Many things happened on this day in recorded history, some
good and many bad. But I choose to focus on something great that happened this date a century and a half ago. I’m only sorry
I’m a year late to commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary.
1866 US House of Representatives passes
14th Amendment. (Civil rights)
It is this amendment that finally fulfilled America’s
declarations of independence, which stated all men were created equal and
endowed by the creator to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (It
would take a few more years before this would come to stand for all men and women.) It is the fourteenth amendment
that made former slaves into full citizens.
Here is what section one of this amendment is says:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of
the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.”
Aspects of this important constitutional clarification are
debated even to this day. But most Americans hold it as part of the fabric that
is our nation, one that is based on an
idea, not on a nationality or racial ancestry or a specific religion.
There’s what to celebrate.
{From the front page of the Cleveland
Leader June 14 1866}
