Joint Resolution

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled; (two thirds of both houses concurring), that the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which when ratified by three fourths of said Legislatures shall be valid as part of the national Constitution; namely:

Article —.

Sec. 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 or Territory wherein they reside.

Sec. 2. Every citizen of the United States twenty-one years of age and upward, shall be an elector in any State or Territory in which they may have resided one year next preceding the election at which hey shall offer to vote, but each State may prescribe uniform rules for the registration of electors and to provide against frauds at elections, and may disfranchise any person for participating in rebellion against the United States, or for the commission of an act which is felony at common law. After the fourth day of July in the year of our Lord, 1876 all citizens of the United States thereafter, becoming [twenty-one] years of age, and all who may thereafter be naturalized shall be required to read and write the English language as a qualification to vote.

Sec. 3. 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.

[Sec.] 4. Representation in Congress shall be apportioned among the several States according to the number of inhabitants in each.

[Sec.] 5. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress or elector of President or Vice President or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who was a member of any Legislature or Convention, which passed an ordinance of secession and who voted therefor, or who held a commission above the rank of Captain in the insurgent army during the rebellion, or 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 and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a concurrent vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Sec. 6. 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. Bu neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation 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.

Sec. 7. That Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

• H. Res. 62 (introduced on 1867-07-08 12:00:00 - CREATE - e702050) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]
  • Motion to Refer H. Res. 62 (introduced on 1867-07-08 12:00:00 - PROCEDURE - e702051) [view current proposal at this moment]
    • None (introduced on 1867-07-08 12:00:00 - ADOPT_PROPOSAL - e839322) [view current proposal at this moment]
    • Motion to Reconsider the Motion to Refer H. Res. 62 (introduced on 1867-12-10 12:00:00 - PROCEDURE - e708382) [view current proposal at this moment]
      • None (introduced on 1867-12-10 12:00:00 - DEBATE_MOTION - e708383) [view current proposal at this moment]
      • None (introduced on 1867-12-10 12:00:00 - DROP_PROPOSAL - e839321) [view current proposal at this moment]