Before taking the second step a brief interval elapsed; perhaps the President was hesitating; however this may be, he informed Hon. George S. Boutwell that “the measure was tentative.” The fears of the Massachusetts statesman and his concern for harmony in the Republican party, of which he was an able and honored leader, induced him, in company with Senator Morrill, of Vermont, to call on the President. During their conversation Mr. Johnson, when the dangers of his policy were indicated, assured his visitors “that nothing further would be done until the experiment had been tested.”[[474]]
Notwithstanding this deliberate assurance, the President at that time appears to have almost determined on the system that he intended to adopt, for scarcely two weeks had passed when he appointed, by a proclamation similar to that for North Carolina, William L. Sharkey, Provisional Governor of Mississippi. Within a month from the date of Mr. Holden’s appointment others were made for all the remaining States except Florida, the order for reorganizing which was delayed till July 13.[[475]]
The origin and development of the Executive plan having now been traced with some degree of minuteness, it is not the design of this essay to pursue circumstantially the institution of that system in the six remaining States. By proclamations almost identical with that issued in the case of North Carolina, provisional governors were appointed in all of those commonwealths before the middle of July. Though the method of reorganization in these States presented similar features, several were distinguished in some respects from the others. Observations on those differences will employ nearly all that remains to be said on Reconstruction under President Johnson.
The appointment of Mr. Holden alarmed Republican leaders; the successive proclamations for restoring the other States directed public attention to the questions involved in reconstruction. Seeing that Congress was not in session, that the President had assumed an expectant attitude, and that every plan of reunion proposed was liable to serious objection, it is not a matter of wonder that the recent Confederate authorities attempted of themselves to restore Federal relations.
These were among the considerations that induced Governor Clarke, of Mississippi, to summon the Legislature of that State to meet on May 18. In his address convoking the disloyal assembly he urged the people, in order to remove the necessity for sending Federal troops among them, to restore and preserve peace. The Legislature came together accordingly, and, among other measures, provided for the election, on June 19, of delegates to a State convention. Before that date, however, the President had appointed William L. Sharkey, an eminent jurist, Provisional Governor, thus ignoring both the measures of Mr. Clarke and the insurgent assembly. The latter was dispersed by a military order, while the Governor was carried off to a fortress in Boston harbor.
Mr. Sharkey, in a dutiful and able address, appointed August 7 as the day for holding an election of delegates to a State convention which was to meet at the city of Jackson one week later. In this proclamation, he said: “The negroes are now free—free by the fortunes of war—free by proclamation—free by common consent—free practically, as well as theoretically, and it is too late to raise questions as to the means by which they became so.”[[476]] Though the Governor, to avoid the delay of separate county organization, had appointed many local officials who had held their posts during the Rebellion, he required all of them to take the oath of allegiance prescribed by the President.
The convention, which assembled at the appointed time, declared the ordinance of secession null and void, prohibited slavery and made it the duty of the next Legislature to provide for the protection of the person and the property of freedmen. The lawmaking body was also to take measures for guarding both the negroes and the commonwealth against any evils that might arise from sudden emancipation. The first Monday in October was appointed for the election of State officers and members of Congress. A memorial was also adopted urging the President to remove the colored troops from the State. The members, acting apparently in their individual capacity, united in a petition for the pardon of Jefferson Davis and of Governor Clarke. The amendment of the State constitution abolishing slavery was adopted by the decisive vote of 86 to 11. After South Carolina, Mississippi contained the greatest proportion of slaves, and was thus very deeply involved in the system.
While the convention was in session the President sent to Governor Sharkey a telegram in which he made the following remarkable suggestion:
I am gratified to see that you have organized your convention without difficulty.... If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who can read the Constitution of the United States in English and write their names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at not less than two hundred and fifty dollars and pay taxes thereon, you would completely disarm the adversary and set an example the other States will follow. This you can do with perfect safety, and you would thus place Southern States in reference to free persons of color upon the same basis with the free States. I hope and trust your convention will do this, and as a consequence the radicals, who are wild upon negro franchise, will be completely foiled in their attempts to keep the Southern States from renewing their relations to the Union by not accepting their Senators and Representatives.[[477]]
From the view point of practical politics this recommendation was undoubtedly a wise one, but it will scarcely be contended that it was the suggestion of enlightened statesmanship. The South, distrusting the President’s sincerity, refused to adopt his suggestion. The communication is reproduced, not to show that the President was not always impelled by the highest motives so much as to show that even before Congress had assembled he had already come to regard as “the adversary” those whose exertions secured his election.