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How Alabama Became Part of the United States

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Its a very interesting story and insight into how America operates abroad in countries like Iraq. This is what America means when it talks about “democracy.” It means installing puppet governments with military force headed by a cabal of local traitors, usually propped up with ethnic minorities dependent upon foreign protection, and then using such a despotism to allow foreigners to financially pillage occupied nations of trillions of dollars of wealth.

The elections, early in October, were the most remarkable in the history of the state. For the first time the late slaves were to vote, while many of their former masters could not. Of the 65 counties in Alabama, 22 had negro majorities (according to the registration) and had 52 delegates of the 100 total, and in nearly all the others the negro minority held the balance of power. To control the negro vote the Radicals devoted all the machinery of registration and election, of the Union League, and of the Freedmen's Bureau. The chiefs of the League sent agents to the plantation negroes, who were showing some indifference to politics, with strict ORDERS to go and vote. They were told that if they did not vote they would be reenslaved and their wives made to work the roads and quit wearing hoopskirts. In Montgomery County, the day before election, the Radical agents went through the county, summoning the blacks to come and vote, saying that Swayne had ordered it and would punish them if they did not obey. The negroes came into the city by the thousands in regularly organized bodies, under arms and led by the League politicians, and camped about the city waiting for the time to vote. The danger of outbreak was so great that the soldiers disarmed them. They did not know, most of them, what voting was. For what or for whom they were voting they knew not, - they were simply obeying the orders of their Bureau chiefs.

Likewise, at Clayton, the negroes were driven to town and camped the day before the election began. There were firing of guns all night. Early the next morning the local leaders formed the negroes into companies and regiments and marched them, armed with shotguns, muskets, pistols, and knives, to the courthouse, where the only polling place for the county was situated. The first day there were about three thousand of them, of all ages from fifteen to eighty years of age, and no whites were allowed to approach the sacred voting place. When drawn up in line, each man was given a ticket by the League representatives, and no negro was allowed to break ranks until all were safely corralled into the courthouse square. Many of the negroes had changed their names since they were registered, and their new ones were not on the books, but none lost a vote on that account.

In Marengo County the Bureau and the Loyal League officers lined up the negroes early in the morning and saw that each man was supplied with the proper ticket. Then the command, "Foward, March!" was given, the line filed past the polling place, and each negro deposited his ballot. About twelve o'clock a bugle blew as a signal to repeat the operation, and all the negroes present, including most of those who had voted in the morning, lined up, received tickets, and voted again. Late in the afternoon the farce was gone through the third time. Any one voted who pleased and as often as he pleased.

In Dallas County the negroes were told that if they failed to vote they would be fined $50. The negroes at the polls were lined up and given tickets, which they were told to let no one see. However, in some cases the Conservatives had also given tickets to Negroes, and a careful inspection was made in order to prevent the casting of such ballots. The average negro is said to have voted once for himself and once "for Jim who couldn't come." The registration lists were not referred to except when a white man offered to vote. Most of the negroes had strange ideas of what voting meant. It meant freedom, for one thing, if they voted the Radical ticket, and slavery if they did not. One negro at Selma haled up a blue (conservative) ticket and cried out, "No land! no mules! no votes! slavery again." Then holding up a red (Radical) ticket he shouted, " Forty acres of land! a mule! freedom! votes! equal of the white man!" Of course he had voted the red ticket. Numbers of them brought halters for their mules or sacks "to put it in." Some country negroes were given red tickets and told that they must not be persuaded to part with them, as each ticket was good for a piece of land. The poor negroes did not understand this figurative language and put the precious tickets in their pockets and hurried home to locate the land. Another darky was given a ticket and told to vote - to put the ballot in the box. "Is dat votin?'" "Yes." "Nuttin' more, master?" "No." "I thought votin' was gittin' sumfin." He went home in disgust. The legend of "land and mules" was revived during the fall and winter of 1867-1868, and many negroes were expecting a division of property. By this time they were beginning to feel that it was the fault of their leaders that the division did not take place, and there were threats against those that had made the promises. However, the sellers of painted sticks again thrived - perhaps they had never ceased to thrive. General Swayne reported about this time that the giving of the ballot to the negro had greatly improved his condition

The election went overwhelmingly for the convention and for the Radical candidates. The revision of the voting lists before election struck off the names of many "improper" whites and places non on the list; with the negroes the reverse was true. The whites had no hope of carrying the elections in most of the counties, and as the negroes were intensely excited, and as trouble was sure to follow in case the whites endeavored to vote or to control the negro vote, most of the Conservatives were refrained from voting. Even at this time a large number of people were unable to believe seriously that the negro voting had come to stay. To them it seemed something absurd and almost ridiculous except for all the ill feelings aroused among the Negroes. Such a state of affairs could not last long, they thought. Two Conservative delegates and ninety-eight Radical delegates were elected to the convention.

-- Flemming, Reconstruction and Civil War in Alabama, 515-16

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Some of the delegates to our State Convention were LOL total foreigners! Many of these so-called delegates had never even been to the districts they represented! No such thing though as "American Imperialism" though pnjsuferpoet right?
    The delegates elected to the convention were a motley crew - white, yellow, and black - of northern men, Bureau officers, “loyalists,” “rebels,” who had aided the Confederacy and now perjured themselves by taking the oath, Confederate deserters, and Negroes. The Freedman’s Bureau furnished eighteen or more of the one hundred members. There were eighteen blacks. Thirteen more of the members had certified, as registrars, to their own election and with six other members had certified to the election of thirty-one, nineteen of whom were on the board of registration. No pretence of residence was made by the northern men in the counties from which they were elected. Several had never seen the counties they represented, a slate being made up in Montgomery and sent to remote districts to be voted for. Of these Northern men, or foreigners, there were thirty seven or thirty eight, from Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, New Jersey, Illinois, Ireland, Canada, and Scotland. The native whites were for the most part utterly unknown and had but little share in the proceedings of the convention. Of the Negro members two could write well and were fairly well educated, half could not write a word, and the others had been taught to sign their names and that was all. There were many Negroes who could read and write, but they were not sent to the convention. Perhaps the carpetbaggers feared trouble from them and wanted only those whom they could easily control.

    Griffin of Ohio was appointed temporary chairman, and on the motion of Keffer of Pennsylvania, Robert Barbour of New York was made temporary secretary and later permanent secretary. Keffer nominated Peck, a New Yorker who had resided for some years in Alabama, for president of the convention, and he was unanimously elected. There were several Negro clerks in the convention. The disgusted Conservatives designated the aggregation by various epithets, such as “The Unconstitutional Convention,” “Pope’s Convention,” “Swayne’s World-renowned Menagerie,” “The Circus,” “Black and tan,” “Black Crook,” etc. The last, which was probably given by the New York Herald correspondent, seems to have been the favorite name. The white people persisted in looking upon the whole affair as a more or less irritating joke.

    The carpetbaggers intended that the convention should be purged of “improper” persons, and one of them proposed that the test oath be taken. This aroused opposition on the part of the ex “rebels,” who did not care to perjure themselves more than was necessary. Coon of Iowa then proposed a simple oath to support the Constitution, which after some wrangling was taken. Caraway, a Negro, wanted no chaplain to officiate in the convention who had not remained loyal to the United States. Skinner of Franklin said: “Let none offer prayer who are rebels and who have not fought under the Stars and Stripes.” This was to prevent such reverend members of the convention as Deal of Dale from officiating. Finally, the president was empowered to appoint the chaplain daily. A colored chaplain was called upon once in a while, and one of them invoked the blessings of God on “Unioners and cusses on rebels.”

    Another way of showing the loyalty of the body was by directing a committee to bring in an ordinance changing the names of the counties “named in honour of the rebellion and in glorification of traitors.” Keffer of Pennsylvania was the author of this resolution. Steed of Cleburne wanted the name of his county changed to Lincoln, and Simmons of Colbert wanted his county to be named Brownlow. The test votes on such questions were about 55 to 30 in favour of changing. Baine, Colbert, and Jones counties, established by the “Johnson” government, were abolished.

    The president was directed to drape his chair with two “Federal” flags. Generals Pope and Swayne, and Governor Patton, as friends of Reconstruction, were invited to seats in the convention and were asked to speak before the body. Pope was becoming somewhat nervous at the conduct of the supreme rulers of the state and in his speech counseled moderation and fairness. He also commanded them for the “firmness and fearlessness with which you have conducted the late campaigns,” and congratulated them upon “the success which has thus far crowned your efforts in the pacification of this state and its restoration to the Union.” The most radical members of the convention were bringing pressure to bear to force Pope to declare vacant at once all offices of the provisional government and fill them with deconstructionists. In this they were aided by northern influence. Pope, however, refused to make the change, and thus displeased the Radicals, who wanted offices at once.

    The first ordinance of the convention reconstructed Jones County, named for a Confederate colonel, out of existence, and the second, third, and fourth arranged for the pay of the convention. The president received $10 a day and the members $8 each; the clerks from $6 to $8, and the pages $4. The president and members received 40 cents as mileage for each mile traveled. To cover these expenses an additional tax of 10 percent on taxes already assessed was levied. The comptroller refused to pay the members until ordered by Pope.

    The later hesitated to give the order, as he doubted if he had the authority. However, he finally said that he would order payment provided the compensation be fixed at reasonable rates, and that the payments be not made before the convention completed its work. He further added that the convention must be moderate in action; “I speak not for the interests of Alabama than for the interests of the political party upon whose retention of power for several years to come the success of Reconstruction depends.” When Pope urged moderation, it is likely that something serious was the matter. A proposition to reduce the pay of the members from $8 to $6 per day was lost by a vote of 35 to 57. A few days before the close of the convention, Pope ordered the payment of the per diem to the hungry delegates, many of whom refused to accept the state obligations called “Patton money.” They were told that it was receivable for taxes, and one answered for all: “Oh, damn the taxes! We haven’t got any to pay.”
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How Heydrich comes from another planet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Delegates to Iraqi Democratic Constitutional Convention:

    Man of Kent - of Basra

    pnjsurferpoet - of Najaf

    Jeb Bush - of Karbala

    ROFL
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So, Heydrich...

    Are you claiming that Alabama doesn't elect its own representatives today?

    Or are you claiming that those black men shouldn't have been allowed to vote?

    Or are you claiming that men who had lost their right to vote because of treason against the United States should have been allowed to vote?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So, Heydrich...Are you claiming that Alabama doesn't elect its own representatives today?

    That is absolutely the case.
    Or are you claiming that those black men shouldn't have been allowed to vote?

    ONLY citizens of the sovereign State of Alabama should be allowed to vote in state elections - this excludes ALL noncitizens, black, white, green, or yellow.
    Or are you claiming that men who had lost their right to vote because of treason against the United States should have been allowed to vote?

    Both Virginia and Texas, along with Rhode Island and New York, in their accession to the Union explicitly reserved the right to withdraw from it. All the states seceded from the articles of confederation and sovereignty DOES NOT reside in the Federal Government of the United States, but in the people of each state of the union, who created the union in the first place.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No Whites could vote...

    Are you on crack? This should make you happy...or unhappy. I don't know what White Supremacist rag you've been reading...but that's not true.

    Blacks were denied voting rights.

    People who think like you are why I get searched in the airport: Wierd ass white groups that hate the government of the US and would team up with Al Qaeda.
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