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To: supercat
I submit that in the eyes of the Founding Fathers the words citizen and people are one in the same. I would submit that "the people" refers to "all free persons". Not all persons are free.

Okay, think of this: During the post revolutionary American era there were people of many nationalities on American soil, like the French. Did the right to vote in AMERICAN elections extend to them? I think not. The same can be said for illegal aliens in both voting and guns.

81 posted on 12/19/2011 10:22:55 PM PST by ExSoldier ("Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil: It has no point.")
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To: ExSoldier
Did the right to vote...

Did the phrase "right to vote" even exist in the English lexicon? The notion of universal suffrage is comparatively recent, and I don't think the Founding Fathers would have particularly approved of it.

83 posted on 12/19/2011 11:56:40 PM PST by supercat (Renounce Covetousness.)
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To: ExSoldier

Actually, it may have, as IIRC it was rather unusual when Thomas Paine, a British born man, was denied the right to vote due to a political disagreement with the local poll workers following his publishing of The Age of Reason.

I would imagine that at that time, if one had proved to be a productive member of society, and otherwise met the requirements, franchise was extended to them.


86 posted on 12/20/2011 3:03:10 AM PST by robertwalker62
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