A Short History of the Nineteenth Amendment

A Short History of the Nineteenth Amendment

Text of the Nineteenth Amendment

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 sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920 which gave women the right to vote was the culmination of a struggle which consumed decades to achieve. The Constitution ceded the voting franchise requirements to the States who, as a whole, disenfranchised women. New Jersey was the only state which allowed women to vote and this right was revoked in 1807.

Although there were earlier efforts to secure the right to vote for women the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention in New York is recognized as the official beginning of the women's suffrage movement. It was at this Convention that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, who had been active in the abolitionist movement, expanded their scope to women's suffrage. The impetus for this had been provided by the refusal to allow Lucretia Mott the right to speak at an anti slavery convention in London, England even though she was an official delegate to the convention. These women organized the Seneca Falls Convention from which the "Declaration of Sentiments" was issued. The Declaration was modeled on the Declaration of Independence and called for the extension of full rights to females. The Declaration was signed by sixty eight women and thirty two men.

This convention was followed by the Woman's Rights Convention in Syracuse, New York in 1852 at which Susan B. Anthony joined the cause. The breakout of the Civil War in 1861 superseded most of the movement's activities for the next decade. The next attempt to gain the right to vote was an attempt in 1872 to utilize the newly passed Fourteenth Amendment to extend the right to vote to women. The attempt failed and in 1878 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted a constitutional amendment to allow women to vote and had it introduced to Congress. The amendment failed. This amendment was introduced to every session of Congress for the next forty years, failing every time it was passed.

During this interim women attacked the issue on a state by state basis. This was partially successful as most of the western states and territories ingrained women's suffrage in their constitutions in the early portion of the Twentieth Century. Repeated tries to get the amendment passed in Congress failed.

Momentum began to build in the years prior to World War I. The attempts at passage became more numerous and the votes in Congress kept getting closer. Both political parties and President Woodrow Wilson wanted to get the amendment ratified before the 1920 elections. Finally on May 21, 1919 during a special session of Congress the Nineteenth Amendment passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 274 to 136. On June 4, 1919 the amendment was introduced to the Senate. It passed, after furious debate, with 56 ayes and 25 nays. It was then submitted to the States for Ratification.

The States ratified in the following order:

1.Wisconsin (June 10, 1919)
2.Illinois (June 10, 1919, reaffirmed on June 17, 1919)
3.Michigan (June 10, 1919)
4.Kansas (June 16, 1919)
5.New York (June 16, 1919)
6.Ohio (June 16, 1919)
7.Pennsylvania (June 24, 1919)
8.Massachusetts (June 25, 1919)
9.Texas (June 28, 1919)
10.Iowa (July 2, 1919)
11.Missouri (July 3, 1919)
12.Arkansas (July 28, 1919)
13.Montana (August 2, 1919)
14.Nebraska (August 2, 1919)
15.Minnesota (September 8, 1919)
16.New Hampshire (September 10, 1919)
17.Utah (October 2, 1919)
18.California (November 1, 1919)
19.Maine (November 5, 1919)
20.North Dakota (December 1, 1919)
21.South Dakota (December 4, 1919)
22.Colorado (December 15, 1919)
23.Kentucky (January 6, 1920)
24.Rhode Island (January 6, 1920)
25.Oregon (January 13, 1920)
26.Indiana (January 16, 1920)
27.Wyoming (January 27, 1920)
28.Nevada (February 7, 1920)
29.New Jersey (February 9, 1920)
30.Idaho (February 11, 1920)
31.Arizona (February 12, 1920)
32.New Mexico (February 21, 1920)
33.Oklahoma (February 28, 1920)
34.West Virginia (March 10, 1920
35.Washington (March 22, 1920)
36.Tennessee (August 18, 1920)

Ratification was completed on August 18, 1920. The states listed below ratified after the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution.

37.Connecticut (September 14, 1920
38.Vermont (February 8, 1921)
39.Delaware (March 6, 1923)
40.Maryland (March 29, 1941)
41.Virginia (February 21, 1952)
42.Alabama (September 8, 1953)
43.Florida (May 13, 1969)[19]
44.South Carolina (July 1, 1969)
45.Georgia (February 20, 1970)
46.Louisiana (June 11, 1970)
47.North Carolina (May 6, 1971)
48.Mississippi (March 22, 1984)
On August 26, 1920 Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification and the Nineteenth Amendment became the law of the land.

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A Short History of the Eighteenth Amendment

A Short History of the Eighteenth Amendment

Text of the 18th Amendment

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution banned the sale, production and transportation of intoxicating liquors in the United States. It did not ban the consumption of intoxicating beverages nor did it define what they were or stipulate what the penalties for selling, producing or transportation of alcohol were to be. That bit of legislative work was accomplished by the Volstead Act which Congress passed soon after ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment.

The Eighteenth Amendment has its roots in the Temperance Movements which were birthed during the Nineteenth Century, though the roots of the temperance movements date back to colonial America. The American Temperance Society (ATS), formed in 1826, was the first and most important of these movements. By 1835 the Movement had one and a half million members of which between thirty five and sixty percent were women.

The movement succeeded in persuading Maine to ban the sale in 1851. This ban was repealed in 1856.

The American Civil War during the 1860's caused the decline of the movement, but after the war it revived quickly. The Prohibition Party, founded in 1869, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which was formed in 1873, were the chief organizations opposing alcohol, but there were others. These groups and others demonstrated and worked for complete prohibition of alcohol in the United States for many years. The drive for prohibition was in this group and the "dry" ideal was being demanded by mostly protestant churches, the most important being the Methodists, Northern Baptists, Southern Baptists, New School Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, Congregationalists, Quakers and Scandinavian Lutherans. Other religious groups, called the "wets" opposed the efforts of the drys. These churches consisted mainly of the Episcopalians, German Lutherans and Roman Catholics.

Carrie Nation became an important figure in the Prohibition movement. She recruited many women into her Carrie Nation Prohibition Group which invaded taverns, sang, prayed and invoked tavern keepers to quit selling alcohol. Other groups using similar tactics emerged. They began to score successes, with Kansas adding a prohibition against alcohol to its Constitution in 1881. More states followed.

The Federal Government drew much of its revenue from alcohol taxes and was reluctant to ban it lest it deprive itself of a significant portion of its revenue. Because of this, many of the prohibitionist groups supported the income tax and helped pass the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913.

By 1917 "dry" congressmen outnumbered "wet" congressmen and the drive was begun by the prohibition forces for a constitutional amendment. This drive was interrupted first by the entrance of America into World War I. Then the forces of "dry" found that the war was a reason for prohibition because resources spent producing alcohol could be diverted to the war effort. The war was over before this could occur, but the momentum was on the side of the prohibition forces.

On December 17th, 1917 the House of Representatives voted 282 to 128 to pass the Eighteenth Amendment. The next day the Senate passed the legislation 47 to 8 the next day.

Ratification followed by the states in the following order:

Mississippi (January 7, 1918)
Virginia (January 11, 1918)
Kentucky (January 14, 1918)
North Dakota (January 25, 1918)
South Carolina (January 29, 1918)
Maryland (February 13, 1918)
Montana (February 19, 1918)
Texas (March 4, 1918)
Delaware (March 18, 1918)
South Dakota (March 20, 1918)
Massachusetts (April 2, 1918)
Arizona (May 24, 1918)
Georgia (June 26, 1918)
Louisiana (August 3, 1918)
Florida (November 27, 1918)
Michigan (January 2, 1919)
Ohio (January 7, 1919)
Oklahoma (January 7, 1919)
Idaho (January 8, 1919)
Maine (January 8, 1919)
West Virginia (January 9, 1919)
California (January 13, 1919)
Tennessee (January 13, 1919)
Washington (January 13, 1919)
Arkansas (January 14, 1919)
Illinois (January 14, 1919)
Indiana (January 14, 1919)
Kansas (January 14, 1919)
Alabama (January 15, 1919)
Colorado (January 15, 1919)
Iowa (January 15, 1919)
New Hampshire (January 15, 1919)
Oregon (January 15, 1919)
North Carolina (January 16, 1919)
Utah (January 16, 1919)
Nebraska (January 16, 1919)
Missouri (January 16, 1919)
Wyoming (January 16, 1919)
Minnesota (January 17, 1919)
Wisconsin (January 17, 1919)
New Mexico (January 20, 1919)
Nevada (January 21, 1919)
New York (January 29, 1919)
Vermont (January 29, 1919)
Pennsylvania (February 25, 1919)
New Jersey (March 9, 1922)

The following states rejected the amendment:

Connecticut
Rhode Island

The Eighteenth Amendment became law on January 17,1920.

The Volstead Act, which set up the legal apparatus to deal with the Amendment was written by Representative Andrew Volstead of Wisconsin. The legislation passed Congress in 1919 and was promptly vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson. The House and then the Senate overrode the veto and the Volstead Act became law in 1920. It is instructive to note that Andrew Volstead, who had served in Congress since 1903, was defeated in his next bid for reelection in 1922.

The "Great Experiment" had begun.

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A Short History of the Seventeenth Amendment

A Short History of the Seventeenth Amendment

Text of the Seventeenth Amendment

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Portion of the Constitution changed by the Seventeenth Amendment.

Article 1, Section 3, reads: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.



The framers of the Constitution set up a Federal Government with power delicately balanced between the Federal government itself, the States and the People with checks and balances built in to avoid any concentration of power in any one branch. The People are represented in the House of Representatives. The States, because Senators were selected by their State legislature, were represented in the Senate. The Framers intended that the Senate would thus be removed from the pressure of popular opinion and be a place where legislation could be reviewed in a timely fashion and acted upon at leisure. The Seventeenth Amendment changed this balance of power by removing the State Legislatures from representation and allowing Senators to be elected directly by the people.

Two issues dogged the original conception of the way Senators were chosen. Corruption was the primary concern. There was a feeling amongst reformers that Senate seats were being "bought" by wealthy individuals providing favors to state legislators in turn for votes to occupy a seat. In over a hundred years of Senatorial elections only ten were investigated for corruption. The other issue was conflict in the State legislatures. On a number of occasions States were denied representation in the Senate because the legislatures could not decide upon a candidate for Senator. Two examples of this occurred. In Indiana in the 1850's when divisions between the Democratic southern half of the State clashed with Republican interests in the northern half of the State preventing a Senator from being chosen and the seat remaining open for almost two years. Another example occurred in Delaware which saw one of its seats remaining vacant from 1899 until 1903.

There was also a belief that campaigns for State legislatures were becoming dominated by who the candidate for State office might support for United States Senator than how they might deal with local affairs.

Amendments to reform the election process of the Senate were proposed in 1828, 1829 and 1855, but the attempts failed. The main argument against it was the fear amongst many that if the State legislatures were removed from the process the States would lose Congressional representation and Federal power would grow at their expense. Pressure mounted for reform towards the end of the Nineteenth Century and by 1912 twenty seven states had petitioned Congress for a Constitutional Convention to change the Constitution to allow for direct election of Senators.

Congress finally responded. The Senate voted on June 12, 1911, the amendment passing by a vote of 64 to 24, with 4 not voting. On May 13, 1912, passed in the House by a vote of 238 to 39, with 110 abstaining. The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification.

The vote, state by state, for ratification went as follows:

Massachusetts May 22, 1912
Arizona June 3, 1912
Minnesota June 10, 1912
New York January 15, 1913
Kansas January 17, 1913
Oregon January 23, 1913
North Carolina January 25, 1913
California January 28, 1913
Michigan January 28, 1913
Iowa January 30, 1913
Montana January 30, 1913
Idaho January 31, 1913
West Virginia February 4, 1913
Colorado February 5, 1913
Nevada February 6, 1913
Texas February 7, 1913
Washington February 7, 1913
Wyoming February 8, 1913
Arkansas February 11, 1913
Maine February 11, 1913
Illinois February 13, 1913
North Dakota February 14, 1913
Wisconsin February 18, 1913
Indiana February 19, 1913
New Hampshire February 19, 1913
Vermont February 19, 1913
South Dakota February 19, 1913
Oklahoma February 24, 1913
Ohio February 25, 1913
Missouri March 7, 1913
New Mexico March 13, 1913
Nebraska March 14, 1913
New Jersey March 17, 1913
Tennessee April 1, 1913
Pennsylvania April 2, 1913
Connecticut April 8, 1913
Louisiana June 11, 1913
Alabama April 11, 2002
Delaware July 1, 2010
Maryland April 1, 2012

The following states did not ratify the Seventeenth Amendment Utah
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Mississippi
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Virginia

On May 31, 1913, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan declared the amendment to have been adopted as thirty six states had ratified it, with Connecticut being the last state required, and it became part of the Constitution.

The Seventeenth Amendment still creates controversy and there have been calls from prominent politicians for its repeal.

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A Short History of the Sixteenth Amendment

A Short History of the Sixteenth Amendment

Text of the Sixteenth Amendment:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Constitutional clauses dealing with direct taxation of citizens:

Article I, Section 2, Clause 3:

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 1:

The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.

Article I, Section 9, Clause 4:

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

It is a common misconception that the Constitution before the Sixteenth Amendment disallowed Congress from the direct taxation of the inhabitants of the states. That is not true, however. These clauses permit direct taxation of citizens but make it so cumbersome to do so that it was impracticable to do so. Congress took several stabs at imposing income taxes and property taxes but all were declared unconstitutional except for one time, during the Civil War.

During the Civil War revenue to fund the war was needed. To satisfy this need Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 which included an income tax of 3% on incomes of $800.00 per year. This is equivalent to an approximate annual wage of $21,100.00 in 2012. The Revenue Act of 1862 replaced the Revenue Act of 1861 and it changed the tax rates to a graduated rate of 3% to 5% on incomes above $600.00. This annual wage would be approximately $11,000.00 in 2012 dollars. This law also included a termination date in 1866.

When this law expired there was growing sentiment amongst liberals for a graduated income tax to raise revenue. This support came primarily from the Socialist Party, the Populist Party and the Democratic Party with the Republican Party firmly opposed.

In 1894 another income tax was levied by passage of the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act. This act imposed a 2% tax on incomes above $4000.00, which is equivalent to about $97,600.00 in 2012 dollars. This was challenged as "un-Democratic, inquisitorial, and wrong in principle." The Supreme Court, in the decision Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. in 1895, tossed the law out as unconstitutional as it did not apportion the tax out equally amongst the states in proportion to their Congressional representation.

The Sixteenth Amendment was born of partisan bickering and the desire for Democratic Congressman's desire to embarrass the Republican Party. Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey of Texas introduced a bill to impose a tax on corporations in 1909. He was opposed to the income tax and expected the bill to be defeated. Liberals within the Republican Party took up the bill, however. This support included former President Teddy Roosevelt. When the bill looked as though it might pass Congress Republican leaders attempted to derail it by having it introduced as a Constitutional amendment. Democrats were dismayed at this development because most felt that the States would never ratify such an amendment.

On June 16, 1909, President William Howard Taft advocated the passage of a constitutional amendment which would authorize an income tax. On July 12, 1909 the resolution passed Congress and was sent to the states for ratification.

The states ratified the amendment in the following order:
Alabama (August 10, 1909)
Kentucky (February 8, 1910)
South Carolina (February 19, 1910)
Illinois (March 1, 1910)
Mississippi (March 7, 1910)
Oklahoma (March 10, 1910)
Maryland (April 8, 1910)
Georgia (August 3, 1910)
Texas (August 16, 1910)
Ohio (January 19, 1911)
Idaho (January 20, 1911)
Oregon (January 23, 1911)
Washington (January 26, 1911)
Montana (January 27, 1911)
Indiana (January 30, 1911)
California (January 31, 1911)
Nevada (January 31, 1911)
South Dakota (February 1, 1911)
Nebraska (February 9, 1911)
North Carolina (February 11, 1911)
Colorado (February 15, 1911)
North Dakota (February 17, 1911)
Michigan (February 23, 1911)
Iowa (February 24, 1911)
Kansas (March 2, 1911)
Missouri (March 16, 1911)
Maine (March 31, 1911)
Tennessee (April 7, 1911)
Arkansas (April 22, 1911)
Wisconsin (May 16, 1911)
New York (July 12, 1911)
Arizona (April 3, 1912)
Minnesota (June 11, 1912)
Louisiana (June 28, 1912)
West Virginia (January 31, 1913)
Delaware (February 3, 1913)

Delaware became the 38th state to pass the Sixteenth Amendment and complete ratification. The following states passed the amendment after ratification was accomplished.

37. New Mexico (February 3, 1913)
38. Wyoming (February 3, 1913)
39. New Jersey (February 4, 1913)
40. Vermont (February 19, 1913)
41. Massachusetts (March 4, 1913)
42. New Hampshire (March 7, 1913)

On February 25, 1913, Secretary of State Philander Knox proclaimed the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified and thus the Sixteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution. The Revenue Act of 1913 was passed by Congress shortly thereafter, establishing the Income Tax. President Woodrow Wilson signed the act into law on October 3, 1913. Thus what started as a political stunt to embarrass a political party by a Senator who was actually opposed to the income tax became a part of the Constitution giving us the income tax laws of today.

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A Short History of the Fifteenth Amendment

A Short History of the Fifthteenth Amendment

Text of the Fifteenth Amendment

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 power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is the third, and final, of the Reconstruction Amendments. It was passed to guarantee the right to vote to blacks in all of the states. The original drafts in the House of Representatives and the Senate also broadly protected the right to hold public office but these provisions were struck out to make it easier to pass the amendment. There was widespread fear and prejudice at the time against Chinese immigrants and Irish and many states wished to continue to disenfranchise these people.

Twenty eight states were required to pass the Fifteenth Amendment. Four states, Virginia, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia were required to pass the amendment so that they could have congressional representation in Congress. There was opposition in many states which wished to continue to control the franchise as many states required voters to be Christian and feared the amendment would disallow that practice.

. The Fifteenth Amendment was proposed in Congress on February 26, 1869. The House of Representatives passed it 39 to 13, with 14 members abstaining from the vote. The Senate passed the amendment almost strictly along party line vote, with the Republicans prevailing 144 to 44. Thirty five Senators abstained, including one of the amendments staunch advocates, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts who was prophetically upset because the amendment contained no provisions against other devices which might disenfranchise.

The Fifteenth Amendment was then submitted to the States for ratification. This occurred on February 3, 1870 with the vote in Iowa. New York rescinded its vote, setting up a potential Supreme Court challenge over a State's right to do so, but when Nebraska ratified the amendment the requisite number of states was achieved and the Fifteenth Amendment went into force.

Nevada (March 1, 1869)
West Virginia (March 3, 1869)
Illinois (March 5, 1869)
Louisiana (March 5, 1869)
Michigan (March 5, 1869)
North Carolina (March 5, 1869)
Wisconsin (March 5, 1869)
Maine (March 11, 1869)
Massachusetts (March 12, 1869)
Arkansas (March 15, 1869)
South Carolina (March 15, 1869)
Pennsylvania (March 25, 1869)
New York (April 14, 1869)[15]
Indiana (May 14, 1869)
Connecticut (May 19, 1869)
Florida (June 14, 1869)
New Hampshire (July 1, 1869)
Virginia (October 8, 1869)
Vermont (October 20, 1869)
Alabama (November 16, 1869)
Missouri (January 7, 1870)
Minnesota (January 13, 1870)
Mississippi (January 17, 1870)
Rhode Island (January 18, 1870)
Kansas (January 19, 1870)
Ohio (January 27, 1870)
Georgia (February 2, 1870)
Iowa (February 3, 1870)

States that ratified post-certification: Nebraska (February 17, 1870)
Texas (February 18, 1870)
New Jersey (February 15, 1871)
Delaware (February 12, 1901)
Oregon (February 24, 1959)
California (April 3, 1962)
Maryland (May 7, 1973)
Kentucky (March 18, 1976)
Tennessee (April 8, 1997)

The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment granted the right to vote to black men. However, Charles Sumner's fears were realized and the states did use methods such as poll taxes and literacy tests to continue to disallow blacks and other minorities from voting. It took the final passage of the Voting Rights act in 1965 for the right to vote to finally be extended to all citizens.

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Short History of the Fourteenth Amendment

Short History of the Fourteenth Amendment

Text of the Fourteenth Amendment

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 power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is the second Amendment of the Constitution which belongs to the so called Reconstruction Amendments which followed the Civil War. There were three of these and the Fifteenth Amendment would follow on the heels of this one. The Fourteenth Amendment's first section deals with the issue of citizenship for the newly freed slaves. It repudiated the earlier Supreme Court's Dred Scott Decision in 1857 which stated that people of African descent were not "citizens" of the United States, but merely members of a "subordinate and inferior class of human beings." The Fourteenth Amendment conveyed citizenship on the freed slaves.

This section of the Fourteenth Amendment has generated more lawsuits than any other part of the Constitution. The primary author of this section was Congressman John A. Bingham of Ohio. It was his intention that it would nationalize the Bill of Rights by making them binding upon the States. In this the Amendment failed as later Supreme Court decisions reflected the "separate but equal" doctrine which provided that states could provide separate but equal schools, restrooms, colleges and other public facilities for black and white citizens. This was finally broken in 1954 with the Brown vs. Brown decision which finally began the nullification of this doctrine. The clause which reads "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" led to many Supreme Court decisions in the 1960's which guaranteed an accused criminal the right to legal counsel whether or not they can afford one, and finally to the requirement that arresting officers must read a persons legal rights before questioning may begin.

Section 2 dealt with representation in Congress and it nullified Article I, Section. 2 which allowed blacks to be counted as only 3/5 of a person.

Section 3 dealt with the eligibility of former members of the Confederate States military, government or aiders thereof for public office.

Section 4 validated the public debt incurred by the Civil War and nullified attempts at compensation to former owners for slaves freed by the conflict.

The Fourteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on June 13, 1866 and submitted to the States for ratification. The states which ratified are as follows:

Connecticut (June 25, 1866)
New Hampshire (July 6, 1866)
Tennessee (July 19, 1866)
New Jersey (September 11, 1866)*
Oregon (September 19, 1866)
Vermont (October 30, 1866)
Ohio (January 4, 1867)*
New York (January 10, 1867)
Kansas (January 11, 1867)
Illinois (January 15, 1867)
West Virginia (January 16, 1867)
Michigan (January 16, 1867)
Minnesota (January 16, 1867)
Maine (January 19, 1867)
Nevada (January 22, 1867)
Indiana (January 23, 1867)
Missouri (January 25, 1867)
Rhode Island (February 7, 1867)
Wisconsin (February 7, 1867)
Pennsylvania (February 12, 1867)
Massachusetts (March 20, 1867)
Nebraska (June 15, 1867)
Iowa (March 16, 1868)
Arkansas (April 6, 1868, after having rejected it on December 17, 1866)
Florida (June 9, 1868, after having rejected it on December 6, 1866)
North Carolina (July 4, 1868, after having rejected it on December 14, 1866)
Louisiana (July 9, 1868, after having rejected it on February 6, 1867)
South Carolina (July 9, 1868, after having rejected it on December 20, 1866)

This completed the necessary 3/4 of the states necessary for the Fourteenth Amendment to be considered ratified.

More states ratified it later. These are:
Alabama (July 13, 1868, the date the ratification was "approved" by the governor)
Georgia (July 21, 1868, after having rejected it on November 9, 1866)
Virginia (October 8, 1869, after having rejected it on January 9, 1867)
Mississippi (January 17, 1870, after having rejected it on January 31, 1868)
Texas (February 18, 1870, after having rejected it on October 27, 1866)
Delaware (February 12, 1901, after having rejected it on February 7, 1867)
Maryland (1959, after having rejected it on March 23, 1867)
California (1959)
Oregon (1973, after withdrawing it on October 15, 1868)
Kentucky (1976, after having rejected it on January 8, 1867)
New Jersey (2003, after having rescinded on February 20, 1868)
Ohio (2003, after having rescinded on January 15, 1868)

Many of the states of the former Confederacy failed to ratify and this inaction led to the passage of the Reconstruction Acts on March 2, 1867. These acts instituted military rule in the south and were in effect until 1867, which is considered by many historians as the end of the Reconstruction era. The Acts excluded Texas which ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on February 18, 1870.

The Fourteenth Amendment sparked a great deal of national controversy which continued for many decades after its ratification in 1868.

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Short History of the Thirteenth Amendment

Short History of the Thirteenth Amendment

Text of the Thirteenth Amendment

Passed by Congress January 31, 1865.
Ratified December 6, 1865.

Section 1.
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.

The Twelfth Amendment was ratified in 1804 and it would be over sixty years before the Constitution would be amended again. There were two attempts to have a thirteenth amendment. In 1810 the Titles of Nobility Amendment was proposed which would have stripped the citizenship from any American which received a title of nobility from a foreign country. This amendment was never submitted to the states for ratification.

In 1861 the Corwin Amendment was passed on March 2. This amendment would have made it illegal for Congress to attempt to amend the Constitution with any amendment which would have interfered with any domestic institutions, including "persons held to labor or service." This was a failed attempt to bring seceding states back into the union and halt the break up of the nation. Three states, Ohio, Maryland and Illinois ratified the amendment. The southern states seceded before any could ratify this version of the thirteen amendment. Though the Constitution never mentioned slavery specifically it was referred to in four sections.

Article I, Section. 2 [Slaves count as 3/5 persons]
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons [i.e., slaves].

Article I, Section. 9, clause 1. [No power to ban slavery until 1808]
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

Article IV, Section. 2. [Free states cannot protect slaves]
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Article V [No Constitutional Amendment to Ban Slavery Until 1808]
No Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article.

The subject of slavery provoked fierce debates amongst the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. The northern delegates were mostly opposed to it and wanted to end it. Southern delegates opposed any efforts to regulate or end the practice. It is important for the student of history to remember that to get the Constitution ratified the fledgling United States needed the important southern states in the fold for the new nation to succeed.

These sections were compromises which made the Constitution palatable to the Southern States and brought them into the union. It is important to remember also that it was the southern delegates that wanted to count slaves as full persons and the northern delegates that pushed for the slave to not be counted at all. The 3/5 person designation for slaves was a compromise between north and south. This was an important compromise for anyone that hated slavery. If the slaves had been counted as full persons, southern states would have been entitled to extra Congressional representation based upon the higher population count. The slaves, of course, could not vote but would have been counted for representational purposes. The southern states with more Congressional power, would have been able to extend slavery into more of the new territories and block any anti slavery legislation.

The election of Abraham Lincoln, who was staunchly anti slavery, in 1860 provoked the south to begin discussions of secession. South Carolina was the first state to do so, on December 20th, 1860. Ten other states followed with Tennessee becoming the last state on June 8, 1861. For four long years the United States struggled with the Civil War. At the height of the war, on January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued an executive order called the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation freed slaves in the ten states still in active rebellion. The proclamation, which read, in part, “all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” It immediately freed approximately 50,000 slaves and allowed advancing Union armies to free the slaves as they proceeded along in their invasion of the south.

Lincoln knew he could not, as President, outlaw slavery across the whole nation. A Constitutional amendment was needed. A first attempt failed in Congress. It passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, but the House of Representatives did not pass it. Lincoln took an active role in a second attempt. This attempt succeeded and was finally approved by the House on January 31, 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56.

The Amendment was subsequently sent to the states and was soon ratified by the required 27 of the 36 states.

Illinois (February 1, 1865)
Rhode Island (February 2, 1865)
Michigan (February 3, 1865)
Maryland (February 3, 1865)
New York (February 3, 1865)
Pennsylvania (February 3, 1865)
West Virginia (February 3, 1865)
Missouri (February 6, 1865)
Maine (February 7, 1865)
Kansas (February 7, 1865) Massachusetts (February 7, 1865)
Virginia (February 9, 1865) - first former Confederate State to ratify the amendment, two months before Lee's surrender (in Virginia)
Ohio (February 10, 1865)
Indiana (February 13, 1865)
Nevada (February 16, 1865)
Louisiana (February 17, 1865)
Minnesota (February 23, 1865)
Wisconsin (February 24, 1865)
Vermont (March 8, 1865)
Tennessee (April 7, 1865)
Arkansas (April 14, 1865)
Connecticut (May 4, 1865)
New Hampshire (July 1, 1865)
South Carolina (November 13, 1865)
Alabama (December 2, 1865)
North Carolina (December 4, 1865)
Georgia (December 6, 1865)

Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:

Oregon (December 8, 1865)
California (December 19, 1865)
Florida (December 28, 1865, reaffirmed on June 9, 1869)
Iowa (January 15, 1866)
New Jersey (January 23, 1866, after having rejected it on March 16, 1865)
Texas (February 18, 1870)
Delaware (February 12, 1901, after having rejected it on February 8, 1865)
Kentucky (March 18, 1976, after having rejected it on February 24, 1865)
Mississippi (March 16, 1995, after having rejected it on December 5, 1865)

The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of three amendments which have come to be called the Reconstruction Amendments. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments would follow during the next few years. These all dealt with civil rights for the newly freed slaves.

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