A Word of Warning: A Former Slave Urges Constitutional Caution

Abstract: The South Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1895 completed the process of disenfranchising African-Americans (and many poor whites). The state's restrictive policies began with the election law of 1882 that used an intricate system of eight ballot boxes to discourage illiterate white and black residents from voting. The 1895 convention added a poll tax and literacy test, thereby ensuring that a coalition of remaining black voters and disaffected whites could not unite to challenge Democratic Party rule in South Carolina. Black delegates to the Convention raised their voices against this disenfranchisement, among them Civil War hero Robert Smalls. Born a slave in South Carolina, Smalls became a Congressman during Reconstruction and the leading political figure in Edgefield County, South Carolina. Although disenfranchisement destroyed his local political machine, he remained a prominent figure through federal patronage, serving as the customs collector for the port of Beaufort for many years.

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