Ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment: The Radical Republican Cocktail of Civil Rights, Vengeance, Corruption, and Partisan Tyranny

 

 Part 2 of a series

Mike Scruggs

By the end of the “Civil” War, the Radical Republicans in Congress were already concerned about the future of the Republican Party and advancing their own political and economic agendas.  The term “radical” was a title they claimed for themselves rather than a pejorative given to them by their enemies. Their enemies, however, were happy to call them radicals. They were not friends to Lincoln, who considered both the Radical Republicans and the radical abolitionists a threat to his leadership.  Yet he knew that their support was necessary to keep a majority of Congress on his side, which was absolutely necessary to win the war.

The Radical plan for postwar America was quite different from Lincoln’s plan. The Radicals wanted to exact vengeance on the South, exploit Southern resources, and most importantly, to use the former slaves to form a Radical Republican majority in Southern states. They believed this was the only way the Republican Party could maintain an electoral majority after the war. In the 1860 Election, Lincoln received only about 40 percent of the national vote. He only won because Northern and Southern Democrats had divided over several slavery issues. The Republicans were essentially a regional party without substantial support in the South. The Radical Republicans believed that the return of the Democratic South to the Union would end their short-lived electoral majority.  Lincoln, on the other hand, believed he could successfully resurrect the old Whig coalition of Northern industrial and Southern agri-business interests with a core of Union loyalists to support a Unionist Republican Party.

The Radical Republicans favored a severe Reconstruction that would enrich Northern interests at Southern expense, assure Republican electoral  majorities in Southern states,  continue protectionist tariff policies unopposed by Southern Free-Trade demands, and generally punish the South for her rebellion against Northern political dominance.  With the exception of  protective tariffs, which Lincoln strongly favored,  the Radicals feared Lincoln would throw away the North’s  hard-won victory to pursue a softer, more tolerant reconciliation of North and South, risking renewed Southern influence and the subsequent decline of  Northern political and economic advantages.

Following Lincoln’s assassination and Andrew Johnson’s swearing in as President, the Radicals believed Reconstruction would go more their way. Johnson had been a pro-Union Tennessee Congressman before the war and had been the Union Military Governor of Tennessee during the war. He was especially noted for his harsh words for any who supported secession. But Johnson was a former populist Democrat and a strong supporter of strict Constitutional government. He was pro-Union and anti-secession but not anti-Southern. Moreover, Johnson was incorruptible and thus became a major obstacle to the Radical Republicans.

The Radical Republicans soon realized that the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, needed to be followed by additional Reconstruction legislation. The Thirteenth Amendment did not give former slaves the right to vote, and facilitating and protecting that right was key to Republican aspirations for electoral dominance of a new South and the nation. The Republicans further argued that the civil rights of former slaves needed more protection, accusing several Southern states of restricting the civil rights of former slaves through new “Black Laws.” However, these “Black Laws” were simply a close imitation of even harsher anti-black legislation passed by many Northern states.

Indiana law codes would not allow blacks and mulattos to come into the state.  Illinois, the land of Lincoln, and Oregon prohibited blacks from entering their states without posting huge bonds. In Illinois, it was $1,000, several years’ income for most people.  Numerous other Northern states including Kansas, Michigan, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Wisconsin had rejected black voting suffrage and with it other rights and privileges of full citizenship.  

 Thus the 14th Amendment, which was really a combination of several Reconstruction bills, was born in concept.  Passing the 14th Amendment became a high priority for the Radical Republicans. So high, that they would ruthlessly violate the Constitution and engage in blatantly dishonest and despotic legislative manipulation.  Several aspects of the 14th Amendment would essentially turn the Constitution on its head and open the door for widespread Judicial, Executive, and Congressional abuse and tyranny. The shameful coercion, dishonesty, and numerous legislative and constitutional irregularities involved in passing the 14th Amendment should place its legitimacy in extreme doubt.

The Amendment consists of five sections.  The first section defines who is a citizen and overturns the Dred Scott versus Sanford Supreme Court decision that denied citizenship to blacks.  It also prevented states from abridging the rights of citizens or denying any person due process and equal protection of the laws.

 Because Section 1 defines anyone born in the U.S. as a citizen, it has had vast unforeseen consequences. .Each year, more than 300,000 children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents are automatically counted as citizens. This entitles both the child and mother to many welfare benefits covering pregnancy and birth. The writers of the 14th Amendment never intended it to benefit illegal immigrants.

Section 2 eliminated the three-fifths rule for slaves in apportioning legislative representation—ironically increasing Southern Electoral Votes. This section allowed for reducing representation as a penalty for its violation and left the door open to abridging the rights of those who had participated in “rebellion.”  Section 3 was the most objectionable to the South.  It denied public office to any person who had previously held Federal office or State legislative, judicial, or executive office and who had supported the Confederacy during the war. 

It was not only humiliating and debilitating to the South but was also designed to guarantee Republican political hegemony in the South by limiting significant opposition.  Section 4 repudiated all Confederate debt, and legitimized the obligation of all citizens to pay for U. S. debt incurred during and after the war. Section 5 gave Congress the power to enforce the other four sections by legislation.  This was thought by many to be an open door to increasing Federal power over the States, which turned out to be quite true.