GEOEGIA. 



301 



adoption of the fourteenth amendment, the 

 inauguration of the Governor, the announce- 

 ment of the withdrawal of the military, and 

 the restoration of civil law, and the proclama- 

 tion of the President certifying the compliance 

 of the State with the conditions prescribed hy 

 Congress for her admission to representation, 

 " all in perfect accordance with the letter and 

 spirit of the law ; " and finally, the unanimous 

 assent of the House of Representatives to the 

 fact that reconstruction was accomplished in 

 Georgia hy the admission of her representatives 

 to seats in the House. With regard to the non- 

 exaction of the test-oath at the organization of 

 the Legislature, he showed that it was omitted 

 on the authority of General Meade, after con- 

 sultation with General Grant, and declared 

 that, if any person had been admitted in viola- 

 tion of the fourteenth amendment of the Fed- 

 eral Constitution, the remedy was "not the 

 destruction of the State government by Con- 

 gress ; not retaliatory laws which shall deprive 

 the whole people of Georgia of their rights 

 under the Constitution, but evidently such 

 proper enforcement of the Constitution and 

 laws as will remove such members as are ineli- 

 gible under the fourteenth amendment of the 

 Constitution." On the subject of the expulsion 

 of the negro members, he said that " neither 

 the reconstruction acts, nor the civil rights bill, 

 nor the fourteenth amendment of the Constitu- 

 tion, require any State to provide that colored 

 citizens shall be eligible to office;" that the 

 constitution of the State was silent on the sub- 

 ject, and the members of the Legislature had 

 decided that it was necessary that this right 

 should be conferred on those who were born 

 slaves before they could exercise it. If they 

 were wrong, the only proper remedy for this 

 and all similar evils was to be found in the 

 ballot and the courts. He then took up the 

 subject of resistance to law and the treatment 

 of citizens, and referred to the testimony which 

 he had gathered and submitted to the Recon- 

 struction Committee to show that order and a 

 desire for peace prevailed. His conclusions are 

 summed up as follows : 



An examination of all the facts shows : 1. That 

 the law_of Congress recognizes Georgia as a State in 

 the Union, entitled to representation in Congress, 

 and of necessity having equal rights with other States. 

 > 2. That the action of the Legislature, in their deci- 

 sion that colored men were not. under the constitu- 

 tion and laws of Georgia, eligible to office, was a 

 question confided to their jurisdiction by the consti- 

 tution, so far as members of the Legislature were 

 concerned; and, if they have committed an error in 

 their judgment, it can only be properly corrected by 

 the court, whose judgment, wnen pronounced, will 

 be the law. 



3. That, according to the most reliable official tes- 

 timony, the condition of affairs in Georgia, consider- 

 ing the circumstances which have surrounded the 

 people, and the trials through which they have 

 passed, is better than the most ardent friend of 

 peace could have expected, and is still improving. 



This document drew forth a reply from Gov- 

 ernor Bullock, addressed to the chairman and 



members of the Reconstruction Committee, 

 and dated on the 26th of February. In this 

 he reiterated the statements made by himself 

 before the committee, and accused Mr. Tift 

 of misrepresenting his motives and his lan- 

 guage. His only object was, he said, " to 

 secure a loyal civil government " for the 

 State. Mr. Tift saw fit to follow with a re- 

 sponse to the Governor's letter, in which he 

 quoted from the testimony before the Recon- 

 struction Committee to sustain his view of the 

 motives and objects of that official, and elabo- 

 rated at greater length some of the points set 

 forth in his first communication. 



"While this subject still remained in the 

 hands of the Reconstruction Committee, the 

 term of the Fortieth Congress expired, and the 

 Forty-first was duly organized on the 4th day 

 of March. Meantime, the Senators elected by 

 the Georgia Legislature had presented them- 

 selves for admission, and their credentials had 

 been referred to the Judiciary Committee, who 

 reported adversely to their claims. The ques- 

 tion of counting the electoral vote of the State 

 also came up, and, after some acrimonious de- 

 bate, was disposed of. (See CONGRESS, U. S.) 



The representatives chosen at the same elec- 

 tion at which the constitution was ratified had 

 been admitted to the Fortieth Congress on the 

 25th of July, 1868 ; but, although it was gen- 

 erally understood in the State that they were 

 elected also for the fall term* commencing 

 March 4, 1869, it was not so stated in their 

 credentials, and they were not allowed to re- 

 tain their seats in the Forty-first Congress, so 

 that after the organization of that body the 

 State was again 'wholly without representa- 

 tives in the Federal Government. 



A bill was finally reported in Congress by 

 B. F. Butler, chairman of the Reconstruction 

 Committee, on the Tth of April, "to enforce 

 the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution 

 and the laws of the Uuited States, and to re- 

 store the State of Georgia to the republican 

 government elected under its new constitu- 

 tion." The preamble of this bill declared that 

 the Legislature of the State of Georgia, elected 

 under its new constitution preparatory to the 

 restoration of the State to its place in the 

 Union, had, in violation of the fourteenth 

 amendment of the Constitution of the United 

 States, refused " to purge itself of members " 

 who were prohibited from acting as such by 

 that amendment; that a majority of the per- 

 sons, in fact, composing that Legislature, had, 

 in violation of the Constitution of the United 

 States, and the constitution of the State of 

 Georgia, and in violation of the fundamental 

 principles upon which Congress had consented 

 to her restoration to the Union, expelled a 

 large number of its legally-qualified members, 

 upon the sole ground that they were persons 

 of African blood, and admitted to their places 

 persons who had not received a majority of 

 the votes of the people ; and that it appeared 

 that the local authorities in the State were 



