The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
TEN YEARS OF ALABAMA
No. 2O-Maior General John Pope Commanding
18o5-t874

i recr and indirect. we have the self con- session of the authors of those two acts ana many others akin to them that their purpose was not to move the principles of American political organization for ward along original lines. but rather to reverse those principles.
 l We shall see somewhat of the conduct 1 of the people of Alabama now, when
 every state snd county office was sum | narily. abolished, when the laws and l constitution of the states were suddenly l cancelled, when the constitution of the l United States was resolved into the arbi- 1 trary power of the major general com | r anding.
 | The arbitrary separation of itself by 1 the fragment of Congress in possession, 1 from the other departments of govern
 nent is happily illustrated by the con duct of the courts. On June 6, 1866, the | year next preceding the enactment of the reconstruction acts, Chief Justice Chase opened the federal court for the Dis tiict of North Carolina at Raleigh. At that time the state government was In full and peaccable operation, as in Ala 1 bama at the same time. 1t was the first appearance of any of the justices of the federal court in the south since the war. ( hief Justice Chase delivered an infor-
 nal address to the bar He declared the
 
 the small detachments of the army still occupying certain posts in the south were held there ''cnly to prevent illegal vio lence to persons and property and to fla cilitate the restoration of every state to equal rights and benefits in the union" Passing on to Texas, at the December term sI the court, there. he said, in the case at bar, Texas vs. White, there had
 been mo loss of the distinct and indi- vidual existence of the right of self gov ernment by the states
 The Congress nevertheless expanded it's revolutionary methods beyond the con l fines of those states that had formed the Confederacy In Kentucky some paroled . soldiers of the Confederate armies whose 1 homes were there. voted at an election | for representatives in Congress. There upon the House closed it's doors upon the benefciaries of the voters. MT. Drake, editor of the Union Springs (Ala.) Times, travelling in Pennsylvania, called at the home of Thadeus Stevens, the incarnation ot the militarism of the times. Stevens discussing the late legislation of Con- gress said: The constitution is not in this question. We recognized the Con federacy a bellgerent. We conquered you on a fair field and we intend to re- construct the union on our own terms" When the 10th Congress assembled March 1. 1S67, immediately upon the ex-
 piration of the 39th Congress, individual members from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware Ohio. Indiana H. linois, Wisconsin, Missouri and Maryland entered on the journal their protests against the election of a speaker or the organization of the House. | Schuyler Colfax of Ohio, however, was chosen speaker over Marshall, democrat of Illinois, 127 to 3O
 By order of the President, already
 quoted, Major General John Pope took command of Military District Number 3' on March 15 1861, with headauarters at Atlanta. Swayne, with headquarters at Montgomery. commanded the sub-dis- trict of Alabama He divided the sub district into nine jurisdictions. Colonel Gales commanded at Huntsville all north- ern Alabama, Captain Peck commanded at Tuscaloosa, Captain Gogy at Talla- dega, Captain Whiting at Montgomery, Captain Shurkey at Selma, Captain Pierce at Demopolis, Captain Gardner at Green vile and Captain Tracey at Mobile Lat CT. commander was assigned to Ope- lika
 Governor Patton was permitted to sit in his office and draw his salary The things done by him were sent to district headquarters at Atlanta to be vised by the general commanding. The supreme court continued to expound the law but
 the general commanding vised every de- cree. The state taxes were assessed and collected by the state officers. as usual but the general commanding disbursed them at will.
 General Wade Hampton's address. glv- ing 1t as his view of the situation that the negroes should be educated without delay and that the electoral franchise should be bestowed on all of. the race whose attairfments and character justi- fled, was widely read in Alabama. Gen eral John B. Gordon wrote to negro convention in Georgia.
 'I am in favor of extending by every possible means, every aid toward the intellectual and moral advancement of the colored race and think that peculiar circumstances authorize me to assert, with the most entire confidence, that such
 is the almost universal opinion of the southern people,
 General Clanton, the appointed head
 and organizer of the whites of Alabama, was openly in favor of the position taken by both Hampton and Gordon.
 1 General Sckles, commanding District Number ?, headquarters at Columbia S. | C., addressed the negroes when Hampton spoke, endorsed Hamptons speech and I advised the race by no means to be led | into the consideration of national politics. l The acts of Congress, nevertheless, con | templated the enfranchisement of the | freedmen in hot haste. The fourteenth l article of amendment could not be rati- | states to the negro vote. The President was persistent in his demand. that the public debt, representing. for a great part bonds bought by the private holders at
 40 cents on the dollar, in paper should
 be paid in paper at the selling price. The
 amendment provided for payment in full. with coin at face value.
 l In Alabama the military rule precipi- tated politics upon the freedmen at once,
 in accordance with the will of Congress and the letter of the law.
 l Under General Swayne's directions, oath bound secret associations were at once l formed among the freedmen. The Lin
 coln league" with its oath, was formed I at Montgomery. composed only of negroes l The Loyal league of like character was formed at the same place. near the generals headquarters The ritual of the '''Loyal League proved most attractive.