Actually, the 1826 NY tax lists indicate that 298 Blacks qualified to vote that year, and the numbers increased slightly each year from then on.

I'm happy to help with your 'homework assignment', but I'm not gonna do all your work for you!       ;>)

Prior to the Civil War, five northern states- almost all in New England- allowed Blacks to vote on the SAME terms as whites. Several additional states, like New York, allowed them to vote, but they had to meet more stringent conditions than did whites. It has literally been 20 years since I did any work in this particular area of history, so I can't put my hands right on chapter-and-verse references. I can recommend the bibliographies in any of Eric Foner's extensive studies as a starting point.

Hey, I agree that slavery was not "the" cause of the American Civil War; any time someone starts talking about THE cause of anything that complex, better watch out. But just because it wasn't THE cause doesn't mean that Negro slavery, with all its social, political, and economic ramifications, and the increasingly hostile sectionalim that the conflicts over the expansion of Slavery (Kansas/Nebraska, the "Compromise" of 1850, etc.) exacerbated weren't A cause, and significant ones at that.

If I can easily put my hands on any specific references, I'll get 'em to you.

Best, Greg