FLORIDA. 



269 



convention peaceably adjourned to the next 

 day. This convention, both before and after 

 its reorganization, was fitly addressed by Colo- 

 nel Sprague and General Meade. 



On February 19th, the regular standing 

 committees were newly appointed, and in the 

 afternoon of the same day the Committee " on 

 Eligibility," which was now composed of five 

 members, submitted a majority report in re- 

 spect to Messrs. Billings, Saunders, and Pierce, 

 and a separate one concerning Mr. Richards, 

 repeating the above-mentioned reasons why 

 neither of them could be allowed to sit in 

 the convention. Hereupon a long and most 

 stormy debate, approaching very near to a 

 combat, took place, chiefly between the leaders 

 of the two opposite parties, till, the reports 

 being put to the vote, they were adopted by a 

 large majority. The beforenamed persons were 

 thus ousted, and left the hall. 



On February 20th, and the few succeeding 

 days, the convention proceeded in its regular 

 business, but principally in the work of framing 

 the new constitution. This was submitted to 

 the .House, voted upon and adopted by a good 

 majority, on February 25th. The delegates 

 being then invited to sign the instrument, 

 eight did so under protest, and nine refused 

 altogether. This circumstance might serve as 

 an indication to show the number of those who 

 opposed the new constitution, either in regard 

 to its general or particular measures. But a res- 

 olution having been adopted and spread on the 

 journal, " that such members as refused to sign 

 the constitution should not receive per diem, 

 nor mileage," several among them reluctantly 

 subscribed their names to the document, while 

 the others still refused. 



The chief provisions of this instrument, as 

 distinguished from the constitution formerly 

 obtaining in Florida, and those of other States, 

 ar6 the Bill of Rights and the article on fran- 

 chise, as they refer to the negro, who is here 

 recognized to be politically and socMly equal to 

 the white man. The same was the purport of 

 that other constitution, which this same con- 

 vention (or that part of it who remained in 

 session during the absence of the fifteen dele- 

 gates) had framed and adopted three weeks 

 before. The Democratic papers of the State 

 pronounced the second instrument to be less 

 rigid and objectionable than the first, and a 

 large portion of the Republican party con- 

 demned it indeed as being too mild, so much 

 so, that a committee of ministers of the African 

 Methodist Episcopal Church issued a circu- 

 lar, and dispatched a number of speakers, to 

 persuade the negroes throughout the State to 

 prefer living "under military rule, guided by 

 the reconstruction acts of Congress," and to 

 oppose the ratification of' the State constitu- 

 tion framed by the late convention, chiefly 

 on account "of its enlargement, of the fran- 

 chise in favor of the disloyal," namely, the 

 whites who had fought for secession, or their 

 sympathizers. The second constitution seems 



certainly milder in prescribing the formula of 

 the test-oath which it imposes on the electors 

 before they are registered, it being both more 

 simple and shorter ; as appears from the first 

 of the following sections of the article "on 

 suffrage and elegibility : " 



Section 1. Every male person of the age of twenty- 

 one years and upward, of whatever race, color, na- 

 tionality, or previous condition, who shall, at the time 

 of offering to vote, be a citizen of the United States, 

 or who shall have declared his intention to become 

 such in conformity to the laws of the United States, 

 and who shall have resided and had his habitation, 

 domicil, home, and place of permanent abode in 

 Florida for one year, and in the county for six months, 

 next preceding the election at which he shall offer to 

 vote, shall in such county be deemed a qualified 

 elector at all elections under this constitution. Every 

 elector shall at the time of his registration take and 

 subscribe to the following oath : 



I, , do solemnly swear that I will support, pro- 

 tect, and defend the Constitution and Government 

 of the United States, and the constitution and govern- 

 ment of the State of Florida, against all enemies, 

 foreign or domestic ; that I will bear true faith, loy- 

 alty, and allegiance to the same, any ordinances or 

 resolution of any State convention or Legislature to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. So help me God. 



Yet, concerning the equality of negroes and 

 whites in political rights, as well as in every 

 part of common and social life, the intent of 

 the framers of the first constitution could not 

 have been fuller nor more comprehensive than 

 is expressed in the following resolution, offered 

 by the leader of the party called Conservative, 

 who framed the second, and, on his motion, 

 adopted by them : 



Resolved, That no Legislature shall ever have the 

 power to prohibit by law any class of persons, on ac- 

 count of race, or color, or previous condition, from 

 having and exercising equal rights and privileges on 

 all public conveyances, in all places of public worship 

 and amusement, and in all public conveniences and 

 accommodations created by charter or license under 

 the laws of this State, nor to pass any law that would, 

 in the least, infringe upon that civil and political 

 equality of all citizens, established and secured for- 

 ever by the provisions of our constitution : And be it 

 further Eesolved, That in all counties where the 

 white and colored populations are equal, or where the 

 colored predominates, the venire for all jurors shall 

 be made up of an equal number of jurors from each 

 population, and in counties where the colored is less 

 than the white population, the venire for jurors shall 

 be made out in the proportion of the two populations. 



This second constitution, which the fifteen 

 delegates had, perhaps, prepared at Monticello 

 during their absence from the convention, as 

 it seems too full and elaborate to admit of its 

 contents having been digested in three days, 

 goes into details through all the departments 

 of organic State law. It provides also that 

 the State of Florida shall ever remain under the 

 Federal Government of the United States. We 

 subjoin the section containing this provision 

 and a few others, taken from the Declaration 

 of Rights, as follows : 



DECLARATION OF BIGHTS. 



All men are, by nature, free and equal, and have 

 certain inalienable rights, among which are those of 

 enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring 1 , 

 possessingj and protecting property, and pursuing 

 and obtaining safety and happiness. 



