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 constituted 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, William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of the act of Congress, approved the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen, herein before cited, do hereby certify that, if the resolutions of the legislatures of Ohio and New Jersey, ratifying the aforesaid amendment, are to be deemed as remaining of full force and effect, 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 herein before mentioned, and so has be come 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 affixed. 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 independence of the United States of America the ninety-third. [L. S.] WILLIAM H. SEWARD, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State of the United States: To all to whom these presents may come, Greeting: Whereas, by an act of Congress, passed on the twentieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled “An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes," it is declared that, whenever official notice shall have been received at the Department of State that any amendment which heretofore has been and hereafter may be proposed to the Constitution of the United States. has been adopted according to the provisions of the Constitution, it shall be the duty of the said Secretary of State forthwith to cause the said amendment 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, the Congress of the United States, on or about the sixteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, submitted to the legislatures of the several States a proposed amendment to the Constitution in the following words, to wit: "Joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States. "Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America. in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both houses concurring) that the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by threefourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:" (See Art. XIV., above.) And whereas, the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, on the twenty-first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a concurrent resolution, which concurrent resolution is in the words and figures following, to wit: "IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, "July 21, 1868. Whereas, the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Maine, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana, being three-fourths and more of the several States of the Union, have ratified the Fourteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, duly proposed by two-thirds of each house of the thirty-ninth Congress; therefore, Resolved, by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring) that said Fourteenth Article is hereby declared to be a part of the Constitution of the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State. "Attest: GEO. C. GORHAM, "IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, "July 21, 1868. Resolved, that the House of Representatives concur in the foregoing concurrent resolution of the Senate, declaring the ratification of the Fourteenth Article of Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. "Attest: EDW'D MCPHERSON, Clerk." And whereas, official notice has been received at the Department of State that the legislatures of the several States next hereinafter named have, at the times respectively herein mentioned, taken the proceedings hereinafter recited upon or in relation to the ratification of the said proposed amendment, called Article Fourteenth, namely: The legislature of Connecticut ratified the amendment June 30, 1866; the legislature of New Hampshire ratified it July 7, 1866; the legislature of Tennessee ratified it July 19, 1866; the legislature of New Jersey ratified it September 11, 1866, and the legislature of the same State passed a resolution in April, 1868, to withdraw its consent to it; the legislature of Oregon ratified it September 19, 1866; the legislature of Texas rejected it November 1, 1866; the legislature of Vermont ratified it on or previous |