, the worldliness which tempts men and women to avoid _large_ families, often by sinful methods, thus making the ignorant masses the chief supply of the future ruling majorities; and most powerful of all, the feeble constitution and poor health of women, causing them to dread maternity as—what it is fast becoming—an accumulation of mental and bodily tortures.

Add to this, that extreme fastidiousness which not only excludes needful instruction from the pulpit, but makes mothers shrink from learning and teaching those dangers which their daughters most need to know, and prevents medical men and even women physicians from uttering needful warnings.

I once said to a lady physician with an enormous practice, in reply to some of her statements, "why do you not call the mothers of this city together and tell them all this?" She replied "it is impossible—they would not hear me—I should have to nail the doors and windows to keep them—and if they did hear, they would not believe."

It is the _women teachers of our common schools_ who must be instructed to become lecturers on health in all our school districts and teach mothers how to instruct children in all the laws of health and the dreadful penalties which in certain directions are but little known and now threaten the ruin of the rising generation. There is no duty more difficult than this; for it is one which if done properly saves from danger, and if improperly leads to it.

If the clergy of this nation will give their powerful influence to promote the aims of this work in modes they will more wisely devise than I can suggest, success will be ensured; and to them I appeal (as I used to do to a beloved father and as I often do to dear brothers,) to help me where my own strength and courage fail.

With christian love and respect,

Yours truly,

CATHARINE E. BEECHER.

INTRODUCTION.

The object of the following pages is to present the subject of woman's profession as mother and chief educator of our race in connection with the present demand that she shall also assume the responsibilities of civil government.

However great or small may be the probabilities as to the imposition of woman suffrage, it is certain that there is just cause for alarm at organizations all over the land sending out women of talents and benevolence to lecture, and scattering tracts and newspapers by hundreds of thousands, advocating principles and measures destructive both to the purity and the perpetuity of the family state.

This little volume consists of _unpublished_ addresses—all but the first—to meetings of ladies only, and its design is to meet the false principles and false reasonings on the subject of "woman's rights" now working extensive evils that are little realized.

It is offered with the deep conviction that an important crisis in our national history is impending, and that it is the intelligent and conscientious women of our country who eventually will decide whether the result shall be beneficial or most disastrous.

AN ADDRESS

ON

FEMALE SUFFRAGE,

DELIVERED IN THE MUSIC HALL OF BOSTON, IN

DECEMBER, 1870.

I appear this evening to present the views of that large portion of my sex who are opposed to such a change of our laws and customs as would place the responsibility of civil government on woman.

This may be done without impugning the motives, or the character, or the measures of that respectable party who hold the contrary position. As in the physical universe the nicely-balanced _centripetal_ and _centrifugal_ forces hold in steady curve every brilliant orbit, so, in the moral world, the radical element, which would forsake the beaten path of ages, is held in safe and steady course by the conservative; while that, also, is preserved from dangerous torpor by the antagonistic power.

And so, while claiming to represent the conservative element, I meet with respect and kindness my centrifugal friend.

First, let me state the points in which we agree, that we may more clearly appreciate those in which we differ.

We agree, then, on the general principle, that woman's happiness and usefulness are equal in value to those of man's, and, consequently, that she has a right to equal advantages for securing them.

We agree, also, that woman, even in our own age and country, has never been allowed such equal advantages, and that multiplied wrongs and suffering have resulted from this injustice.

Finally, we agree that it is the right and the duty of every woman to employ the power of organization and agitation, in order to gain those advantages which are given to the one sex, and unjustly withheld from the other.

My object, in this address, is not to discuss the question of woman's natural and abstract right to the ballot, nor to point out the evils that might follow the exercise of this power, nor to controvert the opinions of those advocating woman's suffrage in any particular point.

Instead of this, I propose, first, to present reasons for assuming that it must be a very long time before woman suffrage can be gained; so that the evils it is hoped to cure by the ballot would continue and increase for a long period; and, secondly, to present another method for gaining the advantages unjustly withheld; and thus to remedy wrongs which both parties are seeking to redress.

The first reason for believing that the gift of the ballot must be long delayed is, that it is contrary to the customs of Christian people, by which the cares of civil life, and the outdoor and heavy labor which take a man from home, are given to the stronger sex, and the lighter labor and care of the family state, to woman.

The more society has advanced in civilization and in Christian culture, the more perfectly have these _distinctive_ divisions of responsibility for the two sexes been maintained; and in no age or country more strictly than in our own.

Those of us who oppose woman suffrage concede that there are occasions in which general laws and customs should yield to temporary emergencies; as when, in the stress of family sickness, the husband becomes nurse and cook; or, in the extremities of war, the women plow, sow, and reap; and it were well if every boy and girl were so trained that they could wisely meet such emergencies.

But while this is conceded, the main question is still open, namely, Is there any such emergency in our national history as demands so great a change in our laws and customs as would be involved in placing the responsibilities of civil government on our whole sex? For, with the gift of the ballot, comes the connected responsibility of framing wise laws to regulate finance, war, agriculture, commerce, mining, manufactures, and all the many fields of man's outdoor labor. And the charge of these outdoor responsibilities would be assigned by the ballot; and not alone to that class of women who are demanding woman suffrage, but _to our whole sex_.

For, whenever the time comes that a single vote of one woman may decide the most delicate, the most profound, and the most perilous measures of the state and nation, it will be the duty of every woman, not only to go to the polls, but to vote intelligently and conscientiously.

It is in view of such considerations that, at the present time, a large majority of American women would regard the gift of the ballot, not as a privilege conferred, but as an act of oppression, forcing them to assume responsibilities belonging to man, for which they are not and can not be qualified; and, consequently, withdrawing attention and interest from the distinctive and more important duties of their sex. For the question is not whether a class of women, who have no family responsibilities, shall take charge of civil government; but it is whether this duty shall be imposed on the whole of our sex. With the chivalrous tenderness toward woman so prevalent in our nation, this would never be done till at least a majority of women ask for it; and the time must be afar off ere such a majority will be found.

I wish to verify this statement by an extract from one of the many letters of sympathy and approbation received since it became known that I am publicly to present my views on Woman Suffrage:

"MY DEAR MADAM: Though personally a stranger, I feel strongly impelled to write and thank you for coming before the public in opposition to the advocates of woman suffrage.

"I have no doubt that an exceedingly large majority of the educated and thoughtful women of the country feel a strong personal repugnance to becoming voters, as well as a conviction that this proposed innovation, far from working a beneficial change in the condition of the country, would actually lower the present standard of political morality. But they form a class but little accustomed to make their voices heard outside of their own social circle, and therefore in danger of being overlooked by those reformers who, with a thankworthy zeal for 'woman's rights,' are, as I think, striving to perpetrate a great _woman's wrong_.

"It is sometimes said that all women ought at least to have a chance to vote, if they wish it; but none are obliged to do so unless they like. And when compliant men have said this, they consider themselves magnanimous and chivalrous, and think the whole question happily settled.

"It might be so if we had _no conscience_. But wider privileges mean wider duties. From the bottom of my soul I hate the idea of meeting women at the polls; and yet, if woman suffrage ever becomes a fact, I can not stay away. For my fraction of power inevitably makes me thus much responsible for the civil government of my country. If I _may_ vote, I _must_ vote. I have no right, by withholding my vote, to throw its weight into the wrong scale. And yet, held back as I am, and must be, from the life of the street, the caucus, and the primary political meetings, and not more by my incapacity for man's work than by his incapacity for mine—living chiefly at home, because my work is home work—what can I know of the fitness of candidates for local offices, or of the machinery of political parties?"

This perspicuous statement expresses the present views of probably nine tenths of the most intelligent and conscientious women of our country. Were it the question whether the responsibilities of civil government should be assumed by this class of women alone, the risks of an affirmative decision would be small. But let us consider the other classes that would be included in universal woman suffrage.

Next to the more intelligent class represented by this letter-writer, would come a large body of those whose generous _impulses_ take the lead, rather than the cool deductions of reason and experience.

It is this class of enthusiasts that would most confidently attempt to conduct the affairs of the state.

Next to these would come the great body of busy and easy women, who, from pliant kindness and confidence, would vote as fathers, brothers, and husbands advised.

Next to these most respectable classes would come the superficial, the unreflecting, and the frolicsome, to serve only as tools for political wire-pullers.

Then would come the lovers of notoriety, the ambitious—the lovers of power—the caterers for public offices, and the seekers for money. Of these, the most unprincipled would employ the distinctive power of their sex in caucuses, in jury-boxes, and in legislative and congressional committees; thus adding another to the many deteriorating influences of political life.

Next would come that vast mass of ignorant women whose consciences and votes would be controlled by a foreign and domestic priesthood.

Lastly would come the most degraded and despised, who would like nothing better than to insult and oppose those who look down upon them with disgust and contempt.

Lead all these classes to the polls, and the result would be a vast increase of the incompetent and dangerous voters. It would, to a still greater extent, place the wealth and intelligence of the nation under those without intelligence, who, for their own advantage, would lavish wealth on useless schemes, and vote away the property of the industrious to support the indolent and vicious. In many of our large cities we are witnessing the beginning of this impending danger.

Still another reason for such a conclusion is the fact that, though the Woman's Suffrage party at present is increasing in numbers, the discussion it has produced is gradually changing the views of many sensible persons who at first were its advocates. That has been the case with myself. For, on the first consideration of the matter, it seemed right and proper that women should have a voice in deciding who should be their rulers and make their laws; and that the simple dropping a vote into the ballot-box could be done without risk to womanly delicacy, and without danger of any kind. This was before discussion had revealed the more comprehensive bearings of the question, which finally removed me, as it has many others, to the opposite side of the question.

If, then, agitation increases the party seeking the ballot, and yet discussion is constantly withdrawing large numbers of the more intelligent and reflective, the time must be far distant when woman suffrage will be secured.

Another reason for believing that woman suffrage is afar off is the character of the men who appear to favor this change of our political status, and also their modes of meeting the question. The estimate of women by the other sex depends very greatly on the character of the mothers, wives, and sisters with whom they have associated, or on the character of the female society they most frequent. Those who associate with superficial, weak, or unprincipled women, form a low opinion of the whole sex which is false and unjust. On the contrary, those associated with the highest class of women place a halo of purity, strength, and honor on the brow of the whole sex, which is equally exaggerated. It is this last class of men who are foremost advocates of woman suffrage, and their estimate of woman's ability to manage civil government is to be taken with considerable though honorable deductions.

Another class of amiable, unreflecting men, having had a chivalrous training, are ready to give the "dear creatures" any thing they will please to ask.

Still another class of kind-hearted men say, "Yes, oh! yes, let them have the ballot and all the duties it involves, and they soon will wish to relinquish such responsibilities."

Then there are the political wire-pullers, who perceive that by catering to this, which they secretly deem a folly, they can make it subserve their selfish plans.

Lastly, there is a large number of intelligent and patriotic men who have not, as yet, so investigated the probable results of so fundamental a change in civil matters as to feel prepared to make any practical decision on the question, and so they give no decided answers.

These several classes of amiable and intelligent men are those who finally will decide the question, and they are the last who would force the responsibilities of the civil state on an unwilling minority of our sex; much less would they force it on a majority who would regard it as an unjust and unchivalrous exercise of power. For this reason it seems almost certain that the ballot will not be given to American women till it is clear that a majority are willing to take such responsibilities; and the time when this assurance can be gained must be at a very remote period.

Another reason for this conclusion is the powerful influences at the command of those of my sex who are opposed to this measure. Multitudes of women are now quiet and silent because they have little fear of danger in this direction. But should a time come when the woman suffrage party seem near achieving their aim, there would be measures instituted the power of which, as yet, is little known or appreciated. For _they too_ would organize all over the nation and summon to their aid both the pulpit and the press. All the Catholic clergy, to a man, would lend their influence against a measure so contrary to the tenets and spirit of a church that enforces subordination and obedience as prime virtues. Not less decided would be the influence of all the Jewish rabbis.

The Protestant clergy, who have ever been like their Master, the sympathizing friends of woman, would be the last to enforce new and heavy responsibilities on our sex, contrary to the wishes even of a small, intelligent, and conscientious minority.

Not less decided are the great majority of the conductors of the press; and if an emergency calls for it, by the coöperation of such powerful auxiliaries, we could bring such an array of petitions and remonstrances in bulk and respectable names as never before entered congressional halls.

The attempt to force woman suffrage on us by making it a political question would also be met by a counter-influence that would convince every demagogue that any man or party which forces us to the polls will be ostracized by the votes of every woman who is thus dragged from her appropriate sphere to bear the burdens of the state.

Another and the final reason for believing female suffrage at a distant future is the proposed circuitous and indirect mode of remedying evils which could be relieved by a much more direct and speedy method. As things now are, men have the physical power that can force obedience; in most cases they have the power of the purse, and in all cases, they have the civil power. They can not be forced by the weaker sex to resign this power. It must be sought, then, as the gift of justice and benevolence. If, then, there are laws and customs that we deem unjust and oppressive, the short and common sense mode would be to petition the law-makers to change these laws according to the rules of justice and mercy. Instead of this the plea is, "We can not trust you to make laws; give us the ballot, and we will take better care of ourselves than you have done or will do." Now, any class of men who, after such an implication of their intelligence and justice, would give the ballot to woman, would most surely be those most ready to redress any wrongs for which the ballot is sought. Why should we not rather take the shorter and surer mode and _ask for the thing needed_, instead of the circuitous and uncertain mode involved in the ballot? Any man who would grant the ballot would grant all for which the ballot is sought.

As one proof of this, we have the changes which have been made in the laws of New-York State, as reported in a New-York paper. The agitation for women's rights commenced in that State, and now its laws give not only as many but more advantages to women than to men. For in that State, the wife has unlimited control of her own property, independently of her husband, while by law he must support her and her children. What is _his_ is _hers_, but what is hers is _not_ his. She may be rich and the husband poor, and yet he must pay all her debts. Her creditors can seize his property to pay her debts, but must leave hers untouched. He is obliged by law to support her; but however rich she may be, she is not obliged to support him. She may turn her husband out of the house she owns, but the law will not sustain the husband in such an act. The husband can not compel his wife to follow him if he changes residence. She may absent herself night and day, and, unless criminality is proved, the law gives no redress. At the same time, _divorce_ is more easily obtained by a woman than a man.

With such an example before us, will it not be wisest to ask for such laws as we need before we seek the more uncertain ballot?

At the commencement of this discussion, it was stated that the parties at issue agree in these general principles, namely, that woman's usefulness and happiness are equal in value to man's, and consequently that she has a right to equal advantages for gaining them; that she is unjustly deprived of such equal advantages, and that organization and agitation to gain them is her privilege and duty.

The points of difference are as to the nature of the advantages of which she is deprived, the consequent evils, and the mode of remedy. One party regard woman's exclusion from the professions, the universities, and the civil offices of men as the leading injustice from which most of the evils complained of are the result, and that the gift of the ballot will prove the panacea for all these wrongs. The other party believe the chief cause of evils which both are striving to remedy is the want of a just appreciation of woman's profession, and the want of such a liberal and practical training for its duties as men secure for their most honored professions.

Here we again may refer to a patent maxim of common sense, which is this: that the more difficult and important are any duties, the more scientific care and training should be bestowed on those who are to perform them. It has been in obedience to this maxim that, in Christian countries, the highest advantages have been given to those men who have charge of the spiritual and eternal interests of our race. Most of the universities of Europe and of this country were founded to educate the clergy. Next came the training of those who administer laws, and then of those who cure the sick. These are named the _liberal professions_, because society has most liberally provided for the scientific training of those who perform these duties.

That women need as much and even more scientific and practical training for their appropriate business than men, arises from the fact that they must perform duties quite as difficult and important, and a much greater variety of them. A man usually selects one branch of business for a son, and, after his school education, secures an apprenticeship of years to perfect his practical skill; and thus a success is attained which would be impossible were he to practice various trades and professions.

Now let us notice the various and difficult duties that are demanded of woman in her ordinary relations as wife, mother, housekeeper, and the mistress of servants.