was, then it may with force be argued that suffrage was one of
the rights which belonged to citizenship, and in the enjoyment of
which every citizen must be protected. But if it was not, the
contrary may with propriety be assumed.

When the Constitution of the United States was adopted, all the
several States, with the exception of Rhode Island, had
constitutions of their own. Rhode Island continued to act under
its charter from the Crown. Upon an examination of those
constitutions, we find that in no State were all citizens
permitted to vote. Each State determined for itself who should
have that power.

Thus, in New Hampshire, "every male inhabitant of each town
and parish, with town privileges and places unincorporated
in the State, of twenty-one years of age and upwards,
excepting paupers and persons excused from paying taxes at
their own request," were its voters; in Massachusetts,
"every male inhabitant of twenty-one years of age and
upwards, having a freehold estate within the Commonwealth of
the annual income of three pounds, or any estate of the
value of sixty pounds"; in Rhode Island, "such as are
admitted free of the company and society" of the colony; in
Connecticut, such persons as had "maturity in years, quiet
and peaceful behavior, a civil conversation, and forty
shillings freehold or forty pounds personal estate," if so
certified by the selectmen; in New York, "every male
inhabitant of full age, who shall have personally resided
within one of the counties of the State for six months
immediately preceding the day of election, ... if during the
time aforesaid he shall have been a freeholder, possessing a
freehold of the value of twenty pounds within the country,
or have rented a tenement therein of the yearly value of
forty shillings, and been rated and actually paid taxes to
the State"; in New Jersey, all inhabitants ... of full age,
who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate
in the same, and have resided in the county in which they
claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the
election"; in Pennsylvania, "every freeman at the age of
twenty-one years, havin