16 



ALABAMA. 



the presidential election in November, 1868, the 

 whole vote polled in the State was 148,452, 

 consisting of 76,366 Kepublican and 72,086 

 Democratic votes, with a Kepublican majority 

 at that time of 4,280. 



Although the voting at the polls passed off 

 quietly, its result Avas not as quietly sub- 

 mitted to by several among the defeated 

 Eepublican candidates. The first who openly 

 refused to acquiesce in it was the ex-State 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction. The 

 new Superintendent, having duly qualified at 

 the office of the Secretary of State, presented 

 his commission to the Board of Education 

 on November 22d, in order to take his seat 

 as president, when the incumbent, Mr. Cloud, 

 refused to recognize him as his successor, 

 alleging that Mr. Hodgson, at the time the 

 votes were cast for him, was ineligible, be- 

 cause he had once sent a challenge to a cer- 

 tain J. G. Smith to fight a duel with deadly 

 weapons. On November 23d Mr. Hodgson 

 sent a formal communication to the Board, 

 notifying them that, being the Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction, he had entered upon the 

 discharge of his official duties, and would 

 recognize no act passed by them without him, 

 who was their president ex officio. As to the 

 alleged grounds of his ineligibility, he said Mr. 

 Cloud had legal means at hand to contest his 

 election ; at the same time he denied and dis- 

 proved the charge. The members of the 

 Board, having held an informal meeting among 

 themselves the same day, resolved to recognize 

 Mr. Cloud as their president no longer. 



More worthy of note is the resistance op- 

 posed to the result of the election by Governor 

 Smith, as it very nearly filled the State with 

 tumult and disorder. The organic law pre- 

 scribes that, after a State election has taken 

 place, the two Houses of the Legislature shall 

 meet in joint convention within the first week 

 of the session, when the presiding officer of the 

 Senate shall open the sealed returns, and count 

 and publish the vote before a majority of the 

 General Assembly. The Legislature began 

 their session according to law, on the fourth 

 Tuesday, the 22d of November, 1870, and, in 

 compliance with the said provision of the con- 

 stitution, the Senators went in a body to the 

 Hall of Representatives on the 26th, for the 

 purpose of counting the vote cast for the State 

 officers on the 8th, when the Secretary of the 

 Senate read an injunction issued by one of the 

 Judges of the Supreme Court of Alabama, 

 upon a bill filed in chancery by Mr. Smith, 

 complainant, on the 25th, and served on E. E. 

 Barr, presiding officer of the Senate, defend- 

 ant, "commanding and enjoining him to desist 

 and refrain from opening and publishing the 

 returns for Governor, of the election held on 

 the 8th of November, 1870, in the State of 

 Alabama, until the further order of the court." 

 Mr. Barr announced, therefore, that he could 

 not count the vote for Governor, and proceeded 

 to count the vote for Lieutenant-Governor, 



Secretary of State, and Attorney-General, 

 when he declared E. H. Moren, J. J. Parker, 

 and J. "W. A. Sanford, duly elected to the said 

 offices, respectively. Hereupon a resolution 

 was offered by a Eepublican Senator, to the 

 effect that the new Lieutenant-Governor, who 

 had just been proclaimed elected, and is ex 

 officio President of the Senate, should be in- 

 stalled in office forthwith, and then proceed to 

 count the vote for Governor. -The acting 

 President ruled the resolution out of order. An 

 appeal having been made from the decision to 

 the convention, Mr. Barr declined to put the 

 appeal to vote ; but, ordering the Senators to 

 return to their chamber, he left the House. 

 The Speaker took his place as temporary 

 President, and put the appeal from the said 

 decision of the chair to the vote of the con- 

 vention, when the chair was not sustained, and 

 the resolution adopted. The new Lieutenant- 

 Governor was then conducted to the chair, 

 and assumed the presidency of the convention. 

 After having ascertained that there were 74 

 members of the General Assembly present in 

 the hall, which was ten more than necessary 

 to constitute a majority,- as required by the 

 constitution, he counted the vote for Governor 

 and Treasurer, which was : For Governor : 

 E. B. Lindsay, 77,721 ; W. H. Smith, 76,292 

 Lindsay's majority, 1,429. For Treasurer: 

 Grant, 76,902 Bingham, 74,376 Grant's 

 majority, 2,526. Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Grant 

 were declared by the President duly and 'con- 

 stitutionally elected to the offices of Governor 

 and Treasurer of the State of Alabama, re- 

 spectively. On motion of a Eepublican Sen- 

 ator, a joint committee of three was appointed 

 to inform Mr. Lindsay of his election, and 

 conduct him to the hall. He was received with 

 warm applause, as was also the speech which 

 he addressed to the convention. Before ad- 

 journment a committee of three from the 

 House was appointed to act with a committee 

 on the part of the Senate, to conduct Governor 

 Lindsay to the executive office on the morning 

 of November 28th. Mr. Smith, however, re- 

 fused to recognize Mr. Lindsay as Governor 

 of Alabama. He regarded himself as the Gov- 

 ernor elected by the people, and continued 

 to occupy the executive office ; whereupon a 

 correspondence took place between them. 



As if he feared that violence would be used 

 to eject him forcibly from the capitol, Mr. 

 Smith had also quartered United States troops 

 in it, and caused them to guard the Governor 

 and Treasurer's offices. Concerning this ex- 

 traordinary measure, the following preamble 

 and resolution were offered by a member to 

 the Lower House at its sitting of November 

 28th: 



Wliereas, Article 4, section 4, of the Constitution 

 of the United States, provides : 



" SECTION 4. The United States shall guarantee to 

 every State a republican form of government, and 

 shall protect each of them against invasion^ and, on 

 application of the Legislature, or of the Executive 

 (wnen the Legislature cannot be convened), against 



