d remained loyal to the Government of the Union. The preamble
which prefaced their action cited the Declaration of Rights in the
constitution of Tennessee to the effect that "all power is inherent in
the people, and the people have an inalienable right to alter, reform,
to abolish the Government in such manner as they may think proper."
This was followed by a declaration which might well be viewed as a _non
sequitur_. "Therefore," said the convention, "_a portion of the
citizens_ of the State of Tennessee and of the United States of America
in convention assembled do propound the following amendments to the
Constitution, which when ratified by the sovereign, loyal people shall
be and constitute a part of the permanent constitution of the State of
Tennessee."

It was very easy by strict logic to state grave objections to this mode
of procedure. It was easy to say that "a portion of the people" did
not constitute "the people" in the sense in which the phrase was used
in the constitution of Tennessee. It was easy to charge that the
proposed mode of proceeding embodied all the heresy of the Dorr
Rebellion of Rhode Island in 1842-43, which had fallen under the
animadversion of every department of the United States Government. But
in answer to such objections, Governor Johnson, and those who co-operated
with him, could urge that the objections and cavilings of all critics
seemed to ignore the controlling fact that they were acting in
a time of war, and were pursuing the only course by which the power of
civil government in Tennessee could be brought to the aid of the
military power of the National Government. Tennessee, as Johnson
bluntly maintained, could only be organized and controlled as a State
in the Union by that portion of her citizens who acknowledged their
allegiance to the Government of the Union.

Under this theory of procedure the popular convention proposed an
amendment to the State constitution "forever abolishing and prohibiting
slavery in the State," and further declaring that "the Legislature
shall make no law recognizing the right of property in man." The
convention took several other important steps, annulling in whole and
in detail all the legislation which under Confederate rule had made
the State a guilty participant in the rebellion. Thus was swept away
the ordinance of Secession, and the State debt created in aid of the
war against the Union. All these proceedings were submitted to a
popula