100th Anniversary of the State of Indiana's Ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 100th Anniversary of the State of Indiana's ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It was on this date a century ago that the Indiana General Assembly answered the call of history, helping to finally open the doors of democracy, equality, and opportunity to Hoosier women.

Not long after the landmark Seneca Falls Convention and subsequent Declaration of Sentiments in 1848, female leaders in Indiana began to organize their own women's rights initiatives. Led by Randolph County native Amanda Way, Indiana's first convention for women's rights took place in 1851. Building on the energy generated from this first convention, participants went on to form the Indiana Woman's Rights Association in 1852. As the movement began to take hold the organization transformed into the Indiana Woman's Suffrage Association. In 1859, Richmond physician Dr. Mary F. Thomas spoke in favor of women's suffrage in front of the Indiana General Assembly in Indianapolis. As the leader of the Indiana Woman's Suffrage Association, she was the first female to address the Indiana General Assembly.

Soon thereafter the scourge of the Civil War dominated political and social life throughout the country. However, the dream of women's suffrage did not wither in the shadow of this national calamity. After the surrender of Confederate forces in 1865, the states went on to ratify the 14th Amendment guaranteeing citizens equal protection under the law, in 1868. The states then ratified the 15th Amendment in 1870, guaranteeing the right to vote to all males regardless of race. These new guarantees reinvigorated the push for women's suffrage.

Pressure for passage of statewide women's suffrage was first and foremost on the mind of May Wright Sewall's Equal Suffrage Society, which during the early 1880's, organized massive letter writing campaigns aimed at influencing the members of the Indiana General Assembly. Activists such as Helen Gougar of Lafayette, went even a step further, actively attempting to vote in an election in 1894. Having been barred from her attempt to vote, she filed a court case against the Tippecanoe County Election Board. After initial successes in lower courts, the case went to the Indiana Supreme Court which ultimately ruled against Mrs. Gougar. Later in 1897, American icon and women's suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony spoke before the Indiana General Assembly, advocating the swift passage of statewide women's suffrage.

With the struggle continuing on into the 20th Century, those fighting for women's suffrage developed new connections and organizations, strengthening their forces in this march towards equality. Groups such as the Indiana Federation of Clubs, the Women's Franchise League, the Legislative Council of Indiana, and the Equal Suffrage Association employed new, more high-profile tactics such as auto tours, parades, car rallies, and other major grassroots campaigns, in an effort to increase support for their cause. Leaders including Indianapolis natives Grace Julian Clarke, Dr. Amelia Keller, and Carrie Barnes Ross, along with Ida Husted Harper of Terre Haute, Marie Stuart Edwards of Peru, and many others, recruited Hoosier women from all ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds to their ranks, increasing the spectrum of voices calling for equality and opportunity. As a result of their continued efforts the suffragettes were successful in persuading the Indiana General Assembly to pass the Maston-McKinley Partial Suffrage Act in 1917. This act granted women the right to vote in certain state and local elections. However, a legal ruling from the Indiana State Supreme Court struck down the law shortly before the 1917 municipal elections.

Undeterred, these brave, intrepid heroes continued their struggle. Then in 1919, the dam of inequality finally began to break as the United States House or Representatives and the United States Senate passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919. The anticipated vote total in the U.S. House of Representatives was predicted to be so narrow that supporters of women's suffrage helped carry Hoosier Representative Henry Barnhart of Rochester, Indiana, from his hospital bed to the House floor so he could cast his vote in favor of the bill. After passing both houses of the U.S. Congress, the proposed amendment was sent to the states, needing three-quarters of the states to vote in favor of ratification before the amendment could be adopted. Back in Indiana, after resisting demands to call a special session to ratify the 19th Amendment, the Indiana General Assembly did finally convene, and on January 16, 1920, Indiana became the 26th state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

After decades of struggle, the power of the vote was extended to women with the adoption of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920. Forever more the law would guarantee that the right of citizens of the United States to vote would no longer be denied to women. Today, a century after this landmark moment, women across our country continue to lead the United States into the future with the same zeal and steely determination that sparked a political revolution and allowed our country to move another step closer to living out the ideals of its founders.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source