I saw Speaker Pelosi's speech and swearing in on C-span last night.
Anna already wrote about this very eloquently over at Texaskaos, but this seemed a bit long for a comment on her diary, so I beg your indulgence.
Sappy political romantic that I am, I thought of all the women who had fought to make this moment possible.
Abigail Adams, and a whole host of woman patriots from Molly Pitcher to Betsy Ross who risked every bit as much as the men of colonial America to forge a new nation.
Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whose words at the Seneca Falls convention supplied the animating principles for the women's suffrage movement.
But we are assembled to protest against a form of government existing without the consent of the governed - to declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support, to have such isgraceful laws as give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her love; laws which make her the mere dependent on his bounty. It is to protest against such unjust laws as these that we are assembled today, and to have them, if possible, forever erased from our statute books, deeming them a shame and a disgrace to a Christian republic in the nineteenth century. We have met to uplift woman's fallen divinity upon an even pedestal with man's. And, strange as it may seem to many, we now demand our right to vote according to the declaration of the government under which we live.
This right no one pretends to deny. We need not prove ourselves equal to Daniel Webster to enjoy this privilege, for the ignorant Irishman in the ditch has all the civil rights he has. We need not prove our muscular power equal to this same Irishman to enjoy this privilege, for the most tiny, weak, ill-shaped stripling of twenty-one has all the civil rights of the Irishman. We have no objection to discuss the question of equality, for we feel that the weight of argument lies wholly with us, but we wish the question of equality kept distinct from the question of rights, for the proof of the one does not determine the truth of the other. All white men in this country have the same rights, however they may differ in mind, body, or estate.
The right is ours. The question now is: how shall we get possession of what rightfully belongs to us? We should not feel so sorely grieved if no man who had not attained the full stature of a Webster, Clay, Van Buren, or Gerrit Smith could claim the right of the elective franchise. But to have drunkards, idiots, horse-racing, rum-selling rowdies, ignorant foreigners, and silly boys fully recognized, while we ourselves are thrust out from all the rights that belong to citizens, it is too grossly insulting to the dignity of woman to be longer quietly submitted to.
The right is ours. Have it, we must. Use it, we will. The pens, the tongues, the fortunes, the indomitable wills of many women are already pledged to secure this right. The great truth that no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed we shall echo and re-echo in the ears of the unjust judge, until by continual coming we shall weary him
The Iron Jawed Angels who used the principles of civil disobedience to fight for the 19th constitutional amendment that finally extended the vote to women in 1920-1920-less than 100 years ago.
Margaret Sanger, who demanded that women should have the right to reproductive choice and defied convention and law to further that agenda.
Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and the numberless anonymous women who refused to acquiesce to second class citizenship and who still refuse to acquiese today.
Barbara Jordan and her eloquent defense of the Constitution during the turbulent Watergate era. Shirley Chisholm, who when she made history by running for the presidential nomination said
"I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of the people"
. Geraldine Ferraro.
And yes, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who yesterday marked a milestone women in this nation.
Speaker of the House
Many men supported these women, but fundamentally, women had to take charge of their own destiny. Fundamental human rights are recognized rather than bestowed.
They could and cannot be given and taken away by an external force or government. They can be protected or violated by that government, but that doesn't change their fundamental nature.
There is much work to do yet to ensure their recognition and protection.
But right now, I'm taking a moment to enjoy a milestone that seemed very far away sometimes.
Xposted at Texaskaos.