the National Government rested there—whether or not of their own accord the various States would have extended the suffrage to Negroes—because, within less than two years, the Fifteenth Amendment had deprived the States of any choice in the matter by providing that they must not deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race or color.
SUFFRAGE BETWEEN 1870 AND 1890
At the time of the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, in 1870, the following States still restricted the suffrage to white persons: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Illinois[29] adopted a new Constitution in 1870 which omitted the word "white." Missouri[30] amended its Constitution on November 8, 1870, after the Fifteenth Amendment went into effect, by erasing the word "white," and Virginia,[31] in its Constitution of 1870, extended the suffrage to "male citizens." It is needless to say that all the Constitutions adopted since 1870 have omitted the word "white" from the suffrage qualifications, so it is not worth while to note the various Constitutions and Amendments that have been adopted since that date. But in some State Constitutions which have not been changed within the last forty years, one still finds the provision that only "white male citizens" are electors. This is true of Maryland.[32] Attempts have been made to amend the Constitution by erasing the word "white," but the objection has been made that it is null and void[33] anyway by the Fifteenth Amendment, and that it would
