5. Enumerate the civil rights guaranteed by the State.

6. What effect did the adoption of the fourteenth amendment have upon the character of citizenship in the United States?

7. Enumerate and describe the rights that grow out of federal citizenship.

8. What is the relation of civic right to civic duty? Name some of our civic duties.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Examine the Constitution for answers to these questions: (1) Can a person be compelled in a federal court to be a witness against himself (138) (2) What are the rights of an accused person in a federal court (139)? (3) What is the rule in federal courts in reference to witnesses (140)? (4) What is the rule in reference to trial by jury (141) (5) In reference to bail (142) ?

2. Under the fourteenth amendment what are the rights of an alien? Enumerate your individual rights as these are declared in the constitution of your State.

3. Political philosophers frequently speak of natural rights.

What

is the root meaning of the word natural? Name the rights which you would be inclined to class as natural.

4. What is meant by the "inalienable rights" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence?

5. Joined with every right there is a duty. Name the duty which belongs to each of the rights of American citizenship.

6. Discover, if you can, a social or civil right to which there is not a duty attached.

7. Has a student a right to study so hard that his health is injured thereby?

8. Do you as minors enjoy all the civil rights? Name those of which you are deprived.

9. What does the constitution of the State say about aliens?

A Hint on Reading.—W. D. Guthrie, "The Fourteenth Amendment.”

Topics for Special Work.-Citizenship: 9, 241-249. Duties of Citizenship: 5, 525-530. The Writ of Habeas Corpus: 30, 105-110. The Rights of Citizenship under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments: 30, 100-105.

XIV

POLITICAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES

The Origin of Political Rights. Political rights invest the citizen with the privilege of participating in government, and consist of the right of voting at elections and of holding public office. These rights are an outgrowth of the struggle for civil rights. In that struggle the people learned that a privileged ruling class could not be trusted. They saw that if their rights were to be respected, government must pass either into their own hands or into the hands of their chosen agents. Therefore in order that they might protect their civil rights they demanded the reins of government. At first the privilege of voting and holding office was granted only to the leaders among the people, to the high-born and wealthy and learned. Later a middle class consisting of small property-holders, tradesmen and artisans and professional people, saw that its interests would be promoted by a participation in government. It demanded political rights and obtained them. Finally the propertyless men and the ignorant men began to think that their civil rights would be worth more to them if they had the right to vote. They asked for the right and it was granted to them. From first to last, therefore, political rights have grown out of men's efforts to preserve and promote their civil rights.

The Elective Franchise. The suffrage, or the right of voting, is sometimes regarded as a natural right, as a right inherent in citizenship. Men will say that you might as

well deny the right of acquiring property or of defending one's person from attack, as to deny the right of suffrage. This view is justified neither by the facts of history nor by the present policy of government. The right to vote is a franchise or privilege granted by the state to such citizens as are deemed worthy of possessing it. For a long time governments were accustomed to sell the elective franchise for a sum of money. Thus in the early days of New York City a man was not allowed to vote until he had first paid twenty-five dollars into the city treasury. With the growth of popular government the custom of selling the franchise was discontinued, and the right of voting was conferred upon certain citizens because they possessed certain qualifications. At the time of the Revolution a most important qualification was the possession of property. Before a man could vote, he must be possessed of a certain income or a certain amount of land. With the progress of democracy in the nineteenth century the property qualification was gradually removed.

In the United States at the present time the qualifications of a voter relate chiefly to age, sex and nativity, although in a few instances an educational or property qualification is still required. Whatever the qualifications may be, it ought to be noticed that they are imposed by government, and that the elective franchise is a privilege which may be granted or withheld, and is not a right which the citizen enjoys simply because he is a citizen.

Political Rights Conferred by State Authority. Authority for granting the suffrage and defining the qualifications of voters resides chiefly in the State. The only restriction upon the power of the State to regulate the elective franchise is found in the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, where it is declared that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude (159). As long as the State does not violate this amend

ment it is free to regulate the suffrage in its own way. It may even grant the elective franchise to aliens and may withhold it from citizens. If the State should violate the fifteenth amendment it is difficult to say what would be done. It would seem that the State's representation in Congress would be decreased, for when the right to vote at any election for President or Vice-President, or for representatives in Congress, is denied to any of the male adult citizens of a State other than criminals, the basis of the State's representation in Congress may be reduced in the proportion which the number of disfranchised citizens bears to the whole number of male adults in the State (154). According to this rule, if a State with twelve representatives in Congress should disfranchise one third of its male adult citizens it should lose four of these representatives. Its basis of representation, however, would not be reduced without action on the part of Congress (158).

The Qualifications of Voters. When we observe how widely the political conditions in one State differ from those in another, and consider how great is the opportunity for a variety of regulations in reference to voting, the laws governing the suffrage throughout the Union seem to be remarkably uniform. This uniformity is due in part to a democratic spirit of equality, and in part to the provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments.

In all the States the age qualification for voting is twenty-one years; in forty-one States only males can vote at general elections; in all the States a previous residence within the State varying from six months to two years is required; in thirty-three States a voter must be a citizen of the United States; in twelve States aliens may vote; in all the States but nine there is an absence of anything like an educational qualification. In all the States certain classes of persons are excluded from the privilege of voting. Chief among these are lunatics, idiots, paupers and convict criminals.

Female Suffrage. In recent years the question of extending the suffrage to women has arisen in legislatures and in constitutional conventions, and in parts of the country there is a strong public opinion in favor of allowing women to vote. In Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Washington and Wyoming women may vote at all elections. Where questions of taxation or education are involved there seems to be a wide-spread disposition to give women an opportunity to be heard. Since women pay taxes, and since they are as deeply interested in the public schools as men can be, it is quite generally conceded that they should not be entirely ignored as taxpayers, and that they should have a voice in the management of schools. In accordance with this sentiment, many States are granting to women the right to vote on certain financial questions and in the selection of school officials. More than half the States permit women to participate in some degree in public affairs.

The Right of Holding Office. The right of holding office is more indefinite than the right of suffrage. It may be stated as a general rule that any one who may vote is qualified to hold office. It does not follow, however, that because one may not vote one may not hold office, for women often hold office even in States in which they have no right to vote. Qualifications for the occupants of most offices are prescribed by law, and these of course must be met. When there are no special legal qualifications attached to an office it may usually be held by any one who can get himself elected or appointed to it. A person who, as a State official, has taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and who has afterwards joined in rebellion against the United States is debarred from holding office (155).

Duties of a Voter. The American voter should regard himself as an officer of government. He is one of the members of the electorate, that vast governing body which consists