American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Suffrage and Civil Rights. The Record of the Democracy on the XVth Amendment. The Civil Rights Bill and Bill for the Enforcement of the XVth Amendment. Republicanism and Democracy Contrasted. Union Republican Congressional Committee, publ. N.d., ca 1872.

8pp, uncut. (old folds and partial separations of same; occasional discoloration) A rare publication. WorldCat only finds 9 copies. The Library of Congress copy is in the African American Pamphlet Collection.

This pamphlet is in defense of the act passed to enforce the 15th Amendment, which states that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied by either the Federal government or state governments based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude.” However, it uses this amendment and supporting legislation to trumpet the Republican cause and condemn and discredit the Democratic party. It notes many times over situations in which all Republicans voted for the Enforcement Act and all Democrats voted against it. They even go state by state and look at the history of voting for the XVth amendment. For example: “Texas – In the Senate twenty-four voted for ratification and two against it, and in the House sixty-five for and ten against it – all voting against it being Democrats.” They even note when a change occurred – in Ohio, for example, in 1869 the legislature was predominantly Democratic and voted against ratification, but in Jan. 1870, after an election put Republicans in control, it voted to ratify the amendment. “In both instances every Republican voted for and every Democrat against ratification.”

The pamphlet then goes on to give the contents of the Civil Rights Bill, section by section, then the Enforcement Act, giving the offense and penalty if violated. For example: “Section Sixth punishes with fine and imprisonment persons who form a conspiracy to violate any provision of this act, to hinder the free exercise of any right secured to any citizen by the Constitution and laws;… - the fine not to exceed five thousand dollars, and the imprisonment not to exceed ten years – and shall, moreover, to be thereafter ineligible to, and disabled from holding, any office or place of honor, profit, or trust created by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”

Once again, the final sentence: “Every Democrat voted against this just and necessary act, AND EVERY REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR IT.”