The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government Volume II Part 60

"The Const.i.tution of the United States, and the laws of Congress pa.s.sed in pursuance thereof, const.i.tute the supreme law of the land, to which paramount allegiance and obedience are due from every citizen, anything in the Const.i.tution, ordinances, or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."

Suffrage was granted to every male citizen twenty-one years of age.

All officers of the State were required to take the following oath:

"I, ---- ----, do solemnly swear that I will support and maintain the Const.i.tution and laws of the United States and the Const.i.tution and laws of the State of Virginia; and that I recognize and accept the civil and political equality of all men before the law," etc.

In addition, all State, city, and county officers were required to take the test-oath prescribed by Congress on July 2, 1862, as follows:

"I do solemnly swear that I have never 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 never sought or 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 Const.i.tution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto; and I do further swear that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Const.i.tution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."

Major-General Schofield, in an address to the Convention in opposition to these stringent provisions, said:

"You can not find in some of the counties a sufficient number of men who are capable of filling the offices, and who can take the oath you have prescribed here, I have no hesitation in saying that I believe it impossible to inaugurate a government upon that basis."

Meantime the so-called Const.i.tution was adopted by the Convention, and June 2d fixed for the popular vote upon it. But no appropriation was made for the expenses of the election, and it was not held.

Major-General Stoneman now succeeded Major-General Schofield.

The utter subjugation of the sovereign people of Virginia was now manifest. Not a public act of the least importance could they do without the consent of the military chief who ruled over them, and who was a stranger in their State. Finding the provisions of this Const.i.tution were so restrictive as to exclude from the elective franchise nearly all of the most intelligent and best-educated citizens, on account of their partic.i.p.ation in the late war, a movement was commenced for a modification of these clauses or their entire omission. The sovereignty of the people was extinct, so no relief could be secured except through the action of the sovereign sitting in Washington. Congress, therefore, pa.s.sed an act authorizing the President (Grant), at such time as he might deem best, to submit the Const.i.tution to the registered voters of Virginia, and also submit to a separate vote such provisions of the Const.i.tution as he thought proper. The act also required the Legislature that should be elected to ratify the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Const.i.tution of the United States, as a condition precedent "to the readmission of the State into the Union."

The fifteenth article of amendment to the Const.i.tution was pa.s.sed by Congress in February, 1869, and submitted to the Legislatures of the States. It was as follows:

"SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

"SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

On the pa.s.sage of the amendment by the United States Senate, Senator Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, said:

"Sir, your amendments to the Const.i.tution are all void; they are of no effect. They were proposed by a mutilated Congress; they were proposed by a mutilated House of Representatives and Senate."

The election in Virginia took place on July 6, 1869. The vote on the Const.i.tution was, for it, 206,233; against it, 9,189. For the disfranchising clause, 84,404; against it, 124,361. In favor of the test-oath clause, the votes were, 83,114; against it, 124,106. State officers and a Legislature were chosen.

Meantime the civil or provisional Governor had been removed by the military commander, Major-General Stoneman, and the commander of the first district put in the vacancy. At the same time the President-Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals was a staff-officer of the General commanding, and a.s.signed to that duty; and another one of the judges of that court was an officer of the Federal army, receiving his appointment from the same source.

On October 5th the Legislature a.s.sembled, the State officers-elect having already entered upon their duties. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the United States Const.i.tution were adopted, and Senators elected to Congress. On January 26, 1870, a bill for the admission of the State into the Union, "without further condition,"

was pa.s.sed. Her subjugation was now completed. The military commanders were withdrawn, and she was left in the hands of "carpet-baggers."

[Footnote 130: Declaration of Independence.]

CHAPTER LVII.

Final Subjugation of the Confederate States (continued).--Slaves declared free by Military Commanders in North Carolina.--Provisional Governor.--Convention.--Military Commander.--Governor-elect turned out.--His Protest.--Members of Congress admitted.--Proceedings in South Carolina.--Arrest of Judge Aldrich.--Military Reversal of Sentence of the Court.--Post Commanders.--Jurors.--Proceedings in Georgia.--President's Plan.--Plan of Congress enforced.--Other Events.--Proceedings in Florida.--Rival Conventions.--Plan of Congress enforced.--Proceedings in Alabama.--Suspension of Bishop Wilmer by the Military Commander.--Military Authority.--Action of Congress.--Proceedings in Mississippi.--Const.i.tutionality of the Act of Congress before the Supreme Court.--Remarks of Chief-Justice Chase.--Military Arrests.--Removals.--The Chief-Justice of the State resigns.--The So-called Const.i.tution rejected.--Ames appointed Governor.--Proceedings in Louisiana.--Plan of Congress enforced.--Other Measures.--Arkansas.--Texas.--Opinion of the United States Attorney-General on Military Commanders.--Consequences that followed the Measures of Congress.--Increase in State Debts.-- Increase in Frauds and Crimes.--Examples.--Investigating Committees of Congress.--The Unalienable Rights of Man.--The Sovereignty of the People and the Supremacy of Law gone.

In the preceding chapter the reader will find a narration of the series of measures, adopted by the Government of the United States, to complete the final subjugation of the State of Virginia. The same series was applied, in the same order, to each of the Confederate States. It is, therefore, unnecessary to repeat the narration of these details in their application to the other States. But there were some concurrent incidents and some flagrant outrages in each one which should be stated, in order to afford a full and comprehensive view of the universal denial of unalienable personal rights, the destruction of civil inst.i.tutions, the disregard of laws, and the cruel and ignominious treatment, inflicted by the authority of the Government of the United States upon individuals in every part of the Southern country.

In North Carolina, immediately on the cessation of hostilities, the Federal General issued an order, declaring that "all persons heretofore held in the State as slaves are now free, and that it is the duty of the army to maintain the freedom of such persons."

Another order was then issued, defining and regulating the relations of the freedmen and whites. President Johnson issued his proclamation on May 29th, appointing a provisional Governor, W. W. Holden, as in the case of Virginia. On August 8th the Governor issued his proclamation for an election of delegates to a State Const.i.tutional Convention on September 12th, and stated who would be permitted to vote, and the manner of election. The election was held, and the so-called Convention a.s.sembled on October 2, 1865. Its first act declared the uninterrupted existence of the State in the Union, and that the ordinance of secession was null and void. The next prohibited slavery. The payment of the debt contracted during the war, by any future Legislature, was forbidden. The repeal of the secession ordinance and the prohibition of slavery were ratified by the people. An election for State officers and members of Congress was held in November, and those who had taken the amnesty oath were the voters. The so-called Legislature-elect held a session and ratified the amendment to the United States Const.i.tution prohibiting slavery. On December 23d the Governor-elect (Worth) was inaugurated, and the provisional Governor retired, acknowledging Worth to be the legal and "loyal" Governor. Thus the State was subjugated on the plan of President Johnson.

The affairs of the State were thus conducted until the military acts of Congress went into operation, and on March 23, 1867, Major-General Sickles issued his order a.s.suming command. On April 11th he issued an order for the relief of debtors, by prohibiting imprisonment for debt, and ordering the stay of all proceedings for the collection of debts for twelve months. Writs of execution issuing out of the United States Circuit Court were not allowed to be served by the military commander at Wilmington. The question was taken to the Attorney-General at Washington, and General Sickles appeared in his own defense. It was decided by the acting Attorney-General to be "simply a case of a high misdemeanor, legally contemplated." General Sickles was removed, and Major-General Canby succeeded. The State registration was completed In October, and contained the names of 103,060 whites and 71,657 blacks.

The so-called election for a Convention was held in November, and the Convention a.s.sembled on February 14, 1868. The Bill of Rights adopted contained similar clauses to the one adopted by the Virginia Convention.

The Const.i.tution was ratified, and State officers, members of the Legislature, and representatives to Congress were elected on April 23d. The vote for the Const.i.tution was 93,118; against it, 74,109.

The so-called Republicans had a majority of seventy on joint ballot in the Legislature.

The State officers elected under the plan of President Johnson had continued in the peaceful administration of their duties. Therefore, on the day of the inauguration of the newly-elected Governor (Holden) the existing Governor (Worth) made a spirited protest, saying:

"I do not recognize the validity of the late election, under which you and those cooperating with you claim to be invested with the civil government of the State. You have no evidence of your election, save the certificate of a major-general of the United States Army. I regard all of you as, in effect, appointees of the military power of the United States, and not as deriving your powers from the consent of those you claim to govern. Knowing, however, that you are backed by military force here, which I could not resist if I would, I do not deem it necessary to offer a futile opposition, but vacate the office without the ceremony of actual eviction, offering no further opposition than this, my protest. I would submit to actual expulsion in order to bring before the Supreme Court of the United States the question as to the const.i.tutionality of the legislation under which you claim to be the rightful Governor of the State, if the past action of that tribunal furnished any hope of a speedy trial. I surrender the office to you under what I deem military duress, without stopping, as the occasion would well justify, to comment on the singular coincidence that the present State government is surrendered, as without legality, to him whose own official sanction, but three years ago, declared it valid.

"I am, very respectfully,

"JONATHAN WORTH,

"_Governor of North Carolina._"

The so-called Legislature a.s.sembled on the appointed day, and the fourteenth amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States was at once ratified, and on July 11, 1868, the President announced by proclamation that "North Carolina had complied with the conditions prescribed by Congress for her restoration to an equal place in the Union of States."

In South Carolina, proceedings were commenced on June 20, 1865, when President Johnson issued a proclamation similar to the one in the case of Virginia, and appointed Benjamin F. Perry as provisional Governor of the State. He continued all persons in office on taking the amnesty oath, and all laws in force prior to the secession of the State were maintained except those conflicting with the proclamation; delegates to a so-called State Convention were elected on the first Monday of September, and the Convention a.s.sembled on the 13th to amend the State Const.i.tution. The ordinance of secession was repealed and slavery abolished. Blacks were made witnesses in all cases where the rights or property of persons of that cla.s.s were involved. An election of State officers and a so-called Legislature were held. The latter convened on October 25th. The thirteenth amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States prohibiting slavery was ratified.

On November 29th the provisional Governor retired, and the so-called Governor-elect (Orr) was inaugurated. The work of the Legislature was very complete. The courts were open to all persons, with equal civil rights, without distinction of color, and Major-General Sickles, commander of the Military Department of North Carolina and South Carolina, ordered all civil and criminal cases to be tried before them in which the parties were civilians. Previous to this order, and after the cessation of hostilities, provost-marshals and military courts were detailed for duty all over the State. These officers knew only the law martial, and generally very little of that; and took jurisdiction of all cases both civil and criminal, occasioning great annoyance, expense, and vexation, deciding as their prejudice, caprice, or ignorance suggested. After the completion of the so-called State government, however, the vacancies on the bench were filled, and the courts opened throughout the State.

Still the people were made to feel that the military hand was over all. A case occurred in the court in Charleston, before Judge A. P.

Aldrich, in which a white man was indicted for petty larceny, tried, and found guilty. The punishment prescribed by the law of the State for this offense was whipping. To this punishment the offender was sentenced. On the next day an armed soldier came to the court-house inquiring for the Judge, who was absent. To an inquiry of the sheriff as to his business, he replied that he was ordered to require the Judge to report at General Bennet's headquarters, who was the military commander of the district. On the next day another soldier in full uniform came to the lodgings of the Judge with a note from the General requesting the former to report at headquarters.

The reply of the Judge was: "As I have no business with you, I decline to report. If you have business with me, it will give me great pleasure to receive you."

On the next day an adjutant appeared saying: "The General is very much engaged, and asks you to come to his office. I will wait your convenience."

"I see I am under arrest," replied the Judge. "I will go now."

The adjutant, in full uniform, escorted him through the most public parts of the city to headquarters, and, entering the office, announced him. The General was sitting, with his cap on, and writing.

After some time, having finished, he looked up and said, "Sit down,"

adding, "That was a curt note you sent to me yesterday."

"No, sir," answered the Judge, "I intended it to be respectful, but, as I had no business with you, I did not see why I should be required to come to your office."

"Do you dispute the authority of the United States Government?" asked the General, tartly.

"No, sir; I am here in obedience to that authority, but I have always supposed that, as a mere matter of courtesy, when one gentleman has business with another, he calls on him. As a matter of etiquette, I believe a Judge of the Superior Court of a State is equal in rank to a brevet brigadier-general."

"We will not discuss the question of rank," replied the General, "but General Sickles requests you to revoke your sentence of the other day and impose some other penalty."

The Judge replied: "I do not impose the penalty; it is the law, and I have no discretion."

He then explained the law, and said there was no relief except by a pardon of the Governor, or by taking the prisoner out of the custody of the sheriff. A few days after, the prisoner was taken from the custody of the Sheriff and discharged. The proceeding was brought to the knowledge of the so-called Governor, who applied to General Sickles to suspend his order, but the latter declined; whereupon the Judge, then at Columbia, to hold the court of the circuit, declared that he would adjourn the court and not proceed on his circuit; that he would not go through the farce of holding a court when judgments and sentences could be arrested and prevented by military order. He then adjourned the court, and pa.s.sed an order refusing to hold courts while the military order was in force. General Sickles also issued an order reversing a judgment of the Supreme Court. The President about the same time countermanded a like order of the General in North Carolina, and the Judge resumed his duties.

Under the act of Congress of March 2, 1867, the State was divided into ten military districts, and a post commander appointed for each.