Boswell Amendment

1946 Alabama Amendment 4, also known as the Boswell Amendment, was an amendment to the Alabama Constitution that appeared on the general election ballot on November 5, 1946, in Alabama. First proposed by E. C. "Bud" Boswell, state representative from Geneva County, in 1945, the amendment as it passed required residents who desired to vote to be able to "explain and understand" any part of the U.S. Constitution, and repealed a provision that allowed any resident with $300.00 of taxable property to vote regardless of their literacy. This amendment was proposed after the United States Supreme Court ruled against Texas's white primary in 1944's Smith v. Allwright, in order to keep Black Americans from registering to vote, with Boswell stating the amendment's purpose was to "maintain white supremacy". The amendment passed with 53.71% of the popular vote.

A federal tribunal invalidated the amendment in January 1949 after a legal challenge was raised by ten Black Americans in Mobile County against its board of election registrars. Attorney General of Alabama Albert A. Carmichael appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in favor of the plaintiffs 8–1 in March 1949, affirming its unconstitutionality.

The election took place concurrently with elections for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, state senate, state house, and numerous other state and local offices.