PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF INDIANA

[Indianapolis, 1880. Broadside ballot, 3-1/4" x 10-1/2." Printed on thin paper, very shallow blank edge chip. Very Good.

In 1881 a reluctant Indiana finally and formally adopted the U.S. Constitution's Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in February 1870 and prohibiting denial of the suffrage on the basis of race. These "Proposed Amendments" to Indiana's Constitution would strike "out the words, 'no negro or mulatto shall have the right of suffrage,' contained in "Indiana's existing Constitution"; and guarantee the suffrage to "every male citizen of the United States" age 21 or older.
"After ratification of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States there was a long delay before Indiana adopted similar amendments to her state constitution. In 1873 a resolution was introduced in the state senate to extend the suffrage to Negroes and to strike out entirely the exclusion and colonization provisions. Both houses adopted the resolution, but no action was taken to bring the proposed changes to a vote of the people, which must be done before any amendment could be added to the constitution. . . Finally, the legislature of 1879 agreed that the amendments should be submitted to the people on the first Monday in April, 1880. Three of the amendments were simply to strike out the word 'white' from the suffrage requirement or to eliminate clauses barring negroes from the right of suffrage." [McDonald, The Negro in Indiana Before 1881. 27 Indiana Magazine of History 291. 1931.]
OCLC 1035850233 [1- U IN] as of September 2023.