CHAPTER XVI. ENFORCEMENT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION. The reconstruction of Tennessee - North Carolina-Arkansas - As the reconstruction of the states lately in rebellion originated during the first administration of President Lincoln, and at the time of his death was in process of operation, a brief survey of the progress made under his auspices is necessary to understand the part performed by his successor, and the attitude assumed towards "the Presidential plan" by Congress. The first one of the rebellious states that was occupied by the United States forces to such an extent as to compel the federal government to consider the subject of actual reconstruction was Tennessee. At the close of February, 1862, the Confederates abandoned Nashville, the capital of the state, and on the twenty-fifth, the federal army occupied this city. In anticipation of this occupation, Gen. U. S. Grant had issued, on the twenty-second, an order declaring that no courts would be allowed to act under state authority, but that all cases coming within reach of the military arm would be adjudicated by the authorities which the United States government had established. Martial law was declared to extend over 1 tory should return to their allegiance, this military restriction would be removed. The President about the same time appointed Andrew Johnson, a former governor of Tennessee, and at this moment holding a seat as a member of the United States Senate from this state, military governor, with the rank of brigadier-general. Thus the first of the military governors, and the first agent of the President in the work of reconstruction, was the man who was to succeed Mr. Lincoln, and who was to take up this work as it fell from his hands. This nomination was confirmed by the Senate on March fifth, and on the twelfth the new official reached Nashville, and on the next evening made an address, which was afterwards printed and circulated under the style of " An Appeal to the People of Tennessee." It is to be noted that the regular governor of the state, Harris, being a Confederate, had, with his officials and the state archives, left the capital for military reasons and betaken himself to Memphis, whither he had summoned the legislature. This had left the parts of the state which were in the occupation of the federal forces without administration of state government. In his address or appeal, Johnson set forth these facts, asserting that the state government had disappeared; that the executive had abdicated; that the legislature had dissolved; and that the judiciary was in abeyance, and that the national government was at this moment attempting to discharge its obligations to guarantee to every state a republican form appointed military governor for the time being, to preserve the public property of the United States, to give the protection of law actively enforced to her citizens, and as speedily as may be, to restore her government to the same condition as before the existing rebellion.” The The great prominence attained afterwards by Johnson as "the Reconstruction President," and the fact that he himself was the very first man commissioned to undertake the work of rehabilitation, lends to his words weight that otherwise they might not have. It is the future of reconstruction (now past history) that reflects so great importance upon every word and action of the military governor of Tennessee. fact, then, that he asserted that he had been appointed on account of "the absence of the regular and established state authorities," and for the purpose of "restoring her government to the same condition as before the existing rebellion," and that his appointment was a "military" one, becomes of the highest importance when uttered by one who, at a later day, when he fell heir to a system of reconstruction of which his own appointment was the inception, appointed provisional governors, because the rebellious states "had been deprived of all civil government," and "for the purpose of enabling the loyal people of said state to organize a state government." For it shows that at the time of his appointment as governor the restoration of the ancient government was still the object of President Lincoln's exertion, and sent of the Senate first being had, proves conclusively that President Lincoln, as late as the spring of 1862, had not reached the point of appropriating to his sole use the powers involved in the work of reconstruction. Indeed, the natural inference is that no "Presidential Plan" of reconstruction was yet present in the mind of the President, that "restoration" of the old state governments was still the primary object of federal endeavor, and that the part of the executive branch of the government was merely to perform such duties as would enable the restored sections to send senators and representatives to Washington, where the rest of restoration would be effected or denied by Congress, according to its decision upon the admission or rejection of these members to their respective houses. The vacated offices were filled by his appointment for the reason that "otherwise anarchy would prevail." 1 1 It may be well to reproduce here Johnson's views of the relations in which the individual citizens of the state stood towards the federal government: "Those," said he, "who through the dark and weary night of the rebellion have maintained their allegiance to the federal government will be honored. The erring and misguided will be welcomed on their return. And while it may become necessary, in vindicating the violated majesty of the law, and in reasserting its imperial sway, to punish intelligent and conscious treason in high places, no merely retaliatory or vindictive policy will be adopted. To those, especially, who in a private, unofficial capacity have assumed an attitude of hostility to the government, a full and complete amnesty for all past acts and declarations is offered, upon the one condition of their again yielding themselves peaceful citizens to the just supremacy of the laws. This I advise them to do for their own good, and for the peace and welfare of our beloved state." TENNESSEE NEVER OUT OF THE UNION. 321 As the state of Tennessee was then the theatre of conflict between great armies, the territory under the protection of one flag or the other was constantly changing its dimensions. The conditions of active warfare did not permit the inhabitants freedom of action sufficient to warrant the reëstablishment of civil government, at least on the part of the federals, and the military governorship was not productive of the benefits hoped for at Washington. That the states in rebellion were regarded as being still in the Union, and that their ancient governments were objects of restoration, is manifest from a speech made by Governor Johnson as late as September, 1863, in which he said: "Tennessee is not out of the Union, never has been, and never will be out. The bonds of the Constitution and the federal power will always prevent that. This government is perpetual; provision is made for reforming the government and amending the Constitution, and admitting states into the Union; not for letting them out of it. . . . The United States sends an agent or a military governor, whichever you please to call him, to aid you in restoring your government. Whenever you desire, in good faith, to restore civil authority, you can do so, and a proclamation for an election will be issued as speedily as it is practicable to hold one. One by one all the agencies of your state government will be set in motion. A legislature will be elected, judges will be appointed temporarily, until you can elect them at the polls; and so of sheriffs, county-court judges, justices, and other officers, until the way is fairly open for the people, and all the parts of civil government resume their ordinary functions. This is no nice, intricate, |