SUPPLEMENTARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF JULY 19, 1867
Be it enacted, &c., That it is hereby declared to
have been the true intent and meaning of the act of the 2d day of
March, 1867, entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient
government of the rebel States," and of the act supplementary
thereto, passed on the 23d day of March, 1867, that the governments
then existing in the rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida,
Texas, and Arkansas, were not legal State governments; and that
thereafter said governments, if continued, were to be continued
subject in all respects to the military commanders of the
respective districts, and to the paramount authority of
Congress.
Sec. 2. That the commander of any
district named in said act shall have power, subject to the
disapproval of the General of the army of the United States, and to
have effect till disapproved, whenever in the opinion of such
commander the proper administration of said act shall require it,
to suspend or remove from office, or from the performance of
official duties and the exercise of official powers, any officer or
person holding or exercising, or professing to hold or exercise,
any civil or military office or duty in such district under any
power, election, appointment, or authority derived from, or granted
by, or claimed under, any so-called State or the government
thereof, or any municipal or other division thereof; and upon such
suspension or removal such commander, subject to the disapproval of
the General as aforesaid, shall have power to provide from time to
time for the performance of the said duties of such officer or
person so suspended or removed, by the detail of some competent
officer or soldier of the army, or by the appointment of some other
person to perform the same, and to fill vacancies occasioned by
death, resignation, or otherwise.
Sec. 3. That the General of the army of the United States shall
be invested with all the powers of suspension, removal,
appointment, and detail granted in the preceding section to
district commanders.
Sec. 4. That the acts of the officers of the army already done
in removing in said districts persons exercising the functions of
civil officers, and appointing others in their stead, are hereby
confirmed: Provided, That any person heretofore or
hereafter appointed by any district commander to exercise the
functions of any civil office, may be removed either by the
military officer in command of the district, or by the General of
the army. And it shall be the duty of such commander to remove from
office, as aforesaid, all persons who are disloyal to the
Government of the United States, or who use their official
influence in any manner to hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct the
due and proper administration of this act and the acts to which it
is supplementary.
Sec. 5. That the boards of
registration provided for in the act entitled "An act
supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to provide for the more
efficient government of the rebel States,' passed March 2, 1867,
and to facilitate restoration," passed March 23, 1867, shall have
power, and it shall be their duty, before allowing the registration
of any person, to ascertain, upon such facts or information as they
can obtain, whether such person is entitled to be registered under
said act, and the oath required by said act shall not be conclusive
on such question, and no person shall be registered unless such
board shall decide that he is entitled thereto; and such board
shall also have power to examine, under oath, (to be administered
by any member of such board,) any one touching the qualification of
any person claiming registration; but in every case of refusal by
the board to register an applicant, and in every case of striking
his name from the list as hereinafter provided, the board shall
make a note or memorandum, which shall be returned with the
registration list to the commanding general of the district,
setting forth the grounds of such refusal or such striking from the
list: Provided, That no person shall be disqualified as
member of any board of registration by reason of race or color.
Sec. 6. That the true intent and meaning of the oath prescribed in said supplementary act
is, (among other things,) that no person who has been a member of
the Legislature of any State, or who has held any executive or
judicial office in any State, whether he has taken an oath to
support the Constitution of the United States or not, and whether
he was holding such office at the commencement of the rebellion, or
had held it before, and who has afterwards engaged in insurrection
or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to
the enemies thereof, is entitled to be registered or to vote; and
the words "executive or judicial office in any State" in said oath
mentioned shall be construed to include all civil offices created
by law for the administration of any general law of a State, or for
the administration of justice.
Sec. 7. That the time for completing the original registration provided for in said act may,
in the discretion of the commander of any district, be extended to
the 1st day of October, 1867; and the boards of registration shall
have power, and it shall be their duty, commencing fourteen days
prior to any election under said act, and upon reasonable public
notice of the time and place thereof, to revise, for a period of
five days, the registration lists, and, upon being satisfied that
any person not entitled thereto has been registered, to strike the
name of such person from the list, and such person shall not be
allowed to vote. And such board shall also, during the same period,
add to such registry the names of all persons who at that time
possess the qualifications required by said act who have not been
already registered; and no person shall, at any time, be entitled
to be registered or to vote, by reason of any executive pardon or
amnesty, for any act or thing which, without such pardon or
amnesty, would disqualify him from registration or voting.
Sec. 8. That section four of said
last-named act shall be construed to authorize the commanding
general named therein, whenever he shall deem it needful, to remove
any member of a board of registration and to appoint another in his
stead, and to fill any vacancy in such board.
Sec. 9. That all members of said boards of registration, and all
persons hereafter elected or appointed to office in said military
districts, under any so-called State or municipal authority, or by
detail or appointment of the district commanders, shall be required
to take and to subscribe the oath of
office prescribed by law for officers of the United States.
Sec. 10. That no district commander or member of the board of
registration, or any of the officers or appointees acting under
them, shall be bound in his action by any opinion of any civil officer of the United
States.
Sec. 11. That all the provisions of this act and of the acts to
which this is supplementary shall be construed liberally, to the
end that all the intents thereof may be fully and perfectly carried
out.
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