Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlelady from New York and the gentlelady from Tennessee. Along with the gentlelady from Ohio, and someone we will hear from shortly, the gentlelady from Florida, it is an honor to be with you tonight. I represent the State that is officially known as the ``Equality State,'' and that is for this reason: Wyoming is the first government in the world to continuously and fully grant women the right to vote. Most people think that had to have been some State associated with the Eastern intelligentsia, but here is the real story. In the Wyoming Territory, the legislature passed into law on December 10, 1869, a measure stating: That every woman at the age of 21 years, residing in this territory, may, at every election, to be holden under the laws thereof, cast her vote. This Suffrage Act granted women in the Wyoming Territory the right to vote with full civil and judicial equality with men. The first woman to cast her ballot pursuant to those rights was Louisa Swain. She voted in Laramie on September 6, 1870, becoming the Nation's first woman voter under laws guaranteeing absolute political equality with men. Now think about that. That is 1870. That is 50 years before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She was a 70-year-old woman. Here is the account of her vote in the Laramie Daily Sentinel: It is comforting to note that our first woman voter was really a lady . . . of the highest social standing in the community, universally beloved and respected.…”