An Act to punish and prevent the Practice of Polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other Places, and disapproving and annulling certain Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah.

Be it enacted That every person having a husband or wife living, who shall marry any other person, whether married or single, in a Territory of the United States, or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall, except in the cases specified in the proviso to this section, be adjudged guilty of bigamy, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years: [certain cases excepted].

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the following ordinance of the provisional government of the State of Deseret, so called, namely: "An ordinance incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," passed February eight, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and adopted, reënacted, and made valid by the governor and legislative assembly of the Territory of Utah by an act passed January nineteen, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-five, entitled "An act in relation to the compilation and revision of the laws and resolutions in force in Utah Territory, their publication, and distribution," and all other acts and parts of acts heretofore passed by the said legislative assembly of the Territory of Utah, which establish, support, maintain, shield, or countenance polygamy, be, and the same hereby are, disapproved and annulled: Provided, That this act shall be so limited and construed as not to affect or interfere with the right of property legally acquired under the ordinance heretofore mentioned, nor with the right "to worship God according to the dictates of conscience," but only to annul all acts and laws which establish, maintain, protect, or countenance the practice of polygamy, evasively called spiritual marriage, however disguised by legal or ecclesiastical solemnities, sacraments, ceremonies, consecrations, or other contrivances.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for

any corporation or association for religious or charitable purposes to acquire or hold real estate in any Territory of the United States during the existence of the territorial government of a greater value than fifty thousand dollars; and all real estate acquired or held by any such corporation or association contrary to the provisions of this act shall be forfeited and escheat to the United States: Provided, That existing vested rights in real estate shall not be impaired by the provisions of this section. APPROVED, July 1, 1862.

By an act of August 6, 1861, all members of the civil departments of the government were required to take an oath of allegiance to the United States "against all enemies, domestic or foreign, any ordinance, resolution, or law of any State convention or legislature to the contrary notwithstanding." An act of May 20, 1862, required voters in Washington and Georgetown, if challenged for disloyalty, to take a similar oath, with the addition of a clause declaring that the subscriber had "always been loyal and true to the Government of the United States." An act of June 17 imposed upon grand and petit jurors in United States courts an oath declaring "that you have not, without duress and constraint, taken up arms, or joined any insurrection or rebellion against the United States; that you have not adhered to any insurrection or rebellion, giving it aid and comfort; that you have not, directly or indirectly, given any assistance in money, or any other thing, to any person or persons whom you knew, or had good ground to believe, had joined, or was about to join, said insurrection and rebellion, or had resisted, or was about to resist, with force of arms, the execution of the laws of the United States; and that you have not counselled or advised any person or persons to join any rebellion against, or to resist with force of arms, the laws of the United States." The so-called "iron-clad " oath of July 2 had its origin in a bill introduced in the House, March 24, by James F. Wilson of Iowa, "declaring certain persons ineligible to office." June 4 a substitute reported by the Committee on Judiciary, being a modified form of an amendment previously offered by Horace Maynard of Tennessee to a bill to free the slaves of rebels, was agreed to, and the bill passed, the vote being 78 to 47. The Senate, on motion of Garrett Davis of Kentucky, added an amendment excepting the Vice-Presi

dent and Senators and Representatives, the amended bill passing the Senate on the 23d by a vote of 33 to 5. The House disagreeing, the Senate receded from so much of its amendment as excepted Senators and Representatives, and in this form the bill passed. The acts of June 17 and July 2 were repealed by an act of May 13, 1884.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII, 502, 503. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. On the loyalty of government employees see House Report 16, 37th Cong., 2d Sess. On the modification of the oath see House Exec. Doc. 81, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., House Report 51, ibid., Senate Exec. Doc. 38, ibid., and No. 71, post. See also Cox, Three Decades, chap. 34.

An Act to prescribe an Oath of Office, and for other Purposes. Be it enacted That hereafter every person elected or appointed to any office of honor or profit under the government of the United States, either in the civil, military or naval departments of the public service, excepting the President of the United States, shall, before entering upon the duties of such office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments thereof, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation : "I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God;" which said oath, so taken and signed,

shall be preserved among the files of the court, House of Congress, or Department to which the said office may appertain. And any person who shall falsely take the said oath shall be guilty of perjury, and on conviction, in addition to the penalties now prescribed for that offence, shall be deprived of his office and rendered incapable forever after of holding any office or place under the United States.

APPROVED, July 2, 1862.

No. 23.

Election of Representatives by Districts

July 14, 1862

A BILL to provide for the election of Representatives to Congress by single districts was introduced in the House, June 16, 1862, by Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, with the object, it was stated, of making permanent the provisions of a temporary act of 1842. On the 24th, by a vote of 59 to 46, an amendment excepting California was agreed to, the legislature of California having adjourned without districting the State; and by a vote of 69 to 36 the bill was passed. The Senate, July 12, added as an amendment the proviso relating to Illinois, in which the House concurred.

REFERENCES. - Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII, 572. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe.

An Act in relation to the Election of Representatives to Congress by single Districts.

Be it enacted That in each State entitled in the next and any succeeding Congress to more than one representative, the number to which such State is or may be hereafter entitled shall be elected by districts composed of contiguous territory, equal in number to the number of representatives to which said State may be entitled in the Congress for which said election is held, no one district electing more than one representative: Provided, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to the State of California so far as it may affect the election of representatives to the thirty-eighth Congress And provided, further, That in the election of repre

sentatives to the thirty-eighth Congress from the State of Illinois, the additional representative allowed to said State by an act entitled "An act fixing the number of the House of Representatives from and after the third day of March, eighteen hundred and sixtythree," approved March fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, may be elected by the State at large, and the other thirteen representatives to which the State is entitled by the districts as now prescribed by law in said State, unless the legislature of said State should otherwise provide before the time fixed by law for the election of representatives therein. APPROVED, July 14, 1862.

A BILL "to confiscate the property of rebels for the payment of the expenses of the present rebellion” was reported in the House, May 14, 1862, by Thomas D. Eliot of Massachusetts, from the select committee on the confiscation of rebel property, together with a bill to free the slaves of rebels. On the 26th a substitute for the two bills, offered by Morrill of Vermont on the 20th, was rejected by a vote of 25 to 122, and the bill passed, the vote being 82 to 68. The House bill was more stringent than the act finally passed, but a substitute agreed to by the Senate, June 28, by a vote of 28 to 13, was thought by the House too lenient, and by a vote of 8 to 123 the amendment of the Senate was disagreed to. The report of the conference committee, being the Senate substitute with amendments, was agreed to by the House, July 11, by a vote of 82 to 42, and by the Senate, July 12, by a vote of 28 to 13. President Lincoln had intended to veto the bill on the ground that under it offenders would be forever divested of title to their real estate, and punishment would thus be made to extend beyond the life of the guilty party. To obviate this objection, a joint resolution explanatory of the act was hurried through both houses July 17. Lincoln, in communicating to Congress his approval of the act and the resolution, transmitted also the veto message which he had already prepared. A proclamation under section 6 of the act was issued the same day that the act was approved, and December 8, 1863, a proclamation of amnesty [No. 35] under section 13. The latter section was repealed, with the purpose of restricting the pardoning power of the President, July 17, 1867.

REFERENCES. Text in US. Statutes at Large, XII, 589–592. For the