confer the rights of an
elector on _white_ male citizens only. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, are the only states in which colored
men have the same electoral rights as white citizens. In New York, men
of color owning a freehold estate (an estate in lands) of the value of
$250, are qualified voters.

Sec.7. It is provided also in state constitutions, that electors committing
infamous crimes are disfranchised. _Franchise_ is a right or privilege
enjoyed by the citizens of a state. Hence the right of voting at
elections is called the _elective franchise_; and an elector, when
deprived of this privilege, is _disfranchised_. An _infamous crime_ is
one which is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison. Men guilty of
high crimes are deemed unfit to be intrusted with so important a duty as
that of electing the persons who are to make and execute the laws of the
state. It is provided, however, that if such persons are pardoned before
the expiration of the term for which they were sentenced to be
imprisoned, their forfeited rights are restored.

Sec.8. By the earliest constitutions of many of the old states, electors
were required to own property, or to have paid rents or taxes, to a
certain amount. In the election of the higher officers, freeholders only
were entitled to vote. A _freeholder_ is an owner of real estate,
(property in lands,) which he holds in his own right, and may transmit
to his heirs. In the constitutions of the newer states, property has not
been made a qualification of an elector; and in the amended
constitutions of the old states this restriction upon the elective
franchise has been removed, until it has nearly ceased to exist in the
United States. It is now enjoyed by all white male freemen, with few
exceptions, in almost every state of the Union.

Chapter VII.

Elections.

Sec.1. For the convenient exercise of political power, as well as for the
purposes of government generally, the territory of a state is divided
into districts of small extent. It has been remarked, that the people of
a state, being too numerous to meet in one assembly to make laws and
transact the public business, elect a small number to represent them.
But to elect these representatives and other officers, and to adopt the
constitution, or fundamental law of the state, are political duties,
which must be performed by the people in person, and in a _collective_
capacity. Hence the nec