Bill Text: IL HR0623 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Commemorates the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-01-28 - Resolution Adopted [HR0623 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-HR0623-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The 19th Amendment to the United States | ||||||
3 | Constitution granted American women
the right to vote, a right | ||||||
4 | known as women's suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920; | ||||||
5 | the
year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the | ||||||
6 | 19th Amendment, guaranteeing
and protecting women's | ||||||
7 | constitutional right to vote; this historic centennial offers | ||||||
8 | an
unparalleled opportunity to commemorate a milestone of | ||||||
9 | democracy and to explore its
relevance to the issues of equal | ||||||
10 | rights today; and
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11 | WHEREAS, The efforts of millions of American women, | ||||||
12 | starting in the nineteenth century,
played a decisive role in | ||||||
13 | winning the right to vote; many of these women lived and fought | ||||||
14 | for
suffrage in Illinois, making the Prairie State a nationwide | ||||||
15 | leader in the successful effort; and
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16 | WHEREAS, In Illinois, the first women's suffrage | ||||||
17 | association was established in Earlville in LaSalle
County in | ||||||
18 | 1855, just seven years after the first women's rights | ||||||
19 | convention in Seneca Falls, New
York, which called for suffrage | ||||||
20 | for women; the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association, the first
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21 | statewide suffrage organization, was established in 1869; the | ||||||
22 | organization became the Illinois
Equal Suffrage Association in | ||||||
23 | 1981; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Illinois women's rights advocates included Jane | ||||||
2 | Addams, Frances Willard, and Ruth
Hanna McCormick; these women | ||||||
3 | fought for the rights of all people; additionally, pioneer and
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4 | crusader Susan Brownell Anthony paved the way for the first | ||||||
5 | nationwide women's movement in
the United States and led that | ||||||
6 | movement for over 50 years, which culminated in the
adoption of | ||||||
7 | the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote in the | ||||||
8 | United States; and
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9 | WHEREAS, With the continued work of women's suffrage | ||||||
10 | organizations throughout Illinois led
by prominent citizens, | ||||||
11 | women in Illinois secured the right to vote; along with | ||||||
12 | Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Susan B. Anthony founded the National | ||||||
13 | Woman Suffrage Association in 1869; they
also produced The | ||||||
14 | Revolution, a weekly publication that lobbied for women's | ||||||
15 | rights, and a three
volume History of Woman Suffrage; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Susan B. Anthony and the National Woman Suffrage | ||||||
17 | Association gathered enough
influence to lobby the U.S. | ||||||
18 | Congress for a constitutional amendment and saw the | ||||||
19 | introduction of
the first women's suffrage amendment to the | ||||||
20 | United States Constitution in January 1878, which
stated, "The | ||||||
21 | Right of citizens to vote shall not be abridged by the United | ||||||
22 | States or by any state
on account of sex."; and
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1 | WHEREAS, With the continued work of several organizations, | ||||||
2 | including the Illinois Equal
Suffrage Association, the | ||||||
3 | Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs, and the Chicago Political
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4 | Equality League, the women's suffrage amendment to the United | ||||||
5 | States Constitution was
introduced in every session of Congress | ||||||
6 | for the next 41 years until women in Illinois secured the
right | ||||||
7 | to vote; and
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8 | WHEREAS, It was not until 1920, 14 years after Susan B. | ||||||
9 | Anthony's death, that the 19th
amendment to the U.S. | ||||||
10 | Constitution granted American women the right to vote; the | ||||||
11 | ratification on August 18, 1920 ended almost a century of | ||||||
12 | protest; the Congress of the United States passed the 19th | ||||||
13 | Amendment on May 21, 1919, and the Senate
passed the 19th | ||||||
14 | Amendment two weeks later; and
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15 | WHEREAS, In 1913, Illinois enacted the Presidential | ||||||
16 | Suffrage Bill, which gave Illinois women
the right to vote in | ||||||
17 | federal and municipal elections that were not otherwise | ||||||
18 | restricted to men
only by the Illinois Constitution; and
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19 | WHEREAS, On June 10, 1919, Illinois lawmakers in | ||||||
20 | Springfield made the Land of Lincoln the
first state in the | ||||||
21 | nation to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, | ||||||
22 | the
constitutional amendment that granted the right to vote to | ||||||
23 | women in all elections nationwide,
including federal elections |
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1 | for offices such as U.S. President; and
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2 | WHEREAS, Illinois holds a significant and unique role in | ||||||
3 | the passage and ratification of the 19th
Amendment to the | ||||||
4 | Constitution of the United States; we remember in this | ||||||
5 | commemoration the
hopes and dreams of the hundreds of thousands | ||||||
6 | of Illinois women of all political parties who
organized | ||||||
7 | themselves, from the 1870s into the 1910s, into the | ||||||
8 | half-century-long effort to win the
right to vote in America; | ||||||
9 | therefore, be it
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10 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
11 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
12 | we commemorate the
100th anniversary of women's suffrage and | ||||||
13 | recognize 2020 as a year to celebrate a woman's right to
vote | ||||||
14 | and the important role Illinois played in achieving that right | ||||||
15 | in the United States; and be it further
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16 | RESOLVED, That we recognize the Women's Vote Centennial
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17 | Initiative, a collaboration of women-centered institutions, | ||||||
18 | organizations, and scholars from
across the U.S., which work to | ||||||
19 | ensure that this anniversary and the 72-year fight to achieve | ||||||
20 | it are remembered.
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