By Hunter of Taylor                                   H.C.R. No. 30
       74R2454 CCK-D
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, In response to an Act of Congress approved April 10,
    1-2  1869, the 12th Legislature of the State of Texas convened in
    1-3  Provisional Session from February 8 to February 24, 1870, and
    1-4  ratified Amendments XIII, XIV, and XV to the United States
    1-5  Constitution; and
    1-6        WHEREAS, Those federal constitutional amendments, each
    1-7  ratified by separate joint resolutions of the 12th Legislature on
    1-8  February 15, 1870, solidified some of the most precious rights that
    1-9  have been guaranteed constitutionally to Americans, particularly
   1-10  ethnic minorities who were granted the blessings of equal
   1-11  citizenship and the beginning of an end to their past oppression;
   1-12  and
   1-13        WHEREAS, Amendment XIII eliminated forever the practice of
   1-14  slavery, Amendment XIV promised due process and the equal
   1-15  protection of the laws, and Amendment XV prohibited denial of
   1-16  suffrage on the grounds of race, color, or previous condition of
   1-17  servitude; and
   1-18        WHEREAS, Over time, copies of the three resolutions
   1-19  regrettably have vanished from the holdings of the Texas state
   1-20  archives, yet others are preserved in Washington, D.C., by virtue
   1-21  of their certification and transmittal to the Secretary of State of
   1-22  the United States and to the presiding officers of the United
   1-23  States Congress; and
   1-24        WHEREAS, The 1995 Regular Session of the 74th Legislature
    2-1  coincides with the 125th anniversary of these historic ratification
    2-2  actions and marks an appropriate time for the conveyance to this
    2-3  state of replicas of the three resolutions so that Texans may view
    2-4  and appreciate a series of documents that have played such an
    2-5  important role in the extension and elaboration of their civil
    2-6  rights; now, therefore, be it
    2-7        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas,
    2-8  Regular Session, 1995, hereby respectfully request the National
    2-9  Archives and Records Administration to make copies of the joint
   2-10  resolutions of the 12th Texas Legislature ratifying  Amendments
   2-11  XIII, XIV, and XV to the United States Constitution and transmit
   2-12  those copies to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for
   2-13  placement in the state archives; and, be it further
   2-14        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of
   2-15  this resolution to the archivist of the United States at the
   2-16  National Archives and Records Administration, to the vice-president
   2-17  of the United States and speaker of the United States House of
   2-18  Representatives with a request that this resolution be officially
   2-19  entered in the Congressional Record, and to all members of the
   2-20  Texas delegation to the United States Congress, as an official
   2-21  request to the federal government by the 74th Legislature of the
   2-22  State of Texas; and, be it further
   2-23        RESOLVED, That if and when such replicas are received from
   2-24  the National Archives and Records Administration, the Texas State
   2-25  Library and Archives Commission be hereby directed to place them in
   2-26  the holdings of the state archives to be available for public
   2-27  viewing and photocopying and in all other respects to be treated as
    3-1  any other material worthy of archival storage and retrieval.