sider the rehabilitation of such states or parts of states as were deemed permanently under the Federal control. He determined to issue a proclamation of amnesty as the first step in this direction. This document accompanied his annual message to Congress, and was dated the 8th of December, 1863. It embodied his plan of reconstruction, and promised "pardon and restoration of property, except as to slaves, to all who directly or by implication have participated in the existing rebellion, with certain exceptions specified, upon their taking an oath to "henceforth support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder; abide by and support all acts of Congress passed, and all proclamations of the President made with reference to slaves, so far and so long as not repealed, modified or held void by Congress or by decision of the Supreme Court." He further promised that whenever a number of persons in and of the states at war with the Union, not less than one-tenth of the vote cast in the Presidential election of 1860, and being qualified voters under the laws previous to secession, shall reëstablish a State Government, republican in form and in nowise contravening the said oath, "such shall be recognized as the true Government of the state," etc., etc. This was, substantially, Mr. Lincoln's plan of reconstruction.

The first step subsequent to its promulgation, taken by the Military Governor of Tennessee, was a proclamation, dated January 26th, 1864, ordering county elections to be held on the first Saturday in March. In this proclamation he announced that these elections were ordered in Tennessee as a state of the Union; prescribed the qualification of voters and an oath to be taken by each elector before voting. This oath varied from the one prescribed by the President, in requiring the affiant to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to promise to "conduct himself as a true and faithful citizen of the United States," ardently desiring the suppression of the present insurrection and rebellion against the Government of the United States, etc., etc.

The marked difference between the oath required by the proclamation of the President and that of the Military Gov

ernor attracted attention, and the question arose as to whether the amnesty oath would not be sufficient for a voter, without taking that prescribed by the Governor, and was submitted to the President, who replied, "In county elections you had better stand by Governor Johnson's plan, otherwise you will have conflict and confusion. I have seen his plan.'

This election was a failure. Comparatively few of the qualified voters appeared at the polls. At military posts, such as Nashville and Memphis, Government employees who had been in the place six months, contributed the larger part of the vote, small as it was. Davidson County (including the Capital of the state) cast only 1229 for Sheriff out of 6665 votes cast in 1860. Only a few counties voted at all.

In the meantime there were certain Unionists, persons who, in the earlier stages of the war, had made themselves conspicuous in opposition to the then-existing order of things, and who were now impatient because the state was not resolved to harmonious relations with the Union. They were not warriors, but statesmen; refugees at one time, and, at another, in some coterie or meeting of persons of like situation, bewailing together the deplorable condition of the country. These men were never contented with the movements of the armies nor with the measures of civil administration. Their hearts were filled with bitterness, and their minds with plans to crush and destroy the adversary. There was another class of Unionists, who remained at home and attended to their business as best they might, giving no conspicuous demonstration of elation or depression, in the varying exigencies of war, thoughtful and watchful observers of events, patriotic in their hearts and true to their convictions.

The Presidential campaign followed in 1864. On the 2nd of August of that year, a meeting was held at Nashville, which called a convention to be held on the 5th of September, to consider the reorganization of the state, and the question of putting out an electoral ticket and undertaking to hold an election for President in November.

This convention met pursuant to the call, only a few counties holding primary meetings to appoint delegates. It was largely composed of the military element, the 1st Tennessee

Cavalry, 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry, and the 1st Tennessee Infantry sending representatives for 33 counties. But the convention adopted a resolution admitting as qualified to participate in its deliberations, "all unconditional Union men, who are for all the measures of the Government looking to putting down the rebellion, from different parts of the state."

The convention adopted resolutions favoring the appointment of agents to look after the interests of soldiers and their families; the enrollment and organization of the militia; the immediate abandonment of slavery, and its prohibition by amendment of the state constitution; the removal from office of all disloyal men; the holding of an election for President by the Union people, and the oath prescribed in March to be required of electors; and requesting the Military Governor to execute the resolutions in such manner as he might deem best. The convention also nominated a Lincoln and Johnson electoral ticket, and appointed an Executive Committee of fifteen-five from each grand division of the state.

Another ticket favoring McClellan and Pendleton was subsequently brought out by parties not in sympathy with the convention, but was withdrawn before the election.

On the 7th of September, 1864, during the session of the convention, the Military Governor issued his proclamation declaring his purpose to proceed to appoint officers and establish tribunals, as he had heretofore done, in all the counties and districts of the state, wherever the people gave evidence of loyalty and a desire for civil government, all officers to take the oath last prescribed.

On the 13th of September he issued a proclamation ordering the enrollment of the militia of the State in accordance with the wish of the late convention, between the ages of 18 and 50 years, the magistrates to be the enrolling officers, and those failing or refusing to serve without good excuse to be sent beyond the limits of the state.

On the 30th of September the (military) Governor issued his proclamation, under the request of the convention, ordering an election for President and Vice-President of the United States to be held at the county-seat or other suitable place in

every county in the state, in the following November, at which all citizens and soldiers, six months resident in the state previous to the election, being white, and citizens of the United States and loyal to the Union, were authorized to vote. “To secure the ballot-box against the contamination of treason," the oath prescribed by the convention was required of the voter. This remarkable product of a popular meeting thus became a law controlling the highest right of the citizen, and compelled the elector to swear that he was an active friend of the Government of the United States, and the enemy of the so-called Confederate States; that he ardently desired the suppression of the rebellion against the United States, etc., etc., with great amplification of detail.

Upon the appearance of this proclamation the McClellan and Pendleton electors united in a protest addressed to the President, in which they asserted that the method prescribed was contrary to the election laws of Tennessee; that it admitted persons to vote not allowed by the law; that it provided for holding the election at only one place in the county, when the law required it in each civil district; that the oath required was unusual and a test oath. They further protested against the interference of the military Governor with the elective franchise, and asked that all military interference be withdrawn "so far as to allow the loyal men of Tennessee a full and free election, meaning by the loyal men of Tennessee those who have not participated in the rebellion or given it aid and comfort, or who may have complied with such terms of amnesty as have been offered them under your authority."

This protest was presented to the President on the 15th of October by John Lellyett, of Nashville, one of the signers and one of the McClellan Presidential electors. From the accounts of the interview which reached the public at the time, Mr. Lellyett did not find Mr. Lincoln in the amiable | frame of mind usual with him, or that jocose disposition with which he often looked upon the gravest concerns. The verbal interview closed without a satisfactory reply to the protest. A formal written answer was given on the 22d of October, which closed with: "Except it be to give protection against

violence, I decline to interfere in any way with any Presidential election." The effect of these events was the withdrawal of the McClellan and Pendleton ticket from the race in Tennessee. The Presidential election which followed in Tennessee was a farce. The people refrained from participating in a proceeding so far from the free and unrestrained elections to which they had been accustomed. They did not look upon this as having the sanction of law, or as possessing proper authority and regularity. At Nashville, as an example, the vote was only 1228, and came largely from Government employees. By joint resolution of Congress the electoral vote of Tennessee was not received and counted, on the ground, as stated in the preamble, that the state had "rebelled against the Government of the United States, and was in such condition on the 8th day of November, 1864, that no valid election for electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, according to the Constitution and laws thereof, was held on said day."

These fruitless steps towards reconstruction in Tennessee were discouraging, the more so from the fact that a decided difference of opinion and feeling had developed among the leading Unionists, shown in the two presidential electoral tickets. A period had now arrived that required more decisive action. The election of the military Governor to the Vice-Presidency would soon call him from the state and from his official duties as Governor.

The Executive Committee appointed by the September convention, published a call in December for the assembling of a convention at Nashville, on the 9th of January, 1865, to take counsel as to the best method of restoring the state to its proper relations with the Union. It was not expected that it would do more than to provide for a constitutional convention composed of delegates to be elected by the people, with authority to act in all matters relating to the organic law.

The convention assembled on Monday, the 9th of January, pursuant to the call. It was composed, like that of September, of comparatively few holding credentials from primary county meetings. It was in session five days. The result of