The Daily telegraph. (Monroe, La.) 1870-1886, 1871-02-16
SCOPE OF THE TEST.OATH ACT OF
CONGRESS-.

ates, for federal Offices, has just been
inaugurated. The telegraph reports in
full the message of the President, in
which it is stated that the, bill passed
by Congress, permitting persons not
disqualified by the XIVth Amend
ment, to qualify for any federal office
by taking the oath of office provided
for persons whose disabilities have been
removed, is allowed to become law
without the Executive approval. The
bill which thus becomes the law of the
land reads as follows:
Be 1t enacted By the Senate md House
of Representatives Of the Ueited States Of
america in Congress assembled, That
when any person, who is not rendered
ineligible to Office by the provisions of
the Fourteenth Amendment to the Con-
stitution, shall be elected or appointed
to any office of honor or trust under the
Government of the United States, and
shall not be able on account Of his par
ticipatiOn in the late rebellion, to take
oath prescribed in the act of Congress
approved the I'd of July, 1862, said per-
son shall, in lieu of said oath, before en-
tering upon the duties Of said Office,
take and subscribe the oath prescrib-
ed in an act of Congress entitled, can
act prescribing an oath of Office to be
taken by persons from whom legal dis
abilities shall have been removed" APP
proved 18th Of July, 1868.
The oath referred to in the act just
quoted is as follows:
/, A B, do sOlemnly swear Cor affirm
that will support and defend the Con-
stitutiOn of the United States against
all enemies, foreign and domestic; that
l will bear true faith and allegiance to
the same; that I take this obligation
freely, without any mental reservation
or purpose of evasion; and that ! will
well and faithfully discharge the duties
of the Office on which / am about to en-
ter. So help me God.
1t becomes of very great Importance
to the country and to individuals, to
know who are, and who are not, per-
mitted to take and hold offices under
the general government by the provis-
ion Of the act above given. The only
prohibition now affecting the right OF
ex-COnfederates to hold federal Offices
is to be found in the 3rd section of the
XIVth Amendment, which we copy
in erte,asO: ..-it
SEC. 3.-No person shall be Senator
or Representative in Crongress or cleo
tor of President and Vice-President or
hold any Office, civil or military, under
the United States, or under any State,
who having previously taken an oath,
as member of Congress, or as an Of
ficer of the United States, or as a men,
Der of any State Legislature, or as an
executive or judicial officer Ofany State,
to support the Constitution of the Unit
ed States, shall have engaged in insur-
rection or rebellion against the same,
or given aid or comfort to the enemies
thereof. H'n --
OF the individuals here excepted, the
Test Oath is still needlessly exacted;
needlessly, because they are excluded
from Office by the terms of the Amend
ment itself. ....... ,... ..7 ..
In constituting the relief afforded, it
may be stated broadly that no person
who did not hold Office prior to the war
can now be excluded from federal Of
fee on account of participation of any
character in the late sO-called rebel lion.
The main difficulty which will be
encountered in deciding who are re-
lieved u in the construction to be given