f the memorialist but of more than one-half of the citizens
of the United States--a question of constitutional law in which
the civil and natural rights of the citizen are involved.
Questions of property or of expediency have nothing to do with
it. The question is not "Would it be expedient to extend the
right of suffrage to women," but, "Have women citizens that right
by the Constitution as it is." A question of this kind should be
met fairly and investigated in that generous and liberal spirit
characteristic of the age, and decided upon principles of
justice, of right, and of law.

It is claimed by many that to concede to woman the right of
suffrage would be an innovation upon the laws of nature, and upon
the theory and practice of the world for ages in the past, and
especially an innovation upon the common law of England, which
was originally the law of this country, and which is the
foundation of our legal fabric. If we were to admit the truth of
this, it is yet no argument against the proposition, if the right
claimed exists, and is established by the Constitution of the
United States. The question is to be decided by the Constitution
and the fundamental principles of our Government, and not by the
usage and dogmas of the past. It is a gratifying fact that the
world is advancing in political science, and gradually adopting
more liberal and rational theories of government. The
establishment of this Government upon the principles of the
Declaration of Independence was in itself a great innovation upon
the theories and practice of the world, and opened a new chapter
in the history of the human race, and its progress toward perfect
civil and political liberty.

But it is not admitted that the universal usage of the past has
been in opposition to the exercise of political power by women.
The highest positions of civil power have from time to time been
filled by women in all ages of the world, and the question of the
right of woman to a voice in government is not a new one by any
means, but has been agitated, and the right acknowledged and
exercised, in governments far less free and liberal than ours. In
the Roman Republic, during its long and glorious career, women
occupied a higher position, as to political rights and
privileges, than