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[Page S3247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I am proud to rise today to celebrate the
100th anniversary of the day my home State of Wisconsin became the
first State in the Nation to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, giving women the right to vote.
Although the outcome was a historic victory, women did not gain the
right to vote without a struggle. The road to Wisconsin's ratification
of the 19th Amendment was paved with more than 70 years of advocacy and
speeches, marches and rallies, legislation and lawsuits by strong
Wisconsin suffragists. Many of the battles were lost before they were
won.
When Wisconsin became a State in 1848, only White male landowners
over 21 years of age could vote. In 1869, women won the right to run
for local school boards in Wisconsin but ironically could not vote for
themselves. In 1886, Wisconsin voters approved a statewide referendum
allowing women to vote in school elections. When women tried to
exercise their new rights for the first time in 1887, however, many
women's ballots were discarded because there was no way to verify that
women voted only in school elections. Racine suffragist Olympia Brown
sued to have her ballot accepted, but the State supreme court said the
law was vague and needed to be rewritten. Fourteen years later, the
Wisconsin Legislature approved the creation of separate ballots for
women that only included school elections.
In 1911, Wisconsin suffragists persuaded the legislature to authorize
a statewide referendum on voting rights for women, but it was soundly
defeated by an electorate that didn't include women. Two years later,
the legislature again called for a referendum on women's suffrage, but
it was vetoed by the Governor. In 1915, another attempt at a referendum
was rejected by lawmakers.
Women's suffrage fared much better when the debate over voting rights
shifted from individual States to the national stage. Congress passed
the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919. Less than a week later, on June
10th, the Wisconsin Legislature ratified the amendment, narrowly
beating out its neighbor to the south. Illinois had actually ratified
the amendment an hour before Wisconsin, but a paperwork error delayed
the filing of the Illinois documents. By August 26, 1920, the necessary
36 States had ratified the 19th Amendment, and women were granted full
voting rights.
As we celebrate the centennial of this historic moment, it is
important to acknowledge that ratification of the 19th Amendment did
not extend voting rights to all women. Advocacy for suffrage for Black
women was often abandoned in an attempt to gain support for
ratification in the South. African-American women faced
disenfranchisement tactics that ranged from separate long lines and
civics tests to poll taxes and even beatings. Many of these tactics
continued until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Wisconsin owes its unique position in history to the voices of
powerful Wisconsin women who not only spoke truth to power but who also
shattered the glass ceiling in their professional lives. Belle Case
LaFollette, originally from Summit, was the first woman to graduate
from law school in Wisconsin. Laura Ross Wolcott from Milwaukee was
Wisconsin's first woman physician. Olympia Brown of Racine was the
first woman to be ordained a minister in the entire country. Nationally
renowned suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt from Ripon was indispensable to
passage of the amendment. As the first woman to represent Wisconsin in
the U.S. House of Representatives and now the U.S. Senate, I am humbled
to walk the path these strong women helped forge for their successors.
One hundred years ago, after decades of struggle by brave women and
men, our Nation finally extended to women the most fundamental right in
our democracy--the right to vote. As we celebrate this historic
milestone in our Nation's history, let us vow to continue to fight for
full equality for women, including access to health care, in workplace
salaries, and in representation the Halls of Congress.
____________________