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 CHAPTER VII

CIVIL RIGHTS OF NEGROES

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, prohibiting slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, was proposed to the legislatures of the thirty-six States on February 1, 1865, a little over two months before the surrender of Lee at Appomatox, and was declared to have been ratified by twenty-seven States, the requisite three-fourths, by December 18, 1865. The latter date marked the Negro's final freedom from physical bondage. His body could no longer be owned as chattel property. But there is a vast difference between being able to say "No man owns my body," and "I have the same rights, privileges, and immunities as other free men." This difference the Thirty-ninth Congress—that of 1865-1866—fully realized, and grappled with.

The first ten Amendments were passed soon after the adoption of the Constitution to satisfy the demands of those who were jealous of the power of the Federal government. These, in brief, guaranteed to the citizens of the United States (1) freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and of petition for redress of grievances; (2) the right to keep and bear arms; (3) the right not to have soldiers quartered in one's house in time of peace without one's consent; (4) freedom from unreasonable searches and