United States Senate Select Committee on Woman Suffrage

The Select Committee on Woman Suffrage was a select committee of the United States Senate from 1882-1921[1] It was established to consider an amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote in the United States.

History

The Senate established the select committee on January 9, 1882, when it approved a resolution offered by Senator George Hoar of Massachusetts. The committee was directed to consider "all petitions, bills, and resolves asking for the extension of suffrage to women or the removal of their legal disabilities." The first constitutional amendment granting woman suffrage was proposed January 10, 1878, by Senator Aaron Sargent of California. Similar amendments were introduced and referred to the select committee each successive Congress until 1919, when a resolution that was to become the 19th Amendment to the Constitution passed both houses of Congress.[2]

The committee became a standing committee in 1909 when Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island submitted a resolution that had the effect of giving all current select committees, including Woman Suffrage, full committee status. The committee was abolished in 1921, along with many other obsolete committees.[3]

Woman suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony testified before the select committee several times over the year,[4] the last occurring in 1902.[2]

Chairmen


Name Party State Years
Elbridge G. Lapham Republican New York 1882-1883
Francis M. Cockrell Democratic Missouri 1884-1889
Zebulon B. Vance Democratic North Carolina 1890-1892
George Hoar Republican Massachusetts 1893-1895
James Z. George Democratic Mississippi 1897
James H. Berry Democratic Arkansas 1898-1899
John W. Daniel Democratic Virginia 1900-1901
Augustus O. Bacon Democratic Georgia 1902-1907
Alexander S. Clay Democratic Georgia 1908-1910
Lee S. Overman Democratic North Carolina 1911-1912
Charles S. Thomas Democratic Colorado 1913-1916
Andrieus A. Jones Democratic New Mexico 1917-1918
James E. Watson Republican Indiana 1919-1921

See also

Sources
  1. Robert C. Byrd. The Senate, 1789-1989, Volume 4: Historical Statistics, 1789-1992. Page 609. Government Printing Office. 1993.
  2. "The Susan B. Anthony Trial: A Chronology". Archived from the original on 2010-10-21. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  3. Center for Legislative Archives - Guide to Senate Records: Chapter 13 Woman Suffrage, National Archives
  4. Today in History: March 8, 1884. Library of Congress
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