An amendment to the Constitution of the United States that granted citizenship and equal rights, both civil and legal, to Black Americans, including those who had been emancipated by the thirteenth amendment.
The House of Representatives of the Thirty-Ninth Session of Congress
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The Joint Committee on Reconstruction reports back H. Res. 63
Whereas it is the opinion of this House that the continued contumacy in the seceding States renders it necessary to exercise congressional legislation in order to give the loyal citizens of those States protection in their natural and personal rights enumerated in the Constitution of the United States, and, in addition thereto, makes it necessary to keep on foot a large standing army to secure the present enjoyment of those rights, to maintain the authority of the national Government, and to keep the peace; and whereas the country is already heavily burdened by a war debt incurred to defend the nationality against an infamous rebellion, and it is neither just nor politic to inflict this vast additional expense on the peaceful industry of the nation: Therefore,
Resolved, That it be referred to the joint committee of fifteen of the Senate and House to ascertain whether such contumacy be clearly manifest, and if so to inquire into the expediency of levying contributions on the disloyal inhabitants of such-seceding States, to defray the extraordinary expenses that will otherwise be imposed on the General Government; and that said committee be instructed to report by bill or otherwise.