. Voting in the field; a forgotten chapter of the civil war . d spirit of our Constitution. The bill was general. It applied to the electionof State officers as well as to the election of repre-sentatives in Congress and presidential electors, butthe attention of the Court does not seem to havebeen directed to a distinction between the constitu-tionality of an act authorizing votes for electors andrepresentatives in Court, and the constitutionality of anact authorizing votes for State officers. So far as I canascertain, this distinction was not taken by anybodyat that time. This opinion of the
. Voting in the field; a forgotten chapter of the civil war . d spirit of our Constitution. The bill was general. It applied to the electionof State officers as well as to the election of repre-sentatives in Congress and presidential electors, butthe attention of the Court does not seem to havebeen directed to a distinction between the constitu-tionality of an act authorizing votes for electors andrepresentatives in Court, and the constitutionality of anact authorizing votes for State officers. So far as I canascertain, this distinction was not taken by anybodyat that time. This opinion of the Court was receivedand read on June 29, and on July 3, the bill andthe majority and minority reports of the JudiciaryCommittee upon it, were referred to the next sessionof the Legislature, and the opinion of the SupremeCourt was placed on file in the office of the Secretaryof State. Thus ended the attempt to authorizesoldiers voting in 1863. At the regular session of the Legislature in June,1864, the Governor again recommended a soldiersvoting bill, saying:. 7\ NEW HAMPSHIRE 207 I regret exceedingly that at the last session of theLegislature measures were not taken to so amend theConstitution of the State as to secure this right to allsoldiers without withdrawing them from the field of activeoperations. Such an amendment has lately been adoptedby the State of New York, and I would urge a similaramendment to our Constitution as an act of mere jus-tice to our noble soldiers. I cannot understand why amans loyalty should disfranchise him, nor do I believe theliberties of the nation are safer in other hands, than inthose of men who have taken up arms to defend them. Nothing was done about the matter, however, atthe regular session, except to postpone indefinitelythe bill which had been held unconstitutional by theCourt in 1863, and referred to the next session. Butat the extra session in August, 1864, a bill was pre-sented in the House to enable soldiers to vote in thefield for elec
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