141. Freedmen's Bureau. March 3, 1865 142. Freedom for Soldiers' Families. March 3, 1865 143. Proclamation appointing a Governor for North Carolina. May 29, 147. Franchise in the District of Columbia. Jan. 8, 1867 150. Tenure of Office Act. March 2, 1867 151. Command of the Army. March 2, 1867 152. Second Reconstruction Act. March 23, 1867 153. Treaty with Russia for the 154. Third Reconstruction Act. 156. Fourth Reconstruction Act. 157. Act admitting Arkansas to Representation in Congress. June 22, 158. Act admitting North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to Representation in Congress. June 25, 161. Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. July 28, 1868 . 162. Provisional Governments of Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi. 163. Act to strengthen the Public Credit. March 18, 1869 164. Submission of the Constitutions of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas. 168. Act to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. May 31, 1870 169. Act for refunding the National Debt. July 14, 1870 174. Coinage Act. Feb. 12, 1873 175. Resumption of Specie Payments. Jan. 14, 1875 176. Second Civil Rights Act. March 1, 1875 177. Electoral Count Act. Jan. 29, 1877 180. Interstate Commerce Act. Feb. 4, 1887 181. Anti-Trust Act. July 2, 1890 182. Silver Purchase Act. July 14, 1890 183. Repeal of the Silver Purchase Act of 1890. 184. Recognition of the Independence of Cuba. 185. Declaration of War. April 25, 1898 186. Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. July 7, 1898 190. Chinese Exclusion Act. April 29, 1902 191. Act for the Construction of an Isthmian Canal. June 28, 1902 No. I. First Charter of Virginia April 10/20, 1606 THE region included in the Virginia grant was claimed by Spain, but the close of the war between Spain and England, in 1604, left the latter free to extend the area of its occupation in America. Various plans for settlement and trade were brought forward soon after the return of Weymouth, in July, 1605. A petition for a charter, signed by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Hakluyt, and others, was favorably considered by James I., and in April, 1606, the charter passed the seals. The first draft of the charter, accompanying the petition, was probably drawn by Sir John Popham, lord chief justice, but the final form was the work of Sir Edward Coke, attorneygeneral, and Sir John Dodderidge, solicitor-general. Royal orders and instructions for the government of the two colonies and the conduct of their affairs were issued Nov. 20/30 and Dec. 10/20, 1606. An ordinance and constitution of March 9/19, 1607, increased the membership of the council and enlarged its authority. REFERENCES. Text in Stith's History of Virginia (Sabin's ed., 1865), Appendix I. Invaluable documentary material for the early history of Virginia, to 1616, is set forth in Brown's Genesis of the United States; see also the same author's First Republic in America, 1-71. Important contemporary accounts are: John Smith's A True Relation (Deane's ed., 1866, with notes), and General Historie (Arber's reprint); Wingfield's A Discourse of Virginia (Deane's ed., with notes, in Archæologia Americana, IV., 67–163); and A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie in Virginia (in Force's Tracts, III.). See further: Neill's Virginia Company; Sainsbury's Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, I. I. JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. WHEREAS our loving and well-disposed Subjects, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Somers, Knights, Richard Hackluit, Clerk, Prebendary of Westminster, and Edward-Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, and Ralegh Gilbert, Esqrs. William Parker, and George Popham, Gentlemen, and divers others of our loving Subjects, have been humble Suitors unto us, that We would vouchsafe unto them our Licence, to make Habitation, Plantation, and to deduce a Colony of sundry of our People into that Part of America, commonly |