With active work in progress for so many years, and with suffrage organizations in the counties and towns throughout all of this large State, it would be impossible to make personal mention of even a small fraction of those who have aided the movement. The hundreds who have furnished the money and the thousands who have served in a quiet way through all the years would require a separate chapter.[1]
It would be equally impossible to describe the efforts made from year to year, the meetings held, the memorials presented to political conventions, the debates, the parliamentary drills, the lecture courses, the millions of pages of literature distributed, the struggles to place women on the school boards, the special efforts of the standing committees on legislation, press, industries, work among children, etc. It is far more difficult to write the history of a State where so much has been done than where the tale may be quickly told. No State is better organized for suffrage work.[2] There is no doubt that a strong sentiment exists outside of New York City in favor of the enfranchisement of women. However, with the adverse influence always exerted by a great metropolis, it is impossible to foretell when this will be accomplished.
Constitutional Amendment: The history of the struggle of a comparatively few women to secure a clause for equal suffrage in the State constitution, when it was revised in 1894, told in the fewest possible words, is as follows:[3]
As early as 1887 Gov. David B. Hill, at the earnest request of the State Suffrage Association, had recommended that women should have a representation in the convention which would frame this revision. Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lillie
- ↑ Aside from those elsewhere mentioned, the names which seem to occur most often in looking over the records are those of Dr. Sarah L. Cushing, Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, Zobedia Alleman, Abigail A. Allen, Kornelia T. Andrews, Amanda Alley, Mary E. Bagg, Charlotte A. Cleveland, Ida K. Church, Susan Dixwell, Eliza B. Gifford, Esther Herman, Ella S. Hammond, Mary Bush Hitchcock, Belle S. Holden, Mary H. Hallowell, Emeline Hicks, Mary N. Hubbard, Marie R. Jenney, Rhody J. Kenyon, Lucy S. Pierce, Harriet M. Rathbun, Martha J. H. Stebbins, Julia D. Sheppard, Chloe A. Sisson, Delia C. Taylor.
- ↑ Much of the credit for the excellent organization is due to Miss Harriet May Mills, State organizer, daughter of C. D. B. Mills of anti-slavery record. Miss Mills is a graduate of Cornell University, and is devoting her youth and education entirely to the cause of woman suffrage.
- ↑ The story of this canvass, the largest and most systematic which ever has been made for such a purpose, is given in full in "Record of the New York Campaign of 1894," a pamphlet of 250 pages, issued by the State association in 1895, and placed in many libraries throughout the country. It is given also, with many personal touches, in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLII.
