Profoundly convinced of the justice of woman’s demand for the suffrage, and that the proper method of securing the right is by an amendment of the national Constitution, I urge the adoption of the joint resolution upon the still broader ground so clearly and calmly stated by the great Senator whose words I have just read.  I appeal to you, Senators, to grant this petition of woman that she may be heard for her claim of right.  How could you reject that petition, even were there but one faint voice beseeching your ear?  How can you deny the demand of millions who believe in suffrage for women, and who can not be forever silenced, for they give voice to the innate cry of the human heart that justice be done not alone to man, but to that half of this nation which now is free only by the grace of the other, and that by our action to-day we indorse, if we do not initiate, a movement which, in the development of our race, shall guarantee liberty to all without distinction of sex, even as our glorious Constitution already grants the suffrage to every citizen without distinction of color or race.

* * * * *

Further consideration of the resolution postponed until January 25, 1887, when it was resumed, as follows: 

Tuesday, January 25, 1887.

Woman suffrage.

Mr. Blair.  I now move that the Senate proceed to consider the joint resolution (S.R. 5) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right of suffrage to women.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate, as in Committee of the
Whole, proceeded to consider the joint resolution.

The presiding officer.  The joint resolution will be read.

The Chief Clerk read the joint resolution, as follows: 

Resolved (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States:  which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, shall be valid as part of said Constitution, namely: 

    Article—.

    Section 1.  The right of citizens of the United States to vote
    shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
    State on account of sex.

    Sec. 2.  The Congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation,
    to enforce the provisions of this article.

Mr. Brown.  Mr. President, the joint resolution introduced by my friend, the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Blair], proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, conferring the right to vote upon the women of the United States, is one of paramount importance, as it involves great questions far reaching in their tendency, which seriously affect the very pillars of our social fabric, which involve the peace and harmony of society, the unity of the family, and much of the future success of our Government.  The question should therefore he met fairly and discussed with firmness, but with moderation and forbearance.