The Judicial Destruction of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 From Federal Protection to the State-Action Barrier I. The Promise of Ordinary Freedom The constitutional transformation of Reconstruction could not end with the abolition of slavery. Freedom had to become an ordinary reality. A citizen might be free in name yet excluded from the inns, …
The Great Constitutional Pause—When the Reconstruction Train Lost Its Momentum ANNOTATED EDITION Reconstruction at Its High-Water Mark By 1875, the principal constitutional framework of Reconstruction stood in place. The Union had been preserved, the Confiscation Acts had begun the wartime transition from American chattel slavery toward federal intervention, and the Emancipation Proclamation had committed the …
THE COMPROMISE OF 1877: The Great Republican Betrayal Read More »
Federal Citizenship, Civil Rights, and the Seat Supported by the Reconstruction Triad ANNOTATED EDITION The Centerpiece of Reconstruction If the Reconstruction Amendments form the constitutional structure of Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is its principal statutory foundation.[1] The Confiscation Acts began the federal transition.[2] The Emancipation Proclamation declared executive commitment.[3] The Reconstruction Amendments …
THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866: The Heart of Reconstruction Read More »
The Constitution Received—and the Republic Yet to Be Completed The Unfinished Work Entrusted to the Living ANNOTATED EDITION [See: Long Version @ https://tedhayes.us/20-closenoteshort/] The Constitution Was Written Beyond Its Own Generation The Preamble speaks in the name of We the People and declares an intention to secure the Blessings of Liberty not only to those …
Article II and the Continuing Responsibility to Enforce Reconstruction Law From Presidential Authority to Constitutional Stewardship ANNOTATED EDITION Article II Converts Executive Power into Constitutional Duty Article II begins by vesting the executive power in a President of the United States. It then requires the President to swear or affirm that the office will be …
THE PRESIDENCY AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY OF FAITHFUL EXECUTION Read More »
Justice Harlan Stands Alone Again From the State-Action Barrier to State-Mandated Segregation I. From Federal Retreat to State Command The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 restricted the power of Congress to protect Black citizens against racial discrimination by private proprietors. Plessy v. Ferguson presented a different constitutional wrong. This time, racial separation was not merely …
PLESSY v. FERGUSON When “Separate but Equal” Became Constitutional Doctrine Read More »
When the Supreme Court Removed Equality from Ordinary Public Life Justice Harlan’s Lone Dissent and the Third Great Judicial Retreat ANNOTATED EDITION Reconstruction Enters Ordinary Public Life The Civil Rights Act of 1866 had established federal citizenship and enumerated essential civil rights. The Reconstruction Amendments then altered the Constitution, while the Enforcement Acts supplied federal …
When the Fourteenth Amendment’s Lock Was Narrowed from the Bench ANNOTATED EDITION Reconstruction Reaches the Supreme Court By 1873, the constitutional architecture of Reconstruction had largely been established. The Thirteenth Amendment had abolished slavery. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 had declared federal citizenship and enumerated civil rights. The Fourteenth Amendment had prohibited states from …
THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE CASES: The First Great Judicial Narrowing of Reconstruction Read More »
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments as a Constitutional Structure ANNOTATED EDITION The Constitution Permanently Changed The Civil War did not merely preserve the Union. It transformed the Constitution. Following military victory, Congress proposed, and the States ratified three constitutional amendments that permanently altered the legal and constitutional character of the American Republic.[1] Together, the …
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Anchorist Claim, and Executive Stewardship ANNOTATED EDITION The opposition spoke—and the official record identified the people. The Question of Identification Who were the “all persons born in the United States” whose citizenship Congress declared in the Civil Rights Act of 1866? The statute supplies the controlling language. Its …