Chapter LXX. *to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, to Representation in Congress.*June 25, 1868
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CHAP. LXX.— An Act *to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, to Representation in Congress.*June 25, 1868. Whereas the people of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana,Preamble. 1867, ch. 153. Vol. xiv. p. 428. Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have, in pursuance of the provisions of an act entitled “An act for the more efficient government of the rebel*Ante,* pp. 2, 14, 41. States,” passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and the acts supplementary thereto, framed constitutions of State government which are republican, and have adopted said constitutions by large majorities of the votes cast at the elections held for the ratification or rejection of the same:
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That each of the States ofNorth Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, to be admitted to representation in Congress, when, &c. Conditions. North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, shall be entitled and admitted to representation in Congress as a State of the Union when the legislature of such State shall have duly ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, upon the following fundamental conditions:
That the constitutions of neither of said States shall ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizenConstitutions not to be so changed as, &c. or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote in said State, who are entitled to vote by the constitution thereof herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said State: *Provided*, That any alterationWhat alterations may be made. of said constitution may be made with regard to the time and place of residence of voters; and the State of Georgia shall only be entitled and admitted to representation upon this further fundamental condition:Further condition to the admission of Georgia. that the first and third subdivisions of section seventeen of the fifth article of the constitution of said State, except the proviso to the first subdivision, shall be null and void, and that the general assembly of said State by solemn public act shall declare the assent of the State to the foregoing fundamental condition.
FORTIETH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 70. 1868.74 Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,*First meeting of the legislatures of such States. That if the day fixed for the first meeting of the legislature of either of said States by the constitution or ordinance thereof shall have passed or have so nearly arrived before the passage of this act that there shall not be time for the legislature to assemble at the period fixed, such legislature shall convene at the end of twenty days from the time this act takes effect, unless the governor elect shall sooner convene the same.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,*First section of this act when to take effect as to other States; That the first section of this act shall take effect as to each State, except Georgia, when such State shall, by its legislature, duly ratify article fourteen of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and when as to Georgia.as to the State of Georgia when it shall in addition give the assent of said State to the fundamental condition hereinbefore imposed upon the Proceedings thereupon.same; and thereupon the officers of each State duly elected and qualified under the constitution thereof shall be inaugurated without delay; but no Who not eligible to office.person prohibited from holding office under the United States, or under any State, by section three of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, known as article fourteen, shall be deemed eligible to any office in either of said States, unless relieved from disability as Duty of President as to proclaiming ratification, &c.provided in said amendment; and it is hereby made the duty of the President within ten days after receiving official information of the ratification of said amendment by the legislature of either of said States to issue a proclamation announcing that fact.
SCHUYLER COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives. B. F. WADE, President of the Senate pro tempore. In the Senate of the United States, June 25, 1868. } The President of the United States, having returned to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, the bill entitled “An act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to representation in Congress,” with his objections thereto, the House of Representatives proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the same; and Resolved, That the said bill do pass, two thirds of the House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same.
Attest:EDWD. McPHERSON, *Clerk H. R. U. S.* In the Senate of the United States, June 25, 1868. } The Senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled “An act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to representation in Congress,” returned to the House of Representatives by the President of the United States, with his objections, and sent by the House of Representatives to the Senate, with the message of the President returning the bill:
Resolved, That the bill do pass, two thirds of the Senate agreeing to pass the same. Attest:GEO C. GORHAM, *Secretary of the Senate.*