Source: James Kent, Excerpt from the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention
Assembled for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution of the State of New York, 1821.
That extreme democratic principle [universal suffrage] . . . has been regarded with terror
by the wise men of every age because, in every European republic, ancient and modern, in
which it has been tried, it has terminated disastrously and been productive of corruption,
injustice, violence, and tyranny. . . .
The apprehended danger from the experiment of universal suffrage applied to the whole
legislative department is no dream o

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