New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-24
A HISTORY OF SUFFRAGE IN LOUISIANA
SINCE RECONSTRUCTION.
NEW ORLEANS, November 81, 1876.


NEW ORLEANS, November 21, 1876.
General James A. Garfield
DEAR SR-One of the distinguish
gentlemen from the Northern States VIII
in company with several others had Wis
tied our State for the purpose of examin
ing our laws on elections and the method
used in ascertainlng and declaring tn
vote requested me to furnish an &C
count of the origin and nature Of GU
election laws. As this gentleman has re
turned North, I take the liberty to ad
dress my reply to you:
Prior to 1870 the election laws Of
this State were similar to those of othe
States; the elections were held at regu
larly appointed polls, and the vote
counted by certain class of officers
known as judges or inspectors of cleo
ton. These officers were clothed by Law
with the power of making returns
This power consisted, first, of oficia
authority to receive the votes, ther
to count them, which counting in
volved the semi-judicial authority O.
accepting or rejecting votes, as they
were legal or illegal. this power, OF
course, being limited by law, and
the additional power of making the off
cial certificates of the result Of the vote
technically called the return, this return
being primG tacie evidence of election.
The Louisiana law in all these respects,
prior to 1870, concerned in general out.
line to the laws Of other States. The
Last election held under this law
was the election held in Novem-
Der, 1868. In 1870 the law was
changed, and q wide departure taken
in the methods of election and in the
powers and duties of the respective off,
GERS of election from the old law of the
State and from the laws of other States.
The most material change, however, and
the one around which the other mi
nor changes were grouped was this:
In depriving the commissioners of cleo
ton presiding at the several polls
Of the function and authority which such
officers had previously exercised, of max
ing the final and official count Of the vote,
and Of making the certificate or return
of the same, which constituted the prima
fdcie evidence Of election; then, in
lessening the number of returning officers
to five for the whole State, and investing
these officers with the above named func-
ions and authorities of returning officers;
namely. those of making the final and
official count, and the only certificate and
return of election known to the law. The
law then went further, and invested these
five returning officers with another power,
namely, when in any section or precinct
of the State the election had been nulli-
fed by wholesale violence, distul bance,
riot or intimidation, or by wholesale fraud,
the power to examine into the nature and
extent Of these acts of violence or fraud;
and where they had been of such nature
and extent as to render the election null
and void, so to declare, and to refuse to
count the so-called votes, which had thus
been made null and void.
In thus stating concisely the material
change made in the law of election, by
the legislation of 1870, will proceed,
to state brit fly some Of the principal
facts in the history of the State, prior to
the enacting of the law which led to
this change. For period of about five
or six months prior to the election of 1868,
this State was the theatre of much and
widely extended violence, bloodshed and
murder. Owing to many causes, proba-
bly, those resulting from the war just
closed, and from the dissatisfaction of |
large class of people with the changes
which had been wrought by the results of
the war, the political opposition. during
the canvass, to the Republican party took |
the shape of a secret and armed political |
society, known as the Knights oft White |
Camelid. By the records of the legislative !
committee appointed in 1868, and of the |
congressional committee, known as the |
Stevenson committee, whose report |
was made to Congress in 1869, in which |
the ritual, constitution and history of this
secret and armed political club were pub
lished, it will be seen that it had branches
in almost every parish Of the State of Lou
isiana. 1t will also be seen by reference
to the report Of the Stevenson committee,
that there was wide and extended terror
throughout the State among Repub-
licans, and especially colored people, and |
that the chief fundamentally Of spread
ing this terror was this secret political |
organization.
BY reference to the same report it will |
also be seen that planters and merchants |
throughout the State bound themselves in
resolutions and in clubs to prescribe in
business and in employment persons who
voted against the Democratic party. By
reference to the same authority it will
be seen, by extracts from the different
Democratic newspapers Of the time in this
State, that the Democratic press of the
State in some cases advocated violence
and bloodshed for political ends; in other
cases covertly and secretly encouraged it,
and in no case openly condemned it. Ex-
tracts from the New Orleans Times, New
Orleans Picaysne, New Orleans Crescent,