This petition asks for an amendment to the Constitution that shall prohibit the several states from disenfranchising any of their citizens on the ground of sex. It is signed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Lucretia Mott, Sarah Pugh, Harriott K. Hunt, and Caroline M. Severance.
As noted in this universal suffrage petition, the Constitution considered women “free” and counted them as a whole person for representation reasons. However, women could not vote, had to pay taxes, and were punished for violating the law. The argued that while the Constitution was being amended to give emancipated slaves the right to vote, Congress should also extend the right to vote to women.
