Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote

ANNIVERSARY OF WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE -- (House of Representatives - July 19, 2005)

(Ms. HARRIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark an important anniversary in our Nation's history. Eighty-five years ago, on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment to the Constitution was ratified, extending the right to vote to American women.

The road to the 19th amendment was long and difficult, paved with hard work and struggle. The birth of the women's suffrage movement can be traced to the Women's Rights Commission in Seneca Falls, New York, in July of 1848, which laid out the principles that would guide the women's movement.

More than seven decades later, those principles were at last codified into our Constitution, moving our Nation closer to meeting the promise of its founding.

Today, we have more women than ever serving in elected and appointed positions in our local, State, and national governments. Not only in this Chamber, but also in the United States Senate, in the President's Cabinet, and in a wide range of Governors' offices, as well as other positions. This represents a vast change from where we stood 85 years ago, and our Nation is stronger for it.

As we watch the spread of freedom across the globe, and as more and more women take on the rights and responsibilities of full political citizenship, let us pay tribute to those women who blazed the trail for those of us who have followed.

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