these
days as a matter of course, but they did not come to our ancestors as a
matter of course. To our ancestors rights came as the result of
hard-fought battles. The reading of the bill of rights would cause your
heart to throb with gratitude did you but know the suffering and
sacrifice each right has cost.

Now just as our rights have not been gained without a struggle, so they
will not be maintained without a struggle. We may not have to fight with
cannon and sword as did our forefathers in the Revolution, but we may be
sure that if our liberty is to be preserved there will be fighting of
some kind to do. Such precious things as human rights cannot be had for
nothing.

One of the hardest battles will be to fulfil the duties which accompany
our rights, for every right is accompanied by a duty. If I can hold a
man to his contract I ought (_I owe it_) to pay my debts; if I may
worship as I please, I ought to refrain from persecuting another on
account of his religion; if my property is held sacred, I ought to
regard the property of another man as sacred; if the government deals
fairly with me and does not oppress me, I ought to deal fairly With it
and refuse to cheat it; if I am allowed freedom of speech, I ought not
to abuse the privilege; if I have a right to a trial by jury, I ought to
respond when I am summoned to serve as a juror; if I have a right to my
good name and reputation, I ought not to slander my neighbor; if
government shields me from injury, I ought to be ready to take up arms
in its defense.

Foremost among the rights of American citizenship is that of going to
the polls and casting a ballot. This right of voting is not a civil
right; it is a political right which grew out of man's long struggle for
his civil rights. While battling with kings and nobles for liberty the
people learned to distrust a privileged ruling class. They saw that if
their civil rights were to be respected, government must pass into their
own hands or into the hands of their chosen agents. Hence they demanded
political rights, the right of holding office and of voting at
elections.

The suffrage, or the right of voting, is sometimes regarded as a natural
right, one that belongs to a person simply because he is a person.

People will say that a man has as much right to vote as he has to
acquire property or to defend himself from attack. But this is not a
correct view. The right to vote is a _franchise_ or privilege which the