[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1652-E1653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS WITH RESPECT TO COMMEMORATION OF WOMEN 
                              SUFFRAGISTS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RAHM EMANUEL

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 25, 2005

  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.J. Res. 
59, expressing the support of Congress for the establishment of a day 
to honor the women suffragists who

[[Page E1653]]

fought for and won voting rights for women in the United States.
  On July 19, 1848, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton convened 
the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. From 
that time onward the leaders of the women's suffrage movement exhibited 
boundless courage and perseverance in their quest for equal 
representation.
  Their journey was neither quick nor painless, and leading suffragists 
experienced public scorn and official persecution during nearly a 
century of campaigning. The women's rights movement relied on different 
methods of protest ranging from picketing and marches to hunger 
strikes. One suffragist, Alice Paul, led a famous protest in which she 
and several other women chained themselves to the White House fence.
  These and similar acts of civil disobedience often landed the 
suffragists in jail. In 1872, when Susan B. Anthony and a group of 
women voted in the presidential election in Rochester, New York, she 
was arrested and fined. However, no amount threats or abuse could deter 
her or the other suffragists. At the close of her trial and with the 
whole nation watching, Susan B. Anthony made a fiery speech, stating 
``Resistance to Tyranny Is Obedience to God.''
  Even in the face of persecution, this unrelenting commitment to 
justice, democracy, and the ideals set forth in the Constitution of the 
United States ultimately won the day. On August 26, 1920, the 19th 
Amendment to the United States Constitution granted women in the United 
States the right to vote.
  The women who led the fight for equal voting rights for women deserve 
our recognition not only for their tireless pursuit of justice in the 
face of persecution, but also for their tremendous contribution to the 
creation of a more perfect Union.
  The success of the suffragists proved that even a prejudice rooted in 
centuries of custom and reinforced by all of the laws of the day cannot 
stand indefinitely against reasoned appeals to the ideals upon which 
our great nation was founded.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with my colleagues in support of 
setting a day to commemorate the contributions of these courageous 
Americans.

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