Page:Democratic Ideals (Olympia Brown).djvu/60

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The Federal Suffrage Association


tution, Section 2, Article 1, which provides:

"The members of the House of Representatives shall be elected once in two years by the people."

As no exceptions or qualifications were made, the term "people" necessarily included women. He supported his claim by many unanswerable arguments and telling quotations from the framers of the constitution and the decisions of the courts. He quoted the Federalist as showing by the constitution that those counted in the enumeration are entitled to vote. "Therefore," he said, "as women are counted in the enumeration on which the congressional apportionment is based, they are legally entitled to an equal share of representation."

He demanded an act of Congress according to the fourth section of Article I and quoted James Madison as saying that "the power to change the regulations made by the states was to protect the people. Should the people at any time be deprived of the right of suffrage in any state for any cause it was deemed proper that it should be remedied by the General Government."

The following quotation from Mr. Minor gives an idea of his line of argument. He said in speaking of the Yarborough decision (concerning the right of the states to regulate the qualifications of voters):

"Two circumstances have led to confusion

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