| R 005 |
| 2020 -- H 7005 Enacted 01/07/2020 |
| H O U S 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: Representatives Lima, Williams, Ajello, Speakman, and Mattiello |
| Date Introduced: January 07, 2020 |
| 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 House of Representatives 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 |
| 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. |
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| LC003293 |
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