Two days later, on the 22d of February (1866), a day most unpropitious in his subsequent history, Mr. Johnson addressed to a noisy gathering which had assembled to serenade him, a most disgraceful speech, in which he denounced Senator Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens by name, declaring that they were seeking to assassinate him, and indulged in the use of grossly insulting epithets toward other prominent men. This speech, for which his friends apologized, on the plea that he was intoxicated, seriously damaged the President’s cause, while it widened the breach between him and the party to whom he owed his advancement. Henceforward Congress moved cautiously but firmly. Every bill relating to reconstruction was carefully considered and thoroughly matured before its passage, and when the inevitable veto came, each bill was triumphantly passed over it.
The first measure to undergo this ordeal was the Civil Rights Bill, passed March 13, 1866; vetoed by the President March 27, 1866; and passed over his veto, by 33 yeas to 15 nays in the Senate; and 122 yeas to 41 nays in the House, April 6–9, 1866.
This bill, the first of the permanent measures of reconstruction on the Congressional plan, provided that all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, should be declared and considered citizens of the United States, and that 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 had been duly convicted, should have the same right in every State and Territory of 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 be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.
It further provided for the punishment of all infractions of this act, and for its effectual enforcement, through the district courts of the United States and their officers; and authorized the President, or any persons whom he might empower, to prevent the violation of the act, and if necessary to call the land or naval forces of the United States, or the militia, to aid in preventing such violation.
The next measure of Congress looking toward reconstruction, was the passage and submission to the State legislatures of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This amendment passed the Senate June 8, 1866, by a vote of 33 yeas to 11 nays; and the House, June 13, 1866, by 138 yeas to 36 nays. The following is the joint resolution and amendment:—
“Joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
“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 14.
“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
“Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.