Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama

by Walter L. Fleming

The delegates elected to the convention were a motley crew—white, yellow, and black—of northern men, Bureau officers, “loyalists,” “rebels,” who had aided the Confederacy and now perjured themselves by taking the oath, Confederate deserters, and negroes.[1413] The Freedmen’s Bureau furnished eighteen or more of the one hundred members. There were eighteen blacks.[1414] Thirteen more of the members had certified, as registrars, to their own election and with six other members had certified to the election of thirty-one, nineteen of whom were on the board of registration. No pretence of residence was made by the northern men in the counties from which they were elected. Several had never seen the counties they represented, a slate being made up in Montgomery and sent to remote districts to be voted for. Of these northern men, or foreigners, there were thirty-seven or thirty-eight, from Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, New Jersey, Illinois, Ireland, Canada, and Scotland.[1415] The native whites were for the most part utterly unknown and had but little share in the proceedings of the convention.[1416] Of the negro members two could write well and were fairly well educated, half could not write a word, and the others had been taught to sign their names and that was all. There were many negroes who could read and write, but they were not sent to the convention. Perhaps the carpet-baggers feared trouble from them and wanted only those whom they could easily control.[1417]

Griffin of Ohio was appointed temporary chairman, and on the motion of Keffer of Pennsylvania, Robert Barbour of New York was made temporary secretary and later permanent secretary. Keffer nominated Peck, a New Yorker who had resided for some years in Alabama, for president of the convention, and he was unanimously elected.[1418] There were several negro clerks in the convention. The disgusted Conservatives designated the aggregation by various epithets, such as “The Unconstitutional Convention,” “Pope’s Convention,” “Swayne’s World-renowned Menagerie,” “The Circus,” “Black and Tan,” “Black Crook,” etc. The last, which was probably given by the New York Herald correspondent, seems to have been the favorite name. The white people still persisted in looking upon the whole affair as a more or less irritating joke.

The carpet-baggers intended that the convention should be purged of “improper” persons, and one of them proposed that the test oath be taken. This aroused opposition on the part of the ex-“rebels,” who did not care to perjure themselves more than was necessary. Coon of Iowa then proposed a simple oath to support the Constitution, which after some wrangling was taken.[1419] Caraway, a negro, wanted no chaplain to officiate in the convention who had not remained loyal to the United States. Skinner of Franklin said: “Let none offer prayer who are rebels and who have not fought under the stars and stripes.” This was to prevent such reverend members of the convention as Deal of Dale from officiating. Finally, the president was empowered to appoint the chaplain daily. A colored chaplain was called upon once in a while, and one of them invoked the blessings of God on “Unioners and cusses on rebels.”[1420]

Another way of showing the loyalty of the body was by directing a committee to bring in an ordinance changing the names of the counties “named in honor of rebellion and in glorification of traitors.” Keffer of Pennsylvania was the author of this resolution. Steed of Cleburne wanted the name of his county changed to Lincoln, and Simmons of Colbert wanted his county to be named Brownlow. The test votes on such questions were about 55 to 30 in favor of changing. Baine, Colbert, and Jones counties, established by the “Johnson” government, were abolished.[1421]

The president was directed to drape his chair with two “Federal” flags. Generals Pope and Swayne, and Governor Patton, as friends of Reconstruction, were invited to seats in the convention and were asked to speak before the body. Pope was becoming somewhat nervous at the conduct of the supreme rulers of the state and in his speech counselled moderation and fairness. He also commended them for the “firmness and fearlessness with which you have conducted the late campaigns,” and congratulated them upon “the success which has thus far crowned your efforts in the pacification of this state and its restoration to the Union.”[1422] The most radical members of the convention were bringing pressure to bear to force Pope to declare vacant at once all the offices of the provisional government and fill them with reconstructionists. In this they were aided by northern influence. Pope, however, refused to make the change, and thus displeased the Radicals, who wanted offices at once.[1423]

The first ordinance of the convention reconstructed Jones County, named for a Confederate colonel, out of existence, and the second, third, and fourth arranged for the pay of the convention. The president received $10 a day and the members $8 each; the clerks from $6 to $8, and the pages $4.[1424] The president and members received 40 cents as mileage for each mile travelled. To cover these expenses an additional tax of 10 per cent on taxes already assessed was levied. The comptroller refused to pay the members until ordered by Pope. The latter hesitated to give the order, as he doubted if he had the authority. However, he finally said that he would order payment provided the compensation be fixed at reasonable rates, and that the payments be not made before the convention completed its work. He further added that the convention must be moderate in action; “I speak not more for the interests of Alabama than for the interests of the political party upon whose retention of power for several years to come the success of Reconstruction depends.” When Pope urged moderation, it is likely that something serious was the matter. A proposition to reduce the pay of the members from $8 to $6 per day was lost by a vote of 35 to 57. A few days before the close of the convention, Pope ordered the payment of the per diem to the hungry delegates, many of whom refused to accept the state obligations called “Patton money.” They were told that it was receivable for taxes, and one answered for all: “Oh, damn the taxes! We haven’t got any to pay.”[1425]

The Race Question

The colored delegates brought up the negro question in several forms. First, Rapier of Canada wanted a declaration that negroes were entitled to all the privileges and rights of citizenship in Alabama.[1426] Then Strother of Dallas demanded that the negroes be empowered to collect pay from those who held them in slavery, at the rate of $10 a month for services rendered from January 1, 1863, the date of the Emancipation Proclamation, to May 20, 1865. An ordinance to this effect was actually adopted by a vote of 53 to 31.[1427] The scalawags, as a rule, wished to prohibit intermarriage of the races, and Semple of Montgomery reported an ordinance to that effect. He would prohibit intermarriage to the fourth generation. The negroes and carpet-baggers united to vote this down, which was done by a vote of 48 to 30. Caraway (negro) of Mobile wanted life imprisonment for any white man marrying or living with a black woman, but he said it was against the Civil Rights Bill to prohibit intermarriage. This seems to have irritated the scalawags. Gregory (negro) of Mobile wanted all regulations, laws, and customs wherein distinctions were made on account of color or race to be abolished, and thus allow intermarriages. The convention refused to adopt the report providing against amalgamation.[1428] The Mobile negroes alone seem to have been opposed to the prohibition of intermarriage. The convention of 1865 had recognized the validity of all slave marriages and had ordered that they be considered legal. During 1865 and 1866 the fickle negroes, male and female, made various experiments with new partners, and the result was that in 1867 thousands of negroes had forsaken the husband or wife of slavery times and “taken up” with others. All sorts of prosecutions were hanging over them, and an ordinance was passed for the relief of such people. It directed that marriages were to date from November 30, 1867, and not from 1865 or earlier. All who were living together in 1867 were to be considered man and wife, and all prosecutions for former misconduct were forbidden.[1429]

Caraway (negro) of Mobile succeeded in having an ordinance passed directing that church property used during slavery for colored congregations be turned over to the latter.[1430] Some of this property was paid for by negro slaves and held in trust for them by white trustees. Most of it, however, belonged to the planters, who erected churches for the use of their slaves.

Not much was said about separate or mixed schools for the races. There was a disposition on the part of the leaders to keep such questions in the background for a time in order to prevent irritating discussions. A proposition for separate schools was voted down on the ground that it was better for the children of both races to go to school together and wear off their prejudices. This was the carpet-baggers’ view, but most of the blacks finally voted against a measure providing for mixed schools, because, they said, they did not want to send their children to school with white children. The matter was hushed up and left unsettled.[1431]