H. Res. 1733 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

December 17, 2010. 

Whereas, on November 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne 

Clemens, one of the most prolific and influential writers 

and orators in America, was born in Florida, Missouri; 

Whereas Clemens suffered many childhood setbacks including 

incessant poor health until age 9 and the death of his father at age of 12; 

Whereas growing up along the emerging Mississippi port city 

of Hannibal, Missouri, watching the frequent steamboat 

stops and working as a printer and editorial assistant at 

his brother’s newspaper, Clemens discovered his passion 

for writing; 

Whereas Clemens, at the age of 17, moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and became a river pilot’s apprentice, eventually 

becoming a licensed river pilot in 1858; 

Whereas Samuel Clemens then worked for several newspapers 

across the United States after the river trade was halted 

by the Civil War in 1861; 

Whereas Clemens assumed his pen name, Mark Twain, based 

on his experience as a river pilot; 

Whereas Mark Twain means two fathoms or 12 feet when the 

depth of water for a boat is being sounded, or that it is 

safe to navigate; 
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•HRES 1733 EH 

Whereas Twain’s first work to gain notoriety was his short 

story, ‘‘The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County’’, which appeared in the New York Saturday Press on 

November 18, 1865; 

Whereas Mark Twain composed 28 books as well as numerous short stories, letters, and sketches, including such 

classics as ‘‘Life on the Mississippi’’, ‘‘The Adventures of 

Tom Sawyer’’, ‘‘The Prince and the Pauper’’, and ‘‘The 

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’’; 

Whereas Twain first declared his disappointment with politics 

in ‘‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’’, 

where he depicted the absurdities of political and social 

norms by setting them in the court of King Arthur; 

Whereas Mark Twain was a staunch civil rights advocate believing strongly in emancipation and said, ‘‘Lincoln’s 

Proclamation * * * not only set the black slaves free, but 

set the white man free also.’’; and 

Whereas Mark Twain was an adamant supporter of women’s 

suffrage, saying in his most famous speech, ‘‘Votes for 

Women’’: 

‘‘Referring to woman’s sphere in life, I’ll say 

that woman is always right. For twenty-five years 

I’ve been a woman’s rights man. I have always believed, long before my mother died, that, with her 

gray hairs and admirable intellect, perhaps she 

knew as much as I did. Perhaps she knew as much 

about voting as I. 

‘‘I should like to see the time come when 

women shall help to make the laws. I should like to 
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•HRES 1733 EH 

see that whiplash, the ballot, in the hands of 

women. As for this city’s government, I don’t want 

to say much, except that it is a shame—a shame; 

but if I should live twenty-five years longer—and 

there is no reason why I shouldn’t—I think I’ll see 

women handle the ballot. If women had the ballot 

to-day, the state of things in this town would not 

exist. 

‘‘If all the women in this town had a vote 

today they would elect a mayor at the next election, 

and they would rise in their might and change the 

awful state of things now existing here.’’: Now, 

therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes 

Mark Twain as one of America’s most famous literary icons 

and commemorates him on the 175th anniversary of his birth 

and the 100th anniversary of his death. 

Attest: 

Clerk.