Viewing page 43 of 45

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

72
Be if further ordained: That it shall be the duty of the Legislation at its next Session, to pass such laws as will protect the Freedmen of this State in the full enjoyment of all their rights of person and property, and guard them and the State against evils that may "arise from their sudden emancipation". 
"Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled: That all marriages between Freedmen and Freedwomen whether in a state of slavery or since their emancipation. Therefore solemnized by any one acting or officiating as Minister, or any one claiming to exercise the right to solemnized the rites of matrimony whether bond or free, are hereby satisfied and made valid provided the parties are now living together as man and wife: and in all cases of Freedmen and Freedwomen, who are now living together, recognizing each other as man and wife, and be it ordained, that the same are hereby declared to be man and wife, and bound by the legal obligations of such relationship."
"Be it further ordained: That the issue of each marriage or cohabitation are hereby legitimatized  and shall be held to the same relations and obligations from and to their parents as if born in lawful wedlock." 
"Be it further ordained: That the fathers of children born without the father and mother having lived together as man and wife, or when they have heretofore lived together as man and wife, and have ceased to do so, shall be required to take care of such children, as in the case of bastards, under the law of the State, and such laws on this subject as may be here after enacted by the General Assembly."
"Be it further ordained; - That hereafter Freedman and Freedwoman, shall be bound by the same laws of inter-marriage, and be required to conform to similar ceremonies with the exception that they shall not be required to give bond in marrying, as in the case of whites, until otherwise enacted by the General Assembly."
"Be it further ordained; That the General Assembly shall be and are hereby invested with full powers to provide for 

73

the maintenance and support of the Freedmen and women and children of the State of Alabama."
"Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled: That Article 3 of the Constitution of 1819 be amended by adding the following thereto;"
"Section 34 - That it shall be the duty of the General Assembly of this State at its first session and thereafter as it shall deem proper, to pass a law or laws prohibiting the intermarriage of white persons with negroes or  persons with mixed blood, and declaring such marriages null and void, [[?]] and making the parties to any such marriage, subject to criminal prosecution, with such penalties as the General Assembly may prescribe."
Be it ordained; by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled: - That Article 3, chapter 4, Tiotle 13 and Part 1 of the Code of Alabama in relation to free colored mariners, be and the same are hereby declared null & void" (Required for colored mariners to be in jail while vessal is in port)
"Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled; - That the civil officers now and heretofore acting as the Agents of the Freedmen." Bureau in this State under the Proclamation of the Provisional Governor, be and the same are hereby required to continue to discharge the duties there of, under the rules and regulations heretofore prescribed until the adjournment of the next session of the General Assembly."
"Be it ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled; - That the connection between freedmen and freedwomen as husband and wife, when entered into by their voluntary consent and so acknowledged by them selves and understood by their neighbors, be hereby ratified and confirmed as if they had been married agreeably to the laws of this State."
The ordinances continuing the Agencies of the Bureau is to administer the las of this State, except so far as those laws make a distinction on account of color, passed by a vote of fifty nine to sixteen, of which I advised you by telegraph. On the other, there was no division.
An ordinance providing for the support of infirm freedmen,

Transcription Notes:
There are two pages - marked 72 and 73 in the corners - in my transcription I marked them as such in order to be able to separate the pages. Please remove/edit if done incorrectly.