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This petition by an unknown group of Kansas residents asks the state legislature to support suffrage for black males. The petitioners support removing the word "white" from articles five and eight of the state constitution. At that time the Kansas constitution limited suffrage to white males. The petition outlines six reasons why suffrage should be extended to black males. In 1867, the state legislature approved an amendment supporting black male suffrage but white male voters defeated the amendment in a public referendum. Voters also defeated a similar amendment supporting white, female suffrage. These proposed amendments followed the Kansas legislature's ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which defined who were citizens, including Negroes.
Date: 1867
Item Number: 209677
Call Number: Secretary of State--Legislative Documents (1867), Box 9, Folder Petitions, 1867
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 209677
Collections - State Archives - Secretary of State - Legislative Documents
Date - 1861-1869 - 1867
Government and Politics - Reform and Protest - Civil rights
Government and Politics - Reform and Protest - Suffrage - Blacks
Government and Politics - State Government - Legislature - House of Representatives
Government and Politics - State Government - Legislature - Senate
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Petition
People - African Americans
Thematic Time Period - Immigration and Settlement, 1854 - 1890
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Petition
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209677