CHAPTER XXIII

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS DURING RECONSTRUCTION

SEC. 1. POLITICS AND POLITICAL METHODS

During the war the administration of the state government gradually fell into the hands of officials elected by people more or less disaffected toward the Confederacy. Provisional Governor Parsons, who had been secretly disloyal to the Confederacy, retained in office many of the old Confederate local officials, and appointed to other offices men who had not strongly supported the Confederacy. In the fall of 1865 and the spring of 1866 elections under the provisional government placed in office a more energetic class of second and third rate men who had had little experience and who were not strong Confederates. Men who had opposed secession and who had done little to support the war were, as a rule, sent to Congress and placed in the higher offices of state. The ablest men were not available, being disfranchised by the President's plan.

In 1868, with the establishment of the reconstructed government, an entirely new class of officials secured control. Less than 5000 white voters, of more than 100,000 of voting age, supported the Radical programme, and, as more than 3000 officials were to be chosen, the field for choice was limited. The elections having gone by default, the Radicals met with no opposition, except in three counties. In all the other counties the entire Radical ticket was declared elected, even though in several of them no formal elections had been held.

William H. Smith, who was made governor under the Reconstruction Acts, was a native of Georgia, a lawyer, formerly a Douglas Democrat, and had opposed secession, but was a candidate for the Confederate Congress. Defeated, he consoled himself by going over to the Federals in 1862. Smith was a man of no executive ability, careless of the duties of his office, and in few respects a fit person to be governor. He disliked the Confederate element and also the carpet-baggers, but as long as the latter would not ask for high offices, he was at peace with them. It was his plan to carry on the state government with the 2000 or 3000 "unionists" and the United States troops. He did not like the negroes, but could endure them as long as they lived in a different part of the state and voted for him. In personal and private matters he was thoroughly honest, but his course in regard to the issue of bonds showed that in public affairs he could be influenced to doubtful conduct. It is certain that he never profited by any of the stealing that was carried on; he merely made it easy for others to steal; the dishonest ones were his friends, and his enemies paid the taxes. As governor he had the respect of neither party. He went too far to please the Democrats, and not far enough to please the Radicals. He exercised no sort of control over his local officials and shut his eyes to the plundering of the Black Belt. He was emphatically governor of his small following of whites, not of all the people, not even of the blacks. During his administration the whites complained that he was very active in protecting Radicals from outrage, but paid no attention to the troubles of his political enemies. His government did not give adequate protection to life and property.

His lieutenant-governor, A. J. Applegate of Ohio and Wisconsin, was an illiterate Federal soldier left stranded in Alabama by the surrender. During the war he was taken ill in Mississippi and was cared for by Mrs. Thompson, wife of a former Secretary of the Treasury. Upon leaving the Thompson house he carried some valuable papers with him, which, after the war, he tried to sell to Mrs. Thompson for $10,000. Lowe, Walker, & Company, a firm of lawyers in Alabama, gave Applegate $300, made him sign a statement as to how he obtained the papers, and then published all the correspondence.[2088] The charge of thievery did not injure his candidacy. Before election he had been an _attaché_ of the Freedmen's Bureau. After the constitution had been rejected in 1868, Applegate went North, so far that he could not get back in time for the first session of the legislature. A special act, however, authorized him to draw his pay as having been present. In a letter written for the Associated Press, which was secured by the Democrats, there were thirty-nine mistakes in spelling. As a presiding officer over the Senate, he was vulgar and undignified. His speeches were ludicrous. When the conduct of the Radical senators pleased him, he made known his pleasure by shouting, "Bully for Alabama!"

The secretary of state, Charles A. Miller, was a Bureau agent from Maine; Bingham, the treasurer, was from New York; Reynolds, the auditor, from Wisconsin; Keffer, the superintendent of industrial resources, from Pennsylvania. Two natives of indifferent reputation--Morse and Cloud--were, respectively, attorney-general and superintendent of public instruction. Morse was under indictment for murder and had to be relieved by special act of the legislature. The chief justice, Peck, was from New York; Saffold and Peters were southern men; the senators and all of the representatives in Congress were carpet-baggers. There were six candidates for the short-term senatorship--all of them carpet-baggers. Willard Warner of Ohio, who was elected, was probably the most respectable of all the carpet-baggers, and was soon discarded by the party. He had served in the Federal army and after the war was elected to the Ohio Senate. His term expired in January, 1868; in July, 1868, he was elected to the United States Senate from Alabama. George E. Spencer was elected to the United States Senate for the long term. He was from Massachusetts, Ohio, Iowa, and Nebraska. In Iowa he had been clerk of the Senate, and in Nebraska, secretary to the governor. He entered the army as sutler of the First Nebraska Infantry. Later he assisted in raising the First Union Alabama Cavalry and was made its colonel. Spencer was shrewd, coarse, and unscrupulous, and soon secured control of Federal patronage for Alabama. He attacked his colleague, Warner, as being lukewarm.

The representatives and their records were as follows: F. W. Kellogg of Massachusetts and Michigan represented the latter state in Congress from 1859 to 1865, when he was appointed collector of internal revenue at Mobile. C. W. Buckley of New York and Illinois was a Presbyterian preacher who had come to Alabama as chaplain of a negro regiment. For two years he was a Bureau official and an active agitator. He was a leading member in the convention of 1867. B. W. Norris of Skowhegan, Maine, was an oil-cloth maker and a land agent for Maine, a commissary, contractor, cemetery commissioner, and paymaster during the war. After the war he came South with C. A. Miller, his brother-in-law, and both became Bureau agents. C. W. Pierce of Massachusetts and Illinois was a Bureau official. Nothing more is known of him. John B. Callis of Wisconsin had served in the Federal army and later in the Veteran Reserve Corps. After the war he became a Bureau agent in Alabama, and when elected he was not a citizen of the state, but was an army officer stationed in Mississippi. Thomas Haughey of Scotland was a Confederate recruiting officer in 1861-1862 and later a surgeon in the Union army. He was killed in 1869 by Collins, a member of the Radical Board of Education. It was said that he was without race prejudice and consorted with negroes, but he was the only one of the Alabama delegation whom Governor Smith liked. The latter wrote that "our whole set of representatives in Congress, with the exception of Haughey, are ... unprincipled scoundrels having no regard for the state of the people."[2089]

In the first Reconstruction legislature, which lasted for three years, there were in the Senate 32 Radicals and 1 Democrat. In the House there were 97 Radicals (only 94 served) and 3 Democrats. The lone Democrat in the Senate was Worthy of Pike, and to prevent him from engaging in debate, Applegate often retired from his seat and called upon him to preside; the Democrats in the House were Hubbard of Pike, Howard of Crenshaw, and Reeves of Cherokee.[2090] In the Senate there was only 1 negro; in the House there were 26, several of whom could not sign their names. In the apportionment of representatives there was a difference of 40 per cent in favor of the black counties. Hundreds of negroes swarmed in to see the legislature begin, filling the galleries, the windows, and the vacant seats, and crowding the aisles. They were invited by resolution to fill the galleries and from that place they took part in the affairs of the House, voting on every measure with loud shouts. A scalawag from north Alabama wanted the negroes to sit on one side of the House and the whites on the other, but he was not listened to. The doorkeepers, sergeant-at-arms, and other employees were usually negroes. The negro members watched their white leaders and voted _aye_ or _no_ as they voted. When tired they went to sleep and often had to be wakened to vote. Both houses were usually opened with prayer by northern Methodist ministers or by negro ministers. None but "loyal" ministers were asked to officiate. Strobach, the Austrian member, wearied of much political prayer, moved that the chaplain cut short his devotions.

The whites in the legislature were for the most part carpet-baggers or unknown native whites. The entire taxes paid by the members of the legislature were, it is said, less than $100. Applegate, the lieutenant-governor, did not own a dollar's worth of property in the state. Most of the carpet-bag members lived in Montgomery; the rest of them lived in Mobile, Selma, and Huntsville. Few of them saw the districts they represented after election; some did not see them before or after the election. The representative from Jackson County lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The state constitution prohibited United States officials from holding state offices, but nearly all Federal officers in the state also held state offices. This was particularly the case in the southwestern counties, which were represented by revenue and custom-house officials from Mobile. Some of them were absent most of the time, but all drew pay; one of the negro members, instead of attending, went regularly to school after the roll was called. No less than twenty members had been indicted or convicted, or were indicted during the session, of various crimes, from adultery and stealing to murder. The legislature passed special acts to relieve members from the penalties for stealing, adultery, bigamy, arson, riot, illegal voting, assault, bribery, and murder.[2091]

Bribery was common in the legislature. By custom a room in the capitol was set apart for the accommodation of those who wished to "interview" negro members.[2092] There the agents of railroad companies distributed conscience money in the form of loans which were never to be paid back. Harrington, the speaker, boasted that he received $1700 for engineering a bill through the House. A lottery promoter said that it cost him only $600 to get his charter through the legislature, and that no Radical, except one negro, refused the small bribe he offered. Senator Sibley held his vote on railroad measures at $500; Pennington, at $1000; W. B. Jones, at $500. Hardy of Dallas received $35,000 to ease the passage of a railroad bond issue, and kept most of it for himself; another received enough to start a bank; still another was given 640 acres of land, a steam mill, and a side track on a railroad near his mill. Negro members, as a rule, sold out very cheaply, and probably most often to Democrats who wanted some minor measures passed to which the Radical leaders would pay no attention. It was found best not to pay the larger sums until the governor had signed the bill. A member accepted a gift as a matter of course, and no attention was paid to charges of bribery.[2093]

The election of February 4 and 5, 1868, at which the constitution was rejected on account of the whites' refraining from voting, was in many counties a farce. The legislature, in order to remedy any defects in the credentials of the Radical candidates, passed a number of general and special acts legalizing the "informal" elections of February 4 and 5, and declaring the Radical candidates elected. In seven counties no votes had been counted, but this made no difference.[2094]

The presiding officers addressed the members as "Captain, John, Mr. Jones," etc. Quarrels and fights were frequent. One member chased another to the secretary's desk, trying to kill him, but was prevented by the secretary. In the cloak-rooms and halls were fruit and peanut stands, whiskey shops, and lunch counters. Legislative action did not avail to clear out the sovereign negroes and keep the halls clean. Political meetings were held in the capitol, much to the damage of the furniture.[2095]

The only measures that excited general interest among the members were the bond-issue bills. Other legislation was generally purely perfunctory, except in case an election law or a Ku Klux law was to be passed. There was much special legislation on account of individual members, such as granting divorces, ordering release from jail, relieving from the "pains" of marriage with more than one woman, trick legislation, vacating offices, etc. When, as in Mobile, the Democrats controlled too many minor offices, the legislature remedied the wrong by declaring the offices vacant and giving the governor authority to make appointments to the vacancies. The Mobile offices were vacated three times in this way. In connection with the Mobile bill it was found that fraudulent interpolations were sometimes made in a bill after its passage. It would be taken from the clerk's desk, changed, and then returned for printing.[2096]

Some of the laws passed failed of their object because of mistakes in spelling. A committee was finally appointed to correct mistakes in orthography. The House and Senate constantly returned engrossed bills to one another for correction. A joint committee to investigate the education of the clerks reported that they were unable to ascertain which of the clerks was illiterate, though they discharged one of them. The minority report declared that the fault was not with the clerks, but with the members, many of whom could not write. Finally a spelling clerk was employed to rewrite the bills submitted by the members.[2097] For making fun of the ignorance of the Radical members, Ryland Randolph, a Democratic member, elected in a by-election, was expelled from the House.

In 1868 the Radicals, fearing the result of the presidential election and afraid of the Ku Klux movement which was beginning to be felt, passed a bill giving to itself the power to choose presidential electors. The negroes were aroused by the Radical leaders who were not in the legislature, and sufficient pressure was brought to bear on the governor to induce him to veto the measure.[2098]

According to the constitution, the Senate was to classify at once after organization, so that half should serve two years and half four years. No one was willing to take the short term and lose the $8 _per diem_ and other privileges. So in 1868 the Senate refused to classify. Again in 1870 it refused to classify. The Radicals permitted the usurpation because it was known that the Democrats would carry the white counties in case the classification were made and elections held. Then, too, it was feared that in 1870 the Democrats would have a majority in the lower house; hence a Radical Senate would be necessary to prevent the repudiation of the railroad indorsation. So all senators held over until 1872, and by shrewd manipulation and the use of Federal troops the Senate kept a Radical majority until 1874.[2099]

County and other local officials were incompetent and corrupt. The policy of the whites in abstaining from voting on the constitution (1868) gave nearly every office in the state to incompetent men. In the white counties it was as bad as in the black, because the Radicals there despaired of carrying the elections and put up no regular candidates. However, in every county some freaks offered themselves as candidates, and at "informal" elections received, or said they received, a few votes. After the state was admitted in spite of the rejection of the constitution, these people were put in office by the legislature. Had the white people taken part in the elections instead of relying upon the law of Congress in regard to ratification and not refrained from voting, they could have secured nearly all the local offices in the white counties. No other state had such an experience; no other state had such a low class of officials in the beginning of Reconstruction. But the very incapacity of them worked in favor of better government, for they had to be gotten rid of and others appointed. Not a single Bureau agent whose name is on record failed to get some kind of an office. In Perry County most of the officials were soldiers of a Wisconsin regiment discharged in the South; the circuit clerk was under indictment for horse stealing. In Greene County a superintendent of education had to be imported under contract from Massachusetts, there being no competent Radical. In Sumter County one Price, who had a negro wife, was registrar, superintendent of education, postmaster, and circuit clerk. A carpet-bagger, elected probate judge, went home to Ohio, after the supposed rejection of the constitution, and never returned. The sheriff and the solicitor were negroes who could not read. Another Radical was at once circuit clerk, register in chancery, notary public, justice of the peace, keeper of the county poorhouse, and guardian _ad litem_. In Elmore County the probate judge was under indictment for murder. In Montgomery, Brainard, the circuit clerk, killed his brother-in-law and tried to kill Widmer, the collector of internal revenue. The Radical chancellor and marshal were scalawags--one a former slave trader, the other a former divine-right slave owner. The sheriff of Madison could not write. In Dallas the illiterate negro commissioners voted for a higher rate of taxation, though their names were not on the tax books; their scalawag associates voted for the lower rate. Thus it was all over Alabama.

In July, 1868, the Reconstruction legislature continued in force the code of Alabama, which provided for heavy official bonds. But the adventurers could not make bond. So a special law was passed authorizing the supreme court, chancellors, and circuit judges to "fix and prescribe" the bonds of all "judicial and county officials." Later the suspended code went into effect, and the Democrats succeeded in turning out many newly elected Radicals who could not make bond. Almost at the beginning the Democrats began the plan of refusing to make bond for Radicals, and thus made it almost impossible for the latter to hold office until the legislature again came to their relief.

There were many vacancies and few white Radicals to fill them; the scalawags thought that the negro ought to be content with voting. Smith had many vacancies to fill by appointment. Most of the paying ones were given to Radicals, and many of the others were given to Democrats, whom he preferred to negroes. In the black counties the property owners and the Ku Klux began to make the most obnoxious officials sell out and leave, and Governor Smith would, by agreement, appoint some Democrat to such vacancies. This custom became frequent, and, in spite of himself, Smith's "lily white" sentiments were undermining the rule of his party.[2100] An argument used by the more liberal of the Radicals in favor of removal of disabilities was that in some counties the local offices could not be filled on account of the operation of the disfranchising laws.[2101]

The Federal judiciary was represented by Richard Busteed, an Irishman, who was made Federal judge in 1864. He came South in 1865 with bloodthirsty threats and at once began prosecutions for treason. More than 900 cases were brought before him. There were no convictions, but a rich harvest of costs. He was ignorant of law, and in the court room was arbitrary and tyrannical to lawyers, witnesses, and prisoners. It was charged that he was in partnership with the district attorney. Bribery was proven against him. The leading lawyers, both Radical and Democratic, asked Congress to impeach him, but to no effect. It was his custom to solicit men to bring causes before him. A Selma editor was brought before him and severely lectured for writing a disrespectful article about Busteed's grand jury. There was one Democratic lawyer whom Busteed feared--General James H. Clanton. Clanton paid no attention to Busteed's vagaries, but sat on the bench with him, advised him and made him take his advice, won all his cases, and bullied Busteed unrebuked. The latter was afraid he would be killed if he angered Clanton, and Clanton played upon his fears. At first a great negrophile, Busteed became more and more obnoxious to the Radical party, and was soon accused of being a Democrat and removed. Another Federal officer, Wells, the United States district attorney, had been discharged from the Union army on the ground of insanity.[2102]

The new constitution made all judgeships elective and also provided for the election of a solicitor in each county. The result was seen in the number of incapable judges and illiterate solicitors. The probate judge of Madison was "a common jack-plane carpenter from Oregon," and his sheriff could not write. Many of the judges had never studied law and had never practised. Public meetings were held to protest against incompetent judges and to demand their resignations. Governor Smith usually appointed better men, and not always those of his own party, to the places vacated by resignation, sale, or otherwise. Before the war the state judiciary had stood high in the estimation of the people, and judicial officers were forbidden by public opinion to take part in party politics. Under the Reconstruction government the judicial officials took an active part in political campaigns, every one of them, from Busteed and the supreme court to a county judge, making political speeches and holding office in the party organization. From a party point of view the scarcity of white Radicals made this necessary. Notaries public, who also had the powers of justices of the peace, were appointed by the governor. Their powers were great and indefinite, and in consequence they almost drove the justices out of activity. Some of them issued warrants running into all parts of the state, causing men to be brought forty to fifty miles to appear before them on trifling charges.

The Reconstruction judiciary generally held that a jury without a negro on it was not legal. In the white counties such juries were hard to form. Northern newspaper correspondents wrote of the ludicrous appearance of Busteed's half negro jury struggling with intricate points of maritime law, insurance, constitutional questions, exchange, and the relative value of a Prussian guilder to a pound sterling. When they were bored they went to sleep. The negro jurors recognized their own incompetence and usually agreed to any verdict decided upon by the white jurors. Had the latter been respectable men, no harm would have been done, but usually they were not. A negro jury would not convict a member of the Union League--he had only to give the sign--nor a negro prosecuted by a white man or indicted by a jury; but many negroes prosecuted by their own race were convicted by black juries. For many years it was impossible to secure a respectable Federal jury on account of the test oath required, which excluded nearly all Confederates of ability. As an example of the working of a local court, the criminal court of Dallas may be taken. The jurisdiction extended to capital offences. Corbin, the judge, was an old Virginian who had never read law. He refused to allow one Roderick Thomas, colored, to be tried by a mixed jury, demanding a full negro jury. The prosecution was then dropped because all twelve negroes drawn were of bad character. Corbin then entered on the record that Thomas was "acquitted." Thomas had stolen cotton, and the fact had been proven; but he soon became clerk of Corbin's court and later took Corbin's place as judge, with another negro for clerk. Nearly every Radical official in Dallas County was indicted for corruption in office by a Radical or mixed jury, but negro juries refused to convict them.[2103]

An elaborate militia system was provided for by the carpet-baggers, with General Dustin of Iowa, a carpet-bagger, as major-general. The strength of organization was to be in the black counties, but Governor Smith persistently refused to organize the negro militia. He was afraid of the effect on his slender white following, and he did not think that the negro ought to do anything but vote. He was also afraid of Democratic militia, afraid that it would overturn the hated state government. He tried to get several friendly white companies to organize, but failed, and during the rest of his term relied exclusively upon Federal troops. Even before the Reconstruction government was set going it was seen that the whites would be restless. Forcing the rejected constitution and the low-class state government upon the people against the will of the majority had a very bad effect. They recognized it as the government _de facto_ only, and they so considered it all during the Reconstruction. Then the Ku Klux movement began, and north Alabama especially was disturbed for several years. Smith sometimes threatened to call out the militia, but never did so. However, he kept the Federal troops busy answering his calls. After the election of Grant the army was always at the service of the state officials, who used detachments as police, marshals, and _posses_. The government had not the respect of its own party, and had to be upheld by military force. It was a fixed custom to call in the military when the law was to be enforced--governor, congressmen, marshals, sheriff, judge, justice of peace, politicians, all calling for and obtaining troops. It was distasteful duty to the Federal officers and soldiers. Though the people knew that only the soldiers upheld the state government, yet they were not, as a rule, sorry to see the soldiers come in. The military rule was preferable to the civil rule, and acted as a check on Radical misgovernment. The whites were often sorry to see the soldiers leave, even though they were instruments of oppression. Wholesale arrests by the army were not as frequent during Smith's administration as later.[2104]

The state government was shaken to its foundations by the presidential campaign and election of 1868. The whites had waked up and gone to work in earnest. It was the first election in which the races voted against one another. Busteed, Strobach, and other carpet-baggers toured the North, predicting chains and slavery for the blacks and butchery for the "loyal" whites in case Seymour were elected. The Union League whipped the negroes into line. Brass bands lent enthusiasm to Radical parades. The negroes were afraid that they would "lose their rights" and be reënslaved, that their wives would have to work the roads and not be allowed to wear hoopskirts. The Radicals urged upon the Democrats the view that those who did not believe in negro suffrage could not take the voter's oath. Many Democrats refused to register because of the oath. There were numbers who would not vote against Grant because they believed that he was the only possible check against Congress. Others felt that so far as Alabama was concerned the election was cut and dried for Grant. But nevertheless a majority of the whites determined to resist further Africanization in government. Their natural leaders were disfranchised, but a strong campaign was made. The hope was held out of overthrowing the irregular revolutionary state government and driving out the carpet-baggers in case Seymour became President. North Alabama declared that a vote for Grant was a vote against the whites and formed a boycott of all Radicals. The south Alabama leaders tried to secure a part of the negro vote, and urged that imprudent talk be avoided and that carpet-baggers and scalawags be let alone, and the negroes be treated kindly as being responsible for none of the evils. Orders purporting to be signed by General Grant were sent out among the negroes, bidding them to beware of the promises of the whites and directing them to vote for him. Some rascally whites made large sums of money by selling Grant badges to the blacks. They had been sent down for free distribution; but the negroes, ordered, as they believed, by the general, purchased his pictures at $2 each, or less. The carpet-baggers were afraid of losing the state. Some left and went home. Others wanted the legislature to choose electors. Still others wanted to have no election at all, preferring to let it go by default; but the higher military commanders, Terry and Grant, were sympathetic and troops were so distributed over the state as to bring out the negro vote. Army officers assisted at Radical political meetings, and the negro was informed by his advisers that General Grant had sent the troops to see that they voted properly. The result was that the state went for Grant by a safe majority.[2105]

During the administration of Smith the incompatibility of the elements of the Radical party began to show more clearly. The native whites began to desert as soon as the convention of 1867 showed that the negro vote would be controlled by the carpet-baggers. The genuine Unionist voters resented the leadership of renegade secessionists. The carpet-baggers demanded the lion's share of the spoils and were angered because Smith vetoed some of their measures; the scalawags upheld him. The carpet-baggers felt that since they controlled the negro voters they were entitled to the greater consideration. Their manipulation of the Union League alarmed the native Radicals.

The negroes were becoming conscious of their power and were inclined to demand a larger share of the offices than the carpet-baggers wanted to give them. Some of the negroes were desirous of voting with the whites. Negro leaders were aspiring to judgeships, to the state Senate, to be postmasters, to go to Congress. Even now the party was held together only by the knowledge that it would be destroyed if divided.[2106]

In 1868 Governor Smith and other Radical leaders, convinced that they were permanently in power, secured the passage of a law providing for the gradual removal of disabilities imposed by state law. The same year a complete registration had been made for the purpose of excluding the leading whites. After disabilities were removed, so far as state action was concerned there was no advantage to Radicals in a registration of voters. On the other hand, it threatened to become a powerful aid to the Democrats, who began to attend the polls and demand that only registered voters be allowed to cast ballots, thus preventing repeating. Consequently, as a preparation for the first general election in the fall of 1870, the legislature passed a law forbidding the use of registration lists by any official at any election. No one was to be asked if he were registered. No one was to be required to show a registration certificate. The assertion of the would-be voter was to be taken as sufficient. And it was made a misdemeanor to challenge a voter, thus interfering with the freedom of elections. After this a negro might vote under any name he pleased as often as he pleased. This election system was in force until 1874, when the Democrats came into power.[2107]

To the Forty-first Congress in 1869 returned only one of the former carpet-bag delegation, C. W. Buckley. Two so-called Democrats were chosen, two scalawags, and a new carpet-bagger. P. M. Dox, one of the Democrats, was a northern man who had lived in the South before the war, who was neutral during the war; and after the war he posed as a "Unionist." Congressional timber was scarce on account of the test oath and the Fourteenth Amendment, so Dox secured a nomination. His opponent was a negro, which helped him in north Alabama. The other Democrat, W. C. Sherrod, who was also from north Alabama, had served in the Confederate army. His opponent was J. J. Hinds, one of the most disliked of the carpet-baggers. Robert S. Heflin, one of the scalawags, was from that section where the Peace Society flourished during the war. At first a Confederate, in 1864 he deserted and went within the Federal lines. Charles Hays, the other scalawag, became the most notorious of the Reconstruction representatives in Congress. He was a cotton planter in one of the densest black districts and managed to stay in Congress for four years. He is chiefly remembered because of the Hays-Hawley correspondence in 1874. Alfred E. Buck of Maine had been an officer of negro troops. He served only one term and after defeat passed into the Federal service. He died as minister to Japan in 1902. This delegation was weaker in ability and in morals than the carpet-bag delegation to the Fortieth Congress.

In the fall of 1870 Governor Smith was a candidate for reëlection against Robert Burns Lindsay, Democrat. The hostility of Smith to carpet-baggers weakened the party. The ticket was not acceptable to the whites because Rapier, a negro, was candidate for secretary of state. The genuine Unionists were becoming ultra Democrats, because of the prominence given in their party to former secessionists like Parsons, Sam Rice, and Hays, and to negroes and carpet-baggers. Lindsay was from north Alabama, which supported him as a "white man's candidate." The negroes had been taught to distrust scalawags, as being little better than Democrats. Smith was asked why he ran on a ticket with a negro. He replied that now that was the only way to get office. He also called attention to the fact that in north Alabama the Democrats drew the color line, and called themselves the "white man's party," while in the black counties they made an earnest effort to secure the negro vote. The Union League, through Keffer, sent out warning that whatever would suit "Rebels" would not suit "union men," who must treat their "fine professions as coming from the Prince of Darkness himself," and that if Lindsay were elected, the "condition of union men would be like unto hell itself." Smith and Senator Warner said that the Democrats would repudiate railroad bonds, destroy the schools, and repeal the Amendments and the Reconstruction Acts. In the white counties the Radical speakers were generally insulted, and soon the white districts were given up as permanently lost. The Black Belt alone was now the stronghold of the Radicals. Strict inspection here prevented the negroes from voting Democratic, as some were disposed to do. Negroes in the white counties voted for Democrats with many misgivings. An old man told a candidate, "I intend to vote for you; I liked your speech; but if you put me back into slavery, I'll never forgive you." Federal troops were again judiciously distributed in the Black Belt and in the white counties when there was a large negro vote. As a result the election was very close, Lindsay winning by a vote of 76,977 to 75,568.

Ex-Governor Parsons, who had now become a Radical, advised Smith not to submit to the seating of Lindsay, but to force a contest, and meanwhile to prevent the vote from being counted by the legislature. So, by injunction from the supreme court, the Radical president of the Senate, Barr, was forbidden to count the votes for governor. But the houses in joint session counted the rest of the votes, and E. H. Moren, Democrat, was declared elected lieutenant-governor. A majority of the House was anti-Radical. The old Senate, refusing to classify, held over. As soon as Moren was declared elected, Barr arose and left, followed by most of the Radical senators, saying that he was forbidden to count the vote for governor. Moren at once appeared, took the oath, and the joint meeting not having been regularly adjourned, he ordered the count for governor to proceed. A few Radical senators had lingered out of curiosity, and were retained. Thus Lindsay was counted in, and at once took the oath of office. By the advice of Parsons, Smith, though willing to retire, refused to give place to Lindsay. The Radical senators recognized Smith; the House recognized Lindsay. Smith brought Federal troops into the state-house to keep Lindsay out, and for two or three weeks there were rival governors. Finally Smith was forced to retire by a writ from the carpet-bag circuit court of Montgomery.[2108]

Lindsay was born in Scotland and educated at the University of St. Andrews. He lived in Alabama for fifteen years before the war, opposed secession, and gave only a half-hearted support to the Confederacy. As he said: "I would rather not tell my military history, for there was very little glory in it.... I do not know that I can say much about my soldiering."[2109] Lindsay was a scholar, a good lawyer, and a pure man, but a weak executive. In this respect he was better than Smith, however, who was supported by a unanimous Radical legislature. Under Lindsay the Senate was Radical and the House doubtful. The Radical auditor held over; Democrats were elected to the offices of treasurer, secretary of state, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction. W. W. Allen, a Confederate major-general, was placed in command of the militia and organized some white companies.

The Democratic and independent majority of the House had some able leaders, but many of the rank and file were timid and inexperienced. Several thousand of the best citizens were still disfranchised. There were too many young men in public office, half-educated and inexperienced. In the House there were only fourteen negroes. So far as the legislature was concerned, there would be a deadlock for two years. The Radicals would consent to no repeal of injurious legislation, and thus the evil effects of the laws relating to schools, railroads, and elections continued. Governor Lindsay tried to bring some order into the state finances, but the Democrats were divided on the subject of repudiating the fraudulent bond issues, while the Radicals upheld all of the bond stealing. Lindsay was blamed by the people for not dealing more firmly with the question, but, as a matter of fact, he did as well as any man in his position could do.

One cause of weakness to the administration was the fact that some of the attorneys for the railroads were prominent Democrats who insisted upon the recognition of the fraudulent bonds. These attorneys were few in number, but they caused a division among the leaders. The selfish motive was very evident, though for the sake of appearance they talked of "upholding the state's credit," "the fair name of Alabama," etc. It is difficult to see that their conduct was in any way on a higher plane than that of the carpet-baggers, who issued the bonds with intent to defraud. In order to protect themselves they mercilessly criticised Lindsay.

Most of the local officials held over from 1868 to 1872; in by-elections it was clearly shown that the Radicals had lost all except the Black Belt, where they continued to roll up large majorities, but even here they were losing by resignation, sale of offices, Ku Kluxing, and removal. The more decent carpet-baggers were leaving for the North; the white Radicals were distinctly lower in character than before, having been joined by the dregs of the Democrats while losing their best white county men. Lindsay made many appointments, thus gradually changing for the better the local administration. Owing to the peculiar methods by which the first set of officials got into office, the local administration was never again as bad, except in some of the black counties, as it was in 1868-1869. As the personnel of the Radical party ran lower and lower, more and more Democrats entered into the local administration. But in spite of the fact that they secured representation in the state government, they were unable to make any important reforms until they gained control of all departments. The results of one or two local elections may be noticed. In Mobile, which had a white majority, the carpet-bag and negro government was overthrown in 1870. Though prohibited by law from challenging fraudulent voters, the Democrats intimidated the negroes by standing near the polls and fastening a fish-hook into the coat of each negro who voted. The negroes were frightened. Rumor said that those who were hooked were marked for jail. Repeating was thus prevented; many of them did not vote at all. In Selma the Democrats came into power. Property was then made safe, the streets were cleaned, and the negroes found out that they would not be reënslaved. Governor Lindsay endeavored to reform the local judicial administration by getting rid of worthless young solicitors and incompetent judges, but the Radical Senate defeated his efforts. He was unable to secure any good legislation during his term, and all reform was limited to the reduction of administration expenses, the checking of bad legislation, and the appointment of better men to fill vacancies.[2110]

To the Forty-second Congress Buckley, Hays, and Dox were reëlected. The new congressmen were Turner, negro, Handley, Democrat, and Sloss, Independent. Turner had been a slave in North Carolina and Alabama and had secured a fair education before the war. He had at first entered politics as a Democrat, and advised the negroes against alien leaders. To succeed Warner, George Goldthwaite, Democrat, was chosen to the United States Senate.

In 1872 the Democrats nominated for governor, Thomas H. Herndon of Mobile, who was in favor of a more aggressive policy than Lindsay. He was a south Alabama man and hence lost votes in north Alabama. David P. Lewis, the Radical nominee, was from north Alabama and in politics a turncoat. Opposed to secession in 1861, he nevertheless signed the ordinance and was chosen to the Confederate Congress; later he was a Confederate judge; in 1864 he went within the Federal lines; in 1867-1868 he was a Democrat, but changed about 1870. He was victorious for several reasons: the administration was blamed for the division in the party and for not reforming abuses; Herndon did not draw out the full north Alabama vote; the presidential election was held at the same time and the Democrats were disgusted at the nomination of Horace Greeley; Federal troops were distributed over the state for months before the election, and the Enforcement Acts were so executed as to intimidate many white voters. The full Radical ticket was elected. All were scalawags, except the treasurer. In a speech, C. C. Sheets said of the Radical candidates, "Fellow-citizens, they are as pure, as spotless, as stainless, as the immaculate Son of God."[2111]

In both houses of the legislature the Democrats had by the returns a majority at last. The Radicals were in a desperate position. A United States Senator was to be elected, and Spencer wanted to succeed himself. He had spent thousands of dollars to secure the support of the Radicals, and a majority of the Radical members were devoted to him. Most scalawags were opposed to his reëlection, but it was known that he controlled the negro members, and to prevent division all agreed to support him. But how to overcome the Democratic majorities in both houses? Parsons was equal to the occasion. He advised that the Radical members refuse to meet with the Democrats and instead organize separately. So the Democrats met in the capitol and the Radicals in the United States court-house, as had been previously arranged. The Senate consisted of 33 members and the House of 100. The Democrats organized with 19 senators and 54 members in the House, all bearing proper certificates of election, and each house having more than a quorum. At the court-house the Radicals had 14 senators and 45 or 46 representatives who had certificates of election. There were 4 negroes in the Senate and 27 in the House. In neither Radical house was there a quorum; so each body summoned 5 Radicals who had been candidates, to make up a quorum. It was hard to find enough, and some custom-house officials from Mobile had to secure leave of absence and come to Montgomery to complete the quorum.

The regular (Democratic) organization at the capitol counted the votes and declared all the Radical state officials elected. Lewis and McKinstry, lieutenant-governor, accepted the count and took the oath and at once recognized the court-house body as the general assembly. Lindsay had recognized the regular organization, but had taken no steps to protect it from the Radical schemes. The militia was ready to support the regular body, but Lewis was more energetic than Lindsay. He telegraphed to the nearest Federal troops, at Opelika, to come; when they came, he stationed them on the capitol grounds. He proposed to the Democrats that they admit the entire Radical body, expelling enough Democrats to put the latter in a minority. Upon their refusal, he told the court-house body to go ahead with legislation. Some of the Radicals--one or two whites and four or five negroes--were dubious about the security of their _per diem_ and showed signs of a desire to go to the capitol. These were guarded to keep them in line, and were also paid in money and promises of Federal offices. The weak-kneed negroes were shut up in a room and guarded, to keep them from going to the capitol.

Spencer was determined to be elected and would not wait for the trouble to be settled. On December 3, 1872, the court-house Radicals chose him to succeed himself. The next thing was to prevent the regular assembly from electing a Senator who might contest. Two of that body had died; one or two were indifferent and easily kept away from a joint session; others were called away by telegrams (forged by the Radicals) about illness in their families; three members were arrested before reaching the city; one member was drugged and nearly killed. By such methods a quorum was defeated in both houses at the capitol until December 10, when the absent members came in, and F. W. Sykes was chosen to the United States Senate.

Meanwhile Lewis and the Radical members had appealed to President Grant to be sustained. By his direction United States Attorney-General Williams prepared a plan of compromise skilfully designed to destroy the Democratic majority in the House and produce a tie in the Senate. Lewis was assured that the plan would be supported by the Federal authorities. The plan was as follows: (1) Both bodies were to continue separate organizations until a fusion was effected. (2) On a certain day, both parties of the House were to meet in the capitol, and in the usual manner form a temporary organization--but the Democrats whose seats were contested but who had certificates of election were to be excluded, while the Radical contestants were to be seated. This would give a Radical majority. Then the contests were to be decided and a permanent organization formed. (3) In the same way the Senate was to be temporarily organized, the regularly elected Democrats being excluded, while their contestants were seated, except in the case of the Democratic senator from Conecuh and Butler, who was to sit but not to vote. By this arrangement there was a bare chance that the Democrats might secure a majority of one in the Senate. (4) As soon as the fusion was thus made, the permanent organization was to be effected. Nothing was said about the legality of past legislation by each body, but the understanding was that all was to be considered void.

Meanwhile Lewis had tried to obtain forcible possession of the capitol, but Strobach, the sheriff whom he sent, was arrested by order of the House and imprisoned until he apologized. The Democrats were plainly informed that the "gentle intimations of the convictions of the law officer of the United States" would be enforced by the use of Federal troops, and there was nothing to do but give way. The plan was put into operation on December 17.

In the House contests the Democrats lost their majority, as was intended. In the Senate they lost all except one by the plan itself. To unseat Senator Martin from Conecuh would be a flagrant outrage. So his case went over until after Christmas. The Democrats elected the clerks, doorkeepers, and pages. The Radicals still kept up their separate organization, not meaning to abide by the fusion unless they could gain the entire legislature. During the vacation Lieutenant-Governor McKinstry wrote to Attorney-General Williams asking if the Federal government would support him in case he himself should decide as to the rightful senator from Conecuh. He explained that a majority of the committee on elections was going to report in favor of Martin, Democrat, who held the certificate of election. Further, he said that if the Senate were allowed to vote on the question, the Democratic senator would remain seated. He proposed to decide the contest himself upon the report made, and not allow the Senate to vote. Williams was now becoming weary of the conduct of the Radicals; he told McKinstry that the course proposed was contrary to both parliamentary and statute law, and said that Federal troops would not be furnished to support such a ruling. Moreover, he expressed strong disapproval of the course of the Radicals in keeping up their separate organization contrary to the plan of compromise. He ordered the marshal not to allow the Federal court-house to be used by the Radicals, but the marshal paid no attention to the order.

After the holidays the Democrats and anti-Spencer Radicals hoped to bring about a new election for Senator. On February 11, 1873, Hunter of Lowndes, a Radical member of the House, proposed that the legislature proceed to the election of a Senator. Parsons, the speaker, refused to entertain the motion and ordered Hunter under arrest. McKinstry refused to consider the Senate as permanently organized until Martin was disposed of, fearing a joint session. The Radical solicitor of Montgomery secured several indictments against Spencer's agents for bribery, and summoned several members of the legislature as witnesses. Parsons ordered Knox, the solicitor, and Strobach, the sheriff, to be arrested for invading the privileges of the House. Next, Hunter, who had been arrested for proposing to elect a Senator, had Parsons arrested for violation of the Enforcement Acts in preventing the election of a Senator. Busteed, Federal judge, discharged Parsons "for lack of evidence."

In the Senate the Radicals matured a plan to get rid of Martin. A caucus decided to sustain McKinstry in all his rulings. It was known that Edwards, a Democratic senator, wanted to visit his home. So Glass, a Radical senator, proposed to pair with him, and at the same time both get leave of absence for ten days. Edwards and Glass went off at the same time, in different directions. A mile outside of town, Glass left the train, returned to Montgomery, and went into hiding. Now was the time. The reports on the Martin contest were called up. A Democrat moved the adoption of the majority report in favor of Martin; a Radical moved that the minority report be substituted in the motion. The Democrats were voting under protest because they wanted debate and wanted Edwards, one of the writers of the majority report, to return. In order to move a reconsideration, Cobb, a Democrat, fearing treachery, voted with the Radicals; Glass appeared before his name was reached, broke his pair, and voted; McKinstry refused to entertain Cobb's motion for a reconsideration, and though the effect of the voting was only to put the minority report before the Senate to be voted upon, McKinstry declared that Martin by the vote was unseated and Miller admitted. The temporary Radical majority sustained him in all his rulings, and thus the Democrats lost their majority in the Senate. The whole thing had been planned beforehand; McKinstry had arms in his desk; the cloak-rooms were filled with roughs to support the Radicals in case the Democrats made a fight; the Federal troops were at the doors in spite of what Williams had said. McKinstry now announced that the Senate was permanently organized and the schism healed. Glass was expelled by the Masonic order for breaking the pair. Spencer was safe, since the Republican Senate at Washington was sure to admit him.

In the course of the contest Spencer had spent many thousands of dollars in defeating dissatisfied Radical candidates for the legislature and in purchasing voters. The money he used came from the National Republican executive committee, from the state committee, and from the government funds of the post-office at Mobile and the internal revenue offices in Mobile and Montgomery. More than $20,000 of United States funds were used for Spencer, who, after his election, refused to reimburse the postmaster and the two collectors, who were prosecuted and ruined. Every Federal office-holder was assessed from one-fifth to one-third of his pay during the fall months for campaign expenses. They were notified that unless they paid the assessments their resignations would be accepted. Spencer refused to pay the bills of a negro saloon-keeper who had, at his orders, "refreshed" the negro members of the legislature. But of those who voted for Spencer in the Radical "legislature" more than thirty secured Federal appointments. Of other agents about twenty secured Federal appointments. One of them, Robert Barbour, was given a position in the custom-house at Mobile with the understanding that he would not have to go there. His pay was sent to him at Montgomery.

As a preparation for the autumn presidential contest, Spencer worked upon the fears of Grant and secured the promise of troops, though he had some difficulty. His letters are not at all complimentary to Grant. Finally he wrote, "Grant is scared and will do what we want." The deputy marshals manufactured Ku Klux outrages and planned the arrest of Democratic politicians, of whom scores were gotten out of the way, for a week or two, but none were prosecuted. There was no election of Senator other than that of Spencer by the irregular body and that of Sykes by the regular organization at the capitol, neither of which took place on the day appointed by law. The Senate admitted Spencer on the ground that Governor Lewis had recognized the court-house aggregation. Sykes contested and of course failed; the Senate refused for several years to vote his expenses, as was customary. In 1885, Senator Hoar secured $7,132 for Spencer as expenses in the contest. In 1875 the Alabama legislature, Radical and Democratic, united in an address to the United States Senate, asking that Spencer's seat be declared vacant.[2112]

Under Lewis the Radical administration went to pieces. The enormous issues of bonds, fraudulent and otherwise, by Smith and Lewis which destroyed the credit of the state; ignorant negroes in public office; drunken judges on the benches; convicts as officials; teachers and school officers unable to read; intermarriage of whites and blacks declared legal by the supreme court; the low character of the Federal officials; constant arrests of respectable whites for political purposes; use of Federal troops; packed juries; purchase and sale of offices; defaulters in every Radical county; riots instigated by the Radical leaders; heavy taxes,--all these burdens bore to the ground the Lewis administration before the end of its term. The last year was simply a standstill while the whites were preparing to overthrow the Radical government, which was demoralized and disabled also by constant aid and interference from the Federal administration.

Lewis appointed a lower class of officials than Smith had appointed, among them many ignorant negroes for minor offices. Carpet-baggers and scalawags were becoming scarce. The white counties under their own local government were slowly recovering; the formerly wealthy Black Belt counties were being ruined under the burden of local, state, and municipal taxation.[2113]

To the Forty-second Congress Alabama, now entitled to eight representatives, sent four scalawags, Pelham, Hays, White, and Sheets; one negro, Rapier; and three Democrats or Independents, Bromberg, Caldwell, and Glass; carpet-baggers were now at a discount; scalawags and negroes wanted all the spoils.

In the spring of 1874 the whites began to organize to overthrow Radical rule. They were firmly determined that there should not be another Radical administration. In the Radical party only a few whites were left to hold the negroes together. Some of the negroes were disgusted because of promises unfulfilled; others were grasping at office; the Union League discipline was missed; "outrages" were no longer so effective. The Radicals had no new issues to present. The state credit was destroyed; the negroes no longer believed so seriously the stories of reënslavement; the northern public was becoming more indifferent, or more sympathetic toward the whites. The time for the overthrow of Radical rule was at hand.

SEC. 2. SOCIAL CONDITIONS DURING RECONSTRUCTION

In previous chapters something has been said of social and economic matters, especially concerning labor, education, religion, and race relations. Some supplementary facts and observations may be of use.

The central figure of Reconstruction was the negro. How was his life affected by the conditions of Reconstruction? In the first place, crime among the blacks increased, as was to be expected. Removed from the restraints and punishments of slavery, with criminal leaders, the negro, even under the most African of governments, became the chief criminal. The crime of rape became common, caused largely, the whites believed, by the social equality theories of the reconstructionists. Personal conflicts among blacks and between blacks and whites were common, though probably decreasing for a time in the early '70's. Stealing was the most frequent crime, with murder a close second. During the last year of negro rule the report of the penitentiary inspectors gave the following statistics:--

================================================ CRIMES | WHITES | NEGROES ----------------------------|----------|-------- Murder | 11 | 43 Assault | 2 | 21 Burglary and grand larceny | 15 | 199 Arson | 1 | 4 Rape | 0 | 6 Other felonies | 2 | 14 |----------|-------- Total | 31 | 287 ================================================

Thus 1 white to 16,936 of population was in prison for felony; 1 black to 2294; felonies, 1 white to 8 blacks; misdemeanors, 1 white to 64 blacks. In Montgomery jail were confined about 12 blacks to 1 white. These statistics do not show the real state of affairs, since most convictions of blacks were in cases prosecuted by blacks. To be prosecuted by a white was equivalent to persecution--so reasoned the negro jury in the Black Belt. Under the instigation of low white leaders, the negroes frequently burned the houses and other property of whites who were disliked by the Radical leaders. Several attempts, more or less successful, were made to burn the white villages in the Black Belt; hardly a single one wholly escaped. For several years the whites had to picket the towns in time of political excitement. The worst negro criminals were the discharged negro soldiers, who sometimes settled in gangs together in the Black Belt. More charges were made of crimes by blacks against whites, than by whites against blacks. Most criminals did not go to prison after conviction. The Radical legislature passed a law allowing the sale of the convict's labor to relatives. A good old negro could buy the time of a worthless son for ten cents a day and have him released.

The marriage relations of the negroes were hardly satisfactory, judged by white standards. The white legislatures in 1865-1866 had declared slave marriages binding. The reconstructionists denounced this as a great cruelty and repealed the law. Marriages were then made to date from the passage of the Reconstruction Acts. Many negro men had had several wives before that date. They were relieved from the various penalties of desertion, bigamy, adultery, etc. And after the passage of these laws, numerous prominent negroes were relieved of the penalties for promiscuous marriages. Divorces became common among the negroes who were in politics. During one session of the legislature seventy-five divorces were granted. This was cheaper than going through the courts, and more certain. The average negro divorced himself or herself without formality; some of them were divorced by their churches, as in slavery.

Upon the negro woman fell the burden of supporting the children. Her husband or husbands had other duties. Children then began to be unwelcome and foeticide and child murder were common crimes. The small number of negro children during the decade of Reconstruction was generally remarked. Negro women began to flock to towns; how they lived no one can tell; immorality was general among them. The conditions of Reconstruction were unfavorable to honesty and morality among the negroes, both male and female. The health of the negroes was injured during the period 1865-1875. In the towns the standard of living was low; sanitary arrangements were bad; disease, especially consumption and venereal diseases, killed large numbers and permanently injured the negro constitution.

Negro women took freedom even more seriously than the men. It was considered slavery by many of them to work in the fields; domestic service was beneath the freedwomen--especially were washing and milking the cows tabooed. To live like their former mistresses, to wear fine clothes and go often to church, was the ambition of a negro lady. After Reconstruction was fully established the negro women were a strong support to the Union League, and took a leading part in the prosecution of negro Democrats. Negro women never were as well-mannered, nor, on the whole, as good-tempered and cheerful, as the negro men. Both sexes during Reconstruction lost much of their cheerfulness; the men gradually ceased to go "holloing" to the fields; some of the blacks, especially the women, became impudent and insulting toward the whites. While many of the negroes for a time seemed to consider it a mark of servility to behave decently to the whites, toward the close of Reconstruction and later conditions changed, and the negro men especially were in general well-behaved and well-mannered in their relations with whites except in time of political excitement.

The entire black race was wild for education in 1865 and 1866, but most of them found that the necessary work--which they had not expected--was too hard, and by the close of Reconstruction they were becoming indifferent. The education acquired was of doubtful value. There was in 1865-1867 a religious furor among the negroes, and several negro denominations were organized. The chief result, as stated at length elsewhere, was to separate from the white churches, discard the old conservative black preachers, and take up the smooth-tongued, ranting, emotional, immoral preachers who could stir congregations. The negro church has not yet recovered from the damage done by these ministers. Negro health was affected by the night meetings and religious debauches. In general it may be said that the negro speech grew more like that of the whites, on account of schools, speeches, much travel, and contact with white leaders. The negro leaders acquired much superficial civilization, and very quickly mastered the art of political intrigue.

A very delicate question to both races was that of the exact position of the negro in the social system. The convention of 1867 had contained a number of equal-rights members, and there had been much discussion. A proposition to have separate schools was not made obligatory. A measure to prevent the intermarriage of the races was lost, and the supreme court of the state declared that marriages between whites and blacks were lawful. Laws were passed to prevent the separation of the races on street cars, steamers, and railway cars, but the whites always resisted the enforcement of such laws. Some negroes, especially the mulattoes, dreamed of having white wives, but the average pure negro was not moved by such a desire. When the Coburn investigation was being made, Coburn, the chairman, was trying to convince a negro who had declared against the policy and the necessity of the Civil Rights Bill. The negro retorted by asking how he would like to see him sitting by his (Coburn's) daughter's side. The black declared that he would not like to be sitting by Miss Coburn and have some young man who was courting her come along and knock over the big black negro; further he did not want to eat at the table nor sit in cars with the whites, preferring to sit by his own color. Some of the negroes were displeased at the proposed Civil Rights Bill, thinking that it was meant to force the negro to go among the whites.[2114] There were negro police in the larger towns, Selma, Montgomery, and Mobile, who irritated the whites by their arrests and by discrimination in favor of blacks. The negroes, in many cases, had ceased to care for the good opinion of the whites and, following disreputable leaders, suffered morally. The color line began to be strictly drawn in politics, which increased the estrangement of the races, though individuals were getting along better together.[2115]

The white carpet-baggers and scalawags never formed a large section of the Radical party and constantly decreased in numbers,--the natives returning to the white party, the aliens returning to the North. The native Radicals were found principally in the cities and holding Federal offices, and in the white counties were still a few genuine Republican Unionist voters. The carpet-baggers were found almost entirely in the Black Belt and in Federal offices. As their numbers decreased the general character was lowered. Some of the white Radicals were sincere and honest men, but none of this sort stood any chance for office. If they themselves would not steal, they must arrange for others to steal. The most respectable of the Radicals were a few old Whigs who had always disliked Democrats and who preferred to vote with the negroes. Such a man was Benjamin Gardner, who became attorney-general in 1872.

All white Radicals suffered the most bitter ostracism--in business, in society, in church; their children in the schools were persecuted by other children because of their fathers' sins. The scalawag, being a renegade, was scorned more than a carpet-bagger. In every possible way they were made to feel the weight of the displeasure of the whites. Small boys were unchecked when badgering a white Radical. One Radical complained that the youngsters would come near him to hold a spelling class. The word would be given out: "Spell _damned rascal_." It would be spelled. "Spell _damned Radical_." That would be spelled. "They are nearly alike, aren't they?"

The blacks always felt that the carpet-bagger was more friendly to them than the scalawag was, for the carpet-baggers associated more closely with the negroes. The alien white teachers boarded with negroes; some of the politicians made it a practice to live among the negroes in order to get their votes. The candidates for sheriff and tax collector in Montgomery went to negro picnics, baptizings, and church services, drank from the same bottle of whiskey with negroes, had the negro leaders to visit their homes, where they dined together, and the white women furnished music. The carpet-baggers seldom had families with them, and, excluded from white society, began to contract unofficial alliances among the blacks. Scarcely an alien office-holder in the Black Belt but was charged with immorality and the charges proven. Numbers were relieved by the legislature of the penalties for adultery. The average Radical politician was in time quite thoroughly Africanized. They spoke of "us niggers," "we niggers," at first from policy, later from habit. When Lewis was elected, in 1872, a white Radical cried out in his joy, "We niggers have beat 'em." Two years later white Radicals marched with negro processions and sang the song:--

"The white man's day has passed; The negro's day has come at last."[2116]

One effect of Reconstruction was to fuse the whites into a single homogeneous party. Before the war political divisions were sharply drawn and feeling often bitter, so also in 1865-1867 and to a certain extent during the early period of Reconstruction. At first there was no "Solid South"; within the white man's party there were grave differences between old Whig and old Democrat, Radical and Conservative. There were different local problems before the whites of the various sections that for a while prevented the formation of a unanimous white man's party. There were the whites of the Black Belt, the former slaveholders, who wished well to the negro, favored negro education, and looked upon his political activity as a joke, but who came nearer than any other white people to recognizing the possibility of permanent political privileges for the black. They believed that they could sooner or later regain moral control over their former slaves and thus do away with the evils of carpet-bag government.

It must be said that the former slaveholding class had more consideration, then, before, and since, for the poor negro than for the poor white, probably because the negroes only were always with them. The poorest whites felt that the negro was not only their social but also their economic enemy, and, the protection of the owner removed, the blacks suffered more from these people than ever before. The negro in school, the negro in politics, the negro on the best lands--all this was not liked by the poorest white people, whose opportunities were not as good as those of the blacks. Between these two extremes was the mass of the whites, displeased at the way negro suffrage, education, etc., was imposed, but willing to put up with the results if good. The later years of Reconstruction found the temper of the whites more and more exasperated. They were tired of Reconstruction, new amendments, force bills, Federal troops, and of being ruled as a conquered province by the least fit. Every measure aimed at the South seemed to them to mean that they were considered incorrigible, not worthy of trust, and when necessary to punish some whites, all were punished. And strong opposition to proscriptive measures was called fresh rebellion. "When the Jacobins say and do low and bitter things, their charge of want of loyalty in the South because our people grumble back a little seems to me as unreasonable as the complaint of the little boy: 'Mamma, make Bob 'have hisself. He makes mouths at me every time I hit him with my stick.'" Probably the grind was harder on the young men, who had all life before them and who were growing up with slight opportunities in any line of activity. Sidney Lanier, then an Alabama school-teacher, wrote to Bayard Taylor, "Perhaps you know that with us of the young generation in the South, since the war, pretty much the whole of life has been merely not dying." Negro and alien rule was a constant insult to the intelligence of the country. The taxpayers were non-participants. Some people withdrew entirely from public life, went to their farms or plantations, kept away from towns and from speech-making, waiting for the end to come. I know old men who refused for several years to read the newspapers, so unpleasant was the news. The good feeling produced by the magnanimity of Grant at Appomattox was destroyed by his southern policy when President. There was no gratitude for any so-called leniency of the North, no repentance for the war, no desire for humiliation, for sackcloth and ashes and confession of wrong. The insistence of the Radicals upon a confession of depravity only made things much worse. There was not a single measure of Congress during Reconstruction designed or received in a conciliatory spirit.

Under the Reconstruction régime the political, and to some extent the social, morality of the whites declined. Constant fighting fire with fire scorched all. While in one way the bitter discipline of Reconstruction was not lost, yet with it the pleasantest of southern life went out. During the war and Reconstruction there was a radical change in southern temperament toward the severe. Hospitality has declined; old southern life was never on a strictly business basis, the new southern life is more so; the old individuality is partially lost; class distinctions are less felt. The white people, by the fires of Reconstruction, have been welded into a homogeneous society.[2117] The material evils of Reconstruction are by no means the more lasting: the state debt may be paid and wasted resources renewed; but the moral and intellectual results will be the permanent ones.

In spite of the misgovernment during the Reconstruction, there was in most of the white counties a slow movement toward industrial development. All over the state in 1865-1868 and 1871-1874 there were poor crops. The white counties gradually found themselves better able to stand bad seasons. The decadence of the Black Belt gave the white farmer an opportunity. The railroads now began to open up the mineral and timber districts, rather than the cotton counties. During the last four years of negro rule the coal and iron of the northern part of the state began to attract northern capital and rapid development began. The timber of the white counties now began to be cut. In the mines, on the railroads, and in the forests many whites were profitably employed. Farmers in the white counties, having thrown off the local Reconstruction government, began to organize agricultural societies, Patrons of Husbandry, Grangers, etc., and to hold county fairs. The Radicals maintained that this granger movement was only another manifestation of Ku Klux, and it was, in a way.[2118]

Immigration from the North or from abroad amounted to nothing; disturbed political conditions and the presence of the negroes prevented it. Nor did the Reconstruction rulers desire immigration; their rule would be the sooner overthrown. There were two movements of emigration from the state--culminating in 1869 and in 1873-1874. Those were the gloomiest periods of Reconstruction, especially for the white man in the Black Belt. Most of the emigrants went to Texas, others to Mexico, to Brazil, to the North, and to Tennessee and Georgia, where the whites were in power. It was estimated that in this emigration the state lost more of its population than by war.

In the Black Belt the condition of the whites grew worse. Frequent elections demoralized negro labor, and crops often failed for lack of laborers. The more skilful negroes went to the towns, railroads, mines, and lumber mills. On account of this migration and the gradual dying off of slavery-trained negroes, negro agricultural labor was less and less satisfactory. The negro woman often refused to work in the fields. The white population of the Black Belt decreased in comparison with the numbers of blacks. The whites deserted the plantations, going to the towns or gathering in villages. Taxation was heavy, tax sales became frequent. One of the worst evils that afflicted the Black Belt was the so-called "deadfall." A "deadfall" was a low shop or store where a white thief encouraged black people to steal all kinds of farm produce and exchange it with him for bad whiskey, bad candy, brass jewellery, etc. This evil was found all over the state where there were negroes. Whites and industrious blacks lost hogs, poultry, cattle, corn in the fields, cotton in the fields and in the gin. The business of the "deadfall" was usually done at night. The thirsty negro would go into a cotton field and pick a sack of cotton worth a dollar, or take a bushel of corn from the nearest field, and exchange it at a "deadfall" for a glass of whiskey, a plug of tobacco, or a dime. These "deadfalls" were in the woods or swamps on the edges of the large plantations. It was not possible to guard against them. The "deadfall" keepers often became rich, the harvests of some amounting to 30 to 80 bales of cotton for each, besides farm produce. Careful estimates by grand juries and business men placed the average annual loss at one-fifth of the crop. A bill was introduced into the legislature to prohibit the purchase after dark of farm produce from any one but the producer. The measure was unanimously opposed by the Radicals, on the ground that it was class legislation aimed at the negroes. The debates show that some of them considered it proper for a negro to steal from his employer. After the Democratic victory in 1874 a law was passed abolishing "deadfalls."[2119]