USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 1 > Part 37
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GOVERNOR JENKINS' ELOQUENT INAUGURAL. . 353
Now the wager of battle is over, and the award is against us, as parties to the issue. Our whole people have risen up and accepted it as by the will of one man. What valor failed to achieve, wisdom has promptly renounced ; and truth herself has set her signet to the attestation of the deed."
With exquisite beauty and wisdom he added:
" A tempest of unsurpassed fury has swept over the land. The elements do not sub- side into their normal quiet instantaneously with the lull of the wind, the sleep of the lightning, and the hush of the thunder."
This extraordinary and unsurpassable inaugural was most remarkable in its discussion of the negro question. Its kindness to the black race was unstinted yet discriminating. It abounded in happy utterances. Emancipation had come upon us like the "destructive engulfing of the earthquake in volcanic localities." The realization that it was unalterably fixed was the first step toward the adjustment of the new system. The blacks had exhibited a fidelity in the past and a decorum under the distracting influences of the present "without a parallel in history." They should be protected against the "crafty machinations of the designing" as well as the "fatal delusions of social equality." This part of the address thus fervently concluded:
"God is merciful! God is mighty! God in his abounding mercy and in the plenitude of his might so dispose our fortunes and theirs, that each class shall be to the other a blessing, not a curse."
The extracts from this superb enunciation will be well ended with this spendid and prophetic paragraph:
" Peace restored-the machinery of government once more put in operation-public and private enterprise aroused from their long slumber -educational institutions re- opened-our sacred temples and our altars with their holy ministrations frequented as of yore, and the blessing of Almighty God overspreading and vivifying all carnest effort, Georgia will illustrate the teachings of adversity by speedily achieving an enlarged prosperity."
The General Assembly only remained in session until the 15th of December, when it adjourned until January 15, 1866. The following State House officers were elected: N. C. Barnett, Secretary of State; J. T. Burns, Comptroller General; John Jones, Treasurer, and J. W. Burke, public printer. Col. Barnett is still the Secretary of State, enjoying a ripe old age, and honored with a degree of popular confidence founded upon a life of spotless integrity and a character full of manly and social excellencies.
The condition of Georgia at this time was full of anxiety for patriots. There were organized bands of thieves all over the State under the lead of bad white men. Every newspaper teemed with accounts of robbery.
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354
THE STATE ON ITS FEET.
Stock was stolen every night, and punishment was rare. In localities were shocking exhibitions of lawlessness and crime. Large numbers of the Federal soldiers had been withdrawn from the State, leaving the people without the protection of their authority and arms. The bad element of the blacks had become violent, and reveled in a carnival of vicious insubordination, and the courts were not in sufficient punitive operation. Colored incendiaries from abroad were stirring about among the negroes and stimulating them to lawlessness. The cities and towns especially were scenes of murder, plunder, assassination and riot. In this bad condition of order Gov. Johnson contemplated the remedy of organizing and arming companies of discreet volunteers.
On the 19th day of December, 1865, Gov. Jenkins received the fol- lowing telegram from Washington, which terminated the temporary administration of Provisional Governor James Johnson, and put upon its legs what seemed the permanent state government of the people. The cherished end seemed at last in sight, and the travail of a painful reconstruction gloriously ended.
"WASHINGTON, D. C., 19th December, 1865.
" To HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA :
" Sir,-By direction of the President I have the honor herewith to transmit to you a copy of a communication which has been addressed to his Excellency, James Johnson, late Provisional Governor, whereby he has been relieved of the trust heretofore reposed 'in him, and directed to deliver into your possession the papers and property relating to the trust.
"I have the honor to tender you the cooperation of the Government of the United States, whenever it may be found necessary, in effecting the early restoration and the permanent prosperity of the state over which you have been called to preside.
" I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant,
" W. H. SEWARD."
The thrill of joy that pulsed through the smitten state at the publi- cation of this joyful document can be better understood than described. It was the practical realization of that familiar holy history of the promised land after a toilsome pilgrimage of unspeakable woe. But the drama of reconstruction was the kaleidoscope of a harlequin. The seemingly glad recovery of our political hope was the beginning of the dreariest and most fantastic political tragedy of the world's annals. And the consistency of the unparalleled picture can only be preserved in the mind by connecting with this graceful and dignified installation of a splendid representative state government, its brutal and ignomini- ous overthrow and expulsion, and the erecting in its place of a dynasty of force, plunder and execration.
355
THE FREEDMAN'S CODE.
The Legislature re-assembled on the 5th day of January, 1866. The most serious subject for action was the government of the emancipated blacks. The Convention had authorized Gov. Johnson to appoint a committee to prepare a negro code of laws. That committee consisted of Judge Ebenezer Starnes, W. Hope Hull, L. E. Bleckley and Samuel Barnett, and was a rare selection of able, brave and pure-minded men. These commissioners, after long and conscientious preparation, pre- sented to the Legislature the result of their labors-a code of laws just and liberal to the freedmen, and safe to the whites. It gave ample security to rights of person and property, but withheld political privi- leges. This code was a matter of solicitous thought and patriotic concern among the members, and the opinion upon it varied and trem- ulous. Several of the General Assembly, R. A. T. Ridley, F. A. Frost, D. E. Butler, John D. Stewart and Jesse A. Glenn addressed a letter to ex-Gov. Brown, asking his opinion. On the 14th of February, 1866, hereplied in a letter of masterly wisdom. It was a singularly clear-cut, sententious, practical enunciation of view, and in the light of results wonderfully correct. It took positive square ground against a special Freedman's Code, or any laws discriminating in court rights and rem- edies. He said the United States Government would not permit the enforcement of a separate penal and civil code. He used this expres- sion, which was a vague and intuitive premonition of the coming spread of the colored revolution: " Unless madness rules the hour, they will never be placed upon a basis of political equality with us."
But even this far-sighted gentleman did not realize the inexorable drift of events under the changed order of things, and at that time, as always, he manifested his thorough Southern sympathy ; and he did not advocate in advance the inauguration of measures whose accept- ange he afterwards advised as a matter of necessity. It is important to look at this in properly estimating his after course, which entailed upon him so much bitter odium.
Gov. Jenkins in his message called attention to a curious inconsistency of the reconstruction going on. President Johnson had proclaimed the amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted by the vote of Georgia, which had been solicited and accepted in recognition of her rights as a state of the Union. Yet the incongruous sight was witnessed of the state being both out of and in the Union at the same time. If she was out, the amendment adopted by her vote was void. If she was in, her rights were perfect. This anomaly of her position was one of the farcicalities of that reconstruction that marked the end of our great war.
356
ALEXANDER II. STEPHENS' SPEECH.
The legislature elected as Judges of the Supreme Court, Dawson A. Walker and Iverson L. Harris. Walker beat Gen. Benning and Rich- ard F. Lyon. Harris beat Hiram Warner, Richard H. Clarke, Barnard Hill and John Schley. The defeat of Gen. Benning, a soldier, by Judge Walker, a non-combatant, was a strange victory, and keenly felt by Gen. Benning. It was largely due to William Dougherty, the great lawyer who fought Gen. Benning about his decision in the Columbus Bank cases, as has been noticed before in this volume. The General Assembly elected Alexander HI. Stephens and Herschell V. Johnson, United States Senators. Mr. Stephens beat Joshua Hill. Mr. Johnson beat Gen. L. J. Gartrell, C. Peeples and James Johnson. Gen. Gartrell received ninety-three votes on one ballot, the contest being a lively one. He finally withdrew on the sixth ballot when within one vote of an elec- tion. Neither of these senators were ever admitted to their seats. Dur- ing the session, Mr. Stephens was formally invited to address the legisla- ture, and his speech appears upon the journals of the General Assembly, -an unwonted and distinguished compliment. The speech was a pro- found and statesmanlike utterance, philosophical, dispassionate, concil- iatory. It took the distinct ground that " we must accept the issues of the war, and abide by them in good faith."
The legislature adjourned on the 13th day of March, 1866. Among the important measures passed, were stay and homestead laws; appro- priations to repair and equip the state road, and buy artificial limbs for inaimed soldiers, and resolutions complimenting President Jolmson, and requesting the withdrawal of soldiers. Gov. Jenkins gave a marked ev- idence of his firmness and courage, by vetoing the stay and homestead laws in the teeth of a universal public clamor for these measures as a re- lief in the pecuniary stress of the state. Conceiving them unconstitu- tional, the brave and honest statesman refused them his sanction under the solemn obligation of his oath. But the stay law was passed over his veto.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE SECOND IRON HANDED AND WHIMSICAL PHASE OF RECONSTRUCTION.
The Memorable Strife between Andrew Johnson and Thad. Stevens .- The Fourteenth Amendment .- Negro Citizenship and White Disfranchisement .- The Fierce Re- construction Committee of Congress .- National Union Convention .- Gov. Jenkins' Message against the Fourteenth Amendment .- The Legislature Rejects the Amend- ment .- Conservatism Baffled at the North, and the South Trembling in Radical Clutches .- Two Reconstructions .- Practical State Matters .- The Federal Court .- Ex-Gov. Brown and his Triumphs on the Test Oath and the Stay Law .- Freed- men's Bureau .- Ladies' Memorial Association .- Emigration to Mexico and Brazil. -The Sherman Bill .- Negro Suffrage Added .- Andrew Johnson's Impeachment. -The South Inflamed .- Gov. Brown's visit North to Probe the Situation .- His Fateful Letter advising Acceptance of the Conqueror's Terms as the only means of State Regeneration .- A Letter that Scorched his Career for Years .- Ex-Gov. Brown Predicts its Unpopularity .- The Terrific Storm of Odium he Met .- His Frightful Associations .- The "Carpet Bagger."-T. M. Norwood .- Gov. Jenkins' Suit to Test the Sherman Bill .- An Instructive Antithesis .- Brown and Jenkins.
THE year 1866 marked the inauguration of one of the most exciting civil conflicts in the history of our great republic. This was the ever memorable struggle betaveen the President and Congress of the United States, over the reconstruction of the seceded and conquered States. President Johnson had exacted the abolition of slavery and the repu- diation of our war debts. These demands had been complied with, and the Southern States reorganized. Congress refused the admission of our Senators and Representatives and remitted the matter of recon- struction to a special committee. The extreme Republicans of the North were not satisfied with the concessions made by the South, and the fight began over President Johnson's policy of national restoration. In April, 1866, President Johnson proclaimed peace restored, and the great insurrection at an end. The Southern insurrection was indeed over, but the war waged none the less furiously against the South, not a war of blood, but a war of malice and proscription. Thaddeus Stevens led the crusade, whose object was the further humiliation of the South, and the crusade ended in the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This amend- inent made negroes citizens, reduced representation in Congress in pro-
358
NATIONAL UNION CONVENTION AT PHILADELPHIA.
portion to citizens refused the voting privilege, and disfranchised all of our citizens who had held office before the war and fought on the South- ern side. It was fiercely opposed all over the South. Our people stood solidly against it. The measure excited a heated discussion over the whole country. Another measure that was passed over President John- son's veto, and which excited a deep feeling and a hot argumentative conflict, was the Civil Rights bill.
The implacable Reconstruction committee of Congress, headed by Thad. Stevens, continued fulminating its harsh propositions in swift succession, which congress after stormy debate passed. A resolution was forced through that the rebellion deprived the South of civil government, and it was the duty of Congress to provide them with civil governments, to continue suspension of habeas corpus and keep soldiers in the South to protect the blacks and Union citizens. Then another was ground out that no Senator or Representative be admitted from any Southern state until Congress shall have declared such state en- titled to representation. Upon these came the Fourteenth Amendment, which the Southern States must ratify to gain admission.
The National Union Convention was held in Philadelphia on the 14th of August, 1866, to stop, if possible, this radical mischief. Gov. Brown presided at a county meeting in Fulton county to arrange for delegates, and made an admirable speech that was widely copied and compli- mented. He used this language: "While we cannot accord to the negro race social and political equality, I believe it is the fixed purpose of nineteen-twentieths of the people of Georgia to see that they have legal equality and that justice and equity be constantly administered." The delegates appointed from Georgia were: State, A. H. Stephens, H. V. Johnson, A. H. Chappell and D. A. Walker; District, W. B. Flem- ing, J. B. Gordon, Eli Warren, J. L. Wimberly, H. Warner, E. II. Worrell, T. Hardeman, P. W. Alexander, Linton Stephens, A. R. Wright, J. II. Christy, R. McMillan, R. F. Lyon, Jas. Milner. But all was unavailing. The extreme Republicans had the power and they pushed it ruthlessly. Their whole course was an unbroken carnival of inconsist- ency and despotism. They fought the war for the Union, and after success themselves smashed it. They battled for the constitution, and having established, they then ignored and violated it. They were for party and not the country. They acted against law, justice, humanity and the constitution, yet that mattered nothing. And opposition to their demands but increased the number and severity of their exactions. The Fourteenth Amendment disfranchised the leading whites of the
359
THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT REJECTED.
South, but it did not confer suffrage on the negro. The rejection of the one brought both, and it was a perception of the futility of non- compliance, and the injury of opposition in evoking additional wrongs and accumulating conditions of humiliation that impelled the practical wise-visioned Brown to advise ceasing unavailing contention, and stop oppression by the acceptance of irresistible terins.
The legislature met in November. Gov. Jenkins in his message made a masterly argument against the Fourteenth Amendment, which echoed the public heart. The joint legislative committee, headed by B. A. Thornton of the Senate, and R. A. T. Ridley of the House, made a masterly and unanswerable report, written by Col. R. J. Moses against it, which took these two simple and impregnable positions:
" 1. If Georgia is not a state composing a part of the Federal government, known as the Government of the United States, amendments to the Constitution of the United States are not properly before this body.
"2. If Georgia is a state, composing a part of the Federal government, known as the government of the United States, then these amendments are not proposed according to the requirements of the Federal Constitution, and are proposed in such a manner as to forbid the legislature from discussing the merits of the amendments without an implied surrender of the rights of the state."
This superb report concluded with this resolution:
" Resolved, That the legislature of Georgia declines to ratify the proposed amendment, adding a fourteenth article to the constitution of the United States."
The Senate voted unanimously in favor of it, and the House passed it with only two dissenting voices, Ellington of Gilmer, and Umphrey of Fannin. Such unanimity has rarely been witnessed. The two irre- sistible considerations governing the rejection of this amendment were that it was without the authority of the constitution, and it made our people the ignominious authors of the disfranchisement of our own best citizens. The year 1866 closed with conservatism baffled and beaten in national matters, and the South panoplied in argument and robed in right, yet trembling in the cruel clutch of a pitiless Radicalism, angered by the contemptuous rejection of its bitter terms by its helpless vie- tim. We had enjoyed two reconstructions. Sherman accepted our surrender on terms of the immediate restoration of the States to the Union. Johnson repudiated this consistent result, and, compelling the abolition of slavery and our war debts, organized us on these ideas. Congress upset Johnson as he had overthrown Sherman, and demanded of the South the voting of citizenship to the negro and the disfranchise- ment of the Southern leaders. This was spurned, and the high-con- tracting parties stood lowering at each other in the throes of a battle
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