John Prentiss Poe

John Prentiss Poe (August 22, 1836 – October 14, 1909) was Attorney General of the State of Maryland from 1891 to 1895. He also served in the Maryland Senate from 1890 to 1891.

Early life John Prentiss Poe was born on August 22, 1836, in Baltimore, to Josephine Emily (née Clemm) and Neilson Poe. Poe was a second cousin of the poet Edgar Allan Poe From 1891 to 1895, he served as Attorney General of Maryland. He was a Democrat. Black voters organized the Negro Suffrage League and established chapters throughout the state in order to marshal opposition to the amendment. Maryland voters soundly defeated the Poe Amendment by plebiscite. While Poe was sympathetic and contributed to the text of the amendment, it was drafted by Arthur Pue Gorman, chairman of the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus from 1903 to 1906.

Personal life Poe married Anne Johnson Hough on March 2, 1863.

Legacy Awards Poe received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Princeton University in 1904.

Literary reference In the novel Chesapeake, James A. Michener describes racially-disenfranchising legislation proposed by John Prentiss Pope (sic), "dean of the law school at the university". The author describes a fictitious law, as well as the debate surrounding its motivation and purported merits, using verbiage that parallels the historical Poe Amendment.