2020 -- S 2002

========

LC003399

========

     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

____________

S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

JOYOUSLY CELEBRATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF RHODE ISLAND'S

RATIFICATION OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT, GRANTING WOMEN THE RIGHT TO

VOTE

     Introduced By: Senators Goodwin, Lynch Prata, Gallo, Euer, and Sosnowski

     Date Introduced: January 07, 2020

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, While women had the right to vote in several colonies prior to 1776, by

1807 every State Constitution in the United States still denied women the right to vote. By the

middle of the 19th century, numerous organizations were actively working on behalf of women's

rights and equality; and

     WHEREAS, In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention adopted the Declaration of Sentiments

which called for the right of women to vote to be secured and for equality between the sexes.

Soon thereafter, suffragette activists including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

became politically active in support of amending the United States Constitution in order to

guarantee women's right to vote throughout the United States; and

     WHEREAS, In 1878, an amendment was introduced in the United States Congress that

would have guaranteed women the right to vote, but it failed to pass. By the late 19th century,

new states and territories in the American West began to grant women the right to vote; and

     WHEREAS, In the early 20th century, momentum began to grow across the country in

favor of passing the 19th amendment, especially as a result of the United States entry in World

War I, and the patriotic support of that endeavor by the National American Women Suffrage

Association. The National Woman's Party organized marches, demonstrations, and hunger

strikes, and poignantly juxtaposed the contradiction of fighting for democracy abroad while

denying women the right to vote at home; and

     WHEREAS, Public opinion began to move in favor of ratifying the 19th Amendment,

with President Wilson announcing his support in 1918. In 1919, the 19th Amendment passed

Congress and was adopted in 1920, immediately enfranchising 26 million American women; and

     WHEREAS, In Rhode Island, the Women's Suffrage movement began in earnest in 1868,

when the Rhode Island Women's Suffrage Association was organized by Paulina Wright Davis

and Elizabeth Buffam Chace as they returned from the organizational meeting of the New

England Suffrage Association in Boston. A year later, the Rhode Island Women's Suffrage

Association would host the National convention of the National Women's Suffrage Association in

Newport; and

     WHEREAS, For over forty years, the Rhode Island Women's Suffrage Association was

the sole entity advocating for the right of women to vote in Rhode Island. Each year they

petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly to submit a constitutional amendment in support

of women's suffrage. Momentum in support of passage of the 19th Amendment grew

exponentially in Rhode Island culminating with the Rhode Island General Assembly's passage of

the Resolution on January 6, 1920, and Rhode Island Governor R. Livingston Beeckman signing

the Resolution into law on January 7, 1920; and

     WHEREAS, On the historic date of January 6, 1920, suffrage supporters packed the State

House, waiting for the House to convene at 12:00 in the afternoon. After the Senate was

summoned to meet with the House of Representatives in Grand Committee, the Governor read his

message to the State in which he recommended ratification. Shortly thereafter, the resolution was

passed with 89 votes in support and only three votes in dissent. The resolution then advanced to

the Senate where it was passed by voice vote with only one dissenting vote. With that, history

was made, and a magnificent victory dinner was held for the important suffragette leaders and

supporters who had fought so tirelessly and valiantly over the prior fifty years in support of

women's equality and their right to vote. The following day, on January 7, 1920, Governor

Beeckman put an exclamation point on what is one of the most momentous occasions in Rhode

Island history when he signed the Ratification Resolution; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby joyously celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Rhode Island's ratification of the 19th

Amendment, granting women the right to vote; and be it further

LC003399 - Page 2 of 3

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Ms. Jane Koster, President of the League of

Women Voters, Rhode Island.

========

LC003399

========

LC003399 - Page 3 of 3