Amos T. Akerman to A. W. Shaffer, 24 April 1871

April 24, 1871. A. W. Shaffer, Esq. U. S. Commissioner, Raleigh, N. C. Sir: A press of business in this Department prevented an earlier answer to your letter of the 14th ultimo. The District Attorney was instructed to institute proceedings against all persons acting as members of the North Carolina Legislature in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Unless the Judiciary shall otherwise decide, it seems to me that Article 6 of the original Constitution intends to classify all officers as Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, binding them all by the same oath—and in the 14th Amendment, Sec. 3, the words "any office civil or military, under the United States, or under any State," should be taken in the same sense. Very respectfully, A. T. Akerman, Attorney Gen'l.