te ignorant, though
a few leaders of ability did appear among them. In Alabama, for example,
only two Negro members could write, though half had been taught to sign
their names. They were barbers, field hands, hack drivers, and servants.
A Negro chaplain was elected who invoked divine blessings on "unioners
and cusses on rebels." It was a sign of the new era when the convention
specially invited the "ladies of colored members" to seats in the
gallery.

The work of the conventions was for the most part cut and dried, the
abler members having reached a general agreement before they met. The
constitutions, mosaics of those of other states, were noteworthy only
for the provisions made to keep the whites out of power and to regulate
the relations of the races in social matters. The Texas constitution
alone contained no proscriptive clauses beyond those required by
the Fourteenth Amendment. The most thoroughgoing proscription of
Confederates was found in the constitutions of Mississippi, Alabama, and
Virginia; and in these states the voter must also purge himself of guilt
by agreeing to accept the "civil and political equality of all men" or
by supporting reconstruction. Only in South Carolina and Louisiana were
race lines abolished by law.

The legislative work of the conventions was more interesting than the
constitution making. By ordinance the legality of Negro marriages was
dated from November 1867, or some date later than had been fixed by the
white conventions of 1865. Mixed schools were provided in some States;
militia for the black districts but not for the white was to be raised;
while in South Carolina it was made a penal offense to call a person a
"Yankee" or a "nigger." Few of the Negro delegates demanded proscription
of whites or social equality; they wanted schools and the vote. The
white radicals were more anxious to keep the former Confederates from
holding office than from voting. The generals in command everywhere used
their influence to secure moderate action by the conventions, and for
this they were showered with abuse.

As provided by the reconstruction acts, the new constitutions were
submitted to the electorate created by those instruments. Unless a
majority of the registered voters in a State should take part in the
election, the reconstruction would fail and the State would remain under
military rule. The whites now inaugurated a more systematic policy of
abstention and in Alabama, on February 4,