REORGANIZATION OF THE STATE DEPARTMENTS DURING GOVERNOR ALCORN'S ADMINISTRATION The new Constitution of Mississippi, which had been rejected in 1868, was to be submitted to a popular vote once more in November, 1869.

At the same time State officers, members of the Legislature, Congressmen, and district and county officers were to be elected.

Since the objectionable clauses in the Constitution were to be put to a separate vote, and since it was understood that both parties would favor the rejection of these clauses, there was no serious opposition to the ratification of the Constitution thus amended.

A hard and stubborn fight was, however, to be made for control of the State Government.
General James L.Alcorn, who had been a general in the Confederate Army and who had recently openly identified himself with the Republican party, was nominated by the Republicans for the office of Governor of the State.

Of the other six men who were associated with him on the state ticket, only the candidate for Secretary of the State, the Reverend James Lynch,--an able and eloquent minister of the Methodist Church,--was a colored man.