} THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. The right of suffrage or elective franchise is the greatest privilege which a citizen can enjoy by right of birth or inheritance, or which an alien can acquire by investiture. It is a privilege which the Federal Constitution does not, however, confer on any one (1). A person may be a Federal citizen by the right of birth, or by inheritance, or by naturalization, and yet not enjoy the right of suffrage. The right of voting does not necessarily constitute a part of citizenship in any form; for, if it did, then the citizens of each State would be entitled to vote in the several States precisely as their citizens are entitled to vote (2), notwithstanding that the qualifications of a voter in one State might differ from those of a voter in another State. The right, or rather the privilege, of voting arises under the Constitution of the State in which it may be exercised, and not under the Constitution of the United States (3). It is the State's prerogative to define (3) The regulation of the suffrage is conceded to the States as a State right. 11 Blatchford, 200. "Naturalization does not confer on the individual naturalized the right to vote. The qualifications which an elector is required to have, in Congressional elections, depend entirely upon the laws of the State in which the elective franchise is exercised, and are purely dependent upon the municipal regulations of the State. It is not necessary to determine whether the voter is a citizen of the United States."-2 Scam. (3 I.l.), 377. the qualifications of a voter (1); and each State fixes the qualifications of its own voters, according to its own whims, conveniences or necessities, but it cannot meddle with the qualifications of voters as defined by any sister State. With this power, Congress has never interfered; and although Congress may, at any time, make or alter such regulations (2), it has, so far, confined itself to defining the qualifications of voters within the Territories and to modifying the right of suffrage of members of the army or navy, wherever they may be stationed or may have acquired residence. THE POWER OF STATES. The power which a State may exercise in determining the qualifications of its voters is almost without limit. (1) "It is a common error to connect the elective franchise inseparably with citizenship, as if elector and citizen were convertible terms. In regard to the persons who shall exercise this franchise in each State. it is determined entirely by the Constitution and laws of the State. They may confer the privilege on aliens, negroes, Indians, women and children. Even in regard to the choice of Representatives in Congress and Electors of President of the United States, the Federal Constitution leaves the matter entirely in the hands of the State."- Sharwood's Bl. Com.. 376, note. "The United States rights appertaining to this subject are those [1st] underArticle I, Section 2, subdivision 1, of the United States Constitution, which provides that electors of Representatives in Congress shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature; and [2d] under the Fifteenth Amendment, which provides that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State, on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. If the Legislature of a State should require a higher qualification in a voter for a Representative in Congress than is required for a voter for member of the House of Assembly of the State, this would, I conceive, be a violation of a right belonging to a person as a citizen of the United States. That right is in relation to a Federal subject or interest, and is guaranteed by the Constitution."-11 Blatchford, 200. Congress has no power to legislate on the subject of voting at State elections, except under the Fifteenth Amendment, and such power can be exercised by providing a punishment only where the wrongful refusal to receive the vote of a qualified elector at such elections is because of his race, color or previous condition of servitude.--Gould & Tucker's Notes on Rev. Stats. U. S., Sec 480. (2) 21 Wall, 162. } It may It may go to some extraordinary extremes. ALIENS AS VOTERS. It is a popular error to suppose that the right of suffrage is limited to citizens throughout the United States. In some States, it is; in others, it is not and never has been. When the Federal Constitution was adopted, every one of the thirteen original States (Rhode Island and Connecticut excepted) had its Constitution. The two States excepted acted under Charters granted by the British Crown. Each State then determined for itself (1) II Blatchford, 200. 66 who, within its confines, should have the right to vote. It was limited in New Hampshire to "every male inhabitant of each town and parish with town privileges and places unincorporated in the State, of twenty-one years of age and upwards, excepting paupers and persons excused from paying taxes at their own request; " in Massachusetts, to "every male inhabitant of twenty-one years of age and upwards having a freehold estate within the commonwealth of the annual income of three pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds;" in Rhode Island, to such as are or hereafter shall be admitted and made free of the company and society" of the colony; in Connecticut, to such persons as had "maturity in years, quiet and peaceable behavior, a civil conversation and forty shillings freehold or forty pounds personal estate," if so certified by the selectmen; in New York, to any male inhabitant of full age who shall have personally resided within one of the counties of the State for six months immediately preceding the day of election *if during the time aforesaid he shall have been a freeholder, possessing a freehold of the value of twenty pounds within the county, or have rented a tenement therein of the yearly value of forty shillings and been rated and actually paid taxes to the State;" in New Jersey, to "all inhabitants * * * of full age who are worth fifty pounds proclamation-money, clear estate in the same, and have resided in the county in which they claim a vote for "twelve months immediately preceding the election ;" in * } Pennsylvania to "every freeman of the age of twentyone years, having resided in the State two years next before the election and within that time paid a State or county tax which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election;" in Delaware and Virginia, "as exercised by law at present," in Maryland, to "all freemen above twenty-one years of age, being a freeholder of fifty acres of land in the county in which they offer to vote and residing therein, and all freemen having property in the State above the value of thirty pounds current money, and having resided in the county in which they offer to vote, one whole year next preceding the election;" in North Carolina, for senators, to all freemen of the age of twenty-one years who have been inhabitants of any one county within the State twelve months immediately preceding the day of election, and possessed of a freehold within the same county of fifty acres of land for six months next before and at the day of election," and for members of the house of commons, to all freemen of the age of twenty-one years who have been inhabitants in any one county within the State twelve months immediately preceding the day of any election, and shall have paid public taxes ;" in South Carolina, to " every free white man of the age of twentyone years, being a citizen of the State and having resided therein two years previous to the day of election and who hath a freehold of fifty acres of land, or a town lot of which he hath been legally seized and possessed at least six months before such election, or (not having such free |