wage war against the State or to assist its enemies in time of war-as distinguished from disloyal words or sentiments.

30. Excessive Bail, etc.-The Constitution also provides against oppression by the courts under forms of law, and to that end forbids (19) the requirement of excessive bail, the imposing of excessive fines, and the infliction of cruel and unusual punishments.

31. Taking Private Property for Public Use. (20)—Private property is not to be taken for public use without compensation. It often becomes necessary to obtain or appropriate the property of the private citizen for the public benefit. For instance, ground may be needed for the site of a schoolhouse, or for a public highway, or other similar public purpose; and in such cases the rights of the individual owner must yield to the general good, but not until proper compensation has been made.

32. No

No imprisonment for Debt. (21)-There can be no imprisonment for debt in any civil action, on mesne or final process, unless in case of fraud; nor can any person be imprisoned for nonpayment of a militia fine.

33. Words Defined-The word "action," as used in this section of the Constitution, means a proceeding or suit at law for the collection of a debt. "Mesne process," as here used, is a writ or warrant issued in such proceeding or suit for the arrest and detention of the debtor until the case can be tried. "Final process" is a writ or

warrant issued after the case is tried, to imprison the debtor until he pays or performs the judgment rendered against him.

34. Right of Assembly and Petition. (22)—The people may at all times meet and counsel together for the common good, and to petition the proper authorities for the redress of their real or supposed grievances.

35. Bills of Attainder. (23)-Following the example set in the Constitution of the United States, Iowa, also, forbids all bills of attainder and ex post facto laws. A Bill of Attainder is an Act of a legislature inflicting the punishment of death upon a person for treason or other crime, without trial by a regular court; it takes away his right to inherit property or to transmit property to his heirs. Ex post facto Law is a law that makes punishable as a crime an act which was not criminal when done, or that increases the penalty for a crime after it has been committed.

36. Rights of Foreigners. (24)-Persons of foreign birth residing within the State enjoy the same property rights as native-born citizens. This liberal policy has attracted a large immigration from European countries and contributed very much to the rapid development of the State. A foreign-born citizen who becomes naturalized under our laws is not considered an alien in any sense, and enjoys the same rights of citizenship as if native-born.

37. Slavery Forbidden. (25)-Slavery never had legal existence in Iowa; but, at the time the

State was organized, the institution was strongly entrenched in the South. The conflict of opinion between the North and South over the extension of slavery was very bitter, and the application of a new State for admission to the Union was always the signal for heated discussion and controversy.

38. Result of Compromise-In the year 1846, both Iowa and Florida were seeking admission to the Union. In the former antislavery sentiment prevailed, while the interests and sympathies of the latter were with the slave States. As either of these applications, standing alone, would excite great opposition from those holding contrary views upon the slavery question, a compromise was effected by which both States were admitted at the same time and by the same bill or act of Congress one as a free and the other as a slave State.

39. A Monument of Honor-To the present generation, it seems an anomaly that a "free country" should deem it necessary to put up a constitutional barrier against slavery; but, to those familiar with the prejudices and passions then surrounding this subject in the public mind, the constitutional prohibition of human bondage stands as a monument to the wisdom, justice, and honor of the men who laid the foundation of our State.

40. Leases of Lands. (26)-Leases of agricultural lands for terms of more than twenty years are invalid.

41. Reasons for such Restriction-Long leases and other devices by which the ownership of lands is perpetuated indefinitely in the same family or line of descent tends to create a landed aristocracy and thus to weaken and endanger republican institutions. They also serve to prevent the division and sale of lands and thereby lessen the number of citizens who own and control their own homes.

CHAPTER VII

RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE

I. Its Importance—The right to vote is the most sacred and valuable privilege which can be conferred upon the citizen. It is therefore highly proper that the Constitution should define such privilege in clear terms and guard it so far as possible from abuse and destruction.

2. Qualification for Suffrage. (30)—The right to vote depends upon the following qualifications: 1st, Sex; 2d, Citizenship; 3d, Age; 4th, Residence.

These qualifications are separately considered in the following sections.

3. Sex-During the earlier history of the republic the right of suffrage was exercised by male citizens alone. Of late years the extension of suffrage to women has been earnestly advocated and the proposition has been received in many States with increasing favor. Three of the newer States, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah,

make no distinction between the sexes in this respect, but extend the voting privilege to men and women on equal terms.

4. Partial or Limited Suffrage-In some States where equal suffrage does not yet prevail, women have been granted the right to vote for school officers and upon certain other matters of a local character. A recent act of the Iowa legislature permits women to take part in elections upon questions of issuing bonds, borrowing money, or increasing taxation.

5. Citizenship-To be a legal voter a person must be a citizen of the United States. All native-born and naturalized subjects of the general government are citizens. Congress prescribes that a foreign-born person may be naturalized after living in this country five years. The first step is to declare an oath before a court that he intends to become a citizen; after this declaration, he must wait two years; then, if the court is satisfied that he has lived five years in the United States and one year in the state in which the court is held, it may admit him as a citizen after he has sworn to support the Constitution of the United States.

6. Age-A citizen of immature age, and undeveloped mind and judgment is manifestly unprepared for the responsibility of suffrage. By the common law of England, generally followed in the United States, twenty-one years is fixed as the age at which the child is considered fitted for emancipation from parental control, and in har