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13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (1865-1869)
Abraham Lincoln and his Republican supporters in Congress moved quickly at the war's end to cement the abolition of slavery into the fundamental law of the land, the Constitution. The first of three amendments, the 13th was passed in 1865 to abolish slavery, ending any hope that human property might be returned to their former owners. When Congress took over Reconstruction of the South from President Johnson in 1866, they began with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the 14th amendment. While it did not grant the slaves the right to vote, it prohibited states from abridging the "privileges and immunities of citizens" or denying them "equal protection of the law." While the federal government lacked the power and the will to enforce the full implications of this guarantee, later courts and agencies would base major extensions of civil rights on this constitutional principle. The last amendment of this period was the 15th which Congress passed in 1869. It guaranteed the right to vote for citizens regardless of race. The was the single most important right of citizenship for which abolitionist had fought for four decades, although its explicit exclusion of women produced bitter disappointment among female suffrage supporters and created a permanent split in the abolitionist movement. Taken together, these amendments were nothing short of a "great Constitutional revolution" that broke the connection between citizenship and race and put the national government at the center of struggles for freedom.
Thirty-Eighth Congress of the United States of America;
At the second Session,
Begun and held at the city of Washington, on Monday, the fifth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
A Resolution
Submitting to the legislature of the several States a proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States.
Resolved Resolved by the Senate and House Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both houses concurring), that the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely: Article XIII. Section I. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Schuyler Colfax
Speaker of the House of Representatives
H. Hamlin
Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate
Abraham Lincoln
Approved February 1, 1865.
ARTICLE XIV
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 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.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Attest.
Schuyler Colfax
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Edward McPherson
Clerk of the House of Representatives
La Fayette S. Foster
President of the Senate pro tempore
John W. Forney
Secretary of the Senate
Fortieth Congress of the United States of America;
At the third Session,
Begun and held at the city of Washington, on Monday, the seventh day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
A Resolution
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses concurring) that the following article be proposed to the legislature of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely: Article XV.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Schuyler Colfax
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Benjamin F. Wade
President of the Senate pro tempore
Edward McPherson
Clerk of the House of Representatives
George C. Gorham
Secretary of the Senate
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