nd Navy, as well as chief civil
executive officer of the United States, and is bound by solemn oath
faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and
to take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and
Whereas the rebellion which has been waged by a portion of the people of
the United States against the properly constituted authorities of the
Government thereof in the most violent and revolting form, but whose
organized and armed forces have now been almost entirely overcome, has
in its revolutionary progress deprived the people of the State of
Georgia of all civil government; and
Whereas it becomes necessary and proper to carry out and enforce the
obligations of the United States to the people of Georgia in securing
them in the enjoyment of a republican form of government:
Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon
me by the Constitution of the United States and for the purpose of
enabling the loyal people of said State to organize a State government
whereby justice may be established, domestic tranquillity insured, and
loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty, and
property, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States and
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do hereby
appoint James Johnson, of Georgia, provisional governor of the State of
Georgia, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest practicable period,
to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper
for convening a convention composed of delegates to be chosen by that
portion of the people of said State who are loyal to the United States,
and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending the constitution
thereof, and with authority to exercise within the limits of said State
all the powers necessary and proper to enable such loyal people of the
State of Georgia to restore said State to its constitutional relations
to the Federal Government and to present such a republican form of State
government as will entitle the State to the guaranty of the United
States therefor and its people to protection by the United States
against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence: _Provided_,
That in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing delegates
to any State convention as aforesaid no person shall be qualified as an
elector or shall be eligible as a member of such convention unless he
shall have previously taken and subscri
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