I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 655 
To honor Susan B. Anthony by celebrating her legacy on the third Monday 
in February. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 11, 2011 
Mrs. MALONEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To honor Susan B. Anthony by celebrating her legacy on 
the third Monday in February. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Susan B. Anthony 
Birthday Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Susan Brownell Anthony created the first 
women’s movement in the United States and led 
that movement for more than 50 years. 
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(2) Born in South Adams, Massachusetts, on 
February 15, 1820, Susan B. Anthony met Eliza-
beth Cady Stanton in 1851 and attended her first 
women’s rights convention in Syracuse in 1852, 
where she joined the fight to get women the right to 
vote, arguing that ‘‘the right women needed above 
every other . . . was the right of suffrage’’. 
(3) The first proposal for women’s suffrage was 
presented to Congress in 1868. 
(4) Susan B. Anthony appeared before every 
Congress from 1869 to 1906 to ask for passage of 
a suffrage amendment. 
(5) Susan B. Anthony served as the president 
of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 
1892 until 1900. 
(6) Designated then as the 16th amendment, 
the first formal women’s suffrage amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States was introduced in 
January 1878 and stated, ‘‘The right of citizens to 
vote shall not be abridged by the United States or 
by any State on account of sex.’’. This same amend-
ment was introduced in every session of Congress for 
the next 41 years. 
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(7) Before her death on March 13, 1906, Susan 
B. Anthony’s last public words were ‘‘Failure is im-
possible.’’. 
(8) On May 21, 1919, the House of Represent-
atives passed the 19th Amendment, and 2 weeks 
later, the Senate followed. 
(9) On August 18, 1920, when Tennessee be-
came the 36th State to ratify the amendment, the 
amendment passed its final hurdle of obtaining the 
agreement of three-fourths of the States. Secretary 
of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification 
on August 26, 1920. 
(10) The text of the 19th Amendment is: ‘‘The 
right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or 
by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have 
power to enforce this article by appropriate legisla-
tion.’’. 
(11) In 1921, a marble statue of Susan B. An-
thony and her women’s rights colleagues, Lucretia 
Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was dedicated in 
the United States Capitol. 
(12) Susan B. Anthony’s picture has appeared 
on two postage stamps, the 3-cent purple stamp 
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