Negro Suffrage: The Constitutional Point of View

John C. Rose

doi:10.2307/1944844

Negro Suffrage: The Constitutional Point of View

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013

John C. Rose

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The Constitution of the United States as amended provides that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” These words are plain. Everybody understands them. They mean, and every one knows that they mean, that, from the constitutional point of view, one question relative to the suffrage is no longer open. That question is the very one about which I am asked to write. From the political point of view, from the historical point of view, from the social point of view, from the economic point of view, and from the ethical point of view, there is much to be said about negro suffrage. For centuries yet to come there may be much to be said. From the constitutional point of view, accurately defined, there has been nothing to say since March 30, 1870. On that day the Secretary of State of the United States proclaimed that the Fifteenth Amendment had been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-nine out of the then thirty-seven States. The apparent assent of a number of these legislatures, perhaps, had not been a real assent. It might have been given under duress. Still, it had been given. The men who assumed to be the legislatures of other of these States may have had little moral and a very doubtful legal right to speak for them.

Type: Research Article
Information: American Political Science Review , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , November 1906 , pp. 17 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1944844 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © American Political Science Association 1906

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^{page 17 note 1} Fifteenth Amendment.

^{page 18 note 1} Georgia vs. Stanton, 6 Wallace, 50.

^{page 18 note 2} New York Tribune Almanac, 1873, p. 88.

^{page 19 note 1} Constitution of United States, Art. 6.

^{page 19 note 2} Constitution of the United States, Art. 4, sec. 2.

^{page 19 note 3} Congressional Globe, Vol. 28, pt. 2, p. 1517.

^{page 20 note 1} Twelfth Census Population. Pt. 1, p. cxcix.

^{page 20 note 2} New York Tribune Almanac, 1905, p. 377.

^{page 21 note 1} James vs. Bowman, 190 U. S., 127.

^{page 21 note 2} Virginia vs. Rives, 100 U. S., 313.

^{page 21 note 3} Clyatt vs. United States, 197 U. S., 207.

^{page 22 note 1} James vs. Bowman, 190 U. S., 127.

^{page 23 note 1} United States vs. Reese, 92 U. S., 214, Oct. Term, 1875.

^{page 23 note 2} Pope vs. Williams, 193 U. S., 621.

^{page 24 note 1} Twelfth Census Population, Pt. I, p. 996.

^{page 24 note 2} Constitution of Connecticut, Amendment XI.—Poore's Constitutions and Charters, Vol. I, p. 268.

^{page 24 note 3} Constitution of 1776, Art. II.—Poore's Charters and Constitutions, Vol. I, p. 821.

^{page 24 note 4} Constitution of 1873, Art. VIII, Sec. 1.—Poore's Charters and Constitutions, Vol. II, p. 1583.

^{page 25 note 1} Third Amendment to Constitution of 1780.—Poore's Charters and Constitutions, Vol. I, p. 973.

^{page 25 note 2} Constitution of 1895, Art. II, sec. 6.

^{page 25 note 3} Maryland Code of Public General Laws, 1904, Art. 27, sec. 5.

^{page 26 note 1} Virginia Constitution of 1902, Art. II. sec. 20, first paragraph; North Carolina Suffrage Amendment, 1902, Art. VI, sec. 4; South Carolina Constitution, 1895, Art. II, sec. 4, par. A; Alabama Constitution, 1901, Art. VIII, sec. 178; Mississippi Constitution, 1891, sec. 241; and Louisiana Constitution, 1898, Art. 198.

^{page 26 note 2} North Carolina Suffrage Amendment, Art. VI, sec. 4.

^{page 26 note 3} Louisiana Constitution, Art. 198.

^{page 26 note 4} Mississippi Constitution, sec. 241.

^{page 26 note 5} Virginia Constitution, Art. II, sec. 20.

^{page 26 note 6} Alabama Constitution, Art. VIII, sec. 178.

^{page 26 note 7} South Carolina Constitution, Art. II, sec. 4.

^{page 27 note 1} Alabama Constitution, Art. 8, sec. 194.

^{page 27 note 2} Louisiana Constitution, Art. 198.

^{page 27 note 3} North Carolina Constitution, Art. VI, sec. 4. South Carolina Constitution, Art. II, sec. 4. Virginia Constitution, Art. II, sec. 38.

^{page 27 note 4} Alabama Constitution Art. VIII, sec. 178. Mississippi Constitution, sec. 241.

^{page 27 note 5} Louisiana Constitution, Art. 198.

^{page 27 note 6} Mississippi Constitution, sec. 244.

^{page 27 note 7} Virginia Constitution, Art. II, sec. 20.

^{page 27 note 8} North Carolina Suffrage Amendment, Art, VI, sec. 4.

^{page 27 note 9} South Carolina Constitution, Art. II, sec. 4.

^{page 27 note 10} Louisiana Constitution, Art. 197, sec. 3.

^{page 27 note 11} Alabama Constitution, Art. VIII, sec. 181.

^{page 27 note 12} Louisiana Constitution, Art. 197, sec. 4.

^{page 27 note 13} South Carolina Constitution, Art. 11, sec. 4.

^{page 28 note 1} Alabama Constitution, Art. VIII, sec. 181.

^{page 28 note 2} Alabama Constitution, Art. VIII, sec. 188.

^{page 29 note 1} Louisiana Constitution, Art. 197, sec. 5.

^{page 29 note 2} North Carolina Suffrage Amendment, Art. VI, sec. 4.

^{page 30 note 1} Virginia Constitution, Art. II, sec. 19.

^{page 31 note 1} Alabama Constitution, Art. VIII, sec. 180.

^{page 31 note 2} Mississippi Constitution, sec. 244.

^{page 31 note 3} South Carolina Constitution, Art II, sec. 4.

^{page 31 note 4} Virginia Constitution, Art. II, sec. 19.

^{page 31 note 5} Williams vs. Mississippi, 170 U. S., 213.

^{page 32 note 1} Alabama Constitution, Art. VIII, sec. 180.

^{page 32 note 2} Constitution of 1818, Art. 6, sec. 2.—Poore's Charters and Constitutions, Vol. I, p. 263.

^{page 32 note 3} Constitution of 1793, sec. 21.—Poore's Charters and Constitutions, Vol. II, p. 1880.

^{page 34 note 1} Sec. 4, Act of March 1, 1875—U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XVIII, p. 336.

^{page 34 note 2} Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S., 339.

^{page 34 note 3} Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S., 339.

^{page 36 note 1} Williams vs. Mississippi, 170 U. S., 213.

^{page 37 note 1} Williams vs. Mississippi, 170 U. S., 213.

^{page 37 note 2} Rogers vs. Alabama, 192 U. S., 226.

^{page 37 note 3} Mills vs. Green. 159 U. S., 651.

^{page 38 note 1} Giles vs. Harris, 189 U. S., 474.

^{page 39 note 1} Giles vs. Harris, 189 U. S., 474.

^{page 40 note 1} Ex parte Siebold, 100 U. S., 371.

^{page 40 note 2} Ex parte Yarborough, 110 U. S., 651.

^{page 41 note 1} United States vs. Cruikshanks, 92 U. S., 542.

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