ident of the United States, in case of domestic violence in any municipality in the "State," reported to him by the legislature or Governor of the State, to suppress by military power such domestic violence, and "to exercise all such powers and inflict such punishments as may by the laws, or the rules and articles of war be exercised or inflicted in case of insurrection or invasion." The Senate concurred in the recommendations of the committee of the whole, and added a provision repealing that part of the Act of March 2d, 1867, which prohibited the organizing of any militia force in Georgia. The final restoration of Georgia to her lations. In this form and with this content the bill was returned to the House. Here it was again debated, off and on, until June 24th, when it was finally agreed upon with the following contents: "That the State of Georgia having complied with the Reconstruction Acts, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Articles of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States having been ratified in good faith by a legal legislature of said State, it is hereby declared that the State of Georgia is entitled to representation in the Congress of the United States. But nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive the people of Georgia of the right to an election for members of the general assembly of said State, as provided for in the constitution thereof,” and “That so much of the Act of March 2d, 1867, as prohibits the organization, arming, or calling into service of the militia forces in the States of Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia be, and the same is, hereby repealed." The Senate disagreed to the bill in this form and with these contents, and asked for a conference committee. The House agreed and appointed members. The conference committee agreed upon the bill as per fected by the House with the addition to the second section of these words: "And nothing in this or any other Act of Congress shall be construed to affect the term to which any officer has been appointed or any member of the general assembly elected, as prescribed by the constitution of the State of Georgia." Both the Senate and the House accepted and concurred in the recommendations of the committee, and the bill, as thus perfected, became law on the 15th day of July, 1870. This bill terminated the era of Reconstruction legislation by Congress, and at the next session of Congress, the session of 1870-71, the Senators and Representatives from Georgia were admitted to their seats, the Senate admitting those chosen to that body in July of 1868, Messrs. Hill and Miller. The attempt of Governor Bullock to prolong the terms of the members of the legislature and of the officers of the "State" government was decidedly disapproved of by President Grant's Administration, and an election was held for members and county officers and for Representatives in Congress in December of 1870. The white residents of the "State "stood well together, and carried the election by a large majority against the Republicans. So soon as the result was known Governor Bullock, whose term had still two more years to run, abandoned his office and left the "State," and Georgia was thus early rescued from negro domination, or rather "carpet-bag" domination through negro suffrage. Her harder experiences during the years from 1868 to 1870 had worked out to her advantage, in that it brought the respectable and capable portion of her white citizens together earlier than was the case in the other reconstructed Commonwealths similarly situated. From the point of view of a sound political science the imposition of universal negro suffrage upon the Negro rule in the South from the point of view of po litical science and ethnical principle. Southern communities, in some of which the negroes were in large majority, was one of the "blunder-crimes of the century. There is something natural in the subordination of an inferior race to a superior race, even to the point of the enslavement of the inferior race, but there is nothing natural in the opposite. It is entirely unnatural, ruinous, and utterly demoralizing and barbarizing to both races. It is difficult to believe that the creation of such a relation between the blacks and whites of the South was at all within the intentions of the framers of the Reconstruction Acts. They were irritated because these communities would not accord civil equality to the freedmen, would not accept the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, and had passed acts which created a new species of slavery or quasi-slavery of the blacks. They thought they were placed between the alternative of continuing military government in the South indefinitely, or giving the negro the political power with which to maintain his civil rights. Opposition to military government in time of peace was an ingrained principle of the American people, and there was a large part of people of the North, nearly all adhering to the Republican party, who believed that manhood suffrage was the true principle of a sound political science. And it was thought that the only way of creating "States" in the South which would sustain the Republican party was by giving the negro the suffrage. It is not surprising, then, that they adopted the course which they did. There was a third alternative, as has already been pointed out, viz., the placing of these communities under Territorial civil government and keeping them there until the spirit of loyalty to the Nation was established and the principle and practice of civil equality among all citizens was made thoroughly secure. But, as has been said, the idea that these communities were "States" of the Union, notwithstanding their rebellion against the United States and their attempted secession from the Union, seemed to prohibit the following of this course, the only true and sound course. And so these unhappy communities were given over, as sham "States" of the Union, to the rule of the ignorant and vicious part of their population, to be sustained therein by the military power of the Nation, under the excuse that that part alone was loyal. A period of darkness now settled down upon these unhappy communities blacker and more hopeless than the worst experiences of the war. The conduct of the men who now appeared upon the scene as the creators of the new South was so tyrannic, corrupt, mean and vulgar as to repel the historian from attempting any detailed account of their doings, and incline him to the vaguest outline. Moreover it is most difficult to fix upon reliable facts in this period of confusion and political night, illuminated only by the lurid gleams of passion and hatred. It is best for the North, best for the South, best for the whole country, and best for the world that this terrible mistake of the North and this terrible degradation of the South should be dealt with briefly and impersonally, and that lessons of warning should be drawn from these experiences, instead of multiplying criminations and recriminations in regard to them. CHAPTER XII "CARPET-BAG" AND NEGRO DOMINATION IN THE SOUTHERN STATES BETWEEN 1868 AND 1876 Escape of Virginia, Georgia and Texas from Negro Rule-North Carolina's Rapid Recovery from Negro Rule · The Loyal League-Origin of the K. K. K.'s-Methods of the Ku-KluxPeriods in the History of Negro Rule The Act for the Enforcement of the New Amendments-The Corruption in the New "State Governments-The Supplemental Enforcement Act -The President's Proclamation of March 23d, 1871-The KuKlux Act of April 20, 1871-Interference of the United States Military Power in the Affairs of South Carolina-The President's Proclamation of May 3d, 1871-The President's Proclamation to the People of South Carolina-The Ku-Klux Trials -Corruption in the State Governments of the South—The Revolt in the Republican Party-The Liberal Republican Convention of 1872-Acceptance of the Liberal Republican Candidates by the Democrats-Division in the Democratic Party -The Republican Platform and Nominees-The Republican Triumph-Events in Alabama - Events in Louisiana - The Downward Course between 1872 and 1874-The Election of 1874 - The Change in Alabama, Arkansas and Texas - The Status in South Carolina in 1874-The Day of Complete Deliverance-The Status in Mississippi in 1875-Fiat Money and the Resumption of Specie Payments-The Inflation Bill of 1874 and the Veto of it by the President. Escape of VIRGINIA, Texas and Georgia had been in no great hurry, as we have seen, to exchange military government exercised by the white officers of the United States army for "State government under Virginia Georgia and the electorate proposed in the Reconstruction Texas from Acts. In this they were wise. officers did not, as a rule, sympathize with the radical negro rule. The army |