18 



ALABAMA. 



ALBRECHT, WILHELM E. 



Willis Brewer was made the candidate for 

 Auditor ; J. W. A. Sandford, for Attorney- 

 General ; and L. F. Box, for Superintendent of 

 Education. Delegates at large to the National 

 Convention at St. Louis and candidates for 

 presidential electors were also named, and a 

 long series of resolutions was adopted. The 

 first of these declared : 



1. That in the future as in the past the undeviat- 

 ing determination of this party is to faithfully do all 

 in its .power to secure, in every possible manner, the 

 blessings of good government to all the people of 

 this State ; and that to secure these blessings to all 

 the good people of this State and their posterity, it 

 is absolutely necessary now, as it was in the great 

 canvass of 1874, that the white people of Alabama, 

 who are in large part the men and the descendants 

 of the men who rescued its soil from the dominion 

 of the savage Indian, together with such other good 

 citizens of this race as have since then made their 

 homes in this State, and who pay its taxes and bear 

 the burdens of its government, and have inaugurated 

 and upheld its religious, moral, and social institu- 

 tions, carrying the State itself forward to its present 

 high standard of civilization, progress, and renown, 

 should stand united together as brethren in a com- 

 mon cause, without regard to previous or even pres- 

 ent political differences ; that this white people, 

 whether residing in the mountains and valleys of 

 North Alabama, or in the prairies of Middle Ala- 

 bama, or among the pine-hills of South Alabama, 

 and whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, is 

 one great family whose forefathers helped to bring 

 American constitutional liberty into the world, 

 and whose descendants, by the blessing of God, 

 mean to keep it there. 



Then followed a statement of what the Dem- 

 ocratic party had accomplished in the State in 

 two years by revising the constitution, im- 

 proving legislation, and reforming the admin- 

 istration of the government. The career of 

 the Republicans in the State was reviewed and 

 condemned in the severest terms. It was then 

 stated : 



5. That the considerations which make patriotism 

 at all times a duty of the citizen are illimitable, and 

 that any man, or set of men, who from any cause 

 whatever shall attempt, in any manner, to weaken 

 the Democratic and Conservative party of Alabama 

 in this canvass by dividing its strengtli in the elec- 

 tion for any office, whether State, or county, or mu- 

 nicipal, thereby jeopordizing its success and render- 

 ing it possible for any candidate in sympathy with 

 the Eepublican party to be elected, is no friend to 

 his country, but on the contrary is an enemy to the 

 best interests of all the people of Alabama; and all 

 such efforts should be frowned down by the people ; 

 and in view of the great interests at stake the people 

 individually and collectively should harmonize all 

 such differences, so that on the day of election the 

 full strengtli of the Democratic and Conservative 

 party may be voted for all its candidates. 



6. That the issues which led to the disastrous war 

 between the sections of our common country have 

 long been settled, and any attempt to arouse sec- 

 tional _ animosity on either side could only operate 

 as an impediment to that higher progress and great- 

 er development of the American people which all 

 good citizens look forward to as following this Cen- 

 tsnnial year of American Independence, and, leaving 

 to the historian the divisions of the past, all patri- 

 otic citizens owing allegiance to and claiming the 

 protection of a common Government should move 

 forward into the next Centennial period, determined 

 that the unparalleled progress of the first hundred 



years of our existence as a free people shall be sur 

 passed in the second. 



An appeal was made for harmony and unity, 

 and the adjustment of all local differences, and 

 the platform ended with these declarations : 



9. That the Democratic and Conservative party ol 

 Alabama is a party of law as well as of progress, and 

 as in the past it has faithfully kept its pledges of pro- 

 tection to the colored citizens of this State, we now 

 renew them and pledge to all the colored people of 

 this State the protection and maintenance of all 

 their rights to equality before the law, and we are 

 glad to recognize that the more intelligent and bet- 

 ter class of them are awakening to the fact that their 

 best friends are the white people of Alabama. 



10. That if in the adjustment and liquidation of 

 the finances of the State, complicated and bank- 

 rupted as they were by radical frauds and incompe- 

 tency, any of the just obligations of the State to its 

 own citizens have been overlooked, such, for in- 

 stance, as the payment of the teachers of public 

 schools, we pledge the Democratic and Conservative 

 party to provide for their payment at the earliest 

 day compatible with the financial ability of the 

 State, giving them that priority, if need be, which 

 their merit and justice may demand. 



11. The Democratic and Conservative party, rep- 

 resenting the land-owners and tax-payers of the 

 State, hereby invite immigration to the State, and 

 extend a hearty and cordial welcome to all gx>od 

 people, of whatever clime or nationality, who will 

 come among us as citizens. 



An address to the people was issued by the 

 Democratic State Committee in the latter part 

 of June, calling for an earnest support of the 

 State and national tickets, and setting forth 

 the wrongs and abuses committed by the Re- 

 publicans, and the reforms to be brought about 

 through the ascendency of the Democrats. 



The State election took place on the 7th of 

 August, and resulted in the success of the 

 Democratic ticket. The total vote for Gov- 

 ernor was 154,837, of which Houston received 

 99,255, and Woodruff 55,582, making the ma- 

 jority of the former 43,673. 



Congressmen and presidential electors were 

 chosen on the 7th of November. The Demo- 

 cratic candidates were successful without ex- 

 ception, and in the sixth and seventh congres- 

 sional districts there was no opposition. The 

 total vote for electors was 170,843, of which 

 the Democratic ticket had 102,613, and the 

 Republican 68,230, making the majority of the 

 former 34,382. 



The first regular biennial session of the Leg- 

 islature under the new constitution began on 

 the 15th of November, and was limited by law 

 to sixty days. The various official reports rep- 

 resented the public institutions of the State as 

 in a very promising condition. The peniten- 

 tiary showed a balance of $14,307.40 in receipts 

 over and above expenses. 



ALBRECHT, WILHELM EDUAED, a German 

 jurist and scholar, born March 4, 1800, in 

 Elbing; died May 22, 1876, in Leipsic. He 

 studied in the Universities of Konigsberg, Ber- 

 lin, and Gottingen, and in 1827 was appointed 

 Professor of Law in the University of Konigs- 

 berg. In 1827 he published his work, "Die 

 Gewere als Grundlage des alteren deutschen 



