While the 1875 Alabama Constitution seemed to be a perfect product for its time, the 1875 frame of government was incapable of meeting Alabama's future needs. Therefore, as Alabama headed towards the Twentieth Century, the case was made for a new state constitution.
One of the biggest goals of those who advocated for a new constitution was the disfranchisement of African Americans. These advocates claimed that because manipulation of the black vote corrupted the election process, political morality demanded black disfranchisement. The right to vote for poor white farmers was also up for debate. Many conservative Democrats wanted to pass election laws that kept the government in the hands of those who were considered intelligent. In 1896, a bill to call a constitutional convention was introduced in the House of Representatives, but later killed in the Senate.
The Alabama House of Representatives, followed by the Alabama Senate, approved a bill to call a constitutional convention in November 1900. The Populist and Republican parties, both small parties, were the only groups opposed to what would be the disfranchisement of African Americans. A pledge was made to submit the new constitution to the people for ratification. 155 delegates were elected to the convention on April 23, 1901. The delegates came together for the constitutional convention on May 21, 1901.A major objective of the convention was to disfranchise African Americans. One of the favored grounds for disfranchisement was illiteracy. However, the delegates promised not to disfranchise any whites. If literacy was made a requirement to vote, many poor whites would be ineligible to vote. Many business leaders, promises aside, fully intended to disfranchise poor whites.
The voting issue took up most of the convention's time as well as monopolize the public debate. Many of the proposals made by the delegates took advantage of certain social and economic distinctions which could disfranchise African Americans as well as poor whites. Some of these proposals were: long residency requirement, a poll tax, education requirements, and the grandfather clause. After much deliberation, many of the voting restrictions were added to the 1901 Alabama Constitution.
The constitution was put to a statewide vote on November 11, 1901. The vote was 108,613 in favor of ratification and 81,734 opposed. the 1901 Alabama Constitution was adopted soon after. This constitution is Alabama's current constitution and contains over 700 amendments making this constitution the longest constitution in the world.