"Husband is entitled to wife's credit or business talents (whenever their intermarriage may have occurred); and goods purchased by her on her own credit, with his consent, while cohabiting with him, can be seized and sold in execution against him for his own debts, and this, though she carry on business in her own name." See All News about New York State Legislature. Share: Legislation. Herein behold the bloated conceit of these Petruchios of the law, who seem to say: Nay, look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret, I will be master of what is mine own; She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, My household stuff, my field, my barn, My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything; And here she stands, touch her whoever dare; Ill bring my action on the proudest be, That stops my way, in Padua.. Governor Kathy Hochul signed a legislative package dedicating portions of the New York State highway system to veterans. Would to God you could know the burning indignation that fills woman's soul when she turns over the pages of your statute books, and sees there how like feudal barons you freemen hold your women. Then, too, the signing of this contract is instant civil death to one of the parties. She can get no redress for wrongs in her own name in any court of justice. Legislative Office Building Box 75 Albany . If by great economy she accumulates a small sum, which for future need she deposit, little by little, in a savings bank, the husband has a right to draw it out, at his option, to use it as he may see fit. Think you that the woman who has worked hard all her days, in helping her husband to accumulate a large property, consents to the law that places this wholly at his disposal? We are persons; native, free-born citizens; property-holders, tax-payers; yet are we denied the exercise of our right to the elective franchise. The drunkards wives speak through us, and they number 50,000. He says, the slave does not feel this as I would. Senator Gallivan Sponsors Bipartisan Bill to Address State Emergency Declarations. Patrick M. Gallivan. What can woman want under such a government? for that nation whose sons bow not in loyalty to woman. A man thirty thousand dollars in personal property, may leave his wife but a few hundred a year, as long as she remains his widow. If he has children, he can divide his property among them, leaving his wife her third only of the landed estate, thus making her a dependent on the bounty of her own children. Find My Senator. But, say you, are not all women sufficiently represented by their fathers, husbands and brothers? Please enter your street address and zip code to find out who your Senator is. A very large majority of the women of this state support themselves and their children, and many their husbands too. But what is property without the right to protect that property by law? New York State Assembly. Again, as the condition of the child always follows that of the mother, and as by the abuse of your laws the father may best the mother, so may he the child. Do not the hundreds of laughing idiot that are crowding into our asylums, appeal to the wisdom of our statesmen for some new laws on marriageto the mothers of this day for a higher, purer morality? Nature has clearly made the mother the guardian of the child; but man, in his inordinate love of power, does continually set nature and nature's laws at open defiance. HELD AT ALBANY, And here again you place the negro, so unjustly degraded by you, in a superior position to your own wives and mothers; for colored males, if possessed of a certain amount of property and certain other qualifications, can vote, but if they do not have these qualifications they are not subject to direct taxation; wherein they have the advantage of woman, she being subject to taxation for whatever amount she may possess. NYSenate.gov is designed to increase public participation in the legislative process. In case of separation, the law gives the children to the father; no matter what his character or condition. For how, said they, can a king judge rebels? Now, gentlemen, we would fain know by what authority you have disfranchised one-half the people of this state? Governor Mario M. Cuomo was annual message to the legislature. Shall the frenzied mother who, to save herself and child from exposure and disgrace, ended the life that had but just begun, be dragged before such a tribunal to answer for her crime? Let us look into these a little. Many have manifested a laudable curiosity to know what the wives and daughters could complain of in republican America, where their sires and sons have so bravely fought for freedom and gloriously secured their independence, trampling all tyranny, bigotry and caste in the dust, and declaring to a waiting world the divine truth that all men are created equal. Skilled in Office Organizing, Microsoft Word, Computer . True, the unmarried woman has a right to the property she inherits and the money she earns, but she is taxed without representation. The establishment of trial by jury is of so early a date that its beginning is lost in antiquity; but the right of trial by a jury of one's own peers is a great, progressive step of advanced civilization. State and Municipal. Think you that the woman who has worked hard all her days, in helping her husband to accumulate a large property, consents to the law that places this wholly at his disposal? Editors Note: This Address to the Legislature of New-York, by Elizabeth Cady Stantonwas adopted by the State Womans Rights Convention, held at Albany, Tuesday and Wednesday, February 14 and 15, 1854. TO THE How can man enter into the feelings of that mother? But not so with the wife. Seneca Falls Again, as the condition of the child always follows that of the mother, and as by the abuse of your laws the father may best the mother, so may he the child. By your laws, all these abominable resorts are permitted. Email: info@nysna.org; Call: (212) 785-0157; 131 West 33rd Street, 4th Fl. 2d. Nature has clearly made the mother the guardian of the child; but man, in his inordinate love of power, does continually set nature and nature's laws at open defiance. And should he, in spite of this bounty on celibacy, impelled by his affections, marry again, choosing for a wife a woman as poor as himself, shall he be thrown penniless on the cold world--this child of fortune, enervated by ease and luxury, henceforth to be dependent wholly on his own resources? Would it not, in that hour, be some consolation to see that she was surrounded by the wise and virtuous of her own sex; by those who had known the depth of a mother's love and the misery of a lover's falsehood; to know that to these she could make her confession, and from them receive her sentence? She can get no redress for wrongs in her own name in any court of justice. She can own nothing, sell nothing. In this dark hour of grief, the coarse minions of the law gather round the widow's hearthstone, and, in the name of justice, outrage all natural sense of right; mock at the sacredness of human love, and with cold familiarity proceed to place a monied value on the old arm chair, in which, but a few brief hours since, she closed the eyes that had ever beamed on her with kindness and affection; on the solemn clock in the corner, that told the hour he passed away; on every garment with which his form and presence were associated, and on every article of comfort and convenience that the house contained, even down to the knives and forks and spoons--and the widow saw it all--and when the work was done, she gathered up what the law allowed her and went forth to seek her another home! By the abuse of this absolute power, he may bind his daughter to the owner of a brothel, and, by the degradation of his child, supply his daily wants; and such things, gentlemen, have been done in our very midst. View More Judge Hurlburt, who has long occupied a high place at the bar in this state, and who recently retired with honor from the bench of the Supreme Court, in his profound work on human rights, has pronounced your present position rank usurpation. Think you the wife, with whom endurance has ceased to be a virtue, who through much suffering has lost all faith in the justice of both Heaven and earth, takes the law in her own hand, severs the unholy bond and turns her back forever upon him whom she once called husband, consents to the law that in such an hour tears her child from her--all that she has left on earth to love and cherish? If you, too, are thus deluded, what avails it that we show by your statute books that your laws are unjust--that woman is the victim of avarice and power? If you take the highest view of marriage, as a Divine relation, which love alone can constitute and sanctify, then of course human legislation can only recognize it. The father may apprentice his child, bind him out to a trade or labor, without the mother's consent--yea, in direct opposition to her most earnest entreaties, her prayers and tears. The Session Calendar will . Shall the frenzied mother who, to save herself and child from exposure and disgrace, ended the life that had but just begun, be dragged before such a tribunal to answer for her crime? The right to property will, of necessity, compel us in due time to the exercise of our right to the elective franchise, and then naturally follows the right to hold office. Please use our contact form for any research questions. The impression left on law students, fresh from your statute books, is most unfavorable to woman's influence; hence you see but few lawyers chivalrous and high-toned in their sentiments towards woman. He may apprentice his son to a gamester or rumseller, and thus cancel his debts of honor. His Majesty no longer awes the multitude--his sceptre is broken--his crown is trampled in the dust--the sentence of death is pronounced upon him. 1854. living child under the age of twenty-one years, and unmarried, may be his deed or last will, duly executed, dispose of the custody and tuition of such child during its minority, or for any less time, to any person or persons, in possession or remainder. 1854. Contact. to have at their disposal their own children, without being subject to the constant interference and tyranny of an idle, worthless profligate? She is no longer a legal nonentity. When the order of petitions was reached, Mr. D. P. Wood, of Onondaga, presented in the Assembly a petition signed by 5931 men and women, praying for the just and equal rights of women, which, after a spicy debate, was referred to the following select committee: In the Senate on the same day, Mr. Richards, of Warren county, presented a petition signed by 4164 men and women, praying for the extension of the right of suffrage to women, and on his motion it was referred to following select committee: The following are the forms of the petitions as agreed upon the Convention held at Rochester, November 30 and December 1, 1853. How can be judge of the mighty agonies of soul that impelled her to such an outrage of maternal instincts? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new updates by email. NY "In England the idea of woman holding official station is not so strange as in the United States. Would to God you could know the burning indignation that fills womans soul when she turns over the pages of your statute books, and sees there how like feudal barons you freemen hold your women. The father may apprentice his child, bind him out to a trade or labor, without the mother's consent--yea, in direct opposition to her most earnest entreaties, her prayers and tears. Look at the position of woman as widow. All nations, ranks and classes have, in turn, questioned and repudiated his authority; and now, that the monster is chained and caged, timid woman, on tiptoe, comes to look him in the face, and to demand of her brave sires and sons, who have struck stout blows for liberty, if, in this change of dynasty, she, too, shall find relief. What avails it that we point out the wrongs of woman in social life; the victim of passion and lust? Look at the position of woman as widow. Permit us then, as briefly as possible, to call your attention to the legal disabilities under which we labor. Statesmen of New-York, whose daughters, guarded by your affection, and lapped amidst luxuries which your indulgence spreads, care more for their nodding plumes and velvet trains than for the statute laws by which their persons and properties are held--who, blinded by custom and prejudice to the degraded position which they and their sisters occupy in the civil scale, haughtily claim that they already have all rights they want, how, think ye, you would feel to see a daughter summoned for such a crime--and remember these daughters are but human--before such a tribunal? You are mistaken; the mass speak through us. About. Your e-mail address *. Time. Many times and oft it has been asked us, with unaffected seriousness, "what do you women want? Having glanced at the magnanimity of the law in its dealings with the widow, let us see how the individual man, under the influence of such laws, doles out justice to his helpmate. On February 3, 2015 the New York State Assembly continued making history by electing New York's first African American Assembly Speaker. Had she died first, the house and land would all have been the husbands still. How can be judge of the mighty agonies of soul that impelled her to such an outrage of maternal instincts? Moreover, the father, about to die, may bind out all his children wherever and to whomsoever he may see fit, and thus, in fact, will away the guardianship of all his children from the mother. Shall laws which come from the logical brain of man take cognizance of violence done to the moral and affectional nature which predominates, as is said, in woman? By management, economy and industry, our widow is able, in a few years, to redeem her house and home. Capital Assistance Program. She can neither sue nor be sued. Address State Street and Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12224 518-474-8860 TOP New York State Capitol SHARE COVID 19 Visitor Access For the State Capitol and Legislative Office Building Guest Authorization Procedure/Protocol It is but just, therefore, that she should have it in her power to give during her life, and to will away at her death, as her benevolence or obligations might prompt her to do. If so, then listen to our just demands and make such a change in your laws as will secure to every woman tried in your courts, an impartial jury. The New York State Legislative Annual Step 5. But if you regard marriage as a civil contract, then let it be subject to the same laws which control all other contracts. Phone Number (Optional) Subject *. What avails it that we point out the wrongs of woman in social life; the victim of passion and lust? Send me alerts for this bill. Mailing Address. Nov. 9, 2022 Updated: Nov. 9, 2022 4:36 p.m. 3. Would not one code answer for all of like needs and wants? Man has ever manifested a wish the world should indeed be a blank to the companion whom he leaves behind him. 1, Bill of Rights, 2 R.S., 301, says that no authority can, on any pretence whatever, be exercised over the citizens of this state but such as is or shall be derived from, and granted by, the people of this state. And shall woman here consent to be tried by her liege lord, who has dubbed himself law-maker, judge, juror, and sheriff, too?--whose power, though sanctioned by Church and State, has no foundation in justice and equity, and is a bold assumption of our inalienable rights. By the common law of England, the spirit of which has been but too faithfully incorporated into our statute law, a husband has a right to whip his wife with a rod not larger than his thumb, to shut her up in a room, and administer whatever moderate chastisement he may deem necessary to insure obedience to his wishes, and for her healthful moral development! Who ever saw a human being that would not abuse unlimited power? Whenever we attempt to point out the wrongs of the wife, those who would have us believe that the laws cannot be improved, point us to the privileges, powers and claims of the widow. 4th. Now, gentlemen, we would fain know by what authority you have disfranchised one-half the people of this state? City. At the assizes at Appleby, she sat with the judges on the bench. Your valid home address is used to determine which NY State Senator Represents you. The stern descendants of our Pilgrim Fathers refused to answer for their crimes before an English Parliament. WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY. By the abuse of this absolute power, he may bind his daughter to the owner of a brothel, and, by the degradation of his child, supply his daily wants; and such things, gentlemen, have been done in our very midst. Behold in yonder humble house a married pair, who, for long years, have lived together, childless and alone. The man who leaves his wife the sole guardian of his property and children is an exception to the general rule. Optional services from the NY State Senate: Include a custom message for your Senator? Here, gentlemen, is our difficulty: When we plead our cause before the law makers and savans of the republic, they cannot take in the idea that men and women are alike; and so long as the mass rest in this delusion, the public mind will not be so much startled by the revelation made of the injustice and degradation of womans position as by the fact that she should at length wake up to a sense of it. May 20, 2020. What are you aiming at?" Woman's position, under our free institutions, is much lower than under the monarchy of England. Those few acres of well-tilled land, with the small white house that looks so cheerful through its vines and flowers, attest the honest thrift and simple taste of its owners. Though the whole support of the family be thrown upon the wife, if the wages she earns be paid to her by her employer, the husband can receive them again. She can own nothing, sell nothing. The husband has the absolute right to will away his property as he may see fit. In a reported case, it is stated by counsel, and substantially assented to by the court, that a woman is capable of serving in almost all the offices of the kingdom, such as those of queen, marshal, great chamberlain and constable of England, the champion of England, commissioner of sewers, governor of work house, sexton, keeper of the prison, of the gate house of the dean and chapter of Westminister, returning officer for members of parliament, and constable, the latter of which is in some respects judicial. The right to property implies the right to buy and sell, to will and bequeath, and herein is the dawning of a civil existence for woman, for now the "femme covert" must have the right to make contracts. Robinson and Witbeck, sheriff, &c. "No letters of administration shall be granted to a person convicted of infamous crime; nor to any one incapable by law of making a contract; nor to a person not a citizen of the United States, unless such person reside within the state; nor to any one who is under twenty-one years of age; nor to any person who shall be adjudged incompetent by the surrogate to execute duties of such trust, by reason of drunkenness, improvidence, or want of understanding, nor any married woman; but where a married woman is entitled to administration, the same may be granted to her husband in her right and behalf.". Now, gentlemen, we would fain know by what authority you have disfranchised one-half the people of this state? If so, then listen to our just demands and make such a change in your laws as will secure to every woman tried in your courts, an impartial jury. Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. In England the idea of woman holding official station is not so strange as in the United States. It is impossible to make the southern planter believe that his slave feels and reasons just as he does--that injustice and subjection are as galling as to him--that the degradation of living by the will of another, the mere dependent on his caprice, at the mercy of his passions, is as keenly felt by him as his master. We support ourselves, and, in part, your schools, colleges, churches, your poor-houses, jails, prisons, the army, the navy, the whole machinery of government, and yet we have no voice in your councils. Place. Behold the maguanimity of the law in allowing the widow to retain a life interest in one-third the landed estate, and one-half the personal property of her husband, and taking the lion's share to itself! But if you regard marriage as a civil contract, then let it be subject to the same laws which control all other contracts. Contact Public Information: (518) 455-4218. We are moral, virtuous and intelligent, and in all respects quite equal to the proud white man himself, and yet by your laws we are classed with idiots, lunatics and negroes; and though we do not feel honored by the place assigned us, yet, in fact, our legal position is lower than that of either; for the negro can be raised to the dignity of a voter if he possess himself of $250; the lunatic can vote in his moments of sanity, and the idiot, too, if he be a male one, and not more than nine-tenths a fool; but we, who have guided great movements of charity, established missions, edited journals, published works on history, economy and statistics; who have governed nations, led armies, filled the professor's chair, taught philosophy and mathematics to the savans of our age, discovered planets, piloted ships across the sea, are denied the most sacred rights of citizens, because, forsooth, we came not into this republic crowned with the dignity of manhood! This is the much talked of widow's dower. by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, of Seneca Falls, NY, This Address was laid upon the members desks, Monday morning, Feb. 20, 1854. She cannot testify, in many cases, against her husband. 1st, Look at the position of woman as woman. We are persons; native, free-born citizens; property-holders, tax-payers; yet are we denied the exercise of our right to the elective franchise. If you, too, are thus deluded, what avails it that we show by your statute books that your laws are unjustthat woman is the victim of avarice and power? Do not, by your special legislation for this one kind of contract, involve yourselves in the greatest absurdities and contradictions. They cannot escape the legal view which, by constant reading, has become familiarized to their minds: "Femme covert," "downer," "widow's claims," "protection," "incapacities," "incumbrance," is written on the brow of every woman they meet. A mothers love can be no protection to a child; she cannot appeal to you to save it from a fathers cruelty, for the laws take no cognizance of the mothers most grievous wrongs. ADDRESS But, said one of these mothers, with a grandeur of attitude and manner worthy the noble Roman matron in the palmiest days of that republic, I would rather never see my child again, than be the medium to hand down the low, animal nature of it father, to stamp degradation on the brow of another innocent being. By facilitating efficient communication between individual New Yorkers and the senators who represent them, lawmakers are able to craft a better set of laws by which we are governed. Sponsor's Memorandum Intermediate Level Step 6. In bequeathing to the wife just enough to keep soul and body together, man seems to lose sight of the fact that woman, like himself, takes great pleasure in acts of benevolence and charity. Would that you could know the humiliations she feels for her sex, when she thinks of all the beardless boys in your law offices, learning these ideas of one-sided justicetaking their first lessons in contempt for all womankindbeing indoctrinated into the incapacities of their mothers, and the lordly, absolute rights of man over all women, children and property, and to know that these are to be our future Presidents, Judges, Husbands and Fathers; in sorrow we exclaim, alas! This Address was laid upon the members desks, Monday morning, Feb. 20, 1854. Look at the position of woman as wife. And here again you place the negro, so unjustly degraded by you, in a superior position to your own wives and mothers; for colored males, if possessed of a certain amount of property and certain other qualifications, can vote, but if they do not have these qualifications they are not subject to direct taxation; wherein they have the advantage of woman, she being subject to taxation for whatever amount she may possess. Which cruel, vindictive fathers have visited upon their helpless children? He may apprentice his son to a gamester or rumseller, and thus cancel his debts of honor. You who have so boldly taken possession of the bulwarks of this republic, show us your credentials, and thus prove your exclusive right to govern, not only yourselves, but us. Now what becomes of the tenant for life? Shall he, the happy husband of a millionaire, who has lived in yonder princely mansion in the midst of plenty and elegance, be cut down in a day to the use of one-third of this estate and a few hundred a year, as long as he remains her widower? Who ever saw a human being that would not abuse unlimited power? How could such a being, so blessed and honored, ever become the ignoble, servile, cringing slave, with whom the fear of man could be paramount to the sacred dictates of conscience and the holy love of Heaven? Instead of your present laws, which make the mother and her children the victims of vice and license, you might rather pass-laws prohibiting to all drunkards, libertines and fools, the rights of husbands and fathers. All nations, ranks and classes have, in turn, questioned and repudiated his authority; and now, that the monster is chained and caged, timid woman, on tiptoe, comes to look him in the face, and to demand of her brave sires and sons, who have struck stout blows for liberty, if, in this change of dynasty, she, too, shall find relief. We, therefore, the undersigned Petitioners, inhabitants of the State of New-York, male and female, having attained to the age of legal majority, believing that Women, alike married and single, do still suffer under many and grievous LEGAL DISABILITIES, do earnestly request the Senate and Assembly of the State of New-York to appoint a joint committee of both Houses to revise the Statutes of New-York, and to propose such amendments as will fully establish the LEGAL EQUALITY of Women with Men; and do hereby ask a hearing before such committee by our accredited Representatives. Explore historical materials related to the history of social reform at You scorn the thought that she has any natural love of freedom burning in her breast, any clear perception of justice urging her on to demand her rights.

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