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Article about universal suffrage and freedom of elections in the Gazette and Mercury newspaper

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This article proposes that granting universal suffrage without some voter qualifications is detrimental to the safety of our government. He quotes from the Logansville, Indiana, newspaper an account of the sworn statements of voters in a contested race. The sixteen men quoted all could not say for whom they voted-mostly because they could not read. Some states required that a man own property in order to be allowed to vote. The writer does agree that the property ownership restriction may not be the right one, but he does feel that some restriction needs to be devised. The Gazette & Mercury was the newspaper in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from June 27, 1837 to July 13, 1841, when it changed its name to the Gazette & Courier.

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