The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-04-08
The Decision of the Supreme Court in the
Woman's Rights Case from Missouri.
WASHINGTON March

WASHINGTON, March 90.
In the case of Miner vs. Mofersatt from
Missouri, a suit brought by Mrs. Miner, to
test her right to vote, the Supreme Court to-day
delivered the following decision:
This is the case presenting the question
whether, under the fourteenth amendment, a
woman who is a citizen of the United States
and of State is voter in the State, notwith-
standing the fact that the provisions of the
constitution and laws of that State conhne the
right Of suffrage to men alone. 1t is said that
women are citizens; they are persons, and,
therefore, under the fourteenth amendment,
they reside But it did not require that amend
ment to make them such. They were before
persons and people, and were not in terms ex-
cluded from citizenship by the constitution.
The Federal constitution was ordained by the
people of the United States, composed of the
people of the several States, and whoever, at
the time of its adoption, was one OF the people
became a citizen. All children born of citizen
parents, within the Jurisdiction, are themselves
citizens. The naturalization laws are reviewed
to show that women have always been consid-
cred citizens the same as men. Also the laws
giving jurisdiction in Federal cases. 1t is then
said that the fourteenth amendment did not
affect the citizenship of women any more than
it did that of men, and thus Mrs. Miners rights
do not depend on it. She has always been citi-
zen from her birth, and entitled to all the priv
leges, immunities, &C., of citizenship. The
amendment prohibited the State in which she
lives from abridgng any Of those rights. The
right of suffrage is not made in terms one OF
the privileges of the citizen. The United States
al officer 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. 1t simply furnished an additional
guarantee for the protection of such as he al
ready had. Now, is the right Of suffrage CO.
extensive with the citizenship of the State?
When the Federal Constitution was adopted,
all the States but Rhode Island had constitu-
tions of their own, in not one of which were
all citizens recognized as entitled to this right.
Under all these circumstances, it cannot be for
q moment doubted that if it had been intended
to make all citizens of the United States voters
the powers of the constitution would have so
expressed that intention, and not have left so
important change in the condition of citizen
ship as it then existed to Implication But if
further evidence is needed it is 10 be found in
other provisions of the Constitution. If suf-
frage is necessarily part of citizenship, then
that provision of the Constitution which gives
citizens of each State all the privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several States
would entitle the citizens of each State to the
right to vote in the several States precisely as
the s citizens of those States. Other provisions,
among them that relating to the apportionment
of representatives, were cited to the same point.
But still again, after the adoption of the four
teenth amendment it was found necessary to
use in the fifteenth amendment the following
language: "The right of citizens Of the Uni
ted States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State
on account of race, color or previous condition
of seryitude." The fourteenth amendment
had provided against any abridgement of the
privileges or immunities of citizens, and, if
the right of suffrage is one of them, why
amend the constitution further to prevent its
being denied on account of race, color, &c.
The duty of the United States to guarantee to
the States republican form of government is
discharged in protecting those governments
which were recognized as being republican in
form by the constitution when adopted. The
Governments of the States being then accepted,
It must be assumed that they are such as are
to be guaranteed The admission OF new States
is then considered, and it is found that there
IS nothing TO 1aVOr Ille luca InaI suffrage - d
right of citizenship, but everything to repel it.
The restoration of the States to the Union after
the war was accomplished, although none of
them had provided for female suffrage. The
Court is unanimous in the opinion that the
Constitution of the United States does not con-
fer the right of suffrage upon any one and
that the constitution of the several States which
commit that trust to men alone are not neces-
sarily void.
The opinion was delivered by the chief JUS
tice and affirmed by the rest of the court.
A gentleman from Mississippi informs us
that well known citizen of TishOmingo coun-