New Orleans Republican., 1868-12-14
GEORGIA AND RECONSTRUCTION.
eOvernor BuIIoek,s Lettert9 GoAgr-eess.ss !
Failure to saxeoute the ) Iay,-s { : :; :
Ineligible Members OF Lsgisiathafse:ss d
To rnE CoNdaEss OF FnE Us1IT1E.D1 ssEIarrs.

10 THE CoNGREsS OF THE UNITED STATES: = y
| Having, as Provisional Governor slectsn
under the Reconstructiop acts, been autpcy,
North Carolina, South Carolina, LouisiansII Q
Georgia, Alabama and Florida to represen,-7
tation in Congress-" |" which act becanasl
laW June 25y 1865 to convene the ProRf-F
sional Legislature of Georgia, and having
| by proclamation, under date June 25, 1853.
acted upon that authority; and ,shaY1pg, ,aol
| the fourth day Of July, 1865, beeh arp6iTfed
provisional Governor of Georgia 6y Major1
General George G. Meade, Commanding the
Third Military District, under and by virtue
| of the power vested in him by che Recon-
structlon acts deem 1t my official duty to
represent to your honorable body that the
laws under which the State of Georgia was
70 have been admitted to representation in
Congress have not been fully executed, and
TO present for your consideration the rea-
sons which lead me TO this conclusion.
BY section vi of '.An act for the more
efficient government of the rebel States,p
among which States Is enumerated the State
OF Georgia, It Is provided that until the
people Of said rebellious States shall be bv
law admitted to representation in Congress,
| any civil government which may exist
o., therein shall be deemed provisional only.n
The government of the State has therefore.
been, and must con .inue to be- provisional,
until the conditions required by thee act
which became a law June rs, 1868, shall
have been complied with by a Legislature
organized in accordance with the recon
struction acts previously adopted. tf. .rsUfg
By section TX of the supplementary re.
construction act, passed July 10, 1867, it is,
required that, !" all persons hereafter
elected to office in said Mill
tary Districts ni* shall be required
to take and subscribe the oath of office, pre-.
States" "a h
The government having been provisional
at the time of the assembling of the Legis.
lature referred to, the law, therefore, re-
qnired that such persons only as were eligi-
bic under the reconstruction acts should be
| permitted to participate in the necessary
provisional legislation precedent to recog.
milton as State. The fact however, is,
that all the -candidates for the General
Assembly who had received the highest
number OF votes were, without regard to
their eligibility under the law, permitted to
take seats in the provisional legislative
body, and to participate in the organization
and the legislation thereof; having first been
simply invited to take an oath prescribed
in the new Constitution, which Constitution
had not at that time become, and under the
law could not then be of force l,
The result of this failure to execute
the law has been a defeat OF the 4puFJ
poses which Congress had in view when
passing the acts-these purposes having
been the establishment of a loyal and Re-
pupuSau ctdIe government, aHordlng ado.
qusts protection for life and property, the
mai iutenance OF peace and good order, and
| the free expression of political opinion.
| The wise disoernment displayed by Con>
gress,, in requiring by its legislation that,
| none but those who were loyal should par
| ticipate in the establishment of a provi-
sional government which was thereafter to
| be clothed with the rights and immunities
OF State in the Union, charged with the
| care and protection of the lives and pro-
perty, and the civil and political rights of
Its citizens, is made the more apparent by
the consequences which have ensued from
this failure in the enforcement of that legis--
lation.
would therefore respectfully invite the
attention of your honorable body to this
subject, and ask that such steps be taken as
may to you seem wise and proper for the
obtaining Of full information in relation
thereto; and to the end that loyalty may be
protected and promoted by the enforcement
OF the laws enacted by the Representative of
the American people.
RUFUS B. BULLOCK.
By the Governor: l.. , .-,t-- .
EUGENE DAVIS,
Executive Secretary.