Virginia's Pledge

The Planet draws attention to how the Constitutional Convention of Virginia defies the provisions of the act of Congress through its restrictions to voting and overall changes to the Constitution of Virginia.

The Constitutional Convention has proclaimed itself a revolutionary body, by its failure to take the oath of office. But aside from this the Committee on Suffrage has had a problem to solve which would not only tend to embarrass but would practically paralyze any right-thinking man, who reads the provisions of the act of Congress, admitting Virginia into the union. It is as follows: “That the State of Virginia is admitted to representation in Congress as one of the States of Union, upon the following fundamental conditions: First, that the Constitution of Virginia shall never be so amended or changed so as to deprive any citizen or class of citizen of the United States the right to vote who are entitled to vote by the Constitution herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws equally applicable to the inhabitants of said state: provided that any alteration of said Constitution, prospective in its effects, may be made in regard to the time and place of residence of voters. Second: that it shall never be lawful for the said State to deprive any citizen of the United States on account of his race, color, or previous condition of servitude, of the right to hold office under the Constitution and laws of said State, or upon any such ground to require him any other qualifications for office than such as are required of all other citizens. Third: that the Constitution of Virginia shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the school rights and privileges secured by the Constitution of said State.” If you have read that act once, read it again and ask yourself how any convention of honorable men can ignore these iron-clad conditions. This brings us back to the constitution itself and explains why the present instrument provided only for its amendment and revision. And yet there are white men who speak of disfranchising the Negro, just as though he was an alien, and not a citizen. It also makes a talk about the separation of the school funds, mere nonsense in the face of the proper interpretation of the act of Congress. Colored men, it seems that the Negro-haters are having a hard road to travel and that our rights under the law will yet be successfully maintained. Let us take courage.

“Virginia's Pledge,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/812.