"
This fifteenth Amendment has been seriously misapprehended by many
people, who have understood it to mean that _women_ could be excluded
from voting, simply because they are women. I have shown you that
Statutes and Constitutions are always general in their character; that
from generals we must argue down to particulars, and that if there is
any doubt as to the interpretation of a statute, it must be defined in
the interests of liberty. But as to the interpretation of this statute
there can be no doubt. Had it read, "The right of citizens of the United
States to take out passports, shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States, on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude," no person would interpret it to mean that such right to take
out passport could be denied on account of _female_ sex, or on account
of _male_ sex. We will read it now, first in the light of the
Declaration; second, in that of the Preamble to the Constitution, and
the Constitution itself, and its various amendments, to which I have
referred: the first, sixth, ninth and tenth, which would have been
interpreted male, had the Constitution meant men alone, but which have
always been defined to cover, and include woman--to cover and include
the rights of the _whole_ people to freedom of conscience, to freedom of
speech, to the right of a speedy and public trial, &c.
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