just powers from the consent of the governed." Here is the great
truth, the vital principle, upon which our Government is founded,
and which demonstrates that the right of a voice in the conduct
of the government, and the selection of the rulers, is a right
and privilege of all citizens. Another of the self-evident truths
laid down in that instrument is:

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or
abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its
foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in
such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
safety and happiness.

How can the people carry out this right without the exercise of
the ballot; and is not the ballot then a fundamental right and
privilege of the citizen, not given to him by the Constitution,
but inherent, as a necessity, from the very nature of the
government?

Benjamin Franklin wrote:

That every man of the commonalty, except infants, insane
persons, and criminals, is, of common right, and by the laws
of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of
liberty. That liberty or freedom consists in having an
actual share in the appointment of those who frame the laws,
and who are to be the guardians of every man; life,
property, and peace; for the all of one man is as dear to
him as the all of another, and the poor man has an equal
right but more need to have representatives in the
legislature than the rich one. That they who have no voice
nor vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy
liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes
and to their representatives; for, to be enslaved is to have
governors whom other men have set over us, and be subject to
laws made by the representatives of others, without having
had representatives of our own to give consent in our
behalf. (Franklin's Works, vol. 2. p. 372.)

James Madison said:

Under every view of the subject it seems indispensable that
the mass of the citizens should not be without a voice in
making the laws which they are to obey, and in choosing the