THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866
Act of April 9, 1866
An Act
to protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil
Rights, and furnish
the Means of their Vindication.
Be it enacted
by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled,
That all persons born in the United States and not
subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed,
are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States;
…and such citizens, of every
race and color, without regard to any
previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall have the same right, in every State and
Territory in the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to
sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease,
sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full
and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of
person and property, as is enjoyed by
white citizens, and shall be subject to like
punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law,
statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, to the contrary
notwithstanding.
Stern Warning To Government
Officials
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That
any person who,
under color of any law,
statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject,
or cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any State or Territory
to the deprivation of any right
secured or protected by this act,
or to different punishment, pains, or penalties on account
of such person having at any time
been held in a condition of slavery or involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or
by reason of his color or race,
than is prescribed for the punishment of
white persons, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall
be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or
imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both,
in the discretion of the court.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the district courts
of the United States, within their respective districts, shall have,
exclusively of the courts of the several States,
cognizance of all crimes and offences
committed against the provisions of
this act,
and also,
concurrently with the circuit courts of the United States, of
all causes, civil and criminal, affecting persons
who are denied or cannot enforce in the courts or judicial
tribunals of the State or locality where they may be any of the
rights secured to them by the first section of
this act;
and if any suit or prosecution,
civil or criminal, has been or shall be commenced in any State
court, against any such person, for any cause whatsoever,
or against any officer, civil or military, or other person, for any
arrest or imprisonment, trespasses, or wrongs done or committed by
virtue or under color of authority derived from
this act or the act
establishing a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees,
and all acts amendatory thereof, or for refusing to do any act upon
the ground that it would be inconsistent with
this act, such
defendant shall have the right to remove such cause for trial to the
proper district or circuit court in the manner prescribed by the
"Act relating to habeas corpus and regulating judicial proceedings
in certain cases," approved March three, eighteen hundred and
sixty-three, and all act amendatory thereof.
The jurisdiction in civil and
criminal matters hereby conferred on the district and circuit courts
of the United States shall be exercised and enforced in conformity
with the laws of the United States,
so far as such laws are suitable to carry the same into effect;
…but in all cases where such
laws are not adapted to the object, or are deficient in the
provisions necessary to furnish suitable remedies and punish
offences against law, the common law, as modified and changed by the
constitution and statutes of the State wherein the court having
jurisdiction of the cause, civil or criminal, is held, so far as the
same is not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the
United States, shall be extended to and
govern said courts in the trial and disposition of such cause, and,
if of a criminal nature, in the infliction of punishment on the
party found guilty.
The Courts and Officers of
the Act
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That
the district attorneys, marshals,
and deputy marshals of the
United States, the commissioners appointed by the circuit and
territorial courts of the United States, with
powers of arresting, imprisoning, or
bailing offenders against the laws of the United States, the
officers and agents of the
Freedmens Bureau, and every other
officer who may be
specially empowered by the
President of the United States,
shall be, and they are hereby, specially authorized and
required, at the expense of the United States,
to institute proceedings against all and
every person who shall violate the provisions of
this act,
and cause him or them to be arrested and
imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may be, for
trial before such court of the United States or
territorial court as by this act has cognizance of the
offence.
And
with a view to affording
reasonable protection
to all persons in their constitutional rights of
equality before the law,
without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of
slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime, whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, and to the prompt discharge of the duties of this act, it
shall be the duty of the circuit courts of
the United States and the superior courts of the Territories of the
United States, from time to time, to increase the number
of commissioners, so as to afford a speedy
and convenient means for the arrest and examination of persons
charged with a violation of
this
act;
…and such commissioners are hereby authorized and
required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties
conferred on them by
this act,
…and the same duties with regard to offences
created by
this act, as they are authorized by law to
exercise with regard to other offences against the laws of the
United States.
Military Enforcement of the Act
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted,
That it shall be the duty of all marshals
and deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts
issued under the provisions of
this act, when to them
directed;
…and should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to
receive such warrant or other process when tendered, or to sue all
proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall,
on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one
thousand dollars, to the use of the person upon whom the accused is
alleged to have committed the offence.
And the better to enable the said commissioners to
execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with
the Constitution of the United States and the requirements of
this
act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, within their
counties respectively, to appoint, in writing, under their hands,
any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute
all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the
lawful performance of their respective duties;
…and the persons so
appointed to execute any warrant or process as aforesaid
shall have authority to summon and call to their aid the bystanders
or posse comitatus of the proper county, or such portion of the
land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia,
as may be necessary to the performance of the duty with which they
are charged, and to insure a faithful observance of the
clause of the Constitution which prohibits slavery, in conformity
with the provisions of
this act; and said warrants shall
run and be executed by said officers anywhere in the State or
Territory within which they are issued.
Apprehension of Rebel Assistants
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted,
That any person who shall knowingly and wilfully
obstruct, hinder, or prevent
any officer, or other person charged with the execution of any
warrant or process issued under the provisions of
this act,
…or any person or persons lawfully assisting him or
them, from arresting any person for whose apprehension such
warrant or process may have been issued, or shall rescue or attempt
to rescue such person from the custody of the officer, other
person or persons, or those lawfully assisting as aforesaid,
when so arrested pursuant to the authority
herein given and declared, or shall aid, abet, or assist any person
so arrested as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from the
custody of the officer or other person legally authorized as
aforesaid, or shall harbor or conceal any person for whose arrest a
warrant or process shall have been issued as aforesaid,
…so as to prevent his discovery and arrest after
notice or knowledge of the fact that a
warrant has been issued for the apprehension of such
personal, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a
fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not
exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the
district court of the United States
for the district in which said offence may have been committed, or
before the proper court of criminal
jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized
Territories of the United States.
Financial Compensation For Officers and Courts of the Act
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That
the district attorneys, the marshals, their deputies, and the
clerks of the said district and
territorial courts shall be paid for their services the like
fees as may be allowed to them for similar services in other cases;
and in all cases where the proceedings are before a
commissioner, he shall be entitled
to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case,
inclusive of all services incident to
such arrest and examination.
The person or persons authorized to execute the
process to be issued by such commissioners for
the arrest of offenders against the
provisions of this act shall be entitled to a fee of five
dollars for each person he or they may arrest and take before any
such commissioner as aforesaid, with such other fees as may be
deemed reasonable by such commissioner for such other additional
services as may be necessarily performed by him or them,
…such as attending at the
examination, keeping the prisoner in custody, and
providing him with food and lodging during his detention, and
until the final determination of such commissioner, and in
general for performing such other duties as may be required in the
premises;
…such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees
usually charged by the officers of the
courts of justice within the proper district or county, as
near as may be practicable, and paid out of the Treasury of the
United States on the certificate of the judge of the district
within which the arrest is made, and
to be recoverable from the defendant as
part of the judgment in case of conviction.
The Special Powers of the
President
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted,
That whenever the
President of the
United States
shall have reason to believe that
offences have been or are likely
to be committed against the provisions
of
this act
within any judicial district, it shall be lawful for him, in his
discretion, to direct the judge, marshal, and district
attorney of such district to attend at such place within the
district, and for such time as he may designate, for the purpose of the more
speedy arrest and trial of
persons charged with a violation of
this act;
…and it shall be the duty of every judge or other
officer, when any such requisition shall be received by him, to
attend at the place and for the time therein designated.
Powers of the President, Commander In Chief
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted,
That it
shall be lawful for the
President of the United States, or such person as
he may empower for that purpose, to employ such
part of the land
or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia,
as shall be necessary to prevent the violation
and enforce the due execution of
this act.
The Power of the
Supreme Court
Sec. 10.
And be it further enacted,
That upon all
questions of law arising in any cause under the provisions of
this
act
a final appeal may be taken to the
Supreme Court of the United States.
SCHUYLER COLFAX,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER,
President of the Senate, pro tempore.
In the Senate of the United States, April 6,1866.
The Significant Fight For Blacks National
Birth Right and Identity
The President of the United
States having returned to the Senate, in which it originated, the
bill entitled "An act to protect all
persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the
means of their vindication,"
with his objections thereto, the Senate proceeded, in
pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the same; and,
Resolved, That the said bill do pass, two-thirds of the Senate
agreeing to pass the same.
Attest: J.W. Forney,
Secretary of the Senate
In the House of Representatives U.S. April 9th, 1866.
The House of Representatives having proceeded, in pursuance of the
Constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An act to protect
all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish
the means of their vindication," returned to the Senate by the
President of the United States, with his objections, and sent
by the Senate to the House of Representatives, with the message of
the President returning the bill:
Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds
of the House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same.
Attest: Edward McPherson, Clerk,
by Clinton Lloyd, Chief Clerk.