CHAPTERVITENNESSEE AND THE NEW AMENDMENTSThedeed of cession of Tennessee to the United States by North Carolina contained the provision “that no regulation made or to be made by Congress shall tend to emancipate slaves.” The constitution under which Tennessee was admitted into the Union also recognized slavery by the use of the term “freeman” throughout the bill of rights. It was, however, exceedingly liberal in regard to the suffrage, conferring it upon every “freeman of the age of twenty-one years, and upwards.” Under this provision, free negroes were allowed to vote.About 1830, there developed a strong movement in favor of emancipation. At Jonesborough was established the first abolition newspaper ever published in America. But this emancipation sentiment had entirely disappeared by 1860. Even in East Tennessee, the most extreme opponents of secession were firm believers in slavery.The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, did not include Tennessee within its provisions. Slavery, therefore continued to exist as a legal institution until abolished by an amendment to the State constitution. This amendment, as we have seen, was framed by the Radical Convention of 1865. In April, of the same year, Gov. Brownlow laid before the Legislature a joint resolution of Congress containing the proposed Thirteenth Amendment. It was promptly ratified.In his initial message, Gov. Brownlow discussed, at considerable length, the race problem. He sought to impress upon the Legislature, “that some legislation was necessary for the protection, government, and control of the emancipated slave.” The Legislature did not enter upon this work immediately. It was not till May 11, 1866, that a bill was passed entitled, “An act to define the term, ‘A Person of Color,’ and to declare the rights of such persons.”The first section of this act provided that under the term “Person of Color” should be included all “negroes, mulatoes, meztigsoes, and their descendants having African blood.” The second section declared: “That persons of color have the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue and be sued, to be parties and give evidence, and have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and estate, and shall not be subject to any other or different punishment, pains, or penalty for the commission of any act or offence than such as are prescribed for white persons committing like acts or offences.” By the fifth section, slave marriages were legalized. The last section declared that nothing in the act should be so construed as to admit persons of color to serve on the jury, or to require the education of colored and white children in the same school.Soon after the passage of this act occurred the great struggle over the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. At the time of its submission by Congress to the State the Legislature was not in session. Gov. Brownlow, therefore, issued a call for an extra session to convene on July 4th. The members were very slow in assembling. It became apparent that the opponents of the amendment in the Lower House would seek to defeat its ratification by preventing a quorum, which was fixed by the constitution at two thirds of all the members. Upon the first roll-call only forty-two members answered to their names. At the third meeting this list was increased to fifty-four, but it still fell short two votes of the necessary two thirds. The Sergeant-at-arms was, therefore, instructed to arrest the absentees, and bring them by force to the floor of the House. He did not find this an easy task, as the refractory members sought by every means possible to elude his search.The following extract from his report gives a glimpse of the ludicrous game of hide-and-seek enacted in different parts of the State:“I have the honor to report that in compliance with instruction that I should proceed to Hamilton County, and arrest George B. Foster, member of the House of Representatives, I proceeded to Chattanooga on Friday the 13th, 1866, arriving on the morning of the fourteenth, at 2 o’clock; communicated with the Sergeant of the Metropolitan Police, procured a wagon, and, in company with Sergeant Bently, proceeded to the summit of Lookout Mountain, to the residence of Mr. Foster, and was there informed by his family that he had ridden out in the country; carefully watched the premises without result until evening; was informed that he would be home that night; lay up on the mountain all night, awaiting his return. Mr. Foster did not return. I am satisfied that his family on the mountain, at the time of my leaving them, did not positively know of his whereabouts, although there was a manifest intention on their part to mislead as to his locality. I found it impossible to conceal my business, and destination,—the resolution of the House and order for the arrest of the absentees having been published and otherwise communicated.”[13]Several of the members attempted to resign, but Governor Brownlow refused to accept their resignations. He sent the following response to Mr. Dunnaway, representative from Bedford County: “Sir,—As it is evident the design of your resignation is to reduce the House below a quorum and to break up the Legislature, the same is not accepted.”Exasperated at the repeated failure of the Sergeant-at-arms to arrest the hiding members, Governor Brownlow, on the 14th of July, applied to General Thomas for military assistance. This request was referred to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, who replied: “That the duty of the United States forces is not to interfere in any way in the controversies between the political authorities of the State, and Gen. Thomas will strictly refrain from any interference between them.”The deadlock was finally broken on the 19th of July, in a somewhat extraordinary manner. Two members, arrested by the Sergeant-at-arms, were brought to the Capitol, and placed in a committee-room communicating with the hall of the House. A motion was then passed that they “be invited and required to take their seats within the bar of the House.” The two members refused to come out of the committee and continued to remain silent when their names were called. The Speaker thereupon declared that no quorum was present. An appeal was taken from this ruling, and it was reversed. The House then proceeded to a vote upon the amendment; and it was declared duly ratified, forty-three votes having been cast in the affirmative, and eleven in the negative.In the meantime, Mr. Williams, one of the arrested members, applied for and obtained a writ of habeas corpus. It was made returnable to Thomas N. Frazier, Judge of the Criminal Court of Davidson County, who, upon the hearing of the case, discharged Mr. Williams from the custody of the Sergeant-at-arms. On account of this decision, the House of Representatives preferred articles of impeachment against Judge Frazier. He was tried by the Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment. It sustained the articles of impeachment, and deposed Judge Frazier from office. He was also forever disqualified from holding any office of profit or trust in the State. His disqualifications were however removed by the Constitutional Convention of 1870, and he was afterward re-elected Criminal Judge.The Fifteenth Amendment was submitted to Tennessee in 1869, just before the close of the radical era. The suffrage had been conferred upon the negro by an act of the Legislature of the previous year, but it was known that the whole question would be reopened by the Constitutional Convention which had just been called. The Legislature, therefore, refused to take final action on the amendment. It was referred to the Committee on Federal Relations, from which it was never reported.[13]Acts of Tennessee, Extra Session, 1866.
Thedeed of cession of Tennessee to the United States by North Carolina contained the provision “that no regulation made or to be made by Congress shall tend to emancipate slaves.” The constitution under which Tennessee was admitted into the Union also recognized slavery by the use of the term “freeman” throughout the bill of rights. It was, however, exceedingly liberal in regard to the suffrage, conferring it upon every “freeman of the age of twenty-one years, and upwards.” Under this provision, free negroes were allowed to vote.
About 1830, there developed a strong movement in favor of emancipation. At Jonesborough was established the first abolition newspaper ever published in America. But this emancipation sentiment had entirely disappeared by 1860. Even in East Tennessee, the most extreme opponents of secession were firm believers in slavery.
The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, did not include Tennessee within its provisions. Slavery, therefore continued to exist as a legal institution until abolished by an amendment to the State constitution. This amendment, as we have seen, was framed by the Radical Convention of 1865. In April, of the same year, Gov. Brownlow laid before the Legislature a joint resolution of Congress containing the proposed Thirteenth Amendment. It was promptly ratified.
In his initial message, Gov. Brownlow discussed, at considerable length, the race problem. He sought to impress upon the Legislature, “that some legislation was necessary for the protection, government, and control of the emancipated slave.” The Legislature did not enter upon this work immediately. It was not till May 11, 1866, that a bill was passed entitled, “An act to define the term, ‘A Person of Color,’ and to declare the rights of such persons.”
The first section of this act provided that under the term “Person of Color” should be included all “negroes, mulatoes, meztigsoes, and their descendants having African blood.” The second section declared: “That persons of color have the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue and be sued, to be parties and give evidence, and have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and estate, and shall not be subject to any other or different punishment, pains, or penalty for the commission of any act or offence than such as are prescribed for white persons committing like acts or offences.” By the fifth section, slave marriages were legalized. The last section declared that nothing in the act should be so construed as to admit persons of color to serve on the jury, or to require the education of colored and white children in the same school.
Soon after the passage of this act occurred the great struggle over the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. At the time of its submission by Congress to the State the Legislature was not in session. Gov. Brownlow, therefore, issued a call for an extra session to convene on July 4th. The members were very slow in assembling. It became apparent that the opponents of the amendment in the Lower House would seek to defeat its ratification by preventing a quorum, which was fixed by the constitution at two thirds of all the members. Upon the first roll-call only forty-two members answered to their names. At the third meeting this list was increased to fifty-four, but it still fell short two votes of the necessary two thirds. The Sergeant-at-arms was, therefore, instructed to arrest the absentees, and bring them by force to the floor of the House. He did not find this an easy task, as the refractory members sought by every means possible to elude his search.
The following extract from his report gives a glimpse of the ludicrous game of hide-and-seek enacted in different parts of the State:
“I have the honor to report that in compliance with instruction that I should proceed to Hamilton County, and arrest George B. Foster, member of the House of Representatives, I proceeded to Chattanooga on Friday the 13th, 1866, arriving on the morning of the fourteenth, at 2 o’clock; communicated with the Sergeant of the Metropolitan Police, procured a wagon, and, in company with Sergeant Bently, proceeded to the summit of Lookout Mountain, to the residence of Mr. Foster, and was there informed by his family that he had ridden out in the country; carefully watched the premises without result until evening; was informed that he would be home that night; lay up on the mountain all night, awaiting his return. Mr. Foster did not return. I am satisfied that his family on the mountain, at the time of my leaving them, did not positively know of his whereabouts, although there was a manifest intention on their part to mislead as to his locality. I found it impossible to conceal my business, and destination,—the resolution of the House and order for the arrest of the absentees having been published and otherwise communicated.”[13]
Several of the members attempted to resign, but Governor Brownlow refused to accept their resignations. He sent the following response to Mr. Dunnaway, representative from Bedford County: “Sir,—As it is evident the design of your resignation is to reduce the House below a quorum and to break up the Legislature, the same is not accepted.”
Exasperated at the repeated failure of the Sergeant-at-arms to arrest the hiding members, Governor Brownlow, on the 14th of July, applied to General Thomas for military assistance. This request was referred to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, who replied: “That the duty of the United States forces is not to interfere in any way in the controversies between the political authorities of the State, and Gen. Thomas will strictly refrain from any interference between them.”
The deadlock was finally broken on the 19th of July, in a somewhat extraordinary manner. Two members, arrested by the Sergeant-at-arms, were brought to the Capitol, and placed in a committee-room communicating with the hall of the House. A motion was then passed that they “be invited and required to take their seats within the bar of the House.” The two members refused to come out of the committee and continued to remain silent when their names were called. The Speaker thereupon declared that no quorum was present. An appeal was taken from this ruling, and it was reversed. The House then proceeded to a vote upon the amendment; and it was declared duly ratified, forty-three votes having been cast in the affirmative, and eleven in the negative.
In the meantime, Mr. Williams, one of the arrested members, applied for and obtained a writ of habeas corpus. It was made returnable to Thomas N. Frazier, Judge of the Criminal Court of Davidson County, who, upon the hearing of the case, discharged Mr. Williams from the custody of the Sergeant-at-arms. On account of this decision, the House of Representatives preferred articles of impeachment against Judge Frazier. He was tried by the Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment. It sustained the articles of impeachment, and deposed Judge Frazier from office. He was also forever disqualified from holding any office of profit or trust in the State. His disqualifications were however removed by the Constitutional Convention of 1870, and he was afterward re-elected Criminal Judge.
The Fifteenth Amendment was submitted to Tennessee in 1869, just before the close of the radical era. The suffrage had been conferred upon the negro by an act of the Legislature of the previous year, but it was known that the whole question would be reopened by the Constitutional Convention which had just been called. The Legislature, therefore, refused to take final action on the amendment. It was referred to the Committee on Federal Relations, from which it was never reported.
[13]Acts of Tennessee, Extra Session, 1866.