The whites now inaugurated a more systematic policy of abstention and in Alabama, on February 4, 1868, succeeded in holding the total vote below a majority.

Congress then rushed to the rescue of radicalism with the act of the 11th of March, which provided that a mere majority of those voting in the State was sufficient to inaugurate reconstruction.

Arkansas had followed the lead of Alabama, but too late; in Mississippi the constitution was defeated by a majority vote; in Texas the convention had made no provision for a vote; and in Virginia the commanding general, disapproving of the work of the convention, refused to pay the expenses of an election.

In the other six States the constitutions were adopted.* * Except in Texas, the work of constitution making was completed between November 5, 1867, and May 18, 1868.
These elections gave rise to more violent contests than before.

They also were double elections, as the voters cast ballots for state and local officials and at the same time for or against the constitution.
The radical nominations were made by the Union League and the Freedmen's Bureau, and nearly all radicals who had been members of conventions were nominated and elected to office.