The Proposed Amendment to the Constitution: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A two sided political advertisement regarding a proposed amendment to the Ohio state constitution printed in black ink on yellow card stock. The front of the card has the title at the top in large print [THE / PROPOSED AMENDMENT / TO THE CONSTITUTION] followed by an image of an eagle, which is smudged. The body of the card has text about the proposed amendment. In a separate section in the bottom quarter, the text reads [THE BLACK MAN payes taxes equally with the White Man. Stoody the draft equally with the White Man. Volunteered into the army equally with the White Man. And fought for his Country and Flag equally and as honestly as the White Man. And all he asks is to vote for the salvation of his country equally with the White Man.]. The reverse side has four paragraphs of additional text. The last paragraph has a small pointing hand icon and reads [Vote for the Constitutional Amendment - YES. Vote for the Loyal Black against the deserter of his Country's Flag.]. Beneath the text is a signature in blue ink: [Elmer J. Musser].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1867
• Created by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Republican Party, American, founded 1854
• Type: advertisements
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 4 1/16 x 2 5/16 in. (10.3 x 5.9 cm)
• Place depicted: Ohio, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Politics
• Topic: Race discrimination
• Topic: Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877
• Topic: Suffrage
• Object number: 2011.155.14
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.