Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama Part 32

The penalty for using "improper influence" and thereby deceiving or misleading an elector was to be not less than one nor more, than ten years' imprisonment or fine of not more than $2000. The election was ordered for February 4, 1868, to be held under direction of the military commander. In order to bring out a large number of voters, elections were ordered for the same time for all state and county officers, and for members of Congress--several thousand in all. The officers thus elected were to enter at once upon their duties, and hold office for the proper term of years, dating from the legal date for the next general election after the admission of the state.[1463]

Among the scalawag members of the convention, who saw that the carpet-baggers would rule the land by controlling the negro vote, there was much dissatisfaction and at length open revolt. Nine members signed a formal protest against the proposed const.i.tution, stating that a government framed upon its provisions would entail upon the state greater evils than any that then threatened.[1464] Another member protested against the test oath, against the extension of proscription, and against the absence of express provision for separate schools.[1465] The const.i.tution was adopted by a vote of 66 to 8, 26 not voting. A few days after the adjournment, 15 or 20 scalawag members united in an address to the people of Alabama, protesting against the proposed const.i.tution because it was more proscriptive than the acts of Congress, because of the test oath, because the course of the convention had shown that the government would be in the hands of a few adventurers under the control of the blacks, to whom they had promised mixed schools and laws protecting the negro in his rights of voting, eating, travelling, etc., with whites.

For these reasons they urged that the const.i.tution be rejected.[1466]

Just before the convention adjourned, Caraway (negro) offered a resolution, which was adopted, stating that the const.i.tution was founded on justice, honesty, and civilization, and that the enemies of law and order, freedom and justice, were pledged to prevent its adoption. But he a.s.serted that G.o.d would strengthen and a.s.sist those who did right; therefore he advised that a day be set apart "whereby the good and loyal people of Alabama can offer up their adorations to Almighty G.o.d, and invoke His aid and a.s.sistance to the loyal people of the state, while pa.s.sing through the bitter strife that seems to await them."[1467]

A study of the votes and debates leads to the following general conclusion: The majority of the scalawags were ready to revolt after finding that the carpet-bag element had control of the negro vote; the negroes with a few exceptions made no unreasonable and violent demands unless urged by the carpet-baggers; the carpet-baggers with a few extreme scalawags were disposed to resort to extreme measures of proscription in order to get rid of white leaders and white majorities, and to agitate the question of social equality in order to secure the negroes, and to drive off the scalawags so that there would be fewer with whom to share the spoils.[1468]

CHAPTER XV

THE "RECONSTRUCTION" COMPLETED

"Convention" Candidates

The debates in the convention over mixed schools, proscription, militia, and representation had seemingly resulted in a division between the carpet-baggers, who controlled the negroes, and the more moderate scalawags. The carpet-baggers and extreme scalawags of the convention resolved themselves into a body for the nomination of candidates for office. This body formed the state Union League convention. Of the 101 delegates to the convention, 67 or 68 had signed the const.i.tution, and of these at least 56 were candidates for office under it. Full tickets were nominated by the convention and by the local councils of the Union League.

In the black counties only members of the League were nominated, and it was practically the same in the white counties, where the League then had but few members. Nearly all the election officials were candidates. Men represented one county in the convention, and were candidates in others for office.[1469]

"CONVENTION" CANDIDATES

====================================================================== NAME NATIVITY CANDIDATE FOR ------------------- ------------------------------ ------------------- Ben Alexander Negro Legislature A. J. Applegate Ohio and Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor W. A. Austin Negro State Senate Arthur Bingham New York State Treasurer W. H. Black Ohio Probate Judge W. T. Blackford Illinois Probate Judge Samuel Blandon Negro Legislature Mark Brainard New York Clerk Circuit Court Alfred E. Buck Maine Clerk Circuit Court C. W. Buckley New York, Ma.s.s., and Illinois Congress W. M. Buckley* New York and Ma.s.sachusetts State Senator J. H. Burd.i.c.k Iowa Probate Judge John Caraway Negro Legislature Pierce Burton Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature J. Collins North State Senate Datus E. c.o.o.n Iowa State Senate Tom Diggs Negro Legislature Charles W. Dustan Iowa Major-General Militia S. S. Gardner Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature George Ely New York, Conn., and Ma.s.s. Probate Judge Peyton Finley Negro Legislature Jim Green Negro Legislature Ovide Gregory Negro Legislature Thomas Haughey Scotland Congress G. Horton Ma.s.sachusetts Probate Judge Benjamin Inge Negro Legislature A. W. Jones* Alabama Probate Judge Columbus Jones Negro Legislature John C. Keffer Pennsylvania Supt. of Industrial Resources S. F. Kennemer Alabama Legislature Tom Lee Negro Legislature David Lore Negro (?) Legislature J. J. Martin Georgia Probate Judge B. O. Masterson Unknown Legislature C. A. Miller Ma.s.sachusetts and Maine Secretary of State Stephen Moore* Alabama (?) Senate A. L. Morgan Indiana Clerk Circuit Court J. F. Morton* Unknown Senate B. W. Norris Maine Congress E. W. Peck New York Chief Justice Thomas M. Peters Tennessee Supreme Court G. P. Plowman Alabama Probate Judge R. M. Reynolds Iowa Auditor Benjamin Rolfe New York Tax Collector B. F. Royal Negro Senate B. F. Saffold Alabama Supreme Court J. Silsby* Ma.s.sachusetts Clerk Circuit Court C. P. Simmons Tennessee Commissioner William P. Skinner Alabama Chancellor L. R. Smith* Ma.s.sachusetts Circuit Judge H. J. Springfield* Alabama Legislature N. D. Stanwood* Maine and Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature J. P. Stow Connecticut Senate Littleberry Strange Georgia Circuit Judge James R. Walker* Georgia Sheriff B. L. Whelan Georgia, Ireland, and Mich. Circuit Judge C. O. Whitney North Senate J. A. Yordy North Senate[1472]

The state of politics in the average Black Belt county was like that in Perry or Montgomery. In Perry, the Radical nominees for probate judge, state senator, sheriff, and tax a.s.sessor were from Wisconsin; for representative, two negroes and one white from Ohio, and for tax collector, a northern man.[1470] In Montgomery, for the legislature, one white from Ohio and one from Austria, and three negroes; for probate judge, clerk of circuit court, sheriff, and tax a.s.sessor, men from New York and other northern states.[1471] One or two negroes ran independently in each Black Belt county. In the white counties the extreme scalawags had a better chance for office, and most of the moderate reconstructionists fell away at once, leaving the spoils to the Radicals.

It is doubtful if there were enough white men in the state who could read and write and who supported the new const.i.tution, to fill the offices created by that instrument. Hence the a.s.signment of candidates to far-off counties, and the admission of negro candidates.[1473] The state ticket was headed by an Alabama tory, William H. Smith, and the other candidates for state offices were from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine, and New York, five of them being officers of the Freedmen's Bureau.[1474] The candidates for Congress were from Ma.s.sachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Maine, and Nebraska. In several instances the candidate hailed from two or more different states.[1475]

Campaign on the Const.i.tution

The campaign in behalf of the const.i.tution did not differ in character from that in behalf of the convention. The Radical candidates for office, working through the Union League, drilled the negroes in the proper political faith. Nearly all the whites having gone over to the Conservatives, or withdrawn from politics, little or no attention was paid to the white voters. All efforts were directed toward securing the negro vote. Agents were sent over the state by the League to organize the negroes, who were again told the old story: If the const.i.tution is not ratified, you will be reenslaved and your wives will be beaten and your children sold; if you do not get your rights now you will never get them.

A subsidized press[1476] distributed campaign stories among those negroes who could read, and they spread the news. In this way the remotest darky heard that he was sure to return to slavery if the const.i.tution failed of ratification.[1477] The Union League a.s.sessed its members, especially those who happened to be holding office under the military government, for money for campaign purposes.[1478]

The Radicals were forced by the general denunciation of the const.i.tution, both in the North and in the South, to make some statement in regard to the matter. So on January 2, 1868, the Radical campaign committee issued an address stating that there had been general and severe criticism of some features of the const.i.tution, and that Congress would expect a revision, though the state would be admitted promptly even before revision. The existence of political disabilities need not fetter the party, the address stated, in the choice of a candidate. A Republican nomination was a proof that the candidate was a "proper" person, and his disabilities would be at once removed. This was a way to mitigate the proscription.[1479]

From the first the Conservatives[1480] had no hope of carrying the election against the reconstructionists, who had control of the machinery of election and were supported by the army and the government. There was little organized opposition to the convention election, because the people were indifferent and because the leaders feared that a contest at the polls would result in riots with the negroes. To the Conservatives the convention at first was a joke; the disposition was rather to stand off and keep quiet, and let the Radicals try their hands for a while; they could not stay in power forever. Later, the violent opinions and extreme measures of the convention excited the alarm of many of the whites; the moderate reconstructionists deserted their party; a large minority of the convention refused to sign the const.i.tution; and a number made formal protests. The nomination of candidates by the Union League members.h.i.+p of the convention and the character of the nominees showed that rule by alien and negro was threatened. The Conservative party, now embracing nearly all the whites except the Radical candidates, determined to oppose the ratification of the const.i.tution. Many of the whites,[1481] now thoroughly discouraged, left the state forever--going to the north and west, to Texas especially, and to South America and Mexico.[1482]

On December 10 a number of the delegates to the convention, some of whom had signed the const.i.tution, united in an address to the people advising against its adoption. All of them were native whites and former reconstructionists. They declared that under the proposed government designing knaves and political adventurers, who had a jealous hatred of the native whites, would use the blacks for their own selfish purposes; that this was clearly shown in the convention when the black delegation, with one honorable exception, moved like slaves at the command of their masters.[1483] Several hundred citizens sent a pet.i.tion to the President, setting forth that some of the delegates to the convention were not residents of the state, that others did not, and had not, resided in the counties which they pretended to represent, and that others belonged to the army or were officials of the Freedmen's Bureau, and were thus not legally qualified to sit in the convention. The pet.i.tioners asked for an investigation.[1484] One of the delegates, Graves of Perry County, took the stump against the const.i.tution framed by "strangers, deserters, bushwhackers, and perjured men," who were characterized by "a fiendish desire to disqualify all southern men from voting or holding office who are unwilling to perjure themselves with a test oath."[1485]

The so-called "White Man's Movement" in Alabama is said to have been originated in 1867, by Alexander White and ex-Governor L. E.

Parsons.[1486] At a Conservative meeting in Dallas County, in January, 1868, the former offered a series of resolutions declaring that American inst.i.tutions were the product of the wisdom of white men and were designed to preserve the ascendency of the white race in political affairs; that the United States government was a white man's government, and that white men should rule America; that the negro was not fit to take part in the government, as he had never achieved civilization nor shown himself capable of directing the affairs of a nation; that the right of suffrage was the fountain of all political power, therefore the negro should not be invested with the right. Parsons proposed the same resolutions at a Conservative conference in Montgomery in January, 1868.[1487]

The Conservative executive committee decided to advise the whites to refrain from voting, and thus defeat the const.i.tution by taking advantage of the law requiring a majority of the registered voters to vote on the question of ratification before the const.i.tution could be ratified. No nominations for office were made for fear that some whites might thus vote on the const.i.tution, and also for fear of conflicts between the races in case of contest at the polls. All were advised to register and to remain away from the polls on election day. It was thought that less irritation would be caused in Congress and elsewhere if the const.i.tution failed in this way than if it were voted down directly. The whites could be more easily persuaded to remain away than to go to the polls, and fewer negroes would vote if the whites did not vote. The people were urged to form organizations to carry out this non-partic.i.p.ating programme.[1488]

In every county in the state the Conservatives held meetings, opposing the const.i.tution and pledging all the whites to stay away from the polls. The Conservative press from day to day made known new objections to the const.i.tution: it exempted from sale for debt $3000 worth of property,--whereas the old const.i.tution exempted $500,--and this would exempt every Radical in the state from paying his debts; the power of taxation was in the hands of the non-taxpayers; the distribution of representation was unequal, favoring the black counties;[1489] mixed schools and amalgamation of the races were not forbidden, but were encouraged by the reconstructionists; a large number of whites were disfranchised from voting or holding office,[1490] while all the blacks were enfranchised; the test oath required all voters to swear that they would accept the political equality of the negro and never change their opinions; the Board of Education was given legislative power, and could pa.s.s measures over the governor's veto; an ordinance, which was kept secret, required the governor to organize at once 137 companies of militia, to be a.s.signed almost entirely to the black counties, and under such regulations that it was certain that few whites could serve; this militia, when in service, was to be paid like the regular army, and was to get the proceeds from all property captured or confiscated by it; the government, under this const.i.tution, would cost from one and a half to two million dollars a year.[1491]

Under the proposed const.i.tution it was certain that for a while the government would be in the hands of the extremest Radical clique. The machinery, of the Radical party, of the registration and elections and the candidates nominated by the League were of this faction. The continued rule of the military was preferred by the whites to the rule of the carpet-baggers and the negro. Another reason why the Conservatives wished to keep the state out of the Union still longer was to prevent its electoral vote from being cast for Grant in the fall of 1868. During 1865 and 1866 Grant's moderate opinions had won the regard of many of the people, but his course during the last year had caused him to be intensely disliked. Though many meetings were held in opposition to the const.i.tution, the campaign on the Conservative side was quiet and unexciting. The thirtieth day of January was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer to deliver the people of Alabama "from the horrors of negro domination."[1492]

Vote on the Const.i.tution

The registration before the election of delegates to the convention was 165,123,[1493] of whom 61,295 were whites and 104,518 were blacks.

Registration continued, and all the eligible whites registered. It is probable that more whites than negroes registered during December and January. And the revision demanded by all honest people evidently had the effect of striking off thousands of negro names; for at the end of the year the registration stood: whites, 72,748; blacks, 88,243; total, 160,991.[1494] By February 1, 1868, the registration amounted to about 170,000,[1495] of whom about 75,000 were whites and 95,000 were blacks.

Therefore, more than 85,000 registered voters must partic.i.p.ate in the election, or, according to the law, the const.i.tution would fail of adoption.[1496]

The registrars were those who had been appointed by Pope in 1867. More than half of them were candidates for election to office. Meade was not favorably impressed with the character of the candidates nominated by the const.i.tutional convention and by the local councils of the Union League, and he advised against holding the election for officers at the same time that the vote was taken on the const.i.tution. He thought that the nominees were not such men as the friends of Reconstruction would choose if they had a free choice. He believed that the ratification would be seriously affected if these candidates were to be voted for at the same time. Swayne admitted the force of the objection, but was afraid that a revocation of the permission to elect officers at the same time would be disastrous to Reconstruction. Later he agreed that the two elections should not be held at the same time. But Grant objected to making the change, and the election went on.[1497]

General Hayden, Swayne's successor, removed a dozen or more of the registrars who were candidates for important offices,[1498] and in consequence was abused by the Radicals, who accused him of "hobn.o.bbing with the rebels." He was "utterly loathed by loyal men," and they at once began to work for his removal.[1499] Every election official was obliged to take the iron-clad test oath, and as one-third of them were negroes, it was not likely that any of them were hostile to Reconstruction, as was afterwards claimed.

The elections were to begin on February 4 and last for two days. At the suggestion of General Grant the time was extended to four days, and a storm coming on the first day, instructions were sent out to keep the polls open until the close of the 8th of February. But in the remote counties no notice of the extension of time was received. There were three voting places in each county and a person might vote at any one of them (or at all of them if he chose). Late instructions ordered election officials to receive the vote of any person who had registered anywhere in the state. Of the 62 counties, 20 voted four days; 13, two days; 27, five days; and in 2 there were no elections.[1500]

Besides being told the old stories of returning to slavery, of forty acres and a mule, of social rights, etc., various new promises were made to the negroes. One was promised a divorce if he would vote for Reynolds as Auditor, and it was said that Reynolds kept his promise, and saw that the negro afterward secured it. Numerous negro politicians were, according to promise, relieved from "the pains of bigamy" by the first Reconstruction legislation. The discipline of the League was brought to bear on indifferent black citizens, and by threats of violence or of proscription many were driven to the polls. On February 3 the negroes began to flock to the voting places, each with a gun, a stick, a dog, and a bag of rations, as directed by their white leaders. It was again necessary for them to vote "early and often." The Radical candidates were desperately afraid that the const.i.tution would fail of ratification, and every means was taken to swell the number of votes cast. Many negroes voted rolls of tickets given them by the candidates. They voted one day in one precinct, and the next day in another, or several times in the same place. Little attention was paid to the registration lists, but every negro over sixteen who presented himself was allowed to vote. Hundreds of negro boys voted; it was said that none were ever turned away. Where the whites had men at the polls to challenge voters, it was found almost impossible to follow the lists because so many of the negroes had changed their names since registration. The sick at their homes sent their proxies by their friends or relatives. In one case the Radicals voted negroes under the names of white men who were staying away. The voters migrated from one county to another during the elections and voted in each. This was especially the case in Mobile, Marengo, Montgomery, Macon, Lee, Russell, Greene, Dallas, Hale, and Barbour counties.[1501] The _Mobile Register_ claimed that negro women were dressed in men's clothes and voted. The Radical chairman of the Board of Registration in Perry County stated that one-third of the votes polled in that county were illegal.[1502] In Mobile, when a negro man appeared whose name was not on the voting list and was challenged by the Conservatives, he was directed by a "pirate"[1503] to go to one D. G.

Johnson, a registrar, who would give him, not a certificate of registration, but a ballot, indorsed with the voter's name and Johnson's signature. This ballot was to serve as a certificate and was also to be voted.[1504]

The Const.i.tution fails of Adoption

The result of the voting was: for the const.i.tution, 70,812 votes; against it, 1005. The 18,000 white votes for the convention had dwindled down to 5000 for the const.i.tution. For ratification, 13,550 more votes were necessary, and the ratification had failed. So General Meade reported. The reasons for the falling off of the white vote have already been indicated.

The black vote fell off also. One cause of this was the chilling of the negro's faith in his political leaders, who had made so many promises about farms, etc., and had broken them all. Many of the old aristocratic negroes would have nothing to do with such leaders as the carpet-baggers and scalawags, and this cla.s.s and many others also were influenced by the whites to stay away from the polls. The general absence of respectable whites at the elections made it easier to convince the old Conservative negroes.[1505] In two white counties--Dale and Henry--no elections were held because there were not enough reconstructionists to act as election officials.[1506] Some whites, probably not many, were kept away by threats of social and business ostracism. Most of the reconstructionists cared nothing for such threats, as they could not be injured.[1507]

The Radicals explained the result of the election by a.s.serting that many whites were registered illegally, foreigners, minors, etc., that the voters were intimidated by threats of violence, social ostracism, and discharge from employment; that the voting places were too few and the time too short in many of the counties; that there was a great storm and the rivers were flooded, preventing access to the polls in some places;[1508] that the Conservatives interfered with the votes, and tore off that part of the ballot that contained the vote on the const.i.tution; that many election officials were hostile to reconstruction, and had turned off 10,000 voters because of slight defects in the registration; that there were not 170,000 voters in the state but only 160,000, as several thousand had removed from the state; that in spite of all obstructions the vote for the const.i.tution, if properly counted, was 81,000 instead of 70,000, and that there were 120,000 "loyal" voters in the state; that the ballot-boxes in Lowndes County were stolen, and that the returns from Baine, Colbert, and Jones counties had been fraudulently thrown out;[1509] that General Hayden had especially desired the defeat of Reconstruction, and that he had managed the election in such a way as to enable the "rebels" to gain an apparent victory; and that practically all the army officers were opposed to the Radical programme, which was now true; and finally, that the attendance of Conservatives as challengers at the polls in some places was "a means of preventing the full and free expression of opinion by the ballot."[1510]

After a thorough investigation General Meade reported that the election had been quiet, and that there had been no disorder of any kind; that there had been no frauds in mutilating negroes' tickets by tearing off the vote for the const.i.tution, and that the other charges of fraud would prove as illusive; that the vote for the governor and other officials was less than that for the const.i.tution; and that a more liberal const.i.tution would have commanded a majority of votes. He said, "I am satisfied that the const.i.tution was lost on its merits;" that the const.i.tution was fairly rejected by the people, under the law requiring a majority of the registered voters to cast their ballots for or against, and that this rejection was based on the merits of the const.i.tution itself was proved by the fact that out of 19,000 white voters for the convention, there were only 5000 for the const.i.tution; it might also be partially explained by the fact that the const.i.tutional convention had made nominations to all the state offices, which ticket was "not acceptable in all respects to the party favoring reconstruction."[1511] He recommended that Congress rea.s.semble the convention, which should revise the const.i.tution, eliminating the objectionable features, and again submit it to the people.

However, as he afterwards stated, "my advice was not followed." The tone of Meade's report showed that he did not expect Congress to refuse to admit the state. Indeed, at times the staid general seemed almost to approach something like disrespect toward that highly honorable body.

When the Radicals began to make an outcry about fraud, Meade complained that they were not specific in their charges, and told the leaders to get their proofs ready. The state Radical Executive Committee issued instructions for all Radicals to collect affidavits concerning high water, storms, obstruction, fraud, violence, intimidation, and discharge, and send them to the Radical agents at Was.h.i.+ngton, who were urging the admission of the state, notwithstanding the rejection of the const.i.tution.

They refused to send these reports to Meade, who was not in sympathy with the Radical programme. Many of what purported to be affidavits of men discharged from employment for voting were printed for the use of Congress. Most of them were signed by marks and gave no particulars. The usual statement was "for the reason of voting at recent election."[1512]

The _Nationalist_ gave fifteen flippant reasons why the const.i.tution had failed, and then a.s.serted that the state was sure to be admitted in spite of the failure of ratification. Agents were sent to Was.h.i.+ngton to urge the acceptance by Congress of the const.i.tution and Radical ticket. At first all, however, were not hopeful. There was a general exodus of the less influential carpet-baggers from the state, such a marked movement that the negroes afterwards complained of it. Some returned North; others went to a.s.sist in the reconstruction of other states.[1513]

C. C. Sheets, a native Radical, speaking of the failure of the ratification, declared that a year earlier the state might have been reconstructed according to the plan of Congress, but a horde of army officers sent South, followed by a train of office-seekers, went into politics, and these "with the help of a cla.s.s here at home even less fit and less honest," if possible, had disgusted every one.[1514]

While waiting for Congress to act, the so-called legislature met, February 17, 1868, at the office of the _Sentinel_ in Montgomery. Applegate, the candidate for lieutenant-governor, called the "Senate" to order, and harangued them as follows: Congress would recognize whatever they might do; it was absolutely necessary for the a.s.sembly to act before Congress, as the life of the nation was in danger and there was a pressing "necessity for two Senators from Alabama to sit upon the trial of that renegade and traitor, Andrew Johnson"; he stated that General Meade was in consultation with them and would sustain them;[1515] if protection were necessary, Major-General Dustan[1516] could, at short notice, surround them with several regiments of loyal militia.[1517] They attempted to transact some business, but the unfriendly att.i.tude of Meade and Hayden discouraged them; and they disbanded, to await the action of Congress.

The Alabama Question in Congress

February 17, 1868, a few days after the election, Bingham of Ohio introduced a joint resolution in the House to admit Alabama with its new const.i.tution.[1518] The Radicals of Alabama a.s.sumed that it was only a question of a short time before they would be in power. On March 10, Stevens, from the Committee on Reconstruction, reported a bill for the admission of Alabama. During the lengthy debate which followed, the Radical leaders undertook to show that when Congress pa.s.sed the law of March 23, it did not know what it was doing, and that therefore the law could not now be considered binding. The carpet-bag stories about frauds in the election, icy rivers, etc., were again told. During the debates it developed that Beck of Kentucky and Brooks of New York, the minority members of the Committee on Reconstruction, had not been notified of the meeting of the committee, which was called to meet at the house of Stevens, and hence knew nothing of the report until it was printed. They made strong speeches against the bill and introduced the protests of the delegates to the convention, the reports of Meade, and the pet.i.tion of the whites of the state against the proposed measure, and on March 17 introduced the minority report, which had to be read as part of a speech in order to get it printed. It was a summary of the Conservative objections to the const.i.tution. For the moment Thaddeus Stevens seemed to be convinced that it was not desirable to admit Alabama. "After a full examination," he said, "of the final returns from Alabama, which we had not got when this bill was drawn, I am satisfied, for one, that to force a vote on this bill and admit the state against our own law, when there is a majority of twenty odd thousand against the const.i.tution, would not be doing such justice in legislation as will be expected by the people." So the measure was withdrawn.[1519] But the next day Farnsworth of Illinois reported a new bill providing for the admission of Alabama. He argued that 7000 whites had voted for the const.i.tution, and that 20,000 whites belonged to the Union Leagues in the state,[1520] and that only by fraud had the const.i.tution been defeated. Kelly of Pennsylvania, of "Mobile riot" fame, said that "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." He was convinced that typographical and clerical errors in the voting lists had turned thousands away.[1521] Spalding of Ohio proposed a subst.i.tute, which was adopted, making the new const.i.tution the fundamental law for a provisional government, and placing in office the candidates who were voted for. The legislature was to be convened to adopt amendments to the const.i.tution and resubmit the latter to the people. The bill pa.s.sed the House, but was not taken up in the Senate.[1522] In the debates on this bill Paine of Wisconsin said: "These men [the whites] during the war were traitors. They have no right to vote or to hold office, and for the present this dangerous power is most rightfully withheld." Williams, a Republican of Pennsylvania, objected to accepting a negro minority government. Stevens closed the debate, saying that Congress had pa.s.sed an act "authorizing Alabama and other waste territories of the United States to form const.i.tutions so as, if possible, to make them fit to a.s.sociate with civilized communities"; the House had foreseen difficulties about requiring a majority to vote, and had pa.s.sed an act to remedy it, but the Senate had let it lie for two months; he knew that he was outside the const.i.tution, which did not provide for such a case; he wanted to shackle the whites in order to protect the blacks.[1523]

The effect of establis.h.i.+ng a new provisional government on the basis of the const.i.tution just rejected would be to require a new registration and disfranchis.e.m.e.nt according to that instrument. The proposal pleased the local Radicals very much. This plan was probably preferred by all the would-be officers except those who had been candidates for Congress and who could not sit until the state was admitted. The _Nationalist_[1524]

said: "If we can get the offices, we, and not a 'military saphead'

[Meade], can conduct the next election; we can by the Spalding bill get the government, rule the state as long as we please provisionally, and, when satisfied we can hold our own against the rebels, submit the const.i.tution to a vote. We must wait until sure of a Republican majority if we have to wait five years."[1525] The carpet-baggers were in high hope. A girl applied to one of the managers of the Montgomery "soup house"

for a ticket for ten days, saying that she would not need it longer, as her father by the end of that time would be a judge.[1526]

The whites began to close ranks, to leave no room in their midst for the white man of the North, the ruler and ally of the black. Social and business ostracism was declared against all who should take office under the Reconstruction Acts. They were turned away from respectable hotels.[1527]

The _Independent Monitor_, now the head and front of opposition to Reconstruction, gave the following advice to the white people, who, however, did not need it: "We reiterate the advice hitherto offered to those of our southern people who are not ashamed to honor the service of the 'lost cause' and the memory of their kith and kin whose lives were n.o.bly laid down to save the survivors from a subjection incomparably more tolerable in contemplation than in realization. That advice is not to touch a loyal leaguer's hand; taste not of a loyal leaguer's hospitality; handle not a loyal leaguer's goods. Oust him socially; break him pecuniarily; ignore him politically; kick him contagiously; hang him legally; or lynch him clandestinely--provided he becomes a nuisance as Claus or Wilson."[1528]