A Delegation Opposing the Amending of the Constitution in Any Way That Would Disenfranchise Any Citizen on the Grounds of Race or Color. A Precursor to the Civil Rights Act of 1866
Memorial of a Delegation Representing the Colored People of the Several States, Remonstrating against the passage of joint resolution, H.R. No. 51, proposing to amend the Constitution of the United States. [39th Congress, 1st Session.], [Mis. Doc. No. 56].
Washington D.C. United States Congress, 1866.
DOWNING, George T.. Memorial of a Delegation Representing the Colored People of the Several States,. Remonstrating against the passage of joint resolution, H.R. No. 51, proposing to amend the Constitution of the United States. [39th Congress, 1st Session.], [Mis. Doc. No. 56]. Washington D.C.: United States Congress, 1866.
Full Description:
DOUGLASS, Frederick. DOWNING, George T.. Memorial of a Delegation Representing the Colored People of the Several States, Remonstrating against the passage of joint resolution, H.R. No. 51, proposing to amend the Constitution of the United States. [39th Congress, 1st Session.], [Mis. Doc. No. 56]. Washington D.C.: United States Congress, February 15, 1866.
Broadside. Printed on recto only. (8 15/16 x 5 11/16 inches; 227 x 144 mm). Among the signatories are prominent black political figures Frederick Douglass, his son Lewis B. Douglass, George Downing and A.J. Ransier. We could find no other copy of this broadside.
Disbound. With tear to lower right corner, but no loss of text. Some minor chips along edges. Paper lightly toned. Overall very good.
As the 39th Congress (1865–1867) convened on December 4, 1865, Radical Republicans confronted a crisis in the South. Since the conclusion of the Civil War in April, most of the former Confederate states had taken dramatic steps to reconstitute their governments under the leaders of the rebellion... resident Andrew Johnson, a slaveholder and former Tennessee Senator who stayed loyal to the United States during the war, had granted blanket pardons to many Confederate soldiers and officials, restoring their right to hold public office. Throughout the South, voters elected former Confederates to state legislatures and to Congress. At the state level, southern legislatures populated with former Confederates passed unjust laws known as Black Codes to restrict the rights of freed people... The opening of the new session of Congress set the stage for the Radicals to initiate a coordinated response... Two months later, on February 7, 1866, President Johnson received a delegation in the White House led by Frederick Douglass and Black activist and restaurateur George T. Downing. The members of the delegation hailed from both sides of the sectional divide... The delegation stressed the precarious position of African Americans at the beginning of 1866. The Thirteenth Amendment was not enough, Downing told the President, and 'we wish it enforced with appropriate legislation.' The Constitution, he added, 'knows no privileged class,' and Black Americans 'should be protected in their rights as citizens and equal before the law.' They insisted on being 'fully enfranchised' throughout the nation, and 'anything less than this will be rendering to us less than our just due.' Douglass also directly addressed Johnson, asking him to guarantee Black voting rights. The President, Douglass stressed, had 'the power to save or destroy us; to bless or blast us. I mean our whole race.' The contentious meeting concluded with Johnson lecturing the Black delegation on the problems that he thought might follow Black suffrage... Turning to Capitol Hill, the delegation appealed to Congress and outlined a vision of Black citizenship rooted in the Constitution. On February 15, Senator Sumner introduced the delegation’s “memorial and protest” objecting to House Joint Resolution 51, a proposed constitutional amendment. Passed by the House on January 31, the joint resolution defined the punishment for those states that excluded voters on the basis of 'race or color,' mandating a reduction in House seats apportioned to any state guilty of such an offense... The delegates urged the Senate to reject the resolution. The Senate followed their recommendation and never approved the amendment... During the next five years, Republican lawmakers worked to guarantee the civil and political rights of African Americans and establish a process for readmitting former Confederate states. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to establish the rights of citizenship, institute equal protection under the law, and outlaw discrimination in employment, housing, and accommodations. After overriding a veto from President Johnson, Republicans began drafting a new constitutional amendment to redefine citizenship in the United States. When Congress approved the Fourteenth Amendment in June 1866, it explicitly granted citizenship to those born on American soil and guaranteed equal protection of the law for all." (U.S. House of Representatives).
HBS 69551.
$1,750.
Price: $1,750.00
Item #69551