THE RESULTS OF RECONSTRUCTION.
A. D. 1868 TO 1870.
There was in North Carolina great indignation at the result of
the enforced changes wrought in the polity of the State by means
of the various congressional enactments. Strangers from other
States, and men entirely unused to legislation, had effected many
alterations in our government and laws. It was to be expected
that such things, done in such manner, would prove distasteful to
a proud race that had so lately withstood so stoutly on the field
of battle, and so long, such superior numbers.
2. Among the many unnecessary changes that were rendered more
distasteful by the harsh manner of their accomplishment, were
those made by Governor Holden and his party at the State
University at Chapel Hill. This venerable institution, which had
given education to many men of renown, was taken in hand, and,
with a new management and a new faculty, made up of carpetbaggers
and unsuitable native North Carolinians, re-opened its doors.
Its late president, ex-Governor David L. Swain, had died shortly
after his removal, his colleagues in the Faculty had dispersed in
search of new homes, and silence had usurped the halls so long
thronged by students from many States. The village of Chapel
Hill, depending on the existence of the University for its
support, became almost deserted. No less than thirty of its best
families removed within two years. The people of North Carolina
refused to patronize the new organization, and the institution
was for seven years prostrate.
3. The changes did not stop with the University. The judges of
all the courts had been, since 1776, elected by the Legislature.
This was altered, so that they were in future to be selected by
the votes of the people. The name of the lower branch of the
General Assembly, so long known as the House of "Commons," became
that of the "Representatives." The meeting of the Assembly was
made annual instead of biennial, and the pay of the members and
State officials largely increased. Our county government system,
too, was changed, and so was the mode of electing magistrates, who
had hitherto been elected by the Legislature. In future they
were to be elected by the people. In many portions of the State
the effect was to put the white race at once under the domination
of the black race. Bitterness and great excitement were the
inevitable results. But of all the innovations, none, perhaps,
was so startling as that made in the procedure and practice of
the courts. It was distasteful both to client and counsel, but
to the older lawyers it was especially objectionable.
1869.
4. The distinguishing event of this year in North Carolina was
the appearance, in various parts of the State, of well-organized
bodies of horsemen, commonly called Ku-Klux, who rode about at
night in full disguise and punished crimes that the law had
failed to punish. The mystery attending their coming and their
going, the silence they preserved in their marches, the disguises
they wore, coupled with the terrible punishment they inflicted,
struck terror into the hearts of men with guilty consciences.
5. These midnight riders were doubtless in their origin the
natural outgrowth of the condition of society that had prevailed
in North Carolina for some time past--that is to say, they were
originally nothing more nor less than local mutual protective
associations, with little form about them and but little more
secrecy. The first step having been taken in that direction, the
next followed as a matter of course. Next came associations to
prevent future crime by punishing past crime. These
organizations were more complex in their character and of wider
range in their operations.
6. The condition of society was very bad, but not worse than
might have been expected under a government which, obnoxious in
its creation, daily became more hateful in its conduct. Negro
suffrage had just become a reality. Spies and eavesdroppers were
everywhere catching up men's words and watching men's actions for
report to the government at Raleigh. Corruption and
licentiousness stalked openly in the legislative halls and sat
unblushingly on the judicial bench, while in the Executive office
was a Governor ready to obey the behests of his party at any
cost. It was an era of extravagance, bribery, corruption,
oppression, licentiousness and lawlessness. Of the negroes,
ignorant slaves but yesterday, with all their passion stirred to
the utmost, large numbers blindly believed that freedom and
suffrage would make them masters tomorrow were it not for the
native white race. First suspicious, then sullen, then
aggressive, they soon came under the bad teaching of the men who
were their leaders, to regard the native white men as their born
enemies. The result was the murder of men, the outraging of
women, the burning of barns and other like destruction of
property, then of vital importance, for the law had no terror for
an evil doer who had friends at court or in the Executive
chamber. It is but just to the negroes, however, to say that it
is not believed that if they had been left to themselves they
would have acted as they did, but that they were influenced to
bad deeds by bad white men, who used them as tools to accomplish
political ends. Under such circumstances as these, good citizens
felt that they were tried beyond human endurance, and justified
themselves to their own consciences for taking the law into their
own hands.
7. The evils the Ku-Klux came to cure were indeed unbearable; but
it must be said, also, that while the disease was desperate, the
remedy was fearful. It is a fearful thing for men to band
themselves together in secret and take the law into their own
hands, and nothing but the direst necessity and the gravest
emergency can ever justify it. Inseparable from every such
organization, and this proved no exception to the rule, is the
danger of its easy perversion to the gratification of personal
malice or the improper punishment of petty offences, and this
alone ought to be warning that in such a remedy lies terrible
danger.
8. Governor Holden quailed before the Ku-Klux, and from his
guarded house issued proclamation after proclamation, but they
would not down at his bidding. When winter came and with it the
Legislature, Senator Shoffner, of Alamance, at the instance of
the Governor, introduced a bill into the Senate, in its terms
conferring upon the Governor the right to declare any and every
county in the State to be in insurrection, and to recruit and
maintain an army whenever he saw proper. In other words, the
bill sought to confer upon the Governor the power to declare
martial law at will. Of course this was unconstitutional.
1870.
9. The Shoffner bill was ratified on the 29th of January, 1870.
On the night of the 26th of February, Wyatt Outlaw, a negro, was
hung in the county town of Alamance, by the Ku-Klux. On the 7th
of March the county was declared to be in a state of
insurrection. Federal troops were sent there, but beyond eating
their rations they had no occupation, for quiet and good order
prevailed throughout the county.
10. A striking fact, true of every place during these unhappy
times, is that whenever white Federal troops were sent to a
troubled section, whether in Alamance, Caswell, Orange or
elsewhere, there was straightway an end of trouble. The law-
breakers were awed into good behavior, and those who in self-
protection had forced, in their own judgment, to take into their
own hands the administration of justice, of course had no further
occasion to do so.
11. Governor Holden, however, seemed not to be satisfied with the
Shoffner bill, for on the 10th of March he wrote* to the
President, asking that stringent orders be sent to the commanding
general, and stating that if "criminals could be arrested and
tried before military tribunals and shot, there would soon be
peace and order throughout the country. The remedy," he said,
"would be a sharp and bloody one, but indispensable as was the
suppression of the rebellion." The 14th he wrote to the members
of Congress from North Carolina**, beseeching them to induce
Congress to author the President to declare martial law in
certain localities, so that he might "have military tribunals, by
which assassins and murderers can be summarily tried and shot,"
and telling them at the same time that he could not have such
tribunals unless the President was authorized to suspend the
habeas corpus.
*For letter in full, see Governor's Letter-book, page 328.
**For letter in full, see Governor's Letter-book, page 329.
12. At the time when the Governor was so anxious thus "summarily"
to try and shoot people, not a single man had been killed in
Caswell, and only one in Alamance. It might be borne in mind,
too, that the men whom he refers to, and whom he afterwards
arrested as assassins and murderers, were among the best men in
all the land, many of them venerable for age as well as respected
for personal integrity and Christian character.
QUESTIONS.
1. How did our people take the many changes in State polity?
2. What was done with the University?
3. How was the manner of electing judges changed? What was the
effect of this change?
4. What secret organization was formed at this time?
5. What is said of the Ku-Klux?
6. Can you tell something of the condition of society?
7. How are the doings of the Ku-Klux considered?
8. What was done by the Governor in regard to the Ku-Klux?
9. What occurred in Alamance county?
10. What was the general effect produced by the Federal troops?
11. What was the next step taken by Governor Holden?
12. Who were the men arrested by order of the Governor?