If these men were plotting treason, it puzzles us to know why they should make such a statement as that in setting forth the principles of the order. The statement above quoted was not intended for general circulation and popular effect. So far as is known, it is now given to the public for the first time. We must regard it, therefore, as accurately describing the political attitude which the Ku Klux proposed and desired to maintain. Every man who became a member of the Klan really took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. This Nashville convention also defined and set forth the peculiar objects of the order, as follows:[38] (1.) "To protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenceless, from the indignities, wrongs and outrages of the lawless, the violent and the brutal; to relieve the injured and the oppressed; to succor the suffering, and especially the widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers. (2.) "To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and all laws passed in conformity thereto, and to protect the States and people thereof from all invasion from any source whatever. (3.) "To aid and assist in the execution of all constitutional laws, and to protect the people from unlawful seizure, and from trial except by their peers in conformity to the laws of the land." This last clause was the result of the infamous and barbarous legislation of that day. On the 3rd of June, 1865, the Thirty-fourth General Assembly of Tennessee revived the sedition law and restricted the right of suffrage.[39] A negro militia, ignorant and brutal, were afterwards put over the State, and spread terror throughout its borders. Men felt that they had no security for life, liberty, or property. They were persecuted if they dared to complain. It was no strange thing if they resorted to desperate measures for protection. The emergency was desperate. Taking all the circumstances and aggravations into consideration one cannot but be surprised that men so persecuted and oppressed remained so moderate and forbearing. The legislation of the Nashville Convention of Ku Klux bears internal evidence of what we know from other sources to be true. Whilst devising measures for protection to life and property, and for the resistance of lawlessness and oppression, whether from irresponsible parties or from those who professed to be acting legally and under cover of authority, they were anxious also to control the Klan itself and to keep it within what they conceived to be safe limits. Up to this time the majority had shown a fair appreciation of the responsibilities of their self-imposed task of preserving social order. But under any circumstances the natural tendency of an organization such as this is to violence and crime--much more under such circumstances as those then prevailing.