  Final Subjugation of the Confederate States (continued).—Slaves In the preceding chapter the reader will find a narration of the series of measures, adopted by the Government of the United States, to complete the final subjugation of the State of Virginia. The same series was applied, in the same order, to each of the Confederate States. It is, therefore, unnecessary to repeat the narration of these details in their application to the other States. But there were some concurrent incidents and some flagrant outrages in each one which should be stated, in order to afford a full and comprehensive view of the universal denial of unalienable personal rights, the destruction of civil institutions, the disregard of laws, and the cruel and ignominious treatment, inflicted by the authority of the Government of the United States upon individuals in every part of the Southern country. In North Carolina, immediately on the cessation of hostilities, the Federal General issued an order, declaring that "all persons heretofore held in the State as slaves are now free, and that it is the duty of the army to maintain the freedom of such persons." Another order was then issued, defining and regulating the relations of the freedmen and whites. President Johnson issued his proclamation on May 29th, appointing a provisional Governor, W. W. Holden, as in the case of Virginia. On August 8th the Governor issued his proclamation for an election of delegates to a State Constitutional Convention on September 12th, and stated who would be permitted to vote, and the manner of election. The election was held, and the so-called Convention assembled on October 2, 1865. Its first act declared the uninterrupted existence of the State in the Union, and that the ordinance of secession was null and void. The next prohibited slavery. The payment of the debt contracted during the war, by any future Legislature, was forbidden. The repeal of the secession ordinance and the prohibition of slavery were ratified by the people. An election for State officers and members of Congress was held in November, and those who had taken the amnesty oath were the voters. The so-called Legislature-elect held a session and ratified the amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting slavery. On December 23d the Governor-elect (Worth) was inaugurated, and the provisional Governor retired, acknowledging Worth to be the legal and "loyal" Governor. Thus the State was subjugated on the plan of President Johnson. The affairs of the State were thus conducted until the military acts of Congress went into operation, and on March 23, 1867, Major-General Sickles issued his order assuming command. On April 11th he issued an order for the relief of debtors, by prohibiting imprisonment for debt, and ordering the stay of all proceedings for the collection of debts for twelve months. Writs of execution issuing out of the United States Circuit Court were not allowed to be served by the military commander at Wilmington. The question was taken to the Attorney-General at Washington, and General Sickles appeared in his own defense. It was decided by the acting Attorney-General to be "simply a case of a high misdemeanor, legally contemplated." General Sickles was removed, and Major-General Canby succeeded. The State registration was completed In October, and contained the names of 103,060 whites and 71,657 blacks. The so-called election for a Convention was held in November, and the Convention assembled on February 14, 1868. The Bill of Rights adopted contained similar clauses to the one adopted by the Virginia Convention. The Constitution was ratified, and State officers, members of the Legislature, and representatives to Congress were elected on April 23d. The vote for the Constitution was 93,118; against it, 74,109. The so-called Republicans had a majority of seventy on joint ballot in the Legislature. The State officers elected under the plan of President Johnson had continued in the peaceful administration of their duties. Therefore, on the day of the inauguration of the newly-elected Governor (Holden) the existing Governor (Worth) made a spirited protest, saying: "I do not recognize the validity of the late election, under which you and those coÖperating with you claim to be invested with the civil government of the State. You have no evidence of your election, save the certificate of a major-general of the United States Army. I regard all of you as, in effect, appointees of the military power of the United States, and not as deriving your powers from the consent of those you claim to govern. Knowing, however, that you are backed by military force here, which I could not resist if I would, I do not deem it necessary to offer a futile opposition, but vacate the office without the ceremony of actual eviction, offering no further opposition than this, my protest. I would submit to actual expulsion in order to bring before the Supreme Court of the United States the question as to the constitutionality of the legislation under which you claim to be the rightful Governor of the State, if the past action of that tribunal furnished any hope of a speedy trial. I surrender the office to you under what I deem military duress, without stopping, as the occasion would well justify, to comment on the singular coincidence that the present State government is surrendered, as without legality, to him whose own official sanction, but three years ago, declared it valid. "I am, very respectfully, "JONATHAN WORTH,"Governor of North Carolina." The so-called Legislature assembled on the appointed day, and the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was at once ratified, and on July 11, 1868, the President announced by proclamation that "North Carolina had complied with the conditions prescribed by Congress for her restoration to an equal place in the Union of States." In South Carolina, proceedings were commenced on June 20, 1865, when President Johnson issued a proclamation similar to the one in the case of Virginia, and appointed Benjamin F. Perry as provisional Governor of the State. He continued all persons in office on taking the amnesty oath, and all laws in force prior to the secession of the State were maintained except those conflicting with the proclamation; delegates to a so-called State Convention were elected on the first Monday of September, and the Convention assembled on the 13th to amend the State Constitution. The ordinance of secession was repealed and slavery abolished. Blacks were made witnesses in all cases where the rights or property of persons of that class were involved. An election of State officers and a so-called Legislature were held. The latter convened on October 25th. The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery was ratified. On November 29th the provisional Governor retired, and the so-called Governor-elect (Orr) was inaugurated. The work of the Legislature was very complete. The courts were open to all persons, with equal civil rights, without distinction of color, and Major-General Sickles, commander of the Military Department of North Carolina and South Carolina, ordered all civil and criminal cases to be tried before them in which the parties were civilians. Previous to this order, and after the cessation of hostilities, provost-marshals and military courts were detailed for duty all over the State. These officers knew only the law martial, and generally very little of that; and took jurisdiction of all cases both civil and criminal, occasioning great annoyance, expense, and vexation, deciding as their prejudice, caprice, or ignorance suggested. After the completion of the so-called State government, however, the vacancies on the bench were filled, and the courts opened throughout the State. Still the people were made to feel that the military hand was over all. A case occurred in the court in Charleston, before Judge A. P. Aldrich, in which a white man was indicted for petty larceny, tried, and found guilty. The punishment prescribed by the law of the State for this offense was whipping. To this punishment the offender was sentenced. On the next day an armed soldier came to the court-house inquiring for the Judge, who was absent. To an inquiry of the sheriff as to his business, he replied that he was ordered to require the Judge to report at General Bennet's headquarters, who was the military commander of the district. On the next day another soldier in full uniform came to the lodgings of the Judge with a note from the General requesting the former to report at headquarters. The reply of the Judge was: "As I have no business with you, I decline to report. If you have business with me, it will give me great pleasure to receive you." On the next day an adjutant appeared saying: "The General is very much engaged, and asks you to come to his office. I will wait your convenience." "I see I am under arrest," replied the Judge. "I will go now." The adjutant, in full uniform, escorted him through the most public parts of the city to headquarters, and, entering the office, announced him. The General was sitting, with his cap on, and writing. After some time, having finished, he looked up and said, "Sit down," adding, "That was a curt note you sent to me yesterday." "No, sir," answered the Judge, "I intended it to be respectful, but, as I had no business with you, I did not see why I should be required to come to your office." "Do you dispute the authority of the United States Government?" asked the General, tartly. "No, sir; I am here in obedience to that authority, but I have always supposed that, as a mere matter of courtesy, when one gentleman has business with another, he calls on him. As a matter of etiquette, I believe a Judge of the Superior Court of a State is equal in rank to a brevet brigadier-general." "We will not discuss the question of rank," replied the General, "but General Sickles requests you to revoke your sentence of the other day and impose some other penalty." The Judge replied: "I do not impose the penalty; it is the law, and I have no discretion." He then explained the law, and said there was no relief except by a pardon of the Governor, or by taking the prisoner out of the custody of the sheriff. A few days after, the prisoner was taken from the custody of the Sheriff and discharged. The proceeding was brought to the knowledge of the so-called Governor, who applied to General Sickles to suspend his order, but the latter declined; whereupon the Judge, then at Columbia, to hold the court of the circuit, declared that he would adjourn the court and not proceed on his circuit; that he would not go through the farce of holding a court when judgments and sentences could be arrested and prevented by military order. He then adjourned the court, and passed an order refusing to hold courts while the military order was in force. General Sickles also issued an order reversing a judgment of the Supreme Court. The President about the same time countermanded a like order of the General in North Carolina, and the Judge resumed his duties. Under the act of Congress of March 2, 1867, the State was divided into ten military districts, and a post commander appointed for each. All local officers, who were regularly elected by the people, were to be appointed by these commanders. Military orders were issued from time to time containing social regulations, etc. One on the subject of criminal arrests and trials required all sheriffs, marshals, and police officers to report to the Provost-Marshal-General of the district, their names, residence, official station, salary, and the authority by which they were appointed; also to investigate and report all particulars of any crime committed, to the Provost-Marshal-General, setting forth name, residence, and description of the offender with the nature of the offense, and steps taken to secure punishment. Sheriffs were directed to make a full report of the condition of all jails and prisons within their jurisdiction. All civil officers in charge of any jail, prison, or workhouse, were required to make full monthly reports of each inmate under their care. All sheriffs, constables, and police officers were required "to obey and execute the lawful orders of the Provost-Marshal-General, to the same effect as they are required by law to obey and execute writs, warrants, or other process issued by civil magistrates," and any resistance or refusal to execute the same subjected the offender to trial by military commission. Details of the plan to be followed in making the registration were fully laid down, and the order then contained the following instructions: "Boards will take notice that, according to section 10 of the act of "Boards are instructed that all the provisions of the several acts of "It is made the duty of the commanding General to remove from office On September 5, 1867, Major-General Canby took command. General "The undersigned avails himself of the occasion to acknowledge the The question of the qualification of jurors now became important. General Canby issued an order on September 13th, which required the jurors to be drawn from the "qualified voters," which included the newly emancipated slaves. The Judges met, and sent a respectful request to the General to change the order to conform to the law of the State. By the jury law, as it then stood, no person was qualified to serve as a juror unless he was a free white man, twenty-one years of age. The Judges were sworn to enforce this law and the Constitution of the State. No notice was taken of the application. At the next court in Edgefield, Judge Aldrich, charging the grand jury, brought to their notice the order, the law and the Constitution, and the oath of office, and then declared "he could not and would not obey the order." On going to open the court a few days after, the adjutant of the post delivered to him a military order suspending him from office. He proceeded and opened the court, read the order and stated the circumstances, and, laying aside his gown, directed the sheriff "to let the court stand adjourned while justice is stifled." [131] The major-general appointed another Judge to the vacancy. The registration of voters was completed in the middle of October, and amounted to 46,346 whites and 78,982 blacks. The vote on a State Convention was taken on November 19th and 20th, and resulted, for the Convention, 130 whites and 68,876 blacks; against the Convention, 2,801 whites. The delegates were 34 whites and 63 blacks. The Convention assembled on January 14, 1868. The Bill of Rights contained provisions similar to that of Virginia, and the Constitution was made to conform to the will of Congress. The ratification of the Constitution, and the election of State officers and a Legislature, took place on April 14, 15, and 16, 1868. The vote for the Constitution was 70,758; against it, 27,288; not voting, but registered, 35,551. The Legislature, with a majority of forty-eight blacks, assembled on July 6th. The fourteenth constitutional amendment was adopted, and the construction of the State by Congress was completed practically on July 13, 1868. In Georgia, on the cessation of hostilities, the Governor issued a proclamation calling a session of the Legislature. But the commanding General issued an order declaring the proclamation to be null and void. Another military officer, in a letter to the Governor, stated that he was instructed by the President to say to him, that "the persons who incited the war and carried it on will not be allowed to assemble at the call of their accomplice to act again as the Legislature of the State, and again usurp the authority and franchises. In calling the Legislature together again, without the permission of the President, you have perpetrated a fresh crime; and, if any person presumes to answer or acknowledge your call, he will be immediately arrested." The military authorities of the United States then took the control of affairs until the appointment of James Johnson, on June 17th, by the President, as provisional Governor of the State, by a proclamation similar to the one issued in the case of Virginia. On July 13th he issued a proclamation prescribing the regulations for a State Convention. Provost-marshals had been stationed all over the State to regulate local affairs, and the laws in force previous to 1861 were ordered to be enforced. Delegates were elected on October 4th, and the so-called State Convention assembled on October 25th. The ordinance of secession was repealed. The payment of the war debt was prohibited. The emancipation of the slaves was expressly recognized, and a so-called election for State officers, members of the Legislature and of Congress, was appointed to be held on November 15th. The Legislature assembled on December 4th, and unanimously adopted the thirteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution, prohibiting the existence of slavery. Charles J. Jenkins, Governor-elect, was inaugurated, and on December 19, 1865, the provisional Governor relinquished the conduct of the State affairs to the constituted authorities. The Freedmen's Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act of Congress were enforced by the military authorities. The State Legislature again assembled on November 1, 1866. The ratification of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was repassed to a joint committee of each House, which reported a resolution to refuse to ratify the same. In the Senate it was adopted unanimously, and in the House by a vote of 132 to 2. On April 1, 1866, Major-General John Pope assumed command in the third military district, containing Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. An unsuccessful effort was made by the State at this time to bring the question of the constitutionality of the "reconstruction" acts of Congress before the Supreme Court. Governor Jenkins took part in the application to the Supreme Court, and, while at Washington, issued an address to the people of the State, urging them to take no action under the laws. He was called upon to make an explanation on his return by General Pope, as parts of the address were declared in violation of the military order of the latter. But as the so-called Governor had not seen the order, his offense was excused. A mayor and aldermen for Augusta were appointed by General Pope; also the sheriff and deputy for Bartow County, and other officers. An order was issued that jurors should be selected from the list of qualified voters. Judge Reese, of Ocmulgee District, wrote to General Pope, declaring that, under his oath to sustain the laws, he could not conform to the order. General Pope replied with an attempt to show him that he owed allegiance, first of all, to the authority of the United States, as represented by the military power in the State. The argument was of no avail, and the Judge was prohibited from holding court. The registration of votes was completed early in September, The number registered was 188,647, and the whites had a majority of about 2,000. The election of delegates to the State Convention took place from October 29th to November 3d. Of the delegates, 133 were whites and 33 blacks. The Convention assembled on December 13th, and soon adjourned to January 8, 1868. Meantime, Major-General Meade had relieved General Pope as military commander. The Convention, before this adjournment, ordered the Comptroller to levy a tax to pay its expenses, and directed the State Treasurer to advance forty thousand dollars for its pay and mileage. The ordinance was sent to the Treasurer, endorsed with instructions from General Pope to pay. The Treasurer refused to advance the money, as he was prohibited by the Constitution to do so, except on the warrant of the Governor. General Meade requested the Governor to issue the warrant. He replied that the Constitution forbade any money to be drawn from the Treasury except on an appropriation, whereupon General Meade removed both officers, and appointed others. The provisions required by the acts of Congress were adopted in the so-called new Constitution. At the same time, certain provisions were inserted, which were intended to afford relief to the people. The Convention, therefore, by resolution, requested General Meade to require the courts to enforce them "until the State was restored to its regular relations with the United States, and the State organization was in full force." An order was, therefore, issued by the General requiring the courts and officers of the State government to enforce the provisions, in all respects, the same as if they had regularly taken effect. One of the Judges, having refused to comply with this order, was removed by General Meade. The so-called election on the Constitution, and for State officers, and Legislature, and members of Congress, was held on April 20th and following days. The State Constitution was declared to be ratified; Rufus W. Bullock, the so-called Republican candidate, was declared to be elected Governor by a majority of seven thousand votes. The Legislature assembled on July 4, 1868, with three Senators and twenty-five Representatives who were negroes. The fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution was adopted, and all the conditions of Congress were fulfilled; and on July 28, 1868, she was declared to be restored to the Union. Subsequently it appeared that the State Convention had made no provision which could be construed as expressly giving the black man a right to hold office, and all these members were expelled from the Legislature. The matter was taken up by Congress, and the State was not fully recognized as in the Union until 1870. The proceedings in Florida commenced with the usual proclamation of President Johnson. It was issued on July 13, 1865, and appointed William Marvin provisional Governor of the State. On August 3d he issued a proclamation prescribing such rules and regulations as were deemed necessary for the choice of members of a so-called State Constitutional Convention, and appointed October 10th for the day of election, and October 25th as the day on which the delegates should meet. They "annulled" the secession ordinance, passed an ordinance prohibiting slavery, with a preamble in these words: "Whereas, slavery has been destroyed in this State by the Government of the United States; therefore," etc. Another ordinance declared void the liabilities contracted for the war. Freedmen were made competent witnesses in any matter wherein a colored person was concerned. An election of State officers, of the members of the Legislature, and of Representatives in Congress, was ordered to be held on November 29th, and the Legislature were required to meet on December 18th. Governor David S. Walker was inaugurated on December 21st, and on January 18, 1866, the provisional Governor surrendered the conduct of the State to the so-called constitutional authorities. At this session of the Legislature, the Lower House unanimously refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The military rule which has prevailed in local affairs was relaxed on April 27, 1866, and all civilians under military arrest were turned over to the civil authorities for trial. On April 1, 1867, Major-General Pope assumed command under the act of Congress of March 2d. On June 18th a superintendent of registration was appointed, and the conditions for the registration of voters were prescribed. The result of the registration was 11,148 whites and 15,434 blacks. The election of delegates to the so-called State Constitutional Convention was held on November 14th, 15th and 16th, and on January 20, 1868, the Convention assembled, and contained seventeen blacks as members. A disgraceful quarrel arose in the Convention, and twenty members absented themselves. The twenty-one remaining claimed to be a quorum, and formed a Constitution, and adjourned. The absentees then returned, and, with three or four from the other side, organized and proceeded to form a Constitution. The others appeared and claimed their seats. Great disorder prevailed, but by the intervention of Major-General Meade, and by putting in the chair his sub-commander, some degree of order was restored, and such an arrangement effected that the second Constitution was completed. All the requisite measures under it were adopted, and on June 29th, the surrender of the so-called government of the State by the military power of the United States to the civil authority was made. The political quarrel continued long afterward. In Alabama the proclamation of President Johnson was issued on June 21, 1865, by which Lewis C. Parsons was appointed provisional Governor and the usual proceedings prescribed. On July 20th the Governor issued a proclamation, which renewed the powers of the persons holding the township offices in the State; called a State Constitutional Convention to assemble on September 10th, and reordained the civil and criminal laws, except those relating to slaves, as they existed previous to 1861, and prescribed other regulations. A peaceful election was held, and the delegates to the so-called Convention assembled and took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Union thereof, and all proclamations relative to the emancipation of slaves. Slavery was prohibited, the war debt declared void, and the secession ordinance repealed. An election for State officers, members of the Legislature, and Representatives in Congress, was ordered on the first Monday of November. The new Constitution was not submitted to a vote of the people on account of the delay it would occasion. Robert M. Patton was elected Governor, and the Legislature assembled on November 20th. The amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting the existence of slavery was ratified, and on December 18, 1865, the provisional Governor surrendered the conduct of the affairs of the State to the Governor-elect. During the existence of the Confederate Government, the Protestant Episcopal Church South was established, and the prayer for the President of the United States and all in civil authority, in the "Book of Common Prayer," was changed to one for the Confederate authorities. Upon the restoration of the authority of the United States, the prayer for the President was omitted altogether, by the recommendation of Bishop Wilmer; whereupon Major-General Woods issued an order by which the Bishop and all his clergy in the diocese of Alabama "were suspended from their functions and forbidden to preach or perform divine service." The order was subsequently set aside by President Johnson. At the session of the Legislature in November, 1866, the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution was rejected by an overwhelming majority. On assuming command of the Third Military Division under the act of Congress of March 2, 1867, Major-General Pope assigned Major-General Swayne to the "administration of the military reconstruction bill" in Alabama. On April 8th the order directing the proceedings in the registration of voters was issued. Special instructions were issued, as in all the other States, to boards of registers which declared that clerks and reporters of the Supreme Court and inferior courts, and clerks to ordinary county courts, treasurers, county surveyors, receivers of tax-returns, tax-collectors, tax-receivers, sheriffs, justices of the peace, coroners, mayors, recorders, aldermen, councilmen of any incorporated city or town, who were ex-officers of the Confederacy, and who, previous to the war, occupied these offices and afterward participated in the war, were all disqualified and not entitled to registration. Meantime the municipal officers were removed in several places, and in the city of Mobile the police administration was suspended and the maintenance of public order assumed by the commander of the military force. Finally, the chief officers and councilmen of the city were removed, and others appointed by the district commander. The registration was completed in August, and amounted to 72,748 whites and 88,243 blacks. The vote on the Convention and for delegates was given on the first three days of October. A hundred delegates were chosen, of whom ninety-six were "radicals"—seventeen of them were blacks. On November 5th the so-called Convention assembled and adopted all the amendments required by the act of Congress. The election for the ratification of the Constitution, for State officers, members of the Legislature, and Representatives in Congress, was held on February 4, 1868. A majority of all the registered vote was required to ratify the Constitution, which was 85,000. The vote cast was 75,000. On June 20, 1868, Congress passed an act which declared that each of the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, should be admitted to representation when its Legislature had ratified the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and farther, "upon the fundamental condition that the Constitution of neither of said States shall ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen, or class of citizens, of the United States of the right to vote in said State, who are entitled to vote by the Constitution thereof, herein recognized, except as a punishment for crime," etc. The so-called State Legislature assembled on July 13th, and Articles XIII and XIV as amendments to the Constitution of the United States were ratified. The conduct of the affairs of the State was now transferred by General Meade to the new civil authorities. Mississippi, immediately after the cessation of hostilities, was occupied by a military force of the United States. Meantime the Governor called an extra session of the Legislature, and made provision for a Constitutional Convention; but these measures were set aside by the proclamation of President Johnson, on June 13th, appointing William L. Sharkey provisional Governor. The system of measures embraced in the plan of the President for the restoration of the Confederate States to the Union was immediately commenced and completed in the election of Benjamin G. Humphreys for Governor, with the other State officers, members of the Legislature, and Representatives in Congress. The fourteenth amendment of the Constitution was unanimously rejected by the Legislature in January, 1867. Under the act of Congress of March 2, 1867, Major-General Ord assumed command of the Fourth Military Division, consisting of Mississippi and Arkansas. Governor Humphreys sought immediately to bring the question of the constitutionality of this act before the United States Supreme Court. Arguments were heard upon it by the Court. The motion was to enjoin and restrain President Johnson and Major-General Ord from executing the act and supplements. It was denied, and Chief-Justice Chase, on delivering the opinion, said: "If the President refuses obedience, it is needless to observe that the Court is without power to enforce its process. If, on the other hand, the President complies with the order of the Court, and refuses to execute the act of Congress, is it not clear that a collision may occur between the executive and the legislative departments of the Government? May not the House of Representatives impeach the President for such refusal?" Major-General Ord, immediately after assuming command, proceeded to organize boards for the registration of voters and prescribe their qualifications and disqualifications. The latter were so numerous as to embrace, in all these States, every white who had voluntarily done the most simple act to aid or favor any person engaged in the Confederate service, or had incited, by words, others to render such aid, while the entire class of blacks were not disqualified by such acts, as it was assumed that they were done by compulsion. Thus the aim and end of registration, after this manner, in a State, were to throw the entire political power into the hands of the negroes. Orders were now issued directing the military to coÖperate with the civil officers to break up the crime of horse-stealing, to secure to labor its share of the crops, and to protect debtor and creditor from sacrifices by forced sales; to suspend for a time certain sales under execution; to prohibit interference with the legal tenant; to ascertain if distillers had paid their taxes; to investigate complaints made by citizens of persecution by civil authorities; to notify State and municipal officers of the laws of Congress for the organization of their governments on the basis of suffrage without regard to color; to subordinates of the Freedmen's Bureau to investigate all charges against landholders; to require supervisors, inspectors, and boards of registration to obtain the names of suitable persons, white or black, to act as clerks and judges of elections; to close strictly all bar-rooms and saloons for the day when political meetings were held; to remove the city marshal, three justices of the peace, and four members of the City Council of Vicksburg; to appoint other persons to fill the vacancies, who were required to take the test oath of Congress; to forbid the assembling of bodies of citizens under any pretense; to transfer the papers to a military commission whenever a person who had been in the Federal service was indicted and apprehended an unfair trial; to notify overseers of the poor that any neglect to provide for colored paupers would be regarded as a neglect of duty, etc. The roistered names amounted to 46,636 whites and 60,167 blacks. The military appointment for delegates to the Convention was such as to give to thirty-two counties, having small colored majorities, seventy of the representatives, and to twenty-nine counties, having small white majorities, thirty representatives. On November 5th the election was held, and the so-called Convention assembled on January 8, 1868. The ordinance of secession was declared null and void; the existence of slavery prohibited; payment of the war debt forbidden; universal suffrage established, excepting only criminals; an election to ratify the Constitution and for the election of State officers, a Legislature, and Representatives in Congress, was ordered to be held on June 22d, and a large number of radical amendments adopted. At the election the Constitution was rejected by a majority of 7,629. The opposition candidate was also elected Governor. On October 1, 1867, the Chief-Justice of the State, A. H. Handy, sent his resignation to the Governor. He said: "It is apparent that the character and dignity of the Court can not be maintained, and that its powers must be held and exercised in subordination to the behests of a military commander." On December 28, 1867, Major-General Ord was succeeded by Major-General McDowell. On June 15th the latter issued an order removing Governor Humphreys and appointing Major-General A. Ames to the vacancy. Governor Humphreys declined to vacate the office, saying that the attempt to remove him was a "usurpation of the civil government of Mississippi, unwarranted by and in violation of the Constitution of the United States." A squadron of soldiers was sent by the military commander of the post, which marched in and took possession of the office. The house of the Governor was then demanded for the new incumbent of the office. As Governor Humphreys refused to vacate it, a file of soldiers came and ejected him. After the rejection of the so-called new Constitution, its friends applied to Congress, as the sovereign, to throw out the vote of several counties and declare the Constitution to be adopted. This action was recommended on the ground, as they said, that the election had not been fairly conducted, and that violence and intimidation had, in many parts of the State, prevented a full and just vote. The Constitution was defeated, not, as thus alleged, by fraud and intimidation, but distinctly for the reason that it was more vindictive in its spirit than the people, white or black, would tolerate, and more prescriptive in its provisions than the acts of Congress required. In March, 1869, the provisional Governor of the State, Major-General A. Ames, was made the military commander of the Fourth Military District. At the same time a joint resolution was passed by Congress, which ordered that all persons holding office in Mississippi, who could not take the test-oath prescribed in 1862, should be removed from office. By the aid of this weapon it was expected that General Ames would make the State organization so-called Republican. Meanwhile Congress passed an act which authorized the President to submit the Constitution of the State to another election by the people, with a separate vote on its objectionable section. Preparations for this election were commenced by the issue of an order of the military commander prescribing stringent regulations relative to the requisites of voters for registration. The election was held on November 30 and December 1, 1869, and the Constitution was ratified. The vote against disfranchising citizens for serving under the Confederacy during the war was almost unanimous. The so-called Legislature assembled on January 11, 1870. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the United States Constitution were adopted, and on February 12th an act of Congress was passed by which the State was permitted to be represented in that body. At the beginning of 1865 Louisiana was under the State government constructed by General Banks, as has been stated in previous pages. It occupied New Orleans, and extended its control to the extremity of the military lines. Within this limit it was treated practically as a restored portion of the Union. The United States military draft was enforced. Much disorder in civil affairs prevailed, and some serious disturbances occurred up to the time when Congress undertook its plan of restoration. There was, in fact, a military rule during all that period. On March 19, 1867, Major-General Sheridan was assigned to the command of the Fifth Military District, embracing Louisiana and Texas, in accordance with the act of Congress of March 2d. By this act the existing State government was "declared to be only provisional, and subject to be abolished, modified, controlled, or superseded." Major-General Sheridan began his proceedings with the removal of certain obnoxious officials who were, in his opinion, dangerous to the peace of the community. The registration of voters was ordered to commence on May 1st. To an application to General Grant, the commander-in-chief, for more definite instructions, by Major-General Sheridan, the former replied on June 28th: "Enforce your own construction of the military bill, until ordered to do otherwise." The Legislature having appropriated four million dollars for the repairs of levees, and appointed a board to discharge the duties, Governor Wells became dissatisfied with their action, and appointed another board. Disputes arising between the two boards, Major-General Sheridan removed both, and appointed a third, and enforced its authority. In April, Major-General Sheridan, writing to General Grant, said: "I fear I shall be obliged to remove Governor Wells, of this State, who is impeding me as much as he can." General Grant replied: "I would advise that no removals of Governors of States be made at present. It is a question now under consideration whether the power exists, under the law, to remove, except by special act of Congress, or by trial under the sixth section of the act promulgated in Orders 33 (act of March 2d)." On June 3d Major-General Sheridan issued an order, removing the so-called Governor, saying that, "having made himself an impediment to the faithful execution of the act of Congress of March 2d, by directly and indirectly impeding the General in command in the faithful execution of the law," etc., Benjamin F. Flanders was appointed to fill the vacancy. The registration ceased on July 31st, with the names of 44,732 whites and 82,907 blacks. Extensive removals from office were now made— among others, twenty-two members of the City Council of New Orleans, also the city treasurer and city surveyor, a justice of peace, sheriff, etc. On August 17th Major-General Sheridan was relieved, and Major-General Hancock succeeded. "Impediments to reconstruction under the laws of Congress" continued to be removed, and other persons assigned to their places. The election for delegates to the so-called Convention was held on September 27th and 28th, and that body assembled on November 23d. The measures required by the act of Congress were adopted, and an election for its ratification and for State officers, and a Legislature, was held on April 17th and 18th. The Constitution was ratified, and the State officers and members of the Legislature were elected. Meantime Major-General Hancock was relieved, and succeeded by Major-General Buchanan. After the election, the registrars of the State proposed to install the newly elected officers under the provisions of an ordinance of the Convention. But they were notified by Major-General Buchanan that it could not be done without permission. To avoid any question as to the persons who should hold the offices of so-called Governor and Lieutenant-Governor after the meeting of the Legislature, the district commander was directed by General Grant to remove the former incumbents by military order and set up the individuals lately elected as their successors. This was done on June 27th, and on the 29th the so-called Legislature assembled in pursuance of a notice from the commanding General. The fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted; and, as by the act of Congress of June 25th, Louisiana had been restored to representation in that body, the commanding General on July 13, 1868, transferred the administration of civil affairs to the State officers. I will not pursue these odious details further. Suffice it to say that Texas and Arkansas, having passed through the same military process as their sister Confederate States, were admitted to representation in Congress, the former in 1870 and the latter in 1868. It will be seen that the power usurped by Congress was without a limitation, and extended to all the political, civil, and social relations. Many of the military commanders seem to have regarded their authority as equally comprehensive. The Attorney-General of the United States, in his official opinion on these acts of Congress, addressed to the President on June 12, 1867, says: "It appears that some of the military commanders have understood this grant of power as all-comprehensive, conferring on them the power to remove the executive and judicial officers of the State, and to appoint other officers in their places; to suspend the legislative power of the State; to take under their control, by officers appointed by themselves, the collection and disbursement of the revenues of the State; to prohibit the execution of the laws of the State by the agency of its appointed officers and agents; to change the existing laws in matters affecting purely civil and private rights; to suspend or enjoin the execution of the judgments and decrees of the established State courts; to interfere in the ordinary administration of justice in the State courts, by prescribing new qualifications for jurors; and to change, upon the ground of expediency, the existing relations of the parties to contracts, giving protection to one party by violating the rights of the other party." Many instances are then related by the Attorney-General to confirm his statements. Some of these are worthy of the attention of the reader, although they may have been mentioned on a preceding page. In one district the so-called Governor of a State was deposed under a threat of military force, and another person, called a Governor, appointed by the military commander to fill the place—thus presenting the strange spectacle of an official intrusted with chief power to execute the laws of a State, whose authority was not recognized by the laws he was called on to execute. In the same district a Judge was, by military order, ejected from his office, and a private citizen was appointed Judge in his place by military authority, and exercised criminal jurisdiction "over all crimes, misdemeanors, and offenses" committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the court. This military appointee was certainly not authorized, as a member of a military tribunal, to try any one for an offense; and he had just as little authority, as a Judge of a criminal court of the State, to try and punish any offender. This person was sole judge in a criminal court whose jurisdiction extended to the life of the accused. In capital cases he might well change places with the criminal, for, if the latter had unlawfully taken life, so too did the Judge. In another district, a military order commanded the nominal Governor of the State to forbid the assembling of the Legislature, and thus suspended the proper legislative power of the State. In the same district an order was issued "to relieve the Treasurer of the State from the duties, bond, books, papers, etc.", appertaining to his office, and to put an "assistant quartermaster of the United States Volunteers" in place of the removed Treasurer. The duties of this quartermaster-treasurer were thus summed up: He was to make to the headquarters of the district "the same reports and returns required from the Treasurer, and a monthly statement of the receipts and expenditures; he will pay all warrants for salaries which may be or become due, and legitimate expenditures for the support of the Penitentiary, State Asylum, and the support of the provisional State government; but no scrip or warrants for outstanding debts of other kind than those specified, will be paid without special authority from these Headquarters. He will deposit funds in the same manner as though they were those of the United States." These instances will suffice, although many more might be related. Illegal, unjust, and vindictive as were these gross usurpations of the Congress of the United States in their immediate results, the consequences which followed were still more disastrous. When the late Confederate States were restored to representation in Congress, a large portion of their white citizens remained disfranchised, and the political power of each was in the hands of the blacks and the remnant of the whites. Nor was the military force withdrawn, but it was placed in convenient localities, under the pretext of maintaining order, but in reality to sustain the new rulers. It must be manifest that the sovereignty of the people was now extinct, and those ruled who had the bayonets on their side. With the disfranchised were the intelligence, the virtue, and the political experience; with the voters were the ignorance, the lawless passions, and soon a body of political adventurers from the Northern States, greedy for power and plunder. These quickly won for themselves the distinctive epithet of "carpet-baggers". The governments under the control of such popular sovereigns demonstrated the vindictiveness rather than wisdom of Congress, and soon brought forth their natural fruits of anarchy, fraud, and crime. One or two examples must suffice in which to exhibit these results. The debt of the ten Confederate States in 1874 was as follows: Virginia, funded and unfunded . . . . . . . . $45,718,119.73 It is not claimed that all this amount of indebtedness had been accumulated since the close of the war. Some of the States had debts previous to the war, but a large proportion of the amount had been contracted by the spendthrift governments instituted by Congress, and very little could be found to offset the expenditure. Again, in Arkansas, on April 16th, Governor Brooks seized and occupied the State-House with a body of armed men and two cannon. On the same day, Governor Baxter proclaimed martial law, and marched with a body of armed men from St. John's College to the Anthony House, and established his headquarters there. Guards were placed along the principal streets, and the State-House was completely surrounded by a cordon of sentinels. Subsequently, he marched to attack the State-House, but a body of troops belonging to the Government of the United States appeared before it. Two so-called Republican Governors of the State, with their troops, were about to fight for the executive office. In Louisiana, on January 4, 1875, a body of troops of the Government of the United States, on the order of Governor W. P. Kellogg, marched into the hall of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature, while that body was in session, and forcibly seized and took out five members as not entitled to seats. The General in command (De Trobriand) then proceeded to eject the Clerk, and arrested the proceedings of the House. When expostulated with by the Speaker, he replied: "I am but a soldier. These are my orders." The members then retired. In Mississippi, on December 7, 1874, a serious conflict occurred in Vicksburg between whites and blacks, which resulted in great loss of life and caused a widely-spread alarm. It grew out of frauds committed by public officers. Again, during the exciting contest in Arkansas, the Congress of the United States appointed a committee to investigate the affairs in that State, and "whether said State had now a government republican in form, the officers of which are duly elected, and, as now organized, ought to be recognized by the Government of the United States." On December 24, 1874, the Congress of the United States appointed a committee to proceed to New Orleans, and investigate the state of affairs in Louisiana. This committee reported on January 14, 1875, that "they could not agree upon any recommendation; but, upon the situation in Louisiana, as it appeared before us, we are all agreed." The same Congress, before its adjournment, appointed a committee to proceed to Mississippi and make an investigation of the state of affairs there. Thus committees were kept quite busy in traveling back and forth to these States, and much of the time of Congress was occupied in discussing their affairs, and in efforts to reconcile the quarreling factions of so-called Republicans in them, to the great detriment of the public interests. Where now were the unalienable rights of man, and sovereignty of the people, with their safeguards; a Constitution with limited powers, the reserved rights of the States, and the supremacy of law equally over both rulers and ruled? All were gone. It will be seen that, through all these proceedings, the Government of the United States controlled as the sovereign, and sovereignty of the people was extinct. The measures adopted were those prescribed by the Government of the United States; and, subordinate to these and subject to the conditions of these, such others were permitted as the necessities of the people required. Affairs were not in such disorder when the Constitution of the United States was adopted. The uppermost then had come to be the undermost now, and that which was nothing then had grown to be over all now. Will it always be thus? Was the inherent sovereignty of the people destroyed by shot and shell? The intelligent reader must perceive that this invasion of the natural and unalienable rights of man, the subjugation of the sovereignty of the people, the monstrous usurpations of powers not granted in the Constitution, the trampling under foot of the reserved rights of the States, the disregard of the supremacy of law, and the assumption of the sovereignty of the Government of the United States as the corner-stone of our future political edifice, is a revolution in our system of Government, deep-seated, reaching to the foundations, and sending the poisonous waters of despotism throughout all the branches fed from this fountain. The Confederate States resisted it from the beginning. They drew their swords for the sovereignty of the people, and they fought for the maintenance of their State governments in all their reserved rights and powers, as the only true and natural guardians of the unalienable rights of their citizens, among which the most sacred is, that only the consent of the governed can give vitality and existence to any civil or political institution. This overthrow of the rights of freemen and the establishment of such new relations required a complete revolution in the principle of the government of the United States, the subversion of the State governments, the subjugation of the people, and the destruction of the fraternal Union. The work has been done. Will it stand? Have the eternal principles of the Declaration of Independence been hid from our sight for ever? Or, will they again come forth, "redeemed, disenthralled, regenerated," and rally the reunited people to shout in thunder-tones for sovereignty of the people and the unalienable rights of man? It has been shown in previous pages that the State governments were instituted to be the special guardians of these unalienable rights of man; but henceforth they must be the sworn defenders of the Government of the United States, not of the Constitution and laws enacted in pursuance thereof, but of such interpolations and perversions of them as, in cases of necessity, that Government should find it convenient to make. Whenever it pleases, it can set them aside; and, whenever it wills, it can destroy them. Unalienable rights are unknown to this war-begotten theory of the Constitution. The day has come in which mankind behold this Government founding its highest claims to greatness and glory upon deeds done in utter violation of those rights which belonged to its own citizens in every State, North and South. The palladium of the freeman, the Bills of Rights, the limitations of power, the written Constitutions, have all lost their sacred authority, and not a man or a State dare, single-handed, gainsay the will of the agency which, feeling power, has forgotten right. It has put its hand on the ballot-box, and the declaration is made that it is not safe to trust the people to vote, except under the inspection of its authority, after the example set by the Roman emperors. When the cause was lost, what cause was it? Not that of the South only, but the cause of constitutional government, of the supremacy of law, of the natural rights of man. [Footnote 131: This incident in the conduct of the Judge recalls a like exhibition of judicial purity and independence which occurred in the colonial history of South Carolina, and which I present by extracts from the charge of Judge William Henry Drayton, delivered November, 1774. Referring to the nature of the civil liberties of the Carolina colonists, he said: "This is the distinguishing character: English people can not be taxed, nay, they can not be bound by any law unless by their consent, expressed by themselves or their representatives of their own election. This colony was settled by English subjects; by a people from England herself—a people who brought over with them, who planted in this colony, and who transmitted to posterity the invaluable rights of Englishmen—rights which no time, no contract, no climate can diminish. . . . By all the ties which mankind hold most dear and sacred; your reverence to your ancestors; your love to your own interests; your tenderness to your posterity; by the lawful obligations of your oath, I charge you to do your duty; to maintain the laws, the rights, the Constitution of your country, even at the hazard of your lives and fortunes. "Some county judges style themselves the King's servants, a style which sounds harshly in my ears, inasmuch as the being a servant implies obedience to the orders of the master, and such judges might possibly think that, in the present situation of American affairs, my charge is inconsistent with my duty to the King. But for my part, in my judicial character, I know no master but the law; I am a servant, not to the King, but to the Constitution." . . . In the course of his charge, he quotes a "learned judge" as saying: "Every new tribunal erected for the decision of facts, without the intervention of a jury, is a step toward aristocracy, the most oppressive of absolute governments; and it is therefore a duty which every man owes to his country, his friends, his posterity, and himself, to maintain to the utmost of his power this valuable Constitution in all its rights, to restore it to its ancient dignity, if at all impaired; to amend it wherever it is defective, and, above all, to guard with the most jealous circumspection against the introduction of new and arbitrary methods of trial, which, under a variety of plausible pretenses, may in time perceptibly undermine this best preservative of English liberty."—("American Archives," Fourth Series, vol. i, pp. 959, 960.)] |
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