[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1733 Engrossed in House (EH)]

H. Res. 1733

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                     December 17, 2010.
Whereas, on November 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, one of the most 
        prolific and influential writers and orators in America, was born in 
        Florida, Missouri;
Whereas Clemens suffered many childhood setbacks including incessant poor health 
        until age 9 and the death of his father at age of 12;
Whereas growing up along the emerging Mississippi port city of Hannibal, 
        Missouri, watching the frequent steamboat stops and working as a printer 
        and editorial assistant at his brother's newspaper, Clemens discovered 
        his passion for writing;
Whereas Clemens, at the age of 17, moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and became a 
        river pilot's apprentice, eventually becoming a licensed river pilot in 
        1858;
Whereas Samuel Clemens then worked for several newspapers across the United 
        States after the river trade was halted by the Civil War in 1861;
Whereas Clemens assumed his pen name, Mark Twain, based on his experience as a 
        river pilot;
Whereas Mark Twain means two fathoms or 12 feet when the depth of water for a 
        boat is being sounded, or that it is safe to navigate;
Whereas Twain's first work to gain notoriety was his short story, ``The 
        Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'', which appeared in the New 
        York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865;
Whereas Mark Twain composed 28 books as well as numerous short stories, letters, 
        and sketches, including such classics as ``Life on the Mississippi'', 
        ``The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', ``The Prince and the Pauper'', and 
        ``The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'';
Whereas Twain first declared his disappointment with politics in ``A Connecticut 
        Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', where he depicted the absurdities of 
        political and social norms by setting them in the court of King Arthur;
Whereas Mark Twain was a staunch civil rights advocate believing strongly in 
        emancipation and said, ``Lincoln's Proclamation * * * not only set the 
        black slaves free, but set the white man free also.''; and
Whereas Mark Twain was an adamant supporter of women's suffrage, saying in his 
        most famous speech, ``Votes for Women'':
                    ``Referring to woman's sphere in life, I'll say that woman 
                is always right. For twenty-five years I've been a woman's 
                rights man. I have always believed, long before my mother died, 
                that, with her gray hairs and admirable intellect, perhaps she 
                knew as much as I did. Perhaps she knew as much about voting as 
                I.
                    ``I should like to see the time come when women shall help 
                to make the laws. I should like to see that whiplash, the 
                ballot, in the hands of women. As for this city's government, I 
                don't want to say much, except that it is a shame--a shame; but 
                if I should live twenty-five years longer--and there is no 
                reason why I shouldn't--I think I'll see women handle the 
                ballot. If women had the ballot to-day, the state of things in 
                this town would not exist.
                    ``If all the women in this town had a vote today they would 
                elect a mayor at the next election, and they would rise in their 
                might and change the awful state of things now existing here.'': 
                Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes Mark Twain as one of 
America's most famous literary icons and commemorates him on the 175th 
anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his death.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.