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Adversaries and Allies Rival National Suffrage Groups and the 1882 Nebraska Woman Suffrage Campaign

Carmen Heider University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, [email protected]

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Heider, Carmen, "Adversaries and Allies Rival National Suffrage Groups and the 1882 Nebraska Woman Suffrage Campaign" (2005). Great Plains Quarterly. 2473. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/2473

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES RIVAL NATIONAL SUFFRAGE GROUPS AND THE 1882 NEBRASKA WOMAN SUFFRAGE CAMPAIGN

CARMEN HEIDER

In September 1882, Nebraska was the setting speakers during the 1882 campaign.2 Susan B. for a significant moment in the history of the Anthony even participated in the A WSA thir­ United States women's rights movement: the teenth annual meeting held in Omaha in 1882. two rival suffrage organizations, the Ameri­ "I feel at home," she said, "on every woman can Woman Suffrage Association (A WSA) suffrage platform, and am most glad to speak and the National Woman Suffrage Associa­ to you to-day. This is the third campaign in tion (NWSA), both held their annual con­ which my friend Lucy Stone and myself have ventions in Omaha, an event Sally Roesch shared."3 National activists focused their at­ Wagner describes as "an unprecedented tention on Nebraska in 1882 because the state's move."l Furthermore, the A WSA and NWSA suffrage amendment was about to go before "act[edl in conjunction with the Nebraska the male electorate. W oman Suffrage Association" to schedule The alliance of the A WSA and NWSA during the September 1882 conventions was a notable point in the gradual reunification of the two suffrage organizations. "During the decade of 1880-1890," Eleanor Flexner writes, Key Words: Nebraska, rhetoric, Thayer County, "it was becoming increasingly evident that the Woman Suffrage factors which had brought about the exist­ ence of two separate suffrage associations were Carmen Heider is an assistant professor in the steadily diminishing in importance."4 Because Department of Communication and the Women's Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin suffragists in Thayer County, Nebraska, asso­ Oshkosh. Her research focuses on Nebraska woman ciated with both organizations and incorpo­ suffrage activism and her work has appeared in Rhetoric rated the ideas of both groups into their suffrage and Public Affairs and the Journal of Communication rationale, it is possible that they represented and Religion. the early stages of the two groups beginning to merge back together. It is also possible that [GPQ 25 (Spring 2005): 87-103] the suffragists' location on the Great Plains

87 88 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005 provided a context in which both groups real­ Woman," who was pure, pious, submissive, and ized they could, when they needed to, cooper­ best suited to the "private" sphere of the home. ate despite their larger disagreements. Furthermore, their reconstruction of woman­ The Western Woman's Journal, a Nebraska hood not only challenged ideals of True W om­ suffrage periodical, wrote encouragingly about anhood, it also blurred the distinctions the upcoming Nebraska conventions: "Much between the seemingly dichotomous "public" good is expected to result from the meetings and "private" spheres. Debates about the of the American and National Associations, proper role of women are still with us and in this state in September."5 Prominent Thayer often remain rooted in historical gender as­ County suffragist Erasmus Correll noted that sumptions.l1 "Local workers, noble ones, too numerous to This analysis of the Thayer County reform­ mention, are doing much local work to ad­ ers' suffrage rationale and their reconstruc­ vance the cause. Lucy Stone, Susan B. An­ tion of womanhood builds on existing thony, H. B. Blackwell, Helen M. Gougar, scholarship that focuses on women and their Margaret W. Campbell, and many other able role in the development of the Great Plains. and experienced workers, will soon be on Ne­ As June Underwood explains, "Western braska soil, to aid us in our noble struggle. The women, like their eastern sisters, organized writer is also devoting his whole time to the their lives around domesticity and piety, and work. The cause is everywhere progressing."6 then used those concepts to expand their Anthony, the "suffrage war veteran," was spheres."12 Underwood explains how nine­ scheduled to arrive in mid-September "to aid teenth-century women expanded their "do­ in carrying the amendment.") Lucy Stone and mestic roles" from the private to the public Henry Blackwell, according to Leslie Wheeler, sphere, where they became abolitionists, tem­ "extended their stay [in Nebraska] from ten perance activists, and club members.13 She days, as originally planned, to more than a urges scholars to focus on how women physi­ month, and spoke in twenty-five counties."8 cally and socially adapted to their new envi­ This essay analyzes the A WSA and NWSA ronments and she identifies woman suffrage as in the context of the 1882 Nebraska woman one form of the "idea of adaptation."14 This suffrage campaign. In particular, the study fo­ essay, then, contributes to literature that ex­ cuses on Thayer County from 1879 to 1882 plores how symbols have been used and ap­ because it was the center of Nebraska state propriated by particular groups in the Plains; suffrage activism and, as Roesch Wagner notes, furthermore, this study builds upon scholar­ "received national attention."9 Thayer County ship that explores how such symbol use com­ reformers produced a variety of materials, in­ plicates dichotomies between private and cluding speeches, fifteen issues of the Western public. IS I also address Glenda Riley's concern Woman'sJournal, and the "Woman's Column," that scholars refrain from ignoring "old" is­ which appeared weekly on the front page of sues, such as domesticity.!6 Riley emphasizes the Hebron [Nebraskal J ourna/. 10 By focusing that "domestic roles and contributions were on the Nebraska case study, I hope to demon­ the central concerns of most plainswomen's strate that first, in spite of organizational dif­ lives."!) The 1882 census bears this out for the ferences over goals and methods, Thayer Thayer County suffragists, as nearly all are County suffragists affiliated with both rival defined by occupation as "housekeepers."!8 At groups, as both national organizations worked the same time, Thayer County activists clearly publicly with each other during the 1882 Ne­ had civic interests, most notably their suffrage braska campaign; and second, Nebraska suf­ work, and this study seeks to contribute to fragists, by affiliating with both groups, scholarship that examines the nuances within reconceptualized womanhood by challenging the ideology of domesticity in its material and conventional constructions of the "True symbolic forms. ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 89

The Nebraska case study is significant for Blackwell supported the Fifteenth Amend­ two reasons: First, it enriches and nuances what ment without the inclusion of women, believ­ we know about the two national suffrage orga­ ing that some blacks should vote even if women nizations and how they functioned materially could not. Ellen DuBois asserts that these dif­ and symbolically with state activists. Second, ferences "inflamed already severe conflicts it contributes to our understanding of "na­ among reformers."22 As Suzanne Marilley ex­ tional" suffrage activism by integrating, into plains, Stone and Blackwell "dissented from the dominant woman suffrage narrative, state the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and regional interpretations of arguments, for their failure to enfranchise women but appeals, and activism. 19 Specific case studies avoided outright opposition to ensure the complicate our understanding of dominant consolidation of some reform. Anthony and interpretations of woman suffrage activism by Stanton, however, ultimately decided that they addressing the symbolic and material inter­ had to oppose Stone and Blackwell in order play between local and national groups. This to defend woman's rights as a critical rights essay is divided into four sections: the first issue."23 provides a brief overview of the A WSA and DuBois posits that the position held by NWSA; the second explores the A WSA in Anthony and Cady Stanton regarding the Fif­ Nebraska; the third analyzes the NWSA in teenth Amendment led to attacks that they Nebraska; and the fourth section concludes were "feminist and racist" even though both the essay. groups appealed to racist ideas. 24 Such accusa­ tions stemmed from their claim that suffrage OVERVIEW OF THE SPLIT BETWEEN should be granted to those who met specific THE A WSA AND NWSA qualifications. As Anthony and Cady Stanton contended, "a government of the most virtu­ The 1869 split that resulted in two national ous, educated men and women would better suffrage organizations, the A WSA and the represent the whole humanitarian idea, and NWSA, marked a major turning point in the more perfectly protect the interests of all, than United States' woman suffrage movement. could a representation of either sex alone."25 Lucy Stone and her husband, Henry Blackwell, White, middle-class women were ostensibly led the A WSA; Susan B. Anthony and Eliza­ better suited for suffrage than free black men. beth Cady Stanton led the NWSA. DuBois explains that Anthony and Cady Disagreements over the Fourteenth and Stanton "submitted a series of resolutions [dur­ Fifteenth Amendments played a crucial role ing their 1868 midwestern tour], against the in the split between the two suffrage organiza­ Fifteenth Amendment, which charged the tions. 200ne of the central differences stemmed Republican party with 'the establishment of from the implications surrounding the end of an aristocracy of sex,' and condemned the slavery and the approval of the Fifteenth am~ndment as 'retrogressive' legislation."26 Amendment, which prohibited states from Furthermore, she notes that "by the end of denying male citizens the right to vote. An­ 1869, two national suffrage organizations ex­ thony and Cady Stanton argued that women isted, competing for adherents and for the right must be included with African American men to direct the way to victory."27 As Beverly in the amendment; they claimed that suffrage Beeton explains, the 1869 split that resulted must be universal rather than based on sex. As in the formation of the A WSA and NWSA Louise Newman indicates, the NWSA opposed was a "schism on goals and methods" that the amendments because they "provided no "would persist until 1890."28 A primary point constitutional protections for women, white of contention was over state versus federal or black."21 On the other hand, Stone and ratification of female suffrage: the A WSA 90 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005 supported the former; the NWSA supported NEBRASKA WOMAN SUFFRAGE ACTIVISM the latter. Sarah Evans notes that "the deep, AND THE AWSA bitter split between woman suffrage advocates in the 1860s fragmented the women's rights Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, as lead­ movement for more than two decades. . . . ers of the A WSA, published the Woman'sJour­ These two organizations with their very dif­ nal, the most prominent national suffrage ferent styles but shared agenda kept the issue periodical during this time. The A WSA fo­ of woman suffrage alive for two decades before cused specifically on suffrage and distinguished old animosities could be set aside and a new, itself from other less conventional issues such joint organization formed."29 as labor and divorce reform. The Western Both the A WSA and NWSA materially Woman's Journal, for example, quoted the and symbolically influenced Thayer County Woman's Journal to highlight Blackwell's ar­ suffragists and their constructions of woman­ gument that the vote would provide women hood.30 Prominent Thayer County suffragists with increased protections and penalties such as Erasmus Correll, Lucy Correll, Bar­ against abuse.37 Blackwell, according to the bara J. Thompson, and Susan Ferguson inter­ Western Woman's Journal, held the positions acted with members of each organization and that "Political Progress, historically viewed, incorporated the ideas of both groups into their consists in the successive extension of suffrage suffrage rationale. While this paper focuses to classes hitherto disenfranchised," and "the primarily on Thayer County suffrage activists, enlargement of woman's sphere of activity and suffragist Clara Bewick Colby from the nearby the recognition of her equal rights mark and town of Beatrice also deserves note as an ac­ measure the progress of civilization."38 The tive Nebraska campaigner who worked with A WSA also encouraged state ratification of both rival groups. Bewick Colb'y helped orga­ the suffrage amendment and municipal reform. nize a suffrage association with forty-two A WSA members believed that obtaining the members, worked "successfully in York and vote could be accomplished effectively one Hamilton and in the Republican Valley, or­ step at a time at local and state levels. The ganizing large societies" and had "spoken A WSA also included men and women as mem­ with much success at London, in Nemaha bers, officers, and leaders. County."31 After she presented addresses in Thayer County suffragists materially affili­ Aurora, the Western Woman's Journal reported ated with the A WSA through financial sup­ that her "lecture was good, and she advanced port, supplies, and speaking engagements. As many new ideas."32 In general, the journal com­ the Western Woman's Journal noted, "Had it mended Bewick Colby's work.33 E. Claire Jerry not been for the kind assistance of Lucy Stone, suggests that Bewick Colby aligned herself with and other eastern friends, in sending in occa­ the NWSA through her emphasis on NWSA sional donations to aid the publication of the movement history in the Woman's Tribune, Journal, our financial burdens would have been which she edited from 1883 to 1910.34 Jerry almost overwhelming."39 While Nebraska suf­ also notes that the "early conventions [Bewick fragist Clara Bewick Colby donated the "larg­ Colby] commemorated, while technically be­ est sum" of $106 to the Nebraska Woman longing to the movement as a whole, were Suffrage Association, Stone donated $65, the closely associated with Anthony and Cady second largest amount.40 Stone also encour­ Stanton."J5 The Western Woman's Journal, aged Philadelphia suffrage supporter J. K. however, indicates that Bewick Colby also held Wildman to send tracts entitled, "Four quite A WSA offices and participated in the 1882 new reasons why you should wish your wife to A WSA convention in Omaha.36 Nebraska vote."41 In addition, A WSA officers and del­ suffragist Ada Bittenbender also associated egates from a range of states, including Mis­ with both organizations. souri, Indiana, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 91

FIG. 1. Erasmus M. Correll. Courtesy of Thayer FIG. 2. Lucy Lozier Wilder Correll. Courtesy of County Museum, Belvidere, Nebraska. Thayer County Museum, Belvidere, Nebraska.

were scheduled to attend and speak at the 1882 Correll's Republican loyalties probably tied Omaha convention.42 The Western Woman's him more closely to the A WSA, which DuBois Journal also noted that "The two lady delegates indicates "relied on strong support from ·Re­ from England to the American Woman Suf­ publican and abolitionist men."46 frage meeting in Omaha, the Misses Muller, The A WSA elected Erasmus Correll as its are highly recommended as workers and speak­ president in 1881, which best represents ers for women's enfranchisement."43 Thayer County suffragists' material affiliation Thayer County suffragists Erasmus and Lucy with this organization. Upon being "unani­ Correll affiliated with the A WSA in several mously elected," Stone wrote to Correll that ways. Erasmus Correll, the most prominent "They did this in consideration of the great Nebraska suffragist from 1879 to 1882, corre­ service you have rendered, and are now ren­ sponded with Stone, and Lucy Correll, his dering to the cause of Woman Suffrage. It is spouse, reportedly wrote for the Woman's Jour­ an honor that has been bestowed on some of nal. 44 The Corrells undoubtedly drew support the best men and women in this country."47 and inspiration from Henry Blackwell and Lucy Correll, in his response to Stone, wrote, "It Stone during their month-long stay in Ne­ affords me much pleasure to thankfully accept braska in September 1882. As a Columbus the position and its duties and divide the honor [Nebraska] resident wrote, "We are having among the earnest men and women who are many valuable accessions to our ranks. Lucy not only seeking the highest political welfare Stone and Dr. H. B. Blackwell spoke here very of humanity, but the honor of placing upon acceptably to the people."45 Furthermore, this young commonwealth the first coronal of 92 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005

-··a pure and advanced government-the real­ success of any cause-woman suffrage finds in ization of the loftiest principles of a true re­ her a warm supporter and advocate."54 public."48 Correll noted that "Having devoted The Woman's Journal reports on Nebraska my life to the cause of Equal Rights, no labor suffrage also highlight gender integration. Mrs. will be avoided, and I desire to be considered H. S. Wilcox, in her Woman's Journal report, an active member of the Association."49 reflected on her meeting with the "wide awake The inclusion of men and women in Ne­ people of Hebron": "I was met by one of the braska suffrage activities also demonstrates the ladies with a carriage and taken to the home A WSA influence. Suffrage texts reveal that of the president of the society, Mrs. Susan E. Thayer County's suffrage activism was indeed Ferguson ... and was most agreeably surprised integrated on the basis of gender. According to find a party of ladies to welcome me. "55 to the 1880 "Petition for Woman Suffrage" in Wilcox also mentioned that "Mr. Ferguson, Nebraska, forty-six women and sixty-one men the husband of our hostess with characteristic from Hebron supported the Nebraska woman Yankee proclivities for story-telling, afforded suffrage amendment. 50 Lucy Correll stated that much amusement, and the JOURNAL and "many of the leading businessmen became Woman's Kingdom with their extended influ­ members [of the Thayer County Suffrage As­ ence and power came in for a share of our sociation] ," which indicates that men were 'gossip,' and each expressed a hopeful outlook welcome at meetings and were participants in for our cause."56 Wilcox wrote that "addresses suffrage activism in Thayer County. 51 The in­ made by Mrs. Ferguson and Mrs. E. M. Correll volvement of both men and women correlates at the last anniversary of their society, evince with Blackwell's note in Lucy Correll's auto­ talents and ability that are needed in our leg­ graph book: "Woman's cause is man's; they islatures to help make laws and reform poli­ rise or sink together."52 tics."57 Through such newspaper accounts, we Prominent Thayer County suffragist Bar­ know that men and women participated to­ bara J. Thompson primarily participated in gether at suffrage meetings, which paralleled the NWSA, but her two children demonstrate the A WSA practice of including men and the A WSA practice of integrating men and women. women into suffrage organizations. In 1882 Correll and other men who supported Walter (W. J.) Thompson presented a short women's rights earned the respect of their speech at the Thayer County Woman Suffrage female counterparts. According to Belle Association meeting and remained active in Bigelow, "Hon. E. M. Correll has devoted his the suffrage movement after he moved to entire time to the [suffrage] work excepting Washington. In 1888 Alice Stone Blackwell that demanded by his official duties. He has thanked him for his "efforts on behalf of also expended large sums of money to his great women."51 He also corresponded with Henry loss financially; and to him more than to all Blackwell, Harriet Brooks, and Zerelda others belong the praise for the present fair McCoy, vice president of the Washington outlook in Nebraska."5s In addition to the re­ Territory NWSA. Sixteen-year-old Jessie spect female suffragists accorded Correll, they Thompson also gained recognition for her suf­ also recruited other men to support their cause. frage activism in Thayer County. The Western The Western Woman's Journal requested Woman's Journal highlighted her accomplish­ "names of earnest, energetic men in the vari­ ments: "One of the most energetic young la­ ous counties, for appointment as county su­ dies of the West is Miss Jessie Thompson .... perintendents of campaign work, but "only such She has been successful in obtaining for us a men as can be relied on for persistent, careful club of sixteen names, and is now at work on a and effective work until the battle is over."59 A second club. With youth, energy and perse­ Nebraska suffragist named Holly, from nearby verance, elements which are necessary for the Nelson, interestingly noted that "there is ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 93 much more earnest thought among the men who edited the Woman's Journal while Stone than among the women. It is the topic of and Blackwell campaigned in Nebraska. On conversation, and has many bitter opponents, September 24, 1882, Blackwell wrote from but I am quite satisfied that a majority of the Wisner, Nebraska: men desire to be fair and candid."60 Holly hoped that "the more it is talked about the Between ourselves-there is no more hope greater the number of friends to the amend­ for carrying woman suffrage in Nebraska ment."61 than of the millennium coming next year. Like the A WSA, the Thayer County suf­ Both parties have avoided it. The republi­ frage association welcomed men at their meet­ cans refused to endorse it day before yester­ ings. Furthermore, the Western Woman's Journal day in their state convention. I had not often highlighted the work of activist men, been in Omaha 48 hours before I saw how such as Correll, Mr. A. T. Hobbs, and the the matter stood, but as we dont [sic] want Rev. W. D. Vermillion, who "made addresses to discourage the workers, we keep our opin­ at a woman suffrage picnic in Jefferson County ions to ourselves & talk and work as if we [Nebraska]."62 The journal also reported that expected to win. But the prospect is not Gov. Hoyt, Gen. Connor, and Mr. Hamer nearly so good as in Kansas in 1869. I am made addresses to suffrage audiences in confirmed in my opinion that we will have Kearney, Nebraska.6l Michigan suffragist to get what we can from the State legisla­ Wilder Wooster, a Nebraska delegate to the tures by statute without going down to the A WSA convention, indicated that he had masses-to be beat ... Don't publish my "organized an association with 47 members." predictions as to Nebraska.67 He also mentioned in his report to the West­ ern Woman's Journal that Mr. E. A. Fletcher The defeated amendment, according to Leslie "took an active part in forming the organiza­ Wheeler, generated a shift in A WSA strate­ tion, and offered his assistance in future pre­ gies for state ratification: "From then on Lucy cinct work."64 and Henry decided that the [A WSA] should Finally, Thayer County suffragists fought concentrate on lobbying state legislatures for state ratification, a primary A WSA strat­ rather than conducting mass campaigns among egy. Stone and Blackwell publicized Nebraska the general populace, who were usually less suffrage activity in the Woman's Journal, in­ enlightened than their legislators."68 cluding various news items on state and local In short, suffrage documents demonstrate progress, and specific references to the West­ the material and symbolic interaction between ern Woman's Journa!. For example, Stone wrote Thayer County suffragists and A WSA lead­ that the Western Woman's Journal is "full of ers, which then informed the local reformers' the sounds of work. It reports ninety out of a ideas, arguments, and constructions of gen­ hundred papers in that State in favor of Suf­ der:Stone and Blackwell complicated the idea frage. It is with special pleasure that we see of separate spheres by demonstrating that help to those who so nobly help themselves."65 women's and men's interests were materially The Western Woman's Journal also highlighted and rhetorically intertwined. Stone and Stone's editorial work. "Under the editorial Blackwell undoubtedly provided an exemplary management of Lucy Stone ... [the journal] is role model for Thayer County suffrage couples unexcelled for the thoroughness and depth while state and local activism also influenced with which it handles questions relating to national strategies. woman's suffrage and advancement."66 The prevalence of joint activities is sig­ Even Blackwell, however, noted his con­ nificant in relation to self-determination, the cern regarding the Nebraska woman suffrage central tenet of the ThayerCounty woman suf­ amendment in a letter to his daughter Alice, frage rationale.69 To them, suffrage activism 94 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005 represented an integrated "sphere" of public riage resulted in part, they claimed, from the activism comprised of men and women who self-determination that legal protections could demonstrated that rigid gender roles, along potentially provide. To most fully understand with "separate spheres," were not so clear-cut Thayer County arguments and appeals on this in the Plains. This lack of rigidity and the subject, we must briefly turn to the 1860 Na­ prevalence of overlapping activities correlate tional Women's Rights Convention debate on with the emphasis on self-determination, as the issue of divorce. This debate provides the Thayer County suffragists' interpretation of rhetorical framework that helped shape the womanhood challenged gender-dichotomous Thayer County rationale nearly twenty years beliefs and institutions. To be self-determined later. Cady Stanton, in this debate, defined warranted the breakdown of confining gender marriage as an institution that women often assumptions. If one was self-determined, one entered into on the basis of "custom, policy, could pursue whatever one wanted, and it interest, [and] necessity," only to be "held there seems logical that men and women would par­ by the iron chain of the law."72 She claimed ticipate in some of the same activities. This that women should have the right to divorce liberal interpretation of feminism grounded if "violence, debauchery, and excess" charac­ the Thayer County woman suffrage rationale terized their marriages. 73 Antoinette Brown and, as will be explained in the following sec­ Blackwell, Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell's tions, reflected tenets of the National Woman daughter, approached the topic of marriage Suffrage Association.70 from a different perspective: She claimed that women "choose" to be married and therefore NEBRASKA WOMAN SUFFRAGE ACTIVISM "the cure for the evils that now exist is not in AND THE NWSA dissolving marriage, but it is in giving to the married woman her own natural independence In addition to (or in spite of) their A WSA and sovereignty, by which she can maintain connections, Thayer County suffragists also herself."74 interacted with the two leaders of the less con­ Ernestine Potowski Rose, however, con­ ventional National Woman Suffrage Associa­ tended that Brown Blackwell's ideal of equal­ tion, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady ity between husband and wife often did not in Stanton. The NWSA fought for federal reality exist. Hence, she claimed, the need for amendment ratification and advocated reform divorce: "I ask, in the name of individual hap­ beyond the ballot, including changes in mar­ piness and social morality and well being, why riage and divorce laws, and equal pay for equal such a marriage should be binding for life?­ work. NWSA members and officers, unlike why one human being should be chained for the A WSA, were exclusively women. Thayer life to the dead body of another ?"75 Potowski County suffragists materially reflected the Rose concluded by stressing that women NWSA influence through their selection of needed to be educated so that they would not women as leaders and officers in their local marry out of necessity. While William Lloyd organization.71 They also argued for self-de­ Garrison and Wendell Phillips argued that termined womanhood in the context of broad divorce should not even be part of the women's women's rights reforms that reflected NWSA rights platform, Brown Blackwell and Anthony perspectives on two pressing issues: divorce responded by claiming that the marriage ques­ and equal pay. tion was indeed an integral component of women's emancipation.76 Thayer County suf­ Self-Determination and Property, Dower, and fragists aligned themselves with national suf­ Divorce. Thayer County suffragists prioritized fragists such as Cady Stanton and Potowski legal protections as a key component of their Rose, who argued for specific legal protections marriage reform arguments. Mutuality in mar- that would benefit a woman's position in ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 95 marriage and upon divorce. The 1880 census Marriage could be one of the most' devas­ indicates that one Hebron resident who signed tating obstacles to women's self-determina­ the 1880 suffrage petition, Maria Correll, was tion and autonomy. "The status of a wife as divorced.77 civilly dead, as the property of her husband," By the early 1880s Nebraska had abolished according to Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, "was many .standard discriminations against symbolic of woman's status in society."86 women. 78 Nebraska, however, had not yet abol­ Erasmus Correll claimed that "the holiest in­ ished sex discrimination in "probate settle­ stitution ever ordained-marriage-is taken ment of estates; between the right of curtesy as a pretext for a degrading discrimination. and the right of dower; in the law relating to The law makes no distinction between mar­ divorce, in the guardianship of children, and ried and unmarried men-then why between in the law allowing the father to dispose of the women? And why should marriage be a cause children by wi11."79 Erasmus Correll, reflecting for disbarring franchise ?"87 In addition to these the positions of Cady Stanton and Potowski gender inequities, Alabama suffragist Virginia Rose, portrayed such discriminatory acts as Betts pointed out that "A man is privileged to violations of the individual rights necessary to defraud his wife," which certainly hindered a a self-determined life. "The laws," according woman's right to a self-determined life.88 When to Correll, "are made by men and for men, and marriage invalidated the franchise, Correll consequently, when that almost legal non­ stressed that such laws affect "men and women entity, a woman[,] dies, all things progress very unequally, and women unjustly."89 smoothly the man!"80 Such sentiments were The death of a spouse also had important also similar to those of suffragists such as An­ legal implications that potentially impeded a thony, who in 1860 had claimed that "Mar­ woman's right to a self-determined life. If a riage has ever and always been a one-sided woman died a civil death when she married, matter, resting most unequally upon the sexes. what happened when she or her spouse physi­ By it, man gains all-woman loses a11."81 The cally died? According to the rights of dower Western Woman's Journal reported at least one and curtesy, "At his death she is entitled to neighboring state that offered women laws only one-third. At her death, he is entitled to under which they could become more fully her entire real estate during her naturallife."90 self-determined: "In Kansas there is much to Correll responded to such legal inequities with emulate by other states. Husband and wife have a question: "Now I ask you, is that distinction the same property rights. Fathers and mothers fair? Is there any justice in such a law? Why the same right in their children."82 Property should not she have, on the death of her hus­ rights would have hit close to home for at band, precisely the same rights that he has on least four Thayer County women. Lucy Correll, her death? Certainly, fair-minded men will at Susan Ferguson, Sarah Church, and Hannah on~e concede that she should."91 Thayer Huse filed petitions on January 14,1880. They County suffragists, through their emphasis on claimed that they paid "heavy taxes" but had legal customs and legal change, symbolically no "power to suppress vice or regulate taxa­ paralleled Cady Stanton, Potowski Rose, and tion."83 Accordingly, each asked "for the re­ Anthony in their constructions of women as moval of her political disabilities [and] that individuals who had a right to their own life, she may exercise her right to vote."84 While liberty, and happiness. there is no petition on record filed by Ann Martha Vermillion, her will and estate in­ Self-Determination and Equal Pay. Equal pay ventory indicate that at the time of her death was another issue upon which Thayer County in 1886, she owned real estate valued at suffragists focused their attention and through $3,200, which her husband and stepson later which they argued for self-determination. It inherited.85 was one thing to argue for and gain access to a 96 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005 wider range of professional opportunities. It metic, United States history, readers, geogra­ was yet another to argue for and gain equality phy, and spelling in Hebron in 1874, earning within the professions themselves. One mani­ forty dollars for a three-month session.96 Lucy festation of inequity within the professions was taught in Meridian, Nebraska, where the the debate over equal pay for equal work. couple briefly settled upon their arrival in the Through this debate, Thayer County suffrag­ county.97 A. Martha Vermillion, her husband ists critiqued conventional constructions of W. D. Vermillion, and Ivy Green also taught womanhood, including women's financial de­ school.98 As both men and women taught pendence on men. The Hebron Journal high­ school and earned unequal pay, wage inequity lighted the tensions that arose from the issue was undoubtedly an issue that hit close to home of work for wages: "There should be no an­ for Thayer County suffragists. In 1886 Josie tagonism to women's working for wages. Men's Keith was paid $450 per year as a teacher, unwillingness that women should enter into making her one of the highest paid educators competition in work and wages is founded on in the district. At the same time, her salary chivalry-on noble and generous principles; was substantially less than her male colleague, but the conditions of women's dependence on A. J. Mercer. Of the seven teachers listed in man's support cannot be secured against con­ school records, Mercer earned ninety-five dol­ tingencies."92 Furthermore, Thayer County lars per month, followed by Nellie Pletcher suffragists argued that while women had been and Keith, who both earned fifty dollars per socialized to view financial self-support as in­ month.99 The Hebron Journal editors also high­ consequential to their lives, it was actually lighted what they perceived as "items of inter­ crucial to women's freedom and independence. est" concerning Thayer County teachers: As the Western Woman's Journal emphasized, "Every daughter ought to be taught to earn Weare pleased to notice that the same num­ her own living .... No reform.is as imperative ber of women are employed as teachers as as this."93 The Hebron Journal also noted that men .... But when it comes to the wages all girls "should be taught to be self-support­ paid, the women are quite in the minority. ing." As the newspaper stated, "Every girl, Look at the figures: "The whole number of whatever her social or pecuniary condition, is days of school taught by the male teachers liable at some time in life to be thrown upon were 4,027, while the lady teachers taught her own resources and the cold charities of the 4,240. In spite of the above facts the total world, and this emergency should be provided wages of male teachers was $7,198.22, while for. "94 The focus on self-reliance reflected Cady the ladies received $6,835.97." Thus you Stanton's perspective on women's rights. As see while the women taught 573 days more she concluded in "Solitude of Self," "Who, I than the men they received $362.25 less ask you, can take, dare take on himself, the than the men teachers. The question arises: rights, duties, the responsibilities of another Is it sex or brains which grades the salary?IOO human soul?"95 Through such arguments, Thayer County suffragists dissociated them­ Through the Western Woman's Journal, suf­ selves from constructions of womanhood that fragists also offered proof of unequal pay in were grounded in dependence, helplessness, neighboring Iowa: "Iowa has 21,598 teachers, and confinement. only 7,255 of whom are men. Their average Thayer County suffragists addressed wage salary is $31.16; that of the female teachers is inequity by highlighting various occupations, $26.28."101 one of which was teaching, a profession famil­ There were, however, models of pay equity iar to Thayer County suffragists. Lucy and that suffragists held up as ideal. "The teachers Erasmus Correll taught school after moving to in the city schools of Lawrence, Kansas," Thayer County. Erasmus taught algebra, arith- noted the Western Woman's Journal, "are paid ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 97 according to the length of service from $35 to was that the human race should live in fami­ $55 per month, women receiving the same as lies, and all laws are conformed to this one men for equal service."102 The point was to idea. Woman was to be confined to home du­ actively pursue equal pay rather than passively ties, but was to receive her wages through her wait for it to be voluntarily granted. As the husband."104 HebronJournal urged, "Girls qualify yourselves, Thayer County suffragists responded to then demand the same pay for the same work Fairfield's justifications by situating the indi­ performed that the men get."103 By qualifying vidual as the basic unit of society and by em­ themselves and then making demands, women phasizing the right to a self-determined life, in participated in the reconceptualization of what which women could claim rather than receive it meant to be a self-determined woman who wages and live in freedom rather than con­ acted on her own behalf. finement. As the Sutton Register noted, it would Thayer County suffragists also highlighted be "absurd to say that one individual should the principle of self-determination through a receive less wages than another for the same "work and wages" debate reported in the work equally well done, under similar sur­ Sutton [Nebraska] Register. In this debate, roundings."lo5 For all citizens to realize the University of Nebraska chancellor Edmund B. inherent, individual right to a fair wage, suf­ Fairfield argued that wage inequity should be fragists argued that the government must pass left to the discretion of individual employers. legislation. In other words, social problems According to Fairfield, "Work is what one does. warranted social, not individual, solutions. In Wages is what one gets for it." He further so doing, suffragists situated legal rights, in­ claimed that wage inequity was not a legisla­ cluding the vote, as a means through which tive issue, but rather a conflict best resolved equality might be realized and through which between the employer and employed, thus society would progress. Omaha suffragist Orpha implying that solutions should be individual Dinsmore encapsulated this perspective: "I rather than societal. "The law of wages," think that legislation should interfere in the Fairfield claimed, "is ordinarily independent matter of work and wages only insofar as it of prejudice or whims." He then listed three removes restrictions and thus prevents dis­ reasons: First, "women, as a class, by physical crimination.... Fitness and ability, demand constitution or the customs of society, are shut and supply alone should govern wages. Race, out from a large number of employments in color, sex, ought not to be the test-or mea­ which men are allowed to enter." Women, sure of compensation."106 Dinsmore thus em­ according to Fairfield, did not have "adequate phasized the need for protective legislation as strength and endurance" for such positions. long as race, color, and/or sex were instru­ Second, Fairfield stated that "Nine tenths of mental in determining one's earning poten­ women marry in the course of time, quit their tial (or lack thereof). These arguments and jobs, and do not develop their skills," which appeals paralleled those invoked by Cady are "only acquired by long practice." And third, Stanton and Anthony.lo7 to pay men and women equally, men would have to be paid less, which, Fairfield argued, NWSA Activists in Nebraska. In addition to would ultimately hurt women, as husbands Thayer County suffragists' broad emphasis on would earn less money to support their fami­ women's rights, the Western Woman's Journal lies. In the end, Fairfield justified his position reported NWSA news and activism in Ne­ on the basis of patriarchal conceptions of fam­ braska, just as it did with the A WSA. Accord­ ily as the basic unit of society. He claimed that ing to NWSA Executive Committee chair May because 90 percent of women married, equal Wright Sewall, "The spread of the equal suf­ wages "would reform out of existence the en­ frage belief, is shown by the existence of two tire home life of the nation. The divine plan great public organizations, the 'National' and 98 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005 the 'American' Societies, each including lo­ W. S. Association. Her district comprises ten cal organizations in all parts of the country. counties, and she is preparing to inaugurate a That Nebraska women want the ballot, is vigorous campaign in each county."116 Thomp­ proved by the one hundred local societies that son, according to the Western Woman's Jour­ they have organized to secure it; by the money nal, worked "very effectively." She "furnish[ed] and the time which they have already invested editorial matter for the woman's column in in this agitation."JOs Anthony, according to quite a number of her papers in her district."117 the Western Woman's Journal, "addressed au­ Thompson and Erasmus Correll were delegates diences on woman suffrage at the following to the Nebraska State Convention and Th­ recently held fairs: Otoe County, Franklin ompson was also a member of the NWSA Ex­ County, and Fillmore County."I09 The journal ecutive Committee in 1881 and served as vice also advertised the NWSA convention, sched­ president of the Nebraska Woman Suffrage uled for September 26, 27, and 28 at the Association in 1881. 118 Thompson's obituary Omaha Opera House and September 29 and refers to her as a "pioneer in the movement for 30 at the Lincoln Opera House.lIo It also re­ woman suffrage" in Nebraska and also states ported that NWSA affiliate Sewall would work that she remained on the executive council of in Nebraska one week prior to the convention the NWSA after moving to the state of Wash­ and Rachel Foster, NWSA corresponding sec­ ington in the 1880s. 119 retary, had spoken at North Platte and Plumb Just as A WSA leaders Lucy Stone and Creek "while en route from Colorado to attend Henry Blackwell campaigned in Nebraska, so the National Convention in Omaha."ll1 did Anthony and Cady Stanton, the NWSA's NWSA officer Helen Gougar spent the month most prominent activists. They lectured in of September in Nebraska and while there Hebron, home of the Thayer County Suffrage "made a stirring speech on the street and made Association, on several occasions. On Octo­ many converts."112 Moreover, the journal ad­ ber 30, 1877, Anthony presented her lecture, vertised and provided continuous updates on "Woman Wants Bread, Not the Ballot." In the progress of the History of Woman Suffrage, spite of his association with the rival suffrage written and edited by Cady Stanton, Anthony, organization, Correll wrote that Anthony pre­ and Matilda Joslyn Gage.1!3 The journal sented a "clear, logical, and masterly exposi­ praised the volume and noted that "it supplies tion of the theory known as 'woman's a place in the world's literature not filled by rights."'120 She asserted that "there is no field any other."112 The NWSA, like the A WSA, of thought-no realm of science,-no path­ also furnished Nebraska suffragists with mate­ way of art, that has not been trodden by rials. According to the Western Woman's Jour­ women."12l Cady Stanton presented her lec­ nal, the NWSA "has just issued 40,000 leaflets, ture, "Our Girls," in Hebron on April 14, 1879, under four titles, for free distribution through when she helped organize the Thayer County Nebraska. One of them is a careful compila­ Suffrage Association. In this speech, which tion of statements from the public utterances was popular "all over our broad land," she ar­ of men."115 gued that educational opportunities should be Thayer County suffragist Barbara Thomp­ the same for boys and girlS. 122 Just as he did son held prominent positions in various suf­ with Anthony, Correll wrote a complimen­ frage organizations and affiliated with the tary review: "[Stanton] brought masterly, logi­ NWSA. As the Western Woman's Journal cal, and irrefutable arguments in favor of equal noted, "One of the most earnest workers in rights for woman, and clearly answered the the cause of Women's suffrage is Mrs. B. J. usual objections advanced against equal Thompson, of Hebron, secretary of the Thayer woman suffrage."123 The NWSA's emphasis on County W. S. Association and vice president a broad range of rights hinged on a woman's for the First Judicial District of the Nebraska right to a self-determined life. Hence, visits ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 99

by prominent national suffragists to enlighten Cady Stanton and Anthony, however, were and awaken the masses and to help organize not so popular in Wisconsin. Historian and energize the Thayer County Suffrage As­ Genevieve McBride indicates that Wisconsin sociation were particularly important and dem­ suffragist Olympia Brown "refused to affiliate onstrate the material and symbolic impact of with either Stanton and Anthony or Stone national suffragists and their ideas. and Blackwell but became a charter member of each group," which also suggests that na­ CONCLUSION tional divisions played out less significantly in the Midwest. 127 While they toured the state in Thayer County suffrage texts reveal the 1880, Wisconsin suffragists did not invite them local activists' interactions with national lead­ back in 1882. McBride suggests that their ers and the influence of A WSA and NWSA "militant tactics" might "have been too scan­ rhetorical strategies and tactics on this group dalous to midwesterners, women or men."128 of reformers. The A WSA influenced Thayer Yet, ten years earlier, as Glenda Riley notes, . County suffragists more organizationally, as the "fledging Dubuque [Iowa) organization was they emphasized the integration of men and given a major shot in the arm by a lyceum women, while the NWSA influenced Thayer appearance by Stanton in 1869."129 While di­ County suffragists more discursively through visions between the A WSA and NWSA ap­ arguments for self-determination and their pear less significant in the Plains and Midwest, emphasis on a broad range of women's rights the Thayer County case study reveals distinc­ issues. We can also see, in the context of the tions from these neighboring midwestern 1882 Nebraska woman suffrage campaign, the states. Thayer County suffragists actively rival A WSA and NWSA organizations begin­ aligned themselves with both suffrage groups ning to merge back together. Individuals from and their activist work indicates that the both groups interacted with one another and A WSA was, at minimum, a powerful presence contributed to the cause. during the 1882 campaign. The interplay between the A WSA, NWSA, Finally, Thayer County suffragists, through and Thayer County suffrage activism is simi­ the influences of the A WSA and NWSA, chal­ lar to and distinct from suffrage activism in lenged the notion of separate spheres. The nearby states such as Illinois and Wisconsin. reconceptualization of "separate spheres" re­ Historian Steven Buechler notes that "the sulted in a self-determined construction of standard image of a suffrage movement divided womanhood. While Thayer County suffrage between two competing camps had little rel­ arguments were neither new nor original, their evance in Illinois."124 While Buechler points campaign was atypical because they prioritized out that "Traces of the national rivalry be­ natural rights arguments and emphasized self­ tween the NWSA and A WSA filtered down determination at a time when arguments based to the state level at various times during these on !'T rue Womanhood" were more common. 130 two decades, particularly when the national Scholars vary in their interpretations of how organizations held conventions in Chicago," and whether "True Womanhood" and "sepa­ he explains that "the impact of this rivalry on rate spheres" manifested in the West, and the the local suffrage movement was minor, partly extent to which frontier ideology shaped because [Elizabeth Boynton) Harbert had woman suffrage arguments and appeals. Julie aligned the I[llinois)WSA with the NWSA Roy Jeffrey suggests that the frontier did not and partly because the A WSA had little power offer women new possibilities; rather, it main­ in the Midwest."12\ Buechler also notes that tained existing gender assumptions. While the "more radical women in Midwestern cities Jeffrey claims that the "frontier" was struc­ and small Western towns rallied behind Susan tured to maintain existing gender norms and B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton."126 the ideology of separate spheres, Elizabeth 100 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005

Jameson urges scholars to complicate the sepa­ 11. The cover story "Babies vs. Career: Which rate spheres framework through which much Should Come First for Women Who Want Both?," Time Magazine, April 15, 2002, is an example that of western women's histories have been un­ reflects current constructions of middle class woman­ derstood and to question the prevalence of hood rooted in traditional ideas. "True Womanhood" in the West. Jameson calls 12. June Underwood, "Western Women and True for a more complicated assessment of women's Womanhood: Culture and Symbol in History and activism and specifically stresses the neces­ Literature," Great Plains Quarterly 5 (1985): 93. 13. Ibid., 95. sity of exploring gender roles. "Rather than 14. Ibid., 102. assuming that all settlers arriving in the West 15. See also Carol K. Coburn, "Ethnicity, Reli­ internalized the idealized gender roles," gion, and Gender: The Women of Block, Kansas, Jameson contends, "we need to document what 1868-1940," Great Plains Quarterly 8 (1988): 222-32; previous understandings of manhood and wom­ and Carmen Heider, "Conceptions of the Nebraska Voter in 1882: Paradoxes and Complexities among anhood each brought with them."13l Women," Great Plains Quarterly 17 (1997): 131-42. While the majority of Nebraska voters did 16. Glenda Riley, "Women on the Great Plains: not support woman suffrage and subsequently Recent Developments in Research," Great Plains defeated the 1882 suffrage amendment, the Quarterly 5 (1985): 87. campaign provides us with a rich case study 17. Ibid., 88. 18. U.S. Census, 1880. The census is available on from which we can more fully understand the microfilm at the Nebraska State Historical Society, interrelationships between national organiza­ Lincoln, NE. The one exception is Maria Correll, tions and local activists. Furthermore, Thayer who is listed as milliner. County suffrage texts demonstrate that their 19. See, for example, Michael Lewis Goldberg, An construction of womanhood was shaped in part Army of Women: Gender and Politics in Gilded Age Kansas (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, by the ideas of both suffrage organizations, 1997); and Steven Buechler, The Transformation of resulting in a distinct conception of gender in the Woman Suffrage Movement: The Case Study of Illi­ the Plains. nois, 1850-1920 (New Brunswick: Rutgers Univer­ sity Press, 1987). NOTES 20. The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Con­ stitution, ratified in 1868, states in part, "No state 1. Sally Roesch Wagner, "Nebraska Women" in shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the Nebraska Voices: Telling the Stories of Our State (Lin­ equal protection of the laws." The amendment also coln: Nebraska Humanities Council, 1993), 60. provided disincentives to states not granting the fran­ 2. Western Woman's Joumal, September 1882, 279. chise to blacks. The Fourteenth Amendment, ac­ 3. Ibid., 285. cording to Ellen Carol DuBois, "introduced the issue 4. Eleanor Flexner, Century of Struggle: The of political rights of the freedmen into the Constitu­ Woman's Rights Movement in the United States, rev. tion, but it did so indirectly and did not commit the ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959, federal government to protect them.... [Tlhe major 1975), 222. thrust of the amendment was for civil, not political 5. "Friendly Talks," Western Woman'sJournal,Au­ rights." See Ellen Carol DuBois, Feminism and Suf­ gust 1882, 261. frage: The Emergence of an I ndependent Women's Move­ 6. "Our Workers," Western Woman's Journal, Au­ ment in the United States, 1848-1869 (Ithaca: Cornell gust 1882, 265. University Press, 1978), 58. 7. "The Work and Workers," Western Woman's 21. Louise Michele Newman, White Women's Journal, August 1882, 262. Rights: The Racial Origins of Feminism in the United 8. Leslie Wheeler, ed., Loving Warriors: Selected States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), Letters of Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, 1853 to 63. 1893 (New York: Dial Press, 1981),280. 22. DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage, 173. For addi­ 9. See Roesch Wagner, "Nebraska Women," 60. tional discussion on woman suffrage and the Fifteenth 10. These primary materials are the focus of the Amendment, see Lori D. Ginzberg, Women and the analysis. Most are located in the Erasmus Correll Work of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, and Class in Manuscript Collection at the Nebraska State His­ the Nineteenth-Century United States (New Haven: torical Society and the Thayer County Museum in Yale University Press, 1990), 183-89; Carol Lasser Belvidere, NE. and Marlene Deahl Merrill, eds., Friends and Sisters: ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 101

Letters between Lucy Stone and Antoinette Blackwell, 37. "Are Women Protected?" Western Woman's 1846-93 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987), Journal, August 1882, 270. 166-68; and Alice Stone Blackwell, Lucy Stone: Pio­ 38. Western Woman's Journal, September 1882, neer Woman Suffragist (Norwood, MA: Plimpton 274. Press, 1930), 206-31. 39. "Friendly Talks," Western Woman's Journal, Au­ 23. Suzanne Marilley, Woman Suffrage and the Ori­ gust 1882, 261. gins of Liberal Feminism in the United States, 1820- 40. "Correspondence," Western Woman's Journal, 1920 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996), August 1882, 268. 76. 41. "Friendly Talks," Western Woman's Journal, Au­ 24. DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage, 174. See also gust 1882, 261. Marilley, Woman Suffrage, 79, who stresses that the 42. "The American Woman Suffrage Association," split was not a "division" between "racists and Western Woman's Journal, 1882, 265. nonracists," as both groups at various times appealed 43. "Friendly Talks," Western Woman's Journal, Au­ to racist tactics. She notes that "Stanton and An­ gust 1882, 262. thony had collaborated openly with vituperative rac­ 44. According to Lucy Correll's obituary in the ist George Francis Train. But Stone and Blackwell Hebron Journal, October 16, 1924, she "wrote for the also exhibited a willingness to tolerate racism before Woman's Journal and was secretary during the cam­ . the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified." paign of 1880, when such national celebrities as Lucy 25. "Manhood Suffrage," The Revolution, Decem­ Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Blackwell and others ber 24, 1868, 392, Rare Books Room, Pennsylvania were brought to this city. She was a forceful writer State University Library, University Park, P A. and author of beautiful poems." Although the obitu­ 26. DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage, 185. ary states that she wrote for the Woman's Journal, her 27. Ibid., 199. name is not included in the indexes from 1879 to 28. Beverly Beeton, Women Vote in the West: The 1883. Woman Suffrage Movement, 1869-1896. (New York: 45. Western Woman's Journal, September 1882, Garland Publishing, 1986), xii. 274. 29. Sara Evans, Born for Liberty: A History of Women 46. DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage, 196. in America (New York: Free Press, 1989), 123-34. 47. Reprinted in Western Woman's Journal, Octo­ 30. For a definition and discussion of the material ber/November 1881, 100. and symbolic influences, I refer to Dana Cloud, "Ma­ 48. Western Woman's Journal, October/November teriality and Discourse in Social Change: Some Re­ 1881, 101. flections for Feminist Studies," Women and Language 49. Ibid. 23 (Spring 2000): 43. Cloud defines materiality as 50. "Petition for Woman Suffrage," HR45A­ "including state power, economic situation, and physi­ H11.7, Folder 16, National Archives, Washington, cal constraints." See also Cloud, "The Materiality of DC. Discourse as Oxymoron: A Challenge to Critical 51. Lucy L. Correll, "Suffrage in Nebraska," In Col­ Rhetoric," Western Journal of Communication 58 lections of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences (Daugh­ (1994): 141-64; and "Materiality, Symbolicity, and ters of the American Revolution, Cedar Rapids, IA: the Rhetoric of Order: 'Dialectical Biologism' as Torch Press, 1916) 277. Motive in Burke," Western Journal of Communication 52. Lucy Correll's autograph book, Erasmus Correll 62 (1998): 1-26. Collection, Nebraska State Historical Society, lin­ 31. "The American Woman Suffrage Association," coln, NE (hereafter cited as Correll MSS). Western Woman's Journal, August 1882, 266. 53. Letter from Alice Stone Blackwell, January 32. "Correspondence," Western Woman's Journal, 16,. 1881, Woman Suffrage Collection, Box 1/#5, August 1882, 267. Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA. 33. Ibid., 268. 54. Western Woman's Journal, June 1881,39-40. 34. E. Claire Jerry, "Clara Bewick Colby and the 55. "Woman Suffrage in Nebraska," Woman'sJour- Woman's Tribune, 1883-1909: The Free Lance Edi­ nal, June 26, 1880, 206. tor as Movement Leader," in A Voice of Their Own: 56. Ibid. The Woman Suffrage Press, 1840-1910, ed. Martha 57. Ibid. M. Solomon (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama 58. Western Woman's Journal, September 1882, 286. Press, 1991), 110-28. 59. Western Woman's Journal, August 1882, 261. 35. Jerry, "Clara Bewick Colby," 125. 60. Ibid., 268. 36. "The American Woman Suffrage Association," 61. Ibid. Western Woman's Journal, September 1882, 287. 62. Western Woman's Journal, September 1882, 274. Bewick Colby held the office of vice president at 63. "A Strong Endorsement," Western Woman's large, and Bittenbender was vice president ex officio. Journal, September 1882, 275. 102 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2005

64. "Correspondence," Western Woman's Journal, Statutes of this State, provides that 'The widow of a August 1882, 269. deceased person shall be entitled to dower, or the use, 65. Woman's Journal, December 31, 1881,420. during her natural life, of one-third part of all the 66. "Editor's Table," Western Woman's Journal, lands whereof her husband was seized, and of all es­ 1881, 85. tates of inheritance at any time during the marriage, 67. Wheeler, Loving Warriors, 282-83. unless she be lawfully barred thereof.' The law of 68. Ibid., 280. curtesy is defined in Section 29 Chapter 17, and is as 69. See Carmen Heider, "Equality and Individual­ follows: 'When any man and his wife shall be seized ism: Woman Suffrage Rhetoric in Thayer County, in her right of any estate or inheritance in lands, the Nebraska, 1879-1882" (PhD diss., Penn State Uni­ husband shall on the death of his wife, hold the lands versity, 2000). for life, as tenant thereof by curtesy'" (Correll's italics). 70. See Newman, White Women's Rights, 56-85. 91. Correll, "Woman Suffrage," (Correll Manu­ 71. See, for example, "Woman Suffrage Societ­ scripts). ies," Western Woman's Journal, June 1881,47. 92. "What Shall We Do with Our Daughters?," 72. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "National Women's Hebron Journal, July 1, 1880. Rights Convention Debate, 1860," in Man Cannot 93. "Women of Nebraska," Western Woman's Jour­ Speak for Her, ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (N ew York: nal, January 1882, 151. Praeger Press, 1:194-95). 94. "Education of Girls," Hebron Journal, Septem­ 73. Cady Stanton, ibid., 194. ber 2, 1881. 74. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, ibid., 214. 9S. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Solitude of Self," in 75. Ernestine Potowski Rose, ibid., 217-18. Man Cannot Speak for Her, (1:384). 76. Ibid., 220-29. 96. "Teacher's Contract," MS S72, Box 1, S2.F4, 77. Though it seems logical, it is not clear from the Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE. census or other primary materials whether Maria 97. Hebron Journal, October 16,1924. Correll and Erasmus Correll were related, and if so, 98. "Records of School Visitation and Formation how. of School Districts", County Superintendent's Of­ 78. Erasmus Correll, "Nebraska Legislation for fice, Hebron, NE. The census lists A. Martha Women." (Correll Manuscripts). Such discrimina­ Vermillion's occupation as "keeping house." School tions included women's property rights, the right to records, however, indicate that she taught school sue and be sued, the right to carry on business or trade from 1876 to 1878, earning $60 for a three-month on her own account and use and invest by her own period. name, and property bequeathment rights. 99. Annual Report of the Director, County 79. Ibid. Superintendent's Office, file box 1886-1887, School 80. Erasmus Correll, "Laws of Nebraska Relating District no. 7, Hebron, NE. to Women." (Correll Manuscripts). 100. Hebron Journal, June 1, 1882. 81. Susan B. Anthony, "National Women's Rights 101. Western Woman's Journal, January 1882, 152. Convention Debate, 1860," in Campbell, Man Can­ 102. Western Woman's Journal, May 1881, 21. not Speak for Her, 1:228. 103. Hebron Journal, June 1, 1882. 82. Western Woman's Journal, May 1881, 21. 104. Chancellor Edmund B. Fairfield, "Work and 83. "Petition of Susan Ferguson," "Petition of Wages," Sutton Register, (Correll Manuscripts). Lucy Correll," and "Petition of Sarah Church and lOS. Fairfield, "Work and Wages." Hannah Huse," HR46A-HI2.2, National Archives, 106. Orpha Dinsmore, [Response to Fairfield] "Work Washington, DC. and Wages," Sutton Register, (Correll Manuscripts). 84. Ibid. 107. As DuBois notes, "Stanton was interested in 85. Thayer County Judge's Office, Thayer County the sexual exploitation of women, the nature of mar­ Courthouse, Hebton, NE. Ferguson at the time of her riage, and the need for divorce reform. Anthony's death also owned real estate and two certificates of concerns were with the economic realm-the low deposit worth $400. wages, lack of mobility, and general powerlessness 86. Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her, 1:74. of working women. They extended their natural 87. Correll, "Laws of Nebraska Relating to rights principles to these areas, and tried to link the Women." demand for political equality with changes in women's 88. Western Woman's Journal, August 1882, 270. economic and sexual conditions." See Elizabeth Cady 89. Erasmus Correll, "Speech ofHon. E. M. Correll Stanton-Susan B. Anthony: Correspondence, Writings, on the subject of 'Equal Rights"', Johnson County Speeches, ed. Ellen Carol DuBois (New York: Journal, February 2, 1882 (Correll Manuscripts). Schocken Books, 1981), 94. For a discussion on 90. Erasmus Correll, "Speech." According to Cor- Anthony and Cady Stanton's involvement in labor rell's speech, "Section 1 Chapter 17 of the Revised reform, see DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage, 10S-61. ADVERSARIES AND ALLIES 103

108. "Replies to Current Objections," Western 127. Genevieve McBride, On Wisconsin Women: Woman's Journal, September 1882, 277. Working for Their Rights from Settlement to Suffrage 109.Western Woman's Journal, September 1882, 274. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993), 103. 1l0. "The Work and Workers," Western Woman's 128. Ibid., 100. Journal, August 1882, 263. 129. Glenda Riley, Frontierswomen: The Iowa Expe­ 111. "The Work and Workers," Western Woman's rience (Ames: Iowa State Press, 1981), 161. Journal, September 1882, 278; "Woman Suffrage 130. "Far from providing a setting in which women Campaign," Western Woman's Journal, September liberated themselves from conventional views of sex 1882, 279. relations," Jeffrey claims that "the frontier was an 112. Western Woman's Journal, August 1882, 263; environment calling for a reaffirmation of woman's Western Woman's Journal, September 1882, 274. nature. Even suffrage and coeducation, supposedly 113. See, for example, "Work!," Western Woman's two badges of frontier freedom, suggest how the new Journal, September 1882, 280. society failed to reinterpret woman's place in soci­ 114. Ibid. ety." Julie Roy Jeffrey notes that there was nothing in 115. "The Work and Workers," Western Woman's particular about the frontier that "encourag[edl Journal, September 1882, 279. women to break with prevailing concepts of the sexual 116. Western Woman's Journal, April 1881, 10. The order." As she concludes, "Just as women's participa­ same information is printed in the Woman's Journal, tion in reform suggests that Western women were no April 30, 1881. more emancipated from social norms than their East­ 117. Western Woman's Journal, June 1881,38. ern sisters, the evidence used to support the case for 118. "Women of Nebraska," Western Woman's Jour­ the West as a liberating environment, upon closer nal, September 1881, 87. examination, proves weak." See Jeffrey, Frontier 119. "Pioneer in Suffrage Movement Passes Away," Women: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1880 (New July 2, 1913, Women Suffrage Collection, Box 1/#25, York: Hill and Wang, 1979), 181-90. Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA. 131. Elizabeth Jameson, "Women as Workers, 120. Hebron Journal, November 1, 1877, 1. Women as Civilizers: True Womanhood in the Ameri­ 121. Ibid. can West," Frontiers 7 (1984): 6. See also Robert L. 122. Hebron Journal, April 17, 1879, 4. Griswold, "Anglo Women and Domestic Ideology in 123. Ibid. the American West in the Nineteenth and Early 124. Buechler, Transformation of the Woman Suf­ Twentieth Centuries," in Western Women: Their Land frage Movement, 144. Their Lives, eds. Lillian Schlissel, Vicki L. Ruiz, and 125. Ibid. Janice Monk (Albuquerque: University of New 126. Ibid., 218. Mexico Press, 1988), 14-33.