Read the excerpt below from the address of John B. Knox, President of the Alabama Constitutional Convention, to the delegates in 1901:
"And what is it that we want to do? Why it is within the limits imposed by the Federal Constitution, to establish white supremacy in this State. If we would have white supremacy, we must establish it by law—not by force or fraud. If you teach your boy that it is right to defraud his neighbor... you destroy his character... We cannot afford to raise a generation of citizens who learn that the way to govern is by fraud."
Which of the following historical actions best illustrates how Southern state governments implemented the goal expressed in Knox's address?
- The adoption of voter registration criteria���such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and understanding clauses—that were facially neutral but administered selectively by local registrars to disenfranchise Black citizens.Answer
- BThe reliance on customary, de facto housing covenants and informal social codes to maintain segregation in public spaces and employment without enacting formal state legislation.
- CThe exploitation of the Reconstruction Amendments to claim that federal citizenship guaranteed the right of states to regulate private contracts and labor relations.
- DThe implementation of state-supervised sharecropping contracts to ensure equitable distribution of agricultural yields and political representation for landless farmers.
Answer
The adoption of voter registration criteria—such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and understanding clauses—that were facially neutral but administered selectively by local registrars to disenfranchise Black citizens.
The correct answer is correct because Knox explicitly advocates for establishing white supremacy 'by law' and 'within the limits imposed by the Federal Constitution' to replace extra-legal violence and election fraud. The primary method Southern states used to accomplish this was rewriting their state constitutions (such as Mississippi in 1890 and Alabama in 1901) to include voter registration barriers—like literacy tests, understanding clauses, and poll taxes—that did not explicitly mention race, thus avoiding direct violation of the Fifteenth Amendment, but were administered by white registrars in a highly discriminatory manner to disenfranchise Black citizens.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Disenfranchisement and the legal codification of Jim Crow through facially neutral state constitutional amendments.
Estimated Time:2m 0s