“The founding fathers didn’t believe that every Tom Dick and Harry should vote — there were eligibility requirements. “
I’d say, right off the top, they were about at least 50% more restrictive...
I don’t see what was wrong with testing requirements. Certainly, an understanding of government, local and national should be required. You might say that public schooling should do this, and I would just laugh. And the test should be periodic and available in English only.
These days, I don’t think we are too far away from Africa, where they put a photo of the candidate with the symbol of the party on the ballot. For example, here, we would have put a drawing of an ass next to a photo of every Democrat.
Free, white, male, 21, and a property owner, iirc.
There may have been others who had skin in the game, but in colonial times, that pulled in most.