Vol. The Southern Manifesto is now but a distant memory, both for the American public and most professional historians. JSTOR®, the JSTOR logo, JPASS®, Artstor®, Reveal Digital™ and ITHAKA® are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. Without regard to the consent of the governed, outside mediators are threatening immediate and revolutionary changes in our public schools systems. The Founding Fathers gave us a Constitution of checks and balances because they realized the inescapable lesson of history that no …
Every one of the 26 States that had any substantial racial differences among its people, either approved the operation of segregated schools already in existence or subsequently established such schools by action of the same law-making body which considered the 14th Amendment.
Mississippi: Thomas G. Abernathy, Jamie L. Whitten, Frank E. Smith, John Bell Williams, Arthur Winstead, William M. Colmer. 105). All Rights Reserved. This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. The authors achieved their objectives because they composed a statement supported by both intransigents and moderates within the Southern Congressional Delegation. This constitutional doctrine began in the North, not in the South, and it was followed not only in Massachusetts, but in Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other northern states until they, exercising their rights as states through the constitutional processes of local self-government, changed their school systems. Log in to your personal account or through your institution. It was signed by 96 politicians from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, … Louisiana: F. Edward Hebert, Thomas Hale Boggs, Edwin E. Willis, Overton Brooks, Otto E. Passman, James H. Morrison, T. Ashton Thompson, George S. Long. In this trying period, as we all seek to right this wrong, we appeal to our people not to be provoked by the agitators and troublemakers invading our States and to scrupulously refrain from disorder and lawless acts. Reprinted here, the Southern Manifesto formally stated … We commend the motives of those States which have declared the intention to resist forced integration by any lawful means. Fountain, Graham A. Barden, Carl T. Durham, F. Ertel Carlyle, Hugh Q. Alexander, Woodrow W. Jones, George A. Shuford. We appeal to the States and people who are not directly affected by these decisions to consider the constitutional principles involved against the time when they too, on issues vital to them may be the victims of judicial encroachment. It climaxes a trend in the Federal Judiciary undertaking to legislate, in derogation of the authority of Congress, and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the States and the people. In turn, a significant number of white southerners accepted the changes to their society brought about by the initial success of the Civil Rights Movement. Vol. These developments provided the means for African Americans to dismantle the institutions that denied them their constitutional rights. South Carolina: L. Mendel Rivers, John J. Riley, W.J. The Civil Rights Movement’s thrust into American partisan politics made the 1956 presidential candidates acknowledge the struggle for black freedom as a force for positive change. THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT IN THE SCHOOL CASES ­ DECLARATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES, https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Southern_Manifesto&oldid=9135163, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. At this time, Democratic United States Senator Spessard Holland of Florida appeared on NBC’sTodayshow, where he explained to a nationwide audience the purpose of the forthcoming declaration. The Southern Manifesto also provided the Southern Congressional Delegation with the means to stymie federal voting rights legislation, so that the dismantling of Jim Crow could be managed largely on white southern terms. With the gravest concern for the explosive and dangerous condition created by this decision and inflamed by outside meddlers: We reaffirm our reliance on the Constitution as the fundamental law of the land. Orchestrated by United States Senator Richard Brevard Russell Jr. of Georgia, the Southern Congressional Delegation in general, and the United States Senate's Southern Caucus in particular, fought vigorously and successfully to counter the initial successes of civil rights workers and maintain Jim Crow. North Carolina: Herbert C. Bonner, L.H. On March 13, 1956, ninety-nine members of the Eighty-Fourth United States Congress promulgated the Declaration of Constitutional Principles, popularly known as the Southern Manifesto. . The South's defense of white supremacy culminated with this most notorious statement of opposition to desegregation.The Southern Manifesto: Massive Resistance and the Fight to Preserve Segregationnarrates this single worst episode of racial demagoguery in modern American political history and considers the statement's impact upon both the struggle for black freedom and the larger racial dynamics of postwar America. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Georgia: Prince H. Preston, John L. Pilcher, E.L. Forrester, John James Flynt, Jr., James C. Davis, Carl Vinson, Henderson Lanham, Iris F. Blitch, Phil M. Landrum, Paul Brown.

This page was last edited on 5 March 2019, at 18:07. 2715 North Charles StreetBaltimore, Maryland, USA 21218, +1 (410) 516-6989 Mr. President, the increasing gravity of the situation following the decision of the Supreme Court in the so-called segregation cases, and the peculiar stress in sections of the country where this decision has created many difficulties, unknown and unappreciated, perhaps, by many people residing in other parts of the country, have led some Senators and some Members of the House of Representatives to prepare a statement of the position which they have felt and now feel to be imperative. Mr. [Walter F.] GEORGE. The South's defense of white supremacy culminated with this most notorious statement of opposition to desegregation. MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. It is founded on elemental humanity and commonsense, for parents should not be deprived by Government of the right to direct the lives and education of their own children. Norrell. They both noted that when... On Thursday, March 8, 1956, at 10:00 a.m., the United States Senate’s Southern Caucus met in the office of Senate President Pro Tempore Walter George of Georgia to sign the final draft of the Declaration of Constitutional Principles. The Southern Manifesto also provided the Southern Congressional Delegation with the means to stymie federal voting rights legislation, so that the dismantling of Jim Crow could be managed largely on white southern terms. .

We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision which is contrary to the Constitution and to prevent the use of force in its implementation.

muse@press.jhu.edu. This interpretation, restated time and again, became a part of the life of the people of many of the States and confirmed their habits, traditions, and way of life. .

The very Congress which proposed the amendment subsequently provided for segregated schools in the District of Columbia. There were no academic forums in the leading historical journals, C-SPAN broadcasts of scholarly discussions, or roundtables for audiences to ponder the Southern Manifesto’s legacy. We decry the Supreme Court's encroachment on the rights reserved to the States and to the people, contrary to established law, and to the Constitution. Both Russell’s and Thurmond’s initial drafts argued thatPlessy v. Ferguson(1896) was the correct interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, firmly established in both legal precedent and legislative statute.

Cuba's annexation had long been a goal of U.S. slaveholding expansionists. Gathings, Wilbur D. Mills, James W. Trimble, Oren Harris, Brooks Hays, W.F. Washington, D.C.: Governmental Printing Office, 1956. Tennessee: James B. Frazier, Jr., Tom Murray, Jere Cooper, Clifford Davis. The debates preceding the submission of the 14th Amendment clearly show that there was no intent that it should affect the system of education maintained by the States. This southernprofertformally stated opposition to both federally mandated public school desegregation as declared in the U.S. Supreme Court decisionBrown v. Board of Education(1954) and the emerging Civil Rights Movement that ultimately destroyed the southern caste system known as Jim Crow. 4459-4460.]. In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 the Supreme Court expressly declared that under the 14th Amendment no person was denied any of his rights if the States provided separate but equal facilities. They framed this Constitution with its provisions for change by amendment in order to secure the fundamentals of government against the dangers of temporary popular passion or the personal predilections of public officeholders.