CXI.
CXI. GILBERT C. WALKER.
CXI. Provisional Governor.
CXI. April 21, 1869, to January 1, 1870.
CXI. Governor.
January 1, 1870, to January 1, 1874.
Gilbert Carleton Walker was born in Binghamton,
New York, August 1, 1832. Enjoying early tuition at Binghamton
Academy, he entered first, Williams College, Massachusetts,
and subsequently Hamilton College, New York,
graduating from the latter institution in July, 1854. Having
adopted law as his profession, he was admitted to the bar in
September, 1855, and commenced practice in Oswego, New
York. He at once entered the arena of politics, serving in
1858 as a member of the State Democratic Convention. In
1859 he removed to Chicago, Illinois, continuing the practice
of his profession and participating also in the political questions
of the day. In 1864 he moved to Virginia and located
in Norfolk, where he soon became the president of a bank, "The
Exchange National," and held also, there, other positions of
honor and trust. Subsequently he removed his residence to
Richmond, Virginia, and in January, 1869, was elected on
the Liberal Republican ticket, Governor of Virginia, by a
majority of 18,000 votes. On the 21st of April following he
was appointed by General Canby, Provisional Governor of
Virginia, to succeed General Henry H. Wells, the State not
having then been re-admitted into the Union. He thus acted
until January 1, 1870, when he entered upon the regular
gubernatorial term (under the State Constitution of 1869) of
four years, to which he had been duly elected.
On January 1, 1874, he was succeeded by General James
Lawson Kemper as Governor.
In 1875 Governor Walker was elected to the Forty-fourth
Congress from the Third District of Virginia, as a Conservative,
and served as chairman of the Committee on Education
and Labor. In 1877 he was re-elected to Congress as a Democrat,
and served on the Committee on the Revision of the
Laws of the United States.
In 1881 Governor Walker removed to his native place,
Binghamton, New York, but later, settled in New York City,
enjoying there a lucrative practice. His gifts were many,
and his prepossessing appearance, his gracious manner, and
varied acquirements made him an acceptable and persuasive
speaker before literary and scientific bodies, as well as an
able debater in the field of law and politics.
The following Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia
occurred during Governor Walker's provisional administration.
They are a part of the story of Reconstruction days:
AN ACT
To ratify the Joint Resolution of Congress, passed June 16, 1866, proposing
an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Approved October 8, 1869.
Whereas, it is provided by the Constitution of the United States of
America, that Congress may, whenever two thirds of both Houses deem it
necessary, propose amendments to the same, to be ratified by the Legislatures
of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions therein, as
the one or the other mode may be proposed by Congress;
And, whereas, by the Congress of the United States, on the sixteenth
day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, the following
joint resolution was adopted:
"Be it 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 as part of the Constitution, namely:
ARTICLE XIV.
"Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
"Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the
right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and
Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive
and judicial officers of a State, or the Members of the Legislature
thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State being
twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way
abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of
representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number
of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens
twenty-one years of age in such State."
"Section 3. No person shall be a Senator, or Representative in Congress,
or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil
or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
previously taken an oath as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of the
United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive
or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or
given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a
vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability."
"Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection and rebellion, shall not
be questioned; but neither the United States nor any State shall assume
or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion
against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any
slave; but all such debts, obligations, or claims, shall be held illegal and
void."
"Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this Article."
Therefore, be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
the aforesaid amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America
be, and the same is, hereby ratified.
AN ACT
To ratify the Joint Resolution of Congress, passed February 27, 1869, proposing
an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Approved October 8, 1869.
Whereas, it is provided by the Constitution of the United States of
America, that Congress may, whenever two thirds of both Houses deem it
necessary, propose amendments to the same, to be ratified by the Legislatures
of three fourths of the several States, or by conventions therein, as
the one or the other mode may be proposed by Congress.
And, whereas, by the Fortieth Congress of the United States, at the
third session thereof, begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday
the seventh day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, it
was
"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 as
part of the Constitution, namely:
ARTICLE XV.
"Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
"Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by
appropriate legislation."
Therefore, be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
the aforesaid amendment to the Constitution of the United States be, and
the same is, hereby ratified.
See Note D, Appendix, on "Reconstruction."
