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 S9&.2. 
 
 ECONOMICS 
 
 SEMINAR 
 
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REPORTS 
 
 ... 
 
 O >j 
 
 
 
 @n faius oi ^^ng.laaJt, 
 
 PRESENTED 
 
 TO THE NEW ENGLAND MEETING 
 
 Convened at the ffleionaon, Sept. 19 and 20,1855. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 19, 1853. 
 
 The Meionaon was well filled this morning 
 at 10 o’clock, when Harriet K. Hunt took the 
 platform and delivered an address. 
 
 The following persons were then chosen as 
 Officers of the Convention : 
 
 ‘ President—Mrs. Paulina W. Davis, of Provi¬ 
 dence. 
 
 Vice Presidents—Harriet K. Hunt, of Bos- 
 ton, Caroline H. Dali, of West Newton, Susan 
 Harris, Harriette M. Carlton, of Dorchester, 
 
 1 Caroline M. Severance, of Roxbury, Mrs. 
 
 ■ Jackson, of Plymouth, Rev. T. W. Higginson, 
 
 • of Worcester. 
 
 y Secretaries—Miss Carlton and Wm. Fish, 
 
 of Hopedale. 
 
 Business Committee—Dr.Wm. F. Channing, 
 Mrs. Severance, Mrs. Dali, Miss Young, Wen- 
 ^ dell Phillips, Miss Eliza Thayer, and Mrs. 
 : Marjoram. 
 
 Mrs. Davis assumed the Chair, with an ad- 
 , dress on the hopes and purposes of the W Oman’s 
 Movement. She advised incidentally the pre- 
 sentation of memorials to every Legislature in 
 1 - every State, asking for women the right of citi- 
 
 V zenship. Petitions must be circulated for sig- 
 natures in every school district. Women need 
 
 [ to carry their zeal to the point of living for 
 ( their cause; a task more difficult than dying 
 
 V for it. 
 
 D Mrs. Caroline H. Dali then read the follow- 
 ^ ing Report. It was succeeded at various peri¬ 
 ods of the Convention by others, upon the 
 
 laws of Rhode Island, Vermont and New 
 Hampshire; and, for the sake of unity, these 
 papers will follow each other here, and be 
 merely adverted to in the order in which they 
 were actually read. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 CONCERNING SOME OF THE LAWS OP MAS¬ 
 SACHUSETTS IN RELATION TO WOMEN. 
 
 W. Ne wton, July 2, 1855. 
 Mrs. President: 
 
 At a meeting held at the house of Harriet 
 K. Hunt, on the 30tlf<of May last, I was ap¬ 
 pointed a committee to make some inquiries of 
 Mr. John W. Browne, concerning a report, 
 which it was supposed he had undertaken, 
 relating to those Laws of the State of Massa¬ 
 chusetts which concern women. 
 
 On the 5th day of June, I had an inter¬ 
 view with Mr. Browne, and discovered that 
 the report which he had undertaken to make 
 was a far more elaborate one,—it being rather 
 “A Report upon the General Law of hus¬ 
 band and wife, or a digest of the laws of the 
 several states of the United States, which 
 concern woman.” 
 
 This work was undertaken by Mr. Browne, 
 some years ago, and after devdtihg his leisure 
 to it for many weeks, he laid it aside because 
 it seemed to him, from its nature, to demand 
 years for its fulfilment. His report would 
 have been after all only a law-book, curious 
 
2 
 
 rather than useful. It would not meet the 
 wants of women, nor greatly aid them to se¬ 
 cure what are called their Rights. He was of 
 opinion, that this question, like that of African 
 slavery, must he treated on great general prin¬ 
 ciples, rather than on particular enactments or 
 abuses. 
 
 This statement is undoubtedly true, unless 
 the general bearing of special enactments or 
 abuses can be fully comprehended. Yet I did 
 not feel at liberty to leave the matter here. 
 I knew that those who empowered me as a 
 committee, would expect me to make some 
 statements in regard to the Massachusetts Law 
 to this meeting; and although I had felt from 
 the beginning that anything thorough and 
 satisfactory was, from the nature of the case, 
 impossible, yet a general outline was both de¬ 
 sirable and necessary. 
 
 The protest signed by Lucy Stone and 
 Henry Blackwell on the occasion of their 
 marriage, seemed to relate to whatever was 
 most objectionable in all law, every where. I 
 take it, therefore, section by section, as the 
 foundation of whatever remarks I may wish 
 to make, and the expression of such opinions 
 as this meeting may naturally be supposed to 
 hold. 
 
 In the first place, I would remark, that I do 
 not know of any laws here, or elsewhere, that 
 oppressively affect single women; nor do I 
 know of any which positively deny their civil 
 rights, or refuse to them the very highest edu¬ 
 cational privileges. 
 
 When such things occur, it is as the conse¬ 
 quence of misrepresentation, male interpreta¬ 
 tion, as some of our friends say;—of the 
 union of large bodies of men, manufacturers 
 and the like,—or by force of custom ;— per¬ 
 haps, in addressing women, I should say fash¬ 
 ion, which we all know to be more tyrannical 
 than law. 
 
 In the second place, and in the words of 
 our protest, all persons interested in securing 
 the rights of women, are prepared to object to 
 such laws of any State, as give to the husband, 
 
 1. The custody of the wife's person. 
 
 In Massachusetts the husband has this cus¬ 
 tody by the common law, and I know of no 
 special enactment to the contrary. Probably 
 no right with which he is invested occasions 
 
 more suffering than this, yet it is necessarily 
 of a kind to be passed over in silence, and 
 which,—speak of it impersonally as we will,— 
 it seems unfit to press publicly upon the atten¬ 
 tion of an audience. But, if the results of 
 this right are sustained by the laws of the 
 land ; should they be such as we must blush 
 to speak of; if women die under its inflictions, 
 —are they never to find those of their own sex 
 strong enough to show the reasons why, and 
 pure enough to remain unsuspected in doing 
 so ? To what extent this right may be sus¬ 
 tained, those interested may see by referring 
 to Bishop, on Marriage and Divorce, Section 
 489, where a case recently decided in Connec¬ 
 ticut, is detailed. Here a wife was driven in 
 her extremity to appeal for a divorce. The 
 Court found all the facts as she stated them, 
 but refused to grant her prayer, because 
 the husband had no means of ascertaining 
 that her health was injured, except ,—her 
 own assertion ! Will it be believed that the 
 Court neither required the husband to find 
 such evidence for the future, nor instructed 
 the injured wife as to some legal way of re¬ 
 sisting such demands ? And yet women know 
 that the coarsest woman must have suffered in 
 no ordinary degree, before she could have 
 been driven into a public statement of such 
 grievances ? In relation to such a right, it 
 may be said, that every thing will depend 
 upon the character of the husband, and that 
 no good man would feel himself justified by it. 
 Precisely for this reason ought the law to be 
 altered. Only the conduct of a violent, abus¬ 
 ive man, regardless of all holy obligations, is 
 likely to come before a Court under it; and 
 such men ought not to be sustained by the 
 law ; nor would they be, if those sitting on the 
 bench felt themselves free enough from re¬ 
 proach in kindred matters, to be competent to 
 decide according to the absolute standard. 
 Have the law and the Courts so little interest 
 in the welfare of the State, that the personal 
 degradation of the wife, which this law in¬ 
 volves, is nothing to them? Can ignoble 
 mothers bring forth noble sons ? What would 
 you name the woman who should voluntarily 
 give her person into another’s custody ? and 
 what effect do you think it would have upon 
 the world, if all the unmarried comprehended 
 the extent of the power here given to the 
 
3 
 
 husband, a power of life and death—no less ! 
 Here is a case where the great Goethe might 
 have said, as he said of lesser matters, 
 
 —“ a synod of good women should decide.” 
 Thirdly, we object to investing the husband 
 with the 
 
 2. Exclusive control and guardianship of his 
 
 children. 
 
 In Massachusetts I am told the law amounts 
 to this. In general, the father is entitled to 
 the exclusive control and guardianship of the 
 children. Yet this right is not absolute. 
 Massachusetts does not forget that she stands 
 in the sacred relation of mother to all her 
 children, and that their good is the predomi¬ 
 nant consideration. While the children re¬ 
 mained dependent on a mother’s nurture, her 
 right would be regarded, and if the father 
 were manifestly unfit, the Courts would not 
 give them into his custody. This is a case, as 
 you will see, in which the practice of the State 
 has always been better than her principle; 
 yet where it was possible for many cruel 
 decisions to be made under cover of the faulty 
 principle. A favorable change has however 
 taken place in this respect, since the last session 
 of the Legislature. By referr ing to the statutes 
 of the session of 1855, Chap. 137, Sect. 7, it will 
 be seen that in all “ cases in which the Su¬ 
 preme Judicial Court, or any justice thereof, 
 shall be required to adjudicate, relative to the 
 custody of children, pending any controversy 
 between the parents thereof, or in regard to 
 the final possession by the parents respectively, 
 the happiness and welfare of such children 
 shall determine the custody or possession into 
 which they shall be placed, and the respective 
 rights of the parents in the absence of mis¬ 
 conduct shall be held to be equal.” Here 
 the letter of the law comes up to the practice, 
 and both are sustained by the abstract prin¬ 
 ciple. 
 
 In the fourth place we protest against such 
 laws as give to a husband the 
 
 3. Sole ownership of a wife's personal^ and 
 
 use of her real estate, 
 
 unless previously settled upon her, or placed 
 in the hands of trustees, as in the case of 
 minors, lunatics and idiots. The law of Mas¬ 
 sachusetts was as oppressive as that of any 
 
 State. Painful instances of its operation will 
 readily occur to all who listen to me; but by 
 referring to the 304th Chapter of the Statutes 
 for 1855, it will be seen, 
 
 Section First .—“ That henceforth, property, 
 both real and personal, which any woman 
 may own at the time of her marriage, and all 
 proceeds thereof, any real or personal proper¬ 
 ty which shall come to her by descent or as a 
 gift, from some person other than her hus¬ 
 band, shall remain her sole property, not sub¬ 
 ject to his disposal nor liable to his debts.” 
 
 Section Second .—“That her husband shall 
 not be liable for any action against her, which 
 began before her marriage, but she shall be 
 liable as if she were sole, and her property in 
 the same manner.” 
 
 Section Third .—“ She may after and dur¬ 
 ing her marriage, sell or convey her property 
 as if she were single, but no conveyance of 
 any real property; and no conveyance of any 
 shares in any corporation shall be valid with¬ 
 out the assent, in writing, of her husband, 
 except with the consent of one of the Judges 
 of the Supreme Judicial Court, to be given on 
 account of the sickness, insanity, or absence of 
 her husband, or other good cause. Such con¬ 
 sent to be obtained in vacation as well as in 
 term time.” 
 
 Section Sixth. —“ That the real estate or 
 shares standing in the name of any married 
 woman, which were her property #t the time 
 of her marriage, or which have since become 
 so, shall not be liable to be taken on any exe¬ 
 cution against him for debt or any cause of 
 action hereafter arising.” 
 
 I have thrown off the absurd and cumber¬ 
 some technicality of these sections, and retain 
 only their common sense. By the Second 
 Section it will be seen, that whenever the 
 wife becomes a person capable of holding 
 property, she becomes also responsible for her 
 own debts. I allude to this, because there are 
 women who seem to think that rights are only 
 liberties, and not in any degree, responsibilities, 
 and because there are men who think that if 
 the law grant us all we seek, it will put us 
 beyond the pale of its restraints. 
 
 Kay, sisters, freedom is a sacred, self-re¬ 
 straining thing, and let no one ask for it who 
 is not willing to under it. 
 
 The Third Section provides for the hus¬ 
 band’s assent in writing to the wife’s* t^nsfer 
 of real estate or shares in any corporation. 
 Let no one consider this an injustice, for 
 
4 
 
 when the husband wishes to dispose of his 
 real estate, he cannot do it, unless his wife 
 consents to bar her own right of dower. 
 When the law first treats woman as a person, 
 equal in its sight to man, such special enact¬ 
 ments will cease to be necessary, fol’ the two 
 will then come in precisely the same way, 
 under all its provisions. 
 
 In the fifth place, we protest against those 
 laws which give to the husband 
 
 4. The absolute right to the products of his wifds 
 
 industry. 
 
 In Massachusetts the husband had this abso¬ 
 lute right, and a case which arose under it in the 
 person cf an Irish washerwoman, in whom I was 
 interested, when I was only fifteen, was the first 
 to call my attention to the subject of such un¬ 
 equal legislation. The wife could then give a 
 receipt to her employer, which legally dis¬ 
 charged him, but it did not make her the 
 owner of her receipts, against the claim of an 
 idle and dissolute husband. The statutes of 
 of 1855 have changed all that. By referring 
 to the 7th Section of the 304th chap.it will be 
 seen, “ that any married woman may carry on 
 any trade or business, perform any service on 
 her own account, and her earnings shall be her 
 sole property, to be used and invested by her, 
 and for which she may sue or be sued, and 
 upon which executions may be levied against 
 her.” This last to be prized as a right, as well 
 as the others. 
 
 In the sixth place, we protest against those 
 laws which give to the widower, a 
 
 5. Larger and more permanent interest in the 
 
 property of a deceased wife, 
 
 than they give to the widow in that of her de¬ 
 ceased husband. In Massachusetts, after a wife 
 dies, a husband is entitled to all the wife’s per¬ 
 sonal estate, after the payment of her debts, as 
 her administrator, and the income of the whole 
 of her real estate during his life, provided a child 
 was born of the marriage. Should the husband 
 die, the wife has only one-third of the personal 
 property remaining after his debts are paid, 
 and her dower in one-third of his real estate 
 during her life. If there were no children, 
 she would be entitled to the whole of his per¬ 
 sonal estate, provided it did not exceed $5000, 
 and one-half his real estate during her life. It 
 is a little comical to see how carefully the State 
 
 protects us here against the “ deceitfulness of 
 riches,” and a little natural curiosity cannot 
 but be felt to know who are the heirs whom 
 she proposes to benefit by the surplus of his 
 personal, and the half of his real estate I In 
 England they have a crown, which conveniently 
 confiscates troublesome property of this sort. 
 Here, it is easy to conceive of cases under 
 such a law, conferring a premium upon 
 knavery, and ofiering temptations to still 
 deeper crime. 
 
 Finally, we protest against the whole sys¬ 
 tem by which, 
 
 6. The legal existence of a woman is sus¬ 
 pended during marriage, 
 so that in many States, she neither has a legal 
 part in the choice of her residence, nor can 
 she make a will, nor sue nor be sued in her 
 own name, nor inherit property. 
 
 Upon some of the points, touched by this 
 protest, we have already given nearly all the 
 information that is required. 
 
 In spite of the enactment of some special stat¬ 
 utes to the contrary, the spirit of the Massachus¬ 
 etts law still “ considers the husband and wife as 
 one person. There is allowed to be but one 
 will between them, and that is placed in the 
 husband.” This is the general principle of the 
 law, as decided by her Supreme Court, but 
 special statutes long since empowered her to 
 make a will, with the consent of her husband 
 endorsed upon it, and to sue and be sued, in 
 regard to the property secured to her sole use, 
 by an ante nuptial settlement. If personal 
 property descended to her, it was her hus¬ 
 band’s ; if real, the income and use of it were 
 his. Those sections of the 304th chap, of the 
 Statutes of 1855, which I have just read, show 
 you what later change has been made, and I 
 need only quote here the 
 
 Fifth Section, which says: “ That any wo¬ 
 man hereafter married, may while married 
 make a will, but such will shall not deprive her 
 husband of his rights, as tenant by the courtesy, 
 and she shall not bequeathe away from him 
 more than one-half her personal property, 
 without his consent in writing, and any woman 
 now married may make a will of her real es¬ 
 tate, which however shall not deprive, her hus¬ 
 band of his rights as tenant by courtesy.” 
 
 When we regard the careful wording of this 
 statute, by which the Courts secure to woman 
 
5 
 
 what it has been customary to assert that she 
 has always had, namely, her will, we are led to 
 inquire who this husband is, who is so carefully 
 protected ; whether he is so cruel that he is in 
 danger of losing his right as tenant by courtesy, 
 or so weak that he cannot subsist without one- 
 half of his wife’s personal property? We 
 wonder why he cannot be left to secure all 
 these things by his good behavior, and whether 
 the wife is as carefully secured against inj ustice 
 on her husband’s part. 
 
 7. One further question may be asked of 
 Massachusetts. If a husbatid dies without a will, 
 who appoints the guardians of his children ? If 
 the children are under fourteen, the Judge of 
 Probate nominates the guardian ; if over, the 
 minor. In practice, the Judge would always 
 appoint the mother to the guardianship, if she 
 petitioned for it, and were not incapable. In 
 case the mother remains unmarried and is com¬ 
 petent to transact her own business, she is by 
 our law entitled to the custody of the person 
 of the minor, and the care of his education, 
 notwithstanding another is the guardian, he 
 being appointed by the Judge solely to look 
 after the minor’s estate. 
 
 The Seventh Section of the 137th chap, of 
 the Statutes of 1855, which I read under my 
 third protest, though intended to apply in 
 oases of divorce, is broad enough, I am assured, 
 to cover all cases of custody, and is praise¬ 
 worthy because it is just. My interest in this 
 matter has led me also to consider the “ Gene¬ 
 ral law of Husband and Wife.” I cannot ex¬ 
 press the horror with which I turned from my 
 investigations into English law, binding upon 
 so large a portion of the civilized world. 
 To say that it is more oppressive than I have 
 ever known that of Massachusetts to be, is to say 
 too little. 
 
 Macqueen says in 1847, that only three 
 cases of divorce obtained by women, are on 
 the records of the nation, it having been the 
 settled policy of Parliament to discourage 
 applications from that quarter. A divorce is 
 granted to man, only that legitimacy of de¬ 
 scent may be secured; his happiness as an in¬ 
 dividual, the sacredness of living, is of no ac¬ 
 count in the eye of Parliament. Woman, they 
 think, has nothing to fear on this head, so they 
 permit her to suffer under a thousand disabili¬ 
 ties, whenever she attempts to free herself from 
 
 a brute or a destroyer. In Massachusetts, I 
 believe a woman labors under no special dis¬ 
 ability in seeking a divorce. If she have no 
 property, her husband is obliged to support her 
 while the suit is pending, and is held liable for 
 her costs. In a proper state of society, in 
 which women would be self-supporting, the 
 husband might rebel against this law, as op¬ 
 pressive. As it is, it shows a great advance 
 upon the civilization of the old world. I have 
 no time, even were it pertinent, to go into the 
 details of the English law. 
 
 Macqueen himself calls many of them inex¬ 
 plicable and unsatisfactory. As I read them, I 
 felt thankful to God that so few men had the 
 curiosity to turn over pages whereon it is re¬ 
 corded that they may sell the wearing apparel 
 of a wife, to fill their cigar cases, and that 
 when they die, her chattels personal may go 
 to their heirs, but can never revert to her ;— 
 where the various enactments seemed to point 
 out with burning distinctness, a thousand new 
 ways in which a wicked man might persecute 
 a woman. I thanked God that the law in the 
 heart is, for most men, far easier to read than 
 the law of the Courts ! 
 
 In the institutes of Mena, it is said, “ Imme¬ 
 morial custom is transcendent law.” “ The 
 roots of the law are the whole Veda — the or¬ 
 dinances and moral practices of such as per¬ 
 fectly understand it, the immemorial customs 
 of good men and self satisfaction.” “ Imme¬ 
 morial custom is a tradition among the four 
 pure classes, in a country frequented by the 
 gods, and at length, is not to be distinguished 
 from revelation.” 
 
 My friends, having told you thus much con¬ 
 cerning Massachusetts law, you will not need 
 to ask me whether this country is still fre¬ 
 quented by the gods. If not, it is the four 
 pure classes who are to win them back to it, 
 and of these the class of high-minded women 
 stands forever first. You will have no need 
 to assume the responsibility of immemorial 
 custom. It has always belonged to you—you, 
 who have always controlled, in a great mea¬ 
 sure, the ordinances and moral practices of 
 men. Make yourselves better, then, if you 
 would have the laws so. Deserve more, if 
 you would have more. 
 
 You will have seen that I am indebted to 
 Mr. Browne’s “ certainties ” for my confidence 
 
6 
 
 in my legal points. I would not do otherwise 
 than acknowledge this, because I trust the 
 day is soon coming when men will, with the 
 same candor, acknowledge their obligations to 
 women. 
 
 Here I technically close my report, yet as it 
 is the first time that I have presented this sub¬ 
 ject in person, I shall beg permission to speak 
 in more general terms of the field into which 
 we have entered. This reform is far more 
 important than all others, inasmuch as it un¬ 
 derlies all others We ought to call it a move¬ 
 ment in behalf of Human Rights, not Wo¬ 
 man’s^ for the most important of man’s rights 
 is what we seek to secure, namely, the finding 
 of woman in her right place she may help, 
 
 not hinder, and set free instead of fettering. 
 
 Young men, drawn hither, perhaps, by 
 curiosity, yet not ashamed to dream in your 
 hearts of a wife and a home, would you have 
 a doll to decorate, a toy to play with ? If not, 
 you are bound to lend yourselves to our effort 
 to secure a better education for women. Was 
 there ever one among you who found a wife 
 too capable or too well instructed ? If not, let 
 none of you fear it. If reformers are iound 
 incompetent to household cares or maternal 
 duties, it is not because they are women, but 
 because they are imperfect. Some, nay many 
 of the most distinguished men in the world, 
 would present no better appearance on paper 
 than Mrs. Jellaby,—the great historian Nie¬ 
 buhr, for example. It is the want of some¬ 
 thing, not the surplus of any thing, that makes 
 a woman a slattern. Many are the injuries to 
 our cause from those who thoughtlessly advo¬ 
 cate it, oblivious, meanwhile, of the small sweet 
 charities of home. I need not tell you what 
 I think of such women. You know my opin¬ 
 ion ; but here in the city, where I was born, 
 where I have grown up, and my word ought 
 to be worth something, I assert, on behalf of 
 the great women, prominent in this cause, that 
 there never was a body of reformers more 
 free from reproach. Go to their homes, and 
 you will find that they did not become re¬ 
 formers, until they had shown themselves good 
 housekeepers and good wives, above all, per¬ 
 haps, good mothers. They know, most of them, 
 that he who ruleth his own soul is greater 
 than he who taketh a city, and it is because 
 they have made themselves helps meet for 
 
 man, at his fireside, that they have a claim to 
 your confidence assembled here, or in the wide 
 valleys of the West. No occasional exceptions 
 can invalidate this rule. I would not stand 
 here, if I believed that any of us came, to the 
 neglect of higher duties. I do not believe 
 that man is a Christian, who feeds some dis¬ 
 tant, starving Ireland, before he has provided 
 for the hunger of his own household. As I 
 encounter often my conservative friends, they 
 ask me. How do you grow, and what does 
 your cause gain ? It seems as if their world 
 waited, expecting some sudden and striking 
 result. Let us tell them here, once for all, 
 that we have never been deluded into looking 
 for any such thing. From its nature this will 
 be the slowest movement ever undertaken by 
 man. We shall gain surely, but impercepti¬ 
 bly. I am frightened when obvious results 
 crowd upon us, because I feel that they are 
 not granted wisely, nor with a full knowledge 
 of all that they involve. All noble souls 
 must help us, whether they will or not, yet I 
 would have men realize beforehand, so far as 
 they can, the full consequences of every step 
 we take. Every well-educated woman who 
 leads an independent life, refusing to marry 
 for bread, or managing her family interests as 
 a widow, from wise and noble motives, helps 
 us more than all speech-making. Speech¬ 
 making is in fact the lowest duty in our temple 
 service,—a duty, yet the lowest. It is needed 
 now, it may be forever, but in itself it proves 
 nothing. 
 
 A woman like Harriet K. Hunt, who estab¬ 
 lished herself as a physician in this city in 
 spite of bigoted resistance, and now protests 
 against the taxes she is compelled to pay on 
 property which she may neither protect nor 
 represent,—a woman, who like yourself, Mrs. 
 President, entered the field as a lecturer, to 
 teach mothers the meaning of scrofula and 
 the value of health,—a woman who adds, like 
 Elizabeth Browning, the sound learning of a 
 man to the tender feeling of the woman ;—one 
 who like Margaret Fuller, unites a blameless 
 private life to the most thorough scholarship, 
 and the inspiration of a seer, is indeed a no¬ 
 ble advocate of woman’s true position, whether 
 she ever make a speech or not. 
 
 Life is what we want. Responsible, earnest 
 life, such as Hatty Hosmer’s, when she crossed 
 
7 
 
 the Alleghanies to get the freedom of the dis¬ 
 secting-room—when she stood by the rough 
 marble block, and with her own energetic 
 hand, broke away the stone, till those who 
 loved her looked upon the dawning of her 
 Hesper. Life^ such as Florence Nightingale’s, 
 when she sailed for the Crimea, and exchanged 
 the saloons of St. James for the hospitals of a 
 badly managed war 5—when she seized the 
 supplies, refused to her by craven officers, 
 and saved Her Majesty’s dying soldiers in 
 spite of Her Majesty’s transport service. Life^ 
 such as the primary school teacher leads, when 
 day after day she goes up to her pupils, and 
 by patient well-doing, earns her own, perhaps 
 her children’s bread. Life^ such as the faith¬ 
 ful servant leads, who, with a tender respect 
 towards those who employ her, keeps also a 
 noble self-respect. Our temple is the temple 
 of humanity, all her servants are our priests. 
 
 Let no one, then, misunderstand us. And 
 while I speak for myself, I may speak also for 
 all my friends upon this platform. It is no 
 unworthy thing we contend for. We ask no 
 irreligious souls to join us. We want tender, 
 faithful, and earnest women, steadfast to keep 
 this matter in the public sight. We want 
 redress in matters of education and before 
 the law. We want the inalienable rights of 
 human beings, reserving it for our own souls 
 to decide whether we will use all the liberties 
 that depend from those rights or not. But 
 above all, we do not so much need, on this 
 platform, eloquent speakers, as we do eloquent 
 livers, by every hearth-stone in this nation; 
 livers, who feeling the high responsibility im¬ 
 posed upon them by God in our emergency, 
 will resolutely do what is demanded of them, 
 without regard to what is sweetest and dearest 
 in life, yet laboring always in a spirit so sweet 
 and dear as ultimately to win the world to 
 themselves. 
 
 Do I seem to have too little faith in con¬ 
 ventions ? If I did not believe that they 
 are for the present necessary, I would not 
 lend myself to them. It seems to me desira¬ 
 ble that we should meet, and express ourselves 
 publicly to each other, that we should under¬ 
 stand ourselves and all our wants and possi¬ 
 bilities. Hitherto we have lived in so narrow 
 a sphere, that like children, we may be sur¬ 
 prised, trying to grasp the moon with our 
 
 hands. Let us come together, then, till we 
 learn so, how broad God’s own horizon really 
 is I 
 
 Yet in the main, conventions seem to me a 
 masculine implement. And what have men 
 accomplished by them, in politics or reform ? 
 Changed the “ vox populi ” into the “ vox 
 diaboli,” mayhap, but never into the “vox 
 Dei.” Our work must be done better, and 
 by better tools. “We know not yet, but we 
 shall know hereafter.” 
 
 And the Life of which I spoke !—Women 
 of New England, I demand this life of you. 
 Wrecks of noblest humanity are continually 
 floating by you. A George Sand, breaking 
 loose from the ties which bind her to society, 
 only in later years to recognize with pro- 
 foundest sincerity the strength of those which 
 link her to her God. A Fredrika Bremer, a 
 Charlotte Bronte, full of restless longings, of 
 unsatisfied aspirations, show you the path be¬ 
 fore you. Why is it that a low wail runs 
 through all the literature ' that women have 
 given to the world, and that the voice which 
 man uplifts, is often, though far less eloquent, 
 more cheerful and strong ? It is because wo¬ 
 men feel a helplessness that they think with¬ 
 out remedy. Show them that it is not so. 
 Show them, each one of you, by living that 
 life, you dare to wish. 
 
 “ Be sea-captains, if you will,”—but never 
 be profane, drunken, incapable sea-captains. 
 Show yourselves in whatever posts you claim, 
 gentle, steadfast, and modest. These are the 
 virtues of men as well. Do not, as women, 
 discard them. Be eflicient, brave, and help¬ 
 ful. Seek duty always, perhaps it were better 
 to say, and more modest; be ready for it 
 when it comes, for notoriety never. One lost 
 sister in our ranks would be an argument 
 against us, stronger than any which legions of 
 lawyers could furnish. While we demand of 
 men, lives pure as a virgin thought, let us re¬ 
 quire of ourselves always and everywhere no 
 less. While we interfere with no other’s right 
 of private judgment, let us recognize as pub¬ 
 licly as possible, the supremacy of God’s love 
 and power, and the relations between Him 
 and man. Let us find His presence in the 
 worlds of Nature and Art, and demand it in 
 those of Custom and Law. Only so, may we 
 truly serve our sex, our nation, our age. 
 
8 
 
 Only so, can we lay our foundations beyond 
 the power of rains that fall, or waves that 
 beat! Only so, shall we be able to confer on 
 humanity, a single privilege worthy of immor¬ 
 tal beings! Caroline H. Dall. 
 
 West Newton, Mass., July 5, 1855. 
 
 The following brief digest of the laws of 
 Rhode Island was presented to the conven¬ 
 tion by P. W. Davis, on the afternoon of 
 Wednesday the 19th: 
 
 Your Committee, in examining the laws of 
 Rhode Island, and preparing their abstract, 
 find that many objectionable features of the 
 old English common law in relation to married 
 women, which, derivatively, have been in 
 force in this country, are passing away, and 
 more equitable statutes succeeding. 
 
 The spirit of progress has rendered obsolete 
 the right of a man to whip his wife — the ab¬ 
 solute custody of her person is questioned ; but 
 the rule which merges the civil and political 
 existence of the wife in that of the husband 
 still obtains in this State, which was the first to 
 recognize the need of woman to protection in 
 her property rights. 
 
 In 1844, a bill was introduced into the Leg¬ 
 islature of this State, by Hon. Wilkins Up¬ 
 dike, securing to married women their prop¬ 
 erty, under certain regulations. The step was 
 a progressive one, and hailed, at that time, 
 as a bright omen for the future. Nor have we 
 been disappointed in its effects. Other States 
 have followed the example, and the right of 
 woman to some control of her property has 
 bveen recognized by several States. 
 
 In 1847, Vermont passed similar enact- 
 m mts. In 1848-49 Connecticut, New York 
 ai d Texas followed; in 1850, Alabama; in 
 
 —, Maine ; in 1853, New Hampshire; In- 
 di ^na, Wisconsin and Iowa have followed. 
 
 These acts were an advance upon the past; 
 a new recognition of the existence of women, 
 fc r which they were deeply grateful, and still 
 c mtinue to hold a higher idea of their value 
 t jan we believe them deserving of, if they are 
 to be judged by the acknowledged principles 
 ‘)f justice and humanity, instead of our grati- 
 f'ude to the chivalric desire to protect woman- 
 iiood, which prompted their introduction. 
 
 If, in 1855, from their practical workings, 
 we find ourselves compelled to pronounce them 
 
 despotic in spirit, degrading and tyrannical in 
 effect, we do not the less give honor to the 
 man who was so far in advance of his age as 
 to conceive the idea of raising woman a little 
 higher in the scale of being than infants and 
 idiots. The stronger must lift up the weaker, 
 and every real advance of man in civilization 
 and refinement, elevates all his dependencies: 
 a failure of this indicates that the progress is 
 but seeming, not real; and that a recession 
 will invariably follow. 
 
 Remarks on the Laws relative to Women. 
 
 Without dwelling upon the fact that the 
 constitution of Rhode Island disfran¬ 
 
 chises all women, whether married or single, 
 (they being neither eligible to office nor enti¬ 
 tled to vote), we call attention to the general 
 scope and practical working of these statutes 
 on the civil and social condition of our sex. 
 
 Single women, and women, too, who are 
 married, provided the latter have lived in the 
 State a specified time without their husbands, 
 are regarded by the law, so far-as the transac¬ 
 tion of business and the management of prop¬ 
 erty are concerned, on the same footing as the 
 men. A woman in Rhode Island, who has at¬ 
 tained her majority, and has not, either in le¬ 
 gal theory or point of fact, a husband, may en¬ 
 gage in any business she chooses; may ac¬ 
 quire, manage and dispose of property in any 
 or all the various ways and means lawfully em¬ 
 ployed by the other sex. An unmarried wo¬ 
 man is protected in her right to buy and sell 
 on her own responsibility. She can make pur¬ 
 chases of goods and merchandise, and real es¬ 
 tate, and hold all and dispose of all in her own 
 name. So long as she remains single, she may 
 engage in domestic trade or foreign com¬ 
 merce, build and charter ships, buy and sell 
 for cash or on credit, sign promissory notes, 
 speculate in stocks of chartered companies, sue 
 and be sued at the law, and make such dispo¬ 
 sition, by last will and testament, of her per¬ 
 sonal property and her real estate, as may 
 best suit her feelings, interest and convenience. 
 But the very day she marries, she becomes le¬ 
 gally disqualified for the further transaction of 
 business on her own individual responsibility. 
 From that hour her personality ceases. She 
 can do nothing, legally, without her husband. 
 No matter how well established may be her 
 
9 
 
 reputation for commercial ability; no matter 
 how excellent her character as a woman, or 
 how unquestionable her credit as a merchant, 
 she is but the legal appendage, the subordi¬ 
 nate in business affairs to the man she has mar¬ 
 ried. She is no longer at the head of her own 
 affairs — no longer the responsible manager. 
 Her position in the concern is now one of in¬ 
 feriority. Although the credit of the house 
 and all its merchandise may be exclusively 
 hers, she cannot legally claim even the right 
 of being considered an equal partner in the 
 establishment. The law regards the husband 
 as “ master and owner,” and the wife, whatev¬ 
 er he may please to consider her. 
 
 Although it is true that the letter of the law 
 regards the property of which the woman was 
 possessed before marriage as still her own, yet 
 all her cash, all her merchandise, all her mort¬ 
 gages, her stocks — the whole, indeed, of her 
 personal property as well as her real estate, is 
 no longer under her entire control. If now, 
 as a wife, she makes a sale of merchandise, the 
 purchaser becomes a debtor, not to her, but to 
 her husband and herself. If she makes a pur¬ 
 chase of goods, and gives her note on demand, 
 or on time, the note is legally good for nothing, 
 unless the husband’s signature is affixed to it. 
 Should she desire to sell some portion of her own 
 real estate, the deed of conveyance must also 
 be signed by him, in order that the purchaser 
 may possess a legal and valid title to the prop¬ 
 erty which he buys. And although the hus¬ 
 band cannot dispose of the wife’s real estate 
 without her consent, yet over her personal 
 property his control is made so legally potent, 
 that he can sell, if so disposed, in his own name, 
 the whole of such property, even to the last far¬ 
 thing, and pocket the proceeds. He can collect 
 all the rents, incomes, and other moneys which 
 may be due to her, without her knowledge or 
 consent, and appropriate the whole to his own 
 individual use. True, in anticipation of this rob¬ 
 bery on the part of the husband, the law, ludi¬ 
 crously enough, proposes to prevent its perpe¬ 
 tration by pronouncing the act illegal, provid¬ 
 ed the persons to whom the husband may have 
 sold the articles, or from whom he may have 
 received rents or other moneys belonging to 
 his wife, had been, previously to the transac¬ 
 tion, separately notified by her, in writing] 
 that the articles which they were about to buy, 
 or the moneys they were about to pay, belong- 
 2 
 
 ed exclusively to herself. The exceeding dif¬ 
 ficulty, if not impossibility, of the wife antici¬ 
 pating in this way the procedure of the hus¬ 
 band, is at once perceived. And when he has 
 accomplished the act, the statute does not even 
 attempt to provide a remedy, doubtless consid¬ 
 ering the transaction as a case of justifiable 
 fraud or larceny. And whatever may be said 
 of other enactments for the security of the 
 property of married women, it is obvious that 
 this provision affords hardly the shadow of pro¬ 
 tection. Quite recently, in one of the manu¬ 
 facturing towns of Rhode Island, a woman, 
 whose husband was living in another State, 
 was taken sick. She had for some time pre¬ 
 vious, supported herself by dressmaking. She 
 had opened and furnished a room for the ac¬ 
 commodation of her customers, and as a work 
 shop, provided with the fixtures and the mate¬ 
 rials necessary to the prosecution of that branch 
 of business. When the husband heard that 
 his wife was kept from her place of business 
 by sickness, he came to Rhode Island, took 
 possession of the shop, and sold everything it 
 contained, even his wife’s wearing apparel, 
 and then returned composedly to his business, 
 saying to an expostulating friend, that “ all 
 his proceedings in the case had been strictly 
 legal.” So, in fact, they were, and would 
 have been had the property amounted to tens 
 of thousands, instead of a score or two, of dol¬ 
 lars. Had this woman been unmarried, she 
 would have had redress at law for this outrage 
 upon her property; indeed, it could not have 
 been perpetrated. Her husband being her 
 legal master, was acting in accordance with 
 the statute “ in such case made and provided.” 
 
 It will be seen, then, that the enactments for 
 the protection of personal property of mar¬ 
 ried women, amount to just this, “and nothing 
 more,” viz.: the personal goods and chattels, 
 rents, dues and profits, jewels, furniture and 
 wearing apparel of which she may be possessed 
 in her own right, really and legally belong to 
 her: and the husband is forbidden to dispose 
 of them, or use them for his own advantage, or 
 for the benefit of his creditors, unless he does so 
 by one or the other of those ways which the 
 law leaves open and ready for his use. Such 
 is the security which the legislation of Rhode 
 Island extends to married women in regard to 
 their rights of personal property. 
 
 Although the control of a married woman’s 
 
10 
 
 real estate is divided by law between herself 
 and husband, yet this description of her prop¬ 
 erty is compartively secure. The husband 
 can not, as in the case of personal property, 
 sell her houses and lands as his own. The 
 deeds of conveyance would be good, for noth¬ 
 ing unless jointly signed by husband and wife. 
 And, on the other hand, she herself is not al¬ 
 lowed to sell or convey any portion of her own 
 estate, without his consent to the transaction, 
 and his signature to the deeds. It is in the 
 enactments concerning the real estate of a mar¬ 
 ried woman that we are presented more prom¬ 
 inently with the arbitrary character of the 
 rules which govern some portions of modern 
 legislation. On what principle of justice, for 
 example, is a married woman forbidden to dis¬ 
 pose of her real estate, or any portion of it, by 
 last will and testament ? What valid reason 
 can be given by our wisest legislators for com¬ 
 pelling a woman to die intestate, so far as this 
 description of property is concerned ? No 
 sound and satisfactory reason, founded in the 
 nature of the case, can possibly be stated in 
 justification of this peremptory prohibition ; 
 and furthermore, what consistency is there in 
 the legislation which, while unqualifiedly for¬ 
 bidding her to thus devise, by will, her houses 
 and lands, authorizes her to bequeathe, in this 
 very way, any or all of her personal chattels ? 
 Thus, while it is unlawful for her to devise a 
 single acre of land, it is at the same time per¬ 
 fectly legal for her to devise any amount of 
 bank stock, merchandise, or other personal 
 property. 
 
 What there is in the nature of these two 
 acts when performed by a married woman, so 
 essentially different as to require the law to 
 make a broad discrimination between the two, 
 positively prohibiting the one and clearly au¬ 
 thorizing the other, is very difficult to perceive. 
 Common sense declares at once, that, if 
 woman, whether married or single, is com¬ 
 petent to say how her personal property shall 
 be divided after her decease, she is likewise 
 competent to determine what shall be done 
 with her real estate after the same event. But 
 in spite of common sense, and in opposition to 
 common justice, Rhode Island law says that no 
 woman in the state, if she be married, shall 
 have any voice in the final disposition of any 
 portion of her real estate, but that it shall be 
 left and administered upon by her husband. 
 
 Without enlarging upon the arbitrary char¬ 
 acter of these enactments, their ridiculous 
 distinctions, their tyrannical spirit, or their de¬ 
 grading practical operation, we insist upon an 
 entire new basis of legislation in regard to 
 women. We demand that our equality with 
 the other sex be first recognized, and then we 
 shall no longer be treated as infants or vas¬ 
 sals, nor subjected to laws founded only in 
 caprice or antiquated ideas of woman’s capa¬ 
 cities and natural rights. What we claim, so 
 far as government and legislation have to do 
 with the matter, is simply equality, politically, 
 civilly, socially. Let legislation show no favors 
 on account of sex, any more than on account 
 of feature or complexion. At present the 
 constitution of Rhode Island utterly ignores 
 woman’s political rights. Some of our civil 
 rights are partially and grudgingly acknowl¬ 
 edged, as we have seen by the quotations from 
 the statutes, but acknowledged in a sufficient¬ 
 ly explicit manner to establish by their own 
 concessions, the justice of all we now demand. 
 Is it not just and reasonable in us to claim, as 
 married women, the same control over the 
 property of our husbands which the law en¬ 
 titles them to exercise over ours ? If the 
 marriage relation confers any new rights upon 
 the man, it ought also to confer the same upon 
 the woman. And if the widow is entitled to 
 the right of dower in her husband’s estate, 
 why should the widower be excluded from the 
 same right in the estate of his wife ? If the 
 husband becomes endowed with certain rights 
 in virtue of his wife’s property, why should 
 the wife not be endowed with the same rights 
 in virtue of the husband’s property ? If, for 
 instance, the penniless John Doe marries a 
 woman who possesses in her own right, sundry 
 houses, lands and hereditaments, and the es¬ 
 tate is from that time called by, and taxed as, 
 the “ estate of John Doe and wife,” and he is 
 forthwith made by his wife’s property what he 
 was not before—a voter, we submit if it be 
 anything more than even-handed justice, or 
 plain republican equality, when poor Rachel 
 Roe marries some wealthy gentleman, to print 
 in the tax-book, and record in the registry of 
 deeds,—“ The estate of Rachel Roe and hus¬ 
 band ; ” and confer upon her the same legal 
 rights and privileges which fell to the lot of 
 John Doe as necessary consequences of his 
 marriage ? Is it not manifest, that what is 
 
11 
 
 just and right in the first case is also just and 
 right in the latter ? Surely no person of in¬ 
 telligence and candor can justly censure us 
 because we claim that the legal rights and dis¬ 
 abilities consequent on marriage, should be 
 equally divided between husband and wife. 
 Is it not clear that, if by marrying, it is proper 
 that a portion of the woman’s individuality 
 and freedom be absorbed by the husband, it 
 is as proper that an equal portion of his should 
 be absorbed by the wife ? 
 
 From the examination of these laws, the most 
 liberal in New England, and which have been 
 from time to time revised, amended, and re¬ 
 enacted, there is still cause for dissatisfaction. 
 If up to this period man’s wisdom has failed 
 to find the true equipoise, does it not point to 
 another and higher truth, viz., that of the 
 necessity of women in the halls of Legisla¬ 
 ture ? It is plainly manifest that man’s wis¬ 
 dom is insufficient for the highest good of all 
 —he has failed to comprehend the simple 
 principle of j ustice—a principle inherent in 
 woman’s nature; therefore do we present the 
 following petition for our RIGHT to the elec¬ 
 tive franchise,—a right sacred to all, and dan¬ 
 gerous to tyrants alone. 
 
 PETITION 
 
 TO THE LEGISLATURE IN RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 We, the undersigned, residents of the State 
 of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 
 feeling aggrieved by the abuses and usurpations 
 of your legislation, which degrades one half 
 of the residents of your State to the position 
 of infants and idiots, defrauding them of the 
 sacred right to self-government, and of all 
 rights and functions as citizens, by withholding 
 from them the elective franchise,—do hereby 
 earnestly pray your honorable body to take 
 such steps as are needful for the recognition 
 of the existence of woman as a citizen of these 
 United States. 
 
 LEGAL RIGHTS AND DISABILITIES 
 
 OF MARRIED WOMEN IN RHODE ISLAND. 
 An act to secure the fulfilment of certain con¬ 
 tracts^ and for the relief of married women 
 in certain cases’’ — Vol. I^page 265. 
 Section 1.—When any married woman shall 
 reside in, or shall have come from any other 
 
 state or country into this state, without her hus¬ 
 band, he never having lived with her in this 
 state, and she shall continue or shall have con¬ 
 tinued to reside in this state, without her said 
 husband for the space of two years continuous¬ 
 ly, she may afterwards, during her separate 
 residence therein, transact business, make con¬ 
 tracts, prosecute and defend suits in her own 
 name, and dispose of such of her property as 
 she may acquire by her own industry or other¬ 
 wise ; and may have the exclusive care, cus¬ 
 tody and guardianship of her minor children, 
 if any living with her, in like manner and in 
 all respects as if she were unmarried ; and she 
 shall be liable to be sued as if she were un¬ 
 married, upon all contracts, and for all other 
 acts made or done by her after the expiration 
 of said term of two years; and she may make 
 and execute any deeds and other instruments 
 in her own name, and do all other lawful acts 
 that may be necessary or proper to carry into 
 effect the power so granted to her. 
 
 Section 2.— If the husband of any such wo¬ 
 man shall afterwards come into this state and 
 claim his marital rights, his arrival here shall 
 have the same effect in regard to any suit then 
 pending in which she is a party, except to 
 abate the same, and to any contract or business 
 transacted by her under the power granted in 
 the foregoing section, as if they had been first 
 married at the time of his arrival here, and 
 shall have no other effect. 
 
 Section 3. —If during her separate resi¬ 
 dence such married woman shall have obtained 
 a decree of divorce against her said husband, 
 under the laws of this state, or if her said hus¬ 
 band previous to his coming into this state 
 shall have caused the marriage contract to be 
 dissolved by an act or decree of divorce ob¬ 
 tained against her in any state or country, in 
 any suit or proceeding to which she is not a 
 voluntary party nor present thereat, so as to 
 have like opportunity of defence as she would 
 have if such suit were brought against her in 
 this state, she shall not thereafter be liable, in 
 this state, provided that she shall have resided 
 therein for the space of six months, to be de¬ 
 prived by her late husband of her separate 
 earnings therein, nor of any property not de¬ 
 rived from him which she may lawfully have 
 acquired or possess, nor of the custody of any 
 infant child; unless, upon petition of her said 
 
12 
 
 late husband to the Supreme Court, in the 
 county where she resides, served upon her b y 
 copy, thirty days at least before the sitting of 
 the court, and setting forth substantially the 
 whole subject matter of complaint against her, 
 it shall be made to appear by evidence that 
 she is not a a person of good moral character, 
 suitable to have charge of her children, or 
 unless the court thereupon in its discretion? 
 having due regard to the well-being of the in¬ 
 fant, order its custody to be changed. 
 
 Section 4. —The Supreme Court, upon any 
 application of such woman, either before or 
 after said divorce, on her giving satisfactory 
 evidence of her having resided two years in 
 this state, next before said application, separate 
 from her husband, and without being supported 
 by him, may appoint a guardian of the person 
 and estate of said child, in the same manner 
 that courts of probate are now authorized to 
 appoint guardians of minors. 
 
 “ Aci regulating conveyances of real estate.’* 
 Page 257. 
 
 Section 9* Nothing in this act shall be 
 construed to bar any widow of any grant or 
 of any lands, tenements or other real estate 
 of her dower therein ; but a married woman 
 may bar her right of dower in any estate con¬ 
 veyed by her husband, by joining with him in 
 the deed conveying the same, and therein re¬ 
 leasing her claim to dower, or by releasing 
 the same by subsequent deed, jointly with 
 her husband, or by joining in a deed given 
 by a guardian of her husband: she may 
 also bar her right of dower in any estate in 
 which the interest of her husband has been 
 formally conveyed by a deed thereof, executed 
 by her, in the presence of two witnesses, and 
 acknowledged by her, after a separate exami¬ 
 nation and an explanation of the deed to her, 
 in the same manner as is required by law tor 
 a conveyance of real estate owned by her in 
 her own right. 
 
 Section 10. Where the husband and wife, 
 being of lawful age, are seized of any lands, 
 tenements or other real estate in the right of 
 the wife, they shall be authorized to convey 
 the same by deed or other instrument in wri¬ 
 ting, signed, sealed and delivered by them re¬ 
 spectively ; but in every such case, the wife 
 acknowledging such deed or instrument shall 
 
 be examined privily and apart from her hus¬ 
 band ; and shall declare to the officer taking 
 such acknowledgment, that the deed or instru¬ 
 ment shown and explained to her by such 
 magistrate is her voluntary act, and that she 
 doth not wish to retract the same : and if the 
 wife on such privy examination shall refuse to 
 make such acknowledgment, the deed or other 
 instrument executed by the husband and the 
 wife as aforesaid, shall not operate to convey 
 to the grantee named in such deed or instru¬ 
 ment, any other or greater estate in the pre¬ 
 mises described in such deed than what be¬ 
 longs to the husband; and if such deed be 
 executed by attorney of the wife, or any deed 
 affecting her right of dower in any estate of 
 her husband during his life, the letter of attor¬ 
 ney shall be executed and acknowledged with 
 like formalities as are required in the execu¬ 
 tion and acknowledgment of a deed by a hus¬ 
 band and wife of an estate held in the right of 
 the wife. 
 
 “ Intestate estates and the settlement thereof.” 
 
 Page 238. 
 
 Section 3. Whenever the personal estate 
 of any deceased person shall be insufficient to 
 pay the debts and funeral charges of the de¬ 
 ceased, the widow shall nevertheless be enti¬ 
 tled to her apparel, and such bedding and other 
 household goods as the court of probate shall 
 determine necessary, according to her situation 
 and the circumstances of the estate ; and such 
 part of the personal estate as the court of pro¬ 
 bate may allow the widow, shall not be assets 
 in the hands of the executor or administrator. 
 
 Section 18. When a man and his wife 
 shall be seized of any real estate in her right, 
 in fee, and issue shall be born alive of the body 
 of such wife, that may inherit the same, and 
 such wife shall die, the husband shall have and 
 hold such estate during his natural life as ten¬ 
 ant by the courtesy. 
 
 Section 24. The husband shall, except as 
 provided in the act entitled “ an act concern¬ 
 ing the property of married women,” be en¬ 
 titled to the administration of his wife’s per¬ 
 sonal estate; and shall not be compelled to 
 distribute the same amongst her rest of kin, 
 but shall have and retain the surplus thereof, 
 after payment of her debts, for his own use: 
 anything in this act to the contrary notwith¬ 
 standing. 
 
13 
 
 “ Act concerning the property of married 
 women” Page 270. 
 
 Section 1. —The real estate, chattels real, 
 household furniture, plate, jewels, stock or 
 shares in the capital stock of any incorporated 
 company of this state, or debts secured by mort¬ 
 gage on property within this state, which are 
 the property of any woman before marriage, or 
 which may become the property of any woman 
 after marriage, shall be, and are hereby so far 
 secured to her sole and separate use, that the 
 same, and the rents, profits and income thereof, 
 shall not be liable to be attached, or in any 
 way taken for the debts of the husband, either 
 before or after his death; and upon the death 
 of the husband in the life-time of the wife, shall 
 be and remain her sole and separate property. 
 In case of the sale of any such property, the 
 proceeds of such sale, or any part of the same, 
 may be invested in the name of the wife in any 
 of the kinds of the property aforesaid, and to 
 be secured to and holden by the wife, in the 
 same manner and with the same rights and 
 effect as the property sold. The receipt or 
 discharge of the husband for the rents and 
 profits of such property, shall be a sufficient 
 receipt and discharge therefor, unless previous 
 notice, in writing, shall be given by the wife to 
 the lessee, debtor or incorporated company, 
 from whom such rents or profits are payable ; 
 in which case the sole and separate receipt or 
 discharge of the wife shall alone be a sufficient 
 receipt and discharge therefor. 
 
 Section 2 .—The chattels real, household 
 furniture, plate, jewels, stock or shares in the 
 capital stock of any incorporated company in 
 this state, or debts secured by mortgage on 
 property within this state, which are the prop¬ 
 erty of any woman before marriage, or which 
 may become the property of any woman after 
 marriage, shall not be sold, leased or conveyed 
 by the husband, unless by deed, in which the 
 wife shall join as grantor; which deed shall be 
 acknowledged in the manner by law provided 
 in case of the real estate of married women ; 
 provided^ however^ that whenever the house¬ 
 hold furniture, plate or jewels belonging to any 
 married woman shall be sold by her husband 
 as his property, to one who shall purchase the 
 same bona fide, and without notice, active 
 or constructive, of the right of the wife thereto, 
 such sale shall vest in such purchaser a good 
 and valid title thereto. 
 
 Section 3. —Any married woman, being 
 upwards of eighteen years of age, may dispose 
 of her personal estate secured to her by this 
 act, or any portion of the same, by last will 
 and testament, executed in the manner in 
 which other wills are by law required to be 
 executed. 
 
 Section 4.—Nothing in this act con¬ 
 tained shall be construed to impair the rights 
 of the husband upon the death of the wife as 
 tenant by the courtesy ; or, in case of no last 
 will and testament, as herein before provided, 
 to deprive the husband of his right to adminis¬ 
 ter upon the estate of his wife, with the same 
 effect as by law provided ; or to authorize any 
 husband to give unto or settle upon his wife 
 any of his property, in any other manner or 
 with any other effect than if this act had not 
 been passed. 
 
 Section 5. —The property secured to 
 any married woman by this act shall be liable 
 to attachment or levy for her debts, contracted 
 before marriage, under the same circumstan¬ 
 ces, and with the same effect, as if she had 
 continued sole and unmarried; and nothing in 
 this act contained shall be construed to impair 
 any lien or right of lien thereon, or any remedy 
 by law provided for the enforcement thereof. 
 
 Section 6 .—In all actions relating to the 
 property of any married woman secured to her 
 by this act, the husband and wife shall jointly 
 sue and be sued, except in case a trustee of 
 the same be appointed as hereinafter provid¬ 
 ed ; and in case of recovery, by any husband 
 and wife in any such action, the amount by 
 them recovered may be invested in the name 
 of the wife, in any of the kinds of property 
 hereinbefore described, with the same rights 
 and effect as if the same had remained in the 
 possession of the wife, whether the right of 
 action accrued before or after marriage; and 
 all such actions and rights of action shall sur¬ 
 vive the death of either husband or wife. 
 
 Section 7.—The Supreme Court may, 
 upon petition in equity to them by any mar¬ 
 ried woman, filed by her through her next 
 friend, appoint a trustee or trustees of her 
 property, secured to her by this act, who shall 
 be empowered, in his or their own name or 
 names, as trustee or trustees, to sue for, recover 
 and hold such property, to the uses by law pro¬ 
 vided ; said trust to continue during the cov¬ 
 erture of such married woman, unless by order 
 
14 
 
 of said court sooner determined. And said 
 court shall have full power to remove such 
 trustee or trustees, and to appoint others in 
 their stead, as in case of other trusts. 
 
 Act in relation to wills of real and personal 
 estate. Page 230. 
 
 Section 1. —Every person being upwards of 
 twenty-one years of age, and of sane mind, not 
 being a married woman, and being lawfully 
 seized of any lands, tenements or heredita¬ 
 ments, in his own right, in fee simple, fee tail, or 
 for the life of any other person, or for any other 
 term of time than his own life, shall have a 
 right to give, devise and dispose of the same, by 
 last will or testament, in writing, to and among 
 his children, or others, as he shall think fit; 
 and he may also devise any lands, tenements or 
 heriditaments, acquired subsequently to the 
 execution of his will, provided his intention to 
 devise the same appears by the express terms 
 of his will: provided that no person seized in 
 fee simple shall have a right to devise any 
 estate in fee tail for a longer time than to the 
 children of the first devisee; and a devise for 
 life to any person, and to the children or issue 
 generally of such devisee, in fee simple, shall 
 not vest a fee tail estate in the first devi¬ 
 see, but an estate for life only ; and the 
 remainder shall, on his decease, vest in his 
 children or issue generally, agreeably to the 
 direction in such will. 
 
 Section 4. —Every person being upwards 
 of eighteen years of age, and of sane mind, 
 shall have a right to give and dispose of all 
 his goods, chattels and personal estate, of 
 every kind, by last will and testament, in wri¬ 
 ting, in the same manner as he is authorized 
 by this act, if upwards of twenty-one years of 
 age, to dispose of real estate: provided, how¬ 
 ever, that no married woman shall make any 
 last will and testament, except of that or some 
 portion of the personal estate secured to her 
 by the act concerning the property of married 
 women ; and no will or testament of any goods 
 or chattels or other personal estate shall be 
 valid and effectual to convey the same, unless 
 such will or testament shall be in writing, and 
 signed and executed in the manner prescribed 
 in this act for the execution of wills of real 
 estate. ^ ^ ^ ^ * 
 
 Section 5.-^The widow of any testator 
 
 in whose will provision is made for said widow 
 in lieu of her dower, shall, in case of her non- 
 acceptance of that provision, signify the same, 
 in writing, to the Court of Probate, within one 
 year from the probate of the will. 
 
 Section 7.—All such estate, real or per¬ 
 sonal, as is not devised or bequeathed in the 
 last will and testament of any person, hereafter 
 to be proved, shall be distributed in the same 
 manner as if it were an intestate estate. 
 
 Section 20 .—When any unmarried wo¬ 
 man shall jointly with one or more persons 
 be appointed executrix or administratrix, and 
 after such appointment shall marry, during the 
 life of the other executor or administrator; 
 such marriage shall not make the husband an 
 executor or administrator in her right, but 
 shall operate as an extinguishment or determi¬ 
 nation of such woman’s power and authority ; 
 and the other executor or executors, adminis¬ 
 trator or administrators, may proceed in dis¬ 
 charging the trust reposed in them in the same 
 way and manner as if such woman were dead. 
 
 Section 21.—When any unmarried woman, 
 executrix or administratrix shall marry, such 
 marriage shall not make her husband an 
 executor or administrator in her right, but 
 shall operate as an extinguishment of such 
 woman’s power; and the Court of Probate 
 shall thereupon grant administration upon the 
 unadministered part of the estate, to such 
 husband or to any other suitable person ; who 
 may prosecute or defend any suit which may 
 have been commenced by or against the first 
 executrix or administratrix, in the same man¬ 
 ner and to the same purpose and effect as she 
 might have prosecuted or defended the same 
 if her trust had continued. 
 
 Act relating to dower and the assignment thereof. 
 
 Page 188. 
 
 Section 1 .—The widow of any person 
 dying intestate, or otherwise, shall be endowed 
 of one full and equal third part of all the lands, 
 tenements and hereditaments, whereof her hus¬ 
 band, or any other to his use, was seized of an 
 estate of inheritance, at any time during the 
 intermarriage, to which she shall not have 
 relinquished her right of dower by deed, except 
 in the cases provided for in the thirteenth sec¬ 
 tion of this act. 
 
 Section 4. — Until such dower be as- 
 
15 
 
 signed, and until she elect to receive her joint¬ 
 ure in lieu of dower, according to the thirteenth 
 section of this act, it shall be lawful for any 
 widow to remain and continue in the mansion 
 house, and the message thereto belonging, 
 without being chargeable to pay the heir any 
 rent for the same; provided she bring her writ 
 of dower within twelve months after the pro¬ 
 bate of the will or the granting of letters of 
 administration on her husband’s estate. 
 
 Section 13. —If any estate, real or per¬ 
 sonal, be conveyed by deed, or the same be 
 devised or bequeathed for the jointure of the 
 wife in lieu of her dower, to take effect in her 
 own possession immediately on the death of her 
 husband and to continue during her life, or in 
 fee, determinable by such acts only as would 
 forfeit her dower at the common law, such 
 conveyance shall bar her dower of the residue 
 of the lands, tenements and hereditaments 
 which her said husband at any time possessed ; 
 but if the said conveyance was before marriage 
 and during the infancy of the woman, or after 
 marriage, in either case the widow may, at her 
 election, waive such jointure and demand her 
 dower; provided the same be done in writing 
 within twelve months after the probate of the 
 will, if there be one, and if not, then within 
 twelve months after the granting of letters of 
 administration on her deceased husband’s 
 estate. 
 
 Section 15.—If any widow be lawfully 
 expelled or evicted from her jointure, or any 
 part thereof, without any fraud or covin, by 
 lawful entry or action, she shall be endowed of 
 so much of the residue of her husband’s lands, 
 tenements and hereditaments, whereof she was 
 dowable, as the same lands, tenements or 
 hereditaments wherefrom she was so evicted 
 and expelled, shall amount and extend to. 
 
 Section 16. —Widows may bequeathe the 
 crops as well of their dower as of their other 
 lands and tenements. * ^ ^ 
 
 Act enabling married women to effect life 
 insurance. — Vol. 2ypage 715. 
 
 Any policy of insurance, made by any insu¬ 
 rance company, on the life of any person 
 expressed to be for the benefit of a married 
 woman, whether the same be effected by her¬ 
 self or by her husband,or by any other person on 
 her behalf, shall enure to her separate use and 
 
 benefit and that of her children, if any, inde¬ 
 pendently of her husband and of his creditors 
 and representatives, and also independently of 
 any other person effecting the same on her 
 behalf, his creditors and representatives; a 
 trustee or trustees may be appointed by any 
 court authorized to appoint trustees, to hold 
 and manage the interest of any married woman 
 in any such policy or the proceeds thereof: 
 provided^ however^ that the provisions of this 
 act shall not apply to any policy upon which 
 the amount of annual premium shall exceed 
 the sum of three hundred dollars. 
 
 Providence, R. I. p. w. d. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 FOR THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 BT ELLEN M. TAB.R. 
 
 The laws of the State of New Hampshire 
 which especially bear upon women are, first, 
 provisions of the common law, which have 
 equal force in other States, and second, the 
 accompanying statutes, taken from the com¬ 
 piled Statutes of New Hampshire, of 1853. 
 
 The common law has been so often quoted 
 in the “ Una,” and is now so well known, that 
 it would be a waste of time and patience to 
 give it in full here. It may, in some of its par¬ 
 ticulars, however, be briefly summed up thus : 
 
 The husband and wife are considered as one 
 person, and her legal existence lost or sus¬ 
 pended during the union. 
 
 The husband becoffies entitled, upon mar¬ 
 riage, to all the goods and chattels of the wife, 
 to the rents and profits of her land, becomes 
 liable to pay her debts and perform her con¬ 
 tracts. 
 
 “ If an estate in land be given to the hus¬ 
 band and wife, or a joint purchase be made, 
 they are not joint tenants, nor tenants in com¬ 
 mon ; for they are but one person in law.” 
 
 The husband, upon marriage, becomes pos¬ 
 sessed of the chattels of the wife, and the law 
 gives him power, without her, to sell, assign, 
 mortgage, or otherwise dispose of the same 
 as he pleases. 
 
 Among the duties which he assumes are 
 these: 
 
 He is answerable for the wife’s debts before 
 marriage. He is bound to provide her with ne¬ 
 cessaries suitable to her situation, and to pay 
 debts contracted for necessaries. 
 
16 
 
 She has no legal power to contract. 
 
 Thus we see, that while, in law, the “ hus¬ 
 band and wife are considered as one person” 
 that one is the husband —the wife is legally a 
 nonentity. 
 
 COMPILED STATUTES 
 
 OF THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FOR 
 
 1853. 
 
 Section 1. Wife deserted may hold prop¬ 
 erty. 
 
 When any husband shall have deserted his 
 wife, and remained absent for the space of 
 three months, without making suitable pro¬ 
 vision for her support, and the maintenance 
 and education of their minor children; or 
 when any cause is in existence which is, or 
 which, if it continue to exist for a longer pe¬ 
 riod, may be a cause of divorce, and the wife 
 is the injured party, she shall be entitled to 
 hold in her own right, and to her separate use, 
 any property acquired by her by descent, leg¬ 
 acy or otherwise, and to the earnings of her 
 minor children, until said parties shall after¬ 
 wards cohabit, and may dispose of the same 
 without the interference of her said husband, or 
 of any person claiming under him. 
 
 Sec. 2. Property of husband^ when sold 
 for support of wife and children. 
 
 In any such case, if the husband leave prop¬ 
 erty within this State, the judge of probate for 
 the county in which the wife resides, on petition 
 by her and such notice to the husband, personal 
 or otherwise, as the judge shall order, may au¬ 
 thorize such portion of said property as may 
 be necessary for the maintenance of herself 
 and children, to be sold at public auction, and 
 cause the proceeds of such sale to be appropri¬ 
 ated and expended for that purpose, in such 
 manner as he may direct, and require bonds 
 for the faithful application of such proceeds 
 according to the order of said court. 
 
 Sec. 3. Married women may make con¬ 
 tracts if deserted. 
 
 Whenever any married woman shall be en¬ 
 titled to hold property in her own right and to 
 her separate use, she may make contracts, may 
 sue and be sued in her own name, and may 
 dispose of said property by will, or otherwise, 
 as if she were sole and unmarried ; and if she 
 shall decease intestate, her husband shall be 
 
 excluded from any share in her said estate, 
 and such estate shall be administered and in¬ 
 herited in the same manner as if she were sole 
 and unmarried. 
 
 Sec. 4. Rights of wife of alien living sep¬ 
 arate. • 
 
 If any woman, being the wife of an alien or 
 of a citizen of any other State, shall have re¬ 
 sided in this State for the term of six months 
 successively, separate from her husband, she 
 shall be capable of making contracts, may sue 
 and be sued in her own name for any cause of 
 action that may accrue during such separate 
 residence, may acquire and hold property in 
 her own right, and may have the exclusive 
 care, custody and guardianship of her minor 
 children living with her in this State; and the 
 earnings of such children shall be expended 
 in the same manner as if her husband had de¬ 
 ceased ; but such woman shall not contract an¬ 
 other marriage, nor sue nor be sued for a 
 breach of such contract. 
 
 Sec. 5. Rights of husband becoming a res¬ 
 ident. 
 
 If the husband of such woman shall become 
 a citizen of this State, and they shall cohabit 
 together, the fact of his becoming such citizen 
 and such cohabitation shall have the same ef¬ 
 fect upon any contract or business of the wife, 
 or upon any suit by or against her, as if the 
 marriage between them had been first solem¬ 
 nized at the time of his thus becoming a citizen 
 of this State. 
 
 Sec. 6, Rights of wife after divorce. 
 
 If the husband of such woman shall obtain a 
 divorce from his said wife, in any court or 
 tribunal of any other State or country; or 
 if a divorce shall be decreed upon application 
 of the wife during such separate residence, she 
 shall be entitled to retain to her own use, any 
 property, real or personal, which may have 
 been acquired by, or given or descended to her 
 during such separate residence, and to retain the 
 exclusive custody and guardianship, and to re¬ 
 ceive the earnings of her minor children born 
 in this country and living with her, unless upon 
 a hearing of the parties before the Superior 
 Court of Judicature, it shall be made to appear 
 by other evidence than such decree of divorce, 
 that she has been guilty of adultery, or other 
 criminal breach of the marriage covenant. 
 
n 
 
 Sec. 7. Forcible removal forbidden. 
 
 If any such married woman shall reside in 
 this State, separate from her husband, it shall 
 be unlawful for the husband of such woman, 
 he being an alien, or being about to leave the 
 United States to go to any foreign country, to 
 take from the custody of such woman any mi¬ 
 nor child of the marriage, born in this country, 
 with intent to remove said child to any for¬ 
 eign country against the consent of the mother. 
 
 Sec. 8. Guardians—how appointed. 
 
 Upon her application a guardian may be 
 appointed for such child, and the Superior 
 Court of Judicature, or either of the justices 
 thereof, is authorized to issue an injunction re¬ 
 straining the father and all other persons from 
 removing said child from this State against the 
 consent of the mother, and to make such fur¬ 
 ther orders and decrees as shall secure to her 
 or to said guardian the custody of such chil¬ 
 dren. 
 
 Sec. 9. Conveyances by and to wife^ how 
 made if husband under guardianship. 
 
 The wife of any man who is under guard¬ 
 ianship may join with the guardian in the con¬ 
 veyance of her interest in her real estate, or 
 in the real estate of such ward, or in making 
 partition of her own real estate held in joint 
 tenancy or in common, and may make or re¬ 
 ceive any release or other conveyance neces¬ 
 sary or proper for that purpose, in like man¬ 
 ner as she might have done with her husband 
 if he had been under no disability. 
 
 Sec. 10. Wife may join in conveyances of 
 husband, when. 
 
 Any married woman of full age may join 
 with her husband in any conveyance of real 
 estate, and any married woman may join with 
 her husband in release of dower, although she 
 is not of full age. 
 
 Sec. 11 . Wife may devise her real estate. 
 
 Any married woman of the age of twenty- 
 one years or upwards, and of sane mind, who 
 may be seized in her own right of any real es¬ 
 tate in this State, shall have power to give, de¬ 
 vise and dispose of the same by will in writing, 
 which will, when signed and sealed by the de¬ 
 visor, and duly attested and subscribed by 
 three credible witnesses thereto in her pres¬ 
 ence, and executed with the formalities now 
 3 
 
 required by law in other cases, shall be proved 
 and allowed by the courts of probate in this 
 State, and shall be effectual in distributing the 
 estate devised, according to the intention of 
 the devisor; provided, however, that any such 
 will shall in no case affect injuriously the 
 rights acquired by the husband in any estate 
 so devised, by virtue of the marriage con¬ 
 tract. (Laws o/1845, chap. 236.) 
 
 Sec. 12. Contracts before marriage. 
 
 At any time before a marriage the parties 
 may enter into a contract in writing, declar¬ 
 ing their consent that after the marriage shall 
 have been solemnized, the wife shall continue 
 to hold either the whole or any designated 
 part of any interest in the real or personal es¬ 
 tate, or rights of action of which she may be 
 seized or possessed at the time of her mar¬ 
 riage, to her sole and separate use, free from 
 the control and interference of her husband, 
 and the said wife shall hold, possess and enjoy 
 the same accordingly. (Laivs of 1846, chap. 
 327, sec. 1.) 
 
 Sec. 13. Conveyances and bequests to mar¬ 
 ried women. 
 
 Any devise, conveyance or bequest of prop¬ 
 erty, real, personal or mixed, may be made to 
 any married woman, to be held by her without 
 the intervention of a trustee, to her sole and 
 separate use, free from the interference or con¬ 
 trol of her husband; and she shall hold, pos¬ 
 sess and enjoy the estate so given, devised, 
 conveyed or bequeathed accordingly; and 
 shall, in like manner, hold any property which 
 she may receive under the provisions of any 
 deed of trust, made either before or after her 
 marriage. (Laws of 1846, chap. 327, sec. 2.) 
 
 Sec. 14. Contracts to be recorded. 
 
 The contract or conveyance aforesaid, when¬ 
 ever the same shall relate to land or real es¬ 
 tate, shall be recorded in the registry of deeds, 
 in the county where said land or real estate is 
 situated, as is required in relation to deeds of 
 real estate in other cases. (Laws of 1846, 
 chap. 327, sec. 3.) 
 
 Sec. 15. Married women to sue and. be 
 sued. 
 
 Married women, in the cases aforesaid, shall, 
 in respect to all such property, have the same 
 rights, and possess and be entitled to the same 
 
18 
 
 remedies, in her own name at law and in equi¬ 
 ty, and be liable to be sued at law and in equi¬ 
 ty upon any contract by them made, or any 
 wrong by them done in respect to such prop¬ 
 erty. And also upon any contract by them 
 made, or wrongs by them done, before their 
 marriage, in the same manner and with the 
 same effect as if they were unmarried. {Laws 
 q/’1846, cliap. 327, sec. 4.) 
 
 Sec. 16. Husband not to convey property 
 to wife. 
 
 Nothing herein contained shall be construed 
 to empower any husband to convey any of his 
 property to his wife in any other manner or 
 with any other effect than if the same had not 
 passed. (Laws o/1846, chap. 327, sec. 5.) 
 
 Sec. 17. Married women dying intestate. 
 
 If any married woman, holding property to 
 her separate use by virtue of this act, (sections 
 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, of this chapter), 
 shall die intestate, all her right and interest in 
 the personal property thus held shall vest in 
 her husband, unless other provision is made in 
 relation thereto by the terms of the contracts 
 or conveyances hereinbefore mentioned; and 
 he shall be entitled to his estate by the cour¬ 
 tesy, in all lands and tenements held by his 
 wife, as if this act had not been passed; pro- 
 vided.^ however., that in every such case it shall 
 be necessary for the husband to take adminis¬ 
 tration on the estate of the deceased wife ; and 
 he shall hold such personal property, and all 
 the interest of the wife in any real estate, sav¬ 
 ing his estate by the courtesy, subject to the 
 payment of all debts incurred by her either 
 before or after the marriage. (Laws q/*1846, 
 chap. 327, sec. 7.) 
 
 Sec. 18. Superior Court may appoint trus¬ 
 tee. 
 
 Upon the petition of any married woman 
 holding property to her sole use, the superior 
 court of judicature may appoint a trustee or 
 trustees to hold the same in trust for her; and 
 such petitioner may thereupon convey to such 
 trustee or trustees all property so held by her 
 upon such trust, or to such uses as she may de¬ 
 clare, and thereafter such trustee or trustees 
 may, in his or their own name or names, pros¬ 
 ecute all actions commenced in relation to 
 such property, and defend all actions brought 
 against such woman, founded on any cause of 
 
 action accordingly on such conveyance. And 
 all such property so assigned shall be liable, in 
 the hands of such trustee or trustees, to be at¬ 
 tached or taken on execution in any such ac¬ 
 tion. And after such assignment to a trustee 
 or trustees, the rights and powers conferred 
 upon such married woman by this act (this and 
 the six preceding sections), shall cease, and 
 her rights, interest and power shall depend 
 upon the trusts and uses declared in the in¬ 
 strument of conveyance to the trustee or trus¬ 
 tees, or in any other lawful declaration of trust. 
 (Laws of 1846, chap. 327, sec. 8.) 
 
 Sec. 19. Marriage not to he contested 
 after decease, in what cases. 
 
 Any persons cohabiting and acknowledging 
 each other as husband and wife, and generally 
 reputed to be such, for the period of three 
 years, and until the decease of one of them, 
 shall be deemed, after such decease, to have 
 been legally married. (R. S., chap. 149, sec. 
 11.) Ellen M. Tarr. 
 
 Boston, Sept., 1855. 
 
 The following letter and digest of the laws 
 of Vermont were then presented to the Con¬ 
 vention : 
 
 Brattleboro’, July 3, 1855. 
 My Dear Mrs. Davis : 
 
 Herewith I send you a synopsis of the Stat¬ 
 ute Laws of Vermont, having special reference 
 to women. I have before me the compiled Sta¬ 
 tutes of 1850, and the annual volumes of the 
 Legislative Acts since that date. No acts 
 have been passed relating to women since 
 1850. 
 
 I should be much interested to learn (as I 
 suppose I shall be able to do, from your re¬ 
 port) how our State compares with the other 
 New England States in regard to Women’s 
 Bights. In respect to slavery we are, and 
 always have been, the freest State in the Union, 
 as is shown by the exclusion of slavery before 
 its admission to the Union, by the acts passed 
 in contravention of the United States Law of 
 1793, and of that of 1850, A slave was never 
 owned in Vermont, and none was ever re¬ 
 turned to bondage, from within her limits, by 
 legal process. 
 
 The provisions of our law by which the 
 wife is entitled to use her own property and 
 
19 
 
 earnings, and the earnings of minor children 
 in case the husband absconds^ her exemption 
 ^Yom personal restraint during the pendency of 
 a divorce suit, and the mother and illegitimate 
 child being permitted to inherit from each other ^ 
 strike me as very curious. 
 
 These three classes of women, generally 
 considered unfortunate, it must be acknowl. 
 edged are in some respects peculiarly fortu¬ 
 nate. 
 
 It seems there is one case in which a heavier 
 penalty is laid upon woman than upon man 
 for the same crime, (i. e. adultery.) 
 
 The law of inheritance, in case a man has 
 no issue, nor widow nor father,—;-the mother 
 in that case sharing equally with brothers and 
 sisters, seems to me disgracefully mean. After 
 wife and child, to whom does man owe so 
 much as to the mother that bore him ? Away 
 with such a law! It provokes my ire more 
 than any thing else I have found on the stat¬ 
 ute book. Mothers of illegitimate children 
 are treated more j ustly. 
 
 I call your attention to one thing more, as 
 at some time you may have occasion to make 
 use of the suggestion. In Vermont, males, in 
 order to be entitled to vote, “ must be of quiet 
 and peaceable behavior; ” ergo, there can be 
 no objection to women’s voting in this State 
 on account of rowdyism at the polls!! Per¬ 
 haps there is something similar in the laws of 
 other States; if so, there is demolished one of 
 the bug-bear arguments that our opponents 
 make frequent use of. 
 
 Yours, as ever, for the good cause, 
 
 Ann E. Brown. 
 
 EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM THE STATUTES OF VERMONT HAVING 
 REFERENCE TO WOMEN. 
 
 ELECTIVE FRANCHISE. 
 
 Every male citizen, of twenty-one years 
 of age, who shall have resided within the 
 State one whole year preceding the election 
 of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, &c., &c., 
 and shall be of quiet and peaceable behavior^ 
 shall be entitled to vote.—(Compiled Stat., 
 1850. Title 1, Chap. 81.) 
 
 Any man of twenty-one years, who at the 
 time shall reside, and be liable to pay taxes 
 in any organized school district, shall be a 
 
 legal voter in the same.—(Com. Stat., Title 
 11, Chap. 20,-Sec. 23.) 
 
 TAXES. 
 
 The polls of male citizens over the age of 
 twenty-one, and under sixty, are taxed. 
 
 All the real and personal estate of the in¬ 
 habitants {with various cases of exempAion^ 
 none of them specially in favor of woman's 
 property) is liable to taxation.—(Com. Stat., 
 Title 22, Chap. 80.) 
 
 GUARDIANS AND WARDS. 
 
 Males of the age of twenty-one years, and 
 females of the age of eighteen years, shall be 
 considered of full age for all purposes; before 
 those ages they shall be considered minors. 
 
 The father of a minor, or, if he be dead, the 
 mother, remaining unmarried, shall be entitled 
 to the custody of such minors, if in the opin¬ 
 ion of the court such parent shall be competent 
 for that purpose.—(Revised Stat., Title 11, 
 Chap. 44.) 
 
 RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN. 
 
 Married women may devise by will their 
 real estate,—the rents, issues, and profits of 
 the real estate of a married women shall be 
 exempt from attachment for the sole debts of 
 her husband. 
 
 (x4ct passed in 1847.) She may also have 
 the life of her husband insured, and the in¬ 
 surance may be made payable to her, and if 
 she die, to her children. 
 
 If a husband absconds without sufficient 
 provision for his wife, the Supreme Court may 
 on her petition, authorize her to sell and con¬ 
 vey her real estate; also any personal es¬ 
 tate which shall at any time have come to the 
 husband, by reason of the marriage. 
 
 Such married woman during the absence of 
 her husband shall be entitled to the proceeds 
 of her own earnings, and those of her minor 
 children. These various proceeds may be dis¬ 
 posed of by her during the absence of her 
 husband, for the necessary support of herself 
 and family. 
 
 When any married man is confined in State 
 Prison, during such confinement his wife shall 
 be deemed femme sole, so far that she may pros¬ 
 ecute a suit when the cause of action arose 
 after the sentence of her husband.—(Com. 
 Stat., Title 19, Chap. 68.) 
 
20 
 
 DIVORCE. 
 
 Divorce may be decreed for adultery in 
 ither party, for sentence to State Prison 
 hree years and more, for intolerable severity 
 n either party, for wilful desertion for three 
 years, when either party shall have been ab 
 ent seven years and not heard from, and 
 n the libel of the wife, when the husband 
 wantonly refuses to provide for her. 
 
 Upon decreeing the dissolution of a mar¬ 
 riage, the Court may make such further de¬ 
 cree as they deem expedient in respect to the 
 custody of minor children. 
 
 When a divorce shall be decreed for the 
 cause of adultery in the wife, her husband 
 shall hold her personal estate forever, and her 
 real estate as long as they both live. 
 
 The Court however may allow to the wife 
 for her subsistence, as much of her said estate 
 as they shall judge necessary.—(Com. Stat., 
 Title 19, Chap. 67.) 
 
 After the filing of a libel for a divorce, the 
 Supreme Court may, on the petition of the wife, 
 prohibit the husband from imposing any restraint 
 on \iex personal liberty during the pendency of the 
 libel. (R. S., Title 16, Chap. 63.) 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OP THE ESTATES OF 
 INTESTATES. 
 
 The widow, if any, shall be allowed all her 
 articles of apparel and ornament, and the 
 wearing apparel of the deceased, and such 
 other part of the personal estate as the Pro¬ 
 bate Court may assign to her, which shall not 
 be less than one-third, after the payment of 
 debts, funeral charges and expenses of admin¬ 
 istration. 
 
 If it appear, on return of inventory, that 
 the value of the whole estate is less than one 
 hundred and fifty dollars, the Court may as¬ 
 sign the whole to the widow and minor chil¬ 
 dren. 
 
 The widow, or next of kin, has the first 
 title to administration. 
 
 If an administratrix or executrix marry, her 
 marriage extinguishes her authority as admin¬ 
 istratrix or executrix.—(Com. Stat., Title 14 
 Chap. 50.) 
 
 The widow shall be entitled to dower, or 
 the use during her natural life of one-third of 
 the real estate of which her husband died, 
 seized in his own right. (When the wife dies 
 
 the husband can hold the whole of such estate 
 . unless she has issue by a former husband en* 
 titled to inheritance.)—(Com. Stat., Title 14, 
 Chap. 54.) 
 
 Illegitimate children and their mothers in¬ 
 herit from each other. 
 
 When any person shall die, seized of lands, 
 tenements, &c., within this State, which shall 
 not have been devised by will, so much thereof 
 as shall not be necessary for payment of debts, 
 &c., shall descend in equal shares to his chil¬ 
 dren, or legal representatives of children. If 
 he leave no issue, his widow shall be entitled 
 to the whole estate, if not exceeding one thou¬ 
 sand dollars ; if it exceed that sum, one thou¬ 
 sand, and half the remainder. 
 
 If a deceased person leave no issue, nor 
 widow, the whole of his estate shall descend 
 to his father; if no issue, nor widow, nor 
 father, in equal shares to his brothers and 
 sisters; and if his mother be living, she shall 
 have the sam£ share as a brother or sister .— 
 (Com. Stat., Title 14, Chap. 55.) 
 
 HOMESTEAD. 
 
 A homestead of the value of five hundred 
 dollars, belonging to a housekeeper or head of 
 a family, shall be exempt from execution. If 
 such housekeeper die, it shall pass to his 
 widow and children, without being subject to 
 payment of debts, and cannot be alienated or 
 mortgaged except by joint deed of husband 
 and wife.—(Com. Stat., Title 18, Chap. 56.) 
 
 COMMON DAW. 
 
 So much of the Common Law of England, 
 as is applicable to the local situation and cir¬ 
 cumstances, and is not repugnant to the con¬ 
 stitution or laws of this State, shall be deemed 
 and considered law in this State.—(Revised 
 Stat., Title 11, Chap. 27.) 
 
 The following letter was then read by Wm. 
 D. O’Connor:— 
 
 Hartford, Ct, June 25th, 1855. 
 
 My Dear Mrs. Davis :—In answer to your 
 several questions relative to the legal rights of 
 married women in this State, I have to say that 
 all the real estate vrhich is owned at the time 
 of marriage, or inherited subsequently by the 
 wife, restsj absolutely in her; all her personal 
 
21 
 
 estate at the time passes to her husband, and 
 all that she may afterward receive remains in 
 her right, her husband being her legal trus¬ 
 tee for the same. 
 
 On the decease of the husband, childless, one- 
 half of his personal estate goes to the surviving 
 wife absolutely, together with a life-use of one- 
 third of his real estate, and the whole if neces¬ 
 sary for her support. , 
 
 Her earnings are subject to the trusteeship 
 of her husband, and nothing more. 
 
 She is the guardian of her own children, 
 and is always confirmed in this natural right 
 by the Court, unless incapacitated from some 
 cause. 
 
 In case of divorce the father takes the chil¬ 
 dren as a matter of course, unless objection is 
 made, whereupon the question is referred to 
 the proper tribunal and decided at the discre¬ 
 tion of the Court. 
 
 I have thus very briefly answered the 
 several questions which you propound to me; 
 and they embrace everything of importance 
 that occurs to me on the subject. Should any 
 others occur to you, I should take pleasure in 
 giving you any information that I possess. 
 
 I should be pleased to accept your kind in¬ 
 vitation to attend the Convention in Boston 
 next September, but may not be able, owing 
 to an application to visit Illinois at that time. 
 Be assured, in any event, that my heart is with 
 with you for the emancipation and elevation of 
 woman. With very pleasant remembrances 
 of you all, and with ardent hopes of future 
 happiness in the perpetuation of an acquaint¬ 
 ance so pleasantly begun, I remain, dear 
 madam, very truly yours, 
 
 Fras. Gillette. 
 
 Mrs. Lucy Stone Blackwell was re¬ 
 ceived with applause. She began by saying 
 that Massachusetts only, of all States, had 
 secured to women the right to what they 
 should earn. This great country denies to one- 
 half its population even the right to their own 
 person. In this State the law used to be that 
 a woman’s will was valid if her husband would 
 consent to it; frequently he would not. But 
 the last Legislature gave women the right to 
 dispose of their own property. 
 
 One reason why women should vote is, that 
 the next Legislature may undo all that the 
 
 last have done for women. If women had the 
 elective franchise they could save the advan¬ 
 tage they have gained. Every brother ought 
 to be ashamed to go to the polls unless his 
 sister can go with him, and every husband the 
 same, unless his wife can vote with him. The 
 importance of circulating Woman’s Bights 
 tracts was urged, in order that the public may 
 understand the justice of the movement. The 
 movement had the eternal truth upon its side, 
 it only needed to be calmly spoken out by wo¬ 
 men ; calmly lived out; and God would 
 give it success. 
 
 Women were’called upon to come forward 
 to the work of disseminating the truth, by 
 lectures; going to every country town—it 
 might be without help, but they themselves 
 must be their own brave helpers. 
 
 We have given but a meagre sketch—in¬ 
 deed only a few points—of Mrs. Blackwell’s 
 address, which was logical, able, and eloquent. 
 
 Mr. T. W. Higginson, of Worcester, 
 rose, as he said, to bear his testimony to the 
 noble words that had been just spoken, and to 
 avow that he believed the time would come 
 when it would be a disgrace to a man not to be 
 a woman’s rights man. He remarked that the 
 principal opposition to the movement came 
 from women, and not men. 
 
 This was the result of the long bondage to 
 which women had been subjected; they had 
 come at last to doubt whether they had any 
 right. He could go home to Worcester to the 
 brave Republican Convention assembled there, 
 with a clearer conscience, because he had spo¬ 
 ken at a Woman’s Republican Convention. He 
 was glad to recognize that the Women’s Move¬ 
 ment was gaining ground rapidly. 
 
 Nothing could prevent its success now, un¬ 
 less men went back, put women again into 
 Oriental seclusion, locked the door on them, 
 and put the key in their own pockets. The 
 Governor of Massachusetts, by a single stroke 
 of his pen, in signing the law passed by the 
 last Legislature, giving women the right to 
 their own property, had given to women one- 
 half of what they asked for; because he h^d 
 thus killed the old principle that husband and 
 wife are one, and that that “ one ” is the hus¬ 
 band. Many other indications of progress 
 
 I were mentioned. 
 
 Mr. H. averred that it was not till 1828 that 
 
22 
 
 girls had equal privileges with boys in our 
 grammar and primary schools. The object of 
 the movement was to redeem women to a 
 nobler and higher life than they had yet occu¬ 
 pied. All women are great on great occasions; 
 it was an object of the movement to make all 
 occasions great to women. It was to secure re¬ 
 spect to women; to prevent men from being 
 tyrannical. 
 
 If Florence Nightingale is noble with her 
 duty plain before her, and the nation at her 
 back, how much nobler are the women who 
 work, without majorities to sustain them, for 
 the unrecognized suffering, and the army of 
 the poor! He thanked God there are Flor¬ 
 ence Nightingales in the movement who will 
 win the gratitude of the latest posterity. 
 
 Mrs. Severance, from the Business Com¬ 
 mittee, announced that Wendell Phillips and 
 Lucy Stone Blackwell would be the speakers 
 this evening, in the Tremont Temple, at half¬ 
 past seven o’clock. Kalph Waldo Emerson 
 will speak, and Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith 
 deliver a poem in the same place to-morrow 
 evening. 
 
 Mr. John C. Cluer stated that he had 
 heard Mr. S. D. Parker, one of the oldest 
 lawyers in the Commonwealth, argue lately in 
 the Police Court that a man had a legal right to 
 whip his wife with a rattan. Mr. C. went on to 
 denounce the last Legislature without mercy. 
 
 Mrs. Ball, in reply, said that neither the 
 report nor the subsequent remarks were in¬ 
 tended to praise the Legislature. 
 
 We stood here simply to speak of the rela¬ 
 tion of the laws, of the Constitution, of the 
 customs in Massachusetts, to the position of 
 women in Massachusetts; and if we were not 
 just, as women, could we ever expect to pre¬ 
 vail with any audience ? If we admit that the 
 position of women in Massachusetts is to-day 
 improved in many respects, should we not also 
 admit that the last Legislature did more for the 
 cause of women than any previous court ? 
 
 She appealed to the audience to know 
 whether such a cause was not more commend¬ 
 able than to be prejudiced against them. 
 
 Mr. Cluer responded by saying that he 
 was not prejudiced. Look to the statement of 
 facts. He thought the fact of their seeking to 
 injure woman was enough to condemn them in 
 the estimation of every honest man. He 
 
 thought that any apology that was made for the 
 Legislature that had taken away the means of 
 protection of thousands and tens of thousands, 
 was doing little for the cause of Women’s 
 Rights. 
 
 Adjourned till 3 o’clock. 
 
 THURSDAY MORNING. 
 
 Mrs. Severance, for the Business Commit¬ 
 tee, reported the following Resolution, and sus¬ 
 tained it by the accompanying remarks:— 
 
 Resolved^ That the principles of the Wo¬ 
 man’s Rights Movement are not antagonistic 
 to existing institutions, social, civil, or sacred, 
 among us; are not responsible for any mis¬ 
 apprehension of them which may imply such 
 antagonisms; but legitimately reach only to 
 the correction of the abuse and injustice of 
 such institutions, and are simply a broader 
 expression of the philanthropy of past or¬ 
 ganized Christian charities, and a specific ap¬ 
 plication of the golden rule of the Christian 
 code. 
 
 In making the unqualified assertion that the 
 principles of our movement are antagonistic 
 to no existing institution among us, it can 
 scarcely be necessary to explain that no refer¬ 
 ence is had in such statement to that remnant 
 of brute force and barbaric times among us, 
 which is sometimes dignified with the equivo¬ 
 cal name of the '•'’peculiar institution,”—a 
 system which, in its utter outrage of the first 
 principles of law, and justice, and mercy; 
 and its insult to all humanity, whether in 
 freedom or in chains, is so peculiar as to for¬ 
 feit all claim to recognition as an “ institution” 
 under a government the basis of all whose 
 legitimate institutions is the equality and es¬ 
 sential freedom of man. 
 
 Aside from this, I repeat, our movement, 
 rightly understood, aims at the overthrow of 
 no recognized institution among us. In the 
 church, it would proclaim only equal freedom' 
 of position and of utterance for woman, as 
 she may be fitted for, or moved thereto by the 
 equal Father, with whom, in the bestowal of 
 gifts, and in the fulness of blessing, there is 
 neither male nor female. 
 
 In the family —the ark of blessing to the 
 race—it would remove only the anomaly and 
 abuse of caste,—the bondage of the assumed 
 inferior, to the self-constituted superior —reit" 
 
r 
 
 23 
 
 erating throughout all the multiplicity of its 
 interests, social and pecuniary, and the in¬ 
 timacy of its companionship,—the self-same 
 word of the same Gospel—“ Do unto the other 
 as ye would that they should do unto you." 
 
 In government., it would assert for woman 
 the rights of citizenship, the application to 
 her of the “ self-evident truths” so fully ac¬ 
 cepted in regard to man —no just government 
 without the consent of the governed; no right¬ 
 eous taxation without representation ; endeav¬ 
 oring to fortify the assertion by the argument, 
 many-worded and many-sided, but briefly 
 this,—that the enacting of injustice toward 
 woman., is as flagrant a wrong, and as vital 
 an injury, as toward her brother. 
 
 In society, our movement would level all 
 distinctions of sex in regard to the choice of 
 occupation, the labor to be performed, and its 
 remuneration; leaving them all to the opera¬ 
 tion of the law of demand and supply, to the 
 taste and fitness of the individual, the value 
 of the work, and the skill of the worker;— 
 above all, securing to the individual worker, 
 the earnings of its own hands, whether in 
 marriage or out of it. 
 
 It would thus substitute justice for that 
 charity, which, in caring for the widow, and 
 orphan, and destitute, deals now mainly with 
 effects —by striking a fatal blow at a class of 
 the causes which make widows helpless, which 
 paralyze the maternal arm, or make fruitless 
 its most earnest efforts, and leave to our asy¬ 
 lums a perpetual legacy of orphaned child¬ 
 hood and dependent womanhood. 
 
 It would thus also oflfer a remedy for the 
 monotony of an aimless life, a resource for the 
 despair of an illy-adjusted one, and stimulate 
 woman to the highest possible development 
 and achievement. 
 
 So much, and nothing more, of malice or 
 of mischief, hath our movement; and if, in 
 the weakness of personal suffering under in¬ 
 justice, the narrowness of a limited selfish vis¬ 
 ion, or the sternness of a keenly aroused sense 
 of justice on behalf of other sufferers, any 
 have added thereto, it is not of the principles 
 we have announced that it has come to pass, 
 but of the very lack of their prevalence. And 
 we would beg of all, in judging questions so 
 grave and momentous, to use a wise discrim¬ 
 ination. 
 
 Annihilation of marriage, with the sweet 
 sanctities and tender relations of the home, 
 would not remedy woman’s legal and social 
 wrongs. Polygamy, whether of the ancient 
 or modern type, would but add to them a 
 thousand fold. 
 
 Destruction of the priesthood would only 
 result in a newer form of the same authority 
 and service, until man and woman are strong 
 enough, and have sufficient respite from the 
 toil and care of life, to be each one kings and 
 priests unto God. 
 
 Let us have justice, and freedom, and pu¬ 
 rity—but not utter anarchy, and indiscrimi¬ 
 nate destruction, branding our age with a 
 worse barbarism than that of Goth or Van¬ 
 dal, or Iconoclast, destroying not only the 
 idols of undue reverence, but the very shelters 
 of the conscientious worshippers—the very 
 refuges of sweet virtue and honest faith. 
 
 The resolution was subsequently objected 
 to, and replaced by the first of those finally 
 
 Thursday Evening, Sept. 20,1855. 
 
 Before the adjournment of the Convention, 
 the following Resolutions were unanimously 
 passed. 
 
 Resolved, That the principles of the Wo¬ 
 man’s Right’s movement are not antagonistic 
 to social, civil and sacred institutions. 
 
 Resolved, That the Women of New Eng¬ 
 land here assembled, look forward to the at¬ 
 tainment of the elective franchise, as the only 
 means of securing for woman such advantages 
 as she has hitherto gained, or of placing on a 
 permanent basis, her educational, social and 
 civil progress. 
 
 Resolved, That the failure to attain a civil 
 position has been the true reason why, until 
 this day, women have only obtained transitory 
 privileges instead of eternal rights. 
 
 Resolved, That in the reverent and gener¬ 
 ous spirit in which our opening yesterday was 
 received, and in the generally respectful men¬ 
 tion of the press, we recognize the power of a 
 gentle but fearless advocacy of the truth to 
 win the public ear, and a most cheering omen 
 for the future. 
 
 Resolved, That without flinching from the 
 dearest and simplest statement of every 
 woman’s right to all human rights, we in¬ 
 tend to hold a position reverent to woman, 
 faithful to man, and devout toward the In¬ 
 finite God. 
 
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