It remains to be determined whether the
reasons which have produced the extension of the franchise to all adult
men, do not equally demand its extension to all adult women. If it be
necessary for men that each should have a share in the administration of
government for his security, and to exclude partiality, as alleged by
Godwin, it would seem to be equally, if not more, necessary for women,
on account of their inferior physical power: and if, as is persistently
alleged by those who sneer at their claims, they are also inferior in
mental power, that fact only gives additional weight to the argument in
their behalf, as one of the primary objects of government, as
acknowledged on all hands, is the protection of the weak against the
power of the strong.
I can discover no ground consistent with the principle on which the
franchise has been given to all men, upon which it can be denied to
women. The principal argument against such extension, so far as argument
upon that side of the question has fallen under my observation, is based
upon the position that women are represented in the government by men,
and that their rights and interests are better protected through that
indirect representation than they would be by giving them a direct voice
in the government.
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