I
am quite sure that it will be fortunate for the country, if this great
question of female suffrage, than which few greater were ever presented
for the consideration of any people, shall be found, almost
unexpectedly, to have been put at rest.
The opinion of Mr. Justice Bradley, in regard to this amendment, in the
case before referred to, if I understand it, corresponds very nearly
with what I have here said. The learned judge, in one part of his
opinion, says: "It is possible that those who framed the article were
not themselves aware of the far-reaching character of its terms. They
may have had in mind but one particular phase of social and political
wrong, which they desired to redress--yet, if the amendment, as framed
and expressed, does, in fact, have a broader meaning, and does extend
its protecting shield over those who were never thought of when it was
conceived and put in form, and does reach such social evils which were
never before prohibited by constitutional amendment, it is to be
presumed that the American people, in giving it their imprimatur,
understood what they were doing, and meant to decree what has, in fact,
been done....
"It embraces much more. The 'privileges and immunities' secured by the
original Constitution were only such as each State gave its own
citizens.
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