which was again adopted by popular vote on September 5
following. General Banks reported the constitution to be "one of the
best ever penned.... It abolishes slavery in the State, and forbids the
legislature to enact any law recognizing property in man. The
emancipation is instantaneous and absolute, without condition or
compensation, and nearly unanimous."

The State of Arkansas had been forced into rebellion by military
terrorism, and remained under Confederate domination only because the
Union armies could afford the latent loyal sentiment of the State no
effective support until the fall of Vicksburg and the opening of the
Mississippi. After that decisive victory, General Steele marched a
Union column of about thirteen thousand from Helena to Little Rock, the
capital, which surrendered to him on the evening of September 10, 1863.
By December, eight regiments of Arkansas citizens had been formed for
service in the Union army; and, following the amnesty proclamation of
December 8, the reorganization of a loyal State government was speedily
brought about, mainly by spontaneous popular action, of course under the
direction and with the assistance of General Steele.

In response to a petition, President Lincoln sent General Steele on
January 20, 1864, a letter repeating substantially the instructions he
had given General Banks for Louisiana. Before these could be carried
out, popular action had assembled at Little Rock on January 8, 1864, a
formal delegate convention, composed of forty-four delegates who claimed
to represent twenty-two out of the fifty-four counties of the State. On
January 22 this convention adopted an amended constitution which
declared the act of secession null and void, abolished slavery
immediately and unconditionally, and wholly repudiated the Confederate
debt. The convention appointed a provisional State government, and under
its schedule an election was held on March 14, 1864. During the three
days on which the polls were kept open, under the orders of General
Steele, who by the President's suggestion adopted the convention
program, a total vote of 12,179 was cast for the constitution, and only
226 against it; while the provisional governor was also elected for a
new term, together with members of Congress and a legislature which in
due time chose United States senators. By this time Congress had
manifested its opposition to the President's plan, but Mr. Lincoln stood
firm, and on June 29 wrote