Who Are White Persons. The Cleveland Review says: “A decision was rendered yesterday in the case of Freeman H. Morris vs. Sanborn, Christian and Gardner. Morris has about one-fourth negro blood in his veins, and was not allowed to vote at the last election in the First Ward, Sanborn, Christian and Gardner being the judges of the election. Judge Foot, at the Common Pleas of this County, held that under the Old Constitution of Ohio, all persons having more than half white blood were declared to be legally white. The new Constitution merely mentioned ‘white persons’, without defining what constituted ‘white person’, consequently the definition of a white person contained in the old Constitution remains in force, and any law declaring a person having more than half white blood to be a negro must of necessity be unconstitutional.
(Liberator, July 29, 1859, pg 3)