“I believe in a future for woman…I do not believe that she was made merely for a wife, a mother, a cook, and a housekeeper. These callings, however honorable–and no one doubts that they are so–are not the sum of her capabilities.
It is woman’s destiny to have a voice in the affairs of the government. She was designed for it. She has a right to it.
The women of Utah understand what suffrage means. They are not as ignorant as some suppose. They enjoyed the elective franchise for seventeen years, and voted again and again.
I believe in woman suffrage. I have always believed in it. I look upon it as another step, another impulse of humanity toward perfection.
They tell us that woman suffrage in the Constitution will imperil Statehood. I don’t believe it. But if it should, what of it? There are some things higher and dearer than Statehood. I would rather stand by my honor, by my principles, than to have Statehood.”
Excerpt from a speech made by Orson F. Whitney at the Utah State Constitutional Convention, 1895.
