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Belief 8 -
Reading 9 of 14 |
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Navigate within this
Belief: Reading
8 << >> Reading
10 |
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Additional Beliefs: Belief 1
Belief 2 Belief 3 Belief 4 Belief 5 Belief 6 Belief 7 Belief 8 |
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Harper's Weekly, October 14, 1865,
page 643 (Domestic Intelligence) |
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The South Carolina State Convention
was convened in the Baptist Church at Columbia at noon September 13. The Convention
consisted of 124 delegates, all of whom, with the exception of five or six, were present.
Judge D. L. Wardlaw was elected President. No sooner had a committee been appointed to
wait upon the Governor than Mr. Aldrich offered a resolution to the effect that South
Carolina, while compelled to accept the situation now forced upon her, awaited her
opportunity to throw off restraint. Fortunately for the State not more than four or five
supporters could be found for Mr. Aldrich. Even Ex-Governor Pickens reminded Mr. Aldrich
that bluster was hardly in their line just now. It being proposed that the rules for the
convention of 1860 be adopted in this one, Mr. James L. Orr pointedly remarked that the
less said about the 1860 Convention the better. On the second day of the Convention
Governor Perrys Message was received. This Message advised a thorough remodeling of
the State Government, so that all elections for State officers should proceed immediately
from the people. The abolition of slavery was insisted on, while negro suffrage was
repudiated. On the third day the Convention repealed the Ordinance of Secession. A
committee was appointed to memorialize the President in behalf of Davis, Stephens,
Magrath, and Trenholm. On the fourth day the following resolutions were introduced
by Mr. Hammond: |
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Resolved, That the Union is
the first and paramount consideration of the American people. |
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Resolved, That sovereignty, a
unit absolute and indivisible, which, in all nations, must exist somewhere, resides in the
American people, and its authorized representative within the limits of the organic
lawthe Constitutionis the Federal Government. |
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Resolved, That it is an
uncontrovertible fact that slavery has ceased to exist through the exercise of the
military power of the Federal Government, and that any attempt by us to revive it would be
impolitic, unwise, and not only futile but disastrous. |
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Resolved, That it is true
policy of the American people to confine the General Government strictly within the limits
of the Constitution, and to acknowledge the inalienable right of each State to regulate
its own affairs in its own way. |
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Resolved, That the late war
was not one of an oppressed people against tyranny, but arose from an apprehension, on the
part of the weaker section, of oppression and tyranny in the future, and was carried on
under an honest conviction, coexistent among statesmen in every part of the country, with
the adoption of the Constitution itself, that a State had the reserved right to revoke the
powers it had delegated to the General Government, whenever, in the judgment of such
State, there might be danger that those powers would be used to its disadvantage. The war,
therefore, not having been strictly in the nature of rebellion or insurrection, we most
respectfully suggest to his Excellency the President, the justice and wisdom of not
enforcing the pains and penalties affixed to those crimes by the laws of the United
States. |
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Resolved, That we indorse the
acts of President Johnsons administration, and will cordially support its wise and
patriotic efforts to restore to the whole country the blessings of peace. |
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These resolutions were referred to a
committee, and were not heard of again. The sixth day was taken up in debating upon
the prohibition of slavery. As on previous occasions, there were a few who wished to
disturb the peaceful work of the Convention, but Mr. Orr and others talked pretty plainly
in regard to the necessities of the case. After a little skirmish a clause was introduced
into the Constitution declaring slavery in South Carolina abolished. The Convention
adjourned September 28, after fifteen days session, after having, besides the
business already detailed, equalized the representation in the Senate and taxation
throughout the State, given the election of Governor and Presidential electors to the
people, ordered voting in the Legislature by viva voce, indorsed the
Administration unanimously, and directed a commission to submit a code to the Legislature
for the protection of the colored population. The election for governor and members
of the Legislature will take place on the 18th of October, and James L. Orr is
nominated for Governor. It is understood that Governor Perry will be sent to the United
States Senate. |
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The Alabama Convention met on the 12th
of September. Hon. Benjamin Fitzpatrick was elected President. On the 16th the
ordinance of secession was voted null and void. On the 29th an ordinance was
passed establishing the right of admission of negro testimony into courts of justice. The
Convention before its adjournment adopted ordinances ordering the election of State
officers on the first Monday in November, legalizing the marriages of negroes, authorizing
the county commissioners to provide for indigent and helpless negroes, and directing
judicial officers to continue as agents of the Freedmens Bureau. |
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Harper's Weekly,
October 14, 1865, page 643 (Domestic Intelligence) |
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