[104] Ficklen, "Reconstruction," 63.
[105] Blaine's "Twenty Years of Congress," II, 39, 40.
[106] Lincoln, Address of, April 11, 1865.
[107] 39 Cong. House of Representatives, No. 16.
[108] Ficklen, "Reconstruction in Louisiana," 146-179.
[109] Not all Southern sympathizers saw menace in granting the Negro political privileges. Seeing it inevitable, General Beauregard wrote in 1867, "If the suffrage of the Negro is properly handled and directed, we shall defeat our adversaries with their own weapons. The Negro is Southern born. With education and property qualifications, he can be made to take an interest in the affairs of the South, and in its prosperity. He will side with the whites." Letter of Gen. Beauregard.
[110] With the year 1868 one of the most picturesque and splendid figures in the history of the state springs fully into the light. Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback had already made himself known by his efforts to recruit soldiers for the Louisiana Native Guards; by his stringent demands for the rights of the colored man on all occasions. He was the dashing young Lochinvar of the political struggle. He had made his first move in 1867 by organizing the Fourth Ward Republican Club, and had been appointed Inspector of Customs by Collector of Port Kellogg. In the Constitution of 1868 he took his definite rôle of a fighter to be feared, respected and followed—and for many a year afterwards, the history of Louisiana is written around his name. Simmons, "Men of Mark," 672.
[111] Accounts of this appeared in the Tribune, the best, and almost the only influential organ of the Republican party in the state, the editor of which was Dr. Roudanez, a well-to-do man of color. It was not a financial success, though a powerful factor in the political arena. Dr. Roudanez said that he spent over $35,000 on the paper in the effort to keep up an honest organ. It was suspended in April, 1868, but was revived later.
[112] Journal of the Convention, 124, 192, 205 et passim.
[113] Simmons, "Men of Mark," 678.