Franklin's_Jackass

Franklin's Jackass

Franklin's Jackass

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Franklin's Jackass is a reference to a witticism allegedly made by Benjamin Franklin, in which he derided property qualifications on the right to vote by asking whether the right to vote belongs to the man or to the jackass that he owns.[1][2][3] According to Alexander Keyssar, it was a widely known reference in the American Revolutionary Era and was mentioned at several state constitutional conventions in the years after the American Revolution.[4]

Franklin's quotation

"Franklin's Jackass" comes from the following query allegedly posed by Benjamin Franklin:[1][5]

Today a man owns a jackass worth fifty dollars and he is entitled to vote; but before the next election the jackass dies. The man in the meantime has become more experienced, his knowledge of the principles of government, and his acquaintance with mankind, are more extensive, and he is therefore better qualified to make a proper selection of rulers—but the jackass is dead and the man cannot vote. Now gentlemen, pray inform me, in whom is the right of suffrage? In the man or in the jackass?

References

  1. [1]
    Keyssar, Alexander (2002). "The Project of Democracy". Maine Policy Review. 11 (2): 90–99 – via University of Maine Digital Commons.
  2. [2]
    Waldman, Michael (2016). The Fight to Vote. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1501116483.
  3. [3]
    Garner, John (1969). The Franchise and Politics in British North America 1755-1867. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781487598891.
  4. [4]
    Keyssar, Alexander (2000). The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States. New York: Basic Books. p. 44. ISBN 978-0465005024.
  5. [5]
    "Elective Franchise". The Colonial Advocate. No. 34. 27 December 1827. Located on third column of front page. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2021.


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