MISSISSIPPI AND THE NULLIFICATION OF THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT
The defeat or abandonment of the Lodge Federal Elections Bill was
equivalent to a declaration that no further attempts would be made for a
good while, at least, to enforce by appropriate legislation the war
amendments to the Constitution. Southern Democrats were not slow in
taking advantage of the knowledge of that fact.
My own State, Mississippi, was the first to give legal effect to the
practical nullification of the Fifteenth Amendment. On that question the
Democratic party in the State was divided into two factions. The radical
faction, under the leadership of Senator George, advocated the adoption
and enforcement of extreme methods. The liberal or conservative
faction,--or what was known as the Lamar wing of the party under the
leadership of Senator Walthall,--was strongly opposed to such methods.
Senator George advocated the calling of a Constitutional Convention, to
frame a new Constitution for the State. Senator Walthall opposed it,
contending that the then Constitution, though framed by Republicans,
was, in the main, unobjectionable and should be allowed to stand. But
Senator George was successful, and a convention was called to meet in
the fall of 1890. In order to take no chances the Senator had himself
nominated and elected a member of the Convention.
When the Convention met, it was found that there were two strong
factions, one in favor of giving legal effect to the nullification of
the Fifteenth Amendment, and the other opposed to it. The George faction
was slightly in the majority, resulting in one of their
number,--nullificationists, as they were called,--Judge S.S. Calhoun,
being elected President of the Convention. The plan advocated and
supported by the George faction, of which Senator George was the author,
provided that no one be allowed to register as a voter, or vote if
registered, unless he could read and write, or unless he could
understand any section of the Constitution when read to him and give a
reasonable interpretation thereof. This was known as the "understanding
clause." It was plain to every one that its purpose was to evade the
Fifteenth Amendment, and disfranchise the illiterate voters of one race
without disfranchising those of the other.
The opposition to this scheme was under the leadership of one of the
ablest and most brilliant members of the bar, Judge J.B. Christman, of
Lincoln County. As a substitute for the George plan or understanding
clause, he ably and eloquently advocated the adoption of a fair and
honest educational qualification as a condition precedent to
registration and voting, to be equally applicable to whites and blacks.
The speeches on both sides were able and interesting. It looked for a
while as if the substitute clause proposed by Judge Christman would be
adopted. In consequence of such an apprehension, Judge Calhoun, the
President of the Convention, took the floor in opposition to the
Christman plan, and in support of the one proposed by Senator George.
The substance of his speech was that the Convention had been called for
the purpose of insuring the ascendency of the white race,--the
Democratic party,--in the administration of the State Government through
some other methods than those which had been enforced since 1875.
"If you fail in the discharge of your duties in this matter," he
declared, "the blood of every negro that will be killed in an election
riot hereafter will be upon your shoulders."
In other words, the speaker frankly admitted, what everyone knew to be a
fact, that the ascendency of the Democratic party in the State had been
maintained since 1875 through methods which, in his opinion, should no
longer be sanctioned and tolerated. These methods, he contended, were
corrupting the morals of the people of the State and should be
discontinued; but the ascendency of the Democratic party must be
maintained at any cost. The George plan, he urged, would accomplish this
result, because if the negroes were disfranchised according to the forms
of law, there would be no occasion to suppress his vote by violence
because he would have no vote to suppress; and there would be no
occasion to commit fraud in the count or perjury in the returns.
Notwithstanding this frank speech, which was intended to arouse the
fears of the members of the Convention from a party standpoint, the
defeat of the Christman substitute was by no means an assured fact. But
the advocates of the George plan,--the "understanding clause,"--were
both desperate and determined. Contrary to public expectation two
Republicans, Geo. B. Melchoir and I.T. Montgomery, had been elected to
the Convention from Bolivar County. But their seats were contested, and
it was assumed that their Democratic contestants would be seated. Still,
pending the final disposition of the case, the two Republicans were the
sitting members. Montgomery was colored and Melchoir was white. But the
George faction needed those two votes. No one suspected, however, that
they would get them in any other way than by seating the contestants.
The advocates and supporters of the Christman substitute were,
therefore, very much surprised and disappointed when they learned that
Mr. Montgomery, the only colored member of the Convention, intended to
make a speech in favor of the adoption of the George plan, and vote for
it; which he did. Why this man, who had the reputation of being honest
and honorable, and who in point of intelligence was considerably above
the average of his race, should have thus acted and voted has always
been an inexplicable mystery. It is difficult to believe that he was
willing to pay such a price for the retention of his seat in the
Convention, still it is a fact that the contest was never called and
Montgomery and his colleague were allowed to retain their seats.
The adoption of the George plan was thus assured, but not without a
desperate fight. The opponents of that scheme made a brave, though
unsuccessful, fight against it. But it was soon made plain to the
advocates of the George plan that what they had succeeded in forcing
through the Convention would be defeated by the people at the
ballot-box. In fact, a storm of protest was raised throughout the State.
The Democratic press, as well as the members of that party, were
believed to be about equally divided on the question of the ratification
of the Constitution as thus framed. Since it was well known that the
Republicans would be solid in their opposition to ratification, the
rejection of the proposed Constitution was an assured fact. But the
supporters of the George scheme felt that they could not afford to have
the results of their labors go down in defeat. In order to prevent this
they decided to deny the people the right of passing judgment upon the
work of the Convention. The decision, therefore, was that the Convention
by which the Constitution was framed should declare it duly ratified and
approved, and to go into effect upon a day therein named. The people of
that unfortunate State, therefore, have never had an opportunity to pass
judgment upon the Constitution under which they are living and which
they are required to obey and support, that right having been denied
them because it was known that a majority of them were opposed to its
ratification and would have voted against it.
But this so-called "understanding clause," or George scheme, is much
more sweeping than was intended by its author. The intent of that clause
was to make it possible to disfranchise the illiterate blacks without
disfranchising the illiterate whites. But as construed and enforced it
is not confined to illiterates but to persons of intelligence as well.
No man, for instance, however intelligent he may be, can be registered
as a voter or vote if registered, if the registering officers or the
election officers are of the opinion that he does not understand the
Constitution. It is true, the instrument is so worded that no allusion
is made to the race or color of those seeking to be registered and to
vote; still, it is perfectly plain to everyone that the purpose was to
enable the State to do, through its authorized and duly appointed agents
and representatives, the very thing the Fifteenth Amendment declares
shall not be done. According to the decision of the Supreme Court, as
rendered by Mr. Justice Strong, the effect is the same as if the
instrument had declared in so many words that race or color should be
the basis of discrimination and exclusion.
The bitter and desperate struggle between the two factions of the
Democratic party in the State of Mississippi in this contest, forcibly
illustrates the fact that the National Republican party made a grave
mistake when it abandoned any further effort to enforce by appropriate
legislation the war amendments to the Constitution. In opposing and
denouncing the questionable methods of the extreme and radical faction
of their own party, the conservative faction of the Democrats believed,
expected, and predicted that such methods would not be acquiesced in by
the Republican party, nor would they be tolerated by the National
Government. If those expectations and predictions had been verified they
would have given the conservative element a justifiable excuse to break
away from the radicals, and this would have resulted in having two
strong political parties in that section to-day instead of one. But
when it was seen that the National Republican party made no further
opposition to the enforcement of those extraneous, radical and
questionable methods, that fact not only had the effect of preventing
further opposition on the part of the conservative Democrats, but it
also resulted in many of the politically ambitious among them joining
the ranks of the radicals, since that was then the only channel through
which it was possible for their political aspirations to be gratified.
The reader cannot fail to see that under the plan in force in
Mississippi there is no incentive to intelligence; because intelligence
does not secure access to the ballot-box, nor does the lack of it
prevent such access. It is not an incentive to the accumulation of
wealth; because the ownership of property does not secure to the owner
access to the ballot-box, nor does the lack of it prevent such access.
It is not a question of intelligence, wealth or character, nor can it be
said that it is wholly a question of party. It is simply a question of
factional affiliation. The standard of qualification is confined to such
white men as may be in harmony with the faction that may happen to have
control for the time being of the election machinery. What is true of
Mississippi in this respect is equally true of the other States in which
schemes of various sorts have been invented and adopted to evade the
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution.