GEORGIA. 



331 



(ii;ii:iiIA. An act of Congress was np- 

 I l.y tin' 1'ivMiK-nt on tin- -2'-><\ of I)eivm- 

 1>.T, 1869, authorizing the Governor of tlio 

 <>t (...'i-ina M to snminon all persons 

 elected to the General Assembly of said State, 

 as appears by the proclamation of George <J. 

 Meadi?, the general commanding the military 

 district in. -linling the State of Georgia, dated 

 .linn- 25, 1808, to appear on some day certain, 

 to bo named in said proclamation, at Atlanta, 

 nl State, and thereupon the said General 

 Assembly of said State shall proceed to perfect 

 its organization, in conformity with the Con- 

 stitution and laws of the United States, accord- 

 ing to the provisions of this act." 



On the same day Governor Bullock issued 

 his proclamation in pursuance of the provi- 

 sions of this act, summoning the persons desig- 

 nated to assemble at Atlanta on the 10th of 

 January following, and, on the 24th of Decem- 

 ber, General A. II. Terry was assigned to the 

 military command of the District of Georgia, 

 in addition to his duties as commander of the 

 Department of the South. On the 2d of 

 January, the new commander informed Gen- 

 eral Sherman, by telegraph, that he had as- 

 sumed the command, and intimated that it 

 would be expedient to confer upon him all the 

 powers originally given to the military com- 

 manders by the reconstruction acts. There- 

 upon the following order was immediately is- 

 sued : - 



General Orders, No. 1. 



HEADQ'BS or THE AKMT, ADJ.-GKN.'S OFFICE, ) 

 WASHINGTON, January 4, 1870. ) 

 By direction of the President of the U nited States, so 

 mucli of General Orders. No. 103, dated Headquarters 

 Third Military District ( Department of Georgia, Flor- 

 ida, and Alabama), Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1868, 

 and so much of General Orders, No. 55, dated Head- 

 quarters of the Army, Adjutant-General's Office, 

 Washington. July 28, 1868, as refers to the State of 

 Georgia, is hereby countermanded. Brevet Major- 

 General Terry will, until further orders, exercise 

 within that State the powers of the commanders of a 

 military district, as provided by the act of March. 

 2^ 1867, and the acts supplementary thereto, under 

 his assignment by General Orders, No. 83, dated 

 Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant-General's Office, 

 Washington, December 24, 1869. 



By command of General SHERMAN : 

 E. D. TOWXSEND, Adjutant-General. 



Instead of allowing the persons originally 

 elected to the General Assembly in 1868 to 

 meet and select their own temporary officers, 

 and then proceed in their own. way to effect a 

 permanent organization of the two Houses, 

 Governor Bullock, on the 8th of January, 

 directed one A. L. Harris, not a member-elect 

 of the Legislature, but an employ6 of the 

 State Railroad, to act as Clerk pro tern, of the 

 House of Representatives, and effect the organ- 

 ization of that body. He applied at the same 

 time to Colonel J. P. Farrow, the Attorney- 

 General of the State, for his opinion regarding 

 the disabilities of the men elected to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly, and especially as to whether 

 persons who had held the positions of State 

 Librarian, road commissioner, notary public, 



and afterward taken part in the rebellion, 

 were disqualified for taking the oath |-r. 

 in the act of December for promoting tho re- 

 construction of the State. The apparent inten- 

 ti'.n of the Governor was, to prevent certain 

 members-elect from taking their seats in tho 

 Legislature, on account of their avowed hostil- 

 ity to the course of tho existing administration 

 of tho State, and an opinion was obtain--'! from 

 the Attorney-General entirely in accordance 

 with his wishes, that official declaring that, in 

 his view, the classes of persons designated br 

 the Governor were disqualified by the acts of 

 Congress and the fourteenth amendment of the 

 Constitution of the United States. As soon as 

 this opinion was rendered, an advert i- 

 appeared in several newspapers of Atlanta, 

 notifying members-elect that if they should 

 take the prescribed oath, and afterward bo 

 found disqualified by the law as thus construed, 

 they would immediately be arrested and prose- 

 cuted for perjury. 



The members elected to the Legislature in 

 1868, including the colored members and those 

 who, it was claimed by the Governor and his 

 party, were not qualified to take tho oath, as- 

 sembled at Atlanta on the 10th of January, in 

 accordance with the Governor's proclamation. 

 Mr. A. L. Harris took the Speaker's desk in the 

 House of Representatives, and was proceeding 

 to organize the House, when Mr. Scott, a mem- 

 ber from Floyd County, arose, and reminded 

 him that Irwin's code, which had been made 

 the law of the State by tho constitution, pro- 

 vided that each branch of tho Legislature 

 should be organized by the Clerk or Secretary 

 thereof, and, in the absence of such officers, by 

 a chairman appointed by a vote of the mem- 

 bers ; and, furthermore, that the oaths of office 

 should be administered by a judge of the Su- 

 preme or Superior Court. In violation of tho 

 law, he said, the Governor had appointed one 

 of his own employes on the State Road to or- 

 ganize the Honse, and a registrar in bankruptcy 

 had been called in to administer the oath. He 

 wished to know if there was any thing im- 

 proper in the Honse proceeding to organize 

 according to the law which the members were 

 sworn to support. Mr. Harris refused to give 

 the desired information, and ordered the gen- 

 tleman to take his seat. One or two other 

 inquiries relating to tho organization of tho 

 House were made, but Mr. Harris peremptorily 

 refused to listen to them, until the House was 

 organized. A protest against this method of 

 proceeding was made, but no attention was 

 paid to it by the " Clerk pro few.," who pro- 

 ceeded to have the members sworn in. After 

 the first one had taken the required oath, a 

 motion was made that the correspondence be- 

 tween the Governor and the Attorney-General 

 be read for the information of the House, which 

 was accordingly done, in spite of several objec- 

 tions and protests. Mr. Bryant objected to 

 the reading on tho ground that it was t% in- 

 tended to intimidate and prevent some persons 



