Alexander Watkins Terrell

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Alexander Watkins Terrell

Alexander Watkins Terrell (born November 3, 1827 in Patrick County , Virginia , † September 9, 1912 in Mineral Wells , Texas ) was an American lawyer, during the Civil War officer in the Army of the Confederate States of America and politician of the Democratic Party . From 1893 to 1897 he was the US envoy to the Ottoman Empire .

Terrell belonged to the Texas Senate from 1876 to 1884 and was several times in the Texas House of Representatives voted - 1890 to 1892 then again from 1902 to 1906. He was a staunch proponent of the introduced in 1902 in Texas "poll tax" ( poll tax ). He was the main initiator of the so-called "Terrell's Election Laws" passed in 1903/1905, which intervened in the primary elections and excluded large parts of the lower classes - especially African Americans - from participating in elections. These laws were the precursor to the " White Primary " law ("White Pre-Election" law), which was passed in Texas in 1923 and excluded African Americans from the primaries (the Democratic Party) in Texas.

biography

Early years

Alexander Watkins Terrell was born on November 3, 1827 to the doctor Christopher Johnson Terrell (1798-1833) and his wife Susan (née Kennerly) (* 1805 - †?) In Patrick County, Virginia. His family ancestors had emigrated from Reading , England to New Kent County , Virginia in the 17th century . In 1831, when Terrell was just 4 years old, his parents moved to Boonville , Cooper County , Missouri , where Alexander Terrell and his siblings Sarah Jane (* July 29, 1823), John Jay (* August 8, 1829) and Joseph Christopher ( * October 29, 1831) and John Christopher (* around 1832) grew up.

Activity as a lawyer

Alexander Terrell studied law at the University of Missouri at Columbia . After graduation, he returned to Boonville and worked for Judge Peyton R. Hayden . Admitted to the bar in 1849, he went into business for himself and opened a law firm in St. Joseph , Missouri. In 1852 he moved to Austin and quickly gained a reputation there due to his negotiating skills in several lawsuits. He was also involved in politics, helped to build the organization of the Democratic Party of Texas. In 1857 he was elected district judge in Austin.

Participation in the Civil War

After the civil war began , Terrell gave up his judicial office and joined the armed forces of the Confederate States in 1861 . In 1862, he served as the personal aide-de-camp of Brigadier General Henry Eustace McCulloch , who commanded contingents from Texas based in Arkansas . In 1863 he was promoted to colonel in a Texas cavalry regiment (34th Texas Cavalry - or "Terrell's Texas Cavalry" ).

Terrell took part in the fighting of the so-called “Red River Campaign” ( “ Red River Campaign ” ) in March / May of the year 1864, when troops of the northern states under the command of Nathaniel Prentiss Banks tried to reach a decision in the so-called Trans- Create Mississippi Theater of War. Banks' plan to occupy Shreveport on the Red River , Louisiana , the center of the Trans-Mississippi Department , was carried out by Confederate forces under General Edmund Kirby Smith ( Battle of Mansfield and Battle of Pleasant Hill , April 8-9, 1864 ) fended off.

When the southern states surrendered in 1865, Terrell fled to Mexico , where he served for a short time as a colonel in the French armed forces , which at the time took place on April 10, 1864 at the instigation of Napoleon III. enthroned so-called " Emperor of Mexico " , Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria , held in power. Before his fall and execution, Terrell returned to Texas in 1866 and initially managed a plantation in Robertson County for four years before settling in Austin in 1871 and opening a law firm with Judge A. S. Walker.

In the Texas Senate and House of Representatives

Terrell was a member of the Texas Senate from 1876 to 1884 and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives several times (1890 to 1892, then again from 1902 to 1906).

Proponents of the "Poll Tax" (head tax)

In the period from 1889 to 1910 eleven southern states conducted a so-called "poll tax" ( poll tax a), the amount of which was usually between one and two dollars a year. The “poll tax” required every citizen to pay an election tax for exercising his right to vote.

When the Texas Constitution was passed in 1875, later Congressman John Henninger Reagan ( Anderson County / 44.7 percent African American in 1880) and WL Crawford ( Marion County / 65.6 percent African American in 1880) voted for the Introduction of a "poll tax" used as a prerequisite for participating in elections. However, these ideas had not - yet - found a majority in Congress in Texas. Terrell, staunch advocates of white supremacy ( "superiority of the white race" ), supported these efforts, after he was elected to the Texas Senate 1876th He considered the 15th Amendment to the United States ' Constitution, ratified in 1870 , which prohibited any discrimination against African-Americans and other racial minorities in voting rights, as "the political blunder of the century" ( "the greatest political mistake of the 19th century" ). and was of the opinion: “Unless some flank movement can be made on the mass of ignorant negro voters, we will soon be at sea in Texas.” ( “If we do not take any accompanying measures against the mass of ignorant negro voters [in the election process ] can move in, Texas will soon go down the drain. " ) In the introduction of a" poll tax "he saw the possibility of " the thriftless, idle and semivagrant element of both races " ( " the wasteful, unemployed and sedentary elements of both races " ) to be excluded from the elections. Terrell did not aim exclusively at the exclusion of the Afro-American voters, but also intended to exclude poor / impoverished whites, ultimately the lower strata of the population as a whole, from the elections. In 1879 he worked out a bill to introduce the "poll tax", was able to get it through the Senate (from Texas), but then failed in the House of Representatives from Texas. In 1881 and 1883 and 1889 he tried again, but again failed to find majorities. Likewise, a bill that future Texas Governor Pat Morris Neff (McLennon County) and Senator AB Davidson (De Witt County) tried to get through the Texas Congress in 1899 failed . But in 1902 a new bill reached the majority and a "poll tax" was introduced in Texas. Potential voters had to pay between $ 1.50 and $ 1.75 per year (depending on the county) to participate in the election process. The poll tax had to be paid eight months before the (final) election. A lot of money at the time - and thus a major barrier to keep the lower strata of the population away from the ballot boxes. The introduction of this tax then had the intended effect: the number of poor white Americans, but above all African Americans, for whom the poverty rate was disproportionately high, fell drastically.

On the way to the "White Primary"

The introduction of a “poll tax” was still not far-reaching enough for Alexander Terrell. With new bills he aimed at a further "purification" ( "cleaning up" ) of the ballots, especially the primary elections of the Democratic Party. In 1895, the Texas legislature first intervened in the primaries' ballots. In the so-called "Culberson's Law" ( "Culberson's Law" ) (named after the then governor of Texas Charles Allen Culberson ; Terrell was, however, significantly involved in the drafting of the law), among other things, it was determined that voters should not cast their vote more often than one Time to state that they were not allowed to vote outside their (own) constituency, were not allowed to bribe (other) voters or election officials. This law was continuously expanded by numerous amendments (additions) from its adoption until 1923 (“ White Primary ” law). Alexander Watkins Terrell died in 1912 and was unable to see himself that in 1923 a "White Primary" bill was introduced in Texas by Senator RS Bowers in the Senate and by MP DS Davenport in the Texas House of Representatives. The draft stipulated that African Americans should be categorically excluded from the primary elections (of the Democratic Party), passed both houses without much objection, and after being signed by Governor Pat Morris Neff (1871–1952) it became law in May 1923.

The decisive passage in the legal text read:

"Any qualified voter under the laws of the Constitution of the State of Texas who is a bonafide member of the Democratic Party shall be eligible to participate in any Democratic primary election provided such voter complies with all laws and rules governing party primary elections; However, in no event shall a negro be eligible to participate in a Democratic Party primary election held in the State of Texas and should a negro vote in a Democratic primary election such ballot shall be void and election officials are in directed to throw out such ballot and not count the same. "

(General Laws of Texas, 38th Legislature Journal, 2d Called Session (Austin 1923), p.74)

( “Any voter eligible under the laws of the Texas State Constitution who is a trusted member of the Democratic Party can participate in any Primary of the Democratic Party, provided that voter behaves in accordance with the laws and regulations governing a party's primary election By no means [but] it is desirable for a Negro to participate in the Democratic Party primaries held in the state of Texas, and should a Negro cast his vote in a Democratic Party primary election [anyway] , then such a ballot shall be invalid and the polling officers are hereby instructed to remove such a ballot and not to count it. " )

outlook

Abolition of the "poll tax"

It took almost half a century before the “poll tax” was abolished. In 1937 one of the lawsuits against the collection of poll tax reached the Supreme Court for the first time : ( Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 US 277 - 1937 ) Up until this decision by the Supreme Court, only three southern states had the "poll tax" Abolished of their own accord: North Carolina (1920), Louisiana (1934) and Florida (1937). Even New Dealers didn't start until two years after Breedlove v. Suttles launched their “crusade” against the “poll tax” - primarily to enable the population groups who sympathize with them to participate in the elections in the first place. It was not until 1938 that Franklin D. Roosevelt described the “poll tax” as “outmoded” ( “out of date” ). When the 24th Amendment to the American Constitution was added in 1964 , other southern states had already reacted and abolished the “poll tax” themselves. However, four states - Alabama , Mississippi , Virginia and Texas - initially continued to adhere to the poll tax. This was possible because the 24th Amendment only applied to the state-level elections, to the election of federal offices. Elections to determine the appointment of office within a single state or the allocation of local office were left to the states at their own discretion. It was only after Annie Harper from Virginia on March 24, 1966 got her lawsuit against the collection of a "poll tax" before the Supreme Court ( Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections - 383 US 663 - 1966 ) was the "poll tax" also permanently deleted in the remaining states. In its above decision, the Supreme Court took the view:

"A State violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. .... whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard. Voter qualifications have no relation to wealth…. "

( "A [federal] state violates the equal treatment clause of the 14th Amendment to the American Constitution whenever it makes the income of a voter or the payment of some fee the norm in an election. The electoral qualification [to participate in the voting] , has absolutely no relation to his prosperity ... " )

Abolition of the "White Primary"

It was just as long before the “White Primaries” (the Democratic Party) disappeared from the scene again. Unlike in the other southern states, in which the White Primaries were mostly installed through party statutes (the Democratic Party), the White Primaries in Texas had been introduced by law, so that here the most likely option was to take legal action against it and against it African Americans have repeatedly sued for exclusion from voting by law. Lawsuits that reached the Supreme Court in several proceedings:

Nixon v. Herndon , 273 US 536-1927

Nixon v. Condon , 286 US 73-1932

Grovey v. Townsend , 295 US 45-1935

Smith v. Allwright , 321 US 649-1944

Private

Terrell was married a total of three times. His first marriage was to Ann Elizabeth Boulding from Missouri. The couple had a total of five children. Ann Elizabeth Boulding died in 1860. His second wife was Sarah D. Mitchell of Robinson County, Texas. Sarah D. Mitchell died in 1871. Terrell married Anne Holiday Anderson Jones for the third time.

Alexander Watkins Terrell died on September 9, 1912 in Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto County, Texas. The Terrell County , Texas was named after him.

credentials

literature

  • Gould, Lewis L. Alexander Watkins Terrell. Civil War Soldier, Texas Lawmaker, American Diplomat. Austin, University of Texas Press, 2004
  • Hine, Darlene Clark Black Victory. The Rise and Fall of the White Primary in Texas. University of Missouri Press. Columbia and London. 1st edition 1979, 2nd edition 2003 ( therein: pp. 81ff. - short bio by Terrell )
  • Klarman, Michael J. From Jim Crow to Civil Rights. The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality. Oxford University Press, New York 2004
  • Klarman, Michael J. The Supreme Court and Black Disenfranchisement. University of Virginia Law School. Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series. Paper 25. 2005
  • Klarman, Michael J. The White Primary Rulings: A Case Study in the Consequences of Supreme Court Decisionmaking. o. o. o. J.
  • Zelden, Charles L. The Battle for the Black Ballot. Smith v. Allwright and the Defeat of the Texas All-White Primary. 2004

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights, 141
  2. ↑ Hine, Black Victory, pp. 77–77.
  3. ↑ a b Hine, Black Victory, p. 80
  4. ^ Hine, Black, Victory p. 82
  5. ^ A b c Hine, Black Victory, p. 81
  6. ^ Hine, Black Victory, p. 83
  7. ↑ Hine, Black Victory, p. 93; Klarman, From Jim Crown to Civil Rights, 135
  8. ↑ cit. according to Hine, Black Victory, p. 94
  9. ^ Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights, pp. 141 and F. 104
  10. ↑ a b Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights, p. 142
  11. ↑ Time, May 7, 1965: "Cutting the Mustard"
personal data
SURNAME Terrell, Alexander Watkins
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer, politician, and officer
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH Patrick County , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1912
Place of death Mineral Wells , Texas