GEORGIA. 



309 



from which all ineligible persons shall be excluded, 

 and to which all eligible persons elected to it. wheth- 

 er white or black, shall be admitted. Such Legisla- 

 ture would. I believe, enact such laws and invest 

 their executive with such powers as would enable him 

 to keep the peace, protect life and property, and 

 punish crime. The process of resuming military 

 control would, it appears to me, be a very simple 

 one. All that would be required is an order from 

 the President countermanding General Orders No. 55, 

 Adjutant-General's office, July 28, 1868, and orders 

 No. 103, headquarters Third Military District, July 

 22, 1868, and assigning an officer to the command of 

 the district, excepting the States of Florida and 

 Alabama. This action I respectfully recommend. 



General Halleck, commanding the Division 

 of the South, indorsed General Terry's views, 

 and recommended that " the matter be left for 

 the action of Congress." 



A short time before the assembling of Con- 

 gress in December, Governor Bullock issued a 

 proclamation, setting forth what he termed 

 " the recent renewal of active hostilities against 

 the persons and property of colored citizens, 

 and white Republicans, by organized bands of 

 secret assassins," and offering large rewards 

 for certain alleged offenders ; and as soon as 

 that body was in session he was again in 

 "Washington urging the further reconstruction 

 of the State. He appeared before the Judicia- 

 ry Committee of the Senate, where he urged 

 the same reasons for a renewal of this process 

 which he had used before the Reconstruction 

 Committee of the House at the previous session. 

 Here, again, he found his old antagonist, Hon. 

 Nelson Tift, who strongly opposed the plan 

 presented by the Governor, and reflected very 

 severely on the entire course of that official, 

 not only in this matter, but in the administra- 

 tion of affairs in the State. He claimed that 

 the fifteenth amendment would have been 

 ratified, if Bullock had not advised members 

 of his own party to vote against it, and that 

 the colored members of the Legislature would 

 have been reseated after the decision of the 

 Supreme Court, if he had not refused to call 

 the Assembly together. The passage of an 

 act to complete the reconstruction of the 

 State had, however, been recommended by 

 President Grant, in his message at the opening 

 of the session, and a bill was very soon intro- 

 duced in the Senate to effect this object, and, 

 after an animated discussion in both Houses, 

 became a law on the 22d of December. The 

 following is the full text of the act : 



AK ACT TO PROMOTE THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE 

 STATE OF GEORGIA : 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United States of America, in Congress as- 

 sembled, That the Governor of the State of Georgia 

 be, and hereby is, authorized and directed forthwith, 

 by a proclamation, to summon all persons elected to 

 the General Assembly of said State as appears by the 

 proclamation of George G. Meade, the general com- 

 manding the military district including the State of 

 Georgia, dated June 25, 1868, to appear, on some day 

 certain to be named in said proclamation, at Atlanta, 

 in said State ; and thereupon, the said General As- 

 sembly of said State shall proceed to perfect its or- 

 ganization, in conformity with the Constitution and 



laws of the United States, according to the provisions 

 of this act. 



SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That when the 

 members so elected to said Senate and House of Rep- 

 resentatives shall be convened as aforesaid, each 

 and every member, and each and every person claim- 

 ing to be elected as a member of said Senate or House 

 of Representatives, shall, in addition to taking the 

 oath or oaths required by the constitution of Georgia, 

 also take and subscribe, and file in the office of the 

 Secretary of State of the State of Georgia, one of the 

 following oaths or affirmations, namely : 



" I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may 

 be) that I have never held the office or exercised the 

 duties of a Senator or Representative in Congress^ 

 nor been a member of the Legislature of any State ot 

 the United States ; nor held any civil office created by 

 law, for the administering of any general law of a 

 State, or for the administration of justice in any 

 State, or under the laws of the United States, nor 

 held any office in the military or naval 'service of the 

 United States, and thereafter engaged in insurrection 

 or rebellion against the United States, or gave aid or 

 comfort to its enemies, or rendered, except in conse- 

 quence of direct physical force, any support or aid to 

 any insurrection or rebellion against the United 

 States, nor held any office under or given any sup- 

 port to any government of any kind, organized or 

 acting in hostility to the United States, or levying 

 war against the United States, so help me God ; or 

 on the pains or penalties of perjury, as the case may 

 be ; or the following oath or affirmation, namely : I 

 do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that 

 I have been relieved by an act of the Congress of the 

 United States from disability as provided for by sec- 

 tion 3d of the fourteenth amendment of the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, so help me God ; or on 

 the pains or penalties of perjury, as the case may be ; " 

 which oath or affirmation, when so filed, shall be en- 

 tered on record by the Secretary of State of the State 

 of Georgia, and said oath or affirmations, or a copy 

 of the record thereof, duly certified by said Secretary 

 of State, shall be evidence in all courts and places, 

 and every person, claiming to be elected, who shall 

 refuse, or decline, or neglect, or be unable to take one 

 of said oaths or affirmations above provided, shall 

 not be admitted to a seat in said Senate or House of 

 Representatives, or to a participation in the proceed- 

 ings thereof, but shall be deemed ineligible to such 

 seats. 



SEO. 3. And be it further enacted. That if any per- 

 son, claiming to be elected to said Senate or House 

 of Representatives as aforesaid ; shall falsely take 

 either of said oaths or affirmations, as above pro- 

 vided, he shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and 

 shall suffer the pains and penalties thereof and may 

 be tried, convicted, and punished therefor, by the 

 Circuit Court of the United States for the District of 

 Georgia in which district the crime was committed, 

 and the jurisdiction of the said court shall be sole and 

 exclusive for the purpose aforesaid. 



SEC. 4. And le it further enacted, That the per- 

 sons elected as aforesaid, and entitled to compose 

 the said Legislature, and who shall comply with the 

 provisions of this act by taking one of the oaths or 

 affirmations above prescribed, shall thereupon pro- 

 ceed, in said Senate and House of Representatives to 

 which they have been elected respectively, to reor- 

 ganize said Senate and House of Representatives re- 

 spectively, by the election and qualification of the 

 proper officers of each House. 



SEO. 5. And le it further enacted, That if any per- 

 son shall by force, violence, or fraud, wilfully hinder 

 or interrupt any person or persons elected as afore- 

 said, from taking either of the oaths or affirmations 

 prescribed by the act, or from participating in the 

 proceedings of said Senate or House of Representa- 

 tives after having taken one of said oaths or affirma- 

 tions and otherwise complied with this act, he shall 

 be deemed guilty of a felony, and may be tried, con- 



