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Boswell Amendment

1946 Alabama Amendment 4
November 5, 1946
"The Boswell Amendment"
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Choice
 Votes %
Yes 89,163 53.71%
No 76,843 46.29%
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See also: 1946 United States elections

1946 Alabama Amendment 4, also known as the Boswell Amendment, was an amendment to the Alabama Constitution that appeared on the general election ballot on November 5, 1946, in Alabama. First proposed by E. C. "Bud" Boswell, state representative from Geneva County, in 1945, the amendment as it passed required residents who desired to vote to be able to "explain and understand" any part of the U.S. Constitution, and repealed a provision that allowed any resident with $300.00 of taxable property to vote regardless of their literacy.[1] This amendment was proposed after the United States Supreme Court ruled against Texas's white primary in 1944's Smith v. Allwright, in order to keep Black Americans from registering to vote, with Boswell stating the amendment's purpose was to "maintain white supremacy".[2] The amendment passed with 53.71% of the popular vote.

A federal tribunal invalidated the amendment in January 1949 after a legal challenge was raised by ten Black Americans in Mobile County against its board of election registrars. Attorney General of Alabama Albert A. Carmichael appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in favor of the plaintiffs 8–1 in March 1949, affirming its unconstitutionality.

The election took place concurrently with elections for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, state senate, state house, and numerous other state and local offices.

Background and legislative history

[edit]
State representative from Geneva County E. C. "Bud" Boswell was the namesake of and introduced the constitutional amendment.

On April 3, 1944, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 8–1 against Texas's white primary in the case Smith v. Allwright. President pro tempore of the Alabama Senate James A. Simpson described the ruling as "the gravest threat to white supremacy since Reconstruction".[3] Chair of the State Democratic Executive Committee Gessner T. McCorvey pledged to "maintain white supremacy in Alabama" and to "conduct a white primary in May and we will find a way to continue our way of allowing the white people of Alabama in their own way — Somehow."[4] The 1945 Alabama legislative session began in May, and McCorvey sent an open letter to state legislators, urging them to keep the poll tax and to further restrict voter registration.[5]

In June of the 1945 legislative session, state representative E. C. "Bud" Boswell from Geneva County proposed an amendment, dubbed the Boswell Amendment, that would have restricted voter registration. It would repeal a provision that allowed anyone regardless of their literacy to register to vote provided they had $300.00 in taxable property. That figure was set by the 1901 Alabama Constitution, and by 1945 could be easily satisfied, as according to McCorvey, "every Tom, Dick and Harry has an automobile and this safeguard is no longer effective."[5] It would also require voter registrants to be able read and write any part of the United States Constitution, and to "understand such article" to the satisfaction of the county board of registrars. The clause requiring registrants to understand the Constitution would have, according to McCorvey, "enable [the county board of registrars] to prevent from registering those elements in our community which have not yet fitted themselves for self-government."[6]

Boswell stated that the purpose of the amendment was to "maintain white supremacy" at state polls in Alabama.[7] The proposal received unanimous support in the Alabama House of Representatives, with eighty representatives voting in favor and zero against. In the Alabama Senate, twenty-seven senators voted in favor, and three senators opposed.[2] The amendment was placed on the November 1946 general election ballot.

Senate vote on the Boswell Amendment
June 1945 Party Total votes
Democratic
Yea 27 27
Nay 3 3
Absent 5 5
Result: Passed
Roll call vote[8]
Senator Party District Residence Vote
Lawrence K. Andrews D 26th Union Springs Yea
J. B. Benson D 5th Scottsboro Yea
Charles S. Bentley D 34th Goodwater Nay
J. Monroe Black D 16th Fort Deposit Absent
Gerald Bradford D 19th Marion Yea
Douglas Brown D 23rd Ozark Yea
O. D. Carlton D 20th Thomaston Yea
Silas D. Cater Sr. D 28th Montgomery Yea
Preston C. Clayton D 24th Clayton Yea
Lem J. Cobb D 29th Centre Absent
M. N. Dodson D 25th Troy Yea
M. W. Espy D 35th Headland Yea
W. W. Garrett D 21st Uriah Yea
Tully A. Goodwin D 17th Florala Yea
J. Bruce Henderson D 22nd Miller's Ferry Yea
Sam High D 6th Ashville Yea
Orlan B. Hill D 1st Florence Yea
Lee Hornsby D 10th Eclectic Nay
T. J. Jones D 18th Marion Absent
Richard B. Kelly Jr. D 8th Talladega Yea
Vincent F. Kilborn D 33rd Mobile Nay
L. J. Lawson D 32nd Greensboro Yea
Gordon Madison D 11th Tuscaloosa Yea
Elvin McCary D 7th Anniston Yea
Reuben Newton D 12th Jasper Absent
John H. Pinson D 14th Geiger Yea
Finis E. St. John Jr. D 3rd Cullman Yea
Vernon L. St. John D 2nd Town Creek Yea
Charles E. Shaver D 4th Huntsville Yea
John L. Sherrer D 30th Dallas County Yea
James A. Simpson D 13th Birmingham Yea
Jim Smith Jr. D 31st Tuscumbia Yea
Geo M. Taylor Jr. D 15th Prattville Absent
S. L. Toomer D 27th Auburn Yea
Will O. Walton D 9th LaFayette Yea

Contents

[edit]

The proposed amendment reads as follows:[9]

"Shall Section 181 of the Constitution of Alabama be amended to read as follows?"

"Section 181. After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and three, the following persons, and no others, who, if their place of residence shall remain unchanged, will have, at the date of the next general election, the qualifications as to residence prescribed in section 178 of this article, shall be qualified to register as electors provided they shall not be disqualified under section 182 of this constitution: those who can read and write, understand and explain any article of the Constitution of the United States in the English language and who are physically unable to work and those who can read and write, understand and explain any article of the Constitution of the United States in the English language and who have worked or been regularly engaged in some lawful employment, business, or occupation, trade, or calling for the greater part of the twelve months next preceding the time they offer to register, including those who are unable to read and write if such inability is due solely to physical disability; provided, however, no persons shall be entitled to register as electors except those who are of good character and who understand the duties and obligations of good citizenship under a republican form of government."

Endorsements

[edit]
For
Politicians
Newspapers
Organizations
Against
Politicians
Individuals
Newspapers
Declined to endorse
Politicians

Results

[edit]

The referendum passed by 12,320 votes, or 7.42 percent. Turnout for the 1946 general election was 11 percent of the voting-age population, and 35 percent of registered voters.[22]

Proposed Amendment No. 4
Choice Votes %
Referendum passed Yes 89,163 53.71
No 76,843 46.29
Total votes 166,006 100.00

By county

[edit]

Black Belt counties voted overwhelmingly for the amendment, with the industrial Jefferson County narrowly voting in favor. Urban counties Mobile and Montgomery voted against the amendment, as well as much of North Alabama.[23] The cities of Huntsville, Anniston, and Gadsden also opposed the measure.[24]

1946 Alabama Amendment 4 results by county
County For Against Margin Total
# % # % # %
Autauga 488 52.70% 438 47.30% 50 5.40% 926
Baldwin 1,152 47.16% 1,291 52.84% −139 −5.69% 2,443
Barbour 1,024 74.36% 353 25.64% 671 48.73% 1,377
Bibb 1,096 75.43% 357 24.57% 739 50.86% 1,453
Blount 735 28.69% 1,827 71.31% −1,092 −42.62% 2,562
Bullock 668 82.47% 142 17.53% 526 64.94% 810
Butler 916 60.10% 608 39.90% 308 20.21% 1,524
Calhoun 1,153 40.58% 1,688 59.42% −535 −18.83% 2,841
Chambers 1,280 70.95% 524 29.05% 756 41.91% 1,804
Cherokee 368 42.40% 500 57.60% −132 −15.21% 868
Chilton 1,522 62.61% 909 37.39% 613 25.22% 2,431
Choctaw 900 90.82% 91 9.18% 809 81.63% 991
Clarke 1,160 79.94% 291 20.06% 869 59.89% 1,451
Clay 1,351 68.09% 633 31.91% 718 36.19% 1,984
Cleburne 886 59.74% 597 40.26% 289 19.49% 1,483
Coffee 653 42.54% 882 57.46% −229 −14.92% 1,535
Colbert 816 31.25% 1,795 68.75% −979 −37.50% 2,611
Conecuh 697 66.83% 346 33.17% 351 33.65% 1,043
Coosa 655 67.11% 321 32.89% 334 34.22% 976
Covington 731 37.26% 1,231 62.74% −500 −25.48% 1,962
Crenshaw 470 36.35% 823 63.65% −353 −27.30% 1,293
Cullman 2,915 49.38% 2,988 50.62% −73 −1.24% 5,903
Dale 614 41.83% 854 58.17% −240 −16.35% 1,468
Dallas 1,429 72.72% 536 27.28% 893 45.45% 1,965
DeKalb 1,497 43.07% 1,979 56.93% −482 −13.87% 3,476
Elmore 1,121 45.37% 1,350 54.63% −229 −9.27% 2,471
Escambia 352 30.48% 803 69.52% −451 −39.05% 1,155
Etowah 1,147 25.11% 3,420 74.89% −2,273 −49.77% 4,567
Fayette 1,099 65.07% 590 34.93% 509 30.14% 1,689
Franklin 1,216 40.05% 1,820 59.95% −604 −19.89% 3,036
Geneva 1,000 56.66% 765 43.34% 235 13.31% 1,765
Greene 685 91.58% 63 8.42% 622 83.16% 748
Hale 813 87.33% 118 12.67% 695 74.65% 931
Henry 599 69.41% 264 30.59% 335 38.82% 863
Houston 1,268 62.28% 768 37.72% 500 24.56% 2,036
Jackson 202 16.74% 1,005 83.26% −803 −66.53% 1,207
Jefferson 17,173 54.66% 14,245 45.34% 2,928 9.32% 31,418
Lamar 1,362 83.15% 276 16.85% 1,086 66.30% 1,638
Lauderdale 885 31.41% 1,933 68.59% −1,048 −37.19% 2,818
Lawrence 1,184 73.13% 435 26.87% 749 46.26% 1,619
Lee 896 59.89% 600 40.11% 296 19.79% 1,496
Limestone 708 39.91% 1,066 60.09% −358 −20.18% 1,774
Lowndes 581 84.82% 104 15.18% 477 69.64% 685
Macon 728 81.07% 170 18.93% 558 62.14% 898
Madison 1,082 29.14% 2,631 70.86% −1549 −41.72% 3,713
Marengo 997 75.36% 326 24.64% 671 50.72% 1,323
Marion 636 37.11% 1,078 62.89% −442 −25.79% 1,714
Marshall 1,027 54.40% 861 45.60% 166 8.79% 1,888
Mobile 2,860 47.08% 3,215 52.92% −355 −5.84% 6,075
Monroe 847 72.89% 315 27.11% 532 45.78% 1,162
Montgomery 2,605 43.07% 3,443 56.93% −838 −13.86% 6,048
Morgan 1,371 44.40% 1,717 55.60% −346 −11.20% 3,088
Perry 745 82.41% 159 17.59% 586 64.82% 904
Pickens 1,031 80.11% 256 19.89% 775 60.22% 1,287
Pike 698 46.29% 810 53.71% −112 −7.43% 1,508
Randolph 1,329 72.58% 502 27.42% 827 45.17% 1,831
Russell 959 92.03% 83 7.97% 876 84.07% 1,042
Shelby 2,102 68.60% 962 31.40% 1,140 37.21% 3,064
St. Clair 1,511 57.94% 1,097 42.06% 414 15.87% 2,608
Sumter 957 94.38% 57 5.62% 900 88.76% 1,014
Talladega 1,672 60.43% 1,095 39.57% 577 20.85% 2,767
Tallapoosa 1,707 67.23% 832 32.77% 875 34.46% 2,539
Tuscaloosa 2,132 55.08% 1,739 44.92% 393 10.15% 3,871
Walker 2,423 43.30% 3,173 56.70% −750 −13.40% 5,596
Washington 783 77.22% 231 22.78% 552 54.44% 1,014
Wilcox 1,094 94.31% 66 5.69% 1,028 88.62% 1,160
Winston 411 22.74% 1,396 77.26% −985 −54.51% 1,807

Aftermath

[edit]
State senator Joseph N. Langan of Mobile County was a leader against the Boswell Amendment's future substitutions.

The proposal received unanimous support in the Alabama House of Representatives, with eighty representatives voting in favor and zero against. In the Alabama Senate, twenty-seven senators voted in favor, and three senators opposed.[2]

In February 1948, the Associated Negro Press reported that four Southern states, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas were seeking to adopt similar amendments.[25] No state had enacted a similar law by March 1949.[26]

[edit]

Attempts to nullify the amendment started soon after its enactment, with E. D. Nixon, president of the Montgomery, Alabama branch of the NAACP announcing a plan of "an all out attack on the amendment" in October 1947.[27] Ten Black Americans from Mobile County, Alabama made a legal complaint against the law, claiming it discriminated against them based on their race. The three members of the county's board of registrars were the case's defendants, and a federal tribunal heard their case in December 1948. The tribunal, which had also refused to dismiss a similar case from Birmingham, was made up of judges Leon Clarence McCord, John McDuffie, and Clarence H. Mullins.[28] The three judges unanimously chose to invalidate the Boswell Amendment on January 7, 1949, on the grounds that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[29]

The decision led to a surge in Black voter registration in Mobile County. By January 19, less than two weeks after the decision, approximately four hundred Blacks registered to vote, bringing the county total to around 1,300. Only 104 Blacks successfully registered to vote in the fourteen months preceding the verdict.[30] In March of that year, Attorney General of Alabama Albert A. Carmichael, on behalf of the Mobile County board, appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court.[26] On March 28, 1949, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling in an unsigned opinion. Only Justice Stanley Forman Reed dissented, not on the decision itself, but on the fact that the Supreme Court did not hear any arguments before issuing its ruling.[31]

Substitute laws

[edit]
1951 Alabama Amendment 5 results by county:
  For (60,357 votes, 50.15%)
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  •   90–100%
  Against (59,988 votes, 49.85%)
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%

During the 1949 legislative session, the Alabama Legislature attempted to create a new amendment which would have similarly stifled votes, resulting in a bill that passed the Alabama House of Representatives. On the last day of the session, state senators Rankin Fite, Guy Hardwick, Broughton Lamberth, Joseph N. Langan, C. B. Harvey, and Fuller Kimbrell, who were allied with Governor Jim Folsom, led a 23-hour filibuster and prevented its passage.[32] The proposed amendment would have required prospective voters to have "good moral character," to "embrace the duties and responsibilities of citizenship," be able to read or write any section of the Constitution, "satisfactorily answer a questionnaire prepared by the State Supreme Court," and must take an anti-Communist oath. It would give county boards of registrars broad powers to determine if people met these requirements. In the 1950 special session, the bill passed the Alabama Senate, but died in the House after it failed to get the three-fifths supermajority vote required to pass a constitutional amendment.[33][34]

During the 1951 legislative session, the bill finally passed through both houses and was scheduled to be voted on December 11, 1951 as Proposed Amendment No. 5. Opponents argued that the new law would have achieved the same effects of the Boswell Amendment.[35] There was not much campaigning on the proposal, as the main focus of the December election was a $25 million road bond amendment, a total of 24 amendments were up to public approval.[36] The new amendment passed with an even narrower margin than the original amendment, with 60,357 Alabamians voting in favor of the amendment and 59,988 against.[37] 45,661 fewer Alabamians voted on the measure compared to the Boswell Amendment. Voter intimidation continued to plague the state, and the new amendment stood in place until the passage of the 1965 Civil Rights Act.


See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Four States Plan To Deny Vote To Negro Citizens". Alabama Tribune. Associated Negro Press. February 6, 1948. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Anti-Poll Tax Solons Soften". The Birmingham Post. June 27, 1945. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  3. ^ "Simpson Says Hill Appeases South Haters". The Selma Times-Journal. April 5, 1944. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  4. ^ Mullin, Atticus (April 4, 1944). "Alabama To Hold White Primary - McCorvey Finds 'Way Out'". The Montgomery Advertiser. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Open Letter Urges State Legislature To Retain Poll Tax". The Birmingham News. Associated Press. May 11, 1945. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  6. ^ "Change Favored for Negro Vote". The Huntsville Times. Associated Press. December 30, 1945. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  7. ^ "Senate Okehs Beer Tax Equal Basis Measure". Birmingham Post-Herald. Associated Press. June 28, 1945. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  8. ^ Journal of the Senate of Alabama, 1945. Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Printing Company. 1945. p. 1283.
  9. ^ Owen, Marie B. (1947). Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1947. Montgomery, Alabama: Walker Printing Company. pp. 532–533. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c "Candidates For Governor questionnaire". The Birmingham News. April 22, 1946. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d "Sparks Stand Awaited On Boswell Amendment". Associated Press. September 29, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  12. ^ "Tom Heflin Favors Boswell Amendment". The Dothan Eagle. Associated Press. October 9, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  13. ^ "Chauncey Sparks". The Montgomery Advertiser. October 20, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Rothermel, J. F. (October 16, 1946). "State Press On The Boswell Amendment". The Birmingham News. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  15. ^ "We sincerely hope that you vote "Yes" for proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 4". Fayette County Times. October 31, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  16. ^ "Senator Lister Hill Opposes The Boswell Amendment As Unfair". Piedmont Journal. October 4, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  17. ^ "Folsom To Fight Boswell Measure". The Huntsville Times. Associated Press. September 24, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  18. ^ "State Senator Nominee Raps Boswell Plan". The Birmingham News. Associated Press. October 10, 1946. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  19. ^ "Oscar L. Tompkins of Dothan Opposes Boswell Amendment". The Montgomery Advertiser. October 19, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  20. ^ "Dr. Lyman Ward opposed to Boswell amendment". The Dadeville Record. October 24, 1946. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  21. ^ "Candidates For State Senate". The Birmingham News. April 23, 1946. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  22. ^ "Rule By Minority". The Birmingham News. November 18, 1946. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  23. ^ "Perry County Favors Plan By Big Margin". The Marion Times-Standard. November 7, 1946. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
  24. ^ "Boswell Amendment Wins Despite High Opposition (SNS)". Alabama Tribune. SNS. November 8, 1946. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  25. ^ "Four States Plan To Deny Vote To Negro Citizens". Alabama Tribune. Associated Negro Press. February 6, 1948. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  26. ^ a b "Supreme Court Asked To Consider Boswell Amendment". Atlanta Daily World. National Newspaper Publishers Association. March 16, 1949. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  27. ^ "Crusade To Nullify Boswell Amendment Mapped BY NAACP". The Dothan Eagle. Associated Press. October 3, 1947. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  28. ^ "Hearing Date Set On Boswell Law". The Birmingham News. Associated Press. December 8, 1948. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  29. ^ "Boswell Amendment Invalidated". Alabama Tribune. January 14, 1949. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  30. ^ "Negro Registrations Show Gain In Mobile". The Montgomery Advertiser. Associated Press. January 20, 1949. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  31. ^ "Boswell Act Held Illegal In High Court". Ledger-Enquirer. Associated Press. March 29, 1949. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  32. ^ "Filibuster Ends '49 Legislature". The Alexander City Outlook. Associated Press. September 16, 1949. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  33. ^ "Senate Okeys State Voters Restrictions". The Selma Times-Journal. Associated Press. October 15, 1950. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  34. ^ "Boswell Substitute Killed". Birmingham Post-Herald. Associated Press. October 25, 1950. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  35. ^ "Alabama Votes Again On Amendment To Set Up Rigid Voter Test". The Vicksburg Pos. Associated Press. September 21, 1951. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  36. ^ "Alabama Vote Curbs Winning". The Blade. Associated Press. December 12, 1951. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  37. ^ Owen, Marie B. (1951). Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1951. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives and History. p. 607. Retrieved August 10, 2025.