The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-08-06
No. S5.1 JOINT RESOLUTION

Nv VI
Proposing taamend the Constitution OF the
State.
SECTION l. Be 1t resolred by the Senate
and House of Representatives, Of the State OF
Louisiana, in General assembly concerned,
That at the General election next ensuing the
passage OF this resolution, the following arti-
Gle shall be proposed to the qualified electors
of the State as an amendment to the %constitu-
ton of the State, which, when appr(1ed and
ratified by a majority of the voters at said
election, shall become a part of the constita-
ton, in the place Of the article numbered
~ninety-nine.
SEC. ,. Be 1t further resotued, etc., That
said article shall be in words and terms as
follows, to-Wit:
No person shall hold any office, or shall be
permitted to vote at any election, or to act as
Juror, wbo, in due course of law, shall have
been convicted of treason, per Jury, forgery,
bribery, or other crime punishable by impris.
onment in the penitentiary, or who shall be
under Introduction. .
SEC. 3. Be it further resolved, etc., That
the tickets of all persons voting upon this
proposed amendment shall have written or
printed thereon the words, "For the amend.
ment of the ninety-ninth article of the consti.
tuition - Or, against the amendment of the
~ninety-ninth article of the constitution )" and
the returning officers shall make returns Of
votes thereon in the same manner as is pres.
, cribed by law for returns of election, and the
Secretary of State shall promulgate the result
by publication three several times in the off
cial journal.
And if a majority of the votes cast at sal
election shall be, For the amendment of the
~nlnety-ninth article of the constitution" then
the article numbered ninety-nine, and reading
as follows:
PARTICLE so. The following persons shall
be prohibited from voting or holding any Of
fee: All persons who shall have been convic.
ted Of treason, per ury, forgery, bribery, OF
other crime punishable in the penitentiary
and persons under Introduction. All spersons
who are estopped from claiming the right OF
suffrage, by abjuring their allegiance to the
United States Government, or by VIGOROUSLY
~levying war against it, or adhering to its enc
mics, giving them aid OF comfort, but who
have not expatriated themselves, nor have
been CONVICTED of any of the crimes mention
ed in the first paragraph of this article, are
hereby restored to the said right, except the
following: Those who held Office, civil or
military, for@ one year or more, under the
organization styled the Confederate States of
America : those. who registered themselves as
enemies of the United States. those who act
ed as leaders of guerrilla bands during the
late rebellion those who. in the advocacy of
treason, wrote or published newspaper arti-
cles OF preached sermons during the late re-
bellion and those who voted for and signed
an ordinance of secession IN any State. No
person included in these exceptions shall
either vote OF hold office until he shall nave
relieved himself by voluntarily writing and
signing a certificate setting forth that he ac-
knowledges the late rebellion to have been
morally and politically wrong, and that he
regrets any aid and comfort he may have Civ
en- it; and he shall file the certificate in the
office of the Secretary of State, and it shall
be published in the official journal; Preceded,
That no person who, prior to the first day of
January, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight,
favored the execution Of the laws of the Uni
ted States, popularity known as the Recon-
struction Acts of Congress, and openly and
actively assisted the loyal men of the State in
their efforts to restore Louisiana to her posi-
ton in the Union, shall be held to be included
among those herein excepted. Registrars of
voters shall take the oath of any such person
as prsma ffacae evidence of the fact that he is
entitled to the benefit of this proviso," shall
be stricken from the Constitution, and be null
and void, and the article herein above sci
forth and proposed as an amendment, shall be
a part of the constitution. and shall be pub
lished in all official copies of the same, in
place of the article %ninety-nine, so stricken
out and declared null and void.
(Signed) MORTIMER CARR,
Speaker of the House of Representatives
fSigned} OSCAR J. DUNN,
Lieutenant Governor and President o.
the Senate.
Approved February NO, 1870.
(Signed) I'll. C. WARMOTH,
Governor of the State of Louisiana
A true copy:
GEO. E. BovEE,
Secratsry of State