Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-03-14
WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT.
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.

The Principles of Law and Justice Upon
Which Governments are Founded-Suf.
frage for the Whole People.
The following points are made by
writer in recent number of the Wo-
mans journal:
Constitutions do not create govern
ments, nor do they create or confer suf
frage; they merely regulate both.
Government existed long before con-
stitutions, in the very nature of society;
constitutions are modern conveniences
to keep governments from being OPP
pressive. Suffrage existed long before
constitutions, the latter derive all
their power, and their very existence,
from suffrage. The right of the whole
people to self-government is natural,
God-given right, and also legal and
political right. The Declaration of
Independence, being adopted by every
colony as the basis OF the Revolution,
and ratified by all in legal form and by
years Of war, is the fundamental law of
the land. 1t was drawn by four of the
greatest of American lawyers; John
Adams, Chief-Justice of Massachusetts;
Thomas Jefferson, who reorganized the
judicial system of Virginia; Judge
Roger Sherman, who codified the laws
of Connecticut; and Robert r. Livings-
ton, Chancellor of New York. That
fundamental law declares that govern
ments exist to protect the inalienable
rights of all to liberty, and that gov
ernments are not entitled to any power
but such as the governed consent that
they shall have. This is not merely
principle of justice; it is also a princi-
pie of Iaao, and was so accepted by all
the great lawyers of the Revolution.
The right to freedom and self-rule can
only be exercised in one FORM l. e., suf-
frage.
Hence, unless a constitution express
ly says, as that of Massachusetts does,
that mo others" shall vote for Gov
ernor, etc, but those to whom 1t ex-
pressly guarantees the exercise of this
right-every person in the community
is equally entitled to vote, unless some
act of the Legislature forbids. No
person can be lawfully deprived of this
inborn right of self-government merely
by silence in the constitution. The
constitutions omission to guarantee
suffrage does not disfranchise the un-
guaranteed persons. They may be Sc
cured 'otherwise-by Legislative act, by
common law, or by mere custom.
The Legislature is the real source
whence power to exercise suffrage has
mainly come. 1t existed long before
constitutions existed; it always had the
power to extend and curtail suffrage;
and all this power it still has, though
constitutions have sometimes forbidden
1t to exercise that authority in some di-
rections. In all other directions the
Legislature is as free as it was before
the constitutions were adopted. In
some cases it has even been held that
the constitutions provisions only ap-
piled where the Legislature had not
chosen 10 enact others.
The common law for ages has recog-
nized the right of women to vote on
the same terms with their brothers.
No use of the word 'male" in constitu-
tions or statutes can take this right
away. The exercise of the right may
be interrupted; but even this can not
be lawfully done by the mere use OF
''male" in guarantee. To prevent
the exercise of the right by women, the
constitution must say, as that of Mas
sachusetts does, that mo others" but
those whom it expressly guarantees,
shall vote. But these words { mo 9th
thers'') only apply to the particular
offices in connection wherewith they
are used. They can not prevent the
exercise OF natural, common-law
right, nor forbid the exercise OF legis.
lative authority, as to any other offices.
These words emo others not being
used by the Massachusetts constitution
in connection with municipal Offices,
the matter is in the Legislatures hands.
Indeed, in the absence of Legislative
prohibition (by statute) women might
vote at town and city elections on theil
national and commOn-laW right alone.