The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-08-07

CeFS OF Cne >OIlIe, duViSeu yOu W reSiSGeI,
secure your right to vote, and. then to
vote against q Convention. However
honestly intended and sincerely given, |
believe this advice not only injudicious,
but disastrous, and as the most convenient
way of discussing the whole subject, l
will review the argument he has submit
ted to you. I will endeaver to state his
positions fairly. He advises you to vote
against a Convention for three reasons :
l. Because you have already done all
that was required of you by the Presi-
dent, and have not been restored to the
Union, and you have no reason to believe
that further compliance with the requisi-
tions of Congress will be any more sue
cessful.
2. Because, if you refuse to call Con-
-vention, the present military government
will be continued, and thst government
is better than any which. the Convention
would frame.
< 3. That if you call a Convention, you
will have to recognize the principle of
universal suffrage: that this principle will
place the control of the State in the
hands of the numerical majority, which
is colored, and that the legislation of the
State will, in consequence, be used to the
injury and degradation of the white citi-
zens. who are helpless minority.
Let us examine them, and first: That
we have already done all that was re-
quired by the President, and have not
been restored to the Union. This is un-
questionably true. We obeyed the Pres
ident's Provisional Governor, elected q
Convention as he directed, abolished
slavery, rescinded the ordinance of seces-
sion, and by q vote of the Legislature
adopted the first constitutional amend
ment that was submitted to US. But
surely there is very simple question to
be answered before we can claim the ben
eft of this action. By what authority
did the President call upon US to do these
things, and what power had be to guar
antee our restoration if we complied
Nobody denies that after the surrender
some action was necessary on the part OF
the United States to restore the seeded
States to the Union. Who was author
lied to represent the United States for
that purpose
You recolect that President Lincoln
undertook to answer this question in De-
.cember, 1863, by Proclamation, in which
he declared that whenever in any of the
Southern States one-tenth of the inhabi-
tants, who were lawful voters in 1850,
should re-establish a loyal State govern
ment. complying with certain conditions,
that such State should be restored to the
Union with full representation. Congress
refused to sanction this scheme, and you
cannot have forgotten the scorn with
which this Executive pretension" was
received throughout the South. Now. in
1865, the only difference in the condition
of things was, that the United States held
military possession of the States which,
at the date of Mr.. Lincoln's proclamation,
had not been overcome. We must, there
fore, on this question of reconstruction,
take one of three positions. We must
either sustain the proclamations of Pres
dents Lincoln and johnson upon the
same ground, viz that the President ofthe
United States had the right, without re.
ference to Congress or to US, to prescribe
the terms of readmission for the South,
and must admit that at any time after the
proclamation of 1868, one-tenth of the
people of South Carolina could have re-
established loyal State government, re-
stored the State to tie Union, and made
rebels and traitors of tho rest of the COM
munity Or, we must assume that there
were certain relations inherent to our
character rs sovereign States which enti-
tied I'D to resume our places in the Union.
And then the Presidents scheme OF re-
construction disturbed these rotations and
violated our rights as openly and reck-
lcssly as the Congressional Act of recon
straction. For the Act disfranchises GER
tain citizens; the Proclamation did the
same by confning the privilege of voting
"to that portion of the people of said
State who are loyal, and no others. I"
The Act calls Convention without the
slightest reference to the requirements of
the State Constitution for the assembling
of such body; the Proclamation did
the same thing. The Act declares tho