SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That any person who shal hereafter knowingly accept or hold any office under the United States, or any State to which he is ineligible under the third section of the fourteenth article of amendment of the Constitution of the United States, or who shall attempt to hold or exercise the duties of any such office, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor against the United States, and, upon conviction thereof before the circuit or district court of the United States, shall be imprisoned not more than one year, or fined not exceeding one thousand dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That all persons within. the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. No tax or charge shall be imposed or enforced by any State upon any person immigrating thereto from a foreign country which is not equally imposed and enforced upon every person immigrating to such State from any other foreign country; and any law of any State in conflict with this provision is hereby declared null and void.

SEC. 17. [Penalty for violation of the preceding section.]

SEC. 18. And be it further enacted, That the act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication, passed April nine, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, is hereby re-enacted; and sections sixteen and seventeen hereof shall be enforced according to the provisions of said act.

SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That if at any election for representative or delegate in the Congress of the United States any person shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name of any other person, whether

living, dead, or fictitious; or vote more than once at the same election for any candidate for the same office; or vote at a place where he may not be lawfully entitled to vote; or vote without having a lawful right to vote; or do any unlawful act to secure a right or an opportunity to vote for himself or any other person; or by force, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer, or promise thereof, or otherwise unlawfully prevent any qualified voter of any State of the United States of America, or of any Territory thereof, from freely exercising the right of suffrage, or by any such means induce any voter to refuse to exercise such right; or compel or induce by any such means, or otherwise, any officer of an election in any such State or Territory to receive a vote from a person not legally qualified or entitled to vote; or interfere in any manner with any officer of said elections in the discharge of his duties; or by any of such means, or other unlawful means, induce any officer of an election, or officer whose duty it is to ascertain, announce, or declare the result of any such election, or give or make any certificate, document, or evidence in relation thereto, to violate or refuse to comply with his duty, or any law regulating the same; or knowingly and wilfully receive the vote of any person not entitled to vote, or refuse to receive the vote of any person entitled to vote; or aid, counsel, procure, or advise any such voter, person, or officer to do any act hereby made a crime, or to omit to do any duty the omission of which is hereby made a crime, or attempt to do so, every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall for such crime be liable to prosecution in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both, in the discretion of the court, and shall pay the costs of prosecution.

SEC. 20. [Penalty for similar unlawful acts in and concerning the registration of voters.] Provided, That every registration made under the laws of any State or Territory, for any State or 1 Amended by act of February 28, 1871, section 1.

other election at which such representative or delegate in Congress shall be chosen, shall be deemed to be a registration within the meaning of this act, notwithstanding the same shall also be made for the purpose of any State, territorial, or municipal election.

SEC. 21. And be it further enacted, That, whenever, by the laws of any State or Territory, the name of any candidate or person to be voted for as representative or delegate in Congress shall be required to be printed, written, or contained in any ticket or ballot with other candidates or persons to be voted for at the same election for State, territorial, municipal, or local officers, it shall be sufficient prima facie evidence, either for the purpose of indicting or convicting any person charged with voting, or attempting or offering to vote, unlawfully under the provisions of the preceding sections, or for committing either of the offenses thereby created, to prove that the person so charged or indicted, voted, or attempted or offered to vote, such ballot or ticket, or committed either of the offenses named in the preceding sections of this act with reference to such ballot. And the proof and establishment of such facts shall be taken, held, and deemed to be presumptive evidence that such person voted, or attempted or offered to vote, for such representative or delegate, as the case may be, or that such offense was committed with reference to the election of such representative or delegate, and shall be sufficient to warrant his conviction, unless it shall be shown that any such ballot, when cast, or attempted or offered to be cast, by him, did not contain the name of any candidate for the office of representative or delegate in the Congress of the United States, or that such offense was not committed with reference to the election of such representative or delegate.

SEC. 22. [Penalty for the refusal of any officer of election to do his duty, for making false return, &c.]

SEC. 23. And be it further enacted, That whenever any person shall be defeated or deprived of his election to any office, except elector of President or Vice-president, representative or delegate in Congress, or member of a State legislature, by reason

of the denial to any citizen or citizens who shall offer to vote, of the right to vote, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, his right to hold and enjoy such office, and the emoluments thereof, shall not be impaired by such denial; and such person may bring any appropriate suit or proceeding to recover possession of such office, and in cases where it shall appear that the sole question touching the title to such office arises out of the denial of the right to vote to citizens who so offered to vote, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, such suit or proceeding may be instituted in the circuit or district court of the United States of the circuit or district in which such person resides. And said circuit or district court shall have, concurrently with the State courts, jurisdiction thereof so far as to determine the rights of the parties to such office by reason of the denial of the right guaranteed by the fifteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and secured by this act.

APPROVED, May 31, 1870.

No. 86. Redemption and Bank Note Act July 12, 1870

THE great inequalities in the distribution of the national bank note circulation among the States, and the action of the Comptroller of the Currency under the act of March 3, 1865, led to the introduction of various bills relating to the subject. A bill "to provide a national currency of coin notes, and to equalize the distribution of circulating notes," was reported in the Senate, January 11, 1870, by John Sherman, from the Committee on Finance, and passed with amendments, February 2, by a vote of 39 to 23. Various substitutes offered in the House were rejected, and the bill with amendments passed that body, June 15, by a vote of 99 to 81, 50 not voting. The Senate refused to concur in the action of the House. The report of a conference committee was disagreed to by the House, June 29, the vote being 53 to 127, 49 not voting. The report of a second committee was agreed to by the Senate July 6, without a division, and by the House July 7, by a vote of 100 to 77, 53 not voting. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI, 251–254. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and the

Cong. Globe. The text of the Senate bill is in the Globe, January 24; on the reasons for the bill, and its scope, see particularly Sherman's remarks, ibid.

An Act to provide for the Redemption of the three per cent. temporary Loan Certificates, and for an Increase of national Bank Notes.

Be it enacted... That fifty-four millions of dollars in notes for circulation may be issued to national banking associations, in addition to the three hundred millions of dollars authorized by the twenty-second section of the . . . [National Bank Act] . . .; and the amount of notes so provided shall be furnished to banking associations organized or to be organized in those States and Territories having less than their proportion under the apportionment contemplated by the provisions of the [act of March 3, 1865, amending the National Bank Act] . . „, and the bonds deposited with the treasurer of the United States, to secure the additional circulating notes herein authorized, shall be of any description of bonds of the United States bearing interest in coin, but a new apportionment of the increased circulation herein provided for shall be made as soon as practicable. based upon the census of eighteen hundred and seventy: Provided, That if applications for the circulation herein authorized shall not be made within one year after the passage of this act by banking associations organized or to be organized in States having less than their proportion, it shall be lawful for the comptroller of the currency to issue such circulation to banking associations applying for the same in other States or Territories having less than their proportion, giving the preference to such as have the greatest deficiency: And provided further, That no banking association hereafter organized shall have a circulation in excess of five hundred thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That at the end of each month after the passage of this act it shall be the duty of the comptroller of the currency to report to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount of circulating notes issued, under the pro