ALABAMA. 



15 



the State, without reference to overflowed localities, 



uni"tig those whom they suppose can bo corrupted. 



We lu-rr uvow, that we have long resided in this 



in- .'i-nt-rally acquainted with the people, 



Mini u.- Jicluru that, to tin- bust of our knowledge, 



...;iii..M, :KI<I U-iief, there does not exist in this 



A hite League, or any secret political asso- 



ur party. And wo further declare that 



:icve that the charges made against our peo- 



i party have no reul foundation in fact; and 



thuy wore known to be untrue when they were first 



j'uMished, and they have been published and cirou- 



uted for wicked and corrupt purposes. 



On account of these reported outrages, and 

 the consequent state of the public feeling, the 

 political campaign was attended with unusual 

 excitement. The Democratic Conservative 

 party assembled in convention in Montgomery 

 on the 29th of July, and adopted the following 

 platform : 



The Democratic and Conservative people of Ala- 

 bama, in convention assembled, do resolve and de- 

 clare: 



1. That the radical and dominant faction of the 

 Republican party in this State persistently, by false 

 and fraudulent representations, have influenced the 

 passions and prejudices of the negroes, as a race, 

 against the white people, and have thereby made it 

 necessary for the white people to unite and act to- 

 gether in self-defense, and for the preservation of 

 civilization. 



2. That the rights of all classes of men under the 

 Constitution and laws of the land must be respected 

 and preserved inviolate, but we deny that Congress 

 can constitutionally enact rules to force the two races 

 into social union or equality. 



8. That the so- called civil-rights bill recently 

 passed by the Federal Senate, and now pending in 

 the House, is a flagrant and dangerous invasion of 

 the ancient conservative principles of personal liber- 

 ty and free government, arid is a palpable violation 

 of the Federal Constitution, and presents an issue 

 of vital moment to the American people, and calls 

 upon thorn to decide at the ballot-box whether they 

 will or will not be coerced to absolute, social as well 

 as political, equality of the negro race with them- 

 selves. We view with abhorrence the attempt on 

 the part of the Federal Government to take control 

 of schools, colleges, hotels, railroads, steamboats, 

 theatres, and graveyards, for the purpose of estab- 

 lishing negro equality, and enforcing it under numer- 

 ous penalties of fines, damages, and imprisonment. 



4. Civil remedies for the protection of civil rights 

 are adequately provided by the common law to all 

 races of men in this State, and added to these are 

 social remedies for social wrongs, which every race 

 and class of men are perfectly left free by the laws 

 to adopt for themselves ; so that the negro race has 

 the same means of protecting itself against the in- 

 vasion of its civil rights under the law, and against 

 intrusion upon its so-called rigrhts and privileges by 

 the white race, that we have to preserve and protect 

 ourselves and families against the intrusion of the 

 negro race. Under these laws, the race to which in 

 the providence of God we belong has achieved an 

 eminence among the people of the world, which is 

 our proud inheritance, and has become to us a trust 

 we cannot resign without dishonor. We therefore 

 denounce as a violation of the letter and spirit of our 

 Constitution, and as dishonoring to the genius of our 

 race, all legislative enactments which attempt to con- 

 vert into crimes the rules and maxims of our socinl 

 intercourse, to which we are indebted for the excel- 

 lence and glory of our civilization, or to punish with 

 degrading penalties our refusal to admit an ignorant 

 and barbarous race to equal participation with our 

 families in our social institutions. 



5. That we extend to all our race, in every clime, 



the right hand of fellowship, and a cordial invitation 

 to come and settle among us, and unite their deutiny 

 with UH. 



6. That proper laws should be enacted by the Legis- 

 lature to secure to the employed of railroad corpora- 

 tions liens upon the property of such corporations for 

 the payment of wages. 



7. The exigencies of the times and the impover- 

 ished condition of the people render it imperative 

 that the State government should return at once to 

 that system of economy in public expenditures which 

 conduced so much to the successful and satisfacto- 

 ry administration of the government and the pros- 

 perity of the people before the war. Through radical 

 legislation and inisgovernment new and unnecessary 

 offices and agencies nave been created, with large sal- 

 aries, and every other service conceivable to our ene- 

 mies and oppressors resorted to, until our State gov- 

 ernment, no longer under the control of the people, 

 has in its practice and precepts reversed, abrogated, 

 and annulled the democratic maxim that govern- 

 ments are based upon the consent of the governed. 

 Retrenchment in the number of offices, in official sal- 

 aries, and in the fees or commissions of agents, is 

 necessary and indispensable to the public welfare, 

 and we pledge ourselves to reduce every public ex- 

 penditure, and abolish and dispense with every office 

 demanded by an economical administration of the 

 government. 



8. The Democratic and Conservative party of Ala- 

 bama is pledged, so soon as it shall be placed in pow- 

 er by being intrusted with the State administration, 

 to cause to be made such speedy and thorough inves- 

 tigation as shall, by its result, make known to the 

 people of the State and the world our true financial 

 condition, and, by its representatives here assembled, 

 it resolves that every dollar justly owing by the State 

 shall be faithfully paid when it is able to do so. At 

 the same time, it is firmly determined that the wel- 

 fare of the people of the State and the interests of its 

 honest creditors shall not be put in jeopardy by the 

 payment of unlawful or fraudulent claims of any kind. 



The ticket nominated was as follows: Gov- 

 ernor, George S. Houston ; Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, Robert F. Ligon; Justices of Supreme 

 Court, Thomas J. Judge, Robert C. Brickell, 

 Amos R. Manning ; Attorney-General, John 

 W. A. Sanford ; Secretary of State, Rufus K. 

 Boyd ; Treasurer, Daniel Crawford ; Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, John M. McKle- 

 roy. 



The Republican State Convention assem- 

 bled in Montgomery on the 20th of August, 

 and after a session of three days adopted the 

 following platform : 



The Republican party of Alabama, in State Con- 

 vention assembled, again declares its unshaken con- 

 fidence in, and its unalterable devotion to, the great 

 principles of human liberty which called it into ex- 

 istence, namelv, the civil and political equality of all 

 men, without distinction of race or color. 



2. In the practical application of these principles 

 we have neither claimed nor desired the social 

 equality of different races or of individuals of the 

 same race, neither do we claim or desire it now, and 

 all assertions to the contrary are without the slight- 

 est foundation. In point of fact, we reject the issue 

 of race against race, which is tendered us by the 

 Democratic party, as fraught with incalculable evils 

 to our whole people, which sows the seeds of ruin to 

 all pur national, social, and political interests, and 

 which, if persisted in by that party, will plunge us 

 again into a war with the Government of the United 

 States. 



8. We have not made a race-issue in the post, 

 neither do we make or tender such an issue, what 

 we demand for one man we demand for all, with- 



