Civil Rights Act of 1866

U.S. law defining citizenship and equal protection

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Civil Rights Act of 1866

Long title| An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil Rights and liberties, and furnish the Means of their Vindication.
Acronyms (colloquial)| CRA 1866
Enacted by| the 39th United States Congress
Effective| April 9, 1866
Citations
Public law| 14 Stat. 27–30
Legislative history

* Introduced in the Senate as S. 61 by Lyman Trumbull (R–IL) on January 5, 1866
* Committee consideration by Judiciary
* Passed the Senate on February 2, 1866 (33–12)
* Passed the House on March 13, 1866 (111–38)
* Vetoed by President Andrew Johnson on March 27, 1866
* Overridden by the Senate on April 6, 1866 (33–15)
* Overridden by the House and became law on April 9, 1866 (122–41)

Major amendments
Civil Rights Act of 1991 (Section 1981) P.L. 102–166
United States Supreme Court cases

* Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968)
* Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc., 396 U.S. 229 (1969)
* Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 421 U.S. 454 (1975)
* Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160 (1976)
* McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transp. Co., 427 U.S. 273 (1976)
* Memphis v. Greene, 451 U.S. 100 (1981)
* General Bldg. Contractors Assn., Inc. v. Pennsylvania, 458 U.S. 375 (1982)
* Saint Francis College v. al-Khazraji, 481 U.S. 604 (1987)
* Goodman v. Lukens Steel Co., 482 U.S. 656 (1987)
* Jett v. Dallas Independent School Dist., 491 U.S. 701 (1989)
* Jones v. RR Donnelley & Sons Co., 541 U.S. 369 (2004)
* Domino's Pizza, Inc. v. McDonald, 546 U.S. 470 (2006)
* CBOCS West, Inc. v. Humphries, 553 U.S. 442 (2008)
* Comcast v. National Association of African-American-Owned Media, No. 18-1171, 589 U.S. ___ (2020)

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Civil Rights Act of 1866

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 (14 Stat. 27–30, enacted April 9, 1866, reenacted 1870) was the first United States federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law.[1] It was mainly intended, in the wake of the American Civil War, to protect the civil rights of persons of African descent born in or brought to the United States.[2]

The Act was passed by Congress in 1866 and vetoed by U.S. President Andrew Johnson. In April 1866, Congress again passed the bill to support the Thirteenth Amendment, and Johnson again vetoed it, but a two-thirds majority in each chamber overrode the veto to allow it to become law without presidential signature.

John Bingham and other congressmen argued that Congress did not yet have sufficient constitutional power to enact this law. Following passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, Congress ratified the 1866 Act in 1870.

## Primary objectives, introduction and amendment

[edit]

The act had three primary objectives for the integration of African Americans into the American society following the Civil War: 1.) a definition of American citizenship 2.) the rights which come with this citizenship and 3.) the unlawfulness to deprive any person of citizenship rights "on the basis of race, color, or prior condition of slavery or involuntary servitude."[3] The act accomplished these three primary objectives.[3]

The author of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was United States Senator Lyman Trumbull.[4] Congressman James F. Wilson summarized what he considered to be the purpose of the act as follows, when he introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives:[5]

> It provides for the equality of citizens of the United States in the enjoyment of "civil rights and immunities." What do these terms mean? Do they mean that in all things civil, social, political, all citizens, without distinction of race or color, shall be equal? By no means can they be so construed. Do they mean that all citizens shall vote in the several States? No; for suffrage is a political right which has been left under the control of the several States, subject to the action of Congress only when it becomes necessary to enforce the guarantee of a republican form of government. Nor do they mean that all citizens shall sit on the juries, or that their children shall attend the same schools. The definition given to the term "civil rights" in Bouvier's Law Dictionary is very concise, and is supported by the best authority. It is this: "Civil rights are those which have no relation to the establishment, support, or management of government."

During the subsequent legislative process, the following key provision was deleted: "there shall be no discrimination in civil rights or immunities among the inhabitants of any State or Territory of the United States on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." John Bingham was an influential supporter of this deletion, on the ground that courts might construe the term "civil rights" more broadly than people like Wilson intended.[6] Weeks later, Senator Trumbull described the bill's intended scope:[7]

> This bill in no manner interferes with the municipal regulations of any State which protects all alike in their rights of person and property. It could have no operation in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, or most of the States of the Union.

On April 5, 1866, the Senate overrode President Andrew Johnson's veto. This marked the first time that the U.S. Congress ever overrode a presidential veto for a major piece of legislation.[8]

## Content

[edit]

With an incipit of "An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil Rights, and furnish the Means of their vindication", the act declared that all people born in the United States who are not subject to any foreign power are entitled to be citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude.[2] A similar provision (called the Citizenship Clause) was written a few months later into the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[9]

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 also said that any citizen has the same right that a white citizen has to make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property. Additionally, the act guaranteed to all citizens the "full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and ... like punishment, pains, and penalties..." Persons who denied these rights on account of race or previous enslavement were guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction faced a fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both.[2]

The act used language very similar to that of the Equal Protection Clause in the newly proposed Fourteenth Amendment. In particular, the act discussed the need to provide "reasonable protection to all persons in their constitutional rights of equality before the law, without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. ..."[2]

This statute was a major part of general federal policy during Reconstruction, and was closely related to the Second Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1866. According to Congressman John Bingham, "the seventh and eighth sections of the Freedmen's Bureau bill enumerate the same rights and all the rights and privileges that are enumerated in the first section of this [the Civil Rights] bill."[10]

Parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 are enforceable into the 21st century,[11] according to the United States Code:[12]

> All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other.

One section of the United States Code (42 U.S.C. §1981), is §1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 as revised and amended by subsequent Acts of Congress. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was reenacted by the Enforcement Act of 1870, ch. 114, § 18, 16 Stat. 144, codified as sections 1977 and 1978 of the Revised Statutes of 1874, and appears now as 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981–82 (1970). Section 2 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, as subsequently revised and amended, appears in the US Code at 18 U.S.C. §242. After the fourteenth amendment became effective, the 1866 Act was reenacted as an addendum to the Enforcement Act of 1870 in order to dispel any possible doubt as to its constitutionality. Act of May 31, 1870, ch. 114, § 18, 16 Stat. 144.[13]

## Enactment, constitutionalization, and reenactment

[edit]

Mural of the passage of the act

Senator Lyman Trumbull was the Senate sponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and he argued that Congress had power to enact it in order to eliminate a discriminatory "badge of servitude" prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment.[14] Congressman John Bingham, principal author of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment, was one of several Republicans who believed (prior to that Amendment) that Congress lacked power to pass the 1866 Act.[15] In the 20th century, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately adopted Trumbull's Thirteenth Amendment rationale for congressional power to ban racial discrimination by states and by private parties, as the Thirteenth Amendment does not require a state actor.[14]

To the extent that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 may have been intended to go beyond preventing discrimination, by conferring particular rights on all citizens, the constitutional power of Congress to do that was more questionable. For example, Representative William Lawrence argued that Congress had power to enact the statute because of the Privileges and Immunities Clause in Article IV of the original unamended Constitution, even though courts had suggested otherwise.[16]

In any event, there is currently no consensus that the language of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 actually purports to confer any legal benefits upon white citizens.[17] Representative Samuel Shellabarger said that it did not.[18][19]

After enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 by overriding a presidential veto,[20][21] some members of Congress supported the Fourteenth Amendment in order to eliminate doubts about the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1866,[22] or to ensure that no subsequent Congress could later repeal or alter the main provisions of that Act.[23] Thus, the Citizenship Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment parallels citizenship language in the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and likewise the Equal Protection Clause parallels nondiscrimination language in the 1866 Act; the extent to which other clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment may have incorporated elements of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is a matter of continuing debate.[24]

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. Two years later, the 1866 Act was reenacted as Section 18 of the Enforcement Act of 1870.[25]

## Aftermath and consequences

[edit]

After Johnson's veto was overridden, the measure became law. Despite this victory, even some Republicans who had supported the goals of the Civil Rights Act began to doubt that Congress possessed the constitutional power to turn those goals into laws.[26][27] The experience encouraged both radical and moderate Republicans to seek Constitutional guarantees for black rights, rather than relying on temporary political majorities.[28]

The activities of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) undermined the act, meaning that it failed to immediately secure the civil rights of African Americans.[29]

While it has been de jure illegal in the U.S. to discriminate in employment and housing on the basis of race since 1866, federal penalties were not provided for until the second half of the 20th century (with the passage of related civil rights legislation), which meant remedies were left to the individuals involved: because those being discriminated against had limited or no access to legal assistance, this often left many victims of discrimination without recourse.[30]

There have been an increasing number of remedies provided under this act since the second half of the 20th century, including the landmark Jones v. Mayer and Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc. decisions in 1968.[31]

## See also

[edit]

* US labor law
* Civil right acts in the United States
* History of civil rights in the United States
* Black homesteaders

## References

[edit]

1. ^ White, Deborah (2012). Freedom on My Mind. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 391\. ISBN 978-0-312-64884-8.
2. ^ a b c d Civil Rights Act of 1866
3. ^ a b Christopher A. Bracey (June 27, 2018). "Civil Rights Act of 1866". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
4. ^ Lash, Kurt. "The Origins of the Privileges or Immunities Clause, Part II: John Bingham and the Second Draft of the Fourteenth Amendment Archived 2014-01-02 at the Wayback Machine", Georgetown Law Journal, Volume 99, p. 361 (2011).
5. ^ Congressional Globe, House of Representatives, 39th Congress, 1st Session Archived January 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, p. 1117 (March 1, 1866).
6. ^ Kull, Andrew. The Color-Blind Constitution Archived January 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, pp. 75–78 (Harvard University Press, 1994).
7. ^ Lash, Kurt. "The Origins of the Privileges or Immunities Clause, Part II: John Bingham and the Second Draft of the Fourteenth Amendment Archived 2014-01-02 at the Wayback Machine", Georgetown Law Journal, Volume 99, p. 394 (2011). This statement by Senator Trumbull was discussed by both the majority as well as by dissenting Justice Harlan in the Supreme Court case of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 Archived December 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine (1968). See the transcript from April 4, 1866 Archived December 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
8. ^ Castel, Albert E. (1979). The Presidency of Andrew Johnson. American Presidency. Lawrence, Kan.: The Regents Press of Kansas. p. 71. ISBN 0-7006-0190-2.
9. ^ Akhil Reed Amar; John C. Harrison. "Common Interpretation: The Citizenship Clause". The National Constitution Center. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
10. ^ Halbrook, Stephen. Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms, 1866–1876, page 29 Archived January 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (Greenwood Publishing Group 1998).
11. ^ Foner, Eric (December 9, 2015). "Politics of Reconstruction". C-SPAN. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
12. ^ 42 U.S.C. § 1981
13. ^ Greenfield and Kates, 663–664.
14. ^ a b Salzman, Lawrence. "Civil Rights Act of 1866" in Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties, by Paul Finkelman, Volume 1, pp. 299–300 Archived July 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine (CRC Press, 2006).
15. ^ Curtis, Michael Kent. No State Shall Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights, p. 80 (Duke University Press 1986).
16. ^ Bogen, David. Privileges and Immunities: Reference Guide to the United States Constitution, page 43 Archived July 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003).
17. ^ Lund, Nelson. "Two Faces of Judicial Restraint (Or Are There More?) in McDonald v. Chicago" Archived August 31, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Florida Law Review (forthcoming).
18. ^ Harrison, John. "Reconstructing the Privileges or Immunities Clause", 10 Yale Law Journal 1385 (1992).
19. ^ Congressional Globe, House of Representatives, 39th Congress, 1st Session, page 1293 (1866) Archived September 28, 2018, at the Wayback Machine.
20. ^ Johnson, Andrew. "Veto of the Civil Rights Bill". Archived from the original on December 26, 2010. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
21. ^ Belz (2000)
22. ^ "Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968), at 436". June 17, 1968. Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
23. ^ Yen, Chin-Yung. Rights of citizens and persons under the Fourteenth amendment, page 7 Archived March 30, 2019, at the Wayback Machine (New Era Printing Company 1905).
24. ^ See McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. (2010).
25. ^ "The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871". United States Senate. Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
26. ^ Rosen, Jeffrey. The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America, p. 79 (MacMillan 2007).
27. ^ Newman, Roger. The Constitution and its Amendments, Vol. 4, p. 8 (Macmillan 1999).
28. ^ Goldstone 2011, pp. 22–23.
29. ^ "United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629 (1883)". Justia Law. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
30. ^ "McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973)". Justia Law. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
31. ^ Player (2004).

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Goldstone, Lawrence (2011). Inherently Unequal: The Betrayal of Equal Rights by the Supreme Court, 1865–1903. Walker & Company. ISBN 978-0-8027-1792-4.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Belz, Herman. A New Birth of Freedom: The Republican Party and Freedom Rights, 1861 to 1866 (2000)
* Bracey, Christopher A., and Cody J. Foster. Gale Researcher Guide for: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 (Gale, Cengage Learning, 2018).
* Cahill, Bernadette. No Vote for Women: The Denial of Suffrage in Reconstruction America (McFarland, 2019).
* Dew, Lee Allen. "The Reluctant Radicals of 1866," Midwest Quarterly (Spring 1967) pp 261–276.
* Edwards, Laura F. A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction (Cambridge UP, 2015).
* Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (1988)
* Greenfield, Gary A., and Don B. Kates Jr. "Mexican Americans, Racial Discrimination, and the Civil Rights Act of 1866." California Law Review (1975): 662–731 online.
* Hyman, Harold M. A More Perfect Union (1975) pp 427–31 online
* Kaczorowski, Robert J. "The Enforcement Provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1866: A Legislative History in Light of Runyon v. McCrary." The Yale Law Journal 98.3 (1989): 565–595.
* Kohl, Robert L. "The Civil Rights Act of 1866, Its Hour Come Round at Last: Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co." Virginia Law Review (1969): 272–300. online
* Player, Mack A. Federal Law of Employment Discrimination in a Nutshell (2004)
* Rutherglen, George (2013). Civil Rights in the Shadow of Slavery: The Constitution, Common Law, and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Oxford University Press USA. ISBN 9780199739707.
* Samito, Christian G., ed. The Greatest and the Grandest Act: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 from Reconstruction to Today (Southern Illinois UP, 2018) excerpt.
* Tsesis, Alexander. The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom: A Legal History (2004)

## Primary sources

[edit]

* Samito, Christian G., ed. Changes in Law and Society During the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Legal History Documentary Reader (SIU Press, 2009).

## External links

[edit]

Texts on Wikisource: Civil Rights Act of 1866

* v
* t
* e

Reconstruction era

Participants|

Federal government

* Presidents
* Abraham Lincoln
* Andrew Johnson
* Ulysses S. Grant
* Rutherford B. Hayes

* Congress
* 38
* 39
* 40
* 41
* 42
* 43
* 44
* 45
* Radical Republicans
* Moderate Republicans
* Conservative Republicans
* African-American senators
* African-American representatives
* Reconstruction Amendments
* United States Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction
* United States House Select Committee on Reconstruction

* Federal judiciary
* Taney Court
* Chase Court
* Waite Court

* Federal bureaucracy
* Edwin Stanton
* Freedmen's Bureau
* Justice Department

|

State governments

* Southern United States
* Confederate States of America

Others|

* African Americans
* Free people of color
* Freedman
* Politicians
* Carpetbaggers
* Ku Klux Klan
* Scalawag
* Redeemers
* White League
* Red Shirts
* Democratic Party
* Bourbon Democrat
* Horatio Seymour
* Samuel J. Tilden
* Republican Party
* Stalwarts
* Charles Sumner
* Thaddeus Stevens
* Lyman Trumbull
* Benjamin Wade
* John Bingham
* James Mitchell Ashley
* Freedman's Savings Bank
* Women during the Reconstruction era

Elections|

Presidential

* 1864
* DNC
* National Union Convention
* Radical Democratic Party

* 1868
* DNC
* RNC

* 1872
* DNC
* RNC
* Liberal Republican Party
* Straight-Out Democratic Party
* Victoria Woodhull

* 1876
* DNC
* RNC
* Greenback Convention
* Prohibition Convention
* Electoral Commission
* Compromise of 1877

|

U.S. Senate|

* 1864–65
* 1866–67
* 1868–69
* 1870–71
* 1872–73
* 1874–75
* 1876–77

U.S. House|

* 1864–65
* 1866–67
* 1868–69
* 1870–71
* 1872–73
* 1874–75
* 1876–77

Gubernatorial|

* 1863
* Alabama
* California
* Connecticut
* Kentucky
* Massachusetts
* Minnesota
* New Hampshire
* Ohio
* Pennsylvania
* Virginia
* Vermont
* Wisconsin
* West Virginia

* 1864
* Connecticut
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Louisiana
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan
* Missouri
* New Hampshire
* Vermont
* West Virginia

* 1865
* Connecticut
* Florida
* Louisiana
* Massachusetts
* Minnesota
* New Jersey
* Ohio
* South Carolina
* Vermont
* Wisconsin

* 1866
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Michigan
* North Carolina
* Oregon
* Pennsylvania
* Texas
* Vermont
* West Virginia

* 1867
* California
* Connecticut
* Kentucky
* Massachusetts
* Maryland
* Maine
* Minnesota
* Ohio
* Vermont
* Wisconsin

* 1868
* Alabama
* Connecticut
* Florida
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Kentucky (special)
* Louisiana
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Michigan
* Missouri
* North Carolina
* New Jersey
* South Carolina
* Vermont
* West Virginia

* 1869
* Connecticut
* Iowa
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Ohio
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* Virginia
* Vermont
* Wisconsin

* 1870
* Alabama
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Michigan
* Missouri
* Oregon
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* Vermont
* West Virginia

* 1871
* California
* Connecticut
* Iowa
* Kentucky
* Massachusetts
* Maryland
* Maine
* Minnesota
* New Jersey
* Ohio
* Rhode Island
* Wisconsin

* 1872
* Alabama
* Connecticut
* Florida
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Louisiana
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Michigan
* Missouri
* North Carolina
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* Vermont
* West Virginia

* 1873
* Connecticut
* Iowa
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Ohio
* Texas
* Virginia
* Wisconsin

* 1874
* Alabama
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Kansas
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Michigan
* Missouri
* New Jersey
* Nevada
* Oregon
* South Carolina
* Vermont

* 1875
* California
* Connecticut
* Iowa
* Kentucky
* Massachusetts
* Maryland
* Maine
* Minnesota
* Ohio
* Ohio
* Wisconsin

* 1876
* Alabama
* Colorado
* Connecticut April
* Connecticut November
* Florida
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Kansas
* Louisiana
* Massachusetts
* Maine
* Michigan
* Missouri
* North Carolina
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* Vermont
* West Virginia

U.S. elections|

* 1864
* 1866
* 1868
* 1870
* 1872
* 1874
* 1876

Key events|

| Prelude|

* American Indian Wars
* Slavery in the United States
* A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
* The Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women (1838)
* Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1839)
* Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
* National Women's Rights Convention (1850)
* American Civil War
* Confiscation Act of 1861
* Confiscation Act of 1862
* District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act (1862)
* Militia Act of 1862

|

1863|

* Emancipation Proclamation
* General Order No. 143
* Lincoln's presidential Reconstruction
* Ten percent plan
* National Bank Act
* Women's Loyal National League
* New York City draft riots
* 1863 State of the Union Address

1864|

* Wade–Davis Bill
* 1864 elections
* 1864 State of the Union Address

1865|

* 13th Amendment
* Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln
* Address
* Black Codes
* Special Field Orders No. 15
* Freedmen's Bureau
* Freedmen's Bureau bills
* Confederates surrender at Appomattox
* Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
* Shaw University
* New Departure
* 1865 State of the Union Address
* Founding of the Ku Klux Klan

1866|

* Civil Rights Act of 1866
* Memphis massacre of 1866
* New Orleans Massacre of 1866
* Swing Around the Circle
* Southern Homestead Act of 1866
* Fort Smith Conference and Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty of 1866
* Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty of Washington of 1866
* Tennessee readmitted to Union
* Petition for Universal Freedom
* National Labor Union
* Ex parte Garland
* Ex parte Milligan
* Slave Kidnapping Act of 1866

* 1866 elections

1867|

* Tenure of Office Act
* Command of Army Act
* Indian Peace Commission
* Knights of the White Camelia
* Pulaski riot
* Reconstruction Acts
* Reconstruction military districts
* Constitutional conventions of 1867
* Habeas Corpus Act of 1867
* Peonage Act of 1867
* First impeachment inquiry into Andrew Johnson
* 1867 State of the Union Address

1868|

* 14th Amendment
* Second impeachment inquiry into Andrew Johnson
* Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
* Timeline
* Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson
* Impeachment managers investigation
* Articles of impeachment
* Arkansas readmitted to Union
* Florida readmitted to Union
* North Carolina readmitted to Union
* South Carolina readmitted to Union
* Louisiana readmitted to Union
* Alabama readmitted to Union
* Opelousas massacre
* Fourth Reconstruction Act
* Georgia v. Stanton
* 1868 elections
* 1868 State of the Union Address

1869|

* National Woman Suffrage Association
* American Woman Suffrage Association
* Alabama Claims
* Proposed annexation of Santo Domingo
* Board of Indian Commissioners
* Public Credit Act of 1869
* Black Friday (1869)
* Ex parte McCardle
* First transcontinental railroad
* 1869 State of the Union Address

1870|

* 15th Amendment
* Enforcement Act of 1870
* Justice Department
* Naturalization Act of 1870
* Kirk–Holden war
* Shoffner Act
* 1870 elections
* 1870 State of the Union Address

1871|

* Ku Klux Klan hearings
* Second Enforcement Act
* Ku Klux Klan Act
* Alcorn State University
* Meridian race riot of 1871
* Treaty of Washington
* New York custom house ring
* Civil service commission
* United States expedition to Korea
* 1871 State of the Union Address

1872|

* General Mining Act of 1872
* Crédit Mobilier scandal
* Modoc War
* Star Route scandal
* Salary Grab Act
* Amnesty Act
* 1872 elections
* 1872 State of the Union Address

1873|

* Panic of 1873
* Colfax massacre
* Timber Culture Act
* Slaughter-House Cases
* Virginius Affair
* Coinage Act of 1873
* Long Depression
* Comstock laws
* 1873 State of the Union Address

1874|

* Brooks–Baxter War
* Battle of Liberty Place
* Coushatta massacre
* Red River War
* Timber Culture Act
* White League
* Election Massacre of 1874
* Vicksburg massacre
* Black Hills Gold Rush
* Sanborn incident
* Anti-Moiety Acts
* 1874 elections
* 1874 State of the Union Address

1875|

* United States v. Cruikshank
* Civil Rights Act of 1875
* Red Shirts
* Mississippi Plan
* Clifton Riot of 1875
* Yazoo City Riot of 1875
* Specie Payment Resumption Act
* Whiskey Ring
* Wheeler Compromise
* Delano affair
* Pratt & Boyd
* 1875 State of the Union Address

1876|

* Hamburg massacre
* South Carolina civil disturbances of 1876
* Ellenton massacre
* Great Sioux War of 1876
* Battle of the Little Bighorn
* United States v. Reese
* Trader post scandal
* Centennial Exposition
* Cattellism
* Safe burglary conspiracy
* 1876 elections
* 1876 State of the Union Address

1877|

* Electoral Commission
* Compromise of 1877
* Nez Perce War
* Desert Land Act
* Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Aftermath|

* Posse Comitatus Act (1878)
* Civil Rights Cases (1883)
* United States v. Harris (1883)
* Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
* Williams v. Mississippi (1898)
* Wilmington massacre
* Giles v. Harris (1903)
* Disenfranchisement

Aspects|

| Historiography|

* Bibliography of the Reconstruction era
* James Shepherd Pike
* The Prostrate State (1874)
* James Bryce
* The American Commonwealth (1888)
* Claude G. Bowers
* The Tragic Era (1929)
* Columbia University
* John Burgess
* Walter L. Fleming
* Dunning School
* William Archibald Dunning
* Charles A. Beard
* Howard K. Beale
* W. E. B. Du Bois
* Black Reconstruction in America (1935)
* C. Vann Woodward
* Joel Williamson
* William R. Brock
* The American Crisis (1963)
* John Hope Franklin
* From Slavery to Freedom (1947)
* After Slavery (1965)
* Leon Litwack
* Been in the Storm So Long (1979)
* Eric Foner
* Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (1988)
* Kenneth M. Stampp
* Steven Hahn
* A Nation Under Our Feet (2003)
* The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution (2019)

|

Memory|

* Winslow Homer
* A Visit from the Old Mistress (1876)
* Thomas Dixon Jr.
* The Leopard's Spots (1902)
* The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan (1905)
* D. W. Griffith
* The Birth of a Nation (1915)
* United Daughters of the Confederacy
* Gone with the Wind (1939)
* David W. Blight
* Race and Reunion (2001)

Legacy|

* Women's suffrage in the United States
* Labor history of the United States
* Gilded Age
* Jim Crow era
* Civil rights movement
* American frontier

Other topics|

* African American founding fathers of the United States
* Forty acres and a mule
* Habeas corpus
* History of the United States (1865–1917)
* Paramilitary
* Race (human categorization)
* Reconstruction Treaties
* Suffrage
* Technological and industrial history of the United States
* White supremacy
* Whitecapping

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Andrew Johnson

* 17th President of the United States (1865–1869)
* 16th Vice President of the United States (1865)
* Senator from Tennessee (1857–1862, 1875)
* 15th Governor of Tennessee (1853–1857, 1862–1865)

Pre-presidency|

* Homestead Acts
* Southern Unionist
* War Democrat
* 1864 U.S. presidential election
* 1864 National Union Convention
* Drunk vice-presidential inaugural address
* Kirkwood House

Presidency|

* Inauguration of Andrew Johnson
* Foreign policy
* Judicial appointments
* Reconstruction era
* Pardons for ex-Confederates
* State of the Union, 1865
* 1866
* 1867
* 1868
* Colorado Territory
* Alaska Purchase
* Reconstruction Acts
* Judicial Circuits Act
* Civil Rights Act of 1866
* Southern Homestead Act of 1866
* Tenure of Office Act
* Command of Army Act
* Vetoes
* Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
* Trial
* First impeachment inquiry
* Second impeachment inquiry
* Efforts to impeach Andrew Johnson
* 1868 impeachment managers investigation
* Politics: National Union Party
* 1866 National Union Convention
* Swing Around the Circle
* 1866 & 1867 U.S. House elections
* 1868 Democratic Convention

Public image|

* Andrew Johnson National Cemetery
* Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
* President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library
* Andy's Trip (1866)
* Southern Justice (1867)
* Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum (1867)
* Tennessee Johnson (1942)

Family|

* Eliza McCardle Johnson (wife)
* Martha Johnson Patterson (daughter)
* David T. Patterson (son-in-law)
* Charles Johnson (son)
* Mary Johnson Stover (daughter)
* Daniel Stover (son-in-law)
* Robert Johnson (son)
* Frank Johnson (son)

Slaves|

* Andrew Johnson and slavery
* Henry Brown
* Elizabeth J. Forby
* Dolly Johnson
* Henry Johnson
* Sam Johnson
* William A. Johnson
* Florence J. Smith

Related|

* Bibliography of Andrew Johnson
* Alcoholism debate
* Mrs. Harold
* Ledger-removal allegation
* Buell Commission records
* Treason must be made odious

* ← Abraham Lincoln
* Ulysses S. Grant →

* ← Hannibal Hamlin
* Schuyler Colfax →

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Immigration to the United States and related topics

Relevant colonial era,
United States and
international laws

| 18th century|

* Nationality law in the American Colonies
* Plantation Act of 1740
* Naturalization Act of 1790 / 1795 / 1798

|

19th century|

* Naturalization Act of 1802
* Act to Encourage Immigration (1864)
* Civil Rights Act of 1866
* 14th Amendment (1868)
* Naturalization Act of 1870
* Page Act of 1875
* Immigration Act of 1882
* Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
* Scott Act of 1888
* Immigration Act of 1891
* Geary Act of 1892

20th century|

* Immigration Act of 1903
* Naturalization Act of 1906
* Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907
* Immigration Act of 1907
* Immigration Act of 1917
* Immigration Act of 1918
* Emergency Quota Act of 1921
* Cable Act of 1922
* Immigration Act of 1924
* Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
* Philippine Independence Act of 1934
* Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935
* Nationality Act of 1940
* Bracero Program (1942–1964)
* Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943
* War Brides Act of 1945
* Alien Fiancées and Fiancés Act of 1946
* Luce–Celler Act of 1946
* UN Refugee Convention (1951)
* Immigration and Nationality Act 1952 / 1965
* Refugee Act of 1980
* Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
* Family Fairness (1987)
* Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1987
* Immigration Act of 1990
* Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994
* Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
* Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
* Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997
* American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998

21st century|

* American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000
* Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000
* Child Citizenship Act of 2000
* Legal Immigration Family Equity Act of 2000
* Homeland Security Act of 2002
* H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004
* Real ID Act of 2005
* International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005
* Secure Fence Act of 2006
* Emergency Afghan Allies Extension Act of 2014
* Laken Riley Act of 2025

Visas and policies|

* Visa policy
* Permanent residence (Green card)
* Visa Waiver Program
* Temporary protected status (TPS)
* Asylum
* Green Card Lottery
* Central American Minors
* Employment authorization document (EAD card)
* Deferred action
* Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
* Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA)
* Parole
* Keeping Families Together (KFT)
* Adjustment of status
* US-VISIT
* Security Advisory Opinion
* E-Verify
* National Origins Formula
* Expedited removal
* Detention
* Family
* Unaccompanied children
* Trump administration family separation policy
* Trump travel ban

Government
organizations

* Department of Homeland Security
* Immigration and Customs Enforcement
* U.S. Border Patrol (BORTAC)
* U.S. Customs and Border Protection
* U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
* Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
* Executive Office for Immigration Review
* Board of Immigration Appeals
* Office of Refugee Resettlement

Supreme Court cases|

* Chae Chan Ping v. U.S. (1889)
* Nishimura Ekiu v. U.S. (1892)
* Fong Yue Ting v. U.S. (1893)
* U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)
* Ozawa v. U.S. (1922)
* U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)
* Knauff v. Shaughnessy (1950)
* Harisiades v. Shaughnessy (1952)
* Shaughnessy v. Mezei (1953)
* Kleindienst v. Mandel (1972)
* U.S. v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975)
* I.N.S. v. St. Cyr (2001)
* Zadvydas v. Davis (2001)
* Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting (2011)
* Trump v. Hawaii (2018)
* D.H.S. v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal. (2020)
* D.H.S. v. Thuraissigiam (2020)
* Department of State v. Muñoz (2024)

Related issues
and events

* 2006 protests
* Brooks County, Texas
* Central American migrant caravans
* Economic impact
* Effects
* Eugenics in the United States
* Guest worker program
* Human trafficking
* Human smuggling
* Coyotaje
* Immigration reduction
* Immigration reform
* List of people deported from the United States
* Mexico–United States border crisis
* Mexico–United States border wall
* Labor shortage
* March for America
* Undocumented immigrant population
* Reverse immigration
* Unaccompanied minors from Central America
* Illegal immigration to the United States

Geography|

* Mexico–United States border
* Canada–United States border
* United States Border Patrol interior checkpoints

Proposed legislation|

* DREAM Act (2001–2010)
* H.R. 4437 (2005)
* McCain–Kennedy (2005)
* Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act 2006
* STRIVE Act (2007)
* Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act 2007
* Uniting American Families Act (2000–2013)
* Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013
* SAFE Act (2015)
* RAISE Act (2017)
* U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021

Immigration stations
and points of entry|

* Angel Island
* Castle Garden
* East Boston
* Ellis Island
* Otay Mesa
* San Ysidro
* Sullivan's Island
* Washington Avenue

Operations|

* "Wetback" (1954)
* "Peter Pan" (1960–1962)
* "Babylift" (1975)
* "Gatekeeper" (1994)
* "Endgame" (2003–2012)
* "Front Line" (2004–2005)
* "Streamline" (2005–present)
* "Return to Sender" (2006–2007)
* "Jump Start" (2006–2008)
* "Phalanx" (2010–2016)
* "Faithful Patriot" (2018–present)

State legislation|

* California DREAM Act (2006–2010)
* Arizona SB 1070 (2010)
* Alabama HB 56 (2011)

Non-governmental
organizations

* Arizona Border Recon
* California Coalition for Immigration Reform
* CASA of Maryland
* Center for Immigration Studies
* Center for Migration Studies of New York
* Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
* Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
* Community Change
* Federation for American Immigration Reform
* Improve The Dream
* Mexica Movement
* Mexicans Without Borders
* Migration Policy Institute
* Minuteman Civil Defense Corps
* Minuteman Project
* National Immigration Forum
* National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
* Negative Population Growth
* No More Deaths
* NumbersUSA
* Save Our State
* Utah Compact

Documentaries|

* Borderland (TV series)
* Missing in Brooks County

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Israel

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