taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set forth in the President's Proclamation of May 29, A.D. 1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of North Carolina in force immediately before the 20th day of May, A.D. 1861, the date of the so-called ordinance of secession; and the said convention, when convened, or the legislature that may be thereafter assembled, will prescribe the qualification of electors, and the eligibility of persons to hold office under the constitution and laws of the state, a power the people of the several states composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the government to the present time.

And I do hereby direct —

First. That the military commander of the department, and all officers and persons in the military or naval service, aid and assist the said provisional governor in carrying into effect this Proclamation, and they be enjoyed to abstain from, in any way, hindering, impeding, or discouraging the loyal people from the organization of a state government as herein authorized.

Second. That the Secretary of State proceed to put in force all laws of the United States, the administration whereof belongs to the State Department, applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid.

Third. That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed to nominate for appointment assessors of taxes, and collectors of customs and internal revenue, and such other officers of the Treasury Department as are authorized by law, and put in execution the revenue laws of the United States within the geographical limits aforesaid. In making appointments, the preference shall be given to qualified loyal persons residing within the districts where their respective duties are to be performed. But if suitable residents of the districts shall not be found, then persons residing in other states or districts shall be appointed.

Fourth. That the Postmaster-General proceed to establish post-offices and post-routes, and put into execution the postal laws of the United States within the said state, giving to loyal residents the preference of appointment; but if suitable resi

dents are not found, then to appoint agents, &c., from other

states.

Fifth. That the district judge for the judicial district in which North Carolina is included proceed to hold courts within said state, in accordance with the provisions of the act of congress. The Attorney-General will instruct the proper officers to libel, and bring to judgment, confiscation, and sale, property subject to confiscation, and enforce the administration of justice within said state in all matters within the cognizance and jurisdiction of the federal courts.

Sixth. That the Secretary of the Navy take possession of all public property belonging to the Navy Department within said geographical limits, and put in operation all acts of congress in relation to naval affairs having application to the said state.

Seventh. That the Secretary of the Interior put in force the laws relating to the Interior Department applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid.

*

No. 48. Thirteenth Amendment

December 18, 1865

JANUARY 11, 1864, John B. Henderson of Missouri offered in the Senate a joint resolution for an amendment to the Constitution providing that "slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, shall not exist in the United States." February 8 Sumner proposed an amendment declaring that "everywhere within the limits of the United States, and of each State or Territory thereof, all persons are equal before the law, so that no person can hold another as a slave." Both of these resolutions were referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, which reported, February 10, a resolution proposing an amendment in the terms of the thirteenth amendment subsequently ratified. On the 15th the House, by a vote of 78 to 62, resolved in favor of an amendment abolishing slavery. The joint resolution passed the Senate, April 8, by a vote of 38 to 6. The resolution was not taken up in the House until May 31, and June 15, by a vote of 95 to 66 (less than the required two-thirds), was rejected. January 31, 1865, the vote was reconsidered and the resolution passed, the vote being 121 to 24, 37 not voting. The ratification of the amendment by twenty-seven States was proclaimed December 18, 1865.

REFERENCES.

Text in Revised Statutes of the United States (ed. 1878), 30. For the proceedings in Congress see the House and Senate Journals, 38th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The principal propositions submitted are collected in McPherson, Rebellion, 255–259. On the scope of the amendment see Slaughter House Cases, 16 Wallace, 36. See also Cox, Three Decades, chap. 16; Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, X, chap. 4.

ARTICLE XIII.

SEC. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, save as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

No. 49.

Proclamation declaring the Insurrection at an End

April 2, 1866

IN a message to the Senate December 18, 1865, in response to a resolution of December 12, President Johnson stated that the rebellion had been suppressed; "that the United States are in possession of every State in which the insurrection existed, and that, as far as it could be done, the courts of the United States have been restored, post-offices reëstablished, and steps taken to put into effective operation the revenue laws of the country." Various executive orders in regard to the blockade, commercial intercourse, habeas corpus, etc., preceded the proclamation of April 2. A similar proclamation of August 20 declared the insurrection in Texas at an end.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 811-813. As to when the war ended see United States v. Anderson, 9 Wallace, 56, and The Protector, 12 ibid., 700.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

(The proclamation recites the proclamations of April 15 and 19 and August 16, 1861, July 1, 1862, and April 2, 1863, the resolutions of the House and Senate July 22 and 25, 1861, on the nature of the war, and the proclamation of June 13, 1865, declaring the insurrection in Tennessee to have been suppressed, and continues:)

140

INSURRECTION AT AN END

[April 2

And whereas there now exists no organized armed resistance of misguided citizens or others to the authority of the United States in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, and the laws can be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of said States are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed or will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States;

And whereas, in view of the before-recited premises, it is the manifest determination of the American people that no State, of its own will, has the right or the power to go out of, or separate itself from, or be separated from the American Union, and that therefore each State ought to remain and constitute an integral part of the United States;

And whereas the people of the several before-mentioned States have, in the manner aforesaid, given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important resolution of national unity;

And whereas it is believed to be a fundamental principle of government that people who have revolted, and who have been overcome and subdued, must either be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends, or else they must be held by absolute military power, or devastated, so as to prevent them from ever again doing harm as enemies, which last-named policy is abhorrent to humanity and to freedom;

And whereas the Constitution of the United States provides for constituent communities only as States, and not as Territories, dependencies, provinces, or protectorates;

And whereas such constituent States must necessarily be, and by the Constitution and laws of the United States are made equals, and placed upon a like footing as to political rights, im

And whereas the observance of political equality as a principle of right and justice is well calculated to encourage the people of the aforesaid States to be and become more and more constant and persevering in their renewed allegiance;

And whereas standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus are, in time of peace, dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed, except in cases of actual necessity, for repelling invasion or surpressing insurrection or rebellion;

And whereas the policy of the government of the United States, from the beginning of the insurrection to its overthrow and final suppression, has been in conformity with the principles herein set forth and enumerated;

Now, therefore, I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida is at an end, and is henceforth to be so regarded.

No. 50.

First Civil Rights Act

April 9, 1866

A BILL "to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights and furnish the means of their vindication" was introduced in the Senate, January 5, 1866, by Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and referred to the Committee on Judiciary. Amendments reported by the committee were agreed to on the 12th. February I an amendment submitted by Trumbull, regarding the citizenship of persons born in the United States, being the first part of section I of the act, was agreed to by a vote of 31 to 10, but the following day an amendment striking out the provision for the employment of military force was rejected, the vote being 12 to 24. The bill passed the Senate February 2, and the House, with further amendments, March 13, the vote in the House