Beschreibung:

CONSTITUTION, FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT]. SEWARD, William H. (1801-1872), Secretary of State . Partly printed document signed ("William H. Seward"), [Washington, D.C.], 16 June 1866. 4to, 2 pages, comprising Seward's certification of the true copy which follows, bound with original purple silk ribbon, affixed with red paper embossed seal of the Secretary of State of the United States. Fine condition. AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION DURING RECONSTRUCTION: PROPOSING THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT The Fourteenth Amendment has been termed "the most significant of all those passed since the original eight, the Bill of Rights." Its "most important function...was that it finally gave effect to the first eight..." (Page Smith, The Constitution , p.447). Lincoln's death, the succession of Johnson, and the Radical Republicans' firm control of Congress "...drew the Court, the executive branch...and indeed the Constitution itself into a desparate struggle for survival..." ( ibid ., p.440). On page 1, Seward certifies that the annexed "is a true copy of a Concurrent Resolution," to be submitted for ratification by the state legislatures. Article XIV comprises 5 sections. Section 1 stipulates that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, are citizens. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person the equal protection of the laws." Section 2 states that "representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their representative numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed," except that representation may be proportionally allotted if male inhabitants are denied the vote "for participation in rebellion or other crime." Section 3 prohibits any person from holding elective office who, having previously taken an oath "to support the Constitution," later "engaged in insurrection or rebellion," or gave aid to those in rebellion. Section 4 stipulates that the validity of the public debt, including pensions for those who fought against the late rebellion, "shall not be questioned," but neither State nor Federal government will assume or pay "any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave"; "all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void." Finally, Section 5 confirms Congress's power to enforce "by appropriate legislation," this article of the Constitution. This key amendment, ratified and proclaimed on 28 July 1868, was necessitated by the fact that the state courts, particularly those in the former Confederacy, could not be relied upon to enforce legislation protecting the rights of these states' citizens, especially the slaves freed by the Thirteenth Amendment. A number of states had enacted laws severely restricting the rights of free blacks. "By extending the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts over cases having to do with the 'rights' of individuals, primarily of course blacks in the post-Civil War era, the court took a step toward making the Bill of Rights for the first time an effective part of the Constitution" (Smith, p.448). Very rare. The present is the sole copy of this document which has appeared for sale since at least 1975. Provenance : Philip D. Sang Collection (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 3 June 1980, lot 909).