thern brethren, nor do I believe that the great
men of the Republican Party (Conkling, Fessenden, Wade, Morton, Weed,
Seward, Stanton, Chase, Boutwell, Washburne, Blaine, Sherman, Schurz,
Phelps, Morrill, Bingham, Henry Wilson, Hoar and others) would have
stood for the consummation of such a plan. I am sure, from what I knew
of the Negroes of South Carolina, that they would have rebelled
against the plan. If any committee went on to Washington it is
possible that the members suggested the plan to Mr. Sumner and Mr.
Stevens, but for them to advise along that line, a thousand times, no.

Everything done by Mr. Sumner and Mr. Stevens was done openly and
above board and if they had given the advice as stated in the
affidavit they would have had the courage of their convictions to have
stated so publicly. It was not in their nature to play the cards from
under the table.

Mr. Stevens, who was the author of the Reconstruction Act and most of
the Reconstruction measures, ranking next to Alexander Hamilton as a
constructive statesman, had embodied in the Act an oath that would
have precluded men of the former master class, radical or
conservative, from having anything to do with the Reconstruction
legislation for the former rebel States. They could not register;
therefore, they could not vote nor hold office until all of the
provisions of the Reconstruction Acts, including the ratification of
the 14th Amendment, were complied with, and their political
disabilities removed. Practically all of the "cracker" element or
"poor buckra" as designated by the Negroes could vote but the
statement does not include that element.

The Republican Party was organized in South Carolina in July, 1867,
and Northern men, white and colored, took an active part in the
deliberations, R. H. Gleaves, a Northern Negro, being the President of
the convention.

The Constitutional Convention met in Charleston, January 14, 1868, the
Northern men practically dominating the proceedings, and before
adjournment a State ticket was nominated. R. K. Scott, a Northern
white man, was nominated for Governor. There were other white men
(Northern) on the ticket. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor were
elected for two years and the other State officers for four years.
This would indicate that the Northern men held the situation well in
hand.

The South Carolina legislature under the Constitution of 1865, refused
to ratify the proposed 14th Amendment on December