...direct. Sixth, That elections of representatives in the legislature ought to be free and frequent, and all men having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with and attachment to the Community ought to have the right of suffrage: and no aid, charge, tax or fee can be set, rated, or levied upon...

...liberal democracy have varieties of legal capacity, ranging from the fullest capacity of the male citizen "having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with and attachment to the community"74 to the denial of active legal capacity pertaining to the status of slavery, been as great...

...be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people in assembly ought to be free; That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority without consent of the...

...been ambiguously expressed in the Declarations of Rights of 1776. Should the suffrage be confined to "all men having sufficient evidence of permanent common...interest with, and attachment to, the community," which meant property? Or should one respect and interpret the dictum that "all men are by nature equally...

...the Federal Constitution a dozen years later, said only that "elections ought to be free, and that aU men having sufficient evidence of permanent common...attachment to the community, have the right of suffrage." As the colonies became States, one after another they put property qualifications into their Constitutions,...

...namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property . . . elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and ... all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to the community,...

...undoubtedly belong to Mason. A new sixth article, declaring "that all men, having sufficient evidence of a permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage," coincided with Mason's position in the 1787 Constitutional Convention.17 Mason may have written the...

...for future change here, too. Article 6 of the Declaration provided that elections for representatives ought to be free and that "all men, having sufficient...and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage."41 More practically, the Declaration of Rights also shows the influence of the people out-of-doors...

...entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges, but in consideration of public services. That all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent...interest with, and attachment to, the community, have a right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed, or deprived of their property without their consent, or that...