B. Suffrage in the Convention of 1796.
Several propositions relative to suffrage were made in the Convention of 1796. February 1, Mr. Henderson, delegate from Hawkins County, moved that the first section in Article III be made to read, “All citizens of this state, possessing of a freehold in their own right, and all persons who have done duty in the militia, shall be entitled to vote at any election, in the county where the freehold lies, or where he resides.”[48] This motion failed but it is noticed that the suffrage is not based on color. If the motion had prevailed, it would have disfranchised all freemen, both white and black, who had not done military service. Mr. Outlaw, of Jefferson County, moved that “all persons liable by law to militia duty should be allowed to vote.”[49] If this motion had prevailed, it would have given all freemen the suffrage with no limitation, because by Section 26, the freemen were liable to militia duty. The Convention finally gave the suffrage to all freemen. Article III, Section 1, of the Constitution of 1796, declared that “all freemen of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, possessing a freehold in the county where they may vote, and being inhabitants of this state, and all freemen who have been inhabitants of any one county within the state for a period of six months immediately preceding the date of election, shall be entitled to vote for members of the general assembly, for the county in which they respectively reside.”[50]
It is worth noticing in this connection that, while the suffrage was given to all freemen, representation in the legislature was based on the number of free whites. The constitution declared that “representation shall be regulated according to numbers, to be apportioned to each county by law, upon such ratio, as that the number of senators and representatives ... shall not exceed thirty-nine until the number of free white persons shall be two hundred thousand.”[51] The convention in its various discussions used the terms, “freemen,” “freeholders,” “all citizens,” “all persons,” and “free white persons.” This clearly shows that the convention was carefully discriminating between these terms when it used them. Why did the convention use “free white persons” as the basis of representation? It knew that the term, “freemen,” would give representation to free negroes. The Constitution of the United States gave representation to three-fifths of the slaves. The Kentucky constitution of 1799 stated that, “In all elections for representatives every free male citizen (negroes, mulattoes and Indians excepted) shall enjoy the right of election.”[52] It is distinctly shown here that it was understood that “free male citizen” included “free negro.” Hence, if he is not to be enfranchised, he must be excepted. Why would this term be so well understood in Kentucky and not in Tennessee?
Again, it must not be overlooked that the constitution of 1796 in Tennessee was drafted by a committee of very able statesmen, among whom were such distinguished men as Andrew Jackson, William Cocke, Joseph Anderson, William Blount, W. C. C. Claiborne, and John Rhea.[53] Andrew Jackson was a very prominent leader in the Convention; William Cocke had participated in founding the Franklin State, and was, also, one of the founders of the Transylvania Republic, twice a Senator of the United States from Tennessee, and a leader in the Mississippi Territory. Joseph Anderson was one of the territorial Judges for sixteen years, United States Senator and Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States. William Blount had been governor of the Southwest Territory. William C. C. Claiborne was Judge of the Superior Court of the State, the successor of Andrew Jackson in Congress, first Governor of the territory of Mississippi, Governor of Louisiana, and United States senator-elect at the time of his death. John Rhea was for eighteen years a member of Congress. It is unreasonable to suppose that these men together with their colleagues did not know the meaning of the word “freemen” in the Constitution of 1796.[54] They certainly knew that the free negro had been voting in Colonial North Carolina, that he continued to vote under her constitution of 1776, and that he would vote in Tennessee as he had been doing before the separation from North Carolina unless he was disfranchised.
The contention of this thesis is that the free negro was intentionally and deliberately enfranchised by the Convention of 1796. The proof may be summarized as follows: 1st, that the terms “freemen” and “freeholders” were the subject of discussion throughout Colonial North Carolina with thorough understanding as to their meaning; 2nd, that the act of 1715 specifically excepted the negro from the term “freemen,” thus disfranchising him; 4th, that the act of 1735 re-enfranchised him; 5th, that the North Carolina constitution of 1776 enfranchised him; 6th, that the convention of 1796 in Tennessee used the terms “freemen,” “freeholders,” and “free white persons,” showing that it must have knowingly used these terms; 7th, that these terms were carefully used in contemporary constitutions; and 8th, that it is inconceivable that the able and experienced statesmen that framed the Tennessee Constitution were not conversant with these terms.
C. Suffrage from 1796 to 1834.
From 1796 to 1834 there was a complete revolution in the attitude of Tennessee people toward the negro. This has already been pointed out in the discussion of the churches, manumission societies, and the policy of exclusion adopted in 1831. Attention has already been called to the growing economic importance of slavery in the period and the consequent opposition to the free negro.
The political influence of the free negro was also a factor in this change. From 1810 to 1820 there was an increase of 108 per cent in free negroes and 266 per cent increase in the period from 1820 to 1830. In 1830, there were twenty counties containing almost one hundred free negroes each; five, two hundred each; four, two hundred and fifty each; three, three hundred each; two, four hundred each; and one containing about five hundred. The greatest number of free negroes in any one county was in Davidson County, and it was a delegate from this county that made the motion in the convention of 1834 to disfranchise the free negro. There were at this time about six hundred free negroes in Davidson County, and there were 471 in 1830 and 794 in 1840.[55]
Hon. John Petit, United States Senator from Indiana, said on the floor of the Senate, May 25, 1854, in the debate on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, that “Old Cave Johnson, an honored and respectable gentleman, formerly Postmaster-General, and for a long time a member of the other house, told me, with his own lips, that the first time he was elected to Congress from Tennessee, it was by the vote of free negroes, and he was an iron manufacturer, and had a large number of free negroes, as well as slaves, in his employ. I well recollect the number he stated. One hundred and forty-five free negroes in his employ, went to the ballot box, and elected him to Congress the first time he was elected.”[56] Charles Sumner said he heard John Bell make the same confession with regard to his election.[57] It is further claimed that, during political campaigns in Tennessee, “The opposing candidates for the nonce, oblivious of social distinction and intent only on catching votes, hobnobbed with the men and swung corners all with dusky damsels at election balls.”[58] The fact that the Constitutional Convention of 1834 by resolution excluded the free negro from voting on ratification of the constitution shows that his vote was a factor in close elections. Judge Catron in the case of Fisher’s Negroes v. Dabbs said: “The free negro’s vote at the polls is of as high value as that of any man.”[59]