TENNESSEE. 



723 



practicable, the cost of such military should be borne 

 by the tax-payers of said county. 



No sooner was the Legislature prepared for 

 action, than petitions for the removal of polit- 

 ical disabilities were presented in large num- 

 bers. One reason for making this request was 

 " the better to insure peace, harmony, and an 

 equal participation by all in the future pros- 

 perity and onward march of our noble State." 

 The general disfranchisement, it was said, 

 " alienates too many of our citizens from a prop- 

 er interest in the execution of the laws, and 

 thereby renders certain laws in many localities 

 a mere nullity. 1 ' On the 1st of August a con- 

 ference took place between several prominent 

 officers of the late Confederacy, for the purpose 

 of disclaiming any encouragement or approval 

 on their part of the lawless movements exist- 

 ing in any part of the State, and of petition- 

 ing the General Assembly for a removal of 

 political disabilities. The following is their 

 memorial : 



NASHVILLE, August 1, 1868. 



To the Honorable Legislature of Tennessee, now in ex- 

 traordinary session : 



The right of petition and remonstrance being con- 

 ceded by all classes in this country, and feeling, as 

 we do, a deep solicitude for the peace and quiet of 

 our great and glorious State, and belonging to that 

 class in Tennessee who are regarded by some of its 

 authorities as hostile to its present organization, we 

 yield to a sense of duty, and respectfully invite your 

 honorable body to a consideration of our view of the 

 means that may avert the precipitation of the crisis 

 which is acknowledged to be imminent. Being re- 

 garded as identified with that large class supposed to 

 be hostile to the State government, we bag respect- 

 fully to say, that his Excellency the Governor 

 wholly misapprehends our feelings and intentions in 

 declaring in his late message that we seek the over- 

 throw ot the State government, or to do any other 

 act by revolutionary or lawless means. Neither Te 

 nor those with whom in our past days we have beeii 

 associated contemplate any^ such rashness and folly ; 

 nor do_ we believe there is in Tennessee any organiza- 

 tion, either nublic or secret, which has such a pur- 

 pose. And if there be, we have neither sympathy 

 nor affiliation therewith. We believe the peace of 

 the State does not require the organization of a mili- 

 tary force by your honorable body, and respectfully 

 submit that such a measure might more strongly tend 

 to bring about and promote collisions than to conserve' 

 the harmony and good order of the country. And, 

 inasmuch as the supposed danger, to the peace of the 

 State is apprehended from that class of the commu- 

 nity with which we are considered identified, as in- 

 ducement and reason to your honorable body not to 

 organize such military force, we pledge ourselves 

 to maintain the order and peace of the State with 

 whatever of influence we possess ; to uphold and 

 support the laws, and aid the constituted authorities 

 in their execution, trusting that a reciprocation of 

 these sentiments from your honorable body will 

 produce the enactment of such laws as will remove 

 all irritating causes now disturbing society. For 

 when it is remembered that the large mass of white 

 men in Tennessee are denied the right to vote or 

 hold office, it is not wonderful or unnatural there 

 should exist more or less dissatisfaction among them. 

 And_ we beg leave respectfully to submit for your 

 consideration that prompt and efficient action on the 

 part of the proper authorities, for a removal of the 

 political disabilities resting upon so many of our 

 people, would heal all the wounds of our State, and 



make us once more a prosperous, contented, and 



united people. 



Eespectfully, your obedient servants, 



N. B. FORREST, B. F. CHEATHAM, 



WM. B. BATE, GID. J. PILLOW, 



JOHN C. BROWN, S. K. ANDERSON, 



THOMAS B. SMITH, WM. A. QUARLES, 

 JOSEPH B. PALMER, G. G. DIBBRELL, 

 BUSHROD K. JOHNSON, GEORGE MANEY, 

 G. W. GORDON. 



A petition for the removal of disabilities, 

 signed by nearly four thousand citizens, in- 

 cluding some of the leading men of the State, 

 was presented to the Legislature by Judge 

 Shackelford, who made an earnest and elo- 

 quent appeal for the enfranchisement of the 

 large body of the people whose political rights 

 had been curtailed for the past three years. Ex- 

 Governor Foote, of Mississippi, at the same 

 time added his voice to the general prayer for 

 liberal action on the part of the Legislature, 

 and called on the law -makers of Tennessee to 

 seize this opportunity to distinguish them- 

 selves by their generosity to their own citizens. 

 While these petitions were still occupying the 

 attention of the Assembly, a supplemental 

 message was received from the Governor, in 

 which he said that he was induced by his 

 "high regard for the author of the enclosed 

 letter and ordinance, Hon. John M. Lea," and 

 by confidence in his patriotism and integrity, 

 " to submit those documents to the deliberate 

 consideration " of the members. The letter 

 alluded to was addressed to the Governor, and 

 called upon him and the Legislature to com- 

 plete the work of reconstruction in Tennessee 

 on the plan set forth in the accompanying 

 ordinance. This ordinance recited the general 

 disfranchisement of citizens, and the disposi- 

 tio*n of the people to " acquiesce in the results 

 which have been brought about by the late 

 civil war," and recommended to the people, in 

 the name of the General Assembly, an amend- 

 ment to the constitution of the State, bestow- 

 ing the right of suffrage on "every free man, 

 white or colored, of the age of twenty-one 

 years, being a citizen of the United States, and 

 a citizen of the county wherein he may offer 

 his vote six months next preceding the day of 

 the election." This amendment was to be 

 submitted to a vote of the people, in accordance 

 with a provision in the ordinance' that every 

 voter in favor of its adoption should, at the 

 next State election, write or print on his 

 ticket the word " convention," and that he 

 " elects and appoints as delegates to the said 

 convention the members of the present Gen- 

 eral Assembly." If a majority of the people 

 cast votes of this kind, it was to imply that 

 they favored this amendment, and the General 

 Assembly, thus constituting a constitutional 

 convention for the purpose, was to incorporate 

 it into the organic law of the State without 

 further action on the part of the people. Af- 

 ter some debate, in which the prevailing senti- 

 ment appeared to be that it was not expedient 

 to entertain this question at the present ex- 



