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Affirmative action
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Affirmative action
Affirmative action by state
Affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws
Affirmative action and anti-discrimination lawsuits
Civil Rights Human activity of 1866
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Consideration of race in college admissions
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The Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared all persons born in the United states to exist citizens, "without distinction of race or color, or previous status of slavery or involuntary servitude." Although President Andrew Johnson vetoed the legislation, that veto was overturned by the 39th United States Congress and the bill became police. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was the nation's first ceremonious rights law.[1]

Background

Under President Andrew Johnson'southward (D) Reconstruction policy, the former Amalgamated states were required to maintain abolitionism, swear loyalty to the The states, and pay their state of war debts in lodge to rejoin the Union. Under Johnson'southward Reconstruction policy, southern states adopted and enacted a series of laws "designed to restrict freed blacks' activity and ensure their availability every bit a labor force." Although these laws recognized certain liberties, they largely denied black citizens equal protection under the law. For instance, these laws restricted property, contract, and labor rights for black citizens. Republican lawmakers in the U.s.a. Congress, who "believed the federal government had a function in shaping a multiracial society in the postwar Due south," opposed Johnson's plan for Reconstruction and sought a different approach.[two] [3] [iv]

Legislative history

Senator Lyman Trumbull (R-Illinois) introduced the bill in the United States Senate on January 5, 1866. On February 2, 1866, the Senate voted to approve the bill 33-12. On March xiii, 1866, the United States House of Representatives approved the legislation by a vote of 111-38, with 34 members non voting. Representative William Lawrence (R-Ohio), a member of the House Judiciary Commission, said the following in support of the deed:[5]

" There are sure absolute rights which pertain to every citizen, which are inherent, and of which a Land cannot constitutionally deprive him. But not only are those rights inherent and indestructible, merely the means whereby they may be possessed and enjoyed are as so. ... Every citizen, therefore, has the absolute right to live, the right of personal security, personal freedom, and the right to acquire and enjoy property. These are rights of citizenship. Equally necessary incidents of these rights there are others, as the right to make and enforce contracts, to buy, hold, and bask property, and to share the benefit of laws for the security of person and property.[6] "
—Representative William Lawrence

On March 27, 1866, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act. Johnson wrote the following in his veto statement:[7]

" In all our history, in all our experience equally a people living under Federal and Land law, no such system every bit that contemplated by the details of this bill has ever before been proposed or adopted. They constitute for the security of the colored race safeguards which get indefinitely beyond any that the General Government has always provided for the white race. In fact, the distinction of race and color is by the nib made to operate in favor of the colored confronting the white race. They interfere with the municipal legislation of the States; with relations existing exclusively between a State and its citizens, or betwixt inhabitants of the same State; an absorption and assumption of power past the General Regime which, if acquiesced in, must sap and destroy our federative system of limited power, and break down the barriers which preserve the rights of the states.[vi] "
—President Andrew Johnson

On April half dozen, 1866, the Senate voted 33-fifteen to override Johnson's veto. The Firm followed suit on Apr 9, 1866, by a vote of 122-41, with 21 members not voting. Equally a effect, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 became law.[viii]

Key features

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 is notable for being the nation'due south beginning civil rights law. The human action established that all persons born in the The states, regardless of race, color, or "previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude," were entitled to bones rights of citizenship "in every state and territory in the United states." The law further declared that all such individuals were entitled to the following specific rights:[1]

  1. "to make and enforce contracts"
  2. "to sue, be parties, and give evidence" in court
  3. "to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property"
  4. "to full and equal do good of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, every bit is enjoyed past white citizens, and shall be subject area to like penalty, pains, and penalties, and to none other"

The law also provided for the conviction and punishment of individuals who violated the law.[i]

Later developments

The Ceremonious Rights of 1866 did non address political rights, which include the correct to vote and the correct to concur public part. The Fifteenth Amendment of the U.s. Constitution, ratified in February 1870, guaranteed to all United states of america citizens the right to vote regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Even then, according to the National Constitution Center, the Fifteenth Amendment "had fiddling touch on for near a century because states imposed poll taxes, literacy tests, and other restrictions that kept African Americans from voting." Subsequent legislative actions in the 20th century, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Human activity of 1965, were taken to address this problem.[2] [9]

See likewise

  • Affirmative action
  • Voting Rights Act

External links

  • PBS, "The 1866 Civil Rights Act," December 19, 2003
  • The Yale Constabulary Periodical, "The Enforcement Provisions of the Ceremonious Rights Act of 1866: A Legislative History in Light of Runyon v. McCrary," accessed July 8, 2015

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 one.one one.ii Library of Congress, "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875," accessed July 8, 2021
  2. ↑ two.0 2.1 Encyclopedia.com, "Civil Rights Act of 1866," accessed July eight, 2015
  3. ↑ PBS, 'Black Codes and Sus scrofa Laws," accessed July eight, 2015
  4. ↑ History.com, "Black Codes," accessed July 8, 2015
  5. ↑ The Yale Constabulary Journal, "The Enforcement Provisions of the Ceremonious Rights Deed of 1866: A Legislative History in Light of Runyon v. McCrary," accessed July 8, 2015
  6. ↑ 6.0 half dozen.ane Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Whatsoever inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  7. ↑ TeachingAmericanHistory.org, "Veto of the Ceremonious Rights Beak, Andrew Johnson," accessed July 8, 2015
  8. ↑ United States House of Representatives–History, Art and Athenaeum," accessed July eight, 2015
  9. ↑ National Constitution Center, "Subpoena XV," accessed July 8, 2015