Declaration; second, in that of the Preamble to the Constitution, and
the Constitution itself, and its various amendments, to which I have
referred: the first, sixth, ninth and tenth, which would have been
interpreted male, had the Constitution meant men alone, but which have
always been defined to cover, and include woman--to cover and include
the rights of the _whole_ people to freedom of conscience, to freedom of
speech, to the right of a speedy and public trial, &c., &c., and this,
although in the Sixth Amendment, the terms _him_ and _his_ are alone
used. The Courts long ago decided that Statutes were of general bearing,
as is fully true of the Declaration and Constitution, which are supreme
statutes. The Fifteenth Amendment does not specifically exclude right of
male citizens to vote, because they are _male_ citizens, therefore, male
citizens are of necessity included in the right of voting. It does not
specifically exclude female citizens from the right of voting, because
they are female citizens, therefore, female citizens are of necessity
included in the right of voting--a right which the United States cannot
abridge. No male citizen can claim that he, as a male citizen, is
included, save by implication, and save on the general grounds that he
is not specifically excluded, he is necessarily included. Can the
United States, at pleasure, take from its own citizens the right of
voting, or abridge that right? Has it the right to take from citizens of
States the right of voting? Are citizens of States simply protected
against States, and can the United States now, at will, step in and deny
or abridge the right of voting to all its male citizens simply because
they are male? If it has that power over its female citizens, it has the
same power over its male citizens. You cannot fail to see that the
question brought up by Miss Anthony's prosecution and trial _by the
United States_ for the act of voting, has developed the most important
question of United States rights; a larger, most pregnant, more
momentous question by far, than that of _State_ rights. The liberties of
the people are much more closely involved when the United States is the
aggressor, than when the States are aggressors.

"The Act to Enforce the right of citizens to vote," declares that
CITIZENS shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all elections by the
people, in any state, territory, district, county, city, parish,
township, school district, munici