BILL IN THE SENATE, TO ENFORCE THE GUARANTY OF A REPUBLICAN FORM OF
GOVERNMENT IN CERTAIN STATES, DECEMBER 4, 1865.
A Bill to enforce the guaranty of a Republican form of
Government in certain States whose governments have been
usurped or overthrown.
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress assembled_, That, in the States lately
declared in rebellion against the United States, the President shall,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint for each a
provisional governor, with pay and emoluments not exceeding those of a
brigadier-general of volunteers, who shall be charged with the civil
administration of such State, until a State government therein shall be
recognized as hereinafter provided.
SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That the provisional governor of
each of such States shall direct the marshal of the United States, as
speedily as may be, to name a sufficient number of deputies, and to
enroll all male citizens of the United States resident in the State
in their respective counties, and to request each one to take the
oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and the oath
to maintain a republican form of government, and in his enrolment to
designate those who take and those who refuse to take the oaths, which
rolls shall be forthwith returned to the provisional governor; and if
the persons taking the oaths shall amount to a majority of the persons
enrolled in the State, he shall by proclamation invite the loyal people
of the State to elect delegates to a convention charged to declare the
will of the people of the State relative to the reëstablishment of a
State government, subject to and in conformity with the Constitution of
the United States.
SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the oath to maintain a
republican form of government shall be as follows: “I do hereby swear
(or affirm) that I will at all times hereafter use my best endeavors
to maintain a republican form of government in the State of which
I am an inhabitant, and in the Union of the United States; that I
will at all times recognize the indissoluble unity of the Republic,
and will always discountenance and resist any endeavor to break away
or secede from the Union; that I will give my influence and vote at
all times to strengthen and sustain the national credit; that I will
always discountenance and resist any attempt, directly or indirectly,
to repudiate or postpone, in any part or in any way, either the debt
contracted by the United States in subduing the late rebellion or
the obligation assumed to the Union soldiers; that I will always
discountenance and resist any laws making any distinction of race
or color; and that in all ways I will strive to maintain a State
government completely loyal to the Union, where all men shall enjoy
equal protection and equal rights.”[8]
SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the convention shall
consist of as many members as both Houses of the last constitutional
State Legislature, apportioned by the provisional governor among the
counties, parishes, or districts of the State, in proportion to the
population returned as electors by the marshal, in compliance with the
provisions of this Act. The provisional governor shall by proclamation
declare the number of delegates to be elected by each county, parish,
or election district; name a day of election, not less than thirty days
thereafter; designate the places of voting in each county, parish, or
district, conforming, as nearly as may be convenient, to the places
used in the State elections next preceding the Rebellion; appoint one
or more commissioners to hold the election at each place of voting; and
provide an adequate force to keep the peace during the election.
SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That the delegates shall be
elected by the loyal male citizens of the United States of the age of
twenty-one years, and resident at the time in the county, parish, or
district in which they shall offer to vote, and enrolled as aforesaid,
or absent in the military service of the United States, and who shall
take and subscribe the oath of allegiance to the United States in
the form contained in the Act of Congress of July 2, 1862, and the
before recited oath to maintain a republican form of government;
and all such citizens of the United States who are in the military
service of the United States shall vote at the head-quarters of their
respective commands, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the
provisional governor for the taking and return of their votes; but no
person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, State
or otherwise, under the Rebel usurpation, or who has voluntarily borne
arms against the United States, shall vote or be eligible as delegate
at such election.
SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioners, or either
of them, shall hold the election in conformity with this Act, and,
so far as may be consistent therewith, shall proceed in the manner
used in the State prior to the Rebellion. The oath of allegiance and
the oath to maintain a republican form of government shall be taken
and subscribed on the poll-book by every voter in the form above
prescribed; but every person known by or proved to the commissioners
to have held or exercised any office, civil or military, State or
otherwise, under the Rebel usurpation, or to have voluntarily borne
arms against the United States, shall be excluded, though he offer
to take the oath; and in case any person who shall have borne arms
against the United States shall offer to vote, he shall be deemed to
have borne arms voluntarily, unless he shall prove the contrary by the
testimony of a qualified voter. The poll-book showing the name and
oath of each voter shall be returned to the provisional governor by
the commissioners of election, or the one acting, and the provisional
governor shall canvass such returns, and declare the person having the
highest number of votes elected.
SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That the provisional governor
shall by proclamation convene the delegates duly elected, at the
capital of the State, on a day not more than three months after the
election, giving at least thirty days’ notice of such day. In case the
capital shall in his judgment be unfit, he shall in his proclamation
appoint another place. He shall preside over the deliberations of the
convention, and administer to each delegate, before taking his seat in
the convention, the oath of allegiance to the United States, and the
oath to maintain a republican form of government, in the form above
prescribed.
SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That the convention shall
declare, on behalf of the people of the State, their submission to
the Constitution and laws of the United States, and shall adopt the
following provisions, hereby prescribed by the United States in the
execution of the constitutional duty to guaranty a republican form of
government to every State, and incorporate them in the Constitution of
the State, that is to say:--
First. No person who has held or exercised any office, civil or
military, except offices merely ministerial and military offices below
the grade of colonel, State or otherwise, under the usurping power,
shall vote for or be a member of the legislature or governor.
Secondly. Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and the freedom
of all persons is guarantied in such State.
Thirdly. No debt, State or otherwise, created by or under the sanction
of the usurping power, shall be recognized or paid by the State.
Fourthly. No person shall enter upon any office within the gift of the
people of this State, until he has first taken the oath to support the
Constitution of the United States and the oath to maintain a republican
form of government. And the Constitution shall prescribe forms for
these oaths substantially in accordance with the forms herein provided.
Fifthly. There shall be no distinction among the inhabitants of
this State founded on race, former condition, or color. Every such
inhabitant shall be entitled to all the privileges before the law
enjoyed by the most favored class of such inhabitants.
Sixthly. These provisions shall be perpetual, not to be abolished or
changed hereafter.
SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That, when the convention shall
have adopted those provisions, it shall proceed to reëstablish a
republican form of government, and ordain a constitution containing
those provisions, which, when adopted, the convention shall by
ordinance provide for submitting to the people of the State entitled to
vote under this law, at an election to be held in the manner prescribed
by the act for the election of delegates, but at a time and place named
by the convention, at which election the electors described above, and
none others, shall vote directly for or against such constitution and
form of State government. And the returns of such election shall be
made to the provisional governor, who shall canvass the same in the
presence of the electors, and if a majority of the votes cast shall
be for the constitution and form of government, he shall certify the
same, with a copy thereof, to the President of the United States, who,
after obtaining the assent of Congress, shall by proclamation recognize
the government so established, and none other, as the constitutional
government of the State; and from the date of such recognition, and
after its legislature shall have ratified the Amendment to the United
States Constitution abolishing slavery and prohibiting involuntary
servitude, and not before, Senators and Representatives, and Electors
for President and Vice-President, may be elected in such State,
according to the laws of the State and of the United States.
SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That, if the convention shall
refuse to reëstablish the State government on the foregoing conditions,
the provisional governor shall declare it dissolved; but it shall be
the duty of the President, whenever he shall have reason to believe
that a sufficient number of the people of the State entitled to vote
under this Act, in number not less than a majority of those enrolled
as aforesaid, are willing to reëstablish a State government on the
foregoing conditions, to direct the provisional governor to order
another election of delegates to a convention for the purpose and in
the manner prescribed in this Act, and to proceed in all respects
as herein before provided, either to dissolve the convention, or to
certify the State government reëstablished by it to the President.
SEC. 11. _And be it further enacted_, That, until the United States
shall have recognized a republican form of State government, the
provisional governor in each of such States shall see that this Act,
and the laws of the United States, and the laws of the State in
force when the State government was overthrown by the Rebellion, are
faithfully executed within the State; but no law or usage contrary
to any of the provisions herein directed to be inserted in the
constitution of the State shall be recognized or enforced by any court
or officer in such State, and such provisions shall be regarded as
already incorporated into the law of the State; and the laws for the
trial and punishment of white persons shall extend to all persons,
and jurors shall have the qualifications of voters under this law
for delegates to the convention. The President shall appoint such
officers, provided for by the laws of the State when its government
was overthrown, as he may find necessary to the civil administration
of the State, all which officers shall be entitled to receive the fees
and emoluments provided by the State laws for such officers. And he
may permit, when he deems it expedient, elections to be made of such
officers by the people entitled to vote according to the provisions of
this Act; such officers to have the qualifications required for voters
under this Act, and to hold their offices subject to removal by him.
And all such officers, whether appointed by the President or elected
by the people, shall, before entering on the duties of their offices,
take the oaths to support the Constitution of the United States, and to
maintain a republican form of government.
SEC. 12. _And be it further enacted_, That, until the recognition of a
State government as aforesaid, the provisional governor shall, under
such regulations as he may prescribe, cause to be assessed, levied, and
collected, for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and every year
thereafter, the taxes provided by the laws of such State to be levied
during the fiscal year preceding the overthrow of the State government
thereof, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the State, as nearly
as may be; and the officers appointed as aforesaid are vested with all
powers of levying and collecting such taxes, by distress or sale, as
were vested in any officers or tribunal of the State government for
those purposes. The proceeds of such taxes shall be accounted for to
the provisional governor, and be by him applied to the expenses of the
administration of the laws in such State, subject to the direction of
the President; and the surplus shall be deposited in the treasury of
the United States to the credit of such State, to be paid to the State
upon an appropriation therefor, to be made when a republican form of
government shall be recognized therein by the United States.
This was read, passed to a second reading, and ordered to be
printed.
December 21st, it was, on motion of Mr. Sumner, referred to the
Joint Committee “to inquire into the condition of the States
which formed the so-called Confederate States of America,”
known as the Reconstruction Committee, of which Mr. Fessenden
was Senate Chairman, and Mr. Stevens House Chairman.
Nothing as systematic and complete as this measure was ever
adopted. The work of Reconstruction was piecemeal.