[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 197 (Tuesday, December 10, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6912-S6913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Wyoming Women's Suffrage Day

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor as we celebrate 
today, in Wyoming, the 150th anniversary of Wyoming's women's right to 
vote--150 years. Before we even became a State, women were voting in 
Wyoming. Today, at our State capital building in Cheyenne, there is a 
huge celebration of people from around the

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State and around the country celebrating this historic day.
  Many people watching today may not know the history of what happened 
150 years ago. Yesterday afternoon, Senator Enzi spoke on the Senate 
floor and outlined some of that history. I am so proud of my home 
State's amazing record in advancing this entire issue and concern and 
allowance of women's voting.
  Women in Wyoming were the first in the Nation to use the right to 
vote. That is a fact. Wyoming women have been voting for 150 years. On 
December 10, 1869, Wyoming took a giant leap forward for women's 
equality. We are called the Equality State. This is a lot of the reason 
why.
  Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, in a ceremony this morning at our State 
capital in Cheyenne, is proclaiming today Wyoming Women's Suffrage Day. 
Wyoming is the first place in the country to pass a law securing 
women's right to vote, as well as the right not just to vote but to 
hold public office.
  The people of Wyoming spoke loud and clear 150 years ago today. We 
stood with women 50 years ahead of the rest of the Nation. Wyoming was 
a territory back then. Our State had not yet joined the Union. That 
didn't happen until 1890. Still, that is when we earned the proud name 
of the Equality State.
  Wyoming earned far more than the name. By leading the fight for 
women's rights, Wyoming has forever earned a hallowed place in the 
books of history. Nobody embodies that legacy more than Wyoming's 
Louisa Ann Swain. On September 6, 1870, Louisa Swain of Laramie, WY, 
became the first woman in the United States to vote in the general 
election. By casting her historic ballot, she claimed a great victory 
for women everywhere.
  It is a tremendous heritage that we celebrate today. Wyoming truly is 
the Nation's trailblazer for women's equality. In fact, ``Equal 
Rights'' is our State motto.
  On November 19, the Senate unanimously passed the Wyoming Women's 
Suffrage Day resolution. Senator Enzi and I cosponsored the resolution 
to commemorate today's 150th anniversary. Now the entire Nation can 
join in celebrating Wyoming's groundbreaking law.
  Then, 20 years after the law's passage, Wyoming refused to enter the 
Union as a State unless we had equal voting rights, men and women. 
There was a big fight about it in Wyoming and in the Nation's Capital. 
When standing on principle became a major sticking point, Wyoming stuck 
to its guns on women's equality and actually ended up delaying becoming 
a State over this very issue.
  On March 26 of 1890, Wyoming statehood legislation narrowly passed 
the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure passed the Senate a few 
months later, but part of the debate on the floor of the House of 
Representatives had to do with Wyoming women actually voting in our 
then territory and now State.
  President Benjamin Harrison signed Wyoming's statehood into law on 
July 10, 1890, upholding women's rights. Wyoming was technically the 
44th State to enter the Union, but Wyoming really is the first State 
when it comes to women's equality. Wyoming put women first even before 
statehood.
  Back home, 2019 is the ``Year of Wyoming Women.'' Our State is paying 
tribute to our strong women leaders. We had the great honor of electing 
the first woman Governor, Wyoming's 14th Governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross. 
Wyoming boasts many more female firsts. These include the first woman 
to serve on a jury and the first female justice of the peace, Esther 
Hobart Morris. Wyoming also claims the first all-female city 
government. These pioneering women leaders were elected in 1920 in 
Jackson, WY. The Jackson press dubbed them ``the petticoat 
government.'' So we celebrate 150 years of equal rights in Wyoming and 
100 years for women nationwide.
  In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, 
granting women's suffrage. This hard-fought legislative victory would 
ensure women's full participation in our democracy.
  To mark this 100th anniversary, President Trump recently signed into 
law the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act. I had the 
privilege of cosponsoring this legislation that was introduced by 
Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee. The bill passed unanimously in 
the Senate. I made sure that Wyoming's Esther Hobart Morris was among 
the suffragettes honored in this legislation.
  All Americans owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Nation's 
extraordinary women leaders of the past, the present, and today as we 
pause to remember where it all started 150 years ago in the 
trailblazing State of Wyoming, the Equality State.