determine and decide doubtful questions as to And whereas it appears from official docu- And whereas it further appears, from documents on file in this Department, that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has also been ratified by newly-constituted and newly-established bodies avowing themselves to be, and acting as, the legislatures, respectively, of the States of Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama; And whereas it further appears from official documents on file in this Department that the legislatures of two of the States first above enumerated, to wit: Ohio and New Jersey, have since passed resolutions respectively withdrawing the consent of each of said States to the aforesaid amendment; and whereas it is deemed a matter of doubt and uncertainty whether such resolutions are not irregular, invalid, and therefore ineffectual for withdrawing the consent of the said two States, or of either of them, to the aforesaid amendment; And whereas the whole number of States in the United States is thirty-seven, to wit: New [Part I aforesaid amendment has been ratified in manner herein before mentioned, and so become valid, to all intents and purposes, a part of the Constitution of the United States In testimony whereof, I have hereunto my hand, and caused the seal of the Departm of State to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the City of Washington this 2 day of July, in the year of our L 1868, and of the independence of United States of America the nine third. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State Concurrent Resolution of Congress on the sa Subject, July 21, 1868. Whereas the legislatures of the States Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oreg Vermont, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, diana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, New Yo Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Mic gan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Massachuse Nebraska, Maine, Iowa, Arkansas, Flori North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, a Louisiana, being three-fourths and more of several States of the Union, have ratified fourteenth article of amendment to the Cons tution of the United States, duly proposed two-thirds of each House of the Thirty-Nin Congress; therefore Resolved by the Senate, (the House of Rep sentatives concurring.) That said fourteen article is hereby declared to be a part of Constitution of the United States, and it sh be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary State. July 21-Passed the SENATE without a cou Same day-Passed the HOUSE-the reso tion-yeas 126, nays 32; the preamble-ye 127, nays 35. Georgia has ratified it since, by a majority ten in the Senate, and twenty-four in the Hou General Blair's Letter to Colonel Brodhead WASHINGTON, June 30, 1868, Colonel JAMES O. BRODHEAD. DEAR COLONEL: In reply to your inquiries beg leave to say, that I leave to you to det mine, on consultation with my friends from M souri, whether my name shall be presented the Democratic Convention, and to submit following as what I consider the real and on And whereas the twenty-three States first The reconstruction policy of the Radicals w only be overthrown by the authority of the E ecutive, who is sworn to maintain the Consti tion, and who will fail to do his duty if he allo the Constitution to perish under a series of con- | the good-will and kindness which that body has gressional enactments which are in palpable shown to me. Its nomination was unsought, and violation of its fundamental principles. If the President elected by the Democracy enforces or permits others to enforce these reconstruction acts, the Radicals, by the accession of twenty spurious Senators and fifty Representatives, will control both branches of Congress, and his administration will be as powerless as the present one of Mr. Johnson. unexpected. It was my ambition to take an active part, from which I am now excluded, in the great struggle going on for the restoration of good government, of peace and prosperity to our country. But I have been caught up by the whelming tide that is bearing us on to a great political change, and I find myself unable to resist its pressure. You have also given to There is but one way to restore the Govern- me a copy of the resolutions put forth by the ment and the Constitution, and that is for the convention, showing its position upon all the President elect to declare these acts null and great questions which now agitate the country. void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at As the presiding officer of that convention, I the South, disperse the carpet bag State govern- am familiar with their scope and import, and ments, allow the white people to reorganize as one of its members, I am a party to their their own governments, and elect Senators and terms; they are in accord with my views, and I Representatives. The House of Representatives stand upon them in the contest upon which we will contain a majority of Democrats from the are now entering; and I shall strive to carry North, and they will admit the Representatives them out in future, wherever I may be placed, elected by the white people of the South, and, in public or private life. I congratulate you, with the co-operation of the President, it will not and all conservative men, who seek to restore be difficult to compel the Senate to submit once order, peace, prosperity, and good government more to the obligations of the Constitution. It to our land, upon the evidences everywhere will not be able to withstand the public judg-shown that we are to triumph at the next elecment, if distinctly invoked and clearly expressed tion. Those who are politically opposed to us on this fundamental issue, and it is the sure way to avoid all future strife to put the issue plainly to the country. I repeat, that this is the real and only question which we should allow to control us: Shall we submit to the usurpations by which the Government has been overthrown; or shall we exert ourselves for its full and complete restoration? It is idle to talk of bonds, green backs, gold, the public faith, and the public credit. What can a Democratic President do in regard to any of these, with a Congress in both branches controlled by the carpet-baggers and their allies? He will be powerless to stop the supplies by which idle negroes are organized into political clubs-by which an army is maintained to protect these vagabonds in their outrages upon the ballot. These, and things like these, eat up the revenues and resources of the Government and destroy its credit-make the difference between gold and greenbacks. We must restore the Constitution before we can restore the finances, and to do this we must have a Presi- Speeches of Horatio Seymour and Francis P. 1868. [From the N. Y. World, July 11, 1868.] SPEECH OF GOVERNOR SEYMOUR. MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE: I thank you for the courteous terms in which you have communicated to me the action of the Democratic National Convention. I have 20 words adequate to express my gratitude for flattered themselves there would be discord in our councils; they mistook the uncertainties of our views as to the best methods of carrying out our purposes, for difference of opinion with regard to those purposes. They mistook an intense anxiety to do no act which should not be wise and judicious, for a spirit of discord; but during the lengthened proceedings and earnest discussions of the convention there has prevailed an entire harmony of intercourse, a patient forbearance, and a self-sacrificing spirit, which are the sure tokens of a coming victory. Accept for yourselves, gentlemen, my wishes for your future welfare and happiness. In a few days I will answer the communication you have just handed me by letter, as is the customary form. SPEECH OF GENERAL BLAIR. you Mr. CHAIRMAN: I accept the platform of resolutions passed by the late Democratic Convention, and I accept their nomination with feelings of profound gratitude; and, sir, I thank you for the very kind manner in which conveyed to me the decision of the Democratic have already Convention. I accept the nomination with the conviction that your nomination for the Presidency is one which will carry us to certain victory, and because I believe that the nomination is the most proper nomination that could be made by the Democratic party. The contest which we wage is for the restoration of constitutional government, and it is proper that we should make this contest under the lead of one who has given his life to the maintenance of constitutional government. We are to make the contest for the restoration of those great principles of government which belong to our race. And, my fellow-citizens, it is most proper that we should select for our leader a man not from military life, but one who has devoted himself to civil pursuits; who has given himself to the study and the understanding of the Constitution and its maintenance with all the force of reason and judgment. My fellow-citizens, I have said that the contest before us was one for 382 POLITICAL MANUAL. [Part thirty years shall bear interest at four and a per centum; and bonds falling due in forty y shall bear interest at four per centum; w said bonds and the interest, thereon shall b the United States, other than such income t may be assessed on other incomes, as well as taxation in any form by or under State, m cipal, or local authority, and the said bonds be exclusively used, par for par, for the red tion of or in exchange for an equal amou any of the present outstanding bonds of United States known as the five-twenty b and may be issued to an amount, in the a gate, sufficient to cover the principal of all five-twenty bonds, and no more. the restoration of our government; it is also one for the restoration of our race. It is to prevent the people of our race from being exiled from their homes-exiled from the government which they formed and created for them-empt from the payment of all taxes or duti selves and for their children, and to prevent them from being driven out of the country or trodden under foot by an inferior and semibarbarous race. In this country we shall have the sympathy of every man who is worthy to belong to the white race. What civilized people on earth would refuse to associate with them selves in all the rights and honors and dignity of their country such men as Lee and Johnston? What civilized country on earth would fail to do honor to those who, fighting for an erroneous cause, yet distinguished themselves by gallantry in that service? In that contest, for which they are sought to be disfranchised and to be, exiled from their homes in that contest, they have proved themselves worthy to be our peers. My fellow citizens, it is not my purpose to make any long address, (cries of "go on,") but simply to express my gratitude for the great and distinguished honor which has been conferred upon me A voice. "You are worthy of it." General Blair- -and from my heart to reiterate the words of thanks that fell from my lips when I arose. The Funding Bill, July 25, 1868. AN ACT providing for payment of the national debt, and for the reduction of the rate of interest thereon. Be it enacted, &c., That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue coupon or registered bonds of the United States, in such form as he may prescribe, and of denominations of one hundred dollars, or any multiple of that sum, redeemable in coin at the pleasure of the United States after thirty and forty years, respectively, and bearing the following rates of yearly interest, payable semi-annually in coin, that is to say: The issue of bonds falling due in SEC. 2. That there is hereby appropriate of the duties derived from imported good sum of one hundred and thirty-five millic dollars annually, which sum, during each year, shall be applied to the payment of th terest and to the reduction of the princip the public debt in such a manner as may termined by the Secretary of the Treasury, Congress may hereafter direct; and such r tion shall be in lieu of the sinking fund templated by the fifth section of the act en "An act to authorize the issue of United notes, and for the redemption or funding th and for funding the floating debt of the States," approved February twenty-fifth, teen hundred and sixty-two. SEC. 3. That from and after the passage o act no percentage,, deduction, commissio compensation of any amount or kind sh allowed to any person for the sale, negoti redemption or exchange of any bonds or s ties of the United States, or of any coin, or b disposed of at the Treasury Department o where on account of the United States; a acts or parts of acts authorizing or perm by construction or otherwise, the Secrets the Treasury to appoint any agent, othe some proper officer of his department, to such sale, negotiation, redemption, or exc of bonds and securities are hereby repeale INDEX TO MANUAL OF 1868. ALABAMA, orders and action of the military therein, ANNE STY PROCLAMATION, of partial, 82, 83; of general, 84. ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST ANDREW JOHNSON, an- BALTIMORE TROUBLES OF 1866, and General Grant's record BEALE, W. H. R., application for pardon, 41, 45. BROWNING, ORVILLE H., Secretary of Interior, 87; letter BUTLER, BENJAMIN F., amendment to reconstruction CABINET OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON, members of, 87. CANBY, E. R. S. Major General, orders of and respect- 3. CHANDLER, ZACHARIAH, motion on Mr. Stanton's removal, COLFAX, SCHUYLER, Speaker of House, 87; nominated for COLORED SOLDIERS, General Grant's letter on protecting, 35. COLORED SUFFRAGE, secured in State constitutions, 93, 94. tures on 14th amendment to, 93; ratification of 14th CONVENTIONS, National, of Republican and Democratic CORBETT, HENRY W., motion respecting Mr. Stanton's DEBT, amount of, of United States, 114. DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PLATFORMS of 1852, 1856, 1860, and DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, bill for the further security of DIXON, JAMES, amendment to resolution on Mr. Stan- DOOLITTLE, JAMES R., amendment to reconstruction bill, EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS, General Grant's testimony FARNSWORTH, JOHN F., motion respecting Florida, 81. FERRY, ORRIS S., amendment to the Arkansas bill, 80. FINANCIAL LEGISLATION, (5.20's, 10.40's, "greenbacks," FIVE-TWENTY BONDS, act authorizing, 94. FLORIDA, orders and action of military therein, 59-61; FoSTER J. G., General, General Grant's order to, respect- GEORGIA, orders and action of the military in, 59-61; GORHAM, GEORGE C., Secretary of the Senate, 87. GRANT, ULYSSES S., ORDERS OF, respecting return of slaves GRANT, ULYSSES S., testimony of, on exchange of pris "GREENBACKS," law limiting amount of, 95. GRIFFIN, CHARLES, General, jury order of, 63; order' HANCOCK, WINFIELD S., orders respecting, 46-48, 84, 86; HENDERSON, JOHN B., motion respecting General Scho- HENDRICKS, THOMAS A., amendment to Arkansas bill, 79; HUMPHREYS, BENJAMIN G., Governor of Mississippi, pro- JOHNSON, ANDREW, Cabinet of, 87. JOHNSON, ANDREW, MESSAGE announcing the removal of JOHNSON, ANDREW, proposed impeachment of, votes in General Thomas Secretary of War ad interim, 6; | JOHNSON, ANDREW, TELEGRAM OF, to ex-Gov. Parsons, of KANSAS, Votes on constitutional amendments, 94. REPRESENTATIVES IN FORTIETH CONGRESS, 87, 88. SEYMOUR, HORATIO, nominated for President, 111; sprech SHERIDAN, PHILIP H., General, report on condition of LEE, ROBERT E., GENERAL, action of General Grant on SHERMAN, JOHN, motion respecting Georgia, 80. application for benefit of amnesty, 41-45. LIST OF MEMBERS OF FORTIETH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, LOUISIANA, orders and action of military in, 63-65; new Grant, 53, 54; removal of Gov. Jenkins, of Georgia, MINNESOTA, Vote on constitutional amendment, 94. NATIONAL PLATFORMS of 1852, 1856, 1860, 1864, 96-104; of NEW HAMPSHIRE, election returns of, 112. SHERMAN, WILLIAM T., General, telegram declining blevet, 86. SICKLES, DANIEL E., General, orders and action in second SLAVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION, General Grant's views on, " SPALDING, RUFUS P., resolution of inquiry, 5; substitute STANBERY, HENRY, Attorney General, 87; of President's STEVENS, THADDEUS, report on impeachment, 5, 6. SUFFRAGE, in the various rebel States, 67-74; votes on NEW JERSEY, Vote of legislature on withdrawing ratifica- SUPREME COURT OF UNITED STATES, proposed legislation NEW YORK, new constitution of, 66.. OREGON, election returns of 1868, 112. respecting, 90. SWAYNE, WAGER, General, orders of, 59: order reliev 86. TEN-FORTY BONDS, act authorizing the, 94. PARSONS, LEWIS E., President Johnson's telegram to, TRUMBULL, LYMAN, motion respecting Alabama, 81. PEASE, E. M., appointed governor of Texas, 63. PICKETT, GEORGE E., General, application for clemency, PIERPOINT, FRANCIS H., superseded as Governor of Vir POLITICAL PLATFORMS of 1852, 1856, 1860, 1864, 96-104; of POPE, JOHN, Major General, telegrams to and from Grant, PROCLAMATIONS AND ORDERS OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON, 82-86, 119. RANDALL, ALEXANDER W., Postmaster General, 87; let- VIRGINIA, orders and action of military in, 56, 57; ap- WELLES, GIDEON, Secretary of the Navy, 87; letter of, on WELLS, HENRY H., appointed governor of Virginia, 57. WILLEY, WAITMAN T., motion on confirming General WILLIAMS, GEORGE H., motion respecting certain con- WILLIAMS, THOMAS, proposition respecting Supreme WILSON, HENRY, motion respecting Secretary Stanton's WOODBRIDGE, FREDERICK E., motion respecting Alabama, YATES, RICHARD, motion respecting Secretary Stanton's |