ACTION ON THE AMENDMENT BY ALABAMA.

199

mally to abolish slavery,1 and it was declared that, as the institution had been abolished in the State by the act of the federal government, it should no longer exist, except for the punishment of crime.2

The debt, amounting to a little over four millions of dollars, constituting a war debt incurred by the State in aid of the Confederacy, expended for civil and military purposes and the support of indigent families of soldiers, and secured by the issue of six per cent bonds, which had sold at a premium of from fifty to one hundred per cent, was repudiated and declared void. The general assembly was forbidden to make any provision in any manner for the payment of debts incurred directly or indirectly in the Confederate States.4 But provision was made for the payment of the principal and interest of the legitimate bonded State debt.5 The President was earnestly requested to remove all United States forces from the State, except the garrison of the coast. Although somewhat unusual for a southern convention, it determined to submit the amendments to the Constitution to popular

vote.

The legislature soon assembled and acted on the Thirteenth Amendment, ratifying it by more than a two

1 Journal, 44-48.

2 September 22, yeas 89, nays 3; Journal, p. 49. See the Constitution and Ordinances adopted by the State Convention of Alabama, which assembled at Montgomery on the 12th day of September, A. D. 1865, with Index, Analysis, and Table of Titles by J. W. Shepard; Montgomery: Gibson and Whitfield, State Printers, 1865, pp. 80.

The Ordinance was almost identical with that of Mississippi.

8 $4,449,500. Comptroller's Report, September 26, 1865, Convention Journal, 61.

4 September 28, yeas 60, nays 19. Journal, p. 77. Constitution and Ordinances, p. 53.

5 September 29, Constitution and Ordinances, pp. 62-68. • Constitution and Ordinances, pp. 70-71.

200

SECRETARY SEWARD ON ALABAMA.

thirds vote in the House, and by more than a four-fifths vote in the Senate. The same protection was given to the person and property of freed-men as to the non-voting white population of the State.2 In his telegram to the President announcing these acts, the governor declared that the last step necessary to put the State in line with the President's policy had been taken, and that there need be no fears that the governor-elect would not sustain the Constitution and the Union. He was anxious that Alabama be announced as the twenty-seventh State to ratify; and in acknowledging the gratifying news, Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, congratulated the governor and the country upon the ratification: "Which vote," said he, "being the twenty-seventh, fills up the complement of two-thirds and gives the amendment the finishing effect as part of the organic law of the land." The Secretary, however, was in error, for ratification by two more States was yet necessary to make the number requisite for adopting the amendment. Alabama was the twenty-fifth State and the second Gulf State to ratify and the thirtieth to abolish slavery.

But Alabama adopted the amendment with the under

1 December 2, 1865. Documentary History, II, p. 609. The amendment was adopted, Senate, 23 to 5 (Journal), p. 79; House, 75 to 17 (Journal), p. 85, with the understanding, which was expressed in a resolution, that it did not confer upon Congress "the power to legislate upon the political status of freedmen in this State." Annual Cyclopedia, 1865, p. 19. Alabama seems to have ratified the Thirteenth Amendment twice; the second time, July 13, 1868. (Senate unanimously, 27 ayes.) See Laws of 1868, p. 137.

2 Governor Parsons to the President, December 2, 1865. Senate Executive Document, No. 26, p. 247.

3 Governor Parsons to the President, December 9, Id., 247.

4 Parsons to Seward, December 2, Id., 109.

5 Seward to Parsons, December 5, Id., 110.

CONDITIONAL RATIFICATION.

201

standing that it did not confer upon Congress the power to legislate upon the political status of freedom in the State.1 On the thirteenth of December, in the Hall of Representatives, and in the presence of both Houses of the general assembly, Robert M. Patton was inaugurated governor, and received from the provisional governor the great seal of the State.2

1 This resolution passed the House by 75 to 15.

2 Announcement of Albert Elmore, Secretary of State and Governor Patton to Secretary Seward, December 20, Senate Executive Document, No. 26, pp. 111-112.

CHAPTER V.

THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT RATIFIED.

The people of Alabama had been in convention a day when those of South Carolina met at Columbia.1 There was no money in the treasury to defray the expenses of the provisional government, and they were met by the War Department, so "as instantly to suppress the rebellion." About the time that the convention assembled, the State was greatly agitated over the presence of negro troops, and numerous complaints and petitions for their removal, signed by eminent citizens, reached the Department of State at Washington through the provisional governor. There were two counts against these federal soldiers: first that they were negroes, and, secondly, that they promoted discontent among the freedmen.

The Secretary's reply was firm. The objections, he said, assumed that there was a difference to be made in the war between two classes of the national military forces and that only white soldiers should be employed in some portions of the country, while colored troops should be assigned to distinct and separate regions. No discrimination founded upon color in assignment to service was intended or could be made by the Government.

1 Among the members of this convention were 47 planters and farmers; 35 lawyers, of whom three were judges; 10 merchants; 10 physicians; 4 clergymen; 3 lawyers and planters; 1 editor, and 1 machinist.

2 Secretary Seward to Governor Perry, July 22, 1865. Senate Executive Document, No. 26, p. 113. The governor had asked for a quarter's salary in advance, saying, "We have no money in South Carolina at this time." Perry to Seward, July 21, Id., 112. And asked for suitable stationery, August 14th, 115.

3 See the petition, August 10, Id., 113-114.

AFFAIRS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

203

The President desired that the people of South Carolina should co-operate with those of other States and soon secure a form of State government adequate to the maintenance of peace and order. When this was done, all national forces, of whatever description, would be withdrawn from the State.1 It was even more difficult to secure a capable convention in South Carolina than in Alabama, for the amnesty oath was to be strictly enforced. In order to secure a convention the President, at the request of the governor, sent pardons to twenty of the delegates.2

In his message to the convention, Governor Perry spoke of African slavery as an institution of the State, cherished from her earliest history, patriarchal in character, under which the negro had multiplied with a rapidity that proved that he had been kindly cared for; but it was gone never to be revived in the State. It had been abolished by the military authority of the General Government. The oath, which the delegates had taken, required them, in good faith, to abolish slavery under the amended constitution of the State. The express terms on which their pardons were issued stipulated that they should never again own, or employ, slave labor.

Undoubtedly the Thirteenth Amendment would be adopted by three-fourths of the States. It would be im

1 Seward to Perry, August 26, 1865; Id., 11.

2 Id., p. 251. Among these were Francis W. Pickens, Governor of the State, 1860-1863. For other pardons asked for and granted at this time see Id., 250-257. The list includes J. L. Warstair; Chancellor Carroll; Ex-Governor Bonham; General M. C. Butler; General Stephen Elliott, the three latter chosen members to the legislature, and C. M. Furman, President of the State. Among the delegates were six who had belonged to the Secession convention of 1860: D. L. Wardlaw, J. L. Orr, J. J. Brabham, John A. Inglis, Henry McIver, John P. Richardson, R. G. M. Dunovant, F. W. Pickens.