CONGRESS, UNITKH MATES. 



247 



mittee were not authorized at nn earlier day to 

 proceed with this investigation, so tlint they 

 ini^ht h:i\r completed it anil presented tliocaso 

 for tinal action \>y tlio last Congress. All true, 

 men, \vlio liuvi' examined this matter impar- 

 tially, CUM Imt regret our inability to secure 

 r action. 



" I'nit 1 tliink I may. \vitlioiit ha/ard, express 

 tin- opinion that there is no cause for discour- 

 :it ; that the foundations have been so 

 carefully laid that the machinations of the con- 

 spirator-; ami their chief, with all the immense 

 power and patronage in his hands, will be un- 

 able lomr to stay the doom which awaits him. 

 It [& sir, to go upon the record of this House, 

 and it will go into history, that the people of 

 the United States will never permit any Presi- 

 dent to usurp the prerogatives of the law-mak- 

 ing power ; nor will they permit him to defy 

 the deliberately recorded verdict of the nation." 



The resolutions were adopted. 



In the 1 1 on so, on March 7th, the follow- 

 ing resolution was adopted: 



Resetted, That the Committee on the Judiciary, 

 when appointed, be instructed to report a bill de- 

 claring who shall call conventions for the reorgani- 

 zation of the rebel States, and providing for the 

 registration of voters within said rebel States ; and 

 allelections for members of said conventions, or for 

 the adoption or rejection of constitutions formed by 

 said conventions, or for the choice of public officers, 

 and municipal, until the constitutions of said 

 States shall have oeen approved by Congress, shall 

 be by ballot. 



On March llth, Mr. Wilson, from the Com- 

 mittee on the Judiciary, reported a bill sup- 

 plementary to an act entitled " An act to pro- 

 vide for the more efficient government of the 

 rebel States," passed March 2, 1867. 



The bill, which was read, provided in the 

 first section that the commanding general in 

 each district defined by the act of March 2, 

 1807, to which the bill is supplementary, shall 

 cause a registration to be made before the 1st 

 day of September, 1867, in each county or par- 

 Mi in the several States included in his district, 

 of the male citizens of the United States twenty- 

 one years of age and xipward, resident in each 

 county or parish, which registration is to in- 

 clude only those persons who are qualified to 

 vote for delegates by the act to which this is 

 supplementary, and who shall have taken and 

 subscribed the following oath or affirmation : 



I, , of , in the county or parish of , in 



the State of , do hereby solemnly swear (or 



affirm) that I am sincerely and earnestly attached to 

 the Union and Government of the United States: 

 that I will steadfastly support the Constitution and 

 obey the laws of the United States, and that I will 

 to the best of my ability engage all others to such 

 support and obedience. "So help me God. 



The second section proposed to enact that 

 whenever the registration provided for shall bo 

 completed, and copies thereof returned to the 

 commanding general, ho shall cause to be held 

 in each State of his district, on a day not less 

 than thirty days from the date of his proclama- 

 tion thereof, an election of delegates to a con- 



vention for the purpose of forming a constitu- 

 tion for the State, and of firmly re. -tablihliing 

 si civil government loyal to the Union tl, 

 and of passing all needful ordinances for pat- 

 ting such constitution and government into 

 operation. 



The third section provided that the conven- 

 tion in each State shall consist of the number 

 of members of the most numerous branch of 

 the Legislature of such State under the consti- 

 tution thereof existing January 1. 1860; and 

 the election districts, as existing on that day, 

 are to be observed in the election and the as- 

 signment of delegates. The commanding gen- 

 eral of each military district i to a--ign as 

 nearly as may be to the several election dis- 

 tricts in each State within his jurisdiction the 

 number of. delegates to which it may be en- 

 titled, according to the number of registered 

 voters within its limits ; but each district is to 

 bo entitled to at least one delegate. 



In the fourth section, it is provided that the 

 commanding general of each district shall ap- 

 point such loyal officers or persons as may be 

 necessary, not exceeding three in each election 

 district, to make and complete a registration, 

 to preside at the election, to receive, sort, and 

 count the votes, and to make return to him of 

 the votes, lists of voters, and of the persons 

 elected as delegates by a plurality of the votes 

 cast at such election ; and upon receiving such 

 returns, he is to open the same, ascertain the 

 persons elected as delegates, according to the 

 returns of the officers who conducted the elec- 

 tion, and make proclamation thereof; and 

 within sixty days from the date of the election 

 he is to notify the delegates to assemble at a 

 time and place to bo mentioned in the notifica- 

 tion, to proceed to the organization of a con- 

 vention. When the convention shall have 

 framed a constitution, in accordance with the 

 act of March 2, 1867, the constitution is to be 

 submitted by the convention to the persons 

 registered, under the provisions of this act, at 

 an election to be conducted by the officers or 

 persons appointed by the commanding general, 

 as already provided, and to be held after the 

 expiration of thirty days from the date of 

 notice thereof, to be given by the convention ; 

 and the returns thereof are to be made to the 

 commanding general of the district. 



The fifth section provided that, if according 

 to such return the constitution shall be ratified 

 by a majority of the votes of the electors quali- 

 fied as already specified, the president of the 

 convention is to transmit a copy of the same, 

 duly certified, to the President of the United 

 States, who is forthwith to transmit the same 

 to Congress, if then in session, and if not in 

 session, then immediately upon its next as-em- 

 bling ; and if such constitution shall be declared 

 by Congress to be in conformity with the fifth 

 section of the act to provide for the more effi- 

 cient government of the rebel States, and if the 

 other provisions of that act shall have been 

 complied with, the State is to be declared en- 





