[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E53]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STATE OF INDIANA'S RATIFICATION OF THE 19TH 
                   AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

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                          HON. SUSAN W. BROOKS

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 16, 2020

  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
100th Anniversary of the State of Indiana's ratification of the 19th 
Amendment to the United States Constitution. It was on this date a 
century ago that the Indiana General Assembly answered the call of 
history, helping to finally open the doors of democracy, equality, and 
opportunity to Hoosier women.
  Not long after the landmark Seneca Falls Convention and subsequent 
Declaration of Sentiments in 1848, female leaders in Indiana began to 
organize their own women's rights initiatives. Led by Randolph County 
native Amanda Way, Indiana's first convention for women's rights took 
place in 1851. Building on the energy generated from this first 
convention, participants went on to form the Indiana Woman's Rights 
Association in 1852. As the movement began to take hold the 
organization transformed into the Indiana Woman's Suffrage Association. 
In 1859, Richmond physician Dr. Mary F. Thomas spoke in favor of 
women's suffrage in front of the Indiana General Assembly in 
Indianapolis. As the leader of the Indiana Woman's Suffrage 
Association, she was the first female to address the Indiana General 
Assembly.
  Soon thereafter the scourge of the Civil War dominated political and 
social life throughout the country. However, the dream of women's 
suffrage did not wither in the shadow of this national calamity. After 
the surrender of Confederate forces in 1865, the states went on to 
ratify the 14th Amendment guaranteeing citizens equal protection under 
the law, in 1868. The states then ratified the 15th Amendment in 1870, 
guaranteeing the right to vote to all males regardless of race. These 
new guarantees reinvigorated the push for women's suffrage.
  Pressure for passage of statewide women's suffrage was first and 
foremost on the mind of May Wright Sewall's Equal Suffrage Society, 
which during the early 1880's, organized massive letter writing 
campaigns aimed at influencing the members of the Indiana General 
Assembly. Activists such as Helen Gougar of Lafayette, went even a step 
further, actively attempting to vote in an election in 1894. Having 
been barred from her attempt to vote, she filed a court case against 
the Tippecanoe County Election Board. After initial successes in lower 
courts, the case went to the Indiana Supreme Court which ultimately 
ruled against Mrs. Gougar. Later in 1897, American icon and women's 
suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony spoke before the Indiana General 
Assembly, advocating the swift passage of statewide women's suffrage.
  With the struggle continuing on into the 20th Century, those fighting 
for women's suffrage developed new connections and organizations, 
strengthening their forces in this march towards equality. Groups such 
as the Indiana Federation of Clubs, the Women's Franchise League, the 
Legislative Council of Indiana, and the Equal Suffrage Association 
employed new, more high-profile tactics such as auto tours, parades, 
car rallies, and other major grassroots campaigns, in an effort to 
increase support for their cause. Leaders including Indianapolis 
natives Grace Julian Clarke, Dr. Amelia Keller, and Carrie Barnes Ross, 
along with Ida Husted Harper of Terre Haute, Marie Stuart Edwards of 
Peru, and many others, recruited Hoosier women from all ethnic, 
socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds to their ranks, increasing the 
spectrum of voices calling for equality and opportunity. As a result of 
their continued efforts the suffragettes were successful in persuading 
the Indiana General Assembly to pass the Maston-McKinley Partial 
Suffrage Act in 1917. This act granted women the right to vote in 
certain state and local elections. However, a legal ruling from the 
Indiana State Supreme Court struck down the law shortly before the 1917 
municipal elections.
  Undeterred, these brave, intrepid heroes continued their struggle. 
Then in 1919, the dam of inequality finally began to break as the 
United States House or Representatives and the United States Senate 
passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919. The anticipated vote total 
in the U.S. House of Representatives was predicted to be so narrow that 
supporters of women's suffrage helped carry Hoosier Representative 
Henry Barnhart of Rochester, Indiana, from his hospital bed to the 
House floor so he could cast his vote in favor of the bill. After 
passing both houses of the U.S. Congress, the proposed amendment was 
sent to the states, needing three-quarters of the states to vote in 
favor of ratification before the amendment could be adopted. Back in 
Indiana, after resisting demands to call a special session to ratify 
the 19th Amendment, the Indiana General Assembly did finally convene, 
and on January 16, 1920, Indiana became the 26th state to ratify the 
19th Amendment.
  After decades of struggle, the power of the vote was extended to 
women with the adoption of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920. 
Forever more the law would guarantee that the right of citizens of the 
United States to vote would no longer be denied to women. Today, a 
century after this landmark moment, women across our country continue 
to lead the United States into the future with the same zeal and steely 
determination that sparked a political revolution and allowed our 
country to move another step closer to living out the ideals of its 
founders.

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