Petition of Ladies Literary Club of Grand Rapids
11/19/1904
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The Ladies Literary Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan, sent this petition to Senator Julius Caesar Burrows. They ask the Senate Committee on Territories to remove the word sex from the Territorial Statehood Bill before Congress.
The bill would admit Oklahoma and Indian Territory (as one state) and Arizona and New Mexico (as one state) into the union, and included a line that "said states shall never enact any law restricting the right of suffrage on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, except on account of illiteracy, minority, conviction of felony, mental condition, or sex." The Club wrote that it resented "an insult so open and flagrant that...women of the west shall be so unjustly classed with illiterates, mental incompetents, felons and minors."
This document was digitized by teachers in our Primarily Teaching 2017 summer workshop in Washington, D.C.
The bill would admit Oklahoma and Indian Territory (as one state) and Arizona and New Mexico (as one state) into the union, and included a line that "said states shall never enact any law restricting the right of suffrage on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, except on account of illiteracy, minority, conviction of felony, mental condition, or sex." The Club wrote that it resented "an insult so open and flagrant that...women of the west shall be so unjustly classed with illiterates, mental incompetents, felons and minors."
This document was digitized by teachers in our Primarily Teaching 2017 summer workshop in Washington, D.C.
This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. Senate.
National Archives Identifier: 74884485
Full Citation: Petition of Ladies Literary Club, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Amendment of Suffrage Clause of Statehood Bill; 11/19/1904; Tabled Petitions and Memorials of the 58th Congress; (SEN58A-K2); Petitions and Related Documents That Were Presented, Read, or Tabled, 1789 - 1966; Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/ladies-grand-rapids, April 18, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.