The Justice Bell -- and a Toast To Tenacity!

DAR members have been commemorating the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage for more than a year as one of the primary Commemorative Events of this Administration. I commend all those who obtained proclamations, staged events/presentations and marked the centennial of women’s right to vote in myriad meaningful ways. Brava, ladies!

In particular, I must commend the generous and patriotic Daughters of Pennsylvania. During three consecutive administrations, they raised funds for a spectacular commemoration that culminated at Independence Hall this week with a livestreamed “Toast to Tenacity.” But the story actually begins more than a century ago.

After production, the bell was mounted on the bed of a pick-up truck and toured Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. As a powerful message about the movement, its clapper was chained, preventing the bell from ringing in order to symbolize the silence of women. The bell’s 5,000-mile road trip raised awareness for women’s suffrage – though a state-wide referendum still failed in 1915. In 1920, women took the bell on the road again, traveling to several states to raise support for the ratification of the 19th Amendment. After it was achieved in August 1920, a celebration was held on Independence Square in Philadelphia, where the Justice Bell was rung 48 times – once for every state in the union. The Justice Bell has since been on permanent display at Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge. 

The participating organizations staged a “sendoff” for the bell late Tuesday afternoon, at which participants were encouraged to wear period clothing (along with their masks). I was honored to be among the speakers who took part in the ceremony. (View more photographs here: http://justicebell2020.org/justice-bell-send-off-ceremony-2/).  Then on Wednesday morning, the National Park Service hosted the formal “Toast to Tenacity” event in the shadow of Independence Hall. Remarks and musical performances preceded the all-important toast to the women who spent decades fighting for the right to vote, including Alice Paul, the noted Suffragette (and DAR member) who famously raised a grape juice toast to the successful campaign a century ago.

I was then privileged to join Mrs. Ruschenberger’s niece, Sandi Tatnall, and two first-time voters in symbolically ringing the Justice Bell in order to celebrate a century of women’s voices as expressed through the voting booth.  The bell’s chime rang out 50 times to represent the 50 states in the union. What a thrill!

View Photos From the Event Here.

“The ratification of the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment by three-quarters of the States has brought us the rights and duties of the franchise. All patriotic American women, and especially Daughters of the American Revolution, whose avowed aims are the service of "Home and Country," will think more of the duties than the rights. They will not neglect the duty of exercising the franchise, no matter what their opinions about woman suffrage in the abstract may have been. They will remember that this matter is no longer an opinion but an accomplished fact. The controversy is over. The ballot is ours to use as we will.

Herein lies a great responsibility, for use it we must; otherwise we shall fail in this the first duty of a good citizen, man or woman. Our country needs the votes of all its most loyal, most intelligent and best educated people. Therefore, let us not be among those who neglect to vote. Suffragists and anti-suffragists must awake to the fact that the line of cleavage between them no longer (exists)…, and each of us must use the ballot to the best of her ability, with wisdom and intelligence, registering with the political party which appeals the most to her sympathies. There should be no woman vote or "woman party" strictly as such, for good citizenship knows no sex.