52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 15 -- Taxes
Have you heard of poll taxes? Generally speaking, a poll tax is a tax levied on every adult, without reference to income or resources. (In Middle English, "poll" meant "head" so this was a tax on the head of every adult.) As a practical matter, poll taxes were a pre-condition of the exercise of the right to vote.[1]
"After the right to vote was extended to all races by the enactment of the 15th Amendment, many Southern states enacted poll tax laws, which often included a grandfather clause that allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax. These laws achieved the desired effect of disfranchising African-American and Native American voters, as well as poor whites who immigrated after the year specified."[2]
Although my Goehring ancestors presumably weren't denied any rights by failure to pay poll taxes -- being white, land-owning males and all -- I was so excited to find actual RECEIPTS for poll taxes tucked away in a cedar chest in my parents' house. To me, this was historical evidence that (1) my Prussian/German/Eastern European ancestors took their civic responsibilities seriously by paying the poll tax to ensure they could vote, and (2) they could AFFORD to pay their poll tax.[3]
The poll tax was added to the Texas Constitution in 1902. "The federal government enacted the 24th Amendment* to the U.S. Constitution in 1964, which prohibited a poll tax from being levied in national elections. Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the poll tax unconstitutional in state elections. On February 9, 1966, federal laws declared that the poll tax, still in effect in Texas, was unconstitutional. The Texas Constitution issued an amendment to repeal the Poll Tax in 1966.[4] (*Texas, by the way, didn't ratify the 24th Amendment until 2009.)
For a quick read on the history of the poll tax in Texas, check out this 2016 article from the Houston Chronicle.
Footnotes
[1, 2] “Poll Tax.” Princeton University, The Trustees of Princeton University, www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Poll_tax.html.
[3] "In 1902 though, state lawmakers made the poll tax a requirement for voting. Its effects on voting were stark. In a 2015 essay on the history of the poll tax in Texas, Joshua Houston said 'turnout by whites dropped to 50 percent and turnout by blacks plummeted to 15 percent.'" Gonzales, J.R. “Poll Tax Receipts Provide Peek into Texas' Electoral History.” Houston Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, 3 Nov. 2016, www.houstonchronicle.com/local/bayou-city-history/article/Poll-tax-receipts-provide-peek-into-Texas-10425904.php.
[4] “Voting Rights: The Poll Tax.” Dallas Public Library, Marion Butts Collection, dallaslibrary2.org/mbutts/assets/lessons/L9-voting+rights/Marion%20Butts%20-%20Voting%20Rights(PPT).pdf.
"After the right to vote was extended to all races by the enactment of the 15th Amendment, many Southern states enacted poll tax laws, which often included a grandfather clause that allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax. These laws achieved the desired effect of disfranchising African-American and Native American voters, as well as poor whites who immigrated after the year specified."[2]
Although my Goehring ancestors presumably weren't denied any rights by failure to pay poll taxes -- being white, land-owning males and all -- I was so excited to find actual RECEIPTS for poll taxes tucked away in a cedar chest in my parents' house. To me, this was historical evidence that (1) my Prussian/German/Eastern European ancestors took their civic responsibilities seriously by paying the poll tax to ensure they could vote, and (2) they could AFFORD to pay their poll tax.[3]
The poll tax was added to the Texas Constitution in 1902. "The federal government enacted the 24th Amendment* to the U.S. Constitution in 1964, which prohibited a poll tax from being levied in national elections. Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the poll tax unconstitutional in state elections. On February 9, 1966, federal laws declared that the poll tax, still in effect in Texas, was unconstitutional. The Texas Constitution issued an amendment to repeal the Poll Tax in 1966.[4] (*Texas, by the way, didn't ratify the 24th Amendment until 2009.)
For a quick read on the history of the poll tax in Texas, check out this 2016 article from the Houston Chronicle.
Footnotes
[1, 2] “Poll Tax.” Princeton University, The Trustees of Princeton University, www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Poll_tax.html.
[3] "In 1902 though, state lawmakers made the poll tax a requirement for voting. Its effects on voting were stark. In a 2015 essay on the history of the poll tax in Texas, Joshua Houston said 'turnout by whites dropped to 50 percent and turnout by blacks plummeted to 15 percent.'" Gonzales, J.R. “Poll Tax Receipts Provide Peek into Texas' Electoral History.” Houston Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, 3 Nov. 2016, www.houstonchronicle.com/local/bayou-city-history/article/Poll-tax-receipts-provide-peek-into-Texas-10425904.php.
[4] “Voting Rights: The Poll Tax.” Dallas Public Library, Marion Butts Collection, dallaslibrary2.org/mbutts/assets/lessons/L9-voting+rights/Marion%20Butts%20-%20Voting%20Rights(PPT).pdf.
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