A Pair of Civil Rights Speeches by Lyman Trumbull

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Imprint, 24pp., "Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, on the Freedmen's Bureau--Veto Message: Delivered in the Senate of the United States, February 20, 1866. " In part, "Mr. President: It was with surprise and profound regret that I read the extraordinary message of the President of the United States, returning with his objections the bill to amend an act entitled " An act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees," and for other purposes. It has been my desire that the various departments .of the Government should harmonize in the restoration of all the States to their full constitutional relations in the Union. Imprint, 16pp., "Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull of Illinois on the Civil Rights Bill-Veto Message, delivered in the Senate of the United States, April 4, 1866."Southern states responded to ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment by enacting "Black Codes" aimed at oppressing newly emancipated slaves. Left to the caprice of state governments, blacks were denied the ordinary civil liberties enjoyed by whites. On January 5, 1866, Trumbull introduced a Senate bill affirming the citizenship of former slaves. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 stated that: "That 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; and such citizens, of every race and color, and without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, . . . shall have the same right in every state and territory in the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens...." The Senate approved the bill on February 2, and the House followed suit on March 13, 1866. Two weeks later, on March 27, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the legislation. Johnson's veto message mirrored objections of several of the bill's legislative opponents. They argued that Congress did not have authority to enact the proposal because the constitutional power to protect or extend the civil rights of individuals was vested in the states, not the federal government. Constitutional objections aside, Congress voted to override Johnson's veto, and the bill was enacted on April 9, 1866.

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