Madison: Who should vote?

Madison said that if he thought it would be acceptable to the people when asked to ratify the Constitution, he would favor a freehold requirement [for the right to vote]. "The freeholders of the Country," he held, "would be the safest depositories of Republican liberty." Elaborating on this insight in a characteristically gloomy way, Madison went on: "In future times a great majority of the people will not only be without landed, but without any sort of, property. These will either combine under the influence of their common situation; in which case the rights of property & the public liberty, will not be secure in their hands: or which is more probable, they will become the tools of opulence & ambition, in which case there will be equal danger on another side." -- Kevin Gutzman, James Madison and the Making of America, p. 116

NOTE: when I dictated this passage, Siri wrote: "Elaborating on this insight in a Characteristically Gloomy Way..."

I guess she thought that "Characteristically Gloomy Way" was a street address. It is probably right next to "Morose Circle" and "Suicidal Depression Boulevard."

Comments

  1. "In future times a great majority of the people will not only be without landed, but without any sort of, property."

    He was glaringly wrong there. I wonder what being without "any sort of property" would even look like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "He was glaringly wrong there."

      Nope. If he were alive today, he would be saying, "Yes, just as I predicted."

      If you can't try to sympathetically imagine what a writer is talking about, you will continually grossly misinterpret what they are saying.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:03 AM

      I would say that Madison is ultimately talking about rights, not property per se.

      Delete
  2. "Nope. If he were alive today, he would be saying, 'Yes, just as I predicted.'"

    How so? Would he mean the corporations?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have to realize he is a classical republican. In classical republicanism, the key to being a solid citizen is independence. So property means property that supports you: a farm, a shop, a merchant vessel, or workshop. This made one independent, not beholden to a "master" (or employer) and capable of exercising citizenship.

      Madison knew everyone who have a shirt and a pair of trousers.

      Delete
    2. Why can't an Exxon employee exercise citizenship?

      Delete
  3. Scineram, *I* I'm not saying that an Exxon employee could or couldn't. But Madison, as a classical republican, would not think he would do so well, as he lacks economic independence.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You say that James Madison was a classical republican. Was he also a classical liberal?

    ReplyDelete

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