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Before calling for a vote upon the Resolution, Mr Spence moved that the word "accept" be stricken from the 2nd Resolution and the word "submit" be substituted in its place. A vote was then taken upon Mr. Spence amendment, which was lost. The President then called a vote upon the following Resolutions, as explained by Mr McCraw and they were unanimously adopted.
The meeting then adjourned.
Before the meeting was organized, and after its adjournment, several colored men addressed the crowd, endorsing the arguments advanced by the white speakers, and advising their colored friends to live honestly, act uprightly, and never forget their Southern friends.
WHEREAS. - In the present exhausted, paralyzed and unsettled condition of the country we find the cause from which results so much want of confidence in capital, and the marked absence of that energy which alone can insure prosperity and happiness to our people; and whereas it is our bounden duty, as well as our high privilege, to publicly express our political wishes and opinions. - Therefore we, a portion of the people of Chambers County, in Convention assembled, do Resolve:
1st. - That an [[italic]] early finality [[/italic]] to the vexed political issues, arising out of the relations sustained by the Southern States to the General Government, can alone bring peace, quiet and prosperity to our distracted country.
2d. - That to this end, we accept the "Congressional plan of Reconstruction," and hereby declare our purpose to yield obedience thereto, as the only means to securing the blessings of a permanent civil government.
3d. - That we see no good which can possibly arise from the disfranchisement of any class of our citizens, and we hereby express our earnest desire that Congress may so shape its legislation as to eventuate in a speedy amnesty to all persons at present disfranchised in said plan of Reconstruction.
4th. - That we will give any assistance, in our power, to the proper authorities, to aid in securing a fair and full Registration of any class of legal voters, both white and colored, and we advise all who can register as voters, to do so at the earliest opportunity.
5th. - That the interests of the white, and black man in this country, are the same; and while we guarantee to both white and black equal rights before the law, we believe that the system of legislation which secures the prosperity of the white, will also attain the same end for the black race. In happiness and material prosperity the two races must wax and wane together. We will regard and treat every man as a deadly enemy to both races, who by word, deed or conduct would embitter or prejudice the one against the other.
6th. - Being now free from the shackles of all party ties, we will, in our future political associations, pay more regard to what men and parties do for us, than to anything they may promise us.
7. - That we favor the early and systematic development of the vast resources of Alabama - the building of Rail Roads and the establishment of Factories of every description.
8th. - That we favor the organization of a system of Free Schools, insuring to all classes the rudiments of a good English education.
9th. - That we are opposed to the present system of taxation, as it bears upon Cotton and Tobacco.
10th. - That under the circumstances now surrounding us, it is especially incumbent up on us all to exercise a spirit of charity and forbearance, as to the entertainment and expression of political opinion. As it is but natural that men having common interests should differ as to the best mode of promoting the same, we should each impute to the other, that which he claims for himself - an honesty in opinion and a purity of purpose.