OVERTHROW OF THE REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENT IN MISSISSIPPI
In the last preceding chapter it was stated that the reason for the
sanguinary revolution, which resulted in the overthrow of the Republican
state government in the State of Mississippi in 1875, would be given in
a subsequent chapter. What was true of Mississippi at that time was
largely true of the other Reconstructed States where similar results
subsequently followed. When the War of the Rebellion came to an end it
was believed by some, and apprehended by others, that serious and
radical changes in the previous order of things would necessarily
follow.
But when what was known as the Johnson Plan of Reconstruction was
disclosed it was soon made plain that if that plan should be accepted by
the country no material change would follow, for the reason, chiefly,
that the abolition of slavery would have been abolition only in name.
While physical slavery would have been abolished, yet a sort of feudal
or peonage system would have been established in its place, the effect
of which would have been practically the same as the system which had
been abolished. The former slaves would have been held in a state of
servitude through the medium of labor-contracts which they would have
been obliged to sign,--or to have signed for them,--from which they, and
their children, and, perhaps, their children's children could never have
been released. This would have left the old order of things practically
unchanged. The large landowners would still be the masters of the
situation, the power being still possessed by them to perpetuate their
own potential influence and to maintain their own political supremacy.
But it was the rejection of the Johnson Plan of Reconstruction that
upset these plans and destroyed these calculations. The Johnson plan was
not only rejected, but what was known as the Congressional Plan of
Reconstruction,--by which suffrage was conferred upon the colored men in
all the States that were to be reconstructed,--was accepted by the
people of the North as the permanent policy of the government, and was
thus made the basis of Reconstruction and readmission of those States
into the Union.
Of course this meant a change in the established order of things that
was both serious and radical. It meant the destruction of the power and
influence of the Southern aristocracy. It meant not only the physical
emancipation of the blacks but the political emancipation of the poor
whites, as well. It meant the destruction in a large measure of the
social, political, and industrial distinctions that had been maintained
among the whites under the old order of things. But was this to be the
settled policy of the government? Was it a fact that the incorporation
of the blacks into the body politic of the country was to be the settled
policy of the government; or was it an experiment,--a temporary
expedient?
These were doubtful and debatable questions, pending the settlement of
which matters could not be expected to take a definite shape. With the
incorporation of the blacks into the body politic of the country,--which
would have the effect of destroying the ability of the aristocracy to
maintain their political supremacy, and which would also have the effect
of bringing about the political emancipation of the whites of the middle
and lower classes,--a desperate struggle for political supremacy between
the antagonistic elements of the whites was inevitable and unavoidable.
But the uncertainty growing out of the possibility of the rejection by
the country of the Congressional Plan of Reconstruction was what held
matters in temporary abeyance. President Johnson was confident,--or
pretended to be,--that as soon as the people of the North had an
opportunity to pass judgment upon the issues involved, the result would
be the acceptance of his plan and the rejection of the one proposed by
Congress.
While the Republicans were successful in 1868 in not only electing the
President and Vice-President and a safe majority in both branches of
Congress, yet the closeness of the result had the effect of preventing
the abandonment of the hope on the part of the supporters of the Johnson
administration that the administration Plan of Reconstruction would
ultimately be adopted and accepted as the basis of Reconstruction. Hence
bitter and continued opposition to the Congressional Plan of
Reconstruction was declared by the ruling class of the South to be the
policy of that section. While the Republicans were again successful in
the Congressional elections of 1870 yet the advocates of the Johnson
plan did not abandon hope of the ultimate success and acceptance by the
country of that plan until after the Presidential and Congressional
elections of 1872. In the meantime a serious split had taken place in
the Republican party which resulted in the nomination of two sets of
candidates for President and Vice-President. The Independent or Liberal
Republicans nominated Horace Greeley of New York, for President, and B.
Gratz Brown, of Missouri, for Vice-President. The regular Republicans
renominated President Grant to succeed himself, and for Vice-President,
Senator Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, was selected.
The Democratic National Convention endorsed the ticket that had been
nominated by the Liberal Republicans. The Republicans carried the
election by an immense majority. With two or three exceptions the
electoral vote of every state in the Union was carried for Grant and
Wilson. The Republicans also had a very large majority in both branches
of Congress.
Since the result of the election was so decisive, and since every branch
of the government was then in the hands of the Republicans, further
opposition to the Congressional Plan of Reconstruction was for the first
time completely abandoned. The fact was then recognized that this was
the settled and accepted policy of the Government and that further
opposition to it was useless. A few of the southern whites, General
Alcorn being one of the number, had accepted the result of the
Presidential and Congressional elections of 1868 as conclusive as to the
policy of the country with reference to Reconstruction; but those who
thought and acted along those lines at that time were exceptions to the
general rule. But after the Presidential and Congressional elections of
1872 all doubt upon that subject was entirely removed.
The Southern whites were now confronted with a problem that was both
grave and momentous. But the gravity of the situation was chiefly based
upon the possibility,--if not upon a probability,--of a reversal of
what had been the established order of things, especially those of a
political nature.
The inevitable conflict between the antagonistic elements of which
Southern society was composed could no longer be postponed. But the
colored vote was the important factor which now had to be considered and
taken into account. It was conceded that whatever element or faction
could secure the favor and win the support of the colored vote would be
the dominant and controlling one in the State. It is true that between
1868 and 1872, when the great majority of Southern whites maintained a
policy of "masterly inactivity," the colored voters were obliged to
utilize such material among the whites as was available; but it is a
well-known fact that much of the material thus utilized was from
necessity and not from choice, and that whenever and wherever an
acceptable and reputable white man would place himself in a position
where his services could be utilized he was gladly taken up and loyally
supported by the colored voters.
After 1872 the necessity for supporting undesirable material no longer
existed; and colored voters had the opportunity not only of supporting
Southern whites for all the important positions in the State, but also
of selecting the best and most desirable among them. Whether the poor
whites or the aristocrats of former days were to be placed in control of
the affairs of the State was a question which the colored voters alone
could settle and determine. That the colored man's preference should be
the aristocrat of the past was perfectly natural, since the relations
between them had been friendly, cordial and amicable even during the
days of slavery. Between the blacks and the poor whites the feeling had
been just the other way; which was due not so much to race antipathy as
to jealousy and envy on the part of the poor whites, growing out of the
cordial and friendly relations between the aristocrats and their slaves;
and because the slaves were, in a large measure, their competitors in
the industrial market. When the partiality of the colored man for the
former aristocrats became generally known, they--the former
aristocrats,--began to come into the Republican party in large numbers.
In Mississippi they were led by such men as Alcorn, in Georgia by
Longstreet, in Virginia by Moseby, and also had as leaders such
ex-governors as Orr, of South Carolina; Brown, of Georgia, and Parsons,
of Alabama.
Between 1872 and 1875 the accessions to the Republican ranks were so
large that it is safe to assert that from twenty-five to thirty per cent
of the white men of the Southern States were identified with the
Republican party; and those who thus acted were among the best and most
substantial men of that section. Among that number in the State of
Mississippi was J.L. Alcorn, J.A. Orr, J.B. Deason, R.W. Flournoy, and
Orlando Davis. In addition to these there were thousands of others, many
of them among the most prominent men of the State. Among the number was
Judge Hiram Cassidy, who was the candidate of the Democratic party for
Congress from the Sixth District in 1872, running against the writer of
these lines. He was one of the most brilliant and successful members of
the bar in southern Mississippi. Captain Thomas W. Hunt, of Jefferson
County, was a member of one of the oldest, best, and most influential
families of the South. The family connections were not, however,
confined to the South; George Hunt Pendelton of Ohio, for instance, who
was the Democratic candidate for Vice-President of the United States on
the ticket with McClellan, in 1864, and who was later one of the United
States Senators from Ohio, was a member of the same family.
While the colored men held the key to the situation, the white men knew
that the colored men had no desire to rule or dominate even the
Republican party. All the colored men wanted and demanded was a voice in
the government under which they lived, and to the support of which they
contributed, and to have a small, but fair, and reasonable proportion of
the positions that were at the disposal of the voters of the State and
of the administration.
While the colored men did not look with favor upon a political alliance
with the poor whites, it must be admitted that, with very few
exceptions, that class of whites did not seek, and did not seem to
desire such an alliance. For this there were several well-defined
reasons.
In the first place, while the primary object of importing slaves into
that section was to secure labor for the cultivation of cotton, the
slave was soon found to be an apt pupil in other lines of industry. In
addition to having his immense cotton plantations cultivated by slave
labor, the slave-owner soon learned that he could utilize these slaves
as carpenters, painters, plasterers, bricklayers, blacksmiths and in all
other fields of industrial occupations and usefulness. Thus the whites
who depended upon their labor for a living along those lines had their
field of opportunity very much curtailed. Although the slaves were not
responsible for this condition, the fact that they were there and were
thus utilized, created a feeling of bitterness and antipathy on the part
of the laboring whites which could not be easily wiped out.
In the second place, the whites of that class were not at that time as
ambitious, politically, as were the aristocrats. They had been held in
political subjection so long that it required some time for them to
realize that there had been a change. At that time they, with a few
exceptions, were less efficient, less capable, and knew less about
matters of state and governmental administration than many of the
ex-slaves. It was a rare thing, therefore, to find one of that class at
that time that had any political ambition or manifested any desire for
political distinction or official recognition. As a rule, therefore, the
whites that came into the leadership of the Republican party between
1872 and 1875 were representatives of the most substantial families of
the land.