1790 Pennsylvania Constitution
In 1790, the State of Pennsylvania adopted a second Constitution, the first having been adopted in 1776. Under this new constitution, the voting rights clause was vague and allowed for differing interpretations of who had the right to vote.
"In elections by the citizens, EVERY FREEMAN of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state two years next before the election, and within that time paid a state or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector." from the Pennsylvania Constitution, 1790
1780 Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act
As Pennsylvania had passed the 1780 Abolition of Slavery Act, freeing the enslaved people living within the state once they reached the age of 28, the growing community of free Blacks believed the words “every freeman”, afforded them the right to vote in Pennsylvania elections.
The Black Community in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs at the beginning of the 19th century was growing. It more than doubled in the first three decades of the nineteenth century, from 6,880 in 1800 to 15,624 in 1830.
Newly freed, the Black community members bought homes, started businesses, opened schools, libraries and churches. However, their joy at their new found freedom was tempered by acts of racism, segregation and public ridicule.
For example, the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church was built by Black congregants in 1794 who originally attended St. George’s Methodist Church. They left to start their own church after refusing to accept segregated seating.
Racial Tensions Grow
The couple depicted here are thought to be prominent African American Philadelphians Frederick Augustus Hinton and Elizabeth Wilson Hinton.
Racist cartoons, such as the series of prints entitled, "Life In Philadelphia," depicted middle class, Black Philadelphians as country bumpkins, and were published to create an anti-Black sentiment that a well-to-do Black population threatened the racial status quo.
Between 1828 and 1849 Philadelphia experienced five major race riots that ended in the destruction of the selfsame black homes, businesses, and abolitionist halls.
These racial tensions came to a head in 1837, setting in motion a series of events that would lead to the disenfranchisement of the the Black People of Pennsylvania.
A Case of Alleged Voter Fraud in Bucks County
On October 10, 1837, an election to fill six county offices was held in Bucks County. When the final results were counted, all but one of the Democratic Party candidates was defeated. The race was extremely close; many lost by slim margins and one candidate lost by only two votes.
Bucks County Democrats contested the results. They alleged that their candidates lost because "twenty-four blacks from Middletown and another fifteen from the communities Falls, Bristol, and Buckingham had cast decisive ballots," illegally.
On October 21, the first of three county meetings was held in Bucks County at Harris' White Bear Tavern in Northampton Township, to address this concern. At the meeting it was resolved that the elections of state assemblyman Aaron Ivins, commissioner Abraham Fretz, and accounts auditor Richard Moore were "governed and controlled by a large body of [illegal] Negro voters."
A week later on October 28, a second meeting of Bucks County citizens was held at Buck's Tavern in Nockamixon. About six hundred people discussed the resolutions.
Judge John Fox Rules that "that a negro in Pennsylvania has not the right of suffrage."
Judge John Fox (1787-1849) of Bucks County heard the case of alleged voter fraud, and delivered his Opinion on December 28, 1837.
The Complaint: On October 10, 1837, in the Bucks County election race for county commissioner, Abraham Fretz had 3286 votes and Jacob Kachline had 3261 votes...between 30 and 40 votes were given by Negroes, who had no right to vote, and that this number is greater than the majority which the said Fretz had over Jacob Kachline."
Judge John Fox's Ruling
"I have thus come to the conclusion, that the people of Pennsylvania, who framed the present constitution were a political community of white men exclusively, and that colored persons of the African blood, were not contemplated by that constitution. That the latter have not, and never had, any chartered or constitutional rights...For the reasons given, the Court are of the opinion that a negro in Pennsylvania has not the right of suffrage."
1838 Pennsylvania Constitutional Amendment to Disenfranchise
In the spring and early summer of 1837, thirty-three state senators and one hundred state representatives met in Harrisburg to draft a new Pennsylvania constitution. The constitutional convention then reconvened in Philadelphia that fall before adjourning during January, 1838.
The proposed suffrage amendment was debated on June 19, 1837. Allegheny County delegate H. G. Rogers opened the discussion:
"If it is in my power," he said, "I would found this Government upon two broad and enduring pillars - universal suffrage and general education. While I would concede one as an estimable right, I advocate the other as a measure of incalculable good."
Other Pennsylvania representatives argued:
"It was madness in effect to invite hundreds of thousands of freed blacks into the state where ex-slaves, if considered the equal of whites, might subsequently control county politics by voting."
Image: an election ticket for a similar 1842 Rhode Island referendum (Russell J. DeSimone Collection)
At the Pennsylvania Convention, 77 senators voted in Favor of inserting the word "White" into the constitution, in opposition to "Negro Suffrage." 45 Senators voted against the amendment.
In 1838, the Abolitionist Society of Philadelphia published an "Appeal to the Members of the Pennsylvania Convention." It described in detail how and why the Black population deserved the continued right to vote.
"PHILADELPHIA, MARCH 14, 1838. FELLOW CITIZENS:— WE APPEAL TO YOU FROM THE DECISION OF THE “REFORM CONVENTION,” WHICH HAS STRIPPED US OF A RIGHT PEACEABLY ENJOYED DURING FORTY-SEVEN YEARS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS COMMONWEALTH. "
"The colored population of Philadelphia and its suburbs, numbering 18,768 souls, possess at the present time, of real and personal estate, not less than $1,350,000. They have paid for taxes during the last year $3,252.83, for house, water, and ground rent, $166,963.50."
"There are among us in Philadelphia, Pittsburg , York, West Chester, and Columbia, 22 churches, 48 clergymen, 26 day schools, 20 Sabbath schools, 125 Sabbath school teachers, 4 literary societies, 2 public libraries, consisting of about 800 volumes, besides 8,333 volumes in private libraries, 2 tract societyes, 2 Bible societies, and 7 temperance societies…"
An example of one of these institutions was The first Black school in Philadelphia, founded in 1837 and originally called, the Institute for Colored Youth.
Despite this appeal, Voters ratified the Constitution of 1838 by a margin of a little more than one thousand votes—113,971 to 112,759—on October 9, 1838. African Americans continued to petition the legislature to reinstate suffrage for free Blacks, but their petitions were left unanswered.
In 1838, Wealthy Philadelphian, James Forten sought to individual appeal the law and get voting rights for himself
A contemporary account by Englishman Frederick Marryat, who visited Philadelphia in 1838:
A coloured man by the name of James Fortin [sic] who was . . . a sailmaker by profession, [and] at all events a person not only of the highest respectability, but said to be worth 150,000 dollars, appealed because he was not permitted to vote at elections, and claimed his right as a free citizen. The verdict, a very lengthy one, was given against him.... Forten, although not considered white enough to vote as a citizen, always been considered quite white enough to be taxed as one."
Image courtesy Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Leon Gardiner collection of American Negro Historical Society Records
Race Riots in Philadelphia
Abolitionists within the city, not deterred by the growing racial tension in the city, had constructed a meeting hall known as Pennsylvania Hall on Sixth Street near Franklin Square. It opened on Monday May 14, 1838, with little disturbance.
"Late Thursday evening a crowd of nearly three thousand gathered in front and set the structure ablaze. After only four days of operation, Pennsylvania Hall burned to the ground as firemen refused to fight the fire and instead focused on protecting neighboring structures."
Destruction by Fire of Pennsylvania Hall, by J.T. Bowen, 1838
