See other bills
under the
same topic
PRINTER'S NO. 3282
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
727
Session of
2020
INTRODUCED BY RABB, KIM, T. DAVIS, MURT, JONES, SAMUELSON, HILL-
EVANS, BIZZARRO, KORTZ, MILLARD, HENNESSEY, SAINATO,
SCHLOSSBERG, McNEILL, BURNS, WARREN, FREEMAN, KINSEY,
LONGIETTI, HOWARD, WHEATLEY, NEILSON AND YOUNGBLOOD,
FEBRUARY 5, 2020
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 5, 2020
A RESOLUTION
Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
WHEREAS, This year marks the 150th anniversary of the
ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Fifteenth Amendment, as part of the collective
package of Reconstruction Amendments which includes the
Thirteenth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment, abolished
slavery, guaranteed equal protection of the laws and the right
to vote; and
WHEREAS, Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment to ensure
that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied on
account of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude";
and
WHEREAS, On February 26, 1869, Congress passed the Fifteenth
Amendment; and
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
WHEREAS, On March 25, 1869, Pennsylvania was the 12th state
to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment; and
WHEREAS, After Iowa became the 28th state to ratify on
February 3, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment was officially
certified to the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, The first legislative act abolishing slavery in the
United States was passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly
with the passage of the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
on March 1, 1780; and
WHEREAS, In Pennsylvania, unlike many states, free African-
American men had the right to vote until 1838; and
WHEREAS, On January 20, 1838, during the Pennsylvania
Constitutional Convention, legislators amended the Constitution
of Pennsylvania to exclude African-American men by restricting
suffrage to white men by rewording the language to "white
freeman"; and
WHEREAS, It would not be until the ratification of the
Fifteenth Amendment that African-American men were again given
the right to vote in Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, The Fifteenth Amendment has served as a crucial
defense against systemic voter disenfranchisement in the United
States, preserving and protecting the rights of citizens of the
United States by allowing an opportunity to exercise a critical
role in a democratic republic; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives commemorate the
150th anniversary of the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States.
20200HR0727PN3282 - 2 -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27