American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-06-05

he takes 1t at his peril, aud is subject {
prosecution fi- perjury.
Second, as TO age. No one il entitled
to registration who is not at least twenty
one years OF age when he applies for regis
tration In this respect the qualification
as to age differs frnm the qualiirai n as &
residence, aud he fact thar majority mus
exist at the date IF registration
Thiri, as h. disIranchi emeut. I fifth
secti' { the original act denies the right
to vote to such a. may be di franchised tor
participation in the rebellion, or felony AT
common law. The words here used, . in
the rebellion" must be taken 70 mean the
recent rebellion; but the supplement al set
enlarges the disquaI iieatiou, and requires
the applicant to swear that he has not been
disfranchi>ed for participation n any rebel
The mere fact Of such participation or com
mission does no. of itself work disfr n
chisement; it must be aseertained by judg
ment If court or Legislative act. I'm
not aware of any law of the United States
which works distranchsement as t. right
of suffrage by force of an act itself, nor does
such consequence follow from conviction
for treason or any other acts of participation
in rebellion. The provision in the cunstitu-
ton of the United States dues not declare
"hat shall be the punishment on conviction
of treason; that is left for Congress, with
the Limitation that corruption of blood shall
not follow as a consequence Of any forfeiture
except during the life of the party Com
gress, in the exercise of its power, has lin
tied such punishment on conviction to the
penalty Of death or imprisonment, and by
manumisSion of slaves owned by the party,
and to disqualification from holding any of
fee under the United States. am not ad-
vised Of ang statute now in force in either
of the ten States except perhaps, Virginia,
which declares disfranchsement as to right
Of suffrage by force of the act itself The
original act cOntemplates dislranchisement
arising from participation in rebellion ;
whereas disfranchisement under the fourth
and filth clauses of the supplemental bill
does not arise from such participation, but
other elements must concur; that is the
10 ding of certain Offices or taking an official
oath by certain officers, aud afterwards par
tielpatIng in rebellion against the United
States AS 10 some officers, no doubt mems
bers Of a State Legislature ami Congress
are clearly enough designated A State
convention ter framing amendments to the
State constitution, though clothed with leg
islatiye power, cannot properly be called a
State Legislature, and in the acts now un-
der consideration, convention and Leg
islature are expressly distinguished from
each other, for they require n constitution TO
be framed by the convention, and require
the Legislature OF the same State to adopt
the constitutional amendment. Whrn then,
in the same acts they again use the phrase,
" Leg stature of the Slate,' tney must lie
unlprst od to use it in the same sense. ami
Distinguished from consttutiuna con, ens
ton; hut ns to those Legislatures which
pas ed what are called r.iirances OF seces-
son. | am OF opinion their members are
properly coml~ehend,d d within this disqual-
flying cIau,e for can Imagine no leg II,
i've position in which the duty of al legiar ce
was more distinctly violated A more diff
cult inquiry is, who to consider an officer ii
the United State, or al executive or judi
cial ufh'cr Gf any State. Various classes Of
officers are intended State oficers, aud Fed
eral officers, and executive or judicial Off
res. legislative Dficer is mentioned ex.
cept member OF the State Legislature or a
member of Congress. The descriptions
used as t. tther lh:ers, are AS to State off
GERS, Ih"y II ust be judicial or executives and
as t. . federal officer, the terms exc ulive o.
judicial are n t expressed. He is described
simply aS an officer of the United States.-
Officers of the militia Of State are not in.
cluded in these terms Of description, else the
act would have included civil or military
officer, of The States, for in the third section
OF the constitutional amendme t, known a.
altiI Ie II, Congress expresses thai purpo, G
very clearly That section is expressly re.
ferred to more than once in these acts, aud
$ made u fact part Of these acts. Its Ian.
guage is followed word fo- word in these
qualifying clauses as far as possible, except
IN The particular in which one is made to
apply to eligibility, and the other rights
to vote. When, therefore, we find Congress
declaring what persons shall be disfran
chisei from holding any office, expressly in
cluling military as we'll as civil officers, a.
in the third section referred TO, and in pro .
viding what persons shall be disfranch sei
from voting who held any Office. it omits TO
mention military officers we cannot escape
the conclusion that military officers were
not within their contemplation. 1t must be
borne in mind that we are here considering
a class of military officers who were such
prior to the rebellion, when the Office was
loyal. and known as officers Of militia not
that class who became officers during the
rebellion. This last class was under the
clause of Specification which applies to
participation in rebellion As 10 the civil
officers disfranch ised the clause fairly in
cludes all State t.ficers, Governor, Liutenant
Governor, State Aud tor, Treasurer Seer