1-1  By:  Hunter (Senate Sponsor - Truan)                  H.C.R. No. 30
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House April 20, 1995;
    1-3  April 25, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  International Relations, Trade, and Technology; April 26, 1995,
    1-5  reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0;
    1-6  April 26, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-7                      HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-8        WHEREAS, In response to an Act of Congress approved April 10,
    1-9  1869, the 12th Legislature of the State of Texas convened in
   1-10  Provisional Session from February 8 to February 24, 1870, and
   1-11  ratified Amendments XIII, XIV, and XV to the United States
   1-12  Constitution; and
   1-13        WHEREAS, Those federal constitutional amendments, each
   1-14  ratified by separate joint resolutions of the 12th Legislature on
   1-15  February 15, 1870, solidified some of the most precious rights that
   1-16  have been guaranteed constitutionally to Americans, particularly
   1-17  ethnic minorities who were granted the blessings of equal
   1-18  citizenship and the beginning of an end to their past oppression;
   1-19  and
   1-20        WHEREAS, Amendment XIII eliminated forever the practice of
   1-21  slavery, Amendment XIV promised due process and the equal
   1-22  protection of the laws, and Amendment XV prohibited denial of
   1-23  suffrage on the grounds of race, color, or previous condition of
   1-24  servitude; and
   1-25        WHEREAS, Over time, copies of the three resolutions
   1-26  regrettably have vanished from the holdings of the Texas state
   1-27  archives, yet others are preserved in Washington, D.C., by virtue
   1-28  of their certification and transmittal to the Secretary of State of
   1-29  the United States and to the presiding officers of the United
   1-30  States Congress; and
   1-31        WHEREAS, The 1995 Regular Session of the 74th Legislature
   1-32  coincides with the 125th anniversary of these historic ratification
   1-33  actions and marks an appropriate time for the conveyance to this
   1-34  state of replicas of the three resolutions so that Texans may view
   1-35  and appreciate a series of documents that have played such an
   1-36  important role in the extension and elaboration of their civil
   1-37  rights; now, therefore, be it
   1-38        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas,
   1-39  Regular Session, 1995, hereby respectfully request the National
   1-40  Archives and Records Administration to make copies of the joint
   1-41  resolutions of the 12th Texas Legislature ratifying  Amendments
   1-42  XIII, XIV, and XV to the United States Constitution and transmit
   1-43  those copies to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for
   1-44  placement in the state archives; and, be it further
   1-45        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of
   1-46  this resolution to the archivist of the United States at the
   1-47  National Archives and Records Administration, to the vice-president
   1-48  of the United States and speaker of the United States House of
   1-49  Representatives with a request that this resolution be officially
   1-50  entered in the Congressional Record, and to all members of the
   1-51  Texas delegation to the United States Congress, as an official
   1-52  request to the federal government by the 74th Legislature of the
   1-53  State of Texas; and, be it further
   1-54        RESOLVED, That if and when such replicas are received from
   1-55  the National Archives and Records Administration, the Texas State
   1-56  Library and Archives Commission be hereby directed to place them in
   1-57  the holdings of the state archives to be available for public
   1-58  viewing and photocopying and in all other respects to be treated as
   1-59  any other material worthy of archival storage and retrieval.
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