Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/323

 The "hearings" before committees of Senate and House took place on the historic date, April 19, when in 1776 "the shot was fired which was heard around the world" proclaiming the birth of a republic founded on the right of every individual to represent himself by his ballot! Heretofore they had been held in the Marble Room of the Senate Building and the room of the House Judiciary Committee, which could accommodate only a very limited number of the delegates and none of the public. The splendid new office buildings of the two Houses of Congress were now finished and in the spacious rooms assigned for the hearings all of the delegates found seats and many others, although a long line of the disappointed extended down the corridor.

The members of the Senate Committee were Alexander S. Clay (Ga.), chairman; Senators Joseph F. Johnston (Ala.), Elmer J. Burkett (Neb.), George Peabody Wetmore (R. I.), Albert J. Beveridge (Ind.). All were present except Senator Beveridge. Dr. Shaw presided and before introducing the speakers gave a résumé of the petitions which had just been presented to the Congress, called attention to the names of many eminent men and women who had signed them and said: "Believing that the first republic in the world, founded upon the principle of self-government with 'equal rights for all and special privileges for none,' should be among the leaders and not the laggards in this great world movement, your petitioners pray this honorable body to submit to the Legislatures of the several States for ratification an amendment to the Federal Constitution which will enable American women to vote." She continued:

It is not revolutionary on our part to ask a share in our Government. We are demanding it because it is in accord with American ideals and absolutely essential to the establishment of true democracy. A democratic form of government is right or it is not right—it is either right that the people should be self-governed or that they should not. If it is not right, then we ought to know it; the whole people ought to know it. If it is right, then the whole people ought to have equal opportunities in self-government. It is not that we women wish to dictate in regard to men or that we assume any superior ability for government, any superior wisdom, but it 1s that we do assume that whether we are wise or not, whether we have a grasp of all the affairs of state or not, whether we are earning and producing equally with men or not, we are human beings and as