Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-11-16
PcKENs COURT HOUSE. c, SATURDAY NOVEMBER 1c 1867.

desire peace to enable MS to build up our waste
pIiscxi our temples of worship our sncked
"hsEsfnined cities now lying in ashes, our dis
mntsSs,ed .,as dwellings, and eur prostrate credit
Weldaslre peace for its own sake for it's holy
ClihGtlan3 Influence, and for the civilization
rdsrftnemcnt which spring up in its path
Do'TSe Reconstruction Acts Of Congress pro
pose-'o give us this peace? No, thcy give ,s
w"rand anarchy, rather They sow the seeds
of Atscor1 in our midst and place the best in.
tcrcsts "I society into The hands of an i.nor,,t
mob. They disflanchise the white citizen
anasan'r"nchise an the newly cmancipnted slave.
| The slave of yesterday, w,lo knew no law. I'm,
tho vii of the master, is to ,lay about to he
invested with the control of the Government
| fnsal popular Governments, the two great
sources OF power may lie traced lsl. To the
exercise Of the ballot ID 10 the franchise
"i,thr iury-hox. Invest any people with these
wopreat powers, and they have at once the
EoScrnment o! t!" county in their hands =
by.ihc Reconstruction Acts of Congress. these
poHers are conferred mpn the ncuro-hc can
Ihaks ard unmaEn the Constitution and the
'a~s, which he will administer according to the
dictates of others, or his own caprice,
W. q" not unfrirndly to TIE negro; ; on the
contrary. we know that we arc his best friends
Whi'e he occupied tn" position of ~ slave, he
was Grotertcd By the laws according to his
con{ation in life. And now. that he has been
made free, we are net only willing to confer
upon him every civil right, but to protect him
IN the full and free enjoyment of those rights.
In bis property, in his life and in his person,
we gre willing that the back man and the
whSo man shall >nnd together upon the same
platform, and be shielded hy he same conal
la"s We venture the opinion, that the pco,
pleM South Carolina are prepared to a,lopt
hs tSe'r Gwn, the Constitution If any New
EnglAnd. or other Northern State, wherein it
Is Supposed that the civil rights OF the negro
'retnst iniy and amply secured But u,nn
a,qhSsti"n involving such crave and moment,
onsltSn"s. we should he untrue to ourselves
andfnntiir to omr npn"ncnte. were we to with
holciiho frank aud full expression o. our nnin
ionStl We, therefore, feeling the responsible.
.fy{9eE the subject and the occasion, enter our
,f,t.f Js,
cu,nsfnncrs have made him. That he is moi
ftao be invested with these important rights
may b" no fault of his. But the fart is patent
to all, that the negro is utterly untitled to OK
ercisc |, hshcst fnnctln;s OF the citizen
The yr rmnrnt nf the country should not b.
perm I'D 10 pass Fru,n the hant!.. nt the white
man into H." h'naS of the negro. The on.
fDrcrulrnt of the Reconstruction Acts hv mil
itn''; Tn> yer, under tic rmisc Of negro voters
and nHgr" conventions cannot lawfully re-
establish civil government in S"utH Carolina.
It mav inr Il fi.un hnl.l us in snlirctiun to u
gNnSi civil govcrnr,"u. backed ly military
force. hut it can do no more. As citizens of
the United Stntcs, we should not consent to
live under ne""o supremacy, nor should we
ncquicscc in negro equality Not for our
selves only. hnt on behalf OF the Anglo. Saxon
race and.hlood in this country. do we protest
against this suhvrrsinn If the great social law,
whereby an ignorant and drrrnvcd race is
placed in power and influence above tho vir.
tnoms, the educated aud the refined. by these
Acts Of Congress- intelligence and virtue are
put under foot, while ignorance and vice are
lifted into power
In Son'h Carolina. the nrgro majority, I'M
der the Rnco rstruciinn Acts, is much more
than two to one. In most or the other South
crn States. the negro mnioriics. il not so great
are almost as decided In those States where
the white vote is in the ascendant, the cleo
tion districts have been so arranged, as to take
tho political power from the white vote and
cast it IN favor Of the negro vote What,
then. /. the inevitable result? II invests the
negro with absolute politic'l power in each Of
the ten Southern States. and Mt the same time,
invests him with the b,lancc Of power in tho
United States Nor is this ail--the recon-
strnctinn scheme closes the ballot box against
the best informed and educated classes in the
community, and opens it to the negro, Of
WHOM not more t}nn one in a hundred can
read II ss"rd and not more than one in five
hundred can write his na",- ""o' "-"l,',p3es
Of achop n,o 50 pant,""1y iynor""f, rs to
be nnnbic Ia rrmcmbcr t'r names in 'chirh
Mcy hare brrn regiSfcred. Verify. this seems
to he converting popular G"vcrnment, OF
which we have been so Justly proud into
popular farce anp we wrna be content so to
consider it, if it did not To involve the issue
of life and death to tn" f"rm of Government
established by our fathers for the benefit of
themselves and their postcrity. If the object
of the trainers of the Reconstruction Acts
was to degrade the Southern people, it is time
for them to consider whether the degradation
may not be brought to their own doors.
whether IT, poisoned cup mny not be returned
to their own lips. But it may he asked why
do not tho Southern people accept tho sitna-
ton and control tho negro element |! THIS
question is much more easily asked thnn an.
swcrcd. In the first place, It may be said that
tho influence at the corrupt and intriguing
dcmngogdc, who willappenl to passion and
prejudice, has always been found to bo more
powerful with tho excited End ignorant mob,
than tho wisest colnsais Of tho best friends.
Besides, tho foundntion-stone upon which Re
publican Government rests is. that tho cleo.