8840. VIRGINIA CONSTITUTION, Representation under.—
The first Constitution
[of Virginia] was formed when we were
new and inexperienced in the science of government.
It was the first, too, which was
formed in the whole United States. No
wonder, then, that time and trial have discovered
very capital defects in it. The majority
of the men in the State, who pay and
fight for its support, are unrepresented in the
Legislature, the roll of freeholders entitled to
vote, not including generally the half of those
on the roll of the militia, or of the taxgatherers.
Among those who share the representation,
the shares are very unequal.
Thus the county of Warwick, with only one
hundred fighting men, has an equal representation
with the county of Loudon, which has
one thousand seven hundred and forty-six.
So that every man in Warwick has as much
influence as seventeen men in Loudon.—
Notes on Virginia. Washington ed. viii, 359.
Ford ed., iii, 222.
(1782)
