Page 109 - Dragon Flood

best guardians of liberty; And the restriction of the right to them as a necessary defense
against the dangerous influence of those multitudes without property and without
principle, with which our Country like all others, will in time abound.”

The men who participated in the Convention by and large were opposed to “leveling
democracy.” They believed that it was dangerous for the unpropertied classes to have equal
say as those with property. Many of the convention members wanted to establish a property
clause in the Constitution whereby only those with significant property could vote. The
reason such a restriction did not find its way into the Constitution is that the members
never could come to agreement on what those requirements should be. The sticking point
was that some of the men present had large land holdings, but very little actual cash or
stocks or bonds. Others were flush with cash and various financial instruments, but had
little in the way of real property. In the end, they chose to leave it to the states to establish
voting qualifications, which most had in place already.

In his book, Beard cites Alexander Hamilton:

All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and
well born, the other the mass of the people. The voice of the people has been said to be the
voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not
true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right.
Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in the government. They will
check the unsteadiness of the second...

There were numerous members of the Constitutional Convention who argued that a
permanent aristocracy should be built into America’s government. Some made reference
to the House of Lords in England, and suggested that America should have something
similar. A few, however, were opposed to giving power to an aristocracy. Governeur Morris
of Pennsylvania weighed in on the issue. He said:

The sound of (the word) Aristocracy, therefore had no effect on him. It was the thing, not
the name, to which he was opposed, and one of his principal objections to the Constitution
as it is now before us, is that it threatens this Country with an Aristocracy. The
Aristocracy will grow out of the House of Representatives... Give the votes to the people
who have no property, and they will sell them to the rich who will be able to buy them.

Some of the Convention members argued that Senators should not be paid, for they
believed this would insure that only wealthy men would apply for the positions, keeping the
Senate firmly in the hands of the moneyed and propertied class.

Roger Sherman believed in reducing the popular influence in the new government to the
minimum... The people, he said, immediately should have as little to do as may be about
the government. They want (lack) information and are constantly liable to be misled.

When it came time to vote on ratification of the Constitution, it is little wonder that the
population was deeply divided. Beard provides vote counts by city and region that
demonstrate that the small farmers, who were far more common than today, and the