AKEANSAS. 



39 



their respective sessions and make laws, among 

 which is their adoption of the amendment to 

 the Constitution of the United States known 

 as "Article Fourteen." These sessions of the 

 Assembly have been continued since without 

 interruption, except by recesses or adjourn- 

 ments. Its acts from the beginning may be 

 looked upon as legalized by the subsequent 

 action of Congress ; though influential papers 

 of the State published the reports of its pro- 

 ceedings under the heading, " The Pretended 

 Legislature." 



Upon these grounds has Arkansas been rec- 

 ognized and readmitted by Congress as a 

 State of the Union, and entitled to have her 

 representatives sitting among those of the 

 other States in both halls of the Federal Legis- 

 lature; as appears from the following act 

 passed in May and June, 1868 : 



Whereas, The people of Arkansas, in pursuance of 

 the provisions of an act entitled an Act for the 

 more effective government of the rebel States," 

 passed March 2, 1867, and the acts supplementary 

 thereto, have framed and adopted a constitution of 

 State government which is republican in form, and 

 the Legislature of said State has duly ratified the 

 amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 

 proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known 

 as article fourteen : therefore, 



Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted, That the State 

 of Arkansas is entitled and admitted to representation 

 in Congress, as one of the States of the Union, upon 

 the following fundamental condition : That the con- 

 stitution of Arkansas shall not be so amended or 

 changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens 

 of the United States of the right to vote who are en- 

 titled to vote by the constitution herein recognized, 

 except as a punishment for such crimes as are now 

 felonies at common law, whereof he shall have been 

 duly convicted. 



This bill was indeed vetoed by the Presi- 

 dent ; it has, however, become a law notwith- 

 standing ; and the Representatives of Arkansas, 

 on the basis of her new constitution, have 

 taken their respective seats in Congress. 



In consequence of the new condition of 

 things thus introduced in Arkansas, the com- 

 mander of the Fourth Military District, by an 

 order dated June 30, 1868, its provisions, how- 

 ever, to be reckoned as from June 22d, turned 

 that State over to her civil authorities, recog- 

 nizing them to have the full power in the gov- 

 ernment and administration of her affairs, as 

 follows : 



General Orders, No. 25. 

 HEADQUARTERS FOURTH MILITARY DISTRICT, i 



DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS, > 

 VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, June 30, 1868. ) 



1. Official information having, this day, been re- 

 ceived at these headquarters, of the admission, on the 

 22dinst., of the State of Arkansas to representation 

 in Congress, it is hereby made known to all concerned 

 that so much of the Act of March 2, 1867, and of the 

 several acts supplementary thereto, as provides for 

 military government in certain States, have become 

 inoperative as to said State of Arkansas ; and that 

 every thing^ in the hands of the military authorities 

 concerning its civil affairs will be immediately turned 

 over to the several duly elected officers of the State, 

 to date as from the 22d instant. 



2. Brevet Brigadier-General C. H. Smith, com- 



manding Sub-District of Arkansas, will see to the 

 immediate execution of this order. 



By command of Brevet Maj.-Gen. MoDOWELL. 

 JOHN TYLER, First Lieutenant 43d Infantry. 



Brevet Major U. S. A., A. A. A. General. 

 Official: 



NAT WOLF, Second Lieut. 34th Infantry, A. A. A. 

 General. 



By a subsequent order of August 4th, Gener- 

 al Gillem, pursuant to directions from the army 

 headquarters at Washington,- declared the 

 State of Arkansas as separated from any fur- 

 ther connection in military matters with the 

 State of Mississippi, and attached for the future 

 to the Department of Louisiana, headquar- 

 ters at New Orleans, whereto he enjoined the 

 military commander of the late Sub-District of 

 Arkansas, at Little Rock, to report himself for 

 instructions. 



Meantime, under the auspices of the new 

 State constitution, General Powell Clayton 

 had been elected Governor of Arkansas, and 

 on July 2, 1868, entered upon the duties of 

 his office. 



Serious disturbances having taken place in 

 various parts of the State, and enormities per- 

 petrated, especially within three counties, 

 Governor Clayton adopted severe measures to 

 suppress the disorders and restore public tran- 

 quillity, for which purpose, on August 27, 1868, 

 he issued the following proclamation : 



Whereas, It has been made known to- me that a 

 large number of lawless and evil-disposed persons in 

 the counties of Conway, Perry, and Columbia, in the 

 State of Arkansas, are in open rebellion against the 

 laws of the State, that a court of justice has been 

 broken up, and the civil authorities overpowered in 

 said counties, by bodies of armed men, who have 

 driven from their homes a large number of peaceable 

 loyal citizens ; and that the officers of the law are 

 wholly powerless to preserve order or protect citizens 

 from violence, within either of said counties ; and 

 reliable information having been received that quiet 

 men have been assassinated, and attempts have been 

 made upon the lives of others, in various other coun- 

 ties in this State, in which the laws are set at defiance, 

 the lives of officers are threatened, and the civil au- 

 thorities of the State are openly defied and set at 

 naught, gendering it impossible for the constituted 

 authorities of the law to preserve order and protect 

 the lives and property of the people : 



Now, therefore, I, Powell Clayton, Governor of the 

 State of Arkansas, do hereby enjoin upon all persons 

 within said State to keep the peace, and command 

 all bodies of armed men (not organized in pursuance 

 of the laws of the State, or of the United States) to 

 immediately disperse, and return to their homes. 



I do furthermore make known that I shall at once 

 cause to be enrolled and organized the reserve militia 

 in pursuance of said act, and shall use, as far as may 

 be necessary, all the power and authority vested in 

 me by the constitution and laws of the State of Ar- 

 kansas, to preserve order, enforce the law, and pro- 

 tect the lives and property of every person within the 

 State. 



In testimony whereof, I have hereunto 

 set my hand, and caused the seal of 

 r -i the State of Arkansas to be affixed, at 

 Little Eock, this the twenty-seventh 

 day of August, A. D. one thousand 

 eight hundred and sixty-eight. 

 POWELL CLAYTON, Governor. 

 By the Governor : 



EGBERT J. T. WHITE, Secretary of State. 



