She'll Always Be My Nominee

Historical notes :

"Susan" is, of course, Susan B. Anthony, one of the most strident leaders of the 19th century women's suffrage movement that labored so long to finally obtain that basic essential of civil rights, the vote, for women.
 
The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788, thus somewhat more than "two hundred and two" years ago. Of the ratifying states , all but New Jersey, which extended sufferage to "all inhabitants", limited the vote to males. In 1807 the all male, all white, legislature of New Jersey very deliberately changed the rules to limit voting to "white males", thus obliterating the suffrage of women and any freed slaves (it's not clear whether the previous "all inhabitants" might have included non-freed slaves.)
 
In 1776, Abigail Adams had urged that women should have some say in making the laws by which they were governed : but husband John replied that this would be as sensible as giving such rights to slaves or to children. (See http://www.thelizlibrary.org/suffrage/abigail.htm for correspondence between them.) John Adams was elected President in 1796 , thus 202 years ago. Abigail might well have made the better President, and she certainly would have done better than their son, John Quincy Adams, considered to be one of our nation's less distinguished Presidents (though surely far from being the worst Presidential Offspring President).
 
The women's rebellion Abigail had envisioned began officially in 1848 with the adoption of the Declaration of Sentiments (modeled on the Declaration of Independence) on July 20 by the Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls , NY. Among the demands was the right to vote. It was argued that the right to vote , the right to participate in government , was the essential right from which all others would flow (or could be obtained by voting for them). Remember that at that time women's rights to own property or to keep money they had earned themselves were limited to non-existent.
For a complete text of the Declaration and accompanying Resolutions , see http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/seneca3.html
 
The first woman to run a campaign for the Presidency was strident feminist Victoria Woodhull in 1872 . Woodhull asserted that the 14th Amendment proclaiming that "all persons born in or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and the state whereinthey reside" must surely give such citizens the right to vote, including female persons.
 
Susan B Anthony, her 2 sisters, and 40 other women registered to vote in the 1872 elections, citing the 14th Amendment arguement. At least 4 of these women , including Anthony, voted and had their votes counted. Anthony was promptly arrested for fraudulent voting. In Anthony's trial the judge did not allow her to testify on the grounds that being a woman she was not competent to do so. The judge then directed the jury to convict (taking the case away from decision by jury) and denied her attorney's motion to have the jury polled (asked for their individual votes) ; later several jurors said they would have voted to acquit. Anthony was unable to appeal and thus to raise 6th and 14th Amendment arguements concerning the criminal trial defendant's "right to trial by an impartial jury" because the trial judge imposed a fine rather than "fine or jail".
 
Elsewhere in the country at least 150 women confronted their local election officials and demanded the right to register to vote in the 1872 election. After being denied, Virginia Minor decided to sue and ultimately pursued her case to the Supreme Court. In Minor v Happersett on October 1874, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that although women were undoubtely "persons" and thus were indeed "citizens" if born or naturalized in the US, the right to vote was NOT a "privilege or immunity of citizenship" as protected by the 14th Amendment, but rather was determined by state law. That the 15th Amendment had been needed to confer the vote on former slaves was cited as proof that the 14th Amendment did not confer the right to vote on anyone.
 
The 19th Amendment, finally declaring that "The rightof citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex", was ratified in 1920, thus more than "two score and ten" years ago today's date (and 50 years after the 15th Amendment forbade denial or abridgement of the right to vote to be made "on grounds of race, color, or previous condition of servitude".) Only one of the women who had attended the Seneca Falls convention was still alive, Charlotte Woodward, age 91.
 
The Equal Rights Amendment, proposed to become the 27th Amendment, providing "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by an State on the grounds of sex." was first introduced in 1921. It was finally approved by House and Senate in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification. It had been ratified by 35 of the required 38 (2/3 majority). Among the many nonsensical arguements raised to defeat the ERA were the threat of women being drafted into military combat and the threat of unisex bathrooms. (Of course we already had single occupancy unisex bathrooms in numerous situations, from airplanes to small businesses with just one restroom. Furthermore there is little doubt that separate bathrooms which were genuinely equal in quality, suitability to the users, and amenities would be held to be one of those relatively rare situations in which the "separate but equal" criterion would be satisfied and would be valid .) During the Civil War, some women "passed" as men to serve as soldiers and as battle front doctors, their deception being discovered upon their death. Women have long served openly in the military in dangerous positions as medical staff, and some have died doing so. As of July 4, 2008 we do have women serving and dying as soldiers in an "all volunteer" military and we still have single occupancy unisex bathrooms, but we still do not have an ERA.
 
How long must we wait ????

• How long must we wait for the ERA ?
• How long must we wait for genuinely equal pay for equal work ?
• How long must we wait for the right to control our own bodies , the right to self determination in regards to reproduction ?
• How long must we wait for equal representation in all elected offices, including the highest ones ?

Women ARE the majority and "I am ashamed that women are so simple" that we do not use our voting power to protect our own rights and the freedom to determine and pursue our own best interests.

• Hillary for Veep : the reasons why Hillary should be the 2008 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.
• Founding Sisters and the 19th Amendment, by Eleanor Clift, 2003, ISBN 0-471-42612-1 , well written history of the women's sufferage movement.
• The Constitutional Rights of Women, Cases in Law and Social Change, by Leslie Friedman Goldstein , 1988. ISBN 0-299-11244-6, a review of Supreme Court cases up to March 1987 that affect women's rights ; a good introduction to the process of Constitutional and legislative analysis by the Supreme Court.
• What can a woman do as well as a man ? a little song, added the evening before a most HERstoric Election Day, 2016, when my nominee is going to be (I hope) elected..