KENTUCKY. 



567 



sons as candidates .for the various State 

 officers." At the appointed time the Conven- 

 tion assembled at Louisville. Delegates were 

 present from one hundred and three counties, 

 jind the Convention contained more than a 

 thousand members. Joshua F. Bell was nomi- 

 nated for Governor, and adopted a series of 

 resolutions, which were thus explained by the 



E resent Governor. Bramlette, in a speech de- 

 vered in Louisville on July 18th: 



Its first resolution approved and endorsed the prin- 

 ciples contained in the joint resolutions upon Federal 

 affairs, adopted by our Legislature. (See pp. 563, 

 5G4) The spirit of these resolutions declared the 

 loyal attachment of Kentucky to the Government of 

 the United States, and our determination to maintain 

 it ; recognized the difference between a transitory 

 administration of the government, limited to an official 

 term, and the government itself, which is permanent, 

 and was intended by its founders to endure forever ; 

 declared dissent from and entered its protest against 

 the emancipation proclamation as unwise, unconstitu- 

 tional, and void ; denounced the extension of martial 

 law over States where war did not exist, and the sus- 

 pension of the writ of habeas corpus as unwarranted by 

 the Constitution, tending to subordinate civil to milita- 

 ry authority and to subvert constitutional and free 

 government; declared we would hail with delight any 

 manifestation of a desire on the part of the seceded 

 States to return to their allegiance, in whieh event we 

 would cordially cooperate with them in the restoration 

 of peace and the security of such guarantees as would 

 protect all their interests and rights ; hailed the tri- 

 umph of conservative sentiment in the uon-slavehold- 

 ing States as manifested by the then recent elections, 

 and asserted that the laws of the State must be 

 maintained and enforced, and that it was the duty of 

 the constituted authorities to see that this indispensa- 

 ble end should be attained by all constitutional means. 



These points of undying devotion and loyalty to the 

 Government, and the determination to adhere to it and 

 preserve it at all hazards ; the duty of the State gov- 

 ernment to see the law executed ; the condenination of 

 the radical measures of the Federal administration in 

 power, and the pledge to correct them by peaceful and 

 constitutional means through the ballot-box, all meet 

 his most cordial approval and support. There is no 

 issue made against them in Kentucky, and therefore 

 there is no necessity to discuss them here, and he had 

 not discussed them at length, because they were enter- 

 tained in common by all the Union Democrats, and as 

 our opponents say they hold the same sentiments, 

 there is therefore no issue to be taken with them. But 

 the second resolution of our Convention declared that 

 the present causeless and wicked rebellion should be 

 crushed by the whole power of the Federal Government, 

 and the national authority restored over all the revolted 

 States, and for the accomplishment of that object 

 we were willing to devote our whole resources if 

 necessary. On this resolution our opponents take 

 issue ; all the rest are unopposed. 



On the 24th of April Mr. Bell declined the 

 nomination for Governor, for the reason that 

 his private affairs, which had been much neg- 

 lected during the two previous years of trouble, 

 demanded his whole attention. The State 

 Central Committee on the 1st of May tendered 

 the nomination to Thomas E. Bramlette, who 

 accepted it. The election was held on the first 

 Monday in August. 



A general act of the Legislature and amend- 

 ments thereto passed in 1862, constitute the 

 laws of the State regulating elections. The 

 statute required that, so long as there are two 



political parties in the State, each should be 

 represented in the officers of every election 

 precinct. An amendment adopted March 15th, 

 1862, declared that those who had engaged in 

 rebellion for the overthrow of the Government, 

 or who had in any way aided, counselled, or 

 advised the separation of Kentucky from the 

 Federal Union by force of arms, or adhered to 

 those engaged in the effort to separate her 

 from the Federal Union by force of arms, 

 should not be deemed one of the political par- 

 ties of the State. They, therefore, could not 

 be officers at any election. Another amend- 

 ment, adopted March llth, 1862, declared that 

 all citizens who should enter the service of the 

 so-called Confederate States, in either a civil or 

 military capacity, or into the service of the so- 

 called Provisional Government of Kentucky, 

 and continue in such service after the passage 

 of this amendment, or who shall take up or 

 continue in arms against the military forces of 

 the United States or the State, or shall give 

 voluntary aid and assistance to those in arms 

 against said forces, shall be deemed to have 

 expatriated themselves, and shall no longer be 

 citizens of Kentucky, nor may be again, ex- 

 cept by permission of the Legislature. When- 

 ever any person attempted to exercise any 

 legal right of a citizen of Kentucky, he might 

 be required to negative on oath this expatria- 

 tion. Persons who aided in attempting to 

 break up or prevent any election from being 

 held anywhere in the State were liable to be 

 fined from $50 to $500, or imprisonment not 

 more than one year. Officers who failed to 

 arrest such offenders may be punished by fine 

 and imprisonment. Persons offering to vote, 

 who should make false statements under oath, 

 should be deemed to be guilty of perjury, and 

 suffer the penalties for that offence. 



Previous to the election, Governor Kobinson 

 issued a proclamation stating the law relative 

 to elections, and the oath that a voter might be 

 required to take. It was called the " oath of 

 loyalty," and, as administered in the city of 

 Louisville, was as follows : 



I of county of State of do sol- 

 emnly swear that I will bear true allegiance to the 

 United States, and support and sustain the Constitu- 

 tion and laws made in pursuance thereof as the su- 

 preme law of the land, anything in any State Consti- 

 tution or laws to the contrary notwithstanding, and 

 that I will not take up arms against the United States, 

 nor give aid and comfort, by word or deed, to the en- 

 emies thereof, or tothose'now in rebellion against the 

 United States ; and that I disclaim all fellowship with 

 the so-called Confederate States and Confederate ar- 

 mies; and that I will faithfully keep and observe this 

 my solemn oath of allegiance to the Government of the 

 United States of America, with a full understanding 

 that death or other punishment by the judgment of a 

 Military Commission will be the penalty of its viola- 

 tion. " 



Subscribed and sworn before me tbis day of 



186 



General Burnside, who was in command of 

 the Department of the Ohio, which included 

 the central and eastern part of the State, issu- 



