A part of the work was to collect statistics showing the amount of property on which taxes were paid by women. It was impossible to obtain these in New York City, but in three-fifths of the towns and cities outside it was found to be $348,177,107. In Brooklyn women paid one-fourth of all the taxes. The drudgery of preparing these tax lists and recounting and labeling all the petitions was done chiefly by Miss Isabel Howland.
During the convention an office and a reception room in the Capitol were granted for the use of the women. On May 24 Miss Anthony and Mrs. Greenleaf addressed the Suffrage Committee of the Constitutional Convention in the Assembly Chamber of the Capitol at Albany. A large crowd was present, including the committee and most of the delegates. Mrs. Greenleaf's remarks were brief but forcible, and Miss Anthony spoke earnestly for three-quarters of an hour, seeming to have the full sympathy of her audience.
The women of New York City were accorded a hearing on May 31, and strong arguments were made by Dr. Jacobi, Miss Margaret Livingstone Chanler, Mrs. Blake and Miss Harriette A. Keyser. On June 7 the Suffrage Committee was addressed by representative women, in five-minute speeches, from all of the Senatorial districts outside of New York City.[385] Mrs. Greenleaf presided at all these meetings.[386]
The final hearing was accorded June 28, when U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey, who had come from Wyoming by invitation for this purpose, made a most convincing argument based on the practical experience of his own State for twenty-five years. He was followed by Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Mary T. Burt, president of the State W. C. T. U.
All of these addresses in favor of recognizing woman's right to the franchise were valueless except for the creation of public sentiment and as a matter of history, for the chairman of the convention, the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, had appointed a Suffrage Committee the large majority of whom were known anti-suffragists, and he was reported to have said before the convention met that the amendment should not be placed in the constitution. The committee made an adverse report, which was discussed by the convention on the evenings of August 8 and 15, with the Assembly Chamber crowded at each session.[387] The advocates of adopting a woman suffrage plank were led by the Hon. Edward Lauterbach and the opponents by Mr. Root and William P. Goodelle, chairman of the Suffrage Committee.[388]
While the ballot was being taken Mr. Choate went on the floor among the delegates, and himself gave the last vote against the amendment. The ballot resulted—in favor of the amendment, 58; opposed, 98.
Even though a defeat, this was a decided advance over the Constitutional Convention of 1867, when there were but 19 ayes and 125 noes. Then less than one-seventh, this time more than one-third of the members were in favor of the enfranchisement of women.
The following month Miss Anthony and Mr. Lauterbach addressed the Committee on Resolutions of the State Republican Convention, and Miss Anthony and Mrs. Blake that of the Democratic, asking for a recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, but both ignored the request.
Legislative Action: Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony were the pioneers in legislative work for woman suffrage, the former making her first speech before a committee—in behalf of property rights—as early as 1845, and continuing her appeals for the various rights of women during twenty-five years, after which her addresses were given usually before the committees of the United States Congress. Miss Anthony made her first appearance in Albany in 1853, and her last one before a committee there in 1897. She devoted her strongest efforts to the Legislature of her own State until the demands of national work became so great as to absorb most of her time, and then she, too, transferred her appeals to the legislative body of the United States, although assisting always the work in New York.
Meanwhile other competent laborers had come into the field. In 1873 Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake began her legislative work, and for twenty-five years there were few bills in the interests of women under consideration at Albany which were not managed by her, with an able corps of assistants, chief among whom was Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell.