Framing the Solid South: The State Constitutional Conventions of Secession, Reconstruction, and Redemption, 1860-1902 by Paul E Herron

Author:Paul E Herron [Herron, Paul E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, 19th Century, State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV), Political Science, American Government, State, Constitutions
ISBN: 9780700624379
Google: 2G_7MAAACAAJ
Goodreads: 33099349
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2017-01-15T09:19:52+00:00

I have heard it already stated that a preamble, bill of rights, and a constitution had been sent to the Southern States from Washington . . . probably the framers of the constitution and bill of rights for the Southern States have taken a round-about way to get such a constitution into this Convention. Probably they have determined to send it first to the Alabama Convention for their adoption, prior to sending it to this Convention from there.133

Union lieutenant and physician James H. Platt thought the use of another state’s language would look bad: “I hope, sir, this Convention will not so publically declare their own inefficiency.”134 But African American delegate Lewis Lindsey, an illiterate bandleader, countered, “I think the men who framed the Constitutions of some of the other States of this Union must have been men of great mental power,” and “the Constitutions of those States, framed by such men, must be deserving of special notice.”135

In South Carolina, Mr. Hurley, a white native of Massachusetts, defended a section of the bill of rights that governed official misconduct, saying, “The language of this section is exactly the same as the language of a similar section in the Constitution of Pennsylvania, and of some fifteen or sixteen other States.”136 Jonathan Wright, a black teacher from Pennsylvania, responded, “We are not here to settle upon what Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California, or any other State has done. We are here for the purpose of looking after what we consider to be the rights of the people of the State of South Carolina.”137 And Soloman Dill, a southern white farmer, said, “New Yorkers are in New York, and the Iowa people are in Iowa, and South Carolinians are in South Carolina. I do not think we are compelled to follow the example of any other State.”138 Nevertheless, each convention looked elsewhere for constitutional examples. And white Massachusetts native Niles Parker acknowledged the reality of American constitutional design in 1868 when he said, “Originality in Constitution making is almost out of the question.”139

Table 5.2. Voter Residence Requirements in Southern State Constitutions, 1776–1869

Constitution

State Antebellum Presidential Reconstruction Congressional Reconstruction

Alabama Two years state, one year district (1819) One year state, six months district (1865) Six months state, three months district (1867)

Arkansas Six months state (1836) Six months state (1864) Six months state (1868)

Florida Two years state, one year district (1839) One year state, six months district (1865) One year state, six months district (1868)

Georgia Two years state, three months district (1789) One year state, six months district (1865) Six months state, thirty days district (1868)

Louisiana One year state, six months district (1852) One year state, three months district (1864) One year state, ten days district (1868)

Mississippi One year state, four months county (1832) One year state, four months county (1865; not ratified) Six months state, one month district (1869)

North Carolina One year state (1776) One year state (1865) One year state, thirty days county (1868)

South Carolina Three years state (1790) Two year state, six months district (1868)

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