[*Jan'y 1st 1863 ?*] 1 A Bill to guarantee to certain States of the Union a Republican form of Government. Whereas certain States of this Union have renounced their obedience to the Constitution of the United States and abrogated the republican forms of government heretofore established therein, and have erected none in their place recognising the Constitution and Congress can recognise no Government in any State which does not recognise the Constitution And whereas by reason of the Constitution requiring that the electors in each State of members of the House of Representatives shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature and that the Senators from each State shall be chosen by the Legislature thereof; and that the electors in each State for President and Vice President of the United States shall be appointed in such manner as the Legislature thereof shall direct: the States which have not a State Government recognised by Congress can elect no [*20889*] 2 Representatives or Senators to Congress nor appoint electors for President and Vice President. And whereas the Constitution declares that the United States shall guarantee to every State of the Union a Republican form of government, and that Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution that guarantee: and for that purpose it is necessary and proper for Congress to provide by the law when the rebellious States shall be reduced to obedience and the people shall be willing to establish a State government under the Constitution, for the taking the sense of the people on that subject and to secure such provisions as may be necessary to and proper to establish and maintain in such state a Republican form of Government and in the absence of any Constitutional State Government and till the people shall have established one which Congress shall recognise: it is necessary and proper that Congress shall provide by law for the internal government of such state. [*20890*] 3 And whereas the existence in the rebellious States of a large clas of persons held to service or labor has chiefly caused the rebellion of those States & the discharge of those persons from such service or labor is essential to the permanent restoration of a republican form of Government in those States; & a law discharging them from such service or labor is therefore necessary & proper for carrying into execution the guarantee of a republican form of Government in those States [? ] which the United States is [reg?nd] afford; & it is advisable to [clothe?] add to the Proclamation of the President of the 1 of January 1863 [with] the sanction of an act of Congress — [*20891*] Be it enacted 1 That in addition to the offercers now allowed by law the President shall appoint by and with the advice and consent of the Senate for each of the states in rebellion against the United States a provisional Governor to be charged with the civil administration of such state till a state government shall be recognized therein by Congress 2 So soon as Military resistence shall be suppressed in any state and the people thereof shall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the Constitution of the United States the Provisional Governor under the direction and control of the President shall by proclamation appoint a day and places in each county for the election of delegates to a Convention charged to declare the will of the people of the State respecting the formation of a Constitution of state government subject to the Constitution of the United States 3 The convention shall consist of as many members as both Houses of the last Constitutional State Legislature, apportioned among the [*20892*] 2 counties by the provisional Governor in proportion to their white population returned under the census of 1860 and the elections shall be conducted according to the former and in the manner prescribed by the state laws, by officers appointed by the provisional Governor, such election shall be held by a commissioner for each place of voting, and every white male Citizen of the United States shall be entitled to vote except those persons who have borne arms against the United States or held any office under the rebel usurpation whether under the usurping state or confederate authority, and every person before voting shall take the oath of allegiance to the United States and declare on oath that he is not one of the persons above excluded from voting, and if a dispute arise at the polls on that point the Commissioner shall return the ballots of such persons separately together with the general returns of the votes to the Provisional Governor, who shall canvass the disputed ballets on such information as he can get and declare the person elected to the Convention a certificate where of shall be conclusive. 4 He shall convene the convention at the Capitol of such state on a day named not [*20893*] 3 more than three months from the election, and shall preside over its deliberations. 5 Such convention shall declare it submission to the Constitution of the United States unconditionally and then whether it wishes to form a Constitution of State Goverment in conformity to the Constitution and laws of the United States, containing the following conditions 1. That no person who has exercised any office Civil or Military under the usurping government State or Confederate shall be allowed to vote at any election of the Legislature to be either Governor or Member of the Legislation of such state. 2. That the freedom of all persons, heretofore held to labor or service in such state who shall have been declared free by Act of Congress shall be recognised and guaranteed by the Constitution. 3. That no debt contracted by the rebel government shall be recognised or paid by the state government, If the vote be in the Negative the Provisional Governor shall forth with dissolve the Convention. If the vote shall be in the affirmative the Convention shall proceed to form a Constitution of State Government, of which the above conditions shall be a part, and shall [*20894*] 4 through the provisional Governor Communicate the same to the President of the United States who therefrom shall by proclamation recognise the Government formed by such constitution and none other as the Constitutional government of such state, and Senators & Representatives from such state elected according to the laws of such Government and of the United States shall be entitled to appear in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States from such state. 6 That no indictment shall be found or prosecuted for any act in aid of the rebellion in any state forming a Constitution of State Government in the manner above prescribed, after the President shall have recognised the Government of such State as above directed. 7. If the Convention refuse to adopt a form of State Government subject to the above conditions the inhabitants of the state shall remain, subject to the Provisional Governor and the state laws in force when the state renounced obedience to the Constitution of the United States, and such laws as Congress may prescribe till such time as the people of such state shall be willing to form a State Government under this law, and it shall [*20895*] 5 be lawful for and the duty of the President whenever he thinks such Citizens are willing to form such a Government to direct the Provisional Governor to proceed to convene a Convention under this law and shall proceed in all respects as is hereby prescribed for the first Convention herein directed to be convened. [*20896*] [*Sec 8*] The District Court of the United States in the several States wherein a Provisional Governor is authorised to be approved shall have — till a Constitutional State Government is recognized therein, under the law —, general jurisdiction civil & Criminal of all cases whereof the State Courts had cognisance according to the laws of such State when the State renounced obedience to the Constitution of the United States: and the old laws & the Laws of the United States shall continue to be the rules of judgment in the State till a Constitutional State Government is recognised under the law: the Provisional Governor shall see that all such laws are faithfully executed: but no law whereby any person was held to service or labor in such State shall be recognised or enforced by any Court or officer of the United States: and all laws providing for the trial & punishment of white persons in such State are hereby declared to extend to the trial & punishment of all persons whatsoever. [*20897*] 7 Sec. 9 The Provisional Governor shall with the approval of the President appoint such of the officers provided for by the State laws in force when the State renounced obedience to the Constitution of the United States, as in the opinion of the President may be necessary for the executing of the laws in such State: & those officers shall be entitled to received such fees & emoluments as the State laws aforesaid provided, payable out of the funds & in the manner prescribed by those laws. 10 The Marshal of the United States & his deputies—the number whereof shall be prescribed by the Provisional Governor subject to the approval of the President, shall collect for each year after the appointment of the Provisional Governor, the taxes & dues of all kinds provided for by the laws of the State in force when the State renounced obedience to the Constitution of the United States, & account for the same to the proper officer appointed by the Provisional Governor as aforesaid, by whom they shall be applied to pay the [*20898*] 8 expenses of administering the laws in said State: & the surplus shall remain to the credit of the State: & the Marshal and his deputies are hereby vested with all the powers vested in any officer or tribunal by the State laws aforesaid for the assessment, apportionment and collection of said taxes & dues, whether by sale of real or personal estate or otherwise. 11 All persons who after this act shall hold any office civil or military under any rebel government within the United States which does not recognise the Constitution of the United States, shall cease ipso facto to be citizens of the United States, & shall be incapable of becoming citizens of the United States or of any State— 12 All persons held to service or labor in any State in rebellion against the United States on the 1st day of January 1863, are hereby declared [to be] discharged from such service or labor: & they & their [*20899*] posterity shall be free forever. 13 If any such person or the posterity of such person shall be deprived of freedom under pretense of any claim to service or labor, the Courts and Judges of the United States shall discharge such person on Habeas Corpus. 14 If any person freed by any law of the United States or the posterity of any such freed person shall be seized or deprived of liberty under any claim to the service or labor of such person as a slave, that person so seizing or depriving of liberty [the] such [freed] person so entitled to freedom, shall be guilty of kidnapping & on conviction in any Court of the United States be confined in the penitentiary for not less than five nor more than ten years. [*20900*] A Bill To Guarantee [a Republican Form of Government in] to Certain States a republican form of Government [ *U. S. Laws, Statues, etc *] Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.