[1467] Journal, p. 243.
[1468] The Codes of Alabama for 1876 and 1896 do not recognize the validity of the constitution of 1868. It is listed as the “Constitution (so-called) of the State of Alabama, 1868.” The president of the convention of 1875 said, “What is called the present constitution of the state of Alabama is a piece of unseemly mosaic, composed of shreds and patches gathered here and there, incongruous in design, inharmonious in action, discriminating and oppressive in the burdens it imposes, reckless in the license it confers on unjust and wicked legislation, and utterly lacking in every element to inspire popular confidence and the reverence and affection of the people.” Journal, 1875, p. 5.
[1469] Ely, a delegate from Russell, was a candidate in Montgomery; Brainard, a delegate from Monroe, was a candidate in Montgomery; R. M. Johnson, a delegate from Henry, was also a candidate in Montgomery. These men, however, lived in Montgomery and had never seen the counties they represented.
[1470] N. Y. World, Feb. 13 and 22, 1868; Selma Times and Messenger, Feb. 28, 1868; Cong. Globe, March 11, 1868; Herbert, “Solid South”; Beverly, “Alabama”; Owen, p. 125.
The above list is not complete, as there were undoubtedly other candidates among those who did not sign the constitution, since a number of them fell into line later. The starred names are those of candidates who were also registrars, and who not only conducted their own elections for the convention, but also for office under the new constitution. Three members of the majority who signed the report were not eligible for office when the election came off, two being in jail,—one for stealing and the other for fraud,—while a third “had been betrayed into an act of virtue by dying.” N. Y. World, Feb. 13, 1868.
[1471] Selma Messenger, Jan. 10, 1868.
[1472] Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 47; N. Y. World, Feb. 5, 1868.
[1473] After the election, Governor Patton, who at first had supported Reconstruction, issued an address complaining that nearly all the candidates voted for were strangers to the people; that many were ignorant negroes, and that in one county all the commissioners-elect were negroes who were unable to read; that unlicensed lawyers, wholly uneducated, were chosen for state solicitors; that the strangers were too often of bad character; and that the Radical party consisted almost entirely of negroes, the native whites having forsaken the party as soon as the negroes fell under the control of the imported Radicals who ran the machine. N. Y. Times, April 23, 1868.
[1474] Herbert, p. 47.
[1475] Montgomery Mail, July 25, 1868; N. Y. World, Sept. 22, 1868.