Boswell Amendment

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required residents who desired to vote to be able to "explain and understand" any part of the U.S. Constitution, and repealed a provision that allowed any resident with $300.00 of taxable property to vote regardless of their literacy. 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". 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

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". 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." 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.

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." 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."

Boswell stated that the purpose of the amendment was to "maintain white supremacy" at state polls in Alabama. 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. 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 5Result: Senator Party District Residence Vote D 26th Union Springs Yea D 5th Scottsboro Yea D 34th Goodwater Nay D 16th Fort Deposit Absent D 19th Marion Yea D 23rd Ozark Yea D 20th Thomaston Yea D 28th Montgomery Yea D 24th Clayton Yea D 29th Centre Absent D 25th Troy Yea D 35th Headland Yea D 21st Uriah Yea D 17th Florala Yea D 22nd Miller's Ferry Yea D 6th Ashville Yea D 1st Florence Yea D 10th Eclectic Nay D 18th Marion Absent D 8th Talladega Yea D 33rd Mobile Nay D 32nd Greensboro Yea D 11th Tuscaloosa Yea D 7th Anniston Yea D 12th Jasper Absent D 14th Geiger Yea D 3rd Cullman Yea D 2nd Town Creek Yea D 4th Huntsville Yea D 30th Dallas County Yea D 13th Birmingham Yea D 31st Tuscumbia Yea D 15th Prattville Absent D 27th Auburn Yea D 9th LaFayette Yea

Contents The proposed amendment reads as follows: "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

Results

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.

By county 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. The cities of Huntsville, Anniston, and Gadsden also opposed the measure.

1946 Alabama Amendment 4 results by countyCountyForAgainstMarginTotal#%#%#% 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

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.

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. No state had enacted a similar law by March 1949.

Legal challenges 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

Substitute laws