The champions also forget that “The Federalist,” in commending the Constitution, at the time of its adoption, insisted, that, if the slaves became free, they would be entitled to representation. I have quoted the potent words before,[46] and now I quote them again:-- “It is only under the pretext that the laws have transformed the negroes into subjects of property, that a place is denied to them in the computation of numbers; and it is admitted, that, if the laws were to restore the rights which have been taken away, the negroes could no longer be refused an equal share of representation with the other inhabitants.”[47] The champions also forget, that, in the debates on the ratification of the National Constitution, it was charged by its opponents, and admitted by its friends, that Congress was empowered to correct any inequality of suffrage. I content myself with quoting the weighty words of Madison in the Virginia Convention:-- “Some States might regulate the elections on the principles of _Equality_, and others might regulate them otherwise.… Should the people of any State by any means be deprived of the right of suffrage, _it was judged proper that it should be remedied by the General Government_.… If the elections be regulated properly by the State Legislatures, the Congressional control will very probably never be exercised. The power appears to me satisfactory, and as unlikely to be abused as any part of the Constitution.”[48] The champions also forget that Chief Justice Taney, in that very Dred Scott decision where it was ruled that a person of African descent could not be a citizen of the United States, admitted, that, if he were once a citizen, that is, if he were once admitted to be a component part of the body-politic, he would be entitled to the equal privileges of citizenship. Here are some of his emphatic words:-- “There is not, it is believed, to be found in the theories of writers on Government, or in any actual experiment heretofore tried, an exposition of the term _citizen_ which has not been understood as conferring _the actual possession and enjoyment, or the perfect right of acquisition and enjoyment, of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political_.”[49] Thus from every authority, early and late,--from Magna Charta, wrung out of King John at Runnymede,--from Hamilton, writing in “The Federalist,”--from Madison, speaking in the Convention at Richmond,--from Taney, presiding in the Supreme Court of the United States,--is there one harmonious testimony to the equal rights of citizenship.