Political Exclusion Quotes
Vardaman, on of America’s worst racists, was one of the main drafters of that constitution. This is an example of why the Voting Rights Act was later needed to unravel a endemic system of keeping African Americans from voting or having any part in politics.
When Lyndon Johnson was elected Vice President he, as the former Senate Majority Leader, wanted to lead the Democratic Senate Caucus. Gore objected because he thought that violated the separation of powers between the Executive and the Legislative branches, and he wanted the Senate to be independent from the administration. Despite Gore’s objection, Johnson was elected.
Note the perception of Davis, typical of Southerners at the time, that Southerners were being excluded from California. The logic was this: California had many opportunities in land, gold, and other natural resources. Since California had a Constitutional provision against slavery, no Southerner could enter the new state with his slaves without fear of their being set free. If Southerners bought land or wanted to hunt for gold, they could not bring their slaves to do the heavy work. Therefore, they were excluded from the economic growth of the state. The idea of the whites doing the heavy work themselves of traveling without their family slaves was so foreign to the aristocratic planter class, that it was never considered by them as a possibility. Therefore, they were excluded. However, many of the lower class Southerners of all races saw great opportunities in California where they could compete on an equal footing even though they had no slaves or land.
