Show 3 aiji tiji the eight to vote i 1 SUFFRAGE agi AGE NOT necessarily necessarily A PART OF citizenship DECISION BY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT OF THE QUESTION TION OF tue THE RIGHT OF A A WOMAN WOMA MA X TO VOTE lillior Miu min orv vf Hopper satt E error aror to the tho supreme court missouri this rhia is the case presenting the question whether under tinder the fourteenth amendment a woman who is a citizen of the united states slate s and of a state is a voter in the state notwithstanding tho the provisions of the constitution and the thir laws of or that state confine th the 10 rig nig right night lit of suffrage 0 to men alone it is I 1 said mid that women are citizens they are person persons sand and der the fourteenth amendment declared tobe be citizens of the state wherein they reside but it did not require that amendment to make them such they were before persons aud and people and were not in terms excluded from citizenship by the constitution the constitution was ordained by the people of the united states composed of the people of the several states and whoever pr at the time of its ita adoption was one of the people became a citizen all children born of or citizen parents within the jurisdiction are themselves citizens the laws are ate reviewed to show that women have always been considered citizens the same as men also aiso the laws laaks giving jurisdiction luris furis diction in united states cases it that amendment did not affect the citizenship iz of women any more than it did of men and thus minors rights c do not depend upon it she bile has always been a citizen from her birth irth entitled to all the privileges immunities etc of citizenship the prohibited the st e in which she lives from Ao ridging any of those rights the ri right lit of suffrage M is not made in t terms erms erma one of the privilege privileges 3 of the citizen the united states has no voter voters and no one can vote vete for national without being competent to vote for state officers the elective officers of the united states are chosen directly or indirectly by the voters of the states the amendment did not add to the privileges or immunities of the citizen it simply furnished an additional dit ional guarantee forthe for the protection of such as he be already had nor is the right of or suffrage suffrage ge coextensive with the citizenship of xhu tho states when the national constitution was wai W 1113 adopted all the states but rhode island had constitutions of their the irown own in not one of which were all citizens recognized as untitled entitled to this right and ind tinder under all these circumstances it cannot for a moment men t be doubted that if it had been intended to make citizens of the united states voters the framers of tho constitution would have so expressed that intention and not have havo left so important a change in the condition of citizenship P aa as it then existed to implication but if further evidence is needed it is 1 to be found in the provisions of the constitution if suffrage is is necessarily a part of citizenship J then provision tue tuo of the Cons titu tion which gives citizens of each state hlll all the privileges and im leizens in ill the several status states would entitle the citizens of each state to the right to vote in the tile several sei teral terai states precisely as the citizens of those states are other provisions provi among them that relating int M to 0 the apportionment of representative were cited to the same point but still again after the a adoption iop lop tion of the fourteenth amendment it was found necessary to use in the fifteenth amendment the following language the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race calor color or previous condition of servitude 11 ehe the aisa afsa arhe fourteenth amendment had bad provided against any abridgment of th privileges or immunities of citizen yand and if the right 0 of suffrage is 0 n w why b y amend the constitution ution further to prevent its be ing on account of race color ac athe duty of or the united states to guarantee to the states a republican ean can forin form of government is discharged in protecting those governments which were recognized as bein being m republican in form by the constitution when adopted the governments of the tho states being then accepted it must be assumed that they are such as are to be guaranteed the admission of or new states is then considered and it is found that there is nothing to favor the idea that suffrage rage is a right of citizenship zen zens ship bip but everything lo 10 to repel it also the restoration of the states to theUn the ian lan after the war none of them having provided for female cufr suffrage rago rage besides a person who has simply declared his intention to become a citizen of the united states may vote under certain circumstances cum stances in missouri bli hii and other states and this could not be if suffrage depended upon the right of citizenship the court are unanimous in the opinion that the Cons constitution titu tio n 6 of f th the e united states does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one and that the constitutions of the several states which commit that trust to men alone are not necessarily void affirmed the chief justice delivered the opinion missouri democrat |