of Congress. The meeting was held at the A. M. E. Church in Tallahassee, and Joseph Oats, formerly a slave of Governor Walker, was unanimously elected. The next step was to raise money to send the newly elected Congressman to Washington. The money was forthcoming, as plenty of old men and women gave their last dollar to send one of their race to the National Congress. Seven hundred dollars were thus raised and given to Oats, who shortly afterwards was off to Congress. He remained away from Tallahassee until his money was gone, when he wrote back designating the time when he would return. . . The 20th of May, the day on which General McCook marched his troops into Tallahassee, and declared all the inhabitants to be free, was the day set apart for Oats to tell the freedmen the great work he had accomplished in Congress. Oats' speech was, that he had seen the President, and they had true friends at Washington etc. It was believed, however, that Oats did not go further than Savannah, where he had a good time, spent the freedmen's money, and returned home. After Oats had finished his story about the President, and his great labors in Congress the crowd set up their huzzas for half an hour and then sat down to a sumptuous dinner. Whisky was plentiful on the ground and was freely imbibed by the freedA dispute arose among them as to where Oats had been. And the affair ended in a general knock down and drag out.

men.

7. REJECTION OF THE FOURTEENTH

AMENDMENT

Alexander H. Stephens on the Conditions of
Reconstruction

Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, pt. iii, p. 163. Stephens
was Vice-President of the Confederate States.
[1866]

I THINK the people of the State would be unwilling to do more than they have done for restoration. Restricted or limited. suffrage would not be so objectionable as general or universal. But it is a matter that belongs to the State to regulate. The question of suffrage, whether universal or restricted, is one of State policy exclusively, as they believe. Individually I should not be opposed to a proper system of restricted or limited. suffrage to this class of our population. . . The only view in their opinion that could possibly justify the war that was carried on by the federal government against them was the idea of the indissolubleness of the Union; that those who held the administration for the time were bound to enforce the execution of the laws and the maintenance of the integrity of the country under the Constitution. . . They expected as soon as the confederate cause was abandoned that immediately the states would be brought back into their practical relations with the government as previously constituted. They expected that the States would immediately have their representatives in the Senate and in the House; and they expected in good faith, as loyal men, as the term is frequently used — loyal to law, order, and the Constitution to support the government under the Constitution. . . Towards the Constitution of the United States the great mass of our people were always as much devoted in their feelings as any people ever were towards any laws or people. . . They resorted to secession with a view of more securely maintaining these principles. And when they found they were not successful in their object in perfect good faith, as far as I can judge from meeting with them and conversing with them, looking to the future development of

their country, their earnest desire and expectation was to allow the past struggle. . to pass by and to co-operate with . . those of all sections who earnestly desire the preservation of constitutional liberty and the perpetuation of the government in its purity. They have been . . disappointed in this, and patiently waiting, however, and believing that when the passions of the hour have passed away this delay in representation will cease. ..

My own opinion is that these terms ought not to be offered as conditions precedent. . . It would be best for the peace, harmony, and prosperity of the whole country that there should be an immediate restoration, an immediate bringing back of the States into their original practical relations; and let all these questions then be discussed in common council. Then the representatives from the south could be heard, and you and all could judge much better of the tone and temper of the people than you could from the opinions given by any individuals. My judgment, therefore, is very decided, that it would have been better as soon as the lamentable conflict was over, when the people of the south abandoned their cause and agreed to accept the issue, desiring as they do to resume their places for the future in the Union, and to look to the arena of reason and justice for the protection of their rights in the Union it would have been better to have allowed that result to take place, to follow under the policy adopted by the administration, than to delay or hinder it by propositions to amend the Constitution in respect to suffrage. . . I think the people of all the southern States would in the halls of Congress discuss these questions calmly and deliberately, and if they did not show that the views they entertained were just and proper, such as to control the judgment of the people of the other sections and States, they would quietly. . yield to whatever should be constitutionally determined in common council. They feel very sensitively the offer to them of propositions to accept while they are denied all voice . . in the discussion of these propositions. . . They feel very sensitively that they are denied the right to be heard.

.

The Fourteenth Amendment Rejected in Florida Annual Cyclopedia, 1866, p. 326. Report of a Committee of the legislature. [1866]

As the representatives of the people of the State of Florida, we protest that we are willing to make any organic changes of a thoroughly general character, and which do not totally destroy the nature of the government. We are willing to do anything which a generous conqueror even should demand. . . On the other hand, we will bear any ill before we will pronounce our own dishonor. We will be taxed without representation; we will quietly endure the government of the bayonet; we will see and submit to the threatened fire and sword and destruction, but we will not bring, as a peace offering, the conclusive evidence of our own self-created degradation.

Our present relations with the general government are certainly of a strange character. Beyond the postal service, our people derive no benefit from our existence as a State in the Union. We are denied representation. . . We are at the same time subject to the most onerous taxation; the civil law of the State is enforced and obeyed only when it meets the approval of the local commander of the troops of the United States; the Congress of the United States enacts laws making certain lands subject to entry at a small cost by the colored portion of our population, and denies the like privilege to the white man.

We are, in fact, recognized as a State for the single and sole purpose of working out our own destruction and dishonor... We are recognized as a State for the highest purposes known to the Constitution, namely, its amendment; but we are not recognized as a State for any of the benefits resulting from that relation.

I.

Arkansas Rejects the Fourteenth Amendment Annual Cyclopedia, 1866, p. 27. Resolution of the legislature.

[December 10, 1866]

It is not known, nor can it be, to the State of Arkansas, that the proposed amendment was ever acted upon by a Con

gress of such a character as is provided for by the Constitution, inasmuch as nearly one-third of the States were refused representation in the Congress which acted upon this amend

ment.

2. This proposed amendment was never submitted to the President for his sanction, as it should have been, according to the very letter of that Constitution under which Congress exists..

3. The great and enormous power sought to be conferred on Congress by the amendment, by giving to that body authority to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of the first article of said amendment, would, in effect, take from the States all control over their local and domestic concerns, and virtually abolish the States.

4. The second section seems, to the committee, an effort to force negro suffrage upon the States; and whether intended or not, it leaves the power to bring this about, whether the States consent or not; and the committee are of the opinion that every State Legislature should shrink from ever permitting the possibility of such a calamity.

5. The third section, as an act of disfranchisement which would embrace many of our best and wisest citizens, must, of necessity, be rejected by the people of Arkansas.

The President Opposes the Fourteenth Amendment Trial of Andrew Johnson, vol. i, p. 271. The Alabama legislature after having rejected the Fourteenth Amendment was reconsidering it. The first telegram below was sent to the President from Montgomery by ex-Governor L. E. Parsons. The second telegram contains the reply which resulted in the defeat of the amendment. [January 17, 1867]

[1]. Legislature in session. Efforts making to reconsider vote on constitutional amendments. Report from Washington says it is probable an enabling act will pass. We do not know what to believe. I find nothing here.

[2]. What possible good can be obtained by reconsidering the constitutional amendment? I know of none in the present posture of affairs; and I do not believe the people of the whole