Dear honorable gentlemen who are serving our new nation. I would like a chance to introduce myself. My name is Sally Wilson. I am the widow of Samuel Wilson. As a mother of nine children, I have many concerns during this time of transition that concern my family and our welfare in the present day as well as in the future.
Samuel came to this country as an indentured servant. He was only eight years old at the time, but after laboring for 14 years as a carpenter, he was able to achieve freedom. At the young age of 22, he started out on his own with only the clothes on his back, his Sunday best, and the shoes on his feet. With nowhere to go, he found his way to the outskirts of town and exchanged labor as a farmhand in the evenings in exchange for lodging in the barn and board on my father’s farm. During the day he was very fortunate to acquire work as a carpenter at the mill in town and hired out by the mill owner to do custom work for the townspeople.
After saving for two years, Samuel was able to purchase a very small farm where we could begin our lives while he continued to work at the mill. We had 11 children in our 14 years of marriage, and nine survived past their first year. I am now trying to raise these children by myself but am unable to legally own the home that Samuel worked so hard to purchase. We can meet most of our basic needs by the provisions of the farm, and the oldest children work on neighboring farms or by doing sewing or cleaning for people in town for cash. It would be more just if I would be able to have the title to the property and know that I can remain here to raise my family without needing to find a man to marry just to remain in the home that Samuel purchased.
An additional consideration that I would like you to make is extending not only the right to own property to women, but also the right to vote as well. Most women are as educated as men are today, and most are capable of deciding who they would like to guide our country at this decisive time. As a new nation, we should be setting the standard of equality for the rest of the world.
Thank you in advance for your considerations into these propositions. You have my most sincere gratitude in your efforts to forge a government to guide us in our future.
With greatest sincerity,
Reference
Hamilton, A. J. (1787, September 10). The United States Constitution. Retrieved from We The People: http://constitutionus.com/
