He thought those who, like himself, were proscribed, had no
legitimate reason for complaint. ¹ At the same time, he did not
believe that they were guilty of treason, inasmuch as one bel-
ligerent could not commit treason against another. ² Few of the
leaders who joined in the secession movement accepted the re-
sult of the war so unreservedly as did Alcorn, one of the United
States senators-elect. He acknowledged that when he cast
his vote for the ordinance of secession, he did so with the full
understanding that it was an act of rebellion, and that he was
liable to the penalties for treason. ³ He expected that his lands
would be confiscated, and himself punished, but he was thank-
ful that neither had happened, and that he had not heard of
any individual who had been punished for treason. ⁴

Chief-Justice Campbell, one of the most intelligent mem-
bers of the Mississippi bar, and a former member of the Con-
federate Congress, said: "I think there never was a people
more thoroughly subdued than the people of the South. They
were sick and tired of war, wearied and worn out; with the
destruction of the Confederate government and the abolition
of slavery, all cause of enmity between the people of the
United States had passed away, and I think the feeling of an
overwhelming majority of our people was one of readiness to
be faithful to the government." ⁵

In June, 1866, the reconstruction committee made its
report. The states lately in secession were declared to have
been in a state of anarchy at the close of the war, without
government or constitutions, and sustaining no political rela-
tions to the government of the United States; that Congress
could not be expected to recognize as valid the election of
representatives from disorganized communities; that Con-
gress would not be justified in admitting such communities
to a participation in the government of the United States
without providing such constitution or other guarantees as
would tend to secure the civil rights of all citizens of the
republic, a just equality of representation, protection against
claims founded in rebellion and crime, a temporary restora-
tion of the right of suffrage to those who had not actively
participated in the rebellion, and the exclusion from positions
of public trust of a portion of those who had.

-155-