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. President of the Senate pro tempore. After the election which was held early in February, 1868, upon the ratification of a new Constitution for the State of Alabama, the law was so amended by Congress that a majority of the votes cast (instead of a majority of the registered voters) should be required to ratify or reject State constitutions in the seceded States. THE AMNESTY ACT AS PASSED AND APPROVED. Be it enacted, etc., (two thirds of each House concurring therein,) That all legal and political disabilities imposed by the third section of the fourteenth article of the amendments of the Constitution of the United States are hereby removed from all persons whomsoever, except Senators and Representatives of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congress, officers in the judicial, military, and naval service of the United States, heads of Departments, and foreign ministers of the United States. Approved May 22, 1872. acre. HOMESTEAD LAW. By act of Congress of May 20, 1862, any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, or has performed service in the army or navy, and is a citizen of the United States, or shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, and has never borne arms against the Government of the United States, or given aid and comfort to its eneinies, shall, from and after the 1st of January, 1863, be entitled to enter a quarter section (160 acres,) of unappropriated public land, upon which he or she may have already filed a pre-emption claim, or which is subject to pre-emption, at $1.25 per acre; or 80 acres of unappropriated lands, at $2.50 per In order to make his or her title good to such lands, however, such person must make affidavit that such applicatiou is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not, either directly or indirectly, for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the affidavit, and paying the sum of tøn dollars to the register or receiver, such person shall be allowed to enter the land specified; but no certificate or patent is issued for the land until five years from the date of such entry, and the land must, during that time, be improved and not alienated, (it can not be taken for debt). At any time within two years after the expiration of said five years, the person making the entry, or, in case of his or her death, his widow or heirs, may, on proof by two witnesses that he or she has cultivated or improved said land, has not alienated any part of it, and has borne true allegiance to the United States, be entitled to a patent, if at that time a citizen of the United States. In case of the abandonment of the lands by the person making the entry, for a period of more than six months at one time, they revert to the United States. 317 STATISTICAL VIEW OF THE STATES, ETC., Showing dates of acts creating Territories, and admitting States-Time of holding general elections— 4 4] Span. 1769] 4| Engl. 1633 1 Swedes 1627 * Indiana.. 13 Maine..... Maryland*. 6 1634 Massachusetts*.. 11 Michigan. 8 French 1713 March 3, 1817 March 2, 1819 Tues. af. 1st Mon. Nov. 100 233 3d Monday in Nov. 2 Montgom'y 1670 March 2, 1819 June 15, 1836 1st Monday in Nov. 93 2 31 4 November, 1876.† 4 Little Rock. Sept. 9, 1850 1st Wednesday in Sept. 80 2 40 4 1st Monday in Dec. 4 Sacramento. 1st Monday in April. 241 1211 1st Wednesday in May.1 Hartford. 1st Monday in Nov. 21 2 94 1st Tuesday in Jan. 4 Dover. 9 Engl. 1733 2 Span. 1564| March 3, 1823 March 3, 1845 Tues. af. 1st Mon. Nov. 52 2 24 4 Tues. af. 1st Mon. Jan. 2d Wednesday in Oct. 175 2 44 4 2d Wedn'day in Jan. 19 French 1749 Feb'y 3, 1809 Dec. 3, 1818 Tues. af. 1st Mon. Nov. 153 251 4 1st Monday in Jan. 1730 May 7, 1800 April 19, 1816 2d Tuesday in Oct. 100 250 4 9 Amer's 1835 June 12, 1838| March 3, 1845 1002504 2d 3 66 1850 May 30, 1854 Jan'y 29, 1861 Tues, af. 1st Mon. Nov. 107 2 33 2 2d Tuesday 10 Vir'ns 1775 June 1, 1792 1st Monday in August. 100 2 384 January, 1876. † 6 French 1699 M'ch 26, 1804 Feb'y 20, 1811 Nov. 1112 36 4 1st Monday in 5 Engl. [1630| M'ch 15, 1820 2d Monday in Sept'ber. 149 131 1 1st Wedn'day in Tues. af. 1st Mon. Nov. 85 2 26 4 240|1|40|1 9 French|1670 Jan'y 11, 1805|Jan’y 26, 1837 1st Monday in April.(100|2|32| Minnesota... 1122344 66 3 Amer's 1847 March 3, 1849 May 14, 1855 Tues. af. 1st Mon. Nov. 1061412 Tues. af. 1st Mon. Jan. 6 French 1716 April 7, 1798 Dec. 10, 1817 13 1763 March 3, 1805 March 6, 1820 New Hampshire* 3 Engl. 1623 Oregon. 1682 .... Engl. 1796 Aug. 14, 1848 Feb'y 12, 1859 1st Monday in June. 2/St. Paul. 4 Jackson. 3 Trenton. 131 2334 Last Monday in Dec. † Ohio.... 1 Pennsylvania*. 27 Rhode Island*...... 21 South Carolina*. 5 . 10 NC &V 1765 May 26, 1790 June 1, 1796 6 Span. 1690 3 Engl. 1763 91 New Mexico T'y. 1 Span, 1598 Sept. 9, 1850 Utah Ter'y......... 1Amer's: Tennessee.... Texas Vermont.. Virginia* Wisconsin. Colorado. 8 261 13 2 December, 1876.t Alaska Ter'y....... *One of the thirteen original States. [U. S. Senators serve six years, and each State is entitled to two.] (a-h) |