Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to mark the 150th anniversary of the first ballot cast by a woman in the United States under an equal suffrage law. I am proud that this remarkable milestone occurred in my home State of Utah. The fight for the right to vote for all Americans, regardless of gender, race, or class, was achieved through efforts, large and small, and through great sacrifice. Suffrage is the freedom to vote, to reaffirm the solemn duty of the citizen in a representative democracy. When I vote, I remember the sacrifice of men and women in uniform--of those who have won and preserved freedom for us in the past and of those who preserve it for us today. My vote is a recognition of that sacrifice. It is right and fitting that every American, male and female, has that same privilege. Our great State of Utah was settled by pioneers like Brigham Young, who led his people to a new land in search of liberty and freedom from oppression. While the pioneers and settlers of Utah secured freedom of territory, religion, and thought, the voices of women were still not heard when it often mattered most--during the democratic selection of their government leaders. Seraph Young, like her granduncle Brigham Young before her, endeavored to chart a different course. In the early morning of February 14, 1870, she became the first woman to vote in the United States of America. On that election day in Salt Lake City, 24 other women joined Seraph Young in casting their ballots.…”