Part 5 (1/2)

When ... any one of said rebel states shall have [fulfilled all requirements], said state shall be declared ent.i.tled to representation in Congress, and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom ... and then and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be inoperative in said state.

Hence, the military authority, said Bullock, would continue in Georgia until the following December. But he informed the legislature that it might proceed with legislation, since Terry had informed him that he would allow it.[258]

The Radicals in the legislature took advantage of the theory announced by the governor to make one last attempt at prolongation of power. On July 26 a resolution was offered in the upper house to this effect: That the authority of the United States was still paramount in Georgia; that no offence ought to be offered to Congress by an apparent denial of this fact; that therefore no election should be held in the state until Congress had fully recognized its statehood by receiving its representatives.[259] On July 29 the senate adopted a resolution similar to this, but the lower house rejected it by a few votes.[260] With the failure of this attempt, the Reconstruction Acts ceased to operate in Georgia, either in fact or in any one's theory.

At the next session of Congress a delegation from Georgia composed of men elected in December, 1870, was seated in the House of Representatives.[261]

In the Senate, Farrow and Whitely, elected by the legislature in February, 1870, presented credentials. They were referred to the judiciary committee, which reported adversely. It recommended that Hill, elected in 1868, be seated, and reported that Miller, elected with Hill, would be ent.i.tled to a seat except that he was unable to take the Test Oath required of members of Congress by the act of July 2, 1862.[262] Since this committee had decided in January, 1869, that the Georgia legislature was not legally organized in 1868, and in March, 1870, that its organization in January of that year was also illegal, and since therefore the election of Hill and Miller and that of Farrow and Whitely were both illegal, the committee had to decide the question: To which of these illegal elections ought we to give _de facto_ validity? It decided in favor of the earlier one on grounds of equity. The Senate adopted the committee's opinion. The Test Oath act was suspended in favor of Miller by a special act of Congress, and he and Hill were sworn in, in February, 1871.[263]

Thus, after federal intervention had been imposed in 1865 and apparently withdrawn in the same year, again imposed in 1867 and again apparently withdrawn in 1868, and yet again imposed in 1869, it was now withdrawn for the last time, and Georgia was completely restored to statehood.

CHAPTER IX

RECONSTRUCTION AND THE STATE GOVERNMENT

In the preceding chapters we have mentioned the immediate effect of reconstruction upon social conditions. To its immediate effects upon political conditions, in other words to the character and conduct of the new state government, which have been mentioned only incidentally, we shall now give a more direct and consecutive consideration.

With reference to the political reforms of reconstruction the white men of Georgia formed three distinct parties. There were those who favored them, either on their ethical and political merits or (more often) as a means of attaining political power otherwise unattainable. They were called Scalawags, Carpet-baggers and Radicals, of which terms we shall adopt the last. There were those unalterably opposed to them, called Rebels by their critics and Conservatives by themselves. There were, thirdly, those who supported them not upon their merits, which they doubted, but because they saw the state at the mercy of a conqueror and believed that, bad as the measures were, it was better to accept them quickly than to make a vain resistance, which could only prolong the social and commercial disturbances in the state, and which might occasion the administration of a still worse dose. This group embraced many of the commercial cla.s.s, which was especially large in Georgia, and one of the men prominent in former politics, namely Governor Brown. They were cla.s.sed by the Conservatives with the basest of Radicals, but we shall call them the Moderate Republicans. The admixture of this group with the Radical party had important consequences. Differing from their party in principle and allying themselves with it to bring peace to the state, when the peace of the state seemed secure, they sometimes adhered to their principles rather than to their party. It is true, many of them became so interested in the great game of politics then going on that they played it for its own sake, but some party splits of importance occurred.

The first fruit of the policy of negro enfranchis.e.m.e.nt and rebel disenfranchis.e.m.e.nt was the const.i.tutional convention of 1867-68. It was stated in the latter part of Chapter IV. that in the election for members of this convention many Conservatives declined to take part. For this reason the Radicals obtained a predominance in the convention which they did not retain in the state government after the Conservatives decided to fight. The convention, in fact, was extremely Radical. The const.i.tution which it framed shows the thoroughness with which it entered into the Humanitarian reforms. The speeches and resolutions show that a close sympathy with the Republican party and a bitter antagonism to the Conservatives were entertained by most of the members. The temporary chairman, Foster Blodgett, in his opening speech, mentioned the suspicious, hostile and contemptuous att.i.tude of the Conservatives toward the convention. He said:

They may stand and rail at us and strive to distract us from our patriotic labors; but we are engaged in a great work ... we are building up the walls of a great state.[264]

Parrot, the permanent chairman, said:

Many of us come here from amongst a people who have spurned us and spit upon us ... the enemies of the convention are watching with envious eyes to see whether we shall be able to meet public expectation.... We should form a state government for an unwilling people based upon the soundest principles ... and in governing them rescue human liberty from the grave, and prevent them from trampling us under foot.

On the other side, he said:

The Republican party of the nation is waiting with intense anxiety the movements of this body. Our friends will soon be able to determine whether we shall be a burden upon them ... or aid them in the great work of restoring our state.[265]

When Governor Jenkins brought suit against Stanton on behalf of the state, the convention declared the action unauthorized and in the name of the people of Georgia demanded that the suit be dismissed.[266] On December 17, 1867, a resolution was pa.s.sed, asking Pope to appoint, in lieu of Governor Jenkins, a provisional governor, and asking that the person appointed be Rufus B. Bullock.[267] Unsuccessful here, the convention tried again on January 21. It requested Congress to allow it to vacate the governors.h.i.+p and all other offices now filled by men unfriendly to reconstruction and to fill them with new appointees.[268] These two last named resolutions suggest not only Radical sentiment, but also Radical organization in the convention.

The att.i.tude of the convention toward the military authorities was most cordial. On December 20, a reception was given to Pope. The general made a speech and received an ovation.[269] Resolutions of friends.h.i.+p and grat.i.tude were voted him on his departure.[270] Meade, on his arrival, received resolutions of welcome,[271] and resolutions of friendly import on various other occasions.[272] Meade did not entirely reciprocate this cordiality.

Toward Congress the convention was not only cordial; it was almost filial.

Not only was the United States government eloquently thanked for its magnanimity,[273] but it was appealed to by the convention as a kind parent by a child confident of favor. It was pet.i.tioned to appropriate thirty million dollars to be loaned on mortgage to southern planters;[274] to loan a hundred thousand dollars to the South Georgia and Florida railroad,[275] and ”to make a liberal appropriation” for building the proposed Air Line railroad.[276]

The const.i.tutional convention of 1865 had met on October 25, and adjourned on November 8, thus completing its work in fourteen days. This dispatch, as well as the style of its resolutions and of the speeches of its members,[277] had marked it as a body where good taste, decorum and public spirit prevailed.

The reconstruction convention met on December 9, 1867, and continued in session (excepting a recess from December 24 to January 7), until March 11, 1868. The first article of the new const.i.tution on which the convention took action was reported on January 9.[278] Before that time many resolutions and ordinances were introduced. Most of them related to ”relief” (such as suspension of tax collections, homestead exemption, stay of execution for debt, etc.), or to the pay and mileage of delegates, and only rarely was anything said about the const.i.tution. On December 16 the more conscientious members secured the appointment of a committee to inquire whether the convention had power to do any business besides frame a const.i.tution.[279] This committee did not discuss the law of the question, but recommended on moral grounds a resolution to this effect:

That all ordinances or other matter ... already introduced and pending are hereby indefinitely postponed; and in future no ordinance or other matter ... not necessarily connected with the fundamental law shall be entertained by this convention [except relief legislation].

This report met with vigorous opposition. It was saved from the table by two votes. But it was adopted.[280] The contemporary Conservative press describes the convention as very infamous and very disgusting.[281] It contained thirty-three negroes, and the transactions recorded in the official journal show that it was composed largely of men of low character.

Hence, to many of the delegates, framing the const.i.tution was only a minor incident of the convention, and the main part of that work was left to a small number of men. Their work shows intelligence and ability. Moreover, in the records of the convention there are not wanting traces of that undoubted public spirit which animated many of the supporters of reconstruction--the honest desire to repair and develop the material welfare of the state. This spirit is evident in the speeches we have cited, and in some of the resolutions.

We have stated how the campaign of 1868 resulted in giving the governors.h.i.+p to the Republicans and a majority of twenty-nine in the legislature to the Conservatives; how Governor Bullock tried to reduce that majority through Meade, and how Meade refused his aid; and how the majority was more than doubled by the expulsion of the negroes and the seating of the minority candidates. From that time to the reorganization of the legislature in 1870, the most remarkable fact in the state politics was the hostility between the governor and the legislature.