Reconstruction
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2218. Did you see that? No, sir; but I saw him directly afterwards, when he was kicking and struggling in death. His tongue was out; they opened his month and said his tongue was shot off; they shot him twice, once through the head and once through the thigh. The lady who lives next door was looking out, and said, “Just look at that man, John Pendergrast, shooting and killing that negro;” and this Pendergrast was a man the colored folks thought so much of, too, and had done so much for him. I sent for the old man to ask him about it. He said, “Aunt Cynthia, I am the man that fetched this mob out here, and they will do just what I tell them; I know you are good old people here.” I said, “Mr. Pender, will you please take my house and keep it for your own, and let me go away until this fuss is over?” He said he would not advise me to go away; that it was all done with now.
2219. Did they rob your house? Yes; they took my clothes, and fifty dollars in money, but I did not consider that much. They came in my house and took what they pleased; they took out some quilts that I had, too, but I never said a word about it.
2220. Who did the money belong to? It belonged to my son who was in the army, Frank King.
2221. Do you know of any violence being committed on the women in your neighborhood? Yes, sir; I know of some very bad acts.
2222. State what you saw? I could not tell you what I saw; I could have seen it if I had been a mind to.
2223. State the circumstances? There is a woman who lives near me by the name of Harriet; Merriweather was her name before she was married; I do not know what her husband’s name is. There were as many as three or four men at a time had connexion with her; she was lying there by herself. They all had connexion with her in turn around, and then one of them tried to use her mouth.
2224. Was this during the riot? Yes, sir; it was on Monday evening.
2225. Did you see these men go in the house? Yes; I saw them going into the house and saw them coming out, and afterwards she came out and said they made her do what I told you they did; she has sometimes been a little deranged since then, her husband left her for it. When he came out of the fort, and found what had been done, he said he would not have anything to do with her any more. They drew their pistols before her and made her submit. There were white people right there who knew what was going on. One woman called me to go and look in and see what they were doing; that was when this thing was going on. She is the woman who came and made a complaint to Charley Smith; she is a very nice woman.
2226. Did she make complaint against Charley Smith for having a hand in this outrage? No; she complained to him; he was not in the house.
2227. What was the name of this woman? I cannot tell you; there are two of them who live on Webster street.
By Mr. BROOMALL:
2228. How many houses did you see burnt? I do not know that I could tell you; the first one I saw burnt was right close to my house. There was a square which had a school-house on it, and I could not tell you how many little cottages; I suppose there were as many as twenty cottages burned on that square.
By Mr. SHANKLIN:
2229. Did you see with your own eyes any portion of the difficulty on the evening of the first fight? Yes, sir; I did see a good deal; I saw a policeman shoot a soldier on Causey street. From that these black soldiers gathered, and a lieutenant at the fort shot the policeman who shot the soldier.
2230. Did you see colored soldiers shoot? Yes; I saw them shooting; I did not see them hit any one.
2231. How many colored soldiers were there shooting? I could not tell; they had given up their guns, and had nothing but their pistols.
2232. How many white men did you see engaged in shooting on Tuesday evening? I do not know; I never saw so many together, they gathered from every direction.
2233. Do you know the man who shot the policeman? He was a lieutenant in the colored regiment, a white man; I do not know his name.
2234. He was with the colored men shooting at the police, was he? Yes, sir; I do not know how the fuss began, though I was within two hundred yards of it when it began. I do not know that it amounted to anything, I only heard the report that the policeman was shot.
By the CHAIRMAN:
2235. Who was killed first, the colored man or the policeman? The colored man, one or two of them; then the soldiers came down South street, and went after the policemen as fast as they could.
May 30, 1866
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 1866
Joint Resolution Proposing the Fourteenth Amendment
Joint Resolution proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses concurring.) That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:—
ARTICLE XIV.
SEC. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
SEC. 3. No person shall be a senator, or representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two thirds of each house remove such disability.
SEC. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.
SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
SCHUYLER COLFAX,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER,
President of the Senate pro tempore.
Attest:
EDW. MCPHERSON,
Clerk of the House of Representatives.
J. W. FORNEY,
Secretary of the Senate.
Received at Department of State June 16, 1866.
June 13, 1866
TREASON AND THE DEMOCRATS:
INDIANA, JUNE 1866
Oliver P. Morton:
from Speech at Indianapolis
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sp; LADIES AND GENTLEMEN—If I were to consult prudence, the improvement of my health, I should not be here to-night, but I have a great desire to do whatever I can to promote the cause which is to be won or lost at the approaching election, and I have been desired by friends also, to deliver a short address before the people. In compliance with this desire of my own, and the wishes of others, I shall attempt to address you to-night upon some of the issues that are involved in the approaching campaign.
Since I have been here to-night my mind has been busy with the last five, now going on six years. I believe this is the first time I have been on this stage since the termination of the war, and I have been thinking over the times that I was on this stage during the dark hours of the rebellion, appealing to the people, calling for volunteers and exhorting the citizens of the State to stand by and support the Government.
The war is over—the rebellion has been suppressed—the victory has been won, and now the question is presented to us at the coming election, whether the fruits of victory shall be preserved or lost.
SPIRIT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
It is beyond doubt that the temper of the Democratic party is not changed or improved since the termination of the war, but on the contrary it seems to have been greatly embittered by defeat in the field and at the ballot-box. Its sympathy with those who were lately in arms against the Government is more boldly avowed than ever, and it becomes argumentative and enthusiastic in behalf of the right of secession and righteousness of the rebellion. The true spirit of the Democratic party in Indiana has recently received a remarkable illustration that should command the solemn consideration of the people.
Some four or five weeks since a convention was held in the city of Louisville, composed in large part of men who had been engaged in the rebel armies. These men assembled in convention, proclaimed themselves members of the National Democratic party, and declared their unfaltering devotion to its time-honored principles. They vindicated the righteousness of the rebellion and declared their stern purpose to maintain at the ballot box the sacred principles for which they had taken up arms. Prominent Indiana Democrats met with them in Convention; mingled their tears with those who wept over Southern heroes; uttered glowing eulogies upon the memory of Stonewall Jackson and John Morgan, and endorsed their most ultra and treasonable doctrines; and to show the complete identity between this assembly of traitors and the Democratic party of Indiana, the Indianapolis Herald, the organ of the party, in the broadest and most unqualified manner, earnestly and enthusiastically endorsed its proceedings, resolutions and speeches. The members of this convention did not disguise the fact that they were rebels and Northern Democratic leaders, believing that the time for punishing treason has gone by, now make haste to declare that they are and have been united with them in sympathy, sentiment and purpose, and that they will co-operate with them to the bitter end in restoring to them what they call their rights, and in repairing the damages done to them by the war. And to show that this malevolent and treasonable spirit is not confined to the Democratic leaders of Indiana, numerous meetings, resolutions, newspapers and declarations, in every part of the United States, may be referred to, and especially the votes and speeches of the Democratic members of Congress.
WHAT DEMOCRATIC LEADERS HAVE DONE.
The leaders who are now managing the Democratic party in this State, are the men who at the regular session of the Legislature in 1861, declared that, if an army went from Indiana to assist in putting down the then approaching rebellion it must first pass over their dead bodies.
They are the men who in the Democratic Convention on the 8th of January, 1862, gave aid and comfort to the rebellion, by resolving that the South had been provoked and driven into the contest by the unconstitutional and wicked aggressions of the people of the North.
They are the men, who, in speeches and resolutions proclaimed that “Southern defeats gave them no joy, and Northern disasters no sorrows.” They are the men who exerted their influence to prevent their Democratic friends from going into the army, and who by their incessant and venomous slanders against the Government checked the spirit of volunteering, and made drafting a necessity. And when the draft had thus been forced upon the country their wretched subordinates inspired by their devilish teachings endeavored in many places by force of arms and the murder of enrolling officers to prevent its execution.
They are the men who corresponded with the rebel leaders in the South, giving them full information of our condition, and assuring them that a revolution in public opinion was at hand, and that they had but to persevere a few months longer and the National Government would fall to pieces of its own weight.
They are the men who in the Legislature of 1863, attempted to overturn the State Government and establish a Legislative revolution by seizing the military power of the State and transferring it into the hands of four State officers, three of whom were members of the treasonable society known as the “Sons of Liberty.”
They are the men, who, having failed to overturn the State Government by seizing the military power, determined to defeat its operations and bring about anarchy, by locking up the public treasure and thus withholding the money necessary to carry on the Government.
They are the men who for the purpose of private speculation, and to discredit the State, before the world conspired to prevent the payment of the interest on the public debt, by withholding through a fraudulent lawsuit the money received from taxes, paid for that very purpose. This lawsuit was fraudulently smuggled through the Circuit Court and lodged in the Supreme Court before the Minutes of the case had been read and signed by the Circuit Judge, or he had been made acquainted with its character—and was hastily decided by the Supreme Court against the credit of the State.
They are the men who introduced and organized in this State that dangerous and wide-spread conspiracy first known as the “Knights of the Golden Circle,” and afterwards as the “Sons of Liberty,” which had for its purpose the overthrow of the State and National Governments. Not all of them, it is true, belonged formerly to this infamous order, but such as stood on the outside had knowledge of its existence, purposes and plans, and carefully concealing their knowledge was ready to accept its work.
To accomplish the hellish work of this conspiracy, military officers were appointed, military organizations created, arms and ammunition purchased in immense quantities and smuggled into the State, correspondence opened with rebel commanders, and military combinations agreed upon, rebel officers and agents introduced into the capital and concealed in hotels and boarding houses, and it was deliberately planned and agreed that upon a day fixed, they would suddenly uprise and murder the Executive, seize the arsenal and its arms and ammunition, and releasing 9,000 rebel prisoners in Camp Morton, put arms into their hands, and with their combined forces effect a military and bloody revolution in the State. This dreadful scheme necessarily involved murder, conflagration, robbery, and the commission of every crime which makes black the chronicles of civil war, and yet its authors and abettors, with the proofs of their guilt piled mountain high, are again struggling for power and asking the people to put into their guilty hands the government and prosperity of the State. Some of these men who are high in favor and authority in their party, and are largely entrusted with its management, have heretofore occupied offices of great trust and responsibility in which they proved to be recreant and corrupt.
They are the men who, in the Legislature of Indiana bitterly opposed and denounced every effort to confer the right of suffrage upon soldiers in the field who could not come home to vote.
They are the men who wrote letters to soldiers in the army, urging them to desert, and assuring them of support and protection if they did.
They are the men who labored with devilish zeal to destroy the ability of the Government to carry on the war by depreciating its financial credit. They assured the people that “greenbacks” would die on their hands, and warned them solemnly against Government bonds, as a wicked d
evice to rob them of their money.
They are the men who refused to contribute to the Sanitary Commission for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers, upon the lying and hypocritical pretence that the contributions were consumed by the officers of the army.
They are the men who excused themselves from contributing for the relief of soldiers’ families at home by the infamous slander that they were living better than they had ever done, and by foul imputations on the chastity of soldiers’ wives.
They are the men who declared in speeches, resolutions, and by their votes in Congress, that not another man nor another dollar should be voted to carry on a cruel war against their Southern brethren.
They are the men who in the midst of the last great campaign of 1864, at the time when Sherman was fighting his way, step by step, from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and Grant was forcing Lee back into the defenses of Richmond, in desperate and bloody battles from day to day; when the fate of the nation hung in the balance, and the world watched with breathless interest the gigantic struggle which was to settle the question of Republican Government, assembled in Convention in Chicago and resolved that the war was a failure; that our cause was unjust, and that we ought to lay down our arms and sue for peace. It was throwing a mountain into the Confederate scale to make the Union kick the beam. It was a bold and desperate interference in behalf of the rebellion, at the very crisis of the fight. It was an insult to the loyal armies of the nation, so vast, malignant and deadly that language can convey no adequate idea of its wickedness. And in future times the historian will record the fact with astonishment that the Government, at the most critical moment of its life, when a few hours, or a few days at the farthest, must determine whether it should live or die, could permit a large body of its enemies to meet upon its soil in peace and security, and publish a flagrant manifesto in behalf of the rebellion.