ABSTRACT
In order to understand how blacks were virtually eliminated as a political force in the city and, by extension, in the state itself, one must first consider their suffrage status prior to 1821, the year in which constitutional restrictions were placed upon their exercise of the franchise. The repeated use of the convention by blacks as a mechanism to focus attention upon their suffrage disability soon invited the criticism of some of their declared well-wishers who began to view the whole exercise as useless. While conceding a growing lack of interest by the African-American in organized efforts to regain the suffrage, the Tribune, unfortunately, was conspicuously silent on what steps blacks could take to hasten the day of their full enfranchisement. Gradually, however, as the African-American population increased, some of the states revised their constitutions to include provisions specifically barring blacks from the suffrage.
