CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
By the end of the 19th century, the conservative Democratic Party dominated Virginia’s General Assembly. After wresting control from the short-lived bi-racial Readjuster Party early in the 1880s, legislators passed a series of laws designed to weaken the power of the Black vote. The Anderson-McCormick Act enabled the General Assembly to appoint all local election officials. Democrats replaced all election officials, including clerks and local election judges, with loyal party members. This led to an increase in fraud and intimidation at the polls in Black and Republican-dominated districts, including adding extra or removing ballots from ballot boxes and forcing Black voters to stand in long, slow-moving lines. In 1901, Democrats sought to enshrine disfranchisement into a new Virginia Constitution and called for a convention.
The elected representatives to the Convention included just eleven Republicans and no Black men, and they made clear their intent to disfranchise Black voters. So as not to violate the Fifteenth Amendment, which authorized (male) citizens to vote regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," the delegates agreed on two methods: an “understanding clause” and a poll tax. The understanding clause would enable registrars to “test” any potential voter on their knowledge of the Constitution, and would threaten to disfranchise not only illiterate citizens, but also anyone the registrar deemed incapable of understanding any questions he may have posed. The poll tax was set at $1.50 (approximately $58 in today’s currency), and had to be paid up for three years at a time. The architect of these new restrictions, Carter Glass of Lynchburg, argued that the aim of these policies was solely to disfranchise Black voters. In this excerpt from his April 4, 1902, speech to the convention, he made clear that the new constitution would allow for legal discrimination.
Many people recognized that these measures would disfranchise more than just the population targeted by Glass and the other delegates. In fact, John Mitchell Jr., the outspoken Black editor of the Richmond Planet, rebutted this assumption. In editorials, he called the document “the unconstitutional constitution,” in part because the convention members refused to send the document to Virginia voters for ratification. In this July 1902 editorial, he pointedly stated that some of the provisions, including the banning of free travel for state officials on the railroads and the creation of a corporation commission to oversee railroads hurt only white men, as Black men could not serve as state officials and owned no railroads. He also clearly explained that the poll tax would disfranchise many white men as well as Black men.
The delegates who wrote this Constitution never submitted it to voters for ratification, but it became the foundational government document of Virginia nonetheless in 1902. The understanding clause was so unpopular that the delegates included a provision for it to expire two years after the Constitution took effect. Disfranchisement was almost immediate and, as Mitchell predicted, both Black and white men were impacted. In the 1904 presidential election, 49% fewer voters participated than had voted in the previous election. White voting declined by 50%, and Black voting declined by 90%. Virginia consistently had one of the lowest voter participation rates in the country, and that did not change significantly until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and until the Supreme Court overturned Virginia’s poll tax in 1966.
Citations: Carter Glass, excerpt from April 4, 1902 speech printed in Report of the Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention State of Virginia Held in the City of Richmond June 12, 1901, to June 26, 1902 (1906), 2: 33076–3077, and John Mitchell Jr., “Hurts White Folks Most,” Richmond Planet, July 5, 1902.
The elected representatives to the Convention included just eleven Republicans and no Black men, and they made clear their intent to disfranchise Black voters. So as not to violate the Fifteenth Amendment, which authorized (male) citizens to vote regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," the delegates agreed on two methods: an “understanding clause” and a poll tax. The understanding clause would enable registrars to “test” any potential voter on their knowledge of the Constitution, and would threaten to disfranchise not only illiterate citizens, but also anyone the registrar deemed incapable of understanding any questions he may have posed. The poll tax was set at $1.50 (approximately $58 in today’s currency), and had to be paid up for three years at a time. The architect of these new restrictions, Carter Glass of Lynchburg, argued that the aim of these policies was solely to disfranchise Black voters. In this excerpt from his April 4, 1902, speech to the convention, he made clear that the new constitution would allow for legal discrimination.
Many people recognized that these measures would disfranchise more than just the population targeted by Glass and the other delegates. In fact, John Mitchell Jr., the outspoken Black editor of the Richmond Planet, rebutted this assumption. In editorials, he called the document “the unconstitutional constitution,” in part because the convention members refused to send the document to Virginia voters for ratification. In this July 1902 editorial, he pointedly stated that some of the provisions, including the banning of free travel for state officials on the railroads and the creation of a corporation commission to oversee railroads hurt only white men, as Black men could not serve as state officials and owned no railroads. He also clearly explained that the poll tax would disfranchise many white men as well as Black men.
The delegates who wrote this Constitution never submitted it to voters for ratification, but it became the foundational government document of Virginia nonetheless in 1902. The understanding clause was so unpopular that the delegates included a provision for it to expire two years after the Constitution took effect. Disfranchisement was almost immediate and, as Mitchell predicted, both Black and white men were impacted. In the 1904 presidential election, 49% fewer voters participated than had voted in the previous election. White voting declined by 50%, and Black voting declined by 90%. Virginia consistently had one of the lowest voter participation rates in the country, and that did not change significantly until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and until the Supreme Court overturned Virginia’s poll tax in 1966.
Citations: Carter Glass, excerpt from April 4, 1902 speech printed in Report of the Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention State of Virginia Held in the City of Richmond June 12, 1901, to June 26, 1902 (1906), 2: 33076–3077, and John Mitchell Jr., “Hurts White Folks Most,” Richmond Planet, July 5, 1902.
Standards
VS.11, USII.2, CE.3, CE.4, VUS.9, GOVT.2, GOVT.3, GOVT.6, GOVT.10
Suggested Questions
Preview Activity
Looking at Language: What words stand out, and why? What do Carter Glass and John Mitchell Jr. make clear about the new voting requirements? What kinds of language are they using to create their arguments?
Post Activities
Current Connections: Look at current news articles from mainstream media sources to find articles on current attempts to restrict the power of voters. How are legislatures trying to restrict voters’ power, and why?
Analyze: Read the documents. What does Glass argue about voting restrictions in the new Constitution, and how does Mitchell refute those arguments? Which argument do you think is most compelling, and why? Why do you think that the convention representatives believed Glass’s assertions over the arguments made by Mitchell and others like him—or do you think they believed Glass at all? Why do you think the representatives did not put the Constitution up to the voters for ratification, as had been the case for Virginia's previous constitutions?
Looking at Language: What words stand out, and why? What do Carter Glass and John Mitchell Jr. make clear about the new voting requirements? What kinds of language are they using to create their arguments?
Post Activities
Current Connections: Look at current news articles from mainstream media sources to find articles on current attempts to restrict the power of voters. How are legislatures trying to restrict voters’ power, and why?
Analyze: Read the documents. What does Glass argue about voting restrictions in the new Constitution, and how does Mitchell refute those arguments? Which argument do you think is most compelling, and why? Why do you think that the convention representatives believed Glass’s assertions over the arguments made by Mitchell and others like him—or do you think they believed Glass at all? Why do you think the representatives did not put the Constitution up to the voters for ratification, as had been the case for Virginia's previous constitutions?