Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 2 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
a gentleman and a soldier, who, we have reason to believe, will uphold and not destroy the civil government of the state; who will respect and not trample underfoot the civil laws he may find in force, and who will restore those set aside by his predecessor, who will guarantee freedom from fraud and corruption in registrars, managers or voters, in any future elections, registrations that may be held under said military acts; and who will tolerate, in its fullest extent, freedom of speech and of the press in the discussion of the great questions affecting the present and future welfare of the people of Georgia.
"Resolved, That entertaining these views with reference to General Meade and the course he will pursue in the administration of this office, we welcome him to our city and trust he will continue his headquarters at Atlanta, as commander of the Third Military District."
The next resolution provided that a committee be appointed to formally welcome General Meade to Atlanta and present him with a copy of the resolutions. The resolutions provided for sending a copy to the president of the United States. The committee of seven provided for in the foregoing resolutions had a very pleasant interview with the new commander, and the impression he made on the people of Atlanta who met him the first few days was a favorable one.
On the 8th of January, the constitutional convention reconvened in the city hall, with a full attendance of delegates. There was a feeling that the removal of General Pope would have a tendency to make the body more conservative and more amenable to "old-line" influences. Delegate Clift introduced an important ordinance the first day, the object of which was to express the sense of the convention as to the relations of a state to the central government. The ordinance in question was as follows:
"Whereas, In times past the opinion gained currency that all persons residing in and subject to the laws of Georgia, owed allegiance to the government thereof, and that that allegiance was paramount and superior to any duty or obligation to support the government of the United States, and
"Whereas, Said opinion is incorrect, ruinous, and productive of evil, therefore, we, the people of Georgia, in convention assembled, do ordain and declare that our first allegiance is due to the government of the United States, and that no authority does exist, has ever existed, or can exist among us or in us, capable of dissolving us from our allegiance to the government of the United States."
Ex-Governor Brown was a leader of the conformist wing of true Georgians. On the 9th of January he was invited by resolution to address the convention, which he did with his characteristic eloquence and mental acumen. Among other things he said:
"The opposition is led by some of the most sagacious statesmen of this country, who will profit by any mistake you make. It is true, some of its assumed leaders are unprincipled, unscrupulous demagogues, who have great powers of declamation, but no judgment, and who have always led every party, which has followed them, to destruction. Such men, conscious of their own moral obliquity and dishonesty, naturally suppose all others as unprincipled as themselves, and denounce all who differ from them as knaves, fools or corrupt traitors. Such men will spare no pains, willfully, to mislead and deceive the people both as to your motives and your acts. Having been on all sides of all political questions, they have no pride of character, and no love of the truth, and care nothing for principle or for the peace of the country if they can but get office."
With reference to negro suffrage and the fear that the negro would rule the State of Georgia, Governor Brown said: "But those who affirm that we are to have negro government, have not even the pretext of numbers to sustain them. Take the registered voters under the Sherman bill, and the whites have two thousand majority. There are from the best estimates we can make about five thousand to ten thousand disfranchised. Put these numbers together and you have about fifteen thousand majority of white men. Now, my friends, you say we have superiority of race, intellect, education, experience, property, that we are superior to the negro race in all the elements necessary to constitute the governing class. The reconstruction acts give them the right to vote, but not to hold office; then tell me we are to have negro government under the Congressional plan of reconstruction with all these advantages, sustained by fifteen thousand majority! The idea is simply ridiculous. The dishonest demagogues who use it are of the same class who denounce universal, indiscriminate white suffrage for having destroyed the peace and prosperity of the country, and saddled upon an innocent and unborn posterity burdens too grievous to be borne. The objection with them, when we look to the bottom of it, is not stronger against negro suffrage than it is against universal suffrage. They are opposed to both. Their doctrine is that the few — the true aristocracy — should rule, and that the ignorant mass, as they regard them, should have nothing to do with government but to obey its behests. It is the old doctrine, that only those born of the aristocracy should govern. It is the few supplying the government to the many. But in this era it will be a failure," etc.
In defense of General Pope, Governor Brown said that the general had not, as charged, "gerrymandered" the State so as to give it over to negro domination, and that the editors and speakers who had made so much fuss over that question, and who had done General Pope so much injustice, should put their heads together, and with the acts of Congress as their guide, which General Pope was obliged to obey, and the basis of representation established by the laws, and take the map of Georgia and lay the State off in the proper number of election districts composed of contiguous territory into anything like reasonable shape, and do more justice between the races than was done by General Pope, in adopting the senatorial districts as the election districts. His opinion was that it could not have been done.
How much of an improvement General Meade was over General Pope, in the estimation of the "anti-radicals." can be judged by his removal of the governor and treasurer of the State of Georgia from office, by virtue of the power of military law. The difficulty was over the old matter of paying the expenses of the constitutional convention. January 7th, 1868, General Meade addressed a letter to Provisional Governor Jenkins, requesting, or, rather, commanding him, to draw a warrant on the state treasurer for the sum of $40,000, to defray the necessary expenses of the constitutional convention, which Treasurer Jones had declined to do under the administration of General Pope, alleging as the reason for his refusal that the constitution under which he took his oath of office did not permit such action on his part, without a warrant from the governor, and the approval of the comptroller-general. Governor Jenkins answered the letter of the military commander on the loth, to the effect that after careful consideration, and the clearest conviction of duty, he must respectfully decline to comply with the request, for in complying he would be guilty of deliberately violating the state constitution of 1865, and the constitution of the United States as well General Meade replied tartly to Governor Jenkins, under date of the 13th, informing him that his action made it incumbent upon him to remove Governor Jenkins from his office, as his refusal to issue the necessary warrant, as requested, was palpably an obstruction of the reconstruction laws. At the same time he removed State Treasurer Jones. The order under which these two high officials were removed and their places filled by officers of the United States army, is as follows:
"Headquarters Third Military District.
"Dept. Ga., Ala. and Fla.,
"General Order No. 8: Atlanta, Ga., January 13, 1868.
"I. Charles J. Jenkins, provisional governor, and John Jones, provisional treasurer of the State of Georgia, having declined to respect the instructions of, and failed to co-operate with the major-general commanding the Third Military District, are hereby removed from office.
"II. By virtue of the authority granted by the Supplementary Reconstruction Act of Congress, passed July 19, 1867, the following named officers are detailed for duty in the district of Georgia: Brevet Brigadier-General Thomas H. Ruger, colonel Thirty-third Infantry, to be governor of the State of Georgia; Brevet Captain Charles F. Rockwell, Ordinance Corps, U. S. Army, to be treasurer of the State of Georgia.
"III. The above-named officers will proceed without delay to Milledgeville, Ga., and enter upon the discharge of the duties devolving upon them, subject to instructions from these headquarters.
By order of
General Meade. [Official]
R. C. Drum, Assistant Adjt. General.