Georgia's 1908 Disfranchisement

Constitutional Amendment

In 1906, Hoke Smith campaigned for governor on a progressive platform -- but one that championed disfranchisement of Georgia's black voters. To accomplish this, Smith supported a constitutional amendment that provided that any male at least 21 years of age wanting to register to vote must also: (a) be of good character and able to pass a test on citizenship, (b) be able to read and write provisions of the U.S. or Georgia constitutions, or (c) own at least 40 acres of land or $500 in property. However, any Georgian who had fought in any war from the American Revolution through the Spanish-American War was exempted from these additional qualifications. More importantly, any Georgian descended from a veteran of any of these war also was exempted. Because by 1908, most white Georgia males were grandsons of Confederate veterans, this exemption became known as the "grandfather clause." Essentially, the qualifications of good character, citizenship knowledge, literacy, and property ownership applied only to blacks wanting to register to vote.

Smith's constitutional amendment was proposed by the General Assembly on Aug. 21, 1907 and ratified by voters of the state on Oct. 7, 1908. The amendment, as quoted below, replaced Art. 1, Sec. 1 of the Constitution of 1877 in its entirety:

Section 1.

Par. 1. After the year 1908 elections by the people shall be by ballot, and only those persons shall be allowed to voted who have been first registered in accordance with the requirements of law.

Par. 2. Every male citizen of this State who is a citizen of the United States, twenty-one years old or upwards, not laboring under any of the qualifications provided by it, shall be an elector and entitled to register and vote at any election by the people; provide that no soldier, sailor, or marine in the military or naval services of the United States shall acquire rights of an elector by reason of being stationed on duty in this State.

Par. 3. To entitle a person to register and vote at any election by the people, he shall have resided in the State one year next preceding the election, and in the county in which he offers to vote six months next preceding the election, and shall have paid all taxes which may have been required of him since the adoption of the Constitution of Georgia of 1877, that he may have had an opportunity of paying agreeably to law. Such payment must have been made at least six months prior to the election at which he offers to vote, except when such elections are held within six months after the expiration of the time fixed by law for the payment of such taxes.

Par. 4. Every male citizen of this State shall be entitled to register as an elector and to vote in all elections in said State who is not disqualified under provisions of Section 2, or Article of this Constitution, and who possesses the qualifications prescribed in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Section or who will possess then at the date of the election occurring next after his registration, and who in addition thereto comes within either of the classes provided for in the five following subdivisions of this paragraph.

1. All persons who have honorably served in the land or naval forces of the United States in the Revolutionary War, or in the War of 1812, or in the war with Mexico, or in any war with the Indians, or in the War with Spain, or who honorably served in the land, or naval forces of the Confederate States or of the State of Georgia in the War between the States, or

2. All persons lawfully descended from those embraced in the classes enumerated in the subdivision next above, or,

3. All persons who are of good character and understand the duties and obligations of citizenship under a Republican form of government; or

4. All persons who can correctly read in English language any paragraph of the Constitution of the United States or of this State and correctly write the same in the English language when read to them by any one of the registrars, and all persons who solely because of physical ability are unable to comply with the above requirements but who can understand and give a reasonable interpretation of any paragraph of the Constitution of the United States or of this State, that may be read to them by any one of the registrars; or

5. Any person who is the owner in good faith in his own right of at least forty acres of land situated in this State upon which he resides, or is the owner in good faith in his own right of property, situated in this State upon which he resides, or is the owner in good faith in his own right of property, situated in this State and assessed for taxation at the value of $500.

Par. 3. The right to register under sub-divisions 1 and 2 of paragraph 4 shall continue only until January 1st, 1915. But the registrars shall prepare a roster of all persons who register under sub-divisions 1 and 2 of paragraph 4, and shall return the same in the clerk's office of the Superior Court of their counties and the clerks of the Superior Court shall send copies of the same to the Secretary of State, and it shall be the duty of those officers to record and permanently preserve these rosters. Any person who has been once registered under either of the sub-divisions 1 or 2 of paragraph 4 shall thereafter be permitted to vote; provided, he meets the requirements of paragraph 2 and 3 of this Section.

Par. 6. Any person to whom the right of registration is denied by the registrars upon the ground that he lacks the qualifications set forth in the five sub-divisions of paragraph 4, shall have the right to take an appeal, and any citizen may enter an appeal from the decision of the registrars allowing any person to register under said sub-divisions. All appeals must be filed in writing with the registrars within ten days from the date of the decision complained of and shall be returned by the registrars to the office of the clerk of the Superior Court to be tried as other appeals.

Par. 7. Pending an appeal and until the final decision of the case, the judgment of the registrars shall remain in full force.

Par. 8. No person shall be allowed to participate in a primary of any political party or a convention of any political party in the State who is not a qualified voter.

Par. 9. The machinery provided by law for the registration, of force October 1st, 1908, shall be used to carry out the provisions of this Section, except where inconsistent with the same; the legislature may change or amend the registration laws from time to time, but no such change or amendment shall operate to defeat any of the provisions of this Section."

(c) Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia

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