I can assure you, that the votes were taken, and the polls examined with great care, and I doubt whether the vote of any non-freeholder, ever reached the Executive Chamber. The judges qualified to take votes and purge the polls were vigilant, and performed their duty with the utmost strictness, so far as I have been informed. Indeed, they were, of all men in the Commonwealth, the last to permit improper votes to be counted; for it must be recollected that these gentlemen, (the county court clerks, sheriffs and commissioners of the revenue,) had but little feeling or desire for the formation of a Convention. They did their duty fully and amply.

The number of freehold-voters in the State, may be estimated at 45,000, and not more. I shall consider them as of that number. From the free white population of 1820, and the hypothetical increase since that time, there are now in the State more than 140,000 free white male citizens over 21 years of age. Deduct from this number the voters, and you find 95,000 free white men excluded from the polls. But, Sir, deduct from this last number, 5, 10, or if you please, 15,000 for paupers and others who ought to be excluded, and you still have 80,000; leaving the Government in the hands of little more than one third of the people. I am then justified in saying that the Government is in the hands of the few; that it is held and exercised by that few, who hold it by virtue of their freehold estates. I ask you, now Sir, if our Government be not to some extent aristocratical in its form? It is so considered by some men of great wisdom, and I believe generally by the people of the other States of this Union. Are we to close our eyes to these facts? or are we to consider the as having some influence on our deliberations? Sir, we ought to consider them.

When I use this argument to prove the aristocratical principles of our Government, I do it with due respect to the opinions of all the members of this body, and also, with due respect to the freeholders who sent me here; whose opinions and interests I wish to represent. But, Sir, from these facts, I must contend that the Right of Suffrage ought greatly to be extended. The freehold Suffrage is contrary to the genius of our people; and I may well say, contrary to the genius of the people of all these United States. Is it not unwise to contend for a principle so much opposed to the will of the great body of the people?

I shall now attempt to shew that the freehold Right of Suffrage is contrary to the genius of the American people. In doing this, I will introduce, for the consideration of the Committee, a general analysis of the regulations on the Right of Suffrage in each of the States of this Union, which will develop some curious facts, and correct some improper impressions made on the public mind on this subject. And although it may be tedious and uninteresting to the Committee, yet some valuable lessons and correct conclusions may be drawn from a careful examination of all the provisions in the several States on this subject. I know that the Constitutions of other States will not be received as conclusive evidence to convince the Committee of the propriety of adopting the principle for which I contend, nor, indeed, do I presume they will have much weight here. But, Sir, these Constitutions are looked to by the people, and are respected by them. They will have some weight, in shewing that the principle of General Suffrage is neither new nor dangerous.

I proceed, Mr. Chairman, with the twelve slave-holding States, as they are called: Missouri.-Every free white male citizen of the United States, 21 years of age, who shall have resided one year in the State, and three months in the county or district, shall be deemed a qualified voter, except soldiers, seamen or marines.

Alabama-Every male person of the age of 21 years, being a citizen of the United States, and who shall have resided in the State one year, and in the county, city or town, three months, shall be deemed a qualified elector, except soldiers, seamen or marines.

Mississippi.-Every free white male person of the age of 21 years, being a citizen of the United States, and having resided in the State one year, and the last six months in the county, city, or town, where he offers to vote, being enrolled in the militia, (if not exempted,) or having paid a State or county tax, shall be deemed a qualified voter. Louisiana.-Every free white male citizen of the United States, who at the time being, hath attained the age of 21 years, and resided in the county in which he offers to vote, one year next preceding the election, and who, in the last six months, has paid a State tax, shall enjoy the right of an elector; and every such citizen who shall have purchased lands from the United States, shall have the right of voting, when he shall have the other qualifications of age and residence.

Kentucky.-Every free male citizen, (negroes, mulattoes, and indians, excepted,) who at the time being, hath attained to the age of 21 years, and resided in the State two years, and the county or town he offers to vote, one year next preceding the election, shall enjoy the right of an elector.

Tennessee.-Every free man of the age of 21 years and upwards, possessing a freehold in the county wherein he may vote, and being an inhabitant of the State; and every free man being an inhabitant of any one county in the State six months, immediately preceding the day of election, shall be entitled to vote.

Georgia.-The electors of members of the General Assembly shall be citizens and inhabitants of the State, and shall have attained the age of 21 years, and have paid all taxes which may have been required of them, and which they may have had an opportunity of paying agreeable to law for the year preceding the election, and who shall have resided six months within the county.

South Carolina.-By the old Constitution, the Right of Suffrage was confined to free white males 21 years of age, possessed of freeholds in 50 acres of land, or town lots, and such of them as paid two shillings sterling of taxes the year before the election. But by the amended Constitution:

Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, (paupers and soldiers of the United States excepted,) being a citizen of the State, and having resided therein two years previous to the election, and who hath a freehold of fifty acres of land, or a town lot, of which he hath been seised or possessed six months before the election; or not having such freehold or town lot, hath been a resident in the election district in which he offers to vote, six months before the election, shall have a right to vote.

North Carolina.-All free men of twenty-one years of age, having been possessed of a freehold estate in fifty acres of land for six months, and having resided twelve months in the county, may vote for Senators-and all free men of the age of twentyone, who have been inhabitants of any one county twelve months, and shall have paid public taxes, shall be entitled to vote for Commons. It is nearly the same in towns having separate representation.

Maryland-By her old Constitution, all free men above twenty-one years of age, having freeholds of fifty acres of land, or thirty pounds value of any property, and having resided one year in any one county, were authorised to vote. But by the amendment of 1802, every free white male citizen of the State (and no others) above the age of twenty-one years, having resided one year in any county, or the city of Baltimore, or Annapolis before the election, shall have the Right of Suffrage.

Delaware.-Every white free man of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the State two years next before the election, and within that time paid a State or county tax which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the right of an elector; and the sons of those so qualified, between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-two, may vote without having paid a tax.

Virginia we know is freehold.

From the Constitutions of these twelve slave-holding States, the various facts will be discovered, that six of them require fixed times of age and residence of their male citizens, as the only qualifications of electors; four require the payment of some kind of taxes in addition to age and residence; and only two require a freehold qualification: these two are Virginia, and North Carolina in the Senate.

I will not detain the Committee in giving a full analysis of the Constitutions of the non-slave-holding States, but will merely submit this statement, shewing that six of them require age and residence as qualifications, and that the other six require the payment of some kind of taxes.

States which require particular terms of age and residence as qualifications of electors:

States which require the payment of taxes in addition to age and residence:

Mississippi,

Louisiana,

Ohio,

Georgia,
Delaware-4.

Connecticut,

New Jersey,
New York-6.

States which require freehold estates in addition to age and residence:

Virginia,

North Carolina-2

12

12

Now, Sir, I have presented for your consideration twelve States of this Union, in which the Right of Suffrage is extended generally, to all the free white male citizens of twenty-one years of age. Some of them, but not all, have excluded paupers, soldiers and seamen; and some have not even excluded free negroes. Six of them, like Virginia, hold slaves, and six do not. I have also presented you with ten States, which require the payment of taxes in addition to the qualifications of age and residence

four of them slave-holding, and six not. South Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York, have changed their former Constitutions in this particular, and have abandoned the freehold qualification, except as to free negroes, in New York. The Constitution of that State authorises free negroes, being male citizens of that State, of full age, who hold estates of freehold, of the value of $250, clear of debts and incumbrances, and who shall have paid taxes on their estates, to vote. But, I have heard that the Legislature refused to tax these freeholds, and thereby deprived the owners of voting. There is an express provision in the Constitution, that no free negro's real estate under the value of $250, shall be taxed; so that no man is taxed in that State without representation. I believe, Mr. Chairman, from these facts, I may conclude that the freehold Right of Suffrage is contrary to the genius of the people of the present age, and the Republican institutions of the United States.

If any confidence can be placed in the people of the United States, (and I presume there can be some) so far as example and precedent taken from them can have any influence on our deliberations, that influence is in favour of an extension, even beyond the amendment of my colleague. The example of these States has a very powerful influence on the people of Virginia, I am well assured. My residence is near Pennsylvania and Ohio; and I see and know the influence of those States, and their institutions, over the people of the Western part of this State. They see and know the benefits of General Suffrage on society-they approve, they desired a change. And, Sir, look around you; and you find members on this floor from the Tennessee line, round to that of Maryland, who advocate the same principles for which I contend. But to the South, on the North Carolina line, we meet with opposition.

The gentleman over the way, (Mr. Trezvant,) has told us that every Republican Government in the world, where Universal Suffrage was instituted, has gone to ruin and perdition. Now, Sir, I would like the gentleman to name the Government to which he refers us, that we may know the force of his precedents. I shew him twelve Republican Governments where suffrage, although not Universal, is very general, which have not yet gone to ruin.

[Here Mr. Trezvant remarked that his reference was to the ancient Republics of Greece and Rome, where Suffrage became Universal.]

Then, Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's cases are not in point, and cannot, therefore, be considered as having any influence on the question. It is not necessary to discuss them. They were either democratic or very imperfect Republics, and their history shews that they are not examples for us. Sir, we must look to our sister States, whose history we know, and whose example we feel. They sustain us: and we are sustained in our principles by the opinions of some of the best and wisest men of our own country-men whose names will go down to posterity when many of us will be forgotten. We are not contending for a wild and untried scheme. No! It is one founded on the eternal principles of liberty and equality, which must characterize every good Republican Government which now is, or which ever can be.

But there is another objection. Those who pay no taxes are unworthy of the privilege of voting. It must be observed that taxes may be imposed in various ways, and services may be required instead of the payment of money, for the support of Government. Every thing contributed for the support of any branch of the affairs or concerns of Government, may be legitimately considered as part of the taxes; and it is a curious fact, that the taxes and services imposed on the people of Virginia, have been so arranged, that the greatest burthens have been put upon those who do not vote. Yes, Sir, I say that those who do not vote, are burthened greatly beyond what is right, and even more than is generally imagined. On a former occasion I attempted to shew, and did shew, that such is the fact.

This scheme of taxation is effected by authorising those one hundred and nine little Governments spread over the whole territory of the State, (the county, city and borough court,) to levy taxes to any amount. It is true they levy on voters, as well as those who are not; but it is a capitation tax, and very frequently far exceeds the whole revenue levied upon all the property of the counties. Look to all the items of county taxes and county services-military duty-labour on the public roads-county levies for various purposes poor levies, (the poor supporting the poor,) and patrols in the counties. Add all these little items together, and it will be found that they make large sums-that they are very important contributions to the Government, and highly necessary for its good being. The voters pay in general the same; but the number of those who do not vote, so far exceeds them, that the whole contribution of the non-voters, is even greater than that of the voters.

A few days ago we were told that wealth and political power could not be divorced; that capital and labour could not be separated; and that labour must be represented. Yet, Sir, on the present occasion, we find that labour is only to be represented by the votes of freehold labourers; and the whole power of the Government is to be placed at the control of the capital of the country, if possible. It is not for me, however, to reconcile these inconsistencies in gentlemen's arguments. I hesitate not to say, that

those sixty or eighty thousand persons, to whom it is proposed to extend the Right of Suffrage, constitute the great mass of actual productive labourers of the State. Mr. Chairman, I believe it cannot be otherwise.

We have been told that we shall have a war of the poor against the rich, and that the right of property will be destroyed, if the amendment be adopted. It is not so, and no man can or ought to believe it. If the people of the East, West or South, have given us examples worthy of our imitation, we can fear no such thing. There has been no instance of war upon property in any of our sister States. It is just as secure in them as in Virginia. There is more of it in the North-greater estates, and perhaps more of them than here. There is a greater distance between the rich and the poor, and yet the poor is in a better condition than they are with us. Sir, we can find nothing like physical rapine in any of the States where General Suffrage has been adopted. All live in peace, happiness, prosperity and tranquillity, and every man is secure in his own person and property, under his own roof.

It has been argued, that General Suffrage has a tendency to bring together the rich and the poor, and that the one will have means, and be able to buy up the other, to the prejudice of the liberty of the people. This argument always comes from those who advocate the power of the few over the many. Yes, Sir, from the real aristocracy of the country. It is an argument to be found in nearly all the treatises of theoretical writers, who support aristocracies. The object is to alarm the people with fear that the poor will be bought, and made engines of their own ruin. It is only for purposes of alarm, and is not true. If the Constitution shall require of electors, the payment of a small tax just before elections, there will be a possibility of an improper influence, if there can be candidates corrupt enough to buy, having the means to buy, and voters base enough to sell their votes. But I know of no case of corruption, in any of the States, having such a qualification. Cases of mere suspicion, perhaps, have occurred. If the payment of taxes be made a qualification, they ought not to be required immediately before the election, but some one or two years preceding, at a time when they cannot be paid with a view to any particular election. But, Sir, I would not tax a man merely to qualify him to vote, although it may be proper, in this way, to require a man justly and honestly to pay the public demands. All free men ought to vote, because they are free men. Then they will act independently. Such men can never be purchased by the cash of candidates, or the power of demagogues. No, the poor will be as independent in their opinions, as the greatest land-holders of the State. There is one other argument which ought to have some influence on this question. It is one of delicacy, and I will say but little upon the subject of this argument; however, I will say something. We find that all the slave-holding States South of us, deemed it of the utmost importance to make all the free white men as free and independent, as Government could make them: and why? Sir, it is known that all the slave-holding States are fast approaching a crisis truly alarming: a time when freemen will be needed-when every man must be at his post. Do we not see the peculiar condition of society? Yes, all see, all feel, and all lament the approach of the crisis before us. It must be in the contemplation of gentlemen, who presume to look upon the progress of events, that the time is not far distant, when not only Virginia, but all the Southern States, must be essentially military; and will have military Governments! It will be so! We are going to such a state of things as fast as time can move. The youth will not only be taught in the arts and sciences, but they will be trained to arms-they must be found at every moment in arms-they must be ready to serve their country in the hour of peril and of danger. Is it not wise now, to call together at least every free white human being, and unite them in the same common interest and Government? Surely it is. Let us give no reason for any to stand back, or refuse their service in the common cause of their country. These considerations had their influence on the Southern States, when forming their Constitutions, I doubt not; and ought to have great influence with us.

I would ask, Mr. Chairman, where are the evils to be apprehended from General Suffrage? I have been unable to find them. It is true, we have been told that it produces mobs, confusion, and turmoil at the polls. Turn your eyes upon all the States of this Union, and let me ask for the evidence of these mobs and turmoils? Look to the South, and have you heard of them? No! Look to the West, and do you find them there? No! Look to the North, and do you see them even there? No! They are no where to be found except in large towns and cities, where it is perfectly well known, that restraint on the Right of Suffrage, has no influence over them whatever. Where many thousands of persons are brought together upon election days, there will be disputes, and sometimes turmoils. But no danger to the public safety need be apprehended in mere disputes in the choice of public officers. These disputes only serve to show that the body politic is in a good and healthy condition; that it has energy and power. It is not like the cold calm of perfect aristocracy or despotism, where few men dare express opinions on the public affairs. No, Sir; all are at liberty, and all are free to discuss the affairs of Government. I fear not mobs or turmoils in

Virginia; and none who are at all conversant with elections in Pennsylvania and other States, where Suffrage is general, can fear them. Those States are generally divided in small election districts, so that few persons are brought together. Why not do as they have? Our counties may be districted; and even a less number of persons brought to the polls at a single place, than now is, under the existing Constitution. This is the best remedy against mobs or turmoils.

I must conclude my remarks, Mr. Chairman, by telling you, that from the facts which I have laid before the Committee, we may safely argue that there is no danger of rapine or robbery by the poor upon the rich; nor of mobs, turmoils, ruin or despotism; nor indeed, of the Government getting in the hands of demagogues. I have a sanguine hope that the Convention will extend the Right of Suffrage generally; that the people will accept it, and that if it shall at any time be found inconvenient or improper, that they will change it. Several States, as I have said, have abandoned the freehold Suffrage, and all are doing well; all are happy and prosperous. Virginia can do the same, and the effects will be similar.

I beg the Committee not to consider that we advocate a mere wild and untried scheme. But on the contrary be assured, that we in good faith, advocate what we deem to be the sacred rights of the people. We do it to promote the happiness and welfare of our country.

Mr. Wilson now modified his amendment, so as to require that the taxes should have been demanded of the voter before he was rejected for not having paid them. The question was then taken and decided in the negative: Ayes 37, Noes 53. (Messrs. Madison, Monroe and Marshall, voting in the negative.)

So the amendment of Mr. Wilson was rejected.

Mr. Campbell of Brooke, then offered the following amendment as a substitute for the 3d resolution reported by the Committee:

1. Resolved, That all persons now by law possessed of the Right of Suffrage, have sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, and have the Right of Suffrage.

2. Resolved, That all free white males of twenty-two years of age, born within this Commonwealth, and resident therein, have sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to the community, and have the Right of Suffrage.

3. Resolved, That every free white male of twenty-one years of age, a citizen of the United States, not included in the two preceding resolutions, who is now a resident, or who may hereafter become a resident within this Commonwealth, who is desirous of having the rights of a citizen, in this Commonwealth, shall, in open court, in the county in which he resides, as may be prescribed by law, make a declaration of his intentions to become a permanent resident in this State: and if such person shall, twelve months after making such declaration, solemnly promise to submit to, and support the Government of this Commonwealth, such person, shall be considered as having permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, and shall have the Right of Suffrage.

4. Resolved, That all persons, except such as shall have rendered important services to their country; all persons of unsound mind, and all persons convicted of any high crime or misdemeanor against this Commonwealth, possessing whatever qualification they may, shall not be permitted to exercise the Right of Suffrage in this Commonwealth.

MR. CAMPBELL then addressed the Committee as follows:

Mr. Chairman,-If I had been asked what in the reason and nature of things, would have first demanded and occupied the attention of this Convention, I would have answered in accordance with reason, as I think that the first question to be discussed is, who shall be a citizen of this Commonwealth? The next question, embracing the very basis of Government, would have been; what shall be the privileges and duties of a citizen of this Commonwealth? On these two questions, as I think, Sir, depends the whole system of Government. These questions correctly decided, and the frame of our Government would have been reared. I would call the attention of this Committee, Sir, to the propriety of the term citizen; I need not inform you, Sir, nor any gentleman present, that the term inhabitant, is not equivalent to the term citizen. Every citizen is an inhabitant, but every inhabitant is not a citizen of Virginia. They are not convertible terms. In Great Britain, every person is a subject of the King. Every person from the Duke of York, down to the most obscure native of the British Isles, is a subject of his Majesty the King of Great Britain. It is so in all Monarchical Governments. We have repudiated that term in these United States, and we have consecrated the term citizen. But, Sir, though we admire the term, and in a sort of complimentary way, address all men as citizen, we do not in fact, recognize all men as citizen. In Virginia, we have comparatively few citizens. What, let me ask, Sir, does the term fairly import? A citizen is a freeman, who has a voice in the Govern ment under which he lives, who has the privilege of being heard in the councils of his