Excerpt from Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, Vol. 3: History Series; 1912-1914 This study was made during the academic year, 1905 to 1906, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at The University of Wisconsin. Mr. Olbrich also treated, in the form of exceptionally complete and finished seminary reports, the whole subject of negro suffrage through the passage of the fifteenth amendment, and had planned to present these results, together with a study of its later phases, in the form of a doctoral dissertation. In the summer of 1906, Mr. Olbrich was drowned while bathing in Lake Mendota. This fragment of his work is obviously not precisely in the form in which Mr. Olbrich would have presented it to the public. In particular, more use would have been made of biographical and newspaper material. The handling of the material actually used, however, was so thorough and sane as to make the work of editing it a real pleasure, and this reliability, combined with the substantial originality of the facts and conclusions, were felt to warrant publication. The manner of treatment, moreover, exhibits a distinct individuality and force, in which are traceable the qualities which gave Mr. Olbrich a marked reputation as a debater, and which is particularly well suited to the subject matter. It is possible, however, that these considerations might not of themselves have induced the editor to take up the problem of publication, had it not been for his feeling of friendship for Mr. Olbrich, and his sense of the loss which the historical profession suffered by his death. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.