CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



197 



In the Senate, on July 21st, the following 

 resolution was adopted without a count : 



Whereas, the Legislatures of the States of Con- 

 necticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, 

 West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, 

 Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Ehode Island, Michigan, Nevada, New Hamp- 

 shire, Massachusetts, Nebraska. Maine, Iowa, Ar- 

 kansas, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, South Car- 

 olina, and Louisiana, being three-fourths and more 

 of the several States of the Union, have ratified the 

 fourteenth article of amendment to the Constitution 

 of the United States duly proposed by two-thirds of 

 each House of the Thirty-ninth Congress : There- 

 fore, 



Be it resolved ly the Senate, (the House of Repre- 

 sentatives concurring), That said fourteenth article 

 is hereby declared to be a part of the Constitution of 

 the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated 

 as such by the Secretary of State. 



On the same day it passed the House yeas 

 126, nays 35. 



The amendment was also adopted on the 

 same day by the Legislature of Georgia, by 

 thirty-four majority on joint ballot. 



The following announcement was made by 

 the Secretary of State, on July 20th, relative 

 to the same amendment : 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD, SECRETABT OF STATE OF THE 

 UNITED STATES To ALL TO WHOM THESE PRES- 

 ENTS MAY COME, GREETING : 



Whereas, the Congress of the United States, on or 

 about the sixteenth day of June, in the year one 

 thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, passed a 

 resolution which is in the words and figures follow- 

 ing, to wit : 



Joint Resolution proposing an Amendment to the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States. 



Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 

 bled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), That the 

 following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the 

 several States aa an amendment to the Constitution of 

 the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths 

 of said Legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Consti- 

 tution, namely : 



ARTICLE 14 SEC. 1. All persons born or naturalized in 

 the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof 

 are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein 

 they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 

 which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citi- 

 zens of the United States ; nor shall any State deprive 

 any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process 

 of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the 

 equal protection of the laws. 



SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among 

 the several States according to their respective numbers, 

 counting the whole number of persons in each State 

 excluding Indians not taxed ; but when the right to vote 

 at any election for the choice of electors for President and 

 Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in 

 Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State or 

 the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any 

 of the male inhabitants of such State (being twenty-one 

 years of age, and citizens of the United States), or in any 

 way abridged except for participation in rebellion or 

 other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be 

 reduced in the proportion which the number of such male 

 citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 

 twenty-one years of age in said State. 

 . SEC. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative 

 in Congress, or elector, or President or Vice-President, or 

 nold any office, civil or military, under the United States 

 or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath 

 as a member of Congress or as an officer of the United 

 states, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an 

 executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the 

 Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in 

 insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or 

 comlort to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a 

 vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disabilities. 



SEC. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United 

 States authorized by law, including debts incurred for pay- 



ment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing 

 insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned but 

 neither the United States nor any State shall assume or 

 pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection 

 or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the 

 loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, ob- 

 ligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 



SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce by 

 appropriate legislation the provisions of this article. 



SCHUYLER COLFAX, 

 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



LAFAYETTE S.FOSTER, 

 President of the Senate pro tempore. 

 Attest EDWARD MCPHERSON, Clerk of the House of 

 Representatives. 

 J. W. FORNEY, Secretary of the Senate. 



And whereas, by the second section of the act of 

 Congress, approved the 20th of April, 1818, entitled 

 " An act to provide for the publication of the laws 

 of the United States, and for other purposes," it is 

 made the duty of the Secretary of State forthwith to 

 cause any amendment to the Constitution of the 

 United States which has been adopted according to 

 the provisions of the said Constitution, to be pub- 

 lished in the newspapers authorized to promulgate 

 the laws, with his certificate specifying the States 

 by which the same may have been adopted, and that 

 the same has become valid to all intents and pur- 

 poses as a part of the Constitution of the United 

 States ; 



And whereas neither the act just quoted from nor 

 any other law expressly or by conclusive implication 

 authorizes the Secretary of State to determine and 

 decide doubtful questions as to the authenticity of 

 the organization of State Legislatures or as to the 

 power of any State Legislature to recall a previous act 

 or resolution of ratification of any amendments pro- 

 posed to the Constitution ; 



And whereas it appears from official documents on 

 file in this department that the amendment to the 

 Constitution of the United States proposed as afore- 

 said has been ratified by the Legislatures of the 

 States of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, 

 New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illi- 

 noi8 ? West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Mis- 

 souri, Indiana, Minnesota, Ehode Island, Wisconsin, 

 Pennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nebraska, 

 and Iowa : 



And ^whereas it further appears from documents 

 on file in this department that the amendment to the 

 Constitution of the United States, proposed as afore- 

 said, has also been ratified by the newly-constituted 

 and newly-established bodies, avowing themselves' 

 to be and acting as the Legislatures respectively of 

 the _ States of Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, 

 Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama ; 



And whereas it further appears from official docu- 

 ments on file in this department that the Legisla- 

 tures of two of the States first above enumerated, 

 to wit, Ohio and New Jersey, have since passed reso- 

 lutions respectively withdrawing the consent of each 

 of said States to th'e aforesaid amendment ; 



And whereas it is deemed a matter of doubt and 

 uncertainty whether such resolutions are not irreg- 

 ular and invalid, and therefore ineffectual for with- 

 drawing the consent of the said two States, or either 

 of them, to the aforesaid amendment ; 



And whereas the whole number of States in the 

 United States is thirty-seven, to wit : New Hamp- 

 shire, Massachusetts, Ehode Island, Connecticut, 

 New York, New Jer3ey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 

 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, 

 Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, 

 Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Texas, 

 Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon, 

 Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska ; 



And whereas, the twenty-three States first herein- 

 before named whose Legislatures have ratified the 

 said proposed amendment, and the six States next 

 thereafter named as having ratified the said proposed 

 amendment by newly constituted and established 



