American Woman and Her Political Peers

Courtesy Kansas State Historical Society

[Original painting by Mrs. Henrietta Briggs-Wall, of Hutchinson, Kansas. Frances E. Willard, a national temperance leader, is depicted in the center of the painting.]

Idiots, Lunatics, Paupers, and Felons

Under Article VI of the 1875 Constitution which defined voting eligibility, idiots, lunatics, paupers, felons, and soldiers were not allowed to vote in the state of Texas. Women were excluded and by implication, they felt, classed with "idiots, lunatics, paupers, and felons." 

"Our children are to be the future citizens...Just as soon as the child passes out of our hands it goes under the laws that mothers do not make. We want to have a hand in making those laws so as to create better conditions for our children." --Elizabeth Fry, Dallas Morning News, May 9, 1893