Baltimore & the Fifteenth Amendment, May 19, 1870
An Interactive Historical Investigation by David Troy © 1996
Reconstruction in the Confederacy
After the Civil War, the Federal government was faced with the task of
rebuilding a war-torn South. Congress passed several laws in the name of
reconstruction which forced states that had been part of the Confederacy
to comply with certain requirements. Universal manhood suffrage, or the
right of all free men (including African-Americans) to vote, was a part
of these reconstruction policies.
Maryland: A Southern Union State
During the war, Maryland had seriously considered secession. There was
a large population of black slaves in Maryland's southern and eastern
counties, while its northern and western counties were populated largely
by immigrant farmers of German descent. As a result, the state was
divided on the issue. Tobacco farmers in southern Maryland felt more
kinship with the confederacy, while those in the northern and western
counties were more closely aligned with the Union. In Baltimore, there
was a mixture of feelings on the subject.
Ultimately, Maryland decided against secession, but it never fully
supported Lincoln and the Republican party, either. Because Maryland had
never seceeded from the Union, it was not subject to the reconstruction
policies passed in Congress and ultimately it had no will to adopt a
policy of universal manhood suffrage. The issue would have to be forced.
Political Motivations
Congressman Henry Winter Davis, along with other Republicans like Judge Hugh Lennox Bond and
C.C. Fulton, had been part of a party called the Unionists. These men
felt that the preservation of the Union was important despite the question
of slavery. Their party also reconciled most of their differences with
the Democratic party, and Conservative Unionists joined with the
Democrats to become Conservative Democrats. This left the Radical
Unionists (like Davis and Senator Creswell) without a political identity,
and so in 1867 they aligned themselves with the Radical Republicans. They
supported Grant for the presidency, and he rewarded them in kind,
appointing Creswell as Postmaster General and legitimizing the party
within the state.
But however successful the Republicans may have been nationally, the
state was experiencing a resurgence of the Democratic party. By 1866, the
Democrats had a Governor (Thomas Swann) installed, and Democrats also
controlled the state legislature. In 1867, Democratic Governor Oden Bowie
beat Republican candidate Hugh Lennox Bond by a margin of three-to-one.
The Republicans, sensing the dismal political future they faced, knew
that a new strategy was necessary. They resolved to seek suffrage for the
39,120 black males in the state, figuring that this could help to tip the
scales in their favor and regain control at the state level. However,
they had no control at the state level at this time, and passage of such
a law by the state legislature was a mere fantasy. They knew that they
would have to seek black suffrage at the national level by promoting
the recently-proposed 15th Amendment. The 15th Amendment would force
Maryland into Negro suffrage, despite the wishes of the Democratic
political bosses that would control the state for the next thirty years.
It is worth noting that the Republicans were as motivated by practical
considerations as ideological ones in their support for black suffrage. As
early as 1866, Senator John Creswell had to "defend" allegations
that he was "for" black suffrage, and in fact he denied that he supported
it. This is the same man who chronicles the progress of blacks in his
speech at the ratification celebration. They also flip-flopped on
whether to include blacks in the party, supporting it when it seemed
politically expedient and denying it otherwise. The bottom line was that
40,000 voters, almost all of which would certainly vote for the
Republican party, would be added to about 131,000 voters, comprising
almost 25 percent of the combined electorate.
Righteous Actions
Whatever their motivation may have been, it is undeniable that the
Maryland Republican party took every possible action to seek passage of
the 15th Amendment, for this is what it would take to "force" Maryland to
accept universal manhood suffrage.
The 15th Amendment also had impact in other "border" states such as
Kentucky and Delaware. Just about everywhere else in the nation, black
suffrage had already been granted by the will of the states.
Three quarters of the states would have to ratify the amendment for it
to become law. Governor Oden Bowie made a speech arguing that the state's
sovereignty on all matters would be unnecessarily curtailed, and
Maryland's legislature unanimously rejected the amendment. However,
twenty-nine other states ratified it and it became law on March 30, 1870.
Celebration in Baltimore
While the 15th Amendment was celebrated in Boston and Chicago, the
celebration in Baltimore was by far the largest, with over 20,000 people
participating. Baltimore was chosen as the site of this celebration for
several reasons:
The parade and ensuing speeches were extremely grand. The route,
taking participants past the home of Isaac Myers, past Orchard Street
(the "black Fifth Avenue of Baltimore"), through Pigtown, and through the
most prestigious white residences in Baltimore at Mt. Vernon Place and on
Madison Street, made a loud and clear declaration that blacks were proud
of their city, they were proud of their people, and they would be heard
at all costs.
The parade terminated at the Battle Monument at Fayette and Calvert
Streets. Several of the speakers climbed their way onto a scaffold that
had been built for the occasion. It collapsed shortly after. Frederick
Douglass had been on the platform and, after ascertaining that no one had
been hurt, dusted himself off and joked that the platform must have been
built by a Democrat (although the Democratic Sun assures us it was
built by a Republican). They then went to speak from the balcony of the
nearby Gilmor Hotel. Ironically, Henry Gilmor had been one of Maryland's
most celebrated Confederate soldiers, having written a book entitled, "I
Rode with Stonewall." This irony was probably not lost on Douglass and
the others, and the rally (for that is what it really was, a rally of
Republican politicians with their newly enfranchised quarter of the
electorate) continued with a vigor and optimism that only underdogs can
have. For if there was one thread that united blacks and white
Republicans idealogically, it was that they were both facing an uphill
battle against the "old line" Democrats!
The Sun and the American both reported on the parade.
Here one gets a feeling of how the Democrats and Republicans responded.
The article in the American is far longer and tends to use the
first person plural (we) in its reporting, while the Sun tends to
stick to the more objective (and externalizing) third person.
At least four lithographs and a commemorative toy were made to
celebrate the parade in Baltimore. Each one represents abolitionist and
black leaders, like Brown, Myers, Grant, Lincoln, Bond, and others. These
prints, meant to be sold as popular art, are testimony that there was a
perceived market for such items. The enthusiasm for the 15th Amendment
was real -- not just ideologically but economically as well.
Conclusion: The Impact of the Amendment
The 15th Amendment, as we can see in the art and newspaper articles,
was celebrated with a great deal of hope and good feeling towards the
newly enfranchised black race. For Maryland blacks, the atmosphere was
one of a completely new beginning. While the 13th Amendment (which ended
slavery) was important, the rhetoric which surrounded the 15th Amendment
glistened with idealism and hope. Frederick Douglass demanded that they
seek "education for their children and money in their pockets" or they would
not become independent voters. All the speakers that day agreed that this
promise must and would be carried out. The celebration of the 15th
Amendment was full of promise, hope, and love.
As with any wish for perfection, reality always falls a little short.
While voter turnout among blacks was very high in the 1870 congressional
election (and actually elected at least one Republican Congressman), by
the 1890's there was much talk of disenfranchisment for blacks.
Many women suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.
Anthony had worked alongside black suffragists like Frederick Douglass to
gain suffrage for both groups. But when the 15th Amendment passed, it
angered many women suffragists terribly, and some of them even spoke out
against black suffrage. In all fairness, there were many educated women
who were undoubtedly more qualified to vote than some blacks who had just
found their freedom and their education, but women would have to wait
until 1920 to get the vote.
The 15th Amendment in Maryland is a story of struggle -- both
political and social, as well as one of hope. It illustrates that Maryland's
politics and its ideologies were cracked, like its soil and geography, along
the geological fall-line that runs through Baltimore. And in this case
(as it often does, even now) it is left to Baltimore to absorb and
reflect all of Maryland's diverse desires.
Source: Summarized from The
Negro in Maryland Politics, 1870-1912., and other works.
