Who Was “The People”?
Lesson 1 — State Control and the Missing National Voter
AP Exam Connection
Engage · Object Lesson
The honest answer is “it depends on the state.” In 1800 there was no national rule. Property, sex, and race could each be decisive — and the answer could differ for the same person simply by crossing a state line. Hold onto that discomfort; resolving it is the work of this whole unit.
Explore · Recitation
Answer each aloud or to a partner, then confirm against the lesson below.
Explain · The Lesson
After 1776, each new state wrote its own constitution and set its own voter qualifications. These commonly included property ownership, payment of taxes, race, sex, residence, and sometimes religion. There was no national electorate. When the Framers wrote the Constitution in 1787, Article I did not create one either: it tied eligibility to vote for the U.S. House to whatever qualifications a state used for the larger house of its own legislature. Presidential electors did not even have to be chosen by popular vote.
New Jersey is the era's great illustration. Its 1776 constitution set a property qualification without an explicit sex or race bar, so some property-owning unmarried or widowed women and some Black residents lawfully voted. In 1807 the state legislature restricted the vote to white male citizens — erasing that unusual breadth by ordinary law.
From roughly 1790 to 1856, most states gradually dropped property requirements for white men. This is the expansion usually called universal white male suffrage — but it happened state by state, not through one amendment, and it left race and sex bars firmly in place.
Elaborate · Commonplace Book
Begin your Franchise Ledger. Each row records a rule, who acted, who was affected, the formal change, and what barrier survived. You will add to this ledger in every lesson.
| Date | Rule / Law | Government Actor | Population | Formal Change | Barrier Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1776– | New state constitutions | States | Property-owning men (qualifications varied) | First voter definitions; no national standard | Property, tax, race, sex, religion, residence tests |
| 1776 | New Jersey Constitution | State (NJ) | Some property-owning women & Black residents | Unusually broad franchise (no explicit sex/race bar) | Property requirement; narrow in practice |
| 1787 | U.S. Constitution, Art. I | Constitutional Convention | Everyone | House electorate = state's own lower-house electorate | No national voter; states decide qualifications |
| 1790 | Naturalization Act | Congress | “Free white” immigrants | Opens citizenship (and thus eligibility) to white immigrants | Excludes most non-white immigrants from citizenship |
| 1807 | NJ election law | State (NJ) | Women & Black NJ voters | Franchise narrowed to white male citizens | A right earlier granted was revoked by statute |
| ~1790–1856 | State reforms | States | White men | Property/tax requirements dropped | Race and sex bars remain; no federal amendment |
Evaluate · Examination
A property-owning widow in New Jersey in 1790 versus the same woman in 1810. Same person, same property, same state. What changed, and which government made the change?