Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/79

 CH. IX.] of intercourse few and liable to interruption. If all the inhabitants, who are to vote, reside in towns and villages there will be little inconvenience in assembling together at a short notice to make a choice. It will be far otherwise, if the inhabitants are scattered over a large territory, and are engaged in agricultural pursuits, like the planters and formers of the southern and western states, who must meet at a distance from their respective homes, and at some common place of assembling. In cases of this sort, the sacrifice of time necessary to accomplish the object, the expenses of the journey, the imperfect means of communication, the slow progress of interchanges of opinion, would naturally diminish the exercise of the right of suffrage. There would be great danger, under such circumstances, that there would grow up a general indifference or inattention to elections, it they were frequent, since they would create little interest, and would involve heavy charges and burthens. The nature of the pursuits and employments of the people must also have great influence in settling the question. If the mass of the citizens are engaged in employments, which take them away for a long period from home, such as employments in the whale and cod fisheries, in the fur-trade, in foreign and distant commerce, in periodical caravans, or in other pursuits, which require constant attention, or long continued labours at particular seasons; it is obvious, that frequent elections, which should interfere with their primary interests and objects, would be at once inconvenient, oppressive, and unequal. They would enable the few to obtain a complete triumph and ascendency in the affairs of the state over the many. Besides, the frequency of elections must be subject to other considerations, affecting the general comfort and convenience, as well