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Notes on the 1838 Black Philadelphians' Voting Rights Appeal

Context and Date

  • Documentary artifact: Black Philadelphians Defend their Voting Rights, 1838. A public protest against disenfranchisement following the expansion of voting rights for poor white men, which effectively reduced Black men's voting rights.
  • Location and date: PHILADELPHIA, March 14, 1838.
  • Core claim: Race, not class, quickly becomes the dominant social distinction in the United States; affluent Black men such as James Forten and Robert Purvis lose voting rights they previously enjoyed.
  • Form: A collective appeal from the Black citizenry of Philadelphia to fellow Pennsylvanians, framed as a defense of constitutional birthright and civic participation.

Purpose and Tone

  • Primary aim: Protest the decision of the Reform Convention that stripped Black citizens of the right to vote.
  • Ethos: A pledge of loyalty to Pennsylvania and its institutions; an insistence that suffrage is a vital, constitutional birthright that cannot be lightly surrendered.
  • Framing: The loss of suffrage is described as a grievous injury and a betrayal of longstanding membership in the commonwealth.
  • Refrains: Emphasizes patriotism, gratitude toward the state (and toward Franklin and his era’s humanitarian labor), and a call for fair treatment under the Constitution.

Constitutional and Citizenship Claims

  • Historical claim: “We were regarded as citizens by those who drew up the articles of confederation between the States, in 1778.”
  • Constitutional continuity: No change to citizenship rights with the adoption of the current United States Constitution; supported by reference to the Journal of Congress.
  • Alleged motive of benevolence: Denounces a purported “Christian benevolence” that uses philanthropy as a pretext to remove rights and transplant Black people elsewhere.
  • Loyalty and belonging: States love for native country and commitment to peaceful exercise of inalienable rights; insistence that Black Philadelphians are and will remain Pennsylvanians.
  • Public identity: A declaration of pride in being PENNSYLVANIANS and a hope that Pennsylvania will one day be proud of them.
  • Call for inclusion in public discourse: They deserve a voice in major public measures that affect their lives and fortunes, not a passive exclusion.
  • Quotation anchor: “Firm upon our old Pennsylvania BILL OF RIGHTS, and trusting in a God of Truth and justice, we lay our claim before you, with the warning that no amendments of the present Constitution can compensate for the loss of its foundation principle of equal rights, nor for the conversion into enemies of 40,000 friends.”

Evidence and Economic Arguments

  • Public aid and poverty data: From a 1830 statement by the Guardians of the Poor of Philadelphia, 549 outdoor poor were relieved, of whom only 22 were persons of color (about 4%). The population ratio of people of color to city/suburbs is over 8\frac{1}{4}\%.
  • Black property and wealth: The colored population of Philadelphia and its suburbs numbers 18,768; they possess real and personal estate estimated at not less than 1{,}350{,}000.
  • Tax contributions by people of color: They paid 3{,}252.83 in taxes in the last year; housing, water, and ground rent amount to 166{,}963.50.
  • Real estate income tied to people of color: An estimate that income to holders of real estate occupied by colored people is about 7.5\% on a capital of roughly 2{,}000{,}000.
  • Economic spillovers: The wealth held by Black residents translates into profits for white property owners, as well as profits for whites who sell to Black residents the necessaries and luxuries of life.
  • Overall claim: While the precise amount of wealth derived by whites from Black residents is difficult to quantify, its existence and magnitude are presented as a factor that should be considered in policy and rights discussions.

Religious, Educational, and Civic Life

  • Religious and educational infrastructure among Black Pennsylvanians: 22 churches; 48 clergymen; 26 day schools; 20 Sabbath schools; 125 Sabbath school teachers.
  • Cultural and literacy institutions: 4 literary societies; 2 public libraries (about 800 volumes total) and 8,333 volumes in private libraries; 2 tract societies; 2 Bible societies; 7 temperance societies.
  • Reflections on equality and assimilation: The appeal argues that Black residents are not neglectful of religious or educational interests and seeks to challenge the premise that disenfranchisement would protect the racial order.

Social and Racial Implications

  • Fear of miscegenation as a political weapon: The line “Are we to be disfranchised, lest the purity of the white blood should be sullied by an intermixture with ours?” is posed to critique disfranchisement as a mechanism for racial punishment.
  • Call for restraint and non-disruption: They argue whites should not fear intermixture and should seek peaceful coexistence, noting that the territories of the commonwealth are ample for all for centuries to come.
  • Dignity and self-respect: They insist on equal grounding to stand on, and warn that disfranchisement would degrade both sides and undermine a shared future.
  • Historical responsibility: The appeal asks whites to bear the consequences of their fathers’ guilt, just as Black Americans bear the consequences of their ancestors’ misfortunes.
  • Opposition to “proscription and disfranchisement”: Framing disfranchisement as the wrong remedy for social tension.

Political and Rhetorical Strategy

  • Opposition to the Reform Convention: They challenge the motives and call it a sacrifice of rights on the altar of slavery; assert that northern statesmen have bowed to slavery, at least in this instance.
  • Constitutional grounding vs. expediency: Emphasizes the Pennsylvania Bill of Rights as a stable, foundational guarantee that cannot be overridden by temporary political expediency.
  • Framing of suffrage as a shield: The right to vote is described as a shield against benevolent interference that would legislate one’s banishment.
  • Collective voice and leadership: “In behalf of the Committee, ROBERT PURVIS, Chairman.” This signals organized leadership and a formal appeal rather than a spontaneous protest.

Significance, Context, and Implications

  • Historical frame: The document sits within the broader history of Black abolitionist and civil rights advocacy in early America, illustrating how voting rights intersected with anti-slavery arguments.
  • Intersections of race, property, and power: The text argues that Black citizens contribute to, and are affected by, the region’s wealth and taxation structure; the argument implies that disenfranchisement would be economically and morally detrimental to the commonwealth.
  • Ethical and philosophical stakes: The appeal invokes moral authority (God, Truth and Justice) and appeals to shared civic language (birthright, equal rights) to counter arguments rooted in racial hierarchy.
  • Publication and historiography: The document is cited as appearing in Robert Purvis, Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens, Threatened with Disfranchisement, to the People of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: 1838), pages 1–18; it is a key primary source for understanding Black political activism in Pennsylvania on the eve of the broader abolitionist movement.

Key Quotations and Rhetorical Points

  • “We appeal to you from the decision of the Reform Convention, which has stripped us of a right peaceably enjoyed during forty-seven years under the Constitution of this commonwealth.”
  • “To us our right under the Constitution has been more precious, and our deprivation of it will be the more grievous, because our expatriation has come to be a darling project with many of our fellow citizens.”
  • “We are PENNSYLVANIANS, and we hope to see the day when Pennsylvania will have reason to be proud of us, as we believe she has now none to be ashamed.”
  • “We would not misrepresent the motives of the Convention; but we are constrained to believe that they have laid our rights a sacrifice on the altar of slavery.”
  • “Firm upon our old Pennsylvania BILL OF RIGHTS, and trusting in a God of Truth and justice, we lay our claim before you, with the warning that no amendments of the present Constitution can compensate for the loss of its foundation principle of equal rights, nor for the conversion into enemies of 40,000 friends.”
  • “Are we to be disfranchised, lest the purity of the white blood should be sullied by an intermixture with ours?”

Authors, Sources, and Publication Context

  • Principal figure cited as author of this public appeal: ROBERT PURVIS, listed as Chairman of the Committee.
  • Bibliographic note: Robert Purvis, Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens, Threatened with Disfranchisement, to the People of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: 1838), 1-18. Available through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
  • Contextual anchors: References to the Articles of Confederation (1778), the current U.S. Constitution, the Journal of Congress, the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Guardians of the Poor (Philadelphia, 1830).

Connections to Broader Themes

  • Early civil rights discourse: This document shows how Black communities mobilized to protect political rights and frame voting rights as essential to citizenship and dignity, not mere charity.
  • Intersection of abolition and suffrage: It highlights how anti-slavery activists linked the fight for abolition to broader civil rights, particularly voting rights for free Black citizens in northern states.
  • Territorial and demographic arguments in rights debates: The authors use data about population, wealth, taxation, and religious/educational life to argue that Black residents contribute to the commonwealth and thus deserve equal political standing.
  • Ethical critique of slavery-friendly politics: The text challenges Northern complicity with slavery-like policies in the guise of benevolence or prudence, arguing that such politics degrade both Black citizens and the polity that disfranchises them.