Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/857

* KECONSTRTJCTION. 757 RECONSTRUCTION. Tenure of Office Act (q.v.) to limit the Presi- dent's power of removal. It then passed acts establishing negro suffrage in the District of Columbia and in the Territories. Finally it practically deprived the President of his power of command over the army and vested it in Gen- eral Grant, whose position was further made ir- removable. ileantime Congress was spurred on by the action of all the Southern States except Ten- nessee in rejecting by votes nearly or quite unanimous the proposed Fourteenth Amendment. It now took up the work of reconstruction in earnest, showed little or no disposition to yield to the views of the President, and in February jjassed an "Act to provide for the more efficient government of the seceded States," assigning as a reason that "no legal State governments or ade- quate protection of life, liberty, or property ex- isted in those States, and that it was necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in them until loyal and republican State govern- ments could be legally established." The bill was promptly vetoed by the President, and on the same daj' was passed over his veto. The act divided the ten seceding States into five military districts, as follows: (1) Virginia; (2) North and South Carolina; (3) Georgia, Florida, and Alabama; (4) Jlississippi and Arkansas; (5) Louisiana and Texas. Each district was to be under the command of an army officer not below the rank of brigadier-general, appointed by the President, and charged with the duty of protect- ing all persons in their rights of person and property, of suppressing insurrection, disorder, and violence, either by military commission or through the local courts. In the meantime the existing civil governments were to be deemed as provisional only and subject to the authority of the United States. The act also contained ])ro- visions for the calling of a convention by the jjco- ple of the State with a view to restoration in the Union. By a supplementary act passed JIarch 19th by the new Congress, the voluntary action of the States was anticipated and the process of re- construction hastened. This measure directed the district commanders to cause to be registered as voters all persons, without regard to race or color, not disqualified by participation in rebel- lion ; to bold an election for delegates to a State convention ; and if a majority of the registered voters were in favor of holding a convention, to call it together for the purpose of adopting a new constitution. As soon as the Constitution was ratified it was to be transmitted to Congress, and if it were approved by that body, the State was to be readmitted to representation in Congress. The President promptly vetoed the act, on the ground that some of its provisions were without constitutional warrant, that it purposed to dis- franchise the great body of respectalile whites, and that it conferred the suffrage on the mass of ignorant freedmen. 'ith equal promptness the measure was passed over the executive veto. The President, despite his hostility to the act. at once appointed the district commanders, his first appointees being Generals Schofield, Sickles, Ord, Thomas, and Sheridan. These officers with mili- tary commands assumed control of their respec- tive districts and immediately put into operation martial law. Orders were issued in every dis- trict for the regulation of various matters of private law and for the prevention of discrimina- tion against the blacks. Boards of registration were appointed in each county and the work of registering the new electorate was soon in full progress. In the early winter of 1867 elections were held in all the military districts, and by February, 1808, conventions were in session in every Southern State that had seceded from the Union. The Constitutions drafted by these bodies reflected the views of the delegates, a majority of whom in most instances were freedmen and Northern Republicans who had emigrated to the South after the war, and who came to be called in derision 'carpetbaggers.' The constitutions drafted by them provided equality in civil rights and in some cases undertook to secure social ad- vantages for the blacks. They established negro suH'rage and in most cases disfranchised those whites whom the proposed Fourteenth Amend- ment would disqualify from holding office. In several States those who had violated the rules of civilized warfare or had voted for secession were likewise disfranchised. Everywhere except in Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia reconstruc- tion constitutions were promptly ratified by the new electorates. In Mississippi, on account of several provisions of a proscriptive character in the new Constitution, a determined and syste- matic campaign was undertaken by the whites for the purpose of defeating ratification. By the aid of a considerable proportion of the colored voters they were successful, and the State was left to continue for a while longer under military rule. In Texas and Virginia the obnoxious fea- tures of the constitutions created such strong opposition that the reconstructionists were in- duced to dela_y indefinitely the submission of those instruments and these States likewise con- tinued under military rule. In the other States, the constitutions having been duly ratified and the Fourteenth Amendment adopted by the newly constituted Legislatures, Congress on June 22, 1868, readmitted Arkansas into the Union, and on June 2.5th CJeorgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana. The Fourteenth Amendment was also declared by the Secretary of State to have becTj adopted by the requisite number of States and was accordingly promulgated as a part of the Constitution. In the meantime the Georgia Legislature had re- jected the negro members elect to that body, and the United States Senate thereupon refused admission to the Senators from that State after the act of June 25th had declared the State re- constructed. Thus at the time of the accession of General Grant (I860) to the Presidency four of the States were still unrestored to their full ]jlaces in the Union. He at once recom- mended to Congress the submission of the con- stitutions of 'irginia and Mississippi to the peo- ple in such a manner as to enable them to vote separately upon the olmoxious provisions. Con- gress acted upon the President's recommendation and the constitutions were promptly ratified without the objectionable clauses. By the same act Congress authorized the President to submit the Constitution of Texas to the voters, whieh was done and it. too. was ratified. In the eases of these three States, however. Congress imposed an additional condition which had not been re- quired of the other reconstructed States, namely, the ratification of the Fifteenth - icndent. In January, February, and March. 1870. respectively, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas were restored to