Here, then, one-half of this
mighty population are prohibited by law from having any voice in the
making of the laws by which they are governed, or the carrying of them
out after they are made. Where is justice in this case? One slight
exception may be made here: in some of the Western States women are
allowed to vote and to hold some few positions of profit and trust in
the State. It is only a trifling advantage, but still it is an
advantage, and is one step gained in the right direction.
The law allows the mother's holiest feelings to be outraged with
impunity. It does not recognize her right to the custody of her own
children, except at the husband's pleasure. She may be intelligent and
educated, virtuous and pious. Yet, if he so wills, he may remove her
children from her care, deprive her of their society, and even of the
comfort of occasionally seeing them; and he may place them under the
tutelage of the ignorant and vicious; while the deeply wronged mother is
powerless, according to law, to help either herself or her children.
It is counted among one of woman's privileges that she may hold property
in her own right. Upon what tenure is she allowed to hold it? If the
property be acquired or inherited, without entail of any sort; if it be
real estate, it is hers in fee-simple till she marries. After that
event--unless she has guarded her rights by a legal pre-nuptial
contract, properly signed and attested to by him who is to be her
husband--she may not dispose of any part of it without his express
sanction.
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