David Buel Jr. was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on Oct. 22, 1784. His father, David Buel was the first generation that was born in America after his father, William Buel, emigrated with his family from Scotland. In 1802, Buel began attending Williams College. He graduated in 1805 and returned to Troy, where his family now was located, to study law in the office of a man named Mr. Bird. He was admitted as an attorney on the Supreme Court in 1808, and he became a judge (McConhile). He served on the committee from Rensselaer County and with his fellow advocates were for changing who had the right to vote in New York State. In his address to the committee he states that originally it was the goal of the constitution to keep property in as few hands as possible. However, that all has begun to change. He states that New York City accounts for 10% of the state's population and the way the laws are now, there is unfair representation taking place. He argues Kent's point by saying that his reference to the situation in England is not applicable to what is happening here. He says that in America it is the tendency to divide up farms and land into the hands of many. While in England, land is still mainly held in the hands of the Aristocracy. Even though he agrees that New York is vastly a rural state made up of farmers, he says that property should not be a deciding factor in who should have the right to vote. "Property is one of the incidental rights of the person who possesses it; and, as such, it must be made secure; but it does not follow that it must therefore be represented specifically in any branch of government" (). Buel's side eventually goes on and wins over Kent's side, and the right of Universal Suffrage is not thrown out as Kent would have wanted it to be. .
James Kent's objection to Universal Suffrage was that it threatens those who hold property, could cause a revolution, and that it demeans democracy.
