The reason only landowners could vote was they had a stake in this country. Also, there were only two means of taxation in the first 80 years or so of this country, property tax and tarriffs. States used property tax to operate, and the Feds used the tarriffs. Land was free if you moved west, staked a claim, and lived on it a certain length of time. Then you could vote, and later become part of a state. This was Jeffersons idea of Manifest Destiny. People would move west and settle it and parts would become states. Even Lincoln thought after the Civil War that it would take 100 years to settle the west. It was settled in 30. By the 1890s there were no more Indian wars and states were added to the Union.
Back to taxes, income tax and all free men voting amendment was added to the constitution during or right after the Civil War. Then the south added poll taxes so that the blacks and poor whites couldn't afford to vote which was later declared unconstitutional.
I think there should be a test of how our Republic is supposed to operate before allowing people to vote. When women were first allowed to vote, they voted along with what their husbands did until more recently, now that 43% of adult Americans are not married but single. Single women have a tendency to vote for Dems because of the welfare things they want, like food stamps, checks, etc.