"It clearly follows that all the State govern- | date of the 4th of July, 1868, and was transments organized in those States under acts mitted by and under the name of W. W. Holof Congress for that purpose, and under military control, are illegitimate and of no validity whatever; and, in that view, the votes cast in those States for President and Vice President, in pursuance of acts passed since the 4th of March, 1867, and in obedience to the so-called reconstruction acts of Congress, cannot be legally received and counted; while the only votes in those States that can be legally cast and counted will be those cast in pursuance of the laws in force in the several States prior to the legislation by Congress upon the subject of reconstruction." Same day-The bill re-passed the SENATEyeas 45, nays 8, as follow: den, who therein writes himself Governor of North Carolina, which paper certifies that the said proposed amendment, known as article XIV, did pass the Senate and Hcuse of Repre sentatives of the General Assembly of North Carolina on the second day of July instant, and is attested by the names of John H. Boner or Bower, as secretary of the House of Representatives, and T. A. Byrnes, as secretary of the Senate, and its ratification on the 4th of July, 1868, is attested by Tod R. Caldwell as Lieutenant Governor, president of Senate, and J. W. Holden as speaker of House of Representatives; YEAS-Messrs. Abbott, Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Chandler, Cole, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, Johnson, President of the United States of Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, Frelinghuysen, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kellogg, America, in compliance with and execution of McDonald, Morgan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Ver- the act of Congress aforesaid, do issue this mont, Morton, Nye, Osborn, Patterson of New Hamp-proclamation, announcing the fact of the ratificashire, Pomeroy, Rice, Ross, Sherman, Sprague, Stew-tion of the said amendment by the Legislature art, Sumner, Tipton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Welch, Willey, Williams, Wilson, Yates-45. of the State of North Carolina, in the manner herein before set forth. NAYS-Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Doolittle, Hendricks, McCreery, Patterson of Tennessee, Vickers, Whyte-8. Same day-It passed the HOUSE-yeas 134, nays 36; and the Speaker proclaimed it to be a law. The NAYS were Messrs. Adams, Archer, Axtell, Barnes, Beck, Boyden, Bouer, Brooks, Cary, Eldridge, Fox, Getz, Glossbrenner, In testimony whereof I have signed these seal of the United States to be hereto affixed. presents with my hand, and have caused the Done at the city of Washington, this eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty Golladay, Grover, Haight. Holman, Hotchkiss, Joough, [SEAL.] eight, and of the Independence of the Thomas L. Jones, Kerr, Knott, Marshall, McCullough, Proclamation of President Johnson respecting And whereas the said act seems to be prospective; And whereas a paper, purporting to be a resolution of the Legislature of Florida, adopting the amendment of the XIIIth and XIVth articles of the Constitution of the United States, was received at the Department of State on the 16th of June, 1868, prior to the passage of the act of Congress referred to, which paper is tested by the names of Horatio Jenkins, Jr.. as president pro tem. of the Senate, and W. W. Moore as speaker of the Assembly, and of William L. Apthoop as secretary of the Senate, and William Forsyth Bynum as clerk of the Assembly, and which paper was transmitted to the Secretary of State in a letter dated Executive Office, Tallahassee, Florida, June 10, 1868, from Harrison Reed, who therein signs himself Gov ernor; United States of America the ninety- By the President: WM. H. SEWARD, Certificate of Mr. Secretary_Seward respecting the Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, July 20, 1868. William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, to all to whom these presents may come, greeting: Whereas the Congress of the United States, on or about the sixteenth of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, passed a resolution which is in the words and figures following, to wit: [For text of XIVth Amendment, see page 68 of Manual of 1867, or 194 of the combined Manual.] And whereas by the second section of the act of Congress, approved the twentieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other at-purposes," it is made the duty of the Secretary of State forthwith to cause any amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which has been adopted according to the provisions of the said Constitution, to be published in the news papers authorized to promulgate the laws, with his certificate specifying the States by which the same may have been adopted, and that the same has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States; And whereas, on the 6th day of July, 1868, a paper was received by the President, which paper being addressed to the President, bears And whereas neither the act just quoted from, nor any other law, expressly or by conclusive implication, authorizes the Secretary of State to determine and decide doubtful questions as to the authenticity of the organization of State legislatures, or as to the power of any State legislature to recall a previous act or resolution of ratification of any amendment proposed to the Constitution; And whereas it appears from official documents on file in this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Fennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Iowa; And whereas it further appears, from documents on file in this Department, that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has also been ratified by newly-constituted and newly-established bodies avowing themselves to be, and acting as, the legislatures, respectively, of the States of Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama; And whereas it further appears from official documents on file in this Department that the legislatures of two of the States first above enumerated, to wit: Ohio and New Jersey, have since passed resolutions respectively withdrawing the consent of each of said States to the aforesaid amendment; and whereas it is deemed a matter of doubt and uncertainty whether such resolutions are not irregular, invalid, and therefore ineffectual for withdrawing the consent of the said two States, or of either of them, to the aforesaid amendment; And whereas the whole number of States in the United States is thirty-seven, to wit: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska; aforesaid amendment has been ratified in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, and so has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the City of Washington this 20t Concurrent Resolution of Congress on the same Whereas the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont. West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Michi gan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Maine, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana, being three-fourths and more of the several States of the Union, have ratified the fourteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, duly proposed by two-thirds of each House of the Thirty-Ninth Congress; therefore Resolved by the Senate, (the House of Representatives concurring.) That said fourteenth article is hereby declared to be a part of the Constitution of the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State. July 21-Passed the SENATE without a count. Same day-Passed the HOUSE-the resolu tion-yeas 126, nays 32; the preamble-yeas 127, nays 35. Georgia has ratified it since, by a majority of ten in the Senate, and twenty-four in the House. General Blair's Letter to Colonel Brodhead. WASHINGTON, June 30, 1868. Colonel JAMES O. BRODHEAD. DEAR COLONEL: In reply to your inquiries, I beg leave to say, that I leave to you to determine, on consultation with my friends from Missouri, whether my name shall be presented to the Democratic Convention, and to submit the following as what I consider the real and only And whereas the twenty-three States first herein before named, whose legislatures have ratified the said proposed amendment, and the six States next thereafter named, as having ratified the said proposed amendment by newly-issue in this contest. constituted and established legislative bodies, together constitute three-fourths of the whole number of States in the United States: The reconstruction policy of the Radicals will be complete before the next election; the States so long excluded will have been admitted, neNow, therefore, be it known, that I, William gro suffrage established, and the carpet-baggers H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United installed in their seats in both branches of ConStates, by virtue and in pursuance of the second gress. There is no possibility of changing the section of the act of Congress, approved the political character of the Senate, even if the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and Democrats should elect their President and a eighteen, herein before cited, do hereby certify majority of the popular branch of Congress We that if the resolutions of the legislatures of cannot, therefore, undo the Radical plan of reOhio and New Jersey ratifying the aforesaid construction by congressional action; the Senate amendment are to be deemed as remaining in will continue a bar to its repeal. Must we subfull force and effect, notwithstanding the subse-mit to it? How can it be overthrown? It can quent resolutions of the legislatures of those States which purport to withdraw the consent of said States from such ratification, then the only be overthrown by the authority of the Executive, who is sworn to maintain the Constitution, and who will fail to do his duty if he allows the Constitution to perish under a series of con- | the good-will and kindness which that body has gressional enactments which are in palpable shown to me. Its nomination was unsought, and violation of its fundamental principles. If the President elected by the Democracy enforces or permits others to enforce these reconstruction acts, the Radicals, by the accession of twenty spurious Senators and fifty Representatives, will control both branches of Congress, and his administration will be as powerless as the present one of Mr. Johnson. unexpected. It was my ambition to take an active part, from which I am now excluded, in the great struggle going on for the restoration of good government, of peace and prosperity to our country. But I have been caught up by the whelming tide that is bearing us on to a great political change, and I find myself unable to resist its pressure. You have also given to There is but one way to restore the Govern- me a copy of the resolutions put forth by the ment and the Constitution, and that is for the convention, showing its position upon all the President elect to declare these acts null and great questions which now agitate the country. void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at As the presiding officer of that convention, I the South, disperse the carpet bag State govern- am familiar with their scope and import, and ments, allow the white people to reorganize as one of its members, I am a party to their their own governments, and elect Senators and terms; they are in accord with my views, and I Representatives. The House of Representatives stand upon them in the contest upon which we will contain a majority of Democrats from the are now entering; and I shall strive to carry North, and they will admit the Representatives them out in future, wherever I may be placed, elected by the white people of the South, and, in public or private life. I congratulate you, with the co-operation of the President, it will not and all conservative men, who seek to restore be difficult to compel the Senate to submit once order, peace, prosperity, and good government more to the obligations of the Constitution. It to our land, upon the evidences everywhere will not be able to withstand the public judg-shown that we are to triumph at the next elecment, if distinctly invoked and clearly expressed on this fundamental issue, and it is the sure way to avoid all future strife to put the issue plainly to the country. tion. Those who are politically opposed to us flattered themselves there would be discord in our councils; they mistook the uncertainties of our views as to the best methods of carrying out our purposes, for difference of opinion with regard to those purposes. They mistook an intense anxiety to do no act which should not be wise and judicious, for a spirit of discord; but during the lengthened proceedings and earnest discussions of the convention there has prevailed an entire harmony of intercourse, a patient forbearance, and a self-sacrificing spirit, which are the sure tokens of a coming victory. Accept for yourselves, gentlemen, my wishes for your future welfare and happiness. In a few days I will answer the communication you have just handed me by letter, as is the customary form. SPEECH OF GENERAL BLAIR. I repeat, that this is the real and only question which we should allow to control us: Shall we submit to the usurpations by which the Government has been overthrown; or shall we exert ourselves for its full and complete restoration? It is idle to talk of bonds, greenbacks, gold, the public faith, and the public credit. What can a Democratic President do in regard to any of these, with a Congress in both branches controlled by the carpet-baggers and their allies? He will be powerless to stop the supplies by which idle negroes are organized into political clubs by which an army is maintained to protect these vagabonds in their outrages upon the ballot. These, and things like these, eat up Mr. CHAIRMAN: I accept the platform of resothe revenues and resources of the Government lutions passed by the late Democratic Convenand destroy its credit-make the difference be- tion, and I accept their nomination with feelings tween gold and greenbacks. We must restore of profound gratitude; and, sir, I thank you for the Constitution before we can restore the the very kind manner in which you have already finances, and to do this we must have a Presi- conveyed to me the decision of the Democratic dent who will execute the will of the people by Convention. I accept the nomination with the trampling into dust the usurpations of Congress conviction that your nomination for the Presiknown as the reconstruction acts. I wish to stand before the convention upon this issue, but dency is one which will carry us to certain it is one which embraces everything else that ination is the most proper nomination that victory, and because I believe that the nomis of value in its large and comprehensive re- could be made by the Democratic party. The sults. It is the one thing that includes all that contest which we wage is for the restoration is worth a contest, and without it there is nothing of constitutional government, and it is proper that gives dignity, honor, or value to the strug-that we should make this contest under the lead gle. Your friend, FRANK P. BLAIR. of one who has given his life to the maintenance of constitutional government. We are to make the contest for the restoration of those great principles of government which belong to our race. And, my fellow-citizens, it is most proper that we should select for our leader a man not from military life, but one who has devoted himself to civil pursuits; who has given himself to the study and the understanding of the Constitution and its maintenance with all the force of reason and judgment. My fellow-citizens, I have said that the contest before us was one for the restoration of our government; it is also one for the restoration of our race. It is to prevent the people of our race from being exiled from their homes-exiled from the government which they formed and created for them-empt from the payment of all taxes or duties to selves and for their children, and to prevent them from being driven out of the country or trodden under foot by an inferior and semibarbarous race. In this country we shall have the sympathy of every man who is worthy to belong to the white race. What civilized people on earth would refuse to associate with them selves in all the rights and honors and dignity of their country such men as Lee and Johnston? What civilized country on earth would fail to do honor to those who, fighting for an erroneous cause, yet distinguished themselves by gallantry in that service? In that contest, for which they are sought to be disfranchised and to be exiled from their homes-in that contest, they have proved themselves worthy to be our peers. My fellow citizens, it is not my purpose to make any long address, (cries of "go on,") but simply to express my gratitude for the great and distinguished honor which has been conferred upon thirty years shall bear interest at four and a half per centum; and bonds falling due in forty years shall bear interest at four per centum; which said bonds and the interest thereon shall be ex the United States, other than such income tax as may be assessed on other incomes, as well as from taxation in any form by or under State, municipal, or local authority, and the said bonds shall be exclusively used, par for par, for the redemption of or in exchange for an equal amount of any of the present outstanding bonds of the United States known as the five-twenty bonds, and may be issued to an amount, in the aggregate, sufficient to cover the principal of all such five-twenty bonds, and no more. me A voice. "You are worthy of it." General Blair and from my heart to reiterate the words of thanks that fell from my lips when I arose. The Funding Bill, July 25, 1868. AN ACT providing for payment of the national debt, and for the reduction of the rate of interest thereon. Be it enacted, &c., That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue coupon or registered bonds of the United States, in such form as he may prescribe, and of denominations of one hundred dollars, or any multiple of that sum, redeemable in coin at the pleasure of the United States after thirty and forty years, respectively, and bearing the following rates of yearly interest, payable semi-annually in coin, that is to say: The issue of bonds falling due in SEC. 2. That there is hereby appropriated out of the duties derived from imported goods the sum of one hundred and thirty-five millions of dollars annually, which sum, during each fiscal year, shall be applied to the payment of the interest and to the reduction of the principal of the public debt in such a manner as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, or as Congress may hereafter direct; and such reduction shall be in lieu of the sinking fund contemplated by the fifth section of the act entitled 'An act to authorize the issue of United States notes, and for the redemption or funding thereof. and for funding the floating debt of the United States," approved February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two. SEC. 3. That from and after the passage of this act no percentage, deduction, commission, or compensation of any amount or kind shall be allowed to any person for the sale, negotiation, redemption or exchange of any bonds or securities of the United States, or of any coin or bullion disposed of at the Treasury Department or elsewhere on account of the United States; and all acts or parts of acts authorizing or permitting, by construction or otherwise, the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint any agent, other than some proper officer of his department, to make such sale, negotiation, redemption, or exchange of bonds and securities are hereby repealed. PART I. POLITICAL MANUAL FOR 1869. XXXVII. MEMBERS OF THE CABINET OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON, AND OF THE FORTIETH CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION. PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S CABINET. Arkansas-Alexander McDonald, Benjamin F Rice. Secretary of State-WM. H. SEWARD, of New York. Michigan-Zachariah Chandler, Jacob M. How Secretary of War-JOHN M. SCHOFIELD, of New York. Vermont-George F. Edmunds. Justin S. Morrill. Connecticut-James Dixon, Orris S. Ferry. Pennsylvania-Charles R. Buckalew, Simon| Delaware-James A. Bayard, Willard Saulsbury. Maryland—William Pinckney Whyte, George Vickers. North Carolina-John C. Abbott, John Pool. South Carolina-Thomas J. Robertson, Frederick A. Sawyer. Alabama-Willard Warner, George E. Spencer. Louisiana-John S. Harris, William P. Kellogg. Ohio-Benjamin F. Wade, John Sherman. Kentucky-Thomas C. McCreery, Garrett Davis. Tennessee-David T. Patterson, Joseph S. Fowler. Indiana-Thomas A. Hendricks, Oliver P. Mor ton. Illinois-Richard Yates, Lyman Trumbull. Missouri-John B. Henderson, Charles D. Drake. ard. Iowa-James W. Grimes, James Harlan Minnesota-Alexander Ramsey, Dan'l S. Norton. Nevada-William M. Stewart, James W. Nye. Nebraska-Thomas W. Tipton, John M. Thayer. House of Representatives. SCHUYLER COLFAX, of Indiana, Speaker. Rhode Island-Thomas A. Jenckes, Nathan F. Connecticut-Richard D. Hubbard, Julius Hotchkiss, Henry H. Starkweather, William H. Barnum. New York-Stephen Taber, Demas Barnes, William E. Robinson, John Fox, John Morrissey, Thomas E. Stewart, John W. Chanler, James Brooks, Fernando Wood, William H. Robertson, Charles H. Van Wyck, John H. Ketcham, Thomas Cornell, John V. L. Pruyn, John A. Griswold, Orange Ferriss, Calvin T. Hulburd, James M. Marvin, William C. Fields, Addison H. Laflin, Alexander H. Bailey, John C. Churchill, Dennis McCarthy, Theodore M. Pomeroy, William H. Kelsey, William S. Lincoln, Hamilton Ward, Lewis Selye, Burt Van Horn, James M. Humphrey, Henry Van Aernam. |