Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/617

562 curing signatures to petitions asking for equality before the law, and especially for the right of married women to earn and hold and dispose of property the same as a feme sole, Also, that property acquired before marriage, or that may afterward accrue to a married woman by gift, devise, descent or deed, may be held, controlled and disposed of by herself where it had not been intentionally converted to common property by her consent. In response to a request for data on this point, Mrs. Cutler writes:

At the close of our campaign we were summoned to Ohio to assist in the canvass in that State. Returning to Illinois, I learned that no action had been taken on our petitions. The member to whom we had consigned them, and who had promised to act in our behalf, had found no convenient opportunity. I at once repaired to Springfield, and, on inquiry, was told that it was now too late in the session—that members were so busy that no one could be induced to draft a bill for an act granting such laws as we desired. I found one member ready to assist to the full measure of his ability— Mr. Pickett of Rock Island. By his encouragement I went to the State library and there drew up a bill giving women, during coverture, certain personal and property rights. Mr. Pickett presented our petitions, got a special committee, took my bill before it, got a favorable report, and a law was passed to that effect. Some decisions occurred under this law. I think, however, that in a codification a year or two after, this law was left out, I know not by what authority, and some years later Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Bradwell and others presented the matter afresh, and succeeded in procuring again a similar enactment. The winter following I presented petitions for the right of guardianship; also, I asked that for estates not exceeding $5000 the widow should not be required to take out letters of administration, but should be permitted to continue in possession, the same as the husband on the decease of the wife, the property subject to the same liabilities for the payment of debts and the maintenance of children as before the decease of the husband. I made this small claim for the relief of many wives whose husbands had gone into the army, leaving them with all the responsibility; and there seemed no sufficient reason for disturbing and distributing either the family or the estate, when the husband exchanged the battle-field for the "sleep that knows no waking." "This petition, asking for these reasonable and righteous laws, was, by motion of Colonel Mack, in a spirit of burlesque, referred to the Committee on Internal Navigation, and a burlesque report was made in open Senate, too indecent to be entered on the records. The grave and reverend seigniors, on this, indulged in a hearty guffaw, hugely enjoyed by his honor Lieutenant-Governor Hoffman, and, to this day, no further action has been taken to give the wife and mother this small modicum of justice, though many of the senators at that time promised the question an early consideration.

On Saturday, October 3, 1868, a genuine sensation was produced by the appearance of the Chicago Legal News, edited by Mrs. Myra Bradwell. At this day it is impossible to realize with what supreme astonishment this journal was received. Neither can we estimate its influence upon the subsequent legislation of the State. Looking through its files we find that no opportunity was lost for exposing all laws unjust to woman, or for noting each indication of progress throughout the world. Under date of October 31, 1868, a short article in regard to the "Citizenship of Women" reads thus:

The act of congress provides that any alien, being a free white person, may become a citizen of the United States. While congress was very careful to limit this great privilege of citizenship to the free white person, it made no distinction or limitation whatever on account of sex. Under this statute it has been held that a married an