248 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



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 guaran- 

 tee 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 civil 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 Legisla- 

 ture, or Governor. 



Second. Involuntary servitude is forever prohib- 

 ited, and freedom and equality of civil rights before 

 the law are guaranteed to all persons in said State. 



Third. No debt, State or confederate, created by 

 or under the sanction of the usurping power, or in 

 any manner in aid thereof, shall be recognized or 

 paid by the State ; and all acts, judicial or legisla- 

 tive, for the confiscation or forfeiture of any debt, 

 property, or franchise, of any loyal citizen of the 

 United States, are hereby declared null and void. 



SEC. 13. And be it furtJier enacted, That when the 

 convention shall have adopted those provisions it 

 shall proceed to reestablish a republican form of 

 government, and ordain a constitution containing 

 those provisions, which, when adopted, the conven- 

 tion 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 other, 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 can- 

 vass the same in the presence of the electors, and if 

 a majority of the votes cast shall be for the constitu- 

 tion 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, by act or joint resolution, shall, by proc- 

 lamation, 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. 



SBC. 14. And be it further enacted, That if the con- 

 vention shall refuse to reestablish the State Govern- 

 ment 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 peo- 

 ple 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 govern- 

 ment on the conditions aforesaid, to direct the pro- 

 visional governor to order another election of del- 

 egates 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 

 reestablished by it to the President. 



SEC. 15. And be it furtlier enacted, That the United 

 States, in Congress assembled, do hereby recognize 

 the Government of the State of Louisiana, inaugu- 

 rated under and by the convention which assembled 

 on the 6th day of April, A. D. 1864, at the city of New 

 Orleans, and the Government of the State of Arkan- 

 sas, inaugurated under and by the convention which 

 assembled on the 8th day of January, 1864, at the 

 city of Little Rock : Provided, That the same or other 

 conventions, duly assembled, shall first have incor- 

 porated into the constitutions of those States, respec- 

 tively, the conditions prescribed in the twelfth sec- 

 tion of this act, and the marshal of the United States 

 shall have returned to the President of the United 



States the enrolment directed by the seventh section 

 to be made and returned to the provisional governor 

 and it shall appear thereby that the persons taking 

 the oath to support the Constitution of the Unitea 

 States, together with the citizens of the United States 

 from such State in the military or naval service of 

 the United States, amount to a majority of the per- 

 sons enrolled in the State. And the President shall, 

 thereupon, by proclamation, declare the recognition 

 by the United States, in Congress assembled, of the 

 said Government of such State; and from the date 

 of such proclamation the said Government shall be 

 entitled to the guarantee and all other rights of a 

 State government under the Constitution of the 

 United States ; but this act shall not operate a recog- 

 nition of a State government in either of said States 

 till the conditions aforesaid are complied with, and 

 till that time those States shall be subject to this 

 law. 



Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, moved to amend 

 by insisting after the words " to enroll all the 

 white male citizens of the United States," the 

 words " and all other male citizens of the United 

 States who may be able to read the Constitution 

 thereof." In support of his motion he said: 

 "At the close of an international war, the 

 wronged but victorious party may justly make 

 two claims : indemnity for the past, and secu- 

 rity for the future; indemnity for the past in 

 money or in territory; security for the future 

 by new treaties, the establishment of new boun- 

 daries, or the cession of military power and the 

 territory upon which it dwells. Indemnity for 

 the past we cannot hope to obtain. When we 

 shall have punished the conspirators who in- 

 volved the country in this sanguinary war, and 

 pardoned the dupes and victims who have ar- 

 rayed themselves or been forced to do battle 

 under their flag, we shall but have repossessed 

 our ancient territory, reestablished the bounda- 

 ries of our country, restored to our flag and 

 Constitution their supremacy over territory 

 which was ours, but which the insurgents meant 

 to dismember and possess. The other demand 

 we may and must successfully make. Security 

 for the future is accessible to us, and we must 

 demand it ; and to obtain it with amplest guar- 

 antees requires the adoption of no new idea, the 

 making of no experiment, the entering upon no 

 sea of political speculation. 



" In announcing the reasons which impelled 

 the colonies to a separation from the mother 

 country, the American people declared that 'a 

 decent respect to the opinions of mankind ' re- 

 quired ' a declaration of the causes which im- 

 pelled them to the separation ; ' and in assigning 

 those causes announced a few general propo- 

 sitions, embodying eternal and ever-operating 

 principles, among which were, 



" First, that iall men are created equal, are 

 endowed with certain inalienable rights,' and 

 that ' among these are Hfe, liberty, and the pur- 

 suit of happiness.' 



" Second, that ' to insure these rights, Govern- 

 ments are instituted among men.' 



" Third, that ' Governments derive their just 

 powers from the consent of the governed.' 



" Fourth, that 'whenever any form of govern- 

 ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the 



