Delegate rolls were important documents of convention procedure and national representation. A lively debate ensued at the 1843 convention about admitting honorary members and “gentleman” attendees as delegates with full voting rights. Delegates were usually elected in their home states and affirmed representation prior to proceedings. At the 1843 convention, some delegates supported a motion to expand the delegation by including men who had not previously been elected in their home states. In a discussion led by Charles B. Ray, Henry Highland Garnet and Amos Beman, delegates debated the ways rolls affirmed formal election processes and could favor local issues of the host state. Despite resistance, the convention adopted a resolution to admit as delegates “gentlemen present, who have come from places which there is no regularly appointed delegation to the Convention...and that all other gentleman be requested to take seats as honorary members." The body failed to extend this courtesy to attending Black women.
The Committee on Delegates included Robert Banks, Nimrod W. Jones, and William Wells Brown. Members collected information on delegates for printing purposes. They submitted the list for a vote of approval. Members also called roll at the start of each convention session.
See the graph below for rates of delegate attendance over time.
Punctuation and spelling reflect delegate roll printed in minutes.
Convention Officers
President:
Amos G. Beman, New Haven, Conn.
Vice Presidents:
F. Piere, Maine
F. Douglass, Massachusetts
W. W. Matthews, Connecticut
Jas. Sharp, New York
A. M. Summer, Ohio
H. Johnson, Michigan
N. W. Jones, Illinois
Secretaries:
Chas. B. Ray, New-York
Jas. W. Duffin, Geneva, N.Y.
A. H. Francis, Buffalo, N.Y.
Roll of Delegates by State
Connecticut
Amos G. Beman
W. W. Matthews
Georgia
Joseph Roxbury
Illinois
Nimrod W. Jones
Maine
F. Piere
Massachusetts
C.Lennox Remond
Frederick Douglass
Michigan
Robert Banks
W. C. Murno
Robert Allen
Henry Jackson
G. W. Tucker
New York
Rev. Theodore S. Wright
Charles B. Ray
Rev. James N. Gloucester
J. H. Townsend
Wm. P. McIntire
Henry Highland Garnit
John Wendall
T. Woodson
B. S. Anderson
Rev. James Fountain
James W. Duffin
James Jeffrey
Noah Palk
H. W. Johnson
James Sharpe
Ralph Francis
J. P. Morris
R. H. Johnson
Wm. Sanders
David Wycoff
Harrison Powell
James P. Jackson
John Granbia
Wm. Johnson
A. Peek
Albert Outley
Sampson Talbot
E. B. Dunlap
J. F. Platt
Uriah Lett
George Weir
Wm. Hall
W. W. Brown
Abner H. Francis
Mr. Samuel H. Davis
Jermin W. Loguen
North Carolina
Thomas Pollock
Ohio
J.H. Malvin
R. Robinson
David Lewis
David Jenkins
J. M. Cordozer
A. M. Sumner
W. H. Yancy
Wm. Watson
Virginia
Luke Dod
Notable Attendees
A. J. Gorden
Henry Thomas
Delegate Attendance at National Colored Conventions
This graph charts rates of delegate attendance at known national conventions in the northeastern United States between 1830 and 1864.