sentatives in the general assembly of the said territory, be, and they are hereby, authorized to choose representatives to form a constitution, who shall be appointed among the several counties as follows: From the county of Madison, eight representatives; And the election for the representatives aforesaid, shall be holden on the first Monday and Tuesday in May next, throughout the several counties in the said territory, and shall be conducted in the same manner, and under the same regulations as prescribed by the laws of the said territory, regulating elections therein for the members of the house of representatives. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the members of the convention, thus duly elected, be, and they are hereby authorized to meet, at the town of Huntsville, on the first Monday in July next; which convention, when met, shall first determine, by a majority of the whole number elected, whether it be, or be not, expedient, at that time, to form a constitution and state government for the people within the said territory; and, if it be determined to be expedient, the convention shall be, and hereby are, authorized to form a constitution and state government; Provided, that the same, when formed, shall be republican, and not repugnant to the principles of the ordinance of the thirteenth of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, between the people and states of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, so far as the same has been extended to the said territory, by the articles of agreement between the United states and the State of Georgia, or of the constitution of the United States. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the following propositions be, and the same are hereby offered to the convention of the said territory of Alabama, when formed, for their free acceptance or rejection, which, if accepted by the convention, shall be obligatory upon the United States: First. That the section numbered sixteen in every township, and when such section has been sold, granted, or disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and most contiguous to the same, shall be granted to the inhabitants of such townships for the use of schools. Second. That all salt springs within the said territory, and the lands reserved for the use of the same, together with such other lands as may, by the president of the United States, be deemed necessary and proper for working the said salt springs, not exceeding in the whole the quantity contained in thirty-six entire sections, shall be granted to the said state, for the use of the people of the said state, the same to be used, under such terms, conditions, and regulations, as the legislature of the said state shall direct; Pro vided, the said legislature shall never sell nor lease the same for a longer term than ten years at any one time. Third. That five per cent. of the net proceeds of the lands lying within the said territory, and which shall be sold by congress, from and after the first day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for making public roads, canals, and improving the navigation of rivers, of which threefifths shall be applied to those objects within the said state, under the direction of the legislature thereof, and two-fifths to the making of a road or roads leading to the said state, under the direction of congress. Fourth. That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, to be designated by the secretary of the treasury, under the direction of the president of the United States, together with the one heretofore reserved for that purpose, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the legislature of the said state to be appropriated solely to the use of such seminary by the said legislature. And the secretary of the treasury, under the direction as aforesaid, may reserve the seventy-two sections, or two townships, hereby set apart for the support of a seminary of learning, in small tracts; Provided, that no tract shall consist of less than two sections; And provided, always, that the said convention shall provide, by an ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that the people inhabiting the said territory, do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the waste or unappropriated lands lying within the said territory; and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States (and, moreover, that each and every tract of land sold by the United States, after the first day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, shall be and remain exempt from any tax laid by the order, or under the authority, of the state, whether for state, county, township, parish, or any other purpose whatever, for the term of five years, from and after the respective days of the sales thereof);* and that the lands belonging to the citizens of the United States, residing without the said state, shall never be taxed higher than the lands belonging to persons residing therein; and that no tax shall be imposed on lands, the property of the United States; and that all navigable waters within the said state shall forever remain public highways, free to the citizens of said state, and of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, or toll therefor, imposed by the said state. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That in lieu of a section of land, provided to be reserved for the seat of government of the said territory, by an act entitled "An act respecting the surveying and sale of the public lands in the Alabama territory," there be granted to the said state, for the seat of government thereof, a tract of land containing sixteen hundred and twenty acres, and consisting of sundry fractions and a quarter-section, in sections thirty-one and thirty-two, in township sixteen, and range ten, and in sections five and six, in township fifteen, and range ten, and in sections twenty-nine and thirty, in the same township and range, lying on both sides of the Alabama and Cahawba rivers, and including the mouth of the river Cahawba, and which heretofore has been reserved from public sale, by order of the president of the United States. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That, until the next general census shall be taken, the said state shall be entitled to one representative in the house of representatives of the United States. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That in case the said convention shall form a constitution and state government for the people of the Territory of Alabama, the said convention, as soon thereafter as may be, shall cause a true and attested copy of such constitution or frame of government as shall be formed or provided, to be transmitted to congress for its approbation. Approved, March 2, 1819. (3 U. S. Stats. at Large, 489.) *This part of the proviso was repealed by the act of congress of January 26, 1847. RESOLUTION Declaring the admission of the State of Alabama into the Union. WHEREAS, in pursuance of an act of congress, passed on the second day of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, entitled "An act to enable the people of the Alabama territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union, on an equal footing with the original states," the people of the said territory did, on the second day of August, in the present year, by a convention called for that purpose, form for themselves a constitution and state government, which constitution and state government, so formed, is republican, and in conformity to the principles of the articles of compact between the original states and the people and states in the territory northwest of the river Ohio, passed on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, so far as the same have been extended to the said territory by the articles of agreement between the United States and the State of Georgia: Resolved by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That the State of Alabama shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects what ever. Approved December 14, 1819. (3 U. S. Stats. at Large, 608.) RECONSTRUCTION ACTS. AN ACT To provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states. WHEREAS, no legal state governments or adequate protection for life or property now exists in the rebel states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Arkansas; And whereas, it is necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said states until loyal and republican state governments can be legally established; Therefore Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That said rebel states shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the United States as hereinafter prescribed; and for that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district; North Carolina and South Carolina the second district; Georgia, Alabama and Florida the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth district; and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the president to assign to the command of each of said districts an officer of the army not below the rank of brigadier-general, and to detail a sufficient military force to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his authority within the district to which he is assigned. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each officer assigned as aforesaid to protect all persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and try offenders, or, when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to organize military commissions or tribunals for that purpose, and all interference, under color of state authority, with the exercise of military authority under this act, shall be null and void. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all persons put under military arrest. by virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted; and no sentence of any military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in command of the district, and the laws and regulations for the government of the army shall not be affected by this act, except in so far as they conflict with its provisions; Provided, That no sentence of death, under the provisions of this act, shall be carried into effect without the approval of the president. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That when the people of any one of said rebel states shall have formed a constitution of government in conformity with the constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of said state twenty-one years old and upwards, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident in said state for one year previous to the day of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion, or for felony at common law; and when such constitution shall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates; and when such constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the persons voting on the question of ratification who are qualified as electors for delegates; and when such constitution shall have been submitted to congress for examination and approval, and congress shall have approved the same; and when said state, by a vote of its legislature elected under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the constitution of the United States proposed by the thirty-ninth congress, and known as article fourteen; and when said article. shall have become a part of the constitution of the United states, said state shall be declared entitled to representation in congress, and senators and representatives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking the oath prescribed by law; and then and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be inoperative in said state; Provided, that no person excluded from the privilege of holding office by said proposed amendment to the constitution of the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel states, nor shall any such person vote for members of such convention. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That until the people of said rebel states. shall be by law admitted to representation in the congress of the United States, any civil government which may exist therein shall be deemed provisional only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish, modify, control, or supersede the same; and in all elections to any office under such provisional governments all persons shall be entitled to vote, and none others, who are entitled to vote under the fifth section of this act; and no person shall be eligible to any office under any such provisional governments who would be disqualified from holding office under the provisions of the third article of said constitutional amendment. SCHUYLER COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives. LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER, President of the Senate pro tempore. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, / The president of the United States having returned to the house of representatives, in which it originated, the bill entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states," with his objections thereto, the house of representatives proceeded, in pursuance of the constitution, to reconsider the same, and Resolved, That the said bill do pass, two-thirds of the house of representatives agreeing to pass the same. Attest: EDWARD MCPHERSON, IN SENATE OF THE UNITED States, The senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states," returned to the house of representatives by the president of the United States with his objections, and sent by the house of representatives to the senate with the message of the president returning the bill. Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the senate agreeing to pass the same. Attest: March 2, 1867. (14 U. S. Stats. at Large, 428.) J. W. FORNEY, Secretary of the Senate. AN ACT Supplementary to an act entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states," passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to facilitate restoration. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That before the first day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, the commanding general in each district defined by an act entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states," passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, shall cause a registration to be made of the male citizens of the United States, twenty-one years of age and upwards, resident in each county or parish in the state or states included in his district, which registration shall include only those persons who are qualified to vote for delegates by the act aforesaid, and who shall have taken and subscribed the following oath or affirmation: "I, do solemnly swear (or affirm), in the presence of Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the state of; that I have resided in said state for months next preceding this day, and now reside in the county of or the parish of in said state (as the case may be); that I am twenty-one years old; that I have not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States, nor for felony committed against the laws of any state or of the United States; that I have never been a member of any state legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in any state and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I have never taken an oath as a member of congress of the United States, 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, and afterwards |