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  1. Overview: United States Fourteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act of 1866
  2. Full Record: United States Fourteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act of 1866
  3. Committee:Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction
  4. Session: 1866-04-23 10:00:00
  5. Event type: CREATE

United States Fourteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act of 1866

An amendment to the Constitution of the United States that granted citizenship and equal rights, both civil and legal, to Black Americans, including those who had been emancipated by the thirteenth amendment.

Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction

A special joint committee made up of nine members from the House of Representatives six members of the Senate. This committee was formed to inquire into the condition of the states in rebellion.

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Document introduced in:

Session 5630: 1866-04-23 10:00:00

The Joint Committee meets; the plan of reconstruction is further divided; the bill to provide for the restoration to the States lately in insurrection of their full political rights (part of the divided plan) is considered.

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A Bill to Provide for the Restoration to the States Lately in Insurrection of Their Full Political Rights

There are 2 proposed amendments related to this document on which decisions have not been taken.

A Bill to provide for the restoration to the states lately in insurrection of their full political rights.

Whereas, It is expedient that the states lately in insurrection should, at the earliest day consistent with the future peace and safety of the Union, be restored to full participation in all political rights;

And, whereas, the Congress did, by joint resolution, propose for ratification to the legislatures of the several states, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, an article in the following words, to wit:

"Article—

Section 1. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State excluding Indians not taxed. But whenever in any State the elective franchise shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens, not less than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age.

Sec. 3. Until the fourth day of July, in the year 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Congress and for electors for President and Vice-President of the United States.

Sec. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of insurrection, or of war against the United States, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor.

Sec. 5. Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."

Now, therefore,

Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the above recited amendment shall have become part of the Constitution, and any state lately in insurrection shall have ratified the same, and shall have modified its constitution and laws in conformity therewith, the Senators and Representatives from such state, if found duly elected and qualified, may, after having taken the required oaths of office, be admitted into Congress as such.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That when any state lately in insurrection shall have ratified the foregoing proposed amendment to the Constitution, any part of the direct tax under the act of August 5, 1861, which may remain due and unpaid in such state, may be assumed and paid by such state; and the payment thereof, upon proper assurances from such state, to be given to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, may be postponed for a period not exceeding ten years from and after the passage of this act.

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