Between 1865 and 1870 three key amendments to the United States Constitution went into effect. The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery. Ratification of the 14th Amendment on July 9, 1868 made former slaves citizens of the United States but regulations regarding eligibility to vote was left to the states. You will notice that only some male citizens were eligible to cast ballots in some elections and no females were granted the franchise.
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| Courtesy of the National Archives |
AMENDMENT XIV
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
The United States presidential election of 1868 was the first presidential election to take place during Reconstruction. Three of the former Confederate states (Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia) were not yet restored to the Union and therefore residents of those states could not vote in the election. South Carolina had formally rejoined the United States July 9, 1868, the date that the 14th Amendment was declared ratified.
Abstract of Voter Registrations Reported to the Military Government, 1868 was created by order of the commander of the Second Military District in accord with 14 U.S. Stats. 429, 15 U.S. Stats.2, and 15 U.S. Stats. 14, which gave him ultimate responsibility for the registration of voters and the conduct of elections. The series was abstracted prior to 12 September 1868 from the series Voter Registrations Reported to the Military Government and was deposited with the Secretary of State in October 1868 - just in time for voting day on November 3, 1868.
The series records the name and race of each registered voter, arranged first alphabetically by county, second by registration precinct and thereunder alphabetically by polling precinct. Within the polling precinct the names appear alphabetically by first letter of surname, with whites and blacks grouped separately. (BTW: This is a fairly common practice in 19th century records).
The polling precincts for Beaufort County in 1868 were: (Please note: At this time, Beaufort County still included the areas that later became Hampton and Jasper Counties as we know them today).
Chisolm's Election Precinct
Gardner's Corner [sic] Precinct [read this as "Garden's Corner]
Pebbles Precinct [read this as "Peeples." The indexer read the handwriting incorrectly]
Pocotaligo Precinct
Whippy Swamp Precinct
Beaufort Precinct
Gray's Hill Precinct
St. Helena Precinct
Bluffton Precinct
Gillisonville Precinct
Grahamville Precinct
Hilton Head Precinct
St. Lukes Church Precinct
Brighton Precinct
Cypress Creek Church Precinct
Hennis Cross Roads Precinct [now called Tillman in present-day Jasper County]
Lawtonville Precinct
New River Bridge Precinct
Puryburgh Precinct
Rice Hope Precinct
This record series is significant for at least two reasons: 1) It gives the name, race, and general location of the majority of Beaufort County's adult men in Autumn 1868; and 2) It shows the enthusiasm that the former enslaved had for participating in the political process. They did not want to remain bystanders to the political process.
You can view the collection online: http://scmemory.org/collection/abstract-of-voter-registrations-reported-to-the-military-government-1868/
By the way, former US General Ulysses S. Grant, running as a Republican, won in 1868. He defeated Democrat nominee Horatio Seymour by a margin of 309,584 popular votes and 134 electoral votes.
Also by the way, the Library of Congress has put the papers of Ulysses S. Grant online for the first time in their original format at https://www.loc.gov/collections/ulysses-s-grant-papers/about-this-collection/.
Learn more about the materials that the Beaufort County Library has and shares on the topic of the Reconstruction Era through the In Biblio Novitas podcast.
Source of images: "Our Documents" US National Archives https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=43#
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