The Constitution of Rhode Island and Equal Rights (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Equal Rights Association

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1330819896 ISBN 13: 9781330819890

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from The Constitution of Rhode Island and Equal Rights

IS it asked, what excuse the small minority of citizens, who prefer a suffrage so greatly restricted, offer for thus departing from the funda mental principle of American institutions, that all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed? Their answer is, the danger which would accrue to good government from universal suf frage. It would seem to devolve upon them to show that we do possess an exceptionally superior government, that our elections are purer, and our public servants better, than those of other Commonwealths, where the franchise is free. This they cannot do. On the contrary, during the twenty years that Rhode Island has been ruled by a minority, corruption in politics has been rife - as bad, perhaps worse, in proportion to the num ber of inhabitants, than in any other State. We have proved no exception to the rule that the pocket borough is the most easily bought and sold, a fact which furnishes a strong argument why, since our borders cannot be extended, we should increase the voting population by broadening the basis of suffrage. As to the quality of our public servants, suffice it to say that during the twenty years past of the men who have been sent to Con gress one only, Hon. Thomas A. J enckes, has acquired an enviable national reputation, while other States, with no better material for stat-es men, have been represented during all that period by one or more men of international fame.

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Product Description

Excerpt from The Constitution of Rhode Island and Equal Rights The following article, which appeared in the Boston Herald of November 6, 1880, is here inserted, together with a brief addendum by the same writer, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin: To the Editor of the Herald: - As our little State, with its something more than 250,000 inhabitants, is the only one of the 38 in which a popular government does not exist, a succinct statement of our condition may be interesting to some of your readers without, as well as to the many within, the borders of Rhode Island. The best way to understand our present status is to glance briefly at the successive' steps which have led to it. The extreme conservatism of Rhode Island, first exhibited by the hesitancy with which she gave in her adhesion to the union of the States, is still more manifest in the fact that, until after 1840, she never had a Constitution of her own, but continued under the old colonial charter of 1663. The voters under the old regime included only possessors of real estate to the amount of $134, and their eldest sons. At first, because farming was the chief occupation of the people, and because younger sons who engaged in other employments, such as fishing, trading, smithing, etc., could easily purchase a homestead for a few hundred dollars, the restriction was scarcely felt to be a burden, and did not remove the control of affairs from the hands of the majority. But, in process of time, land in the villages augmented in value, and the number of persons engaged in occupations which did not require the ownership of real estate so increased that at the presidential election of 1840, in which the excitement probably exceeded the one just closed, it became painfully manifest that a minority of the people had for years been governing the State. The vote cast at that election, then the largest ever polled in the State, was 8,292, and yet the United States census of the same year gave the male adult population as about 25,000

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1330819896
• ISBN 13: 9781330819890
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 66