The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-05-16
. eu, 10 Asirnat the sstAtes OT Nortls5
a DE- .a,,pa. Soath Car@lfnn, IDnis.
georgia, AND AIaharna ia Re.
fah", ,ataoa 6n Congress,

p psssreas the people 81 North Carolina,
IN carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and
S9a .a,a have, in pursuance Of the pro.
Aia a.ns # an net entitled 6 An act for the
sls.o'S efFeient governments OF the rebel
MOI passed March second !, iighteen
hundred and sixty-seven, and the acts sup
.,smeutary thereto, framed constitutions of
S.e.e government which are republican In
s s~n, and have adopted said constitutions
W. ,o. lame majorities Of the yotes cast Of the
.is.t;ons held for the ratification or re;ec-
.:ar n the same: Therefore, ~ 81,
"' Re- Il enacted By the Senate ard l7oase OF
Personalities of the United States of
s,arerica in Congress- assembled, That the
c,ates of North Carolina, South Carolina,
louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama shall be,
entitled and admitted torepresentationin
Conrress as States of the Union when the
Inr;sla,ures Of said States respectively
sball have duly ratified the amendment to
the Constitution of the United States pro-
n ~, by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and
Known as article fourteen, upon the follow
inc fundamental conditions That. the con-
s,;tntions of said States shall never be
amended or changed so as to discriminate
in favor of or against any citizen or class
Of citizens of the United States in their
r;rbt to vote who are now entitled to vote
hy said constitutions respectively, except
as punishment for such crimes as are now
felonies at common law, whereof they shall
hn.e. been duly convicted and no person
shall ever be held to service or labor as
nunishment for crime in said States ex-
cent by public officers charged with the
custody Of conyicts by the laws thereof;
and that so much Of the seventeenth section
Of the fifth article Of the Constitution Of the
State Of Georgia as gives authority 70 Legis-
latures or courts to repudiate debts cons
tracted prior to the list day Of June, 1865,
and similar provisions in all other Of the
Constitutions mentioned in this bill, shall
be null and void as against all men who
we're loyal during the whole time of the re-.
bclion, and who, during that time, sup
ported the Union, and they shall have the
same rights in the courts and elsewhere as
if no rebellion had ever existed. s
SECTION 2. Aa,d be 1t further enacted,
That if the day fixed for the meeting of the;
legislature of either of said States by the
constitution thereof shall have passed be-
lore the pd5suSc VI tllo dCl, 6uCn {liSS lc1tt-
ture may be convened within thirty days
after the passage Of this act by the presi-,
dent of the convention which framed the
constitution of such State.
SECTION 8. And be 1t further enacted,
That the first section of this act shall take
effect when the President of the United
States shall officially proclaim the due rati-
hcation by the Legislatures Of said States
respectively of article fourteen Of the
amendment to the Constitution Of the
United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth
Congress and it is hereby made the duty
of the President, within ten days after re-
ceiying official information of the ratifca-
ton of said amendment by the Legislature
of either of said States, to issue pro-
clamation announcing that fact.
This bill passed the House on Thursday,
and goes to the Senate. It is as great an
outrage upon republican institutions as was
ever perpetrated.