No. 158. Act admitting North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to Representation in Congress

June 25, 1868

As a result of the vote on the ratification of the State constitution of Alabama, a bill to restore Alabama to the Union was introduced in the House March 10, 1868, by Thaddeus Stevens. A substitute for this bill passed the House, but was indefinitely postponed by the Senate. May 11 a bill to admit North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama to representation in Congress was reported by Stevens from the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. An amendment striking out Alabama from the list of States was rejected by a vote of 60 to 74, 55 not voting. On the 14th the amended bill passed the House, the vote being 110 to 35, 44 not voting. June 10 the Senate, by a vote of 22 to 21, included Florida, and the bill with further amendments passed, the vote being 31 to 5. The House concurred in the Senate amendments by a vote of 111 to 28, 50 not voting, an amendment striking out Florida being rejected by a vote of 45 to 99, 45 not voting. The bill was vetoed by President Johnson June 25, and passed over the veto the same day, in the House by a vote of 108 to 32, 54 not voting, and in the Senate by a vote of 35 to 8.

REFERENCES. - Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV., 73, 74. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. On Alabama see House Exec. Docs. 302 and 303, and House Report 21, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; on North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, House Exec. Docs. 281, 300, and 301, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and Senate Exec. Doc. 15, 40th Cong., 3d Sess.; on Florida, House Misc. Docs. 109 and 114, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

An Act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, to Representation in Congress.

WHEREAS the people of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have, in pursuance of the provisions of . . . [the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867]. .., and the acts supplementary thereto, framed constitutions of State government which are republican and have adopted said constitutions by large majorities of the votes cast at the elections held for the ratification or rejection of the same: Therefore, Be it enacted . . . That each of the States of North Caro

lina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, shall be entitled and admitted to representation in Congress as a State of the Union when the legislature of such State shall have duly ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, upon the following fundamental conditions: That the constitutions of neither of said States shall ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote in said State, who are entitled to vote by the constitution thereof herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said State: Provided, That any alteration of said constitution may be made with regard to the time and place of residence of voters; and the State of Georgia shall only be entitled and admitted to representation upon this further fundamental condition: that the first and third subdivisions of section seventeen of the fifth article of the constitution of said State, except the proviso to the first subdivision, shall be null and void, and that the general assembly of said State by solemn public act shall declare the assent of the State to the foregoing fundamental condition.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the first section of this act shall take effect as to each State, except Georgia, when such State shall, by its legislature, duly ratify article fourteen of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and as to the State of Georgia when it shall in addition give the assent of said State to the fundamental condition herein before imposed upon the same; and thereupon the officers of each State duly elected and qualified under the constitution thereof shall be inaugurated without delay; but no person prohibited from holding office under the United States, or under any State, by section three of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, known as article fourteen, shall be deemed eligible to any office in either of said. States, unless relieved from disability as provided in said amendment; and it is hereby made the duty of the President within ten days after receiving official information of the ratification of said

amendment by the legislature of either of said States to issue a proclamation announcing that fact.

MARCH 5, 1868, the House having under consideration a resolution for the removal of the political disabilities of R. R. Butler, a representative-elect from Tennessee, the resolution, on motion of Dawes of Massachusetts, was recommitted to the Committee on Elections with instructions to report a general bill for the removal of such disabilities. The bill was reported the same day, and on the 6th passed. Subsequent amendments in the Senate and House were unimportant, and the yeas and nays were not called for. An act of February 15, 1871, allowed those who could not take the oath prescribed by the act of July 2, 1862, and who were not rendered ineligible to office by the Fourteenth Amendment, to take the oath prescribed by this act.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV., 85. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

An Act prescribing an Oath of Office to be taken by Persons from whom legal Disabilities shall have been removed.

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Be it enacted That whenever any person who has participated in the late rebellion, and from whom all legal disabilities arising therefrom have been removed by act of Congress by a vote of two thirds of each house, has been or shall be elected or appointed to any office or place of trust in or under the government of the United States, he shall, before entering upon the duties thereof, instead of the oath prescribed by the act of . . . [July 2, 1862] . . ., take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

No. 160. Joint Resolution excluding Electoral Votes of the Late Rebellious States

July 20, 1868

A JOINT resolution "excluding from the electoral college votes of States lately in rebellion which shall not have been reorganized" was introduced in the Senate June 2, 1868, by George F. Edmunds of Vermont, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The resolution was reported on the 29th with an amendment inserting the clause beginning "nor unless such election of electors." The phraseology of the bill rather than its substance was the chief occasion of debate. The resolution passed the Senate July 10, by a vote of 29 to 5, 23 not voting. The House added the proviso as an amendment, and passed the bill on the 11th by a vote of 112 to 21, 65 not voting. The Senate, by a vote of 19 to 15, concurred. The resolution was vetoed by President Johnson July 20, and passed over the veto the same day, in the House by a vote of 134 to 36, 40 not voting, in the Senate by a vote of 45 to 8.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV., 257. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe.

A Resolution excluding from the Electoral College Votes of States lately in Rebellion, which shall not have been reorganized.

Resolved. That none of the States whose inhabitants were lately in rebellion shall be entitled to representation in the electoral college for the choice of President or Vice-President of the United States, nor shall any electoral votes be received or counted from any of such States, unless at the time prescribed by law for the choice of electors the people of such States, pursuant to the acts of Congress in that behalf, shall have, since . . . [March 4, 1867]. . ., adopted a constitution of State government under which a State government shall have been organized and shall be in operation, nor unless such election of electors shall have been held under the authority of such constitution and government, and such State shall have also become entitled to representation in Congress, pursuant to the acts of Congress in that behalf: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to apply to any State which was represented in Congress on [March 4, 1867]. . .

No. 161. Fourteenth Amendment to the

Constitution

July 28, 1868

VARIOUS propositions to amend the Constitution were submitted in both House and Senate during the first session of the thirty-ninth Congress. A joint resolution embodying the substance of the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment was reported in the House April 30, 1866, by Thaddeus Stevens, from the Committee on Reconstruction, together with a bill for admission to representation of certain States ratifying the same. May 10 the resolution passed the House, the vote being 128 to 37, 18 not voting. The third section of the House resolution provided that until July 4, 1870, all persons who had voluntarily aided the rebellion should be denied the privilege of voting for 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 gen eral act of May 22, 1872, see No. 173, post.