edy triumph.

Aristotle, the profoundest thinker of antiquity, in his treatise
on politics, defines a citizen to be "one who enjoys a due share
in the government of that country of which he is a member." If he
does not enjoy this right, then he is no citizen, but a subject.
Every citizen, therefore, is entitled to a voice--a vote--a due
share in the government of his country. I am aware that the
courts and politicians in democratic America have not so defined
citizenship. The reason is that politics is not yet a positive
science, and they have failed to analyze this question. Had they
a clear conception of the constituent elements--the anatomy, so
to speak, of the body politic, they would perceive that
suffrage--a voice in the government--is an essential condition of
citizenship. Aristotle, in his treatise, which is perhaps the
ablest yet given to the world, pointed out that families, not
individuals, are the constituent units of a State.

A family--a household--exists and is held together by natural
laws, independent of the State, and an aggregation of these
constitute the State. The head of the family, whoever that may
be, according to its structure, is the representative in the
State. All the constituent members of the family, consisting, in
its most perfect form, of husband, wife, children and domestics,
are subject to the authority of the head, and have no voice, no
vote, no share in the government, except through their head or
representative. In societies where the common law obtains, which
in this respect is a transcript of the Bible, the wife, like the
child, is subordinated to the authority of the husband, and on
principle, has no voice, no vote. On the decease of the husband,
the widow becomes the head of the family, and on principle is
entitled to a voice, a vote. But in countries where the civil law
governs, the wife is the partner, and not the subject of her
husband, and on principle ought to have her due share in the
government.

When the children in a family, whether male or female, attain the
age fixed by law for the control of their own affairs, and do
control them, they are free, independent, and on every principle
are entitled to a due share in the government--to a vote. Every
member of society who is free and indepe