Journal of Politics 87(1): 50-69
https://doi.org/10.1086/730750
Did the first wave of democratization in America—the removal of property and taxpaying qualifications for white men—change politics and policy? This article leverages unique state-level institutional features to empirically identify the impact of reform on enfranchisement rates, turnout, patterns of representation, and policy outcomes. These are then used as a baseline calibration for national analyses. I draw extensively on a uniquely comprehensive dataset of suffrage qualifications and on newly collected and currently underused data on state electoral results and legislative behavior. I find that there was a sizeable body of adult free men disenfranchised by restrictive property qualifications, the abolition of which had a significant effect on turnout. The impact on patterns of representation and policy outcomes was more modest and often cannot be distinguished from no effect. The most likely explanation is that parties were able to adapt to suffrage reform without changing policy positions.
https://doi.org/10.1086/730750
Did the first wave of democratization in America—the removal of property and taxpaying qualifications for white men—change politics and policy? This article leverages unique state-level institutional features to empirically identify the impact of reform on enfranchisement rates, turnout, patterns of representation, and policy outcomes. These are then used as a baseline calibration for national analyses. I draw extensively on a uniquely comprehensive dataset of suffrage qualifications and on newly collected and currently underused data on state electoral results and legislative behavior. I find that there was a sizeable body of adult free men disenfranchised by restrictive property qualifications, the abolition of which had a significant effect on turnout. The impact on patterns of representation and policy outcomes was more modest and often cannot be distinguished from no effect. The most likely explanation is that parties were able to adapt to suffrage reform without changing policy positions.
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