As we have already examined the first Alabama constitution, and as that model was always before the convention, it will not be necessary to go through all the clauses of the new constitution. There were, however, some important changes, for Alabama had learned some lessons since 1819. The clause in the constitution of 1865 abolishing slavery was repeated. So was the declaration in the constitution of 1868 that "no State has a right to withdraw from the Union," and so was the provision that no man should be deprived of his right to vote on account of his race, his color, or the fact that he had been a slave. These clauses together may be taken as the final statement of the results of the war in Alabama.

In the part of the constitution which relates to the making of laws, there were also some new clauses of importance. It was provided that the legislature should meet every two years; that no session, after the first under the new constitution, should last longer than fifty days; and that members should not be paid more than four dollars a day.

In that portion of the constitution which relates to the execution of the laws, the principal change was the omission of the lieutenant-governor from the list of officers. It was provided that the president of the Senate should discharge the governor's duties in case of his death, resignation, or inability to serve.

The constitution as a whole was adopted by the convention with but two dissenting votes. November 16, 1875, it was submitted to a vote of the people and was adopted by an overwhelming majority. It went into effect December 6.

And now, with her civil institutions in the hands of those best fitted to manage them, Alabama entered upon the year 1876, the centennial year of American independence. The legislature provided for an exhibit of the State's resources at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. John T. Milner, whom we saw as a young man in the fifties surveying the

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route of the South and North Railroad, was wisely placed at the head of the commission in charge of the exhibit. Alabama was now a part of the Union in a sense in which it never had been before, for now the great difference in institutions, which had kept the South and North apart, no longer existed.

At the election in August, 1876, Governor Houston had an easy victory over his opponent, Woodruff. At the presidential election in November, Alabama went for Tilden and Hendricks, the Democratic candidates for President and VicePresident, respectively; but these men, who stood for a kindly policy toward the South, were deprived of the high offices to which they claimed to have been fairly elected. However, Rutherford B. Hayes, who was seated as President, finally withdrew the Federal troops from Alabama.

Governor Houston's second term was mainly occupied with the work begun in his first. The legislature, during the session of 1876-77, gave much of its attention to the educational system which the new constitution required it to organize. To sustain the common schools of the State, all the funds derived from the "school lands" given by Congress, from escheats, and from poll taxes were turned over to the proper authorities. In addition, the legislature decided to make a yearly grant of $130,000. Separate schools were provided for whites and blacks, and the cities were allowed to manage their own schools. Soon there were better results than had come from the liberal but unwise expenditures of the carpet-baggers.

Meanwhile, the higher institutions were not neglected. By the constitution of 1875, the affairs of the State University were committed to a board of trustees nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. In 1878, William R. Smith, who had been president for several years, was succeeded by General Josiah Gorgas, a man of the highest reputation, whose appointment at once inspired confidence in the

institution. Failing health, however, led to his resignation the next year. The normal school for whites at Florence was growing in strength, and the normal schools for blacks at Marion and Huntsville made rapid progress.

Politics had now ceased to have the first place in the thoughts of the people. Under the provisions of the new constitution, there was no election in 1877. The next year,

the Republicans made no nominations at all, and the Democratic candidate for governor, Rufus W. Cobb, of Shelby, was elected without opposition. Shortly afterwards, the legislature chose Governor Houston to succeed Spencer in the United States Senate. John T. Morgan, of Dallas, had already gone to take the place of the lamented Goldthwaite, and Alabama had now two representatives in the Senate who were considered by many her two foremost public men. In the lower house of Congress she was represented by a solid Democratic delegation which included men of high ability.

One new county was established in the northern part of the State in the year 1877. Both the county and the county seat were named for Colonel John G. Cullman, a German, who had led into the wilderness along the line of the South and North Railroad a colony of his countrymen. The coming of these immigrants and the founding of a town in this region marked a great change that was taking place in northern and central Alabama. We can now turn from the tiresome details of politics to find out what the change was, and how it came about.

QUESTIONS.

What is said of Governor Houston? What did the administration and the legislature do about the debt? Describe the work of the constitutional convention under these heads: Secession and slavery; the legislative department; the executive; the suffrage. What is said of the centennial year? Describe the election of 1876. What was done for education during this administration? What were the political changes of the year 1878? What new county was established in this administration, and by whom was it settled?

CHAPTER XXXVI.

ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR COBB.

GOVERNOR RUFUS W. COBB.

GOVERNOR COBB was a native Alabamian of good Virginian descent. His reputation as a public man was due chiefly to his good sense, the moderation of his views, and his integrity. These qualities had made him a successful lawyer, a good soldier, and a useful member of the legislature. He was the sort of governor who finds his best opportunity in the careful discharge of every duty of his office rather than in any brilliant performance.

He held the place at a time when the people were content to leave well enough alone in politics while they gave their energies to business.

Perhaps the best way for us to realize the change that was now coming over Alabama is to fix our minds on the change that has come within the last quarter of a century over a few square miles in a certain valley a little to the northward of the centre of the State. A traveller in the beginning of the seventies might have found the journey to this particular spot somewhat tiresome. He could reach it only over ordinary country roads, and when he arrived he found only fields of reddish clay, of an appearance not very agreeable. The little village of Elyton, a few miles away, was by no means imposing. The inhabitants of the region, though mainly of good

stock, were not very wealthy, and the county, Jefferson, did not rank high in population. The main industry was farming.

To-day the traveller can approach this point over any one of half a dozen trunk railroads. If he come by day, clouds of smoke will tell him when he is approaching his journey's end; if by night, he will see the whole region lighted up by the fires of many furnaces. He will find himself passing through important suburban towns before he leaves his train, and then he will find himself in the centre of the most important industrial community of the State, itself the centre of industrial enterprises far surpassing any that were ever attempted in the Alabama which we have been studying. If such a traveller were an Alabamian who had been absent from the State since Reconstruction times, he might very well question whether he had got back to Alabama at all. His doubts would begin to disappear as he recognized on the streets of the new city the faces of men who in the old days were leading citizens of other communities in the State and in neighboring States, but he would again be puzzled at finding among them many Northern men, not distrusted as carpet-baggers, but esteemed and honored as loyal and public-spirited members of society, in thorough sympathy with the people among whom they live.

Our traveller's surprise would be natural enough, but Sir Charles Lyell, the great English geologist, who travelled in this region away back in the forties, would not have been surprised if he had lived to see the change. His trained eye had seen the future Birmingham in the ugly red hills that looked down on Jones's valley, for those hills were full of iron ore, and coal and limestone were also at hand. Perhaps the Civil War really delayed the development that was sure to come; but many have thought that only free labor could take full advantage of the opportunity which the early settlers of Alabama neglected when they passed over these