No. 45. Freedom for Soldiers' Families A BILL to secure the freedom of soldiers' families was introduced in the Senate, December 13, 1864, by Wilson of Massachusetts, and passed that body January 9, 1865, notwithstanding strong opposition, by a vote of 27 to The vote in the House, February 22, on the passage of the bill was 74 to 63, 45 not voting. 10. For the proSess., and the REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIII, 571. ceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 38th Cong., 2d Cong. Globe. The important debate was in the Senate. A Resolution to encourage Enlistments and to promote the Efficiency of the military Forces of the United States. Resolved..., That, for the purpose of encouraging enlistments and promoting the efficiency of the military and naval forces of the United States, it is hereby enacted that the wife and children, if any he have, of any person that has been, or may be, mustered into the military or naval service of the United States, shall, from and after the passage of this act, be forever free, any law, usage, or custom whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding; and in determining who is or was the wife and who are the children of the enlisted person herein mentioned, evidence that he and the woman claimed to be his wife have cohabited together, or associated as husband and wife, and so continued to cohabit or associate at the time of the enlistment, or evidence that a form or ceremony of marriage, whether such marriage was or was not authorized or recognized by law, has been entered into or celebrated by them, and that the parties thereto thereafter lived together, or associated or cohabited as husband and wife, and so continued to live, cohabit, or associate at the time of the enlistment, shall be deemed sufficient proof of marriage for the purposes of this act, and the children born of any such marriage shall be deemed and taken to be the children embraced within the provisions of this act, whether such marriage shall or shall not have been dissolved at the time of such enlistment. APPROVED, March 3, 1865. No. 46. Proclamation of Amnesty REFERENCES. May 29, 1865 Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIII, 758-760. For lists of pardons granted by Johnson see House Exec. Doc. 99, 39th Cong., Ist Sess.; ibid. 31 and 116, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; ibid. 32, 40th Cong., 1st Sess., and ibid. 16, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. A PROCLAMATION. (After a reference to the amnesty proclamations of December 8, 1863, and March 26, 1864, the proclamation grants amnesty to all persons who have participated in the existing rebellion, subject to the exceptions indicated, and on condition of taking and subscribing the following oath :) "I, , do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by, and faithfully support all laws, and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God." The following classes of persons are excepted from the benefits of this Proclamation: Ist. All who are or shall have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers, or otherwise domestic or foreign agents, of the pretended confederate government; 2d. All who left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; 3d. All who shall have been military or naval officers of said pretended confederate government above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy; 4th. All who left seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebellion; 5th. All who resigned or tendered resignations of their commissions in the army or navy of the United States to evade duty in resisting the rebellion; 6th. All who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war persons found in the United States service, as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities; 7th. All persons who have been, or are, absentees from the United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion; 8th. All military and naval officers in the rebel service, who were educated by the government in the Military Academy at West Point or the United States Naval Academy; 9th. All persons who held the pretended offices of governors of states in insurrection against the United States; 10th. All persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of the United States, and passed beyond the federal military lines into the pretended confederate states for the purpose of aiding the rebellion; 11th. All persons who have been engaged in the destruction of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States upon the lakes and rivers that separate the British Provinces from the United States; 12th. All persons who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confinement, or custody, or under bonds of the civil, military, or naval authorities, or agents of the United States as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offences of any kind, either before or after conviction; 13th. All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, and the estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand dollars; 14th. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty as prescribed in the President's Proclamation of December 8th, A.D., 1863, or an oath of allegiance to the government of the United States since the date of said Proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept and maintained the same inviolate. Provided, That special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes; and such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States. No. 47. Proclamation appointing a Governor for North Carolina May 29, 1865 THE appointment of military governors in the States lately in rebellion, and the reëstablishment of the State governments under their direction, were steps of primary importance in the plan of executive reconstruction proposed by President Johnson. Appointments similar to that in North Carolina were proclaimed June 13, for Mississippi; June 17, for Georgia and Texas; June 21, for Alabama; June 30, for South Carolina, and July 13, for Florida. An executive order of May 9 had declared the authority of the United States reëstablished in Virginia, directed the various departments of the national government to resume operations in that State, and promised federal aid to Governor Pierpont if necessary. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIII, 760, 761. On Johnson's theory of reconstruction in this connection see his annual message of December 4, 1865; see also Cox, Three Decades, chaps. 18, 27–31; McCall, Thaddeus Stevens, chap. 14. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS the fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States declares that the United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion and domestic violence; and whereas the President of the United States is, by the constitution, made commander-in-chief of the army and navy, as well as chief civil executive officer of the United States, and is bound by solemn oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and whereas the rebellion, which has been waged by a portion of the people of the United States against the properly constituted authorities of the government thereof, in the most violent and revolting form, but whose organized and armed forces have now been almost entirely overcome, has, in its revolutionary progress, deprived the people of the State of North Carolina of all civil government; and whereas it becomes necessary and proper to carry out and enforce the obligations of the United States to the people of North Carolina, in securing them in the enjoyment of a republican form of government: Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon me by the Constitution of the United States, and for the purpose of enabling the loyal people of said state to organize a state government, whereby justice may be established, domestic tranquillity insured, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty, and property, I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States, and commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, do hereby appoint William W. Holden provisional governor of the State of North Carolina, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest practicable period, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for convening a convention, composed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of said state who are loyal to the United States, and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending the constitution thereof; and with authority to exercise, within the limits of said state, all the powers necessary and proper to enable such loyal people of the State of North Carolina to restore said state to its constitutional relations to the federal government, and to present such a republican form of state government as will entitle the state to the guarantee of the United States therefor, and its people to protection by the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence; Provided that, in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing delegates to any state convention as aforesaid, no person shall be qualified as an elector, or shall be eligible as a member of such convention, unless he shall have previously |