Even the freehold qualification. at the outset. was broadly democratic. In England. with its huge es tates. freehold voting was part of the feudal system. In America. limitless free land gave it a totally different aspect. Landownership was not a criterion of wealth. but of permanent attachment to the community. The freehold requirement excluded vagabonds. migrant settlers. and indentured servants. As the country filled up and more people became shopkeepers and mechanics. the rights of suffrage were expanded by allowing. taxpayersand the owners of personal property to vote. The Constitution was written in the midst of a steady progression from the freehold requirement to universal suffrage.