The State could not pay the interest on this sum, and the constitutional convention of 1879 made drastic reductions in the interest rate.

Both New York and New Hampshire, acting ostensibly for themselves but really in behalf of their citizens, brought suit, but the Supreme Court threw out the cases on the ground that the actions were attempts to evade the constitutional provision forbidding a citizen to bring an action against a State.

The bondholders still refused to accept the reduction, and the Supreme Court in 1883 described the ordinance as a violation of the contract of 1874 but a violation without a remedy.

Meanwhile the Legislature, after consultation with the bondholders, had agreed to a slight increase in the rate of interest; and in 1884, this compromise was ratified by an amendment to the constitution.
The debt of Arkansas was not so difficult to settle.

The issue of about $7,500,000 for railroads and levees during Reconstruction was declared unconstitutional in 1877-78, and the so-called Holford bonds, issued in aid of banks, were repudiated by the constitutional convention of 1884.
The total amount repudiated and declared void by the courts was nearly $13,000,000.