I was watching 1776 yesterday with friends, a fun thing to do on the 4th of July. I was reminded that some of our founding fathers had wanted to right to vote to belong only to those who owned land. This led to some ruminations on consequences of this had it been put in place.
First, I wondered if the children of landowners had the right to vote before the landowner died. Or did the father (considering the time, paternal assumptions are in place, though women could hold land in their own name in most, if not all, of our states) have to bequeath a parcel of land to the children before they could vote.
Second, I wondered how large a piece of land was needed for the right to vote. Due to a money-making scheme by a former employer, I was gifted “a square foot of Texas” as a Christmas present one year (I was not impressed). I still have the deed around here somewhere (ownership reverts to the original on my death; it cannot be reassigned). But would it be enough to give me the franchise? What about people who didn’t live in a state but were landowners there? Could they vote if they weren’t resident? How is that handled now? I know you pay property taxes both places, but I don’t think those existed in the days of our founding fathers.
If being the daughter of a landowner didn’t give me the right to vote, I wouldn’t have been allowed to vote until age 29, when my husband and I bought our house. I would have lost it 10 years later when I lost the house in the divorce, yes? And gained it again a year after Ed died when I bought the place in which I now live.
Of course, if the right to vote was tied to land ownership, I would have been much more inclined to buy than rent when I was in my 20s, before my marriage. My sister did and she would have had the franchise at a younger age than I did.
Then there are the other implications of landownership franchise. There would be no checks on that class voting more benefits for themselves and against the “have nots.” The sweet Lord knows we have enough trouble with that now. I expect the days of unions would have died almost immediately as it would not be in the financial interest of big business to pass fair or safe working standards. No paid vacations. No paid health benefits. No OSHA working standards. EPA would likely not exist. Our old growth forests, already seriously depleted, would just be gone. Bald eagles and California condors would have gone the way of the dodo.
Our system has flaws, but it could have gone down a different road. I think that road would be much more flawed and would have caused another, internal, revolution before today. I also don’t think we would have reaches some of the heights of greatness, as well as some of the idiot lows, without it.