[NOTE.—The Forty-second Congress, first session, met March 4, 1871, in accordance with the act of January 22, 1867.]
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
WASHINGTON, March 17, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in compliance with its resolution of the 14th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, making known that official notice has been received at the Department of State of the ratification by the legislature of one, and only one, additional State—to wit, that of New Jersey—of the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States since the 30th of March, 1870, the date of his certificate that three-fourths of the whole number of States in the United States had ratified that amendment and that it had become valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution of the United States.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 23, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
A condition of affairs now exists in some of the States of the Union rendering life and property insecure and the carrying of the mails and the collection of the revenue dangerous. The proof that such a condition of affairs exists in some localities is now before the Senate. That the power to correct these evils is beyond the control of the State authorities I do not doubt; that the power of the Executive of the United States, acting within the limits of existing laws, is sufficient for present emergencies is not clear.
Therefore I urgently recommend such legislation as in the judgment of Congress shall effectually secure life, liberty, and property and the enforcement of law in all parts of the United States.