ch of the State Legislature,
and therefore for Members of Congress. And this interpretation is
supported by section 4, article 1, of the Constitution, which
provides:

That the time, places, and manner of holding elections for
Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each
State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at
any time by law make or alter such regulations except as to
the place of choosing Senators.

Now it is submitted, if it had been intended that Congress should
prescribe the qualifications of electors, that the grant would
have read: The Congress may at any time by law make or alter such
regulations, and also prescribe the qualifications of electors,
etc. The power, on the contrary, is limited exclusively to the
time, place, and manner, and does not extend to the
qualification of the electors. This power to prescribe the
qualification of electors in the several States has always been
exercised, and is, to-day, by the several States of the Union;
and we apprehend, until the Constitution shall be changed, will
continue to be so exercised, subject only to express limitations
imposed by the Constitution upon the several States, before
noticed. We are of opinion, therefore, that it is not competent
for the Congress of the United States to establish by law the
right to vote without regard to sex in the several States of this
Union, without the consent of the people of such States, and
against their constitutions and laws; and that such legislation
would be, in our judgment, a violation of the Constitution of the
United States, and of the rights reserved to the States
respectively by the Constitution. It is undoubtedly the right of
the people of the several States so to reform their constitutions
and laws as to secure the equal exercise of the right of suffrage
at all elections held therein under the Constitution of the
United States, to all citizens, without regard to sex; and as
public opinion creates constitutions and governments in the
several States, it is not to be doubted that whenever, in any
State, the people are of opinion that such a reform is advisable,
it will be made.

If however, as is claimed in the memorial referred to, the right
to vote "is vested by the Const