TKN'NESSEE. 



707 



tomplation of e\vu the possibility of its prov- 

 .>-. '-si'iil, rival. -il t lie most intense anxiety 

 aiiioni; the people of all classes in the State. 

 illy tin! lK-morrats ami Conservatives, 

 hut by far the greatest number of the Repub- 

 I'l-'uns, deprecated the interference of Congress 

 in tin- local affairs of Tennessee, as a crying 

 injustice, subversive of all the recognized prin- 

 ciples of self-government, and withal as a public 

 calamity, destructive alike of the vital interests 

 of the State in general, and of her citizens in 

 particular. As to the foundation upon which 

 it was sought to build up reconstruction, the 

 people almost unanimously averred that five- 

 sixths of the alleged outrages were false and 

 mere fabrications ; that the largest proportion 

 <if i hoso which had really occurred wore not of 

 a recent date, hut of years past ; that their 

 circumstances were immensely exaggerated for 

 effect; that they, with few exceptions, were 

 not caused by animosity on account of politi- 

 cal opposition, but originated in personal feuds 

 and quarrels, for other reasons, as is the case 

 with people in all communities ; and finally, 

 that the outrages were reciprocal, they being 

 perpetrated as much, if not more, by negroes 

 and Republicans on whites and Democrats, as 

 rice versa. The general testimony seemed to 

 be that crime in Tennessee was about in the 

 same proportion, according to population, as in 

 the Northern States, and less now than it had 

 ever been since, and even before, the late civil 

 war. 



A delegation from Nashville, consisting of 

 prominent citizens, proceeded to Washington 

 for the purpose of deprecating, in behalf of the 

 State, the threatened reconstruction. Actu- 

 ated by the same motive, the Speakers of both 

 Houses of the General Assembly, representing 

 the people and the interests of the community, 

 went to the Federal capital on the llth of 

 March, 1870, and testified before the Commit- 

 tee on Reconstruction as to the actual condi- 

 tion of affairs in Tennessee. On their return 

 homo two weeks after, they stated that the 

 negro delegation from Tennessee had pre- 

 sented at Washington the memorial above 

 alluded to, " but were unable to specify any 

 particular outrage alleged to have been com- 

 mitted ; and that the majority of Republicans 

 in Congress did not desire the reconstruction 

 of Tennessee, and would vote against it. At 

 the same time, they urged on the people the 

 necessity of refuting with authentic proofs the 

 charges made against them." 



Governor Senter also was invited by the 

 Reconstruction Committee to appear before 

 them and testify on the state of affairs ; which 

 he did, his examination having taken place on 

 the 9th and 12th of April, 1870. The sub- 

 stance of his testimony and answers to the 

 various questions proposed by the committee 

 may be set down as follows: He expressed his 

 opinion, concerning the so-called Ku-klux, to 

 be, "that there must ho a very stringent or- 

 ganization, not only well organized, but well 



officered, from t !. it they had committed 



outrages of very nt-rious character, and neither 

 money nor law had been able in reach them ; " 

 said that " outrages throughout the Htate had 

 decreased in frequency from 1866 down to the 

 close of 186'J," at about which time several 

 had occurred, which ho enumerated, some of 

 them perpetrated by negroes on whites, or on 

 each other; some by whites on negroes, es- 

 pecially such as were under custody of the 

 civil officers on the charge of crimes committed 

 by them ; that, these cases having come to his 

 knowledge, he had requested the Legislature, 

 by a special message, to furnish him with the 

 means to repress violence, which they having 

 failed to do, ho had asked for military aid 

 from the United States Government; declaring 

 also to the committee that if they gave him 

 troops in Tennessee ho would keep order ; 'said 

 that his information was, that outrages " were 

 diminishing since January ; " that a great part 

 of these outrages originated in political antag- 

 onism, the others could not be traced to poli- 

 tics, but were such as occur in any community ; 

 admitted that the disfranchisement of so many 

 whites had had its effect in inflaming the bad 

 feeling in the State, and thought that their en- 

 franchisement ought to tend to allay the feel- 

 ing of jealousy between the races; that "the 

 enfranchisement of all men would tend to pro- 

 duce peace in the country," declaring that " his 

 view both on the stump and in his conduct had 

 been to encourage that idea ; " that " before 

 the war Tennessee was about as other commu- 

 nities with reference to disorders," that " now 

 there was disorder, and a good deal of it ; he 

 could not say how much of it : compared with 

 New York, in proportion to the number of in- 

 habitants, perhaps there was more." 



After the Governor's examination, the hear- 

 ing of other witnesses on the subject continued 

 for some time ; but the reconstruction project, 

 presenting apparently little hope of success, 

 seems to have been gradually abandoned. 



At the session of the Legislature embracing 

 the end of 1869 and the first months of 1870, 

 two bills were passed, on December 13th and 

 February 24th, respectively, which seem im- 

 portant to taxpayers as well as to the State in 

 regard to her revenue. The former repealed all 

 laws and parts of laws imposing penalties and 

 increased taxation for the non-payment of taxes. 

 The latter, whose title is, " An act to sustain the 

 credit of the State, and to amend the revenue 

 laws of the State, and for other purposes," re- 

 duced the State tax one-half, yet enlarged the 

 basis of taxation so that the amount of the 

 public revenue would not be materially dimin- 

 ished by its operation. The first section 

 enumerates the several kinds of property to be 

 taxed, and the second determines the rate of 

 the tax, as follows : " Be it further enacted, 

 That there shall bo assessed and collected for 

 State purposes on the value of the property 

 enumerated above and upon the capital, as 

 now defined by law, of all persons engaged in 



