SENATE RESOLUTION 42

(By Senators Boley, Rucker, Cline, Sypolt, Stollings, Unger, Baldwin, Romano, Plymale, and Lindsay)

[Introduced February 14, 2020]

Commemorating the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Whereas, Led by suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, women began the fight for their right to vote in July of 1848 when a meeting of over 300 people convened in Seneca Falls, New York; and

Whereas, In the decades to follow that meeting, women around the United States protested, picketed, and were imprisoned to secure their constitutional right to vote; and

Whereas, Perhaps the most widely known suffragist of her generation, Susan B. Anthony traveled the country to give speeches, circulate petitions, and organize local women’s rights organizations; and

Whereas, Nearly 70 years after the struggle began, the United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment in June of 1919; and

Whereas, On March 10, 1920, West Virginia voted to ratify the 19th Amendment, becoming the 34th state to do so. By August of 1920, 36 states ratified the amendment, ensuring that the right to vote could not be denied or abridged based on sex; and

Whereas, The Senate joins the citizens of West Virginia and our fellow Americans in celebrating this monumental moment in our country’s history; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate:

That the Senate hereby commemorates the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the West Virginia Women’s Commission, the West Virginia Secretary of State, and the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History.