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Representatives in Congress or presidential electors. The Senate, by a vote of 43 to 0, struck out this section, and recast the amendment in the form in which it was later submitted. The resolution passed the Senate June 8, by a vote of 33 to II. On the 13th the House, by a vote of 138 to 36, 10 not voting, concurred. The amendment was rejected by Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky, and was not acted on by California. It was also at first rejected by Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, with the result that the ratification of the amendment was, by the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867, made a condition of the restoration of those States. The ratifications of New Jersey and Ohio were rescinded by the legislatures of those States. July 20, 1868, a proclamation by Seward announced that the amendment had been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-three States, and " by newly constituted and newly established bodies avowing themselves to be and acting as the legislatures of" North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas; and that if the ratifications of New Jersey and Ohio "be deemed as remaining of full force and effect," the amendment was in force. Thereupon Congress, by resolution of July 21, declared the amendment in force and directed its promulgation as such. The final proclamation was issued July 28.

REFERENCES. Text in Revised Statutes (ed. 1878), 31. For the proceedings of Congress see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., and 40th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The various proclamations are in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV. For some early proposals see McPherson, Reconstruction, 103. See also Guthrie, Fourteenth Amendment; Slaughter House Cases, 16 Wallace, 36; Johnson's message of June 22, 1866. Many disabilities under the amendment were removed by special acts; for the general act of May 22, 1872, see No. 94, post.

ARTICLE XIV.

SEC. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the

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whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

to any

SEC. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

SEC. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

No. 75.

Proclamation granting Full Amnesty

December 25, 1868

THE act of January 21, 1867, repealing the amnesty provisions of the act of July 17, 1862, was regarded by President Johnson as an infringement upon the constitutional powers of the executive, and as such was ignored. A proclamation of September 7, 1867, granted full pardon and amnesty to all persons who had participated in the late rebellion, with the restoration of property and privileges, except as to property in slaves and in cases of legal proceedings under the laws of the United States, on condition of taking an oath to support the Constitution and the Union, and to "abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the late rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves." The following were excluded from the benefits of the proclamation :—

"First. The chief or pretended chief executive officers, including the President, the Vice-President, and all Heads of Departments of the pretended Confederate or Rebel Government, and all who were agents thereof in foreign States and countries, and all who held, or pretended to hold, in the service of the said pretended Confederate Government, a military rank or title above the grade of brigadier-general, or naval rank or title above that of captain, and all who were or pretended to be Governors of States, while maintaining, aiding, abetting, or submitting to and acquiescing in the rebellion.

"Second. All persons who in any way treated otherwise than as lawful prisoners of war persons who in any capacity were employed or engaged in the military or naval service of the United States.

"Third. All persons who, at the time they may seek to obtain the benefits of this proclamation, are actually in civil, military, or naval confinement or custody, or legally held to bail, either before or after conviction, and all persons who were engaged directly or indirectly in the assassination of the late President of the United States, or in any plot or conspiracy in any manner therewith connected."

A proclamation of July 4, 1868, granted amnesty to all save "such person or persons as may be under presentment or indictment, in any court of the United States having competent jurisdiction, upon a charge of treason or other felony," together with "restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and except also as to any property of which any person may have been legally divested under the laws of the United States." The proclamation of December 25 declared amnesty without conditions. A Senate resolution of January 5, 1869, requested the President "to transmit to the Senate a copy of any proclamation of amnesty made by him since the last adjournment of Congress, and also to communicate to the Senate by what authority of law the same was made." In a message of January 18 Johnson transmitted a copy of the proc

lamation of December 25, and justified his course in issuing it as warranted by the Constitution and in harmony with the action of certain of his predeThe proclamation did not affect the suffrage qualifications in the reconstructed States.

cessors.

REFERENCES.

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Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV, 711, 712. See Senate Report 239, 40th Cong., 3d Sess.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.`

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS the President of the United States has heretofore set forth several proclamations, offering amnesty and pardon to persons who had been or were concerned in the late rebellion against the lawful authority of the government of the United States

And whereas, the authority of the Federal Government having been reëstablished in all the States and Territories within the jurisdiction of the United States, it is believed that such prudential reservations and exceptions as at the dates of said several proclamations were deemed necessary and proper may now be wisely and justly relinquished, and that a universal amnesty and pardon for participation in said rebellion extended to all who have borne any part therein will tend to secure permanent peace, order, and prosperity throughout the land, and to renew and fully restore confidence and fraternal feeling among the whole people, and their respect for and attachment to the National Government, designed by its patriotic founders for the general good:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested by the Constitution, and in the name of the sovereign people of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare unconditionally, and without reservation, to all and to every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion, a full pardon and amnesty for the offence of treason against the United States, or of adhering to their enemies during the late civil war, with restoration of all

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rights, privileges, and immunities under the Constitution and the laws which have been made in pursuance thereof.

No. 76. Provisional Governments of Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi

February 18, 1869

A JOINT resolution for the removal of certain civil officers in Virginia and Texas was introduced in the Senate July 24, 1868, and passed the same day. The bill was not taken up in the House until December 10; it was then referred to the Committee on Reconstruction, which reported it, January 18, 1869, with an amendment, the amendment being the first two provisos of the act. The same day the bill passed the House. The Senate added the proviso including Mississippi, in which the House concurred. The resolution became law under the ten days rule.

REFERENCES.

Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV, 344. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d and 3d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The debate was unimportant.

A Resolution respecting the provisional Governments of Virginia and Texas.

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Resolved .. That the persons now holding civil offices in the provisional governments of Virginia and Texas, who cannot take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act. . . [of July 2, 1862] . . ., shall, on the passage of this resolution, be removed therefrom; and it shall be the duty of the district commanders to fill the vacancies so created by the appointment of persons who can take said oath: Provided, That the provisions of this resolution shall not apply to persons who by reason of the removal of their disabilities as provided in the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution shall have qualified for any office in pursuance of the act. [of July 11, 1868]. . .: And provided further, That this resolution shall not take effect until thirty days from and after its passage: And it is further provided, That this resolution shall be, and is hereby extended to, and made applicable to the State of Mississippi.

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