History of the United States I / Unit 7 USH1 0919 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The State Constitutions
The idea
Pennsylvania's constitution of seventeen seventy-six eliminated property requirements, needing only that a man be twenty-one, have paid taxes and have lived in one place a year, and it eliminated both the executive branch and the upper house. New Hampshire let every small town send representatives, making its lower house a model of democratic government. Maryland by contrast required five thousand pounds of personal property to be governor, excluding over ninety percent of White males from office.
In practice
South Carolina requiring a governor to hold a settled plantation worth at least ten thousand pounds, clear of debt.
Where people slip
Massachusetts, written largely by John Adams and reflecting his fear of too much democracy, required a thousand pounds for governor and sixty to vote, with appointed judges and the capitol at Boston, far from western farmers. Adams called Pennsylvania's constitution so democratical that it must produce confusion and every evil work. The states were running opposite experiments at the same time.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for History of the United States I