No. 52.

Restoration of Tennessee

July 24, 1866

A BILL to restore Tennessee, accompanied by certain testimony and other papers, was reported in the House, March 5, 1866, by Bingham of Ohio, from the Joint Select Committee on Reconstruction, and recommitted. It was taken up July 19, and agreed to on the 20th, the vote on the preamble being 86 to 48, 48 not voting, and on the resolution 126 to 12, 45 not voting. In the Senate an amendment proposed by Sumner, providing that there should be no denial of equal legal rights on account of race or color, was rejected, 4 to 34, and an amended preamble agreed to, the latter vote being 23 to 20. The amendments to the resolution were agreed to by the House, July 23, without a division, and the amendment to the preamble by a vote of 93 to 26, 62 not voting.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 364. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The majority and minority reports of March 5 and 6 are House Reports 29 and 30. In the history of the act the evolution of the preamble is particularly important.

Joint Resolution restoring Tennessee to her Relations to the Union.

WHEREAS, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, the government of the State of Tennessee was seized upon and taken possession of by persons in hostility to the United States, and the inhabitants of said State in pursuance of an act of Congress were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States; and whereas said State government can only be restored to its former political relations in the Union by the consent of the law-making power of the United States; and whereas the people of said State did, on the twenty-second day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, by a large popular vote, adopt and ratify a constitution of government whereby slavery was abolished, and all ordinances and laws of secession and debts contracted under the same were declared void; and whereas a State government has been organized under said constitution which has ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery, also the amendment proposed by the thirty-ninth Congress, and has done other acts proclaiming and denoting loyalty; Therefore,

Be it resolved That the State of Tennessee is hereby restored to her former proper, practical relations to the Union, and is again entitled to be represented by senators and representatives in Congress.

APPROVED, July 24, 1866.

No. 53.

Election of Senators

July 25, 1866

A BILL to regulate senatorial elections was reported in the Senate, July 9, 1866, by Daniel Clark of New Hampshire, from the Committee on the Judiciary, to whom a resolution on the subject had been referred. The bill passed the Senate on the 11th by a vote of 25 to II, and the House on the 25th without a division. A motion to lay the bill on the table in the House was lost, the vote being 22 to 89.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 243, 244. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., Ist Sess., and the Cong. Globe. There was no discussion in the House.

An Act to regulate the Times and Manner of holding Elections for Senators in Congress.

Be it enacted. That the legislature of each State which shall be chosen next preceding the expiration of the time for which any senator was elected to represent said State in Congress, shall, on the second Tuesday after the meeting and organization thereof, proceed to elect a senator in Congress, in the place of such senator so going out of office, in the following manner: Each house shall openly, by a viva voce [vote] of each member present, name one person for senator in Congress from said State, and the name of the person so voted for, who shall have a majority of the whole number of votes cast in each house shall be entered on the journal of each house by the clerk or secretary thereof; but if either house shall fail to give such majority to any person on said day, that fact shall be entered

on the journal. At twelve o'clock, meridian, of the day following that on which proceedings are required to take place, as aforesaid, the members of the two houses shall convene in joint assembly and the journal of each house shall then be read, and if the same person shall have received a majority of all the votes in each house, such person shall be declared duly elected senator to represent said State in the Congress of the United States; but if the same person shall not have received a majority of the votes in each house, or if either house shall have failed to take proceedings as required by this act, the joint assembly shall then proceed to choose, by a viva voce vote of each member present a person for the purpose aforesaid, and the person having a majority of all the votes of the said joint assembly, a majority of all the members elected to both houses being present and voting, shall be declared duly elected; and in case no person shall receive such majority on the first day, the joint assembly shall meet at twelve o'clock, meridian, of each succeeding day during the session of the legislature, and take at least one vote until a senator shall be elected.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever, on the meeting of the legislature of any State, a vacancy shall exist in the representation of such State in the senate of the United States, said legislature shall proceed, on the second Tuesday after the commencement and organization of its session, to elect a person to fill such vacancy, in the manner herein before provided for the election of a senator for a full term; and if a vacancy shall happen during the session of the legislature, then on the second Tuesday after the legislature shall have been organized and shall have notice of such vacancy.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the governor of the State from which any senator shall have been chosen as aforesaid to certify his election, under the seal of the State, to the President of the senate of the United States, which certificate shall be countersigned by the secretary of state of the State.

APPROVED, July 25, 1866.

No. 54.

Franchise in the District of Columbia
January 8, 1867

A BILL to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia was introduced in the Senate, December 4, 1865, by Wade of Ohio, and reported with amendments on the 20th. January 10, 1866, the bill was recommitted, and on the 12th again reported with an amendment. It was not taken up until June 28, when further consideration was postponed until December. The bill was taken up December 10, and on the 13th passed the Senate, the vote being 32 to 13. On the 14th the bill passed the House by a vote of 127 to 46, 18 not voting. January 7, 1867, President Johnson vetoed the bill. The bill was passed over the veto by the Senate on the 7th, by a vote of 29 to 10, and by the House on the 8th, by a vote of 112 to 38, 41 not voting. REFERENCES. · Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 375, 376. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. A minority report in the House, December 19, 1865, is House Report 2, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

AN ACT to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted. . ., That, from and after the passage of this act, each and every male person, excepting paupers and persons under guardianship, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, who has not been convicted of any infamous crime or offence, and excepting persons who may have voluntarily given aid and comfort to the rebels in the late rebellion, and who shall have been born or naturalized in the United States, and who shall have resided in the said District for the period of one year, and three months in the ward or election precinct in which he shall offer to vote next preceding any election therein, shall be entitled to the elective franchise, and shall be deemed an elector and entitled to vote at any election in said District, without any distinction on account of color or race.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That any person whose duty it shall be to receive votes at any election within the District of Columbia, who shall wilfully refuse to receive, or who shall wilfully reject, the vote of any person entitled to such right under this act, shall be liable to an action of tort by the

person injured, and shall be liable, on indictment and conviction, if such act was done knowingly, to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year in the jail of said District, or to both.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall wilfully interrupt or disturb any such elector in the exercise of such franchise, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined in any sum not to exceed one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the jail in said District for a period not to exceed thirty days, or both, at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the several courts having criminal jurisdiction in said District to give this act in special charge to the grand jury at the commencement of each term of the court next preceding the holding of any general or city election in said District.

[The remaining sections relate to the use of a check-list, punishment of bribery or intimidation, &c.]

No. 55.

Elective Franchise in the Territories
January 31, 1867

A BILL to amend the organic acts of the several Territories was introduced in the House, April 24, 1866, by James M. Ashley of Ohio, and referred to the Committee on Territories. The bill was reported without amendment on the 26th, recommitted, and again reported May 3. A substitute offered by Ashley May 15, the ninth section of which prohibited the denial of the elective franchise on account of race or color, was agreed to by a vote of 79 to 43, 61 not voting, a motion to strike out the ninth section being defeated by a vote of 36 to 76, 72 not voting. The bill was reported with amendments in the Senate May 31, but went over until the next session. January 10, 1867, a substitute in the words of the act following, offered by Wade of Ohio, was agreed to. The Senate amendment was accepted by the House by a vote of 104 to 38, 49 not voting. The bill became a law without the President's approval.

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REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 379. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. An abstract of the House bill of May 3 is in the Globe for that date; Ashley's substitute, ibid., May 15.