Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa Territory [Iowa]) 1840-1846, 1844-10-26

tins made = thb Nv.
In l71othe votsf was required to boz
sess freehold Of the value Of four hssndysd
pounds.
In l1S0 the voter was required to be
worth freehold Of the value of one hun.
bred and thirty four dollars. or the yearly
rent Of seven dollars, or be the eldest son
Of such ffeeholder; and such has been sub
stantially the qualification Of the voter from
the last mentioned date until the final
overthrow Of the Charter Of Charles the II
by the adoption Of the Constitution Of De-
cember. ls4l. We win here remark that
the fact Of holding freehold Of the value
prescribed did not Of itself entitle its nos
SCISSOR to the right Of Suffrage. He had
also to pass the ordeal Of admission BY the
freeman Of the town in which he reside.
who might reject him if they pleased, not
wlthstanding his qualification SO far as
respected the ownership Of an adeoua..
freehold. And It's proper to state that s
was shown during the investigation before
Congress that there were persons in Rhode
Island at the time Of the adopt;on Of n.
Peoples Constitution" who never were
admitted to the privileges Of a freeman. a.
, oaa1! possessed Of the requisite property
Ou- there was still another cause which
operated with equal or more force to throw
the political power Of the State into the
hands Of . small minority of its Citizens,
Il was the injustice of representation un.
der the Charter.
BY the unchanged rules Of apport;on.
'nent and suffrage, the political rights o,
more than 10000 inhabitants were nm.
der the control Of :, 5S8 Of their number
being less than one thirtieth part Of the
population Of Rhode Island, and one sew.
enth part Of those, who by natural RIGHT
by reason, justice and common sense wer.
entitled to the possession Of the pol;t;ca,
power of the State.
Inc majority Of the people were de.
prlved Of all voice in framing the laws b,
which they were governed, their r;.bt,
defined, and their persons and rrono-.,
protected; and all voice in the choice Il
olncers by whom those laws were admin
istered.
They were compelled to perform mill.
tary and freman's duty, and to paw thei,
share Of the taxes imposed by both Stat.
and national governments, whilst the,
were deprived Of all voice in both.
by the laws of the charter government
no citizen, unless he was the owner Of
freehold, could commence suit in . cour,
OF justice, for the recovery Of debt, or tc
obtain redress for personal injury, with.
out first procuring freebooter to endorse
or sign his making him dependen,
on the arbitrary viii of freebooter for
the privilege Of seeking justice in the
courts. @ .li, 300
The disfranchised citizen Of Rhode Is.
land was also deprived, through the opera.
ton Of its laws, from the privilege Of be.
ing tried BY his peers, because none bu,
freeholders were allowed to serve on III.
rles, "a right inestinable TO them and for
midable to tyrants only" o..agt slai s
From this deplerable state Of things the
patriotic Dorr and those who acted with
him desired to relieve their State and peo-
pie. Nor was this party, which existed
long before the time Of Gov. Dorr, want
ing in attentions to their brethren--the
land-holders. II sesa
From 1897 to the movement Of the peo.
pie in lS4l, It appears, that repeated ef.
forts hadtbeen made by the advocates Of
free suffrage to procure Of the charter L.
gislature an extension of the right Of suf.
frage and an equalization Misrepresentation,
but they were made in vain. Every ef.
fort was defeated BY the inexorable mi
nority who had the exclusive possession
Of The Government. These efforts, as be-
fore remarked. commenced in 1897. In
1884 the charter legislature passed an act
calling convention, (this in strict legal
sense it had no right to do; as there was no
provision in that instrument pointing out
any mode by which q constitution could be
framed or adopted.) The delegates to this
convention were elected by landholders
and their eldest sons; and the act calling
the convention provided that the constitu-
ton which it might frame should be sub
mitted to the landholders for their adop-
ton. Thus excluding great majority 81
the adult male citizens Of the State from
all voice in its formation or adoption.
A convention was convened in pur.u-
ace Of this net. but finally broke up for
want It quorum. A proposition made