SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in any such state, and the people thereof shall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the constitution and the laws of the United States, the provisional governor shall direct the marshal of the United States, as speedily as may be, to name a sufficient number of deputies, and to enroll all white male citizens of the United States, resident in the state in their respective counties, and to request each one to take the oath to support the constitution of the United States, and in his enrolment to designate those who take and those who refuse to take that oath, which rolls shall be forthwith returned to the provisional governor; and if the persons taking that oath shall amount to a majority of the persons enrolled in the state, he shall, by proclamation, invite the loyal people of the state to elect delegates to a convention charged to declare the will of the people of the state relative to the reëstablishment of a state government subject to, and in conformity with, the constitution of the United States.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall consist of as many members as both houses of the last constitutional state legislature, apportioned by the provisional governor among the counties, parishes, or districts of the state, in proportion to the white population, returned as electors, by the marshal, in compliance with the provisions of this act. The provisional governor shall, by proclamation, declare the number of delegates to be elected by each county, parish, or election district; name a day of election not less than thirty days thereafter; designate the places of voting in each county, parish, or district, conforming as nearly as may be convenient to the places used in the state elections next preceding the rebellion; appoint one or more commissioners to hold the election at each place of voting, and provide an adequate force to keep the peace during the election.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the delegates shall be elected by the loyal white male citizens of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, and resident at the time in the county, parish, or district in which they shall offer to vote, and enrolled as aforesaid, or absent in the military service of the United States, and who shall take and subscribe the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form contained in the act of . . . [July 2, 1862]

.; and all such citizens of the United States who are in the military service of the United States shall vote at the headquarters of their respective commands, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the provisional governor for the taking and return of their votes; but no person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, state or confederate, under the rebel usurpation, or who has voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall vote, or be eligible to be elected as delegate, at such election.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or either of them, shall hold the election in conformity with this act and, so far as may be consistent therewith, shall proceed in the manner used in the state prior to the rebellion. The oath of allegiance shall be taken and subscribed on the pollbook by every voter in the form above prescribed, but every person known by, or proved to, the commissioners to have held or exercised any office, civil or military, state or confederate, under the rebel usurpation, or to have

voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall be excluded, though he offer to take the oath; and in case any person who shall have borne arms against the United States shall offer to vote he shall be deemed to have borne arms voluntarily unless he shall prove the contrary by the testimony of a qualified voter. The poll-book, showing the name and oath of each voter, shall be returned to the provisional governor by the commissioners of election or the one acting, and the provisional governor shall canvass such returns, and declare the person having the highest number of votes elected.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisional governor shall, by proclamation, convene the delegates elected as aforesaid, at the capital of the state, on a day not more than three months after the election, giving at least thirty days' notice of such day. In case the said capital shall in his judgment be unfit, he shall in his proclamation appoint another place. He shall preside over the deliberations of the convention, and administer to each delegate, before taking his seat in the convention, the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form above prescribed.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall declare, on behalf of the people of the state, their submission to the constitution and laws of the United States, and shall adopt the following provisions, hereby prescribed by the United States in the execution of the constitutional duty to guarantee a republican form of government to every state, and incorporate them in the constitution of the state, that is to say:

First. No person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel, state or confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a member of the legislature, or governor.

Second. Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons is guaranteed in said state.

Third. No debt, state or confederate, created by or under the sanction of the usurping power, shall be recognized or paid by the state.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That when the convention shall have adopted those provisions, it shall proceed to reëstablish a republican form of government, and ordain a constitution containing those provisions, which, when adopted, the convention shall by ordinance provide for submitting to the people of the state, entitled to vote under this law, at an election to be held in the manner prescribed by the act for the election of delegates; but at a time and place named by the convention, at which election the said electors, and none others, shall vote directly for or against such constitution and form of state government, and the returns of said election shall be made to the provisional governor, who shall canvass the same in the presence of the electors, and if a majority of the votes cast shall be for the constitution and form of government, he shall certify the same, with a copy thereof, to the President of the United States, who, after obtaining the assent of congress, shall, by proclamation, recognize the government so established, and none other, as the constitutional government of the state, and from the date of such recognition, and not before, Senators and Representatives, and electors for President and Vice-President may be elected in such state, according to the laws of the state and of the United States.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That if the convention shall refuse to reëstablish the state government on the conditions aforesaid, the provisional governor shall declare it dissolved; but it shall be the duty of the President, whenever he shall have reason to believe that a sufficient number of the people of the state entitled to vote under this act, in number not less than a majority of those enrolled, as aforesaid, are willing to reestablish a state government on the conditions aforesaid, to direct the provisional governor to order another election of delegates to a convention for the purpose and in the manner prescribed in this act, and to proceed in all respects as hereinbefore provided, either to dissolve the convention, or to certify the state government reëstablished by it to the President.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That, until the United States shall have recognized a republican form of state government, the provisional governor in each of said states shall see that this act, and the laws of the United States, and the laws of the state in force when the state government was overthrown by the rebellion, are faithfully executed within the state; but no law or usage whereby any person was heretofore held in involuntary servitude shall be recognized or enforced by any court or officer in such state, and the laws for the trial and punishment of white persons shall extend to all persons, and jurors shall have the qualifications of voters under this law for delegates to the convention. The President shall appoint such officers provided for by the laws of the state when its government was overthrown as he may find necessary to the civil administration of the state, all which officers shall be entitled to receive the fees and emoluments provided by the state laws for such officers. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That until the recognition of a state government as aforesaid, the provisional governor shall, under such regulations as he may prescribe, cause to be assessed, levied, and collected, for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and every year thereafter, the taxes provided by the laws of such state to be levied during the fiscal year preceding the overthrow of the state government thereof, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the state, as nearly as may be; and the officers appointed, as aforesaid, are vested with all powers of levying and collecting such taxes, by distress or sale, as were vested in any officers or tribunal of the state government aforesaid for those purposes. The proceeds of such taxes shall be accounted for to the provisional governor, and be by him applied to the expenses of the administration of the laws in such state, subject to the direction of the President, and the surplus shall be deposited in the treasury of the United States to the credit of such state, to be paid to the state upon an appropriation therefor, to be made when a republican form of government shall be recognized therein by the United States.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That all persons held to involuntary servitude or labor in the states aforesaid are hereby emancipated and discharged therefrom, and they and their posterity shall be forever free. And any such persons or their posterity shall be restrained of liberty, under pretence of any claim to such service or labor, the courts of the United States shall, on habeas corpus, discharge them.

if

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That if any person declared free by this act, or any law of the United States, or any proclamation of the President, be

restrained of liberty, with intent to be held in or reduced to involuntary servitude or labor, the person convicted before a court of competent jurisdiction of such act shall be punished by fine of not less than fifteen hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not less than five nor more than twenty years.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That every person who shall hereafter hold or exercise any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel, in the rebel service, state or confederate, is hereby declared not to be a citizen of the United States.

A JOINT resolution declaring certain States not eligible to representation in the electoral college was presented in the House December 19, 1864, by Wilson of Iowa, and passed the House January 30, 1865. The resolution was reported in the Senate February 1, with an amendment to the preamble. An amendment to strike out Louisiana from the list of States named was rejected, and on the 4th, by a vote of 29 to 10, the amended resolution passed the Senate. The House concurred in the Senate amendment. In his message of approval, February 8, Lincoln disclaimed "all right of the Executive to interfere in any way in the matter of canvassing or counting electoral votes," and further disclaimed "that by signing said resolution he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of the preamble or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution."

REFERENCES.

Text in U. S. Statutes at Large, XIII., 567, 568. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 38th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe.

Joint Resolution declaring certain States not entitled to Representation in the Electoral College.

WHEREAS the inhabitants and local authorities of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee rebelled against the government of the United States, and were in such condition on .. [November 8, 1864,]

that no valid election for electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, according to the constitution and laws thereof, was held therein on said day: Therefore,

Be it resolved. That the states mentioned in the preamble

to this joint resolution are not entitled to representation in the electoral college for the choice of President and Vice-Presiden of the United States, for the term of office commencing... [March 4, 1865] . . . ; and no electoral votes shall be received or counted from said states concerning the choice of President and Vice-President for said term of office.

No. 141. Freedmen's Bureau

March 3, 1865

A BILL "to establish a bureau of emancipation" was reported in the House December 22, 1863, by Eliot of Massachusetts, from the Select Committee on Emancipation, and recommitted. The bill was reported with amendments January 13, 1864, and March 1 passed the House by a vote of 69 to 67. In the Senate the bill was referred to the Select Committee on Slavery and Freedmen, of which Sumner was chairman. A bill to establish a bureau of freedmen was reported from the committee April 12. May 25 the committee reported the House bill with a substitute amendment, and the bill thus amended passed the Senate June 29 by a vote of 21 to 9. The select committee of the House recommended that the amendments of the Senate be disagreed to. Further action was postponed until December. December 20 a conference committee was appointed. The report of the committee was accepted by the House February 9, 1865, by a vote of 64 to 62, 56 not voting, but rejected by the Senate on the 22d by a vote of 14 to 24. March 3 the report of a second conference committee was agreed to by both houses. An act of July 16, 1866, continued the act of 1865 in force until July 16, 1868, and enlarged the scope of the bureau.

REFERENCES. Text in U. S. Statutes at Large, XIII., 507-509. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 38th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The supplementary act of 1866 is in MacDonald's Select Statutes, No. 51. On the work of the bureau see Senate Exec. Doc. 28, 38th Cong., 2d Sess.; House Exec. Docs. 11, 70, and 120, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; House Exec. Doc. 7, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; House Report 30, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.; House Exec. Doc. 329, ibid.; House Exec. Doc. 142, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.; House Misc. Doc. 87, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.; House Exec. Doc. 10, 43d Cong., 1st Sess.; House Exec. Doc. 144, 44th Cong., 1st Sess. On the condition of freedmen see Senate Exec. Doc. 53, and Senate Report 25, 38th Cong., 1st Sess.; House Exec. Doc. 118, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. Southern State legislation respecting freedmen is summarized in McPherson, Reconstruction, 29-44.