USA > Alabama > Alabama history > Part 13
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*A distinguished Georgian said of the enfranchisement of the negro: "It took the Almighty forty years to train the Israelites for citizenship after their Egyptian bondage, but the United States Congress had, by securing the passage of the fourteenth amendment, assumed to convert in an instant millions of igno- rant negroes into citizens of this republic."
1873 1882
1874
1832
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at which Jack had presided. These papers dis- closed a plot to massacre all white men, women, and children, and all Democratic and Ku Klux negroes. The papers named six others besides Jack as leaders in the bloody plot. These were all arrested.
The county was aflame. A thousand men, irre- spective of color, gathered at Butler in a mass- meeting, of which Captain A. J. Gray was elected chairman. The fiery speeches of Dr. Evan P. Har- ris and others were answered by the county solicitor, George W. Taylor, and by Captain Joseph HI. Knighton, who pleaded earnestly that the law be allowed to take its course and that the negroes be granted a regular trial in court. A majority of those in the mass-meeting voted that Jack should be hanged. ,Prominent citizens, detailed for the pur- pose, brought him from the jail and hanged him to the limb of a large oak tree in front of the court- house, in the most public portion of the village.
The other negroes were removed to the jail in Livingston. Before their trial there arose so much doubt about the character of the papers found at De Sotoville that they were dismissed without trial.
5. Booker T. Washington .- Booker T. Washing- ton, the President of Tuskegee Normal and Indus- trial Institute, is one of the great negroes on the American continent. By his genius and energy he has built up at Tuskegee, in the heart of the black belt of Alabama, a school for negroes that stands a monument to his race. While giving thousands of young negroes of both sexes an education from
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THE NEGROES
books, he is training them to be independent and happy by teaching them how to work with their. hands.
6. Education in the South .- Since 1870 there has been spent in the South for the education of the negroes $155,000,000, and the Southern whites have contributed $132,000,000 of this amount. The kindly
A Typical Negro Cabin
feeling that has prompted this help for the educa- tion of the negroes shows that the Southern whites are their truest friends, and that the best home yet known for the ex-slave and his descendants is in Dixie. Nearly nine hundred thousand negroes live in Alabama, and there are over three hundred thou- sand negro children of school age. Schools are in reach of them all.
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7. Treatment in South and North .- The South grants the negro opportunities for business to be found in no other section of the Union. It opens to him its fields, its factories, its mines, its trades, and its thousand industries, and invites and urges him to honest labor for an honest living.
In the North the negro finds himself condemned by the white laboring classes and excluded from the great labor unions. He discovers that his efforts are checked by competition he cannot meet; he is treated with indifference that he cannot understand; and he is met by conditions that forbid his enjoy- ment of the liberties guaranteed by the constitution.
Though occasional race troubles in the South dis- turb him, he has learned to valne his home in Dixie. Here are to be found the highest types of his race. Vast numbers of them are thriftless and un- trustworthy, but the honorable and industrions among them are devoted to business.
8. The "Race Problem."-The race problem is a serious one, and its solution cannot be foretold. It is thought by some that it would be best for both races if the negroes could be colonized in a country by themselves. Some of the leaders of each race are urging Congress to grant money enough to carry the negroes back to Africa. Such a solution, however, is not at all probable. The prevailing opinion is that here in the South, with separate and distinct devel- opment, must be solved the problem of the races.
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SUMMARY
The whites and negroes were kindly disposed to one another at the close of the war. The natural impulse of the negroes was to consult their former masters and accept their advice. After they had been made citizens, adventurers from the North misled them with false promises. Idleness and crime followed, and insurrections occasionally occurred. The kindly feelings of both races outlived this trying period, and to-day there is rarely any friction between the two. Great leaders among the blacks have counselled peace and industrial progress. For the educa- tion of the negroes the Southern whites have contributed more than $130,000,000.
QUESTIONS
1. What effect did civilization have upon slaves? 2. What relations existed between masters and former slaves just after the war? 3. By whom and for what purposes were the negroes misled? 4. Who composed the Black Man's party? 5. Give an account of the insurrection led by Jack Turner. 6. Tell of Booker Washington and his work. 7. To what extent have Southern whites helped to educate the negro? 8. Describe the treatment of the negro in the North and in the South. 9. What is the relation to-day between the two races in the South? 10. What in your judgment is the proper solution of the race problem ?
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CHAPTER XXV
ALABAMA IN POLITICS (1865-1874)
1865
1. Governor Parsons .- From June to December, 1865, Lewis E. Parsons by appointment of President Johnson discharged the duties of provisional gov- ernor. He ordered the election of delegates who framed the constitution of 1865, which abolished slavery, repealed the "Ordinance of Secession," and repudiated the war debt. On December 20, Gov- ernor Parsons retired, and Robert M. Patton, of . Lauderdale, who had defeated Michael J. Bulger and William R. Smith in the November election, took his seat as governor.
Governor Parsons and George Smith Houston were chosen by the following general assembly to represent Alabama in the senate of the United States, but they were forbidden their seats by the Republi- can Congress that conceived the measures of "recon- struction." In like manner were treated all the senators and representatives from States which had formed the Confederacy.
1865 to 1868
2. Governor Patton .- Governor Patton entered upon his term of office when the effects of the war were felt in every business, and when public opinion was much divided. Armed troops of the Federal government were ever present at the capitol, and a military commander overlooked his official acts and appointments.
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The legislature of 1866 refused to ratify the four- teenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, as did the legislatures of other Southern States. This helped to unite the radicals in Congress in carrying out their plans for "reconstruction." The South was divided into districts and put under military rule. General Grant placed General John Pope in command of the district formed of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Alabama was placed under the control of General Wager Swayne.
The radicals, who were known as the "Black Nov. 5, Man's party," ruled the constitutional convention of 1867, and framed a constitution odious to the respectable whites. This constitution was never legally ratified by the people, but Congress forced it upon the State. Governor Patton and other Demo- crats saw that it was not the right sort of a constitu- tion, and that it would surely bring trouble and ruin to the country; but they were unable to keep it from being made the law of the land.
Governor Patton was a gentleman of fine judg- ment, and his thorough knowledge of political and business conditions of the times was severely tested during his term of office. The State loaned $70,000 to rebuild Alva Woods Hall of the University, and the payment of this money, as needed in the progress of the building, was guaranteed by the Patton cer- tificates and by the bank of J. H. Fitts .*
*Dr. J. H. Fitts has been treasurer of the University nearly all the years since its reopening after the completion of Alva Woods Hall
to Dec. 6, . 1867
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3. Governor Smith .- Governor William HI. Smith, of Randolph, held office during the darkest period of "reconstruction." The general assembly in ses- sion when he took the oath of office was composed of scalawags, carpet-baggers, and negroes. The same men that ruled the constitutional convention ruled the work of the general assembly. The fourteenth amendment was ratified and the State's credit was ruined by reckless expenditure of money. Bribery and corruption were charged, but no one was pun- ished, for the court judges were in sympathy with the mean men of the times. The negroes, with defiant yells, marched about in companies to the beating of drums, knowing that the Federal soldiers would not permit the whites to stop them. Is it any wonder that in such a state of things the Ku Klux Klan should have been formed?
These events greatly strengthened the Democratic and Conservative party, and in 1870 it nominated and elected Robert Burns Lindsay, of Colbert, for governor. It also elected other State executive officers.
Governor Smith refused to surrender the office to Mr. Lindsay, claiming that frauds were practiced in the election. He secured from Chancellor Reuben Saffold an order directed to R. N. Barr, of Ohio, president of the senate, forbidding him to count the vote for governor and State treasurer, but permit- ting the count for other officers.
Dr. Edward H. Moren, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant-governor, was declared elected. He promptly entered the hall of representatives where
1868 to 1870
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the two houses were in joint session, took the oath of office as the Republican senate withdrew, ordered the secretary of State to produce the returns for governor and State treasurer, counted them, and declared Robert B. Lindsay duly elected.
Governor Lindsay at once took the oath of office. Nov. 20, For two weeks Alabama had two governors. Mr. to Dec. 8, 1870 Lindsay was sustained by a Democratic house of representatives and by the people, and Mr. Smith was supported by the Republican senate and the Fed- eral soldiers. Intense excitement resulted until Mr. Smith was removed from office by order of the court.
4. Governor Lindsay .- Governor Lindsay was a Scotchman, a graduate of St. Andrew University, and a gentleman of high moral and social qualities. He came in early manhood to Alabama, and began the practice of law in Tuscumbia. He married the half-sister of Governor Winston, and served in both houses of the general assembly.
His most praiseworthy act as governor was to take charge of the railroads that had failed to pay interest on bonds endorsed by the State. He did this to protect the State against losses, as the bond- holders were demanding of the State payment for past-due interest. Other measures of reform pro- posed by him were checked by the Republicans who controlled the senate.
Governor Lindsay went into office warmly snp- ported by the white people, but he did not like some of the leading Democrats and was a strong friend of some of the leading Republicans. Thomas IT. Herndon, of Mobile, was the Democratic nominee for
1870 to 1872
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governor in 1872, but David Paul Lewis, of Madison, the Republican candidate, was elected.
5. Governor Lewis .- Governor Lewis was a native of Virginia. Ile grew to manhood in Alabama, where he was honored with high public offices. He favored the Union so strongly that during the war he went through the Federal lines to Nashville, where he spent the closing year of the war.
The returns of the election in 1872 gave a majority of Democrats in the general assembly. They organ- ized in the capitol and were recognized by Governor Lindsay. They also counted the votes of the elec- tion and declared the results. To prevent the Demo- crats from electing a member of their party as United States senator, the Republican members of the legislature met in the courthouse. These were joined by some of the Republican candidates for the legislature who had been beaten in the election by Democrats. Mr. Lewis recognized this body as the legislature. There were now two legislatures, a Democratic "capitol legislature" and a Republican "courthouse legislature."
Nov. to Dec. 17, 1872
The attorney-general of the United States and General Grant fixed up a compromise whereby the Republicans were given a majority in the general assembly. Thus Alabama was again in the hands of the radicals. There was no use for the Democrats to protest; although the compromise was unfair, the Federal troops were ready to make them submit if they refused the compromise.
The foul tricks of the Republicans in the court- house legislature and afterwards in the capitol, and
1874 1872 to .
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the broken credit of the State added to the burdens of a general financial panic. The debt of the State was now $30,037,563.
The people were so much aroused that in the next election they defeated Governor Lewis, who wanted to succeed himself, and elected George S. Houston, of Limestone county. With the defeat of Lewis came the downfall of Republican rule in Alabama. The Democrats have been in power ever since.
SUMMARY
Among the important events in the history of Alabama during Federal military rule may be mentioned the adoption of the constitution of 1865, the formation of military districts, the action of Congress in forcing on the State the constitution of 1868, the reckless expenditures of a corrupt legislature and the consequent increase in the State debt, the rise of the Democratic and Conservative party, and the election of a Democratic gov- ernor and legislature.
QUESTIONS
1. How did Lewis E. Parsons become governor, and what election did he call? 2. Who were elected United States senators in 1865? 3. Give the principal events of Governor Patton's administration. 4. Of what classes was the legislature of 1868 composed, and how was the State's credit ruined? 5. Give an account of the contest between Governor Smith and Robert B. Lindsay. 6. What was Governor Lindsay's most praiseworthy act? 7. Sketch briefly the life of David P. Lewis before he was elected governor. S. Describe the contest for control of the legislature in 1872. 9. What was the State debt in 1874? 10. Who succeeded Mr. Lewis and to what party did he belong? 11. Name the governors of Alabama during Federal military rule.
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Period V. Educational, Industrial, and Political Development
CHAPTER XXVI
THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA SCHOOLS (1800-1908)
ز
1. Early Interest in Schools .- The convention which framed the first constitution of Alabama pro- vided for the establishment and encouragement of schools. The old newspapers show the interest and care of the early settlers for the moral and educa- tional welfare of their children. A typical announce- ment reads:
Feb. 26, 1820
"CAHAWBA ACADEMY .- A teacher well qualified to prepare students for admission into the Junior Class of College, and whose moral character is unim- peachable, will meet with liberal encouragement. A clergyman would be preferred. Letters addressed to Dr. W. Roberts, Dr. C. Humphries, or Dr. T. Casey will be attended to."
Humorous advertisements now and then appeared. One teacher announced his intention of "teaching the English, Latin, and Greek languages grammat- ically."
Another proposed "teaching such scholars as may be entrusted to his care,upon a plan discovered by John Lancaster of England."
Perhaps the most ludicrous advertisement over made of a school in Alabama appeared in a Tuska-
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THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA SCHOOLS
loosa newspaper. It announced the opening of John "Price's Thrashing Machine to correct the devil's unaccountables."
2. First Schools Established .- The first English school established in Alabama limits was opened at the Boat Yard, on the Tensaw river, by John Pierce of New England. Washington Academy, at St. Stephens, and Green Academy, at Huntsville, shared the two thousand dollars appropriated for education by Mississippi Territory. St. Stephens Academy, under the direction of Rev. J. L. Sloss, the principal, had a wide reputation. Of these schools, Green' Academy survived the longest. Its buildings were burned by United States troops during the War between the States. The buildings were restored, and the Academy has been merged into the public school system of Huntsville.
3. Beginning of Public School System .- Public education was attempted in Mobile as early as 1826. Ten years later the State legislature authorized Mobile "to raise by lottery any sum, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, to complete the building known as Barton Academy, then in process of con- struction." In 1852, the public school system was thoroughly established in Barton Academy, and it gave such general satisfaction that it became the , foundation of the public school system of the State of Alabama.
A. B. Meek, representative from Mobile, had observed the success of the system, and he intro- duced into the legislature a bill providing for the establishment of public schools throughout the State.
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ALABAMA HISTORY
The bill passed both houses, and was approved by Governor John Anthony Winston, February 15, 1854. W. F. Perry, afterward a general in the Confederate army, was the first superintendent of education of Alabama.
Willis G. Clark, of Mobile, gave years of effort to the upbuilding of Barton Academy, and lived to see it contribute nearly half a century of develop- ment and culture to the children of Mobile. Ilis long life was continuously devoted to the school interests of Alabama, and especially to promoting the welfare of the University, of which he was a trustee for twenty-five years.
4. Need of Normal Schools .- The poverty and desolation following the war permitted very few first-class private schools. The great masses of the people were so poor that they were unable to send their children to these schools. They could hope for education only through public schools. The small appropriations of public money for many years made the public schools of short terms. The poor salaries offered did not attract the best teach- ers, and most of the schools had to be taught by teachers not well qualified. As a result most of the children were poorly taught, and the character and usefulness of the schools were thereby damaged. In the efforts to secure qualified teachers the need of normal schools was discovered.
5. Normal Schools Established .- To meet the demand for teachers, the State established normal schools at Florence, Jacksonville, Livingston, and
Feb. 15, 1854
T
THE
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THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA SCHOOLS
Troy. Similar schools have been established at Daphne and Moundville.
The normal schools have courses which admit stu- dents of all grades of preparation, and grant diplo- mas to those taking special normal training. These schools combine instruction in the art of teaching with the study of text-books, and thus are training teachers while developing students. The graduates of these schools are to be found teaching in all sec- tions of the State.
6. Agricultural Schools .- The State has also estab- lished an agricultural school in each of the nine congressional districts. - These schools now have each an annual State appropriation of $4,500. They are giving valuable instruction about the selection of the best seeds for planting, the cultivation of . crops, the character of the soil, the proper use of fertilizers, the protection of crops against insects, . and the conduct of a farm so as to get the best results. The schools are also giving courses of study that prepare for business and for college.
7. Improvement of Public Schools .- The public schools have changed the educational history of the State. Public sentiment was against them at first, but they have become better and better as the years have gone by, and now all classes of people look to them as the one thing needful to every community. There are yet some very fine private schools in the State, but, except in a few of the larger towns and cities, the public schools have crowded them out.
There are now more than 6,000 teachers and 700,000 children of school age in the State. The
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people feel the responsibility of educating these chil- dren for citizenship. The public schools are increas- ing in numbers. The legislature has made large appropriations for their support, and for better school buildings and equipments. A county high school, which is to be devoted solely to high school work, has been provided for every county. The school improvement associations have joined with local committees to make school buildings comfortable, and to have schoolhouses and school grounds as pretty as conditions will allow. These things are all bringing knowledge, culture, and the love of beauty to the young. Better education, better homes, better morals, better communities are devel- oping under the influence and work of the public schools.
8. Polytechnic Institute .- Population and wealth are increasing. New industries and new enterprises are calling for quickened intelligence and technical. training. This demand is being met by the Poly- technic Institute at Auburn. It is one of the "land grant" colleges created by an act of Congress to support in every State one college "to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." It was started in 1872 in the beautiful building of the East Alabama Male College, which had been given to the State by the Methodists.
Its first ten years under Dr. I. T. Tichenor were full of struggle. Under the presidency of the scholarly educator, Dr. William LeRoy Broun, its courses were made to take in scientific subjects never
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THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA SCHOOLS
before introduced into a Southern college. Its name at first was the Alabama Agricultural and Mechani- cal College; after Dr. Broun had widened its scope and put it in closer sympathy with the needs of the people, the legislature changed its name to the Ala- bama Polytechnic Institute. With the exception of one session (1883-1884), when Colonel D. F. Boyd
Alabama Polytechnic Institute
was in charge, Dr. Broun was president for twenty years.
In 1887, the main building was burned. The State rebuilt it and added laboratories. The Hatch Act gave $15,000 a year to the Experiment Station. Congress and the general assembly added to its annual income, and enlarged the equipment. The number of its students has steadily increased.
1887
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ALABAMA HISTORY
Aided by Dr. O. D. Smith, who bore the love of the student body and the admiration of the State, and by Dr. Mell, Dr. Lupton, Dr. Petrie, Prof. Thach, and others, Dr. Broun made the Poly- technic Institute one of the great scientific schools of America. Since his death Prof. Charles C. Thach has been the president. He is a very scholarly man, and with an able and devoted faculty he is Dr. O. D. Smith carrying forward the great work of education in science and in literature.
The Polytechnic Institute is sending its graduates into the professions, to the farms, and into the trades. Its engineers hold high positions on every continent. Men from its halls are helping to develop and sustain the industries of the country.
9. Medical College .- The Medical College at Mo- bile began its work in 1859. Dr. Josiah C. Nott, ' encouraged and assisted by other earnest scientists and physicians, planned it. The college began well, but the war came on two years after its start, and its professors and students left for the Confederate army. Its doors were closed.
After the war the Federals turned it into a pri- mary school for negroes, and so used it until 1868, regardless of the efforts of the faculty to have it
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THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA SCHOOLS
restored to its original purpose. It was badly abused by the ignorant negroes, who handled at pleasure and with utter recklessness the fine instru- ments that had been carefully gathered by the fac- ulty. It is now the medical department of the Uni- versity of Alabama.
10. University of Alabama .- The University of Alabama, chartered in 1821 and settled in Tuska- loosa in 1827, has had a checkered history. Its first session began April 18, 1831; its first president was Dr. Alva Woods, a learned Baptist clergyman of Rhode Island.
The University was given 46,080 acres of land, which Congress had granted to Alabama. These lands were sold at high prices, and the amount received from the sale, if properly invested, would have given a sufficient income to pay the expenses of running the University. The money, however, was placed by an act of the legislature in the State Bank, where it was lost. As part payment of the University claims against the State, there was set aside the sum of $300,000, upon which Alabama paid annually to the University $24,000 in interest until the constitution of 1901 made the annual payment $36,000. The legislature of 1907 increased this amount by $25,000, and also appropriated $100,000 annually for four years for new buildings and better equipments.
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