Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 13.djvu/795

 APPENDIX. 767 Done at the city of Washington this seventeenth day of June, in the year [L. s.] of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States the eightyminth. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President: Wxnmnm H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. No. 43. " BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : June 21, 1865. A PROCLAMATION. Wunnnns the fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the Preamble- 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 execut.ive 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 States 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 Alabama 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 Alabama, in securing them in the enjoyment of a republican form of government: Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon me Provisional by the Constitution of the United States, and for the purpose of enabling the goyernor aployal people of said state to organize a state government, whereby justice may g°*l*i°d f°*` Ala' be established, domestic tranquillity insured, and loyal citizens protected in all mm' their rights of lite, liberty, and property, I, ANDREW JoHNsoN, President of the United States, and commander—in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, do hereby appoint Lewis E. Parsons, of Alabama, provisional governor of the State of Alabama, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest practicable period, His duty and to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for con- authority vening 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 Alabama 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 United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence ; Provided that, in any election that Qualification may be hereafter held for choosing delegates to any state convention as—afore- of °*€°*°'S» **;*9 said, no person shall be qualified as an elector, or shall be eligible as a member O(.rn£°8°;';?1if2I;lp of such convention, unless he shall have previously taken and subscribed the tion oath of amnesty, as set forth in the President’s Proclamation of May 29, A. D. 1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of Alabama in force immediately before the eleventh day of January, A. D. " 1861, the date of the so-called ordinance of secession ; and the said convention, Convention when convened, or the legislature that may be thereafter assembled, will pre- &c,_ to prescribe Scribe the qualification of electors, and the eligibility of persons to hold office qualification. under the constitution and laws of the state, -- a power the people of the several states composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the government to the present time. And I do hereby direct, — First. That the military commander of the department, and all officers and All the departporsons in the military and naval service, aid and assist the said provisional m°{¤*S 0* the gorcrnor in carrying into eifect this Proclamation, and they are enjoined to ab- [L‘$;f;ln§;;2°?0 , slam from, in any way, hindering, impeding, or discouraging the loyal people gid the nn,v,_ i1‘0m the organization of a state government as herein authorlzed. sional governor.