Chapter VI.
Qualifications of Electors; or, by whom Political Power is exercised in the States of this Union.
§1. One of the first provisions usually inserted in a constitution of a free state, is that which declares who shall be allowed to take a part in the government; that is, to whom the political power shall be intrusted. As this power is exercised by voting at elections, the constitution very properly prescribes the qualifications of electors, or, in other words, declares what shall be necessary to entitle a man to the right of voting, or the right of suffrage. When, therefore, we speak of the people politically, we mean those only who are qualified electors.
§2. To be competent to exercise the right of suffrage, a person must be a freeman, or, as we sometimes say, he should be his own master. While under the control of a parent or guardian, he might be constrained to act contrary to his own judgment. All our state constitutions, therefore, give this right only to free male citizens of the age of twenty-one years and upwards; twenty-one years being the age at which young men become free to act for themselves.
§3. But even if this freedom were obtained at an earlier age, it would not be expedient to bestow this right upon persons so young. They have not the necessary knowledge and judgment to act with discretion. Some are competent at an earlier age; but a constitution can make no distinction between citizens. It has therefore, in accordance with the general opinion, fixed the time at the age of twenty-one, when men shall be deemed capable of exercising the rights and performing the duties of freemen.
§4. That a man may vote understandingly, he must have resided long enough in the state to have become acquainted with its government and laws, and to have learned the character and qualifications of the persons for whom he votes. State constitutions therefore require, that electors shall have resided in the state for a specified period of time, varying, however, in the different states from three months to two years. In most of the states, they must also have resided for some months in the county or district, and be residents of the town in which they offer to vote.
§5. But in giving the right of suffrage to all free male citizens twenty-one years of age, it is not given to every _man_, because all _men_ of that age are not citizens. Persons born in foreign countries and residing here are _aliens_, and are not entitled to the political rights of persons born in this country. They are presumed to have too little knowledge of our government, and to feel too little interest in public affairs, on their first coming hither, to be duly qualified for the exercise of political power. Laws, however, have been enacted for naturalizing aliens after they shall have resided here long enough to become acquainted with and attached to our government. By naturalization they become citizens, entitled to all the privileges of native or natural born citizens, (Chap. XXXIV, §3, 4.)
§6. The constitutions of most of the states confer the rights of an elector on _white_ male citizens only. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, are the only states in which colored men have the same electoral rights as white citizens. In New York, men of color owning a freehold estate (an estate in lands) of the value of $250, are qualified voters.
§7. It is provided also in state constitutions, that electors committing infamous crimes are disfranchised. _Franchise_ is a right or privilege enjoyed by the citizens of a state. Hence the right of voting at elections is called the _elective franchise_; and an elector, when deprived of this privilege, is _disfranchised_. An _infamous crime_ is one which is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison. Men guilty of high crimes are deemed unfit to be intrusted with so important a duty as that of electing the persons who are to make and execute the laws of the state. It is provided, however, that if such persons are pardoned before the expiration of the term for which they were sentenced to be imprisoned, their forfeited rights are restored.
§8. By the earliest constitutions of many of the old states, electors were required to own property, or to have paid rents or taxes, to a certain amount. In the election of the higher officers, freeholders only were entitled to vote. A _freeholder_ is an owner of real estate, (property in lands,) which he holds in his own right, and may transmit to his heirs. In the constitutions of the newer states, property has not been made a qualification of an elector; and in the amended constitutions of the old states this restriction upon the elective franchise has been removed, until it has nearly ceased to exist in the United States. It is now enjoyed by all white male freemen, with few exceptions, in almost every state of the Union.