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Draft of Joint Resolution to establish a day for the commemoration of women suffragists, May 11, 2005 (1 page)

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    Whereas, one of the first public appeals for woman suffrage came in 1848 when Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton called a women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19, 1848. Whereas, Sojourner Truth gave her famous speech titled "Ain't I a Woman?" at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Whereas, in 1869, suffragists formed two national organizations to work for the right to vote: the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. These two organizations united in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Whereas, in 1872, Susan B. Anthony and a group of women voted in the presidential election in Rochester, New York. She was arrested and fined for voting illegally. At her trial, which attracted nationwide attention, she made a speech that ended with the slogan "Resistance to Tyranny Is Obedience to God." Whereas, on January 25, 1887, the United States Senate voted on woman suffrage for the first time. Whereas, during the early 1900's, a new generation of leaders joined the woman suffrage ^movement, including Carrie Chapman Catt, Maud Wood Park, Lucy Burns, Alice Paul, and ^HHarriot E. Blatch. Whereas, woman suffrage leaders devoted most of their efforts to marches, picketing, and other ^active formsj)f protest. Alice Paul and^tier folio wers)gven chained themselves to the White House fence. The suffragists were often arrested and sent to jail, where many of them went on hunger strikes. Whereas, almost 5,000 people paraded for woman suffrage)up Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. " Whereas, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women in the United States the right to vote. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that July 19th of each year is designated as Woman Suffrage Day. The President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation in commemoration of the ^VK n woman suffragists who worked for the right of women to vote in the United States. ^jl