The Complete History of Women's Suffrage – All 6 Volumes in One Edition (Illustrated Edition). Elizabeth Cady Stanton
that man and woman are equal in the sight of God. We know that texts and books are of no importance, and have no taste for the discussion of dry doctrinal points.
But with the American people the case is different. The masses believe the Bible directly from God; that it decrees the inequality of the sexes; and that settles the question. There is no doubt that there are many persons connected with the Protestant churches who would be with the movement were it not for the supposed Bible difficulty. They shudder at anything they think against the Bible, as against the will of God. Take away this incubus, and these persons would experience a change in their views; they would be with us.
In regard to Mr. Grew, Mr. G. said he had long known him and loved him. He was a man of purity and charity, and he was glad he had given his views. Yet this kindly man did not stand upon a solid foundation.
Why go to the Bible to settle this question? As a nation, we have practically ignored the Bible. The assertion of the equality and inalienability of the rights of man, in the Declaration of Independence, includes the whole of the human race. He would never attempt to prove to an American the right of any man to liberty. He asserted the fact; and considered that in holding slaves while they proclaimed liberty to all men, the American people were hypocrites and tyrants. Mr. Grew goes to St. Paul to prove that woman is not equal to man. Why go to the Bible? What question was ever settled by the Bible? What question of theology or any other department? None that I ever heard of! With this same version of the Bible, and the same ability to read it, we find that it has filled all Christendom with theological confusion. All are Ishmaelites; each man's hand against his neighbor.
The human mind is greater than any book. The mind sits in judgment on every book. If there be truth in the book, we take it; if error, we discard it. Why refer this to the Bible? In this country, the Bible has been used to support slavery and capital punishment; while in the old countries, it has been quoted to sustain all manner of tyranny and persecution. All reforms are anti-Bible. We must look at all things rationally. We find women endowed with certain capacities, and it is of no importance if any book denies her such capacities. Would Mr. Grew say that woman can not preach, in the face of such a preacher as Lucretia Mott?
Mrs. Mott begged leave to substitute friend Grew's own daughter, Mary Grew, who has already spoken on this platform!! and said, Mr. Grew himself does not take all the Bible as inspiration, in which most of the speakers concurred. She expressed her attachment to the Scriptures, and said many excellent lessons could be learned from them. She showed the misinterpretations of the texts quoted by Mr. Grew and others against the equality of the sexes. Mr. Grew does not take the Bible for his guide, altogether. Mrs. Mott then quoted St. Paul in regard to marriage, and said: Why in opposition to that text has Mr. Grew married a second time? It was because he did not really believe that the Scriptures were entirely inspired.
Emma R. Coe made a few remarks on the position of the clergy generally toward this reform, the most beneficent in its results of any, man has ever yet been called upon to consider. We often hear it remarked that woman owes so much to Christianity. It can not be the Christianity that the clergy have proclaimed on our platform. From them we hear only of woman's degradation and subjection. We have certainly nothing to be thankful for if such are the principles Christ came into the world to declare; the subjection of one-half of the race to the other half, as far as we are concerned, is no improvement upon the religions of all nations and ages.
At the close of this protracted discussion on the Bible position of woman, the following resolutions, presented by Mr. Garrison, were unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That while remembering and gladly acknowledging the exceptional cases which exist to the contrary, we feel it a duty to declare in regard to the sacred cause which has brought us together, that the most determined opposition it encounters is from the clergy generally, whose teachings of the Bible are intensely inimical to the equality of woman with man.
Resolved, That whatever any book may teach, the rights of no human being are dependent upon or modified thereby, but are equal, absolute, essential, inalienable in the person of every member of the human family, without regard to sex, race, or clime.
John Sidney Jones made a few remarks on the monopoly of the pulpit.
Susan B. Anthony wished to remind the friends, before separating, of one practical measure to be considered in the advancement of our noble enterprise. For the purpose of holding Conventions, circulating tracts and petitions, giving prizes for good stories, supporting newspapers and agents, the first great requisite is money, and I hope every one present will contribute generously to help us carry on this grand reform.
Mr. Garrison seconded Miss Anthony's demand for "the sinews of war." He said we Americans are a theoretical people, and we are also a practical people. If the women intend to knock at the door of every State house to demand their rights, the question must be argued in a practical way with facts and statistics.
When I undertook to have the gallows abolished in Massachusetts, I asked the Committee of the Legislature if they wanted a certain number of Bible texts quoted on each side of the question, they said, "No, we want facts and statistics; we do not ask the opinions of Moses and Aaron on this point, but the result of human experience in the punishment of crime." So in this case; Legislatures will not ask for nor appreciate Bible arguments; they will ask for facts as to woman's achievements in education, industry, and practical usefulness.
Joseph Dugdale, whose special concern always seemed to be the action of dead men on this question, said it had been his fortune to be present at the making of the last wills and testaments of many men, and he never knew of a case where a dying husband would practically admit that his wife was his equal. He stated a case in which a husband of his acquaintance proposed to leave a large property, the inheritance and accumulation of his wife's labors, to her as long as she remained his widow, and then to divide it among his family relatives. And yet this husband claimed to have great admiration and affection for this woman whom he would deliberately rob of her inheritance from her own father. The magnanimity of man passes all understanding!
Mrs. Prince, a colored woman, invoked the blessing of God upon the noble women engaged in this enterprise, and said she understood woman's wrongs better than woman's rights, and gave some of her own experiences to illustrate the degradation of her sex in slavery. On a voyage to the West Indies the vessel was wrecked, and she was picked up and taken to New Orleans. Going up the Mississippi she saw the terrible suffering of a cargo of slaves on board, and on the plantations along the shores. On her return voyage, attached to the steamboat was a brig containing several hundred slaves, among them a large number of young quadroon girls with infants in their arms as fair as any lady in this room.
Matilda Joslyn Gage spoke at length of the brilliant record of women in the past in every department of human activity—in art, science, literature, invention; of their heroism and patriotism in time of war, and their industry and endurance in many equally trying emergencies in time of peace. Woman has so fully proved her equality with man in every position she has filled, that it is too late now for clergymen on our platform to remand us to the subjection of the women of Corinth centuries ago. We have learned too well the lessons of liberty taught in our revolution to accept now the position of slaves.
Mrs. Tracy Cutler: It would appear, after all, that we women are placed pretty much in the condition of the veriest slave. We must prove our own humanity by exhibiting our skill in work. We must bring forth our own samples; put them, as it were, on the auction-block, and thus make our claim to equality of rights a matter of dollars and cents. Is it here only that woman can touch man's sympathy? She then described the degraded condition of women in Europe, and particularly in London, where poverty and the tyranny of man have driven women to despair, until they were forced to prostitute their own bodies to procure bread. This vice, horribly revolting as it is, seems to go hand in hand with intemperance. She did not wish women to go into the field to be yoked with mules, or to turn scavenger, to pick up rags and crusts in the streets to carry home in their aprons. Men bring the elements to their aid, and we wish women to do the same. She then adverted to the difference in the labor of the kitchen and other pursuits open to women. Let the printer advertise for two girls to set type, and a hundred applications will be made, while women for the kitchen