The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-03-08
EQUALITY OF CITIZENSHIP.


say that there are two kinds OF Tree
government, democratic aud republican
| A democratic is a free government, IN
which the people exercise the sovereign
power in mass, each individual partiei-
pating in all public affairs. A republi-
can is a representative government
wherein the people, by virtue Of inner
ent right, possessing the supreme power,
delegate a portion Of that power to rep
/ resentatives of their own choosing.
/ These representatives, as such, do not
possess supreme power; the power they
/ possess is delegated to them by the peO-
pie, and to the people they must give
account. They are, so to speak, servants
Of the people, executing their will; and
cannot transcend their delegated powers
without becoming usurpers, when the
government would no longer be free
government, but a despOtism. l have
made this depression for the benefit of
those who do not fully understand the
machinery of the United States govern
ment, aud will now return to our sub
ject.
This government, as l have said, was
formed by free and independent peo-
pie, with no more concessions Of natural
rights on the part of one individual
than on that Of another, and no more
on the part of all combined than was
necessary for the better security of those
that were reserved. And, as it is neces-
sary to adopt some plan by which the
will of the sovereign people might be
known and executed with the least pos
sible trouble, and with the greatest Sc
eurity to their rights, it was decided to
adopt a Federal Constitution, uniting
the people of all the States into one na-
tion for all national purposes, the same
as a State Constitution unites the peO-
pie of one State for municipal purposes;
the one being a declaration Of the SOW
ereign will of all the people of the United
States, and the other of that portion of
the same people constituting one State
This Constitution being the written will
Of the sovereign people, in relation to
the forms and powers of government,
proceeding from them in their supreme
capacity, can be changed, amended, or
abolished only by them, while to their
representatives it is a supreme and in
viOlable law, for this reason: Neither
Congress nor any Of the States, not even
the Supreme Court of the United States,
can go beyond the powers delegated to
them by this Constitution. We have
now shown you how and why this Con-
stitution was made. You can easily see
that it was not from the necessities nor
for the benefit Of a part of the people
(the mem, but from the necessities and
for the benefit of all the people of the
United States, both male and female.
We have also seen that in forming the
government, aud in the drawing up Of
the Constitution, great care was taken
to secure to all the people the greatest
amount of liberty compatible with a
civil government. That you may know
that we do not state the case too strongly,
we will refer you to Walkers American
Law, part "a, lecture 5th, "On the re-
lations of the States" He says: ''The
Federal government (the word federal
signifies mutual agreement) is not a
league Of the State governments, but
emanates from and expresses the sOver-
eign will Of all the people Of the United
States in their original and supreme ca
pacity." So, also, Judge Story, of the
Supreme Court, in rendering a decision
before the court, says: "The Constitu-
tion of the United States was ordained
and established, not by the States in
their sovereign capacities, but emphati-
cally as the preamble to the Constitu-
ton declares; by the people of the
United States" We will refer you to
but one more authority on this point,
and that is the Constitution itself. Il
declares its origin in these words: ave,
the people of the United States, do or
dain and establish this Constitution
Thus you see that the government was
established by the people, for the people.
Now, as governments have nothing to
do with persons except in the capacity Of
citizens, we will ask, lst, Does the
Constitution of the United States require
that the citizen shall be Of the mascu-
line gender? 2d, What right has a citi-
zen to a voice in the government? Sd,
Why are the constitutional rights Of
each citizen equal? think I have an
swered the last two questions fully. It
only remains for me to snow you that
the term citizen embraces both sexes.
We will assume, and without fear of
contraditiOn, that at the time Of the for
nation of our government, the people |
Of our country were, as now, composed
of men and women, and that prior to
the adoption of the Constitution were
all alike possessed Of the same natural
rights. In examining the Constitution
we can find no clause where woman
yielded up any more of her natural
rights than man did Of his; neither can
we find where it says that man shall be
possessed Of certain rights, from which
woman is to be excluded. There is no
made between the sexes
Indeed, woman no more than man Is
spoken Of in any other capacity than
that Of citizen, for the reason that he
fore stated, that free government has
only to do with its subjects as citizens