Year: 1868

practical relations to the General
Government. We supposed if we
had o man who would be accept
able, he would be. For the short
term we elected Hon. John Il,
Manning, than whom we have no
more high-toned, honorable gen
tleman in the State, the major part
of whose life has been spent in
clinging to and battling for the
Union. We held four sessions OF
the General Assembly during the
three years Of government as pro-
jected by Mr.. Johnson. During
that time we not only acquiesced
in the abolition Of slavery, but we
gave the black man all the civil
rights enjoyed by the white man
he was allowed to sue and be sued,
and testify before the courts. We
PLACED the State government upon
a wise and economical basis. 1t
took about 100000 to administer
it before the war, but the people
being so reduced by the war we re-
duced that sum by retrenchment
to 100000. I will here state that
in addition to giving the black
man all the civil rights which the
white man has, the white people
of the State held a convention in
Columbia last April and adopted a
platform in which they recognized
the negro as an integral element
of the body polite, and pledged
themselves to give him qualified
suffrage the moment they have
the power to do so. To this Gen
eral Wade Hampton, Hon. B. F.
Perry, and nearly every leading
man in the State is pledged. 1t
was not until the last days Of the
fourth and last session of the Leg
islature that the proposed amend
ment known as the Fourteenth
Article Of the Constitution came
before the bod. 1t was not re-
jjected, as is affirmed, because we
were required by it either to give
the negroes the right to vote OF
not to count them in the basis of
representation. That was the
least Objectionable feature. The
main reason Of objection to it was,
it tended to a consolidation Of the
Government by a subordination Of
the State judiciary to the judiciary
of the United States-and it dis
qualified forever, from holding Of
fee, every man in the State, from
Governor and United States Sen
ator down to a constable, who had
ever held a civil office and given
any aid to the State in the war.
(Cheers.) AS nearly every man
in the State aided, in some degree,
the war, the number Of the dis.
qualified would have been so great
if we had adopted it that it would
have been impossible to have found
enough intelligent men in the
the State to administer the gov
ernment. I have thus stated as
correctly and succinctly as I can,
the legislation in South Carolina
under the Presidential plan of re-
construction. Let us now see
what was done during these three
years towards developing the ma
terlal resources of the country.
1t is true some planters On the
first of January, 1866, were sore
in consequence of the loss of their
negroes-the accumulated labor
Of their lives, and were slow in
hiring them. Others, and I in
clude myself in that number, lost
no time in recognizing what la
Dor we could employ, and went


Immediately to work. We felt
satisfied that negroes who COM
manded from one to two thousand


dollars in gold before the war,
when cotton was worth only ten
cents per pound, would be hunted


up and command high wages
as soon as things began to settle,
cotton being worth thirty cents
per pound. Our calculations
proved to be correct, for by the
first Of February every negro who
desired to work had q home and
as much work as he could do.