Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1869-07-15
The Test Oath for state Legisla tor.


elaborate editorial against the preposter-
Gus purpose imputed to Gen Candy of
requiring the iron clad oath Of membe rs
elected to the Virginia Legislature. The
plea of the proscriptionists is that the test
oath is required by the terms Of the ninth
section of the second supplementary re-
construction act, which provides:
THAT all members of said boards of
registration, and all persons hereafter
elected or appointed to Office in said mil
itary districts, under any SO called State
Or municipal authority, or by detail or OPP
pointment of the district commanders, shall
be required to take and to subscribe the
oath Of Office prescribed by law for officers
Of the United STATES"
The applicability of this section, how
ever, is denied. 1t is clear, as maintain
ed by the Times. that it describes only
elections or appointments to Office lin
said military districts under any So-caled
State or municipal authority" plainly re-
ferring to the States or governments de-
scrlbed In the first reconstruction act as
being mot legal State governments" as
provisional only, and in all respects sub
ject to the paramount authority Of the
United States. 1t can have no bearing
upon g0vernm, hts or constitutions design
Ell to be created under the authority Of
the United States, which, as in the Caro-
linas, Georgia, Louisiana Arkansas, Flor
ida, and Alabama, are not so called"
governments, bat governments de jura
Ia the preliminary stages Of rec0nstruc-
ton, where elections and appointments
ire concerned, this OATH is to be cxactad
but it has no place in other stages Of re
construction Members Of the contention
by whom She new constitution Of Virginia
was framed were not required to take the
oath. The reconstruction acts are silent
as to tests or quail ications for holding
Office under the constitutions to be framed
under them. These are to be sought iii
the local constitutions. and in the third
section Of the fourteenth amendment,
which is Of general application. This
question was considered IN the case of
Georgia, being referred by Gen. Meade to
Gen. Grant, in whose hands, as com
mander Of the armies, Congress had vest
ed authority to decide On the 2nd Of
March, 1898, General Grant, in dispatch
to General Meade, wrote as follows
1.-The officers elected under the new
constitution Of Georgia are not officers Of
the provisional government referred to in
the reconstruction acts, nor are they Off
GERS elected under any so-called State au-
tbority, and are not, therefore, required to
take the oath prescribed in section 8, act
of July 10, 1867"
An attempt, having been made by rad
icals in Georgia to induce Gen. Grant TO
change his decision, he replied, 29th
April, 1868, in dispatch to the district
commander at Atlanta:
Il have carefully read your letter of
10th April and its Enclosures [ see
nothing in them to change my opinion as
expressed to you in my dispatch of
March 2, 1868. The officers elected un-
der the new constitution Of Georgia are
not officers of the provisional government
referred to ia the reconstruction acts, nor
are they officers elected under any so call
led State authority, and are not, therefore,
required to take the oath prescribed in
section 8, act of July 10, 1867. The ell
igibility to hold Office must be determ-
ned by the new constitution, and the
amendment to the constitution of the Uni
ted States designated as article a."
The iron clad oath, therefore, was not
applied TO the members of the Georgia
Legislature
In Louisiana the same course was pur-
sued. The following is the Geographic
dispatch from General Grant to Gen.
Buchanan:
Il have 10 orders at present to give,
but repeat to you, as heretofore. that the
members Of the Louisiana Legislature are
only required to lake the oath prescribed By
their constitution, and are not required to
take the test oatb prescribed in the recon
struction acts. Generals Meade and Candy
are acting on this view of the case.
Signed. ~, S Grant
The only oath required of the members
of the North Carolina Legislature was the
oath of office required by the constitution
Of the State, which is merely an oath of allie
glance to the constitutions of the Statet and
United States. - Members we're required 70
stato that they were not banned by the four
teenth amendment. The same was the
case in South Carolina