The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-05-07

-, ocCs q, SOuStItutioH y. -
as originally adopted:
This Constitution, and the laws of the
United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof; and all treaties made,
or which shall be made. under the au-
thorlty Of the United States, shall be the
Supreme law of the land: and the Judges
IN every State shall be bound thereby,
anything in the Constitution or laws of
any State to the contrary notwithstand-
ing"
Article X (Amended Constitution U.
S.:
The powers not delegated to the Uni
ted States by the Constitution (U. 81,
nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or
the people,"
Article XIV (Amended Constitution
U. S.:
Sec. !. All persons born or natural
lied in the United States this includes
all natural persons, both male and fe-
male, as well all colors and races and
subject to the Jurisdiction there, are citi-
zens of the United States and of the
state wherein they reside. No State
shall make or enforce any law (either
through its State Constitution or by leg
islative enactment) which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens
of the United States, etc.
Sec. 2. Representatives shall be APP
portioned among the several States ac-
cording to their. respective numbers,
counting the whole number of persons
tboth male and female) in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed. But when
the right to vote at any election for the
choice of electors for President and Vice
PRESIDENT, etc., ETC., is denied to any
of the male inhabitants of such State,
being twenty-one years of age, and citi-
zens of the United States, or in any way
abridged, except for participation in re-
belli0n or other crime, the basis of rep
resentation therein shall be reduced
etc.
Sec. 5. The Congress shall have the
power to enforce by appropriate legisla-
ton the provisions Of this article
Article Nv (Amended Constitution
U. S.:
Sec. /. The right of citizens of the
United States to vote shall not be de-
MED or abridged by the United States
or by any State on account of race, col
or or previous condition of servitude."
Sec. 2. The Congress shall have pow
er to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation"
.',The word citizens in the United
States Constitution conveys the idea of
membership Of a Nation, and nothing
provisions Minor VS.. Happersett, y
Wallace 1852.
This was a case in which white wo-
man in Missouri claimed the right to reg
lister and vote in Missouri as citizen
under the Constitution of the United
States, and was decided in 1875, Chief
Justice Waite delivering the opinion of
the court. The question was whether
the Constitution of Missouri, which al
lowed only finale citizens of the United
States" to register and vote was in con-
flict with or repugnant to the Constitu-
ton of the United States? The Supreme
Court of the United States was unani-
nous in the decision that the Constitu-
ton of Missouri was not repugnant to or
in conflict with the Constitution of the
United States, and in the last sentence
of the opinion that Court said:
.sBeing unanimously Of the opinion that
the Constitution of the United States
does not confer the right of suffrage up
on any one, and that the Constitution
and laws Of the several States which
commit that important trust to men
alone are not necessarily void, we af-
firm the judgment of the court below
And Miss Minor, though of full age,
and white, and citizen of the United
States" was declared by the Supreme
Court of the United States to have been
lawfully excluded from the right to vote
in Missouri, because the Constitution
Of Missouri denied her the right to vote.
It must be remembered too, that the case
of Minor VS.. Happersett (the Registrar
Of Voters was decided after the adop-
tion Of both the 14th and 10Th Amend
ments to the Constitution of the United
States. and both Of said amendments are
discussed in the opinion of the court.
Speaking for the court, Chief Justice
Waite says:
And if suffrage was necessarily one
of the absolute rights of citizenship. why
confine the operation of the limitation
lin 14th amendment to male nhabi-
tants? Women and children are, as we
have seen. s'persons." They are counted
Ill the upoH WHICH the dD-
portionment is to be made, but if they
were necessarily voters because of their
citizenship, unless clearly excluded, whg
infict the penalty for the exclusion Of
voters alone? Clearly, no such form of
words would have been selected to ex-
press the idea here indicated, if suf-
frage was the absolute right of all cit;-
Gems"
..And still again, after the adoption of
the Fourteenth Amendment, it was
deemed necessary to adopt a fifteenth,
as follows: ;
Quoting it, ''The Fourteenth
Amendment had. already provided that
no State should make or enforce any law
which should abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United
States. If suffrage was one of these
privileges or immunities, why amend the
Constitution to prevent its being denied
on account of race, etc? Nothing is
more evident than that the greater must
include the less, and if nil were already
protected, why go through the form OF
amending the Constitution to protect a
part?"