In Alabama the registration reached the number of 165,813, of whom 104,518 were negroes or colored. In {147} Arkansas it reached the number of 66,831, of whom less than half were known to be colored, although no exact account of the proportion was reported. In Florida it reached the number of 28,003, of whom 16,089 were colored. In Georgia it reached the number of 191,501, of whom 95,168 were colored. In Louisiana it reached the number of 129,654, of whom 84,436 were colored. In Mississippi it reached the number of 139,690, of whom, it was well known, a large majority were colored, although no exact figures giving the proportions were reported. In North Carolina it reached the number of 179,653, of whom 72,932 were colored. In South Carolina it reached the number of 127,432, of whom 80,550 were colored. In Texas it reached the number of 109,130, of whom 49,497 were colored. In Virginia it reached the number of 225,933, of whom 105,832 were colored. [Sidenote: The change in the electorate in the South.] It will thus be seen that of the ten "States" to be reconstructed five were to be recreated through an electorate in which the majority would be negroes and mulattoes, about all of whom had been, three years before, slaves; while in the other five the majority of the constructing electorate would be whites by a comparatively small number. This was a tremendous _bouleversement_ of the political society of these sections. A large majority of the old leaders were disfranchised completely and a goodly number of the old Unionists were deterred by social considerations from taking any part in the work, while negroes, "poor white trash," "carpet-baggers" and a few self-denying respectables formed the new electorate for recreating "State" governments. There is no doubt that Congress had the constitutional power to do this thing, on the theory, of course, that these communities were not "States" of the Union; {148} but it was a reckless thing, and a monstrous thing. Anybody of common sense and common honesty could, at the time, have foreseen some of the horrible results which were sure to follow. [Sidenote: The elections.] [Sidenote: Efforts of the commanders to get the vote out.]