LOUISIANA. 



429 



a public character. And all business places, and 

 those otherwise carried on by charter, or from which 

 a license is required by either State, parish, or muni- 

 cipal authority, shall be deemed places of a public 

 character, and shall be open to the accommodation 

 and patronage of all persons, without distinction or 

 discrimination on account of race or color. 



The provision of the constitution relating to 

 citizenship is in these words : 



ABTIOLE 2. All persons, without regard to ^ race, 

 color or previous condition, born or naturalized in the 

 United States, and residents of this State one year, 

 are citizens ot this State. The citizens , of the State 

 owe allegiance to the United States, and this allegi- 

 ance is paramount to that due the State. They shall 

 enjoy the same civil, political, and public rights and 

 privileges, and be subject to the same pains and 

 penalties. 



The ordinance of secession is declared to be 

 nnll and void, and all former constitutions to 

 be superseded, but all laws in force and con- 

 tracts subsisting, not inconsistent with the new 

 constitution, are pronounced valid, with the 

 exception of certain specified acts of the late 

 Legislature. 



As in the reconstruction conventions in most 

 of the other States, the topics which excited 

 the most earnest debate were those connected 

 with the subjects of voting and holding office. 

 Some delegates opposed all restriction founded 

 on the part which citizens had taken in the late 

 late civil war. The provisions finally adopted 

 on these important points are contained in the 

 following sections : 



ARTICLE 98. Every male person, of the age of 

 twenty-one years or upward, born or naturalized in 

 the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction 

 thereof, and a resident of this State one year next 

 preceding an election, and the last ten days within 

 the parish in which he offers to vote, shall be deemed 

 an elector, except those disfranchised by this con- 

 stitution, and persons under interdiction. 



ART. 99. .The following persons shall be prohibited 

 from voting and holding any office : All persons who 

 shall have been convicted of treason, perjury, forgery, 

 bribery, of other crime punishable in the peniten- 

 tiary, and persons under interdiction. All persons 

 who are estopped from claiming the right of suffrage 

 by abjuring their allegiance to the United States 

 Government, or by_ notoriously levying war against 

 it, or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid or 

 comfort, but who have not expatriated themselves, 

 nor have been convicted of any of the crimes men- 

 tioned in the first paragraph of this article, are here- 

 by restored to the said right, except the following : 

 those who held office, civil or military, for one year 

 or more, under the organization styled "the Con- 

 federate States of America;" those who registered 

 themselves as enemies of the United States ; those 

 who acted as leaders of guerrilla-bands during the 

 late rebellion ; those who, in the advocacy of treason, 

 wrote or published newspaper articles or preachea 

 sermons during the late rebellion ; and those who 

 voted for and signed an ordinance of secession in 

 any State. No person included in these exceptions 

 shall either vote or hold office until he shall have 

 relieved himself by voluntarily writing and signing 

 a certificate setting forth that he acknowledges the 

 late rebellion to have been morally and politically 

 wrong, and that he regrets any aid and comfort he 

 may have given it ; and he shall file the certificate in 

 the office of the Secretary of State, and it shall be 

 published in the official journal : Provided, That no 

 person, who, prior to the 1st of January. 1868, favored 

 the execution of the laws of the United States popu- 



larly known as the reconstruction acts of Congress, 

 and openly and actively assisted the loyal men of the 

 State in their efforts to restore Louisiana to her posi- 

 tion in the Union, shall be held to be included 

 among those who are herein excepted. Eegistrars of 

 voters shall take the oath of any such person as 

 prima facie evidence of the fact that he is entitled to 

 the benefit of this proviso. 



ABT. 100. Members of the General Assembly and 

 other officers, before they enter upon the duties of 

 their offices, shall take the following oath or affirma- 

 tion : I. A B ? do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 

 accept the civil and political equality of all men, and 

 agree not to attempt to deprive any person or 

 persons, on account of race, colorj or previous con- 

 dition, ^ of any political or civil right, privilege, or 

 immunity enjoyed by any other class or men : that 

 I will support the Constitution and laws of the United 

 States, and the constitution and laws of this State, 

 and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge 



and perform all the duties incumbent on me as 



according to the best of my ability and understand- 

 ing ; so help me God. 



The constitution provides that the State elec- 

 tion of Louisiana shall be held on the first Mon- 

 day in November, and the General Assembly 

 shall meet on the first Monday in January. 

 The Governor holds his x office for four years, 

 and is ineligible for a second term immediately 

 following the first. The members of each 

 branch of the Legislature are chosen for two 

 years. "With regard to eligibility to office, the 

 following was embodied in the organic law 

 of the State: 



AET. 18. Every elector, under this constitution, 

 shall be eligible to a seat in the House of Representa- 

 tives ; and every elector who has reached the age of 

 twenty-five years, shall be eligible to the Senate : 

 Provided, That no person shall be a Eep_resentative 

 or Senator, unless at the time of his election he be a 

 qualified elector of the representative or senatorial 

 district from which he is elected. 



The judicial power of the State is vested in 

 a Supreme Court, District Courts, Parish Courts, 

 and justices of the peace. The Supreme Court, 

 except in certain specified cases, has only an 

 appellate jurisdiction. It is composed of a 

 chief justice and four associate justices, ap- 

 pointed by the Governor for a term of eight 

 years. The judges of all the lower courts are 

 elected by the people. 



Among the constitutional provisions affect- 

 ing the general policy of the State government 

 is the following, relating to the contraction of 

 a public debt : 



AET. 111. Whenever the General Assembly shall 

 contract a debt exceeding in amount the sum of one 

 hundred thousand dollars ? unless in case of war, to 

 repel invasion or suppress insurrection, it shall in the 

 law creating the debt provide adequate ways and 

 means for the payment of the current interest and of 

 the principal when the same shall become due, and 

 the said law shall be irrepealable unless principal and 

 interest be fully paid, or unless the repealing law con- 

 tains some adequate provision for the payment of the 

 principal and interest of the debt. 



In addition to the constitution itself, the con- 

 vention passed an ordinance providing for the 

 election, at which the vote was to be taken on 

 its ratification, and the officers chosen to ad- 

 minister the government under it at the same 

 time. The days fixed for this purpose were the 



