The session had proved far from fruitless, although nothing but the preliminary steps had been taken. The Freedmen’s Bureau and civil rights bills constituted a temporary protection to the freedmen; the right of habeas corpus still remained suspended and military authority prevailed throughout the conquered region. The 14th Amendment was before the people, to be a rallying point for the autumn campaign. The lines between the presidential and congressional parties were now closely drawn. Each knew the strong and the weak points of its opponent. The issue must now be turned over to the people as final judges of its merits. The congressional elections of the fall would decide the issue, and also the future method of reconstruction.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1866.
1. The four months following the adjournment of the first session of the 39th Congress were full of excitement. The public was thoroughly aroused, and all incidents were considered in the light they threw upon the question of the hour. The President’s uncompromising hostility to the 14th Amendment brought about a crisis in the Cabinet.[124] William Dennison, Postmaster-General, was the first to declare the impossibility of maintaining cabinet relations with the President. He resigned on July 11, and A. W. Randall, of Wisconsin, First Assistant Postmaster-General, was appointed in his place. Mr. Randall was a devoted adherent of the administration, and president of the National Union Club which called the convention of August 14. The second resignation was that of James Speed, Attorney-General, on July 18. Coming from Kentucky, Mr. Speed had had the reputation of being quite conservative in his views regarding reconstruction, and his formal notice of separation from the President created no little excitement. His intimate connection with the administration gave unusual force to his denunciation of its policy, made at the time of taking the chair as permanent president of the convention of Southern loyalists. Henry Stanbery of Ohio was appointed as his successor, and retained his position until he resigned to assist in the defense of the President in the impeachment trial. A few days after Mr. Speed’s withdrawal, the Secretary of the Interior, James Harlan, tendered his resignation, and O. H. Browning, of Illinois, was appointed to fill the vacancy.
It is altogether probable that these resignations would have been made earlier than they were, had it not been feared that the control of these important administrative departments would fall into the hands of those who would use their powers in opposition to Congress. But the time had come when the incumbents considered that by the retention of the offices they were being forced to share the odium attached to the President, and deemed total separation from him as the best method of justification.
The laws discriminating against the colored man, and the numerous instances of cruelty which had been reported to the North, were an important factor in creating and sustaining the common feeling of hostility to the administration. But the New Orleans riots, occurring on July 30, did more to rouse the people of the North, and convince them that stern measures were necessary, than all that had preceded. The massacre stood out vividly against the background of “black laws,” and furnished an argument of the most effective kind to be used in the campaign.
2. The riots were of a peculiarly exasperating character. The constitutional convention of 1864, summoned by the proclamation of Major General Banks, had passed resolutions giving the president of the convention power “to reconvoke the convention for any cause.” A majority of the members came to the conclusion, in the spring of 1866, that the State constitution should be amended, to place it in harmony with the congressional policy.[125] They determined to have the convention reconvoked for this purpose. The president, Judge E. H. Durell, declined to take advantage of his prerogative, but the delegates, not to be thwarted in this way, proceeded to elect a president pro tem. who was willing to issue the desired proclamation. The governor of the State, J. M. Wells, concurred in this rather questionable procedure, and issued a proclamation for an election to fill existing vacancies.
It being well understood that negro suffrage was one of the ultimate objects desired by the supporters of the proposed constitutional convention, active hostility to the movement rapidly developed. The proclamation of the president pro tem. called for the assembling of the delegates on July 30; and though the only object of this meeting was to determine officially the existing vacancies to be filled in the fall elections, the enemies to the enfranchisement of the freedmen determined to crush the movement in its incipient stage. It is an easy matter to stir up the passions and prejudices of the people, and the indiscreet speeches of certain of the delegates only added to the popular excitement. A negro procession organized in honor of the convention was attacked by a mob in front of Mechanics’ Hall, where the convention was in session. The attack was soon extended to the hall itself, the police of the city joining hands with the assailants. When the riot was over nearly two hundred persons were found to have been killed or wounded, the greatest sufferers being the negroes, who were shot down in front of the hall without mercy.