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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Origins of the Cape Franchise Qualifications of 1853 |
Author: | Trapido, Stanley |
Year: | 1964 |
Periodical: | The Journal of African History |
Volume: | 5 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 37-54 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | The Cape South Africa |
Subjects: | election law history History and Exploration Ethnic and Race Relations colonialism |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/179767 |
Abstract: | In 1853 the franchise qualification allowed Coroured men to be placed on the voters 'roll. To qualify for the franchise it was necassary to occupy, for twelve months, property valued at £ 25 or to earn a salary of £ 50, or a salary of £ 25 if board and lodging was provided. At the time, as in later years, there were many who regarded this qualification as low. Since the ultimate responsibility for the £ 25 franchise belonged to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, historians and others have come to see it as being the result of humanitarian influences. This article shows that the process that led to representative government, and with it the £ 25 franchise, was far more complex, involving as it did a series of interweaving class, national, colour and imperial considerations. Nevertheless, humanitarian influences reveal a relationship with the more significant structural factors and provide a most convenient startingpoint. Footnotes. |