government."--_Constitution of Connecticut_.

And so on through the constitutions of almost every State in the Union. Our
government is, as Lincoln said, "a government of the people, by the people,
and for the people." There is no escaping it. To question this is to deny
the foundations of the American government. Granted that those who framed
these provisions may not have understood the full extent of the principles
they announced. No matter: they gave us those principles; and, having them,
we must apply them.

Now, women may be voters or not, citizens or not; but that they are a part
of the people, no one has denied in Christendom--however it may be in
Japan, where, as Mrs. Leonowens tells us, the census of population takes in
only men, and the women and children are left to be inferred. "WE THE
PEOPLE," then, includes women. Be the superstructure what it may, the
foundation of the government clearly provides a place for them: it is
impossible to state the national theory in such a way that it shall not
include them. It is impossible to deny the natural right of women to vote,
except on grounds which exclude all natural right.

The fundamental charters are on our side. There are certain statute
limitations which may prove greater or less. But these are temporary and
trivial things, always to be interpreted, often to be modified, by
reference to the principles of the Constitution. For instance, when a
constitutional convention is to be held, or new conditions of suffrage to
be created, the whole people should vote upon the matter, including those
not hitherto enfranchised. This is the view insisted on, many years since,
by that eminent jurist, William Beach Lawrence. He maintained, in a letter
to Charles Sumner and in opposition to his own party, that if the question
of "negro suffrage" in the Southern States of the Union were put to vote,