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  1. Overview: United States Thirteenth Amendment 1863-65
  2. Full Record: United States Thirteenth Amendment 1863-65
  3. Committee:The House of Representatives
  4. Session: 1864-12-20 12:00:00
  5. Event type: CREATE_FROM

United States Thirteenth Amendment 1863-65

An amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish slavery introduced during the American Civil War.

The House of Representatives

The House of Representatives of the Thirty-Eighth Session of Congress

The Committee Secretary's View The Committee Secretary's View

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Document introduced in:

Session 3642: 1864-12-20 12:00:00

Reuben Fenton leaves the House of Representatives; More members join the House; H. R. 602 is reported back from the Committee on the Rebellious States with amendments; President's Annual Message is considered in the Committee of the Whole.

Document View:

H. R. 602

Shown with amendment 'H. R. 602: Notice of Mr. Eliot's Substitute' (e902116)

(Showing state at moment e903292)
There are 19 proposed amendments related to this document on which decisions have not been taken.
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A BILL

To guarantee to certain States whose governments have been usurped or overthrown a republican form of government.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That in the States declared to be in rebellion against the United States, the President shall, by and within whi the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint for each a provisional governor, whose pay and emoluments shall not exceed that of a brigadier general of volunteers, who shall be charged wityh the civil administration of such State, until a State government the Constrein shall be recognized as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That until the United States shall have recognized a republican form of State government, the provisional governor in each of said States shall see that this act, and the laws of the United States, and the laws beeof the State in force when the State government was overthrown by the rebellion, shall notare faithfully executed within the State; but no law or usage whereby any person was heretofore held in involuntary servitude shall be precognized or enforced by any court or officer in such State; and the laws for the trial and punishment of white persons shall extend to resumeall persons, and jurors shall have the qualifications of voters under this law for delegates to the convention. The President shall appoint such officers provided for by the laws of the State when its government was overthrown as he may find necessary to the civil administration of the State, all which officers shall be entitled to receive the fees and emoluments provided by the State laws for such officers.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That until the recognition of a State government of, as aforesaid, the United States untilprovisional governor shall, under such regulations as he may prescribe, cause to be assessed, levied, and collected, for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and every year thereafter, the taxes provided by the laws of such State to be levied during the fiscal year preceding the overthrow of the State government thereof, in the manner prescribed by the loyal citizensaws of the State, as nearly as may be; and the officers appointed, as aforesaid, are vested with all powers of levying and collecting such Staxes, by distress or sale, as were vested in any officers or tribunal of the State government aforesaid for those purposes. The proceeds of such taxes shall be accounted for to the provisional govely, arnor, and be by him applied to the expenses of the administration of the laws in such State, subject to the direction of the President, and the surplus shall be deposited in the treasury of the United States to the credit of such State, to be paid to the State upon an appropriation therefor, to be made when a republican form of government shall be recognized therein by the United States.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all persons held to involuntary servitude or labor in the States or parts of States in which such persons have been declared free by any proclamation of the President, are hereby emancipated and discharged therefrom, and they and their posterity shall be forever free. And if any such persons or their posterity shall be restrained of liberty, under pretence of any claim to such service or labor, the courts of the United States shall, on habeas corpus, discharge them.

Sec. 5. And be in form,t further enacted, That if any person declared free by this act, oreve any law of the United States, or any proclamation of the President, be restrained of liberty, with ingtent to be held in or reduced to involuntary servitude wior labor, the person convicted before a court of competent jurisdiction of such Stateact shall be punished by fine of not less than fifteen hundred dollars, and guaranteeing tbe imprisoned not less than five nor more than twenty years.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That every person who shall persons freedomhereafter hold or exercise any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial and equamilitary of rights befofices below the grade of colonel, in the rebel service, State or confederate, is hereby declared not to be a citizen of the law.United States.

Sec. 27. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in any such State, and the people thereof Louisishall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the Constitution and the laws of the United States, the provisional governor shall direbct the marshal of the United States, as speedily as may be, to name a sufficient number of deputies, and to enrol all white male citizens of the United States resident in the State in their respective counties, and to request each one to take the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and in his enrolment to designate those who take and those who refuse to take that oath, which rolls shall be forthwith returned to the provisional governor; and if the persons taking that oath shall, together with the citizens of the United States from such State in the military or naval service of the United States, amount to a majority of the persons enrolled in the State, he shall, by proclamation, invite the loyal people of the State to elect delegates to a convention charged to declare the will of the people of the State relative to the re-establishment of a State government, subject to and in conformity with the Constitution of the United States.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall consist of as many members as both houses of the last constitutional State legislature, apportioned by the provisional governor among the counties, parishes, or districts of the State, in proportion to the population enrolled by the marshal, in compliance with the provisions of this act, or in the military or naval service of the United States, as aforesaid,. The provisional governor shall, by proclamation, declare the number of delegates to be elected by each county, parish, or election whidistrict; name a day of election, not less than thirty days thereafter; designate the places of voting in each county, parish, or district, conforming, as nearly as may be convenient, to the places used in the State elections next preceding the rebellion; appoint one or more commissixth daoners to hold the election at each place of voting, and provide an adequate force to keep the peace during the election.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the delegates shall be elected by the loyal male citizens of Apthe United States of the age of twenty-one years, and resident in the county, parish, or district in which they shall offer to vote, or in the military or naval service of the United States, and who Domshall take and subscribe the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form contained in the act of Congress of July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-two; and all citizens of the United States who are in the military or naval service of the United States shall vote at the headquarters of their respective commands, under such regulat New Orleans.ions as may be prescribed by the provisional governor for the taking and return of their votes; but no person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, State or confederate, under the rebel usurpation, or who has voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall vote or be eligible to be elected as delegate at such election.

Sec. –10. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or either of them, shall hold that portion ofe election in conformity with this act, and, so far as may be consistent the Unitedrewith, shall proceed in the manner used in the State prior to the rebellion. The oath of allegiance shall be taken and subscribed on thereto poll-book by every voter in the form above declarprescribed, but every person known by or proved to the commissioners to have held or exercised any office, civil or military, State or confederate, under the rebel usurpation, or to have voluntarily borne arms against the United States, and enumshall be excluded though he offer to take the oath; and in the President's proclamacase any person who shall have borne arms against the United States shall offer to vote, he shall be deemed to have borne arms voluntarily unless he shall prove the contrary by the testimony of January 1, 1863a qualified voter. The poll-book, showing the name and oath of each voter, shall be returned to the provisional governor by the commissioners of election or the one acting, and involuntary sthe provisional governor shall canvass such returns, and declare the person having the highest number of votes elected.

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the provisional governor shall, by proclamation, convene therwi delegates elected as aforesaid, at the capital of the State, on a day not more than three months after the election, giving at least thirty days' notice of such day. In case the said capital shall in in phis judgement be unfit, he shment of crime wheall in his proclamation appoint another place. He shall preside over the deliberations of the convention, and administer to each delegate, before taking his seat in the convention, the oath of allegiance to the accusUnited States in the form hereinbefore prescribed.

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall declare, on behavlf of the people of the State, their submission to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and shall adopt the following provisions, hereby prescribed by the United States in the execution of the constitutional duty to guarantee a republican form of government to every State, and incorporate them in the constitution of the State, that is to say:

First. No person who has held or exercised any office, shcivil or military, except offices merely ministerial and military offices below the grade of colonel, State or confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a member of the legislatureb or governor.

Second. Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and freedom and equality of civil rights before the law are guaranteed to all persons in said State.

Third. No debt, State or confederate, created by or under the sanction of the usurping power, or in any manner in aid thereof, shall be recognised or paid by the State; and all acts, judicial or legislative, for the confiscation or forfeiture of any debt, property, or franchise, of any loyal citizen of the United States, are hereby declared null and void.

Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That when the convention shall have adopted those provisions, it shall proceed to re-enstablish a republican form of government, and ordain a constitution containing those provisions, it shall proceed to re-establish a republican form of government, and ordain a constitution containing those provisions, which, when adopted, the convention shall by ordinance provide for submitting to the people of the State entingtled to vote under this law, at an election to be held in the manner prescribed by the act for the election of delegates, but at a time and place named by the convention, at which election the said electors, and none other, shall vote directly for or again involuntary servitude anst such constitution and form of State government. And the returns of said election shall be made to the provisional governor, who shall canvass the same in the presence of the electors, and if a majority of the votes cast shall be for the constitution and form of government, he shall certify the same, with a copy thereof, to the President of the United States, who, after obtaining the assent of Congress, by act or join said States madet resolution, shall, by proclamation, recognize the government so established, and none other, as the constitutional government of the State; and from the date of such recognition, and not before, senators and representatives and electors for President and Vice-President may be elected in such State, according to the laws of the State and of the United States.

Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That if the convention shall refuse to re-establish the State government on the conditions aforesaid, the provisional governor shall declare it dissolved; but it shall be the duty of the President, whenever he shall have reason to believe that a sufficient number of the people of the State entitled to vote under this act, in number not less than a majority of those enrolled as aforesaid, are willing to re-establish a State government on the conditions aforesaid, to direct the provisional governor to order another election of delegates to a convention for the purpose and in the manner prescribed in this act, and to proceed in all respects as in hereinbefore provided, either to dissolve the convention or to certify the State government re-established by it to the President of.

Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That the United States, in Congress assembled, do hereby recognize the government of the Stated January 1, 1863 of Louisiana, inaugurated under and by the convention which assembled on the sixth day of April, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-four, at the city of New Orleanys; and the government of the State of Arkansas, inaugurated undescenr and by the convention which assembled on the eighth day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, at the city of Little Rock: Provided, That therwi same or other conventions, duly assembled, shall first have incorporated into the punishmentconstitutions of those States, respectively, the conditions prescribed in the twelfth section of crime wthis act, and the marshal of the United States shall have returned to the President of the United States the enrolment directed by the seventh section to be made and returned to the provisional governor, and it shall appear thereby thave beet the persons taking the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, together with the citizens of the United States from such State in the military cor naval service of the United States, amount to a majority of the persons enrolled in the State. And the President shall, thereupon, be foy proclamation, declare the recognition by the United States, in Congress assembled, of the said government of such State; and from the date of such proclamation the said government shall be entitled, any law to the gurarantee and all other rights of a State government under the Constitution of the United States; but this act shall not operate a recognition of a State government in either of said States toill the conditions aforesaid ary notwie complied with, and till that time those Standing.tes shall be subject to this law.

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