Justice
Daniel, conveys the idea "of identification with the state or
government, and a participation in its functions."
Beyond question, therefore, the first section of the fourteenth
amendment, by placing the citizenship of women upon a par with that of
men, and declaring that the "privileges and immunities" of the citizen
shall not be abridged, has secured to women, equally with men, the right
of suffrage, unless that conclusion is overthrown by some other
provision of the constitution.
It is not necessary for the purposes of this argument to claim that this
amendment prohibits a state from making or enforcing any law whatever,
regulating the elective franchise, or prescribing the conditions upon
which it may be exercised. But we do claim that in every republic the
right of suffrage, in some form and to some extent, is not only one of
the privileges of its citizens, but is the first, most obvious and most
important of all the privileges they enjoy; that in this respect _all
citizens are equal_, and that the effect of this amendment is, to
prohibit the States from enforcing any law which denies this right to
any of its citizens, or which imposes any restrictions upon it, which
are inconsistent with a republican form of government.
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