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Hannah Powers, Kassi Jata, Logan Mensch
3/03/17

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In 1858, Connecticut's House of Representatives passed a bill that amended African-Americans' rights to vote.  In doing this, it solidified Connecticut's status as a state that never barred African-Americans from voting, just like its neighbors Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Connecticut's ways of handling the issue was not the norm, as many states spanning the U.S prohibited free black men from voting.  The southern states of South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia outlawed black voting when they were founded as original colonies. Moving north, Ohio made sure that only white men were allowed to vote when it became a state, contrary to the New England states and Connecticut.  Connecticut had not allowed women to vote though, unlike New Jersey which was farther down on the map.  New Jersey allowed men and women, white and black, to vote up until 1807 when the state developed a new constitution outlawing black and women voting, this lead to New York doing the same thing.  Fifteen years later, Connecticut's New England neighbor, Rhode Island, outlawed black voting after forty-six years.  Down south in slave states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri, the idea of black people voting was not even on their spectrum.  Although nearby Tennessee allowed blacks to vote when they first joined the Union, it took thirty-eight years for them to outlaw black voters, just like the other Southern states.  Connecticut and other New England states were a safe haven of sorts for African-Americans. Living in the North meant freedom, it is a great thing for the history of America and for the history of Connecticut that it never outlawed black voting, and although still loaded with bigotry and racism, still allowed black people to vote. The state government did what was correct.

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The history of black American voting rights is much more complex than we often think. It's generally held that black people simply could not vote prior to the Civil War, then were able to for a few years before the Jim Crow laws barred most until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Such a simple explanation isn't just historically inaccurate, it disregards the nuances of race relations within both the North and the South throughout our history.

This piece will generally focus upon the first century of United States history, including the Constitutional period when many black Americans lost their right to vote, and the Antebellum era when many more lost the right. We'll briefly look at the Civil War, during which the black vote was again considered upon a national level, and finally Reconstruction, when the right was given by the Federal government, before being taken away by many of the states.

While the history of the black vote is more obvious in the South, it was much more dynamic in the North. Because of this, the focus will be upon the more Northerly states, with mentions of Southern states for comparison.

The Constitutional Period - 1776 to 1790

The voting restrictions upon free blacks were late in coming in the Colonial Era. In fact, by the time of the Revolution, all qualified men of any race or religion could vote in all but three of the colonies. Though the right was first stripped from black colonials in 1715 by North Carolina, it was returned by order of King George II. He did not, however, see fit to return the right when South Carolina banned it a year later. Though it teetered now and then, neither was it returned in Virginia - a colony which had already barred any non-whites from holding office - in 1723. Georgia, too, disfranchised black colonials, ruling in 1761 for limiting voting rights to white men who owned fifty or more acres of land.

Through the American Revolution and until the Constitution was fully ratified, the colonies-turned-states basically stuck to the same laws, especially concerning voting. Once the Federal government was established, however, a shift began to occur. The United States Constitution, as it was in 1790, had nothing at all to say in relation to who could and could not vote. This right was left up to the individual states to decide.

The New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont never made any laws discriminating against the rights of free black men to vote.

The Initial Reversal - 1790 to 1811

In this light, Delaware, through their 1792 Constitution, was the first state to keep blacks from voting, joining the southern states of South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia, which had already outlawed it as colonies. While the original thirteen states remained otherwise still, in 1799 the newly-adopted state of Kentucky allowed "every free male citizen (negroes, mulattoes and Indians excepted)" the right to vote.

Kentucky's neighbor, Tennessee, entered the Union in 1796, with its constitution following North Carolina's. It actually allowed "every free man of the age of twenty-one years and upwards" to vote in elections. On the other hand, Ohio, achieving statehood in 1803, immediately made sure that black men had no such rights. Only "white male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years" enjoyed the right to vote.

Between the adoption of Tennessee and Ohio, some of the original colonies began to rethink their stance on black people voting. The first of this lot to do so was Maryland, who outlawed the right of nonwhite suffrage in 1801. Prior to that, the state constitution allowed all free men to vote. This came after a black American horse doctor named Thomas Brown ran for one of the two seats allotted to Baltimore in the House of Delegates during the 1792 election. Brown's bid was unsuccessful, but was not contested upon legal grounds.

New Jersey was the next to fall. Curiously, the state had allowed not only black men to vote, but both white and black women as well. The original 1776 Constitution of New Jersey granted the vote to "all inhabitants . . . worth fifty pounds proclamation money." Through the Revolution until 1807, New Jersey's women fell across the whole spectrum of political ideologies. These were the only women across the entire nation who had this right.

In New Jersey, through the 1790s, likely due to the influence of Quakers, the right to vote was expanded to anyone of any race, sex or religion who paid taxes. By the early 1800s, voter turnout among women and blacks had greatly increased. However, there came wide speculation of voter fraud, with women and black people receiving most of the blame. Though women often voted contrary to their husbands, it was proclaimed that they simply voted as they were instructed. This was used as an excuse to revoke the right from both women and black citizens. In 1807, New Jersey ruled that "it is highly necessary to the safety, quiet, good order and dignity of the state" to bar "aliens, females, and persons of color, or negroes" the right to vote.

The Influx of New States - 1812 to 1821

With the 1810s and early 1820s came the adoption of Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri. Though the southern slave states were paired with more northerly free states to counter each others influence on the Federal level, none but Maine allowed black men the right to vote - though not without a fight.

There was an attempt during Maine's Constitutional convention in October of 1819 to exclude black Mainers from taxation on the same basis of which Native Americans were excluded. This would also have excluded them from voting rights. Speeches were made arguing against such a decision, both relying upon the idea that "'all men' (without regard to colors) are born equally free and independent." In the end, the constitution allowed "every male citizen" to be an elector.

Reconsidering the Vote - 1818 to 1835

Black males in Tennessee had enjoyed the right to vote since their state had joined the Union in 1796. Thirty-eight years later, in the summer of 1834, the state held a constitutional convention in order to pass several amendments. Proposals both favoring and denying black suffrage were put forward. Tennessee, being always a state heavily divided, was itself divided upon this issue.

Even the argument against the black vote in Tennessee was suspiciously conciliatory, allowing for black men currently living within the state to retain the right, but barring it from all new comers, lest it make "the state an asylum for free negroes." The argument in favor of the black vote was equally lackadaisical. Blacks had, wondered the supporters, "exercised it for thirty-eight years under the present constitution, without any evil ever having grown out of it," so why change it now?

Just as Tennessee's support for black suffrage was largely divided among geographic lines, so too was North Carolina's. Like in Tennessee, black male citizens of North Carolina had voted since its statehood in 1789. But support for equal rights was dwindling in eastern counties of the state where slave-holding was much more prevalent. It was not only the "negro question" that was dividing this state, but nearly every other question as well.

In North Carolina, the arguments in favor of the black vote were somewhat embarrassing to the more gentile class. It was held that the majority of free blacks during the colonial period were in actuality the children of white women, and "therefore entitled to all the rights of free men." There was, of course, a plea to morality, fearing that disfranchisement would only lower the status of free blacks to basically slaves.

A Decade of Reversals - 1836 to 1846

As the states of Arkansas and Michigan were adopted into the Union, the former was a slave state and the latter was free. Both, however, had denied black Americans the right to vote even before attaining statehood. For Arkansas, even though the state had a handful of free blacks, manumission was illegal, so the right to vote was hardly an issue. Michigan, as previously noted, by 1827 had simply denied most blacks the right to even live in the territory. The state constitution of 1835 barred suffrage to those few blacks who could live in the state. When this was challenged in 1850, that right was again denied. For a time, many whites joined in with the growing number of black people to demand equal voting rights, but as the decades wore on and racism grew more intense, the only people striving for such rights were, for the most part, black.

In this midst, Pennsylvania was finally ready to deny its black citizens the right to vote - the last of the original thirteen states to do so. Leading up to this decision was a complete break down of race relations in Philadelphia (as the state hardly had a black population outside of the city). Racial prejudice, which was growing across the nation, was fanned by riots that shook the city in 1834. Three years later, black voter turnout was so great that it defeated a Bucks County commissioner. Rather than admit the loss, he took his seat anyway, complaining that blacks had voted for his opponent, which he deemed contrary to the law. Additionally, a candidate running for state congress who garnered black support came within twelve votes of actually winning.

With the fear of black equality looming large, bigoted Pennsylvanians became determined to strike back. In the spring and summer of 1837, a constitutional convention was held and the subject debated. Nothing could be decided upon until winter. Because of this lag, the public became involved, both sides petitioning the delegates for or against suffrage. The majority of the public across the state gave in to their prejudicial fears and wished to deny the vote to blacks. While this emboldened the black community, it also emboldened the delegates who wished to strip the rights away from black Pennsylvanians. Finally in January of 1838, the convention voted, denying the right of suffrage to blacks by a vote of 77 to 45.

And thus, Pennsylvania became the last state to take the previously-held right away from its black citizens. By 1838, only three of the original thirteen colonies (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont) still allowed blacks to vote. At the dawn of the nation, only three had denied it (South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia).

The Northwest - 1845 to 1867

Though Pennsylvania was the last state to revoke the right, it was hardly the last state to deny it from its founding. Starting in 1845 with the admission of Florida, ten states would be welcomed into the fold with precisely none of them allowing their black citizens voting rights. For slave states, such as Florida (1845) and Texas (1845), this was hardly a shock. But the remaining eight were all free states, including Iowa (1846), Wisconsin (1848), California (1850), Minnesota (1858), Oregon (1859), Kansas (1861), West Virginia (1863), and Nevada (1864).

Iowa, as mentioned previously, had barred black people from living within its borders. There was virtually no abolitionist movement in the state, and while some white Iowans were more accepting of the right to vote, most never considered it as an option. The state constitution, adopted in 1844, limited voting rights to white men only.

This was not exactly the case in Wisconsin, which had seen a growing abolitionist movement. The majority of white people were still against equal rights, but the right to vote was more hotly contested. The state legislature voted in 1847 to send the question to the people. Like many states before them, Wisconsin was divided along geographic lines. The former-Southerners, Germans and Scandinavians in the western counties voted against black suffrage, while those who had moved from New England and New York voted in favor. Still, it was not enough, and the vote was lost by a margin of 2 to 1.

By 1858, when Minnesota was about to be admitted to the Union, the national debate over slavery had come to a near boil. Kansas had erupted into civil war, and the Supreme Court had ruled that Dred Scott was not a citizen as he was, instead, a "negro." This is likely why black people were singled out and completely disfranchised. The Minnesota constitution allowed American whites, foreign whites, and even Native Americans the right to vote, but denied that right to blacks.

Oregon followed a similar path, but gave only white males the right. Their constitution specifically stated that "No negro, Chinaman, or Mulatto shall have the right of suffrage." Additionally, it barred the "Chinaman" from owning property, though they were still allowed to reside in the state. Free black Americans and those of mixed race were actually barred from even entering the state, what to speak of voting, living or even working there.

It was also during this period when several states allowed their white citizens to decide upon the question of black suffrage via a referendum. Beginning in 1846 with New York and continuing through 1868 with Missouri, eleven states held twenty-one different referendums. The black vote was denied in all but Minnesota in 1868 and Michigan in 1870 - narrowly beating the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment. Wisconsin citizens approved the vote in 1849, but it was basically vetoed by the governor, who claimed that he couldn't understand the results. Following the Civil War, eight territories held similar referendums with only the Dakota Territory approving the black vote.

A Few (Almost) Second Thoughts - The Fifteenth Amendment of 1870

The story of the Fifteenth Amendment is better studied elsewhere. Its ratification, obviously important, had little effect on the states wishing to give their black citizens the right to vote. Those states that wished to do so, did so up until the last minute before its passing. Those states that refused to grant the vote unless forced to do so, held out until the bitter end.

States such as Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York had refused from nearly the founding of the nation to extend equal rights to all men (what to speak of women). These states had to be dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the era of the Black Vote. The entire South, of course, largely refused until the Reconstruction governments were in place.

Unfortunately, this era would be short-lived. Reconstruction was defeated with capitulation, allowing mostly Southern states to usher in the Jim Crow era, where voting rights for blacks were crippled and lynchings took the place of the ballot box. In the United States, women would be given the right to vote four decades before all black American citizens would finally be re-enfranchised with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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"No Negro Shall Have the Right" - The Black Struggle for the Vote Across the North and South

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The actual history of the African-American vote is more complex than we often think. Across both the North and the South, the right was most often denied. This piece will generally focus upon the first century of United States history, including the Constitutional period when many black Americans lost their right to vote, and the Antebellum era when many more lost the right.

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In society today, democrats are known for being community oriented, while republicans are more about individual needs.  In the year of 1858, the senatorial candidates were Lincoln, who was running for the Republican Party, and Douglas, who was running for the Democratic Party.  According to the documentary, Lincoln was advocating that he wanted to abolish slavery (1:28).  He supported equality.  Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  In other words, the issue of slavery was tearing apart the country.  Douglas believed that it was up to the state to decide their position on slavery (1:10).  He said, “each state should mind their own business and leave its neighbors alone (3:26).”  A point Lincoln had made was how could Douglas promote having a right to do something that is wrong.  Douglas is giving states the right, the power, to implement slavery.  This shows that to some degree Douglas, the democratic candidate, accepted slavery.  The president of that time, James Buchanan, who was a democrat, thought slavery was morally wrong, yet believed it was protected by the constitution.  He just tried to keep peace between both pro and anti slavery sides.  Douglas and Buchanan both did not have a strong stance in opposing slavery.  In 1858, The House of Representatives in Connecticut passed a bill amending the State Constitution to allow negroes to vote. Every black Republican voted to pass the bill and every Democrat voted against it.  This is because the Republican views, in this case Lincolns, promoted peace by putting an end to slavery.  In 1860 Lincoln became president.

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Inside The Lincoln Douglas Debates - Documentary

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This documentary was created for National History Day, 2011.

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In the article 'Negro Equality in Connecticut' from The Ashland Union newspaper states that the House of Representatives passed a bill allowing all free negroes to vote in the state of Connecticut. Every Black Republican voted for it and every  Democrat voted against it. During this time, Lincoln and Douglas were the two candidates of The Great Debate of 1858. Lincoln was a Radical Republican and Douglas was a Democrat. The Radical Republicans were in favor for African American vote because Lincoln was in favor for abolishing slavery. At the time the bill was passed, James Buchanan was the current president and he was a Democrat. Shortly after, Buchanan's presidency ended when Abe Lincoln won the Republican Party. Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery because he believed every black man had the same amount of equal rights as a white man. Because of this, African Americans had the right to vote in the northern states. A freed slave who just escaped from a plantation was allowed to vote immediately in the state of Connecticut, but any foreigners that attempted to enter have to live in the state of CT for at least twenty one years before being allowed to vote. I believe that this new amendment to the United States constitution is fare and gives every man (white or black) the right to vote in the New England states. Freed black men were always allowed to vote in the state of CT but this bill was passed to keep it permanent in this specific New England state. Blacks being allowed to vote in the North  gave them a sense of freedom and acceptance. We have to keep in mind that the black Southerners could not practice the right to vote during this time. The Voting Rights act did not pass until 1965 so for almost 107 years, southern African Americans could not practice the right to vote. Because of this, I'm sure the northern states felt a sense of superiority over the southern states because they could practice the 15th amendment before it was established. The north benefited greatly from the recently passed bill but unfortunately the southerners were still slaves with little to no freedom and no ability to vote. You're probably wondering why the southerners did not attempt or make an effort to migrate to the north but its because of the strict Reconstruction policies that didn't allow them to. It's amazing to me that the government was slowly making progress to allow all males to vote no matter their race during the midst of The Civil War and the slavery issue would slowly become abolished once Lincoln became president. Personally, living in the New England states would be ideal during the mid 1800's because slavery wasn't as big as it was in the south. As a foreigner and becoming an instate resident for twenty one years is fare game if you ask me. This exception to foreigners gave the freed blacks a higher priority to voting rights because they were already exisiting residents in the state of Connecticut.