A School History of the United States Part 59

_Political Rights and Duties._--The political rights and duties of citizens depend chiefly on the state const.i.tutions and laws. Elections, both state and national, are conducted by state officers. The state prescribes who shall have the right to vote, and the various states differ greatly in this respect. Congress grants citizens.h.i.+p by a uniform rule of naturalization; but some states allow aliens to vote (on certain conditions), and some provide that a naturalized citizen can not vote until a certain period has elapsed after his naturalization. In some states women may vote; in some only those men who have certain property or educational qualifications.

The right to vote is the qualification for holding most offices; additional qualifications are prescribed for very important offices, in the Federal and state const.i.tutions. Thus, none but a native may be a President or Vice President of the United States, nor may a citizen under thirty years of age be a member of the United States Senate.

Besides voting and office holding, the most important political rights and duties of citizens are to sit on juries and to serve in the army.

The qualifications of jurors in state courts are prescribed by state authority, and in national courts by national authority. Congress has the exclusive power to raise armies, and in the Civil War hundreds of thousands of citizens came under national authority in connection with the duty to bear arms. The militia, however, is commanded by state officers, and in time of peace is under the control of the separate states.