Let me be understood. What I ask especially is impartial suffrage, which is, of course, embraced in universal suffrage. What is universal is necessarily impartial. For the present, I simply insist that all shall be equal before the law, so that in the enjoyment of this right there shall be no restriction not equally applicable to all. Any further question in the nature of “qualification” belongs to another stage of the debate. And yet I have no hesitation in saying that universal suffrage is a universal right, subject only to such regulations as the safety of society may require. These may concern (1.) age, (2.) character, (3.) registration, (4.) residence. In ancient Greece there was what is called a Timocracy, where a certain amount of property was required; and this condition has modern example, even among us. But it is entirely out of place now. Nobody doubts that minors may be excluded, and so also persons of infamous life. Registration and residence are both prudential requirements for the safeguard of the ballot-box against the Nomads and Bohemians of politics, and to compel the exercise of this franchise among neighbors and friends, where a person is known. Education also, under certain circumstances, may be a requirement of prudence, particularly valuable in a republic, where so much depends on the intelligence of the people; but it is of doubtful value, especially where patriotic votes are needed to crush treason or counteract fraud. There is something worse than inability to read and write. These temporary restrictions do not in any way interfere with the right of suffrage, for they leave it absolutely accessible to all. Even if impediments, they are easily overcome. At all events, they are not in any sense insurmountable; and this is the essential requirement of republican institutions. No matter under what depression of poverty, in what depth of obscurity, or with what diversity of complexion a man has been born, he is nevertheless a citizen, the peer of every other citizen, and the ballot is his inalienable right.
The ballot is peacemaker; and is it not said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”? High among the Beatitudes let it be placed, for there it belongs. Deny it, and the freedman will be the victim of perpetual warfare. Ceasing to be a slave, he only becomes a sacrifice. Grant it, and he is admitted to those equal rights which allow no sacrifice. Plutarch records that the wise man of Athens charmed the people by saying that Equality causes no War, and this “pleased both the rich and the poor.”[188] In another place the same ancient records the wise man as declaring it “that which would occasion no tumult or faction.”[189] But this is peace. How god-like in transforming power alike on master and slave! The master will recognize the new citizen. The slave will stand with tranquil self-respect in presence of the master. Brute force disappears. Distrust is at an end. The master is no longer tyrant. The freedman is no longer dependant. The ballot comes to him in his depression, and says, “Use me, and be elevated.” It comes to him in his passion, and says, “Use me, and do not fight.” It comes to him in his daily thoughts, filling him with the strength and glory of manhood.
The ballot is reconciler. Next after peace is reconciliation. But reconciliation is more than peace. It is concord. Parties long estranged are brought into harmony. They learn to live together. They learn to work together. They are kind to each other, even if only as the Arab and his horse; and this mutual kindness is mutual advantage. Unquestionably the ballot promises this great boon, because it brings all into natural relations of justice, without which reconciliation is a vain thing. Do you wish to see harmony truly prevail, so that industry, society, government, civilization may all prosper, and the Republic wear a crown of true greatness? Then do not neglect the ballot.
The ballot is schoolmaster. Reading and writing are of inestimable value, but the ballot teaches what these cannot teach. It teaches manhood. Especially is it important to a race whose manhood has been denied. The work of redemption cannot be complete, if the ballot is left in doubt. The freedman already knows his friend by the unerring instinct of the heart. Give him the ballot, and he will be educated into the principles of government. Deny him the ballot, and he will continue alien in knowledge as in rights. His claim is exceptional, as your injustice is exceptional. For generations you have shut him out from all education, making it a crime to teach him to read the Book of Life. Let not the tyranny of the past be apology for further exclusion. Prisoners long immured in a dungeon are sometimes blinded, as they come forth into day; but this is no reason for continued imprisonment. To every freedman the ballot is the light of day.