"especially the right to be protected and governed according to the provisions of the Constitution..."

"..."Every citizen of the United States is a component member of the nation, with rights and duties under the Constitution and laws of United States, which cannot be destroyed abridged by the laws of any particular State. The laws of the State, if they conflict with laws of the nation, are of no force. . . . A citizen of the United States, whether by birth or naturalization, holds his franchise by the laws of the United States, and above the control of any particular State. . . . Whoever has that franchise is a whole citizen, and a citizen of the whole nation, and cannot be such citizen in one State, and not in another. 1
 
§ 34. The people of the United States, in making their Constitution, do not create or confer on themselves any new rights but they expressly reserve all the rights they then held, except what were delegated for their own benefit; and they particularly and expressly recognize and perpetuate many natural and civil common-law rights, which, of course, are placed beyond the reach of any subordinate government, and even of their own. Among these are the following:--

1. The right to be, what they call themselves, "the people of the United States," citizens, and component members of the body politic,--the nation; and to participate in all the privileges, immunities, and benefits the Constitution was designed to obtain or secure for all the American people, especially the right to be protected and governed according to the provisions of the Constitution.
2. A right to the privileges and immunities of citizens in any of the several States. Among these is the fundamental and elementary right of suffrage. The Representatives to the national and State legislatures must be chosen by the people, the citizens (Section 2).
Consequently, the citizens must choose them, and have a right to choose them. Am. 14, § 2.
3. A right to the common-law writ of habeas corpus, to protect the other common-law right, as well as natural and constitutional right, of personal liberty.
4. A right to trial by jury in any criminal case.
5. A right to keep and bear arms.
6. A right to life, liberty, and property, unless deprived by due process of law.
7. A right to just compensation for property legally taken for public use.
8. A right to participate in all rights retained by, or reserved to, the people...."
1 Attorney General Bates's Opinion on Citizenship Nov 29 1862. [Pgs. 57-59]


- Judge Timothy Farrar, [MANUAL OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. By TIMOTHY FARRAR, LL.D. Veritatem--"expellas furca, tamen usque recurret."--Horace. "Litera scripts manet." THIRD EDITION REVISED. With An Appendix. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1872. Pg. 145] (The Hon. Timothy Farrar of New Ipswich, N.H. was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and vice president and director of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society. He also wrote the Review of the Dred Scott Decision)