{Because "vanilla text" does not permit of accents or italics, accents
have been ignored, and both all-capital and italicized words
transcribed as ALL CAPITALS. Paragraphs are separated by a blank line,
but not indented. Footnotes by Susan Fenimore Cooper are inserted as
paragraphs (duly identified) as indicated by her asterisks. All
insertions by the transcriber are enclosed in {brackets}. For readers
wishing to know the exact location of specific passages, the page
breaks from Harper's are identified by a blank line at the end of each
page, followed by the original page number at the beginning of the next.
{A Brief Introduction to Susan Fenimore Cooper's article:
{The question of "female suffrage" has long been resolved in the United
States, and--though sometimes more recently--in other democratic
societies as well. For most people, certainly in the so-called Western
world, the right of women to vote on a basis of equality with men seems
obvious. A century ago this was not the case, even in America, and it
required a long, arduous, and sometimes painful struggle before the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on
August 18, 1920.
{Why then, take steps to make available through the Gutenberg Project
an article arguing AGAINST the right of women to vote--an article
written by a woman?
{There are two reasons for doing so. The first is that Susan Fenimore
Cooper (1813-1894) was no ordinary woman. She was educated in Europe
and extremely well read; she was the daughter and literary assistant of
James Fenimore Cooper, America's first internationally recognized
novelist; and she was a naturalist and essayist of great talent whose
"nature diary" of her home village at Cooperstown, published as "Rural
Hours" in 1850, has become a classic of early American environmental
literature.
{Yet Susan Fenimore Cooper argued eloquently, bringing to her task not
only her deep religious feelings but also her very considerable
knowledge of world history and of American society, that women should
not be given the vote! Hers was not a simple defense of male dominion;
her case is combined with equally eloquent arguments in favor of higher
education for women, and for equal wages for equal work. "Female
Suffrage," is thus of considerable biographic importance, throwing
important light on her views of God, of society, and of American
culture.
{At the same time, "Female Suffrage" demonstrates that no social
argument--however popular or politically correct today--can be
considered as self-evident. Those who favor full legal and social
equality of the sexes at the ballot box and elsewhere (as I believe I
do), should be prepared to examine and answer Susan Fenimore Cooper's
arguments to the contrary. Many of those arguments are still heard
daily in the press and on TV talk shows--not indeed to end women's
right to vote, but as arguments against further steps towards gender
equality. Unlike many modern commentators, Susan Fenimore Cooper
examines these arguments in detail, both as to their roots and their
possible effects, rather than expressing them as simplistic
sound-bites. She asks her readers to examine whether gender equality is
compatible with Christian teachings; whether universal suffrage can
ever resolve social problems; whether the "political" sphere is as
significant to human life as politicians believe. One need not agree
with her answers, but one can only be grateful that she forces us to
ask questions.
{Hugh C. MacDougall, Secretary, James Fenimore Cooper Society--August
1999}