s consent in person or by representation.
Taxes are not to be laid on the people" (are not women and
negroes people?) "without their consent in person or by
representation. The very act of taxing those who are not
represented appears to me to deprive them of one of their most
essential rights as freemen, and if continued, seems to be in
effect an entire disfranchisement of every civil right; for what
one civil right is worth a rush, after a man's property is
subject to be taken from him without his consent?" In view of
such opinions, is it too much to ask the men of New York, either
to enfranchise women of wealth and education, or else release
them from taxation? If we can not be represented as individuals,
we should not be taxed as individuals. If the "white male" will
do all the voting, let him pay all the taxes. There is no logic
so powerful in opening the eyes of men to their real interests as
a direct appeal to their pockets. Such a release from taxation
can be supported, too, by your own Constitution. In Art. 2, Sec.
1, you say, "And no person of color shall be subject to direct
taxation, unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real
estate as aforesaid," referring to the $250 qualification. Now, a
poor widow who owns a lot worth a hundred dollars or less, is
taxed. Why this partiality to the black man? He may live in the
quiet possession of $249 worth of property, and not be taxed a
cent. Is it on the ground of color or sex, that the black man
finds greater favor in the eyes of the law than the daughters of
the State? In order fully to understand this partiality, I have
inquired into your practice with regard to women of color. I find
that in Seneca Falls there lives a highly estimable colored
woman, by the name of Abby Gomore, who owns property to the
amount of a thousand dollars, in village lots. She now pays, and
always has paid, from the time she invested her first hundred
dollars, the same taxes as any other citizen--just in proportion
to the value of her property, or as it is assessed. After
excluding women and "men of color" not worth $250, from
representation, your Constitution tells us what other persons are
excluded from the right of suffrage. Art. 2, Sec. 2.

Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage