The early 1800s was a time of a rising Democracy. However, there was a limit to this Democracy. For example, a few states required a property qualification to vote and every new state that joined the union after 1819 denied blacks the right to vote (371). This left mostly only slaveholders with the ability to vote. The Memorial of the Non-Freeholders of the City of Richmond is a petition written in 1829 by the men of Richmond who did not own enough property to vote. This petition makes an argument of how all white men should be allowed to vote.
Although these White men were fighting for Democracy, American Democracy rested on the idea of biology. Nowhere in this petition do these men talk about Black people’s rights because the oppression
Although these White men were fighting for Democracy, American Democracy rested on the idea of biology. Nowhere in this petition do these men talk about Black people’s rights because the oppression