“These high-minded, noble animals of the superior sex were willing to stoop to the dirtiest work”
The Revolution, May 8, 1869
Angie King’s unsuccessful 1869 battle to be appointed Janesville’s postmaster (after Janesville’s male Republican voters elected her to the position) garnered national media attention. The Revolution, the women’s rights newspaper founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, published this article in its May 8, 1869 issue. (The actual column may be seen here.)
A good deal is being said in the papers just now about Miss Angie King, and a struggle for the Janesville, Wis., post-office. It seems that Miss King applied for the position, and was backed by a majority of the citizens of the place, who wished her to occupy it. When she reached Washington she found half a dozen lazy, hungry men seeking for the place, and leaving no stone unturned to get it.
These high-minded, noble animals of the superior sex were willing to stoop to the dirtiest work, if only they could snatch an office from the hands of a woman! Gallant gentlemen! Honorable husbands! Most polite and kind hearted males! They indulge in “wire – pulling” of the meanest kind for political ends. Now Miss King, having triumphed, threatens to expose these “gentlemen” unless they make amends, and we hope she will do it with a vigorous hand. Let the world know what a man will stoop to for the purpose of taking a post- office away from a woman. Let their names be published in every paper in the land, for the edification of man and womankind. If this is to be the natural right of the Woman’s Rights movement, the sooner sensible people give it their support, the better. We owe it to ourselves to do this, that the country may be purged of these disgraceful politicians who scramble for Office, back-biting, slandering, and lying about each other.
It is a good thing for Janesville, that it has a woman for its postmistress, and if the Republican party cannot bear such an innovation, let it fall to the ground. There are papers in this city who affect to be disgusted with Miss King’s threatened exposure, and indulge in all sorts of ill- natured remarks about her. They intimate that she is no better than she ought to be. For our part, we think it looks quite as well for Miss King to tell the truth in this matter, as it does for certain women we know of in the city, who are counted among the best of Fifth Avenue and Washington Heights, to display themselves in full dress in their pony carriages up and down the street, for the admiration and criticism of the crowd who live in the sidewalks. It requires much less modesty to do this than it does for a smart business woman to expose the tricks of political masculine wire-pullers. – Philadelphia Evening Press.
The sequel of all this will be found in the following letter, just received from Angie King:
JANESVILLE, WIS., April 23rd, 1869.
MY DEAR MRS. STANTON: To-day I received my discharge from this post-office, under a pretense of taking offence at a letter written by me to Mrs. Livermore. This is only a subterfuge to quiet the people who elected me postmistress of the city. Envy and jealousy have done their work! I am now turned out to “sew for the Jews,” or teach for the Gentiles, at starvation prices.
Yours for justice, But the end is not yet!
Angie King
