Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 15.djvu/739

 APPENDIX. 707 And whereas by the second section of the act of Congress, approved the twgu. 1818, ch. 80, § 2. tieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled “An act to pro- V°l· lil- P- *39- vide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes " it is made the duty of the Secretary of State forthwith to cause any amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which has been adopted according to the provisions of the said Constitution, to be published in the newspapers authorized to promulgate the laws, with his certificate specifying the States by which the same may have been adopted, and that the same has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States; And whereas neither the act just quoted from, nor any other law, expressly or by conclusive implication, authorizes the Secretary of State to determine and decide doubtful questions as to the authenticity of the organization of State legislatures, or as to the power of any State legislature to recall ·a. previous act or resolution of ratification of any amendment proposed to the Constitution; And whereas it appears from ofhcial documents on file in this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as afbresaid, has been ratified by the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, \Vest Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, Rhode Island, 'Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Iowa; And whereas it further appears from documents on file in this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has also been ratified by newly constituted and newly established bodies avowing themselves to be and acting as the legislatures, respectively, of the States of Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama ; And whereas it further appears from official documents on file in this Department that the legislatures of two of the States first above enumerated, to wit, Ohio and New Jersey, have since passed resolutions respectively withdraw-· ing the consent of each of said States to the aforesaid amendment ; and whereas it is deemed a matter of doubt and uncertainty whether such resolutions are not irregular, invalid, and therefore ineflectual for withdrawing the consent of the said two States, or of either of them, to the aforesaid amendment; And whereas the whole number of States in the United States is thirty-seven, to wit: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida., Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska; And whereas the twenty-three States first hereinbefore named, whose legislatures have ratified the said proposed amendment, and the six States next thereafter named, as having ratified the said proposed amendment by newly conszituted and established legislative bodies, together constitute three fourths of the whole number of States in the United States: Now, therefore, be it known that I, W1LL1AM H. SEXVARD, Secretary of Fourteenth State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of ;‘{2"“‘lm3‘:1;‘;¤ the act of Congress, approved the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and kgs iiggiiladogw eighteen, hereinbefore cited, do hereby certify that if the resolutions of the legis- ed, in gw_ latures of Ohio and New Jersey ratifying the aforesaid amendment are to be deemed as remaining of full force and eH'ect, notwithstanding the subsequent resolutions of the legislatures of those States, which purport to withdraw the consent of said States from such ratification, then the aforesaid amendment has been ratified in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, and so has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the Department of State to be aihxed. _ Done at the city of Washington, this twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and of the In- [L. s.] dependence of the United States of America the nmety-thn·d. Wxttrszvr H. Snwsnn, bbcrezary afS1a¢e.