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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 8, 2019 01:52 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Daniel Laughlin and Sen. Michele Brooks |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | 100th Anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote |
We will soon be introducing a resolution to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote, effectuated by the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Many community organizations, including the League of Women Voters, will celebrate this milestone with events that begin in August 2019 and continue through August 18, 2020, the date the 19th Amendment was ultimately ratified. The campaign for women’s right to vote represented one of the longest and largest grassroots movements in American political history. Commencing in the late 1800s, strong women of principle gathered in meetings and marches to assert their rights to assemble and dissent on behalf of women’s suffrage. For more than 50 years, they forged a nonviolent mass movement that embraced decades of strategic activism, outreach and persistence. In 1915, Pennsylvania voters defeated a statewide referendum giving women the right to vote. Three years later, President Woodrow Wilson endorsed women’s suffrage as a wartime measure. In a major victory, the U.S. Congress approved the measure on June 4, 1919, and Pennsylvania went on to become the fourth state to ratify it on June 24, 1919. By August 18, 1920, the requisite 36 state legislatures had ratified and approved the “Susan B. Anthony” amendment. Ultimately, all 50 states went on to ratify the change. After decades of advocacy, millions of women voted in national elections for the first time ever in 1920. The story of how women “won the vote” embodies the highest ideals of democracy and civic engagement, and highlights the remarkable women who led the charge, leaving behind a proud and inspiring legacy of bravery and sense of purpose. Please join us in cosponsoring this resolution and honoring this transformative landmark in our Commonwealth’s and our nation’s history. |
Introduced as SR174