454 



LOUISIANA. 



of the United States entitled " An act for the more ef- 

 ficient government of th.e rebel States." 



SEO. 2. That all the officers of the State of Loui- 

 siana shall proceed in the discharge of their official 

 duties in their respective stations, as if no such law- 

 had been promulgated. That in case of actual con- 

 flict between the officers of the State government 

 and those of the General Government, the former 

 will oppose a mere passive resistance to the orders 

 emanating from the latter, and will immediately re- 

 port the matter to the Attorney-General of the State 

 and to the district attorneys of their respective dis- 

 tricts. 



SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Attorney- 

 General to take immediate steps, in the name of the 

 State of Louisiana, to test the validity of this law, 

 by instituting legal proceedings in the Federal courts. 



SEC. 4. That in case the said law should be held by 

 the Supreme Court as constitutional, then the above 

 resolutions, directing the course or . conduct to be 

 followed by the officers of this State, shall be con- 

 sidered null and void. 



SEC. 5. That copies of these resolutions be for- 

 warded to the President of the United States, to Con- 

 gress, and to each of the Governors of the several 

 States o'f the Union. 



SEC. 6. That these resolutions take effect from and 

 after their passage. 



On the following day a protest was read in 

 the House and referred to the same committee, 

 which ran in these words: 



Wftereas, The Constitution of the United States is 

 the paramount and fundamental law of the land, and 

 any body organized in contravention of its provis- 

 ions is unconstitutional, and all its acts are usurpa- 

 tions of authority ; therefore 



Be it resolved, "by the Senate and House of Repre- 

 sentatives, etc., That the act passed on the 2d of 

 March, 1867, by the fractional Congress of the Uni- 

 ted States, entitled " An act to provide for the more 

 efficient government of the rebel States," notwith- 

 standing the wise and patriotic veto of the Presi- 

 dent, is hereby declared unconstitutional, both in 

 letter and in spirit, and hence is not lawfully binding 

 on the people of this State, and can only be exe- 

 cuted by the force of the bayonet, in defiance of jus- 

 tice, right, and equity. 



Resolved, That in the name of the sovereign 

 people of Louisiana, this constitutional Legislature 

 hereby records and proclaims its solemn protest 

 against the legality of said act, until passed upon and 

 adjudged by the Supreme Court of the United 

 States ; and ; in the interim, the people of Louisiana, 

 while submitting with becoming dignity to the law 

 of force, will maintain their constitutional rights and 

 privileges in reserve, and subject to the ultimate 

 triumph, of constitutional law, as expounded by our 

 forefathers, and controlled by an All-wise Providence. 



Resolved, That the sum of $30,000, or . so much 

 thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated 

 out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise ap- 

 propriated, to test the constitutionality of the above- 

 mentioned act. 



Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions 

 be forwarded to the President of the United States, 

 over the signatures of the President of the Senate 

 and Speaker of the House of Kepresentatives. 



The joint resolutions, as submitted by the 

 joint committee and finally passed, appointed 

 the President of the Senate, Speaker of the 

 House, and two other Senators and three Rep- 

 resentatives, as commissioners, to take the ne- 

 cessary steps, either alone or in conjunction 

 with similar' agents of other States, to have 

 tested, before a court of competent jurisdic- 

 tion, the constitutionality of the Act of Con- 



gress " for the better government of the rebel 

 States." The Governor returned the joint 

 resolutions with his veto. 



No further action was taken in the case by 

 the General Assembly. An election of certain 

 7imnicipal officers of the city of New Orleans 

 had been ordered by law to take place on the 

 llth of March. Some doubt was entertained as 

 to whether the provisions of the late Act of Con- 

 gress regarding the qualifications for electors 

 in the States included within the military 

 district were to be considered as operative in 

 case of such election. No officer had as yet 

 been assigned to the Fifth District, and General 

 Sheridan, the commander of the old Depart- 

 ment of the Gulf, was unwilling to exercise any 

 authority in the premises. A bill passed the 

 House of Eepresentatives providing for the 

 postponement of the election, and the Senate was 

 called together on Saturday for the special pur- 

 pose of takingactionupon it, although that body 

 had been adjourned to the following Monday. 

 The Senate refused to suspend its rules for the 

 purpose of considering this question, and the 

 bill failed of passage. At this juncture Gov- 

 ernor Wells issued a proclamation, in the pre- 

 amble of which he recounted the provisions of 

 the reconstruction act of March 2d, with re- 

 gard to the elective franchise, and then declared 

 as follows : 



Now, therefore, I ; J. Madison Wells, Governor of 

 the State of Louisiana, dp hereby declare the said 

 act to be in force in the said State, and all elections 

 held from and after this date, either by State, munici- 

 pal, or parochia_l authority, except in strict conformi- 

 ty to section six of said act of Congress, to be void 

 and of no effect, and all persons elected to office 

 must be able to qualify under said law before they 

 will be allowed to enter on the duties of the same. 



(Signed) J. MADISON WELLS, 



Governor of the State of Louisiana. 



Notwithstanding this proclamation, prepara 

 tions were made for holding the election in 

 New Orleans under the old suffrage regula- 

 tions, and serious disturbance was apprehend- 

 ed should those attempt to vote who were en- 

 franchised by the last act of Congress. To 

 prevent a possible repetition of the scenes of 

 July 30, 1866, General Sheridan, at the solici- 

 tations of several prominent officials, so far as- 

 sumed the authority of district commander as 

 to forbid the holding of the proposed election. 

 The following is the order issued for that pur- 

 pose : 



General Orders, No. 13. 



HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OP THE GULF, ) i 

 NEW ORLEANS, LA., March 9. 1867. ) 



No commander having vet been appointed for the 

 military district of Louisiana and Texas created by 

 the recent law of Congress, entitled " An act to pro- 

 vide for the more efficient government of the rebel 

 States ; and Brevet Major-General Mower, command- 

 ing in this city, and the Mayor and Chief of Police 

 of the city of New Orleans, having all expressed to me 

 personally their fears that the public peace may be 

 disturbed by the election for some of the city offices 

 ordered by an act of the Legislature of Louisiana, to 

 take place on Monday, the llth instant, and that 

 body, at a special session, having refused to post- 

 pone said election, thereby rendering it necessary 



