The numbers
registered.
It will thus be seen that of the ten "States" to be reconstructed five were to be recreated through an electorate in which the majority would
The change in
the electorate
in the South.
There is no doubt that Congress had the constitutional power to do this thing, on the theory, of course, that these communities were not "States" of the Union; but it was a reckless thing, and a monstrous thing. Anybody of common sense and common honesty could, at the time, have foreseen some of the horrible results which were sure to follow.
So soon as the registration was completed, the commanders ordered elections to be held and the vote to be taken, first, upon the question
The elections.
Efforts of the
commanders to
get the vote out.
The result was that in all the communities to be reconstructed as "States" a majority of the registered voters voted on the question of