and one is thrown back upon the Amendments and subsidiary enactments themselves to work out from them what are the civil rights of a citizen and of the Negro in particular.
During the summer and fall of 1865, between the close of the War and the convening of Congress, there had developed on the part of the radical element of the Republican party under Thaddeus Stevens an opposition to President Johnson's Reconstruction plans. The first Civil Rights Bill passed the Senate on February 2, 1866, passed the House a few days later, but on March 27, was returned with the veto of the President. It was passed, however, over his veto on April 9, 1866, and was thereafter known as the Civil Rights Bill[2] of 1866. The first section reads: "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, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 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 benefits of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishments, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding."
It is evident that the first phrase was intended to con-
