Imagine an American woman who had no right to vote. It may be hard to believe, but she existed just 100 years ago. And on Jan. 12, 1915, Congress overwhelmingly denied her the right to cast a ballot alongside her fellow man.

On that day suffragists lined the galleries as a 10-hour debate in the House of Representatives unfolded, according to an account in The New York Times. Opponents stood firmly on the dark side of history, making claims about a woman’s role that would end a politician’s career today.

“Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to woman suffrage, but I am not opposed to woman,” said Rep. Edwin Y. Webb, a North Carolina Democrat. “I am unwilling, as a southern man, to force upon her any burden which will distract this loving potentate from her sacred, God-imposed duties. I am unwilling to force her into the vortex of politics, where her sensitiveness and her modesty will often be offended.”