This Amendment is a copy of the 6th clause of the famous
Ordinance of 1787, which secured freedom for the Northwest
Territory, and has now become the organic law for the entire
Union. This Ordinance was drawn by the Hon. Nathan Dane, of
Massachusetts.[178]

We say that this Missouri law violates this amendment, inasmuch
as it places the plaintiff in a disfranchised condition, which is
none other than a condition of servitude--of "involuntary
servitude," because, although a citizen in the fullest
acceptation of the term--a member of this body politic--one of
the "people"--she has never consented to this law; has never been
permitted to express either consent or dissent, nor given any
opportunity to express her opinion thereon, in the manner pointed
out by law, while at the same time she is taxed, and her property
taken to pay the very men who sat in judgment upon and condemned
her!

Finally--Such is the nature of this privilege--so individual--so
purely personal is its character, that its indefinite extension
detracts not in the slightest degree from those who already enjoy
it, and by an affirmation of the plaintiff's claim all womanhood
would be elevated into that condition of self-respect that
perfect freedom alone can give.

RESUME--(Minor _vs._ Happersett, 21 Wallace Rep., p. 164.)

1st. As a citizen of the United States, the plaintiff is entitled
to any and all the "privileges and immunities" that belong to
such position however defined; and as are held, exercised, and
enjoyed by other citizens of the United States.

2d. The elective franchise is a "privilege" of citizenship, in
the highest sense of the word. It is the privilege preservative
of all rights and privileges; and especially of the right of the
citizen to participate in his or her government.

3d. The denial or abridgment of this privilege, if it exist at
all, must be sought only in the fundamental charter of
government--the Constitution of the United States. If not found
there, no inferior power or jurisdiction can legally claim the
right to exercise it.

4th. But the Constitution of the United States, so far from
recognizing or permitting any denial or abridgment of the
privileges of its citizens, expressly declares that "no State
shall make or enfor