![]() ![]() Did they even recognize Smith’s qualifications? For the United States to endure, the citizenry had to put the common good above their own narrow interests. With so much power vested in “the people,” skeptics wondered whether Britain’s former subjects, now citizens of a new republic, were prepared to perform their new duties, namely the task of electing their own government officials. ![]() Pictured at his country estate alongside his grandson, Smith is cast as a worthy contender for public office: a man who has cultivated his mind and his family as well as his property. Smith was a prominent Baltimore merchant and candidate for the first U.S. Of course, this promise extended only to native-born or naturalized white males who owned land-men such as William Smith. After the American Revolution, the newly established United States offered exciting possibilities for individual freedom and political participation. ![]()
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