HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 91-4621, by Representatives Hine, Miller, Spanel, Lisk, Tate, P. Johnson, Winsley, Forner, Bowman, Mitchell, Ferguson and Edmondson

   WHEREAS, Friday, February 15, 1991, marks the one hundred seventy-first anniversary of the birth of Susan Brownell Anthony, reformer and leader of women's suffrage; and

   WHEREAS, Susan B. Anthony defied male electioneers and faced indictment for illegally voting in 1872; and

   WHEREAS, Susan B. Anthony was director of the Female Department of the Canajoharie Academy in New York until she abandoned her career in education to devote her life to social reform, first organizing the Woman's State Temperance Society of New York; and

   WHEREAS, Susan B. Anthony, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded in 1863 the Woman's Loyal National League to petition Congress to advocate full civil and political rights for women, as well as for blacks, when the Civil War ended; and

   WHEREAS, In 1866, Susan B. Anthony and other reformers formed the Equal Rights Association to further their campaign for women's suffrage; and

   WHEREAS, The reformers took their suffrage campaign in 1867 to the New York State Constitutional Convention, where the state legislature refused to consider the issue, but instead gave considerable support to legislation legalizing prostitution; and

   WHEREAS, Susan B. Anthony and her suffragettes fought back with lobbying efforts that killed the prostitution bill in committee and eventually secured the first laws in New York state to guarantee women's rights over their children and control over their property and wages; and

   WHEREAS, Susan B. Anthony organized the National Woman Suffrage Association that later united with the American Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association; and

   WHEREAS, During the presidential campaign in 1872, Susan B. Anthony urged women in every state in the union to claim their rights under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution by registering and voting; and

   WHEREAS, In a colorful display of her remarkable courage, Susan B. Anthony and her three sisters boldly entered a stronghold of men in a Rochester, New York barbershop in 1872 and insisted that they be registered to vote under provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment; and

   WHEREAS, On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony entered her polling place, voted the Republican ticket, then was charged and indicted for voting illegally; and

   WHEREAS, In another display of determination, Susan B. Anthony refused to pay her streetcar fare when the deputy marshall carted her off to jail, announcing loudly enough for all passengers to hear, "I'm travelling at the expense of this government.  This gentleman is taking me to jail.  Ask him for my fare!";

   NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor Susan B. Anthony and remember her for and emulate her in her dedication to social reform that led to the passage of the women's suffrage amendment (Nineteenth Amendment) to the United States Constitution in 1920; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That Susan B. Anthony be remembered for her courage and determination to work for equal rights for all citizens of America as reflected in her statement:  "It was we the people, not we the white male citizens, nor yet we the male citizens, but we the whole people, who formed this Union.  And we formed it not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them, not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people ‑‑ women as well as men."

I hereby certify this to be a true and correct copy of Resolution 4621 adopted by the House of Representatives February 15, 1991.

                         ________________________________

               Alan Thompson, Chief Clerk, House of Representatives