An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony | Page 9

be most effectually excluded."
And again, "To give each man a voice in the public concerns comes
nearest to that admirable idea of which we should never lose sight, the
uncontrolled exercise of private judgment. Each man would thus be
inspired with a consciousness of his own importance, and the slavish
feelings that shrink up the soul in the presence of an imagined superior
would be unknown."
The mastery which this doctrine, whether right or wrong, has acquired
over the public mind, has produced as its natural fruit, the extension of
the right of suffrage to all the adult male population in nearly all the
states of the Union; a result which was well epitomized by President
Lincoln, in the expression, "government by the people for the people."
This extension of the suffrage is regarded by many as a source of
danger to the stability of free government. I believe it furnishes the
greatest security for free government, as it deprives the mass of the
people of all motive for revolution; and that government so based is
most safe, not because the whole people are less liable to make
mistakes in government than a select few, but because they have no
interest which can lead them to such mistakes, or to prevent their
correction when made. On the contrary, the world has never seen an
aristocracy, whether composed of few or many, powerful enough to
control a government, who did not honestly believe that their interest
was identical with the public interest, and who did not act persistently
in accordance with such belief; and, unfortunately, an aristocracy of sex
has not proved an exception to the rule. The only method yet
discovered of overcoming this tendency to the selfish use of power,
whether consciously or unconsciously, by those possessing it, is the
distribution of the power among all who are its subjects. Short of this

the name free government is a misnomer.
This principle, after long strife, not yet entirely ended has been,
practically at least, very generally recognized on this side of the
Atlantic, as far as relates to men; but when the attempt is made to
extend it to women, political philosophers and practical politicians,
those "inside of politics," two classes not often found acting in concert,
join in denouncing it. It remains to be determined whether the reasons
which have produced the extension of the franchise to all adult men, do
not equally demand its extension to all adult women. If it be necessary
for men that each should have a share in the administration of
government for his security, and to exclude partiality, as alleged by
Godwin, it would seem to be equally, if not more, necessary for women,
on account of their inferior physical power: and if, as is persistently
alleged by those who sneer at their claims, they are also inferior in
mental power, that fact only gives additional weight to the argument in
their behalf, as one of the primary objects of government, as
acknowledged on all hands, is the protection of the weak against the
power of the strong.
I can discover no ground consistent with the principle on which the
franchise has been given to all men, upon which it can be denied to
women. The principal argument against such extension, so far as
argument upon that side of the question has fallen under my
observation, is based upon the position that women are represented in
the government by men, and that their rights and interests are better
protected through that indirect representation than they would be by
giving them a direct voice in the government.
The teachings of history in regard to the condition of women under the
care of these self-constituted protectors, to which I can only briefly
allude, show the value of this argument as applied to past ages; and in
demonstration of its value as applied to more recent times, even at the
risk of being tedious, I will give some examples from my own
professional experience. I do this because nothing adds more to the
efficacy of truth than the translation of the abstract into the concrete.
Withholding names, I will state the facts with fullness and accuracy.

An educated and refined woman, who had been many years before
deserted by her drunken husband, was living in a small village of
Western New York, securing, by great economy and intense labor in
fine needle work, the means of living, and of supporting her two
daughters at an academy, the object of her life being to give them such
an education as would enable them to become teachers, and thus secure
to them some degree of independence when she could no longer
provide for them. The daughters were good scholars, and favorites in
the school, so long as the