negro leadership and programs in the louisiana constitutional convention of 1868

Negro Leadership and Programs in the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1868Author(s): Charles VincentSource: Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 10, No. 4(Autumn, 1969), pp. 339-351Published by: Louisiana Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4231092 .

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Negro Leadership and

Programs in the

Louisiana Constitutional

Convention of 1868*

By CHARLES VINCENT

Assistant Professor of History, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

No period in the history of the American Negro was as critical as Reconstruction. In fact, as current events have dem- onstrated, the main issue of Reconstruction-the race ques- tion-has not yet been satisfactorily resolved.' The situation of the Negro in the South remained undecided during Recon- struction; while slavery had been terminated, other formal patterns of race relations had not yet evolved. When Recon- struction ended without guaranteeing Negro equality in Amer- ican political, economic, and social life, the way was open for elements who wished to subjugate the freedman. One of sev-

* The author would like to express his appreciation to Professor Charles B. Dew of the University of Missouri (formerly of L.S.U.) for his helpful criti- cism of this topic from its conception as a seminar paper to its development into a master's thesis.

1 Kenneth M. Stampp, The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877 (New York, 1965), 6-15; John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom (New York, 1967), 300-301; Richard N. Current (ed.), Reconstruction, 1865-1877 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965), 1-2; Richard 0. Corry, "The Abolitionist and Reconstruction: A Critical Appraisal," Journal of Southern History, XXXIV (November, 1968), 527-63; Robert Cruden, The Negro in Reconstruction (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1969), vii, 5-34; Charles Crowe (ed.), The Age of Civil War and Reconstruc- tion, 1830-1900: A Book of Interpretative Essays (Homewood, Ill., 1966), 320-21; A. A. Taylor, "Historians of Reconstruction," Journal of Negro History, XXIII (January 1938), 16.

339



340 LOUISIANA HISTORY

eral excuses for proscribing the Negro following Reconstruc- tion was the conduct of black political leaders between 1868 and 1877. Negro leaders had supposedly voiced demands which degraded Southern whites, their conduct had contrib- uted to a "blackout of honest government," and they had attempted to "africanize the South." The purpose of this study is to test the validity of those accusations in terms of Louisiana Negroes by examining the proposals of Negroes who served as leaders in Louisiana's Constitutional Convention of 1868.

Efforts between 1864 and 1867 to restore Louisiana to the Union were inconclusive. The constitution of 1864, written within the framework of President Lincoln's lenient policies by a coalition of laborers and unionists, omitted Negro suffrage.2 During the summer of 1864, however, Congressional Radicals proposed the Wade-Davis Bill. This measure rejected the ten per cent plan and required a majority of citizens to swear loyalty to the United States before their state government could be readmitted to the Union. Lincoln killed the Wade-Davis Bill by a pocket veto. The following year, the Thirteenth Amendment passed Congress and was subsequently ratified, while "Presidential" Reconstruction in the meantime was placed in the hands of Andrew Johnson, the murdered Lincoln's successor.

The discriminatory treatment accorded to Negroes under Johnson's program, which involved appointing Southerners as provisional governors and the passage of "Black Codes," caused the Republican Congressional majority to urge a new program in late 1865.3 Their guidelines called for extending the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau in July 1866 (which was vetoed by the President), and the Civil Rights Act of April 1866, granting citizenship to "all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power . . . of any race and color without regard to any previous condition of slavery or invol-

2 Roger W. Shugg, Origins of Class Struggle in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1939), 198-206.

3 Rembert W. Patrick, The Reconstruction of the Nation (New York, 1967), 25-52; Stampp, The Era of Reconstruction, 50-80; Shugg, Origins of Class Struggle, 212-14.



NEGRO LEADERSHIP 341

untary servitude." The enforcement of these acts seemed im- perative to prevent the kind of violence that erupted in New Orleans on July 30, 1866, when the Radicals attempted to re- call the Convention of 1864. The result was a race riot in which thirty-four Negroes and four whites were killed, and two hundred people injured. The Reconstruction Acts of March 1867 followed, which implemented Congressional Re- construction.4

These Acts divided the South into districts governed by military commanders. Each commander was to maintain peace in his district and to supervise the election of delegates to state conventions for the purpose of writing constitutions and establishing new governments. Voters were to consist of all adult males, regardless of color, who were not disfranchised for participation in the rebellion. The new state constitutions were to provide for adult male suffrage.

On June 3, 1867, General Phillip Sheridan, Military Gover- nor of the district of Louisiana and Texas, removed Louisiana Governor J. Madison Wells from office. On August 17, the election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention was or- dered for September 26 and 28. The number of registered voters was declared, according to official count, to be 127,639. Included in this number were 82,907 Negroes.5 On the appointed date, the vote in favor of the Louisiana Convention was 75,083, with only 4,006 opposed. Of the delegates elected, 49 were white and 49 were Negroes.6 The latter were not men writh "arrogant attitudes," as the Albany, New York, Evening Journal argued, nor were they men "who proclaimed as their wvatchwords, confiscations, ostracism, and general social revolution." ' Many of the Negro delegates had instead been

4John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War (Chicago, 1961), 70-73; Shugg, Origins of Class Struggle, 216-18.

5 W. E. B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 (Cleveland, 1935), 466.

6 John Rose Ficklen, History of Reconstruction in Louisiana (Through 1868) (Baltimore, 1910), 169-97. My authority for Negro membership in the Consti- tutional Convention is A. E. Perkins, "Some Negro Officers and Legislators in Louisiana," Journal of Negro History, XIV (October 1929), 523-28.

7 Albany Evening Journal, quoted in New Orleans Picayune, November 23, 1867.




active in organizing political clubs and rallies to urge universal suffrace and civil rights. These leaders were respectable persons, many of whom had military experience, and, in most cases, were owners of valuable property. They had gained the confidence and allegiance of the Negro population because of their commitment to establish true democracy within the state.8

On November 23, 1867, the convention met in the city of New Orleans and the requirements for readmission of Louisi- ana to the Union, as established by Congress, were officially implemented. The contest in the sessions, as viewed by the New Orleans Tribune, was on a single principle-"the extension of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of color or race." The deliberations of the convention did not in- volve the mere declaration of such a principle, but the "several applications of that principle to common life." Such a principle, the Tribune further reasoned, had been absent in the past political life of Louisiana.9

Negro delegates to the Louisiana Constitutional Conven- tion of 1868 took an active part in its deliberations. They were assigned to various committees, such as the Committee of Thirteen on Rules and Regulations, which had five Negro members.'0 The Committee on Militia had seven Negro members, including the chairman, P. B. S. Pinchback. Four members of the Committee on Public Education were Negroes, and five Negroes served on the Committee to Draft a Bill of

8 New Orleans Tribune, September 1864-August 1865, passim. This bilingual newspaper began publication as the official organ of the Negro population in July 1864 when the L'Union (printed in French only) failed. It was owned and operated by a wealthy Negro, Dr. Louis Roundanez, and had two editors, Charles Dallas and Jean C. Houzeau. See F. Patrick Leavens, "L'Union and the New Orleans Tribune and Louisiana Reconstruction" (M.A. thesis, Louisiana State University, 1966); and Reports of the Committee of the House of Repre- sentatives, 39 Cong., 1 sess., no. 16, 73-74.

9 New Orleans Tribune, November 28, 1867. 10 Official Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention for Framing a Consti-

tution for the State of Louisiana (New Orleans, 1867-68), 7. For a more detailed discussion of the delegates' backgrounds see Charles Vincent, "Negro Leader- ship in Louisiana, 1862-1870" (M.A. thesis, Louisiana State University, 1968), 51-59.




Rights. This committee was chaired by James H. Ingraham, a Negro who had been a captain in the Union Army. Other committees with Negro members included the Committees on General Provisions, Enrollment, Internal Improvement, and Drafting of the Constitution, the Standing Committee of the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary Department, and the Committee on Contingent Expenses, which had a Negro chairman."

In their efforts to establish a constitution, the new leaders of Louisiana tried, first of all, to frame laws which would ensure the readmission of Louisiana to the Union. Following Congressional stipulations, the convention did not place any racial restrictions on exercise of the franchise. Louisiana did, however, make exceptions of those who had been disfranchised by the Reconstruction Acts and the Fourteenth Amend- ment, ratification of which became a prerequisite for readmission. Public office, according to the Fourteenth Amendment, was closed to persons who had "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States along with those who had "given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." These exclusions applied both to state and national officers. The con- troversy over the franchise began with Robert I. Cromwell's resolution asking for the state to be "governed, controlled and directed by those who served it in time of its peril and who seek to preserve it with friendly hands from its foes." Several days after introduction, the resolution was referred to the Committee on Bill of Rights and General Provisions.'2 When this committee took no action on the resolution, another Ne- gro delegate, P. G. Deslonde of Iberville Parish, authored a similar amendment proposing universal suffrage for all twenty- one-year-old male citizens of any race or color. Restrictions were placed, however, on persons committing felonies against the state. The Congressional restrictions were also reiterated.'3 Indeed, it should be stated that several of the Negro delegates

11 Ibid., 13, 234-37. 12 Ibid., 15, 21-23. Cromwell was unrelenting in his efforts to have the Four-

teenth Amendment and Reconstruction Act provisions placed in the constitution. Ibid., 157, 165, 172, 175, 179, 189, 191-92, 222.

13 Ibid., 24. These provisions were eventually adopted. Ibid., 174-76.




urged an end to disabilities suffered by former Confederates. The framers of the constitution, although limited by Congres- sional guidelines, had shown no inclination to place permanent suffrage restrictions on anyone. Negro delegates frequently expressed the hope that any restrictions placed on ex-Confed- erates would be temporary. Pinchback and three other Negro delegates signed a petition against Article 98, which disfranchised former Confederates. It stated: "We are now, and ever have been advocates of universal suffrage, it being one of the fundamental principles of the Radical Republican Party." 14

Equally important as the granting of adult male suffrage was the establishment of state-wide public education. James H. Ingraham's resolution urged the establishment of at least one free public school in every parish. He also called for integrated schools under the guidelines established by the General Assembly.'5 Another Negro delegate, David Wilson, proposed an amendment to give the legislature authority to provide for the education of all children in the state between the ages of six and eighteen years without regard to color or previous condition of servitude. These resolutions were referred to the Committee on Education."6

Those desiring integrated schools did succeed in obtaining them, at least in theory, as the convention provided that "there shall be no separate schools or institutions of learning established exclusively for any race in the state of Louisiana." This proposal was opposed by conservative elements in the state. The "Congo Convention," the New Orleans Times asserted, was trying to introduce "amalgamation" into the public schools. Such an attempt, the editor concluded, would never succeed and might "serve to destroy the public school sys-

14 Ibid., 293. The other signers included A. Donato, Jr., 0. C. Blandin, and J. B. Esnard. Pinchback also felt that two thirds of the Negro population of Louisiana "did not desire disfranchisement to such great extent." Ibid., 259. One Negro delegate, however, wanted to make the provision harsher by adding persons engaging in duels or acting as seconds after the constitution was adopted. This motion was tabled. Ibid., 260.

15 Ibid., 16-17, 200-201. Anti-private school appropriation provisions were also encouraged. Ibid., 202.

16 Ibid., 45, 60-61, 154, 200.




tem." He then called for a united effort of the conservatives to "defeat the constitution." One white delegate, Judge W. H. Cooley of Pointe Coupee parish, called the mixed school proposal "another attempt to establish by laws, the social equality of all classes and color." 17 These conservative views did not prevail, and the overwhelming opinion of the delegates was favorable to the provision for mixed schools. One Negro delegate, Victor Lange, stated that it "secures to my child and to all children throughout the state the education which their forefathers have been deprived of for two hundred and fifty years. . . ." Another Negro delegate voted "in the affirma- tive" because establishing public schools for all "will elevate and enrich the community, which ignorance dishonored and burthened. . . . 18 To many of the delegates, statewide education was fully as important as universal suffrage and, indeed, was indispensable to achieving and holding the vote.

One of the most crucial matters debated by the constitutional convention was the establishment of a Bill of Rights. The push for articles to give everyone "equal protection" came early in the session from Robert I. Cromwell, James H. Ingraham, C. C. Antoine, and P. B. S. Pinchback."9 When the Committee on Drafting the Constitution presented its report, a separate report, presented by four Negro members, had twenty-two articles included in its Bill of Rights. The majority report, signed by five white members, presented a Bill of Rights with twelve articles. Both reports provided for the abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude, freedom of the press, the right of peaceable assembly and the right to petition the government, freedom of worship, the right to bail, trial by jury, and the protection of private property. But the minority report contained additional provisions. It established just com- pensation for all property taken for public use, protective laws for all church denominations, the subordination of the military to civil power, free elections and suffrage for all men

17 Ibid., 292. See Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War, 112-13. 18 Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention for Framing a Constitution,

201, 289. 19 Ibid., 15, 21, 24, 26-27, 35-37, 40-41.




(except those legally disfranchised), and a prohibition against the transportation of persons to other states for trial.20 Such additional proposals, the Negro delegates felt, insured full equal rights for Louisiana's black citizens.

Equally pressing as the demand for an extensive Bill of Rights was the desire for certain additional civil rights and marriage laws. Pinchback was author of the famous Civil Rights Article, which proved to be one of the most far- reaching measures in the constitution. Introduced on Decem- ber 31, 1867, this article granted Negroes the same rights and privileges as whites on common carriers and in places of busi- ness or public entertainment.2' When the proposal came up for consideration on January 2 and 3, 1868, it was debated and then adopted by a vote of 58 to 16.22 Minor improvements in wording were suggested by the Committee on Revision and accepted on February 22.23 As Article Thirteen of the ratified constitution, the measure stated:

All persons shall enjoy equal rights and privileges upon any conveyance of a public character; and all places of busi- ness, or of public resort, or for which a license is required by either State, parish or municipal authority, shall be deemed places of a public character and shall be opened to the accommodation and patronage of all persons, without dis- tinction or discrimination on account of race or color.24

This article was similar in wording and meaning to the subse- quent Federal Civil Rights Act of 1875. Both were designed to guarantee Negroes protection and rights to the enjoyment of public accommodation; both also were inadequately en- forced. The federal act was later rendered inoperative by the United States Supreme Court in 1883 .25

Discussion of marriage laws and reforms was equally cru- 20 Ibid., 96-97; 84-85. 21 Ibid., 121. 22 Ibid., 125. 23 Ibid., 234, 242. 24 Constitution of the State of Louisiana with Amendments (New Orleans,

1875), 4-5. 25 Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War, 223; Stampp, The Era of

Reconstruction, 140.




cial. The first request for stricter regulations came from James H. Ingraham. Early in the convention, he offered a resolution entitled "Matrimony." It urged that persons

formerly debarred by slavery from legally contracting matnmony in the state, who have lived together as husband and wife for three consecutive years prior to the adoption of this Constitution, shall be deemed, after the adoption of the Constitution, in all courts of justice, as husband and wife....

Their children would then be "their legal heirs as though said disability had never existed." This resolution was referred to the Committee on Judiciary.26 After no action was taken, another Negro delegate, R. 1. Cromwell, unsuccessfully proposed a similar measure, with stricter provisions. It ignored the number of years of "co-habiting," and declared such re- lationship as husband and wife if the parties had lived together before or at the time the constitution was adopted. Their children, it further asserted, "shall be deemed legitimate, whether born before or after the adoption of the Constitu- tion." 27 Again, in late January 1868, this issue appeared when a delegate urged the adoption of the article with the stipula- tion that women could sue for breach of promise. The measure was debated in the convention until it was finally laid on the table by a vote of 49 to 19.28 R. H. Issabelle, a Negro delegate from New Orleans, tried unsuccessfully to have the amendment adopted because he felt that since the courts were open to all persons, it was unwise to deny the partners in common-law marriages an opportunity "to marry and legalize their children." 29 The matter was not resolved during the convention, but Pinchback secured Senate passage of a bill legalizing common-law marriage. This bill later passed the House during the first legislative session.30

26 Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention for Framing a Constitution, 16.

27 Ibid., 48. 28 Ibid., 192, 198, 206-207. 29 Ibid., 207. 30 Agnes S. Grosz, "The Political Career of P. B. S. Pinchback," Louisiana

Historical Quarterly, XXVII (April, 1944), 537. See Louisiana Acts, 1868, no. 210, pp. 278-79.




Other reforms centered around land, homesteads, labor laws, extension of the Freedmen and Refugees Bureau term, audi- tor's reporting regularly, noncompensation for ex-slaveholders, more rigid resident requirements, strict Assembly attendance rules, citizen-appointed policemen for New Orleans, the militia, the excise tax on liquor, relief for the veterans of 1812 and 1815, and payment of the delegates."1 The Negro members, in accord with the Tribune's demands, wanted land re- distribution in order to relieve the widespread destitution among Louisiana's Negro community. This involved land pur- chase at nominal prices. The program did not materialize. R. I. Cromwell was successful, however, in securing adoption of a provision that allowed "no person to buy more than 100 acres and not less than five." 32 This measure was designed to aid the poor. Exemption for personal property from forced sale because of default on mortgage payment, up to the value of $500, was urged by delegates; homestead tax exemptions for $1,000 and "eighty acres of land and dwelling houses there- on" were likewise advocated.33 Abolition of imprisonment for debt further relieved the most unfortunate classes. Another Negro delegate, Arnold Bertonneau, urged a social welfare article. It read: "Institutions for the support of the insane, the education and support of the blind and the deaf and dumb, shall always be fostered by the state, and be subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the General Assembly." The proposal was adopted by the convention.34 R. H. Issabelle promoted a resolution which taxed each delegate 30 percent of their pay "for charitable purposes." This article was adopted by a vote of 40 to 3 2."

31 Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention for Framing a Constitution, 25, 29, 34-35, 48, 79, 115, 122, 151-52, 158, 169, 191-92, 220-21, 260, 267, 271. Pinchback pushed through the article setting the Lieutenant-governor's salary at 3,000 per annum. Ibid., 237, 249, 299. This act met some opposition. Ibid., 291.

32 Ibid., 83. 33 Ibid., 16. These measures were not passed, although Article 132 stated: "All

lands sold in pursuance of decrees of Courts shall be divided into tracts of from ten to fifty acres." Ibid., 306.

34 Ibid., 204. 35 Ibid., 220-21.




Since many of the delegates were ex-soldiers, the militia, in many instances, took priority over other matters, such as tax reform. The Militia Committee was quickly organized, held an early meeting, and presented its report to the session several weeks after the convention opened. This report gave the Gen- eral Assembly power to organize a militia consisting of all able-bodied males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five and not disfranchised by the constitution. It further authorized the governor to appoint commissioned officers, with the con- firmation of the Senate. All militia officers had to take an oath similar to the one taken by officers of the United States Army."6 The article was eventually adopted."7

In general, the demands of the delegates were not of a rev- olutionary character. They envisaged no radical change in the structure of Louisiana's economic life or government. Some features of the new Constitution 'were different, however, and did pose numerous problems for the former Confederates. These involved administering such innovations as universal suffrage, charitable programs, and free public schools. Few of these changes pleased the conservatives and ex-Confeder- ates, who disliked both the Congressional measures and their advocates on the state level.38 The Negro delegates' demands, if they were not put into operation then, were carried over into the General Assembly. These demands changed only slightly and provided some of the basic issues discussed during Reconstruction.

The Constitutional Convention completed its work on March 9, 1868. There were a number of basic differences between this constitution and the constitution of 1864. The new document provided that all persons should enjoy equal rights and privileges; it set up a state citizenship requirement; it provided that no public schools or institutions should be established exclusively for any race; it enacted a new suffrage law providing disfranchisement of Confederate leaders, against

36 Ibid., 40. 37 Ibid., 205. 38 Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War, 118; Stampp, The Era of Re-

construction, 170-72; Shugg, Origins of Class Struggle, 222.




which a few Negroes dissented; it prescribed an oath, even for legislators, pledging state office-holders to accept the political and civil equality of all men; it abolished the "Black Code" labor laws passed by the Democratic legislature of 1865; and it provided that representation in the General Assembly should be based on total population. The Constitution was ratified by a popular vote of 51,737 in favor to 39,076 opposed. At the same election, Henry C. Warmoth was chosen governor and Oscar James Dunn, a Negro, was elected lieutenant gover- nor.39

Many of the convention delegates had had little experience in exercising political power and had worked in an unfriendly atmosphere. But these limitations did not prevent them from establishing a workable structure of government, a fact that not even the bitterest ex-Confederates could justifiably deny.40 The Constitution was adopted in the Convention by a vote of 71 to 6, for reasons such as that expressed by James H. Ingra- ham: "I vote yes with the profound conviction that the constitution secures to all people of this state equal justice." Wil- liam Murrell registered his approval of the adoption of the constitution as a whole, "because it embodied the highest principles of justice, humanity and equality before the law." 41

The Negro delegates performed well. Power in Louisiana had not been "wrested from the intelligent," as the New Or- leans Crescent proclaimed.42 In fact, the conscientiousness of the Negroes was reflected in their desire to see that qualified men held important posts in the convention and in their efforts to aid the freedmen. The Negro delegates' clash with G. M. WVickliffe, a white extreme Radical, best illustrates their con- cern. Wickliffe urged that all subordinate officers be taken equally from the two races. Pinchback argued that such a plan, placing color above merit, would not necessarily insure just

39 Shugg, Origins of Class Struggle, 22-23; DuBois, Black Reconstruction, 468- 69.

40 Franklin, Reconstruction: After the Civil War, 118. 41 Jozurnal of the Proceedings of the Convention for Framing a Constitution,

277, 282. 42 New Orleans Crescent, November 22, 1867. The New York Times held a

similar view. See ibid.




decisions on matters of importance. He further maintained that offices should be awarded with reference not to race but to education.43

It is interesting to note some of the demands the Negroes did not attempt to put forth in the convention. Although there was sentiment from the New Orleans Tribune for either selling the land (large plantations) to the former "tillers" at nominal prices or renting it to them, this idea, along with con- fiscation, was not strongly supported by the delegates. "Job quotas" for Negroes on state programs was not urged nor was "open housing" proposed. Apparently, Negro leaders felt that political matters, along with universal education, were para- mount issues and the best means of ensuring the manhood of the Negro community.

Contrary to the idea that they had left a "legacy of ills be- hind" and "fraud and its winds of turmoils," 44 the Negro delegates performed commendably in the Louisiana convention. They were not hostile toward whites. Their primary ob- jective was to put forward logical proposals designed to establish a non-discriminatory constitution that would protect the rights of all. They realized the pressing need for economic and social security for the ex-slaves and worked toward such goals. But the document they produced was one under which they believed all the citizens of the state could find protection and redress.

43 Alice-Dunbar Nelson, "People of Color in Louisiana, Part I," Journal of Negro History, II (January 1917), 74. Wickliffe's proposal was tabled by a vote of 47 to 38. Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention for Framing a Con- stitution, 4.

44 New Orleans Times, March 10, 11, 1868.



negro leadership and programs in the louisiana constitutional convention of 1868

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