Comment by ceejayoz

> The federalist papers make it pretty clear the intention was not that everyone should vote.

If we're citing that sort of thing, I'm gonna go ahead and quote the Declaration of Independence, which should be at least as instructive as to intent.

The Federalist Papers are, after all, advocacy efforts (opeds, even) by three people, not policy decisions agreed upon and ratified by the states.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

"All men" and "the governed" seem like they could easily have said "landowners" if that were genuinely the intent.

(Nor should we necessarily be permanently bound to the opinions of people who predate germ theory.)