page_title: Lodge Bill
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Lodge Bill / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: "The First Vote" shows first vote cast by ex-slaves in Reconstruction in US, 1867
context_page_description: The Lodge Bill of 1890, also referred to as the Federal Elections Bill or by critics as the Lodge Force Bill, was a proposed bill to ensure the security of elections for U.S. Representatives.
  It was drafted and proposed by Representative Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts and sponsored in the Senate by George Frisbie Hoar with the endorsement of President Benjamin Harrison, all Republicans. The bill provided for the federal regulation of elections to the United States House of Representatives, where had heretofore been regulated by state governments. In particular, the bill would have permitted federal circuit courts to appoint federal supervisors for congressional elections. Supervisors would have the power to attend elections, inspect registration lists, verify doubtful voter information, administer oaths to challenged voters, stop illegal aliens from voting, and certify the vote count. Perhaps most controversially, the supervisor would have the power to request Deputy United States Marshals to secure elections by force if deemed necessary.
context_section_description: The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”  Its purpose was to acknowledge African American men’s voting rights.  After the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870, African Americans were subjected to voting restrictions in certain states. Disenfranchisement of African Americans came in various forms, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, white primaries, and grandfather clauses.
caption: Of Course He Wants to Vote the Democratic Ticket by Arthur Burdett Frost (1876)
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