The Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America from ...

the President, within ten days after receiving official information of the ratification by the legislature of either of said States of a proposed amendment to the Constitution, known as article fourteen, to issue a proclamation announcing that fact;

And whereas a paper was received at the Department of State on the seventeenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, which paper, bearing date of the ninth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixtyeight, purports to be a resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana in General Assembly convened, ratifying the aforesaid amendment, and is attested by the signature of George E. Bovee, as Secretary of State, under a seal purporting to be the seal of the State of Louisiana;

Louisiana

Fourteenth

the constitution

Now, therefore, be it known that I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, in compliance with and execution of the act of Con- amendment to gress before mentioned, do issue this, my proclamation, announcing the fact of ratified by the ratification of the said amendment by the legislature of the State of Louis- Louisiana. iana in the manner hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand, and have caused the seal of the United States to be hereto affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-third. ANDREW JOHNSON.

[SEAL.]

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: July 20, 1868.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS by an act of Congress entitled "An act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to representation in Congress," passed the twenty-fifth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, it is declared that it is made the duty of the President, within ten days after receiving official information of the ratification by the legislature of either of said States of a proposed amendment to the Constitution, known as article fourteen, to issue a proclamation announcing that fact;

And whereas a letter was received this day by the President, which letter, being addressed to the President, bears date of July sixteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and was transmitted by and under the name of William H. Smith, who therein writes himself Governor of Alabama, in which letter was enclosed and received at the same time by the President, a paper purporting to be a resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama, ratifying the said proposed amendment, which paper is attested. by the signature of Chas. A. Miller, as Secretary of State, under a seal purporting to be the seal of the State of Alabama, and bears the date of approval of July thirteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by William H. Smith, as Governor of said State.

Now, therefore, be it known that I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, in compliance with an execution of the act of Congress before mentioned, do issue this my proclamation, announcing the fact of the ratification of the said amendment by the legislature of the State of Alabama, in the manner hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand, and have caused the seal of the United States to be hereto affixed.

of our

Done at the city of Washington, this twentieth day of July, in the year [SEAL.] Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and of the Indopendence of the United States of America the ninety-third.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

VOL. XV.

APP.- 45

ANDREW JOHNSON.

Preamble.

1868, ch. 70, a Ante, p. 74.

Alabama.

Fourteenth amendment to

the constitution ratified by Ala

bama.

July 20, 1868.

Preamble.

Vol. xiv. p. 858.

No. 11.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME, GREETING: WHEREAS the Congress of the United States, on or about the sixteenth of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, passed a resolution which is in the words and figures following, to wit:

"JOINT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

"Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which when ratified by three fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution. namely:

"ARTICLE XIV.

"SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

"SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

"SECTION 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability. "SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

"SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

"Attest:

"SCHUYLER COLFAX,

"Speaker of the House of Representatives. "LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER,

"EDWD. MCPHERSON,

"President of the Senate pro tempore.

And whereas by the second section of the act of Congress, approved the twen- 1818, ch. 80, § 2. tieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled "An act to proVol. iii. p. 439. vide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes," it is made the duty of the Secretary of State forthwith to cause any amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which has been adopted according to the provisions of the said Constitution, to be published in the newspapers authorized to promulgate the laws, with his certificate specifying the States by which the same may have been adopted, and that the same has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States;

And whereas neither the act just quoted from, nor any other law, expressly or by conclusive implication, authorizes the Secretary of State to determine and decide doubtful questions as to the authenticity of the organization of State legislatures, or as to the power of any State legislature to recall a previous act or resolution of ratification of any amendment proposed to the Constitution;

And whereas it appears from official documents on file in this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Iowa;

And whereas it further appears from documents on file in this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has also been ratified by newly constituted and newly established bodies avowing themselves to be and acting as the legislatures, respectively, of the States of Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama;

And whereas it further appears from official documents on file in this Department that the legislatures of two of the States first above enumerated, to wit, Ohio and New Jersey, have since passed resolutions respectively withdrawing the consent of each of said States to the aforesaid amendment; and whereas it is deemed a matter of doubt and uncertainty whether such resolutions are not irregular, invalid, and therefore ineffectual for withdrawing the consent of the said two States, or of either of them, to the aforesaid amendment;

And whereas the whole number of States in the United States is thirty-seven, to wit: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska;

And whereas the twenty-three States first herein before named, whose legislatures have ratified the said proposed amendment, and the six States next thereafter named, as having ratified the said proposed amendment by newly constituted and established legislative bodies, together constitute three fourths of the whole number of States in the United States:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of the act of Congress, approved the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen, berein before cited, do hereby certify that if the resolutions of the legislatures of Ohio and New Jersey ratifying the aforesaid amendment are to be deemed as remaining of full force and effect, notwithstanding the subsequent resolutions of the legislatures of those States, which purport to withdraw the consent of said States from such ratification, then the aforesaid amendment has been ratified in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, and so has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and of the In[L. S.] dependence of the United States of America the ninety-third.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Fourteenth

amendment to

the constitution has been adopt ed, if, &c.

No. 12.

July 27, 1868. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

Preamble.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, by an act of Congress entitled "An act to admit the States of 1868, ch. 70, 8. North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to Ante, p. 74. representation in Congress," passed the twenty-fifth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, it is declared that it is made the duty of the President within ten days after receiving official information of the ratification by the legislature of either of said States of a proposed amendment to the Constitution known as article fourteen, to issue a proclamation announcing that fact; and whereas a paper was received at the Department of State, this twenty-seventh day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, purporting to be a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, ratifying the said proposed amendment, and also purporting to have passed the two said Houses respectively on the twenty-first of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and to have been approved by Rufus B. Bullock, who therein signs himself Governor of Georgia, which paper is also attested by the signatures of Benjamin Conley, as President of the Senate, and R. L. McWhorters, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and is further attested by the signatures of A. E. Marshall, as Secretary of the Senate, and M. A. Hardin, as Clerk of the House of Representatives:

Georgia.

Fourteenth

amendment to

Now, therefore, be it known that I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, in compliance with and execution of the act of the constitution Congress before mentioned, do issue this my proclamation announcing the fact ratified by of the ratification of the said amendment by the legislature of the State of Georgia. Georgia in the manner hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand, and have caused the seal of the United States to be hereto affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and of the [SEAL.] Independence of the United States of America the ninety-third. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President:

WILLIAM H. Seward, Secretary of State.

July 28, 1868.

Preamble.

No. 13.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME, GREETING: WHEREAS by an act of Congress passed on the twentieth of April, one 1818, ch. 80, § 2. thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled, "An act to provide for the Vol. iii. p. 439. publication of the laws of the United States and for other purposes," it is declared that whenever official notice shall have been received at the Department of State that any amendment which heretofore has been and hereafter may be proposed to the Constitution of the United States has been adopted according to the provisions of the Constitution, it shall be the duty of the said Secretary of State forthwith to cause the said amendment to be published in the newspapers authorized to promulgate the laws, with his certificate, specifying the States by which the same may have been adopted, and that the same has become valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

Vol. xiv. p. 358.

And whereas the Congress of the United States, on or about the sixteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, submitted to the legisla tures of the several States a proposed amendment to the Constitution in the following words, to wit:

'JOINT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

"Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:

"ARTICLE XIV.

"SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

"SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

"Attest:

"SCHUYLER COLFAX,

"Speaker of the House of Representatives. "LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER,

"EDWD. MCPHERSON,

"President of the Senate pro tempore.

"Clerk of the House of Representatives.

“J. W. FORNEY,

"Secretary of the Senate."

And whereas the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, on the twenty-first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a concurrent resolution, which concurrent resolution is in the words and figures following, to wit:

"IN SENATE OF THE, UNITED STATES,}

"July

"Whereas the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Michigan, Ne

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