The plan advocated and supported by the George faction, of which Senator George was the author, provided that no one be allowed to register as a voter, or vote if registered, unless he could read and write, or unless he could understand any section of the Constitution when read to him and give a reasonable interpretation thereof.

This was known as the "understanding clause." It was plain to every one that its purpose was to evade the Fifteenth Amendment, and disfranchise the illiterate voters of one race without disfranchising those of the other.
The opposition to this scheme was under the leadership of one of the ablest and most brilliant members of the bar, Judge J.B.Christman, of Lincoln County.

As a substitute for the George plan or understanding clause, he ably and eloquently advocated the adoption of a fair and honest educational qualification as a condition precedent to registration and voting, to be equally applicable to whites and blacks.
The speeches on both sides were able and interesting.

It looked for a while as if the substitute clause proposed by Judge Christman would be adopted.

In consequence of such an apprehension, Judge Calhoun, the President of the Convention, took the floor in opposition to the Christman plan, and in support of the one proposed by Senator George.
The substance of his speech was that the Convention had been called for the purpose of insuring the ascendency of the white race,--the Democratic party,--in the administration of the State Government through some other methods than those which had been enforced since 1875.
"If you fail in the discharge of your duties in this matter," he declared, "the blood of every negro that will be killed in an election riot hereafter will be upon your shoulders." In other words, the speaker frankly admitted, what everyone knew to be a fact, that the ascendency of the Democratic party in the State had been maintained since 1875 through methods which, in his opinion, should no longer be sanctioned and tolerated.