Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

From June 19 to June 23, 1865, Governor Pierpont had changed his headquarters from Alexandria to Richmond and his "General Assembly" of twelve representatives held meetings there. They endorsed Lincoln's plan of reconstruction and were rejoicing at the comparatively easy way in which Virginia was going to be restored to the Union. In the meantime, the radical Congress in Washington believed that the Confederate States had left the Union voluntarily and should not be allowed to return until they had fulfilled specific conditions. When the State of Virginia sent her officially-elected representatives to Congress, they were refused admission. Nevertheless, Congress did allow the Virginia General Assembly to meet in regular session, and one of the measures passed by this group consisted of a formal appeal to West Virginia to reunite with the original State of Virginia.

On March 2, 1867, Congress under the Reconstruction Act of 1867, divided the ex-Confederate states (with the exception of Tennessee which had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment providing citizenship for the Negroes) into five military districts, each of which was under the command of a Major-General of the United States Army. Later, on March 23, the Commonwealth of Virginia became Military District No. 1, and General John M. Schofield became the first military Governor of District No. 1 in 1867. Since Pierpont had been reelected Governor of Virginia in 1864 for a four-year term, he was accepted as the civilian Governor by the radical Congress, but subject to the authority of the military commander.

On December 3, 1867, a convention was held in Richmond for the purpose of writing a state constitution which would be accepted by the Federal Congress. A large majority of the representatives attending were radicals. Membership included twenty-five Negroes, individuals of foreign birth who had drifted into the State of Virginia after the War between the States, many northerners who had come South to enter politics and a few eligible white men who had changed to Republicanism. White men of the South who had held high public office before the War between the States and those who had helped or participated in the Confederacy in any way were barred from voting or taking part in the Constitutional Convention. Since the chairman or president of this convention was Federal Judge John C. Underwood, the convention is sometimes referred to as the Underwood Convention. The measures passed by these members were so radical that even General Schofield himself appeared personally before the convention and pleaded with the members to repeal a clause, drafted by the convention delegates, which disfranchised approximately 95% of the male white population of Virginia and disqualified them from holding office and from serving on juries. His plea, however, was ignored.

At this time, a Committee of Nine Virginians was formed at the suggestion of Alexander H. Stuart. The chief objectives of this committee were to observe political developments in Virginia and to determine the appropriate time to report to Washington on the state of events in order to obtain a more favorable method for Virginia to re-enter the Union. They bluntly stated that the Virginians were definitely opposed to full Negro suffrage and declared that many states other than the southern states, such as Kansas, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan and Connecticut, had refused to enfranchise the Negro.

General Schofield prevented the planned election of the Underwood Convention from taking place in June by refusing to appropriate money for election expenses. Such postponement gave the Committee of Nine an opportunity to obtain public opinion backing before the Senate voted for the Underwood Constitution. The House of Representatives had already voted in favor of it immediately before the Christmas recess occurred. A representative of the Committee of Nine stated before Congress that the Committee advocated the acceptance of full Negro suffrage as inevitable in order that constitutional representative government might be restored at once. Chairman Stuart had already successfully achieved the support of the Boston "Advertiser," the Chicago "Tribune," the New York "Times" and the New York "Tribune." President Grant, who had succeeded President Johnson, suggested that, when the election took place in Virginia, the Underwood Constitution be voted upon first and then the test oath. As a result of the test oath, only individuals who had never taken arms against the Union and had never given aid or comfort to the Confederacy would be eligible to vote or to hold office. Likewise, it was suggested that the extension of the white disfranchisement be voted separately. When the election took place on July 6, 1869, the Underwood Constitution was adopted, but the two separate items mentioned above were defeated.

Gilbert C. Walker, a conservative Republican from New York and Pennsylvania, was appointed on September 21, 1869 as Governor of Virginia by General Canby, a successor of General Schofield. On October 8, 1869 the newly-elected General Assembly ratified the Fourteenth Amendment—"All persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside ..." and the Fifteenth Amendment—"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Congress then approved the new state constitution, and Virginia was officially re-admitted into the Union on January 26, 1870.

One of the biggest problems facing Governor Walker was the extremely high debt of approximately forty-five million dollars which faced the state. The Underwood Constitution had provided for numerous additional office positions in an attempt to force the New England Township plan upon the Virginia County plan and to create positions for the many "Carpetbaggers" (northern politicians who came south to gain control of the local governments) and "Scalawags" (southern politicians who helped the "Carpetbaggers" get control). This increased the cost of state government. To remedy this situation, the General Assembly decreased its total membership approximately one-fourth to help reduce expenses.

Prior to the war, Virginia had embarked upon an extensive program of internal improvements which under normal circumstances would have paid for itself eventually and which during the war had accumulated much unpaid interest on the bonded debt. This financial burden would seem secondary to the tremendous poverty of the Virginians themselves at the end of the war. However, the General Assembly which had met prior to the adoption of the Underwood Constitution pledged the payment of all the ante-bellum debt plus the interest, even though Virginia had lost one-third of its taxable assets because of the separation of West Virginia. Some of the members still hoped and actually believed that West Virginia might return to the fold of Virginia after the war had ended. At the Governor's suggestion, in order to obtain revenue, the state sold its railroad holdings at a great reduction. Another method was the exchange of certain bonds for new ones at six per cent interest for two-thirds of the amount of the old bonds. For the additional third, certificates were issued endorsed against future settlement with West Virginia. Although these attempts were made to obtain necessary revenue, the amount received was very insufficient, and the state actually became more indebted because of them.

Another grave problem which faced the state at this time was the establishment of a state system of free public schools. This action was based upon a provision of the Underwood Constitution of 1869 and although having a most worthy purpose, the action was a costly one. Schools were to be furnished for the Negroes (approximately 30% of the total Virginia population) as well as for the whites, and this condition made the problem more difficult since there was a large number of illiterate Negroes. Dr. William H. Ruffner of Lexington, the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction, was elected by the General Assembly when the new state public school system was organized in 1870. The formidable task facing him can be better appreciated when one considers the creation of an entire public school system with very little money and few trained teachers available. The interest from the Literary Fund, all the capitation or poll tax, a new state property tax and a new one dollar annual tax on each male citizen twenty-one years and older were to constitute the financial support of the public school system. Local school and capitation taxes were optional with each county and public school district. Dr. Ruffner received much help from Dr. Benjamin Mosby Smith who helped him formulate a program and at the end of the first year, twenty-nine hundred schools were in operation with three thousand teachers employed to teach one hundred and thirty thousand students. From time to time, the schools were seriously threatened when the interest on the state debt was so high that there was little surplus left for educational purposes. Dr. Ruffner fought not only to keep the school funds from being used for other state activities but also to encourage Virginians themselves to favor a free public school system.

In 1868, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong was responsible for the founding of the Hampton Institute at Hampton, an educational institution whose primary objective was the education of the ex-slaves. The American Missionary Society, at the suggestion of General Armstrong, purchased a farm in Hampton where the Federal Government had established a hospital during the War between the States. The school began with General Armstrong as the principal, two additional teachers and fifteen students. Two years later, it became the Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute. Since General Armstrong believed in education of the "head, the heart, and the hands," training of the mind, character training, and vocational training were emphasized with the over-all objective of preparing the students to earn a living. The now-famous Hampton singers, originally led by General Armstrong, made their first tour through England and New England in 1870.