[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 171 (Tuesday, October 29, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATIVE COIN ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 28, 2019

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 
2423, the ``Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, as 
amended.''
  H.R. 2423 directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue up 
to 400,000 $1 silver coins that are emblematic of the women who played 
a vital role in rallying support for the 19th Amendment to the U.S. 
Constitution.
  Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first Women's 
Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
  Sixty-eight women and 32 men signed the Declaration of Sentiments at 
the Convention in July 1848.
  The Declaration of Sentiments was modeled after the Declaration of 
Independence and declared that ``all men and women are created equal'', 
linking women's rights directly to the founding ideals of the United 
States.
  On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th and final State needed 
to pass the 19th Amendment, ensuring its ratification pursuant to 
Article V of the Constitution of the United States.
  The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920, when Secretary of 
State Bainbridge Colby issued a proclamation announcing it has become 
part of the Constitution of the United States.
  The ratification of the 19th Amendment marked the single largest 
extension of voting rights in United States history, enfranchising 
27,000,000 American women in the United States.
  This act is a way to honor and commemorate the work of women's 
suffrage activists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  It will increase public awareness and appreciation for the history of 
the women's suffrage movement.
  Ultimately, it will encourage all women in the United States to 
exercise their hard-won franchise and to become involved in civic life, 
if they so chose.
  Without these pioneers for social change and justice, women like me 
and my fellow colleagues would not have gotten to where we are today.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2423 
to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in 19th 
commemoration of ratification of the Amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States, giving women in the United States the right to vote.

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