petitions from legislatures and other bodies, and several resolutions calling for an inquiry into the rights of American citizens abroad, were referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which submitted a report on the subject January 27, 1868. A bill to define and protect the rights of American citizens in foreign countries was reported from the committee, February 20, by Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, and recommitted. The bill was again reported March 10, and April 20 passed, the vote being 107 to 4, 78 not voting. The Senate, by a vote of 30 to 7, struck out the clauses empowering the President in certain cases to suspend commercial intercourse with foreign States, and to arrest and detain the citizens of such States found in the United States, the provisions of the last part of section three of the act being inserted in their place. The House concurred in the Senate amendments, and July 27 the act was approved. The Republican and Democratic national platforms had already, in May and July, declared in favor of expatriation and the protection of American subjects abroad.

REFERENCES.

Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV, 223, 224. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The text of the bill reported March 10 is in the Globe of that date; Banks's report of January 27 is House Report 13. On the general subject see Wharton, International Law Digest, II, chap. 7.

An Act concerning the rights of American Citizens in foreign States.

WHEREAS the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and whereas in the recognition of this principle this government has freely received emigrants from all nations, and invested them with the rights of citizenship; and whereas it is claimed that such American citizens, with their descendents, are subjects of foreign states, owing allegiance to the governments thereof; and whereas it is necessary to the maintenance of public peace that this claim of foreign allegiance should be promptly and finally disavowed: Therefore,

Be it enacted. That any declaration, instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officers of this government which denies, restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation, is hereby declared inconsistent with the fundamental principles of this government.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all naturalized citizens of the United States, while in foreign states, shall be entitled to, and shall receive from this government, the same protection of persons and property that is accorded to native-born citizens in like situations and circumstances.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That whenever it shall be made known to the President that any citizen of the United States has been unjustly deprived of his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign government, it shall be the duty of the President forthwith to demand of that government the reasons for such imprisonment, and if it appears to be wrongful and in violation of the rights of American citizenship, the President shall forthwith demand the release of such citizen, and if the release so demanded is unreasonably delayed or refused, it shall be the duty of the President to use such means, not amounting to acts of war, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate such release, and all the facts and proceedings relative thereto shall as soon as practicable be communicated by the President to Congress.

APPROVED, July 27, 1868.

No. 74. Fourteenth Amendment to the

Constitution

July 28, 1868

VARIOUS propositions to amend the Constitution were submitted in both House and Senate during the first session of the thirty-ninth Congress. A joint resolution embodying the substance of the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment was reported in the House, April 30, 1866, by Thaddeus Stevens, from the Committee on Reconstruction, together with a bill for admission to representation of certain States ratifying the same, May 10 the resolution passed the House, the vote being 128 to 37, 18 not voting. The third section of the House resolution provided that until July 4, 1870, all persons who had voluntarily aided the rebellion should be denied the privilege of voting for

Representatives in Congress or presidential electors. The Senate, by a vote of 43 to 0, struck out this section, and recast the amendment in the form in which it was later submitted. The resolution passed the Senate June 8, by a vote of 33 to II. On the 13th the House, by a vote of 138 to 36, 10 not voting, concurred. The amendment was rejected by Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky, and was not acted on by California. It was also at first rejected by Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, with the result that the ratification of the amendment was, by the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867, made a condition of the restoration of those States. The ratifications of New Jersey and Ohio were rescinded by the legislatures of those States. July 20, 1868, a proclamation by Seward announced that the amendment had been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-three States, and " by newly constituted and newly established bodies avowing themselves to be and acting as the legislatures of" North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas; and that if the ratifications of New Jersey and Ohio "be deemed as remaining of full force and effect," the amendment was in force. Thereupon Congress, by resolution of July 21, declared the amendment in force and directed its promulgation as such. The final proclamation was issued July 28.

REFERENCES. - Text in Revised Statutes (ed. 1878), 31. For the proceedings of Congress see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., and 40th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The various proclamations are in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV. For some early proposals see McPherson, Reconstruction, 103. See also Guthrie, Fourteenth Amendment; Slaughter House Cases, 16 Wallace, 36; Johnson's message of June 22, 1866. Many disabilities under the amendment were removed by special acts; for the general act of May 22, 1872, see No. 94, post.

ARTICLE XIV.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the

P

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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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 insurrectión 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.

SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro priate legislation, the provisions of this article.

No. 75.

Proclamation granting Full Amnesty

December 25, 1868

THE act of January 21, 1867, repealing the amnesty provisions of the act of July 17, 1862, was regarded by President Johnson as an infringement upon the constitutional powers of the executive, and as such was ignored. A proclamation of September 7, 1867, granted full pardon and amnesty to all persons who had participated in the late rebellion, with the restoration of property and privileges, except as to property in slaves and in cases of legal proceedings under the laws of the United States, on condition of taking an oath to support the Constitution and the Union, and to "abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the late rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves." The following were excluded from the benefits of the proclamation :—

"First. The chief or pretended chief executive officers, including the President, the Vice-President, and all Heads of Departments of the pretended Confederate or Rebel Government, and all who were agents thereof in foreign States and countries, and all who held, or pretended to hold, in the service of the said pretended Confederate Government, a military rank or title above the grade of brigadier-general, or naval rank or title above that of captain, and all who were or pretended to be Governors of States, while maintaining, aiding, abetting, or submitting to and acquiescing in the rebellion.

"Second. All persons who in any way treated otherwise than as lawful prisoners of war persons who in any capacity were employed or engaged in the military or naval service of the United States.

"Third. All persons who, at the time they may seek to obtain the benefits of this proclamation, are actually in civil, military, or naval confinement or custody, or legally held to bail, either before or after conviction, and all persons who were engaged directly or indirectly in the assassination of the late President of the United States, or in any plot or conspiracy in any manner therewith connected."

A proclamation of July 4, 1868, granted amnesty to all save "such person or persons as may be under presentment or indictment, in any court of the United States having competent jurisdiction, upon a charge of treason or other felony," together with "restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and except also as to any property of which any person may have been legally divested under the laws of the United States." The proclamation of December 25 declared amnesty without conditions. A Senate resolution of January 5, 1869, requested the President "to transmit to the Senate a copy of any proclamation of amnesty made by him since the last adjournment of Congress, and also to communicate to the Senate by what authority of law the same was made." In a message of January 18 Johnson transmitted a copy of the proc