Democracy, Liberty, and Property: The State Constitutional Conventions of the 1820s

Contents

co nt ent s Foreword to the Liberty Fund Edition, with Suggested Further Reading, by G. Alan Tarr ix General Introduction xxi Selected Bibliography xxv Editor’s Note xxix I The Massachusetts Convention of 1820–1821 Introduction 3 Chronology 17 1. The Test Oath 19 2. The Third Article 30 3. The “Poll Parish” 45 4. Tax Exemption 49 5. The Suffrage 55 6. The Basis of Representation 62 7. Joseph Story on Representation 71 8. Daniel Webster on Representation 83 9. “Address to the People” 97 t abl es 1.1 The Massachusetts Counties in Relation to Legislative Representation 107 1.2 The Division of the Vote by Counties on Two Questions in the Massachusetts Convention 108 vi Contents 10. Statement of the Votes for and against the Articles of Amendment, in the Several Counties 110 II The New York Convention of 1821 Introduction 115 Chronology 131 11 . The Council of Revision and the Veto Power 133 12. The Term of the Governor 149 13. The Appointive Power 157 14 . The Senate and the Suffrage 169 15 . The Negro and the Suffrage 192 16. Blasphemy and Libel 208 17. Reform of the Judiciary 222 t abl es 2.1 The Vote by Districts on the Convention Bill, Suffrage, and Judicial Reform, and the Revised Constitution, in the New York Convention 238 2.2 The Vote of Radicals and Conservatives on Selected Questions in the New York Convention 23 9 III The Virginia Convention of 1829–1830 Introduction 243 Chronology 257 Representation 18. Cooke on Democratic Representation 25 9 19. Upshur on Majorities and Minorities 275 20. Doddridge in Rebuttal 295 21. Leigh on Power and Property 300 22. Randolph on the Federal Issue 312 Contents vii 23. Marshall on Compromise 320 24. Summers on the Gordon Plan 324 25. Gordon on the Gordon Plan 330 The Suffrage 26. The Non-Freeholders’ Memorial 336 27 . The Freehold Suffrage Defended 344 28. The Reformers’ Rebuttal 35 1 Structure and Change 29. The Executive 363 30. The County Courts 373 31. The Amendment Article 383 32. The Question of Ratification 388 t abl es 3.1 Population and Representation in Virginia by Districts, 1820–1830, and the Vote on Ratification of the Constitution of 1830 393 3.2 The Sectional Division on Selected Questions in the Virginia Convention 394 Index 397 ...