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[Page S1081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMMEMORATING UTAH WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE
Mr. ROMNEY. Mr. President, I rise to mark the 150th anniversary of
the first ballot cast by a woman in the United States under an equal
suffrage law. I am proud that this remarkable milestone occurred in my
home State of Utah.
The fight for the right to vote for all Americans, regardless of
gender, race, or class, was achieved through efforts, large and small,
and through great sacrifice.
Suffrage is the freedom to vote, to reaffirm the solemn duty of the
citizen in a representative democracy. When I vote, I remember the
sacrifice of men and women in uniform--of those who have won and
preserved freedom for us in the past and of those who preserve it for
us today. My vote is a recognition of that sacrifice. It is right and
fitting that every American, male and female, has that same privilege.
Our great State of Utah was settled by pioneers like Brigham Young,
who led his people to a new land in search of liberty and freedom from
oppression. While the pioneers and settlers of Utah secured freedom of
territory, religion, and thought, the voices of women were still not
heard when it often mattered most--during the democratic selection of
their government leaders.
Seraph Young, like her granduncle Brigham Young before her,
endeavored to chart a different course. In the early morning of
February 14, 1870, she became the first woman to vote in the United
States of America. On that election day in Salt Lake City, 24 other
women joined Seraph Young in casting their ballots. Then, in the next
election, 2,000 more women followed their lead and exercised their
equal suffrage rights. The voices of the few set in motion a monumental
shift in our Nation's history.
Twenty-four years before the 19th Amendment to grant equal suffrage
for women was ratified, Utah once again made history by electing the
Nation's first female State senator, Martha Hughes Cannon. Cannon did
not hesitate to pursue her own path. After receiving her undergraduate
degree in chemistry, she went on to earn degrees in oration, medicine,
and pharmacy at a time when few women pursued advanced education. As a
physician, church leader, suffragist, and mother, she defeated her own
husband at the ballot box to become the first female State senator in
U.S. history.
Soon, we will honor the tremendous contributions Martha Hughes Cannon
and all women suffragists have made as we welcome her as a new addition
to Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
The symbols we choose to represent us and our State matter a great
deal, and the bronze rendering of Cannon will serve as an enduring
tribute to the efforts of all suffragists.
To all the women who have led and who continue to lead by example, we
thank you.
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