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Imagining the Electorate

Cover of "The Living, Dying, Registering and Voting Population of Louisiana, 1868-1874."

Definitions of who was allowed to vote–or who counted–have changed a great deal since the founding of the United States since the individual states were long permitted to create their own rules for who was allowed to vote. These guidelines sometimes required voters to own property, or to show that they were literate, or that they had paid a poll tax. Many of these rules were implemented in order to limit who could vote. But other state laws were specifically intended to expand the electorate. From 1790 until 1807, women were allowed to vote in New Jersey. Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey allowed free Black men to vote in the early nineteenth century, but Black male suffrage would only be expanded nationwide by the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment.

Table from "The Living, Dying, Registering and Voting Population of Louisiana, 1868-1874" recording white and "colored" members of the population in separate columns and indicating if the men are literate.

Chaillé, Stanford Emerson. The Living, Dying, Registering, and Voting Population of Louisiana, 1868-1874. [New Orleans]: New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 1875.

The materials in this case reflect these shifts, as political parties, election administrators, and reformers all worked to shape new understandings of who counted in American elections. Campaign songsters helped build party identification among newly enfranchised voters. Advances in demography and data visualization shaped ideas about who made up the electorate in different places, and printed items produced to commemorate the Civil War emphasized the expansion of the franchise to Black men as one of the war’s most important outcomes.

Women’s suffrage was one of the nineteenth century’s most significant reform movements, combining the energies of people who had learned the ropes of reform working for the abolition of slavery and alcohol. Wyoming’s territorial government allowed women to vote in 1869, which served as an inspiration to the women’s suffrage movement until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.

Political Map of United States and the Territories. 1888. Each state and territory is shown with a box divided into red, black, grey, or blank lines which indicate the proportion of votes going to different parties.

“The Battle-Ground of the Presidential Election.” Supplement to Harper’s Weekly, October 8, 1888, to accompany article by Thomas Campbell Copeland. [New York] : [Harper & Brothers], October 6, 1888.

Cover of the pamphlet "History and Proceedings Attending the Presentation of a Medal to Thomas Peterson-Mundy, in the City of Perth Amboy, N.J. In commemoration of his having been the First Colored Citizen in the United States to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment." Printed portrait of Peterson-Mundy with a medal, labeled "Decoration Day, May 30th, 1884."

Paterson, Hon. William. History and Proceedings Attending the Presentation of a Medal to Thomas Peterson-Mundy. Perth Amboy, N.J.: The Middlesex County Democrat Print, 1884.

Orange fan on wooden stick. "To New York Voters The rose is red The violet's blue We want to vote As well as you! Have a Heart! Vote for Woman Suffrage Nov. 6! Printed by N. W.S. Pub, Co." Poetic portion of the quote is contained within a black heart.

Orange fan on wooden stick. "KEEP COOL AND RAISE A Breeze for Suffrage! Vote for Woman Suffrage Nov. 6th Vote for Woman Suffrage Nov. 6th"

Handheld fan, [1917]. From the Emily Howland Papers.

Sheet music for "What Would My Grandfather Think? Words and Music by Thomas P. Culiar. Includes the line "My grandfather's vote it could never be bought, for he held it more sacred than gold."

Sheet music for "What Would My Grandfather Think? Words and Music by Thomas P. Culiar. Includes the line "go to the polls where men barter their souls, For a few paltry dimes and a drink.. If he part of the blow that did shatter you know, The slave holder's chain link by link.. Could he no, brother no! let it never be so. Hurl these Democrats far o'er the brink."

Sheet music for "What Would My Grandfather Think? Words and Music by Thomas P. Culiar. Includes the line "If his honest eyes now look down from the skies What, oh, what does my grandfather think?"

Culier, Thos. P. “What Would My Grandfather Think?” Song & Chorus, 1884.

Broadside. "Woman Suffrage in Wyoming Territory. Letter From Judge Kingsman." Multi paragraph printed letter dated December 26th, 1872.

Backside of broadside. "Woman Suffrage in Wyoming Territory. Letter From Judge Kingsman." Multi paragraph printed letter from J.W. Kingman, Associate Justice United States Supreme Court, Wyoming Territory."

Kingman, J.W. “Woman Suffrage in Wyoming Territory.” [Laramie?], [1873?].

Broadside "Which Side Are You On?" with quotes from Congressman Edward T. Taylor of Colorado and John Francis Neyian, Chairman State Board of Control, Sacramento, California. Debating women's suffrage.

“Which Side Are You On?” New York: Empire State Campaign Committee, [1912?].

Acme songs, Republican glee book and cartridge box of truth : campaign of 1888, illustrated by Nast and others. Syracuse, N.Y.: Acme Publishing Bureau, J.C.O Redington, general manager. Branches at Chicago and New York, [1888].