28 



ARKANSAS. 



Be it resolved by the. General Assembly of the State 

 9f Arkansas, That a joint committee, to be composed 

 of the separate Committees on Federal Eolations, of 

 the Senate and House of Representatives, is hereby 

 created, with instructions to prepare and report to 

 each House a memorial to the President and Con- 

 gress of the United States, setting forth the true po- 

 sition of the State of Arkansas, and the spirit and 

 wishes of the people thereof, with regard to the res- 

 toration of the Union in all its parts ; and the meas- 

 ures which might be most efficient in restoring a 

 condition of harmony; and the cooperation of all the 

 States in the promotion of the national prosperity iu 

 a manner consistent with the honor and dignity of 

 the citizens of the respective States. 



The reasons urged for the adoption of the 

 resolution were stated to be a conviction that 

 the people of the Northern States had been de- 

 ceived by misrepresentations made to them as to 

 the opinions of the people of the Southern States, 

 and the motives which dictated their actions : 

 whereas justice to the people of Arkansas and 

 their posterity demanded that the truths of his- 

 tory should b'e known. The present Legislature 

 was the first official body convened for four years 

 which represented all parts of the State. Every 

 shade of political opinion had an opportunity to 

 represent itself through a free election, and in 

 the resolution they resolved to appeal to the 

 better judgment of the American people, 

 i The views of the Legislature respecting the 

 action of the State in her legislative capacity 

 during the war, and indirectly her relations to 

 the Union, were expressed in connection with 

 some questions arising out of certain land sales 

 by her agents during the war. The question 

 presented was, to what extent the present con- 

 stitution of the State repudiates or makes null 

 and void the action of the authorities between 

 May 1, 1861, the day on which the State se- 

 ceded, and the adoption of the present consti- 

 tution. The Judiciary Committee made a ma- 

 jority and a minority report. The former took 

 the ground that the Legislature itself had ac- 

 knowledged the present constitution as the su- 

 preme organic law of the State, by assembling 

 in obedience to its commands. This consti- 

 tution declared the entire action of the con- 

 vention of 1801 to be null and void, and never 

 binding, nor any action of the State under its 

 authority. But it provided that this declaration 

 should not be so construed as to afi'ect the 

 rights of individuals, change county boundaries, 

 invalidate the acts of justices of the peace, con- 

 veyances, marriages, etc. The words "rights 

 of individuals " were too vague, indefinite, and 

 ambiguous to mean any thing specially, and 

 must be regarded as inoperative and void ; there- 

 fore, with the exceptions specifically named, all 

 actions of the State done under the authority 

 of the convention of 1861 must be treated as 

 null and void, and this included sales of land. 



The minority report admitted the present 

 constitution to be the suprlfoe organic law of 

 the State, and asserted that Ihe same rules of 

 interpretation and construction were applica- 

 ble to it as to any other constitution of the 

 State for the purpose of ascertaining its mean- 



ing and effect. It then submitted the following 

 propositions : 



1. That the Constitution of the Urn' ted States, ant( 

 all laws made in pursuance thereof, and all trea- 

 ties, are the supreme law of the land, any thing in 

 the constitution or laws of toy State to the cdn- 

 trary, notwithstanding. 



2. That the people of this State have now, and al- 

 ways have had, the exclusive right, as a free people, 

 of governing themselves, and of exercising and enjoy- 

 ing every power, jurisdiction, and right pertaining 

 to a State which was and is not delegated to the 

 United States. 



3. That aside from the fact that the end and ob- 

 ject of all government, especially in the United States, 

 is the safety of the people and the preservation of 

 property, and that, by tacit reservation of the people, 

 the State has, in exercising the powers of govern- 

 ment by the consent of the people, either in conven- 

 tion assembled or by ordinary legislation, no power 

 to ruin the one or destroy the other ; that the Bill of 

 Eights, in every constitution of the State, has de- 

 clared, that no man shall be imprisoned or disseized 

 of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or in any way 

 deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the 

 judgment of his peers or the laws of the land ; and 

 that no ex post facto laws, or law, impairing the obli- 

 gation of contracts, shall ever be made in this State. 



4. That the conventions of 1861 and 1864, being 

 both conventions of the people, were equal in power 

 and authority. That while the latter had the power 

 and authority to declare that the entire action of the 

 former was not, from the time of the adoption of 

 the latter, binding and obligator}', and that all the 

 action of the State, of whatever character, tinder 

 the authority of the convention of 1861, was no longer 

 binding, but null and void from the time of the 

 adoption of the constitution of 1864, saving the ex- 

 ceptions therein stated; yet the convention of 1864 

 had no power to declare that acts done under said 

 convention of 1861 and its constitution relating to in- 

 ternal government and police regulations in the 

 State, and not relating to the powers delegated to 

 the national Government, never were binding and 

 obligatory upon the people of this State, .but void ab 

 initio. This character of ex post facto and retro- 

 spective ordinances and legislation is beyond even 

 the power of a convention ; for if an act be done un- 

 der a law, even a convention cannot undo it. The 

 past cannot be recalled by the most absolute power. 

 And by maintaining that the convention of 1864 did 

 do this, would be, in effect, declaring a hiatus in the 

 government of the State from 1861 to 1864, during 

 which there was no civil authority whatever ; where- 

 as, it appears not to have been so considered by said 

 convention of 1864, for they recite the object of their 

 convening to be, among other things, to "continue 

 ourselves as a free and independent State." 



5. That the ordinance of secession of the con- 

 vention of 1861, and all other actions of said conven- 

 tion and the State under its authority, in contraven- 

 tion of or in conflict with the Constitution, constitu- 

 tional laws, and treaties of the United States and the 

 delegated powers of the General Government were 

 null and void and inoperative ab initio. This would 

 be so, aside from any declaration to that effect in the 

 constitution of 1864. 



6. That all parts of the constitution are to be 

 reconciled with each other and the general subject, 

 and therefore the proviso " that this ordinance shall 

 not be so construed as to affect the rights of indi- 

 viduals," from the public history of the country at 

 the time of its adoption, the manifest object in view 

 and general purview of the ordinance; was intended 

 to protect the rights of individuals in all internal 

 municipal laws and police regulations of the State, 

 which were not void ab initio by reason of conflict 

 with the delegated powers and just authority of the 

 United States, and which were rendered null grid 



