These qualifications worked an extensive disfranchisement in New York. “The census of 1790 shows that out of a population of thirty thousand [in New York City], there were but 1,209 freeholders of £100 valuation or over; 1,221 of £20, and 2,661 ‘forty-shilling’ freeholders. Property interests—something like a landed aristocracy—controlled municipal elections.”[[100]] Some notion of the extent to which the adult males would have voted if permitted, is afforded by the elections of 1788, at which members of the state ratifying convention were chosen under the universal manhood suffrage rule,[[101]] and members of the assembly were chosen under the regular property qualifications. For example, Richard Harrison received 2677 votes as member of the convention, and 1500 votes as member of the state assembly.[[102]] In Albany county the vote for members of the assembly ran about 1600 under that for members of the convention.[[103]] It looks as if one could safely guess that about one-third more voters would have been active participants in elections if they had not been shut out by the prevailing property qualifications in New York.
New Jersey had a legislature of two houses, a council and a general assembly. Every member of the former had to be a freeholder and “worth at least one thousand pound proclamation money, or real and personal estate within the same county;” and every member of the latter body was required to possess at least half as much in real and personal property. As for the suffrage, the constitution provided “that all inhabitants of this colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money clear estate in the same ... shall be entitled to vote for Representatives in Council and Assembly.”
The Delaware constitution of 1776 provided that members of both branches of the legislature should be chosen from among the freeholders of the county, and that “the right of suffrage in the election of members for both houses shall remain as exercised by law at present.” The election law which then governed the suffrage in Delaware was the act of 1734 which enfranchised freeholders owning “fifty acres of land, with twelve acres cleared and improved, or otherwise worth £40 lawful money.”[[104]]
The first constitution of Pennsylvania established in 1776 was the work of a radical party, and it provided for a single chambered legislature based on a widely extended suffrage. “Every freeman of the full age of twenty-one years,” runs the instrument, “having resided in this state for the space of one whole year ... and paid public taxes during that time, shall enjoy the right of an elector: Provided always that sons of freeholders of the age of twenty-one years shall be entitled to vote although they have not paid taxes.”[[105]]
In Maryland a distinction was made between town and county in the choice of delegates to the lower house of the state legislature. Generally every freeman “having a freehold of fifty acres of land,” or “having property in this state above the value of thirty pounds current money” could vote in the county in which he resided for members of the house of delegates. All persons qualified by the charter of Annapolis to vote for burgesses could vote for delegates from that city; and in Baltimore persons “having the same qualifications as electors in the county” could vote for delegates. County delegates in the state legislature were required to possess “real or personal property above the value of five hundred pounds current money.” The senators were chosen indirectly by electors selected by the qualified voters for delegates. These senatorial electors were to possess the qualifications of delegates, and senators themselves had to possess “real and personal property above the value of one thousand pounds current money.”
The Virginia constitution of 1776 stipulated that members of both houses of the legislature must be “freeholders or duly qualified according to law;” and added that “the right of suffrage in the election of members of both houses shall remain as exercised at present.” Under this provision, persons owning twenty-five acres of improved land or fifty acres of unimproved land were admitted to the suffrage, “together with certain artisans residing in Norfolk and Williamsburg.”[[106]]
At the time of choosing delegates to the Convention, North Carolina was under the constitution of 1776 which prescribed property qualifications for members of the legislature and for voters as well. Each member of the senate was required to possess “not less than three hundred acres of land in fee,” and each member of the lower house “not less than one hundred acres of land in fee or for the term of his own life.” A freehold qualification of fifty acres of land was required of voters for senators, and the suffrage for voters for members of the lower house was extended to all freemen who paid “public taxes.” In the towns entitled to representation the possession of a freehold or the payment of a public tax qualified for voting in the election of members of the lower house.
The legislature of South Carolina, that chose the representatives of that state to the Philadelphia Convention, was elected under the constitution of 1778 which prescribed high property qualifications.[[107]] “No person who resides in the parish for which he is elected shall take his seat in the senate, unless he possess a settled estate and freehold in his own right in the said parish or district of the value of two thousand pounds currency at least, clear of debt.” Non-resident senators were required to be the holders of such an estate worth at least seven thousand pounds, clear of debt. The member of the lower house was required to possess an estate and slaves or realty worth one thousand pounds,[[108]] while each non-resident member of that house had to own a freehold estate worth at least three thousand five hundred pounds, clear of debt. The suffrage was restricted to persons owning fifty acres, or a town lot, or paying taxes equivalent to the taxes on fifty acres of land.
In 1787, the Georgia legislature consisted of one chamber, under the constitution of 1777, which stipulated that members of the house of representatives “Shall be of the Protestant religion, and of the age of twenty-one years, and shall be possessed in their own rights of two hundred and fifty acres of land or some property to the amount of two hundred and fifty pounds.” The suffrage was widely extended to every white male having in his own right property “of ten pounds value and liable to pay tax” or “being of any mechanic trade.”
From this review it is apparent that a majority of the states placed direct property qualifications on the voters, and the other states eliminated practically all who were not taxpayers. Special safeguards for property were secured in the qualifications imposed on members of the legislatures in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Further safeguards were added by the qualifications imposed in the case of senators in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina.