the "color line," and urged the whites to do nothing to
abridge the rights of the colored race. ¹ The platform adopted
recognized the civil and political equality of all men, favored
public education, the selection of honest officials, economy in
the administration of the government, biennial sessions of the
legislature, an able and competent judiciary and the restric-
tion of its duties to judicial functions only, the discontinuance
of excessive local and special legislation, and the elevation of
the standard of official character. The chief arraignment of
the Ames government is found in plank number twelve. It
reads as follows: "The building up of partisan newspapers by
legislation, the arming of the militia in time of peace, the
unconstitutional attempt to take from the people the election
of tax collectors, the attempted passage of the Metropolitan
Police Bill, the attempted corruption of the judiciary by the
use of executive patronage, we denounce as great outrages
upon constitutional liberty; while, as evidence of the utter
incapacity of our present rulers to administer the affairs of
the state, we point to the mass of confusion in which the
revenue and registration laws of the state has been placed, the
necessity of extraordinary sessions of the legislature to cure
the blunders and follies of the regular sessions, and to the
repeated executive and legislative acts which have been by
the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional and void."

Another important duty of the convention was the selection
of an executive committee to conduct the campaign. J. Z.
George, a late brigadier general in the Confederate army, and
at that time one of the leading attorneys of the state, was
appointed chief manager of the campaign.

The campaign was one of unprecedented vigor and enthu-
siasm. The whites left their fields, shops, and stores to take
part in the canvass, and for three months little else seems to
have been done. Every man was pressed into service. "Mis-
sissippi demands," said the Macon Beacon, "that every man
shall do his duty in the campaign." The Republicans were
almost equally active and determined. They devoted them-
selves to organizing and drilling the negroes, who were en-
rolled in clubs, usually one in each community; weekly
meetings were held, generally in out-of-the-way places and at
night, at which the negroes were harangued by white leaders,
who carefully instructed them how to register, how to ap-
proach the polls, and how to vote. Judge Watson says he

-373-