GEORGIA. 



305 



GEORGIA. The Constitutional Convention 

 of Georgia, which had adjourned on the 23d 

 of December, 1867, came together again on 

 the 8th of January. On the following day, 

 General Meade, who had recently been ap- 

 pointed to the command of the Third Mili- 

 tary District, appeared in the hall, and made a 

 brief address to the delegates. As a soldier, 

 he said, his duty was plain, and he should not 

 depart from the instructions contained in the 

 reconstruction acts of Congress. He hoped 

 the convention would be just and moderate in 

 its deliberations ; and that it would frame a 

 constitution which everybody could indorse. 

 He did not consider that any act of the con- 

 vention was binding until it had been ratified 

 by the people, but, under the anomalous state 

 of affairs then existing, he might regard it as his 

 duty to give force to such measures as should 

 appear to him to be for the good of the people. 



The pay difficulty, of which an account was 

 given in the CYCLOPAEDIA for 1867, was not 

 entirely settled by the removal of the ob- 

 noxious officials. Captain Rockwell, whom 

 the commanding general had appointed Treas- 

 urer of the State, found an empty treasury, 

 and was unable to respond to the requisition 

 of the convention. General Meade, however, 

 offered to use his best endeavors to raise funds 

 to pay the expenses of that body, and from 

 time to time during the session he was able to 

 place at the disposal of the disbursing agent 

 sums sufficient for that purpose. 



A large portion of several days was occu- 

 pied in discussing a proposition to call upon 

 the national authorities to give the convention 

 power to organize a provisional government 

 for the State. This subj ect was first introduced 

 by George TV. Ashburn, who strongly urged 

 the adoption of such a measure. Mr. Ash- 

 burn's -resolution asked that the convention be 

 clothed with the same powers that were dele- 

 gated to the district commander by the act 

 of July 19, 1867. The following was offered 

 as a substitute, and adopted by a considerable 

 majority: 



Whereas, The reconstruction acts recognize the 

 existence of a government within the limits of Geor- 

 gia, subject to the military commander of the dis- 

 trict and the paramount authority of.Congress, under 

 which certain officials hold office ; 



And whereas, The time for which the said officials 

 were elected, as set forth in the laws allowed to op- 

 erate within said limits, has expired, and said officials 

 hold only by reason of a failure to provide their suc- 

 cessors ; 



And whereas, A great many of said officials are 

 hostile to and are insidiously using their influence 

 against the restoration of Georgia to the Union, and 

 by so doing are not only seriously retarding the work 

 of reconstruction, but also materially affecting the 

 prosperity of the State : therefore, 



Resolved, That the convention do hereby request 

 the Legislative Department of the Government of the 

 United States to authorize this body to declare vacant 

 the Chief Executive office of the State, and to fill the 

 same, as well as to provide for the removal, through 

 the Chief Executive officer of the State thus selected, 

 of all persons who are hostile to reconstruction, and 

 the filling of such vacancies by said Executive. 

 VOL. viii. 20 A 



Resolved, That the convention, in justice to the 

 friends of reconstruction under the reconstruction 

 acts, do hereby request the department aforesaid to 

 relieve all such of existing disability, that they may 

 be eligible to fill the vacancies thus created. 



Resolved, That the convention do further request 

 the modification of the test-oath so as to admit of all 

 persons, who have aided or abetted the late war 

 against the United States, holding office therein, pro- 

 vided such persons heartily reject the past, and are 

 earnestly attached to and determined to labor for the 

 reunion of the State on the basis of the reconstruc- 

 tion acts. ' 



The subject of a modification of the test- 

 oath had been already brought to the attention 

 of Congress by the following telegram, which 

 had been submitted to the House of Repre- 

 sentatives and referred to the Committee on 

 Reconstruction : 



ATLANTA, GA., January 12, 1868. 

 GENERAL U. S. GRANT : Unless the pending bill 

 in Congress, directing military commanders to fill all 

 the offices in a State under their command, rescinds 

 the test-oath and provides for selection from qualified 

 voters, I am informed its execution in this district 

 will be entirely impracticable. 



GEOKGE G. MEADE, Major-General. 



A bill having been filed in the Supreme 

 Court of the United States by ex-Governor 

 Jenkins, which was intended to test the au- 

 thority of the civil officers appointed in Geor- 

 gia by General Meade, several attempts were 

 made in the convention, by ordinance or reso- 

 lution, directly to condemn these proceedings. 

 No resolution of the kind, however, was 

 adopted, but an ordinance was introduced, 

 and referred to the Judiciary Committee, de- 

 claring all appointments to office in that State 

 made by the military commander, to be legal, 

 and all acts performed by officers so appointed 

 to be valid, and not to be called in question in 

 any court of the State on account of the man- 

 ner in which such appointment had been made. 

 Among other matters of less moment which 

 occupied the attention of the convention, en- 

 tirely outside of the main object for which it 

 was called, was the removal of the capital of 

 the State from Milledgeville to Atlanta, and 

 the expulsion of one of the negro members. 

 When the proposition to remove the capital 

 was first introduced, the city of Atlanta 

 promptly offered to furnish, for the space of 

 ten years, if necessary, suitable buildings for 

 the General Assembly and all the State of- 

 ficials, and to give the City Pair grounds, con- 

 taining twenty-five acres, as a site for the erec- 

 tion of permanent capitol buildings. The negro 

 member expelled was Aaron Alpeoria Bradley, 

 who had made himself quite conspicuous in the 

 convention by the advocacy of extreme meas- 

 ures, and a somewhat turbulent opposition 

 to moderate counsels. The specific charges 

 brought against him were, that his name had 

 been stricken from the roll of attorneys in 

 Massachusetts for contempt of court and mal- 

 practice, and that he had been convicted and 

 sentenced to two years imprisonment in the 

 State of New York for the crime of seduction. 



The convention continued in session until 



