While the fourteenth amendment gave to the negroes the rights and immunities of citizens it did not specifically confer on the race the right of suffrage.  The third session of the 40^th Congress met on Dec. 7, 1868, and on the very first day resolutions were introduced in both houses, looking to an amendment to the constitution giving to the negroes the right to vote.  A long and tedious debate followed, in which various amendments and substitutes were offered, and on Feb. 27, 1869, the proposed amendment, in the form in which it now appears as Article XV of the national organic law, was submitted to the general assemblies of the states, for ratification or rejection.

The amendment came before the Georgia legislature on March 10^th, in a special message of Governor Bulloch urging its ratification.  In the discussion and action which followed, party lines were almost entirely obliterated.  On the first vote in the house 25 Republicans and 42 Democrats voted for the amendment, 4 Republicans and 56 Democrats against it, and 24 of the former dodged the question by not voting at all.  On a vote to reconsider the next day 17 of this 24 voted for reconsideration.  The final vote in the senate, where 8 Republicans dodged a vote, was 13 for and 17 against ratification, thus defeating the measure.

The last section of the reconstruction act, passed by Congress on Dec. 22, 1869, provided:  “That the legislature shall ratify the fifteenth amendment proposed, to the Constitution of the United States, before senators and representatives from Georgia are admitted to seats in Congress.”  In January, 1870, the amendment again came before the general assembly and, under the influence of the drastic reconstruction act, and by the advice of some of the conservative men of the state, who saw that this was the only way to secure peace and the right of self government, it was ratified on the second of February.
[Source: Georgia: Sketches, Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions & People, Vol. 2, Publ. 1906 Transcribed By:  Maggie Coleman]

On June 16, 1866, Congress, after a lengthy debate, submitted to the legislatures of the several states an amendment to the Federal constitution giving Negroes the rights of citizenship; prohibiting states from enacting laws abridging the rights or immunities of citizens; providing for a reduction of the representation in Congress from any state denying election a certain class of citizens, and declaring the war debt of the Confederate States null and void.  The admission of the Southern States to the Union was made contingent upon the ratification of this amendment.  It caused a heated discussion all over the country and was violently opposed by the people of Georgia as an encroachment upon their constitutional rights.  When the legislature met in November Governor Jenkins devoted a considerable portion of his message to the subject of its ratification and, among other things said:  “I ask you to consider, however, why it is that you are called upon to vote upon its adoption, whilst your State had no voice in its preparation?  The Constitution secures to the State the one right as distinctly and as positively as the other.  Had you r Representatives, and those of other States similarly situated, been present, aiding in giving substance and form to it, possibly it might have come before you a less odious thing.

Should the States especially to be affected by this amendment refuse their assent to it, it cannot be adopted without excluding them from the count and placing its ratification upon the votes three-fourths of the now dominant States.

It is said, however, that unless this concession be made, the now excluded States will be kept out of the halls of Congress indefinitely.  Were the amendment presented with such a menace distinctly expressed, a higher motive (if possible) than hitherto suggested would prompt its rejection.”

The whole subject was referred to a joint legislative committee, which reported on November 9^th.  In that report, written by Col. R. J. Moses, two positions were laid down as impregnable:  “1^st.  If Georgia is not a state composing a part of the Federal government, known as the government of the United States, amendments to the Constitution of the United States are not properly before this body.  2^nd.  If Georgia is a state, composing a part of the Federal government known as the government of the United States, then these amendments are not proposed according to the requirements of the of the Federal Constitution, and are proposed in such a manner as to forbid the legislature from discussing the merits of the amendments without an implied surrender of the rights of the state.”

In the discussion of the premises laid down the report cites the following facts, viz:  That Georgia was one of the original thirteen states and assisted in formulating the constitution; that the United States government in refusing to recognize the right of a state to secede had declared that none of the Confederate States had been our to the Union but in a state of insurrection to be at an end, that peace reigned throughout the country, and that the laws were to be enforced by the ordinary judicial course; that inasmuch as these things were true Georgia had never been out of the Union, her Federal relations only being suspended during the insurrection.  Upon the recommendation of the committee, the resolution at the conclusion of the report was adopted.  It declared “That the legislature of Georgia declines to ratify the proposed amendment adding a fourteenth article to the constitution of the United States.”  This resolution was unanimously adopted by the senate and in the house there were but two dissenting votes.

This ended the first act in the drama.  On June25, 1868, Congress passed an act setting aside certain provisions of the new constitution of the state, and requiring the assent to this action, as well as the ratification of the amendment, as conditions of Georgia’s restoration to statehood.  These conditions were accepted by the legislature on July21st by a vote of 24 to 14 in the senate and 89 to 70 in the house.  Many supposed, and all good citizens hoped, that this was the end, but not so.  In his message to Congress, Dec. 6, 1869 President Grant said:

“Seven States which passed ordinances of secession have been fully restored to their places in the Union.  The eighth (Georgia) held an election, at which she ratified her constitution, republican in form, elected a Governor, members of Congress, a State Legislature, and all other officers required.  The Governor was duly installed, and the Legislature met and performed all the acts required of them by the reconstruction acts of Congress.  Subsequently, however, inviolation of the constitution they had just ratified, as since decided by the Supreme Court of the State, ‘they unseated the colored members of the Legislature, and admitted to seats some members who are disqualified by the third clause of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, one article which they themselves had contributed to ratify.’  Under these circumstances, I would submit to you whether it would not be wise, to convene the members originally elected to the Legislature, requiring each member to take the oath prescribed by the reconstruction acts, and none to be admitted who are ineligible under the third clause of the fourteenth amendment.”

This reopened the whole case.  Such a law as recommended in the message was passed on December 22d, and on the same day Governor Bullock issued his proclamation summoning the members of the legislature, as proclaimed by General Meade on June 25, 1868, to meet at Atlanta on Jan. 10, 1870.  Gen. A. H. Terry was appointed commanding general of the district of Georgia under the act of December 22d, and the state was still under military rule, to await the action of the general assembly.  In the meantime the fifteenth amendment had been proposed by Congress, and Morton, of Indiana, introduced a bill in the United States senate making the ratification of that, as well as the fourteenth, a prerequisite to the admission of the state into the Union.  The fourteenth had been proclaimed by the secretary of state as being part of the Federal constitution on the very day that Georgia first ratified it, but the amendment was ratified a second time on Feb. 2, 1870, which ended the discussion and Georgia was restored to her former position as a sovereign state. (See articles on 13^th and 15^th amendments and on Reconstruction).
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Renae Donaldson)

By reference to the article on “Finances of the State” it will be seen that soon after the expiration of the reconstruction era a legislative committee recommended that a number of the state bonds and indorsements issued or given during that baneful period be declared null and void.  The history of these so-called repudiated liabilities, as disclosed by the investigations of the committee, is as follows.  The last reconstruction legislature cost the state $979,055.  Toward the close of the term it became evident that there was not money enough in the state treasury to defray the expenses.  On Aug. 27, 1870, the assembly passed an act authorizing a bond issue to meet the exigency, and Governor Bullock issued currency bonds to the amount of $2,000,000 to raise money by hypothecation.  On September 15^th the legislature passed an act providing for an issue of quarterly gold bonds to take up the currency bonds “and for other purposes.”  Under this act the governor issued $3,000,000 of gold bonds, but in the investigation it was discovered that $1,500,000 of the currency bonds had not been redeemed as prescribed by law.  Of these outstanding bonds Henry Clews held $800,000, Russell Sage $530,000, H. I. Kimball had negotiated $120,000 for a loan from J. B. Johnston & Co., and $50,000 for a loan from the Fulton bank, of Brooklyn, N. Y.  As these bonds should have been surrendered by the holders in exchange for the gold bonds, the general assembly held that their failure to do so rendered the obligations null and void, and so enacted.

Of the $5,733,000 of railroad bonds indorsed by the state the Brunswick & Albany road held $3,300,000, and to the same company had been made a second issue of gold bonds, amounting to $1,880,000.  The committee reported, in the case of this road, that bonds had been issued fifteen or twenty miles in advance of construction; that the bonds had been indorsed by Governor Bullock without date; that in every instance the indorsements had been given before the amount of road required by law had been completed; that certificates were prepared in blank by the engineer and filled at pleasure, as occasion required; that 1,680 of the bonds had been signed by one Frost after he had ceased to be president of the company; that for $1,125,000 of the bonds there was no road to show; and that there was a debt of $3,000,000 against the corporation, which raised a doubly as to whether any of the indorsed bonds had been rightfully applied.  Under these circumstances the legislature declared the state released from all legal obligations in connection with said bonds and indorsements.

The Bainbridge, Cuthbert & Columbus railroad issued $600,000 of bonds, of which $240,000 was indorsed by the governor, the secretary of state to sign the same when twenty miles of road were completed.  The road was never constructed and the entire issue of bonds were consequently declared null and void.

In the case of the Cartersville & Van Wert road two sets of bonds received the indorsement of the state.  The first, of $300,000, was issued while the company was operating under the name of the Cherokee Railroad Company, and the second, of $275,000, was indorsed after name was changed to the Cartersville & Van Wert.  The testimony brought out before the investigating committee revealed the fact that the road was not constructed at the time the bonds were indorsed and the committee submitted a bill, which was subsequently passed, declaring them void.

When the gold bonds were issued $1,750,000 of them were placed in the hands of Henry Clews for negotiation.  The committee reported $102,000 of these bonds as still in the possession of Clews, but unsold, and recommended their cancellation, which was accordingly done.  When the report of the committee was made public the Georgia bond question became a subject for national discussion.  Wild and extravagant charges of dishonesty and bad faith were indulged in by numerous partisan newspapers, and dire predictions were made that the credit of the state would be seriously impaired, if not irretrieable ruined by such a procedure.  Many of the articles that appeared in the columns of the press made no attempt to distinguish between the disavowal of an honest debt and the refusal to recognize an illegal claim.  The holders of the invalid bonds exerted every effort to prevent the nullification of their securities.  They are their supporters talked learnedly of the “sanctity of contracts,” but seemed to lose sight of the fact that the railroad companies had not complied with the requirements of the states authorizing the bonds or indorsements and, therefore, had not kept their side of the contract inviolate.  Crimination and recrimination were freely bandied back and forth, and in return other charge of repudiation the bondholders and state officials connected with the bond issues were accused of corruption and intrigue.

The total amount of bonds and indorsements declared invalid by the legislature was $7,957,000.  The term repudiation, in any evil sense does not apply to the action of the state in renouncing the payment of the disputed bonds.

The question came up again in the session of 1873.  While it was before that assembly Col. Thomas L. Snear, of New York, a man who had rendered great assistance to the committee in its inquiry, came forward with the following proposition in the way of the compromise on the part of the bondholders:  “If the state will agree to pay to the holders of the state bonds which have been declared null and void, the sums which these holders have, actually, and in perfect good faith advanced or paid for these bonds (that is to say, about $1,500,000 and interest), these parties will guarantee that such action of the state will completely re-establish the credit of Georgia, and enable it to borrow, at seven per cent, per year, all the money which it may need.

“They also desire that the legislature shall declare the readiness of the state to carry out its promises as to the indorsement of the first mortgage bonds of the Brunswick & Albany Railroad Company and the Cherokee Valley Railroad Company, so far, and only so far, as the state is now constitutionally and lawfully bound by such promises; when these companies shall have complied with all the requirements of the constitution and laws of Georgia, and shall have completed their respective roads.”

In submitting this compromise proposition Colonel Snead stated that he represented the foreign as well as the American bondholders; that the proposal was made on the part of bankers and capitalists who owned more of the valid bonds of Georgia than they did the disputed securities, and that if the state accepted the offer the holders would turn over every bond which had been declared null and void.  Its acceptance meant that the state would have to issue about $1,600,000 seven per cent. currency bonds to the holders of the dead securities and receive in exchange the bonds with accrued interest amounting, according to Colonel Snead’s estimate, to $8,425,000.  The proposition was discussed form one end of the state to the other by men in all walks of life.  Opinion was divided as it always is in such cases, but he majority seemed to be opposed to the acceptance of any compromise, so the acts of 1871 were permitted to remain in full force and effect.  The constitution of 1877 settled the matter for all time to come.  Section XI, Article VII, provides that “The General Assembly shall have no authority to appropriate money, either directly or indirectly, to pay the whole or any part of the principal or interest of the bonds, or other obligations, which have been pronounced illegal, null and void by the General Assembly, and the constitutional amendments ratified by a vote of the people on the first day of May, 1877; nor shall the General Assembly have authority to pay the obligations created by the State under laws passed during the late war between the States, nor any of the bonds, notes or obligations made and entered into during the existence of said war, the time for the payment of which was fixed after the ratification of a treaty of peace between the United States and the Confederate States; nor shall the General Assembly pass any law, or the Governor or other State official enter into any contract or agreement, whereby the State shall be made a party to any suit in any Court of this State, or of the United States, instituted to test the validity of any such bonds or obligations.”

The predictions that the credit of the state would be injured by the repudiation of the bonds have not been verified.  Since the adoption of the constitution containing the above positive declaration a large portion of the bonded debt has been refunded at a much lower rate of interest and the bonds have brought better prices in the market.