From a mural decoration in the Library of Congress.
Mr. Vedder portrays Government as a mature woman in the fullness of her strength. She is seated upon a bench of hewn marble, which is supported by the figures of two lions—all emblematic of strength and power. Behind is an oak tree, which typifies slow, deep-rooted growth. In symbolic pictures the ballot box is usually represented as an urn. Here the marble bench rests upon urn-shaped vases. In the lions’ mouths are mooring-rings to remind us that the ship of state must not drift aimlessly but should be moored to strength.
In her left hand Government grasps a golden sceptre (the Golden Rule) to signify that all her actions are based upon respect for the rights of others; her right hand holds a tablet upon which is graven a notable epigram from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. On either side of Government are two genii or mythical figures. One holds a bridle which typifies restraint, discipline, and order—the bulwark of effective government. The other supports an unsheathed sword, emblematic of defence and justice.
In this picture, therefore, the author prefigures the outstanding marks of a successful free government—strength; fairness, democracy, restraint, security, and justice.
The Citizen and the Voter.—Government by the people does not, of course, mean government by all the people. |Not all citizens are voters.|In every country there are many persons who are not competent to exercise a share in the government. Very young persons, for example, do not have maturity of judgment, which a share in government requires. Insane persons, prisoners in jails, aliens, and others are also, for obvious reasons, usually debarred from the privilege of voting. It is not to be assumed that everyone who is a citizen is also a voter. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to American jurisdiction are citizens no matter what their ages or mental capacity may be, but not all are voters. The voters are those upon whom the privilege of voting has been conferred by law. In the United States they comprise a large proportion of the adults but they do not form a majority of the entire population. Out of a national population of about one hundred and five millions the voters of the United States number about thirty-five millions. This number is quite large enough to ensure an adequately representative government.
The gradual widening of the suffrage
Development of the Suffrage.—Voting is a privilege and duty rather than a right. In the earlier states of American history the privilege of voting was restricted to property-owners and taxpayers. This condition of affairs, moreover, continued for a considerable period after the Revolutionary War. One by one, however, the various states began to abolish their restrictions and by the middle of the nineteenth century the principle of manhood suffrage had become firmly established so far as the white population was concerned. The struggle for the extension of the suffrage to men who did not own property was a prolonged and bitter contest in which the opponents of manhood suffrage vainly argued that the extension would put all political leadership into the hands of noisy agitators and would end in the ruin of orderly government. But manhood suffrage ultimately triumphed because the country came to the conclusion that the structure of democratic government could be made more secure by broadening the base upon which it rests.
The rights of the negro.
Negro Suffrage.—In the Southern states prior to the Civil War colored men were excluded from voting at all elections. But with the emancipation of the slaves the question of guaranteeing the suffrage to colored men had to be faced. By the terms of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the national constitution no state is permitted to withhold voting rights from any man on account of his color; if it does so, the constitution provides that such state shall have its number of representatives in Congress reduced. As a matter of fact, however, there has always been a very strong sentiment among the white population of the Southern states in opposition to political equality on the part of the colored element, and this has prevented the enforcement of the guarantees contained in the constitution.