“Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good” is a quotation that has been printed on many images. The quote is always credited to American journalist H.. L. Mencken (1880-1956), but the first citation found in print is in the book 20,000 Quips & Quotes (1968) by Evan Esar.
 
     
Wikipedia: H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, satirist, cultural critic and scholar of American English. Known as the “Sage of Baltimore”, he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the twentieth century. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he dubbed the “Monkey Trial”, also gained him attention.
 
As a scholar, Mencken is known for The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States. As an admirer of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, he was a detractor of religion, populism and representative democracy, which he believed was a system in which inferior men dominated their superiors.
 
12 September 1970, Xenia (OH) Daily Gazette, pg. 5, col. 1:
EDITOR:
Giving every man a vote has not more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
H. L. MENCKEN,
New York City.
 
31 March 1978, The Eagle (Bryan-College Station, TX), “Do it at the polls; get out and vote” (editorial), pg. 12A, col. 1:
“Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.” The words are those of a wise man—H. L. Mencken.
 
Google Books
20,000 Quips & Quotes
By Evan Esar
New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Books
1995, ©1968
Pg. 848:
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good. —Mencken
 
Google Books
Laugh Off:
The Comedy Showdown Between Real Life and the Pros
By Bob Fenster
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing
2005
Pg. 138:
Writer H. L. Mencken: “Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.”
 
Google Books
Words of Wisdom:
H. L. Mencken
By Students’ Academy
Lulu Press, Inc. (Lulu.com)
2014
Pg. ?:
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.