The centennial of the New York avenue Presbyterian church : Washington, , 1803-1903 . ents de-rive their just powers from the consent of the governed,yet there were but three states in 1803, Vermont, Ken-tucky and Ohio, where the governed could give theirconsent. Elsewhere the voter must own a specifiednumber of acres of land, or land worth a certain sum,or have an annual income of so many dollars from afreehold estate, or own personal property worth a par-ticular number of dollars. Virginia limited the fran-chise to such of her citizens as owned twenty-five acresof land properly planted,
The centennial of the New York avenue Presbyterian church : Washington, , 1803-1903 . ents de-rive their just powers from the consent of the governed,yet there were but three states in 1803, Vermont, Ken-tucky and Ohio, where the governed could give theirconsent. Elsewhere the voter must own a specifiednumber of acres of land, or land worth a certain sum,or have an annual income of so many dollars from afreehold estate, or own personal property worth a par-ticular number of dollars. Virginia limited the fran-chise to such of her citizens as owned twenty-five acresof land properly planted, and with a house thereon atleast twelve feet square; or were possessed of fiftyacres of wild land, or of a freehold or estate in one ofthe towns established by law in colonial da3s. TheNew Jersey constitution gave the franchise to all per-sons who owned real estate worth fifty pounds. Con-struing the word persons literally, men, women,aliens, and free negroes having the property qualifica-tion voted as late as 1807. In New Hampshire thevoter must be a Protestant as well as a Daniel Bakkr, D. D. THE CENTENNIAL EXERCISES. 73 These restrictions on the franchise were by no meanstrivial. They were felt in every state, and deprivedthousands of the governed of the right to express thatconsent from which all governments derive their rightpowers. In New York, when the property qualifica-tion for voters was removed in 1S20, fifty thousand citi-zens ijained the ri;ht to vote. It was estimated that inVirginia, in 1829, eighty-nine thousand men were de-prived of the right to vote, by property qualifications. When the franchise was limited to owners of land,houses, and personal property of considerable value, itis not surprising that seats in the legislature, on thebench, and in the executive chair were restricted to astill smaller class of people. To be a member of thelower branch of the legislature, a citizen in any one ofnine states must be seized of a freehold of from onehundr
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