Eligibility to vote in the United States is established both through the United States Constitution and by state laws. However, when it was originally drafted in 1789, the U.S. Constitution did not establish any such voting rights on a federal level. Therefore, in the absence of a specific federal law or constitutional provision, each state had considerable discretion to establish qualifications for suffrage and candidacy within its own respective jurisdiction. The 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, drafted by John Adams, is the world’s oldest functioning written constitution. It served as a model for the United States Constitution, which was written in 1787 and became effective in 1789.

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Excerpts from “Part the First: A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts” and Chapter I Section III Article IV from the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ratified at the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779 on June 15, 1780; it became effective on October 25, 1780.

“Article I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”

“Article IV. …Every male person, being twenty-one years of age, and resident in any particular town in this commonwealth for the space of one year next preceding, having a freehold estate within the same town, of the annual income of three pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds, shall have a right to vote in the choice of a representative, or representatives for the said town.”