398 



GEORGIA. 



some magistrate having authority, and shall in no 

 case inflict any punishment except by the judgment 

 and direction of a duly qualified civil officer, having 

 jurisdiction of the offence. 



And whereas, it is desirable to have uniformity in 

 command, and that there should be no conflict be- 

 tween the military authorities of the State and the 

 United States, it is further declared that said com- 

 panies, when formed within their respective counties, 

 shall be under the control and subject to the military 

 commanders of the United States commanding the 

 District ; and for a violation of these regulations, and 

 for any other offence committed, shall be tried and 

 punished according to the rules prescribed for the 

 government of the army of the United States. 



Given under my hand and the seal of the Executive 

 Department at Millcdgeville, on this the 21st day of 

 November, A. D. 1865. JAMES JOHNSON, 



Provisional Governor of Georgia. 



Other ordinances and resolutions of local im- 

 portance were adopted, and, after a session of 

 thirteen days, the Convention adjourned. Pre- 

 vious to the adjournment, the following address 

 to President Johnson was unanimously adopted : 



To his Excellency, Andrew Johnson, President of the 

 United States of America: 



The people of the State of Georgia, now in Con- 

 vention, having repealed all ordinances and resolu- 

 tions, by them neretofore adopted, with a purpose to 

 separate themselves from the United States, and to 

 enter into another Confederacy, and having adopted 

 a Constitution strictly republican, wherein the su- 

 premacy of the Constitution, constitutional laws, and 

 treaties of the United States of America are distinctly 

 affirmed, having^ therein recognized the emancipa- 

 tion, by the United States Government, of persons 

 previously held as slaves in this State, and ordained 

 m the fundamental law that neither slavery nor in- 

 voluntary servitude (save as punishment for crime) 

 shall hererafter exist in Georgia ; and having, as they 

 conceive, done all things necessary and proper on 

 their part, to the full and complete restoration of 

 their rights and privileges as a State, and as a 

 member of the American Union, respectfully request 

 that all needful executive and legislative measures 

 be taken to effect such restoration as speedily as 

 possible. 



We, the delegates of the people, fully informed as 

 to their purposes and desires, assure your Excellen- 

 cy that it is their fixed intention to perform their 

 whole duty as citizens of the United States, that their 

 desire is to live under the Constitution, in peace and 

 harmony with the whole people, and to see sectional 

 strife banished forever from the national councils. 



We moreover express to you, sir, their entire con- 

 fidence in your just and kind intentions toward 

 them ; and their anticipations of your conciliatory 

 and trustful consideration of their acts and doings in 

 this Convention. 



The State officers and the members of a 

 State Legislature were duly elected on No- 

 vember 15th, as provided by the Convention, 

 and that body assembled at Milledgeville on 

 December 4th. Nearly every county was 

 represented on the first day of the session. 

 An organization was at once effected, by the 

 choice of William Gibson as President of the 

 Senate, and Thomas Hardeman Speaker of the 

 House. The President of the Senate, in his 

 address to that body, said: "Having fought 

 the war through and been conquered, we find 

 the affairs of the State in a most deplorable 

 condition ; the whole system of labor sustained 

 by our fathers through successive generations 



wholly destroyed, and the capital of the country 

 thoroughly exhausted. But it becomes your 

 duty so to frame your legislation that, upon 

 the rains of the old, a new system may arise 

 which will contribute to the advancement of 

 Georgia in wealth, prosperity, and power. In 

 order that this system should prove effectual, 

 we must bury our prejudices in the past ; wo 

 must conciliate the views of those from whom 

 we now widely differ, and with whom we lately 

 stood in hostile conflict. Let us so shape our 

 legislation that while we guard with the utmost 

 caution our interests at home, we shall win the 

 confidence of our late enemies, but, we trust, 

 soon to be our friends of a common country, 

 with a common fate awaiting us all." 



The Provisional Governor having been in- 

 structed by tfie President to retain his office 

 until further notice, sent a message to the 

 Legislature, recommending the passage of the 

 amendment of the Federal Constitution, a 

 change in the manner of conducting the State 

 railroad, and one or two other topics of a strict- 

 ly local interest. 



On the next day the amendment to the 

 Federal Constitution, relative to slavery, was 

 brought forward in the House, and, under the 

 suspension of the rules, was passed without 

 debate, and by an almost unanimous vote. The 

 amendment was taken up in the Senate on the 

 next morning and passed. The following de- 

 spatches from the late Confederate Governor 

 Brown and the Provisional Governor were im- 

 mediately sent to the President : 



MILI.EDGEVILLE, GA., December 6, 186& 

 To his Excellency Andrew Johnson : 



The Legislature has adopted the constitutional 

 amendment, and will pass laws amply protecting 

 freedmen in their rights of person and property, in- 

 cluding their right to sue and be sued, and to testify. 



J. E. BROWN. 



MILLEDGEVILLE, GA., December 6, 1S65. 

 To his Excellency^ Andrew Johnson, President : 



The constitutional amendment has passed eacfi 

 branch of the Legislature. 



The House passed a resolution instructing the Judi- 

 ciary Committee to report a bill to protect persons 

 of African descent in their persons and property, and 

 also to allow them to testify in cases in which they 

 may be interested. 



J. JOHNSON, Provisional Governor. 



To which the President replied as follows : 



WASHINGTON, December 8, 1865. 

 James Johnson, Provisional Governor: 



Your despatch received the 6th inst. Permit me 

 to congratulate you and the Legislature on their ac- 

 tion in adopting and ratifying the amendment of the 

 Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery. 



ANDREW JOHNSON, President United States, 



The manner in which this despatch was re- 

 ceived by the House, is thus described by a spec- 

 tator: "This despatch was read amid profound 

 silence and breathless attention ; and the invol- 

 untary manifestation of mingled hope, disap- 

 pointment, and relief which pervaded the whole 

 house, and was expressed in every countenance, 

 afforded a most remarkable and striking exem- 

 plification of the moral effect of the changed 

 relation of our people to the national Govern 



