Rules of Conventions

Rules of the 1833 Colored Convention at Philadelphia

As one of the earliest Conventions, the Rules which governed the 1833 Convention were particularly important. Future committees often agreed to use the rules of previous conventions. This was especially true of the 1833 convention which was the model for the next several years

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This page presents a snapshot of how the rules which governed the practices of the conventions were shown in the Minutes over a ten year period (1833-1843). Although not all conventions recorded the minutes with the precision and clarity displayed by the 1833 Philadelphia Convention, there is some mention of the rules being adopted in the minutes of almost every Convention. The language that communicates these moments of rules adoption reveals how they are an integral part of how the Colored Convention movement constituted itself as political ritual in its very enactment. Despite not having political standing, these Conventions constantly refer to the “rules and regulations of the last” [1]. Such statements create links between conventions and a sense of the work as a whole. However, the conventions did not simply adopt these rules without consideration, or simply as a routine. Rather, the debate and adaptation of the rules that would govern the proceedings was something of importance, and we can see changes that vary between locations over time.

References  

[1] “MINUTES OF THE FOURTH ANNUAL CONVENTION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOUR, IN THE UNITED STATES; HELD BY ADJOURNMENTS IN THE ASBURY CHURCH, NEW YORK, FROM THE 2D TO THE 12TH OF JUNE, INCLUSIVE, 1834.” ColoredConventions.org, accessed 6, 2016, http://coloredconventions.org/items/show/276.

 

 

 

The rules and regulations of the previous convention are adapted for use at the 1834 Convention held at Asbury Church, NY.

The choice to adopt the rules of the previous convention shows how the conventions were linked with one another, and how the built a larger sense of Black political community. Because the 1834 Convention at Asbury Church, NY adopted the rules of the 1833 convention, it shows that delegates and attendees were expected to be familiar with previous conventions.

1835 Philadelphia Convention, Reference to Rules and Regulations as continued from previous conventions.

The replication of rules shows an expected familiarity by both delegates and readers with the growing Colored Convention movement. Such references create a web of connections between conventions--a web that is played out both by delegates attending multiple conventions, but also by assumptions of familiarity like this one. An unfamiliar reader of these minutes would not only have to look at the 1834 minutes, but go back even earlier to find an actual list of the rules.

At the 1843 Troy Convention, a 3 person Committee drafted the Rules that would govern the convention.

The 1843 Convention at Troy drafted the rules for the Convention through a Committe of 3 people: A. H. Francis, W.W. Brown, and J.P. Morris. These gentlemen propose langauge specific to this convention, such as Rule 8 which states that delegates MUST use the phrase, "Shall the Main question be put now?" when calling for a vote on a debate over a proposed issue (question). By stipulating certain langauge that was specific to the Convention, Rules like No.8 demonstrate how the Colored Conventions were also ritualized political actions, which constitute the Covnentions as more than mere historical events but as community- and identity-building.