79S20710 MMS-D



By:  Giddings                                                   H.C.R. No. 19 







CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

	WHEREAS, A long and tumultuous struggle for woman suffrage 

culminated in the United States with the ratification 85 years ago 

of the 19th Amendment to the Federal Constitution; and

	WHEREAS, Agitation for woman suffrage had begun 72 years 

earlier, when five women issued a call for a convention, which was 

held in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848, to discuss 

the condition and rights of women; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of 

the five organizers of the meeting, drew up a Declaration of 

Sentiments, patterned on the Declaration of Independence, and 11 

resolutions, including one asserting the need for female suffrage; 

all of the resolutions were adopted, and of the approximately 300 

individuals in attendance, some 100 signed the declaration; and

	WHEREAS, In 1869, Wyoming's territorial legislature became 

the first level of government in the United States to grant female 

suffrage and when Wyoming was admitted into the Union as our 44th 

state in 1890, it was the first state in which females could vote, 

serve on juries, and hold public office; following closely behind 

were Colorado in 1893 and both Idaho and Utah in 1896; and

	WHEREAS, Over the ensuing years, strategies for achieving 

woman suffrage in all states varied; while some worked to pass 

suffrage laws in the individual states, others mounted legal 

challenges to male-only voting laws; by 1916, however, most of the 

major suffrage organizations had concluded that their best hope lay 

in a national constitutional amendment to assure uniformity 

throughout the country; and

	WHEREAS, The political tide began to favor the suffragists 

after New York gave women the right to vote in 1917 and the 

following year, President Woodrow Wilson announced his support for 

a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote 

nationwide; in 1919, a suffrage amendment passed in both houses of 

the 66th Congress, and on August 18, 1920, by a margin of just one 

vote in its state legislature, Tennessee became the last state 

needed for the amendment to be ratified and fully incorporated into 

this country's constitution; and

	WHEREAS, The 2nd Called Session of the 36th Texas Legislature 

ratified the 19th Amendment--the ninth state to favor it; more than 

60 years after that, Mississippi's lawmakers were the last to 

approve it belatedly in 1984; and

	WHEREAS, Adoption of the 19th Amendment marked a major 

advance in bringing to fruition the ideal of civil equality that 

lies at the heart of the American way of life; now, therefore, be it

	RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas, 

2nd Called Session, 2005, hereby commemorate the 85th anniversary 

of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States 

Constitution.