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others modified the bill to some extent, and introduced it in the Senate on March 7. The same bill, slightly modified, was introduced in the House. Considerable trouble was experienced in agreeing upon the details of the bill, but on March 19 both houses finally adopted a compromise proposed by a committee of conference. The veto message of the President was received four days later; the bill was immediately passed over the veto and became a law.3

As finally passed, the bill was entitled: "An Act supplementary to an Act entitled, 'An Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,' passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to facilitate restoration." It enacted that the commanding general in each district should cause a registration to be made before September 1, 1867, of those entitled to vote under the original act, and should require all registering to take the following oath: "I,, do solemnly swear (or affirm) in the presence of Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the State of ; that I have resided in said State for months next preceding this day, and now reside in the county of -, or the parish of in said State (as the case may be); that I am twenty-one years old; that I have not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States, nor for felony committed against the laws of any State or of the United States; that I have never been a member of any State legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in any State and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort

1 Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 40th Congress, 13.

The Committee on the Judiciary was instructed on March 7 to report a supplementary bill (Congressional Globe, 17), and the Wilson bill was accordingly reported by it.

* Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 40th Congress, 302-3; 313-14.

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to the enemies thereof; that I have never taken an oath as a member of Congress of the United States, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, encourage others so to do, so help me God." After the completion of the registration in any State, it was provided that there should be held, after at least thirty days' public notice by the commanding general, an election of delegates "to a convention for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil government for such State loyal to the Union." This convention was to consist of the same number of members as the most numerous branch of the State legislature in 1860. Those voting at the election of delegates were also to vote for or against the holding of the convention, and it was not to be held if a majority of the ballots was cast against it, or if a majority of the registered voters failed to vote on the question. Boards were to be appointed by the commanding general to superintend the registration and election, and make returns to him of the results of the election. The convention was required to assemble at a place and time appointed by the commanding general, by a notice to be given by him within sixty days from the date of election; and to frame a constitution according to the provisions of the original and the present act. The constitution so framed was then to be submitted to the registered voters at

1 Congressional Globe, appendix, 1st Session, 40th Congress, 39; McPherson, History of the Reconstruction, 192.

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Except in Virginia, where the number was modified in proportion to the change made by the separation of West Virginia.

an election conducted by officials who were to be appointed by the commanding general, and who were to make returns to him. In case the constitution was ratified "by a majority of the votes of the registered electors qualified as herein specified, cast at said election (at least one-half of all the registered voters voting upon the question of such ratification)," it was provided that the president of the convention should "transmit a copy of the same, duly certified, to the President of the United States, who shall forthwith transmit the same to Congress," and that, if Congress should be satisfied that all the provisions of the acts were carried out, and that no force or fraud was used, and should approve the constitution, the State should "be declared entitled to representation, and senators and representatives shall be admitted therefrom as therein provided." It was further provided that all elections in the States mentioned in the original act should, during the operation of that act, be by ballot; that the officials in charge of the registration and elections must take the "iron clad" oath of July 2, 1862;' that the expenses incurred by the commanding generals in carrying out the act should be paid out of the treasury, but

By the act of that date all persons elected or appointed to any office under the government of the United States were required to take the following oath previous to entering upon the duties of such office: "I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I 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 I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God."

that the state conventions should provide for the levying of taxes to pay other expenses.'

The veto message on this bill was much shorter than that on the original reconstruction measure. The President said: "No consideration could induce me to give my approval to such an election law for any purpose, and especially for the great purpose of framing the constitution of a State. If ever the American citizen should be left to the free exercise of his own judgment, it is when he is engaged in the work of forming the fundamental law under which he is to live." He animadverted upon the extreme looseness of the provisions in regard to the registration boards, and upon the great powers vested in them. The main objections to the bill were of course those which he had stated in the veto of March 2.

The passage of the supplementary reconstruction act, and of a joint resolution providing for the expenses involved in carrying out the provisions of the act, completed the work of this session of the 40th Congress. It was hoped that no further congressional action would be needed until the constitutions of the States should be submitted for examination and approval, preparatory to granting representation. But the importance of the measures and the avowed hostility of the President caused hesitation on the part of Congress as to adjourning till the regular December session. It was realized that if any loop-hole could be found by which the intention of the act could be evaded, Johnson would have no hesitation in taking advantage of it. To provide for such a contingency Congress passed a concurrent resolution which provided for a recess until July 3, and authorized the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House to adjourn Congress until the first Monday in December if a quorum did not appear on July 3. In case

1Appendix, Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 40th Congress, 39, 40.

everything appeared to be progressing with little friction, the members would not assemble; but if there should be any unfavorable developments, Congress could assemble independently of the President and enact legislation to remedy the difficulty.

4. July 3 found a quorum in both houses. The AttorneyGeneral had rendered an opinion upon the act of March 2 which greatly hampered the work of the commanders of the districts. He advised the President that the act should be construed strictly, that the commanders should be allowed no powers beyond those specifically bestowed upon them. This prevented them from removing state officers, from making new laws for the government of the people, or from suspending the action of the state courts; and with state officers hostile to the federal authorities, and using every means to impede their work, the commanders found it impossible properly to discharge the duties assigned to them by the act. The intent of the reconstruction acts obviously was to make the commanders of the districts commanders de facto as well as de jure. Consequently remedial legislation was deemed necessary, and Congress convened for the purpose of framing additional acts defining more precisely the intention of the preceding acts and the powers of the commanders.

A few days' debate sufficed to bring Congress to an agreement as to the form of a second supplementary act. The bill passed both Houses on July 13, was vetoed on the 19th, and was immediately passed over the veto." It declared 3 the true intent and meaning of the previous reconstruction acts to be that the governments then existing in the ten States specified in the acts were illegal, and that such governments, "if

1Johnson, Reconstruction, in Lalor, iii, 552; Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation, 378.

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Congressional Globe, appendix, 1st Session, 39th Congress, 43-4.

3 McPherson, History of the Reconstruction, 335–6.

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