REFITTING THE WRECK.
A. D. 1865 TO 1867.
1. When the bulk of the vast armies that had effected the
overthrow of the Confederacy was marched northward and disbanded,
the full extent of the ruin that had been wrought was at last
realized. So many Federal troops had been collected in North
Carolina that their subsistence and depredations had consumed
nearly all the food in the State, and the utmost scarcity was
disclosed in broad districts contiguous to the line of march and
occupation by General Sherman's great armies.
2. Grief for the ruined South, the desolated homes and slain
kinsmen was further supplemented by the pangs of want and hunger.
Famishing men and women were forced to solicit rations of the
Federal officers. Aid was given generally to needy applicants,
upon their taking the oath of allegiance to the United States.
3. In the liberation of the slaves ruin was brought upon the
banks and other fiscal corporations of the State, and, as a
consequence, the endowments of the University and the colleges
were, to a great extent, forever lost. Even the large Literary
Fund, by which the whole system of common schools was sustained,
being invested in similar securities, also disappeared in the
general bankruptcy.
4. When the Provisional Governor had entered upon the discharge
of his official duties, North Carolina was reduced to a small
supply of cotton as the sum of her available means to discharge
the current expenses of the new government, and even that was
seized by the agents of the United States, and to Governor
Holden's appeals for its release, the Secretary of the Treasury
and President Johnson proved deaf and inexorable.
5. Judges Pearson and Battle were re-instated in their places of
Supreme Court Justices, but Judge M. E. Manly was replaced by
Edwin G. Reade, of Person. By orders from Washington, a
proclamation was issued for an election of a Convention to
restore the State to its former relations. This body met October
2nd, 1865, and selected Judge Reade as its president. Ordinances
were passed repealing and declaring null and void the secession
ordinances of May 20th, 1861, abolishing slavery and invalidating
all contracts made in furtherance of the late war.
1866.
6. In the same election, Jonathan Worth, of Randolph, was chosen
over Governor Holden as Chief-Magistrate. The State was
apparently resuming its self-government, and was soon to show
that some spirit was left in the people. They refused to ratify
the ordinances of the late Convention by a decided majority; and
while accepting the situation and submitting in all quietude to
the authorities imposed, they were yet resolved to take no part
in these constrained reformations.
7. The general government had been for four years declaring the
Ordinances of Secession, passed by the several States, null and
void. It had been repeatedly announced that no State could thus
sever her connection with the Union; but when the legally elected
Senators and Representatives from North Carolina reached
Washington, they found that this doctrine was reversed, and were
told that they could not take part in national legislation until
Congress should restore the Southern States to their lost
privileges.
8. In the Southern elections that were held, every man was
required to take oaths of allegiance and for the support of the
amended Federal Constitution. Some refused to attend the polls
and a few left the country for foreign lands. A vast majority
were resolved to support the Union in good faith, but, unhappily,
this was not so understood by the men who controlled at Raleigh
and Washington. They were impressed with the belief that only
hostile sentiments actuated Southern white men, and, therefore,
the proper policy was to confer political power upon the negroes,
and in that way establish a new system of rule and social life in
the Southern States lately in revolt.
1867.
9. This was a great and cruel mistake in policy. It was not only
impossible of execution, but necessarily entailed trouble and
suffering on both races thus put in antagonism. It could not be
expected that white people would quietly submit to the domination
of negroes who had so recently been their slaves, even if such
rulers had been equally intelligent and socially respected. When
the race feeling was added to the late subjection and present
ignorance of the negroes, it was the most futile and abortive
scheme ever proposed in America, and was at war with all the
precedents and spirit of the great Republic.
QUESTIONS.
1. What was the condition of the State after the departure of
Federal troops?
2. How were the people enduring mental and bodily suffering?
3. What had become of the various educational funds?
4. What was the only means by which North Carolina could meet the
expenses of the State government? What became of the small
supply of cotton?
5. What changes did Governor Holden make in the Supreme Court?
What orders did the Governor receive from Washington? What was
the Work of the Convention?
6. Who. was chosen to succeed Governor Holden? What political
opinions were expressed by the people in their votes?
7. What inconsistencies were observed in the management of
affairs at Washington?
8. How did the men of the South feel concerning the laws of Congress?
9. How are the events of this period considered?