268 



FLORIDA. 



together. They actually framed, voted upon, 

 and adopted the new State constitution, on 

 February 6th, as appears from the following: 



Resolved, That the president be empowered to tele- 

 graph Major-General George G. Meade that we are 

 through our labors, and have formed a constitution, 

 and await his further instructions. 



The following is the dispatch sent by the 

 president to General Meade : 



CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, ) 

 TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA, February 6, 1868. j 

 Gen. Geo. G. Meade, commanding Third Military 



District, Atlanta, Georgia : 



I have the honor to inform you that we have com- 

 pleted our labors in forming a constitution for this 

 State, and await your further orders. 



D. BICHARDS, President. 



With a view to secure the validity of the 

 enactments passed after the fifteen delegates 

 had arbitrarily absented themselves, the Con- 

 vention adopted, on February Tth, the follow- 

 ing preamble and resolution : 



Whereas, after a session of fourteen days, we find 

 that forty-one delegates have taken and subscribed 

 to the oath adopted for delegates by this convention, 

 therefore be it 



Besolved, That a majority of that number is a legal 

 quorum of this body. 



By another resolution, adopted on the same 

 day, the assembly adjourned as a Constitution- 

 al Convention to the next day, and immediate- 

 ly organized itself into a Nominating Conven- 

 tion (the president being the same in either), 

 for the purpose of nominating "the State offi- 

 cers provided for in the constitution." The 

 result of this meeting was the nomination of 

 Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, and that 

 of other high officers of the State, as well as 

 of the member of Congress, mostly out of their 

 own number. 



On February 8th, the delegates, twenty-one 

 in number, subscribed their names to the new 

 constitution, whereupon they adopted the fol- 

 lowing resolution : 



Resolved, That this convention send to General 

 Meade a special member from tbis convention, who 

 shall take with bim a corrected copy of the proceed- 

 ings, and make before General Meade a full state- 

 ment of the facts. 



One from amongst themselves was here ap- 

 pointed for the said mission to General Meade, 

 when they adjourned to the 15th of February. 

 No sooner had this adjournment taken place, 

 than the fifteen absentees, who seem to have 

 been watching the movements of those sitting 

 in the convention, returned to Tallahassee, 

 late in the night of the next day, accompanied 

 by nine more delegates, and went directly to 

 the House of Representatives, where a protest 

 was read by one of them, charging Daniel 

 Richards, hitherto president of the conven- 

 tion, with heavy offences in the exercise of 

 his office. The protest was signed by the 

 twenty-four delegates present, who then de- 

 posed Mr. Richards from the presidency, and 

 elected Horatio Jenkins in his place. Mr. 

 Jenkins having immediately taken the chair, 

 all the former officers of the convention, ex- 



cept the secretary and the chaplain, were re- 

 placed by others, and all the standing commit- 

 tees appointed anew. The convention being 

 thus thoroughly reorganized, it was adjourned 

 to the afternoon of February 10th. 



On the llth the new Committee " on Eli- 

 gibility" presented their report, stating that 

 Daniel Richards, mentioned above, as well as 

 Liberty Billings, William U. Saunders, and C. 

 H. Pierce (who composed the former Commit- 

 tee " on Privileges and Elections," and that 

 " on Eligibility"), being non-residents of Flor- 

 ida, were by the law of both State and Con- 

 gress in the reconstruction acts expressly- 

 declared ineligible as delegates to the Consti- 

 tutional Convention, and therefore to be re- 

 moved from their seats in it. This report, to- 

 gether with the accompanying resolutions, was 

 unanimously adopted by the twenty-six dele- 

 gates present. Thus were the four named per- 

 sons unseated, while Messrs. Hart, Davidson, 

 Hill, Stearns, and Wells, whose claims had not 

 been previously acted upon, and in favor of 

 whom the said committee had now reported, 

 were admitted and sworn at the same time. 



These proceedings could not but increase 

 the flame of discord which already existed be- 

 tween the two parties. The four expelled not 

 only asserted their right to sit in convention, 

 but they and their adherents claimed for 

 themselves to be the convention, and to have 

 in that capacity framed and adopted the new 

 State constitution; while the other party as 

 firmly denied all this, and claimed the same 

 thing for itself. The contention spread, and 

 rose in its violence to such a point that, in or- 

 der to prevent disastrous results, which com- 

 mon prudence must have apprehended, the 

 military power presently interposed its au- 

 thority, and on February lYth General Meade 

 personally appeared at Tallahassee. After 

 hearing both parties, he recommended mutual 

 agreement on the disputed points, proposing 

 at the same time that both presidents should 

 resign their positions, and that the delegates 

 assemble to organize the convention anew, 

 that Colonel Sprague, the commander of the 

 sub-District of Florida, preside in the assem- 

 bly till the reorganization should be effected. 

 In his efforts to bring about a reconciliation, 

 the General was so far successful that the 

 members of both parties, after separate con- 

 sultation amongst themselves, recognized his 

 plan to be preferable to all others. The two 

 presidents actually resigned (Richards under 

 protest), and on February 18th the delegates 

 met at the Convention Hall, Colonel Sprague 

 occupying the chair. The resignations of the 

 two presidents having been read, Horatio 

 Jenkins was, on motion, elected permanent 

 president by a vote of thirty-two yeas to 

 twelve nays. The chair being now occupied 

 by Mr. Jenkins, the secretary and other officers 

 were appointed, and many resolutions adopt- 

 ed in quick succession, mostly pertaining to a 

 permanent organization of the body, until the 



