736 



UNITED STATES. 



States in the Union, could not attach to those 

 out of the Union, and having only provisional 

 political institutions. Congress, therefore, pro- 

 ceeded to define that right in the fifth section 

 of the same act as'follows: 



SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That when the 

 people of any one of the said rebel States shall have 

 formed a constitution of government in conformity 

 with the Constitution of the United States in all re- 

 spects, framed by a convention of delegates elected 

 by the male citizens of said State twenty-one years 

 old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous 

 condition, who have been resident in said State for 

 one year previous to the day of such election, except 

 such as may be disfranchised for participation in the 

 rebellion, or for felony at common law, and when 

 such constitution shall provide that the elective fran- 

 chise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have 

 the qualifications herein stated for electors of dele- 

 gates, and when such constitution shall be ratified by 

 a majority of the persons voting on the question of 

 ratification who are qualified as electors for delegates, 

 etc., etc. 



The President returned the bill with his ob- 

 jections. He urged that it placed " all the 

 people of the ten States therein named under 

 the absolute dominion of military rulers; " that 

 the measure, "in its whole character, scope,, 

 and object, was without precedent and without 

 authority, in palpable conflict with the plainest 

 provisions of the Constitution, and utterly de- 

 structive to those great principles of liberty and 

 humanity for which our ancestors on both sides 

 of the Atlantic have shed so much blood and ex- 

 pended so much treasure; that the purpose and 

 object of the bill, the general intent which per- 

 vades it from beginning to end, is to change 

 the entire structure and character of the State 

 governments, and to compel them by force to 

 the adoption of organic laws and regulations 

 which they are unwilling to accept if left to 

 themselves." (See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.) The 

 bill became a law, notwithstanding the objec- 

 tions advanced by the President. By an Act 

 of Congress, previously passed, the first session 

 of the Fortieth Congress was made to commence 

 on the same day and hour at which the second 

 session of the Thirty-ninth closed. A new Con- 

 gress, therefore, commenced its session on the 

 4th of March. By this body a bill, supplement- 

 ary to the act of the previous session, respecting 

 the ten Southern States, was passed on March 

 23d. 



This Act ordered a registration to be made 

 of the qualified voters in each military sub-dis- 

 trict, or State, an election to be held on the 

 question of a State convention to draft a con- 

 stitution for the State, and for delegates to 

 such convention ; and that such constitution 

 should be submitted to the voters for adoption 

 or rejection; and, upon its adoption, a State 

 government should be organized, etc. The pro- 

 ceedings were to take place under the direction 

 of the military commanders. The act required 

 the registration to be made of the male citizens 

 of the United States, twenty-one years of age 

 and upward, resident in^ach county or parish 

 of the State. Citizens were defined by the Civil 



Eights Bill of the previous session (see ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPAEDIA, 1866, page 638), as follows: "All 

 persons born in the United States, and not sub- 

 ject to any foreign power, excluding Indians 

 not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of 

 the United States." Many disqualifications as 

 to voters, arising from connection with the war 

 against the Government, were also expressed 

 in the act. On March 23d the President re- 

 turned the Act, with his objections, to the 

 House of Representatives. He said : 



In all these States there are existing constitutions 

 formed in the accustomed way by the people. Con- 

 gress, however, declares that these constitutions are 

 riot " loyal and republican," and requires the people 

 to form them anew. "What, then, in the opinion of 

 Congress, is necessary to make the constitution of a 

 State "loyal and republican?" The original act 

 answers the question. It is universal negro suffrage, 

 a question which the Federal Constitution leaves to 

 the States themselves. All this legislative machinery 

 of martial law, military coercion, and political dis- 

 franchisement, is avowedly for that purpose and none 

 other. The existing constitutions of the ten States 

 conform to the acknowledged standards of loyalty 

 and republicanism. Indeed, if there are decrees in 

 republican forms of government, their constitutions 

 are more republican now than when these States 

 four of which were members of the original thirteen 

 first became members of the Union. Congress does 

 not now demand that a single provision of their con- 

 stitutions be changed, except such as confine suffrage 

 to the white population. 



The bill became a law, notwithstanding the 

 objections of the President. 



Measures were now adopted by the Presi- 

 dent to execute these laws. The Act of March 

 2d divided the ten States into five military dis- 

 tricts, of which Virginia constituted the first 

 district; North Carolina and South Carolina 

 the second district; Georgia, Alabama, and* 

 Florida, the third district ; Mississippi and Ar- 

 kansas the fourth district, and Louisiana and 

 Texas the fifth district. The President there- 

 fore appointed commanders in each of these 

 districts: for the first, Major-Geheral Schofield; 

 for the second, Major-General Daniel E. Sic- 

 kles; for the third, Major-Genera) John Pope; 

 for the fourth, Major-General Ord ; for the fifth, 

 Major-General Philip II. Sheridan. These officers 

 soon after entered upon their duties, as may be 

 seen by reference to each of the States respec- 

 tively in this volume. 



Soon after, an address to the Southern peo- 

 ple, entitled "The Policy of Congress in refer- 

 ence to the Eestoration of the Union," was is- 

 sued by a Union Republican Congressional 

 Committee. Several hundred thousand copies 

 were printed for circulation in those States. 

 The following extract explains more fully the 

 views of Congress: 



By the Acts of the 2d of March and the 23d of 

 March, 1867, provision is made" for the enjoyment of 

 the right of voting by all male citizens of twenty-one 

 years of age, except those who have been convicted 

 of felony, and a small class of rebels who are ex- 

 cluded from office by the proposed amendment to the 

 Constitution of the United States. The negroes of 

 the South, by the measures of the Eepublican party. 

 as expressed in these Acts of Congress, are elevated 

 to the full and equal rights of the citizens of the 



