Lecture 3 - Page 2

II. State Constitutions

A. Voting
In Britain, the right to vote was granted to those who owned land. This
tradition was based upon the assumption that those who held property had
a direct stake in the success of a nation and therefore should have a voice
in the running of its political affairs. As few commoners had the means to
own land in England, the British Parliament was elected and controlled by a
landed aristocracy.

B. "Republicanism" vs. "Democracy"

For conservative American patriots who sought to continue this tradition in
America, republicanism did not mean "democracy". They were convinced
that voting and office holding should be restricted to men of learning and
wealth. Only they had the civic virtue necessary to establish the success of
this republican experiment, these elites argued. A democracy would surely
lead to mob rule in which the rights of the minority (i.e., the elite) would be
trampled upon.
 Battle of Bunker Hill

But some American patriots embraced a less elitist definition of political

participation - one based on citizenship rather than on property or status.
After all, were not men of little or no property dying in battle against British
troops in the Revolution? Did they not earn their right to take part in a
government?

C. State Constitutions
1. Property Qualifications

The debate over these issues was played out first in the individual states as
they wrote up their own constitutions. Pennsylvania embraced a radical
notion of participatory democracy by granting the right to vote and hold
office to all men who paid taxes. On the other extreme, stringent financial
voting requirements in South Carolina excluded a majority of the white
male population from going to the polls.
 Samuel Adams

Most states appear to have taken a middle-route, however, requiring

moderate to substantial property holdings in order to vote and establishing
in all but two states a bicameral legislature. Men of property would serve in
the upper house as a check against the excesses and whims of popularly
elected lower-houses.
Yet despite the qualifications - which were not always enforced at the
polling box - state legislatures were largely controlled by artisans, small
traders, farmers, and common citizens. They passed tax laws, currency
laws, land laws, and debt laws that by and large favored average people.