By the Governor of Virginia.
a Proclamation.
The Convention of the Commonwealth of Virginia having adopted, on the 17th day of April, 1861, an ordinance ‘"to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution;"’ and by the schedule thereto annexed, required polls to be opened for the ratification or rejection of the same by the people of this State, on the 4th Thursday in May next: Now, therefore, I, John Letcher, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, do hereby proclaim that the annexed is an authentic copy of said Ordinance and Schedule, and that all officers designated therein are required to conform to its provisions, in every respect. Given under my hand, as Governor, and under the seal of the Commonwealth, at Richmond, this 24th day of April, 1861, and in the 85th year of the Commonwealth.
An Ordinance
To repeal the Ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution. The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the powers granted under the said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States: Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain that the Ordinance adopted by the people of this State, in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified — and all acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution — are hereby repealed and abrogated; that the Union between the State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution aforesaid is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State. And they do further declare that the said Constitution of the United States of America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State. This Ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day when ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a Schedule hereafter to be enacted. Done in Convention, in the city of Richmond, on the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty fifth year of the Commonwealth of Virginia. A true Copy.[Schedule.]
- 1. It shall be the duty of the officers conducting the elections directed by law to be held on the fourth Thursday in May next, at the places appointed for holding the same, to open a poll to take the sense of the qualified voters of this Commonwealth, upon the ratification or rejection of ‘"An ordinance to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under the said Constitution,"’ adopted in Convention, at the city of Richmond, on the seventeenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
- 2. The poll-book shall be headed "The Ordinance of Secession, " and shall contain two columns, one headed "For Ratification," and the other "For Rejection," and the names of those who vote for the ratification of the said Ordinance shall be written under the former heading, and the names of those who vote for its rejection shall be written under the latter heading.
- 3. The said officers shall make return of the number of persons voting for each preposition at the time and in the manner provided by law in the case of other elections, and shall forthwith deliver the returns, together with the poll-book, to the Clerks of their respective counties and corporations; and it shall be the duty of such Clerks respectively to transmit immediately to the Governor of the Commonwealth copies of the said returns so delivered to them.
- 4. The Governor shall, without delay, make proclamation of the result, stating therein the aggregate vote for and against the ratification, to be published in such newspapers in the State as may be deemed requisite for general information; and if a majority of said votes be cast for the ratification of the said Ordinance, he shall annex to his proclamation a copy thereof, together with this Schedule.
- 5. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall cause to be sent to the Clerks of each county and corporation as many copies of this Schedule and Ordinance aforesaid as there are places of voting therein, and three copies to each of the military commanders, hereinafter referred to, using special messengers for that purpose when necessary. And it shall be the duty of said Clerks to deliver the same to the Sheriffs for distribution, whose duty it shall be forthwith to post the said copies at some public place in each election district.
- 6. The expenses incurred in providing poll-books, and in procuring writers to enter the names of the voters therein, shall be defrayed as in the case of the election of members to the General Assembly.
- 7. The qualified voters of the Commonwealth, who may be absent from the counties or corporations of their residence, on the day of election, in the military service of the State, may vote for the ratification or rejection of the said Ordinance at such place or places within their encampment, or, as the commander at such encampment shall designate, whether the said encampment shall be within the limits of this State or not. For each place of voting he shall appoint a superintendent, three commissioners, and as many clerks as shall be necessary, who, after having been first duly sworn by him, shall perform the duties required of, and be liable to the penalties imposed upon, such officers under the election laws of this State.
- 8. The officers conducting the said election shall, on the day after the election, or as soon thereafter as may be, deliver the poll-books to their said commander, who shall forthwith forward the same to the Governor of this Commonwealth, who shall count the said votes in ascertaining the result of the said election in the State.
- 9. That the election for members of Congress for this State to the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, required by law to be held on the 4th Thursday in May next, is hereby suspended and prohibited until otherwise ordained by this Convention.
