In some of the States the demoralizing effects of the war are to be seen in occasional disorders; but these are local in character, not frequent in occurrence, and are rapidly disappearing as the authority of civil law is extended and sustained. Perplexing questions were naturally to be expected from the great and sudden change in the relations between the two races; but systems are gradually developing themselves under which the freedman will receive the protection to which he is justly entitled, and by means of his labor make himself a useful and independent member of the community in which he has his home... I am induced to cherish the belief that sectional animosity is surely and rapidly merging itself into a spirit of nationality, and that representation, connected with a properly adjusted system of taxation, will result in a harmonious restoration of the relations of the States to the national Union.

2.

THE "PROVISIONAL" GOVERNMENTS IN

THE SOUTH

What the War Decided

Annual Cyclopedia, 1865. Gov. J. L. Orr's address to the South Carolina legislature. [October, 1865] THE war has decided first: That.. the States of the Federal Union have not the right . to secede therefrom. The doctrine of secession. . is now exploded for any practical purpose. The theory of absolute sovereignty of a State of the Federal Union, . . which was believed almost universally to be a sound constitutional construction, must also be materially modified to conform to this . . decision. In all the powers granted in the Constitution to the Federal Government, it is supreme and sovereign, and must be obeyed and respected accordingly. Where the rights of a State are disregarded, or unconstitutional acts done by any department of the Federal Government, redress can no longer be sought by interposing the sovereignty of the State, either for nullification or secession; but the remedy is by petition or remonstrance; by reason, which sooner or later will overtake justice; by an appeal to the supreme judicial power of the Union; or by revolution, which if unsuccessful, is treason...

The God of Battles has pronounced an irreversible judgment, after a long, desperate, and sanguinary struggle, and it would be neither politic nor patriotic ever again to invoke a new trial of the fearful issue.

The clemency which President Johnson has so generously extended. . in granting full and free pardon for participation in the late revolution, does honor to his statesmanship and to his sense of justice. He is the ruling power of a great and triumphant Government, and by his policy will attach by cords stronger than "triple steel" the citizens of one entire section of the Union to that Government which he has . . supported and maintained. He was well acquainted with the South — with her politics and politicians, and knew . . that they honestly entertained the sentiments which they professed, and for

which they perilled their all; and after failing in the end, when they proposed to return to their loyalty, that humanity and policy dictated that they should not be hunted down for ignominious punishment. . .

The war decided second: That slavery should be totally and absolutely exterminated in all the States of the Union. The Convention of this State, with singular unanimity and promptness, accepted the result of the issue made, and declared in the fundamental law "that slaves having been emancipated by the action of the United States authorities, slavery should never be reëstablished in this State."

The Effects of the Test Oath

House Ex. Doc. no. 81, 39 Cong., 1 Sess. Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury, to the President, March 19, 1866.

[1866]

I AM well satisfied that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to find competent men at the south to fill the revenue offices, who can qualify under the statute. . . In the progress of the rebellion very few persons of character and intelligence in most of these States failed. . to participate in the hostilities, or to connect themselves with the insurgent government. This is almost universally true of the young men, who are expected to fill the clerkships and other inferior places in the revenue service. . . For those offices that must soon become vacant if Congress should not deem it to be safe or proper to modify the oath, I am at a loss to know where the right men are to be obtained, or how the revenues in many of the southern districts are to be collected. . . There are still some applicants for office in the southern States who present what they call “a clean record for loyalty," but, with rare exceptions, they are persons who would have been able to present an equally fair record for place under the confederate government if the rebellion had been a success, or persons lacking the qualifications which are needed in revenue positions. .

I do not consider it advisable for the government to attempt to collect taxes in the southern States by the hands of strangers.

. It would be better for the country, politically and finan

cially, to suspend the collection of internal revenue taxes in the southern States, except in commercial cities, for months, if not for years to come, rather than to undertake to collect them by men not identified with the tax-payers in sympathy or in interest. . .

It is difficult to conceive of a more unfortunate course for the government of the United States to pursue than to make tax-gatherers at the south of men who are strangers to the people.

The "Iron Clad" Test Oath

Statutes at Large, vol. xii, p. 502. This oath was modified for members of Congress in 1868, for jurors June 30, 1879, and May 13, 1884, and finally all of it was repealed on June 6, 1898. There are some laws still on the statute book keeping in force the principles of this oath. See Revised Statutes, sec. 5334. [July 2, 1862]

Be it enacted, . . That hereafter every person elected or appointed to any office of honor or profit under the government of the United States, either in the civil, military or naval departments of the public service, excepting the President of the United States, shall, before entering upon the duties of such office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments thereof, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reserva

tion or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God;" which said oath, so taken and signed, shall be preserved among the files of the court, House of Congress, or Department to which the said office may appertain. And any person who shall falsely take the said oath shall be guilty of perjury, and on conviction, in addition to the penalties now prescribed for that offence, shall be deprived of his office and rendered incapable forever after of holding any office or place under the United States.

The Alabama Legislature on the State of the Union

Acts of Alabama, 1865-1866, p. 606. Passed after Congress had refused to accept the President's work of restoration.

[February 22, 1866]

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama, in General Assembly convened, That the people of Alabama, and their representatives here assembled, cordially approve the policy pursued by Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, in the reorganization of the Union. We accept the result of the late contest, and do not desire to renew what has been so conclusively determined; nor do we mean to permit any one subject to our control to attempt its renewal, or to violate any of our obligations to the United States Government. We mean to coöperate in the wise, firm, and just policy adopted by the President, with all the energy and power we can devote to that object.

2.

That the above declaration expresses the sentiments and purposes of our people, and we denounce the efforts of those who represent our views and intentions to be different, as cruel and criminal assaults on our character and our interests. It is one of the misfortunes of our present political condition that we have among us persons whose interests are temporarily promoted by such false representations; but we rely on the intelligence and integrity of those who wield the power of the United States Government for our safeguard against such malign influences.