[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 22764-22765]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR DESIGNATION OF SEPTEMBER 6, 2008, AS LOUISA 
                               SWAIN DAY

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform be discharged from further 
consideration of House Concurrent Resolution 378 and ask for its 
immediate consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Missouri?
  There was no objection.
  The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 378

       Whereas the Wyoming Territorial Legislature passed, and 
     Governor John A. Campbell signed into law on December 10, 
     1869, a measure stating, ``That every woman of the age of 
     twenty-one years, residing in this territory, may, at every 
     election, to be holden under the law thereof, cast her 
     vote.'';
       Whereas this Suffrage Act granted women in the Wyoming 
     Territory the right to vote with full civil and judicial 
     equality to men;
       Whereas Louisa Swain, on September 6, 1870, became the 
     Nation's first woman voter under laws guaranteeing absolute 
     political equality to women;
       Whereas she cast that vote as a 70 year-old woman in the 
     town of Laramie's municipal election;
       Whereas, the Laramie Daily Sentinel wrote, ``It is 
     comforting to note that our first woman voter was really a 
     lady . . . of the highest social standing in the community, 
     universally beloved and respected. The scene was in the 
     highest degree interesting and impressive. There was too much 
     good sense in our community for any jeers or sneers to be 
     seen on such an occasion'';
       Whereas this vote was inspirational to the women's suffrage 
     movement and to the cause of civil rights;
       Whereas, Wyoming's statehood, in 1890, brought the 
     codification of this suffrage right through the ratification 
     of the new Wyoming State constitution under Article 6, 
     section 1;
       Whereas, when the Congress threatened to withhold statehood 
     from Wyoming, territory legislators replied with a telegram 
     stating that Wyoming would remain out of the Union 100 years 
     rather than join without women's suffrage;
       Whereas President Benjamin Harrison, on July 10, 1890, 
     signed into law a bill admitting Wyoming into the Union, and 
     recognizing it as the Nation's ``Equality State'';

[[Page 22765]]

       Whereas these actions instigated a path to the passage of 
     the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution 50 years 
     after Louisa Swain's historical first vote; and
       Whereas September 6, 2008, would be an appropriate date to 
     designate as Louisa Swain Day: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress supports the designation of a 
     Louisa Swain Day.

  The concurrent resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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