Letter, Susan B. Anthony to American Unitarian Association

[page 1]
National American Woman Suffrage Association.

May 24, 1900.
To the President, Officers, and Delegates
of the American Unitarian Association,
in session at Boston, Mass., May 25-26.
My Dear Friends : —
As chairman of the committee appointed by our national suffrage asso-
ciation to address letters to all of the large conventions held during
this last year of the nineteenth century, allow me to bring before you the
great need of the recognition of the women of this nation in all of the
rights, privileges and immunities of United States citizenship.
The utter powerlessness of the religious world in governmental af-
fairs is frequently commented upon by both the church and the secular
press. Permit me to call your attention to the cause of this fact. Near-
ly every money-making enterprise, large or small, is owned and conducted
by men. The great monopolies – railroad, coal, oil, sugar, liquor, to-
bacco, etc. – have their agents and attorneys at Washington and at every
State capital not only to secure laws in their favor, but to prevent the
passage of any which would be inimical to their interests. In addition
to the capitalists themselves the vast majority of their employes, being
men, are voters, so that these corporations can put into one of the politi-
cal scales the weight of both money and ballots. On the other hand, the
churches, the charities, the schools, the reforms, though generally offi-
cered by men, count but a very small minority of voters in their member-

[page 2]
ship, however large that may be. It is therefore but a very simple prob-
lem in mathematics to show that if you put all the great material interests
into one scale with votes, and all the great moral and spiritual interests
into the other practically without votes, the latter must kick the beam.
The representatives in any legislative body have no alternative – they
must comply with the demands of those who gave and can take away their
positions.
It is generally admitted that we stand at a moral deadlock. While
it is possible to secure some enactments for the suppression of drunken-
ness and immorality, such laws are virtually dead letters on the statute-
books of every state in the Union. This is not so because good men do
not try to have good laws enforced, but because there are not enough such
men to make a balance of power sufficiently strong to re-elect officers
who have faithfully discharged their duties. Since all classes of men
are now voters, there is not possible way of obtaining this needed balance
of power except by the enfranchisement of women, who already form the vast
majority of members in every educational, reform or religious association.
But it surely is not necessary for me to argue this point with those whose
life-work it is to study how to better the condition of the world.
Will you not have introduced into your meeting, discussed and adopted,
a resolution in favor of woman suffrage, and also have your officers, on
behalf of the Association, sign a petition asking Congress for the sub-
mission of a Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, pro-
hibiting the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex?
Enclosed is a form of petition. Please make two copies of it on
your own official paper, if adopted, and return both to me after they are
signed. Kindly send me also a copy of the suffrage resolution, should

[page 3]
one be passed. In any case, I shall consider it a favor to be informed
of whatever action is taken by the Association upon these requests.
Trusting that the churches represented in your Association will give
the weight of their influence on the side of justice and equality for
women, I am,
Very sincerely yours,