Read this excerpt from susan b. anthony's "is it a crime for a citizen of the united states to vote? " and arrange the arguments the author presents in the correct order.
our democratic-republican government is based on the idea of the natural right of every individual member thereof to a voice and a vote in making and executing the laws. we assert the province of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their unalienable rights. we throw to the winds the old dogma that governments can give rights. before governments were organized, no one denies that each individual possessed the right to protect his own life, liberty and property. and when 100 or 1,000,000 people enter into a free government, they do not barter away their natural rights; they simply pledge themselves to protect each other in the enjoyment of them, through prescribed judicial and legislative tribunals. they agree to abandon the methods of brute force in the adjustment of their differences, and adopt those of civilization. .
"all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. that to secure these, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
here is no shadow of government authority over rights, nor exclusion of any from their full and equal enjoyment. here is pronounced the right of all men, and "consequently," as the quaker preacher said, "of all women," to a voice in the government. and here, in this very first paragraph of the declaration, is the assertion of the natural right of all to the ballot; for, how can "the consent of the governed" be given, if the right to vote be denied.
tiles
- governments are set up to protect rights.
- women cannot express their consent to be governed if they cannot vote.
- governments do not have the power to give rights.
- people are born with rights.
- governments derive their power from people's will.
- all citizens have a right to participate in government.