RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE IN EACH STATE. [FROM THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS.] MAINE Gives the ballot to every male citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years and upward, excepting paupers, persons under guardianship, and Indians not taxed, having resided in the State three months. — (Constitution of Oct. 29, 1819.) NEW HAMPSHIRE Gives the ballot to "every male inhabitant" of twenty-one years, except paupers and persons excused from paying taxes at their own request. Freehold property qualifications were formerly required for office-holders, but these are abolished. New Hampshire never excluded colored men from voting or holding office. (Constitution of 1792.) VERMONT. Every man twenty-one years of age, who has resided one year in the State, and who will take an oath to vote "so as in his conscience he shall judge will most conduce to the best good" of the State, may vote. - (Constitution of 1793.) MASSACHUSETTS. The ballot belongs to every male citizen, twenty-one years of age (except paupers and persons under guardianship), who shall have paid any tax assessed within two years, or who shall be exempted from taxation. But no person has the right to vote, or is eligible to office under the Constitution of this Commonwealth, who is not able to read the Constitution in the English language, and write his name. But this provision does not apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to any persons who shall be sixty years of age or upward at the time this amendment shall take effect. — (Amendment to Constitution of 1780.) Gives the right of suffrage: - RHODE ISLAND 1. To every male citizen of full age, one year in the State, six months in the town, owning real estate worth one hundred and thirty-four dollars, or renting seven dollars per annum. 2. To every native male citizen of full age, two years in the State, six months in the town, who is duly registered, who has paid one dollar tax, or done militia service within the year. · (Constitution of 1842.) CONNECTICUT Gives the ballot to all persons, whether white or black, who were freemen at the adoption of her Constitution (1818), and subsequently to "every white male citizen of the United States," of full age, resident six months in the town, and owning a freehold of the yearly value or seven dollars, or who shall have performed militia duty, paid a State tax, and sustained a good moral character within the year. This was amended in 1845 by striking out the property and tax-paying qualification, and fixing the residence at one year in the State, and six months in the town. Only those negroes have voted in Connecticut who were admitted freedmen prior to 1818. INDIANA Gives the right of suffrage to "every white male citizen of the United States," of full age and six months' residence in the State, and every white male of foreign birth and full age, who has resided one year in the United States, and six months preceding the election in the State, and who has declared his intention to become a citizen. No person shall lose his vote by absence in the service of the State, or United States. "No negro or mulatto shall have the right of suffrage." ILLINOIS Gives the vote to "every white male citizen" of full age, residing one year in the State, and "every white male inhabitant" who was a resident of the State at the adoption of this Constitution. Like provisions to those of Indiana exist here, relative to persons in the service of the United States. (Constitution of 1847.) MISSOURI, By her Free State Constitution of 1865, excludes the blacks from voting. MICHIGAN Gives the ballot to every white male citizen, to every white male inhabitant residing in the State, June 24th, 1835, and to every white male inhabitant residing in the State January 1st, 1850, who has declared his intention, etc., or who has resided two and a half years in the State, and declared his intention, and to every civilized male Indian inhabitant, not a member of any tribe. But no person shall vote unless of full age, and a resident three months in the State and six days in the town. - (Constitution of 1850.) IOWA. Every "white male citizen" of U. S., of full age, resident six months in the State, sixty days in the county, has the right of voting. NEW YORK Admits to the suffrage "every male citizen" of full age, who shall have been ten days a citizen, one year in the State, four months in the country, and thirty days in the district. But no man of color shall vote unless he has been three years a citizen of the State, and for one year the owner of a freehold worth $250, over incumbrances, on which he shall have paid a tax, and he is to be subject to no direct tax, unless he owns such freehold. Laws are authorized and have been passed, excluding from the suffrage persons convicted of bribery, larceny, or infamous crime, also persons betting on the election. No person gains or loses a residence by reason of presence or absence in the service of the United States nor in navigation - nor as a student in a seminary nor in an asylum or prison. A registry law also exists. NEW JERSEY Gives the ballot, by its Constitution of 1844, to "every white male citizen" of the United States, of full age, residing one year in the State and five months in the county, except that no pauper, idiot, insane person, or persons convicted of a crime which excludes him from being a witness, shall vote. PENNSYLVANIA Gives a vote to "every white freeman," of full age, who has resided one year in the State and ten days in the election district, and has within two years paid a tax, except that a once qualified voter returning into the State after an absence which disqualifies him from voting, regains his vote by a six months' residence, and except that white free citizens under twenty-two and over twenty-one vote without paying taxes. OHIO Limits the elective franchise to "every white male citizen" of the United States, of full age, resident one year in the State. (Constitution of 1851.) But the courts of Ohio having held that every person of one-half white blood is a "white male citizen" within the Constitution, and that the burden of proof is with the challenging party, to show that the person is more than half black, which is impracticable-in practice, negroes in Ohio vote without restriction. WISCONSIN. Every male person of full age, resident one year in the State and being either: 1. A white citizen of the United States; 2. A white alien who has declared his intention; 3. A person of Indian blood who has been declared a citizen by act of Congress; 4. Civilized persons of Indian descent not members of any tribe. CALIFORNIA. Every white male citizen of the United States (or of Mexico, who shall have elected to become a citizen of the United States under treaty of Queretaro) of full age, resident six months in the State and thirty days in the district. The Legislature has power to extend the right to Indians and their descendants. MINNESOTA. Every male person of full age, resident one year in the United States, and four months in the State, and being either: 1. A white citizen of the United States; 2. A white alien who has declared his intention; 3. Civilized persons of mixed white and Indian blood; 4. Civilized Indians certified by a district court to be fit for citizenship. OREGON. Every white male citizen of full age, six months a resident in the State, and every white male alien, of full age, resident in the United States one year, who has declared his intention, may vote; but "no negro, Chinaman, or muiatto." KANSAS Gives the ballot to every white male adult resident six months in the State, and thirty days in the town, who is either a citizen, or has declared his intention. WEST VIRGINIA. Every white male citizen (except minors, lunatics and felons), resident one year in the State, and thirty days in the county. NEVADA. The law on the right of suffrage is similar to that of Oregon. NEBRASKA. White citizens, native and naturalized, who have attained the age of twenty-one, and resided in the State for the period provided by law. DELAWARE, By her Constitution as revised in 1831, Art. 4, Sec. 1, gives the elective franchise to every free white male citizen of the age of twenty-two years who has resided one year in the State and the last month thereof in the county, and who has within two years paid a county tax, assessed at least six months before the election; every free white male citizen over twenty-one and under twenty-two may vote without paying any tax. Idiots, insane persons, paupers, and felons are excluded from voting, and the Legislature may impose forfeiture of the right of suffrage as a punishment for crime. MARYLAND, By her Constitution, adopted in 1851, Art. 1, Sec. 1, allows "every free white male person of twenty-one years of age, or upward," who has resided one year in the State, six months in the county, and is a citizen of the United States, to vote in the election district in which he resides; but no adult convicted of an infamous crime unless pardoned, and no lunatic or person non compos mentis shall vote. — (Unchanged by Constitution of 1867.) VIRGINIA, By her Constitution of 1851, admitted to vote "every white male citizen of Virginia of twenty-one years, who has resided two years in the State, and twelve months in the county, except persons of unsound mind, paupers, non-commissioned officers, soldiers, seamen, or marines in the United States service, or persons convicted of bribery, or |