23. Initiation of an Amendment

Although the above article provided four modes by which the Constitution may be amended, it does not describe at all the details of the procedure. The practice, however, may be illustrated by the following documents, tracing the steps in the initiation, ratification, and proclamation, of the thirteenth amendment:

the

to the

states.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of proposes both houses concurring), That the following article be proposed amendment to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely: Article XIII. Section I. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

I certify that this Resolution did originate in the Senate.

J. W. FORNEY,

Secretary.

24. Ratification of an Amendment by a State

State of Rhode Island, &c.

Whereas, Both Houses of the Congress of the United States have proposed an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in the words and figures following, to wit:

Article XIII

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

IT IS THEREFORE Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of Rhode Island do hereby ratify and confirm the said Article XIII of Amendment to the said Constitution of the United States and do hereby assent thereto.

A TRUE COPY.

In testimony whereof I have hereto set my hand and affixed my seal of the State of Rhode Island, this second day of February A.D. 1865, the day of the adoption of the said resolution.

(Seal)

JOHN R. BARTLETT,

Secretary of State.

25. Official Proclamation of an Amendment

William H. Seward,

Secretary of State of the United States,

To all to whom these presents may come, Greeting:

Know Ye, that, whereas the Congress of the United States, on the 1st of February last, passed a Resolution which is in the words following, namely:

"A Resolution submitting to the Legislatures of the several States a Proposition to amend 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, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said constitution, namely:

"Article XIII

"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

"Section 2. Congress shall have authority to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

number of

received.

And, whereas it appears, from official documents on file in The this Department, that the amendment to the Constitution of the requisite United States proposed, as aforesaid, has been ratified by the ratifications legislatures of the States of Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia; in all twenty-seven States:

And, whereas the whole number of States in the United States is thirty-six; and whereas the before specially named States, whose legislatures have ratified the said proposed amendment, constitute three-fourths of the whole number of States in the United States:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of the Act of Congress, approved the twen

The amendment is therefore

a part of the Constitution.

tieth of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen, entitled - "An Act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States and for other purposes," do, hereby, certify that the amendment aforesaid has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfive, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth.

Only one of the four possible modes of amending the federal Constitution has been used in actual practice; namely, that of initiation by Congress and ratification by state legislatures. However state legislatures have, on many occasions, proposed calling a convention in the form prescribed by the Constitution, and the following joint resolution by the Oklahoma legislature is a rather unique device for urging an amendment providing for the popular election of senators:

STATE OF OKLAHOMA

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION No. 9.

Relating to the calling of a convention of the States to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States providing for the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the people, and for other purposes, and providing for the appointment of a senatorial election commission of the State of Oklahoma.

Whereas a large number of the State legislatures have at various times adopted memorials and resolutions in favor of the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the people of the respective States; and

Whereas the National House of Representatives has on several different occasions in recent years adopted resolutions in favor of the proposed change in the method of electing United States Senators, which were not adopted by the Senate: Therefore

Be it resolved by the senate and the house of representatives of the State of Oklahoma:

call for a convention.

Section 1. That the legislature of the State of Oklahoma, in The accordance with the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, desires to join with the other States of the Union to respectfully request that a convention of the several States be called for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and hereby apply to and request the Congress of the United States to call such convention and to provide for submitting to the several States the amendments so proposed for ratification by the legislatures thereof, or by conventions therein, as one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress.

Sec. 2. That at said convention the State of Oklahoma will propose, among other amendments, that section 3 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States should be amended to read as follows:

amendment

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two The Senators from each State, chosen by the electors thereof, as the governor is chosen, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. They shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes, so that one-third may be chosen every year; and if vacancies happen by resignation or otherwise the governor may make temporary appointments until the next regular election in such State. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of 30 years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not when elected be an elector of the