Johnson, a Democrat and former slaveholder from Tennessee , supported emancipation, but he differed greatly from the Republican-controlled Congress in his view of how Reconstruction should proceed. Johnson showed relative leniency toward the former Confederate states as they were reintroduced into the Union.
But many northerners were outraged when the newly elected southern state legislatures—largely dominated by former Confederate leaders—enacted black codes , which were repressive laws that strictly regulated the behavior of Black citizens and effectively kept them dependent on white planters. In creating the Civil Rights Act of , Congress was using the authority given it to enforce the newly ratified 13th Amendment , which abolished slavery, and protect the rights of Black Americans.
Johnson vetoed the bill, and though Congress successfully overrode his veto and made it into law in April —the first time in history that Congress overrode a presidential veto of a major bill—even some Republicans thought another amendment was necessary to provide firm constitutional grounds for the new legislation.
In late April, Representative Thaddeus Stevens introduced a plan that combined several different legislative proposals civil rights for Black people, how to apportion representatives in Congress, punitive measures against the former Confederate States of America and repudiation of Confederate war debt , into a single constitutional amendment. After the House and Senate both voted on the amendment by June , it was submitted to the states for ratification.
President Johnson made clear his opposition to the 14th Amendment as it made its way through the ratification process, but Congressional elections in late gave Republicans veto-proof majorities in both the House and Senate.
Southern states also resisted, but Congress required them to ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments as a condition of regaining representation in Congress, and the ongoing presence of the Union Army in the former Confederate states ensured their compliance.
On July 9, , Louisiana and South Carolina voted to ratify the 14th Amendment, making up the necessary three-fourths majority.
The opening sentence of Section One of the 14th Amendment defined U. Over time, the Supreme Court has interpreted this clause to guarantee a wide array of rights against infringement by the states, including those enumerated in the Bill of Rights freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, right to bear arms, etc. Section Two of the 14th Amendment repealed the three-fifths clause Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the original Constitution, which counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning congressional representation.
With slavery outlawed by the 13th Amendment, this clarified that all residents, regardless of race, should be counted as one whole person. This section also guaranteed that all male citizens over age 21, no matter their race, had a right to vote.
Southern states continued to deny Black men the right to vote using a collection of state and local statutes during the Jim Crow era.
Subsequent amendments to the Constitution granted women the right to vote and lowered the legal voting age to Section Three of the amendment, gave Congress the authority to bar public officials, who took an oath of allegiance to the U.
Constitution, from holding office if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the Constitution. The intent was to prevent the president from allowing former leaders of the Confederacy to regain power within the U. It states that a two-thirds majority vote in Congress is required to allow public officials who had engaged in rebellion to regain the rights of American citizenship and hold government or military office. It states that: "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.
Section Four of the 14th Amendment prohibited payment of any debt owed to the defunct Confederate States of America.
It also banned any payments to former enslavers as compensation for the loss of human "property" enslaved people. The debate over a new amendment began at the start of a new Congress in December and extended until June of Congress left many of the details to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction -- a special congressional committee comprised of leading members of Congress, including Thaddeus Stevens, John Bingham, and Jacob Howard. Its members sought to set new constitutional baselines for post-Civil War America.
They set out those baselines in the 14th Amendment. The proposal included many of the provisions in the final amendment, including the Equal Protection Clause, the Privileges or Immunities Clause, and the Due Process Clause. It only took the House two days to debate and pass the measure on May 10, Here is a round-up of the latest from the Battle for the Constitution: a special project on the constitutional debates in….
In this session, students learn about voting rights in America through a historical exploration of the right to vote in America. 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.
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. 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.
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. Section 5 The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
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