Supplemental Reconstruction Act of Fortieth Congress.
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, &c., 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 engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, encourage others so to do, so help me God;” which oath or affirmation maybe administered by any registering officer.
Sec. 2. That after the completion of the registration hereby provided for in any State, at such time and places therein as the commanding general shall appoint and direct, of which at least thirty days’ public notice shall be given, an election shall be held of delegates to a convention for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil government for such State loyal to the Union, said convention in each State, except Virginia, to consist of the same number of members as the most numerous branch of the State legislature of such State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be apportioned among the several districts, counties, or parishes of such State by the commanding general, giving to each representation in the ratio of voters or registered as aforesaid, as nearly as may be. The convention in Virginia shall consist of the same number of members as represented the territory now constituting Virginia in the most numerous branch of the legislature of said State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be appointed as aforesaid.
Sec. 3. That at said election the registered voters of each State shall vote for or against a convention to form a constitution therefor under this act. Those voting in favor of such a convention shall have written or printed on the ballots by which they vote for delegates, as aforesaid, the words “For a convention,” and those voting against such a convention shall have written or printed on such ballots the words “Against a convention.” The person appointed to superintend said election, and to make return of the votes given thereat, as herein provided, shall count and make return of the votes given for and against a convention; and the commanding general to whom the same shall have been returned shall ascertain and declare the total vote in each State for and against a convention. If a majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, then such convention shall be held as hereinafter provided; but if a majority of said votes shall be against a convention, then no such convention shall be held under this act: Provided, That such convention shall not be held unless a majority of all such registered voters shall have voted on the question of holding such convention.
Sec. 4. That the commanding general of each district shall appoint as many boards of registration as may be necessary, consisting of three loyal officers or persons, to make and complete the registration, superintend the election, and make return to him of the votes, lists of voters, and of the persons elected as delegates by a plurality of the votes cast at said election; and upon receiving said returns he shall open the same, ascertain the persons elected as delegates according to the returns of the officers who conducted said election, and make proclamation thereof; and if a majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, the commanding general, within sixty days from the date of election, shall notify the delegates to assemble in convention, at a time and place to be mentioned in the notification, and said convention, when organized, shall proceed to frame a constitution and civil government according to the provisions of this act and the act to which it is supplementary; and when the same shall have been so framed, said constitution shall be submitted by the convention for ratification to the persons registered under the provisions of this act at an election to be conducted by the officers or persons appointed or to be appointed by the commanding general, as hereinbefore provided, and to be held after the expiration of thirty days from the date of notice thereof, to be given by said convention; and the returns thereof shall be made to the commanding general of the district.
Sec. 5. That if, according to said returns, the constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the votes of the registered electors qualified as herein specified, cast at said election, (at least one-half of all the registered voters voting upon the question of such ratification,) the president of the convention shall transmit a copy of the same, duly certified, to the President of the United States, who shall forthwith transmit the same to Congress, if then in session, and if not in session, then immediately upon its next assembling; and if it shall, moreover, appear to Congress that the election was one at which all the registered and qualified electors in the State had an opportunity to vote freely and without restraint, fear, or the influence of fraud; and if the Congress shall be satisfied that such constitution meets the approval of a majority of all the qualified electors in the State, and if the said constitution shall be declared by Congress to be in conformity with the provisions of the act to which this is supplementary, and the other provisions of said act shall have been complied with, and the said constitution shall be approved by Congress, the State shall be declared entitled to representation, and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom as therein provided.
Sec. 6. That all elections in the States mentioned in the said “Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,” shall, during the operation of said act, be by ballot; and all officers making the said registration of voters and conducting said elections shall, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled “An act to prescribe an oath of office:”[[29]] Provided, That if any person shall knowingly and falsely take and subscribe any oath in this act prescribed, such person so offending and being thereof duly convicted, shall be subject to the pains, penalties, and disabilities which by law are provided for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury.
Sec. 7. That all expenses incurred by the several commanding generals, or by virtue of any orders issued, or appointments made, by them, under or by virtue of this act, shall be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 8. That the convention for each State shall prescribe the fees, salary, and compensation to be paid to all delegates and other officers and agents herein authorized or necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this act not herein otherwise provided for, and shall provide for the levy and collection of such taxes on the property in such State as may be necessary to pay the same.
Sec. 9. That the word article, in the sixth section of the act to which this is supplementary, shall be construed to mean section.
Passed March 23, 1867.
Votes of State Legislatures on the Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment.[[30]]
LOYAL STATES.
Ratified—Twenty-one States.
Maine—Senate, January 16, 1867, yeas 31, nays 0; House, January 11, 1867, yeas 126, nays 12.
New Hampshire—Senate, July 6, 1866, yeas 9, nays 3; House, June 28, 1866, yeas 207, nays 112.
Vermont—Senate, October 23, 1866, yeas 28, nays 0; House, October 30, 1866, yeas 199, nays 11.
Massachusetts—Senate, March 20, 1867, yeas 27, nays 6; House, March 14, 1867, yeas 120, nays 20.
Rhode Island—Senate, February 5, 1867, yeas 26, nays 2; House, February 7, 1867, yeas 60, nays 9
Connecticut—Senate, June 25, 1866, yeas 11, nays 6; House, June 29, 1866, yeas 131, nays 92.
New York—Senate, January 3, 1867, yeas 23, nays 3; House, January 10, 1867, yeas 76, nays 40.
New Jersey—Senate, September 11, 1866, yeas 11, nays 10; House, September 11, 1866, yeas 34, nays 24.
Pennsylvania—Senate, January 17, 1867, yeas 20, nays 9; House, February 6, 1867, yeas 58, nays 29.
West Virginia—Senate, January 15, 1867, yeas 15, nays 3; House, January 16, 1867, yeas 43, nays 11.
Ohio—Senate, January 3, 1867, yeas 21, nays 12; House, January 4, 1867, yeas 54, nays 25.
Tennessee—Senate, July 11, 1866, yeas 15, nays 6; House, July 12, 1866, yeas 43, nays 11.
Indiana—Senate, January 16, 1867, yeas 29, nays 18; House, January 23, 1867, yeas —, nays —.
Illinois—Senate, January 10, 1867, yeas 17, nays 7; House, January 15, 1867, yeas 59, nays 25.
Michigan—Senate, —— 1867, yeas 25, nays 1; House, —— 1867, yeas 77, nays 15.
Missouri—Senate, January 5, 1867, yeas 26, nays 6; House, January 8, 1867, yeas 85, nays 34.
Minnesota—Senate, January 16, 1867, yeas 16, nays 5; House, January 15, 1867, yeas 40, nays 6.
Kansas—Senate, January 11, 1867, unanimously; House, January 10, 1867, yeas, 75, nays 7.
Wisconsin—Senate, January 23, 1867, yeas 22, nays 10; House, February 7, 1867, yeas 72, nays 12.
Oregon—[[31]]Senate, ——, 1866, yeas 13, nays 7; House, September 19, 1866, yeas 25, nays 22.
Nevada—[[31]]Senate, January 22, 1867, yeas 14, nays 2; House, January 11, 1867, yeas 34, nays 4.
Rejected—Three States.
Delaware—Senate, —— ——; House, February 7, 1867, yeas 6, nays 15.
Maryland—Senate, March 23, 1867, yeas 4, nays 13; House, March 23, 1867, yeas 12, nays 45.
Kentucky—Senate, January 8, 1867, yeas 7, nays 24; House, January 8, 1867, yeas 26, nays 62.
Not acted—Three States.
Iowa, California, Nebraska.
INSURRECTIONARY STATES.
Rejected—Ten States.
Virginia—Senate, January 9, 1867, unanimously; House, January 9, 1867, 1 for amendment.
North Carolina—Senate, December 13, 1866, yeas 1, nays 44; House, December 13, 1866, yeas 10, nays 93.
South Carolina—Senate —— ——; House, December 20, 1866, yeas 1, nays 95.
Georgia—Senate, November 9, 1866, yeas 0, nays 36; House, November 9, 1866, yeas 2, nays 131.
Florida—Senate, December 3, 1866, yeas 0, nays 20; House, December 1, 1866, yeas 0, nays 49.
Alabama—Senate, December 7, 1866, yeas 2, nays 27; House, December 7, 1866, yeas 8, nays 69.
Mississippi—Senate, January 30, 1867, yeas 0, nays 27; House, January 25, 1867, yeas 0, nays 88.
Louisiana—Senate, February 5, 1867, unanimously; House, February 6, 1867, unanimously.
Texas—Senate, —— ——; House, October 13, 1866, yeas 5, nays 67.
Arkansas—Senate, December 15, 1866, yeas 1, nays 24; House, December 17, 1866, yeas 2, nays 68.
The passage of the 14th Amendment and of the Reconstruction Acts, was followed by Presidential proclamations dated August 20, 1866, declaring the insurrection at an end in Texas, and civil authority existing throughout the whole of the United States.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1864.
The Republican National Convention met at Baltimore, June 7th, 1864, and renominated President Lincoln unanimously, save the vote of Missouri, which was cast for Gen. Grant. Hannibal Hamlin, the old Vice-President, was not renominated, because of a desire to give part of the ticket to the Union men of the South, who pressed Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. “Parson” Brownlow made a strong appeal in his behalf, and by his eloquence captured a majority of the Convention.
The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago, August 29th, 1864, and nominated General George B. McClellan, of New Jersey, for President, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for Vice-President. General McClellan was made available for the Democratic nomination through certain political letters which he had written on points of difference between himself and the Lincoln administration. Two of these letters are sufficient to show his own and the views of the party which nominated him, in the canvass which followed: