ghts and interests and protection, and
having a vital stake in all the regulations and laws of
society? And, if an exception, from the nature of the case,
could be felt in regard to persons who are idiots, infants,
and insane, how can this apply to persons who are of more
mature growth, and are yet deemed minors by the municipal
law?

SEC. 580. If, then, every well-organized society has the
right to consult for the common good of the whole; and if,
upon the principle of natural law, this right is conceded by
the very union of society, it seems difficult to assign any
limit to this right which is compatible with the due
attainment of the end proposed. If, therefore, any society
shall deem the common good and interests of the whole
society best promoted under the particular circumstances in
which it is placed by a restriction of the right of
suffrage, it is not easy to state any solid ground of
objection to its exercise of such an authority. At least, if
any society has a clear right to deprive females,
constituting one-half of the whole population, of the right
of suffrage (which, with scarcely an exception, has been
uniformly maintained), it will require some astuteness to
find upon what ground this exclusion can be vindicated,
which does justify, or at least excuse, many other
exclusions.

Sec. 581. Without laying any stress upon this theoretical
reasoning which is brought before the reader, not so much
because it solves all doubts and objections, as because it
presents a view of the serious difficulties attendant upon
the assumption of an original and inalienable right of
suffrage, as originating in natural law, and independent of
civil law, it may be proper to state that every civilized
society has uniformly fixed, modified, and regulated the
right of suffrage for itself according to its own free will
and pleasure. Every constitution of government in these
United States has assumed, as a fundamental principle, the
right of the people of the State to alter, abolish, and
modify the form of its own government according to the
sovereign pleasure