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==