proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the
United States.

"_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
three-fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the
Constitution, namely:

"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.

"SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.

"And, further, that it appears, from official documents on file
in this department, that the amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the
legislatures of the States of North Carolina, West Virginia,
Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Maine, Louisiana, Michigan, South
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois,
Indiana, New York, New Hampshire, Nevada, Vermont, Virginia,
Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota,
Rhode Island, Nebraska, and Texas; in all, twenty-nine States.

"And, further, that the States whose legislatures have so
ratified the said proposed amendment constitute three-fourths of
the whole number of States in the United States.

"And, further, that it appears, from an official document on file
in this department, that the legislature of the State of New York
has since passed resolutions claiming to withdraw the said
ratification of the said amendment which had been made by the
legislature of that State, and of which official notice had been
filed in this department.

"And, further, that it appears, from an official document on file
in this department, that the legislature of Georgia has by
resolution ratified the said proposed amendment.

"Now, therefore, be it known that I, Hamilton Fish, Secretary of
State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the 2d
section of the act of Congress, approved the 20th day of April,
1818, entitled "An act t