ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ted Hayes is a longtime civic advocate, founder of Justiceville and Dome Village, and has worked for more than four decades on issues involving homelessness, constitutional literacy, Reconstruction history, and civic renewal.
The constitutional questions presented in this submission arise from years of independent historical research, public advocacy, and examination of Reconstruction-era legislation, particularly the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and related constitutional enactments.
The author is not an attorney and does not present this submission as legal advice. It is respectfully offered as a request for executive constitutional review supported by primary historical sources.
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The accompanying authorities are presented in chronological order so the reader may examine the constitutional development of Reconstruction through the words of Congress, the Constitution, and the Presidents who shaped that period.
The purpose is not to substitute interpretation for the historical record, but to encourage direct examination of the original sources upon which this submission is based.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY A
Civil Rights Act of 1866 | Act of April 9, 1866, ch. 31, 14 Stat. 27
Selected Text: Section 1 — Citizenship and Civil Rights
“All persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.”
The section further secured to such citizens, without regard to race or prior enslavement, the same rights to contract, sue, give evidence, inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey property, and to receive the equal benefit of laws protecting persons and property.
Section 2 — Deprivation Under Color of Law
Section 2 imposed criminal liability upon any person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom who deprived an inhabitant of rights protected by the Act because of race, color, or previous condition of slavery. This includes POTUS, SCOTUS, COTUS, even the military.
“Nobody Is Above The LAW”
Section 4 – Federal Enforcement Officers
Section 4 – charged federal district attorneys, marshals, deputy marshals, commissioners, and other officers with instituting proceedings against persons accused of violating the Act.
Section 8 — Presidential Enforcement Authority
Section 8 authorized the President to direct federal judges, marshals, district attorneys, and other officers to institute proceedings and to employ land or naval forces—or the militia—to prevent violations and enforce the Act.
Section 10 — Supreme Court Review and Affirmance of Section 1
Section 10 authorized final judgments under the Act to be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Significance
The Act did more than announce civil rights. It declared federal citizenship, defined protected rights, prohibited discriminatory deprivation, assigned enforcement duties to federal officers, and vested preventive enforcement authority in the President.
It therefore warrants review as an operative statutory foundation of Reconstruction—not merely as historical background to the Fourteenth Amendment. The Act was enacted over President Andrew Johnson’s veto on April 9, 1866.
Official Citation
Civil Rights Act of 1866, Act of April 9, 1866, ch. 31, 14 Stat. 27.
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EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY B
President Andrew Johnson’s Veto Message
March 27, 1866
Selected Text
President Johnson returned the Civil Rights Bill to the Senate with objections. In describing the bill’s principal effect, he stated that it established federal citizenship and civil rights for persons recently released from slavery.
He repeatedly identified the population, i.e., the “All persons born…” (the primary center of the matter that opens-unlocks the way to “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” of the 14th Amendment Section 1, and “…and not subject to any foreign power…”, and Section 1 of the 1866 Civil Rights of Birthright Citizenship of principally affected as the formerly enslaved, using the period’s terms “negro,” “colored race,” and persons emerging from “long years of bondage.”
Johnson also objected that the bill would create extensive federal authority to protect those persons against discriminatory state laws, customs, and practices.
Johnson’s greatest fear was that such promotion would give “these people” authority over the POTUS and the military in matters related to their Section 1 of The Act of 1866 Federalized, Remedial Citizenship.
Significance
The veto message is important not because Johnson supported the Act—he opposed it—but because his objections provide contemporaneous executive evidence of:
whom Congress principally intended to protect;
the remedial conditions the Act addressed;
and the breadth of federal enforcement authority Congress sought to establish.
Congress subsequently overrode the veto, making the Civil Rights Act of 1866 law on April 9, 1866.
Official Citation: Andrew Johnson, Veto Message on the Civil Rights Bill, March 27, 1866.
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EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY C
The Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863
Selected Text
President Abraham Lincoln declared that persons held as slaves within designated rebellious states and areas:
“are, and henceforward shall be, free.”
Lincoln issued the proclamation under his authority as President and Commander in Chief during the Civil War and directed the Executive Government, including the military and naval authorities, to recognize and maintain that freedom.
Significance
The Emancipation Proclamation transformed preservation of the Union into a federal policy of liberation. Reconstruction legislation and constitutional amendments later sought to convert wartime emancipation into permanent freedom, citizenship, civil rights, and federal protection.
Official Citation: Proclamation No. 95, Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.
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EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY D
The Gettysburg Address: November 19, 1863
Selected Text
President Abraham Lincoln called the Nation to complete:
“the unfinished work” and to remain dedicated to: “a new birth of freedom.”
He concluded that government of, by, and for the people must not perish from the earth.
Significance
The Gettysburg Address joined preservation of the Union with equality, sacrifice, democratic government, and a national “new birth of freedom.”
Its language provides the clearest presidential frame for understanding Reconstruction as unfinished national work rather than a closed historical episode.
Official Citation: Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19,
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EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY E
Thirteenth Amendment: Ratified December 6, 1865
Selected Text
Section 1
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Section 2
“Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Significance
The Thirteenth Amendment did more than abolish slavery. It expressly vested Congress with authority to enforce that abolition through legislation. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 represents one of the earliest and most significant exercises of that enforcement power, making the Amendment and the Act part of a unified constitutional framework.
Official Citation: U.S. Const. amend. XIII.
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APPENDIX F
Fourteenth Amendment
Complete text.
Reason for Inclusion: Adopted as part of the Reconstruction constitutional framework and considered in relation to the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
APPENDIX G
Fifteenth Amendment
Complete text.
Reason for Inclusion: Extended constitutional protection of voting rights within the Reconstruction program.
APPENDIX H
Article II of the United States Constitution
Include:
- Presidential Oath.
- Vesting Clause.
- Take Care Clause.
Reason for Inclusion: Defines the constitutional responsibilities of the President that form the basis for the executive review proposed in this submission.
APPENDIX I
Selected Reconstruction Enforcement Acts
Include only the sections most relevant to executive enforcement.
Reason for Inclusion: Demonstrates Congress’s continuing commitment to protecting civil rights during Reconstruction.
APPENDIX J
Selected Lincoln Statements on Reconstruction
1. Special Session Message to Congress: July 4, 1861
“The Executive deems it proper to say it will be his purpose then, as ever, to be guided by the Constitution and the laws.”
Significance: Establishes Lincoln’s understanding that presidential action, including restoration of the Union, must be grounded in the Constitution and existing law.
2. Second Annual Message to Congress: December 1, 1862
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.”
And:
“In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.”
Significance: Shows Lincoln’s view that emancipation was necessary both to preserve the Union and to secure the future freedom of the entire Nation.
3. Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction” December 8, 1863
Selected language should show that restored governments were required to remain faithful to the Constitution and to support presidential proclamations concerning slavery.
A concise excerpt is:
“Abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves.”
Significance: Demonstrates that Lincoln joined restoration of the Union with continued recognition and protection of emancipation.
4. Second Inaugural Address: March 4, 1865
“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right…”
And:
“Let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
Significance: Provides Lincoln’s final presidential standard for completing the Civil War’s unfinished work: firmness in constitutional principle, national healing, and responsibility for those who bore the consequences of the conflict.
Optional Fifth Excerpt
Lincoln’s Last Public Address
April 11, 1865
Lincoln discussed the restoration of Louisiana and expressly supported limited suffrage for Black men, particularly those who were educated or had served in the Union military.
A brief usable excerpt is:
“I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.”
Significance: Shows that Lincoln’s developing Reconstruction policy contemplated political participation by formerly enslaved Black Americans, not merely restoration of former Confederate governments.
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Fourteenth Amendment
Ratified July 9, 1868
Selected Text
Section 1
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
The section further prohibits any State from abridging the privileges or immunities of United States citizens, depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process, or denying equal protection of the laws.
Section 5
“The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”
Significance
The Fourteenth Amendment constitutionalized national citizenship and imposed direct restrictions upon state action.
For purposes of this submission, it should be examined in relation to the Civil Rights Act of 1866: whether the Amendment originated the governing citizenship framework, reinforced the Act, or placed constitutional protection around rights Congress had already declared by statute.
That relationship is central to the proposed executive review.
Official Citation: U.S. Const. amend. XIV.
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EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY G
Fifteenth Amendment: Ratified February 3, 1870
Selected Text
Section 1
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Section 2
“The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Significance
The Fifteenth Amendment completed the three Reconstruction Amendments by protecting political participation against racial discrimination.
Together, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments addressed freedom, citizenship, civil protection, and voting rights. Their express enforcement clauses confirm that Reconstruction required continuing federal action, not merely constitutional declaration.
Official Citation
U.S. Const. amend. XV.
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EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY H
Article II of the United States Constitution: Executive Power and Presidential Duty
Selected Text
The Presidential Oath
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The Take Care Clause
“…he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed…”
Significance
Article II places upon the President an independent constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress. That responsibility exists alongside the constitutional roles of Congress and the Judiciary.
This submission respectfully asks whether that duty includes review of the continuing operation and intended purposes of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the broader Reconstruction framework.
Official Citation
U.S. Const. art. II, §§ 1 & 3.
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EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY I
THE PRESIDENT’S OATH OF OFFICE
United States Constitution
Article II, Section 1, Clause 8
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The President’s Continuing Constitutional Duty
Article II, Section 3
“…he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed….”
Significance
The oath is more than a ceremonial pledge. It is the President’s personal constitutional commitment to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and to faithfully execute the laws enacted pursuant to it.
The constitutional questions presented throughout this submission are respectfully offered within that framework. They invite consideration of whether the Reconstruction statutes, including the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and related constitutional provisions, continue to impose executive responsibilities appropriate for review under Article II.
Official Citation: U.S. Const. art. II, §§ 1 & 3.