Question

excerpt from \is it a crime for a u.s. citizen to vote?\ by susan b. anthony delivered in monroe county, ny, 1873 friends and fellow - citizens: i stand before you to - night, under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote. it shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, i not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizens right, guaranteed to me and all united states citizens by the national constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny. 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. how can you find a word in any of the grand documents left us by the fathers that assumes for government the power to create or to confer rights. the declaration of independence, the united states constitution, the constitutions of the several states and the organic how does anthony make her claim that the founding principles of the united states support womens right to vote? she asserts that the declaration of independence considers the right to vote a religious right that all people are entitled to. she states that all governments are established to give their people new rights and freedoms, such as life, liberty, and property. she argues that the u.s. constitution does not give the right to vote to certain people, but that it protects it for everyone. she says that the u.s. constitution prohibits the states from determining who can and cannot vote in elections.

Explanation:

Anthony's argument in the excerpt is centered around the U.S. Constitution. She claims that the Constitution does not grant the right to vote to specific groups but rather protects it for all. This aligns with the idea that the founding principles (as represented in the Constitution) support women's right to vote. The first option is incorrect as the Declaration of Independence does not frame voting as a religious right. The second option is wrong because governments (as per her view) secure pre - existing rights (not give new ones). The fourth option is incorrect as she is arguing about the protection of the right to vote for all (not about states' role in determining voters in the way the option suggests).

Answer:

She argues that the U.S. Constitution does not give the right to vote to certain people, but that it protects it for everyone.