Cast Upon the Breakers
CHAPTER I. A FAITHLESS GUARDIAN. "Well, good by, Rodney! I leave school tomorrow. I am going to learn a trade." "I am sorry to part with you, David. Couldn't you stay another term?" "No: my uncle says I must be earning my living, and I have a chance to learn the carpenter's trade." "Where are you going?" "To Duffield, some twenty miles away. I wish I were in your shoes. You have no money cares, and can go on quietly and complete your education." "I don't know how I am situated, David. I only know that my guardian pays my expenses at this boarding school."
He voted in violation of the laws of his State. A citizen of New York
votes under precisely similar circumstances, and with the same
qualifications, and his act is a legal one, and he performs a simple
duty. Any State may, by its Constitution and laws, permit women to vote.
Had these defendants been acting as Inspectors of Elections in such
State, their act would be no crime, and this indictment could not be
sustained, for the only illegality alleged is, that the citizens whose
votes were received were women, and therefore not entitled to vote.
The Act of Congress thus, is simply an Act to enforce the diverse penal
statutes of the various States in relation to voting. In order to make a
case, the United States must combine the federal law with the statutes
of the State where the _venue_ of the prosecution is laid.
Before the enactment of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, it is not,
and never was pretended, that Congress possessed any such power.
Subdivision 1 of Section 2, of Article one of the Constitution, provides
as follows:
"The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen
every second year by the people of the several States; and the
electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for
electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature."
By this provision, what shall qualify a person to be an elector, is left
entirely to the States. Whoever, in any State, is permitted to vote for
CHAPTER I. A FAITHLESS GUARDIAN. "Well, good by, Rodney! I leave school tomorrow. I am going to learn a trade." "I am sorry to part with you, David. Couldn't you stay another term?" "No: my uncle says I must be earning my living, and I have a chance to learn the carpenter's trade." "Where are you going?" "To Duffield, some twenty miles away. I wish I were in your shoes. You have no money cares, and can go on quietly and complete your education." "I don't know how I am situated, David. I only know that my guardian pays my expenses at this boarding school."