(06 



INDIANA. 



Amount of 5 per cent, stocks $48,369 96 



Amount of 2# per cent, stocks 5,020 16 



Amount of Vmcennea University bonds, 



bearing 6 per cent, interest 63,535 00 



Amount of war-loan bonds, bearing 6 per 



cent, interest 154,000 00 



$270,975 12 



Amount or school-fund bonds denominated 

 as the " non-negotiable bonds," bearing 

 per cent, interest $3,666,845 88 



Total debt of tbe State, foreign and do- 

 mestic $3,937,821 00 



The agent of the State in New York had in 

 his possession at the same date $88,717.90, to 

 be applied to the redemption of the 5 per 

 cent, and 2 per cent, stocks, and it was stated 

 by the Treasurer that the balance needed to 

 redeem the other indebtedness was ready to 

 be sent to the agent whenever it should be 

 required. 



The session of the Legislature, which began 

 on the 4th of January, was brought to an ab- 

 rupt conclusion on the 23d of February by the 

 resignation of 84 Eepublican members of the 

 House of Representatives, which made it im- 

 possible to obtain a quorum in that branch. 



One seat in the Senate was contested, that 

 of John "W. Burson, a Republican chosen from 

 the district made up of the counties of Del- 

 aware and Madison. He was charged with 

 making use of bribery to secure his election. 

 The case occupied a good deal of attention, and 

 was thoroughly investigated by the Commit- 

 tee on Elections. A report was signed by a 

 majority of the committee near the close of 

 the session, which declared that Mr. Burson 

 "did both offer and give bribes and rewards 

 to procure his election," and recommended 

 the adoption of a resolution that he was not 

 entitled to the seat, and that the same be de- 

 clared vacant. The report was adopted by a 

 strict party vote, 24 to 21. 



The whole number of acts passed during the 

 session was 33, besides 10 joint resolutions. 



While the question of ratifying the fifteenth 

 amendment of the Federal Constitution was 

 before the Legislature in 1869, 40 Democratic 

 members of the Lower House had resigned, to 

 break the quorum and defeat the ratification, 

 but a resolution had been adopted by the re- 

 maining j>7 members, less than two-thirds 

 constituting a legal quorum, ratifying the 

 amendment, and their action had been gen- 

 erally accepted as valid. Now that the Demo- 

 crats were in the majority in both Houses, the 

 subject was brought up again, and the follow- 

 ing resolutions were offered in the Senate : 



Whereas, It is provided by the fifth section of the 

 fourth, article of the constitution of Indiana that the 

 number of senators and representatives shall be ap- 

 portioned among the several counties " according to 

 the number of white male inhabitants above twenty- 

 one years of age in each; " and whereas by section 

 two of the second article of said constitution the 

 elective franchise is conferred upon and limited to 

 " white male citizens of the United States of the age 

 of twenty-one years and upward, who shall have re- 

 sided in the State six months preceding the elec- 

 tion," and "white males of foreign birth of the age 



of twenty-one years and upward, who shall have re- 

 sided in the United States one year and in this State 

 six months immediately preceding the election, and 

 shall have declared their intention to become citizens 

 of the United States ; " and whereas it is provided 

 by the fifth section of said article two of said con- 

 stitution that no " negro or mulatto shall have the 

 right of suffrage ; " and whereas at the recent general 

 election in this State, in the year 1870, large numbers 

 of negroes and mulattoes, amounting to seven thou- 

 sand or more, voted for State and county officers, 

 members of the State Legislature, and members of 

 Congress, under and by authority of the so-called 

 fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United 

 States ; and whereas the said pretended fifteenth 

 amendment was never legally ratified or assented to 

 by the State of Indiana, not having been at any time 

 submitted to a convention of the people, but only to 

 the State Legislature, wherein the said fifteenth 

 amendment was only voted on in the Senate by 

 twenty-eight senators, namely, twenty-seven in the 

 affirmative and one in the negative being less than 

 a quorum under the constitution ; and voted on in 

 the House of Representatives by fifty-seven repre- 

 sentatives, namely, fifty-four in the affirmative and 

 three in the negative being less than a quorum un- 

 der the constitution of the State ; and whereas by 

 the sixth section of the act of Congress approved 

 April 10, 1869, entitled " An act authorizing the sub- 

 mission of the constitutions of Virginia, Mississip- 

 pi, and Texas, to a vote of the people, and author- 

 izing the election of State officers, provided by the 

 said constitutions and members of Congress," it is 

 provided and required " that before the States of 

 Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas shall be admitted 

 to representation in Congress their several Legis- 

 latures, which may be hereafter lawfully organized, 

 shall ratify the fifteenth article which has been pro- 

 posed by Congress to the several States as an amend- 

 ment to the Constitution of the United States ; and 

 whereas by the eighth section of the act of Congress 

 approved December 22 ? 1869, entitled " An act to 

 promote the reconstruction of the State of Georgia," 

 it is provided and required "that the Legislature 

 shall ratify the fifteenth amendment proposed to the 

 Constitution of the United States before Senators and 

 Eepresentatives from Georgia are admitted to seats 

 in Congress;" and whereas. the only ratification of 

 said fifteenth amendment by the said States of Vir- 

 ginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia, respectively, 

 was made and done by Legislatures of said States 

 under the duress and operation of said acts of Con- 



fress; and ^ whereas the said fifteenth amendment 

 as not received the necessary ratification by three- 

 fourths of the States of the Union, if the said States 

 of Mississippi, Virginia, Texas, Georgia, and Indiana 

 are or had been counted as having failed or refused 

 to assent thereto, as of right they should be counted ; 

 and whereas the constitutional right to regulate suf- 

 frage, in case said fifteenth amendment shall have 

 failed to receive the necessary ratification, belongs, 

 under the Constitution of the United States, to the 

 States respectively, and is impliedly recognized in 

 the fourteenth amendment thereto : therefore 



Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of In- 

 diana, That the pretended ratification of the fifteenth 

 amendment proposed to the Constitution of the 

 United States on the part of the State of Indiana was 

 and is null and void, and of no binding force or effect 

 whatever ; and the counting of the vote of the State 

 in favor of the same was done without ^any lawful 

 warrant or authority; and that, protesting against 

 the same, this General Assembly does now withdraw 

 and rescind all action, perfect or imperfect, on the 

 part of this State, purporting to assent to and ratify 

 said proposed fifteenth amendment. 



Jtesolved, further, by the authority aforesaid, That 

 Congress has no lawful power derived from the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, nor from any other 

 source whatever, to require any State of the Union 



