Page:Disunion and restoration in Tennessee (IA disunionrestorat00neal).pdf/82

 *self. In many cases where the rebels had the upper hand the Republicans, especially the negroes, could not vote in their precincts for fear of violence. What defeated me was the rebels who were disfranchised under the constitution. I got 56,000, which was Grant's vote last fall. Seymour's was 33,000 last fall, but Senter's vote was this time 119,000. The 86,000 additional which Senter got were rebels and minors."

These charges made by Mr. Stokes were replied to in the daily press by Governor Senter. He claimed that it was unfair to compare the vote in the recent election with the presidential election of the previous fall. In the presidential election the Republicans were sure of the result in the State, so they had made no effort to bring out a full vote. It would be much fairer to take the vote cast in the gubernatorial election of 1867 as the standard by which to measure the result of the recent election. In 1867, Governor Brownlow's vote was 19,900 more than Mr. Stokes had received, yet the registration of 1867 exceeded the vote cast by over 20,000. The old registration law was still in force, but had been modified by a decision of the Supreme Court which admitted at least 40,000 votes which had been kept out in 1867. In other words, Mr. Senter claimed he could have received a majority of 20,000 had there been no new registration. The newly appointed registrars, referred to in Mr. Stokes's interview, were, with the exception of three tenths, regularly discharged Federal soldiers.

Mr. Stokes in his efforts to secure Federal intervention was supported by all the Radical leaders. Many of those who had supported Governor Senter in the election were now most active in the attempt to prevent his induction into office. Among the first to change front was Mr. Brownlow. Early in the contest he had favored the nomination of Governor Senter. After the disruption of the Radical Convention, he still continued to support Governor