It can not be questioned that from time whereof the memory of man
runneth not to the contrary, unmarried women have been by the
laws of England competent voters, subject to the freehold
qualification which applied alike to men and women. Married women
could not vote because they were not freeholders; by the common
law their property upon marriage became vested in the husband. So
that it appears that the admission of woman to participation in
the affairs of government would not be so much of an innovation
upon the theories and usage of the past as is by some supposed.

In England the theory was that in property representation, all
property should be represented. Here the theory is that of
personal representation, which of course, if carried out fully,
includes the representation of all property. In England, as we
have seen, the owner of the property, whether male or female was
entitled to representation, no distinction being made on account
of sex. If the doctrine contended for by the majority of the
committee be correct, then this Government is less liberal upon
this question than the government of England has been for
hundreds of years, for there is in this country a large class of
citizens of adult age, and owners in their own right of large
amounts of property, and who pay a large proportion of the taxes
to support the Government, who are denied any representation
whatever, either for themselves or their property--unmarried
women, of whom it can not be said that their interests are
represented by their husbands. In their case, neither the English
nor the American theory of representation is carried out, and
this utter denial of representation is justified upon the ground
alone that this class of citizens are women. Surely we can not be
so much less liberal than our English ancestors! Surely the
Constitution of this Republic does not sanction an injustice so
indefensible as that!

By the XIV. Amendment of the Constitution of the United States,
what constitutes citizenship of the United States, is for the
first time declared, and who are included by the term citizen.
Upon this question, before that time, there had been much
discussion judicial, political, and general, and no distinct and
definite definition of qualification had been set