CHAPTERXICONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1870Whilethe Radical leaders were engaged in their futile efforts at Washington to obtain Federal intervention, the Legislature convened at Nashville, and Governor Senter was inaugurated with the usual ceremony. Both the Governor and the Legislature manifested a desire to fulfill their election pledges, by restoring the franchise to the ex-Confederates, but the manner in which this should be accomplished was not at first very apparent.In the Constitution, as it was prior to the war, the suffrage qualifications had been clearly stated and no power had been vested in the Legislature to alter them. It was in virtue of the amendments adopted by the Radical Convention of 1865, that the Legislature had passed the disfranchising acts of 1866 and 1867.The simple repeal of these acts would have re-enfranchised the ex-Confederates, but it would have left unsettled a number of perplexing problems resulting from the war. It was felt that the solution of these questions should not be left to the Legislature, as its members were all Union men, and therefore did not represent the whole political body. It was also recognized that the questions to be settled were of a constitutional character, and could be properly dealt with only by a constitutional Convention.These considerations led to the passage of an act which authorized the Governor to put to a vote of the people the question of holding a constitutional Convention. At the same election delegates were to be chosen. Every male person not convicted of infamous crime, of the age of twenty-one, and a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the State of Tennessee was allowed to vote. The election was held on the 3d of December and resulted in a large majority in favor of the Convention.The first constitutional Convention in the history of the State was the one which had met in Knoxville, and framed the Constitution under which Tennessee had been admitted into the Union.[19]Conspicuous among the members of the first Convention were John Sevier and Andrew Jackson. The constitution they adopted was modelled after that of the mother State, North Carolina. In 1834, a second Convention met at Nashville, and modified the old Constitution, so as to bring it into harmony with the industrial changes of the first quarter of a century. The next assertion of constituent powers was in 1861, when the Legislature passed the Declaration of Independence, and the Ordinance of Union with the Confederacy. In 1865, the Radical Convention, as we have seen, framed a number of constitutional amendments.The newly elected convention assembled at Nashville on the 10th day of January. The character of its members was a guaranty that its action would be Conservative. It has been pronounced the most intelligent body ever elected in Tennessee for any purpose. John C. Brown, an ex-major-general of the Confederate army, was elected to preside over its deliberations. As the Authorization Act did not limit the power of the Convention, it was at liberty to enter into a thorough-going provision of the constitution, but it manifested from the start the intention to confine itself to the task of settling the question growing out of the war. Chief among these was negro suffrage.The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States had not yet been adopted, so it was still in the power of the State to withhold the franchise from the negro. In the discussion of this suffrage question, the Convention was divided into three factions. The Union delegates, who were greatly in the minority, favored universal suffrage. The extreme opposite opinion was expressed in the minority report of the Suffrage Committee: “We hold that the negro race is the lowest order of human beings, incapable in themselves of a virtuous intelligence, or free government; and for the truth, we appeal to history, and challenge the world to show a single exception. We hold that the inferiority of the negro to the white man, in race, color, and capacity for permanent, well-ordered government has been fixed by Him who ‘doeth all things well,’ and whose natural or revealed law has never been violated by any human government without disaster and confusion.”In the abstract, the above statement undoubtedly represented the view of a majority of the delegates. But the conservative men of the Convention recognized that the rejection of negro suffrage would strengthen the Radicals in their efforts to obtain Federal intervention. Considerations of political expediency led, therefore, to the adoption of the following provision in regard to suffrage: “Every male person of the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen of the United States, and a resident of this State for twelve months, and of the county wherein he may offer his vote, for six months next preceding the day of election, shall be entitled to vote for members of the General Assembly, and all civil officers of the county or district in which he resides, and there shall be no qualification attached to the right of suffrage, except that each voter shall give to the judge of the election, where he offers to vote, satisfactory evidence that he has paid the poll taxes assessed against him for such preceding period as the Legislature shall prescribe, and at such time as may be prescribed by law, without which his vote cannot be received.”[20]After fixing the suffrage qualifications, all the important changes in the constitution proposed by the Convention, were directed, with possibly two exceptions, towards the prevention of the recurrence of the political abuses, from which the State had suffered under the Radical administration. Fresh in the minds of all were the arbitrary acts of Governor Brownlow in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and proclaiming martial law. A number of limitations were, therefore, placed upon the military power of the Governor. It was provided that “the militia shall not be called into service except in case of rebellion or invasion, and then only when the General Assembly shall declare by law that the public safety requires it.” The Bill of Rights was so amended that “the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the General Assembly shall declare the public safety requires it.”Another flagrant abuse under Radical rules had been the too frequent meeting of the Legislature. During the four years of Governor Brownlow’s administration, it had been in almost continuous session. To remedy this, regular sessions were made biennial, and it was provided that no member “shall be paid for more than seventy days of the regular session, or for more than twenty days of an extra or called session.”The two important changes in the constitution, which had no relation to the disturbed political conditions resulting from the war, were the creation of a homestead exemption, and the delegation to the Legislature of the power to pass general laws for the organization of private corporations.Having completed its labors, the Convention proceeded to the Capitol, and, in the presence of both Houses of the Legislature, it placed the revised constitution in the hands of the Governor. By him it was submitted to a vote of the people, and ratified by a vote of 98,128 for, to 33,872 against.At the first State election that occurred under the provisions of the new Constitution, the Democrats regained political control of the State. This ended the Reconstruction Period in Tennessee.[19]Caldwell’s “Studies in the Constitutional History of Tennessee.”[20]Journal of the Constitutional Convention of 1870.
Whilethe Radical leaders were engaged in their futile efforts at Washington to obtain Federal intervention, the Legislature convened at Nashville, and Governor Senter was inaugurated with the usual ceremony. Both the Governor and the Legislature manifested a desire to fulfill their election pledges, by restoring the franchise to the ex-Confederates, but the manner in which this should be accomplished was not at first very apparent.
In the Constitution, as it was prior to the war, the suffrage qualifications had been clearly stated and no power had been vested in the Legislature to alter them. It was in virtue of the amendments adopted by the Radical Convention of 1865, that the Legislature had passed the disfranchising acts of 1866 and 1867.
The simple repeal of these acts would have re-enfranchised the ex-Confederates, but it would have left unsettled a number of perplexing problems resulting from the war. It was felt that the solution of these questions should not be left to the Legislature, as its members were all Union men, and therefore did not represent the whole political body. It was also recognized that the questions to be settled were of a constitutional character, and could be properly dealt with only by a constitutional Convention.
These considerations led to the passage of an act which authorized the Governor to put to a vote of the people the question of holding a constitutional Convention. At the same election delegates were to be chosen. Every male person not convicted of infamous crime, of the age of twenty-one, and a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the State of Tennessee was allowed to vote. The election was held on the 3d of December and resulted in a large majority in favor of the Convention.
The first constitutional Convention in the history of the State was the one which had met in Knoxville, and framed the Constitution under which Tennessee had been admitted into the Union.[19]Conspicuous among the members of the first Convention were John Sevier and Andrew Jackson. The constitution they adopted was modelled after that of the mother State, North Carolina. In 1834, a second Convention met at Nashville, and modified the old Constitution, so as to bring it into harmony with the industrial changes of the first quarter of a century. The next assertion of constituent powers was in 1861, when the Legislature passed the Declaration of Independence, and the Ordinance of Union with the Confederacy. In 1865, the Radical Convention, as we have seen, framed a number of constitutional amendments.
The newly elected convention assembled at Nashville on the 10th day of January. The character of its members was a guaranty that its action would be Conservative. It has been pronounced the most intelligent body ever elected in Tennessee for any purpose. John C. Brown, an ex-major-general of the Confederate army, was elected to preside over its deliberations. As the Authorization Act did not limit the power of the Convention, it was at liberty to enter into a thorough-going provision of the constitution, but it manifested from the start the intention to confine itself to the task of settling the question growing out of the war. Chief among these was negro suffrage.
The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States had not yet been adopted, so it was still in the power of the State to withhold the franchise from the negro. In the discussion of this suffrage question, the Convention was divided into three factions. The Union delegates, who were greatly in the minority, favored universal suffrage. The extreme opposite opinion was expressed in the minority report of the Suffrage Committee: “We hold that the negro race is the lowest order of human beings, incapable in themselves of a virtuous intelligence, or free government; and for the truth, we appeal to history, and challenge the world to show a single exception. We hold that the inferiority of the negro to the white man, in race, color, and capacity for permanent, well-ordered government has been fixed by Him who ‘doeth all things well,’ and whose natural or revealed law has never been violated by any human government without disaster and confusion.”
In the abstract, the above statement undoubtedly represented the view of a majority of the delegates. But the conservative men of the Convention recognized that the rejection of negro suffrage would strengthen the Radicals in their efforts to obtain Federal intervention. Considerations of political expediency led, therefore, to the adoption of the following provision in regard to suffrage: “Every male person of the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen of the United States, and a resident of this State for twelve months, and of the county wherein he may offer his vote, for six months next preceding the day of election, shall be entitled to vote for members of the General Assembly, and all civil officers of the county or district in which he resides, and there shall be no qualification attached to the right of suffrage, except that each voter shall give to the judge of the election, where he offers to vote, satisfactory evidence that he has paid the poll taxes assessed against him for such preceding period as the Legislature shall prescribe, and at such time as may be prescribed by law, without which his vote cannot be received.”[20]
After fixing the suffrage qualifications, all the important changes in the constitution proposed by the Convention, were directed, with possibly two exceptions, towards the prevention of the recurrence of the political abuses, from which the State had suffered under the Radical administration. Fresh in the minds of all were the arbitrary acts of Governor Brownlow in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and proclaiming martial law. A number of limitations were, therefore, placed upon the military power of the Governor. It was provided that “the militia shall not be called into service except in case of rebellion or invasion, and then only when the General Assembly shall declare by law that the public safety requires it.” The Bill of Rights was so amended that “the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the General Assembly shall declare the public safety requires it.”
Another flagrant abuse under Radical rules had been the too frequent meeting of the Legislature. During the four years of Governor Brownlow’s administration, it had been in almost continuous session. To remedy this, regular sessions were made biennial, and it was provided that no member “shall be paid for more than seventy days of the regular session, or for more than twenty days of an extra or called session.”
The two important changes in the constitution, which had no relation to the disturbed political conditions resulting from the war, were the creation of a homestead exemption, and the delegation to the Legislature of the power to pass general laws for the organization of private corporations.
Having completed its labors, the Convention proceeded to the Capitol, and, in the presence of both Houses of the Legislature, it placed the revised constitution in the hands of the Governor. By him it was submitted to a vote of the people, and ratified by a vote of 98,128 for, to 33,872 against.
At the first State election that occurred under the provisions of the new Constitution, the Democrats regained political control of the State. This ended the Reconstruction Period in Tennessee.
[19]Caldwell’s “Studies in the Constitutional History of Tennessee.”
[20]Journal of the Constitutional Convention of 1870.