Doc. 173. Government for North Carolina.
The Provisional State Government for North Carolina was formally instituted on the 18th of November, by a Convention of delegates and proxies representing forty-five counties of the State. The following ordinances were unanimously adopted:By the People of the State of North Carolina, as represented in Convention at Hatteras, Monday, Nov. 18, 1861.
Be it ordained by this Convention, and it is hereby ordained and published by the authority of the same:
I. That this Convention, on behalf of the people of North Carolina, and acknowledging the Constitution of the United States of America as the supreme law of the land, hereby declares vacant all State offices, the incumbents of which have disqualified themselves to hold them by violating their oaths to support the Federal Constitution.
II. That the office of Governor of this Commonwealth having been vacated by the death of John W. Ellis, and by the active treason to the Union of his constitutional successor, Acting Governor Clark, therefore Marble Nash Taylor be hereby appointed and declared Provisional Governor of North Carolina.
III. That the Constitution of this State and its amendments, together with the statutes and laws thereof, as contained in the Revised Code put in operation January 1, 1856, be declared continued in full force; also such subsequent [400] acts of the General Assembly as were not adopted in contravention of the National Constitution, or in derogation of its authority.
IV. That the ordinance of the Convention which assembled at Raleigh on the 20th of May last, proclaiming the secession of this Commonwealth from the Federal Union, such secession being legally impossible, is of no force or effect; and said ordinance, together with all other ordinances and acts of said Convention, or of the General Assembly, made and done in pursuance of the treasonable purposes of the conspirators against the Union, is hereby declared ab initio null and void.
V. That whereas it is desirable that this State shall be represented in the Federal Congress, and maintain her due weight in the councils of the Union, therefore the Provisional Governor be directed hereby to order special elections, in accordance with chapter sixty-nine of the Revised Code, as soon as practicable and expedient, in any district or districts now unrepresented. And, in view of the prevalence of armed rebellion and disorder in many portions of this Commonwealth, the Governor is hereby directed to issue his certificates of election upon presentation of such evidence as shall satisfy him of the fact of an election.
VI. That the Governor be authorized and empowered to fill such official vacancies by temporary appointment, and to do such acts as, in the exercise of a sound discretion, he may deem expedient for the safety and good order of the State.
The Convention adjourned, subject to be reassembled upon the call of the President.
Gov. Taylor's proclamation. State of North Carolina, Executive Department.
