16 



ALABAMA. 



tution, has a right, of its own will, to renounce its 

 own place in, or to withdraw from the Union. Nor has 

 the Federal Government any right to eject a State 

 from the Union, or to deprive it of its equal suifrage 

 in the Senate, or of representation in the House of 

 Representatives. 



The Union, under the Constitution, shall be per- 

 petual. 



Sec. 2. The public debt of the United States, au- 

 thorized by law, shall ever be held sacred and in- 

 violate. But neither the United States, nor any 

 State, shall assume or pay any debt or obligation in- 

 curred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the 

 Government or authority of the United States. 



Sea. 3. All persons born or naturalized in the 

 United States, and subject to the jurisdiction there- 

 of, are citizens of the United States, and of the 

 States in which they reside ; and the citizens of each 

 State shall be entitled to all the privileges and im- 

 munities of citizens of the several States. No State 

 shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property 

 without due process of law ; nor deny to any per- 

 son within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the 

 laws. 



Sec. 4. Representatives shall be apportioned 

 among the several States according to their respec- 

 tive numbers, counting the whole number of persons 

 in eaclr State, excluding Indians not taxed. But 

 when any State shall, on account of race or color, 

 or previous condition of servitude, deny the exercise 

 of the elective franchise at any election for the 

 choice of electors for President and Vice-President 

 of the United States, Representatives in Congress, 

 members of the Legislature, and other officers 

 elected by the people, to any of the male inhabitants 

 of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and 

 citizens of the United States, then the entire class of 

 persons so excluded from the exercise of the elec- 

 tive franchise shall not be counted in the basis of 

 representation; and 



Whtreas, etc., etc. Be it further resolved by the 

 Legislature of Alabama, That the following article 

 shall be adopted as an amendment to, and become a 

 part of, the constitution of the State of Alabama : 



AKTICLE . Every male citizen who has resided in 

 this State for one year, and, in the county in which 

 he ofl'ers to vote, six months, immediately preceding 

 the day of election, and who can read the Declara- 

 tion of Independence, and the Constitution of the 

 United States, in the English language, and write 

 his name, or who may be the owner of $250 worth 

 of taxable property, shall be entitled to vote at all 

 elections for the Governor of the State, and mem- 

 bers of the Legislature, and all other officers, the 

 election of whom may be by the people of the State. 

 Provided, That no person, by reason of this article, 

 shall be excluded from voting, who has heretofore 

 exercised the elective franchise, under the constitu- 

 tion and laws of this State ; or who, at the time of 

 the adoption of this amendment, may be entitled to 

 vote under said constitution and laws. 



In each House, the message and document 

 were referred to the Committee on Federal Re- 

 lations. This committee in the Lower House 

 reported on February 18th that they enter- 

 tained high respect for the eminent authority 

 from whom the proposition emanated, and had 

 given the subject the serious and calm consider- 

 ation which its importance demanded ; and while 

 they stood ready to compromise the unfortu- 

 nate differences existing between the Federal 

 and State Governments upon equitable and con- 

 stitutional principles, and were willing t.o yield 

 all that should be demanded of an honorable 

 people, yet they were unable to perceive any 

 sound and valid reason why the General As- 



sembly should submit the proposition to Con- 

 gress. Believing it to be inexpedient for the 

 General Assembly to act in reference to either 

 of the propositions, they recommended that no 

 further action should be taken. The report 

 was unanimously concurred in. Eesolutions 

 strongly but respectfully in opposition to the 

 proposition were adopted in the Senate Yeas 

 14, nays 4. On February 19th the Legisla- 

 ture adjourned. 



On March 4th a convention of persons who 

 professed to have been Union men through the 

 war, from various counties of the State, was 

 held at Huntsville, and a series of resolutions 

 adopted, declaring that the Federal Congress 

 was the constitutional power to control, check, 

 and direct all executive and ministerial officers 

 of the Government, and the constituted author- 

 ity for the protection of life, liberty, and prop- 

 erty, etc., etc. The act of Congress passed 

 March 2d, known as the First Reconstruction 

 Act (see PUBLIC DOCUMENTS), had gone into ef- 

 fect. It -constituted the States of Alabama, 

 Florida, and Georgia, as the Third Military Dis- 

 trict of the five into which the ten Southern 

 States were divided. By an order of the Presi- 

 dent, issued March 15th, Major-General John 

 Pope was assigned to the command of this dis- 

 trict. It was the second in area of the five 

 districts the fifth, consisting of Louisiana and 

 Texas, was somewhat larger. The extent of 

 territory embraced by these three States is 

 about one hundred and sixty-eight thousand 

 square miles, with a population, according to 

 the census of 1860, of two millions one hun- 

 dred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and 

 twelve. Of this number, nine hundred and 

 fifty-nine thousand were slaves in I860. 



The sentiment, at this time, of that portion 

 of the people who had been actively engaged in 

 the war, is thus expressed by one of their local 

 newspapers: "The Southern people are per- 

 fectly reconciled to their situation, and anxious 

 to submit in good faith to the stern logic of 

 events, although those events could hardly jus- 

 tify the consequences now forced upon them. 

 They will turn to him (General Pope) in a spirit 

 of confidence, and seek in his authority the pro- 

 tection which they are now unable to afford to 

 themselves and to their families. All we ask 

 of him is justice, and that he should, by a 

 prompt registration of the voters, put an end to 

 the agitation resulting from our upsettled con- 

 dition of affairs an agitation which bad men 

 are turning to account for the furtherance of 

 their own selfish views, and the disgrace of the 

 whole land generally." 



On March 25th the Union men of Mont- 

 gomery held a public meeting, and adopted 

 resolutions declaring it to be the duty of all 

 good citizens to carry out with earnestness and 

 harmony the requirements of the Reconstruction 

 Act ; also, to cast their suffrages for men well 

 known to have at heart the integrity of the 

 United States, and the vitality of all its powers, 

 and extending a cordial welcome to all men to 



