IA 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. J. RES. 59 
Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to the establishment of an 
appropriate day for the commemoration of the women suffragists who 
fought for and won the right of women to vote in the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 14, 2005 
Ms. BERKLEY (for herself, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, 
Ms. MATSUI, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. WASSERMAN
SCHULTZ, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. 
HARMAN, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Ms. CARSON, Ms. WAT-
SON, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 
Florida, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, 
Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of Cali-
fornia, Ms. SCHWARTZ of Pennsylvania, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. JACKSON- 
LEE of Texas, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. HOOLEY, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. 
HERSETH, Ms. WATERS, Ms. BEAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, 
Ms. LEE, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mrs. CAPPS, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. 
ESHOO, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. MCCOLLUM 
of Minnesota, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mrs. JOHNSON of 
Connecticut, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, 
Ms. NORTON, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. ISRAEL, and Mr. 
CONYERS) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Government Reform 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to the estab-
lishment of an appropriate day for the commemoration 
of the women suffragists who fought for and won the 
right of women to vote in the United States.
•HJ 59 IH 
Whereas one of the first public appeals for women’s 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 Con-
vention in Akron, Ohio; 
Whereas in 1869, suffragists formed two national organiza-
tions to work for the right to vote: the National Woman 
Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage 
Association; 
Whereas 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; 
Whereas she was arrested and fined for voting illegally; 
Whereas at her trial, which attracted nationwide attention, 
she made a speech that ended with the slogan ‘‘Resist-
ance to Tyranny Is Obedience to God’’; 
Whereas on January 25, 1887, the United States Senate 
voted on women’s suffrage for the first time; 
Whereas during the early 1900s, a new generation of leaders 
joined the women’s suffrage movement, including Carrie 
Chapman Catt, Maud Wood Park, Lucy Burns, Alice 
Paul, and Harriot E. Blatch; 
Whereas women’s suffrage leaders devoted most of their ef-
forts to marches, picketing, and other active forms of 
protest; 
Whereas Alice Paul and others chained themselves to the 
White House fence;
•HJ 59 IH 
Whereas the suffragists were often arrested and sent to jail, 
where many of them went on hunger strikes; 
Whereas almost 5,000 people paraded for women’s suffrage 
up Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC; and 
Whereas on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the 
United States Constitution granted women in the United 
States the right to vote: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
That it is the sense of Congress that an appropriate day 
should be established for the commemoration of the 
women suffragists who worked for the right of women to 
vote in the United States. 
Æ