During the summer of 1872 the presidential campaign agitated the country. As Horace Greeley, who was opposed to woman suffrage, was running against Grant and Wilson, who were in favor, and as the Republican platform contained a plank promising some consideration for the loyal women of the nation, a great demonstration was held in Cooper Institute, New York, October 7. The large hall was crowded by an excited throng. Hon. Luther R. Marsh presided. The speakers[216] were all unusually happy. Mrs. Blake's[217] address was applauded to a recall, when she went forward and asked the audience to give three cheers for the woman suffrage candidates, Grant and Wilson, which they did with hearty good will.
During the winter of 1873 a commission was sitting at Albany to revise the constitution of New York. As it seemed fitting that women should press their claims to the ballot, memorials were presented and hearings requested by both the State and City societies. Accordingly Mr. Silliman, the chairman, appointed February 18, to hear the memorialists. A large delegation of ladies went from New York.[218] The commission was holding its sessions in the common-council chamber, and when the time arrived for the hearing the room was crowded with an attentive audience. The members of the Committee on Suffrage were all present, Mr. Silliman presided. Matilda Joslyn Gage represented the State association, speaking upon the origin of government and the rights pertaining thereto. Mrs. Wilbour and Mrs. Blake represented the New York City Society, and each alike made a favorable impression. The Albany Evening Journal gave a large space to a description of the occasion. The respectful hearing, however, was the beginning and the end, as far as could be seen, of all impression made on the committee, which coolly recommended that suffrage be secured to colored men by ratifying the fifteenth amendment, while making no recognition whatever of the women of the State. A memorial was at once sent to the legislature and another hearing was granted on February 27. Mrs. Blake[219] was the only speaker on that occasion. The Hon. Bradford Prince, of Queens, presided. At the close of Mrs. Blake's remarks James W. Husted of Westchester, in a few earnest words, avowed himself henceforth a champion of the cause. Shortly afterwards the Hon. George West presented a constitutional amendment giving to every woman possessed of $250 the right to vote, thus placing the women of the State in the same position with the colored men before the passage of the fifteenth amendment; but even this was denied. The amendment was referred to the Judiciary Committee and there entombed. Large meetings[220] were held at Robinson Hall during the winter, and at Apollo Hall in May, and in different localities about New York.
July 2, 1873, an indignation meeting was held by the City Society to protest against the sentence pronounced by Judge Hunt in the case of Susan B. Anthony. De Garmo Hall was crowded. The platform was decorated with the United States flag draped with black bunting, while on each side were banners, one bearing the inscription, "Respectful Consideration for a Loyal Woman's Vote! $100 Fine!" the other, "Shall One Federal Judge Abolish Trial by Jury?" Dr. Clemence Lozier presided, and Mrs. Devereux Blake made a stirring speech reviewing Miss Anthony's trial and Judge Hunt's decision.[221] Mr. Hamilton Wilcox made a manly protest against Judge Hunt's high-handed act of oppression, and Mrs. Marie Rachel made another, in behalf of the German association.
In October, 1873, Mrs. Devereux Blake made an effort to open the doors of Columbia College to women. A class of four young ladies[222] united in asking admission. Taking them with her, Mrs. Blake went before the president and faculty, who gave her a respectful hearing. She argued that the charter of the college itself declared that it was founded for "the education of the youth of the city", and that the word youth was defined in all dictionaries as "young persons of both sexes," so that by its very foundation it was intended that girls as well as boys should enjoy the benefits of the university, and it was no more than just that they should, seeing that the original endowment was by the "rectors and inhabitants of the city of New York," one-half of these inhabitants being women. Mrs. Blake's[223] application was referred to "the Committee on the Course of Instruction," and after some weeks of consideration was refused, on the ground that "it was inexpedient," the Rev. Morgan Dix being especially active in his opposition. However, soon after this, the lectures of the college were open to ladies, and a few years later President Barnard warmly recommended that young women should be admitted as students to all the privileges of the university.
A Woman's Congress was organized at New York, October 15, 16, 17, 1873, in the Union League Theater. Representative women[224] were there from all parts of the country. Its object was similar to the social science organizations—the discussion of a wider range of subjects than could be tolerated on the platforms of any specific reform. Mary A. Livermore presided, and the meeting was considered a great success. The speeches and proceedings were published in pamphlet form, and still are from year to year. This had been an idea long brewing in many minds, and was at last realized through the organizing talent of Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour, the originator of Sorosis. From year to year they have held regular meetings in the chief cities of the different States.
Dr. Clemence Lozier,[225] president of the city society, early opened her spacious parlors to the monthly meetings, where they have been held for many years. This association has been active and vigilant, taking note of and furthering every step of progress in Church and State. Mrs. Lozier and Mrs. Blake have worked most effectively together, the former furnishing the sinews of war, and the latter making the attack all along the line, to the terror of the faint-hearted.
The era of centennial celebrations was now approaching, and it was proposed to hold a suitable commemoration on the one-hundredth anniversary of the Boston tea-party, December 16, 1873. Union League Theater was, on the appointed evening, filled to its utmost capacity. The platform was decorated with flowers and filled with ladies, Dr. Lozier presiding. Miss Anthony was the speaker of the evening, and made a most effective address; Helen Potter gave a recitation; Hannah M'L. Shepherd read letters of sympathy; Mrs. Blake made a short closing address, and presented a series of resolutions, couched in precisely the same language as that adopted by our ancestors in protesting against taxation without representation:
Resolved, That as an expression of the sentiments of the tax-paying women of New York, we reïterate, as applied to ourselves, the declaration contained in the bill of rights put forth by our ancestors 100 years ago: First—That the women of the country are entitled to equal rights and privileges with the men; Second—That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of all men and women, that no taxes be imposed on them but by their own consent, given in person or by their representatives; Third—That the only representatives of these women are persons chosen by themselves, and that no taxes ever have been or can be constitutionally imposed upon them but by legislatures composed of persons so chosen.
The report of the State assessors[226] of 1883 brought forcibly to view the injustice done in taxing non-voters. At their meeting with the supervisors of Onondaga county, Mr. Pope of Fabius said: "Mrs. Andrews is assessed too much." Mr. Hadley replied: "Well, Mr. Briggs says that is the way all the women are assessed." Mr. Briggs responded: "Yes, that is the way we find the assessors treat the women; they can't vote, you know! I am in favor of letting the women vote now."
Two women in the village of Batavia were assessed for more personal property than the entire assessment of like property, exclusive of corporations, in the city of Rochester with a population of 70,000! While declaring they had found very little personal property assessed, Mr. Fowler said: "We found some cases where town assessors had taxed the personal property of women, and one case of a ward who was assessed to full value, while upon the guardian's property there was no assessment at all." This report not only proved a good woman suffrage document, but the work done by the State assessors, Messrs. Hadley, Briggs and Fowler, convinced them personally of woman's need of the ballot for the protection of her property.