Congressional Protections of Freedmen

8/8/2019 Congressional Protections of Freedmen

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A Scholarly Analysis of the Civil War Amendmentsby Eric Foner

On June 13, 1866, Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican floor leader in the House ofRepresentatives and the nations most prominent Radical Republican, rose toaddress his Congressional colleagues on the Fourteenth Amendment to theConstitution. Born during George Washingtons administration, Stevens had

enjoyed a career that embodied, as much as any other persons, the struggleagainst slavery and for equal rights for black Americans. In 1837, as a delegate to

Pennsylvaniasconstitutional convention,he had refused to sign thestates new frame ofgovernment because itabrogated AfricanAmericans right to vote.During the Civil War, hewas among the first to

advocate the emancipationof the slaves and theenrollment of blacksoldiers. The most radicalof the Radical Republicans,he even proposedconfiscating the land ofConfederate planters anddistributing small farms tothe former slaves.

Like other RadicalRepublicans, Stevensbelieved thatReconstruction was agolden opportunity to purge

the nation of the legacy of slavery and create a perfect republic, whose citizensenjoyed equal civil and political rights, secured by a powerful and beneficentnational government. In his speech on June 13 he offered an eloquent statementof his political dream -- that the intelligent, pure and just men of this Republic . .. would have so remodeled all our institutions as to have freed them from everyvestige of human oppression, of inequality of rights, of the recognizeddegradation of the poor, and the superior caste of the rich. . . . . Stevenscontinued that the proposed amendment did not fully live up to this vision. Buthe offered his support. Why? I answer, because I live among men and not amongangels. A few moments later, the Fourteenth Amendment was approved by theHouse. It became part of the Constitution in 1868.

The Fourteenth Amendment did not fully satisfy the Radical Republicans. It didnot abolish existing state governments in the South and made no mention of theright to vote for blacks. Indeed it allowed a state to deprive black men of the


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suffrage, so long as it suffered the penalty of a loss of representation in Congressproportionate to the black percentage of its population. (No similar penaltyapplied, however, when women were denied the right to vote, a provision that ledmany advocates of womens rights to oppose ratification of this amendment.)

Nonetheless, the Fourteenth Amendment was the most important constitutionalchange in the nations history since the Bill of Rights. Its heart was the first

section, which declared all persons born or naturalized in the United States(except Indians) to be both national and state citizens, and which prohibited thestates from abridging their privileges and immunities, depriving any person oflife, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying them equalprotection of the laws. In clothing with constitutional authority the principle ofequality before the law regardless of race, enforced by the national government,this amendment permanently transformed the definition of American citizenshipas well as relations between the federal government and the states, and betweenindividual Americans and the nation. We live today in a legal and constitutionalsystem shaped by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Fourteenth Amendment was one of three changes that altered theConstitution during the Civil War and Reconstruction. The ThirteenthAmendment, ratified in 1865, irrevocably abolished slavery throughout theUnited States. The Fifteenth, which became part of the Constitution in 1870,prohibited the states from depriving any person of the right to vote because ofrace (although leaving open other forms of disenfranchisement, including sex,property ownership, literacy, and payment of a poll tax). In between came theReconstruction Act of 1867, which gave the vote to black men in the South andlaunched the short-lived period of Radical Reconstruction, during which, for thefirst time in American history, a genuine interracial democracy flourished.Nothing in all history, wrote the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, equaledthis . . . transformation of four million human beings from . . . the auction-block

to the ballot-box.

These laws and amendments reflected the intersection of two products of theCivil War era a newly empowered national state and the idea of a nationalcitizenry enjoying equality before the law. These legal changes also arose from themilitant demands for equal rights from the former slaves themselves. As soon asthe Civil War ended, and in some places even before, blacks gathered in massmeetings, held conventions, and drafted petitions to the federal government,demanding the same civil and political rights as white Americans. Theirmobilization (given moral authority by the service of 200,000 black men in theUnion army and navy in the last two years of the war) helped to place the

question of black citizenship on the national agenda.

The Reconstruction Amendments, and especially the Fourteenth, transformedthe Constitution from a document primarily concerned with federal-staterelations and the rights of property into a vehicle through which members ofvulnerable minorities could stake a claim to substantive freedom and seekprotection against misconduct by all levels of government. The rewriting of theConstitution promoted a sense of the documents malleability, and suggested that


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the rights of individual citizens were intimately connected to federal power. TheBill of Rights had linked civil liberties and the autonomy of the states. Itslanguage -- "Congress shall make no law" -- reflected the belief that concentratedpower was a threat to freedom. Now, rather than a threat to liberty, the federalgovernment, declared Charles Sumner, the abolitionist Senator fromMassachusetts, had become the custodian of freedom. The ReconstructionAmendments assumed that rights required political power to enforce them. They

not only authorized the federal government to override state actions thatdeprived citizens of equality, but each ended with a clause empowering Congressto "enforce" them with "appropriate legislation." Limiting the privileges ofcitizenship to white men had long been intrinsic to the practice of Americandemocracy. Only in an unparalleled crisis could these limits have beensuperseded, even temporarily, by the vision of an egalitarian republic embracingblack Americans as well as white and presided over by the federal government.


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List of Murders and Outrages Reported tothe Maryland Freedmens Bureau

Assaults

June 26th, 1865 - Lloyd Johnson and James Sims, col'd, testify that they were assaulted by twowhite men named Hobbs and McCauley without provocation, near Elk Ridge Landing, Md., one ofwhom drew a knife and threatened the life of Johnson. On the 3rd of July they were againassaulted in the same manner and Sims was beaten by the same man until Mr. Saffery, theemployer of the colored men, advised them to desist. Hobbs then went into Baltimore andbrought out a gang of Rowdies some of whom displayed knives, pistols and other weapons andthreatened the lives of Sims and Johnson who at once left home and came to Washington.

July 20th, 1865 - Calvert Lee, col'd, testifies that he was severely beaten without cause by RobertNeal on the public road and he would have been shot by Neal, who threatened his life with arevolver but for Neal's son who interfered to prevent the shooting.

July 27th, 1865 - The Assistant Commr. ordered the arrest of W. J. Miner (white man) nearFreedman's village for threatening the lives of colored people, collection of unjust claims &c.

August 8th, 1865 - McVeigh Beverly, a white citizen of Maryland, for the offence of having votedfor Abraham Lincoln, was assaulted on the public road at Port Republic, Calvert Co., Md. byJames and John Brown, who after striking him fired at him with a revolver but missed him, and hefinally escaped by flight. His life had been threatened before by these men and others. Beverlywas also assaulted and beaten with a club July 29th, by John Bond Jr., returned rebel soldier atsame village.

August 9th, 1865 - Isaac Brown, col'd, of Calvert Co., Md. was assaulted at the door of hisresidence by Calvin Robinson, white, after throwing a heavy stick of wood at him threatened toshoot him and sent for his gun for that purpose, whereupon Brown fled. This assault was becauseof Brown's Union sentiments.

August 15th

, 1865 - Isaac Craig, col'd, at a political meeting at Cracklingtown near Bryantown,Charles Co., Md. cheered a speaker who alluded to the Emancipation Proclamation, upon whichHenry Burch, John Moran, Joseph Padgett, Osie Padgett, Kiah Canter, _______ Knighton,

______ Dudley, Samuel Smoot, Peter Nuttle, Frederick Dent (a Magistrate) and Dr. George Muddbeat him till life was nearly extinct and attempted to hang him but desisted.

A few minutes before the outrage last recorded, four (4) of these men badly beat MarshallWilkeson (white) a discharged soldier for having declared himself a Union man.

Richard Butler, col'd, testifies that on the 16th of August 1865 at St. Joseph's Church, St. Mary'sCo., Md. he was struck with the butt of a whip by John L. Loyd and also with Loyd's fist, withoutany provocation in presence of Robert Alvey, Constable, who did not interfere to prevent orrebuke it.

Milly Sewell, col'd, testifies that on the 18 th of August 1865, on a plot of ground rented by her ofMrs. Jane Wood near Harrisburg, St. Mary's Co., Md., she was beaten by Mrs. Wood without anyprovocation and Mrs. Wood threatened to take a club to kill or maim her. Bvt. Maj. Clark, A. A. I.G. in a report alludes to this case and says Mrs. Woods' dislike to Milly arose partly from the factthat Milly had a nice tobacco crop on her ground and Mrs. Wood was anxious to drive Milly awayand appropriate it.


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August 19th, 1865 - Sidney Carter, a col'd woman living at Bladensburg, Md., cruelly beaten byone Suit, white man, at the instigation of his daughter Mrs. Hardisty, who felt aggrieved at whatshe called Sidney's impudence. The Civil Authorities refused to give any relief on account of thecomplainant's color. Testimony given showed the general good conduct and trustworthiness ofSidney Carter.

August 21st, 1865 - Surgeon R. B. Bontican, Md. Vols. reports a respectable clean freedwomanwas thrown from Car No. 35 7th St. R. R. Washington City by a number of white persons whowere encouraged by the Conductor. The Conductor refusing to check the speed of the car, shewas thrown down and injured.

September 2nd, 1865 - Thuresa Duffies, col'd, testifies that in 1863 she was held as a slave by ?George Williams about one mile from Frederick City. That he beat and braised her severely, andthe Provost Marshal to whom she applied for protection told her to go back to her master. Shethen went to the Major who committed her to jail. Her former master came and released her andtold her if she wanted to go back she could, otherwise she must leave Maryland. So she came toGeorgetown, and a year ago she went back for her children who were given her but her formermaster kept all her clothes and household goods worth about $120.

September 2nd, 1865 - Samuel Buntz of Carroll Co., Md. testifies that a house of his occupied bySamuel Thomas (col'd) and his wife was broken into during their absence by white men namedCook Shipley, Sawyer and Fred Tipton and their household effects destroyed wantonly and aportion of their wearing apparel taken away.

September 4th, 1865 - Samuel Brown, col'd, formerly employed by the Government went toThomas Allaby a white man near Smith River Ferry, Anne Arundel Co., Md. to hire by the monthor year. They did not agree as to price and something being said about the Government, Allabysaid "he wished the damned Government was in hell" and picked up some bricks and beat Brownupon the head, knocked him down, cut him with an axe and cowhided him. When Brown, withgreat difficulty, got to Annapolis, no Justice of the Peace would issue a warrant for Allaby's arrest.

John Conway reports that September 4th, 1865 John Grose (col'd) went to visit his mother on theplantation of William Berry near Old Fields and was driven away by Berry's threats of shootinghim.

August 27th, 1865 - Shedrick Crump, colored, testifies that he attended a missionary meeting withhis wife at Wesleyan Methodist Church, 23rd Street bet. L & M, Washington, and on coming out ofthe Church was attacked on the sidewalk by one of two Irishmen who were passing, who struckhim, kicked him & continued to maltreat him until they were separated by other persons - thiswithout any provocation. Crump's testimony is corroborated by the affidavit of his wife, RichardDyson, pastor of the Church, Charles Simon and Richard Clements, all of whom were witnessesof the assault.

September 11th, 1865 - Wm. Berry at Old Fields, Va. is reported to have driven away with threatsof bodily harm John Grose who came to visit his mother.

October 31st, 1865 - R. E. Jordan, Emp. State Librarian, Annapolis, Md. reports that Richard

Purdy, white man, tried to break into a colored woman's door during her husband's absence. Notfinding access through the door he broke in through the window and beat her shamefully. Nowhite witness being present nothing could be done to him.

Also, two white men caught a colored woman and were beating her when her brother came to herrescue. They turned on him and struck him on the head with a car coupling iron. The colored manwrenched the iron away and they ran, the colored man pursuing to the door of the house of oneof them but did not enter. The white man's wife had the Negro bound over for striking her when


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he actually never saw her and he was indicted by the Grand Jury and committed to jail and wouldprobably be convicted for want of white evidence.

Bailey Lemon, col'd, testifies that on the 23rd December, 1865 he was at Dick Posey's store withAlexander Brooks, ex-soldier of 20th C. Infty. at Chickamucknow, Chas. Co., Md., that thereBrooks was assaulted on no provocation by Charles Gilroy (white). Brooks attempted to defendhimself and Mrs. Posey stepped in to part them & received a blow from someone. Brooks wasarrested and thrown into jail at Port Tobacco on charge of having struck a white woman. TheMagistrate refusing to take bail unless offered by white men, though colored men who wereknown to be worth more than the bail required offered bail -- $200.

January 18th, 1866 - Revd. J. A. Ross of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) states that onSunday 14th January on the public road on his way from Leesburg to Waterford to preach, he wasstopped by 3 men in rebel uniform with "Halt you God Damned Yankee son of a bitch," onepresenting a revolver, they said "Andy Johnson has sent the God Damned Yankees fromLeesburg and you must leave or we will blow you to hell" (Note: the troops had beenrumored the day before). Mr. Ross asked to proceed to Waterford and for the right to ?think of it.They demanded his pocketbook but finding it empty threw it down. They said that "Andy Johnsonwas their friend and Damned Yankees must leave with Yankee Soldiers." They then ordered himon, threatening to blow out his brains if he looked back or to right or left. That night six men inrebel uniform with revolvers were observed on the Harmony Road. Chaplain Ferree, in theemploy of the Bureau at Leesburg, was also threatened that he would be killed if he remained in

Virginia.

January 23rd, 1866 - William Rector, freedman, while pausing on the Military road through thefarm of George Martin was stopped by Martin and his son who took away from him his gun andas he turned to flee they shot him, injuring but not killing him.

In January 1866, a gentleman living near Annapolis, Md. got a Contraband from camp nearAlexandria and as soon as he was off the cars he was assaulted and badly beaten by two whiteruffians. (Reported by R. E. Jordan, Emp. State Librarian).

February 5th, 1866 - Amos Hunt testifies that on the 3rd of February 1866 he went with SandyHenson, colored, to Surrats in Prince Geo. Co., Maryland to visit his (Henson's) daughter. Shot

on arrival at the place. Henson was met by threats of death by the man with whom his daughterwas living, and was compelled to return without seeing her.

February 7th, 1866 - Essex Barbour, col'd, late a soldier in the 30 th USCI makes affidavit that onFebruary 3rd he was assaulted and beaten at Choptico, St. Mary's Co., Md. by four white men,one of whom was a returned rebel soldier who makes it his business to injure col'd people,especially colored soldiers at all times and places.

February 7th, 1866 - Richard Speakes, col'd, complains of his employer, who on the 16th ofJanuary assaulted and beat him severely.

March 6th, 1866 - John G. Robinson, School Commissioner 3rd Dist., Dorchester Co., Md. reportedthat a short time previous a very respectable colored female, teacher of colored school near

Vienna, Dorchester Co., Md. was assaulted on the high road by Cyrus Stock, white, and knockeddown, remaining for some time in an insensible condition. There was another white man nearbybut he "didn't see it."

March 13th, 1866 - Charles A. Watkins (col'd), Centerville, Queen Anne Co., Md. complains thatreturned rebel soldiers beat colored men without provocation wherever they find them and shootat them on the public road.


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March 19th, 1866 - Maria Hutchinson testifies that on the 9th of March at Nottingham, PrinceGeorge Co. Henry Hutchinson, her husband, late a colored soldier, was assaulted and severelybeaten by white men and is now confined in jail at Marlboro to answer the charge of havingthreatened the life of one of his assailants.

Philip Brown, col'd, makes affidavit that he was assaulted by a white man in Montgomery Co.,Md. on the 22nd of March, 1866 while crossing the farm of this man and that he was shot at andwounded in the head by the same white man while riding quietly along the public highway on theevening of the same day. When he was shot he heard a companion of the white man say "shootthe damned son of a bitch - he's nothing but a Union Soldier."

April 10th, 1866 - James Gray, colored, testifies he contracted for a year with H. H. Bean,Bryantown, Charles Co., Md. and was to be paid monthly. He had received no pay up to April2nd on which morning Mr. Bean knocked him down with the back of an axe at his own fireside onthe charge that he was not in the fields early enough and threatened to kill him, whereupon Grayleft him. The Magistrates there refused to issue a warrant for Bean's arrest.

May 22nd, 1866 - Dr. A. H. Somers of Montgomery County, Md. attacked and beat till he wasinsensible Hillary Powell, col'd, while quietly returning from a Church celebration.

May 5th, 1866 - Lieut. M. Sullivan, 107th U. S. Col'd Infty. reports that he has been frequently

insulted by men formerly belonging to Mosby's Guerillas. Encloses a challenge from one of themoffering to "give him satisfaction with revolvers." Major Lee, Sub. Asst. Commr. in forwarding thepaper says: "I am informed that these men are the same persons who visited in the night theprivate boarding house of Mrs. Watkins, teacher of a colored school at Fairfax C. H., Va. anddemanded her delivery to them, saying their intention was to tar and feather her. When informedthe lady was not at the house they left but soon afterwards returned making the same demandand repeating the same threats."

Major W. L. VanDerlis reports the following: John Wilkinson in Calvert Co., Md. quarreled with Jimand Bill Shannon, col'd, while crossing his farm because Jim did not address him as "Master" andraised a single tree to strike Jim who drew a pistol & threatened to shoot if he struck him.Wilkinson went away & got a warrant out for Jim & at night went to a colored Church where heexpected the Shannon's would be, accompanied by a mob who broke into the Church and

seized Bill Shannon & snapped pistols at him & otherwise maltreated him. Bill broke away & ran& they commenced firing at him when he turned & fired into the mob killing one Robinson. Themob arrested Bill and a Magistrate advised them to hang him but finally he was taken to jail &indicted for murder. Venue was changed to Horran Co. where it was thought a loyal jury could begot. On the trial the prosecution brought in five witnesses all of whom were parties to the assaultupon Bill Shannon and the defence brought in twelve witnesses all colored and ?ten entirelydisinterested. All were present at the assault, all members of the Church in which the affair tookplace. All of them saw the occurrences and their testimony was unshaken in cross examinations,but the jury rejected all the colored testimony and convicted Bill of manslaughter and he wassentenced to 5 years imprisonment in the state prison. This verdict was a "compromise," two ofthe jurors being in favor of a verdict of "willful murder."

September 7th, 1866 - Col. Rutherford reports that Mr. Swedes of Loudon County boasts of

having made "good hands" of colored people hired to him by the Bureau by beating andthreatening to kill them &c.


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Unjust Imprisonment

July 10th, 1865 - it is charged that Frederick Dent, Magistrate at Bryantown, Chas. Co., Md.committed to jail George W. Slater, col'd, charging him with larceny, and refusing to release himbecause Slater could not show his discharge from the Navy which was in the hands of an Agentto settle his accounts with the Government.

August 16th, 1865 - Dola Ann Jones testified that in 1863 her husband, John Jones, with Richard

Coats and Caleb Day, all colored men, were tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary foreleven years and eleven months for aiding slaves to escape. Before turning them over to theauthorities George W. Carpenter, former master of Coats, whipped them so severely with a stavehaving auger holes bored in it that they suffered greatly for two months. Jones and Day werefiremen.

September 27th, 1865 - Humphrey and Catharine Ware complain that they were formerly slaves.In May 1864 they left their Master and started to come to Washington. They were arrested byAlfred Kirby of Piscataway, Prince George Co., Md. and thrown into jail and a large amount ofhousehold goods which were honestly theirs was taken away from them though they offered toprove their title to them.

September 21st, 1865 - Jane Unsles of Brookfield, Montgomery Co., Md. testifies that on or about

the 1st

of May 1863 her daughter Hannah Warfield, 15 years old and held as a slave by ThomasDorsey of Hood's Mills, Howard Co., Md. was tried, convicted and sentenced to ten (10) yearsimprisonment in the Penitentiary for striking Mr. Dorsey, they charging that Hannah made anunprovoked attack on Mrs. Dorsey when the truth was Mrs. Dorsey was whipping her andHannah, goaded by the lash, struck her.


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The Civil Rights Act of 1866

1866 Civil Rights Act14 Stat. 27-30, April 9, 1866 A.D.

CHAP. XXXI.An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in their CivilRights, and furnish the Means of their Vindication.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of theUnited States of America in Congress assembled, That all persons bornin the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excludingIndians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the UnitedStates; and such citizens, of every race and color, without regard toany previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as apunishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly

convicted, shall have the same right, in every State and Territory in theUnited States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, andgive evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey realand personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws andproceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed bywhite citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, andpenalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, orcustom, to the contrary notwithstanding.

Sec. 2.And be it further enacted, That any person who, under color ofany law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or

cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any State or Territory to thedeprivation of any right secured or protected by this act, or to differentpunishment, pains, or penalties on account of such person having atany time been held in a condition of slavery or involuntary servitude,except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have beenduly convicted, or by reason of his color or race, than is prescribed forthe punishment of white persons, shall be deemed guilty of amisdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be punished by fine notexceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding oneyear, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 6.And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowinglyand willfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent any officer, or other personcharged with the execution of any warrant or process issued under theprovisions of this act, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him orthem, from arresting any person for whose apprehension such warrantor process may have been issued, or shall rescue or attempt to rescuesuch person from the custody of the officer, other person or persons,or those lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested pursuant to


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the authority herein given and declared, or shall aid, abet, or assist anyperson so arrested as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape fromthe custody of the officer or other person legally authorized asaforesaid, or shall harbor or conceal any person for whose arrest awarrant or process shall have been issued as aforesaid, so as toprevent his discovery and arrest after notice or knowledge of the factthat a warrant has been issued for the apprehension of such person,

shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding onethousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, byindictment and conviction before the district court of the United Statesfor the district in which said offense may have been committed, orbefore the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within anyone of the organized Territories of the United States.

Sec. 7.And be it further enacted, That the district attorneys, themarshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said district andterritorial courts shall be paid for their services the like fees as may beallowed to them for similar services in other cases; and in all cases

where the proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitledto a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, inclusive ofall services incident to such arrest and examination. The person orpersons authorized to execute the process to be issued by suchcommissioners for the arrest of offenders against the provisions of thisact shall be entitled to a fee of five dollars for each person he or theymay arrest and take before any such commissioner as aforesaid, withsuch other fees as may be deemed reasonable by such commissionerfor such other additional services as may be necessarily performed byhim or them, such as attending at the examination, keeping theprisoner in custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his

detention, and until the final determination of such commissioner, andin general for performing such other duties as may be required in thepremises; such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees usuallycharged by the officers of the courts of justice within the proper districtor county, as near as may be practicable, and paid out of the Treasuryof the United States on the certificate of the judge of the district withinwhich the arrest is made, and to be recoverable from the defendant aspart of the judgment in case of conviction.

Sec. 8.And be it further enacted, that whenever the President of theUnited States shall have reason to believe that offences have been or

are likely to be committed against the provisions of this act within anyjudicial district, it shall be lawful for him, in his discretion, to direct thejudge, marshal, and district attorney of such district to attend at suchplace within the district, and for such time as he may designate, for thepurpose of the more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged with aviolation of this act; and it shall be the duty of every judge or otherofficer, when any such requisition shall be received by him, to attendat the place and for the time therein designated.


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Sec. 9.And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for thePresident of the United States, or such person as he may empower forthat purpose, to employ such part of the land or naval forces of theUnited States, or of the militia, as shall be necessary to prevent theviolation and enforce the due execution of this act.

Sec. 10.And be it further enacted, That upon all questions of law

arising in any cause under the provisions of this act a final appeal maybe taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.

SCHUYLER COLFAX,Speaker of the House of Representatives

LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER,President of the Senate, pro tempore.

In the Senate of the United States, April 6, 1866.

The President of the United States having returned to the Senate, inwhich it originated, the bill entitled "An act to protect all persons in theUnited States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of theirvindication," with his objections thereto, the Senate proceeded, inpursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the same; and,

Resolved, That the said bill do pass, two-thirds of the Senate agreeingto pass the same.

Attest:

J.W. Forney,Secretary of the Senate.

In the House of Representatives U.S. April 9th, 1866.

The House of Representatives having proceeded, in pursuance of theConstitution, to reconsider the bill entitled, "An act to protect allpersons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the meansof their vindication," returned to the Senate by the President of theUnited States, with his objections, and sent by the Senate to the Houseof Representatives, with the message of the President returning the

bill:

Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the House ofRepresentatives agreeing to pass the same.

Attest:


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Edward McPherson, Clerk,by Clinton Lloyd, Chief Clerk.

Civil Rights Act of 187518 Stat. Part III, p. 335 (Act of Mar. 1, 1875).

Chap. 114. -- An act toprotect all citizens intheir civil and legalrights. Whereas, it isessential to justgovernment werecognize the equality ofall men before the law,and hold that it is the

duty of government in itsdealings with the peopleto mete out equal andexact justice to all, ofwhatever nativity, race,color, or persuasion,religious or political; and


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it being the appropriate object of legislation to enact greatfundamental principles into law:

Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House ofRepresentatives of the United States of America in Congressassembled, That all persons within the jurisdiction of the

United States shall be entitled to the full and equal andenjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities,and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water,theaters, and other places of public amusement; subject onlyto the conditions and limitations established by law, andapplicable alike to citizens of every race and color,regardless of any previous condition of servitude.

Sec. 2. That any person who shall violate the foregoingsection by denying to any citizen, except for reasons by law

applicable to citizens of every race and color, and regardlessof any previous condition of servitude, the full enjoyment ofany of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, orprivileges in said section enumerated, or by aiding oreliciting such denial, shall, for every offence, forfeit and paythe sum of five hundred dollars to the person aggrievedthereby, to be recovered in an action of debt, with full costs;and shall also, for every such offense, be deemed guilty of amisdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined

not less than five hundred nor more than one thousanddollars, or shall be imprisoned not less than thirty days normore than one year:

Provided, that all persons may elect to sue for the Stateunder their rights at common law and by State statutes; andhaving so elected to proceed in the one mode or the other,their right to proceed in the other jurisdiction shall bebarred. But this proviso shall not apply to criminalproceedings, either under this act or the criminal law of anyState: And provided further, That a judgment for the penaltyin favor of the party aggrieved, or a judgment upon anindictment, shall be a bar to either prosecutionrespectively. .


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Sec. 3. That the district and circuit courts of the UnitedStates shall have, exclusively of the courts of the severalStates, cognizance of all crimes and offenses against, andviolations of, the provisions of this act; and actions for thepenalty given by the preceding section may be prosecuted inthe territorial, district, or circuit courts of the United States

wherever the defendant may be found, without regard to theother party; and the district attorneys, marshals, and deputymarshals of the United States, and commissioners appointedby the circuit and territorial courts of the United States, withpowers of arresting and imprisoning or bailing offendersagainst the laws of the United States, are hereby speciallyauthorized and required to institute proceedings againstevery person who shall violate the provisions of this act, andcause him to be arrested and imprisoned or bailed, as thecase may be, for trial before such court of the United States,or territorial court, as by law has cognizance of the offense,except in respect of the right of action accruing to theperson aggrieved; and such district attorneys shall causesuch proceedings to be prosecuted to their termination as inother cases: Provided, That nothing contained in this sectionshall be construed to deny or defeat any right of civil actionaccruing to any person, whether by reason of this act orotherwise; and any district attorney who shall willfully fail toinstitute and prosecute the proceedings herein required,

shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay the sum of fivehundred dollars to the person aggrieved thereby, to berecovered by an action of debt, with full costs, and shall, onconviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, andbe fined not less than one thousand nor more than fivethousand dollars:

And provided further, That a judgment for the penalty infavor of the party aggrieved against any such district

attorney, or a judgment upon an indictment against anysuch district attorney, shall be a bar to either prosecutionrespectively.


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Sec. 4. That no citizen possessing all other qualificationwhich are or may be prescribed by law shall be disqualifiedfor service as grand or petit juror in any court of the UnitedStates, or of any State, on account of race, color, or previouscondition of servitude; and any officer or other personcharged with any duty in the selection or summoning of

jurors who shall exclude or fail to summon any citizen for thecauseaforesaidshall, onconvictionthereof, bedeemed guiltyof amisdemeanor,and be finednot more thanfive thousanddollars.

Congressional Protections of Freedmen

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