The Women’s Association for the Liquidation of the State Debt.

An 1870 broadside from the Women's Association for the Liquidation of the State Debt proposes a tax increase for the citizens of Virginia—"an additional burden of 10 cents in the $100 worth of their taxable property"—to cover the state's debt obligations. Addressed "To the Daughters of Virginia," the document appeals to the state's "mothers, wives, daughters and sisters … [to] pledge ourselves, by economy and self-denial," to save enough to make up for the additional tax. Backing the post–Civil War Funders position on Virginia's debt, the women's association notes that financial obligations "are of the highest and most sacred character, and cannot be neglected or denied, either by individuals or nations, without the most ruinous consequences to character and to credit."

The group was seeking signatures for a tax–increase petition to be sent to the General Assembly. A note at the bottom of the broadside asks ministers to "place these petitions in the hands of the President of their Sewing Societies, or … other ladies of energy and influence"; local postmasters and banks to "put them in some conspicuous place, and call attention to them constantly"; and "ladies of every neighborhood [to] form themselves into working committees, that the country may be thoroughly canvassed and as many signatures obtained as possible."