The 13th Amendment ended slavery but did not guarantee rights for blacks. Southern states passed 'black codes' to restrict rights. Stevens proposed, authored, and supported what became the 14th Amendment, despite opposition from President Johnson.
"I would ask you, why not hang Thaddeus Stevens ..." (Andrew Johnson 1866) Stevens' proposal provided a definition of citizenship, required states to provide equal protection and due process under the law to everyone, and revoked voting rights from Confederates. “Whatever law punishes a white man for a crime shall punish the black man precisely in the same way and to the same degree. Whatever law protects the white man shall afford equal protection to the black man. ... Now, different degrees of punishment are inflicted not on account of the magnitude of the crime, but according to the color of the skin." (Thaddeus Stevens 1866) |
“I can hardly believe that any person can be found who will not admit that every one of these provisions is just.”
(Thaddeus Stevens 1866)
Several proposals followed. Stevens hoped "... that the intelligent, pure and just men of this Republic . . . would have so remodeled all our institutions as to have freed them from every vestige of human oppression, of inequality of rights, of the recognized degradation of the poor, and the superior caste of the rich.”
The amendment passed, though Stevens did not get everything he wanted, calling it a "shilly-shally bungling thing". "Do you inquire why, holding these views and possessing some will of my own, I accept so imperfect a proposition? I answer, because I live among men and not among angels; among men as intelligent, independent as myself, who not agreeing with me, do not choose to yield their opinions to mine. Mutual concession, therefore, is our only resort, or mutual hostilities." (Thaddeus Stevens 1866)
The amendment passed, though Stevens did not get everything he wanted, calling it a "shilly-shally bungling thing". "Do you inquire why, holding these views and possessing some will of my own, I accept so imperfect a proposition? I answer, because I live among men and not among angels; among men as intelligent, independent as myself, who not agreeing with me, do not choose to yield their opinions to mine. Mutual concession, therefore, is our only resort, or mutual hostilities." (Thaddeus Stevens 1866)
The 14th amendment became one of the most important parts of the Constitution.
"...the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment." (Library of Congress 2013)
"...the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment." (Library of Congress 2013)