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.
A special joint committee made up of nine members from the House of Representatives six members of the Senate. This committee was formed to inquire into the condition of the states in rebellion.
To see the full record of a committee, click on the corresponding committee on the map below.
The Joint Committee meets; Mr. Stevens introduces a plan of reconstruction; the plan is divided and the proposition of constitutional amendment is considered by sections.
A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution.
Be it resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 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 Constitution, namely:
Article—
Section 1. No discrimination shall be made by any state, nor by the United States, as to the civil rights of persons because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Sec. 2. From and after the fourth day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, no discrimination shall be made by any state, nor by the United States, as to the enjoyment by classes of persons of the right of suffrage, because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Sec. 3. Until the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, no class of persons, as to the right of any of whom to suffrage discrimination shall be made by any state, because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, shall be included in the basis of representation.
Sec. 4. Debts or obligations already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred in aid of insurrection or of war against the Union, and claims of compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor, shall not be paid by the United States.
Sec. 5. Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.