any of these offices who is exempted by the proclamation of the President from the benefit of amnesty, unless he has been specially pardoned. 3. The appointment of Judge of Probate and Sheriff in each county will be made specially, as soon as suitable persons are properly recommended, and when appointed they will take the oath of amnesty prescribed in the foregoing section, and give bond and security as required by the law of Alabama on the 11th of January, 1861. Any vacancies in any of the county offices will be promptly filled when it is made known and a proper person recommended. . . 5. An election for delegates to a convention of the loyal citizens of Alabama, will be held in each county in the State on Monday, the 31st day of August next, in the manner provided by the laws of Alabama on the 11th day of January, 1861; but no person can vote in said election, or be a candidate for said election, who is not a legal voter as the law was on that day; and if he is excepted from the benefit of amnesty under the President's Proclamation . . he must have obtained a pardon. 6. Every person must vote in the county of his residence, and before he is allowed to do so, must take and subscribe the oath of amnesty prescribed in the President's Proclamation. of the 29th of May, 1865, before some one of the officers hereinafter appointed for that purpose in the county where he offers to vote. . . 7. There will be elected in each county of the State, on said day, as many delegates to said Convention as said county was entitled to representatives in the House of Representatives on the 11th day of January, 1861; and the delegates so elected will receive a certificate of election from the sheriff of the county, and will assemble in Convention at the Capitol in Montgomery, on the 10th day of September 1865. . 8. From and after this day, the civil and criminal laws of Alabama, as they stood on the 11th day of January, 1861, except that portion which relates to slaves, are hereby declared to be in full force and operation; and all proceedings for the punishment of offences against them, will be turned over to the proper civil officers, together with the custody of the person charged, and the civil authorities will proceed in all cases according to law. Suits in civil cases now pending, whether an original measure, or final process, before any officer acting under military authority, will also be turned over to the proper civil officer, and will be governed in all things by the laws of the State aforesaid. 9. All unlawful means to punish offenders are hereby strictly prohibited. No "vigilance committee" or other organization, for the punishment of supposed offenders, not authorized by the laws of the State, will be permitted, and if any such are attempted, the person or persons so offending, will be promptly arrested and punished. . . If offenders become too strong, the military power of the United States will aid Henceforth that power will act in aid of, and in subordination to the civil authority of the State. us. IO. The oath which is required to be taken by those who desire to vote for delegates to the Convention, may be administered by the Judge of Probate of the county where the voter lives, or by any Justice of the Peace in said county and by officers specially thereunto appointed. . . One copy of said oath will be given to the voter and another will be kept by the officer before whom it is taken which must be filed with the Judge of Probate, and endorsed by the Judge of Probate, with affiant's name . . and preserved by him as a part of the records of his office. The Judge of Probate must make out a certified list of names numbered to correspond with the affidavit, and transmit it to this office by some one of the delegates to the Convention. . . II. There are no slaves now in Alabama. The slave code is a dead letter. . . 13... The Sheriffs of the several counties are hereby required to keep in readiness a sufficient force of deputies or assistants to enable them to execute all legal process and arrest all offenders promptly, and they will be held strictly accountable for any neglect of duty in this respect. President Johnson on Negro Suffrage McPherson, History of Reconstruction, p. 19. Johnson to Gov. W. L. Sharkey of Mississippi. [August 15, 1865] I HOPE that without delay your convention will amend your State constitution, abolishing slavery and denying to all future Legislatures the power to legislate that there is property in man; also that they will adopt the amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery. If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who can read the Constitution of the United States in English and write their names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at not less than two hundred and fifty dollars and pay taxes thereon, you would completely disarm the adversary and set an example the other States will follow. This you can do with perfect safety, and you would thus place Southern States in reference to free persons of color upon the same basis with the free States. . . And as a consequence the radicals, who are wild upon negro franchise, will be completely foiled in their attempts to keep the Southern States from renewing their relations to the Union by not accepting their Senators and Representatives. A Debate on the Abolition of Slavery Annual Cyclopedia, 1865, p. 14. In the Alabama convention. Coleman of Choctaw County was also in the convention of 1901 and chairman of the committee that framed the restricted suffrage clause. [September, 1865] MR. COLEMAN, of Choctaw County, contended that on our action depended the right of the property of the people. The Proclamation of the President and the act of Congress had destroyed slavery, but to make it complete required our ratification, and, before doing so, the validity and constitutionality of the proclamation and act of Congress should be tested before the Supreme Court of the United States. He recognized the right of the United States to pass laws for the punishment of crime, but as a State could not commit treason . . and they could not be deprived of their property except on trial and conviction, those who had not been guilty of treason, could not be deprived of their property, although in slaves. Congress had no right to seize the property of an offender, after death, when it should revert to his heirs. . . To admit the right of the Federal head by proclamation to nullify the Constitution of a State, was to concede the loss of the republic and the sovereignty of the States. The present course proposed by the majority report was one of expediency, and he was not prepared to sacrifice rights, honor, and property to it, although there was a great anxiety to get members elected to Congress. He denied that the President's Proclamation demanded of the State the abolition of slavery as a test of loyalty that a State could not forfeit its rights, but citizens might. This was the loyal State of Alabama, and must be so regarded, yet were it not through force no member would vote to abolish slavery. We had no guarantee that the sacrifice would be accepted or that our members of Congress would be admitted; nothing would satisfy the Radicals of the North. He contended that on this great principle of State rights the North was as deeply interested as the South, and that the precedent of yielding as proposed by the majority report was too dangerous. We should accept the freeing of the slaves by the act of the Federal Executive and the bayonet, and it was not the free and voluntary act of the people of Alabama. He believed that when the country returned to its reason, those who had lost their property and who had not participated in the rebellion, would be compensated, but the ordinance proposed an estoppel on all reclamations. Judge Foster of Calhoun County, replied as follows: The war had settled two questions forever, one that of secession, the other of slavery. They had been settled by a power whose decision was binding and final, and from which there was no appeal the power of the sword. Disputes between individuals could be settled by events, but they have no power to adjust differences between States and nations. They must be adjusted by compromise and negotiation or submitted to the arbitrament of the sword. The decisions of the Supreme Court were not respected or obeyed even by political parties. The substitute offered by Mr. White proposed to await the action of the Supreme Court. It was immaterial what that action was, so far as it secured us any practical benefit. . . The first ordinance reported by the committee asserted a fact, apparent to every one, that the institution of slavery had been destroyed, not deciding when or how, whether constitutionally, or unconstitutionally. . . First, by the act of Congress and the President's Proclamation; second, by the military power of the Government of the United States. . the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the practical severing of the tie between master and slave. The ordinance also asserted the proposition that we would not revive slavery. The Government of the United States in every department was unalterably determined that slavery should no longer exist. The edict had gone forth, and we were powerless to resist it. We were a subjugated people, and our conquerors could dictate their own terms. . We could not reduce the negroes to slavery if the United States would withdraw their forces and stand aloof. We were exhausted, and the attempt would lead to a reënactment of the bloody scenes of St. Domingo. . The country needed repose. The people had made up their minds that slavery was gone, and were accommodating themselves to the new order of things. It was wrong to awaken delusive hopes that could never be satisfied. Our wisest course was in good faith to accept the situation and restore our relations with the Federal Union reorganize our State Government, that law and order might again prevail in the land. Abolition in North Carolina Senate Ex. Doc. no. 26, 39 Cong., 1 Sess., p. 28. Each Southern state in its constitutional convention formally abolished slavery before the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. [October 9, 1865] Be it declared and ordained by the delegates of the people of the State of North Carolina in convention assembled, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than for crimes, whereof the parties shall |