Speech #510194188

There is some abridgment in the State of Vermont. for instance. of paupers and insane persons as well as the criminal class. who I believe. by its constitution. are excepted and not allowed to take part in the government of that State by way of voting. and I suppose that is probably the law and constitution.in every State of the Union. It is an ancient one. and therefore. if no attention were paid to it. it would leave the representation still substantially equal. but I hold that if the State of Vermont under its constitution chooses to exclude paupers from her ballot boxes. by just that much. if there were enough of them. as happily there are not enoughI do not suppose there are five hundred in the Stateto make any difference. if it were notlan infinitesimal fraction. her representation ought to be reduced according to this constitution. accordingly. Other States have an educational qualification. a qualification intended and designed. not to repress thepower of a body of its people. but a qualification designed to stimulate the small number comparatively. the small fraction of strangers. foreigners. immigrants. and others coming from countries where education had not been so much thought of and did not exist should be stimulated. in taking upon themselves the rights of citizenship. to acquire some knowledge of the institutions and of the literature of the country to which they come. In some of the States where those provisions have been made. they have always been accompanied by the amplest provision for free public teaching at the public expense of every child within the State. Now.