1902 Constitution
The new Virginia Constitution, known as the 1902 Constitution, became law on July 10, 1902. It remained in effect until 1971, far longer than any other constitution of Virginia. [1]
Election reforms
In February 1901, the Virginia General Assembly authorized a constitutional convention to draft election reforms. The convention, supported vehemently by Democrats, aimed to disfranchise African Americans without violating the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. The delegates to the convention considered poll taxes and literacy tests as requirements for voting, and African American organizations were alarmed by the implications of the proposed changes to the state constitution. The convention passed a new constitution in 1902 which included a requirement that voters be required to pay a poll tax or pass a literacy text. It successfully disfranchised large numbers of African Americans, as well as some poor white residents.
Poll Tax
The 1902 Constitution had disenfranchised most black and poor white voters, by requiring voters to pay the poll tax (or pass a literacy test) before they could cast a ballot. On October 4, 1902, The Daily Progress reported on the following: 755 whites and 84 African-Americans were registered to vote in the 1901 election.[2] Virginia's poll tax remained in effect until the 1960s, when federal court decisions, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made it illegal to deny the right to vote to any person who failed to pay the poll tax.
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In 1905, the number of people voting was reduced to 50% of the number who voted in 1901. In 1940, only 10% of the Virginians over the age of 21 were voting. The percentage of blacks over 21 who voted was about half of that.[3]
Constitutional officers
The 1902 state constitution established the requirement for each county to elect people to the five constitutional officers (Sheriff, Commonwealth's Attorney, Clerk of the Court, Treasurer, and Commissioner of Revenue).
Referendum
The referendum to hold the convention took place on May 24, 1900. Albemarle County, which includes Charlottesville, voted along with the majority of recorded votes in favor of the convention.[2]
Special session
In a special session on February 16, 1901, the General Assembly passed the necessary legislation for the convention. 100 Delegates were selected based on representation in the House of Delegates. Democrats J. H. Lindsay and W. H. Boaz were elected to represent Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville.[2]
1901-1902 Constitutional Convention
The convention meetings began June 21, 1901, and continued for over a year. The major question before the delegation was how to bring about African-American disfranchisement without technically violating the 14th and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution. Republicans and illiterate whites were afraid that they would be politically disfranchised along with African Americans.
The Convention of 1901–1902 met in the Capitol in Richmond from June 12, 1901 through June 26, 1902 (except for a few weeks when it met in the nearby Mechanics’ Institute while the General Assembly was in session). The one hundred white, male elected delegates included more than a dozen Confederate veterans and an even larger number of sons, grandsons, and nephews of Confederates and also twenty-two judges or former judges and one future chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. On May 29 they voted 47 to 38 with six sets of pairs to ordain the new constitution without a referendum.
At the turn of the century, a call, heard most loudly from the Democrats, was made favoring a Constitutional Convention for election reforms and a cleansing of the state government. The main goal of the convention was to disfranchise African Americans without technically violating the United States Constitution. Republicans and illiterate whites were afraid that they would be politically disfranchised along with African Americans.
Raleigh C. Minor from Charlottesville offered and interesting solution in his letter to the members of the Constitutional Convention. He suggested PLURAL VOTING, granting upstanding white citizens TWO votes, while African Americans and lower-class whites would receive ONE. According to Minor this plan eliminates the inconvenience of equality of suffrage without completely disheartening African Americans.
After lengthy debate, the suffrage proposal passed on April 4, 1902, by a vote of 67 to 28.[2]
Virginia_Constitutional_Convention_of_1902
Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1902
https://ceps.coopercenter.org/sites/ceps/files/Virginia_News_Letter_2015_Vol._91_No_1.pdf
https://vig.coopercenter.org/sites/vig/files/Virginia_News_Letter_1973_Vol._49_No._10.pdf
References
- ↑ Web. The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901-1902: A Reform Movement Which Lacked Substance, Virginia Historical Society. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 76, No. 1 (Jan., 1968), pp. 67 102 (36 pages), 1968, retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Web. 1901-1902 Constitutional Convention, retrieved July 3, 2023.
- ↑ Web. The Byrd Organization, retrieved July 25, 2023.