United States History Student Edition

Section 27. All persons who, as alien enemies under the sequestration act of the so-called Confederate Congress, and now resident of the State, had property sequestered and sold by any person acting under a law of the so-called Confederate States, in the State of Florida, subsequent to the 10th day of January, A. D. 1861, and prior to the first day of May, A. D. 1865, shall be empowered to file a bill in equity in the Circuit Court of the State, and shall be entitled to obtain judgment against the State for all damages sustained by said sale and detention of property. The Court shall estimate the damages upon the assessed valuation of the property in question in the year A. D. 1860, with interest at six per cent. from the time the owner was deprived of the same. But all judgments against the State shall be paid only in certificates of indebtedness, redeemable in State lands. Said certificates shall be issued by the Governor, countersigned by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller, upon the decree of the court. Oral testimony shall be sufficient to establish the fact of a sale having been made. Section 28. There shall be no civil or political distinction in this State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and the Legislature shall have no power to prohibit, by law, any class of persons on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, to vote or hold any office, beyond the conditions prescribed by this Constitution.

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