was done by virtue of his or her
status of citizenship, under the new and paramount sovereignty,
and not under the law of 1776; and so it has continued ever
since, the elector voting for United States officers by virtue of
his citizenship of the United States, and for State officers as a
citizen of the State. We believe, then, we are justified in the
statement that white women in New Jersey voted, under State
authority, for the members of the Constitutional Convention of
1787. That they next voted, under like authority, for the
ratification of the newly framed Constitution of the United
States; and then, that Constitution having been adopted, as
newly-created citizens of the newly-created sovereignty, the
white women of New Jersey voted at the five succeeding
Presidential elections--for Washington, for Adams, and for
Jefferson. The contest in 1800 was bitter beyond all precedent,
and we are told that all the women of the State entitled to vote
did so. We refer to the Constitution and laws of New Jersey; to a
work entitled _The Historical Magazine_, published in Boston in
1857, Vol. I., p. 361; to the _National Intelligencer_,
Washington, October 3, 1857; to _Notes and Queries_, Vol. VIII.,
p. 171, August, 1853.

But apart from these considerations, which we deem amply
sufficient to sustain our position, an examination into the
nature and character of the right itself will further show that
it is one of which the citizen can not justly be deprived, save
for cause.

The first amendment to the Constitution declares that Congress
shall make no law abridging freedom of speech or of the press,
thus incorporating into the organic law of this country absolute
freedom of thought or opinion. We presume it will not be doubted
that the States are equally bound with Congress by this
prohibition, not only because, as Chief-Justice Taney says, "the
Constitution of the United States, and every article and clause
in it, is a part of the law of every State in the Union, and is
the paramount law" (Prigg _vs._ The Comm., 16 Peters R., 628),
but because, in the very nature of things, freedom of speech or
of thought can not be divided. It is a personal attribute, and
once secured is forever secured. To vote is but one form or
method of expressing this