Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-05-04
Our Fiscal and Political Ills Started Early

aside a portion Of their school
funds for the education OF colored
children. BY his narrow interpre-
tation OF this act only one-half
OF the amount due 10 the Trustees
OF CoIored Schools In Washington.
at this time under the jurisdiction
Of the Interior Department. was
paid over TO them. The Mayor
persisted In withholding the funds
for more than two years. even
after he had been required by the
Supreme Court Of the District 10
make the full payment.
A Challenge Accepted
To the men who dominated
Congress after the war Mayor
wallach's action was n challenge
which they were prepared TO &C
cept. The administration Of the
District Of Columbia. over which
Congress had control. was a mat
ter in which such Radical Repub-
licans as Thaddeus Stevens and
Charles Sumner we're deeply in
terested: In their long-range plans
for the Reconstruction Of the
South the District was to take
first place.
In the fall Of 1866 q petition
was received from a group OF col
ored residents Of Washington and
Georgetown requesting the priv
ilege of voting in municipal cleo
lions, and more than a year later.
after the Republicans had OBJ
tanned a two-thirds majority in
both Houses, the District Suffrage
Bill was passed. Under the pro-
visions of this bill all existing
restrictions upon Negro suffrage
in the District were removed, as
well as the poll tax and property
qualifications imposed under the
city charters.
The bill was promptly vetoed
by Andrew johnson. who pointed
out that it disregarded the senti-
ments Of the white voters Of
washington and Georgetown. who
had Overwhelmingly opposed Ne
gro suffrage in an earlier refer
endum. He feared that Negroes
would flock into the District in
such numbers that they would
eventually control the city gov
ernments and the taxation OF
property.
He also felt that hostility be-
tween the two races would de-
velop, and that the bill discrim-
mated against naturalized citi-
zens, who required a five-year
period of residence before being
allowed to vote. President john
son objected particularly strongly
to the fact that representatives
from many Northern States in
which Negroes were still excluded
from the ballot had voted for the
District suffrage bill.
No Compromise
On this issue, however, the lead
ers of the Republican Party were
in no mood for compromise. The
Southern States had shown in
1866 by the passage of severe
Black Codes that they we're de-
termined to keep the Negro under
strict control and to prevent him
from voting.
Under these circumstances 1t
was certain that the same kind of
Democrats who had been in power
before the Civil War would be
elected in the South. If these men
were permitted to re-enter Con-
gress it was foregone conclusion
that they, along with their allies
in the North and West, would
once again be in the majority.
Only by imposing their own
Reconstruction Plan upon the
South, under which Negroes
would be allowed to vote, could
the Republicans hope to maintain
their aScendancy. The enfran-
chisement of the colored popula-
ton of the District would, they
believed, set the pattern which
the Southern States might be
persuaded or compelled to follow
in order to regain national repre-
sentation. On January 7, 1867,
Andrew JohnSon's veto of the
District suffrage bill was over
ridden, and the colored population
of Washington and Georgetown
became eligible to vote in munich
pal elections. The passage of this
bill changed the entire course of
local political history.