Слике страница
PDF
ePub

cise the duties of any such office, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor against the United States, and, upon conviction thereof before the circuit or district court of the United States, shall be imprisoned not more than one year, or fined not exceeding one thousand dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

[blocks in formation]

SEC. 18. [The Civil Rights Act of 1866 reënacted.]

SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That if at any election for representative or delegate in the Congress of the United States any person shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name of any other person, whether living, dead, or fictitious; or vote more than once at the same election for any candidate for the same office; or vote at a place where he may not be lawfully entitled to vote; or vote without having a lawful right to vote; or do any unlawful act to secure a right or an opportunity to vote for himself or any other person; or by force, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer, or promise thereof, or otherwise unlawfully prevent any qualified voter of any State of the United States of America, or of any Territory thereof, from freely exercising the right of suffrage, or by any such means induce any voter to refuse to exercise such right; or compel or induce by any such means, or otherwise, any officer of an election in any such State or Territory to receive a vote from a person not legally qualified or entitled to vote; or interfere in any manner with any officer of said elections in the discharge of his duties; or by any of such means, or other unlawful means, induce any officer of an election, or officer whose duty it is to ascertain, announce, or declare the result of any such election, or give or make any

certificate, document, or evidence in relation thereto, to violate or refuse to comply with his duty, or any law regulating the same; or knowingly and wilfully receive the vote of any person not entitled to vote, or refuse to receive the vote of any person entitled to vote; or aid, counsel, procure, or advise any such voter, person, or officer to do any act hereby made a crime, or to omit to do any duty the omission of which is hereby made a crime, or attempt to do so, every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall for such crime be liable to prosecution in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both, in the discretion of the court, and shall pay the costs of prosecution.

[blocks in formation]

IN his annual report of December 6, 1869, the Secretary of the Treasury called attention to the fact that the bonds known as 5-20's, amounting to $1,602,671,100, were either redeemable or soon to become redeemable. A bill to provide for refunding the national debt was introduced in the Senate by Sumner January 12, 1870, and referred to the Committee on Finance, which reported February 3, through Sherman, a substitute. The matter formed one of the principal subjects of discussion for the remainder of the session. The substitute bill with amendments passed the Senate March 11, by a vote of 32 to Io. The House left the bill without action until July 1, when a substitute reported by Schenck, from the Committee of Ways and Means, was agreed to, the final vote being 129 to 42, 58 not voting. The chief difference between the two bills was in the character of the bonds to be issued. The Senate refused to accept the substitute of the House. A report of a conference committee, July 12, being the act as approved with an additional section requiring the deposit of registered bonds as security for bank circulation, was rejected by the House by a vote of 88 to 103. A second report was agreed to the next day, in the House by a vote of 139 to 54, 37 not voting, and in the Senate without a division. An amending act of January 20, 1871, increased the amount of five per cent bonds to $500,000,000, but without increasing the total issue.

[ocr errors]

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI., 272-274. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. On Sumner's bill see his remarks in the Globe, January 12; on the Senate substitute, Sherman's remarks, ibid., February 28, and Senate Report 4. Cf. Sherman's strictures on the act in his Recollections, I, 451–458.

An Act to authorize the Refunding of the national Debt.

[ocr errors]

Be it enacted That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue, in a sum or sums not exceeding in the aggregate two hundred million dollars, coupon or registered bonds of the United States, in such form as he may prescribe, and of denominations of fifty dollars, or some multiple of that sum, redeemable in coin of the present standard value, at the pleasure of the United States, after ten years from the date of their issue, and bearing interest, payable semiannually in such coin, at the rate of five per cent. per annum; also a sum or sums not exceeding in the aggregate three hundred million dollars of like bonds, the same in all respects, but payable at the pleasure of the United States, after fifteen years from the date of their issue, and bearing interest at the rate of four and a half per cent. per annum; also a sum or sums not exceeding in the aggregate one thousand million dollars of like bonds, the same in all respects, but payable at the pleasure of the United States, after thirty years from the date of their issue, and bearing interest at the rate of four per cent. per annum; all of which said several classes of bonds and the interest thereon shall be exempt from the payment of all taxes or duties of the United States, as well as from taxation in any form by or under State, municipal, or local authority. .

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to sell and dispose of any of the bonds issued under this act, at not less than their par value for coin, and to apply the proceeds thereof to the redemption of any of the bonds of the United States outstanding, and known as five-twenty bonds, at their par value, or he may exchange the same for such five-twenty bonds, par for par; but the bonds hereby authorized shall be used for no other purpose whatso

ever.

*

*

*

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, with any coin in the treasury of the United States which he may lawfully apply to such purpose, or which may be derived from the sale of any of the bonds, the issue of which is provided for in this act, to pay at par and cancel any six per cent. bonds of the United States of the kind known as five-twenty bonds, which have become or shall hereafter become redeemable by the terms of their issue.

[blocks in formation]

...

No. 170. Act for the Restoration of

Georgia

July 15, 1870

A BILL for the restoration of Georgia, similar in purport to the acts for the restoration of Mississippi and Texas, was reported in the House February 25, 1870, by Butler of Massachusetts, from the Committee on Reconstruction, and passed, March 8, by a vote of 115 to 71, 34 not voting. The Senate added section 2 of the act, and further amendments declaring the existing government of the State provisional, directing the holding of a new election, and authorizing the President to suppress disorder. The amended bill passed the Senate April 19, by a vote of 27 to 25. The bill was left without further action until June 24, when the House Committee on Reconstruction reported in favor of the passage of the House bill with amendments. The Senate refused to concur, and the final form of the bill was settled by a conference committee. The report of the committee was accepted by both houses July 14, without a division.

REFERENCES.

[ocr errors]

Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI., 363, 364. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. On political conditions in Georgia see House Exec. Doc. 288.

An Act relating to the State of Georgia.

Be it enacted. . ., That the State of Georgia having complied with the reconstruction acts, and the fourteenth and fifteenth articles of amendments to the Constitution of the United States having been ratified in good faith by a legal legislature of said State, it is hereby declared that the State of Georgia is entitled to representation in the Congress of the United States. But

nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive the people of Georgia of the right to an election for members of the general assembly of said State, as provided for in the Constitution thereof; and nothing in this or any other act of Congress shall be construed to affect the term to which any officer has been appointed or any member of the general assembly elected as prescribed by the Constitution of the State of Georgia.

*

No. 171. Supplementary Act to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment

February 28, 1871

A BILL to amend the act of May 31, 1870, commonly known as the "Force Bill," was introduced in the House January 9, 1871, by John C. Churchill of New York, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. February 15 a substitute offered by Bingham of Ohio was agreed to with amendments, and the bill passed, the final vote being 144 to 64, 32 not voting. The Senate passed the bill on the 24th without amendment by a vote of 39 to 10, 25 not voting. The act was further supplemented by a provision of the sundry civil appropriation act of June 10, 1872.

[ocr errors]

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI., 433-440. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 3d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The amendatory provision of the act of June 10, 1872, is in MacDonald's Select Statutes, No. 95.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

An Act to amend an Act approved . . [May 31, 1870]. . entitled "An Act to enforce the Rights of Citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other Purposes."

Be it enacted

May 31, 1870].

[Section 1 amends Section 20 of the act of

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever in any city or town having upward of twenty thousand inhabitants, there shall be two citizens thereof who, prior to any registration of voters for an election for representative or delegate in the Congress of the United States, or prior to any election at which a

« ПретходнаНастави »