[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  COMMEMORATING UTAH WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE

  Mr. ROMNEY. Mr. President, I rise to mark the 150th anniversary of 
the first ballot cast by a woman in the United States under an equal 
suffrage law. I am proud that this remarkable milestone occurred in my 
home State of Utah.
  The fight for the right to vote for all Americans, regardless of 
gender, race, or class, was achieved through efforts, large and small, 
and through great sacrifice.
  Suffrage is the freedom to vote, to reaffirm the solemn duty of the 
citizen in a representative democracy. When I vote, I remember the 
sacrifice of men and women in uniform--of those who have won and 
preserved freedom for us in the past and of those who preserve it for 
us today. My vote is a recognition of that sacrifice. It is right and 
fitting that every American, male and female, has that same privilege.
  Our great State of Utah was settled by pioneers like Brigham Young, 
who led his people to a new land in search of liberty and freedom from 
oppression. While the pioneers and settlers of Utah secured freedom of 
territory, religion, and thought, the voices of women were still not 
heard when it often mattered most--during the democratic selection of 
their government leaders.
  Seraph Young, like her granduncle Brigham Young before her, 
endeavored to chart a different course. In the early morning of 
February 14, 1870, she became the first woman to vote in the United 
States of America. On that election day in Salt Lake City, 24 other 
women joined Seraph Young in casting their ballots. Then, in the next 
election, 2,000 more women followed their lead and exercised their 
equal suffrage rights. The voices of the few set in motion a monumental 
shift in our Nation's history.
  Twenty-four years before the 19th Amendment to grant equal suffrage 
for women was ratified, Utah once again made history by electing the 
Nation's first female State senator, Martha Hughes Cannon. Cannon did 
not hesitate to pursue her own path. After receiving her undergraduate 
degree in chemistry, she went on to earn degrees in oration, medicine, 
and pharmacy at a time when few women pursued advanced education. As a 
physician, church leader, suffragist, and mother, she defeated her own 
husband at the ballot box to become the first female State senator in 
U.S. history.
  Soon, we will honor the tremendous contributions Martha Hughes Cannon 
and all women suffragists have made as we welcome her as a new addition 
to Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
  The symbols we choose to represent us and our State matter a great 
deal, and the bronze rendering of Cannon will serve as an enduring 
tribute to the efforts of all suffragists.
  To all the women who have led and who continue to lead by example, we 
thank you.

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