{"product_id":"abby-smith-her-cows-with-report-law-case-tzs7kn8q","title":"Abby Smith and Her Cows. With a Report of the Law Case Decided Contrary to Law.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA very good copy of a landmark publication concerning both women’s suffrage and taxation without representation.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn what might best be described as a curious case, Julia Evelina Smith (1792-1886) and her sister Abby Hadassah Smith sued the town of Glastonbury, CT when it attempted to levy a tax directed at single and widowed women. They argued that, because they could not vote, the town’s assessment constituted taxation without representation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Angered by artificially elevated tax rates on their valuable farmstead, they began to attend women’s suffrage meetings in Hartford. At a Glastonbury town meeting in 1873, Abby Smith delivered a spirited protest against the taxation of unenfranchised women, after which the sisters refused to pay taxes until they were granted the right to vote in town meetings. The following January, local authorities seized seven of their valued Alderney cows, which were sold to cover the unpaid taxes. In addition, in June 1874, officials auctioned off fifteen acres of the Smith’s pastureland, valued at $2,000, because the sisters owed approximately $50 in property taxes. Legal irregularities in this sale led to a protracted lawsuit in which the Smiths succeeded in getting their land back. Meanwhile, their cows were taken away repeatedly for tax payments. Although the publication of the sisters’ speeches and letters in newspapers across the nation brought notoriety to the case and the return of the cows, it did not win the women the right to vote.” (Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Abby, in particular, became something of a cause célèbre among suffragists and others for her articulate, intelligent, and clever statements. Many men in Glastonbury, the state of Connecticut, and the federal government honestly believed that women should have no say regarding assessment, taxation, and seizure of property” (ANB).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis work contains an introduction giving Julia Smith’s account of proceedings which is followed by a collection of press clippings, in double-column, reporting the case and reprinting some of the witness testimony.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe frontispiece depicts Miss Abby Smith with four of the cows, named Daisy, Whitey, Minnie, and Proxy, and two calves, named Martha Washington and Abigail Adams.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eScarce in the trade with just four copies at auction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Maggs Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48897952022685,"sku":"253887","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/0045\/9677\/files\/253887_01.png?v=1789043010","url":"https:\/\/store.maggs.com\/products\/abby-smith-her-cows-with-report-law-case-tzs7kn8q","provider":"Maggs Bros.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}