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1787 - 1864 // 1865 - 1866 // 1867 - 1868 // 1869 - 1870

1787-1863

State voting restrictions based on race or color:

1787:  U.S. Constitution proposed, contained no mention of voting qualifications; only two states—Virginia and Georgia—prohibited free black voters

1788:  U.S. Constitution ratified; first federal elections held

1789:  First Congress and first presidential administration (George Washington) began

1790:  South Carolina restricted suffrage to whites

1792:  Delaware restricted suffrage to whites

1799:  Kentucky restricted suffrage to whites

1801:  Maryland restricted suffrage to whites

1803:  Ohio at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1807:  New Jersey restricted suffrage to whites

1812:  Louisiana at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1816:  Indiana at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1817:  Mississippi at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1818:  Illinois at statehood and Connecticut restricted suffrage to whites

1819:  Alabama at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1821:  Missouri at statehood restricted suffrage to whites and New York added a property requirement for “men of color”

1834:  Tennessee restricted suffrage to whites (with the exception of those qualified to testify in court against whites)

1835:  North Carolina restricted suffrage to whites

1836:  Arkansas at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1837:  Michigan at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1838:  Pennsylvania restricted suffrage to whites

1845:  Florida at statehood and Texas at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1846:  Iowa at statehood restricted suffrage to whites and New York added a 3-year residency requirement for “men of color”

1848:  Wisconsin at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1850:  California at statehood restricted suffrage to whites and to Mexicans made American citizens by 1848 treaty

1858:  Minnesota at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1859:  Oregon at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1861:  Kansas at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

1863:  West Virginia at statehood restricted suffrage to whites

   
December 1863

Presidential Reconstruction:  President Abraham Lincoln announced his Reconstruction plan, which made no mention of suffrage for black men.

First Bill for Black Manhood Suffrage:  Republican Congressman James Ashley of Ohio introduced into the House of Representatives a Reconstruction bill to allow black men as well as loyal white men to vote for delegates to state constitutional conventions in former Confederate states.  The measure was replaced by the Wade-Davis Bill, which did not enfranchise black men and was subsequently pocket vetoed by President Lincoln.

   
March 1864

Reconstruction in Louisiana:  On March 12, two leaders of the black community in New Orleans, Jean-Baptiste Roudanez and Arnold Bertonneau, met with Lincoln at the White House and urged the president to enfranchise their city’s black men.  March 14, President Lincoln wrote privately to Louisiana’s new governor, Michael Hahn, suggesting that he consider granting suffrage in the state to “some of the colored people … for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks.”  On March 15, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts introduced into Congress a petition from 1000 Louisiana blacks calling for the right to vote. 

Suffrage in Federal Territory:  On March 31, the Senate amended the House bill establishing the Montana Territory to enfranchise black men.  The House rejected the Senate version on April 15, and Congress passed the original bill, which only allowed white men to vote, on May 20.

   
October 1864

Black Civil Rights Group Founded:  Convening in Syracuse, New York, delegates established the National Equal Rights League to advocate civil rights for all black Americans.  They passed resolutions endorsing the abolition of slavery, legal equality regardless of race or color, and black manhood suffrage.  John Mercer Langston was elected president of the organization.

   
December 1864

Second Bill for Black Manhood Suffrage:  Congressman John Ashley again introduced a Reconstruction bill that required former Confederate states to enfranchise black men.  It failed passage in the House.

   
 

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