Contents
List of Illustrations · xiii
Introduction · 1
Chapter 1: The Status of african americans
before the Civil War · 5
1. The State v. John Mann, 13 N.C. 263 (Supreme
Court of North Carolina, 1829) · 8
2. Commonwealth v. Thomas Aves, 35 Mass. 193
(Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1836) · 11
3. Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842) · 17
4. Sarah C. Roberts v. The City of Boston, 59 Mass. 198
(Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1850) · 21
5. An Act to amend, and supplementary to, the Act entitled, “An Act
respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons escaping from the Service
of their Masters,” approved February twelfth, one thousand seven hundred
and ninety-three, 9 Stat. 462 (September 18, 1850) (Fugitive Slave Act) · 25
6. Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave. Narrative of Solomon
Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in
1841 and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River
in Louisiana (Auburn: Derby and Miller; Buffalo: Derby, Orton and
Mulligan; London: Sampson Low, Son & Company, 1853) · 27
7. William J. Watkins, Our Rights As Men. An Address Delivered
in Boston, Before the Legislative Committee on the Militia,
February 24, 1853 (Boston: Benjamin F. Roberts, 1853) · 30
8. The Boston Slave Riot, and Trial of Anthony Burns, Containing the Report
of the Faneuil Hall Meeting; the Murder of Batchelder; Theodore Parker’s
Lesson for the Day; Speeches of Counsel on Both Sides, Corrected by
Themselves; Verbatim Report of Judge Loring’s Decision; and a Detailed
Account of the Embarkation (Boston: Fetridge and Company, 1854) · 33
9. Theodore Parker, The New Crime Against Humanity. A
Sermon, Preached at the Music Hall, in Boston, on Sunday,
June 4, 1854 (Boston: B. B. Mussey, 1854) · 36
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10. George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South; or, the Failure of Free
Society (Richmond, Va.: A. Morris, 1854) and Cannibals All! or,
Slaves Without Masters (Richmond, Va.: A. Morris, 1857) · 39
11. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857) (Opinion of
Chief Justice Taney, Dissent of Justice Curtis) · 42
12. Speech of James Henry Hammond to the U.S. Senate (March 4,
1858) (Congressional Globe, 35th Congress, 1st Session) · 52
13. Abraham Lincoln’s Speech at Chicago, Illinois (July 10, 1858) · 54
Chapter 2: The Expansion of Governmental Power
and the Nationalization of the Union · 59
1. Lincoln’s Proclamation Calling Forth the Militia and
Convening Congress (April 15, 1861) · 62
2. Lincoln’s Suspension of Habeas Corpus (April 27, 1861) · 63
3. Ex parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 (Circuit Court, D. Maryland, 1861) · 63
4. Lincoln’s Message to Congress (July 4, 1861) (Library of Congress) · 67
5. Opinion of Attorney General Bates on Suspension of Habeas
Corpus, 10 Op. Att’y Gen. 74 (July 5, 1861) · 73
6. An Act to provide Internal Revenue to support the Government and to pay
Interest on the Public Debt, 12 Stat. 432 (June 19, 1862) (Revenue Act) · 79
7. Lincoln’s Suspension of Habeas Corpus (September 24, 1862) · 80
8. An Act relating to Habeas Corpus, and regulating Judicial
Proceedings in Certain Cases, 12 Stat. 755 (March 3, 1863) · 81
9. An Act for enrolling and calling out the national Forces, and for other
Purposes, 12 Stat. 731 (March 3, 1863) (Conscription Act) · 82
10. Abraham Lincoln to Erastus Corning (June
1863) (Library of Congress) · 83
11. Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866) · 86
12. Texas v. White et al., 74 U.S. 700 (1869) · 97
Chapter 3: african americans, emancipation,
and military service · 100
1. An Act to suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to
seize and confiscate the Property of Rebels, and for other Purposes,
12 Stat. 589 (July 17, 1862) (Second Confiscation Act) · 101
2. An Act to amend the Act calling forth the Militia to execute the
Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections, and repel Invasions,
approved February twenty-eight, seventeen hundred and ninetyfive, and the Acts amendatory thereof, and for other Purposes, 12
Stat. 597 (July 17, 1862) (Act Authorizing Black Enlistments) · 103
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3. Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (September 22, 1862) · 103
4. Opinion of Attorney General Bates on Citizenship, 10
Op. Att’y Gen. 382 (November 1862) · 105
5. Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) · 110
6. Abraham Lincoln to James C. Conkling (August 26, 1863) · 111
7. Speech of Frederick Douglass from Addresses of the Hon. W. D.
Kelley, Miss Anna E. Dickenson, and Mr. Frederick Douglass, at
a Mass Meeting, Held at National Hall, Philadelphia, July 6, 1863,
for the Promotion of Colored Enlistments (July 6, 1863) · 115
8. Letter of Black Soldier James Henry Gooding to Abraham Lincoln
Protesting Unequal Pay (September 28, 1863) (National Archives) · 120
9. Petition of Seventy-four Members of the Black 55th
Massachusetts to Lincoln Threatening Mutiny in Protest of
Unequal Pay (July 16, 1864) (National Archives) · 123
10. Congressional Debate Regarding Equalization of
African American Soldiers’ Pay (Congressional Globe,
38th Congress, 1st Session, 1864) · 123
11. Transcripts of Three Civil War Courts-Martial of African American
Soldiers (Sampson Goliah, Wallace Baker, and Samuel Green) · 127
12. An Act to amend an Act entitled “An Act for enrolling and calling
out the National Forces, and for other Purposes,” approved March
third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, 13 Stat. 6 (February 24, 1864)
(Act Freeing All Black Soldiers Drafted into the Army, Regardless
of Whether Their Masters Were Loyal to the Union) · 157
13. A Resolution to encourage Enlistments and to promote the
Efficiency of the military Forces of the United States, 13 Res. 571
(March 3, 1865) (Resolution Freeing the Wives and Children
of All Blacks in the Armed Forces of the Union) · 158
14. Ceremonies at the Reception of Welcome to the Colored Soldiers of
Pennsylvania, in the City of Harrisburg, Nov. 14, 1865, by the Garnet
League (Harrisburg: Telegraph Steam Book and Job Office, 1865) · 159
Chapter 4: Rights during the Civil War and Reconstruction:
Potential, Change, and Opposition · 164
1. Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, Held
in the City of Syracuse, N.Y. October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864; with
the Bill of Wrongs and Rights and the Address to the American
People (Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1864) · 168
2. An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen
and Refugees, 13 Stat. 507 (March 3, 1865) · 183
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3. An Act to incorporate the Freedman’s Savings and Trust
Company, 13 Stat. 510 (March 3, 1865) · 184
4. George S. Boutwell, Reconstruction: Its True Basis. Speech
of Hon. George S. Boutwell, at Weymouth, Mass., July
4, 1865 (Boston: Wright & Potter, 1865) · 185
5. Charles B. Brockway, A Soldier’s Sentiments: Speech of Capt. Charles B.
Brockway, At the Great Knob Mountain Meeting, Columbia County, Pa.,
on Wednesday, August 30, 1865 ([Pennsylvania?]: n.p., [1865?]) · 188
6. The Thirteenth Amendment (Declared Ratified December 18, 1865) · 189
7. Various State Black Code Laws, Reprinted in 39th
Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Executive Document No.
6, Laws in Relation to Freedmen (1867) · 189
8. Mass Meeting of the Citizens of New-York, Held at the Cooper
Institute, February 22d, 1866, To Approve the Principles Announced
in the Messages of Andrew Johnson, President of the United
States (New York: George F. Nesbitt & Co., 1866) · 196
9. An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in
their Civil Rights, and furnish the Means of their
Vindication, 14 Stat. 27 (April 9, 1866) · 198
10. An Act for the Disposal of the Public Lands for Homestead Actual
Settlement in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas,
and Florida, 14 Stat. 66 (June 21, 1866) (Southern Homestead Act) · 200
11. United States v. Rhodes, 27 F. Cas. 785 (Circuit
Court, D. Kentucky 1866) · 201
12. In re Turner, 24 F. Cas. 337 (Circuit Court, D. Maryland 1867) · 206
13. Three Reconstruction Acts (1867) · 207
14. Articles of Impeachment against President Andrew Johnson
(Presented to the Senate on March 4, 1868) (Supplement to the
Congressional Globe, 40th Congress, 2nd Session, 1868) · 214
15. American Citizenship Redefined: The Fourteenth Amendment
(Declared Ratified July 28, 1868) and the Act of July 27, 1868 · 220
16. Benjamin P. Runkle, Address Delivered by Bvt. Col. Ben. P. Runkle, U.S.A.
Chief Supt. Freedmen’s Affairs, State of Kentucky, to the Freedmen of
Louisville, October, 1868 (Louisville: Calvert, Tippett & Co., 1868) · 223
17. The Fifteenth Amendment (Declared Ratified March 30, 1870) · 226
18. Ku Klux Klan Hearings, 42nd Congress, 2nd
Session, Multiple Reports (1872) · 227
19. An Act to enforce the Right of Citizens of the United
States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for
other purposes, 16 Stat. 140 (May 31, 1870) · 232
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20. An Act to enforce the Provisions of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and
for other Purposes, 17 Stat. 13 (April 20, 1871) · 234
21. Coger v. The North Western Union Packet Co., 37 Iowa
145 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1873) · 236
22. Vicksburgh Troubles, 43rd Congress, 2nd Session,
House Report No. 265 (1875) · 241
23. President Ulysses S. Grant to the United States Senate
(January 13, 1875) (Journal of the Senate of the United
States, 43rd Congress, 2nd Session) · 256
24. An act to protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights, 18
Stat. Part 3, 335 (March 1, 1875) (Civil Rights Act) · 258
Chapter 5: Judicial Interpretation and Limitation of the
Civil War Amendments and Civil Rights Legislation · 260
1. Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1873) · 261
2. Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1875) · 272
3. United States v. Reese et al., 92 U.S. 214 (1876) · 277
4. United States v. Cruikshank et al., 92 U.S. 542 (1876) · 280
5. Hall v. DeCuir, 95 U.S. 485 (1878) · 285
6. Strauder v. West Virginia, 100 U.S. 303 (1880) · 289
7. United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629 (1883) · 293
8. Civil Rights Cases: United States v. Stanley; United States v. Ryan;
United States v. Nichols; United States v. Singleton; Robinson & Wife v.
Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company, 109 U.S. 3 (1883) · 297
9. Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651 (1884) (The Ku Klux Cases) · 304
10. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) · 310
Notes · 325
Further Reading · 327
Index · 331
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