Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/319

Rh begin to rebuild their homes and repair their losses caused by the war, they were again thrown into confusion worse than ever, and under military law in its most severe administration. It was plain to them that the disfranchising scheme would eliminate all citizens who had had any experience in law making, and in sufficient numbers to turn the whites over bodily to the negroes led by Northern men and the inexperienced and worse element of Southern whites, those who had generally shirked in taking part with either government in the war. It amounted to placing the bayonet at the breast of every white citizen of the South and saying : You must keep your hands off and let this reconstruction plan go through, or we will take your life and property, or send you to prison.

It will be impossible in this short chapter to go into detail in each State, and only the salient features of those terrible and dark days will be given. Details must be found in the accounts given of each State by others. The people of the South could not willingly stultify themselves by acceding to what they considered the dishonorable conditions of the Fourteenth amendment, and the legislatures under presidential organization generally declined to ratify the amendment. It was deemed even better to endure patiently military government until "passions generated by the war subside and better counsels prevail at the Federal capital, maintaining meanwhile law and order and addressing ourselves to industrial pursuits." (Governor Jenkins of Georgia.) Leading citizens protested against the harsh measures. Governor Sharkey, of Mississippi, filed a bill in the supreme court to test its constitutionality. His bill was dismissed. Governor Jenkins, of Georgia, also filed a bill for the same purpose, and employed Jeremiah S. Black, Robert J. Brent, Edgar Cowan, and Charles O'Connor from the North as counsel. The bill was ably argued by Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Walker, of Mississippi,