The idea of woman suffrage had to go a long way of suffragist activism led by women until it was achieved in the beginning of the 20th century. Lucy Stone is one of the key figures of this process in the United States. She was a reformer, an abolitionist, i.e. a person who favors the abolition of a practice, an institution or a law in this particular case, and she was a public speaker fighting for woman suffrage. Lois Porter brings to public a term “a Lucy Stoner” as a nickname for those who fight for the same ideas as Lucy did. Calling her also “a woman of firsts” he points out to the things she was pioneer in for instance, she was the first woman who earned a bachelor’s degree. Also Lucy Stone was the first person to be cremated in New England and she became the first woman to retain her maiden name after marriage.
The main tenets of Lucy Stone’s views and her position toward woman suffrage in particular are at the core of this essay. In order to demonstrate her ideas I will analyze some of her letters and public speeches. Those sources will be an instrument for better understanding of her position and will shed the light on the fight for woman suffrage and equal rights for women in the States. I will concentrate on such issues as suffrage, marriage, jobs and taxation as they appear the most in her writings and speeches.
Lucy Stone truly was an extraordinary person and a path breaker who wanted to change the States and stood up for the equal rights. Briefly summarizing the story her life, she was born in West Brookfield, Massachusetts in 1818 in a farmer’s family. After attending school she wanted to continue her education and after years of working and collecting money she graduated from the Oberlin Collegiate Institute in 1847. Then she pursued a career of a public speaker and a woman- sufftagist and a fighter for women’s rights which seems to be a brave decision for a woman in the 19th century. In 1850 she organized National Women’s Rights Convention along with few other ladies which shares the same views.
Adding a word about her personal life it is worth noting that she got married in 1853 to Henry Blackwell but kept her last name. The fact of a woman keeping her name does not matter much these days, but in the 19th century it was not practiced and a marriage usually meant that woman practically loses her identity and becomes her husband’s object by obtaining his last name. Blackwell, in contrast, offered a marriage of equal partnership and actually helped her accomplishing her plans with the woman suffrage. An interesting fact of her active life position is that in 1867 Lucy and her husband raised capital for a newspaper called the Woman’s Journal. The family had one child, a daughter Alice Stone Blackwell, who continued her mother’s aspirations and wrote the first biography of her mother titled “Lucy Stone: Pioneer Woman Suffragist”
I will start my analysis with the letter written by Stone in 1858 and addressed to a tax collector. The text shows that she refused to pay the bill for the reason that women are not represented in the government and should not suffer from taxation. She is very clear stating the argument and demanding the changes. Also she informs about the previous attempts to protest against the system but this time, she states, she expects an immediate result. In return she promises to happily pay the taxes in case if women get represented in the government saying: “then shall we cheerfully pay our taxes, not till then”. Her point is well made and clear – if women are not represented in the social life and cannot take part in elections, they should not be charged and pay any taxes.
In her passionate speech delivered before the New Jersey Legislature on March 1867 she claims that women who form more than a half of the entire population of New Jersey state should be politically recognized as they are counted in the census. Bearing the burden of taxation without any representation is a tyranny, according to her.
Demanding woman suffrage she declares that through suffrage a will of the citizen is registered. The essence of suffrage, she says, is in the rational choice. Therefore, “under our theory of government, that every individual capable of independent rational choice is rightfully entitled to vote”. She goes further stating that the great majority of women are more intelligent than some man, but they do not have the right to vote while nobody ever questions men’s right. She rightly states that women deserve to have the same political existence as men do. She claims that the constitution, which is so beautiful in theory, is not applied in practice because it grants the right for people including both men and women.
Idiots and lunatics are deposed from taking part in governing, she continues, pointing that solely those who are not able to think rationally are to be aside the politics, but women should be included in active social life. Stone brings up and criticizes examples that conflict with the principle of the Constitution and the Golden Rule, and adds plenty situations when men are those who are in charge of situation and exclude women from active participation.
Another source gives us a speech delivered by Stone in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1855. Talking about women she mentions her feeling of disappointment in her childhood when she always heard restrictions for women. “In education, in marriage, in religion, in everything, disappointment is the lot for woman” Realizing this made her speak out for women and make them realize the need to protest and demand, she says. Saying a phrase “we want rights, not tolerance”, she continues talking on behalf of women. Giving up a seat for women does not mean equal rights and does not give any opportunities for women.
Stone also informs that women get paid less for the job they have no means to earn more therefore they must marry and preferably a rich man in order to be “successful” and “happy”, “women must marry for a home”. I think Stone was very farsighted saying this and she already realized that the ability to earn money would completely change the marriage relationship.
Fortunately, the biggest fight of Lucy Stone, the woman suffrage movement and a focus on gaining the right to vote was finally won and reached a successful conclusion in 1920. Lucy Stone’s efforts did not disappear in vain. The call for more legal rights and social freedoms took years until the changes were made but I can clearly see the influence of Stone’s thinking, writing and presenting publicly.
Lists of reference
Primary sources
- Lucy Stone calls for equal rights, Eyewitnesses and others: Reading in American history
- Woman suffrage in New Yersey, An address delivered by Lucy Stone at a hearing before the New Jersey Legislature, March 6th, 1867. http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?ammem/naw:@field(DOCID+@lit(rbnawsan2760div2))
- Lucy Stone’s protest of taxation without representation (n.d.) http://www.njwomenshistory.org/Period_3/stonesaxetter.htm
Bibliography
- Porter, Lois K Lucy Stone: Woman of Firsts Free Inquiry, Vol. 17, No. 1
- Alice Stone Blackwell, Lucy Stone: Pioneer Woman Suffragist, Boston, 1930.
