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WOMEN'S
RIGHTS DECLARATIONS AND CONVENTION RESOLUTIONS:
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WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE CONVENTION RESOLUTIONS, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, OCTOBER, 1869. WHEREAS, In the adjustment of the question of suffrage now before the people of this country for settlement, it is of the highest importance that the organic law of the land should be so framed and construed as to work injustice to none, but secure as far as possible perfect political equality among all classes of citizens; and, WHEREAS, All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the State wherein they reside; be it RESOLVED, 1. That the immunities and privileges of American citizenship, however defined, are National in character and paramount to all State authority. 2. That while the Constitution of the United States leaves the qualification of electors to the several States, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive any citizen of the elective franchise which is possessed by any other citizen -- to regulate, not including the right to prohibit the franchise. 3. That, as the Constitution of the United States expressly declares that no State shall make or enforce any laws that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, those provisions of the several State Constitutions that exclude women from the franchise on account of sex, are violative alike of the spirit and letter of the Federal Constitution. 4. That, as the subject of naturalization is expressly withheld from the States, and as the States clearly would have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native-born women citizens of this right. 5. That justice and equity can only be attained by having the same laws for men and women alike. 6. That having full faith and confidence in the truth and justice of these principles, we will never cease to urge the claims of women to a participation in the affairs of government equal with men. [There follow extensive extracts from the Federal Constitution].
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