602 



OHIO. 



and to subject the country to an uncontrolled and 

 uncontrollable military despotism ; and our Senators 

 in Congress are hereby instructed, and our Kepresen- 

 tatiyes in Congress requested, to oppose and vote 

 against the passage of said bills. 



4. That the Governor is hereby requested to for- 

 ward a copy of these resolutions to each of our Sena- 

 tors and representatives in Congress, and to each 

 of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United 

 States. JOHN F. FOLLETT, 



Speaker of the House of Eepresentatives. 



J. C. LEE, President of the Senate. 



Adopted April 13, 1868. 



These resolutions were adopted in the Legis- 

 lature after a protracted discussion, by a strict 

 party vote. 



When the bill for readmitting the State of 

 Alabama to the Union was before the United 

 States Senate, the following was sent to that 

 body by the Legislature of Ohio : 



Eesolved, That the bill introduced in the Senate of 

 the United States by the Hon. John Sherman, one of 

 the Senators from this State, declaring the pretended 

 constitution of the State of Alabama ratified, a fter it 

 has been rejected by a majority of the votes of said 

 State, under the provisions of the law under which it 

 was submitted, is another proof of the utter want of 

 good faith on the part of the friends of the so-called 

 Congressional system of reconstruction, and is an ad- 

 ditional evidence of their intention to overthrow, by 

 force or fraud, the Constitution of the United States, 

 and establish in its stead the government of an irre- 

 sponsible Congressional ^ Directory, backed by the 

 bayonets of a military chieftain. 



jS&otoed, That this General Assembly does protest 

 against thus forcing on a sister State a constitution 

 made by disfranchising any one who refused to take 

 a test oath in favor of negro suffrage, and that we 

 will never recognize as legitimate any State Govern- 

 ment, so established by Congressional usurpation, 

 and our Senators in Congress are directed, and our 

 Eepresentatives requested, to vote against said bill. 



A large portion of the time of the legisla- 

 tors was given to the consideration of the 

 question of what constituted a " white " 

 man. The Constitution of 1851 gave the suf- 

 frage only to white male citizens, and it has 

 since been several times decided by the courts 

 of the State, that any person otherwise quali- 

 fied could exercise the privilege of voting if he 

 had a preponderance of " white blood." The 

 subject was brought up in the last Legislature 

 by a case of contested election. Mr. H. 0. 

 Jones was elected to the Senate from the Eighth 

 Senatorial District by a majority of the votes 

 actually cast, but Mr. H. M. Onderdonk ap- 

 peared to contest his right to a seat in that 

 body on the ground that a part of the persons 

 voting for him had an admixture of African 

 blood, and were therefore disqualified from 

 voting by the provision of the Constitution 

 which gives the suffrage to "white" citizens 

 only. The subject was referred to a commit- 

 tee, who reported in favor of ousting Mr. 

 Jones and giving the seat to Mr. Onderdonk, 

 alleging that a " visible admixture " of African 

 blood was sufficient to disqualify a person from 

 voting. Their report was adopted by a vote 

 of 18 to 16. This action was afterward forti- 

 fied by the passage of a law, known as the 

 "visible admixture law," which made it the 



duty of the election judges to challenge the 

 vote of every person who had a visible admix- 

 ture of African blood, under a heavy penalty 

 for disregarding the requirements of the law. 

 Any person so challenged was required to 

 swear, from 1 his own knowledge, that his 

 parents were married and lived together as 

 husband and wife, that neither of his parents 

 had any visible admixture of African blood, 

 that in the community in which he lived he 

 was classed as a white man and associated 

 with white people, and that his children at- 

 tended the common schools organized for 

 white children. He was further required to 

 produce two credible witnesses, who could 

 swear that they were acquainted with him 

 and with his parents, and knew of their own 

 knowledge that they had no visible admixture 

 of African blood, and that they were married 

 and lived together as man and wife. After all 

 this had been accomplished, the judges were 

 to tender to him the following oath or affirm- 

 ation : " You do solemnly swear (or affirm) 

 that, to the best of your knowledge and belief, 

 you are a white male citizen of the United 

 States, and know the fact to be so from a 

 knowledge of both your parents and your 

 pedigree;" and if the judges shall then re- 

 ceive said vote, the words " challenged on the 

 ground of visible admixture of African blood" 

 shall be entered on the poll book opposite said 

 voter's name. A case under this law arose at 

 a special election in Green County, and was 

 taken to the Supreme Court at its June ses- 

 sion, on a motion to file a petition in error, 

 and the law was pronounced unconstitutional, 

 null, and void. 



Other laws were passed affecting the subject 

 or franchise, among them " an act to preserve 

 the purity of elections," which contains the 

 following provision with regard to students at 

 the various institutions of learning in the State : 



A person shall not be considered or held to have 

 gained a residence in any township, city, or incor- 

 porated village of this State who may now be in at- 

 tendance upon, or who shall hereafter come into 

 such township, city, or incorporated village, to at- 

 tend, any school, seminary, academy, college, or 

 institution of learning located or established therein, 

 as a pupil, scholar, or student, unless the person in 

 attendance in such school : seminary, academy, col- 

 lege, university, or other institution of* learning, as 

 such pupil, scholar, or student, was a legally qualified 

 elector of the township, city, or incorporated village, 

 in which the same is located or established, or unless 

 the pupil, scholar, or student, shall upon his oath 

 declare that he has no other place of residence, and 

 that it is his intention to make such township, city, 

 or incorporated village, his place of permanent 

 residence, or unless the parent or parents of such 

 pupil, scholar, or student, had an actual residence 

 therein in accordance with the foregoing provisions 

 of this section, or had removed thereto with the 

 intention of making the same such residence before, 

 at the same time, or since, such attendance com- 

 menced. 



The inmates of the asylum for disabled sol- 

 diers were also disfranchised, and the following 

 provision made regarding the ballots to be used 

 at elections: 



