REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI., 62, 63. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. An Act to admit the State of Virginia to Representation in the Congress of the United States. WHEREAS the people of Virginia have framed and adopted a constitution of State government which is republican; and whereas the legislature of Virginia elected under said constitution have ratified the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States; and whereas the performance of these several acts in good faith was a condition precedent to the representation of the State in Congress: Therefore, Be it enacted That the said State of Virginia is entitled to representation in the Congress of the United States: Provided, That before any member of the legislature of said State shall take or resume his seat, or any officer of said State shall enter upon the duties of his office, he shall take, and subscribe, and file in the office of the secretary of state of Virginia, for permanent preservation, an oath in the form following: "I, do solemnly swear that I have never taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, and afterward engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, so help me God"; or such person shall in like manner take, subscribe, and file the following oath: "I, -, do solemnly swear that I have, by act of Congress of the United States, been relieved from the disabilities imposed upon me by the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States, so help me God"; . . . And provided further, That every such person who shall neglect for the period of thirty days next after the passage of this act to take, subscribe, and file such oath as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken, to all intents and purposes, to have vacated his office: And provided further, That 1 An amending act of February 1, 1870, provided for the usual alternative of affirmation. - ED. the State of Virginia is admitted to representation in Congress as one of the States of the Union upon the following fundamental conditions: First, That the Constitution of Virginia shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote who are entitled to vote by the Constitution herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said State: Provided, That any alteration of said Constitution, prospective in its effects, may be made in regard to the time and place of residence of voters. Second, That it shall never be lawful for the said State to deprive any citizen of the United States, on account of his race, color, or previous condition of servitude, of the right to hold office under the constitution and laws of said State, or upon any such ground to require of him any other qualifications for office than such as are required of all other citizens. Third, That the constitution of Virginia shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the school rights and privileges secured by the constitution of said State. No. 167. Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution March 30, 1870 "THE evident and complete inefficacy of the second section of the [fourteenth] amendment was the reason for the introduction of the fifteenth amendment" (Johnston). As in the case of the previous amendments, various propositions were submitted, while the discussion of the political and constitutional theories embodied in the proposed amendment took a wide range. February 17, 1869, the Senate, after long debate, passed, by a vote of 35 to 11, a joint resolution for the submission of an amendment to the Constitution reported from the Committee on the Judiciary January 15. February 20 the resolution in amended form passed the House, the vote being 140 to 37, 46 not voting. The Senate, by a vote of 32 to 17, disagreed to the House amendment. The conference committee rejected the amendment of the House and agreed to the Senate resolution, except the words "and to hold office," in section 1. The amendmen、 was rejected by New Jersey, Dela ware, Maryland, Kentucky, Oregon, and California, and was not acted on by Tennessee. Georgia and Ohio at first rejected it, but subsequently ratified it. The ratification of New York was later rescinded. A proclamation declaring the amendment in force was issued March 30, 1870. REFERENCES. Text in Revised Statutes (ed. 1878), 32. For the proceedings of Congress see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. Votes of State legislatures on ratification are collected in McPherson, Reconstruction, 488-498, 557-562. ARTICLE XV. SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. No. 168. Act to enforce the Fifteenth May 31, 1870 A BILL to enforce the right of citizens of the United States to vote was introduced in the House February 21, 1870, by Bingham of Ohio, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. May 9 a substitute was reported and the bill recommitted. The substitute measure was again reported May 16, and passed the same day, the vote being 131 to 43, 54 not voting. May 20 the Senate, after an all-night session, passed a substitute by a vote of 43 to 8, 21 not voting. The House disagreed to the Senate amendment, and a conference committee settled the final form of the bill. The report of the conference committee was agreed to by the Senate on the 25th by a vote of 48 to 11, and by the House on the 27th by a vote of 133 to 58, 39 not voting. REFERENCES. – Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI., 140–146. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The House substitute of May is in the Globe for May 16; the text of the Senate bill is in ibid., May 20. Part of the act followed a report on New York election frauds, House Report 31, 40th Cong., 3d Sess. On general political conditions in the South see House Report 37, 41st Cong., 3d Sess.; Senate Report 1, 42d Cong., 1st Sess.; House Exec. Doc. 268, 42d Cong., 2d Sess.; House Reports 101 and 261, 43d Cong., 2d Sess. The Congressional documents contain numerous reports on affairs in the different States. An Act to enforce the Right of Citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other purposes. Be it enacted That all citizens of the United States who are or shall be otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people in any State, Territory, district, county, city, parish, township, school district, municipality, or other territorial subdivision, shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; any constitution, law, custom, usage, or regulation of any State or Territory, or by or under its authority, to the contrary notwithstanding. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if by or under the authority of the constitution or laws of any State, or the laws of any Territory, any act is or shall be required to be done as a prerequisite or qualification for voting, and by such constitution or laws persons or officers are or shall be charged with the performance of duties in furnishing to citizens an opportunity to perform such prerequisite, or to become qualified to vote, it shall be the duty of every such person and officer to give to all citizens of the United States the same and equal opportunity to perform such prerequisite, and to become qualified to vote without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; [penalty for refusal]. * * * * * SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if any person, by force, bribery, threats, intimidation, or other unlawful means, shall hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct, or shall combine and confederate with others to hinder, . . . [&c.], any citizen from doing any act required to be done to qualify him to vote or from voting at any election as aforesaid, such person shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the person aggrieved thereby, . . . and shall also for every such offence be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one month and not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall prevent, hinder, control, or intimidate, or shall attempt to pre vent [ &c.], any person from exercising or in exercising the right of suffrage, to whom the right of suffrage is secured or guaranteed by the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, by means of bribery, threats, or threats of depriving such person of employment or occupation, or of ejecting such person from rented house, lands, or other property, or by threats of refusing to renew leases or contracts for labor, or by threats of violence to himself or family, such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one month and not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That if two or more persons shall band or conspire together, or go in disguise upon the public highway, or upon the premises of another, with intent to violate any provision of this act, or to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise and enjoyment of any right or privilege granted or secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having exercised the same, such persons shall be held guilty of felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined or imprisoned, or both, at the discretion of the court, the fine not to exceed five thousand dollars, and the imprisonment not to exceed ten years, and shall, moreover, be thereafter ineligible to, and disabled from holding, any office or place of honor, profit, or trust created by the Constitution or laws of the United States. * SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to employ such part of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, as shall be necessary to aid in the execution of judicial process issued under this act. SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall hereafter knowingly accept or hold any office under the United States, or any State to which he is ineligible under the third section of the fourteenth article of amendment of the Constitution of the United States, or who shall attempt to hold or exer |