considering the State Governments and General Government as
distinct bodies, acting in different and independent
capacities for the people, it was thought the particular
regulations should be submitted to the former and the
general regulations to the latter. Were they exclusively
under the control of the State Governments, the General
Government might easily be dissolved. But if they be
regulated properly by the State Legislature, the
Congressional control will very properly never be exercised.
The power appears to me satisfactory, and as unlikely to be
abused as any part of the Constitution. (Elliot's Debates,
vol. 2, pages 276-7.)

It seems to us that nothing can be clearer or plainer than this,
coming to us, as it does, with all the weight and authority of
Mr. Madison himself. But it may be asked: If this be so, why was
not the question sooner raised? We answer, at that very time, and
for nearly twenty years afterward, women did vote, unquestioned
and undisputed, in one of the States (New Jersey). The men who
framed the Constitution were then living--some of them in this
very State; yet we hear no mention of its being unconstitutional,
no objection made to it whatever.

It is true that subsequently this provision was omitted (about
1807) in the revisal of the State Constitution (as we think, very
unjustly), but the fact remains of the unquestioned exercise of
this privilege by women at the very time the Federal Constitution
was adopted, and for years afterward. This fact is worth a
thousand theories. Again, we think that one of the causes of the
popular error on this subject arises from forgetting or
overlooking the dual nature of our citizenship.

We are citizens of a State, as well as of the United States. This
is alluded to in several of the early cases, and its importance
is clearly pointed out. We quote, first, from Talbut _vs._
Jansen, 3 Dallas, Sup. Ct. Rep., 153 (1795), in which Mr. Justice
Patterson says: "The act of the Legislature of Virginia does not
apply. Ballard was a citizen of Virginia, and also of the United
States. If the Legislature of Virginia pass an act specifying the
causes of expatriation and prescribing the manner in which it is
to be effected by the c