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  1. Overview: United States Fifteenth Amendment
  2. Full Record: United States Fifteenth Amendment
  3. Committee:The Senate
  4. Session: 1867-07-03 12:00:00
  5. Event type: CREATE

United States Fifteenth Amendment

The Senate

The Senate of the Fortieth Session of Congress

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Document introduced in:

Session 6538: 1867-07-03 12:00:00

S. 123, S. 124, S. 125, S. 126, and S. 129 are proposed

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S. 124

There are 0 proposed amendments related to this document on which decisions have not been taken.

A Bill

To enforce the several provisions of the Constitution abolishing slavery, declaring the immunities of citizens, and guaranteeing a republican form of government, by securing the elective franchise to colored citizens.

Whereas the Constitution of the United States abolishes slavery everywhere within the jurisdiction thereof, so that all constitutions, laws, or regulations of any State or Territory in aid of slavery, or growing out of the same, are null and void; and whereas the same Constitution, in another provision, recently adopted, declares that “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;” and whereas, also, Congress is empowered by appropriate legislation to enforce these several provisions, which cannot be done without securing the elective franchise to citizens who have been slaves, or who are the descendants of slaves, or who are deprived of equal rights by reason of race or color; and whereas, further, it is expressly declared in the Constitution that the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government, and it is plain that any inequality of rights is inconsistent with a republican form of government and the promises of the Declaration of Independence: Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every citizen of the United States, although he may have been a slave or is the descendant of a slave, or by reason of race or color is deprived of equal rights, shall, in every State and Territory, have the right, if not otherwise disqualified, to be registered to vote at all elections for members of Congress, for presidential electors, for representatives and senators to State or Territorial legislature, for all State, county, city, town, and other officers of every kind, upon the same terms and conditions, and no others, as white citizens are, and may be allowed to be registered to vote; and every provision of every State and territorial constitution, statute, and ordinance which is now or hereafter may be enacted, and every custom and principle of law heretofore recognized in any State or Territory, contrary to the foregoing provisions, are hereby declared null and void.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall willfully hinder or obstruct, or attempt to hinder or obstruct, any citizen once a slave, or the descendant of a slave, or not belonging to the so-called white race, from being registered or voting at any time when he is entitled to be registered or to vote according to the provisions of the foregoing section, shall be punished by a fine not less than one hundred nor more than three thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the common jail for not less than thirty days, nor more than one year.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every person legally engaged in preparing any register of voters, or in holding or conducting any election to which the first section of this bill is applicable, who shall willfully refuse to register the name or to receive, count, return, or otherwise give the proper legal effect to the vote of any citizen once a slave, or the descendant of a slave, or not belonging to the so-called white race, shall be punished by a fine not less than five hundred nor more than four thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the common jail for not less than three calendar months, nor more than two years.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the district courts of the United States within their respective districts shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all offences committed against this act; and the district attorneys, marshals, and deputy marshals of the United States, the commissioners appointed by the circuit and territorial courts of the United States, with powers of arresting, imprisoning, or bailing offenders against the laws of the United States, the officers and agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and every other officer who may be specially empowered by the President of the United States, shall be, and they are hereby, specially authorized and required, at the expense of the United States, to institute proceedings against any person who shall violate the provisions of this act, and cause him to be arrested and imprisoned or bailed, as the case may be, for trial before such court of the United States or territorial court as by this act has cognizance of the offence.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That every citizen once a slave, or the descendant of a slave, or not belonging to the so-called white race, who shall be unlawfully deprived of the right to be registered or to vote, may maintain a suit against any person so depriving him, and recover damages in the district court of the United States for the district in which such a person may be found.

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