Carter Glass - Early Politics

Early Politics

As a prominent and respected newspaper editor, Glass often supported candidates who ran against Virginia's Democrats of the post-Reconstruction period, who he felt were promoting bad fiscal policy. In 1896, the same year his father died, Glass attended the Democratic National Convention as a delegate, and heard William Jennings Bryan speak. He was elected to the Senate of Virginia in 1899, and was a delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention of 1901–1902. He was one of the most influential members of the convention, which instituted measures associated with the Progressive movement, such as the establishment of the State Corporation Commission to regulate railroads and other corporations, replacing the former Virginia Board of Public Works.

The 1902 Constitution instituted a poll tax and required bulk payment after a voter missed elections, making voting a luxury that poor people, which included many African-Americans, could not often afford. The Constitution also required that voters pass a literacy test, a poll test on the Virginia Constitution, with their performance graded by the registrar. When questioned as to whether these measures were potentially discriminatory, Glass exclaimed, "Discrimination! Why that is exactly what we propose. To remove every negro voter who can be gotten rid of, legally, without materially impairing the numerical strength of the white electorate." Indeed, the number of African-Americans qualified to vote dropped from 147,000 to 21,000 immediately.