"But on the 2d of July, 1776 (two days before the Declaration of Independence), the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, at Burlington, adopted a Constitution, which remained in force until 1844, of which sect. 4 is as follows: 'Qualifications of Electors for Members of Legislatures. _All inhabitants of this colony_, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation-money, clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for representatives in Council and Assembly, and also for all other public officers that shall be elected by the people of the county at large.' "Sect. 7 provides that the Council and Assembly jointly shall elect _some fit person within the colony_ to be Governor. This Constitution remained in force until 1844. "Thus, by a deliberate change of the terms 'male freeholder' to 'all inhabitants,' suffrage and ability to hold the highest office in the State were conferred both on women and negroes. "In 1790, a committee of the Legislature reported a bill regulating elections, in which the words '_he or she_' are applied to voters; thus giving legislative indorsement to the alleged meaning of the Constitution. "In 1797 the Legislature passed an act to regulate elections, containing the following provisions:-- "Sect. 9. 'Every voter shall openly, and in full view, deliver _his or her ballot_, which shall be a single written ticket, containing the names of the person or persons for whom _he or she votes_,' &c. "Sect. 11. 'All free inhabitants of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation-money, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for all public officers which shall be elected by virtue of this act; and no person shall be entitled to vote in any other township or precinct than that in which he or she doth actually reside at the time of the election.'