The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-31
TEN YEARS OF ALABAMA
No. 32-Administration of Governor Smith
1865-1874

set his philosophy either with Grant or Congress.
 1 March Is came. Lieutenant Governor
 AppIegate, with becoming swagger, walked
 to the dngy little newspaper office of John Hardy, the marshal of Busteed 8 court, in Montgomery, and there with the | front of Ajax called the senate to or | der, precisely as the clock struck 12 The
 ordinance had been vlndicated, the state was prepared to resume connection with | other "trooly loil" commonwealths. The | lieutenant governor, ex-officio presiding | officer of the senate, delivered his set | speech. He had "seen two military he | said They were all right. There was no danger. The Senate was established for good That renegade and traitor Andrew | Johnson" had scared Governor Smith off. | and also the other parts of the state gov ernment, but he would hurry off to Wash ington two senators to represent Alabama who would assist in impeaching him and putting him out of the way. of reconstruc- l ton.
 Governor elect Smith was less confident. General Meade made no secret of his opinion that no governor had as yet been elected. Smith and the House of Repre-
 sentatives and the supreme court he'd
 back to await the action of Congress that came. not unexpectedly, on July F. Henry c. Semple now came forward with evidence of his dissatisfaction with his re- cent experiment to get control of the ne-
 gro vote and give certain wholesome di-
 rection to events. He sent to Congress a
 memorial, praying for the removal of
 Judge Busteed. He offered to prove CD the disqualifying ignorance of the judge, CD the disqualifying vindictive temper of the judge, (S) the habit of the judge on the bench and elsewhere to usurp powers that disqualified him. The petitioner of fered as witnesses Major General Swayne. Governor Smith, Governor Patton, John A. Campbell. Gen. John T. Morgan and many
 others, their peers.
 Lieutenant Governor Applegate quieted his aspirations. Governor Smith gave no credit to the ordinance compelling him to "open shop March IS. Congress required
 season of reflection upon proper course that spread itself from February to July.
 Meantime the national election year. 1s6S was wasting away, and the customary
 preparations of the national democratic party to organize had given no sign of interest. In the spring Chairman Clanton and hl. committee, holding over from the Selma
 meeting of August 2, 1866, issued this summons:
 "A convention of the white people of Alabama without distinction of old polit- . and radical misrules in government, Is called to meet in the city of Montgomery
 on Wednesday, June 4.
 U. IT. CLANTON, Chairman" | Clanton sent John Forsyth, accom- plished diplomat and partisan democrat accompanied by Lewis E. Parsons, kind of regulator. to Washington to study tho
 mind of the northern democracy, acquire
 facts and views and come home to in.
 struct the pending convention.
 Two hundred and ffty-four delegates
 were enrolled for the convention Ky. 1 land Randolph, editor of the Tuscaloosa 1 Monitor, was the observed of all ob 1 serverss Clanton escorted him to his seat and the delegates cheered. The editol had been very active. He organized the
 first Kuklux Klan In Alabama. White ribbon badges were kept by the door.
 keeper and none could enter without the
 badge shown upon his lapel. In large l letters tife shibboleth. White Supre-
 macy" appeared on the badge.
 | The two envoys, the two masterful pol
 iticians who had been sent to Washing. | ton to take lessons from democrats ii l Congress and others that might be found about the national capital, were called or | to report to open meeting. Forsyth spoke ] first. The western democrats. he had
 found, were solcitous that the soutl
 should appear with full representa-.
 tion in the national democratic conven-
 ton to be held at New York city on July
 A. They said to him: We had hard time
 to keep our states from flying of from
 the Lincoln government in the war time