Room Two

Aaron Augustus Sargent
California senator from 1873-1879 who introduced the 19th amendment regarding woman suffrage to the 1878 US congress

"I believe the time is rapidly coming when all men will conclude that it is no longer wise or judicious to exclude one-half of the intelligence, and more than one-half of the virtue of the people, from the ballot box."
— Aaron Augustus Sargent in "Twenty opinions on woman suffrage by prominent Californians"

Emmett Seawell
Judge of the Superior Court of Sonoma County

"This afternoon there was a largely attended meeting of believers and non-believers in the doctrine of equal suffrage in Judge Emmett Seawell's courtroom to hear equal suffrage discussed under the auspices of the Santa Rosa Equal Suffrage Association. This was the first of the meeting that will be held during the campaign."
— The San Francisco Examiner (June 4, 1911)

Adolph Sutro
Twenty-fourth mayor of San Francisco

"I believe that equality is the basic principle of our government — hence woman should assume all the responsibilities that arise out of her moral and mental endowments as a citizen ... Woman's advent as a voter will be the means through which the government may be perpetuated, as embodying justice, equality and righteousness."
— Adolph Sutro in "Twenty opinions on woman suffrage by prominent Californians"

Charles Wendte
Founder and minister of the First Unitarian Church in Oakland

"The same enlightened confidence in human nature which led the fathers to found the Republic on manhood suffrage, and its saviors to confer the ballot on millions of emancipated slaves, should animate us, their successors, in bestowing equal political rights on that half of our population which is confessedly the most virtuous, order-loving and trustworthy. Until this is done there can be no true democracy among us, and our Republic is such only in name."
— Charles Wendte in "Twenty opinions on woman suffrage by prominent Californians"

Geroge Pardee
Twenty-first governor of California

"Former Governor George C. Pardee has subscribed $100 to the prize fund for the best essay written by a student of the State University on 'Woman Suffrage.' The total amount of the fund will be $500, and the prize will be open to the students next year."
— The Oakland Enquirer (July 9, 1907)

August Vollmer
First police chief of Berkeley, California

"My reason for favoring Constitutional Amendment No.8, relating to equal suffrage, is that I am an absolute believer in the principles of the Golden Rule, which, in my opinion, particularly apply to this amendment."
— Letter to the Woman's Suffrage League from August Vollmer (October 4, 1911)

Hiram Johnson
Twenty-third governor of California

"At a recent meeting of the Woman Suffrage Party of San Francisco a resolution was offered by Mrs. Robert Dean and it was unanimously adopted to express to you as Governor of our state and to the legislature now in session, our thanks for your chivalrous consideration and keen sense of justice to the womanhood of California in bringing the Suffrage Amendment before the voters of this state."
— Letter to Hiram Johnson from Francesca Pierce (March 2, 1911)

Reverend T.J. Brennan
Assistant pastor of St. Josephs Church, Berkeley, California

"First. Would Women Suffrage be good for women? Second. Would Women Suffrage be good for men? To both I would answer yes. Woman is a member of society. She contributes by the labor of her hands and her brain to the working of the social system. If the women of the world were to go on strike for a month there would be no male Anti-Suffragists, for all men would either be dead or in asylums."
— "A Catholic Clergyman's Reasons for Equal Suffrage" by T.J. Brennan

California State Federation of Labor

"Believing that a square deal for every man should be accompanied by a square deal for every woman, we pledge ourselves to work for the political emancipation of the women of California, as a measure of justice, an aid to education, good laws and good government; and as an essential step toward the improvement of labor conditions."
— California State Federation of Labor in "Woman Suffrage Endorsed by California Conventions"