NORTH CAROLINA. 



627 



and also all acts and parts of acts of the General As- 

 sembly ratifying and adopting amendments to the 

 said Cfonstitution, are now, and at all times since the 

 adoption and ratification thereof have been, in full 

 force and effect, notwithstanding the supposed ordi- 

 nance of the 20th of May, 1861, declaring the same 

 to be repealed, rescinded, and abrogated ; and the 

 said supposed ordinance is now, and at all times hath 

 been, null and void. 



The vote of the Convention was unanimous 

 on this ordinance. 



On the 5th the Committee on the Abolition 

 of Slavery reported the following ordinance : 



Be it declared and ordained by the delegates of the 

 people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention 

 assembled, and it i* hereby ordained, That slavery and 

 involuntary servitude otherwise than for crimes 

 whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, 

 shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited within 

 the State. 



It was passed on the subsequent day by a 

 unanimous vote of the Convention. 



An election for members of Congress, Gov- 

 ernor, and State Legislature, was ordered to be 

 held on the second Thursday in November. 

 The ordinance provided that no one should be 

 eligible to office or qualified to vote who, being 

 free in all respects, had not, before May 27th, 

 taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty pre- 

 scribed in the proclamation of President Lin- 

 coln with the purpose to suppress the insurrec- 

 tion, and restore the authority of the United 

 States, and thenceforward had observed the 

 same, or who had taken the oath prescribed in 

 President Johnson's proclamation of "May 29, 

 1865, or who was excepted from the amnesty. 



An ordinance was also adopted dividing the 

 State into seven Congressional districts, with 

 a population as follows: 1st district, 118,000; 

 2d, 125,000; 3d, 119,000; 4th, 128,000; 5th 

 127,000; 6th, 124,000; 7th, 126,000. 



An ordinance was presented in the Conven- 

 tion, which provided for repealing or reducing 

 the State debt to its gold value, and paying that 

 which existed before the war, and that which 

 had been contracted daring the war. The 

 question created much discussion, but the action 

 of the Convention was finally determined by 

 the following despatch from President JoV.n- 

 son: 



WASHINGTON CITY, October 18, 1S65. 

 W. W. Holden, Provisional Governor : 



Every dollar of the State debt created to aid the 

 rebellion against the United States should be repu- 

 diated, finally and forever. The great mass of the 

 people should not be taxed to pay a debt to aid in 

 carrying on a rebellion which they, in fact, if left to 

 themselves, were opposed to. Let those who have 

 given their means for the obligations of the State 

 look to that power they tried to establish in violation 

 of law, constitution, and will of the people. They 

 must meet their fate. It is their misfortune, and 

 cannot be recognized by the people of any State pro- 

 fessing themselves loyal to the Government of the 

 United States and in the Union. 



I repeat, that the loyal people of North Carolina 

 should be exonerated from the payment of every 

 dollar of indebtedness created to aid in carrying on 

 the rebellion. I trust and hope that the people of 

 North Carolina will wash their hands of every thing 

 that partakes in the slightest degree of the rebellion, 

 which has been so recently crushed by the strong 



arm of the Government, in carrying out the obliga- 

 tions imposed by the Constitution of the Union. 

 ANDREW JOHNSON, 

 President of the United States. 



The payment of the debt contracted during 

 the war was not only repudiated, but an ordi- 

 nance was adopted prohibiting any future Legis- 

 lature from assuming or paying any debt con- 

 tracted directly or indirectly for the prosecution 

 of the war against the United States. 



It was also provided by the Convention that 

 the ordinance declaring null and void the ordi- 

 nance of secession passed May 20, 1861, and 

 the ordinance prohibiting slavery in the State, 

 should be submitted to the people for ratifi- 

 cation or rejection, at the time when the elec- 

 tion for State officers was held. 



The subject of legislation relative to the 

 freedmen, and the measures necessary to con- 

 form the laws of the State to the abolition of 

 slavery, were referred to the Legislature, and a 

 commission created to report a code to that 

 body. The same reference was given to an ad- 

 dress of a colored convention asking that equal 

 rights should be granted to them. 



An ordinance was also passed directing the 

 sheriffs and boards of magistrates to enroll and 

 organize as many military companies in their 

 respective districts as might be necessary to 

 preserve law and order therein, and to act as 

 an armed police until the regular organization 

 of the State militia. The following extract 

 from the debate on this ordinance explains the 

 social position of the people at this time : 



Mr. Ferebee, in advocating the bill, said that in his 

 county the white citizens had all been deprived of 

 arms, while the negroes were almost all of them 

 armed by some means or another. It was a fact that 

 nearly every negro was supplied with arms, and 

 there was a very general feeling of insecurity on the 

 part of the whites. There had been rumors of anti- 

 cipated trouble in some of the counties at the com- 

 mencement of next year. He did not know how 

 well grounded the fears might be, but there certainly 

 was much apprehension among the white citizens, 

 especially among the female portion, of coming 

 danger. 



Gen. Dockery confirmed the statement made by 

 Col. Ferebee, and stated that in his county the white 

 residents had been disarmed, and were at present 

 almost destitute of means to protect themselves 

 against robbery and outrage. He had consulted 

 with the General in command of this department, 

 and found that he had no objection to the raising of 

 such a police force as was contemplated by theoill. 

 He had stated that no force taking the sh'ape of an 

 army could be allowed to be raised except under his 

 command, as there could be but one head to the mil- 

 itary in the State. But he did not object to the es- 

 tablishment of an armed police. 



Mr. Barrow thought that the Convention was over- 

 looking the facts of their present situation. They 

 were still under martial law, and he did not see wha't 

 authority any person would have to raise the con- 

 templated armed force, unless they do it under the 

 authority and with the cooperation of the officer in 

 command of the district. In his own county no dan- 

 ger was apprehended, and a police was in existence, 

 under the charge of a Federal officer. He was un- 

 willing to approve of any act that would seem to 

 come in conflict with the Federal authorities. 



Gen. Dockery directed the recollection of the Con- 

 tention to the action of Gov. Sharkey in Mississippi 



