I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 874 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of Alice Paul’s role 

in the women’s suffrage movement and in advancing equal rights for women. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2013 

Mr. RUNYAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of Alice 

Paul’s role in the women’s suffrage movement and in 

advancing equal rights for women. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alice Paul Women’s 

5 Suffrage Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) Alice Paul was born on January, 11, 1885, 

9 in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and died on July 9, 

10 1977. 


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1 (2) Alice Paul dedicated her life to securing suf2 frage and equal rights for all women and, as founder 

3 of the World Woman’s Party, she was instrumental 

4 in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United 

5 States Constitution. 

6 (3) Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party 

7 were the first group ever to picket the White House. 

8 (4) While President Woodrow Wilson trumpeted 

9 America’s values of democracy abroad during World 

10 War I, Alice Paul was dedicated to reminding the 

11 President that not all Americans enjoyed democracy 

12 at home. 

13 (5) Alice Paul used nonviolent civil disobedience 

14 to bring national attention to the women’s suffrage 

15 movement, such as the 3-week hunger strike she un16 dertook when she was sentenced to jail in October, 

17 1917, for her demonstrations. 

18 (6) Alice Paul’s courage inspired thousands of 

19 women to join the women’s suffrage movement. 

20 (7) Instead of patiently waiting for States to 

21 grant women suffrage, Alice Paul mobilized an en22 tire generation of women to pressure the United 

23 States Congress and the President to give all women 

24 in America the right to vote. 


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1 (8) Alice Paul did not stop her fight after the 

2 19th Amendment was ratified; she drafted the Equal 

3 Rights Amendment to the United States Constitu4 tion in 1923 and fought tirelessly for its passage 

5 until her death 54 years later. 

6 (9) Alice Paul lobbied Congress to include gen7 der in civil rights bills and was successful in includ8 ing sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil 

9 Rights Act of 1964. 

10 (10) Alice Paul sought equal rights for women 

11 all over the world, not just Americans and, as a 

12 means of pursuing this goal, founded the World 

13 Party for Equal Rights for Women in the 1930s. 

14 (11) Alice Paul was instrumental in the place15 ment of a passage on gender equality in the pre16 amble of the United Nations Charter. 

17 (12) Few people have played a greater role in 

18 shaping the history of the United States than Alice 

19 Paul. 

20 (13) Alice Paul is an example to all Americans 

21 of what one person can do to make a difference for 

22 millions of people. 

23 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

24 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

25 the House of Representatives and the President pro temVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:52 Mar 01, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H874.IH H874

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1 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

2 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 

3 medal of appropriate design in commemoration of Alice 

4 Paul, in recognition of her role in the women’s suffrage 

5 movement and in advancing equal rights for women. 

6 (b) PRESENTATION AND DISPLAY.—The medal re7 ferred to in subsection (a) shall be presented jointly to 

8 representatives of the Alice Paul Institute and the Sewall9 Belmont House, to be shared equally and displayed as ap10 propriate. 

11 (c) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

12 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

13 of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 

14 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em15 blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 

16 Secretary. 

17 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

18 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

19 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 

20 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

21 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

22 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

23 and the cost of the gold medal. 


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1 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

2 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu3 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

4 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

5 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

6 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

7 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

8 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

9 SALE. 

10 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 

11 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

12 Public Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be nec13 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 

14 to this Act. 

15 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

16 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

17 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

18 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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