62G 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



by the President will be void, and they will remain 

 subject to trial under the law for perjury and treason. 



The justices, clerks, and sheriffs, whose duty it is 

 to provide for .administering the oath and to conduct 

 the elections, are enjoined to use every practicable 

 means to enable every citizen to take the oath who 

 may desire and be entitled to do so. And the in- 

 spectors are enjoined to inspect and examine fairly 

 and truly, to decide in every case in accordance with 

 the law and with the instructions they have received 

 from this office, and to make prompt and correct re- 

 turns of the number of votes and for whom cast at 

 their respective precincts. 



Done at our city of Raleigh, the 8th day of August, 

 1865, and in the year of the independence of the 

 United States the eighty-ninth. 



WILLIAM W. HOLDEN, Provisional Governor. 



The delay of the Governor in issuing this 

 proclamation and tixing the period for the elec- 

 tion, was in order to afford time to the people 

 to take the amnesty oath, to enrol their names 

 and obtain the certificates required. In the 

 discharge of his duties he was sustained by 

 Maj.-Gen. Schofield, who issued general orders 

 requiring all officers and men to give a cordial 

 support to the Governor and the persons ap- 

 pointed to office by him. At the same time the 

 civil officers were authorized to call upon the 

 nearest military commanders for necessary aid 

 in the execution of their legal duties. The 

 original proclamation of President Johnson was 

 well received by the people of the State. They 

 were divided into three classes: those who 

 were Unionists, in opposition to the Confed- 

 eracy^ those who were Conservatives, under 

 the Confederacy; and the Secessionists. The 

 latter were destitute of all political power, and 

 their influence was in a great measure destroyed 

 by the moderation of the President's proclama- 

 tion and the abstinence of all interference with 

 the claim of suffrage for the negroes. 



On the 12th of September the election for 

 delegates to the State Convention was held, 

 and that body assembled at Raleigh on October 

 2d, and organized by the election of Edwin G. 

 Reade, an ex-member of the Thirty-fifth Con- 

 gress, as President. All the counties of the 

 State except three were found to be fully repre- 

 sented, and all the members present took the 

 oath to support the Constitution of the United 

 States. The President, on taking his seat, 

 spoke as follows : 



Gentlemen of the Convention : As the representa- 

 tives of the people of North Carolina, we are assem- 

 bled at a time of great perplexity to reorganize 

 the government, which has oeen disturbed by a 

 protracted and disastrous war. It is gratifying 

 to know that a virtuous and intelligent people 

 have chosen a body of men distinguished for abil- 

 ities, of much experience, and of exalted patriot- 

 ism, fully equal to the grave matters which are in- 

 trusted to them. As the interests of our constituents 

 .are the same, it is to be hoped that there will be little 

 conflict of opinions among us, and that frank speech 

 and courteous manners will 'distinguish our .inter- 

 course., so that he who has been called to preside 

 over our deliberations will find but little incon- 

 venience from his lack of experience, and will be 

 enabled to use the position with which he has been 

 honored, as he earnestlv desires to do, for its legiti- 

 mate objects only. Fallow-citizens, we are going 



home. Let painful reflections upon our late separa- 

 tion and pleasant memories of our early union 

 quicken our footsteps toward the old mansion, that 

 we may grasp hard again the hand of friendship 

 which stands at the door, and, sheltered by the old 

 homestead which was built upon a rock and has 

 weathered the storm, enjov together the long, bright 

 future which awaits us. "With the guidance of In- 

 finite Wisdom and the care of a merciful Providence, 

 which I earnestly invoke for the Convention and for 

 each individual member, I invite you to the calm 

 consideration and wise solution of the important 

 questions which are to result in the peace, prosperity, 

 and happiness of ourselves, and in the prosperity, 

 strength, and grandeur of our nation. 



The Provisional Governor, in a brief message 

 to the Convention, declared their duties to be 

 too plain to require any suggestions from him, 

 and said : 



North Carolina attempted, in May, 1861, to sepa- 

 rate herself from the Federal Union. The attempt 

 involved her, with other slaveholding States, in a 

 protracted and disastrous war, the result of which 

 was a vast expenditure of blood and treasure on her 

 part, and the practical abolition of domestic slavery. 

 She entered into the rebellion a slaveholding State, 

 and she emerged from it a non-slaveholding State. 

 In other respects, so far as her existence as a State 

 and her rights as a State are concerned, she has un- 

 dergone no change. The President of the United 

 States wisely determined that her existence as a 

 State should not be extinguished, but that, under 

 that clause of the Federal Constitution which 

 "guarantees to every State in the Union a repub- 

 lican form of government," her people, in convention 

 assembled, might so alter and amend their constitu- 

 tion and adopt such measures as would restore the 

 State to her constitutional relations to the Federal 

 Government, and thus secure once more to the 

 people thereof the immeasurable benefits and bless- 

 ings of the Union. Allow me to congratulate you, 

 gentlemen, upon the favorable circumstances which 

 surround you, while engaged in this great work of 

 restoring the State to her former and natural posi- 

 tion. 



It was resolved by the Convention that a 

 committee of five be appointed to revise the 

 Constitution of the State ; that a committee of 

 eleven be appointed to report what action was 

 necessary in regard to the secession ordinance 

 of 20th May, 1861 ; that a committee of eleven 

 be appointed to report an ordinance for the 

 abolition of slavery ; that a committee of two 

 from each Congressional district, as they ex- 

 isted, be appointed to divide the State into 

 seven Congressional districts; that a commit- 

 tee of eleven be appointed to report what 

 acts of the Convention, Legislature, and the 

 courts, since May 20, 18(51, shall be declared to 

 be in force ; that a committee of eleven be ap- 

 pointed to report what steps were necessary to 

 obtain a general amnesty for participation in 

 the late war. 



The committees were accordingly appointed, 

 and on the 4th the Committee on Secession re- 

 ported an ordinance which, after some debate, 

 was adopted in the following form : 



Be it ordained by the delegates of the people of North 

 Carolina, in Convention assembled, and it is farAy 

 declared and ordained, That the ordinance of tho 

 Convention of the State of North Carolina, ratified 

 on the 21st day of November, 1789, which adopted 

 and ratified the Constitution of the United States, 



