Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-11-14
RECONSTRUCTION.
JOHN BROWN THE FATHER OF THE
IDEA.

tIOn and their Government OF tn
Country
A correspondent of the Cincinnati Com
aoner furnishes the following interesting
contribution to the political History of th,
day:
Among other things captured with JOhr
Brown and his followers at Harper's Ferry
Va, Oct IS, 1859, wac a written documen
styled" Professional Constitution and OTdi
names for the People Of The United States +"
This document looked TO the ultimate
control OF the United States by the BrOua
isis, the abolition Of slavery and the gov
ernment Of the country upon the basis o.
that Constitution as the fundamental law
In the face Of the signal and total failure
of Browns attempt TO set up his govern.
ment-an attempt not more rash than that
of Louis Napoleon, when he first sought to
overthrow the government of Frsnce-it
was pretended by his friends, and believed
by others, that Brown was insane.
This belief caused no attention TO be
paid TO his plan Of government. In fact,
il seemed TO be so moustrous, impractical
BILE, so at variance with all past American
teachings, and supposed American views
OF government, so impossible Of adoption,
that glance at its provisions confirmed
the belief in the settled insanity of its
author, OF authors.
Il soon passed out Of mind and was
wholly forgotten By the public.
After the close Of our great sectional
war, when Radical plans of reconstruction,
so called, began TO be discussed, adopted
and acted upon, the writer thought he re.
membered having read something some-
where that was very much the same as
this Radical programme. He then called
to mind this John Brown Constitution,
and re-read it carefully, finding it in a
Senate document called Harper's Ferry
Invasion" being contained in the report
Of the Senate Investigation Committee,
twenty thousand copies of which were or
dered to be printed, by Resolution, June
81, 1860, for the use of the Senate. What
was my establishment to find sthat the
whole plan of Radical reconstruction and
party government OF the country was here
fully mapped ont and, according TO which,
instead OF the Federal and State Constitu-
lions, the whole country is ruled and
plundered to-day.
The first article provides that: " All
persons of mature age, whether Of the pro-
scribed and oppressed races of the United
States or net, who shall agree 10 sustain and
enforce the Provisional Constitution and
Ordinances Of this organization, together
with all minor children of such persons,
shall he fully entitled 10 protection under the
same"
This announces the doctrine, that, TO en-
tile men and their families to the protec
ton Of the government, they must belong
10 and act with the party controlling that
government, Otherwise they are beyond the
pale Of the Law. No such proposition was
ever before uttered in the United States,
and il Is at war with every principle upon
which Just and stable government is found
ed, and strikes down the liberty TO oppose,
legi imsteiy, Jhe dominant party; assum-
ing that II can 30 no wrong, and that all
who oppose il must be wrong and not only
wrong, but actuated by motives so criminal
IS Justly to deprive them of ali rights un-
der their government. II makes govern
ment care alone for the members of the
ruling party, and not for their opponents,
except TO war upon and Cypress them. The
Radical paEty has practiced upon this very
theory in all that il has done toward the
HEAitG VI tut h2shAua anu AuH LEluDEl ats
and Conservatives of the North. The
adoption of this principle is the death Of
free government, and insugurayes the most
unrelenting tyranny.
Article three provides that, The Legis-
lative branch shall be Congress, or House
q Representatives., who shall be elected by
all citizens Of mature age and sound mind
connected rih this organization
Here the right TO vote is, for the first
time 10 our history, limited to the members
of the party in power. Radical Congress,
ional disfrsnChisement of the white men
of the South, not members Of their party,
and the workings of their registration laws,
put this principle into practice. The Radi-
cal resolutions of 1865, in Massachusetts,
drawn by Sumner, boldly proclaimed the
same doctrine "a necessary TO be applied
10 the Democracy and Conservatives at the
North. Ii is this that hss reduced cleo
tions in the South and all the Border
States, except Kentucky and Maryland,
where the people, by accident, recovered
their sscendency, 10 a farce, a mere mock
ery Of the people in the shroud Of their
former liberties, now dead and buried /;
and with such usurped political power, and
the puppet officers who use it for the Radl-
Gals at their diCtation, the apparently yet
free Northern States are governed, through
the central government; aud so-Called laws
are fastened upon them, their substance
voted from them in the shape Of tariff and
revenue Laws and they further robbed 10y
plumber and bribery schemes, which en-
rich their rulers A bayonet's puPpet, ne
gro or white, in one Of the reconstructed
l.. -, Of the ri IL
Of the party controlling that bayOnet, has
ten times more power than free white
voter Of Ohio, New York, or Pennsylvania.
This system insures all important elections
TO the party in power, in however great 4
minority of the people they may be. The
election system is only costly mOckery.
1t but serves TO give the appearance Of the
people choosing what their rulers have
chosen for them in advance a Ia Augustus
Cesar a Louis Napoleon.
By article four, the President and Vice
President are to be chosen by the same
class Of voters only; that il, by the men,
bers Of the organization as members OF
Congress. The Judiciary, likewise, under
article five.
By article six, acts of Congress to be
valid, must have the approval of the Com
maudeT-in-C Chief, as well as the President
For the first time 10 our history is the
General heard Of as an important officer
ia the civil administration.
Article seven provides for Commander
in-Chief, TO be chosen by President, Vice
President, msjority of Congress and Su'
preme Court. "IIe shall direct all move
mcnts Of the army, and advise with allies
The Radicals bad TO have Comman
der-in-Chiei, Grant, and they provided
that he, and not the President Of thu
United States, TO whom the Constitution
gives that power. "shsll direct all move
ments Of the army"-all orders must be-
issued through him. Ia this they hav'
been close students of John Browns plsI
and close imitatOrs of il.
Article Seventeen enaCs that "it shall
be the duty Of the President and Secretary
of State TO fOd out las soon As possible
the real friends as well as enemies Of thi
organization in every part Of The country
to secure among them inn-keepeFs, pTivat
postmasteTs, messengers, and agents, througl
whom NAV be obtained correct regular IN
formation constantly;
ard il shall be matter OF special regard Il
secure facilities Trough the Noriherl
States.'
Here, for the first time in our land,