[620] issued under the Civil Rights Bill, and held to bail to appear before the District Court. All armed organizations in the state were disbanded. Inflammatory meetings of freedmen and those who sought their political alliance were held in different parts of the state. Military commissioners were appointed over subdistricts for the suppression of disorder and violence, for the protection of all persons in their so-called rights of person and property, and clothed with all the powers of justices of a county or police magistrates of a city. The state was also divided into subdistricts, and commanders appointed over the same. These officers were empowered to exercise a general supervision over the military commissioners, and to furnish them, when necessary, with sufficient military force to enable them to discharge their duties. Further orders relative to the qualification of voters were issued by the major general, in which it was declared that ‘all persons who voluntarily joined the rebel army, and all persons in that army, whether volunteers or conscripts, who committed voluntarily any hostile act, were thereby engaged in insurrection or rebellion; and all who voted for the ordinance of secession, gave aid and comfort to the enemy. Also all who voluntarily furnished supplies of food, or clothing, arms, ammunition, horses, or mules, or any other material of war, participated in the rebellion,’ and were disfranchised. The whole number registered-was 116,982 whites and 104,772 blacks. The vote for the convention was 14,835 whites and 92,507 blacks; against the convention, 61,249 whites and 638 blacks. The convention assembled on December 3d and adjourned on April 17, 1868. The Bill of Rights adopted declared that—
The State shall ever remain a member of the United States of America, and the people thereof a part of the American nation, and all attempts, from whatever source, and upon whatever pretext, to dissolve said Union, or to sever said Union, are unauthorized, and ought to be resisted with the whole power of the State. The Constitution of the United States, and the laws of Congress passed in pursuance thereof, constitute the supreme law of the land, to which paramount allegiance and obedience are due from every citizen, anything in the Constitution, ordinances, or laws of any State to the contrary nothwithstanding.Suffrage was granted to every male citizen twenty-one years of age. All officers of the state were required to take the following oath:
I, ——, ——, do solemnly swear that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Virginia; and that I recognize and accept the civil and political equality of all men before the law. . . .In addition, all state, city, and county officers were required to take the test oath prescribed by Congress on July 2, 1862, as follows:
