Righting a Constitutional Wrong
One of the most influential and forgotten figures in American History is John Bingham, representative from Ohio. Before the Civil War, he was one of the most vocal opponents of slavery and served in the Union Army during the Civil War as its judge advocate general. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Bingham was one of the Federal prosecutors at the trial of John Wilkes Booth.
In 1866, with the Civil War over, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, of which Bingham was a member was tasked with writing legislation that would (a) prohibit any state or person from ever owning a slave, (b) ensuring that former slaves were granted U.S. citizenship and (c) require every existing state, if it hadn’t already done so, and every new state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
One of the first bills submitted to Congress, but didn’t pass, had the words – “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.
Bingham and the other members of the sub-committee kept working. If you read their correspondence, their major concerns were ensuring that whatever amendment was submitted for ratification ended all chances for slavery in the United States, and two, granting full U.S. citizenship to those individuals and their descendants who were brought to this country involuntarily.
That was the intent of what ultimately became the 14th Amendment. However, as it wound through the write and re-write process, clauses were added and deleted.
The words listed above became Clause 1 of the 14th Amendment because the Constitution is silent on the promises of the Declaration of Independence. This clause, known as the Equal Rights Clause, has been the basis of many laws such as the Civil Rights Act. At the time, many members of Congress wanted to limit this clause just to freed slaves, but ultimately, Bingham won out, and any reference to slavery was dropped. The broad terms of Clause 1 are now part of our Constitution.
However, there are other clauses that are relevant. It was clear that Bingham et al were targeting members of the Confederacy.
Clause 2 sets the voting age at 21. It also emphasizes that any citizen of the U.S. can vote unless they participated in a rebellion, i.e., the Confederate Army or the government of the Confederacy.
Clause 3 states that no one who has sworn allegiance to another country or participated in a rebellion against the U.S. can be a judge, member of Congress, or elected to Federal office.
Clause 4 prohibits the Federal government from assuming the debts of any states or individuals who have participated in a rebellion against the U.S. It also forbids the former Confederate states from assuming the debts of their citizens. Keep in mind, under the Constitution, the U.S. picked up the tab for the states’ individual debts incurred during the War for Independence once they ratified the Constitution.
Clause 5 gives Congress the right to modify the amendment.
From both the language of the 14th Amendment and the writings of Bingham and the sub-committee, it is clear that the gift of citizenship given to slaves who were brought here and/or were born here. No other group of residents of the U.S. was considered in 1866 when the amendment was proposed and when it was ratified in June 1868.
Official Photo of John C. Bingham, Representative from Ohio.
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