1866 West Virginia Constitutional amendment referendum

West Virginia ballot measure February 2026 February 2026 1866 West Virginia Constitutional amendment referendum An amendment to the constitution of this State, which provided that no person who, subsequent to June, 1861, had given voluntary aid to the late Southern Confederacy, should be a citizen of the State, or permitted to vote at any election therein. May 24, 1866 1871 1871 West Virginia Constitutional amendment referendum Ratification Rejection 23,337 16,120 39,457 250px County resultsWebster 'Ratification' votes for Webster County seem to be lost. Ratification #2B2457 90–100% 1px #AAAAAA solid #28497C 80–90% 1px #AAAAAA solid #47729E 70–80% 1px #AAAAAA solid #7D9CBB 60–70% 1px #AAAAAA solid #B6C8D9 50–60% 1px #AAAAAA solid Rejection #32320C 90–100% 1px #AAAAAA solid #5D5D2D 80–90% 1px #AAAAAA solid #8B8B54 70–80% 1px #AAAAAA solid #BCBC83 60–70% 1px #AAAAAA solid #DEDEBD 50–60% 1px #AAAAAA solid A referrendum was held in West Virginia on May 24, 1866 to add an amendment to the Constitution of West Virginia. Voters were asked whether to restrict suffrage to former Confederate supporters. The amendment was approved and disenfranchised many voters. The amendment was overturned by the Flick Amendment in 1871 to restore the rights of the former Confederates. History After the American Civil War, which led to the creation of West Virginia splitting from Virginia, there was a lot of resentment from West Virginians against the former Confederacy.https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/west-virginia-the-state-that-said-no/2011/03/30/AFLxJrQD_story.html West Virginia: The State that said no Washington Post 2026-05-12 2011-03-30 Former Confederates started to engage in politics in West Virginia.https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/101/3/941/796493?redirectedFrom=fulltext Oxford University Press West Virginia's Civil War–Era Constitution: Loyal Revolution, Confederate Counter-Revolution, and the Convention of 1872 2026-05-12 Previously, the West Virginia Legislature, which was dominated by Radical Republicans, also enacted the Voters' Test Oaths of 1865 and the Voters' Registration Law of 1866. These measures restricted the right to vote and required state and local officials, as well as attorneys and school teachers, to take oaths of allegiance to West Virginia and the United States. It also preemptively all but ensured the passage of the amendment.https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/46135 In West Virginia, a state constitutional amendment passes and disenfranchises many former Confederates Dickinson College 2026-05-12 The referendum was proposed by Republicans in order to strip voting rights from anyone whom had supported the Confederacy after 1861 and would refuse to recognise their American citizenship. The referendum question passed, with 59% voting for the amendment.https://archive.org/details/americanannualcyv6dapp/page/766/mode/2up The American annual Cyclopedia and register of important events of the year 1866 The Online Books Page 1862 Rhoades Henry Eckford McPherson Edward Schem A. J. Ottarson F. J. Cleveland John F. Greeley Horace https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuo.ark:/13960/t34177x96&seq=239 The Tribune almanac and political register 1865 - 1869 HathiTrust 1838 This resulted in significant voter suppression, especially in the southern sections of the state. Estimates of the number of disfranchised voters are around 20,000.https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=etd A Constitution of our own 20 Marshall University 2026-05-12 However in 1871, Liberal Republicans joined together with Democrats to pass the Flick Amendment to the state constitution, which ended political restrictions on ex-Confederates in West Virginia. On April 27, voters approved the amendment by a margin of more than three to one, or 23,546 to 6,323.https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/wvu/batch_wvu_antares_ver02/data/sn84026824/0027176778A/1871061701/0313.pdf June 17, 1871 The Flick Amendment Shepherdstown registerhttps://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/wvu/batch_wvu_jordan_ver03/data/sn84026840/00202192488/1871061901/0537.pdf June 16, 1871 The Flick Amendment Vote The Democrat At the time, it was believed that about 15,000 people in West Virginia recovered the right to vote after the amendment was passed.https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/entries/386 July 14, 2025 History of West Virginia The West Virginia Encyclopediahttps://archive.org/details/appletonsannualc11newyuoft/page/768/mode/2up The American annual Cyclopedia and register of important events of the year 1871 The Online Books Page References Notes Category:U.S. state constitutional amendments Category:1866 in West Virginia Category:Legal history of West Virginia Category:Suffrage referendums Category:History of voting rights in the United States Category:May 1966 in the United States