Idaho HCR 35: WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE – Stating findings of the Legislature and recognizing August 26, 2020, as Women’s Suffrage Day.

Bill Text

LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO
Sixty-fifth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2020
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 35
BY HEALTH AND WELFARE COMMITTEE
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION1
STATING FINDINGS OF THE LEGISLATURE AND RECOGNIZING AUGUST 26, 2020, AS2
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE DAY.3
Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:4
WHEREAS, in July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott orga-5
nized America's first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York,6
where they drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, calling for women's equal-7
ity and suffrage; and8
WHEREAS, the women's suffrage movement attempted to be inclusive and9
diverse, recruiting allies such as Frederick Douglass, a former slave and10
leader of the abolition movement who also championed women's suffrage and11
attended the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848; and other prominent African12
American suffragists, such as Mary Church Terrell, the first president and13
one of the founding members of the National Association of Colored Women; Ida14
B. Wells-Barnett of Chicago, who courageously fought against lynching; and15
Adella Hunt Logan, a faculty member at the Tuskegee Institute and an activist16
for education; and17
WHEREAS, in 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized18
the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), and that same year Lucy19
Stone and her husband Henry Brown Blackwell, along with Julia Ward Howe and20
Henry Ward Beecher, formed the American Woman Suffrage Association; and21
WHEREAS, at the time, the formation of two women's suffrage organiza-22
tions was necessary given the divide over language of the newly proposed23
amendment to the U.S. Constitution, today's Fifteenth Amendment, extending24
suffrage to African American men; and25
WHEREAS, in 1870, after the required three-fourths of states ratified26
the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting African American27
men the right to vote, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other28
suffragists signed and sent a voting rights petition to the U.S. Senate and29
U.S. House of Representatives requesting that suffrage rights be extended to30
women; and31
WHEREAS, the Territorial Legislature of Wyoming and the State Legisla-32
tures of Utah, Colorado, and Idaho enfranchised the women of their jurisdic-33
tions between 1869 and 1896, becoming the first four states to grant women34
the vote; and35
WHEREAS, Idaho's Territorial Legislature first debated extending women36
suffrage in 1870 when Malad City Representative Dr. Joseph William Morgan37
introduced a bill to enfranchise women; and38
WHEREAS, in 1879, and again in 1885, Idaho's Territorial Legislature39
extended partial suffrage to Idaho women, and in 1889 Idaho's Constitutional40
Convention heard presentations from suffragists Abigail Jane Scott Duniway41
and Henrietta Skelton in support of women's suffrage, and in 1896, after a42

2
unanimous decision by Idaho's Supreme Court, Idaho's constitutional amend-1
ment extending suffrage to women became law; and2
WHEREAS, between 1896 and 1917, women from suffrage states, includ-3
ing Idaho, advocated for the vote for women across the country by holding4
parades, rallies, events, and finally picketing campaigns in front of the5
White House; and6
WHEREAS, by 1918, these efforts gained the attention of President7
Woodrow Wilson and resulted in the Sixty-fifth U.S. Congress's action to8
bring a proposed women's suffrage amendment to the floor of the U.S. House of9
Representatives; and10
WHEREAS, despite defeat of the 1918 suffrage amendment in the U.S. Sen-11
ate, the Sixty-sixth Congress introduced the proposed amendment, and on May12
21, 1919, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the resolution, 304 to 90,13
and on June 4, 1919, the Senate concurred, voting with a margin of 56 to 25,14
thus creating House Joint Resolution No. 1, A Joint Resolution Proposing An15
Amendment To the Constitution Extending the Right of Suffrage to Women; and16
WHEREAS, governors across the country began to call upon their state's17
legislatures to ratify the proposed amendment, with the result that, between18
June 1919 and January 1920, 27 states had ratified the proposed women's suf-19
frage amendment; and20
WHEREAS, Idaho Governor D. W. Davis called an Extraordinary Session of21
the Idaho Legislature on February 11, 1920, for the sole purpose of ratifying22
the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution extending the right of suf-23
frage to women; and24
WHEREAS, Governor Davis recognized in his address to the Legislature25
on February 11, 1920, that Idaho had been "one of the leaders in extending26
to women that progressive and altogether honorable principle of equal fran-27
chise," and that it was therefore "particularly fitting ... that this State28
which has enjoyed such privilege should now ratify the federal amendment29
by which women are to be virtually freed from the narrow prejudices of the30
past"; an