Civil Rights Act of 1866
(Edited)
(Long Version: Italics,
bold, underline, increase in font size emphasis – by Ted Hayes)
Civil Rights Act 1866 long unedited (+)
1866 Civil Rights Act short
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1866 Civil Rights Act short commentary (+)
Civil Right Act of 1866 Background (+)
Civil Rights Act of 1866:
This act entitled
African Americans citizenship
and gave the federal government the power to protect their civil
rights. This led to the drafting of the
14th Amendment,
guaranteeing those civil rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866,
passed by one vote over President Andrew Johnson's veto, granted full
citizenship to all persons born on American soil, except Native
Americans who were exempt from taxation. The law gave former slaves the
rights to own property, enforce contracts, and give evidence in
courts--rights not specifically guaranteed in the
Thirteenth Amendment
abolishing slavery.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS 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
willfully 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 orginated, 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.