Ordinances and Resolution of the Convention, 1867.

ArchivalResource

Alabama. Constitutional Convention (1867). Ordinances and Resolution of the Convention, 1867.

Ordinances and Resolution of the Convention, 1867.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122562644

The Constitutional Convention, which met from 1867 Oct. to Dec., resulted from the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which made Alabama a part of the Third Military District under General John Pope. This series consists of original handwritten ordinances and resolutions presented to the Convention for consideration. The ordinances are proposals for laws to be included in the new constitution. The resolutions deal mainly with procedural matters, although some of them, such as the one proposing a state wide day of prayer to ask for divine guidance in the turbulent times ahead, express the sentiments and intentions of the delegates. Some were also used to propose memorials to Congress. The issues which predominate in these documents reflect the upheaval the State was undergoing. The abolition of slavery was reiterated, and the right of the State to secede in the future was denied. Several documents asserted the principle of equal political and civil rights for all men. Of great concern were the debts incurred by citizens before the Civil War which had not been paid but which had continued to accrue interest. Concern for the newly-freed slaves is demonstrated in ordinances for bidding apprenticeship of minors without parental consent and legalizing marriages between former slaves and legitimizing children of these marriages; and those advocating the "care and protection of colored orphans" and the establishment of county poor houses. The Convention showed a progressive attitude toward education. Several resoultions and ordinances called for the establishment of free public schools, with the levying of a poll tax permitted only for this purpose. Concern for women's rights is shown in ordinances providing for the establishment of three female branches of the state university and permitting women to insure their husbands' lives.

.33 cubic ft. (1 archives box).

Alabama Department of Archives and History