The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1871-04-13
The New Reeonsfruetion Bin.

Characteristic ability makes the fol /
lowing interesting and sensible
on the new. reconstruc-
ton bill before Congress, in which
the real solution Of "reconstruc-
ton is practically given:
The bill is entitled, "a bill more
fully to enforce the provisions Of /
the fourteenth amendment to the I
Constitution of the United States, !
and for other purposes" The first
section provides for the prosecu-
ton in the United States Courts Of !
any person who shall in any way |
interfere in depriying any citizen of
his equal rights under said four
teenth amendment. The second |
section. provides that any offence
murder, mayhem, robbery, perjury,
arson, &c.-against the rights, pri-
vileges and 'immunities Of any citi-
zen, by any two or more persons
banded together for the purpose,
shall be deemed a felony liable to
heavy penalties in fine and i'm
pris9nment, and that a trial in any
such case commenced in one United
States district court and completed
in another may be acted upon and
the offender punished in either dis
trict. In other words, all the in
dividuals of an unlawful conspira-
cy against the rights of citizens, if
composed, for example, of men
from Mississippi and Alabama, may
be made answerable to the United
States court in either State. The
third section provides that in all
cases where instruction, domestic
violence, or unlawful, combinations
or conspiracies in any State shall
so far obstruct or hinderthe execu-
ton Of the laws thereof as to de-
priye any portion or class Of the
people Of such State Of any of
their rights, privileges, DC, and the
State authorities having been una
BILE to redress these wrongs, or have
failed or refused to do so, the Pres
ident in behalf of law and order, is
authorized to interpose with the 10
cal militia or the land and naval
forces of the United States. The
fifth section provides that extreme
cases of unlawful combinations,
armed and organized and overrid-
ing the constituted civil authori-
ties, shall be deemed a rebellion
against the government of the Uni
ted States, and that in any such dis
affected district, under certain re-
strictions, the President is empow-
cred to declare martial law and to
suspend the habeas corpus, first
making proclamation commanding
such insurgents to dispense. The
provisions of this section, however
are to cease to be in force from and
after the 1st day of June, 1872.
This is the substance of the bill
which the select committee of the
House of Representatives propose
as a remedy for these Southern dis
orders. In justification Of the act,
as an imperative necessity, it is
said that the lawless and and malig-
nant spirit and elements of the late
rebellion have again become ram
pant in most Of the Southern States;
that the lives and property of North
ern men therein are at the mercy
and are frequently sacrificed to the
vengeance of the sO-called Ku Klux
Klans; that the emancipated blacks
for no other crime than that Of vo-
ting the republican ticket or be-
longing to the Union League, are
shot, hanged, drowned or scourged
and that this scourging is some
times applied to the negro women,
with the burning of the house of the
obnoxious family; that numerous
school houses appropriated to the
education of the emancipated
blacks have been burned; that the
teachers in such schools have been
and are subject to numerous insults
and barbarities, including whipping
and Punishment from the State
that in the several States disgraced
by these outrages the local author
tiles are powerless under the ter
rorism of the Ku KIux Klans OF
consenting parties to their atroci
tics; that the local courts, even i
inclined to justice, can do nothing
against the terrors of the Ku Klu,
and their affiliated witnesses pleds
cd to perjury, and so on to the emf
of the horrible catalogue. Finally
it is charged that the objects Of al
these Ku Klux Klans and their a6il
iations are, by a reign Of terror, t,
, exclude the Southern republicans
, chiefly the emancipated blacks
, from the polls, and so to get com
3 plete control of the several States
, concerned, and then to render tn
fourteenth and fifteenth amend
ments and all the reconstructioi
, laws of Congress practically null
and void through the election of
| democratic President and Congress
4 according to the Tammany nation
5 al democratic platform of 1868.
D Now this is oil lie bat, admit