The President announced to the Cabinet that after full deliberation he concurred with the majority upon the sections of the summary upon which the Secretary of War expressed his dissent, and that he concurred with the Cabinet upon those sections approved by unanimous vote; that as it appeared the military commanders entertained doubts upon the points covered by the summary, and as their action hitherto had not been uniform, he deemed it proper, without further delay, to communicate in a general order[27] to the respective commanders the points set forth in the summary.

[Footnote 27:  See Executive order of June 20, 1867, pp. 552-556.]

VETO MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, March 23, 1867.

To the House of Representatives: 

I have considered the bill entitled “An act supplementary to an act entitled ’An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,’ passed March 2, 1867, and to facilitate restoration,” and now return it to the House of Representatives with my objections.

This bill provides for elections in the ten States brought under the operation of the original act to which it is supplementary.  Its details are principally directed to the elections for the formation of the State constitutions, but by the sixth section of the bill “all elections” in these States occurring while the original act remains in force are brought within its purview.  Referring to these details, it will be found that, first of all, there is to be a registration of the voters.  No one whose name has not been admitted on the list is to be allowed to vote at any of these elections.  To ascertain who is entitled to registration, reference is made necessary, by the express language of the supplement, to the original act and to the pending bill.  The fifth section of the original act provides, as to voters, that they shall be “male citizens of the State, 21 years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been residents of said State for one year.”  This is the general qualification, followed, however, by many exceptions.  No one can be registered, according to the original act, “who may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion”—­a provision which left undetermined the question as to what amounted to disfranchisement, and whether without a judicial sentence the act itself produced that effect.  This supplemental bill superadds an oath, to be taken by every person before his name can be admitted upon the registration, that he has “not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States.”  It thus imposes upon every person the necessity and responsibility of deciding for himself, under the peril of punishment by a military commission if he makes a mistake, what works disfranchisement by participation in rebellion and what amounts to such participation.  Almost every man—­the