32 



ALABAMA. 



those who demanded further disfranchisement, 

 he said the time for punishment had gone by. 

 If the Eepuhlican party further attempt to stay 

 the tide of popular opinion, it will be swept 

 away. 



Mr. Morgan, of Wilcox, spoke in opposition 

 to both reports. He said among other objec- 

 tions that he had to themajority report was that 

 it required every man to vote on the ratification 

 of the constitution, under a threat of disfran- 

 chisement if they did not. This was in violation 

 of the spirit of the Eeconstruction Bill, which 

 provided in effect that the election on the rati- 

 fication of the constitution should be " one at 

 which all the registered and qualified electors 

 in the State had an opportunity to vote freely 

 and without fear or restraint." 



Mr. Eapier (colored), of Lauderdale, intro- 

 duced the following ordinance : 



Whereas, The elective franchise of those persona 

 known in the State of Alabama as colored persons 

 rests solely upon the success of the Reconstruction 

 Act of Congress : 



Therefore, be it ordained, etc., That all colored male 

 persons of the age of twenty-one years and upward 

 are hereby declared citizens of the State of Alabama, 

 and are entitled to all the privileges and immunities 

 of the citizens thereof. Referred. 



The subject was then postponed yeas 50, 

 nays 24. 



Mr. Strother (colored), of Dallas, offered the 

 following : 



Resolved, That the Committee on Ordinances be re- 

 quired to inquire into the expediency of passing an 

 ordinance giving the colored people of this State a 

 fair equivalent for their services from those persons 

 who held them in slavery from the 1st of January, 

 1863, to the 20th of May, 1665. Adopted yeas 53, 

 nays 31. 



The first ordinance passed by the convention 

 was to abolish the'new County of Jones, created 

 at the last session of the State Legislature. 

 Another was presented to change the name of 

 Claiborne to Lincoln County. It was referred 

 to the Committee on Ordinances with instruc- 

 tions " to bring in an ordinance changing the 

 name of every county in Alabama named in 

 honor of the rebellion, and in glorification of 

 traitors" yeas 57, nays 33. Another was 

 offered, to change the name of Colbert County 

 to Brownlow, the name of the Governor 

 of Tennessee. Laid on the table yeas 76, 

 nays 12. 



Two reports were presented by the Commit- 

 tee on the Executive Department, which dif- 

 fered chiefly in the terms of the officers. 



The report of the Committee on the Militia 

 made very little change in the old militia law 

 of the State. 



The Committee on Finance and Taxation 

 reported an article of the constitution, that all 

 taxes levied on property shall be assessed in 

 exact proportion to the value of such property, 

 and a poll-tax of $1.50 to aid the school fund 

 might be levied. On the same day, November 

 18th, a substitute was offered for the majority 

 report on the elective franchise, which provided 



that every male citizen of the United States, 

 without regard to race, color, or previous con- 

 dition, and every male person who had de- 

 clared his intention to become a citizen, twenty- 

 one years old or upward, who had resided in 

 the State six months before an election, shall be 

 deemed an elector. Federal soldiers and sailors 

 were excepted, and those who participated 

 voluntarily in the war against the United 

 States, or gave aid and comfort to the same, or 

 who had been convicted of crime, or were 

 disfranchised under the 14th article of the 

 constitutional amendment, etc. 

 Mr. Speed, of Perry, said: 



The majority report proposed to disfranchise both 

 friend and foe, not for any crime, but simply because 

 of a refusal of a citizen to vote on a certain ques- 

 tion. This clause of the report is in direct con- 

 flict with the Constitution of the United States, and 

 is otherwise absurd and ridiculous. From 30,000 

 to 40,000 voters, who, though friendly to reconstruc- 

 tion under the bill, will be disfranchised be- 

 cause of their inability to reach the polls. This 

 clause of the report is in direct antagonism to the 

 Reconstruction Acts of Congress. 1 am opposed 

 to going further than Congress requires, and urge 

 the convention to reject the majority report and 

 adopt the minority report, the latter being in accord- 

 ance with the requirements of Congress. My people 

 have been persecuted enough by Congress, and I 

 do not wish to persecute and heap additional bur- 

 dens upon the people of Alabama. I want to for- 

 get and forgive. I am opposed to secession, but 

 many of my fellow-citizens have believed honestly in 

 secession. The South is entirely stricken down ; 

 I am opposed to oaths, and I want to reconstruct 

 the State as soon as possible. 1 will never take 

 an oath which will prevent me from forever 

 changing the constitution of the State, as the oath 

 of the majority requires. I prefer disfranchisement 

 to that. I ask the chairman of the committee (Mr. 

 Griffin) if the oath does not require, in one ot its 

 provisions, that the voter shall never favor a change 

 in the new constitution of Alabama. 



Mr. Griffin said it did ; that it was the deter- 

 mination of the committee to forever fasten this con- 

 stitution upon the people of Alabama. He wanted 

 to tie the hands of rebels, so that complete politi- 

 cal equality should be secured to the negro. 



On a motion to substitute the minority for 

 the majority report, Mr.. Peck, the president 

 of the convention, said : 



I am in favor of the majority report, contending 

 that ihis convention has the right to disfranchise 

 and proscribe. The success and salvation of the 

 Radical party, I assert, depends upon the passage 

 by this convention of the disfranchising clauses of 

 the majority report. I believe the majority report, 

 while it might not rigidly be confined to the letter 

 of the Reconstruction Acts, is framed in the spirit 

 and adheres to their intent and purpose. The great 

 object which ought to govern the action of the conven- 

 tion is to keep the State out of the control of disloyal 

 men, and this object, I think, would be accomplished 

 by the amended majority report. The oath protects 

 the colored people of the State effectually against any 

 infringement of the civil and political rights which 

 have been recently granted, and secures for Alabama 

 perfect civil and political equality. I do not see how 

 a man can conscientiously take that oath if he enter- 

 tains any intention of depriving the colored people 

 of the equality of the civil and political rights which 

 they now enjoy. The essence of a republican form 

 of government that all men should stand upon the 

 same broad platform of entire equal rights would 



