"The Constitutional History of New York ..."
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Volume III

     In the chapter on the Convention of 1867 I have given a sketch of the development of the proposition to extend the elective franchise to women, even anticipating later history somewhat by the statement of the more important statutes relating to the rights and privileges of women, from which it appears that women are on a substantial equality with men under the law and the Constitution, except as to the right of suffrage, which makes a fundamental discrimination against women, and deprives them of any direct power in administering the government. For more than forty years prior to the Convention of 1894 the woman suffrage movement had been developing and gaining strength, and it is not surprising that a vigorous attempt should have been made by its advocates at this Convention to eliminate forever the disqualification of women to exercise the highest functions of citizenship, and to place men and women on an equal footing as to their constitutional rights and privileges. The movement was well organized and thoroughly prepared to present the strongest arguments in favor of this extension of the franchise. In addition to a general newspaper discussion, numerous public meetings were held, petitions and arguments prepared, and at the opening of the Convention the advocates of the movement were on the ground, ready to begin their work. There were numerous arguments before committees by the ablest representatives of the cause, and a remarkable symposium of nineteen speakers, who discussed various aspects of the problem before the Convention at an evening meeting. Petitions from all parts of the state were presented to the Convention, urging the adoption of the proposed amendment. Six hundred thousand persons are computed thus to have made known their approval of the movement, while fifteen thousand presented their objections to it. Except for the woman suffrage movement, the suffrage article of the Constitution would have taken comparatively little of the time of the Convention. The scope of the statutes and other forms of enlargement of woman's sphere, which appear in a former chapter, gave the advocates of the woman suffrage movement hope that the Convention of 1894 would concede the right for which women had been contending nearly half a century, and that they might at last enjoy full realization and consummation of the "Declaration of Rights" adopted by the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. So much had been done by statute, custom, and social reforms, that it seemed easy to take the next and last step, eliminate the word "male" from the Constitution, and abrogate the suffrage distinction between men and women.

     The amendments proposed presented the subject in a variety of aspects, including the immediate abrogation of the suffrage distinction in the Constitution; a partial suffrage, limited to questions of taxation and to certain local elections; the submission of the question to women themselves; and the submission of the suffrage amendment to male voters. Mr. Dean proposed to confer the right of suffrage on all citizens, without regard to sex. Mr. McKinstry proposed to add to article 10, § 2 (local officers), the provision that "the legislature may provide that in such local elections all citizens may vote who are otherwise qualified by law, regardless of sex." Mr. Moore proposed to confer on adult women the right to vote on all questions "relating to schools, excise, and taxes." Mr. Lincoln proposed that "any woman who possesses the qualifications for the right of suffrage required of men by this Constitution, and who is the owner of real estate in her own right, and which is assessed to her upon the last preceding assessment roll of the town, ward, or district in which she resides, may vote at any election upon any question which may be submitted to the vote of the taxpayers of the state, or of any political subdivision or municipal corporation thereof;" also that "the legislature may by law confer upon women possessing the qualifications of age, residence, and citizenship prescribed in this article for men, and not otherwise disqualified, the right to vote at any election for any state or local officer or upon any question which may be submitted to the vote of the people of the state or of any political subdivision or municipal corporation thereof, and may also provide that women shall be eligible to any office in this state," Mr. Bigelow, adding the following to § I: "The legislature shall have power to extend to females all or any of the rights, privileges, duties, responsibilities, immunities, and exemptions to which they would be entitled or for which they would be liable if the word 'male' were stricken from this section." The validity of chapter 509 of the Laws of 1901, authorizing women to vote on tax questions in towns and villages, could not have been questioned under any of these provisions. Mr. Tibbetts proposed to confer on adult women possessing other qualifications the full right of suffrage, from 1895 to 1906, inclusive, and that in 1907 the men should vote on the question of striking the word "male" from the Constitution. Mr. Ackerly proposed to confer on women the right to vote for all school officers and on all school questions. Mr. Moore and Mr. Abbott proposed to submit the question of woman suffrage to women themselves, following Horace Greeley's suggestion in the Convention of 1867. Under both plans the question was to be submitted to adult women who had been registered for the purpose, except that under Mr. Abbott's plan only women who could read and write were permitted to vote on the question or to possess the right of suffrage if the proposition were adopted. Mr. Moore's plan imposed no educational qualification, and under it women were to possess the right of suffrage if 100,000 voted on the proposition, and a majority of them voted in favor of it. Mr. Tucker and Mr. Foote proposed a separate submission of the question to male voters, and offered amendments for that purpose.

     The Tucker amendment was used as the basis of discussion and action by the Convention. This amendment was reported adversely by the majority of the suffrage committee, Mr. Tucker dissenting, and in its final form provided for submitting, at the general election next following the general election at which the new Constitution was to be submitted, the question whether the word "male" should be stricken from § I of article 2; and if a majority of the qualified electors should vote in the affirmative, then the word "male" was no longer to be a part of the section, and thereafter women might vote on the same qualifications and conditions as men. The report of the suffrage committee was made a special order, and was the subject of a long and serious debate. Soon after the Convention the speeches on the Tucker amendment were compiled and published in a separate volume, and in that volume, and in the record of the Convention, the reader will find the whole argument on both sides of the proposition to extend the elective franchise to women. Lack of space will not permit even a summary of the discussion. I have already noted, in a previous chapter, that, in the Convention of 1867, the proposition for a separate submission of a woman suffrage amendment was defeated by a vote of 9 to 133. The Convention of 1894 rejected the Tucker amendment by a vote of 58 to 98. If opinion on this subject continues to grow at this rate, the advocates of woman suffrage may reasonably expect the full realization of their hopes in the Convention of 1918.

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