Southern Manifesto
The Declaration of Constitutional Principles was a document written in February and March 1956, in the 84th United States Congress, in opposition to racial integration of public places. The manifesto was signed by 101 congressmen from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The document was drafted to counter the landmark Supreme Court 1954 ruling Brown v. Board of Education, which determined that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. School segregation laws were some of the most enduring and best-known of the Jim Crow laws that characterized the Southern United States at the time.
Massive resistance to federal rules that ordered school integration was already being practiced across the South, and was not caused by the Manifesto. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas had worked behind the scenes to tone down the original harsh draft. The final version did not pledge to nullify the 'Brown' decision nor did it support extralegal resistance to desegregation. Instead, it was mostly a states' rights attack against the judicial branch for overstepping its role.
The Southern Manifesto accused the Supreme Court of "clear abuse of judicial power" and promised 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." It suggested that the Tenth Amendment should limit the reach of the Supreme Court on such issues. Senators led the opposition, with Strom Thurmond writing the initial draft and Richard Russell the final version. The manifesto was signed by 19 senators and 82 representatives, including the entire Congressional delegations of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia. All of the signatories were Southern Democrats from former Confederate states except two Virginia Republicans, Joel Broyhill and Richard Poff.
Three former Confederate state Senators, all of the former border state Senators, and both Senators from Oklahoma - which was not a state during the Civil War - refused to sign:
- Allen Frear and John J. Williams of Delaware,
- former Senate Democratic Caucus Leader Alben Barkley and Senate Majority Whip Earle Clements of Kentucky
- James Glenn Beall and John Marshall Butler of Maryland,
- Stuart Symington and Thomas Hennings of Missouri,
- Robert Kerr and Mike Monroney of Oklahoma,
- Al Gore Sr. and Estes Kefauver of Tennessee,
- William Laird and Matthew Neely of West Virginia,
- and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson of Texas.
- Speaker of the House of Representatives Sam Rayburn of Texas,
- 16 of the 21 Democrats in the Texas House delegation, including future Speaker Jim Wright,
- all 5 Democrats in the Oklahoma delegation, including House Majority Whip Carl Albert,
- 3 of the 7 Democrats in the Tennessee delegation,
- 3 of the 11 Democrats in the North Carolina delegation,
- Dante Fascell of Florida
- all of the 26 border state House Democrats in Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Key quotes
- "The unwarranted decision of the Supreme Court in the public school cases is now bearing the fruit always produced when men substitute naked power for established law."
- "The original Constitution does not mention education. Neither does the 14th Amendment nor any other amendment. 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 unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding."
Signatories and non-signatories
United States Senate (in state order)
| Signatories | Non-signatories |
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