came the law of the State.1 It attempted to define and regulate the civil and industrial interests of the freedmen and their relation to the white race. Having abolished slavery and having repealed the ordinance of secession and provided for the protection and government of the former slaves, the work of the convention drew to a close. No action was taken' respecting the Confederate debt. In the belief that they represented the people of the State, the delegates nominated as a candidate for governor one of their number, James L. Orr,2 who had been the Speaker of the Thirty-fifth Congress, and also a foremost member of the secession convention of 1860. But the people took offense at the nomination and voted for General Wade Hampton, "though there was no political question in the election."4 On counting the votes it was ascertained that Orr was elected by a small majority, and, on the twenty-ninth of November, he was inaugurated governor.5

Meanwhile the President had been solicitous about the action the legislature might take respecting the Thirteenth Amendment, and what it might decide as to the debt which the State had created in aid of the rebellion. He telegraphed to Governor Perry, as he did later to the provisional governor of Mississippi, that if the action of the convention was in good faith, the legislature should not hesitate to make the amendment a part of the Constitution of the United States. Thirteen days later, the legis

1 See Senate Executive Document, No. 26, Report of the Committee on the Code, October 25, pp. 175-197.

2 Governor Perry to President Johnson, October 27: Senate Executive Document, No. 26, p. 253.

3 December 7, 1857, to March 3, 1859.

4 Ib.

5 Governor Perry to the President, November 29; Id., p. 25.

• The President to Governor Perry, October 31, 1865; Id., p. 254.

210

CONDITION OF NORTH CAROLINA.

lature ratified the amendment, but added a resolution, that any attempt by Congress toward legislating upon the political status of former slaves, or on their civil relations, would be contrary to the Constitution of the United States as it was, or, as it would be, if altered by the proposed amendment—and would be in conflict with the policy of the President declared in his amnesty proclamation, and with the restoration of that harmony upon which the vital interest of the American people depended.1

North Carolina, like South Carolina, had no funds with which to meet the expenses of reorganization, and the greater part was borne by the War Department. A quantity of cotton and resin, which had not yet been seized as insurgent property, was judged by the President properly convertible into available funds as a further means of meeting its expenses,2 and the convention was declared to possess the power to levy taxes, and to enforce their collection. It was even more difficult to secure a convention here than in South Carolina, or Mississippi, and the President acting as formerly on the principle that an election of delegates was evidence of their fitness, freely pardoned all who had not as yet taken the oath.3 discussions, though they seemed somewhat perfunctory, clearly reflected the opinions of the hour. The question whether a State could secede from the Union, which had so long agitated the country, it was now said, was fully

The

1 Bulletin of Bureau of Rolls and Library of the Department of State, No. 7, September 18, 1894, pp. 605-606 (Doc. Hist. II), November 13, 1865. It was nearly unanimous in the Senate, and by 74 yeas and 24 nays in the House. South Carolina was the twenty-fourth State to ratify.

2 Seward to Governor Holden, July 8, 1865: Senate Executive Document, No. 26, p. 117. Holden to the President, June 13, Id.,

8 Id., 223-224.

and finally answered by the war.1 The ordinance of secession was repealed,2 and slavery was abolished by a unanimous vote.3

4

But no such harmony prevailed in the debate on the State debt. Wearied with the war, and at no time its most ardent advocate, the majority of the people of the State were now opposed to assuming this debt made in aid of the rebellion. But as the debate became more bitter, it threatened to break up the convention, and the provisional governor appealed to the President for advice. "Every dollar of the debt created to aid the rebellion against the United States should be repudiated finally and forever,” was the reply. So prompt and forceful a reply had an immediate and happy effect upon the delegates,

1 North Carolina Convention Journal, pp. 21-22.

2 October 6 the exact vote is not recorded, but the repealing ordinance passed its second reading by 105 yeas to 9 nays, Journal, pp. 23-24. Ordinances and Resolutions, Id., p. 39.

3 October 7, Journal. pp. 28, 29, 30 and 31. Ordinances and Resolutions, p. 40, where the 9th of October, the day of enrollment is given is the day of the Ordinance. North Carolina was the thirty-first State to prohibit slavery.

4 See Acts of the Legislature of North Carolina, December 9, 1862: protest against confiscation of cotton by the Confederate government, December 12, 1863, and May 28, 1864; also against the abuse of the habeas corpus by the Confederate government, May 28, 1864; May 25, 1864, approving the action of the public treasury in refusing the Treasury Notes of the Confederate States of America at par issued prior to February 17, 1864; December 23, 1864, joint resolution, "Protesting against the cruel and inhuman manner in which slaves were conscripted from North Carolina;" December 23, 1864, two protests against conscription; February 1, 1865, protest against the proscription which was likely to close all mills and mechanics of the State; February 3, 1865, protest against the arming of slaves by the Confederate government; February 1st, protest against C. S. A. Impressment Laws; February 6, against the abuse of the right of habeas corpus by the Confederate government.

5 Governor Holden to the President, October 17, Id., p. 226. 6 Governor Holden to the President, Id., p. 227.

212

LAWS CONCERNING FREEDMEN.

who decided the great mass of the people should not be taxed to pay a debt incurred in carrying on a war which they had opposed.1 The matter was discussed, more or less, for two weeks, but was settled at last by declaring the debt void, and by forbidding the legislature to provide for the payment of any portion of it.2

3

As in South Carolina, so here, the convention empowered the provisional governor to appoint a commission to report to the legislature a system of laws on the subject of freedmen, and like the commission in that State, it soon reported an elaborate code, which was intended to protect their persons and property. One provision was an innovation in the law-that negroes were competent to give evidence in court in cases involving the rights of property. The President was as anxious that the legislature should ratify the pending amendment as that the convention should repudiate the Confederate debt. His wishes were soon realized, for the legislature adopted the amendment with but six dissenting voices.

1 The President to Governor Holden, October 18, Id., p. 226. 2 October 19, Journal, p. 91; Ordinances and Resolutions, p. 66. The principal objection raised against the ordinance was that the matter could more wisely and expediently be left with the General Assembly. Journal, p. 92.

3 October 18, Journal, p. 81; Ordinances and Resolutions, p. 73.

4 For the report of the commission, see Senate Executive Document, No. 26, pp. 48, 55.

5 Seward to Governor Holden, November 21, Id., p. 47.

6 Governor Holden to the President, December 1, Id., p. 228. For the ratification which bears the date of December 4, 1865, see Bulletin of the Bureau of Rolls and Library of the Department of State, No. 7, September 18, 1894, pp. 607-608 (Doc. Hist. II). North Carolina was the twenty-sixth State to ratify. The ratification, in the House, November 29, 1865, was by 100 ayes to 4 nays; in the Senate, December 1, the rules were suspended, the resolution of ratification read a third time, and passed without calling the roll. Senate Journal, p. 33.

At the State election, which followed soon after the adjournment, Jonathan North was chosen governor, and the civil organization of the State fully provided for. The legislature chose William A. Graham, an ex-member of the Confederate Senate,-United States Senator. The friends of Thomas L. Clingman, who, with other southern Senators, had retired from the Senate soon after the inauguration of President Lincoln, were urging in the State Senate, that he was entitled to the two years' term.1 But the President, whose policy was primarily to reorganize the State governments, did not wait for the action of Congress toward the Representatives and Senators from North Carolina, but dispatched to Governor Holden notice that he was relieved from the responsibility of his office; and on the twenty-third of December, the great seal of the State was transferred to the governor elect.2

In Georgia the question speedily arose whether a citizen, who had taken the oath of amnesty, who had applied for pardon and had been recommended by the provisional governor, was entitled to vote, or, to a seat in the convention. The President answered this in the negative. The amnesty oath and the petition were the only evidence of loyalty; but he declared his willingness to pardon all who deserved it, by the time their vote was needed. In consequence of this liberal policy the Milledgeville convention assembled on the twenty-fifth of October with a full list of delegates. Greatly distinguished among them and chosen permanent president of the convention, was

1 Governor Holden to the President, December 4, Id., p. 228. Mr. Clingman retired from the Senate July 11, 1861, his term of service there beginning November 23, 1858.

2 Holden to Secretary Seward, December 23, Id., p. 48.

3 Governor Johnson to the President, September 8, 1865. Senate Executive Document, No. 26, p. 235.

4 The President to Governor Johnson, September 9, Id., p. 235.