days after receiving official information of the ratification by the
legislature of either of said States of a proposed amendment to the
Constitution known as article fourteen, to issue a proclamation
announcing that fact; and

Whereas a paper was received at the Department of State this 27th day of
July, 1868, purporting to be a joint resolution of the senate and house
of representatives of the general assembly of the State of Georgia,
ratifying the said proposed amendment and also purporting to have passed
the two said houses, respectively, on the 21st of July, 1868, and to
have been approved by Rufus B. Bullock, who therein signs himself
governor of Georgia, which paper is also attested by the signatures of
Benjamin Conley, as president of the senate, and R.L. McWhorters, as
speaker of the house of representatives, and is further attested by the
signatures of A.E. Marshall, as secretary of the senate, and M.A.
Hardin, as clerk of the house of representatives:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States of America, in compliance with and execution of the act of
Congress before mentioned, do issue this my proclamation, announcing the
fact of the ratification of the said amendment by the legislature of the
State of Georgia in the manner hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand and have
caused the seal of the United States to be hereto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 27th day of July, A.D. 1868, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-third.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

In the year which is now drawing to its end the art, the skill, and the
labor of the people of the United States have been employed with greater
diligence and vigor and on broader fields than ever before, and the
fruits of the earth have been gathered into the granary and the
storehouse in marvelous abundance. Our highways have been lengthened,
and new and prolific regions have been occupied. We are permitted to
hope that long-protracted political and sectional dissensions are at no
distant day to give place to returning harmony and fraternal affection
throughout the Republic. Many foreign states have entered into liberal
agreements with us, while nations which are far off and whi