New Orleans, March 22d, 1845.
dear Sir,—I
have received your letter
of the 19th instant, requesting my views upon the operation in the State of
Mississippi of the system adopted there of electing judges by the direct votes
of the people, and asking my attention particularly to the objections urged
against the system, that such elections would generally, if not always, turn
upon party or political questions.
Having no objections to the public avowal of either my
former opinions or present views upon this interesting subject, I will
cheerfully comply with your request.
At the time of the adoption of this system in Mississippi,
in 1832, I opposed it as a new and hazardous experiment; not that I doubted the
capacity or intelligence of the people, but that I feared that the judiciary
would be too much influenced by sudden popular excitement. As a member of the
convention that revised the Constitution I used my best influence against it,
or, rather, to confine the experiment to the selection of the judges of the
inferior courts by a direct vote of the people. The experience and observation
of twelve years have, however, convinced me and many others who were opposed to
the experiment, that our fears were not well founded; and, so far, our system
has not been attended with any of the serious evils which were apprehended. I
have looked upon its operation in our state for twelve years with peculiar
interest, and, from my former opposition to the measure, without any bias; and
candor compels me to say that I now regard it as the best mode of selecting
judicial officers.
SOURCES: John F. H. Quitman, Life and Correspondence
of John A. Quitman, Volume 1, p. 127-8
