Part 42 (2/2)

4. When the Provisional Governor had entered upon the discharge of his official duties, North Carolina was reduced to a small supply of cotton as the sum of her available means to discharge the current expenses of the new government, and even that was seized by the agents of the United States, and to Governor Holden's appeals for its release, the Secretary of the Treasury and President Johnson proved deaf and inexorable.

5. Judges Pearson and Battle were re-instated in their places of Supreme Court Justices, but Judge M. E. Manly was replaced by Edwin G. Reade, of Person. By orders from Was.h.i.+ngton, a proclamation was issued for an election of a Convention to restore the State to its former relations. This body met October 2nd, 1865, and selected Judge Reade as its president. Ordinances were pa.s.sed repealing and declaring null and void the secession ordinances of May 20th, 1861, abolis.h.i.+ng slavery and invalidating all contracts made in furtherance of the late war.

1866.

6. In the same election, Jonathan Worth, of Randolph, was chosen over Governor Holden as Chief-Magistrate. The State was apparently resuming its self-government, and was soon to show that some spirit was left in the people. They refused to ratify the ordinances of the late Convention by a decided majority; and while accepting the situation and submitting in all quietude to the authorities imposed, they were yet resolved to take no part in these constrained reformations.

7. The general government had been for four years declaring the Ordinances of Secession, pa.s.sed by the several States, null and void. It had been repeatedly announced that no State could thus sever her connection with the Union; but when the legally elected Senators and Representatives from North Carolina reached Was.h.i.+ngton, they found that this doctrine was reversed, and were told that they could not take part in national legislation until Congress should restore the Southern States to their lost privileges.

8. In the Southern elections that were held, every man was required to take oaths of allegiance and for the support of the amended Federal Const.i.tution. Some refused to attend the polls and a few left the country for foreign lands. A vast majority were resolved to support the Union in good faith, but, unhappily, this was not so understood by the men who controlled at Raleigh and Was.h.i.+ngton. They were impressed with the belief that only hostile sentiments actuated Southern white men, and, therefore, the proper policy was to confer political power upon the negroes, and in that way establish a new system of rule and social life in the Southern States lately in revolt.

1867.

9. This was a great and cruel mistake in policy. It was not only impossible of execution, but necessarily entailed trouble and suffering on both races thus put in antagonism. It could not be expected that white people would quietly submit to the domination of negroes who had so recently been their slaves, even if such rulers had been equally intelligent and socially respected. When the race feeling was added to the late subjection and present ignorance of the negroes, it was the most futile and abortive scheme ever proposed in America, and was at war with all the precedents and spirit of the great Republic.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the condition of the State after the departure of Federal troops?

2. How were the people enduring mental and bodily suffering?

3. What had become of the various educational funds?

4. What was the only means by which North Carolina could meet the expenses of the State government? What became of the small supply of cotton?

5. What changes did Governor Holden make in the Supreme Court?

What orders did the Governor receive from Was.h.i.+ngton? What was the Work of the Convention?

6. Who. was chosen to succeed Governor Holden? What political opinions were expressed by the people in their votes?

7. What inconsistencies were observed in the management of affairs at Was.h.i.+ngton?

8. How did the men of the South feel concerning the laws of Congress?

9. How are the events of this period considered?

CHAPTER LXV.

GOVERNOR WORTH AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON.

A. D. 1867 TO 1868.

President Andrew Johnson, as has already been stated, was born and reared in the city of Raleigh. He went to Tennessee after reaching manhood, and, though blessed with small advantages as to early culture, devoted himself to political life. He is said to have mastered the rudiments of education with his wife's help. His native ability soon gave him position as a politician and eventually great popularity and control over the Tennessee people.

2. He soon relaxed in the severity of his feelings toward the late Confederates, and thereby incurred the resentment of the leaders in the party which had elected him Vice-President. In the bitterness of the mutual recriminations, between him and his late friends in Congress, there was, unhappily, evil to result to North Carolina and the South; for to the old resentments against the South was added a desire in many men to thwart the President who had become their ally.

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