MS 1839 Nowlin Family Papers

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JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY 2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE LYNCHBURG, VA 24501

(804) 846-0501

NOWLIN FAMILY NOTES

The collection is mostly correspondence relating to Nowlin family genealogy. There are also the following: (a) a speech given by David Samuel Nowlin (1821-1879), when he was a candidate for the Alabama State Constitutional Convention in 1875; (b) an 1858 receipt for D.S. Nowlin's purchase of two slaves, Mary Johnson & her daughter Ann in Richmond; (c) a receipt for David S. Nowlin's 1858 purchase of slave named Louisa.

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I have been honored by your County Convention by selection as your candidate for Delegate to the proposed Constitutional Convention. The call for a convention is as it should be, non partisan in its character. It has become necessary for the good of the whole people without distinction of party. Class or condition to remodel and revise the organic law of the state and to do so discreetly requires the exercise of great wisdom and sound judgment. To make a constitution valuable it must be permanent in its character and operation. The old constitution of Alabama stood for 40 years and served the purposes for which it was designed. But everything has changed. Our country has been desolated and our people impoverished. A new constitution was made for us in 1868 not be old citizens but by men unknown to most of and alien to us in birth sentiment and sympathy. Of the 67 members of that convention that formed the new constitution 40 were strangers. We had some good men in that convention but not enough of them consequently they were powerless. It was not to be expected that a convention so composed would make a constitution acceptable to our people. I do not propose to point out all of its defects but will call your attention to some of them that ought to be amended. Now what was the financial condition of our state in 1861 and what is it in 1875. In 1861 Alabama was one of the most prosperous of all the states. The assessed value of all the real and personal property exclusive of negroes was 495,000,000; and her public debt was $7,160,000, what amount of tax was necessary liquidate this debt. Why 1 1/2 per cent of the taxable value of the state was enough to pay the entire debt principal and interest. According to the state auditor's report last year the whole taxable property real and personal amounted to

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only $159,000,000 less than 1/4 of the value in 1861 and the public debt amounts according to the same report to $32,000,000 nearly 4 1/2 times greater than in 1861. With less than 1/3 of property in value exclusive of negroes to be taxes we have a debt nearly 4 1/2 greater to pay. In 1861 as before stated the rate of tax necessary to pay the debt was only 1 1/2 per cent and now it will take upwards of 20 per cent, or over 1/5 of the aggregate value of all the real and personal property in Alabama. The most of this debt has been created since 1868 when the present constitution was imposed upon us. Upwards of $18,000,000 of it consist of liabilities, on straight bonds of the state in aid of rail roads and R.R. Bonds endorsed by the state. A great deal of this debt has been brought upon us by creating expensive offices and official bodies that are worse than useless. The Lieut. Governor, the Bureau of Industrial Resources and a Board of Education all of which entail useless and unncessary expense. The Board of Education costs as much in proportion to the number of its members as the General Assembly. It sits for 30 days, employs the same officers as one house of the General Assembly and the members receive the same pay per diem and mileage as members of the Legislature. The convention does not propose to abolish public schools and neither do I. I am and have always been in favor of universal education but I am in favor of topping off the unnecessary expenditures of the present complicated and extravagant system. No constitution should be acceptable to our people which is partisan in its spirit or its legislation. I deem it my duty and that of the convention to lay aside all partisan prejudice and make an organic law for all the people. No provision should be incorporated in it that is in manner partisan. All are equally interested in having a

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