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Jan. 29, 1867.-Tonnage Duties on Hawaiian Vessels.-Proclaims that acts imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States shall be suspended as respects vessels of the Hawaiian Islands, and their cargoes, from December 10, 1866, so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States, and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported in them into the dominions of the Hawaiian Islands, shall be continued on the part of the government of the King of the Hawaiian Islands.

I call upon all good and well disposed citizens of the United States to remember that upon the said Constitution and laws, and upon the judgments, decrees, and process of the Courts made in accordance with the same, depend the protection of the lives, liberty, property, and happiness of the people. And I exhort them everywhere to testify their devotion to their country, their pride in its prosperity and greatness, and their determination to uphold its free institutions, by a hearty co-operation in the efforts of the Government to sustain the author

March 1, 1867.-Admission of Nebraska.-Pro-ity of the law, to maintain the supremacy of the claims that the fundamental conditions imposed Federal Constitution, and to preserve unimby Congress on the State of Nebraska to entitle paired the integrity of the national Union. that State to admission to the Union have been ratified and accepted, and that the admission of the State into the Union is now complete.

March 80, 1867.-Extraordinary Session of the Senate.--Convenes an extraordinary session of the Senate for April 1, 1867.

September 8, 1867.-The supremacy of Civil Courts to be enforced.-After referring to the duty of the President as chief executive officer of the Government of the United States, to the supremacy of the Constitution by which the judges in every State are bound, to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the inferior courts which Congress may from time to time ordain and establish, to the duty of all civil and military officers to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to the duty of all officers of the army and navy to obey the orders of the President, the General, or other superior officers set over them, to the right of the Executive to secure the faithful execution of the laws of the United States by the employment of the land and naval forces, in case it shall become impracticable to enforce them by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, the proclamation continues as follows:

Whereas, Impediments and obstructions serious in their character have recently been interposed in the States of North Carolina and South Carolina, hindering and preventing for a time a proper enforcement there of the laws of the United States, and of the judgments and decrees of a lawful court thereof, in disregard of the command of the President of the United States; and

Whereas, Reasonable and well-founded apprehensions exist that such ill-advised and unlawful proceedings may be again attempted

there or elsewhere:

Now therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby warn all persons against obstructing or hindering in any manner whatsoever the faithful execution of the Constitution and the law; and I do solemnly enjoin and command all officers of the Government, civil and military, to render due submission and obedience to said laws, and to the judgments and decrees of the Courts of the United States, and to give all the aid in their power necessary to the prompt enforcement and execution of said laws, decrees, judgments, and process, and I do hereby enjoin upon the officers of the army and navy to assist and sustain the Courts and other civil authorities of the United States in a faithful administration of the laws thereof, and in the judgments, decrees, mandates and processes of the Courts of the United States. And

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents, and sign the same with my hand.

Done at the city of Washington, the third day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Sept. 8, 1867.- Amnesty Proclaimed. The proclamation at first refers to the declaration by both Houses of Congress, in July, 1861, that "the war then existing was not waged on the part of the Government in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of the States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired, and that as soon as these objects should be accomplished the war ought to cease; " to the proclamations by the President, on Dec. 8, 1863, and March 26, 1864,"offering amnesty and pardon to all persons who had directly or indirectly participated in the then existing rebellion, except as in those proclamations was specified and reserved;" to the proclamation of May 29, 1865, granting "to all persons who had directly or indirectly participated in the then existing rebellion, except as therein excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all the rights of property except as to slaves, and except in certain cases where legal proceedings had been instituted, but upon condition, that such persons should take and subscribe an oath therein prescribed, which oath should be registered for permanent preservation, but excepting and excluding from the benefits of this proclamation fourteen extensive classes of persons therein specially described;" to the proclamation of April 2, 1866, declaring that "the insurrection was at an end and was thenceforth to be so regarded." The President then goes on to state, that "there now exists no organized armed resistance of misguided citizens, or others, to the authority of the United States in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida and Texas, and, the laws can be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of said States are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed, or if permitted to do so will conform, to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the

United States prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States: " that "there no longer exists any reasonable ground to apprehend within the States which were involved in the late rebellion any renewal thereof, or any unlawful resistance by the people of said States to the Constitution and laws of the United States;" that "large standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and the right of trial by jury, are, in time of peace, dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed except in cases of actual necessity, for repelling invasion, or suppressing insurrection or rebellion;" that "a retaliatory or vindictive policy attended by unnecessary disqualifications, pains, penalties, confiscations, and disfranchisements, now, as always, could only tend to hinder reconciliation among the people, and national restoration, while it must seriously embarrass, obstruct and repress popular energies and national industry and enterprise." For these reasons the President deems it to be "essential to the public welfare, and to the more perfect restoration of constitutional law and order," that the proclamation of May 29, 1865, should be modified, and that "the full and beneficent pardon conceded thereby should be opened and further extended to a large number of persons who, by its aforesaid exceptions, have been hitherto excluded from Executive clemency." Accordingly, the President declares that the full pardon described in the proclamation of May 29, 1865," shall henceforth be opened and extended to all persons who directly or indirectly participated in the late Rebellion, with the restoration of all privileges, immunities, and rights of property, except as to property with regard to slaves, and except in cases of legal proceedings under the laws of the United States; but upon this condition, nevertheless, that every such per

son who shall seek to avail himself of this proclamation shall take and subscribe the following oath, and shall cause the same to be registered for permanent preservation, in the same manner and with the same effect as with the oath prescribed in the said proclamation of the 29th day of May, 1865, namely:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States thereunder; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the late Rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God."

The following persons, and no others, are excluded from the benefits of this proclamation, and of proclamation of May 29, 1865, namely: "First. The chief or pretended chief Executive officers, including the President, 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, 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 herewith connected."

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.Dec. 13.....Dec. 13, 1866. .Dec. 15.....Dec. 17, ...Dec. 20, Jan. 9......Jan. 9, 1867. ...Jan. 30.....Jan. 25, .Feb. 5....... Feb. 6, 2. Further Action of Congress on the Amendment. By Sec. 5 of the Reconstruction Act of Congress of March 2, 1867 (see p. 23) the admission of senators and representatives from the reconstructed rebel states is made dependent upon the previous ratification of the Constitutional Amendment by Legislatures of the rebel States elected in accordance with the provisions of the Reconstruction Act.

II. THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS OF CONGRESS. 1.-Reconstruction Act of the XXXIXth Congress,of March 2, 1867.-We have given this act on p. 23. The bill passed the House, on Feb. 20, 1867, by the following vote-yeas 128 (all Republicans), nays 46 (all Democrats, except Hawkins of Tenn., James R. Hubbell of Ohio, and Kuykendall of Ill.). The Senate passed the bill on the same day-yeas 35 (all Republicans except Johnson of Maryland), nays 7 (all Democrats). The bill was vetoed on March 2. Both Houses of Congress re-passed it on the same day, the House by a vote of 138 (all Republicans), nays 51 (all Democrats, except Hale of N. Y., Hawkins of Tenn., Kuykendall of Ill., Stillwell of Ind., and Latham of W. Va.), the Senate by a vote of yeas 38 (all Rep. except Johnson of Md.), nays 10 (all Democrats).

2.-Supplemental Reconstruction Act of XLth Congress, of March 23, 1867.-A reconstruction bill, supplementary to the above act of March 2, passed both Houses of Congress on March 19. It was vetoed on March 23. On the same day the House repassed it by a vote of yeas 114 (all Republicans), nays 25 (all Democrats), and the Senate by a vote of yeas 40 (all Republicans except Johnson of Md.), and nays 7 (all Democrats).

The following are the main provisions of this act:

Before Sept. 1, 1867, 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 2, 1867, shall cause a registration to be made of the male citizens of the United States, 21 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 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,

or

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 may be administered by any registering officer. Sec. 2. After the completion of the registration hereby provided for in any State, at such time and places therein as the commanding general shall ap point and direct, of which at least 30 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 1860, 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 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 1860, to be apportioned as aforesaid. Sec. 3. At said election the registered voters of each State shall vote for or against a convention to form a constitution therefor under this act. 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. The commanding general of each district shall appoint as many boards of regis tration as may be necessary, consisting of 3 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 60 days from the date

been the true intent and meaning of the act of the 2d day of March, 1867, entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," and the act supplementary thereto passed the 23d of March, 1867, that the governments then existing in the rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, were not legal State governments, and that thereafter said governments, if continued, were to be continued subject in all respects to the military commanders of the respective districts, and to the paramount authority of Congress.

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 30 days from the date of notice thereof, to be SEC. 2. That the commander of any district given by said convention; and the returns named in said act shall have power, subject to thereof shall be made to the commanding gen- the disapproval of the general of the army of the eral of the district. Sec. 5. That if, according United States, and to have effect until disapto said returns, the constitution shall be ratified proved, whenever, in the opinion of such comby a majority of the votes of the registered elec- mander, the proper administration of said act tors qualified as herein specified, cast at said shall require it, to suspend or remove from ofelection (at least one-half of all the registered fice, or from the performance of official duties, voters voting upon the question of such ratifica- and the exercise of official powers, any officer or tion), the president of the convention shall trans- person holding or exercising, or professing to mit a copy of the same, duly certified, to the hold or exercise, any civil or military office or President of the United States, who shall forth- duty in such district, under any power, election, with transmit the same to Congress, if then in appointment, or authority derived from, or session, and if not in session, then immediately granted by, or claimed under, any so called upon its next assembling; and if it shall, more- State, or the government thereof, or any municover, appear to Congress, that the election was ipal or other division thereof, and upon such susone at which all the registered and qualified elec- pension or removal such commander, subject to tors in the State had an opportunity to vote the approval of the general as aforesaid, shall freely and without restraint, fear, or the influ- have power to provide from time to time for the ence of fraud, and if the Congress shall be satis-performance of the said duties of such officer or fied that such constitution meets the approval of person so suspended or removed, by the detail of a majority of all the qualified electors in the some competent officer or soldier of the army, or State, and if the said constitution shall be de- by the appointment of some other person to clared by Congress to be in conformity with the perform the same, and to fill vacancies occaprovisions of the act to which this is supplemen- sioned by death, resignation, or otherwise. tary, 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. 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 2, 1862, entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office:" 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.

3-Supplementary Reconstruction Act of XLth Congress, of July 19, 1867.-A reconstruction bill, supplementary to the two preceding acts, passed both Houses of Congress, on July 18. It was vetoed by the President on July 19, but on the same day re-passed by both Houses over the veto. The vote in the Senate stood--yeas 30 (all Repub.), nays 6 (all Democ.); in the House-yeas 100 (all Rep.), nays 22 (all Dem.). The bill is as follows:

SECTION 1. That it is hereby declared to have

SEC. 3. That the general of the army of the United States shall be invested with all the powers of suspension, removal, appointment, and detaching granted in the preceding section to district commanders.

SEC. 4. That the acts of the officers of the army, already done in removing in said districts persons exercising the functions of civil officers, and appointing others in their stead, are hereby confirmed; provided that any persons heretofore or hereafter appointed by any district commander to exercise the functions of any civil office may be removed either by the military offcer in command of the district or by the general of the army, and it shall be the duty of such commander to remove from office, as aforesaid, all persons who are disloyal to the government of the United States, or who use their official influence in any manner to hinder, delay, prevent or obstruct the due and proper administration of this act and the acts to which it is supplement

ary.

SEC. 5. That the boards of registration provided for in the act entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,' passed March 2, 1867, and to facilitate restoration." passed March 28, 1867, shall have power, and it shall be their duty, before allowing the registration of any person, to ascertain, upon such facts or information as they can obtain, whether such person is entitled to be registered under said act, and the oath required by said act shall not be

conclusive on such question; and no person shall be registered unless such board shall decide that he is entitled thereto; and such board shall also have power to examine under oath, to be administered by any member of such board, any one touching the qualification of any person claiming registration; but in every case of refusal by the board to register an applicant, and in every case of striking his name from the list, as hereinafter provided, the board shall make a note or memorandum, which shall be returned with the registration list to the commanding general of the district, setting forth the ground of such refusal or such striking from the list; provided that no person shall be disqualified as a member of any board of registration by reason of race or color.

SEC. 6. That the true intent and meaning of the oath presented in said supplementary act is (among other things) that no person who has been a member of the Legislature of any State, or who has held any executive or judicial office in any State, whether he has taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States or not, and whether he was holding such office at

the commencement of the rebellion or had held

it before, and who has afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, is entitled to be registered or to vote; and the words "executive or judicial" office in any State, in said oath mentioned, shall be construed to include all civil offices created by law for the administration of any general law of a State or for the administration of justice.

SEC. 7. That the time for completing the original registration provided for in any act may, in the discretion of the commander of any district, be extended to the 1st day of October, 1867; and the board of registration shall have power, and it shall be their duty, commencing fourteen days prior to any election under said act, and upon reasonable public notice of the time and place thereof, to revise for a period of five days the registration lists, and upon being satisfied that any person not entitled thereto has been registered, to strike the name of such person from the list, and such person shall not be allowed to vote. And such board shall also, during the same period, add to each registry the names of all persons who at that time possess the qualifications required by said act, who have not been already registered, and no person shall at any time be entitled to be registered or to vote by reason of any executive pardon or amnesty, for any act or thing which, without such pardon or amnesty, would disqualify him from registration

or voting.

SEC. 8. That all members of said boards of registration, and all persons hereafter elected or appointed to office in said military districts under any so-called State or municipal authority, or by detail or appointment of the district commander, shall be required to take and subscribe to the oath of office prescribed by law for the officers of the United States.

SEC. 9. That no district commander or member of the board of registration, or any officer or appointee acting under them, shall be bound in his action by any opinion of any civil officer of the United States.

SEC. 10. That section four of said last-named

act shall be construed to authorize the commanding general named therein, whenever he shall deem it needful, to remove any member of a board of registration, and to appoint another in his stead, and to fill any vacancy in such board. SEC. 11. That all the provisions of this act, and of the acts to which this is supplementary, shall be construed liberally, to the end that all the intents thereof may be fully and perfectly carried out.

III-PROGRESS OF IMPARTIAL SUFFRAGE. tion in the several States of the Federal Union At the beginning of the year 1866, the legislaconcerning the right of suffrage, was as follows: Only five States-Maine, Vermont, New Ilamplegal' distinction among their citizens on the shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island-made no ground of color. In New York, colored citizens to be voters must be owners of a freehold worth $250. In Ohio, which limits the elective franchise to "every white male citizen" of the United States, the courts have held that every person of one-half white blood is a "white male citizen" within the Constitution, and that the burshow that the person is more than half black. den of proof is with the challenging party, to All the other States denied the right of suffrage the New England States, in Michigan, Wisconto the negro. Indians had a right of voting in sin, California, and Minnesota. Chinamen were expressly excluded in California, Oregon, and Nevada. Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, and Illinois, admitted as the right of suffrage to negroes, was taken in voters those not yet citizens. A vote to extend 1865, in Connecticut (Oct. 2), Colorado (Sept.), Wisconsin (Nov. 7), and Minnesota (Nov. 7). All these four States declared against negro suffrage.*

Thornton (Dem., Ill.), "that any extension of On Dec. 18, 1865, a resolution offered by Mr. the elective franchise to persons in the States, either by act of the President or of Congress, in the Constitution of the United States would would be an assumption of power which nothing warrant, and that to avoid every danger of confict, the settlement of this question should be referred to the several States," was laid on the table by a vote of-yeas 111, nays 46.

1866) by Mr. Defrees (Rep., Ind.), "that it is the On May 21, 1866, a resolution offered (Feb. 26, opinion of this House that Congress has no constitutional right to fix the qualification of elec

tors in the several States" was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary-yeas 86, nays 80.

On Dec. 18, 1866, a bill conferring the elective franchise in the District of Columbia upon every male person without any distinction on account of color or race, passed the Senate by a vote of yeas 82, nays 13; on the following day the bill passed the House-yeas 128, nays 46. On Jan. 7, 1867, the bill was vetoed. The Senate, on the same day, passed the bill over the veto-yeas 29, nays 10; the House passed it on Jan. 8-yeas 118, nays 88.

On Jan. 15, 1867, the House passed a bill for the admission of Nebraska into the Union, upon

A full account of the laws in the several States on the right of suffrage is given in the TRIBUNE ALMANAC for 1866, p. 45-47.

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