employment, and could, by proper industry or exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or dependence.

[Sections 6-11 relate to the disposition of certain lands in South Carolina and Georgia.]

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner shall have power to seize, hold, use, lease, or sell all buildings and tenements, and any lands appertaining to the same, or otherwise, formerly held under color of title by the late socalled confederate states, and not heretofore disposed of by the United States, and any buildings or lands held in trust for the same by any person or persons, and to use the same or appropriate the proceeds derived therefrom to the education of the freed people; and whenever the bureau shall cease to exist, such of said so-called confederate states as shall have made provision for the education of their citizens without distinction of color shall receive the sum remaining unexpended of such sales or rentals, which shall be distributed among said states for educational purposes in proportion to their population.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner of this bureau shall at all times co-operate with private benevolent associations of citizens in aid of freedmen, and with agents and teachers, duly accredited and appointed by them, and shall hire or provide by lease buildings for purposes of education whenever such association shall, without cost to the government, provide suitable teachers and means of instruction; and he shall furnish such protection as may be required for the safe conduct of such schools.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That in every State or district where the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same shall be fully restored, and in every State or district whose constitutional relations to the government have been practically discontinued by the rebellion, and until such State shall have been restored in such relations, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States, the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease,

sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings concerning personal liberty, personal security, and the acquisition, enjoyment, and disposition of estate, real and personal, including the constitutional right to bear arms, shall be secured to and enjoyed by all the citizens of such State or district without respect to race or color, or previous condition of slavery. And whenever in either of said States or districts the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same shall be fully restored, and until such State shall have been restored in its constitutional relations to the government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States, the President shall, through the commissioner and the officers of the bureau, and under such rules and regulations as the President, through the Secretary of War, shall prescribe, extend military protection and have military jurisdiction over all cases and questions concerning the free enjoyment of such immunities and rights, and no penalty or punishment for any violation of law shall be imposed or permitted because of race or color, or previous condition of slavery, other or greater than the penalty or punishment to which white persons may be liable by law for the like offence. But the jurisdiction conferred by this section upon the officers of the bureau shall not exist in any State where the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has not been interrupted by the rebellion, and shall cease in every State when the courts of the State and the United States are not disturbed in the peaceable course of justice, and after such State shall be fully restored in its constitutional relations to the government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That all officers, agents, and employés of this bureau, before entering upon the duties of their office shall take the oath prescribed in the first section of the act to which this is an amendment; and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

*

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 11, 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 hereinbefore 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.