(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION RECONTRUCTION) LOUISIANA Extract fro

Sale 2204 - Lot 65

Price Realized: $ 5,040

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION--RECONTRUCTION.) LOUISIANA. Extract from the Reconstructed Constitution of the State of Louisiana. Engraved broadside, 24x18-3/4 inches, linen-backed; faint lines where originally folded. Np (New Orleans?, 1868)

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a rare broadside commemorating the louisiana constitution of 1868 and the black members of the convention and assembly. Louisiana fell to the Union early in the war, but Radical Reconstruction met with intransigent white supremacist resistance and as a result little could get done. "The Constitution of 1868 was one of the best in Louisiana history and at the time was one of the most forward-looking constitutions in the United States. It extended voting and other civil rights to black males, established an integrated, free public school system, and guaranteed blacks equal access to public accommodations. The 1868 constitution was also the first one in Louisiana to provide a formal bill of rights. The Black Codes of 1865 were eradicated, as were property qualifications for holding office. Writers of the constitution also disfranchised former Confederates. In real terms the new constitution did little to end racial discrimination. Although blacks tested antidiscrimination legislation in the courts and authorities occasionally enforced its provisions, the color line was rarely challenged in Louisiana. Most African Americans could not afford to ride trains and steamboats, attend the opera, or eat and drink at exclusive clubs, nor could they pay the costs of bringing the offending institutions to court." [The Cabildo]. OCLC locates two copies of this broadside; our research found a third at the Schomburg Center in New York City.