Part I.
{Publisher's Note} [NOTE.--We have printed this Letter, which will be
continued in our next Number, not as an expression of our own views,
but simply as the plea of an earnest and thoughtful Christian woman
addressed to her fellow-countrywomen.--EDITOR OF HARPER.]
The natural position of woman is clearly, to a limited degree, a
subordinate one. Such it has always been throughout the world, in all
ages, and in many widely different conditions of society. There are
three conclusive reasons why we should expect it to continue so for the
future.
FIRST. Woman in natural physical strength is so greatly inferior to man
that she is entirely in his power, quite incapable of self-defense,
trusting to his generosity for protection. In savage life this great
superiority of physical strength makes man the absolute master, woman
the abject slave. And, although every successive step in civilisation
lessens the distance between the sexes, and renders the situation of
woman safer and easier, still, in no state of society, however highly
cultivated, has perfect equality yet existed. This difference in
physical strength must, in itself, always prevent such perfect
equality, since woman is compelled every day of her life to appeal to
man for protection, and for support.
SECONDLY. Woman is also, though in a very much less degree, inferior to
man in intellect. The difference in this particular may very probably
be only a consequence of greater physical strength, giving greater
power of endurance and increase of force to the intellectual faculty
connected with it. In many cases, as between the best individual minds
of both sexes, the difference is no doubt very slight. There have been
women of a very high order of genius; there have been very many women
of great talent; and, as regards what is commonly called cleverness, a
general quickness and clearness of mind within limited bounds, the
number of clever women may possibly have been even larger than that of
clever men. But, taking the one infallible rule for our guide, judging
of the tree by its fruits, we are met by the fact that the greatest
achievements of the race in every field of intellectual culture have
been the work of man. It is true that the advantages of intellectual
education have been, until recently, very generally on the side of man;
had those advantages been always equal, women would no doubt have had
much more of success to record. But this same fact of inferiority of
education becomes in itself one proof of the existence of a certain
degree of mental inequality. What has been the cause of this
inferiority of education? Why has not woman educated herself in past
ages, as man has done? Is it the opposition of man, and the power which
physical strength gives him, which have been the impediments? Had these
been the only obstacles, and had that general and entire equality of
intellect existed between the sexes, which we find proclaimed to-day by
some writers, and by many talkers, the genius of women would have
opened a road through these and all other difficulties much more
frequently than it has yet done. At this very hour, instead of
defending the intellect of women, just half our writing and talking
would be required to defend the intellect of men. But, so long as
woman, as a sex, has not provided for herself the same advanced
intellectual education to the same extent as men, and so long as
inferiority of intellect in man has never yet in thousands of years
been gravely discussed, while the inferiority of intellect in woman has
been during the same period generally admitted, we are compelled to
believe there is some foundation for this last opinion. The extent of
this difference, the interval that exists between the sexes, the
precise degree of inferiority on the part of women, will probably never
be satisfactorily proved.
Believing then in the greater physical powers of man, and in his
superiority, to a limited extent, in intellect also, as two sufficient
reasons for the natural subordination of woman as a sex, we have yet a
third reason for this subordination. Christianity can be proved to be
the safest and highest ally of man's nature, physical, moral, and
intellectual, that the world has yet known. It protects his physical
nature at every point by plain, stringent rules of general temperance
and moderation. To his moral nature it gives the pervading strength of
healthful purity. To his intellectual nature, while on one hand it
enjoins full development and vigorous action, holding out to the spirit
the highest conceivable aspirations, on the other it teaches the
invaluable lessons of a wise humility. This grand and holy religion,
whose whole action is healthful, whose restraints are all
blessings--this gracious religion, whose chief precepts are the love of
God and the love of man--this same Christianity confirms the
subordinate position of woman, by allotting to man the headship in
plain language and by positive precept. No system of philosophy has
ever yet worked out in behalf of woman the practical results for good
which Christianity has conferred on her. Christianity has raised woman
from slavery and made her the thoughtful companion of man; finds her
the mere toy, or the victim of his passions, and it places her by his
side, his truest friend, his most faithful counselor, his helpmeet in
every worthy and honorable task. It protects her far more effectually
than any other system. It cultivates, strengthens, elevates, purifies
all her highest endowments, and holds out to her aspirations the most
sublime for that future state of existence, where precious rewards are
promised to every faithful discharge of duty, even the most humble.
But, while conferring on her these priceless blessings, it also enjoins
the submission of the wife to the husband, and allots a subordinate
position to the whole sex while here on earth. No woman calling herself
a Christian, acknowledging her duties as such, can, therefore,
consistently deny the obligation of a limited subordination laid upon
her by her Lord and His Church.
From these three chief considerations--the great inferiority of
physical strength, a very much less and undefined degree of inferiority
in intellect, and the salutary teachings of the Christian faith--it
follows that, to a limited degree, varying with circumstances, and
always to be marked out by sound reason and good feeling, the
subordination of woman, as a sex, is inevitable.
This subordination once established, a difference of position, and a
consequent difference of duties, follow as a matter of course. There
must, of necessity, in such a state of things, be certain duties
inalienably connected with the position of man, others inalienably
connected with the position of woman. For the one to assume the duties
of the other becomes, first, an act of desertion, next, an act of
usurpation. For the man to discharge worthily the duties of his own
position becomes his highest merit. For the woman to discharge worthily
the duties of her own position becomes her highest merit. To be noble
the man must be manly. To be noble the woman must be womanly.
Independently of the virtues required equally of both sexes, such as
truth, uprightness, candor, fidelity, honor, we look in man for
somewhat more of wisdom, of vigor, of courage, from natural endowment,
combined with enlarged action and experience. In woman we look more
especially for greater purity, modesty, patience, grace, sweetness,
tenderness, refinement, as the consequences of a finer organization, in
a protected and sheltered position. That state of society will always
be the most rational, the soundest, the happiest, where each sex
conscientiously discharges its own duties, without intruding on those
of the other.
It is true that the world has often seen individual women called by the
manifest will of Providence to positions of the highest authority, to
the thrones of rulers and sovereigns. And many of these women have
discharged those duties with great intellectual ability and great
success. It is rather the fashion now among literary men to depreciate
Queen Elizabeth and her government. But it is clear that, whatever may
have been her errors--and no doubt they were grave--she still appears
in the roll of history as one of the best sovereigns not only of her
own house, but of all the dynasties of England. Certainly she was in
every way a better and a more successful ruler than her own father or
her own brother-in-law, and better also than the Stuarts who filled her
throne at a later day. Catherine of Russia, though most unworthy as a
woman, had a force of intellectual ability quite beyond dispute, and
which made itself felt in every department of her government. Isabella
I. of Spain gave proof of legislative and executive ability of the very
highest order; she was not only one of the purest and noblest, but
also, considering the age to which she belonged, and the obstacles in
her way, one of the most skillful sovereigns the world has ever seen.
Her nature was full of clear intelligence, with the highest moral and
physical courage. She was in every way a better ruler than her own
husband, to whom she proved nevertheless an admirable wife, acting
independently only where clear principle was at stake. The two greet
errors of her reign, the introduction of the Inquisition and the
banishment of the Jews, must be charged to the confessor rather than to
the Queen, and these were errors in which her husband was as closely
involved as herself. On the other hand, some of the best reforms of her
reign originated in her own mind, and were practically carried out
under her own close personal supervision. Many other skillful female
rulers might be named. And it is not only in civilized life and in
Christendom that woman has shown herself wise in governing; even among
the wildest savage tribes they have appeared, occasionally, as leaders
and rulers. This is a singular fact. It may be proved from the history
of this continent, and not only from the early records of Mexico and
Cuba and Hayti, but also from the reports of the earliest navigators on
our own coast, who here and there make mention incidentally of this or
that female chief or sachem. But a fact far more impressive and truly
elevating to the sex also appears on authority entirely indisputable.
While women are enjoined by the Word of God to refrain from public
teaching in the Church, there have been individual women included among
the Prophets, speaking under the direct influence of the Most Holy
Spirit of God, the highest dignity to which human nature can attain.
But all these individual cases, whether political or religious, have
been exceptional. The lesson to be learned from them is plain. We
gather naturally from these facts, what may be learned also from other
sources, that, while the positions of the two sexes are as such
distinct, the one a degree superior, the other a degree inferior, the
difference between them is limited--it is not impassable in individual
cases. The two make up but one species, one body politic and religious.
There are many senses besides marriage in which the two are one. It is
the right hand and the left, both belonging to one body, moved by
common feeling, guided by common reason. The left hand may at times be
required to do the work of the right, the right to act as the left.
Even in this world there are occasions when the last are first, the
first last, without disturbing the general order of things. These
exceptional cases temper the general rule, but they can not abrogate
that rule as regards the entire sex. Man learns from them not to
exaggerate his superiority--a lesson very often needed. And woman
learns from them to connect self-respect and dignity with true
humility, and never, under any circumstances, to sink into the mere
tool and toy of man--a lesson equally important.
Such until the present day has been the general teaching and practice
of Christendom, where, under a mild form, and to a limited point, the
subordination of woman has been a fact clearly established. But this
teaching we are now called upon to forget, this practice we are
required to abandon. We have arrived at the days foretold by the
Prophet, when "knowledge shall be increased, and many shall run to and
fro." The intellectual progress of the race during the last half
century has indeed been great. But admiration is not the only feeling
of the thoughtful mind when observing this striking advance in
intellectual acquirement. We see that man has not yet fully mastered
the knowledge he has acquired. He runs to and fro. He rushes from one
extreme to the other. How many chapters of modern history, both
political and religious, are full of the records of this mental
vacillation of our race, of this illogical and absurd tendency to pass
from one extreme to the point farthest from it!
An adventurous party among us, weary of the old paths, is now eagerly
proclaiming theories and doctrines entirely novel on this important
subject. The EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN is the name chosen by its advocates
for this movement. They reject the idea of all subordination, even in
the mildest form, with utter scorn. They claim for woman absolute
social and political equality with man. And they seek to secure these
points by conferring on the whole sex the right of the elective
franchise, female suffrage being the first step in the unwieldy
revolutions they aim at bringing about. These views are no longer
confined to a small sect. They challenge our attention at every turn.
We meet them in society; we read them in the public prints; we hear of
them in grave legislative assemblies, in the Congress of the Republic,
in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain. The time has come when it
is necessary that all sensible and conscientious men and women should
make up their minds clearly on a subject bearing upon the future
condition of the entire race.
There is generally more than one influence at work in all public
movements of importance. The motive power in such cases is very seldom
simple. So it has been with the question of female suffrage. The abuses
inflicted on woman by legislation, the want of sufficient protection
for her interests when confided to man, are generally asserted by the
advocates of female suffrage as the chief motives for a change in the
laws which withhold from her the power of voting. But it is also
considered by the friend of the new movement that to withhold the
suffrage from half the race is an inconsistency in American politics;
that suffrage is an inalienable right, universal in its application;
that women are consequently deprived of a great natural right when
denied the power of voting. A third reason is also given for this
proposed change in our political constitution. It is asserted that the
entire sex would be greatly elevated in intellectual and moral dignity
by such a course; and that the effect on the whole race would therefore
be most advantageous, as the increased influence of woman in public
affairs would purify politics, and elevate the whole tone of political
life. Here we have the reason for this movement as advanced by its
advocates. These are the points on which they lay the most stress:
FIRST. The abuse of legislative power in man, by oppressing the sex.
SECONDLY. The inalienable natural right of woman to vote; and
imperatively so in a country where universal suffrage is a great
political principle.
THIRDLY. The elevation of the sex, and the purification of politics
through their influence.
Let us consider each of these points separately.