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Civil Rights Act of 1866

 

The following is the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This Act provided citizenship for blacks, along with certain rights. According to Brooks Thomas, the idea was to "have the entire country adopt the northern economic system" (1).It was bold and drastic and possibly unconstitutional, and so the Congress extended their efforts with the Fourteenth Amendment passed only two years later.

This is not the entire Act, but really highlights the intentions of Congress. The entire Act can be found on several sites on the web, including the one I used, which is listed in the footnotes bleow.

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

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

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right, in every State and Territory in the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding (2).

1. Brook Thomas, ed., Plessy v. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 1997), 13.

2. "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War," www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/activism/ps_1866.html. Accessed November 30, 2009.