Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/322

 The present requirement, as amended in 1897, is ability to read the Constitution and statutes of the State in English. In 1857, Massachusetts added as a prerequisite to voting ability to read the Constitution of the State in English and write one's name. The Constitution of Wyoming of 1889 provides that the applicant for registration must be able to read the Constitution of the State. California, in 1894, required ability to read the Constitution in English and write one's name. Similar requirements were made in Maine in 1893 and in Delaware in 1900. In the territorial possessions of the United States, a Hawaiian elector must read, speak, and write English or Hawaiian, and a Filipino must speak, read, and write English or Spanish. In the Philippines this qualification is an alternative of the ownership of property; in Hawaii and the States mentioned above the educational qualification is absolute.

In the Southern States now to be considered, it is to be remembered that the applicant must satisfy either the education or the property test, not both. In Alabama he must be able to read and write the Constitution of the United States in English unless physically disabled. In Georgia he must be able to read and write in English the Constitution of the United States or of Georgia, or if physically disabled from reading and writing, to "understand and give a reasonable interpretation" of the Constitution of the United States or of Georgia, when read to him. In Louisiana he must be able to read and write and must make his application for registration in his own handwriting. Mississippi requires that the applicant must be able to read or understand or reasonably interpret any