(a) Findings.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. 68 women and 32 men signed the Declaration of Sentiments at the Convention in July 1848.
(2) The Declaration of Sentiments was modeled after the Declaration of Independence and declared that “all men and women are created equal”, linking women’s rights directly to the founding ideals of the United States.
(3) Suffrage activists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Jovita Idar, Inez Millholland, Mary Church Terrell, Anne Dallas Dudley, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Esther Hobart Morris, and many others, conducted over 900 local, State, and Federal campaigns over a 72-year time span to win women the right to vote.
(4) On November 6, 1917, New York granted women the right to vote, which was an act that created momentum for the national movement that culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States 3 years later.
(5) The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (“The Susan B. Anthony Amendment”) guarantees all United States women the right to vote and was passed by the 66th Congress of the United States on June 4, 1919.
(6) On August 9, 1920, right before the ratification period was set to expire, Governor Albert H. Roberts called a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly to consider the amendment. Pro-suffrage and anti-suffrage activists from around the country descended on Nashville, Tennessee, intent on influencing the legislature.
(7) After the amendment was defeated in a 48–48 tie vote, Tennessee State Representative Harry T. Burn from McMinn County cast the deciding favorable vote after receiving a note from his mother, Phoebe Ensminger Burn, imploring him to vote yes for ratification.
(8) On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th and final State needed to pass the 19th Amendment, ensuring its ratification pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the United States.
(9) The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920, when Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby issued a proclamation announcing it has become part of the Constitution of the United States.
(10) The ratification of the 19th Amendment marked the single largest extension of voting rights in United States history, enfranchising 27,000,000 American women in the United States.
(b) Purpose.—The purpose of this Act is—
(1) to honor and commemorate the work of women suffrage activists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries;
(2) to increase public awareness and appreciation for the history of the women’s suffrage movement; and
(3) to encourage all women in the United States to exercise their hard-won franchise and to become involved in civic life if they so choose.