The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1868-05-28
A Bill to admit the States OF North.
Carolina, SOuth.CarOlina, louisiana
Georgia and Alabama to Representa-
tion COuUreSS

A Bill to admit the States Of North.
Carolina, SOuth.CarOlina, Louisiana,
Georgia and Alabama to Representa-
tion in Congress. ........ ......
WHEREAS, The people of North Carolina,
South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and Ala
hama have in pursuance of the provisions
of an act entitled - An act for the more eifl-
cient government of the rebel States passed
March second, eighteen hundred and sixty
seven. and the acts supplementary thereto
framed constitutions of State governments
which are republican in form, and have
adopted said constitutions by large mal"rl-
ties of the votes cast at the elections held
for the ratification or rejection of the same:
Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate ard House Of
Repyesentatipes az the United States OF amer
icn in tongress assembled, That the States OF
North Carolina. South Carolina, Louisiana,
Georgia. and Alabama shall be entitled and
admitted to representation in Congress as
States of the Union when the Legislatures
OF said States respectively shall have duly
ratified the amendment to the Constitution
of the United States proposed by the Thirty
ninth Congress- and known as article four
teen, upon the following fundamental condl-
ton That the constitutions of said States
shall never be amended or changed so as to
discriminate in favor of or against any citl-
zen or class of citizens of the United States
in their right to vote who are now entitled
to vote by said constitutions respectively, eX-
cept as punishment for such crimes as are
now felonies at common law, whereof they
shall have neen duly convicted; and no per-
son shall ever he held TO service or labor as
punishment for crime in said States except
by public officers charged with the custody
of convicts 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 to Legislatures
or courts to repudiate debts contracted prior
to the 1st 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 were loyal during the
whole time of the rebellion and who, during
that time, supported the Union. and they
shall have the same rights in the courts and
elsewhere as if no rebellion had ever existed.
Sec 2. And be it .t'usther enacted, That if
the day fixed for the meeting of the Legis
lature of either of said States by the consti-
tuition thereof shall have passed before the
passage of this act. such Legislature may he
convened within thirty days after the pas
sage of this act by the president of the con-
vention which framed the constitution of
such State.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted. That the
first section of this act shall take effect when
the President of the United States shall off
cially proclaim the due ratification by the
Legislatures of said States respectively of
article fourteen of the amendment of the
Constitution of the United States proposed
by the Thirty ninth Congress; and it is
hereby made the duty ot the President,
within ten days after receiving official ratiti =
cation of said amendment Ivy the Legisla-
ture of either OF said States, to issue proc
lamation announcing that fact.