Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 13.djvu/792

 764 APPENDIX. slavery, whether of persons or [of] properly; but, on the contrary, all such laws and proclamations heretofore made or issued are expressly saved and declared to be in full force and virtue. hIn testimony where0fQ I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of t e United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this thirteenth day of June, in the [L. S.] year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United  of America the eiqhtyminth. B ANDREVV JOENSON. y the President: WILLIAM H. Smwsxn, Secretary of State. No. 41. June 17, 1865. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A PROCLAMATION. Preamble 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 btates 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 Georgia 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 Georgia, in securing them in the _ _ enjoyment of a republican form of government:I P¤`0V1S1<>¤¤l Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon §g;st;'g’;O’;‘_p` me by the Constitution of the United States, and for the purpose of enabling Ge0,gi8_ the loyal people of said state to organize ·a state governmentkwhereby Justice may be established, domestic tranquillity insured, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty, and property, I, ANDREW Jonsson, President of the United States, and commander-in-chief of the army and navy of His duty and the United States, do hereby appoint James 'Johnson, of Georgia, provisional a th M · governor of the btate of Georgia, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest pract1— u ° y cable 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 Georgia 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 0fg‘;:;$‘;“g§g’ United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence; Provided for membérsmp that, in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing delegates to any of convention, 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 taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set forth in the Presidentfs Proclamation of May 29, A, D. 1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of Georgia in force immediately before the _ nineteenth (19th) of January, A. D. 1861, the date of the so-called ordinance &cC°;V°:;ggi)e of secession; and the said convention, when convened, or the legislature that qugmcgtiom may be·thereafter assembled} will prescribe the qualification of electors, and the eligibility of persons to hold office under the constitution and laws of the state,·j a power the. people of the several states composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised rom the origin of the government to the present time.