government shields me from injury, I ought to be ready to take up arms
in its defense.

Foremost among the rights of American citizenship is that of going to
the polls and casting a ballot. This right of voting is not a civil
right; it is a political right which grew out of man's long struggle for
his civil rights. While battling with kings and nobles for liberty the
people learned to distrust a privileged ruling class. They saw that if
their civil rights were to be respected, government must pass into their
own hands or into the hands of their chosen agents. Hence they demanded
political rights, the right of holding office and of voting at
elections.

The suffrage, or the right of voting, is sometimes regarded as a natural
right, one that belongs to a person simply because he is a person.

People will say that a man has as much right to vote as he has to
acquire property or to defend himself from attack. But this is not a
correct view. The right to vote is a _franchise_ or privilege which the
law gives to such citizens as are thought worthy of possessing it. It is
easy to see that everybody cannot be permitted to vote. There must be
certain qualifications, certain marks of fitness, required of a citizen
before he can be entrusted with the right of suffrage. These
qualifications differ in the different States. In most States every male
citizen over twenty-one years of age may vote. In four States, women as
well as men exercise the right of suffrage.

But the right of voting, like every other right, has its corresponding
duty. No day brings more responsibilities than Election Day. The
American voter should regard himself as an officer of government. He is