engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, encourage others so to do-So help me God;" which oath or affirmation may be administered by any registering officer.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That after the completion of the registration hereby provided for in any state, at such time and places therein as the commanding general shall appoint and direct, of which at least thirty days' public notice shall be given, an election shall be held of delegates to a convention for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil government for such state loyal to the Union, said convention in each state, except Virginia, to consist of the same number of members as the most numerous branch of the state legislature of such state in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be apportioned among the several districts, counties, or parishes of such state by the commanding general, giving to each representation in the ratio of voters registered as aforesaid as nearly as may be. The convention in Virginia shall consist of the same number of members as represented the territory now constituting Virginia in the most numerous branch of the legislature of said state in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be apportioned as aforesaid.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That at said election the registered voters of each state shall vote for or against a convention to form a constitution therefor under this act. Those voting in favor of such a convention shall have written or printed on the ballots by which they vote for delegates, as aforesaid, the words "For a convention," and those voting against such a convention shall have written or printed on such ballots the words "Against a convention." The persons appointed to superintend said election, and to make return of the votes given thereat, as herein provided, shall count and make return of the votes given for and against a convention; and the commanding general to whom the same shall have been returned shall ascertain and declare the total vote in each state for and against a convention. If a majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, then such convention shall be held as hereinafter provided; but if a majority of said votes shall be against a convention, then no such convention shall be held under this act; Provided, that such convention shall not be held unless a majority of all such registered voters shall have voted on the questions of holding such convention.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commanding general of each district shall appoint as many boards of registration as may be necessary, consisting of three loyal officers or persons, to make and complete the registration, superintend the election, and make return to him of the votes, list of voters, and of the persons elected as delegates by a plurality of the votes cast at said election; and upon receiving said returns he shall open the same, ascertain the persons elected as delegates, according to the returns of the officers who conducted said election, and make proclamation thereof; and if a majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, the commanding general, within sixty days from the date of election, shall notify the delegates to assemble in convention, at a time and place to be mentioned in the notification, and said convention, when organized, shall proceed to frame a constitution and civil government according to the provisions of this act, and the act to which it is supplementary; and when the same shall have been so framed, said constitution shall be submitted by the convention for ratification to the persons registered under the provisions of this act at an election to be conducted by the officers or persons appointed, or to be appointed by the commanding general, as hereinbefore provided, and to be held after the expiration of thirty days from the date of notice thereof, to be given by said convention; and the returns thereof shall be made to the commanding general of the district.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if, according to said returns, the

constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the votes of the registered electors qualified as herein specified, cast at said election, at least one-half of all the registered voters voting upon the question of such ratification, the president of the convention shall transmit a copy of the same, duly certified, to the president of the United States, who shall forthwith transmit the same to congress, if then in session, and if not in session, then immediately upon its next assembling; and if it shall moreover appear to congress that the election was one at which all the registered and qualified electors in the state had an opportunity to vote freely, and without restraint, fear, or the influence of fraud, and if the congress shall be satisfied that such constitution meets the approval of a majority of all the qualified electors in the state, and if the said constitution shall be declared by congress to be in conformity with the provisions of the act to which this is supplementary, and the other provisions of said act shall have been complied with, and the said constitution shall be approved by congress, the state shall be declared entitled to representation, and senators and representatives shall be admitted therefrom as therein provided.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all elections in the states mentioned in the said "Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states," shall, during the operation of said act, be by ballot; and all officers making the said registration of voters, and conducting said elections, shall, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office"; Provided, that if any person shall knowingly and falsely take and subscribe any oath in this act prescribed, such person so offending, and being thereof duly convicted, shall be subject to the pains, penalties, and disabilities, which by law are provided for the punishment of the crime of willful and corrupt perjury. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That all expenses incurred by the several commanding generals, or by virtue of any orders issued, or appointments made by them, under or by virtue of this act, shall be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the convention for each State shall prescribe the fees, salary, and compensation to be paid to all delegates and other officers and agents herein authorized or necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this act, not herein otherwise provided for, and shall provide. for the levy and collection of such taxes on the property in such state as may be necessary to pay the same.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the word "article," in the sixth section of the act to which this is supplementary, shall be construed to mean "section.""

SCHUYLER COLFAX,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
B. F. WADE,

President of the Senate pro tempore.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S.,

March 23, 1867.

The president of the United States having returned to the house of representatives, in which it originated, the bill entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states,' passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to facilitate restoration," with his objections thereto, the house of representatives proceeded, in pursuance of the constitution, to reconsider the same; and-.

Resolved, That the said bill do pass, two-thirds of the house of representatives agreeing to pass the same. EDWD. MCPHERSON, Clerk H. R. U. S.

Attest:

IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
March 23, 1867.

The senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states,' passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to facilitate restoration," returned to the house of representatives by the president of the United States, with his objections, and sent by the house of representatives to the senate, with the message of the president returning the bill

Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the senate agreeing to pass the same.

To authorize the legislature of the State of Alabama to sell the lands heretofore appropriated for the use of schools in that state.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That the legislature of the State of Alabama shall be and is hereby authorized to sell and convey, in fee simple, all or any part of the lands heretofore reserved and appropriated by congress for the use of schools within said state, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be forever applied, under the direction of said legislature, for the use and support of schools within the several townships and districts of country for which they were originally reserved and set apart, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever; Provided, said land, or any part thereof, shall in no case be sold without the consent of the inhabitants of such township or district, to be obtained in such manner as the legislature of said state shall by law direct; And provided also, that in the apportionment of the proceeds of said fund each township and district aforesaid shall be entitled to such part thereof, and no more, as shall have accrued from the sum or sums of money arising from the sale of the school lands belonging to such township or district.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if the proceeds accruing to any township or district from said fund shall be insufficient for the support of schools therein, it shall be lawful for said legislature to invest the same as is hereinbefore directed, until the whole proceeds of the fund belonging to such township or district shall be adequate to the permanent maintenance and support of schools within the same.

Approved March 2, 1827.

(4 U. S. Stats. at Large, 237.)

AN ACT

To carry into effect, in the states of Alabama and Mississippi, the existing compacts with those states in regard to the five per cent. fund and the school reservations.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That a sum equivalent to five per cent. of the net proceeds of the lands within the State of Mississippi, ceded

by the Chickasaws by the treaty of the twentieth of October, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, which have been or may hereafter be sold by congress, shall be and is hereby reserved out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be applied in the same manner, and for the same uses and purposes as is designated by the fifth section of the act of congress of the first of March, eighteen hundred and seventeen.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be reserved from sale in the State of Mississippi a quantity of land equal to one thirty-sixth part of the lands ceded by said Chickasaws as aforesaid, within said State of Mississippi, which lands shall be selected under the direction of the secretary of the treasury, in sections, or half-sections, or quarter-sections, out of any public lands remaining unsold, that shall have been offered at public sale within either of the land districts in said State of Mississippi contiguous to said lands within said state, so ceded by the Chickasaws as aforesaid, which lands, when so selected as aforesaid, the same shall vest in the State of Mississippi, for the use of schools within said territory in said state, so ceded as aforesaid by the Chickasaws; and such lands, thus selected, shall be holden by the same tenure, and upon the same terms and conditions, in all respects, as the said state now holds the lands heretofore reserved for the use of schools in said state.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That a sum equivalent to five per cent. of the net proceeds of the lands within the State of Alabama, ceded by the Chickasaws by the treaty aforesaid, which have been or may hereafter be sold by congress, shall be, and is hereby reserved out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be applied in the same manner, and for the same uses and purposes as is designated by the sixth section of the act of congress of the second of March, eighteen hundred and nineteen.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be reserved from sale in the State of Alabama a quantity of land equal to one thirty-sixth part of the lands ceded by the Chickasaws as aforesaid, within said State of Alabama, which land shall be selected under the direction of the secretary of the treasury, in sections, or half-sections, or quarter-sections, out of any public lands remaining unsold, that shall have been offered at public sale within. any land district in said State of Alabama contiguous to said lands within said state so ceded by the Chickasaws as aforesaid, which lands, when so selected as aforesaid, the same shall vest in the State of Alabama for the use of schools within said territory in said state, so ceded as aforesaid by the Chickasaws; and said lands thus selected shall be holden by the same tenure, and upon the same terms and conditions, in all respects, as the said statenow holds the lands heretofore reserved for the use of schools in said state. Approved July 4, 1836.

(5 U. S. Stats. at Large, 727.)

AN ACT

Authorizing the settlement and payment of certain claims of the State of Alabama.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That the secretary of war be and hereby is directed to audit and adjust the claims of the State of Alabama, under such laws and regulations as have heretofore governed the department in auditing and allowing the claims of the states on the United States, for moneys advanced and paid by said state for subsistence, supplies, and services of local troops called into service by and under the authorities of said state, but not mustered into the service of the United States, and for provisions and forage furnished the friendly Indians during the Creek and Seminole hostilities, in the years eighteen hundred and thirty-six and eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, in all cases in which the payment was for subsist-

ence, supplies, service, provisions, and forage, which would have been paid for under existing laws and regulations, if such troops had been mustered into the service of the United States, and the provision and forage had been furnished by an agent of the United States; and that the sum so found due to said state be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated; Provided, that in auditing and adjusting said claims, duly authenticated copies of papers which have been lost or destroyed, upon due proof of such loss or destruction, shall be received as evidence.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the secretary of war be, and he hereby is required to report to the house of representatives a schedule of such claims. as may be presented for adjustment under this act, and not allowed, with the reasons for such disallowance, at the next session of congress.

Approved August 16, 1842.

(5 U. S. Stats. at Large, 506.)

AN ACT

To authorize the State of Alabama to apply certain lands heretofore granted to that state for internal improvements, for the use of schools, in the valueless sixteenth sections in said state.

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That the lands granted to the State of Alabama for purposes of internal improvement, by the eighth section of the act entitled "An act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant pre-emption rights," approved September fourth, eighteen hundred and forty-one, may be, and the same are hereby placed at the disposal of the legislature of said state, at such price as said legislature may direct, to be applied for the use of schools in such townships of said state as in which the sixteenth or school sections are comparatively valueless, and the legislature may locate said lands in any legal subdivisions, not less than forty acres, within the limits of said state.

Approved August 11, 1848.

(9 U. S. Stats. at Large, 281.)

AN ACT

Declaring the assent of congress to certain states to impose a tax upon all lands hereafter sold by the United States therein, from and after the date of such sale.

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That the assent of congress is hereby given to the several states admitted into the Union prior to the twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty, to impose a tax or taxes on lands hereafter to be sold by the United States, in said state, from and after the day of such sale; Provided, that the assent hereby given shall in nowise impair that provision of the compact with the said states which declares that all lands belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the said states, shall never be taxed higher than lands belonging to persons residing therein.

Approved January 26, 1847.

(9 U. S. Stats. at Large, 118.)