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. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State excluding Indians not taxed. But whenever in any State the elective franchise shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens, not less than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age.
Sec. 3. Until the fourth day of July, in the year 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Congress and for electors for President and Vice-President of the United States.
Sec. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of insurrection, or of war against the United States, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor.
Sec. 5. Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.