NEW YORK. 



487 



Whereas, at the last session of the Legislature of 

 this State, a preamble and concurrent resolution were 

 adopted in the word and figures following, to wit : 



Whereas, at the session of the Fortieth Congress it 

 was resolved by the Senate and House of Represent- 

 atives of the United States of America in Congress 

 assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that 

 the following article shall be proposed to the Legisla- 

 tures of the several States, as an amendment to the 

 Constitution of the United states, which amendment, 

 when it shall have been ratified by three-fourths of 

 the said Legislatures, shall be valid to all intents and 

 purposes as a part of the said Constitution, namely : 

 "ARTICLE FIFTEEN. 



" SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United 

 States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the 

 United States, or by any State, on account of race, 

 color, or previous condition of servitude. 



" 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this 

 article by appropriate legislation. 



" Therefore resolved (if the Senate concur), That the 

 said proposed amendment to the Constitution be, and 

 the same is, hereby ratified by the Legislature of the 

 State of New York." 



And, whereas the proposed fifteenth amendment 

 above recited has not been ratified by the Legisla- 

 tures of three-fourths of the several States, and has 

 not become a part of the Constitution of the United 

 States ; 



And whereas, the State of New York, represented in 

 the Legislature here now assembled, desires to with- 

 draw the consent expressed in the above-recited con- 

 current resolution ; 



Now. therefore, be it resolved (if the Assembly con- 

 cur), That the above-recited concurrent resolution be 

 and it is hereby repealed, rescinded, and annulled. 



And be it further resolved (if the Assembly concur), 

 That the Legislature of the State of New York refuses 

 to ratify the above-recited proposed fifteenth amend- 

 ment to the Constitution of the United States, and 

 withdraws absolutely any expression of consent here- 

 tofore given thereto, or ratification thereof. 



Be it further resolved (if the Assembly concur), 

 That the Governor be requested to transmit a copy 

 of these resolutions and preamble to the Secretary of 

 State of the United States at Washington, and 'to 

 every member of the Senate and House of Represent- 

 atives of the United States, and to the Governors of 

 the several States. 



Before the opening of the political campaign 

 and the holding of the party conventions, 

 two organizations, which have acquired some 

 strength in the State, held meetings, at which 

 they attempted to discuss matters of pub- 

 lic importance, and passed resolutions expres- 

 sive of their views and purposes. The New 

 York State Temperance Society held its annual 

 meeting at Rochester on the 15th of January. 

 Among the resolutions which were discussed 

 and adopted were the following : 



Resolved, That when the candidates of each of the 

 political parties are favorable to the license system or 

 liquor traffic, it is the duty of the friends of temper- 

 ance to nominate one who is not favorable to it ; and 

 moreover that, if, after a year's further warning and 

 delay, all the political parties shall still persist in the 

 . crime of upholding the sale of intoxicating drinks, 

 it will be the duty of the friends of temperance to 

 turn their backs upon such parties, and to organize 

 one which shall go ^for all political righteousness, and 

 especially for shutting up all dram-shops. 



'Resolved, That prohibition is a political necessity : 

 that, in order to secure such amendment of our civil 

 law, an independent political organization is de- 

 manded at the present time. 



On the 1st of June, the State Temperance 



Convention assembled at Syracuss to consider 

 the relations of the temperance question to 

 civil government, and the duties of its advo- 

 cates and supporters in the approaching can- 

 vass. About one hundred and fifty delegates 

 were present ; and, after considerable discus- 

 sion, the duty of setting forth their views was 

 left to a committee of sixteen. This com- 

 mittee met at Saratoga on the 13th of July, 

 and adopted the following resolutions : 



Resolved, That we earnestly urge the temperance 

 voters of the State, as a sacred duty that they owe 

 the cause, to attend the caucuses of their respective 

 parties and secure the nomination of delegates 

 pledged to vote for such men only as will carry out 

 the wishes of the majority of the temperance people 

 of the State. 



Resolved, That we will demand of the next Legis- 

 lature a law which will enable the majority of the 

 legal voters of any town, city, or village, or ward, to 

 prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors or beverages 

 therein. 



Resolved, That we urge on temperance men to en- 

 force the penalties for violation of the present excise 

 law, and will demand of the next Legislature such an 

 increase of penalties as will tend to prohibit the sale 

 and manufacture of intoxicating beverages in the 

 State. 



An address to the people of the State was 

 also issued, and an attempt made to give the 

 cause of temperance some influence in the po- 

 litical campaign, but without much success. 



The Woman's Suffrage Association of the 

 State met in convention at Saratoga on the 

 13th of July, and, after two days of incessant 

 talk, settled upon the following as its "plat- 

 form : " 



The convention of delegates from the State of New 

 York assembled, without distinction of sect or party, 

 in pursuance of a call upon ull persons in favor of de- 

 manding suffrage for the women of the nation, and 

 the passage of an amendment to the Constitution of 

 the United States by which the ballot can be secured 

 to them, resolve as follows : 



Resolved, That the question of woman suffrage is 

 the great moral and political question of the day. and 

 we demand the ballot for women, because equal nghts 

 are a part of the great principles of justice, because 

 the laws of justice precede the laws of States, and 

 the rights of humanity underlie the rights of govern- 

 ment. 



Resolved, That as governments are instituted for the 

 maintenance of principles of justice, and as every hu- 

 man being can do better for himself than another for 

 him, the right of every human being to share in the 

 government under which he lives snould be recog- 

 nized by that government. 



Resolved, That we claim for woman the inherent 

 right to share in the government of any country of 

 which she is a citizen, by virtue of her existence as a 

 human being and her natural capacity for self-gov- 

 ernment ; that, while resting the responsibility of 

 woman's present political disability upon man, we 

 deny his right to define woman's sphere ; that, as we 

 deny the right of one class of men to define the rights 

 and duties of another class of men, so do we as em- 

 phatically deny the right of one sex to define the 

 rights and duties of the other sex. 



Resolved, That we gladly recognize the advance- 

 ment of our just principles, as shown by the action 

 of the Irish Republican National Convention, re- 

 cently held in Washington and Chicago, in which 

 they demanded that suffrage should be extended 

 to all not guilty of crime, irrespective of color, race, 

 or sex. 



