State

Volume XIII Number 48 April 27 1946 THE STATE A Weekly Survey of North Carolina Ent'rcd м KCond cUu mailer. June 1. 1933. at the POMfld al Ralelch. North Carolina. under the Act of March 3. 187». Justice Robert M. Douglas Ho livoil «luring a lnrliiilciif ora in our slate's liislory anti lii.s ofl'orl.s tlitl inuoh to briii” baok to Norfli Carolina llio rights anti privileges wli ifli belonged to hor. ONE of the most towering characters in history is Presi¬ dent Abraham Lincoln, and with his fame there is indissolu¬ bly associated that of his great an¬ tagonist. Judge Stephen A. Doug¬ las. for the two men were rivals at the bar, for the hand of Mary Todd, the Kentucky belle, for the’ Senate of the United States, and finally for the Presidency of the Nation. Lincoln's famous "house divided" speech cost him the Senatorship, but it won for him the Presidency in the election of 1860. although even then he did not command a majority of the popular vote. After being deadlocked for sev¬ eral days, the Democratic National Convention at Charleston ad¬ journed to meet again in Balti¬ more. and when it met in the Monumental City, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois was declared the Democratic nominee. He was opposed not only by Lincoln, but by a third ticket put into the field by a dissenting minority of South¬ ern Democrats. But his defeat left no rancor in the heart of the "Little Giant” of Illinois, and he gave the Lincoln administration his cordial and whole-hearted support. Distinguished Ancestry My subject thus came of most ancestry on his and no less notable was that of his mother. Martha Martin, who was a grandneice of Alexander Martin, who had the honor to serve as Governor of our State during his young manhood, again during his middle life, and once more in his old age — the only Carolinian thus honored. He was also a member of the Philadelphia Convention which framed the Fed- distinguished father's side; By R. C. LAWRENCE eral Constitution, the other Caro¬ lina members of that historic body being William R. Davie. Dr. Hugh Williamson. Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight and William Blount. It is singular that the mother of my subject was also a first cousin of David S. Reid, the first Demo¬ cratic Governor of our State, who was induced to enter the contest through the efforts of Stephen A. Douglas who was as strongly Democratic in his political opinions as his son was Republican in his. Judge Robert Martin Douglas was born at Dougins in Rocking¬ ham County in 1849. He was well educated, taking his Master's de¬ gree from Georgetown University which, later years, conferred upon her distinguished son the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. When but a stripling of eighteen young Douglas was appointed as private secretary to Governor Wil¬ liam W. Holden, and was appointed a Colonel of militia, and thus he witnessed at close range the stir¬ ring scenes and incidents of the most hctic and turbulent adminis¬ tration our State has ever experi¬ enced. Secretary to Grant After a year in such service, and while yet less than twenty-one. he was appointed by President Grant as his private secretary, a position he held during the four years of the first Grant administration, and I think it was while serving in this capacity that young Douglas was able to render his greatest single service to the South. For Grant’s entire cabinet and all his intimates were from the North, and there was but one son of the South con¬ nected with his administration who possessed his confidence and who had daily access to the Presidential ear- his Secretary. Robert Martin Douglas. Many instances might be cited to show the manner in which his Secretary influenced the Chief Ex¬ ecutive in favor of the South, but one illustration should sulllee to show the enormous service which he rendered. Under the Recon¬ struction acts of Congress, the Constitutional Convention of Vir¬ ginia had framed a constitution which practically disfranchised all who had taken any part in the re¬ bellion. One article disqualified from holding public office "every person who held any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who. having previously taken oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, shall have en¬ gaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." Another section required all prom¬ inent state or municipal officers to take the so-called "test oath" be¬ fore entering upon the duties of their office. These provisions were not only distasteful to the Virginia Demo¬ crats. but were opposed by many prominent Republicans, the situa¬ tion being further intensified by the fact that Negroes were allowed i Continued on page 20) 3 THE STATE. April 27. 1946