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

Chairmen

NamePartyStateYears
Elbridge G. LaphamRepublicanNew York1882-1883
Francis M. CockrellDemocraticMissouri1884-1889
Zebulon B. VanceDemocraticNorth Carolina1890-1892
George HoarRepublicanMassachusetts1893-1895
James Z. GeorgeDemocraticMississippi1897
James H. BerryDemocraticArkansas1898-1899
John W. DanielDemocraticVirginia1900-1901
Augustus O. BaconDemocraticGeorgia1902-1907
Alexander S. ClayDemocraticGeorgia1908-1910
Lee S. OvermanDemocraticNorth Carolina1911-1912
Charles S. ThomasDemocraticColorado1913-1916
Andrieus A. JonesDemocraticNew Mexico1917-1918
James E. WatsonRepublicanIndiana1919-1921