Amy Klobuchar: “I thank my colleague, Senator Capito from West Virginia, who, in the spirit of today, has allowed me to take her place…”

“I thank my colleague, Senator Capito from West Virginia, who, in the spirit of today, has allowed me to take her place, and she will go next. I rise to join my colleagues to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment. I thank Senator Collins and Senator Feinstein for taking the lead in bringing us together today. Just think. One hundred years ago today, the Senate voted to guarantee and protect a woman's constitutional right to vote, marking an important milestone in our democracy. My home State of Minnesota was the 15th State to ratify the 19th Amendment, and women like Dr. Mary Jackman Colburn, Sarah Burger Stearns, Clara Ueland, and Sarah Tarleton Colvin fought to make it happen. By the way, on a historical note, when President Wilson refused at first to support a constitutional amendment to grant women equal voting rights, suffragists like Sarah Colvin of Minnesota chained themselves to the fence of the White House and burned an effigy of the President. After weeks of similar protest fires and intense pressure to support equal rights, he announced his support of a constitutional amendment. We also must remember, in addition to people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, the African-American suffragists who were in the league--Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, and Margaret Murray Washington. The women's suffrage movement encountered strong opposition.…”