Unexpected Lessons: The Political Economy of the Franchise in Colonial Virginia

Abstract

This paper studies the evolution of the suffrage in colonial Virginia from the early seventeenth century until the American Revolution, using econometric analysis of a unique data set on the number and types of franchise restrictions imposed on colonial voters, along with detailed historical evidence. We find that Virginia's representative institutions were very liberal for most of the seventeenth century, when colonial agriculture depended on English workers, but deteriorated quickly once planters were able to replace white workers with slaves in the early 1700s. Our explanation builds on the idea that by credibly constraining the power of elites, liberal representative institutions were an effective way to attract white immigrant labour. We show that our findings are not due to alternative explanations identified in the literature, such as inequality or the threat of revolution.