It also included controversial and very strict clauses concerning ex-Confederates, which were unpopular, so Virginia's military ruler during Congressional Reconstruction, General John Schofield, and later President-elect Ulysses S. Grant delayed the ratification vote for what turned out to be more than a year. Meanwhile, by the autumn of 1868, Virginia's Republican party split because of the anti-Confederate provisions. Governor Henry H. Wells (who succeeded Pierpont) argued that Unionists would be at risk in Virginia if the disabling clauses were removed from the proposed Virginia Constitution.