ware, Maryland, Kentucky, Oregon, and California, and was not acted on by Tennessee. Georgia and Ohio at first rejected it, but subsequently ratified it. The ratification of New York was later rescinded. A proclamation declaring the amendment in force was issued March 30, 1870. REFERENCES. Text in Revised Statutes (ed. 1878), 32. For the proceedings of Congress see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. Votes of State legislatures on ratification are collected in McPherson, Reconstruction, 488-498, 557-562. ARTICLE XV. SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. No. 168. Act to enforce the Fifteenth May 31, 1870 A BILL to enforce the right of citizens of the United States to vote was introduced in the House February 21, 1870, by Bingham of Ohio, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. May 9 a substitute was reported and the bill recommitted. The substitute measure was again reported May 16, and passed the same day, the vote being 131 to 43, 54 not voting. May 20 the Senate, after an all-night session, passed a substitute by a vote of 43 to 8, 21 not voting. The House disagreed to the Senate amendment, and a conference committee settled the final form of the bill. The report of the conference committee was agreed to by the Senate on the 25th by a vote of 48 to 11, and by the House on the 27th by a vote of 133 to 58, 39 not voting. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI., 140-146. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The House substitute of May 9 is in the Globe for May 16; the text of the Senate bill is in ibid., May 20. Part of the act followed a report on New York election frauds, House Report 31, 40th Cong., 3d Sess. On general political conditions in the South see House Report 37, 41st Cong., 3d Sess.; Senate Report 1, 42d Cong., 1st Sess.; House Exec. Doc. 268, 42d Cong., 2d Sess.; House Reports 101 and 261, 43d Cong., 2d Sess. The Congressional documents contain numerous reports on affairs in the different States. An Act to enforce the Right of Citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other purposes. ... " Be it enacted That all citizens of the United States who are or shall be otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people in any State, Territory, district, county, city, parish, township, school district, municipality, or other territorial subdivision, shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; any constitution, law, custom, usage, or regulation of any State or Territory, or by or under its authority, to the contrary notwithstanding. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if by or under the authority of the constitution or laws of any State, or the laws of any Territory, any act is or shall be required to be done as a prerequisite or qualification for voting, and by such constitution or laws persons or officers are or shall be charged with the performance of duties in furnishing to citizens an opportunity to perform such prerequisite, or to become qualified to vote, it shall be the duty of every such person and officer to give to all citizens of the United States the same and equal opportunity to perform such prerequisite, and to become qualified to vote without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; [penalty for refusal]. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if any person, by force, bribery, threats, intimidation, or other unlawful means, shall hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct, or shall combine and confederate with others to hinder, . . . [ &c.], any citizen from doing any act required to be done to qualify him to vote or from voting at any election as aforesaid, such person shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the person aggrieved thereby, . . . and shall also for every such offence be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one month and not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall prevent, hinder, control, or intimidate, or shall attempt to pre vent [ &c.], any person from exercising or in exercising the right of suffrage, to whom the right of suffrage is secured or guaranteed by the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, by means of bribery, threats, or threats of depriving such person of employment or occupation, or of ejecting such person from rented house, lands, or other property, or by threats of refusing to renew leases or contracts for labor, or by threats of violence to himself or family, such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one month and not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That if two or more persons shall band or conspire together, or go in disguise upon the public highway, or upon the premises of another, with intent to violate any provision of this act, or to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise and enjoyment of any right or privilege granted or secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having exercised the same, such persons shall be held guilty of felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined or imprisoned, or both, at the discretion of the court, the fine not to exceed five thousand dollars, and the imprisonment not to exceed ten years, and shall, moreover, be thereafter ineligible to, and disabled from holding, any office or place of honor, profit, or trust created by the Constitution or laws of the United States. * * SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to employ such part of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, as shall be necessary to aid in the execution of judicial process issued under this act. * SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall hereafter knowingly accept or hold any office under the United States, or any State to which he is ineligible under the third section of the fourteenth article of amendment of the Constitution of the United States, or who shall attempt to hold or exer cise the duties of any such office, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor against the United States, and, upon conviction thereof before the circuit or district court of the United States, shall be imprisoned not more than one year, or fined not exceeding one thousand dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. * * * * * SEC. 18. [The Civil Rights Act of 1866 reënacted.] SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That if at any election for representative or delegate in the Congress of the United States any person shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name of any other person, whether living, dead, or fictitious; or vote more than once at the same election for any candidate for the same office; or vote at a place where he may not be lawfully entitled to vote; or vote without having a lawful right to vote; or do any unlawful act to secure a right or an opportunity to vote for himself or any other person; or by force, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer, or promise thereof, or otherwise unlawfully prevent any qualified voter of any State of the United States of America, or of any Territory thereof, from freely exercising the right of suffrage, or by any such means induce any voter to refuse to exercise such right; or compel or induce by any such means, or otherwise, any officer of an election in any such State or Territory to receive a vote from a person not legally qualified or entitled to vote; or interfere in any manner with any officer of said elections in the discharge of his duties; or by any of such means, or other unlawful means, induce any officer of an election, or officer whose duty it is to ascertain, announce, or declare the result of any such election, or give or make any certificate, document, or evidence in relation thereto, to violate or refuse to comply with his duty, or any law regulating the same; or knowingly and wilfully receive the vote of any person not entitled to vote, or refuse to receive the vote of any person entitled to vote; or aid, counsel, procure, or advise any such voter, person, or officer to do any act hereby made a crime, or to omit to do any duty the omission of which is hereby made a crime, or attempt to do so, every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall for such crime be liable to prosecution in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both, in the discretion of the court, and shall pay the costs of prosecution. * * No. 169. Act for Refunding the National to IO. Debt July 14, 1870 IN his annual report of December 6, 1869, the Secretary of the Treasury called attention to the fact that the bonds known as 5-20's, amounting to $1,602,671,100, were either redeemable or soon to become redeemable. A bill to provide for refunding the national debt was introduced in the Senate by Sumner January 12, 1870, and referred to the Committee on Finance, which reported February 3, through Sherman, a substitute. The matter formed one of the principal subjects of discussion for the remainder of the session. The substitute bill with amendments passed the Senate March 11, by a vote of 32 The House left the bill without action until July 1, when a substitute reported by Schenck, from the Committee of Ways and Means, was agreed to, the final vote being 129 to 42, 58 not voting. The chief difference between the two bills was in the character of the bonds to be issued. The Senate refused to accept the substitute of the House. A report of a conference committee, July 12, being the act as approved with an additional section requiring the deposit of registered bonds as security for bank circulation, was rejected by the House by a vote of 88 to 103. A second report was agreed to the next day, in the House by a vote of 139 to 54, 37 not voting, and in the Senate without a division. An amending act of January 20, 1871, increased the amount of five per cent bonds to $500,000,000, but without increasing the total issue. |