Derek Sims
His 330
Spring 2010
The Constitution of 1890 and How It Restricted Black Suffrage
After the Civil War the state of Mississippi had many choices they had to
make after their bid for succession ended in a complete failure. The main issue of
these choices was black suffrage. To rejoin the union the federal government
required the state to ratify the 15th amendment which guarantees black suffrage.
This was mainly done by the republican government and the constitution of 1868.
Once the democrats gained control in 1875 it was not long before a new
constitution was needed. The constitution convention of 1890 was called to
control black suffrage which was in direct contrast of the 1868 constitution.
There are three main differences in the Mississippi constitution of 1868
and the Mississippi constitution of 1890. All three of these differences were
designed by the largely democratic constitutional convention of 1890 to put
restrictions on black suffrage and to keep white supremacy if the restrictions on
black suffrage were ever overturned by the Supreme Court.1 These three
provisions were which people in the state could vote, which districts in the county
held the most power in electing representatives to the state congress, and how the
governor was elected.
In the Mississippi Constitution of 1868 and the Constitution 1890 there is
a slight difference in who is able to vote. The provision in the 1868 Constitution
says, “All male inhabitants of this State, except idiots and insane persons, and
Indians not taxed, citizens of the United States, or naturalized, twenty-one years
old and upwards, who have resided in this State six months, and in the county one
month next preceding the day of election at which said inhabitant offers to vote…
are declared to be qualified electors.”2 The 1890 Constitution says, “Every male
inhabitant of this State, except idiots, insane persons and Indians not taxed, who is
a citizen of the United States, twenty-one years old and upwards, who has resided
in this State two years, and one year in the election district, or in the incorporated
city or town”, pays the yearly two dollar poll tax and, “be able to read any section
of the constitution of this State; or he shall be able to understand the same when
read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof.”3 This sounds like a
viable change to have educated voters, but it actually is a way to restrict black
1
Kirwan, Albert D. “Apportionment in the Mississippi Constitution of 1890”. The Journal of
Southern History, Vol. 14, No. 2 (May, 1948), pp. 234-246. Southern Historical Association.
EBSCOhost (accessed April 26, 2010).
2
Mississippi Constitution of 1868
3
Mississippi Constitution of 1890
voters. With the poll tax, you must have proof that could be easily lost. The
provision that says that you must be able to read and understand any part of the
constitution could be abused extremely easily. A difficult section could be used to
see if a black voter can understand the constitution. On the other hand a very
easily understood could be used to let an illiterate white voter take part in the
election. W. E. Burghardt Du Bois explains it like this, “It not only forbade
distinctions on account of color but abolished all property qualifications for jury
service, and property and educational qualifications for suffrage.”4 Not only did
the constitution of 1890 restrict black voters it also took power away from black
counties if the restrictions were overturned.5
The Constitutions of 1890 also changed how the representatives in the
state congress were elected. They shifted some of the power of the legislature
form the majority black counties in the western part of the state to the majority
white counties in the eastern part of the state.6 The 1868 constitution says that
Warren County has five representatives, two counties have four representatives,
ten counties have three representatives, 16 counties have two representatives and
33 counties each get one representative.7 The constitution of 1890 adds 25 seats
4
Du Bois, W. E. Burghardt. “Reconstruction and its Benefits.” The American Historical Review,
Vol. 15, No. 4 (Jul., 1910), pp. 781-799. American Historical Association. EBSCOhost (accessed
April 26, 2010).
5
Kirwan. 236-7
6
Kirwan 235-6
7
Mississippi constitution of 1868
and that 12 of these seats will be floater seats between counties. 8This was a point
of interest because the majority black counties had more population but they were
full of non-voting blacks. Whites in the white counties fought for more power
because had more of a white voting population than the western counties in the
delta.9 Once the provision because law the total representatives from western
counties would be 69. The total elected from eastern counties would be 64.
Although it did not give the eastern, white counties a majority; it did give them
twelve more representatives than they had under the 1868 constitution.
The only problem was when this was brought up for a vote by the
convention there was a public dislike because it was widely thought that the
apportionment clause would split the white vote.10 Another thought was that the
eastern counties were had more voters who would vote for black suffrage where
the eastern counties “always went the way of white supremacy.”11 Isiah
Montgomery, who was on the only black representative in the convention, went
along with the appropriations provision because he felt that it would “release
some of the tension between white and blacks.”12 The apportionment provision
was largely important because of another new provision in the 1890 constitution.
8
Mississippi constitution of 1890
Kirwan 235
10
Kirwan 237
11
Kirwan 236-7
12
Kirwan 238-9
9
Although it seems as a small difference in the constitution of 1868 and the
constitution 1890 in how the governor is elected, the provision was put in the
constitution of 1890 for a reason. The constitution of 1868 says “The person
having the highest number of votes shall be Governor; but, if two or more shall be
equal and highest in votes, then one of them shall be chosen Governor by the joint
ballot of both Houses of the Legislature.”13 The constitution of 1890 says “an
election shall be held in the several counties and districts created for the election
of members of the house of representatives in this State, for governor, and the
person receiving in any county or such legislative district the highest number of
votes cast therein, for said office, shall be holden to have received as many votes
as such county or district is entitled to members in the house of representatives,
which last named votes are hereby designated "electoral votes." In all cases where
a representative is apportioned to two or more counties or districts the electoral
vote based on such representative shall be equally divided among such counties or
districts… The person found to have received a majority of all the electoral votes,
and also a majority of the popular vote, shall be declared elected.”14 The reason
for this change is that it would become “an impregnable barrier to any possible
13
14
Mississippi Constitution of 1868
Mississippi Constitution of 1890
organization of the Negro majority, by extraneous force or internal faction, for
political dominance”15
Adding the Electoral College addition to the popular vote for electing the
government made a substantial difference because of the added apportionment
provision. Because of the newly added power to the eastern majority white
counties, if the restriction to black suffrage were ever revoked then the voting
power in the state would at worst be equal.16
From the end of the civil war, to reconstruction, to 1890, Mississippi had a
question to answer about what to do with the newly freed slaves. The main
question was how to keep the power of the state in the hands of white voters.
After the constitution of 1868 many of the white supremacist used what was
called the First Mississippi plan to accomplish this goal. This included violence
and the threat of loss of job to blacks if they voted against what the white
population wanted or, in some instances, voted at all. Once the power in the state
came back to the democrats in 1875 they decided to restrict black suffrage in a
legal way. This is known as the Second Mississippi plan. The Second Mississippi
plan was the constitution of 1890 and was done by restricting black suffrage by
15
McNeilly, John S. “History of the measures submitted to the committee on Elective Franchise,
Apportionment, and Election in the Constitutional Convention of 1890”. Publications of the
Mississippi Historical Society, VI, 133-35.
16
Kirwan 245
provision that were easy abused, changing the power stricter in the state congress
with the apportionment provision and even more so by adding the electoral
college to the gubernatorial elections which was helped by the apportionment
provision. Earl Lewis sums it up well when he said, “The main purpose of the
constitutional convention which convened in Jackson in 1890 was ‘to disfranchise
the negro without at the same time disfranchising a great portion of the illiterate
whites…and…without danger of being overthrown by the Supreme Court’.”17
17
Lewis, Earl M. “The Negro Voter in Mississippi”. The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 26, No. 3,
The Negro Voter in the South (Summer, 1957), pp. 329-350. Journal of Negro Education.
EBSCOhost (accessed April 26, 2010).