We no longer have the rule of law in this country

[JDPriestly]

50. About who had the right to vote:

After declaring independence on July 4, 1776, each former English colony wrote a state constitution. About half the states attempted to reform their voting procedures. The trend in these states was to do away with the freehold requirement in favor of granting all taxpaying, free, adult males the right to vote. Since few men escaped paying taxes of some sort, suffrage (the right to vote) expanded in these states. Vermont's constitution went even further in 1777 when it became the first state to grant universal manhood suffrage (i.e., all adult males could vote). Some states also abolished religious tests for voting. It was in New Jersey that an apparently accidental phrase in the new state constitution permitted women to vote in substantial numbers for the first time in American history.

"Of Government in Petticoats!!!"

The provision on suffrage in the New Jersey state constitution of 1776 granted the right to vote to "all inhabitants" who were of legal age (21), owned property worth 50 English pounds (not necessarily a freehold), and resided in a county for at least one year. No one is sure what was meant by "all inhabitants" since the New Jersey constitutional convention was held in secret. But it appears that no agitation for woman suffrage occurred at the convention.

After the state constitution was ratified by the voters (presumably only men voted), little comment on the possibility of women voting took place in the state for 20 years. Even so, one state election law passed in 1790 included the words "he or she." It is unclear how many, or if any, women actually voted during this time.

In 1797, a bitter contest for a seat in the New Jersey state legislature erupted between John Condict, a Jeffersonian Republican from Newark, and William Crane, a Federalist from Elizabeth. Condict won the election, but only by a narrow margin after Federalists from Elizabeth turned out a large number of women to vote for Crane. This was probably the first election in U.S. history in which a substantial group of women went to the polls.

http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-8-1-b-who-voted-in-early-america

There is a movement afoot to limit voting to property owners. It's a stupid, conservative idea.

And they are misrepresenting historical facts. The early colonists were British and adopted the British criteria for voting eligibility. But gradually over time once we had won the Revolution, we expanded voting rights to include more and more people. Religious restrictions were dropped pretty early.

Property ownership was not that much of an impediment to early Americans. Granted, slaves and most women and indentured servants did not have the ability to buy property. But property was pretty commonly owned beyond those groups. We were a nation of farmers.

There is inaccurate information, exaggerated claims. Let's watch for this. It is a right-wing effort to disenfranchise voters.