Problems in American Democracy Part 61

B. MAKING GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVE

CHAPTER x.x.xIII

WHO SHALL SHARE IN GOVERNMENT?

408. DISTINCTION BETWEEN CITIZENSHIP AND THE SUFFRAGE.--Citizenship implies membership in a nation. A citizen owes allegiance to his government, and in return is ent.i.tled to the fundamental advantages of organized government, such as the protection of life, liberty and property at home and abroad. Suffrage, on the other hand, is the privilege of sharing in government by the exercise of the vote. Most voters are also citizens, but less than a third of the citizens of the United States are voters. Citizenship is determined by the Federal authorities, the Const.i.tution declaring that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens thereof. The suffrage is a privilege which is controlled by the individual states, subject to certain regulations imposed by the Federal government.

409. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SUFFRAGE.--In a representative democracy such as the United States, the question of the suffrage is of fundamental importance. Public officials are agents which have been chosen to administer the affairs of government. Every public official in the United States is either chosen directly by the people, or is chosen by agents who themselves have been selected at the polls. The right to vote is thus the right to share in the control of government. And not only are voters making rules and regulations for their own government, but they are governing those citizens to whom the suffrage has not been extended. It is because of this double responsibility resting upon the American voter that a fundamental problem of effective government is concerned with the suffrage.

410. SUFFRAGE IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.--In colonial times the American suffrage was narrowly restricted. Though the theory that all men were free and equal was known in political circles, the actual conduct of government was largely in the hands of the propertied cla.s.ses. With a few exceptions, no Negro was allowed to vote. As a general rule, women were also debarred from the suffrage.

Even white adults were denied the exercise of the suffrage unless they could meet certain property and religious qualifications.

The Declaration of Independence laid emphasis upon the principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Nevertheless this principle was not held to apply to the internal politics of the American states, and so there was at this time no widespread feeling that all adults had an equal right to share in government. In an important sense, the American Revolution was fought to maintain the principle that England could not govern the colonies without their consent. But here again it should be noted that none of the states that won independence interpreted that principle to mean that all of their free adult citizens had a right to govern themselves through the vote. Colonial standards of suffrage were largely carried over into our earlier national history, and in 1789 probably less than five per cent of the American people were voters. Interpreted in terms of the suffrage, American democracy was still very narrowly restricted.

411. SUFFRAGE AS A NATURAL RIGHT.--According to the doctrine of natural rights, all men are born free and equal, and are ent.i.tled to certain fundamental rights of which they may not be deprived. Many of the colonists were familiar with this theory, but not until after 1800 did it const.i.tute an important basis for maintaining that all adult white males were ent.i.tled to the suffrage. After the opening of the nineteenth century, however, it was more common for propertyless men to maintain that just as they had a natural right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so they had a natural right to the suffrage. The principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed was by many interpreted to mean that men possessing property had no right to govern men who could not meet the property qualifications accompanying the suffrage. The cry of "No taxation without representation," was also raised in the interests of white adult males who paid taxes, but who were not allowed to vote.

412. EXTENSION OF THE SUFFRAGE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--During the first three quarters of the nineteenth century, the suffrage widened steadily. Religious qualifications practically disappeared before 1850. After a long drawn out struggle most of the eastern states practically eliminated the property qualification from their suffrage laws. This change was due, in large part, to the influence of the doctrine of natural rights. There were additional factors, of course.

In many places along the Atlantic seaboard, for example, the extension of the suffrage was somewhat in response to the influence of the doctrine of natural rights, but it was also partly due to the economic pressure exerted by the increasing number of landless laborers who were crowding into the manufacturing cities and towns.

The extension of the suffrage during this period is closely a.s.sociated with the development of the West. Whereas the eastern states removed property and religious qualifications only after a struggle, many western states imposed few or no restrictions upon the suffrage, but from the start were committed to the principle of equality at the polls. The doctrine that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed was popular in the West; indeed, it was here that the doctrine was first applied to the problem of suffrage in a definite and practical manner. In the more spa.r.s.ely settled portions of the country, able-bodied men were more important than social distinctions and religious ties, so much so, in fact, that some of the western states attracted settlers by giving the vote to aliens who had announced their intention of becoming citizens. After the Civil War some of the southern states made similar advances to European immigrants.

After the Civil War the suffrage movement was profoundly affected by the Negro question. The Thirteenth Amendment, adopted in 1865, had merely abolished slavery. In the subsequent discussion over the status of the Negro, some white men held that the theory of natural rights ent.i.tled the freed Negroes to the suffrage. This view was opposed by many, particularly in the South. Nevertheless, in 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment to the Const.i.tution provided that any state denying any of its male adult citizens the right to vote might suffer a reduction in its congressional representation. Two years later (1870) the Fifteenth Amendment went a step further, and declared that the right of citizens of the United States to vote might not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

The nineteenth century also witnessed an increased interest in woman suffrage. The proposition was not unknown even in colonial times, but the earlier state const.i.tutions and statutes had almost invariably excluded women from the vote. After the middle of the century the woman suffrage movement grew rapidly, stimulated, to a considerable extent, by the movement for abolition and Negro suffrage. In 1852 Susan B. Anthony a.s.sumed leadership of the woman suffrage movement, and in 1875 she drafted a proposed amendment to the Federal Const.i.tution which would provide for woman suffrage throughout the country. The territory of Wyoming had extended women full suffrage in 1869, and a decade later the right to vote in school elections had been extended the women of Michigan, Minnesota, and several other States. By 1896 Colorado, Idaho, and Utah had extended full suffrage to women.

413. DECLINE OF THE NATURAL RIGHTS THEORY.--During the latter half of the nineteenth century the doctrine of natural rights was of declining importance as a basis of the suffrage. The doctrine was illogical, for not even its most ardent advocates would go so far as to maintain that paupers and mental defectives had an inherent right to vote. Nor did anyone claim that persons under twenty-one years of age had such a right.

As time went on, the connection between the suffrage and the doctrine of natural rights seemed more and more remote. Men came gradually to believe that the suffrage was not a right but a _privilege_, and that the capacity of the individual to use the vote in the public interest was the factor which should determine whether or not he should enjoy the suffrage. This changed viewpoint reflected itself in several important shifts in the suffrage movement.

414. SHIFTS IN THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT.--To a considerable extent the decline of the doctrine of natural rights was accompanied by increased restrictions upon the right to vote. We have noted that many western and a few southern states formerly made a practice of extending the vote to aliens who had announced their intention of becoming citizens.

After the seventies there was a tendency for such states to withdraw this privilege, and to make citizenship a prerequisite to voting. One reason for this changed att.i.tude was that as time went on immigrant labor was less in demand in the West and South. Still another factor, however, was the abuse of the ballot among una.s.similated immigrant groups in our cities.

After the middle of the nineteenth century, there was a growing feeling, originating in New England and spreading westward, that illiterate voters were a menace to sound government. Accordingly, educational tests were imposed in a number of states. These tests generally require voters to be able to read and write.

The enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the Negro was followed by reaction. The exercise of the suffrage by ignorant Negroes suddenly admitted to full suffrage, resulted in gross abuses of political power. As a result many southern states eventually pa.s.sed laws which virtually deny the vote to the larger part of the possible Negro electorate. In some cases white election officials administer the educational test so strictly as to exclude most Negroes. In other cases a property or poll tax qualification has been used to exclude large groups of shiftless Negroes. In still other cases a "grandfather clause" in the state const.i.tution exempts from the educational test all who are descendants of persons voting before the Civil War. This allows white illiterates to vote, but excludes illiterate Negroes.

On the other hand, the cause of woman suffrage was greatly stimulated by the decline of the doctrine of natural rights and the rise of the theory that civic capacity should determine the suffrage. Particularly after 1900 did the agitation take on national importance. A national Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation was organized, and powerful pressure was brought to bear upon persons of political influence. Between 1910 and 1912 Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona were won to the cause of woman suffrage. Finally in August, 1920, the amendment which Miss Anthony had drafted in 1875 was ratified and declared in force. Women are now allowed the vote on the same terms as men.

415. PRESENT RESTRICTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO VOTE.--The suffrage in the several states at the present time may be summarized as follows:

In every state voters must be at least 21 years of age. In a few states the vote is extended to aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens. In every state a period of residence is required of voters, the usual period being between six months and a year. Educational qualifications are imposed in about a third of the states. A number of southern and a few northern states require voters to be a.s.sessed for a poll tax. In practically every state such abnormal persons as the feeble-minded, the insane, paupers in inst.i.tutions, and certain types of criminals are excluded from the suffrage. Untaxed Indians, and foreign-born Chinese and j.a.panese do not enjoy the suffrage.

416. PRESENT STATUS OF THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT.--The suffrage movement has steadily increased the number of potential voters until at the present time there are more than 30,000,000 persons in the United States who are ent.i.tled to the vote. The important groups of the adult population have been enfranchised, but the suffrage movement still involves important problems. In view of our changing att.i.tude toward the suffrage we face four unanswered questions:

First, should the present restrictions on the suffrage be lowered?

Second, should they be made more severe? Third, in view of the fact that naturalization automatically makes voters of many individuals, to what extent ought the grant of citizenship to be determined by the individual's promise as a voter? Fourth, what should be our att.i.tude toward Negro suffrage?

Let us summarize the fundamental considerations which must be borne in mind in discussing the four problems suggested above. This done, we may briefly consider the most pressing of these questions, _i.e._ that involving Negro suffrage.

417. THE SUFFRAGE IS A PRIVILEGE AND NOT RIGHT.--The significance of the difference between citizenship and the suffrage should be clearly understood. Citizenship is a fundamental matter. In return for allegiance to his government, the citizen may be considered as being ent.i.tled to that measure of protection which is deemed necessary to his safety and well-being. But though we speak loosely of the "right"

of suffrage, the suffrage is a privilege, not a right. The individual cannot claim it as a corollary of citizenship. Nor does mere residence in a democratic country ent.i.tle the individual to the ballot. The safety and well-being of the citizen are not necessarily dependent upon his exercise of the vote. Indeed, incapable persons may be better off if they are excluded from the suffrage, provided, of course, that the voting cla.s.s holds itself responsible for the government of the excluded groups. Fitness alone justifies the suffrage.

418. WHAT CONSt.i.tUTES FITNESS?--The ballot cannot be exercised by the unfit without endangering the whole fabric of government. But what is the standard of fitness? The history of the suffrage in the United States throws some light upon this question. In colonial times the plea of the propertied cla.s.ses was that fitness was primarily a matter of racial origin, the ownership of property, or church affiliation.

According to the theory of natural rights, fitness was vaguely a.s.sociated with manhood and citizenship. More recently we have come to believe that while many factors influence the capacity of the voter, such factors as religion, racial origin, and ownership of substantial amounts of property, are not vital. A definite standard of fitness has never been established, but at least we can say that fitness means both the desire and the capacity to serve the state by an honest and intelligent use of the ballot.

419. THE QUESTION OF NEGRO SUFFRAGE.--We are beginning to suspect that the attention attracted by Negro suffrage is due, not so much to the injustice of disfranchising the Negro as to the spectacular circ.u.mstances surrounding the American Negro. It is unjust, of course, to exclude the Negro from the vote merely because of his race. But exclusion of Negroes not qualified to make an intelligent use of the ballot is no more unfair than are the educational tests imposed by many northern states. To exclude illiterate Negroes from the vote, and at the same time to allow illiterate whites the ballot, is, on the other hand, manifestly unfair. But far more productive of good than debating this unfairness is the attempt to fit the Negro for the vote as a prerequisite to his exercise of it. During this preparation the Negro should have before him the incentive of securing the ballot when he has made sufficient progress in education and civic responsibility.

420. PROBLEM OF AN INTELLIGENT ELECTORATE.--The problem of building up an intelligent electorate gives rise to two additional questions: First, how may the enfranchised cla.s.ses be trained to a full realization of their civic responsibilities? Second, to what extent is intelligent voting dependent upon actual exercise of the suffrage? The first question has been treated elsewhere, and we may close this chapter with a brief consideration of the second question.

It is maintained by some that no one should be admitted to the suffrage who has not first demonstrated his capacity to use the vote intelligently. Others reply that this capacity comes only through actual exercise of the vote. The solution of this problem probably lies in a judicious combination of theory and practice. A boy cannot learn to swim by standing on the bank and forever listening to theoretical instruction; on the other hand, it may prove fatal to push him into deep water without preparation for that step. Instruction and practice must go hand in hand, wisely interwoven and harmonized.

Similarly, it would seem, one way to secure an intelligent electorate is to admit individuals to the suffrage only when they demonstrate a minimum capacity for civic service, but at the same time to recognize that _full_ moral development can come only through actual exercise of the vote.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. Distinguish between citizenship and the suffrage.

2. Why is the suffrage important in a representative democracy?

3. Discuss the suffrage in colonial times.

4. What was the probable extent of the suffrage in 1789?

5. What is the doctrine of natural rights?

6. How was this doctrine applied to the question of the suffrage?

7. Why was the suffrage in the eastern states widened in the nineteenth century?

8. Discuss the suffrage in the new West.

9. Describe the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the Negro.

10. Outline the early development of the woman suffrage movement.

11. Discuss the decline of the natural rights theory.

12. Outline some recent shifts in the suffrage movement.

13. Enumerate the present restrictions on the right to vote.

14. What is the present status of the suffrage movement?