Alabama. Constitutional Convention (1901)

Authorities:

McMillan, Malcolm Cook. Constitutional Development in Alabama, 1798-1901: A Study in Politics, the Negro, and Sectionalism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1955.

Owen, Thomas M. History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Vol. 1. Spartanburg: The Reprint Company, 1978.

Proposed Constitution of Alabama, Report of the Constitutional Commission. n.p. 1973 May 1.

Shepherd, J.W. The Constitution and Ordinances adopted by the State Convention of Alabama. Montgomery: Gibson and Whitfield, 1865.

After the Confederacy's defeat in 1865, Ala. was without a legally recognized constitution or government. On 1865 June 21 President Andrew Johnson organized a provisional government and appointed Lewis Eliphalet Parsons of Talladega, Ala., as provisional governor. On 1865 July 20 Governor Parsons called for an election, to be held on 1865 Aug. 31 of delegates to a constitutional convention to restore Ala. to the union.

The constititutional convention of 1865 assembled in Montgomery on 1865 Sept. 12 and adjourned on the 30th of the same month. Each delegate was required to take the amnesty oath before the governor. Benjamin Fitzpatrick, former Ala. governor and U.S. Senator, was chosen as president of the convention and William H. Ogbourne was chosen as secretary. Committees were appointed to ensure the restoration of Ala. to the union and the repeal of the ordinance of secession. Committees on the state war debt and the state constitution were also established.

The convention passed several ordinances and resolutions. The major ordinances and resolutions included the abolition of slavery; divorce decrees could be granted by the chancery courts of Ala.; declaration that the ordinance of secession was null and void; declaration that the war debt was void; ratification of marriages between freedmen and freedwomen; and prohibition of intermarriage between races. The convention also passed many ordinances of a legislative nature. An election ordinance provided for the election of county, municipal, state, and federal officials. The convention adopted an ordinance stating that the provisional governor was authorized to sell bonds to meet the interest due on the bonded debt of the state, which was made before 1861 Jan. 11.

The constitution was never submitted to the people to be voted on, and was, therefore, never the constitition of the state. In 1865 Dec., the U.S. Congress refused to seat representatives and senators from Ala. elected under the constitution of 1865. The congressional plan of reconstruction invalidated Johnson's Plan of Reconstruction and all that had been accomplished under it. With the passage of the Reconstruction Act of 1867 Mar. 2, Ala. became part of the Third Military District, and the Act provided that the civil government organized under the constitition of 1865 might remain as a provisional government unless altered or abolished by the military.

The Constitution of Ala. of 1865 is referred to as the Reorganization Constitution of 1865.

From the description of Agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145408995