Semi-weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1852-1853, 1853-05-04
THE STANDARD.
RALE1aH. WEDNESDAY,. MAY 4. 1853,
MR.. EDWARDS ADDRESS,

Mr. Edwards allndes to the great and good
man who formed our incomparably excellent Con-
..;tut;on IN 1915" and says they !" had no occas-
49,, - oons,It old theories, nor to indulge in nice
snecnlat;ops." in performing the work they were
chosen to do We yield to no one in respect and
generation for those illustrious men, They were
engaged, at this very time, in lighting the battles
and in mourning all the hazards of that Revolution
which resulted so gloriously for all but though
they had experienced much and learned much IN
their contest for civil liberty, and though they no
doubt most anxiously sought to incorporate iii'o
the structure of government a" those PrinciP'e0
which in free States are essential to the Protectoh
Of the rights of men and of property, yet we nnd
that in one respect, their efforts not crowned
with success. They apPortoned representation LOT
example, by the uncertain rule of terntory-that
is they assigned to the Counties, whether large or
email one Senator and two Commoners each, thus
overlooking the principles of population and taxa
ton and, as consequence of this, and upon the
assumption that the Commoners represented pop
uation and the Senators the landed interest, they
continued the provision that none but freehoders
should be allowed to vote for Senators. We say
word for word, in the " Fundamental Constitutions
Of Carolina" framed by John Locke, and adopted
in July, 1869, by the Lords Propretors. Here is
the freehold qualification prescribed in the Fun
damental Constitutions " referred to:
"7lst. There shall be Parliament consisting of
the Projectors, or their deputies, the Landgraves
and Casques, and one freeholder out Of every pre-
cnct to be chosen by the JreehOders OF the said pre-
cinct respectively. They shall sit all together in
room, and have, every member, one vote.
72d No shall be chosen a member OF ParlIa-
ment who has less than five hundred .cres of free
held within the precinct for which he is chosen,
shall any haze rOte ct0aSing the said member. that
hath less than Ety acres Of treeh0H within The said
precinct"
In that day, land was every thing-nen, with
out land, nothing. Even the Constables were
chosen annually by the freeholaers of the colo
nv" This Constitution, it is true never car
red fully into effect and was abrogated in 1893;
but it serves to show the spirit of the times, and
the source from which the present freehold quail
fcation was derived. 1t will be seen, therefore,
that Mr. Edwards declaration that the Congress
Of 1915 did not consult old theories, is untoun-
ded; they did consult old theories" and act &C
cordingly. The great american doctrine of bas-
ING one branch of the Legislature on taxation and
the other on population, and of allowing all to vote
at the polls was not established at that day. or, if
it was, it had not been so tested to induce our
forefathers to adopt it.
The freehold qualification is, then, relic of Brit
ISL rule. 1t has descended to as one of the re-
suits of the feudal system, under which the landed
proprietor controlled every thing about him, and
frequently disposed, almost at will, of the persons
I l.
1t cannot be doubted that the Congress of 1916
would have abolished this freehold qualification if
they bad given full consideration to it, and could
have devise some basis of representation calcua-
ted to protect the paying or landed interest,
against the supposed tendency Of the masses to
encroach on that interest. But, we have stated
the doctrine of representation based on taxation
and population had not been established; and be-
Sides in l776, the landed interest of the State was
the paramount interest, and it natural that our
orefathers should be jealous, under the circumstan-
ces of the non-andholders, who were, for the most
part, migratory, and tenants by sufferance or at
will Again, free government was, at that day, an
experiment; the landholders Though the non-land-
holders performed their whole duty in the ranks,
common solders) had the command of the ar
mics and the control of the civil government; and
they decided, out of abundant caution, and espe-
cially as they had apportioned representation ac-
eordng to territory, to retain the freehold quaii
cation.
Mr.. Edwards alludes only incidentally to the
basis of representation provided in our present
Constitution; indeed, the leading error under which
he abours is, that land is represented and protec-
ted by the Senatorial voter at the polls, and not in
the basis of taxation on which the Senate is estab
llshed. We shall go more fully into the argument
In our next number.
THE NEW BANKS.
The Farmers Bank, of Elizabeth City, has been