Electoral Law Quotes
This illustrates what can happen if election districts are designed and desired to have a representative of a particular group. At one level it “recognizes” the reality of ghettoization. At the same time it encourages further ghettoization to prevent people from disenfranchivement.
This is an excellent quotation to illustrate the limited voting franchise that existed in the early days of the nation. Note that this constitution, unlike those of Southern states would allow a Black to vote if he had the requisite assets. However, the poor could not vote regardless of race.
America is almost unique among nations in that the methods of elections are different in each state, but at the time even the right to vote was uniquely controlled by the states—even for Federal officials. Even in modern times individual states have controlled the right to vote in many instances. For example in some states convicted felons may not vote while in others they can.
In 1895, a Constitutional Convention was held in South Carolina in which there were no Republicans allowed and no Negroes despite the fact that 60 percent of the population at the time was Black. The constitution was do written that it would go into effect without being submitted to the people for any kind of ratification or approval. Essentially a tiny minority of wealthy white men of one particular persuasion not only determined the political future of the state, but also defined the requirements for voting so that this minority could perpetuate itself thereafter.
