The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-12-10
RULE OF THE PEOPLE
IN R CAROLINA
Continued from Page Three

lCDnAluUtO " d5S
the state whether sovereignty resides
in one man or whether it resides IN a
million men.
The established by the
Constitution Of 1776 was a represen-
tatiye democracy in form, but IN
form only. In fixing the basis OF rep
reSentatiOn in the laW-makIng depart
ment it paid no attentlOn 10 popula-
ton. Every county was given the same
number Of representatives IN bOth
houses Of the General Assembly, and
certain towns, in the House OF COM
mons, without regard to population;
and in this respect at least our flrst
State Constitution was less democratic
than the Federal Constitution that
followed it thirteen years later. The
Sa me thing may be said OF the Quallfl-
cations for suffrage and for Ofhce-
holding. To English statesmen OF
1776-and such were the or
our first State COnstitutiOn-manhOOd
suffrage was a Utopian dream, inter-
esting, perhaps. as q topic for philo-
sophie speculation, but impossible in
practical politics; and, although they
conferred the right to vote for mem
bers of the louise of Commons upon
all freemen VIII had paid their taxes,
they Offset this concession to demOc-
racy by restricting the right to vote
for state senators to those who pos
sessed a freehold of fifty acres. Ever
less Democratic than this were the
qualifications for otfice-holding. No
person could be a member OF the
lou of Commons unless he possess
ed in the county which he represent
ed not less than one hundred acres
of land in fee, of for the term OF
his own life: no person could be a
Senator unless he possessed in the
county which he represented mot less
han three hundred acres of land in
fee; and no person was eligible for
the office of governor unless he was
possessed of freehold in lands n
tenementS, o the value OF n
thousand pOundS,"-an amount COM
parable to a fortune in our W day
of at least ten times that sum-. Other
undemOcratic features forbade any
clergyman, while in the exercise of
his pastoral functions, to sit in the
Genera Assembly and imposed a sec
tartan test for office-holding designed
to exclude Roman Catholics, Jews n
Atheists, The people had no voice in
the selection of their public servants.
The governor and other executive Off
GERS, the councillors OF state, and the
judges were all elected by the General
Assembly; and the judges held office
for life. No provision was made for
calling a constitutional convention, or
for amending the Constitution in any
oNAl1l VoS "hN y
self was never submitted to the peo-
pie for ratification.
Undemocratic as this Constitution
was in form, it was ever less so in
spirit. lnasmuch as all state officials
were elected by the General Assem-
bly,, and membership in the General
Assembly was based on a property
qualification, Property, not Men. con-
troiled the government. The theory
Of PrpertyO was then, as it has always
been, that the best government is that
which governs least. 1t teaches that
government has fulfilled it's mission
Khen it has preserved order, punished
crime, and kept down the rate Of AK
alton. Under the Constitution of 1776
this theory of government prevailed
in North Carolina for more than half
q century. a period during which the
State undertook no great work for
the material, intellectual or social bet
rme of its people; and it makes
the dreariest, most ~uninspirinp chap
ter in the entire history of North Car.
DINA.
A single movement, however, begin.
ming in the early years of this neriOC
INC bringing it to a close in triumph
saves it from utter ~barrenneSS Thi:
movement was the rise and develop
ment of Democracy in North caro-
lima, and it's origin may be traced tt
the influence Of the Scotch-Irish IL
the central and western parts of tn
State. Measured by the twentieth cen
fury standards of Democracy, the Pc
litical ideals Of the Scotch-Irish II
1876 were undemocratic enough
nevertheless. had those deals been ex
pressed in our first Constitution h
document would nave been much NOR
Democratic than it really was. Typica
of the ScOtch-Irish communities wa
the county Of Mecklenburg. which In
structed it's delegates to h onven
ton of 1776 to organize a government
that should a simple Democrat
or as lear it as possible" To tn
Scotch-Irish influence in tina conven
ton. we are indebted for the divisio
of political power in the State int
three distinct departments independ
ent Of each other, Legislative, execu
tive, and judicial: for the separAtio
of church n state: for the claus
requiring the maintenance of a uni
versity and the establishment Of pub