m to
settle on its distant public lands, the words 'single man,' and
'unmarried man' may, especially if aided by the context and other
parts of the statute, be taken in a generic sense. Held,
accordingly, that the Fourth Section of the Act of Congress, of
September 27th, 1850, granting by way of donation, lands in Oregon
Territory, to every white settler or occupant, American half-breed
Indians included, embraced within the term _single man_ an
_unmarried woman_."

And the attorney, who carried this question to its final success, is now
the United States senator elect from Oregon, Hon. J.H. Mitchell, in whom
the cause of equal rights to women has an added power on the floor of
the United States Senate.

Though the words persons, people, inhabitants, electors, citizens, are
all used indiscriminately in the national and state constitutions, there
was always a conflict of opinion, prior to the war, as to whether they
were synonymous terms, as for instance:

"_No person_ shall be a _representative_ who shall not have been
seven years a _citizen_, and who shall not, when elected, be an
_inhabitant_ of that state in which he is chosen. No _person_ shall
be a senator who shall not have been a _citizen_ of the United
States, and an _inhabitant_ of that state in which he is chosen."

But, whatever room there was for a doubt, under the old regime, the
adoption of the fourteenth amendment settled that question forever, in
its first sentence: "All persons born or naturalized in the United
States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the state wherein they reside."

And the second settles the equal status of all persons--all citizens:

"No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens; nor shall any state deprive
any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of
law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws."

The only question left to be settled, now, is: Are women persons? And I
hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they
are not. Being persons, then, women are citizens, and no state has a
right to make any new law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge
their privileges or immunities. Hence, every discrimination against
women in the constitutions and law