[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19168-19169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    H.J. RES. 59, WOMEN SUFFRAGISTS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for H.J. 
Res. 59, a joint resolution that expresses the sense of Congress with 
respect to the women suffragists who fought for and won the right of 
women to vote in the United States. It is my privilegte to join 
Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, my colleague and fellow Nevadan, in the 
effort to honor and celebrate their hard-won achievements.
  Our Nation was founded on the principle of ``consent of the 
governed.'' Yet for the greater part of America's history, women were 
denied the fundamental right to participate in our democracy through 
the power of the vote. Today, it would be unthinkable and 
unconscionable to hold elections where not every vote properly cast is 
counted. Eighty-five years ago--perhaps within the lifespan of our 
mothers or grandmothers--this was not the case.
  Next month we will observe the 85th anniversary of the 19th 
amendment, which finally secured women's right to vote in the United 
States. The 19th amendment does not just represent voting rights. It 
also represents a profound victory for women suffragists long seeking 
to be affirmed as equal partners in America's civic, cultural, and 
social affairs. But as victories with enduring and far-reaching 
consequences tend to, this one required the suffragists to first 
overcome numerous setbacks.
  In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton ran for Congress to test women's 
constitutional right to hold public office--and received only 24 of 
12,000 votes cast. In 1872, Susan B. Anthony registered to vote in 
Rochester, New York, and cast a ballot--and subsequently was arrested. 
Two years later, the Supreme Court considered whether citizenship 
itself conferred voting rights and ruled that it does not for women. 
During the several years leading up to 1920, many suffragists, 
including Alice Paul, exercised their right to engage in civil 
discourse through protest and were thrown in jail for doing so.
  These names may not sound familiar to everyone. Nor are these events 
the full extent of the challenges that the women suffragists faced as 
they fought for the ratification of the 19th amendment. The joint 
resolution would let us remember them and give them their due tribute.
  The women suffragists commended in this resolution were instrumental 
not just in securing women's right to vote.

[[Page 19169]]

By winning for women the power of the ballot, they moved countless 
others to strengthen women's voice in charting the course of the 
nation. By asserting women's equality in the mechanism that sustains 
our democracy, they helped future generations fight for equality in all 
aspects of American life. By opening the voting booths, they spurred on 
the work to open our institutions of higher education, our athletic 
fields, and our boardrooms. And by having persisted in their 
convictions, they inspire young women today, like Hannah Low and 
Destiny Carroll of Henderson, Nevada, to continue the effort to ensure 
that their triumphs will not be forgotten.
  On behalf of Hannah and Destiny, as well as my friend Congresswoman 
Berkley, each person a credit to Nevada, I am pleased to support the 
passage of this resolution.

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