first edition
1871 · Hartford
by [Hooker, Isabella Beecher]
Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1871. First edition. Near Fine. Tracts of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association No. 2. Original printed self-wraps stitched at spine. 24 pages. Toning to front wrap; light chipping to outer edge of rear wrap and a small split at lower joint holding well. Signed in type on the rear by Isabella Beecher Hooker, in her capacity as chair. A critical organ of this influential state organization, the present Annual Meeting and Executive Report reports on what was only the group's second meeting after its founding one year before. Scarce in trade and institutionally, with OCLC reporting 8 known copies.
Nationally, 1870-1871 were landmark years for the women's movement because of both the successes and failures it encountered. Suffragists faced major disappointment in the 15th Amendment; for while it widened the franchise to include freedmen, it did not address women's voting. At the same time, in the territories, women's rights were expanding; and Utah Territory became the first to grant suffrage to women. The National Woman Suffrage Association continued to operate as a unifying agent for the suffrage message, but it also recognized that it could only accomplish its mission through grassroots work at the regional and state levels. Only by getting state suffrage and by gaining Congressmen's support could an Amendment be presented and ratified.
During this same period, Isabella Beecher Hooker and Frances Ellen Burr founded the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association. Much like the NWSA, the CWSA advocated women's suffrage alongside other equality issues, including employment and education. While the CWSA began small, focusing on campaigning for women's suffrage on a local level, it gained momentum under Hooker's guidance, becoming influential in the state and on the national state. The Annual Meeting and Report of the Executive Meeting inform members of the strides being made at this moment in history, urging suffragists to harness energy from these to charge ahead in the fight. It is a fight in which each state must advocate not as a separate entity, but as a part of a greater national whole. It is also a fight that will take practical and persistent action in addition to eloquence, as Hooker shows: "It becomes more and more evident that as a political measure, our main reliance must be upon the action of Congress passing an amendment to the Federal Constitution. On this account we urge every member of the Society to keep on hand forms of petition that they may obtain signatures from time to time, and return them to the Secretary as soon as filled. Of the importance of flooding Congress with these petitions from all parts of the country, no one can doubt." Near Fine. (Inventory #: 3452)
Nationally, 1870-1871 were landmark years for the women's movement because of both the successes and failures it encountered. Suffragists faced major disappointment in the 15th Amendment; for while it widened the franchise to include freedmen, it did not address women's voting. At the same time, in the territories, women's rights were expanding; and Utah Territory became the first to grant suffrage to women. The National Woman Suffrage Association continued to operate as a unifying agent for the suffrage message, but it also recognized that it could only accomplish its mission through grassroots work at the regional and state levels. Only by getting state suffrage and by gaining Congressmen's support could an Amendment be presented and ratified.
During this same period, Isabella Beecher Hooker and Frances Ellen Burr founded the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association. Much like the NWSA, the CWSA advocated women's suffrage alongside other equality issues, including employment and education. While the CWSA began small, focusing on campaigning for women's suffrage on a local level, it gained momentum under Hooker's guidance, becoming influential in the state and on the national state. The Annual Meeting and Report of the Executive Meeting inform members of the strides being made at this moment in history, urging suffragists to harness energy from these to charge ahead in the fight. It is a fight in which each state must advocate not as a separate entity, but as a part of a greater national whole. It is also a fight that will take practical and persistent action in addition to eloquence, as Hooker shows: "It becomes more and more evident that as a political measure, our main reliance must be upon the action of Congress passing an amendment to the Federal Constitution. On this account we urge every member of the Society to keep on hand forms of petition that they may obtain signatures from time to time, and return them to the Secretary as soon as filled. Of the importance of flooding Congress with these petitions from all parts of the country, no one can doubt." Near Fine. (Inventory #: 3452)
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